#even if he's not your personal fave he's clearly the best writer

[panic-attack-imminent]

I just watched Drew's new video, which I loved a lot, and a few things:

It made me irrationally happy to hear him mention Defunctland, hbomberguy, and Jenny Nicholson.

When he's talking about TikTok and jokes that he'd kill himself, and actually says it, was that a dig at the (self) censorship rampant there?

I like that he's taking a page out of Breadtube's book by constantly switching locations for visual interest. He just needs bisexual lighting!

I hope he continues on this trajectory with his videos and leaves the "I found this WEIRD GUY on the internet LET'S MAKE FUN OF HIM"-style commentary videos in the past. I think we can be done with those.

[madamechrissy]

Hi Chrissy!

I just wanted to say you are amazing and I am a big fan of your stories (I am a silent supporter) 💕

May I ask what is your rankings of all your Gojo and reader versions?

P.S.: Duke and Duchess are my favs partly because they introduced me to a wonderful writer like you, but also because they are amazing characters.

This is my favorite inbox EVER because this is the best question omg! Thank you first off I am so glad you enjoy them, they're so messy aha 🫶🏻🫶🏻 Some ppl hate on my Duchess you make me feel sm better 😭🥺

So my first favorite pairing are Miss Brat and Professor Dickhead from Take me Home Tonight, hands down!!! They are so perfect together, Satoru is just sweet and devoted and they're both SO smart and funny. That story is probably my favorite when it comes to lighthearted fare I've written. The MC and Gojo both have a past and obstacles but they from day one are a team. Mc in that is such a baddie and she really holds her own. Their competitive dynamic is so fun. My lawyer coupleee 🥹

My next favorite are the Duke and Duchess from Silent Serenades!!! Oh gosh Duchess IS my fave MC, just Duke Gojo isnt lol. they are so complex and interesting. And they're far from perfect, take their trauma out on each other lol, act before thinking, and they overall feel the most REAL. Arranged marriages sucked and they are trying to build something true and opening their hearts, growing and changing. Forgiving each other. The Duchess with her emotional, messy nature and troubled upbringing is very much based on me in many ways (yeppp been through it) so it's also the MC the most like me. So I'm attached 🥺

The third is Fractured Desires yandere Gojo and Barbie' reader. He is a yandere sure but he is so interesting, he is devoted clearly lol but mostly their SEX scenes my LORD. I've maybe never written better smut. 🥵🥵🥵 Her willingness to be submissive and just not caring he's yandere bc she loves him is fkn amazing, and she's alwo so girly and fun vs his VERY serious nature. They also feel so real even if he's over the top.

Fourth is CEO Gojo and Assistant reader from Time after Time!! Though a cheesy rom com I wrote, they both have strong personalities and god their love!!! Esp in their wedding scene 😭😭😭 Writing that scene and their love confession still feels like the best one I've written. He's an ass and she kinda mean lol but I liked their banter so much, that was my first story and it as just learning gojo! But oof love their overall chemistry.

My only other long story is Doctor Gojo and intern reader from Healing Hearts! I really love him and her so far but they're so new I can't really rank em any higher yet! Doctor Gojo is so smart and he's a whole ass hoe lol but sweet. Intern reader seems also so smart and caring! I think they'll grow on us as I go 🫶🏻

Wow I write Gojo a lot of different ways and y/n! Tysm for supporting me and the question I'm sorry I went ON and ON these characters are like my babies 💓💓💓

[zinzinina]

Hiiiiiii. I apologize for blowing you up today, but I just finished my re-read of AMBA and seriously: it’s SO amazing. I never get tired of it. There are SO many little details to soak up. You were so invested in Boba Fett and put so much care and thought into his characterization.

So, as I was reading this go-around, I was wondering what was the exact moment that Boba realized he was in love with her? And when did he accept that it was ok to feel that way?

Obviously, it was a slow build in his comfort with their relationship over the story, but was after the first time after he was injured and she was fixing him up? Or did he not realize it until he spoke to her in Mando’a in the Princes bedchamber? Or when she got injured chasing the false Jedi? There’s so many times where he clearly has internal struggle and lets that softness or possessiveness slip out.

There were so many moments of growth in their relationship, so curious what your thoughts are about key moments!

Also, what is your favorite scene you wrote in this fic?

K thx for letting me fangirl about your writing and no rush on a reply. 🫶😜

Oh my god I cannot tell you what a lovely surprise it was to see this!! It made me genuinely happier than I can articulate to read your thoughts and aghhhh just truly holy shit this is the best gift any writer can receive so thank you thank you 😭

To answer your question, and this is maybe a strange response (? haha), the first moment Boba felt something he couldn’t easily classify toward her was the first time he saw her drinking alone in the hunter dive bar. He’s attracted, obviously, but it’s not just that (& I think for him attraction is a bit of a nothing-event; physicality and appearance is weird anyway because how do you work out any kind of beauty standards when you’re literally identical to millions of other people? I think the whole thing just ends up not counting for much) —it’s not sympathy either; it’s almost more of an emotional recognition? like an “Oh shit this person looks like how I feel, or how I used to feel, back when I felt anything.” That feeling simmers and soooo slowly warms until it’s burning him from the inside so by the time she starts putting herself at risk for his sake, and even worse, getting hurt for his sake, he’s honestly just pissing himself off more than anything else. & even then I don’t think he ever fully qualifies it or names it until the morning he wakes up and sees her standing on the balcony under the morning sun. I really wanted that to feel like his “oh, I would give it all up for her” moment while I was writing it. And to be honest, I don’t think he ever accepted it; I think he always knew he was running on borrowed time with her and was just waiting for the end whilst nursing some kind of vague, hopeless idea of maybe.

My fave moments to write were probably all the interactions with Cere 🥲 I’m very into slipping in EU side characters if it wasn’t already obvious (Krrsantan, Myo, hahaha). I’d cut out a scene where I was going to have an Aphra cameo at one stage as well and loved that too, so I might clean it up and post it as an outtake one day.

Thank you again so much for being so sweet and for giving me the chance to gush about this story again after such a long time! I hope you’re having an amazing week x

[cadybear420]

Cadybear's Reviews- Murder at Homecoming

Welcome to the thirty-seventh official Cadybear's Reviews! Today I'll be talking about Murder at Homecoming, which I have ranked on the "Platinum Tier" at 9 stars out of a possible 10. My last and only playthrough of this was during September-December 2022.

This is definitely one of the better, if not the best release, of 2022, and it’s easily among my personal faves. 

A MC who is proactive and gets shit done, multiple LIs, highly compelling story. How can I not love that? All three of the LIs are amazing characters– and Tyler especially is just precious. I think he’s the first love interest I have ever adored nearly as much as I’ve adored Aiden. I miss when we had male LIs that are just so babygirl. 

The incorporation of mature topics and queer themes was especially excellent. MTFL, take notes! Because THIS is how you write a teen story that talks about queer sexuality and mature behaviors. Besides maybe BiBound I mean BloodBound, this is probably the first book in Choices where each LI has some degree of confirmed sexuality outside of their LI option status for the MC. 

One thing that’s especially notable is how Tyler will talk about how he used to think he was straight if you romance him as a male or enby MC. I normally don’t mind much when LIs in GOC stories are made with the “playersexual” style of writing, but these sort of little changes are a good show of effort and give Tyler more character.

But of course, it’s not without a handful of problems. 

Like COP (1), the story is incredibly linear and none of the clues or choices really affect your story. Sure, they give you a bit of extra background, but that’s about it. 

The only choices that really have any impact are the stuff related to the queer discussions, Tyler’s romance route, and how the options for how your MC can talk about their queer experience can change based on your MC’s gender and romance choices. Which is still highly praiseworthy, don’t get me wrong, but I’d have loved to see some variation in the other elements of the book too.

And as much as I did enjoy this MC and do consider them one of the more refreshing ones, they were also a bit too rigid and pre-set for me at times. I get that some MCs will need to have pre-set details about them, and to some degree that does apply to this MC, but it was a bit much at times. Like, there was especially no need to give them a default first AND last name. I do like the aspect of MC preferring to go by their middle name, but we still could have been allowed to change their first and last names too, to be honest. 

I found it really hard to feel for the loss of Perdita for this reason; the traumatic event backstory didn’t feel as well established, compared to that of ILITW and ACOR MCs. Though to be fair, I do remember there being a handful of premium scenes to see a memory with Perdita, and I do remember skipping all but two of them. 

But even then, I never felt she had quite as much importance as the writers clearly wanted her to have? Outside of being a motivator for MC to solve Gabbie’s case and allowing MC to connect with Donovan better. Maybe my opinion on this might change after I give it a replay, though. 

That being said, I’m actually fine with the story not telling us what really happened to Perdita, as much as I’d have loved a continuation for this book. MC not knowing what happened to Perdita is what motivated them to solve Gabbie’s case, and in that regard, the two cases kind of juxtapose one another. Whereas MC is able to get closure for Gabbie’s case, they don’t do that for Perdita’s case.

That makes the ending a little more nuanced in my opinion. Sometimes, we don’t always get closure for these kinds of things. While I’m still mixed on how well the story integrated Perdita, this message was handled decently and didn’t feel like it was in bad spirit. 

So if there were a continuation for this story, I wouldn’t mind it being centered around MC finding Perdita, motivated to work on that case more actively after their success with Gabbie’s case. But rather than having them solve the case, it can mostly center around them struggling between whether they should keep up that search, or leave it as a cold case and move on. 

Overall, definitely a higher-tier and very respectable story that definitely deserves a replay. 

[phneltwrites]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to other writers. Spread the self-love~ 🫶🏻

💚

it's tempting to pick the long fics because they took the most work and have the most Stuff in them (themes, narrative experimentation, whatever) so i want to think a little more widely about the stuff i've written.

Bad Thing Twice (Not Me, Todd/Black). Ohh I love Not Me so much. What a fantastic show about a group of people taking down the biggest billionaire in Thailand. The main romance is great, the gang is fantastic, it's beautiful to watch... and then right at the end the most perfect best friends to enemies ship appears. otp of two guys who keep trying to kill each other over ideological differences but can't because they love each other so much. So then I wrote 64k to take that friends to enemies and add on a ...to lovers. One of my faves because I got to get into some themes that I love, like how and when to compromise, what to do when the love is real but the situation is hard. Also because I don't see anything glamorous or admirable in being rich and I wanted to wallow a bit in how much money fucks things up.

Say All That You're Feeling (MDZS, wlw wangxian). lesbians!! Genuinely the process for writing this was just coming up with a big list of all the things that I thought would be hot. lwj woodworking. wwx making leather bracelets and then playing with the leather bracelet on lwj's wrist. But then ALSO this fic is about comphet. Stage 2 comphet. Stage 1 is 'is it possible to like girls???' Stage 2 is learning to be ok with experiencing attraction. It's scary to be horny! It's vulnerable. And there's so much baggage around unwanted attraction and being predatory but like. it's beautiful and fun. We all know a useless lesbian who is like 'idk if that was a date or just friends' and I'm always like WELL did YOU say if it was one or the other?? and they never do. Useless. But also we've all been there so this is like, a fond and generous read on that situation (i hope)

Retrieved from Impossibility (Leverage, Eliot/Parker/Hardison). Possibly the most Me fic I've ever written. Android Eliot desperately clinging to his humanity, Parker's fierce sense of what's okay and not, and Hardison being so smart and caring and also into robots. I love books about cognition and humanity and agency and I also am very weak to a trope about heisting a person so they can be free, so.

Falling Til Four in the Morning (MDZS, wangxian). I sure do love a hyperspecific AU. Like this, technically, is a coffee shop AU, however it's set in the 90s and wwx aspires to dotcom and lwj works in radio. I researched so much for this fic and nothing makes me feel better than people in the comments say it captured the vibe of the era. In case anyone reading this has read that fic and wondered: wwx disassociated himself from the Jiangs because he was doing AIDS activism and it was communicated to him that he was shaming them.

Standing in Sharpening Wind (Game of Thrones, Jon/Tormund). A fave cause I think the setting comes through clearly, which is always something I'm working on. I feel cold in the spaces in the sentences. I can't believe I never had any fic writing inclination for this show until the end of S8 pissed me off SO bad. Not even the point of this fic but Brienne/Sansa forever I can't believe that show fucked me so bad. uhh anyway yeah north of the wall vibes, some culture clash stuff, Tormund pining like an idiot, lots of fun for me to write

[limpfisted]

hehe fatewoven 😚

@fatewoven one of the best writers on this site, smart, witty, their replies are dripping with sensuality, intelligence and charm! Kiwi always makes me feel like my hcs and writing is being perceived and appreciated in a way no one else does. I eat up all their replies for breakfast lunch and dinner YUM good food for ME. I love the care especially that kiwi puts into respecting gortash, understanding how dangerous he is, and making his seductive and rational nature a part of how insidious he is. I also like that kiwi isn't afraid to let gortash "lose" but also, still develop him beyond being pathetic. Even in our threads, where he has lost his freedom, he still has his wits about him, even listless, he has an interiority and his own minds and dreams, some fallen, some real, and still feels Alive, while also I can see how he feels... less so, to himself. The depression is palpable, but I can still feel his voice and see where his head is at. I also like that kiwi lets him be capital e Evil, no doubts about it

@silksworn U THOUGHT!!!!! I WOULD NOT TALK ABOUT YOU???? MY FAVE OC I HAVE EVER INTERACTED WITH? even when I was a fool and didn't realize the dynamic wyll and iraestra could have, I was Enchanted by your style of writing in just her bio and personality blurb. U have such an amazing Gothic horror style of writing that feels like the perfect shot of blood dripping down a fang kissed pink lip in an anne rice novel. Just such vivid imagery, precise, clean prose, that never feels clinical, but lived in, like a horror movie set where u are deliberate controlling each moving piece. It is telling that u are a dm! U know how to move the story and set the pace and show the exact right details to be evocative, but never linger too long, to show, but show just enough for us to want more. I really admire ur writing style, but even more, ur creativity, how everything u write is so well researched and lived in and well understood and backed up by lore u are clearly so experienced in, and how u are willing to share ur knowledge and creativity with others!!!!! I appreciate u so so so bad, I love learning with u, I love talking with u, I am ur biggest stan, if there are 0 silksworn soldiers, I am no longer on this earth

Im so glad I met the two of u!!!!!

[obsessioncollector]

hi!! I wanted to thank you for all the notes on my little book blog, your vibes are excellent and I'm honored that you're following me <3 would you like to tell me about some of your favorite books, or recent reads that you really enjoyed?

hi! this is so sweet omg, also i just saw your post about the sparrow--i've been meaning to read it and now i really have to!!

I recently did a post with my faves from this year so far (here), so I won't repeat the books I mentioned there but I have lots of favorites so I'm happy to have the chance to mention more! I added a little about each book for context but my blurbs do not give them justice at all, I just didn't want to throw a bunch of titles with no explanation at you :) Under the cut bc it's a long list w/ the blurbs.

EDIT WAIT IM SO DUMB I FORGOT TO SAY THAT MY GOATS ARE NABOKOV, DOSTOEVSKY, [TONI] MORRISON. I didn't want to mention all the books I loved by them bc that would take forever but yeah they are the best <3

FICTION:

The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston: Just re-read this one after several years and it’s even better than I remembered. Comprised of several shorter stories based on stories the Kingston’s mother told her about her relatives in China growing up, with Kingston imagining her own version of these family legends. The final story captures the fear and anxiety and shame of childhood so well &lt;3

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson: An old favorite. Centered on 18-year-old Mary Katherine Blackwood, who lives with her older sister Constance and sickly uncle Julian after the mysterious deaths of the rest of her family. Oddly tender considering that premise :)

Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih: Read this one in a single day—among its many wonderful qualities, it’s a page-turner! Reminds me of psychological thriller movies. It’s narrated by a Sudanese man who has recently returned to his hometown after spending time in Europe. Back home, he meets a mysterious stranger who’s also been to Europe and becomes obsessed with him.

The Lover by Marguerite Duras: Based on Duras’s relationship with an adult Chinese man when she was a teenager growing up in colonial Vietnam, but despite the title, it’s clearly focused on the teen girl character. Reflective and haunting.

The Moor's Last Sigh by Salman Rushdie: Better than Midnight’s Children imo. Rushdie’s books are always tough to summarize I think, the plots are often convoluted and yet they’re also more than the sum of their parts. This one is about the son of a wealthy Indian family divided by a conflict between the businessman father and pioneering artist mother.

The Setting Sun by Osamu Dazai: Dazai is one of those male artists who captures young women surprisingly well. This short novel is centered on a woman from a fading aristocratic Japanese family. So emotional and quietly eloquent.

The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood: Absolute classic of the stories-about-stories subgenre. The protagonist’s sister was a writer who died young with a devoted feminist following, and the protagonist resents others’ attempts to capture her sister’s legacy. Coming-of-age as she recounts growing up with her sister, but also intersperses the sister’s work.

Trieste by Daša Drndić: Centered on an elderly Italian Jewish woman haunted by her family’s complicity in the fascist order around them. Drndić’s body of work often focuses on characters obsessed with historical atrocities and is consistently fascinating, but this is my favorite of hers.

The Complete Stories by Clarice Lispector: For the longest time I felt like everyone was telling me to read Clarice Lispector and I did and yet her novels did not click for me! These stories finally made me a Lispector stan—gotta reread her novels now :) Hard to sum up since it’s a long collection, but completely worth it.

Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung: I’m biased bc I saw Bora Chung speak and she seems like such a sweet and modest and offbeat-in-a-good-way person—would be a good tumblr mutual :) But I loved this collection even before then, it’s surreal and haunting and most of the stories don’t sound like they’d work on paper but they absolutely do.

NONFICTION (I am actually a fraud when it comes to nonfiction bc I’m a novel girl at heart but some books I love…):

Twelve Who Ruled by R.R. Palmer: I just started re-reading this after a couple of years, it’s so fascinating! It’s history centered on the twelve members of the Committee of Public Safety during the French Revolution. Super interesting period in history IMO and the book is also a great study of personalities, it makes me want to write my own (fictional) characters lol.

Literature and Evil by Georges Bataille: A collection of essays on the works of a variety of writers—Blake, Kafka, Proust, etc., all the good guys.

A Little Devil in America by Hanif Abdurraqib: THE music book. It’s a collection of essays around the theme of Black music in the US. Abdurraqib’s writing is so eloquent and touching, and whether I knew the musicians’ work well or not, I loved all the essays. He does a great job of interspersing the musicians’ stories and their significance with his own perspective and experiences.

Black Reconstruction in America by W.E.B. Du Bois: Extremely important from a historical perspective--Du Bois eviscerated the dominant racist + neo-Confederate school of historiography regarding Reconstruction in the U.S. Also just incredibly well-written--since it's a technical work, it can be tedious with the statistics etc at points, but Du Bois's prose is so stunning. The chapter “Transubstantiation of a Poor White,” focused on Andrew Johnson, is absolutely brutal (complimentary.)

Fear and Trembling by Søren Kierkegaard: Kierkegaard is so fascinating, this is a daunting read (at least to me) but totally worth it. You do not have to be Christian to be a Kierkegaard enjoyer :) It’s focused on the Biblical story of Abraham almost sacrificing his son Isaac, but also tackles much more.

[marryat92]

In your opinion, what are the 3 best books written by Marryat? I should like to try a few...thank you for your time!

A good question! My feelings are conflicted, because there are Marryat books that I adore (such as The King’s Own) that are messy disasters on multiple levels. Is this about personal favourites, or literary merit? Even the question of literary merit is debatable, because Marryat can be a compelling storyteller, especially when he’s writing from his lived experiences in the early 19th century Royal Navy, but he was never a polished writer. (And this isn’t even getting into his period-typical prejudices that can be pretty shocking to a 21st century reader: fair warning for bigoted language and use of offensive stereotypes in his books).

Frank Mildmay (The Naval Officer) is my perennial recommendation that is equal parts merit and personal fave. The title character is highly autobiographical—and he’s a complete bastard, a borderline villain protagonist. A cruel, self-centered, yet handsome young officer in Nelson’s navy, he’s clearly damaged and traumatised by his war experiences, but doesn’t hesitate to inflict violence on others. The book is marred by the rushed and shallow redemption arc for the protagonist, but frankly I enjoyed that part too. Frank gets a happy ending, despite his selfish and vicious life.

Jacob Faithful is the book that Marryat himself said was his personal favourite (according to “Captain Marryat at Langham” published 1867 in The Cornhill Magazine). It’s an unusual choice, and not one of his hit titles like Mr. Midshipman Easy or Peter Simple, but I have to agree with Marryat. I think he is drawing on his childhood in London near the River Thames for this novel, but the protagonist is a waterman with none of Marryat’s wealth and privilege. It’s a maritime story (and Jacob is even impressed on a king’s ship at one point), but it’s not a navy/midshipman novel. It has some of Marryat’s best and strongest writing with a Dickensian feel in an appealing rags to riches story.

The Three Cutters, a novella originally bundled with Marryat’s short story The Pirate. Funny, clever, taut story writing that sets a rich’s man yacht, a crew of Channel smugglers, and a rag-tag group of Royal Navy officers in a revenue cutter on a collision course. I have recommended it as a great intro to Marryat without the commitment of his full-length (and rambling) novels. 

(N.B. Marryat’s The Pirate is one of his absolute worst stories, in my humble opinion. See also my Quickstart Guide to Reading Marryat.)

If you’re looking for one of Marryat’s midshipman novels specifically, Frank Mildmay is one of them, and I would recommend Percival Keene and Peter Simple ahead of Mr. Midshipman Easy. (Percival Keene is the novel that James Fitzjames quoted in one of his letters, according to William Battersby.) My tag specifically for discussing the experience of reading Captain Marryat’s works is reading marryat.

[nctsworld]

reigniting

✩ mark x reader | dance au | enemies to lovers | car s*x | smut | fluff | 1.6k

SUMMARY ⇾ your hate for your dance captain (and ex-best friend) melts and evolves into something more for the night. WARNINGS‌ ‌⇾‌ smut (near the end), car s*x, swearing, angst in backstory RATING ⇾ mature FOR ⇾ @markleesflathead​ 

AUTHOR’S NOTE ⇾ yes i’m bitter that most of my fics in ask form don’t show up in tag so i might have to post them as individual fics hhh || @markleesflathead​ idk how this ended up into car s*x but i’m sorry if it isn’t what you really expected slkfmd also i’m v flattered to be one of your fave writers *_* thanks for the bday wishes!!

“I missed this.”

Mark suddenly says into the air after catching his breath from all the laughing he just did. With the hand that’s been resting on the steering wheel since he parked the car fifteen minutes ago, he swipes his thumb against it.

Your laughter subsides too, turning your head in the passenger seat to get a good look at him.

The closest street lamp isn’t near enough to cast a light to see all his features clearly, but you don’t need much lighting to see the waver behind his bespectacled face, nor the way his Adam’s apple bobs.

“I missed you,” he whispers softly, then matches your eyes with a tilt of his head.

The beginning was simple. You and Mark, best friends since middle school, about to attend the same university and were going to do everything together, including extracurriculars.

Which included the university’s main competitive hip-hop dance team, since both of you were on your high school’s too.

From what you heard from upperclassmen, every year, the team offered at least five spots open. Of course, Mark and you were confident in yourselves and each other to make the team.

But during your first year, only one spot was available on the team.

The straining of your friendship began to slowly occur, since you saw less of each other in order to train more individually for the auditions.

And when the auditions happened, there was a new tension between Mark and you. Still friends, but competitiveness was a prevalent wall between you two.

The wall grew larger, tangled with vines of jealousy and bitterness, when Mark received the spot, not you.

Both parties tried hard to keep the friendship afloat, but it eventually came crashing down.

“You’re just fucking jealous that I got in and you didn’t.”

“Yeah,” you said. “and I should be, because I’m the better dancer.”

“As if.” he scoffed. He spat out the next words venomously—

“If you were better they would’ve chose you, but you’ve just never been as good of a dancer as me.”

That was the last time you spoke to Mark... for a while, at least.  

When second year came by, you decided to prove him wrong and obtain a spot on the team. Successfully, you did, but partway through the term, the captain dropped out and, to your dismay, Mark was given captaincy.

Fast-forward to today, Mark constantly gave you shit during practices and you knew it was personal.

Sure, you could’ve quit, but you didn’t want to give him the satisfaction. However, you always did wonder why he didn’t decide to kick you off the team when he had the power to do so.

Following one practice, Mark ordered you to come by the studio on a separate night for a talk. He claimed it to be extra training, but you were mentally prepared for him to finally remove you from the team.

However, you were wrong and the unexpected happened—the wall between you two began to crumble. The hostile professionalism during the extra session grew into an area of familiarity, remnants of a lost friendship. After the session, Mark swallowed his pride and apologized about what he said back then, even offering to take you out to dinner.

During the meal, both of you caught each other up on the last year or so, and at the end of the night, Mark drove you home.

Laughing, smiling, and talking with you like the last couple of years were a nightmare faded into nothingness.

And you didn’t mind it, because you missed him too.

But instead of telling him that, you nibble on your bottom lip and rock your head forward with a small smile.

Continuing the conversation from where you left off, after Mark agreed to stop giving you such a hard time during practice, you say, “Can I ask you to stop doing one more thing during practice?”

“What’s up?”

“Please, for the love of God,” you say with your hands clasped in a prayer. “Stop rolling your shirt sleeves up, it’s terribly distracting.”

A hearty chuckle escapes from Mark, leaning his head back into the headrest. “Why is it distracting?”

“You know why!” you exclaim, beaming. “I know you do it on purpose!”

He cocks an eyebrow playfully. “And why would I do that?”

Rolling your eyes, you reply, "Because I know the oh-so humble Mark Lee still loves it when he gets attention."

The driver runs his tongue over the bottom of his teeth in a smirk, hand still on the steering wheel.

"And what about you?” he retorts. “You must still have a thing for arms if you think it's distracting."

You gasp inaudibly, unsure of how he could still remember that tidbit after all these years, and you twist your upper body to inch near him, glaring at him accusingly. "Is that why you do it?"

"Maybe, maybe not..." he shrugs nonchalantly. Leaning closer to you, parroting your stance, he adds in a teasing whisper along with a squint of his eyes.

"You'll never know."

There’s a passing beat as your eyes lock, one that carries the weight of the years of loving each other as friends, hating each other as enemies, working together as dancers, and everything in between.

A moment of connection that represents what everything has been working towards to for a long time, even if you never thought you’d have the chance to ever have Mark in your life again.

His look falters for a millisecond, flicking to your lips, then straight back to your eyes as if he shouldn’t have done that.

The corner of your mouth lifts slightly.

"Are you going to kiss me, Mark,” you whisper daringly. “or are you going to keep staring?"

You’re awfully aware of both of your breathing. Yours, heavy and wanting. His, light and barely existent.

"How do you know I wanna kiss you?" he croaks, a small crack in his voice underlying his question.

Because maybe a little part of you always wondered what it’d be like for Mark Lee to want to kiss you since you were kids—for him to send you that anxious starry-eyed yearning that could send your heart into cardiac arrest.

And now, from first-hand experience, you know it really does.  

You hold your breath and question back—

"Am I wrong?”

The tension in the air snaps. He’s fast to cup your cheeks and crash his mouth into yours. Soft lips move in tandem with yours as you rest your hands on his shoulders, lightly tugging at his body.

The first, tender kiss is quickly thrown aside, along with your shirts. The desire escalates immensely and you’re suddenly straddling him in the driver’s seat, now pushed back to give extra room for both individuals.

"Should we slow down?" you ask offhandedly at one point while Mark’s mouth leaves a hot trail down the side of your neck. At the same time, his fingers glide and grip onto your bare waist, making their way to grasp your breasts.

Mark jerks away from your neck and carefully caresses the back of your head. "Do you want to?"

"Mm-mm,” you hurriedly shake your head and drag him into another strong kiss.

The exciting rush continues to run through both bodies present. When you return to the passenger seat momentarily to rid of your pants, Mark shimmies his bottoms and briefs down to his ankles and pulls a condom from his glove compartment.

“How often do you have car sex?” you joke, straddling him once again after he wraps himself.

In his reclined position, Mark looks up and scans your body quickly, both indulging in your natural beauty and in disbelief that you are here with him right now, after all these years.

“Hey, a guy’s gotta be safe—fuck, God.”

All quips and logic are thrown out the window when you sit on his length.

You have one hand pressed against his defined stomach, the other on the car ceiling. Bouncing with no end in sight, you allow the pleasure to enrapture your senses. Muffled whimpers reverberate against the inner side of your wrist as you feel him deeply with every movement.

On the other hand, Mark tries his best to keep his focus on you, but the intensity breaks him down. He groans in pace with your moving body, and he tightens his hold on your waist.

“Mark—” you cry. You rip your hand from the car roof and, without thought, frantically push it against the driver’s window, smudging the frost that all your collective breathing conjured up. You’re surprisingly already coming undone, and so is your lover beneath you.

“I’m close,” he pants thickly. His hazy gaze attempts to meet your half-lidded eyes, but you’re losing control. All you can do is barely nod and as you’re about to bounce more vigorously, Mark releases your waist and raises himself upward, clutching your back and neck to lock lips fiercely with yours.

You barely can thrust against him, but you don’t need to at this point, because the kiss is simply enough to draw out his climax.

You’re pulled back to reality after a few moments, panting with your foreheads tipped against one another.

“And to counter your question from before,” Mark grins, still breathing heavily. “I’ll only stop rolling my sleeves up during practice if you stop tying your shirt up to show off your waist.”

You try to stifle a smirk, but it can’t be helped. You reply to him with a flutter of the tip of your nose against his.

“No deal, captain.”

nctsworld’s birthday week celebration!

[purrincess-chat]

Cat’s Writing Tips: Building Readership

Welcome back to Writing Tip Mondays with Cat! My name is Cat, and I’ve been a writer for 16 years. I’m not a professional, but I have learned a thing or two in my time as a writer. Take any advice with as many grains of salt as you see fit. Let’s get into it!

Today I want to talk about something I’ve gotten comments on and seen come up a lot among new writers: How in the hell do I get people to read my story? I’ll be focusing more on fanfiction readership for this as marketing and professional publishing are a field I haven’t delved too far into yet. That being said a huge portion of writing is marketing. Books and stories are “products” even if you’re not selling them for money, and if you want people to read them, you have to market them and market yourself. So, what does that look like for fandom?

Most sites where writers post stories have some sort of tagging system in place — learn to use them. For AO3 (and probably other sites, but I only use AO3) make sure you understand the difference between / and & in relationship tags. / indicates a romantic relationship. & is for platonic and familial relationships. Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng. (Lovers). Marinette Dupain-Cheng & Sabine Dupain-Cheng. (daughter & mother). Tags are going to be a big part of what entices readers to your works. Fandom is very interested in specific characters and ships. That’s why most of us are here reading because we want more content for our faves. Clearly advertising what characters and ships appear in your work is going to be the first thing readers look at when considering your story. Make sure you are honest in these tags and only tag the characters that play an important role in the story, or people will get pissed.

After characters and relationships, readers are going to look at warnings next. AO3 in particular has certain tags you can click on the upload screen and the rest can be tagged individually in the additional tags section. If your work contains anything that could be triggering, it’s best to tag it. Character death, abuse, SA, gore, violence, etc. It’s best practice in fandom (and increasingly so in the professional realm too) to warn your readers of any potentially aversive materials within your work, so that they can make an educated decision on whether or not your work is going to be for them. Don’t take it personally if someone skips your story because of content that triggers them. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t write those things because those works do have their place, but you need to understand that they won’t be for everyone.

After tags, most people will look at the summary of the work. I feel like fandom is very forgiving on this particular aspect. I’ve seen some stories with very thoughtful summaries have next to no hits while stories that just have author brain dump or just a literal snippet from the story as the summary that have 100k+ hits. The summary is your chance to let the reader know what the plot of the story is. Typically when I write summaries, I point out the main conflict and tease the inciting incident. I try to leave my summaries open-ended, so people have to click the story to find out what happens.

An example of a summary for a story I wrote for last year’s BB:

“When Adrien overhears Lila taking an incriminating phone call, he suspects that his classmate with an allergy for the truth could be working with Paris's mortal enemy: Hawkmoth. He and Ladybug must team up to figure out if his suspicions are correct, but can these two bumbling detectives out sly a fox?”

The summary sets up the inciting incident (Adrien overhearing the phone call and drawing the conclusion that Lila is working for Hawkmoth), addresses the main plot (teaming up with Ladybug to figure out if his suspicions are correct), and leaves on an open-ended question (will they be able to figure it out?). This is a pretty good basic formula. It doesn’t spoil too much, but it gives the reader just enough to know what the story is about to determine if it’s something they want to read.

“Cat, I’ve done all of those things. I’ve tagged with a popular pairing, my work doesn’t have any big triggers in it, and I wrote a pretty good summary. Now what?”

Now you wait. Give people the opportunity to read what you’ve written. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve posted something, then spent the next two hours refreshing the page. You have to give people the opportunity to read it. Not everyone can drop what they’re doing to go read a new story. This waiting period can be agony because as writers we crave that feedback and validation, but unfortunately when you’re just getting started out, you’re going to be waiting around a lot. Building readership takes time.

“Well, what do I do in the meantime?”

Great question: Write something else.

“But people still haven’t read the first thing I wrote? How do I know they’ll read a new thing?”

You don’t. Welcome to writing. You are never guaranteed that people will read your stories. Even after you’ve built a consistent readership. I’ve been writing in the same fandom for 6 years. I have some stories that are considered really popular, but even I put stuff out that just doesn’t land. It’s the beautifully frustrating part of writing.

“But if it’s never guaranteed that people will read and enjoy my writing, what’s the point?”

I plan to talk about this at length in another post eventually, but if you’ve got thin skin, writing is not the hobby for you, my friend. Writing by nature requires you to take criticism and deal with rejection. It’s the nature of the beast. Sometimes people just won’t be interested despite your best efforts, and you know what? That’s okay. If you want to write, write because you enjoy it. Write stories you want to read. Write things you’re proud of because at the end of the day, whether or not someone else enjoys them becomes irrelevant. Especially in fandom spaces where you’re literally doing it for free.

One of the most important things I’ve learned as a writer is how to separate myself from my writing. My self-worth has nothing to do with the number of hits I get or the number of kudos and comments. My self-worth has nothing to do with how many people enjoy my stories. It’s natural to feel attached to your own writing. You spent time making it and were excited to put it out into the world! But one thing you need to understand is that people not reading and interacting with your work is not personal. It’s not a reflection of you as a person or your skill as a writer. Sometimes it’s just not the story readers were looking for in the moment, and that has nothing to do with you. It can be heartbreaking, but you can’t let it damage your self-worth because the two are not connected. This is one of the hardest things to do in writing, but I would argue it’s probably one of the most necessary for your own wellbeing.

“Cat, this all sounds kind of depressing and hopeless. Isn’t there anything we can do to get seen by more people?”

Of course, you didn’t think I was going to leave you on that note, did you? There are lots of things you can do to get more exposure if the AO3 tag system isn’t working out for you. Fandom is a very lucrative market for writers, you just have to know where to set up shop. Easy ways I’ve found over the years to get your writing in front of different audiences that may not see it otherwise:

1. Join discord servers

2. Make writer friends

3. Participate in fandom events such as themed prompt events, zines, Big Bangs, and exchanges

4. Write things as gifts for your favorite creators

5. Write a variety of topics, characters, and ships

Another thing that seems kind of obvious, but work on improving your craft. There are a number of reasons that people may not be reading your stories, so you should do your best to make sure that your writing itself isn’t the problem. Make sure your prose is clean, break up big paragraphs, make sure everything is formatted in a reader-friendly way (see my Dos and Donts post). Sometimes it is your writing style or writing skill that is turning people off. Like art, writing is something that should constantly be improving, and the easiest way to do that is through practice and studying up on the craft. Watch writing tip videos, read other people’s writing, get a beta, study grammar rules. All of these things can help you improve as a writer.

If you aren’t getting the interaction you want right now, don’t give up! Keep writing, write new things, make some friends, have some fun. Always remember that fandom should be fun. We’re all here to have a good time and gush over our favorite blorbos. Start with appreciating the readers you do have. Don’t be entitled. Don’t speak ill of people more popular than you. (because who wants to support a crybaby that shits on everyone?) Be patient, keep going, and one day it will pay off. Just have fun. That’s it. That’s the tip. 

As always if you have any further questions on this topic, or if you have another topic you’d like to see me cover, feel free to shoot me an ask or leave a comment. See you all next week!

[ziskandra]

I posted 3,294 times in 2022

That's 3,140 more posts than 2021!

130 posts created (4%)

3,164 posts reblogged (96%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@mxkelsifer

@ithoughteventheboneswoulddoot

@ziskandra

@illusivesoul

@ultraviolet-ink

I tagged 3,177 of my posts in 2022

Only 4% of my posts had no tags

#the unreliable q - 2,029 posts

#dragon age - 1,352 posts

#ace attorney - 579 posts

#meredith stannard - 519 posts

#orsino - 225 posts

#mass effect - 171 posts

#about me - 152 posts

#miles edgeworth - 139 posts

#anders - 138 posts

#franziska von karma - 127 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#especially the pro tip about being about differentiating between having empathy for one’s friends and acknowledging that they’re being mean

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Reply to this post for a DRUNKEN EFFUSIVELY COMPLIMENT okay

20 notes - Posted December 3, 2022

#4

you are SO right for autistic Manfred lmao that is also my hc. This dude once screamed at the top of his lungs in the middle of court cause someone interrupted his routine. He's so fucking relatable unfortunately

TRULY. I too want to scream aloud when things don’t go as I’d planned in my head!

Like, there’s the other obvious things: law is clearly his special interest. He’s the kind of person who has a place for everything and everything in its place.

Then there’s the just fucking off-the-wall things, like, he retrained the parrot. Even thinking to ATTEMPT it doesn’t seem like allistic behaviour to me, and by god, Manfred succeeded.

But the biggest thing to me is just how … rigid he can be when things go wrong, and how he really struggles with emotional lability in times of crisis. I know relating villain’s crimes to autistic traits can often be controversial, but I believe in most cases with villains I personally headcanon as autistic, it’s the lack of support in their life and society that contribute to the crimes, not simply being autistic.

Which is why the part about the tragedy of it all — how it hurts more — if Manfred had been trying his best in your meta really hit home to me! I know for myself one of my autistic traits is obsessing over what people tick and what makes them do the things they do. I don’t think anyone’s truly evil, but I do believe that people so often act in the preservation of their own self image and … yeah, it that doesn’t explain Manfred’s actions … perfectly (ba dum tsch).

OH, and there’s also just like, his sense of humour? It’s so arrogant but dry: “My PIN is 0001 because I’m number one!” “My granddaughter’s dog is named Phoenix, are you saying you’re her fiancé?” “Defense attorneys are like bugs to me, needless things, to be crushed.”

God, I love this man.

21 notes - Posted November 29, 2022

#3

introduction!

BASICS. Asha. Late 20s. they/them. autistic & adhd. brown. biracial. bisexual. shift-worker. Fascinated by fictional villains. FANDOMS. Primary: Ace Attorney & Dragon Age Dabbling in: Mass Effect, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Suits, Schitt's Creek (see fave characters and ships list here) LINKS. ziskandra on Ao3 ziskandra on Twitter ziskandra on Dreamwidth ziskandra#7191 @ Discord

Dragon Age Fanfic Masterlist [Ace Attorney & Mass Effect Masterlists TBA] ABOUT THIS BLOG.

I'm a fanfic writer and occasional art doodler & cosplayer from Australia. This is a personal blog, which contains everything from my own rambles about daily life, to reblogs of content I enjoy, to my own fandom creations.

I enjoy fannish meta but am generally disinterested in discourse. To clarify, I'm always down to read other people's takes and interpretations of media, but dislike being told what to think, or that there's only one valid way to perceive something. I'm more than happy to be friends with people who disagree with me over fandom things, if the same courtesy is extended to me in return. As a general rule, I don't talk about international politics in this space. I do, however, talk about Australian politics (#auspol) Big fan of curating one's own space. To that end, if there's anything I'm not tagging which you would like tagged, please feel free to ask! Caveat: I might not agree to do so, but would not hold any hard feelings for the request and/or if you needed to unfollow or block me as a result! Do what you need to for your best experience, as will I.

21 notes - Posted November 20, 2022

#2

ngl but rewatching the first season of the handmaid's tale after watching season 5 is so funny. one of the first things serena says to june is 'i want to see as little of you as possible'. followed up with basically 'if i'm given trouble i'll give you trouble back'

and now they're going to be raising their babies in exile together and you know what. good for them.

22 notes - Posted November 24, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Fanfic Author Self-Recs!

@haljathefangirlcat tagged me to rec five of my own fanfics with you all — thank you, friend! �� I've tried to go with a variety of different fandoms and have mostly focused on older works. I also purposely haven't recommended any of my Dragon Age works as I feel DA has been occupying a lot of my brain space lately, and I wanted to give some of the spotlight to my other fannish interests! I'm gonna tag @mxanigel, @barbex, @joiningthefandomeightyearslate, @chocochipbiscuit and @fandomn00blr to share five of their works with us (if you so desire!) Without any further ado, I present my self-recs: 1. Retrospect - Mass Effect: Andromeda - Alec Ryder/Ellen Ryder (10k, rated M)

They say your life flashes before your eyes before you die and he's about to find out just how right they are.

A series of vignettes exploring Alec Ryder's relationships with his nearest and dearest, and the faltering steps he took to bridge the gaps between them.

Every time any sort of self-recommendation meme comes up, Retrospect is always the first fic that comes to mind. To this day, I still consider it my magnum opus, as I feel it really captures my strengths as an author. Character study of a morally grey, controversial character? Check. Non-linear narrative? Check. Experimental prose? Check. Vignettes? Check. Themes of family and struggling to fit in? Check check. If anyone ever wants to make my entire fucking month, please read this fic and tell me your thoughts on it. You will have my undying gratitude! 💖

2. Grounded - Mass Effect Andromeda - Calvin Kosta/Joelle Kosta (2.2k, rated M)

Calvin remembers the first time he held Liam in his arms. Big baby, nine pounds. His son is an ugly, wrinkly thing and yet also the most beautiful sight in the world. He smooths down the infant’s hair, kisses the soft spot on his head and whispers, “You’re gonna do great things." During the Reaper War, Calvin Kosta reflects on his relationship with his son.

This fic did really well on Tumblr (one of the few times I'd ever gotten over 100 notes on a post), but didn't quite get the same level of traction on AO3, which was quite interesting to me at the time as I'd never had that happen before (or since!) Honestly, it covers a lot of similar themes as Retrospect, but this time focused on Liam's family and how they deal with the Reaper War when they're left behind on Earth. IDK, I'm just obsessed with examining the human drive to live and survive, and what we struggle for, and how both our past experiences and our hopes for the future shape our actions, whether we're willing to admit it to ourselves or not.

3. Best Served Hot - Ace Attorney - Miles Edgeworth/Franziska von Karma (2k, rated E)

Franziska's gloved fingers seized Miles's jaw, digging into the sides of his face. "We were never siblings," she said. "Papa made sure of that. But if I can't best you in any other way, then I will have this."

If Retrospect is my ultimate magnum opus, then Best Served Hot is my franmiles manifesto. It truly is all of my feelings about this complicated and messy relationship dynamic carefully distilled into a fanfic! Anyway, I'm obsessed with the fact that Franziska regularly refers to Miles as her little brother, but Miles never refers to her as his sister.

However, the way that Miles acts with Franziska is SO sibling-like, whereas Franziska's a bit... weirder. She never really had normal familial relationships modeled to her (Miles, on the other hand, at least had something of a normal upbringing before his father's death).

Franziska is also a character who, for lack of a better term, weaponises her femininity. She's so young but she's built this whole aesthetic around tight miniskirts and kitten-heeled boots and carrying and using a fucking bullwhip. So, I 'm particularly fascinated by the cross-section of Franziska's obsession with Miles Edgeworth and her insecurities (and how she over-compensates for them).

Of course, if she stopped to think about it for a minute, she should have realised that Miles Edgeworth is perhaps not the ideal target for her feminine wiles, but Franziska's not exactly known for keeping a cool head in a crisis.

Finally, this fic also explores another point in Franziska's life that I'm fascinated by, which is her reaction to Phoenix Wright's disbarment. Phoenix is the only lawyer who has ever bested her (if she can even admit that much), and I think she would be INFURIATED by the insinuation that he owes his career success to forgery. Franziska von Karma would NOT be bested by a fraud! (And also she would be furious that Klavier Gavin got the chance to do what she's always wanted to do -- that is, defeat Phoenix Wright -- but that's a topic for another fanfic.)

4. Intermission - Crazy Ex-Girlfriend - Audra Levine/Greg Serrano (2.3k, rated T.)

Recently divorced Audra Levine visits West Covina to provide moral support during her frenemy’s open mic night. Greg has always had a type.

While gregaudra (graudra?) might be something of a random ship, I was really surprised by how well they worked together (although in hindsight, it should have been obvious -- Greg really has a type, huh). I love Audra as a character, and I'm always obsessed with giving her room to grow and move on as a character and determine the shape of her own life, the way she wants, much as Rebecca (and Greg) got to do in the course of the series. (Also, its sequel, Realization, still has one of my favourite lines I think I've ever written: Audra's been busy filing away the parts of her life that don’t spark joy while retaining the parts that do, like she’s Marie Kondo-ing the weight and burden of everyone’s expectations instead of her household possessions.

I so rarely write in contemporary fandoms that it was a fun exercise to write stories where the popculture references actually help ground it in time and place.)

5. Sink or Swim - Harry Potter - Percy Weasley/Oliver Wood (12k, rated T.)

Percy has always struggled to keep his head above water.

(Or: the story of Percy Weasley, from his youth, through to his estrangement with his family, to the end of the war.)

It feels weird to be recommending HP fic in this day and age, but my complicated* feelings towards the fandom aside, I'm still really proud of how this fanfic turned out and how I was able to cram all of my Percy Weasley analysis into a coherent story. I particularly loved delving into how Percy was pushed into positions of responsibility from a young age (and then simultaneously derided for the very same qualities his parents reinforced), and how he struggled with his conflicting desires to fit in but also to succeed and be recognised for his talents and efforts. There's a couple of sentences from the fic which really encapsulate how I see Percy's relationship to his family, which I'll quote here:

In bits and pieces, Percy tells Oliver all about the estrangement to his family: how he’d always gotten along with his dad best growing up, no matter how his mother had doted on him. How when he was younger, he’d wanted nothing more than to be the next Arthur Weasley. How he’d always thought that his dad deserved more.

How it was easier to blame his father’s idiosyncrasies and personality for his family’s struggles with money, than to acknowledge it as a failure of the society he’d been raised in.

How he’d foolishly thought that if he studied enough, worked enough, succeeded enough, he could change it all.

Percy's story really is that of every working-class child who's sought to improve their life (and their family's life) through education and I just... relate to that a lot!!

25 notes - Posted November 27, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[saby-chan]

Why the ATLA comics fail when it comes to Zuko and his family

To whom ever took their time to actually stop and read this post, thank you in advance for not skipping my post and willing to stay and read my humble opinion! I hope I won’t disappoint you!

As a relatively newcomer to the ATLA fanbase since 2020, I’ve come across a lot of interesting debates, comments and rants about the show, characters and fandom in general, but nothing has captivated me as much as the dumpster-on-fire that are the ATLA comics, more specifically: The Promise and The Search. 

On one hand we have the hardcore fans who want them to be animated or serialized into the Netflix live action, praising the comics for the new views and subject matters they’ve brought into the show’s lore, while on the other hand we have the furious Azula fandom who is really angry for the fact that best girl didn’t get the redemption arc she rightfully deserved so much after the painful event that was the Last Agni Kai and the even more angry fans of the Urzai ship (yeah, the people who actually ship Zuko’s parents unironically) who hated the retconning of the show’s cannon since the comics basically took a huge fat dump on what was previously established as official cannon, when the Search entered the scene, but between these two sides, who has the more valid point? In the end, are the comics good cannon or bad written fanfiction?

Well... Here are my two cents on this matter since I myself happen to be an Azula and Zuko fan and had huge expectations from these comics (since I wanted more from my fave hot-headed fiery siblings duo) but ended up disappointed: the comics are indeed a huge mess and actually bad written fanfiction when it comes to Zuko and his family! Don’t click off yet, because I actually documented the reasons why exactly the comics fail in this area:

1. The author of these comics is not part of the BryKe duo

Yes, I would like to start with the fact that if you actually take a second to look up who in the heck took the time to write these two books, you won’t find Bryan, nor Mike, but a fellow man named Gene Yang. This is important because while the wiki of both The Promise and The Search state BryKe as the creators, that doesn’t mean that they were the actual minds behind these comics, but rather because ATLA is their “baby” and these comics involve their characters, over which they have copyright. Mr. Yang here is the actual brain behind the plot, as the main writer, which explains why we find huuuuge inconsistencies between the show lore and the comics, especially Zuko wise.

My main issue with Mr. Yang isn’t that he isn’t BryKe specifically, but because he did an unforgivable mistake in his writing process: He projected himself into Zuko’s character, based on the relationship Zuko had with his father. This is a documented fact from an interview in which he explains that he sees himself and his dad’s relationship into Zuko and Ozai and used that when writing their interactions and built Zuko’s character in the comics. And this is wrong because when you have an already very developed and complex character such as Zuko, you can’t just come in and be like “Oh, I was an angsty teen just like him in my teenage years, fighting with my dad and whatnot, so he must have the same thought process as me!”. NO! This is bad fanfiction writer behavior! Zuko has his own personality and philosophy, which he developed over the course of 3 seasons and is not defined by only 1 unfortunate aspect of his past, so you can’t just base his whole mindset and actions off of your own personal experience just because you had the same daddy issues he had!

2. The whole “Promise that you will kill me if I turn out like my dad!” nonsense in The Promise

Reason number 2 why these comics fail and go under the category of “bad fanfiction” is because they fail to convey the core essence of the source material. The whole point of Zuko’s redemption was that he realized the wrongdoings of his ancestors and his own mistakes. He outgrew his desire of gaining his father’s acknowledgement in favor of choosing his own destiny. Having him worry that he’ll turn into his father is utter nonsense and feels like poor angsty drama material for the sake of angst. At this point in time, Zuko has overcame that obstacle in his life a long time ago and should be at the level where he himself is the “Uncle Iroh” for other people and in no way someone concerned of becoming their own worst enemy!

Not only that, but the whole point of Aang’s journey and the story of the show as a whole was to teach us, the viewers, the importance of forgiveness, empathy and love in life. Aang didn’t spare Ozai, aka “the ultimate evil” just to flex in front of his pals or because he is a “ 12 y/o vegan pacifist monk kid”, but because he knew that killing someone, no matter of what they did or wanted to do, wouldn’t restore balance into the Universe, on the contrary, him killing the villain would have meant perpetuating the “endless cycle of hate” that plagued the world. So having Aang promise to kill his best friend in case “they turned into an evil maniac like their dad” contradicts Aang’s whole character and it’s a nonsense that throws into the trash what we’ve learnt throughout the entire TV series.

3. Azula deserved (and was supposed) to have a redemption ark

This might still be pure speculation, but I count it as a documented reason because I’ve heard quite a few people saying that there should’ve been a book 4 in the show, aka “Book 4: Air”, and no, it wasn’t The Search, but actually Zuko and Azula’s journey as Zuko helps his younger sister heal her broken mind by being her very own “Uncle Iroh”. Sure, they prolly were going to end up looking for Ursa, but the journey should’ve ended with them actually being happy and a family again and not the bs we got in The Search where a still very unstable Azula runs away and becomes the “Next Joker”! The only problem is that M. Night had to pop up and curse the world with his movie, which forced BryKe to delay the project (and eventually abandoned it in favor of Korra).

All in all, either if BryKe had this preplanned or not, it made sense for Azula to get a redemption ark, she deserved it because she was just a broken 14 y/o child! If Katara’s mom’s murderer deserved to be forgiven, so did this poor child who had no fault for what happened to her since she had a dysfunctional family! What Gene Yang did in his poorly written fanfiction was to just antagonize a broken child, turning her into a monster for the sake of friggin angst!

4. The Search is the worst of the two, being flat af character wise

And finally, getting to the point that I personally find the most annoying about these comics: The Search. This one... This one is a mess on a hella lot many levels, and just to list a few: characters are flat as fudge, being either black as vanta black (like Ozai and Azula) or pure white like Gene’s Gary Stue OC, Mr Ikem (or how I like to call him, IKEA man) and his ‘victim’ rendition of Ursa, Azula gets to suffer more for no reason (see reason number 3 to why I find this as a no no), Ursa’s whole character sucks ass (man, I could write a whole thesis on why Yang’s version of her is terrible and doesn’t match the strong woman we got in the show) and Zuko does morally wrong stuff (my man literally used his unstable sister to bribe their dad into spitting info about Ursa... Show Zuko would never do that!;-;)

Oh boy, as a person who’s seen a ton of anime and other media and read many books, I can’t begin on how much I despise this type of writing: flat characters are the worst!

 ATLA characters in the show are nothing close to being flat! What I mean by that is that none of them fall perfectly into pure white (aka goodest of good characters with no imperfections) or vanta black (aka lowest and darkest twisted monsters out there), each of them are various shades of grey (like Aang who is a very light grey because despite being a very kind and nice character, he still isn’t a “perfect hero” since he ran away from his duties, practiced tax fraud with Toph, had insecurities and even threatened to kill people on ocassions like with the sand benders who took Appa) and this is a good choice because that prevents them from becoming what’s globally known as Mary Sues and Gary Stues (aka those either “perfect” characters with no flaws and/or unlimited power, or the twisted monsters full of flaws).

And the other reason why many other people hate The Search: it literally negates previously established cannon. And here comes my short essay on why this comic fails Zuko’s family (since we’ve already talked enough about Zuko himself).

In cannon and even interviews with BryKe, it was clearly stated that Zuko’s family was “once happy”. Where is this “once happy” family in The Search? All I see is pain, deception, lies and betrayal, nothing close to anything that resembles happiness. Okay, some of you might come in and say that “It’s because it was never the case! It was only lies and Zuko trying to convince himself that he didn’t live in hell forever!” and here is WHERE YOU WERE ALL WRONG! And why? Because, my dear fella, where were depicted the flashbacks of Zuko’s “happy family” in The Beach? Ember Island. And what do we know and had been even quoted in the show?  "Like waves washing away the footprints on the sand, Ember Island gives everyone a clean slate. Ember Island reveals the true you." (direct quote from the show). Exactly, no matter who you are or how hard you try, you can’t hide your true self when you are on the Ember Island, best example being Azula, who’s impenetrable though shell cracked and revealed the true vulnerable child that was underneath. If Azula couldn’t resist the “spell of the island”, no one can. So this means that Zuko’s family was indeed happy once and yes, Ozai wasn’t always the douchebag we got to know in Season 3 (I have a whole nother essay on my theories regarding what could be his real past story and why he’s actually the “Zuko” of his generation, based on stuff I gathered from old wiki entries and character analyses I made, but that’s for another time, lemme know if ya’ll are interested).

And what I guess is the biggest proof why The Search did this family’s past trash is comics Ursa herself. My dude, if this woman were indeed the victim of years of endless abuse and never loved her husband, I guarantee you that she would’ve been closer to what we saw in Todoroki’s mom from BNHA and Zuko would’ve gotten that scar or even worse long before the Agni Kai, not from his “daddy dearest”, but from “mommy dearest” herself, because no sane woman would be soo affectionate and attached to a child that’s the perfect copy of their abuser, sepecially appearance wise (again see Todoroki’s mom’s case from BNHA because the stories are really similar) and in no way would’ve she been willing to sacrifice her life for said child’s sake. With this ocassion, I remind ya’ll folks that according to the ancient ATLA cannon wikis on Nick’s site, Ozai was designed with Zuko’s appearance in mind, being meant to be like a “grown up scarless version” of Zuko. So yeah, remember this with a grain of salt that whenever you simp over grown up Zuko, you involuntary simp for Ozai too.

So yeah, I guess this kinda concludes my “not so short” rant about why the comics fail and are bad fanfiction. Lemme hear your thoughts in the comments and if you agree, feel free to leave a like and even reblog.

Bye bye and remember that Momo is the true strongest character of the show!

 Saby out.

[miyuwuki]

Congratulations on the milestone!! 💖🎉💖 thanks so much for being a knb writer 🤧💗 can't get enough of your writings. Can I have a knb matchup?? My mbti is ENFP. I like hanging out with my friends, meeting new people, playing card and video games, going to the gym and playing sports (even if sometimes I'm not the best I'm still competitive), binge watching my favorite shows (mostly sitcoms and dramas but I also watch wrestling weekly I think its entertaining), horror movies, going thrifting and upcycling clothes, rollercoasters (I'll always wanna ride the biggest one), listening to music (fave genres are pop punk and rock but I love instrumentals as well when I want something more chill), I like iced coffee and will drink one even if its super cold outside lol, and I like trying new things so I while I have consistent hobbies sometimes I'll learn baking or playing chess and then move on when I get bored lol

I dislike close minded people, those who are selfish to the point of being heartless, bugs in general but especially centipedes or beetles, doing math, unnecessary strictness, not getting enough sleep, being treated like I'm genuinely stupid or weak (like I'm not the smartest or strongest but I'm not taking disrespect like that), being super messy, feeling too warm (especially at night), judging people by how they look (judging the vibes someone gives off vs just their looks is different and i dont like the second)

What I look for in a guy is someone who can balance me out and keep up with me, they don't have to like everything I like and we don't have to agree on everything but they have to understand me or try to, someone I can talk to about anything and everything even if its dumb or unimportant. I'm an affectionate person but I'm not pushy so I won't go overboard if they're uncomfortable but I do love spending quality time together so we should at least have some things in common to do together. I like to joke and play around so they have to be a bit lighthearted too and not shut me down. Also someone who's not too possessive or jealous and lets me have my independence because I don't like feeling smothered or confined. When it comes to romantic gestures whether grand or small I don't really mind either as long as their feelings show through clearly to me that's all i care about

Sorry if this is so long and thank you again!! 💗💖💗

a/n: eeee im so happy you enjoy my works! ty for being here anon!

KUROKO NO BASKET

kise ryouta

both of you are very outgoing which attracts the both of you guys together! he laughs a lot when he’s with you :) he absolutely loves trying new things with you because he too, gets bored easily (except for basketball). sometimes he’ll try and challenge you to play basketball and even though you know you can’t beat him, the competitiveness in you jumps out hehe. kise is the kindest person you will ever meet, so being judgemental and aloof is out of question. he will always think in deep thought about what your opinions are and will engage 100% in a discussion with you. he will always respect you and will never, ever, insult you or let anyone insult you on your name. to him, you’re only the best and should only be treated like the best. anything less is unacceptable. kise will definitely give you your space because he likes people who will not tie him down; he’s busy too, with basketball and all these modelling contracts, he can’t always be there with you. but that’s okay! because you’ll be doing your own thing. kise likes to show you his love through physical affection. he’ll always drape over you, hold your hand, or lean on you. in one way or another, he is always close to you. you both always joke around with each other— so playful and loving that i envy it. kise always brings you an iced coffee whenever he sees you and on chill nights, you both stay in to watch comedies or horror. it’s most likely comedies though because he’s a scaredy cat. kise is definitely a man who can keep up with your lifestyle.

akashi seijuro

i have given this so. much. thought. at first i was going to choose hayama kotaro, but no, i thought akashi was a better fit and let me explain why: akashi loves how outgoing you are. you have the things he lacks— like a carefree energy, sunshine, rainbows. it makes him feel comfortable and safe, and that he can be his true self around you. he remembers everything you like: he’ll teach you how to play shogi! it’s not a card game but he’ll also ask you to teach him a game like president, LOL. you want to work out? work out in the gym IN HIS MANSION. cute because you guys become workout buddies. he also challenges you to basketball and will go easy on you— BUT YOU LOVE IT BECAUSE it’ll hurt if he broke your ankles. he likes to listen to music with you and will try to bake for you because you like it. akashi is far from closed minded— he is so intelligent and perceptive that there’s no room for judgement or stupid, aloof, discussions. hefty talks are common between you two as you both share your opinions and then find a common ground. it’s healthy! he loves the way you won’t take shit from others, and he’ll make sure that he won’t let others talk bad on you. akashi shows his loves through spoiling and lovely words :) he is also a man who can keep up with your ever changing life, but one thing that won’t change is his love for you.

*＊✿❀reblogs and likes are appreciated❀✿＊*

[bisexual-horror-fan]

Two Boys Are Better Than One Finale. Chapter 30. "The End." Poly!Ghostface X AFAB Reader.

Well here we are! Can you believe it?! I know I can't. This fic is the second thing I ever wrote, I started it about a half a month after The Man Of My Dreams, been writing it on and off for a year and three months. I don't wanna drone on but this fic is so fucking important to me, I love it so much, I feel like this fic really showcases best how much I have grown as a writer. This was the first poly thing I ever wrote and feel I really did it justice, and I am also so damn thankful because of this fic I have met so many rad as fuck people and a ton of my fave mutuals. I am always gonna love this fic and I hope you all enjoy this and I am dying to hear what people think.

I also want to give a shoutout to @lightofthemoonglow her amazing fic Howl gave me inspo for my fave part of this finale, her writing is amazing and you should all be following her. Thank you to every single person who has read, reblogged and esp those who have commented, everyone who tells me how much they like it means so fucking much to me.

And again if anyone has any feedback about this finale' or the fic as a whole I would be so greatful if you took the time to tell me. Now! On with the finale!

Oh wait! It's the last day of pride month so one more thing! Gay rights.

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Rating. Explict. Length. 25.3K. Poly!Ghostface X AFAB Reader. Warnings. Plot. Complex Feelings And Emotions. Confessions. Hard Conversations. Jokes. Banter. Making out. Fingering. Strap-on Sex. Pegging. Crying Reader. Huge Canon Divergence From Scream 1. Violence. Gore. Blood. Mentions Of Murder. Gun Use. Knives. Stabbing. Blood Play. Self Harm (But Not How You Are Thinking.). Sneaking Around. Lying. Kidnapping. Fuck Arthur Himbry. All My Homies Hate Arthur Himbry. Callbacks.

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The End.

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It was unfair how easy this was. How nice it felt to be in your bed with him again.

Talking! You were just talking, getting caught up, and joking, God was it nice to be joking and sharing banter. Even if the thing you were joking and bantering about was about the potential plan to ruin your friends' lives and kill them, but things with Stu were just kind of like that. He was so easy to talk to and get along with, you missed this. Missed him and what you had. There was nothing wrong with enjoying those parts of your dynamic that you missed while keeping a bit of distance. Getting back together was a bad idea, you knew that and who said you were over what happened? Who said you would be okay jumping back into that so soon, or ever? Besides, even if you did, it would muddle things, might distract you, stopping the original plan and saving Randy and Sid was what you should be focusing on.

He had been here for well over an hour, coming up on two. He could have left a while ago but you were both still talking. Two of you still on your bed, you were lying on your backs, staring up at the ceiling. It was a lull in the conversation, you tried to focus on the way the shadows were starting to spread above you and how it was just a little too warm on this late summer afternoon instead of thinking about how close his hand was and how you had the lingering urge to hold it.

He spoke up, “So how is Randy doing anyway?” You let yourself smile a little and said, “He’s good. Him and Sid are doing great, both seem excited for fall-” you turned your head and glanced at him and could see the look in his eyes, could see how he was feeling clearly.

Remorse and regret, clearly thinking about what was going to happen, what might have happened had he not changed his mind, you had the same thought. How easily he and Billy would have ended those plans, stopped them dead in their tracks. You had the brief thought of the afternoon Randy was excitedly showing you all the film related classes he intended on taking, and of Sidney telling you about the drama program and both of them insisting you would have to come visit some weekend. You thought about how if you hadn’t found out about this that Billy and Stu would have killed them and that both of those programs would have been one unforgettable and irreplaceable person short.

You didn’t want to spiral down the path of what ifs. You had every intention of stopping it and so did Stu, so instead you decided to try and lighten the mood, just a little, “-oh but you probably don’t mean all of that. If you are asking if he is still alive the answer is yes-” you said it in this over the top way, just like how you have joked previously and he cracked a smile as you pressed on, “-and I would like to keep it that way, thank you very much.”

He rolled onto his side and was looking at you. “I suppose I will just have to make sure that happens.” You were smiling too, warm and comfortable. “We both will.”

Together. It felt good to be together again.

But as nice as ‘together’ was, you still felt like you should talk about what happened when you were ‘apart’. So you started. “We talked a lot about Billy but how are you doing, Stu?”

He broke eye contact with you, eyes drawing upwards, letting out a big sigh, “Oof. Really getting into it now, huh?”

You hummed with a nod, “It’s important we are on the same page.” And he gave a dismississive wave, “Yeah, yeah I know.”

He looked thoughtful for a moment. “I-...” He finally looked back at you, “I’m better.” He didn’t need to say that this afternoon changed that, you knew. So you simply said, “Good.”

You kept looking at him. Waiting. He let out a sigh and said, “Alright, alright, so I’m doing better NOW but this past month-ish has been really fucking hard.”

“Tell me about it.” You said it so sincerely, you genuinely wanted to know, also because well it was the same for you. He sat up and was still looking down at you as he took a deep breath before getting into it. “It’s not been the same without you around. Stuff between Billy and me feels kinda-” he looked like he was struggling for the right word before settling on, “-off.”

You cocked your head to the side as you asked, “Off how?”

“Just...Different.” He laced his fingers together, looking down at his hands, a little lost in the memory he was recalling. “Like I said, that fight we had was really bad. We both said some shit we regret. I’d rather not tell you the specifics-” You gave a nod, you were fine with that, this was about moving forward right? You didn’t need to know who said what about who when it was all resolved between both of them.

“-but we made up like we always did. Worked it out. I’m not mad at him anymore, really.” You could tell he meant it. “Even after we worked it out though and tried to fall back into what we were like you know-” he gestured towards you, something vulnerable in the movement of his hand, “-before you. It just wasn’t the same.”

You tried to ignore how that made your chest feel tight, tried to push down the similar feeling that had been plaguing you, the feeling like something was off and missing. “Why do you think that is?”

“I think it’s because…I-uh he and I don’t know how to be just us two anymore. Got used to being three I suppose.” That look in his eyes, something kind of sad and far away. You felt that so hard, the past almost of a year you got used to being a threesome. You nodded once and said softly, “Makes sense.”

Even though this conversation was hard it felt needed, it was nice getting to be so open and honest.

“But it’s more than that too.” A questioning hum and he continued, “He and I took a break from the plan after that. Was just too…Hard.”

Oh. That surprised you. That what almost happened the night you broke up affected them both so much, or rather that it affected Billy that much. “You really took a break after that?”

A nod, “Mmmm. Tried to focus on us, move past it but it was hard, he didn’t want to talk about it but I mean neither did I.” He still wasn’t looking at you. Seemed really broken up about it. It didn’t make you feel good to see him like that but it made you feel something. Relief maybe? Some harder to define but ultimately positive emotion that he seemed to feel so genuinely terrible about what almost happened the night you all broke up.

“Is that why you two haven’t killed anyone else?” He nodded and finally looked back at you, “Neither of us were in the right headspace for it. In the original plan we were going to get pretty grisly as we got closer to executing the finale’ but we decided to scale back.” You pressed, “Is that why Tatum is still alive?”

“Yeah. We talked about it and thought that we shouldn’t press it. Felt like what happened was a sign that we should leave her alone. Well, for now. He still wants to get her.”

This felt kind of strange. Being so thoroughly open about all of this but it was cathartic at the same time. The emotions today were all over the place, so much new information it was hard to process it all but hey at least you weren’t feeling left out of the loop anymore, you were most assuredly and thoroughly in the loop.

“Eventually, Billy tried to press on with the work. Tried to plan more and keep going with what we had talked about but my heart just wasn’t in it. I was overthinking and questioning everything. What we almost did to you-” He ran his hands over his face, “-made everything so fucking real for me. Made it real for him too I think.” He dropped his hands, “Made me think long and hard. Made me realize I don’t want to go through with it.”

Thank God for that. “How about you, though?”

You were taken aback, “What?” He laughed just a little, “I’ve been talking about Billy and me this whole time, what about you? How’ve you been through all this?”

Shit. He had told you so much. Shared a lot and you suppose that it would only be fair to share in return. Being vulnerable about this was hard but you figured it would be worth it. Might be good to get it off your chest. “I won’t lie. It’s been hard.”

“Yeah?” a tilt of his head, genuine concern on his part too, fuck he was so cute, so sweet. “Yeah. Uhm just-” You paused for a second, trying to shake off that thought before saying, a little breathlessly, hands falling onto the bed as you exclaimed, “-breakups suck.” He broke out in a grin and you cracked a smile of your own and you both shared a laugh, as he agreed, “Breakups fucking suuuuck.”

So you talked more. You told him about how you felt, that the days were difficult and you hung with Randy and Sid, how they supported you and you worked and tried to distract yourself. That you were slowly doing better, looking at places to live in the fall right before he came over and then you both got onto the topic of your would have been one year anniversary. “So what did you both do?”

He shrugged, digging into the bag of chips in front of him. You had ended up grabbing some snacks and were both indulging while you were talking, had been at it for a few hours since he showed up and neither of you had lunch. “Not much. I could tell he was bothered but he tried to pretend he wasn’t. He’d been acting like that since we split from you. Some days were better than others but that whole day was off. Lots of long silences, and forced jokes and small talk in between that. We ordered pizza from our favorite place, played some video games, and went to bed late.”

He crunched down on a chip before gesturing as he continued, “He thought I fell asleep right away and I heard him get out of bed. He sat at that window bench I have, window open and I listened to him break down. I did a bit too. I don’t think he heard me. Neither of us talked about it.”

Fuck that was hard to hear. He was looking at you expectantly, he asked it so quietly, tentatively, “What did you do that night?” You gave a nervous laugh, plucking a chocolate chip cookie from the package in front of you, “God I am kinda embarrassed to say. It was so fucking cliche’, ya know?” You said it while gesturing to him with the confectionary in your grasp.

“Oh did you sit in sweats and eat ice cream from the tub? Cry while you watched some rom coms?” He was smiling again as he teased you and you laughed, “God no!” You reached out and playfully shoved him on the shoulder and he let you, a slight snort at the over dramatic action of it. “And as if on the rom com front! I would watch old horror movies we watched together, thank you very much.”

He gave a nod and said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world, “Very true. Much more your style.” He laughed a little and you asked, “What?”

“Just thinking of you sobbing while Dead And Breakfast plays in the background is all. It’s funny.” You laughed too, the idea of you in ill fitting and unflattering clothing, crying your eyes out as that dumb cowboy narrator sang on the tv behind you. So you told him as such, “Very funny. Unfortunately I didn’t do anything quite so humorous.”

“So what did you do?” He asked and you gave a shrug, “I worked. Came home. Went in my closet and saw the gifts I had gotten for you two and it hit me all at once. I cried, boxed up all your and Billy’s shit, everything that reminded me of the three of us and went out to the backyard to burn it.”

“No shit.” He genuinely seemed surprised by that. You kept talking, “Took a bottle of wine too, got a bit tipsy and I uh-” You laughed weakly, “-couldn’t do it. I cried some more. Drank some more. Went to bed alone.”

He let out a humorless laugh before saying, “Some anniversary, huh?”

You nodded a laugh that almost ended in a snort, “Right?” You started to close up the bag of cookies and he started to roll up the bag of chips and he asked, “So you kept the gifts?” You nodded once and he asked, “Soooo if I can ask, what’d you get us?”

Oh now that was even more embarrassing.

“Uhhhh. Dunno if I should say.” He looked at you confused. “Why not? I’m very curious.” He said it as he flopped forward on his stomach, looking up at you, one hand under his chin and you felt compelled to tell him.

Nerves be damned. “Well for Billy I got-” He cut you off, waving his hand as he said, “Yeah, yeah- that’s great. What’d you get ME?”

He said it that classic joking Stu way of his and you gave in a laugh and a shake of your head, “Fine! Fine. So you remember what we were talking about before we broke up? About the uhm thing we wanted to try?” He looked like he was trying to remember and when the realization hit he looked at you, a smile spreading across his face as he said, “No. No way, you didn’t-”

You said it quickly, throwing your hands up, “I did, okay?! I bought a strap.”

He pushed up on his hands and knees, he said it so excitedly, “Fuck off! You actually did that for me?” You laughed, a dramatic gesture of your hands, “Oh like it is JUST for you. I wanted to do it too!”

“Yeah I BET you wanted to do it.” He snickered and you couldn’t help the giggle that you let out. “Yeah and I bet you WANTED me to do it.” You both were close together. Looking into each other’s eyes. The mood was lighter, you felt lighter, felt better overall after talking and sharing so much. It felt natural and right. You were thinking of holding his hand again. It would be so easy to lean into him but again, you shouldn’t. “Yeah. Too bad we didn’t get a chance to use it. Bet it would have been a fun time.”

You let out a small laugh and looked away, a nod as you hummed in agreement. Trying not to think of the view you could have been treated to. The idea of Stu’s long and lean body spread out on your bed below you, hickies littered over his skin, his legs thrown over your hips, all flushed skin and glazed over eyes, him moaning as you-

No! No, you shouldn’t be thinking of that.

You liked the thought far too much. You couldn’t help it, you were still very physically attracted to him and this afternoon was good. Felt refreshing and familiar all at once. It was needed. You couldn’t be lingering on this, you pushed the thought away to worry about later and you changed the subject. “So did you end up-” and you asked about one of the plans he initially was really excited for at the start of the summer and that moved the conversation along.

You talked a bit more and then he left. After he did you had dinner, a shower, and then found yourself in your robe, sitting on your bed thinking, staring out the window, thinking. About everything. About that night and about Stu, a lot about the afternoon you just shared. You felt a little raw, you talked about so much, learned so much more about the situation. It felt good. And scary. You were really going to do this, were going to stop this plan, gonna-

Fuck.

Could you really do this? You felt unsure. Felt almost too much. You and Stu delved into a lot of serious emotions and you still felt like you hadn’t talked about everything yet. You felt tired, like you should worry about this later, go to bed but how could you sleep with so much whirring in your mind? Then something pulled you from your thoughts. Your phone in your robe pocket vibrated and you fished it out. A text from Stu. “Thanks for hearing me out today. Was good to talk again.”

His timing couldn’t be better. You smiled. And then you typed out a simple reply, “It was good. Thanks for being honest with me. Talk soon.” You plugged in your phone, slipped off your robe and into your bed and you felt okay. You had a better night’s sleep than you had in weeks.

So life did that thing that it has a tendency to do best. Keep on going. And you did the only thing you could do, the only thing anyone can do, keep going right along with it. You worked. Not just at the ice cream parlor but also with Stu. Had to keep it very hush hush, very secretive, calls and texts happened frequently.

You were slow on the uptake on this one. Took you a while to realize it. How giddy you felt when he texted.

One of your first clues was when you had just gotten home from work. You were upstairs in your bedroom, about to lose your uniform and have a shower when your phone started ringing. You checked and saw it was Stu so you picked it up, swiping to answer and bringing the phone up to your ear, “Hello?”

And there was Stu’s friendly voice in your ear, “Hey! I just wanted to call you quickly, I got great news about that paperwork we were tryna track down!” You perked up a bit, “And?!” A laugh from him, “Oh we got it!”

And you couldn’t help it, taking that little excited move he had, pumping your fist once and then throwing yourself back onto your bed. “Yes! Oh my God Stu that is amazing, this is huge! How’d you pull it off?” He sounded like he was outside and you could hear the smile as he said, “If I give away all my secrets then you won’t need me anymore. But chock it up to me being just that fucking good.”

“You know what I love about you?” You asked and he responded, “What’s that?”

“You’re humble.” And he laughed at that. “Oh the humblest.” He changed the subject, “But how are you?” The two of you had been talking more and more lately about just how you were instead of just the plan. Your smile fell and you sighed, “I’m doing a bit better now.”

“Now? What’s up?” He asked, the concern was apparent in his voice and you debated for a moment before deciding to tell him, you’d been talking more and more and so you opened up, “Just work today got me down a bit. Some customers were real assholes, we were short staffed, ran outta a seasonal flavor and everyone was so fucking salty about it-”

“Uh-huh, go on.” And he listened. He let you vent and talked, get your frustration out and you both finished up the convo talking about the next step in the plan that week. You hung up after that and went to go have a shower, humming a tune and feeling like a weight had been lifted off of you.

And so it kept happening like that.

There was this one night that you got an idea. You weren’t sure what prompted it but you just felt like it. You left work that night on your bike and had to ride only holding one handle bar so you wouldn’t drop your little surprise. You made it in decent time, left it on the porch and headed off, you sent a text one handed to Stu, simply saying, “Check your porch.”

And by the time you got home he texted back. It was a picture of his porch, the cup you left, the message read, “Is it safe?”

You laughed and texted back: “Yes, it’s safe. I promise.” And then he called you, when you picked up you could barely get your “Hello” out before he was cutting you off with a moan of, “Oh my fucking Godddd-” and it made you break out in laughter again, “So it’s good?” You asked and he said, “Best fucking milkshake ever. What’d I do to deserve this?”

“First off, it’s a malt!” Randy would be proud of how much you had taken to them, “Not a milkshake. And second, you’ve been working really hard and I just…” You paused, the realization starting to really hit you as you said softer, “-I wanted to thank you. For all your hard work lately.” There was a small “Awe.” from his end of the line and you also added on quickly, without thinking, “And to show you I appreciate having you back in my life.”

Billy was over, the phone call didn’t last much longer after that but it was sweet. You went to bed smiling. You didn’t regret telling him.

You were still smiling like a fucking idiot the next day as you read some text he sent you while you were on break. Randy was in the back alley with you and you were so busy staring at your phone and furiously typing your reply when he snapped which made you look up at him, startled, frantically asking, “What?” He laughed a little, “You alright there?”

You brushed him off and said, “Yeah, yeah, why?” He rolled his eyes, “You’ve been texting someone a lot lately and I’m not an idiot. I see that look on your face. So-” He smiled and nudged you, “-who is it?”

You scoffed, “Psh. No one. Don’t worry about it.” He laughed dismissively, “Fine, fine, you don’t want to tell me yet that is fine. But.” He held up one finger and you waited for him to say, "-I am happy you’re happy.” You smiled at that. “Yeah?”

He got up and came over to you, one hand on your shoulder as he said, “Yeah! Sid and I were worried you were gonna go off to college still all mopey and shit. I know the breakup was hard and you loved em a lot but seeing you move on. It’s good.”

You gave a small laugh and thanked him. Little did he know that who you were getting all cozy with was one of your ex’s from said previous serious break up.

So you still had reservations. But weirdly not many. They just seemingly had this habit of constantly falling away. Especially whenever you were talking to him. Some would come back when you were alone and didn’t get enough sleep and it was late but those circumstances were happening less and less. You felt comfortable and better. He was so sweet, so caring, so funny, you were reminded of when you first started being friends and dating. All those warm and fuzzy and familiar feelings.

But you still had some of those doubts hanging around. Even if you had difficulty remembering them when you were both on the phone together and he was telling you some funny story about something that had happened when he got lunch earlier.

It honestly kind of scared you.

How easy falling back into all of this was. How just...Good it felt. You mostly talked about the upcoming party, the plan, what you were going to do about everything. You were talking about other things more and more too though. Getting caught up and joking, just talking about anything and everything the way you used to. He managed to find the time, you were concerned about Billy finding out or getting suspicious, but he reassured you that everything was fine. Told you that things were going great. He was in a much better mood, felt more like his old self, while he didn’t like lying to Billy it was for the greater good, he knew that stopping the original plan was far more important than the discomfort of lying to him right now. He thought of how it would all be worth it. That this felt right. You agreed with him. It did feel right.

Your hang outs with Randy and Sid had a new edition: Tatum Riley.

Seeing her was weird at first. You knew her but didn’t like “know” her. She was like Sid, around, but you weren’t close, some hangouts and parties with other people, in each other’s orbit without ever interacting much. The times you had however, were nice, you liked her. You thought she dressed well and was funny, always seemingly had something interesting to say, was insightful and smart and the thing you liked best, she was a good friend. She really cared for Sidney.

The first hang out with the four of you, well you were initially nervous. Your eyes met with Tatum’s and you had the briefest thought of that night of the storm. Of what might have happened. Of how Tatum was supposed to be there instead of you and if she was that she wouldn’t be here right now. The smallest flash of her bleeding out in your mind before you pushed it away. You had your doubts about how this would all work but all of those doubts were erased less than an hour in when there was a spirited discussion with you and Randy defending why you should go see that new horror movie that weekend. Sidney and Tatum were less and thrilled with the idea, or much more likely they found it fun and funny to pretend to not be into it to see how worked up you and Randy got.

“I mean has that director even ever made ANYTHING good?” Tatum asked, arms crossed and with a raise of an eyebrow and you caught Sidney trying to poorly stifle a smile before schooling her expression, a serious nod, hands clasped in her lap as she asked, “Yes have they?”

“What?! Are you seriously asking that? I mean have you ever seen-” and Randy was off and yeah all doubts were abandoned. You had a great afternoon that stretched into the night, dinner was had and yes a movie was watched while playing cards and laughing and talking even more.

When you were leaving, so was Tatum, both of you waved goodbye to your friends and were headed down the walkway, you to your bike and her to her car parked out front. You felt good. Light. Hopeful. You were so worried things would be weird but you managed to keep any negative thoughts at bay. You tried to stay positive, tried to keep in mind that what if’s weren’t productive. What almost happened still bothered you but the point you tried to focus on is that it didn’t happen. She was okay and safe and would be. You and Stu would make sure of that. You had to. For Randy and Sid and Tatum. For your future too.

You weren’t sure what to say for goodbye but you didn’t have to worry about it cuz she spoke first, “Hey? Uhm can I talk to you for a sec before you go?” You turned to look at her, she was leaning against her car, keys in hand and you said, “Of course.” You took a step closer, “What’s up?”

She smiled and said, “First off, this was fun.” You agreed, “Yeah, really fun.” She was smiling wider as she said, “Right? Didn’t realize you were so cool. Nothing against you, just didn’t think we’d have a lot in common or get along super well.”

You kinda felt the same and gave a small shrug, “Happy to prove you wrong.”

“Defying expectations is something you seem good at. If what I have heard is anything to go off of.” And you tilted your head at her, asking in a tone of mock concern “And what have you heard?” She laughed a little, “Fuck, I worded that badly, huh? Nothing but good things. I swear!”

You decided to come closer, leaning against the car too, side by side with her as you asked, your shoulder nudging hers, “Liiiike?”

She rolled her eyes with a sigh pretending to be put out but the smile gave away that it was a bit and in good humor, she said, “Well that is what I wanted to talk about. I wanted to thank you.”

“Thank me?” You asked, looking at her, genuinely confused. She was looking up at the night sky. “For being there for Sid when I was outta town on vacation with the family. She told me that you hung out, listened, kept her mind off shit. That you were a good friend to her.”

Her eyes dropped back down, wider smile, warmth practically radiating off her as she looked back at you and said, “Seriously. Thank you.”

You hadn’t been expecting that. You felt good. Like really good hearing that from her. You weren’t sure what to say but you settled on, “No need to thank me. I wanted to do it. Sid is great.”

Tatum laughed a little at that, “Yeah.” A nod before adding on, “She is.”

“Still thank you.” She pushed off her car and turned so she was right in front of you, “So! Sappiness aside. Anyone who is such a good friend to Sidney can be a friend of mine.” She held her hand out, “What do you say? Friends? For at least the like month-ish before we all run off to college anyway?”

You took her hand enthusiastically, shaking it once, "All your friendship propositions this formal?" Your other hand covering where yours and hers met. “Why I would be honored.” You said it so over the top she nearly snorted and let go, taking a step back. “Geeze, they warned me about how much you joke but I still wasn’t ready.”

“Awe so sorry Randy left you so ill-equipped.” You pushed off too and she said, “I’ll make sure to smack him next time I see him.”

“I’ll hold you to that!” You had started back towards your bike and she said, “Christ. I bet you will! I’ll see you around. Bike safe.” She unlocked her car and you gave a wave before getting on your bike calling back “See you later, Tate.”

You thought on the ride home. Sidney Middle-Name-You-Didn't-Know Prescott considered you a friend. A GOOD friend. It made you happy. You thought last summer when you showed up that you'd be lonely and not meet anyone, be an outsider because it was senior year and everyone had known everyone forever. But you met great people. You fell in love, even if that hadn’t worked out the way you hoped it was still an amazing experience, and one you didn’t regret and weren't lonely, you had good friends. And you'd do anything for them.

You felt more determined than ever. More sure than ever that this was the right thing. You thought and thought the entire bike ride home and when you were bringing your bike into the garage you got a call from Stu.

And that is what led you to being here. Another physical meeting between you and him. You both knew it was needed, to really hammer out the finer details and do some things needed to make all of this work. You honestly wished you could have met up sooner, all communication since that afternoon in your room had been just on the phone through texts and calls. Again making sure Billy didn’t suspect anything was very important to making sure this all went off without a hitch.

He showed up to your place in the evening. Your family was out, Billy thought Stu was going outta town with his folks, doing a dinner and overnight at his aunt’s, so you weren’t going to be disturbed or overheard. It was nice seeing him in person, you were actually tempted to hug him when he first arrived, you weren’t sure if you should but he held out his arms and you decided to say fuck it and did it.

That might have been a mistake. As his arms wrapped around you it was like memories were flooding back into you, God it had been so long since you had been in his arms, it shouldn’t still feel THIS good, should it? The hug lasted less than ten seconds, it felt like it took much longer, and when he let you go and his hands slid over your back and came to rest on your shoulders as you looked up to him he said, “How are you?” And that slight cock of his head as he asked it, that smile, you had no other choice but to answer “I’m great.”

His own smile widened. “Me too.”

So pizza was had, plans were poured over, and fuck you had both been really putting in the time and effort and it showed. Lots of behind the scenes work individually to make this all come together. You kind of couldn’t believe how well it had worked out, you might chock it up to luck but it wasn’t that, not even close, it was the hard work you both did. It was much later when you decided to stop working. Both of you were in the backyard, you had started a fire, both having a drink, and talking.

“Are you nervous?” You had been poking at the fire, him speaking, breaking the silence made your head jerk up to look across the flames to him. You smiled and asked, “For?”

He scoffed and took a sip of his beer with a roll of his eyes before saying, “You know what for.” You got up and sighed, “Yeah, yeah. Just-” You started before he cut you off with, “Deflecting with humor?” He asked and you finished your drink, a hard swallow and a noncommittal shrug as you came around the fire to sit next to him. He was smirking and said, “Well fuckin’ knock it off! That is my thing.” You picked up another bottle before opening it and said, “Right how foolish of me to forget.”

“I’ll forgive you.'' He said with a smile.

Forgiveness.

What a funny little word. It has been on your mind a lot lately. Wondering if you could. Really pouring over what that word meant to you in relation to him.

You took another sip to help steady your nerves a bit before speaking again. “So to be honest, yeah I am nervous. Never uh done anything like this before, I feel better doing it with you of course but still.” You glanced at him and asked, “You?” He gave a nod, “Same as you. A little bit. But I feel better doing it with you. I’m confident in us, especially after everything we went over tonight, we totally got this.”

You couldn’t help believing him, his confidence was infectious, you both had thought of a lot, had gone over so many possibilities. If anyone could convince Billy Loomis to change his mind and stop this, it was you and Stu.

So the conversation continued, “So I just gotta know something Stu, it’s been on my mind since that last afternoon you came by.”

“Hit me.” You took a deep breath and decided to just ask it, “So, you know that night where you both came out to me? Confessed to being Ghostface?” He nodded. “Course. How could I ever forget it.”

The look on his face, so warm. It was a good night. The first time you said that you loved them, told them that you accepted them. The storm seemed like ages ago, somehow the night of the storm seemed even longer ago then that night of their confession. You pressed onwards, “Right. So what was the plan?” He looked confused, “Uh what do you mean?”

You laughed and pulled the bottle away as you expounded, “I mean what if I didn’t accept you both. What if I freaked out? What was the plan?” It was his turn to laugh, a dismissive wave as he replied, “Oh well we knew you would be fine! We knew you and it-”

You scoffed, “Bullshit! C’mon! You had to have some kinda plan B! Spill!”

His shoulders slumped and he said, “Alright, alright, but if I am going to tell you this there is a prerequisite.” You raised your eyebrows and he said, “Me telling you this stays between you and I. If Billy knew I was telling you this-”

You laughed as you cut him off, “Okay! Okay, I promise.” He shook his head, and held up his hand and you realized what this was, “Oh! Oh this is serious. Stu-” You looked from side to side before saying in a very obvious stage whisper, “A pinky promise?”

Your eyes met and you both broke out in wide smiles, “Yes, okay?! That is how serious this is, alright?” God this was so nice. So classic you and him. His expression turned harder but you could still see the playfulness in his eyes and you nodded. “Okay, I PINKY promise I won’t say anything to Billy.” You locked fingers and shook once and he seemed satisfied by that and said, “Okay. So. We didn’t.”

“What?” You asked, “You didn’t wha-” and you stopped short. Expression fallen, sheer disbelief, you were sure the confusion was clear in your eyes. “You didn’t have a plan for me taking your confession badly?”

He started defending himself, a wide gesture of his hands, one still clutching the bottle, “Okay, okay! So no, we didn’t have a plan in case you weren’t down or freaked and tried to turn us in. BUT!” You were nodding, encouraging him to continue, “BUT?!” You repeated it and he said, “But! We were sure it would be fine.”

That made you stop. “What?” You said it softer, a shrug from him, “We talked a long while about it and were sure it would be fine and decided that in the small off chance it wasn’t we’d deal with it in the moment.” He took you totally off guard.

“You mean that? You just-” Practically stammering and he cut you off by finishing your thought, “Knew. We just knew.”

Awe. You felt what could only be described as awe. “Stu, I-I don’t know what to say.” He looked thoughtful, “To be totally honest with you here y/n, I was hesitant. I wasn’t sure if we should wait a bit longer, just to be sure but Billy really pushed for it.” He let out this little laugh before then adding on, “He really believed in you and us going the distance. So I took a leap of faith based on what he said and it paid off.”

You felt so much from hearing that. Billy was the one who trusted you enough with something so huge? He trusted you to understand and to take that big information drop and was the one to push that next step. He always seemed to be the most hesitant and a little closed off and here this new info was proving you wrong. He just wasn’t as vocal about it which you couldn’t blame him for.

You also felt bad. He trusted you so much, and thought that you could, as Stu said, “Go the distance.” And you were the one who ended it.

The memory of that night practically assaulted you. Partially dressed, Billy behind you, hugging you tightly as he said, “I told you, I told you it would be fine man.” Stu was hugging you too, you had been sandwiched between them and they were smiling and kissing you and Stu was saying so enthusiastically, “I knew it, she is it! She’s the one man! I knew this wouldn’t scare her off.”

God somehow that night seemed less time ago than the storm even though it was almost a year ago and that storm was this summer. Some part of you wished things could still be like that.

“While we are being so open and honest there was something I wanted to make sure we are clear about.” You had been lost in thought and finally looked at him again. He was peeling the label on his beer bottle, another nervous habit. “Sure, of course you can talk to me about anything.” You tried to make it sound true, you felt that way but you wanted to make your feelings clear in your tone.

He finished his drink and set the bottle down, his forearms rested on his knees, hands together and he started, “I want to make sure you understand I am not innocent in all of this.”

You listened as he really started in, talking faster, “I was a part of what Billy and I did. I don’t want you to think it was like, all him or something. He came up with it but I still agreed. I didn’t have to. But I did. And I planned and plotted and made fucking phonecalls-” he leaned back, dragging a hand over his face, “-I held people down or used a knife while he held them down and more. I fucking like, contributed, you know?”

You nodded once, listening intently as he kept rambling on, talking so fast, a little manic but different then when Billy was that night. “What I am trying to say is-” A pause, before he sighed again for who knows how many times it had been tonight, and he said slower and more seriously, “I was an active participant. I am not innocent. It’s not all Billy’s fault. I had a say.”

His eyes were down, seemingly unable to look at you until you said, “And I’m innocent?” His gaze met yours and you were leaning closer, a hand on his shoulder, “I knew. I know I said I tried not to think about it and that is true and I never made a phone call or held anyone down or whatever but I am not innocent. I knew what you were both doing and I stood idly by.”

You were smiling, a soft and sad kind of smile, “More than that I encouraged it by being so into our little role plays, I know that. I had a say too.”

There was this pause with the both of you just looking at each other.

He had turned, pivoted a bit to be facing you better, “You know what I keep coming back to?” You asked quietly, “What?”

“The fact you didn’t turn us in. Billy and I talked about that, and even after everything he didn’t think you would do it. Tried to say it was because you’d be implicated but I could see it. He still really cares. Even after all the shit you and he said, he does and I could see he really doesn’t think you would. And neither do I.”

They were right. You never seriously considered it for a second. It seemed just wrong for some reason. You had no desire and yeah the fact that you’d get in trouble too had crossed your mind but mostly you just didn't want to. The tone had really shifted, no more lightness, no playfulness or joking. You were both open, raw like an exposed nerve.

“When I said I wasn’t doing all this to get back together I meant it. Really-” You nodded softly saying, “I know.” And he pressed forward, “-but we can’t go into this without fully trusting each other so I need to tell you that-”

He faltered and the hand still on his shoulder moved, rubbing soothingly and encouraging and he said, “-it’s not just Billy. I still care a lot about you.” He put so much emphasis on the “I”, “You mean so much to me. To us. No one ever got me until Billy and he felt the same with me and then you showed up and just fuck!-”

A deep breath, one of his hands in his hair, a gesture with the other like he was trying to get across how deeply he felt and how complex the emotions he still held for you were “-you! You came along and you saw us and fit in just so well and I feel like this is all my fucking fault it ended.”

“Your fault?” You asked it shocked because well you were, he felt like it was all his fault? He nodded and your other hand was on his knee and he kept going, “My fucking fault, yeah! It’s my fault! I blame myself, I shoulda pushed harder, made us tell you everything sooner, kept you in the loop.”

One of his hands came up and wiped at his eyes before saying, “I don’t blame you for getting so hurt and upset. We came into your life all ‘ride or die’ this and ‘three of us’ that and got wrapped up in each other. Fuckin' invested and then made all these summer plans and then just BAILED! Without explaining shit. I can’t even imagine how lonely it was! I get it if you are done with us forever, I do.”

A beat before he said, “But I had to tell you that I still love you. And maybe that is selfish of me to put on you or some shit-” He kept going even further, “-but two isn’t enough. Billy feels the same even if he is too proud to fucking say anythin’ I know it.” His hand covered yours on his knee and said, “I don’t feel whole. Haven’t the whole time you have been gone.”

You held your hands up and said, “Stu.” He pulled back a bit as he stopped and you were both just looking at each other. He looked so fragile and vulnerable and you felt far too much in that moment as you looked in his eyes. You saw the shift, a realization that he might have pushed too much too far and you started “I..”

“I should go.” Stu cut you off, made a move to get up and you stood up quickly. Hands on his shoulders, “Stu! I feel the same way!”

And then it was his turn to say, “What?” and you nodded once, “I feel the same way. Nothing has made sense since we split and I feel just-”

A big sigh, “-not right. I feel this weird heaviness and hollowness at the same time. I can’t even begin to explain it and yeah I probably shouldn’t be doing this and staying broken up is like the ‘right’ and the ‘heathly’ and the fucking ‘normal’ thing to do or what the fuck ever but I don’t give a shit about any of that.”

You were tearing up yourself, overflowing with feeling, “Getting in touch over the past few weeks showed me how good it was previously, how much I was missing you, missing us, how right it feels. Stu I fucking miss you too.”

“You mean it?” He whispered it and the parallel of how you said that earlier got to you l. Stu whispering or speaking hushed always fucking got to you, typically he was so unapolgettically loud and you loved that too but whenever he spoke low just to you it was in a setting like this, tension and so close together, heat and implication present.

So you whispered in return, “Yes Stu. I still love you too.” And who pulled who close first didn’t really matter, you think it was a joint effort but you could have sworn you tugged first and then your lips were on his and you were kissing and the tears were falling. And the kissing didn’t stop, tugging on each other and just aching to get closer, neither of you were close enough, you were pulled into his lap.

That first kiss was nearly overwhelming. It had been weeks upon weeks since you had been kissed and my God you never wanted to go that long without it ever again. It felt hot, and reassuring, comforting, arousing, familiar all at once. You couldn’t stop, your hands were on his neck and they slid up into his hair, fuck it felt so soft and you tugged lightly and the way he breathed against your mouth made you pull him closer. His own hands couldn’t keep off of you, his hands were on your back and being in his arms was too good, you were so caught up in it, almost lost in the feeling of his lips sliding against yours.

It was like a dam breaking, no holds barred, nothing could stop it you just had to either get out of the way or hold on for dear life. You chose the latter obviously, you weren’t an idiot. You spoke first, hushed and breathy in between kisses, “Missed you so much-” And he hummed in agreement before his reply came, “Missed you too.” And there were more kisses and more whispers shared between you and him against each other's lips. Apologies. “M’ sorry.” Reassurances, “It’s okay.” And more admissions of your feelings. “I love you.”

The half finished drinks were abandoned, the fire was dying and you both went back inside. Could barely get off of each other enough to get inside and upstairs but you managed. Hands still roaming and stumbling, barely breaking apart, still hungry for one and other.

You and he found yourselves back in your room. Thank God you had the place to yourselves, you didn’t want to be interrupted and certainly didn’t want to be quiet, didn’t think you’d be able to be. The tears had stopped a while ago but you could still feel the evidence of them staining your face, you kept kissing him, you were practically aching by this point.

Your tongue swiped over his bottom lip and the sound he let out made you want to moan in return. You pushed him back onto your bed, looking him over for only a moment, how he was disheveled and that he looked very fucking hard, you couldn’t wait and climbed ontop of him, leaning down and kissing him again. His hands found your hips and the feverish make out continued, more kissing, his tongue was involved and fuck you hadn’t realized how much you missed it and you wanted to tell him but didn’t want to stop.

The direction this was heading was crystal clear. You didn’t have any more reservations, you missed him, loved him, had his mouth and hands on you and him in your bed for crying out loud you were going to take, indulge, you didn’t want to stop, never wanted to go back. He moved his hips first, he was just adjusting but that didn’t matter, his hard clothed cock ground against you just right and so you moaned, “Stu oh my God-” and when was the last time you moaned? Not just moaning that, his name, but just actually moaned? Expressed pleasure so vocally?

He moaned your name in return when you ground down, desperate for more stimulation, you were already so wet and he moved with more purpose, grinding harder, his fingers digging into your hips.

The tension was increasing, hot and heavy, breathing became labored, clothes felt restricting, you needed to feel him, all of him. You asked, “Do you-” and he broke away, looking up at you, his hands still on you with you in his lap. He looked so damn good, you wanted to eat him up, “-want to?” you finished, looking at him had made you stumble over what you were saying. He gave a nod, but he looked unsure and you gave a questioning look in return but before you could say anything he said, “I- uhm.” His tongue darted out and licked his lips, one of his hands coming off of your hip as he tried to find the words, “I have an idea.”

You were insanely curious. It had been so long since you had been together physically, what did he wish, what did he want? He was having trouble maintaining eye contact, a pause before finally getting it out, “What if we used that...Gift you got for me.”

Oh.

“You want to use the strap?” You weren’t opposed, you were just confused, you hadn’t been with him in so long and that is what he wanted first? “Yeah, I-I think it’s only fair.”

A small laugh from you before you questioned, “Fair?” And he continued on, looking up at you as he said, “You uhm. I kept thinking about it and when we were all together you opened yourself up so much.” His other hand was rubbing your arm, hand still on your hip had his thumb stroking over you, it felt grounding as you listened to him. “Made yourself so vulnerable for us. I want to give you the same thing.”

You were a little stunned. I mean let’s really break this down for a moment. You and Stu had just gotten back together, admitted you missed and loved each other, furious making out and now he admitted he wanted you to fuck him with a strap on. Of all the ways you thought tonight could go this was not one of them.

“And you really want this?” I mean if how hard he was and his body language was anything to go by yes he did but this was your first time hooking up since the break not to mention this was a BIG fucking deal, you needed to hear it verbally. “Yeah. Of course.” You started to slide off of his lap, your hand brushing over the front of his jeans as you asked, “Yeah?” You felt him stiffen and he confirmed, “Ye-yeah. Kinda haven’t stopped thinking about it since you told me you bought it.”

Oh and that is exactly what you wanted to hear. The idea of Stu unable to think of anything else other than spreading his legs so you could fuck him was far too good. So after a few more minutes of furious making out and grinding, because what? Were you just going to not jump on him and work him, and to be honest yourself, up even more? Just not want to kiss him after all that? The idea again that Stu wants this, wants to get fucked open by you, God, it got to you so badly.

So then this is how you find yourself. The lamp on your nightstand was turned on, Stu went to the bathroom to prepare a bit and you had retrieved the box from the closet. It felt weird opening up the present you had wrapped so carefully for him but you didn’t linger on it as you tore the paper and ribbons free. You opened it up, you had already cleaned it prior to wrapping it, you had a feeling when you gifted it to him he’d want to use it right away. You had gotten undressed during your makeout and so the harness was the only thing you had on once you had it affixed and in place. The straps were adjusted and the dildo you purchased felt heavy hanging off of you, not unpleasant but very present, you were extremely aware of it. You turned to look at yourself in the floor length mirror and damn. You looked good. No time to linger on that thought because the bathroom door opened and before you could even turn to look at him you heard him, “Wow.”

You couldn’t stop your smile and you started to turn but he was already on you, his hands on your shoulders and he was pushing you back until the back of your knees hit the bed and you fell back onto it. You were looking upon him and he was stripped too and he was on his knees between your legs, his hands on your knees and he was leaning forward. Purple silicone resting against his cheek, eyes closed and he hummed lightly, leaning into the heavy fake cock between your legs. “Stu?” and he held up one finger, “Shhh. Gimme a second.”

And you watched as he sighed, nosing it for a moment before his eyes opened back up and he looked up at you, maintaining eye contact as he moved, tongue slipping out of his mouth, “I’m doing somethin’ ”. He started low and ran his tongue up the length of the toy, never taking his eyes off of you, and he ran up one side and then down the other. The fucking visual was insane, seeing Stu on his knees and nude before you, licking your false cock obscenely, the view was heart stoppingly hot, you could actually feel yourself get wetter upon the sight.

Then he was up on his knees, lips wrapping around and he started to suck and you couldn’t feel it, not physically but the mental stimulation was more than enough for you to enjoy this immensely. You reached out, fingers running through his hair and he leaned into your touch, he sucked harder, he moaned around the thick silicone on his tongue and it made your breath catch. “Fuck-” it spilled from your mouth so quietly, and it encouraged him, urged him to take you deeper, suck harder, his hand on your knee started to slide up your leg and you shifted, squirming a little bit.

You had the thought of how Billy got treated to this view all this time, lucky him, you also wondered how good you looked when you were on your knees in front of Stu to him because if that view was half as good as this one you fully understood why he was so into you giving head. You had seen him like this for Billy of course but being on the receiving end was always going to be different, more visceral and intense. He was so damn into it, you wondered how good it would feel if this dick was actually real, you bet it would be phenomenal. You probably wouldn’t have lasted anywhere near this long, probably would have already cum down his throat. He pulled up, popping it out of his mouth, it was soaked with him, covered in drool, so much of it that some had leaked down onto you. The look on his face, you knew it, from when it had been on your own, that kind of blissful haze of lust, hot and bothered, ready and willing for the next step.

“So?” He asked before his hand wrapped around the base of the toy, stroking lazily, tongue peeking back out and licking over the head of the purple cock still attached to you.

“God-yeah, that sure was something.” And he snickered at that and you laughed a little yourself, real smooth of you to say. You need some more, need to feel him so you say next, “Get up here.”

He was leaning up more, hand on your face and kissed you and you returned it immediately, you had missed this so damn much. His lips and his tongue, the give and take of it, the rhythm the two of you always found, kissing him would always make you want to do well just anything, everything, it was always easy to talk you into things when mid makeout with him.

You and he lingered on this for a while longer, you started to move, adjusting and tugging until he was the one on the bed, laid back and stretched out before you, he had a pillow under his hips and you were sitting between his spread legs. You had moved on from his mouth and kissed over his cheeks and the line of his jaw, neck, you paused there, a lick, a kiss and then a bite that made his hands grip your shoulders as he said so rushed, "No marks." Shit, yeah you couldn't do that, if you left hickies behind you'd get caught by Billy for sure. That would be terrible but the idea in theory was just a little hot. "Sorry."

Then your mouth was back to work, more affection poured over his neck and chest and lower. Soon you were sitting up straight and had the bottle of lube in your hands and popped the top, pouring a generous amount over your fingers, you set it aside and looked at him, hand resting on his thigh. You were about to ask if he was ready but he gave a nod and you started.

You knew that you had to do this with great care and so you really took your time. It wasn’t exactly your first foray into anal, you knew Stu had a lot of experience giving and receiving, you had some receiving too, just not as much giving. Usually when you were still a trio you were on the bottom, it’s a lot easier and less involved to do oral and vaginal, there had been plenty of occasions where they were the ones getting fucked.

Your wet fingers started rubbing slowly and you couldn’t stop looking at his face, paying great attention to his reactions, especially when you started to push one of your fingers inside. He took it so well. The way he moved when you started was captivating, and how he felt? I mean you have fingered yourself countless times, knew yourself well but he felt so hot, obviously the texture was different too, so smooth. Soon one finger wasn’t enough and he was actually begging for, “More-” and you had to give it to him when he sounded that good, the second finger sliding in along with the first.

He was starting to squirm as you fingered him, messy fingers slipping deeper, working on really getting him ready. The emotion of the moment hit you as well, how intimate this was, how much he clearly trusted you, not to mention how good he looked, he was clearly as into it as you were, his enthusiasm was as infectious as it always was. You got lost in it, trying to do it just as you had seen Billy do it and soon he was breathing your name and you knew it was time to move on, fingers slipping out and he let out this sound that made you throb, fuck, you were almost dripping already.

“Are you good, Stu?” you asked and he nodded, something softer in his gaze, he appreciated the thought, you checking in, but of course you did, course you were concerned, his comfort was so important. A nod, “M’ great.” he said it so quietly and you smiled, a nod as you softly said, “Good.”

You picked up the lube again, ample amount poured into your palm and you wrapped your slick hand around yourself, starting to fist your false cock, once you were positively dripping in lube you had one hand on his thigh and your hand wrapped around the base of the dildo as you lined yourself up.

There are many moments in a person’s life that change them, moments that stand out and are simply unforgettable, a lot of the time you aren’t even aware you are in one of those moments when they are happening, only realize it upon reflection. This wasn’t one of those times. When you started to slide into him, the moan he let out, the way he tensed, and writhed on the sheets of your bed below him, you knew that this would be burned in your brain forever. As soon as you were fully inside you paused, figured he needed to get used to the feeling and your hands reached out and started to pull his legs over your hips and after a moment he gave you the go ahead and you started to move.

How had you never done this before? That thought was the clearest in your mind as you pulled back that first time, pulling out halfway to then buck forward, the sound he made, the way his body moved on that first thrust alone, you knew this would be addicting. You fucked easy to start, the pace wasn’t quick, just enjoying taking it slowly.

I mean you had seen him get fucked by Billy of course, been there and been a part of it and enjoyed it immensely but again there was something different about being the one to do this to him. Something about fucking into him and having him split open on your cock, it was impossibly hot, you wanted to do everything you could to make him feel as good as possible. Hear more of those moans and make him move, your hips moved just a touch harder, a little quicker and the way his breathing picked up was amazing encouragement for you, soft sound of skin on skin filling your bedroom.

You really took in the view at that moment, flushed skin, eyes all hazy with pleasure and arousal, his lips parted, panting softly, the way his body moved as you thrusted forward, the slight sheen of sweat on his body, the way his cock bobbed on every move of your hips hitting him. He looked gorgeous in the low light, your hands moved up to his hips, gripping onto him as you adjusted a bit, trying to get a bit of a better hold on him and when you did all of a sudden his breathing practically stopped as he gasped, “Right there-”

It sent this pulse of heat straight to your cunt, the way he moaned it, how he tensed more, fists in the sheets and eyes wide and you couldn’t help it, soft question as you rocked your hips again in the same way, “Right there?” you hoped, you prayed and he nodded with a moan.

You thanked every God possible that you were home alone right now. You moved again, harder and he nearly whimpered and fuck, it was good. Your hands gripped his hips tighter and you moved your own hips with more purpose, speeding up, hitting that spot over and over and he was getting louder, moaning your name, “-God! Fu-fuck that’s so good.” And you couldn’t help it, one of your hands sliding off of his hip and up over his stomach, thrusting harder, “Yeah? S’ good?” And he bit his bottom lip, eyes rolling back, another nod and a strained moan.

“You sound so good Stu-” a harder thrust and he moaned again, “Ye-yeah?” and how he said that made you let out a small moan, yeah you were definitely dripping now, could feel the mess on your inner thighs, you again couldn’t feel how amazing he would feel wrapped around you but the mentally aspect is incredible. More than makes up for it, this was a truly one of a kind experience and you wanted to have it again and again. Have him like this again and again. “And how you look? Mmm. You take it so well.”

He moaned from you saying that, a pleading beg poured from his mouth, "Don't stop!" Fuck it just felt so hot, passionate, so damn right, your hand slid up higher and he arched into your touch, you fucked into him just right, he wouldn’t stay still, hard breaths and moans. "I won't."

You meant it. Then you dug your nails in and dragged down over his chest and stomach, pain and pleasure intermingling and the strangled moan that tore from his throat told you that he loved it.

He was getting close, you could tell, the way he was tensing, the build up was intense for him, slow climb, he was getting desperate I mean he was trembling for fucks sake. "Please, please, please-" He was begging, looked wrecked and you knew he was right there, just needed that little extra push, so you decided ever so graciously to give him a hand, literally. Your hand that wasn't on his hip came up and you spit into your palm, hand came down and wrapped around his shaft and that drew a shuddering breath from him, another hushed moan of your name as if all the air had been pulled from his lungs, he was so perfect like this.

And then you finally started moving your hand, spreading the wetness and jacking him off in time with the movement of your hips, hand rose and fell as your strap fucked in and out. And that was just what he needed from you, and then you just had to hold on, keep your hand and hips moving, not get distracted by how good he looked as you fucked him through his high.

He arched when he came, eyes shut tight and heels digging into the bed, his thighs squeezing around you and it looked like a good one, came so hard he covered his own chest and stomach in thick ropes of cum, a stray shot hit the bottom of his chin and of course a healthy amount was on your fingers. You slowed, hand released him and hips stopped so you were still buried to the hilt inside of him, he was slack on your bed, trying to catch his breath, you admired him, just watched him as you brought your hand up and tasted the evidence of his pleasure on your fingers.

"And how was it?" You teased and he let out this breathless laugh and said, "Words. No words. Ask again later." And that pulled a laugh from you, it sounded a little off coming out through your fingers still in your mouth. You finished cleaning them and pulled them out then saying, "I'll try to remember to ask."

Hands on his hips again as you said, "Gonna pull out now, okay?" And he nodded again, finally seemed to be catching his breath and so you gave his hips a reassuring squeeze and slowly started to slip out of him. He sucked in a breath as you did it, you came out really easy and you checked in with again, "Good?"

You didn't wait for a reply as you started to dip down, he begun to tell you just how good he was but then your tongue was out of your mouth and working on cleaning up the rest of his spilled cum, licked up the bead lingering on the tip and that made his sentence stop short. You moved over licking up his stomach and chest, making damn sure not to miss any.

You soon were fully on top of him, licking the cum off his chin and then his hand was on the back of your head pulling you down into a kiss. It was messy and his tongue invaded your mouth first, he never was one to shy away from his own cum but still even with that knowledge kissing him and sharing it like this was very exciting for you. The makeout pressed on and you moaned into the kiss, you were still aching, fucking him had gotten you so worked up, his fingers hooked in the strap of the harness over your hip and he tugged as he pulled away just enough to say after a quick swallow, "Get this off." And you followed suit, damn he still tasted good, before you asked, "Why?"

And there was another deep kiss shared before he pulled back and said, "Cuz I'm starving and need to eat you out."

Your hands shot to your hips and started to unclip the harness, desperate to lose it, you needed this, needed him, needed relief from the burning ache between your legs. He wasn't helping, as you were fumbling with clips and clasps and straps he was kissing your neck and one of his hands was on your side and the other was grabbing a handful of your ass and fuck it had been too long since any of this happened to you.

Then as soon as the realization hit you it was like he could read your mind and bite down on the spot where your neck meets shoulder. You didn't need to worry about being caught by Billy, he could mark you, and when he did bite you breathed his name with a soft moan. "Missed how you do that."

You were glad that he did, missed how you moaned his name, to be honest you missed moaning it and so you said, "Missed doing it." Another mark left, now sucked into your chest and he didn’t stop, it was distracting in the best and worst ways.

Finally the harness released and you tugged it free and threw it aside, could clean it later, a problem for future you. Soon as he heard the thud of it hitting the carpet you were pushed onto your back and he was moving down your body. The anticipation was so real, you had been so busy since the break up, head full of worries and just so much other shit not to mention all the emotions that you hadn’t even masturbated in weeks, very unlike you.

So now that you were doing all of this it was really going to your head, you tried to just focus on breathing, just keep breathing, he was past your stomach now, hands spreading your legs apart to give himself access. He lingered on this for a while, kissing you, hands roaming, trying to touch nearly every inch of skin he could reach as he praised you, told you how good you smelt and how soft you felt under his touch. Words of adoration and reassurance and love as he worshipped your body because make no mistake that is exactly what this was, worship. Paying reverence to your splayed out form, an attempt to make up for the lost time you were apart. It was blissfully overwhelming.

A kiss and then a sharp bite on your hip made you jerk involuntarily under him and you could swear you felt his smile against you, before you could say anything else other than his name he had settled between your legs. He had leaned in and his lips touched down on your clit and you had to bite back a cry from how good that simple action felt.

There are a few simple truths in this world and one that you thought you had down pat was that Stu Macher was unbelievable at eating pussy.

Apparently in his absence you had managed to forget it or maybe it had simply been too long or maybe it was the heightened emotion of tonight, maybe it was a lot of things. But you couldn't think about any of them because he was kissing all over you, over your clit and lips and then when that first lick over all of you happened yeah thought became impossible. Again thank whatever powers that be that you were home alone because being quiet is thoroughly impossible at the moment. The way his tongue worked to explore every sensitive nook and fold of you, and how passionate he did it, like this, bringing you pleasure was the only thing that mattered, you were the only thing that mattered, that is how he made you feel anyway.

Fuck it was good, tongue up one side and a lick over your clit that made your hips stir before down the other side and you had to remind yourself again to breathe. When he really settled in, hands on your inner thighs, making sure your legs stayed spread as he ate you out, thumbs striking over plush skin as he focused in on your clit you were moaning and shaking in less than two minutes. Again it had been so long and he was so fucking good and just all of it, everything, it all got to you and that is why less than five minutes into him being between your legs you were crying out his name, cumming, clit pulsing on his tongue. That first orgasm had really gotten you, one hand over your eyes as you were panting, he had slowed but still hadn't stopped, making sure to wring every bit of sensation he could from your orgasm. The release was so fucking needed, it was amazing after giving yourself nothing for weeks.

But even after it was most assuredly over, which took a while, he still didn't stop. He was being much softer, much gentler but was still going, had eased off that very sensitive bundle of nerves and was putting time and attention everywhere else, you weren’t going to complain.

And he kept it up until you were starting to squirm again, hips shifting and then he was focusing less on everything else and was back to the main event. Has he done this before? Had either of them? Eaten you out back to back, never stopping, just slowing until you got off again, well it isn't like it mattered if it had happened before because it was happening now and that is what is important. And so soon again you were breathing his name in warning, thighs trembling in his hands as you were on the edge again, he didn't slow, kept doing just what he was, just how you liked it, of course he had that memorized ages ago and didn't forget. How could he ever when you moved like that, made such sweet sounds and tasted better than anything that had graced his tongue previously.

Then you were cumming again, soft chant of his name over and over, hand in his hair, stronger than the first and it stole your breath away, you made a silent vow to yourself then and there to never go this long without this ever again. You could not live without it, refused to live without it, and you had no intention of letting the chance of something that horrible ever happening again. You weren’t going to let him go ever again, how could you have ever been so stupid to let anything come between you. The stimulation was too much, you were tugging on his hair trying to get him to ease up, “Mmmf Stu! Ple-please s’ too much-” but he just shook his head, eyes gazing up at you as his mouth once again slowed but didn’t stop.

“I-I mean it, please sto-woah!” And when you tugged again and were attempting to beg him to ease up but he wasn’t having it. Instead his hands were on your ass and he moved so he fell onto his back, pulling you with him so you were now sitting on his face, his hands moved off of your ass and his arms locked over your thighs. Yeah you weren’t able to go anywhere now. Your hand had left his hair when he pulled you into this new position and he gave one hard lick over your already soaked lips and clit before saying, “Need one more from you.” And his mouth was latched back on before you could process and all you could do was moan and give a weak nod.

You had no choice in the matter. How awful was that? To have such a wonderfully attentive guy so devoted to your pleasure, eating you out so well, you couldn’t stop shaking by this point, wrecked and whimpering the same way he had been when he’d been under you twenty minutes ago. You weren’t fighting it any longer, not trying to get up, in fact it was getting damn good again, oversensitivity and overstimulation giving away to raw and real pleasure again, you started to grind down onto his tongue. If he wanted one more you were going to give him one more.

The climb was slow and intense, you were moaning and gasping from the way he did it, tongue running through your folds, the way he sucked on your lips and lapped at your clit, he was unfairly good at it. He loved to do a little bit of everything at the start before focusing in on your clit and finding that delicious and all importantly consistent rhythm for you to be able to find your end. A few minutes was all he needed until your eyes squeezed shut and with quivering thighs, nails biting into your palms as you were moaning out his name, grinding yourself onto his mouth as you rode out your pleasure. The come down was good, quiet, you were panting and his arms let go, hands on your thighs giving a small push and you took the hint to scoot back a bit, freeing up his mouth.

You looked down at him, he looked so soft, so content, the bottom half of his face covered in you, hands resting on your thighs. You could think of only one thing to say, something the three of you had said time and time again during the quiet moments after intensely hooking up, you said softly, “Hey.”

He looked a little surprised to hear you say that, but not like it was a bad surprise. He smiled and said in return, “Hey.” And such a simple word, typically a casual greeting shouldn’t get to you so bad but that is what it was to everyone else. A simple alternative way of saying hello but in your relationship it was so much more, “Hey” to the three of you had meant “I love you” and “I care” and “what we just did meant more than I can possibly express, has taken all the words I have and so all I can say is a simple ‘hey.’ that is all I have to offer but you get it, I know you know what I mean.”

His fingers were stroking over your thighs and then he felt something that made both of you pause. It was that cut that Billy had left on you the night of the storm. You were both looking at it and he said quietly. “It’s healing well.” And you nodded, “Yeah it is.”

They had left marks before but not one like this, it was definitely going to scar, you didn’t mind it as much now, didn’t bother you as it had before, now to you it was like a mark to show how far you had come, a reminder of how you persevere through a rough patch. Stu looked guilty, you reached down, hand meeting his cheek and he glanced back at you and you said, “It’s fine.” And so he dropped it.

You both moved to be cuddled up on your bed, still a mess of sweat and cum and lube and whatever else but far too tired to worry about cleaning up right away, simply not caring. You and he were talking again. “I had no idea the strain of doing that-” Stu laughed and held you a bit closer, “What do you mean?”

You ran your hand down his back as you said, “Fucking like that. I’m not used to being the one penetrating, it’s hard on the hips.” Stu was still chuckling at that, “Yeah you’re tellin’ me. Gained a newfound appreciation of all the work me and Billy do, huh?” That made you scoff, “Work? Fucking me is work?” you teased and the back and forth continued like that for a bit, teasing and joking with each other until another silence fell over you until Stu broke it.

“So how did you feel when we were broken up?” He asked it and you sighed softly, a quiet hum before saying like a question, “Adrift? You?” and he agreed, “Yeah, same. Adrift fits."

You kept talking about the future and what this hook up meant. He had his arms around you and your face was buried in his neck enjoying the closeness but something was lingering on your mind. You were the one to speak up first and say, “This is so nice. I missed this so much but-” and Stu cut you off to say, “It doesn’t feel right.”

You had to agree. A sigh leaving you before you pulled back and said, “Doesn’t feel complete without him does it?” A hard swallow from Stu as he looked into your eyes, hands on your arms as he looked like he was searching for something, maybe trying to determine if you were being honest. He finally speaks after a minute, “Are you serious?”

A nod. “Do you really want to get back together?” And you tell him, “It’s been on my mind since the afternoon we met up again in my room Stu, yes, yes I want to-” and he cuts you off with a hard kiss, his hands on your neck and you kiss him back. There were smiles and laughing and you were both overjoyed.

For about a minute.

He then asks, “But what about Billy?”

And before you could open your mouth he says, “And before you answer, I need to tell you how he has been doing.” You nod once and agree to listen. He goes on to tell you how hard it has been for him, “He’s been struggling. He keeps tryin’ to act like he is fine, but he is hurting bad. Misses you a fuck ton. Misses what the three of us had.” He sighed, “I still love him. Still want to stay with him but I want you too-” and then it was your turn to cut him off and you said, “I have been thinking a lot lately Stu.”

And he listened now. “I’ve been pouring over all of it. And even after everything that happened, knowing everything I know now, I still want what he had before. Neither of us can change the past or what happened, all we can do is move forward and I want to move forward with both of you.” God the look on Stu’s face as you said that, hopeful, you then said, “If we foil his plan, if it all works out how we hope it will then I want to be with both of you again.”

He pulled you close and you hugged him tightly. You said it, and you meant it, utterly and completely honest you did want that, wanted to be with both of them. Stu pulled back and even with his eyes a little wet he asked with a smile, “Does that mean you still want to live with us in that apartment we picked out at the start of the summer?” And your own smile broke out, “Yes I do.” Good news on top of good news, he looked so fucking happy, you felt just as happy as he looked. The emotion was intense and so you broke the tension by saying, “Good thing you offered cuz I could not decide on a place on my own.” And he laughed, “We leave for college so soon, where were you planning to live?”

“Eh could sleep in the library.” You and he laughed again.

A beat. There was a lingering question. The what if. What if your plan went sideways? What if you couldn’t stop him. What if he didn’t listen. You felt just as nervous as he did about it you assumed, sure you were both thinking it so you vocalized it, “We aren’t going to-” you couldn't finish it, he knew what you meant anyway and he held you close as he said, “No, no of course not. It’s unthinkable. We could never turn him in. And if we did….”

A heavy sigh. “It would break him. I don’t doubt if we tried he’d pull us down with him just to hurt us…” You hummed with a nod and you added on, “And I wouldn’t blame him either.”

Neither of you wanted to. But it was important to be as clear as possible. You wanted to be on the same page and you were both glad for that. It needed to be the three of you or nothing.

You got out of bed and both had a shower together. You talked more, about lighter things, laughing, joking, talking about how good this felt, trying to keep your minds off of how hard this next part would be.

He didn’t spend the night.

As much as you both wanted it you both agreed that the first time you slept together, like slept, slept in the same bed would be the three of you. So you were wrapped up in your robe as you watched him leave, watching him head down the walkway, wishing he could stay in your bed but this was for the best, would make the first night three of you could be together again that much better. Your bed felt massive by yourself that night but your sheets now smelled like Stu which helped lull you to sleep.

Was there a better way to go about this than waiting until the party? Potentially. But you sure as shit didn’t see it. You had talked at length about it and agreed that it would be best, everything had been building and leading up to this the entire time in their original plan, a bit of editing on your part was all that needed to change. You weren’t invited to said party obviously and that bothered Randy and Sid and Tatum. The three of them offered to ditch the party in favor of spending time with you and you turned them down, insisting they should go.

“Ugh but it is gonna be so lame without you.” Randy groaned and you laughed, “I think you will manage to have a good time without me for one night.” And you reached out, an arm around Sidney’s shoulders and you said, “Besides you are still going with your beautiful girlfriend, I think you will survive.”

Tatum chimed in then and said, “Okay, okay fine but we need to do a night for us four before we all leave town, deal?” Sidney agreed, “Yeah! We have to do that, c’mon-” And you agreed. “Yes, yes alright, we can do that. I’m looking forward to it. So you’ll still go to Stu’s party?”

“Fine. We will go to the big blow out party with all the free food and booze but we won’t like it.” Randy joked and you rolled your eyes, “Thank you so much for your sacrifice. You are the last true humanitarian.” Sidney asked, “You sure you can’t make it?”

A shake of your head and said, “I got a family thing. I really can’t, sorry.” And they let it go.

So it was the night of the party now. There was so much to do, you had been so busy, you had been nervous all fucking day, as had Stu. He was with Billy most of the day and you couldn't text much so all you could do was trust that all your preparation would work out. Thanks to all that prepping Stu felt confident enough in what you were doing, he played his part well, convincing Billy that everything in the initial plan was still on and it ran smoothly. You watched as much as you could without getting caught or raising suspicion, if you got caught there would be no way to explain yourself.

It was all going just as it should, it was weird to be rooting for that, for the original plan to go right up until a certain point and then flipping the script. A few more innocent people were lost in the process but again you couldn't help that, you couldn't save everyone AND make this work, you didn't know them that personally and maybe that was just some bullshit justification but you didn't care at this point. You had fully accepted your place in all this, had already gotten this far, I'm for a penny in for a pound, right?

There was this diversion that had been devised to purposefully clear out some of the bulk of the party, what it was wasn’t important, not truly, it got a bunch of the people out of here and you also managed to take care of a certain nosy reporter and dudley-dew-right, just as it was supposed to and that was it, meant that they could focus in on the core group that was left, namely your friends. You trusted Stu. It was still hard to let go, again difficult to tell quite which was which when they were in costume and running about.

The one person you didn’t have to worry about was Sidney. She had gotten separated from Randy and Tatum but she was handling herself just fine, little too fine, was really roughing them up. You pulled away from the window you had been watching through, and had to get to your position inside. The wait was an agonizing one, a long one, every little bump and sound from downstairs worried you, sitting up in the bedroom, waiting, just waiting.

And then you heard it. Something that made your breath catch, pounding footsteps coming upstairs, you braced yourself, waited, heard other rooms being checked and then there he was, knew it was him from how he stopped in the doorway.

You couldn’t help the smile that crossed your face as you said, “She’s kicking your ass.” Even with the mask on he looked stunned. He strode forward and there was no modulator, it was clearly him, venom clear in his voice, “What are you doing here?!”

You made sure to stand your ground and you said, “I’m here to talk to you.” A scoff from him before saying, “I’m a little busy here.” And then there is Stu right behind Billy, the bedroom door was closed and locked as he said, “Not too busy for this.”

Billy ripped his mask off and looked to Stu, “The fuck are you on about man?” And you stepped closer, “Don’t look at him right now, I am the one here to talk to you.” Hand on your chest and emphasis on the ‘I’ as you said it, and he looked down at you as he said, “And what if I don't want to listen?” he put his own hand on his chest as he mocked exactly what you did, over emphasis on the "I" God he sounded angry. “Too fucking bad I think you are going to anyway.”

Stu was leaning against the door anyway. Own mask abandoned as he watched you begin to lay into him. “I want this to stop. I don’t want you to kill Randy or Tatum or Sidney or her fucking dad or anyone else-”

“Stop?” A laugh, shocked, pointing to you as he continued, “You. Want me to stop?” A confident nod, “I do. I really do.” And he crossed his arms, “And why the hell would I listen to you?”

You could feel yourself starting to get just a little angry, you took a deep breath before asking him, “Why are you doing this-” and he was so close to you as he spoke louder, “Because of Maureen you know that!”

You sighed and he still kept going, “She was a slutbag whore who ruined lives, I’m doing the world a fucking favor, saving everyone a lot of trouble by taking down Sid-” and you cut him off, harshly as you asked one of the biggest questions that had been weighing on your mind this whole time, one of ones you kept turning over and knew that you would ask him tonight.

“Are you your dad?” That made him stop, brows furrowed in confusion, arms falling to his sides, he expected a lot but certainly not you asking this, he asked, shocked, “What?” but you did not waver.

“Answer the question. Are you your father?” He still looked off put, confused, he still responded, probably because he doesn’t know what else to do. “No.”

You nodded once, softly saying, “Good.” And then you spoke up again asking, “Am I like my parents?” He again looked confused but shook his head, trying to see where you were going with this, “No, you’re not.” Then you asked, “Is Stu like his parents?”

That got a reaction out of him, another flash of anger, “Fuck no he isn’t. He’s nothing like them.” Good, this was all going good so far.

“So why are you assuming Sid is just like her admittedly, shitty, mother?” That gave him pause but you sure as shit didn’t, you kept going, “Why is she not allowed to be her own person? Why do you think she is going to become like Maureen?” You kept your eyes trained on Billy’s face, he wasn’t looking in your eyes anymore, you wanted to see how Stu was doing behind him but didn’t dare break away as you watched the shift of emotions on his features and in his eyes, trying to get a read on him. “Why does the daughter have to pay for the sins of the mother?”

That is when you reached out, hand met his arm and that caused him to look at you again, at you touching his forearm so softly, you spoke softer too, “What happened was terrible. With your dad cheating and your mom leaving-”

Billy glanced away, over his shoulder to Stu, it was clear that he talked and Stu gave a small shrug. You tugged on his sleeve and he looked back to you, “-and I am so sorry it happened. Really. But Sidney had no effect on what Maureen did. She would have done what she was going to do regardless.” You kept asking him these questions but he wasn’t answering any of them like he had no responses to give.

He still wasn’t interrupting you, wasn’t cutting you off, was actually listening to you and you felt emboldened, “While I don’t like or agree with what you did, I at least understand Maureen’s death.” You gave him a weak smile before saying with a gesture with your hand that wasn’t on him, “But this? The rest of this? I don’t get it at all.”

When you and Stu had been talking about this, the change of plans to try and convince Billy, he made one thing abundantly clear to you, “He is going to be stubborn. Even if we lay it out perfectly, say all the right things, make sense and appeal to him just right he still might not give in.”

You were sitting cross legged on your bed, looking at him, hands in his, it was late, you were both still damp from the shower, this was the last thing you talked about that night he was in your bed again before he left. You gave a small nod and he kept going, “Cuz it was the plan for so long, cuz he has devoted two years of his life to this and doesn’t want it to mean nothing.”

He squeezed your hands and you did in return, really trying to soak in what he was saying. “And most of all because if he bails on the plan last minute it means he failed and was wrong.” Stu looked so serious as he said this last part. “And nothing, but nothing is worse to Billy Loomis than being wrong.” Fuck. You knew he was right. It was a hard conversation but a needed one.

You could see the confliction in Billy’s face. You reached out, with your other hand, to his face. “I know this is scary and hard and different from what you have been working towards and planning.” You kept your voice soft, tone warmer, “But it’s okay to change it. Even this late in the game, it says nothing about you, there is nothing wrong with changing your mind. I get this is a lot all at once.”

You let your hand slide down his neck and to his shoulder, looking up in his eyes, “I’m here for you. And I wanted to tell you-”

You let out a sigh before saying, “-I forgive you. For all of it, everything, for this summer and the night of the storm and it all doesn’t matter now.” There was this sharp intake of air from him and he tensed, you didn’t stop, “I’m sorry too, Stu and I planned this so we could talk to you tonight, try to change the script.”

And he started to pull away but you held on, both hands on his shoulders, fingers curling in the soft black fabric of that Ghostface robe and you said, “I want the future with you that we all planned. And none of us can have that if you end up dead or in fucking jail. Please!” Stu had left the door, had come over, was right behind Billy, you made eye contact with him over his shoulder, Stu finally chimed in, “C’mon man. Please listen to us.”

The emotion shifted again, he looked angry, he pulled away from both of you, throwing his hands up, “Stop, stop, both of you! Neither of you get it! I-” And Stu tried to say, “I get it man, I have been right here the whole time-”

Then Billy turned and looked at Stu, reaching out and pushing him on the chest, “Oh I don’t want to hear it from you! The fuck happened to you?!”

“To me?” Stu asked incredulously and Billy nodded, “Yeah to you! The old you wouldn’t have dreamt of pulling this kind of stunt and going behind my back.” Stu took a deep breath and softened his own tone, “Shit changes man. Plans change. People change.” Billy kept on, sounded so pissed, “I cannot believe you both planned this!” And you tried to say, “Billy please, it was necessary-” And Stu was right there with you, “Yeah man, we had to do this-”

You didn’t let go, still holding onto that costume but he turned, looking at Stu accusingly, he repeated what he said before, harsher, “You went behind my back.” Stu looked a little guilty, he nodded once and Billy made this sound that was a cross between anger and disgust and he said, “I cannot believe this, that you both would pull this shit and exclude me-”

And so you chimed in. “Now you know how I felt.” He stopped, breath caught in his throat and you said. “This is just what you did to me. You excluded me and left me out and ran around hiding shit.” You still tried to keep the anger out of your own tone, you knew this was necessary even if it was hard for you to say and harder for him to hear.

Turnabout's fair play after all. Billy seemed less angry, a little less manic and he said, but the edge to his words was still there “You know we are too deep, right? Even IF I wanted to abandon this, we can’t now.”

Now was the time, you had to jump in again, you reached out and your hands gripped his robe and tugged, “What if we told you we had written a different ending?” That made him stop. You saw his fists clench, he turned, looking between you and Stu and said simply, “Alright you have my attention.”

So this next part was the one you probably had gone over the most. The meta was so fucking important to this whole plan. You needed to give him valid reason to get out of this.

You could see it, the hesitation, Stu had been right, he wanted this, wanted to fall back into being three of you, wanted what you all talked about, might just want it more than this original plan, you just had to make your case. You started with the defense of Randy and Sid. “So we all know how these movies go down, the rules involved, the etiquette.” Billy nodded once, “Course.” So you said, “Well then I have some very important information you are obviously unaware of.”

“And that is?” He asked and you couldn’t help smiling as you said, “Sidney Prescott is still a virgin.” And he scoffed, “Oh fucking bullshit, no way.”

You laughed and asked, “What? You don’t believe me?” He shook his head, “No, no I don’t! Her and Randy have been together for how long now? And you expect me to believe they really haven’t-”

“You really think if they had they wouldn’t have told me.” Then Stu added on, “Also no offense to him but you’ve seen Randy, you really think he’s still not a virgin?”

Billy opened his mouth like he was about to say something but then just sighed, “Damn.” he ran one of his hands through his hair, he conceded you had him there.

This was good. You showed him there was a flaw in the initial plan he hadn’t counted on, that the original plan had already diverged unexpectedly, that it was already changed and he couldn’t do a damn thing about it. You hoped it would have the desired effect, help make him less attached and more okay with letting go. “Okay, okay so we fucked up there but if you seriously think that is enough to make this all sto-”

“No, there is more. And this is the good part.” You took a deep breath and you told him the really good shit. See you had this really sweet co-worker at the ice cream parlor, Melody, one day you went into the walk-in freezer to get another tub of french vanilla peppermint twist to find her crying.

Told him that you asked what was wrong and she was hesitant to share, you prodded and pulled it out of her, she was upset that she recently got dumped. By your old high school principal Aurther Himbry. You were a bit shocked of course. Turns out dear old Artie had some certain tastes and less than savory proclivities, namely engaging in very inappropriate relationships with students at Woodsboro High. Melody wasn’t the only one.

You and Stu dug deeper, found out about some of these other girls he used, he had been doing this for a while, picked them carefully, poor girls with low self esteem, put them in uncomfortable positions and made them feel like they couldn’t go to anyone for help. You had never been happier to hear something so utterly enraging and disgusting. But even better than that, you found out that he was part of that not so exclusive club of men who had been with Maureen Prescott. You had hard evidence, pictures you had gotten from his desk that he kept as souvenirs, undeniable and irrefutable proof of their illicit affair.

Jackpot. “That means-” Billy started and you grabbed both his hands, saying excitedly. “We can pin it all on him.”

You and Stu had been doing a lot of leg work to make it all traceable to him. You and Stu both told him one right after the other of the pile of evidence you had accumulated to back this up. “We did so good Billy. We made it look like he found out Marueen was gonna work on her marriage and tried to break it off with him and in the process he found out about all the other men.” And Stu finished that off by adding “It looks like he killed her in a jealous rage and pinned it all on Cotton.”

Billy was stunned. He finally said, “I-...I will not lie, I’m impressed.” You smiled and asked softly, “Yeah?”

He gave a small nod before saying, “No, no we can’t it’s too risky, too much-” You were so close, could feel it, you tugged him closer, you let go of his hands and you started to wrap your arms around him, hug him and Stu did the same from behind him, “Please Billy-”

He tried to pull away, was struggling, “No, stop it-” but you both wrapped him up tighter in your shared grip, Stu was speaking now too, “Billy it’s okay. Please, it’s fine. We can do this, trust us.” And you were piling on, “Stay with us. We both want you, let us help you, let it go.”

Stu pressed a kiss to the top of his head, “We love you.” And you said it right after him, confirming it, “We love you.”

He broke at that. He gave in, finally. Hands came up and he wiped at his eyes even though you didn’t see any tears and he says, “Fuck-okay, okay!” He sniffed and wrapped his arms around you, finally hugging you back, “I’m sorry, okay? I was such a fucking selfish asshole.” And you laughed just a little bit, burying your face in his chest as you said, “S’ okay, we already forgive you-”

He pulled back a bit, letting you both still hold him, wiped at his eyes again and said, “No it’s not. I was so stubborn and for what?” He took a deep breath and then said, “Thank you, both of you for finding a way outta this mess. Just ever since the night we split nothing has felt right, nothing. I was having all these doubts but I just couldn’t see a way out of this.”

You felt so much in this moment but you couldn’t linger on it, you told him, “This is all amazing, I’m really touched but we have wasted enough time talking, if we are doing this, we gotta do it.”

So then you did the damn thing. None of your friends were dying tonight. Masks were pulled back on and they found them, they had been hiding and the chase continued, they purposefully let them get away and make a run for it. The cops hadn’t been called yet, in the chaos of the initial chase those friends of yours hadn’t kept their phones on them, lucky for you all because there was still this one last thing to do.

So earlier in the day, there was one thing Stu had to do on his own, free of Billy and you helped. He was supposed to kidnap Sidney’s dad and bring him to the house for the finale of their plan, instead you and he paid your principal a visit. Stu had stashed him in the trunk of his car, so he and Billy got him and dragged him inside, he looked rough. But being beat and tied and gagged and left in a trunk on a hot summer afternoon for hours will do that to you.

“So you both did this?” Billy asked as he finally stood up straight, looking and the bound man laid out on the kitchen tile, he looked so out of it, you nodded, “Well Stu did most of the beating but I won’t lie I got a few hits in.”

And then Stu perked up, smacking Billy on the shoulder, “Oh you should have seen her man, we got y/n her own Ghostface costume for the occasion.”

Billy’s mouth dropped open and he looked between the two of you, offended, “And I missed that?! You kept it right?” You laughed a little and he said seriously, "No, no, I know it’s evidence but please tell me you kept it-”

Stu laughed with a roll of his eyes, “Billy! Man, focus. We have a job to do.” Stu chastised him lightly and he said, “Okay, okay, you're right.” You could see he still wanted an answer.

“But yes I kept it.” And while he didn’t say it you could swear that you felt the “Thank you, God” energy radiating off of Billy.

So then this moment of quiet fell over the three of you. This was it. The big moment. The knives were pulled out and you couldn’t help tensing a little bit at seeing them, a deep breath trying to remember that this was all fine, it would all be okay. They wanted to hurt themselves to make it look like they narrowly escaped death, make it as real and convincing as possible, you knew even if you got Billy on board with the new plan that this part would not change, Stu made it very clear that this part wouldn’t be able to be talked out of.

You didn’t think you wanted to look. You felt so nervous, palms were sweating, this was huge, you were worried, so much might go wrong. Your mind was racing a mile a minute and then something pulled you out of your thoughts. Billy was right in front of you, one hand on your arm and the other hand was holding that big hunting knife and you looked up into his eyes and he said, “I want you to do it.”

Of every single thing that either one of them could ever say you weren't expecting that. All you could say was the softest, “What?” He had this look in his eyes, something warm and hard to define, something about it reminded you of the look in Stu’s eyes when you got back together. “You heard me.”

He said it so simply, like it was the easiest and most obvious thing in the world. Those three words held a hell of a lot more meaning than what the surface showed.

You looked down from his face to that knife, so close to you and you felt your heart practically pounding out of your chest. This was a massive deal. Monumental, they had planned forever to do this to each other, this was a big show of how much he trusted you. He was willing to hinge this on you, willing to literally put his life in your hands, this was no small gesture, in fact this was without a doubt the biggest gesture he could have ever made.

You knew that he needed this, had decided that this would be the way to show you that he was fully invested in this, knew that he felt the need to make all this up to you somehow, but mostly this was for him and you were going to give it to him The emotion of it hit you all at once.

You were smiling, heart twisted with feeling, both good and bad, happiness and fear, joy and worry, so much more too.

When did you start crying? You didn’t know.

Hot tears were spilling down your cheeks but you didn’t stop smiling this soft and sad, hopeful little smile and you could think of only one thing to ask. “How do you know I won’t kill you?” He smiled when you said that, not a laugh but more an amused exhale, a small shake of his head before he asked, humoring you, “Will you kill me?”

You wiped under your eyes with the backs of your fingers and trying to deter him you said, “Yes.” It came out extremely unconvincing as your voice was shaking. He reached out and his hand met your cheek and his thumb brushed some of your tears aside and his hand put the knife in yours, your eyes finally met again as he said your name so quietly and then he said “You’re a bad liar.” You let out something that could be read as a laugh or a sob or both.

The meaning of him taking that well worn phrase from your previous hookups was not lost on you. The new context and emotional depth made some deep part of you ache. He pulled you to him, his hand on the back of your neck and your hand came up to the back of his, your foreheads pressed together, you still felt so nervous and you asked, “Fast or slow?”

And he fired back right away, “What is easier for you?”

He sounded nervous too but nowhere near as much as you did which is impressive when he was the one who was about to be run through with his own knife. You were shaking, felt like you might be sick and he started to reassure you, soft whispers of, “Hey. You can do this. I trust you, I know you can handle this.” His hand that wasn’t on your neck helped line up the knife in your tense grip, putting it in just the right position for you.

You are reminded of that night where Stu was in your bed, how similar this is to what you just did with him the other day, another trust exercise, a way of showing forgiveness and openness, willingness to change and to be vulnerable, something that you knew was very hard for Billy. The emotions and nervousness were similar but different.

You couldn’t help it, doing it just felt right in the moment. You kissed him. Had missed him so much, it had been weeks upon weeks since you had this, your first kiss since agreeing to get back together, he returned it immediately, kissing you back and it brought forth even more feeling. Your hand moved and you slowly drove the knife forward.

He hissed against your mouth and you kissed him again, harder. Your hand didn’t stop, you pushed it steady, he was the one shaking now, your mouth moved and kissed over his jaw and neck and you were mumbling apologies into his skin,and you meant every single one of them, “I’m sorry. M’ sorry. So fucking sorry.”

You slid cold steel into him, inch by agonizing inch and he gasped and let out this whimper that shouldn’t have made you feel that way, shouldn’t remind you of the way Stu was under you being penetrated in a different sense. But it still did. It still reminded you of it.

You felt the sweat on the back of his neck under your hand and tasted his skin as you continually uttered a mix of apologies and praise, telling him how “-good he was doing.” and how you “-were almost done.”

You had no idea that a stabbing could be so intimate, so rife with emotionality. You lingered, holding it inside him to the hilt, he couldn’t hold still, hands were off of you, fists clenched, trying to breathe through the pain. You had the briefest thought of twisting the knife but you didn’t seriously entertain the notion. Again you just couldn’t get over how he sounded, how hard he was breathing, and finally he said, so strained, “Please-” And God you would never forget how he said that.

You finally pulled the knife out, slowly and he just kept making the most delicious sounds, no one in pain should sound so good but he did. You finally pulled back enough, the knife was removed and the groan he let out when it had exited him made a pulse of heat run through you. The hand on the back of his neck never left and you took in the sight of him, his blood was running down the blade to the handle and over your fingers that were still gripping the weapon. He was bleeding through his white t-shirt, warm and sticky red was spreading and staining the fabric. His hands covering the wound, crimson leaking through his fingers and he was still trembling, your gaze flicked up to his face and he looked back at you, both staring at each other for a moment, he was messy and sweating and he said, “Thank you.”

Heaven above he fucking thanked you for doing this for him and you didn’t know how to handle that. The view of him, it made something stir in you, something ineffable but that same something definitely liked what you just did. What did that say about you? That you got something out of hurting him, enjoyed it, that it got you hot and also when did you stop crying and when did he start? Not hard but his face was definitely wet, probably involuntary which I mean you couldn’t blame him there, it looked horribly painful.

So why did you want to push his hands away and dig your fingers into the wound? You didn’t want to hurt him, you just wanted to feel him, craved that level of intimacy, wanted to elevlope part of yourself in him and feel the warmth and wetness, you wanted part of yourself inside of part of him. You were curious if he would feel as smooth as Stu did inside.

Maybe you were more similar to him and Stu than you ever realized. His voice cut through the haze again and you heard him saying, “You did great.”

Another feeling overcame you and you didn’t think, didn’t question it, just reached out, touched his hands that were still putting pressure on that wound and he winced, you got his blood on your fingers, it felt so warm. It drove you forward, you reached up, your hand met his face and he leaned into your touch, his breathing was labored and your thumb stroked over his bottom lip and you watched the scarlet spread in your fingers' wake and your mouth was on his again.

Kissing him, and tasting him, tasting salt and iron and it didn’t make you sick like the last time you tasted blood in this kitchen, it tasted good, tasted like him and you reveled in it for a moment. Your bloody hand dragged up into his hair, fingers threading in his already disheveled and mussed lockes and tugging as your tongue ran over his bottom lip once before you pulled away there was his blood smeared on your lips and your own breathing matched his.

You again found yourself just staring at each other for a long moment. And you spoke first, coming down a little bit as you asked, “Are you good?” And he gave a nod, he looked just how you imagined you did, a bit confused, a little turned on but not wanting to really get into it yet, “Yeah, yeah I’m okay.”

And you both looked at Stu. He had been watching all of this intently, he had one of his hands over his mouth and yeah he looked like he had thoughts about all of that but didn’t know what to say. He looked like he was seriously considering saying something but then looked like he thought better of it and dropped it. He pulled his hand back and said softly instead, “My turn.”

The nerves returned, fuck, did Stu want the same thing? He spoke quickly, arms crossed, not looking at either of you, “I still want Billy to do me.”

You felt immediate relief but he still keep talking, “I-I’m sorry I just have been expecting to do this with Billy, we always talked about that and that’s what I was ready for, it’s not like I don’t trust you-”

And you laughed, you came forward, bloody hand that wasn’t gripping the knife met his shoulder and he finally looked at you, “Stu. Stu, honey, it’s fine we aren’t going to have a fight about who you are comfortable getting stabbed by.” He looked relieved now. He sighed, “Thank you.” you leaned up and gave him a kiss on the cheek, leaving a smear of red and then you pulled back, you gave Billy the knife.

They got into position. Stu had his hands flat on the kitchen island in front of him, Billy was right behind him, one hand on his shoulder, his other hand gripping the knife handle tightly and he said, “It’ll be quick, just like we practiced, alright?” Stu just gave a nod. You couldn't see his face but you didn't need to, his body language gave away how nervous he was. He counted down from three and the knife sliced through the air and it hurt you to watch the blade hit home. The way his body jerked and the air that escaped him, the sob that tore from him. It was awful to watch. You wanted to look away but couldn’t. You were reminded of the night of the storm for a moment and needed to take a deep steadying breath, it was all fine, this was fine.

You heard the knife drop and your eyes focused again to see Billy hugging Stu, checking in with him and Stu was nodding again, he sounded strained, “I’m good, I’ll be okay.” You let out a long breath and couldn’t resist, you came over, joined the hug, it felt right. The three of you embracing. Stu’s breathing was evening out, he really seemed okay. It comforted you. It was quiet again and you asked, “Who is going to do me?”

They both pulled away, a nervous laugh and you were looking up at them and they both shared a look before Billy said, “Uhm neither of us.”

“What?” You were very fucking confused by that. Stu started, “See uh we both talked about this before the break up and weren’t really jazzed on the idea to begin with but now, after everything…”

“We can’t. That night we all broke up. When we almost did it without realizing it. Fuck, it was awful-” Billy continued and Stu chimed in, “Terrible! We regret it so much and we, we uh never want to do anything to hurt you like that again.”

Fucking hell the emotional rollercoaster of tonight was too damn much. You wanted to cry yet again but you had nothing left to give at the moment, obviously you had been stretched far too thin at the moment. “I-I can’t believe it. You two are just-” A light laugh and a shake of your head before saying, “-too much.”

But the thing was you couldn’t be the only one who got out unscatched. It wouldn’t make sense. You knew just what to do. “I can’t be the only one unhurt. So if you both won’t-” you reached into your pocket and dug out what you were looking for, pulling it out and flipping it open, “-I will.”

“Wait, you kept it?” You glanced at Billy and smiled a little, holding up that pocket knife they had given you so long ago, admiring the engraving on the blade “Of course I did.”

You had to do this. They had done so much to earn your trust back and had proven how in this they were with you, the least you could do was return some of that. It was probably for the best anyway, you seeing to your own injury, if one or both did it more bad memories might get drug up, yeah you definitely decided this was best.

There was a beat before you said, “Enough of this though we gotta wrap this up, it’s getting late.” And you took a deep breath again before bringing the blade up and you made it quick, a few slices into your upper arm, gasps and sounds of pain spilling out, you could have sworn you heard them wince as you hurt yourself You got it over with a fast as you could and let the blood drip freely down your arm, folding the pocket knife back up and slipping it away again into your pocket.

And then you were all looking at him. The bound and mostly unconscious form on the floor of your old highschool principal. This was it. The last thing before calling the cops and everything getting totally crazy. You were going to say that you evaded him, ran upstairs and hid in the closet to call the cops. The silence was broken, “You probably don’t want to see this next part.” And yeah Billy was probably right about that.

You reached out to them and then you were between them, just as you had been so many times before, wrapped up in their arms. A hug that shouldn’t probably be going on this long but who knows the next time you were going to get to.

You weren’t sure what to say, too much running through your mind so you just asked, “You sure you will be okay?” And Stu said, “Yeah. It’s us.” he tried to sound confident but his voice was too soft, a little frayed around the edges and then Billy was agreeing with him also trying to put on a sense of bravado to cover the obvious nerves. “Yeah exactly. It's us. When have we ever not been okay?”

They always managed to get through, didn’t they?

This all had to work it out. It simply had to because well there was no other option, no other plan in place or safety net, it just had to. So it was going to and that was that. “You’re right.” was all you said as you pulled away first, holding one of their hands each and you leaned up, a quick kiss for both of them.

You looked them over again, they looked rough but then again so did you, your eyes lingered on where the knives had made their marks and Stu said, “We’ll be okay. Promise.” And you gave another nod, quietly repeating that word “Promise.” as if repeating it might ensure that it worked. Billy hummed in agreement at Stu’s sentiment before saying, “And you are going to stay in the closet till the cops get here, right?”

“Yes I will.” He pressed, “Yes I will, what?” You couldn’t help smiling just a little, “Yes I PROMISE I will stay in the closet till the cops get here.”

You didn’t want to leave them. But this was important. Couldn’t fuck this all up now. “Good.” said Billy, obviously soothed a little by your own promise. You lingered only for a moment more before making yourself pull away and your hands left theirs and you were out of the kitchen and headed upstairs.

You sat in the dark closet and waited. You waited and waited till you heard the gunshot and you called the cops. You were convincing, you cried and sounded so scared, “Please! He’s trying to kill us-” it was because you were scared. “-he’s fucking crazy-” You sobbed and talked in hushed tones to the dispatcher, “-he got so many of them, people are hurt- ambulance! We need an ambulance-” on and on until they had the info and you hung up. You did all you could but so much could go wrong still, you were so worried about what was to come .

You waited more, hugging your knees in the dark and you thought. Thought about all of it, your relationship and the summer you were supposed to have and the summer you actually ended up having, the night of the storm and the time apart, the reconciliation and the future you hoped to have. You thought of those two boys of yours and how badly you wanted all of this to work out. You sat and worried and clutched your bleeding arm.

Then when you heard the ambulance and authorities arrive you scrambled out of the closet, legs almost asleep but you didn’t give a fuck, you ran downstairs and the rest of the night was a blur. Questions and cops and paramedics and so much more but the most important thing.

Your boys made it.

Your injury wasn’t that bad thankfully, a couple of stitches and you were okay. But you knew you were going to be okay, you weren’t worried about yourself, were worried about them. Everything was so hectic, between dealing with medical services and cops and questioning you were exhausted and apart for longer than you wanted. So you did something about it. You probably shouldn’t have but you did, you snuck into his room, it was late. Visitor hours were long over and he wasn’t even supposed to have visitors yet but after everything you’ve done so far this is the least of your worries.

You crept in and closed the door quietly behind you and when he rolled over in bed and saw you he smiled this tired kind of smile you had seen on his face before, usually in the morning when you first wake up from some late night craziness, he said, “Hey.”

And once again you were reminded of when that similar interaction happened with Stu, how that greeting was much more than just that and you made your way over to his bedside as you responded, “Hey.”

You pulled the chair over and leaned down, a kiss placed on his forehead and then you sat down. “So. First off-” You opened the bag you brought and pulled out a pint of ice cream and a spoon, holding it out, “-for you.” and his smile widened as he took it from you, “What’s this for?”

“Thought it’d be a nice surprise, sweets to the sweet and all that. Plus I know the only dessert they have in this place is jello and unless it is in shot form you can’t stand the stuff.” Then he opened the top and set the lid aside, “Well you are too thoughtful, I didn’t even get you anything.” and you said in response, “You are alive, that is plenty.”

“I get the special treatment hmm? Sneaking me treats. Are you mad at Stu or something?” He teased and you told him, “I visited his room first to bring him his, I didn’t stay long because he knew I needed to talk to you so sorry no special treatment.” you teased back.

He started to dig the spoon into the ice cream and said, “So you really are turning bad on me, eh? First murder plotting and kidnapping, now breaking and entering? What am I gonna do with you?” He tried to laugh a little after saying that but winced a bit and you tsk’d “Take it easy, alright. And I thought you’d like me being a bit more like you and Stu.”

“You’ve always been a bit like us, you know that.” You gave him a look and he continued, “I saw the look in your eyes when you used that knife on me. I’ve seen that same look a few times since we’ve been together, I always knew something was inside you like that.”

Did he? “It’s part of why I pushed to tell you about our ‘hobby’, because I saw that in you.” He put quotes around hobby and finally had that first spoonful and it all hit you.

You had snuck in and had to be quiet but you laughed a little bit, hands coming up to your face, “Oh my God. You knew. This whole time and I-” you let out another quiet laugh and asked, “-fucks sake Billy, why do you even put up with me when I am so oblivious?”

And he hummed around another spoonful before pulling out the utensil and gesturing to you with it as he said, “Because you are really, really, really cute.”

“Is that why you guys started dating me? Wanted me to be the third Ghostface?” And he rolled his eyes at that, “Oh c’mon as if that was the reason. No it’s cuz we liked you, the fact you ended up being so similar to us was uh, let’s call it a happy accident.”

He took another bite before saying, “I mean we really lucked out.” And you were smiling, leaning forward as you said, “Too bad I didn’t end up becoming your third in that respect, hmm?” and he leaned forward a bit as he said, “Didn’t you? I mean sure you didn’t actually kill anyone but look at everything you just did.”

And fuck he was right. Like it or not you took up the mantle and were part of the team. Truly part of this, it shouldn’t make you happy but weirdly it did.

And he was looking at you and that smile on his face made this part of you melt just a little bit. He looked away from you as he said, “I just wanted to apologize again for that night, all of that was just so-” he sighed, “So fucked up. What I said was so out of line-” You interjected, “No, no I get it. I understand why now. And even if you could have said it a bit nicer I fucking get why it came out like that.”

You reached out and offered your hand and he took it, “I need to apologize too for how I acted. I was wrong too. I WAS acting, to quote you, ‘so morally fucking suprior’, and I dunno why I was.”

You shook your head and continued, “I am so much like both of you and I couldn’t fucking see it but you did. You really saw me in ways no one else has, hell both of you have, ways I didn’t even see myself.”

He was just listening to you, a small nod, encouraging you to keep going, and get it all out, “Your reaction makes perfect sense.” And when he was sure you were done he started, “I still feel bad. I thought you were more aware of it but I was wrong and when all that went down and you freaked out, it freaked me out too. I felt so bad, so guilty and I could see you wanting to get away and it made it all worse, I said that awful shit and I felt like the whole breakup was my fault, that I should have read you better or something I don’t know-”

“You aren’t a mind reader Billy, it's fine.” You gave his hand another squeeze and asked, “Why did you try to exclude me from the original plan?”

And he sighed, “Because I was worried you would have the exact reaction you did. Thought if we kept you out of it that it would all be fine but that was fucking stupid. I did it to try and keep you around and ended up pushing you away, real smart move on my part, huh?”

He then said, “I knew you were okay with a lot of what we did but the combo of everything, us leaving you so lonely, what we almost did to you and finding out we were targeting your friends, it was all too much and hell your reaction makes perfect sense too.”

This was good. It was a hard conversation, it was very honest, you both could still barely make eye contact with each other as you spilled your figurative guts to one another, but it was good. You were on the same page, both acknowledged the parts you had in it, understood each other's sides and motivations and got it all out in the open. He told you how hard it was for him when you were broken up, how much he tried to hide and you told him how worried you still were for both of them.

That every single time you turned on the radio or tv or heard someone talking about the murders you were terrified one day you’d just hear his and Stu’s names. You told him you had been hanging around Tatum and whenever Dewey was around and it ended up coming up you’d have to try not to be visibly tense as he talked about what they were doing to try and catch whoever it was.

You both apologized further, for all sorts of small things and big things, Billy about fucking up your whole summer and you reassured him that, “What’s one summer anyway? We will have a ton more together now, right?” and you apologized for having to sneak around behind his back and he scoffed and told you that obviously you and Stu had to do something drastic to reach him and he was really “-fucking happy you did something because I could have ruined all three of our lives.”

But then he looked a bit more serious, “I am happy you did what you did, even if I don’t like how you did went about it, obviously it’s worth it for this-” he gestured between the two of you and then said, “-but can we both promise to never, ever do anything like that again?”

And you asked, “Exclude each other?” And he nodded, “Exactly.”

What else could you say other than, “Of course. Never again. I promise. We will tell each other everything from now on.” Taking a page out of Stu’s book you held your hand out and he said, “Fucking Chirst, it’s like he’s in the room right now.” You gave him a look and he locked pinkie’s with you, shaking once as he said “Yes, I promise, no more secrets.”

There was a beat of comfortable silence again, just feeling better about everything.

“I have another question actually!” You exclaimed and he said, “Go on then.” And you asked, “What is Sidney’s middle name?”

“Oh it’s-...” And he stopped, brows furrowed in confusion and he said, “I...I don’t know.” You had to cover your mouth to stop yourself from laughing too loudly and when you had calmed down enough to ask, “You and Stu were about to seriously kill her, had planned for fucking YEARS to take her down and devoted so much of your time to this plan and you don’t know her middle name?!”

“Listen I bet Stu doesn’t know it either-” and he started to defend himself and it was so good, so familiar, so funny. You also did ask Stu later and no he didn’t know it either and was just as baffled and couldn’t believe he didn’t, you laughed even harder as both of them tried to see if they could remember what it was.

You stayed a while longer. He had more ice cream and you kept talking, “So you are really okay with framing ol’ Artie for all of this?” and you nodded, he’d been sharing the ice cream with you and you put a hand over your mouth as you responded, “Course! Best option plus he is a total piece of shit, been hooking up and using his student for years, he deserved some kind of punishment. Fuck him.” and he actually did laugh at that from how you said it and you couldn’t help joining in.

There was a quiet moment and he spoke up again, “Thanks again.” and you asked, “For what?”

“For re-writing the script, reaching out to me, pushing for all of this. Just- everything. Thank you for everything you do.” And you stood up and one knee came onto the bed and you leaned down over him and you kissed him, he kissed you back and it was different than it was back in Stu’s kitchen.

It was sweet and full of warmth and when you pulled back you said softly, “I’d do it again and again if it meant I got to have this.”

And you apologized again and he told you yet again that he forgives you. Then you stayed like that for a little bit, just enjoying the comfortable silence and each other's presence, the fact that everything was better now and you were the one to ask it. “Do you think we’ll get away with it?”

The short answer is you do.

The questioning process took a while. Your parents understandably freaked the fuck out but ultimatly you were fine and you knew that they would get over it.

What really helped was the fact that a certain anonymous someone led Gale and Dewey to the pile of damning evidence against Arthur Himbry and once that happened and they ran with it everything went much smoother.

They did a lot of the heavy lifting, if only you could send them an edible arrangement as a thank you for playing their part so well. You knew Gale would buy into it particularly because it absolved Cotton Weary so of course she believed it.

It all made sense and when word got out about what he did with those girls and some of them were questioned and yes it was confirmed then it was easy to let it go. Shitty abusive old guy who took advantage of young girls he was in a position of power over believing that he was a murderer wasn’t much more of a stretch. He was dead now anyway, valiantly killed by Billy and Stu in “self-defence” so that was that.

You thanked God for dumb small town cops and the fact everyone bought into it so easily. Arthur was a shitty person who abused his position of power but he wasn’t a murderer, but when presented with the option people would much rather believe that all these awful things could be pinned on one person.

Randy and Sid and Tatum had a million questions when they found out about all of it and you told them the same thing you told the police that your family thing ended, you went by to reconcile with Billy and Stu and got caught up in what happened. They were so happy you were okay and happy you all worked it out and got back together. You had that night of the four of you hanging out before everyone had to leave and Sidney expressed to you at one point that she was happy the three of you worked it out.

“So what made you decide to get back together?” You hummed and told her the God’s honest truth, “I realized my life is infinitely better with them in it. That whatever petty issues we had weren’t as important as what we had with each other.”

And she nudged you with her shoulder, “Since when did you get so sappy.” And you laughed a little, “I’ve always been sappy Sid, you just haven’t seen it. I’ve got an image to maintain.”

That hangout was nice. Randy and you had one last movie night just the two of you before he had to leave and you asked him seriously since she wasn’t there, just how Sidney was doing. He was honest as ever. Told you she is doing good, seemed freer and lighter, a lot more at ease than she had been all summer, it made sense, she had that cloud looming over her of what had been happening with the murders and now it was all resolved.

So you leave it be. Randy is happy and Sidney is too. She is healing and she doesn’t need to know the truth. She was excited to go off and start this new chapter of her life and leave Woodboro behind and you were happy for her too.

The goodbye with Randy when he was leaving after that last movie, almost about midnight when you were both on your porch, was a little bittersweet. “We are gonna call and text all the time. And I’ll come visit you and Sid sometimes.” He sighed running a hand through his hair, “I know, I know and we’ll come see you too sometimes and the holidays and whatever just-” he paused and you asked, “Yeah?”

“I’m going to miss you.” Jesus. You held your arms out and he took you up on it and the two of you hugged it out, “Going to miss you too, you dumbass.”

And then you felt you should break the tension but how to do that? There was only one question you could think of asking. “Hey Randy?” And he hummed, “Yeah? What’s up?”

“What’s Sidney’s middle name?” He didn’t say anything and it made you pull away and you looked up to see the confused look on his face and you said, “Oh my fucking God! You don’t know-”

And he held up a finger, “Ah! Hold on! I-I know this, I know I do-” and you crossed your arms, nodding, “Mmmhmm. Go on.”

You tried to hold back your laugh as you watched him struggle to think of it and finally he said, haltingly, unsure as he said, “Sidney….Girlfriend-” And you snorted, repeating the word, in disbelief, “Girlfriend?!” and he finished the thought, “-Prescott? No yeah that isn’t right.”

You cried laughing. “You think your girlfriend Sidney’s middle name is ‘girlfriend’ I cannot with you holy shit dude-” The mood was significantly lighter and it finished on a good note as he tried to defend himself and you gave him shit over not knowing his girlfriend of nearly a year’s middle name.

He kept insiting it was a bit, a joke to cheer you up and break the tension. You asked him, "So what is it then?" And he said, "Well now that you are being like that I don't want to tell you."

And on it went. You quietly decided yourself that "Fucking" what a good middle name for her. Sidney Fucking Prescott.

Then you were waving bye to him as he biked off as you wondered why no one knew Sidney Fucking Prescott’s middle name. You felt good. Everything was good.

Before you knew it the day had come and the three of you were fully in the clear, managing to leave Woodsboro only a little late to start your first term of college, thankfully they were understanding about the late start due to the traumatic nature of what you had all been through. You were loading up the last of the car, bringing out another bag only to see Billy struggling with his and you jogged over, “Hey! What did I fucking tell you- stop it! That is your bad shoulder-” He handed it over reluctantly, “I totally had it, I’m fine.”

“No you are not. As much as I think you’d look great with some scars if you ruin your stitches by over exerting yourself I will fucking smack you.” And Stu was right behind you now, “What are you gonna smack him for now?”

“For not following doctor's orders and you!” Whipping around and looking up at Stu, pointing at him accusingly, “You were supposed to be watching him, make sure he wasn’t pulling that shit.”

The tone was still light, playful and Stu wrapped you up in his arms, “Oh don’t sound so mad. You love me. And as if I could ever stop Billy from doin’ something he wants to do.”

“We both did that less than a month ago, it’s not impossible.” And that is when Billy chimed in, wrapping around you too, “Pretty sure that was a one time only thing, sorry to break it to you.” And all you could do was sigh, pretending to be put out as you said, “Terrible. If I knew it was only going to be once I woulda really tried to savor it.”

And this right here was the best. Stupid jokes and banter and just being with eachother. Everything all worked out better than any of you could have hoped, excited and about to leave and start off on this new adventure together. Just as it was and just as it always should be.

Billy and Stu and you.

[yelenaisace]

MCU/Marvel Characters Tag Game

thankyou for the tag <33 @meidui

blorbo (favorite character, character I think about the most):

Tony duhhh. I'm not even kidding when I say i can legitimately write an essay on how much I love him <3 + he's the one that got me into MCU/Marvel in general. He's such a complex character and the things that really made me admire him the most are when he conquers his personal demons. One of the things that I love about him the most is that he just tries to be good, and there's just something so inherently human about it that you don't really see in other popular superheroes. And while his actions/decisions may sometimes be vilified by people, I've always empathised with what he does because I (and Steve LOL, see that Captain America/Iron Man Annual (2021) Issue #2) feel that his heart has always been in the right place. I can go on and on about him, but I once saw someone say this about Tony (especially 616!Tony i.e.) is that while all superheroes are willing to risk their lives for a noble purpose, Tony's willing to sell his soul.

(I don't want to flood people's dashboard so)

scrunkly (my “baby”, character that gives me cuteness aggression, character that is So Shaped):

Yelena <33 honestly I started liking her before Black Widow came out just on the basis that she's canonically asexual in 616 + I saw that Florence Pugh was gonna play her in MCU. And hello??? A badass Russian assassin who can kill people with her bare hands and has the same sexuality as me?? Listen, there's not a lot of asexual characters out there okay, and when they are, they're not exactly in a media that I would want to watch (I literally cannot force myself to watch something just on that basis alone so). While watching Black Widow, I was just so smitten by her!! Look at her, she's so cute!! A squishy lil baby that i wanna cuddle with and give kisses all over her face <33

scrimblo bimblo (underrated/underappreciated fave):

Kate!! Idk, is she underrated? I don't venture out much bc I like being in this stevetony fandom bubble so idk if she is or not <3 but cmon, look at her and how can you not ADORE her?? she has a good sense of humour, she just wants to do her best in helping the people around her and she's so relatable LOLOLOL bc if I were to ever meet Tony (yes ik he's not real, im not actl insane guys even though I've said I am 100000 times), I would NOT be cool also and would just follow him around the same way she did with Clint

glup shitto (obscure fave, character that can appear in the background for 0.2 seconds and I won’t shut up about it for a week) :

DUM-E LOLOLOLOL!! BRUH I WAS THE ONLY ONE WHO SCREAMED WHEN I SAW HIM IN SPIDER-MAN NO WAY HOME OKAY?? You guys can all judge me if you want but I do not care! I have never, ever been happier!!!

poor little meow meow (“problematic”/unpopular/controversial/otherwise pathetic fave):

Wanda. She IS controversial (in MCU) and I get it because of reasons that I wouldn't be able to explain as clearly as someone else (im incoherent 99% of the time). I'd love to be able to say that I have a strong moral compass that points North all the time to be able to not like her, but I can't help but do. I didn't like her before WandaVision, however, I do blame the writers for that and wished they didn't write her MCU origins the way they did!!! UGH!!! But yeah, the part that made me start liking her in Wandavision was that last episode where the townspeople were confronting her for her actions and she was just crying because she finally realised that her actions are hurting people. And I guess im just excited to see where her character arc is going to go, and I'm fine if MCU wants to make it a redemption arc or a corruption arc because (to me) she's complex and interesting enough for it.

horse plinko (character I would torment for fun, for whatever reason):

Tony, of course, horse plinko should always be your blorbo <333 i just love seeing my favourite characters (in whatever fandom) be tormented <333 you think Marvel has tortured him enough? Yeah, well I like to see fic writers hurt him 10x worse bc he suffers beautifully okay? Have u seen those panels of 616!Tony just full-on crying/bleeding/bruised (with a full-on existential crisis to boot) and mcu!tony with the bruises on his face and tears in his eyes??

eeby deeby (character I would send to superhell):

Howard Stark (616!Howard Stark especially), must i elaborate?? lol.

tagging: @thahiree @avengersprotectionsquad @alwaysash13 @dodqerevans and anyone who wants to do it (you can choose the fandom u want to talk about, it doesn't have to be mcu/marvel!)

It's fun reading people's thoughts on characters LOLOL

[monkey-network]

Why Klaus IS Christmas Kino

Klaus isn’t flawless, let’s get this out the way. My love for this film won’t deny that it bears a couple nits that can distract the experience. Jesper and Alva’s relationship felt like an eye-rolling inevitability, notable cliches here & there, a notable song felt both fitting and out of place, and while enjoyable, I’m not as big a fan of the climax as I thought. But in spite of it all, I love this film and it is one of the best modern animated Christmas films, period? Follow me here. I could go on about its wonderful animation cuz yeah, it’s unlike any other film. But a philosophy of mine is that the best animation enhances the writing and I can say Klaus is that surprisingly well written and has become an all time Christmas fave

*deep breath in* So let’s do this...

I mention that Klaus has its cliches, but you gotta know that it’s smarter than expected. Believe me when I say if the writers didn’t care, this could’ve actually been so much worse. Jesper could’ve been more manipulative towards everyone for his goals, Klaus would’ve given up entirely after knowing the truth about Jesper, we could’ve had an argument between Jesper and his dad about upholding business, the townsfolk could’ve reverted back to their old ways, plenty writing moments where this could’ve been Emoji Movie levels of insulting to your intellect. BUT, they don’t. The film never really turns back on itself, it keeps moving where, as the notable quote goes, an act of good will sparks another as it starts with Jesper’s father.

Even if nepotism was responsible for Jesper getting the job in the first place, he clearly sees his son be more spoiled than he’s worth so is like, “Ma boi, I will send you to the ends of the earth or leave you to the streets if you don’t do something with yourself.” He never cared about his son representing the postal company, or ruining his top class image, he was only tired of Jesper taking advantage of his fortune while not having any ambition of his own. Can’t help but say Jesper’s dad is a very respectable character because the sole reason the whole plot happened in the first place was because he just wanted his son to do better. It’s that act of genuine consideration that pushes Jesper to his wake up call as he reaches Smeerensburg.

People have compared this movie to Emperor’s New Groove through Jesper’s character and I say yes, but this film takes that next step and put Jesper in the pit of pits way early. Reminds me more of Ratatouille’s beginning where Remy’s lowest point is around the same time as Jesper’s. The harsh atmosphere of the island is treated very blunt in how this is our mailman’s nightmare come true. With his situation, our guy is truly at his lowest. Gives up now, he’ll be cut off his inheritance and probably will have worse. Everyone hates him and each other, his post office itself is in shambles, symbolic of how communication is practically thin outside conflict, and the teacher turned fish seller Alva is that path Jesper could notably be if he didn’t try. Everything is literally grey for this guy, but like Ratatouille, when you’re at your lowest there’s no where else to go but up. That’s where Klaus comes in...

This is genuinely the most clever interpretation of Santa I know, hands down. A well established woodsman, a crafter both of living, for him and the birds that reside in his woods, and recreation with the toys he made himself not just for kids, but specifically the kids he and his wife wanted but couldn’t have. Klaus feels like a real person, not just another take on the mythical man. You’re with him and Jesper as he, after familiar winds provide him a letter, a small spark to do something good, soon opens up and gets reminded of what’s kept him going all these years. It is no wonder he sees his wife in Jesper, it’s thanks to him that he could refurbish his dashed dream into a new one. He didn’t just want to do it for the children of the island, but for himself. That is another thing about this film: communication. I mention before how it’s practically thin at first due to a long going feud that isn’t even aware of why it’s still going. The joy in hate is only for hatred’s sake, and they make it very clear how miserable it all feels. That is where Jesper comes in. They don’t take shortcuts with how he gets the ball rolling, both accidentally and purposefully, he boots up to get things done, pushes himself to go to Klaus to make things happen. This is all in part by the youth, what really ties the plot together...

As I mentioned before (again), life in Smeerensburg is noticeably miserable but thanks to Klaus, by extension Jesper, the kids are enticed to do what it takes to get some genuine joy in their lives through the toys they’re able to get. They’ll make them letters, and if they can’t write, they’ll go to Alva for teachings, and if they act naughty, they’ll try to do good which in turn pushes the adults to do good for the sake of their kids. It really would’ve been one thing to sure enough make the kids spoiled because of the toy giving, focusing more on the extrinsic value of Klaus’s kindness but no. The children are very grateful for these gifts enough to feel compelled to do good, and it makes them feel good as much as it soon makes the adults more convinced to stop fighting. It helps that this all takes place in older times cuz I believe this would’ve been far different, possibly worse, if this took place in modern times. That or just kinda rip off Arthur Christmas, it’s my guess. As such, it gradually becomes an amazing Christmas film because it isn’t just the presents, the Santa Claus myth, the festive style of it all that makes this holiday special to me. It’s the warmth... of togetherness.

My favorite detail about Klaus is how it transitions from cold to warm with its atmosphere. We start out with the emptiest, harshest environment, enough fog to choke your eyes, and then we get to this moment with a brighter, clearer sight of the more united town as the Christmas spirit builds in the film, even when it isn’t even that day yet in-universe, so too does the warmhearted feeling that can come from celebrating it appear more and more. This film fleshes out more of what the Grinch taught me, what A Charlie Brown Christmas taught me, what I’ve come to appreciate about Christmas as I grew up in this materialistic world. I can say everyday can have the Holiday spirit, but Christmas is the time where I feel compelled to be grateful of what I’ve made and got and give back when honestly, I don’t care about getting the most expensive stuff anymore like I used to when I was way younger. This film is so sincere in what it wants to say, and you know this is indeed the same guy that made Minions. Yeah, not kidding and I’ll let you sit with that if you’re reading this as I continue because we have to talk about that moment...

Yeah, I don’t like being the Nostalgia Critic, but I too don’t take kindly to the ‘liar reveal’ trope myself and this could’ve been a point where the film lost me a little. Though you know what? It still works. See, with that trope, what sucks is that it can tend to unravel the plot to where you know as soon as they break apart, they’ll get back together regardless of the deed done. This is why I don’t like A Bug’s Life, don’t @ me. But I’m not saying it can’t done right, like in Over the Hedge. The breakup between Jesper and the others is painful, but it is necessary to give us a couple great character moments. One is with Jesper and his dad, who came back personally to see that Jesper has indeed built something for himself. We get no dialogue between them but it’s clear that even when Jesper’s unintentionally successful thanks to Yzma and Bubba, he can tell his son wasn’t happy leaving everything behind, so he lets him stay since that was what he truly wanted this whole time. Again, give that man some credit for amazing dad. Another moment comes before the big reveal where not only do we see Jesper come to understand his own guilt surrounding his original intentions, but in the end they never hated him for coming back, especially due to him inadvertently stopping the enemy feud all together. Lastly, without that moment, we probably wouldn’t have got this smile. When Margu, purest character ever that I could make a whole segment about but I don’t wanna keep you too long, started to tear up after calling for Jesper thinking he left for good but she then sees our guy never really left and we get this teary smile:

I felt that. Almost more than anything else in this film.

Cliched as it can appear, the execution excels in those more memorable emotions for this film. It’s been a year since I watched this again and I remember so much about these characters. And my god, I haven’t even gotten to the animation which... my god.

Klaus is indeed the most beautiful upon beautiful films I’ve seen, and what makes it better is that it all enhances the story. I mention before of its transitional visual from cold to warm sights, but goddamn, the character designs, the environments, the expressiveness, the textures all amount to style perfect for this alone. I think it would’ve as well received if it had a more flat look, but they seriously went higher for a traditional appealing story that compliments the unique children’s storybook look of it all. This honestly is better than most of modern Disney films that I’ve seen, ironic since it feels like if you took Tangled the Series and made it 3D with more fluid character animation. And if I’m comparing something to the continuous mindblower that’s Tangled the Series, you’ve most certainly got on my best side.

Sergio Pablos and his team really pulled no punches in making this a great movie. A great Christmas movie, one worth seeing if not at least once but every Holiday season for tradition’s sake. Klaus gave me a good time, made me cry, and above all showed me to never stop having a good heart because doing good can indeed go far, thankless as it can be. Heck, my heart felt more rejuvenated than before in making this critique, that’s a testament to how much good this film means to me personally. What else is there to say?

It's The Best