#happy birthday disaster son | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

vidavalor · 7 months

Text

Wrong Boy

What Bildad the Shuite, Mr. Dalrymple and Warlock's birthday party can tell us about what's going on in the 2.06 Final 15. Another post in a series about how "The Metatron" with Aziraphale at the end of S2 is actually Satan.

Warlock Dowling. The kid Crowley and Aziraphale took care of for a few years, believing him to be The Antichrist. Not actually The Antichrist. The wrong boy.

Warlock's 11th Birthday Party. The reason why Crowley and Aziraphale were there was to try again to stop Armageddon. Hell was supposed to show up at the party. The Devil was sending a gift to his son-- a dog. The Hell Hound. The gift, once accepted by The Antichrist, was supposed to signal the start of Armageddon.

Crowley and Aziraphale were undercover at the party in an effort to stop Warlock from encountering and naming The Hell Hound and starting the end times as a result... but The Hell Hound was late. The moment that results in them realizing they got it all wrong starts out with dialogue that is referenced again in S2-- in relation to The Meeting Ball.

Aziraphale followed Crowley out to The Bentley, mortified by having put on a terrible magic show in front of Crowley. Crowley, though, was gentle and caring in his reply. He tried to reassure Aziraphale and gas him up a bit.

Aziraphale: "That was all a bit of a disaster, I'm afraid."

Crowley: "Nonsense. You gave them a party to remember. Last one they'll ever have, mind..."

As they're sitting in The Bentley and after communicating with Hell during this scene via the radio, they realize that they fucked it up. The kid they thought was the spawn of The Devil is not actually that. Warlock is not The Antichrist. They had the wrong boy this whole time.

Nonsense. The meaning of "balderdash" and "piffle"-- the words spoken by "The Metatron" when he first arrives in 2.06. The first word of what Crowley said to Aziraphale in the "wrong boy" scene.

The gift for the "son". The Hell Hound. The Coffee.

A disaster termed "a night to remember": The Titanic.

The Titanic. Big ship, first of its kind. Hit iceberg. Was thought to be unsinkable. Turns out, it could very much sink. Angels can be tempted. They can sink-- can fall-- to the bottom of the ocean floor. Aziraphale falling is "The Titanic" of his story and the story overall.

If Warlock's birthday party = The Meeting Ball, then Crowley and Aziraphale have the "wrong boy" once again at the end of S2.

Instead of Warlock being mistaken for The Devil's son, "The Metatron" is really The Devil... who appears in the form of the closest thing Aziraphale has to a father-- The Metatron.

"My Heart Will Go On." Theme song from the film 'Titanic' and on Aziraphale's playlist for S2. Uh oh...

Then, there's this:

"It will be a night to remember!" Aziraphale, describing his then-upcoming Meeting Ball in an episode-ending bit of important dialogue while pointing Upwards, foreshadowing both Crowley going Up and Aziraphale's "going Up to get Down" that happens at the end of this Titanic hitting the iceberg. Crowley will actually wind up trying to keep most of the partygoers from not remembering as much of the events of this party as possible... ironically, since Aziraphale says "a night to remember" to Crowley in reference to the kind thing Crowley said to him about the kids being happy to remember Warlock's birthday party.

The next morning, Crowley will use dialogue that references Warlock's birthday party again... either consciously or unconsciously. Either way, it's a dialogue reference to it for us to notice... and it makes sense that Warlock's party would fit into 2.06's Final 15 here because the dialogue we're talking about is from a scene that's actually after the party... and this is all taking place after, well, a party.

The dialogue shows up here:

Crowley: "Oh, I know you. Last time I saw you, you were a giant, floating head, mind."

Welcome to the only other scene in the series in which Crowley has used "mind" at the end of a sentence but for the casual time he did post-Warlock's birthday party. It's calling our attention to the late Hell Hound not arriving at that party... in the moment that "The Metatron" has just arrived here, in the aftermath of the mirrored party.

The Devil himself is here this time.

It might also be worth noting that when Crowley and Aziraphale figure out that Warlock is the wrong boy, it's because of Crowley having just spoken to Hell via the radio in The Bentley... which is also how Satan attacked Crowley in 1.01. Those two scenes are then tied together and both of them are in play in 2.06.

The show also takes pains to call the meeting a "party" several times. Besides Aziraphale saying "we're having a ball", the character who is of The Devil and whose actions let The Devil Himself into the bookshop-- Shax-- twice refers to what's going on as "a party." When she arrives: "how sweet-- they're having a party" and, later, she corrects Mr. Brown of Brown's World of Carpets when he says that what is going on is a meeting. She tells him that it's not a meeting because they were "dancing." That it's a party is referenced several times, further drawing correlation between the climax of S2 and Warlock's 11th Birthday Party.

Crowley-- a demon-- is called upon by "The Metatron" to identify him to everyone else after every single other being in the room fails to recognize him. Every single other being in the room besides Crowley is an angel and *all* of them fail to recognize this being as The Metatron. Every one of them. How can five angels fail to recognize the leader of Heaven? Maybe because that's not actually the leader of Heaven? Maybe because The Devil had to get someone he can control-- and we've seen that he can control Crowley in 1.01-- to tell everyone else that he's The Metatron... which is exactly what happens in this scene?

Crowley identifies the being in such a way that the other angels see him as The Metatron. No one questions him. Rather hilariously, since angels who don't like Crowley are in the room, everyone just believes him and takes what he says at face value. This includes Michael, who has now done this twice-- they also did this during the Job minisode, which we'll look at in a moment.

Michael (gloriously bitchy, asking THE question): "And who are you?"

The context clues suggesting this being's fake identity that led everyone to believe it after its reveal were planted by "The Metatron" upon his arrival... and that's familiar, too. We've seen that one before... Crowley did it earlier in the season.

Remember where we saw that and another significant who are you? one before?

Here, with Sitis:

Crowley gives Sitis suggestion as to who he will appear to be to her, even if they've never met before. Who is he? He's "an old friend, here to offer some comfort." Sitis is having A Day over here and is somewhat resistant at first to influence and she's never met this being before so she naturally has this question:

She's paralleling Michael in 2.06 here. All who are you and why are you interrupting me? I'm a bit busy over here... and what did Crowley say?

"You tell me." Crowley gave her the answer he wanted and when Sitis was resistant and Crowley needed to get to the kids to save them, he influenced her so she'd help him get to who he wanted instead of standing in his way. Crowley seeks to protect the kids, obviously. He has the opposite motivation of Satan in 2.06 but the methods are the same.

Sitis falls under Crowley's suggestion at "you tell me"-- she responds normally-enough but there's enough of her reaction at the start that shows that her mind is being influenced. She gets a little quiet, her eyes widen, she's staring for a brief moment... kinda like Crowley in the chair before he speaks in after "The Metatron"'s arrival in 2.06. Crowley was in Sitis' mind and made her say back to him what he'd told her to say:

"Bildad" quite literally means "old friend" so Sitis basically regurgitates Crowley's "just an old friend" by translating it into a name in her mind. Crowley's "sure" is comedic but this is also an example of Crowley using magical influence over someone-- one of two that happens in S2. In both times, Crowley's use of it is benign in overall intent but it's still not really with the full awareness of the person he's using it on.

This kind of power when used by The Devil, though? Yikes...

The second time we see Crowley do this is with Mister Dalrymple. And what did Crowley suggest-- at Aziraphale's request-- that Mister Dalrymple do? So that Aziraphale could have time to try to lure Mister Dalrymple into his way of thinking-- though the opposite wound up being true?

Invite them to stay and have a chat... over a drink.

A chat over a wee tipple of whiskey. That moment has a paralleling friend in 2.06, too...

A chinwag over a large oat milk latte with a dash/hefty jigger of almond syrup...

Now, we're also referencing The Resurrectionist minisode in The Final 15. You know, the one where Crowley is dragged back to Hell in Edinburgh... the same place Aziraphale went to alone during S2. When asked where Aziraphale was during that time by Shax, Crowley replied that Aziraphale was:

Stocktaking. In the basement. On the surface, this is an excuse Crowley gives Shax to explain why she can't see Aziraphale through the window of the shop while Aziraphale is in Edinburgh. Shax clearly doesn't buy it and tracks down Aziraphale in The Bentley on his way back from Scotland. But this is also a metaphor on two different levels.

The first is that Crowley was dragged back to Hell in Edinburgh in 1827 and that Hell is the basement of the whole Heaven/Hell skyscraper office situation. Edinburgh is Hell is "the basement" to Crowley. While Aziraphale was there, he was working on some of his trauma related to 1827-- taking stock of what he had and where he was at in order to move forward. Aziraphale going to Edinburgh actually is Aziraphale metaphorically "stocktaking in the basement"... it's just that it also potentially foreshadows that once Shax actually gets through that door, it's the start of how Aziraphale is going to wind up doing some further stocktaking in the actual basement that is Hell.

Jump back to Sitis for a moment. Why does Sitis say "Shuite"? It's more important than it seems.

We already looked at why she says "Bildad"-- it's because of Crowley's "old friend"-- but why does she say "the Shuite"? It's not what Crowley said this time, so much as what he did-- jumping into her mind.

Remember later when Crowley uses a homophone-- "Shu-ite" and "shoes"-- and cracks this joke:

Crowley says "shoes" and Michael says "the land of Shua" but Bildad is Bildad "the Shuite" because Sitis was trying to say the other word that's a homophone for "shoes" and "Shu-a" here: "shoo."

Was there was a part of Sitis that was aware of Crowley in her mind was telling him to get out, to leave, to go... or was the fact that she had been trying to get Crowley to leave before he influenced her a factor in how she came up with his identity?

It shows that a person under suggestion by a supernatural being in Good Omens is forced to say and do whatever that being is forcing them to say or do but they might have some mild level of resistance where their words are concerned, if they can find a way to do so. Crowley was not exerting a terribly powerful influence over Sitis because he prefers to not do this at all. But The Devil himself is not going to have any such qualms... and we've been shown in 1.01 that when he takes over Crowley, Crowley really can't resist the influence. Still, he might have been trying, since The Devil needed him to speak and it was Aziraphale in the crosshairs.

And, of course, back in 2.06, The Big Damn Villain Music in the score goes insane at this moment here when "The Metatron" looks at Crowley without Aziraphale noticing-- a look that can be interpreted not just as a glare but as instructions. It's what keeps Crowley in the bookshop. It furthers the suggestion that "The Metatron" is magically influencing Crowley and since Crowley's main contribution is to identify him as The Metatron, well... casts some serious doubt over the idea that this is anybody but the one being who can exert that kind of control over Crowley-- Satan.

Now, go back to Crowley and to "...last time I saw you, you were a giant, floating head, mind."

Aziraphale doesn't totally seem to realize it but the events of the previous night letting everyone into the bookshop has, well, let everyone into the bookshop. Aziraphale thinks of the bookshop as a safe haven where Crowley's concerned and, until The Meeting Ball, it was. But Shax allowed in tipped the dominoes and now means that the bookshop is now overrun, all of Hell can get in, and Crowley's no longer safe from Satan while inside the bookshop.

"...giant, floating head, mind" isn't just about Warlock's birthday party.

It's a reference to The Devil taking over Crowley's mind in 1.01.

It's a reference to that for us and, if Crowley is able to resist at all or is trying to on some level, then it's an equivalent to Sitis saying "Shuite" in an attempt to say "shoo"-- it's a word Crowley is choosing sneaking out in the influence that Satan has over him in that moment. He's screaming wrong boy wrong boy wrong boy and he's in my mind beneath the calmer way that Satan is having him identify him to everyone as The Metatron and hoping Aziraphale will get it.

Everyone believes Crowley when he says the being before them all is The Metatron because the reveal of it makes sense with the clues laid out by what "The Metatron" has said upon his arrival. Old British white guy-sounding being? Using old language-- "balderdash", "complete piffle"? Being a smarmy, patronizing dick towards Michael? Yeah, that sounds like The Metatron... enough that everyone doesn't stop to notice what else this being says the moment he has them all convinced. Phrases like "spit spot"... the signature line of the Hell-aligned 'Mary Poppins'... but we'll look at all the 'Mary Poppins' in end of S2 in another meta.

Back to our next bit of dialogue referencing signifying the presence of The Devil in 2.06. That is "go on." Whether this is just a clue to us from the other scene or whether it's also Crowley, trying to resist the influence to try to warn Aziraphale is interpretable but, either way, when Crowley stays put and doesn't seem to notice Aziraphale silently trying to get Crowley to come with him and The Metatron, there's this dialogue:

Crowley: "Go on. Day can't get any weirder."

Weird means strange, unexpected, unnatural... Something's wrong, something's wrong, something's wrong is what Crowley's basically saying. But it's the "go on" that's the real 👀 because of what it references from earlier in the season...

Remember this?

Crowley: "Go on. Have an ox rib."

Yeah, that's a direct dialogue comparison that calls what "The Metatron" is doing with Aziraphale temptation... which means "The Metatron" is The Devil.

Gabriel showed up in S2 and what he could remember was a quote from The Book of Job-- something God said that night Crowley and Aziraphale found her speaking "to Job" (really: to them, but it's unclear if they've figured that out yet.) God warned at the beginning of S2 that Aziraphale needs to remember the Job minisode something fierce for what's to come. He's being tested. He's being tempted. The Devil shows up in 2.06 to tempt him... and it parallels the ox rib scenes by both echoing and inverting it, like the mirror that it is.

Angels actually can be tempted but that's not really what Crowley was doing in Job's cellar. The ox rib scene is actually about consent. Let's look at the start of it.

As the storm started in 2500 B.C., Crowley started pouring wine. He poured two glasses and offered Aziraphale one. Aziraphale did not take it.

Aziraphale did not take it because Aziraphale, at the time, was not interested in wine. He didn't wish to drink. "The Metatron" manipulates Aziraphale's emotions when it comes to the coffee. He preys on Aziraphale's need to be polite and on how afraid Aziraphale is of The Metatron. Aziraphale has never had any such fear of Crowley-- he hilariously was pretty direct about his distaste for wine back in Job's cellar. The Devil gets Aziraphale to take the coffee by manipulating his trauma but Satan's minister Crowley? Back in 2500 BC? He didn't push Aziraphale to drink.

The ox rib scene is actually about choice and consent. It's important to Crowley that Aziraphale feel safe with him. When Aziraphale expresses that he doesn't want to drink and doesn't want to get drunk, Crowley is fine with that and offers food instead, pointing out that you can't get drunk on food. He's a little mischievous and dry when replying that "angels can't be tempted" to Aziraphale's question of whether or not Crowley was trying to tempt him but it's because he's actually not. He's trying to have a little date with the angel, not get him to fall to Hell. He likes him. He's amused that Aziraphale is finding the offers of food and drink to be tempting-- that he's into it and wants to give something a try. There's no manipulation, just the offer of it.

It's Aziraphale's own choice to try the ox rib. He chooses to take it.

He chooses to try something new and see things a little differently and spend some time with Crowley. It's a healthy choice. It's the polar opposite of the choice Aziraphale makes when The Devil offers him the one thing he wants: a way within his control to be with Crowley forever.

The conversations at Marguerite's that Aziraphale has in S2 are interconnected. He sits at a table there separately twice-- once with Crowley and once with The Devil. Again, Crowley offers Aziraphale a glass of wine-- this time now thousands of years after Aziraphale rejected the first offer of one. Aziraphale drinks now. He and Crowley have shared a thousand bottles of wine since.

They never get to food. Aziraphale doesn't actually eat in the present at all in S2. (Which is the whole damn problem lol.) Doesn't have an eccles cake. Doesn't dine at The Ritz. No vol-au-vents at The Meeting Ball. And, at Marguerite's, he doesn't have a glass of wine and a little late lunch with Crowley. He has one sip of tea in the present for the entirety of S2 before That Damn Coffee-- to try to teach Muriel to do what Aziraphale has actually been rejecting while being in his Heavenly feelings during S2. The healthy choice is actually some food, a glass of wine, and Crowley... not a trauma-loaded coffee from The Devil.

Crowley and Aziraphale joke about temptation where each other is concerned and it's off of the scene in Job's cellar. We've seen it in Rome in 41 AD and we've seen it in the S1 finale in 2019. This is what temptation between them looks like:

They can poke fun at the idea of it because their relationship is built on the idea that they see each other as individual people who make individual choices and that Heaven and Hell don't own them. They own themselves and they choose to share themselves with one another. It's the opposite of the manipulation of temptation, which is why it both parallels how Aziraphale falls prey to The Devil-- by how he does being the opposite of what he has with Crowley-- and why it's over Crowley that Aziraphale falls in the first place... not because loving him is "bad"... for the exact opposite of that. Because loving him is good and it's not loving him to try to find a solution to their problems by saying that the people who have harmed the two of them should come first. That's the point-- no nightingales.

Aziraphale doesn't want power. He doesn't want to run Heaven-- he rejected that first attempt to tempt him by The Devil. He doesn't want to go back. He wants to stay on Earth and live his life with Crowley and he wants so much to never be apart from Crowley. The two things that Aziraphale wants most in the world are both related to Crowley-- he wants to be with him forever and he wants Heaven to admit that they fucked up and that Crowley is good.

Aziraphale already knows Crowley is good. He loves him as he is. He's just furious at Heaven and at The Metatron for what they've done to the being he loves and he's incensed at God for allowing it. Aziraphale has been an angel this whole time and, in his mind, he's been powerless to do anything to fix this. He can't stop Crowley's pain over falling-- over the fact that he still feels like he's unforgivable in the eyes of God. He can't stop him from being hurt by Hell. And Aziraphale has had that rage on simmer for 6,000 years.

His every "I forgive you" is an attempt at, since he's an angel of Heaven, trying to give Crowley what he needs and can't get from Heaven... and Crowley knows it is but he hates it because what he truly wants and needs is just Aziraphale himself. Aziraphale's love is enough.

All Aziraphale wants is for Heaven to admit they fucked up because he thinks forgiveness from God will help Crowley. He thinks it will make this better:

If Crowley were an angel again, would that stop the pain that Aziraphale can't stop? Aziraphale wonders if it might. Because he can't stop it. He's tried. He's not enough. It's a lot of pain to watch the being you love still suffer and try to do what you can to make it stop but to not be enough-- Crowley and Aziraphale both know what that feels like.

The solution is not to run away and it's not to go to Heaven. It's to just make like Gabriel and Beez and choose to live their lives together. If enough people say "nah" to Armageddon, there's no Armageddon. You can't have a war without war. Aziraphale doesn't understand that at the end of S2 yet, though, so when The Devil shows up in the form of the abusive dad who never loved him and basically says:

You know, you were right-- we need people like you. The way you live isn't a sin. I made a mistake. You could come back to Heaven and show us how to be better-- how to do things your way. You could bring your husband. We can all be a family. He can be an angel again and you'll never again have to worry that you'll lose him. You can be together forever...

This is all Aziraphale has ever wanted. The angel who was losing his mind hosting a party for the first time the night before-- one where his human friends and Gabriel mingled together and where everyone knew Crowley was his and they got to dance together like everyone else-- well, that angel is tempted as all fuck.

He falls for (falls in love with) Crowley and he falls (falls from Heaven) for Crowley.

It started, in part, with an arrival at the door. Not "The Metatron"'s arrival. Bildad's much happier, paralleling one:

This is also a note to us: remember him-- Bildad the Shuite. It's important that we do if we want to understand what comes later when a group of people, some of them angels, can't recognize who just came through the door... for the second scene in this season.

Right on cue to ask the Big Damn Question in 2500 B.C. was the first arrival at the bookshop door in S2 and the character most representing Aziraphale's inner struggles in S2... and the one who had been sent away for his own good by the point that The Devil arrives in 2.06...

Gabriel, asking THAT question: "Aziraphale, who is this?"

Aziraphale:

He. Says. He. Is. God told Aziraphale to remember this but he seems to have forgotten that he and Crowley cloaked Crowley's real identity for greater good purposes but the opposite of that could just as easily happen. He didn't really listen to the messenger God sent him-- Gabriel, whose name literally means "messenger"-- when he told Aziraphale to remember Job and so Aziraphale didn't recognize The Devil when he, like Bildad before him, came through the door.

In a sweet way, it's because he so loves Crowley that he doesn't really see him as demonic and so couldn't make a connection between Bildad and "The Metatron."

The Body Swap. Crowley and Aziraphale each pretending to be one another to survive the end of S1. They fooled everyone around them by looking like someone they, technically, are not. In both cases, they were forced into suicide by Heaven/Hell-- by getting into a bath of holy water and by stepping into flames of hellfire-- and survived it because neither of them actually were who they said they were.

Aziraphale's fall parallels the body swap plot as it's a fall of despair.

"We call it 'The Second Coming'." Aziraphale knows who was really at the door in this moment. He knows that there is no Supreme Archangel job, no promises of safety and an eternal life with Crowley. There never was. He made the wrong choice. He let his despair rule him and now the fall he thought was coming in 2500 B.C. is actually here.

Upon realizing that he's been fooled-- has played himself for a sucker, as is the case with negative thought cycles-- Aziraphale steps into the elevator.

S1-- they save each other from being killed by Heaven and Hell in methods that look like forcing them to kill themselves.

S2-- Aziraphale effectively tries to kill himself by getting into the elevator, now knowing who it is who is holding open the door.

He knows the likelihood of his memories being erased is high, which makes choosing to get into the elevator a form of suicide.

Banana, fish, gorilla, shoelace, with a dash of nutmeg. Aziraphale's mantra. His magic words. In the bookshop attack and through the end of S2, though... a banana peel thrown at Maggie. Shax referencing "the sushi." Only the banana and the fish are here.

The Bananafish. A short story by J.D. Salinger about PTSD, trauma and suicide. After some short interactions with a girl representing a daughter-like figure to the main character (Maggie, in Good Omens, who kicks off Aziraphale's S2 plot and provides his motivations throughout)-- the seemingly-fine man who is actually a traumatized war veteran suffering from PTSD suddenly and quickly succumbs to the pain he carries around and the cycle of negative thoughts he suffers and shoots himself dead.

#ineffable husbands #good omens #crowley #aziraphale #good omens meta #aziracrow #good omens 2 #good omens theory #tw ptsd #tw suicide #tw trauma #tw religious trauma

152 notes · View notes

friendly-neighborhood-boricua · 3 months

Text

[4] Liam and James Make You A Birthday Gift

Summary: Inspired by his birthday party at school, Liam goes to James for help with your birthday present.

Notes: Marauders modern elementary school AU, kindergarten teacher!James Potter x nurse!reader, mom!reader x son!OC (Liam). Sorta weirdly angsty? Idk how that happened. Vague mention of parental death, grieving.

A/N (27/6/24): Guys just don't believe me when I say I'll update regularly lmao it's never gonna happen. Tried to upload this last night but I literally fell asleep lmao so this is semi edited

Previous Part: Career Fair Next Part: James Takes Liam to School Series Masterlist here

Look.

We all know that James is the best kindergarten teacher at his school.

His students’ test scores always improve through the year

Their standardized test results are exactly where they should be for the grade level, if not higher

And the kids themselves love him

But in order to keep his kids happy and engaged and eager to learn, he sometimes has to … shall we say bend the rules …

Just a teensy weensy bit

A little bit

A tiiiiiiny bit

At the beginning of the year, James told the class that if they were well-behaved by the time that each of their birthdays came around, he would throw a small birthday party for each of them

And let me tell you

The kids were thrilled

James quickly set a few ground rules for the kids (because the admin at his school is stupid and ScHOoL pArTiEs cAnT bE hELd wiThOUt adMiNiStrATivE pErMiSSiOn so he had to be kinda careful)

NUMBER ONE (more for him than them)

James checked each of his students’ allergy records in the school database to figure out what treats he could bring to school

You know, without sending anyone into anaphylactic shock and probably getting sued in the process

and NUMBER TWO

Everyone must thank Mr. Black at the front desk on the day of each party

(Sirius would help James smuggle treats into his room for these parties, so James figured it’d be nice to have them say thank you)

Honestly, James enjoyed these parties just as much as the kids

Even the planning part was fun for him

About a week before a kid’s birthday, he’d ask them what treat they wanted for their party

Some kids *cough* draco *cough* want a bunch of super-sugary Halloween-type candy

(James gets them reduced sugar and sugar-free knock-off brands for Draco's birthday because he doesn’t think he can handle nineteen sugar-high kids all at once)

Others want to have a pizza party or order from a nearby restaurant

Sweet little Dean just wanted Fig Newtons lmaooo

(James bought an extra pack for her to take home)

But each and every time, no matter what they want, James makes it happen

Liam’s birthday is on January 2nd, which is over winter break

Which is a shame because James was really excited to celebrate it on the day of

Usually with kids who have birthdays in the summer, he celebrates their half-birthday

But that won’t work for Liam obviously bc his half-birthday is in the summer

So James just decides to celebrate Liam’s birthday when they get back from winter break

Before winter break, however, James asks Liam what treat he wants for his party

And Liam

Sweet summer child

Liam says he’d really like some home-made oatmeal raisin cookies

What.

What the fuck kind of answer is that??

For a sIX YEAR OLD

WHAT.

This fucking child is somehow like ninety years old and six at the same fucking time

James’ utter bafflement must have been visible on his face because Liam explains himself pretty quick

And James’ heart breaks when Liam tells him that his grandma died when he was really young but his mom tells him all the time that her mom’s oatmeal raisin cookies were the best thing ever

Apparently every time you try to recreate them for Liam, some disaster happens and you’re unable to finish

(i.e. you’re called into work and have to take the cookies out of the oven half-baked so the house doesn’t burn down, you and Liam take a nap while the cookies are baking and almost actually burn the house down, Liam accidentally gave you the salt rather than the sugar, etc.)

And Liam just really wants to try good oatmeal raisin cookies

He’s had them from a box from the grocery store before, and they’re not bad (it kinda surprises James that he liked them at all, but then he remembers who exactly he’s talking to lol), but Liam wants to try some good home-made oatmeal raisin cookies

And maybe bring one home for his mom

And FURTHERMORE, Liam is plenty aware that no child in a million years besides him actually enjoys oatmeal raisin cookies

So he asks for chocolate chip for the rest of the class so they get something they’ll actually enjoy

James is just kinda speechless at first

Like you can hear him just blinking down at this sweet, kind, selfless little six-year-old

And slowly he nods, and the bell rings to signify the end of the day (and semester since it’s the last day of school before winter break)

Poor James is practically catatonic as he gets his kids on their busses and in cars home, then packs his own things and finally makes his way to the library to get Remus and Sirius

And they both know something’s up immediately

After some gentle prodding (and Sirius outright refusing to leave the school library until James tells them what was wrong), James tells them what happened

(Remus and Sirius aren’t quite sure what the big deal is until James explains further)

James’ parents died during his second year at university, and he was horribly torn up about it for years after

Still is, sometimes

He was always terribly close with his parents, and they would always do anything—anything—for their James

(Including practically adopt Sirius during high school)

And now, thinking about Liam’s grandmother dying when he was young, all James could think about was you

James couldn’t imagine you’re any older than him, and he’s twenty-four, which means you had Liam young

And if Liam’s grandmother—your mother—had died when Liam was young, that meant you were left to take care of a baby all on your own at—what, twenty years old? Nineteen? All while going to university to become a nurse, and then actually becoming a nurse after that, long shifts and heavy workloads and all

The thought made James’ heart ache terribly in his chest

That night, James spends nearly two hours searching for different oatmeal raisin cookie recipes

He plans to do trials

A competition of sorts with Sirius and Remus serving as judges

Because James is DETERMINED to bake the best homemade oatmeal raisin cookie Liam will ever have

(He’s sort of nervous for you to eat one, but he figures even if it isn’t as good as your mother’s, it hopefully won’t be awful)

James, Sirius, and Remus’ holiday celebrations only really extend to sleeping over on Christmas Eve at Remus’ mother’s house, which is only a couple blocks away

So James spends every day of winter break baking a new cookie recipe and shoving cookies down Remus’ and Sirius’ throats

But by the beginning of second semester, James has crafted the perfect oatmeal raisin cookie recipe

(It was rather simple, actually, and the “secret ingredient” was more of a secret process than anything; James used only brown sugar rather than a mix of brown and granulated, added some cinnamon, and put the balls of dough in the freezer for twenty minutes before baking so they would be nice and chewy)

James decides to hold Liam’s party at the end of the first week back at school

(Just to make sure the kids know they’ve got to go back to learning)

And Liam’s party goes swimmingly!! (ofc)

James brought chocolate chips, as promised

But he was terribly proud of his oatmeal raisin cookies, so he brought enough for the whole class as well

And holy shit

James never thought it could be done

But EVERY SINGLE KID in that classroom was eating oatmeal raisin cookies like there was no tomorrow

James tried to make sure there was a cookie left at the end for Liam to take home to you

But he couldn’t keep them out of these kids’ grubby little paws and they ended up eating them all :(((((((((

James is really sad when he notices

He hadn’t quite realized just how much he wanted you to try his cookies but now he’s really disappointed

And poor Liam :((((((

Poor baby Liam is also pretty put out by it, James can tell

James apologizes to Liam about it

Liam says it’s fine, but James sees right through it

He gives Liam a big hug at the end of the day as well as another apology

(And a lollipop, but secretly so the other kids don’t ask for one too)

A month passes, and everything’s pretty normal

Until one weekend in early February, James hears knocking on his apartment door

He’d been grading, and Remus and Sirius were over to hang about and chat

James wasn’t expecting anyone else to arrive so he’s pretty confused

But he answers anyway

(Let's be honest here people, James would be the first to be killed in a horror movie)

Thankfully Jason doesn’t murder James on his doorstep

Instead (and very surprisingly) it’s Liam who’s standing anxiously at James’ front door

Immediately, James thinks the worst

Did something happen to Liam? Are you home? Did something happen to you?

James is immediately crouched in front of Liam, eye level, asking him what he needs

And Liam anxiously stutters out that he needs help

With what? you may ask

Well, my dear reader

Liam needs help making homemade oatmeal raisin cookies

For his mom

For her birthday

LIAM ISTG—ASDKFJHLWN

YOUR SON IS SUCH A SWEETHEART

AND JAMES CANNOT GET OVER IT

(He’s also super relieved bc he was real scared for a second that something terrible had happened)

So Liam and James and Remus and Sirius (who Liam knows as Mr. Lupin and Mr. Black from school) all get to work making homemade oatmeal raisin cookies for you for your birthday

Liam explains that you’re working a twelve-hour shift and a couple hours of overtime on top of that, so you set him up with Ms. Hope (Remus’ mom, who watches him often)

Apparently Liam asked her if he could go to James’ apartment to ask if he could bake oatmeal raisin cookies for his mom, and Ms. Hope said yes

(Remus quickly calls his mother to reassure her that Liam arrived safe and sound and is currently baking with them, just so she doesn’t worry herself)

Liam also informs James, Remus, and Sirius that he’s supposed to be staying at Ms. Hope’s house until tomorrow morning, when you’ll pick him up

Ms. Hope insisted that you leave Liam with her and not worry about him, if just for the night

The four boys have a blast for the next three hours or so, baking far too many batches of cookies and then finding a nice gift bag to put them in

James also gets some stray craft supplies (he keeps it around in case he runs out at school) and everyone makes their own birthday cards for you

Harry goes back to Ms. Hope’s just in time for dinner, which James, Sirius, and Remus join them for, much to Ms. Hope’s excitement

The evening is just terribly fun for all of them

Fast forward to the next day and you’re rushing to look semi-presentable to go get Liam from Ms. Hope’s house

The doorbell rings, and you’re cursing internally because you’re already fifteen minutes late

You got home so late at night that it was actually early in the morning, and you’d overslept

And now there’s another thing to deal with at the door

James’ eyebrows raise slightly at the force with which you wrench open the door, and he’s a little concerned that you’ll be displeased at what he’s done

But you realize who it is (Liam) and who he’s with (James) and all the tension in your shoulders melts back

Liam is immediately all over you, wishing you a happy birthday with a big hug and a wet kiss to your cheek and resting his head on your shoulder when you pick him up

You’re completely thrilled to see him

(If immensely confused about why your son's teacher is also on your doorstep with a rather large gift bag)

James smiles sheepishly, but he’s reassured by your smile as you say good morning

So he explains the whoooooole story with you pitching in here and there

Until finally he gets to the fact that he and Liam (and Remus and Sirius ofc) have made you oatmeal raisin cookies

At this point, James is pretty certain that you can’t do much to endear him further to you

But you’ve got the most lovely way of proving him wrong when he begins to think like that because the way your eyes light up at the mention of oatmeal raisin cookies makes James want to keep repeating the words over and over so the look never fades from your face

He hands over the gift bag (with another small explanation about the two extra cards and who exactly Sirius and Remus are), wishes you a happy birthday, and politely excuses himself

As much as James loves to be around you and Liam, he knows his place

At the end of the day, he’s still Liam’s kindergarten teacher, and Liam is still your son

So he leaves you and Liam to celebrate your birthday between the two of you

When he gets back to his flat and locks the door behind him, James feels a strange sort of ache settle over his shoulders and seep deep into the cavity of his chest. He swallows around the strange feeling in his throat and takes a deep breath. It’s fine. Everything’s fine.

Next Part: James Takes Liam to School

#james potter x reader #james potter x you #james potter x mom!reader #james potter x nurse!reader #kindergarten teacher!james potter #librarian!remus #librarian!remus lupin #mom!reader #nurse!reader #school librarian!remus lupin #school secretary!sirius black #kindergarten teacher!james potter x nurse!mom!reader #weird ass tags

92 notes · View notes

shanastoryteller · 1 year

Note

Happy birthday, Shana! 🎉🎉🌻🌻

Untamed or Naruto?

When Naruto is born, the nine tailed fox is pulled from Kushina along with her and it's only because of Minato's quick application of a seal that keeps disaster from becoming even worse.

Dozens of buildings and hundreds of lives are lost in the devestation. Still, it could have been a far worse attack, if Naruto had not been a suitable host for the demon.

It's a risk, one that Kushina screams at him for taking. The seal might not hold. Babies are not meant to be containers. It could kill their daughter, and sure, the nine tail might die along with her, but at what cost?

The seal holds. Naruto's strength holds.

The ordeal nearly kills Kushina and weakens her enough that she'll never again be an active duty ninja.

Minato sleeps at his office after that. Kushina doesn't even let him hold her until she's six months old and it's not until Naruto is almost two that she lets him move back into their home.

Still. Things aren't quite the same between them after that, when Kushina saw how he quick he was to sacrifice his daughter for the village.

Practically, she understands.

But no one has ever accused Kushina of being practical.

A container forced to spend their whole life fighting the fox will be weak. There's nothing for it - all their energy and chakra and time is spent subduing the fox, consciously or subconsciously.

Her daughter has been sabotaged from her first breath, made a target and given no way to defend herself.

"You want me to marry your daughter?" Kakashi squeaks, wondering if this is some new cruel prank she's playing on him. "She's a baby!"

But Kushina is serious. She's serious a lot these days, but at his question she almost smiles. "Not now. In about twenty years."

"Why," he starts, and then doesn't know how to continue.

"You're selfish," she says and his shoulders hunch. "Naruto won't be able to protect herself when people discover what she is and start coming after her. Minato has seen to that. My identity as the container was a well kept secret. Thanks to the attack, half of Konoha knows what Naruto is, and the other nations will hear of it, and they will come for her."

"I can protect her without marrying her," he insists, looking down at the baby in Kushina's arms. The idea that anyone, never mind him, will marry her someday is ridiculous.

"You're selfish," she repeats. "You'll choose her if she belongs to you."

Kakashi doesn't know what to say to that. He knows why Minato hasn't come home.

He goes to him, and his teacher just shrugs and says, "Don't you want to be my son-in-law, Kakashi?" Then, "Don't worry about it for the next twenty years. A lot can happen between now and then."

Gai hears he's been betrothed - uhg - to the hokage's daughter and congratulates him on an excellent political match and then takes pity on him and takes him to a bar.

It's his first time drinking and he probably shouldn't have let Gai goad him into a drinking contest.

Naruto is wary of people.

Some people love her, coo over her being the hokage's daughter and a brave little girl, patting her head and shoving sweets into her hands.

Some people glare at her, hiss about her being a demon who's killed the hokage's real daughter, and slam doors in her face and throw rocks at her back.

"Is it weird having a husband?" Ino asks while they make flower crowns from the days discarded flowers. It's the end to their first week at the academy and her parents are fighting - again - so Naruto had gone home with Ino instead. The Yamanakas are always nice to her.

Her mother doesn't want her to attend the academy, says its a waste of time and dangerous anyway. Her father says that the child of the hokage can't not attend the academy.

Neither of them had asked her what she wanted.

She pauses, thinking. Kakashi greets her and bows to her but he's ANBU, something she's not supposed to know but seems very obvious, so she doesn't really see him outside of when he comes by to talk to her parents sometimes. "No? He's not my husband yet anyway."

She's overheard him a couple times asking her father to find her a different husband, saying that he'll be bodyguard forever if only he doesn't have to marry her.

It hurts that Kakashi thinks she's a demon too. She'd always thought he was really cool and had thought it was nice that she'd have a nice, cool husband when she was older.

But she doesn't think she wants to marry someone who hates her.

The Uchihas aren't always nice to her, but Mikoto always is, coming over to her house to talk to her mother and dragging her sons with her, or keeping her door open to Naruto whenever she comes knocking.

Itachi stops coming early on, promoted quickly and no time to tag along to his mother's house visits. Sasuke is there and he scows and pouts but can be efficiently bullied into helping her get into whatever trouble she's decided is most worth her attention that day, so he's pretty all right, for a boy.

Naruto has to pay a lot of really close attention to people, because she never knows if they're going to be nice and mean, and the Uchihas aren't like the Yamanakas. Their reactions differ, so she has to pay attention.

Something is wrong.

Her mother doesn't believe her.

Her father doesn't listen.

She goes to Kakashi out of desperation. She tries to avoid him as much as she can, but he's the one person who might be able to convince her father that something is wrong.

"Ah, Naruto-hime, what can I do for you?" he asks, tone respectful. When she was younger, she liked that nickname. Now she knows that he's mocking her.

"Something is wrong with the Uchiha and you need to get my father to do something about it," she says.

His face is hidden by his stupid mask but she can tell he's frowning. "Why would you-"

She cuts him off, wanting this conversation to be as short as possible. He doesn't believe her either - shocker - but he agrees to look into because it's the quickest way to end the conversation.

Danzo is quietly, secretly, executed for treason. Madara Uchiha is listed as an active S class missing Konoha nin.

There are lots of talks about what, exactly, to do about the Uchihas, on how to handle their almost betrayal. Considering the outside manipulation, her father is inclined to ignore it, but something has to be done. Symbolically, if nothing else.

"If they feel excluded, then do something to make them feel included," Naruto says, nine years old and exhausted from the years of tension between the Uchihas and - well, everyone. Sasuke is so worried about his reputation that it takes ages to get him to do anything fun. It's almost quicker to get Shikamaru involved, which is saying something. "Do something no one else can question."

"Itachi or Sasuke?" her father asks, head bent over his paperwork.

She doesn't know what he's talking about. "For what?"

"Which do you prefer?" he asks.

"Sasuke?" she says, because Itachi is always very nice to her, especially after she helped prevent him from becoming a mass murderer, but he's never once helped her prank Iruka-sensei.

He nods and says nothing more and she rolls her eyes and goes to find something to do. Kiba has started training with Akamaru and she bets she can totally derail that without getting yelled at by Tsume.

A week later Sasuke climbs into her window and hisses furiously, "We're getting married?"

Huh.

Well, it looks like Kakashi got what he wanted.

She decided a long time ago she didn't want to marry him, and Sasuke is her friend, so this is fine. It's better.

Sasuke pats her shoulder and doesn't even yell at her when she ruins his shirt with tears.

He's already a better husband than Kakashi could ever be.

Minato is dreading today. Enrolling Naruto into the Academy had seemed like the right thing to do seven years ago, because what would people say about a hokage who didn't, but now that it's Graduation Day and he's going to have to deal with the gossip around the Hokage's daughter failing to even become a genin.

Iruka comes to drop off the team assignments and he does a double take when looking through them. "She passed?"

The chunin blinks and then asks, "Who, Hokage-sama? Haruno Sakura? It's rare for a civilian child, but her academic scores are quite high, even if her physical is lacking. She has a lot of potential."

He waves a dismissive hand. "No. My daughter."

The silence turns frigid and when he looks up it's too Iruka outright glaring at him. He's so taken aback that he can't even reprimand him for it. Iruka swallows, visibly forcing his face into less mutinous expression, and says, "Naruto is Top Kunoichi. That's why she's on the same team as Sasuke, who's Rookie of the Year, even though I was hesitant on putting them together when they already work so well together. They could use variety. Sakura is Dead Last, but only because of her physical skills. With the right teacher, she'll shape up quickly."

"Top Kunoichi," he repeats dubiously. "I've seen her test scores."

"Not since I took over her class, apparently," he says, and that tone should get him in trouble, but Minato doesn't care about that now. "Her previous instructor was ... biased. Under fair instruction, she excels."

She can't excel. She's handicapped, and it's his fault, not hers, but that doesn't change what she's capable of. "That's not possible."

Iruka's eyes narrow. "She's passed my tests. Now it's up to her jounin sensei."

Assigning someone with no biases is impossible, but he can at least assign someone who's never matched the shinobi art of lying about things they don't care about.

Naruto hopes this is a nightmare. Sasuke is pinching the bridge of his nose and not looking at any of them.

"Um," Sakura says hesitantly, "nice to meet you, Tsume-sensei."

She scowls at all of them. "I hope you fail. I have a clan to run! I don't have time to deal with untrained, undisciplined puppies!"

They probably shouldn't have broken into the Inuzuka compound so many times. Tsume has plenty of reasons to make their lives miserable. Or, well, hers and Sasuke's. Sakura's never done anything to her.

At least it's not Kakashi.

#prompt answers #prompts are closed #asks #gopherheiyuki #naruto #why is this so long #how did this happen

745 notes · View notes

aislinrayne · 6 months

Text

[𝔐𝔞𝔰𝔱𝔢𝔯𝔩𝔦𝔰𝔱] [𝔖𝔢𝔯𝔦𝔢𝔰 𝔐𝔞𝔰𝔱𝔢𝔯𝔩𝔦𝔰𝔱]

𝔖𝔲𝔪𝔪𝔞𝔯𝔶: Anthony Lockwood makes it through a late and relaxed morning, a leisurely afternoon well suited to reminiscing, and the earliest part of a normal evening before his luck runs out.

ℜ𝔞𝔱𝔦𝔫𝔤: M

𝔚𝔞𝔯𝔫𝔦𝔫𝔤𝔰: They're idiots, your honour, unrequited pining (it's requited, they're just stupid), language, canon typical violence, only proof-read while sick

𝔄𝔲𝔱𝔥𝔬𝔯'𝔰 𝔑𝔬𝔱𝔢: I love me a good miscommunication trope, and coming up with ideas on how to make long-term mutual pining work is way too much fun, so finally figuring out both angles of what these two lovebird's dynamic was going to be was a major driving force behind this re-write hehehe I'm not sorry This chapter fought me every step of the way, and I had to split it into two parts so it wasn't outrageously long, but in the end I'm incredibly happy with the result! Chapter three will take place only a few minutes after the end of this.

Since this is where the 'slight au' part comes into play, I'm curious to see what you guys think of the world building in this one! Please feel free to leave any comments or questions if I was a bit vague on something, or if you just want to know more about this little headcanon universe of mine

𝔚𝔬𝔯𝔡 ℭ𝔬𝔲𝔫𝔱: 5.17k

⇠ 𝔓𝔯𝔢𝔳𝔦𝔬𝔲𝔰 𝔠𝔥𝔞𝔭𝔱𝔢𝔯

The sun has only just begun its descent towards the horizon, but the chill on the wind already cuts to the bone. In spite of the numerous layers of suit and coat, it bites into Anthony’s flesh.

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” a woman calls out to him, loud enough to be heard over the chorus of cafe patrons hiding from the cold behind steaming cups of tea and coffee.

“I think I’d be better off not doing anything you would do, Luce,” he shoots a wink at her over his shoulder, holding the door open with his elbow to shoot a two-fingered salute at the ginger woman beside her laughing unabashedly at their playful bickering.

Lucy mutters a retort under her breath, a particularly colourful string of insults if the swat on the arm it earns from her girlfriend is anything to go by.

The door swings shut behind him, abruptly cutting off the sound of Norrie chastising her partner about ‘publicly decent language’ and leaving him with a pep in his step as he wanders towards Regent Street in the general direction of his favourite rapier shop.

Something about afternoon tea with his best friend and her girlfriend always leaves him feeling reminiscent, the water-colour splashes in soft shades of orange across the horizon only serve to heighten the feeling. His short walk to Mullet and Sons allows him some time to indulge.

A lot had changed in the six years since Lucy had joined himself and George at Lockwood & Co.. For one, they’d gained quite the reputation. Fittes and Rotwell were still most people’s first choice, but now you’d be more likely to hear their little agency recommended than Bunchurch or Tendy’s. He’ll admit, initially it seemed as though they were going to become infamous rather than renowned; between the disaster at Sheen Road, the disaster at Combe Carey, the disaster at–

Well, you get the point. It hadn’t looked promising.

Their luck had begun to change with the case of the Bone Glass, then eventually Aickmere’s, but it hadn’t felt like nearly enough. Those days had been filled with anxiety. Worst of all was the fear of his Talent fading, the uncertainty of what his life would look like without the thing he’d based every choice he’d ever made on. How was he supposed to survive in a world in which he couldn’t See? He’d been terrified of running out of time to achieve his dreams, petrified he would fail his family by never achieving anything worthy of their name. It was safe to say he hadn’t been in the best headspace.

The fear almost overwhelmed him as time rushed on towards his eighteenth birthday, made all the more unignorable by his experience watching Quill Kipps lose his own Sight. And while they’d found a solution for the retired Fittes agent in the form of Fairfax’s Ghost-Vision goggles, there was no replacement for the real thing.

And then the daunting milestone had come and gone with no discernible difference.

George was the next oldest. Over the course of that year his Talent faded slowly, then all at once. He hadn’t minded overmuch, the library had become preferable to being in the field somewhere around their fifth arson-related-incident. In his defence, Mrs. Manfield flying across her lawn like a bat out of hell screaming about her antique doily collection being smoke-stained would have been enough to traumatise anyone.

The following year had gone quite flawlessly, if he did say so himself. With George as their dedicated researcher, and Lucy and Anthony’s competitive spirits driving them to never fall behind each other in skill, they were capable of taking on a significantly larger number of cases. If they needed additional hands in the field for any particularly challenging jobs they’d enlist either George or Kipps with the aid of the goggles.

But by her nineteenth birthday, Lucy actually seemed upset that her Talent refused to fade. The boys had been confused by this at first, and while Lockwood had the sense to leave it alone, George had continued to question her. They’d found out the full story of how she’d come to be an agent when she’d finally broken down. She’d never chosen this life, and even though she loved her time with Lockwood & Co., she’d always been comforted by the notion that this life of fighting and fear had an expiration date. In contrast to his own relief and excitement at the prospect of never losing his Talent, she felt nothing but trepidation. George was watery eyed by the end of her confession, his lips pressed tightly into a thin line to prevent them trembling. Anthony felt like he might be sick. By the light of the numerous mismatched candles on Lucy’s lopsided birthday cake, they made a pact to pretend as though her Talent was fading, and phase her out of the agency within a year's time.

A few short months later, the first headline popped up in a small gossip rag. It wasn’t even one of his top five. Someone had taken notice of his remaining Sight at his advanced age, but hadn’t yet noticed their attempts to fake Lucy’s waning Listening.

In the days after the first article's publication, the obnoxiously loud business phone began ringing more often. Then, another article in a larger paper. Followed by another, then several more.

Anthony had to restrain George from ripping the phone’s cord out of the wall after one too many interrupted naps. The researcher moved in with Flo not long after, but still kept his room mostly furnished for the evenings he worked far too late to make it to their flat safely.

By the time their story had been told often enough for the media to lose interest, they had gone from having enough cases to keep them busy to too many to keep up with in what had to be some kind of record time. In light of the extra attention they had considered hiring another agent, but their options were slim and the thought of bringing in a child to fight their battles was surprisingly difficult to stomach. Anthony made a mental note to apologise to Barnes after that realisation, gaining some perspective on the man who’d tried so desperately to keep them away from the front lines.

Time felt more like an undefeatable foe in the six months that followed than it had at any previous point in his life. How was he supposed to keep taking on cases without anyone to watch his back in the field? Would he end up alone in this bloody house yet again? Despite the thoughts that haunted his darker moments, he knew he would let Lucy leave without any fuss. Even in the last weeks of her employment he knew he could never be selfish enough to ask her to stay. Though, had he known–

A street sign reading ‘Half Moon Lane’ interrupts him from his stroll down memory lane, heralding the end of his journey. The old building slumps under the weight of time. Even the paint on the window is chipped, almost removing the ‘Sons’ in Mullet and Sons. Although the storefront's outward appearance borders on decrepit, they have undeniably the highest quality rapier’s in London. The hinges shriek as he pushes the door open, alerting the proprietor to the presence of a customer.

“Ah, Mr. Lockwood! A pleasure, as always. How can I help you, my boy?” emerging from the back room, the white haired old man beams upon recognising him.

“Mr. Mullet, please, the pleasure is mine! I believe one of my agents placed an order with you recently? I’m here to pick up for her.”

After confirming her name and the details of the order, the old man teeters his way back into the room he’d just come from. When he emerges again, he does so with empty hands and a deep frown upon his face.

“It appears one of my sons has caused a touch of a mixup and sent your employee’s rapier home with another agent. I can place another order with our supplier, but I’m afraid it won’t arrive until the end of the month,” his tone is apologetic, but Anthony still has to fight the urge to groan in frustration.

“Mistakes happen, Mr. Mullet. We’re only human after all,” thankfully, he’s had plenty of practice schooling his tone over the years, “that being said… we’ve made commitments for this evening. I can’t very well ask one of my agents to walk into a haunted house unarmed.”

“Of course, I understand completely. Since you’ve been doing business with us for so long, I’m willing to offer a percentage off of any of our in stock models as a token of our apology.”

It’s a gracious offer, one Anthony is happy to accept. He defers to the expertise of the older man, allowing him to lead them from option to option within the dimly lit store.

Trying to choose such an essential tool for her without her input is a surprisingly daunting task, and he finds himself quickly overwhelmed. Searching for something to distract him until he can ground himself properly, he lets his eyes wander freely over the different kinds of metal glittering from mahogany shelves before they fix on a single standing display across the room. Driven by curiosity, he approaches the case to inspect its contents. What he finds nearly steals the breath from his lungs. Laying on a scarlet velvet cushion is the most beautiful rapier he’s ever laid eyes on. It has a fine silver blade, connected to an intricate swept hilt inlaid with gold leaves that wind around the counterguards and down the central ridge. When his eyes travel to the pommel and find her birth stone caged within golden vines, he begins mental preparations to re-mortgage the house. Thankfully, when Mr. Mullet wanders over to find him staring transfixed at the weapon, he gives him a knowing smile and cuts the younger man a deal he almost feels guilty accepting.

When he departs the shop, rapier tucked safely into a cloth wrap, the sun is dangerously close to the horizon.

Uttering a quiet prayer to the powers-that-be, he scans the area for a payphone. Luck is on his side today and he finds one rather quickly, tucked into a nook beside a cafe a few shops down. As he makes a beeline for it with purpose, he comes aware of the hairs on the back of his neck standing slowly to attention. At first it’s easy to brush it off as a result of the temperature, but the closer he gets to the booth the more the sensation builds. It feels like someone’s watching him. Stepping into the silver-glass encased rectangle, he lifts the phone from the receiver before pausing. Thinking quickly, he puts on his best thoughtful expression, pretending to have forgotten the number he needs to call as an excuse to let his eyes wander his surroundings. The droning of the phone waiting for input makes the entire situation feel even more unnerving.

Nothing glaringly obvious jumps out at him; no nefarious stalker in a trench coat peers at him from some dark alley, no one stares at him over the top of an upside-down newspaper. All his eyes can find is folks hurrying into their vehicles before the threat of darkness grows, shop workers locking their doors and flicking off their lights.

Scoffing at himself for allowing his paranoia to get the best of him, he dials a night cab. Though he’s quite certain he’d imagined the threat, he still refrains from mentioning his destination out loud. He hadn’t made it as far as he had by throwing all caution to the wind. Just… most of it. Before he can waste too much time chastising himself any further, he slams the phone back into place and turns with purpose to wait for his ride in the safety of the cafe.

Honestly, it’s a good thing he’s so dramatic. If he hadn’t insisted on doing the most theatrical spin, complete with the billowing of his coat as he exited the box, he wouldn’t have startled the man watching him from behind the corner of a nearby bookstore. The balding head disappears as the body it’s attached to ducks behind the brick wall. Anthony has several options, but very few of them are good. He quickly decides his best course of action is to pretend to be unaware of the man’s presence, electing to continue on to grab himself a tea whilst he plans his next move.

Watching the brilliant orange and scarlet glow of sunset, Anthony finds himself observing the comings and goings of vehicles outside the shop window. There’s an unusual amount of traffic for this time of day. He’d expect to see a large number flocking to their homes, seeking safety from the threats that come with darkness. But to see even two or three vehicles stop to park alongside the road this time of night was unusual.

The arrival of his cab shakes him from that train of thought, jumping the tracks straight to figuring out how to make it to Mrs. Roland’s house in decent time without being followed. He hadn’t seen another sign of the man since, but he’s not convinced the danger has actually passed. With a huff, he draws himself out of the comfortable chair. The cold air is no more forgiving now than it had been before. Allowing the warmth of the night cab to envelop him, he instructs the driver to begin a complex route to their destination in the hopes of losing those tailing him.

The sky is pitch black by the time they arrive, but his efforts seem to have been successful. While he’d thought for a moment one of the cars that started up as he’d exited the cafe might have been following them at first, there’s no sign now of anyone suspicious following behind.

Stepping out of the cab onto the curb, he takes a deep breath and tries to sort his thoughts before he dares to step foot into the house. Why, precisely, would somebody have him under observation? For once in his life, he can’t think of anyone who would have reason to. Pulling up the sleeve of his coat to check the watch on his wrist, he curses under his breath at the time. There’s going to be a lot of grovelling in his very near future. It’s nearly thirty minutes past six. She’s going to kill him, and he can’t even fault her for it.

He’s about to rush into the house when a set of headlights comes into view at the top of the street, nearly blinding him before cutting to blackness at the sight of his silhouette.

Bloody hell, that is the final straw. He’d done quite a fine job feigning ignorance until this point, but he has to draw the line at this level of obviously shady behaviour. If they’re this incompetent he can get to the bottom of the matter without the need for secrecy or strategy. He straightens to his full height, setting his jaw and turning to walk with confidence towards the sleek black car now parked roughly a hundred feet ahead of him.

The sound of glass shattering fills the quiet night air before he can make it more than halfway, stopping him dead in his tracks as he listens for any further sign of danger. Usually, the thought of his associate in any form of peril is more than enough to send him spiralling into an – admittedly unnecessary – protective frenzy. However, considering all elements of the present situation, he finds himself torn. Their interview with Mrs. Roland prior to the acceptance of the case had left them both confident the Visitor is a Type One, which she’s more than capable of handling herself, and if he doesn’t chase this lead down now–

An unholy shriek echoes down the street, sending chills down his spine.

Sketchy stalker-mobile be damned.

He turns on a dime, long legs carrying him across the lawn as if chasing his own shadow as the headlights behind him reignite and light his path. The golden beams veer away, the car pulling a sharp u-turn to flee the scene. If he wasn’t so worried, he’d probably be frustrated. He almost can’t stop fast enough to prevent himself from running face-first into the door when the handle refuses to turn. Swearing loudly, he jiggles it again to ensure it isn’t just stiff before he risks causing property damage. The screaming is making it hard to think, but he can’t quite put his finger on what about it is making him feel so unnerved. When it finally hits him, property damage is the least of his concerns. Barely audible beneath the unnaturally shrill sound, her scream is hoarse and pained.

He takes a full stride back, rocking his weight back on his left leg and lifting his right. His foot hits its mark directly beside the lock, the full weight of his panic-aided-strength sending it flying open. He can’t help but wince at the crunch of drywall, likely from the knob on the far side embedding itself in the wall, but he doesn’t waste any further time on it before striding into the house. Dead ahead, an electric lantern sitting on the kitchen counter bounces light off of the shining tiles covering the majority of the space. To his left is a small dining room with only a mid-sized table, four chairs, and a plethora of obnoxiously colourful paintings on the walls. Deciding having both hands free will be more conducive to survival, he dumps the cloth bag containing her new rapier on the table and rushes towards the commotion.

Between his relief at seeing her unharmed and the sheer comedic value of the expression on her face as she slides around the corner with arms flailing, he almost bursts into hysterical laughter. Thankfully, his self preservation instinct is strong enough to encourage him to duck behind the wall while he gets himself under control. Under normal circumstances he would let her exit the house rather than practically jumping out at her, but he can’t be sure there isn’t someone still waiting outside. And as a small bonus, if she’s already mentally signing his death certificate, he can’t make it any worse by making an entrance. He feels a grin spread across his features despite a valiant effort not to enjoy this too much.

“Sorry it took me so long, darling. Traffic was atrocious,” he has to bend to wrap an arm around her middle, but that doesn’t stop him. Instead of lashing out or screaming again, she catches him off guard by completely relaxing into his hold. A spark of protectiveness flares beneath his breast as the back of her head falls to rest on his collarbone and she lets out a shaking breath. In stark contrast to her usually unflappable nature, she trembles like a leaf. There’s no way a simple Type One put her in this state.

It takes all of his willpower to peel his arm from her waist, to offer her the only shield he can by tucking her safely behind him. He takes a deep breath in through his nose, exhaling slowly through pursed lips and drawing his rapier. It’s not enough to eliminate the intoxicating effect of her proximity, but it dampens it enough he can think clearer.

“Anthony John Lockwood, you fucking asshole! The sun set half an hour ago!” the rage in her tone fills him with relief, not even the impact of the flat of her hands against his back can take away from it. He’d obviously prefer if she were calm, but he’ll take anger over despair any day.

“Any idea what kind of Visitor we’re dealing with? Or what the Source could be?” he breezes past her outburst, not having to look over his shoulder to know if looks could kill he’d be dead on his feet.

He knew this routine like the back of his hand. She’d be angry at first, call him every name in the book, and then they’d move past it and get the job done.

Except there’s no scoff, no retort, no rapid fire insults, no reply of any kind. The silence is deafening. Taking back every scathing remark he’s ever made about Orpheus’ lack of restraint, he caves to the impulse and glances over his shoulder. He’d been right about the look, at least. The incredulous fury painted across her face might have been comical in another place, on another day. But there, just beneath the surface, was something he hadn’t expected to find; betrayal.

Shit. He’s really fucked up this time.

“Y’know what? Figure it out yourself,” the venom dripping from her tone feels like knives in his chest, “you would have had to if you’d been a minute later anyways.” Time comes shuddering to a halt. His pulse is deafening as it thunders in his ears. If he’d put her life in legitimate danger – regardless of the circumstances – he’d never forgive himself.

“What do you mean? What happened?” he manages to choke around the lump in his throat that feels suspiciously like his heart, turning to face her fully and reassure himself by searching every visible inch of her for any sign of injury. The urge to reach out and touch her, to feel her body beneath his hands and know for sure she isn’t being stubborn enough to hide some kind of fatal wound from him, is so strong his fingers burn.

After a few incidents involving him turning into a lovesick moron at the slightest touch from her early on in her employment, she’d gone to great lengths to avoid any form of contact with him. He’d come to terms with this, resigning himself to the idea of a life spent admiring her from arms length. So while she hadn’t seemed too opposed to having him in her personal space tonight, he had no intentions of pushing any farther and making her uncomfortable.

That was the plan, at least. But when screaming pierces the air once more, the colour drains from her face, and he watches her cave in on herself in an attempt to hide; he feels like this counts as extenuating circumstances. He takes a single large step forward, arms reaching towards her in unison. Her hands are over her ears, head tucked into her chest, elbows tight to her ribs. He allows his upper body to curl at the edges and cage her against him, hugging her head to his chest to muffle the noise.

Then, it stops. It’s hard to decide if the ghostly howling or ensuing silence is louder.

“You okay?” he murmurs the question, reluctantly releasing her to rest his hands on her shoulders and leaning down to try to catch her gaze in the low light. There’s merely inches between their faces when her unfocused eyes finally lock with his own. It’s hard to breathe without acknowledging they’re breathing the same air, but he files that thought away for later. He concentrates instead on tracing every one of her features with his gaze, every tensed muscle and line that may offer him some insight into her condition. She squeezes her eyes shut, blinking like she’s just woken up. When she finally focuses on him, her pupils blow wide as dinner plates. Her lips part, her small gasp the only disturbance in the air as he involuntarily holds his breath.

A sharp stab of heartbreak courses through him as she steps back abruptly, raising her palms in surrender. His poor heart stops dead for the umpteenth time today when he spots the dark spot on her hand. She tries to drop her arms, to move to put more distance between them, but his sense of urgency outweighs his better judgement as he grasps her tightly by the wrist. The chill of her skin beneath his does nothing to assuage his concerns as he pulls her across the kitchen to the light, ignorant to her protests through the haze of his anxiety. Their proximity to the light confirms his fear, and the crimson red of fresh blood staining her skin has his stomach rebelling against him. As soon as he drops her wrist she pulls it away and clutches it to her body, glaring daggers at him. He makes a mental note to beg for her forgiveness later, reaching for her face and watching shades of red begin to decorate her flesh as she reaches new levels of infuriation. Her skin is sinfully soft beneath the fingers that turn her towards the light and brush against her cheek, tucking the hair behind her ear to give him a better view. A cold blanket of righteous fury settles over him at the sight of the narrow crimson river running sluggishly down her neck, using his thumb to swipe it away. Murderous thoughts fill his head at the sight of the stain left in its wake, doubling in intensity at her expression when he shows her the smear of red highlighted by its contrast against his pale skin.

“Now will you tell me about it?” any attempt at a playful tone is harshly undercut by the tremor of rage in his voice, but she still laughs with less nerves than he’d expected.

She studies him closely, but he stares right back, too focused on making the bloody thing pay for hurting her to be self-conscious under her scrutinous gaze. After a short minute of this, understanding blossoms across her face.

“Through the living room, down the hallway - mind the runner, it’s slippery - the primary haunting is in the bedroom. Husband’s name was Harold Roland. There’s a painting on the left wall, initialed ‘H.R.’, psychic imprint like I’ve never seen. Twenty quid says that’s the Source,” she pauses, lost in thought with her eyes fixed on the ground, “Oh! And it’s probably obvious by now, but it’s definitely a Screaming Spirit.”

He can feel the corners of his lips quirking up as she drops the stubborn attitude.

‘Good girl,’ he wants to say.

“Your rapier is on the table,” he says instead, turning his back on her under the guise of watching the direction they’d heard the screaming from. In reality, he’d just needed an excuse to hide his blush and re-centre himself.

He’s so busy shaking the offending thoughts from his head and cursing himself out for allowing his mind to wander into unsafe territory that he’s completely blindsided by the burst of other-light lighting up the living room like a flash bang. He’s still blinking the blind spots from his eyes when rapid movement in his peripherals alerts him to the potential danger. The ringing of iron fills the air as he draws his rapier, muscle memory taking over despite his still spotty vision as he slices clean through the centre of the spectre mere inches from his face.

Behind him, the sound of her drawing her own blade drains anxiety he wasn’t aware he’d been feeling. As she takes her place beside him he admits to himself that nothing in this world feels more natural than having her at his side, trusting him to keep the Visitor at bay whilst he trusts her to strategize.

Despite being the newest member of their agency, Anthony trusts her instincts more than even his own most of the time. He’d figured out not long after she’d joined that she had a particular balance of empathy and intelligence - and a sixth sense he couldn’t really explain - that made her an asset in the field. Of course he’d never been dense enough to phrase it like that to her face, not after sticking his foot in his mouth with Luce all those years ago.

Her posture shifts almost imperceptibly, but it’s enough to tell him she’s finished piecing together a plan. All he can do now is hope she’s feeling generous enough to let him in on it.

The crisp clean sound of her new rapier sliding into its sheath suggests he might be out of luck. He’s considering whether or not it’s worth asking her directly when his brain sputters, then stalls. She steps back far enough he has no warning of her proximity until she presses herself completely against him, the surface area of her chest displacing against the back of his ribs in a way that leaves him feeling a little dizzy. As much as he really, really enjoys her hands dancing along his sides and hips, he can’t help but question her truly terrible timing as he fights to keep his blade in the air to ward off their ‘friend’.

“Follow my lead,” she says. It takes a while to filter through the dial-up connection that is his mind at that moment. He regains his composure just as she hurls the salt-bomb over his shoulder, realisation dawning on him in a flash similar to that of the silver fulminate as it collides with the ghost before him. So that’s what she’d been up to.

She’s off like a bullet the second the apparition dissipates, shooting past him and into the other room. In a rather impressive manoeuvre, she tucks and rolls to land on her side parallel to a horrifically sunny loveseat before shoving her arm beneath it as though searching for something. Of all of the things he could possibly expect for her to retrieve, a silver-net was not one of them. He adds that to the list of questions he has for her once they get this situation under control.

She’s back on her face and hurdling across the house like a bat out of hell when Mr. Roland decides to make another appearance in the form of a pair of ghostly arms emerging from the white walls. A stone drops in his gut when he realises there’s no way he can reach her before the grasping arms of the apparition wrap around her shoulders.

“DUCK!” he hollers, an iron taste filling his mouth. She immediately dives for the floor and–

He loses sight of her past the walls of the hallway.

The pounding of his heart drowns out the noises that follow, his legs carrying him across the house on autopilot. The cold air stings every inch of exposed skin as he closes the distance to the active haunting, but it’s not nearly as cold as the blood in his veins when he spots the telltale sparkle of silver on the rug outside the bedroom. He ducks to grab the net and sweeps through the doorway just in time to watch her body fly across the room.

Even the brutal screaming had paled in comparison to the sound of her head hitting the bed frame.

𝔑𝔢𝔵𝔱 𝔠𝔥𝔞𝔭𝔱𝔢𝔯 ⇢

taglist (if your name is in bold, it wouldn't let me tag you!): @tessas4 @chloejaniceeee @shakespearseclipse @ettadear @kassandra1000 @stardust611 @ell0ra-br3kk3r

𝔉𝔬𝔯 𝔱𝔞𝔤𝔩𝔦𝔰𝔱 𝔪𝔞𝔫𝔞𝔤𝔢𝔪𝔢𝔫𝔱, 𝔱𝔞𝔭 [𝔥𝔢𝔯𝔢]

76 notes · View notes

nouies · 9 months

Text

hello and welcome to the last fic rec of the year featuring my favourite works from what i’ve read during the past weeks. as always, please check tags before reading. if you liked the fics please reblog their posts, leave kudos and write a nice comment. happy reading! rec tag | more rec lists

— harry/louis —

໑ A Christmas at Home by @parmahamlarrie (T, 3k, established relationship, nurse louis, kid fic, christmas fluff) After meeting his boyfriend in the emergency room, not having Louis home for Christmas Eve (and his birthday) was not a big surprise to Harry. What he didn't expect was just how hard that would be on his six year old son, Arlo.

Or, the one where Arlo wants nothing more than to celebrate Louis' birthday with him, and Harry hates having to be the parent who says no.

໑ Could Be Kissing my Fruit Punch Lips by thecheshirepussycat / @the-cheshire-pussy-cat (E, 4.5k, strangers to lovers, college au, camboy louis, pining harry) Harry happens upon a porn site that specializes in live videos and sort of falls in love with the cute boy he only knows as Kitty.

And then he gets the surprise of his life when he finds out Kitty attends his university…

໑ Your name is tattooed to the bottom of my heart by @meloummy (E, 6.6k, canon au, established relationship, ass tattoo, light dom/sub) Prompt 114: a PWP where Louis gets an arse tattoo with Harry’s name for his birthday.

Or where Harry likes to mark what is his and receives a very special surprise fulfilling one of his fetishes; to see Louis marked for life with something related to him and in one of his favourite places.

໑ with gilded wolves on the wall by bruisedhoney / @yvesaintlourent (E, 13.3k, enemies to lovers, a/b/o game of thrones au, arranged marriage, fantasy) The Game of Thrones ABO AU where Harry is of the North, and Louis cannot be burnt.

໑ Wedding Bells Will Never Ring For Me by @lousmoonshine (E, 14.8k, exes to lovers, champagne problems au, famous louis, non-famous harry) After a failed proposal a few years back, Louis gets an unexpected invitation to his ex - Harry’s – wedding.

໑ play by the rules by @shimmeringevil (E, 21.8k, established relationship, bdsm, soft dom harry, read tags) Fed up with the excess energy that’s wreaking havoc on his personal and professional life, Louis asks his boyfriend to dom him in the hopes that it’ll help him relax. Unfortunately, Harry is a bit of a disaster when it comes to being a dom. So, Louis decides to get creative to try and encourage the dominant side out of him.

໑ tell me that your sweet love hasn't died by punk_pillow_princess / @punkpillowprincess (M, 27.4k, established relationship, happiest season au, movie inspired, hidden relationship, coming out, christmas) Louis and Harry have been in a relationship for a year. While on their way to Harry's parents' house and his family's legendary annual Christmas party, Louis discovers that Harry has not yet come out of the closet to his family, who are also full of secrets, fears and afraid of a bad reputation in town.

໑ Snow In Love by @lululawrence (NR, 33k, friends to lovers, advent fic, fake/pretend relationship) Harry and Louis are best friends and have been for basically as long as they can remember. For the first time since middle school, they are both single for the holidays leaving them with the brilliant idea to take each other as their dates to work events. To make things easier they will pretend like they’re dating. But then they learn something funny.

People thought they were already dating. Weird.

໑ Heart Beat by @allwaswell16 (E, 33.4k, acquaintances to lovers, advent fic, small town au, teacher harry, single parent louis, kid fic) Hideaway Haven is the place that Louis has always called home. It's also the place that Harry had tried to leave behind him. When Harry returns to start a music academy in his hometown, he finds himself face to face with his high school crush—and his charming daughter who wants to learn to play the drums.

— rare pairs / categories —

໑ Chaos by @haztobegood (louis/omc, M, 100, canon, fitf tour, bodyguard) Against the barricade, it’s complete chaos.

໑ Fine Line by LadyAJ_13 / @ladyaj-13 (louis/nick grimshaw, G, 1k, established relationship, canon compliant, relationship reveal) Telling his family was always going to be a big deal, but doing it alone was a sacrifice he could make. He never thought they’d fall about laughing.

໑ Daydream by @allwaswell16 (girl direction louis/zayn, T, 2k, strangers, coffee shop au, university student louis, farmer zayn) Every Thursday, Louis nods hello to her fellow regulars at Horan’s Cafe, one of whom is the woman of her dreams.

໑ Baking Memories by @haztobegood (louis/jack cochrane, T, 2k, canon compliant, kitchen chaos, christmas baking) After a long day of songwriting, Jack convinces Louis to bake mince pies together.

໑ say yes to heaven by edensrose / @holdingthornsandroses (louis/ethan hawke, M, 2.8k, strangers to lovers, 90s theatre au, references to shakespeare) Later when he’s back at the apartment with Oli, as Louis is somewhat dreamily waxing poetic about Ethan, Oli interrupts.-

“Does he quote Shakespeare when you fuck?” he asks, poking at the sizzling eggs on the stove.

Louis’ cheeks turn suspiciously pink.

Oli peers at his face. “Oh my god, he DOES. I KNEW IT.” He triumphantly brandishes his spatula in the air.

໑ Two Stars Passing By by Stria (Asia117) / @nooradeservedbetter (niall/lewis capaldi, G, 2.9k, established relationship, a/b/o au, domestic fluff) “I’ll have you know, I’m perfectly comfortable not looking and acting like a traditional alpha.” He needs Lewis to know that, for some reason.“Sure, mr feminism,” Lewis snorts. “Come on, we’re missing the game.”

(Or, fluffy slice-of-life moments in Niall and Lewis' relationship) ໑ One by @allwaswell16 (louis/tommy shelby, E, 4k, one night stands, pack a/b/o au, peaky blinders au, historical, pregnancy) When omega Louis Tomlinson becomes pregnant after an unexpected encounter, he decides his only option is to flee his pack. But Tommy Shelby, pack alpha of the Peaky Blinders, might not be willing to let him go so easily.

໑ it's a holidate by @disgruntledkittenface (harry/nick grimshaw, M, 4.3k, strangers to lovers, american au, company holiday party) When Nick meets Harry at his company holiday party, he never would have predicted that he’d met his match. Luckily, he’s been known to be wrong on occasion.

໑ a silent night with you by edensrose / @holdingthornsandroses (louis/lee pace, M, 7.8k, strangers to lovers, christmas au, writer louis, fake relationship louis/omc) Louis Lane. Popular British columnist and cook extraordinaire. He has a fiancé and and a sixty acre farm. Except Louis Tomlinson has none of these things. Guess who’s coming to dinner.

໑ Jump! by @reminiscingtherain (louis/tommy longhurst, M, 15.8k, strangers to lovers, canon, touring life) He let out a noise of surprise as his arms were suddenly full of a sweaty body, as Tommy threw himself at Louis and held on tightly.“Thank you so fucking much,” he muttered against Louis’ shoulder, squeezing a little. “You have no idea how much this means to us.”Louis softened a little, gently tapping Tommy’s back.“I absolutely know what this means, lad,” he replied, his voice gentle and supportive. “The way you’re reacting to being out there? That’s exactly why I chose you for the support slot.” He gave a reassuring squeeze. “You deserve this, okay?” He pulled back a little, gripping the back of Tommy’s neck and looking him in the eyes. “You deserve this.”

໑ 'tis the damn season by YesIsAWorld / @louandhazaf (girl direction hl, E, 17.9k, friends to lovers, advent fic, returning home) Harry returns to her small hometown over the holiday season and starts to think about the road not taken.

#28th appreciation #1dficvillage #1dsource #hlcreators #hljournal #trackinghome #ficsfor4am #*#*rec

87 notes · View notes

fandomwe1rd0 · 6 months

Text

Tamaki appreciation post!

Had to make an appreciation post for our favorite blonde himbo on his birthday! Happy birthday Tamaki! We all love you so much and you're our precious best boy who's done nothing wrong in his life ever! We love youuuuuu <3

AWWWWWW LOOK AT HIS BLUSHESSSSS

He's so pathetic, I love him so much <3

Awwww he's trying his best, I love my egotisical little boy <3 (Even though he probably has an inferiority complex just shush-)

Get yourself a man who will look at you the way Tamaki looks at Haruhi! A kiss here would be good- BUT THE HUG IS SO SOFT IM DECEASED!

MORE APPRECATION FOR THEIR HUGSSSS TAMAKI WAS SO SWEET HERE HE LOVES HARUHI SO MUCH I SWEAR TO GOD

He's such a pathetic loser, but he's MY pathetic loser

Nah cause you can say whatever you want, but there was NOTHING STRAIGHT about holding Haruhi's hand and calling Haruhi "My little rookie" when he thought Haruhi WAS A GUY! He's a bicon!

He's so stupid I love him so much!

He's so baby- Ok that tears it- I'm officially adopting him, signing adoption papers, he's my son, nobody hurt him.

Awwww my adorable loser

Episode 1 was just Tamaki being a bi disaster if I'm being honest-

Thought I'd end this post on one of Tamaki's most wholesome and adorable moments! You're a precious cinnamon bun who is too good for this world and we love you so much our traumatized himbo! Happy birthday and you deserve the world best boy!

#tamaki suoh #ouran high school host club #ouran host club #haruhi fujioka #tamaharu #ouran highschool host club #ouran #ohshc #tamaki ouran #tamaki #ohshc tamaki #tamaki is best boy

30 notes · View notes

cold-blooded-jelly-doughnut · 1 year

Text

In December 1993, TK Strand was born. Now, almost 30 years later, it’s time for a fandom celebration!

DEADLINE EXTENSION!!

Window of submission is now: 07/11/23 - 01/12/23

Hi guys. I have decided to shift from a hard deadline to a window of submission instead. This, in large part, is so I might not miss my own fandom event! I’m also hoping it’s gonna allow people in similar situations time to finish anything they might have been hoping to post/share for the event. Happy creating to all you!

—

Let’s get creative to celebrate our favourite disaster magnet paramedic!

Any medium of work is acceptable, from fic to fanart, videos to gifsets, as long as there’s a focus on his birthday where possible. If that’s not possible and you just wanna make something out of appreciation for TK as a character, that’s great too! It still counts! Anything at all you’d like to create to mark the occasion of TK Strand’s 30th birthday. (Also any genre is fine. Give us birthday fluff. Give us gritty birthday angst. Give us birthday smut 👀)

Although TK’s birthday is canonically in December, I thought it might be nice to give ourselves three months to the day to work on our pieces, meaning they will be posted on November 7th, which in fact is Ronen Rubinstein’s 30th birthday! I thought this might be a nice little way to mark our appreciation for both Ronen and TK.

On November 7th, please tag all works with #tkstrandturns30 and I will put together a masterlist in due course.

Below the cut are 30 prompts for possible birthday related shenanigans. Please ensure that when November 7th arrives, all work is appropriately tagged so we can help each other stay safe and informed. Happy creating!

Carlos stresses over what to get TK for his birthday, TK bombarding him with constant guesses all the while.

On TK’s birthday, Carlos takes him somewhere they’ve never been before.

Flashback to a previous birthday.

On TK’s birthday, one of their plans goes terribly wrong.

Another pet is added to the mix.

TK is moved/overwhelmed/astounded by the beautiful toasts/speeches his friends and family make at his birthday party.

TK becomes aware that his father’s latest midlife crisis is a direct result of the prospect of having a 30 year old son.

Carlos and TK celebrate alone.

Carlos buys TK an “experience” of some kind for his birthday.

TK and Carlos spend TK’s 30th in New York.

Someone ends up in the emergency room.

TK has his last near death experience of his 20s.

TK and Carlos discuss what they want from the next decade of their lives together.

Carlos hides 30 small surprises in the loft.

TK’s friends plan a surprise party, which either goes remarkably well or astonishing badly.

On or around TK’s 30th birthday, someone from his past makes an unwelcome appearance.

TK’s 4th coma. Will he wake up in time to see his birthday?

TK and Carlos plan a trip, and get stranded on the way there.

Owen is an emotional drunk at TK’s party, causing an unusual amount of chaos.

TK gets a birthday text from an ex.

TK thinks Carlos has forgotten his birthday.

TK receives an unusual gift from one of his friends.

TK leaves his birthday party for a moment of quiet introspection.

Enzo sends TK a birthday gift: something that belonged to Gwyn.

Carlos brings the wrong cake home from the bakery.

Carlos dresses as a clown for the party, not realising Owen is afraid of them.

TK accidentally finds out what Carlos is planning for his birthday, and has to choose whether to tell him, or pretend not to know.

Carlos and TK do something new in the bedroom.

TK gets the PERFECT birthday gift from an unexpected source.

Lou II wears a party hat, but who on earth got it onto his head?

#tkstrandturns30 #tk strand #911 lone star #tarlos fic #tarlos

99 notes · View notes

pjshermann · 8 months

Text

Harold Headcanons

He always wanted to become a writer. His ambition to study law was something that came later in life, in his adolescence. But ever since he was a young child, he loved to write. He’s proud of his work as a law professor, but the real pride of his career are the books he’s written.

After adopting Jude, he went to visit his parents’ graves and told them about his new son. He wished they could have gotten to meet Jude before they passed. He’s knows that they would’ve loved him. -

Before he went grey, his hair was a very dark, almost jet black colour

You have @bombaciouscaboose to thank for this one, but I headcanon that after Jude’s attempt, while he was still unconscious, Harold would sit by his side and read from the Torah or recite prayers. He was never the religious sort, but he found himself turning to prayer after nearly losing Jude

Besides his insatiable sweet-tooth, his favourite kind of food is anything and everything Italian.

His first date with Julia was inviting her over to his place and cooking her dinner. The food was a disaster, but they had a great time regardless, eating takeout in Harold’s living room

Keeps Jude’s law graduation photo on his desk. Both at his home study desk and his office desk at his university. (I actually wrote a fic about this teehee check it out on my ao3 PJShermann)

When Laurence had his twin daughters, he gave both of them the middle name "Harriet" after Harold. Harold cried when he found out.

When he and Laurence were in law school, they had made a similar pact/plan to what Jude and Willem had made for the Camino de Santiago pilgramage route, only theirs was the Via Francigena pilgramage route. The year they were meant to take the trip, was the year Jacob fell ill. They never went.

Speaks a little Russian, because he learned from his grandparents. Though now he can only remember a few phrases and lullabies (one of which he sang to Jude when he had his episode) because he stopped speaking it after they passed.

Actually doesn't really care much for gardening, but Julia wanted a garden in their house, so he helped her plant one and contributed to it's maintenance. When Jude comes along, although he's happy enough to delegate the maintenance to him, he hangs around outside while Jude gardens. He finds that it's during this, and while Jude is cooking, that Jude seems his most peaceful, most relaxed, and he's more likely to hum or sing quietly to himself, so Harold likes to be around to be able to witness it.

Out the four boys, the one who reminds him the most of Jacob in terms of his personality, is surprisingly, Malcolm.

Got his love of writing from his biological mother. Though he hardly knew her since she died when he was too young to remember and Adele was a constant mother-like presence throughout his life, his father gave him his mother's old journals, within which she wrote almost every day, up until the day she died. When he wrote his first book, after his father read it, he'd said to him "You write like your mother did".

Liesl was the one who first asked him out, instead of the other way around. They met through a high-school friend of Harold's, whom Liesl was cousins with. Their first date was to see the opera The Tales of Hoffmann

Get's his affinity for petnames from his father. He used petnames often for Jacob (Buddy, sweetie, my darling) but with Jude, he didn't use them simply because (without knowing really why) he felt Jude might be uncomfortable with them.

He kept a collection of all of the little knicknacks and gifts his grandfather used to give to him. It's why he usually gives Willem a little toy or trinket on his birthday.

On November 10th, the anniversary of Jacob's passing, he takes a long trek around the city and doesn't come back until very late. Part of the reason why he's so ecstatic around Thanksgiving is to deflect from the knowledge that it's the month that Jacob passed in.

Was on his high-school's tennis team as a teen, and they went all the way to nationals (Though they ended up losing then)

When he first met Willem, he hadn't remembered him from the men's suit store he frequented and Willem worked at, until Willem mentioned it to him.

#a little life #a little life play #harold stein #jude st francis #een klein leven #a little life book #headcanons #a little life headcannons

37 notes · View notes

melanieph321 · 8 months

Text

Pedri × Black Reader - Our Secret Part 6/10

Oh Gavi, a walking disaster in this chapter 😮‍💨

Credit to whoever made this gif, found it on Pinterest

The story of Marcella and Pedri. As students of the most prestigious high schools in the country, the two are very focused on developimg their indvidual talents. Marcella has music whilst Pedri has football. However, worlds collide when Pedri's secret is revealed, he has diabetes.

Enjoy!

"Why the long face my dear?"

Marcella stopped resting her head against the passenger window. Her dad looked concern as she turned to him.

"Is everything alright, you're awfully quiet."

She shrugged. "Oui papa. I'm just a little tired."

"And upset." He nodded. "Don't lie to me, I can tell."

Marcella crumbled in her seat, lowering her head. Her dad reached out to shrug her legs. "Your mother will come around, don't worry about it."

"It's just a stupid dress." She muttered. "Why does she care so much about a stupid dress?"

"Well, it cost her alot of money, didn't it? Just for you to refuse to wear it tonight. Why is that Marcella? Your mother told me that you liked the dress in the shop, that you picked it out yourself."

"It was a mistake." She assured and was glad that the car ride to Martina's quinceanera continued in silence.

"I'll pick you up at midnight!" Her father shouted across the restaurant parking lot. There were alot of cars, dropping of a bundle of giddy teenagers. The girls wore colorful dresses and full face makeup, whilst the boys arrived in suits and iron pressed socks.

"Happy birthday Martina!"

She sat on a pink draped throne inside of the restaurant. People walked up to it, wishing her a happy birthday and dropping off thier gifts. Marcella stood in line, waiting to do the same. She took the time to admired the creative birthday decorations, the theme being "Pink Garden." All decorations were in pink, making up a plastic flower garden that all guest had to walk through to get to the birthday girl.

"It's pretty cool, huh?"

Someone appeared by her side. Marcella didn't have to turn her head to know who.

"I don't belive I've ever heard a guy describe anything in pink as 'cool'. "

Pedri was grinning once she turned to look at him. He was handsome, dressed in a black suit and tie. He had done nothing to his hair, he didn't have to. "I guess I'm not like others guys then." He said, voice seductive.

Marcella made a displeased noise and turned back to stand in line.

"I can drop the gift off for you." He offered, not yet to leave her side, even though she wished for nothing more. "I mean as the son of the owner of this restaurant, I think I have the privilege to skip ahead in line."

"I'm fine, thank you."

She was next anyway.

Martina, with her long brown hair and sparkling pink dress, sat on her thrown and looked down on Marcella like a queen would do a peasant.

"Happy birthday." She squealed, to which Martina fixed a smile, but mainly focused on the size of Marcella's gift. "It's from Pandora." She reassured. Marcella then stepped out of line, heading for the beverage table. However, she was still being followed.

"Is this about what I wrote?"

She sighed. "No, Pedri."

"Than what is it, why are you being like this?"

"Like what?" Her steps altered, forcing him to do the same. The restaurant was crowded, people enjoying themselves around them.

"Like this." He gestured. "You're being so...cold."

"Good, you deserve it."

She walked off.

"Ah, so this is about what I wrote."

Pedri caught up with her.

Marcella ignored him while pouring herself a drink.

"Admit it Marcella, you're upset with me. You're not even wearing the same...."

She almost threw the drink at him. "Of course I'm upset Pedri." His eyes widened, not expecting her to snap at him. "I asked you what you were gonna wear tonight and you reply by sending me a tasteless picture of you grabbing your....your..." She grimarced. "....stuff, saying you're gonna 'wear me out'. Like, what does that even mean?" Marcella's chest rose with her heavy breathing. She didn't realize how upset she was until now. How upset he made her feel.

"Marcella, I didn't mean..."

"Save it Pedri." She raised a hand, silencing him. "I know I sent you that picture of me but...it's not what you think. I'm not that kind of girl."

"Marcella please, I know you're not that kind of girl and I'm not that kind of guy, even though all evidence points against it right now."

She searched his face. He seemed sincere.

"Marcella!"

Someone called her from across the room, Beatrice and Olga.

"I've got to go."

He looked defeated. "Marcella, please. I made a mistake sending you that text. Forgive me."

"I'll see you later Pedri."

"Please, Marcella"

She lowered her head, tuning him out as she left him calling out her name. It was strange. No guy had never done that before, begged her for forgiveness.

"There you are." Olga said, annoyed. "I thought we agreed to be ready at eight?"

"I'm sorry, I was..."

"It doesn't matter." She snapped her fingers for Beatrice to hand her another microphone, which she passed on to Marcella. "We're on in ten minutes."

********************************************

Pedri had to get some air. He couldn't keep standing in there like a fool. Marcella had run off on him, upset with his stupid mistake. A problem for later as Pedri's thoughts were disturbed by a commotion in the parking lot.

"What's going on?"

"Ey, Pedrito!"

It was Pablo and his classmates, two guys that weren't on the football team. The three of them were having a blast, passing a half empty bottle of Absolute Vodka between them. The party was over as Pedri snatched the it from Pablo's hands before he managed to intoxicate himself more than he already was.

"Nah, Pedrito don't ruin the fun." He was slurring on his words, twice as drunk as his idiot friends.

"Get inside." Pedri commanded, shoving Pablo ahead of him.

"Come on Gonzalez. Chill, it's a party. Have a drink with us." Pablo's friends chuckled. Pedri approach them. "Are you guys stupid or is it just the way you look?"

"What?" Both of the boys' were disoriented.

"I said get the fuck out of here. There are kids at this party. Go home!"

The boys chuckled. "Okay, Padre."

Pedri left them behind, helping Pablo inside. He rushed him to the men's room where he vomited at the first sight of a toilet stall. "Stay put. I'm going to get the keys to my dad's car." Pedri left the toilet but was caught amongst the birthday guests as most of them gathered before a large table carrying a five story cake with lit candles and blossoming sparklers. He pushed through to make it to the kitchen where he knew his dad would be, however he seized to make his way there the minute her voice sparked through the speakers.

"Cumpleaños feliz...."

It was Marcella, along with her friends. They were on stage, serenading Martina by singing Happy Birthday.

"Cumpleaños feliz......"

The way her voice soared above the others, her smile lighting up the room, left him breathless. All time stopped and Pedri could not, nor wanted to, diverge his eyes away from her, Marcella, who's dark skin looked golden in the candle lights.

"Te deseamos Martina....compleaños feliz!"

As the song ended, Pedri couldn't help but to stare at her, his heart racing with excitement. He had never felt this way before, and it took him by surprise. He was in love.

The next moments passed in a blur. He found himself wishing that the celebration would never end, just so he could keep looking at her.

Then came the screams.

********************************************

Marcella jumped at the sound of Martina's scream. She watched how the birthday girl hopped off her throne at the sight of Gavi, stumbling towards her like a lost zombie.

"Get away!"

He was clearly intoxicated, his suit stained with what she guessed to be his own vomit.

"I said get away!"

It was like a seen from a horror movie, kids screaming, the crowd disoriented with what was happening. Marcella had a perfect view from the stage. She gasped however, as a man tackled Gavi to the ground before he could get any closer to Martina.

"Oh my god, Pedri." Olga drew a breath, also witnessing chaos unfold before her.

"If that's Pedri then who's he?" Beatrice frowned. There was alot of people gathering around the scene. But just like her friends Marcella spotted two of them, two Pedri's, escorting Gavi out of the restaurant.

"Where are you going?" The girls shouted after her as Marcella pulled up the bottom of her dress and ran out.

"To help!"

She arrived in time to see Pedri arguing with his doppelganger.

"Just give me the keys Fernando and I'll take him home."

"I swear to God Pedri. If your friend vomits in my car..."

"Then what? It wouldn't be worse than what you have done to a car when drunk."

The two stood facing each other, faces inches apart. By now Marcella had gotten to Gavi, letting him support himself against her by draping his arm over her shoulders.

"Guys, a little help?" She groaned.

"Marcella?" Pedri's eyes widened.

"Don't just stand there, help me put him in the car."

"He vomits, you clean." Pedri's doppelganger said, tossing Pedri the keys. He caught them and hurried towards Marcella. The two of them helped Gavi into the car and drove off in the night.

********************************************

How fast the night changes.

Pedri kept glancing in his rearview mirror, making sure that Gavi wasn't giving Marcella too much trouble.

"Pedrito." His friend slurred, sounding quite beaten up. His fragile voice cracked. "I don't think she wants me."

Marcella snorted beside him. "What girl wants a guy who humilates her on the most important day of her life?"

Pablo looked to her with squinted eyes. "Yeah and who the fuck asked you?"

"Hey!" Pedri hissed. "Calm down back there."

"She's crazy Pedri, haven't I warned you about her. Crazy."

"Oh, please." Marcella rolled her eyes and folded her arms.

Apart of Pedri couldn't help but to feel tremendously happy that she was there, with him.

"I don't think anyone's home."

She help Pedri get Pablo inside his house as the lights were out, no sign of his parents being home.

"Careful."

Getting Pablo up the stairs was the real challenge. Pedri had to step back and catch his breath once they managed to get him to his bedroom, dumping Pablo on top of his unmade bed.

"You okay?" Marcella asked, she could tell that somthing was off. "Pedri?"

His heart was beating like crazy and his body began to sweat all over.

"Pedri?" She was by his side now, terror in her eyes.

"I just need to..."

"Yes?" She nodded, ready to assist him with anything.

"I just need...."

"Pedri, what's wrong?"

He slumped down on the floor, resting his back against the foot of Pablo's bed. "Cramps." He groaned. His stomach ached, along with his arms and chest. His whole body.

Marcella fell onto her knees, her hand pulling back the damped hair that had fallen over Pedri's eye's.

"I need somthing to eat." He said, voice weak.

"No."

She ran off, out of the room and down the stairs.

"Marcella, no...." She couldn't leave him. He was gonna die without having told her.

Minutes passed.

It was difficult to stay awake. Pedri felt his eyes rolling back in his sockets, on the brink of passing out. This was not good. He had taken two insulin shots out of the five recommended a day. The distress of getting Pablo home had also taken too much of him, triggering a seizure.

The walls seemed to come down on him, just then it returned, her sweet scent and her light touch.

"Hang on."

She lifted his shirt. Pedri felt a sting in his abdomen but did not think much of it until a few moments later, when he seemed to come to.

"Here, eat this."

She handed him a stained banana, splitting the fruit into edible pieces. He was almost back to normal after a few bites, the light restoration his vision. She was still by his side, Marcella, in a dress that covered her long legs.

"Marcella, there is something you should know." Pedri adjusted himself against the bed, wanting to look her in the eyes when he told her. "I have diabetes."

Marcella paused, putting away the rest of the banana. Her soft hand went to his cheek, rubbing the spot that she then leaned forward and kissed. "I know." She said.

#fanfiction #football imagine #fc barcelona #footballer imagine #footballer x reader #football angst #pedri imagine #pedri gonzalez #pedri gonzalez imagine #pedri/gavi #pedri x black reader #pedri x reader #pedrito #pedri #gavi #pablo gavi #gavi imagine #pablo gavi imagine

36 notes · View notes

daveysjackie · 1 year

Text

okay so we’re always talking about disaster Davey, constantly on the edge of insanity, holding all the fragments together because he’s a Good Student, Good Brother, Good Son, Good Friend (by we i mean @we-are-inevitable all day everyday). And how Jack is the one that helps him hold on.

But. What if they never happened?

Sure they’ve passed each other and they have common friends. But Davey is oh so busy and there’s an essay due tomorrow and my parents anniversary is coming up and i was going to surprise them and I still need to buy Les a birthday gift and he really doesn’t have time for a boyfriend.

Jack is always at the edge, trying to reach for Davey’s hand, to pull him out of his self inflicted hurricane of Responsibility but Davey can’t, won’t reach out because he’s convinced he can get the hurricane under control.

Cut to years later and Davey feels like he might finally be in a decent place. Still burdened but ready to let someone - let Jack in. Only to find out how much he missed. Jack’s happy…with someone else. Perhaps they’re just engaged but it’s pretty serious and Davey is hit with the realisation that he’s just let someone incredible slip away

65 notes · View notes

pearlypairings · 8 months

Note

Hi babe happy birthday!! For the cute birthday scenarios, how about hellcheer and one baking a surprise cake for the other?

eddie x chrissy || fun, fluff, goofy mistakes || 959 words

A/N: you've been so patient rosey, to be last but not least :) hope you enjoy the fluffy cake disaster that only a ADHD/distracted Eddie could make enjoyable <3 thank you for this one! ending on a high note:)

previous prompt

A scoop of powdery white mystery rested lazily atop the magazine cut-out on the counter. Eddie couldn’t remember if he’d scooped the flour or the baking powder and smelling it gave him no further clue. He slipped the recipe out from underneath to reexamine the ingredient list. “Son,” Uncle Wayne mused, approaching from the trailer’s quaint living space to haunt over the haphazard piles of ingredients and bowls and spoons. “Wouldn’t everyone be happier if you just bought the damn thing? Leave baking to the professionals. I can’t remember a Munson ever baking a cake, not even Great Grandma Gin.”

“Exactly, Chrissy won’t expect it.” Eddie picked up the scoop and poured it confidently (still wondering how bad the mess-up would be if he switched ingredients on accident) into the big mixing bowl amidst other dry ingredients. “You know how she is, always one step ahead. I never get to really surprise her. It’s about time that I give her a real shock.” Wayne shook his head, peering into the metal bowl with skepticism before taking stock of the cracked egg shells and milk carton close by. “Your girl is more likely to get the shock of food poisoning, but don’t mind me. I’ve just got her health more on my mind than your grand ideas.” “Thanks for the vote of confidence. I’ll be sure not to save you a slice after your shift.” Eddie waved him away, his eyes glued to the numbers on the recipe instructions. With a shrug, he tossed the rest of the ingredients into the bowl and took their trusty, chipped wooden spoon off the sidelines. Sure, the recipe called for a mixer, but a little elbow grease and their lucky spoon had to wind up with the same outcome. His uncle stayed away from the kitchen while Eddie finished up. He’d had to borrow a cake pan from little Red and her mom down the way and promised to return it the way he found it—washed with maybe a few extra burnt bits stuck on the bottom. The Munson’s oven was more of a holding bay than an operational cooking appliance, so he cleared out the old frying pans and boxes of cereal too big for the cabinets before he clicked it on and set it to the proper temperature of 375 degrees…or was it supposed to be 325? Whatever, it’s hot enough at least. At any rate, the batter was to the brim of the pan when he slid it onto the rack like a brain surgeon who’d pivoted his career to expert baker. He saluted the oven, fully trusting it would honor its commitment to cooking the hell out of Chrissy’s cake. When enough time had passed (vibes were essential to this part, he thought a timer was a bit much), the dingy dishtowels were his gauntlets—primed and prepared to face the flaming hot metal inside.

Upon first glance, there may have been some spillage over the sides when it rose; he forgot about the whole “cake rising” part. And shit, sure, the edges looked darker (a rich toasty black-brown) than he expected, but the frosting would solve all of that, he assured himself as he placed the pan on the stovetop to cool. That much he remembered from little Red’s mother’s parting advice. By the time he’d finished swirling the last swatch of frosting, Chrissy would be here any minute. Wayne had already left for his shift at the plant and for that miracle, he was glad. Eddie would have never heard the end of his digs while they waited for her arrival, if he had seen the cake. Hell, his uncle probably would have gone out and bought a replacement cake for her. His disaster of a birthday cake had more potholes than the Forest Hills trailer park and more cracks than old Harry’s truck windshield. The only thing holding it up was his overabundance of frosting gluing pieces together and poorly filling the divots, lumps, and bumps across the top. A whole army of swirly, wax candles didn’t help his case much, but those were the finishing touches he needed for the surprise to feel complete. There were a couple of taps on the trailer door, and her familiar voice greeted him affectionately beyond the screen. Chrissy let herself in, wearing the prettiest white blouse he’d ever seen, probably a well-deserved birthday splurge from the mall. He called her over to the kitchen, stepping out to showcase his Frankenstein creation. “What are you doing in the—” Chrissy’s eyes froze on the deflated, over-iced cake. Her soft features exploded in glorious shock, and with a squeal, she rushed the last few steps and jumped into his arms. “That’s mine, right? You made that for me?” “I did, pretty girl.” He kissed her, hoping he still tasted like vanilla from all the frosting he’d been sampling. “Surprised?” “I can’t wait to try it!” She nodded, nuzzling into his neck and squeezing her arms tighter around him. “Let’s light the candles first.” Eddie touched her feet back down onto the floor, looking between her pretty smile and the funky cake. He pulled open the drawer to get his lighter, shuffling a few items around to find the shiny black box while his back was turned. “You might wanna wish for a better tasting cake, just as a warning.” And before he had time to react, Chrissy had scooped a healthy finger-full of icing and slathered it down Eddie’s nose with a devious cackle. She retreated without hesitation, ducking behind Uncle Wayne’s favorite chair and hiding from the fistful of cake he carried behind his back. Her laugh was uncontrollable. Eddie had the biggest grin on his face. Sometimes cakes were really sweet. Sometimes cakes were made for throwing. Sometimes surprises went sideways in the best way. He wanted to record that laugh forever.

#pearly birthday prompts #twelfth (last) prompt!#hellcheer #eddie x chrissy #hellcheer fanfic #eddie munson #chrissy cunningham #eddissy #birthday cake #fluff #fun #oops!#tomorrow I'll be posting a nice masterlist of all these prompt posts as a nice and neat collection :)#so keep your eyes peeled for that if you wanna check of the others out you missed #or save for later!#ahhh thank you again!!

21 notes · View notes

cattimeswithjellie · 3 months

Text

TangoTek Stream Recap, 06-21-24

((I really thought I was going to get this one finished and posted in my between-shifts break this afternoon, but then Tango decided to back-load a ton of action and silliness into the last twenty minutes of the stream and added an hour to my recapping time. Ah well, such a disaster, right? Anyway, Tango streams are always funny.))

3:42 Tango opens the stream. He is in the storage area of his factory. He greets the chat with a long sigh and says it’s been a busy day. He has been at the gym with his son, and his gym time may affect his stream schedule for the next little while. He will let Chat know if anything is going to change. He thanks subs and donos, including a large dono from a chatter who is happy to have had a week with no migraines. Tango congratulates them. He has never had migranes, but he occasionally gets a bad headache after too much computer time. A chatter asks if the roasted meat is in the fridge, but it has been thrown out. Chatters complain about the awful heat all over. A chatter has a birthday.

6:20 The plan for today is materials gathering! Tango needs 500 mushroom stems and he is not looking forward to that. Chat tells him that Grian sells mushroom stem. Tango immediately takes off for that shop. Tango doesn’t believe Grian will have 500 mushroom stems, but it’ll be a start. A chatter has lost their home to a forest fire. Several chatters drops large gifts of subs. Tango thanks them, then greets Mrs. T, who is also fresh from the gym and so tired that she cannot open her own Gatorade. Tango is sympathetic. The whole Tango family is starting at the gym together and he is proud of all of them, including himself.

9:36 Tango finds his way to Grian’s shop, with a little Mrs. T critique along the way about his flying skills. Grian’s shop has no mushroom stem at all, which is funny because Grian complained very recently in a video that no one was buying any mushrooms. Chat is sad but suggest that Grian has a mushroom stem farm that could be very helpful. Mrs. T asks the chat if they’ve seen Tango’s materials list for the day and warns them they’re going to be bored. Tango assures her that he bores Chat every day. Tango and Mrs T argue over the pronunciation of a chatter’s name. Tango heads over to Magic Mountain, asserting that he’s still going to pay if he finds mushroom stem at Grian’s farm. Tango pokes around Grian’s base while Mrs. T cheerfully heckles his pronunciation of words like “Youse” and “cleric.”

13:00 Chat successfully directs Tango to the mushroom farm. Mrs T is thankful for Chat for teaching Tango so much about how to play the game. Tango agrees that without Chat, he’d never get anything done. He assesses the farm to figure out how it works, with some help from Chat. There is a brief discussion on whether fortune works on mushroom blocks, but it does not appear to. Mushrooms are unfortunate. Mrs. T gets bored of mushrooms and wanders away. Tango says he wants red mushroom tops, Chat tells him the farm is not for red mushrooms because red mushrooms have cup-shaped tops, not flat tops.

17:00 Tango goes back to his factory and assesses the mushroom supply. He has quite a few blocks of red mushroom top already, so doing brown for awhile to get the stems is fine. A piglin triggers the Skizz scream and makes Tango jump. A chatter makes a large donation to celebrate the YouTooz arriving finally. Tango needs to make a silk touch axe to get the mushroom stems he needs. He goes to give Cleo some more money while Chat teases him about his claim that he’s wearing a cap because his hair is mussed after the gym.

21:20 Tango gets to the shopping district. Chat tells him Cleo is lost in the nether and he should help. He does not know how to help with that. He goes to buy some books instead. Chat tells Tango that Hbomb has started a new series of Decked Out games. He is trying to get 50 tomes without dying, if the dungeon kills him he must restart. Tango admits that Hbomb is one of the few players who could do it, and suspects that if Hbomb really trained up, he could possibly be even better than Etho. That’s a huge compliment, but Hbomb is very skilled. Chat insists that no one is better than Pearl. Tango decides he should watch Hbomb’s VODs. He returns to the factory and scrounges up some levels to enchant with. His kelp farm is definitely no Bop ‘N Go, no matter what he claims. It gives him 24 levels. He asks if that will be enough and receives answers of “Yes,” “No,” “Maybe,” and “Eat the kelp.”

26:00 Tango decides to use a website that calculates optimal order of enchanting. Chat is excited about this website and wants the link really badly. It is https://iamcal.github.io/enchant-order . Tango successfully enchants the axe with the levels he has, though it must live without a name. Tango returns to the mushroom farm, reminding Chat that he will be paying Grian for the use of his farm and if he forgets, Chat needs to yell at him. Chat is more than ready to help by yelling. Tango examines the farm and thinks it’s very clever. He suspects Grian may have followed a tutorial.

29:20 Tango begins using the farm. There are a few false starts because he finds it difficult to cleanly cut the tops off the mushrooms and doesn’t believe Chat when they tell him he can just hold down the axe button. Eventually he starts getting the hang of it and the mushrooms begin flowing. Chat is enjoying the rhythmic movement of the farm and the noise mushrooms make, even if the overall farming is not exactly exciting. Tango asks Chat if they know then Stem-per-hour rate. Low, chat reports. Tango is not surprised, this is one of the hardest blocks in the game to get in quantity, despite the fact that it is a very nice block. Tango says he will probably be able to cheat and use less than the projected 500 because some are probably in obscured locations. A chatter talks up the mushroom farm made by ARocketEngineer, saying it’s great. Tango suspects it probably uses TNT duping, a technique he does not like to use. He likes this farm though.

37:00 Tango goes searching for the mushrooms he’s been creating as seed mushrooms for the farm. He realizes that most of the mushrooms are getting bonemealed, but he has enough for seed use now. He’s also messing up the system a little bit, so he goes back to using the silk touch axe. He continues debating with chat whether Fortune works on mushrooms and gets smacked in the face by a mushroom block. Chat informs him that The Cube will tell him when it is ready. A chatter warns him not to taunt Happy Fun Cube (a classic Saturday Night Live reference.) Tango laughs and tells the chatter they just aged themselves, but he loves it. Tango thinks this is a very good machine but could be optimized at scale by adding additional mushroom modules. Chat suggests maybe suing Grian for not having mushroom stem in his shop. “Yeah, that would turn out well for me,” Tango jokes.

41:30 Tango supposes that he did get hurt while using the farm when that mushroom block smacked him in the face. He could probably sue for that. Chat is enthusiastic and skeptical at the same time; they like suing people but suspect that the doctrine of contributory negligence would not weigh in Tango’s favor, and also that Grian might have him busted for trespassing. Every time Tango tries to read chat, he misses a mushroom block and has to stop the farm to go fix it. He is reading chat anyway, trying to decipher a wiki entry about mushroom fortune, when Scar suddenly plummets onto the machine, literally stopping Tango’s minecart in its tracks. “Hey, you’re messing up my bits!” Tango yells.

42:50 Tango sighs, calls Scar “jerky” in game chat, and supposes he’s lucky he didn’t get HotGuyed. “I’m working over here!” he calls to Scar, who doesn’t respond before flying off. The Cube has almost reached piston push limit but can go a bit longer, so Tango resets the machine to keep going. He goes back to work, but background noise indicates that Scar is still nearby, just out of sight. Chat calls Scar a chaos gremlin, though they are affectionate about it, and suggest that maybe Tango should sue him. A chatter also watching Cleo’s stream says that Cleo is now confused and wants jerky.

43:40 The minecart comes to a halt again, stopped by the power of Scar’s enormous hat on Scar’s immovable head. “Dang it, I give up,” Scar cries. He was going to make a portal and send Tango to the Nether Regions, but could not make it work. Tango tells him it was a good try and goes to fix the farm again. Chat asks about Friday Night Hermitcraft, but not this week. Once 1.21 lands, there will definitely be a special Friday stream for it. It might not be naked, but there will be trial chamber runs. Chat asks about naked end busting runs, but Tango explains that the death penalty for dying in the end is a stream-ruining endless hike back to the group, making a naked run difficult. And of course doing it with loser gear like weapons and armor is no fun at all. A chatter asks if Tango has ever thought about getting his own server. Tango has a Patreon server, Titancraft, but he plays on Hermitcraft, why would he have another server? Tango’s mods are very on point and all issue the command to plug the Patreon within a second of one another, causing some spam issues in chat. Tango talks up his Patreon community, which he is very proud of.

49:30 The Cube is Ready! Tango equips his silk touch axe and harvests the giant cube of mushroom stem he has created. He is very pleased, even though he is going to owe Grian so much money. A chatter asks if Tango has a Create server, he says no and he doesn’t want to talk about Create because he misses it terribly. The harvest nets Tango half of the mushroom stem he needs. Chat thinks Tango deserves a DIY discount on his mushroom blocks, but Tango’s not worried about it. Money well spent for avoiding farming the long way. Some discount might be in order, though. Tango goes back to work on the farm.

52:00 Tango is almost in the groove of working the farm now, aside from one more unfortunate mushroom-slap to the face. Chat comes up with more suggestions for ways to pay Grian, ranging from coupons to the redstone shop to a bill for the brown mushroom blocks Tango is creating. Some chatters say that Grian is hurting for iron and would probably like some of Tango’s. Other chatters point out that Grian can use Mumbo’s iron farm now, and Tango doesn’t have black ink to spare. Tango has a good pile of gunpowder but no good source, so that’s out too. Chat suggests a free Tango hug coupon, but Tango decides he can just pay Grian in actual diamonds. Chat thinks that is boring and offers dozens more ideas. Tango is amused. Chat is proud of Tango for reading and not crashing into the mushrooms. Fwhip raids into the stream, returning a raid from earlier in the week. Tango explains that today is materials day and they are in for some riveting mushroom-harvesting content.

56:40 Chat is impressed with Pearl’s redstone improvement this season. Tango is too, he is very happy that Pearl is not just following tutorials to get the results she wants, she is actually learning how redstone works and applying it to make farms and games of her own design. In chat, Cub asks if the powdered snow shop is gone. Chat confirms that it is, Skizz took it down and will be rebuilding it as a non-popup shop. Scar giggles in chat, Cub yells at him, and Cleo says “oh no.” Something is going on elsewhere in the world. A chatter asks about Tango’s hockey game, he enthusiastically tells Chat that they won, and although he did not score a goal, he also did not take a puck to the throat. He is rooting for Edmonton in the playoffs, even though he doesn’t think they will win. A chatter is going to the game tonight; Tango is very jealous. He confidently predicts a huge push from Florida tonight so they can win the cup in their home rink. Chat points out that tonight’s game is in Edmonton, the last one will be in Florida. Tango admits he doesn’t know how it works. He takes a moment to be depressed again about his beloved Coyotes moving to Utah.

1:01:30 Chat is starting to worry about Tango’s axe, he reassures Chat that it will ding before it breaks. The New Cube is nearly done, and once it is harvested, Tango should have enough stems for the Shroomlight Shop build. A Utahan in chat is rubbing the Coyote thing in. Tango admits he will root for Utah next season but Mrs. T and Brody are both done. Brody already had split loyalties with the Kraken and Mrs. T will likely jump to Colorado because she has a crush on one of the players. Tango may shift to Colorado too, he’s not sure yet. He gets slapped with another mushroom. Chat is happy to talk about hockey teams, most of which are apparently terrible and hard to root for. Mrs. T sticks her head in for a moment to talk hockey as well.

1:04:50 Time to harvest the New Cube! Tango’s axe makes the ding noise. Mrs T is going to have a Sunday morning coffee club stream this week, Chat is pleased. Tango has harvested about 550 mushroom stems, mushroom farm time is finished! Now it is time to pay. Tango decides to send his payment through the mail and heads back to the factory. Chat reassures themselves that Tango did turn the farm off. Tango begins organizing his inventory, Mrs T asks if he remembered to pay. He insists he’s working on it and tells her she’s worse than Chat.

1:07:30 “Street Value” of the mushroom stems is about 40 diamonds. Tango quizzes the chat about what sort of discount he should give himself. A chatter asks if there will be a stream tonight. Tango says probably not. Mrs. T says definitely not, because they have CPR class tonight. Tango keeps forgetting that and asks why he is doing that again. She insists it is in case she dies, he should know CPR. He points out that if she’s dead, him knowing CPR won’t help much. She says maybe he’d like to PREVENT her from dying. Tango is giggling now, but agrees that sounds more reasonable. Chat has a wide range of discount suggestions, but Tango decides that given how much time the farm saved him, he’s willing to pay 35 diamonds. Chat still wants to include the free hug coupon. Tango agrees to the hug coupon.

1:09:10 Tango makes up a hug coupon and puts it in a mail parcel with the 35 diamonds and an explanation of the farm use, written in a book after writing on a mushroom stem block doesn’t give him enough letters to use. Chat notices that Skizz is online and suggests that it would be fun to go bother him. Tango is busy. His final message reads “Dearest Grian, I took the liberty of utilizing your fantastic mushroom farm and harvested 500+ stems. 10/10 Would Farm Again. Please accept this payment. Neck Kisses, Tango” Chat approves the message, saying it has lots of Twag (Jimmy’s word for Tango Swag.) Chat is less sure about Tango’s use of two spaces after a period, but they will let it slide this time. Tango signs the book “Stem Love <3” and puts it in the parcel. He mails it off to Grian.

1:14:40 Item Number One on the materials list is complete! Now there are a million other things to get. Chat tells Tango to fix his silk touch axe. He throws it in a chest full of random armor and tool pieces and declares it fixed. Future Tango will surely never regret that.

1:15:00 The second item on the list is Red Mushroom Blocks. Tango only needs about fifty more of those, so that will be easy… except he needs a silk touch axe to harvest them. He sheepishly retrieves the axe from the chest and declares it is time to go fix his axe. Another visit to the kelp farm repairs his axe and other equipment. Chat complains some more about the loudness of the steam grate noises and continues suggesting that it would be fun to go bug Skizz. Tango protests that he has to collect materials, he needs to make an actual video one of these days!

1:17:00 Tango gathers up mushrooms, bonemeal, and the supplies to make a little mushroom-room, then goes to farm red mushrooms. He immediately realizes he doesn’t have podzol and flies back. No podzol at the factory. He asks Chat if there is a way to make Podzol, then ignores all the chatters telling him to plant and bonemeal a spruce sapling. Still no podzol in the chests. Tango knows there is red mushroom in stock at Grian’s shop and complains mightily about having to give Grian more money, all the while chat is begging him to just do the spruce thing. He goes to the shopping district instead and buys a couple stacks of red mushroom, no longer complaining when he sees they are much cheaper than mushroom stem. Chat is sulking, but also pleased that Grian finally sold some mushrooms.

1:19:30 Impulse sends Tango a text message, but Tango does not say what it was about. Next on the list is 249 warped nylium. Chat tells him a silk pick will do the trick. Tango tucks a totem of undying and a fire resist pot into his inventory, just in case, then heads to the nether. He finds a crimson forest and heads towards it, which confuses Chat since he said he needed warped nylium. Tango talks more about hockey. He harvests a few stacks, then notices Chat’s consternation. He tells them he said warped but meant crimson, but then corrects himself that he actually did mean warped, but he does need both warped and crimson nylium. Turns out he has already got all the crimson he needs, JUST LIKE HE PLANNED! Chat congratulates him on either his excellent planning or successful failure as he flies off to the warped forest. Harvesting nylium takes very little time, no matter what color it is, and Tango relaxes a moment to thank subs and donos. A chatter sends a Do-not-read-on-stream message with a very funny joke in it. Tango laughs, then immediately makes his full range of cartoon shrieking noises as he nearly spleefs himself into a lava lake.

1:25:00 Grian joins the game. Chat is busy talking about the near miss and how they all nearly soiled themselves. Tango gathers the rest of his nylium much more carefully. Next item on the list is Red Wool, which means a trip to the Wolves of Wool Street. Some friendly skompasses guide him back to the nether hub and he heads back to the factory. He consults his lists and realizes he forgot the weeping vines, which he refers to as “red hangy things.” He continues going down the materials list and gets jumpscared again by the Skizz Scream. Most of the materials are much easier to get than mushroom stem. Chat suggests that Tango acquire additional Skizz Screams to randomize the piglin noises. Tango agrees that’s a good idea and tells Chat to collect some authentic Skizz screaming noises for him. In the meantime, back to the shopping district!

1:32:20 Tango heads to Wool Street to buy the red wool he needs, while discussing good places to find Skizzleman Screams. The red wool is not in sufficient stock, but there is a wool farm in the Nether than can be investigated. Tango is not happy at the price of wool, especially given that he has to farm it himself, but he acknowledges that his own shop is not exactly selling at discount prices. A chatter tells him a joke. Tango heads for the Nether to find the sheep. A chatter asks if he is humming the Plate Up song on purpose; Tango did not notice he was humming. He finds the sheep farm and is appalled at the storage system, which appears to be a very long line of double chests with random stacks of wool tossed in without rhyme or reason. His soul is hurt and so is Chat’s, but he does acquire the four stacks of red wool he paid for in the shopping district. He heads back to the factory, but his frequent trips in and out of the Nether are starting to lag the game. He’s going to have to be smart with any additional trips.

1:36:00 Many of the items on the materials list are things Tango already has tucked away in his many storage chests. He loads several shulkers with the things he needs before getting hung up on white wool. Luckily white wool can be made from string, and string can be “acquired” from good buddy Impulse’s storage room without a trip through the Nether! Tango takes off towards Impulse’s base but detours at the last moment on a tip from Chat that Skizz has white wool. He lands in Skizz’s storage room, which has been heavily renovated and is actually organized. It looks very different! Tango oohs over the progress for a moment before finding Skizz himself wedged in a cubbyhole near the ceiling.

1:38:00 Skizz greets Tango, who cheerfully lies that he is just stopping by to see the new storage room even as he liberates some white wool from a newly-organized chest. The deception is unnecessary though because Skizz wants Tango and Impulse to take things from his chest to make him feel better about the many, many items he has stolen from their storage areas over the course of the season thus far. Tango sings a bar of “I Want You To Want Me.” Chat is very impressed with the new storage area that let Tango find something to steal so quickly. Tango admits that he came to steal wool and he found the wool right away, so good job! He confirms that Skizz is streaming and that none of this is spoilers, then points out that the room design is strikingly similar to Impulse’s storage room. Skizz says imitation is the highest form of flattery. Tango gives him a hard time about whether the decorative block should be on the right or left of the chest, just for the pleasure of riling Skizz up into yelling about storage systems. Chat asks if Skizz has an arrow in his head. (He does, it is a reward hat from Mission Possible.) Tango momentarily baffles Skizz with the question of “how do glowberries work.”

1:41:20 Tango must be off, he may come back and steal more things later. Skizz is glad to have made stealing easier for him. Tango smashes his head on a dripstone as he flies home, but he is pleased that Skizz is so gullible about Minecraft mechanics. He collects 69 netherrack, to predictable response from chat, and scolds them that it is time for them to go outside. He gets dirt and then goes searching for black concrete, right back to Skizz’s house. Skizz is making a whole maze out of black concrete, so he has plenty available. Tango can’t find the concrete until Skizz shows him, then he grabs some and runs. Chat teases him about his powers of observation.

1:44:00 Tango needs netherwart, good thing he has a netherwart farm! He mocks a chatter who has chosen to share this information in all caps and heads down to the farm. He collects the wart from his “super high-tech” farm (2015 vibes, says Chat). He talks with chat about his video intro music, saying he’s stuck because he loves his intro music but it feels like the modern trend is to not have intros. Chat says absolutely do not change the intro music, it is perfect. Tango crafts the netherwart into blocks, then realizes he has not left enough to replant the farm with. Fortunately he has some more planted already and can harvest that for replantable wart. Intros hurt retention, Tango explains, because the average YouTube viewer has an attention span of about four seconds. Etho does have an intro, Tango acknowledges, but he is Etho and can do basically whatever he wants. Chat points out that Zedaph and Doc have intros (Doc’s intro is 45 minutes long, jokes a chatter), and Bdubs has an intro for his singleplayer series. Tango replants the wart he dug up to get replantable wart, then forgets to replant the wart he originally wanted to replant because he is so impressed that his farm is exactly 64 blocks long. He catches himself and goes back to the farm to replant for real. He claims it was a test for Chat.

1:48:20 Skizz called Tango the other day to tell him they haven’t streamed together in awhile. Tango agreed that he was correct, and they will be finding a game to stream together. It will not be Plate Up, but it will be some game that gives them the opportunity to scream at each other. Chat offers several suggestions as Tango returns to the main storage area. Red Concrete is next. Tango opens his completely empty concrete chest and comments that he seems to be a little low on red concrete. He asks Chat if there is a shop and is directed to False’s jellyfish. Tango decides to risk the Nether for another trip to the shopping district. He finds the shop easily and it’s actually well-stocked. Tango is impressed. He snags one stack of red concrete and heads home.

1:52:20 Coming back from the Nether is really bad this time, a very lengthy freeze of the game. Tango blames the memory leak and gives Java a few moments to vomit all over itself, clean itself up, then probably crash. Chat suggests new computer. Tango says it’s not his computer, but it may have something to do with his memory allocation. The game is severely borked. Tango shuts it down and relaunches it. Somehow OBS and Tango’s game screen monitor begin showing different things, with OBS saving the world and the monitor showing the frozen game screen. Tango is amused by the weirdness. It takes several minutes, but Minecraft finally closes enough to be launched again. A chatter asks about Content Warning, Tango says they played it and it was fun, but did not have legs. Chained Together is on the list, Rotwood is possible.

1:56:22 Back on the server! Tango discusses more possible Skizz-games with chat and gathers more materials. He has most of what he needs, then realize he also needs to gather shroomlights for the shroomlights shop. He has four shroomlights. He was going to build the shop before he builds the farm, so decides he’ll just go find wild shroomlights in the nether. Copper trapdoors are an issue because they are so expensive. Chat suggests using jungle until the update, but Tango’s pretty low on jungle wood as well. He tries a jungle trapdoor and is unimpressed, but he’ll try it. He suspects he’ll probably regret it later. The rest of the materials list is mostly just bits and pieces for decorations.

2:04:00 Tango continues gathering things up, including actual red mushrooms harvested from his red mushroom blocks. His return on mushroom blocks is not very impressive. He gets jumpscared by another piglin Skizz Stream. He definitely needs another big trip to the Nether for his remaining supplies. He steals more glow lichen from Skizz. Skizz feels good to have enough stuff that people are actually stealing from him now. Tango returns to the factory and reads a terrible joke from a chatter aloud. (“Did you hear about the sasquatch who won the Nobel Peace Prize? It was no small feat!”). It is perfectly punctuated by another scream. Chat is amused.

2:11:40 Except for the Nether items, the gathering is done! Tango organizes his inventory, picks up some shears, a hoe and bonemeal and heads for the Nether. Chat wants him to put the potion on the hotbar. He heads into the warped forest and begins harvesting. He had a hard time finding shroomlights and mutters that somebody ought to make a farm for this or something. He spots a double strider in the lavs lake below; he and Chat are pleased. Doing all this harvesting might take longer than he thought. Chat suggests breaking out the bonemeal. He gets 22 lights before being ambushed by hoglins. Tango informs them that they do not belong in the warped forest, but they seem unimpressed by his arguments.

2:20:30 Tango finds a big patch of warped fungus to harvest and some more shroomlights. He gathers up enough to fill his materials needs, then heads to the crimson forest for the rest of his things. Fortunately, it is very close by! Tango prioritizes the red dangly bits and gets harvesting. He makes many funny cartoon noises as he tries to avoid falling down holes and into lava, and eventually decides he doesn’t _need_ need everything on this list, not when he can just bonemeal it later. He gets the heck out of the nether, realizing as he goes that he is very low on rockets.

2:26:10 Tango puts his last items in the shulker and declares his materials gathered! As for what it’s going to make, well, Chat will find that out when his next episode drops. He says it may be a polarizing build: when he showed it to his son his son laughed, when he showed it to his buddy the buddy said “That’s disturbing.” Chat insists that Tango must go see Skizz. Tango doesn’t want to see Skizz, Skizz is busy with other things, but Chat loves Skizz and wants to see Skizz.

2:27:20 Tango flies over to Skizz’s base and finds Skizz with the spinning propeller-beanie on his head, the Mission Possible reward that Skizz has been coveting since the game began. Tango is very excited for him. They celebrate together and Skizz assures him that the moment he got it was recorded and Tango will get to see it. The hat is animated, but it spins a little slowly to actually take flight. Skizz asks Tango if he’s done a Mission Possible. Tango has done one, but he lost the book and his mission was difficult, etc etc. He promises he will do it for next time. He makes fun of Skizz for getting easy missions. Skizz tells Tango that he gave a fake diamond to Grian as present and then, when Grian gave it right back, he hid it on the server. The hiding place he chose is in the plainest sight imaginable, but he bets it will still be there at the end of the server. Except that he did it in his episode, so that might give it away just a little bit. Tango is still thinking about fake diamonds and how they should start their own counterfeiting operation. Skizz could be a corrupt cop. Skizz says he could be and tells Tango he really needs to watch the new episode. Tango is full of nefarious plans already.

2:30:00 Skizz tells his story of police corruption, how he and Scar busted Xisuma for having a pop-up shop and when Xisuma asked what was wrong with it, destroyed part of it to make it “structurally unsound.” The Poe Poe don’t have far to go to achieve corruption. Tango tells Skizz he is wrapping up his stream after spending two hours gathering supplies. Skizz asks if gathering supplies is what they call “Stealing from Skizz” these days. Tango is about to justify himself when Scar comes crashing into the front stairway of the base while calling for help. He smashes hard but does not die. Scar is desperate for one block of packed ice. Skizz has packed ice and he even knows where it is, thanks to his organizing stream! He races off to get it, but Scar spots the single packed ice that was a gift from Stress, mounted in its place of honor on the wall. He grabs it and runs away. Skizz chases after him, yelling incoherently. They both take to the sky, Skizz swearing bloody HotGuy murder, and Tango follows just to spectate. Chat suggests a lawsuit.

2:32:00 The dueling pair land in front of the courthouse, where Scar has found a wandering trader selling packed ice mini-blocks. This was, apparently, the great packed-ice emergency. Skizz demands his gift back and offers Scar a regular packed ice block instead. Scar reveals he was just playing and the two trade ice blocks. Tango and Chat are somewhat disappointed by the peaceful resolution. Tango spots the countdown sand timer in front of Poe Poe HQ and wonders what it is. Scar tells him not to worry about that, only ultra-redstoners can understand it. He leads the way to the corner of the Poe Poe front lot, where he has mounted a “surveillance camera” made of a grindstone, an observer and a lightning rod. He pops the packed ice miniblock on the front and declares that it is now a better surveillance camera. It does look better now, but the literal-minded redstoner Tango is mystified by what Scar has done. Skizz is not much better. Skizz and Tango both want to look at the new Poe Poe HQ but they are both streaming. Scar tells Skizz he is not allowed to look, even though his video has already dropped. He does show them the door to the workings of the sand clock, which has a sign that reads “Ultra Redstoners Only.”

2:33:30 Scar goes down the hole into the redstone works, telling them he’s going to give them a sneak peak. A lot of pistons begin firing rapidly, but there is no visible change to the clock. Tango asks if it was supposed to do something. Scar insists yes, it is ultra-redstoner stuff! Tango puts his face in one hand. Chat suggests maybe it’s a noise machine. Scar explains that it’s supposed to be counting down, just like that old-fashioned clock that one Canadian made awhile back. Chat gets the reference to the Etho Hopper Clock much faster than Tango does. This is a modern 2024 version of that. Skizz and Tango race down into the redstone even as Scar chases them yelling “ultra-redstoners only!” and telling him this is spoilers! They reluctantly leave. Tango asks Scar “you’re not doing something with torch burnout, are you?” in a very disapproving way. Scar asks how you even burn out a torch. He would never. Scar and Skizz discuss Poe Poe business in the sort of coded way that suggests neither of them have any idea what they are talking about. Scar tells Tango that he can look at the Poe Poe building but Skizz cannot, because he wants to get Skizz’s reaction recorded for a video. Tango gets himself a good look and tells everyone to go watch Scar’s video. Scar mounts the other ice miniblock on the other camera and tries to rope Tango into making a garage door at Poe Poe HQ. Tango tells him to call Mumbo, the redstone door guy. Scar points out that the last time Mumbo made him a door, it broke on the second use. Tango agrees and says the same thing happened to him in Season 7. Even so, Mumbo is the guy. Doc could do it too, but Doc is probably in No Mood.

2:38:20 Skizz and Scar begin bickering over whether Skizz is actually looking at the Poe Poe HQ, and Tango takes off to have a look at the structure. He and chat are quite impressed. Scar calls himself a bad builder because he couldn’t make a copper roof look quite the way he wanted, to general scoffing from all present. Tango says it’s qutting time for him, but he does need to tell everyone that he won the hockey game. Skizz asks if he got in any fights, Tango says yeah, he killed three people. Skizz is thrilled, because his secret intention in asking the question had been to get Tango to lie to him and Tango is way ahead of the game. Skizz embellishes on the story in gory, zamboni-breaking fashion. Tango tells Skizz he should come play hockey but Skizz hastily demurs, saying that if he tries to play hockey, there actually will be blood. Tango bags a little on some of the guys on his team, saying Skizz could probably beat them after a couple hours of practice.

2:42:00 Tango asks Scar if his cam account has a Grian skin on these days. Scar laughs and says he needed a screenshot of Grian in the permit office many episodes ago and just never changed it. Before that it was something else weird, maybe Mumbo. Tango asks if the Poe Poe HQ has an interior. Scar uses his censor button. Skizz admits that he is responsible for the interior. Scar modifies that, saying he wants to do the lobby so he can put up an enormous portrait of Cub that reads “Model Citizen.” Scar and Skizz agree that they will film Skizz actually looking at the HQ soon. Tango tells them to do it now and takes off for home.

2:44:00 Tango heads back to the factory and prepares to wrap his stream, but is immediately derailed by an extremely violent visit by the Poe Poe. Scar and Skizz both try very hard to kill Tango as he runs around and makes cartoon noises. He is surprisingly good at dodging! In the end, although Tango and much of his factory are perforated by flaming arrows from HotGuy and FailGuy, it is Skizz who winds up dead at Scar’s hand. Neither Scar nor Tango know exactly how that happened. Tango takes refuge in the rafters of the factory, and it is only at that point he realizes he’s been muted the entire time. He lands and collects up Skizz’s bits and pieces for safekeeping. Chat encourages him to wear the beanie-copter hat. It looks good on him.

2:47:00 Skizz and Scar return to the factory. Skizz ended up respawning at world spawn. Tango tells Skizz that he just completed Mission Possible, and wouldn’t you know it, he got the hat! Skizz demands the return of his hat, but Tango is enjoying it too much. Skizz yells about it some before being distracted by collecting up the rest of his items. Tango gives him back the hat anyway and reveals that the secret to his dodging success is the speed conferred by his beacon. Scar suggests adding jump boost as well for even more exciting movement. Skizz announces that he has recovered his FailGuy bow. He doesn’t sound very enthusiastic about it. Scar reminds him that FailGuy is a member of an elite fraternity, there are only three -Guy bows in existence after all. HotGuy, CuteGuy, and FailGuy. “What does FailGuy do?” Tango asks. “Besides fail?” Skizz is mortally offended.

2:48:00 Skizz begins taking potshots at Scar with FailGuy, nearly hitting Tango in the process. Tango yelps and runs. He reveals that the extra-secret secret to his dodging success is “fart bubbles” (soul speed boots and soul sand under the flooring). Skizz grabs a stack of TNT from Tango’s storage and flies away with it. He apparently attempts to FailGuy Tango but is so far off that Tango doesn’t even see it. (Scar may also have stolen a stack of TNT but is more subtle about it.) Tango decides it is absolutely time to end stream for real this time and brings up the logout menu, only to be set on fire by Scar’s arrow. He exits the menu to deal with that before he dies, just in time for a piglin to trigger the Skizz Scream. Scar flies away and Tango is finally able wrap up his stream. He thanks Chat for being amazing, tells Scar he hasn’t got his packed ice, raids into Skizz and ends his stream.

#hermitcraft #stream recap #tangotek #goodtimeswithscar #skizzleman

9 notes · View notes