#i come here for images and jokes. if i wanted to watch a livestream i would open fucking twitch

[orion-my-rion]

tumblr stop adding "features" challenge how about you try fixing one of the thousand problems with the app first

[yuexias]

(˶˃ᆺ˂˶) for @xinxiins / continued from here

yawning for the n-th time as she sprawls over the hotel bed, lu mengran sighs before discarding her script book and pick up her ipad instead. the day's filming has gone well and smooth, sure it wouldn't be too much if she were to spend some time indulging in the fancy world of social media and the internet, right? the lines that she still hasn't fully memorized could wait just a little bit longer... just a little bit--

another yawn is interrupted when a livestream notification prompts on top of the screen. she swipes it away mindlessly, also accidentally refreshing her w.eibo home feed along, earning a little dissatisfied click of tongue. a few scrolls and then ren xinyu's scandalously half covered chest is on display-- in her defense, the screenshot has been zoomed in several times, and it's hard not to notice. curiosity doesn't kill the cat in this case, however it does kill her urge to sleep when another few more similar posts finally got her to click into the livestream room.

she's heard -- and seen -- enough interactions between ren xinyu and an jinyue to know that those two share a bond deeper than others, but it's not until she almost gets dizzy from all the comments flooding in that she realizes just how ridiculously close they are. the few comments that mengran manages to catch has her bewildered; good thing she is lucky enough to have her own room, or else someone would have to endure her screaming into her pillow. there are some friends that she has gotten close with during and after filming, and the luckiest -- or maybe not -- thing about that is no one cares enough about what they do, be it some wild, borderline inappropriate jokes or anything else in between.

it sure has been an eye-opening experience witnessing this firsthand, and before she knows it, the livestream is approaching its end. almost sad to see it end, her finger hovers over the 'send' button, a small little goodbye comment that's been typed out waiting to be sent when her name is mentioned.

and then her phone is blowing up with notifications that she could barely see or hear properly what's been said.

it's not until the livestream ends, and she's managed to watch a few 'ren xinyu talking about lu mengran in livestream' clips that she realizes how deep of a trouble she could be in. for a split second, she wants to strangle ren xinyu. but she can't cause any harm to someone who has given her such a heartwarming shoutout now, can she?

his messages come just in time as she's typing up a message that's hopefully respectful enough, and slightly dumbfounded, she stands up to pace around her bed as she deletes her initial unsent message:

[ to: 任老师 ]: rèn lǎo shī [ to: 任老师 ]: do you think she'll hate it? [ to: 任老师 ]: i mean, she's so nice and kindhearted but what if they take it the wrong way? [ to: 任老师 ]: [ sent an image ]

now, she'll hate it if her chance of networking with the gorgeous female lead has diminished significantly just because some netizens have decided to take things the wrong way somehow, like how things usually happen in this field.

[ to: 任老师 ]: suī rán wǒ yě méi zuò shén me... [ to: 任老师 ]: dàn shì hái shi hěn gǎn xiè nǐ de chēng zàn [ to: 任老师 ]: [ sent an image ] [ to: 任老师 ]: do you still feel sick?

[iced-nct]

InstaLove

Pairing: President!Chenle x F Reader

Word Count: 2.6k (&some change)

Warnings: Language, mentions of food & drinks, other than that please enjoy having your heart stolen by our Pres <3

Synopsis: Every good business needs a memorable face, and behind that is the brains of the operation. In this case, the brain is you. The CEO, Mark, made it perfectly clear upon hiring you that you are not to be seen or heard. Your job is to be Chenle’s speech writer and run the social media accounts for him. In an effort to make Chenle seem more fun and relatable, the marketing team suggests doing livestreams and YouTube videos. With Chenle’s image handing in the balance, you find yourself having to step in more than the CEO was comfortable with. But with how well the public responds to the easy banter the two of you produce, how could anyone stay mad? 

It was a typical Tuesday afternoon in the office. You were stretched out across the plush leather sofa in Chenle’s corner office, while he took up residence at his desk. Discarded coffee cups littered almost every surface in the room from the hours you two had spent locked up in here coming up with ideas. The first live stream was to take place this Friday night, and a YouTube video needed to be uploaded Saturday morning. It was all Jeno’s fault for suggesting livestreams and videos to make Chenle more recognizable and relatable. 

You, on the other hand, had an impressive resume of previous social media management experience. However, this was quite different. Your job was to write the script and make your boss sound as casual and natural as possible. It wasn’t exactly easy. Especially like right now, trying to brainstorm content ideas while replying to the hundreds of thirst comments on Chenle’s latest Instagram post. 

“You still alive over there? All I hear is aggressive typing” Chenle looked up at you from over his laptop screen. 

An exasperated sigh left your lips “I swear the same person commented different pickup lines on this post like fifty different times. How can people be so attracted to someone they’ve never met?” You tossed the phone to the opposite side of the couch. 

Your boss snorted a laugh “Have you seen me? I’m like, irresistible to these people” You rolled your eyes at him. 

“I’m sure the tune would change if they had to spend every waking moment with you like I do. I developed an immunity to your charms after I asked you what your hidden talent was and you decided to burp the alphabet” Chenle clutched his heart at your statement, seemingly at a loss for words. 

All of a sudden and oddly familiar jingle echoed out of Chenle’s computer and he laughed “Yo, five-minute crafts are so dumb but so entertaining to watch” 

That gave you the perfect content idea for the first video. You jumped into rambling it off to Chenle, as you always did. Explaining how he would be attempting to recreate five-minute crafts tutorials while making jokes and being as authentic as possible. After you got the greenlight from your boss, it was time to compose an email to send off to Mark for him to approve the project. It was one of the conditions of your employment here and the CEO, Mark, made it very clear upon your hiring. Your job was to keep Chenle in line and out of trouble, which according to Mark, the young President was very good at finding. In turn, you got a handsome salary and a boss that felt more like a best friend than the company president. 

“What kind of questions are you thinking of for the live?” He asked, resting his chin on his hands. 

“Haechan said he’s got something to filter questions to be whatever we want, so Mark sent him a list of approved topics” you couldn’t help but roll your eyes at the control freak CEO. Of course, Mark meant well, but it was frustrating having your every move controlled. 

The rest of the day consisted of firing questions off at Chenle for him to practice answering exactly how he’s supposed to. When you accidentally dozed off for a few minutes, Chenle sighed as he took in your sleeping frame. He strode across the office to cover you with the decorative throw and lower the blinds, before leaving the office to allow you a bit of undisturbed rest. You would need all you could get with everything coming up. 

- 

You’d think at this point Chenle would be unable to surprise you. But when he emerged from his room in a pair of grey sweats that hung low on his hips and that tight black tee that didn’t quite cover his entire abdomen, you just about fainted. “That’s what you’re wearing?” you sputtered. 

He cocked a brow at you “Quit eye-fucking me. It’s very… what word did you use earlier?” He thought for a moment “Unbecoming! Yes, it’s very unbecoming of you” Chenle drawled while winking obnoxiously. 

“Oh whatever” you turned away from him, hoping he didn’t see the obvious flush that dusted your cheeks. 

The live was to be set in the kitchen and take place while Chenle was cooking dinner, the thought was that it would make an easygoing setting for the first Q&A. Everything seemed to be going well, you were positioned behind the camera as Chenle stirred pasta and answered the generic questions from Haechan’s filter. Occasionally having to stifle a laugh as Chenle got too invested in storytelling and let the water boil over or the sauce burn slightly.  

Suddenly his eyes widened before shooting to yours, indicating something was starting to go wrong. “Who am I looking at? No one. I’m just looking at my goldfish, Kun.” Chenle’s lie was easy to see through, and his panic was evident.  

Clearly this live was no longer premeditated, and it was time to roll with it. You slid into the frame next to your boss and picked up the spoon for the pasta sauce. “Thanks for inviting me, so sorry I’m late” an award-winning grin plastered across your face.  

The tension in Chenle’s shoulders eased slightly and he returned your smile with ease. “Everyone, this is my best friend, (y/n). She’s here to supervise and make sure I don’t burn the house down” He bumped your shoulder playfully. 

“We both know you have had plenty of close calls with cooking” you joked, shoving him back with the same energy. 

The two of you fell into such an easy banter between questions that you hadn’t even noticed the time. The alarm you’d set at the beginning of the live chimed to signal its end, both of you waving goodbye to the thousands of viewers you’d amassed. After ending the live you felt like you could finally breathe a little bit. Chenle handed you a glass of ice water before putting on the kettle, presumably to make tea.  

“Thank you.” he whispered “For stepping in. I really needed help. And that could have been so bad if you weren’t here”  

His words made you grimace “I’m sure Mark will have something to say about it later” you were shocked when Chenle pulled you into a tight hug, his arms holding you against him.  

“Leave Mark to me. Everyone on that live loved you, and so do I. You have nothing to worry about” He continued to assure you, as if you hadn’t just directly violated the first rule on your contract. To not be seen.  

Both of you curled up on the couch in Chenle’s apartment with a cup of chamomile tea to watch cheesy reality TV. But alas, even the Kardashians couldn’t get your mind off the shit show you would have to face on Monday morning. 

- 

After spending the weekend holed up on your boss’ couch vegging and crying about how you were so totally getting fired, Chenle managed to drag you to the office. Lo and behold, there sat Mark at Chenle’s desk, arms crossed and lips tight.  

“Good morning, Markie! Happy Monday” The boy chirped, either choosing to ignore Mark’s blatantly foul mood or being completely unaware of it. 

If looks could kill, you would be long gone. He did not make CEO for being nice, sure he had his moments, but outwardly he was cold and cunning. Your spine straightened and cheeks flushed under his gaze, none of it in a good way.  

“Your ratings have improved greatly after the live. Especially thanks to (y/n). I’ve hardly read a bad thing about you two.” It felt like a massive weight had been lifted as Mark spoke. “People seem to like you two together so much, Jeno thinks it might be a good idea to date.” of course, as soon as it had lifted the weight came back twice as hard.  

“Like, fake date?” Your brows knit together and your eyes darted to Chenle, who seemed to be frozen in place. His usual cocky grin replaced with something unreadable. 

Mark stood up to leave “Just think about it, alright. (Y/n) seems to be very good for your image.” The rest of his statement was too quiet for you to hear as he leaned closer to Chenle’s ear.  

“Alright.” He swallowed slowly “We’ll do it.” a confused look etched itself into your features as he agreed on your behalf. Whatever Mark had said must not have been good for you if it pushed Chenle like this. 

Mark nodded to you before leaving you and Chenle alone. The rather large space suddenly began to feel unbearably small. “What did he say to you?”  

He said nothing as he walked to his desk, unable to meet your eyes. “Chenle. What did he say?” you pressed him again. 

“That he’d fire you if I said no.” He choked out. You weren’t shocked, in fact you had anticipated that. This seemed to be the better alternative.  

“Guess now I’ll have to admit that your alphabet burping did charm me” An attempt at lightening the awkward tension in the room, but Chenle didn’t so much as smile.  

Leaving you to take up residence on the sofa and comb through the thousands of tags Chenle had gotten over the weekend. To your surprise, there was so many screenshots of the live that featured yourself. No one was able to see your private social media, but that didn’t stop the speculation of who you were to Chenle. Theories of your identity ranged from those who fully believed you were just best friends, to the unhinged theory that you were married with eight children. That one made you snort loud enough to catch his attention.  

“What’s so funny over there, babe?” The word was slipped in so casually you might not have noticed, it was the blush that dusted Chenle’s cheeks that gave it away.  

“There’s a theory that we’re married with eight kids. How ridiculous is that?” You laughed, hoping to clear the gloomy mood he had earlier. 

To your surprise he laughed with you “That is ridiculous. I want at least twelve” You looked at him in horror, which only caused him to laugh harder and louder than before. 

Mark had a schedule for couples' appearances drawn up and sent over, detailing everything you’d need to be doing together for the rest of the week. “God, it’s like we don’t spend enough time together as it is. Pretty soon he’s going to start making us use the bathroom together” You couldn’t resist the urge to roll your eyes.  

Chenle shushed you “Please. Don't give him any ideas” he pleaded; you patted his head with mock sympathy. 

At the end of the week was the Charity Gala, an event that you were required to be at. Not only as Chenle’s fake date, but also as per your contract. Everything had been planned down to the second you were to arrive. Your dress made to match Chenle’s sleek and fitted black suit, there was no doubt all eyes would be on you two.  

As the week progressed, the fanbase for your ‘relationship’ grew. And unsurprisingly, so did your feelings for your boss. You couldn’t help but notice how he kept going the extra mile for you, regardless of if there was anyone who would actually see. From picking you up for work in the morning, to ensuring you’d eaten lunch, Chenle really did appear to be the perfect boyfriend. The fact that it was fake was the only thing you could cling to in order to keep yourself from falling further. It certainly didn’t help that you’d really started to look at him like someone other than your boss. How could you not when he shed his suit jacket and rolled up his sleeves as he worked. At this point you were starting to think it was on purpose.  

- 

When Friday night rolled around you found yourself tucked under Chenle’s arm as he led you through the gala. Introducing you to high profile clients as his girlfriend rather than as his friend or assistant like he used to. You’d both used the age old ‘well we met at work and just fell in love’ story that everyone gushed over. A short while later while Chenle was caught up in taking business with the other senior leadership members, you excused yourself to head to the lady's room. Really all you needed was some fresh air out of that stuffy room and a place to take the god forsaken heels off your feet.  

The stairwell in the back of the building seemed as good a place as any to rest without having to worry about keeping up appearances. Tall windows allowed you to get a good look at the storm that was starting outside as rain began pelting against the glass. Taking the time to rest your forehead against the cool surface in an attempt to ground yourself. Just then the door to the floor above your landing opened and two familiar voices echoed through the space.  

“Well? Aren’t you glad I suggested it? (y/n) seems pretty into it.” Mark must’ve taken the chance to talk about the fake dating scheme with Chenle while everyone was watching the live band. 

“I am. It felt so good introducing her as my girlfriend tonight. I just wish she knew how real that story I've been telling everyone tonight is” your breath hitched, Chenle wasn’t lying about how you’d fallen for each other? 

Suddenly the door in front of you opened and Mark’s secretary walked in “Oh hey, (y/n)! You needed some space too?” She smiled warmly and you could feel the air get sucked from your lungs.  

Silence from the landing above, then Chenle’s voice “(Y/n)?” 

“Yeah... I’m here” You called up to him “I just got here I didn’t hear anything, I swear” 

“That sure sounds convincing” Mark chuckled as he descended, patting your shoulder before looping his arm around his assistant to lead her out of the stairwell.  

When you looked up, Chenle was halfway down the staircase, his expression weary as he approached. “I know you heard...” 

“Why didn’t you just tell me?” You inquired, he continued down the steps and dropped down next to you.  

His fingers threaded together and his knuckles were white “I was afraid of ruining something good. You didn’t see me as Chenle the company President. You saw me as an equal, and more importantly, as a friend.” 

His words wound their way through you to tug at your heartstrings “You are the dumbest smart person I have ever met.” you reached over to rest your hand on his knee, brushing your thumb across the starchy material. 

“Is this where I ask you out for real?” Chenle’s lips twisted into that familiar cocky smirk of his and you giggled. 

“I think we’re closer to the point of married with twelve kids” you leaned to bump his shoulder, but Chenle had other ideas.  

He caught your jaw in his hands and pulled you into him. Your lips melding together in a slow yet passion-filled first kiss. One that left you feeling dizzy and craving more. “How about we compromise, and you stay with me again this weekend?”  

Your heart fluttered “How could I ever say no to you?”  

“Pretty easily actually. You do it like twice a day, every day.” Chenle deadpanned.  

- 

Making it Instagram official for the second time was somehow more nerve wracking than the first. You'd spent hours on hair and makeup, only for your boyfriend to saunter down the stairs in those same goddamn grey sweats.  

“You cannot be serious.” You eyeballed him before gesturing to yourself and the obvious difference in effort. 

“You act like I’m not going to ruin all your hard work immediately after the photo” Chenle winked, making you forget about the photo entirely.  

And ruin it, he did. 

Taglist: @keemburley @pckeia @smolpeyy @jenosbliss @rioderiver @love-4-keum @studywoo @wannabeursugarbaby @magicalara @aerev @secretnovelliteraturenerd @cuteejeno @carelessshootanonymous @lovecherrytion @nominsgirl @justalildumpling

[hobbitsnapes]

YOU GUYS ARE DATING

Corpse x MGK!sister reader

(Found this image on Pinterest so all credit goes to artist, if you know who it is please comment below so I can credit them)

A/N: this was requested by @heyitssab

Tree is tall of sex in this, but it’s more in a joking matter, plus corpse has stated he doesn’t mind as long as you are not a minor or send or tag him. I’m literally 2 years younger than him, and have no intentions of ever tagging him or sending him any of my work XD

Summary: how many idiots does it take to tell the brother and friend they’re dating? Apparently takes 2 very forgetful people, who kept their relationship secret without knowing it.

It had just been by chance, a small chance that he had been scrolling through his tags. liking and reposting art, when he saw a tag from someone he followed. He wrecked his brain for when he had followed her, coming up empty. She was cute, no denying the beauty she had as she laughed in the video. It was a clip from a stream that he didn’t know she had, as he couldn’t even remember her name, wearing his merch as it fit her snug. It fit her perfectly in fact, the large hood covering her face, hiding the flush to her face from her rather large chuckles that left her body. He couldn’t help but like the photo, and he couldn’t help but to press message either.

It was first only small likes to posts, an Occasional message, and a view on their livestreams, but that all changed when he spoke of the song he was working on with her older brother.

It all started that night, when both lay in their beds as they talked, laughed, and felt their hearts flutter each time they heard one another speak.

Her phone rang violently in her bag, nearly making her drop the to go bag all over the ground as she walked. “Hello?” She asked, as she held both bags with her hands as her shoulder gripped the phone as if it’d fall down a cliff. “Hey bug!” He exclaimed, making her chuckle as she heard the booming sound of his voice. She had always detested the nickname, as he gave it to her as kids due to her horrendous fear of the creatures. But, it brought more joy to her, as it reminded her of their youth. Having been adults for years, it was fun to hear such a childish name that’s stuck.

“Hey mopey.” She chuckled, as that was the name she gave him when he was in his emo phase that he never outgrew.

Both talked as she walked towards the elevator, mainly about how his day had gone as she silently listened.

She had always been this way, always the shyer of the two, the one to listen to others first before she said a word. He had teased her for it most of their childhood and teen life, but he had grown to love it, as he could let loose or rant to her about anything, and he knew she’d be there just to listen to him.

“So what’re you doing right now?” He asked, as she got into the elevator. “Just grabbed some dinner a few minutes before you called and nearly made me shit.” A smile painted on her face at his boisterous laughter.

“Are you at home?” He asked, as he heard the sound of the elevator beeping in the background. “No, I’m spending the night with my boyfriend.”

She had mentioned about a month prior that she was seeing someone, the joy it brought him to hear the excitement and joy in her tone as she gushed about their first date.

If this was 7 or 8 years prior, he would be bombarding her with questions about the man, who he was, where he lived, where he could meet him to find his intentions with his baby sister. But, in the last few years, he found himself feeling calmer whenever she’d mentioned her love life. He knew she was smart, and would never date a man who treated her poorly. The few breakups she had, they always ended amicably, her head still high as she told him. So, he never asked her any questions about the man, as he could tell from the few times she mentioned him, he could feel the love this man had for her, and Vice versa.

The strong barreling of her phone alerted them awake, both groaning out as she reached for her phone without lifting her head from his shoulder. “Hello?” She mumbled, voice slurred as the saliva was thick in her mouth, barely awake as she fought to listen in on who dares to wake them up.

“Hey!” He exclaimed, making her equally exhausted lover groan. She shifted off of him, laying on her back as he turned away from her, as to hopefully shut his eyes and fall back asleep. She was used to her brother's large voice, as it hardly phased her after growing up with him. “Colson, why are you calling me this ungodly hour?” “Oh come on, it’s not that early.” “Col its-“ She pulled her phone from her ear, eyes shutting violently as the bright light blinded her “5 o’clock in the morning. So again, I’m going to ask you, why did you call me at the asscrack of dawn?” “You don’t remember?” He asked, making her irritation grow. “No, that’s why I’m asking.” She says, as she rubbed her sleep crusted eyes. “You were coming up today to hang out with casie, remember?” Her hand stopped rubbing her face, as she felt her heart stop momentarily. “Wait, you mean today? I thought I was coming Friday?” “No, both of you settled on today, remember I told you that’s perfect because I have a day off?” She felt her heart pain as she heard the sadness in his tone, knowing he’s expecting her to bail. “Yeah sorry, I thought you meant Friday so I mixed it up, let me get ready and I’ll be out the door okay? Love you” she said, as she hung up the line.

Before she could even move, she felt his arm wrap around her body. A tired groan leaving his lips. “Nooo stayyyy.” He groaned, pulling her body to his. She smiled as she looked down at him, wrapping her arm on his chest and the other behind his neck. “I wish I could live, but I can’t.” Planting a soft kiss against his lips. “Stay in bed for a few more hours, please?” Her heart pulled at his tone, hearing just how tired he was. “I can’t, casies wanted me to come up for weeks now. And it takes a good 3 hours to get there. I wanna spend as much time as I can with them before it gets dark so I can get back safely.” He groaned at this, wrapping his arms around her. “Yeah but it’s only 5, it wouldn’t be safe to drive since we went to bed like, 2 hours ago.” “Yeah, and whos fault was that mister?” She teased, “hmm, sorry but I just couldn’t keep my hands to myself after not seeing you for a few days.” He mused, pulling her body closer to his, planting his lips against hers. A small hum left her lips as he pulled her thigh over his, grabbing the flesh harshly as their lips cascaded together. “Mm, no no no, you’re not gonna convince me to stay here just to go another round.” She said, as she got off from his warm body, throwing his large hoodie over her bare body. “Oh come on babe, are you sure about that?” He said, making her turn around to him. A small gasp left her lips as her eyes took in his milky white complexion. His honey brown eyes looking back at her with a small smile etched onto his face. His hair a tousled mess that resembled a bird's nest, some pieces falling onto his face. “Honey, I’ve been wanting to see my family for weeks now, I see you almost everyday and practically live here. I’ll be back tomorrow so I can grab more clothes from my place okay?” She placed a kiss to his lips, both holding one another in their arms. “I don’t know why you don’t just say fuck that place and just move in.” He mumbled, making her chuckle and heart warm. “Don't you think it’s a little soon though? I mean we’ve only been together a few months love.” “Yeah, but you’ve practically lived here since we got together, you literally just go there to get more clothes that you end up leaving here.” She looked into his eyes as she thought about his words. “Hm, I’ll think about it today okay?” She mused, planting a kiss to his lips. A soft okay leaving him as she got up.

“And babe, remember if you live here, we can have all the sex we want and not have to worry about driving to get one another.” He exclaimed, laughing at the loud honey she screamed from the bathroom.

She couldn’t help but laugh out as she watched, as her niece tried her hardest to braid her fathers grown out hair. It was near impossible not to, as pieces would fall out, resulting in her pulling them harsher, nearly pulling his eyelids back due to the tension from his temples. “Okay okay you’re gonna fuckin scalp me.” He chuckled , as all three bursted out in large laughter.

“So how’s school going this year?” She asked her, as she delicately painted her nails. Both of the girls had found themselves on the floor in front of the nice coffee table, as colson sat and chatted with them. “It’s going really well.” “Oh yeah? Make any new friends?” She teased. “I mean, kinda.” She couldn’t help but hear the wavering in her tone, spotting the faint blush dusting her skin. “Ohh, so there’s a someone eh?” She teased to her, making the preteen hide her face as to conceal the flush. “His names Garrett, and we both take social studies together. He always sits next to me at lunch, and we’ll draw on my notebook.” She gushed, making her smile. “Soo, do you think he likes you?” “I mean, that’s what everyone keeps saying.” “Yeah well don’t worry about it to much cas, you’re not dating anyone for many more years. You’re still a kid.” Her das said, making the young girls face fall.

Y/N knew he was only saying this to protect her, as he said the same thing to her growing up. “Hey, don’t be bummed out about it. He is right, you both are only 12 and should focus on school. But don’t worry, he’ll come around. He was just like that with me up until my current boyfriend.” She whispered, making the young girl chuckle.

“Speaking of which, how are you guys doing?” He asked, as she hadn’t mentioned hun to her in a while. He didn’t think it’d hurt to ask. “Great actually, we’re thinking of moving in together actually.” “That’s great! I’m really happy that y’all met.” “Yeah, I am too.” She hummed, a flush dusting her cheeks.

Both men laughed as they chatted on the phone, talking about anything that would come to mind. What was once only a collaboration for a song, turned into an amazing friendship that caused both of them to call at late hours just to shoot the shit.

A yawn left his lips, as he listened to colson ramble on about another song he was making. “Woah, you tired man?” Colson asked, shocked to hear the sound. “Yeah sorry, was up most of the night last night.” He mumbled, rubbing his eyes. “Were you feeling alright?” He asked, worry laced in his tone. He knew all about his friends illnesses, even once being on the other end of the phone during a bad spell one day.” “Oh yeah yeah yeah, was just, up with the misses last night.” He chuckled, a flush blooming on his cheeks. “Ohhh yeah? And how was it?” This shocked him, nearly feeling his heart stop. Like, does he usually know about his sisters sex life? He didn’t think much of it, as he knew just how close both were. “It was absolutely fucking amazing. Like I thought we’d be done for the night, fully tapped out but after like 5 minutes she’d be right back on me for another round.” He chuckled, his flush even worse than before. “Ayyyeee good for you corpse, glad to hear that puss is bussin.” He laughed at this, throwing his head back. “Yeah, it’s bussin bussin.”

Both men talk as they read from their phones, eyes wide in absolute awe of the love they received from the song. They had just dropped it a few days prior, not expecting the cry of joy from both fan bases.

He didn’t even look up from it when she walked in, until she bent down to plant a kiss to his forehead. “Sorry I had completely forgot about the tea I made you an hour ago, but I put it back on the stove to heat it up so if it’s twisting funky just tell me okay?” Before he could even thank her, both their heads whipped towards the loudness from the other line. “Y/N? Is that you? What in the hell are you doing there with corpse!” He didn’t sound angry, more shocked than anything, both of them looking at the phone in confusion. “I, I love here? Remember I told you like a month ago I was moving in with him?” “WHAT!” Both jumped at the loud scream. “Wait so you guys are dating!?” Both we’re even more perplexed, until it dawned on both of them. Their eyes wide as they turned their heads to one another slowly. “Wait you didn’t tell him?” “No? He’s one of your best friends so I thought you did!” “He’s your brother! So I thought you did!” Both whisper, until all three lay silent. That was until, the large cry of laughter that leaves the two, leaving colson even more confused. He wasn’t mad, not at all actually. More shocked and confused than anything. Until he started thinking, it does make sense, all the times they spoke about one another without him knowing, all the times they mentioned-“OH GOD!” He yelled, gagging violently, making them stop their laughing fit. “What's wrong? Why are you yelling?” She asks “like a month ago corpse was talking about how he was tired cause he was up all night having sex AND I HAD NO IDEA HE WAS TALKING ABOUT YOU! OH GOD WAS THAT WHY YOU WERE LIMPING THAT DAY WITH CAS AND I!” Both laugh even harder, as they listen to his ever growing gags.

“So yeah,. That’s literally how we had no idea we were keeping the relationship secret from her brother.” He laughed, as he red the comments and listened to his friends' laughter. She sat beside him, head laying on his shoulder as he told the story. She couldn’t help but to look back up into his eyes, as he glanced down at her, planting a soft kiss to her lips. “Keep it pg guys.” Colson said from the other line, making them chuckle.

[mrvdocks]

Nightcall P.2

Summary: Kurt is obsessive over a model and kidnaps her, taking her along for the ride of the night. P.2

You feel the tiredness behind your eyes when they flutter open, your chest rises and falls slowly as you take in your surroundings. You were home. It was close to six now, but some light still came in through your shades and illuminated your living room sunset orange. 

You sit up in confusion, was the whole Spree a dream? More like a nightmare. 

Your head is killing you, almost as if there’s a jackhammer in your skull. 

You rub at your eyes tiredly, standing up too quick and needing to balance yourself on the arm of the couch you were just laying on. 

The apartment’s empty, save for some background noise coming from your laptop. 

That’s odd, you didn’t remember leaving your laptop on.

Your vision blurs for a moment but sharpens on the image in front of you. The chat in the live stream is going nuts with all sorts of comments ranging from “when are we going to see some gory shit?” to “bring back Bobby!” 

That’s when you realize the person on the live stream is you. 

The comments change to asking you if all of this is real and if Kurt is coming back. 

Your eyes widen as you read his name. 

That’s when you hear him. 

“Oh good, you’re awake. I was starting to get scared that I used too much of the stuff.” 

You don’t know how much tensing your body can take. You put the screen down, meeting a smiling Kurt who’s dressed in Bobby’s clothes. You know it’s his because of the sponsors you helped him get. 

You grab at the nearest thing on the table, brandishing a leftover metal fork at him. 

It merely amuses him as he puts your hand down with ease and takes the fork away. 

“Come on, did you really think I was going to hurt you? You, of all people? I have no reason to do that.”

“You’ve done worse for less,” you shudder, glancing behind you to find a way out. 

“You’re not in any danger with me. You’re safe, okay?” He takes small steps towards you, hands out in a gesture to relax you.

It doesn’t work, it only makes you more nervous. For every step he takes forward, you take one back.

“I bet you’re hungry.” He says, disappearing into your kitchen. 

You take this chance to run into your room, remembering there was a landline you never paid attention to there. Maybe you could get out of this still.

Much to your dismay, the line’s been cut by Kurt anyway. 

“I didn’t want us to be interrupted.” He says, bringing in his concoction of food. 

You don’t have the strength in you to fight and your stomach grumbles at the sight of the food. He holds it out in front of you, waiting. 

You stare at it, trying to figure out if anything’s wrong with it.

“I didn’t poison it or anything if that’s what you’re worried about.” 

When you don’t believe him, he takes a bite out of the sandwich and scarfs it down immediately. Nothing happens.

You take it from him slowly and bite at it before completely devouring it whole. 

“Good. You’re going to need energy for later.” He leaves you alone to go back into the living room.

You don’t understand what he means until you hear something drag against your floors. He reappears in your bedroom dragging the body of the same man from the earlier Spree. 

You instantly feel sick to your stomach, the food you just ate reaching your throat as you gag at the smell. 

You shudder lowly, feeling your shoulders shake and your chest heave as you clasp your hand over your mouth in an attempt to calm yourself.

The dead body in front of you was very much freaking you the fuck out and you didn’t know whether to scream or to cry about your situation.

Kurt makes quick work of the man’s possessions, pocketing them to probably discard them later. 

“People are just so rude,” He says. “I’m sorry you had to go through that.”

Kurt killing someone for demeaning you is something you didn’t see coming. Then again, you didn’t really see yourself being kidnapped on the list of things that would happen this week.

“This makes you worse than Bobby. No, worse than anyone.” 

You don’t know where the sudden fuel to comment on his actions came, you were still scared but somehow it came barreling out. 

He stops what he’s doing, looking at you in disappointment. 

He really couldn’t expect you to go along with this, could he?

“Bobby and I are different, you know that. This is different.” 

You didn’t know him. 

“So what? You don’t like how the world treated you so you just do whatever you like? Murder as you please?” 

He doesn’t argue back, he doesn’t need to. You’re right. 

“I’m not just doing this for myself.” He rubs at his temple. 

“Kurt,” you muster enough courage to look him dead straight in the eyes. “Do not do this and say that it’s for me. I won’t hesitate -”

“To leave? Go ahead, you’ve had all this time.” 

He renders you speechless. He was right, you could’ve easily overpowered him with anything in the room. But if he was so infatuated with you the right thing would’ve been to let you go without consequence.

“You said you trusted me.” He murmurs. 

“You ran a fucking light and now you’re a serial killer! It doesn’t apply to both!” 

“I’m - I’m not the bad guy here!” He huffs incredulously, as if everything he did wasn’t affecting him psychologically the way it was you. “If anything, I’m doing the world a favor! These are scum of the earth people!”

He calms down. “They get it.” 

He points presumably to the laptop mere feet away from you both. The sounds of the stream popped up one after the other.

“Really? Because as far as everybody’s concerned, they all think this is some kind of fucked up joke!” 

“Let them believe what they want to believe. They’re finally watching me!” 

It doesn’t matter to him that they’re insulting him in the comments, or that he killed someone he considered a friend. 

“So everyone has an expiration date for you.” You conclude. 

He was only going to use people up. That should’ve been common sense. You don’t understand why that fact made you feel a little dejected. You wish he could revert back to the Kurt you met. 

“Do I have an expiration date?” 

“No.” He assures. “But if this is going to work I need you to be okay with this.” 

“I’m not.” 

Fighting him was futile. You were forced into it. You wanted so desperately to warn these people and get the word out. But that's also what he would've wanted. He wanted you to give him exposure. The officer still thinks you did it all willingly, but the footage was more than enough to help you get off with a few repercussions. 

You wish you could forget the screams of the people in the car, a thousand washes with soap couldn’t get rid of the blood on your hands. Even if some of them really were assholes, shouldn’t they have also had a chance at redemption?

With each spree, Kurt only was egged on by the audience and those that found the livestream later. Many of them called for you to do something equally as horrifying but you couldn’t. Many suggested for him to get rid of you since you were being ‘boring’. He wouldn’t do it. 

And that’s when he set his sights on Jessie. After promptly kidnapping her and trying to convince her to join him to no avail, he takes both of you back to his house. You had enough. You wanted a way out and Jessie was it. You just didn’t know everything would end so bloody. 

There’s an ensuing fight, she strangles Kurt with the phone charger and knocks you back in an attempt to stop it. The back of your head collides with the passenger window harshly, forcing you to screech in pain.

Kurt doesn’t take it well.

She swindles Kurt, taking the gun he kept in the glove compartment and arming herself with it. This wasn’t how you wanted it to go. You just wanted her to scare him enough to turn himself in. 

But the crazed look in her eye suggested that wasn’t happening.

The final battle takes place at his home. Where all his dirty secrets are let out.

“I’ll shoot you both if you don’t move!”

You keep your hands up, shielding Kurt with your body. 

“Jessie please, let’s think about this.”

“And let him get away with all of this? He’s brainwashed you already.” 

“He hasn’t - listen he won’t get away with this. Jessie please, give me the gun.”

She wavers, the barrel pointed directly at you. Your heart is beating so fast you almost think you’ll die from a heart attack before the bullet even reaches you. 

“No! No, this has to end. He’s fucking crazy, can’t you see that??! This was always going to end with one of us dead anyway, and it’s not going to be me.” She points behind you and almost pulls the trigger but is stopped by you lunging at her. 

“No!” You yell.

You tackle her onto the floor, the back of her head bouncing off the leg of the pool table and knocking her unconscious.

You press your index finger against her neck, feeling her pulse. You sigh in relief. 

“Why didn’t you let her do it?” Kurt asks suddenly. 

“She was going to kill you. I don’t know how I’d feel about that.”

Kurt had no problem having these people on his conscience, but you did. Maybe killing him would be good, but him facing justice for what he did would be better. He could atone for all of this. 

“Even after what I did to you?”

You don’t answer and instead prop Jessie against the wall. You were honestly very sorry for it but you were optimistic about the outcome of all of this. 

Kurt bends to your level and takes you into his arms, squeezing you tight. 

“We did it!” He celebrates prematurely, Jesse’s not even dead but it doesn’t matter to him. He thinks you’re on his side, that’s more than enough. 

You smile nervously, his forehead touching yours in what he believes is a tender moment. 

“What are you going to do to her?” You’re afraid of the answer. 

Kurt’s mood shifts immediately, serious now. 

“I have to get rid of her now obviously. If she won’t join us then there’s no point to her.”

His quick response is enough for you to discard all hope that he would walk away from this. You grip the gun in your right hand, sure that he hasn’t seen it. 

“This is going to be great! We’re going to be even bigger than all these assholes. And you can finally be by my side, as it should be.” 

Your blood runs cold. He’s a dead man walking at this point. 

You say fuck it as you abandon all morals. With the free hand you have, you bring it to the nape of his neck and press your lips against his. He’s so distracted by it that he doesn’t feel the front of the gun pressed against his abdomen. 

It’s only when you feel your finger pull back the trigger that the shot startles you both and he opens his eyes to looks at you in shock. 

You unload another shot into him. He crawls away from you and applies pressure onto his wound, howling in pain.

He looks at you again, hurt and confusion clear on his face. He reaches for you, calling for you in between coughing fits and cries of pain.

You empty the last bullet into his shoulder, sending him backward. 

There’s a ringing in your ear that drowns out the sirens in the distance. You don’t know who managed to call them but you’re thankful to end this nightmare. You’re still holding the gun out but it only takes you a second to realize you’re screaming. Absolute guttural and gut-wrenching wailing. 

When they arrive, the paramedics have to sedate you to calm you down. Jessie is taken in the ambulance while an officer tries to get you out of the house while you’re still conscious. Kurt’s body lays limp in a pool of red, his hand still reaching and glazed eyes staring back at you.

It haunts you.

“People like Kurt needed a partner. We believe he was targeting Ms. Adams previously before his attention turned to you. Do you know why that is?”

You lie. “No.”

It’s easy to say you never knew his intentions. They were spur of the moment decisions. Everything was chance. You can't explain yourself or Kurt’s psyche to her, there’s no easy way to do it. 

She sighs. “Listen, whatever good you think you saw in him, whatever ramble about the real world you think you understood - was never there.” 

Her words should make you feel better, comfort you in the fact that you developing some sort of twisted attachment with your kidnapper wasn’t your fault. You don’t know how to feel, you just feel...empty.

“It doesn’t matter now.” You shrug. 

“You said Kurt told you something before he died. What was it?”

You let your heavy eyes close in exhaustion. You don’t remember why you told them that, but it must’ve slipped out in questioning. 

“I’m sorry, I don’t remember.” 

Unsure if she believes you or not but knowing there’s nothing else to keep you here, she dismisses you. You trudge out of the interrogation room and out of the station into the cold. You don’t bother with ordering a ride, it’s been ruined for you. 

Instead you walk it home, feeling yourself go into autopilot. You think you see his face in every driver that passes you.

You’re sure you look catatonic to people but you don’t care. You just want to rest.

As soon as you’re home you slip into the bathroom, turn on the shower until it’s steaming and let everything out. 

In the weeks that follow, you and Jessie are thrown into the stratosphere of fame. While she’s more content with her newfound trajectory and takes advantage of it, you decline every interview and prying noses that ask you to explain your relationship with Kurt. It’s all part of their circle jerk of tragedy, milking the victims for information and glamour. 

Kurt’s regarded as a loser by those who are saner than he was and a god by those on the internet. You’re not entirely surprised.

You think it’s all over when months pass without incident until one day your friends send you a link to something on Reddit, which you don’t think twice about. 

You regret it as soon as you see Kurt’s face in the thumbnail. Someone took all the footage from that night and was going to broadcast it later to show off their own documentary. 

You don’t use social media anymore.

[cali-holland]

The Pub Quiz- Tom Holland One Shot

Pairing: Tom Holland X Reader

Prompt: Tom can’t concentrate on the pub quiz when you refuse to take part in it.

Word Count: 1600

Warnings: probably some swearing??

A/N: idk guys i just miss the livestream chaos already

Masterlist   Tom Holland Masterlist

*Gif is not mine*

~~~

Leading up to the Marvel pub quiz, all of you in the house worked on coming up with the best questions and the correct answers. It was tricky just trying to narrow them down to about 30 questions.

“We cannot ask the thong question.” Harry shook his head, laughing at his older brother.

“But it’s funny!” Tom insisted. One of the questions he had suggested was ‘what did Tom have to wear under the Spider-Man suit’, which was quickly vetoed by you, Harry, and Harrison.

“We’re not asking that.” You laughed, coming into the living room and sitting in the only open spot, right beside Tom. Harry was your best friend, and so when you needed a place to stay for a bit, he offered for you to live with him, Tom, and Harrison; that turned into a much longer stay with quarantine. You were fine living with Harry and Harrison- you just had issues living with Tom. Maybe it was because he had been your crush since like forever, maybe it was because he just happened to look good every single day of quarantine, maybe it was because you personally saw that t-shirt challenge live and couldn’t get the image out of your head, maybe it was because Tom was just Tom. But Harry was your best friend and you weren’t about to tell him you were in love with his brother.

“We’re? So you’re doing it now?” Tom asked with a smirk. He’d been trying to convince you to join him, Harry, and Harrison on the livestream, but you didn’t want to. You were shy and didn’t exactly want the world to see your quarantine self.

“Absolutely not.” You replied, “But that doesn’t mean I still can’t veto your questions.”

“We gave you the coolest superhero question; we’re not doing the thong question.” Harry stated.

The four of you moved on with more questions. It was difficult to come up with questions that were hard but not too hard and questions that were easy but not too easy. After a couple hours, you all were finally content with the list.

On the day of the quiz, Tom wandered out onto the back patio where you were working on your laptop. You already knew it was another attempt to convince you to join the livestream again. As he flopped himself down on the outdoor sofa next to you, you moved your laptop to the table to give him your full attention.

“Please?” Tom asked, giving you his best puppy dog eyes. His leg shook anxiously beside you.

“No, I don’t want to.” You shook your head, laughing at his plea.

“But I want you to.” He held your hands in his, keeping up his pout.

“I’ll watch it, if that makes you feel better.” You said and he sighed in defeat.

“Fine.” Tom let out a small huff. It didn’t go unnoticed by you that he kept your hands in his. You wondered if he even noticed.

“Nervous?�� You asked, nodding down to his shaking leg. He immediately stopped himself from shaking his leg, almost embarrassed that he’d been called out.

“A little. I’m not going to have my favorite girl with me.” He said, giving you a teasing smile. That was another thing that made your living situation difficult; Tom would make flirty comments to you whenever it was just the two of you in the room.

“Tessa will be there.” You teased.

“That’s not what I meant.” As his thumb started to rub the back of your hand, you realized that he definitely knew he was still holding your hands. You were so focused on your hands that you barely registered Tom was leaning in closer to you.

“Tom! Livestream’s in five!” Harry’s voice from inside the house made Tom jump back from you, dropping your hands.

“You better be watching it.” Tom said. He pressed a quick kiss to your cheek before bounding off inside the house to get ready for the quiz. You smiled softly, placing a hand over the spot where his lips had touched you. Yeah, quarantine was definitely getting harder. You got out your phone and put on the livestream, watching him go through the questions. You were more than grateful when he finished them without mentioning the thong question- the veto power had worked.

You went back to work on your laptop, having the phone propped up so that you could still watch the livestream. You smiled when the rest of the Hollands joined in; you missed being able to see them, they were like your second family. You became so focused on your work afterwards that you hadn’t realized Tom excused himself from the livestream.

“You sure you don’t want to join?” Tom asked you, coming back out to the backyard.

“Tom, you’re supposed to be doing the livestream.” You scolded, surprised by his appearance downstairs.

“Harry and Harrison took it over for a few minutes.” He explained, adjusting the cap on his head as he sat down right beside you on the couch again.

“Then what are you doing down here?” You asked.

“I can’t focus on it.”

“The fans want to see you, not Harry and Haz.” You said with a small laugh, glancing over at your phone which showed the two boys on the other end of the livestream trying to figure out what to do.

“Well, I want you.” Tom replied in a rushed voice, leaning closer to you, “I need to finish where we left off.”

“Tom,” was all you could get out before he kissed you. He smiled into it as you began to kiss him back.

“I needed that.” He rested his forehead on yours when he pulled away, “I should get back up there.”

“Yeah, you should.” You smiled. Tom gave you another kiss before he rushed back in the house.

“Y/N answer your phone!” You heard Harry shout from inside the house and through the livestream, making you jump. You’d been so caught up in the kiss that you hadn’t realized he and Harrison had requested you to join them on the livestream. You laughed to yourself before answering it. Tom came back into view of the livestream with Tessa in his arms, surprised to see you on there with them.

“I told you I didn’t want to go live.” You said, jokingly.

“Oh come on, just one question.” Harry pleaded, subtly kicking Tom under the table.

“Ow. What’d you do that for?” Tom muttered. He let Tessa down and Harrison was quick to pick her up.

“Say the question, you div.” Harrison chuckled, slowly rocking side to side to soothe the dog in his arms.

“Y/N, long time no see.” Tom smiled, acting as if he wasn’t the reason for the blush on your cheeks- and if you weren’t the reason for the blush on his. He looked down and read the next question with a laugh, “You better get this right.”

“I haven’t been paying attention, but I did come up with the questions.” You laughed. You looked down and read some of the comments on the livestream; it was hard to ignore all the fans commenting your ship name with Tom, which was something all four of you were very aware of.

“Who is the coolest superhero in the MCU?” He asked with a cocky smile on his face, already expecting your answer to be him.

“Definitely not Spider-Man.” You teased, making Harry and Harrison burst out in fits of laughter while Tom pouted. “No, no, I’ll say Spider-Man to make you feel better.”

“Well, Spider-Man’s the right answer so,” Tom said.

“Whatever you say.” You playfully rolled your eyes.

“Alright, we can’t ask you another question because you already know the answers.” He laughed, “See you in a bit, love.” You waved goodbye as he removed you from the livestream. Harry once again kicked Tom under the table- you could tell by how Tom jumped and eyed his brother questioningly. 

When the livestream ended, you made your way back inside to the kitchen. Making yourself a cup of tea, you heard the three boys laughing and talking from upstairs. After a moment, Tom came down the stairs into the kitchen.

“How’d you like the livestream?” Tom asked you. His signature cheeky grin on his face. You wondered if Harry and Harrison knew about the kiss; after all, they’d been on a livestream so there really wasn’t time for them to discuss it.

“You really just went for the dogs at the end there.” You joked.

“Well, Tess didn’t want to be in the livestream so we had to improvise.” He laughed. A silence filled the air before you spoke up.

“So are we going to talk about that?”

“Sorry, I was just being stupid.” Tom shook his head and your heart dropped at his words. “It’s just Harry mentioned earlier today that he thought you liked me, and I wanted to know if you did because I- well, I like you too, as more than just my little brother’s best friend.” He stepped closer to you, “I’d just really like to be with you, Y/N. And I really hope that I didn’t make it weird by kissing you.”

“You didn’t make it weird.” You replied, “Harry was right.”

“Can I kiss you again then?” He asked with a hopeful smile. You nodded as he kissed you again.

“Did we miss something?” Harrison questioned, walking into the kitchen with Harry beside him. You pulled back from Tom, nervously biting your lip.

“It’s about time, but god just don’t do that in the kitchen.” Harry said, fake gagging. Tom laughed at his brother before kissing you again. Harry and Harrison retreated from the kitchen as Tom deepened the kiss, flipping off his brother in the process.

[astermacguffin]

I was only kinda joking in the tags of this post but now the the idea of youtubegamersnatural has entered my brain and it won't fucking leave so. Here it is i guess lol

(I would first like to stress out that this is just a silly idea so i kinda don't care if it's unrealistic that most of them are youtubers so there's that i guess)

Dean is one of those very popular youtube gamers that are loud and aggressive but also jumpy and easily startled by horror games.

Cas is one of those video game analysis channels that dissects themes, game mechanics, characters and other critic stuff.

Jack also has his own channel where he posts his minecraft livestreams as well as his collabs with his dad, Cas. Jack's fans love his dad because he's a stoic and hardcore completionist when playing alone, but he loosens up considerably when playing multiplayer with Jack. The serious academic vibe of Cas' own channel contrasts strongly with his more relaxed persona in Jack's channel.

Charlie is a theorist channel where she speculates on different aspects of popular games. She's also real-life friends with Dean.

One time, Dean plays a game that strongly resonates with his own issues, so he excitedly looks for game reviews on Youtube.

There, he sees Cas' scathing review of the game. Because this is Dean we're talking about, he takes this VERY personally so he badmouths Cas and his video on Twitter.

Before he realizes his lapse of judgment due to his very emotional state, his fans have already started dogpiling on Cas. To Dean's horror, the bashing also eventually reaches Jack's channel and the kid has to temporarily take a break due to that.

Dean deletes the tweets, makes an apology video, and demands his fans NOT to do shit like that. Charlie gives him a "dude what the fuck" both personally and on social media.

Understandably, Cas is VERY upset because of this. He makes a public statement to leave his son alone, but other than that, he leaves it be and continues on like nothing happened. (He's a critic; he already has tough skin when it comes to this. He just doesn't want to get Jack involved.)

Jack resumes posting videos, but he also makes an announcement that his dad won't be in much of the videos anymore. He doesn't elaborate much on it, but everyone knows why. Jack's pretty upset about this because he loves playing with his dad, but Cas explained it to him; less associations with Cas, the better.

Dean notices, of course, and is very much consumed by guilt because of this. He binge-watches all of Cas' videos with Jack.

He softens because of how much Cas shows his love & support to his son and the path he's taken (something he never received from John, who doesn't believe it's a "real career"). His image of Cas as a stuffy, killjoy academic is destroyed.

He reaches out to Cas and sends an apology directly to him. He explains the circumstances and stuff. Dean wasn't expecting him to reply, but he did.

They make amends. After a few more weeks of communication, they find out that they actually don't hate each other that much.

They eventually become friends, and eventually they make collabs with one another. The turnaround surprises fans at first, but eventually they become a power duo. Dean's snark and Cas' dry humor makes a good dynamic in their gaming collabs.

Yada yada slow burn yada yada they fall in love, the end lol

[thepriceofbeingaroseisloneliness]

THE FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION #46 30th December (TRANSLATION)

“Dir en grey MV shooting with 3D realistic avatars”

Appearance:

 Kaoru (DIR EN GREY direngrey.co.jp/)

 Joe Yokomizo (Writer / DJ)

 Tasai Reporter (Tokyo Sports)

 God ?

Notes before reading: This is a translation of The Freedom of Expression #46 uploaded last 30th December. Originally, I planned to upload this before the 31st livestream but in the end I couldn’t, so even if we know now how the 3D avatar MV looks like, I still want to share it here before finishing the livestream report.

Please don’t forget to subscribe to their channel and watch their actual video to support the program.

  Feel free to correct me if you spot any mistake or any confusing parts. ------ *In 2021, The Freedom of Expression will be uploaded on Wednesdays* Kaoru: Hello, this is Kaoru from Dir en grey…The Freedom of Expression is starting this time…. this week again…. Joe-san…. Tasai-san…. I feel like it’s being a while…. Joe: That’s true…. Tasai: That’s true… Kaoru: There was that program (we filmed) at that location…. *Kaoru means The Freedom of Expression #42 and #45* Joe&Tasai: Yes, yes…. Kaoru: And the time we recorded 4 programs on a row…. Joe: Ah, that’s right… Kaoru: We were free for a while… Joe: We were…. Nothing changed? Kaoru: Nothing changed, yes… Joe: It also seems like Tasai was busy as well…. Tasai: That’s right.  I saw the two of you before at the Niconico livestream…. *Kaoru appeared as a guest on Joe Yokomizo’s channel last 10th Dec* Joe&Kaoru: Ah! Joe: Thank you so much for watching!  Thank you for writing an article about it immediately!  *Tasai uploaded an article about the livestream at Tokyo Sports website* Tasai: I worked while feeling jealous of you two…. Joe: No, rather than that, wasn’t the Tokyo Sports sweatshirt, or  rather hoodie wore in a great shape? Tasai: Yes, thanks to you guys it’s going to be sold…. Joe: No,no….it’s thanks to Kaoru…. Kaoru: No,no…not at all…. Joe: Please make something for the second anniversary of the channel (Joe Yokomizo channel)…. Tasai: It seems that we will do a T-shirt collaboration again…. Joe: Oh! Kaoru: I’m looking forward to it. Joe: Someday, a collaboration set with The Freedom of Expression…. Tasai: Right? Joe: Yes. Tasai: Then, we could sell it… Joe: Sell it…. Tasai: And to go Okinawa…. Joe: Go to Okinawa? The three of them laugh. Joe: The plan is steadily progressing to that objective…. Tasai:  The three of us…. Joe:  Please….. (I hope that happens someday)….. Kaoru: So, back to the topic…..can you read the it?.... Joe: Yes, I can…..yes, this is another piece of good news….. *on screen* Title: “Dir en grey MV shooting with 3D realistic avatars” -Announced a MV created by shooting members with a 3D scanner. “The World You Live In” screening events were sold out on the same day that went on sale. In response to that, an online screening event called “The World You Live In ” -additional-“  will be streamed. With a special talk in which members will also appear, a music video created with characters using real avatars created with a 3D scanner will be screened. The song used for this will be their first digital single "Ochita koto no aru sora” that Dir en grey released in August this year. The scenes of the members performing are scanned, so it is possible to create scenes in various places. Joe: So, Kaoru…. Kaoru: Thank you for reading it…. Joe: This is really good news.…. Kaoru: Originally, the programs are uploaded on Friday…but we uploaded this earlier so we can talk about this….so this time it feels a little bit irregular…. Joe: An irregular update…. Tasai: But it’s ok…. Kaoru: Well, of course, I’ve already watched it…. Joe: You did? How was it? Kaoru: First, we took pictures, we got our makeup done, we took some body impressions and…. then, this thing…. how is it called?.... with a 360 degrees camera….then in another studio…another time…we wore clothes with dots….and then…..we played air….*kaoru plays air guitar* Joe: I see….You did as if you were performing…. Tasai: Ohh…. Kaoru: Then, with the pictures they took…. Joe: Sounds quite hard…. Kaoru: No, we were done in a moment…. Joe: Is that so? Kaoru: The pictures that were taken of me with my outfit….it was just a click, then the light and “yes, we are done”. Kaoru makes a comment about makeup. Joe: Maybe it would had been better to get more shoots… “Actually, how are the avatars going to be?” (top screen) Joe: When it was already done… Kaoru: The atmosphere of it….it feels like being inside a game…. Tasai: What about the outfits? Kaoru: It’s impossible to do with the outfits on…. Of course, you can do it if you take time to shoot like that…. Tasai: I see. Kaoru: But well…. Joe: It was done that way this time….as this comes out, naturally the first thing that comes to my mind is Kokoromi* *Kokoromi (ココロ見) TV program that has been broadcast irregularly since 2010 on NHK BS Premium. This program dedicated one episode to Hiroshi Ishiguro, director of the Intelligent Robotics Laboratory, part of the Department of Systems Innovation in the Graduate School of Engineering Science at Osaka University * Kaoru: That’s it…. Joe: It’s like you had the opportunity to do that…. Kaoru: Somehow, it was like….” we can do something like this”…..”is it going to be hard?”….. Joe: It’s like, you had a suggestion, and then it seemed possible to be done…. Kaoru: “So let’s try to do it” Joe: That is…. Tasai: I’m really looking forward to the screening…. Kaoru explains that for the recreation of his movements, he had to play holding his guitar higher than usual due to the pointers (dots) he had on him to capture the movements. Joe laughs and imitates Kaoru when he shows the position, he did to be able to do the procedure, playing the guitar chest high. Joe: Higher than usual…*playing air guitar at chest-high, Kaoru burst into laughter* “One of the highlights is the position of the guitar?” (top screen) Kaoru: When I saw it, I was thinking that…..”that’s really high!”*laughs* Joe: But the position of your guitar was like if another person was shooting instead of you... Kaoru: No, holding it up that way felt like when I play bass at home…. Joe: I see… Joe makes a joke about the photographer having to take his picture holding the guitar like that. Joe: Did the other members have to change it as well? Or just you? Because of that pointer…. Kaoru says that he thinks he is the only one who had to change. Joe: But Die plays guitar holding it really low…. Kaoru: That’s true… “About other members shooting” (on screen) Kaoru explains that he was watching the process and saw some impressions moving, like the shape of a person (before being completed) Kaoru: I saw just that, and I was like “Ah, Die!”…when I saw the appearance…..it gave me chills… Joe is curious about how they did the procedure with the drums. Kaoru explains that they took pictures of the drum set to reproduce a similar shape. Joe: Weren’t the drums the hardest (instrument)? Kaoru: Maybe…. Joe insists that the drums must had been hard to capture for the process. Then, he goes back to Kaoru holding the guitar chest high. He says that playing the guitar in a lower position is cool, Kaoru agrees. Joe adds that there are many guitarists that play the guitar like that, but he thinks there isn’t any that plays it that high (chest, almost shoulder, high lol) Kaoru: Not many…. Joe: Then, the song is the single… Kaoru: Yes Tasai: You are using (for this) the latest single “Ochita koto no aru sora”…. Joe:  Doing this mv once again in this way, see the reactions again… Kaoru: As it took more time to do, it’s like a polished-up version…. Joe: It’s like a new creation…..I’m looking forward to it…. “From 23:00 on 31/12” (on screen)” Kaoru explains how the stream is going to be. First, the performance, then the videos and later, a talk with the members. That it’s going to be the flow. Joe says he is looking forward to it, jokes about Kaoru playing guitar high chest. Kaoru wonders why God hasn’t say anything yet. Joe: God, are you there? God: I am! God is here! They laugh and “scold” him for not saying anything God: I already saw it! (the video) Joe: Did you? Tasai: Did God already see it too? God: I did, I did… Joe: But it’s because you are God, right? He is different from humans. Kaoru: As he is God, he can see everything, everywhere…. God: As I’m God, I have that power… Joe: Do you have that power? God: Yes….it was interesting…it looked interesting and cool…. Joe: Did you realized that Kaoru was playing his guitar that high? God: I didn’t pay much attention to that…. Joe: Is that so? Do you have any favourite part or a part that attracted your attention? God: Well, that’s right. The footage is good after all but, the song is good because after all, Dir en grey is good at writing songs…. They burst into laughs. Kaoru: Thank you *laughs* God: I think they are talented…. Kaoru: “They are good”*imitating God* Joe: You said they are good at it….like they are talented…. God: That’s because I’m God…. Joe: That’s right….you are a pro yourself…. What about other aspects such as the visuals or the song?.... God: It was fun…. Joe: Ah, it was fun….thank you for telling us… Tasai: God should also get an avatar (of himself)…. Joe: That’s right… Kaoru: indeed…. Joe: But we haven’t seen his appearance ever…. God: I can't show it yet…. Kaoru: We should do an avatar of him…. Joe: Right? It’s a possibility…. Kaoru: I think that Tasai could draw it (God’s avatar)…. *God's avatar drawn by reporter Tasai* (top screen) Joe: He has the skills….it’s legendary…. Kaoru: It’s legendary…. Joe: Then, let’s do that! Kaoru: Draw how you imagine him…. Tasai: My image of God…. Joe: We could draw him together… Kaoru talks about his face and so when God cuts in. God: God is just an old man, right? Kaoru: An old man? We got that…. The three of them laugh and start discussing about an idea of a story to draw. Tasai: You tell me that story, and I imagine it and then I draw it… Kaoru: An avatar of God…. Joe: An avatar of God……we could do a meeting with a screening and a talk…. The three of them laugh. Kaoru: Then, next year we are doing it again, from February….a screening of a live ‘Meguro Rock-May-Kan GIG’…..well it’s a concert film screening tour around the country….. Joe: And there will be a talk with the members? Kaoru: I think so…. Kaoru: So that’s it…. Joe: That’s it, right? Kaoru: Well, tomorrow, I hope you  all can watch the livestream…. Joe: That’s it….don’t miss it/stay tuned…. Kaoru: Well, I think it’s time to end the program…..Please subscribe to the channel…. Joe: Please subscribe…. Kaoru: Thank you for watching….! Tasai: Thank you for watching! God: Thank you for watching!

[punkpoemprose]

December 5th- Livestream

Universe: 2010′s AU Streamer! Anna AU Rating: Teen (maybe I’ll do a smutty followup at some point!) Length: 4368 Words

A/N: Sorry this is a little late. I didn’t have wifi for most of the day so I spent it doing other Christmas things instead of writing.

“So you’ve really never played a videogame before?” She asked, “Like you didn’t play Pokémon or Mario as a kid?”

She was sitting, cross-legged, atop one of the four washers in the apartment complex’s laundry room, snacking on Nacho Doritos and undoubtedly making a mess in a room meant for cleaning things. Across from her, pulling clothes from the drier was her neighbor Kristoff. She wouldn’t admit it to anyone except for maybe her sister, but she’d been intentionally doing her laundry on the same schedule he did his, He wasn’t usually the social sort from what Anna could tell, but she found him very attractive and relished the weekly opportunity to get to know him better. Also, secondarily, but no less importantly, it gave her the opportunity to stare at his very tones ass as he bent over to remove his clothes from the dryer. That he always wore basketball shorts on laundry day was proof enough to her that God was real and she or he wanted Anna to thrive. Or to be tested for her strength of will. Perhaps both.

“Not really,” he admitted with a shrug, “I grew up mostly playing hockey. One of the ice rinks used to have a pinball machine, and I played that, bit it probably doesn’t count.”

Anna snorted and set down the bag of chips, shaking her head and wiping her fingers on her sweatpants. He was a totally unique guy, vastly different than the “pretty boys” she normally took an interest in. Her attraction to him ever growing since the day he moved in. That day, when she’d first noticed him, she’d been given the great pleasure of watching him lift heavy boxes through her window, and then through her peephole after he’d climbed the stairs.

“Did it have a screen or a ball?” She asked, more as a joke than anything given that she knew the obvious answer.

“Touché,” he replied.

She took one last good look at his rear as he straightened up, appearing to be satisfied that all his clothes were out of the dryer and into his green laundry basket. The smell of his dryer sheets wafted over to her from the open dryer as he shifted out of the space and she decided that she needed to up her laundry scent game. It was unfair that someone was allowed to be as attractive as he was and to also smell like lavender and citrus and all the good things on the Earth.

She noticed, probably a bit creepily if she was being honest with herself, that he wore boxer briefs. And since she’d first noticed it weeks before the image of him wearing them and nothing else had haunted her late-night thoughts like a sexy specter. As a result, it had provided her of the most perfect mental picture of what he might look like in her apartment, in her bedroom, undressed and giving her the eye. She bit her lip trying to rid herself of the thought, lest he glance over at her and see her giving him bedroom eyes, or worse, drooling all over herself. He probably didn’t even realize that he was weapons grade sexy, because that made him even more attractive in her books.  

“Sometimes I play solitaire on my computer if I’m waiting fi something to load,” he offered in his own defense.

He was turning towards her now, proving her concerns correct. He rested his basket against his hip as he leaned back on the now empty dryer. His sheepish smile and tone told Anna that he knew that the defense was not particularly convincing in anyway, but that he needed to at least try.

“That’s just sad,” she teased, shaking her head as if she truly were severely disappointed in him instead of just joking around.

“Well not everyone plays videogames for a living Anna.”

It wasn’t an attack really, but more of a statement. When she’d started talking to him the words may have had more sting, but now, knowing him and his gruff but kindly manner, she took it for the joke and defense of his lack of experience that he meant it to be. If he had a flaw it was that he was a bit of a grump. He’d never been mean though, and she was already watching him soften more and more by the day.

“Well not everyone is a chef either Kristoff,” she replied, “It takes all types to make the world go round.”

“I’m a baker,” he corrected.

He rolled his eyes at her when she shrugged and gave him her best “po-tay-to, po-tot-o” look. The look and sigh of exasperation that this rewarded her made her laugh. There was little better than the playful exchanges she could have from him in just looks, and it was one of the many reasons why she enjoyed being around him. They didn’t know each other very well yet, but she still felt like he got her somehow.

“And also, just so you know, you sound like my mother.”

“She’s a wise woman.”

She of course knew that he was a baker, but she hadn’t really realized that he’d rather be called a baker than a chef. Either way, she was still hoping that maybe someday he’d show up at her door with dinner, or a cake or something, just so she could invite him in.

“That she is.”

A silence fell between them as he folded his things and while Anna swapped her own clothes out of the washer and into the dryer. It wasn’t an uncomfortable silence, but rather a companionable one. That was of course, until they both seemed to come to the realization simultaneously that one of them would be leaving sooner or later.

“You can change it by the way,” Anna offered.

“My mother being wise?”

She almost laughed. She hadn’t met his mother, but she doubted that with a son like him she had the power to change anything about her. If anything, she might ask her for some wisdom of her own.

“Oh gosh, no. All mothers, or at least all the ones I’ve met, have been wise. No, I meant the ‘never played a videogame’ thing.”

He shrugged at first, but then gave her a look betraying a greater level of interest. She wasn’t sure whether he was going to say yes or no, and there was a long pause as he thought about it.

It would be fun, she thought, to play with him. Maybe, if he’d let her, she’d stream it too. Videos of experienced players teaching others always had high entertainment and replay value. It would be good for her brand, but mostly she just wanted an excuse to invite him to her apartment. She’d been wanting for a while to see him somewhere other than in stairwells and the laundry room.

“What do you play?” He asked finally, seeking out more information.

She wasn’t sure he was quite ready for the long list of games she’d streamed before, let alone the even longer one of games she’d played just for fun. She decided it was best to give him the highlights of the CliffsNotes.

“I play a little bit of everything. I’m competitive in Overwatch and League of Legends, but I’m not really like… going to in person tournaments of anything. I just get invited to a few online cups here and there. Mostly I just play for my audience rather than thinking about joining a league or anything.”

He looked at her like she had three heads that each of them was speaking a different language. She’d gotten too deep too fast she supposed.

“I just mean that those ate the games I play against people seriously in. I play other games for fun and for people to watch how they’re played.”

He nodded, and while she could still see confusion in his eyes, he was making a solid effort to understand. She did notice that he was giving her a sort of amused smile, like he was enjoying the conversation despite not really knowing what it was she was talking about.

“Can you put that into different terms? I get that it’s competitive, but are you playing for money or points or?”

“Sometimes a cup will have a cash prize, but mostly I earn money from people watching my streams on Twitch and then the replays and the play throughs of games I post on YouTube.”

They’d talked before a bit about what they each did for a living. She’d been trying to figure out how to ask him what bakery he worked at so she could drop by sometime but hadn’t quite figured out how to be subtle about it yet. He knew that she was a streamer, and while it was a difficult career to try to explain to someone, he’d made the effort to understand as she offered him more and more details each time. He hadn’t asked for her username of anything, which was always equal parts disappointing and unsurprising. She didn’t really want him to watch her videos per say, but she also wanted to be able to imagine that he was tuned into her streams when she was doing them. She just wanted to be able to pretend for a little while that he was interested in her enough that he’d want to watch.

“Uh, I don’t know where this falls exactly, but my sister’s kids play Minecraft. Do you play it? They talk about it, but I don’t really know what it’s all about.”

“I could show you,” she replied, feeling a bit bold, “We don’t even have to stream it if you don’t want.”

He stopped to think again, and Anna was careful not to let her eyes wander too far down his body as she took the time to take in the muscle of his arms, the way his black t-shirt strained over the expanse of his chest. Whatever it took to be a baker, she decided, must be one hell of an upper body workout. His rear, she’d already decided, was surely hockey related. He’d never said so directly, but she was fairly sure he still played, and on occasion she’d see him carrying a large duffle up and down the stairs.

“I guess I wouldn’t mind. Could my niece and nephew watch?”

She grinned. It was a date.

They’d settled n the weekend, not too early, not too late. She’d insisted on calling his sister to let her know personally that the kids could watch them play from home. When her sister had called him to let him know about the call, she’d told him how nice Anna had been over the phone and how she’d even given her instructions on how to keep chat closed for the kids’ viewing so that if anyone typed something profane they wouldn’t have to see it. Generally, Anna set up the whole evening and his one and only job was “show up and have fun”.

He’d been a little uncomfortable with the idea even after agreeing to it. He didn’t really know how to act around her, let alone on camera. The fact of the matter was that he was an introvert and Anna was the opposite. She was warm and gregarious, and she was, at least to his yes, radiantly beautiful.

When she’d offered to teach him to play a game, to bring him into her world, into her home, he hadn’t been able to say no.

For months, since he moved in and they started sharing their laundry room conversations, he’d been trying to find a way to get to know her better. All he’d wanted was an excuse to take more time, because when he was with her, he felt happier than he could ever remember being with anyone other than his family or his friend Sven.

He was sure Sven would be tuning in to see whether he made an epic fool of himself. The whole viewing world, or at least all her viewers, would be watching him bumble about, but it was worth it because it would make Anna smile. And he supposed also that it was a plus that he’d be able to play a game with his niece and nephew the next time he saw them, but mostly it was for Anna.

He took a deep breath before knocking on the apartment door. He’d wanted to bring her flowers or something as a thank you for teaching him how to play, but Sven had put the kibosh on it when he’d brought it up, insisting that it would make it seem like a date and that he needed to “play it cool” until “the real date” that he was somehow sure there would be.

“One sec guys, I think that’s him!”

He heard the patting of bare feet moving quickly across the hardwood floor. When the door swung open with a creak, he was met with a grinning Anna and a warm rush of air into their always too cold hallway.

The breeze carried on it the smell from her apartment, which hit him more directly than the heat. It smelled like the holiday collection at bath and body works had an illicit affair with the food scented and musk Yankee candles producing a lovechild that reminded him of what the bakery might smell like if it was in the middle of a garden. It was all sugar and spice, chocolates and floral.

It was like her, and as he saw the bright décor evident even in her entryway, he couldn’t help but smile. It was no surprise that she’d want to be in a place as bright and fun as she was.

“Hey,” she said excitedly, reaching up to click something on the headset she wore, and then reached for his hand, “I’m so glad you could make it! Your niece and nephew are viewing with everyone else. They’re extremely excited for their Uncle Kris to learn a videogame.”

He felt her fingers card through his as she lead him through the door and into the apartment. She was talking and while he was trying to listen, he was distracted by the fact that somewhere in his head, something was screaming over the fact that she was holding his hand, and that he was in her apartment and that this was all happening.

“Okay?”

“Huh?”

She was looking at him and he forced himself to focus on that, the way she was giving him an understanding smile, preparing to repeat what she’d said while he was busy spacing out.

“We’re going to just do an hour unless you decide you want to go longer. We’re going to play on my PC instead of console today. There’s going to be another monitor next to you with my livechat running but you don’t have to interact with chat if you don’t want to. I’m going to just give you a spare headset for audio, okay?”

He wasn’t really sure that he was okay. He was feeling spaced out and wasn’t really sure whether or not he was going to regret this whole thing, but then she squeezed his hand gently and he decided that it was all alright.

“Yeah, thanks for doing this. I’ve been meaning to…” Spend time with you? Ask you out? Watch your streams like a creep because I want to pretend you’re talking to me?, “learn to play something, you know… for the kids. They’re going to think you’re the best after this.”

She smiled and squeezed his hand again, this time holding it tight for a little longer before letting it go entirely, like she didn’t really want to let go.

“I’m glad you’re letting me. I’m really glad you came tonight.”

He took a deep breath, trying not to read into it as she led him over to her streaming setup. There were two chairs set up in front of a webcam with a bunch of screens around them. The main screen had “Standby” written on it next to a cartoon of Anna wearing a headset and drinking a hot cup of tea. The little icon was kicking one foot back and forth under a cartoon version of her computer chair and the cup was billowing steam. It was cute to say the least, and she must have agreed because she walked over, got into her chair and “booped” the nose of the drawing before beckoning him to sit next to her.

“Ready to go?” she asked brightly, handing him a bright green headset that had been sitting next to the main computer’s mouse and keyboard.

He took it and put it on, deciding that this was, in fact, going to be alright after all.

“Ready as I’ll ever be.”

She smiled and he felt her hand go to his again, giving it a squeeze where it rested on his lap before she pressed a button on his headset, then one on hers, and then clicked a few things with her mouse, bringing them on the stream, live, before an audience of a few hundred people.

***

“Hello and happy Saturday!” Anna announced warmly, trying to focus on working even though Kristoff was right there at her side, relaxed and smiling at her more than he was at the camera, “As you guys requested Kristoff, my neighbor is back for the fifth consecutive weekend to learn a new game.”

She tried not to roll her eyes when she noticed the amount of comments in chat that were, to say the least, thirsty. Anna had noticed that since having Kristoff on her stream for the first time, a fair amount of her female audience had been staying on stream for longer than they normally would. Normally she wouldn’t complain, but there was something about them thirsting over Kristoff that made her want to get her mod to kick them from chat.

It would be bad for business, but every time she saw Kristoff’s eyes wander over to chat and saw him flush from the attention, she wanted to take him into the other room and give him the proper attention he deserved. She’d gotten close to kissing him after the last stream he’d joined her for, and then again, the morning after when he’d brought her coffee and a beautifully glazed apple turnover from the bakery he owned just down the block.

She’d thought, weeks back when they’d done their first stream together, that she couldn’t possibly be more interested in him than she already was. But then he’d been funny and kind and an eager learner in her stream, and then she’d received thank you flowers days later, and he’d agreed, while they did their laundry to do another stream. And she’d fallen in love with him in just a few weeks, she’d fallen in love with the way he was thankful even when she was the one who needed to thank him. She’d fallen in love with the way he offered to come back again and again and again because it had been good for her work, and the way he’d invited her to see his bakery because it was only fair to share as much of himself with her as she had with him. She fell in love with the way he could be quiet, but that his gestures and facial expressions could speak volumes, and she fell in love a little more each day.

“Due to popular demand,” he said, taking a moment to look over at her for confirmation as he’d become more comfortable talking on stream, but preferred to address her more than he did the camera, “I’m going to be playing a dating sim.”

There was a subset of her viewers who, instead of thirsting after Kristoff, had been dead set on getting them together. There were also those who assumed that they were, in fact, together, but the viewers she was enjoying most were the ones who actively attempted to get them to talk about their “chemistry” and “tension” on stream. They were lead by a user named SvenjaminButton and Anna decided that if she and Kristoff ever did get together, she was going to track him down and buy him dinner, because he rallied the troops in a spectacular way, getting people to request more Kristoff on the stream and giving Anna the excuse to see him.

The dating sim had also been his idea.

She loaded it up and laughed at the bad graphics, it was one of those one dollar steam games that someone just threw together from preexisting code and some drawings. She wasn’t expecting much from it, but Kristoff was playing along like a champ, and she was looking forward to talking to him after the stream ended about how silly it was.

His skills with games were improving over time, and this point and click was surely not going to cause him any challenge, but still she appreciated that his initial response to the game launching was to move closer to her, putting her into his space should he need any assistance. She liked to think that maybe he just wanted to be in her space anyway.

“I hope you find true love,” she teased, the stream already going wild.

“I think I already have.”

***

Kristoff was still kicking himself for what he’d said at the start of Anna’s stream as they were logging off. He was pretty sure that she thought he was just playing up a joke when he’d said the bit about already having found true love, but truthfully he wasn’t, and he felt adrift. He’d fallen for her, and he’d fallen hard. She was just so fun to be around, and she instantly had changed his perspective on games from being a waste of time to being something actively enjoyable. Half the fun was, of course, just being with her.  

“Thank you so much,” she said when the stream ended, leaning back in  her chair and practically tipping her head onto his shoulder as she did so, “You’ve really been so wonderful with all of this. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to thank you enough for all the time you’ve been putting in.”

He smiled, happy that he’d been helpful to her, that she’d been happy to spend the time with him.

“You don’t have to thank me Anna. I’ve been enjoying myself. But… if I could maybe ask you something?”

This was the night. It had been Sven’s suggestion, and he still wasn’t sure of how he felt about it. He wasn’t exactly the kind of guy who made moves, but he’d never really had a cause to do so before. He could be bold in business, in work, in life, but in love? It was new for him.

“Of course Kristoff,” Anna replied, leaning her face towards his as she leaned back, bringing her face so close to his that all he would have to do was move a few inches to kiss her. That, he thought, was going to far, even if he desperately wanted to do so.

“Would you be interested in going out to dinner? Anytime you want, I know you’re busy, but I’d really like to take you out.”

She gave him a look of surprise and immediately he wondered if he’d just ruined everything.

He could feel the heat rising to his face, feeling like he’s just picked the wrong answer in the dating sim they’d been playing. He could practically see the little heartbreak icon popping up over her head, but then, he watched as she too flushed.

“Like… like on a date?”

He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. He raked a hand through his hair, trying to focus on something other than how close her lips were to his and how incredibly wrong this could all go in almost no time at all.

“Yes. Unless you’d prefer not, because I like being your friend and I don’t want to ruin that if you’re not interest…”

He didn’t finish his sentence, because Anna’s lips were on his and she was kissing him. Then as he leaned forward, he was kissing her and reaching out to bring her closer. He couldn’t catch his breath before she was climbing out of her chair and onto his, her thighs moving to the sides of his as she straddled him on the chair and kissed him until he was breathless.

His hands didn’t know where to go, but after a moment of them simply hovering, he let one wander along her sides, feeling her waist and her hip while the other brushed against her hair and rested against the back of her head.

She pressed herself into him and he held her close as they kissed harder and faster, lips becoming kiss swollen and wet as they explored together. He hadn’t ever really kissed anyone like he was kissing Anna, so he focused on the pleased sounds she made when he pulled her closer and kissed her harder.

“Can I take this as a yes?” he managed, when they broke for a moment to take a breath.

She was resting her head on his chest, her eyes, when they met his, were dark and pleased. She must have enjoyed the kiss as he had, and he was glad for it. What he’d started to say was true. He’d be happy to have her as a friend if that was all she wanted.

He felt like the luckiest man on earth that she’d wanted more.

“Tonight,” she said, “Take me for dinner tonight because I’ve been wanting this for months now. I don’t think I can wait.”

His heart raced as he thought about Anna, for months, wanting him as she did now.

“I don’t think I can either,” he admitted, letting his fingers card through her hair as he held her tight.

He didn’t know where he was going to take her yet, but he knew that wherever they went, the food would taste sweeter than it ever had before.

[ckret2]

So I've been deeply pulled into the Radiosnake pairing bc of your fantastic writing! Problem is, now I have fic ideas but no knowledge of the Hazbin background. Can you tellI me where I can get more Hazbin info? I've only watched the pilot and read your stuff. I heard there were comics??

That is an excellent question anon, because right now it is really hard to get Hazbin background easily.

Okay, so, the canon info on Hazbin Hotel can be sort of sorted into four tiers, from most to least canon.

Tier 1: The Definitely Canon

There is, of course, the pilot. And then there is an Angel Dust prequel comic, only seven pages of which have been released so far. We’ve been told it’s gonna be finished and we’ve had glimpses of in-progress prequel comics for a couple other characters—most prominently Alastor’s and Charlie’s—but so far that unfinished Angel Dust comic is the only one that’s been officially released.

Finding the in-progress comic pages is... a challenge. Nobody, as far as I can tell, has been specifically collecting all of the pages we’ve seen so far. I was able to scrounge up:

Couple more Angel pages

some Alastor pages

another Alastor page

a random Alastor panel

another random Alastor panel—I’ve seen the full page of this before, Alastor goes “Hello ladies!” and they go “HELLO ALASTOR~<3″ but I can’t find the full page now

There’s a smattering more canon panels on the artist faustisse’s twitter, but I haven’t dug them all out, and some of the posts I’m gonna link in a lil bit have a glimpse of another panel.

If you haven’t already heard of Helluva Boss, I recommend looking into it as well. It’s a second series being created by the same folks, different cast of characters but set in the same version of Hell, so any canon details we learn in Helluva also apply to Hazbin.

Helluva’s pilot is here. Plus a cute music video here.

Earlier this month, during a BLM charity stream hosted by show artist Ashley Nichols—she runs regular streams under the title “HuniCast”—they released a few sneak peaks of future Helluva scenes, all compiled here.

And that’s it for canon. Two pilots, a music video, a smattering of future scenes, part of one comic, a few WIP pages/panels from other comics.

Tier 2: Pseudo-Canon

Everything else we currently know about Hazbin (and Helluva) are things that the creators have told us. Consequently, they’re all pseudo-canon—and likely subject to change in the future as the shows and comics are further developed and released. Some details that were released/described in the past have been contradicted at other times, or else radically changed by the time the pilot came out.

(For example, when Alastor was first created years and years ago as an OC with no plans for Hazbin, he was a demon deer who could shapeshift into a human shape—now he’s a demonized human with a few deer traits. And Charlie and Cherri Bomb used to look very different.)

So until and unless they make it into canon, all these pseudo-canon details are subject to change and should be taken with a grain of salt—but, they also comprise most of what we know about the characters’ backstory and the as-yet-unaired characters.

Pseudo-canon info on Hazbin is scattered mainly between two sources: the creators’ twitter accounts, and livestreams where they take questions and talk about the making of the show. If you and livestreams do not get along (my ADHD and livestreams do not get along), or if you don’t want to wade years and years back into twitter accounts to dig up every scrap of info on the characters the creators have ever mentioned, collating all the pseudo-canon info is gonna be hard. (It’s gonna be hard even if you do want to sit through the streams and dig through all their tweets.) Lots of fans, me included, depend on the absolutely heroic work of various fans who are willing and able to watch hours-long streams and collate a list of canon factoids released during the streams. I’ve reblogged as many of these posts as I’ve been able to find:

Alastor’s sound design (on twitter)

Alastor's Sound Design (post I made with screenshots of weird—but very interesting—subtitles slipped into the aforementioned video)

Sir Pentious and Cherri Bomb’s sound design

Niffty and Husk’s sound design

Charlie, Katie, and Tom’s sound design

Intro song’s sound design

Happy Hotel’s sound design

details from Faustisse (including a pic of a couple costume designs. Most of these posts come from zatyrlucy, who’s been doing a fantastic job of going stream-by-stream to get lists of details from the regular streams by Ashley Nichols and by comic artist Faustisse.)

more details from Faustisse (including a pic of the Von Eldritch family dining room)

Faustisse 3 (better look at that table)

Dollymoon’s Hazbin Hotel Facts - PART ONE (Shoutout again to dollymoon for compiling these, we’ve never spoken but I am eternally grateful for this service. Dollymoon’s posts are THE single most reliable compilation of Hazbin Hotel’s nebulous pseudo-canon facts that I have found to date, including both links to the sources and timestamps where applicable. Dollymoon’s URL has changed since making this post so the “read more” link doesn’t work but the “source” or “reblogged from” links direct correctly to the new blog. Incidentally, the risk of other blog creators deleting their blogs/posts or changing their URLs is why in info posts like these, I always link to my own reblogs rather than their original posts—their original posts might vanish without warning, but I know I ain’t gonna delete my posts, so these links will still work in the future.)

Hazbin Hotel Facts - PART TWO

Hazbin Hotel Facts - PART THREE

Faustisse 4

HuniCast - Australian Wildlife Relief charity stream

I think this was a faustisse stream (the original source deleted these posts, so the comic pages that were originally behind that read more cut are now gone.)

Faustisse stream 6?

And those are all the masterposts of factoids I’ve managed to collect. If anyone has more masterposts, chuck ‘em at me.

Even this isn’t all the knowledge that’s been released about the show. The posts that dig the farthest back are Dollymoon’s, and even they don’t comprehensively cover all of Hazbin’s production. A couple of these characters, Vivziepop created as a teenager, so there’s some truly ancient concept art floating around out there that will have details that probably aren’t canon anymore... but might still be until something happens to actively contradict them.

Tier 3: The Wiki

The wiki is kind of an absolute mess. It’s a chaotic blend of things actually seen in the pilots/comic, things mentioned at some point in some stream somewhere, and wild fan speculation based on what they headcanon as plausible based on the above, all mixed together with very little indication for which is canon, pseudo-canon, fanon, or speculation. Most of the statements on the wiki don’t have citations.

(And, on top of that, half the main characters’ info gets split up into separate tabs instead of just having a normal-ass wiki page, AND their image galleries are on COMPLETELY SEPARATE pages that are linked to in one of the tabs, and the most important characters all have TWO SEPARATE GALLERIES. Which doesn’t have anything to do with the quality of the facts hidden underneath those tabs, but nevertheless drives me up the wall.)

Some things on the wiki were added according to info released so long ago it’s probably changed by now. Some are possibilities that got reported as facts. Other things on the wiki have unambiguously changed, or else are just flat-out incorrect. (For instance, at this moment Alastor’s page still lists him as an overlord, even though it's been confirmed that Alastor is not an overlord despite his power level because he isn’t interested in and didn’t pursue that position, per this stream. For a little bit, somebody’s fanart of their headcanon human Alastor got added to the wiki as concept art.)

tl;dr: the wiki should never be trusted as a primary source. The wiki’s better than it used to be. Even so, at this time, it’s only trustworthy to fill in the gaps of what you already know is true from other, better sources.

The thing it’s good at is it more or less compiles all the known info all in one place. Trying to figure out who the hell this Vox guy is is really hard if you’re reading for mentions of him in compilations of a dozen different streams, much less if you’re trying to comb through those dozen streams yourself, plus a dozen more, plus three different artists’ twitters. In comparison, it’s really easy to, say, just go look at Vox’s wiki page, where all the trivia is compiled. (And Vox’s page is actually one of the better cited on the wiki. Look at all those numbers!)

So, if you need to find out who this character is you’ve never heard of before, if you want to see a full list of the thus far named characters, if you don’t remember whether Alastor likes coffee or tea, if you want to know what Angel’s twin sister looks like, if you need a reminder of Sir Pentious’s death year... check the wiki. It’s an okay starting point.

But, if you see a “fact” on the wiki that you yourself don’t remember from straight out of the pilot, and it doesn’t have a citation that links to a tweet or a stream... regard it suspiciously. And do not trust it unquestioningly as fact until and unless you have seen the source.

Tier 4: Noncanon Creator Shitposting

I’ve mentioned Ashley’s HuniCast streams a couple times. The biggest draw of them is that she usually gets several of the voice actors in the streams, where they’ll happily say nonsense in their character voices. For the most part, they’re not sharing any actual canon info they’ve been given on their characters, just goofing around pretending to be their characters. Nevertheless, a lot of the things that happen in streams get accepted as broad fandom headcanons, like Alastor being into dad jokes. (My favorite, for obvious reasons, is this one.)

It’s easy to find the source audio for all this wonderful nonsense by searching youtube for “HuniCast highlights,” and then rummaging around for animatics people make out of the audio. The only one noncanon video of this sort I can think of that didn’t originally come from HuniCast is a lone one from Alastor’s singing voice (who’s a different voice actor than his speaking voice).

So, obviously, none of these are canon. But they do come from some of the people actually involved in the creation of the show, and they are in the characters’ canon voices, so a whole lot of people treat them as semi-canon anyway. (Even the wiki lists “dad jokes” among Alastor’s likes, which to my knowledge hasn’t come up anywhere except for HuniCast streams.) Since they’re so broadly-known, they’re worth knowing about as important sources of fanon, even if you don’t want to adopt them into your own headcanons. They’re basically the same level of canon as blooper reels.

[i-write-and-therefore-i-am]

One Monstrous Miracle (Part Five)

Okay. So. This one got away from me. It got unexpectedly dark, and I’m not sure how I feel about that but I’m going to post it and move on with the story. I am not a happy author about this chapter, for many reasons. Nevertheless, I love each and everyone of you and I hope you find it within you to enjoy this <3 (Pst! If you’d rather read on Ao3, here ya go!)

Previous-Next-First

Pairing: Aziraphale/Human!Reader

Summary: Michael takes some initiative. So does Sandalphon. Uriel is basically the emotional support nerd ig. Aziraphale has a nightmare. Reader does NOT have a good time.

Warnings: Okay listen closely. I have written a non-graphic description of a kidnapping, and subsequently a heavily-implied violence segment. I might be overstating or understating (please tell me if I am understating!), but I just want to keep you lovelies safe. 

ALSO: This is NOT a warning, but while you’re here I might as well tell you that I have used they/them pronouns for Michael, and it/its pronouns for Sandalphon (from the script).

Word Count: 2730

(@gif, shits going down)

Michael was not stupid. They were not dimwitted, or blinded by heavenly goodness, or any of the things that they could very easily accuse their fellow celestial beings of…being. They had been paying the Angel Aziraphale very close attention these past millennia, and they had seen exactly what they had expected; the Angel had gone native. Worse than that, he had gone native and he was fraternizing with the enemy. THE enemy. El Numero Uno. The Demon Crowley.

Because Michael was none of the things mentioned above, they had quite a bit of room to be some other things, like cunning, vigilant, and good at waiting for just the right moment. They didn’t bring the aforementioned knowledge to Gabriel’s attention straight away for the sake of…strategy. It had nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that the Archangel-Fucking-Gabriel wasn’t the only gosh darned Archangel around (and that’s with a capital ‘A’, thank you very much), and so there really was no pressing need for Michael to give the information in the first place, now that they thought about it. They could investigate on their own, build up a solid case, and then work from there. Maybe get some respect around the elitist promotion trap that was their Heavenly home. If only.

Michael enlisted Uriel, knowing that she would be invaluable when looking for documents or anything paper related. She had the memory for things exactly like that. Michael brought Sandalphon precisely because they knew that Aziraphale was still terrified of it after what happened at Sodom and Gomorrah. Together, they monitored Aziraphale’s every move—although the angel had somehow devised a way to keep the group from ever being able to overhear any of his traitorous conversations with the hated Crowley, they weren’t deterred in the slightest bit. They could follow the pair, take pictures, perhaps the odd selfie when the mood hit. Michael was building their case against Aziraphale, and it was only a matter of time.

Armageddon threw everything into quite a pretty mess, now didn’t it? Aziraphale was openly discussing his meetings with his “wily adversary”, reporting on the current status and whereabouts of the Antichrist (Warlock. What a revolting name). Things were starting to get fun for the first time in about a hundred years, and Michael simply didn’t have the time for their surveillance missions anymore. Not to mention that Gabriel was demanding that they all stay together as often as possible, which was a nightmare in and of itself. Michael was rather looking forward to the end of the world, not for the gargantuan blood bath that would ensue, as most of their angelic associates where no doubt panting for, but for the endless peace that comes after a job well done.

One day, when the Antichrist (still Warlock, despite Michael’s very best efforts) was 10, nearly 11, Michael noticed something very strange about the familiar bookshop that they and the rest of the group had been watching for the last couple of centuries. There was a woman, well-dressed (Michael assumed. Angels, proper Angels, that is, Aziraphale not included, have no real sense of human fashion), practically cantering down the pavement, apparently towards Aziraphale’s shop. “No, that can’t be right,” Michael thought to themselves. Although, thinking back, that woman did look strikingly familiar. So familiar, in fact, that—

“Uriel! Take a look at this.” Michael had rolled her rolly chair away from her workstation and towards the cubicle to the right of hers. Uriel popped her head around the weird, cloth divider separating their “offices” with a curious expression.

“Yes, Michael? What is it?” The other angel asked from her rolly chair. Michael gestured that she should roll her rolly chair into Michael’s cubicle.

“I’ve found something strange in the Eden files, take a look at it.” The Eden files was their special code name for anything pertaining to Aziraphale that was not, strictly, on the books. This strange something happened to be a livestream of the street where Aziraphale lived. The woman was getting closer to the shop, although not quite close enough to tell if that was, indeed, where she was going. Michael pointed the woman out to Uriel.

“Now. She looks awfully familiar to me.” Michael’s gaze drifted from their finger to Uriel sitting beside them. Uriel had her thinking face on, which could mean one of a million different things and by this point in their long, coworker relationship, Michael had learned to just let her think. Uriel frowned slightly, moved closer to the screen, tapped a single key on the keyboard in front of them on Michael’s desk, and rewound the feed. She paused it. Zoomed in. Michael wondered why it was so difficult for the Management to install some touchscreens on the ground floor, at least for the Archangels and Possibly a few of the Principalities. They’d seen inside of Gabriel’s office (Yes! A whole, bloody corner office with glass windows instead of walls so that he can survey the worker bees in their nest and not one but TWO whole touchscreens!), after all. Uriel snapped her fingers in front of Michael’s face.

“Michael? Were you listening?” Michael, as you know, had not been listening. At all.

“Of course, Uriel. What was that last bit, again?” Uriel sighed and pointed at the woman zeroed in on.

“She visits the shop almost every day. She might be important.” Michael leaned forward in their rolly chair, squinting at the grainy image despite the fact that every angel had perfect 100/100 eyesight. They hummed.

“Yes. I quite agree. Sandalphon?” They called out the name of the coworker whose cubicle stood on the left side of theirs. They heard the familiar sound of the rolly chair growing nearer until Sandalphon sat beside the two other angels. Michael pointed to the woman on the screen.

“Let’s keep an eye on her.” They all watched as Uriel unpaused and the woman entered the shop.

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

They did not have to wait long for the woman to make another move. Only a few hours later, she was hurrying out of the doors, clutching onto her purse and…crying?

“He doesn’t hold on to them long, does he?” Sandalphon remarked, rubbing its forefinger across its teeth diamonds. Uriel giggled but sobered when Michael glared at her. This was not the time for making jokes. That woman was certainly a human woman, there was no doubt about that. Why was she spending so much time around Aziraphale? Why had she run sobbing from his shop? Was this like that holiday Aziraphale took with Alexander the Great? Michael very dearly hoped not—Aziraphale had positively ruined that poor boy.

“Keep your focus on that woman. We need to learn more about her.”

The kept the feed trained on her as she made her way home. She didn’t live too far from Aziraphale’s shop. But just far enough that walking was just slightly out of her way. Uriel, the more softhearted of the bunch of angels huddled around the screen, wondered whether they should miracle her a taxicab, but she was quickly shut down.

“What, and give ourselves away? Gabriel would have our halos!” Michael exclaimed, shifting in their chair. Once the woman was in the door, Michael cut the feed, gaining the attention of the others. They cleared their throat.

“Ahem. So. Not only has Aziraphale been seen consistently in the presence of known Demon Crowley, but he also appears to have developed some sort of relationship with a…mortal woman. Once again, Aziraphale proves that he does not have the strength required to walk among them. Instead, he cavorts with them, befriends them—”

“Runs a bookshop,” Sandalphon growled helpfully. Michael nodded appreciatively.

“—and runs a bookshop. Clearly, he is no longer fit for his position.”

“That’s all well and good, Michael, but he can’t be removed from said position. Only the Almighty can deal with that level of personnel change.” Uriel reminded them calmly. Michael sighed deeply.

“I know that. We all know that. The only problem is something must be done about it. Aziraphale can no longer be allowed to continue this way. It’s heinous.” All the angels nodded their head in mutual agreement. They all tried to think of something they could do, but nothing seemed to jump out at anyone. It stayed like this for a few long moments before suddenly, Sandalphon gasped loudly, startling the other two.

“I know!” it said. “The girl. She’s important to him, right?” Uriel scoffed.

“She did just run from his shop in tears, Sandalphon, did you miss that part?” It was unfazed by Uriel’s goading.

“Exactly. It’s Aziraphale! He’s so soft, he’ll go groveling for her forgiveness within a fortnight. And when he does…”

“They’ll make up with each other. Where are you going with this?” Michael interjected impatiently, not in the mood for idle chatter. Sandalphon grinned, its teeth glinting in the Holy light.

“We kidnap her. Get us in Gabriel’s good books, get some information, and, of course, to scare powe ickle bitty Aziwaphawe. Perfect plan.”

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

It was not, as it happens, the Perfect Plan. However, credit is due where credit is due, and that credit goes to Sandalphon for thinking of a Nearly-Perfect Plan. It would have been the Perfect Plan had Aziraphale and that blasted woman not been so stubborn and stayed apart for so long. The days until the Antichrist’s birthday were slowly running out, and the time during which the angels could execute said plan was drawing thin. Thankfully, the two made up just in the nick of time, so it had worked out in the end.

The trio had made the trip to Crowley’s flat, knowing that they would find Aziraphale there. Aziraphale had been flustered, but his story about checking about in the demon’s abode appeared to check out. Michael refused to take their eyes off of him the entire time. After they miracled away, they appeared in an alleyway not far from the woman’s home, and on her usual route. Michael had decided, because Michael was a little bit of an ass at times, to make the mystery just a smudge more difficult by abducting the woman outside of the home BUT simultaneously leaving a single, white wing feather on the floor of her locked flat. It really was quite devious for such a pure-hearted creature. Hmm.

The kidnapping went swimmingly. Uriel snuck up behind the woman, Sandalphon had thrown the bag over her head, and once everything was settled (or as settled as can be with a kicking and struggling woman in tow), Michael miracle them into a top-secret location. I’m afraid that I, as the author, am not at liberty to disclose the location of the following events, because of course I’d have to kill you afterwards, and I’d rather not do that.

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Angels do not have dreams. Angels cause dreams in other people, they take away dreams from other people, and they may, upon occasion, serve as conduits for messages from the Almighty, which often appear to other people as dreams. But Angels themselves do not dream. Except for Aziraphale, evidently, whose subconscious had decided to do away with the natural order of things to just…you know…spice it up a little. Aziraphale frowned deeply in his sleep and rolled over, sniffling.

He was in a corridor. There were no lights, only a faint glow that seemed to come from nowhere at all. There was one door, ahead of him, but the rest of the corridor was bare, empty grey concrete. He began to move towards the door, but the corridor seemed to get longer the closer he got, until he was nearly running, trying to make some progress down the hall but never moving one inch.

The scene changed, the corridor erupting into grey and black smoke that smelt faintly of saltwater taffy. The scene reconstructed itself as a square room lit with an old-fashioned lightbulb swinging slowly back and forth from the ceiling. There was a figure shivering on a metal chair in the center of the room, hands tied behind their back and a sack over their head. Aziraphale heard whimpering from the figure and made to rush over to help them but he found that his feet were rooted to the ground, as though someone had glued them straight to the floor. Aziraphale looked up from his shoes and gasped.

Surrounding the figure were Michael, Uriel, and Sandalphon. Michael stood directly in front of the figure, bending over slightly. Sandalphon stood directly behind the figure, fingers grasping at the sack. Uriel stood apart from them both, in the corner opposite to Aziraphale. Michael made a motion at Sandalphon and it yanked the sack off of the person’s head to reveal—

Y/N. Eyes red from crying, hair a mess, makeup smudged and beyond repair. Aziraphale felt his heart stop beating. What the hell was going on? Was this some kind of joke? A voice, nagging at the edge of his consciousness told him that no, it was not a joke. Aziraphale struggled against whatever was holding his feet down with renewed vigor. He stopped when he heard your voice, hoarse and trembling. It broke him to hear you like that.

“W-who are you? What do you w-want from me?” You coughed, and Aziraphale felt a miracle dance along the tip of his fingers. He would make you well again, he would heal whatever has happened to you. You continued. “I have m-money if that’s it! It’s n-not m-m-much but—”

“Silly girl, we don’t want your money.” Came Sandalphon’s voice.

“Mmm, that’s right.” Michael responded. They leaned in closer to you, and you sank deeper into the chair to escape them. “What we want is information.”

“Wh-What? What information? I don’t- “

“What do you know of the Angel Aziraphale?” Azriaphale’s blood went cold. He had been so close to telling you himself! After all of the Armageddon mess was straightened out, he had promised himself, he would march right up to you and tell you the truth. But not now! Not when he couldn’t be there to explain, when you were hurting, being hurt, tied up like some criminal. A noise horribly like a snarl erupted from Aziraphale’s throat, startling him. Was he truly invisible in this room? After a couple of seconds of pure terror, Aziraphale’s pulse began to slow and he realized that this was most likely a vision dream, a message from someone showing him something that was either already happening, or about to happen. He prayed to anyone who would listen that it was neither of those two options.

“I swear I don’t know!” The sound of your terrified voice brought him back. Sandalphon laughed its ugly laugh and Michael chuckled.

“Should we really be doing this, Michael?” Uriel inquired softly from her spot in the corner. Aziraphale was sure he was just projecting his terror onto her, but he thought he could almost see a hint of concern in her deep black eyes. Michael just shook their head.

“It’s not as though she’ll have very long to remember it, will she?” At this, your body seized in horror, eyes open wide in shock. Fresh tears were streaming down your cheeks. Aziraphale wanted to burn this room to the ground.

“Are…are you going to kill me?” you whispered through your crying. Aziraphale held his breath to listen for the answer:

“Oh, dear me, of course not. Do you know how much paperwork that would be? Oh no. Definitely not killing you. As long as you give us the information we need.” Came Michael’s reply.

Aziraphale felt that old rage bubble up inside him, and his sword hand itched, as though the missing sword were a missing limb instead. He took a deep breath and clenched his hands into fists. He would not debase himself in such an appalling manner. He had grown since those days, and he would not be brought to his knees by a dream.

“I told you, I don’t know anything!” you pleaded desperately. The room was beginning to fade away, smoke swirling at the edges, illuminated by the swinging bulb. Aziraphale cried out, reaching out for you only to be met with empty air.

“Oh, we’ll see about that, now, won’t we?”

The last thing Aziraphale heard before waking was the sound of Michael’s laughter.

Tag List:

@chelsfic​ @lordbeezyprinceofhell​ @bi-andreadyto-cry​ @petalduck​ @dreamerkim​ @stripedbugs​ @caligirl1992​ @aelin-thefirebreathingbitchqueen​

PLEASE tell my if you want to be added/taken off/have asked before but I’m stupid so you don’t see your name here!!!!

[xxx-cat-xxx]

Peter Parker and Bruce Banner’s Guide on How To Make Iron Man Sleep

For @sallyidss. Happy Birthday, Sally! This is about 1% hurt and 99% comfort, or in other words, pure fluff and chicken soup. I hope you enjoy it and I hope you have a wonderful day!

Thanks to @whumphoarder for beta reading and to @maikkuax for the video game reference.

____________________

Peter wakes up to a dazzling amount of texts on Saturday morning. 

One is from Tony, sent at 3am, telling him that Bruce is sick and might not be able to help Peter with his biology project today as they had planned, but he is still welcome to drop by the tower.

Then there’s another one from Tony three hours later asking him whether he could pick up some soup while on the way; one from Bruce at 8am, telling him that Tony is sick too, but ‘he won’t admit it so just try to somehow get him to rest once you come over’; and then one more from Tony telling him to ignore whatever Bruce just told him.

Peter grins to himself while reading the texts - he can almost hear his favourite superhero couple bantering and fussing over each other. Then he gets up for breakfast with May and a shower before heading down to the corner grocery store. He gets soup (chicken for Tony and vegetable for Bruce), as well as some of the Fairtrade chocolate bars that Bruce buys for ideological reasons and Tony eats en masse because he’s got a secret sweet tooth. Peter stuffs the groceries into his school bag along with his laptop and makes his way to the tower. 

*

Tony definitely looks under the weather when he opens the door; pale and with a very clown-like red nose that is dripping constantly. 

“Hey kid, thanks for the delivery,” he jokes with a raspy voice. He takes the bag and mimics shutting the door in Peter’s face before smirking and opening it fully to let his unamused mentee in. 

“Very funny, Mr. Stark.” Peter removes his shoes and jacket and then stops, frowning. Through the hallway, he can see that the bed in the master bedroom has been demolished into what looks like a heap of firewood. “Uhm, what happened to your bed?”

“Well…” Tony interrupts himself to cough harshly into his elbow. “So, uh, we had a bit of an exciting night. Not in the fun way, unfortunately…” he trails off. “Anyway, Bruce went back to sleep after breakfast, but I thought we could head to the lab and start working on the chameleon fabric you suggested for your suit.” 

Peter is sure that working in the lab is the opposite of what Tony should be doing just now - his mentor looks even more tired than usual and the slightly glassy quality to his eyes suggests that he is running a fever - but Peter also knows that saying this out loud will only be counterproductive. 

“What if we watch a movie instead?” he suggests.

“I’m not watching a movie at eleven in the morning,” Tony protests. “We have the whole day in front of us - time to build, invent, change the world..." He flaps his hand. "All that jazz."

“Okay, okay…” Peter thinks for a second before an idea hits him. “But before we start with the suit, I do need your help with something else.”

“Now what?”

“So, Ned and I have this gaming commentary channel on YouTube where we livestream playing “The Witcher 3”? And it’s going pretty well, but Ned says he needs help developing his stage persona, you know, talking in a way that is interesting and keeps your audience engaged? So, he thought that you might give us some advice because you’ve got a ton of experience with speaking in public and all that?”

(It’s not entirely a lie - Ned and Peter have joked about getting Tony involved in order to increase their viewership, but he is pretty sure that Ned would be mortified upon hearing that Peter actually suggested it to the billionaire.)

“Wait, you and Ned are making videos of you killing virtual trolls while talking about it? And people actually watch that?”

“That’s...another way of putting it.”

“Sounds like a gigantic waste of time.” Tony scrunches up his nose. “Either I play the game myself, or I spend my downtime watching something interesting.” 

“Hey! Our last one has more than 3000 hits!” Peter defends.

“People have too much free time. Including you.” Tony points his finger at Peter before quickly covering his mouth to contain a sneeze. “But I suppose I can take a look if you really want me to…”

Peter grins. Stage one: complete.

They settle on the couch in the living room. Tony can’t suppress a small sigh when he leans against the cushions. He massages the bridge of his nose in a way that makes it clear to Peter he must be nursing a headache. 

“Hit me, kid,” he orders.

“Okay, but before we start, you need to know a few things...” Peter launches into a long-winded explanation of the game’s storyline with more than a few unnecessary details of the characters’ backgrounds. He pretends to concentrate on the screen where he walks Tony through different tutorials, but out of the corner of his eye he sees his mentor slowly sinking deeper and deeper into couch.

“...and then they bring Uma to the witcher school of Kaer Morhen,” Peter goes on as Tony tiredly attempts to follow along, his blinks growing longer and longer each time, “where Yennefer removes his curse and transforms him into Avallac'h...” 

When Peter can’t think of anything else to babble about, he starts playing their most recent video. Tony sits up a little straighter and rubs a hand over his face to concentrate. But at about the two minute mark, he stops the screen with a wave of his hand.

“So, not to be rude, but that was kind of painful, Tony declares. “You guys literally started with a 45 second explanation of why you prefer the old controller design to the new one. No wonder you’re putting people to sleep.”

Peter frowns a bit. “I mean, we weren’t that bad…” he defends. “And the new ones do kind of suck.”

“Sure, kid,” Tony huffs. He shifts position on the sofa with a sigh. “Alright, listen. It’s obvious that you two are knowledgeable about this game, but if you want to engage your audience, you’ve gotta try to establish your credentials in a way that’s still interesting and relatable. For instance, I once started a TED Talk by describing how I hacked NASA during an MIT frat party so that I could send a rocket to draw a dick over San Francisco. ”

Peter snorts at that admission. 

“See? Exactly,” Tony points out. “That’s the kind of reaction you want your audience to have - that’s called a hook, kid.” 

The longer they watch, the more Tony seems to be melting into the couch. His comments become less and less frequent, and at some point he leans his head back against the pillow, barely looking at the screen anymore. By the third video, Peter can see his mentor’s eyelids fluttering shut. 

He waits for a few minutes and then pauses the screen, just to see Tony’s eyes fly open again. “I’m listening!” he assures. 

“Yeah, I know.” Peter hides a smirk. “Just, uhm, relax a bit.”

“I see what you’re trying to do here, kid. I’m not stupid,” Tony protests nasally, stifling another sneeze, but he doesn’t make any move to get up from the couch. 

Peter starts the video again, knowing that the battle has been won. Five minutes later, Tony is asleep. 

Peter watches a few more videos on his own (now that he pays attention, he realises that most of Tony’s suggestions, despite being sarcastic, are actually in line with what the popular streamers do) before FRIDAY informs him that Bruce has woken up. 

He finds the scientist in the kitchen, making tea. 

“Hey Dr. Banner,” Peter greets. “How are you?”

“Hey Peter.” Bruce gives him a warm and slightly sleepy smile. His voice is a bit hoarse. “I’m fine. Is Tony asleep?”

“Yep,” Peter declares proudly. “Used my hypnotically soothing voice. And obscure video game lore."

Bruce heaves out a sigh. “Finally, thank god. I had, uhm… kind of an incident last night and I don’t think he slept at all after that.” 

Peter thinks back to the broken bed frame and chooses not to comment.

“Do you want some tea?” Bruce asks.

“No, thanks. I’m okay.”

Bruce takes out a box of cookies instead and hands a few to Peter. “So, what was this thing you wanted me to look at with you?”

“Oh, it’s just a bio project,” Peter says with a shrug. “But we can do it some other time, when you’re feeling better.”

“I’m okay...” Peter gives him a suspicious look and Bruce’s smile deepens. “No need for that - I’m not Tony, I would tell you if I wasn’t up for it. But I am actually feeling much better after sleeping and I wouldn’t mind some distraction.”

“Okay, well then...”

Peter likes Bruce a lot. It took him a while to get close to him because Bruce is not a person who easily lets people in, but now whenever Peter visits the tower, he looks forward to seeing the scientist almost as much as he does to seeing Tony. 

Tony is brilliant, energetic, and funny, and he constantly encourages Peter to think deeper, work harder, do better - to improve himself. Which is a fun challenge, but it can also be quite exhausting at times. Working with Bruce is the exact opposite. He makes Peter feel calm, slows him down when he overthinks, and makes it clear that mistakes are something that happen to everyone and nothing Peter should be too concerned about. While spending time with Tony is the equivalent of a rollercoaster ride, being with Bruce feels more like a calm day at the beach, and Peter has realised that he needs both from time to time. 

They move to Bruce’s study (since Bruce doesn’t allow food in his lab and they don’t actually need to do any experiments for Peter’s project) with Peter’s laptop, biscuits, and several bars of Fairtrade chocolate. 

*

Tony wakes up with the blurry images of a nightmare still on the rims of his consciousness. He feels cold, achy, and slightly out of breath. It takes him a few disoriented moments to realise that his face is mostly buried into a couch pillow, blocking his mouth and nose. He frees himself and sits up stiffly, wiping at his slightly damp cheeks. His nose is dripping annoyingly and he isn’t sure whether that’s only because of the cold. 

“FRIDAY?” he prompts nasally. 

“It is 1:17pm on Saturday afternoon. Dr. Banner and Mr. Parker are working in the study room. Everyone is safe and well, boss.” 

“Okay. Thanks, FRI.” Tony takes another few moments to ground himself before getting up from the sofa, rather unsteadily. His body seems to have tripled in weight and his head feels like an overfilled balloon that’s ready to burst. He kind of wants to fall back onto the couch and go to sleep again, but at the same time he definitely doesn’t want to revisit the dreams he just had. 

Instead, he ventures into the study where he finds his partner, who is sporting an adorable bedhead, together with his mentee enthusiastically modelling a DNA strand on a laptop screen.

“Coffee?” Tony asks hoarsely.

“Good afternoon to you too, Tony,” Bruce smirks and nods towards a pot sitting on the table. Tony pours himself a mug and downs it in one go, marvelling at how much better it makes his throat feel immediately. 

Feeling slightly more human and ready to deal with the actual world, he leans over Bruce’s shoulder and nuzzles his head against his partner’s ear. “How you feeling, green bean?”

“I’m much better. Sleeping helped a lot, actually.” Tony gives him a critical once-over and seems to accept that. “Peter is doing an impressive job with his project, by the way,” Bruce adds.

Peter blushes at the compliment. “It’s not me - Dr. Banner is helping me a lot!” 

“I’m really just sitting here and watching you work,” Bruce dismisses before addressing Tony again. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m”—Tony’s voice breaks in the middle of the sentence and he has to clear his throat before continuing—“I’m good.”

“Mm-hmm.” Bruce raises an eyebrow. “FRIDAY, what’s his temperature at?”

“100.2 degrees, Dr. Banner.”

“Thanks.” He turns to Tony, who is coughing again. There seems to be a brick stuck inside his chest and it feels like he can’t take a full breath at all. Bruce gives him a concerned look. “This sounds painful.”

“‘S okay,” Tony dismisses.

“Maybe you should try using the inhaler -”

“Stop mother-henning, Bruce,” he grumbles with a glance at Peter, who is very clearly trying to act as if he isn’t listening to every word, but the pain in Tony’s chest is suddenly replaced by a surge of warmth upon realising Bruce’s worry about him. The scientist seems to understand and just squeezes Tony’s hand before turning back to the screen.

Tony pours himself another cup of coffee and grabs a slice of toast as well as two of the chocolate bars before settling into the chair across from the two of them, munching away and watching them work. Seeing them together leaves him with an annoyingly sappy feeling. Bruce, usually rather shy, is much more self-confident around the kid and visibly happy about Peter’s genuine interest in everything scientific. He is also a much more patient teacher than Tony ever manages to be, which seems to be putting Peter at ease. 

After finishing his food, Tony debates moving to his own lab to get some actual work done, but he is so, so tired, and everything kind of hurts. Standing up seems like a lot of effort. So instead, he crosses his arms on the table and rests his head on top of them, closing his eyes for just a moment.

He listens to Peter and Bruce when their conversation shifts from Peter’s project, to May’s new vegan disaster recipe, to the idea of using Peter’s webs in order to create a hammock that can hold the Hulk. Tony smiles into his sleeves, imagining Hulk chilling at the beach between two palm trees, swinging to and fro, to and fro, to and...

“Hey.” Bruce rests his palms lightly on Tony’s shoulder.

He jerks upright. “Wasn’t asleep.”

“What, I would never think that,” Bruce says with a smirk. 

Tony rubs his tired eyes and then his aching forehead. “Where’s Peter?”

“He went to heat up the soup for all of us.”

“Hmm.” Tony grabs Bruce’s hands and presses them against his overly warm cheeks, enjoying the cooling feeling they provide.

“Did you have a nightmare earlier?” Bruce asks, his hand now moving up to cup Tony’s forehead. “You seemed kind of out of it.”

“Yeah,” Tony admits, leaning into the touch. “I don’t remember what it was about, though.”

Bruce hums and presses a light kiss to the top of Tony’s head. “Fever dreams are awful. But at least you didn’t break any furniture upon waking up.”

Tony, sensing the guilt below the light tone, only huffs. “I’d been wanting to get a new bed anyway for a while now. Did you know there are self-making ones now? And levitating mattresses? Or we could go for one of those free-swinging beds, to match Hulk’s upcoming hammock.” 

Bruce smiles and shakes his head. “A normal one would do, Tony. Or we could try something different. Did you know that sleeping on the ground is actually quite good for your back?”

Tony snorts. “Yeah, no. I’m a billionaire, Brucie, we’re not sleeping on the ground because our bed is broken. Levitating one it is.”

Peter comes back with the steaming soup, which does wonders for Tony’s raw throat. At Bruce’s advice, he takes some Advil that muffles his headache a little and remembers the times a few years ago when he would be sick with only JARVIS as his company, feeling a little chilled and very lucky. 

*

In the end, Tony does agree to watching TV, but mostly because Bruce admits to still not feeling up for anything more demanding (which Peter suspects is not entirely true, but he definitely won’t call him out). They let Peter pick, who of course goes for the newest Orville episode, and settle on the huge living room couch with a steaming mug of tea (Bruce), a packet of chocolate (Tony) and another helping of soup (Peter). 

Peter notices after a while that Bruce is gently massaging Tony’s head, playing with his hair. Tony seems to be sort of melting into the touch, his head leaning against Bruce’s shoulder, eyes almost closed. He looks old, but not frighteningly so - more in a serene way that makes Peter want to capture the moment on film. 

In the years he’s known him, Peter has rarely seen Tony anything but buzzing with energy, jumping to and fro between ideas and lab tables. The only person who is able to slow him down and occasionally get him to take a break without having to outright trick him into it seems to be Bruce. And as sorry as Peter is to see both of them sick, it’s also heartwarming to observe how they are taking care of each other. 

Peter knows that most people his age find the idea of spending a lazy movie Saturday with their family kind of boring, but something in him loves the idea of settling down like this. Maybe it’s the fact that it reminds him of how it used to be with Ben and May, or that the time he spends as Spider-Man is already adventurous enough, or the sheer thrill of seeing Iron Man and the Hulk’s alter ego in their pyjamas on the couch, nuzzled up against each other. 

But whatever it is, there’s nowhere else Peter would rather be.

____________________

If you liked this, make sure to check out @twentyghosts‘ beautiful fic Cold, Comfort with a similar setting that inspired me to write this one.

All my fics

Taglist: @toomuchtoread33  @yepokokfine

@badthingshappenbingo This is my fill for the ‘Common Cold’ square.

[twilight-zoned-out]

What Just Happened

In which Peter and Ned have a grand old time wading through Flash's Spiderman conspiracy channel until they get back from Europe and everyone finds out who Spiderman actually is. Based off of two posts (although currently I can only find  one of them!).

Update: Here's the other one!

 Part I: The Context

It began as a joke.

Ned found it, surfing the web (as he often did) for Spiderman-related articles. Now that he knew Peter Parker, aka Midtown’s smartest and most heroic but also-kind-of-a-flake-when-it-came-to-events-but-for-a-good-reason teen was actually Spiderman, he redoubled his efforts with the added goal of making sure nobody ever got too close to Spiderman’s true identity.

Which is how he found the youtube channel.

“Hi, my name is Eugene Thompson, commonly known as Flash, and today we’ll be beginning a series of videos akin to what some of my peers might refer to as ‘Behind the Mask.’”

Ned stopped it right there and called Peter Parker.

“Dude, it doesn’t matter what you’re doing right now you have to come over.”

“What? Why?” Slight static ran in Peter’s background – no doubt caused by Peter’s frantic efforts to get to Ned’s room. Or maybe he was just shifting the phone to multitask with his homework. Static meant a lot of things.

“I found another Spiderman conspiracy video and I feel like it doesn’t exist in the same dimension I’m living in.”

“Did it say I was alien?”

“No – well, I don’t actually know. I haven’t gotten to the conspiracy part yet. But it has to be good.”

“How do you know?”

“You’ll get it when you see it. Come over, I’ll wait. I’m only 8 seconds in.”

“Don’t you have a test to study for?”

“Quiz, and it’s Tuesday. Besides, we both know that won’t take long.”

“You, Ned Leeds, are a bad influence.”

A tap tap tap came from Ned’s window. He grinned as he drew away the curtain to let Peter inside.

“It didn’t take much to convince you.”

“Yeah, well, you piqued my intere-” Peter’s jaw dropped open at the sight of Ned’s laptop.

“I know, right?”

“That’s Flash.” Peter turned to face Ned and pointed at the screen. “That’s Flash Thompson from Midtown School of Science and Technology.”

Ned’s grin grew. “You understand my pain.”

“I don’t know if I understand anything.” Peter flopped down onto Ned’s bed, then sat up. “Okay Flash, what have you got.”

Ned settled back into his very comfortable spinny chair and brought the video back to the start.

“Hi, my name is Eugene Thompson, commonly known as Flash-”

Peter snorted.

“-and today we’ll be beginning a series of videos akin to what some of my peers might refer to as ‘Behind the Mask.’”

Flash wore a suit without a tie and stood next to a series of boards, hands clasped behind his back.

“For me, it doesn’t matter. I have one goal in mind.”

Flash’s gaze intensified as he leveled with the camera.

“Who is Spiderman?”  

Peter and Ned watched silently, enraptured, until Flash actually started rolling out the theories. Then Ned actually had to pause it because the both of them were laughing too hard.

“There’s a whole series,” Ned managed to get out between fits of laughter.

They watched them all. Peter even got Ned to subscribe to ‘Spiderman Thomspiracies,’ as it was.

“I’m surprised he hasn’t promoted his channel to the school,” Peter commented.

“You know Flash. If people actually find out Spiderman’s you, he probably doesn’t want to be proven he was wrong.”

Peter briefly sobered at the idea of being figured out, then lightened. “I guess we’re never going to prove that he’s wrong, then.”

The channel had surprisingly few viewers before Ned and Peter got a hold of it. Then Ned started promoting it through his magic tech ways, and it really took off. Flash still didn’t mention it during school.

But his series was a hit.

‘Out of all the theorists I’ve watched, you’re the best!’ One of the comments said, and given how Ned and Peter were the only ones not to take the channel seriously (as far as they could tell), the only conclusion was that the comment – and the tens of others like it – weren’t being sarcastic. A good portion lauded him for endeavoring to use science, physics, and logical theory to determine or invalidate hypotheses, and surprisingly enough, when the topic was about who Spiderman couldn’t be, he had pretty good reasoning. It was the opposite side of the spectrum that took him off the rails – and he went there a lot.

One of his theories became so convoluted and over the top (it spanned a few episodes) that Peter and Ned had spent an actual 40 minutes trying to map out his train of thought. It took four sheets of paper, and at the end they just dissolved it into a galaxy brain meme.

Peter’s sophomore spring turned to summer turned to fall. Junior year rolled around, and Flash’s search to figure out Spiderman hadn’t slowed down. In fact, he’d been given a boost.

“I just want to say thank you for 1000 subscribers, it really means a lot for you all to support my work. We’re getting closer to discovering Spiderman’s true identity every day, I can feel it.”

Then the blip occurred.

Somehow, in that timespan, Flash’s videos grew big. Bigger than his channel had a right to be.

When five years came and went, and Peter and Ned had just started to adjust to everyone else’s way of life, Spiderman Thomspiracies appeared like a ghost. They made the time to watch it.

 “Hey guys, it’s been a while, I just want to say thank you so much for pushing this channel on strong. I was blipped, apparently, and it’s crazy. I don’t know if I’ll have time to do videos like this for a while, but I just wanted to let you all know that I’m starting up an Instagram where I can talk to you guys about what’s going on, you know, my experience, and maybe you guys can catch me up on some things. Starting with your thoughts on Spiderman. Five years should be enough time to crank out at least one video.

“I’ll make it easy for you. Catch me on SpideyNo1Fan. Flash Thompson out.”

Peter and Ned stared at the screen long after the video ended.

Flash had reached approximately 13,922 subscribers.

Part II: The Event

“Hey guys, it’s been a crazy week. But you’d already know that if you watched my previous videos. Gotta say, being saved by Spiderman in Europe is pretty dope. Now I’m back in home sweet New York, and – aw thanks dude, you’re the best. See, this is why I livestream: it’s so much easier to connect with you all in real time – hold up.” Flash looked up from his phone, then swiveled himself around to put the giant advertisement-turned-news screen behind him. “Looks like something’s going on.”

“The following moments may shock you.”

Flash shot a strange look towards his viewers, falling silent as the news clip ran its course.

“Do it. Execute them all.”

Flash’ jaw dropped.

“There you have it, folks, conclusive proof-”

“What?!” Flash looked at his invisible viewers furiously as the side of his screen lit up with people clamoring to know his opinion. “This is ridiculous. Something else has to be going on here – I know Spiderman, I see him almost every day. Spiderman saved the day! He’s not like that - How long have we known Mysterio? I mean, he saved the day, but Spiderman, there’s no way-

“But that’s not all, folks. Here’s the real blockbuster.”

Flash raised an eyebrow as he commented to the masses. “I’ll get to the bottom of this, don’t you doubt.”

“Spiderman’s real name-”

Flash froze.

“Spiderman’s real name is-”

“No.”

The word came out as a half-wheeze whisper. Spiderman’s identity had been kept from the citizens of New York – nay, the world – but working together in Europe, there was a possibility Mysterio actually did know who was behind the mask-

“Spiderman’s name is PETER PARKER!”

An image of said person blew up on the screen behind Flash, who let out an ungainly shriek, eyes bugged out to the max.

“I’ve gotta go,” Flash stammered out, voice uneven, after enough of a pause for the news segment behind him to begin relooping. “I’ve gotta figure this out. Flash out.”

With shaking hands, he ended the livestream. He felt like he couldn’t breathe. He felt sick.

Out of all the possibilities for who Spiderman was, he’d never once thought Peter Parker.

Flash, still standing there gaping at his own reflection through the turned-off screen, made for the closest bench and sat himself down heavily. He had to work this through.

The news on the screen in front of him returned to its revolutionary image; Flash’s focus intensified, trying to absorb every detail. Trying to find the flaw.

It couldn’t be Peter Parker.

.

Peter had raced away immediately after the video and ended up on top of the old Avengers tower. He didn’t even want to check his phone, want to see all the texts flooding in.

But he had to call Aunt May. He’d do that first.

Once she knew where he was and he’d assured her that he knew what to do if bombarded by questions he didn’t need to answer, he hung up and called Ned.

“Ned. Ned. I am freaking out right now.”

“Okay, this is bad.” Ned didn’t even try to put a positive spin on it; despite his own opinions about sharing Spiderman’s identity, he knew what it meant to Peter. “Where are you? I’ll come over. We’ll face it together.”

“No. I’m still in the suit. I left MJ – oh man, people saw me with MJ earlier and I just…I just left her there-”

“I’ll contact her, it’s fine. Guy in the chair.”

“Guy in the chair.” Peter blew out a shaky breath. “You can’t tell them anything.”

“…Peter,” Ned replied, a little confused. “Your picture was up on the screen. The secret’s out.”

“No. I mean, the rest of the news wasn’t true either. They said I killed Mysterio, which-” Peter suddenly went silent.

“Peter?”

“I didn’t.” Peter’s voice was small and tight and high-pitched. “He fired the bullet and it ricocheted off my suit and hit him. I didn’t have time to figure out where it would go.”

“Dude, I believe you. You didn’t kill Mysterio.” Ned changed the pace of the conversation. “Anyway, this whole claim is ridiculous. Who would actually believe you’d want to kill Mysterio? You’re the friendly neighborhood Spiderman.” Ned sighed. “I’ll try to keep you posted with what I can find. Are you sure you don’t want me to come over later? I can bring pizza. Or you can visit my place. I’ll explain to my parents that you aren’t a super-murderer.”

“I’m not a super-murderer-”

“I know, that’s what I just said, you aren’t a super-mur-”

“Just- don’t say that right now. Please.”

“Okay. I’ll check up on you later.” Ned hung up, and Peter let out a sigh. He couldn’t hide in the building forever, and reporters – or even police, Peter realized with a jolt – might be waiting for him at Aunt May’s. If he didn’t come soon, they might have to take the Bugle’s footage at its word.

Was that how it worked? Was that even legal? He wasn’t sure. American Government was senior year.

His phone vibrated.

Incoming Call from Flash Thompson, his phone read. Peter rested his head against the wall. Flash was among the last people he wanted to talk to at the moment.

He let the phone call go to voicemail and ignored it.

His phone vibrated.

Hey I need to ask you something for social media.

Peter’s eyes widened with a start. In the stress of the moment, he’d almost completely forgotten about Flash’s channel.

Incoming Call from Flash Thompson, his phone read again. Peter answered on the first ring.

But Flash didn’t seem smug. Or menacing. The only thing he asked when Peter picked up was a simple “Is it true?”

That flew Peter for a loop. Disoriented, he responded a beat late. “Flash-“

“It’s true, isn’t it.” Flash didn’t even need Peter’s confirmation. “At first I thought, ‘no way Parker’s actually Spiderman.’ I mean, you guys are nothing alike. But then I thought about it more, and I realized – there’s no way you have family in Germany. You weren’t even when any of the Elementals attacked, and they followed us everywhere – wait, you didn’t plant the elemental attacks, did you?”

“What? No, of course not.” As upset as he was about the event, Peter was more upset that somebody would believe something so blatantly unrealistic.

“Of course not,” Flash agreed, speech coming through as if his mind were elsewhere. “You’re Spiderman.” His voice came back to focus with a snap. “Oh man, you’re Spiderman. I can’t believe this is happening.”

It was over. Peter wanted to cry. “Flash, please, you can’t post about this on your conspiracy channel-”

“You know about that?” There was suddenly a smirk in Flash’s voice, but it didn’t have any disdain attached to it. “I’m pretty big on there, aren’t I?”

“Flash, seriously, this is a big problem for me. Anyone with something against Mr. Stark or an avenger knows who I am now and they’re going to come after me and Aunt May and possibly the school-” Peter took in a deep breath, trying to formulate words.

“Don’t worry man, I got you.”

Flash hung up the phone.

Twenty seconds later, Flash’s Instagram updated.

‘Getting to the bottom of this insane claim. Guess you’ll see another video sooner than I thought!’

Peter put his face into his hands and groaned. He didn’t even know what to make of that.

.

Another vibration.

Hey. It was MJ. You okay?

Yeah, Peter responded. You?

No thanks to you.

…

I’m joking, I’m fine. Do what you gotta do.

Ned texted him around the time, too.

Hey, MJ’s safe, I’m safe, are you safe?

Safe enough to respond to your text. How’s Aunt May?

Holding down the fort pretty well. Do you think you’ll have to come to school on Monday?

Bigger problems.

Right.

.

The video uploaded about an hour later.

“There’s been a horrendous accusation floating around the figure we know and love as Spiderman. Today, I’m here to prove to you that this lie has been purported by the media and is not possible. Ever.”

Flash spent 20 or so minutes describing his first-hand experience in Europe and extol Spiderman’s actions. Then he veered off course. “Now, I’m sure you have some questions about the other claim made by the Daily Bugle – a site which I’m pretty sure none of us have heard of until now. Particularly, concerning Spiderman’s true identity.” Flash then filled the time doing what he did best – making fun of Peter Parker. He went through numerous examples of what Peter Parker was like, and although Peter tried to reason that the bullying was an attempt to help him out, he was a little less grateful when it stretched for 15 minutes.

Flash ended the video with a sober expression.

“As you know, every theory has both impossible and plausible components to it. But ask yourselves: if Spiderman, who you’ve seen and known as a hero, and Peter Parker, who you now know as a wimp, were in that position on the London Bridge, do you really think either of them would want to kill the great Mysterio? Do you think either of them would even think about doing something that ruthless? That dastardly?

“We are far from finished with the topic of Spiderman. But while I work tirelessly to achieve the high standards set long ago for this channel, ask yourself that question, viewers, because something doesn’t add up. Flash Thompson out.”

Peter took a minute to digest what he’d watched. Then he called up Flash. Of course, Flash was the first one to speak.

“Pretty great, huh?”

“Flash…”

“Don’t thank me. I already know what you’re going to say.”

“You…didn’t try to convince them I wasn’t Spiderman.”

“What – of course I didn’t. Do you think I would blatantly lie to my fans? I’ve built this channel off of trust. And math. And logical reasoning. And I did you a favor. People need to see you as a hero instead of a weird power-hungry monster, so that’s what I’m driving at. You’re not a power-hungry monster, right?”

“No!”

“No. Obviously. Because you’re Spiderman.” Flash paused. “Man, I still can’t get over that. I just want to make sure you know that I totally respect you as Spiderman, but as Peter Parker, everything I said in the video still stands.”

Peter sighed. “Thanks, Flash.”

“No problem. If you need PR, I’m the guy. As Spiderman.”

“Great.”

Part III: The Effect

Peter finally got back to the apartment (thankfully in one piece) and Aunt May and him where sitting together on the couch with hot chocolate when his phone began to vibrate.

“I don’t want to answer it,” Peter half-murmured.

“You should put it on silence,” Aunt May suggested helpfully. With a groan, Peter moved to do so.

The text was from Flash Thompson.

Sure you don’t want my offer on PR?

Peter’s brow furrowed in confusion.

Before he could dismiss it, his phone vibrated again. It was from Ned.

Dude. Check the video. Check Flash’s video right now.

Peter refreshed the page – he hadn’t even deleted the tab yet – and carefully set down his hot chocolate so he could plop heavily onto the couch.

Aunt May shifted closer, concerned. “What? What is it?”

Peter shook his head, disbelieving. “Just…” He was going to have to explain the whole thing. For the moment, he just showed her the screen.

Flash’s video had reached 1 million.

[ingayderzim]

not to be that person who asks a googleable question but wtf is hazbin hotel bc i googled it and the only “critical” thing i could find was a typo-ridden article of someone saying it has good animation and its haters are stupid. i was able to glean what it is/what it’s about but idk about the discourse lmao

Im actually so glad u asked this. Here's the lowdown, this is my definitive answer to hazbin shit from here on out, unless new info comes about of course.

Hazbin hotel is an independent cartoon by vivziepop. Most people (that ive seen) have agreed that the pilot of the show really isnt that great but the reason it has so many fans is bc of the entertaining livestreams, massive amounts of canon content produced (she has had these characters for years), unique art style, and the characters. (Ass ugly but unique.)

Its haters are totally justified bc of some of the "controversial" (read: bad) things vivziepop has done. Here's the conclusion that my friends and classmates (several of whom are Black, one Hispanic woman, and one trans woman...nellie if ur reading this i 💜 u) and i came to after discussing this stuff. I am NOT saying "well my black/trans friend said it's ok so i dont have to think about it!" this is based on a few different conversations that my friends and i have had about this topic so what im saying is that my opinion was formed by talking about this situation with multiple people affected by the controversy.

One controversial thing is a drawing u can easily find on google (called beastiality.jpg i believe?) It's a cropped (chest and up, but hes obv naked) drawing of vivziepops character, drawn by vivziepop, moaning, with a snake around him. The character is 17. Many people have interpreted this as child porn. I dont think this image is pornographic, i think it's a stupid joke (it was even tagged as a joke iirc) and completely inappropriate but since it's 8 years old on top of not being porn, i think it's just an example of a dumb drawing. That being said, i would NEVER argue that someone who is uncomfortable w the drawing (im uncomfortable with it! It's gross just not porn) or considers it porn is wrong. They are entitled to that opinion and i would never expose them to vivziepops work or talk about her stuff around them if they expressed to me that they disliked the image.

Another thing is that she drew a doodle of two racist TERFs. This is the one where my friends of color, my friends who are black, and my friends who are trans women took the lead. I sat back for this part and here's their and my opinion on this after talking about it and verbally going through this whole situation.

She was following these women (who had done blackface and stuff) and drew art of them. The art was a "quick doodle" that she did apologize for and she said she didn't realize the extent of their beliefs. She knew they werent great but hadnt consumed much of their content in depth. I believe her bc while ive never followed anyone as bad, ive certainly followed some pieces of shit and didnt notice for months simply bc im not online all the time and bc of the volume of people i follow, combined with the non chronological algorithms lately.

At the risk of screwing myself, im going to admit that there was about a year or so of my life where i enjoyed The Amazing Atheist. I was even subbed to him. I was a nonbinary lesbian (2 things he cant stand lmaoo) in catholic school and therefore i strictly watched his videos about theological stuff since thats what was frustrating me at the time. I had no clue the type of evil racist, transphobic, homophobic (yes ik hes bi), misogynistic things he thought, said, and did, bc i didnt watch those videos. I literally only watched select theological ones that could be of use to me while edgily debating my teachers (sorry mrs macdougal but u had it coming). I was about 15 at the time and im 19 now. Im sorry to everyone i hurt by ever having supported him. I had one of his quotes written in the inside of my religion notebook in high school. I regretted it and ripped the page out the moment i discovered the truth about him. I cant stress enough how much I HATE HIM. Thats an example of what i think happened here tho.

One of my friends who is a trans woman said (paraphrasing) "i think the worst thing shes done is that terf art but i believe the apology especially bc it was a quick drawing."

That being said, i would NEVER argue with someone who wanted nothing to do w vivziepop bc of this. That's their right. 100%. I would never expose them to her work after that.

The last thing i remember is something about a pedophilic couple in a comic but i heard it was a 17 year old and a 19 year old. Im 19 and if one of my peers did that i wouldnt say pedophile but id say ur a fucking weirdo, BUT, the kids were fake and being written by an adult so i can totally see her thinking that age gap is much less of a big deal than it really is. Like she forgot what it's like at this age. Idk how true any of that part is tho, i heard that info entirely secondhand.

Another thing to do with racism is that there's a joke within the show where one character says to the other

"don't get your taco in a twist"

"Was that supposed to be racist or sexist?"

"Whichever one pisses you off more"

I thought that was gross but one of my friends pointed out that vivziepop is of el salvadorian descent so that's her business. Like if i made a lesbian joke of equal or greater offensiveness than that and someone tried to call me lesbophobic over it id be like "that's literally my territory."

Oh speaking of which that character's name is vaggie and shes a lesbian but it's not pronounced w the same G you'd hear in "vagina." Vivziepop seems to name characters weirdly (like how in helluva boss theres a guy named blitzo and the o is silent) so maybe it's a pussy joke but i have no idea.

The animation was.................better than i could do, i wanna say the faces and gestures were good but god i remember there was a part with a car and my gf had to pause so i could laugh my ass off at it. I wouldn't describe the animation as a highlight but i liked the style in motion i thought it was a fun change. Vivziepops style is not appealing imo but i appreciate it as an art student and as someone whose friends all like she ra and steven universe where every character looks the goddamn motherfucking same, and while its chaotic and i dont care for it, the style actually works way better in motion than you'd think.

A good rule that i def use is to assume hazbin fans are guilty until proven innocent. If someone says they dont care about the discourse surrounding it and like it no matter what, RUN! They would support the show even if the creator was in fact a pedophile, or had done the blackface/was a terf herself! They probably support some horrible ppl and are probably "anti antis." A lot of them are minors tho so i'd say block and move on.

So, do i like it or not? Im an art student and all my friends like it so while i didnt think it was funny, i do fuck with it. At the convention this weekend my friends and i had a convo that led to me drawing an ahego hoodie where the faces were angel dust (a character's) face. It was a joke that i could make a killing by selling that in a booth at a con.

Theres really nothing compelling about the show but my friends like it so i join in on their conversations, and i do have a soft spot for angel dust bc he's like a worse, less amazing and gorgeous version of one of my characters, Candy, the love of my life.

A lot of people say the show was edgy/offensive and maybe im just desensitized but besides the taco thing i didnt pick up on that whatsoever??? The Archer episode "Swiss Miss" is worse than helluva boss and hazbin combined and even archer isn't offensive.

Im probably not aware of all the "discourse" (aka people being reasonably uncomfortable by weird and bad shit this random woman has done, and other ppl saying their opinions are wrong when it's literally just an opinion about a show) so if anything she's done isnt included in here it's not to defend vivziepop, this is genuinely all i know. I wouldnt describe myself as a fan of hers.

[haechanmochi]

Hello again! May I request DAY6 reacting to an Idol!S/O announcing their love for them during their S/O's concert? Thanks!

this is so cute

-

Your group always did little fan interactions with tweet replies on stage

"Alright next question"- your leader announced

"Are you'll dating anybody, do we know them?"

She gave you a look as she read it out since you were the only one with a boyfriend, when you didn't reply she answered for the group

"All of us are still single and ready to m-"

"Actually", you interrupt her

"I'm dating someone"

The crowd starts screaming and chanting "Tell us, Tell us"

Jae

He usually came to your concerts but he had been cooped up in the JYP building, practicing.

He was in the common room with the rest of the JYP idols and they were showing a live stream of your concert on the big screen. Everyone had taken a break to watch and the infamous tweet popped up. Jae didn't expect you to but you did it.

"Its Park Jaehyung from DAY6".

I feel like Jae would be the cockiest one. Everyone in the room would turn to him and he'd put on this small smirk and say, "yea, she means me". He'd be like this at first but then get all soft and shy at heart while the rest of DAY6 teases him.

After your stage ends you'd be restless to get to him and he'd catch you in a big hug and lift you off the ground, peppering your face with kisses.

"I can finally do this in public", he'd say inbetween kisses while your members shout "get a room".

Sungjin

Sungjin would have agreed to keeping it lowkey to protect your image and shield the girl he loved from any hate so he stayed at home and watched the livestream of your show, not wanting to risk getting seen and even risk the chance of a rumour.

He'd get excited whenever you had to answer a question and when you interrupted your leader to answer the dating question, he would freeze.

"It's Park Sungjin, from DAY6".

He'd be worried at first but after seeing the crowd cheer like crazy and the positive livestream comments he'd actually start blushing and smiling. We know how shy the boy is. When you come by his place the next morning he'd have made a huge breakfast for you. He'll pull you into a warm hug and kiss your forehead,

"Hey girlfriend".

Brian YoungK

He was a huge fan of you, probably your biggest supporter, so he wanted to watch from the crowd and you bet he started chanting "Tell us".

And you did, but very vaguely, still a little nervous.

"You guys know Brian?"

The crowd was a little quiet, wanting you to continue- but you didn't. So this boy takes the opportunity and shouts "Who's Brian? MY NAME is YOUNGK!!"

The crowd starts laughing but then they realize it's actually him because your lighting staff, extra asf, cast a spotlight to YoungK's location in one of the VIP boxes. Everybody starts cheering and YoungK's face replaces the tweets on the big projector screen behind you.

"Yep, that's him", you beam and he send you a flying kiss- making the crowd flip again.

Wonpil

Emotional shy but really fkin crazy tiny little baby.

He loved you so much and he was very affectionate and clingy that so often he got upset whenever you had to step out in public and go at different times cause it wasn't officially announced yet.

He'd come to all your concerts and fansigns and the cutie would even send you his fanart- despite living in the same apartment.

So when the question popped up, he knew it was gonna go unnoticed so he slumped against the sofa backstage and huffed out like a child.

Until it didn't. You were answering and Wonpil felt himself DYING of curiosity.

"He's actually here today to see us perform too, Wonpil-sshi come on out here for a second".

He blinks twice to process it and then runs over to you. You give him a side hug and the fans start chanting your names and you hide him in a hug. From the overwhelming support, Wonpil would try so hard not to cry and it would be so obvious tho because he's just so emotional and everyone "AWWWW"s, when you lead him offstage, not breaking off the hug while the fans shout "OOLJIMA"

Dowoon

Your group didnt play any instruments so Dowoon had recommended playing the drums for you guys. That's how you met him. And how the infamous maknae love started- you were both the maknaes.

He'll probably be admiring you from the back, sitting at his drum kit and smiling proudly whenever you spoke. He was taking a swig of his water when you announced the answer to a question he never thought you'd answer.

"Yoon Dowoon is my biggest supporter and he is my drum", you'd joke and point to the drum kit. He'd turn so red and try to hide with the instruments but your other members would drag him out. The fans were throwing flowers on stage that they usually saved for the end and you picked up a red rose, handing it to Dowoon.

The boy would get all flustered and shy and hide behind you, backhugging you to keep himself steady cause he was shaking with joy.

-

This was so calming to write.

I hope this was good, I haven't done reactions in a while so it may not be the exact format.

[djsinquarantine]

La Hora Salvaje, By Francisco

Basic Details: This stream was live on June 9th, 2020. It was live on Twitch at: https://www.twitch.tv/djjuanmasalvaje. During my viewing it, views maxed out at 148. Once again, it was difficult to completely integrate myself into the social atmosphere through the chat, so I wasn’t able to confirm the city where the broadcast was from, but it was definitely in Spain. After doing further research at the end of the stream, I’ve learned that it was also live on Facebook. 

Visuals: Digital effects were at a minimum in this stream. The only parts that were digital were the border around the camera feed and a short animation that played when the DJ wanted to transition between the two camera angles employed here. There was also a small donation goal in the upper right corner. The rest of the stream was simply a feed of DJ Juanma in what appeared to be his personal studio. Later on in the stream he would use a screen sharing feature to talk to viewers about a particular board. The description of the stream featured a uniform theme that included details regarding equipment used, donations, YouTube channel, Instagram account, and the schedule for the week. The stream also had an image of a burrito pop up whenever someone subscribed.

Music: At the beginning of the stream, I thought of describing the music as ‘hard house’ since it seemed like house to me but a lot faster and with stronger emphasis on the beat. However, the chat would go on to describe it as techno and hard trance, which seems to make a lot of sense. Regardless, the music was definitely the fastest I’ve studied so far and it definitely created a much more energetic and upbeat atmosphere than what I had previously experienced. It reminded me of power metal music, but more melodic and electronic. The same sort of vibe was there.

Technology: DJ Juanma has two boards set up before him as well as a mic. The description described his tech as a Pioneer 2000 Nexus 2. He seemed to be fairly minimalistic when it came to his tech. I say this because he was very active with his chat and would regularly share his opinion about random things. At one point, he started talking about a board called the DJM-V10 and how he felt that it was way too much and unnecessarily elaborate and complex--at least for what he was doing. He stated that he had the opportunity to get the DJM-V10 at one point, but opted not to for these reasons. The stream featured two similar camera shots: one wide shot of the studio that showed DJ Juanma’s boards and another close up shot of his face that he employed when he really wanted to emphasize something that he wanted to say.

Social: As mentioned above, DJ Juanma was very active with his chat. He would regularly answer questions and, more importantly, seemed to even prioritize his long rants over the music. He would regularly lower the volume of the music to talk about his opinion on random things like sports fanaticism. Also mentioned above is when he began to talk about the board, he even went as far as to Google an image of it and then put it up on the stream to better describe it. DJ Juanma would also verbally thank any new subs and give fun facts about the tracks he played, challenging viewers to name them. He also pointed out how, despite having over a hundred viewers, only a handful were active in the chat. He joked that the only active ones were the old guys talking about music from the 90’s. All in all, this felt a lot more like a live hangout with DJ Juanma than a digital concert at certain points.

Liveness: Something that’s been consistently drilled into my head when it comes to the question of the liveness of livestreams is that a crucial (perhaps the most crucial) aspect of it is the interaction between the audience and the chat. In fact, although it’s difficult to say whether or not livestreams are better than physical raves and in what aspects, I think an integral part of answering that question would be asking ourselves if the level of interaction between dj and audience that is made possible through the introduction of a chat and various stream elements such as donations and emotes can be matched by physical raves. It seems to me that these are what allows the audience to become a part of the stream so that an individual who is later watching a recording of the stream feels left out as a result of their inability to chat or donate directly to the “present” of the stream. This was all made even more obvious to me through the high level of interaction between DJ Juanma and his audience. One would not be able to give Juanma a new topic to rant about if they were simply watching a recording. 

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