#i cannot express enough how much genuine fun i had playing it

[autoboros]

Guess who bought Octo Expansion yesterday and just beat it today. I'm so normal about this game. Holy shit actually

[inkykeiji]

warnings: 18+ minors do not interact, drugging, noncon, blood, messy rough sex (slapping + biting), hint of mikey at the end, fem!reader words: 650

i literally, genuinely cannot express how badly i want to get absolutely fucked up with bonten rindou + ran. like i am talking super sloppy fucked up, can barely fucking walk fucked up, slurring words in a single continuous stream only interrupted by little bubbles of giggles fucked up.  

it’s become a voracious, all-consuming, downright intoxicating need.

you need them chuckling softly as they hoist you up between the two of them and drag you out to their sleek, souped up mercedes, sharing devious looks over your drooping head, so heavy and full of whatever the hell they’ve stuffed down your throat and shoved up your nose and shot into your veins that your pretty little neck just can’t seem to hold it up. 

you need them shoving you in the backseat, a mess of limbs and sparkles, hem of your slutty little dress already bunched up around your hips and fraying stilettos, now ruined and bloody from being scraped against the concrete, slicing into their leather seats. 

you need them cooing and pouting and spitting in your face because you’re so fucking dumb, you’re so fucking cute, you’re going to be so much fucking fun, aren’t you? 

you need them fucking you raw for hours on end, until the sky turns from star-speckled onyx to strokes of lilac and corals, until their condo is smeared with the gold of the rising sun, as the world flips over then flops right side up again, more drugs tangling in your veins.

you need imprints of each of ran’s hands seared into your cheeks, all five fingers and both palms stinging and raised and etched into soft skin. you need all thirty-two of rindou’s teeth carved into the flesh of your ass, so deep they’ve left grotesque, purplish-grey gouges, so deep they’ve pierced through the skin and left the indents pooling with thick blood. 

you need them stuffing you full of so much cum that it’s drooling from the corners of your mouth and oozing from your abused little hole, dribbling all over your neck and collarbone and chest in stringy dollops infused with your saliva, slathered all over your inner thighs in fat strokes of cream. 

and then, when they’ve had their fun, when they’ve shattered you to bits and stained the shards with themselves, you need them to offer you to their boss, who takes a single look at you and considers just passing you off to his second-in-command, because christ she’s sloppy and you two really did a fucking number on her, who split her lip like that? 

still, mikey’s grateful the terror twins reincarnate will share their spoils with him—real generous of them, you know, they could’ve kept this little doll to themselves and, really, you gotta give her a go, she’s a lot sturdier than she looks, and we just shot her up with another two ounces, and she’s got the prettiest moans i ever heard, mikey, swear to god, cross my heart, and mikey reconsiders.

because then you’re opening your eyes, bleary and blissed out and shimmering so beautifully in the harsh white light of the warehouse, and you’re reaching out for him, cute little grabby hands that claw at nothing as melty murmurs seep from your lips, and oh, he thinks he gets it now. 

because then he’s jumping down from off his wooden crate and stalking toward you, rhythmic slaps of his flip-flops echoing throughout the dense space, and he’s taking your jaw between his thumb and his forefinger, squeezing hard enough to pucker your lips and elicit a sticky little squeal, and he’s leaning close, so close the stench of sugar stings your nose, mixed with something clean and brisk as his breath wafts across your face, and you wanna play with me, precious?

because precious things are meant to be used, after all, aren’t they? 

[rxttenbxnes]

Hello! Do you have any fun headcanons to share about Idia? Honestly, I just find it painful to see how badly this guy gets butchered in headcanons sometimes. People always forget that he is in fact a complete ass with a massive superiority-inferiority complex and not just a sad boi, or they overplay the weeb part and ignore how he has other interests like science and art, or they make him too pathetic by assuming he would still be a blushing incoherent mess like a year into marriage, etc. Anyway, it’d just be nice to hear the headcanons of an actual Idia fan since that’s the only way to get anything sane.

Omg totally, first I'mma do a little rant, I'll make sure to label where the HCS begin so y'all don't have to read my rants 😭

܀⊹ ིྀ🕸 ۫ ִ ׂ💭 ◟♡ ˒ ⊹ ݁ ִ  ۫🎮ೄྀ⊹܀

❱❱﹒⟡﹒𝑅𝑎𝑛𝑡﹢﹒🎮

Okay we gotta acknowledge the fact idia is indeed, an asshole you guys. 💀Well not completely obviously but he's not just gonna be nice to you for no reason. He's not just some depressed dude needing sympathy.

The way Idia is so Infantilzed by the fandom it's actually gets me tweakin, You guys this actually makes me mad, he's not some sensitive bottom uwu boy that stutters 50 times every sentence In fact I honestly cannot see him being submissive half of the time, this man is actually a asshole on the low. Most people get the fact that idia would be submissive from his shy and closed off personality which is just SO wrong to me.

Idia is extremely pessimistic and if we're being real Idia is actually not a good narrator for his own experiences, the constant self deprecation mixed in with his his thoughts about being superior to others is so fascinating to me, one moment he sees himself as nothing but a piece of trash while in the next moment he's boasting about how he's the only one component enough to be ignihyde's dorm leader. He's such a complex character I can Yap about him constantly

I get making jokes and stuff but some people genuinely think idia is some stinky incel creep that hates women and just purposely chooses to not go outside and be chronically online. Like yeah, he has nerdy and loser like hobbies but this man literally has trauma and chronic depression, along with an anxiety disorder, it's not something he can just make disappear. He likes science, engineering, art, anime, games etc which is all just cool, it's not like he's some creep that's afraid to talk to people, nor is he some super submissive guy that'll fold for you in a tiny interaction.

Had to get ts off my chest 💀

܀⊹ ིྀ🕸 ۫ ִ ׂ💭 ◟♡ ˒ ⊹ ݁ ִ  ۫🎮ೄྀ⊹܀

܀⊹ ིྀ𝐼𝑑𝑖𝑎 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑜𝑛𝑠 🎮ೄྀ⊹܀

🎧 Caramelldansen. Idia adores this song unironically. At first he had just saw the meme and quickly ended up falling into the whole thing, laying on the floor completely dazed out of his mind as the colorful lights flash in the background from the music video playing on repeat lol

🎮 I said this in my earlier post but Idia definitely draws his crushes all the time. Luckily he has a little self control and draws anime/manga characters in most of the pages, he's really protective over his sketch book due to 1.) His social anxiety and 2.) The fact that he doesn't want anyone to know that he likes drawing and observing people, especially his crushes.

🎧 Idia constantly has his headphones on, I know of a fact that Idia listens to Nightcore, anime OSTs, Vocaloid, animation meme music, Vkei, video game sound tracks and breakcore religiously. I think idia would honestly listen to everything he can get his hands on

🎮 I feel like he had a 2020 alt kid phase lol. I feel like quarantine would've been his time to thrive, his peak enjoyment of life would be set during this time lol. Being able to express himself like he wanted without others seeing??? Sign him up

🎧 Ironically, he's not super weak. I feel like he just sucks at physical activity, especially running since he doesn't leave his room much. His hands/fist are definitely strong, I feel like he has a strong hit.

🎮 That being said, I think Idia’s hands are large, thin and boney. They definitely have a few scars and calluses from all the machinery he works with, you can't tell me that his hands aren't pretty rough.

🎧 Idia is a fashion icon, in games. Not irl, he would never due to the attention it would grab him, though he definitely is into all of the alternative and Gothic fashion stuff. He'll give his characters the most perfect and pretty outfits and make sure everything is customized perfectly, not mind at all if it takes him hours to do so.

🎮 This man definitely collects figures. I feel like they're all anime and video game figures; he's even commission artist and such to make custom work of his favorite interest and brag online about it.

🎧 Has an habit of repeating words and phrases he likes over and over again. It doesn't matter if it's from an obscure meme that literally only 5 people including him know or if it's in a different language, he'll constantly reference and repeat it like no tomorrow.

🎮 He's a biter. He bites a lot of things randomly, he'd bite someone out of love if he got the chance. I'm telling you he'll just naw on random stuff, not caring if it's edible or not. It could literally be a plushy and he'll randomly bite it while he's hugging it.

🎧 Idia definitely finds confort in the rain and gloom weather. Really, he just enjoys typically gloomy things. It's extremely comforting and relaxing to him to just be able to sit on his bed with his headphones on while it rains harshly outside, making the world around him dark and gloomy.

🎮 Curses, like a lot. Gamer rage is real you guys and he definitely has it. If he loses a game too many times or gets too frustrated with his teammates, he'll curse like a sailor. His anger isn't directly to his teammates or anything, it's of him being frustrated with everything in general.

܀⊹ ིྀ🕸 ۫ ִ ׂ💭 ◟♡ ˒ ⊹ ݁ ִ  ۫🎮ೄྀ⊹܀

[bee-snail]

So a friend and I were playing around and I felt... Inspired. Vigilantes AU 🙌

Co-written with @davestriderisasimp, it's currently only a vague idea but it's so so fun either way!

YAPPING AHEAD, BEWARE !!!

Oh man. This AU was born because my friend made a funky Daniel in a really cool Epiphet Erased AU, and in turn, I made a David that matched. Then they became arch nemeses, kissed, punched each other, and committed so much dang crime!

In David's defense: he commits crime to stop criminals. Criminals like Daniel, and his team of EVIL MINIONS (they're all petty criminals AT BEST they're the cutest, bestest ever, I LOVE THEM)

Her Daniel was genuinely so fun that he was the first and only Daniel I ever even considering making a Danvid with. The OG Danvid has neat vibes, in a Killing Stalking kinda way, but it just wasn't my vibe, y'know? Good for those who like 'em, tho !!

This David is just... so neat. He's like if Davey's original snarky attitude had never been completely overriden by his love for camping. He blackmails Cameron for favors from time to time, but is pretty fond of the guy because he's not exactly a genius evil mastermind. He loves his friend Gwen and his son Max—who may or may not have been "kidnapped" from his home by some red-headed stranger who distracted his parents by setting their car on fire—and has started to care a little for his roommate, CJ.

He started vigilantism when he was just a teenager with some anger issues, man. And now he just got used to it! But hypocrisy just runs through his veins, as he feels super stressed whenever Max decides to sneak out to go after him and help. He wants to beat up strangers too!

Neither Max or David have "offensive" epiphets either: theirs are "Recover" and "Endure", respectively. A healing and a passively defensive power. Gwen's, though? Hers is "Orgasm". It's perfect for sweeping someone off their feet— if you get what I'm saying, HAH

Daniel's epiphet is "Kool Aid", and he uses it so dang well! He's the silliest villain you'll ever meet and I adore every moment he's "on-screen" (aka, whenever we talk about him, HEHEHE). He's the captain of a team of minions—yes, he does call them his minions. It's a very worthy title, I must say—who perform LOTS OF CRIMES together. Most of them are simple robberies, though, and David is incredibly amused by them.

He does, occasionally, fall on one of their traps. And then they laugh at him. Then they take him hostage to make him gawk at their mighty evil lair (they bring him over) and feel pathetically miserable once he sees that his own personal resting hours are nothing compared to the glory of their favorite entertainment (they watch some movies), and so on...

They're so, so, so so silly. I cannot express enough how much I freaking love them.

Also, Max has a bear motif. It just... It just stuck. I love him too (so does David HEHEHE)

As for Jasper...

His epiphet is "smoke", and he disappeared a long, long time ago. That's all I have for now!

Also this WIP, which I will probably never finish. Hehe.

[docholligay]

What was your favorite thing you did in the UK/Germany?

That's such a hard thing for me to say on these sorts of trips, because there are so many things that go into "favorite." Apologies that this won’t be very poetically written, I’m sitll musing on my thoughts about it. 

The event I loved the most: Dickens Christmas Feast

We all know I love Charles Dickens, and even more so, we all know I love A Christmas Carol. I have seen so many versions of it, I will continue to watch versions of it, it is the best thing about Christmas, I think. So, on the one hand, very low bar to entry foe me.

On the other hand, I cannot recommend it enough to people. I would see anything this theater company did. They did such a wonderful job of building tone as you walked to where the theater was, you get this sense that you’ve about to hear something no one has ever heard before, even though this is probably one of the best known stories in the Western world. They even had a map of London from the late 1800s. I genuinely told people to just go past us in line (We had Royal Circle tickets--everything else had been sold out--so it didn’t matter if we were first or last) because they had a magnifying glass to look at the city map. It was so interesting to me to see the ways its different, but also the way its the same. What parts of the city cropped up, where were the nice areas, all of that. 

I loved dressing up. I love dressing up anyhow, but it was so much fun to do it for a Victorian themed event, and people reacted so positively to the handful of us who dressed up. There was one gal who stood by us in line, turned to her mom, and said, “I told you people would dress up! We could have dressed up! I love your costumes.” and then when we thanked her and said we loved to take an opportunity, she said, “Did you bring all that from America?” and upon confirmation, she turned to her mom again and said, “They brought it from America!” I loved her, I hope next time she dresses up. 

The food was shockingly good. I don’t put a lot of faith in dinner theater, foodwise, but the duck was well cooked, I love the potted cheese, and the cocktails were flat out incredible. I had smoking bishop, which I liked so much I think I’m going to try and make it at home this winter. Also, in the Royal Circle the service was incredible. Our gal Lily was so very attentive and wonderful, and she let us know that she couldn’t come out during the three acts, but in the meal breaks, she would. I let her know I was going to want to put a cocktail order in about ten minutes before each act began, and she was SO on it, like CLOCKWORK, asking me what I’d like for the next act and having hit the table RIGHT before the lights dimmed again. She was amazing. 

And the play. Again, I love A Christmas Carol and I acknowledge that fully, but I never imagined that one of my favorite reworkings of it would be a one man show that is represented as Charles Dickens acting it all out of you in his deeply involved, hyperactive, scattered way. I ADORED IT. I cannot express to you how well the guy did, and how much, in moments, it really felt to me like the feeling of being a writer--especially in the earlier parts of the play--with him saying a line “wrong” and then going, “No, I don’t like that” taking up the exact same position, and redoing it. It was very much the feeling of me pacing around the office in the old days writing something. At the end of the second act, when they had this huge clap of thunder roll, lights flashing, the actor as Scrooge in this moment crying out in fear over the approach of the third ghost, and then the whole room goes pitch black and silent. It’s SO tense. The lights come up, he smiles and goes, “Pretty good, right?” ANd it just captured, for me, that feeling of knowing you’ver written something that’s going to get to your reader, and it is this MOMENT in the writing, but you’re sitting there grinning like an idiot over your desk, chuckling. 

The only other players in the work, actually, were the musicians, who were live, and walked around playing the violin and little drums and other instruments, it was such an excellent way to really loop in the music aspect and give this so much more of a live feel. 

The whole thing is done as a theater in the round style, and there really isn’t a bad seat in the house. I was in the royal circle, but mostly what we had was more attentive service and much more comfortable seating (They were these sumptuous plush banquettes. So nice. Everyone else was on a regular chair) because the seating was so good for the play itself. And because of how it was done, it had to have sparse staging, but what they did have was wonderful. In the center stage, especially, they had a doorframe that popped up, and when they lowered it, they couldn’t do it without a light slam, so they worked it into the play SO WELL, at one point one of the musicians was holding it for the perfect dramatic moment to hear that slam, and it was such a clever way to work in something that could have been annoying into being absolutely perfect. 

It was so cleverly done, I would go see it again despite the cost of it, absolutely, if I were in London at the time. 

Thing I think everyone should go see in London: Westminster Abbey. 

A lot of the things I recommend are ‘use cases’ because there’s very little int his world that is uniformly bad or uniformly good, there are just good and bad use cases. I think the London Eye would be a fucking horrfying waste of time and money, but if I were bringing beeb, she might love it, as she loves to be up high. When i went with my wife one of my favorite days was when i took the train out to the shitty OW office and walked back to Mile End at the route I think Lena would take, and basically just bopped around the East End.  Many people would find that boring or too much walking. I thought the British Museum was an annoying waste of my life. Many of you are audibly gasping at that statement. Use cases. 

ANYHOW, Westminster Abbey is one of the only things I can think of in London that everyone she go see. I am not a big historic church person, so please trust me when I say its a very beautiful church, but it’s much more than that. I’m not sure if I just wrote this in my diary or said it here, but it feels like the collective hopes of a nation, and what it makes itself to be. What do we hold dear? What do we call ours? This is even more striking with seeing the scientists, and poets’ corner, the RAF chapel. It’s about what the UK thinks of itself as, what it hopes it is, as much as it is anything else, and I think you get a fantastic sense of that HOPE going through there. There’s a reason Oliver Crowmwell was there, and then wasn’t. Its striking for me in a way churches rarely are. I love that aspect of it, my wife loved the straight history aspects of it, the craftsmanship of the building itself and the graves are absolutely worth study, if you’re a royals person, that’s where the coronation is, if you just want to hit the tourist highlights, it is a major one. I cannot recommend it highly enough. 

Thing I didn’t expect to love: The Christmas Garden Path at Blenheim Palace. 

I cannot express to you what a tonally bizarre journey the Blenheim path was. It was as if they asked several different people to come together and make this, but refused to allow them to speak to each other, so you jump from moment to moment and it has absolutely no unity whatsoever. You begin in a very boring “Nice lights set to Pentatonix” Christmas display that in no way prespares you for what is about to happen. At one point, in what I called, “The Annual Tory Salute to the Blitz” it is literally the glowering face of Winston Churchill, illuminated, against a backdrop of flames. If you do not believe me ask @morkaischosen who was there with me. Then we went into the “Christmas Rave” where there was, I am not joking, pulsing lights as you walk in a circle around them to techno music. Is this related to Christmas? Who knows? WHo cares! There are dancing fountains! There’s a love tunnel! One of the areas I just called “A Eurovision entry from Eastern Europe” and I was completely right. It was bonkers. It was jarring. I loved it. 10/10. Also, whoever planned it out had amazing wisdom with the drink stops, I am so serious. I never had to chug nor wait, they were spaced PERFECTLY for finishing one drink and wanting another. 

But one of my actual favorite times, that I will look on with extreme fondness, is something that I think most people would have found boring to hear about: Sitting on the living room floor with @verbforverb while @tallangrycockatiel sat there and knitted, sampling whiskeys. It was not anything you’d find in a travel guide but in many ways was what I came there to do and will be one of my favorite memories (also verb trying to fucking murder me during a monring run)

[justhere4thevibez]

63

nonny, I'm SO SORRY this took so long, but I made it a bit extra long to make up for it 💛 enjoy!

---

“Somebody’s in love!”

Eddie jerked his head up, panicked that Henderson had finally caught him staring one too many times at Chrissy Cunningham. At her crinkly nose and her short little skirt and her delicate hands and… you get the idea.

Fortunately, Henderson was not talking to Eddie, but to Steve Harrington, who’d been fluffing his ever-obnoxious hair in the reflection of one of the video games at the arcade.

“Hey, twerp, when your hair looks as good as mine, you’ll spend time in front of a mirror, too,” Harrington said, bopping the brim of Henderson’s hat affectionately.

“Excuse you,” Henderson said indignantly. “My hair looks amazing, thank you very much.”

Thank fuck. He’d gotten away with it again. Automatically, his eyes drifted back over to Chrissy, where she was giggling with Max and Will…

Fuck. She was looking at him now.

He dropped his gaze, spinning the opposite way to find a game, any game, to distract him from being a fucking idiot and staring at the most stupidly pretty girl in Hawkins.

“Hey, Eddie.”

He looked up from his game—apparently his subconscious had directed him straight to Pacman, what the fuck—to find Chrissy looking up at him with wide, baby blue eyes. She had to be some kind of fucking enchantress with eyes like that, blue enough to pull him in with her siren song and leave him to drown.

What a way to die.

“Hi,” he said eloquently, clearing his throat and trying over again. “Um, having fun?”

“Yeah,” she said, a genuine smile blooming out over her face. “It’s nice to hang out with people who don’t… care. About, like, social status or being cool.”

Eddie clutched his heart in mock hurt. “Are you saying I’m not cool, Cunningham?”

“Oh, I didn’t mean—” she stopped, a shocked smile crossing her face. “You’re teasing me, aren’t you?”

“Me?” Eddie bent down until he was eye to eye with her, keeping his expression grave. “I’ll have you know I am a serious man. Not a nonsensical or shenanigan-rous bone in my body. Some might even call me…” he paused for dramatic effect before slumping back against Pacman, pressing his hand to his forehead. “Dignified.”

She burst out into a peal of laughter, her eyes almost squinting shut with her smile. Fuck, he wanted to eat it, let that sound melt across his tongue like cotton candy.

“Do you mock me?” he asked in a shocked whisper. “I cannot believe our own benevolent queen would treat me thus.”

“I—” another giggle escaped her lips before she managed to silence it. “I would never. I actually…”

She trailed off, blushing a little.

“You what, your highness?” he asked, tilting his head with an expectant smile. “Your wish is my command.”

“I, uh, was wondering if you’d teach me,” she said in a low voice, like she was sharing a secret. “I don’t really know how to play these games.”

Eddie held out his hand with a flourish. “Step right up, my lady, and I’ll show you the ways of the man of Pac.”

“Thank you, kind sir,” she said, slipping her hand into his and letting him guide her.

Her hand was so fucking soft he was afraid the callouses on his fingers might tear her skin up. But she didn’t seem to mind his touch, lacing her fingers firmly through his. His brain stuttered to a halt momentarily, and he had to shake his head to clear his thoughts. Focus, idiot.

He pointed out the controls to her as he gave her a brief explanation of the game, and she nodded along, content to absorb his words. And if he leaned over her shoulder a few times to point out some things, well, he was just doing his civic duty as an arcade game instructor. He didn’t try to press against her or even touch her, he just liked basking in her presence. Hell, even standing near to her was closer than he ever thought he’d get.

And she didn’t seem to mind. When he leaned over her shoulder to tap on the screen, she snagged the sleeve of his jacket, twisting her tiny fingers into the leather.

“You can come a little closer,” she murmured, tugging on his sleeve. “I don’t bite.”

He took a hesitant step forward, keeping a couple inches of space between them. He didn’t want to fucking assume anything even though the hem of her skirt brushed against his bare knee where the fabric had worn straight through on his jeans. Fuck, this might just be heaven.

“What’s the matter, Munson?” she asked teasingly, giving his jacket one last insistent pull. “You scared of me?”

He almost stumbled forward, and now he could actually feel her against him, her angular shoulder pressed against his ribcage and her ass brushing up against his thigh. She leaned her head back against his shoulder, nestling it in the crook of his neck, and for a split second he forgot to breathe.

“Yeah, Cunningham,” he laughed, daring to curl his hand around hers on the joystick. Who needed heaven when you could have Chrissy Cunningham pressed against you like this? “I’m fucking terrified.”

[ceratedfish24]

I am curious about the particular tasks that felt too much for you, if you remember any on the spot.

I haven't seen the episode, where four people were playing tag, but that does isolate them..? Also Pearl's goose chase task was definitely lacking, but Lizzie finding it was fun. I did like Pearl's butler task, and the whole dragon fight. Cleo's pig task was funny, but painful. I probably forgot all the more boring ones, and well, the red name tasks were kinda lacking a lot and took more trouble than reward. With them repeating constantly and limiting players as to what they can do.

I liked most of wildcards, but it did feel like all the server was always running around in two big groups or there were huge people events, where multiple people have the same exact footage. The reaction to snails was mostly screaming, and even the superpowers, which were individual for every player, you could still watch one person and see most of the powers and the person's first reaction to it. It's just my pet peeve, because I genuinely want to watch other people's POVs, but I don't like rewatching things and it feels like a lot of other videos had similar things.

It's not actually that big of a problem and doesn't include all the POVs, mostly a big difference from the Secret Life, and other seasons had some sort of scheming or accidental things that happened as everyone were against everyone, so you couldn't know where the other hit will come from. Like, I'm talking about the 5Gs and Matren(?), and Family and Bamboozers and kinda Tuff guys(?), idk where Spanners were on the chart. But yeah, it felt sometimes like the server had 2 and a half teams. Not saying it's true, they all had inner betrayals and fights. More of a personal expression it made on me as I was watching.

I'm just curious what you liked about Wild Life, because a lot of people weren't as invested in it (even purely based on a few CC's view counts being less than usual for life series). And at the time of Secret Life coming out, there were a lot of people criticizing tasks and there was a problem of backsitting and insisting that someone actually succeeded or failed the task, because of one little thing. It did feel kinda shitty to hear people hate on something that affected you a lot. But I do get the points of how some things might have been not thought out properly, just like snails being maybe a tad too fast and preventing people from focusing on doing anything else. It feels frustrating, when your death feels so unwarranted, you weren't given a chance to fight back. If you starved to death, because you couldn't find the thing to eat it's better, like, you understand that you should have tried more things or didn't pay attention to your food and health bar.

Honestly, I don’t have a ton of opinions on many of the tasks themselves, sorry. I did think that they were sometimes imbalanced, such as Scott’s “I love you” task feeling WAY too easy, especially for someone like Scott, and that others were kind of unclear. One task that I wasn’t really a fan of was Etho’s weeping angel task, since it was pretty much impossible for Etho to know when someone was looking at him. It was a really fun idea; it just wasn’t a great task in practice when Etho also had to make an interesting video. There were lots of times when Etho moved, even if only a little bit, when he didn’t realize someone was looking at him or when someone very suddenly turned to look at him. It was all ruled as fine, of course, but the wording of the task meant that Etho technically failed the task, which just wouldn’t have felt fair in the context of the Life Series. I think I’m personally more forgiving about many of the less interesting tasks because I cannot for the life of me imagine coming up with I believe over 200 tasks, since there had to be a hard task prepared for each player in case everyone rerolled for a hard task in the same session, and manage to make them all interesting, possible, difficult enough, and socially focused. Even with the audience’s help, sorting through all of those suggestions weekly must have been stressful and difficult. However, my main concern is the fact that everyone had to keep their tasks secret from everyone unless otherwise specified, which kept the teams really divided. I do think that the gimmick was really cool. It was just unfortunate that we got such unique teams who often couldn’t really communicate as to what they planned to do that session or sometimes even how their teammates could help. During Secret Life, BigB teamed up with Tango, who he had never teamed with before, and Skizz, who he never really interacted with while Skizz was in less of a lackey role. Impulse and Scott had never teamed before, and I’m pretty sure that was Impulse’s first time teaming with someone outside of his typical social circle on a more intimately sized team. It was Gem’s first time as a main cast player, and Mumbo and Lizzie were main cast players for the first time in a while. For Lizzie, it wouldn’t have really mattered, because she was by herself. However, I would’ve liked to have seen the others be allowed to be a little more free with their teammates. I did really like Secret Life, especially because the ending had so many parallels to past seasons, but the social aspect was different in a way that didn’t click with my personal tastes quite as much as I might’ve liked, which is fine. I know other people really loved Secret Life, and I’m happy for them.

For me, Wild Life was fantastic, but I liked it so much out of personal taste, not necessarily because I thought it was perfect (though it is MY perfect baby. personally). Every episode other than the finale felt like the opening episode of a new series, where everyone’s just trying to figure out how to use the new gimmick to their advantage or at least how to survive it, and that was really exciting for me. I love that kind of stuff.

I hadn’t thought too much about it before, but I do see what you mean about people tending to be in large groups throughout each session. I can definitely understand how that would be frustrating for you, seeing as, yeah, a lot of the content in different POVs ended up being repetitive. This probably was one of the contributors to lower view counts for some creators. I really liked it, because it was nice to see everyone interacting in such big groups. I feel like we don’t get to see that too often, and it made following the series a little easier for me, who was really busy throughout Wild Life and just didn’t have much time to watch every episode every Saturday and had to spread them out throughout the week, which was like a little treat everyday! 🥰🍦 Of course, spacing the episodes out made them less repetitive to me, since I just had more time between episodes and a lot of other things going on between episodes.

Seeing the server divide itself into like two and a half teams was really funny to me. 😭 I understand how that might seem less interesting, but it made me laugh and cheer every time someone joined the Gs, even if it was only temporary. I just wanted to see how big of a team we could get. There were like 9 people allied with the Gs in total, excluding finale zombies of course, and I imagine them having awkward extended-family dinner together. I think that part of the reason why the alliances were kind of confusing in Wild Life was a distinct lack of communication or trust between some of the teams. The Spanners, the Tuff Guys, and InTheLittleMound (Lake?) in particular had difficulty communicating amongst themselves who they were allied with and who they were enemies with, especially when some episodes were particularly dense with action.

A lot of the deaths feeling unfair makes sense. I can totally see that. Plus, having a brand new thing every session is bound to cause some deaths just from not knowing what’s going on, especially if the session gimmick is inherently dangerous, such as the snails (even though they were SO CUTE and could never do wrong in my eyes). Pearl’s first death in particular was unfair in my eyes, just cause, though it made so much sense logistically, almost no one in the moment would’ve thought of the shrinking player hit box affecting shifting, such a trusted and well-worn mechanic in the vanilla game. However, I think that Grian giving everyone 6 lives, giving the fallen players a way to participate in some episodes, and providing a way for players to get their lives back during the early and middle sessions was a pretty good balance.

Another thing I liked about Wild Life was the teams. I know some people were upset by some of the teams, but the Gs were a long time coming anyway. It was nice to see Scott, Cleo, and Pearl finally get to be all on the same team, and Impulse (and BigB. And Etho. And eventually Ren. And technically Mumbo and Skizz at least at one point) was a fantastic addition. I enjoyed seeing Ren and Martyn together again, and isolated, at that. I know they’ve been wanting to spend more time together, and seeing them be silly and free made me smile. The Bamboozlers were obviously a fan favorite, and for good reason. I hadn’t realized how much fun Lizzie and Scar would be on the same team. The Spanners made me happy, because it was the first time Skizz wasn’t on a team with anyone in his typical Life Series circle in 5 seasons (4 if you exclude Double Life, since he wasn’t in it). I had also been hoping for Mumbo to team with Skizz just so that Mumbo could see up close that Scar actually does have competition amongst the players who tend to die faster than others. 😭 The Tuff Guys was fun for me because the DRAMA. Those three men could not get along for five seconds. The HORSE DRAMA. Tango having to deal with the HORSE DRAMA. That’s cinema to me. And then, of course, there was the Family. My goodness was it awesome to see Gem and Joel on a team together. They work so well together, and I’m so proud of them.

Wild Life kept the players on their toes every episode, and I have full faith that Grian would have made changes accordingly if someone involved was genuinely upset by something in their episode, especially with how he, Impulse, and Skizz were talking about how Grian checked in with the group after every single session. If the players had a lot of fun and feel well looked after in their social space, then I have a hard time complaining about it. Seeing them excited made me really happy. When Grian talked about how “Wild Life was like Christmas every week, because I got to show off these gifts I worked so hard on to all of my friends”, it really struck a chord with me. Working hard on something for your friends and seeing them react excitedly to it is one of my favorite feelings in the world. Going into each episode knowing that Grian felt that way is a huge part of what made Wild Life so wonderful to me.

It breaks my heart when I see people saying that Wild Life was boring or that the gimmicks were awful (not your criticisms, anon. I mean people who barely gave the season a chance and had nothing constructive to say). I know that Grian put so much work into each mechanic, often to the point where it would consume almost his whole week. He’s fine, I know, but I do wish that these almost mini-gimmicks that Grian and his wonderful team put so much love into had been received a little kinder, especially when they only had so much time to prepare for the more impromptu mechanics and still managed to craft some, in my opinion, pretty impressive results for the circumstances.

A lot of people’s criticisms concerning Wild Life are completely valid in my eyes. It just so happened to have hit a lot of my favorite tropes, and the parts that people take issue with just so happen to be things that I’m not personally too concerned with. Do I think it’s the best season ever? Not particularly. If I had to spend a lot of time considering what the best season is, I would probably say Limited Life, which was my favorite season before Wild Life. Wild Life just happens to be almost fine tuned to my taste, though I understand other people not liking it so much. Wild Life was a season of wonder and play and holding on to each other during uncertain times. That’s really important to me.

Thank you for asking!

[leslie057]

Why are we diagonal pt 1 for WIP wonders

hi anon! i thought someone might ask about this one lol. the fic is long but not super fleshed out yet because i didn’t exactly outline a “plot”

i picked a good passage for this though, have some silliness

He is (and she cannot emphasize this enough) a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed drunk. So alert and flushed and filled with energy and grateful to be breathing. (If you can even believe it).

Overly complimentary. Really. It’s not like he’s flirting with strangers, it’s not like he’s engaging in extended conversations with them, and it’s not like he planned on saying anything to anyone before the stuff was in his system. Just a few drinks get him there, though, then he feels this need to flatter every soul that passes, throat suffused with a confusing mix of nonchalance and admiration and authenticity. You’re so much better than everyone else they have here, to the band in the bar. You have a good bartender voice, to the girl behind the counter. Whatever that means.

Two things: shivering and complimenting. This is what alcohol does to Jonathan Byers.

Seems like a boy who would pout, or get moody, or cling or whine, or fight or fall asleep. He’s had nights like that, sure, several of them, but for the most part, when he drinks—which isn’t often—he’s a weirdly sugary presence.

And so it’s fun to get him to that place. To get him drunk. Her signature magic trick…can’t pull a rabbit out of her hat but, look, she’s about to turn her quiet boyfriend into a little bit of a people lover. A little bit.

“Nancyy.”

Ignore that.

“Nancy Wheeler.”

Okay, sure.

“You don’t need to keep addressing me before you speak,” she murmurs, some adoring smile on her face, possibly. She isn’t drunk, she’s a cozy type of tipsy. This is ideal. (For tonight, anyway.) Proposal for her senior thesis is due in a week, first Friday in November. She’d like to get some writing in before bed. And she’d like to go to bed.

On the flip side, he deserved insobriety. She overencouraged, only taking small sips from his glass.

“But I like your name,” he says, “it’s so soft.”

In the backseat of the blue Cherokee, she watches the blurry scene outside the window, hand on the back of his head.

“Lauren is so clean,” is his next compliment. “I love her car, see how clean her car is?”

“I see.”

“Will you tell her she has a clean car?”

“You can tell her.”

“Lauren?”

“Yeah?” Nancy’s best friend plays along. She eases into the driveway of Nancy and Jonathan’s triplex.

“Your Cherokee is very clean.”

“Thank you. Hey do you need any help with him, Nance?”

“Oh no, he can walk. I mean I can steady him, but…”

“You’re so steady,” he sighs.

“Sit for a second,” she says. She climbs out of the car and goes to the driver side door. A twenty is pulled from her quilted jacket. “I know you’re going to fight me on this, okay, but I do owe you.”

“Please don’t give me that.”

“You’ve done too many favors this week. For me and everyone else.”

She truly, genuinely hates taking money. With her hands, she smooths back wavy hair and covers each side of her face, dark eyes clouded with mild regret.

“Don’t think about it, just take it! I could have hid it in your backseat just as easily—”

“Laurennn.”

The girls ignore him.

“Lauren.”

“Nancy, I don’t want your money, it’s as simple as that okay? Maybe you can get my coffee for me or something, after class on Monday—”

“Lauren Paschen.”

“What, Jonathan?”

He’s sitting up straight, holding a cold water bottle against his chest, a sense of calmness in his expression. “Nancy would look so good in your sister’s wedding dress.”

[royalreef]

@busygirlgcttagc inquired: "This feels a little too easy... I think that it depends on where, exactly, I'd go" Someone like the princess could easily survive some of Lara's adventures - Horus knows that being able to breathe underwater would've made her travels down sunken ships, chanels under London and dangerous underwater mazes much easier, but when it comes to deserts? Absolutely not. She'd fry in an instant. ... hm. She suddenly feels like fish and chips, for some reason

"Well, where are you going?" she asks, because this is the obvious followup question, the question that Lara should have expected from just what came out of her own mouth. It's a question that makes Miranda's fins lift up, one side tilting down while the other lifts up even further, framing around the tines of her crown like rays of sunlight. That too, is a gesture that comes punctuated by the blatant followup, that her eyes are wide and pretty and her pupils so round that it is easy to see how an apex predator like her could still be so conventionally cute.

( Truly, it's not as high of a bar to clear as some might suspect. Tigers and lions and bears, too, all fill the same role as her, and all have lined children's bedrooms and had their noses kissed at the end of a bedtime story. Dolphins and whales are seen as just as benevolent and innocent as her appearance belies, and even sharks are not free from being so dearly beloved by those who are fully aware of their teeth and their strength. In fact, it might be more reasonable to suggest that the same parts of her, the roundness of her cheeks made by the muscles of her jaw, or the paw-like hands made to grasp and to hold onto struggling prey, are the exact reason she's considered cute. That, maybe, humanity and the aesthetics humanity is drawn to is, in some part, a genuine love and adoration for the same things that they swear they fear. )

( But, so too, predators have roles to play of their own. Miranda cannot be submerged in just any water, as much as humans cannot be expected to breathe just any mixture of gases. Freshwater, or too much ammonia, or pollutants, could all kill her in ways swifter than any blow to the head. She's better at retaining what water she has, as both a natural consequence of being adapted for saltwater and the result of a more terrestrial ancestry than others might suspect, but she's a gigantotherm, and has far less ways to vent heat than even a more warmblooded animal. Extensive dryness would render her outermost coat useless, would crack and chip her delicate gills until they tore apart, even if she is better at handling low-humidity stints than other marine animals. Worse still, she was not built to run, as the same pressures placed upon ambush predators to kill prey quickly are the same pressures that make her endurance worse. This might be a fun trick to learn, when realizing that Miranda has no flight in her fight or flight, but it is less so when moving at all on land is already an exhausting ordeal for her. )

Regardless, Miri leans her head further a little more, letting the full length of her neck close the gap. This, combined with her expression, gives her the effect of a needy feline, begging for scratches behind the ear. She certainly does have earfins both large and fluffy enough for it. "I could help! I know how to handle myself around dark and dangerous places!"

[ocean-anchored]

Dear Future Self... March 26, 2023

Sometimes I often wonder if I think I’m happy now, how could it get better?  There’s days that I feel like I’m not really excelling and I know I’m hard on myself in general and I often push myself continuously to be better, do better etc. but I always forget to not focus only on the last week, or few weeks but to remember how far I’ve come. This week I’ve had two comments that have really hit home for me. The other day Mitch expressed how inspiring I am to him, that with my faith and all that I’ve endured and gone through over the years he respects me and appreciates my heart. Today in church meliss was praying for me as I asked for prayer on how to be more open to discipling and allowing the door to be open for me to share about it with the people in my life and again she said that people see it because of my character. It’s not about the words but it’s about how I live my life and how I love fully and my character shines through.  It was so reassuring to hear that. I feel that I’ve been working on myself for so long that I forget how far I’ve come and what I have gone through. It’s as though all the years of hard work, heavy, painful days are paying off for such a bright future and an even brighter year. I’m so gracious to God that he ultimately was the one that’s gotten me through all the hardships in my past. I honestly can say that I wouldn’t be where I am today if I didn’t turn towards God in my broken marriage and pursued Him to heal me, and oh how he’s healed me.  This week’s been another good week in the books. Thursday was Amber’s birthday and though John had to back out of coming to the Flames game, it was Abigail, Amber, Nathan and I and we honestly had such a great night. Went for taco’s before. Us girls talked almost the whole game. Like the genuine laughter. You know when you go out and you see a group of girls who genuinely look like they’re having such a good time, they’re laughing, their happy and you can just feel their energy? That was us. I can’t tell you how amazing that felt to be apart of that with some girls. That’s all I’ve wanted and I’m seriously so blessed. Friday night I invited Kamber to come to Anneriekes for our board game night which ended up being really fun. We stayed pretty late and Kamber really had a great time so it was really nice. Saturday I was supposed to hang out with Luke but he didn’t reach out again which is super annoying but also I just don’t care anymore. I’m done with putting my energy into that and potentially making plans or even just talking and it feeling so one-sided. Went to Play Unleashed for Rue’s birthday and nova did so amazing. I think I”m slowing figuring out her aggressiveness and where it comes from or what it’s stemming from. She’s been so amazing lately and she ran herself to death that afternoon. Today I went to church with Meliss which was really nice just us two.  I took it pretty easy this weekend thankfully because I’ve needed to re-coop again and it’s been good to just be home and get a bunch of stuff done. I think I’m ready for another week.  Less than 30 days until we go to Jamaica and I cannot wait. I feel like this next month is going to go by so quick with the games nights and plans coming up before Jamaica and then soon enough it’s going to be May and the weather will be so much more enjoyable.  I’m really happy.

[takeyourdailydoseofcyanide]

“I hope you like them” of course I like them are you joking AAA

And, just to answer your tags real quick, ofc you can keep reblogs on and I in no way wish for you to delete these. I love these. Stein’s expressions are just perfect!!! AND THE SWITCH TOO on the bottom the going from “hehhehehe pirate” to very clearly on guard is just wow you depict expressions and emotion to excellently I am not sure if I’m quite getting across ok. One moment. I cannot organize myself. But this made me smile!!! Not much does that!! I love the detail of the stitching on his blanket too!! And a bloodied Spirit - I love this so much oh my god. I’ve actually been wanting to write fics based on certain pieces of yours as well, so this is going to come full circle once I can organize my thoughts enough to do so, I assume you. And as I mentioned in the comments, I just clicked on the notification I got from tumblr and decided to see what had been posted, so I didn’t actually scroll down to see you’d tagged me and such, I just got straight to the art and along the way I realized “wait this is familiar” and then I saw the pirate segment and I felt a positive emotion. I don’t know what that emotion is, but it is very try nice and I will be pacing about this one.

I love the captions on the first one and how well the art fits. Him annoyedly pointing at his black eye and bloodied mouth is just yes. I didn’t even notice the black eye until now and I love it - all the little details aaaaaa. I love Spirit’s sort of concerned but kind of “well ok then” expression when Stein ends up in his arms.

And I’m glad that line lives on a loop for you, especially considering it wasn’t some hard-hitting comment hahahaha. Inebriation is just a joy to write, isn’t it? It is quite fun. Ok anyway back to the art WONDERFUL I love the last two- the way you drew Stein and his hair and his arms under the blanket just everything again the switching the giggles to being alarmed

Oh and I’m glad you liked that other quote enough to include it in the caption!!!

“I hope you like them” I love them. The fact that someone genuinely liked some silly little fic I wrote enough to make art for it will never not just. Hm. It’s amazing to me. I think this will forever be a part of the joy of not only the creation itself, but sharing those creations. It’s difficult for me to describe it, but it’s wonderful to me to see how whatever scene I wrote played out in one’s mind. It’s precious, truly. And captivating, and amusing.

Thank you, sincerely!!!

"Spirit, don't ask questions you know I won't answer."

AHH I've been wanting to make fanart for @takeyourcyanide's fic, "Too Much" since March ^^; "Pirate.." lives on loop in my brain. Stars finally aligned and I was finally able to make these; i hope you like them!

[lunarticxenia]

The Sun Signs

Hi guys! So I decided to make a series. I’m going to do: each sign in each planet, each house placement for every planet, and the aspects for all the planets. This of course is going to be over the course of a month; it’s going to take a while to cover everything LMAO. I’m thinking of doing this and alternating between asteroids, “placements that make people ____”, and astrology observations. Without further ado, here’s my take on the sun signs based off of people I know: 

🪁 Aries: These people are go-getters and know what they want when they want it. I feel like a lot of people associate Aries with being extroverts because they’re a fire sign, but I know ALOT of Aries and 95% of them have been shy. It’s more of the Aries moons that I’ve noticed that have been more extroverted. However other aspects in your chart can determine this. They’re also extremely competitive and very hard workers. Every Aries I’ve ever met has worked their ass off, and they keep working their asses off until they perfect everything. Some negatives are that Aries people can be super dramatic as well, and don’t take other people’s advice. Even when they ask for it, if their mind is set on something, there’s no going back. 

🪁 Taurus: Boy oh boy, do these people just want to go on a 10 year vacation and not have to deal with anyone ever again. These people love the finer things in life; they most likely have a creative hobby or have a creative streak. They also love good food and they love a good nap. Now everyone says Tauruses are super chill, and honestly, it depends on other aspects in their chart. I’ve known super chill Tauruses and super chaotic Tauruses. I’ve noticed the chaotic Tauruses have a lot of Aries energy in their chart i.e. Aries Mercury and Aries Mars (no offense Aries). I’d say a downside of Tauruses is that they can be lazy because they love to relax (however this depends on other aspects) and they can be apathetic a lot. I’ve found that Tauruses can very much disconnect themselves from a situation when they have to, so they can keep calm and grounded. 

🪁 Gemini: These people are social and will talk for hours. I don’t mean this in a bad way. Even the more introverted Geminis, once you get to know them they will talk for days especially about things they’re passionate about. I think it’s a cute and endearing trait. A lot of people hate on Geminis, but I don’t get it. One of my best friends is a Gemini, and she’s the most genuine person I’ve ever met. In fact, most Geminis I’ve met have not been two-faced, at least from my experience. I think that Geminis are also very funny, every Gemini I’ve met has made me laugh my ass off. Every single one. They have a great sense of humor and a very engaging personality. You can see this with Gemini politicians, they’re very charismatic and know how to entertain a crowd. I’d say the more negative side of Gemini is that they can be very flighty about what they want and while they’re social, they’re not always the best communicators when it comes to interpersonal relationships. 

🪁 Cancer: I’ve found that Cancers are either extremely extroverted or extremely introverted; and this can change depending on their mood LMAO. I can speak from experience; I am a Cancer. Sometimes I feel like being social and talking; other times I hate people and I just don’t wanna deal with them. Cancers also always have a softness to them; even if they have a lot of fire energy. I don’t know how to describe it other than they just look like water itself. I’d say some obvious downsides of Cancer are that they can be extremely moody and they can be snippy. If you catch them in the wrong mood, they’ll snap at you. I’m guilty of this as well. 

🪁 Leo: Again, a lot of people don’t like Leos but I love them. The Leos I’ve met have not been self centered at all- in fact they’re the exact opposite. Perhaps it’s the underdeveloped Leo suns who are self-centered, but all the ones I’ve met have always put others before themselves. They’re not cocky at all. I’ve also found that Leos all have really nice hair; this is a stereotype that’s definitely true. I’ve never met a Leo with bad hair. I’ve also found that they’re super creative and even if they don’t have a creative hobby, they have a creative flair. They’re also REALLY funny. I feel like they’re definitely slept on in terms of funny placements. This is the sign that rules “performing” in a way, so of course they’re going to be entertaining. 

🪁 Virgo: My favorite sign. I love all the signs in their own way, but Virgo is my favorite. Every single Virgo I’ve met I’ve loved. I get along so well with them. Virgos are shit on for being critical but it’s because they know that the people in question can achieve so much. Virgos also save that critical energy for themselves and can tear themselves apart if they’re not perfect. These people are also always putting others before themselves and always try to help everyone. Remember the 6th house rules one’s sense of usefulness. They feel that if they’re not being useful in some way to people that they’re not good enough. I literally just want to hug every Virgo. Also they’re not boring at all. FOH. Virgos are literally so much fun. 

🪁 Libra: These people are just so likable. No matter what they do, you just tend to like them for some reason. They can adapt to any type of personality and they have a way of making everyone like them. This is why Libra suns tend to be popular; they’re very bubbly and sociable. Even if they’re not popular, they’re well-liked. However, this can be their downfall as well. They can be superficial and fake. They tend to flip flop in arguments alot, and they try to play on both sides which can create more tension between two people. Also, have you ever seen a Libra try to make a decision? LMAO. Love them though. 

🪁 Scorpio: Your eyes. Holy fuck. You can tell if someone is a Scorpio just by the gaze in their eyes. They stare into your fucking soul. Even if their eyes are a light color, there’s always a sense of mystery and darkness to them. Despite this sense of power they give off, once you get to know them they’re literally the biggest teddy bears. Literally just go up to one and talk to them, they’ll talk to you and be all nice and happy. I’ve noticed that Scorpios just don’t like to talk about their emotions or what goes on in their heads either. They like to look strong and they don’t show their vulnerable side to just anybody. This would be one of their downfalls. They have a hard time being vulnerable and letting people in. They look fierce, but they’re sweet and just want a hug. 

🪁 Sagittarius: The funniest people ever. I’ve never met a non-funny Sagittarius. I work with two of them and they have me in tears laughing. They’re also very smart and you can talk to them about anything. Even if they don’t get the best grades in school (which I rarely see, the Valedictorian and the Salutatorian were both Sagittariuses) they always have a base knowledge about everything. They’re also extremely chill and try not to take life too seriously. I’ve found that a downside of this placement is that they can be very flighty in love. They have a hard time settling down which can be difficult for someone who wants to date them. Sagittariuses crave independence and they’re usually not the relationship types. Also they have a hard time taking things seriously. 

🪁 Capricorns: My guilty pleasure. I’ve dated two of them and 75% of the people I’ve liked were Capricorn suns. I feel like people overlook the appeal of Capricorns. Scorpios are the “sexy” ones, but have you seen how attractive Capricorns can be? Remember, in Tarot, the Devil rules Capricorn, so they can be devilishly handsome or darkly beautiful. Even if they’re not the most attractive person in the room, they have an aura to them that’s intriguing. They speak softly and carry a big stick. They don’t have to impress anyone; they know that they’re powerful. I’d say some downsides to Capricorns are that they have a hard time expressing their emotions and they tend to shove them down; which can result in them exploding later on. They also have a tendency to be arrogant, and can dish it out, but they can’t take it. 

🪁 Aquariuses: My second guilty pleasure. I just love the Saturn energy, what can I say? Aquariuses are such lovable weirdos. I don’t know how else to describe them. Every single one I’ve met has been unique in some way and they don’t try to fit in either. They’re proud of being different. My boss is an Aquarius and I felt self conscious one day because I had a different color shirt on than everyone else and he told me “Why would you want to fit in when you could stand out?”. They’re those types of people. They’re also really funny as well, their minds just work so differently from everyone else. They’ll say the most outlandish things and you’ll die laughing. Some downsides? You could know them for years and you’ll just find out things about them. They don’t share things about themselves and it’s hard to get to know them. They also can be very emotionally cold. They don’t like emotions. 

🪁 Pisces: Softies. They’re literally soft teddy bears. No matter how big or tall or muscular they could get, you just look into their eyes and that softness is there. They’re really sweet and tend to be more introverted. They aren’t the types who go out of their way to talk to strangers at a party. They love comfort and they like to feel secure. They’re also very dreamy if that makes sense. They always look like they came out of a fantasy world. I’d say a major downside would be that they’re overly sensitive. They cannot take a joke. I remember I was telling my co worker who’s a Pisces about the negative traits of Pisces and one of them was lazy; and he got SO offended. He was like “I am NOT lazy.” LMAO. 

Also guys, as I’ve said, other things in your natal chart can affect these traits. For the next asteroid by the way, I’m between asteroid Bellona and Lilith. Which one would you guys want to see? I’ve been getting a lot of questions about those two. :) 

[myherowritings]

PART 1. A VERY WELL-DESERVED TIP

SUMMARY. Todoroki Shouto was a wealthy, young CEO who inherited his father’s enterprise. You were a barista at a local cafe who wouldn’t mind some extra cash. One day, Shouto came in during an early morning shift and tipped you such a large sum of money, you were certain it had to have been an accident. To your surprise and complete pleasure: It was not.

PAIRING. ceo!todoroki shouto x barista!reader

WORD COUNT. 2.0k

GENRE. ceo/barista au, fluff, eventual smut

WARNINGS. none in this chapter

A/N. my brief work as a barista is finally paying off. i suffered at sbux all to write this fic ✌︎('��'✌︎ ) LMAOOO i frl had so much fun writing this and i’m very excited to share the next parts ;) i hope you enjoy this fic as much as i do!! xx sof

SERIES MASTERLIST

© myherowritings — all rights reserved. reposting, modifying, copying, or translating of any kind is not allowed. do not read my writing as asmr. do not plagiarize.

You were not looking forward to your new work schedule for the next month. 

The employee who usually came in for opening shifts at four in the morning gave her two weeks notice...two weeks ago. And since you had your availability open (you knew you should’ve blocked it off and said you had morning class), your manager asked you to fill her place. 

The night before your first—of many—morning shifts, you tried tricking yourself into thinking it was a good idea. And it almost worked! Sort of. 

You told yourself waking up early when the sun rose worked with your body’s natural circadian rhythm and this experience may adjust your sleep schedule for a healthier one in the long run. Better health and wellbeing and lower risks of cardiovascular disease. Or something. You weren’t too sure exactly; you never paid much attention in biology but it sounded like something you’d find in a textbook, right?

When you arrived on your first day, the morning shift was just as hectic and chaotic as you expected. People in business suits with name brand bluetooth earphones in their ears and the latest new smartphone in their hand filled the shop and waited for their online order. It was as if they wanted the least amount of social interaction possible, which would be fine if being able to make connections with customers wasn’t the most interesting part about being a barista. 

Although the cafe you worked at was a small business who actually (tried) to pay their employees fairly and wasn’t a purely money hungry franchise like the certain green siren, it surprisingly had gained enough traction in the area to rival one of those cheap, chain stores. 

Good for the business, bad for sleepy workers who could barely function in the mornings.

But you enjoyed working here and the owners were kind, so you did your best to shove away the tiredness and put a bright and cheery smile on your face. The customers were grumpier than you were used to, but who wouldn’t be a little ill-mannered having to go to work at 5 a.m. and probably not leaving until 6 p.m. or later because of bosses who overworked them? Trying to get them their morning coffee with an amiable attitude to start off their day right was something you were more than happy to do. 

It was too bad barely any of them gave you the time of day. They just wanted to get their caffeine and leave with as little human interaction as possible. It was understandable, of course, but it wasn’t the lively cafe environment you were used to during later shifts. You sighed, hoping the atmosphere would be friendlier when it wasn’t a major rush hour. 

“Hi! I can help the next person in line,” you called for the twentieth time this hour. When they moved forward towards the cash register, you gave them a smile. “Good morning. I hope your day has been going well!”

“It’s been okay, thank you. And yours?”

Your eyes widened in surprise and you almost sputtered over thin air. Someone who actually replied back to what you said and asked about you in return? Even if the intent was a courtesy conversation that was meant to be quick and brief, the sentiment was there—the upholding of the values of common courtesy and human decency. Something too many people seemed to lack. 

“I’m good as well! A little tired but what’s to be expected a quarter ‘til 6 a.m.?” you said with a laugh. “Thank you for asking.”

The customer gave a small smile in return and you internally celebrated for finally seeing your first pleasant expression this morning. “Must be even more tiring dealing with all these people. Doesn’t seem easy. I have to commend you for it.”

He was a tall, handsome man with a pretty face, soft-looking hair, and genuinely nice? There was no way this was real; you had to be dreaming. 

You twiddled with the pen in your hands, taken aback and mildly embarrassed by the praise. “Just doing my job,” you said with a bashful look. “Thank you, though.” You cleared your throat, not wanting to hold the line up for too long, even if the customer was one you would rather keep talking to than the others. “Now, what can I get started for you today?”

“Right. Can I get a flat white in the medium size?” 

“Of course.” You typed in his order into the register before asking, “And is there anything else I can get for you? Like a pastry? Today we have some freshly baked cheese danishes that are really yummy if you’d like to try!” 

He thought for a while before shrugging. You weren’t sure if it was your eyes playing tricks on you or he actually had an amused look on his face. “Sure, I’ll take a couple dozen of those as well.” 

“A couple dozen—?” your voice faltered. The suggestion of a fresh pastry was one you made to almost every customer, though most turned it down on the spot. 

The cafe had a little weekly competition between workers to see who could sell the most pastries in the week and the one who sold most got...well, a free pastry and bragging rights. Admittedly, it wasn’t much, but nothing revved up sales like friendly rivalries. An order of a couple dozen was sure to land you in the top spot this week! Still, you had to make sure he meant it. You’d feel bad if he was just spending all his hard-earned office work money because he was trying to be courteous. (Or at least, you assumed he was some office employee.) 

You cautiously asked, “Are you sure?”

Either your eyes were playing tricks on you yet again, or the look of amusement on his face grew even more than before as he said, “I’m sure. One medium flat white and, say, three dozen boxes of cheese danishes, please.” 

“C-Coming right up!” you said, quickly entering his order and celebrating your free end-of-the-week pastry in advance. “That will be $42.81. Would that be card or cash?” 

“Card.” He pulled out a sleek, black card with gold detailings on it and you never knew you could be sexually attracted to a credit card until now. 

“Perfect! Go ahead and swipe, insert, or scan your card now. In the meantime, can I get a name for your order please?” 

He scanned his card over the machine before looking back up at you. “It’s To— Ah, Shouto.” 

“Shouto?” you asked in confirmation. You assumed it wasn’t ‘Toahshouto’. That sounded too much like the abbreviation used to remember how to find sine, cosine, and tangent.

“Yeah. Shouto.” 

You smiled. “Well, Shouto, your order will be ready in a few minutes. Please wait over to your right to pick it up!”

He nodded. 

“It was nice meeting you!” you called, waving goodbye. “I hope you have a good rest of your day.”

“Thank you,” he glanced at your nametag, “Y/N.” 

Oh, how nice it felt to be treated like a human by a customer and have them actually address your name— And not to say it in a condescending way either. 

“Do individual baristas get to keep the tips here?”

You blinked, feeling your face warm up slightly. “We do, actually.” One of your favorite parts of the job, you had to admit. 

“Glad to hear.” Shouto pulled out some crisp-looking bills from his wallet and placed one in your hand that said ‘100’ to you. “Thank you for your kind service, Y/N.” 

“Wha—” Your eyes widened. You were expecting something along the line of three dollars. Maybe five at most. But a hundred? By the time you had processed what had happened he was walking away from the cash register. “Wait— Shouto...sir! I think you accidentally gave me the wrong amount.” 

He shook his head, only briefly turning back to face you. “Nope. It’s for you,” he said simply. “I’m looking forward to the cheese danishes.” 

His words left you stunned, but the next customer in line tapped their foot impatiently, signaling it was now time for you to take their order. You hoped the line died down before Shouto left the cafe so you could return the tip, but seeing as how the queue almost extended out the door, you had the sinking feeling that wouldn’t be a possibility. 

“Hello, I can take the next customer in line!” you recited cheerfully, mind still occupied by thoughts of your last encounter. 

The next few orders went along uneventfully (though you did manage to sell two more cheese danishes) and by the time Shouto got his coffee and pastry boxes, you still had a handful more customers to get through. 

“Pardon me real quick,” you said apologetically to the woman in front of you. “Please give me one moment?” 

She graced you with a nod and you thanked the stars above for an understanding patron. 

“Wait— Excuse me, sir!” You waved in Shouto’s direction before he could exit the cafe. He glanced at you curiously but walked over. In a hushed voice, you said, “I really appreciate the tip, but there’s no way I could accept this much money from you!” 

For the first time today, you say the hints of a frown on his face. “You cannot?” 

“No! $100 is a lot! You already bought $40 worth of cheese danish pastries— Are you sure you meant to give that big of a tip?”

“Of course.” He took a sip of his coffee with a satisfied hum. “You getting up at such an early hour to take people’s orders with a kind attitude isn’t easy. Plus, trying to build rapport with each of them all while keeping the interacting swift is a difficult task itself. And it’s probably worth more than your current pay, the $100 tip, and then some.” 

You blinked, stunned by his words. This man kept surprising you so many times in just one morning. 

“I find it ridiculous how certain occupations are paid an ungodly amount more than others, especially when a lot of it comes from privileges you were born into.” Shouto seemed to mumble the last bit to himself, but you were still able to understand what he said. “It’s bullshit.” Before you could respond, he recollected himself. “Eat the rich, right? All that to say, please accept the tip. You deserve it. And I promise it’s of no detriment to me, so please don’t feel bad.”

Seeing the determined look on his face, you couldn’t help but stare at him before nodding. He didn’t say anything you didn’t already believe yourself, and if someone really wanted to give you $100, you weren’t going to fight them on it. Think of all the dumplings you could buy, you told yourself.

“T-Thank you then.” You gingerly placed the folded bill back into your pants pocket. “I think that was really insightful of you and I’m very grateful.”

“Don’t worry about it.” He smiled before glancing towards the exit. “I’m running a bit late for work now, so I should be going. Have a good day, Y/N.”

“You too, Shouto. And… Thank you again!”

With a glowing expression on your face, you walked back to the cash register ready to face the day and talk to more lovely customers!

“Hey, little barista!” a gruff voice called from the line, snapping you out of your stupor. “Hurry it up already before you force me to complain to your manager.” 

You internally sighed. You understood they were in a rush, but they still had no right to be that rude. 

“Can you even hear me? Or are you too incompetent?”

Cue another internal sigh. 

Yeah, okay. Maybe you did deserve this $100 tip.

Regardless of the rude customers that may have come in, at least you had your thoughts of a cute, kind businessman who went by the name of Shouto to get you through your shift. And you could only hope you’d be able to see him again.

a/n: the end of part one folks!! oh what i’d give to have gotten a tip like this when i worked as a barista BAHAHA only in my dreams. i hope you enjoyed this little intro part and are excited for what’s to come !! :3

what to expect in the next part:

~maybe~ y/n will see shouto again and,,perhaps,,get more tips from him idk who knows 

old lady imparts some...helpful(?) advice 

we briefly get to see shouto’s pov! ;D

[pogueszn]

Taking JJ to a theme park

A/N: here’s this super quick thing bc i went to universal a while ago and my love for jj maybank has been sparked up again and now i can’t stop thinking about taking jj to a theme park 🥺😭

jj absolutely HATES waking up early and this kid sleeps like the dead so have fun trying to wake him up

you honestly have to wake up like half an hour earlier than you plan to bc it takes that long to wake him up lol

his face is smooshed into his pillows, soft snores falling from his mouth as you run your fingers through his hair to try and wake him

“j, baby, it’s time to wake up,”

“mmh.”

you run a hand up and down his back

“come on, we gotta get a move on,”

“what time is it?”

“7:30,”

“baby, what the fuck? why do we have to leave so damn early?”

will cling to you until he fully wakes up

he is now a back pack, you are now his personal pillow, this is what you get for waking him up

but honestly, give him anything with caffeine or sugar in it and this boy is ready to fight god

pls understand that he wants to try every piece of candy and snacks at every single gift shop you go to

“babe, keep a look out, i’m gonna grab one of those popcorns,”

“do you want me to buy you one?”

“what? no! i’m just gonna steal it, they made enough money off of us,”

“where are you gonna put it? your pockets aren’t big enough to hide that bag,”

you end up buying it before he has a chance to even touch scope out the area

hates hates HATESSS the lines for any ride you go on

the line could be five minutes or fifty minutes he literally cannot stand waiting in line so you’ve gotta keep him occupied or he’s gonna annoy absolutely everyone else that’s in the same vicinity

he’ll tap against the railings, whistle, complain, sit very randomly against the rails and nearly breaks a bone when he almost falls — which is every time he tries to mess around with the railings if he doesn’t have anything to do

he likes to come up with new handshakes while waiting in line which usually just turns into your guys playing thumb war after a while

he’ll also probably just be touching you in some sort of way

his hands on your hips, playing with your fingers or the ends of your hair, or fiddling with the belt loop of your pants

HE JUST LIKES TO TOUCH YOU OKAY ONE OF HIS LOVE LANGUAGES IS TOUCH YOU CANT CONVINCE ME OTHERWISE

and if it’s nearing the end of the day? oh forget it, the boy is tiirreedd

he’s going to be hanging over you the entire time

he wants to go on every single ride that he can — especially the roller coasters or anything that looks scary

“come on! please! i wanna go on that one!”

“but the wait is so long, j, can’t we come back?”

“you know i just think you’re scared.”

“i am not!”

and will proceed to make chicken noises until you go on

(unless you genuinely express that you do not want to go on it then he doesn’t mind. he will happily move on to the next one)

he will genuinely be the loudest person on the entire ride. like say you don’t want to go on a certain one but he really does youll be able to hear him from like 20 feet away

but hey, you don’t mind, your boy is having the time of his life

he’ll come out of the exit with such a big smile on his face basically HURDLING to get to you and tell you how much fun he had

and you just watch as he explains what happened on the ride animatedly with this beautiful childlike look in his eyes and you just can’t look away because he looks SO HAPPY

he doesn’t want to spend money on the overpriced waters and shit but will literally buy the entire stand if you start to look tired

“what’s this?”

“a water? you looked tired, it’s been a while since we drank anything, so drink up baby,”

if he wants a kiss or a cuddle he wants one. he does not care if you’re sweaty, he wants a kiss and a cuddle

right. now.

and if you let him hold your hand the entire day he will — he does not care that your hands are getting clammy

this boy takes no resting breaks though, so get ready to push through whatever tiredness you might feel because he wants to to see everything and go on every ride that he can before you guys leave

and he absolutely falls asleep on you on the way home

he had long since shuffled downward in his seat, his head nestled in the crook of your neck with your cheek resting against him. you were certain he was asleep until he pulled away and sat up straight.

“you okay?”

he said nothing as he leaned forward and placed a chaste kiss on your lips,

“thank you, i had so much fun today,”

he falls right back to sleep and stays asleep until you get back and you can bet your ass this boy sleeps like a baby for the rest of the night

[straighttohellbuddy]

its a hell of a feeling though {Dream}

Sequel to don't threaten me with a good time, but I don't think you necessarily need to have read that to enjoy this.

Summary: A different kind of will-they-or-won't-they. Y/N and Dream's guide to somehow saying nothing while telling the absolute truth, or; How Long Can They Say They Love Each Other Before The World Figures Out It's The Truth?

A/N: 4676 words. this is just fluff. i got florida man speed runner brainrot. i literally cannot stress how this is just TOOTH ROTTING FLUFF. maybe a bit ooc and i am sorry about that. idk if this is good its 5am. as always, i love comments and feedback!!

Warnings: implied nsfw

{ Idiots-To-Lovers 'verse } | { 2 / 4 }

Neither of you tell people, and at first your reasoning is that, well, what is there to say? 'Half of you are right in your intrusive speculation about the physical nature of our relationship and this is our blessing to go on tweeting about us but not @ing us about what you think out sex life is like.' No thanks. What you have right now suits you both fine; clearly close to any outside viewers, a teasing, flirting online relationship that belays a genuine friendship. It was the truth, even if it wasn't the whole truth anymore, it was truth enough for you to both be comfortable. They've been calling you the FlowerDuo well before you'd brought each other flowers, thanks to an incident in the SMP, but even now you've seen a divide, a subsection if you will, tagging RoseDuo that denotes a romantic connotation rather than just platonic. It's popping up more and more... maybe you don't want to say anything because it kind of feels like everyone knows.

And besides, it's much more fun to tease your few friends who do, in fact, know the whole truth.

"Come on George, don't you love me?" Dream teases during a stream; you're alternating between watching George's side of the interaction on your phone, and resting your head on Dream's shoulder to watch him play.

"I don't think I should be answering that, I don't want to step on anyone's toes," he says with a faint, knowing smile - you're endeared, while still attempting to hold in your laughter.

"Sap loves you too, man, he won't be -" Dream plays dumb for all of five seconds before George is rolling his eyes.

"You know that's not who I'm talking about."

"Whose toes are you worried about stepping on?" You finally speak up, voice the picture of innocence. George looks like he's aged ten years hearing your voice come from Dream's end, "also hi, Gogy, love you!" You add, before he's giving a deep sigh in response, simply refusing to say it to either of you now. Pressing your laughter into Dream's shoulder, you're content to remain quiet as the conversation picks up where it had before you'd announced your presence.

It's comfortable, it's familiar; it's where you find yourself feeling at home the most, apart from your own little apartment.

"I'm hanging out with Dream a lot?" You find yourself reading your chat on a chill stream you hold, not too long after you'd actually gotten together. You smile faintly, "well yeah, that's what friends do," you say it with an implied 'duh', ignoring the thirty other questions that pop up about the nature of your relationship. There's a moment where your expression softens as you consider him, consider everything that's happened and the changes that have occurred in the past few weeks, and you feel your heart growing warm.

"I'm just glad he actually puts up with me," you give a faint chuckle, "god knows I can be dense sometimes, but he's... he's..." then you look to the camera, far too aware of how vulnerable you were being, but feeling strangely comfortable with your audience seeing this; your smile brightens, "he's my best friend for a reason, right?"

And your chatter moves on, but you still have that warmth sitting in your chest, only growing stronger when you check your phone and see the message [shut up youre so cute wth] from the man on your mind.

"Come on, don't be shy, tell the class," you're grinning wide and teasing, looking back into your camera knowing he's watching, knowing he can tell what you mean, and moments later you see the same message pop up again, amid the chat's general confusion. You genuinely didn't think it was possible for your smile to get wider. From the outside, it looks like the same dynamic you've always had, always challenging one another, but you both know better. Like this, it feels like before but better, heightened; if he showed up at your apartment like he did from time to time, you knew you wouldn't be able to keep up the ruse of being platonic.

Except, you realise as time goes on, as it gets more apparent how little your relationship has appeared to change to the outside viewers, neither of you want to be the one to admit online that you're together as much as you want to see how far you can push each other and tease each other and speak so honestly and clearly about how you feel before people realise that it's no longer a joke.

That's the thing that's changed the most, you find yourself thinking after you wrap your stream up; there's a giddy rush that comes with challenging him, or getting challenged, because now more than ever there's a chance of a follow through that there wasn't before.

You tweet out asking how many treats you would have to give Patches before you're her favourite, and Sapnap comments that he's still attempting to buy the cat's love with treats with no indication that she's changed favourites, to which Dream's response is incredibly smug. Of course when you jokingly offer to bring back your cat ears and pick Sap as your favourite, Dream just response 'HEY WAIT' before deleting it less than five minutes later. It's chum in the water for the fandom, and you delight in the chaos and fanart that ensues. The number of cat!Y/N fics on AO3 skyrockets.

"Why are all the good fanfic about you and George?" You ask idly one... well it's technically morning now, and you're at the tail end of a stream where you'd been playing flash games. It's one of the rarer times you had Dream sitting in in person; usually you prepared to head to his place to sit in his little office, rather than him in your little studio apartment, potentially risking exposing his identity somehow with your facecam, but he still joined you time and again. You paused for a moment, before he has time to answer, amending, "no, I mean there's some good ones about us, but none I can think of off the top of my head that've broken websites, you know?"

Dream's hidden his whole face in his hands, muffling his laughter at the thought that you've decided to voice.

"I like that you know there's good fanfic of us out there," he surfaces, giving you an endeared, if exasperated look. Your smile widens.

"Of course, but I also don't want to name any because I've seen the author's notes, they don't... they don't want me reading the fics about me, and I don't them scattering and deleting good fics in a panic," you muse, glancing to your chat for a moment, "I like fics about me, hint hint."

"You're relentless," Dream deadpans. Your grin turns sharp.

"I'm a Twitch streamer, there's some level of self-obsession there already -"

"Maybe they just think me and George would be cuter together," he's saying it to get a reaction out of you for your stream, and while you're aware of this, you also don't mind playing into it. When you gasp dramatically, you look at him with betrayal.

"Fine, green boy, you can head home, I'm done being romanced by your clearly unloyal ass for tonight -" while you're ranting, he's grinning off camera, and blows you a kiss, "- go romance Gogy." You tell him, trying to keep your composure.

"You're hot when you're mad," he teases; your throat goes dry.

"Get out of my house." Your resolve is breaking; you're fighting back a smile.

"Come on," his tone is sweet and endeared, "you know I'm kidding, I love you, dude," he tells you, and you squeeze your eyes closed, which may look like you're trying to simmer down your anger, while in reality you both know you're fighting the urge to walk over there and kiss him until you can't breathe.

"And with that, chat," you turn back to your computer, "I think we will end the stream for today -"

"Say it back," he pipes up, and you know that tone all too well, but play dumb anyways, glancing at him out of the corner of your eye.

"Hm?"

"I love you; say it back," his tone is turning earnest, and you swivel to face him properly, expression soft.

"Of course I love you," you've said those words what feels like a million times before to him, so why is he looking at you like that, like he's hearing it for the first time. You duck your gaze, "you're so needy," you joke, but you're heart's not in it, discomfort twinging in your stomach as the words leave you, so you turn back to your monitor, glancing at the chat, "there's your RoseDuo and-slash-or FlowerDuo content for the day, folks," you tell them, still finding yourself feeling abashed.

The moment the stream's over, an apology comes tumbling from your lips, much to Dream's confusion.

"You're not needy," you clarify, "please don't stop asking me to say it back," and then, for good measure, "I do love you."

"I know," he says with a faint laugh, clearly unbothered by what had been weighing on your conscience for the past few minutes.

"Say it back," you murmur with a small smile of your own, and he does, quiet in your cosy studio apartment, beckoning you over to join him.

And when you join him where he's sitting on your bed, curling yourself into his arms and pressing your face into his chest for several long moments, he's quiet, holding you close.

This moment is nothing but the hum of your heater, and the neon glow of your ring light. I love you, say it back, on your head in repeat, I love you I love you I love you, it's all you wanted to say at the time. It feels stupid to pretend otherwise; why play this silly game with your audience when you're practically bursting with the love you feel.

"You know I mean it every time I say it," you mumble against him, and he hums in quiet acknowledgement, "I always have; I've loved you as a friend for years, and now I - dude I cannot believe how lucky I am to tell you I love you and mean it romantically, and I do."

"I know you mean it," his voice is so gentle, so understanding, and you raise your head to meet his gaze, to see his wide, warm smile, "I mean it too; always have and always will."

"I cannot believe there's still people who think we're just friends," you can't help but snicker, your anxious heart finally easing with his assurances. There's still a giddiness that comes with kissing him, even now, still feeling strangely lucky that everything had worked out like this, that everything had lead to you and your best friend in your bed after you finish a stream.

It gets less subtle online, as you ignore and block the people calling you a clout chaser, and you find yourself caring less about the world finding out after actually discussing it with Dream.

"If they find out they find out, it's not like anything's going to change if they realise the shit we say isn't a bit anymore."

It puts you at ease, less worried about slipping up if you're both on the same page about the information potentially getting out -

"The rose?" You laughed on stream once, after people began pointing out the single rose in the background of your shot, "yeah, of course it's from Dream," like it's the most obvious thing in the world, "I think he stole it from someone's front yard for me; he's still intent on romancing me, it seems." You say, tone tinged with amusement, your chat spamming rose emojis, and of course, RoseDuo.

And of course, there's the much-clipped moment from one of Dream's streams where the only thing the audience hears is your faint 'dude' and yawn, before he abruptly mutes for several minutes, only to come back, tone almost forcibly level as he quickly lets everyone know he has to go. Those thirty seconds of silence on his stream are wildly speculated about for the next few days, but both of you will stay quiet on the matter. In the present, from where you're leaning against the doorframe, freshly showered and wearing shorts and your oversized version of his hoodie, you can't help but grin. All you'd asked was if he wanted to come to bed.

Even your friends, both those who are aware and those who aren't, end up playing into it, playing into your perceived dynamic -

"Wait, am I on loudspeaker?" Tommy asks while you're filming for one of his main-channel videos. You're currently abusing the ability he's granted you with this latest mod, shooting lasers from your eyes, and only vaguely paying attention.

"What in the hell do you mean, Tommy?" Wilbur cuts in, confused but humouring him.

"I mean," Tommy said pointedly, "that I'm not talking to the rest of you, I'm wondering if I'll need to end up crediting- " and he struggles for a moment, a hint of a laugh in his voice, "world record speed-runner, Y/N's boy-toy streaming buddy, in this video."

"Y/N's what?!" Charlie wheezes, as the others all break out into laughter. You can't even stop yourself from grinning, gaze flicking to Dream, laying on your floor out of view of your camera, scrolling through his phone, blissfully unaware of what was happening in your headphones.

"Y/N's boy-toy," Wilbur clarifies as seriously as he could muster; you can practically picture him fighting back laughter, and you wonder if this will make the final cut of the video.

"Boy-toy streaming buddy," Tommy clarifies further, pointedly, "and I'll ask again, am I on speaker, Y/N?"

"Well, no," you finally concede, "you're in my headphones, and the boy toy is laying on my floor doing- babe," you take one of your headphones off your ear, and Dream looks up, blinking like he'd surfaced from a trance at your call, "you still on Twitter?"

"I found an article about tropical fish - wait, what'd you call me?"

In your ear, you're hearing the others squawk both 'babe' and 'boy toy' in varying states of hysterics, while you yourself reiterate both nicknames, asking which he was referring to, trying to play innocent. Then, before Dream can properly answer, you turn back to your monitor to roll your eyes as you hear Tommy in your ears again, and so you tell him;

"Then edit this part out if you don't want to credit him, it's my apartment, you can't tell him to piss off."

While Dream props himself up on his elbows, eyes wide and disbelieving.

"Did that little weasel call me your boy-toy?"

"Yeah, but is he wrong?" The grin you throw over your shoulder at him is all teeth.

The day the video drops, with the whole bit included - with both your's and Dream's approval, of course - is the day you read the tweet from a fan [every single day the Y/NWasTaken/RoseDuo conspiracy becomes less of a conspiracy. y/n and dream both owe me financial compensation for the emotional stress they're putting me under] and then replying to themselves with [raise your hand if you've ever been personally victimised by RoseDuo]. The reason the tweets had come up on your timeline at all was because Sapnap had replied with a raised hand emoji. You screenshot the whole encounter and text it to him, with 'dude???'.

Instead of any kind of response you'd expect, he asks if he can take a screenshot of your message and tweet it, captioning it with something about how he was currently being victimised by the RoseDuo. It's... okay yeah that's pretty funny; you give your blessing.

"For the record," and then, the moment he's posted it, Sapnap opens his bedroom door to actually talk to you where you and Dream are sprawled out on the sofa, watching a documentary, "I like having you around, Y/N, that was all a joke, you know that, right?" And you beam sunnily at him, though he does have an addition, "but the next time I catch you eating my cereal out of the bag I will put you on blast."

Slowly but surely, the others start to ask for clarification on their assumptions, their tone always gentle, always making sure that you knew you didn't have to answer if you didn't want, and never while anyone was live.

"Are you and Dream actually together?" It's Tubbo who asks you first; you know Dream's already had this conversation with Wilbur, and a longsuffering George who had been aware since the beginning. You pause for a moment where you'd been chopping down a tree in-game.

"Yeah," it feels good to admit out loud, and there's a long silence that follows.

"Really? For real?" Tommy pipes up.

"Really truly," you find yourself nodding, tone sincere, "for a few months now."

"Good on you," Tommy tells you with a sincerity of his own, which you quietly appreciate.

"I thought so, you two act so cute it's kind of gross," you can tell from Tubbo's fond tone that he's not all that mad, and you can't help but laugh, apologising faintly, "nah," Tubbo says easily, "I'd like an apology if it was all just a joke, but I can't get mad at love."

"That's a strong word, Tubbo," Tommy says carefully, but you're not shy about your feelings.

"Yeah, but its accurate."

And after your friends find out, their teasing somehow becomes both more and less direct. They're smart about their tone, teasing you both with the truth in a way that makes it seem like a simple joke.

"And where is your lover this fine morning?" Wilbur asks you in a lofty tone after greeting you on the server, to which your expression wrinkles with displeasure. While you were live, you were on your laptop, your setup greatly reduced to little more than the laptop itself and a microphone on a tray table in Dream's study.

"Don't call him my lover, that's such a gross phrase," you mutter, and, from where Dream's at his desk editing he echoes the sentiment, despite not hearing Wilbur's comment that had come through your headphones, only your response.

"Ah, you lover, right by your side-" Wilbur continues with his tone like a Victorian gentleman, and you flatly tell him that it costs zero dollars to shut the fuck up, with an exasperated smile.

"At least they moved on from the boy-toy bit," Dream mutters mostly to himself, though you try and warn him that your mic was still on, but it was too late. Wilbur practically lights up with glee remembering that particular nickname.

The 'joke' becomes known as the honest truth the day you and a few members of the SMP, Dream included, are invited to play Among Us with a few people you're more distantly acquainted with.

It's the afternoon, golden sunlight streaming through the window as you find yourself laying atop his duvet. When you reach up, grasping at nothing in particular, the sunshine, and the moment, is golden. You get another notification on your phone, which is resting gently on your chest, but you ignore it for the time being. Soon you know you'll be logging in to start streaming, you'd brought your laptop for the even, not bothering to head home since you planned to stay the night anyways, but for now you can bask in the sunshine.

"It's a nice day," Dream's voice is gentle, as is his smile as you find yourself pulled from your thoughts and back into the present. He's not looking at the blue sky outside from where he's leaning in the doorframe, he's looking at you, nothing but unguarded affection in his eyes.

"Do we spend to much time inside?" You ask with a grin, and he muses on it for a moment before conceding that, yeah maybe probably. It was a day like today, you muse as he joins you, kicking the door shut behind him and sprawling out on the covers to look up at the dust particles floating through the air in the sunlight; it was a day like today that you'd told him you loved him. You hadn't been able to see his face for the light, maybe it's why you had the confidence at all, maybe it made seeing his smile after your revelation all the better.

"You sure you wanna stay here to stream? I'm happy to stay here if you'd rather the office, or..." he's focused on his hand raised, fingers dancing in the light like yours had been, and when you look at him, it takes him a moment to realise, his words trailing off as he meets your fond gaze, "what?"

"I'm comfy here, I don't mind my setup being a little makeshift," you assured. It seems you're focused on admiring the little things today, entranced watching how his expression shifts to a smile.

"Everything alright in there?" He asks after a few moments of silence, vaguely concerned about how you're just watching him. Even after being called out, you don't look away, though you do find an embarrassed smile curling at the edges of your lips.

"I'm in a sappy mood," you muse.

"You're always in a sappy mood," he teases, and you scrunch up your face; he's right but still.

"And whose fault is that?" You asked, and his grin widened.

"Stop it, you're gonna put me in a sappy mood!" He couldn't help but laugh, a flush creeping up his cheeks as he looked back to the ceiling. There's time enough before the stream starts that you decide to push yourself up from the bed, moving to straddle his hips, turning golden in the sunlight as you brace yourself over him, grinning.

"You know you're the reason I'm like this, take some accountability."

"Oh yeah? And how would you have me do that?" And he reaches out, into the light, fingertips gentle along your cheekbone before he cups your face. You can feel your heart beating hard against your ribs, overwhelmed with the reality that this is your life.

"I can think of a few ways," you murmur, finally leaning in to kiss him; he hums appreciatively in response, smiling against your lips.

When the stream starts, your spirits are high, sitting in front of your laptop at the desk in his room, headphones on, listening to your friends chattering away. You're all waiting for the last few members to show up, shooting the shit as more viewers joined your various streams, milling around the Among Us lobby.

"You streaming from Dream and Sap's place again?" Quackity asks you, which you weren't expecting anyone to realise, and when you make a noise of confusion, he clarifies, "you don't have a facecam," he pointed out, "I usually assume that means you're at their place."

"I just respect their privacy; the world doesn't need my shitty, laptop webcam's view of Dream's bedroom in the background," you clarify easily.

"His bedroom -?!"

"Hey, I offered them the office," Dream cuts in to defend himself, as you explain that you're in separate rooms so you don't mess up each other's streaming audio, and you all hear a derisive snort from Quackity.

"Sure that's why," you could hear his smug little smile as he teases you both, and you very pointedly stay quiet. Sapnap, however, does not have the same restraint, and cackles.

"You're not the one who lives with them," he pointed out, and even without a webcam you're hiding your face in your hands out of embarrassment.

"I thought Y/N lived by themselves," Corpse muses, and you sink further into your seat.

"I do," you speak up, only for Sapnap to snort a laugh.

"Could have fooled me."

"You asshole," Dream himself laughs, and you just let out an embarrassed groan, "I spend just as much time at their apartment as they spend here."

"Yeah, but buddy, if you're at their apartment, then they're not alone;" Sapnap points out, all kinds of smug, "my point's still valid."

"Okay, I'm officially confused," Valkyrae pipes up.

"They're in love, your honor," is how Quackity decides to clarify the situation, and for the barest moment you realise that the line between heavily implied rumour and confirmation is but a gossamer thread.

"Wait, really?" Valkyrae asks, tone endeared, and you confirm as much without really thinking.

"Really really," you say blithely, struck only moments later, as most of the others have gone quiet, what you've said.

And then, surprising the rest of the VC, yourself included, Dream fondly echoing your confirmation.

"Really really."

"I'll allow it," Corpse breaks the silence, unphased, playing along with Quackity's bit, and Dream, sceptical, asks if Corpse actually knew. He hesitates, "I mean, I had my suspicions; I figured you could recreate the photo of you with Y/N as your cat without Y/N actually needing to be there in person to be all cute and cuddly and shit with you," he hesitates, and you press your lips together, bowing your head out of embarrassment, knowing he was definitely right, "but I wouldn't have said anything about it unless it was confirmed, you know?" Then, softer, a little embarrassed himself it seems, "this actually might be the only situation I would ever have to bring up the fact that I paid that close attention..." and then, quiet enough that you almost miss it, "what am I doing with my life?" He snorted a laugh, and the chatter returned as the tension broke.

[ROSETWT HOW DOES IT FEEL TO WIN???]

Over half the fandom's response to the news is, of course, We Knew Already, which didn't surprise you in the slightest. It's a relief to have it out in the open, to not have to dance around it. And okay, it was kind of amusing seeing people go back through your streams together from the past few months, and posting clips with only exclamation marks as they finally heard the truth through your teasing, flirting banter.

"Fuck you," you found yourself muttering out of frustration on stream, trying to beat Dream in the shitty, little flash game you'd found.

"You wish," he snorted, and your pulled from your frustration by a sudden realisation, irritation dissolving with amusement.

"That bit doesn't work anymore," you voice your thought, and he crows with laughter; taking one of your earphones out, you can hear it down the hall.

"Well neither does me answering with 'you have my address', since you're in my house," he pointed out.

"Now how am I going to let you know I'm frustrated at your bullshit-obviously-cheating -"

"Hey! That move was perfectly legal," he countered, "and I dunno, I guess you'll just have to suffer." Ass.

"I cannot fucking believe I'm in love with you, you asshole," you rolled your eyes but couldn't stop smiling.

"But you are~" he practically sang, and the truth of it had the last of your irritation disappearing.

"Shut up," you mumbled, leaning back from your laptop, your fond smile wide and bright. He gave a thoughtful hum.

"Make me," and you didn't need to be told twice, pulling out your earphones and making a beeline for the office, throwing the door open. Dream seems unphased, simply swivelling to face you, grinning up at you from his desk. As you approach him with intent, you muse that maybe you hadn't confirmed your relationship for your followers' benefit; they're quickly coming to learn that the two of you are insufferably cute.

"Yes, can I help you?" Dream asked blithely, head tipped to the side as he looked you over. Leaning in close to him, lips a hairs breadth from his, you reach over to his mouse.

"Don't threaten me with a good time," your mutter, and mute before kissing him hard.

{sequel: lost my mind in a wedding gown}

[briarrosescurse]

i play the xiang route bc i can’t resist long hair male wench but specifically projecting onto mc as depression hole cope wife and the only thing that happens is my brain turned into gelatinous goo and i was never able to open the game again without punching drywall and then punching drywall again in an unending cycle of playboy route agony

and also chanyu or briar route bc ive always wanted 2 had my asscheeks impersonally delivered to me in a cardboard box by a dark haired baddy that wants nuthing to do with me (still wants nothing 2 do with me by the end)

vy i love u so much do u know that, my wonderful angelcake and love of my life. also im putting this under the cut bc i like to talk

xiang route

general outlook: as people may not have assumed so ! xiang's route is a tough cookie and def not one of the easier ones. not harder than briar's route but absolutely up there under "stop giving the players a headache". but i'm taking what you said and imagining xiang taking an interest in you, the mc, because of your depression cope wife holexistence rather apparently disinterested behavior. he likes it when they play the cold shoulder, after all! though i feel that his route would be a very exciting one that makes u look forward to what happens next; it's never not lively without him and he just makes the dialogue so awfully funny and witty, you could make whole ass compilations out of just "things that xiang says in his route that i cannot get out of my mind".

it's not that hard to get the right answers with him, at the start, but the more it follows down the road of coming to a deciding point of what ending ur getting, it def gets harder. he either shuns you out like many others, because he just. might end up treating u like any other fling. or he'll want you to stay with him, but of course, getting to that point where he even considers that possibly is almost. painstakingly hard.

surprisingly though, i don't think the answers that indicate the most obvious interest in him would instantly lead to a good ending. i think it actually requires a balance...? of not. coming on too strongly and not vanishing from the face of earth. he is a bit of a tough cookie because he isn't always easy to read, but i feel that it'll pay off.

good ending: copium good ending is xiang is ur malewife and he loves u and cherishes u and shows u that every day somehow a good ending with xiang makes me picture a very toothy grin on his face, nearly smug, but genuine enough in itself, very telling of how happy it seems to make him that ur here with him. of course, nothing's ever perfect, but it seems that saying 'i love you' isn't anymore an intimidating feat as it was before, for him.

bad ending: of course, for that there are a multitude of options LMAO but it would def fall in the line of. xiang ending up just shoving u into a corner of 'like anyone else' and not heeding u any mind anymore. kinda just. lost his interest. he felt no spark. and he doesn't intend to linger around with u any longer. so he just kinda fucks off and moves on with his life - even if you express a strong dislike for that. but really? not his problem anymore. he can find someone else who would love to have fun with him <3

chanyu route

general outlook: if i had to give his route a difficulty rating, it would be an intermediate one? LIKE. he is not. as horribly emotionally messed up. but at the same time, he isn't someone who is impressed easily either. he is just. kinda there. but his route is fun. its interesting. i feel like u get a lot of entertaining moments with him and it hardly feels like it gets dragged out too long or is too bland. I DONT KNOW i just think his route is fun to play <3 go ham and entertain the buff man <3

i just think that in order to get the most out of the route, you just kinda have to keep his interest...? sort of show him that you're worth investing in, in a sense. if that makes any sense? like at the start, he def has hardly any interest in you, no signs of favoritism, no nothing. it's really You who has to get the ball rolling or nothing. is gonna roll at all here.

i think the tone of the route would have an interesting balance between being very entertaining but also exploring some rather. grim, darker sides. (think of how the og movie and its shift tone.) i just feel like that would be very interesting to see and feel out hehe.

good ending: what's a good ending with chanyu...? i feel that there isn't much to be said or done, in that case, since his. priorities do not lie with romance. i dont think there is rlly much happening, but i would like to imagine that the emphasis lies with how your relationship changed with him in the course of the route...? from someone for whom he didn't spare a second glance for to someone for whom he holds in high regard... i want that there is. a genuine sense of having build a bond... camaraderie except ur smooching ur fellow bro on occasion.

bad ending: u get murked by him, a classic <3 LMAO IM KIDDING BUT BUT. i think a bad ending with chanyu is one where. anything of the above mention just doesn't happen or dissolves...? perhaps even goes entirely south and you're left with an enemy made. i feel like his route in general is a lot more plot action, so i'd argue that there is a very. climatic moment in this ending, where ur on opposing sides with him. i have no idea, frankly, but. huh. looks like the u get murked by him ending rlly isnt that far off then.

briar route is here!