#fr so tired of seeing the ‘can’t we just not talk about this/argue about this 🥺’ posts

[luv4berry]

my eyes only.

earth 42!miles morales x fem!reader

SUMMARY: miles belleves that you're for him and for him only, no sharing. not even with your best friend.

GENRE: angst to fluff

WARNINGS: bickering/arguing, suggestive(?), kissing, idk if this counts as toxic miles lowkey right in his anger but at the same time is he fr, jealous miles, y/n is lowkey a walking red flag, cursing, man idk

AUTHORS NOTE: the autism is rlly autisming with this movie </3

“baby you not stupid and i know you aren’t, why you acting like that?”

“miles, leave me alone.”

��nah, cause i already told you ion like him, why you still talking to him? you fuckin’ with him or sum?” he narrows his eyes at you, clasping his hands in between his legs while cocking his head to the side.

“im not having this conversation with you, call me when you done having your lil tantrum or whatever.” you ignore your boyfriend's scowl as you slide to the end of his bed and silently load everything into your coach tote bag, incoherently mumbling to yourself.

“the childish shit im talking about man.” he shakes his head, twin braids following suit. he gets out of his rolling chair, snagging the bag from your hands and holding it above his head where you can’t reach.

visibly annoyed, you roll your eyes at the tantrum he was throwing. before you had even dated him you laid down all possible icks, including your best friend. you told him how your relationship with said best friend was non-negotiable due to the significance he held in your life before miles. before miles, he was the one who you cried to, who you confined in about your family, your feelings, your insecurities. though after getting with miles you weren’t as close with him, he was still your best friend.

“miles give me my shit, don’t piss me off.”

“why? what you hiding? ain’t no way you not messing with him.”

in the stillness of his room, your phone rapidly vibrates inside your bag, miles interest immediately piqued when his fingers curve around the device, the name “dante <3” flashing on the screen.

he laughs to himself, but you knew better than to think it was a laugh of amusement. the manner of his laugh was deeply provoked, a telltale sign that it had an underlying meaning. he sends you a hard look, “so we adding hearts now too? bet.” he says while answering the facetime call.

“y/n?” dante calls out to you, the camera panned toward the ceiling, his ruffled locs in frame.

“nah she busy right now homeboy, what you want?”

“uh okay? can you ask her if she can retwist my hair this sunday?”

“nah.” he blatantly answers.

“huh?”

“dante hang up!” you call out from behind miles, to which he sends you another glare. before dante can respond miles hangs up, turning his whole body to face you. “so wassup?”

“miles give me my phone.”

“your phone? ma this our phone.” you roll your eyes once more and quickly snatch your phone from his grasp, shoving it into the tote bag and slipping your black crocs on. “don’t text my phone either.” you yell on your way out slamming his room door, silently praying that mama rio wasn’t home.

it was getting more and more difficult to manage the pit that sat in your bosom from the fight you had with your boyfriend earlier. you were used to talking to him in your dimly lit room around this time, your hands playing with the loose coils at the back of his head while saying cheesy things to each other, exchanging light pecks and subtle touches.

you groan loudly, tired of sulking to yourself you decide to get up from your bed, do your makeup and take pictures. you sit at your vanity, shuffling your playlist while opening up your makeup bag.

about 20 minutes into your routine, you hear incoherent voices coming from just outside your door. you tip toe towards the door, peaking your head out to see miles, helping your mom set the dinner table while engaging in small talk. “yeah, basketball’s good.” he says, smiling at her with all 32 pearly whites.

“y/n’s upstairs, ill call you guys down when dinners ready.” she smiles, coaxing him towards your room. you quietly shut the door, scrambling towards your vanity table, acting as if you had not witnessed the scene that took place just outside your door mere seconds ago.

you hear him quietly enter and creep up behind you, the mirror capturing his movements. you line your lips, ignoring your lovers presence even when he wraps his arms around your torso and repeatedly kisses your face.

“who you looking all fine for?”

you greet him with nothing but silence, putting your manicured finger over his lips which he attempts to bite.

“oh so it’s like that?”

“yeah, it’s like that, and I didn’t invite you over. go home.” you get up from your position, walking towards the door that he left open, closing it.

“what i told you ‘bout that mouth? you got all sorts of attitude today.” he argues, trailing behind you.

you scoff while crossing your arms, turning around and mean mugging him. you watch as he takes a moment and backs up, giving you a once over. the argument that had him so worked up earlier dissipated into thin air, his focus now on the biker shorts that hugged you a little too tight, and the cropped cami that hung a little too loosely. you watch a ghost of a smile adorn his lips.

“nasty ass.” you snap him out of his thoughts.

he snorts, taking a seat on your bed and pulling you in between his legs. “you still mad at me?” he questions you, raising his brows.

“it’s not gonna magically go away miles, you didn’t even try to apologize, showing up at my house at 8:00 kissing me and shit isn’t gonna fix anything.” it was the truth, and you weren’t backing down from it. you wanted an apology, you weren’t willing to go any further with him till you got said apology, you couldn’t push this to the side.

“y/n, baby, you know i love you but im not fucking with the way you making it look like im wrong for feeling the way i feel.” miles argued.

“because you are wrong! i told you about him before we even got together, you can’t expect me to drop him in 2 seconds just because you asked, he’s my best friend!” you argue back, keeping your voice down cautiously due to your nosy family on the other side of the door.

“no ma, im your best friend, you for my eyes only.”

“if you came here to argue with me you should just go.”

“we don’t sleep mad at eachother, we fixing this right now.” he says, dragging you into a straddling position atop him, his arms momentarily wrapping around your waist. your eyes dart around your room, refusing to make eye contact in fear of folding immediately.

“i just want you to put it this way, you got this fine ass girl, right? but then she got this ugly ass—“

“miles.” you warn him.

“… she got this boy best friend that she always on the phone with, always going out with, and she always wanna see him when you’re right there. she always talking about him, texting him when with you, answering his calls.” for the first time in a while you realize how off that sounds, maybe you had been the wrong one, though your stubborn nature made it hard to admit it.

he begins to speak again, “im not asking you to cut him off, im asking you to minimize how much you talk to him—im a guy and i know how we think. you might think y’all homeboys but he plotting on you, just think of it like that baby.” he finished while rubbing the skin of your thighs in slow tender circles.

“im sorry.” you quietly murmur under your breath into his shoulder. just barely loud enough so he can hear. but no, he had to hear this, you admitting you made a mistake.

he taps your thigh, “speak up, cant hear you.”

“you heard me, don’t be annoying.” you said when you realized his true intent, embarrassed by how you had previously acted.

miles snickered to himself, “ma?”

“yeah?”

“my fault for getting loud with you earlier, i didn’t mean to do all that.” he admitted, kissing your shoulder blade.

you remove your head from the crevice between his neck and shoulder, repeatedly giving him big smooches on the lips in acceptance of his apology which he gladly returns.

the moment is ruined by knocking on the door. you scramble off his lap which ultimately ends with you landing on the floor with a thud. snickers come from your bed, a deadpan expression immediately sweeping over your features.

“hope y’all not in there being nasty.” your mother calls out, “get decent and come downstairs to eat.”

love, berry <3

[ididkn0w]

That green and blue machine are both 125,000$ each can u fucking believe that. Only those two bro holy fucking shit. Omg and in the third pic u can’t see well but behind the fence is a robot arm it’s like a while ass transformer. And so it does shit don’t even ask me what but it was rlly cool. Btw this entire time Ive been at the restaurant and me my aunt and my gma and we’ve been waiting while my mom uncle and gpa talked with other clients and business ppl and babe it’s been like two hours and they just got back and they’re arguing about them bc idk prices n shit they said and whatever n they’re like yelling a lil at the table rn and my uncle is saying like u guys are treating this like a spy game and u guys are always so skeptical and thinking shit and my mom and gpa are like being like in a way it is we’re the top 20% more expensive in the market which is bad bc ppl want cheaper obv. N apparently an employee sent these people a list of our costs like how much It cost to produce n stuff n that’s rlly fucking bad like crisis type shit bc ofc we sell at a much higher prices and whatever like there’s a lot more to it that I don’t understand. Now my uncles saying u guys are always so negative and ppl are looking at us. Anyways I’m listening and talking to u it’s 3:31 pm rn. So back tl where I was. We went back to the conference room and they gave us giftssss Ik they’re like mini coffee cups. Omg bruh I can tell my moms backing out now😭 ok so I didn’t take pictures of them inside cus I wasn’t trynna open that shit. Oh yes and this typical Arabic cup to make coffee in. Cool souvenir or whatever. Ok I just got up it’s 3:41 rn I’ll finish typing In a bit. It’s the same thing following them around the fair. Then we finished the tour and got the gifts and then they took us to eat and resturaunt was sooooo pretty idk like the nature outside I felt like I was in the backyard of a rich Californian home idk and bro the food was soooooooo good and I drank Turkish tea again I loved the food. And once again no fucking wifi I always take screenshot to show u so we are and talked for like two hours and then we left and we went back to the factory and we left to the city again in the van and I slept the entire way and they woke me up and we were at a fucjing mall and I was mad as fuxk bc bro I was tired and I’m trynna get home to my man. And so we were there and like nothing was even open like it was rlly new. And I was bored as fuck but it was rlly pretty and then I’m so fr I took a picture of every cat I saw. And so we walked home and we stopped to get groceries and omg I forgot I to tell u at the mall we ate at a cafe. In the morning I took a picture of this place called mustafah u can look again n I thought it was silly bc everyone’s name here is mutsafah and we coincidentally ate there and it was sooooo good I ate a carénele tres leches it was so fucking good and I drank a coffee and they were in these cups that I loved they reminded me of u so much so I wanted them so bad so I went to buy them n they didn’t sell them so I got another ones that I think ull think are rlly cool they remind me of underthink logo. So they’re for our house. Then we walked home n we stopped be a grocery store for food and that’s when k got my Piña and then I stopped at this case place bc I’ve still been trynna get ur sparkly thing for ur cameraaaaa so I went and looked and asked for ur phone n they didn’t have any at that place but they had for mine but I just know they’ll have it at another one of those so don’t worry ur still getting one and I also got u this thing for ur charger u can put on it. I love you😄 n then got home n talked to u for like four hours I think even five

[aemiron-main]

“why can’t you just be happy that mike’s going to kiss will? Why do you want to analyze mike’s sexuality? I’m so sick of seeing arguments about mike’s sexuality”

uh maybe because I actually care about him as a character outside of his relationship with will??? have you considered trying that? the idea that we should just erase his sexuality and not analyze it because some people don’t like any sort of ‘negativity’/disagreement in the tag is insane to me. you guys would never say the same about analyzing Will’s sexuality but once again it seems like some people just want mike to stay as a blank slate for them to project onto/refuse to see him as anything other than Will’s boyfriend.

“Just be happy that he’s gonna kiss will you should be happy that he’s some sort of queer and stop analyzing it”

[wroteitbutneverwatchedit]

May i request Fluff with evan peters pls 👉🏻👈🏻😳

So here's that story sorry if its a little cringe, but I like it. I used how Evan said he felt playing kai on American horror story as the basis fr this fic. Hope you like it.

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Warning: none, just cringe maybe

Words:471

A/n: Please be sure to leave me some feedback, a follow and a reblog.  But please enjoy  Please THIS IS NOT NO FREE USE YOU CANNOT PLAGIARIZE OR REPOST MY WORK ON THIRD PARTY SITES!!!

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To say that Evan was tired was an understatement, he was drained. The role of Jeffery Dahmer was taking its toll on his mental and physical health. Usually when he came home, he would give a kiss before taking a shower and coming back downstairs to help me finish cooking dinner. But lately, he just goes straight upstairs and stays there until I come up for bed. Today was his first day off in a while so I of course dragged him out of bed to go on a full day date with him. It was mostly just planning for our wedding but it just the easy stuff like cake tasting, finalizing catering, and then just some relaxing.

“Can’t we just stay in? I don’t want to move” he whined, I’ve currently been pulling his arm for five minutes and he wouldn’t budge.

“No, get up. We are going on this outing whether you want to or not. So help me Evan if you’re not up within the next 5 minutes, you will see a side of me that you will wish didn’t exist” I yelled at him, I let go of his arm as he slowly climbed out of bed. He looked upset and tired, it kind of hurt to see him so upset about going out with me.

“Darling, can’t we-“ he was saying until I cut him off.

“Get in the shower, make yourself look and smell presentable. I know that you are in a funk because of filming but that doesn’t mean you need to smell like it. There is no arguing about what we’re are doing today, Evan” I said calmly, he walked into the bathroom as I went downstairs in our home to make him a coffee. After a good 45 minutes he came downstairs, I handed him his coffee and he gave me a small smile.

“Now, first up we have to talk about the catering for the wedding. Is there any other foods that we should add?” I asked him enthusiastically

“How about we add more salad options.” He replied, I wrote that note down on the menu for the caterers along with adding some cupcakes for the kids.

“Okay, so all we have left to pick are the drinks.” I said, he thought for a minute before speaking.

“Red and white wine, sodas for the kids. You know the usual drinks, we are almost at our budget. But in just 4 short months I will be married to the most beautiful person in the world” he cooed, I smiled and pulled him in for a kiss.

“Bout time you realized it, how long were you going to sulk. I don’t like to see you so sad and upset, Evan.” I said, he gave an apologetic look and pulled me close to him.

[armysantiny]

-[ Soobin: finally confessing to his male crush + first date

P: Soobin x male reader | G: fluff, headcanon | Inc: kinda highschool!au if you squint, Yeongyu mention, tooth-rotting fluff, first dates, coffee shops, Soobin being hopelessly in love | Wc: 529 | W: food| R: G

· Okay, Soobin is adorable

· We’re not arguing about this – go fight with the wall if you disagree with me

· And now we come to his crush on you –

· Oh glorious, glorious y/n hyung – Choi Soobin

· His words not mine/lh

· No but fr

· He’s had little interests in other guys before, but they always kinda just died down after a while, you know?

· But you….you’ve got him wrapped around your finger

· And you have little to no idea~

· Whenever you’re talking – even if it’s about the most random thing – his eyes are glued on you

· He gives you his undivided attention all the time

· This boy has the sweetest smile on his face whenever you’re within 10ft of him or someone mentions you

· Please send help, he’s whipped—

· But Lord help him, he’s too shy to actually confess how he feels about you

· Very, very content with admiring your wonderful self from a distance

· So much so that Yeonjun’s getting impatient

· The poor dude is tired of watching – no matter how cute it is – Soobin stare like a fool in love

· So he takes it upon himself to set the confession up

· Because holy shit if he has to watch Soobin follow you around like a lost puppy for the nth time, Yeonjun will lose his mind

The confession

· AIGHT THIS BIT

· Soobin was feeling all the butterflies I tell ya

· Bless curse Yeonjun’s impatience

· This boy is fiddling with the ends of his sleeves

· And then he sees you walking over-

· Becalmbecalmbecalm—

· Please – you can’t but smile

· LOOK AT HIM HE’S ADORABLE

· I’m genuinely convinced he stumbles over his words for a good minute

· Through all the rambling, you finally hear the “hyung, I’m really really infatuated with you and I think I love you—”

· He only stops his rambling when you put your hand on his shoulder

· Looks at you with the BIGGEST puppy eyes

· “Soobin-ah” oh god what are you going to say?

· You could make or break him and Yeongyu (no they are not watching from the closest bench) would rather you did not break his soft heart

· “I kinda like you too~”

· YOU SAID IT YOU SAID IT

· This is your news reporter Minnie speaking, a Choi Soobin was spotted absolutely losing his shit because his crush likes him back, more at 6

· He is itching to engulf you in the tightest hug rn please let him-

The first date

· Okay okay okay this is so cute help

· Soobin’s all about the soft café/library dates, so that’s where the first date starts

· He found this adorable coffee shop and you go in to see this boy eagerly sitting there

· “I didn’t make you wait too long, did I?”

· “No, no-!” Soobin got there half an hour early fam

· He. Is. Losing. His. Mind

· He’s actually going on a date? With you? Uh---

· Someone pinch him he thinks he’s dreaming

· There are stars in his eyes-

· Not only are you really sweet and insanely cute

· You’re also such a great person to talk to???

· Just take his hand in marriage already-

· The date was perfect, Soobin couldn’t ask for a better date if he tried.

· Second date here we go~

© copyright work of armysantiny 2022-2023

Networks: @kwritersworld, @kdiarynet, @ultkpopnetwork, @whipped-kpop-creators, @prism-nw, @k-library, @knet-bakery, @kpclub, @hybenet, @moacabinet, @aandmlibrary

If you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading! Consider reblogging, leaving some feedback or donating to my kofi!

Taglist: @teeztheflag, @jeonqquk, @softforqiankun, @blonghoonie, @babyboobean, @iiindigocheesecake, @xavi-in-kpopland| Taglist Form

[awanderingdeal]

Simply having a wonderful Christmas time [Part 3]

Back, back, back again. This time we have Christmas O’Knutzy for you!

Happy boxing day! Happy 2nd Christmas! Happy 26th December. 

This one is dedicated to those of you of who are perhaps not spending Christmas in the way that you would like this year. I hope this brings you a little bit of Joy. Please note that this fic is filled with happy Christmas people so if that is going to make you feel worse then please avoid.

Look, don’t ask what is going here. It is the weirdest mix of ‘Angus, thongs and full frontal snogging’ type diary entry and fluff. If anything, hopefully it will make you laugh.

Rating: T(+) - A couple of mentions of sexual acts. 

CW: CHRISTMAS, FOOD TALK AND A BRIEF MENTION OF MEDCATION

Last, but most certainly not least - these boys and this universe belongs to @lumosinlove​. We are just mere peasants destined to fall in love with them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Knutty! Leave the kitchen! I’m tired,” Finn yelled from the bedroom. 

“I’m not in the kitchen. I’m writing,” Leo yelled back. It may have been a little white lie because Leo was in fact, pouring steaming water over tea leaves. He was nearly finished though and going to head through to the library to complete his nightly ritual of writing in his diary. 

“Liar!” Finn replied, but there was no heat in voice. “I can hear the kettle.”

Leo rolled his eyes fondly. He put the kettle down and headed towards the bedroom where he found a pouting Finn. “Just go to sleep. I’ll be back soon,” Leo said.

“But I need bedtime kisses. It’s Christmas, I can’t be deprived of bedtime kisses,” Finn whined.

Logan’s features knitted into a frown, “Et je suis quoi ? Une grenouille?”

Finn’s eyes widened, “Why are you talking about frogs?” 

“Why do you know the word fr-” Logan started. 

“Fish, Lo can give you kisses.” Leo cut him off, knowing if he let them start on this line of conversation he would still be standing there in an hour's time. 

“Logan kisses are good, but I want Leo kisses too,” Finn argued. 

Leo pushed himself off the door frame that he had been leaning on. “I’m sure Logan can keep you thoroughly entertained,” he drawled. “I’m going now,” he added with a lilt, but Finn and Logan had already occupied their lips so there was no reply. 

25th December 

Dear Diary, 

I’ll try to keep this short because Finn is screaming at me to come to bed, but I didn’t feel like it was fair to neglect you on what may go down as my favourite day ever. I know that I say that at least once a week but I might really mean it this time. 

Let me give you the top 5:

1.Christmas Day 2020

2. First time Finn and Logan said I love you (I refuse to choose. It’s my diary you can’t make me.)

3. First time Finn and Logan met Mama and Dad

4. First NHL game.

5.That time Logan told me that my soup was better than Celeste’s. He might have been high on pain meds but I’m taking it. 

Anyway, why was it the best day ever I hear you ask? Let me tell you. Actually, let me show you. I made an amazing schedule that was greatly underappreciated by my boyfriends (damn, it still feels good to say that) so maybe you can appreciate it.

It is now 23:49, if that tells you anything about how off schedule we got. Not that I mind, it was a perfect day. Everyday with these boys is. I’m so lucky. 

I’m so glad that we decided to stay here, just us, for our first Christmas. It’s been a manic December fitting in visits to everybody and we still have Canada for New Years, but it was so worth it. 

Anyway, enough of the mush. I’ll see you tomorrow. 

Signing off,

Leo.

Leo gave a contented sigh as he finished up the entry. He had taken a lot longer than he had planned to write. but he was so full of thoughts that evening. He needed to get them down on paper if he had any hope of sleep that night.

He tiptoed back into the bedroom, assuming that his boyfriends would be asleep by now. However, as he pulled back the sheets he noticed that Finn was still awake.

“Hey,” Leo whispered, mindful of Logan. “I wasn’t expecting you to still be up.”

Finn looked up at him with big wide eyes and a sleepy smile, “Needed my Leo kisses.” 

“Oh.” Leo stilled for a beat as he climbed into the bed. He probably should be used to Finn saying things that made his heart melt by now, but somehow, it felt like the first time, every time. Finn had a thousand different ways to say ‘I love you’ and Leo heard every one. 

“I’m here now,” Leo replied, pressing a gentle kiss to Finn’s lips. 

Finn nodded his head and pulled Leo closer. “Hmm, much better.”

[dramarising-replacement]

About the Crow drama...

...I am really getting annoyed by the people clamoring that it's racist and so on. I am throwing my hat in the ring and trying to see it from both sides but I truly find the whole thing one big problem of co-opting r*cism to harass people. But that is my opinion, everyone is allowed their own but I find it highly problematic that this whole thing has led to people actually faking screenshots to claim they are at fault. This is not ok. Neither is harassing. Please stop. 

Either way, onwards. Keep in mind, this is my view on the whole thing and I just want to give a perspective of someone who is fairly removed from the whole thing and decided to use critical thinking. I will state that I have had not much interaction with any person involved, I shared spaces in discord in the past and of course also on FR but not to say that any side is my friend. 

Do you know what my biggest problem with the aforementioned statement is? That it's mostly made by the non-Asian people that are stuck on Orientalism. You are projecting your racist stereotypes on a subspecies that was created by actual Asian people. What is the problem with people having fun with their own cultures? I can understand if some Asian people (and I am using Asian because I do not know enough about the subspecies to say which ethnic/culture it is mostly based on) do not like it. That is normal, everyone has different likes and dislikes. Using slurs is not ok but honestly, I haven't seen any proof of these alleged slurs so I can't say anything about it. Show me actual slurs thrown around and it would be different but for now the only thing I could find was the rat thing and honestly? Looking at those screenshots given showed rat used in the context of a beloved character. Who here has never talked about their bastard character being some kind of trashy raccoon or rat before? 

Back to the fact that some people of the same nationality say they don't like it. Like I said, that happens, god, there are many times I don't like what people are doing with my culture. But guess what? I don't say that they are forbidden from playing with it. What gives one person of a culture the right to demand from others to stop how they interact with it? If you start doing that, we have to apply that to everything and imagine how uniform everything would be. For example Christianity: there are so many different branches and they have often problems with their different interpretations of the bible and their practices. Would you say we have to stop all Christian beliefs now? Sounds kind off dumb, right? 

If you do not like how these people interact with their culture then stop interacting with them and the subspecies. It is that easy. FR is not here to take you by the hand and make everything go away that you don't like. It doesn't work like that, we are a pluralistic world with many many different views on things. And that is great. But it also means in spaces like FR we have to moderate ourselves. See something that doesn't confirm your view? Block it or, in case of truly problematic things like outright r*cism/r*pe/m*rder/p*dophilia or whatever else, report. Saying that you don't like how some people interact with your culture while they are of the same culture does not give you the right to call these people racist. Turn it around and these people could call you also racist because you interact differently with your culture. This does not help anyone. 

Now, to my biggest problem with this mud throwing (I would love to call it a discourse but let's be honest here: the people starting to falsify information made this into some kind of contest to harass some people): 

the fact that most people involved are espousing their own racist views under the veneer of "calling out" racism. 

Like I said, I have not specially much knowledge about the subspecies but I did take a look at it, so here we go. But what I read is quite away from that "fetishing" you guys are accusing the people playing around with the dragons. For me it seems like they mixed bird facts, plague aesthetics and cultural aspects together. If you start interpreting r*cism into everything you read, congrats, then you should really think about what that says about yourself. 

For me this seems much more a problem of co-opting anti-racist movements to harass specific people. You use the "right" language to make the "right" accusations and take advantage of white/western ignorance. I am specifically harsh here because this is all that I am currently seeing from all these people: they call members of the subspecies out, in the recent cases C specifically, C actually answered and showed proof that there were actual lies used and so someone decided they needed to remove authenticy from C so they created fake screenshots that say they are from Korea. This whole interaction screams of someone calling r*cism only to realize that, oh no, C actually is Chinese, so they did their best to make it seem like C lied. This is insidious and bullying. I do not know the people involved, I have only written a few times with C and shared discord spaces so I found the Korea screenshot very weird, it's just not how C normally writes. 

I think this isn't about r*cism anymore, this is all about power. This is manipulation at its finest. Really, take the claims of r*cism away and then look at the subspecies again. What is your first thought? Man, that subspecies screams of Plague. 

Here is a thought for all of you: there is unfortunately much r*cism to be found since we are living in a world that is flooded with r*cistic undertones. This means we have to educate ourselves on these issues and to think critically about them. This does not mean "to criticize" but to actually analyze, evaluate and examine so we can reconstruct our perspectives on these issues. And I beg of the people just going after these "call-out" posts, think about this again. Did the subspecies really scream r*cism to you or did you maybe rather think Plague aesthetic before you read these posts? If so, you really have to examine why your view changed. 

One more thing, we have here two groups in the recent posts, one side is "calling" out C and C answers, making sure to openly discuss their culture and background as much as they did. So we have one side seemingly manipulating "evidence" to further their story and one side giving as much information as they can about their background without revealing their whole identity. Yeah, sorry, but I think I know who is more genuine here. Instead of making FR a more informed space it seems it was easier to use progressive language to further their own ideas of what r*cism is. (I am still more sure that this is all about power than anything else.)

This whole thing makes me very salty because it seems like everyone in the notes threw out their critical thinking just so they would not appear as r*cist. 

As an older person that had to take more than one class on colonization and Orientalism this whole thing just makes me wish more people would use critical thinking. Please stop blindly following pretty "progressive" words without seeing the actual problem here. This is actually my biggest problem here, I do not claim to be knowledgable enough to know where the subspecies furthers stereotypical views but for me all the posts I was shown and then read myself speak of different problem.

If you read until now, congratulations, feel free to discuss my points but I am honestly so tired about seeing people just ignoring the bigger issues. I won't answer to anything because I do not want to spend my time here arguing about these things but seeing that my major during my studies involved big chunks of literature and cultural sciences this whole thing just rubbed me wrong when someone told me about it. 

[willowistic22]

Red (Redfinch)

Despite their breakup, Albert still wanted to go see Finch perform in one of his concerts when Race asked him if he wanted to come. This is the perfect chance for them to talk things out again but words aren’t cooperating for either of them. With that, Finch decides to triy a different form of communication.

Words : 5233

Part : -

Warnings : Alcohol, cursing, cigarettes, angst in general

A/N : Woah that’s a crazy word count uhh,,,, hi i’m back with another fic. Another redfinch and for that we stan lol (well idk maybe yall are annoyed by all these redfinch fics but yknow what? i’m thriving off of it) But fr I’ll eventually get into writing other ships but for now have one more redfinch combined with another tswift songs (as you do) this time with Red. Wow we are so surprised who would have thought of redfinch being associated with the song red no we aren’t surprise :D This one specifically exists in my bandsies au. you don’t need to read that first to understand this (i think?) but it wouldn’t hurt if you checked that out as well:) Tbh i can’t decide whether i love it or hate it but at least i like it enough to post it. N ee wayysss enjoy!!

His brain is screaming about how much Albert shouldn’t be doing this. Comprising a list of cons that goes on forever. And although he thinks all of the cons his brain had written is logical, that one pro his heart wrote beside the long list was all it took for Al to say yes. All the cons will be worth suffering through if he finally gets to see Finch again. And maybe it’s for the better since he’s not doing well by distancing himself from the boy.

Unfortunately, the world isn’t black and white. Meaning that even if he did choose to follow what his heart wants, all the horrible feelings will still be there. And with every step he takes, inching closer to the entrance of the building, he’s getting even more terrified by the second. Thankfully, the line for the entrance is going pretty slow which gives time for Albert to calm down.

But it’s not helping. The line is crowded and full of fans, talking excitedly about the band’s awaiting concert inside. For some odd reason, he can only hear the conversations between fans that contain one specific name. He doesn’t hear anyone mentioning Romeo, Elmer, or Jojo’s name. Not even Crutchie, who he’s been told to be the fans’ favorite. Just the name Finch, being repeated all around him. With adoration and excitement lacing the name. The line is delaying the inevitable and the people around him makes him a bit overwhelmed.

“We can still turn around if you want. I’m sure they’ll find a way to give us a refund”

If he’s actually being honest, it was his best friend that got him to come. Race returned to their shared apartment a few weeks ago and rushed to ask Albert if he wanted to go see their friends performing tonight. Race knows about Al and Finch’s break up but it’s worth asking him first. And to his surprise, he said yes.

“No, it’s fine” Albert replied, “I’m fine”

“You’re picking your pimples right now”

“So?”

“It’s one of your nervous habits”

That piece of information really caught Al off guard. He didn’t think a tiny random fact about himself would actually corner him the way Race is doing now. Eyeing Albert through his glasses and raising his eyebrows despite his forehead being mostly covered by his beanie.

“Well… I-” Albert tried to come up with bullshit as fast as he could, “I like to do it on purpose too, alright?! My fingers just... get a little itchy!”

He slowly puts his hands down from previously reaching up to pick his face. And the line is still going slow, one step at a time. It’s not doing any favors for Al.

“Dude, it’s alright if you’re not ready to see him” Race continued, “It takes time, I get it”

“Race, I’ll be fine! How many more times do I have to tell you?” Albert argued, which finally made Race back down. And to make sure it’s no longer gonna be brought up, Al changes the subject, “By the way, where’s Specs and Mike? You said they’re watching too”

“They’re already backstage with the others for...  obvious reasons” Race answered casually, catching on to Albert's intentions to change the subject. “So is Kath, by the way. We’ll meet her in there though”

To that, Albert simply nods. His jittery movements turn into rocking his body on the ball of his feet while digging his lips with his teeth. Race tries to pretend he doesn’t notice, but he does. Albert knows he does. Although he’s glad he’s not bringing it up because it might make it worse.

He’d be lucky to know that he’s not the only one panicking over this. In the dressing room, an aggravated Finch throws his phone to the cushion of the couch after sending the last text to his friend Race. It sounds unlawful for Race to be ‘secretly updating’ Finch on how Albert is actually doing because it’s obviously something Albert doesn’t want to directly tell his ex.

Finch groans, placing his elbow on his armchair to support his head. The room is spinning in his view and he wishes it all to stop. Taking deep and long breaths to stabilize his shaky limbs. A little prayer starts playing in his heart, it follows the tempo of his fast heartbeat.

“He’s here, isn’t he?”

Finch opens his eyes and looks up to meet his bandmate sitting on the couch across from him. He hadn’t even been talking for a good hour because he’s too fixated with the first text Race sent him when he and Al first started making their way to the concert.

“Yeah, he’s in line” Finch replied, looking up to the blond boy who’s holding his bass.

“How are they not being mobbed?” Another voice rang. This time it’s not coming from one of Finch’s bandmates. It’s coming from Race and Albert’s bandmate, sitting next to the shortest member of Finch’s band on the couch.

Specs only ask that because their two bands have a long connecting history and their fanbase tends to be sort of the same in a way. With Specs dating Romeo and Mike dating Jojo, Race and Albert are bound to be recognized and mobbed by at least a few fans. Especially seeing that Albert is Finch’s former lover, although the fans know that as a rumor since the two never publicly addressed it.

“I’m assuming they’re wearing a lot of shit to cover their faces” Another answered, the other VIP of the show alongside Specs, Mike. He’s twirling his drink in his hand while the other keeps Jojo cuddled close to him, “I mean, Al’s head is really fucking bright!”

With the mention of that specific name, Finch sulks back in his armchair with a groan. He covers his face with his hands, hoping it’d make the world just stop for one second. He could hear a loud clean slap echoing the room, followed by overlaps of whispered scolding. If he had to guess, it was Mike who was the one getting slapped and scolded.

“This is a disaster…” Finch exclaimed to himself, still not lifting his face up.

“It doesn’t have to be unless you make it like that” this time a feminine voice spoke up. A voice he recognized to belong to Kath.

Finch hears footsteps approaching him. He feels the motion of someone softly kneeling down in front of him. His hands were gently pried open and he was met with Kath’s friendly smile.

“It takes time, but you gotta trust the process”

It’s not necessarily the words he needed to hear right now, but it still warms his heart to hear his friend still being there for him despite the sticky situation he has gotten them into.

Everything would’ve been just fine if Finch hadn’t been so pushy and upset over Albert’s decision. He was the one that decided to put his music career on hold to go get that engineering degree, which frankly seems pretty useless. Finch was so dirty for pulling the ‘you’re being selfish’ card at him when it’s not even his band at all. Race, Specs, Mike, Ike, and even their manager Denton were very supportive about his decision to get that degree. Heck, all their friends were! But not Finch. His boyfriend at the time. He argued like he secretly knew how the others felt about Al leaving when really there aren’t any secret feelings for him to know. All his arguments came from his own feelings.

However, he knows Albert’s ‘own decision’ was secretly coated by his father’s persuasive words. The whole ‘just in case the music career doesn’t work out’ argument was basically the copy and pasted words from his father. They both know it. Despite the arguments, it still seemed that Al was determined to fully focus on college anyways. Instead of following his fellow musician friends’ college path by getting a degree in the non-lecture-hall way, he followed his father’s words and actually attended his college classes in a proper campus.

In the moment, Finch was just too focused on Albert leaving. Maybe he was the one being selfish. He had only realize now that most of his arguments were because he didn’t want Albert to go. It’s too late now, since the last time they saw each other was when Al slammed the door of their apartment one last time with all his stuff and a plane ticket to Seattle. At that point, Finch was finally tired of all the arguing and told him that if this was his plan then he’s on his own.

The tears that came after were filled with sorrow and regret. Sorrowful because he missed him. Regretful because he only realized then that there was no valid reason for Finch to lash out in the first place other than for his own needs. The feeling is still present to this moment. And it’s currently the strongest right before a show because he knows he’s gonna be in the crowd.

“Look, we’ll let ya drown out your feelings with some booze later” Crutchie finally said, “But right now we got a show”

The band was all getting up from where they were seated, bringing whatever they needed to the stage. Crutchie gets some help from Jojo to bring his Bass till he properly sits on the stool on stage. But Finch stays perfectly still, holding Kath’s hand as if his life depends on it.

“I know I should talk to ‘im, Kath” Finch finally said, slowly joining the others in standing up. Kathrine follows along, eyes still fixed to her friend, “But… I can’t. I wouldn’t know what to say to him”

“Then don’t talk” Mike suddenly inserts himself in their little conversation. He gets up and approaches the two, “Sing him the new single”

“You’re fucking insane, Mike!” Katherine instantly snapped.

“Alright, your mouth will be legally sealed shut till the end of the concert” Specs joins them only to drag Mike away. There were some protests from the boy, but it was totally shut down by everyone else in the room.

“No, wait. He’s got a point” Finch suddenly exclaimed, which quickly got the whole room to freeze in time.

He looks at his bandmates, all standing by the doorway ready to kill the concert. A half confident smile appears on his face and he says, “Let’s sing that single”

-

The concert is held in a bar like-venue with multiple floors, slowly being filled to the brim by excited fans. Their excitement bounces off the walls of the venue, creating an ecstatic kind of environment despite the tight space. The concert is going to start any minute now and while the fans surrounding him are shaking in excitement, Albert is shaking in a nervous fit.

“Still okay there, Al?”

Albert looked to his side, seeing his good friend Kathrine looking up to meet his eyes with concern. She had just joined the boys in the midst of the crowd after hanging out behind the stage with the band.

“What? Yeah, I’m okay” He replied, “What makes you think I’m not?”

“You’re squeezing my hand a little too tight”

Al had only realized he’s been holding Kath’s hand just now. His brain was too focused on his fears about meeting Finch again to the point that he hasn’t been paying attention to his surroundings. He gets bashful all of a sudden, cheeks going a bit warm, harshly pulling away from her grasp.

“It’s okay, you can hold my hand if you want,” Katherine said gently.

“Kath, I’m fine!” Albert said, “Why won’t you and Race believe me?”

“Because we know it’s utter bullshit”

The pair looked back towards the crowd behind them where the familiar voice originated from. There, Race struggles through a sea of people with two drinks in hand. Oddly enough, he still seems to stand the heat despite still wearing his face disguise. A white cotton mask, black-framed glasses, and a grey beanie mostly providing cover for his blond curls. While Al, seeing that the venue is pretty dark and speculations has led him to believe that the fans would be focused on the concert rather than the people attending it, had already put away his mask. However, his fears still made him wear his snapback and grey-framed glasses just in case.

Albert takes his rightful drink, and with a free hand, Race takes off his own mask and stuffs it in his pockets. He complains about the stuffiness from wearing the mask all while doing so, which made Kath laugh. It appears the Albert-scolding has been forgotten for the time being, as Kath and Race starts engaging in their own conversation, which Al doesn’t mind because he’d much like to down his beer quickly.

And then the concert finally starts.

An exciting intro starts playing as the band enters the stage. The wild crowd welcoming the band is deafening to Albert’s ear. Time freezes and everything in between fades away. All he sees is Finch, up on stage wearing a smile brighter than the lighting of the venue itself. He’s using his old dark green guitar. The same one he uses when he’s writing songs in bed or when he just feels like strumming the strings. Albert remembers the memoirs of all the guitar string scars he had earned throughout the years of knowing him. Some of them were even caused by Albert himself.

Lucky that Finch hasn’t noticed Albert has been staring at him the whole time. He hasn’t taken his eyes off of the boy since the start of the first song, shimmering under the spotlight with amazing vocals. Laughing about at his fellow bandmates’ antics on stage. Oh, that laugh. It gives him butterflies in his stomach like it was the first time hearing it.

He can feel two pairs of familiar eyes on him. But he’s too far gone to care. Albert really did make a big mistake for letting Finch go that easy. Because at the end of his previous college days, he still loves him and misses him dearly. His little Finchy. It doesn’t matter to Al anymore if Race and Katherine are eyeing him with sorrow or the whole world were to look at him weirdly for fixating his own eyes towards the beautiful boy on stage. He was his beautiful boy. Good lord, does he long to see the days when he got to call Finch his.

“Holy shit, I fucked up” Albert muttered under his breath, only Kath and Race could hear it, “I should’ve never had left”

His friends were definitely not expecting Albert to verbally exclaim his regret. They already knew from the start despite the redhead’s previous denials. But hearing him say it just makes it all more real. Even Albert himself was hit by a truck of reality just by loudly announcing it.

“Well, now you know” Katherine started, gentle voice on the same volume as his own despite the volume of their current surroundings being incredibly loud, “Go tell him that after the show”

“I can’t. I shouldn’t” Albert replied, fully turning away from the stage to properly look at his friends. A glint of sorrow and desperation flashes before his face, “I might make things worse!”

“Well, you’ll never know till you try” Race said, sounding a little hesitant at the start. He offered a warm smile at his friend and a hand on his shoulder, since there isn’t much he could do in the moment.

With a heavy sigh, Albert turns back towards the stage only to witness the biggest surprise of his life. Finch looked back. Straight into Albert’s eyes, it pierced right through to get his heart thumping loudly in his ears. He just realized the song the band was previously playing had ended and they were waiting for the fans to quiet down. While Romeo playfully over-dramatize his thank you’s to the crowd and gets scolded by Elmer and Crutchie, Finch was continuously staring at Albert. The hands that were previously used to play with his guitar hang idly because his center of attention wasn’t at his instrument right now.

It might just be some form of hallucination Al retained from the high, but Finch seemed to be smiling at him a little. Just a little curve at the end of his lips while he’s still staring back.

Albert doesn’t know how to interpret this other than to just stare back. Deep down, his heart is flipping in all kinds of ways and his thought process is no longer comprehensible. He’s trying to read the other boy’s emotions but it’s too neutral to tell. Other than the fact that he’s smiling a little at him but that still doesn’t give him a proper answer.

Eventually Finch becomes the first one to look away, seeing that the audience had settled down for the band. Albert’s eyes were still glued to Finch, retaining his focus back to the concert. He opens his mouth for a moment to say something into his microphone, although he unexpectedly stopped. The flow of words seemed to cut short. He saved himself by pulling himself away from the microphone up front and towards the rest of his bandmates. Judging from the body language, they seem to be whispering.

“What’s happening?” Albert whispered, more to himself rather than to his friends.

“I’m not sure…” Race replied, taking a step closer to where Al is standing.

The band kept the discussion short and quickly got back to their places. Finch seems to hesitate the second time he opens his mouth to speak. But this time, he gets the words out.

“Uhh… sorry ‘bout that. I uhh… I just got the urge to go a bit out of our fixed setlist and uhh… hope you guys don’t mind” Finch explained with a little giggle at the end. The crowd couldn’t care less and cheered on. Finch smile widens at the agreement, “We thought we’d give ya an early access to our newest single that hasn’t been released yet”

A euphoric feeling passed through the crowd as the cheering got louder. It baffled Finch so much that he laughed into his mic.

“Oh my god, they’re actually doing it” Katherine commented under her breath.

But Al’s ears were sharp enough to catch it. He snaps his head around to face the girl behind him, “Do what?”

Katherine was rendered speechless to that question, despite obviously knowing what’s going on. Albert turns to Race but he has no idea. He finally turns back to the stage where Finch’s gaze was already waiting to be returned by Al himself.

Without breaking the gaze, Finch speaks into the mic with a little smile, “It’s called ‘Red’”

It was Albert’s turn to be speechless. He had no knowledge of a new single since he’s mostly been staying away from his ex’s social media for the sole purpose of moving on, which he had failed miserably. And none of his friends had told him anything about a single that’s title was a secret language only Finch and Albert share, littered with all sorts of vintage romance.

“Holy shit…” Race exclaimed, “...I had no idea they were gonna play this song”

The opening of the song starts with Jojo lightly plucking a few strings of his acoustic guitar. The crowd goes wild once again, energy bouncing off one wall to the other.

“Loving him is like driving a new Maserati down a dead end street

Faster than the wind, passionate as sin, ending so suddenly”

Crutchie sang the first line smoothly. At this point the other’s had joined in with their instrument. Finch fully ignoring the crowd and focused on looking at Al. Those blue eyes are trying to send a message to Albert and it’s being coded with the song they’re currently playing.

The song had carried on till it reached the chorus. All the instruments peaked at that moment and collaborated with each other to create a very euphoric sound. The crowd jumps along to the beat of the song along with a loud cheering, obviously enjoying the tune they have yet to listen to. Some were holding up cameras to capture this moment, most likely to later share it with the fans that didn’t get the chance to witness it live.

At this point, Finch had turned his face away from Al. There was a troubling look in his expression but it was quickly covered by closing his eyes as if he’s trying to concentrate on singing the chorus with the others. But Al is no fool. He knows that look on Finch’s face is when he’s trying to avoid something, and that something is him.

“Losing him was blue, like I'd never known

Missing him was dark gray, all alone

Forgetting him was like trying to know

Somebody you never met

But loving him was red”

The words moved something in Al. It was written in a way Albert recognized it to be Finch’s writing style. Every single part of the song. From the melody, the chord progression, even the lyrics. Especially the lyrics.

“Fighting with him was like trying to solve a crossword

And realizing there's no right answer

Regretting him was like wishing you never found out

That love could be that strong”

As Finch harmonized that line with Jojo, he stole a little sad side glance at Albert. The song returns to the chorus once again, Finch gets dragged with the beat and lightly moves his body along.

Albert gets captivated along with the music. He can feel the corner of his lips slightly rising up, which is pretty ironic seeing that Finch is singing a breakup song about them. Maybe because he’s relieved to hear Finch sing about how he’s not fully over him. Or maybe it’s because he gets to see Finch embracing the break up, which could potentially mean that he’s okay with it. But whatever it is, he’s happy seeing Finch like this. Or just seeing him in general.

“Remembering him comes in flashbacks and echoes

Tell myself it's time now gotta let go

But moving on from him is impossible

When I still see it all in my head”

The chord progression’s pattern slightly changed. Finch sings his line into the microphone, closing his eyes as if to soak up all the intoxicating energy he gets from the crowd. Of people flailing their hands into the sky and a loud chorus of undecipherable shouting. But at the last line, he steals a proper glance back at Albert.

“In burning red”

The lyrics really says it all. There’s no more hidden message that Albert needs to decipher, as it's being presented right in front of him.

Finch takes over the next part of the song, shredding his guitar which makes the crowd go wild. At the moment, it looks like he’s feeling himself. Moving along with the motion of his fingers that creates each note.

“Oh, losing him was blue, like I'd never known

Missing him was dark gray, all alone

Forgetting him was like trying to know

Somebody you never met

'Cause loving him was red”

The song is supposed to be a punch to Albert’s guts, and yet he finds himself laughing at it. He catches a glimpse of Finch’s eyes, sneaking its way to look back at Albert every so often. And this time, he wears a smile while jumping along to the song. And it made Al smile back.

“His love was like driving a new Maserati down a dead end street”

As the song ended, the fans went wild. The look on Finch’s face seems satisfied at the success of the single they have yet been released to the world, shining at the sight of a hype crowd. He steals one last glance at Albert with a little smile on his face. Albert would dare to say he’s being a bit shy. To that, Albert smiles back with a disbelief laugh escaping his lips before Finch pulls his gaze away from the other boy.

After playing a few more songs, the concert ended. There was only one thing in Albert’s mind, which was talking to Finch. Race and Albert quickly put their disguise back on before the crowd had realized who they were as they exited the venue. The three stay behind as the venue gets emptied, Race and Katherine making quick work with their fingers on their phones to contact their friends backstage.

Jojo was the first to respond to either of them. He said that Finch is smoking behind the venue alone. One could only assume that he’s not in his best state after spontaneously choosing to sing that single. But Jojo assured them that he’s still good to talk to. Crutchie then responded, saying that Specs and Mike can pick them up to get them into the backstage.

It didn’t take them long, but Albert wasn’t keen on seeing the others right now. After being pointed towards the back door, Albert was already off. Adrenaline coursing through his veins as he makes quick steps towards it.

He gently opens the door, to avoid surprising the boy in case he was nearby. Albert steps out to a parking lot, open-spaced with another parking lot above it as its roof. At a first glance it was completely empty, only a few lights turned on to keep the area lit. His eyes gandered even further and spotted the boy he was looking for, back facing Al and his body leaning on metal bars as he enjoyed the nightlife of the city.

Albert took a deep breath to calm his adrenaline, slowing down his walking pace. The area is eerily quiet. Only a few things that can be heard: his footsteps, his thumping heart, and the sounds coming from the streets three stories below them. With every step closer, he slowly unraveled his makeshift disguise. Shoving his mask and glasses in the pockets of his jeans but left the snapback on.

“‘Loving him was red’” Albert said to catch Finch’s attention, “Did you mean it to be that obvious?”

Finch didn’t fully turn his head around, only halfway so Al can see the little grin of amusement forming on his face. A little chuckle escaped his lips, causing his chest to pulse along before he continued, “Not really. But it has a nice ring to it”

Albert takes a few steps closer towards the metal bars, leaning his body on it like what Finch is doing. Now he can clearly see the half burnt cigarette on Finch’s hand. Al tries to make eye contact with him, but Finch is purposely turning his head the other way and giving Albert his head full of blond curls.

“You came back” Finch suddenly said, voice hushed and low.

“Of course I came back” Albert replied, “You didn’t think I’d fully leave like that, did’ja?”

“Well, no. It’s just that you seemed so hellbent on going to college”

Albert slowly nods at that, moving his gaze towards the streets below like the other boy. They sit in the silence for a few minutes. Hearing different vehicles pass by the street below them and honking from the distance.

“Finch, I’m so sorry I left ya like that” Albert suddenly started, fully turning his face towards him. He couldn’t find a way to word it and so he resorted to just telling him the truth. Finch stays quiet to let him continue, “I was an idiot to let ya go that easily and all because I was selfish”

“You weren’t actually being selfish” Finch said, smiling a little at his words, “You did it because you wanted to. And it wasn’t hurting anyone anyways”

“It did. It hurt you”

Finch turns his head towards Albert. Now their eyes are looking into each other closer than before. The closest they’ve ever been since their breakup. A mixture of unsaid emotions made the gaze feel so intimate and it terrifies Al a bit. 

“I hurt myself trying to get you to stay” Finch said softly. His next words got stuck in his throat. He gives his brain a few seconds to focus with a sigh out of his mouth and dragging his gaze away from Al, “I knew you never wanted to get that engineering degree in the first place which is another reason I didn’t want you to go. But at the end of the day, it was your decision to make and not mine. I lashed out on you and said you were selfish but… I was the one that was being selfish”

Finch turns his eyes back towards Al, his face looks more sorrowful than before, “I’m sorry”

A small smile formed on Al’s face, tilting his head to the side by a few inches, “It ain’t your fault for knowing me more than I know myself”

They leave the conversation at that for the time being. Letting the streets below fill the void of their silence. Both boys focusing their gaze towards the view they got from this height they’re on again. Finch and Albert left speechless at each other’s words.

Albert’s hands unconsciously reach up to his forehead, itching to pick a pimple like earlier. His next words almost got stuck in his throat but he was able to pull through just enough to get to his point, “Well, at the end of the day we uhh… we both fucked up. Fucked our relationship, that’s for sure-”

“Stop picking on your pimples, Al” Finch casually said. The surprise look on Al’s face got Finch to side eye him with a giggle.

Al pulled his fingers away, stuttering in his movements but still continued on his words with more confidence, “What I’m trying to say is… I want to try again as long as you’re willing to”

There was a good few seconds of silence that Finch used to just stare at him. Albert could only wonder what he’s thinking about inside that head, “So we just… what? Forget the breakup ever happened? Move back in together? You know I can’t just do that, right?”

“That’s not what I mean. We don’t need to rush things. I know you can’t do that” Albert said, “Just… let me start by making it up to you? Whatever you want. Just name it”

Finch didn’t respond instantly, letting the silence between them linger for a few more minutes. But it’s deeply agonizing to Albert’s ears. A blank space of two eyes locked in a gaze, and one is obviously dying to get out of it.

“Please, say something” Albert begged. Hands suddenly reaching back up to his face to pick on his pimples again.

With a free hand, Finch reaches towards Al’s hand on his face. He pulls it down to the bars, holding it in place to make sure it doesn’t repeat its mistakes again. The grip was firm, but warm and calming to Albert’s soul. It made him go blank for a good few seconds from being so touch deprived of Finch’s soft hands. He retains his sense of reality when their eyes finally meet again.

With a little smile forming on Finch’s face, he finally answers, “I’d like that very much”

[liberons]

so anyways have a weird pseudo-meta on the 239894 ways levi’s character could’ve been better used story-wise

tbh i do believe yams had it in him to write a nice, tight, cohesive story where everything could’ve fallen in place well enough -- at least to the point where actions made sense with reference to established character personalities and arcs within the story. i have no issue with regression, but you can’t make it half-assed or just. entirely left-field and leave it at that and ok moral of the story i’m like, 90% sure come from being far too invested in the fandom as an author. NEVER change your story because of someone else’s opinion when it’s SERIALISED y’all.

SECTION  I .     KILL  HIM  OFF  !

let’s be honest !!!  this is the most obvious !!!  we get it he’s popular, you’ll get backlash, yaddi yadda ya girl’s tired.

(  i .  )   why didn’t eren kill him.

why

remember what levi was actually established to DO early on? the whole “i’ll take care of eren if he goes manic”? his WHOLE NARRATIVE PURPOSE? would be great if we, you know, played with that At All.

how fucking FRIGHTENING would eren’s final form be if it just fucking nipped levi in the bud? if levi, completely fine and uninjured, stayed true to his word and lead to handle eren, just to be fucking annihilated? eren has like 60 fucking titans inside him INCLUDING the activated founding. I THINK IT’S PRETTY FAIR TO REDEFINE HIM AS BEING FUCKING OP NOW.

just define some real form of tension come on.

this could’ve also just. so naturally shifted the tension in mikasa’s direction. literally everyone instinctively has mikasa jotted down as second-best-next-to-levi, both in and out of canon. it would make sense for other characters to just eye awkwardly in deciding mikasa ‘has’ to be the next one to try through the framing bias that presents. 

right now it’s like it’s not even her choice but everyone decided it would be for no goddamn reason. why does mikasa need to be ok with killing eren at all??? why cant one of YALL do it????????? and like mikasa kills him but then presents absolutely no real conclusion in doing so. we get 0 insight into what’s really going on in her head and WE DONT EVEN GET TO SEE IT !!!!!!!!!!

(  i i .  )   zeke if yOu’Re goNnA do it dO it RIGHT

to stay more true to canon, here’s way better ways zeke could’ve actually been rid of him that aren’t. regressing and dumb lmao:

zeke’s still a war chief, he’s had YEARS of troop strategy / planning up his sleeves. why didn’t he use turning levi’s squad into a means to set up some real traps because what’s he gonna do to a bomb, huh? Fight it?

or better yet, spike more than just levi’s squad and just have swarms and waves of mindless titans coming in to provide that distraction.

or have more help?? there’s all the yeagerists at your disposal and not ONE can secretly set something up with you?

overall like zeke should know levi’s skill and levi shouldn;t have to assume zeke’s not ?????????????? “willing to die”??????????? WTF????? AREN’T YOU WHY WOULDN'T HE BE?????

god anyways

zeke kills levi u know what that sets up? the fact that he’s pretty fucking clever and powerful on his own???? so now when eren & zeke team up to cause the rumbling, regardless of zeke’s original intent, would make them Far more horrifying to the rest of the crew; 

tbh i feel like this should mean moving the ‘reveal’ of eren’s betrayal to the very end of the manga when eren explains everything through path visions bc at least it keeps his moral grey area more.... grey. 

we know by the end that he betrayed zeke so it’s like ok So Yes He’s Doing Summ For The Greater Good But What and at least this would balance the scales of mass murder a lil by not snipping all the men i fucking Guess lmao god

(  i i i .  )    RUMBLE HIM

step on him 

but really he can just??? die during the rumbling???? point blank??????????? why were there not more major character casualties lmao boi

if the colossal titans are just far too many and far too boring, all the previous titans on eren’s back is so delicious and should’ve been drawn out im not sorry about it.

where’s the 349873 iterations of character x character teaming up and slowly getting better at absolutely Slicing these bastards? WHERE ARE THEY? 

i want my warriors x stray marleans x survey squads just dedicated to keeping the 9 titan iterations out of eren’s neck.

he could’ve finally killed zeke here too but i’m gonna get to that whole thing lmao god.

we've also established him getting wounded when others are involved (à la leg injury helping mikasa) so have him??? sacrifice???? to help others like finish his empathy arc

let him sacrifice himself by keeping the titans back while armin blows up idc

and for all of these — it doesn’t even have to be a quick death. let him lose a body part and die of blood loss. let his organs fail. let him get infected like yo not every death has to be in 3s flat.

SECTION II .     OR  DON’T  !

like. let’s just say there’s absolutely no way your publicist is gonna let you kill this character. you love him too much / he’s become a weird self-insert. ok sure. YOU CAN STILL DO SOMETHING.

( i .  )  why does he just. not grow.

he’s five three but does his heart have to be?

anyways fr he’s literally a huge fucking asshole and he doesn’t grow out of it. no one ever point out that it’s terrible. the biggest blacklash he gets is historia punching him like pew. and it’s not even addressed why she did that. it’s just like haha, yep.

can we get him some uhhhh??? clear empathy ???? some actual growth?? like we know he went from the guy beating eren up Excessively to forcing historia to be queen to giving armin the colossus, and then back to just slicing zeke up uselessly and caring about one (1) thing. like he was clearly on a path somewhere.

like first of all, holy fuck get over it. it’s like he had a manic episode for 4 years just obsessing over killing zeke when the game changed buddy??? it’s been established that the issue is No Longer zeke why are we so hard on this. his entire character just becomes kill monkee because his arc is DONE so if we’re going to keep him around find something else?? or CONTINUE to develop him.

make him grow his soft skills as a leader. make him learn how to stick around his team and know exactly how to fall back. 

if he’s injured, make him LITERALLY stay back and learn how to handle those he has to keep back with him.

make him struggle keeping morale. 

make him argue with some of the non-paradisians, or even those from paradis that are like what the FUCK and just learn to offer his perspective.

if he’s so obssessed with zeke maybe uh?? address that with someone???? talk it out with your therapist buddy you’ve clearly not come to terms with the fact you let erwin die and he has no reason to be so caught up by that and if he does like lmao ok let us see and understand it???

( i i .  )   do something with the ackermans

that’s it that’s the post

idek what else to put here i want this fucker dead

[jade-marie]

i’m so on the fence about how i feel about beth.

i was just thinking about how rio had to show her his family for her to see him as an actual human being. ( i thought that the family dinner was his way of humanizing himself so beth wouldn’t turn him in) like waa

even if he didn’t have a family he’s still a person w actual feelings. and i also think that she’s impulsive so she doesn’t think about how her actions will impact people(only about how it will positively affect her). if rio gets locked up what happens to his son? when dean got locked up she knew how much it impacted her children. like cmon.

and then she holds on to her stupid ass ideas even when they fail. did she fr think that rio was stupid enough to believe that carolyn was an actual mother? even when he addresses that he knew carolyn wasn’t a mother she says “if you don’t like her..” please stop w the lying.clearly rio was tired of it in ep 7. i was getting second hand embarrassment throughout the whole diner scene too even tho some parts made me laugh

please don’t get me wrong..i don’t HATE her i just hate the things she does at times. ik that this deal will protect her family/annie & ruby’s families. i mean if she “chooses” rio then what happens to them?? i would honestly be pissed off if she fucked up annie & ruby’s life without consulting them(cause we know she loves to do that and most likely will if she chose rio)

i really love reading what you have to say. at first i loved her character sm—and i hardly saw her flaws. then when i started to see diff perspectives on her behavior, i started to reevaluate how i felt about her.

anyways i respect ur opinions even if i don’t totally agree w them. and sorry about those assholes on reddit.

i would love to know what you think!!(ps sorry this was long lol)

Don't worry about the long ask - my reply got long too!

The whole storyline about Rio's family is something that really bothered me. I was so excited for it, literally the only thing I was actually excited for this season and it was all about Beth.

First, from a narrative perspective, I hate that they couldn't even allow Rio to have one interaction with his family that didn't involve Beth. Sure, she could've been there and seen it but let him play with his son, his nieces and nephews, get scolded by his grandma for arguing with Nick at the table. Whatever. We didn't even learn the names of his family members, no introductions were made. He was sat at the same table as Marcus and not a word was exchanged between them. So, giving him a family was just such a waste imo.

Seondly, he was introducing her to his family, presumably to show her what was at stake for him, because she constantly uses her motherhood and her family as a shield to hide behind and avoid the consequences of her actions. But that didn't help. She left a wire in his grandma's house and she continued with her plan to hand him over to the secret service. Like you said, even without his family, he is still a person with actual feelings (feelings Beth doesn't care about, so can we please stop pretending? shipping is fine but like, stop rewriting what is literally on the goddamn screen). She knows about Marcus, she knows Marcus. He's friends with her daughter, he's been in her home and drawn her pictures, she's had to listen to Rhea talk about how much Marcus was struggling without his dad, and Beth was willing to take him away again. Dean being in jail is a problem because her kids miss their dad, so the alternative is to take Marcus' dad away? Fitzpatrick had at least two kids who are now fatherless too. So the impression I get is that her family is the only one that matters, which like, cool, fine, whatever. But own that shit and stop using your kids as human shields.

The whole situation with Phoebe/Carolyn is part of a much larger trend the show has with dumbing down characters for plot convenience, as opposed to actually writing a clever plot and it irks me to no end. Anyone with eyes who saw Rio's face in that diner would know he was not buying it. Anyone who saw him at the house would know he was not buying it. But suddenly all 3 girls and the secret service are dumbasses who can't see this for themselves? I had so much secondhand embarrassment from the whole thing, and yeah, I chuckled at a few moments but the comedy feels really lazy now, it's not organic like in s1 and 2.

Lol, don't worry, I get it. I, however, do hate her. At least for now. So these things just make me dislike her even more, to be honest. Like you said, her deal with he secret service now includes Ruby and Annie, so it's not just her family on the line here. All 3 girls were arrested for armed robbery after their jewellery store heist, so if she reneges on her agreement with the SS by helping Rio - they all go to jail. Once again, it's a case of Beth making unilateral decisions and expecting everyone to follow the leader. That would be fine if someone actually pulled her up on it but they just don't.

Thank you for saying that, it means a lot. I know a lot of people just see me as a Debbie Downer, and I get that it can come across that way sometimes. But I agree that it's also important to see other perspectives and not just absorb one specific POV that suits your narrative. You don't have to agree with them all the time, but like you said, you should respect other people's opinions and allow people to voice those opinions how they see fit.

As for those Reddit assholes - fuck 'em. I hope they endure unending misery from my content. It's my gift to the universe 🙃

[interstellix]

to those who made my 2020 a little better,

i just wanted to let each one of you know that you mean tons to me and that you truly have, in one way or another, made this year better. i’ll be honest, 2020 was just not it for me, a whole lot of shit happened and i’ve had countless of days where i’ve been too tired in ways i can’t explain. at the same time though, good things have happened as well, one of them being the people i’ve met on tumblr; some of you i’ve been friends with since before, some of you i got to know this year and some of you even very very recently. still, i can’t thank these people enough because they’ve all been part of making this year less shitty than it would’ve been otherwise. thus, i wanted to at least let the mentioned ones know that they’re the ones part of that

now, i’m really not good with words, and i absolutely Hate being sappy, yet that’s exactly what i’m being here fjkdfk. i’m deadass out here cringing at my own words but please bear with me this one time LMAOO.

tldr; ily and u’re all v v precious people to me

@ohmyhao i don't think i'll ever be able to explain just how precious you are to me, no joke :( i'm almost 100% you're the one who's been sticking around my blog(s) since the very start and i want you to know that, even if we don't talk as often, i'm grateful for each and every day knowing i deadass have someoone like you around. i mean, i'll be honest, i still question your choice of favorite haikyuu characters because oi🤮kawa bUT!! i'll forgive you bc!! you're literally among the cutest people i've ever come across (don't even think of arguing with me this time), you're no joke one of the reasons i continued staying on tumblr and getting to know you is something i'll always feel blessed over 🥰

@kachulein LOL OK i could go on for hours and hours here, mostly because of how many and all the different things we talk about stuff that just shouldn't see the light of the world included. talking to you is something that never fails to make me feel happy but also incredibly at ease; i really, really want you to know that something i’m incredibly grateful for is how i’m comfortable enough with you to be able to talk about things i otherwise just can’t :( aside from that, listen, 99% of our conversation have me wheezing my throat off, like it can get weird af but it still has me laughing. something else i’m really happy is when you put in your two cents in our conversation, i’ve said it before but as someone who struggles with seeing things from more than one perspective, i really admire hearing about your own! all in all, i love you tons and tons, you’re an incredible person through and through and i truly appreciate the time i get to talk to you!

@starryarles i don’t think i tell you this enough but?? mae?? i literally love you so much, legit l-o-mae-l??? i still laugh my ass of looking back at the time you found my other blog and i had to guess which one of my mutuals you were LMAOO listen the panic fjijfkjk. anyway, i absolutely adore every message, ask and comment i receive from you, no joke i always get really happy from each one of them and tbh?? during that long period of time we didn’t talk i genuinely thought you hated me or something HAHAH. turns out that that was not true at all or so i hope and not to sound like a sap but i’m deadass overjoyed that we started talking again. and really, you’re way, way too supportive, i literally don’t deserve how much love i’ve received from you even but please know that i’m grateful for every bit of it and that i love you stupid much and hope we can have another good year together :’)

@milkteandhan you?? are also?? one of the few who have been dealing with my ass literally from the very start?? because i seriously can’t remember having been on tumblr without you around?? BUT ALSO YOU LITTLE SHIT IDGI you bully me to the ends of the fucking world but for some reason?? i still love you?? >:(( ok but jokes aside, i really do love you a lot, i mean i love you as much as you make me suffer and that? that’s a lot :) you drop by my inbox with either the cutest/funniest message or pictures that make me wanna dig my grave but either way, they always make me smile like a fucking moron and listen LISTEN. i really wanna explain to you how much you mean to me but idk where to start bc i can’t. literally just can’t. find the words for that. but all i can say is that meeting you is something i’ll thank any and every damn god out there for and i’m not even religious, like at all fjkdjfkd so yeah. mwah

@astronomlns my god you bitch you bully me almost on the daily and then you?? have the audacity to deny it?? but! that said, i don’t mind lol. one of my biggest regret what goes my “”online-life”” is the awfully long time we didn’t talk but that’s also why i’m mad happy that we actually do now, almost every day even. i’ve already said this before but have the friendly reminder that you’re among the few that i feel really safe when talking. we’ve also pointed out this before but it’s almost been two whole years since we became friends and i hope you can stick with my shit for another whole year. again, you bully me a lot, but i still love you a whole damn lot, never forget that

@lixchannie i’ll be flat out honest, idk what the hell i’m supposed to say here. despite all bullshit that has happened you’ve been there with me this entire, entire time ever since we became friends and i don’t think i’ll ever be able to explain how thankful i am for that. we don’t talk every day and imy when we don’t lmao but tbh i’m fine with that because i’m genuinely glad knowing that i even get to have someone like you in my life. so yeah don’t leave me bc i’ll deadass hunt you to the end of the world

the rest of the “”kin-gang”” like some like to call it @bubbleskz @berryyyyyy @skzbbie we don’t talk as often, v v rarely actually but i want y’all to know that i don’t appreciate and love you any less than i did before we started somewhat losing touch. i don’t like sounding cheesy and shit fjkfkds but let it slide this time, the times we do talk are times i treasure more than i can explain, deadass. i feel like i don’t tell you this enough but you guys are better friends than i could ever ask for. again, we don’t talk as much, but 2020 would’ve sucked a thousand times more if we didn’t talk a lot, so thank you tons for being part of it and i hope you’ll be there for 2021 too :’)

@soulkhunscompass LISTEN. listen. i’ll say it, i’ll just fucking say it: i don’t deserve you at fucking all :///// you’re way too sweet to me, talking to you always makes me smile and laugh, esp when you promise making me food one day ffjdkfjkds. but somehow?? at the same time, and idk how you do it, but somehow SOMEHOW you never fail to make me feel appreciated whenever you tell me sweet ass things. ‘in return’, never forget that both that and you are something i appreciate way way more k >:( and also >:(( never forget that i love you so much, literally more than i love how the corner of felix’s eyes crinkle up whenever he smiles and that’s,,, that’s a damn lot tbh 👉👈

@chwe-yeeun honestly i’m lowkey sobbing while writing this. you’re one of those i only got to know this year, in fact just a few months ago but nonetheless, you’re still one of those i treasure a whole damn lot. like you said, you love making me suffer with pretty boys, it hurts but it’s still funny lmao, i appreciate but also feel bad whenever you have to deal with my bullshit whenever i come crying to you over eric those pretty boys, aNd ThE tImEs yOu SeNd ThAt CuTe HuG?? i return them all, like fr take my heart i don’t need it, it’s your for the taking like literally fuck it. moral of the story, i love you tons and thank you for being there with and for me :’)

@riskyrenjun i might as well start off and say that i fucking screeched when i saw you in my notifs and mention my content on your blog bc?? the queen herself?? noticed me?? wtf?? and i’ll be honest, i’ve been following you for a good while and for the longest time ever i wanted to hit you up bc you’ve literally always seemed so precious sO?? dO YOU EVEN KNOW??? hoW hAPPY i am?? that we actually?? are friends?? i’ve done nothing to deserve that but here we are fjkflkd. i saw your end-of-the-year post, i’m sorry i haven’t responded to it and that i’ve been so shit at talking lately, but i promise i’ll try to get better at it lmao so!!! i hope you’ll still stick around with me at that point because i can be really fucking damn annoying 🥺 long story short pray for a good 2021 bc you’ll probably regret ever even wanting to talk to me once we’ve become closer lol <3

there are a few other friends and mutuals i wanna include here; i don’t talk as much with some of y’all, others are people i’m still getting to know but nevertheless, i want you to know that meeting each one of you here on this hellsite is a blessing in itself and that it’s one of the things i’m happy 2020 has actually given me :’)

@0325-4419 @marculees @jwisungchan @stealerz @ciiikb @zoey-angel-istaeminsbitchnow @yangles @violethhj @littlefallenrebel  

alllso to dear dc servers: @planteii @joey-yellow-county @sakura-writes-stuff @bound-writings @koukounuts @classicalsylph  the rest of the server bc i’m struggling really hard to find them // @crimsoncitrus @everythingsinred and the rest of that server because again i’m struggling to find the url to the rest fjdkfkd; i’m not particularly active in neither but i still want you to know that i’m very grateful for being able to be part of two v v warm and welcoming servers, so thank you for that 🥺

[rohad93]

Moonlit Masquerade: Jokers Wild  Pt 2(Final)

Rated T

It's a long weekend for the twins.

They don't talk for a long while after they get home after Amity turned them away at the owl house. They both feel guilty. They're all kinds of furious at their classmates for attacking their sister and Luz, but guilt is at the forefront of both their minds, and they are wrapped up in their own thoughts most of the night.

Their parents are out, so Amity doesn't come home till very late Saturday night, bandaged and wearing one of her girlfriend's hoodies when Eda and Luz drop her off outside the gates.

She walked right past them sitting in the living room and didn’t say a word to them, didn’t so much as look at them as she walked by and up the stairs to her room.

They share a look after they hear the door shut.

"We… gotta talk to her right?" Edric looks at his twin.

"I really think we're the last two people she wants to talk to right now, Ed." Emira reclined on the couch, sighing and covering her eyes with her arm.

"How are we supposed to fix this if we don't talk to her?" He throws up his arm, exasperated.

"I don't think we can fix this… did you even see her arm? Or Luz's face!?" she hissed at him, lifting her head to glare at him.

"Of course I saw it!" he barked, fists clenched. Alabaster and Cyran were dead men the next time he saw them, he swore it. No one was going to get away with hurting their sister or her girlfriend! He sighed heavily out his nose. “We have to try,” he said much quieter. Emira looked up at the ceiling, where Amity’s room was on the second floor and sighed, nodding as she stood from the couch.

They padded quietly up the stairs and down the hall to Amity’s closed door.

Amity sat on her bed with a tired sigh, after she changed into her nightwear, her arm still hurt, but not as bad as it had earlier. They'd applied some ointments Luz had learned in her healing classes that really took some of the pain out of her burn, and she'd rubbed some on the new bruises that were forming on Luz's back from when she'd been slammed to the ground. She had them everywhere.

She changed into her pajama pants but left the hoodie on. Her room is plenty warm, but her own hoodie was all but destroyed, leaving her in a plain white shirt. So, Luz had lent her one of her other hoodies to wear on the chilly ride home.

She flopped back on the bed and smiled softly to herself, holding the front of the hoodie up to her nose, inhaling deeply.

It wasn't as warm as Luz, but it certainly had that earthy, summer smell that made her think of her girlfriend.

A knock on her door made her frown, dropping the fabric back to her chest.

She knows who it is. It couldn't be anyone else. Amity glared at the door, Luz had made an excellent point earlier in the evening.

While the twins were at least, partially at fault for this, that didn't mean they ever would have wanted it to happen and should at least be given the chance to apologize and make things right.

Sighing, she sits up. "What?" she calls.

"Can we come in?" Emira's voice filters through the door.

"Please?" Edric's voice followed it.

"If you must…," she sighs.

The door opens and both of their green-colored heads pop in.

"Hey… are you okay?" Edric asks as they walk into the room.

"I'm fine," she says tersely.

"Is Luz okay?" Emira tries. The human had been a bloody mess last they saw.

"She'll be alright." Amity gives a curt nod but offers nothing else, and the twins glance at each other, unsure what else to do.

"If anything happens Monday, with Alabaster or Cyran, come find us, ok?" Emira tries, not sure what else to say. She can see how angry their sister is and that she was right, Amity really doesn't want to talk.

"Yeah," Edric jumps in. "If they thought what we did to them before was bad, just wait till this time." Edric scowled, crossing his arms. Amity blinks at them, surprised before her face curled up in a snarl.

"No, just leave it alone!" She bit out and the twins blink at her in surprise.

"But they attacked you, hurt you both!" Emira argues.

"Over a prank!" Edric finishes.

"That's the problem, Ed!" She suddenly jumped up from the bed. "You two's stupid pranks is why this happened!"

“They're just jokes.” Edric frowns.

“They're not just jokes!” Amity yelled. “You embarrass and humiliate people, hurt their feelings, and then you’re surprised when something like this happens? That people don’t like being made a laughing stock in front of their entire track? Then you called them out in the market!" She shouts.

"So, what, this all our fault? What about them!?" Emira yelled back. "They're the ones that took this too far!"

"Yeah, why are you mad at us?" Edric makes a face.

“Of course I'm angry at them! Did you see what they did to Luz!?” she snarled. "They did this, but they weren’t some strangers that just decided to beat us up because they could, they came after us because of what you two did to them!” she stomps a foot and the twins flinch.

"I'm furious at you two because you don't understand that the things you do affect other people!" she yells, and it looks like she's gearing up for more but then looks at the twin's bewildered faces and sighs, seeming to lose steam. "This is the library incident all over again, but worse…, I don't know why I thought you two could be better…," she mumbles, and that stings the twins more than any of her yelling ever could.

"Amity…," Edric starts.

"Just… go away." She turns away from them tiredly, crawling back onto her bed.

They stand there a moment before, and when it looks like Amity isn't going to further acknowledge them, they finally turn to go, but pause in the doorway, looking at each other.

"We're sorry," they say quietly before shutting the door behind them.

The Blight siblings don't speak the rest of the weekend.

~ ~

On Monday Luz decided to go to school despite both sisters and King wanting her to stay home.

A little black eye wasn't going to keep her from her education!

Or a busted lip, or all the bruises on her face, or back… or arms...

She could definitely see where they were coming from...

She would be fine though, and she really wanted to check on Amity, despite the fact that they had messaged each other almost constantly on Sunday.

She arrived early to find Amity already waiting for her outside the steps of the school, she sees her right away, with both eyes. They kept ice on it all weekend and the swelling has gone down, letting her eye open, though it was still very much a giant black and blue bruise

"Hõla, mi amor." She smiled as she stopped in front of Amity. She really wished she could reach out and kiss her good morning or hold her hand, but as much as she wanted to, she doesn't; she knows better.

“Hey, how do you feel, today?”

“I’ve been better.” She shrugs. “I can open my left eye again!” She grinned pointing at it, and Amity smiled, and for once, couldn't resist the urge to reach out and touch her. They are standing partially concealed by the side of the stairs, and there are very few students around at this time of the morning, and the ones that are, pay them no mind.

Her fingertips brush gently over the bruises and scabbing scrapes across her left cheek, touch feather-light as not to cause any pain.

Luz's eyes widen and dart around to see no one is nearby, let alone even looking in their general direction. Amity's face has turned melancholy, and Luz can't have that.

She reaches up to cover Amity's hand with her own and turns her head into the hand and lays a kiss to her palm, lips lingering for a moment as they stare back at each other.

Amity flushes but smiles at her before pulling her hand back. In their secret room at the library or the owl house is one thing, but they are technically standing out in the open in front of the school. This is a dangerous game they're playing, and they both know it.

"Hey, guys!" Gus's voice breaks them from the intense staring.

Luz turns to face their two approaching friends. "Hey!"

"Hi, Lu- OH MY GOSH! What happened to your face?!" Willow yelps the second she really sees her friend and Gus is staring at her with wide eyes, mouth hanging slack.

"Well…," Luz chuckles nervously.

"We got into a fight with some upperclassmen Saturday…" Amity frowns, and they explain what happened to their friends who look angry and concerned.

"What were you thinking, Luz!? They could’ve killed you without your magic.

"I wasn't just going to stand by and be the reason Amity got hurt!" she defends her choice vehemently.

Saturday night after they’d dropped Amity off she and Eda had taken the long way home on her staff.

~

The cold night air felt good on her… well, everything. Even her tongue hurt from biting it when she’d been slammed against the wall. Her left eye was still swollen shut but at least all the bleeding had stopped.

Eda hadn’t said much of anything since she and Amity had gotten back from town. She’d been very quiet during dinner, but based off some muffling they had heard from her room, Eda had been yelling, but she's quiet now.

“Eda…?” Luz finally called, and her mentor turned to look at her curiously as they flew back toward home.

“What is it, Kid?”

“Are you… mad?” she asked.

“You bet I’m mad!” she growled.

Luz hunkered down, shoulders up around her ears as she clenched the staff in her bruised hands, but then Eda keeps going.

“I'm mad at the look-alikes for antagonizing those two and those two for what they did to you and Amity!” Eda continued to grouch. Luz blinked as they landed in the front yard of the owl house, well away from a sleeping Hooty. They climb off and Eda leans the staff across her shoulder.

“You’re not mad at me?” She asked quietly, and Eda turned all the way around to look at her with wide eyes.

“You? Why would I be mad at you?”

“For getting in a fight, for getting hurt?” She shrugged. Eda looked down at her for a long minute before sighing.

“What you did was stupid, Luz, running headfirst into a fight with two witches and no magic." she finally says after a few moments, and Luz winced, frowning and looking down at the ground, till Eda goes on. “But I’m proud of you,” she says, looking down at her with a smile.

“You are?” Luz's head whipped back up to look at a now grinning Eda with one wide eye.

“Heck yeah, I am! Now, I’m not saying you should go around punching everyone you see." She mimes a punch. "You’re not near big enough for that…, yet, but they didn��t leave you any choice, you two could have been hurt much worse if you hadn’t done anything. You were backed into a corner, and you came out fightin’ like a werewolf!" She grinned. "So, yeah, I’m pretty damn proud,” she said, reaching out to gently ruffle Luz's hair.

Luz grinned, puffing up under the praise.

“Now let’s get inside so we can put some more ice on that doozy of a shiner you got, champ.” Eda chuckled.

~

Despite how ugly she knows it is, she wears her black eye and busted lip like a badge of pride. Yeah, she kinda lost, It's hard to say since the twins showed up and beat them back, but she defended herself and Amity tooth and nail, without her magic, and she thinks that's something worth being proud of.

"¡No te metas con mi novia!" She puffs up her chest and holds up her clenched fist, showing off her bruised knuckles to their friends.

Amity, who's been very diligent in her practice with Luz, and studying her dictionary, actually catches what she's saying and rolls her eyes, even as her cheeks turn pink and the edges of her lips curl upward.

"Huh? Gus blinks.

"Don't mess with my girlfriend," Amity mumbles out a translation before Luz can speak and her head whips to look at her, eyes lit up with excitement.

"Eso es perfecto, mi amor!" Luz’s smile is almost blinding, and Amity chuckles.

“Gracias, querida.” she grins back with a wink and despite the still dull ache all over her body Luz is filled with a searing warmth and can't stop herself from squeezing Amity in a hug, making her giggle.

“They’re being sappy again…," Gus mumbles and Willow nods, smiling ruefully.

"Yup"

"There you are!"

They all jump, Luz, and Amity practically fling each other away as they turn to the intruder.

"Viney!" Luz grins

"What's up?" The upperclassman grins, walking over to throw an arm around Luz's shoulder. Amity glares at the older girl.

"What are you doing here?" Luz asks her fellow multi-tracker.

"Looking for you two, duh," she said with a grin.

"Why?" Amity's cuts in, frowning.

"Yeah, not that I'm not glad to see you," Luz said, glancing between the two, trying to decide why her girlfriend looks so annoyed all of a sudden, and she has an idea.

"Em sent me." She shrugs.

"My sister?" Amity blinks, surprised.

"I didn't know you knew, Emira," Luz says.

"Yeah, we talk or hang on occasion," she says vaguely. "Sent me a message last night, said you two got into it with Alabaster and Cyran this weekend, and boy did you ever," she whistles, leaning back to look at Luz's face. "She asked if I could fix Amity’s burn and spruce up that face of yours, so how bout it, want me to fix the black eye?" she asks.

"Hmm…," Luz hums, frowning.

"What's wrong, Luz?" Willow frowns at her hesitation.

"I dunno, I'm just kinda… proud of it, I guess," she mumbles, embarrassed.

The three look surprised by that, but Viney laughs.

"You oughta be! I saw Alabaster this morning, looked like he stuck his face in a dragon-hornets nest! Your work, I take it?" she asks, picking up one of Luz's hands to look at her bruised knuckles. "You sure you don't want me to fix up that eye and lip though?" She cocks her head.

Luz pursed her lips.

Amity hesitates a second before stepping closer and tugging Luz closer to whisper in her ear.

"You don't need to carry around a black eye to know you protected us. They know it, and I know it, querida." Her breath tickles Luz"s ear before she pulls away and they lock eyes briefly before Luz nods.

"Yeah, if you could, that'd be great, Viney."

The older girl just smiles and takes a step forward to lay a hand on Luz's cheek and draws a spell circle with the other.

A faint blue glow surrounds her hand and Luz's face, and slowly, the bruises begin to fade and the split lip closes up like it had never been.

She pulls away to hold out her hand to Amity, who gently holds out her burned arm, and the process is repeated.

Viney pulls her hand away and steps back

"Good as new." She smiles at them.

"Thanks, Viney!" Luz grins, patting her eye, and Amity nods in agreement, running a hand up and down the bandages on her arm and feels no pain.

"No prob," she says with a wave. She looks between Luz and Amity with a knowing grin that makes both of them tense, but all she says is: "See ya in class, Luz. Oh, and don't forget about our test in beast keeping today," she reminds as she turns and leaves with a wave.

"Oh, crud! I forgot all about that!" she yells.

The sound of the bell means it's time for class and Willow and Gus bid the two farewell before hurrying up the stairs. Amity and Luz linger behind.

"Do you think Emira told Viney about us?" Luz asks once they're alone. "She sure did look like she knew something…"

Amity frowns. She can't even begin to guess at her siblings half the time, and she has enough to be angry at them for at the moment. She’ll sort that out later.

"I don't know," she shrugs. "Should we be worried about her?"

"Aw, naw, Viney's cool." Luz waves a hand. "I didn't know she knew Em, though."

"Me neither…"

"Or that you got jealous so easy…" Luz can’t help herself and smirks at her. Amity flushes.

"Jealous, jealous of what?!" She glares and Luz just grins wickedly at her.

"I dunno, but you sure didn't look happy when Viney put her arm on my shoulder," Luz teased.

"Should I be happy when some girl I don't know throws her arm over you?" Amity grumbles, crossing her arms and glancing away. Luz chuckles, stepping closer.

The tardy bell is about to go off so the courtyard is deserted and they’re standing mostly hidden on the sides of the steps.

"You should know I only look at you…," Luz says quietly, wrapping her arms around her waist and pulling them further behind the bushes, out of sight, her forehead pressed against Amity's. She turns red, but she rests her hands on Luz’s shoulders anyway.

“We’re going to be late…,” she mumbles.

“You can go anytime you want, mi amor,” Luz hums, loosening her grip so Amity can easily pull away if she chooses.

“I hate you…,” Amity grumbles squeezing her back in closer and making Luz laugh.

“No, you don’t.” she grins cheekily.

“No, I don’t,” Amity agrees, kissing her.

They’re both late to their first class.

~ ~

The day drags by for the twins.

Alabaster and Cyran have been sending them dirty looks, and it doesn't even make them feel a little better to see Alabaster's swollen and bruised face from all of Luz's punches he ate.

They know Amity is still mad at them and Emira tries to make up for it by sending Viney to fix her girlfriend's face but when they pass Amity in the halls after lunch she is still cold and says nothing to them.

They just don't want Amity to be so furious with them, but they can't even begin to figure out how to fix it. Apologizing doesn't work and she doesn't want them to even get back at the two boys; so what does she want from them?

They don't even have the energy for pranks today. Their classmates wait on the edge of their seats every period, but still, nothing happens.

The day ends and the entire illusion track is left in a state of anxiousness and confusion by the peacefulness of the day. Most of them anyway.

Alabaster and Cyran make sure to give them a good hard shove into the lockers as they pass and Ed bows up, scowling, hand already raised and starting a circle at their retreating backs when Emira grabs his hand to stop him.

“Don’t, Amity said to leave it alone.” she reminded him, but she looked just as angry as he felt and after a few tense seconds, sighs and lowers his arm.

They are surprised at the end of the day when it's Luz that approaches them.

"Hey, guys." she waves.

"You're talking to us?" Edric looks surprised.

"Yeah? Should I not be?" She glances around warily "Are there more angry upperclassmen around?" she asks quietly, and the twins grimace at that.

"No, just the two…," he mumbles.

"Amity hasn't spoken to us since Saturday…," Emira informs her and Luz frowns at that.

"Oh, yeah, she's pretty mad at you guys…," she trails off, which makes the twins slump further.

"Aren't you?" Edric asks morosely.

Luz shrugs

"I mean… I know you didn't mean for what happened to happen…," she starts. "But, Amity's right… if you guys didn't make people so mad at you all the time with your pranks I wouldn't be eating as many knuckle sandwiches…," she admits, scratching the back of her head. Her words definitely make the twins feel worse.

"They're just jokes…," Emira mumbles, crossing her arms.

"It's only a joke if everyone thinks it's funny." Luz frowns at them and they both hunker down at that.

"We just want Amity to stop being mad at us…" Emira frowns sadly.

"You know her better than anyone, how do we fix this?" Edric pleads.

Luz hums. She also doesn't like Amity being angry at the twins, because she knows Amity loves them, but she has every right to be, and so does she, but she finds it much easier to let go of things better than most people. Why expend all that time and energy being mad about something that can be changed or fixed?

She loves Amity, heaven only knows, how much, but the girl knows how to hold a grudge about these kinds of things better than anyone else Luz knows, which given her history makes sense, it's a self-defense mechanism born from her parents, so she doesn't begrudge her for it, she just wished she could learn to let go for herself.

A problem for another day.

"I think I know who you guys need to talk to…," Luz finally says after thinking for a long minute.

The twins blink at her.

~ ~

After school they find themselves standing in front of the owl house.

"Are we really going to do this?" Ed asks.

"Do you want Mittens to be mad at us forever?" Emira eyes her twin.

"It probably wouldn't be forever…," he mumbles. Emira rolls her eyes and jabbed him with her elbow, making him grunt painfully. "Come on."

"Oh, We have guests!" Hooty's shrill voice greets them as he twists out of the door towards them. They share a look before she knocks on the door.

A minute later it opens and the owl lady is staring at them.

"Hey, can-" Eda slams the door in their faces.

"I guess not…," she mumbles. A minute later the door opens and Lilith is looking down at them.

"Luz told me to expect you," she says. "You'll have to excuse my sister, she is still… aggravated, after this weekend."

The twins seem to shrink at that.

"Come, I just made tea." She turns and walks away, leaving the door open and the twins reluctantly follow her to the kitchen. Eda and King watch them through narrowed eyes from the couch as they pass through the living room. They try not to look at her.

They sit, and Lilith pours them both a cup.

"What can I do for the two of you? Luz didn't say much other than that the two of you needed to speak with me," she says before taking a sip of her tea, looking questioningly at the twins over the rim of her cup.

Ed and Em glance at each other and squirm in their chairs under the former coven leaders' gaze.

"Amity won't speak to us… she's still mad about what happened Saturday," Emira says.

"Understandable." Lilith hums, which does nothing to help the twins.

“We apologized, but she still won’t talk to us.” Edric frowns

“What are we supposed to do?” Emira asks the older witch.

“'Sorry', can’t fix some things,” Lilith says simply.

“Well, how did you get Mittens to forgive you?” Edric asks.

“Your sister has not forgiven me.”

“Huh?” the twins echo.

“By no means has your sister forgiven me for the things I did to her, or to Luz. I’m still working to make my amends for that,” she tells them.

“But it’s been months since then!”

“You helped make her birthday cake, gave her that amulet, and patched her up the other day!”

“None of those things mean Amity has to forgive me. Only she can decide when, if ever, she will, all I can do is make it known that I won’t break her trust again by working towards it.”

“We don’t want her to be mad at us anymore…”

“We feel bad…”

“As you should. What happened Saturday was, no matter how unintentionally, your fault.”

“We didn’t mean for it to happen! We can’t control our classmates.” Emira argues with a frown.

“No, everyone is responsible for their own actions and the consequences that follow, those two boys are to blame for injuring the girls, but you two are to blame for causing that by playing whatever trick on them you did, and then antagonizing them in the market, while the girls were with you no less. You're supposed to protect her, not cause her harm.” Lilith frowns angrily at them. “You have to accept that you made a mistake and there were consequences, ones that now you have to accept."

“They’re just jokes!” Edric yells frustrated, and Lilith turns her sharp gaze to him and he flinches back into his chair.

"It's only a joke if both parties are laughing after, you two are the only ones laughing after your jokes,” she says icily.

Both twins recoil at the bite in the words, shoulders up to their ears.

The room sits in oppressively heavy silence for a long while, the twins stewing in their thoughts and Lilith, calmly sipping her tea.

“How do we fix this?” Emira finally mumbles after she can’t stand the silence any longer.

“I’m afraid there is no easy fix for this. It’s not something a simple gesture and apology can fix. If you want to earn your sister’s trust back you need to prove you are sorry by changing your actions, it’s those that will speak louder than your apologies.”

The twins look at each other.

They leave the owl house that afternoon feeling worse than when they arrived, but they also have a lot to think about and think they do.

~ ~ ~

Amity doesn’t know what to think anymore.

It’s been over a week since the incident at the market and she is at least, tersely, talking to her siblings again, some of her anger has faded over the week, and the dulling of Luz’s remaining bruises and the scabbing of her arm. Luz has also been prodding her, reminding her how much her siblings love her and would never intentionally let something like this happen.

Luz is too forgiving sometimes, she was the one who was hurt worse and she’s already put it behind her, it drives Amity crazy sometimes, even as it’s simultaneously one of Luz’s most endearing features; her propensity to forgive.

That aside, she’s noticed that something is off with her brother and sister over the week.

There have been no pranks, at home or at school and no teasing, they’ve been perfectly nice when she has spoken to them, they haven't even been calling her 'Mittens', which she'll never admit, she kind of misses. The rest of the time they seem to keep their distance.

Life has never been more peaceful, but also never felt so wrong.

The twins don’t smile nearly as much as they used to, in fact, she’s seen them frown more over the last week then maybe in the last year. Their playful demeanor all but disappeared.

It’s concerning.

She tells Luz as much when they’re hanging out in her room Sunday afternoon studying. Rather than use the desk chair or sit on the bed where Amity is laying on her stomach, head in her hands, she sits on the floor with her back against the bed, and her book sitting open against her knees in front of Amity. She doesn’t need to say why, the way she leans back and hums contently as Amity runs her fingers through her hair says it all.

She tilts her head back to look up at Amity.

“Well, they did seem pretty upset last week because you were mad at them… you’re still mad at them.” she frowns.

“I'm not as mad as I was…,” she sighs. “Fixing your face helped some.” she smiled, tapping the tip of her nose, making Luz go cross-eyed and grin.

“Well, they’ve been really good all week, I haven’t heard any screaming coming from the illusion track hall at all!”

“Yeah, they’ve been nothing but nice at home…” She frowns, she should be glad for that, but it makes dreary Blight Manor, even drearier without the twins constant laughing and snickering, even if it is often directed at her. The place feels even more lifeless than it did before.

"Well, I sent them to talk to Lilith, and she said they had a long talk, so…" Luz shrugged. "I think they're trying to do better, you know they didn’t mean for it to happen.”

“Yeah, I know, I just…” she frowned, eyes glancing off to the side. Luz blinked up at her before reaching up to push a loose strand of green hair back behind a pointed ear, drawing Amity's gaze back to her

“What?” Luz prompted.

“I just want them to think about how what they do affects other people and not just themselves,” she mumbled with a frown.

“I think they know now, mi amor.”

Amity hums in reply,

Another week goes by and the twins only continue to be perfectly nice and civil, with no pranks or jokes on anyone. The illusion track doesn’t know what to think, and neither does she.

They mope around the house or stay locked in their rooms when they aren’t at school; they look miserable.

They’re out with Gus and Willow in the market on the next Saturday.

“Have you ever eaten at Rock Gut?” Gus askes excitedly as they walk down the street. The other three shake their heads and they make their way there.

“Oh, I’ve been meaning to ask, Amity. What’s up with Ed and Em? The class has been so dull the last two weeks, there’s never any pranks anymore… and then they just let Alabaster and Cyran pick on them!”

That got Amity’s attention.

“They’re picking on them?” Luz blinked, frowning.

“Yeah, ever since last week, after you guys got into it with them, they just shove them around and they don’t even fight back!” Gus threw up his arms. “Some other students saw it too and by the end of the day the rumors were that Ed and Em were just weak pushovers and now they're the ones having all the mean jokes and pranks pulled on them."

“What?” Amity suddenly spoke, eyes wide.

"Yeah, some guys spelled their chairs so every time they went to sit down it would pull out from beneath them, someone put a spell on them so they could only talk backward during a presentation… Oh, and their lunches exploded in their faces Friday…" Gus began to list the pranks that the illusion track had been playing on the twins all week and Amity's face dropped more with each one.

“They’d never let people just walk all over them…,” she argued.

"Well, if they're really trying to change for the better and cut out all the mean pranks, it doesn't surprise me that all their past victims would try and take advantage of that." Willow hums.

“Hey, I’m sure Ed and Em are fine, they can take care of themselves.” Luz sat a hand on her girlfriend's shoulder comfortingly.

“Yesterday I overheard Alabaster and Cyran telling the twins to meet them today at noon in the place you guys fought before,” Gus supplied.

“Why didn’t you say that before, Gus!?” Willow turns to him suddenly and he jerks.

“Sorry, I forgot till we started talking about it!” He held up his hands in defense.

“That's fifteen minutes from now…” Luz looked at the clock on her scroll. “If we leave now, we can make it.” She turns to Amity, who nods, turning, and the four take off toward the alley near the bookstore.

~ ~

Edric's back slammed against the wall with a hard thud. He could taste blood from the first smack he'd taken and a bruise was already forming on Emira's cheek as she stood next to him, and ran her tongue over her split lip. She reached a hand out to grab her brother's arm, steadying him.

"You just gonna take it Blight?" Cyran sneered.

The twins didn't say anything, just glared darkly at the other two illusion track students standing in front of them, which only made them angrier.

"They really are all talk and no bite." Alabaster spat onto the ground at the twin's feet.

"This isn't even any fun." Cyran scoffed, taking a step forward toward Edric, who gently pushed Emira away from him as the other boy grabbed the front of his shirt in both hands and yanked him forward almost off his feet. "It's just sad," he hissed, forked tongue darting out from between his lips.

"The human and your little sister put up more fight than this." Alabaster glared at Edric.

"yeah, Luz really did kick the shit out you, didn't she?" He grinned cheekily, earning himself a brutal headbutt from the boy holding his shirt. His nose made a crunching sound.

Edric hissed, stars erupting from behind his tightly shut eyes, blood beginning to drip from his nose and down his lips.

"Ed!" Emira shoved the other boy away and Cyran stumbled back. Edric hissed as he wiped at the blood with the back of his hand, though it didn't do much to staunch the blood flowing out of his nose.

"I'm fine…," he mumbled behind his sleeve.

He was just itching to start drawing spell circles and wipe the floor with these two jerks, they both were but thinking about their sister stayed their hands.

If nothing else, beating up on them meant they weren't bothering Amity.

"You're pathetic," Cyran sneered. He took one step forward before spikes of ice erupted across the ground and a line in front of them, separating them from the twins.

"Amity?" Ed and Em blinked at the four younger teens standing in the alley entrance.

Luz pulled her hand away from the used glyph paper as it crumbled to dust.

"Ed, Em!" Amity looked at the two, her sister's cheek was bruised and blood was dripping down her brother's face.

The two boys hesitated a second, seeing the four before whipping up their hands and drawing spell circles.

Two blasts of fire hurled toward them only to be met with a wall of glyph conjured ice, blocking the four from view before thorny vines whipped around the wall straight at them.

Cyran managed to get off another blast of fire, warding off the vine, but Alabaster was caught in its tight grip, pinning his arms to his sides, which distracted him long enough for a Gus clone to ram right into him, followed by a blast of glyph fire. He stumbled backward and then an abomination was on him, knocking him to the ground with a punch and letting another vine wrap around him with tight squeeze before rearing back and flinging both boys clear of the alley and the street.

"What is wrong with you two!?" Amity shouted at the twins as the four ran up to them.

Ed and Em flinched.

"We we're just trying to do better." Edric's voice came out muffled as he pressed his sleeve to his still bleeding nose.

"That doesn't mean don't defend yourself or let the entire illusion track walk all over you!" Amity stressed, flinging out her arms.

"It's just one extreme or the other with you guys…" Luz shook her head and summoned a small chunk of ice and hands it to Emira, who pressed it to her bruised cheek.

"I never wanted you to get hurt." She frowned, lip trembling as she dug her handkerchief out of her pocket and pressed it to her brother's nose, making him wince.

"I just wanted you to realize how much some of your pranks hurt other people…" she frowned, cleaning up her brother's face.

The twins shared a long look.

"You were right, though," Emira tells her with a frown.

"It's not so fun being on the other side all the time," Edric mumbled as she pressed the cloth to his nose.

"So we stopped the pranks..."

"You guys don't have to stop all your pranks," Willow said, and Gus nodded, crossing his arms.

"You just need to think about how people might feel about it. It's supposed to be funny for everyone." Luz agreed.

The twins glanced at Amity who hesitated a second before nodding.

"It's not the same at home or at school when you two aren't being yourselves…," she mumbled, cheeks pink. "I want you two to be yourselves, but think about what you're doing beyond just you two getting a laugh…that's why the whole illusion track has been getting back at you." She looked at them sternly.

The twins shared another look before grinning at each other, the first one in two weeks.

"We can do that…," they promised.

"Let's get back to the owl house so we can patch these two up." Luz jerked a thumb over her shoulder.

"Hey, we can be nose bleed buddies." Edric grinned at Luz, holding up a hand. She laughed, slapping his hand.

"Yeah!"

Everyone else rolled their eyes.

On the walk back Amity walked beside her sister, still nursing her cheek with the melting piece of ice Luz had given her.

She looks ahead of them, where the others are walking, and her brother is telling Luz how impressed he is with her ability to take a punch now that he's had a taste.

She glanced at Emira, she'd been wondering something for a while, and now that the Blight siblings are back on good speaking terms, she figures now is as good a time as any to ask.

"Who is Viney?" She asks quietly so only Emira hears the question.

A gold iris slides to regard her out of the corner of her eye.

"A friend…," she says after a long moment.

"I've met all your other friends, but never her…" Amity lets the statement hang.

"We don't hang out that often…" Emira just shrugs, not looking at her now and Amity swears theirs a hint of color on her cheeks, but it may just be flushed from the ice pressed against it.

Amity blinks at her. Could her sister…?

Before she could even complete the thought they’re standing in front of the owl house, and the door slams open, mercifully cutting off Hooty' shrill greeting and the owl lady is standing there, eyes narrowed as she looks at them, eyes carefully roaming over Luz before landing on Amity, and then the two other younger witches before going to the twins and scowling.

"Is this gonna be a regular thing?" she huffs, stepping aside to let them all in

"Maybe" Luz shrugs.

"No!" Amity and Willow both shoot back and Luz chuckles.

[officialleotolstoy]

Oh Dolokhov Brainrot We’re Really In It Now, aka Dolokhov playlist annotations!

A note on the cover photo: I don’t really like this one but I got tired of looking at men on Pinterest so I gave up. The window symbolizes the rum window and the smoking symbolizes uhhhhh habitual bad life choices idk

Drinking game take a shot every time I say “it’s about the vibes”

Wrecking Ball - Mother Mother

“I break it just because I can”

This is THEE ‘I am going to cause problems on purpose’ song and that is like his entire narrative purpose!! Argue with me about this one I dare you

The Good, The Bad, and the Dirty - Panic! At The Disco

“If you wanna start a fight you better throw the first punch, make it a good one”

Partially its just vibes, I won’t lie. But also the consistent spoiling for a fight is very in character

Shoot to Thrill - AC/DC

“I’m like evil, I get under your skin”

It’s got I Am Morally Repulsive But Also I’ll Steal Your Girl energy which really hits all of Dolokhov’s character traits. And of course the added bonus of gun imagery.

Mr. Brightside - The Killers

“It started out with a kiss, how did it end up like this”

I added it strictly for vibes, but then I realized the quoted lyric is very much him @ the Kuragins if you take the reading that he refuses to admit he actually like them but grows genuinely fond of them over time even though he initially got to know them with a lot of ulterior motives.

Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen

“Mama, I just killed a man”

The amount of songs that are on these playlists just for what are essentially your mom jokes since Dolokhov loves his mom so much is a little pathetic. But I’m not wrong! I can’t really put it into words but something about this song has Dolokhov energy.

Feel It Still - Portugal the Man

“Give in to that easy living, goodbye to your hopes and dreams”

A good deal of what I find interesting about Dolokhov is the internal conflict he has of knowing he’s become rather wicked and problematic but also not really trying very hard to change and almost enjoying it so a lot of the songs on here are about that, including this one. The “I’m a rebel just for kicks now” also very much screams Causing Problems On Purpose.

The Bidding - Tally Hall

“I like to take advantage of the bourgeoisie”

His whole role in volume one and two is to take advantage of the bourgeoisie! This song also oozes confidence and a sense of superiority that comes from being better than the sellouts in high society, Dolokhov’s not like other girls uwu (he really is, but I don’t think he would admit that).

Say Amen (Saturday Night) - Panic! At The Disco

“I could be better but baby it’s Saturday night”

Embracing his own wickedness! The idea that he knows he could be better than he is but he doesn’t want to take that opportunity...yeah vibes

Wilson (Expensive Mistakes) - Fall Out Boy

“I became such a strange shape from trying to fit in”

This is the epitome of the “woe is me I need to be purified” phase he goes through when he’s into Sonya. Also “I’ll stop wearing black when they make a darker color” reminds me of Comet Dolokhov’s stupid eyeliner <3

Some Nights - fun.

“So what is this? I sold my soul for this?”

There’s a long stretch of this playlist that just boils down to “Woe is me I need to be purified” crisis hours, because Dolokhov’s oscillation between embracing his own cruelty and trying to be a good person is super interesting to me. This song captures the idea that he’s still having fun and there’s some good there, but he’s also aware that he’s losing himself a bit

Roaring 20s - Panic! At The Disco

“I don’t even know me”

“Woe is me i need to be purified” crisis AGAIN. This song gets more to the annoyance with society as a whole and feeling kind of lost in it

Send Them Off! - Bastille

“Help me exorcise my mind”

“Please purify me 16 year old girl! I’m 27 this isnt creepy at all ahahahha”. I do despise Sonyakhov but this has the vibes of a man feeling his own evil and wanting a woman to fix it. Not a great look.

Easy Days (Demo) - Bastille

“I don’t wanna fall back again, back into the easy days”

Near the end of the “woe is me I need to be purified” phase when he’s kind of drifting back to his old ways and he’s like wait no- wait- and then he does anyway because he’s horrible. I also really like the acknowledgment that his horribleness is easy and pleasant for him, and he has to fight against that (and he loses that fight HDJAJJD).

Undisclosed Desires - Muse

“You trick your lovers that you’re wicked and divine”

This is a Dolokhov/Nikolai song I do not take constructive criticism. Undisclosed desires...not being straight...lots to think about! It feels almost like a corruption arc? Nikolai isn’t corrupted nor does their...fling (?) last very long but Nikolai is obviously enamored with Dolokhov despite him being The Worst so I think this fits. I don’t have enough songs for a Nikolai/Dolokhov playlist so I just add those songs to both of their individual playlists

Thnks fr th Mmrs - Fall Out Boy

“Thanks for the memories even though they weren’t so great”

Also mostly a Nikolai/Dolokhov song. This man has never ended a relationship on good terms, huh. Also. Sighs heavily. “He tastes like you only sweeter” never fails to make me laugh when I think about it in the context of Dolokhov post-duel being like oh?? You’re just a stupid WOMAN Hélène your brother and/or Nikolai is hotter than you :/ which is not exactly what I think happened but it makes me laugh to consider. Dolokhov ur bitterrrrr

Dangerous - Royal Deluxe

“I’ll be the last man standing here, I’m not going anywhere”

I feel like this has the vibes of his cruelty, especially in that bit after the Kuragins have died when he and Petya infiltrate the French army.

Another One Bites The Dust - Queen

“There are plenty of ways you can hurt a man”

He will hurt you and kill you so violently :) It’s about the vibes.

White Wedding Pt. 1 - Billy Idol

“It’s a nice day to start again”

In the exact inverse to his “woe is me I need to be purified” phase, he’s like ok yes i will pick up bad habits again and enjoy them because frick you! I read once that this song is about a relapse into drugs, but I’m making it analogous to his relapse into Terrible Person Behavior after Sonya’s rejection. Also the repetition of the phrase little sister does something for my brain idk, after we know he loves his mom and sister it just fits.

Highway to Hell - AC/DC

“I’m on the highway to hell and I’m goin down”

Like White Wedding, it screams acceptance of his problematicness. He knows he’s cruel and evil and he revels in it. This is the phase we see him in most I think.

Back in Black - AC/DC

“It’s been too long, I’m glad to be back”

I think this plays every time he gets reinstated to an army position he lost by being reckless earlier. Just kidding sort of but listen to this song and tell me it doesn’t have Dolokhov vibes. If you do, you’re wrong <3

Poet - Bastille

“I have written you down now, you will live forever”

This is just here cause he ghostwrote Anatole’s love letters and I think it’s funny. It’s MY playlist and I get to choose the barely relevant Bastille songs

St. Jude - Florence + The Machine

“Maybe I’ve always been more comfortable in chaos”

This one’s more scattered lyrics than an overall vibe. “Each side is a loser so who cares who fired the gun” has duel energy also.

Hey Look Ma, I Made It - Panic! At The Disco

Confession: I hate this song. However, it’s about the about the MOM R U PROUD OF ME vibes (she is. Should she be? Probably not).

Rich Kids - Bea Miller

“It’s never enough for the stuck up types”

The not coming from wealth and having to almost scam your way into being part of the aristocratic scene is very Dolokhov. Also in my mind the rich kid he’s roasting is specifically Nikolai.

Money, Money, Money - ABBA

“It’s a rich man’s world”

I’m not SAYING the wealthy man they talk about is Anatole but - [i am shot]. Scheming and clawing your way up to wealth is Dolokhovcore.

This Is Gospel - Panic! At The Disco

I literally have no justification for this other than that i think modern AU Dolokhov would vibe with it. Look at the amount of eyeliner he wears in Comet and tell me he didn’t have an emo band phase. You can’t.

Trouble’s Coming - Royal Blood

This is not about the words at all, it’s more about the vibes. It just sounds Dolokhovish to me, don’t ask me to explain.

Sleep Alone - Two Door Cinema Club

“They’re just ghosts and they can’t hurt him if he can’t see them”

This gives me post-Kuragins’ death vibes, and I can’t pin down exactly why? I think it’s the idea of being very alone and closed off.

Golden Days - Panic! At The Disco

I can’t put a specific lyric to it but it’s the vibes of looking back on your hedonistic youths with nostalgia and rose-colored glasses. Post-Kuragins’ death vibes again.

Go Get Your Gun - The Dear Hunter

“One foot in the grave, the other one’s kickin’ its way right down to hell”

All we see of him after the Kuragins’ death is just him being particularly cruel and reckless, almost careless. This feels like it encapsulates that energy.

The Fallen - Franz Ferdinand

“They say you’re a troubled boy just because you like to destroy”

I’m aware that a good portion of this song is about a Christ figure but I’m going to respectfully ask you to ignore that bit and just focus on all the Sketchy Things the guy does instead. Thank you. He does in fact like to destroy things! Señor Cause Problems On Purpose back at it again at krispy kreme, huh.

[haileygarciasunshine]

Dark Empress

Pairing: Kylo Ren x Reader

Warning: mentions of blood, swearing

Word Count: 1,822

Part Two

This has been something floating around in my head for awhile now🤷‍♀️🤪

The galaxy had an infinite number of stars, and an infinite number of galaxies that could, or couldn’t have living beings in them. Letting out a frustrated groan, you couldn’t help but believe you were the dumbest in all the galaxies. You had gotten captured by Storm Troopers. It’s not like they would let you go. You were a higher up in the Resistance.

It wasn’t until you were captured that you felt scared. Of course you’ve been captured before, but you’ve never been captured by the Empire before. It wasn’t until recently that there was talk going around about, how bad ‘Kylo Ren’ was. He was tough and didn’t care about anyone he hurt.

That didn’t give you much hope in getting out alive let alone much hope in getting out. You knew the chances of surviving your capture would be slim to none. Being force sensitive you had met Kylo, on several occasions. After the first couple meetings, it was almost like you could sense something. Something like, kindness. You didn’t know much about him, but you knew enough to form your own opinion about him. One of them being he was misunderstood. Being the kind hearted person you were, you often tried to see the good in people, even if that person was the leader of the Empire.

Over the last few months, you had started to develop feelings for Kylo, though you’d never admit it aloud. Seemingly, as you accepted your fate, two Storm Troopers appeared in front of your cell block.

“Come with us.” They said as their voices were masked by a mechanical sound from their helmets.

You rolled your eyes before responding with a scoff, “Like I have a choice, you goons.”

Once they entered your cell block, they placed thick metal handcuffs that were connected together by a chain. There was a Storm Trooper in front of you, and one behind you, leaving you with no way to escape. It wasn’t apparent where they were leading you, but it was farther than they had before.

They lead you into an interrogation room. As the realization dawned on you, you tried to bolt from the room. The Storm troopers were quick and injected you with anesthetics. Once, you had awoken you noticed a familiar face. It was Kylo Ren. You were strapped to an interrogation chair with invisible straps.

“Good. You’re awake.” His deep voice sounded.

“What do you want from me?” You spat voice filled with bitterness.

“I think you know what I want.”

“I’m not of any use to you. We both know that. Why don’t you save us both some time and let me go.”

“Now why would I do that? Here I thought we were having fun.”

Before you could snap back, you felt excruciating pain in your mind. He was trying to pry the information from you. He wanted the satisfaction of seeing your pain, but you weren’t going to give it to him. It took every once of strength you had, not to scream or cry or flinch in pain.

“Why don’t you save your flirting for the scavenger girl.” You quipped back, it was evident on his face you had caught him off guard.

With a huff, he exited the room. The feeling of relief had flooded through your body as you almost collapse against the chair.

It had been three days since your last encounter with Kylo. You didn’t bother moving from your current position during that time. Laying on your left side, looking out of the window, wondering how Finn and Poe were doing. 

Kylo, decided that he was going to have you one last shot. He appeared at the door to your cell block, not even bothering to acknowledge the intruder. 

“Follow me.” 

“Why?”

“What do you mean ‘why’? I want to discuss something.”

“Since when?”

Kylo let out a frustrated groan. If you weren’t the most stubborn person he had ever met. Here he thought he was.

“Come with me, don’t come with me. Fine.”

“Alright. I’ll bite.”

This caught him off guard. He hadn’t expected you to fold so quickly. As you were following him, to where ever it is he wanted to take you, the thought of going into his mind crossed through yours. Why not take a chance seeing as you won’t live to tell the tale. It only took a matter of seconds for him to react.

“Don’t ever try to get inside my head,” he snarled, slamming you against one of the hallway walls in the ship, trapping you between either of his arms. It felt like years had passed under his intense glare. After, awhile his expression softened along with his voice, “It’s too dark for you.” Taking a step back, he continued on down the hallway, expecting you to follow, as you did. 

He took you to the command center, giving you one last chance to become one of the First Order Commanders. Both of you stood in the middle of the command center arguing. 

“Nobody else will be as understanding as I am.” He spat bitterly.

“Oh? Is this you being understanding?”

“This is a serious matter. Being immature won’t help you.”

“Oh please. You’re just pissed because you won’t get to play hero.”

Letting out a frustrated huff he continued, “What’s that supposed to mean?” 

“It means, that I can save myself. I don’t need the ‘great’ Kylo Ren, to step in and save me!”

“Wh-”

“I’m a damsel. I’m in distress. I can handle this. Have a nice day!”

Turning on your heels, you angerly, walked towards the door. As, soon as you had made it into the hallway, there was a man that collapsed five feet away from you. Seeing as you were a Doctor for the Resistance, you bolted over to the unconscious man. 

“Sir can you hear me?”

He let out a moan in pain.

“Sir, my name is Y/N. I’m a Doctor, i’m here to help.”

You were so engrossed in trying to help the man, that you didn’t notice Kylo make his way over to you, and observe you. A couple First Order Medical personal, had made their way to you. 

 “How can we help?”

Being so focused on helping the man, you barely registered what they were saying to you. It wasn’t long before the man came to and was yelling expletives at everyone around him. He took a look at your outfit and saw that it wasn’t what the First Order workers wear. You had sent the First Order medical personal to get the necessary supplies needed to help him.

“Get away from me, you Rebel Scum!”

“Sir, I need you to calm down.”

“Don’t touch me with your filthy Rebel hands!”

It had been a long day. You were tired of putting up with the First Order and their crap. The mad had been shot, and the bullet that was lodged safety has now been dislodged.

“If you want me to stop, then I will. I won’t bother wasting my time for someone who can’t see past the First Order.”

By this time you were covered in this mans blood.

“Daddy!”

“Don’t be stupid John! Let the woman help you! Please!”

You and John turned to look at both his daughter, and an older woman you presumed to be his wife. 

“They’re right,” he said breathy, “I’m sor...”

“John!”

“Daddy!” 

“Get them away from here!” you yelled to nobody in particular. There was a big crowd starting to form in the hallway you were currently occupying. 

“You heard her get everyone out of here!” A husky voice barked. Flinching, you didn’t think he would still be there. Continuing to work feverishly, you were able to get John stable. He was currently in the infirmary, hooked up to an IV, sleeping. You and Kylo, had been sitting beside his bed. Surprisingly, he staid with you the whole time.

“Go on baby, ask her.”

 “Excuse me, Miss Y/N?”

You and Kylo, moved to the hallway to speak to the wife and daughter of John.

“Yes?”

“We just want to say thank you, for saving daddy.” The little girl hurled her tiny body, at your legs in an effort to hug you. Chuckling, you knelt down so you could give her a proper hug. 

“Do you think the tall man in black would let me hug him?” she whispered in your ear.

A warm smile, had spread across your face, “Let me ask him.” You whispered back. She still had her arms wrapped around your neck when you decided to press your luck. You reached up to where Kylo’s gloved hand was, before wrapping your fingers around his, and lightly tugging them down. To your surprise, Kylo obliged kneeling down close to you. 

Slightly leaning over to him, you whispered, “she would like to know if she could give you a hug too.” Surprise, spread across his face, as he looked between your face and the small girls face.

“Okay Mia, that’s enough for today. I don’t think the ‘Supreme Leader,’ wants to be bothered by this.” Her mom interjected.

“It’s alright.” Kylo said softly, causing Mia to squeal, and throw herself at Kylo causing him to lose balance, and fall backwards with Mia clinging to him. He looked at you with shock in his face. The scene before you, caused you to giggle and then burst out laughing. Kylo had a not too subtle blush on his cheeks. 

“Mia! I’m so sorry Supreme Leader!” Her mom bellowed. Once, Kylo gained composure, he sat upright with Mia in his lap. His Leg was fully touching yours at this point, and neither of you tried to move away.

“It’s quite alright.” 

Mia looked between you and Kylo, before she threw one of her arms around you, and the other around him pulling the both of you in for one last hug. Kylo’s right arm, wrapped around your waist to keep the three of you balanced, the touching gesture, caught you off guard. 

“Say goodbye Mia. Let’s go home.”

Both you and Kylo waved to her as she left. 

“Don’t say anything.” His voice laced with sarcasm.

“What? I wasn’t going to!” You smiled, laughing.

Kylo, had talked you into working as a Doctor, for the First Order. It wasn’t hard, considering you loved being able to help people. It had been almost a year since you joined the First Order. You weren’t a solider, but you did help the wounded ones, that came back. 

Over that time, you and Kylo had grown close, especially, since you shared a force bond. He would consider you his friend, while you had developed romantic feelings for him. Tonight, there was a big ball and Kylo, had invited you to go as his date. You wanted to take the leap and try to get him to see you as something other than a friend. 

[justauthoring]

At First... [Xavier Plympton]

Request: prompt #10 with either Xavier or Michael pls I just wanna see my boys be protective

Prompt: #10 “Don’t touch her!”

Pairing: Xavier Plympton x Reader

Word Count: 1,844

Please don’t plagiarize my work!

Normally, Xavier’s aerobics class was your favourite part of the day.

It was a place where you could hang with your friends, get a little exercise in and most importantly; forget about the world for a little while. And, you’d never complain about getting to see Xavier in those shorts of his, from behind him, and then every once in a while catch his gaze through the mirror, the both of you sweaty, hot and smirking in your galore.

Yeah, you definitely loved getting your Jazzercise on.

At least, you did, before the quote-on-quote new kid strolled into class one day. At first, you hadn’t really thought of it. People came and went, and the only ones who ever really stuck where you and your friends. Most of the time, you barely even talked to anyone outside of your bubble. You’d exchanged a pleasant greeting to the boy, learned his name was Justin  and then went on with the rest of the class.

He managed to catch you just as you were leaving. Normally, Xavier would’ve been with you and the two of you would stop off for lunch or dinner, depending when the class ended, and then Xavier would drive you home (and he’d spend the night sometimes, and other times, he’d go home). But that night, Xavier had insisted on staying behind to work on a new routine and you were too tired to really argue with him and try to convince him to come home. 

So, it was just you in the parking lot. Most had left given that you’d stayed behind a little longer then the rest, as you usually did.

You hadn’t really thought anything of it. You didn’t even think of it when it become apparently clear that the boy was flirting with you. You were, admittedly, flattered, but brushed off his compliment with clear disinterest, hoping Justin would understand your meaning. 

He didn’t.

But still, nothing overly concerning had happened. He’d waved goodbye shortly after, saying he’d see you at the next class and then ran along. Nothing ever really happened until a few weeks in.

You’d maybe, even sort of forgotten about him. Justin tended to linger in the back, hidden by the shadows, even while the class was in session. He never really approached you again like that first night and you never really noticed his lingering stare; something, you realized now, was naive bliss. You do know that Montana had mentioned in passion, a teasing way of saying “the new guy liked you!” and Xavier had gotten all grumpy but that was it.

There were no signs to follow. No signs that would’ve made you concerned. 

And then, by the fifth week, you’d found photos of yourself posted all over your locker door. Somewhere just of you laying in bed or on the couch watching tv, and some -- the more concerning ones -- were of you undressing, getting in the show. However, the most disturbing ones of all were of you and Xavier, naked, in bed, enjoying one another, with a big fat red ‘X’ marked over Xavier’s face.

You didn’t tell anyone. You don’t know why. You didn’t know it was him at the time, of course, but the logical thing would’ve been to call the police; or at least, tell Xavier. Maybe you were scared; of what? You didn’t know. And maybe you’d just wanted to pretend it had never happened and wanted to forget the entire thing, despite how scared and vulnerable it had made you feel.

You threw the photos out. New ones appeared the next day.

You started to feel a lingering stare on you in class. A harsh, intimidating stare on your body as you danced. But when you looked around, you didn’t catch anyone’s eye. It was as if you were imagining it.

You stopped showing up to classes shortly after that. It had started slow at first; coming late, missing a class or two, nothing too intense that you couldn’t just brush it off with a simple and poorly made excuse. But the photos wouldn’t stop and neither would the staring, so much so, that you became paranoid and so you just stopped coming all together.

Xavier, concerned, had come to visit you; wondering why.

You finally told him about the photos and he immediately offered to go to the police. Not so much offered as he did order, saying it was the best solution possible. You’d cried and pleaded with him not to, going on about how you didn’t want to upset whoever it was and didn’t want to waste anybodies time; you were positive it was just some silly prank or... or something. Xavier had relented and stayed by your side the entire night.

You woke up alone.

At first you’d been panicked, but Xavier called saying he was just going to pick up some breakfast. That had managed to ease your nerves enough that you could distract yourself with a book.

Until you heard a knock on your front door and upon opening it, found a photo of you in just your underwear plastered to the front of it.

Which led to you know, locked in your bedroom, pacing, trying to reach Xavier. He didn’t answer the first call, nor the second, but the third you managed to reach him.

“Y/N, i’m just on my--”

“He’s here!” You interrupt with a whispered shriek, biting your lip tightly, a hand pressed against your lips. “He’s here. There was... The-There was a photo of m-me on the fr-fr-front door and I--!”

“Y/N! Y/N! Listen to me, listen to me!” Xavier interrupts your rambling, his voice coming out static over the phone. “Who? The man whose been taking photos of you?”

A sudden thud echoes, causing you to jump. Crouch into your closet, you let out a soft whimper. “I think he’s inside...” You whisper, your eyes screwing shut for a moment as footsteps grow closer and closer.

“He’s what...-- I’m on my way, okay, Y/N? I’ll be there in ten minutes top, just stay on the ph--”

“He’s in the room with me,” you whisper, voice breathless, the haunting sound of your door screeching open causing your heart to accelerate. It felt like you could throw up, the fear coursing through your veins so intense it almost felt like you couldn’t breathe. It felt like your throat was closing in on itself and any second he’d find you and-- “He’s going to find me, Xavier. I’m...”

“I’m on my way. Just stay on the phone. Don’t make a sound. I promise, Y/N, I won’t--”

Whatever he’d been about to say is cut off sharply but your closet door suddenly being yanked open. Your eyes widen, flickering upwards and landing on Justin’s own as your heart sinks. Everything starts to click in that moment and a whimper leaves your limps as he smiles brightly down at you.

“Now, what’re you doing in the closet, Y/N?”

He reaches forward, you flinching by instinct, but he simply pulls the phone out of your grasp, Xavier’s voice echoing into the eerie silence until Justin simply hangs up. For a moment, all is still, you simply staring up at the boy, before a scream tears through your lips as he roughly grabs you by the wrist, yanking you up to your feet and out of the closet. He merely tosses you on your bed, you bouncing slightly in response as you scramble to get a good look at him and gauge his actions.

You try to crawl back as he advances on you, but he easily grabs a hold of your ankles, yanking you towards him.

Pinning your wrists above your head, Justin smirks down at you. “I tried to be nice and send you all those pretty little photos, Y/N,” you whimper as his hand trails across your cheek, brushing back hair, his fingertips cold and threateningly. “But you rejected all of them.” His hand stops around your throat, hand hovering. “That wasn’t very nice.”

“I... I’m sorry,” you whisper, voice shaky. 

He merely brushes your apology aside, hand lowering to the collar of your shirt. Xavier’s shirt. The only thing you’re wearing besides your underwear. Justin’s face twists as he assesses the piece of closing. “I was going to come last night,” he mumbles, “but that idiot came before I could.” He leans forward, inhaling sharply. “You even smell like him.”

His other hand leaves your wrists, moving to the hem of your shirt, his cold hands touching your stomach. Without hesitation, you shoot your leg up, nailing him right in the balls before delivering a sharp slap across his cheek. You quickly scramble off the bed, racing out of your room and down the hall. And you almost make it to the front door, so close actually, until a hand wraps around your wrist, yanking you back and causing you to lose your balance.

You would’ve fallen had Justin not slammed you up against the wall.

“I love you!” He bellows, voice screeching. “Why can’t you just understand that?”

“Get off of me!” You scream, voice piercing as you fight against his grip desperately. “Let go! Don’t touch me-- ahh!” A gasp leaves your lips at the hot pain that flickers across your cheek, head snapping to the right as Justin huffs heavily against you, chest pressed against your own.

His hand slams your pinned wrists against the wall, a cry leaving your lips in the response, as he simply slips his hand under your shirt, touching your bare stomach. You press against the wall, desperate the get away from his touch as he glares down at you.

“You’ll learn,” he mumbles darkly, “that we belong together.”

Your eyes flutter shut in discomfort, tears trailing down your cheeks as he trails upwards, your shirt following his hand and revealing you. However, before he can get any further, the front door slams open and you turn your head to find Xavier. He stops to a halt, panting, his eyes flickering across what’s before him before rage floods his gaze.

“Don’t touch her, you asshole!”

He rushes forward, delivering a nasty right hook before Justin can do anything. Justin falls back in response, a gasp leaving his lips as he loses his balance and smacks his head off the wall, knocking him out. Still pressed against the wall, you pant, chest heaving as you stare down at the pathetic excuse of a man.

There’s a pause before Xavier turns to you. “Y/N?”

Turning to him, breathless and teary-eyed, you let out a simple cry before falling into his arms. Xavier wastes no time in wrapping his arms around your waist, holding you close against him as he runs a hand through your hair. “Shh, it’s okay, babe. I called the police, they’ll be here soon.” Pulling back, he cups both of your cheeks. “He’ll never hurt you again.”

Leaning into his touch, you sniffle, nodding at Xavier.

“I’m so sorry, Y/N. So sorry I wasn’t there for you.”

-

Let me know what you thought?

[subtlereferencetomyinterests]

Complexities Unknowable- Chapter Six

Ao3,    1     2     3     4     5    7,  MasterPost

Relationships: Deintruality, background Analogince

This is crazy long. But I like this one. Also, second to last chapter! Also also, i mention spinny hugs three whole times because I miss Hugs. I miss them. 

Warnings: Cursing, food mention, brief angst/arguing, someone digs their nails into their skin but like unintentionally, crying, Remus-typical jokes and comments (he has some pretty violent thoughts directed towards roman), very very brief alcohol mention (wine, cuz Jan’s Like That), uhhh lots and lots of hugging and fluff. And Janus is still called Deceit, for continuity reasons. lmk if I missed something.

Word Count: 3,657

Patton did end up visiting them- albeit several hours later. Deceit wasn’t quite sure how he felt as he watched Morality make himself at home in The Subconscious living room, but he was leaning towards happy. 

Though ‘make himself at home’, was a tad of a stretch, given all his uncomfortable fidgeting. Deceit could taste that there was something he wasn’t saying, but he didn’t have to wait long to see what it was.

“I- um- I brought you guys something-”

Of course he had.

“-as an apology.”

Wait, what?

Remus’ head shot up from where he was sifting through dvds, flashing Deceit a smug grin. Patton didn’t seem to notice as he elaborated.

“You guys have been so nice to me lately, even after I, uh, didn't exactly respect you as much as I should have. I didn’t give you enough credit for what you two contribute, and that was my bad, so here!” He waved his hand and an enormous, neatly folded quilt dropped into his lap. He stood from the couch, struggling to unfurl it.

Deceit’s eyes were saucers. The blanket was a spiral of triangles of lime green, pale yellow, and baby blue fabric. At its edges were small patches of violet, indigo, and red, along with a gray border and a large black circle in the middle of the spiral. Within that circle was the word ‘Family’, embroidered in vibrant rainbow colors.

“It’s okay if you can’t forgive me right away, but I just wanted you to know that you guys are part of my family now, as far as I’m concerned, and I-”

Remus threw himself at Patton with full-force, picking up the much taller side and twirling him around in what looked to be a crushing hug. Deceit remained silent and caught the quilt as it was flung from the two-side tornado. It was soft, smooth, warm. 

“When did you… how did you have the time to make this?”

Morality’s face was flushed and he laughed, bright and airy, as Remus finally let him down. 

“That’s what took me so long to get here! You guys invited me over, and I didn’t want to show up empty-handed. I know I’m not the most artistic, but I think I’m pretty good at sewing.”

He’d spent hours making them a quilt- by hand, when he could just have conjured it- so he could offer them this olive branch. After everything. Deceit was choked up, but he wasn’t sure which emotions in specific were clogging his throat. His voice didn’t sound like his when he spoke.

“I am also sorry!” So it was a little stilted, cut him some slack! It was hard to focus on being well-spoken and not lying at the same time,  “You are- No, you aren’t- solely at fault for our not at all strained relationship.” 

“What?” Patton didn’t seem to comprehend. Remus, who looked disgustingly proud of Deceit, translated for him.

“He’s saying that we’re also sorry for being giant cunts, thanks for the neat blanket, and let’s call it even?” 

The snake nodded in agreement. 

Patton’s eyes grew wide and his smile faded, leaving behind soft surprise. He clearly hadn’t expected any sort of forgiveness, which was both saddening and admirable. He was just a living teddy bear, wasn’t he?

With an exaggerated groan, Deceit placed the quilt to the side and stood, opening his arms. Remus cheered and caught him around the waist with his arm, pulling all three of them together for a tangled group hug. Deceit pretended to hate it, but it was very hard to.

After the two extremely affectionate traits finally got tired of squeezing the life out of him, Deceit extricated himself and determinedly ignored how hot his face had gotten. He curled up on the couch and held the bundled quilt to his chest protectively. Patton and Remus worked together to settle on a movie before joining him. The latter leaned in very close, whispering right against Deceit’s ear. 

“You think we can convince him into a threesome?”

Deceit turned the volume up twenty notches and sat next to Patton for the rest of the movie, out of spite.

It was hardly the last time Patton visited them. Deceit probably should have expected the clinginess from him, popping in daily to tell them about the latest happenings in The Conscious or show them a “““funny””” meme he’d seen on Facebook. Once that door of camaraderie had opened just a crack, the moral trait had enthusiastically torn it off its proverbial hinges. And the oddest thing was how little Deceit minded. 

Patton was, in many ways, like Remus. Energetic, imaginative, affectionate, and containing depths of emotions that you’d never guess he had at first glance. Some days, Morality would run in with bright markers and an even brighter smile to have Remus to teach him new art techniques. Other times, he’d shuffle to Deceit’s door late at night, eyes bloodshot, asking whisper-quiet for a cup of tea and to spend some time together. Those nights in particular stuck with the lying trait, when he would watch Patton’s expression slowly lighten as they chatted together, talking about everything and nothing.

Another bonus of all that had happened Logan, who had now become a friend to the former Dark Sides (Deceit was very thankful to be able to chat with someone else who was Competent). Never had Deceit been so glad that he was wrong about someone!

But, as he’d quietly admitted to both Morality and Logic just a couple nights ago, there was something missing. He hadn’t elaborated, but apparently he hadn’t needed to. Leading them to now.

When Remus and Deceit had been invited for breakfast that morning, they’d of course agreed (you just can’t say no to Patton’s puppy eyes), but they were quickly abandoned with Roman and Virgil by the two bespectacled sides. The blue-hued traits supposedly had a surprise and would be right back, but Deceit could taste the lie. Yet, constrained as he was by the societal expectation to not freak the fuck out when things didn’t go the way he liked, he waited patiently while refusing to make eye-contact with Anxiety.

But then his good-for-nothing despicable traitor of a boyfriend stood up.

“I’ll be right back, I’m going to go stand in the kitchen and wait for things to be less awkward!”

Roman, similarly the worst, jumped to his feet as well.

“And I left the stove on!” 

So now he was just. Staring at his ex-best friend. Which was fine. 

He took a sip of his drink.

“Are you drinking wine at nine in the morning?” Virgil asked suddenly. Deceit looked down at his own drink, then towards the identical wineglass sitting by the other’s plate. 

“Yes? Aren’t you?”

“This is apple juice,” he held the glass up and swirled it, earning a snicker from Deceit. 

“Why are you drinking apple juice from a wine glass?” 

“Why are you drinking wine at nine in the morning?” 

He jerked his thumb in the direction of the kitchen, brow raised in a silent explanation: I’ve got that one, remember? Virgil nodded solemnly, a smile playing at his lips. With that minuscule, vaguely pleasant interaction, they returned to silence.

“Patton sure is taking his sweet time,” Deceit thought it only fair that he be the one to break the quiet this time, just so they were even.

“Something tells me it’s gonna be a lot longer. It’s kinda obvious what he’s doing.”

“Mm. Subtlety is not one of his virtues. It’s a nice gesture, though,” the lack of hostility in the conversation was beginning to irk him. It was almost nice. God, he’d missed it, he hated how he’d missed it.

“Yeah…” Virgil glanced away and shifted in his seat, “Yeah. He’s nice.”

“I agree.”

“Look,” the anxious side set his glass down, “Pat’s my best friend, so I’m doing this for him. I think he’s been kinda lonely lately, and I feel... responsible. Like, he’s not into me or Ro and Lo, and we aren’t either, but it’s- it’s not the same now, the four of us. And it’s pretty obvious that you guys make him happy- he talks about you all the time- so I’m giving you this one chance. Don’t fuck it up, and don’t you dare hurt him.”

Deceit blinked, blindsided. Sincerity got to him, it got under his skin and tore apart his quick wit like it was paper. He had to clear his throat a couple of times before any actual words came to him.

“I won’t repeat my past mistakes. I-” he nearly shuddered, “I promise it.”

Virgil seemed appeased, his expression easing into something more familiar (painfully familiar and new all at once). His lips quirked up in a smug smirk.

“Good. Didn’t wanna have to nudge you down a staircase, anyway.” 

Deceit chuckled. From there, the conversation flowed almost naturally. It wasn’t like old times. Maybe that was a good thing. It wasn’t quite friendly, not yet, but there was an impression. If he played his cards right, if he stayed genuine, then it would be. Soon. And that was enough for now.

Remus scrambled to the top of the fridge and loomed over his brother. He was, for once, not the first to talk. 

“So we wait it out in here until Sherlock and Watson get back from whatever it is that they’re pretending to do-”

“Which is when Snakey and Virgey kiss and make up-”

“Which will be never,” Roman concluded, sitting on the counter. He idly smoothed down his already meticulously styled hair (vain bitch). Remus picked a flea from his own scalp and flicked it at him spitefully, but it went unnoticed. Just like everything he did. 

“I don’t know why they couldn’t have let me in on their little scheme, I shouldn’t have to be between that situation.”

Remus laughed wickedly, a noise with very little mirth and a whole lot of frustration. 

“Mhm, yeah- you’re just a saint, getting along with everybody! You haven’t got a single problem to work out!”

“I didn’t say that,” Roman replied indignantly, “I know that Deceit and I don’t have a great history, but we get along fine now.”

Unbelievable. No- it was completely fucking believable! Remus should just hit him, tear his arms off and beat him with them, pull out the ol’ morning star and smash his brother’s skull in. How stupid he’d been to think that this could be fixed. Roman was impossible. No matter how hard Remus tried, he’d never get anywhere, no matter how supportive Patton was.

“Whoah, you okay?”

The Duke blinked, staring down at the angry, crescent-shaped marks that he’d clawed into his arms unknowingly. He tilted his head to stare at the other Creativity. 

“Not really, no!” 

Roman seemed taken aback. He leaned up and rested his arms on top of the fridge beside Remus.

“Don’t let Patton see you do that, he’ll have a fit,” he joked, reaching up to grab Remus’ hands. The Intrusive trait scrambled away to the other edge of the appliance.

“Don’t tell me what to do, and don’t pretend to care about what I do!” 

“What? What are you-” Roman cut himself off, his face clouding with realization, “Oh.”

“What is it now?” 

“I- I’m supposed to talk to you, aren’t I?” 

Remus stared at him for a long, thoughtful moment. He then erupted into cackles, spitting laughs out like it was the only thing stopping him from breaking down (it was). 

“Oh, whatever. Don’t pretend you don’t hate me just for Patty’s sake.”

Roman hopped off the counter, standing in front of the fridge with arms crossed. He looked angry- but not angry at Remus? That was new. New and weird. 

“You think I hate you?”

“I know you hate me, Roro,” he pulled himself to the edge of his platform, swinging his legs out in front of him. 

“Do you hate me?”

Remus wasn’t quite sure how to answer that one. It was fine, because Roman didn’t wait for a response anyway.

“Get down here.”

“Why should I?” 

“So I can- so we can- Ugh, just get down!”

The Duke got down. Curiosity killed the cat, after all (or the cephalopod, as the case may be). 

Once within his reach, Roman threw his arms open and wrapped Remus up in a fierce hug.

Remus swayed, suddenly very dizzy. Was the world always this blurry? No, no, maybe he was crying? Or maybe he’d gone blind? It didn’t matter either way, all that mattered was that someone was hugging him. Willingly. 

“You’re my brother,” Roman hissed,  “You annoy the hell out of me. And we don’t get along much. And we fight, a lot, but it wasn’t ever anything more than that. I didn’t mean for it to be more than that. You’re my brother-”

“You already mentioned that part-”

“Shush!”

He shushed.

“I don’t hate you. How could I?”

Oh. Well. Hm. That changed things.

Remus’ awareness jolted back into him then. He lifted Roman off the ground with ease and spun around in wide circles, smiling with all of his teeth (which said a lot; he had quite the array of teeth). He held on like his brother would disappear if he let go, conjuring more limbs for the express purpose of holding on tighter.

“Rem!” 

“Yeah, bro?” his voice was giddy, and distinctly wobbly, but that was irrelevant. He spun again.

“I- I’m very glad that we’re having this bonding moment, but I think you broke my ribs.”

“Oh, oops,” Remus let go immediately, dropping Roman to the floor. He offered a shrug in apology.

“Oh yeah, I don’t hate you either, by the way.”

“I assumed so,” Roman wheezed, using the counter to pull himself back to his feet. He gave Remus a lopsided smile.

“It’s good we don’t hate each other. Now I don’t have to knock you out whenever I wanna hang out with Patty.”

“Yeah, that is a relief.”

“Wow, we’re good at this whole reconciliation thing! Let’s go rub it in Vee and Dee’s emotionally constipated faces!” In mere minutes Remus already forgot what being sad felt like. Life was good and he had no problems anymore! 

“We probably should make sure they haven’t killed each other,” Roman held a hand out, which Remus grabbed gleefully.

“Ugh! Why are you always sticky?!”

“Do you really want the answer to that?”

“Abso-fucking-lutely not.”

They returned to the dining room, hand-in-hand, only to find their respective boyfriends having a perfectly civil conversation. 

‘Coincidentally’, as soon as Remus and Roman resumed their places at the table, Patton and Logan rose up with an enormous stack of stunningly fluffy pancakes. They shared a secretive smile- as though they genuinely believed that nobody knew what they’d done. Deceit didn’t correct them, but only because he hardly wanted to admit that they’d been successful (maybe it was just him that was bad at making plans; everybody else seemed to have it down). 

Breakfast was short. Deceit could’ve just finished eating a five course meal and he’d still find it hard not to wolf down Patton’s cooking, especially his breakfast food.

And naturally, Deceit offered to help clean up, which had also been a quick task. He’d just dried his hands and flashed Morality a small smirk, turning to leave. He didn’t get far before Remus grabbed his arm and swung them both back into the kitchen. 

“Before we leave, aren’t we forgetting something, DeeDee?” 

Patton set down the last plate and shot them a confused look.

“I haven’t the slightest clue what you mean, dearest,” Deceit claimed, pointedly not looking at either of them. Patton was growing progressively more bemused.

“Did you lose something again, Re?” 

“I haven’t, but Dee seems to have lost his manners.”

The dishonest trait threw his arms up and groaned. If he was only a tad less in love, he’d have decked that look off of Remus’ face.

“Alright! Patton, from the bottom of my heart, thank you!”

“What are we thanking him for?” Remus needled.

“Everything,” he’d intended it to come out biting and sarcastic, and was disgusted to find his voice laced with sincerity, of all things! 

There was most certainly an adoring, proud look on Patton’s face. He was looking away, he did not see it. 

“Oh, you two,” he still heard him though, rambling on, “It was just the least I could do!” 

Remus made a noise. It was loud and completely unintelligible, but with a general air of happiness. And, for what was very much not the first time, Deceit was crushed in an over-enthusiastic threeway hug with no means of escape. He hissed, the noise dying on his lips as soon as he saw the wide and excited grins on both Patton and Remus’ faces that were very, very close. 

Morality really had done something amazing for them- something that Deceit had hoped for for ages. Now the side just looked so happy with himself, with what he’d done, and with them.

Deceit looked between Remus and Patton. 

The human half of his face was burning. 

He looked again, just to be sure. 

Those were definitely the same feelings, huh? Oh fuck. 

“You guys are just too much,” Patton laughed, clearly unaware of Deceit’s impending emotional crisis. His hold around Deceit’s waist had tightened, and with little warning, both him and Remus were no longer on the ground.

The former Dark Sides caught eyes. The red of Remus’ face contrasted dramatically with the green of his apparel. 

Double fuck. 

Patton had clearly mistaken their stunned silence as uncomfortableness, letting them down gently and stepping back.

“Sorry, I got a little carried away.”

“It’s fine!” Was Deceit’s voice always that shrill?

“Yeah, don’t worry about it! But we have to go, right now- important, mysterious things to do! You know us, pure villainy!”

“Yes, that, what he said!”

They sunk out.

It was quiet as they appeared in The Subconscious. Remus looked at his boyfriend. Deceit was staring back, but his mind was very clearly miles elsewhere.

“So. We should maybe talk about that.”

The trait opened his mouth to speak, still looking rather dazed, but Remus interrupted him.

“I swear to God, babe, if you say ‘talk about what?’, or ‘oh, Dear, I have no idea what you mean,’ I am going to rip your esophagus out with my teeth and swallow it.”

Deceit’s mouth snapped shut, then open, then shut. He shuffled over to the couch and proceeded to drop onto it like a ragdoll.

“I think I have feelings for Patton.”

Remus sighed in relief and flopped down next to him, draping his arms across the shell-shocked snake side. 

“Glad we’re on the same page.”

“You’re happy?”

He thought the question over carefully, and an absolutely terrifying possibility occurred to him.

“Yeah- I- we are on the same page, right? Like, he’s super cute and nice and fuckable, but you and I still…?” he let himself trail off. There were very few things that Remus struggled to say, but the thought that two of his favorite people would move on from him- together, no less- was both wildly horrifying and too familiar to verbalize. 

Deceit snapped out of his stupor long enough to glare angrily at Remus- more specifically, glare at the train of thought that he knew Remus was following.

“I’ll always love you, you idiot. Nobody and nothing will change that.”

Remus smiled- not a grin, but a smile- and exhaled slowly. Good, back on track.

“I love you, too. Right, now what do we do?”

“...Do?”

The Duke sat up straight enough to bonk his head against Deceit’s, eliciting a small ‘ow’. 

“Yes, ‘do’; when people have feelings for each other they do something about it- especially when that person is their friend. Unless you were planning on ignoring this, pushing it down, and going back to keeping Patton at arm’s length, which would ruin a perfectly good relationship in an effort to not ruin that relationship. Was that what you wanted to do?” 

“Well when you put it like that... No.”

“Alright, my pretty little liar, what do you want?”

Deceit hid his face in Remus’ neck. His muffled voice said something sounding a lot like ‘I have no fucking clue’.

“I can tell you what I’d like?”

More muffled noises: translation ‘If you say threesome I’m going to end you’.

“No- well, yeah- but I meant that we should woo him!”

Deceit pulled back to squint up at Remus.

“Woo him?”

“This whole conversation, you’re just a broken record- yes, do, yes, woo! We could be a throuple!”

The Duke saw Deceit very nearly say ‘throuple?’, before deciding to actually contribute to the discussion.

“I will admit, that sounds… alright, it sounds lovely. In theory. Do you really think that’s a good idea, though? Why should we risk it- we’ve only just fixed things, why go breaking them again?”

“So if Patton isn’t interested, he’s not going to be friends with us anymore, either? Does that sound like something he’d do?”

“Well- not really- but-”

“Who was right about making friends with him in the first place?”

Deceit glowered, answering begrudgingly.

“You were. But still-”

“Who was right about fixing things with Virgil?”

“... You.”

His gaze remained hesitant, so Remus continued.

“And who’s going to be right about this, when the three of us are all sucking face?”

Deceit dropped his head back against the couch and closed his eyes.

“Why do you keep being helpful? I’m supposed to be the smart one in this relationship.”

“Trust me babe, I hate it too,” Remus sympathized, “D’you want me to go microwave some silverware? You can brag to Logan about single-handedly saving my life from the explosion!”

The dishonest side smirked, leaning forwards once more to peck Remus’ cheek. 

“That’s an awful idea, my love.”

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