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tracybirds · 2 years ago

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Where Parallel Lines Meet (6/?)

wee bit overdue but wow February sure was a month..... I managed to carve out time to add to this in lil chunks and I'm so glad I got to finish this chapter :D More of what I love, John and Alan being bros and chatting about life! I think given university has started for me and given I'm knee deep in work and various other projects that I'm shifting my loose schedule aim to a chapter a month, at least until things calm down <3 That'll give me time to work on other things too which strikes the happy balance I want :D

Huge thanks to @gumnut-logic who had the dubious honour of reading all the bits and pieces that I sent, entirely out of order because of who I am as a person, and being lovely and supportive and also everyone who commented and left likes and reblogged and things bc I'm not the best at replying bc time who but I love you all all the same (I'm writing this late at night, can you tell from the sap??)

Title is adapted from a line in Sarah Howes’ poem ‘Relativity’ (scroll to the bottom of the article)

A fight between John and Alan is followed by an interstellar storm with unexpected consequences.

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“Keep it steady,” said Alan, eyes darting across to John’s hands flying across the controls. “She needs more thrust, don’t hesitate.”

John’s jaw was set hard as stone as he eased the throttle forward, his gaze firm and never once leaving the navigational display.

Fast as he moved, there was an undeniable indecision in his motion, his usual dexterity made clumsy with uncertainty.

The experience would come soon enough, Alan knew that, but for now he quietly compensated for John’s mistakes as his fingers lingered on controls rather than leaping to the next task.

Anything to keep them flying as long as possible, exhilaration keeping them aloft as much as the laws of virtual physics programmed into the simulator.

Wide, green eyes left the screen for a split second, a grin spreading across John’s face as he looked at Alan. The sky beneath their feet swooped upwards with the momentary lapse of concentration, vertigo rushing through Alan’s head as John hit the controls a moment too late, the plane careening to the side.

Alan had been in this situation before, knew how to shift his body weight backwards, how to plant his feet firmly on the floor and brace. Muscle memory took over, a laser focus in his eye as he moved, leaning over to slam the keys on John’s side when he didn’t react like he should have.

It wasn’t enough to be a team, not when they flew the Thunderbirds. A team was made up of individuals, who all banded together and worked towards a common goal. Alan had spent years having the fact drilled into him – if all he had was a team surrounding him when things went wrong, people would get hurt.

His brothers were more than a team. They were his co-pilots. Extensions of one machine, living and breathing not a common goal but the exact same one.

He could hear John yelling in his ear, yelling loud and long and tinged blue with fear and Alan didn’t give up, wouldn’t give up but he was down a co-pilot and the ocean blue beneath him rushed upwards until it filled his vision and his eyes snapped upwards to…

Black.

John’s shuddery gasps echoed around him while Alan sat back in the chair, stunned.

It had been a long time since he’d been in a simulator crash.

He groped with his right hand, feeling for the edge of John’s chair while his vision still swirled with the bright light of the computerised ocean.

“You okay there?”

“Yeah,” said John, sounding shaken. “Didn’t think I’d freeze like that.”

“Mental overload,” said Alan. “J-Scott told me the first time that it happens to everyone.”

“Guess that’s the point,” said John. “Figured we’d just get a ‘Game Over’ screen not…”

He trailed off and in the dim light, Alan could just see his hand waving vaguely at the screen.

“Was it meant to do that?” asked John.

Alan snorted.

“Were we meant to crash into the ocean, you mean? I don’t want to fly with you if you think that’s the final destination.”

“I’m not an idiot,” said John, in a lofty tone that Alan just knew was accompanied by his signature eye roll.

Really, they might be able to trademark it soon.

“I meant was it a winnable scenario, could I do it better?”

“Yes,” said Alan, standing and stretching. “You could. But not now, I want food before we go for another round.”

“Aw, do we have to?”

Alan poked him in the back, digging his fingers into the place that he knew would make John jump to his feet.

“Yes, we do, it’s like three in the afternoon. And I’ve still got assignments to do.”

“You always have assignments to do.”

“Yeah, well I got behind,” said Alan, mouth twisting uncomfortably downwards. “You better take a look at what Brains gave you too otherwise you’ll be barred from the sims.”

They left the room, wandering back towards the elevator that would take them upstairs.

“I just wanted one more go,” said John, glancing back over his shoulder at the pokey little room. “I could have done it.”

“Then consider this a debrief. You always need food at a proper debrief, that’s rule number one about debrief.”

“What’s rule number two?”

Alan grinned.

“Don’t be a smart ass.”

John pulled a face at him and they laughed and joked together all the way up to the kitchen.

They gathered the ingredients quickly, stacking them a mile high and laughing as Alan’s sandwich toppled sideways and John’s became more cheese than anything else.

“Let’s go up to the round house,” suggested Alan. “Good food, good views, and all that.”

A few short minutes later, they collapsed on the balcony, legs swinging freely over the side.

The sun shone bright in the sky, lazily sliding in and out from behind the clouds. Silver capped waves were rolling far below them over the deep blue of the ocean and the wind sang a gentle song in their ears as it rustled through the forest.

It was a fine afternoon, one of those days that made Alan glad he lived in this beautiful place.

Gradually the chatter between the brothers died away, each enraptured by the moment before them which demanded attention and directed them to silence.

Alan tried to think back to the last time he’d been here, captured in this moment on the balcony with a different John.

A small act, sharing lunch and laughs together, something they’d done a thousand times, yet Alan couldn’t recall when it had last happened.

He loved John, he really did, but he didn’t want him overwriting his precious memories. He wished the old John – no! His John, he fiercely reminded himself – had been home more, wished that the Chaos Crew hadn’t stolen those last few weeks away.

He swallowed past the hard lump in his throat.

For the hundredth time he apologised silently for that last argument, for being a source of stress when he should have been anything else.

Ironically, he thought he understood his older brother more than ever now that he wasn’t here.

From far away, they couldn’t hear the breaking of the waves, but Alan had grown up with its song in his ears, the gentle tossing of the waters one he could recall at will.

A seabird drifted on the wind, bobbing up and down on unseen currents as it glided over the ocean. As Alan watched, it banked and dove, making a beeline for its cliffside home.

Together, he and John sat in silence, soaking up the sun and the taste of salt in the air, an easy peace settling between them.

An electric hum began to gather in the air, compression waves carrying an engine roar over the ocean, and Alan knew that sound better than his own heartbeat.

“Is that Thunderbird One?” asked John, squinting a little as the sound enveloped them.

The first glimmer of red in the far-off distance confirmed it seconds later and Alan felt his spirits start to soar over the horizon with it.

Scott was home.

“It sure is,” he answered, but already John needed no reply as Thunderbird One approached at speed, shifting smoothly into vertical descent and hovering as the pool slowly retracted.

Alan knew Scott wouldn’t be looking for them, but he couldn’t help but wave all the same.

“Virgil and Gordon can’t be far behind,” he said. “And they weren’t out for long, I hope it went okay.”

“Why wouldn’t it?”

Alan’s excitement at seeing Thunderbird One, which always felt as though he were seeing Scott himself, faded away into a sombre sadness that always lived inside him.

“It doesn’t always,” was all he said.

John looked down, eyes following Thunderbird One as she descended into the depths of the island hangar far below them.

“Oh.”

Alan reached out and clasped his shoulder, compassion brimming in his eyes as he looked at him.

“Hey now, there’s no use making assumptions,” he said. “With any luck, it was easier than they expected and they’ll all get a bit of a break. Might even get to watch a whole movie with them.”

“As long as it’s not that stupid fighter pilot one,” said John with a scowl. “We’ve started it like five times already.”

Alan laughed.

“It’s Gordon’s turn, don’t worry.”

“That worries me more,” retorted John.

“Only downside is Scott will want to see my progress,” said Alan, groaning as he leant back and stared up at the sky. “It never feels like I’m any closer to being done. Least he can help me with the geometric reasoning thing, I keep mucking it up.”

John rolled his eyes.

“You could have said, I’d have helped you.”

Alan snorted.

“You,” he said jabbing a finger at John, “were busy sulking about being bored and how I did nothing but dumb assignments literally three days ago.”

“I was not.”

“Was too.”

“Well, maybe,” said John, pouting a little. “But it was true, I was bored. At least now I have the sims.”

“And assignments of your own? Brains gave you that packet, right?”

John coughed.

“I guess, technically, yeah,” he said squirming a little. “It might still be on my bedside table though.”

Alan groaned.

“Scott’s gonna kill me and it’s gonna be all your fault.”

“History’s just so boring,” whined John. “Who cares what some old guy did a hundred years ago?”

“You’re right, a hundred years ago they only landed on the Moon,” said Alan, sarcastically. “Hasn’t changed humanity forever at all. We only have Martian colonies now.”

John rolled his eyes.

“Okay, fine I take your point. But it’s not like it’s on the Moon landing, it’s all the Revolutionary War and stuff.”

He caught Alan’s eye and shrugged.

“I did at least read it,” he said.

“Whatever you say, squirt,” said Alan.

John scowled at the nickname that never ceased to delight Alan, but he made no argument. He shuffled closer, a hard light glinting in his eyes that told of a sudden resolve to ask something that had been plaguing him for a while now.

“Go on,” he said, waving his hand at John. “What’re you thinking?”

John looked at him, clear consideration in his eyes.

“I’ve just been wondering,” he said. “Why do you have so many assignments?”

Alan stared, propping himself up on his elbows so that he could see John more clearly.

“I’m sorry?”

“I don’t have nearly as many,” said John. “Besides, your portrait’s got an iR uniform on, the others listen when you say something about a rescue, and you’re a whizz on those simulators. I can’t see why they’d stop you from going except you’re always doing school stuff instead. And I can’t figure out where it’s all come from.”

Alan didn’t know what to say.

Or he did, but he didn’t want to say it.

It had been one thing, slipping into John’s room all those weeks ago to talk things through with him, to apologise and make up. He’d done it a thousand times before but the last time had never happened and the torn edges of that relationship still ran jagged inside him.

He knew what John would have said, knew how John would have helped pick him back up again like all his brothers had before. But it hadn’t happened this time.

And it was an entirely different thing to admit his foolishness to this John who was so fierce and righteous, more likely to mock him than forgive him.

He screwed up his courage, coiling his stomach like a spring and steeling his nerve.

“Like I said, I got behind. I messed up,” he said. “Plain and simple. Scott and John pulled me from duty just before…”

He trailed off, staring out across the water, unsure if he’d said too much. John was still a touchy subject for, well, John and Alan stole a glance at his little brother.

Although not so little now, he was starting to grow as fast as Alan was.

But rather than looking upset at the mention of his counterpart, John appeared more indignant than anything else, a familiar fire in his eyes as he prepared to scorch the injustices of the world.

“You made one mistake? That’s it? And so they piled on the work so you’d never have fun again?”

“That’s not what...” began Alan, but John was off, ranting as though he’d been personally dealt the blow. In seconds he was on his feet, pacing back and forth on the balcony as he raved. He looked so much like John, furious at Fischler or shouting down some paper’s conclusion or drawn into some interest that he couldn’t help but move as he explained his thoughts.

He twisted around suddenly with a fierce scowl.

“And you just take it, Alan, I’ve never met anyone so… so…”

He struggled for a moment, then flopped back down next to him.

“You’re just so agreeable,” he said. “You seem to think they’re right and that’s the worst part of all.”

John lay down, his arms spread wide.

“Worked it out of your system now?” asked Alan with an amused smile.

“Probably not. You’re gonna say something stupid about how they are right, aren’t you.”

“Yup.”

“Fine,” said John. “I’m listening.”

Alan thought for a moment, wondering how to start.

“It’s been ramping up for a while. The Chaos Crew, I mean. You know who they are?”

John nodded.

“They were running circles around us before you arrived. I don’t know when they slept because it sure felt like we didn’t. At first it was easy, leaving an essay to go help on an emergency. I could do it when I got back, or the next morning. No big deal, and then I could ask Virgil to help me with it. Only I couldn’t. There wasn’t any time, not for any of us and then I realised that I didn’t have enough required homeschooling hours to complete the term and half a dozen assignments due so I hacked the system so it wouldn’t alert anyone. I mean what was the big deal, I could catch up over the term break easy.”

“I guess you didn’t do that.”

Alan shook his head.

“It all sort of snowballed from there. The school eventually cottoned on and their truancy officer contacted Scott.”

“Busted,” said John.

“Yep.”

Silence fell between them, and Alan’s thoughts drifted back to Scott, who would be running through the post-flight checks as they spoke. He almost wished Scott had been told earlier, wished for a moment’s notice that might have told his brothers that he hadn’t been doing okay.

“They should have seen how bad it had gotten,” said John. “They shouldn’t have had to be told.”

Alan looked over at him, carefully assessing his words.

“It wasn’t their fault,” he said with a shrug. “It ramped up so slowly, none of us saw it. And now that I’ve broken free of that, I see it even more.”

He sighed, lost in thought, wondering if they’d ever see the end to the chaos being scattered across the globe.

“It’s not always like this,” he said at last. “The others aren’t usually gone so much, Brains isn’t always busy and Grandma usually never leaves unless it’s time to go shopping.”

He grinned.

“Grandma loves shopping, she’s probably going to bring home a mountain when they figure out what happened to you.”

“What’s it normally like then?” asked John.

“I don’t know,” said Alan. “Less lonely, I guess. If you weren’t here, I’d be by myself.”

He shot John a small smile.

“I’m glad I’m not. By myself, I mean.”

He frowned, trying to think of how best to answer John’s question.

“I guess normally it’s more balanced. I still have school, but I help out on rescues too. Scott isn’t as stressed, Virgil and Gordon are usually hanging around, making food and swimming in the pool and stuff. Kayo’s here too and we’d play games together and help Brains trial stuff.”

“And I’m up in space,” said John, a wistful tone in his voice.

“Yeah, you are,” said Alan, but then he nudged him and laughed. “Wouldn’t always feel like it though, you pop up and chat all the time. Sometimes you’d let me come up for ‘zero gravity training’ but we’d just play games and look at the stars and talk. I miss that. Even if he was here and you weren’t, I’d still miss that. He didn’t have a lot of time for me in the end.”

“Wow, so I was a jerk, huh?”

Alan gave John an odd look.

“That’s not what I meant. He didn’t have much time at all. Like I said, it’s not normally like this, the Chaos Crew are running all the others ragged. They’re exhausted and I can’t help them until I catch up, that’s the deal.”

“It’s a shit deal.”

Alan shrugged.

“The whole situation’s shit. Doesn’t make it any better to waste time complaining about it. Bottom line is when I get them done, I can help again.”

“And then I guess you’ll leave me too.”

The words were muttered, not meant for anyone else’s ears, but Alan knew that feeling, knew that fear of being left behind more than any of the rest of them, and so they rang in his ears loud and clear.

“I’ll still have school,” he said, hesitantly, knowing how the reassurance would fall flat and inadequate. “And with me back out on rescues, the others will be home more, they’ll have time to rest.”

They sat in silence.

“Well then,” said Alan. “I guess, the other option is that you kill it on those sims so you can come out too.”

“You think they’d let me? Doesn’t seem like Scott’s going to be keen any time soon.”

Alan snorted.

“Scott let me fly a rocket when I was fourteen. He’ll let you do anything if you prove yourself.”

He tapped his wrist, pulling up the time and thinking it over.

“Scott’s probably out of the shower and things by now if we want to ambush him. Or if he’s wanting a nap, we could get some more practice sessions in for you. I can do the geometry thing after dinner.

John leapt to his feet.

“Well, hurry up then! What are we waiting for?”

Alan laughed and hauled himself upright.

He couldn’t help but love the easy excitement John brought to the sims, which were in all truth fairly boring. Alan had done them over and over, knew them inside out and could fly most of them with his eyes closed.

The sims were fun, the next best to flying for real and Alan missed flying so much it ached in his chest.

But there was a fresh vibrancy to them now with a younger brother to teach and as he raced after John, carrying the plates he’d left on the balcony in his excitement, he couldn’t help but feel his spirits lift and his heart leapt with a thrilling jolt of excitement.

Alan smiled broadly.

He was really starting to like having a little brother.

[Part 7]

#john tracy #alan tracy #thunderbirds are go #sometimes i fic

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duhragonball · 1 year ago

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The Punt Trick

I've been kind of inactive lately because I'm doing a writing project this month and I sort of fell behind on it. My morale was kind of low this past week, but I managed to turn things around this weekend by writing 5280 words, which is more than a quarter of the goal. Not too shabby, so I want to capture how I did it.

Historically, I've been able to write a lot more than 5k in a single day, but I can't do it consistently. It really depends on what I'm writing, and if it's something I already have laid out pretty well in my head, the words will flow. The problem I've been having in August 2023 is that my plot is well laid out, but I'm struggling to put down the words. I know what to do but I'm less clear on how to do it. So it's been slow going.

Basically, I made an hourly schedule for the rest of the month, detailing how many words I would write. I've tried stuff like that before, but the trick this time is that I made the wordcount assignments very small. I didn't think it would help very much, but it turned out to make a big difference.

For years, I would write numbers on a calendar, like "Oh, I'll write 2000 words on Tuesday, and then I'll do 2500 words on Thursday!" and then it'll be 11:48pm on Thursday and I'm 4000 words behind schedule for some reason.

I've tried making it more granular, but that would mean doing things like "At 6pm I'll write 1000 words, and then at 8pm I'll write another 1000 words! Easy!" But then it'll be 7:55pm and I won't have the first thousand done, which just demoralizes me further for the next thousand.

This time, I just decided "to hell with it" and assigned myself 500 words per hour. This turns out to be much more realistic. When I'm doing well, I can bang out 500 words in twenty minutes, but when I'm struggling (like this month), 500 words can take me... about an hour. Well, more like thirty minutes, which is great because if I procrasinate for half of the time alotted, I still have time to get the goal met.

And 500 is small enough that it's easy to overshoot. So chances are that I'll clear the goal with a little more than I needed, which makes the next hour easier to tackle, and so on.

And now that I've had this productive weekend, the schedule I've laid out for tomorrow will be even lighter. Monday I'm doing 250 words for each hour, which is probably too lax, but that just means I'll finish ahead of schedule. The important thing is that I'm not just vaguely declaring my intent to write 1500 words after I get home from work. Normally, I can do that pretty easily, but that confidence turns into procrastination, and I'll put it off until 10:30 at night, and then one thing leads to another and I blow it off completely. With this system, I have to start at 6pm, because it's not about getting 1500 by midnight, it's about getting 250 every hour for six hours.

This is something I really, really need to keep in mind for the future, because even when my writing goes well, I'll still run into spells where it doesn't, and this seems like an effective way to break the logjam. And it might also be handy for smaller projects, which I could break down into even smaller chunks, like 100 words, or even less.

I suppose what inspired me to try this was when I kept looking up at my word-counter and expecting to see some big numbers, and ending up with something dinky like "83" or "112". But with what I'm doing now, those are actually pretty good signs of progress. Chain a few of those together, and I can actually get somewhere.

I'm not sure if this would be helpful for others, but it definitely seems to be working for me, so if you're reading this and you find yourself stuck with your writing, give it a try.

#writing #gonna finish this christmas special before december if it kills me #not sure if it'll be any good but at least it'll be written #and that's the first step

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readingrobin · 2 years ago

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(January 7th-13th)

Happy Friday everyone! I don't know about y'all, but this week got me real tired. Between work, personal projects, starting to commit to an exercise schedule, and setting things up for next week, I definitely needed a day to relax and realign. It also helps that it's cold outside so it gives me a wonderful excuse to stay under the covers. Now onto this week's past reads.

Books Finished

Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster by Jonathan Auxier (4/5)

The Kingdom of Back by Marie Lu (4/5) (Review)

The Property of the Rebel Librarian by Allison Varnes (4/5)

Books Currently Reading

A Winter's Promise by Christelle Dabos (21% done)

Les Misérables by Victor Hugo (5% done)

Season of the Bruja by Aaron Duran with Sara Soler (45% done)

Books to Read Next

Such Sharp Teeth by Rachel Harrison

The Ivory Key by Akshaya Raman

Bookish Goings On

After working on it for a full four hours, my Magical Readathon journal is now all caught up. It's been sitting on my shoulders for months, so I'm relieved to have it all caught up before the Readathon resumes in April. By the time I was finished it looked like I was getting near to the end of the journal, which means I can finally take one of my empty ones laying around and give it a purpose.

I've also subscribed to a substack or two since I've last updated you all. You know, that website Dracula Daily used to send out chapters to people who wanted to participate in the Tumblr Book Club? Well now other people are setting up substacks devoted to disseminating classic literature in manageable chunks. Right now, I'm subscribed to Les Mis Letters, which is sending out one chapter of Les Miserables per day until the end of the year, and MusketeersDaily, which will send chapters of The Three Musketeers in the timeline it was serialized in the 1800s starting in March. I hope that I'll be able to keep up with it as I kind of fell on and off the wagon with Dracula Daily a few times even though I managed to finish it.

If you haven't heard, this week I also tried to track down a fairy tale I read in a children's magazine almost twenty years ago. Naturally I've given updates and was about to mention that the hunt wasn't going well, that I had lead to another dead end, BUT, ten minutes before I intended to publish his post, one person on Tumblr came in and found the exact one I was looking for.

The story is called "The Wolf and the Wedding" a folk tale from Russia that was published in Cricket magazine by Svetlana Ilyinykh and Rachelle DeSimone. Fortunately, the artist that illustrated the accompanying pictures for the story has put the story up on their blog, which you can find here. It's crazy that one of the mysteries from my childhood has finally been solved. I definitely recommend giving it a read. It has just the feeling of a dark, yet lovely fairy tale meant for cold, reflecting days.

Storygraph

#robin's book log #reading update #booklr #reading

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dearmrsawyer · 2 years ago

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ONE DAY of work left and then i'm on holidays for a MONTH 🙌 i'm soo excited and ready to be on holidays. i've spent the last couple of weeks trying to make my return to work next year easier and have been doing all the preparation i can for the first batch of subject starting next semester. i can only prepare a certain amount and then need to wait for the academics to sort out their end - but my aim has been to get everything that isn't waiting on them done before Christmas, and then all i need to do is catch up on whatever progress they make in January while i'm on leave. I think i've ticked everything off my list!

I know that when i come back next year its going to feel mad because they'll all want the content they developed uploaded as soon as possible lol. But that's okay because a huge chunk of that work is already done. We're changing the schedule of our subjects next year and as a result a lot more subjects needs to be ready up front when the semester begins. So my responsibilities with subject prep are much more clustered, but it will mean I have more lulls throughout the year to focus solely on other things, and it'll benefit our students so overall i think its worth it!

I'm also excited because one of the people at work is leaving in January and i don't like him and he'll be gone by the time i get back 😂😂🎉

#we've had so many people leave this year including my best work friend and a few other people that i was extremely fond of!#so it is nice that finally the one person i do not like is leaving 😂#he's just such an uncomfortable presence??#both socially and professionally #he's very inflexible and obstructive to work with #and he is so SLOW #literally everything he does is late #a frustrating amount of my time is spent rushing to upload content for his subjects because he is so late #and also requesting very complicated interlibrary loans which i HATE doing #but hallelujah i will be saying goodbye to all of that in 2023 \o/#and the new lecturer who is filling his role seems so lovely so i am looking forward to working with her :)#tp

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ilightmytorch · 2 years ago

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Writing Goals: April 2023

Writing goals for the month, posting publicly because I think it encourages accountability:

Prepping: I’m hoping to read at least 2 fiction books and watch more documentaries. I also need to do a re-watch of the show--I wrote a scene from Reggie's POV (The Other Woman) and I don't feel like I'm nailing his voice properly, which means it's re-watch time.

I'd like to work on my writing schedule more--less the part where I figure out what I'm going to write from month to month, and more the part where I was sketching out exactly what scenes need to happen in which order for the next chunk of Electric Boogaloo.

Writing: I'm on a roll with The Squad, so I think I'm going to continue working on it and see how far I can get. I'd like to finish up the fic that's next after The Monday After chronologically (The Type? The Distraction? still working on a title) and the Teen Wolf Movie fix-it. After The Type, or whatever it ends up called, there are scenes from Luke, Reggie, and Willie's POVs, so we'll see what I end up being in the mood to work on. I'll work on the Foster care AU when I need a break--I'm in the middle of a scene, so I can certainly finish that up even if I don't know what happens after it.

Editing and Publishing: Chapter 6 of Baby, This Rain Changes Everything (the Willex entry in the rainy soulmate ‘verse) is ready to be published, and of course I'll want to publish the epilogue as well. The Class Project, and early season 2 scene for Electric Boogaloo, is also ready--I think I'm going to publish that today, in fact.

I'm not sure I'm going to publish anything else in April, just because I'm doing Camp, so I'll want to maximize my word count and that means holding off on editing. In that case I'd hold The Thief and the Dude of Honor and any one-shots I complete to May. OTOH, I do have a road trip coming up, so I could take a print-outs of The Thief and the Dude of Honor and The Other Woman with me to edit on paper.

#my writing

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allylikethecat · 2 months ago

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Ally!! Can I just say you make my Tuesdays so fun because i know i get to read fics during lunch instead of stressing out over how insurance won’t cover my patients meds!!!!! 😭💀 (in the end they always pay i just have to fight with them for a couple days 🥲)

anyway— i was scrolling on your ao3 and looking at all the fics you have and i know you’ve answered before but how on earth do you decide which one gets an update??? there are so many and all of them are amazing!! how many chapters do you write at the same time and how far along do you have your current wips thought out?

todays chapter has me anxiously waiting to hear what matty and george are going to say to each other i need tears laughs loves hates basically the whole works and it ends with them being a happy family again 😭😭😭 if i were baby i would need more than a drink rn i’d be like “damn i’m staying in here my life is already insane and im not born yet” anyway—i’ll be back after i get off work to talk more

🥤

AHHH Hello my dear Smoothie Anon! As always it is such a joy to hear from you!

I'm so sorry to hear that lunch is usually spent stressing over insurance related matters (why is insurance always the worse? I just thought for two weeks to get Pop's renewed, and then when it came time for me to pay i was ghosted by my agent for a week, I was like WHERE IS MY INVOICE DON'T YOU WANT MY MONEY?! ALL THE CONTRACTS HAVE BEEN SIGNED) BUT I'm glad that a Ducklings update could be a nice little distraction!

What fic gets updated when usually varies - some fics had set update schedules (ex. All the King's Horses was every Friday) and Rid Me of the Blues was the OG Tuesday update fic (and why Tuesdays became a thing in the first place lol) now it's usually just vibes - if you come to my inbox and scream about a certain fic enough I will probably update it sooner, I also have some really great mutuals who make it very known which fic they would like next lol I try and get to the fics that haven't been updated in a while (which is why today was Ducklings instead of On a Friday.) But other times it's just whatever I'm feeling at the moment. I'm sorry for not having a more concise answer! It pretty much just is vibes though 😬

In terms of how far ahead - Ducklings the outline was tossed out months ago and we are just... seeing what happens I have no master plan (if anyone has a master plan please send it my way) but for YKWTCI (which I know hasnt been updated in ages it just makes me feel weird), On a Friday, and Forever. I do have very detailed outlines of each chapter and what is happening next. Little changes might occur but for the most part there is direction and a plot. I usually try and stay at least one chapter ahead when posting but that doesn't always happen. Forever. is the one I am the most ahead in terms of writing and posting because that is what I'm most excited about, but I also have a decent chunk of the Vampire AU written as well. (And another oneshot that is almost finished 👀) Other than when I was "broken" for a bit there over the summer I'm pretty much always writing!

AH They're FINALLY going to COMMUNICATE like ADULTS (hopefully) but yeah baby wants no part in whatever mess this is between their parents they are like ummm sort it out before my arrival thanks!

Thank you SO MUCH for taking the time to like reach my fics and send me this ask!! It means more than you even know! I hope the rest of your day at work goes / went well! And I hope you have a great night and a fabulous rest of your week! Thank you again for the continued support!

❤️Ally

#allylikethecat #ask ally #anon ask #keep it kind #fanfiction #matty fic #gatty #fanfic #smoothie anon #🥤#🥤 anon #make way for ducklings #ducklings #mpreg #i know i said i had no direction for ducklings #but i do have direction for at least 2 more chapters lol #then i'll eventually figure out how to wrap this up lol

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jreynoldsward · 2 years ago

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This was the view this morning. About three inches here. It melted away during most of the day, but now it's snowing again. However, we're supposed to have temps in the 60s next Sunday. Will that happen? We shall see....

Another week where I'm wrestling with the very concept of doing this accountability work. Today was a big day and a first--the first quarterly assessment since I've started this tracking system. That meant I looked at my planned production schedule and--flinched. Yes, I'm running behind. Not just for the month but for the year. A big chunk of that, however, was figuring out promotion this month and trying to find a balance between promotion, authentic interactions on social media, and writing time. And horse time, and house time, and sewing time as well!

But I got things done this past month. The updated versions of the Martiniere books are now all up, and all I need to do is tweak the back matter once in a while. At this point, I'm focusing on getting the Netwalk books up--and I absolutely cringed when I looked at my Bowker ISBN listings. Netwalk has something like seven different ISBN versions, all for ebooks, none for paperback. SIGH. Yes, this reflects what was considered to be the thing to do during the early days of self-publishing. You got an ISBN for Amazon, Smashwords, and Barnes & Noble/Kobo because they all had different variants of epub. I eventually dropped getting ISBN for the proprietary Amazon ebooks, then moved to just using distributor ISBNs. Still, I wish I could have had those numbers for the upcoming paperbacks. Oh well. Another batch purchased from Bowker in my future. I've learned my lesson.

Daylight Saving Time also really screwed me up as far as productivity is concerned. However, one thing that is working is using my alarm to get up at eight. Yeah, yeah, that's the easy life of a retiree, except that if I don't watch it, I end up sleeping in more and more, and I don't get as much done.

I am also backing off from trying to market short stories except as a part of a collection. I looked at the rejects I have right now, and decided it was time to hold them for a collection. I realized that I might be able to put together a Weird West collection with my Oregon Country short stories. Two are published; one isn't, and since all three are on the longish side, they can possibly make a nice little grouping. I need to go back through and look at some of my other work as well. If one story comes back, then it would be a good part of a fabulist collection. I could pull out the longer version of that story and combine it with two, perhaps three others for another collection.

The rest? I may need to look at what's SF and what's not, and group them appropriately. I might actually have enough for two separate collections, so...four short story collections, potentially?

Wow. Plus the Tales of the Raven Alliance. One story is out on submission and I may just pull it when it comes back, and use that one for the foundation for a Kindle Vella set of stories before I publish it as a collection.

(And now I need to set up a spreadsheet collecting those stories...eiyiyi).

The Cost of Power is now at around 60k words, and might turn into another Martiniere short series. Or not. I wrote about half of those words in the past two weeks, in part because I had visualized the story to that point. Now I need to turn that energy to Federation Cowboy. I want to get both of those books finished so I can move onto the Goddess's Vision series--oh, and once I finish rereleasing the Netwalk books in paperback, the Goddess's Honor series--incorporating the connected short stories in some cases--will be the next to be reissued.

Plus I made two book bags, one for donation, the other for my projected online store where I'll be selling my small quilting projects along with my books. That's a long term goal. I also made spring decorations and summer decorations--just need to do fall, and then I'll start making SFFnal versions for...online sales.

Busy times ahead.

#writers accountability #writers on tumblr #writers life

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madisonrooney · 2 years ago

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been getting more and more emotionally and socially drained by work. ik people on here joke a lot about like “i hate being perceived and seen and known” and all that but i honestly have felt that way a lot of my life, and when you work in retail, youre constantly in view and being watched yknow?

sure i went to school for a big chunk of my life but at least in college when the mental illness really started fleshing out, i could just hide in the back of the class on my computer and an entire semester would go by without my classmates learning pretty much anything about me. now its not only customers but coworkers, youll say some embarrassing shit, which isnt uncommon when youre there as many hours as you are since you start to get rambly, and you cant just shrug it off bc guess what youll see them again tomorrow and the next day and the next day...

ive already had to leave early bc of panic attacks on two different occasions. ive already cried while out on the floor. ive already cried in front of multiple leads and managers. and again, you have to face them again and god its humiliating.

i just constantly find myself needing time in complete isolation and silence to recuperate, but not having much of it. typically, i only have 2-3 hours after i get home to do anything before i go to bed, and it usually takes me that much time just to catch up on my social media. even if i forgo that for a night, with my attention span, i still cant get much of anything done.

plus im typically busy on any and all of my days off

i just. would really love to have like a week where i just do not have to be seen by a single other person, or at least my public outings can be anonymous like shopping or something. i feel my best on days like that. during quarantine, i honestly had no problem not seeing anyone else besides my parents for more than a year. if anything, i got sick of my parents lol. id spend months on end on my own and dont remember having much of a problem at all with it. sure, id want to remotely hang out with friends, but that would feel more comfortable bc i didnt necesarilly have to be on camera and i could end it whenever i wanted to. i remember going 13 days without setting foot out of my front door and i honestly loved it.

anyway im getting off topic. going back to the matter at hand, i guess my brain is just trained to think that im gonna get a “summer break” at some point but i wont. i feel like i need something like that but idk if i can get it. even if i had my own events going on, it would be nice to have a few days in between where i just had nothing going on, which is what my summers used to be like.

bottom line is this doesnt have to do with my job specifically, its just jobs like this in general. i think in serious enough cases, im good at not just taking what i get but getting what i want out of a situation and i would say thats the case here. im not complaining bc i should have a different job and just dont feel like getting one, im complaining bc capitalism is just inherently like this. my job checks all the main boxes for me: i get pretty much all the days off that i want, the hours are late so it works with my whack sleep schedule, and its not a creative job where theres work to take home, it ends at a certain hour and then you dont have to think about it until you come back, which is p much necessary for my ocd. anything beyond those three factors matters much less. so yah, its the best i can get all things considered, but it still has its issues.

the one potential thing that could get me less social interaction would be training to work in the back, but i mean id still have to socialize with coworkers, plus ive heard you kinda make your own schedule back there so haha thats a no go for my ocd. it also seems too physical for me.

#ramble a rooney #i try not to post work rants here but eh #this is like 99% for personal use but might as well post if anyone cares #retail life

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absolutepokemontrash · 4 years ago

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MC’s half Demon, and they look AWFULLY familiar...

‘Kay guys, I got a different kind of stupid Headcanon to throw at you. Get ready!

Part 2 Lessons 1-5 Part 2.5 Group Retreat Lessons 10-12 Lessons 13-15 Part 3 Part 4

*ahem* picture if you will, it’s the day the exchange program is set to start. The student council (nix Mr. Kill All Humans, Weeb-supreme, and our Scummy Sweetheart) have assembled to welcome the new human student. All is going according to schedule, the portal opens up at eight am sharp, they hear the pitiful screams of the selected human who was not given a heads up about the whole thing, and the poor little human falls straight onto the marble floor.

There’s something a tad... off about this human don’t you think? After they’ve peeled their sorry ass off the floor they observed the assembled student council with an air of sophistication and self importance that no one expected. Their posture was perfect, their eyes sharp and calculating... they bared a striking resemblance to-

“Lucifer,” Diavolo looked to his right hand man, then back to the human. “The human kind of looks like you!”

And out popped four pitch black wings from the human’s back and two small horns out of the sides of their head, one horn was a bit bigger than the other. They even still had some of their down feathers! How cute!

((Content warning: Swearing (I have a potty mouth, forgive me), but that’s it.))

Luci-dad

So, the MC is Lucifer’s kid! Of course Mr. Prideypants immediately tries to recall exactly what little romp in the human world uh... spawned this half-human half-demon child of his. Good thing MC’s got the other parent on speed-dial.

“Please note, MC,” Lucifer pinched the bridge of his nose upon hearing Asmo take even more pictures of his newly discovered hellspawn. “I was not aware of your existence, if I was I’d-”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m not upset.”

Lucifer blinked a few times in surprise. “P...pardon? You aren’t upset?”

“No, my parent told me that my father was a high ranking demon, and they bare no ill will against you. Though, I am looking forward to this whole... exchange program thing.”

Oh wow, that was easier than Lucifer thought. Damn. Well, he was a father... (let’s be real, he’s been parenting his brothers for thousands of years, and a good chunk of you sinners call him daddy)

MC is probably the most protected student at RAD, despite the fact that they have no visible security detail whatsoever. They didn’t want to be seen as... weak and pathetic.

Something about this human just... set the lesser demons on edge. Any talk of eating them was stamped out on the first day when they walked by. It’s like Lucifer himself was staring at them, daring the demons to try and bother the human. MC’s powerful presence kept them protected and feared.

...at least until dear uncle Asmo decided to do their hair one morning. All those ribbons may have looked adorable but they kind of ruined the intimidation factor.

MC loved to mess with the other students, keeping their lineage a secret for the first little while just made it so much funnier when the other demons tried to scramble out of MC’s way without looking like they were running from the ‘weak little human exchange student’.

Oh wow, what a sadist. Like father like child

Flying lessons are a must. Poor MC isn’t terribly good at controlling their wings, and their horns are still growing in so when they pop into their demon form the first thing they get is a sore skull. Ow... it sucks that Lucifer isn’t outwardly very sympathetic.

“Ow!” MC crashed face first into the grass in the backyard of the House of Lamentation. “Father! My wings are cramping! Can’t we practice this tomorrow?”

The sight of seeing his dear child crash face first into the ground had lost its hilarity after the first three times. Lucifer slowly lowered himself to the ground and crossed his arms as he stood over his incredibly grass-stained kid.

“MC, we’ve been ‘practicing this tomorrow’ for the past month. If you want to learn to fly you’re going to have to actually manage to stay in the air for more than three minutes.”

MC shot Lucifer a withering glare that only preteens were capable of, Lucifer matched it with his own much more sophisticated glare.

“You’ve been flying for over a thousand years! Don’t you have any tips that can actually help other than ‘don’t panic, you’ll look ridiculous’?”

Lucifer dragged a gloved hand down his face and looked around, the two were alone as far as he could see.

“MC,” Lucifer began. “When I was a young angel, I needed to learn how to fly with someone else.”

MC perked up. “Who?”

“Michael. The smug bastard picked up flying quicker than I did.”

“What’d you do?!”

Lucifer smiled at his child’s intense investment. “I practiced flying every day for five extra hours until I could do everything that Michael could do, just better.”

MC’s starry eyed interest died almost instantly upon hearing about the extra five hours of practice. “Humph, I bet I could outfly younger you and Michael with only two hours of practice a day.”

“Really now?”

“Yes! Watch!” MC shook off their wings and took off in a running start before shakily making it into the air. Their form was decent enough, and they weren’t shaking as much as the previous attempts. “SEE?!”

“Yes MC,” Lucifer smiled. “I can see.”

You know what else Lucifer could see? MC crashing right into a tree.

“Ouch...”

Okay... maybe they could halt practice a little early and order a treat from Madame Scream’s. A little sugar to refuel is needed when the end goal is crushing a mutual rival beneath their heels. Just some good old fashioned father/child bonding time!

MC has a smaller seat right next to Lucifer’s seat in the Assembly Hall. I will not compromise on this one.

For all your fluff needs, I give you: Lucifer teaching MC how to play the piano. He has a proud little smile on his face when his kid finally starts getting it. That’s all. Enjoy the image.

That one Uncle who gives you Alcohol at Family Gatherings (Mammon)

Yeah, when Mammon burst in late to the party and whining about everyone’s spamming him with texts to haul his scummy ass to the Assembly Hall, the last thing he expected was to see a mini-Lucifer.

“What the fuck am I lookin’ at?!”

The glare the two Lucifers gave the poor Avatar of Greed was enough to make him want to turn tail (uh, wing) and book it down the hall.

“Mammon, this is MC. They’re my child.”

“Hello.”

“...whaaaa..?” Mammon looked between the two, same glare, same intimidating aura, same annoyingly good posture.

Mammon scratched the back of his neck and looked over at his older brother. “Do I uh... still gotta babysit em’ if they’re not human?”

“The lake of Cocytus will melt the day I let you babysit without supervision.” Lucifer grumbled.

“I don’t need a babysitter!”

Despite Lucifer’s initial denial, Mammon and MC ended up spending a lot of time hanging out when Lucifer was busy with paperwork. Of course Mammon’s first thought was ‘how do I profit off this situation?’

MC is now Mammon’s designated babysitter after they caught him picking up their feathers that had fallen off with the intention of painting them white and claiming they were Lucifer’s from back in the Celestial Realm.

Mammon does end up spoiling MC a little. Just a smidge. They’re the kid of his totally not his favourite brother after all! How could he not? Whether or not these gifts are obtained legally or are legal at all is subject to scrutiny.

“Mammon, I can’t drink this!” MC placed the bottle of Demonus back on the counter of the kitchen.

“Why not? That’s a bottle of the good stuff! We gotta celebrate you gettin’ an A on that test somehow!”

“I’m underage! Incredibly underage. I’m not legally allowed to drink.”

Mammon wordlessly plopped a silly straw into the bottle. “...does that help?”

“No.” MC then inclined their head to the bottle. “And I don’t want to get hung from the ceiling, that bottle was in my father’s study yesterday, I’m above theft.”

“How old are you s’posed to be anyway? Never mind... uh...” Mammon wracked his brain for something else he could do for MC that didn’t cost anything (don’t judge him, the poor bastard was flat broke!). “I could... teach you to drive!”

“Driving?”

“Yeah! Drivin’ is awesome! We can take my car!”

The bills for the damages done to the car and the Devildom were mailed to Lucifer the next day, and MC and Mammon got to keep each other company as they hung from the ceiling. Ah well! At least MC wasn’t upside down!

Mammon wasn’t that good of a flight teacher either, he also crashed into a tree (the same tree MC crashed into, actually) when he was cheering for MC. They were finally able to do a loopdy loop! He was proud and distracted! Okay?! Lucifer! Stop smirkin’ at him! It’s not that funny!

At least the vantage point from the tree was decent and the branches didn’t scratch him up too badly. Oh hey... that person walking by was wearing a very nice watch... he’d be right back-

That Uncle That is Always Absent From Family Gatherings and When He is Present He Leaves Early (Levi)

He missed everything. That is not an exaggeration. He was in the middle of an online raid battle and couldn’t look at his phone! No Lucifer he can’t pause an online game! That’s not how it works!

Okay, the human exchange student is half demon? WOAH! THAT’S JUST LIKE THAT ONE ANIME- W A I T. THE LITTLE NORMIE IS LUCIFER’S KID?!

Okie doke, he was fully convinced that MC just had to be an anime protagonist.

They binged every series that Levi compared them to. Sure MC might have missed a few assignments because of late night anime binges, but they were too good for this school crap anyway, right?

Nope. Lucifer put a ban on the two watching anime until both their grades improved. Surviving that hell brought the two together.

“Ugh!”

The sound of a pencil case being haphazardly thrown across the room made Levi peek out of his bed-tub. If his figurines got knocked over so HELP HIM-

“This is stupid!!I shouldn’t have to catch up with this!” MC crossed their arms and gave their Demonology textbook their best disapproving glare.

Lucifer Lite (tm) was having a hell of a time trying to claw through their missed work, and Levi sympathized, he really did, it’s just... he was playing Animal Crossing-

Levi paused the game to placate his anime-buddy when their wings popped out and he feared for his rare merch’s safety.

“H-hey, MC? Do you need help?” Levi’s offer was met with a bone chilling glare that lived rent free in his nightmares ever since. He had pulled a Mammon and forgotten he was talking to Lucifer’s child. Lucifer’s allergy to help must have passed down to MC.

“No! I don’t! It’s just... dumb!” MC hissed, she turned and looked over at the fish tank. “Right Henry 2.0?”

Henry 2.0 did not respond.

“MC, you need to finish your homework or we can’t watch anything together,” Levi sighed, he had finished his work over an hour earlier. He had mastered the art of all night anime binges and managing to do most of his work in the fifteen minutes between the time he woke up and the time school was supposed to begin. “We haven’t even binged all of volume 4 of TSL yet!”

“Mmm...” MC grumbled. “Fine...”

MC picked up their pencil case and began continued their work. Levi breathed a sigh of relief and went back to Animal Crossing.

The tiny normie did in fact finish their work, only after they caved and asked Levi for help. Swore him to secrecy, they did... very intimidating, they were.

Just saying, he most definitely sent that one Keanu Reeves meme with big Keanu and little Keanu but with Lucifer and MC to the wrong group chat. Poor bastard.

Flying lessons? No. Levi hadn’t flown since his time in the Celestial Realm, he had no advice to give other than: “Flap your wings!”

“THAT’S WHAT I’M DOING YOU-”

MC didn’t get to finish that thought, they lost their balance and fell right into RAD’s fountain. Ah well, Levi had a head start on running for his life that he squandered by laughing at MC. RIP.

The Uncle/brother/whatever the fuck that Starts a Fight With Your Dad at the Family Reunion. (Satan)

Oh... another Lucifer? Eugh. Gross.

Satan gave the kid a wide berth when they first met. Everything the kid said or did ticked him off. “Tsk. Look at MC. Making an omelette. So annoying.” “Oh wow, MC vacuumed? Roll out the red carpet, we need to celebrate their existence!” “Look at them. Breathing. Disgusting.”

MC’s pride wouldn’t ever let them admit it but... they knew Satan didn’t like them, and it hurt their feelings.

“Shhhh,” Satan whispered into his backpack.

“Meow.” The backpack replied.

“I said shhhhh.”

The backpack did not reply after that, which was a good thing considering the little princet of the HOL was nearby.

“Satan?” They asked. “Who are you talking to?”

Satan coldly brushed past them as he made his way to his room. “No one you need to concern yourself with.”

When the little calico kitten was safe in his room, Satan quickly realized a mistake in his foolproof ‘sneak a cat into the house’ plan. He didn’t have any toys for the kitten, and he didn’t want his books getting scratched...

It was alright, he’d just rush out to the a store that sold cat things and rush back! Five minute trip tops!

Well when Satan got back the cat was no longer in the room. Oh dear. He discreetly tore apart the house looking for the poor little thing until he ended up finding it in the library, happily chasing around a loose feather being held up by MC.

“Oh, hello Satan.” MC chirped as the kitten batted it’s adorable little paws at the feather.

“My... my door was closed. Did you let the cat out?”

MC shrugged. “I heard meowing.”

Satan ran a hand through his hair and grumbled. Stupid smaller Lucifer. Stupid original Lucifer. Everyone sucked.

“Let me guess, you’re going to run to Lucifer and tell him all about the meowing and the rule breaking.”

MC shook their head and glared at Satan. “Of course not. I’ve already gotten way too attached to this little guy anyway. We’re co-parenting this kitten like mature adults.”

With some coaxing, Satan did sit down and play with the kitten, maybe MC wasn’t... so terrible.

The two watch Unsolved Mysteries together, that’s their show. “This guy did it.” “Satan, we’re two minutes into the episode-” “Trust me.”

Thirty minutes later.

“He did it.” “See MC, what’d I tell you?”

Lucifer did find out about the cat, but with enough pleading, MC and Satan managed to warm up the cold spot in Lucifer’s chest where his heart should have been. The cat’s name is Detective Toe Beans (or just Bean).

Satan can’t fly, he has a tail, but he did read up on wing anatomy and how flight actually works in demons, his advice would be good in theory, but it’s full of so much technical jargon that MC can’t understand it.

At least MC didn’t crash into something, they barrel rolled through one of the HOL’s windows. Good thing it was the window to their room. The broken arm still hurt like hell.

The Best Dressed Bitch Who Brings The Booze to The Reunion. (Asmo)

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Lucifer’s kid was SO CUTE! A thousand pictures commemorating that adorable moment needed to be taken! Wait- Lucifer- GIVE BACK THE PHONE-

Asmo, surprise surprise, absolutely adores little MC! So cute! So small! He was just so excited to announce to all his Devilgram followers that Lucifer was finally a certified DILF.

That post disappeared five minutes after it was made but the damage had already been done.

Asmo made sure MC looked their best at all times, if they needed help talking to anyone? Asmo’s got their back!

Sure, maybe he’s a little pushy, but pushy’s a good thing sometimes, right?

“Asmodeus-”

“No, these shoes wouldn’t fit you...”

“Asmo-”

“No, not these ones either...”

“ASMODEUS.”

Asmo squeaked and jumped upwards, Geez Louise... little MC’s voice could sure be scary when they wanted it to be...

“I don’t need any fancy new shoes.” MC huffed, sitting up straighter in one of the chairs in Asmo’s room. “I thought this was supposed to be a sleepover.”

“Hmmm...” Asmo pouted. “Makeovers are an essential part of sleepovers... what’d you do with your human friends up in the human world that could possibly be better than a make-over?!”

MC began to list things off. “Ordered junk food, talked about people we hated, watched movies,”

“Greasy food is so bad for your skin...” Asmo cringed and shook his head violently. “But I’m totally down to watch a movie and bitch about people I hate!”

“Ah yes, human sleepovers, a tradition I never quite had the chance to enjoy.” Solomon said from Asmo’s bed. “Who are we bitching about?”

“Remind me what Solomon is doing here.” MC muttered as they sat down in front of Asmo’s TV.

“Because, I wanted to hang out with my two favourite humans.” Asmo cooed, reaching over and trying to pinch MC’s cheek, which they awkwardly dodged.

“Can we watch The Exorcist?” Solomon asked, propping his head up with his hands.

“Ew, no.” Asmo made a face at him. “That scene with the vomit? Hell NO.”

“Mm.” MC mumbled. Asmo turned to look at them.

“MC? Are you doing okay? You don’t look like you’re having any fun...”

“I’m fine.” MC grumbled.

Asmo pursed his lips, as much as it made his little narcissistic heart break, he nudged MC. “Why don’t you pick the movie, sweetie. I’m sure Solomon and I will like anything you pick!”

MC noticeably brightened. “Let’s watch Scream!”

The strangled noise that came from Asmo was... concerning, but to his credit, The Avatar of Lust held his tongue about his distaste for the movie, and the three slumber-party goers had quite the lovely time.

After the movie ended, MC went back to their room, sure it was a sleepover but their bed was right down the hall.

Good for Asmo and Solomon. Horny fuckers. We stan.

Asmo just claps and tries to cheer MC on when it comes to their flying lessons. (The idea that Asmo came up with to wear his cheerleader costume from the previous Halloween was immediately shot down by Lucifer)

“You’re doing wonderful, MC- WATCH OUT FOR THE POWER LINE!”

MC didn’t hit the power line, but Asmo’s scream of terror caused them to fall butt-first into a dumpster. Their injured tailbone served as a tragic memory of the incident.

Oh well, good thing Asmo had nice smelling soap to give that could mask dumpster-stink.

The Uncle that eats everything and tells you to eat your veggies while you angrily pick at your broccoli at the kid’s table. (Beel)

Lucifer... has a kid?! Beel choked on the cheetos he had snuck into the Assembly Hall when the kid’s wings popped out.

Oh wow, that’s nice :) maybe they can eat together. Belphie would probably like them.

Wait what is the gender neutral term for Niece or Nephew?

...Nibling? Uh... let’s not say that around Beel. We don’t need him to get hungrier and begin associating MC with nibbling on things.

The Underground Tomb incident probably went a little differently, but after all that nonsense, the two are closer than two peas in a pod!

Mmm... peas...

“Beel?” MC stepped into the Avatar of Gluttony’s room.

“Hi MC.” Beel was doing push-ups in the middle of the room, on the ground right beneath his head was a massive bowl of spaghetti that he bit into every time he completed a push-up. “Can you come stand on my back? I need the extra weight.”

“On your back?” MC padded closer. “Are you sure? It’s not going to hurt?”

“No, it’ll be okay.” Beel assured them. “Belphie and I did this all the time. Except Belphie is normally asleep.”

MC tentatively stepped onto Beel’s back. It was a balancing act to say the least, they eventually gave up on standing and ended up sitting cross legged between Beel’s shoulder blades.

“You did this with Belphegor?” MC asked.

“Yeah,” Beel sighed. “He was always too tired to exercise, but he’d let me bench press him sometimes...”

MC frowned and hugged their knees to their chest. Knowing full well that Beel’s twin wasn’t in the human world like Lucifer said was absolutely ripping them apart from the inside. Guilt felt just as rotten as their pride did when they were being belittled...

“Maybe you’ll see him again sometime soon.” MC whispered. “Maybe my father’ll come to his senses and let him come back down to the Devildom.”

Beel paused his push-ups for a brief moment, then nodded and went back to his eating exercising combo. “I hope so. He’ll like you, MC. I’m sure of it.”

MC nodded. “I... hope so.”

Beel’s a pretty decent flight teacher, but his wings are just so different from MC’s that it renders any tips he had next to useless.

“MC, maybe your wings aren’t flapping fast enough.”

“Beel, I appreciate the thought, but I’m not a hummingbird. Or a fly. I don’t need to flap my wings a million times a minute to stay afloat.”

Ah well, MC tried to take some of Beel’s advice, but their lower right wing cramped up and they ended up flying in circles until Beel was able to catch them. Ah well, better than the dumpster incident the previous week.

The Uncle That Passes Out in The Basement and You’re Not Allowed to Wake Him Up Even Though All Your Toys and Video Games Are Down There. He Also Picks a Fight With Your Dad’s New S/O Before He Passes Out. (Belphie)

Sitting in the attic was quite a drag, and this supposedly weak little human was quite the annoyance to try and call out to. It took a lot longer than expected, but when he heard little footsteps coming towards his prison, Belphegor nearly jumped with joy.

Oh... it... looked like Lucifer. Smelled like Lucifer. Stood like Lucifer. Quacked like Lucifer. Or... trilled..? Whatever sound a peacock made, this brat sounded an awful lot like Lucifer.

A... half-demon. Hmph. Belphie honestly thought Lucifer had actual standards. Not anymore, he guessed.

(Man I could fill a whole-ass fic with the Belphie betrayal thing, but for now let’s skip to post attic nonsense)

Okay so maybe MC wasn’t disgusting. They made a good nap buddy. It was cute when their wings came out when they were sleeping sometimes. Well... it was cute when they didn’t hit him in the face and make him wake up with his mouth full of feathers.

What Beel said had been true, Belphie made a good substitute when weights weren’t available, but Beel didn’t want MC to feel left out, so Belphie and MC ended up sitting on his back while he did push ups. MC once got bored and started playing Go Fish with Belphie on Beel’s back while he exercised.

Yes. MC is still a member of the Formerly-Anti-Lucifer League.

“Are you sure he’s not going to be too mad at us?” MC asked for the dozenth time that day. Detective Toe Beans was wrapped around their neck like a scarf (he had gotten so big!!!) while MC nervously sat in one of the Library chairs.

“Positive.” Belphie said with a toothy grin. “Besides, he’s like putty when it comes to you. Just give him your best puppy eyes and we’re not guilty on all charges.”

Putty..? Really..? Lucifer..? How strict was he before MC got there... they wondered.

“Sh! He’s coming!” Satan stuck his nose into a random book, it was the Oxford English Dictionary... and it was upside down.

Belphie pretended to pass out and MC decided that the best course of action was to stare deeply into their cat’s eyes. Yeah... that looked casual and not weird.

“Satan, MC, Belphie.” Lucifer nodded to the three of them as he walked towards the entrance to his study.

“Lucifer.”

“Afternoon, father.”

Belphie let out a cartoonishly loud fake snore that nearly caused both MC and Satan to break cover and start laughing.

Side note, Bean had adorable widdle eyes! That cute little face was just to die for-

“You three..!”

Belphie, Satan, and MC peeked their heads into Lucifer’s study, their handiwork was perfect. Everything was covered in red post it notes. Perfectly not harmful, but SO inconvenient!

“You’re all cleaning this up or so help me-”

“GO!” Belphie and Satan each grabbed one of MC’s arms (Satan also grabbed Bean) and sprinted out of the House of Lamentation. Maybe they’d move back there in twenty years... they hoped that Solomon and The Angels would let them crash at Purgatory Hall...

Belphie had used up his physical energy supply for the next four years. He passed out the moment they stepped into sanctuary. Time for a nap...

Flight practice? Ha. Belphie’s napping. Though, he was suspiciously awake and filming whenever MC did something stupid.

“Try not to suck so bad.”

“GO TO HELL BELPHIE!”

“I’m already there. Hell is every second I’m stuck here watching you fail.”

“YOU’RE GOING TO GET IT FOR THAT!”

Well... MC mastered the dive bomb that day. Lucifer bought them a cake.

Bonus! Your Dad’s New Husband! That Has Managed to Somehow Make Everyone Hate Him Despite the Fact That He’s A Cinnamon Roll. (Diavolo)

A mini Lucifer? A mini Lucifer!

Diavolo dotes on MC like he’d dote on his own kid. MC wants a crown? They’re getting a crown! A damn nice one too! MC wants a title? Here! MC is now... idk Ruler of the area between Majolish and Hell’s Kitchen.

Poor Uncle Mammon’s got some financial insecurity, he’s still the cool uncle... right?!

He is very much that ‘how do you do fellow kids?’ Meme.

He tries to do stereotypical ‘dad’ things but he’s not very good at them. Once he tried to host a barbecue...

Barbatos saved the day, but Mammon’s hair was still singed, Solomon’s cooking still gave Beel food poisoning (SOLOMON EATS TOXIC WASTE I SWEAR-), Luke still got hit in the face with a frisbee, and Simeon got an unhealthy dose of DAD NERVES and got so stressed everyone was almost blinded by the holy light he suddenly started blasting. We do not mention the water guns.

(Seriously whose bright idea was it to give Belphie and Satan water guns while they were in Lucifer’s presence?)

Praise Barbie. He’s too good for them.

“Um...” MC awkwardly held up the baseball, trying to look at it from all angles like it was a completely alien object. “Lord Diavolo... are you sure you want to play catch?”

Diavolo clapped his hands and bounced on the balls of his feet. “Yes! It’s a thing human fathers do with their children, correct? We must make up for lost time between you and Lucifer, right?”

Lucifer massaged his temples and nodded. “If you two would like to play catch...” Lucifer grimaced. “I will too.”

“Okay! MC, throw the ball to Lucifer!” Diavolo instructed.

Lucifer half heartedly held up his baseball glove as MC tossed him the ball. He caught it, and looked over at Diavolo, who was applauding like he just witnessed the greatest feat in sports history.

“Okay! Throw it to me!” Diavolo waved his glove in the air, Lucifer rolled his eyes and smiled. He threw the ball at Diavolo with... a lot of force. Enough force to probably dent steel... Diavolo caught it like it was nothing.

MC suddenly feared for their safety.

“Okay MC, catch!”

Diavolo threw the ball with enough force to break the god damn sound barrier. Well, maybe that was an exaggeration, but the ball sailed way over MC’s head and crashed right through a window.

“Oh my...” Diavolo put a hand on his hip and surveyed the damage to the window. “This isn’t so bad, I believe in human world TV shows this happens quite often. Look! The glass broke in a perfect circle!”

“Yay... property damage...” MC murmured.

Lucifer sighed and pulled out his DDD. “I’ll phone someone to replace the win-”

“Lucifer no! Now according to human world customs we must,” Diavolo took a deep breath, rushed forward, grabbed both Lucifer and MC’s hands and started sprinting away from the Demon Lord’s Castle. “RUN FOR IT!”

“Di- Diavolo!” Lucifer gasped.

“Who are we running from?! That’s your castle!” MC squeaked.

“I don’t know! Just run! That’s what the human TV show says to do!”

Weirdly enough, Diavolo was the best flight instructor. MC’s ability to fly increased tenfold after Diavolo found out that MC was learning to fly.

“You’re doing amazing MC! That was a perfect turn!”

“Thanks Lord Diavolo, I’m surprised I haven’t crashed into anyone or fallen yet!”

“Well, I highly doubt you’ll be crashing into anyone anymore, your flying is practically perfect now!”

Mammon proceeded to fly past them holding what looked like Lucifer’s wallet.

“M-mammon?!”

“Oh... I wonder what he’s doing. Look, MC! It’s Lucifer! Hello Lucifer dea-”

Lucifer ended up colliding with the two of them and sending them all crashing to the floor.

That was the last time MC fell during flying practice.

(We currently have a Go Fund Me set up for Mammon to get the funds necessary to flee the Devildom after that incident. Please donate to save- oh shit hi Lucifer-)

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peterpparkerwrites · 3 years ago

Text

fine line - part one

a/n: I hope you guys enjoy this series!! it was a fun one for me to write because the dramatic irony was off the freaking charts lmfao, also there is an alternative ending which I don’t think I’ve done before (?) so that was fun too! this will of course still follow the same posting schedule of 11 and 7 everyday. let me know if you guys have any questions and please only dm or send me an ask to be added to the taglist - I keep missing ones in comments :( warnings: language, like I said a fuckton of dramatic irony just throughout the series you want to shake reader and peter, attempted assault, fighting pairing: peter parker x reader word count: 3.9k summary: you and spider-man are great partners, friends, maybe even more - but you and peter absolutely despite each other. there’s only so much time before one of you realized who the other really is (request asked for super-powered reader and Medusa as the name which I thought was sick so hopefully did that justice!)

masterlist ~ requests are closed ~ part two

"You know, I hate when you get that look on your face."

"What? You can't even see my face, only my eyes."

"No, but I can picture it pretty clearly. Something like this?" Spider-Man's mask shifted a little and his white eyes squinted, as if that was supposed to make you envision what face he was making.

"You're weird."

"And you love it, Frosty."

You scoffed at the nickname, turning away from your partner. For almost eight months, you and Spider-Man had teamed up to watch over New York. The city was a mess after the snap - more criminals than ever had sprung up during the five year gap, and of course all the ones that had been dusted returned. They expected to get their turf back, their drug rings, all their connections - it led to a lot of nasty gang fights and other crimes unlike anything you'd seen before.

Spider-Man was a little ruffled when he came back to New York after five years and discovered that there was another hero running around. You had only been at it for a few months before everyone returned.

You gained your powers and wanted to put them to some kind of use. You lost friends and family in the snap, and this was one of the only ways you could distract yourself from that kind of pain and help people. You were moved to New York to live with your dad, discovered that Spider-Man and a good chunk of other heroes were gone, and put your newfound powers to use.

A few months into your new hero gig was when everyone returned, including Spider-Man - who nearly scared the shit out of you when you were patrolling one day.

"Hello!"

"Agh!"

A red and blue figure was suddenly next to you and you did the only thing you could think of, which was throw your hand out and freeze him. Not literally - your power was more like an illusion, or invisibly binding, you supposed. As long as you concentrated and pictured something or someone frozen in place, it actually held them in place.

"Uh, what did you just do to me?" He laughed a little awkwardly, and you immediately dropped your hand when you recognized him.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry," you covered your mouth with your hands, as if you weren't already wearing a mask. "You-you're Spider-Man!"

"At your service," he bowed, making you crack a smile. "And...you must be my replacement?"

"Replacement?" You waved a hand, "That's a bit harsh, don't you think?"

"I'm kidding," he held a hand out, and you shook it, "Nice to meet you...?"

"Uh...Medusa. That's what they've started calling me, at least."

"That is a sick name! If you want, we could do this together," he offered, "I think we'd make a pretty good team. Emphasis on 'pretty'."

"You don't even know what I look like," you laughed.

"I just have a good feeling," one of his masked eyes winked at you.

"I really hope you're not some weird old man."

"Hey! I'm seventeen," he put a hand on his chest, offended, "I hope you aren't some weird old man."

"You got me," you said dramatically, and he snickered. "I'm also seventeen."

"So. Can I call you Frosty?"

That was his stupid nickname for you, which didn't even make sense. You didn't actually freeze anyone - you didn't know how to fully explain your power, but it certainly didn't involve ice. He claimed that freezing people in place with your mind was basically the same as freezing them physically, so frosty was apparently an appropriate nickname. You figured he only used it because it annoyed you.

And despite not knowing at all what you looked like, he was a huge flirt.

He perked up suddenly, dragging you out of your thoughts. You were still trying to get used to his Spidey sense, or whatever it was called. Sometimes he would just stiffen and tell you that you were both needed somewhere, other times he would just stop talking mid sentence and grab you and go.

"We gotta go," he said quickly, already throwing an arm around your waist and jumping off the ledge you were both perched on. It was hard not to scream in panic when he did that, but you were getting more used to it.

You held onto him tightly as he swung you both down a few blocks. By now you knew better than to ask where you were going - the first time you tried talking to him while swinging didn't result in him hearing you at all over the sound of the wind.

He landed you both on the roof of a warehouse by the water. You both tensed at the sound of a girl screeching, and your heart dropped.

You hated these nights. It was more frequent than you wished, and it scared you more than most other criminals you fought.

Spider-Man jumped into action, jumping down to the back side of the warehouse where a large man was cornering a girl. You followed, getting ready for the routine that you usually had when it came to men like this.

"I think you should pick on people your own size," Spider-Man huffed, making the guy turn around.

"Neither of you are my size, by the looks of it," he growled.

"Ouch," Spider-Man visibly deflated. "I mean, personality wise, I am way bigger than this guy, right, Medusa?"

"Whatever makes you sleep at night, Spidey," you responded, relaxing a little when the girl got the hint and started sneaking away.

"I'm also not a creep who preys on women, so I think that says something about my character," Spider-Man's voice turned more serious, and the guy's eyes widened when he realized what you were both doing. He turned to where the girl had been standing and clenched his fists when he realized she wasn't there anymore.

"Where did that brat go?" He hollered, and your fists tightened. You didn't dare look in the direction you saw her run and ride.

"Nowhere you're going to find her," you spat.

"If you would do the honors?" Spider-Man turned toward you, and you nodded.

You held your hand up once you were both close enough, and concentrated. When you got your powers nearly a year ago, you struggled with how they worked. It started with you throwing balls of crumpled up paper in the air and imagining them stuck in place. That was hard enough in the beginning, and you could only hold it for a few seconds before it fell back down and you got a piercing headache.

Now you were a little more practiced at it. The man was wide-eyed and clearly struggling, but you weren't having as hard of a time. You concentrated on the idea of him not moving, as if invisible bands of air were keeping him in place, and it worked. However, he was really set on getting free of the invisible prison you trapped him in, and you had to step forward and narrow your eyes to keep it from breaking.

You held up your hand more, struggling to keep him still. One of the pains about using your powers by yourself, was that you had to concentrate so hard on keeping someone frozen, that you sometimes couldn't do anything else at the same time. Depending on how long you were freezing someone and how much they struggled, sometimes you had to just stand there. Having a partner certainly helped with that.

Spider-Man was whistling as he walked up to the guy. "Man, I wish you were around when I started, this power is so awesome."

"It's not gonna be so awesome if you don't hurry up," you said stiffly, struggling. The stronger the person you were trying to freeze in place was, the harder it was to hold it. And this dude was really struggling to break free.

"Okay, okay," he chuckled and grabbed the man's upraised arms, pulling them back behind him and webbing them together in makeshift handcuffs. You dropped your hand with a sigh, hurrying over to where the girl was hiding behind the dumpster.

"You okay?" You asked softly, reaching a hand out. She burst into tears and tackled you in a hug, stuttering out a bunch of thank you's. You looked up at Spider-Man over her shoulder, seeing that he had knocked out the guy, which probably wasn't necessary, but you definitely weren't complaining.

"Call the police," you told him, and he nodded, walking away to start talking to his AI.

"Do you want us to wait with you for the police?" You asked her once she calmed down, "We'll have to leave once they show up, but we can stay until then."

"Please," she begged, and you nodded, keeping a hold of one of her hands to keep her calm. You had been through enough situations like this one to know not to ask her anything about how she ended up here or if that guy had done anything to her. Instead you asked her about the themed pins she had decorating her backpack, hoping to distract her from the situation.

Spider-Man stayed by the guy, probably making sure that he didn't wake up. You also figured he got the idea that sometimes in situations like this, the girl probably didn't want to be around any men. It never helped when the police showed up, though.

"We gotta go," Spider-Man came up to you both, just as you could hear a car pulling up. You nodded, promising the girl that the police would be there soon. She seemed to understand that you couldn't stay - you and Spider-Man didn't have the best relationship with the cops.

You both watched from the roof as they hauled the man into the police car. Both of you were more comfortable once they had him rather than leaving too early, but not where they could see you. Luckily a female officer was talking to the girl, and you felt a lot better about having to leave her.

You felt a hand on your shoulder.

"Ready?" Spider-Man asked you softly, and you nodded. He slipped his arm around your waist and shot a web at a nearby rooftop, and you both swung away.

"You alright?" He asked once he set you both down at your usual spot. Somehow he had a sixth sense when it came to how you were feeling, but he also knew how much you hated situations like that one.

"I hate men," you muttered as you sat down, and he just nodded in agreement. "I hate to think of all the ones we don't catch."

"If you think like that, you'll go crazy, trust me," he sighed, sitting next to you, "We saved one girl from a really horrible thing today. I think that counts for something."

"You're right."

"As always."

"Okay, now you're pushing it-"

You got cut off as you both heard a familiar buzzing sound. Spider-Man and you exchanged a look, already knowing what that sound meant. The two of you looked down at the busy street, seeing some people already beginning to run away as a man started walking down, cackling.

"Ugh, can someone just take me out already," you groaned, putting your face in your hands.

"I've asked many times," Spider-Man noted, and you rolled your eyes.

"You know that's not what I meant."

"We should probably go after this guy. Again."

"This is a literal nightmare," you muttered.

"I can think of worse nightmares, actually."

You ignored him, and adjusted your mask nervously. This villain was awful - he was pretty much the only one that you two couldn't catch. A large part of that was that your powers didn't really work on him. Usually for a few seconds, but not long enough to catch him. Not to mention you couldn't even use it too many times or it would stop working all together.

As much as you hated the disgusting men like the one you caught tonight, they were a lot easier to deal with. Criminals like this one were much harder.

"No need to be scared, we got this," Spider-Man nudged you, and you frowned at him.

"I am not scared. Let's go."

You and Spider-Man jumped down a few meters in front of where the bee guy was standing. He called himself Swarm from the few encounters you had, and he seemed to have a liking for stealing. He had a briefcase of something he probably stole in his hand, and he grinned when he saw you both.

"Stupid heroes," he laughed loudly, "Haven't we learned already? You can't catch me."

With that, he burst open. You and Spider-Man both rolled out of the way in opposite directions, which was your first mistake. This guy always managed to separate you both and then escape.

You rolled up onto your knee and extended both of your hands, clenching your jaw. For days, you hadn't been able to get this guy with your powers - he was made of hundreds of buzzing objects that resembled bees, but you doubted they were real.

A couple of stings had left you both in moderate pain, but you were worried if multiple occurred, they might be really dangerous.

The problem was that you couldn't freeze more than one thing at a time, and this man was made of hundreds of 'things'. You tried to focus on the largest swarm of them, and the closest to you. But it wasn't working the way you planned, the stupid things just kept moving-

"Watch out!" Spider-Man tackled you from the side, and you both rolled over each other just in time to dodge a different swarm coming right at you.

When you both stopped rolling, the buzzing sound was gone - he had escaped again.

"Damn it," you muttered, accepting Spidey's hand to help you up. "That guy pisses me off."

"What kind of super villain would want to be bee themed," he muttered in response, making you crack a smile.

"You're literally spider themed."

"Whatever."

You woke up the next morning with a few stings and a headache. Spider-Man had suggested calling it quits for the night, and you couldn't have agreed more. The emotional and physical toll on your body was enough to make you hit your bed and knock out right away.

School wasn't something you were looking forward to, anyway.

You had moved to New York just a few months before half the population was returned. Midtown High was a nice school, one that your father thought would be a good fit for you. You made friends quickly, but things got complicated when students were suddenly appearing in the middle of class.

Adjustments were made, and several of your friends were put in different classes to accommodate the students that had returned. You made new friends, MJ and Ned, who were both really nice.

For some reason, though, their friend Peter didn't become your friend so easily. Or at all.

You got annoyed just thinking about him, shoving your books into your bag with more force than necessary. The last thing you ever expected was to have drama with some random boy you had never met before, but it seemed like the second you two were introduced, he despised you.

A lot of people were angry and confused when they returned after the snap, and understandably so. You originally figured he was stressed and would get over it once everyone adjusted, but he never seemed to get used to you. You weren't one to take hits without fighting back, and pretty soon you were arguing with him nearly every day over the stupidest things imaginable.

"Morning," MJ's voice interrupted your thoughts, and you realized you had made it all the way to school thinking about how much Peter Parker irritated you, which was just really pathetic.

"Morning," you couldn't help but yawn, hoping your headache would go away soon. You hated the side effects of your powers sometimes.

"What kept you up all night?" She asked as you both headed to your lockers.

"Physics," you lied, waiting while she shuffled through her books. "We have that project coming up, and I was thinking of ideas for it."

"Yeah, good luck with that," she snickered, and you frowned at her.

"What's that supposed to mean? I'm alright at Physics!"

"Yeah, but you and Peter aren't alright at communicating with each other, so I wouldn't be surprised if this blows up."

"I'm not partnered with Peter, I'm partnered with Ned," you said in confusion, before your expression dropped. "No, please tell me Ned didn't have him join the group."

MJ chuckled at you as you resisted banging your head against a locker. Ned had the bright idea for months now that forcing you and Peter together for things like projects or hangouts would somehow change how you felt about one another.

"Of course he did, and I'm not surprised he didn't have the guts to tell you," MJ shook her head. "Either way, good luck. Too bad I'm not in Physics with you guys, I'd love to witness the Peter and Y/N show."

"You suck," you pouted, and she laughed.

Ned was a little more hopeful than she was about the project, but it quickly went downhill fast. You were explaining your ideas to Ned and Peter thought they were stupid, and Ned tried to get you both to compromise on one but it resulted in you both arguing about which one would get the better grade.

Ned finally picked one of Peter's, much to your annoyance, but he let you use some of your original ideas to fit into the project. To no one's surprise, Peter didn't like any of them.

"This is a stupid idea," Peter complained, leaning back. You were all seated around one of the cafeteria benches outside the school, Ned looking like he made the biggest mistake in joining you two up for a project. None of you wanted to be there.

"Oh, and your ideas are so much better?" You frowned.

"Guys, come on," Ned begged before Peter could snap anything back at you, "I can't afford to get a bad grade on this. If you guys aren't going to get along I'll find another group."

As much as you hated Peter, you couldn't let Ned down. "Fine. I'll be quiet."

Peter muttered something that sounded like "yeah right", but you just grit your teeth and tried to ignore it. Ned's grade rested on this project, and honestly, so did yours. You needed to start showing improvement before your dad realized your grades were slipping.

Eventually you all decided to end it for the day and go home. Ned seemed to be sick of both of your bickering and tried to change the subject as you all walked home.

Peter instead began doing something that you were sure he was fully aware of. "Ned, MJ and I were planning on going to the opening of that new exhibit at MoMA next week, do you want to come? I'm sure we could carpool."

Making plans without you with you being right there. Awesome.

"That'd be sick! Y/N, you wanna join?" Ned asked excitedly, and you almost smiled at how sweet he was. Clearly Peter did not want to invite you, though.

"I think I'm good, I don't know if there would be enough room with Peter's ego being there."

"Pretty sure it's your attitude that would take up all the room," Peter snapped.

"Okay, that's it," Ned held his hands up, looking stressed. "I'm going the rest of the way by myself. I can't stand you two."

"Ned!" You both protested at the same time, but he was already shaking his head and walking in the other direction.

"That's what you get for jamming your way into our project," you muttered, and Peter glared at you.

"Ned and I could do this entire thing on our own, you're just going to hold us back," he said harshly. "Ned's only your friend anyway because he feels bad for you for some reason."

"You're an asshole," you snapped, pretending that what he said didn't hurt. You knew Ned was more Peter's friend than yours, but you hoped Peter was lying just to try to hurt your feelings. Ned was one of the only friends you had. Aside from your favorite spider, he and MJ were the only real friends you had.

"See you tomorrow, sunshine," Peter gave you a sarcastic wave before turning and heading down the other direction. You hated when he called you that.

That annoying look on his face haunted you up until you were masked up and at your meeting spot with Spider-Man. The stupid things he had said to you kept jumping around in your thoughts, too, which didn't help your already bad mood.

And you had to work with him after school everyday until this project was finished.

You kicked the wall angrily, ignoring the pain in your foot from doing that.

"Damn, what did that wall do to you?" You jumped and looked at where Spider-Man was leaning against the other wall, his mask shifting like he was raising an eyebrow.

"I wish I had Spidey senses, so you would stop sneaking up on me," you teased, your bad mood already vanishing as soon as you saw him. "Nothing, just annoyed."

"Someone's been annoying you?" He asked, and your grin dropped a little.

"You know I'm not going to give you any details, Spidey."

"Still, if someone was upsetting you, I'd want to know," he smacked a clenched fist against his palm, "I can fight."

You couldn't help but laugh at that, holding your stomach. "You couldn't be further from the truth. I'm just stressed about school."

Technically a lie? Although Peter did make school a lot more stressful.

"Then may I distract you with a night of patrolling, my dear Frosty?" He held his hand out, and you rolled your eyes but took it anyway.

"I would do just about anything for you to stop calling me that."

"Anything?"

"Oh, shut up."

tag list:

@somefuckshit1 @nocturnalms @sanniesdiary @peter-parkers-passport @chosuah01 @runawaywithmyghost @baby-bi-bi-bi-yeah @jallerentrags @spideysloverera @jemimah-b99 @redsakura101

#also please let me know if you're tagged in this and didn't get a notif...been having weird issues with the tagging lately :/#peter parker x reader #peter parker fic #peter parker reader insert #spider-man x reader #spider-man fic #spiderman x reader

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