#i think goat would find their situation really funny

[myjjongie]

CHAPTER TWENTY.ᐟ ── yeah i'm goated ik

SYNOPSIS: you and jay have been at each others throats for the whole time you've been enrolled at decelis university. the reason for the rivalry in question? the #1 rank on the academic leaderboard in the university. you went through your whole high school life being #1 on the academic leaderboard. you meet jay, who also had the same upbringing in high school. things then start to turn into a constant battle. leaving you constantly in second place and jay in first place every rank update.

word count; 2,471

“god what a mess…” leaning against the rough wall of the house i let out a stressed sigh.

being here at youngji’s party was a way for me to not think about addressing the conversation heeseung and i should have. but here i was once again avoiding him and the whole situation. my fingers comb through my hair as i frantically think about what to do now. keeho was right i shouldn’t have avoided the inevitable conversation for this long… why didn’t i just do the right thing and talk to heeseung right away. if i did i would have been able to enjoy this party. instead of being outside hiding from him… mentally beating myself up i was unaware of the sound of approaching footsteps.

“hey.”

my body jumped at the sudden deep voice. as well as a small yelp coming out from my mouth at the shock. my thoughts began to run about fearing that the person standing next to me could be heeseung. sooner or later i was gonna have to face the problem, but i didn’t think it would be while i frantically thought about it. slowly turning my head to the unknown person, a sigh of relief left my lips.

it was jay.

“god you fucking scared me.”

“sorry that’s my fault.”

“what do you want jay…” the tone i had towards him sounded cold. i softly bit my lip at the realization of the way i sounded

“i saw you out here all by yourself and wanted to check on you.” jay’s tone sounded unsure and regretful. in many ways it made me feel guilty for how i spoke to him. before i could say something else jay spoke up again.

“truthfully i’ve been worried about you… you haven’t been at the council meetings for a week. you’ve never missed a week worth of meetings before…” his voice trailed off as he realized he started to speak too much on the matter.

my eyes scanned him in confusion. jay had been a jackass for all i could remember. but lately he had been acting weird. sending me texts messages and then now showing concern for me.

“well truthfully to me why does it bother you?” i crossed my arms while raising my eyebrow at him.

i noticed jay letting a deep sigh out as he readied himself for what he wanted to say.

“look. yn. i know we’re not on good terms. i don’t blame you for being avoidant towards me. first i wasn’t nice about the ranking to begin with. second i created a meaningless competition between us when in reality i should’ve been way nicer from the start. not just with the rank but with you as well…”

my body froze in place as i listened to jay word vomit an apology towards me. out of everything that’s happened within the last two weeks. jay apologizing had to be the last thing that would go down these past two weeks. funny enough i listened attentively to his words.

“i’ve been a jackass from day one and i just really regret it. especially after i saw the way jake talked about how serious you take the rank. it made me reflect a lot on how i treated you and how i acted in council meetings as well. i’m really sorry yn truly…” jay’s head hung low as he stopped talking. i could tell he was worried about how i would react to his apology.

out of everything i had to hand it to jay. apologizing face to face takes a lot of courage. even though the action was small it made me find a new respect for jay. which was ironic compared to me not facing heeseung at all. i let the silence simmer a bit more before i eventually said something.

“thank you for the apology. honestly i’m a bit shocked. didn’t expect an apology from park jay at a lee youngji party.” i stifle out a small laugh as i remember where we are. jay laughed nervously as he too realized how bizarre the scenario was.

looking over to notice the way jay rubs his neck nervously had me smiling. in that short moment i couldn’t help but think jay was being cute. shocked at my own thoughts i mentally swat my thoughts away ignoring it entirely.

“does that mean we can be friends?”

my eyes met jay’s as he asked the question. his expression was so different then the one he usually had. it was more of a cat giving cute eyes versus the sharp look he always has. deep down i knew jay was genuinely serious.

“yes we can. but it’s gonna take me a bit to get used to this okay?”

jay shook his head happily hearing me agree to being his friend. seeing how much it made him happy made me smile once again at him. i noticed the way jay looked off into the distance noticing something or perhaps someone.

“oh i see heeseung do you want me to get him?” jay suddenly pointed to the end of the house. focusing my eyes on the figure at the end it was indeed heeseung.

“no don’t!” my voice was a bit loud as i answered jay in a bit of a panic. my hands were placed in his viewpoint as i waved no to him.

jay dropped his arm to look at me confused. my mind raced as i tried to find an excuse without truly letting jay know the real reason.

“i thought you guys were a thing?”

“uh it’s complicated right now…”

“do you wanna talk about it?” jay’s voice was filled with genuine concern as he noticed my mood drop.

a debate went off in my head at jay asking if i wanted to talk about it. i would love to talk about it. but i was unsure of telling jay about what exactly happened. but what else could i say to give the excuse of the quote on quote complication between me and heeseung. this was also something i didn’t want jake sharing with sohee, seunghan and sunghoon. but maybe. if jay was serious about being my friend i can test his trust with the truth behind everything. it was a lot to bet on, but part of me knew i needed to at least give jay some benefit of the doubt that he was serious about his apology and wanting to make amends.

“if i tell you. you have to promise not to tell anyone. i’m trusting you with this jay…”

“of course..” his voice was more serious. it made me feel better about telling jay and trusting him.

“i don’t wanna say it here though. can we go for a bit of a walk?”

jay nods his head in agreement and turns to start walking down the drive way. following close behind i quickly catch up to the side of him. as we walk a bit down the sidewalk in silence i finally speak up.

“okay… so the reason why it’s complicated between me and heeseung is because my uncle and his mom are getting married…” my pace slowed as i mustered out the sentence. jay matched my pace quickly. the air was silent as he processed the information.

“so that’s why you’ve been missing the meetings. you’re avoiding heeseung because of the fact you found out you were romantically into your soon to be cousin.”

i let out a groan of embarrassment as i relive the memories of what had happened two weeks ago.

“god i can’t believe i told you. you can laugh if you want.” my hands covered my face. stopping in my tracks i stand there as i wait for any kind of laugh to escape jay’s lips. i couldn’t help but once again mentally beat myself up.

“what’s there to laugh about? i’m sure you were really embarrassed… have you tried talking to him yet?”

my eyes widened at the way jay didn’t stifle out a teasing laugh or make jabs at the situation. not to mention he was spot on with how i had felt. it made me feel a bit happy to know that i wasn’t truly crazy for feeling the way i did.

“uh no…. i havent.”

“you should really try talking to him yn.. im not the best of friends with heeseung per say. but i’m sure he wants to figure it out with you. i’m positive he won’t have any ill intent about it. besides. maybe he’s embarrassed too. since the situation does go both ways…”

“fuck you’re right, why didn’t i stop to think how he felt too. i’m such an asshole oh my god… heeseung is a sweet guy he doesn’t deserve how i acted. i’ve just been too afraid to face it. but the more i ignore the situation the more im gonna hurt him too... who knew talking to you about this would make me feel better?”

“don’t know. must be a secret talent i have.”

“yeah okay.” i laugh as i roll my eyes at jay’s response.

“hey. since you told me that. i’ll share a secret with you too.”

“what is it?” my curiosity was peeked leaving no hesitation for me to ask about it right away.

“well first i can’t really say it. i’ve gotta show it to you.”

“you’re not gonna take me anywhere weird are you? keeho told me to be careful of weirdos.”

“first of all ouch. can’t believe you think i’m a weirdo now.”

“well if the shoe fits park jay.”

“second, you just gotta trust me on it okay?”

“fine. but the minute it is something weird i’m telling jake.”

jay had told me we would have to turn around and head back to the house and take his car. i was still standoffish but jay swore it was because where he wanted to take me wasn’t within walking distance. as we got back we bolted down the sidewalk in front of youngji’s house to get to the car. hoping to not be possibly spotted by heeseung. once settled inside the car i turned to jay to ask him something.

“if you took your car here. how are sunghoon and the other two gonna get home?”

jay started up the car as he laughed at my question.

“eh they’ll figure it out.”

the drive was silent but short. it was a nice type of silence, not too awkward but also comfortable enough to enjoy. jay ended up parking the car infront of a studio apartment complex.

“where are we?” getting out of the car i looked around the area. it was an unfamiliar neighborhood but i could tell by the street names it was close by the university.

“just wait yn. you’re not the patient type are you?”

“okay let’s calm down.”

escorting me into the lobby we headed straight to the elevator. once on the correct floor jay stepped out first ushering me to follow behind him. he stopped at one of the doors and pulled out a pair of keys.

“i’m pretty sure some of them are home.”

“who?”

jay didn’t answer my question as he continued to unlock the door. once entering i immediately noticed the drum set as well as a keyboard, two guitars, and bass settled up in the living room. taking off my shoes i walk over slowly to eye the instruments. unaware of anything else around me i nearly screamed at a unfamiliar voice breaking the silence in the air.

“jay? i thought you were busy tonight? and who is this?”

heart thumping in my chest i turn my head shakily to see a man with ash blonde hair sitting on the couch. he looked to be around my age as well. then i noticed the three other people sitting on the couch.

“ooooooh jay brought a girl over.” this time a man with longer black hair spoke up. his voice came off teasing to poke fun at jay.

“kai it’s not like that.” jay sighed out as he placed his jacket on the kitchen counter.

“so then who is she?” someone else spoke up this time. he also had black hair like the one named kai. but his hair was more shorter along with a very noticeable mole under his eye.

“she’s a friend from university.”

“never thought we’d see the day of jay introducing us to his friend from college!” the blonde haired guy sounded joyful but also held a teasing tone as well.

still confused on who these random people were. i tug onto jay’s arm having him look down at me. my eyes said it all to him. i wanted jay to explain to me what was going on. clearing his throat he spoke up.

“yn. i want to introduce you to my band mates.”

“band mates?!” my voice came out shocked and confused. i had zero recollection of jay being apart of a band.

“yeah. the one that scared you earlier is beomgyu. heuningkai is the one with the longer black hair. the other black haired guy is taerae. and then you have taerae’s little brother yujin.”

i took note of everyone’s appearances and names to remember. didn’t wanna make another embarrassing memory for myself by forgetting their names.

“it’s nice to meet you guys i’m yn.”

“it’s nice to meet you to! also yn you can call me hyuka!” heuningkai beamed as he rushed to stand infront of me and shake my hand enthusiastically.

“but jay i didn’t know you were in a band. i’ve never heard jake or the others mention it.” i leaned over to jay as i asked about the new learned information.

“yeah this is more of a on the side hobby thing.”

“we’re his side pieces he’s ashamed of.” the person who was named taerae pretended to wipe tears away from his eyes as he faked having his feelings hurt. jay let out a chuckle and rolled his eyes at taerae’s playful demeanor.

“so they don’t know then?”

“no not really. i don’t know why i never disclosed it to them. maybe having a secret band made it more fun in a way?” jay laughed a little as he finished his sentence.

“so since you told me your secret. here’s me showing you mine.”

i looked at him a little shocked that he would be so open with sharing this type of secret let alone information with me. he really was serious about making amends between us then. in some way it also made me happy that i was the only person in his life at college that knew about it.

“so what’s the band called?” my eyes gleamed with curiosity as i waited for jay’s reply.

“the band is called toenze.”

prev | m.list | next

a.note; okay was a bit iffy on this development of the story. but honestly adding toenze is a nice touch. erm i still need to figure out how to implement them a bit in the future so if you're wondering why i haven't updated the mlist chapters that is why. i was in a slump. but i am pushing the story out cause i wanna still stick to the schedule i have and stuff. but enough yapping hope y'all liked this chapter :3

fighting for first taglist (open) ...

@idontknowhowtomakeusernames @right-person-wrong-time @jakeyverse @minthoons @punchbug9-blog @starfallia @heartheejake @ikeulove @rairaiblog @kazemiya @yourssincerely-mimi @wondipity @leehsngs @justalittle-hee @chandmyseven @letwiiparkjay @dylanobr1ens @bbsantc @beigerin @mwahvvis @nickiminajleftasscheek @firstclassjaylee @strayy-kidz @itrytomakesenseofitall @rikizm @sumzysworld @jiheonie

©myjjongie 2024

[ro-bee]

I hate (love) how the kindest and most likely to forgive his siblings out of the two Narinder, is the that doesn't get the chance to do so, like... damn poor puppy /silly

Even worse (or better depending on your interpretation, but details) now that we know that his versions of the Bishops wouldn't even be willing to reconcile in the first place, at least he gets his children back and probably ends in a mostly-healthy relationship with Goat after some time passes

if goat ever brings back his siblings they would need to put them in the get along shirt. everybody hates it expect kiran

maybe time can change their relationship but who knows

[animentality]

I'm not going to argue with Rin fans because frankly, you're annoying.

And I say this as someone who likes Rin and thinks he's a very well written and complex character.

Rin fans are annoying, and I don't want to talk to them.

They don't seem to understand that their goat is not a nice person either and him being wrong sometimes is actually one of his more fascinating traits.

I just find it funny that Sae spends his whole life taking care of Rin, crafts this impossible dream with him, goes off to fulfill that dream... then comes back, and says ok so it's not possible for me, but it is possible for you. I still want to share this dream, but my role in it has changed...

Only for Rin to say why did you come back to say something so lame? I'm the little brother of the world's best striker. You're not the same big brother I dreamt with.

Which are objectively hurtful things to say to someone who looks as dead inside as Sae did.

Like seriously? You're going to pretend Rin didn't hurt Sae's feelings here?

Sae hadn't even said anything that mean before that.

You can see the hurt in his eyes, if you are not blind.

But you all act like Sae was in the wrong here for what?

Changing his position? Realizing he couldn't do what he originally wanted, but deciding he could still do something else, just more appropriate for him?

coming back to Japan and IMMEDIATELY finding Rin, not even dropping his damn suitcase off first?

he didn't even say he was giving up on Rin or their partnership here. he just said he wanted to be a fucking midfielder, and that Rin didn't understand the world yet.

now let me be clear.

Sae was completely in the wrong after this. For what he says about not needing Rin in his life and that he's worthless.

And everything he said during the u20 match was really so out of line.

I am not such a big Sae defender that I am trying to justify every wrong thing he's done. He's like 99% wrong in how he's handled this whole thing.

but he was not wrong for swapping his position.

and for coming to tell Rin immediately, because that's how much he cared about Rin and their dream. that he needed to tell him as soon as he came home AND IN PERSON.

not over text or some shit.

I just find it annoying. There's some cognitive dissonance with Rin fans, where they forget that Rin was the one who reacted badly first.

Sae's reaction to this was worse, but Rin was the one who started yelling first.

who got angry first.

Rin has a nasty temper, as we have seen, literally hundreds of times.

He has a natural destructive urge and he lashes out when he's upset.

These are all honestly the most interesting qualities about Rin.

But his fans seem to love stripping him of flaws and anything that makes him fascinating to analyze.

And they strip the complexities of this scene down to, who's right and who's wrong.

I would argue they both fucked up here.

how do you not see they're both in the wrong here?

Sae more so, but Rin did, technically, start it.

Sae clearly felt all of this resentment before Rin snapped, but he might've just kept it to himself and bottled it up for longer if Rin hadn't snapped.

This might've all been inevitable, honestly, but to reduce it down to, who's right or who's wrong... no.

I just don't think Rin fans want to appreciate how much complexity this situation has, and that's sad.

I just don't think Itoshis communicate well, and I think this whole interaction had so much going on beneath the surface.

we don't know much about Sae right now, but we do know he spent most of his childhood looking after Rin.

if kaneshiro isn't a total hack, there might be some hidden resentments from sae about being parentified at such a young age... and taking care of a brother who has issues.

we see in their other flashback that Rin was a troubled child and Sae was the one who took the fall for some of his behavioral issues.

we don't even know how he felt about that. about taking care of a kid when you're just a kid yourself.

sae might've just come home, wanting to tell his little brother about how much he's changed, only for Rin to reject this new vision, this new Sae... who might've already been struggling to deal with this new Sae.

and again.

we don't know enough about Sae. but from what we've seen, and from the little hints we've received... I just don't think Sae was wrong for changing his position, nor was he responsible for the BEGINNING of this fight.

now he's totally responsible for literally everything else.

and he's the reason Rin is as fucked up as he is now.

but if you had like, half a functioning brain cell, maybe you'd be able to recognize that Sae's just as fucked up as Rin, if not more so.

It might've been his childhood, it might've been what happened in Spain, it might've been years of built up resentment, we really don't know yet.

but we do know one thing.

which is again.

Sae cared enough about Rin to tell him he'd changed his dream. And he was not the one who started this fight.

he did continue it, and make it much worse.

he is deeply flawed.

and mega fucked in the head.

but he didn't start it.

and I honestly think that you people who act like one was right or wrong are just missing the nuances here.

you're missing just how absolutely deliciously intriguing it is, for them both to be wrong on this scenario.

that's way more interesting than a black and white scenario.

[prncssie]

caution! mdni 1k wrdz, suggestive content

miffy’s note hi bbies! just a drabble to get him out my head. it’s unedited bc this is nawt serious and i am not expecting any sort of traction 😭 this for me!!! enjoy or don’t

adrian “the alucaurd” tepes.

a blond beauty. tall, charming, witty, and with the most dazzling amber eyes.

the same amber eyes that are unfortunately, avoiding your gaze.

you like to pretend it’s not you who’s caused these chains of events but are you really to blame? all you ever do now is sit behind the castle walls and entertain yourself where you can.

sure, there’s a whole village just outside the door being built from the ground up. sure, you could set aside your personal feelings and help but why would you? after months and months of defending yourself against night creatures, foraging, and forgetting any hygiene you previously had, sitting pretty in proper heating with access to clean water had you more spoiled than you’d like to admit.

and you can trust adrian has noticed, too.

“you’ve changed,” is what he would say with a tut of his tongue when you demand a hot bath with goat-milk soap and of course he complies. who is he to deny such a pretty girl who usually speaks such sweet words.

never in his several hundred years of living could he imagine ever bending to the will of a human but he can’t help it when it comes to you. it just feels so right . . . and also keeps you quiet.

unlike now. now, you’re bored, antsy, and finding the solution to your problems in harassing your lover.

“alucard,” your drawl, dragging the tips of your fingers against the wooden table stationed by the lounge chair you’re in. you’re all curled up, knees to your chest and head dangling off the armrest.

you can see him across the room, see the pained irritation that briefly crosses his face before it’s all released with a sigh. “please, just adrian. there’s no need for such formalities.”

he flips the page of the book he’s buried his nose so deep in without sparing a glance at you. adrian isn’t an idiot. for as long as he’s lived, he’s quite far from it. he’s already aware of what’s sure to come if you’re given too much of his attention and he’s not in the mood to entertain it.

“okay. adrian, is there not a better way to pass the time? i’ve grown very tired of sleeping and all of my friends are too busy for me.” you sit up up a swift motion. your curls move in accordance and dust the back of your neck.

“perhaps you would be more delighted if you’d help them with their duties,” adrian says. it comes out more of a mumble, dulcified by his smooth way of speaking.

you can only roll your eyes and settle into a new position, throwing your legs over the chair and resting your head atop the coffee table. you swear you’ve read every book on the shelf, explored every book and cranny in the castle. you can feel your beauty wasting away the longer you sit and do nothing. “how about you do something for me, for once. suggest something i can do.”

“i do everything for you and you know that. now, i’m going to ignore you.” there’s a chuckle in his voice, light and airy. as if there’s anything funny about the disastrous situation you’re in. a castle, just to yourselves, and he won’t a single thing with you.

you huff and puff, placing your feet onto the hand-stitched rug beneath you. “you’re not serious. you can’t be.” your pillow soft lips are already fixed into a pout and even more so when you’re met with absolute silence.

not even a glance.

“adrian tepes!” you’re on your feet and marching to his side before you can even think, hands planted firmly on your hips and ready to give him a scolding.

it’s only when you’re standing beside him that he cannot ignore your presence. in fact, adrian graces you with a smile, fangs just barely visibly. “mrs. tepes,” his hand comes around your waist to rest on your back, “you’re being unreasonable.”

the cheeks of your face flush with a heat you’ve only ever felt with him. you curl your lips in on each other to disguise your growing smile. the shyness hits your body all at once and you’re at a loss for words.

“is it not my job to give the kind people resources and knowledge they’ve lost over the years? if they’re going to rebuild their village, they should be properly equipped. i am sharing my land, after all.” adrian gathers you into his lap, sweeping the fabric of your long nightgown out of the way and smoothening it out.

the silence is palpable and never-ending. it’s prompting a response, one that you’re nearly obliged to give.

“well . . ., yeah.” your press the palm of your hand against your lips in an act of both defiance and guilt. you’re wrong and you know you’re wrong. you don’t need an old vampire to explain it to you.

his fingers dance along the silk, sliding the fabric along your thighs. it brings a subtle chill down your spine and prickles goosebumps on the surface of your skin. “yeah. so this tantrum you’re experiencing, it’s unreasonable. will you allow me ten minutes? please?”

there’s a moment where you consider saying no. the pretty little thoughts in your head whir and whir with the possibilities. saying no and what? he’d listen? adrian is a bit of pushover but he’s not dense. he wouldn’t do everything your heart desires. of course, you could always agree and end up alone, ignored, and pushed aside. you’re pursing your lips again, already ready to voice your opinions but your words get caught in your throat.

you’re choking on them when the same fleeting fingers are hiking up the hem of your dress, skimming along your inner thigh. sneaky badtard he is, using unfair advantages.

“adrian,” you mewl, grasping at his forearm in an attempt to stop him from progressing. “it’s unfair.”

he simpers, his attention delving into the many words floating on the stiff paper bound together by string and a cover. “you poor thing.” adrian’s fingers hike further and further until they’re ghosting over your clothed clit, throbbing in anticipation.

“can’t sit still for even a moment. should i give you something to whine about?” adrian flicks the book closed with one fluid motion of your wrist. it snaps and becomes a desolate memory in the back of your mind.

there’s a warble that builds in your throat when the pads of his tips move your panties aside and become busy in your sticky cunt. your chest rises and falls with each breath.

any thought you’ve previously had is ripped from your brain when your eyes meet adrien’s. they’re narrow, smirky, and knowing, watching your every move.

you stay like that, seated on his lap and entranced by those amber shaded eyes and perfectly at his disposal, rolling through the pleasure as it comes.

[lurkingteapot]

Spare Me Your Mercy การุณยฆาต Ep. 1

I've been waiting for this ever since Triage stopped airing, super excited to go in!

Liveblog, as always

oh no, the goat

pretty boy in a mask ...

man, if nothing else, I'm gonna learn a lot of medical terms and body parts

ปอด, เยื่อบร้งไข่ ... where else will I learn words like these??

oh no, that was fast.

oh wow, you asshole, that's the WORST thing you can say to a child that didn't make it to their parent's deathbed on time if they wanted to be there. WE KNOW.

JJ's acting is breaking my heart here

"this is a small and quiet town" - "there's been a murder" CLASSIC

so they want us to think it's Dr Gan walking around euthanising late stage cancer patients, huh. I've watched Manner of Death, I'll be disappointed and surprised if it's that simple.

that one nurse is fishy af

you could start by addressing them as grown women, maybe then they'd talk to you

diabetes, high blood pressure, ?? and adipositas??

he's very comfortable saying "anything can happen in cases like that"

heh, Thiw caught on

dfasdfasdf he's hitting on him? in THIS situation?

I like clueless local popo, he's funny

why do they blur the logo on Gan's scrubs???

shouldn't she be recording her observations rather than playing music?

sdfasdfasdfasf

classic Sammon mode, really

oh that looks GOOD

man I don't think I'd make it long in rural SEA, but that kitchen is fucking goals

oh no, feelings attack

that's the hospital director, huh

I don't find her sus yet, but she IS gonna be important, she's too pretty not to

oh no, poor dude's in pain. Gan gonna kill him? or ... what?

well, that's clearly what they want us to think, anyway

but gdi you'd think someone who knows the cops are investigating one late-stage cancer patient's death would not keep this up

though I guess serial killers gonna serial kill

did he try to get up and run???

well ok I'd've done that too if I noticed sth on fire around me

man this is sus sus sus god I forgot how much I love Sammon's setting-the-scene

oh, she has a name

and a sense of humour asdfasdf

is that the guy Thiw nearly ran over? with the goat?

ritual sacrifice??? ah, ghosts

tall guy wearing black and a a mask like ... doc, hi

oh wow that was a great cut

Som must have reason to be this afraid of the doc

I love that. "I want to help!" "Well you're not helping!"

man, Gan's face

oh, this is gonna be GREAT. I do think I'd benefit from subs -- even 'just' ones in Thai -- on this show, but I'll keep watching even without. (It's not on iQiyi for me and I'm not gonna pay for streaming AND VPN.)

[celtrist]

Re: https://www.tumblr.com/celtrist/757582206233444352/weird-explanation-about-alastors-bobcut-because

THE BOBCUT

I can only scrape together 3 reasons/excuses for Alastor’s haircut

- covering the sides of his head where human ears used to be because he’s self conscious :,)

- the shape is like a reverse silhouette of his ears: 2 points up, 2 points down. If we count his chin then maybe you go for a crazy conspiracy angle where you overlay a pentagram/satanic goat over his head and the points match up lol “coincidence?! I THINK NOT!!!!” (I don’t agree with this, the mental image is just funny)

- while men didn’t style their hair long in the 20/30s, the slicked back look (and wavy varieties like finger waves etc) did sometimes require (or hide) some length: from the hairline to almost the back of the head at most, held with enough hair product to paralyse a small dog. (Brylcreem/congolene/pomade etc) When you wash that style out, or it comes loose from sweat or rain or falling in a creek, it’s between cheek to chin length around the face. The 20s reverse mullet, party in the front, business in the back. I think there used to be homophobic complaints at the time that women wearing their hair bobbed short and men wearing their hair “long” made (jazz) music halls a DeN oF GaY, claiming they couldn’t tell men and women apart with these hairstyles whilst they were all banging out a charleston or lindy hop or whatever they were doing. I had this hairstyle for over a decade, my dad wouldn’t let me change it, “iTs fRenCh pRoVinCiaL aNd rEminDs mE oF yOur mOthEr” bitch I looked like amelie

The human design for Alastor doesn’t wear his hair like that though, throwing this excuse out a closed window

It’s also what would happen to hair if it was in a ponytail and chopped behind the tie. Either way R.I.P.

Lots of insight! I can still see your last point holding up at least a little bit in the sense that it is more fitting for him to have chin-length hair, or at least grow it out to that point when he got to Hell (he just wanted a fresh look). However, the only "issue" is that: why wouldn't he style his hair? He doesn't really strike me as someone who'd go against gender norms quite honestly. Not out of masculinity, like if he was put into a situation that called for it, I'm sure he'd be fine wearing a dress to some degree (and he'd look good in it. We can all agree he'd look good in it). But more on the prospect that "gentlemen don't do that". I can see him both as someone who would wear a dress and be fine with it, but also someone who would wear a dress and find it demeaning to himself. Obviously Alastor doesn't hold all the old timey values--he wouldn't like Charlie and Vaggie's relationship on them being two woman alone if he did--but I do think he sticks by older etiquette. Like I'm certain he thinks women are capable more than men of his time gave them credit for, but he reads as someone who'd also be like "must take care of the fairer sex, for I am a man and that's what we do". Again, not in a demeaning way he clearly knows women can hold their own. But if a man and a woman got sick, Alastor would tell the man to suck it up and the woman to lay down and rest. That's my personal take though :/

I will admit that I didn't think about the reverse silhouette thing! Nice eyes on that one! Say what you will with Viv's character designs, but they all have fairly strong silhouettes. You see a character with blacked-out details, and you're more than likely able to tell who it is. And maybe that's Viv's design process, she prioritizes a silhouette over tiny designs that could give info about a character. A nice silhouette can ideally still give a bit of info about a character (like how rounder characters are seen as more welcoming) and that's where I do have to mark Viv some points down as when you take two totally opposite characters--Alastor and Angel Dust--they have the same "tall & sharp" that doesn't indicate a difference in who the character might be. There's not a varied shape language in this show, and shape language is very big for character design, especially on the cartoon front! Which, shape language wise a lot of the characters have similar shape language. But I give credit that there IS more (like Charlie is round with her braids, which helps give a more welcoming silhouette. Vaggie is a bit squared with her hair, giving an indication of being strong and stable). I do think for the most part, a lot of them do just come down to being "thin and sharp", but the silhouettes themselves ARE GOOD, I'm not gonna mistake Alastor's silhouette for Angel's. It's just not varied (and for some characters like Husk, it would make since for him to have a more squared portly silhouette compared to the thin twigged silhouette he has. Both because his personality and how his body would look just by what he does: sit around, drink, and gamble. He doesn't seem like a character who would have eating issues, and he doesn't seem active enough to stay as fit as he is).

I digress but yes, the silhouette thing isn't something I thought of, and is a good thought! But he does, as you pointed out, have the pointy chin. It's not parallel to the ears like the bob cut but it would create a triangular layout of his face (ear-to-chin-to-ear). But I can still see it that the bob cus is there for a reverse silhouette thing, even if unneeded.

The ears thing, people have made him with short cuts and he looks fine. Honestly, it's more noticeable when he DOESN'T have short hair since the bob cut moves around, but I get the premise in universe wise. And that's an idea I've seen people mention before. I'm not too sure on it just cuz Alastor was described as a narcissist, so I don't think him lack human ears would get to him that much. ADVERSELY if people like Mimzy kept pointing it out, he more than likely would just want a way to cover it up to get her to shut up about it haha. But I can also see the point of him being sort of "self conscious" about the lack of ears on the side of his head because it's just a reminder that he's taken after a prey animal in Hell. Or even just an animal, he doesn't strike me as the type who'd really like having his features alluding to any sort of animal no matter if it was prey or predator. It being a deer is just salt in the wound at that point.

[matenrou-fan]

Oh ho ho~ I've got a funny one

Dice and Mammon in a poly relationship with a fem! reader that's got crazy good luck. Everytime she goes into a casino, they leave with billions of dollars 💵.

Dice x Mammon poly with a fem!s/o that's got crazy good luck

femreader, fluff, just wholesome stuff;;

-Let's the war begin..

-Cause, despite you're literally in a poly, it's hard to hang out all together due to the fact that Dice still live in the human world.

-So when you decide to spend some more time with one of your boyfriends, helping him win more and more dollars and casinos, other get jealous and whine, and vice versa.

-So most of the time you all go on 'beneficial' dates, it always starts with some fights about where exactly you would try your crazy luck - in Devildom or the Human world.

"We, like, already were in your stupid place three times this month! I want some Grimms too!" - Mammon scoffs in before clinging to you from one side. - "You think the same, s/o, right? I'm sure you miss Devildom and want some Grimms too!"

"Well, and I don't want it!" - Dice also quickly get closer, pulling you from another side. - "My casino does not accept your 'Grimms'! They're useless here!!"

"As much as your money in my world!" - actually, they almost look like two goats who's butting heads..

"Oi, you at least can get here and spend them on these stores too!"

-Oh, yes.. You really think now your boyfriends wouldn't have problems with money, if you literally lure such big Jackpots for them? Well, poor, naive you.

-Cause they both never change their habits, so when you sleep or are busy with other things, Mammon's already spends the last Grimm on some luxury clothes after partying in a club, and Dice's already crying on a bench, cause without you all he can do it's just losing money, not winning them..

-So if the first one, then the second your lovers shyly start mumbling about next going to the casino after literally a few days, don't be surprised.

-"I swear, I will never buy so many things again!" - Mammon sobs, and by the way his legs tremble, you can say he wouldn't mind getting on his knees and begging if there wouldn't be Dice, also sniffing and crying.

"And I will never go betting without you..!" - and for him it's neither first nor last time to get in such situations, so he actually quickly falls on his knees. - "Please, s/o, let's go there again…!"

-But still, even if they adore your luck so much, they both don't want you to feel used. As they still love you just because you are you, without any benefits, and willing to show you this through some casual dates all together.

-I'm sure these two can get along well, due to their pretty similar worldviews. Also, Mammon has a good style and I feel like his fashion tips Dice would be willing to listen more than the same words from Ramuda, just because they're much closer. And I feel like a greedy demon would be interested in listening about hypmics and trying to find some profit from this ---

-"Hey, hey, I also was thinking about one thing.." - Dice's lips curved into a small smug smile when he looked at Mammon.

"Oh, how can we increase s/o's super skills even more?" - he quickly got the hint and they both suddenly moved to you, grinning.

"I was just thinking.."

"That um, m-maybe.."

"You know, they said real love can be very powerful.."

"Yeah, yeah, totally..!"

"So maybe we should try this small boost?" - in surprisingly good sync they whisper in your ears, tickling your skin. - "Nothing much, just kiss us before every spin or bet.. We're sure it would be helpful, so let's check it out right now, okay, s/o..?"

[marshmallowprotection]

Kait!! Look, Saeyoung will be in heaven!! They are around like.. 15-17 cats in general lmfao

Wanna know the most fun part? YOU CAN PET NEARLY EVERY SINGLE ONE. In fact, most of them even follow you around for head pats and cuddles! The 5 kittens here will think you're their parent and the others usually want some head scratches!

There are these 3 gray and white cats who only follow you for head scratches (the third one took a bit to trust me and today I head him purring for the first time, he has such a quiet purr though-)

They are these two very identical white with some black cats who start licking you even if all you did is stroke their head like.. one time. They keep rubbing your leg and meow at you. (Although they'll mostly lick whatever skin they find on you AHAHAHA)

Saeyoung will be so happy LMFAO. Wait until I tell him that we have like 50 or so chickens and a BIG ASS field! We got like.. infinite eggs!! There's even a garden here where we raise vegetables as well~

We used to have two dogs and goats but they aren't here anymore. Honestly, I would have LOVED to see Saeyoung do the same thing my uncle did with a goat LMFAO

My uncle basically sat on a goat's back and did a gesture like he was riding a motorcycle by touching it's horns ANDHWHDH

And you actually need a car or to use a bus to get around here where I am. So I think that Saeyoung would be very happy driving around here! Although he'll need somewhere to park his car and sadly, I don't think he can bring his whole collection T_T

We even have a beach near us so I think he'll also be very happy to go and relax there! I remember someone fishing one day while I passed by my grandma to dive in. So I think Saeyoung would be really happy about it!

Ah, I wish I could also ride the bike with Saeyoung! Would be fun doing races! The current ones we have are uncomfortable to ride sadly.

The bittersweet thing is that while no one is riding their bikes here like back then, the house in front of us has two kids and even some relatives who come with their own kids and today they played outside! Reminded me so much of the old good days.

It's funny how it used to be one or two kids from nearly each house but now it's only one house, although they don't play that often outside. I had a smile watching them, though.^^

I was originally gonna ramble a bit about Yatora but I think I'll leave it for another ask, Kait! I have a lot to ramble about him as well SKDHWJD

It's been a while since I rambled about doing things with Saeyoung, hehe. I love both Saeyoung and Yatora so much, I'm so happy they are in my life! I wanna shower them both with so much affection and make them a flustered mess~!

I hope you have been doing well, Kait! It's really warm these days so stay hydrated and take care! <3

See, that is also a literal heaven for me. I would love to just flop over on the ground and have a dozen cats decide to be my best friend. Honestly, who doesn't want to do that? Who doesn't want to be swarmed by a dozen cats? I'm sure maybe somebody who is allergic might feel that way, but that ain't me and I am here to pet some kitties. But, I think it's worth saying that Saeyoung would eat this up, too.

He clearly is the kind of person who wants to enjoy the outdoors. He loves animals more than anything so if you put him in a chicken coop and tell him to go crazy, I'm pretty sure the situation will turn into something where he is either getting chased down by the entire flock or he's helping them get exercise. Either way, you're going to laugh at him when he inevitably trips in the mud. Farm life is not for him but he's going to fight for it.

Can you imagine that? I don't know if Yatora would do that to you but... It's still funny.

[primordyalsoul]

What made you pick up this character?

How did you get into this franchise/fandom?

Which song do you feel describes your character the most and why?

@solarisgod || canon questionnaire !

What made you pick up this character?

The Rei brainrot simply took root the moment I saw her on screen. I'm not entirely joking bc when I first started watching eva I was quite quickly drawn to Rei because of the big air of mystery that surrounds her; visually she's very distinct from other characters bc of her hair and eye colours, and compared to the others she has less screen time and far less dialogue. Ofc this is intentional to some extent as we're not supposed to know about Rei's origins till much later, but I was just fascinated by how Rei was so central to lore and mystery of E.vangelion but often not explored as often as others, or put in the peripheral of scenes. BUT the scenes we do have when we get explicit insight into her thoughts and feelings are so so fascinating and lonely and heartbreaking that they stuck in mind often, long after I finished watching the series + the movie. I just couldn't stop thinking about how Rei never had a chance at living; as someone literally created from the hubris and grief of others, someone who was never supposed to be, she's trapped in a cycle of being used, constantly struggling to reconcile any semblance of identity because she's only ever a vessel for people's projections. And most of the time she's very resigned to this, but the brief glimpses of her suppressed feelings, particularly her anger at the whole situation really broke my heart, and I really really just wanted to try my hand at exploring this character who so rarely got to voice herself.

How did you get into this franchise/fandom?

My friend convinced me to watch it lmao. I very vaguely remember watching something from the eva franchise when I was around 13/14, but I can't remember what it was, all I remember was being confused JKGFFKL But yeah I'd been aware of eva because it is so popular and referenced a lot in other things, but my friends recommendation pushed me to finally check it out, so I'd watch episodes and message him my reactions as I watched. I find it funny bc I would ask so many questions and he couldn't tell me shit without watching, he'd just send :) smiley faces as I came up with my own theories, and now I do the exact same to my other friends I rope into watching it HJKKL

Which song do you feel describes your character the most and why?

GOD there are SO MANY songs that I associate with Rei or make me think of her ( shameless plug of my playlist for her ) , but one that makes me lose my mind in particular is Autoclave by the m.ountain goats. The metaphor of the heart as an autoclave, a self-locking pressure chamber, struck me as so reicore because for all the introspection she does, a lot of the time she struggles to understand her own feelings, her own heart, and deep down she's frightened of of doing so because she's scared to confront the 'ugly' parts of her - all the anger and anguish and resentment she buries deep down which, if realised with her ability to literally wipe out humanity, could be dangerous. That sort of destructive, apocalyptic imagery is pretty ripe in this song: "Hand me your hand, let me look in your eyes/ As my last chance to feel human begins to vaporize", "I am this great, unstable mass of blood and foam", "And I reach deep down within, but the pathways twist and turn/ And there's no light anywhere, and nothing left to burn" It very much makes me think of Rei leading up to instrumentality, coming to terms with her inevitable 'death'.

[beskarberry]

For your wip post!

Color me intrigued about your thief fic! Been a long time since I read about him and I miss that rascal. I know your writing style and wit would suit him perfectly.

Ok SO I smashed this outline out while poopin at work and then never got any further, but I think the concept is really good and I can probably circle back to it!

reader is a thief paid to steal a ruby amulet from a wealthy collector collector lives in a massive mansion and throws huge parties, but nobody ever actually sees him at the party (Gatsby style) party is themed? some kind of fancy dress, maybe 1920s to fit Gatsby flavor reader dresses up pretty, goes to party, thinks this will be a cake walk. doors are wide open, there’s no security even with all the people. fuckers are all drunk. reader is surprised none of the valuable art gets stolen at one point when reader is wandering around, she thinks she sees a black goat far out in the gardens, but is distracted by fireworks going off. the goat isnt there when she looks again.  she goes deeper and deeper into the mansion, it seems to go on forever. fewer and fewer people.  the art on the walls starts getting weirder, scarier. occult artifacts, etc.  she finds a room with a heavy wooden door, filled with old antique books, ritual daggers, weird symbols on the floor and walls. she finds a cabinet with the ruby necklace, maybe on some kind of altar. shes drawn to its creepy beauty and puts it on, admires it in the mirror shes interrupted by the Thief (Fernando/Felipe de la Cruz), he’s swav, likes how the necklace looks on her, etc. thinks its “brave of her to steal from the devil” reader tries to play off the fact that she was stealing, but he calls her out, offering to pay her double/triple not to steal it, and to steal for him instead. “vvouldst thou like to live deliciously?” pours wine reader agrees, feels funny about the whole situation, but steals some more things for him, making fat cash.  eventually collects more artifacts, occult shit mostly after having enough stuff, she agrees to do a sexual ritual with him that will grant her ‘power’, realizes she’s accidentally fallen in love with him during the sex he starts to turn into his demon form, wings/horns/hooves, etc. hot monster sex revealed that he’s bound to the mansion for stealing the very same ruby and it turned him into a monster trapped in the mansion, and was planning to kill her in the ritual or something to set him free from the ‘devils locker’. sacrifice must be the next person who tries to steal the ruby. sacrifice/ritual would make him a full-blooded demon/super powerful  but oh no! he has FEELINGS!!  ritual gets bungled up because he cant bring himself to kill her, eventually it all fizzles out but leaves him still partially demonic in a way he can hide.  reader is PISSED, threatens to crucify his ass when she discovers she ended up with some demonic powers too.  either leave the mansion together OR descend into hell as the new rulers of the underworld

[jalicefanficblog]

Birds and Café con leche

After Breakfast Andrés normally drinks his second cup of Coffee, but this time he is informed by his Toddler, that Coffee is very important for Birds, so they could turn into powerful Dragons.

"Martin? Have you seen my second cup of Coffee? I was sure, that i placed it a few seconds ago on the Kitchen Table?"

Andrés de Fonollosa looked confused from the empty Kitchen Table towards his Partner in Crime and in Love, who was putting the Dishes from Breakfast into the Dishwasher. 

"Than it should be on the Kitchen Table - have you looked there already?", replied Martin while he was focused on continue doing the Task.

"Would i come to you, when i didn´t checked that place already?", Andrés said and finally got the full attention from his Partner, who closed the Dishwasher a few Moments later.

"Well let me think....", Martin wanted start counting all the Times, when Andrés came to him for a second cup of Coffee, for someone who puts Suncream on his neck, when he is busy with his work and needs an Volunteers that get Hestia´s Diaper changed or play with the Toddler - or when Andrés want´s to curse about how much he deep inside his wicked heart miss the Gang with the weird city Names. Martin could go on forever with that list, but he knew that his Partner his kind of focused on his second cup of Coffee after Breakfast. Why should he put it away than?

"To be honest i could give you a whole list of Times, when you come to me for something - but I´am really sorry about the Coffee - it´s not here", Martin explained with an amused grin on his face.

"You´re not funny", Andrés said not amused about the fact, that his Coffee has d isappeared on a mysterious way.

While the two Adults still talked about this mysterious Situation, their little Daugther Hestia came into the Kitchen . The two year old little girl had great news for her parents, but their were talking about boring Adult Stuff like Coffee and Household chores. 

"Daddy y Papá? Hestia found Dragon - Mira - Look", the little girl said playfully and got the attention from her Fathers. She was really busy with preparing some special Water for Dragons, so that they can find their way to her home and don´t need to be longer thirsty flying in the clouds. 

"Please tell me you didn´t want to share some Choclate cake with the Goats, like a few weeks ago  - i nearly got a heart attack", Martin asked and he wasn´t sure if the Toddler tried that again. 

"Goats no Dragons Daddy", Hestia explained friendly and reached out for Martin and Andrés hands, to show them where the Dragons can be find from now on.

"Wait a minute - have you took my cup of Coffee Corazón?", Andrés asked her and by the way Hestia shyly let go of his hand and hide behind Martin leg, Andrés knew that he found the mysterious, why his coffee was gone.

"Hestia sorry Papá - but the Dragons", the 2 year old explained and was picked up by Martin, so that she cannot longer hide behind his legs.

"As much as i like the Dragon Idea Baby, it is not a good Idea to steal your Papás second cup of coffee", Martin said honest and looked from him over to her Papá.

"Hestia no steal Coffee", the little girl replied confused.

"So where is my Coffee than? I don´t think you drink it - did you?", Andrés asked in kind of an strict voice.

"Coffee yucky Papá - now look Dragons?", the Toddler replied - how could Adults ever drink Coffee, it was so disgusting.

"Fine - show us your Dragons Baby - but after that i need someone who makes me a second cup of Coffee", Andrés after his Partner put Hestia down again, so that the little Girl can show her fathers, what exactly happend to his original second cup of Coffee and why his Toddler feed it to the ´Dragons´

Five Minutes later Berlin and Palermo were on the  -Child-proofed  - Balcony that belong to their Quarters and watched how little Hestia showed them one of the small Bird Fountain, in wich Berlin had put in some Water a few days ago for the Birds, that came here for a stop and a sip of refreshment.

But instead of the Water there was now some Coffee for the Birds to drink and next to the Bird Fountain stood the empty Coffee cup. 

"So there did my Café con leche went - and what has this do to with Dragons Hestia?", Andrés wanted to know, while he picked up the empty cup.

"Birds need Coffee Papá", Hestia said und pointed with one finger towards the top of the Bird Fountain, where now a little Bird was sitting and looking confused towards the Coffee mixture.

"Why do Birds need Coffee? I´am pretty sure they need Water Hestia - don´t you think?", Martin said and as well as his Partner, he really wanted to know how their Toddler came up with this Idea.

"Birds drink Coffee....and than grow big Dragons Daddy", Hestia explained, as if it was the most normal thing in the World. If Birds drink Coffee, they turn into strong and powerful Dragons - makes total sense for an Toddler, but for two Adults in their late 40´s it was more confusing than helpful.

"How long does it take - I mean a Dragon would be cool", Palermo said amused and got an ´Don´t put any more Ideas in our Daugthers Head´ glaze from Berlin.

"What your Daddy wants to ask you Hestia is, who told you that´s the way how a Birds could grow into a Dragon?", Berlin added and looked for a moment to the little bird, who already flew away - it was understandable that he wouldn´t like this Coffee a lot. 

"Auntie Raquel - it´s true Papá", Hestia said and while she was staying with The Professor and his now Girlfriend - wich also was the former Inspectora, Paulas Mother told her and Paula a lot of Storys - and she also said, that a Bird drinks some Coffee, he would turn into a powerful Dragon. 

"Than do me Favor and try it out next Time, we visit your Uncle okay? So will anyone please bring me my second cup of Coffee?", Berlin said and Palermo picked the Toddler up as she lifted her Arms up in his direction.

"Me! Helping Daddy yes?", Hestia said and she loved it when she can help her Parents in the Kitchen or when she just was allowed to push the Start Button on the Coffee Machine.

"How nice from you to offer your Help - i guess you like to have an  Café con leche?", Palermo asked Berlin and after he gave his Partner a kiss on the cheek, Palermo went with the Toddler and the empy cup in his free hand, back to the Kitchen, to bring his Boyfriend the Coffee he so desperately needs.

In the Meantime Andrés called Raquel to ask her about this Fairytale with Dragon - but he only got an amused laugh from the former Inspectora.

"Coffee turn Birds into Dragons. I´am very sorry but i think Hestia missunderstood something. I told her once, that Sergio could turn into a Dragon, if he dosen´t have his third Coffee in the Morning"

THE END 

[m1ckeyb3rry]

LMAOOOO FR Niko entering his mc era instead of pursuit boruto it’s just “the misadventures of Niko and prof aiku”

Wait I forgot about the manectric (I fr just scrolled and screenshotted the teams before the post the buried and lost forever because there’s no way im remembering that all Karasu DEFINITELY has beef with electric types now im crying somehow I envisioned lucario physically packing up steelix and like rolling it into a ball

HAHA wait Karasu either a little starly would be so cute though having his birds evolve through the story also as a marker of his development >>>

Joltik carrying the team from the minute it first enters its pokeball LMAO I bet the abusers are also like “lmao you brought a house spider to sweep up” and she’s like “yeah basically” wait HAHAHAHA I can just imagine it’s formatted like those goody episodes where we have one moment of screaming and running and immediately cut to spa moment cucumbers on the eyes face mask and the constant flipping between those vibes LMAOOO what that would be really fucking funny reader and otoya like that meme where the mom (Karasu) is scolding the child who’s on their knees like repenting and then the dad says something back then proceeds to sit his ass down and get his head bonked

It’s so ugly it’s actually scary even the Godzilla looking one that ended up on your 1k team I fr saw that and jaw dropped

Locking in…definitely locking in……haha…..ha…..

READER AND CO PAVING THE WAY FOR MODERN HAPPY POKEMON SOCIETY waitttttt ok so pursuit canon pokemon studios animation when Niko would def have a little zygarde cell (that’s what they’re called i forgot and was too lazy to look it up) LMFAO CHARLES GETTING NOTHING AHAHAHA true Charles with a legendary would mean chaos (if he did have one I can see it being hoopa)

Yeahhh ugh forced to use google suites so I can access files anywhere born to use Microsoft office smh

YESS will happily send in any references I find or make LOL

IT WAS SO HYPE I fr saw that and thought “omg the beginning of an era guys” PURSUIT WOOHOO so what I’m hearing is both hollyhock and peregrine will not reach pursuit length LMAOO

Also forgot to mention earlier don’t be shy feel free to yk just drop a little Karasu fic dw abt it….thank you to the person who requested the vague Karasu fic

- Karasu anon

LMAOO niko finally getting his time to shine after being relegated to sidekick/unpaid intern in oaeu 😭 niko + prof aiku is a LETHAL combo omg i can imagine it so vividly…dare i say niko is trying to complete the pokédex for aiku?? and that’s why he sets out on his journey and meets the rest of his crew???

one close combat from lucario and steelix is DONE FOR 😩 tbh i forgot abt the manectric too i only remembered because i went to check yuki’s team to see how karasu would stack up with his final team LMAOO there’s so many characters and teams i have to keep it organized w the notion and constantly reference back or else i’ll make mistakes

that’s what i was thinking like when we meet him he’s sassy cocky karasu with a bunch of baby birds (pidgey fletchling starly murkrow) and then as we go through the story and he gets more and more mature they begin to evolve and match his energy (maybe they haven’t evolved yet because karasu’s still in his baby crow era at first but by traveling w reader and co he turns into someone respectable and super trustworthy which is why the birds finally allow themselves to evolve…plus the quality of their battles goes from random gym trainers to team x, reader and co, mc trio, and other crazy situations so they have to evolve or fall behind yk)

joltik has BEEN slaying omg wait that arc could be the establishment of joltik dominance 🧐 like everyone including otoya underestimates it but reader’s like nah joltik’s got this and then surprisingly it actually did stand on business…what a goat 🤩 PLSSS i was imagine that one gordon ramsay meme where karasu with reader is like “shhh gorgeous oh dear oh dear it’s okay” like very gentle when reprimanding her (stressed but careful not to be mean) but with otoya it’s like “WHAT ARE YOU??? AN IDIOT SANDWICH”

wait charles w a hoopa is insane work especially because iirc pursuit charles has shidou as a mentor?? imagine shidou and hoopa interactions LMAOAO oh my god the nagiy/n daughter x charles wedding is even more chaotic because one the one hand we have like pokémon verse royalty in the form of reader and co + aiku + the old elite four and then on the other we just have a bunch of legendaries also running around (except yveltal who’s chilling w hydreigon at the buffet table)

HAHAH i think it’s so funny that the word count inflation is so great that we’re both like “yeah 80-100k nbd” like when i actually think abt it I’m like yo that’s lowkey really long actually but considering peregrine’s already at 30k ish and we still haven’t even shown him and reader together safe to say there’s def a bit of writing to be done before we reach the end!!

LMAOO thinking of pursuit karasu made me want to write him as a male lead again 🥹 he’s just sm more agreeable than nagi like nagi NEEDS a slowburn vs karasu cooperates with whatever trope i want from him he’s truly my goat for that…angst crack romance action WHATEVER he’s got it covered he’ll walk in ready to work 🤩 lowkey maybe i should write smth more serious for him…fwtkac and freaky friday were miraverse crack and bfb isn’t crack but it’s too normal LMAOO i want to make him suffer a bit

[hogmilked]

orchid, mahonia, chia, edelweiss, papyrus? :0

HI BESTIEEEE sorry this took all day i was at work and then tumblr didn’t save any of my very long reply that i’d already made

orchid -> what's a song you consider to be perfect?

oh fuck this is tough there’s a ton. i would say right now this live version of miami 2017 by billy joel, the original studio version is pretty perfect but the power behind these live vocals is just unmatched

i would also give bonus points to 4 Leaf Clover by Ravyn Lanae, Kalopsia by Queens of the Stone Age, My Sister by Angel Olsen, and My Baby’s Taking Me Home by Sparks. bonus mention to Face to Face by Daft Punk which i don’t think is a perfect song but is one of the coolest pieces of music i’ve ever heard. there’s some great videos breaking down the samples that song uses, a couple of which haven’t even been found yet

mahonia -> what place, thing, activity inspires you most and how do you express yourself when it does?

honestly i don’t know. seeing live music helps me wanna make music but honestly i feel the most motivated to make things when they come out of just raw high emotion. like right now i’m dealing with a traumatic situation and i’m not doing super well but i also really wanna get all that shit just like out so im more motivated than ever to make something out of it. it’s a bit bleak but true, a lot of the stuff i’ve been proudest of has come out of the urge to vent outweighing the fear of not making “good” art. not to say i shouldn’t get help or i’ll lose my ability to make things i’m proud of, but i’m the most inspired when i have overwhelming emotions i feel the need to turn into something productive

chia -> what's an inside joke you have with someone else?

DRACULA CHRISTMAS DRACULA CHRISTMAS DRACULA CHRISTMAS

edelweiss -> how'd you think of your url/ username? what's it associated with to you?

someone asked me about this in a reply this morning lol, it was a dumb joke at work. we were talking about different livestock milks outside of goats and cows and thought the phrase “hog milk” was so fucking funny but that was taken so it became hogmilked which is infinitely more harrowing

papyrus -> if you put your 'on repeat' playlist on shuffle, what's the first song that comes up? what do you like about it / associate it with?

i can’t find an on repeat playlist on tidal which is what i use, but i have been coping with the aforementioned traumatic experience with two specific albums so i’ll recommend a song off that

i talk a ton about suede these days but their debut album (along with …Like Clockwork by Queens of the Stone Age) has been my comfort albums the last couple days and a good portion of what i’ve been listening to. i love the whole album but this is my favorite song off it by far. i’ve said it many times before but everyone, especially those who like 90s alt and britpop, should listen to suede’s self titled debut. perfect album imo

[ask game]

[despairs-memorial]

It was almost a relief to hear him just laughing. Saihara wasn't sure what he was expecting when he finally met one of his former classmates? contestants? victims? again, but laughter was better than a violent reaction... though, it told him quite a bit about the smaller boy already. He was in pain, and it was partially his fault. Detective or not, even he could put two and two together.

I thought I was for a second, he thinks but doesn't say as he listens to him. He could practically cut himself on the tone that Ouma was speaking to him in, but honestly, could he even blame him for the bitterness? While they were all exploited and basically tortured for the entertainment of the masses, Ouma, who had been trying harder than all of them to figure this out and to get them out of the horrible situation ended up being a scape goat. There were few others among them that had as much right to rage as the former(?) supreme leader did.

"Yeah.... it is kind of funny. Guess I should have expected it... once..." He hesitates before saying her name. The very thought of it left a bitter taste on his tongue. "...once she said it was all a show, though I... I guess it didn't fully sink in quite yet."

There's a pause as he tries to think of just what to ask. There was just too much to talk about after... everything that happened, both between them and everything that surrounded them from the game and the the situation they found themselves in now. Where does he even start? Apologizing? Thanking him for aiding them in finding out the truth behind everything? Chastising him for not trusting them which led to his death in the first place?

"Have you gotten along with the others better... since they all woke up, I mean. A-after all, there has to be a lot to talk about," he says as he forces a laugh. Trying to deflect from the elephant in the room and hide from it entirely... that wasn't something a detective should do, but he never was one, not really anyway. "You probably surprised them a lot when everything about you came out... I don't think even she thought you would go that far..."

Reality, as it turned out, was slow. Dull. Boring.

Outside of the final few, he was one of the last to wake up from his comatose state ( from what he's heard between the nurses, being smushed in a hydraulic press―even in a simulation―wasn't, let's say, ideal... sucks to be them! ) and that's given him enough of an excuse to avoid mostly everyone until the inevetable. He's outright refused to attend―blegh―therapy, despite Momota's someone's persistence, and all he wants to do is burn this entire place from the inside out, even if it costs him his life. He didn't have much of a life to live for now, anyways.

Three months should have been enough time to compose himself, formulate what to say in front of an audience once more, and give said audience, and the rest of his so called ‘classmates’ the world's biggest middle finger, then leave without a trace, but he's got nothing. Nada. Zero. And as doomsday, as he lovingly called it, ticked closer, he could only hobble around the empty halls, too stubborn to use any aid the facility offered him but a flimsy walking stick ( he already hated wearing the hospital gown they dressed him in, reminded him too much of those stupid bears, and he ditched the wheelchair as soon as he could ), chewing his lip in thought.

Ouma doesn't even notice Saihara's footsteps approaching until he whirls around, staring blankly up at the former―was it right to call it ‘former’ when it was all baked into their brains?―detective, at first. Then, he smiles, grins even―but it's not the same, not as perfect, like in the simulation, and laughs right in his face at the absurdity and the sheer gall of Saihara to ask him if he's alright!

“Oh! I'm just peachy, Saihara-chan!” It's scarily easy to fall back to how he acted in the simulation, full of smiles and lies. But it doesn't stop the sharp, almost nervous, perhaps mocking, edge in his tone as he spoke, tense fingers curled around his cane as he tapped it against the marbled floor. “How about you, hm? You look more shellshocked about all this than I am. Like you're seeing ghosts!” He laughs again. “Funny that!”

[thesadpilotclub]

Ok so maybe a fic where ice and mav are married and raised rooster after his mother died young and no one knows until mav invites the team over for dinner and they find out cause ice is home and ice and mav are cooking with funny custom apron ons and there’s family photos everywhere even ones of young rooster

Okay, this premise does require a little more set up, so here's what I'm thinking:

Ice has been badgering Rooster to bring his new boyfriend, Hangman, over for dinner for months so he can finally meet him, but Rooster's kept putting it off. After one particularly hard mission for the team, Ice finally puts his foot down, demanding it.

But Rooster's nervous, because asking your partner to have dinner with your parents means a relationship's getting serious, and he doesn't want to scare Jake off. So instead, he panics and asks the whole team to come over.

Maverick thinks it's hilarious.

“Why didn’t you try to stop him?” Ice said, as they lay in bed that night.

"You said you wanted to meet his boyfriend, you didn't say he had to come alone." Maverick chuckled.

“Bradley’s going to pay for this.” Ice mumbled to himself.

The following night, when the team shows up at the house and is greeted by Admiral Iceman Kazansky, they’re convinced they have the wrong house. Rooster punked them.

“We are so sorry, Admiral, sir.” Phoenix said as they all began backing away from the door, preparing to flee.

“Actually, I have a very important mission I could use your help with.” Ice said.

“A mission, sir?” Hangman said.

“Yes. If Bradley’s going to have me making dinner for this many people, then I’m not doing it by myself. Come inside.” Ice motioned for them to follow him in, through the house, and to the kitchen. There, he became a commander, giving orders on who is doing what tasks and where.

“I’m not really much for cooking, Admiral.” Hangman said.

“Well, if you have any interest in continuing your relationship with Bradley, you’re going to do it now, and you’re going to do it well.” Ice said. “Do you understand me, Lieutenant?”

“Yes, sir.” Hangman said. He looked at the cucumber on the chopping block with dread. Last time he had to cut up a vegetable, he ripped up a bell pepper with his bare hands and threw it in to a skillet. 

“Let me help you.” Bob said “I worked as a fry cook at my local diner in high school every summer. I’ll show you how to cut them properly. Let me handle the onion.” He tapped on the lens of his glasses. “I’ve got protection.”

“Hey, guys! How’s it going?” Maverick entered the kitchen with Rooster in tow. They didn’t get very far before Ice started whacking them with the dish cloth.

“You know you’re not allowed in her while I’m cooking. Out, now, both of you.” Ice said.

Maverick and Rooster shielded their heads as they retreated in to the dinning room.

“Why aren’t they allowed in?” Bob said.

“They graze on fresh produce, like goats.” Ice said.

“I thought it’s because Maverick would burn the house down.” Phoenix said.

“Actually, that’s more Bradley’s MO.” Ice said.

“Really?” Bob said.

“Once, when he was 13, Bradley tried to make baked potatoes, but forgot to poke holes in them.” Ice said. “So they started exploding and he panicked - emptying the contents of an entire fire extinguisher in to the oven.”

“Goodness, gracious, great balls of fire!” Hangman sang as he chopped a pepper, properly this time.

Once dinner was finished and they all sat down to eat, there were a lot of questions to answer about Ice & Maverick’s ‘situation’. Both about their relationship and with inheriting Bradley.

“Was he a good kid?” Hangman asked. “We already heard the baked potato story.”

“Mostly.” Maverick said. “Got in to fights a lot. One time, he punched an admiral’s son square in the nose. That was not a fun trip to the principal’s office.”

“He said I had a stupid face and poured milk in my lap. What was I supposed to do?” Rooster said.

“I never said you were wrong.” Maverick said. “It’s just that I had an awful lot of drills to run the next day.”

“Then there was the time he snuck out and couldn’t get back in.” Ice looked at Rooster with a twisted grin.

“No. Please don’t.” Rooster said.

“No. Please do.” Hangman said.

“Yeah, let’s hear it.” Payback knocked on the table, excited.

Ice told the embarrassing stories of Bradley’s high school shenanigans as recompense for thwarting their dinner plans. But it turned out to be all in good fun, as the others volunteered stories about themselves too.

How Hangman had his license for 2 days before an armadillo had him driving his dad’s truck through the church’s welcome sign. How Payback jumped off a roof in to a lake he didn’t know had alligators in it. How Bob shook an industrial sized bottle of mustard too hard and it exploded all over the diner’s kitchen.

After dinner and a few glasses of wine, Ice pulled out the photo album. The first few pages were of just Goose, Carole, Bradley, & Maverick.

“What a fucking twink.” Hangman pointed at young Maverick and everyone laughed.

“You are one to talk, pretty boy.” Maverick turned the page. There was a handful of polaroids from an awkward phase in their lives. The 2 years between when Maverick adopted Bradley when he was 11 and when him & Ice became a serious couple.

“What the hell’s going on there?” Phoenix pointed to a photo of Maverick & Bradley.

“I wanted to be a mummy for Halloween.” Rooster said. “But we ran out of toilet paper halfway through wrapping me, so we used the ace bandages, and when we ran out of that, he just taped printer paper around my head.”

“You don’t look that bad.” Maverick said.

“I look like a burn victim who escaped from an office cubicle.” Rooster said.

“I was a single dad, doing my best.” Maverick said.

“One halloween, when I was little.” Phoenix said. “I wanted to be the Wicked Witch of The West, so my dad sharpied my face and hands green.”

“Alright,” Rooster turned back to Maverick. “Maybe you didn’t do so bad.”

[chaos-burst]

direction to perfection

Dorian fought his parents to be here.

He fought tooth and nail to be allowed to live in a dorm, so there is no way he can back down from this decision. It’s his first shot at freedom and being normal and doing something for himself instead of his family.

Dorian will not back down.

He will persevere.

“Harder, come on!”

Loud moaning and the creaking of an old mattress accompany the dull thudding that comes from inside of his room. The room he’s currently standing in front of.

“I’m so close, so close, so close—“

Dorian stares at the door. His face is hot and he stands frozen in place as he tries to decide what to do. He needs his lute for the next bard class. He also needs to be far away from this room.

Gods, most of all he needs a new roommate.

“Oh, fuck, just like that—ah—“

Dorian closes his eyes and hides his face in his hands.

He was so proud after he finally convinced his parents to let him stay here. When he first entered his room he wasn’t even concerned about how small it was, or how his roommate’s bed was so close to his that stretching both their arms out would result in them touching hands.

And then he met Dariax, the guy he’s supposed to be living with for a long time.

“Dorian, are you literally standing here listening to Dariax bang someone inside of your room?”, Opal’s voice reaches his ears and he turns his head to look at her. She must see the desperation on his face because the next moment she gives him a pointed look before hammering her fist on the door.

“What the fuck, guys! Rent a room! And hurry up, Dorian needs his stuff!”

Dorian feels mortification creep from his face down into his stomach as he hears a loud thump, a shriek and a curse. The fact that Dariax knows that Dorian has been standing here makes him go through the five stages of grief so quickly that he can feel his insides churn.

Opal turns to face him and gives him a stern stop-putting-up-with-this look before she stalks away, twirling her dagger in her hand.

Dorian wishes it were that easy to voice what he wants.

To be sure of himself.

To live unashamed and free.

Sadly, his current repertoire covers none of these things.

The door gets yanked open and Dorian finds himself face to face with a white, half-elven woman wrapped in a bed sheet, her hair a complete and utter, blonde mess, her purple lipstick smeared across her left cheek.

“I was so close!”, she hisses as she holds up her index finger and thumb to indicate the fact that Dorian just ruined her earth-shattering orgasm.

“I—uh. I’m so—“

“Dorian! Gosh, I’m so sorry, I forgot that you had class, buddy!”

The half-elven woman throws Dorian the nastiest stink-eye and rushes down the corridor in nothing but the bedsheet wrapped around her. Dorian has no idea why she would do that, but Dariax distracts him.

Dariax, who is completely naked, his lips covered in purple lipstick, his cheeks flushed and his hair standing up from his head.

For decency, he’s holding a bottle of wine to cover his crotch.

Dorian wishes the floor would open up and swallow him whole.

“I—uh. Sorry to disturb the—ah. Fun? I just. I just need to grab my lute real quick”, he says weakly, rushes over to his bed and grabs the lute leaning against the wall beside it.

“Oh, don’t worry about it, buddy, I’ll just go jack off in the shower, it’s no biggie.”

Dorian stares at Dariax who grins at him, as if that was a perfectly normal thing to say to someone in this situation.

“Sure. Have fun”, he croaks, his cheeks still flaming, and flees out of the room and down the hallway.

Dorian fought so hard to be here but gods, he wishes he were somewhere else right now.

The class he’s attending is one of his favorites—one that covers Bardic Inspiration as a form of self-expression, but it takes him a while to cool down from the mortifying ordeal of having Dariax as his roommate.

They’ve been living together for almost three months now and it’s not like it’s all bad.

Hell, Dorian likes Dariax.

He’s funny, doesn’t take himself too seriously, he tells ridiculous, entertaining stories and is loyal to a fault. But he’s also extroverted in a way that makes Dorian go insane. There is no moment of silence when Dariax is in the room—because Dariax hates silence. He also brings back so many different people to their room without asking Dorian first. Not all of them are Dariax’ lovers—at least not as far as he knows.

But they’re always loud, always messy and always completely oblivious to Dorian’s social cues.

Opal keeps ranting about how Dorian needs to reinforce his boundaries, but Dorian has no idea how to do that. Never in a million years would he bang on the door of his room if he knows that Dariax is having sex in there. Opal is always so loud and unapologetic about everything—Dorian envies her for it.

Dorian has never kissed anyone. Or had sex. Or anything in between these things. How the fuck both Dariax and Opal know exactly what they like and who they like is beyond him.

“Excuse me, is this seat taken?”, a soft voice says right next to him and Dorian is ripped out of thoughts and into reality. The class has been going for an hour and there’s someone standing next to him he’s never seen before.

She’s definitely some sort of fey—the whole lower half of her body is goat-like and her long ears are drooping. The amount of ribbons her dress is supporting is truly astounding and there is a whole crown of poisonous flowers on top of her head that she wears like a crown. Dorian blinks before catching himself.

“Ah—no. Please”, he says and gestures at the empty chair next to him.

The faun sits down carefully and watches as she carefully places a panflute on her thighs.

“Which bard college do you specialize in?”, Dorian asks.

“Hm? Oh, I’m not a bard. I’m majoring in druid. I just like to make music”, she answers with a smile.

Dorian never considered just taking classes that have nothing to do with his major. Maybe it would be something his parents would disapprove of even more than they did of his bard major and his choice to sleep in a dorm.

“I’m Fearne, by the way”, she adds and nods her heads slightly. A single leaf falls from her head and onto her panflute.

“Dorian”, he answers. Fearne smiles at him.

“You have very pretty hair”, she says.

“Oh. Ah—thank you? You—you too. Your hair, I mean. It’s—uh. Very green.”

Fearne’s smile widens.

“Thank you!”, she says in a tone that suggests that this might be the compliment she’s ever received. Dorian on the other hand wishes he could bite off his tongue. Your hair is very green. What kind of compliment is that? It’s no wonder that he didn’t have any chance to kiss anyone yet if this is all that he can come up with.

Dorian turns around and tries to concentrate on the professor’s lecture but his mind keeps wandering. He takes only a few notes and as he looks over at Fearne he sees that she’s doodling all sorts of mushrooms into her notebook. Then there is a small screech coming directly from her bag.

The class falls silent and everyone turns to look in their direction.

“What was that?”, professor Brooke asks with a confused look on his face. “I don’t remember any familiar registrations for this class.”

Dorian looks at Fearne who turns her head to look around at all the people staring in their direction.

“That was just me”, Fearne says and points to herself. “I ate too much pudding for breakfast.”

Professor Brooke looks embarrassed and very apologetic.

“I’m sorry, dear. Let’s continue then.”

As the lecture continues, Dorian leans over to Fearne.

“Didn’t that come out of your bag?”, he wants to know. Fearne shoots him a sly smile and gently lifts the flap of her green bag. Dorian stares at a small monkey peeking up at him with weirdly glowing eyes. Then the monkey raises his index finger to his mouth as if trying to tell Dorian to shut up.

Fearne closes the bag.

“That’s just Little Mister. He’s my… friend.”

“I see”, Dorian says.

He supposes that this is what he left home for—to meet all sorts of people, learn about all kinds of different things that he would never get in touch with while under his parents’ wings.

So Dorian decides to simply accept that some people are friends with monkeys and carry them around in bags.

If he can manage to live with someone like Dariax, he sure as hell won’t judge someone for bringing an animal companion to class.

After another fifteen minutes, Fearne leans over to Dorian again.

“I don’t understand this concept that the professor is talking about.”

“Oh, they explained it in the first half hour, before you got here.”

“Oh, I see. I was late”, Fearne says and looks disappointed, as if she was only now realizing this.

“Uh—yeah. Like, half an hour.”

“Time is kind of hard, you know. It’s like—it’s like this weird soup. And I don’t think I really have it memorized how to read clocks.”

Dorian stares at her.

“So. Are you not from here?”, he asks and groans internally at his phrasing. Fearne doesn’t seem to mind, though. She nods gratefully as Dorian pushes over his notes so she can look at them.

“No, not really. I come from the Feywild. We don’t really have clocks.”

“Because… time is a weird soup.”

“Yeah, exactly. Is that a saying here, too?”, she asks, her ears turning towards him full of excitement.

“Ah—no. I don’t think it is. Not here, at least.”

“Well, now you know it.”

Dorian nods and watches as Fearne studies his notes to copy some of them down into her notebook. He tries to imagine a world without clocks and immediately gets anxious at the prospect of always being late.

In the last twenty minutes of the lecture, they actually get to play their instruments.

“You play beautifully”, Fearne says after listening to Dorian play for a few minutes.

“Thank you! Your music is really different from what I know. It’s interesting.”

Fearne beams at him.

“Maybe we could make some music together some time?”, she asks.

“I would like that, yeah.”

*

Dorian isn’t bad at making friends, he’s just not as good or fast at it as Dariax. Maybe that’s because he’s a little more selective about the people he hangs out with, but Dariax just seems to consider everyone he talked to more than once his friend.

Dorian never really had friends growing up, so he doesn’t consider himself an expert. But at least for him Dariax’ way doesn’t seem to be all that great.

So when Dariax asks: “Hey, do you wanna come hang out with me and my friends tonight?” Dorian feels less than inclined to say yes.

“Uh—I already have plans”, he lies, trying to figure out if he should try to convince Opal to spend the evening with him or if he should just take this opportunity to have some peace and quiet in his room.

“Aw, man. Too bad. We wanted to go skinny dipping in the gym’s pool”, Dariax says.

“Isn’t that off limits at night?”, Dorian asks, his brow furrowed as he looks at Dariax’ face that breaks into a wide grin.

“Yeah, that’s why it’s fun to go there”, he answers and winks at Dorian. Dorian feels his cheeks grow hot and swallows as his intestines suddenly feel the need to writhe around like living snakes.

“Oh, well—I’m not really a—uh. A rebel boy, as they say”, he says and laughs nervously. “You go and have fun, though.”

He tries not to picture Dariax completely naked in the dim, shimmering light of the campus’ pool but he fails miserably. His palms start sweating.

“Oh, don’t worry, I will, I will. But hey, maybe next time!”

“Uh—yeah. Maybe”, Dorian says weakly as Dariax saunters out of their room and closes the door behind him. Dorian stares at the locked door for way too long and he’s endlessly glad that no one can see him.

This doesn’t seem like a normal thing to invite someone to. When he went to college to learn how to be a bard, he envisioned parties, maybe some illegal weed smoking on a restricted rooftop, at the most.

He did not envision to be asked to get butt naked, break into a gym with a pool at night and go swimming with a bunch of—probably drunk—strangers he doesn’t even know the names of.

That was, of course, before he got Dariax as a roommate.

Now Dorian feels like he should be prepared for anything.

As Dorian grabs his lute and sinks down onto his bed he wonders if Fearne lives on campus or if she lives in the Feywild and somehow manages to travel here for every class that she has. That would explain the time thing, he supposes, because he learned that time works differently on other planes.

This is the first evening in what feels like weeks that he has the room just to himself. In between the pieces he plays on his lute he simply sits on the bed, enjoying the silence. When he opens the window the cool breeze from outside reminds him of home and he closes his eyes for a little while.

It smells like rain and autumn outside. Dorian turns to look at the small room that’s his now. It’s nothing compared to the big, bright room he had at home, but it feels special simply because this is the first time he gets to do what he wants with a space without anyone breathing down his neck.

There’s not much in the room aside from their desks, beds and the closet they share, but Dorian pinned a few posters and postcards over his bed for the very first time. His bed is unmade—something that his parents would have never allowed—and there are fairy lights dangling from the ceiling that he actually picked out himself.

The desk is covered in sheet music and books and for a few seconds Dorian looks at the small picture of his brother and himself that is sticking to his pencil holder, before turning his gaze at some of the articles he printed out yesterday.  

He might actually get some homework done in this blessed quiet.

At least that’s what he thinks until his phone rings.

At some point Dariax must’ve stolen Dorian’s phone and taken a selfie to make it pop up every time he calls Dorian, because as his phone lights up Dorian can see Dariax’ dopey smile appear. Dorian ignores the rush of heat he feels as he looks down at the glowing display, reaches for his phone and picks up the call.

“Dariax?”

“Dorian, hey buddy!”

He definitely sounds drunk, which doesn’t surprise Dorian. But there’s an edge to his voice that makes Dorian nervous.

“What’s up, Dariax?”

“I—uh. Remember how I told you that we were going to go skinny dipping in the gym and everything?”

“Yeah, I haven’t forgotten. It was like, three hours ago.”

“Cool, yeah. So the guys—“, and Dorian wonders who exactly ‘the guys’ are supposed to be, “were in a real funny mood. So. They stole my clothes and locked me in here—“

“They what?”

“I know, right? So… I tried to break open the lock, but I might be a little too drunk to get it right. And I was wondering—could you maybe bring me some clothes and get that door open for me?”

Dorian stares out into the night.

“How do you have your phone if they took all your stuff?”, he asks weakly.

“Had it with me in the pool to take some underwater selfies. It’s waterproof”, Dariax supplies cheerfully.

Dorian can see lights in the buildings all over campus and a crescent moon in the sky. He tries not to imagine what kind of pictures Dariax was trying to take of himself. Naked. In a pool.

“You want me to break open a door”, he repeats, just in case he misheard.

“I mean, kinda? Maybe? I really don’t wanna sleep in here. I slept in worse places, but it seems kinda shitty to wake up and immediately get into trouble for trespassing and all of that…”

Dorian isn’t sure if he wants to know in what kind of places Dariax has slept that count as worse as a college gym’s pool.

“But I guess I could just sleep in the showers or something.”

“I don’t really know how to get locks open”, Dorian sighs, but he’s already walking over to their shared closet. In theory, Dariax’ half is on the left, but he insists on just throwing all of his clothes in there without actually caring about which side they land on, so Dorian grabs some jeans, a hoodie and some underwear and stuffs it into his bag. He tries very hard not to look at the underwear too closely.

Dariax might not know what privacy is but that doesn’t mean that Dorian has to stoop down to the same level as his roommate.

“Fine. I’ll see what I can do”, he huffs.

“Aw, fuck yeah, you’re the best. I lo—“

“Bye”, Dorian calls and hangs up hastily before Dariax can finish.

His dreams of a quiet night dissipate into smoke as he throws the bag over his shoulder, grabs his keys, his jacket and his phone and leaves the room to head towards the gym.

Dorian, never in his life, has tried to open a lock with anything other than the key that was supposed to go into it. He doubts that he would manage to learn it in the heat of a moment so as he walks through the night, passing under a lantern every few steps he takes, he considers what he can do to get a locked door to open.

He is not strong enough to pry it open.

He has never learned how to do that trick with a credit card and isn’t sure if it would even work on this door even if he knew how.

There is no spell he knows that would be useful to open a door.

The only thing Dorian is good at is music and talking to people.

He makes his decision as he heads for the closest security guard patrolling campus at night.

“Excuse me, hi”, he says with the most honest and simultaneously nervous smile he can muster. The young man looks him up and down and seems to come to the conclusion that Dorian is worthy of his attention because his body turns towards him and offers a small smile back. He’s white withshort, brown hair, a long nose and arms full of tattoos.

“Can I help you?”, he asks.

“Well—this is so embarrassing. I—uh. I was in the gym earlier and I forgot my phone in there and my girlfriend wanted to call me tonight and I—uh. I already missed the last call so…”

He trails off as he tries to looks as bashful and stressed as he can—something that isn’t hard because Dorian still has to think about how Dariax is naked and probably dripping wet and how they’re most likely going to get into so much damn trouble.

“Oh wow, that sucks”, the security guard says and Dorian nods.

“Yeah, I’m—this is so dumb, I know you have better things to do, but… If you could just let me sneak in there for a minute and grab my phone? That would be a total life-saver, man”, he says and brings his hands up in front of his chest in a pleading gesture.

“Well, I guess we can make an exception. Don’t want to be the cause for trouble in paradise, right?”, he answers with a smile and Dorian forces himself to laugh.

“Thanks so much, I’ll drop off some cookies next time I see you around”, Dorian says and the security guard chuckles and makes a joke about bribery that Dorian doesn’t actually find funny but laughs about anyway. Since he officially ‘lost’ his phone he has no idea how to let Dariax know what his plan is.

All Dorian can do is hope that Dariax isn’t standing right behind the door butt-naked. Dorian supposes that he could always claim not to know him then—something that would only hold up for so long.

They walk towards the gym and Dorian can feel his heartbeat picking up.

What if he gets suspended? Kicked out? Sent home?

When they arrive in front of the gym everything is silent. Dariax is not banging on the door from the inside, calling Dorian’s name. Dorian decides to take that as a win as he nervously watches the guard fiddle for the master-key before opening the door.

“So, where did you leave your phone?”, the guard asks him and Dorian looks around hastily to see if he can spot Dariax anywhere.

“Uh—over on the benches, I’ll be right back!”, he says with an apologetic smile before rushing through the gym and towards the benches on the other side of the building.

“Dariax!”, he hisses into the darkness towards the corridor that leads to the locker-room and the pool.

“Hey bu—“

“Pscht. There’s a guard there. I had him open the door, you have to sneak out!”

Dorian starts crouching down on the floor and drops his bag so Dariax can reach it. He’s peaking his head out of the dark corridor and Dorian hopes that the security guard doesn’t spot him as he reaches his arm out towards the bag with Dariax’ clothes inside it.

“Did you find it?”, the guard calls over and Dorian can hear his footsteps coming closer. He hastily fishes for his phone and slides it under one of the benches.

“Not yet, it’s pretty dark in here”, he says. The rustling in the corridor next to him tells him that Dariax is hastily getting dressed.

“I have a flashlight, one sec”, the guard says and crouches down next to Dorian who feels bad for lying to the poor guy. He’s so friendly and forthcoming—Dorian decides that he actually has to get this man some cookies.

“Oh, there it is!”, he says and points to the left as the light of the torch reaches his phone.

“I’m afraid my arms too short to reach that”, the guard says and scoots back so Dorian can extent his arm and grab his phone. He tries hard not to look behind him to check if Dariax already made it out or not. He gets up, stuffs the phone into his pocket and dusts off his pants before turning towards the guard with an embarrassed smile.

“Man, thank you so much, this is really clutch.”

“No problem. I hope it works out with your girlfriend”, he answers and leads Dorian back towards the door.

“Thanks. If I see you again I’ll keep you posted!”

They step outside into the cool night air and Dorian can’t see Dariax anywhere. His heart is still beating rapidly in his chest and his palms are terribly sweaty. He wipes them off on his pants and decides that he needs a hot shower and his warm bed after this terrible disaster. His body feels as if he just ran a marathon.

So much for a quiet, peaceful night.

As soon as the guard leaves Dorian looks around frantically. If Dariax didn’t make it outside, there’s no way Dorian can convince this guy to open the gym up again without telling him the truth—something Dorian desperately does not want to do.

“Hey, over here!”

Dorian turns around and sees Dariax waving out of one of the bushes. His hair is wet and sticking to his forehead, his face is flushed and his eyes glassy, but he has a wide, reckless smile on his face that makes Dorian’s heart leap into his throat and press on his windpipe.

“What the fuck, man?”, Dorian hisses as he walks over to Dariax who gets up now, slightly swaying on his feet. There are some yellow leaves stuck in his auburn hair.

“Damn, buddy, that was awesome! You seriously have a velvet tongue, how did you even do that?”

“I asked nicely. What the actual fuck, Dariax? Why did your friends think that was a good idea?”

Dariax looks at him sheepishly and shrugs.

“Ah—to tell you the truth, I don’t know.”

“Sounds like they were fucking you over”, Dorian says and starts walking back towards the dorm. Some fine mist hangs between the trees, which look mostly black except for those who reach into the light of the street lamps. The orange and brown colored leaves remind Dorian of Dariax’ hair.

“Yeah. Sounds like it, huh.”

Dariax is quiet after that, something which Dorian, for some reason, finds even more disturbing than hearing Dariax’ sex-noises through a locked door.

“You okay?”, he asks after two minutes of walking in silence.

Dariax turns to look at him and the smile that appears on his face doesn’t reach his eyes.

“Yeah, sure. You know how it is, people just fuck you over. That’s how it works, I guess.”

“It doesn’t have to work like this”, Dorian says, his brow furrowed and his hands itchy to reach out and tussle Dariax’ wet hair for comfort. He doesn’t even know if Dariax wants to be comforted. Or wants to be comforted by Dorian specifically.

Dorian doesn’t even know why he feels the need to comfort Dariax, seeing as to how it’s his own fault for getting into such a situation in the first place.

“Hm, maybe. But I guess you showed up to save the day”, Dariax says, looking at Dorian thoughtfully.

“Yeah, I didn’t fuck you over”, Dorian agrees and holds open the door for them as they reach the dorm.

“Yeah. You didn’t. Thanks, buddy. I owe you one.”

*

The security guard’s name is Orym, he knows Fearne from taking some druid classes on the side on top of his fighter classes and he enjoys blueberry muffins.

“So, how did it go with your girlfriend?”, he asks while chewing on the muffin that Dorian handed him a few moments ago.  

“We broke up”, Dorian replies with a gravelly voice and Orym pulls a face.

“I’m sorry, man.”

“Don’t worry about it. Thanks again for helping me with my phone.”

“It’s no problem at all. Thank you for this muffin.”

“You’re welcome. I’ll see you around.”

*

Dorian is pleased to find that the steady trickle of loud people that Dariax used to invite to their room before is thinning. He still goes out drinking and partying a lot, and he still has guests over to play Mario Kart or some horrible drinking game, but overall Dorian’s having more peace and quiet than ever before since he moved into this room with Dariax.

On a Wednesday night Dariax is sprawled out on his bed flipping through his phone. Dorian wonders if he’s going through his contacts, considering whom to call on for some. Well. Drinking or sex, probably.

Dorian hopes it’s not sex. And if it is sex, then for sex that is supposed to happen far away from here.

“How come you never go out?”, Dariax wants to know.

Dorian looks up from the sheet music he’s working on. He’s humming along quietly as he writes down, erases, writes down again and corrects the song he’s trying to write. He finds that he actually likes working in companionable silence, even though he didn’t think this would be possible with Dariax as his roommate a few weeks ago.

Dariax doesn’t seem to mind not talking as long as there is some sort of sound in the room—and Dorian’s humming apparently counts.

“How do you mean? I go out all the time”, Dorian says and looks up from his paper, cocking his head to regard Dariax who’s head is now hanging off of the side of the bed so he looks back at Dorian upside down.

“Yeah but like, partying. Drinking. College stuff, you know. You just hang out with the scary lady and she seems to like partying.”

“First of all, her name’s Opal. And I guess she can be kind of scary, but only if you’re a dick. And second of all, I hang out with other people! I met this very nice faun in my bard class and we’re making music from time to time. And—I don’t know. Partying is just not. Uh... It’s just not...”

Dorian sighs and leans against the wall behind him. The room is so scrappy that some of the wallpaper is coming down in little flakes in some places. He absentmindedly starts picking at his pillow.

“I never really went to parties before coming here. It’s just. I don’t know. New. I’m not like you. You know, with all the drinking and partying and—and uh. Sex. I guess.”

He can feel his ears burning and his cheeks heating up as he mumbles the end of his sentence. Dariax blinks at him and drops his phone on his face.

“Ow, fuck—okay. Wait. Are you saying that you’re a party-virgin and an actual virgin?”

“Oh come on, man, why do you have to say it like that? I’ve been to parties! But not—you know? College parties! And I never really drank alcohol before. It seems... I don’t know. Shifty.”

“Shifty”, Dariax repeats and a shit-eating grin spreads over his face, lighting up his eyes with a shimmer of mischief that Dorian finds very disconcerting.

“So you are a virgin.”

Dorian throws his pencil at Dariax and misses.

“So what? There’s nothing wrong with being a virgin! We can’t all walk around like you sleeping with people left and right!”

Dariax chuckles, obviously pleased with himself.

“Very true, I’m one of a kind. So, okay. But you kissed people, right?”, he wants to know.

“Why is that even relevant?”, Dorian hisses. He decides to throw his pillow next and Dariax almost falls off the bed trying to dodge it as he laughs.

“It’s not, I’m just curious! You’re always super uptight and mysterious, I know shit all about you and you’ve basically seen me banging someone at least twice!”

Dorian tries and fails to keep his poise as he flails his arms around.

“I could’ve lived happily without having seen any of that!”

“So that means you never kissed anyone?”, Dariax asks again, his grin wide and his eyebrows offensively wiggling. Dorian wishes he had some sort of cake that he could press Dariax’ face into.

“No, never. Are you happy now?”

“Would you like to kiss someone?”, Dariax wants to know and leans forward on the bed. He seems to have decided that sitting upright is the better choice in case Dorian decides to throw something else at him.

“I—I mean. I don’t know? I haven’t found the right person to kiss yet!”

“Ah, you’re one of those guys”, Dariax says with a wise nod that drives Dorian up the walls.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You know? Like a romantic. True love and shit.”

“I wouldn’t—I. I haven’t really thought about it much. It’s not that important to me.”

Dariax pulls a face and nods, as if he understands perfectly what it means to not much care about kissing, sex or relationships. Dorian doubts that he actually understands with the frequency in which he drags people into his bed.

“I guess it’s not bad to wait for someone special”, Dariax concedes with a lopsided smile. “My first kiss was a total disaster, I didn’t know what I was doing at all and the dude told me it was like kissing a bowl of rice pudding.”

Dorian stares at him.

“That’s such a horrible thing to say”, he answers and Dariax shrugs.

“Yeah, I guess. He could’ve been nicer about it.”

Dorian’s brain is reeling.

Dariax had his first kiss with a guy. Dariax doesn’t only like women.

“Oh gods, I wish you hadn’t told me”, Dorian groans and presses the palms of his hands on his eyes until he sees little, colorful specs dancing on the inside of his eyelids. “What if I kiss someone I actually like and it turns out to be a completely terrible?”

He lowers his hands and stares at Dariax who stares back at Dorian with an intensity that surprises him.

“I mean. I guess you could just practice”, Dariax says.

“Oh yeah, sure. I’ll ask the first random person I meet in the hallway—“

“I would do it. Practice with you, I mean.”

Dorian blinks. He can feel the heat rising in his face and knows that his cheeks are turning purple.

“I—uh. That’s. Well. That’s very kind of you. But I’ll—I guess I’ll just figure it out on my own.”

Dorian chuckles nervously and glances back at Dariax who looks at him for a second longer before flopping back down onto his bed.

“Sure thing, buddy”, he says quietly and it’s probably just Dorian’s imagination that he sounds a bit disappointed.

*

“Dorian. Hey, Dorian!”

Dariax’ voice cuts through a dream about flying through space naked and Dorian opens his eyes. He is met with darkness and turns his head over to look towards Dariax’ side of the room. It takes a few seconds for his eyes to adjust and the confusion and sleep to drain out of him.

“Huh?”

“Hey, sorry. I—uh. I kinda had—I kinda had a nightmare?”

“Sorry to hear that”, Dorian rasps and rubs at his eyes, “was it the one about the giant dwarven woman again?”

“Ah, no. Not this time. I—uh. Do you mind maybe just… I don’t know. Talking to me a little? Or, ah—humming? I would scoot over but your bed is probably a bit too small”, Dariax rambles and laughs nervously.

Dorian is too tired to get flustered about the prospect of cuddling with his roommate.

“You can scoot over. But don’t hog the blanket”, he mumbles and makes room in his tiny bed, pressing his back against the wall and lifting his blanket up, his eyes already falling shut again.

“Oh fuck yeah”, he hears Dariax whisper. There’s a rustling, the sound of naked feet on a wooden floor and then the mattress dips and Dariax climbs into bed with him, his body way warmer than Dorian expected it to be.

He’s wearing nothing but boxers.

“You sure this is okay?”, Dariax whispers into the dark and Dorian makes a noncommittal noise at the back of his throat before letting the blanket fall down over Dariax. His arms simply drops which is probably way too close to a hug in this position as they lie face to face on the mattress that was not made for two people to sleep on it.

“Thanks a lot, buddy. You’re the best”, Dariax whispers. Dorian knows that Dariax is pretty dense simply because he’s a dwarf, but while he drifts back off to sleep he feels the tension in Dariax’ body. This nightmare must have been deeply upsetting for someone as carefree and jovial as Dariax to ask for goddamn snuggles in the middle of the night.

Dorian starts humming. It’s faint and definitely not his best and probably not even a real song, but slowly, ever so slowly, he can feel Dariax relax beside him as they both fall asleep again.

What his sleepy brain did not account for when Dorian allowed Dariax entry into his bed was how they might wake up in completely different positions to the ones they fell asleep in and how his body was a mean betrayer set out to humiliate Dorian.

As he slowly comes back to consciousness Dorian realizes how incredibly warm it is. The next thing he notices is that there is a quietly snoring dwarf pressed against his side, one leg pushed over Dorian’s legs. Dariax, sometime during the night, has curled into Dorian so his nose is now pressed somewhere close to Dorian’s ribs. He can feel Dariax’ hot breath tickle his exposed skin.

This is the most skin-on-skin contact Dorian has ever had with someone who is not related to him.

Dariax’ arm is curled around his waist and Dorian has no idea how he’ll be able to get to the bathroom without waking Dariax up or alerting him to the fact that Dorian is suffering a terrible case of a morning boner.

Yeah, he definitely didn’t think this through when he allowed Dariax in here. If Dariax pulls his leg up a little more his thigh will absolutely come in contact with Dorian’s dick and he is not ready for that to happen.

Not even a little bit.

Dorian can’t help but notice that Dariax smells kind of nice. And the feeling of naked skin on naked skin feels so much better than he imagined it would. He should probably not think about skin on skin contact too much in his current predicament but Dariax decides that this is the right moment to move his leg.

Dorian makes an undignified noise in the back of his throat as Dariax’ thigh rubs against his erection and before he can really consider what his best course of action might be, he’s already shoving Dariax off of him.

Since these beds are tiny, that also means shoving Dariax off the bed.

There is loud thunk as Dariax hits the floor and bolts upright with a yelp, his hair tousled and untidy, his eyes barely open.

“I didn’t do it!”, he slurs loudly, holding both hands up in a gesture of surrender and Dorian can’t help but wonder what in the nine hells Dariax has been dreaming about.

“Sorry, man. You were—uh. Getting a little close”, Dorian says and sits up, carefully pulling the blanket over his crotch.

Dariax blinks up at him.

“Sorry, buddy. Didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable”, he mumbles and sways to his feet to stumble back over to his own bed.

Dorian immediately misses the warmth and the feeling of naked skin against his but he pushes the thought away and clears his throat.

“Did you sleep okay after your nightmare?”, he asks.

“Hmhm. Like a baby”, Dariax mumbles into his pillow. His face is pressed into it and he didn’t even take the take to cover himself with his blanket. “You have the most beautiful voice.”

Dorian’s cheeks begin to burn and he grips the blanket tighter.

“Thank you.”

“’S no problem.”

Dorian glances over at his roommate. Dariax looks surprisingly peaceful like this and it doesn’t take long for him to fall asleep again. The quiet snore returns and his mouth falls open slightly. When Dorian finally gets up to take a shower, he shivers slightly in the cold before carefully stepping over to the other bed and pulling the blanket over Dariax.

*

“You know what, I feel honored that you’re going to trust me with your first time”, Dariax says, looking endlessly pleased with himself.

Dorian sputters.

“Excuse m—“

“Your first time drinking, buddy”, Dariax explains and laughs as he sees the flush on Dorian’s cheeks.

They’re both sitting on Dariax’ bed—because Dariax doesn’t care about getting spots on his sheets at all—with a bottle of liquor that is bright red and looks a little radioactive.

“Well, I think I would just—uh. Prefer it… to try this out with someone I trust before I make a fool of myself in front of a whole party, you know”, Dorian says. When no answer comes, he turns his head to look at Dariax.

Dariax’ eyes are shimmering with something that Dorian can’t quite read but it makes his heart race in his chest. Dariax never looked at him like this before. His expression is almost soft with the barest hint of a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

“Glad to hear you trust me, Dorian. I trust you, too.”

Dorian clears his throat and looks away, the tension in the air between them suddenly too much for him.

“I am very trustworthy”, he jokes and grabs the bottle to unscrew it and smell the liquid inside.

“Ugh—it’s revolting”, he remarks and coughs a little.

Dariax chuckles.

“That’s how you know it’s good”, he says with a nod and gestures for Dorian to take the first sip.

Dorian has tried some champagne before, some beer. Some wine. But never more than half a glass. He never tried drinking any hard liquor and this stuff is burning his throat and sending heatwaves through his whole body immediately.

“Wow”, he coughs and hands the bottle to Dariax.

“Good stuff, right?”, Dariax says and

“It’s terrible!”

“Yeah”, Dariax says with a wide grin and a twinkle in his eyes.

“I don’t think a thing can be both good and terrible at the same time”, Dorian remarks, his face still in a grimace as he tries to get used to the burning sensation of hard alcohol in his throat.

“Nonsense, those are like, all of my favorite movies!”, Dariax says and takes a huge swig out of the bottle before handing it back to Dorian.

Dorian feels weirdly honored that Dariax decided to stay in on a Saturday night just to hang out with him and test the waters with his roommate while no doubt all his friends are out there partying.

“Like what movies”, Dorian wants to know and takes another careful sip out of the bottle. His mind provides him with the terrible thought that this might as well count as an indirect kiss, something that is entirely idiotic and not useful at all.

“Okay, so, you know when someone asks you a question about yourself and suddenly you have forgotten all of your interests and hobbies and favorites and pretty much everything about yourself?”, Dariax says, his brow furrowed as he tries to think of a movie that is both terrible and good at the same time.

“Tell you what. I can say that two of my favorite movies of all time are Pacific Rim and Mad Max, and those are not terrible, mind you, they’re just good. But if I manage to think of one that is both terrible and good, I’ll tell you immediately.”

Dorian has neither seen Mad Max nor Pacific Rim. When he tells Dariax as much his roommate looks aghast.

“Oh my gosh, Dorian. Buddy. My boy. That is—no. No, I can’t let this stand. Grab your laptop, we’re watching Pacific Rim right now”, Dariax orders and looks at Dorian expectantly.

This is how Dorian ends up crying about giant robots. And maybe also brothers.

Dariax hands him a tissue and sniffs.

“Good stuff, right?”, Dariax asks and empties the bottle as the end credits start rolling. Dorian nods and watches as Dariax throws the empty bottle to the side before pulling out a second one from under his bed.

Dorian is definitely tipsy. He drank way less than Dariax, of course, but he can feel a faint buzzing in his head and his vision seems to be slowed. There is a feeling of heaviness in his legs as he accepts the new bottle—this time the liquor is bright blue and tastes even worse—and drinks.

The new sensations in his body aren’t unpleasantly.

In a way, his soul feels lighter like this, less anxious, less unsure about things, which is pretty nice.

“So, what’s your favorite movie?”, Dariax wants to know.

“I—hm. I don’t know. I’m not much of a movie guy. I suppose I liked Lord of the Rings when I watched it a few years ago”, he says, thinking about the movies he has seen and which ones he enjoyed the most. Weirdly enough it’s exactly as Dariax said—now that someone asked about what he likes, Dorian can’t seem to remember much about himself.

“Good choice”, Dariax says with an approving nod that makes Dorian feel weirdly pleased.

“I guess we could totally do a Lord of the Rings marathon, you know? Get some snacks, order pizza, get fucked up. Hey, we could make it a drinking game!”

Dorian isn’t sure why there’s a tingling sensation under his skin, or why his heart starts beating faster in light of Dariax’ suggestion. Maybe it’s because he feels happy that Dariax wants to spend more time with Dorian. Maybe it’s just because the alcohol is getting to Dorian.

“What about your other friends?”, Dorian asks.

“What about them?”

“Well—wouldn’t you rather spend more time with them? You know—partying. Going skinny dipping. That sort of thing.”

Dorian knows that he’s fishing for compliments. He knows and he feels embarrassed about it but he can’t stop. Validation is something that he craves way too much for his own comfort, but the alcohol has lowered his defenses—or raised his stupidity. Either one of those.

“Well—you know when we went skinny dipping and they fucked me over, that was like. Not cool? And you got me outta there, even though you don’t really do that sorta thing, you know? So—that was not the first time I got fucked over by people I called my friends, but it was totally the first time someone bailed me out of stuff. So yeah. I’d rather stick with you, if that’s alright with you”, Dariax says, taking a few long gulps from the bottle of blue liquid.

Dorian feels a rush of heat under his skin. It’s not unusual for him to feel strongly about being praised or validated, but it usually doesn’t hit this hard.

He swallows and laughs nervously, grabbing the bottle from Dariax and taking a big sip that burns his throat.

“Yeah—yeah, alright”, he croaks and Dariax beams at him.

“I’m sorry, by the way. That—uh. That those people left you behind”, he adds quietly and hands the bottle back to Dariax.

“Oh, you know. I suppose it’s on me. I’m not very smart and I’m not good on my own, so I tend to follow people’s leads and they—uh. I guess they get bored with me, or something? Anyway. It’s not really important. Hey, how do you feel about watching Mad Max, too?”

*

“Hey, my friend is throwing a party on Saturday. Do you want to come?”

“Are you kidding? Do I wanna take your partying virginity? Hell, yes!”

“Dariax...”

“Sorry buddy, I got carried away.”

*

Dorian is still thinking about rice pudding on Friday.

The fact that somewhere out there is a person who would tell someone else something mean like this makes him nervous to try and kiss anyone. What if he actually likes the person he’s kissing and gets told that his kisses feel like a bowl of rice pudding?

Or worse, something even slimier?

He’s trying to get another song for one of his bard classes done, but he’s unable to concentrate.

“Hey, Dariax”, he says and looks over at Dariax who’s watching cat videos on YouTube, “can I ask you something? About—uh. About... kissing?”

Dariax looks up at him with bright eyes.

“Sure”, he says and grins.

Dorian swallows.

“Uh—I was thinking. How—uh. How did you get better at kissing? Did you practice with anyone?”

“Nah, not really. I mean, not like that. I just went for it again and again until I got better at it. Guess it would’ve been nice to have someone around for practice, but I made it work anyway. No one’s been complaining for a while now.”

Dorian chews on his bottom lip and pokes the paper he’s working on with a pencil.

“So—uh. You said—“

“Yes”, Dariax shoots back immediately, as if he knows what Dorian is going to say next. Dorian feels the familiar heat rise up in his chest as he looks at his roommate who seems very intense all of a sudden, leaning forward and shutting his laptop, his eyes fixed on Dorian.

“I—uh. I don’t. I don’t really... I don’t like... guys?”, Dorian says and his voice sounds way too hoarse in his own ears. Dariax’ shoulders sag a little but he shrugs.

“Doesn’t really matter for this, right? It’s just kissing.”

“Right. Okay. Uh—so. If I—if I wanted to try this...  how do you—how do we make this work?”, he asks.

His heart is beating so fast, Dorian is afraid it’s going to break his rib cage and fly out of the window. Dariax puts his laptop to the side and pats the mattress beside himself, his eyes still fixed on Dorian’s face with an intensity that makes heat pool in Dorian’s lower abdomen.

He pushes the feeling aside and gets up from his own bed to sit down next to Dariax.

“I know what this is about”, Dariax says with a sly grin.

“Uh—you do?”

Dorian doesn’t know what this is about aside from his own nagging sense of anxiety and the fact that he can’t stop thinking about kissing Dariax—which is entirely Dariax’ fault because he offered this whole practicing thing in the first place.

“Yeah. You’re going to check out some ladies on that party tomorrow”, Dariax says, his grin widening as he scoots closer to Dorian. Dorian can feel Dariax’ body heat and he presses his back against the wall, his fingers digging into the blanket crumpled below his legs.

“Ah—yeah. You got me”, he lies and laughs nervously. Dariax winks and gives him fingerguns.

“Don’t worry, buddy. I gotcha! I’ll be the best wingman ever. Here, just lemme—“

And Dariax climbs into Dorian’s lap, straddling him, his face so close to Dorian’s that Dorian can feel his breath on his cheek.

He holds his breath as he notices all the freckles on Dariax’ face, his scruffy beard, his hazel-brown eyes...

His heart is stumbling in his chest.

“Thanks”, he rasps.

“No need to be nervous, I’m sure you’ll be way better at this than I was the first time around. Just lemme take the lead, okay?”

Dorian nods.

If he gets hard now, Dariax will definitely feel it.

Fuck.

Dariax raises his hands and tilts Dorian’s chin up while his other hand gently cups Dorian’s cheek. It’s already almost too much for Dorian. His lips open slightly and his eyes widen as Dariax gets closer still, his nose gently touching Dorian’s.

“If you want me to stop, just smack me real hard”, Dariax whispers and his breath tickles Dorian’s lips before the distance between their mouths is closed and Dariax is kissing him, his hazel-brown eyes closed.

Dariax’ lips are warm and a little chapped and Dorian gasps against his mouth helplessly—something that Dariax seems to take as encouragement. He tilts his head to the side to get a better angle and then his lips press against Dorian’s in earnest.

Dorian’s heart stops for a few seconds before restarting with doubled speed.

His whole body seems to be on fire all of a sudden and he can’t help but raise his hands to touch Dariax—just touch him anywhere. He needs to ground himself, hold onto something, or he might just get lost in the feeling of Dariax’ warm lips carefully moving against his.

It’s a slow kiss, almost sweet, but Dorian’s skin is set aflame.

I don’t like guys, he thinks as his whole body decides that he must get closer to Dariax, wrap his arms around him, pull him in, cup the back of his head so he doesn’t move away—

“This okay?”, Dariax mumbles against his lips and he sounds so out of breath as if he just sprinted a whole mile.

“Yeah—I. Yeah.”

“You wanna try with tongue?”

Dorian swallows. There is still heat pooling in his abdomen. He should say no. He should stop doing this. This feels dangerous and stupid.

But it also feels so good.

“Yeah, okay”, he whispers.

Dariax doesn’t wait for another invite, he immediately leans forward again to close the distance between them and as Dorian’s hands dig themselves into the back of Dariax’s shirt and his heart starts racing even faster Dariax slides his tongue into Dorian’s mouth and Dorian’s mind goes blank.

There is a sound that is dangerously close to a moan and it takes him a few seconds to realize that it’s coming from him.

He holds onto Dariax like a drowning man before he manages to kiss back.

The second their tongues slide against one another there is a sound from Dariax too, one that shoots directly into Dorian’s lap. His hips buckle up involuntarily, his arms wrap around Dariax tighter and Dariax presses closer, his hips grinding down against him.

Dorian is lost.

And he’s so, so fucked.

It feels so incredibly good to kiss Dariax. He forgot why he even started kissing him, all he knows that he doesn’t want to stop, that he wants to get closer, wants to touch more skin—

He’s hard by now, and so is Dariax. Dorian can feel his erection through the jeans that Dariax is wearing.

Dorian buries his hands in Dariax’ hair and pulls. Dariax makes a helpless sound and bites down on Dorian’s bottom lip before sucking on it lightly and Dorian is afraid that he might come in his pants just from kissing and the delicious friction of Dariax’ crotch rubbing against his.

Shit, shit, shit, shit—

Before Dorian can make a fool of himself Dariax pulls back.

He’s panting, his eyes are glassy, his lips red and wet from kissing and he looks so pretty, Dorian is momentarily stunned by the revelation that he might not be into girls or guys or pretty much anyone.

But he’s definitely, terribly, irrevocably into Dariax.

Fuck.

“S—sorry”, Dariax gasps and clambers off of Dorian’s lap. “That was—I’m. I—uh. I got carried away a little. Didn’t mean to overstep any boundaries.”

Dorian swallows and stares at him, his eyes wide and his heart pressing against his rib cage.

“It’s okay”, he rasps. “I—uh. I got a little carried away, too.”

Dariax throws him a lopsided smile.

“Well. I’d say you’re good to go.”

And he gets off the bed and stumbles over to the bathroom, leaving Dorian behind with a rapidly beating heart, tingling lips and the revelation that he has the world’s worst crush on Dariax.