#i’m very late to the fandom so maybe this has been done but i could not rest until i made this

[bossybigeyes]

1848 Nunavut’s hottest club is Carnival. This place has EVERYTHING - hot tubs, period typical racism, clown doctors, Dundy firing a gun indoors, lead poisoning, an absolute lad dressed up as Tuunbaq, fire…

[lilislegacy]

Okay, I’ve been thinking about something lately

All the time I see people make statements about Percy that start with “Percy would never…”

Some examples I’ve seen: “percy would never kill someone/something in front of his mom” “percy would never yell at someone he loves” “percy would never get drunk” “percy would never let his child go to camp-half blood”

Now if you passionately believe one of those, hear me out. I’m not necessarily saying I disagree!

I’m saying… who would have ever thought Percy would torture a goddess and choke her on her own poison? And…. enjoy doing it? If someone had said that on tumblr pre-HoH, every single comment and reblog would have been “PERCY WOULD NEVER!!” I mean, who would have thought Percy would do a million things he’s done? He’s done some very not so ‘silly little guy’ stuff. He is an extremely complex character. In his own head and to some people, he’s sweet and fun and silly, but to many people he’s reckless and scary and dangerous. Some people see him as someone who’s very gentle and relaxed, but some people see him as someone who’s quick to get very angry and cause destruction. And the truth is, he’s all of it. It depends on his mood. Consistency does not apply to him in many aspects. He has consistent traits, like loyalty, humor, and bravery, but his actual actions and reactions are NOT consistent. I understand why we think Percy would never do certain things. We think we know based off of his past and his history with his mom, or with Gabe, or with Luke. And I’m not saying I think he would do those things, but unless he specifically states it, we can NOT, ever, infer what Percy Jackson might or might not do.

Like for instance, the drinking thing. I am not saying percy would be a big drinker, if one at all. And he probably does have an aversion to the smell of beer because of how the apartment used to smell when he was young. But we have no evidence that Percy associates all alcohol with Gabe. Alcoholic drinks aren’t just foul smelling hard liquors. There are a million different forms that you can consume alcohol in - some of which don’t even smell like alcohol, and barely taste like it. And in The Chalice of the Gods, it’s said that Sally drinks a glass of wine every night. And Percy thinks Sally hangs the freaking moon. So if his mom drinks, he definitely doesn’t believe that alcoholic beverages = the enemy. And here’s the thing, if Annabeth and Piper and Leo were all drinking and having a good time, like college students do, and they go “Hey Percy, come sit and have a drink with us!” there’s a very good chance that he’s so comfortable with his best friends, and just wants to let loose and be a college kid, that he wouldn’t even think about Gabe. He’d just be like “Sounds fun! Count me in!” But I don’t know. That’s the point. I don’t know. Maybe he would, maybe he wouldn’t. I truly think it could go either way. And even if he does drink, maybe he never - not even once - gets drunk. Maybe he’d drink in college and as a young adult, but when he becomes a father one day, he decides he doesn’t want his children to ever smell so much as a drop of alcohol on his breath, and therefore completely stops drinking. Or maybe he doesn’t ever like it, even in college. Or maybe he’s like his mom, and he and Annabeth just have a glass of wine with dinner. Who knows?

Not us. That’s what I’m saying. WE don’t know.

I’m not saying we can’t have headcanons based on what we know about him. I have a million. But the point is, I feel like we can’t try to pretend like we actually know what Percy wouldn’t do. As a fandom, we analyze him and his choices WAY more than he ever thinks about a single choice. He definitely does not think about his life and his actions as much as we do. (I’m not saying that he’s dumb or doesn’t contemplate his life and his actions, but he doesn’t nearly do it to the degree that we do.) Us, we pretend like it’s simple math. (Our first mistake, since math is consistent and full of rules, which is the exact opposite of Percy’s character.) We go “okay luke did this and gabe did this so therefore percy would never do this.” But Percy doesn’t think that way most of the time, especially not in heat of the moment matters. The only thing we 100% know about Percy is that he will always be loyal to his loved ones. But even then, we don’t know what that loyalty will look like. Is it sacrificing himself for someone? Is it murdering the enemy? Is it manipulating someone else? Percy lives in the moment. He doesn’t often think too much before he acts. He just acts. Whether it’s in a life of death situation, or his after school activity for the day. He is unpredictable, like the ocean. It’s one of his defining traits.

Honestly, I think that’s why annabeth is so drawn to him. With everyone else, she can read them super easily and know their next move. But with Percy, she has no idea. Which is frustrating to her, but also exciting. It’s a big part of her initial attraction to him. It’s also why many of us like him so much. We don’t know what’s coming next, and we never know what he will do in a situation. Like, how could we possibly know what he would or wouldn’t do when HE doesn’t even know? Half the time I don’t think Rick himself even knows.

We become so sure that Percy wouldn’t do something because we understand his character so well, right? But I think the truth is, the minute we become certain about what Percy would or wouldn’t do, is the minute we don’t understand his character at all.

Thank you for reading my analysis of Percy on why we can’t reliably analyze Percy

[hauntedhowlett-writes]

𝐐𝐔𝐈𝐄𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓

support for palestine | masterlists | joel miller masterlist

PAIRING: JOEL MILLER X FEMALE READER

RATING: EXPLICIT (18+ MDNI) | WORD COUNT: 2.1k

SUMMARY

Joel wants to go camping for his fiftieth birthday. He makes it worth your while. Part of the Cruel Summer series, but can be read as a oneshot.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

This is my (late) entry for the Summer Lovin' Challenge hosted by @chaotic-mystery , @pedgito , and @amanitacowboy. This prompt had me spiraling with like five different drafts but in the end, it actually got me thinking of Cruel Summer, which is one of the first fics I wrote for this fandom and holds a very special place in my heart. If you've read that fic, I hope you enjoy this little glimpse into their lives. Please consider leaving a comment or reblogging 💕

WARNINGS

explicit sexual content (18+ minors do not interact), established relationship, age gap (35F and 50M), able bodied reader, no use of y/n, camping as a plot device, brief mentions of their relationship history as written in cruel summer, semi-public sex - tent, vaginal fingering, oral - female receiving, unprotected p in v, creampie, dirty talk, pet names. please let me know if there are any that i missed!

When you agreed to go camping, you didn’t think it would be this miserable.

“Joel, where’s the bug spray?” You call from inside the tent. “I’m getting eaten alive out here!”

“It’s ’cause you’re so sweet, darlin’,” Joel replies. He pokes his head inside the tent flap. “Try the side pocket.”

You check the pocket in question, mumbling under your breath as you finally locate the bug spray. Joel backs up to allow you outside to douse yourself in the spray until you’re coughing from the fumes. When you’re done, you hand the bottle to Joel with a glare. He grins at you.

“Think you might have missed a spot,” he jokes, spraying himself with a more conservative amount.

“Very funny,” you reply. “Is it time to go home yet?”

“Not even close.” 

You groan. “Fine. What do we do now?”

“We enjoy what nature has to offer.”

“We could have done that with air conditioning. Have you watched Animal Planet?”

Joel reaches for your hand, pulling you close and wrapping his arms around you. “I know it ain’t your idea of a vacation, but it’ll be fun. I’ll make it worth your while,” he says, his hands sliding down your back until they rest on your ass. He gives one cheek a rough squeeze that makes you gasp. “If you behave.”

“Define behave,” you reply. He laughs, head thrown back with the force of it. 

“As little whinin’ as you can manage,” he says.

“I’ll do my best.”

“That’s my girl.”

You kept your word throughout the hike Joel leads you on, only complaining about the hills once. It all becomes worth it when you break through the tree line and find yourself on a cliff overlooking the canyon below, the scene so picturesque it takes your breath away. 

“It’s so pretty,” you say, breathless from the view and the hike in equal measure.

“Sure is,” Joel replies, but when you turn to look at him, you find he’s watching you. The attention makes you feel warm and giddy. “Was it worth the bugs?”

“Maybe. Jury’s still out,” you tell him. He wraps an arm around your waist and presses a kiss to your temple.

“Thanks for comin’ out here with me.”

You kiss him back, his beard rough beneath your lips. “Of course. It’s not every day you turn fifty.”

“Don’t remind me.”

When you first met Joel twelve years ago, he’d been hired by your parents to work on their house while they were off on a cruise and you were home from college for the summer. The start of your relationship was rocky at best but now the two of you have managed to build a life together despite the early hurdles. 

“Let’s get back to the tent before it gets too dark,” he suggests, bringing you back to the present. “I got a surprise for you.”

“Is the surprise your—“

“Don’t be a little devil,” Joel says, cutting you off as you laugh.

Back at the campsite, Joel drags the cooler out of the tent and opens it, gesturing to the contents like he’s on a game show. Inside you see a stack of chocolate bars, a box of graham crackers and a bag of marshmallows. 

“Are we making s’mores?” You ask, unable to hide your glee. 

“Yep. But first, you’re goin’ to build a fire.”

You stare blankly at him. “Come again?”

“I’ll make sure you do,” he says with a wink. 

“I can’t build a fire.”

“You can’t build a fire yet. I’ll teach you. Come on, let’s find some kindling.”

Joel leads you around the campsite, helping you collect dry twigs and leaves. At the fire ring, he guides you through the steps of setting up the tinder before handing you a box of matches. You strike a match and attempt to get the kindling to catch, but the flame almost reaches the tips of your fingers before it can and you drop the match in panic.

“You’re gonna hurt yourself if you keep that up,” Joel says. 

“Then why don’t you help me?” 

“Where’s the fun in that?”

Despite his joke, Joel kneels beside you and takes the matches from your hand, lighting one. He holds the flame to one of the dry leaves in the pile and once it catches, he leans in to gently blow into the building flame until it’s strong enough to sustain itself. He leans back and gives you a smug smile that makes you roll your eyes. 

“There. Now you’ve built your first fire,” he says. 

Joel brings the cooler and the roasting skewers he packed over to the fire and begins arranging the supplies on a plate while you sit nearby on the log bench. You tip your head back to look up at the sky, the last remnants of the sunset fading and the stars beginning to blanket the inky darkness. There’s a tranquility out here you’re not used to, not with your busy schedule at the hospital and the chaos of having a teenager and a pre-teen at home. 

Joel taps your shoulder for your attention and hands you a roasting fork loaded with a jumbo marshmallow on the tip. You take it from him and lean closer to the fire, sticking the marshmallow straight into the blaze.

“That’ll burn it,” Joel warns, keeping his further away.

“They’re better crispy,” you argue. When the marshmallow catches fire, you pull it back out and let it burn for a moment, watching the exterior turn black before you hastily blow out the flame.

“That just ain’t right.” Joel continues to slowly roast his, turning the fork periodically. 

The two of you spend a few hours enjoying the s’mores and each other’s company. When the fire dies down and you run out of supplies, you lean your head against Joel’s shoulder.

“You ready to admit that campin’ ain’t that bad?” Joel asks. 

“I don’t know. I could still use a little convincing,” you reply, lifting your head to look at him.

His warm, broad palm settles on the back of your neck, pulling you in for a kiss that makes your toes curl. It’s slow and deep, none of the rush you feel back at home because the pace of your lives calls for it. This moment, under the stars and in front of the fire, has you feeling like you’re twenty-three again, jumping head first into what would be the best decision of your life.

You’re breathless when Joel pulls away and brings his hand to your cheek, his thumb swiping across your kiss swollen lips. 

“Why don’t you go get comfortable in the tent for me and I’ll take care of puttin’ out the fire?” He suggests. 

“You don’t have to ask me twice,” you reply, standing up so quickly you nearly knock your husband off balance. He smacks your ass as you turn to leave and the sound of his laughter follows you into the tent.

Once inside, you turn on the little battery powered lantern Joel hung up and find your bag, rifling through the contents for the lingerie you brought along for the trip. You quickly strip yourself of your clothing from the day and change into the matching set before settling on the pile of sleeping bags with your feet towards the entrance.

You hear the zipper on the tent flap and your heart races as Joel comes into view, pausing to look his fill and whistling lowly. He crawls inside, hovering over you on his hands and knees.

“All this for me?” He asks, ducking his head down to kiss your collarbone. “How’d I get so lucky?”

“You just couldn’t keep your hands to yourself,” you joke. Joel laughs, warm hand cupping your breast and his fingers pinching your nipple through the fabric. Your back arches at the sensation.

“Some things never change.” 

Joel’s lips meet yours in a languorous kiss that pulls little moans from you as it progresses into something heated and urgent. You’re arching beneath him, demanding more touch, more attention, and he’s never been one to turn you down. One of his hands traces the length of your body until his fingers dip beneath the elastic of your underwear, immediately tracing through your wet heat.

“Goddamn,” Joel says, voice dark and eyes darker with lust. “Already so wet for me, huh?”

It’s not a question to be answered, not when he dips two fingers inside of you and curls them with an expert precision that makes you gasp. His thumb circles your clit each time his fingers draw back. 

“So pretty,” he murmurs. “Always so fuckin’ pretty.” 

He keeps the perfect rhythm with his fingers until you’re gasping his name and he’s talking you through your release with whispered praise and dirty words. When you’re boneless and breathless, he withdraws his hand and lifts it to your face, pressing his fingers to your lips. You open your mouth and he slips the digits against your tongue, the distinct taste of yourself exploding across your tastebuds.

“That’s it, sweetheart, clean ‘em up,” Joel commands. His eyes are fixed on you as you obey, his jaw tense as you put on a show for him, licking and sucking his fingers like you would his cock. 

Joel pulls his hand away and makes quick work of removing your underwear, sliding the fabric down your thighs and tossing it aside. He spreads your legs wide enough to settle on his belly between them, face inches from your now bare pussy. 

He kisses the inside of one thigh, then the other, repeating the attention until he’s so close to where you desperately need him that you can feel the warmth of his breath and you shiver in anticipation. When the heat of his mouth envelopes your sensitive clit, the sudden stimulation has you thrusting your hips against his face. His grip tightens on your thighs, holding you in place as he lavishes your cunt with messy attention.

You reach down to tangle your fingers in his dark hair, the strands now streaked with more gray than they have been in the past when you’ve been in this exact position. Joel groans against you, the vibration making you whimper and beg for more, more, more.

He’s a man on a mission, not stopping for breath or pausing to tease and taunt you with pet names and dirty words. His tongue circles your clit in broad strokes that has another wave of release cresting and crashing over you in record time. Your thighs shake in his grip and your fingers tighten in his hair to a point that you know must be painful but you just don’t care, and neither does he.

Your muscles finally relax and that’s when he sits up, frantically unbuttoning his flannel shirt with uncoordinated fingers and wrestling his boots and jeans off with equal fervor. His cock stands at attention and your mouth waters at the view, the thick head flushed and glistening with precum. You’re close to offering an equal exchange, his mouth on you for your mouth on him, but he has other ideas.

Joel’s hands paw at your hips, turning you over so that you’re flat on your belly. You lift your head to look over your shoulder as he shoves your right leg up with a bend at your knee, baring your pussy for him. He settles between your legs and takes himself in hand, running the head of his cock through the mess he’s made of you.

“You ready, baby?” He asks, slipping himself inside of you the tiniest bit, just enough to feel the stretch of him and want more. “Tell me you’re ready.”

“I’m so ready,” you moan, lifting your hips to take him in deeper. He wraps both hands around your bare hips as he sinks inside of you with one smooth thrust that leaves you gasping.

Joel lowers his body on top of yours, his chest to your back and his lips on your shoulder as he starts to thrust his hips, the angle deep and perfect on every slide inside of you and his cock dragging against your g-spot each time he draws back. He takes his time using your body for your shared pleasure and you relish the way he’s taken over every one of your senses.

“Gonna come,” he murmurs against your neck before biting at the skin over your pulse. You tighten around him and he groans, hips growing erratic in their movements. It’s only a few more sloppy thrusts before his hips are pressing tightly to your ass and he goes still, warmth flooding you as your pussy clenches around his cock.

You whine at the loss when Joel pulls away but he’s quick to return with a wet wipe that he uses to clean you up a bit before settling back down beside you. You rest your head on his chest and his fingers trace patterns on your shoulder as the sweat cools on your skin. 

“You ready to admit campin’ ain’t so bad?” Joel asks. 

“Consider me convinced.”

[catbread0]

Hiya, may I request a Sebastian Solace x (GN/fem)reader, where the reader had also went through urbanshade’s experiments to enhance mobility in the water or abnormal strength. Maybe it could take place a day or two before the whole lockdown where the reader is put in with Sebastian in hopes for trying to tame Sebastian’s bumbling rage and a companion (aka, another sentient being) in hope of keeping him under control.

Mayhaps as well when the whole lockdown does happen Sebastian goes to find the reader since they might have also been getting transported and they had more of a larger dose of the tranq (since Ik Sebastian faked being knocked out and someone had to smart enough to hear the gaur panic about it and gave reader and extra dose.). Just a smidge of angst.

Sorry if this doesn’t make complete sense, I tend to do that when I’m excited about something rush to put all my thoughts and ideas down 😭

-🌽 anon

Sebastian Solace x Fem! Experimented! Reader 

I loved doing this. Sorry for the late response. There have been so many requests since the last time I saw. Hopefully, you enjoy reading this.

(*ᴗ͈ˬᴗ͈)ꕤ*.ﾟ

Words: 3,148

Very OOC, mention of killing/death and drugs (anesthesia), a bit of angst, happy ending, a bit of comfort

All the information I found is from the official Pressure wiki, urbanshade.org!! NOT FANDOM WIKI (MOST STUFF ON THEIR IS NOT CORRECT, PLEASE CHECK THE OFFICIAL WIKI!!)(Note: I made this before the friendly fire update came out)

Sebastian Solace Masterlist

Beloved Companion

Document:

Z-##, codename: _________, real name “(Y/n)(L/n)”. Z-## has undergone experiments to enhance the ability to breathe underwater and strengthen humans. Z-## has successfully gained the ability to breathe underwater. However, their strength has also increased but only to a certain point that could break in half the body of a human. When added more DNA of stronger sea creatures, it seemed to stay the same no matter the animal. After that experiment was done, Z-## underwent another experiment that had DNA strands of sea creatures that are known to be calm and friendly towards sea creatures. However, due to most of the fish being small, it had a drawback, it decreased her height to 8 '2", she was originally 10' 1".

After the calm sea creature experiment, Z-## was put in containment cells for other experiments in Hadal Blacksite for a few days. Some include Z-317 (Eyefestation), Z-367 (Pandemonium), Z-283 (The Angler), and S-Q (Squiddles). All of the interactions with Z-## have been a positive outcome. The specimens have been calmed down and/or have been less hostile for a few days until Z-## is put back with them. 

Because of the variants of success with Z-##, her rank has been moved up to MR-P, and she was given more benefits with her rank being moved up. These benefits included: better living conditions, being allowed to roam the facility freely, and being involved in non-deadly testing. 

Recently, Z-13 (Handy Man) has been getting harder to control due to his anger and rage whenever he sees one of the scientists. We have debated if Z-## should enter Z-13’s containment cell. While Z-13 is also an MR-P, it is unpredictable if he would harm and/or kill Z-## due to the burst of outrage he has been having for the past week or so. In the end, it has been decided that Z-## will go into Z-13’s containment cell. If Z-## gets harmed, then Z-13 would be neutralized by any means necessary but not to the point of killing him. Then, Z-## would be taken out immediately and rushed to be checked up on.

The goal is that Z-## will hopefully calm down Z-13’s rage, just like the other specimens that have encountered her. This will also be a test to see if there could be a potential chance of them being partners to see how their human DNA mixed with the DNA of sea creatures in both of them, could affect genetics when it comes to their offspring.

End of Z-##’s current document.

You were roaming your spacious water enclosure when you heard your ‘name’ be called on the speaker in your enclosure.

“Z-##, please come outside your enclosure. You will be entering another specimen’s enclosure today. They are an MR-P just like you.”

You swam to the door that will get you out of your enclosure. You stood in the middle of two doors, the door behind you closed shut, and the water started to drain from where you were in between the doors. Once the water was fully drained, the door in front of you opened, and you entered the room.

 You followed the small scientist to where these new people you would be meeting today. You would wave to some of the scientists. It was a habit since you would always wave at the other sea people each time you met them in their enclosure. 

You soon arrived and stood in front of the glass window to the water enclosure. 

“Today you will be meeting Z-13. He recently has been having outbursts every time a scientist walks by or when they try to communicate with him through the intercom. You will be with him for 5 days and 5 nights, in the morning you will return to your enclosure. Then, later in the day, you are scheduled to have another experiment. If anything were to happen to you in Z-13’s enclosure, yell, and you would be taken out immediately. Understood?”

You nodded at the small scientist. You looked back through the glass window to try and find ‘Z-13’. To no luck, it looked empty in the water enclosure.

“I should warn you that he is bigger than most specimens you have encountered before. Z-13 is 10 '6".”

The small scientist stated that as you entered the door. At least they gave you a warning.

The door behind you was shut, and you were again in between two doors. The water slowly rose and filled the small room you were in to enter the water enclosure. The door in front of you opened once it was filled with water, and you swam into the enclosure.

The small scientist pressed a button that made the glass window no longer able to see through both ways. It was for Z-13 not to be outraged if a scientist were to accidentally walk by.

You swam around but still couldn't find Z-13. 

That was until you spotted what looked like a cave on the side of the wall near the floor, its entry was covered up in large seaweeds, making it almost hard to see it in the first place.

You swam into the cave, “Hello? Are you here?”

You soon see 3 blue eyes in the corner of the cave, and you jump a bit, not expecting that. You swam closer but stayed a few distance away.

“Hello, I'm Z-##, but my real name is (Y/n)(L/n). What is your name, Z-13? It would be nice to put a name to a face.”

Sebastian didn't answer. He thought you were just doing this because of the scientists forcing you.

When you realized he wasn't going to answer you, you waited on the opposite side of the cave and made yourself comfortable.

You kept talking about small things, like what you did before you were jailed, why you were put in jail, how nice the other sea people were to you, etc. Whenever you talked, you seemed genuinely happy every single time.

After talking, you started to think that maybe he thought you were annoying. 

“I'm sorry, I will leave if you are uncomfortable.”

You got up and started swimming the same way you entered since there was only one way to exit and enter the cave. 

“Sebastian, Sebastian Solace is my name”

You immediately paused, not expecting him to answer or talk to you at all. You immediately swam right towards him.

“That's a nice name. Can I see what you look like? If that's fine with you, of course.”

He was silent for a bit before pulling on his anglerfish lure.

Goodness, when you saw him, you felt something inside you, as if your heart skipped a beat.

He was quite handsome, at least in your eyes. But you shook that thought out of your head.

You both started small talks, but they would give brief replies.

Soon, the day would end. You slept on the opposite side of the cave, not wanting to invade his space.

Meanwhile, Sebastian would stare at you for a few minutes.

‘She'll probably ask the stupid scientists to take her away tomorrow’ he thought before turning off his lure and going to sleep.

The next day, he woke up to you gone, ‘I was right. It was stupid to think she would sta-’

“Oh, you're awake? I got your bucket of fish that the scientists brought. Here.” You said as you entered the cave and handed him the bucket full of fish.

Sebastian took the bucket but looked at it before eating it. He thought you put something in it before realizing you didn't. 

You talked, and he ended up opening up to you a bit more this time.

As some hours passed, you both were out of the cave and swimming around Sebastian's enclosure.

At some point, Sebastian was teaching you Spanish, or at least how he speaks Spanish since he's Chilean-American. Different countries speak the same language but say it differently.

You both ended up spending almost the whole day outside of the cave and returned to sleep.

On the 3rd day, he woke up and saw you sleeping. He went outside the cave and picked up both of your buckets of fish, and brought them back to the cave.

The whole day, you two spent knowing more about each other's life, your family, colleges you both went to, what classes you both majored in, and some of your talents. Sebastian even used some of the plants, rocks, and garbage he had lying around to make a prop that looked like an electric guitar and tried to teach you. 

You both laughed and smiled with each other almost the entire day.

Night came back more quickly than you both thought. You and Sebastian returned to the cave.

As you were getting comfortable to sleep in your corner, you felt a soft material cover your upper body.

“I snatched this when the scientists weren't looking while I was doing some janitor duties. Perks of being an MR-P.”

You gave Sebastian a warm smile and thanked him before falling asleep.

Sebastian didn’t want to admit it, but he felt happy when he was with you. You would listen to him, and it didn't feel like he was talking to the wall. Unlike those scientists, they only asked questions about his mutation and waited for a response from him to record it. 

Only caring about the progress.

On the 4th day, Sebastian woke up early and decided to pour some of his fish from his bucket into yours.

The scientists had seen this through the glass, during the night they decided to make the glass be 1-sided, they could see you but you couldn't see if they were there.

They saw this as a sign of success but also that maybe he was trying to court you. This made them think that there could be a possibility that you two could have offspring and they could continue their testing.

Later in the day you and Sebastian were messing around, he was trying to teach you how to ‘dance’. The dances were ones that he saw people dancing to at Chilean/Hispanic parties that he went to. It was a mess since you both didn't have legs to step on, but you both enjoyed each other’s attempts.

On the 4th night, you both moved closer to each other and slept peacefully. But both of you had your back to each other.

It was the 5th day, and you and Sebastian were getting closer to the end of your visit.

“Sebastian, I have to leave tomorrow morning, and after that, I'm scheduled to be experimented on. I'll make sure to see you after it's done”

After telling him you could tell he didn't look pleased, his ears and tail twitched.

“I am also scheduled to have an experiment done on me tomorrow. Maybe we will be able to see each other again right before it happens.”

You smiled when you heard that, “I hope we can.”

Soon, it was the next morning, and it was time for you to leave. You said bye to Sebastian and gave him a warm smile before you left. 

After a few hours, he was called out for his scheduled experiment. 

He was left in the surgery room and was given anesthesia. He pretended the effects had worked on him, but he was fully awake.

He heard the door open and close to his room, footsteps walking around the room, and heard the scientists speaking.

“After we are done with Z-13 we have to perform on Z-##, even if the chances of her dying is 75%, there is still a slim chance of her surviving and for it to be a success. It would be a great benefit for Hadal Blacksite.” One of the scientists said

“But she’s an MR-P. They are only allowed to be experimented on if it's non-deadly.” the second scientist asked.

The first scientist answered, “Well no surgery or experimentation is 100% safe. If she perishes, then we will start back on square 1 on another inmate.”

Sebastian felt his body fill with rage once again. Once the 2 scientists were close enough, Sebastian immediately killed them by slashing them with his claws. 

Sebastian immediately slithered out of his surgery room, and an Elite Guardsman was standing right outside. Just as the Elite Guardsman was about to shoot at Sebastian, Sebastian killed him and stole his keycard.

There were other scientists and guardsmen around as this happened. 

Everything went into chaos. 

People ran to escape, and guardsmen shot at Sebastian, but the bullets did not affect him, making some of them run away with the others. Desk’s, doors, tables, chairs, and the lights were either destroyed or thrown around.

Sebastian killed the Guardsmen who were shooting at him or trying to stop him. As he was doing this, he was trying to find your room to take you away before they could kill you.

Meanwhile, you were lying on the surgery table. You trusted the scientist who would perform on you since you are an MR-P. But also because you were always nice to them, helping them calm other sea people around the lab, always following orders, etc. 

How naive you were, or was it because of the fish's DNA that mixed with yours? It didn’t matter to them. To most of them, you were just a lab rat who benefited them.

As the scientist in your room gave a syringe of anesthesia, you both heard the sound of people screaming and things being trashed. That's when the scientist's handheld radio (or walkie-talkie) started making noise from the other end.

Blood-curdling screams could be heard loudly, “Z-13 HAS FEIGNED HIS EFFECTS OF ANESTHESIA AND IS ON A LOOSE KILLING SPREE. I REPEAT Z-13 HAS FEIGNED-” 

That’s all that was heard until the other end was abruptly cut off.

You sat up immediately, “Sebastian is wh-”

That's when the scientist gave you 3 more syringes of anesthesia quickly. They knew if Z-13 wasn't affected, then you mostly weren’t with just one. They were frightened with the idea that you would do the same. Your strengthened ability could break a human's body easily in half. They thought you would follow Z-13 and try to kill them.

You immediately fell off the table, from the sudden effects making you pass out. 

The scientist was about to give you another syringe again with anesthesia until Sebastian barged into the room. He finally found you but saw you on the floor unconscious. He saw the scientist who did this with the syringe in their hand. He immediately killed them, tore them up, and they were almost unrecognizable afterward.

Soon, the commotion died down and came to an end. It was only the two of you currently. Everyone who survived escaped or maybe died while running away.

Sebastian carried you in bridal style with his 2 arms and used the 3rd one to try and feel your pulse. 

He felt that your pulse was dangerously low.

He carried you out of the surgery room and went looking for other rooms. He soon found a vent that led to another small room. He laid you down carefully on the floor. 

He knew he couldn’t do much. It was just a matter of luck and time to see if you would wake up. Too much anesthesia could kill you or send you into a coma. All he could do was just watch and protect you from any further physical harm.

4 days have passed of endless waiting.

Sebastian watched over you, trying to find more things to make you comfortable, feeling your pulse from time to time, bringing in extra fish, or whatever snacks that were left behind by the scientist, and stored them on the shelves in the room in case you woke up from your coma.

During your coma, Sebastian used the keycard he stole earlier from the Elite Guardsman and released the monsters in Hadal Blacksite. Some of the monsters decided to help after being told what happened to you by killing the people who would enter to try and retrieve the crystal to get the place back into running its cruel experiments.

You slowly opened your eyes. It was pitch black. You didn't know where you were. That's when a sudden light lit up the room. (Sebastian’s angler lure)

“You're finally awake. You had me worried that you would leave me behind. I have food for you, go ahead and eat. I’ll explain what happened while you eat.”

You slowly started eating, still somewhat under the effects of the anesthesia that was steadily wearing off. As you were eating, Sebastian explained what he had overheard when he was faking about being under anesthesia, the killing spree he went on to find you, him releasing the monsters, causing the lockdown, you being unconscious for 3 days, etc.

You felt betrayal dig a small hole into you, but you also felt stupid for thinking they wouldn’t do that to you at some point no matter your rank. 

Sebastian helped you process everything and pat your back when you would choke on your food. Sebastian helped you all the time while you were still too weak.

After a few days, you started to become your old self again. You went to see some of the monsters and wandered into rooms you never got the chance to see.

You helped Sebastian set up his shop by collecting the items he accidentally found when he was trying to find files to blackmail Hadal Blacksite. 

After some months, you both started to gain feelings for each other. It took a while for the both of you to realize you felt the same way towards each other.

You both helped each other, you patching his arm, him protecting you from people trying to kill you because they mistook you for being dangerous, talking with p.ai.nter (Z-779) and spending time with each other in the shop while inmates buy things from the both of you.

You were glad that he saved you from your deathbed and glad you were both in a relationship.

You gave him one last kiss before you both went to sleep for the night. Already looking forward to tomorrow.

Bonus!

How you both learned you both felt the same was by accident.

You were visiting p.ai.nter, and you were talking to him until they accidentally mentioned that Sebastian likes you.

“Sebastian did tell me that he thinks that he has feelings for you, since when you were first with him.”

It was dead silent for a bit, both of you realizing what he said.

“Oops…”

He also made the same mistake with Sebastian, telling him you like him.

....Maybe it wasn't actually a ‘mistake’.

~Lilly's

[twig-tea]

Lately I’ve been feeling like Thai bl is truly all over the place with so many shows airing at once and some of the best ones flying under the radar while discourse is focused on a couple of the big messy ones. I think you’re the only person I know who is actually watching ALL of them and has been here for the whole evolution of the genre, so I’m curious what stands out to you about this current moment. Do the shows feel different to you? Is the way fandom is interacting with them changing? And what are your current favs?

I ended up writing a thesis, sorry friend lol To be fair to me there are 3 questions in there, all of them meaty! I've done my best to give a sense of where I'm at with Thai BL and how it feels like it's changed over time.

Caveating all of this: I am just one fan who I'm sure has had specific experiences that will colour my opinion, also a lot of this is just vibes so I'm open to being told I've forgotten something major or misremembered what it was like! If you are reading this and your opinion or experience is different please share, with stuff like this I'm always interested in hearing about differing opinions because the fandom experience will depend at least partly on where you hang out. For years, my main fandom space for BL was the YouTube comments section (RIP me).

Overall feel

Honestly, things overall don't feel all that different to me in Thai BL in particular, even though I'm about to talk about a lot of changes and ways it actuallyd does feel very different below lol And after reflecting about it, I think it's because these things still feel very much in flux, in a way that they've felt in flux this entire time. Producers are still figuring out the best funding and distribution models and merch models to make money; creators are still calibrating how queer these shows can be and still be popular; actors are still figuring out how to do BGP (business gay performances) without having fans interfere in their private lives off the clock. Writers are still trying to figure out how to write 12-episode arcs that don't drag in the middle or fumble the ending (which is also not new). The tension between established ships, fan expectations, and genre requirements has honestly been there almost the whole time, though the reverberations of missteps is louder now because of the larger fanbase that is (comparatively) more plugged in to live viewing. The core question in BL has always been 'how do we make this marketable', and that unsurprisingly hasn't changed, though the answer to that question has over time, if that makes sense?

Shows

Do the shows feel different? As a whole, I'd say yes. The biggest differences are of course total quantity and overall quality, but the actual distribution of % of shows that have high(er) production values (i.e. quality) feels close to the same--it was close to 50/50 in the late 2010s and now is maybe more like 40/60 with a higher percentage coming from more smaller production companies. But the numbers we're talking about are something like 15 shows in e.g. 2018 and something more like 50 shows in 2023 (being vague because there are shows that people could argue over whether they should count). The quality overall has increased, even the pulps look better, sound better, and tend to feel a little bit more put together than the pulps of even 2020 (please note that these are all relative qualifiers, most of these shows are still not objectively good). 2020 in particular was a watershed moment for high production value BLs; we get colorists and special effects artists, and sometimes decent sound production now!

There has also been an improvement in terms of what is depicted and how certain subject matter is treated very generally, though I think that's still in flux. Things like evil ex girlfriends are less common than they were and the women in BL are more likely (in general, still not always) to be treated as realized characters. We've gotten more and better femme representation in ensemble shows, and the "gay for you" trope is much less common. Consent is now considered sexy and is much more common than it was; non-consent as "sexy" has eroded and is much less common. Things that used to happen in almost every BL now happen in a much lower percentage. I also feel a little bit less worried about some of the actors on pulp sets because there is more general scrutiny about things like minor actors, intimacy coordination, BGP (business gay performance) expectations, and sexual exploitation. Overall, show recommendations these days come with fewer caveats.

The assumption that if you worked with someone on a BL once you would stay with them as an established pairing was surprisingly early in BL; I don't know if it's just because there were a few shows that had side pairings then get main shows, so the actors did work together on a few shows in a row, which made them feel established, or whether it's because the BGP started early to build hype both before and after shows aired, or whether audiences just made homophobic assumptions about how if two actors had chemistry they had to be gay for each other, and otherwise nobody would want to "play gay" more than once, or would want to have to kiss too many other men....in any case, there were huge scandals and blow-ups around this in BL on even the earliest shows, and some early shows were snubbed because of the pairing alone. Similarly, it was established very early in BL (i.e. 2016-17) that an unhappy ending for a pair would result in your show being panned; cheating was also a guaranteed flop in BL circles (though some ensemble shows that had gay relationships in them such as Friend Zone did fine with cheating plots and unhappy endings). Overall it feels like some things were only depicted in early Thai BL and creators have avoided them since due to the audience reception at the time. I will say, generally, that there have now been enough examples of people in a "branded pair" moving on to a new pair or multiple shows, that it feels less like a death knell to a BL career if one of the actors says they no longer wanted to make BLs, or if they switched companies.

I pay a lot of attention to queerness in BL, and that has changed a little bit too, though not in the way I expected. I had been expecting a more clear and steady trajectory in BL, but we've instead had real swings, and I've realized there will just always be shows that feel more or less actually gay or queer than others, and that's ok. Early Thai shows really spoiled us for good queer content, GayOK Bangkok and Diary of Tootsies are still shows by which i measure what we get now, and both of those are from 2016. I would say that more "mainstream" BL (i.e. by one of the major production companies) hit what turned out to be queer saturation around 2020 and that's where I was most surprised not see a more clear trajectory; rather than things getting more queer from there, I'd say a greater percentage of shows overall feel more queer, but we haven't (and I now suspect won't) reach the queerness we had in Thai tv in 2016. That being said, my secret running list of things I want to see in BL gets shorter every year as entries get crossed off, so I would say the range of queer experience is slowly getting captured as more content continues to be made by a wider range of production houses (PrEP being mentioned in a mainstream show is my white whale).

I know some people assume that shows are higher heat now overall, but I don't think that's true. I do think Thai television producers and directors have overalll gotten better at capturing sensuality, and acting workshops have improved chemistry-building overall too. But from what I can tell the ratio of high head and low heat content is still pretty similar to what it's always been, maybe slightly higher (e.g. at a quick glance I'd guesstimate 30% of shows had a sex scene in 2018 vs 40% in 2023).

Fandom

The main differences in fandom from the really early days and now are the ways we, as international fans, are able to engage with each other, with thai audiences at the same time, and with content creators, and the entitlement that comes with that. In the 2010s we were almost always watching after Thai airing, with either fansubs or, later, official subs, trailing online releases by days or weeks, which themselves may have trailed the Thailand airing date by days or weeks or sometimes even months. That became less true around 2019ish, and especially in 2020 when I think Thai producers were desperate to reach audiences during the start of the pandemic (and when audiences were desperate for something to distract us from what was happening in real life).

As a fan in the mid-late 2010s, watching something was either unofficial via a fansubber, or you were wading through hundreds of Thai comments to find anyone else writing about the shows in English. Now, it's actually rare we don't have immediate international distribution, though it may be paid. If the subs are not up at the same time as the official upload, even on free sites, fans get furious. It's a bit surreal to see people complain about waiting a few hours for subtitles, especially on YouTube, when we sometimes waited months for a series to finish being subbed (not to say people didn't complain back then too, because they sure did! But there were fewer international fans overall, and it wasn't an expectation that there would be subs, so fewer people complained when it happened). This meant that a lot of people only watched shows when they were complete, and people were not watching with any kind of synchronicity.

With international fans moving into simultaneous watching with Thai audiences, we suddenly had the chance to talk about shows as they were airing and affect the conversations about them and even, sometimes, the decisions. Folks seem to have differing opinions about what makes a BL, and what makes a BL good, and they are vocal about when a show doesn't meet their standard. This has always been true, but the strong opinions have more of an effect on the discourse when they're expressed in real-time to the show being aired. Also, when we have literally 3x the number of Thai shows being aired (nevermind other countries which have also increased), it seems so much more egregious to me to complain if a single show doesn't meet your particular taste. Just go watch something else! That was less possible in 2016, but now nobody has any excuse lol Please note here that I'm not saying shows should not be criticized. But when you have one loud faction saying shows should have nothing but innocent kisses if any skinship at all and showing more is distasteful and possibly homophobic, and another faction saying a show should be panned if they don't have at least one sex scene and if there is no good kiss it's homophobic, I don't know where that leaves content creators but I see the tension and how it sometimes results in my least favourite tropes like "blushing maiden" even after a couple has canonically had sex. These factions have always existed in BL fandom, this is not new, they just both seem particularly silly now with so much content to choose from.

The shows that get attention and the shows that get snubbed feel the same too, in all honesty. You can ask yourself the following questions:

Is the show a little slower paced?

Are the story beats less melodramatic?

Do its characters feel more human?

Do they feel more queer?

Is it a comedy?

Is there any risk of an unhappy ending?

Do people not think one of the lead actors is hot?

Do people ship one of the lead actors with someone who isn't his costar?

Do people have to do anything other than go to YouTube to watch it?

If the answer is yes to any of those questions, and especially to the last one, fewer people will be watching, even if the show is good. That's always been true. [Shows I'm thinking about when I say that: Make it Right, He's Coming to Me, My Ride, You're My Sky, Oxygen (though the sides in this one are also at fault), YYY, Something in my Room, Ghost Host Ghost House, Dear Doctor I'm Coming for Soul, Cooking Crush.] All this is to say, there have always been shows that have been ignored, though I agree with you OP that with more shows airing, more are being ignored at any given time.

The other thing is that when a show is good, it doesn't necessarily invite discourse. The messes are often what encourage people to dig in, fill in gaps, linger in the adrenaline. The part that does feel different is also related to the increase in genre BLs; genre stuff in general tends to get more attention in fandom spaces, and the way people are functioning as fans feels different in that they're bringing the way they interact with genre content to BL as BL has started having larger and better funded genre content. I'm thinking about those early genre BLs like He She It, My Dream, Love Poison, Golden Blood, So Much In Love, Why R U....we started getting genre shows in BL in I think 2017 and basically had 1-2 a year until 2020ish and then it increased from there; and the ones that had funding and decent distribution got engagement until they started going off the rails, and then they had even more engagement and then fell off. I don't think it's a coincidence that the shows last year that got people to write meta were La Pluie, Be My Favorite, and I Feel You Linger in the Air. When a show is building a world, there's more to say and interrogate about it, and when a genre show fails, it can fail more spectacularly than a regular romance story. The most popular BL shows used to all be straight-up BL bubble romances, but I think genre shows really started to take over a greater percentage of the popular spots in 2022 and 2023. Again, the main difference here is that there used to be 1-2 stand-out shows per year, and now there are closer to 6+ per year, and as we got more stand-out shows the variety of what type of show stood out as popular has expanded. I do think the overall percentage of shows that are more standard romance plots has reduced, partly because Thai production companies are running out of popular y-novels to adapt. So I'm anticipating we'll continue to get more genre content going forward, and maybe a higher percentage of original works too.

Shows I'm Enjoying Right Now

Right now, the Thai shows airing that I'm watching are:

Cooking Crush

Dead Friend Forever

Cherry Magic Thailand

City of Stars

The Sign

Playboyy

PitBabe

7 Days before Valentine

For Him

Of those, I'd currently most recommend Cooking Crush as a generic BL recommendation. Dead Friend Forever is very good, but is not a romance and is difficult for some to watch (there are a lot of dark themes in addition to the gore and scary bits).

Cooking Crush is doing so many things I love. I've written about the way it's set up its major conflict to be amongst the friend group here, and way the show is depicting communication between the two main characters and how they improve their communication with one another as they get closer here. Two of my biggest BL pet peeves are a conflict for the sake of a dramatic penultimate episode that ignores or retcons a character's growth or the building of trust that a couple has already gone through in the series, so the fact that this show is working so hard to establish strong communication between its leads and then setting up the significant drama to actually about friendship rather than romance is something I cannot overstate my excitement about. To tie this back into what I wrote above, this reminds me of Diary of Tootsies and I mean that in the best possible way.

Dead Friend Foreever is, like I mentioned above, not a romance; it's a slasher horror melodrama with a very well established mystery, an ensemble cast of mostly hateable characters (which I admit isn't usually my thing, but since they're likely all going to die as a result of the genre they're in I'm finding that more tolerable than usual, and there is at least one character I like). DFF did a great job of structuring the story for the ultimate payoff of information reveals. There are a lot of shows that have been messing with non-linear storytelling recently, Cooking Crush being one of the ones that actually does this poorly in my opinion, but Dead Friend Forever effectively uses non-linear storytelling so that we find out important pieces of information about particular characters at a time when that information will have the most emotional impact on what is happening in the "present" of the storyline. Every time there is a reveal, it informs what we've already seen, recontextualizes it, and means we understand some of the character motivations and actions differently from when we saw them the first time. I mentioned above that there are dark themes in this show; one of the things that I really like about this show is that the impact of class is not glossed over, and that the consequences of these events feel very real for the characters; people do terrible things in this show, but these actions are not treated lightly by the show itself.

You'd think these two shows would have nothing in common, but there are things that they share that put them both in my top category. Generally, in both of these shows, the character arcs are clear and logical; when a character does something, even if I don't like the action itself, I can understand exactly why they that and can see how it matches where they are in their arc at the time. The shows show change in characters as a result of what they experience, and the relationships in this show really matter. When characters start acting in ways that feel out of character or against their own arc because they have to in order to drive the plot forward, I struggle to remain invested; that's not happening with either of these shows. Both of these shows also treat serious topics with seriousness, and consequences for actions are real and felt by the characters in the show (and if someone gets away with something, the show is clear that this is not just). Nothing has happened that hasn't been signalled or implied earlier. Both shows also have clear class consciousness and represent the disparity caused by classism in a critical/harsh light.

Whew! I think I got to everything you asked. Thanks again for the extremely interesting question!

[takeyourcyanide]

Do What You Will

AO3

TWs: Repeated Mentions of R@pe, Implied/Referenced Childhood/General Sexual Abuse

Fandom: Soul Eater

Character(s): Franken Stein, Marie Mjolnir, Spirit Albarn, Yumi Azusa, Lord Death

Tags: Implied/Reference R@pe/Non-Con, Implied Mind R@pe, Implied/Referenced Child, Abuse Implied Childhood Sexual, Abuse, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, Trauma, It's Not Paranoia If They're Really Out To Get You, Not Beta Read, Triggers, Franken Stein Has Sexual Trauma, Age Regression/De-Aging, Hurt/No Comfort, Hurt/Comfort

Word Count: 6 978

Summary: Stein believes Marie is going to harm him in some way, and it ultimately leads to a belief she has assaulted him in his sleep, and planned to assault him whilst awake. Marie is unsure how to handle the situation.

Note(s): I hope this isn’t all over the place. This took me way too long, I’ve been so scrambled lately. I forgot what I was originally going to say. I can only imagine everyone’s faces when they read that summary haha. I’m working on other shit. When it comes to the series, I’m not sure that I’m going to do multi-perspective. Most likely not.

With the crashing of the thunder came the flashing and burning of the lightning, in which they disguised themselves, capturing Stein freely, flash on, through the now covered window.

Franken stared unnerved daggers into the all-encompassing darkness drawing him in, into the ceiling on which it seemed both spiders and some sort of humanoid creature crawled.

The bugs dashed and chased on and under his unwilling, exhausted, and pallid flesh, fingertips brushing against his scalp, his shoulders, his neck, as he pondered until morning what would be done of his saying too much.

The metal, rusted frame of his unwelcoming bed creaked with fervor from the slightest of breaths, from the slightest of movements. He’d have covered his ringing ears, but his extremities were practically paralyzed under the weight of the raging, unbridled, and crushing trepidation.

He’d been forced to rely on Marie. It wasn’t his fault. He was forced to confide in Marie. He didn’t want to. He hadn’t failed himself. He hadn’t worked against himself. She wouldn’t hurt him. But there was no point in deceiving himself for the sole sake of comfort; then he’d be just the same as each and every coward he’d ever criticized and chided.

What would the woman do to him? He had calculated from the very beginning that her kindness and generosity was a mere act; an easy and banal way in which she could earn the trust of others, particularly Stein, only to suck his soul of whatever life is still left within it.. For whatever life he was born with. But how would she utilize her mask to her advantage? Franken could see through her, and manipulation seldom worked on him… Or did it? What if she had mastered the art and he hadn’t even realized he was being played? Would she do something physical? Or would she simply tell everyone about the deepest pits of his harrowed soul?

He never wanted to see her again. He never wanted to hear of her again. He never wanted to see, nor hear of anyone ever again.

He had to kill her. Not even dissect her. Kill her. He never had an interest in basic and overdone homicide, but how else could he achieve safety? Would he ever? Had he ever once experienced such a feeling? No. He needed to kill her. Maybe a prompt dissection afterwards. Perhaps he’d even experiment on her if he felt well enough. But that was not the goal. He had to kill her. If not kill, then run away from her. He knew not of what she would do, but he knew for certain she’d do something.

His formerly chilled skin warmed to unprecedented levels for reasons he could not comprehend, the steady ringing growing louder, a hushed whisper and a lullaby joining the unending and incessant noise.

Stein wanted to scream, bloodcurdlingly scream… He wanted to scream, and scream, and scream until his sore throat bled, the thick, crimson liquid pouring out from his shredded lips. He wanted to rip each individual strand of tangling, unkempt, and rustling hair from out of his head, he wanted to devour himself whole, just as the supposed “paranoia” was. It was slowly turning his entire body inside out, toying with him as though he were but a helpless rag doll.

But they only wanted him to believe that he was just paranoid, so that they could more easily do as they pleased with him.

Lord Death would surely put him to death for murdering a comrade. But would that be so bad? But then all of the work he put into rehabilitating, or rather, suppressing his violence, his malice would be thrown out of the same window that they were all looking in on him from.

What would become of him if he were to run away? Perhaps he could simply attempt an escape first and see how that pans out; an experiment. His favorite.

Stein glanced over at his small, bedside clock, of which read in luminous, ruby numbers, ‘04:44.’

Marie was an early riser. She’d typically awaken and begin undertaking her habitual routine anywhere from 06:00 to 07:00 in the morning. And it was only a Thursday, meaning she had to be within the DWMA’s walls by 08:00.

Once she leaves and moves far enough away, he’d go… somewhere. He couldn’t simply venture out into the desert could he? The DWMA had eyes everywhere, they’d catch him eventually, especially if he were to be still within the confines of the city. And he didn’t have a plane ticket.

What if he were to hide out at some bar? A tavern such as Chupa Cabra’s, perhaps? No one would expect him to be there… But the staff would surely notify every one of his appearance at their establishment the very moment he’s classified as missing. Not to mention, they’d find his long stay awfully conspicuous… And they’d have to close eventually…

Where could he go? Perhaps he’d simply have to stay in his laboratory. He could attempt to avoid Marie, but she’s a persistent woman.

Then again, he was the strongest meister to ever graduate from the academy… Surely he could defend himself. But he was vulnerable in the current state he was in.

As he checked the clock again, which now read ‘5:14,’ a certain phrase buzzed around, shouting in his skull repeatedly;

“Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.”

🎩 🎩

🍭<(^-^)>🦖

“I made some breakfast, if you’d like some. It’s nothing much, though,” Marie distractedly stated from the bathroom, fiddling with her blonde hair, as Stein trudged leisurely past her.

He spared a concurrently disinterested and suspicious glance over at the kitchen, canned crescents stacked upon a rotund, oxidized pan, the scent of the food wafting out and filling various sectors of the laboratory.

The meister took an almost unnatural-seeming seat down onto one of the two loveseats perched facing one another in the quaint living space, his body taut, muscles refusing to relax, unable to freely sink into the inviting coziness of the cushions.

“You need to eat, Stein,” the weapon gently lectured, sticking the end of one of her golden earrings in and through the teensy little hole in her lobe. “You know you shouldn’t be skipping meals.”

“‘M not hungry,” he muttered under his breath, eyes threatening to close as he babbled out an overtired, and low-pitched whine in protest - one of which Marie herself was unable to detect.

“But you didn’t eat hardly anything last night, surely you are,” she spoke with a tone of disbelief, as thought Stein were the liar and not her, whilst straightening her lengthy skirt.

“I don’t want to eat,” he gripped his lower lip with his sharp teeth the moment his partner’s hand made contact with his scalp, with his silver hair. It was similar to that of the invisible being’s touch, but more soothing, and less attention-seeking.

She gently ran over the more fragile skin with the very tips of her painted nails, running lithe and well-versed fingers throughout his hair just the way he liked it.

Manipulative and calculating was she.

“Come on, Franken. Unless you think it might nauseate you this time, you need to eat something before I leave. I want to watch you. You’re my responsibility now, and that includes your terrible eating habits,” as opposed to continuing with the mauling of his lips, he moved to roll his inner cheek in between his teeth, biting down hard into the ample and soon-to-be irritated tissue, helping him to focus on not allowing his body to go slack, and melt into her beguiling ministrations; that’s only what she wanted out of him.

Though after the noise-filled, restless night he had, he’d be lying if he said the gesture wasn’t lulling him into a soundless sleep.

But that’s only precisely what she intended to happen.

Stein bolted away from her touch as thought it had scorched his skin, a surge of seething paranoia manhandling his limbs for him. Marie’s eyes briefly widened, before a concerned and baffled glint bloomed within her brown eyes.

“Are you okay? What’s wrong?” She prodded with a sincere countenance, though that did not fool the mistrustful and non-naive scientist.

“Nothing,” he stood guardedly, his alert eyes bulging out from their sockets - somehow his most striking feature despite the screw protruding from the side of his head. He held his arms in a folded manner, close to his sternum, as though he were attempting to shrink away from whatever stimulus had disturbed him so demonstrably.

Marie analyzed the ever-clicking clock, reading aloud, ‘7:29,’ with a pensive sigh.

“I’ve got to head to the academy, Stein - just… Please, eat something today.. Something more substantial than a small snack if you can. And if you can’t, then try to eat multiple little snacks or something until I get home. And just remember, you can tell me anything, okay?”

In other words, “feed me more information.”

Stein kept his mouth closed, continuing to shy away from her very presence, as he observed her every step whilst she sauntered towards the door, a perturbed expression on her visage.

“I’ll be back soon,” she flashed him a kind and somewhat knowing smile as she exited the premises.

What did she know that he didn’t?

Upon her departure, Franken spun in repetitive circles, scanning each and every crevice which surrounded him with a simultaneously quizzical and agitated gaze.

And it ran through his head once more;

What does she know that I do not? What is it that I am missing? Does she have a leg up on me? Perhaps. What do I do? What will *she* do?

A rather delicate tapping on his shoulder left him reeling, whipping around, only to discover nothing, save for a promptly dissipating shadowy figure.

They were taunting him.

“Go away,” he murmured, his face rather petulant, as he awkwardly stood in place.

He stared into the abyssal corridor, considering striding his way back into the warmth of his bed, deterred by the clear and unsettling presence howling from within it, audibly groaning in annoyance.

But he needed to walk through the hallway, even despite the stirring, for they were each still monitoring him intently, sniffing out his vulnerability like bloodhounds. What if they were to see that he was too disquieted to enter a stupid hallway? He’d be easy prey for them, then. He was acting as though he were a scared and small child begging his parents to check the closet and look under the bed for the curated ‘boogeyman.’

And if he were being frank, he almost wished there was someone here whom he could send through the daunting corridor before him - or perhaps even walk alongside him. But that was a moronic desire to have, thus he settled on shoving the odd clump of feelings down, mechanically marching through the energies, of which, too, followed after and above him.

Stein rushed under the weight of his blanket, eyes batting back and forth and all over wildly, as he made himself as comfortable as he could possibly be given his current predicament.

He retrieved the little stuffed, stitched up and bandaged T-Rex which laid beside him, cradling it against his chest, as he slotted his thumb immaturely between his two metallic-tasting lips, the blanket up and over his hiding head.

What was he meant to do the rest of the day? Question precisely what would be done with him? He didn’t wish to think about that.

What was he meant to do the rest of the day? He could no longer research, he could no longer do anything other than shout back at the fizzling static. He couldn’t nourish himself, he couldn’t sleep properly, for even if he did sleep, it was never restful. He couldn’t take care of himself. He’d grown into a large child.

The thought left him to curl in on himself even more so. He’d say that at least he was still emotionally independent, but Marie keeps trying to force him not to be. She, the rest of the academy, and the radio wanted nothing more than to take everything from him. Is that what she’d do? No poisoning, no rape, no selling him into sex slavery, no simply being here to mock him, no nothing except for further ruining him? She’d most definitely discuss her breaking of him with the others, though, there was no doubt about it.

Every thought he could hardly process, every foreign feeling rising within him culminated into one large whirlwind swirling and twisting his insides. He clutched the stuffed toy closer to his chest, his chin resting on its fuzzy head, as he closed his eyes, only to reopen them upon hearing their breathing, feeling their presences.

This became a repetitive process long ago; opening and closing, and opening and closing. Over and over again. Eventually, he’d managed to slip into a wasteful sleep, finding himself awake once more within an hour or less. Over and over again.

The more they sang, the more they muttered, the more a certain frustrated ball raged in his throat, the closing muscles in his throat battling and arguing with his open glottis, just as he’d been in a constant shouting match with the popping static since day one.

The foreign sensation worked in tandem with the old friend he was well-versed with, feeding on his decomposing flesh like vultures whilst he supposedly lived, as he shoved his face into his stuffed animal, avoiding what stood all around him, as well as the light of the morning sun illuminating his gelid bedroom.

It was truly a never-ending cycle; the same precise process over and over again.

🎩 🎩

🍭<(^-^)>🦖

Stein groggily peeled his eyelids open, entirely disorientated as he took in the lack of light, his eyes oddly moist, rubbing the obnoxiously yucky, sticky discharge from his eyes, as he jolted his body upwards, coughing and wheezing into his clammy hand. He pitifully whimpered, still feeling too small for the body he was inhabiting, internally frigid, despite his perspiring skin being swelteringly hot, trying desperately to breathe through his snotty nose.

The cacophonous sound of steel cookware banging against various other materials caught his attention, the world spinning uncontrollably after he whipped his head in the direction of the sound.

Was Marie home already? For how long had he managed to sleep? But he couldn’t feel this way when she or anyone else was around.. What was she going to do to him? What did she want from him? And why was he suddenly sick? Had he quite literally neglected and stressed himself to the point of illness?

His train of frazzled thought was ultimately interrupted by the grumbling of his intestines, and the burning within his vacant stomach. A sense of hunger-induced nausea rose within him, leaving him feeling faint and weary.

Perhaps he’d have to eat whatever Marie decided to whip up. At the end of the day, if it happened to be poisoned or anything, at least that would add a layer of thrill to his currently mundane life.

Franken utilized the smooth, stone walls as an aid whilst he stepped lethargically through the corridor, having hardly made it down the stairs without injury, his surroundings still twisting and turning like warping mirrors in a funhouse, squinting his bare eyes as a sudden burst of light came into view.

“Stein! You’re awake!” The weapon joyously spoke, dancing around the laboratory like some sort of conniving, and overly-expressive ballerina. “I checked on you once I got home, but you were deep asleep. It’s already past seven.”

Deep asleep? She went into his room? What? Why? What? What did she- no.. Did she do something? What did she want? What did she do? What happened? He never sleeps deeply, nor for a very long time. How did he manage to sleep that long? Why’d he have to be sick now? Did she touch him, too? What did she do to him? Why didn’t he wake up? Is he that sick? Wha-

“Earth to Stein? Are you okay?” Marie waved the hand that surely grazed his skin in front of his watering eyes, his chest tightening. “Hey… You don’t look so good. Are you sick?” She placed her palm over the male’s dazed forehead, countenance becoming rather worried and shocked, as she gasped out, “You feel really warm.”

The meister remained still, unresponsive towards her manipulation, as Marie gave him the once-over, observing right away how the tone of his skin seemed to lighten significantly since she last laid eyes on him, and how flushed his cheeks were. His shoulders were slumped morosely, his under-eyes blending in with the absence of light in the hallway.

“You should really take some medicine, Franken,” she softly stated, placing a cool hand on his heated shoulder.

Stein flinched away, instinctually grimacing, acting on a sort of fight or flight response. He bit on the inside of his lips, shuffling away from his weapon.

“What’s wrong?” She appeared almost guilty.

He wanted to tell her to stop pretending. To just be honest about wanting to have her way with him. Or mocking him. Or whatever else she premeditates and has done. She was just like everyone else, after all. Unfortunately, however, his mouth would not comply with his desires, opening and closing just as his eyes had earlier, unable to form a sentence properly. So, he simply settled on shaking his head back and forth, twitching his fingers, and continuing to shuffle backwards away from her imminent touch.

She wanted to have her way with him.

“It’s okay, Franken,” Marie had seen him get this way before. He’d behave rather childishly, though given her proclivity towards children, she never once minded taking care of him. The only problem was that Stein minded. “You can tell me what’s wrong.”

A sizzling emanated from the kitchen. Along with the random flashing of a light, which caught the scientist’s waning attention. The woman’s prodding voice disappeared into the ringing, of which overpowered her ceaseless incanting. The only string of words he managed to process happened to be:

“Franken? Are you maybe feeling… a little small on top of sick? Do you want me to get some medicine for you?”

Was it that obvious?

He couldn’t decide whether or not he wanted to rush away from her, and lock himself away from her greedy fingers. Wouldn’t she just transform her hand into her hammer form and knock down the door if necessary? What was the point?

Stein nearly sucked his whole bottom lip into his mouth, concealing the gentle quivering with his teeth, though she was standing directly before him and could easily watch as he suppressed salty tears.

Why was he even beginning to cry? He never felt the urge to weep - even as a small child. He was only failing himself, allowing for Marie to swoop, with ease, in and exact every single vile fantasy she’s ever had onto him.

“Hey… Don’t cry,” she stepped forward, closer to her meister, of whom hadn’t even realized he was blubbering.

Stein began hacking again, shoving his face into the crook of his arm, whining noiselessly as his body convulsed, sniveling.

“Aw, sweetie,” Marie tried to soothingly pat him on the back, empathetically pouting as she ogled at how his frame shook.

Franken, once again, jerked away, shouting, “No!”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” the woman panicked, as a harsh and distressed sob interrupted his violent coughing. “I won’t touch you again. It was on instinct, I-“

“You ‘ill ‘gin,” he slurred his words together horribly, struggling to breathe and speak as he crumbled completely, sitting on the icy floor, his back against the wall.

“Huh?”

“Y’u will again!” Franken exclaimed, his legs sprawled out in defeat, his arms limp, his chest bumping up and retracting rapidly.

“No, love, I won’t. If you don’t want me to touch you, then I won’t, I promise.”

“S’op lying,” he snarled. “‘Ou went in bedroom an’..”

“Oh, no, Stein, no, no, no, no… All I did was crack open the door. I just noticed you were sleeping, that’s all,” her eyes widened significantly at what he was implying, her stomach falling to her feet. “I would never ever do anything like that to you - or anyone else, for that matter.”

Marie kneeled down, far enough that no contact was made, but still too close for comfort, as any form of ‘by him’ was enough to startle. But, truly, she had no clue as to how she could console Stein without involving physical contact. That’s what she was used to, after all. Evidently, that was the complete opposite of what he was used to or usually enjoyed. Though she’d try her best regardless.

Franken shrunk in on himself, bringing his knees against his abdomen, away from the weapon, hiccuping, wetness staining his face, as his eyes swelled.

She’d be lying if she said it wasn’t the least bit cute to see the typically stoic, somewhat composed and calm man shudder and pout. It was, however, a little difficult to focus on how much she wanted to just squeeze him when he was… seemingly experiencing genuine terror for the first time in his life, and well.. accusing her of a nauseating practice for unknown reasons. Perhaps it was madness-induced?

“Come on, you have to know I’d never do that,” she drawled, earning the most malice-filled glare ever directed towards her. “Okay, look… I know this must be scary for you, but I don’t understand why you’d think that. I mean… While you were pretty deep asleep, I’m sure you would’ve woken up if.. Death, I don’t even want to think about that,” Stein coughed once more, shoving his head into his knees to evade the sheer dizziness of it all.

She sat down, leaning against the wall opposite to the scientist, of whom had returned to apprehensively eyeing her.

“Liar,” he sniffled, somehow managing to back further away into the concrete and stone. “List’ning ‘n watching, too…”

“What?” Marie confusedly tilted her head, particularly taken aback at whatever notion that happened to be.

“Go’way…”

“Are you sure you want me to leave?”

“Go away,” he demanded more persistently than before.

“Okay… If that’s what you need, sweetheart,” she lifted her body, standing and glancing over her shoulder as she walked into the kitchen, fully prepared to throw the surely scorched food out.

Stein observed how almost disappointed and distraught she appeared, how sullenly she moved.

‘Someone give that woman an Oscar,’ was the first thought that came to his mind.

🎩 🎩

🍭<(^-^)>🦖

“I just… I don’t know what to do,” Marie abruptly huffed in complaint, playing with the food she had diligently prepared.

A variety of smells intermingled, everyone having cooked vastly different meals for their lunch-break, the Death Room’s brilliantly blue sky blessing their food, never faltering despite the fog and thick clouds saturating the outside.

“Oh, Death, what relationship troubles are you experiencing this time?” Azusa sarcastically questioned, earning a snicker from Spirit.

They were each sitting, comfortably cramped, around a boxy and wooden table, including Lord Death himself, of whom merely chuckled along with the group’s antics.

“No, no…. Actually, it’s not that this time,” the hammer sighed sorrowfully, taking a humble bite out of her chicken. Her eyebrows were pinched closely together, her jaw clenched in anxiety.

“Then what could it possibly be?” Albarn teased, a blithely sardonic smirk stretched across his visage. Mjolnir scowled at him, smacking his upper arm upon hearing his mirthful giggles.

“It’s about Stein, you jerks,” she almost seemed genuinely offended and hurt, visibly perturbed.

“Oh, has something happen?” Yumi immediately placed her utensils onto the table, paying her utmost attention to Marie.

“I’ve been meaning to ask you about him… And stop by for a visit,” Spirit, too, attentively sat, too unease to continue plunging food down his gluttonous gullet.

“It’s just… He.. I think the madness is getting worse…”

“In what way? Is he attempting to cut you open?” Azusa jumped the gun, solemnly ready to attack.

“No! No, no… Not yet, anyway.. He just accused me last night of… Ugh, this is.. He, like, broke down and accused me assaulting him in his sleep.. And then he said something about ‘listening’ and ‘watching,’” Marie shuddered, repulsed by the very prospect of the accusation.

Lord Death and Azusa kept silent, analyzing and processing the words said to them intently and pensively.

“What did you say back? How did you respond?” The seriousness and urgency on the scythe’s countenance was uncharacteristic of him, only serving to further trouble the blonde.

“Well- I, uh… I told him that I’d never do that, and I didn’t really get why he was saying that, and I knew it must have been scary for him, and that he’d have to know I would never do such a thing, and-“

“Don’t argue with it,” he held his hands up warily and advisedly.

“What am I supposed to do, lie and tell him I actually raped him?” A wave of defensive surprise washed over her.

“No.. God, fucking no! Whatever you do, don’t argue OR validate that shit. Look - I’ve been through this with him before, though he’s typically not that open about it…. He started acting kinda weird and out soul resonance began to suffer, and I found out he thought I put cameras and shit in the vents and around the house, and was selling the video is online, and telling Lord Death over here literally everything he ever did or said,” Spirit elucidated, pointing informally with his thumb over at his boss. “I made the same mistake of getting defensive about it and arguing with him. We couldn’t resonate for a good couple of weeks until whatever that was went away somewhat, because he had absolutely no trust in me at all.”

“Then what am I supposed to do? He was sick, too.. I don’t even know if he took anything after I went to bed…”

“Just-“

“And it’s not like I could get close enough to try and comfort him or anything,” she neurotically interjected.

“Just remember that he’s not gonna believe anything you try to do to convince him otherwise. He’ll be suspicious of you no matter what you do. And if he’s not accepting any sort of physical contact, just… Erm… Well, say sort of what you said, like, ‘Oh, it must be really scary to think that.’ Though he may not exactly love that either, it’s better than entirely dismissing him. Just ask him why he thinks what he thinks, but be aware that it may sound a little off or strange. You need to allow him to slowly warm up to whatever sort of comfort you try to give him. Be reassuring and patient. It’s a little hard to know what to do in the moment, but you’ll learn, I promise.”

“Are you sure?” Marie had never felt so grateful over something Spirit had said or done.

“Yes, absolutely. I did. It’s not something he really talked about, but whenever he started to act even weirder than usual, it was just like a switch would go off in my brain, and I would just prepare for whatever consequences came from his thoughts,” the ginger tittered in remembrance. “He’d go from, like, his usual… just existing self to startlingly agitated due to this all, so it’s something I just learned how to handle.”

“Yeah, I noticed that… Thank you, Spirit,” she flashed him an indebted and sweet smile, the corners of her mouth stretching from ear to ear.

“Oh! And also, pay extremely close attention to the language you use while talking to him. One wrong word and I was on trial,” he laughed, grinning himself.

“What do you mean exactly?” She curiously prodded.

“Anything that would imply you feel obligated to do whatever you’re doing is a no-go, I noticed. And anything that would imply a loss of control on his part, or… I’d say anything that’d imply you actually did whatever he thinks you did or are planning on it, or are going to harm him in some way, but just your existence is evidence of that to him,” Albarn began to scarf down his food again, feeling a little more confident in his friend’s abilities to assist his other friend.

“Oh… I told him this morning that he was my responsibility.. Is that included? Is that bad?” A surge of guilt and self-directed frustration swirled within her body.

Death Scythe nearly choked on his food, shaking his head theatrically back and forth.

“Fuck, no! Don’t say that again unless you want to infinitely worsen everything,” he swallowed his meal cartoonishly loud. “For him, that’s, like… It sort of equals, ‘Oh, they don’t even want to be here in the first place? They’re out to get me.’”

“Okay…. Ugh, now I feel bad,” she moaned immaturely, sulking whilst sluggishly taking in tiny bits of food.

“Well, use that to improve.. Even I don’t get it right with him one-hundred percent of the time. It’s sort of impossible with Stein.”

“I think Stein finds it impossible to get it right with himself,” Azusa sneered, breaking her long lasting silence, Marie and Spirit chortling along. “What do you think, Lord Death? You haven’t spoken much, which is odd, given that it’s you.”

“I’m frankly a little concerned.. It doesn’t seem that Stein is distinguishing between the madness and the non-madness anymore,” his body language was particularly ruminative, as his usual gleeful voice possessed a lower and more gravelly twinge to it.

“Yeah… He’s not,” Marie stared down at the table, burning a gaping hole into the oak the same size as the one carving into her thumping heart, as she watched her close friend die a slow, and painful death. “Do you think he’ll come out of it?”

“He always does. I have complete faith he will this time,” Albarn offered his opinion, or, rather, desire.

“Yeah… You’re probably right…”

Hopefully right.

🎩 🎩

🍭<(^-^)>🦖

“Stein? I’m home!” Her voice echoed, bouncing off of the walls. “Franken? Where are you?”

Marie sat her purse down onto the coffee table, roaming around the laboratory in search of her meister, finding him seemingly glued to his computer screen, staring at nothing at all whilst sitting in complete darkness, the only light coming from the living room, giggling to himself, as he spun his chair repetitively.

“Stein?”

He nearly gave himself whiplash, having harshly snapped his head towards the weapon, eyes wide open.

“Hey, what’cha doin’?” She stood awkwardly in the doorway.

Marie was a persistent woman.

The scientist continued to stare through her, that same fuzzy glint in his eyes from the previous night readily apparent.

“You still feeling a little small, baby? I know yesterday was stressful for you,” she sympathetically reminisced, Stein ripping skin off of his lips with his sharp teeth, visibly growing more uncomfortable. “How long has it been since you last ate? I know you probably didn’t eat hardly anything yesterday.”

Franken shrug his shoulders, mumbling, “What’d’y’u care? Wan’ keep me alive f’r more?”

Marie tellingly exhaled, remembering her and Spirit’s conversation. At least she could apply what she’d learned to a real situation.

“Well, I’m hungry, and was wondering if you were too. Why do you feel that way, dear?”

Stein’s face contorted into one of blunted repulsion, shrinking away from the already not close Marie.

“Not feeling very verbal, then?” The weapon languidly asked upon receiving no response… And, well, listening to how difficult it seemed to be for him to simply speak. “You wanna come sit on the couch with me? I’m gonna order us some food.”

She wasn’t going to allow for letting more food go to waste.

The meister appeared fairly on tenterhooks at the notion, his formerly bulging eyes narrowing in leeriness.

“It’s okay if you’re not ready to.. I can sit out here if you want to come out.”

“Why’re y’u bein’ so nice?” He maffled, his right thumb unconsciously making its way past his lips, as he chewed on it, sucking on portions of the skin at times.

If she were to say it was because he’s her friend, would he view that as obligation?

“I want to be. You’re just adorable,” she beamed, avoiding a variety of responses that floated about in her brain.

That disgusted grimace returned to his face, or rather, a disgusted twinge. It wasn’t something she took to heart, for it was clear to her that it was an instinctual, guttural reaction he was having to the foreign treatment. And it certainly didn’t help that he was entirely mistrustful of her kindness and generosity.

“Ado’ble?” He babbled out quizzically. After all, he was infamous for his violent tendencies. Most wouldn’t consider him anything other than scary.

“Adorable,” she assured, leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed over her chest.

How could she not find him cute? Sure, she’d seen for herself how malevolent he could be, but watching his sadistically and atypically giddy, curious expression as he dissected anything and everything lit up her world. Though, maybe not as much as it lit up his world.

“You wanna come sit on the couch?” Marie asked once more before leaving.

While the couch did sound cozy and inviting, would she not pin him down and have her way with him? Could he use his soul-thread sutures to keep her from moving, giving him the upper-hand and ability to escape?

Stein began coughing, sniffling into his arm as his thoughts encased him.

“Aw, still a little sick? It’s hard to see how you look in this darkness,” she chuckled, waving her hands around as to almost point at the shadowy room. “How about I get you some medicine? I think we still have some liquid cold and flu stuff…”

Franken pursed his lips in response, another painful reminder of an experience he did not want, nor choose to have. That is, other than the finger lodged in his mouth that he had long since forgotten to force out, for Marie would find something to exploit regardless.

Liquid medicine was only for when he felt too incompetent to swallow pills, though she always called it “feeling small.”

“‘Kay,” his mutter was barely audible, as Marie beckoned him to follow after her, Stein complying, desperate to rid himself of his pestering illness.

When all was said and done, she’d hurt him whether he avoided her or not.

“You don’t have to speak, okay? It sounds like it’s a struggle for you right now. You don’t ever have to feel pressured to around me,”

He peered up at her most likely feigned sincere expression, his mind unfortunately betraying him as he was pushed further down into headspace.

He shouldn’t enjoy her lies. But he was. It was fuzzy-ifying in a pleasant way, for once.

Why was he even enjoying it? That’s what she wanted out of him, anyway.

A needle-less syringe filled with icky-tasting medicine was placed between his lips, floating between the two, not coming in contact with either, as the horrendously sticky liquid ran down his throat. He swallowed, snarling as he chugged down the glass of water he was given, chasing a tasteless paradise.

“Doesn’t taste very good?” She mimicked his displeased countenance, a fascinatingly empathetic response that the scientist, in any other state of mind, would pick apart until there was not an atom left. In his current mindset, he couldn’t even process thought, however, so only a quick and brief analysis was conducted, being stored in his head for a later date.

The both of them sat side by side on the quaint, little sofa, Stein still too apprehensive to sink into its warmth, though Marie sighed in relief as she fell peacefully into the cushions.

She pulled her phone out from her pocket, clicking away at what was evidently some sort of food delivery app, leaving the meister to wonder what else must’ve been in her pockets. Condoms? Or would those be in her clearly intentionally-placed purse… Right by the place she wanted Stein to be. And what was stored in her leather bag? Rope? Some sort of sex toy to use on him as he tried to writhe away? Was there a variety of toys?

Speaking of toys, the longer he found himself stuck inside of his aching skull, the more he desired to rub his hand around his T-Rex’s fur.. To caress its tail in an effort to maintain his composure.

Tears welled in his eyes, causing him to feel more pathetic and moronic than he’d ever felt before, bring his knees to his sternum, shoving his face into the crack in between.

His heart felt as if it evaporated from his body, a cavernous, hollow hole left in its place. He felt as though he might faint, though that most certainly would only give her easy access.

A sob racked his body, garnering the attention of a certain individual.

“Hey, hey, what’s wrong?” She promptly tossed her phone aside once finished, rushing to quell whatever storm was raging on within him. “You want me to get you your dinosaur? Maybe that would help?”

Oh, God, could she read his thoughts, too?

He lifted his head, slamming it against his kneecaps repeatedly, struggling to merely inhale and exhale, teardrops having seeped into his pajama pants.

“No, no, no, don’t do that, baby,” she worriedly chided, holding his head still reflexively, immediately backing away once Stein bolted to the other side of the sofa, eyes bugging out of their sockets.

His lower lip trembled as he bit into it, whimpering as he returned to his former position, though this time yet another finger found its way back into his mouth, despite its unsanitary nature.

“Yeah, how about I get you your T-Rex? I’ll be right back, okay?”

At least something could cuddle with him. Perhaps it could soothe him and offer him some form of tranquility?

It still pained her to walk away from what might as well have been a weeping baby, especially since that baby was Stein. And Stein didn’t cry. So, it was more than obvious that something was deeply wrong.

Eventually, she’d rushed back to their shared living space, holding out the stuffed animal for him to latch onto and take.

He lifted his eyes cautiously, speedily yanking his favorite stuffie from out of her covetous, unrelenting, and grabby hands, tucking it in between his knees and against his sternum.

What if the supposed “medicine” he was given was a sedative?

His bawling only grew in intensity, as he nuzzled into the softness of his toy, gasping for air as the revelation of just how monstrously he’d betrayed himself fell upon him as crushingly as if the weight of the sun had been the thing to fall on top of him.

“Why’s ever’one wanna touch me?” He began to ramble, a few wheezes here and there as he snuffled.

“What do you mean, sweetheart? Why do you think that?” She moved back towards the sofa, plopping down onto the farthest side.

“Everyone a’ways does,” he whined into the head of the T-Rex, kicking his feet up and down, upset, similarly to a toddler. “Don’ wan’ be touched.”

A toddler…

“I’m sorry you feel that way, sweetie. It must not feel very good..”

What was she supposed to say in this situation?

“Don’ feel ‘at way! I’s the truth!” He choked on yet another convulsion-inducing sob, hugging the T-Rex even tighter than before.

Marie knew Spirit said she’d eventually adapt to Stein… But she was beginning to doubt that idea. What was she supposed to do? Just sit here and listen to him wail?

“Why do you think that?”

“‘Cause tha’s what a’ways happens!”

“Has it happened before, love?”

He glowered at her for simply asking, forcing himself deeper into the corner of the couch.

“Go’way,” he repeated once more. “Jus’ like everyone else.”

“No,” Marie denied his request. “I’m not just going to leave you alone again, Franken.”

“Why not?” He caterwauled.

“That’s not good for you. Come here, sweetheart,” she held her arms out.

“No.. I wanna be alone..”

Marie leaned closer, pulling him in, allowing for his head to rest in the crook of his neck.

Franken squirmed away from her, the weapon only continuing to hold him, hoping to Death it was comfort him in some way.

He tried to use his soul-thread sutures out of pure fight-or-flight, they sparked and dissipated like the flame of a failing lighter, evidently too distressed to properly utilize his skill.

Was it because he never was really distressed? And thus using it in such an anguished state was something he genuinely needed to practice?

Whatever the case may be, he eventually just gave up, succumbing to her unbidden whims.

‘I thought she said she wouldn’t touch me if I didn’t want to?’ The thought left him hollow.

People weren’t to be trusted. This was going to happen whether he avoided her or not. But why did he let himself cry in front of her? He’d betrayed himself for nothing.

A few monotone-sounding, dead sobs escaped his mouth.

He should probably keep it shut if he wants nothing inside of it.

Why did she continue to hold him even when it was perfectly clear he wasn’t enjoying it? Wasn’t she supposed to be the “caring” one?

No matter her intentions, it didn’t make it feel any better.

With the crashing of the thunder came the flashing and burning of the lightning, and soon he was too empty, too betrayed despite having always expected it, and had been much too sapped to cry.

She could do whatever she wanted with him. He was done.

[fandomgirlz01]

MTV Yearbook Challenge Pt. 1

Jack Champion X Reader

Imagine on my fandom instagram?: No

Prompt?: No

Request?: No

Requested prompt?: No

Edited: Yes

Word count: 6,125 (oops 😬 I got a little carried away…) 

Ko-fi

Masterlist

Warnings here

You can listen to the story be read out loud here.

Post Date: August 29th 2023

Post Time: 11:07 PM

Summary: The young cast of Avatar play MTVs yearbook challenge and some very interesting questions get debated between them, as well as Jack and the Reader’s relationship being made fun of. 

Third Person Pov:

“Y/n!” You hear a voice shout, making you turn around and the person who was doing your makeup sighs. 

“I guess that means she's done,” the makeup person mutters as she walks off, shaking her head. 

“Trini girl!” you shout back when you see Trinity run into the room. 

She runs into your arms and you quickly wrap your arms around her. You squeeze her tightly and hold onto her for a moment before letting go. 

“Look how much you’ve grown. How have you grown so much in a year?” You ask in bewilderment as you look over the younger girl and she grins. 

“I know, right. Where’s Jack, did you guys come together?” she wonders as she looks around for him. 

“He is, he just had to run to the bathroom. He drank way too much water on the way here,” You explain to her, rolling your eyes and she laughs. 

“Well hello, you two. Haven’t seen you guys in some time,” comes another voice and you turn to see Bailey smiling. 

“Bailey!” Trinity shouts when she sees her. 

“Hi, Trinity. My, how big you’ve grown,” Bailey parrots you without knowing and you laugh along with Trinity.  

“What?” Bailey asks as she gives you both a questioning look. 

“I just said that. It’s crazy, right? I feel like she’s grown so much since we last saw her,” You tell her and she nods in agreement. 

“She definitely has. Trinity, stop growing so fast,” Bailey jokes, making Trinity laugh. 

“I would if I could,” Trinity tells her, making both older girls laugh. 

“Hello, ladies,” another voice breaks through the laughter and you all look to see Jamie walk in. 

“Am I the only guy today?” Jamie asks as he looks at all of you. 

“No. Jack’s here, too. Y/n said he just had to run to the bathroom. Apparently he drank too much water on the way here,” Trinity explains though her own giggles and Jamie’s face shows relief. 

“Sounds like something Jack would do…” Jamie comments and you giggle, nodding. 

“Right?” You playfully ask like you're shocked. 

“Would it have been so bad being around just us girls?” Bailey asks in a joking tone and Jamie shakes his head. 

“No. It just would have been a little lonely being the only boy. You guys know I love you,” Jamie tells you and you all hum at him as you each give him a side eye. 

“Sorry to interrupt, I’m Roger, I'm the one running the interview today,” A man who looks like he’s in his late twenties, maybe early thirties, introduces himself. 

“We’re just about ready to start. You all have been microphoned, right?” he asks and you all smile, nodding. 

“Ok. Then if we can all take a seat, we can get started in a few minutes,” Roger tells you and you all nod before heading over to the chairs. 

“Umm, sir, we are missing one person actually. He went to the bathroom,” You tell him as you sit down and he nods. 

“We can wait for another minute and if he is not back yet, we can send someone to find him,” Roger explains and you nod. 

“So y/n, how’s life?” Bailey asks and you smile. 

“It’s good. Really good. You?” You ask her and she smiles back. 

“I mean, it’s a little crazy right now, but I wouldn’t change it for the world,” Bailey tells you and you smile. 

“I’m glad to hear that, Bay,” You tell her and she reaches across Trinity to squeeze your hand. 

“Hey, babe,” Jack greets as he walks back into the room and kisses your cheek lightly before he takes the seat to the left of you. 

“Hi, honey,” you reply with a smile when you see him. 

“Ok. Everyone here now?” Roger asks from his seat behind the monitor. 

“Yes. We can start now if you’re ready?” You politely question and he smiles, giving a small nod. 

“Ok. Let’s start left to right, just introducing ourselves and who you play in the movie,” Roger informs you all and everyone nods. 

“Hello everyone, I’m Jamie Flatters. I play Neteyam,” Jamie introduces himself with a smile. 

“Hi. I’m Trinity Jo-Li Bliss, I play Tuk,” Trinity introduces herself next with a small wave. 

“Hello. I’m Bailey Bass and I play Tsireya,” Bailey introduces herself with a smile. 

“Hi. I’m y/n Dayton, or as some fans like to call me, I’m y/n Champion. I play Chickadee or Sietsla Te which is her official Navi name, even though she’s like Spider,” You introduce yourself with a smile and a small wave. 

“And I’m Jack Champion, I play Spider,” Jack introduces himself with a smirk that makes you shake your head at him. 

“Ok. I’m going to ask you all a series of ‘who’s most likely to’ questions. You just answer who you think would out of your cast members,” Roger explains and we all nod. 

“Do you mean like the whole cast or just the younger cast?” You question for clarity and Roger looks up at you. 

“Either one. I’d say out of the cast that’s here, but you can say anyone if you’d like,” Roger clarifies and you nod in understanding. 

“Ok, first question. Who’s most likely to have everyone laughing on set?” Roger asks and you smile. 

“Jack…” Bailey says before you can say anything and you turn to her. 

“No, cause I was going to say the same thing,” You retort at her and she grins. 

“Great minds think alike,” she comments with a small shrug and you giggle before sitting back. 

“I was gonna say Trinity,” Jack adds his thoughts as he leans forward to look at her. 

“Wait, huh?” Trinity asks as she looks at him. 

“Jack…” Bailey adds on again to make her point known as she points at him with her thumb. 

“Me?” Jack asks in confusion and you laugh, looking at him. 

“Yes, babe. You,” You tell him as you pat his arm and he just looks even more confused. 

“I laughed more at… you just… you make, like you…” Bailey struggles to explain.

“That’s actually beautiful that you're shocked at it, man. It shows that you're a very humble comedian,” Jamie jumps in as he looks at Jack. 

“Yeah, it’s good. I really go you know, it’s just, you know,” Jack tells Jamie with a playful shrug and roll of his eyes as you laugh. 

“Babe, what does that even mean?” You ask Jack and he just shrugs. 

“It’s either of you guys,” Trinity adds on, pointing at both Jack and Jamie. 

“I literally two minutes ago go ‘hey,’ to Jack,” Bailey speaks up, starting to explain what she means. 

“Oh my gosh…” Jack says as he puts his hand up to his mouth and leans away as if he’s embarrassed.  

“You see, he doesn’t even want me to say it, but like I laughed. And he goes, ‘hay is for horses,’” Bailey explains, doing a perfect impression of Jack. 

“No, stop! He uses that on me all the time!” You tell her as you smack her arm and she looks at you with a shocked look. 

“No. He does not. Does he?” she asks and you laugh harder. 

“I swear he does. I’ll just text him out of the blue one day after we haven’t been able to talk for a few days, and I kid you not I say ‘hey.’ What’s his response only a few minutes later? ‘Hay is for horses.’ I think it’s his favorite joke without realizing it,” You tell her and she rolls her eyes. 

“Jaaaaack!” Bailey cries out, carrying out the sound of his name as she laughs at him. 

“Yeah, but that- That’s so overused,” Jack tries to defend himself, but gets cut off as Bailey laughs as she notices Jaime. 

“Jamie’s like, yeah ok!” Bailey shouts as she points at Jamie. 

“I’m using that, man. I’m using it,” Jamie pointedly tells Jack while moving his hand away from his face for a moment.

“You’ve never heard that?” Jack asks and you roll your eyes. 

“I know I have,” you comment and Jack playfully rolls his eyes. 

“Of course you have, babe,” Jack replies and you giggle. 

“But really, you’ve never heard that?” he asks again as he looks past you to Jamie and Bailey. 

“No,” Bailey tells him in a straight tone. 

“You’ve never heard that one?” Jack asks again as he points at Jamie. 

“My dad says that all the time,” Trinity adds into the conversation. 

“You’ve never heard that?” Jack asks again, clearly shocked. 

“No. I’ve never heard that,” Bailey tells him as she points to herself and he turns. 

“Bull!” Jack exaggerates as he leans his head back in disbelief. “Bull!” he repeats again as he looks at her. 

“Bull,” he exclaims again in disbelief as he turns in his chair to look at the camera. 

“Ok. Ok. Next question. Most likely to be singing on set?” Roger quickly segways to the next question and you all quiet down to listen to him. 

“Trinity,” Bailey says with no hesitation. 

“Yeah. That’s right,” Jack comments before Jamie cuts him off. 

“Yeah. You do. I like that,” Jamie adds his thoughts as he looks at her and she just giggles shyly. 

“She’s a singer, yeah,” Jack adds as he too looks over at her. 

“It’s rare for you not to find y/n singing with her, though,” Jack again adds on as he points to you. 

“It’s not my fault she pulls me in!” You exclaim and Jack snickers at you as you shrug. 

“Yeah. Trinity’s a singer,” Bailey agrees as she points with her thumb at Trinity. 

“Trini girl is a great singer,” you comment and Trinity blushes. 

“Although, I will say earlier you were singing that Bon Jovi song,” Jack brings up as he points at Bailey. 

“What are you talking about…?” Bailey asks, giving Jack a confused look. 

“It’s… I’m not gonna vote for myself! If it’s something like really obvious, I’m not gonna vote for myself, but me, Trinity and y/n would sing together,” Bailey defends herself as she points at Trinity, then you. 

“And we would- yeah,” Trinity adds on as Bailey laughs and claps her hands together. 

“Ok. Ready for the next question?” Roger asks as you all sit forward again, giving a small hum of agreement. 

“Ok. Who’s most likely to fall asleep on set?” Roger asks and Jack immediately starts getting antsy in his seat. 

“Definitely y/n. It’s kinda how we got together,” he explains and everyone else laughs. 

“I’m still mad they wouldn’t let me in on the game anymore after that,” Jack comments as he crosses his arms with a pout. 

“It wasn’t fair with you dating her!” Jamie exclaims and you laugh. 

“What game?” Roger asks and Jack perks up. 

“At the beginning of filming, we’d find y/n asleep in the craziest places and so we made a challenge. Whoever could get the most videos-” Jack starts to explain the game. 

“Or pictures,” Trinity adds in excitement. 

“Yes, or pictures of her asleep then we’d all give that person twenty dollars,” Jack explains and Roger looks intrigued. 

“Why’d you get kicked off the game, then?” Roger asks and Jack chuckles as he scratches at the back of his neck. 

“Well you see, one day Jack found me in his trailer, which wasn’t rare. It was one of my favorite places to sleep because Jack and I were close as soon as we met. Plus it was a good place to just bask in the quietness of,” you take over explaining and he smiles at you. 

“It wasn’t rare to find one of them in the other’s trailer at some point in the day if they weren’t filming with each other that day,” Bailey adds on with a light giggle and shake of her head. 

“Anyway, Jack found me in his trailer. I had finished my scenes for the day and he still had like three to go, but we had decided that morning that we’d get dinner together so I decided to wait in his trailer and ended up falling asleep,” you explain more and everyone laughs. 

“She’d literally fall asleep anywhere during downtime. It was fascinating how fast she’d be out,” Jamie comments and you shrug. 

“Yes, but you guys fail to remember the movie took three years to film and I was still going to real school and taking AP classes, might I add,” You defend yourself as you hold up a finger to silence your castmates. 

“Anyway, I found her little 16, almost 17-year-old self in my trailer, sleeping on the couch. I didn’t wanna wake her, she looked so peaceful. So I went over after changing out of my clothes and started to put a blanket over her,” Jack explains as everyone starts to snicker. 

“Wait, how old were you guys when it all started?” Roger asks, motioning between you and Jack, who grins. 

“I was twelve when I started auditioning, but when I actually met her I was fourteen and she was sixteen. We didn’t really start dating till I was sixteen, making her eighteen,” Jack explains the timeline and you grin, reaching for his hand. 

“But ask anyone and they’ll tell you we were the closest on set. We were like the best of friends,” You add on and Bailey scoffs. 

“Saying best friends is an understatement, y/n. You two were probably closer than that,” she comments and you blush. 

“I mean, she’s not wrong,” Trinity adds, making you and Jack smile at each other. 

“Anyways!” Jack cuts back in with a roll of his eyes at your castmates. “I was going to take a picture after putting the blanket over her, but she surprised me by pulling me down with her. I tried getting up, but I kid you not, this girl has an iron grip so I gave up and fell asleep with her,” Jack explains with a shrug and Bailey laughs. 

“That’s where I come in. I found them that way and took a picture. That was the first of many times we started finding him and her asleep cuddling somewhere,” Bailey explains through her laughter. 

“It wasn’t until about maybe a third of the way through filming we found out they’d started dating, so we told Jack he was out of the game because he’d have it too easy to get the pictures,” Jamie adds on and the rest of you all laugh. 

“I think they shoulda let me keep playing, really,” Jack says with a frown and Trinity laughs. 

“But you already have a whole bunch and we’re not even playing anymore! You have a whole album dedicated to her sleeping,” Trinity comments and you smirk at him. 

“She’s got you there,” You tell him with a giggle. 

“Yeah. Yeah. It’s not my fault my girlfriend sleeping is cute,” he deflects and you all laugh more at him. 

“It’s actually so well documented that there’s a behind the scenes video of it. James thought it was so funny, he decided to put it in the behind the scenes,” Trinity adds on and everyone agrees, nodding.  

“So if you get it on DvD you can see just how much fun we all had,” Bailey adds and Roger smiles. 

“Ok. Next question,” Roger tells you before pausing to look down at his note card. 

“Most likely to mess up a stunt,” Roger reads out and you all take a moment to think about it. 

“Jack…” Bailey speaks up first again as she holds back a laugh and he slowly grins. 

“Really?!” Trinity asks as Jamie starts saying “Whoa… whoa.” 

“So call him out, why don’t you,” Jamie comments with a playful roll of his eyes. 

“But not like messing up! Messing up sounds… bad, like, I don’t think messing up a stunt is necessarily a bad thing. Like I have literally… I…” she starts to explain her reasoning, but Trinity cuts her off. 

“And you have like really hard stunts, too,” Trinity comments as she looks at Bailey. 

“Yeah. Thank— who, me?” Bailey asks as she points to herself while looking at Trinity. 

“Oh, Jack,” Trinity clarifies as she points at him and he hums at her. 

“Y/n had some pretty hard ones too,” Jack comments as he looks at you. 

“That I did,” you agree as you nod. 

“Well who injured themselves the worst during that process?” Jamie asks as he leans back in his chair to look at Jack.

“Filming?” Bailey asks for clarification. 

“I mean I probably got the most scraps and bruises, but like, I film longer, so,” Jack explains, using his hands as he talks.

“That is true!” Jamie agrees as he looks away from Jack now. 

“Exactly, you did harder stunts. It’s fair, but listen I’ve got a face full of like those white balls—” Bailey talks with Jack about it and you snort when Jamie grimaces. 

“What?” Bailey asks, pausing as she looks at you and turning beet red from holding in a laugh. 

“Jamie totally got where my brain went…” you comment, laughing and Jack’s eyes widen. 

“Babe! You had them, too!” he shouts when he understands and you fight to hold back another laugh. 

“No. I didn’t mean that!” he shouts and now you bust out laughing alongside Jamie. 

“Ok… anyway I had them on my face because of a stunt, so… stunts go wrong,” Bailey goes right back to what she was saying.

“They really do go wrong. I think I may beat Jack in who got hurt worse, remember?” You question and Jack's eyes widen as he looks at you. 

“Oh my gosh, I completely forgot about that. Please don’t make me relive it,” he groans, covering his face. 

“What stunt? I don’t remember a stunt going wrong?” Bailey asks and you nod. 

“You wouldn’t. It was just Spider, Neteyam, Tuk, Lo’ak, Kiri, and Chickadee,” You inform her with a shake of your head. 

“Jack absolutely freaked out,” You tell her and she gives an ‘ahhh’. 

“Wait, are we talking about the one where you and Spider go flying?” Trinity asks and you nod. 

“Yeah. Without giving too much away, I was originally supposed to land safely on the pad next to Jack, but got caught on something and just landed wrong,” you explain and Bailey sits up in her seat. 

“Was that why you sat out for four weeks in Jack's trailer that one time?” she asks and you nod. 

“Yeah. I wasn’t allowed to do much with a freshly broken arm. So I just stayed in. Plus my pain meds were in his trailer. I was just going to stay in the rental house, but someone didn’t want that,” you explain with a playful eye roll. 

“I wanted to make sure my best friend -at the time- who had a habit of not taking her meds when she’s supposed to, did. Is that so bad?” he asks and you giggle, shaking your head. 

“No, I suppose not. You were just making sure I was ok,” you agree softly with him and he smirks. 

“Well I guess I did that job like a champion,” he slyly comments, making both you and Bailey groan. 

“Jack, honey. That was so cringe, my love,” you tell him while laughing with Bailey, who lets out a ‘see!’ while pointing to him. 

“Well, you like my cringe, so…” Jack trails off while crossing his arms playfully and you laugh some more. 

“I mean, you’re not wrong,” you agree with him and he smiles at the camera, bouncing his eyebrows. 

“See guys, she loves me,” he comments with a smirk and you shake your head. 

“That I do,” you tell him before leaning over just ever so slightly to kiss his cheek. 

“Awe thanks, babe!” he shouts out in a happy, high-pitched tone, making you and Bailey laugh even harder. 

“Goodness, your mom’s right, sweetheart. You are a dork,” you tell him and he only smirks again. 

“Yeah, but I’m your dork,” he cheekily states, making you and Bailey burst out laughing. 

“Jaaaack, you did not. You cheese ball!” Bailey yells out, only making you laugh harder. 

“Anyway, stunts go wrong!” she finally finishes her point and everyone agrees.

“Alright, onto the next question, then?” Roger asks when all of you calm down and you nod at him.

“Most likely to be swearing too much on set?” Roger asks as he reads off the card.

“Jack…” Bailey comments first again, laughing and you start laughing with her. 

“What?!” Trinity shouts as she looks at Bailey. 

“No. Definitely not me,” Jack denies as he points at himself. 

“Wait, NO! This has to be the adult cast,” Bailey amends what she said as she looks at Roger. 

“This is so easily…!” Jack shouts, trailing off as he leans back and rubs his leg.  

“This is Slang…” Bailey adds as she looks at Jack and pauses. 

“Sam!” Trinity yells out in shock as she looks at Bailey in disbelief. 

“I was gonna say Sam!” Jack agrees with Trinity as he sits up in his seat. 

“You had more scenes with Sam then I did,” Bailey adds and Jack nods. 

“Good point, good point,” Jack agrees with a shrug. 

“Because going around with the swear jar, you and me. Sam was our primary contributor,” Trinity explains as she points between herself and Jack as you just sink back in your chair while Jamie looks at you. 

“I mean, he’s Australian, ya know. Like, but yeah,” Jack adds while shrugging before relaxing his hands on his legs again and Bailey laughs. 

“There’s going to be Australians who are like, I do not cuss,” Bailey casually jokes as she lays her arms on the armrests of her chair. 

“Sam would try really hard in front of us. He put in a good effort. I remember one time he came up to me and he’s just like, ‘I’m sorry, Trinity. Colorful language comes naturally to Australians’,” Trinity explains as she does a perfect impression of Sam, making everyone laugh. 

Jack leans forward as he laughs and rubs his eyes before sitting back in his chair with a grin on his face. Jamie continues to eye you and you shake your head at him. 

“That’s funny,” Bailey comments before it all settles down again. 

“Ok. But who out of the kids?” Roger asks and Jamie smirks as you roll your eyes at him. 

“What? What are you thinking over there?” Bailey asks Jamie and he only smirks more. 

“Oh, nothing…” he comments with a light chuckle when he sees you avoiding him. 

“No, what?” Bailey asks again and he chuckles. 

“I was just thinking out of all us kids, the one who swore most was Y/n,” he commends and Jack’s eyes widen. 

“Nooooo! That’s so true!” Jack adds before letting out a small ‘oww’ as you smack his arm. 

“It is not,” you add as he rubs the spot and chuckles. 

“Oh, it so is. What about that time in my trailer huh?” he asks and you blush, making him chuckle again. 

“She was doing homework and she got very frustrated. She shoved her books off the table and yelled the f-word,” Jack explains and Trinity’s eyes widen. 

“I remember that!” Trinity adds as she points at Jack, who nods. 

“Ok. So I’d get a little frustrated sometimes, so what?” You shrug and try to play it cool, making them all laugh. 

“Ok. Ok. Can we move on from making fun of me please! School was very hard for me, ok?!” You shout, feeling embarrassed as you hide your face and everyone laughs. 

“Ok. Moving on. Most likely to forget their lines?” Roger reads off the cards in his hands. 

“Ohhh…” Jamie says as it goes quiet for a moment. 

“This is not a nice one,” Bailey comments as she plays with her fingers. 

“I feel like we’ve all… we’ve… done a pretty good job,” Trinity speaks up and trails off a bit. 

“Yeah,” Bailey agrees as Trinity turns to Jamie. 

“Have we?” she asks as she continues to look at Jamie. 

“I think everyone is pretty genuinely good at their lines,” Jack comments as he touches his chin in compilation. 

“I can’t remember what times when we…” Trinity comments before Jack cuts her off. 

“I can’t think of anyone that consistently…” Jack starts, but this time Bailey cuts him off. 

“Also you and y/n have some fun improv as well,” Bailey comments as she uses her thumb to point to you and Jack, who scratches at his ear as he turns to talk to her. 

“Yeah,” both you and Jack agree at the same time. 

“You guys are so good,” Trinity adds and you smile over at her. 

“You guys just go off and either one of them will be doing a scene where they’re walking out and one of them will just start cursing,” Bailey starts to explain and Jack laughs but you stop her for a moment. 

“No. No. Those ones were all Jack, all I did was act along with what he was doing,” you comment and Bailey rolls her eyes. 

“Yeah, but like you did so good at just falling into whatever he’d do. It was so fun to watch,” Bailey expresses with a small eye roll. 

“Yeah…” Jack agrees with her as Trinity laughs. 

“The one where I was roasting you,” Jack comments as he sits up and points at Jamie. 

“Yeah and y/n just joins right on in…” Jamie comments with a roll of his eyes like he’s annoyed and you giggle. 

“Jack started it! I just went along for the ride!” You defend yourself and you all laugh. 

“I’m not gonna say the specific scene, but there’s a scene where I-” Jack starts to try explaining, but Jamie cuts him off. 

“That wasn’t even a scene. That was just in the trailer, man,” Jamie comments and everyone starts laughing. 

Jack bends over and puts his head on top of his crossed arms as you lean your head back. You both simultaneously sit straight again, but still have grins on your faces. 

“It’s everyday life,” Trinity comments with a nod of her head. 

“Look at your… look at your big feet,” Jamie imitates with a comical tone as he playfully rolls his eyes. 

“Everyday… the one scene aside from the lunch breaks,” Jack explains as Jamie goes on with the funny imitation, ‘look at your big blue head.’”

“Yeah. The lunch breaks, yeah. Yeah,” Jaime agrees before Jack sits back in his chair. 

“And y/n would always join in,” Trinity adds and you roll your eyes. 

“What can I say, it was fun,” you playfully admit with a shrug and everyone laughs. 

“We do get to do a lot of improv which is really fun. We created our own- the reef kids created— which is me, Duane and Filip— we created our own, like, rock paper scissors,” Bailey starts to explain, using her hand to motion out a half attempted rock move. 

“It’s like crocodile, akula, something else, like it’s really weird,” she explains with a shake of her head. 

“I have my own thing for that,” Jack comments as he points to himself. “I know how to win every rock paper scissors.”

“He does and he does it every single time!” You exclaim and Bailey laughs. 

“What? You make eye contact?” Bailey asks him and you perk up. 

“No. Do one right this second,” Jack tells her as he lifts his hands into position and so does she, making you watch your boyfriend intently with a smirk. 

“Rock, paper-” they both start to chant, but get thrown off. 

“Ok, rock, paper, scissors,” they both chant as they both do the hand motions. 

“Black hole!” Jack shouts, lifting his hands and making a circle and Bailey makes a funny sound in her shock. 

“I win,” Jack adds on as he grins proudly. 

“But the thing is, just in the airport the other day I beat you like four rounds in rock paper scissors,” Trinity comments with a grin and you gasp. 

“No, he didn’t. He told me he won!” You tell her and her eyes widen. 

“Jack. You lied to y/n?! How could you?!” she playfully jokes as he sits up. 

“We don’t have to talk about that!” Jack shouts as he puts his hand on his cheek. 

“Until I did the black hole and I won, so clearly black hole sucks everything, transports it to another dimension and I win. So no, I didn’t lie,” Jack shouts as he uses his hands to get his point across. 

“You know you become spaghetti if you go into a black hole?” Bailey calmly asks Jack and you giggle, already knowing what Jack’ll say. 

“Spaghettify,” Jack adds as he points at her, making you laugh harder when he says exactly what you knew he’d say. 

“O…k… whatever…” Bailey comments, unimpressed as she turns away from him. 

“Next question,” Bailey adds, trying to move on. 

“I love you, Neil Degrasse Tyson!” Jack shouts as he points to the camera and you start to laugh again. 

“He may even love him more than me. He made me watch that Cosmos one that came out in 2014 like once a month,” you comment though your laughter and Jack rolls his eyes. 

“I do not…” Jack plays coy, making you laugh harder. 

“Babe. I love you, but you totally do. At this point I can quote the 2014 and the 2020 one by heart,” you joke and he shrugs.

“But it’s so interesting, isn’t it?” he asks you and you stop laughing to look at him. 

“I mean, yeah actually, you got me there. It really is,” you agree with a shrug and Bailey rolls her eyes at the two of you. 

“Ok. Really, next question,” Bailey jokes as she motions for Roger to move on and he chuckles. 

“Ok. Who’s most likely to give the best life advice?” Roger reads off his cards again and you smile. 

“Kate Winslet,” Bailey says again without hesitation and you nod. 

“I totally agree. When I was stressed and struggling, she came over to me and was all like, ‘Look honey, you’re gonna struggle through life, it's just a part of it. What matters is how you fight back.’ I don’t know, it stuck with me,” you explain with a shrug after imitating her and sitting back in your chair. 

“I want to say Slang,” Jack comments and you grin at him as Bailey gasps. 

“Oh my God, I love Slang. He does,” Bailey whines out as she holds her hands to her chest. 

“He gives us- also ok, so Kate came for two weeks to film and then she came back to do reshoots and in that little time she impacted all of us so much,” Bailey explains with her hands.

“I think she impacted y/n most, though,” Jack comments as he points at you and you nod. 

“She really did! Like when I see her I just see stars around her. She’s so awesome. I have loved her since first seeing Titanic when I was younger, so meeting her was like a dream come true really,” you explain while grinning and Jack smiles at you. 

“She’s such a hopeless romantic. Titanic is her favorite romance movie,” Jack explains and you nod. 

“Well, how isn’t it yours?! Jack literally died to save her. That’s romantic right there!” You defend your reasons and Jack smirks. 

“It’s definitely not because his name is Jack, right?” he jokingly prods at your side and you blush. 

“I mean, it’s definitely a plus that I can imagine that it’s my Jack just because of the name,” you coyly state as you bounce your eyebrows at the camera and Jack groans, rubbing his face. 

“She literally pushes all her hopeless romantic energy on to me,” he jokes and you grin at him. 

“And you love it,” you state with a mischievous grin and he shrugs. 

“Can’t say I don’t,” he adds and you giggle softly at his little shrug. 

“Anyway, back to what I was saying,” Bailey cuts in again with a playful eye roll and you laugh, reaching for her hand to give it a squeeze as an apology for interrupting her monologue of thoughts. 

“But then Slang who was with us for the year and a half just- he’s just, like, the sweetest,” Bailey finishes off as she puts her hands together. 

“He’s the nicest guy you’ll ever meet, unless he’s in character,” Trinity adds on with a grin. 

“That’s true!” Bailey calls out, pointing at Trinity as you and her start to laugh. 

“Oh, yeah, that is so true,” Jack agrees as he sits forward in his chair and points at them.

“Cause like when Slang goes into that character, it’s just…” Jack tries to explain.

“Hardcore?” Trinity adds in for him. 

“Just rage and all that… stuff. But Kate, I was gonna say I only met Kate like a couple times, but the couple times I did, like she’s one of the most genuine people that you’ll meet,” Jack explains.

“You say that ‘cause she’s the only one that was able to calm y/n’s panic that one day,” Bailey comments and Jack's eyes widen. 

“No, I mean, it was definitely a sweet moment to watch her calm her when it was a rare moment that I couldn’t, but genuinely Kate was just all around nice and sweet,” Jack defends himself and you giggle. 

“Babe, I think Bailey’s just joking with you about it,” you tell him and he sighs. 

“Of course she is,” he comments with a roll of his eyes. 

“Ok. Ready for the next question?” Roger asks and you all nod. “Ok. Most likely to be the mother of the group?” 

“Trinity,” Jamie comments, pointing at her. 

“Yeah. Well, I have… yeah… that’s hard,” Bailey comments while agreeing with Jamie. 

“Well, yeah, Bailey— ok I will say Trinity is very like… like ya know, she cares a lot, but Bailey is also the type of person that will be like ‘Oh! You have something on your face!’”, Jack explains as he motions someone licking their thumb and cleaning the other person's face. 

“You know what I mean?” he asks as he sits back nonchalantly and Bailey starts to laugh. 

“No, like, cause the other day she’s like, ‘your mascara’s smudged’, and like—,” Trinity adds as she shows the motion of someone fixing it. 

“I literally have like a trapped survivor kit in my bag, so like I have bandaids, I have like multiple types of lip balm—” Bailey starts to try explaining and Jack laughs. 

“You do? So does y/n. Literally carries it everywhere with us. One time I cut myself and she just pulls a bandaid out of her pocket all like, ‘oh, here babe’,” Jack jokes and you roll your eyes. 

“It never hurts to be prepared,” you comment with a shrug. 

“I literally have gas x— which comes in handy more times than you think. I have mints, like all the things,” Bailey finishes.

“Yeah…” both Trinity and Jack add on. 

“But then yes, when it comes to press especially, I’m on it. We did like three reels today,” she adds on and Trinity laughs. 

“Yeah! She’s- she’s- she- We were having a social media internship right now from Bailey,” Trinity jokes and Bailey starts to laugh. 

“We, yeah…but no. I was gonna say y/n is the mother hen of the group, she’s like me and Bailey combined,” Trinity explains and Jack snaps, pointing at her. 

“It’s so true. She’s always prepared for any situation with snacks or even just like water and when she does check in on you it’s like super caring and sweet,” Jack comments and you laugh. 

“Jack, honey. You have to say that, you're my boyfriend,” you tell him, patting his arm. 

“No, but it’s so true though, you're like the perfect mix of caring and understanding, yet totally obsessive that everyone around you is doing ok,” he tells you and you just shake your head. 

“It’s actually so true, y/n,” Bailey tells you as she nods, grinning. 

“Ok, ok. I’m the mother hen of the group, I guess,” you agree with a shrug. 

“Ok, well, that’s all the questions we have for you all today,” Roger tells you guys as he stands from his chair and you all smile, nodding. 

Together we all get our mics taken off before separating to head to our cars and head to the next interview of the day. 

The End…

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[lorata]

I’m loving the “outsider/insider perspective” fic that’s going on re: the Games. Your Rowan and Blake, @cloversworldsblog’s bit about the outlier Victors and Alec, it’s so good and it helps add so many layers to the worldbuilding! The idea of the people who “know” (or think they do) the Games, and yet, they really don’t know everything.

For Rowan, the thing that caught me was the whole attitude about the 74th being a love story-how clearly the Centre sees that it’s just that, a story, how the rules change wasn’t ever going to last, even how Katniss was fully prepared to shoot Peeta in the end (a kind of ruthlessness Two would begrudgingly approve of). But even though they *know* it’s just an angle, the word comes down from the Capitol, and Two falls in line, parrots the storyline even though they don’t believe it.

Also, I’d love to see a story with Two’s Mentors (it would have to be Two, One is too resentful and Four is in that odd space) dealing with the outlier Districts, and just flat out telling them, “You would have done the exact same thing if you had the chance. To save your children, you would make the same choice we did, and if you deny it you’re lying.”

"You would have done the exact same thing if you had the chance" is exactly the undercurrent and the tension that plays in a lot of the mentor interactions, and I swore I wrote that precise line in a Ronan scene somewhere but I can't find it so maybe I imagined it? or maybe it's just like ............ so steeped in all the unsaid even though he's never actually said it aloud, haha

I'm really loving the discussions and interplay that's coming out of things lately as well! Chaff's "I'm nothing like him" (Alec) is incredibly damning but it IS the mystique that the Capitol -- and the Centre machine itself -- work so very hard to maintain on many different levels. D2 kids die, yes, but choose to be there. D2 victor prostitution is "different" because they choose their targets; they aren't sold, they're selling themselves. D2 victors might be disfigured or traumatized but they wanted this so they can't complain.

as someone who was around in the early 2010s and saw how the prevailing fandom attitudes were basically ... well, the above, it's really gratifying to see such rich, nuanced conversations happening around all the districts and the propaganda that goes into keeping the people divided. partly due to people growing up but even new & young fans are having these discussions, partly, i think, due to like ... world events that have happened since. a 14yo in 2012 has had a very, very different life experience than a 14yo in 2022

also just as an aside since you mentioned it, Katniss and Peeta have very different skillsets as far as the Centre is concerned and it makes for fascinating watching. Peeta has the crowd work while Katniss does not -- they point this out, that he's the one who's been giving her audience appeal, he's the one who (if he weren't bleeding to death) could have walked out with sympathy by throwing the knife away at the same time Katniss pointed the arrow, but he lacks survival skills. Katniss has a singleminded ruthlessness (in the Marco Animorphs sense, where she can see the bright, clear line from A to B) that makes survival possible, but the audience doesn't like her and she makes very little effort to do so until forced. they need each other and it was a fascinating game to analyze, from a strategy standpoint.

the trainers always assumed the rule change would be revoked at an appropriately dramatic point, but they also thought that whoever won would be a disappointment without the other as complement. a weird game to play and no clear resolution, until the kids blew the whole thing up

not one that would work for any of you, indeed

[starboysbrainrot]

hey,

i know that you don’t talk interact with character metas a lot in the atla fandom, but i’ve seen lately that you’re very defensive of characters like Zuko & Jet, which is unusual in this fandom because Zuko/Jet stans tend to demonise eachothers all the time, so it’s a bit surprising to see your blog

so if i may ask, what’s you honest thought on these two characters ?

read under cut cuz it’s pretty damn long

hey anon

first, thank you for your ask ! it’s always a pleasure to discuss things about atla :)

as you rightfully pointed out, I tend to avoid interacting with most atla metas. but I don’t mind responding to some of them.

now to answer your question, I wouldn’t say that it’s particularly a rare thing to be fond of both Jet & Zuko as characters… and I sure as hell wouldn’t call me a stan. I like them, yes, but I like them as characters who are both traumatised war teenagers stuck in their violent & toxic behaviour and who try to be better at the end of their character arc. I certainly don’t like them because I think they did nothing wrong or idk what else.

and tbh, some Zuko stans have a way of demonising Jet that I absolutely hate, while Jet stans rarely openly hate him, they can be critical of Zuko’s character, yes, but they’re often way more nuanced and levelheaded. although I’ve seen some big ass bullshit coming from both stans but what’s new, we’re in the atla fandom after all…

now if I had to be honest : they’ve both terribly written in the second half of their character arcs. and don’t shoot me down before I finish talking, I swear I don’t completely hate the way they’re written, only a part of it.

like Jet ? BSS redemption arc ? him helping the gaang ? working actively on his traumas after his brainwash ? great idea, love it, but terrible execution. his death is tragic but the aftermath is a fucking joke. the gaang only mentions him again two times, first in the TSR, to point out that he was a lunatic that killed innocent people (….ok) and in EIP (probably the one episode I hate the most in the whole show) to mock his death with the most apathetic “you know, it was really unclear” from Sokka ?? fucking hated every second of it. but on paper ? love the character, he’s literally my comfort character alongside with Zuko and I cherish him deeply. I really wished that his character arc would have been written differently but now what’s done is done. and don’t get me started on how mf imperialist warlord Iroh is painted in a golden light in opposition to the 16 yo orphan boy from the mf oppressed side of the war that died under a mf lake. how so many people are painted in a better light than Jet. Jet being canonically demonised in show pisses me off. what’s the point of concluding his redemption arc in season 2 only to compare him to a killer lunatic in season 3. make it make sense please.

now if I had to be honest about Zuko… I’m a book 1 & 2 Zuko enjoyer. he was at his peak at that time and although there are some episode I genuinely like in book 3 that handle Zuko’s character, I genuinely hate a handful of them. (like The Firelord & The Avatar) his redemption arc was working until book 3. it was meaningful, logical, COHERENT, until book 3. and I think his arc’s weakest point is mf Iroh. cuz I may not be a Iroh anti but boy do I have beef with him. yes Iroh, maybe not only giving tea but actively deconstructing your nephew propagandist ideas about the world imprinted in him by years of living under the roof of the mf firelord COULD BE A GOOD IDEA. yk, being on sea with a 13 yo and not trying to work on his imperialistic mindset baffles me. ignoring his internal turmoil in BSS instead of confronting him about it baffles me. it’s not only that Iroh is a shitty uncle, it’s also bad writing. because the show praises the hell out of Iroh for something he didn’t really do (helping Zuko’s redemption arc). book 3 Zuko has such a shitty way of portraying his redemption because of Iroh’s omnipresence. like no, Iroh is not part of the redemption. also, the show painting Zuko as a character having to repair the damage of his forefathers, the show painting azula as an unredeemable monster, while mf Iroh is adored by the gaang and lives his best life in Ba Sing Se after the war is absolutely stupid and downright ridiculous.

now that being said… I love both characters, like I said. I also love to imagine possible scenarios about how the arc could have been handled differently. (Jet joining the gaang, Jet never being left by the Freedom Fighters, Zuko joining the gang in season 2, Zuko trying to bond with his sister, etc)

I’ll always hate the missed opportunity of finalising Zuko’s redemption arc after meeting Jet, cuz that would have been a possibility. that after meeting Song, Lee, Jin, Jet, after seeing all the pain in the EK, all the pain in the world, he finally turns his back on his father. Jet would have been kind of the last part to push Zuko to choose the right path. instead we got “I betrayed uncle” and okay I’m just going to forget Zuko Alone, and Zuko’s whole ass BSS arc, where apparently I was suppose to understand that IROH… had been such a prominent part of the redemption arc.

anyways, both Jet & Zuko deserve better from the show & the writers.

(side note but also I hate the fandom depiction of both characters !!! y’all can’t actually be serious cuz if you can’t choose between either demonising/babying mf 16 yo (as if… a middle ground didn’t exist, yk, as if… characters had… layers…) then idk what I can do for y’all.)

[chosetherose]

Why is no one mentioning the hypocrisy of Billie in regards to Taylor lately and all the fandom drama caused by this? My twitter timeline is just full of it and I can’t see anyone here mentioning it. I get not wanting to pit women against each other, but the way B has been behaving is quite disrespectful (even though she never mentioned Taylor). She has shaded people with “long albums”, said she doesn’t care about charts, her manager has been liking shady tweets towards Taylor, she has criticized artist releasing different variants of albums to go nr 1 and boost sales, spoken about how vinyls are bad for the environment and so on.

Only to release 22 (!!) versions of her album, I believe it was 10-12 different types of vinyls. Idc about her having variants or several vinyls and so on. I do care that she seems to be shading people only to use the same tactic (at an even bigger scale) to try and reach the nr 1 she absolutely doesn’t care about. I like her music, but don’t like how this is looking for her at all. She also brought that dude on stage who said Taylor didn’t write her own songs or whatever a while back. Taylor has done nothing but support Billie. Idk it’s just the whole “I don’t care about charts”, “people should care about the environment and not make several types of vinyls” only to turn around and to those exact things yourself. Not to mention the Gaza pin she wore, then went to Starbucks a few days later. And her manager is a Zionist.

People also seemed to take it as a dig towards Billie when Taylor released the BLOND:ISH remix because that artist is apparently very cautions about the environment.

I don’t follow Billie closely so I’m not up on any of this. I’m not doubting you Anon (I just haven’t looked it up for myself), but if this is true it’s very surprising. Maybe I’m just used to supporting someone who goes out of their way to not trash talk others.

Side note: I am fatigued by all the variations though. A full hypocrite because I understand only so many songs can fit on vinyls and I enjoy listening to the bonus songs on the three variants I have for TTPD 🤦🏻‍♀️. But I had to pay three separate shipping costs because they made it seem like I could never buy them together. Then you could.

[andreafmn]

12 Days of Ficmas - Day 6

Prompt (by @12-days-of-ficmas): i know it’s supposed to be romantic to be snowed in but literally all i have in my apartment is pop tarts

Word Count: 1.9K

Story Description: Nick Miller has it all planned out. A rental just for him and (Y/N), a dinner reservation, and a week by themselves during Christmas in Chicago. The only thing he can't predict is how the weather will be.

Fandom: New Girl

Pairing: Nick Miller x Female!Reader

A/N: no, I am not posting on day seven day six, that is not what I'm doing 🫣

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Nothing Ever Goes According to Plan

He meant well.

Nick Miller always meant well.

He had planned a whole trip to Chicago for the winter with his girlfriend (Y/N). They had been very busy as of lately. He with his writing and she with her graphic design clients. Especially as the holidays snuck up on them, they had less and less time to see each other.

But Nick wanted to change that. They had already decided to spend Christmas in Chicago with his family. And as much as he loved them, he could barely spend a few hours in a confined space with them, let alone a week. He also couldn’t bring himself to do that to (Y/N). Having to spend the holidays in the piercing Chicago winter was torture enough.

He had rented an apartment just for the two of them. Close enough that they could see his family on Christmas day but far enough that they wouldn’t drop by for a visit. A nice AirBnB to spend the week in together. It was even adorned with beautiful Christmas decorations.

Nick arrived a day before his girlfriend. He had said it was so he could spend some one-on-one time with his family. But in reality, he had something else planned for her arrival.

“Look, Jess, I have told you the plan twenty times already,” Nick sighed into his phone. “I’m sure it’s gonna be fine.”

“Just tell me one more time, Nick! I wanna make sure everyone is on schedule.”

“UGH! Fine. She gets here at three, we have some couple-y alone time, then at 6 we get to Piccolo where we will be escorted to the outdoor patio where I’ll finally pop the question,” he listed off. “Then, if she says yes…”

“When she says yes,” Jess interrupted.

“Sure. We’ll go inside where you will all celebrate the fact that she is crazy enough to want to spend her life with me.”

“Stop it, Nick. I’ve never seen either of you this happy,” she reprimanded. “Now, you’ve got the ring?”

“Yes.”

“You confirmed the reservation?”

“Ya-huh.”

“Did you check the weather for today?”

Nick kept quiet for a couple of seconds. He thought he had done everything possible to ensure the night would go without a hitch. Except check the unpredictable weather of the winter. He had gotten used to the warm and sunny days of California so it didn’t cross his mind to verify that snow would ever ruin everything he had planned.

“You know they’re saying it might snow a lot tonight,” Jess regained his attention. “Maybe we can think of plan B, just in case something happens.”

“It’s gonna be fine Jessica,” Nick laughed nervously. “I’m pretty sure it won’t snow that much. I would know. I’m from Chicago.”

He didn’t have a backup plan. He didn’t want one. Nick wanted everything to go as he had been playing out in his head. Nothing less than perfection.

Somehow, he found himself nervously cleaning the place as he waited for the clock to hit three in the afternoon, and (Y/N) knocked on the door. The apartment was already clean but he needed to hyper-fixate on something that didn’t make him lose his mind.

Before he knew it, a knock rapped on the door and the nerves built up once again inside him. If she was here that could only mean that they were hours closer to a life-changing decision. And (Y/N) had all the power to turn all his Christmases into a time to remember or a time he would always dwell on.

“Uh, Nick?” (Y/N) called from the other side of the door. “Can you let me in, babe? It’s freezing out here.”

“Yeah, yeah! Just a sec,” he responded as he took one final look around the place to make sure it looked perfect. “Hey.”

“Hey, you,” (Y/N) smiled as soon as her boyfriend opened the door. She gave him a quick peck on his lips as she passed the threshold, patting away the snow that had accumulated on her clothes. “It’s really coming down out there. Looks like I got here just in time before things get ugly.”

“What’d you mean?”

“Well, snow’s already coming down hard and they say that six more inches of snow are gonna fall.” She wrapped her arms around his neck, a tempting smile on her face. “But enough about that, huh?  It’s the first time in a long time that we’ve been together with no other things to worry about. Let’s make up for some lost time.”

“I like where your mind is, girl,” Nick answered, pushing his worries to the back of his mind.

***

The pair lay in bed, enjoying the warmth of the apartment. After engaging in the physical activity they had missed out on in a while, they were pretty worn out. (Y/N)’s head was on Nick’s chest, listening to his heartbeat as he drew circles on her back.

“It’s a bit romantic, don’t you think?” she said softly. “You and me, trapped in this very nice apartment, a white Christmas happening outside. It’s charming.”

Panic set into him once again. Whilst his mind was elsewhere, he had completely forgotten about the weather predicament. “Well, babe, being snowed in might sound romantic,” he said. “But all I’ve got in the apartment is beer and pop tarts.” 

“Very college-esque of you,” she chuckled. “I think we can manage for a night. You know, we can start now, be drunk by seven and back in bed by nine. We’ll sleep through the whole night.”

“But we’ve got that reservation at that restaurant I told you about. It took me a long time to get it.” 

“We can call and reschedule, baby. I mean, given the weather conditions I’m sure they’d understand,” she reasoned. “Now, I’m gonna go get a beer and sit by the fire. You can join me if you want. But I’m drinking with or without you.” 

As soon as she was out of the room, Nick scurried for his phone. Calling the only person he knew could help.

“Jess! I’m freaking out,” he scream whispered.

“You’re snowed in?”

“Uh-huh.”   

“And the only plan you had is falling apart?”

 “You know it,” he replied. “I know I screwed up by not having a backup, but I don’t want to hear an ‘I told you so’ right now.” 

“Okay, calm down, Nick. I’ll call the restaurant and have them set up the same thing for tomorrow. I’ll send out a message to everyone telling them about the change of plans. And you, my friend, are going to enjoy this night with your girlfriend soon-to-be fiancé.” 

“Thanks, Jess.”

“Sure thing. It’s all gonna work out, Nick,” she said in an attempt to calm him down. “Now, I’ve gotta go 'cause I am also snowed in with Sam and I’m gonna take advantage of the situation.”

“You dirty dog,” he chuckled. “Have fun!”

He hung up the phone, feeling relief wash over him before he walked out to the living room. There, (Y/N) had taken out a six-pack of beer from the fridge and had started on her first one. In front of her was a plate with two pop tarts, and one of them had a bite taken off.

“Ready to get drunk?” she asked Nick when she saw him come out of the bedroom. “As you can see, I’ve already started.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice,” he smiled.

Two hours and twelve beers later, they were sat next to the apartment’s Christmas tree staring at the twinkling lights. They were bundled in each other’s arms, a warm blanket wrapped around them. They had drunk, watched movies, drunk some more, and ate half a box of Pop-Tarts. But they’d gotten to the point where their minds were hazy from the alcohol and everything around them was a very intriguing sight.

“This is fun,” she said. “I could do this forever.”

Forever triggered something in drunk Nick. Suddenly, the box in his pocket was burning a hole in his pants.

“Funny you should mention that,” he chuckled dryly.

“Mention what?” 

“That!”

“What are you talking about?” she laughed.

“Forever.” 

(Y/N) didn’t understand where he was going with his line of thinking. But it intrigued her. So, she asked, “What about forever?” 

“You know, I had a whole thing planned,” he started. “But I forgot to check the weather. I grew up here and I forgot to check the damn weather.” 

“Babe, why are you rambling on about the weather?”

“Might as well get this over with,” he smiled. “I, uh, had been planning something for a while now. But like most of my plans, things didn’t really turn out the way they should. You know, you start with one thing and make sure it’s perfect. Once it’s perfect you don’t want to mess with it. And you always do it with the best intentions, but the world doesn’t care about good intentions. And…”

“Nick,” she interrupted him. “Don’t mean to cut you here, but you’re rambling.” 

“I had this whole speech planned,” he went on. “But for the life of me, I can’t remember it right now. So, I’ll speak from the heart – 'cause I’m very good at that, especially when I’m drunk.” 

Nick moved his body until he was sitting face-to-face with her. He took her hands in his and continued.

“(Y/N), I love you. I love you so damn much,” Nick smiled. “I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Making plans that always get screwed up. I want to get drunk right before Christmas. I wanna go to crazy expensive restaurants with you and leave because we hate the food there. I want a house, and kids, and everything that comes with life. I want it all and I want it with you!”

“Are you asking what I think you’re asking?”

He pulled the black box out of his pocket, revealing the ring he’d guarded for six months and somehow had managed to hide it all that time. “Will you make the craziest decision of your life and agree to marry me?”

“Nick! Yes! A thousand times yes!” (Y/N) exclaimed as she threw her arms around him, knocking him back onto the floor. She landed on top of him and they both laughed. “And if getting married to you is crazy, then let me be crazy. Because nothing would make me happier.”

“Can I ask you something else?”

“Anything.”

“Make sure you act surprised tomorrow at the restaurant,” he chuckled. “It was supposed to be a surprise, but everyone’s gonna be at Piccolo’s tomorrow expecting a proposal. They don’t have to know it’s gonna be a replay.”

“Nick, you suck at lying.” 

“But I’m great at make-believe,” he grinned. “And tomorrow I’m gonna be Nick from this morning. The nervous wreck that wanted today to be perfect.”

“Well, regardless if tomorrow doesn’t go well, today you gave me the best present in the world,” she smiled as she set a soft kiss on his lips.

“Merry Christmas, (Y/N).”

“Merry Christmas, fiancé.”

“Kind of like the sound of that,” he chuckled. “Nick Miller, fiancé.”

“I’d like husband a lot more,” (Y/N) smiled back. “And it’d be a Christmas miracle if you can pull off tomorrow. Again, you are terrible at lying.” 

“But terrific at make-believe,” they chorused before laughing.

Taglist: @honeylovemoon @hufflepuffobsessedwithmarvel @laylaskywalker

[apollo-likes-writing]

June of Doom Day Three: Ambushed

Fandom: Star Wars

Character(s): Obi-wan Kenobi, Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker

Summary: An AU where Vader discovers Obi-wan at a much earlier time period. (Set a few weeks before "Kenobi")

Word count: 800

Tags: Angst, nostalgia, major character death, canon divergence.

Author's Note: My motivation went solely into yesterday's prompt, so expect quality control for this one to be a little on the worse-for-wear side of things. Enjoy! As always, comments and reblogs are much appreciated.

@juneofdoom

Masterlist | Day Two

Obi-wan Kenobi is beginning to understand why his former apprentice despised sand so much. 

It’s everywhere. In his hair, in his shoes, down his tunic, in his cot, in his food – no matter where he looks and no matter what he does it is always there: sand. He supposes it’s what he gets for choosing to stay on Tatooine to look over the son of his old padawan.  

He misses him. Anakin- of course. 

He was a brother to him. The closest thing to family one could get to someone disallowed from forming attachments. It’s hypocritical. He knows it is. But one cannot help but look back to more promising times. Where the galaxy was Kenobi’s oyster, and he had the ability to do good. Real good. Not just stabbing droids and fighting various Sith lords but maintaining peace and prosperity between all people.  

Now, Anakin is no more. Replaced and manipulated by Sheev Palpatine to be molded into something inhuman. Something dangerous. He is no longer the small slave boy he met on this very planet all those years ago. He is Darth Vader: the devastating pawn of the Empire that can ground whole Starship battalions with a simple wave of his hand and clench of his fist. And you know the most ironic part of it all? 

Obi-wan is the one who pushed him in the wrong direction in the first place. 

But you already know this. I won’t elaborate. Obi-wan pushes Anakin to the Dark Side (intentionally or otherwise), Order 66 takes place (his brothers tried to kill him), the Jedi are dead (didn’t I say I wouldn’t elaborate? Never mind), and now they are both alone on opposite sides of the galaxy. 

Or so Obi-wan thinks. 

It happens on his way back to the cave he calls home. It’s late evening – the twin suns falling between the cracks in the rock in front of him and blinding him. He carries a lump of bread under his armpit and a bag full of various mechanical parts that will hopefully be used to repair the Speeder he managed to salvage a few rotations ago, as well as the miniscule number of credits he earns at his pitiful job.  

He steps into his home after trudging along for a while, dropping the bread at one point and grumbling as he bends over to pick it up again, only for the contents of his bag to spill out all over the floor. 

His old strength has left him, and the Force is elsewhere, so he is forced to pick it all up by hand. It’s only when he finally returns all the parts to the bag and places it on the table with a tired thud that he speaks. 

“You’ve grown senile in age, Kenobi. I thought you were better than this.” 

He freezes in place. Maybe, if he is deadly silent and still and doesn’t turn around, he won’t see him. 

“Look at me, Obi-wan.” 

Well, that didn’t work. Slowly and with a dreaded pit in his stomach, Obi-wan turns to face his old padawan. Once done, he is rooted to the spot where he stands. Frozen. Useless. 

“Say something, Master.” The courtesy is spat at him like venom and Obi-wan fights the urge to flinch at it. It has been years since anyone has called him that. A black, soulless visor glares at him from where Vader stands in the corner of his room as if he were the Boogey Man.  

“Anakin, I-” 

Vader cuts him off. “Anakin is dead. We killed him on Mustafar.” Obi-wan dislikes the usage of ‘we’ in that sentence. “I am here, finally, to cut off some loose ends. Doing so in this way makes you luckier than most. I’m here to kill you, Obi-wan.” 

It’s then when the Universe decides to play a trick on the old Jedi Master. It’s then when the Universe decides to thrust all the nostalgic memories of the past on the man. The joy, the sadness, the howls of laughter, the sounds of blaster bolts and lightsabres making contact with each other. Times were simpler back then – when Obi-wan was a padawan himself and Anakin a simple slave boy trying to help his mother. The kind, righteous, simple boy who stands in front of him is no longer kind, righteous, or simple. He is a blight of terror that strikes fear into the hearts of millions- maybe even billions or trillions in the galaxy.  

The sound of ignition of Vader’s lightsabre reaches his ears, and Obi-wan closes his eyes. In the back of his mind, he sends a sorrowful prayer and apology to the son of the man in front of him, whom he is yet unaware of his presence on the planet.  

“Do what you must.” 

[aydaptic]

I came across one of your older posts pertaining to Gavin’s personality and you tagged it with #stupid people only validate on-screen redemption #they’re unable to think for themselves and I can’t tell you how much I agree with this statement. Just yes, so much yes.

Fandom is literally a place that encourages creativity and diverse thinking and yet there’s some people out there who can’t grasp that “hey, maybe this asshole character has more to them than meets the eye”. I mean there’s so many villain characters in media who get redeemed who have done way worse than Gavin.

I’m new to the fandom but I’m honestly happy that I came this late because I can’t imagine how much arguing and fighting there would have been over Gavin’s character in the early days. Yeah, he’s not the nicest guy but there are way worse characters that are beloved parts of their own respective media.

I don’t care what anyone says. Gavin is not as evil as some people make him out to be and if they got off their moral high horses and just thought a tiny bit, they would see that.

If people don’t like Gavin or find him uninteresting, fine but tbh, if they hate Gavin just cause “oh, antagonistic character did antagonistic things” then to me they are dumb and are not critical thinkers.

Also thank you for being a Gavin lover. The dbh fandom honestly needs more of them 💕

Glad I'm not alone in that!

Hank also treated Con way worse than Gav ever did, so it's very hypocritical of them to forgive the former and not the latter just bc Hank's (possible) redemption happens on-screen.

Not only that, but Gav is only mildly unpleasant until Con escalates these situations. A lot of the hostility that Gav shows towards Con is the players' fault. Ppl refuse to take accountability when they -- the players -- are literally the ones choosing hostile dialogue options when interacting with Gav instead of being mature adults.

As I've stated before, I didn't even know that Gav and Con could fight in the archive room for the longest time bc I treated Gav as an equal. I was mature. Thus that fight never triggered for me.

Every single person with a working brain can see that there are valid layers to Gav whether they like him or not.

[good-beans]

YES thank you @kyanako5972 for your service 😤👏 (I was actually looping them both for a bit but I keep forgetting to run it lately ah...)

And hehe I have been ✨enabled ✨Have some Triage thoughts, and feel free to add your own!!

Starting off with my main praise of the song: “I want to be Innocent, I want to live.” I know the point of milgram is that all the characters are going to get worse, but I feel like this video is the first t2 song we’ve seen a prisoner get better. (People have talked about his savior complex being an issue but that’s coming after the inno verdict, in Triage he specifically says he never wanted this to be some kind of hostage situation where he has the power to save/kill people.) This is when we can finally see one of our verdicts go right. The others had an issue, or creeping guilt, or uncertainty, but Shidou gets over any uncertainty right then and there – he wants to live again!! In a series so full of death, in which half of the cast makes some reference to suicidal thoughts, plus two victims who did commit suicide, there’s something extremely profound about seeing one of them change their mind onscreen. We hadn’t gotten a moment of healing like that before, and I doubt we’re ever going to get one again.

The moment itself is shown very accurately and beautifully, in my opinion. His expression when he makes his statement about wanting to live is so unique. It’s not a smile, it’s not a grimace, it’s something in between. His voice is strained, but set. He’s not excited about it – when you’re in that mental place, it isn’t a cheery switch to wanting to live, it’s a grit-your-teeth and pick yourself up and make the tough choice. It’ll be so, so hard but by god you have a job to do. It made sense, given all the previous mentions of him helping Fuuta and Mahiru – he had a lot of complicated feelings about being a doctor, but he remembered that saving others really is his purpose in life.

And then the shock factor. Because of that moment and the family reveal, I think this video had the biggest twist of t2. The others had surprises, sure, but they were hinted at in the voice clips and vds, or they just exaggerated things we already knew about the characters. I was completely blindsided by Triage. Everything leading up to it paralleled Shidou with Mahiru, so I thought it was just a lover he’d lost (and maybe someone he’d just met or something). He had his moments with Amane, but I always assumed it was because of her connection to him, not vice versa. I assumed he was just overdramatic and killing people for some lady he’d fallen for, and then decided to take the easy way out and ask for death. So to find out he had a fully established family, wife and two kids??? To see his main character trait from season one was completely reversed??? (but in a way that wasn’t at all forced???)

Now, it’s much easier to make a character unlikable than it is to redeem them. We saw how quickly the fandom turned on certain characters, we felt pangs of horror for many of them. But it’s very difficult to make someone like a character they’d previously despised. Which is why I’m insanely impressed with the way those three minutes could undo months of my hatred toward Shidou, and bring me literally to tears over him. Suddenly his actions weren’t so selfish, as rash. He’s not taking the coward’s way out. He had incredibly good reason to do what he did, and now he’s taking accountability and choosing to face pain in order to atone. I’ll add more in a sec, but it’s not even that the video shows him as this perfect saint. Without holding back on everything he’d done wrong, it conveyed a real, grieving human that really moved me.

Of course the music itself was amazing – Shugo Nakamura sounds incredible. I don’t know too much about actual music structure, but the tone of both Shidou’s songs manages to be so fun and relaxing while simultaneously filling you with that profound sadness. It’s like an embodiment of his peaceful, sad smile. There’s something so human about his voicemail message, and it’s unique hearing different types of speaking parts in a song! But that moment is also foreboding. You wonder why he missed the call, and who’s calling, and you kind of already know, and you hear the three beeps as the line is dead. Then there’s the gut-wrenching return of those sounds, with the added visuals bringing to mind a dying heart?? Insane. 

And lastly, the visuals are gorgeous. Bringing back the flower/pomegranate symbolism in a similar but new way was perfect. The bright scenery and picturesque scenes really emphasized how happy he was. The video is so bright. His family is gorgeous, they’re happy. His neighborhood is sunny and warm. His house is comfortable and light. Which meant the dark scenes contrasted perfectly, driving home how jarring his loss was. And despite all the good things I said about him before, the video isn’t actually trying to paint him in an innocent light. There are literal graveyards behind him, showing how much blood is on his hands. The rotting food is such a disgustingly painful way to show what he was doing to people. He handed the tag directly to his son, showing full accountability: he gave his son his fate, he killed him himself. The images seem beautiful at first, especially compared to AKAA’s dark, bloody rooms, Backdraft’s grim tunnel, and INMF’s monstrous bees. But no matter how lovely it looks, it successfully  conveys a truly horrendous crime. 

In conclusion Shidou my fucking beloved. Go watch Triage again :3

[waitingonher]

i’d like to submit a matchup req please!!! happy 800 btw lovie 💗

1. i’m in the pjo fandom

2. my gender preference is generally guys and i’m a girl

3. i’m extremely talkative, i like to think i’m a child of aphrodite but i’m not too sure 😭, i’m a pretty outgoing person and i can be very loud sometimes. i have brown eyes and long brown hair, olive skin

4. a big one for me is physical touch but i also really enjoy quality time and i’m not too great about words of affirmation

5. i’m a runner so that’s definitely a hobby of mine, as well as playing tennis or going to the beach. i’ve been tanning a lot lately but i don’t know if that’s a hobby

6. i think my ideal first date isn’t anything super romantic, because that seems like a lot of pressure for me, so maybe not dinner or anything. i’d say more of a hangout type thing, so maybe seeing a movie or going to a museum

7. as for traits i look for in a partner i think i look for someone a little more easy going and level headed, since i can be a lot to handle sometimes. the biggest thing i look for is probably someone who can match my energy so like we can have silly moments but also deep conversations

8. this is such a cool event! thank you so much for sharing your love with us and again congratulations <3

your matchup is . . . percy jackson!!

dating percy is basically like dating your best friend that you do romantic things with every so often!

with his personality, he’d definitely be capable of keeping up with you in terms of conversations. one minute you two could be rambling about the camp drama, and then somehow you’d get into the meaning of life. it’s kind of jarring to those around you LOL because one second you and percy are laughing your asses off at the stupidest things then all of a sudden you guys are straight-faced, engaged in some super deep topic. 

morning & evening runs around camp with percy!! 

before meeting you, he never really considered that someone could just…run for fun? so when you wake percy up at the asscrack of dawn, asking if he wants to go for a quick jog around the lake with you, he seriously thinks he’s having one of his demigod nightmares. after he woke up a little more, he realized that you were in fact very serious. albeit percy got up very reluctantly, he still went with you (because there’s nothing he wouldn’t do for you <3). 

evenutally, percy comes to realize that he enjoys these runs with you! so now it’s become a thing of yours to run together either in the morning or evening to beat the summer sun. your routes tend to change every so often for some variety. one day it’ll be around the strawberry fields and another it’ll be by the lake! but of course, his favorite days are when your runs lead you two down to the beach. 

the majority of dates with percy are definitely more laidback compared to others. not to say that he isn’t capable of planning something more romantic, because he can, it’s just he prefers dates that feel more like hangouts! 

tanning dates with percy!!!

if he’s being honest, he doesn’t really understand the hype of tanning. because to him, why would he want to purposefully lay down while the hot sun beats down on him? percy would much rather spend that time in the water. and that’s exactly what he does.

your boyfriend would accompany you to the beach, help you with the hard to reach areas when you apply your tanning products, lay down with you for a solid minute, then run off to the waves. LOL he kinda gives off this vibe!!

percy thinks it’s really cute and funny whenever the tan begins to settle in and you get all excited about your tan lines.

the only time he’s EVER fully stayed with you for a tanning session was when he realized he could make little designs on himself after you had done a smiley face on your hip with the sunscreen. but instead of the regular smiley face or star, percy decided to do p.j. + (your initials) on his chest. 

maybe he doesn’t mind sitting in the hot sun because at least he has you there with him <3

your second contender was . . . jason grace!!

. . .

author's note: thank you so much nonnie! i really appreciate you <3 also i wanna tan so badly too...i used to be so tan when i was younger :( feel free to give me some tanning tips nonnie

[freedomfireflies]

going anon for this just because i’m a little embarrassed about it lol

i’ve been feeling kind of weird lately because one of my favorite writers on here has started writing a lot of nonconsensual smut stuff. i know i’m well within my right to not read those specific pieces, as she does do her due diligence and provides content warnings, but something about it just makes me feel a little weird? and when i say nonconsensual smut, i mean like it’s harry’s character doing something nonconsensual with the reader or mc, but they end up being into it so it’s still framed as being “sexy.” i’m seeing these stories come up on my dash and i get excited to read them but then i read the content warning and just know that it’s gonna upset me, so i don’t. and it’s been starting to make me question my appreciation for this writer a bit. idk, do i sound ridiculous? do i just need to get over myself? as someone who writes a lot of smut and has dipped your toes into some kinkier stuff, haha, i thought you might have a better perspective on it :)

Omg hi my love!! Nothing to be embarrassed about, fanfic can be a huge part of discovering what we like and don't like, and if something makes you feel uncomfortable, you have every right to question it!

I'm so glad to hear there are content warnings, that's so important, especially for more taboo or kinkier topics!! And I'm so glad you know yourself enough to know not to read something that can upset you!!

I don't know which writer this is, but I can almost promise it's not done with any malicious intent! Sometimes we think we need to writer crazier things in our stories and smut in order to keep an audience! We want to write what no one else has so that way more people will read it and share! And maybe that's what they're doing!

Or maybe the idea is more about Harry introducing the mc to something they didn't realize they would like until it was brought up! And it wasn't intended to read as nonconsensual!

Obviously I don't know that for sure, and if at any point the mc has said the words, "No." and Harry still continued, that would definitely be crossing a very specific line! And would honestly make me uncomfortable, too!

I think you have every right to feel weird about it, especially if it's from an author you love to read from and enjoy following! I think you could message them and admit that you aren't super comfortable and see if they're purposefully writing it that way or if they're open to being more mindful going forward!

But if any author or story ever makes you feel uncomfortable, trust yourself and your instinct! There are some very strange things that get written about in this fandom and I'm even guilty of having written a couple myself! Sometimes we say it's because it's just fanfic and it's not real, but it can feel very real to people!

And if it puts a bad feeling in your stomach, follow that and do what you know is best for you! 💞 Maybe you can mute the author (filter their username) or even mute tags or words that they frequently use so you won't have to see it!!

Again, I'm so proud of you for recognizing this and not trying to force yourself to read anything you don't feel good about!! And I hope this helps even somewhat! If you ever want to talk privately, I'm always always here!!! 💞