#his conversation with maddie all but directly said that

[buddiebitch]

genuinely confused why so many people are saying things like “i’m tired of the will they won’t they i wish they would just tell us if it’s gonna happen or not” (kinda defeats the purpose of will they won’t they?) or from the bummy stans “i wish they would shut down buddie fans once and for all” (both real posts i saw)

just wondering how y’all think watching a show is supposed to work? they aren’t going to come out and say either way until it happens in the show, don’t know why you would think it should go any other way.

they aren’t going to do an interview about episode 7 just to say “yeah tommy’s here for now but don’t worry he’ll be gone and we’ll get buddie going” like that’s not how it works, interviews in the middle of a season are purposefully vague and sometimes intentionally misleading, that’s kinda the point. this isn’t the type of show they want you to be able to predict, of course they’ll mislead us on purpose when they get the chance.

it’s very unlikely that any interview will reveal where the show is taking this, and no interviews yet have said strictly one way or the other so i’m not sure why people are acting like they have

[sakuravalelp]

Ellie(Dani) didn't realize how dangerous Danny's home was for him until he was more worried about her when she got her own home. - Prompt I think(?)

Ellie wasn't sure how to feel when Danny excitedly animated her to accept Arthur's invitation to live in Atlantis.

"Just if you want of course, but you'll get a stable home, and Frostbite said living underwater might be good for your water cores stability."

She had already been planning to accept the offer. Once she gave the guy an opportunity to have some sort of conversation, the guy was pretty chill, and the castle was pretty cool. So yeah, she was going to accept the offer.

But for some reason Danny's eagerness for her to go with Arthur hurt. It felt like he was trying to get rid of her.

She knew that was ridiculous, she didn't even live with Danny. He looked out for her, and was always a call away but, as much as Danny parents her, he was just a child like her. It made sense he was happy to give away the responsibility of taking care of her.

So when Ellie moved into Atlantis, she was expecting to hear less from Danny. After all, she had settle down, and he didn't need to worry about her adventures anymore. That was Arthur's and Mera's job now.

Weirdly enough, it was the complete opposite.

Now that Ellie was living with adults, Danny seemed MORE worried for her. They went from a call once a week or so, to almost daily calls in the afternoons. He would be more insistent about her telling him if anything was wrong.

He would ask specifics about the food she was eating, and her activities of the day, and her room, and the castles security...

Sam had told her that it was because he used to be able to monitor if she was eating well through the transactions of the debit card they had given her. Tuck had told her that he used to evaluate how safe she was through the phones location, and the hotels receipts.

And well, maybe she underestimated how much attention Danny put on her before, but the way the calls went made it seem like he thought she might be in more danger now that she had a stable home.

Which made no sense, because unlike him, she didn't even need to hide her ghostlines. Anything that was out of normal for Atlanteans was excused with meta-abilities, she didn't need to worry about being classified as a non-sentient species.

That was when it caught up to her. Danny was worried now that she was in a stable home because his stable home had always been dangerous for him. It isn't even a think of it being dangerous now that his a ghost, it has been dangerous ever since he was a child. She remembers all of Jazz's rants about how unreliable their parents have always been.

The food has always been contaminated. The security now attacked him directly, but there had always been a possibility of it malfunctioning and hurting the residents. Him and Jazz had always had the responsibilities of not only keeping the house clean, but the lab as well. If she tops it with the house security system attacking him, and his parents been ghost hunters...

Ellie hadn't found it too dangerous back then, Danny mocked Jazz rants with her, and Jack and Maddie were kind when they interacted with her in her human form. The Fentons neglect seemed liberating in comparison to Vlad overly controlling nature. But thinking about it now, after two months living in Atlantis, she doesn't like the picture.

She doesn't like the idea of Danny being somewhere so unsafe, but where would he go? He doesn't have a water core like her, and even if he had gotten sorta used to shapeshifting, he isn't good enough to live in a second form, which isn't recommendable either way. So he wouldn't be able to move underwater with her.

More so, she doubts that Danny would like to leave his Amity, he had taken the sole responsibilities of dealing with the whole humans - ghost conflicts. With the anti-ecto acts, there's no way he would leave the portal unsupervised.

What should she do now? Should she talk with Arthur about it? He said he was part of the heros friend group, what if they already know about the anti-ecto acts and are okay with it? What if they change hoe they act with her when she tells them she isn't actually an atlatean meta?

[robinminustherichard]

Ok for a writing prompt for Bucktommy: Maddie and Tommy having a conversation

Ooh hoo hoo. Will do.

"Hey, Tommy! Good to see you, come on in." Maddie says as she answers the door, stepping aside to allow Tommy to walk past her.

"Hey, Maddie, thanks! I appreciate you making time to see me."

"Oh, no worries at all. Jee and Danny are over at the Lee's today and you know Chim is on shift with Buck for another half hour, of course, so I've just been hanging out and enjoying a quiet day off."

"Nice!" Tommy tells her, overly enthusiastic in a way he rarely is. He wipes his hands on his jeans then reaches out towards the living room. "Did you want to sit?"

"Yeah! I made us some tea, let me grab it. Go ahead and have a seat."

Tommy heads off to follow her instructions and Maddie dips into the kitchen to grab the waiting cups. She pauses just before she picks them up and breathes out fully. She sets her shoulders, gets a smile on her face, and then takes the tea to the living room.

When she gets there, Tommy is looking around at the toys scattered across the floor, looking nervous and rigid in his posture.

"So," Maddie says, setting the tea down on the coffee table and then turning to face Tommy, "What did you want to talk about?"

Tommy took the tea immediately, humming to acknowledge her question while he swallows. He keeps the cup in his hands and looks at it when he speaks.

"It's, well," Tommy looks up and to the side, twisting his mouth, "Evan and I are going to fly to Vegas, next weekend--"

"Right!" Maddie says, grinning, "to celebrate your third anniversary. That's great!"

"Right," Tommy says, taking a deep breath, "and I plan to propose."

Maddie gasps a little, clutching her hand to her heart.

"Oh! Tommy, that's wonderful." She says, reaching out to pat Tommy's arm where it rests across his leg. "He's going to be so excited."

"Yeah," Tommy says, a smile breaking through in the way it always does when he's talking about Buck. "I, uh, yeah. I know. I think he's going to be really excited. I just need to know if you are--and if you aren't, what that means for us moving forward. Because I love your brother with my entire heart and I know he loves me, but I know it's already weighing on him that you and I aren't exactly best friends."

Maddie is stunned for a moment, pausing from where she had started to reach out for her own tea. This may be the most Tommy has ever said to her directly when they aren't at work.

"Oh," Maddie says, laughing a bit and grabbing the tea. She takes a drink and shakes her head. "No, it's okay. Buck's always been like that, he wants everyone to be the best of friends and family all of the time. I think it's a bit of a holdover from our parents being, you know, our parents. But he'll be fine, I promise--and we can definitely hang out more, since we'll be in-laws after all!"

Tommy nods, but his facial expression is still guarded.

"Right," he says, the word drawn out, "that's, um, great! Awesome. I guess Evan was interpreting things wrong after all. That's great, thanks Maddie."

"Wait," Maddie says, eyebrows pinching together in confusion as she looks at Tommy, "what do you mean? What did Buck say?"

"Oh, nothing, you know how Evan reads into things sometimes..." Tommy says, letting the sentence fade off and going in for a long gulp of tea. "It's nothing, really."

"No, no--Tommy, does Buck think I wouldn't be excited for him to get married?" Maddie sets her tea down and tilts her head, suddenly trying to remember all of the interactions she has had with her younger brother lately.

"No!" Tommy says in a rush, "no, he maybe just, uh, implied that you may not be super excited about him being in a committed relationship with...me."

"He thinks I don't want him with a man? What the heck?" Maddie says, shocked, "why would I have a problem with that? Does he think I'm homopho--"

"No, of course not!" Tommy cuts her off, setting his tea down on the coffee table and then reaching up to run a hand across his face. "No, sorry. I shouldn't have said anything. I didn't mean it like that, Evan definitely doesn't think you're homophobic."

Maddie splutters in confusion, managing to question "Well then, what does he think?"

"Maddie," Tommy says with a sigh and eyes looking up at the cieling, "Evan thinks you don't like me. That you don't want me to be with him."

Maddie let's out a soft "oh" and let's her top half fall back onto the couch from where she had subconsciously sat up straighter in indignation.

"Sorry." Tommy says with a wince.

"What?" Maddie says, shaking her head, "no, that's not--Tommy, I think you're--I don't know why--," she doesn't know why she's suddenly nervous and trying desperately to change Tommy's mind.

He sighs, and looks back at her.

"It, uh. It really bothers him to be honest with you. Which is why I wanted to come here and talk with you. I wanted to know if I could somehow prove myself or, or, convince you otherwise."

Maddie realizes her mouth has been open in shock and shuts it before shaking her head again.

"No," she says, more firmly this time, "Tommy, I think you're great! I don't...I don't know why Buck thinks that." She's agian analyzing all the times she and Buck had talked about Tommy. She thinks, and she remembers...and she freezes.

She groans.

"Oh god," She says, copying Tommy's actions from earlier and setting her tea down in order to smack her hands against her face. "I've been so unfair to you."

"No--" Tommy starts, reaching out to pat her knee gently, but Maddie just groans again.

"Every time he's talked to me about you I've actively turned it into him needing to defend you."

"Oh," Tommy says, a little dejected.

"I have," Maddie says, "I really have. God, no wonder he thinks I hate you."

"Well, I don't know if he thinks you hate--"

"No, no, I know my brother. He thinks I hate you."

"Yeah," Tommy admits, caught out, "he thinks you hate literally everything about me."

"Damn," Maddie curses, finally lifting her hands from her face, "I'm so sorry Tommy. I promise I don't hate you. I hate...me."

Tommy pauses, looking confused. "Hey, no need for that, Evan is so forgiving. He won't be upset with you."

"No, it's not that I hate myself for this--although, I'm not exactly proud of myself for it--I hate what I've done to Buck. What I did to Evan."

Tommy still looks confused and like he doesn't know what to say. Maddie turns fully, throwing one elbow over the back of the couch and sighing.

"You know when you feel trapped, or like you aren't good enough, or something big happens and you just don't know how to deal with it all so you just...run away instead?"

Tommy nods, unsure but listening.

"That's what I do. Or, what I did. I did it to Evan when he was a kid...I did it to Buck and Howie and Jee when I was struggling as a new mom..."

She trails off, thinking of how she's going to say this next part.

"And I hate that part of myself, you know? And, well, I hate that part of you, Tommy. Because unfortunately I saw you do the same thing to him."

Tommy blows a breath put of pursed lips, nodding grimly as the accusation settles over him. He looks ready to respond, but Maddie continues.

"Its unfair that I've grilled him so hard on you, but I think I've just been subconsciously afraid that he's letting another...me into his life. Someone who is going to leave him when things get hard. He's always the one--"

"--who gets left behind," Tommy finishes quietly. He contiunes, "yeah. He told me about that."

They sit in silence and seconds tick by, absorbing their words and the hurts they've caused.

"That's fair," Tommy says, the first to break the quiet, "I can...understand that."

"God, I'm so sorry, Tommy. I really do mean it when I say that I never meant for anyone to think that I hated you. I've seen the joy you bring him, and the way you support and love him. There's no doubt in my mind that you care about him."

"I do," Tommy says in a whisper, "I love him so much. I have run from him, that's true. But I need you to know that I will never do that again, Maddie. Evan means everything to me."

Maddie feels tears pricking at her eyes from the emotion in Tommy's voice.

"I know," she says, nodding, "I know you do. And I know that he's going to say yes when you ask him to marry you." She reaches across the couch and grabs Tommy's hands, clutching at them and blinking, "and I need you to know that you have my support, Tommy. I promise. No more interrogating Buck and making him think I hate you."

Tommy's eyes too are suddenly wet, and he chuckles a little, sounding relived when he speaks. "Okay, thank you Maddie. You have no idea what it means to hear that."

Maddie nods, and a tear escapes down her cheek. She quickly lets go of Tommy to reach up and brush it away.

"You've got to promise me something though, okay? And I'll promise too."

"Anything." Tommy says solemnly, his tone betrayed by the way a tear escapes his eye too.

"You don't leave Evan behind, and I won't either, okay? Runner to runner; if things get bad we talk to each other. To someone who understands."

"Yes," Tommy breathes, slumping forward like a weight has been lifted from his shoulders, "yes, of course, Maddie. Yes."

Maddie reaches up again to scrub her palm across her cheeks and she can't help but giggle.

"Okay. Okay, Tommy, I think we're good."

Maddie sways forward, arms coming up to wrap around Tommy's shoulders. It's awkward with their knees bumping but Tommy's long arms wrapped around her back anyway.

Suddenly they're both laughing, giggling really, clutching to each other and crying all the while. It's loud and a little gross, and Maddie will say that that is why they don't hear the door open.

"What the--" Buck's voice calls from the entrance to the living room, the sound of Chim's footsteps behind him.

Tommy and Maddie break apart, but they're still laughing and wiping at their eyes.

"Whoa, Buck," Chim says, crossing his arms, "what did your boyfriend do to my wife?"

Buck splutters and gestures towards them with the pizza boxes in his hands, "what did your wife do to my boyfriend?"

Chim shrugs, reaching out to grab the pizzas before marching off towards the kitchen, calling out as he goes, "I don't know, she's your sister!"

"That's--Chim! Wait, don't leave me alone with them like this!" Buck calls, hurrying after him but throwing a concerned look at the two still on the couch as he goes.

"Come on," Maddie says, standing up and reaching a hand out to Tommy, "if we don't go in there and reassure him Buck will start spiraling--"

"--and Howie will smack him to get him to stop." Tommy says with a sigh, grabbing Maddie's hand and throwing himself to his feet.

As they go to head into the kitchen, a loud thump and an indignant "ow!" can be heard. Maddie and Tommy sigh in unison.

"Too late."

[inawickedlittletown]

Coming Out is Easy - 7x06 coda

Buck felt the kiss down to his toes. He just couldn’t help himself because seeing Tommy, especially a Tommy fully decked out in gear and covered in soot, it suddenly made it click for Buck. The thing that people had about firefighters. Although maybe it was just Tommy because Buck saw firefighters covered in all kinds of things all the time and it had never brought out this reaction before. It had taken Tommy to get that out in Buck, and so as Tommy strode towards him, talking about the fire in a tired and apologetic tone, Buck walked towards him and kissed him. 

Tommy kissed him right back and it was an assault on his senses. There was the smokey smell that lingered on Tommy and neat slick slide of their tongues meeting and the feel of the short hair at the nape of his neck. Buck could taste him too, a hint of coffee, likely the only thing keeping him standing after so long a shift. 

Buck held onto him even after the kiss ended, his hand still at Tommy’s neck and his other around his waist. They breathed the same air and Buck just smiled and pressed closer, wanted nothing more than to stay there together until they were forced apart. 

“I can’t believe they got married at a hospital,” Tommy said eventually. 

“They didn’t want to wait,” Buck said with a smile. 

Maddie’s call had had everyone rushing a bit, but they had all been happy to be there for her and Chim even if it wasn’t the wedding they had planned and agonized over for the last few weeks. 

“Come on, I know you’re tired so you don’t have to stay long.”

Buck turned and he started heading away, but Tommy grabbed his wrist. 

“Bathroom first.” 

“Why? You don’t need to clean up, Chim and Maddie won’t mind.” 

Tommy chuckled. “Not for me, Evan. You look like you’ve been kissing a chimney sweep.” 

“I doubt you fit in a chimney,” Buck said, a little playfully and incapable of not grinning. 

Tommy chuckled again. “Just, if you don’t want them to have questions, maybe wash your face first.” 

“And what if I want them to have questions?” 

It wasn’t like the invitation to the wedding hadn’t been, in a small way, Buck’s way of just telling everyone without needing to have individual conversations. His sooty beard would more than clear things up and Buck wouldn’t even have to say a word. 

“I’m not going to stop you,” Tommy said. 

“Then let’s go.” 

No one said anything to him or Tommy directly, but there certainly were reactions. His favorite was his parents being both shocked and confused followed closely by Athena’s perfectly arched eyebrow and Hen’s knowing look. They stayed long enough to eat cake and no one said anything when Buck left with Tommy. He was sure, considering they were in a hospital, that everyone would start leaving soon anyway. He had no idea how long the hospital staff would allow it to go on. 

“You really do nothing by halves, do you, Evan?” 

“You’re not complaining, are you?” 

“No. Not at all.” 

Buck reached for his hand, lacing their fingers together and when he looked to Tommy, Tommy was already looking back, his scrunchy smile in place.

[miss-multi45]

Blackmail

Hoodie x FEM!Reader

cw: no smut, mentions of a gun (revolver), reader has an extremely shitty boyfriend, nicknames said: 'babe', 'babygirl', 'gorgeous girl', 'pretty thing', 'good girl', dead dove do not eat, I based this off the scene in euphoria season 2 episode 6 (the scene where nate puts a gun to maddy's head), mentions of stalking, ghostface quote, mentions of infidelity, gaslighting, swearing, hoodie is a murderous gentleman. come get your food (dddne pun)

It had been six hours since you last saw him.

Now don't take this the wrong way. You weren't the kind of girl to get sad when your boyfriend wasn't by your side again after being gone for five seconds. Quite the opposite.

Liam was a piece of shit, but somehow you loved him. So the reason you had been counting the hours until he got back home was that you had a sneaking suspicion that he had been sleeping with other girls, but god you had hoped and prayed that it wasn't true.

After a while of sitting on the corner of your bed with your head in your hands and planning out what you were going to say to him, the front door finally opened and Liam walked in and right up to where you were.

"I'm home, babe." He said as soon as he entered the room, pressing a kiss to your forehead when you looked up. He sat on his side of the bed and began to undress for bed.

"Where have you been?" You stood up, crossing you arms, finally confronting him despite your fear of him.

He chuckled, both nervously and darkly, "Babygirl, what do you mean?" Liam turned to look at you.

"You've been out all day, you haven't answered my calls or replied to my texts, and you didn't leave any notes or messages." You listed them off, making sure to stare directly into his stupid pretty brown eyes.

"Wha - babygirl, I have a job?" He backed himself up, but you had already prepared for this conversation.

"It's Sunday. Your job is out on Sundays." You walked backwards, sitting on your desk chair to keep the distance, because something didn't feel safe about this.

And almost on cue, you heard a metallic click. "What was that?" Your heart dropped, you recognised that click. It may seem stupid, but you had watched enough action movies to know that click belonged to a gun being loaded.

"Liam. What was that?" You pushed your chair back, even though the bullet could reach you in any corner of the room.

A terrifying emptiness took over his features, a hauntingly calm expression. He pulled the gun out of his jacket pocket, standing up and slowly coming towards you while the deadly cold expression stayed on his face.

The space between you and him was big enough for you to stand up from your chair and jump onto the bed. You threw a pillow at him as hard as you could, scared tears starting to develop and fall down your cheeks.

Liam laughed at that, it appeared he found your fear a laughing matter. "Aw, why you crying?" He creeped onto the bed, climbing on top of you and gently pressing the gun to your temple.

The cold metal that was suddenly against your head clicked, and that's when it hit you. He was playing a twisted game of Russian Roulette.

He switched to pressing the gun to his head, and pulled the trigger a few times to no avail. So, he got up and left the room to load the gun with more than one bullet.

But that didn't involve the bang of a gun, and it didn't involve a body thudding to the floor. But it definitely didn't involve a voice saying: "Smallest gun I've ever used."

Several seconds after the voice spoke, you quietly got up and closed the door, crawling back onto your bed and burying your head into a pillow to silently sob into it.

However, your crying session was interrupted by the door opening again. Heavy footsteps walking towards you, the bed sunk from someone's weight behind you.

"Now what happened here?" It was the same voice as before, commenting on the size of the gun. The voice clearly had a filter over it, but it sounded like a male. Stuffing your face further into the cushion, you tensed up when you felt a leather gloved hand gently stroke and pet your side as if the person knew what had just happened and wanted to comfort you.

"Sorry about your boyfriend," Oh, God. "All those muscles didn't help much." Liam was dead, shot and killed.

Whoever it was didn't seem to like the fact that your face was shoved into a pillow, so they grabbed your face by the chin and turned you over to look at them. "Oh, what a pretty thing." Your cheeks had tears marks, and you were still crying.

"Scared, huh?" Now that you were looking at them, it was obvious they were a man. A very broad and tall man, also quite dominant by the looks of it. He had a turmeric yellow hoodie and a black and red ski mask

You sniffled, and the hooded man chuckled and cocked his head before speaking again. "Stop crying." He wiped a tear with his thumb, moving his arm under your back while snaking the other under your waist.

He lifted you in a bridal carry, but you squirmed in his grasp. "That's enough. A gorgeous girl like you shouldn't be in the same house as the dead body of a shit muppet. Is that clear?"

Almost frantically, you used your sweater paws to wipe the tears away. "I want an answer. Preferably a verbal one." the man demanded, and you answered. "Yes." your voice quivered while you spoke.

"There we go." He started walking out of your room and out of the house, into the vast woodland expanse behind your house. "Now, I'm gonna tell you why I did what I did. And you're going to listen." Not once did he put you down.

"I've been stalking your dead boyfriend for three months now, and I only got the order to kill him two days ago." Wait, 'got the order'? What did that mean?

"I didn't need to kill him for another week, but I did it early because of what I saw him do to you, pretty thing." He continued. Oh, he saw everything. "Pointing a gun to your head, laughing at your fear. You don't do that to a woman, especially not your own fucking girlfriend."

You began to stop crying, instead just looking up at him with glassy eyes and rosy cheeks. But after a while you felt a headache build up, and your vision grew blurry and you saw black dots.

"That's it, good girl." That was the last thing you heard.

[thanakite]

You know, the scene where Maddie and Steb walk up to Vi and Loris and Maddie knows who Vi is and then lies about how she knows who she is? It's a very interesting scene as literally Maddie, Steb, and Loris all act sketchy in that moment

If Steb or Loris had instead been Ambessa spy you could literally bring up the same moment as a hint that they were a traitor/spy

Maddie's I've already addressed (in this post and in greater detail elsewhere)

Steb's is the least obvious, but to be fair a good spy, would probably not be drawing attention to themselves, but he like refuses to talk to Vi despite the fact that Vi directly looks at him while asking him a question, and while he stands there stiffly and all proper he's very clearly listening to everything despite the disinterest showing on his face, and really the best thing for a spy would be having a chatty partner who can draw attention and ask questions while you just build up your arsenal of knowledge

Loris is the one I'm most curious about though in this scene, because it's a fairly obvious thing to the audience but not to Vi, and it's unclear why he did this, which is that he's very clearly listening in as Maddie talks to Vi and seems curious about what is being said, but when the conversation is over and they need to start making their way to the Memorial, he pretends to be asleep still and as if he wasn't listening

Was it just about not invading the conversation or making Vi think she had to talk to him about what was said? Was it that he didn't really care to have the energy to participate and didn't want to explain why after the fact? Like why do this? And really, was it even necessary? Vi doesn't look at him to check if he was awake or not before shaking his foot to "wake" him, he could have just gone with that woke him up and sat up to get going right away, but instead he plays up still being a sleep and makes Vi work harder to "wake" him and it's truly just like "Why?"

I SO wish we had more episodes as then it maybe would have been addressed, but instead I'm just left with an itch at the back of my brain about it

Were they trying to make sure it wasn't obvious Maddie was the spy/traitor? Did they not decide on who the traitor was going to be right away? Was this just some innocuous thing that was supposed to just be forgotten but accidentally ended up looking sketchy as hell?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

We may never know

[notadamnmermaid]

Baked Alaska

Eddie Diaz likes to think he’s a good friend, when he wasn’t actively sabotaging his own life. He gets along decently with Chimney; plays cards with Hen and Karen at their standing ‘parents of teenagers’ meet ups; has a regular pool game with Bosko whenever their schedules lined up; and he enjoys pick-up basketball game days with Tommy. All of this to say, he is a pretty good guy to most people.

But here’s the thing about Eddie: he might like to think he’s a good friend, but he knows without a question that he is Buck’s best friend. So when Buck shows up at his doorstop, forlorn and scowling with a six pack of beer, of course Eddie is going to help him get over his breakup. He turns the music back up and dances, and he urges Buck up to join him. They dance and they drink and they laugh until Buck looks less like he’s going to break down.

Later that week, he helps Buck pack up the few things of Tommy’s that are left around the loft. Maddie and Chim have just dropped off Jee-Yun, so Eddie picks up the bag. He knows that Tommy should be at his station today, so he can drop it off before heading back to Buck’s baking frenzy.

“I mean yeah, Evan’s hot, but he was also, like, really just not my type.” Eddie’s ears prick up at the sound of Tommy’s voice. He’s just walked into Harbor station. He moves silently up the stairs to see Tommy holding court, his back to Eddie. Donato is there, along with Hicks and Gomez, listening to Tommy with a barely perceptible sneer that turns to malicious glee as she sees Eddie stalking up with a finger to his lips.

“But I hooked up with someone at this nightclub in WeHo last month who’s way more my speed,” Tommy continues on obliviously. “An absolute hottie and I can have a fully coherent conversation without him going off on, like, fifteen different tangents. And just the tightest little ass, like my god—“

Eddie thinks he blacked out for a few seconds, because two weeks ago, Buck and Tommy were still dating. But a month ago, Tommy did what?

What?

Here’s the thing about Eddie Diaz: he likes most people well enough, but he loves Evan Buckley, and Eddie will be damned before he lets a raggedy bitch like Tommy get away with hurting him, even retroactively.

“What the FUCK are you talking about, Kinnard?” Eddie’s emphatic voice from directly behind him prompts a jump spin from Tommy. Eddie watches his face pale with hard eyes and his jaw set. From the corner of his eye, he sees Donato take out her phone.

“Ed-Eddie,” Tommy stutters out, eyes darting across his face nervously. “What are you doing here?”

Eddie tosses the bag to the floor at his feet. “Well, I was trying to be kind to my best friend since his ex broke up with him a few days ago; I didn’t think it’d be a good idea for Buck to have to go through some bullshit handoff, when I— being his best friend and your friend— could just bring it over peacefully.

“But back to you: what the fuck did you just say? Did I just hear your bitch ass admit to cheating on my best friend? Was that what I just heard?” Eddie prowls up to the older man and pokes him hard in the chest. Tommy looks like curdled milk as he tries to back away.

“Eddie, listen, please—“

“Oh fuck that, puto,” Eddie snarls, balling his fist up into Tommy’s collar and dragging him down to eye level. “Buck is one of the best men I know, you fuckwit piece of shit coward. What, you didn’t want to tell him the truth, so you broke up with him? Said he would break your heart eventually? What a fucking joke; Buck is the kindest, sexiest, coolest person I know. You don’t deserve to have that type of goodness in your life. And he doesn’t deserve a prick like you taking advantage of him.”

Abruptly, he releases Tommy with a hard shove, completely disgusted by even the idea of being around the other man any longer. He turns and walks off, kicking the bag lightly out of the way.

“There’s all your stuff,” he calls over his shoulder, “now you can lose Buck’s number, and lose mine too for that matter.” He stops for a moment, cocks his head, and looks over his shoulder with a mean little smile.

“But thanks for getting him those Lakers tickets; I’ll make sure he has a real good time.”

When he walks back in to Buck’s apartment, strong hands push him up against the door. Eddie has half a breath to take in the fevered look in blue eyes before those same strong hands cradle his face for a kiss. His own hands move automatically, clutching at broad shoulders and fisting in curly blond hair. A moan rumbles through his chest.

They eventually part, air still being a necessity, foreheads touching. “Lucy sent me a video,” Buck murmurs, eyes wide and smiling broadly. “I’m the sexiest person you know?”

Eddie huffs out a laugh. “And the kindest, coolest, funniest, sweetest, most irritatingly beautiful man I know. Mi sol,” he declares, “Mi amor. Te amo. I’m sorry it took me so long to realize.”

They’re both smiling, tears glinting in their eyes, as they move together for another kiss, and then another, and then another. They part reluctantly as Jee-Yun starts calling for attention from the living room. Fingers laced together and sides bumping playfully, they make their way over to her.

After all, there will be time for more later.

[rimatsu]

Any predictions about the nature of those "uncomfortable truths"?

yeah i can think of 3 options:

1) the one i fear the most (although it could be interesting in theory): an unrequited love storyline. from what i've gathered from interviews, whatever realization awaiting buck happens in a couple episodes during a conversation with maddie and her suggestion seems ludicrous at first. contrived, sure, but it'd fit. now this scenario is unlikely considering the recent insistence on the brotherly/familial nature of the buddie friendship by ryan and the importance of portraying intimate but platonic relationships between men of differing sexualities (blah blah blah), plus tim claiming that he doesn't "want to suggest that we're going down some road that we're not actually going down." i've said it before but i'll say it again: one-sided feelings would be the most cruel route for both buck as a character and the fanbase and i don't think mr timothé has the guts to poke that bear so directly. still, in the spirit of covering up all my bases, i won't speak in absolute: low percentage, but it is a possibility

2) the option i want to see play out on screen: buck examining and embracing his bisexuality in a frank, uncensored manner. he might've dated a guy for 6 months but he still doesn't seem in tune with his attraction to men. i believe he maintained some measure of distance from his queerness because of the complicated, contradictory feelings his later-in-life realization spawned, and he hasn't quite recalibrated his identity yet. knowing that he'll be forging new friendships and that they'll lead him "down interesting avenues", i can't help but wish for a queer friend circle encouraging buck to explore queer spaces. #letbucksaybisexualonscreen. he desperately needs connection outside the 118 btw

3) the more likely option: a deeper exploration of his abandonment issues and the psychology behind it, his fear of living a lonely life while everyone else around him puts down root with their spouses and/or children, how he'll never be a priority for his people as they reaches new milestones that seem light years away from him, his own stagnation and his feelings of alienation and the big gestures he does in order to be tied to his loved ones even if they're not physically around, how he's still trying to fulfill his gestational purpose of being of use/serving. nothing new, but certainly painful and uncomfortable, and maybe this time they'll be addressed AND resolved.

[air--so--sweet]

Oliver saying that Buck is going to try find new friends, and try figure out, if Eddie's away, how is he going to spend all this time. And that his love life will 'flick on for a moment or two' and he's going to see how that feels and if he's doing it for the right reasons and he's going about it in a way he feels is morally right.

Because of comments made by Tim Minear I was doubtful, but I think they may actually, to quote the hashtag, let Buck fuck.

To be clear, I don't want to see Buck have sex to just see him have sex, but I do think given his abandonment issues and his history of searching for love and intimacy through sex it would make sense for him to fall back into a bit, at least temporarily. I know some people see it as him going backwards but healing isn't linear and just because you know a coping mechanism is unhealthy doesn't mean that you instantly stop doing it, especially if you haven't figured out healthy coping mechanisms to replace it. And I don't think Buck has fully thought out what it means to live in Eddie's house and be surrounded by all the memories he has with Eddie and Chris without them there and how much that will effect him. Also, the way Oliver talked about it makes it sound like it's will be a very brief return to Buck 1.0 behaviour, because Buck realises that it's not healthy and it's not who is anymore.

Tbh my money is on the important conversation with Maddie that Buck thinks is ludicrous 'at least on the outside' comes from Maddie seeing Buck 1.0 behaviour firsthand (because she's only heard about it before now) and being worried for Buck and when he tries to brush it off and pretend he's fine she's going get frustrated and say something like 'You're not fine Buck and I know you miss Eddie, but this isn't the way to deal with that.' And Buck will be like 'Eddie, what's Eddie got to do with this?' and realising what she's said Maddie will finally stop hinting and directly tell Buck he's in love with Eddie.

[angelllbby222]

Conflicted Chapter 20🎀:

Maddy P.O.V :

I stormed out of the bathroom, heading directly for Axl.

He told everyone in the band, which was different than telling his girlfriend something so personal about me.

And Izzy’s ex…that was where I drew the line.

“Axl!" I yelled, watching him pause in the middle of a conversation with their manager and turn his attention to me, lifting an eyebrow at my grumpy attitude.

“You told your girlfriend that you’re in love with me?!?”

"What are you saying Maddy? And keep it down," he clinched his teeth as he led me into a secluded area away from the crowd.

“Angela told me that Erin knows that you're in love with me," supposedly." I scoffed, angered by his casual demeanor, knowing he was the one propagating our private secrets out to the general public.

"I never told Erin anything, Maddy. I swear. I'm not sure why she would say that," he murmured to himself, standing there with his hands on his hips, wondering what he had done to make Erin feel that way.

I stormed away, unaware that Erin was watching us, perplexed, given the fact that they claimed the two were good friends, but based on their recent chat, it seemed as though the two were a couple fighting only adding to her theory.

Which was that her boyfriend was in love with the bassist’s sister.

“Maddy where have you been." Duff asked, already on his fourth drink of the night, banging down on the bar counter for more.

“I've been gone. Not that you would care." I spat, irritated by his intoxicated conduct and the fact that he couldn't even hold a conversation with me, let alone Steven and Slash, and then there was Izzy, wait, there wasn't.

Where was Izzy?

"Hey have any of you seen Izzy?" I inquired with the three boys, who were completely wasted.

"I-z-zzz-y?..why are you t-two goin-g to fuck-k again?" Slash mumbled, smirking wildly at his choice of words,Duff barely noticed until he realized what he had said about his sister and Izzy.

“Shut the fuck up Slash!” the bassist shouted, immediately sobering up.

"Sweetie. Izzy is just over there." Steven pointed to a small area of the pub at a booth where Izzy was sitting with none other than Angela?

The way she giggled and slapped his chest made it seem like the two were having a funny conversation , and he smiled the entire time, not realizing how clear it was that she was flirting with him.

Angela instantly noticed me staring, which prompted Izzy to shift his head, but Angela caught it and kissed him forcefully, prompting him to back off and jump out of the seat.

"Maddy," he murmured to himself, noticing me observing the two and assuming the worst of what I saw.

He instantly raced over to me and explained what had happened, and I nodded, knowing he had done nothing wrong because I was actually standing there seeing Angela be a slut.

"Why does she like you so much? Why doesn't she go see Axl or Slash?" I wondered why she was constantly drawn to Izzy.

"She's been in love with me for a long time and I didn't feel the same way, so we became fuck buddies, but I got bored of her quickly, so I called it out, and she became heartbroken," he explained casually, as if it wasn't his first time leaving a female unhappy as a musician

"Oh." I responded instantly, feeling awful for the girl because I could easily be in the same situation.

It's possible that I'm already there without realizing it.

“I know what your thinking and no just drop it." He sighed, having dealt with enough, and approached his three wasted pals to participate in the fun.

I saw Axl emerge from the scene, an empty arm that no longer served Erin Everly, and he excitedly walked to his bandmates with a sneer on his face.

I had no choice but to join the guys because I had no other friends at all in the big city and I only knew them.

“The brat has joined us.” Axl scoffed, nonchalantly sipping a cool beer in direct contradiction to his drunken bandmates, notably Izzy.

He fell over the counter, almost dropping to the floor, when I caught him and moved him to rest his head on the counter.

“You'll be taking care of him like that for the rest of your life if you keep this relationship going," he whispered, taking little sips from his drink.

“What makes you say that?”

“He’s an addict and he’ll ruin your life too with his drugs.”

"Izzy's not an addict and I can take care of him perfectly fine." I naively defended, smoothing Izzy's hair away from his sweaty face.

“Yeah right.” he scoffed slipping off his stool to found someone to dance with.

"Izzy. Wake up, let's go home." I said to him, feeling his cheeks warm up to my touch and slumped over body.

"N-no just go without m-me." He murmured, fumbling over words and pushed me away with a rough hand.

“Baby, you don’t look so good. I think it’s better if I take you home.”

“Stop touching me!" he yelled, pushing me, causing me to trip on the liquid drink previously spilled on the floor and fall on the hard ground of the bar.

I shrieked, a crushing discomfort running through me and tears forming in my eyes, unable to hide the pain, looking up at Izzy to extend a hand, but he was so high on his drug of choice for the night that he didn't care.

"Maddy! "Are you ok?" I heard Axl call out to me, rushing up to pick me up.

“What happened!" Duff shouted and hurried over to me after seeing Axl kneeling down on the floor.

"I'm fine." I said, tears streaming down my cheeks, as I returned my gaze to Izzy, who was firmly placed on the counter, unconcerned about how he had treated me.

"That bastard. I'll fucking kill you for hurting my baby sister," he roared, grabbing Izzy's shirt and dragging him up to confront his towering frame.

“If you kill me, you'll hurt your sister even more," he replied, grinning at me.

“Fuck you motherfucker.” the bassist growled punching his band mate and knocking him down on his drunken state.

“Duff!” I squealed as I crouched down next to Izzy and his newly slit brow, which was streaming with blood.

"Leave him alone, Maddy. Let's go. Axl said this as he dragged me away from Izzy and picked me up in his arms.

"You just want to fuck her." Izzy mumbled under his breath, amused at Axl's concern for the girl he allegedly dislikes.

The Indiana native may not have heard because he did not intervene, but if he had realized his long-time friend was making such a statement about the sweet girl, he would have knocked him out for good.

“That is it! I've seen enough today. You are not to see Izzy again, and I forbid you from going out with him or any other fucking musician from now on!" Duff yelled, and I could only nod, unable to find the correct words to explain what Izzy had just done.

We all got into Duff's car, Axl and I in the back, as Duff drove us to Axl's apartment.

I felt Axl interlace his fingers with mine, holding my hand in his while I slipped into sleep on his shoulder.

What I didn’t realize was that when I would wake up the next morning, Duff would have my things packed and a flight back to Seattle set out for me.

[sporadicfangurl]

Between the stills and the sneak peek that dropped of Buddie (which I haven't and won't be watching as am waiting until I see the episode to see but have kinda seen through gifs) I now have a lot of thoughts about how I think things will go for the buckley-diaz family in this season finale and I just need to write it out before I join Eddie in a mental spiral.

So, for starters, I think the Buddie sneak peek will be the first scene for both Buck and Eddie. I could see there being a scene before this with Eddie knocking on Chris's door begging him to open up/ apologizing for the night before and getting no response from Chris. But, because of all the plotlines going on/needing to get wrapped up in this episode I don't think we'll get a scene like that before the sneak peek scene. Now when it comes to the sneak peek scene, I believe this is the morning after the Kim debacle the night before. Seemingly after Marisol (and Kim) left, Chris locked himself in his room and hasn't spoken or seen Eddie since. Concerned for Chris, but not wanting to overstep or force himself on him, Eddie immediately resorts to pulling out his big guns; aka calling in Chris's Buck. Because if there is one person Chris will let in at a time like this—it's his Buck. I think this scene will end with Buck agreeing to try and leaving to go to Chris's room and as Buck is exiting, Eddie hears a knock on his door and when he answers his parents are on the other side.

We know from stills from the episode that Eddie's parents will be in this episode. Personally, I don't believe either Chris or Eddie called them. I think this will be a surprise visit with them having already been in town and maybe this is there last day in LA, and they just wanted to see Chris and Eddie before going back to Texas. Although there is a small chance that Chris called them although given that I believe Buck was Eddie's first call to help him fix the mess he made I don't think he called his parents. Regardless, once he invites them inside, Eddie takes his parents to the kitchen, and it is in the kitchen that he fills them in on all the things going on with regards to his dead wife's doppelganger and all that went down the night before. During this conversation, Eddie is going to show them a picture of Kim on his phone which is what I think is happening in the still down below.

While Eddie is talking to his parents, I believe Buck and Chris will be having a parallel conversation that will be intercutting with Eddie's scene as Chris expresses his feelings and perspective to Buck about everything. At some point, Chris and Buck's conversation will get interrupted by someone (Maddie, Chim or Hen) calling to tell him that Bathena is in the hospital. Buck will apologize/excuse himself from the talk with Chris and go to the kitchen to tell Eddie about Bathena. Interrupting the conversation Eddie is having with his parents and the reason why Helena's face looks so screwed up/upset.

Eddie will likely initially be conflicted on whether or not he should go to the hospital because of everything going on with Chris, but his parents will usher him to go telling him they'll stay and watch/talk to Chris while he's gone. Buddie goes to hospital together directly from Eddie's house which is why they are wearing the same clothes.

Now am not sure what the hell is going to happen at the hospital, but I will say that I don't think Bobby is either going to die or wake up from the coma in this episode. I think whatever ultimately ends up happening with Bobby we won't find out until the first episode of season eight. Regardless of what happens at the hospital, after everything is said and done, Buddie will part ways with them both going home to their own homes. At Buck's place, I think Tommy will already be at Buck's when Buck arrives home. Maybe Buck left Tommy at his place before he left to go to Eddie's as they potentially woke up together and Tommy just never went home, or maybe Tommy has a key and let himself in. However, it is that Tommy is in Buck's place, he is there, and he prepared/set up Bummy date night. More than likely, either through Buck telling him or the firefighter grapevine, Tommy knows about Bobby being comatose in the hospital and wanting to do something nice for Buck (possibly to help take his mind off of things) he made/maybe order them dinner. Given that Buck is smiley and looking all content in the still below, I do not believe again that Bobby will die in this episode. I just don't see Buck being able to be this happy in a moment with Tommy if Bobby/his real dad dies some time that day.

Moving on to Eddie, when he returns home, I think his parents will be waiting to have a conversation with him about Chris and how they think he should come with them back to Texas. Eddie while obviously be taken aback and a bit defensive about this as this will be last thing he wants. However, I think Eddie's parents will make it clear that this isn't like last time where they wanted to take Chris from him permanently but instead this will just be a temporary thing. Possibly one that Chris said he wanted. Which if they tell him that Chris wants to go with them back to Texas, I think Eddie will resign himself to it.

Which, as hard as this is going to be for Eddie, I personally think it's for the best and the only way that our Diaz boys can finally start to truly grieve and heal from Shannon's death. The truth of the matter is that both Chris and Eddie hide their feelings from one another when it comes to Shannon as a means of protecting each other feelings. When Chris was having nightmares about Shannon in 3x04, he kept it hidden from Eddie because he didn't want to make Eddie sad by bringing it up. And I feel like Eddie has been using his relationship with all these different women as a way to mask his true feelings about Shannon to both Christopher and himself. Dating all these women gives the illusion that he's okay and moved past Shannon, but that is clearly a bold face lie as we can see by the Kim of it all. All that to say, if Eddie and Chris are going to heal from Shannon's death and the feeling of abandonment, she left behind in her wake; they need to be able to feel all of their feelings and pain which neither will do if they're together because they'd be too worried about how their feelings would affect the other. This is gonna hurt, but it's gonna be for the best. Which takes us to the next two and last stills:

Buddie says goodbye to their kid! As much as I wanted Chris to go stay with his Buck that way, he'd at least still be with one of his dads then; he's clearly gonna be going with his grandparents. In what will probably be Eddie and Chris's one and only scene together—THERE GONNA BE SAYING GOODBYE! And as Chris leaves with his grandparents, Buck will be there to comfort and support Eddie through the shitstorm he made for himself. Those are my thoughts and thanks to Hulu not dropping episodes until 5 in the morning I have a whole extra day to just think about all the ways this next episode is about to hurt. Thanks so much for that Hulu. You're just the best.

[oblivious-aro]

Friends in strange Places Ch. 6 Pt 2

What if Vlad was good instead of evil? Link to chapter 1:

Friends in Strange Places Chapter 1, a danny phantom fanfic | FanFiction

FANFICTION.NET

Summary: With a little encouragement from Vlad, Danny works up the nerve to tell his parents. Sam and Tucker realize they have some things to discuss.

Word Count: 8600

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By the time Danny managed to get the thespian ghost into The Thermos and fly back home, Vlad had already left. Danny was disappointed to have missed him, but he did get a play-by-play of the entire visit from his parents over dinner.

"...and it turns out Vladdie hasn't had any luck designing an ecto-based adhesive either! But thanks to his input, we should be able to increase the efficiency of The Spectre Speeder tenfold!"

"That's fascinating Dad." Jazz deadpanned "So you and Vlad have been breaking the ice okay then?"

"Yup!" Maddie smiled "Oh, I'm so glad Vlad decided to open up to us. It's been so nice working with him again."

"Wow," Jazz said "Vlad sharing his secret with you two really seems to have made a difference in your relationship. Even if he was scared to do it, it certainly seems to have been worth the risk."

Danny glared at Jazz.

"You said it Jazzy!" Jack beamed, oblivious to the secret conversation between his children "Now that we know what's been going on with Vladdie all this time, we're closer than ever before!"

"You don't say." Jazz stared directly at Danny as she spoke.

"I'm done eating, I'm going to my room now." Danny pushed his chair back and began to walk towards the stairs.

"Sorry Danny," Maddie grabbed his shoulder as he passed her "You and your father are on dishes tonight."

"What? But I did them last night!"

"Yeah?" Jazz put the stack of plates in the sink "And who did them the last two nights in before that?"

"That was only because-" he'd had to leave halfway through dinner to deal with Skulker's newest (not to mention very destructive) 'toy'.

"Because what, Danny?" Maddie cocked an eyebrow.

"Nothing." Danny grumbled.

"See you in the lab, Hun." Maddie gave Jack a peck on the cheek "I want to get started on archiving today's data."

With that, she disappeared down the basement stairs.

"Come on, Danno," Jack gave the pouting Danny a pat on the back "The sooner we get this done, the sooner it'll be over. You washing or drying tonight?"

"I'll dry." Danny said. His father had an unfortunate tendency to put dishes away in the wrong places, and Danny did not feel like dealing with Jazz's complaining tomorrow morning.

"So," Danny asked as his dad handed him a plate "How are things going with Vlad? It's really not awkward with his whole, you know...'ghostly' situation?"

"Nonsense Danny!" Jack waved his hand "We barely even talked about it."

Danny wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

"I mean," Jack continued "We did sit down and discuss the situation when he first got here, but it didn't take long for us to get back into the swing of researching together just like old times. In fact, the data we collected today has given me a great idea for a new weapon! I call it The Fenton Ghost Gooer!"

"You're not like, married to that name, are you?" Danny scrunched his nose.

"It's gonna be great!" See, your mother and I haven't had much success with ectoplasmic based adhesive in the past, but after studying its behaviour at high velocity under varying degrees of impact force..."

Danny rolled his eyes. It could be so difficult to get his father to stay on a topic that wasn't whatever his latest ghost invention was.

"Dad, would it bother you if you saw Vlad using his ghost powers?" Danny interrupted his rambling.

"What do you mean, Son?" Jack frowned.

"I know you and Mom don't hate Vlad or anything for being half-gho-"

"Of course we don't hate Vladdie!" Jack made an offended expression "He's our best friend!"

"Yeah I know, but I mean like, wouldn't it wig you out to see him flying around or sticking his arm through something? Like, how'd you feel when you first saw him transform?"

"Well I suppose it was a little startling." Jack said "But Vladdie had only really told us about his powers less than a minute ago, so you can't really blame me for being shocked. Your mother and you kids were pretty shaken too, if I recall correctly. Heck, you and your friends barely said a word the whole drive home!"

"Uh...yup! That's right! Totally shocked!" Danny laughed nervously.

"But once your mother and I talked things out, and I got a good night's sleep to think it over, I was able to...what's the word Jazz uses? 'Process' the situation. Sure, it's a little strange that Vlad's got ghostly abilities, but the fact is he does and he's our friend, so we're just going to have to get used to it. Simple as that. The lesson here Danny is that when your problems seem too strange and impossible to figure out, get a good night's sleep. That's something my father taught me. Your brain does amazing things while you're sleeping. Can't tell you how many times I've gone to bed thinking I'd have to scrap some glitchy invention, only to wake up knowing exactly how to fix it!"

Danny wasn't sure he believed his dad. How could Vlad turning out to be half-ghost be so simple for him? Seeing your best friend using the same abilities as the creatures you've hated and hunted obsessively for years had to be a weird, right? Like, at least a little?

"What's got you asking about Vladdie so much anyway, Son?"

"Oh uh, no reason. Just curious."

Jack smiled softly at Danny and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Danny, if Vlad's ghost powers freak you out, you should know you have nothing to worry about. I know he might have looked a little intimidating when he fought that lake monster, but looks are just looks, and despite how Vlad might have looked, he's isn't actually a ghost, so-"

"Ew Dad, you're soaking through my shirt!" Danny pushed Jack's soapy hand off of his shoulder "And I'm not scared of Vlad. I haven't even been scared of ghosts since I was seven."

"Well that's good to hear then." Jack gave Danny's back a strong pat before resuming his scrubbing. "Because there's absolutely no reason to be afraid of Vladdie. And there's gonna be absolutely no reason to be afraid of ghosts anymore once I finish The Fenton Ghost Gooer!"

Danny smiled as his dad started to explain his latest invention.

If nothing else, Jack Fenton was genuine. If he said he didn't have a problem with Vlad's ghost powers, then he meant it.

So why was some small part of Danny still so hesitate?

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"Aim left! Left!" Tucker cried.

Their entire view was obscured by an explosion before a metallic skull appeared on the computer screen with the words Game Over overlaying it.

"Okay, that might have been a little too left."

"Y'know," Valerie said "I just don't think this game is for me."

"Aw come on, you were way better that time."

"Was I?"

"I mean, you almost made it past level one. That's an improvement!"

Valerie did not look impressed.

"You know, I really thought your ghost hunting skills would translate directly to DOOMED. It's basically the same mechanics."

"What're you talking about? Aiming a real blaster is waay smoother then trying to line up your sight with that thing." Valerie pointed at the computer mouse like it was something offensive.

"Aw well," Tucker shrugged "Can't say you didn't try."

"Indeed." Valerie checked her watch "I'd better get going. Sorry DOOMED didn't work out."

"S'all good." Tucker waved his hand "I still got Danny and Sam to play with. We've got loads of other stuff we can try doing together."

"Alright, but I'm choosing the next date activity." Valerie smiled.

"Sounds good." Tucker frowned "Wait, this was a date?"

"I'm pretty sure this counts?"

"Oh, if that's the case, I feel kind of bad making you spend a date playing a video game you didn't enjoy."

"I mean, I did enjoy watching you freak out every time one of those robot bat things showed up."

"They suck up your health! It's imperative to get rid of them as fast as possible before they become too beefy! Sure, they're pretty harmless if you kill them right away, but it's insane that the developers put an enemy that's capable of getting so powerful at level one!"

"See that," Valerie smiled as she swung her backpack over her shoulder "That's weirdly charming. Now I really got to go. See you tomorrow."

"See you!" Tucker called back. Valerie had officially been over enough times that he didn't need to show her out anymore.

And now that she was gone, it was time for DOOMED with Danny.

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Pow! Pow!

"Oh my gosh it's satisfying watching an enemy actually get hit." Tucker said over the voice chat. His parents had gotten him a mic set for his birthday.

"I take it DOOMED with Valerie didn't go well?" Danny's asked.

"Dude, she is so bad! Uh, don't tell her I said that."

"Ha ha, I won't. It's weird, though. Considering her ghost hunting skills, I figured she'd be great at this game."

"I thought so too, but nope! It was like that time we watched my little cousin play Mario at my eleventh birthday party."

"Ugh, why'd you bring that up? That was a genuinely painful experience."

"So was watching Valerie play!"

They continued to play in near silence for a while, only talking to warn each other of an approaching enemy.

Just as Tucker was getting ready to call it, Danny spoke:

"Thanks for hanging out tonight, Tuck. I think I needed this."

"Hey, no problem man. Is something going on?" Tucker asked casually. He very much knew that there was a lot going on with Danny, but he figured between Sam and Jazz, Danny didn't need another person smothering him.

That being said, Tucker was still worried about his best friend. He could hardly help it.

"I'm just stressed about telling my parents." Danny paused to blast an approaching spider "I know they're gonna accept me, but the idea of actually telling them is still pretty terrifying. I know it's not a big thing, just two sentences or whatever, but it still feels like the most monumental thing I've ever done."

"Honestly, I think that's pretty reasonable. I know you know they'll be cool, but this is still the biggest secret you've ever kept. Makes sense you're wigged out about finally letting go."

"Yeah, ha ha. I'll figure it out eventually, though. Hopefully. Anyway, one more round?"

"Sure thing Dude."

They were interrupted by the notification sound effect of another player joining.

"Hey, poetry slam ended earlier than I thought it would. You two still playing?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, but we're just doing one last round." Danny replied.

"That's fine. Still gives me enough time for me to hand you both your own butts."

Tucker was pretty sure he could hear Sam's smug grin through his headset.

"Don't think your victory's so assured, Sam." Tucker said "I've been working on a new strategy that'll knock your socks clean off!"

"Ooh! I'm shaking in my rank three crusher boots with bonus spike damage."

Despite Tucker's trash talk, he'd gotten used to losing a while ago. It was just fun to pretend he might one day outrank Sam.

Mostly he was just happy that Danny was getting a break.

...and also the opportunity to test out his new poison upgrade.

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Danny sighed with relief as he dropped the last of the rags into The Fenton Washing Machine. Not all of the ectoplasm from his parents catapult experiment had made it into the The Containment Tank, and Danny still wasn't having any luck convincing Jazz to swap chores with him.

Danny had just turned the washer on when his ghost sense went off. With a loud groan, Danny turned and glared at the portal. He felt every muscle in his body relax when Vlad floated out.

"Do you somehow just know when I've just finished cleaning the lab?" Danny was too exhausted to muster up a polite greeting "If you're looking for my parents, they're actually out right now. My dad realized we were out of fudge after dinner, and he almost died when he saw we weren't stocked up on baking ingredients."

"I can practically hear Jack's panicked voice." Vlad grinned "But it's actually you I'm after." Vlad said.

"Oh. Really?"

"Yes. Although Jack and Maddie seem relatively comfortable with my ghostly side, I don't think it'd be a good idea to just fly into their lab through the portal as a ghost. I don't think I'm ready for that yet."

"Fair. How'd it go with them yesterday anyway?"

"Rather well, all things considered. Being so open about my abilities with them has certainly been a...mental adjustment after decades of secrecy and hiding, but as I said they really do seem to have taken it rather well."

"That's good to hear." Danny smiled. Hearing Vlad say that made him feel lighter inside. "So what'd you want to talk to me about?"

"I wanted to inquire about your plans to tell your parents about your accident." Vlad said. The lightness in Danny vanished "I assume you haven't already?"

"Uh...no, I...have not done that yet." Danny hoped Vlad couldn't tell how dry his mouth was.

Vlad frowned.

"You seem rather perturbed Daniel. Do you...not want to tell them?"

"I do!" Danny said quickly "Really! It just...never seems like the right time, I guess."

"You guess?"

Danny sighed.

"You know, things aren't terrible right now." Danny rubbed the back of his neck "I guess it's just...I don't really know what will happen when I tell them. I mean, I know they won't banish me to The Ghost Zone or dissect me or whatever, but things are going to..be different, you know? And honestly, that kind of scares me. I guess I was too busy worrying about what could go wrong to think about what would happen if things went right, so I really don't know what to expect."

Vlad's eyes softened with sympathy.

"As they say, misery is comfortable."

"What? No, that's stupid. I hate being miserable, everyone does."

"Daniel you just told me that a part of you would rather live in a house with two people who are trying to hunt you, surrounded by hazardous devices, than tell your parents about your ghost part."

"No, that's- I mean...huh."

"I do understand how you're feeling." Vlad said. "Now that your parents know about my powers, I was more than a tad nervous to come down here yesterday, and there is a reason I stalled telling them until the end of the trip. But, as someone who's been where you are, I can confidently say things are better now that they know. Even with all the unknown elements."

"I know things'll be better," Danny said "It's just so weird to think how much one little conversation can change."

"Things are going to change. It might be a bit awkward with your parents at first, I won't lie. The idea of being in my ghost form around Jack and Maddie still makes me...apprehensive, and I'm not sure I'll feel comfortable with it any time soon. For all I know, I may never."

"Well that's comforting."

"But I'm not scared of my best friends shooting me anymore, so that's a plus." Vlad grinned "Kind of outweighs having to deal with the awkwardness, if you ask me."

"Yeah," Danny laughed half-heartedly "I suppose it would."

"You want my advice? Tell them tonight."

"Tonight!?" Danny almost had a heart attack

"Yes tonight. Not telling Jack and Maddie sooner has been my biggest regret. You know you want to do this. Save yourself the unnecessary worry and just get it done."

Danny thought about it. He supposed Vlad's logic was sound, and if there was anyone he should listen to for tips on telling his parents they were half-ghost it was him, but the thought of doing it so soon made him dizzy. He knew he'd been stalling, but he needed a little more time to prepare than that.

"I'll do it tomorrow night." he said, sounding much firmer than he felt.

"Well I say never put off till tomorrow what can be done today," Vlad shrugged "But the decision is yours. Good luck Little Badger!"

With that, Vlad flew backwards through the portal, leaving Danny alone with his thoughts.

--------------------------------------------------

Tucker had to stop himself from cheering as the lunch lady finished scooping the casserole of the day onto his tray. In his opinion, it was insanely cruel of the faculty to schedule his biweekly PE period right before lunch. As if gym class wasn't long enough!

He quickly found Sam in their usual spot and took a seat across from her.

"Where's Danny?" Tucker asked before shoving a large spoonful of casserole into his mouth. It was tomato and ground beef with macaroni noodle today.

"Give you three guesses and two of them don't count." Sam replied.

"Ah." Tucker swallowed "Was it The Box Ghost again?"

"Nah, I'm pretty sure it was Klemper. Danny said something about frozen toilets."

"Ooh, maybe Danny should let him keep going for a bit! I think they have to cancel school if the toilets don't work."

"Tucker, broken plumbing facilities in a building with over five hundred people could pose a serious problem. Do you know how many students here have bladder issues?"

"Okay jeez, I was only joking."

There was a brief silence as the two of them started to eat their lunches.

"I really could've used you with Danny the other day, you know." Sam said "It's like you don't even care that your best friend's about to tell his parents the biggest secret of his life."

"What? Sam, of course I care. I'm worried about Danny too, but there's no point in pushing him if he's not ready yet."

Sam was about to angrily retort, but she stopped herself, the conversation with Danny replaying in her head.

Why was she so angry at Tucker? Sure, it was kind of annoying he hadn't backed her up, but she had to admit his logic wasn't totally unreasonable.

"I guess." she relented. It felt weird admitting Tucker was right so easily.

Wait, why did that feel so weird? They were friends, best friends. It shouldn't take so much restraint just to agree with each other about something so minor.

Danny was right. Something was wrong.

Not that it was all Sam's doing, Tucker could be annoying and insensitive. A lot of the time, in fact.

But was Sam maybe...not always interpreting his intentions in the best light? Just maybe?

A lot of mixed thoughts were going through Sam's head, but one thing she knew for sure was that if they wanted to fix what was going on, someone had to start somewhere.

"Hey, um, I just wanted to say I'm...sorry I teased you about Valerie so much. You told me to stop and I didn't, even though I should have."

Tucker blinked, completely taken aback by her sudden apology. It probably didn't help that she'd been giving him the gears less than a minute ago.

Admittedly, that might have been a weird place to start, but it was the first thing Sam thought of, and Sam was the kind of person who liked to start fixing a problem as soon as possible.

She just hoped Tucker wouldn't make fun of her apology for revenge.

"Uh...no hard feelings." Tucker said, his shocked expression morphing into a grin "In fact, since you apologized, and I'm such a gracious friend, I promise I won't make as much fun of you when you get your embarrassing first crush." Tucker winked and did finger guns.

Sam felt a flash of annoyance. Of course, Tucker didn't know she was aromantic, chances were he didn't even know what 'aromantic' meant, so Sam knew it wasn't fair for her to be mad at him.

Well, she had just decided she wanted to fix the kink in their friendship, and an important part of friendship was being able to trust your friends with your secrets...

"Actually...I don't think I'll ever get a crush." Sam said.

"Aww, come on. I know being gloomy's your thing, but I'm sure someday you'll-"

"No Tucker, I'm aromantic."

"Oh. Um, what's that?"

"It means I don't get crushes, and I'm never going to fall in love. Ever." Sam crossed her arms "And before you try to give me another pitying platitude, I'm actually quite happy with this development."

"Okay, but how do you know you'll never fall in love?" Tucker asked.

Anger burned in Sam.

"Ugh!" she threw up her hands "This is exactly why I didn't want to tell you!"

She knew this would happen! She knew Tucker wouldn't take her seriously! She knew he'd-

"No no no no wait, I totally believe you!" Tucker threw up his hands defensively "I just meant, like, how'd you figure it out? I'm sorry, I didn't realize how that would sound! I didn't mean it like that, I promise!"

The fire in Sam instantly died.

"You...really believe me?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't I?"

"Because people are never taken seriously when they say they aren't interested in romance. I've lost count of the number of movies I've seen where someone says they're happy being single, but by the end they've started a relationship with someone and everyone's acting like they're 'fixed' now." Sam unconsciously clenched her fists. She'd never realized that that trope bothered her so much until right now. "Plus you specifically never take anything I say seriously."

"What? Yes I do! What are you talking about?"

"Well you weren't exactly the most supportive of my menu update at the start of the year."

"Sam, you literally forced everyone in the school to change to a very niche diet. You gotta admit that's a little extreme."

"Okay fine, maybe that wasn't my best idea. But it feels like ever since then, you've never tried to help me with my world-improving projects. You don't even really listen to my ideas. Like, the world's on fire, and all my friends, family, and fellow students ever seem to want to do about it is laugh at me for trying to fix things!"

The passion in Sam's voice sobered Tucker's normally humorous attitude.

"I didn't think you cared what other people said about you." he said.

"I don't." Sam looked defiantly into Tucker's eyes "I'm an activist to try and make the world a better place, I'm not interested in this for personal glory." Sam gaze shifted away from Tucker's face and she crossed her arms over her body "But y'know, I...might care a little bit what my best friends say about me."

"Oh." Tucker looked away too. "I...I guess that makes sense."

There was a long silence.

"So...how did you figure it out?" Tucker asked "I mean, if you like girls then you figure it out by liking a girl and vice versa, but there isn't really a sign if you don't like anybody, so how do you know you won't like anybody ever?"

Sam raised an eyebrow at Tucker.

"N-not saying you're wrong about saying you're aromantic! Or that anybody else is! I'm really just curious, I swear! Actually you know what, you don't have answer that. I probably shouldn't have even asked."

Tucker proceeded to shove an entire handful of tater tots in his mouth. Sam was pretty sure it was to stop himself from rambling any more. It was a very Tucker thing to do. She might've laughed if Tucker's question hadn't been making her think so hard.

Sam wasn't offended by the question, she knew Tucker was a curious person who meant it genuinely, it was just a difficult question to answer.

"I don't know." Sam admitted "It just...feels right. I don't know how to explain it any better. The idea of not falling in love feels like it fits better than the typical romantic ideas everyone's always pushing, and like, when I read about some of the experiences of other aromantic people I've found online, it just feels so right. Like someone finally gets it. I can't really explain it much better than that, but I just know it's true that I'm not going to fall in love."

"I guess it's like getting a crush." Tucker mused "You can't really explain it, you just kind of know."

Sam frowned. She didn't think it was exactly like that, but she could see that Tucker was trying to be understanding. Not to mention she had just told herself she was going to try and be more civil with him.

"Uh, maybe." she said "Honestly, the idea was kind of weird at first, but the more time goes on, the more I actually really like knowing I'm aro. It's great. Figuring that out feels like scratching an itch I didn't even know I had."

"I definitely get that."

"You do?"

Tucker felt his heart skip a beat.

"I...think I might be bi." Tucker said.

"Yeah? Good for you." Sam gave Tucker a small but genuine smile.

Tucker felt his whole body relax.

Wait, why was he so relieved? He hadn't felt this tense when he was telling Danny or Valerie.

Maybe Danny was on to something about him and Sam...

"You okay over there?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, just uh, thinking about some stuff. You don't seem surprised."

"Tucker, remember the drive in Danny's RV to Vlad's cottage?"

"Oh yeah. I kind of hoped everyone had forgotten about that nightmare."

"I mean, I had planned on never mentioning it again ever, but I don't think I could forget it if I tried. But hey, at least I figured out my romantic orientation. So that's pretty cool." Sam shrugged casually.

"I wish I felt as confident about being bi as you do about being...what was it?"

"Aromantic. Aro for short."

"Aro, got it. I mean, I'm warming up to the idea of being bi, but it's been quite the adjustment for my brain. At first it felt like I maybe wasn't even allowed to call myself that."

"Why not?"

"I mean, I for sure do get crushes on guys sometimes, but it really isn't a lot of the time. I'm really mostly into girls, so sometimes it kind of feels like I'm trying to claim something I'm not sure I have any right to."

"So what? You gotta like 'this many' boys to be bi? And who exactly is checking that?"

Tucker laughed a little before continuing.

"Yeah, I know it sounds kind of ridiculous. I have been feeling more comfortable calling myself as bi the longer I've thought about it, but I still can't quite shake this feeling that at some random moment someone's gonna jump out and call me out on it."

"Don't worry," Sam picked up her milk carton and drained the last of it "If anyone even tries to imply you're not 'bi enough' or whatever, I'll just have a nice little chat with them."

Sam finished her statement by crushing the empty milk carton in her hand, all five of her nails leaving gashes in cardboard.

Tucker was going to laugh at Sam's joke, but the carton-crushing demonstration ad actually been genuinely intimidating (Sam was pretty good at being intimidating), so the noise he ended up making was somewhere between a laugh and a yelp.

Sam nearly jumped out of her seat.

"How did you even make that sound?" she asked.

"I don't know, and I don't think I could make it again if I tried."

Sam laughed.

It was actually really nice hearing her laugh like that. Tucker couldn't recall the last time Sam had laughed at one of his jokes.

That might have had something to do with the fact that a lot of his jokes were made at her expense.

Like, a lot of them.

Tucker honestly couldn't remember the last time he'd really gone out of his way to be nice to Sam. Not since the meat incident.

This was not a comfortable realization.

"Hey Sam," Tucker wasn't exactly sure how to say what he wanted to say, but he knew he had to say something "I'm sorry I haven't been taking you seriously lately. I know I haven't exactly been the best listener. Don't get me wrong, some of you ideas are insane and I want no part in them, but I'm gonna at least start trying taking them seriously now. I'll start taking you seriously, I promise."

Sam was slightly taken aback. She hadn't expected an apology from Tucker, and she hadn't realized how much she'd wanted to hear that until he said it.

"Wow," she started to say "I really-"

"Hey, sorry I'm late." Danny suddenly appeared and sat down beside Sam. Tucker genuinely wasn't sure whether they just hadn't notice him approach, or if he'd snuck in ghost-style.

"It's all good du-" Tucker paused when he noticed the apprehensive look in Danny's eyes "You okay? You look like something's up."

Danny took a long breath.

"Are you two free to come over tonight?"

--------------------------------------------------

Walking down the basement stairs felt like walking through molasses. Not because it was slow, but because each step seemed to take a monumental amount of effort. The journey was actually over surprisingly quickly.

Danny wondered if there was any way he could have lengthened it.

His parents hadn't noticed his descent, both of them deeply absorbed in...whatever giant metal contraption they were working on. Danny didn't really care right now.

He walked up to his parents and loudly cleared his throat, causing them both to snap their heads up.

"H-hey Mom, Dad."

"Hey Danny!" his father set his wrench down to wave at him "How was school?"

"Uh, g-good. School was good."

"Did you need something, Sweetie?" Maddie frowned, sensing his nervousness.

Danny rubbed the back of his neck.

"Um yeah, I kind of...have something to tell you. It's...about the accident I had with the ghost portal."

Jack and Maddie's faces immediately turned serious.

"Danny," Maddie said gently "

"Yeah, I know, I know. That's not it though. It's..."

Danny took a deep breath.

And just jumped in.

"It made me...like Vlad."

"Like...Vlad?" Maddie raised an eyebrow.

"Half-ghost. The portal made me half-ghost. I have ghost powers like Vlad."

There was a beat of silence. Maddie and Jack looked at each other briefly and turned back to Danny.

"Now Son," Jack smiled "I know you two both had ghost portal accidents, but there's no way our portal affected you in the same extreme way. Sure, maybe you've been having minor side effects-"

"That you should have told us about earlier." Maddie cut in sternly.

"What your mother said. But there's no way you could have been affected as drastically as Vlad. You don't even-"

Jack was cut off by two blinding rings of light splitting around Danny's waist, turning him into the ghostly version of himself.

The sight made both of his parents go slack-jawed.

Maybe it had been a bit much to transform without warning, but after weeks of stalling and months of hesitation, Danny had run out of patience.

"I'm half-ghost like Vlad." he repeated, summoning the rings and transforming back.

It was shockingly easy to say. Although walking down the basement stairs had been torture, once he'd started talking, it had felt weirdly natural to just keep going, like he was just telling them what score he'd gotten on a math test. Danny had expected more resistance.

Telling Jazz had been harder.

"Y-you really are like Vlad..." Jack's voice was almost a whisper.

Oh right, their reaction. The beating of Danny's heart instantly washed away the peace he'd been feeling.

This was actually much worse than telling Jazz.

"Y-yeah?"

"Danny?" Maddie's voice was strained "How long have you...been like Vlad?"

"Since the first day." I...walked out of the portal looking like that. I just managed to transform back before you and Dad came back."

"Jack," Maddie put a hand on the work bench to steady herself "I thought you said you tested thoroughly for any mutations or contaminations!"

"Of course I did, Madds! I did a DNA test and everything and couldn't find any indication of..."

Jack suddenly stopped talking. He and Maddie snapped their heads to Danny as if they'd suddenly remembered he was there.

"All those months..." Maddie pulled down her hood, revealing eyes filled with horror "Listening to us going on and on about capturing and dissecting ghosts...oh! No wonder you didn't tell us! You must've been scared half to death."

Danny almost laughed at his mother's choice of words, but he was still too tense to move. He knew his parents weren't going to hurt him, but for some reason he felt like he was in trouble.

"Oh, baby." Maddie wrapped Danny in a hug. She kissed his forehead and rubbed his back.

"Y-you guys aren't mad?"

"Mad?" his father said. "Danno, I don't blame you one bit. I'd have been scared out of my britches too if I was in your position and I heard my parents talking about ghosts the way your mother and I do."

He came over and wrapped his arms around Danny and Maddie.

"We love you kiddo." he said "And we're both so proud of you for telling us."

Maddie squeezed Danny harder.

Danny felt his muscles relax and his heart slow back to normal.

He'd done it. He'd really done it.

Honestly, Danny didn't know how he felt right now. It was weirdly quiet in his head.

But one thing Danny knew for sure was that it felt good to finally have to stop hiding.

This was good.

Danny smiled and hugged his parents back.

--------------------------------------------------

Sam, Tucker, and Jazz all sat at the kitchen table, none of them daring to speak. They'd all been counting the seconds since Danny had gone down the stairs. It had only been two minutes, but it had been a very long two minutes.

The only sound being made was Tucker tapping his knuckles on the table. Sam very much wanted to ask him to stop, but she also didn't want to be the first one to speak.

"Do you think we should go down and check on him?" Tucker asked, his hand finally stilling.

"I'm sure he's fine, just be patient." Despite her grounded words, Sam's anxiety leaked into her voice.

"Sam's right." Jazz said firmly "We're all worried, but this is Danny's moment, so it's our job to be his support and remain fluid enough to react to what he needs depending on which way the situation goes. The best way to do that we have to remain calm and-"

The basement door began to open. Jazz was on her feet in an instant.

"Where's Danny?! Is he okay?!"

"Calm down Jazz, everything's good. Great actually."

Danny's voice was light and full of joy. He didn't even sound annoyed at Jazz's excessive worrying.

Jazz's shoulder's instantly relaxed and she went over to stand by her family. Sam and Tucker awkwardly followed.

"So they...all know?" Maddie said, gesturing to the room.

"Yeah." Danny smiled "No more secrets."

Despite how nice a moment this was, it was also kind of an awkward one. Everyone appreciated how hard it had been for Danny to get here, and they were all feeling the relief, but the question of 'now what do we do?' went unspoken amongst them all.

"I...brought a cake." Sam said.

"Really?" Danny asked, surprised.

"Well, if you don't want it..."

"No, I definitely do, I just...why did you get a cake?"

"Well I didn't really know what the proper protocol was for when your best friend tells his parents he's half-ghost, but a cake seemed like, maybe appropriate?" Sam shrugged.

Danny went over to the white box on the table and lifted the cover.

"Congratulations On The Thing With Your Parents?"

"Tucker's was in charge of the writing."

"I didn't see you pitching in any ideas for a tasteful message that would fit on a cake and not attract suspicion from the cake decorator."

"My contribution was paying for the cake."

"Aw, that was such a lovely gesture, you two." Maddie beamed "Jazz, could you get the plates out? Let's serve this bad boy up!"

"I call the first piece!" Jack said.

"Now Jack, considering the occasion, I think it's only appropriate that Danny gets the first piece."

"Oh, alright." Jack smiled at Danny and patted his shoulder "I suppose that's fair. But I get the second piece, since I called it!"

"Jack..." Maddie said disapprovingly.

"Dad can have the first piece. I don't mind, I know how he gets." Danny said. He was just glad that things were still normal. Sure, his parents probably still had some adjusting to do, but they still saw him as the same Danny he was before, and that was big enough of a relief. "But I'm getting a corner piece."

Honestly though, Danny could've had to give away the entire cake and it wouldn't have killed his mood.

It was finally over. He didn't have to hide or make his friends lie for him anymore. Not to the people who mattered, anyway.

Danny continued to stare at his mom after she handed him a piece of cake and began cutting one for his dad.

He was still nervous abut what the future held for his family's dynamic, but for the first time he also felt excited to find out.

But for now he was just going to enjoy his cake.

[bubblepopsims]

Evan picked up the phone and called Rafa. Checking his pink nail polish he waited for him to pick up.

Rafael : “*sighs* he was bound to call at some point..”

Rafael answered the call with a sigh  “So now you decided to call me, while I am at work huh?”

Evan: “Well I could call you back but then you’d be with Maddie so I am pretty sure now it’s best. Don’t you agree? I wouldn’t want to interrupt you two. So Rafa I’m sorry I haven’t called in a while and I could make up some excuse but I know I didn’t call because you would give me an earful about my jokes. Also I know you probably look hot as fuck right now, all serious at your desk maybe a turtleneck?” Evan chuckled lightly “Sorry, I can’t stop myself”

Rafael continued to pace in the same area, shifting side to side while he listened to Evan speak his words. Rolling his eyes dreadfully slow and sighing, lightly tilting his head when he came to the agreement in his head that Evan was actually right for once. “You make a good point here. On all accords, Besides one thing.” He finds himself taking a seat at his desk.

Rafael: “No turtle neck. But let me guess you are probably currently admiring something new you did. Mmm? Tramp stamp perhaps? Maybe the nails, what did you do this time? Pink. perhaps, it is in rotation.”

Evan: “You know me so well, pink nails. Look I called to tell you that all jokes aside I really miss you and you are one of the best people I know. Courts reminded me I should tell you more often. I haven’t been a very good friend lately and you have been going through some major changes. That pic with Maddie and the ring. If I know you well enough I’d say you have fallen pretty hard for her. I see her charms and honestly you two look like a good fit. She is bubbly and extroverted, not to mention very hot.”

Rafael let out a huff and then a sigh “Don’t even worry about it. You are not a bad friend Evan. Self-pity doesn’t suit you. Very Unattractive.”  before his lips creeped up into a smile at mentioning of Madalyn only to fall minutes later. Evan was right, Rafael has been going through quite major changes, including opening his heart up again when the thought of having someone truly fit him was left in the past. Rafael: “It is a promise ring. Madalyn talked about it quite frequently so I took it upon myself to buy her one. She has in a sense flipped my whole life upside down. But it’s good. It’s good. She is good. Fantastic actually. But there is one thing that troubles me.”

“What are you talking about? I am always attractive!” Evan bursted out laughing “Thank you Rafael, you are not a bad friend either”. Evan pondered what to say next, this was some serious matter that Rafa wanted to talk about, he could feel it in the tone of his voice. “I know you, she could have insisted as much as she wanted but you wouldn’t have bought the ring if you didn’t want to. You don’t tend to be a people pleaser nor someone that avoids arguments or serious conversations. So, go ahead, ask away.”  “Evan, come to the bedroom please” Courtney called him so he got up and started making his way towards her.

Rafael sometimes disliked how much Evan paid attention. He knew him... Knew him well enough that the words he was saying were aligned with Rafael's characteristics. He pushed his office chair back and began to pace once more. Trying to figure out the right words to say or even how to say it. Never did he think he would be in this situation.. Especially with Evan. So instead he brought the phone away from his ear and directly spoke into the phone. Rafael:“When did you know.That Courtney was the one? -he sighed deeply and pushed his hair out of his face- I know the definition of love in verses ways, how to describe it, what it looks like without seeing it. But to know is different, to experience it.. it is different. You know me, Evan. As you said, I don’t do things irrationally. But Madalyn -he huffed and let out a small laugh- she.. just has a way of making me feel like I am learning new things about myself. And yes I know, a relationship should be that way. But when did you know? What was it that made you say she is it?”

Evan felt the heaviness of Rafa's words, this wasn't the time for jokes. "Ok, when did I know..."He took a deep breath, kept it in for a couple of seconds and exhaled. "It took me a while but one night we were out with friends, having dinner at a restaurant. I went out for a smoke, I had a bad day, I was feeling wrecked and yet I was putting up a show, I wasn't feeling like I wanted to have so many people around me. Uni was proving difficult, I never had a thing for studying yet I was trying to make my parents happy, not that they ever forced me to do anything but you know..." Rafael: "I know how you felt about yourself Evan, you wanted to prove yourself you were more than what you think everyone thought of you"

"You remember the prank the twins pulled where they glued all of my underwear together? It was that day, it was payback because I got dad to give me his Mustang; well Courtney followed me out of the restaurant me soon after, she hugged me and told me -You know you can be sad- then she tightened the grip and I hugged her back. I thought how the fuck she could read me so well. It happened more often than I liked but that night I understood that she could see me. She could read me and she cared for me. I realized I could be myself with her and that I wanted to hold on to her. I wanted her to keep looking at me like that, she can cut through all my bullshit. Just as I can see through her"

Rafa was silent still, thinking about what Evan just said. This was Evan's chance and he seized it "...well that and the fact that I wanted her to ravage my ass so badly". Shock and horror, it's like Evan could hear Rafa's disgusted face through the phone. "I got you didn't I?"

Rafael listened intently, hearing the tone shift until he noticed Evan’s smile through the phone. Remembering their first discussion about Courtney. His tone has not change. He paced a little more until he stopped dead in his tracks and felt his face scrunch up in disgust. Rafael:“You always have to ruin a good moment between us don’t you.” Rafael groaned and plopped down on the couch staring up at the tall ceiling of his office. His brows bunched up and his chest tightened up. Rafael:“Evan. I am really starting to believe that I lov- His words were cut short when the door to his office opened and in walked Madalyn. His eyes widened, wandering over the outfit she had so gracefully presented. “Holy shit.”

Evan:“Hey dude are you ok? I can call you later…” Courtney was being very clear about her intentions, in another situation Evan was ready to hang up on Rafa but he was being very honest about his feelings and asking for his help so he was hoping that Rafa would cut the conversation short. 

Madalyn raised a brow as Rafa mouthed to her that he was on the phone with Evan. She took it upon herself to get comfortable. Rafael: “Yeah. Sorry I thought I saw something outside.” Rafael scrunched up his face as soon as the lie left his lips. But Madalyn insisted on him not mentioning her. Rafael:“How is Courtney by the way? Madalyn told me she was feeling a bit under the weather recently. Which makes Madalyn want to visit her more. I quite frankly have to hide my wallet so she doesn’t randomly buy plane tickets” he laughed lightly as Madalyn hit him playfully and frowned giving him the look of: fuck you.

Evan: “It was one of those moments where she needs to be alone, well alone with me you know, it happens sometimes. Nothing that lots of cuddles can’t solve.” Courtney started stroking him, he had to keep a moan in, Rafael wouldn’t take it well if he knew what was happening.”Look Rafa, it seems to me that you love Maddie, I bet you think about her always even now that you are working and you are a workaholic” Evan let out a small hiss and motion Courtney to take it slower. 

Rafael smirked as he saw the devious grin creep up along Madalyns lips for a moment he didn’t quite hear what Evan was saying. The sight of her was mesmerizing, from this Angle the length of her body to her heels was doing things to him, and before he knew it she was unzipping his pants.  All he heard was the words “love her” and his head turned to the side. Rafael:“You don’t even know the half of it.  She quite literally is driving me crazy. No woman has done that before” he stated letting out a sigh as he felt her hand brush along him.

Rafael didn’t dare to look at her after stating that knowing it will only fuel her. But once again Madalyn took him by surprise and he felt the warm embrace of her mouth. Rafael: “Mmm…-he had to clear his throat- I am really thinking… m-very large with her.” His eyes reverted back to Madalyn clutching her hand that was squeezing the inner part of his thigh. Gesturing her to take it easy.

Madalyn chuckled but went right back whispering quietly, trying to keep the lewd sounds to a minimum, but how could she when he was expressing such adorable facial expressions  “just be sure to not let him find out.. or he might get jealous” she giggled. 

........................

Evan: “Rafa, what are you doing? You seem unfocused…” Evan stayed quiet for a moment and motioned Courts to stop for a second, a very difficult request. Something was off, Rafael was never the type to get distracted unless…UNLESS! “Rafa, where is your dick now?! You dirty nasty hypocrite always telling how lewd I am” Evan looked at Courts, they both started laughing he covered the phone mic and whispered to Courts “This is pure gold”. Not wasting anymore time Courtney started working on Evan again doing her best to make Evan slip and reveal that he too was in the middle of sex. Evan: “I will hold this against you fore *cough* forever” he managed to disguise a guttural growl into a cough and looked over at his love and felt like just closing the call with Rafa but he pushed through. He needed to hear Rafa's reaction.

Rafael was beginning to cave in. The sensation of Madalyn’s mouth was overwhelming, from the warmth to subtle sounds and soft moans that escaped her muffled mouth. It was getting to close, he didn't know how much more he could take until he heard as clear as day Evan’s words. “Excuse me?” Rafael stopped Madalyn briefly receiving quite an unpleased expression but he gave her a reassuring look that he would make it up to her. 

Rafael:“Where my dick is, is none of your business and I told you I was at work. Sounds to me like you are becoming quite forgetful at this moment,” he stated not letting Evan have this over his head. “Sure you are not up to something.”  But while he was trying to recover from his slip up Madalyn had taken it upon herself to reveal what was under her coat. Nothing but her nude skin was exposed to him. Rafael’s words escaped him, and his eyes couldn’t help but crawl up her body until they landed on those vibrant blue eyes. He could see it in them. Madalyn wasn’t always the one to be overly aggressive but over this time period being with Rafael, he was getting more unbearably irresistible to her. Maybe it was the hormones maybe it was the fact that she was just genuinely happy with him. But she wanted him. Didn’t matter that they had sex just that very morning.. It was a sense of need for their touch. And that was exactly what Rafael saw in her eyes.  Slowly she straddled him settling on his lap while she gestured to the phone. Rafael knew quickly what she meant. Rafael:“You know what Evan. I have something very important that requires my attention. I am going to have to call you later.”

Evan: “I know WHO the important thing is, you don’t fool me!” The call was over before he could finish the sentence.  He let the phone go and turned his attention to Courtney not before taking a mental note of calling Maddie in the evening.

written by the truly amazing bean @fl0pera (Evan) and yours truly >:) (Rafa without one line but who gives a shit XD we had fun i'd say )

[daniclaytcn]

I was rewatching the coma episode before the finale and specifically with the fact that all the people in the dream were intended to be different parts of buck’s subconscious. Daniel reflected his insecurities, his parents reflected his desire for familial love, specifically his dad with his parents and his mom with children (im still incredibly 👀about margaret comforting buck (her kid) by telling him its okay to “go upstairs and sleep” (die), then buck being reminded of chris and likely the promise he made him to never leave, and then margaret looking at the ferris wheel and saying “it doesnt match what I picked out but if you like it then I love it”) hen and chim are his “guides” and specifically hen was the same as real life, reflecting the role she was playing in his life in his s6 arc. And then bobby was the teacher/lesson giver, also similar to real life. But he also reflected the familial love buck already has (the get well card) so yeah eddie not being there is a choice especially when the only people who did not play a role in helping buck were maddie and eddie (and margaret/phillip), but instead he imagined the worst possible scenario for those two: maddie is in her abusive relationship, and eddie lost chris to his parents which buck knows eddie never wants to happen. And then at the end of the dream the things that try and stop him are him finding eddie, him helping maddie leave doug, and his wish for a relationship with his parents. And he dreams the worst for the people he loves most (including bobby OD) and if bobby is his dad and maddie is his sibiling/mom then eddie is … ??? And Im still thinking about how they chose to parallel maddie and eddie so hard in 6x11 and then contrast them in 6x12 like that was also a choice they made ! (Anyways I just have a lot of thoughts about the coma dream lmao)

this is SUCH a good analysis! i really have so many thoughts about margaret being the one in 6x10 to refuse to even consider the possibility of buck having a child, then in his dream, she's the one to accidentally imply that he has kids, and then she makes a comment about the ferris wheels—that represent chris—not being what she picked out. and holy shit, i never connected the part about her telling him to go upstairs and sleep? that is such a disturbing metaphor.

about maddie and eddie—not only were they the only ones to not help buck escape his dream (margaret and philip didn't, like you said, but they're a moot point here for obvious reasons), they were also the ones in real life to distance themselves from buck's comatose body. we only saw maddie inside the room when her parents were. we only saw eddie in the room when chris was. neither of them were able to look at him directly. and all of this is really something, given that they're the two people whom buck ends up having a significant conversation with the next episode about how the lightning and dying affected him. and, like you said, maddie and eddie are also blatantly contrasted, with eddie knowing buck in a different way than maddie does.

tldr: there's just SO much to analyze and unpack in these episodes skdkdkd

[viky2318]

Reminder for myself and any content creator: when you start taking the rythm and (almost) post regularly DON'T SAY IT OUT LOUD. you'll get punched by lazyness and procrastination in 0.002 seconds and you'll take a month for something that needs less than a week. with this said, HAVE A SPIDER.

This wasn't what Muffet expected or hoped for. She had been so close to finding Sam, and now that she was ready to deal with them… they were either gone or coming by themselves. She didn't want the others to have to deal with them. She couldn’t risk it. She quickly grabbed Grillby by the arm-

Or at least she tried. He wasn’t there anymore, and neither was Maddy. Even Flowey was gone without her noticing it. Suddenly she felt something pulling her upwards, and she found herself thrown in the white infinite sky. Her strings were all gone, so she had nothing to hold on to. Her “going up” became a “falling down”, as if gravity inverted direction, and she soon fell hard on a huge field. Somehow (miraculously) her bones were intact and she had no bruises or wounds, but her back hurted a bit. She slowly got up, wary of her surroundings. The sky was now of a normal cyan, there was a sun slowly moving in it, and she was surrounded by trees on one side and a huge mountain on the other.

“Sorry for the initial mess, I was experimenting a bit”, a well-known voice explained. Muffet turned to face Sam, throwing at them a magic string and trapping them. The human gave her a friendly look, raising then a brow. “Seriously? I still didn’t do anything”, they commented, making the strings disappear as if nothing. “Where are we?” Muffet asked, keeping her eyes on the human as if they could disappear any moment. They smiled quietly, apparently not minding her almost hostile stare. “This is the Void. not the old man’s Void, of course. It’s surprising how easily it can be shaped at will, right? I’m having so much fun messing around with this place’s codes. It’s like modeling fresh clay. So simple and interesting”, they explained cheerfully. “Where are the others?” the spider asked without hesitation. The human shrugged. “They’re fine, you shouldn’t worry”, they shortly replied. Their simplicity made Muffet only more wary. “I feel like I shouldn’t trust you, you know?” she commented, frowning a bit. Sam looked at Muffet in silence for a moment, then sighed quietly. “... yeah, I never gave you a good reason to trust me…” they admitted. The two remained silent for a moment, a slightly awkward tension in the air. Sam broke the silence, tilting their head on a side. “... sooooo… aren’t you gonna ask why you are here? You know, just for conversation”. “You either want me to get out of your way or to join your murderspree again, and both are things I’m not planning to do”, Muffet shortly replied. Sam smiled more widely. “Ah yes, that’s why I like you, buddy. You’re a smart girl” they commented, taking a step towards the spider. “Anyway, it’s the second one. You’re a professional murderer, quick and merciless but not too aggressive. You can perfectly work alone, without risking other people's lives. The most efficient of the three, in my opinion”. Something tingled in Muffet’s mind at their words. “And what would happen to Maddy and Grillby if I accepted? Would they get discarded? Abandoned in the multiverse without a place to stay? Or would you directly kill them?” she asked with a stern look. The human’s eyes widened a bit in concern, but his smile remained. “What? You really think I would do something like that? I’m not such a soulless being. After all, you wouldn’t even think to come with me if I did”. The spider couldn’t help not trusting them. “What about Flowey? Where is he?”, she asked. At this question, you could clearly see Sam’s smile dropping a bit, his face morphing into a more annoyed one. They clearly didn’t have a good relationship with the flower… “he’s fine. For now. I still have to speak with him, but I'll do it right after I finish with you”. Muffet took notice of the human’s evident hostility against the flower, but decided to not say anything about it for now. Something felt clearly off. There was something in the back of her mind yelling at her that she had no control over the situation, that no matter what the human will do what they wanted without giving weight to her words or actions. Maybe Grillby and Raehel really were right, maybe she really couldn’t do what the smiling man asked her… But she wanted to give it a shot. Just because she could. If needed she could always kill him, right? 

“I’m not going to kill people for you again. It’s unuseful and you know it”, she stated. Sam’s annoyed expression didn’t change. They probably expected such an answer.

“It’s not unuseful, it will only take time. Also, the murder part is just one of the many things that we can do to change the multiverse. With my abilities I could learn to change the universes themselves one by one, and for the better. We’ll eliminate only what is rotten by the root, and the rest will develop in a more joyful way!” Sam explained patiently. But Muffet didn’t like how it all sounded.

“... let me guess. You will decide what to change and how to change it. You will decide what is rotten. You will decide how the worlds will develop. You know, it sounds a bit like a dictatorship or something on the line. You can’t control all the hundreds of timelines of all the universes. You should be always everywhere, and you aren’t Core Frisk. And by the way, not even they can always intervene everywhere”, the spider replied. But Sam didn’t seem to fully listen to her.

“That’s why I said it will take time. I can’t be everywhere, so we’ll have to work on all this bit by bit. It will take a while, maybe a few decades. And for the “dictatorship” part- don’t see it like that. Of course it sounds bad if you picture it as something bad. I don’t want to be a ruler or anything like that. We’ll do what is necessary, and when the situation becomes stable we will leave it as it is. You could find home in a quiet timeline and forget about everything! Wouldn’t it be nice?”. Muffet remained silent for a moment. Sam sounded a bit like some mindless idiot. Were they even thinking about their words?

"... You really think that in the end this all will "stabilize" and keep going the way you decided? Sam, think about it. It all started nice, with those lovely worlds where the important thing was making everyone happy. Underswap, Underfell, Outertale… they were all like that. You know it better than I do. Then, the creators started to create sad stories. It's something normal, that probably was impossible to prevent. Even if you miraculously succeed, and everything actually goes as you said, and for some godforsaken reason everyone is happy, one day the creators will again create pain. You can't avoid it. You will work your whole life on something impossible that you'll never reach, and when you'll die it will all be for nothing". Something in the human's expression changed a bit the more they thought about her words, some sort of bad aura around them. Or were they just getting tired of discussing? After a moment, Sam spoke again.

“... I see. I'd rather avoid using this card, but you really don't seem to listen to me. Remember I said Maddy and Grillby were fine? You were right. I lied. They aren’t. One is trapped in an empty timeline and the other one is dead. But… I can bring them all back. I can erase their memories and send them back to their timeline, perfectly unhinged and happy with their old families. I’ll even spare the flower, if you really want. Only if you help me finish what we started, of course.”

“The choice is yours”.

DO NOT TRUST TH- ...

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[princesa-buck]

If I'm not mistaken, the scenes of Eddie that were cut in 8x14 are the ones used in 8x13. The episode was a later decision because they wanted 8x14 to have a certain seriousness that wouldn't have been achieved by cutting it in parts with Eddie in El Paso. On the other hand, everyone can think what they want, but if we go directly to what the plot tells us, well, creating a reconciliation between tmmy and Buck isn't so clearly defined. Can they bring it back and build it up to create drama? Yes, they can. Are they going to do it during 8x15, where Buck's entire team is in danger, and from what we saw, the character he interacts with the most is now Athena? Are they going to talk about being together again at Bobby's funeral? Again, if they want to keep pulling on that thread, they can. They've now paved the way for it? No, chapter 8x11 was a direct slap in the face to the relationship when you had t*mmy admitting that the only way he would give Buck a chance is with Eddie out of the picture, when Buck replied that "I don't have to have sex with people that I care about and I don't have to have feelings for all the people that I have sex with", if you add his conversation with Maddie where he admits that he understood why tmmy felt threatened by Eddie and him and then adds that he admits to having used him as a rebound and he should apologize (keyword he talks about apologizing not reconnecting) and Maddie responds that those reasons don't seem good to start a relationship. So no, I don't agree that reconciliation makes logical sense, if there is reconciliation it's for the drama, not because there seems to be a genuine interest in it. If so the conversation between Maddie and Buck should have been different or even have given clues about them in episodes 8x12 and 8x13 but in them there was no mention whatsoever, so forgive my skepticism to believe that a chapter that supposedly focuses on tension and anguish is going to have romantic approaches from Buck, perhaps from tmmy (this guy has no dignity whatsoever and he knows it , he broke up with Buck twice for the same reason)

oh yeah I saw some stuff about how the episodes/eddie scenes allegedly got switched around. if it’s true, I find it very weird bc the flow would have been super off and I can’t believe it got that far in production before being changed but truly with this show and its turnaround time who knows.

and yeah I’m with you, I don’t think it makes any narrative sense for them to have a reconciliation. idk why people think its gonna happen at all or that there’s gonna be time for that in the next episode. like you said, if they did it, it would just be for the dramatics and I really hope they don’t feel the need to stoop to that level 😩