#expected some things to have really funny tags and they never made the list

[robinsgrl]

FEARLESS

chapter two. begging and begging

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pairing ⇢ rafe cameron x plus size!reader

word count ⇢ 2.5k

warnings ⇢ curse words, yn overthinking and panicking like usual, second hand embarrassment (i had to stop and pace for a second but that’s me idk), a glimpse of daddy issues y’all its ingrained in me

authors note ⇢ hey……….. i personally am loving this story and hope you are too! i’ve compiled a bit of a taglist but i am very bad at keeping track or forgetting to add to my list so if you aren’t being tagged despite asking that of me, please remind me, preferably through private messaging since the comments can get kinda muddled to me 😭

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Logically, you know you’re not into JJ. He’s cute and funny, sure. But he’s no Jonah. Yet, his message made you nervous. Beyond nervous. You’ve never had any guy speak to you in such a flirty way. Or, send a text like that. You were used to pity compliments from other girls who felt it was their duty as girls who support other girls. So when you sneak out through your window frame and meet his eyes as he stands down on the grass with Kie and Sarah, you play it off as just being nervous. Which you are.

You’ve been at this for five minutes. The girls and JJ are trying to coax you into just coming down. But the distance looks insane from where you sit.

“I’m gonna die!” You whisper-yell down to them. They’re looking up at you with expectant looks, urging you to hop down.

“You’re not gonna die.” Kiara rolls her eyes but you can’t care for any of that as you take another peek down and scare yourself some more.

“My bones are going to shatter.”

“That sounds pretty cool, actually.” Sarah sends a smack to JJ’s chest, wanting him to shut up.

She looks up at you sweetly. “It’s really not a big drop, just put your hands out and jump. Trust, it’s easy.”

You slip down the steep roof part near your window and you let out a little yelp. Immediately, JJ gets to his feet and rushes to where you could possibly land and holds his arms out. This makes a bigger wave of embarrassment flush through you. He’s not the buffest and you’re sure you’re twice his size. To have him stumble and unable to catch you would ruin you. You’d beg your mother to let you go and live with your aunts back in California and never show your face in any Carolina. It’d be too risky to go to either.

The girls are yelling out to you. Something about being careful. That not being prepared for the jump will hurt. You’re panicking. Yelling out to them that you get it. JJ’s promising that he’ll catch you. Too much is going on at once.

“Your mother isn’t home.” The new voice breaks your chatter. The girls and JJ look up at you with wide eyes. You glance over from your window to another to see your step-father peeking his head out at the group and you. “You can just go out the front door.”

Kiara and JJ share a look as Sarah laughs. Your eyebrows furrow at his words. “You’re… you’re okay with this?”

He sighs, rubbing his face tiredly. “No. But you’re going to do it either way. I did a lot worse at your age than you’re doing now. Just… if your mom finds out, I didn’t know about any of this. Seriously, kid, I’ll throw you under the bus without a care.”

“Yo, your dads cool.”

“Step-dad.” You correct JJ. Usually, your mother would scold you for such a thing. There’s no step in a family, she would tell you. But it felt like a betrayal to your real father. You glance over at Anthony just in time to see a flicker of something pass through him.

He shrugs it off though, tapping the windowsill. “Just go through the front door before you break something.”

“Will—“ but you yell as you start slipping off the roof. The girls yell. JJ yells. You land in a thud, JJ’s arms wrapped around you as two tumble to the ground.

“Fuck, are you okay?” Anthony calls from the windowsill. When he gets no response, he waves his arm. “You’re fine. Don’t do drugs.” And he shuts the window.

You’re on your back now, looking up at the night sky. “Is she dead?” You hear Sarah ask.

“I wish I was.” You answer with a huff, your knees aching.

“Told you I’d catch you.” JJ hums with a smirk as he gets up off the floor, dusting off his cargo shorts and holding a hand out to you. “Come on. Pope’s drunk and you’re missing it.”

—

You’d never been to the boneyard before. Not to party, at least. Whenever there was a get together, a bonfire or a party, Scarlett would ask you to come with but you’d always say no. At some point, she stopped asking and you’d find out through Instagram that she was out with her cooler friends.

The bonfire is lit. There are people all over. People you’ve passed by all your years in Kildare but have never spoken to you. You felt the same towards the group you’re with but now… now they’re talking to you and laughing with you like they’ve all known each other for years.

You also never knew that Kook’s and Pogue’s could ever get along. But apparently they can when you’ve had a few cold ones. You’re sitting on a log with JJ on one side and John B on the other. Sarah’s sitting on John B’s lap, and you side eye it for a second, realizing that she and Topper really are done. You pay no mind to it afterwards and keep leaning up against JJ as he dramatically tells a story about his last time surfing, which was this morning, the kid living and breathing the sport.

Your eyes skim the grounds and your eyes immediately fall onto Rafe who’s standing around with his friends, beer at hand. Whatever his friends are saying is amusing him because he’s letting out a laugh, shaking his head and rubbing his eyes like he can’t believe it.

“She’s a pogue now.” JJ pulls you back into the group as he boasts about you. “Beat that Harlet girl.”

“Scarlett.” Sarah corrects the drunken guy.

“Whatever her name is. Can I say the b word?” He asks Kiara who shrugs lamely, taking a sip of her beer. “to beating bitches up!”

“JJ, why would you say that?”

“You just gave me permission!” He scoffs and turns back to you, hands squishing your cheeks and making you pucker up. “Look at that sexy shiner.”

You try to pull away from him with a laugh. If it were anyone else, the constant need to be touching you and being flirty would overwhelm you. But you’ve come to realize that he’s just an affectionate and flirtatious person. Plus, it’s very clear that he has his sights set on Kiara, with the longing looks he constantly sends her way.

“To my girlfriend!” JJ hollers far too loudly for your liking, eyes wide as you look at him, as he’s now dramatically standing on the log you were sitting on.

“N-not! Not his girlfriend!” You grab his hand and try to drag him to take a seat but he’s apparently a goddamn bulldozer when drunk.

Cleo and Pope are tending to the drunken guy when you find the chance to slip away. Luckily, you had brought yourself a sweater so walking down the shoreline at one in the morning isn’t the worst part of your night. It’s calm and cool now, the sound of chattering and music now becoming a distant noise, giving you the solace and warmth you need.

The path you’re on now is one you walked down with Scarlett by your side many times. It was never this late of course, always at a decent time with her dog on a leash before letting him run wild. You’d talk for hours. Despite the tension often felt from her remarks, you had a pleasant time. More than pleasant. Fun even. She’s a bad person. A mean person. A bully. But when it was just the two of you, she was just a girl. A girl with you. And you hate how easily she could have betrayed you.

A motion in the corner of your eye startles you out of your reminiscing thoughts. You see a figure rush between the trees and take notice of who it is. Rafe. If you were in a cartoon, you’d imagine a lightbulb drawn at the top of your head lit brightly. This was your shot. Your time to beg and beg until he agreed to take you under his wing.

With a small skip to your step, you follow after Rafe in between the few trees on the beach. You lose sight of him for a second before you spot him again. His back is facing you but what concerns you is how he’s kneeling to the ground. Carefully, you start approaching him.

“Hey,” you gently reach out and tap his shoulder. This startles him. And before you know it, you feel a thousand grains of sand in your eyes. You yell, hands immediately covering your eyes. “Oh my god! What the fuck?! What the fuck?!”

“Holy shit!” You hear him yell. The two of you are yelling now. You don't think you’ve ever heard such a big and tough man like him yell in the way he does. So high pitched. Or maybe that’s just you. But you’re in too much pain to pay any attention. “Why would you fucking creep up on me?!”

“I thought you weren’t okay!”

“Why wouldn’t I be okay?!”

“Cause you were kneeling on the floor like a freak!”

“How does that make me a—“

“I think I'm going blind! Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god!” You can’t help but cry out, unable to open your eyes fully because of the sand in them. “Why the fuck would you throw sand in my eyes?!”

“I thought I was being attacked!”

“I only touched your shoulder! Do you think an attacker would lightly tap your shoulder to attack you?! Take me to the hospital!” You’re screeching. You know this. But you can’t open your eyes and this means to panic. Or at least, it is to you.

He sighs, calming down. Or not. You can’t see anything, eyes shut tight. The way the sand grains feel in your eyes only drives you even deeper into a panic. “You don’t need to go to the hospital.”

“Then the eye doctor!”

“It’s one in the morning.”

“Oh my god, I’m never gonna see anything ever again! Do you know how much I like to see things?!”

“I’m assuming a lot?”

“A lot! Oh my—“

“Stop saying ‘oh my god’. Fuck, do you have any other phrase?”

You scoff, eyes still covering your eyes which wouldn’t be able to open either way. “Just help me!”

“Fuck, fine! I’ll help you!” You jump when his hand grabs your wrist, tugging one of your hands off of your face. You figured he would tug and drag you behind him but you’re pleasantly surprised that he’s carefully guiding you through the thick trees and what seems to be back to the boneyard. When your feet hit asphalt, you’re sure you’re in the parking lot, taking you to his truck.

“Just… stay here.” He advises you as your back presses up against the cold touch of a vehicle. You heard a car door click open, some scrounging, the door shuts and he’s back in front of you. You’re not sure what he’s doing as he stands across from you, eyes still shut tight. It’s quiet for a moment except for the sound of distant waves crashing.

“Hello?” You reach out shakily, unsure of where exactly he is. Your hand meets his face in a light smack and he pushes your hand off.

“Get off of me.”

“What the fuck are you doing just standing there? Help me!”

You hear him sigh heavily, the sound of his shoes on asphalt. You aren’t sure what you were expecting but his hand taking a hold of your face, big hand sprawled over your chin and onto your cheeks, puckering your lips out softly isn’t it. It’s oddly tender for a man who’s supposed to be abrasive. “I’m gonna need you to open your eyes for a second. Gonna flush ‘em out with water, alright?”

You have no words, you simply nod gently, opening your slightly burning eyes for him to flush them out. It takes a few gushes of water for your eyes to no longer feel grainy. The sleeve of your sweater is rubbing at your eyes tirelessly, the stinging unbearable. His hand grabs your wrist, pulling you away from your eyes again. “Stop doing that. It’s going to worsen it.”

You glare at him. The blurry version of him from how teary and red your eyes are. “It wouldn’t be bad in the first place if—“

“If you didn’t sneak up on me like a stalker.” His harsh words don’t deter you. His tone would have last week but not anymore. Normally, you'd feel a flutter of embarrassment or shame but after all that's happened in the past 48 hours, you can't find it in you to care.

“A stalker?! God, I just wanted to talk to you. You were kneeling over on the ground like you found a dead fucking puppy. Forgive me for wanting to check up on you.”

“This is a good lesson for you, kid—“

“Kid? Seriously?”

“A lesson to mind your own every now and then.”

You scoff but have no retort to throw back, tired and stinging eyes taking him in. His face is strong as usual, little to no emotion shown in them, even with the ridiculous sight of your extremely reddened eyes and roughed up face, he shows nothing. You wonder why he is the way he is for a second before snapping back into reality. “You owe me for this.”

“Is this that “make you hot“ bullshit?” He snorts out what you think is a laugh. But he would never so you can’t find it in you to stew over it.

“Yeah and wh—“

“I’m not making you hot.”

“Ugh, please! Look, I really need this! And you almost blinded me so you have to.”

“I don’t have to do shit. You put your nose in someone else’s business, that’s what leads to sand in your eyes.”

“Yeah, but—“ you try again but he easily shuts you up by putting a single hand up, palm to your face. A look of amusement flashes through his eyes when he realizes it actually worked and you’re too worked up to fight back. You’re about to speak and he’s about to decline and fight you again when another voice speaks up.

“Yo, fight club!” John B calls out to you, a sleeping Sarah on his back. Beside him, Pope and Cleo are placating a tearful JJ as he hangs off their shoulders between the two of them. Kiara is wearing a random hat that reads ‘Fish Fear Me’, probably stolen by JJ and now a trophy for her. “We’re leaving.”

You turn to speak to Rafe but he’s already gotten into his truck and with a loud sigh of defeat, you walk over to your new group of friends. Kiara brings her arm over your shoulder easily, putting the hat she had on top of your head with a bright smile. They’re talking about god knows what as your eyes turn back to Rafe’s truck one last time. And you’re not sure if you’re making it up but you swear your eyes meet through the slide glass before he drives off.

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taglist. @pinkyqily @chalahyung01 @lunalvrsblog @teenwolfbitches28 @jayjsbaby @yawnzshit @mytimeiswaiting @tsshifting @always-reading @chimchimjiminie16 @ayy1234567 (if your name is red, im not able to tag you and im not sure why, sorry!!)

[livewireprojects]

Sonadowtober 2024 Day 3

I dunno if this counts as a sfw thing due to the fact accidental pregnancy comes into play.

Day 3 was accidents I have an oneshot I wanted to work on but it'll take a while so this is taking it's place. I almost wanted to add Commander Towers next to Venice & Silver(like he's just keeping an eye on them while the family goes to deal with Jet) but I gave up after a while, the only reason he was going to be there was because the journal that comes with physical copies of Sonic x Shadow Generation preorders admits Towers was a "happy accident" when explaining why he was even on the Ark.

For context Jet put "happy accident"/"happy accident 2" shirts on Venice & Silver because he thought it'd be funny. Sonic is embarrassed while the rest of his family is ready to strangle a certain bird because it's awkward to talk about.(Mephiles is trying to stay calm because someone needs to keep an eye on Sonic & the kids)

I never really talked about this cause it never came up but Venice & Silver were accidents, Sonic doesn't regret having them & loves his sons but they weren't planned. He ended up having them thanks to two separate incidents were Sonic went with Mephiles or tagged along with Shadow to the same Eggman base. They ended up in a room with a weird cloning machine & then once the whole thing with the machine was over with they had to escape though Shadow destroyed the machine before leaving.

Sonic kind of had a bad experience with this base as Mephiles went missing(thanks to Eggman) after they checked the base out & later learned he was expecting.(Made worse by knowing Mephiles wouldn't leave him) He only went back because he was worried about Shadow & it led to the machine not only being destroyed but having a big fight with Shadow that both regretted later. There's also the fact that after learning he's expecting Silver, Eggman captured him & Venice.

Things worked out but on top of how awkward it is to mention both his sons weren't planned Sonic has some bad memories thanks to the base this all started with. Jet doesn't know this & is about to learn the hard way not to mess with a certain family of hedgehogs.(He should be very lucky Jules didn't find out)

-

Venice's shirt: Happy Accident Silver's shirt: Happy Accident 2 Jet gave them the shirts

Shadow: *Heading off to deal with Jet* I'm going to strangle that bird Sonia: *Leaving with Shadow to deal with Jet* I'll help you with that. Pretty sure Manic has a head start.(As in Manic went ahead of them to deal with Jet)

Mephiles who is comforting Sonic: I'll just stay here with Sonic

Sonic is curled up in a ball due to embarrassment & is the embarrassed mother of two very confused hoglets

Link to Sonadowtober theme list

[inks-lil-quiet-corner]

Self-Made Soulmates

(based on / inspired by Achilles Come Down by @biscaanii! i am. very normal about this fic and The Odyssey in general. so, so normal i promise.)

(rambles under cut!! also cw gore / tw gore (i drew a thing based on a certain chapter in acd) and warning for spoilers on all of the current fics in the odyssey (except for the fic with the scrapped ideas))

. . . . .

so i lied i'm actually incredibly Not Normal about this fic series. it has made its home in my brain and will now never leave.

i originally decided to read it cuz i had just finished the anime and wanted some fanfics to sink my teeth into, and the moment i saw this fic and the Time Travel tag, my fate was sealed.

i instantly fell in love with the story it was creating and may have gotten a little too attached to the story's interpretation of the characters. my favorite jjk character before reading this fic series was yuuji, but the moment i read the first fic gojo immediately skyrocketed to the top of my list, along with the other two members of the trio.

and speaking of gojo...

i thought of this meme when i read the chapters where the brain bashing incident happens and immediately had to draw it lmao. please disregard the horribleness and inconsistencies of it i can't animate or do anatomy stuff for shit lol. this is also my first time drawing anything remotely bloody. i just wanted to have fun with it so here we are 🎉

here's the image of gojo with the ibuprofen text lol

anyway back to rambling-

i think the series did a really good job with tackling satoru's mental health issues throughout the story. he felt alive, as did all of the other characters with their own issues and emotions and love. this fic also made me really like suguru as a character a ton more since i was more so indifferent about him before reading this fic; same with shoko. i also like yaga a lot more now which i wasn't expecting honestly cuz he's probably one of the characters i cared for the least at first lol. and i wanna give haibara and nanami a hug. and ohhh my god the children were perfect i love them so much i want to squish them. and kenjaku was also really well written! i liked the lore thrown in about their constant search for knowledge in the most extremely non-ethical ways.

i found it funny that bits of canon, the lore, and the timeline were all essentially thrown out the window at times lol. not in a bad way!!! especially cuz it made the story flow a lot better and i'm also a big fan of rewriting canon to suit your whims if it makes for a good or better story.

the first fic in the series is probably my favorite? cuz i feel like the big story plot points are the heaviest in it and it got me hooked the fastest, but the kids in the other two make it a hard contest cuz i really like the familial fluff and these fics are actually the first time i've ever willingly read something like it. and i thought the plot stuff in between was really well organized and i was living for the murders that happened it was great lmao.

and also the 2nd and 3rd fics actually made me tolerate children more lol. i know they're not always sunshine and rainbows when it comes to behavior and taking care of them, but the fics made me remember the nice parts about them so that was really appreciative. i wanna give the fushiguro siblings and the twins a hug so baddd. and i remember screaming when they got their last names changed in the 3rd fic it was so fucking cute!!!! stsg family my beloved.

it took me... *checks calendar* 11 days? to read the entirety of the current fics in the series. i started reading it around dec 11th, finished it on dec 22nd, and it has not left my brain since. i'm probably gonna reread it at some point also when i'm able to reclaim some free time because i'm a little bit extremely obsessed with it.

i think the last fic to have impacted me this badly was like. over year ago i think. i go about my day and then randomly think to myself "i miss acd stsg family :(" completely unprompted. they just. pop into my head. i need more content or i will explode. but i do understand that it's on a bit of a hiatus so i'm just gonna reread what there is lol. and also maybe draw more if i get the motivation or remember to do so cuz i usually forget.

i will now throw in some of the screenshots i took while reading the series cuz i wanna show some of the bits that made me laugh lol

to those that read all the way up to this point- thank you for sitting through all of this lmao. i will now go back into my hermit cave -w-

[dibidibidismynameisleeknow]

2024 Wrapped

Thanks to @spacequokka for tagging me in this! This has definitely been the biggest year yet for me on this site. I've met some really cool people and the discord group chat has been super supportive as well. I never expected anything to take off, but all of the nice comments, asks, and reblogs are all really motivating. On a personal note, if not for this blog, Seventeen, and Yuta I wouldn't have the people in my life that I do.

2024 Fic Stats

Number of works posted: 5

Number of fics in progress: 4 at least

Total Words Written: 31,125

Top 5 Posts

12 Days of Mingyu - Mingyu x Reader (204 notes) - Christmas themed fluffy drabbles

Friendsgiving - Mingyu x Reader (94 notes) - Thanksgiving themed fluffy oneshot

The First Snow - Doyoung x Reader (13 notes) - Christmas themed fake dating

Here (In Your Arms) - Yuta x Reader (7 notes) - Angst. Major character death

Without You I'm so Lonely - Minghao x Reader (6 notes) - New Year's themed angst

Most Recent Fic

Without You I'm so Lonely - Minghao x Reader

2210 words

Posted December 29th 2024

I'm thinking about continuing this one but I'm not sure about that yet.

Longest Fics

Oneshot: Here (In Your Arms) - 7896 words

Series: 12 Days of Mingyu - 10,536 words

My Favourite Fic I Wrote

I'd have to say Friendsgiving. It happened so effortlessly and it took off like I couldn't imagine. I've received so many nice words from people about it and that has been very inspiring. If I hadn't wrote it, then 12 days of Mingyu wouldn't have happened and that was probably the most challenging thing I've done. I am very grateful for that.

Goals for 2025

I want to try writing smut; I have a Yuta and Mark (Tuan) one on the go, and I really want to finish the Wonwoo one that has been collecting dust in my Google docs. I also have a fic for Seungcheol and one for Seokmin in my Google docs as well. I really want to write up the one for Seungcheol, but I have to switch some ideas around with the Seokmin fic for that. I also want to continue Minghao's story, and give a backstory for my Mingyu work.

My Favourite Fics I Read

In no specific order (because only picking a few fics literally broke me)

A Very Patient Man by @shina913 (Jihoon x Reader)

This one was just so effortlessly funny, it was smutty but also like really natural in the characters' chemistry

To Love Easily by @minghaoyoudoin (Minghao x Reader)

This was probably the first Minghao fic I read before I spiraled into becoming a carat so I will cherish that.

Take My Hands (We Can Fall Together) by @the-boy-meets-evil (Lee Chan x Reader)

I read this fic while I was terribly sick and it warmed my heart (plus it's a series and the first Dino fic I read)

Out of the Woods by @sluttywoozi (Yunho x Reader)

This fic altered my brain chemistry so hard it made me Yunho biased, and I haven't gone back since.

Cream of the Crop by @jiminscaramel (Changkyun x Reader)

It's because of stories like this one that I made my second blog to reblog fics and a fic rec list, I really enjoy it and I thought I lost it forever.

City Lights by @hannieween (Joshua Hong x Reader)

I don't know how V does it, but this is a great series and she has made her whole own universe.

Closer by @hannieehaee (Wonwoo x Reader)

The chemistry, the dialogue. I loved Wonwoo in this fic so much.

Tagged: I'm honestly not sure who has done it or not. If you have, I apologize. There's no pressure to reply or do the wrapped if you've been tagged in this post at all.

@pasteidolons @beomcoups-main @neoneun-au @thepixelelf @suhnandmoon

Shoutout to my little motivators @leejenoenthusiast for the photos of Doyoung and @yoshit-he-dinosaur for their support as well!

I reblog everything at @dibidibifanfics so if you want some good recs check there and here

[themouthwasher]

sighhh, this is my selfship sideblog, for jimmy, i selfship with him

i guess you can call me LP, kinda like lp records lol, thatll be my nickname here, he/it pronouns, 18 years of age

taken by my beloved @swansuke (and jimmy too of course)

pleaseeeee check hidden theres some clarifications in there cause i know an account like this needs clarifications (plus a bit more random info bout me)

PLEASE READ THIS!!!

yes i know hes a horrible piece of shit, i dont support his actions, i hate him, but my brain says fuck all to morals when it comes to stuff thats fictional and decided "hey this guy seems silly, im gonna fall in love now!" whenever i think of lovey dovey stuff i try to place it in a sort of au where he didnt do... all of that. but yeah, theres really no "good" way to do it is there? i get most people will see it as wrong no matter which way i try to spin it so just please block and move on if you have a problem with it

not particularly proud of the fact i selfship with him (if you couldnt tell by how ive been talking about it so far) which is reason i made this blog, im not gonna admit this to anyone else so i might as well make an account where i can love him anonymously, honestly i have quite a bit of internal turmoil over loving him but thats to be expected when its... him. expect random bouts of "i fucking hate this man he makes me so mad /srs" immediately followed by doting on him cause my brain hates me being happy

tldr; i dont support his actions and lowkey hate the fact that i selfship with him, but hey i didnt chose to fall in love (if i could chose this would be a daisuke blog just sayin)

a bit about me

uhmm ive got autism, adhd, and bpd, and i feel like that definitely all shows itself in the way i act, i guess i act pretty unstable?? im also a very paranoid person, over like, everything, idk what causes it but its basically the stereotype of what people think of when they think of paranoia, i dunno i think that pmuch sums up whats wrong with me

i draw sometimes, though i doubt ill post anything, and i like music a lot, its my spintrest (but ill try to keep music talk to a minimum lest anyone manages to figure out who i am by my music taste) other than that uhhh i guess i like horror and bugs, and i bet youll never be able to guess what my favorite game is

no dni, if i have a problem with you ill block you and thats that, i guess im neutralship but really i do not careeeee, doubles can interact too! in fact please interact!! lets gush over jimmy together

tag list!!! woohoo!!! this post is also tagged with all of em so you (or more likely i) can easily click on them and get scrolling

"💚 i can fix this" is my rambling tag, check that out to see me talk about how much i unreasonably love that man

"💚 tuplars copilot" is for fanart reblogs

"💚 kills 99.9%" is my misc reblogs tag, whether it be non fanart posts about jimmy or completely unrelated posts that i reblogged with him in mind

"💚 polle says" is my ask tag, just any posts where im answering any asks i get

"💚 lp draws" is any of my art that i post, couldnt think of anything creative for this one

"💚 chatterbox" is me either talking to other people or posting stuff that doesnt really have anything to do with jimmy (and the tags not a reference, how revolutionary!)

"💚 i hope this hurts" is things reblogged/posted with hatred or anguish in my heart, i mightve actually got seething mad at jimmy seeing/making those posts but bleh whatever its jimmy so on the account it goes

"💚 not safe for tuplar" i think im so funny, i wont be rebloging anything too extreme and ill try to keep post like these to a minimum, but thats just there if you wanna mute it i guess

"💚 favorite posts" is self explanatory

[lavenderfluorite14]

A Taste of Plums | Astarion x Female!Tav

Chapter 9: Derailed

Summary: The day is derailed even further, but that might be for the best.

Rating: 16+ for violence and gore. Kissing, making out.

Warnings: This chapter contains detailed descriptions of violence and gore, specifically arrow removal.

Full tag list on AO3. Read on AO3. Chapter 8. Read from the beginning.

Morale plummets in the wake of Lae’Zel’s departure. The rest of the morning is spent in silence as everyone finishes preparing for the day ahead. Even Shadowheart’s smug superiority at finally ousting Lae’Zel fades to a grim determination. Already, the hole Lae’Zel has left feels palpable.

Astarion is sure Lae’Zel will be fine out there. She is a warrior through and through. But an additional prickle of fear ripples through him at the idea that the others may leave him too. He cannot do this alone, he needs every ally he can get. 

He knew this was coming, he reminds himself. He knew Lae’Zel was always going to leave. It’s just happening earlier than expected. This is a good thing, actually. He has less competition now. And less opposition to the illithid powers. He cannot compromise that.

He had never really minded Lae’Zel’s condescension or rudeness, even when it was directed at him. Cazador had been much crueler. At least Lae'Zel was almost funny. And her passion for bloodshed had always been inspiring. He supposed he was just disappointed to see a strong ally leave over such a trifle.

Perhaps there was a tinge of worry for her as well. 

At least he knows that Tav won’t leave. Certainly not with the promise of tonight hanging between them like luscious, unpicked fruit.

Tav, Shadowheart, Karlach, and Astarion all trudge through the forest in silence, doggedly following the billowing smoke plume that Lae’Zel had spotted earlier. Along the way Tav and Shadowheart stop to forage, gathering berries, mushrooms, and eggs from bird nests. They even find a big, juicy honeycomb. All treats Astarion can’t truly enjoy.

“Are you sure about the tadpoles, Fangs?” Karlach asks him when they are finally alone. Tav and Shadowheart are far ahead at this point, digging up what appears to be a buried chest.

“Of course I am,” Astarion insists. The tadpole set him free. He has to follow this thread. 

“Even if it means you’ll become a Mindflayer?”

“That’s not going to happen.”

“But what if it does?”

He briefly imagines the pain and horror of his bones turning into jelly, his handsome face sprouting tentacles, his personality and memories siphoned away to feed the gluttonous parasite. It’s too grotesque, too unimaginable to feel like a real possibility. 

But he can imagine Cazador placing his favorite knife against the coals of a blazing fire, the searing heat guaranteeing that its blade will be horrifically painful. He can imagine Godey behind him with the pliers, laughing a deep, clacking chuckle.  

“As I have said repeatedly, that is not going to happen.”

Karlach just sighs. “Well. If you’re sure, then.”

Silence resumes. The smoke cloud looms ever larger above them. Astarion thinks he hears a Worg howl.

“I’m just asking you to be careful. Your actions affect the rest of us too. If you begin to transform-"

“I won’t transform!” he yells at her. Up ahead, Tav and Shadowheart try to look busy. “I won’t let it get that far. The idea is to control the tadpole, not become it.”

“But we don’t know if that’s even possible,” she responds. 

“But what if it is? We have to inv-” There’s something up ahead. 

Tav’s message throbs through all their minds, rife with concern. Immediately everyone reaches for their weapons.

“Finally, some action,” Karlach growls, grabbing her sword.

“Finally, I agree with you,” Astarion replies, unsheathing his daggers. 

Let’s carefully approach-

Karlach charges ahead, bursting through the underbrush. She streaks ahead of them through the forest, a comet made flesh. They all race to catch up to her, nimbly dodging rocks, branches, roots, and all manner of forest debris as they hurtle towards danger. Soon they begin to hear the clangs of swords, the twangs of bowstrings, and they feel the unmistakable thrum of the Weave. There’s fighting up ahead, in the town square of the abandoned village.

What remains of a band of goblin marauders have cornered something against a wall. Whatever it is has put up quite a fight: goblin carcasses litter the ground in pools of dark, sticky blood. Astarion reflexively licks his lips. 

“Kill it!” a goblin booyahg cackles as she conjures a poisonous green cloud. She unleashes the magic on her target, which doubles over in a fit of hacking coughs. “Skva!” Lae’Zel barks between wheezes. A worg leaps at her, sinking its jaws into the hard muscle of her thigh. Lae’Zel snarls in pain, rapping its head with the pommel of her sword. The beast releases her, dazed, its jowls dripping blood. As Lae’Zel shifts into a new stance to compensate for her injured leg an arrow strikes her thigh, missing her plate by centimeters and embedding itself into her other leg. She screams in Githyanki, but somehow finds the force to keep standing. Multiple arrows have pierced her, jutting out of her flesh like pins in a horrifying pincushion. Blood drips from a cut on her brow, where a rock had struck her face, pooling in her eyes. 

“Oi! Meatheads!” Tav roars, her mockery grabbing their attention.  “The frog is ours! Back off, or you’ll be joining it!” one of the goblins yells. Lae’Zel uses the distraction to strike, knocking the nearest goblin prone. 

All hells break loose. Karlach jumps into the fray, cleaving the worg in half with her sword. Astarion shimmies up a decaying roof, crouching low as he surveys the fight. He silently looses arrow after arrow, picking off goblins from his vantage point. There’s another booyahg perched on a nearby gable and Astarion quickly dispatches him with a clean shot to the neck, sending him plummeting to the stones below with a sickening thud. A goblin slashes at Lae’Zel but Tav grasps her with Hold Person, freezing her in place. Lae’Zel seizes the moment, chopping off her head with a clean sweep of her blade. The goblin band is no match for all of them, together. 

“Lae’Zel! Are you alright?” Tav calls out to her as the last goblin falls.

Lae’Zel does not answer. She briefly wobbles for a moment, blinking blood out of her golden eyes.  Then she swoons, hard. Karlach dives to catch her but Lae’Zel’s head strikes the cobblestones, knocking her out cold. Shadowheart rushes forward, her blue healing magic flickering at her fingertips. They all stand back as Shadowheart works to save Lae’Zel, watching as she feverishly casts her magic. They may hate each other, but that doesn’t mean that Shadowheart would let Lae’Zel die like this. 

“Lae’Zel better live through this,” Karlach murmurs. She has given Shadowheart the most space, ever conscious of her burning engine.

“She’ll be fine, darling. She’s too tough to let a couple of goblins get to her,” Astarion hand-waves. She won’t die. She can’t die.

“Tav!” Shadowheart calls frantically over her shoulder. Tav rushes over, her hands starting to glow with her own lesser healing magic. The two begin working in tandem: Tav props Lae’Zel’s head up so Shadowheart can carefully pour a healing potion down her throat. Lae’Zel groans, her eyes flickering open in a haze of pain. 

“Astarion!” Tav cries. Astarion dashes over, crouching at her side. “You have the best dexterity. We need you to help excise these arrows,” she explains. “I’ll walk you through it. Just do as I say, and everything will be fine,” Shadowheart assures him. “I can push this one through. But these two are pretty shallow, you will need to rip them out of her. I can’t finish healing her until they’ve been removed,” Shadowheart instructs. 

“That will make it worse!” Astarion frets.

“Not with goblin arrows. They’re just simple metal spikes, they don’t have the fancy head. You’ll still need to be quick though, so they can heal her before she bleeds out,” Karlach explains. “Please Astarion, just do it,” Tav pleads.

Tav gently supports the arrow shaft, holding it still. The shaft wiggles, which is a good sign. It hasn’t struck bone. He surveys Lae’Zel’s thigh, making note of the two arrows he will need to remove in rapid succession. Delicately but firmly, he grasps the shaft near the root. Lae’Zel swears thickly but Tav quietly soothes her, casting Calm Emotions. Blood bubbles forth from her flesh as he quickly rips the arrow out. The urge to bite almost overwhelms him, but Tav swoops in with a rag to staunch the bleeding before he can lose himself. Lae’Zel writhes in pain but Shadowheart does her best to hold her down. Karlach hovers over them, burning too fiercely to safely help.

They repeat the grisly process, removing all the arrows from Lae’Zel’s body. Lae’Zel screams, she swears, she twists in pain, but she does not complain. The last one is too deep, so Shadowheart snaps the shaft and swiftly pushes the arrow through her thigh, forcing it out the other side. When the horrible work is done, Karlach passes Shadowheart a Greater Healing potion, which Lae’Zel gulps down. Shadowheart stands up, wiping the sweat from her brow. Tav stays crouched, casting Prestidigitation to clean the blood and viscera from Lae’Zel’s prone form. Lae’Zel tries to stand but Karlach moves over her. “Hold it, soldier. Your wounds are closed but you are not fit to move,” she says. Lae’Zel chks.  “She’ll live, but she needs to rest.” Shadowheart declares. “And so do I. I’m almost completely out of magic now.”  Tav swears under her breath.

“I could still accompany you to the goblin camp, but I’ll only have my cantrips,” Shadowheart adds. Tav stands slowly so as to not disturb Lae’Zel, then kicks angrily at a nearby tuft of grass. “As much as I’d like to kick some goblin butt, I’m not going into enemy territory without another healer,” Karlach insists.

“Nor I,” Tav agrees. “Not if there’s as many goblins as I suspect.” They all glance up at the billowing smoke cloud. Lae’Zel was right, the camp is just beyond the ridge.

“Well, at least this was fun,” Astarion says. Karlach wraps Lae’Zel in a blanket from her pack, then hoists her up into her arms, gently cradling her. 

“Let’s get this one back to camp, yeah?” Karlach suggests. 

“Put me down this instant,” Lae’Zel demands. She squirms indignantly. “I am Lae’Zel of K’liir, not some hatchling.”

“And right now you are recovering from some serious injuries,” Tav says. “We’re going back to camp so we can all re-coup.”

“You tell me if it gets too hot, ok?” Karlach says. Lae’Zel grunts. 

“Were you anyone else I would strike you down for such disrespect,” she grumbles.

“Yeah, yeah, we can fight about it after you rest,” Karlach teases.

“As fierce as you are, darling, you shouldn’t run off like that. We were quite worried about you,” Astarion gently scolds her. Lae'Zel glowers at him but she does not rebuff his chastisement. Perhaps they really are growing on her after all.

As they walk, Lae'Zel eventually settles into Karlach's strong arms. If Astarion didn't know better, she almost seems content there.

Tav falls into step beside him. “Good job today,” she says. She gives his arm a quick, affectionate squeeze. The contact sends a jolt of something through him. He isn’t sure if it’s pleasant or not, but he does know that he loves the compliment.

“Why thank you, darling. What can I say, I’m quite skilled with my hands.”

Tav giggles at him. He leans in close to her, so the others won’t hear. “You’ll find out for yourself soon enough,” he promises. Tav playfully pushes him away, pantomiming annoyance, but once she’s done she shoots him a heated look that belies her true feelings. Astarion smirks back at her.

Tonight is the night.

~

There’s a dog waiting for them when they return. Apparently Wyll and Gale had found it wandering around the woods. It had not wanted to leave the body of its dead master, but Wyll had given it his scent anyway. According to the collar, the dog’s name was “Scratch.” Karlach and Shadowheart are delighted, but Astarion isn’t impressed. But he supposes he can live with the dog, so long as it doesn’t slobber all over his pillow.

Somehow, Wyll and Gale had also found the time to trek back to the Grove, trade for more potions and alchemy supplies, forage for food, and discover an owlbear cave. They had certainly been busy bees while they were gone. 

They all help pitch Lae’Zel’s tent, then Karlach lays Lae’Zel down gently in her bedroll, where she quickly falls asleep. They all mostly agree: if Lae’Zel wants to rejoin their group then she is welcome to stay. Shadowheart loudly objects, but she is overruled by Tav, Wyll, and Karlach. Everyone is welcome here so long as they are willing to cooperate with the group. 

Astarion knew he had bet correctly on Tav. 

They all take turns checking on Lae’Zel, even Astarion. When at last she stirs, Gale hands her a bowl of stew and Tav flits into her tent to talk. They all quietly gather nearby to eavesdrop, Gale included this time. 

Lae’Zel doesn’t apologize. She is still adamantly against using the tadpole, but she does agree to stay. Astarion intuitively understands that this is Githyanki for “thank you for saving my life.” Tav concedes that they are taking an enormous risk and agrees that if they begin to transform, Lae’Zel should kill them. Lae’Zel swears that she will see it so. Astarion frowns to himself. Even though he is confident that they can eventually control the tadpole, he still doesn’t appreciate that Tav has essentially forfeited their lives. But this seems to be an acceptable enough compromise for now.

Tav gives them all a knowing look as she exits Lae’Zel’s tent. No one tries to hide the fact that they were listening in. 

The sun is already beginning to set, so Astarion settles in and begins his grooming regimen. Tav will be expecting him soon. 

“Astarion! Can I trouble you for some help chopping these vegetables?” Gale calls to him from the makeshift kitchen he has staged by the fire. 

“I’m afraid I’m a bit busy, my dear,” he calls over. Astarion doesn’t have nail scissors or clippers, but he’s skilled enough with a knife to make do.

“Very well, then I shall come to you,” Gale announces, laying down his own knife and making his way over. As Gale approaches, Astarion wonders what he has done to deserve this. 

“I’d like to speak to you in private, if I may. About this morning,” Gale says. Astarion raises an eyebrow.

“I didn’t know we had more to say to each other,” Astarion says icily. “You already made your point quite clearly.”

“I actually don’t think I have,” Gale says. Oh good, more lecturing. 

“I spoke in anger and in haste this morning, and I wanted to offer my apologies. Although we have only known each other briefly, I meant what I said. I would stand at your side again, tadpole or no.”

“What?” Astarion says flatly. 

“I spoke in anger and in haste-"

“I heard you!” Astarion snaps.

“It occurred to me that you and I are not so different, in our ways,” Gale continues. “To be at the beck and call of a supernatural hunger has been challenging, even for a wizard of my acclaim.”

“That has certainly been true in my own experience,” Astarion offers slowly. 

"I know we didn’t meet under the best of circumstances and we have all been relatively slow to confide in one another. But now that we have a tad more trust and understanding, I hope that we can move forward towards curing our mutual infection,” Gale says.

“Do we have more trust in each other?” Astarion cuts in, ignoring Gale's mention of the parasite. “Because right now it seems as though the one waxing poetic about trust is keeping a pretty important secret from all of us.”

Gale sighs. “You are right, Astarion. I am asking a lot of all of you. But I assure you, now is not the right time. I promise that when the time is right, I will tell you everything,” Gale pledges.

Astarion looks him up and down, warily. “I suppose I understand better than most the need to keep a secret until the right time,” Astarion concedes.

“You’ve got to get the timing just right, I’m afraid.” Gale sighs again. “And as powerful as I am, I can't say I've been at my level best this past week. This whole adventure has been rather exhausting, if I’m being honest.”

“I quite agree,” Astarion replies.

“If also a bit invigorating,” Gale continues, conspiratorially. Astarion’s lips twitch.

“I quite agree,” Astarion smirks. 

“So! Shall we put this spat behind us?” Gale offers his hand for a gentlemanly shake.

Astarion eyes Gale’s outstretched hand. He briefly considers asking the wizard about his intentions with Tav. But his brief glimpse inside Gale’s tent lends credence to Astarion’s hunch that nothing of significance is going on between them. Wyll and Shadowheart are wrong.

Besides, they have almost no chemistry. If Tav would have rather bunked in Gale’s tent, she would be in Gale’s tent. Instead she’s promised herself to him.

“I suppose I can forgive you,” Astarion says, clasping Gale’s hand in his and giving it a firm shake. “Your words are…appreciated.”

“And is there anything that you would like to say to me?” Gale says hopefully. Astarion pauses. The cheek of this wizard.

“I suppose I can also make an effort to be more forthcoming in the future. Within reason. I do have an image to maintain, after all.”

“I can content myself with ‘an effort’ so long as it is a genuine one,” Gale chides him. “Although I hope I prove a worthy confidant,” he adds, smiling.

As Gale retreats towards Shadowheart’s tent, ostensibly on his apology tour, Astarion admits that Gale can be charming, on occasion. 

It occurs to Astarion that he hasn’t received a genuine apology like that in decades. 

~

Freshly bathed, trimmed, and coiffed, Astarion swaggers over to Tav’s tent, tapping on the flap by way of greeting. Tav beckons him in.

“I hope I’m not disturbing you, my darling,” he asks, sliding inside. Although, he wouldn’t have cared even if he was disturbing her.

“Not at all,” she reassures him. Tav sits on a stool, applying mascara to her eyelashes with the help of a hand mirror.

“We finally have a quiet evening,” he observes lightly, coming around beside her. 

“As quiet as it can be around here, anyway,” she retorts. She screws the tube of mascara shut, slipping it into a little pouch. She then produces a small tin of salve, which she opens with a small click.

“A perfect night for two souls who would like to take some time to themselves,” he hints flirtatiously. “If you catch my meaning.”

“Hm, I don’t think I do,” Tav replies, swiping a fat dollop over her lips.  

“No?” Astarion questions, his tone playfully patronizing. 

“No,” she teases, rubbing the balm between her lips. “You’ll have to be more explicit,” she says, the challenge clear in her voice. Her lips look so pretty and glossy, a tempting target.

“Well then, since you apparently need it spelled out for you-“ Astarion leans down and kisses her, ruining the immaculate shine of her lips with a single press of his own. He lingers against her, enjoying the cloying scent of lavender and honey, the soft pillow of her lips against his own. It must be a beeswax of some kind. Tav opens her mouth to deepen the kiss, but Astarion pulls away.

“Not here,” he says, stopping her in her tracks. “There’s a clearing just over the hill. Once the others have gone to sleep, come find me there. I’ll be waiting for you.”

“I will,” she promises. Already she’s rosy-cheeked and breathless. 

He’s going to positively wreck her. ~ Chapter 10: Want❤️‍🔥

[maochira]

800 follower event: Day 7 (Dad!Ego & child!reader)

"It looks like you're family. You are [programmed] on me, I am programmed on you."

Day 6 (Karasu x reader) - event list

Tags: gn!Ego's child!reader, single dad!Ego, reader's mother is implied to be a not so good person, this wasn't intentional but today is father's day in Germany so this writing event part being for today is kinda funny, not proofread we have to trust me and grammarly today

Did Ego ever expect to find himself raising you all on his own? No, not really. But also yes, kind of. Well, at some point, he realized he and your mother wouldn't last much longer, but he expected her to get full custody. At first, that was okay with him, but the more he thought about it the less okay he was with the idea of you being raised by your mother. He's always been convinced he's the better parent and he knew you'd be in better hands if he'd be the one to raise you. Even though he was so sure you're better with him, once he found himself all alone with you, he got a bit nervous.

The first months of being a single father were definitely a battle and parenting never really gets easy, but when he started getting more alone time with you, Ego noticed how many similarities you actually share with him. In some aspects, you even seem to be exactly like him, even though you're still a child. And once the first few months of struggles were over and both you and Ego got used to living without your mother, he knew he made the right choice to raise you all on his own.

Ego hates to imagine how things could have gone downhill if you stayed with your mother instead. He just feels like you're way more compatible for a father-child duo with him instead of a mother-child. It feels like you're just programmed on each other to get through life.

Even when you moved into the Blue Lock facility, although he struggled to spend enough time with you and he got so lost in his work in the beginning, once Ego realized it could have a negative impact on you, he quickly found a way to adjust the situation into something better. And he'll always find a way to improve on something for you.

[kandisheek]

FIC REC WEEK 26 – ROM-COM

SERIES: A Royal Romance by BladeoftheNebula

Pairing: Steve/Tony Rating: E Words: 40,452 Tags: Modern Royalty AU, News Media, Pre-Serum Steve

Reasons why I love it: This could legit be made into a Rom-Com, and everyone would gobble it up like royal wedding cake. Seriously, if you like modern royalty romance, this is an absolute must-read. It's fluffy and funny and more swoon-worthy with every fic that gets added to the story. Please go and check it out, I promise you won't regret it!

This series consists of:

Heavy is the Head that wears the Crown

Pairing: Steve/Tony Rating: T Words: 22,293 Tags: Romance, Getting Together, Hurt/Comfort

Summary: “Just remember, and this is essential, you call the King ‘Your Majesty’ during the first introduction and afterwards it’s ‘sir’. Queen Maria is likewise ‘Your Majesty’ and thereafter ‘ma’am’, and Prince Anthony is ‘your royal highness, the Prince of Wales’, and ‘sir’ thereafter.” Steve was never going to remember all this. Thank god he was never going to meet any of them. -- When Steve Rogers moved to London he was expecting the bad overpriced flat and the metric system. What he never could've expected was that the heir to the throne would fall for a skinny asthmatic from Brooklyn.

Reasons why I love it: This fic has everything. A meet-cute, romance, drama, angst, fluff, humor – it's a smorgasbord of everything I love. The whole thing just puts the biggest smile on my face. If you haven't read this one, you absolutely have to. I can guarantee that it'll suck you into the rest of the series.

Royal Lockdown

Pairing: Steve/Tony Rating: G Words: 2,136 Tags: Fluff, COVID-19, Quarantine

Summary: “Your majesty, please,” the palace advisor, Mr. Collins, begged, sounding more and more frustrated. “It’s hardly without precedence. Your grandfather evacuated during the blitz. A king should be protected.” “My grandfather was at risk of being bombed,” Tony dismissed. “This is something we can fight by simply staying put. We can set a good example by self-isolating and not travelling unnecessarily.” -- Not even Kings and their consorts are unaffected by the global pandemic - and Steve is determined to be part of the solution.

Reasons why I love it: Oh my god, Steve is such a little shit, and I love him for it. So does Tony, clearly, considering how happy he makes Steve with his little monetary investment there. I love this fic, and you should definitely read it!

Rules of Engagement

Pairing: Steve/Tony Rating: T Words: 10,689 Tags: Humor, Weddings, Paparazzi

Summary: It's the most highly anticipated event of the year: the Royal Wedding Steve Rogers, formerly of Brooklyn, will finally marry his King Charming ...provided they can survive the tabloids, annoying relatives and the occasional swan

Reasons why I love it: I laughed so hard at all of the media formats in this – they really take this fic to a whole other level, it's so good. In general this fic is really goddamn funny and sweet besides, so if you need a good laugh today, put it on your list.

Dancing in Dubrovnik

Pairing: Steve/Tony Rating: E Words: 5,334 Tags: Beach Holiday, Tourism, Humor and Fluff

Summary: “We haven’t really had a chance to talk about the elephant in the room,” Tony murmured, his chest humming against Steve’s cheek. Steve sighed, even as they rocked from side to side. “I know. I’ve been avoiding it if I’m honest.” He tilted his head to look at Tony, giving him a wobbly smile. “Sorry.” -- King Anthony and his consort Steve go on holiday in Croatia and have some Real™️ Talk.

Reasons why I love it: What a lovely vacation they're having, I'm kind of jealous. I love all of the friendship feels in this, Rhodey especially cracked me up several times. And oh my god, the dancing scene? Goes from sweet to hot as hell in the blink of an eye, and I am SO here for it. I love this whole series, and you should definitely read it, if you haven't already!

[imagines-ahs]

Chapter Forty-Seven: Scarlet.

Summary: Wilhemina Venable felt it was finally time to leave Kineros Robotics and get a job with people who weren’t such morons like Jeff and Mutt. What she didn’t expect, however, was for her new boss to be so damn insufferable. She didn’t expect to fall in love with her, either.

Tag List: @mayfair-fleur @mistysswampmud @paulsonsratched @msvenablx @notmeellaannyy @rwoolfe @golddustdykes​ @lovingsarah @slut-for-sarah @geinobinarie​ (message me to be added if interested!)

A/N: I'd like to thank everyone who's still interested in this very much close to my heart story and everyone who's been rooting for me and for everything going on in my life. Things have not been easy, and I've been thinking and wishing that I could just sit down and write, but I just... couldn't. I'm back now though, hopefully for good. Thank you, once again. I don't plan on letting that story go any time soon x.

Change of subjects. Venable supposed Billie Dean would open up more when she felt ready. Doing her best to shift her internal dynamics, she nodded and leaned to peck her lips once. How would my grandmother be like? She would never find out… she would never know if her family would have loved Billie Dean, if her mother would have been happy for her, if her father would have grown protective. I’m alone. She knew that, but being reminded of it was a different story. “We can order.” Clearing her throat in order to clear her mind, Wilhemina reached for her phone inside her pocket. Billie Dean snuggled closer and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, caressing it. I’m glad she has a family.

“Do you mind if we eat something other than McDonald’s?” Billie asked softly, hesitantly.

“Not at all. I was going to ask you that same question, actually.” A chuckle left Venable’s lips. She opened the delivery app and slowly began to scroll down the many options there.

Billie Dean smiled and leaned closer, eyes on the screen. “What about some pasta?” Venable hummed. Pasta sounded good. “There’s this restaurant I always order from.” Gently, Billie reached to touch on the screen; her nail produced a tiny sound as it made contact with the glass. “They have the most delicious red sauce.”

“You know I won’t argue with you over food recommendations,” Wilhemina teased, trying to lift the somber atmosphere off of herself. It worked, for Billie Dean laughed in a way that got her mind thinking about nothing but the way that woman beside her managed to be so damn majestic.

“I hope I won’t let you down this time.” Honey eyes moved to brown ones.

Wilhemina offered her a tiny smile. “You couldn’t.” It was true, and it was also scary. Not now.

Humming lovingly, Billie looked down at the screen again. “I usually go for their spaghetti with meatballs. They also have those delicious breadsticks that taste heavenly with the sauce.”

“That’s perfect.”

“Would you like me to order?”

Venable nodded. She handed her phone to Billie Dean and leaned on her shoulder to watch the screen. Billie Dean bit her inner cheek, holding back her grin as she began to tap down on the mobile. “Do they have anything sweet?” How funny was it that ever since starting to work at Billie Dean Howard & Co. Wilhemina found herself craving sweets in a way she had never done before? Sweets had never been much of a part in her life.

“A few pies.” Swiftly, Billie clicked on the options. She slowly scrolled down. “Their pecan one is delicious.”

Venable was about to agree to it when she saw there was cheesecake on the menu. “Have you ever tried their cheesecake?”

“Not really. We can though, if you’d like.”

Wilhemina nodded. “It’s my favorite.”

“Really?” Honey eyes moved to brown ones once again. Venable smiled a little. She did offer me some cheesecake last week. “I’ll keep that in mind.”A soft blush coated Wilhemina’s cheeks. Billie Dean took notice of it to herself and looked back at the screen. “They have strawberry, grape and blueberry. Which one would you like?”

“I personally prefer grape, but anything else is fine.”

“Grape it is, then.” Billie quickly placed their order, holding back the urge to complain about the fact that Wilhemina was paying for everything. The subject didn’t even cross Venable’s mind, if she were being honest, for the simple fact that Billie Dean had quickly gotten them grape cheesecake was enough to melt her heart in a strange way; she didn’t even question it, she simply got them what Wilhemina had said she liked more. Such a small act, but so damn sweet in nature… Venable wondered if Billie even realized how much she managed to enchant people. Handing the phone back to Wilhemina, Billie Dean leaned back against the couch, arm still wrapped around Venable’s shoulders. “It should be here in about forty-five minutes.”

Wilhemina hummed as she set her phone aside. With both of her hands free, she reached for Billie’s free one and tangled their fingers, slowly playing with them as she looked down at their hands. Will she ever be bothered by the fact I have no family? Like it or not, Venable would never be able to introduce Billie Dean to a mother or a father. I’ve never stopped to think about it before. Her relationship with Lisa had been so different she wondered if it could even compare.

Lost in thought, Venable didn’t realize the way honey eyes were so concentrated on her, analyzing every single feature of her beautiful face. Billie still wondered how could she have not realized just how utterly gorgeous Wilhemina was from the very first time they saw one another. The memories came crashing inside her brain, and Billie Dean couldn’t help but let out a faint chuckle at how different things were, now. Past Billie Dean would have never guessed.

The sound that left Billie’s lips pulled Venable away from her mind. She blinked once and looked at Billie Dean. “What is it?” She asked softly, small smile on her lips.

Shaking her head, Billie smiled a little more. “I was just thinking back to when we first met… to how different everything was.”

“Oh.” What a change of thoughts. Venable nodded. “Indeed.”

“I was so… intrigued by you.”

“Intrigued?” A questioning fiery eyebrow raised up.

Billie nodded. She licked her lips as she thought about how to best articulate her words. “You were so… different. You are different.” The frown in Wilhemina’s features seemed to grow. Billie Dean’s lower lip got caught between her pearl teeth for a moment. “The way you’re so true to yourself… not bending your head down to anyone. It’s different.”

Venable had never stopped to really think of herself that way. “I suppose.”

Billie nodded. Her fingers caressed Wilhemina’s, as well as her other hand on her shoulder. “I mean it mostly about how you’ve always treated me. I was just someone else to you.”

Wilhemina couldn’t help but let out a small irony filled chuckle. “You’re anything but just someone else to me,” she said before she could process the words.

Billie Dean’s smile now reached her eyes. Her chest fluttered just enough for her to want to kiss that woman again. “I mean back then… you’ve never kissed my ass.” Well now that’s just weird. Billie held back the stupid childish giggle that desperately fought for freedom inside herself.

I’d like to kiss her ass now. Wilhemina gulped. Come on. “I know what you mean… and I’m glad for what it means to you.”

Billie nodded. “I desperately wanted to get to know you.”

“Was I that mysterious?”

“Oh yeah,” Billie Dean teasingly raised her eyebrows. “Everyone wanted to get to know you.” Venable let out a scoff. “It’s true!” Billie protested. “I know Emma did.” Brown eyes stared deeply into honey ones. Billie Dean raised a hand in protest, although her cheeks began to blush. Was it a good idea to make that joke? Both knew it hadn’t really been a joke.

“Ugh,” Venable groaned. The reminder that Emma existed—and in consequence, all of their current situation—was definitely not something Wilhemina wanted right now. But also… was that a hint of jealousy in Billie’s voice? Overwhelmed, Venable hid her face against Billie Dean’s neck, which caused a loud laugh to leave Billie’s lips and a hand to tangle in fiery hair. “Don’t even remind me of her,” she murmured.

“I’m sorry, it just slipped out.” To hear Wilhemina saying she didn’t even want to be reminded of Emma was, in all honesty, an amazing feeling. Am I…? She was. Billie Dean knew that.

Wilhemina groaned again before looking back up. She licked her lips as she thought. Thinking of Emma has always been anxiety inducing. It was rage inducing now, too. “I still can’t believe she’s said the things she did to you… who does she think she is?”

“Someone who’s in love with you,” Billie Dean said quietly.

“She’s not—she’s not in love with me,” Venable quickly said. Honey eyes kept on looking at her. Wilhemina frowned. Is she? No, it didn’t make sense. She shook her head. “It’s not—it was not like it is with you.”

Billie held back the ginormous grin that wanted to grace her features once again for the sake of the subject they were talking about. It’s not like it is with you. It was a sort of relief to hear that. “She does like you, that’s for sure.”

The worry dimple between her eyebrows kept on intensifying itself. Venable sucked on her lower lip. “Well, yes, but… in love? I don’t think so.”

“Why?”

Wilhemina shrugged. That’s a stupid question. “For starters, it’s me, and then—then how could she be?”

Exactly. It’s you. “Just like I am.”

Venable shook her head again, deciding that it definitely didn’t make any sense. Things between her and Emma had never been as intimate, as comfortable and as personal as things with Billie Dean. How could Emma be in love with her? No, it just didn’t make sense. She wasn’t in love with Emma, after all. “I just… no.”

Dwelling on the subject would cause more harm than good. The dimple between Wilhemina’s brows kept on growing and growing, and so Billie lightly squeezed her hand. “I just meant that maybe she was scared of losing you.”

“She’s never had me,” Venable said, quite coldly. But it was true. Giving herself to someone—anyone—was a huge step for her; one she doubted she could even manage to take in her lifetime. Billie Dean has a part of me. No, she did not, not yet. Billie hadn’t seen her body bare, after all. And still… I do feel like she’s got at least a fraction of me. She sucked on her lower lip again.

Billie kept her eyes on Wilhemina, paying attention to her every movement, even the slightest ones. She’s bothered. “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable, Wilhie. I’m sor—“

“No,” Venable cut her. Billie Dean closed her mouth. Wilhemina squeezed her hand lovingly, offering her a small smile. “You didn’t… I just—I had never… never stopped to think about it. About that, about how she saw me…” Grimacing, she shook her head again. “It doesn’t matter, she still didn’t have the right to treat you like that.” Logic had always been Venable’s best friend.

Billie had definitely understood that love was a hard subject for Venable. She nodded, caressing Wilhemina’s hand back in order to bring her some comfort. “I agree… but it’s over, now.” Is it? Billie Dean’s stomach dropped at the reminder that Emma knew—or rather, thought she knew—about Terry. She’ll destroy me to Venable. Billie had to think about how she’d approach that subject, but not now, not today. They had had so much turmoil over the past weeks, at least a weekend of peace was more than deserved. “Don’t think about her. She’s not here.”

“But she will be on Monday,” Wilhemina murmured. She leaned her head against the backrest, eyes glued on Billie Dean’s perfect ones. Their faces were close again.

“Then we’ll deal with that on Monday. I’ll be there with you.” Disguising her own worries was a hard task, but Billie knew she had to do it for Venable. Wilhemina seemed to hesitate, but nodded. With a small smile, Billie Dean leaned closer and kissed her lips softly, lingering there. As she was about to pull away, a hand reached to caress her cheek, holding her in place. Billie’s own palm now pulled Venable closer by the shoulder, caressing it. The kiss slowly grew firmer, and inside Wilhemina’s mind, the word ‘we’ passed through nonstop; they were a ‘we’ now. How good did it sound? But also… how would that ‘we’ be on Monday, when they were at a public setting, at a work setting, at a life setting?

“Billie,” Venable whispered softly, thus breaking their kiss. Billie Dean pulled away just enough to stare at dark brown eyes; she found a hint of fear there. Wilhemina nibbled on her lower lip, fingers nervously caressing Billie’s cheek. “On Monday… are we still gonna be we?”

Blonde eyebrows threatened to draw closer together. Billie Dean took a second to understand Venable’s question, but when she did, her own face softened up. She nodded, certain and firmly. “Of course, Wilhie.” She licked her lips as she thought, and then, hesitantly, began to speak again. “It… it took me so long to finally have you. I’m not letting go.”

I’m not letting go. The corners of Wilhemina’s eyes clinked. She nodded, and then she leaned to kiss that woman again because how did she manage to get so fucking lucky? I don’t deserve her. But she was there and she was kissing her and she was holding her so damn lovingly she feared she would melt away in Billie’s arms. I love her. I love her. I love her. She kissed Billie Dean a bit firmer in order to stop herself from having the possibility of letting it slip, and Billie’s arm around her shoulders pulled her even closer, causing her back to lift off of the couch and Billie Dean’s arm to slip lower; instantly, Venable leaned back, but with the hand tangled in Billie’s, she pulled her along. Billie Dean snuggled closer, arm letting go of Wilhemina’s shoulders for the sake of the position they were on. The kisses kept on growing firmer, and Billie Dean’s body now bent weirdly. So she shifted on the couch in order to rearrange her hips, which caused Venable to realize what was going on. Gently, she pulled away once again, eyes on honey ones. “You’re not comfortable, are you?” she whispered with a chuckle.

Chuckling back, Billie Dean shook her head. “No, but it is worth it to keep kissing you.”

Letting out a shy laugh, Wilhemina bit her lower lip. “Straddle me again?”

Billie’s stomach twisted. She nodded and moved to do so, legs on each side of Venable’s body. They had done that same thing that morning, in bed, and later in the vanity, but it was still new. Very new. She smiled down at Wilhemina, feeling as hands caressed her hips. Their breaths mingled. “Much better,” she breathed out.

Venable nodded slowly. “Much better,” she repeated. Brown eyes fell down to those rosy lips in front of her, but before she could move forward they already collided against her own. Wilhemina sighed, hands taking in every single curve of Billie Dean’s waist and hips, feeling the way the rough material of her jeans clung to her skin. Stupid jeans. Venable didn’t know what had gotten into her. And then she remembered that time Emma had straddled her in the couch of her house, and how different it had felt to make out with her; with Billie, time simply stopped. Against Wilhemina’s shoulders, near her head, Billie Dean rested her forearms and caressed her cheeks with her thumbs, cupping the fat there as if she were holding the most precious piece of art in the universe. Their tongues had long ago met, dancing like velvet against one another. Just to tease, Billie nibbled on Venable’s lower lip and pulled on it softly, a small smirk on her lips. “Oh—“ Wilhemina instantly gasped. Her cheeks turned such a dark shade of red it was nearly purple. Honey eyes turned darker as they stared at her, and Billie Dean caught her own lower lip between those same teeth, now. Venable gulped. Her lower stomach trembled, as well as her hands that kept on exploring Billie’s back.

“Do you like it?” Billie Dean asked in a near whisper, voice dropping in a way Venable hadn’t heard before. Wilhemina nodded again. I want to devour her, the thought passed through Billie’s mind as fast as lightening. She was the one to gulp now.

“I—I l-like it when y-you straddle me, too.” Venable’s voice trembled from something she couldn’t quite point to; something nice, very.

“Me too.” Billie Dean’s smirk grew a bit more. Her eyes fell down to Wilhemina’s lips before coming back up at dark ones. Venable instinctively pulled her closer. “Can I ask you something?” In the state she was at, Wilhemina doubted she had the power to ever deny Billie Dean anything; she nodded. Billie’s cheeks were the ones to tint now, but only faintly. “Do you like those jeans?”

Fuck. Billie Dean had caught her staring. Of course she had. Now, she turned purple. What an irony. Her eyes fell down as she struggled to keep them on Billie’s, but when she heard that same woman letting out a small chuckle, she looked back up again, lips curving up. What a funny contrast from just a few weeks ago; she would be feeling absolutely ashamed had that happened back then. But it wouldn’t have, for they weren’t that intimate, for they weren’t them yet. Shyly, Venable nodded. “It’s n-not nice to stare… I k-know. My apologies.”

My apologies. Why was Wilhemina so damn classy, even when teasing her? And why did Billie Dean find it so damn sexy? “It is if what you’re staring at is already yours…”

Already yours. Venable blinked once. Is she mine? Did she actually have Billie? What were they? Are we… girlfriends? They were both adults, for fuck’s sake. Did adults even call each other’s partners girlfriends or boyfriends? Wilhemina found it to be so childish… but the concept left her chest tight with joy. She licked her lips, eyes still on honey ones as she tried to find something to say. Nothing came to mind. Billie Dean was about to cut the silence when there was a knock at the door, thus cutting their spell. Both looked away, and Billie carefully got up. “I’ll go—I’ll go get it.” Venable cleared her throat and reached for her cane to get up.

Billie Dean nodded, watching as Wilhemina made her way to the door. Taking a deep breath, she only now realized how fast her heart was beating. Oof. Billie’s lower stomach still burned. She took another deep breath, hand smothering her blonde curls down in order to make herself more presentable. When Venable walked back in, they both followed to the dinner table. “Smells delicious,” she said softly, reaching to help Wilhemina take the containers off of the bag.

Just like Billie Dean, Venable’s whole body seemed to have been engulfed in flames. She forced her mind to go back into place. At the words, she nodded. “Indeed it does.” She reached for the now empty bag. “I’ll go grab the plates and silverware.”

“Let me help you.” Billie followed to the kitchen along with Wilhemina, cheesecake in hand. As they got there, Venable put the bag away and reached for the plates. “Give it to me.” Billie Dean extended her arms once she let the cheesecake go. Slowly but surely, her nerves began to calm down.

“Thank you,” Venable said softly. She now reached for the silverware and for their glasses. “What would you like to drink? I have juice, water, tea…”

“Juice is perfect.”

Wilhemina nodded and moved to grab it, as well as put the dessert into the fridge. They both got back to the living room and set everything down. Sitting face to face, Billie Dean was the one to start opening one of the containers. Venable followed along, heart still a bit faster than usual. Steam raised from the pasta. Billie hummed as she moved to open the container with the breadsticks.

“Looks delicious,” Wilhemina leaned closer. “That’s definitely a hidden talent of yours.”

“Choosing good food?” Billie Dean chuckled as she grabbed a breadstick and took a bite. Venable nodded, carefully serving the both of them. “Well, I’ll take it.”

“You should,” Wilhemina smiled. She pushed a plate closer to Billie before grabbing a fork.

“Thank you.” Taking another bite of the breadstick, Billie Dean reached for a fork and quickly swirled some pasta on it. She took a bite, eyes closing as the taste invaded her mouth. Of course it was as delicious as she remembered it to be, and maybe Venable really was onto something.

Wilhemina couldn’t help but hum as well, reaching for a napkin just to make sure her chin would be free of sauce. “This is wonderful.” Carefully, she reached for a breadstick and dipped it into her dish. Honey eyes watched her lovingly. Venable took a bite.

“Approved?”

“More than so.”

Billie Dean’s smile grew as she got back to eating.

It was interesting, how even a simple task as much as eating felt much more meaningful with Billie around. It caused Wilhemina to wonder what the future held for her, and even though anxiety tried to break it here and there and make things blue, Venable focused only in coral for now; only for a meal, she could manage.

The pasta and breadsticks were soon over, and as Billie Dean followed Wilhemina to the kitchen once again and they loaded the dishwasher together, Billie tried remembering when was the last time she had enjoyed doing chores so much. When was the last time she felt excited to do the dishes, to watch a movie, to just sit on a couch and talk… when was the last time life had showed its colors to her? When was the last time life had allowed itself to be purple?

They both got back to the table, cheesecake in hand. Venable carefully cut them each a piece, mouth salivating at the sight of the creamy cheese and the thick jelly.

“Now that I know it is your favorite, I’m nervous for your reaction,” Billie commented softly.

Shaking her head, Wilhemina let a smile escape her lips. “I’m sure I’ll love it just as much as the pasta.”

“Hopefully.” Billie Dean took a first bite; it was not the best cheesecake she had ever had, but it was good enough for herself. I need to find a way of getting her a piece of that gourmet cheesecake I had in Germany. Honey eyes still watched Venable’s every move.

To Wilhemina, the cheesecake was absolutely delicious, even though it couldn’t be considered the best she had ever had, either. Slowly, she savored each note of sweet and sour, crunch and smooth. She nodded. “It’s good.”

“Not the best, though.” Billie took another bite.

“Maybe not the best, but something I’d buy again.”

“I’ve failed, then,” Billie Dean frowned teasingly, which caused laughter to fill the dining room.

“Don’t be dramatic,” Venable said softly once her laugh died down.

Biting her lower lip, Billie kept her smile printed on her lips. “What’s the best cheesecake you’ve ever had?”

With the dimple between her eyebrows, Wilhemina thought. She felt a foot caressing her own underneath the table. Emma’s. She assumed Billie Dean wouldn’t like that answer. “I can’t really choose.”

“But if you had to?”

Don’t make me answer to that. Lying was not something Venable was fond of… but Emma had been a grey cloud over them, and she desperately needed that cloud to go away. “The homemade cheesecake from one of the ladies at the orphanage… it was the first one I’ve ever had, and none other has ever compared.” It was true in more than one way.

Each bit and detail Wilhemina revealed about her past just caused Billie to admire that woman even more. Her chest flushed with something awfully similar to love. “I bet it was delicious.”

Taking another bite, Venable nodded. When had her past become something so trivial to talk about? “I think it’s more of an affection memory than the taste itself… I do remember it being extremely creamy though, even if the ingredients were probably low quality.” They didn’t have money to spend on extras, after all.

“Affection memories are the best kind,” Billie’s words came as soft as melted butter. “How old were you?”

I’m not sure I have many of those. “Six.”

[wildsupernova]

oh, brother.

summary: after a trip to indianapolis, steve starts a long distance relationship with the lead singer of a band performing at a popular grunge bar. little does he know he’s actually dating his best friend’s sister.

word count: 2.4k

warnings: vulgar language, insinuations of sex

authors note

i’m gonna be honest with you guys, this is kind of a shitpost chapter just so i can put something out while i work on more serious stuff lol. i don’t really know how i feel about it but hey, i think it’s pretty funny, so enjoy.

x reader prompts list | full masterlist

Steve had no idea Eddie had a sister until he started dating her.

Looking back on it, it should have been obvious. Despite minute physical differences in appearance, they were practically the same person; same attitude, same likes and dislikes, same sarcastic looks and semi-annoying attitude. Eddie had talked about her once or twice, never really knowing enough about her to share any useful information. All he’d ever said was that his uncle told him he had a sister he’d never met. 

Steve had only met her on a roadtrip to Indianapolis with Robin. It was an impromptu trip to mark Robin’s last summer before college (even though she was only enrolled in community college a half hour away), with Robin claiming she wanted to enjoy her ‘last few days of freedom.’ They’d already spent the first half of the week with the rest of the group, so when Robin suggested she and Steve pack a few things and spend the weekend in Indianapolis, Steve was quick to fill his bags and grab his keys. 

They’d been itching for something to do since driving into town, dropping their bags off in their cheap motel rooms and aimlessly driving around town to find something to do. They’d seen a few small paper signs taped to light posts about a concert going on in the basement of some grunge bar, deciding it was about the only thing they could find that wasn’t closed at 10 pm on a Thursday. After a 15 minute drive through downtown Indianapolis in an effort to find a place, they finally pulled into the dark parking lot behind the building and made their way down the ramp to the basement. 

The basement was probably no wider than the basement of Steve’s house, packed from wall to wall with teens and young adults that were drunk, high, or both. A small stage sat against the wall across from the bar, a few stage lights hanging from the ceiling and a black curtain cutting off the stage from whatever laid behind it. The band’s equipment sat on the stage; a drumset, an electric bass, a guitar. The bright purple guitar sitting next to the microphone stand reminded Steve a lot of Eddie’s, making a mental note to tell Eddie about this place next time he tagged along.

Steve and Robin didn’t know how long they had been standing there before the stage lights kicked on, the second hand high and alcohol all mixing together thanks to a bar that didn’t card and a smoke circle going on in one of the far corners. Anyone else from Hawkins might have had a heart attack seeing it, but Steve was just glad nobody had started popping pills or snorting lines; he’d been to far too many parties with those kinds of people. 

Steve, deciding to spend the night sober considering he was the one that had to drive the two of them back to the motel, was on Robin babysitting duty, despite the fact that he was doing a really shitty job of it; she’d already found her home with one of the other girls in the venue, drink in hand and distant look in her eyes. When he went over to make sure she was alright, the other girl assured him she was sober and Robin was in good hands, so he decided to let her have her fun for the night and mingle amongst the crowd.

As soon as the curtain on the back of the stage opened, the crowd started to go wild, sending out whistles and cheers at the performers that began to fill the stage. He hadn’t seen the name of the band on the sign, nor was it anywhere in the venue, so he didn’t know what to expect. This wasn’t exactly his usual hangout, only coming to places like this whenever Eddie landed a gig or wanted to get loose for the night. He decided to just stand to the back of the crowd and watch as the band set up, eyes never leaving the stage as the last band member came through the curtains. 

You were probably one of the most beautiful girls he had ever seen, basked in the red and blue stage lights shimmering a few feet above you. The black leather skirt you wore covered very little, so short it was a wonder it covered anything at all. A white t-shirt covered in colorful paint splatters was tucked into it, covered by a leather jacket littered with patches, doodles, and pins. The fishnet tights that adorned your legs were ripped in various places and disappeared under the tops of thick black combat boots, with a belt loosely hanging around your waist that tied everything together. Your maroon painted lips curled up in a confident smile, and you winked at Steve as the two of you locked eyes. 

He was hardly able to focus on anything except you, taking note of the way your eyes closed when you got particularly into your performance, or the way your black painted nails shimmered in the light as your delicate hands wrapped around the neck of the guitar. He drowned in your cover of Pat Benatar’s Heartbreaker, and let every note flow through him and cover him like the smoke floating around his head. 45 minutes later and the set was over, much to his dismay, and he sighed as he watched you walk back through the black curtains behind you.

Fully prepared to leave and never see you again, he went on his search to find Robin, finding her engaged in a heated game of drunk Rock-Paper-Scissors with the group of girls she’d found a home with at the beginning of the night. Steve, deciding to let her be, decided to take a seat at the bar, nursing a Coke to pass the time.

“Quite the show out there tonight. The usual?” The bartender, a thin blonde woman wearing the most extravagant goth makeup Steve had ever seen, spoke to someone behind Steve’s back as she dried out one of the glasses. The woman she was speaking to sat down in the barstool next to Steve’s, leaning her top half on the bartop.

“You know me better than anyone.” The bartender nodded and smiled in response, setting off on getting you your drink. Steve glanced at you out of the corner of his eyes but didn’t say anything, much to your disappointment. “I’ve been waiting for you to say something to me all night. Figured you’d at least come a little closer to the stage.”

“Didn’t want to bother you.” He saw you swivel the barstool towards him, legs crossed and leaning one arm against the bar. 

“Pretty face like yours could never be a bother.” Steve felt the redness rush to his cheeks. “First time here?”

“Is it that obvious?” You laughed.

“Let's just say you don’t exactly look like one of the regulars here.” You thanked the bartender as she put your drink down in front of you, a red concoction of alcohol he didn’t know. You took a sip, barely flinching at what had to be heavy liquor based on the vodka bottle he’d seen the bartender pick up earlier. “Where are you from?”

“Hawkins. A couple hours away from here.”

“I’ve got family there, an uncle and a brother. Never been to a place like that, not really my thing. What brings you to Indianapolis?”  

You and Steve shared small talk for what had to have been an hour, based on how far the hands of Steve’s watch had moved, but neither of you were in a rush for the conversation to end. The conversation had quickly become flirty, a tone initiated by you, and the next thing Steve knew he was driving you back to his motel room. 

He spent the rest of the weekend traveling around Indianapolis with you, spending time at parks, restaurants, practically anywhere that provided any sort of entertainment. When he left to drive back from Hawkins, you exchanged numbers and vowed to stay in touch, and before either you knew it, you were embroiled in a 3 month long long-distance relationship. Robin often made fun of Steve for driving to Indianapolis a few times a month just to see you, but he simply ignored it and kept his usual routine. 

He was ecstatic when you called him and said you were coming down to Hawkins for a few weeks to see family, planning out everywhere he could take you in town (which really limited his options, but he was being optimistic). He really should have connected the dots when Eddie had mentioned his sister from Indianapolis was coming down to Hawkins to meet him and his uncle, but he was too clouded by hormones and his own stupidity to see the signs. 

Now here he was, sitting on top of one of the picnic tables in Eddie’s trailer park, patiently waiting for Eddie’s sister to show up. Eddie had been begging Steve and the rest of the group to meet her ever since he heard she was coming down, barely giving them a choice. Steve had been engaged in a conversation with Robin when the car pulled up, Eddie rushing forward to greet the driver. Steve froze when the door opened and she stepped out. 

“So, naturally, I said- hey, dingus, you still with me?” Robin slapped his arm to try and get his attention, and when she followed his line of sight, she practically cackled like an evil witch. 

Because you were standing there a few feet away, hugging the long lost brother you had met only a few days ago. Your brother. One of Steve’s best friends. Steve was dating his best friend’s sister. 

Oh god. 

He slapped Robin upside the head to get her to shut up, shooting down the barrage of questions now being fired at him from Nancy and Jonathan. He tried to stay casual when the two of you walked over, but the moment the two of you locked eyes, both of you went red as a tomato. 

“Steve?”

“Hey, Y/n.” Eddie’s head ping ponged back and forth between the two of you, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

“Wait, you two know each other?” Robin got up from her seat and hid the ear to ear grin on her face, tossing her empty beer can in the trash.

“I am going to go get another beer before this shit storm hits. Good luck, you two.” She held up a salute as she walked back towards the trailer. You cleared your throat, putting on the most innocent smile you could muster.

“You know that guy I was telling you about over the phone? The one I met at the bar?” Eddie still didn’t connect the dots, only looking at you with a confused expression. “Eddie, that guy was, no is, Steve.”

The words hung in the air for a second, the silence far more deafening than anything Eddie was going to say. Nancy covered her mouth in an effort to hide the laugh threatening to slip from between her lips. Jonathan’s lips were pursed to stop from smiling, and Steve could see Robin peering out from around the corner of the trailer to watch from a safe distance. When Eddie finally registered it, he clenched his fists and took a breath. 

“WHAT?” The next five minutes were a shit show. Nancy finally let out the laugh she’d been holding in, Jonathan let himself snicker and smile. Steve only sat there and flushed red as Eddie threw a variety of particularly vulgar words at him, yourself trying to hold him back and prevent anything from turning into a physical confrontation. Eventually, you dragged him back to the trailer, shutting the door behind you to shut him off from the group and calm him down. Robin came back laughing, fresh beer in hand. 

“Oh god, what are the odds?”

“I cannot believe that she’s the girl you kept talking about! You call her everyday, how did you not know?” Nancy wiped the tears from her eyes, shaking her head.

“He hasn’t just been calling her everyday, he drives there every other weekend to fuck her, too.”

“Robin! Come on, you’re just making it worse.” He held his head in his hands, trying to hide the red flush on his face. “How was I supposed to know? When she talked about her brother that lived in Hawkins I never thought she was talking about Eddie!”

“Yes, because it’s so difficult to figure out when Eddie also kept talking about his sister from Indianapolis.” Robin rolled her eyes. Steve sat there for a second and sighed.

“Wow, I am an idiot.”

“I wasn’t gonna say it.”

A few moments later, he heard the door of Eddie’s trailer open and then slam shut, looking up to see Eddie stalking towards him, red in the face. He braced himself for something along the lines of a punch, but Eddie only pressed a finger to his chest.

“You do anything to her and I swear to god, I’ll kill you.” Steve only offered a nervous nod in response, watching as Eddie sighed and shook his head. You appeared behind him, biting your bottom lip. “God, I need a drink.” 

When Eddie left, you approached Steve, letting out a relieved sigh and a smile.

“Hi.” He smiled at you. 

“Hi.” You shoved your hands in your pants pockets, rocking back and forth nervously. “If I’d known, I would have told you. I told Eddie he couldn’t blame you, since he never even told you my name. And I guess since I never told you his.”

“Well, let’s just hope the awkwardness has faded.” The two of you shared a laugh, and then fell into introductions and re-introductions with the rest of the group sitting at the table. Despite a few sideways glances from Eddie, the rest of the afternoon went smoothly, and by the time the sun dipped below the horizon, you were relishing in the feeling of family.

And hey, at least you wouldn’t have to go through the awkwardness of introducing Steve to your family, considering he already knew them.

[aprilblossomgirl]

april's watchlist january 2025

in my attempt to be more organized and to keep track of what got into my heart and soul and mind and tears and psd folders in terms of dramas, (also to reclaim my confidence in expressing my love for my favorite shows in form of written notes not tags) i'm starting this monthly watchlist, sorted daily (also inspired by fellow tumblr users here <3). not necessarily includes reviews or any notes but maybe some shoutout on my level of excitement for each show. so here we go for my january watch list:

monday

ossan's love thailand - i have earthmix back on my screen and i love the chaos this show brings to my mondays! earth is doing a really good job in comedy. his facial expressions were so **chef's kiss** so excited to see more of this one.

tuesday

-

wednesday

the heart killers - **deep breaths** screaming in my head **deep breaths again** ok. besides 'thamepo' & 'love scout' (my friday shows) i enjoy THK the most if not as much. the parallel of moods between fadelstyle story and kantbison's, the music scoring selection, the layered conversation between the four leads. almost all of it. tbh i didn't expect to love the show this much but here i am. also, as someone who secretly enjoy repeating 'star in my mind', joongdunk as fadelstyle is a pleasant improvement to watch. funny thing, i didn't plan to gif the show at all, but turns out one of my fadelstyle edit quickly became the most favorite set of 2024, and of all, surpassing any other set i ever made :') will i keep being crazy over them until the end, that, i need to wait and see to say.

thursday

-

friday

thamepo - this one owns my heart instantly. loving every detail so far but no words could ever describe what i feel whenever i see the way thame stares, talks to, and treats po with such tenderness. i might grow fond of jun a little (and if any novel spoilers i saw is anything to go by then i can't wait for things to unfold). also, can't wait to see the story/arc involving pepper (tui my beloved).

love scout - these past three years i kinda shifted from kdramas towards thai dramas; somehow i couldn't find a kdrama that really fits my mood during all those years. the only full-length kdramas i could finish: semantic error, to my star s1, unintentional love story, moving, and my sweet mobster. and then love scout happens! i never knew lee joonhyuk and han ji min is the pairing i need <3 moreover with a reverse trope of a chaotic female CEO with past trauma (kang jihyun) meets a single-father secretary (yoo eunho) that is super super organized (please, teach me your way secretary yoo!) i just love the chemistry, the vibes, the tension vs tenderness, ... i just truly hope it won't make any blunder decisions, plot or story wise, along the way **crossing fingers**

saturday

pluto the series - the last episode, to finish before us the series. i am this close to include this one in my top five for 2024 but i shall see the ending first.

us the series - starting this week and i'm so excited!

love scout - i am blessed with this friday+saturday drama <3

sunday

perfect 10 liners - currently on yothagun arc, which i adore. and apparently, we have another set of chaotic friends' group. not gonna lie tho, i miss my trio arm-pipo-sand so so much. but i do enjoy little crumbs here and there of faifawine and especially arcarm domesticity <3

your sky - i love fahrak so much they are so cute and lovely and adorable and made me blushing hard every episode **cries every sunday midnight** but punlee is my boy **heart eyes emojis**

under consideration: (planning to watch in the tuesday-thursday free time slots)

the boy next world - another sunday line-up so i need to have this on one of my free time slots.

monster next door - i need to finish this!!!

nevertheless the shapes of love - i didn't watch the korean version, but when i see ryusei yokohama in this one...let's say it sparks my curiosity.

notes: all gifs i created were posted with tags #*gifs and #april.gif and #[showname]edit

[cannot-decide-on-a-fandom]

https://www.tumblr.com/cannot-decide-on-a-fandom/754552911759114240/i-dont-think-ive-ever-seen-a-fanbase-talk-so

Your preaching to the choir on this. Especially on twitter where it happens soo much. And it’s so baffling. Like they refuse to accept people can actually learn and grow and do better. And it’s not like he never apologized. He has multiple times. And he’s proven that he’s learned from it and grown from it. And I really don’t think people like Aisha, or Angela would say the positive things they have and continue to say about him if he hadn’t. It was very clear at the time how the cast felt about what happened and in regards to him. And it’s like completely opposite vibes now. And then the way people will say they think he’s so hot and such a good actor and good dad and so brave for talking about his mental health but yet censor his name the entire time is like 💀💀💀💀💀 what are you even doing. You look goofy as hell saying R*yan. Like 💀💀😂

Honestly I try so hard to stay out of saying potentially controversial stuff about real situations (characters are a bit more...I obviously won't tag the character in negative stuff but it's fiction and all) but this has been baffling me and I'm glad some people agree. I just don't understand censoring for this reason most of the time anyway to be honest? Like I heard there was a time when people would censor Oliver's name so he wouldn't see their tweets because he apparently lurked (which is so funny, this is not an Oliver Stark appreciation post but from what I've seen I have to acknowledge that, that man is so funny) and that I get. If you try and censor a name to avoid people finding the post, okay sure.

But censoring problematic or supposedly problematic people's names has somehow morphed and become just an easy out for people who like to talk about someone who has done something wrong in their past (ie-is a human being) without needing to confront what them loving them must mean. Because it's either "I truly think this person is bad but I don't care enough to not talk about them" or acknowledging the fact that it's possible for people to have done fucked up stuff and still be good people after (which seems to be a foreign concept to some people, especially when it comes to celebrities)

If a post is about negative stuff a person did, you can censor it if you want but surely the context would give away you don't support them, and if it's positive stuff, then if you genuinely truly think "this person is a bad person" then buddy you're still fucking saying good stuff about the same person, just because there's an asterix in it doesn't mean you're not.

The only time I really get this type of censoring is if listing a group of people and you wanna make it clear that you're listing them for specificity alone. For example a group photo where one person is shitty, and you're trying to refer to that picture so you list all the people in it, and it's easier to make it clear you think someone in it is a shitty person without needing to write a separate explanation (which I would honestly never expect anyone to...ever have to but it's the internet)

Anyway, this ended up being way longer of a reply than I intended (and I've had a few drinks) but hopefully it made sense. I guess I'll just finish by saying it's bad for people using screen readers too so I sort of think the accessibility of "Hey blind people should be able to be online too" should probably trump "I want everyone to know I'm a good person by hating this guy who did something messed up 5 years ago" (or other instances of similar things)

[blessphemy]

2024 ao3 wrapped [writer's edition]

original prompt post link

How many words (of fanfic) have you written this year? 234,231 words. all murderbot. shut up. This was my second biggest year. I'd like to thank the time on my hands, posting a longfic I had in the works for a while, and participating in a Big Bang. (2021 was my biggest. I'll thank back pain and unemployment for that one lol.)

How many works did you publish this year? 42 fanfics.

What work are you most proud of (regardless of kudos/hits)? Networks VOID + Networks VITAL. Took me over two years to write and I finally finished it and punted it into the universe this year. fucking monster roller-coaster of a fic capping off a monster roller-coaster of a series. probably the most technically challenging thing I've written to date, by merit of all the balls in motion and all the emotional beats crammed in over the course of 99k words, with the majority of the action taking place during ~48 in-universe hours. i'm so proud of it. it deserves all the love it's gotten LoL thanks everybody!!

What work of yours has the most hits? Via Solitude is a perennial crowd pleaser. Wide audience appeal. Slow and long-running multi-chapter slice of life. ("Slice of life" whilst stranded and surviving alien wilderness.)

What work of yours got more feedback than you expected? idk I'm honestly pleasantly surprised every time people comment at all. but I guess SecUnit Feet got hella reactions, for a borderline gag fic for April fools.

Favorite title you used Stranger (manic pixie dream killing machine) ^ honestly i've peaked with this one

If you use song lyrics, which artist’s songs did you pull from the most? I don't.

Pairing you wrote the most for this year? I don't really write much as far as pairings go. The REAL talk is that I posted another entry for my niche obsession: re-writing the Exit Strategy Dock Showdown from the point of view of "Hostile One" the Combat SecUnit. Surrender/Please is my fourth one in this microgenre, and does it just as fresh and fun and different from the preceding three. ^_^

Favorite pairing you wrote for this year? Well I did write one ship fic: Stranger (manic pixie dream killing machine). In which 2 characters that never interact in canon suck face. It's pretty good makeouts if you're into that. Honestly I do love this fic I did a good job on it. Took me a long time to iron it out. Alternatively, if you stretch the definition of "pairing" to mean "self-destructive murdercule" there's the squad from Networks VOID/VITAL being patently insane. Together. Heart Emoji.

What work was the quickest to write? Funny you should ask. I gave myself 30-minute limits to write the daily Febuwhump prompts and timed myself. equivalent exchange took me 11.25 minutes, and it's not bad considering the time crunch. Mensah POV of killing that SecUnit in All Systems Red :)

What work took you the longest to write? Aforementioned Networks VOID/VITAL. I cannot overstate how insane I was making myself writing this thang for 2 years before posting it to the internets.

How many WIP’s do you have in your docs for next year? I think I made a list of some ideas I've had knocking around, but they've been backburnered a bit since I've been noodling other writing stuff lately. (I say, while succumbing to banging out random fics for a prompt event during December -_-)

What’s your longest work of the year? Networks VITAL again, at 99.8k. Maybe I should edit in a couple hundred more words to bring it up to a clean 100k. that would be funny. maybe. eh.

What’s your shortest work of the year? I've written a few drabbles. (drabble = 100 words.) 🦎 herping 🐍, Handoff, Sugar

What WIP are you taking into next year with you? Via Solitude. She marches on.

What’s your most common “Additional Tags” tag? I'll do top 3 since the top 2 are tied to a prompt event: Febuwhump 2024 (18), Whump (12), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence (6)

Your favorite character to write this year? Take a Wild Fucking Guess (*uses my foot to push 29 fics tagged #Murderbot (Murderbot Diaries) under the bed*)

The character that gave you the most trouble writing this year? I find ART kinda challenging. It's a multifaceted lil gremlin. But really everyone is fun to write.

What’s one pairing you want to explore next year? idk. maybe i'll make 2 bots make out again.

Which work of yours have you reread the most? again Networks VITAL. like just from the editing process alone.

Which work has the most comments? Via Solitude again. She's killing pretty much every popularity stat.

Did you do any collaborative works this year? Wrote a meta with ArtemisTheHuntress: [Meta] Name Dropping about the ways Muderbot refers to other bots in the series. Surprising little nuggets of realization such as: Murderbot only refers to bot pilots generically or with nicknames, and the only named ships are A) Holism the supership and B) Lalow, which has no bot pilot. Also participated in a big bang with every_eye_evermore to create Plastic Plague. I did the writing, every_eye_evermore did the awesome illustrations and helped me work out the kinks. If Networks VITAL hadn't stolen the show in terms of the man-hours and heart I put in, I think I'd have named Plastic Plague as my pride and joy. Kind of surprised myself with how fast I wrote it given its length. But also it's one of those fics that's like 2 degrees removed from being a whole ass original novella. lol. If you're interested in getting your heart broken and then pulled back together, come check out this post-apocalyptic pandemic fic. owo.

Did you write any gifts this year? Yeah! The yearly gift exchange let me create a pretty fun one: HELP WANTED: decryption key needed before half my brain gets locked behind a paywall #paid #ManticSoft #semi-urgent And the lil fluff of🦎 herping 🐍 for musicofthespheres :3

Did you receive any gifts this year? Also yeah! Once again the gift exchange gave me a fic I Adore thank you isilee: what to do when your friend is a victim of organ harvesting. pod AU. i love pod AU. and more??? everyone is being so nice to me. The Great Slug Migration and debugged [comic] by musicofthespheres. and Sing Your Feelings by ArtemisTheHuntress

What’s your most common category? Gen. I'm a 97% gen household lmao.

What do you listen to while writing? Bathroom fan white noise. Neighbors noise. Sometimes noise muffling headphones. I usually can't listen To Stuff and write at the same time, there's barely enough space in my head to have 1 full thought per second. It's like 0.6-0.8 tps in here.

Favorite work you wrote this year? I couldn't POSSIBLY pick a favorite out of all my precious children. I would never. I love them all equally. 🏆 Networks VOID/VITAL 🏆

Favorite line/passage you wrote this year? Listen I wrote 234,231 words worth of bangers. Girl I forget. I'm not rereading all that to find my fave passage. Here’s one from Surrender/Please: “I’m chasing you, my mental crosshairs locked on you, which is how it’s supposed to be, but something is so wrong, so wrong, so wrong with you, so wrong with me. The ghost of your presence in my feed digs its ethereal fingers into the back of my neck, where my data-port is, and just above that, wedged within the shriveled heart of a stripped-down medulla, is my governor module.” Here’s one from false pulse, ComfortUnit POV: “I want to cut the mimic heart out of my torso, that lying little device in the center of my chest put there for the sole purpose of broadcasting a false pulse to a sentimental human audience, that races loudly now, unbidden.” From Suns Out Guns Out: ““SecUnit. Where are your arms?” SecUnit shrugged its armless shoulders. The gesture made its empty sleeves flop a bit. “Planetary customs has them. I’ll pick them back up when I go up the elevator.”” From illucid: “The systems swerve uncertainty, the missile misses its mark, the mote floats free.” Also I think spousal privilege does a great job burying the lede. But I won’t paste the whole thing here.

Biggest surprise while writing this year? How did I write so many bangers? uwu. (Actually I spent a month or two having forgotten how to write good because I went outside and touched too much grass. (Read: went backpacking for a while and didn’t have access to writing.) It was a little agonizing. Then Surrender/Please knocked the cork loose and I was able to write again everyone say thank you Surrender/Please.) At this point writing is kind of a near-daily compulsion for me.

[aidanchaser]

20 questions for Fic Writers

Thank you for the tag @emeralddoeadeer! Am I using this to avoid writing? ... maybe

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

63 (I can think of at least 5 more that were orphaned or deleted)

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

1,561,814 (lower than I expected tbh!)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Right now, mostly Miraculous Ladybug and Star Wars

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

It's... all Harry Potter Everyone Lives AU. Literally, my top 8 are all the HP AU (the epilogue, however, comes in at 10 for some reason). So excluding the Spiders Georg of my fanfic kudos, my top 5 are: 9. By Her Side (miraculous ladybug smut) 11. The Gladiator Games (percy jackson - everyone dies au) 12. Office Number One (chase works out her HP complaints in a different way than the AU) 13. Movie Night at the Manor (dick grayson tries not to mope about the parallels between jason and the winter soldier) 14. 2am (i make people cry about young justice)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to respond to all comments. I don't quite get them all - but I try. Fic is about community, and I've made so many friends through Ao3 comments (including the lovely person who tagged me~)

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Not even a toss up. It's The Gladiator Games, where I slaughter, one by one, all the Heroes of Olympus.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

As I skim my list of fics, I find I'm not very into happy endings. I'm into hopeful endings, which I don't think are necessarily the same thing. I think I have to go with By Her Side, which, even though I've written a dozen Ladybug identity reveals, I think is the happiest. Even that one, though, ends on the hope that they can keep it this time, rather than reset the world like they've had to before.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

The closest I got to hate was people bitching at the HP AU for including Wolfstar (or for not including wolfstar, which is fucking funny tbh), and one or two people who complained that it wasn't different enough from canon or interesting enough. But, if the AU had not had such a lovely, kind, wonderful reception by folks overall, I probably never would have finished it.

9. Do you write smut. If so, what kind?

I do write smut. I enjoy writing smut. I like paralleling emotional vulnerability to physical vulnerability. I used to write really kinky smut but I've become less enamored with writing it in the last few years -- that said I do still come back to my Percy/Annabeth/Piper/Jason fic that is kinky as all hell.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

I don't know that it can be found anymore, but I used to have a Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons at Hogwarts fic. No idea if I orphaned or deleted it. I had all 7 years outlined. It was credited on Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons wikis, links all broken now. I think only managed to write 3 of them before I quit the whole thing.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

At least twice people have tried posting the HP AU on Wattpad or Ao3 as their own. Which is... an odd choice. Like, I'm not fandom famous, but it's a pretty distinctive fic. Both got taken down fairly quickly.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! Some old, orphaned DCU smut got translated into Chinese. The HP AU has been translated into both Portuguese and German.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I used to co-write in school. I had a series that a former friend and I were collabing on, but we wrote fully different time periods in a series. I've never had a full fic co-written. Though, arguably, my beta team poured as much blood sweat and tears into the HP AU as I did, helping with everything from plot outlines to character developments to final grammar touches.

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

Percabeth. Something about them is just... so precious to me. I want them happy so badly.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

Wisdom's Daughter Walks Alone... I know the ending. It's one more chapter. I should just write it. But I can't seem to make myself do it.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue. No questions asked. I love it and I'm good at it. It was the most consistent positive feedback I got throughout screenwriting and writing courses in school - I've always been very good at distinctive character voices.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Plot. Is it not enough for a story to be vibes? (If you want to know why I love AUs, Remixes, and songfic/poem frames - it's because I cannot think of an original problem to save my life. I can only borrow others'.)

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

Like all writing, it should be intentional. But, like all fanfic, it's just for fun so do whatever you want. Ultimately, when you write for others, you write to communicate a thought or idea. Writing is telepathy, as Steven King said. So using words from another language is just another set of tools in your belt to communicate an idea. Know your audience and communicate your idea well.

19. First Fandom you wrote for?

Very first ever? Kingdom Hearts. First written and published was Inuyasha. I am... old.

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

All the ones I love, I love for different reasons. It's a hard question to answer, when each fic has served a different season in my life. I think I'm just going to pick 3, not necessarily because they are my favorites, but because they are the most vulnerable I have ever been in my writing. So, I don't know if I would say they're my favorite, but they have the most of me in them. 1. A Game of Scars and Secrets 2. Thicker than Water 3. Roots

Tagging @kay-elle-cee, @sunshinemarauder, @rosie-b, and @astargatelover!

[megatownac]

Supertown Popularity Poll Results

So. The polls are over. All 90 of them. You can still find the list here if you want to see the breakdown of each individual poll, but what you need to know is that each islander was pitted against each other islander in every one of the 90 ways that can happen, so each islander showed up in 18 polls. I decided early on that nobody got a point in the event of a tie. Here are the final scores, in order from highest to lowest:

First place: Ankha, with 11 points Second place: Chief, with 10 points Third and fourth place: Dom and Phoebe, with 9 points Fifth and sixth place: Chrissy and Drago, with 8 points Seventh place: Tybalt, with 6 points Eighth and ninth place: Francine and Henry, with 5 points Tenth place: Cally, with 4 points

Out of curiosity, I decided to see what the scores would be if a tie gave a point to each contestant instead of to neither. These were the results:

First place: Chief, 14 points Second place: Ankha, 13 points Third and fourth place: Phoebe and Drago, 12 points Fifth place: Dom, 11 points Sixth and seventh place: Chrissy and Francine, 10 points Eighth and ninth place: Henry and Tybalt, 8 points Tenth place: Cally, 7 points

So the rankings did shuffle around a little bit. Chief, it seems, was in 4 different polls that tied.

Despite what I said in the initial post on the subject, most polls did not end in ties or have zero votes. There were 15 that did. So 75 polls had a clear winner.

I could play around with the numbers even more if I wanted to. For example, what happens if ties gave half a point to each islander? But I won't. I also won't say what the results would have been if I had voted in the polls that ended in a tie. I was tempted. I really, really wanted to vote in some of these, just to do it. Just to let my own opinion influence things. Given how few votes each poll had, I could have really swayed things, I think. That's why I didn't ever vote. I really wanted to know who people liked the most.

And it's Ankha, of course.

Every so often, someone will find my blog through one of its tags and mass like a couple hundred of my posts that feature a certain character. This year, that happened at least three times that I noticed with Ankha. I wound up having to block one person who kept messaging me over and over about Ankha. I've never blocked anyone before this year. It was upsetting. I'm still upset about it. It kind of tarnishes the fact that she won this whole popularity contest for me.

I should be happier about it. This was a grand experiment that lasted nearly eight months, and I saw it through. And I've said before that Ankha is one of my favorite islanders, and that I had her in my Population: Growing game decades (literally, two decades) ago. So I like Ankha. She's a cute little yellow cat with a funny hat. What's not to like about her?

I'm also glad Chief did as well as he did. Chief is new to me. I only had him in this game on a whim: I liked the fact that his design made me think of certain middle-aged gay men I've known who are doing their best to age gracefully but are, undeniably, aging anyway. That's as much thought as I put into it. I'm sad Cally didn't do well. I had Cally early on in my New Leaf days, and I gave her away to someone who promised I'd be able to visit her again someday and then removed their blog from Tumblr and I never saw Cally again. It was sad. I think about that from time to time.

Something a bit similar happened with Henry: I had him in my New Leaf town, and I gave him away to someone whose blog is no longer active and who didn't post about him. Oh well. I didn't mind that as much. I like Henry alright, but he's never been one of my favorites. I'm fine with how badly he did in the polls.

I don't have any big conclusions here. This went, well, it honestly did go better than I expected for it to in a lot of ways. I kept holding out hope that maybe this blog would finally, after about ten years on this site, pick up a few followers and get me over that 1600-follower mark (I've had 1500-something followers for over six years--every time I gain a few followers, I lose a few), but I'm not willing or able to do what it takes to go viral. These are the kinds of posts I make.

I'm very grateful to the followers I have who stick around, liking and occasionally reblogging my stuff on a regular basis.

@vanilla-owns-chocolate @92explorer @zane275 @averygamin2 @schtroumpfalunettes @anch-vaviel @ozai @thebigjawpokemon @pie-bean

Those are in no particular order. I just went to my blog's activity page and scrolled down through a week or two's worth of notes until I saw all the usual folks I remember.

But, even though we don't talk, I appreciate you for being here for so long. It's easy to say that I don't do this for the notes, and I don't, really, but it's nice, you know? To see that there are folks out there who like what I put out there.

I'm going to be honest with you. I've given this a lot of thought. I think it's time I stepped away from Animal Crossing for a while. Focused on other things.

This isn't goodbye. It's just a hiatus. There are a few days of posts left in the queue, and then this blog will go silent, and I'm going to write some kind of actual message a little while after that sorting out my thoughts after ten years and one month of running this blog, which started on September 8, 2013. That's too long. Too, too long to have written anywhere from 4 to 10 posts a day. My activity page says 22,643 before I post this. Probably more than 22,000 of those were original, written by me, that is, not reblogs.

I'll be around. I have a main blog. @ozai has even liked a couple of my posts there, so I'm pretty sure they know about it. It's mentioned at the top of this one, even on mobile. So it's not a secret. It's right there. I write about other things there than Animal Crossing. Lately, it's been mostly about the novel I've spent the last three and a half years working on. I might actually have it done in another two years or so! Won't that be exciting? Then I can shut up about it and start writing about the next one.

I also wrote a few thousand words about Frog, from Chrono Trigger, once. It's not exactly surprising to me that my main blog has never even made it above 70 followers, is my point.

That's enough of this. I'm getting dangerously close to depressing, and I don't want to do that.

Here and now, this experiment, these 90 polls, was a triumph. I stuck with it. Ankha won. Chief came in second. Those are good things. It's good. I'm happy with that. It's the culmination of ten years of work. And it's time for a break.

Have a great day. Please continue doing your best, and I promise that I will, too.

[carry-on-my-wayward-gays]

Hiii Shadow I just wanna talk about some moresome trans rancher headcanons <3

I headcanon that because Tango is a blaze/human hybrid finding medical care is really difficult, so Zedaph agreed to be his doctor in exchange for it being allowed to do unethical experiments on him. And Tango doesn't care because Zed would've found a way to experiment on him either way, and this way he gets a free doctor out of it. So among other things, Zed was the one who made him his hrt (hrt for blaze/human hybrids didn't exist yet so he had to design it, Tango was harmed many times during the testing process but that's okay he made it out with working customized T and free top surgery)

So skip to the hermitpires crossover, Jimmy comes out as transfemme and Tango's just like. Do you need hrt cause I know a guy. So once they're on Hermitcraft together Tango introduces Jimmy and Zed and it's very silly and fun, but Tango brings up that Jimmy needs hrt and she has no way of getting it for herself (I have weird rules I've designed for Empires, Jimmy can't leave the server to get medical care but Tango is able to bring her things because he's able to fully travel to any server he knows the address of). So Zed agrees because she wouldn't even need to work that hard seeing as the prescription already exists, he would just need to get it.

So Zed is just Jimmy's hrt supplier and it's so fun to me <3 They haven't met aside from when they were both on Hermitcraft, but when Tango comes over with her prescription they can just be like "Oh btw Zed says hi" "Aw how's it been lately?? Tell her I say hi :D"

I wrote a short fic about this months ago that never saw the light of day, it isn't great but maybe someday I'll rewrite it to where I'd officially post it. But Zed's weird ass relationship with Tango is so important to me and I just love them dragging Jimmy into it

OH MY GOODNESS MARIS <333 I love this sm actually

Yeah we can add drug dealer to the list of Zed's occupations, why not? /j I think it's very funny that on Empires Jimmy is just sitting around questioning her gender and then Tango comes in which prompts Jimmy to be like "yo I think I'm a girl(adjacent)" and Tango, being the amazing boyfriend he is, is just like "cool! You want some titty skittle from my friend?" And now every so often Tango pops into Empires w Jimmy's fem&Ms and they catch up only slightly mentioning the mad scientist who repeatedly violates the Geneva Convention on the daily that is supplying Jimmy w her anti-cis-tamines. Baa's a lovely person, they swear beep is.

I would love a fic based on this btw. /nf obviously but if you ever rewrite it and post it I expect to be tagged