#i am never gonna be normal about this man am i

[huxhsz]

🍎 ⊹ ࣪ ˖ ikaw lang

— synopsis: caleb is back, but he's different. he looks the same, talks the same—but something about him feels just out of reach, like a melody you can’t quite remember. the boy who used to piggyback you home, who cut apples for you without complaint, who always found a way to annoy and protect you in equal measure—he's not here anymore. and yet, as you watch him silently peel an apple, his hands steady and sure, you realize something. you still want him. even if he’s changed. even if he's not the same. because no matter what, he’s never leaving you again. — note/s: first post on tumblr im a bit intimidated HAHA wrote this while listening to ikaw lang by nobita and also realized i NEED filo caleb. save me filo caleb save me I NEED TO WRITE A FILO COLLEGE/HS AU OF HIM SO BAD

cross-posted on ao3! ٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و ♡

caleb has changed, you realize grimly.

he sounds the same, looks the same, talks the same—

but he's not your caleb.

he's not the same caleb who used to piggyback you home after school, he's not the same caleb who would use you as his fake girlfriend to ward off his fangirls, he's not the same caleb who would slice apples for you because you would always complain about being lazy... no.

when you look at this man's—this stranger's—face, you do not see your caleb. you see fleet colonel caleb of the farspace fleet, you see a soldier hardened by war, a man who has seen too much and lost even more.

"—pipsqueak? pipsqueakk— earth to pipsqueak? oh, there she is! hello, what has gotten you so out of it? you're staring, y'know."

caleb raises an eyebrow, leaning back against the kitchen counter like he belongs there. like this is normal. like you haven’t been standing here, silently cataloging every little thing that’s different about him.

"am i?" you blink, tilting your head, feigning ignorance. "you sure it’s not you just being self-conscious?"

"as if," he scoffs, and there—there it is. a glimpse of him, of the boy you knew, the boy who used to flick your forehead whenever you got too smug.

but then it’s gone, swallowed up by something older, something colder.

his fingers tap against the counter, a steady rhythm. you used to recognize all his nervous habits. the way he’d scratch the back of his neck when lying, the way his nose scrunched when he was about to say something stupid. this? this tapping? you don’t know this one.

"well?" he prompts. "you gonna tell me why you’re looking at me like i grew a second head?"

"you’d be lucky if that happened. then you’d have twice the brain cells," you retort automatically. safe. easy. the kind of banter you used to have.

it works. he rolls his eyes, lips twitching like he wants to smirk. "real original. you workshopping that one while zoning out?"

you shrug, moving to the fridge. "maybe."

his eyes follow you. you feel them, just like you feel the weight of his presence in this space that suddenly feels too small. he was gone for so long, and now he’s here, standing in your kitchen like nothing’s changed.

like everything hasn’t.

"you still eat those awful store-bought apple slices?" he asks, nodding toward the fridge.

"mm. got tired of cutting them myself."

he exhales sharply—something between a laugh and a sigh. "figures. lazy as ever."

you expect him to leave it at that, but then, before you can process it, he’s reaching for the fruit bowl on the counter. a knife glints in his hand, and for a second, your breath catches. not because you’re afraid—no, never of him—but because of how he holds it.

not with the careless ease of someone cutting fruit. but with the precise grip of a soldier trained to kill.

a second too late, he seems to realize it too. his fingers shift, adjusting to something more casual, more familiar.

"still want them peeled?" he asks, tone too light.

you force yourself to breathe. "obviously."

he hums. starts peeling. his movements are too smooth, too calculated, but for a moment, if you squint, you can almost pretend.

almost.

he hands you a slice without looking up. you take it.

it tastes the same.

you chew slowly, watching him, waiting for something—anything—that feels real.

his gaze flickers to yours, unreadable. then, softer, quieter—

"good?"

the apple sits heavy on your tongue.

you swallow.

"yeah."

you chew, swallow, and place the half-eaten slice on the counter. caleb watches, waiting for something—maybe for you to complain about how the pieces aren’t cut evenly like you used to. but you don’t. you just stare at him, this version of him, and you realize something.

you still want him.

not just the boy he used to be—the one who would throw you over his shoulder just to prove he could, the one who’d grumble about being your fake boyfriend but always played the part too well. no, you want this caleb, too. the one who stands before you now, heavier with the weight of things unsaid, carrying shadows you don’t recognize.

your fingers twitch, and before you can overthink it, you reach out. you expect him to flinch when you press your palm against his wrist—his grip tightens just slightly around the knife, but he doesn’t pull away.

"caleb." you say his name like an answer to a question neither of you have asked.

his jaw tightens. he sets the knife down, slow and deliberate. when he finally looks at you, his eyes are searching, guarded—but underneath it, there’s something raw. something afraid.

"i know," he says. and it’s barely a whisper, but you hear everything. the guilt, the exhaustion, the hesitation.

you exhale. "i never said anything."

"you don’t have to." his lips press into a thin line. "i can tell."

you consider denying it, telling him he’s being dramatic, but you’re tired of pretending. so instead, you squeeze his wrist, grounding him.

"it’s okay," you say quietly. "if you’re no longer the same caleb I knew."

his breath hitches. you feel it more than you hear it.

"because either way—" you tighten your grip, firm, unwavering, "you’re never leaving me again."

his body stills. like he’s waiting for the catch, for the conditions, for something that makes this feel less like a promise and more like a fleeting moment he can let slip through his fingers.

but you don’t take it back.

caleb swallows. his free hand twitches at his side, like he wants to reach for you but doesn’t know if he’s allowed to.

"say it again," he murmurs, voice barely above a breath.

you step closer. "you’re never leaving me again. i won't let you."

this time, he exhales shakily, as if he’s been holding his breath for years. and then—finally—he rests his forehead against yours.

neither of you move.

the apples sit forgotten on the counter.

(caleb drops a bag onto the counter with a dull thud.

you glance at it, then at him. “what’s this?”

“apples,” he says, already rolling up his sleeves.

you blink. “they’re not pre-cut.”

“no shit,” he snorts, pulling out a knife. "figured you were overdue for the real thing.”

you watch as he starts peeling—smooth, practiced movements, no hesitation. he still holds the knife like a soldier, but his hands are steady, deliberate. for you.

a slice appears in front of your face. you take it without a word. it tastes fresher, sweeter.

he smirks. “better than that store-bought crap?”

you chew, swallowing down something thick in your throat, replacing it with something lighter in your chest.

“…yeah.”)

[lifemod17]

THIS IS NOT A DRILL: 'NFWMB' in the year of our lord 2024!!!

Madison, WI won so hard tonight !!!

PLEASE he sounds so good and the little pause he does after that "ain't you my baby"?? I AM ABOUT TO DO SOMETHING DRASTIC

🎥: sarahmarieg0926 | tiktok

Madison, WI || 08/16/2024

@melit0n MEL!! YOUR SONG!!

[dawnthefluffyduck]

feeling of being watched

[nixotinix]

[simcardiac-arrested]

wait, that elias?

[deweyduck]

@pscentral​​ event 15: favourite relationships

↳ ANNE BOONCHUY, SASHA WAYBRIGHT, & MARCY WU

Change can be difficult, but it's how we grow. It can be the hardest thing to realise you can't hold on to something forever. Sometimes... you have to let it go. But of the things you let go... you'd be surprised... what makes its way back to you.

[pyjamaart]

Breaking Bot (read more for some rambling about mega man fully charged)

Mega Man Fully Charged has been on my mind again lately, which made me realize that there's literally a robot named Chemistryman who worked as a chemistry teacher. Not using him as a Walter White stand-in would be a criminal offense.

I'll have to admit I started getting back into Fully Charged again after seeing some asshole on twitter complain about the character design for the hundredth time. I just can't stand that kind of negativity. I swear to god, Fully Charged is like the Sonic Boom of the Mega Man franchise. Personally, I really enjoy the FC designs. I've probably said this before, but I feel like the redesigns give some of the more forgettable robot masters way more character. Like, do I care for Classic Drillman from Mega Man 4? I mean, yeah, I do, but I wouldn't care as much if it wasn't for his Fully Charged incarnation.

I also really enjoy most of the original robot masters. I already talked plenty about Blastowoman and why I love her so much, but I want to talk about the others this time.

Take for example Chemistryman. Comparisons to Walter White out of the way, I feel like his character was a really fun idea. God knows I had teachers who put me to sleep back in the day. For me, it wasn't chemistry though, it was my economics teacher. I always compared her to a story teller at a Christmas market who would read children stories out of her big fairy tale book. Only that in reality, it was stuff like the minimization/maximization principle. Most of my notes for that class were incomprehensible chicken scratch, because I just couldn't keep my eyes open. In the end, I slept through like half her classes, lol. But I gotta say that I still always got a B or higher in the end. Somehow. I thank god every day that I never have to step foot in a school again.

I really wish Chemistryman got a little more time to shine though. Two episodes is just way too little. I would gladly take three more episodes with him over those gross Gutsman episodes. I know I love talking about wasted potential with this show, but I wish there was an episode that focused on Chemistryman outside of the school setting. I get that his whole character is "boring, bitter teacher", but I'd really like to see what he gets up to when he's not trying to force children to listen to his chemistry lectures. Like having Aki try to talk him into going into retirement for good. And then he tries to find hobbies for him so that he doesn't bore himself to death. I can see him getting into building model ships or something like that, lol.

Now that I'm already writing up a storm again, I might as well talk about some other headcanons I have about the FC bots. Since Woodman was in sleep mode for 30 years after the war ended (I don't know where I got that number from. I rewatched his debut episode, but the exact number doesn't appear anywhere. Oh well, let's just pretend this is canon, even if it isn't.) we got kind of a Shadow the Hedgehog type situation on our hands. All of his friends and family got to live their lives in this new, peaceful world of harmony between robots and humans, while Woodman spent 30 years powered down in a bush or something. Completely forgotten about. Like, why didn't they go look for him after the war ended? I don't think Aki and Suna wandered that far into the forest for their school assignment. If you really think about Woodmans back story for a moment, you realize how fucked up it actually is. 

Now my explanation for this goes into heavy heavy headcanon territory. When Suna calls the principal about Woodman, he warns her that Woodman is dangerous and to get away from him immediately. Now why would he say that? The principal also calls him "ruthless" in that same explanation. What I think happened back then was that Woodman actually planned to assassinate the human armies leader. (Possibly Sgt. Night?) The leader of the robots caught wind of his plan and put him into sleep mode himself, since he and Dr. Light were on the brink of finding a way to end the war peacefully. In my mind, this leader is the FC version of Swordman. Don't ask me why, he was just the first guy I thought of. And then it just stuck.

I know this makes Woodmans back story even more fucked up, but I just love putting my favorite blorbos through hardship. Don't even ask me about my headcanons for Drillman. They'd actually put me in prison.

Now all this culminates after Woodman is reactivated by Suna and Aki. Finding himself alienated from all his former friends and comrades (Maybe the other Mega Man 2 robot masters?), what was he supposed to do? He couldn't spend the rest of his life isolated (and homeless) in the forest, could he? And this is where season 2 could have delivered. But I'm done whining about that. If Capcom doesn't deliver, I gotta write my own season 2. Simple as that.

Anyway, getting back to Chemistryman, since he's pretty old, I imagine that he was already working as a teacher when Woodman was still around. Maybe he even was his teacher at some point.

And since I love having my favorite characters interact, I also thought of a scenario where Drillman wanders into the forest out of frustration over his miserable life, only to meet Woodman by coincidence. In the end, Woodman helps him work through his daddy issues and his body dysmorphia, while Drillman helps Woodman reintegrate and manage this (for him) completely new world of peace. Another great headcanon of mine is that Chemistryman is actually Acidmans father. Just because I think it would be funny. And as Fully Charged has confirmed: robots in that universe do indeed have parents. (Flashback to the time I drew Dr. Light beating the shit out of Drillman's father)

Speaking of Drillman.... For being one of my favorite Mega Man characters of all time, I haven't drawn him nearly enough. That will probably be my next project.

This might also be a great time to tell you that I've never watched Breaking Bad before, lol. Everything I know about it comes from RTGame's Stardew Valley playthrough and the RTVS Half Life parody.

Sorry for all the yapping. But if I don't talk about robots at least once a day, I might die. This is a serious condition.

[postmail]

i lovvveee the drogo and primula that exist in my head. like its like they are the twisted and weird as hell versions of bungo and belladonna except infinitely less stable and mature like. one of relationship is a reliable, comfortable hearth and the other is a star that burns hard and fast and dies even faster

if you looked at these pairs from a distance they would look like very similiar couples, dynamic wise. you’ve got the ~wild~ took (or tookish brandybuck) girl and the stuffy baggins boy. but once you actually look you would realize they are completely different

bungo was a needed sense of home in belladonna’s life. he gave her something to actually come back to, a reason to come home and stay there. a reason to want to be in the shire. he literally built her a house. he loved all her weirdness and her tookishness, of course, even if it scared him a little sometimes. but mostly he just loved her. i think once everyone else got used to them being together they regarded belladonna and bungo as like... the couple. ultimate hobbit couple goals. they were madly in love and they knew how to handle it. they were normal about it, ya know? like a cute elderly couple or something.

but drogo and primula... uhhh...

lets just say, this was a match made in hell in eyes of their families.

drogo was a perfectly good hobbit before primula. fussy, stuffy, a little stuck up and a lot a coward - guy was the quintessential baggins. probably never even kissed a girl. and then primula happened.

primula is a firestorm. widely regarded as a hell-raiser, trouble-maker and disturber of the peace. often pictured standing on top of the burning corpse of respectability and good hobbit sense. not much of an adventurer per se, but definitely a little manic. somebody that definitely needs to be kept away from alcohol at all costs. takes pleasure in causing other people mental anguish and is total adrenaline junky. everything about her screams unstable, unrespectable. seriously, shes had like seven boyfriends, even a girlfriend or two

and then she starts flirting with drogo. and to everyone’s horror, he’s kinda into it.

whats worse is that she only becomes more insane, all to impress drogo. and. it fucking works.

primula is wild. probably a little deranged. and shes the most fun drogo has ever had in his life:

being the perfect baggins is boring, okay? there, he admitted it! he doesnt like being stuffy and fussy, locked up in his little hobbit hole stuck officiating mind-numbingly boring tea parties with distant relatives pretending to be interested in doilies, wondering about all the fun hes too scared to find.

but primula. primula.

she doesnt mind that hes a squeaky little coward who whines about unnecessary dangers and stained shirts. its like she sees through him, sees through all his toothless simpering that feels more like a force of habit than actual protests. shes exciting, shes fun, shes actually insane,

oh, and drogo! the flirting didnt really mean anything to primula, not at first. she flirts with a lot of hobbits, just because its fun. little primula motto for you: if its fun, why hold back?

but drogo is different. she didnt notice it at first, but once she did she was hooked.

he looks like the perfect baggins, acts like the perfect baggins. but its all an act, and shes the first one to see through it. he whines about danger and irrespectability, and hes not actually pretending to be scared. but theres a spark in his eyes when she steals a cart and takes them on a wild joy ride through hobbiton. hes screaming, but hes also laughing, she knows that look he has:

like he just started living for the first time in his life.

drogo was coaxed and eased into love. primula fell into it full force and with bang when she realized that this stuffy little baggins who cares about table arrangements and handkerchiefs is the first hobbit to also know thats it not just about being a menace for menace sake, thats its not about causing chaos. its about feeling alive. and he feels it too.

bungo and belladonna fell in love as equal and opposite forces, coming together like two puzzle pieces that somehow complemented each other perfectly. primula and drogo didnt fall in love with their opposites. they fell in love with the first hobbit in their lives that actually understood them. that actually got it. they fell in love because they were, at heart, the same. and yeah they burned so damn bright and died like a supernova but god, it was amazing while it lasted, wasn’t it?

[nobodybetterlookatme]

The boyfriend nearly sneezed on me but caught himself at the last second and pulled his shirt up to cover, so I'm gonna be thinking about that for the next week I think lmao

[pilonciillo]

lol didn’t think someone giving money would give me anxiety

[moe-broey]

Freyja voice I'm So Sorry you had a Traumatic Childhood and it made you Stupid On-Line.

[widevibratobitch]

when i say i am obsessed with him

[greasedcowboy]

Summary:

Leon goes back for Luis' body in order to properly lay him to rest

Aka. The idea of Luis rotting in that mine keeps me up at night so I wanted to fix it while still keeping that sweet, sweet tragedy we all know and love

[welcometoteyvat]

jing yuan and yanqing are giving zhongli and xiao if the latter’s canon relationship was Actually fanon’s made up father figure/adopted child dynamic

[fadewalking]

when will i learn my lesson of not reading posts you mfs make on here

[nobodybetterlookatme]

Guess who's going on an actual fr date on Saturday ahsjakkskaksl