#i feel again now that im into desert duo again

[0yorixu]

Desert duo I love them so much urhhhfhf

I should be sleeping right now for my trip that I have to wake up at 5 for but drawing urges told me to draw desert duo and sleep on the ride instead

[reading-writing-dying]

What if I wrote fanfiction again for the first time in years? 🤔

[candz13z]

tw sort of scarian?? can be platonic or romantic.

i like the thought of desert duo loving eachother very aggressively. im talking the most fucked up toxic unsafe unstable kind of love.

Every time they fight, even if they have a weapon on them, it will always be a fist fight. Just so they can have that excuse to touch eachother and be near to one another. Even if that means pulling out hear and knocking out teeth and caving in ribs.

At the same time the SECOND that someone looks at one of them wrong, the other will be on them ready to take a life or two or three away. Just to make sure they learnt their lesson.

it was relatively tame tbh, before scar had one. It had only been grian that remembered the other at that time. Grains possessiveness made no sense but at the same time it felt familiar.

Then scar wins. Scar wins and suddenly all of it makes so much sense and hes genuinely going to take an actual chunk out of grians flesh when he sees him again-

Then they see eachother again. And scar doesnt know what to do. Then grian lunges at him and by the end of their fight theyre both bloody and bruised and so, so broken and hes bashed in grians skull with the hilt of his sword-

Just so he can carefully wrap him in bandages, gently like he hadn't just bashed his brain in with a his sword handle and is now waiting for the regen potion to kick in. Hes extra careful when he preens his feathers this time, keeping him close enough to check his pulse. When he wakes up scar gives him a forehead kiss so light he mightve imagined it and ushers him to go back to sleep. Oddly enough grian feels safe enough to go back to bed in the arms of someone who had killed him more than once than he was with most teammates.

Another thing is, scar will never hit him innthe wing or pull out a feather. Never. The same way grian has never laid a finger on any of his pets. Never. Its an unspoken rule that some things are just too far. Scar is actually the only one he trusts to preen him besides maybe mumbo. Scar could be on red, HAS BEEN ON RED, and grian could be on green, and hed still feel safe.

[amethystfairy1]

we're BACK!

the sun-burned beauty updates we've been waiting to read were... certainly NOT what we were expecting, but... i mean... i'm not complaining!

also DESERT DUO??? the desert duo content has finally arrived! and im already SO excited!!!

but now i'm home, and i can create all the fanart i want! ...hopefully. my motivation is as bad as ever.

for the rest of this ask, a bit random, but here are my silly thoughts about what would happen if the TTSBC pairings (and some extra friends) went kayaking together!

Desert Duo: Naturally, the obvious way would be for Scar to sit in the back. And at first, they tried that, but he kept getting distracted and losing rhythm over and over again. Eventually, Grian got mad and moved him to the front. Apart from that... hurdle, I think they would do really well at this type of exercise. Scar wouldn't have to use his braces, and both probably have great muscles and condition from their side hustle. That is, if they can stay awake from how little sleep they get.

Flower Husbands: Scott really didn't want Jimmy to do this with his back pain, but he insisted he would be fine, and Scott eventually relented. He still wouldn't let him sit in the back, though. I think they would be one of the most coordinated pairings in here - when Scott is not trying to splash Martyn, which he totally takes the chance at every time they get near.

Zedango: Tango SHOULD NOT, under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, be on a kayak. But it sounded so fun, and Zed really wanted to try kayaking for the first time, and if he stayed he would've drowned himself in work again, so they just wrapped him up in waterproof clothing and rowed very, VERY carefully. He ended up getting wet multiple times, underplaying the damage EVERY SINGLE TIME. They're dead last, and Tango's hands are water-burned all over by the time they get to the end, but they insist it was still a fun time. Zed's in the back - yes, it's his first time, but he quickly figured it out.

Treebark: Ren's got it. He totally can push the kayak on his own, Martyn doesn't have to do anything. But he still wanted to feel helpful, so he got an oar himself. It still got used mostly for the arbitrary splash war between him and Scott, and not for actual rowing.

Jizzie: Joel sits in the back, if only to satiate his own ego. Lizzie would probably be more competent than him, hunting clan and all. But they both are putting in the work, and enjoying the break from running a bakery as much as they can. Of course, Joel had to get some modifications made. The kayak is not butterfly friendly. 0/10.

Doctho: Unlike Martyn, Etho doesn't bother with false illusions of actually contributing anything. Doc's biotech can do it just fine, no sweat, so Etho's just going to enjoy the ride. They're closer to the back, keeping an eye on all of their 'little ones' - ESPECIALLY Tango.

Nature Wives: I like to think Katherine is the one who came up with the whole kayaking idea. She invited everyone, got the kayaks sorted, and found a suitable place (surely there are decent lakes in the under-city - Katherine herself fell in one). She's probably also sitting in the back and teaching Shelby how to row.

Gem & Pearl: My Shiny Duo heart wants to put them on a kayak so bad! They're not together, but would totally make short work of all these couples and their coordination. I can see them both in the back or front, but I'll put Pearl in the back just because as an avian, she definitely has a lot of back and arm strength. They're menaces, going in circles and splashing everyone. Nobody's safe from them! (Except Zedango)

Impulse: What's a kayaking trip without a nice lunch at the end? And for that to happen, someone has to give up one space on their kayak just for the supplies. I think Impulse would be great here. He's got the stamina needed to push a kayak on his own. As for the supplies... him, Gem and Pearl volunteered, so it may be just soup. (It totally is just soup.)

If someone wants to draw this, be my guest!

A bonus thought: isn't it wild how TTSBC!Scar would most likely be a Gryffindor, but TT!Scar a Slytherin?

I perhaps spent a little too long rolling around laughing about this 😆

Especially the image of Martyn getting paddled along faster than a speedboat because REN and meanwhile Zed and Tango are like going as slow as possible and Tango just keep going 'ouch! ow! ah!' because of the little droplets hitting him 😅 And Impulse just paddling along by himself with the big old picnic baskets stacked up in his boat, that's so cute! What a lovely outing for the group!

So glad you're back and enjoyed the end of Sun-Burned Beauty!

[wickerfox]

HELLO YES ITS ME IM COPY PASTING THE THING HERE:

YOU JUST MADE THE CHILD IN ME BLOOM. THE QUESTION LIST (THIS IS THE FIRST TIME IM SEEING THIS AU BUT GOD FORBID):

× Who's Hoodie

× Is it in the same time setting as MH

× Who PLAYS AS ALEX

× Did it start the same way as a dumb school film project?

× From what I understood Scar takes the role of Tim, is bro a chainsmoker too LMFAO.

× Is Grian canonically gay too

× Would it be a wild correct guess that Amy is Lizzie and Alex is Joel since yk based from obvious plot points?

(before I start, placing this disclaimer here at the top since I have friends who don't frequent mcyt and might get confused, but when I talk abt this au I'm specifically talking abt the characters, not the content creators themselves. Anyway)

SO IM GONNA GO AHEAD AND SHARE WHOSE WHO FIRST

Jay- Grian, it made the most sense in my head, but I actually flip flopped on this so many times bc he also works so well as Tim or Alex, but at some point I went "wait it's an au, we can see how the story changes with Grian as the protag" so Grian's the protag now

Tim/Masky- Scar, I'm a transparent desert duo enjoyer and had a similar flip flop with him as I did Grian bc he'd also work as Jay but I was halfway through that drawing and had a similar thought process to the one i had abt Grian

Brian/Hoodie- Jimmy, I wanted to keep the cast focused to life series and evo members and he made the most sense to me lore wise, especially with the idea that in this au he was one of the ones with the earliest exposure to The Watcher (bc I love Canary Curse symbolism)

Alex- This one was the toughest choice bc no matter what a fav is going to loose it. Good thing this based on the Life Series! As much as I Love the idea of Joel and Lizzie as Alex and Amy, I actually went with Martyn. Again, the character is pretty involved with the Watcher Lore so it made the most sense as the character that is arguably most effected by it. (Although for a brief moment I considered Mumbo Jumbo bc,,, how fucking funny would that be)

Jessica- Jessica's gotta be Pearl right? It makes the most sense for it to be Pearl, I don't even need reasoning for this it makes sense

Amy- So who's Amy then? Scott actually! He's not Martyn's boyfriend in this, he's just a really good friend of his who was super involved in the production. Also like in mh, he's Pearl's roommate.

Sarah- Ren. Can't have a life series au featuring desert duo and not have some renchanting. Who else would be one of the leading actors in Martyn's short film?

Seth- Big B, again Evo connection made sense to me, and depending on your own personal theory on who the third person running the totheark account is, both Big B and Ren have interesting implications, even if both their rolls are p minor in this au

With the cast out of the way other questions !!!

It's set in a kind of nebulous time frame that's probably a little closer to present day, but it does still start with a student film project. When asked Why Martyn chose to use tapes he says something about wanting a more authentic feel to the film but in reality he just thought using tapes was a cool idea and doesn't want to admit that it's kind of impractical now.

In this au Scar doesn't smoke, but instead I like the headcannon that he just has boxes of candy/bubblegum cigarettes on him at all times. He'll pull one out, pause, and offer one to someone and when they say no he's just like "Okay, your loss" and watch as they get all confused when he starts unwrapping it asdfghkgkdjhfjsh

Is Grian gay in this au? Whose to say. (Real answer tho, I'm a notorious Jam shipper and while I'm not an active shipper when it comes to hermitcraft or the life series, I don't really mind it so the relationship is left kind of ambiguous)

But yes THANK YOU DO MUCH FOR GIVING ME A CHANCE TO TALK ABT THIS IVE BEEN RAMBLING TO MY FRIEND WHO DOESNT UNDERSTAND ANYTHING IVE BEEN SAYING FOR DAYS

[stupid-boy-here]

Its 4:11 am i have not sleept and English is not my first language so if something is wrong or too much of a occ I'm sorry, i just had to make something of this, again it will make no sense and I'm still learning how to properly write and narrate,if you have a tip or something i would really treasure it

Even a Watcher is being Watched

-"BECAUSE IM ME"- Those simple words came out of the mouth of the dirty blond boy muffled by his closed teeth,he was angry, not at "tim" for confronting him, no no, he couldn't anyhow, he was mad at himself.

He was mad that not even he, a watcher, A god, being of chaos, creator of the so-called "Death games", that he as powerful as can be is still a cursed soul.

When grian first noticed was on the first day, on the first game, when he accidentally killed scar, although grian didn't tough of it for the first few days, it become more and more clear how no matter how much he tried to keep scar safe, it will bounce back, to the point in where it was a red and green duo, the duo that destroyed its own home, in where grian was forced to kill that same man, the man he screamed at to put some clothes on and be more protected, the man who'm he promised loyalty to, and the man he loved most, just that; kill him with his own fists, on the remains of his desert, close to a grave.

He never will forget the pain it caused to kill that man, the man who didn't hit grian even tho he was "betraying" him.

Pain knowing that Scar was willing to let grian take his life away from home.

The blood on his knuckles, the phantom feeling of his hugs, of grian's fist against scar's face.

Thats why even if it was for 10 seconds of that pain, he could not take it and decided to take his own life.

The second time was also to that cat-loving-guy, he told him to not be together again and that "everything that happend before does not matter now".

At that point he understood that those events where part of his curse, like Jimmy's,just that not so obvious, yet again on his ignorance,thinking that he could break it on a heartbeat,but no. He hurted the brunette and himself with those lying word's, and not just Scar but also his teammates, mostly Mumbo, who he made sure to take out the "game" taking once again the life of someone he loved with his whole heart.

The feeling was more bearable now, and that made grian feel sick.

The thrirth game was one of the hardest

As someone might think, being the soulmate of the person you first loved and abandoned is not a easy thing.

He tried to be as cold enough, to drive Scar away but it didn't budge, he just forgave grian and continued to be at his side, that something grian never got happy for.

And yet again he managed to hurt Scar one more time, on the search of something, someone else, he found a second-fake-soulmate; He and BigB called themself's "secret soulmates" even tho the secret part did not last more than a few days before Scar overheard them, hearing how grian was with someone else, doing all the things he wished grian to be with him.

Yet never said anything directly, just that one chance for grian to be truthfull with some "cookies", a painful reminder for the avian of what they used to be, and a reminder of the fact that he should not be griving over the thing he destroyed.

Not to mention the death of his secret soulmate, and his own soulmate being because of grian's own recklessness.

On the forth game it was more easy to deal with at least on the beginning it was, he got to see scar over the distance, and got a small group "bad boy's" he was happy for a while, even played as a watcher making more boogie's, to not "being sastificed with how fast the kill was made"

Grian's was feeling a little bit better over his curse, even Tim was having improvment's not dying first.

He even forgot about it, everything was going as good as it could, alies and enemy's not being that apart, for both good and bad. He made shinenigans and even a few good moments with his teammates.

That until that day, the day grian killed both of "his boy's", one was not his fault or so grian says to not get over the fact that both curses are coming back.

The other one was also an accident, people knew him too well, they knew that he could not get over a button unpressed. Yet it backfired for Lizzie pearl, and himself

Once again killing one of his teammate, close to his death.

And to no other than the "canary of death" the so-called "Death omen" even, his almost brother, bestfriend and also someone he loved and adored.

He could not forgive himself for doing it again, and for being sickeningly happy for it.

Grian never understood how his watcher's feelings and his more "humane" feelings could co-exist and yet they did, creating even more wilt on his already dying heart.

[calronhunt]

didnt want to be extra annoying and ask this on your art blog so ill settle for just being annoying.. was anything in wac inspired by the life series? like designs or well, anything! discovered ur stuff on youtube and went ooooh and then snooped through all the art i could find and was repeatedly reminded of the sillies that occupy my brain. sorry 2 be weird! ik its the worst question to be asked sorry but its hurting my brain wondering and not knowing

Aw shit ya caught me. I was gonna reveal this fact much later down the line bc ive been kinda open that WAC started out as an AU just not for what. Primarily the reason for secrecy is bc i don't want people to look at this story i put a lot of myself and my experience into and go "I can't believe you tricked me into reading about minecraft men" bc the story has expanded a lot past these intial inspirations.

So before i go into all the inspirations, I wanna make this perfectly clear. WAC's plot is almost completely original, baring some small scenes inspired by events in the Life series and the basic set up. It's a three act story that is mostly about me and my partners problems regarding abuse and personhood. The Life Series au was a starting point and it kinda spiraled out from that lollll.

(Also I saw your other ask and it doesn't bother me at all! Its been something ive wanted to talk about anyway simply bc i find the inspirations funny. Plus I promised myself if someone realized and asked I would talk about it. Also i just love talking about inspiration and seeing how you got from one thing to the next, maybe others would like the same.)

1. "Why are they cats?" This started as an au once again but i felt too embarrassed talking about it publicly as a mcyt au so I gave them cat designs. That's the only reason lol

Lain - Inspired primarily by 3rd life and lim life martyn in regards to both his devotion to the king (ren) and mariner (scott). Lain and Mariner originally started as Majorwood shipping cats but then became more about their unhealthy power dynamics and two people being stuck together it spiraled into what we have now! Especially since I believe Martyn killed Jimmy (Canary) in 3rd life? Or at least scott accuses him as such so that's where that came from.

Mariner - 3rd/lim life scott! His obsession with the sea, his name, his relationship to Canary, his ties to Lain, and his design is pulled from scott. That's about all that's similar now though. His personality is completely different. Hes a shitty fuckinh dude.

Canary - 3rd life Jimmy Solidarity but like fucking barely and just bc hes married to mariner (flower husbands). Took his name from the fandom calling him a canary because he always dies first and that's basically it. Also worked with the bird name theme i was starting to go with

The King - 3rd life ren but again fucking BARELY except for his relationship with Lain and being a king and trying to conquer shit. That's like. It.

Condor - he's just mr good times with scar. Hes like, the closest to his mcyt counterpart probably and im not even sorry. Took primarily from 3rd life and lim life once again though in regards to his relationship with Crane (Cleo), Warbler (bdubs), and Scout (Etho) (and also the fact the group is called the flock is a cheeky callback to the family being called the clockers)

Crane - stated above, Cleo, but only bc shes mom in the clockers family. Nothing else.

Warbler - limlife bdubs but again fucking BARELY. I think the bdubs skin is the most i drew on for her design with the fucked up eye and teeth.

Grouse - mr 3rd life grian. Dating condor because desert duo and feeling indebted to him for that as well. And just. Generally little guy vibes.

Scout - etho. Just for chill vibes. Dating Crabe because hes "dad" in lim life and dating Wolf (Joel) bc of double life halfslab.

Wolf - Primarily last life joel with the living alone in the woods thing and joel just being a like. Maniac in the life series with the murders and such. Dating scout again bc of double life. The her having canary's skull thing is just for my friend who is a big fucked up smallidarity shipper.

Sycamore, coal, and aster are original characters i made specifically for the story.

I would again like to state that the story is BARELY tied to things that happen in the life series, and its mostly my personal experiences and silly thoughts. The silly minecraft men were just the jumping off point and all of their arcs are original so there ya go <3

[nameification]

okay so in response to a comment by @waterfall8484 put into a separate post bc i have Thoughts

Hang on, trying again... The teammate/soul mate thing sounds like a really fun idea! Depending on driver vibes you could have non-teammate alliances like with Cleo and Scott, lone wolf drivers like Pearl... oooh, what would a 5am Oscar be like?? There was also the secret thing going on between Grian and BigB, and you have reluctant team/soul mates like Grian with Scar.

oh there will be a Lot of non-teammate alliances in this hypothetical double life. i have so many thoughts actually on how some of the teams would work. if i get any of the dynamics wrong do know that i have not watched double life since it first aired

ferrari [55&16] - i think they'd be similar to a joel and etho dynamic (tho i think they'd have the same kind of history as desert duo). one is obsessed with the other, they both are Not Normal about each other, they both would absolutely try to kill each other. the base is made of wood (the car is shit) but hey at least it looks pretty and is honestly pretty practical (they get a few wins in that thing). they die together in lava (taken by circumstances out of their control)

haas [27&20] - very similar to impulse and bdubs. insane about eachother. would murder everyone else whilst living the suburban family life

mclaren [4&81] - THEY ARE ABSOLUTELY SCOTT AND PEARL CODED...oscar going lone wolf YES

okay so for this one im thinking moreso for like. rancher duo as a basis for how they would work and imo this works for two diff teams. mercedes [44&63] OR williams [2&23] (yes logan. hold on a moment). they wanna just. raise livestock together and live peacefully on their side of the hill but no. they are doomed by the narrative. one is doomed to die first (and thus take the other with them) and the other is doomed to die a meaningless death. i feel like it could work with either merc or williams

now some non-team dynamics... ehehe

33&16 - i had to. I HAD TO. they absolutely meet with each other in secret and help each other more than their teammates. they think it's a secret but everyone knows

yknow how scott was always reaching out to jimmy. do you think george and alex did that to each other.

pierre and yuki are absolutely teaming

i can see lewis and fernando in like. a reluctant allyship sort of position? dont ask how they get there i just. see it

all for now i think...yeah this is about it for now. there is honestly so much material to work with. if/when i write the fic for this im gonna upload the chapters every tuesday bc thats when they used to upload each pov

[ouroborosreilig]

Would you like to share some of your thoughts about desert duo (I’m working on a desert duo ppt and it feels like I’ve covered everything but at the same time it’s not enough, now I’m collecting evidence for why desert duo makes ppl insane 🗒️🖊️)

IM THE WORST TO ASK! i can not formulate my thoughsts into words but let me tell u they make me Crazy

oh my gaowd. if we want to go silly angst its like. this feeling of wanting closeness but being so hesitant and scared of what it could bring and yada yada yada

but in general they are just so goofy with each other and cause such shenanigans its awful when they r together everything goes wrong and i love that for them

i like how its a lot of scar being like im just a little guy im just a little guy and grian being like oh my gudjcking God not again but theyre also like hihihi *frolicking breaking evetything together*

[liauditore]

The thoughts, hand em over. (No pressure but I wanna hear em :D)

oh god what have u done.

context.

OK SO,. (BE WARNED THIS IS LIKE. REALLY LONG AND BRAINROTTY.)

first off i must put here as per the law i am not in fact armchair psychoanalysing mc youtubers grian and mister scott S. major this is me looking at the 3L series as is it were a performance and their actions in said series as characters and blah blah blah so on so forth this is Fanfiction and Shipping and woowoOOwoo We Are Being Sillyyy with a miku song.

i'm gonna infodump abt a bunch of stuff including some heavy topics like emotional abuse and dubcon (NOT in detail the song just has those vibes)

so uh if you're reading this for Some Reason know that 👍

ALRIGHT WITH THAT OUT OF THE WAY Vampire the song itself is (at least my reading of it) a song about a toxic relationship. The singer is very much not a Good Person and the main chorus is just them disregarding their partner's needs and pushing the relationship even further.

But the singer isn't completely irredeemably evil, since they really do love the person they're abusing (in a childish sense of the word love, anyway) and seem to be at least acutely aware of how they're not really a good person.

But of course, they "eh whatever" these self-reflections pretty fast cus they're having fun with the relationship. This specific set of translyrics reads to me like a bit of self-victimizing as well like "oh, I'm so tortured by feeling like a bad person because of the way I treat you. But I love you so you don't really have a choice but to forgive me."

Speaking of translyrics this is where Micchi's version comes in. While I ADORE Rachie and Anthong's version I do have some nitpicks..? And one of those that I am unreasonably pet peeved by is this right here.

In the original JP version, the lyric is simply kimi mo vampire, meaning simply You're (also) a Vampire. It's alot more obvious a change and hits harder imo than "My little Vampire" which still puts the singer in the position of power.

Micchi's version of the lyrics on the other hand stick a lot closer to the original

And I might just be imagining this but there seems to be a switch in the power dynamic in this version as well. The singer is now inviting their partner to be "rough" with them and the repeating mantra of "you're the ONLY ONE for me" sounds more desperate than anything else.

Micchi's lyrics in general are a bit more wet cat coded. I still prefer Rachie's as a whole but Micchi's singer definitely seems to be more regretful of what they've done and blame themselves for essentially turning their partner into a different, more hostile person. (aka turning them into a vampire lol)

In a lot of ways the vampire metaphor is really unsubtle. Bloodsucking parasite attaches themselves to someone and turns them into a bloodsucking parasite as well.

SO HOW THE FUCK DID I GET GRAIN AND SCOOTER FROM THIS WELL.....

When I think about 3L one of the main things that lights up the lightbulb in my mind is the parallels between all of the four "main" partnerships, with Renchantyn vs Desert Duo as the most obvious comparison point but I think they all mirror and subvert each other really well.

Grian/Scott are like birds of a feather to me in a similar sense that Scott/Cleo are, but while Scott and Cleo have this mutual understanding with each other with Grian it's a bit more complicated.

I CAN't. FOR THE LIFE OF ME. FIND IT AGAIN bUT there was a bit in Third Life when Scott said to Grian "and maybe once our husbands are dead we can be free" and Grian laughs and that basically inspired this Whole Thing 🙏🙏

(an apology for all the wholesome flower husbands shippers who i know follow me cus im about to unleash my full toxic yaoi adaptation of them) (desert duo fans from what ive seen are already insane so you're okay)

In my own mind Grian and Scott are both somewhat.. manipulative? Might be a bit harsh of a word? But they definitely play to survive more than some of the other people stuck in there with them. (cleo too but she sucks at it and she can get her character analysis essay next week)

At least in my view, their partnerships with Jimmy and Scar respectively were born more out of a need for safety in numbers and to get someone to essentially keep them safe until they're no longer of use. Grian definitely felt bad about creeper-ing Scar in the first episode but I don't think he was quite expecting to spend the whole series in debt to him 😭😭

Scott (like the singer in the song oh my god) isn't really a monster so to speak, just someone who has a messed up view of love. Probably has some sort of tragic backstory that explains the way he is that we'll get to see in the anime adaptation idk. He does care for Jimmy but in like.. the way someone might care for and love a pet. You LOVE your dog to fucking death but you wouldn't like.. trust your dog with taxes or respect its autonomy.

also these lyrics are both hilarious to me considering the uh current brainrot.

Grian on the other hand probably Wants to be like Scott and be able to have someone wrapped around his fingers like that but he can't cus it's Scar not Jimmy and he's Grian and not Scott. I imagine he'd get tired of Scar's shenanigans when he's with him but as soon as he's left the room it's all why's it so quiet D: where's scar D:

I like to think that everytime he THINKS he has a handle on Scar finally and can actually stand a chance to survive this thing Scar does something completely unhinged off the wall and Grian's like WAIT WAIT WAIT NO

basically he gets way too attached and doesn't like it and to make it worse he has no idea wtf is going thru Scar's head👍

SO when they eventually team up I think Scott and Grian would have this little "wink wink nudge nudge they don't know" kinda thing going on.

and then in my little fanfiction world somewhere along the line Scott would end up sensing that Oh, We're actually not exactly the same.. interesting.. and kind of start looking at Grian with this sense of amusement/pity cus aww, look at you getting all attached to the person you were planning to betray, that's so cute and Grian would see the worst of himself reflected back to him via Scott. It ends up strengthening Desert Duo's relationship if anything else.

Of course then Jimmy dies and Scott's emotionally destroyed by it but he's still like.. skirting around it. I'd like to think he gaslights himself with any genuine Emotions he has cus like.. he knew this was coming, this is all according to plan, so why would he feel anything for him now that he's gone?

While Scott gets some time to come to terms with the fact that he actually cared about Jimmy too late for him to repair their relationship Grian and Scar end up punching eachother to death in a cactus ring. The End 👍

tl;dr i need to pick up writing fanfics cus oh my god

[unexpectedly-haunted]

Double Life Duos as ABBA Songs

Accidentally put a ridiculous amount of time and thought into this, and can’t get over how good some of these match!! Started out with Honey, Honey and then as I listened to more ABBA some of these veritably punched me in the face :D

Waterloo: Grian and Scar. Repeating of fate and of always being tied to another. A sense of being doomed in an inescapable narrative, trapped together with someone. “The history book on the shelf is always repeating itself” for their continuous connections in the different games. “I was defeated, you won the war.” Scar dying to Grian’s hand in the cactus ring, and this line is immediately followed by “promise to love you forever more” and “couldn’t escape if i wanted to” and “knowing my fate is to be with you”!!!! This is so incredibly on point for desert duo soulmates, always being connected but this time oh so literally. Also “and know it seems my only chance is giving up the fight” along with “and how could i ever refuse? i feel like i win when i lose” for the third life finale??! ARE YOU SEEING WHAT IM SEEING 

Winner Takes It All: Scott and Pearl. This is a song about the cold hand of fate, and about one person losing everything while the other gets everything. There’s also a verse about how the loser had felt safe with the winner, like they belonged with them, and how they’d built a home together, but now it’s all gone.  “I don’t wanna talk about the things we’ve gone through, though it’s hurting me, now it’s history.” Pearl hoping for a reunion with her past allies, but that’s history now, it’s over. “Building me a home, thinking I’d be strong there. But I was a fool, playing by the rules.” Pearl excited to build her life with her soulmate, but Scott breaks the rules of the game by rejecting her. “The gods may throw a dice, their minds as cold as ice, and someone way down here, loses someone dear.” Do I even have to elaborate?

Super Trouper: Jimmy and Tango. Bright and upbeat song, I think it really suits this kind and optimistic partnership! The theme of resilience and hope for better, despite difficulties faced is so good. It’s about finding support from someone after a long time of misery, and this mutual support giving you the help you need to get started again. “Beams are gonna blind me, but I won’t feel blue, like I always do, because somewhere in the crowd there’s two.” “Lights are gonna find me, shining like the sun, smiling, having fun, feeling like a number one” especially because these two are valuing each other as partners!! they are hyping each other up and they are each others number one :D

Knowing Me, Knowing You: Cleo and Martyn. It’s about the resolute and final end of relationship, a break that you can’t come back from. “Here is where the story ends, this is goodbye.” “ Knowing me, knowing you, there is nothing we can do” and “We just have to face it, this time we're through” which can link to how with their shared tendency to hold grudges, as well their stubbornness and independence, this split really does seem like it will be the end for them. It should be noted that “aha” is a repeated backing vocal motif in this song, which really solidified this choice for me kdsjfgsdfgshldfg

Voulez-vous: Joel and Etho. I feel like the energy and confidence of this song is great for them! It’s very bold and self-assured, and with how cocky and experienced these two are as certified chaos-causers and killers, I think it fits their partnership well. They have mutual respect for each other, and are excited to wreak havoc, which I think really comes through in some of these lines. “ I'm really glad you came, you know the rules, you know the game, master of the scene, we've done it all before and now we're back to get some more.”  “ People everywhere, a sense of expectation hanging in the air, giving out a spark, across the room your eyes are glowing in the dark” is SO good for the first episode especially, with all the anticipation of the game to come and then finding their soulmates. (also etho’s red eye probably literally glows in the dark)

Honey Honey: Bdubs and Impulse. It’s such a sweet, loving song, it’s a perfect fit for the newly married couple! The motif and title of honey is fitting for the pet names Bdubs has already given Impulse, and it has lines like “honey, honey, nearly killed me” (for the betrayal in third life and possibility for accidentally killing the other through the soulbond), “honey, honey, don’t conceal it” (’im proud!” ‘i want to shout it from the rooftops!’), “i don’t want to hurt you, don’t want to see you cry”, “stay on the ground girl, you better not get to too high” (impulse worrying about bdubs dying when building like in third life).

Fernando: Ren and BigB. This song is about a bond formed during wartime and a the riendship surviving through the devastation, it’s about true and lasting loyalty! “We were young and full of life and none of us prepared to die.” “If I had to do the same again, I would my friend, Fernando.” “Though we never thought that we could lose, there’s no regret.” “I can see it in your eyes, how proud you were to fight for freedom in this land.” I feel like this celebration of this war born friendship is perfect for these two once-members of both Dogwarts and the Fairy Fort, who have found each other again.

[asexualzoro]

what do you look for in character dynamics? i think you like desert duo a lot but i dont know what their deal is

don’t know what their deal is like you don’t know who they are? desert duo is grian and scar from the mc series third life. it’s a competitive series that turns into improv storytelling which i like to divorce from the game aspect and view entirely as a story, where all the players are actors cast as characters (the actual players do this as well, a lot of them referring to themselves or each other as ‘characters’ or leaning hard into a specific ‘character’ for the game (ren im looking at you))

what draws me to desert duo is the same thing that draws me to a lot of character dynamics i like—deep-seeded loyalty which has been purposely earned or gained, said loyalty based on a promise or formal roles, a leader & right-hand dynamic that is actually mostly equal, fun complementary characteristics, and a compelling test (and, sometimes, break) of that loyalty

anyway you’ve given me an opportunity to talk about desert duo so i’m taking it. gonan examine them against the points i look for in character dynamics. i’ll put it under a read more because i dunno how long it’ll be but i do know it will be long

first session of third life, grian accidentally kills scar with a creeper. everyone in the game only has three total lives (green, yellow, and red), and scar is pretty quick to die even on servers where their lives aren’t limited. losing his first life first before everyone else, in session one, in a game where you want to be the last one standing, puts him at a pretty strong disadvantage. so grian pulls him aside once he respawns and promises his first (green) life to scar. once he’s made things even and gone to yellow, scar’s on his own, but until then grian’s going to do whatever scar says and try his best to keep scar alive

which, check your boxes, ☑️ formalized promise and ☑️ a leader and right-hand!

grian then spends the rest of the next two sessions insisting he’s going to leave as soon as he can. any attempt by scar to talk abt lasting plans is shot down, and any scheme scar starts grian tries to undermine—he has to do what scar says, but that doesn’t mean he can’t warn the people they talk to scar’s trying to scam them (because scar is scamming everyone always in 3L. he spends all of sessions two and three scamming people. it works also. nat 20 charisma on near every role that man made for all of 3L)

all that said, grian’s actively building them a house in the meantime and, by the end of session 3, actively helping with some of the shit scar is pulling (such as encouraging taking a diamond chestplate). he insists when asked he’s going to leave, and often says he doesn’t care what scar is doing because “i have no stake in this,” but he already does

then scar dies. again. falls to his death, complete accident, putting him on red, his final life. red lives operate under different rules—while yellow and green names cannot attack other players or engage in pvp, red lives not only are allowed, but it’s their main goal. scar’s supposed to be attacking other players now. some people in chat float the idea grian should be allowed to leave now that there’s a red name at his base. if grian really wants to leave, he has an out

scar comes back on red and the first thing he does is throw grian flowers and ask “can we still be his friends?” now that he’s ‘scary.’ and grian assures him that yes, he will stay. he has to, right?

(this is a little loyalty test, and a step in building that deep loyalty, but hold off on checking those boxes quite yet) (this also makes me feel fucking insane)

now. grian’s favorite block in the game is tnt. so now that his partner is red, he starts immediately planning traps. grian can’t kill, but he can do it if scar ‘tells’ him to. you can now check off the ☑️ complementary characters box, because we have a fun parallel: a green name player who plays like a red life, and a red name player who plays like a green life. grian immediately gets the largest kill in the series, taking out three people with a bomb left outside the gate of ren, who scar antagonized/threatened when he was on yellow (and it didn’t really mean anything) ((3L ren also makes me insane))

scar talks a lot of game about murder, but he’s not really one for pvp—pretty sure he says outright to grian he’s all bark. grian talks a lot about having no stakes and following scar’s orders, but is the one calling the shots about who and when and how they’re going to get kills (check off the right hand and leader dynamic being ☑️ mostly equal, actually). grian digs his claws in deep with scar by killing a lot of the rest of the server—i think he gets like four kills incl the bomb and contributes to at least one other, from all three other major ‘factions’ on the server—which doesn’t exactly do him any favors when he’s ‘free’ of scar and needs somewhere to go. he still insists hes going to leave, but scar doesn’t acknowledge it. pretty sure the one time he brings it up, scar even says grian won’t actually leave, but i don’t think grian acknowledges that

session 7 rolls around, second to last. players are starting to be eliminated here—of the 14, three of them die permanently in this session. grian and scar get into a big fight against an opposing faction. grian dies. on yellow, he runs right back to scar. neither of them acknowledge it. he stays (you can check two points: ☑️ deep loyalty that is hard-earned. ☑️ compelling loyalty test). when grian finally addresses this alone, to the audience, he explains, “i just can’t let him die”

final session is session 8. it’s basically nonstop battle. the others are whittled down one by one—ren and martyn go on a fuckin killing spree and ren takes out three lives, eliminating two players (ren my beloved), then the survivors get into another large fight ending with four more dead (grian says to scar, right before this, entirely unprompted: “is this where we prove our true allegiance to each other and no one else?”). there’s five left, and this is where the betrayals start.

one person betrays someone who had helped him since day one, someone who had sworn his loyalty (the fun thing about improv stories is the thing that become foreshadowing by accident). now there’s four. scar breaks a promise to another person, having him killed. now there’s three. grian, scar, and a third, bdubs: another red name who just betrayed his day one and killed the fourth place winner for scar.

both bdubs and grian are following scer, so scar essentially just says “whoever gets this piece of paper i won’t kill” and drops it on the ground. bdubs get it. scar and bdubs turn on grian immediately, killing him and sending him to red

and that’s another check, there. ☑️ a compelling loyalty break. at the end of it all, grian follows scar to the end, and scar kills him.

but there’s still like ten godamn minutes left! grian hunts scar down, promising to kill him for being a traitor, and as soon as he gets there, scar kills bdubs. he turns around and tells grian “you can kill me, for everything you did to keep me alive this long” and encourages him to win. grian drops the anger immediately and insists he can’t do it

which is already insane enough as a scene. deeply fucking insane. but the people who have already lost insist there can be no double victory, and someone has to win. scar and grian go back to their mountain in the desert, drop all their gear, and fight bare-handed to the death.

something that interests me about the final fight is it’s impossible to tell if scar is throwing or if he just sucks at pvp. regardless, in the end grian wins. the entire fight is just them apologizing to each other. grian immediately turns around and jumps to his death, ending the series with no winners at all

…which is all the detail i’ll give abt the final fight bc i think about it SO much and this ask is long enough without me going into it. suffice to say the whole finale, from scar and bdubs killing grian to the end, is just… fascinating to look at through the lens of their loyalty. grian spends the whole series insisting he’s going to leave as soon as he can, but in the end, his whole life is dedicated to keeping scar alive. and it blows up on him! scar turns on him! grian fails to keep him alive! he kills scar in the end, and then takes his own life. its tragic and i’m obsessed with it

loyalty-based dynamics have always done it for me. Luffy and Zoro, for example, hit all of those points except the loyalty break: start with a promise, complementary characters, leader and right hand (but rather informal), Luffy earns Zoro’s loyalty over a number of important scenes, ending with Zoro’s sacrifice at 485. there’s even other third life dynamics that hit those points that i also really like (ren and martyn).

i find gradual growth and strengthening and tests of a bond/loyalty to be inherently interesting and i always have. watching two characters face adversity against their bond and choosing each other over and over is always compelling to me. the fact only one person can be left standing in third life adds an especially fun layer of flavor on their dynamic bc that loyalty is earned and developed and inherently doomed, it can’t be forever. it’s really fascinating. esp when it’s entirely unscripted improv, evolving like that on its own. the whole story is just so fuckin fun and i like it a lot

if anyone reads this far shoutout to you for being the bravest motherfucker alive. anon thank you so much for asking. if this wasn’t exactly what you were looking for and you want me to talk abt character dynamics more broadly feel free to send another ask, i’d be happy to keep going on this

[atherix]

God forbid scar have anything nice for once istg-

Mans just wanna live his life with the pandas, but fate says 'haha blorbo be sad now' and paired him with grian.

In some cases, maybe grian pushed Scar away bc he feels guilty for causing so much pain to scar, maybe he thinks HE is the problem. And maybe, the reason why he cheated on scar in DL was just a way of saying 'Scar is better off without me. He is strong now, but i need to keep living for him'. Complicated way of caring? Yes. But this GRIAN we are talking about, that guy is the definition of complicated wjdjsdj

And scar, poor poor scar, deep down he yearns for grian. He missed grian from 3rd life. He wants those happy times again. But he knows if he wanna survive, he cant be soft. Cant show weakness, need to fend for himself if he wanna live. Also show to grian that he is MORE than capable now.

Im just so wj%jejdjd im very normal about them, yep yep.

Actually, i should use this concept in my au WJJDSKKZKS

- purp anon

I feel like it's impossible to be normal about Life Series in general but especially Desert Duo, how is anyone normal about them??? I am DYING for them, like oh my GOD Scar. The evolution, the feeling of something being LOST... just... god.

And Is2g when Grian realized Scar was his soulmate he started saying "Not again!" and I AM SO NORMAL I AM OKAY I AM FINE I AM SO JKFSJKGSK-

[scribbling-dragon]

liberosis with desert duo? platonic if you could

this,,, took me a while to get to (im very sorry about that - exams) but it's here now! (it just took a turn i wasn't expecting)

(warnings for mentions of death and blood)

The sand seems almost untouched beneath him. Great swathes of it have been kicked up into the air; massive, swirling clouds that are still drifting and settling now, the individual grains settling in his hair and on his clothes. He doesn't bother to brush it off anymore. More will arrive to take its spot.

He sits, feet propped up on the chunk of crumbled sandstone across from him and he watches, eyes tracking across the desert.

The debris are scattered, tumbling around the land that surrounds him, as though someone had kicked a sandcastle over, scattering the pieces everywhere. He stares at the destruction that he enabled, and he can't find it in himself to care.

The battles that have been flung over this sun-soaked land are long gone, leaving only silence behind it. If he looks, squinting at one particular spot and shading his eyes against the sun that seems so set on blinding him, he can see the rust-red of blood, half hidden beneath a slumping section of sand.

He’s not sure whose blood it is. There’s enough of it on his hands already that the extra addition doesn't seem like much. If he listens, he can hear the steady pitter-patter of the blood hitting the sand below him.

He’s not sure what to do now.

His knuckles hurt, beaten raw from skin and sand. His head itches, sand lodged against the skin from where he had tussled in the sand, scrabbling for a chance at a victory he doesn't really want. His wings twitch, sharing a similar sentiment with his head.

A headache begins to pulse behind his eyes, and he closes them, allowing the kaleidoscope of red and black to wash over the back of his eyelids in a dizzying swirl. He watches it, until he gets bored of that too.

He doesn't look at the cacti ring to his right, even though he can picture it perfectly in his head; the way the cacti seem to waver beneath the heat, spines dancing up and down the ridges of green. He doesn't look, because he doesn't want to see the rust-red that stains the ground there too.

His knuckles continue to bleed. It makes a pitter-patter sound on the sand beneath him. If he looks, he’ll see that same rust-red, staining the dusty yellow. He kicks a foot, and looks down. The slate has been wiped clean. The red is gone, as though it was never there before.

A drop of blood lands in the centre of the canvas, and he looks away again, that sick feeling in his stomach rising again, clawing up his throat. He swallows it back down, returning his eyes to the horizon.

The sun continues to needle at his eyes, and he vacantly thinks of what to do now. What to do about a game he never should have won, a game he should have never participated in. He steers his mind away from those topics, then away again when it tries to return to the rust-red stain in the sand.

He’s not sure what to do now. He had made a promise, a business deal, an agreement, whatever it wants to be called. An exchange of services: he keeps his life, and he saves another. 

It’s a weak argument. It falls flat in the face of the terms of the agreement.

The blood continues to drip onto the sand below him.

That agreement had been terminated the moment his life turned yellow. And yet he stayed.

He can still hear the drip-drip-drip sound of the blood. He would have thought it would’ve stopped bleeding by now, that it would have started to clot. It hasn't. It continues to drip.

He wishes he could have cared less, tugging his eyes just downwards from the horizon, landing on the last rocky outcrop left standing, just beyond that circle of cacti he refuses to look at.

If he had cared less, this wouldn't have happened.

He heaves himself to his feet, not bothering to brush the sand from his clothes. He thinks he knows what to do now. He thinks he's known for a while

[guster-animations]

recap of 3ltr so far

SPOILERS FOR THREE LIVES TO RETURN

chapter one 

- impulse wakes up on a new server (the 3rdlife server) that he’s never seen before

- he recalls the meteor attack that wiped out hermitcraft and killed the 2/3 of the active hermits who weren’t able to escape in time

- after a roll call in chat, he sets off and eventually finds day one “team hermit”

chapter two

- grian accidentally kills scar

- scar wakes up on prospit after dying, flies back to the server, and freaks out everyone

- grian confesses to scar that he’s been sleeping on prospit his whole life and they form the desert duo alliance as grian’s apology

- skizzleman dies to an enderman and wakes up on derse, flying back to the server as well

chapter three

- bdubs gets knocked off his tower by a phantom, dies, and wakes up on prospit

- he sure does take his time exploring

- scar is cold.  that’s literally it

- grian is scared to wake up on prospit again and ends up not sleeping at all.  he’s being very unhealthy

chapter four

- joel is still grieving, so a series of events causes him not only to make a glitch that will drive the rest of the plot BUT ALSO trap himself in it.  you’ll hear from him later don’t worry he’ll be fineeeeee

im telling you he’s perfectly fine

- etho turns out to be a derspite and, guided by both skaia and the extremely trustworthy horrorterrors (the latter before the glitch made the thing he was told to do an EXTREMELY bad idea), takes tango down to a cave to kill him

- we don’t hear anything about those two for 2 full chapters because plot tension

chapter five

- it turns out that joel’s glitch turned the server into full traditional-ish sburb, with lands and consorts and imps.  land lore ensues

- the renchanting duo enjoys the spoils while the desert duo either starves or scams people for petty vanilla resources

- it turns out joel woke up on derse (!!) after glitching.  he’s assumed to not be dead and just in a glitchy coma on the server

- he’s unable to leave his tower and is incredibly bored

- castle gang is just chilling until an alarming message shows on communicators

- what does it say?  we don’t know!!!!!!

chapter six

- i troll the readers and show the desert duo instead of telling them what happened to tango and etho

- grian is enjoying a villain arc and convinces scar to come with him to god tier because of something he saw in skaia

- everyone (the readers) suddenly realizes that that’s probably what tango and etho are doing 

chapter seven

- it turned out to actually be what tango and etho were doing

- etho kills tango on his quest bed

- tango god tiers as a witch of time and immediately kills etho using super cool time powers

- luckily etho still has another dream self to spare so i can kill him again without even making my readers sad

- the castle gang takes refuge in the castle because they don’t want to get murdered

- then they let scott and jimmy in for literally no reason other than plot importance (which you’ll see later but don’t worry about that for now)

- meanwhile, scar and grian reach grians quest bed

- scar and grian have a moral debate after reading chat and grians villain arc intensifies

- scar commits arson.  super unpredictable stuff here

- grian fights his way through the fire and dies on his quest bed

- he god tiers as a prince of breath and suffocates scar for no reason

- unlike tango, he immediately feels guilty for what he’s done and puts scar on scars quest bed

AND THATS IT FOR NOW

classpects dropped so far:

scar- page of rage, prospit

skizzleman- seer of heart (i might actually have to change that according to classpect rules ._. but idk it means changing two chapters that people have already read soooooo), derse

bdubs- mage of space, prospit

joel- lord of life, derse

etho- thief of hope, derse + prospit

tango- witch of time, derse

rendog- heir of space 

martyn- rogue of doom 

bigb- sylph of void

cleo- bard of blood

impulse- knight of light

grian- prince of breath, prospit

scott- [intentionally not revealed]

jimmy- [intentionally not revealed]

[all-hail-the-witcher]

you make me feel like I'm loved

well well well

I finished my writing homework and decided to write a little something of my own. its based off a song buts its Fairly Obvious so I'm not saying which one hehe

____

ship: ralbert

genre: hurt comfort

warnings: anxiety attack, talk about death/death trigger, ummm, like half a sentence of potentially suicidal thoughts, loud music, race is a good boyfriend okay

words: 1196

editing: nahhh

____

Well, this was not how Albert had been expecting to spend his 19th birthday. Mush had decided to throw him a huge party at the diner his aunt owned, closing early and everything just for the occasion, despite the fact that Albert had insisted many times that he did not like his birthday and he especially did not like parties. Mush clearly had not listened. His boyfriend Blink was DJing some trashy pop crap that Albert had also insisted (many times) that he did not like. Blink and Mush could be horrendously stubborn when they wanted to be.

So, in hindsight, Albert really should have really expected the fact that he was going to spend his 19th birthday in the bubblegum pink bathroom at Mush’s Aunt’s diner. By himself. Having an anxiety attack.

What a way to ring in his last year of teenagerdom.

“C’mon DaSilva,” he muttered as he gripped the sink as if that would be able to reestablish his grip on reality. “Get a fuckin grip.” However, his dumb mind decided to process this as grip the sink tighter and not reality. Fuckin figures.

With a frustrated sigh he let go of the sink, opting instead to play with the increasingly uncomfortable bowtie that Race had made him put on. He hated bow ties. He never wore them. The only one that he owned was from his 10th grade play when he had to play the hostess at a very fancy restaurant. And it was Chartreuse green.

He tugged at the bowtie uncomfortably, his rough movements greatly contrasting Race’s earlier gentle ones. At the sudden thought of his boyfriend Albert slammed his hands back down onto the sink to avoid collapsing onto the floor.

He was older now. Being older meant being closer to death. He was going to die sooner. And leave everyone behind. Leave Race behind. How could Race even be with him, how could he look at him much less kiss him when he knew that one day he would just cease to exist and leave him behind, especially since it was bound to be sooner rather than later because if he was just going to die anyway than why not just do it-

“Stop” he said through gritted teeth, forcing himself to try to take a few deep breaths. At some point during his concentration, his hands became unclenched from the sink and his knees gave out as he plopped onto the floor as he began tapping on his upper thighs. It helped, but still the very thought of having to go back out to the party made him want to curl up into a ball and cry.

Eventually he came to the conclusion that he was going to have to sneak out the back. That was alright. He didn’t fit in with his friends here anyway and they wouldn’t miss him, probably wouldn’t even notice that he was gone to be honest. He was just the forgettable, disposable friend. So much so that no one would notice if he deserted his own damn birthday party.

Slowly, Albert worked at dragging himself up off of the floor, willing his numb legs to cooperate with him. The back exit was just down the hall from the bathroom, he could make it, probably. He put his hand on the wall to steady himself and was about to walk toward the exit when he remembered that he had left his phone at the table. Groaning loudly, he turned around to make his way back to the table.

He braced himself for the loud music as he entered the diner once again, fully planning to make a beeline for first his phone and then the backdoor, but his plan was foiled by an overenthusiastic Romeo thrusting a glass of something - maybe chocolate milk - into his hand and screaming loudly about something. Albert’s whole body froze in shock, concentrating on nothing except not dropping the glass in his hands.

He must have been concentrating really, really hard because the next thing he knew Race was taking the glass from his hand and downing it, Romeo nowhere to be found.

Albert jumped a little bit, both at the shock of Race taking the glass and Race himself. Shouldn't Race hate him now that he was older? Why was he still here? Why-

But before Albert’s thoughts could take over again, he felt Race’s hand take his own shaking one. When had his hand started shaking? Race had his trademark smirk on his face, although Albert could see in his eyes that he knew something was off. However, that didn't stop him from mouthing Shall we dance? and quirking one eyebrow in question.

Albert found himself nodding despite his numb legs, something about his boyfriend’s presence calming him, and Race led him to the center of the diner where Mush had pushed back all of the tables to form a makeshift dance floor. Head still clouded with unwanted thoughts, Albert found it slightly difficult to focus on his surroundings, but he was able to discern that Blink must have out on a slow song due to the swaying couples he was just able to make out around him.

He allowed Race to place his floppy limbs around his neck, trusting his instinct that was telling him Race wouldn’t do anything he wasn't comfortable with. In a matter of a few short seconds, his head was pressed against the crook of Race’s neck and they were swaying back and forth to music that Albert could hardly hear.

Slowly, Albert’s insecurities melted away as he focused on simple things such as the texture of Race’s button down shirt, the scent of his cologne, and the lyrics of the song Blink was playing which seemed to consist exclusively of the words “I got you, it’s alright.”

It took Albert several moments to realize that that was not actually the song, but his boyfriend whispering in his ear.  

Sighing contentedly, Albert let the last of his negative thoughts slip away as he lifted his head to gently kiss Race’s lips.

He felt Race smile against him. “Hey, there’s my handsome boyfriend,” he murmured, just loud enough for Albert to hear above the music.

“Sorry,” Albert muttered. “I don't know what happened.”

Race seemed entirely unbothered. “It’s okay. I’m glad I was able to help you though. I didn't want you to leave before you got to eat your cake.”

Albert exhaled against Race’s shoulder, a knowing silence passing between the two of them.

“Thank you,” he finally said.

He felt Race pull away slightly. “For what?”

“For making me feel like I’m loved.”

“Oh, Albie,” Race sighed. “I do love you. And so does everyone else here, no matter what that silly head of yours tells you alright? I love you, and I’ll love you no matter what age you are.”

Of course his boyfriend had figured out what had caused his earlier breakdown. Albert couldn't help but feel like a small child as he pulled back to look up at Race. “You promise?”

“Pinky promise,” Race said, kissing his forehead.

Suddenly, being 19 didn't sound too terrible after all.

____ 

aww my boys

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