#hey guys remember when i did a whole poll to see which project to work on next

[copepods]

tntduo sketchdump ^_^

[id: several drawings of c!wilbur and c!quackity over a white background. in the top left, quackity is rearing back to punch wilbur while wilbur shouts at him. in the top right, l’manberg-era wilbur is speaking angrily to quackity, shoving a finger into his chest. in the top left, quackity is wearing a black dress with cape-like sleeves that cut off at his elbows. next to it is a drawing of wilbur and quackity hugging, will’s head resting on quackity’s. below it is a drawing of them wearing each other’s outfits; quackity looks disgruntled while wilbur is smiling. on the bottom left is a drawing of quackity sitting and wearing wilbur’s trenchcoat, clutching it to his chest. on the right side is a sketch of wilbur wearing a long blue dress with puffed sleeves, looking down at it happily. end id]

[cjsinkythoughts]

FATWS One Shot #7 - Revels

Word Count: 2921

Warnings: Cursing, That’s All, it’s a Really Tame One Shot

Setting/Characters: Party Scene in Avengers: Age of Ultron; Lots of Characters so I’m Not Gonna Name Them All

A/N: I know…it’s very late. I wanted to have it out on Friday, but I dunno, guys. My motivation as of late has been very low. I finally decided to just sit down and write tonight. So here it finally is!

This one is pretty mild compared to others. There’s a few feeling things in here, but it’s mainly just the reader hanging out with the team. The ending’s written a bit weird, but I didn’t know what to cut it off because the writers did a nice job of making the Mjolnir scene flow into the scene with Ultron’s appearance, but I didn’t want to write the whole fight with Ultron, I just wanted the lifting scene.

Listen here, though! Prepare yourselves to be conflicted even more with Steve! I made it a lot more…touchy than I was planning on. Don’t come at me! It needs to be done! This’ll be one of the last ones focused on Steve like that though. The next one is reader and Wanda bonding and then after that I don’t have any more planned for AoU, so we’ll be going to Civil War, which is where reader meets Bucky officially. So Bucky’s coming soon!

I’m gonna update my WIP List and - maybe - my One Shot list and post those later, along with a poll because I dunno which series I wanna start on next.

Thank you all so much for your patience, understanding, and support! As always, not beta’d, so please excuse the mistakes, all are mine! Be kind to yourselves and others! Enjoy and stay tuned!

FATWS Series Masterlist

cjsinkythoughts Masterlist

*******

Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.

You set your bag down and looked at your phone, vibrating from where you just left it on the counter. You looked at the time and squinted. Seven. You supposed it wasn’t too late, but you weren’t expecting any calls. 

Tired, your feet dragged as you moved across the room to get your phone. You were helping Fury set up the Helicarrier again while still remaining “dead” to everyone. It was the last thing you were doing before joining the Avengers full time. You were a bit hesitant to be in the spotlight after all these years, but after much pressuring from your team, especially a certain blonde, you finally caved. It was time for a change anyways. It might even be good for you.

Speaking of blondes, Bubba flashed across your screen, a picture of him with some scruff that you took one day in spite of his protests because you’d never seen him with a beard before lighting up behind the contact name.

You answered it, rubbing your eyes with the heel of your hands as you did so. “Hi, bubs. What’s-”

“Where are you? I miss you. Are you coming soon?”

You chuckled at his whines, an eyebrow raising as you processed his words. “Whaddya mean? I’m at my place. Where am I supposed to be?”

“Honey!” You giggled at his groan, finding it amusing how childish he could be at times. “The party? Tonight? Remember? You promised you’d come. I don’t wanna be here without you.”

“Oh shit,” you hiss out. “That’s tonight?” Moving across the kitchen to check your calendar, you scrunch up your face when you see ‘Avenger’s Tower 6 pm’ written in the square. “It’s Saturday. Aw, Stevie. I totally forgot.”

“Oh. So…are you - are you not coming, then?”

Frowning at his fallen tone, you shake your head. “I’ll be there. Just…give me a bit.”

“No, no. It’s okay. You sound tired. You don’t have to-”

“I’m on my way, Steve. I did promise after all. I’m an hour out.”

You could hear his surprise in his voice. “An hour? You’re not in D.C.?”

“I’m a little bit upstate. Just in a safehouse while I help Fury work on something.”

He let out a contemplative hum from the other side of the line. “That secret project you still won’t tell me anything about?”

A smile appeared across your lips as you walked to the bedroom to change into something a little more appropriate, settling for a comfortable romper instead of dealing with a dress. “You know I can’t, bubs. You haven’t told anyone, right?”

“No ma’am.”

You giggle softly. “Alright. Thank you. You’ll find out soon, probably. It’s almost done. Promise.”

“Then you’ll come live here? With me - the team, I mean? I miss you. The team missed you. On the raid.”

“Oh yeah. How was it?”

“Get here and I’ll tell you.”

You laughed, shaking your head. “I’m coming, I’m coming. See you then, bubba.”

“Okay, honey. See ya then.”

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

It was nearly nine when you got to the Tower, but any party thrown by Stark didn’t end until at least ten, so you knew you were fine. Just…fashionably late. A concept you knew Tony understood and you wouldn’t hesitate to remind him if he brought it up.

You were pleasantly surprised by how tame the party was. Sure there were a hundred people you doubted even Tony knew, but no flashing lights, the music wasn’t blaring, and no one was grinding on anyone. Everyone was just talking, drinking, and having a good time.

“Hey! There you are! Capsicle said he called you, but that was hours ago!”

Speak of the devil. You grinned and let Tony pull you into a hug before taking the drink he offered. “Yeah, well, I had a few things to do today.”

His eyebrow quirked up. “A few things, huh? Anything I should know about?”

“Nope!” You popped your lips and gave him a smirk. “Not everything’s about you, Mr. Stark.”

“Yeah, well, we missed you this week. Fun raid.” He looked you up and down and nodded, gesturing to your outfit. “Alright, you know what? I accept this. This is okay. Not what I had in mind, but you pull it off.”

You laughed, shoving his shoulder playfully. “It’s comfortable, okay? Where’s Steve?”

The billionaire rolled his eyes and gave you a look. “Don’t worry your pretty little head. He’s over playing pool with Wilson. C’mon! I wanna get you drunk and complain about my perfect, heroic, billionaire life to my favorite teammate!”

“I just need to tell him I’m here.” You snicker. “And don’t let anyone here you say that. I don’t want my rep to become Tony’s favorite.”

He chuckled with you and gave you another squeeze. “Alright, alright. Come find me later, though. I do have something I need to show you.”

You shook your head, already knowing where the conversation was heading. “Tony! No! I don’t need a suit! Thank you, I appreciate it, but I’m really okay. I like fighting in sweatpants.”

“Fine!” He huffed out. “But at least let me show you some designs I came up with. I put a lot of hard work into them, you know.”

Tapping his chest, you nodded. “I’m sure you did. I’ll come find you and you can show me, but that’s it.”

He smirked, drawing an ‘x’ over his heart with his finger. “Cross my heart.”

“I’m serious, Tony!” You point at him as he started walking away. He just blew a kiss towards you, making you laugh and roll your eyes again.

Turning, you scanned the room for the pool table where, supposedly, Steve was playing with Sam, who you had no idea was gonna be here. You’d been helping him out with the whole James - Bucky, you reminded yourself - Barnes thing during your free time. No such luck yet. The man was literally a ghost, even for you.

You couldn’t stop the smile on your lips when you finally caught sight of him, his brown leather jacket hugging his shoulders a grin on his face as Sam talked to him about something. Quickly making your way over, your arms wrapped around that ridiculously tiny waist, crossing over his stomach. You felt him tense at the sudden contact, before he relaxed at a kiss to the nape of his neck and spun around.

The beam he gave you made your heart flip, his muscled arms winding around your neck. “Y/N! You made it!”

His boyish excitement made you laugh. “I told you I’d come. Hi, Sam.”

Sam nodded and waved. “What’s good, Y/N?”

“Who’s winning?” Slipping out of Steve’s hold, you leaned over the table to study the games process.

“We just started a new one.” Steve informed you. “Wanna join?”

You raised an eyebrow at him. “You sure you wanna be embarrassed in front of all these nice people?”

“Oooh!” Sam winced. “Smack! Alright. Put your money where your mouth is, Y/L/N. Ten bucks says I win.”

“You’re on, Wilson.”

A few more drinks, a couple games, and thirty extra bucks later, Tony called you over impatiently. Steve gave you a questioning look as you heated up, Tony waving his arms dramatically and shouting your name. God, he’s so embarrassing.

“He wants me to look at suit designs.”

Steve frowned at your explanation. “I thought you told him no?”

You chuckled. “I did. I’ll be right back, bubs.” After kissing his cheek, you head over to Tony. From there, you end up bouncing around from teammate to teammate, laughing and joking around with them.

Until Steve dragged you back with him again. “Excuse me.” He interrupted you, Clint, and Natasha’s chatter, grabbing your elbow and taking the drink you had in your hand. “I’m stealing you.”

“C’mon, man! It’s called sharing!”

Natasha laughed and nodded in agreement with Clint’s statement. “Everyone’s gotta have a turn, Rogers.”

Steve hummed, walking backwards and pulling you as you giggled in amusement. “You just had your turn, Romanoff.”

“Sorry guys.” You shrugged when the two looked at you incredulously. “Captain’s orders.”

“Damn right.” Steve nodded firmly.

“Watch your language!” Clint shouted with a pointed finger.

You raised an amused eyebrow at Steve’s groan. “Your language? They do know that you have, quite possibly, the worst mouth on the planet, right?”

He sighed, pulling you to the side of the room and wrapping his arms around your waist. “It’s something that happened on the mission. Which you would know if you were there.”

“Steven.”

He blinked innocently at you. “What?” At your pointed look, he let out a sigh, dropping his forehead to your shoulder. “Did I do something wrong? Is that why you’re avoiding me?”

“Who said I’m avoiding you?”

“C’mon, honey.” He lifted his head, his eyebrows furrowed together. “Don’t hurt me even more. I know you have.”

You shook your head, lips turning down and hand raising to cup his cheek. “Stevie, I’m not. I promise. I’ve just…I’ve just been busy.”

He pouted. “With Fury?”

Giving him a weird look you shook your head. “No. I mean, yes, but I’ve also been helping Sam out with your friend while you help the team with the rest of the HYDRA bases. You know that. What’s going on with you?”

“I’m sorry.” He sighed, ducking his head to your shoulder again. “I’ve just missed you.”

“I know, bubba. I’ve missed you too.”

The real truth was you had been avoiding him. Not on purpose. Kinda. You just felt something different around him. Something you’d never dealt with before. And you didn’t want to deal with it now, so you haven’t been. It was why you were so hesitant about becoming a full time Avenger. Well, that and the fact that you’d been in the shadows for a decade and you weren’t sure how well you’d do in the light.

“Where’s Sam?”

“He had to head home. Long drive. His excuse, not mine.”

You gasped in offense. “And he didn’t even say bye?! Rude!”

Steve chuckled, his nose brushing against the skin of your throat, breath tickling your collarbone. “I’m sure he’ll call you in the morning or something. Apologize for leaving so abruptly.”

You hummed, swallowing the lump that suddenly appeared in your throat. “Tell me about the language thing. What happened?”

He groaned, but straightened and told you about him accidentally scolding Tony, before he proceeded to tell you about the rest of the mission, including the Maximoff twins. 

“Why is it that war always seems to breed more war?” You asked with a sigh.

“They’re just kids trying to do what’s right.”

“We all start out that way, don’t we?” You shook your head. Kids. they shouldn’t be fighting in a war. They shouldn’t have to deal with that. “It’s just a shame.” Your voice is muffled by his shirt after you pressed against his chest.

“Yeah.” He sighed out. “Wanna go get a drink?”

Pulling back from him and looking around, you noted that most guests had already gone and it was dwindling down to just the Avengers and a couple allies. “Yeah. Wanna sit down too. I’m kinda tired.”

“Alright, honey. Let’s go sit down.”

It wasn’t even half an hour later when you were all sitting around the middle of the room, everyone else having gone, but Dr. Helen Cho, Rhodey, Maria, and the team. You were in the same boat as Helen, who was basically passed out on an armchair. You’re legs thrown over Steve’s lap, stretched out to let your feet rest on Thor’s thigh, who was on the chair on the other side of the captain. You were hugging Steve’s arm, your head resting against his shoulder, a small smile of content across your features as you listened to the team banter and tease.

You started laughing at Clint’s comments towards Thor’s hammer while spinning the drumstick he had for whatever reason. “Ah, whosoever be he worthy shall haveth the power! Whatever, man! It’s a trick!”

You and Steve exchanged amused grins as Thor challenged Clint, who stood up with no hesitation and headed to the hammer.

“This is gonna be good.” You chirped, taking the bottle Steve handed you as the archer stopped in front of where it was placed on the table.

Clint stuck his tongue out at you, before turning back to Thor and gripping the handle. He tugged for a moment, grunting, before laughing in slight embarrassment. Chuckling, you snuggled closer to Steve’s side, your eyes feeling heavy. He turned his head to nose your temple and kiss your cheek.

“Oh brother.” You giggled, sitting up with interest as Tony stood up and unbuttoned his suit jacket.

“Alright, so if I lift it, I-I then rule Asgard?” Tony asked in clarification, slipping his hand through the strap.

“Yes, of course.” Thor confirmed with an amused smirk, shooting you a wink when you nudged his knee with your foot.

Tony braced himself, setting his foot on the table. “I will be reinstituting prima nocta.”

You rolled your eyes, scoffing. “Oh God, Tony.” Steve squeezed your knee with a slight chuckle as the billionaire tried lifting it to no avail. You gave him a weird look, watching him leave the room, before turning to Steve. “What’s he-?”

“Alright! Let’s try this again!”

Another fit of laughter left you and the team when Tony strutted back in with his Iron Man glove on. And when that didn’t work, Rhodey joined him with his War Machine glove. 

Your eyes were watering and you tried holding in your laughter, but you couldn’t help it, pressing your face into Steve’s arm to muffle the sounds. You felt his shoulders shake with silent chuckles, which didn’t help your own.

When Bruce went up, an awkward silence filled the air after he tried Hulking out, but then you started laughing again.

“Your turn, bubba.” You nudged the blonde, who gave you a look, before shrugging and patting your thigh. 

“You gotta get off then, honey.”

You rolled your eyes but swung your legs off him, letting him stand up. He rolled his sleeves up, stepping up to Mjolnir, a few encouragements from the team, before pulling on the hammer. You thought you saw it shake a little, but Steve yanked some more and it didn’t move, so you figured you were imagining it.

Steve sighed and let go, putting his hands up in surrender with a grin like the good sport he was. Thor laughed. “Nothing.”

You shrugged at the super soldier who plopped back down besides you as the others tried getting Natasha to go up. “You tried.” 

He raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms and leaning back. “Well if Romanoff isn’t going…your turn.”

“Wh-what?” Your eyes went wide.

“I did it.” He gestured to the hammer. “Now you gotta.”

“Hold on, hold on. We didn’t agree on th-”

“Honey.” He gave you a little pout, cocking his head to the hammer. “C’mon. Just a tug.”

You narrowed your eyes, but your lips turned up and you straightened off the couch. “This is peer pressure. Captain America, everyone.” He chuckled as you stepped over to Mjolnir. “It’s not gonna work.”

Tony snorted. “Not with that attitude.”

“C’mon, Tones. If none of you could.”

The billionaire shrugged with a grin. “Never know if you don’t try.”

You deadpanned at him, gripping the handle and trying, in vain, to pull it. You didn’t put nearly as much effort as everyone else. “Wow. Look at that. What a surprise.”

“What was that?! You barely touched it!”

Giving a shrug, you started back to your seat. “I’m guessing if you’re worthy or whatever, it wouldn’t take that much to lift it.” You fell onto the couch, your head landing in Steve’s lap as you looked upside down at Thor and pointed at him. “But I do have a question for you.” The god looked at you in interest, gesturing for you to continue. “What does worthy mean? Like, what makes a person worthy to lift it? You couldn’t lift it a while back - I know, I read the files. SHIELD agent, remember?” You added when you saw him open his mouth to question you.

You blinked at him curiously, tilting your head, watching as his brow furrowed. Tony cackled and clapped at the silence in answer. “Oooh! She got you! All difference to the Man Who Wouldn’t Be King, but it’s rigged. And the lack of response to Y/N’s question just makes it more obvious.”

“That’s not what I meant-”

“You bet your ass.”

You rolled your eyes, letting it go as Maria teased Steve about Clint’s foul language. “Did you tell everyone about that?” Tony ignored Steve’s question and continued to ride on Thor and his hammer.

“Why are they trying to make sense of it?” You questioned, highly entertained, but also very tired, turning to press against Steve’s stomach.

“It’s Tony. I couldn’t tell you. C’mere.” Steve shifted you so that you were sitting up, but he was holding you more comfortably. “Try getting some sleep.”

You hummed and nodded against him, but a high pitched whine made you wince and stand up, Steve unconsciously standing a bit in front of you. A suit of Tony’s, damaged with wires hanging down and oil leaking out or places that didn’t have metal keeping them in, came in and you inwardly sighed at the bad feeling tugging at your gut.

So much for sleep.

***********

***********

***********

All Works Taglist (Open):

@happygoreading @bibliophilewednesday @breadqueen95 @marvelettesassemble @w-wolfhxrd @the-larry-romance​ @abitofeverythinggg

[goldenavenger02]

You're a Sick One, Mr. Grinch

Thank you, @whumphoarder, for helping me come up with this idea for @creativity-queens-92! 

•••••••••

Everyone in Queens loved Christmas a lot. But Peter Parker, also know as Spider-Man, did not.

Peter loved Christmas, but hated the whole Christmas season.

Go ahead and ask why, he'll tell you the reason.

Christmas is usually filled with cheer, happiness and good will. But it's hard to feel those feelings when you're in bed and ill.

And Peter could feel this happening yet again as he was with his two best friends, going down Queens Boulevard, looking at lights and shopping for loved ones.

He could feel the sniffling starting to build up in his nose, and the congestion building up in his chest, but he was gonna find his aunt a present, even if he ended up in the hospital.

"I love Christmas lights." MJ admitted, looking up at the red, white, blue and green blinking lights lining the streets of Queens as she walked down the streets with Ned and Peter behind her, all three of them doing their Christmas shopping.

She was taken out of her winter wonderland when she heard Peter sneeze loudly for the thirteenth time, she might add, that night.

"Dude, why don't you just go home?" Ned questioned, both of them turning to see Peter struggling to keep up, blocking his mouth as he coughed with his coat sleeve.

"Yeah, you sound awful." MJ added, quickly finding a bench for the three of them to sit on while Peter caught his breath.

"Have to find something for May."

"But if you get sick and die, it won't matter." MJ reasoned, receiving two sets of glares, but she ignored them and continued. "Either you go home or I'll tell her."

"Come on, guys. I'm fine!"

"I agree with MJ. What if you're really sick or something?" Ned questioned in concern, looking his friend in the eyes.

Peter sighed and stood up, straightening out his coat. Ned always managed to guilt trip him into doing things he didn't want to do.

"Fine, but if you find anything that May might like, can you send me a picture?"

"Sure, whatever, just go home before you get us sick." MJ demanded, covering her face with her gloves jokingly, ignoring the eye rolls from both of the boys before Peter started walking back home, the only light being the illuminating Christmas lights hanging above him on the polls lining the streets.

••••••••••••••••

"Hey, May." Peter greeted, shrugging his backpack on the ground before collapsing on the couch, seeing his aunt distracted on her laptop as she used a single finger to point at his backpack.

"Put it on the hook."

He groaned, picking up his backpack and sliding the handle onto the hook, before returning to the couch, and turning on the TV, looking for a Christmas movie of sorts, crappy or otherwise.

"Did you finish your Christmas shopping?"

"No, MJ and Ned made me come home." He stopped to cough into his elbow, which diverted her attention away from her laptop. "Said I was sick."

She walked over to him, putting her hand on his forehead, feeling a slight warmth radiating from it.

"You feel warm." She told him, leaning down to kiss his forehead, before gently ruffling his hair. "Maybe head to bed early?"

"Okay." Peter nodded, turning off the TV, and standing up. "Night, May."

"Good night, sweetheart. Come get me if you need me."

He went upstairs, changing into a pair of sweatpants, before immediately crawling under the covers, trying to escape the cold filling the apartment.

•••••••••••••••

The next morning, May went to go check on Peter, and winced sympathetically when she saw he had gotten out the quilts, a tell tale sign that he was indeed sick.

She gently pulled the blanket down so she had a full view of his flushed face before gently pressing her hand to his forehead, feeling the heat coming off of it.

"Peter, sweetheart. You need to wake up." She insisted, gently shaking him in order to get up the usually light sleeper.

"-on't wanna school..." He mumbled, holding one of the quilts in his tight fist.

"Honey, you're running a fever. I need to take your temperature." May insisted, and sure enough, Peter sat up slowly, his pajama sleeves covering his hands as he covered his eyes.

May slipped the thermometer between his lips, pressing a kiss to his forehead before going downstairs and grabbing a cup of water and the bottle of acetaminophen, before going back upstairs.

She sat down on the edge of his bed when the thermometer beeped. She took it out, and looked at the temperature, wincing sympathetically.

"102.4, kiddo."

She handed him the water and acetaminophen, watching him down the pills.

"Let's take off a few layers, okay?" She suggested, gently taking off two of the quilts. "Just so you can cool down a bit more."

Peter nodded, already starting to fall back to sleep.

"Call me if you need me." May insisted, gently patting his leg before going to get ready for work while ignoring the tugging feeling to call out of work and stay with Peter all day.

••••••••••••••

Peter groaned as he heard his phone ring. He wanted to retreat back under the covers, but he figured it might be important, so he sniffed before picking up.

"Hello?" He asked, swallowing back a shot of pain from his throat as he sat up straight.

"Wow, you really sound sick. I called to ask where you were." Ned's concerned voice came through the speaker. "You were supposed to present a project with MJ, and now she's pissed."

"Right, right." He insisted, rubbing his eyes as he stood up, shaking. "Can you come get the papers during lunch or something? I have them all ready, I just-" He was cut off by a deep, chesty cough which made his throat burn more.

"Say no more, I'll be there at 12:10." Ned insisted. "But actually don't speak anymore. MJ said suck on a cough drop and- I'm not telling him that!"

"See you then." Peter smirked, hanging up before going to the desk and arranged the papers in order.

He grabbed the folder and worked his way down the stairs, grasping onto the rail as he walked down slowly, setting it on the coffee table before picking up his phone and updating Ned.

Peter: (10:26 a.m.) It's on the coffee table, now let me die in peace.

Ned: (10:27 a.m.) ok, ok. just leave the door unlocked or something so I can get it. I lost the house key you gave me in my room and I don't have time to search for it.

Peter: (10:27 a.m.) I'll just stay downstairs for two hours.

Ned: (10:29 a.m.) ok. Get some sleep though.

Peter: (10:30 a.m.) Say no more.

Peter turned his phone off, and went to the TV, flipping through the channels before deciding on It's a Wonderful Life (it was the only Christmas movie he could find), and going into the kitchen to make himself some toast.

•••••••••••••••••

"Peter..." He heard a gentle voice say, disturbing him from his deep sleep.

"Wha?" He mumbled, rubbing his eyes before looking to see May with a concerned look on her face and running her hand through his hair before explaining.

"You've been asleep since team 10:30. It's 4."

"But I'm sick." He tried to rationalize, before blinking himself awake.

"I know, kiddo. Do you want something to eat?"

Peter nodded, and watched as May went to the stove, starting to cook a can of chicken noodle soup.

"Do I need to tell Tony that we're not coming to his Christmas party?"

"No, no, I'll be fine." Peter insisted, as he moved from the couch, smiling at the lack of homework on the coffee table, to the dining room table, rubbing his eyes again.

He looked up to see May waving a thermometer near his face. "Open up, kiddo." He opened his mouth with a groan, letting her slip it under his tongue before putting his head in his hands, before she went back to the stove.

It beeped a few minutes later, and he took it out, giving her the reading.

"102.3"

"I'll get you some Tylenol. You up for watching a movie while eating tonight?" She asked, getting the pills out of the container.

"The Polar Express?"

May smiled, putting the pills and water on the table. "Absolutely."

•••••••••••••••••••••••

It never was the worst of the cold that got Peter, it was the tail end. The last few days where you feel better, but you still are coughing, sneezing and a low fever that just brings you down and makes you mad that you're still sick.

And of course, that just happened to fall on the day of Tony's Christmas party, a event Peter wasn't required to attend, but he really wanted to go.

May went to go get him up that morning, knowing it was going to be a challenge, before walking into his room and turning on the light, making him groan under the covers.

"Come on, kiddo. Tony's party is today." She insisted, gently rubbing his back. "You know, the party you insisted on going to with a 102.3 fever."

"Too sick."

"Bullshit." She replied, taking the covers off of him, forcing him to curl up into a ball. "You wanted to go, and I'm leaving work two hours early to go. No canceling now."

"But, May, I don't feel so good." He insisted, sitting up and rubbing his eyes, which made her smile and kiss his forehead.

"Be ready by the time I get back, remember that we are taking some food, and be festive." She insisted, ruffling his hair. "I love you."

"Love you too." He grinned as she went on his way.

He locked the door, and after quickly contemplating wether or not he should start getting ready, he went back upstairs, and threw his covers back on, starting to fall back to sleep when his phone started ringing.

"Hello?" He demanded, a groan escaping his lips as he pushed the covers off and went to go put a Christmas movie on for background noise while he tried to bake something for the party that night.

"Hey, loser." MJ's familiar tone replied, probably with that smirk on her face. "You sound better. Do you have plans for today?"

"I'm leaving for a party at five, why?"

"Cause I'm leaving till January tonight and I have your Christmas present ready."

"You can drop it off if you want. I'm baking all day for this party."

"I'll just mail it. Have fun baking, Parker."

"Bye, MJ." He smirked, hearing her hang up before turning on The Grinch and getting to work on gingerbread cookies (even though Mr. Stark told him that they didn't have to bring anything and that it was just them and a few of the Avengers)

••••••••••••••••••••

By eight that night, Peter and May were at the party, which was more of a gathering if Peter was being completely honest.

Everyone was sitting on the couches, plates in hand as they watched Home Alone.

Peter was squished in between Tony and May, curled under a snowflake decorated throw blanket, and while he was trying to focus on Kevin's antics and genius traps, he was scanning the room and eating sugar cookies.

T'Challa was sitting on a couch with his sister, and while he was trying to enjoy the movie, Shuri was smug and insisting how she could do way better if she was in Kevin's situation, clearly annoying him.

Rhodey was falling asleep, due to his distaste for the movie (which caused everyone to demand why), and Natasha was sitting beside him, watching intently.

Pepper was on the other side of Tony, leaning on his shoulder, fully immersed, just like her husband, who had one arm around her and the other around him.

And finally, Clint and Laura were sitting on the couch, and Laura was holding Nathaniel, while Clint had a arm around Cooper and Lila, who were falling asleep as well, despite having a longer drive then May and Peter did.

Everyone was starting to fall asleep, with the exception of Natasha (who Peter was told doesn't sleep much) when there was a whir and all the lights went out, the TV quickly following as everyone groaned.

Peter curled more under the covers, knowing that it was gonna get cold if the power was out, as Tony stood up.

"I'll go check the fuse box. Rhodes, think you can get a flashlight?"

"Yeah, I'm coming." He insisted, getting up and grabbing the flashlight before following Tony downstairs.

"So you're the kid who fought Captain America at the airport?" Shuri asked with a raised eyebrow , almost like she wasn't gonna believe a word that came out of his mouth.

"I'm your age!" Peter insisted, before sticking his entire body except his head under the blanket. "Now let me die in peace."

"Geez, kid. You alright?" Natasha asked as she got up to grab another Christmas cookie.

"He's on the tail end of a cold." May insisted, gently ruffling his hair. "That's usually when he's the most miserable."

"Makes sense." Natasha insisted as she sat back down, biting into her gingerbread. "I get too antsy after being sick for three days."

Then the power whirred back to life, along with the TV, with Rhodey and Tony returning shortly after just as the credits of Home Alone started playing.

"Who's ready to watch The Grinch?"

"Which one?" Clint questioned while wrapping his two older kids in blankets. "Cause the Jim Carrey one is classic."

"The animated one. It's a actual classic." Tony looked at him with a "are you serious" look on his face before flipping it on and taking his seat back between Pepper and Peter, wrapping his arms around both of them.

And while the intro started and Tony and Clint were fighting about which one was better, it was interrupted by the sound of snoring.

And there Peter was, sleeping soundly on May and Tony, as the Whos started singing.

"Da-who dorays, Fa-who forays, welcome Christmas, Christmas day..."

[dangertronic]

Not A Monster Chapter 12

I still don’t know how I’m getting daily chapters out.

Ao3 Link

Tag list: @creamy-brown-eyes @thetrashvoid

Forever Tags: @sten-bros @agrimny @areyareddie @jakethezombiehunter @deamontesnothere @soomar-wine

Twelve

The Christmas vacation had passed far too quickly for their liking, and they soon found themselves back in school, wrapped up in thick layers in order to protect themselves from the cold January weather.

“Why is it so fucking cold?” Richie demanded, throwing his backpack down onto his desk so he could work on unbuttoning his jacket.

“It’s called winter, idiot.” Eddie said, hanging his jacket over the back of his chair. “You know, that time of year before it starts to get warm?”

“Can we not just skip winter?” Richie asked, dropping to sit in his chair where he slammed his head onto his backpack. “It would make my life a lot easier.”

Eddie shook his head, unwrapping the fluffy black scarf from around his neck and draping it over the back of his chair with his jacket. “I don’t think the universe cares about any of us having an easy life, Rich.”

Richie didn’t get a chance to respond as the final bell rang and the last few students who hadn’t already been in the homeroom started to make their way in before the homeroom teacher could arrive and mark them as being late.

After two weeks of being able to hug Eddie and hold his hand whenever he wanted to, Richie found the first day back at school to be torturous. Eddie made it somewhat bearable for him to handle, opting to walk close enough to Richie that their arms brushed without it looking obvious that they were dating.

“Hey Tozier, nice face!”

“Same to you, asshole!” Eddie snapped over his shoulder as they passed Brad in the hallway.

Brad no longer had the silvery mask covering his nose, but the bruising was still present under his eyes and over the bridge, along with some swelling on the nose itself from where Eddie’s knee had made contact with it.

“You know I can handle a verbal match with that guy, right?” Richie asked as they ascended the stairwell to the third floor.

“Not the fucking point, Richie.” Eddie growled, shoving Richie with his elbow. “I want him to remember that I was the one who broke his damn nose three weeks ago and that I have no problems in doing it again.”

“God you’re cute when you’re protective, Eddie.” Jessica said as she passed them on the landing with Stan.

“Screw you Jess!” Eddie called over the railing.

Jessica looked up at them both with a wide grin. “Defeats the point of who we are if you do that, Eddie!”

Stan shook his head with an amused smile, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her off the steps towards their science class.

Ben was already in the science lab when the two of them entered, idly doodling something inside of his notebook. He looked up when Stan pulled out the chair next to him at their station, giving him a smile.

“How was Math?” Ben asked.

“Hell.” Jessica grumbled, propping her head up on a hand. “Fortunately Stan sits right across the aisle from me.”

“Fortunate isn’t the word I would use since I saved your ass.” Stan said, taking out the books they needed for the class.

“Yeah, yeah, I get it, you’re a hero.”

Stan rolled his eyes, his attention drifting to the front of the class while Jessica hunted out her notebook.

“Damn, that guy really did a number on you huh?” Charlie asked, turning in his seat as Richie took his own seat behind him.

“It looks worse than it is.” Richie assured him, rooting around in his backpack for his social studies textbook. “Pain is mostly gone now… until Eddie elbow checks me and reminds me that my torso is heavily bruised.”

Eddie snorted, taking his seat across the aisle from Richie. “Maybe you should stop doing things that make me fucking elbow check you… dumbass.”

Mike chuckled, turning in his seat to look at Eddie. “What did he do now?”

“He was just being Richie.”

Charlie chuckled this time, shaking his head as he turned to face the front of the room again. “Sorry Tozier, I’m on Kaspbrak’s side here. You should stop doing things that make him elbow check you. Then you wouldn’t be in pain like… ever.”

Richie sighed, turning his head in Eddie’s direction. “Why does everyone take your side when it comes to these things?”

Eddie grinned, sticking his tongue out at Richie. “I’m better than you, Rich, and they all know it. That’s why.”

“That’s a bold statement. I feel like I should be taking a poll on this.” Richie muttered, idly opening his textbook.

“I wouldn’t.” Charlie warned, leaning back in his chair. “You might not like the result once you’ve asked all your friends that. You just know Uris will say Eddie.”

Richie groaned. “I don’t know if he would actually mean that or if he would be doing it with the sole purpose of annoying me.”

“Pretty sure it’s both.” Mike said.

Over the course of the morning, Jessica had exhibited irritating behaviour. In math she had been furiously tapping her pencil against her notebook until Mike had taken the pencil away from her until she’d calmed down.

In science, she had clicked her pen so erratically that Stan hand pinned her hand to the work station in order to stop the annoying clicking noise. In literature, she had been bouncing her leg so fast that her knee had slammed off her desk, knocking an array of things onto the floor.

In history, she hadn’t paid attention to a single word that Eddie had said in regards to their project which was due the following week.

Now, at lunch, Jessica was tapping her fork against her tray, staring out of the window next to her.

“Jess.” Lucille said, placing her fork down. “You need to relax.”

The tapping only seemed to intensify until Stan reached over, snagging the fork from her hand and slamming it onto the table where he pinned it under his hand so Jessica couldn’t take it back from him.

“What the hell is the matter with you?” Stan hissed. “You’ve been jumpy all damn morning and it’s getting on everyone’s nerves.”

Jessica finally looked away from the window to Stan, her hand poised over the edge of her tray as if she were still holding the fork. “It’s nothing.”

“It’s not nothing Jess.” Lucille said.

“Yes it is.”

“No it’s not.” Lucille hissed. “Jess here, on my suggestion, had to tell her parents that this place has been ‘fixing’ her like they wanted and that she has a boyfriend in order for her to be able to actually leave the house and meet up with me. For a while it’s been working just fine but… her parents now want to meet this mysterious boyfriend which she doesn’t have. And if they find out she doesn’t have one –”

“That’s it?” Stan asked, lifting his hand from the fork.

“What do you mean that’s it?” Jessica hissed. “I don’t know if you noticed, Stan, but I don’t even like boys, let alone have a boyfriend.”

“You have six male friends.” Richie mumbled around his fork, waving at the group around them with his free hand. “Any one of us would happily pretend for you if it meant you could get out the house and spend time with your darling girlfriend.”

“You do know that this would require fake dates and actually meeting my parents and convincing them we’re actually a thing, right?” Jessica asked, arching a brow. “And if you think for one moment, Tozier, that I am ever going to let my parents spend even a minute around that gutter you call a mou –”

“I’ll do it.” Eddie said, placing his fork down.

“Come again?”

“I’ll do it.” Eddie repeated. “It just means you owe me another one.”

“Like I’m not in debt to you enough?” Jessica asked.

“Well, one of your debts can be that you do the same with me in regards to my mom because there is no way in hell I can tell her about Richie or my sexuality. I’m pretty sure she’d react the same, if not worse, than your own parents. It works for me too. Every ‘date’ that we go on would just be us going to meet Lucille and Richie, doing our separate things, meeting up at the end, and making sure that one of us drops the other one at home, right?”

“Yeah, that’s literally how we’d do it.”

“Okay so let me get this straight.” Richie said, glancing to Eddie. “You’re literally going to lie to your mother about dating Jess? You of all people?”

Eddie shot him a glare. “Yes, Richie. I’m going to lie so I can actually spend time with you without constantly using Stan as the scapegoat. Besides, it’s not like she never lied to me about anything… like my whole life.”

“I’m proud of you, Eds. You’re a big man lying to Mrs K.” Richie praised, ruffling his hair, his attention settling on Jessica. “You make sure you have my Eddie home on time every night and that no means no!”

Jessica threw her bottle of water at him. “Don’t be gross. I don’t even –”

Richie caught the bottle, setting it onto the table next to his tray. “I distinctly remember you once telling me that you would go straight for ten seconds just to kiss my boyfriend after a speech he gave me in your garage.”

“Yeah, okay, you got me. I did say that.” Jessica said, reaching over the table for the bottle. “So what’s my other debt payback?”

Eddie grinned. “I’ll tell you closer to the date, Jess. I’ve had this in mind for a while now. So when do you need me to come and meet your parents and convince them that you’re not sneaking off with girls?”

Jessica uncapped the bottle of water, furrowing her brow in thought. “I’ll get back to you on that as soon as they tell me when they wanna meet you. What about with your mom?”

“Let me at least warn her of my fake girlfriend first and then we can think of something.” Eddie said as Jessica took a swig of her water.

Stan pinched at the bridge of his nose. “Richie, I think you’ve been a bad influence on Eddie all of these years.”

“I gladly take the blame for that, Staniel!” Richie cheered, once again ruffling Eddie’s hair. “I couldn’t be prouder of him to be honest.”

“And now I’m starting to see why Ben is the mom.” Jessica said, twisting the cap back onto her bottle with a grin.

[aristocratlegacy]

Chapter Sixty-Seven: Bar Crawl

Ok first chapter with Gen eight as adults! I’m gonna do one more of them in the city living together because that was so fun to do- sorta reminded me of the old days when you could send all of the spares and stuff together to uni in ts2 legacies. That was fun. I’m also going to do the first heir poll for the first time in like 100 years, even though I have a personally clear favorite, I’m still gonna leave it up to change. Enjoy!

9 PM

Pierce: “Oh my god, guys, you’re never going to believe what a shitty day I had at wo-”

Pierce: “What the fuck?”

Chloe: “Hey there Hawkeye! You’re late!”

Pierce: “I was at work, Chloe. What the hell is going on here?”

Chloe: “What does it look like?”

Pierce: “It looks like a party.”

Chloe: “Duh. Want me to get you a drink?”

Pierce: “No, I wasn’t invited so it might be weird.”

Chloe: “Invited? What? Oh- ok. Bye I guess…..he’s so weird. Oh my god Izzy hey cutie!”

?: “Hey, Vivien, how’s showbiz?”

Vivien: “Do I know you? Oh! You must know me from my commercial work as woman with boil! Or perhaps dead stipper number five?. I was so proud of the work I did on that those, I think it’ll really help a lot of people understand the workings of the world.”

Stranger: “Oh, uh, no- I just...live next door. We’ve met like, five times.”

Vivien: “Really? Huh. I don’t remember any of that.”

Stranger: “Oh. I should check out that commercial you’re talking about, I’d love to see it.”

Vivien: “I’m sure you would, it’s genre-transcending really.”

Stranger: “I’m Walter Trimble.”

Vivien: “Ok. Bye Walker!”

Walter: “Oh...bye.”

Chloe: “OMG, I want you to meet my brother, he’s an art critic too so I think you’d really hit it off!”

Izzy: “Oh is your brother Pierce Aristocrat? He definitely didn’t get a few of Nancy Landgraab’s latest pieces.”

Chloe: “Well then you’ll get to pick his brain! Where is he….”

Chloe: “Hey, Vivi? Have you seen Pierce?”

Vivien: “No? Darling, I just got recognized for the boil ad! That guy Wallace over there quoted the entire ad from memory. He’s basically obsessed with me I’m his favorite actress.”

Chloe: “Cute! I’m gonna look for Pierce”

Pierce: “Hey!”

Vivien: “I just heard him, though.”

Pierce: “This isn’t like a spare closet or something, you can’t just make out in here you absolute hooligans!”

Chloe: “Pierce! There you are! Why are you, like, hiding in a cave when we’re having a party?”

Pierce: “Are we having a party? You didn’t even tell me about it, I wasn’t even invited! Who does that?”

Chloe: “I’m still not seeing a problem. Come out and meet my friend Izzy!”

Pierce: “No! I don’t want to go to your stupid party, Chloe.”

Chloe: “Ugh, I hate how you get like this! I’m sorry I wanted to have fun and have people over in our awesome apartment that we live in together.”

Pierce: “Then I guess I’m sorry for being pissed that I wasn’t invited to a party taking place in my own house.”

Chloe: “Great! So now that we’ve all apologized, come out and talk to people!”

Pierce: “......I’m just gonna talk to the cat the whole time.”

Chloe: “Oooooh, I don’t know about that, Walter Trimble from next door has had a monopoly on Teacup all night. He’s really awkward, poor thing.”

Pierce: “Yeah, to be awkward is obviously such a curse. How dare he not feel comfortable at a party you probably invited him to from his mailbox.”

Chloe: “Oh my gooood, Hawkeye! You’re obviously mad-”

Pierce: “I’m not mad.”

Chloe: “Yes you are!”

Pierce: “No I’m not.”

Chloe: “Are.”

Pierce: “Fine! I’m mad!”

Chloe: “UGH! What do you want me to do? Kick everybody out and go somewhere else?”

Pierce: “I mean, it would be a start.”

Chloe: “You’re ridiculous, I’m not gonna do that.”

Pierce: “Then why did you offer?!”

Vivien: “OH MY GOD!.”

Vivien: “Guys! I just got the part in Alpha Centuri!!! I’m gonna be legit famous now! Some of my castmates are gonna be at Orchid tonight, so I’m gonna bounce.

Partygoer: “Seriously?”

Pierce” “...”

Chloe: “Oh shut up. Fine.”

Chloe: “Hey everybody! We’re going to the club! We’re all drunk so I’m gonna call us a party bus!”

Party: “Woooo!”

Chloe: “Yayyy!”

Chloe: “Wait, are you coming?”

Pierce: “Yeah. Why?”

Chloe: “I just can’t with you sometimes, you know that, Pierce?”

Pierce: “Oh I know.”

10 PM

Chloe: “Is this it?”

Vivien: “Yup!”

Vivien: “Hi there! I was told I would be on the list for the Alpha Centuri cast meetup? Vivien Aristocrat.”

Bouncer: “Uhhhh...yeah, you’re on the list, but your accompanying...guests aren’t.”

Vivien: “Oh I have a plus one.”

Bouncer: “Right. A plus one.”

Vivien: “I don’t understand.”

Bouncer: “You can’t bring all these people in here.”

Vivien: “But I have a plus one.”

Bouncer: “So….pick on of your friends and go inside.

Vivien: “Well, I tried, sorry nerds, I’m gonna go party with the beautiful people- toodles!”

Chloe: “Seriously Vivi?”

Pierce: “SO lame.”

Chloe: “I’ll try to sweettalk her.”

Chloe: “Hey,”

Bouncer: “Not on the list.”

Chloe: “But...I’m level ten charisma. Look into my beautiful eyes and tell me I can’t go wherever I want.”

Bouncer: “Ok. You can go in.”

Chloe: “Without my friends?”

Pierce: “Chloe, I know what you’re thinking, and you can’t abandon me with all of the people from a party that you threw.”

Bouncer: “Look, you guys gotta move away from the door.”

Chloe: “Unbelievable. I’m gonna kill Vivi.”

Walter: “Um...h-hi. I could try.”

Chloe: “I’m sorry, do I know you?”

Walter: “Yes. I’m Walter Trimble. I live next door. We’ve met many times. A package of yours was delivered to me last week?”

Chloe: “Sweetie, if I can’t get us in then I don’t think you could.”

Pierce: “Wow, he’s really gonna give it a go good for him.”

Chloe: “Is he waving us over there?”

Pierce: “Did...did Walter Trimble do something?”

Chloe: “Omg Walter you did it! How did you pull that off? Do you know this guy or something?”

Bouncer: “No, we just met….he just does some business with the club.”

Pierce: “What kind of business?”

Walter: “Secret business! Doesn’t matter let’s go inside!”

Pierce: “Hey- thanks for ditching us out there!”

Vivien: “You are so welcome. It’s nice to get that appreciation from you.”

Pierce: “No, I was being sarcastic, I’m still mad at you.”

Vivien: “Well how am I supposed to know that. How’d you get in anyway? Find a back door?”

Pierce: “No, it was super weird, that guy Walter from next door said something to the bouncer and he just….let us all inside.”

Vivien: “Seriously? That guy? What’d he say?”

Pierce: “He wouldn’t tell us. It was totally sketch.”

Vivien: “Which one is he again?”

Pierce: “Checked shirt, three o’clock.”

Vivien: “Oh there’s gotta be something fishy going on there, right?”

Pierce: “That’s what I thought. Move, I wanna get a drink.”

Vivien: “Walter, Walter, Walter...what are you hiding?”

*Crash*

Stranger: “Oh my god, I totally just spilled my drink all over you I’m so sorry!”

Vivien: “How DARE y-...hi.”

Stranger: “Did you just turn a furious comeback into a meet-cute?”

Vivien: “Trying to.”

Stranger: “I’m Veronica- you look familiar.”

Vivien: “So do you- do I know you from somewhere?”

Veronica: “I must just have...one of those faces.”

Vivien: “No, I’d remember seeing a girl as beautiful as you before.”

Veronica: “You’re...not so bad yourself.”

Pierce: “Wow...so much for detective Vivien I guess. Where’s Chloe?”

Pierce: “Is that Dustin Broke? How can that girl talk her way in with anybody?”

Even Stranger Stranger: “I have come to understand that talking to oneself isn’t acceptable in public places.”

Pierce: “Aah! Jesus- you snuck up on me. Sorry, I do that sometimes. Am I bothering you?”

Stranger Stranger: “Negative. Where I come from everybody converses aloud to themselves. It feels like home.”

Pierce: “And where exactly is that?”

Stranger Stranger: “I come from the source where energy and all life grows. I am not from any one place I am but from…..the moment.”

Pierce: “Wow. That’s really deep. So are you an artist or something?”

Stranger Stranger: “Artist….yes. I am an eccentric artist from this world.”

Pierce: “I’m an artist too...or I’m trying to be. I’m a critic right now, and I’m really good at it, but I do want to do my own art. I just feel like I haven’t had my big break of inspiration yet, though.”

Stranger Stranger: “Have you looked under your bed?”

Pierce: “For my inspiration?”

Stranger Stranger: “Or perhaps, in your zero-g chamber?”

Pierce: “Huh...that’s….not bad actually. Like underwater photography with the hair all crazy.”

Pierce: “I’m Pierce, by the way.”

Stranger Stranger: “ I have been deemed TIFFANOR.”

Pierce: “Oh, that’s pretty cool. Is that like an artist name or were your parents...modern too?”

“And a special guest tonight for a surprise performance by DJ Fliphop!!! Make some noise1”

Chloe: “Omg I love Fliphop . Not crazy about the name though. Wanna dance, Dustin?”

Dustin Broke: “Hell yeah, this dude’s my bro. Never seen him with the helmet off, though.”

Chloe: “I know! I heard that he’s, like, super secretive. Nobody knows his true identity.”

Dustin: “I read a theory it was Rudy Quick in there.” Chloe: “Oh man, I’d love to see my sister’s face if that were true.”

Vivien: “I feel so in sync with you, Veronica.”

Veronica: “I know- it’s like I’ve known you for my entire life.” Tiffanor: “I love these sounds! It sounds like my dreams!”

Pierce: “You dream in Technopop?”

DJ Fliphop : “Thank you everybody! Peace!”

Tiffanor: “The moon is almost in the third easternly quadrant. There is a gathering of other….Artists. On the beach. To display our projects.”

Pierce: “So like a gallery opening?”

Tiffanor: “.....yes.”

Pierce: “That sounds dope- can we bring the party?”

Tiffanor: “Affirmative.”

Chloe: “So where exactly are we going, Pierce?”

Pierce: “Like a cool underground gallery party at a beach for artists.”

Chloe: “Artists? Gallery? Is this gonna be some wine and cheese crap because we need to keep the momentum goin!”

Pierce: “Look at that girl. Are you telling me that she’s not taking us somewhere cool at 1 am?”

Chloe: “...Fine. She does look pretty cool. I’ll give you an hour, that’ll give me time to scope out somewhere seriously dope.”

Pierce: “Deal”

MIDNIGHT

Chloe: “This seems really weird, Hawkeye.”

Pierce: “Don’t be a baby, you’re making us look uncultured!”

Artist: “Welcome to the Coalition of Ali-st….Aliartists. It’s a new modernist movement. You can call me Kourtnacht, this is Huxlous, to their left is Garyl, then there’s Isablank, and you know our famous Tiffanor!”

Garyl: “Go, enjoy the gallery, look deeply into the eyes of any statues you see, and the ceremony shall commence in a half of one our.”

Walter: “C...ceremony?”

Chloe: “That’s a fair question. What kind of ceremony?”

Pierce: “Oh my god, Chloe, you can’t just ask him that.” Chloe: “Why? We’re invited.”

Pierce: “I’m sorry about her.”

Tiffanor: “It’s, how you say, ‘all good, dawg’”

Chloe: “I don’t get it.”

Dustin: “I dunno, this one is kinda cool. Like...if you look into it’s eyes…”

Dustin: “......................”

Chloe: “Dustin?”

Dustin: “...............”

Chloe: “DUSTIN!”

Dustin: “What? Where…...what year is it?”

Chloe: “Ugh, this party sucks so bad. Is there a bar- I need to keep the momentum of this party going or everybody’s gonna leave.”

Veronica: “I love all your black and white clothes.”

Vivien: “I love yours too. My brother and I have always thought black and white was really classy.”

Veronica: “Totally. I just feel like you totally get me, y’know?”

Vivien: “I feel that way too. Ok- on three, what’s your favorite movie?”

Veronica: “1...2..- Devil Wears Prada!”

Vivien: “The ad I did for Boil Gone!”

Veronica: “Well...I guess that’s not the same, but we have a lot else in common!”

Vivien: “Before I did the boil ad, Devil Wears Prada was my favorite movie. Miranda Priestly is my role model.”

Veronica: “Awww!”

Pierce: “All this art is crazy cool. Thanks for inviting us.”

Tiffanor: “Yes. We love the arts.”

Pierce: “Pfft- check that out, my sister is making out with somebody that looks just like her.”

Tiffanor: “I onced kissed my clone under the full moon against a crystal sky.”

Pierce: “Oh so is that like a common fantasy for people then? Huh- I definitely don’t think I’d want to hang out with myself for too long.”

Huxlous: “Pierce! Kourtnacht and I were having a disagreement about her piece, what do you think it means?”

Pierce: “Hmmm….well...The stark slab suggests the hopelessness of humanity, while the perfect circle is the opening oppritunity for good. The fact that it’s hollow on the inside indicates that it’s not as hard to break through as first impressions may imply. Overall, a very hopeful peice.”

Kourtnacht: “Yes!  That is precicely what I was saying!” Huxlous: “You are a very intelectual man, Pierce. We may consider inducting you into our organization.”

Pierce: “Dope, would I be able to display stuff at the gallery and stuff?”

Chloe: “Woo! Party!”

Partygoer: “Hey, this was really fun- but I think we’re gonna take off.”

Chloe: “Oh no! Why?”

Partygoer: “This is just getting a little weird and it’s really late, let me know if you’re doing something else this weekend though!”

Chloe: “Okay...bye cutie!”

Chloe: “Where. Is. Pierce.”

Chloe: “Pierce! People are starting to leave, we gotta rally and get somewhere livelier.”

Alien: “Let the Ceremony begin!”

Pierce: “Let’s just stay for a few more minutes to watch this and then we can take off.”

Chloe: “This is weird.”

Pierce: “No it’s just like...performance art.”

Vivien: “What the hell are we supposed to be watching?”

Chloe: “Uh-uh. I draw the line at chanting. C’mon squad- let’s boogie!”

1 AM

Pierce: “So, Chlo- where are we going exactly?”

Vivien: “Who cares where we go when I’m lost in your eyes.”

Pierce: “You know I wasn’t talking to you, please don’t use me as a setup for your pickup lines.”

Veronica: “I love it when you talk about how beautiful I am. I love your face.”

Vivien: “I love your face.”

Chloe: “She knows right? I mean, she has to know.”

Pierce: “Would she still be into it if she knew?”

*giggles from Veronica and Vivien*

Chloe: “It seems pretty on brand for Vivien to fall in love with herself.”

Pierce: “She’s gotta know.”

Chloe: “She doesn’t know, does she?”

Pierce: “No. She definitely doesn’t know. We have to get out in front of this one.”

Chloe: “Where are we gonna go though.”

Partygoer: “Chloe- we’re gonna head out, it’s getting late.”

Chloe: “Are you sure?”

Chloe: “Dustin- you’re famous, and people are dropping like flies. Where should we go.”

Dustin: “Well...I had an idea. We’ve got some star power in this group, so I was thinking, combined, we’re like one really famous person. She’s an actress, you’ve got half the town wearing sunhats in October, he’s probably reviewed it by now. We could probably get into Studio PBP.”

Chloe: “You think so?”

Dustin: “I do.”

Chloe: “They won’t let us in dressed like this, though.”

Pierce: “I don’t want to go to a thrift shop, Chloe. We don’t have five hours for me to DIY anything we could find into something acceptable.”

Chloe: “Hawkeye, this is an uptown Del Solo thrift shop. It’s just gonna be a bunch of shit from last season and this is an emergency!”

Vivien: “It’s a nice place. Chloe and I once got us into a DJ R!DDL3B01 concert when we were in highschool wearing shit we got here.”

Pierce: “What? When did that happen? Where was I?”

Vivien: “Oh you were just being really moody that day and we thought you wouldn’t want to go.”

Chloe: “Don’’t think about that too hard, let’s go!”

Pierce: “Fine.”

Ohhhh yeaaaaaah

Chloe: “We look so dope, you guys. They’re totally gonna let us in.”

Bouncer: “No.”

Chloe: “Oh come ON! Look at us! We look incredible!”

Vivien: “But we’re famous!”

Bouncer: “Not really.”

Dustin: “I’m famous.”

Bouncer: “Sorta.”

Chloe: “Listen here, buddy- I am not about to let this party die when I’m still ready to have fun. You will let us into this fancy fucking bar or so help me, god.”

Bouncer: “Fine! Fine! Go- jesus…”

Pierce: “I cannot believe that that worked.”

Chloe: “Damn.”

Pierce: “We grew up in a really nice house, and this is the fanciest shit I’ve ever seen in my life.”

Chloe: “Right?”

Dustin: “Sorta quiet, though.”

Chloe: “Right?!”

Judith Ward: “Shh!”

Chloe: “Judith Ward just shushed me. I love that, so rebellious.”

Vivien: “I have a plan.”

Veronica: “What is it, baby?”

Vivien: “I’m gonna sing a song. On the stage, and make everybody listen and they’ll be like holy shit who’s that- oh, it’s the actress that played a dead stripper on CSI and Bones.”

Veronica: “That...doesn’t seem like a great idea.”

Vivien: “I know! It’ll be amazing. Your support means everything to me.”

Veronica: “I’m not...supporting you. You’re gonna get us kicked out.”

Vivien: “Wait...what?”

Chloe: “Yikes. Maybe it’ll run it’s course before we have to handle it.”

Pierce: “While it’s going down though…”

Chloe: “Let’s go mingle.”

Pierce: “She’s not with us!”

Judith Ward: “Shhh!”

Pierce: “Oh my god Judith Ward shushed me, what have I become?”

Chloe: “So badass.”

Veronica: “You always do this, Vivien. Everything always has to be about you.’

Vivien: “About me? You’re like, obsessed with yourself!”

Veronica: “Not as obsessed as you are with yourself!”

Vivien: “I don’t want to do this in public, darling, not again. Can’t we have just one good night out? Like we used to?”

Veronica: “Maybe we could if you weren’t always putting on theatrics and stunts!”

Vivien: “My stunts are the only thing keeping this relationship from going stale!”

Judith Ward: “SHUSH!”

Veronica: “Look what you’ve done. Your theatrics have gotten us shushed by Judith Ward, how could you do this to me. We should take a break.”

Vivien: “You want to take a break? Fine? I’m gonna go dance.”

?: “Oh my god- Dustin Broke? How’ve you been, man?”

Dustin: “Dirk Dreamer, my man! I’m great- how the hell are you?”

Dirk: “It’s been pretty dope man, I can’t complain. Why don’t you and your girl come to the VIP room, and we can catch  up.”

Chloe: “We’d love to!”

Dirk: “Pleasantview, man, what a throwback! How’s Brandy?”

Dustin: “She’s dope! I mean...we still live together, but now I own the house. And a lot bigger now.”

Chloe: *yawns*

Dustin: “You all right, babe?”

Chloe: “Yeah it’s just...a little late. This place is a little less fun that I had hoped. Not that this VIP room isn’t amazing I just wanted to keep the momentum goin’ and this is just a little bit…”

Dustin: “Upscale and stuffy?”

Chloe: “Exactly! Like, I made eye contact with Fake Ryan Gosling and Opal’s ghost, which is sick, but other than that...it’s just a guy playing piano and some very expensive drinks. Expensive even for me.

Dirk: “You’ve got a point about the piano, you’d think they could at least get a whole band in here.”

*Voice* “Good evening everyone, I’ll be singing a song tonight.”

Dusitn: “Did...did they hire a band?”

Chloe: “Oh, no.”

Vivien: “aaaAAANNNDDDD IIIIIIIIIEEEIIIIIIIIII wwwIIIILLLLLL ALWAAAAYYYS LOVE YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOU”

Dirk: “Yikes, I...take back what I said.”

Chloe: “Oh my god”

Dirk: “Do you know that person?”

Vivien: “I love you so much, Ronnie, please take me back.”

Pierce: “Oh my god, Vivien, stop. You only like her because she looks just like you stop embarrassing us.”

Vivien: “What? She doesn’t look just like m……”

Vivien: “Shit.”

Security: “MA”AM, STEP AWAY FROM THE MICROPHONE. THEY HOST THE OSCARS WITH THAT THING.”

Judith Ward: “SHUT UP!.”

Vivien: “Shh!”

Pierce: “Shh!”

Chloe: “Shh!!”

Partygoer: “Great party, Chloe! G’nite!”

Chloe: “Good night! Thanks for coming!”

Pierce: “So is this when we finally head home?”

Vivien: “Yeah...I just want to curl up somewhere and cry over the mistakes I’ve made that led up to this moment.”

vChloe: “We….can stay out a little longer.”

Pierce: “Yeah, Vivi, we can keep this going for a bit more, let’s see who else is in.”

Dustin: “I’m in.”

Dirk: “I know a great dive we can head to, if you don’t mind me crashing your party.”

Pierce: “What? Chloe? When did you make friends with Dirk Dreamer?”

Chloe: “At the party. Let’s head over there, then.”

Walter: “Can I still come?”

Vivien: “You’re still here? I could’ve sworn you left after the house party.”

Pierce: “No, he got us into the first club, remember?”

Vivien: “I don’t. How’d you manage that?”

Walter: “Oh- I- uh”

Chloe: “Don’t bug him, Vivi. Of course your welcome to come, Radar.”

Walter: “Radar?”

Chloe: “Alright! Hawkeye, Vivi, Dustin, Dirk, Radar, let’s head out.”

3 AM

Pierce: “Okokokok, never have I ever, been pushed in a swimming pool by a Real Housewife.”

Chloe:  “Call me out in front of everybody, Hawkeye. All right, I’ll drink. ”

Chloe: “Never have I never….”

Vivien: “Queue the half hour wait while Chloe thinks of something that she hasn’t done.”

Chloe: “What is this? The roast of Chloe Aristocrat?”

Dirk: “Be proud- you’ve got a very fulfilling life.”

Chloe: “So true. Did I tell you guys about the time that Mortimer Goth took me to Sulani on his yacht?”

Pierce: “I still don’t think that happened.”

Dustin: “I’ve never even seen a yacht before.”

Dirk: “Huh...me neither.”

Walter: “A what?”

Chloe: “I love this song! Let’s dance!”

Walter: “Don’t feel like dancing?”

Vivien: “What? Oh...not really.”

Walter: “Love is oft short lived, but that does not make it less worthy.”

Vivien: “I like that. Especially the fancy wording.”

Walter: “It’s not a quote or anything, but people take it more seriously if they think it is.”

Vivien: “That is so clever, here I was just appreciating the dramatic effect.”

Vivien: “Why aren’t you dancing?”

Walter: “I’m just not very good at it.”

Vivien: “Even if that’s true, it’s not like there’s any paparazzi in a place like this.”

Walter: “Oh I wasn’t worried about...cameras or anything, I just don’t like looking silly.”

Vivien: “Oh yeah. I forgot what it was like before I was famous, like, for normal people.”

Walter: “Yeah...I’m totally not famous.”

Vivien: “That was kind of a weird way to say that.”

Chloe: “Vivi! This is our song! Everybody, clear the floor, Gen Eight is gonna show everybody how former child stars do it!”

Pierce: “Chloe, don’t do this.”

Chloe: “Oh, it’s already done.”

Vivien: “Chloe, no, not in front of all these people.”

Walter: “C’mon, it’s not like there’s paparazzi.”

“Woo!”

Dustin: “That was kind of amazing, you guys. I’m gonna have to hire you guys as backup dancers.”

Pierce: “Don’t put that bait in front of Vivien, she’ll take it and refuse to let go.”

Chloe: “He’s right. She’s like a pirrahna.”

Vivien: “Is anybody else starving?”

Pierce: “Yeeesss, I was waiting for somebody to say something first.”

Walter: “Me too.”

Bartender: “Alright, guys, it’s closing time!”

Chloe: “*Yawn* I know we said just one more spot, but is anybody up for breakfast?”

Dustin: “I’m in.”

Pierce: “There’s some food trucks by our place.”

Dustin: “Dope, because I left my shoes at your place. I’m wearing Pierce’s.”

Pierce: “What? Why?”

Dustin: “I stepped in a puddle on the way here ...and they were really nice.”

5 AM

Pierce: “You wouldn’t think shish kebabs would go down as well at five in the morning.”

Chloe: “But they really do.”

Vivien: “This is the best anything I’ve ever tasted. I haven’t eaten since breakfast.”

Walter: “Didn’t I see you at this food truck at lunch time?”

Vivien: “I woke up at noon. That was breakfast for me.”

Walter: “Heh...ok.”

Dustin: “Gotta admit, Chloe- this was a pretty fun party.”

Pierce: “Yeah, it really was.”

Vivien: “Best night since we moved to San Myushu, most def.”

Dirk: “To Chloe!”

Pierce: “Raise your kebabs!”

Chloe: “Thank you, thank you, I would like to thank my parents, for teaching me never to give up.”

Pierce: “I’m sure they’ll be proud of this application of their teachings.”

Chloe: “This is without a doubt my greatest accomplishment.”

THE NEXT DAY

*snoooore*

Pierce: “Ahh!”

Pierce: “Tiffanor? What the hell is…”

THE DAY AFTER THAT

Vivien: “Is that a note? Dirk Dreamer took me to Sulani for a vacation on the beach :) toodles cuties!

Vivien: “Bye Pierce, I’m going to my first day of my new job!”

Pierce: “Get some medicine at the store on your way back I feel awful.”

Walter: “Hey Vivien, good morning.”

Vivien: “Morning Walter.”

Director: “Vivien! You’re here, this is so exciting, I’d like to introduce you to your stunt double.”

Vivien: “I have a stunt double?! This is amazing!”

Director: “I’d like you to meet Veronica!”

Vivien: “Well sh-”

------

thanks for reading! Leave a comment if you like it, and make sure to vote in the heir poll!

[dylan38sanders]

Crowd Mics: Turning Phones Into Mics For Events

Another Monday, another Event Tech Podcast, today we are telling the story of Crowd Mics for events! Everyone can relate to the annoyances of sound during a live event. Whether it’s the speaker, the audience, or the AV company, these little glitches affect everyone. Ultimately, they affect the success of an otherwise awesome event, and no one wants that.

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How often have you asked yourself: “Wouldn’t it be awesome if I could just turn my phone into a mic?”. Well, you’ve probably wondered about this in several situations of your life. But with events, in particular, imagine just how much this small tweak could be a game changer. No more mic runners for anyone! If an attendee wants to ask a question, he could just turn his phone into a wireless microphone. Almost sounds like magic, right? Well, it’s not – it’s actually Crowd Mics for events!

Back in 2013, two brothers conceived this idea. The following year, the product was launched, and our host Brandt Krueger got to sit down with them for the first time. And today, five years later, Brandt and Will Curran welcome brothers Tim and Sean Halladay. For this week’s Event Tech Podcast, the four reminisce about the rollercoaster past, what’s new in the present, and what the future might bring. Amp up your speakers, because this week is all about the journey of Crowd Mics for events!

Subscribe to the Event Tech Podcast here and never miss a beat!

Click here to download the full audio transcription.

Crowd Mics For Events: The Beginning

Everything Starts With An Idea!

Tim and Sean’s lives took a very interesting turn. None of them was quite on the track to become an entrepreneur – Sean was actually in nursing school. But once an idea hits, you have to embrace it!

“Tim and I were actually sitting at a meeting together and we couldn’t hear what somebody was saying just a couple seats from us”, Sean recalls. “I leaned over and I said, “Man, Tim, what if there was some way you could turn your phone into a microphone? Like, I don’t know how. I don’t know what the technology,” I had no clue, “But what if you could just pull out your phone out of your pocket, talk into it, and everybody hear you over the sound system?” And he was like, “Wow, I don’t know.”

From then on, the rest was history. The two embarked on a journey to introduce the product to the world. In 2014, they had their first product launch, and the event industry went crazy!

All This Buzz For What?

“Twitter kind of just exploded and every event person that I knew was like, “Have you seen this thing? Oh, my God. You can just talk into your phone and it solves the whole issue”, says Brandt. The buzz got them $1 million in investment. All the way from Arizona, the two made their way to Salesforce’s event, Dream Force.

They got up on stage. “Hey, what’s up, everybody? I’m Tim Holladay from Crowd Mics”, Tim began. “So, we want you to download an app. Everybody’s gotta download this app. We’re gonna be giving a gift card away whoever download’s the app first.” And so, people started downloading and we’d start to get them on board, and we’re using all of this footage to capture so we could show investors and we could show other event planners and that we could show people it works. There were 200 people in a room, they were talking into their phone, and you could hear it and it could work”, recalls Sean.

What Now?

They got their product out into the world, with proven value. The first couple of events were free, and the issue of pricing eventually came up. “I mean, this is a product that did not exist on the planet. So, we’re pricing this thing and having a hard time. Is this an event app? Which has a kind of a pricing model. Is this a microphone? Which has a pricing model. Yes, do both. And so, we finally kinda settled in on a per event cut fee and just started charging and people started paying. And we just started running events”, says Tim.

The Challenges

Starting your own company seems like all fun and games, right? Actually, it’s more like hustle and…more hustle. There are more barriers than finish lines, and brothers Tim and Sean know all about it.

Educating

“Like, you gotta realize this is a brand new product that we’re taking to market. So, a lot of time it was educating why it’s important to have audience interaction and why it’s important to be able to capture that audio for recordings and why it’s important to let people express themselves and that’s why they came here. And so, a lot of it was educating and trying to get people to understand why we thought and why it was important in the market”, says Sean.

Validation

Tim compliments Sean’s point of view with the issue of market value: “From both event planner and technical side of things, this is a new product you have never seen before, you have 200 executives from your company that has hired you to pull off an incredible event, you’ve got everything dialed in, you’ve been working on this for a year, and then you bring in these two brothers with some sketchy-looking tech that sounds awesome, but is sketch.”

“I mean, you can see how that would be a little bit like, “Ah,” and in a lot of ways, it was. Meaning, there are a couple of technical X factors that were always a challenge for us to overcome. And so, we had to kinda take everything on a case by case basis in the early days.”

Another Event App?

Will touches upon the matter of people having to download yet another app. How can this issue be tackled?

“It’s kind of like how bad do you want it to work? How bad do you want the tech? How bad do you wanna use it? And in some cases, they say, “Not that bad. Not bad enough to do that. So, can we use your texting? Can we use your polling?” And we would lead them that way, and we did a number of events where all they used was our text feature, all they used was the polling feature, and that was fine”, explains Tim.

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The Next Big Leap

“If I were to look back at one of the biggest challenges that we had with Crowd Mics was that we probably pushed too far too fast, right? Too many markets, too many opportunities, too many just big wide eyes, and didn’t focus as much as we could have. We did the best we could with what we had, but that kind of wanting to explore other markets really spread us very thin quickly, and we ended up into a situation where we were not profitable”, recalls Tim.

What to do in such a situation? “So, the options are either raise more money, figure out how to charge more and get more revenue coming in, or just shut her down. I mean, we literally got to that decision point”, Tim continues.

The Decision

Sean remembers that period quite well, and what it came down to: “To give it a shot, we cut back and I just made the hard decision to go and find something else to do to give the startup life, to give it a chance to go. So, yeah, that was a tough decision and sucked to fire yourself from your own company that you founded and dreamt of, but it was the reality to make it work and to give it a chance. Which now, in hindsight, was the best decision that we made, but it was a tough one in the moment, for sure.”

Tim was the one who stayed. “Sean connected with a friend of his, Shaun McBride, known as Shonduras on the interwebs, and started to do some work up in Utah. So, Sean uproots his family, his little kids, little twins, and literally on a cold December night, moves to Utah. And I’m left here with our developer to keep Crowd Mics moving”.

The Biamp Connection

“So, Biamp, for those that don’t know, they’re a really, a kind of audiovisual provider, a manufacturer based in Beaverton, Oregon up near Portland”, Tim explains.

“They saw us at Info Com, thought it was cool, kept in touch a little bit, and then one day, Sean’s long gone in Utah, I’m keeping things kind of buzzing along, and they came along and said, “Man, this is really interesting. We like what we see. Are you interested in selling Crowd Mics?” Out of nowhere. Completely out of the blue. And the timing, guys, was just-it was the right timing. It was the right timing, it was the right situation. I would either have to raise more capital or figure out a different way and when they came along, it was the right thing to do”, he recalls.

They officially announced it a month ago, but the transaction actually took place in 2018. Ever since, the two brothers have been up to other exciting projects.

Fast Forward To Today

“We work with some of the biggest talent from Peter McKinnon to Tanner Fox to the Ace Family, Chris Ramsay. So, some huge talent on YouTube and Instagram where we go out and work with brands, both to just get paid promotion, basically, to spread the word on what they’re doing”, says Sean.

Tim is still up to some Crowd Mic business: “Biamp, when they bought Crowd Mics, the idea was to do something with it, but at the time, they just saw the opportunity to grab it, but really hadn’t had a formulated plan on what to do with it. So, they grabbed it and kind of sat on it for a little bit. I shouldn’t say sat on it, but they just didn’t really actively pursue doing much with it. So, I kind of just did some consulting work with them and with some other people doing some consulting with a couple local companies, and just recently, they said, “You know what, Tim? We’re gonna launch this sucker. Let’s just-let’s do it. We’d love to have you involved. Let’s launch Crowd Mics. Let’s re-launch Crowd Mics.”

He’s also aiming for some higher flights: “So, right now, I’m doing consulting work with Biamp and I thought, “Man, I’m just such a nerd. What could I do to exploit my nerdiness?” So, I’m a speaker. I’m a future speaker. You go to timholladay.com, I’m just now starting, just getting warmed up where I will do keynote and breakout session type speaking all about looking 5 to 15 years into the future and understanding how, as corporations, as organizations, and just as people, how we can best watch out for the pitfalls and then take advantage of incredible opportunities in the future”.

Some Good Advice

What could these ingenious brothers have to offer in terms of advice to future entrepreneurs?

On Sean’s part, it’s all about who you surround yourself with: “You’ve gotta surround yourself and find people that are genuine and will give you real feedback and thoughts and input. And make the connection when they say they can make the connection and introduce you to people that are gonna benefit and help you”.

Tim’s an advocate for the “you only live once philosophy” – knowing very well what that might mean: “Now that you’ve got yourself surrounded by good people, is just to freaking go for it. Like, really. Life is just way too short to not just do it. Meaning, what I found is all of us truly do have just this 24 hour-it’s super cliché, but we literally all have the same amount of time, and it does require giving up some things. You might need to back off on the Insta kind of trolling, you might need to back off on that latest Netflix series, you might need to make some hard decisions, you might need to put some cash in, you might need to sell your house and rent”, he says.

Conclusion

Overall, it comes down to hard work. “Those who hustle, those who grind, those who can just work, they’re gonna be able to make money. Might as well just do what you wanna do, even if it ends up bombing in a flaming ball of fire, it is worth the journey. Because the next one won’t bomb as bad, and then the third might hit, and then the fourth will change your life”.

So, that was a brief overview of this amazing journey with Crowd Mics for events. Let us know what you think about the technology, and of Tim and Sean’s incredible story, in the comment section below!

Resources:

Crowd Mics

TH: Tim Holladay

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from Endless Events https://helloendless.com/crowd-mics-live-events/