#it's quite boring to just do a basic shape so some of them turn into something like this

[tiny-breadcrumbs]

People out there make a gorgeous art, while me..

[lcatala]

Inspired by this post by @thanergetic-hyperlinks, I present to you

Tessellations of the Nine Houses

(Or "I can't really draw figurative art so my Locked Tomb fanarts are geometrical vector drawings")

"A tessellation or tiling is the covering of a surface, often a plane, using one or more geometric shapes, called tiles, with no overlaps and no gaps." — Wikipedia.

Making tilings themed after each necromantic House seems obvious: for each House you pick a tile with the same number of sides as the number of the House; but this does present some challenges for some of the Houses.

note 1: this might give the impression that I first decided on the symbols and then found patterns to match them in a very organized and motivated manner; in practice it was much more chaotic and multidirectional, the patterns informing the symbols as much as the symbols informed the patterns; this is fine since symbolism is entirely associative and arbitrary anyway

note 2: I added alt-texts for all the images, but I have no idea of how to properly describe abstract geometric art; if you feel you can do a better job than I did, feel free to put your fingers where your mouth is--wait, hang on-- I mean feel free to provide better descriptions if you can

note 3: looking forward to the geometry nerds explaining to me how I got basic geometric details wrong, friggin nerds

The First House

The First House seems obvious, as a shape with one side is an ellipse (of which the circle is a special case). There's just one problem: ellipses do not tile the plane. No matter how much you stretch them and deform them, the very nature of ellipses means you'll always have gaps or overlaps.

So we cheat and we work with overlaps: turns out there is a history of tilings that use circles as a construction pattern, then turn the overlapping sections into the actual tiles. Such patterns have been used extensively in European and Middle Eastern art, and have also been associated with the New Age movement, so it fits Jod's style perfectly. And so we get this:

The different cells correspond to different House colors, with the resulting gothic stained-glass appearance quite in line with the Roman Catholic Empire vibe Jod is going for. The overlapping circles convey the intricacy of the relation between the First House and the eight other, both autonomous from it yet intrinsically part of it.

The Second House

There's a variety of geometrical shapes that have two sides, but most of them don't tile the plane, altho there is one that does — if we take a crescent shape and slightly thicken it so that the inner and outer curves are identical, we can do this:

The waving pattern is of course evocative of the flag of conquest which the Cohorts of the Second House have planted on many worlds.

The Third House

With the Third House things get a lot easier, because equilateral triangles are one of the three regular polygons (where all sides are the same length and all angles are identical) that tile the plane all by themselves without needing any other shape! Which however doesn't mean we have to be boring; we can have a little bit of fun:

Flowers for the beauty and ionizing radiation warning signs for the rancid vibes.

The Fourth House

Squares are the second regular polygons that tile the plane by themselves, so again our job is easy here, altho we still want to not go for the easiest option in order to be able to work in some symbolism:

The four big navy squares with a small white square at the center of course evoke the number five and the shadow of the Fifth House's regency over the Fourth.

The Fifth House

Regular pentagons do not tile the plane, so we have to use a more unusual shape — there are many options, but obviously we want to again pick one that offers some interesting numerical symbolism:

The cross-like patterns of course bring up the number four and the hold of the Fifth House over the Fourth. As for the crosses themselves and the fact that they appear to be made of wooden stakes, well uh… Abigail Pent, Vampire Hunter??? She does have Van Helsing vibes.

The Sixth House

Hexagons are the third and last regular polygons that tile the plane on their own. But this is the Sixth House we're talking about, things need to look orderly but in a convoluted way. So how about multiple levels of recursion:

The apparent complexity of the pattern is created by different orientations of a small number of elements, either 3 irregular hexagons, or 1 patterned regular hexagonal tile, depending on how you look at it, in line with the kind of hermetic scientism one imagines the Sixth House indulges in. The result is those apparent three-dimensional elements and emerging higher-order patterns, including that of ꙮ, the Multiocular O found in exactly one word of one 15th century Old Church Slavonic translation of the Book of Psalms ("серафими многоꙮчитїй" many-eyed seraphim).

The Seventh House

Regular heptagons do not tile the plane, but they don't need much tweaking to work, which is fine since for the Seventh House we want something deceptive yet simple (deceptively simple? deceptive in its simplicity?):

Hearts for the beauty, snake scales for the poison [the Seventh House is on Venus, the planet named after the Roman Goddess of love, but etymologically "Venus" is actually the same root as "venom", and of course "Septimus" resembles "septic" — tho in that case there's no etymological connection, it's just a happy coincidence].

The Eighth House

Octagons do not tile the plane, but they come pretty close, so we can give the Eighth House a simple, stern, but slightly threatening pattern:

Boring sterile bleached temple mosaic, with just a little bit of passive-agression, a perfect fit for Evangelical Christians Tumblr puritans the Eighth House.

The Ninth House

And so we reach the Ninth House. Now the thing about the Ninth House is that, even by imperial standards, they're huge freaks, like they're completely unhinged heretical weirdoes. So, when it comes to their tiling, we need to get weird, like, a lot weirder than we've been so far, and this will require some context, so get ready because now we're officially going on a wild tangent.

So far all the tilings we've seen were periodic. That is, they were drawing a pattern that repeats itself indefinitely in all directions.

But starting in the 1960s, mathematicians began to study aperiodic tilings, tilings that don't repeat; you can keep expanding them forever and never exactly find back the original pattern you started with. The first mathematical proof of such a pattern was made in 1964 and theoretically required 20,426 distinct tile prototypes… This was soon refined to just 104 tile prototypes, then a mere 40. By 1971, it was mathematically demonstrated that you could make such a pattern with just 6 tile prototypes.

Except that was a lie.

Note that I said mathematically demonstrated. As it turns out there was an aperiodic pattern with just 5 tile prototypes, known as Girih, that had been used in Islamic art… since at least the 13th century — but it had historically been treated merely as an element of architectural design, and its mathematical properties weren't studied until 2007.

Then in 1973 this guy Penrose came along and demonstrated you could make an aperiodic tiling with just 2 tile prototypes. So now the goal was to find the ultimate aperiodic tiling, the one that would use only one tile prototype. Given how fast the field had progressed so far, it seemed that this discovery was imminent.

It took 50 years.

Not only that, but it was the work of amateur mathematician David Smith who accidentally discovered a 13-sided polygon that could make an aperiodic tiling all by itself (he then had his discovery checked by and co-authored a paper with a number of professional mathematicians).

EXCEPT THAT WAS A LIE AGAIN.

In turns out an aperiodic tiling using only one tile prototype had already been found… in 1936. But since the study of aperiodic tilings only started in the 60s, its significance in that domain wasn't understood at the time. It was seen as significant, but for an entirely unrelated reason: it was the first demonstration of a polygonal shape that needed only two copies of itself to completely enclose the original one — many mathematicians before that point thought the minimum possible was 3 (think of the Triforce from Zelda, with one equilateral triangle completely enclosed between three other identical triangles).

And coincidently, that shape happens to be a highly-irregular nonagon [yes "enneagon" is """technically""" more correct but "nonagon" has been used since the 17th century and is more common and it has Nona in it and Nona loves you]. So here it is, the Voderberg tiling, the freakish freakish tessellation of the Ninth House:

Like you see this and you're like "what is this, what is that thing, that's not a tiling, what the fuck is that" — but it is, it is a tiling, you can keep adding the freaky polygon and it keeps expanding outward forever, with no gap, no overlap, and with an ever-changing pattern. A double-spiral radiating outward, for Anastasia and Samael, Anastasia and Alecto, Alecto and Harrowhark, Harrowhark and Gideon.

And if you were thinking that this last one must have been significantly harder to draw than the other ones, you would be correct.

[pineconepie]

oooo how about vincent with reader and one of his parties gone wrong? maybe reader gets hurt or almost dies?

Here you go!! <3

TW: Near-death experience (for Reader), mentions of murder, attempted murder, poisoned Reader, hospitals

"Stay close by me," Vincent reminds you once again, squeezing your hand tighter in his own gloved one. "You don't have permission to talk to strangers or leave my sight."

You almost scoff. As if you ever have permission.

Its been at least three months since you've started living with him. Despite being constantly monitored, you don't necessarily hate living with him. After getting used to his treatment of you, it's pretty comforting.

Being able to depend on somebody and not worry about things is nice. Other than a few rules, you can basically do whatever you want as long as it doesn't involve running away, hurting anyone or yourself, or disrespecting Vincent.

Overall, it could be way worse.

Vincent looks at you for confirmation.

"I know," you mumble. "No going near strangers or leaving your sight. I'm not stupid."

The blond chuckles softly, brushing his thumb against your knuckles. "No, you're certainly not dumb, pumpkin, but sometimes it takes more than smarts to keep safe. Remember what we said? The world is dangerous." He ruffles your hair gently. "And hey, if you don't wanna stay for long, we don't have to. Just need to make appearances, all that good stuff."

You nod. "Okay."

Honestly, if you had a choice, you wouldn't attend this gala whatsoever. It was a meeting between members of Cryo, but not like their usual monthly one.

Instead, this was actual an annual thing hosted in order to show off Cryo's successes over the year and hopefully find prospective members.

Vincent was reluctant when you told him you wanted to go, since apparently these galas were usually rather boring and weren't suited for "babies" like you (in Vincent's words). Plus, there'd be plenty of alcohol, gambling, and lots of "grown-up conversations."

But you managed to convince him with your puppy dog eyes and pleading. He's weak for those, you've noticed. Always wants to please you.

He had gotten you the nicest dress/suit, even though you already had at least five ones to choose from. He donned a black suit with a purple tie and matching slacks. His gloves were also black and leather, as well as his belt and shoes. He finished the look off with cufflinks shaped like golden bullets and a matching broach on his suit.

"You nervous, kiddo?" he asks in concern, squeezing your hand tighter.

"A little bit," you admit. "Just want people to like me."

Vincent frowns at you. "Well, if they're mean to you, they'll end up six feet under, so no need to worry about that."

"I don't want people to die either," you grumble. "Especially just because of me."

Vincent pinches your cheeks. "They can either be respectful to you, or dead. Their choices, doesn't seem like a hard one, either."

You swat at his hand, and he laughs. Soon enough, the two of you reach a large, extravagant looking building, lit up brightly despite the late night.

He guides you towards the entrance, and you enter into a massive hall filled with hundreds of people, most likely part of Cryo. Its quite loud inside. There's music playing somewhere nearby as well.

Everyone seems dressed formally. Suits and dresses abound. Several waiters walk by holding trays piled high with hors d'oeuvres and wine glasses.

Vincent continues to guide you towards a specific spot—where the guests are gathering to greet one another. As soon as he shows up, everyone greets him. Some of them eye you suspiciously or curiously, but they seem to know better than to outright approach you.

And you notice they only acknowledge your existence briefly before turning away and continuing their conversations with him or each other.

He notices you staring. "(Y/n), want me to introduce you?" he murmurs, patting your back.

You shake your head, and instead hide yourself behind him.

"Sorry, folks, my kid is a bit shy right now," Vincent laughs. "How bout we save introductions for later when they're in a better mood?"

The people shrug and agree, seeming content with that answer.

So that's how things continue. Vincent occasionally lets go of your hand to perform a handshake with somebody new, or wrap an arm around your shoulders, but never once truly leaves your side.

Occasionally, he offers to grab you food and drinks, making sure to only feed you things he knows are safe. Knowing the crowd here, for once you don't blame him for being extra vigilant.

A lot of small talk goes on. You zone out a bit as you hear talks about trade deals, weapons manufacturing, smuggling operations, assassinations... The typical mob business. You already know most of the details thanks to Vincent's constant chatter anyways.

Once it seems like the two of you have met every single person attending, he brings you to a quieter part of the gala, where they seem to have an open bar.

A couple people are milling around the area. A few seated on barstools and chatting with bartenders, others standing nearby watching. Vincent guides you to one of the seats, helping you onto the stool before sitting next to you.

"Want some juice, kiddo? We've got lemonade, grape juice, orange juice..." Vincent says. "I personally get a root beer float most of the time."

"Don't you drink?" you ask. Now that you think about it, you've never seen him drink in your presence.

"Not as often anymore. Not when I got someone young and innocent depending on me! Gotta be sober to watch you properly," Vincent says. "Besides, I'd never live it down if I became a bad influence for you."

You almost laugh. Funny he out of all people is saying that. "I guess I'll have what you're having, then."

Vincent grins and flags down one of the nearby servers.

"What can I get you, Mr. Brewer?"

"Two root beer floats for us, please."

She nods and rushes away.

While waiting, the two of you idly chat and watch everyone else. You notice a tall man with short brown hair and brown eyes approach, eyes fixed on Vincent. Something about his wide smile throws you off. He looks friendly, yes, but also a bit too enthusiastic, even more so than others who met you earlier.

He seems different than the other people here, and not in a good way.

"Hey, Boss," the man greets. His voice is slightly on the higher-pitched side. "Haven't seen you since your trip to Budapest. I heard you adopted a kid." He smiles at you.

"Yep," Vincent confirms, though he sounds a bit annoyed. "If you attended more meetings, that wouldn't have become a problem. Phoenix tried to contact you several times, we all thought you were dead."

The guy scratches the back of his neck nervously. "Sorry... Things got busy on my end..."

Vincent looks angry, but holds himself back from yelling. For your sake, that much is obvious. You see his fingers twitching subtly. "You should make an effort to stay available whenever possible. You have a job, Sullivan. This isn't some side-gig you can just show up to when you want. If your uncle weren't contributing so much to Cryo, you'd be out of here in a heartbeat. I can still make that happen."

Sullivan sighs. "Yeah. I'll try to do better next time. Sorry again, really." He sits next to Vincent, eyeing both of your root beer floats, both in fancy wine glasses. "So, uh, (Y/n), was it? Nice to meet you."

"Yeah... nice to meet you too," you say politely, sipping your drink.

Vincent's eye twitches. He shifts his chair so it's angled closer to you protectively. Almost like a shield separating you and Sullivan apart. "Is there something else you needed?" Vincent questions, clearly getting impatient. He puts his drink down, right next to yours.

"Nah, just wanted to see you and apologize for being such trouble recently." Sullivan wedges himself between you two, arms outstretched on both of your shoulders, and both of you looking at him in confusion. Vincent's confused look turns into a sour one. "What? Just wanted to be affectionate, sorry. You're awfully grumpy today."

"Are you drunk?" Vincent sneers.

"Just a little!" Sullivan snorts and pulls away.

You're a little fearful for the guy's life, judging by the way Vincent is staring him down. You grab your drink and take a sip from it, not noticing Sullivan's brief look of panic.

"Uh, well, gotta go! I'm sure Trent's gonna wanna catch up with me," Sullivan nervously says, walking away quicker than Vincent has ever seen him go.

The blond only scoffs. "If I see him again tonight, I'll shoot him in the head myself," he grumbles.

"What happened to wanting to be a good influence?" you laugh.

Vincent flicks your nose. "Hey, if someone were bothering you who you wanted to shoot, I'd fully support it. I think the world would be a much better place if we got rid of all the people who were bothering my beloved kiddo." He ruffles your hair. "And hey, did you take my root beer float? Mine had the purple straw! Brat." His tone is playful, of course.

You pull back to look at the nearly fully-consumed drink, seeing the green straw. "Oops, must've mixed 'em up... too late, it's mine now."

He shakes his head in mock disappointment. "My kiddo... so mean. But it's fine, because yours had more in it, anyway! So ha-ha." As if proving a point, he begins loudly slurping yours. You laugh at the silliness. If only everyone knew that Vincent was a fool.

"That guy was kind of weird," you murmur, changing the subject onto Sullivan. "Have you known him for long?"

"Unfortunately," Vincent mutters. "Ever since his uncle joined Cryo, he felt entitled enough to get a job from us. Honestly, I'd much rather fire him, but since he's family with a high ranking member, I'd rather not cause any unnecessary conflict. Don't really trust him, though."

"Sounds like you really hate him," you chuckle.

"Me? Hate someone? Pfft, never. I'm a saint." Vincent nudges your shoulder with his own. "Yeah, I'm kidding. I kinda hate him. And I especially hate anyone who makes you uncomfortable, which I can tell he was doing. If not for his uncle..." He doesn't need to finish that sentence.

You finish your root beer float, and put the empty glass to the side. He wraps an arm around your shoulders while he pulls out his phone.

You see it's Quinn, and that he's telling her to keep an eye on him. You continue reading what he's texting, but then it gets harder to, the words growing blurrier and blurrier.

That's when you realize everything is getting blurry. Even the man next to you.

"Dad," you mutter. Your tongue feels like lead.

"Not now. Give Dad one sec." He keeps typing on his phone.

"Dad." More urgently.

"Be patient, kiddo. Quinn can barely type properly as is."

"I feel really bad," you rasp. "Dizzy."

Vincent looks up from his phone quickly. "(Y/n)?" His eyes widen as he sees your pained expression and sweat dripping down your face.

He drops his phone immediately as he catches you right before you fall off the stool. He runs a hand across your forehead. "(Y/n)? Hey, baby, shh, calm down. What hurts?" Panic seeps through his tone, yanking off one of his gloves with his teeth to feel your pulse, putting two fingers to your neck. Its rapid-fire.

"E-everything," you whimper. It's hard to even form words anymore. Your vision is getting darker and darker, and you can no longer breathe.

You begin to cough, holding onto his shirt for comfort as you feel the edges of your conscious slipping. Your throat feels blocked up. Every attempt to speak results in a strained wheeze and a coughing fit.

Vincent lets out a rare, strangled noise. The fear of losing you is the one thing keeping him grounded.

He lifts you up easily, bridal-style, into his arms, resting your head against his chest. He maneuvers past the crowds, calling for someone to get a stretcher for you.

You can't tell what he's saying anymore, only that he's yelling. Is he mad? Upset?

Or terrified, maybe. Maybe that's why his voice is shaky and cracked.

"Baby, come on, just breathe for Dad, alright? Just focus on my voice, sweetie," he begs, rubbing circles in your chest, as if he can coax air into your lungs. "Breathe with me. Please."

Your breath stutters and comes out shallowly. There's nothing you can do.

No way to obey him. You can't breathe. Why can't you breathe? You're trying so hard, just like he asked you to, but it's like your lungs refuse to expand, refusing to cooperate.

Vincent tries his best to coach you into breathing right, talking in soothing tones and soft coos, encouraging you to calm down and copy him.

Even if everything didn't sound muffled, you couldn't understand him anyway from the way he's speaking, on the verge of hyperventilating. He's trying so hard to act okay for you.

Everything starts to become dim. Blackness creeps into the corners of your vision, slowly overtaking your sight entirely. No matter how hard you struggle, fighting to stay awake and alive, your body gives into the poison and shuts down, leaving you limp in his arms.

The last thing you hear before darkness consumes your consciousness is Vincent screaming louder than you've ever heard him before.

...

Vincent paces back and forth as he waits in the hospital hallway outside of the ER.

"Vincent," Trenton greets sympathetically. It's rare he ever refers to his boss with his first name, but it's not something Vincent minds usually, especially not now. His mind is too preoccupied. "We found the perpetrator—"

"Sullivan," Vincent snarls, finishing for him. "I already figured."

"R-right," Trenton sighs. "We caught him attempting to run. He was already prepared for flight. Uh, it seems like the strychnine was meant for you, but either mixed them up or you got your drinks mixed up."

Vincent nods. "That damn traitor... you have him in custody, right?" Trenton nods. "Good. Keep him alive. I want to kill him myself."

"Understood. Do you want us to torture him first?" Trent asks. He's usually not this brutal, but he loves you like a sibling, after all.

"No. I'm saving that pleasure for myself." The door opens and a doctor steps out. Vincent's most trusted doctor, Dr. Fredericks. "(Y/n)! Let me see them now!" He doesn't even bother asking if you're alive; he simply refuses to even consider that outcome. That's the only thing that's been stopping him from absolutely losing it.

"Okay, but they're very much out of it," she tells him, leading him down the hallway into your room.

She's right.

You're on a hospital bed with the covers pulled over your chest. An oxygen mask is secured over your mouth and nose, and several monitors hooked to various machines beep quietly, tracking your vitals. There's an IV drip attached to your wrist.

As promised, you are awake, but clearly unable to do anything beyond that. Your eyes are drooping and you're blinking slowly, struggling to stay alert.

"(Y/n)," Vincent breathes, rushing over and grabbing your hand. He crouches beside the bed so that he's level with you. "Sweetie? Can you hear me?" He kisses your temple gently. He brushes your hair away from your forehead, pressing his cheek against yours.

You try to move your hand weakly towards his voice.

The blond nods quickly. "Hi, baby. Yeah, its Dad. I'm here. Everything is gonna be okay now." He presses kisses all over your face—anywhere he can reach without disturbing the oxygen mask.

"Poisoned," you manage to rasp.

"I know, lovebug. But it'll be okay." Tears threaten to spill down Vincent's cheeks.

"Scary," you say next.

"I know," Vincent whispers again, his voice cracking. "I'm so sorry. I wasn't watching closely enough. Shouldn't have let him anywhere near us. I won't make that same mistake again, I promise." Not after he turns that bastard to dust. Slowly.

"Not y'r fault," you slur.

"It is. I should've protected you. That's my job, sweetie." He kisses your hand repeatedly. "Don't speak anymore, okay? I just want you to rest. At least until this comes off." He taps the clear oxygen mask. "And then we'll talk aaaall you want. Doesn't that sound nice?"

You shift positions as much as the wires will allow, and you pat the small space on the mattress, motioning for him to join you.

He chuckles and shakes his head fondly. "Aww, buddy. I don't wanna crush you."

When you continue to persistently slap the bed sheets, he finally concedes. He slips his shoes off and climbs onto the bed with you, helping you lay on top of his chest.

He makes sure all wires are in place as they were moments ago. "Comfy?" You hum in confirmation. Vincent plays with your hair. "Get some sleep, honey. Dad's not going anywhere."

Your eyelids flutter shut as you listen to the sound of his steady heartbeat, grounding you and lulling you to a peaceful, safe sleep.

Normally Vincent would be awake, hyper-vigilant as ever, but the exhaustion from running around in a frenzy and pure terror takes its toll on him too. His eyes close and sleep follows soon after.

[moonstruckme]

poly!marauders x drunk!reader at a party and reader needy but they don’t want to help reader because they don’t want to do anything when reader basically unconscious of what’s happening because reader is drunk. So they try to explain to reader that they will gladly take care of them after they get better and go to bed. Thank you!

Thanks for requesting!

cw: alcohol, explicit themes/language (? like no smut just want of smut haha)

poly!marauders x fem!reader ♡ 1k words

At some point, your boyfriends evidently decided that you’re not to be let out of sight. You’ve tried to go get another drink on several occasions, but no matter who you talk to, you always seem to end up right back on the Longbottom’s settee with one of the three of them. Now they’ve fixed you in Sirius’ lap, his hands spread firm and possessive over the curves of your hips to keep you from running off. Every time he shifts his leg even a little, the heat in your core intensifies. 

Now, he laughs at something someone says, body rumbling like a motor underneath yours, and you nearly whimper. You lean back until your head is on his shoulder. 

“Siri,” you murmur into his ear, “let’s go upstairs.” 

He turns his head into yours, smirking. “We are upstairs, sweet thing.” 

Oh. “Well, can we go somewhere else?” 

“Why, honey?” Sirius’ voice is smooth as always, and now it runs over your skin like velvet. You could almost shiver. “You bored?” 

You lean away just slightly so you can look him in the eyes, keeping your voice low. “I wanna fuck.” 

You watch surprise, then delight, and finally chagrin play one after the other over your boyfriend’s features. He presses a chaste kiss to the skin under your ear, repentant. “I wish I could,” he tells you, breath fanning over your neck and giving you goosebumps, “but it’ll have to wait.” 

“Why?” you whine. 

From the other side of the couch, James sends you an inquisitive look at the sound. Sirius pats your thigh consolingly. “It just will, baby. I’ll take care of you tomorrow, yeah? Let it go for now.” 

You don’t think you will. 

You start squirming in Sirius’ lap, trying to turn around so you can kiss him but not quite coordinated enough to manage it. As it turns out, your fidgeting is enough. His hold tightens on your hips, and he leans forward, murmuring a quiet “behave” into your ear. 

Your cunt pulses. Galvanized by this discovery, you repeat your new tactic, shuffling around on your boyfriend’s lap until his grip is punishing. You can feel the shape of his rings through the material of your bottoms. Sirius growls, and James’ head pops into view once again. 

“What’s going on over there?” he asks. 

“Sirius is being mean to me,” you whine before your boyfriend can get a word in. “He won’t let me move.” 

“I’ll bet.” James eyes Sirius’ flustered countenance, beckoning for you. “Come here, babydoll.” 

Sirius releases you into James hold. You notice him crossing his legs as soon as you’re away. James takes his boyfriend's trials as a cautionary tale, tucking you into his side rather than sitting you on his lap. 

“You’re in a troublesome mood, aren't you?” he asks fondly, rubbing up and down your arm. 

“M’not,” you object. “Sirius was just being mean. I didn’t do anything wrong.” 

“Mhm.” His disbelieving hum purrs through your bones. 

You cozy up to James, looking at him through your lashes. The material of his jumper feels nice against your cheek. “You’ll help me, won’t you?” 

He laughs raucously. You’re about to scowl, but he pecks you on the crown of your head, saving himself. “Just to be clear, are you asking me to fuck you in Alice and Frank’s new house while you’re sloppy drunk?” 

You nod impatiently. 

“Yeah, that’s not happening, darling.” He delivers another kiss to the top of your head to soften the blow. “But I do think I can persuade Remus to take us all home, how about that?” 

Just as quickly as disappointment takes root inside you, hope blooms in its stead. You smile so hugely your ear pops. “Yes, please,” you tell James. 

He squeezes your upper arm affectionately before leaning over, conveying something to Remus with a look that you might normally be able to interpret but currently can’t be bothered to. They’re going to take you home. You know what that means. There, you can fuck louder and nastier and longer than you ever would’ve been able to if you were trying to be discrete in the Longbottom’s spare bedroom. You can’t get there fast enough. 

James stands you up, and there’s a flurry of goodbyes and niceties as your boyfriends shepherd you out the door. Or, you know they must all be with you, but it’s sort of hard to keep track of three people at once. You’re not completely sure whose hand is on your forearm as you descend the steps outside, or who wrestles you into their jacket when you shiver at the brisk night air. You lean contentedly into the loving touches regardless. 

Eventually, it’s Sirius who gets you settled in the backseat, worriedly making Remus take your hands in his so you don’t stick them in the door when he closes it. 

“You don’t think you’re going to be sick?” he asks, and you have the vague impression he’d been upset with you not long ago, but you can’t recall what for and there’s none of that in his demeanor now. He tucks a stray hair behind your ear, lips pursed. “I can run back in and get a bag for the car ride.” 

“No, m’fine.” You sit up extra straight to prove it, cheesing at him. “I’m excited to go home.” 

Sirius snickers and closes your door, but Remus cocks an eyebrow at you. 

“What exactly do you think is going to happen when we get home?” he asks. 

“We’re gonna fuck,” you say brightly. 

In the driver’s seat, James barks out a laugh at your crass language. Remus darts a look his way, looking like he might be biting back a smile of his own. 

“Dove,” he says, “we’re not doing that tonight. We’re going to have some water and go to sleep.” You must look crushed, because his smile turns near pitying. “You’re too drunk, sweetheart.” 

“But I want to,” you say brokenly. 

“If you wake up tomorrow feeling better, you can have whatever you want.” 

From the front seat, Sirius says, “I’ve tried to tell her this.” 

You make a plaintive whining sound, and Remus reaches around your face, pulling your head down to rest on his shoulder consolingly. “You’re being so mean to me,” you lament. 

“Oh, I know,” he coos, patting your hair. “M’the worst.”

[trinketstreasuretrove]

I keep bouncing back and forth between interests like pong

Extra thoughts/details & sketches below cut

You have no fucking idea how much thought I put into this

Kremy: Changeling that disguises as a unicorn

Gideon: Kirin

Frost: Unicorn

Gricko: Earth Pony

Torbek: Abada

Twig: Breezie

There is going to be so much rambling so fucking STRAP IN

Okay so. Changeling Kremy. I realized like 80% of the way through I coulda made him a dragon but I wanted to draw horses soooooo... :| I imagine he is CONSTANTLY changing around his cutie mark. He could theoretically give himself a normal mustache but I think the idea of him being unable to do so is stupidly funny so he still draws it on. I tried to give him twists bc I thought it'd look pretty & I don't know how I'd translate the hair people usually give him in human designs onto a horse. I'm PRAYING that it's clear enough they're supposed to be twists (ref image below)

I'll be honest I think Gideon is the one I put the least thought into. Although that's mostly because his idea was the first one I just LATCHED onto and stuck with. He's a Kirin so he still has the connection to fire and whatnot. Instead of being imprisoned by hobgoblins it'd probably be diamond dogs in this au. He does still have a beard unlike usual Kirins but it just sort of melds into his mane.

Frost was a FUCKING NIGHTMARE (heh mare) to design I'm ngl. I kept having to redo his colors and had to heavily simplify his robes (and even then I had to redraw them when I got to the coloring stage because I hated them that much). But I think he'd turned out quite pretty in the end. I didn't want to just slap stripes on a horse and just call it a day though so desgining him to look recognizable but not just look like a zebra or a weird shaped tiger was difficult. He does have the saddle bags they have in MLP to stand in for his backpack & I tried to give it a similar pattern to his waist sash he has in his splash art. Also his mane is supposed to look like this under the hood.

It's supposed to have some strands coming out the sides to resemble the stripes on his face & I really hope that comes through in the design O.O

Gricko I also admittedly didn't think too much on because his design translated surprisingly well into a pony :] It was a little difficult to figure out his mane but I think it's quite cute. Figuring out his cutie mark was stressful. I wasn't sure if I should've gone with something music or animal related so I started sketching a harmonica with like. a music sheet? coming out of it? But after messing with the shape of the "wind" coming out of the top I realised I could make it into a paw to sort of combine music and animals and I think its verrry cute :]

Torbek! Torbek! Torbek! :D I'm crazy happy w/ how Torbek came out. He translates shockingly well into pony form especially when I found out ab Abadas in MLP. The incredibly lanky proportions fit verrry well. The leg designs are supposed to reference how his (witchlight-effected) arm in his splash art turns darker towards the ends and the stripes on his chest reference the straps from the straight jacket(?) under his coat. ALSO Abadas do have a cutie mark/cutie mark equivalent design on their flank (they represent their special talent and I think Torbek's OG mark would be about climbing) but I covered up where it would be with some witchlight machinery cause I thought it was clever :] it's specifically based on this plate(?) on his back

Anddd finally Twig :] I went into her design immediately knowing she was gonna be a Breezie. I originally just kinda slapped some colors onto a basic Breezie body and added a hat but it was really boring so I added some spots and gave her colored hooves to spruce it up just a little bit. The spots also gave me the ability to give her some AJ style freckles which I think are verrry adorable. :]

PS. as a treat for reading all that heres the OG concept I sketched up in MS paint (the designs stayed mostly the same [besides color palette] but I thought Frost look too tiger-y so I changed it up a bit in the end) You get a gold star if you can make out all of my handwriting btw

[scribblecon]

Hooogh I’ve had this in my wips for a while and finally finished it. Untitled Skids x reader because it’s almost 2am and I just want to post it I can’t faff about deciding on a title right now lol

SFW, GN reader

—

“Skids! You made it!” You exclaim, arms open as Skids enters your habsuite.

“How could I pass up spending time with you?” He throws you a lazy smile before taking a look around the room. He notices what appears to be a workstation set up on the desk with some materials you’d been gradually collecting from various planets the Lost Light had stopped at on its travels. “Er, what, exactly, is this by the way? Some kind of experiment?”

You break out into a grin as you tell him to sit down and switch to his holo avatar, then start explaining. How you remembered him saying he doesn’t have any hobbies because he gets bored of things once he masters them, and that got you thinking, what if there’s a skill no one can truly master? You’re not sure about Cybertronians but humans have been arguing about and striving to perfect different art forms for centuries, so, why not start with painting?

Now in his avatar, Skids joins you on the desk to inspects your materials. It’s nice of you to think of him like this, but it’s only a matter of time before his brain starts piecing things together and he gets restless for something else to do. At least it’s an excuse to spend time with you.

“Now, I know what you’re thinking,” You interrupt Skids’s train of thought, patting his avatar’s shoulder. “You’ll just master painting like you have with all your other skills. But I want you to go into this with no examples or references. Paint something from the heart. Or, uh, spark, in your case. You know what I mean.”

“From the spark.” He turns to face you, raising an eyebrow. Still not fully convinced, but interested.

“… I’m going to explain the basic properties of oil painting so you don’t destroy any of my stuff by accident and then turn you loose on a canvas. How does that sound?”

“Sounds like you’re throwing me in at the deep end.”

“And when has that ever been a problem for you?”

—

You’re hard at work directly opposite him, having arranged the easels so that he ‘couldn’t cheat’ by watching your own creative process, but Skids has no idea where to start. Self expression does not come easily to mechs that have been fighting for millions of years. Staring at the colours you had set out for him, he picks one at random and squeezes it onto the palette. He’ll just make something up as he goes and say it’s abstract expressionism.

What started out as picking colours at random has turned into something far more methodical and an exercise in frustration. There’s something in the back of his mind that he can’t quite remember but as he smears another streak of orange across the canvas the memory feels more tangible, only for it to evade him just as he feels like it’s within reach. Swapping out brushes for palette knives, he builds up layers of texture, carving out shapes in some areas and spreading paint around in others.

Ready to take a break, you drop your brush in a jar of turpentine and walk over to see how Skids is doing. “Woah. It’s like staring into a pool of magma.” You can’t quite put your finger on it, but something about the painting makes you uneasy. “A little unsettling when you look at it for too long though, don’t you think?”

“Unsettling?” Taking a step back, he frowns as he wipes off the palette knife in his hand. That hadn’t been his intention. He kind of sees what you mean though. In a sea of oranges and yellows so bright they almost glow against the dark background, right in the centre there’s some marks that look like part of a face in the midst of an inferno. He hadn’t put a face there on purpose, but now he’s spotted it, he can’t unsee it.

“It’s not a bad thing.” You murmur. “Are you alright though? You looked pretty intense earlier.”

“Nah, I’m fine.” He can feel his head starting to hurt. “Using a holo-matter for too long can really wear a guy out, though. Time to call it a day?”

“Oh, god,” checking the time, you realise several hours have passed. “We’ve been working for a while, huh?”

“It’s no bother,” He says, avatar dissipating. It takes a moment before his optics switch back on and he continues speaking. “Really, It was interesting. We should do this again. Now how about you clean yourself up and we head to Swerve’s?”

You look at your hands and down at your clothes, marred with paint stains. “Sounds like a plan. Give me 10 minutes.”

[kisakis-boyfriend]

As the Souya Simp of this blog I have the wonderful honor of being the one to obviously request Souya for the whole alphabet if that’d be Gucci for thou!

-Souya’s anon lover

Author's Note: Of course! Yours is also the first request for this event too. 🥳

For our 3000 follower celebration! (CLOSED NOW)

A = Aftercare (What they’re like after sex)

Very cuddly, and you love him for that 🩵 Souya will collapse, totally out of energy, and then he's immediately ready for cuddle time!

He's also great at letting you know how amazing you were, and how loved you are.

B = Body part (Their favourite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

His favorite part of himself is probably his arms, or his ass since you compliment it so much 😅

When it comes to you, Souya's answer is simple: your gorgeous face is his most favorite thing about you 🩵

C = Cum (Anything to do with cum basically)

I feel like Souya's cumshots would be pretty sizable, but his cum is less thick than other guys. More translucent white and slightly more bitter than average. And, if you edge him for a long time, the tiny spurts of cum would make it look like Souya is squirting rather than cumming 😋

D = Dirty Secret (Pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

Souya has a folder on his phone full of secret photos. Ones he snapped of you fresh out of the shower, changing clothes, and similar situations. But there's also some innocent ones too. A few selfies, pictures of you two from social gatherings and whatnot. He admires these often 🩵

E = Experience (How experienced are they? Do they know what they’re doing?)

He's a little lost, but he's got the spirit. Not super inexperienced, but his knowledge of kinks and sexual health is a bit lacking.

F = Favourite Position (This goes without saying. May include a visual)

Anything face to face, methinks. Cowgirl, missionary, even a good ol' mating press! Just as long as Souya can watch your reactions, he's happy!

G = Goofy (Are they more serious in the moment, or are they humorous, etc)

I think he can be unintentionally goofy, just by saying something that makes you laugh in the middle of sex. Otherwise he's more on the serious side.

H = Hair (How well groomed are they, does the carpet match the drapes, etc.)

You know I love a good bush, but I think Souya would trim his hair somewhat. He's definitely not going to shave himself clean down there, but a little bit of shaping is his style 👍

I = Intimacy (How are they during the moment, romantic aspect…)

Souya can be quite intimate. He's the kind of person who will randomly blurt out an "I love you" while you're fucking him. (And if you do it back, you may see a few tears)

J = Jack Off (Masturbation headcanon)

Not his thing. Souya prefers to let you jerk him off, but only if you promise to put your dick inside too 👉👈

Only if you're unable to see each other for a long time, and if he's incredibly horny, will Souya touch himself and think about you. He'll probably sext you as well, or try to hop on a video call.

K = Kink (One or more of their kinks)

FOOD KINK! FOOD KINK! FOOD KINK! And hair pulling, honestly.

L = Location (Favourite places to do the do)

This is a little boring perhaps, but Souya prefers the bed or couch because those are comfortable for long sexy times. I mean, he'll do it just about anywhere, but it is nice to have a soft surface so that his back isn't sore 😵‍💫

M = Motivation (What turns them on, gets them going)

You. Just, anything about you really. A lingering smile, a flirty wink, a cheeky bite on his neck, a caress over his bulge, the sound of your voice.

N = NO (Something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

Honestly, I don't think Souya would be into spitting. Especially spitting in his mouth… it's just a no from him 😔

O = Oral (Preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc)

Souya prefers receiving for sure, but he'll use his mouth on you if you coax him into it. He's not too bad at it either. A blowjob from Souya is so full of passion that it makes up for his average skill.

P = Pace (Are they fast and rough? Slow and sensual? etc.)

Souya prefers fast and rough, and he's normally the one who sets the pace. But he's not against the occasional soft sex~

Q = Quickie (Their opinions on quickies rather than proper sex, how often, etc.)

Quickies are a regular occurrence in your relationship. Sometimes one of you is too horny (usually Souya) and you have to settle for a quick round before you go about your day.

R = Risk (Are they game to experiment, do they take risks, etc.)

A little bit. He trusts you enough to explore new kinks, but Souya won't shy away from maintaining his boundaries.

S = Stamina (How many rounds can they go for, how long do they last…)

So. Much. Stamina. Good lord, Souya can go on forever it seems. Even when he's visibly tired, he's still bouncing on your cock or throwing his ass back!

On average, he can go for 3 rounds. Although he can definitely go for more if he's in the right mood.

T = Toy (Do they own toys? Do they use them? On a partner or themselves?)

Not the biggest fan of toys. He prefers your dick or your hand to anything else.

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

He's not one to tease you, and he'll definitely whine when you tease him, but Souya doesn't use your safe word either… 😏

V = Volume (How loud they are, what sounds they make)

Loud boi. Grunting and whining are the most common sounds during sex, but Souya moans a lot too. He talks a lot as well, your dick turns him into a bit of a blabbermouth 🤣

W = Wild Card (Get a random headcanon for the character of your choice)

His brother gave him a manscaped kit for his birthday once 💀 But Souya does actually use it, and his pubic hair looks and feels nice!

X = X-Ray (Let’s see what’s going on in those pants, picture or words)

Long dick style — like, 8 to 10 inches. Not super girthy, but not entirely slacking in that aspect either. His dick curves to the left just a tiny bit and there are a few moles around and right above his dick.

Y = Yearning (How high is their sex drive?)

Above average for sure. Souya is ready to go at almost any time. It's kind of scary how much this guy can fuck 💀

Z = ZZZ (How quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

While he's not always going to pass out immediately, that has happened a few times. More often than not though, Souya is just physically exhausted and would like to cuddle and chill while you both wind down.

[mikimakiboo]

Time Travelers AU - Bathroom Break

I am baaaaaaaack on the story ! For those who missed it I published everyone's backstory, all are linked in the master post !

@ancha-aus it's been a while since I tagged you here

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I feel like this chapter is way too short compared to the time it took me to write it

Here it was: the moment Dust dreaded the most... going back to work. Not that there was a problem with his job, his colleagues were fine, the customers were usually nice except for some exceptions, but it was to be expected when working in a fast food. No, the thing that worried him was leaving his roommates, because they were basically roommates, alone all day. He wasn't afraid they would fight, thought Nightmare had been quite distant these past few days, he didn't participate in conversations during meals and usually just translated for Killer and asked him a few things, but apart from that he always seemed moody, mad about something and avoiding them. It did worry Dust, maybe it was something he did, or didn't do, that caused the noble to change his behavior ? He'll need to talk about it with him. Regarding the others they all seemed to get along, he noticed Cross would sometimes lower his guard when Killer talked, or rather rambled, to him to listen to what he was saying, which was something important to note as the knight only ever left the door to eat, Dust knew it because he saw him sleeping while still standing. Horror was nice to everyone, just not paying much attention to Nightmare as he seemed to avoid him more than the others anyway, and Killer just liked to chat with everyone, not caring if they understood him or not. So no, Dust wasn't scared they would fight. He was scared they would get bored, get curious and break something or even hurt themselves, that someone would knock at the door and call the cops when seeing them, or many other things they could do that could result in troubles both for them and for Dust. He really didn't need that.

Dust sighed, preparing yet another burger and putting it in a bag for those at the drive through, he didn't need to think about it anymore, the movements were basically muscle memory at that point. Should he introduce the others to burgers ? Maybe he could order everyone a burger once he got his paycheck, and he could buy soda and potatoes to make the fries himself ? Would they even like it ? Nightmare would probably despise the grease, maybe Cross too as he seemed to be very in shape, but he had a feeling Killer and Horror would like it. Well, that could be a plan for later then.

He felt someone tap on his shoulder.

- Break time, I'm taking your place.

His colleague said. Was it already his break ? He didn't see the time pass, for once. Well, he usually didn't have much to think about, so he must admit he wasn't particularly focused on the time that day.

- Oh, okay, thanks.

He finished the burger he was making before putting down his apron and going to the changing rooms to grab his phone in his locker. He then went to the bathroom, not that he needed to go as he was a skeleton, but he liked sitting on the throne in his little cabin, that way he didn't have to sit in the staff's room and make small talk with the others, he could just scroll on his phone for fifteen minutes without being disturbed. He sometimes wished he had a digestive system so he could take a dump on company time and be paid for it, but he didn't have one, anything a skeleton consumed was either turned into magic or would get thrown up if the body couldn't "digest" it. What a shame, honestly.

He wondered for a moment if he should call home on the land-line, but he soon figured it would be useless as he didn't teach them how to pick up a phone, so he just hoped everything was fine and went on socials to see what new brainrot was available to pass the time.

His alarm went off after fifteen minutes, indicating the end of his break. He sighed.

- Alright, here we go again...

He muttered to himself, getting up without flushing, and opened the door to step out of the cabin. He tripped on a branch and fell face first on the grass.

Cross flinched, planting his sword in the ground as to maintain balance when he felt everything shift around him. The house had dissapeared, and he found himself in a field surrounded by a forest. It felt like a few days ago, when he appeared in Dust's backyard, he had felt the air sting and crackle before everything shifted, and when he opened his eyes, he was somewhere else.

Where was he now ? He pulled his sword from the ground, holding it tight in case a threat would appear, and looked around him, were the others here too ? He heard a noise behind him, and quickly turned, only to see Killer gripping on a branch, hanging from a tree. As he was about to run by his side he saw Horror coming out from behind a bush, leaves and twigs stucked in the furr of his coat. Killer saw him too.

- Horrooooooor ! Adiuvaaaaa ! He cried.

Horror jumped, not expecting to hear a voice above him, and quickly went to grab Killer and put him safely on the ground. The Roman then immediately opened his bag to make sure all of his stuffs were with him, and sighed in relief before looking up at the Viking.

- Gratis..

Horror nodded, then looked at Cross.

- Vel ?

He asked, thought Cross didn't understand, but he supposed Horror asked him if he was doing good, as he looked concerned. Cross was doing fine, he wasn't hurt and by chance landed on his feet and on a plain surface, unlike Killer who ended up in a tree.

- Eo vais ben, mercit.

He thanked him, before hearing a spine-chilling scream.

- Google noooooooo !!

All three of them turned quickly, startled, and saw Dust, a little farther, kneeling on the ground with his little magic rectangle in his hands, visibly distressed.

- Dust ? Killer called, bene facis ?

- Google's dead ! Dust cried out, holding his rectangle in the air, it's mort, morz, mortuus, liflátinn, dead !!

Cross froze, who was dead ? Who was so important that Dust had to announce their death in five languages ? Was his rectangle dead ? Wait, wasn't the rectangle what allowed them to communicate ? Oh. They might have a problem then.

They looked at each other for a minute, not knowing how to save the rectangle from death, before Killer went to the wheeping skeleton and kneeled before him, looking through his bag. Dust looked up at him when he took out the thick book Dust had been reading recently: the Old Norse dictionary. Cross remembered Killer shoving the book in his bag when Dust left without it, saying he would keep it safe until he returned. Dust looked at the dictionary in awe, taking it carefully.

- Oh my fucking god, Killer, I love you so much right now, gratis.. !

Killer smiled, happy to have been useful.

As Dust was getting up with Killer's help they heard a new noise, and as they turned, they were met with a rather unusual sight: Nightmare, the very sophisticated Nightmare, was laying face flat in a mud puddle, the only mud puddle in the whole field, and looked particularly horrified, and disgusted, when he stood on his elbows, his face covered with mud. Killer couldn't help but burst out with laughter, especially when Nightmare tried to get up only to slip and fall again. Cross heard Dust fight back his own laughter and Horror chuckled, but even if the scene was indeed funny, Nightmare trully looked distressed, and Cross couldn't leave him like that.

- Sire !

He rushed to his side, helping him up by letting him grab him for balance, not caring if he dirtied his armor as it was rather easy to clean.

- Vous trouvez cela amusant !? Nightmare yelled, angry, and shaking slightly, asking if they found it funny.

Horror raised his hands in an apalogy motion, but Killer was still pretty much dying on the ground, wheezing and holding his non-existant stomach, Dust simply avoiding his gaze. Nightmare huffed, a shameful blush on his cheeks as Cross helped him step out of the puddle and sit on a log nearby as he tried to wipe the mud from his face, taking his gloves off as they were just as muddy anyway.

- Estes-vos blecié, sire ? Cross asked, wanting to know if he was hurt.

Nightmare shook his head, he wasn't hurt, physically at least. Cross nodded, standing straight again to look at the others: Killer had stopped laughing and was now catching his breath, Dust was looking at their surroundings, and Horror was looking at Nightmare, thoughtful, but didn't come any closer.

Now that everyone was here, they needed to think of a plan. They needed to figure out where they ended up, or when, if they could seek shelter somewhere, or if they couldn't and would have to build a sort of nest at least for the night, what they could hunt or gather, take turn to stand guard, ... Horror didn't seem to have his axe with him, which was... rather inconvenient, but he was pretty sure Killer still had his knives in his bag so it meant they were at least two with weapons to defend the group. He looked down at Nightmare again. They had to find water.

He sighed and gestured to everyone to come closer. He would rather they didn't split up.

- Nos devons trover eaue, he said, glancing at Nightmare who was still staring at his hands, senz se séparer, he added, looking back at them.

- Okay wait, Dust stopped him, "eaue" means water, right ? I mean he does need to wash himself so it would make sense he needs water... wait I think I remember the translation... he thought for a while, looking throught the dictionary, okay so.. aqua for Latin ? Aaaand... vatn for Old Norse.

Killer snorted.

- Sordidus est, aqua eget.

Cross wasn't sure what that meant, but judging by Nightmare's glare it most likely was a mockery, or one of the Roman's usual tease at least. He wanted to reprimand him, now wasn't the time for teasing, but Horror was faster than him and gave Killer a gentle nudge on the shoulder, shaking his head disapprovingly, to which Killer whined but didn't push it. Horror then pointed at the woods.

- Vatn.

Before anyone could reply, he opened the way. He had fallen in a bush and heard running water in the distance when he got up, surely there was a river nearby.

- Wait wait wait ! Dust interrupted again, Horror stopping to look at him. We're just gonna accept that we apparently got tossed throught time ? I mean it ain't you guys first time but it is mine ! And I actually have to go back to work !

Cross frowned. Work ? He knew what work meant, but why was Dust talking about work ? Oh, right ! Dust was supposed to be at work ! But he couldn't get back to work now, they didn't even know in what time they were, but surely it wasn't Dust's time anymore as these strange buildings were nowhere to be seen. Cross shook his head, Dust couldn't go back to work for now.

- What do you mean no ? I need the money.

Cross thought for a while, trying to remember the translation for money, and shook his head again.

- Nos sommes denz une altre époque, pas de "work".

He tried to explain, telling him they were in a different time. Dust frowned at him, before sighing.

- Well it's gonna be one fucking long bathroom break then... He mumbled, before following Horror again.

Cross held out a hand for Nightmare but the noble got up by himself, and simply followed the others from a distance, Cross walking behind to make sure no one deviated from the line and no threat appeared.

After only a few minutes they heard running water, and at the next turn around a tree, they saw a small river. Nightmare went to kneel on the shore and put his hands in the water. Killer went next to him, crounching down, and ignoring Nightmare's glare to rummage through his bag and take out a piece of cloth that he handed him. Nightmare looked at it for a while before taking it without saying a word, still bitter that they laughed, and put it in the water to clean his face. Dust stayed near Horror, looking at the trees.

Cross stood back, watching them all, making sure everything was safe for them to stop here.

He really hoped they could find a shelter soon.

[popironrye]

The Lost Boys

Leisure Headcanons

💋 David 💋

Is a skilled fire arm shooter. (Loves the cowboy aesthetic)

Has his own gun hidden in the cave.

Doesn't get the chance too often, but will ride a horse when the chance arises.

Likes wood carving. Mostly non specific whittling into basic shapes or animals. It helps him relax.

Movie nut! When the boys go the Max's store to fool around, David makes sure to tuck a movie or two that catches his eye in his coat. Tends to watch them alone, all the questions from Paul would just grate on his nerves too much.

I imagine David would be like REALLY good at origami for no particular reason. He doesn't even try, just once the boys do it just because and he's just the best at it.

I don't know if vampires can emerge in water in the lost boys lore, but if they can David loves to swim. Chilling in water clears his mind.

💀 Dwayne 💀

Skater boi! Does a lot of sick tricks, but when you can levitate it's less impressive. XD

Doesn't care for guns, but likes archery. Hammers his own arrow heads. Dwayne and David like to pick a spot in the woods to shoot make shift targets.

A real book worm. Will spend a lot of time just silently reading for hours.

Takes up knitting from time to time. He prefers hand knitted blankets and throws rather then the store ones.

Likes to make jewelry. Made his own necklace.

Enjoys all types of puzzles. Cross word, jigsaw, and brain teasers.

Can sew and offers to sew up holes made in all the clothes the boys decide not to get new ones.

🌿 Paul 🌿

Can play the guitar.

Also likes to sing, and is pretty good at it. Wanted to start a band, but the other boys weren't up for it.

Has the biggest music collection and is always hogging the tabletop/cassette/cd player.

Amateur photography. Just likes to take photos randomly. Some are really artsy.

Got really into tie dye for a while. Although he might have just been high.

When he wants to relax, Paul really likes to stargaze. Laying outside the cave looking at the sky and hearing the waves of the ocean just makes him feel at peace.

When David isn't using the tv monitor, Paul enjoys quite a few video games. He also likes to take on the arcade and carnival games at the boardwalk.

🪶 Marko 🪶

Aside from pigeons, Marko will try to domesticate a number of animals to the cave, including stray dogs, cats, deer, badgers, squirrel, foxes, bats, and even a black bear once.

He in fact did NOT domesticate a black bear, but he did wrestle one.

He does his own patchwork on his jacket.

Like David, he likes to sculpt into wood, but he usually carves patterns and landscapes into more grand pieces.

He's also a skilled painter. Mostly he'll paint murals on sections of the cave David says is ok for him to paint on.

He collects sea shells on the beach.

He'll style the others hair. Especially David who he'll cut and dye in the way he likes best.

🔥Pack Activities🔥

Dart throwing. The bigger the target the better. David and Dwyane are very competitive at this one specifically.

Rollerblading. Put wheels on shoes, what more can you want?

Listening to music. The boys have very wide music tastes and sometimes they cross over and they all like the same stuff. They take turns around the player of their choice to just smoke, drink, and listen to the sounds of the music plays.

Card games. Specifically poker when they're all together. They make things more interesting when they make bets.

And of course motocycle cruising and board walk loitering.

Something that always strikes me with vampires in fiction and indeed with any immortal creature with the high and emotional intelligence of humans. IMMORTALITY IS FUCKING BORING!

I mean, think about it. Imagine you're given all the free time in the world with very little responsibility with no fear of getting sick or tired allowed to do pretty much whatever you want. What would you do? Cause I would go stir crazy. So I came up with these dumb little head canons on how I image the boys specifically would pass the time in their little vampire lives that doesn't revolve around murdering and feeding off of people.

Of course cruising on their bikes come to mind. And there's a couple in the movie we get to see like Dwayne's skateboarding and Marko's fondness for pigeons but I wanted to throw more possibilities out there. :3

[pastorfutureletthembe]

Down into the VORTEX: the Curve Theory

I mentioned the Curve theory in a meta before but I wanted to dive even deeper into the fuckery of it.

I'll remind you what I call a Curve so you're all up to speed (cf: Rick and Morty):

The curve basically walls off the infinite number of universes, in which INSERT CANONICAL NODE happens, from the rest of the infinite multiverse. A model often used to explain is that the definition of a Finite Curve has no set parameters; it's just wholly random and infinite therefore can be represented as a repeating, immeasurable shape modeled with a circle. A Finite Curve would then present a finite collection of dimensions.

How is it relevant to Link Click? Well, I'm glad you asked.

I argued in the past that cakes on promotional artworks could represent curves and each curve would have hypothetically 12 repeats to offer. This is a conclusion I came to after my treasure hunt for the 5th timeline (for which I keep finding daily proofs of, by the way).

For the sake of understanding exactly how it can apply to Link Click lore, let me walk you through the basis.

Rick&Morty season 6 // Link Click BREAK! PV Note: I'm using this analogy because it is the most accurate way to bring you where I want.

By the way, we kinda already saw what resembles a curve according to the LCverse

BREAK!

If you count the circles, you'll find that five different rings turn around Saturn in BREAK! PV.

This being established, since the purpose of a Curve is to put a set of timelines sharing the same parameters together, I will argue the LINK here is a canonical unchangeable node. You guessed it:

Cheng Xiaoshi's death.

But honeslty, I don't believe that CXS is supposed to die in every possible universe - and for the sake of the argument, let's assume he isn't.

Actually, when we see flashes of him dying in LG's arms, my first thought was the first one to change the timeline and die doing it was probably CXS; that's why LG freaked out when his friend took a shot for Qiao Ling.

But let's review LG's side of everything first, shall we?

LG used up 4 pictures to save his friend

LG's ultimate goal is to save Cheng Xiaoshi's life and he failed four times. Death is supposed to be an unchangeable node and LG knows that by trying to keep it from happening, he will destroy time itself. Does he care? (/rethorical)

We know little about his previous dives, except that either he never made it this far or Li Tianchen and Li Tianxi weren't part of the timelines he knew. And, CXS died in his arms at some point, giving him access to his Back In Time power, alike what happened between Li Tianxi and Qiao Ling.

Here are some theories about them though:

If the Live Action reveals itself to be canon, it could be the Prime Timeline for Lu Guang. (We'll know for sure by the end of the month, I guess.)

In the Manhua, LG is protective and affectionate around CXS, in a very melancolic way. I'm not kidding, he's so soft it hurts.

The Daily Life in Lightime happens in another timeline and we can actually point out the moment Lu Guang dives in.

This time around, LG went and met CXS earlier than in the original timeline. (//Live Action)

It could be a coincidence that Lu Guang's character is more and more bored as we go through these examples. Keep an open mind here.

Lu Guang from the LCLA has dark hair but the promotional poster show one photograph of him with white hair. Why? There are so many jokes on LG's age in the donghua but mostly: he is so frail and remains in a sitting position if he can help it. Just like in Dive Back In Time, where he's the only one not standing. The man is exhausted. I'm just saying, perhaps his white hair isn't supposed to be white and the fact we see him with dark hair only in LCLA, played by a man of flesh, could be THE clue hidden in plain sight that this version is the original.

Note: I purposefully didn't include the musical here. The repetition of the media itself is quite interesting. Every performance is unique but the script itself is the same. It could very well be a curve on its own. Just a idea, nothing consistent.

What tells us LG isn't at his first dive is the music! Now, I won't go too deep into it because I really want to craft ONE post about this particular topic. Dive Back in Time and VORTEX are the most obvious because most of us probably never skip the intro, aaaand we get it: they are doomed by the narrative.

So yeah, this is basically why I call those "chances":

Overthink

3 more to go

Qiao Ling's birthday // Dive Back In Time

If you pay attention to the titlescreen, you'll notice free spaces in the center of the circle. By the end of the opening, one is filled, hinting that this picture has been used.

There are other winks on the number 3:

Cause I'm about to lose my- Cause I'm about to lose my- Cause I'm about to lose my mind >> Dive Back in Time When my friend are holding hands, heading into abyss I ran my lungs out so I wouldn't have missed But I missed, I missed, I missed >> Keep in Mind So what's that sound sound sound Spinning all night long long long Temperature goes down down down Got my mind feelin' drown drown drown >> The Tides

Let's assume that there are three chances left at the begining of the show. We still don't know when the inner monologue at the end of season 2 happens on the timeline, but LG mentioned his "last chance" to save CXS. The synopsis for Yingdu Chapter announced CXS died, as if it was common knowlegde (I love them for their audacity).

Are those the three last chances? To be continued.

The One True Curve

All these timelines happened inside the same Curve. Now, why do I think there ARE other curves to begin with when we already had to work so hard to get this far?

The camera isn't the same depending on who, Lu Guang or Cheng Xiaoshi, is taking the picture. The reflection changing is a way to show alternative timelines, which is different from repeats. It is a common visual clue, FOX used this technique to promote their show FRINGE for example (2 different universes crashing into each other).

There are some visuals with several clocks (I'll make a post per PV one day eventually). The first one shows a lot of different broken clocks and two merged ones as the biggest, central. This is our current curve. Our three protagonists and the antagonists are fighting over it; Light against the Shadows, as bilibili's accounts often dub the artworks. This could be our time paradox. On the second screenshot, the word LEAVE is over distorded clocks, fracturing space. Also a hint on several other realities, which have probably been left behind.

Train Trail // XETROVerthink

About that, the Vortex concept can be associated with a way to travel from one curve to another. Lots of science-fiction tvshows use this tool (Star Gate or SLIDERS).

The general idea is that, in the center of another curve the unchangeable node is different: Cheng Xiaoshi is the one trying to save Lu Guang's life.

There is of course, another explanation, just as valid as the Curve Theory: they are repeating this cycle of saving their friend over and over again. Once they run out of repeats, they die and the other go back in time to save them, completely unaware of the repeats; turning the hourglass over once again. The biggest clue for this one is... Well, the hourglass, for obvious reasons.

Link Click BREAK! PV // XETROVerthink

In XETROVerthink, we have LG appearing in the hourglass, probably in a bad shape, drowning perhaps, and CXS is swimming to him to save him; it's his turn. They are both unaware of their predicament.

By the end of BREAK! CXS's hair also turns white. It implies that he, too, went through many repeats to change their fate.

~

That's all folks! Of course I'm not close to other theories. I find the Curve Theory pretty cool. I would like to see them fight to actually get out of this canonical node, and find a place for themselves when they live their best idiots life.

I also have many additional thoughts about all of it: (Edit: you can find the meta here)

Some character presentations also hint at more than five repeats. Five repeats would be the current score for Lu Guang but Cheng Xiaoshi would have a higher number.

Some PVs enlight V for Lu Guang but X for Cheng Xiaoshi.

Some promotional posters or even VORTEX show LG and CXS as each other's reflection, as if separated by glass or water.

I'll will post more about it but 'nough said for now haha

[amerricanartwork]

Current digital art process!

Acting on @shkika 's request because making my redraw for this post actually ended up giving me more confidence in my digital art process! As such, I'm gonna use it as a reference. And if this walkthrough of sorts turns out nice, I might do it again as my process evolves!

I started off with a quick sketch of sorts, trying to focus both on movement and volume, and get the general idea of where each element is located. I edit the image dimensions and placement of things a lot in this phase, as my ideas often tend to change once I actually begin drawing them. In this case, as I got it down, I decided I wanted it to look like some cheesy animal motivational poster, so that influenced where the text was.

From there, I began to clean and sometimes edit the sketch, mainly by thickening the lines to make the shapes more definite, and erasing what wasn't necessary and interfered with other parts. Volume is one of my biggest focuses in my drawings, so I try my best to get the volume of each character at least hinted at with the lines. This is something that will probably remain in my process for a while, as I quite dislike doing separate lineart and like the messy, sketchy feel anyway.

I also wanna mention, in addition to having references and such in other windows, I've recently begun having a second mini window of my current drawing off to the side so I can see what it looks like overall more easily, regardless of how much I zoom in on and flip the main window. It's quite helpful!

For reference, this is what the final sketch looked like:

Then, I went on to add the flat colors. Another tip: I almost always set my sketch layer to "Lumi & Shade" because I think it makes the line colors a lot richer, but since it's based on what colors are underneath, it colors the lines a lot more individually than changing the sketch color as a whole. Here's some comparison to a version without the effect (left):

Then, I add some shading using a (really nice) marker brush. This is honestly one of my favorite parts of the process, just trying to carve out all the volumes, especially since I usually use a pretty blue color for shadows!

Sometimes, I honestly just leave drawings finished at this step, because I adore the sketchy look so much, and because I really don't like the tediousness of more realistic rendering in the painting process; from what I've seen/experienced, it often involves having to basically paint the entire image over again, which I've realized I find REALLY boring (and is also why I clean the sketch instead of making a new lineart layer). As such, one of my hopes is to reach a point where I could almost completely avoid having to clean up the image in a traditional painting method, instead being able to lay down lines and colors so well that they convey nearly all the volume necessary on their own, still have that sketchy appeal, yet also look finished and professional.

Alas, I did do a bit of clean up on this image, but I think it still turned out alright!

Here's the finished drawing! I'll have to practice with this process a bit more to truly solidify it as my digital go-to, but nonetheless, I think this came out adorable! Thanks again shkika for the ask, and thanks to @mintscampi for the sweet prompt! I hope you guys like it!

[brooklynisher]

Here's a bunch of old sketchbook doodles I made y'all

Stick around bc this includes my first SPG drawings!! (Before I joined Tumblr)

Riveting start

I'll start off with little drawings I made of myself. And my god do you see what I'm doing with the anatomy? Do you see how tiny those joints are? That's horrific. Why did I build everyone like that? But Yugo is where I began to find my art style. Will love them forever for that. I've got to go back to simple-shaped heads one of these days and blush/eyelashes on everything

We've got some lovely Smile For Me-related doodles. First is a Flower Kid design. Second was not smile for me specifically, but Face Love (by the same devs). And the last two were my earlier attempts at making comics and scenes. Ft. lancer for some reason.

Here are a couple of abandoned OCs. Pretty boy (Basil) is supposed to be yellow. We've all had that OC whose only trait was being a hot person and that's what he was all about. Didn't develop him much in terms of character which is sad because I kinda like his design. He was created when I was doodling random designs in FireAlpaca. I'll have to show the other doodles in a different post (If you are interested).

THIS GUY I WOULD LIKE TO BRING BACK! Might be kinda basic in terms of like "Weird Core" designs but I still love him. His plot keeps changing though because his design is so strange yet so simple to the point where I could put him in just about any world I wanted to had I gotten bored of the old one. Which is silly bc he's just a depressed news anchor man.

Anyway bc of that, Basil used to be his bf, but isn't anymore. He got replaced with fat peppermint man who fun fact: was inspired by the song Brass Goggles BEFORE I even got into SPG and learned what it was about! How silly is that! Peppermint boy is technically my first SPG OC!

She was a fun one, but I abandoned her too. I think she was too influenced by Frye's character from Splatoon. She was a warrior of sorts. Sort of tribal I suppose. She spoke fast, and in her tribe's language, so many people struggled to understand her. She was very bouncy too. Jumping all over the place. If you know Frye, you'll probably notice that they're a bit too similar to each other. That's usually why I abandon my OCs. When they're too similar to another.

Critter I doodled. Not really an OC, but I still think she's cute

Don't ask me about the first guy. The girl was a mii that was born in Tomodachi Life! Her name is Lily. She is the child of Kris (Deltarune) and Hatsune Miku. She looks silly which is why I love her.

I'm Picasso. Kinda vibe with this ngl. Not sure if I could ever turn this into anything though

Here are some low-effort doodles. Enjoyed the design of the big lady more than I thought. I was practicing drawing bigger bodies at the time. Joints are still KILLING ME but it's not bad considering I had the worst anatomy method imaginable

Here are some higher-effort doodles. Aside from the abhorrent anatomy (WHY DOES THE PIG ZOMBIE HAVE TWO DIFFERENTLY SIZED SHOULDERSS????) I quite like these critters. That mermaid girl had lore too. She could control the dead of the sea. She was lowkey evil. Never turned her into anything though. Also, you can see by that guy at the bottom of the first one, that Bunny's art was starting to take an influence on me.

Lots of stuff going on over here but LOOK! MY VERY FIRST SPG FANART! IT'S OF VI POINTING AT AN APPLE AND YELLING AT IT

I was inspired by Bunny to make these monster-ish-looking people

More thingies! There's the goopy robot which I initially drew as a first attempt at drawing a robot, but then I made it black and goopy bc that's what it was giving. The star guy appears and disappears a few times. I think I wanted to keep them, but the design was very similar to LightLazer so I felt a bit weird about drawing them.

More robot shenanigans. First time drawing Rabbit and The Spine! Cannot believe that my first Spine drawing was in a dress oh my god.

More Bunny-inspired drawings and I'm REALLY kinda digging that weird tiny robot critter. Looking at it now, it's kinda like Spring in a few ways, but it's also completely different from Spring in so many other ways. The limbs are retractable. I kinda like this thing actually. I Oughtta do something with it.

These ones are more SPG-specific. You'll have to forgive me, most of these are from memory. Don't ask me why Rabbit looks like David Bowie in the first one.

And finally, some Rabbit and Spine doodles! Rabbit's doing the "Hey Andy Sweetie" meme. I could totally reattempt drawing that today actually.

Anyway, hope you had fun. I did. Ugh this is so sillyy

[bye-shou]

ike eveland x gn!reader

characters : ike eveland

it's an angst (?) to fluff btw

warnings : none really (update : it might be a long one)

summary : ike, your crush, asked you to meet him at the nearby park for some help after you guys hung out.

oh i'd like to add you're in college 1st year

⇚ ↺ ⇛

ike has been your best friend for so long now. you have a crush on him, but you don't want to confess, since it can ruin you guys' friendship.

"hey!" ike called out for you. "oh, hey ike." you greeted back, wondering why he called you.

"can i crash at your place later? i have nothing to do today and i don't wanna be bored for the whole day." ike asked. "oh, sure. it's not like i have any plans." you agreed.

you finished up the rest of your school day. when the final class ended, you put away all your things and packed your bag. you then waited for the professor to let you guys leave the classroom.

when you got let out, you then made your way to the exit of the university and went on your motorbike, turned it on and started your journey to go to your apartment.

since you live alone, ike likes to come over sometimes since he also lives alone, which makes him feel a little lonely at times.

when you got home, you opened the door, got in and locked the door to make sure you don't get robbed or anything.

you decided to take a shower since you had a pe class today that required you to run 2 laps. you took a quick shower since ike could come any moment now.

you quickly changed into some comfortable clothes and decided to play some games on your laptop while you wait for ike to arrive.

when the doorbell rang, you took a quick peak outside to make sure it's ike and not some random intruder. when you made sure it was ike, you opened the door for him and let him in.

"what'd you wanna do?" you asked ike, wondering why he asked to crash at yours instead of hanging out with luxiem. "honestly, i don't know. luxiem's busy today so i figured i'd go to yours instead." ike reasoned, and you just nodded.

"wanna try cooking?" you wanted to try a recipe that you found on instagram. it was a recipe for some cute bear-shaped donuts. ike agreed.

you guys spent around an hour in the kitchen going back and forth to make sure you don't mess up the recipe. after a bit, you guys finished making them.

the results were pleasing, they didn't look the best, but they tasted great. they tasted even better with some powdered sugar.

you guys just chatted while enjoying the donuts and some black tea with honey and lemon.

(change the tea, honey or lemon if you're allergic // also if you're gluten free sorry lol you can change whatever you guys were making with something else)

when you guys finished, ike decided to go. but before that, he asked if you could meet up with him to the park tomorrow since he wanted to discuss something. you agreed, wondering what was so important he needed to discuss it with you.

⇚ ↺ ⇛

it's now the next day, and you're making your way to the park after getting ready and having breakfast.

when you arrived, you found the familiar beige-haired boy who dyed the tips of his hair blue.

you sat next to him, and asked him why he asked you to meet him here, at the park.

"so, why'd you wanna meet up here? what'd you wanna ask about?" you asked, confused. "so... here's the thing." ike starts off.

"i... like... 𝘴𝘢𝘳𝘢. she's a classmate of ours. i really like her, and you should be quite close to her, right? could you maybe tell me more about her so you could help me confess...?" ike requested.

your mind was filled with those words 3 words bouncing in your brain. you couldn't focus after he said he liked sara, one of your friends.

of course he wouldn't like you. 𝘴𝘢𝘳𝘢 is basically ike's type. she's smart, she's pretty, everything that you want to find in a person.

you were so deep in thought you didn't even notice tears started to form in your eyes.

when you realized you were about to cry, you immediately tried stopping your tears from breaking free, just like a bird keeper who is preventing their bird from escaping its cage.

you thought he wouldn't notice, but it seems you were wrong.

"hey, why're you crying...?" ike asked, worried. "oh, it's nothing. just surprised my best friend found someone he liked, haha. brings me tears of joy knowing that my best friend found some bitches." you tried to joke, yet your eyes betrayed you.

tears started pouring down rapidly just like how raindrops start to fall from the dark and cloudy sky during a storm.

"hey, if you aren't ready, it's okay. i could always ask someone else for advice." ike was worried.

"no! i'll definitely help you. that's what friends are for!" you tried to lighten the mood and stop your tears.

"are you sure?" ike wanted to make sure he isn't making you uncomfortable in any way.

"yeah, i'm sure." you assured. you feel jealous right now. you wished it wasn't 𝘴𝘢𝘳𝘢's name, but 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳s that came out of his mouth. but alas, that's just a 𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢.

you guys said goodbye after you told some stuff about sara. you wanted to lie about things so he wouldn't like her anymore, but 𝘴𝘢𝘳𝘢 was a really good friend for you. you didn't want to intervene in ike's probably successful love life.

when you got home, you cried. you hated the fact you've been chasing him for so many years, just to find out that he likes one of your friends.

maybe if you confessed earlier things wouldn't have came out like this...?

there was no one else to blame but 𝘺𝘰𝘶, atleast that's what you thought.

you kept thinking about what would've happened if you confessed earlier, or if you confessed after he said he liked 𝘴𝘢𝘳𝘢.

⇚ ↺ ⇛

after a few weeks of you telling stuff about 𝘴𝘢𝘳𝘢 to ike, he decided that he was gonna try to ask her out.

you decided to just watch from afar, seeing if 𝘴𝘢𝘳𝘢 will accept or not.

he decided to confess at lunch, at the rooftop. you waited for both him and 𝘴𝘢𝘳𝘢.

you wondered if 𝘴𝘢𝘳𝘢 would reject him or not. obviously not, you thought. ike is smart, he's handsome, he's charming, he's friendly. probably half of the class has a crush on him.

while deep in thought, you snapped out of it when ike and 𝘴𝘢𝘳𝘢 went to the rooftop. you quickly hid behind a wall.

ike confessed to 𝘴𝘢𝘳𝘢. he said he liked her for a while now. he basically made the confession like a 500 word essay.

you just closed your eyes, not wanted to see your friend accept your best friend's, or rather your crush's, confession.

but it all went crashing down when she 𝗿𝗲𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 him.

ike asked what he could do to make it work, but 𝘴𝘢𝘳𝘢 said she just sees ike as a friend. ike bursted into tears after that.

you didn't know if you wanted to feel happy or sad that she rejected him. but you felt sad knowing that even if you tried helping him, he still got rejected.

ike went to you, and you comforted him. telling him that if they don't like you back, then they don't deserve you.

he cried in your arms. you hated seeing him cry like this, over someone. you just comforted him slowly.

it's now the 2nd year. your feelings remain hidden from ike, and you guys are still best of friends.

despite knowing he doesn't and might never like you back, your feelings never disappeared. instead, they became stronger than before.

you hated yourself for not being able to move on. you didn't know what was in him you liked so much that he ended up being a magnet to you.

at the middle of the 3rd year, you decided to confess to ike about your feelings. you told him you liked him.

you were trembling the whole time, scared of what he'll think of you after the whole confession.

you were scared of letting him go. he was your best friend for so many years, you didn't know what he would think of you then.

your confession was, and author-chan quotes:

"hey, ike... so u-uhm... i- i like... 𝘺𝘰𝘶, ike... f-for a while now... i k-know this is all sudden, but i thought about c-confessing to you for a while now... it's okay if you don't like me back... i- i'll move on quickly, okay? y-you can reject me now..."

it was so hard to say all that. you just wanted to get it over with quickly. you just wanted to get it off your chest.

tears were threatening to fall down just like a waterfall that's flooded with water during the rainy season.

you just expected a rejection, but instead, you received a hug from ike.

"huh?—" you were confused. you expected him to reject you, after all, you're way different from 𝘴𝘢𝘳𝘢. how could he like you?

"i... like you too." ike blushed lightly while saying it. you really didn't expect it. you started to cry.

"hey, why're you crying...?" ike asks, concerned. "i never thought one day you'd like me back... did you really move on from 𝘴𝘢𝘳𝘢 that quickly..?" you asked, wondering whatever happened with 𝘴𝘢𝘳𝘢.

"i don't know. maybe it was an infatuation or something, but after she rejected me, i just kinda accepted it, knowing she wouldn't like me." Ike reasoned.

"but now, this isn't an infatuation. i do in fact like you." ike said, reassuring you that he does like you, and he isn't just telling you it to make you feel better.

you cried tears of joy, as you both hugged. when you stopped your tears, you pulled ike's face closer to yours, as you both shared a sweet kiss.

⇚ ↺ ⇛

UAUAUAUA this one is a long one so if you made it here reading this omg congratulations how did you even make it here??? also i honestly kinda cringed when writing that confession part lmao

[decks-writing-blog]

Whatever the Fuck Benrey Is: Chapter Twenty-Two: He's Fine

Chapter One

Previous

~

Benrey’s sentience was an accident. That became more and more obvious the further they got into the files until it was outright stated as a shocking development once the scientists noticed their experiment wasn’t quite the mindless blob they thought it was. After the reveal of what he’d been made for, that wasn’t too surprising – who needed or wanted a healing goo dispenser that thought and felt? – but that didn’t make it a fun realization. He was supposed to have been alive the same way a house plant was because that’s basically what he was supposed to have been.

Naturally when Subject X – Benrey couldn’t exactly pretend it wasn’t him anymore, could he? – started showing clear signs of intelligence, furthering testing began, all documented of course. The start of all the poking and prodding that had never seemed odd until Benrey had seen a somewhat similar situation portrayed in a video game with a distinct tone of it being a bad thing.

Shape shifting was the first of its bonus powers to manifest. It was bad at it, barely able to keep any shape as it tried and failed to copy the scientists, much to their delight. Why was it trying to copy them of all people? They sucked. Yeah there was no one else around but still. Benrey had been a dumb kid. Not surprising though considering he wasn’t supposed to have had any intelligence whatsoever.

Gordon, every so often asked how he was doing or if he needed a break. Benrey almost snapped at him about it after the third time but… it was a good sign. For now at least, Gordon still cared enough about him to continue to ask. Whether he cared enough to actually stop if Benrey said he wanted to was impossible to know. He could test it but it’d be too much trouble. The longer they kept going, the sooner they’d be done and then Benrey would see how Gordon felt about him after.

Benrey had deleted the purring video and hadn’t purred anywhere his handlers could see afterwards, meaning there shouldn’t be much on that particular talent of his. Gordon might decide to find out more. Measure the sound frequency of his purring or something like that. Or he might want to know other things Benrey’s old handlers hadn’t been able to figure out or hadn’t thought to test. Would he listen when Benrey told him ‘no, I don’t wanna be studied’? Only time would tell.

As they got deeper and deeper, dipping into late evening, requiring Benrey to switch on the light, they eventually hit things that stirred memories in him. At first just vague things that could’ve easily been explained away as him starting to look for things he remembered apart from the scientists. But then little Subject X started figuring out how to form the parts that made human speech possible. That he actually sort of remembered because he’d felt proud of himself for it after trying so hard for so long.

“Wow,” Gordon said after the first recording featuring him speaking properly, “you sound kinda like how you do now. Not like the exact same but, you know, similar. But I guess I don’t know why I expected you to sound like a normal child because you clearly weren’t one.”

“I was trying to sound like the scientists.” Because back then he’d been too stupid to not know better than to try to impress them. He’d been a dumb, lame, boring kid. If he could go back and talk to his younger self, he’d be tempted to punt it like a football down an elevator shaft. Not to kill it of course – in case it didn’t come back because that power hadn’t manifested yet, he clearly hadn’t started with all his powers after all – it was him after all, but to try to knock some sense into it because it was an idiot.

“Yeah, uh… normal kid stuff, trying to be like your…” Cutting himself off Gordon turned to face him properly. “This whole thing is really fucked up, you know that, right? Like you’re aware they’re not treating you like how you’re supposed to treat young children. Not that I know a whole lot about that kind of thing, I’ve never had a kid or even want one but I know that ain’t it. So like you know that…”

Benrey cut in. “Stop feeling bad for me.” Not when he wanted to study Benrey too, just like the scientists he was claiming were ‘fucked up’ for doing so. Even if he was nicer about it, it still didn’t give him the right to try to tell Benrey how he should feel about his past. “Keep going. There’s a lot left to go through.” There was no way they were going to finish tonight but getting as far as possible was still preferred. Especially if it didn’t leave Gordon any time to stew on it being ‘fucked up’ or whatever and thus decide to be annoying about any of it.

Gordon took a breath, about to say something else, probably stupid, but seemed to think better of it as he let out a sigh instead. He swiveled the chair back around to obey.

With the ability to speak came the the ability to communicate, relay thoughts and feelings. Which was the start of the questions and all the tests. Most of which had to be recorded of course. Did it hear, see, taste, and/or feel differently than humans did? How smart was it exactly? Could they teach it to read, write, and do math? With a basis on such down, could it be left alone with a work sheet or book and be able to teach itself more when commanded to? Would it explain how it changed shapes and colours? What did it feel when it healed after being cut? Did it feel the same when other forms of potential damage, like if someone slapped it, were inflicted on it?

The final question and the bonus question it brought about how its odd body reacted to and healed from various non-cutting damage sources ended up with its own video. A few minutes into it… “I remember this,” Benrey said as he settled into leaning against Gordon’s chair again. This would hopefully be less aggravating to watch than the rest of it had been up until now.

“Didn’t you say you couldn’t feel pain?”

“Nah, never said that. I can uh… prevent it I guess. Healing makes it go away, obviously but it still hurts until its healed. So it hurts for like a second or two and then its better. Except when I turn off feeling where the pain is gonna be or whatever. Don’t know how it works,” another thing Gordon might try to study him to figure out, “but I was bad at it back then ‘cause I was bad at everything.” As they’d clearly already seen, he didn’t come into being with all his powers and stuff fully ready to go or even seemingly there at all. Little him hadn’t even had the idea to phase through anything at this point. It would figure it out relatively soon though because well… Benrey remembered this and what it had led to.

“Dude, that makes this worse. Why are we watching this?”

“’Cause you want to. Went all the way to the old facility hoping for the chance to. But uh… pay attention, it’s ‘bout to get good.”

X was getting fed up with the testing. Pain, even if it lasted only a second or two, wasn’t fun. It had also learned how to make teeth recently, defaulting to sharp because it was an easier shape to make fit together. The final straw came when the scientists decided to see what an electric current running through its body would do to it. Did it cause damage? If so, would it be immediately healed and then done again, creating a damage to healing loop? What did that feel like to X?

The scientists wouldn’t be getting answers to those questions though, not yet anyway, as, as soon as they started, X yanked away, slipping out of the scientist holding its’ grasp. It then jumped – more like slid because, barely humanoid, it was still rather blob like, especially its lower half – off the table. “No more. I’m done.” There wasn’t much emotion in its voice, speaking taking more effort back then meant the tone was more controlled, but Benrey remembered being mad. The experimenting had been going on long enough already and the electricity had hurt more than anything he’d encountered before.

“We’re not done yet.” The scientist bent down to pick X back up. As she reached for it though it lunged forward to bite her hard it as possibly could. Her entire hand and part of her forearm in its mouth, she screamed as she yanked back, dragging X along with her, blood gushing out around its mouth.

Gordon paused the video. “Is this uh… the thing you told me about?”

“Yep. My earliest memory.” At the time of sharing it anyway, now a few earlier ones had been jogged back into his mind.

“Um… if that’s the case, we know how it ends so we should skip it.” He reached for the mouse again but Benrey leaned over him to grab it instead.

“Nah, it’s funny, you’ll see. I’m hurting her ‘cause she deserves it so it’s funny. She quits ‘cause of this, it’s great.” He pressed play on the video and as he pulled back, he grabbed the chair and rolled it a little further away from the desk. Far enough back that Gordon couldn’t reach the mouse without getting up. He would see that he’d been wrong the whole time and that it wasn’t a big deal. Benrey couldn’t be permanently hurt and thus it didn’t matter. And even if he’d still been figuring out how to stop the pain from happening in the first place back then, it still hadn’t lasted long. The damage certainly hadn't. And death was just a brief nothingness, only a little different from dreamless sleep, before waking up to being perfectly okay. So this whole sequence wasn’t a huge issue, neither was anything else they’d done to him. He was fine.

On screen, the scientist – Benrey didn’t recall her name even after Gordon had read it not long ago – collected herself rather quickly. “Let go right fucking now.” At the time Benrey had only heard the projected anger in her voice. Now though, more familiar with emotions and the ways they effected humans’ voices – even if he was still not great at it, he knew better what to listen for now – the quaver in her voice was impossible to miss. She was frightened and in pain; distressed.

X didn’t let go. It was still boiling with the still somewhat new feeling of anger. And the blood tasted good. Not as good as soap but it was a taste Benrey had always enjoyed.

The scientist stood, wincing as X’s weight dangled at the end of her arm. She turned her glare on something past the camera. “Don’t just stand there, get this thing off me.”

There was a scuffle before the scientist manning the camera rushed out to try to pull X off her arm, making her yelp in pain for a moment before reigning herself in. He then set X on the table again to try to pry its jaws off her arm. Futile efforts all around; X was too smooth, soft, and slippery to get a good grip on.

The harder the two of them tried to make it let go, the less X wanted to. Not that there was any visual evidence of that but Benrey remembered it. They were getting more and more flustered, freaked out, panicking, especially the bite victim. His first taste of being a disturbance and causing problems; a pivotal moment in his life.

“See? It’s funny,” he said to Gordon.

“I don’t know, man. She deserves it, sure but… you sure you wanna watch to the end?”

“Yes.” Because it was all fun and funny. Nothing to feel bad for him over. He was fine.

Eventually the two of them brought a third guy in to help. It was his idea to start inflicting pain. Just a little at first, pricking with the scalpel, drawing out a drop or two of blood before it healed. And then stabbing and cutting, trying to cause enough pain got make it let go. Hitting it with a hammer was proposed but immediately denied; bite victim’s hand was too deep inside it to not take damage form such a move too.

Third guy then pulled out a proper knife to try through the teeth. Another failure, they weren’t real bone but they sure were hard. He switched to trying to cut around them instead. Too slow though, especially with how careful he was not to hurt bite victim. The wound closed up behind the knife long before it could get all the way around

X stayed silent throughout, outwardly only betraying its pain through closing its eyes tighter and tighter as it bit down even harder. If it focused, it could block the pain without feeling it but it for even a moment but it was hard to focus after it had failed to even once.

When it did finally make a noise it was too muffled by the arm in its mouth to be audible. Benrey couldn’t recall exactly what it was trying to say but did know it was trying to let go now and attempting to say so. Its teeth were stuck bite victim’s bone though; it couldn’t. It was running out of juice and wanted the pain to stop.

The fear had been a bitter stark contrast to the earlier anger and feelings of victory. Even now, remembering it, made him tense up, his teeth growing longer and sharper as if he were about to starting biting something too. It was a feeling he shouldn’t be able to feel because he couldn’t be hurt in anyway that mattered. He’d been weaker back then though, softer and less capable. They’d been hurting him. The damage healed a second later, banishing the pain as well but the knife kept going, trying to go fast enough around to cut the hand free because he couldn’t let go. Teeth were bones and bones were hard, making them, dissolving them, if he’d even been able to think clear enough to remember to try back then which well, maybe he hadn’t. He couldn’t let go and so they’d kept hurting him.

The camera scientist returned with another long sharp knife and started helping. Bite victim’s composure was lost now, she was sobbing with pain. She had sharp teeth lodged into her forearm bone after all.

Benrey had always had a limit to how much he could heal at once before the blood flow stopped and he died. These days, even at his weakest, it was a lot – on Xen with all the passports feeding him, there’d been a moment when he’d thought he might be impossible to kill – back then though, it hadn’t been much. Not long after the second knife cutting into him too, little X reached it.

Upon death, it stopped bleeding and thus stopped healing. And thus bite victim’s arm was soon free at last. Sobbing and panting for breath she retreated. Stumbling over, she pressed her back against the wall, sliding down it. She held her injured out out in front of her, X’s blood had healed it but its teeth were still lodged in it. “Help me with this.”

Neither of the other scientists even looked at her. They were focused on the sliced up blob of X on the table. Only one of their faces was visible, it was locked in a grimace. “I think uh… we may have learned something entirely different from this experiment than intended.”

“Yeah that the fucking thing is violent and an evil piece of shit.”

“That too,” camera man said, “but also uh… there’s a limit on its healing. I think its dead.”

“Fuck, shit,” other guy said.

Camera man turned back and hurried over to the camera, stepping around behind it again. “I’m sure we can--” The video ended.

“There, we watched the whole thing.” Gordon’s voice had that familiar quaver in it. He was upset. Angry? … Maybe. It was hard to tell, more so than usual, but probably, right? “Are you satisfied?”

No, Benrey wasn’t satisfied. It had been worse than he’d remembered. Not funny at all. His teeth were still sharp, digging into his gums as he clutched the top of the office chair. There was a tight band wrapped around his chest, making it hard to breath.

Gordon tried to swivel the chair but Benrey’s grip on it wouldn’t let him. He stood instead, turning to face him as he did so. “Benrey?” What expression he was making, Benrey couldn’t see as he set his gaze on the floor. His tone was just as unreadable. “Are you okay?”

Benrey lifted his hands to press to the side of his head, clutching it. “You were right.” His voice sounded raspy and rough even to himself. “My life sucks.” They’d done stuff like that to him over and over. He told them to stop but they never listened. They didn’t care. No one ever had.

Stepping closer, Gordon pushed the chair aside. He lifted a hand, almost touching Benrey’s shoulder but stopped. “What do need from me? How can I help?”

What was he even talking about? Help Benrey with what? None of it made sense. Benrey was about to explode or scream or something! He dug his fingers into his scalp, forming claws and drawing blood. Blocking the pain came instinctively now, easier to do than not to because he’d gotten really damn good at it. Before he could turn it off…

Gordon grabbed his wrist, pulling it away from his head. The other, he pushed with his gun hand. “Whoa, hey, let’s not do that. I know you can heal and stuff but… please don’t do that to yourself, okay?”

Benrey could resist and do it anyway. Gordon was still holding his wrist but his grip was gentle and by default Benrey’s other hand was basically free. Gordon couldn’t hold both his hands no matter how hard he tried because he had only the one.

“Look I… I’m trying to help but I really don’t know how. My instinct is to do what you do for me when you’re comforting me after a nightmare but… I can’t sing a sweet voice for you and I don’t know if you wanna be touched or… or if you want me to just sit next to you and talk or be silent or… I don’t know. Please help me help you… if you can.”

Benrey finally looked up at his face. His expression was just as unreadable as his tone. Neither of which should be right now, he was very expressive, Benrey was just in a weird, horrible head space, making it hard to think because the pressure was too much. He needed scream. Attempting to take a breath to do so failed; the band around his chest was too tight. Instead he forced out a, “Touch. You’re warm.” What Gordon was trying to ask his help with he had no idea but being touched more did sound nice.

Apparently waiting for that, Gordon stepped closer to gently pulling him into a hug. He was warm and soft and wonderful. Benrey pressed into him, balling his hands into fists in the back his shirt. Instead of screaming he made an entirely different kind of sound, one he’d never heard himself make before. He’d heard other people make it though in video games, movies, and even in real life a few times. So he knew what it was, hearing it from himself was weird though.

“It’s okay,” Gordon whispered, rubbing his back. It felt really nice but somehow made Benrey cry harder anyway.

Turns out another advantage of being short was how easy it was to press his face in Gordon’s chest as he sobbed into it. It was stupid, lame, and dumb but he couldn’t stop now that he’d started. Didn’t even really want to.

He cried and cried as Gordon rubbed his back and murmured sweet assurances to him. None of his words really meant much, it was just beautiful background noise to cut against the wretched sounds Benrey made.

Eventually, after what felt like hours but might’ve been only a few minutes for all he knew, his sobbing and tears slowed and then petered to stop. Leaving him feeling wrung out like a dishrag or more like a spring that had been wound too tight but had finally be allowed to release all that tension but was now malformed with it. The pressure from his chest and mind was gone, making it possible to think again.

He shifted in Gordon’s arms. Not trying to escape, just enough to allow himself to look around a little, take stock of the room. Somehow unnoticed Gordon had moved them to sit on the couch, Benrey curled up in his lap, pressed to his chest. At Benrey’s movement…

“Feel better?” Gordon’s voice was still barely above a whisper.

“Yeah.” Even though Benrey should’ve never felt that bad in the first place. If he’d had it his way he would’ve continued to never confront that moment properly or any of the other bad ones. Of course that would’ve meant Black Mesa would’ve eventually found those records instead but they might’ve just kept them and never looked at them. “It’s your fault.”

“What is?”

“It. You’re making me feel things I’m not supposed to.” Whatever that feeling had been exactly, it had sucked! Horrible and awful, it was kind of feeling best avoided at all costs. But Gordon and Benrey’s feelings for him had ultimately lead him to it

“I uh… I’m sorry. I don’t think there are really things you’re suppose to feel or not feel though. You just feel how you feel and there’s no supposed to or not about it. Still though… sorry about making you see that.”

Benrey could just let him feel bad and take all the blame because they never would’ve ended up here if not for his nosiness so it was his fault. Watching the whole video had been solely Benrey’s decisions though, Gordon had tried to skip it the moment he’d found out what it was. “Nah, I made you watch it. So my fault too.” In trying to prove it was fine to Gordon, he’d instead proved Gordon right in that it wasn’t fine. Nothing about it was fine.

Despite that, he still wasn’t as annoyed with or mad at Gordon as he should be for being so disruptive, making him confront things he didn’t need or want to confront. He was warm and soft, holding Benrey close still even though he was done crying. The tears soaked in this shirt didn’t seem to bother him either

“Either way I think uh… we’re done for at least today, huh? Maybe just in general?”

“For today. Finish it tomorrow.” To make sure Gordon got as many of his science questions involving Benrey answered. So that the temptation to know more couldn’t be fulfilled with a long strung out series of him sneaking to view the files more. He’d then have to either respect Benrey’s request to not be studied any further or wouldn’t. Of course if it was the former, he could change his mind later down the line but for as long as he didn’t, Benrey would know for sure he mattered more as a person to him than an experiment. He’d enjoy that for however long it lasted.

Gordon sighed. “Okay. Whatever you wanna do. For now uh… wanna get something to eat then play games ‘til its time for bed?”

“Do I get to get back in your lap when we play?” Feeling better didn’t meant he felt good or normal. Comfort wasn’t something he should need but well, Gordon arms around him were really nice.

“Yeah, if you want to.”

“Okay then, I guess.”

~

Next Chapter

[zephfair]

Prompt: (if you are open to such)

Pynch on a hike!

A: "at least the view was worth it, it's so beautiful"

R: "not as beautiful as you are" CHEESY RONAN IT IS

HEY there, beautiful Anon! Guess who's showing up 5 months late with your ficlet??? That's right! Me! 🤦‍♀️

I'm so very sorry it took me 5 months to post this! It's cheesy and fluffy and has absolutely 0 plot ... so basically it's exactly like all the rest of my writing.

But I really hope you enjoy this short little gift! Thank you SO MUCH for leaving me a prompt, and again, I apologize for taking so long to finish it!

After Ronan insisted on taking a rest break for the fifth time in two hours, Adam had enough and bitched back.

“Lynch, I know for a fact that you can walk longer than 20 minutes at a time, even if it is uphill,” he said. “Now get your ass in gear.”

Ronan huffed, in annoyance, not from being out of shape. “I just don’t see why we have to go on a hike while you’re home on spring break. We could be doing something so much more fun at home.”

“What could be better than exploring the woods and mountains on a sunny spring day? And don’t you dare say fucking.”

“Wasn’t gonna,” Ronan sulked. “Not in the mood now, anyway.”

Adam hefted his backpack up a little snugger. “That’s a lie, Lynch. You’re always in the mood.”

“You’re right,” Ronan smirked at him. “Speaking of…”

“No way. We are finishing this hike.”

Ronan tilted his head back and let loose a string of cursing that always impressed Adam in the strangest way. Once he got it out of his system, Adam tried his best to loom over the rock where Ronan sat.

“Feel better now? Need another drink? Boots feeling all right?” he asked in a saccharine voice.

Ronan narrowed his eyes as he looked up. “These boots weren’t made for walking up a mountain all day. And yeah, I need a drink. You got anything stronger than Gatorade?”

“No. Now get your ass up and get walking.”

Ronan’s groan was at least five seconds long and loud enough to make some birds fly away from a nearby tree.

“Your objection has been noted. Move.”

Ronan’s grumbling followed him doggedly. “Don’t you need to stop and check your phone? It’s practically glued to your face these days,” he mocked at one point. “Won’t your friends be scared if they can’t reach you at any moment? If you don’t text back ASAP? Won’t your books be lonely if you don’t have your face shoved in them all damn day?”

It wasn’t quite enough to ruin Adam’s good mood. He’d thought bringing Ronan on a day-long hike would be fun, and it had started well, with a beautiful sunrise as they drove to the bottom of the hiking trail. Ronan had even cooperated with picking out snacks and drinks and agreed to carry a backpack, too.

But as the morning wore on, and the trail continued up into the woods, Ronan began to get bored. At first he tried talking to Adam, bitching and complaining, but Adam had ignored him to point out all the beauties of the forest in spring.

Then the frequent pee breaks and sitting spells began.

When Ronan plopped down on a fallen log and insisted on another break, Adam snapped.

“Why the hell are you being such a pain in the ass?”

“I hate hiking,” Ronan said sulkily, pawing through his backpack for another granola bar.

Adam ran a hand over his face and tried to calm down. “You’ve been hiking for miles all over the Blue Ridge with Gansey. And me. And Hennessy loves bitching about the time you introduced her to Lindenmere by making her hike there in her fancy outfit. We’ve explored all the land around the Barns multiple times. What is it about this hike that is turning you into such a giant whiny baby?”

“It wasn’t like this.”

“What do you mean?”

“It wasn’t,” Ronan gestured broadly around himself, “like this.”

Adam stared at him, arms crossed over his chest, and waited, but there was no further explanation offered. “So what’s so different.”

“It’s just, there was a goal in mind, before. This just feels pointless.”

Adam continued to stare at him, so Ronan tried to explain.

“With Gansey and you, it was fun, and we were hunting Glendower and all that shit. It was hiking for an adventure, to find the end of the puzzle. And Lindenmere is its own goal, so it’s not this,” he gestured at the woods again, “just walking around in circles or shit. We got to the end. It wasn’t pointless.”

“I thought,” Adam said softly, “the point was to spend the day together doing something we both enjoyed. Man, was I wrong.”

“Adam, no,” Ronan jumped up and grabbed his shoulders. “I didn’t mean it like that. I love spending time with you. You know that.”

Adam finally met his eyes and shrugged.

“I guess, I guess I just need to know where I’m going, or know that there’s something worth finding when I get there. Otherwise it’s just traipsing around the woods and getting blisters on my feet when we could be at home, in bed, finding a happy ending.”

Adam snorted despite himself. Ronan smiled a little and leaned his forehead against Adam’s.

“I guess it’s like the age-old question about whether life is about the journey or the destination. We have two very different philosophies,” Adam said.

“Don’t make this into some big psychological thing,” Ronan moaned. “I’m just tired and grumpy and my feet hurt.”

Now, that sounded more like his Ronan, and Adam knew how to motivate that.

“So, you’re saying I have to set you a goal, like a preschooler. Give you a gold star if you accomplish this task?”

“Or,” Ronan stroked down Adam’s arms and crept around his waist, “you can bribe me.”

“You seriously expect me to bribe you? What would it cost me to get you out of the house on a beautiful day that we can spend together?”

“I dunno. What’s it worth to you?” Ronan asked breathily in his ear.

“I think we’re working on different reward systems here.”

“There’s one thing you can offer.” The way Ronan tried to waggle his eyebrows in what he probably thought was seduction or playful didn’t work on Adam.

He said firmly, “No, Lynch, we’re not doing that here.”

“Why not?” Ronan was still talking heavily in his ear.

“Because that’s how you get tick bites on your dick. Do you want to get a tick attached to your dick? That’s how you get super Lyme disease.”

That pronouncement made Ronan step back and cup his hand protectively over his groin. “Seriously?”

“I don’t know, but I do know that I don’t want either of our dicks infested with ticks. Now let’s pick up the pace,” Adam glanced at his watch. “We do have somewhere to be.”

Ronan kept a low undertone of grumbling as he followed Adam up and along and down and up again.

“You know, you wouldn’t lose your breath if you shut the fuck up for a while and quit complaining,” Adam told him.

Ronan stomped along behind him in silence then.

But even Adam was feeling the strain in his legs when they got to the top of the hill that Adam was pretty sure was their destination from the sound of it.

The trail came out onto a clearing at the side of the mountain. The view out over the valley was beautiful, with a patchwork of farms and lawns and woods crisscrossed by the tiny ribbons of roads and the minuscule boxes of houses, barns and buildings.

Immediately above was a waterfall that roared from a stream coming down from the top of the mountain and swollen with melting snow pack. From where they stood, the waterfall looked like it was falling the entire way down the mountain, but was actually caught in a rocky pool below them that would let it funnel down in a creek to the valley below.

Looking out over the water into the valley was a little vertigo inducing, Adam thought, just for a minute.

He glanced up at the sky then checked behind for Ronan. “I think we got here in time. Wait until that cloud moves away from the sun.”

When it did, the sunlight hit the water and at the right angle, it created a huge rainbow arcing down the side of the mountain.

“Wow. That’s gay,” Ronan said.

“Excuse me?”

“You know what I mean. Is this what we walked all this fucking way for?”

Adam shrugged. “Yeah, but also because it’s a fun and healthy way to spend a day in nature.”

“I could’ve had more fun and more health spending it in bed.”

Adam gestured toward the idyllic picture of the valley far below them. “At least the view was worth it. It’s so beautiful.”

“Not as beautiful as you are,” Ronan said.

“Dammit, Lynch, that’s really cheesy.”

“I know. But it’s true.”

Adam side-eyed him. “You do realize that we now have to walk back down that entire mountain?”

Ronan shrugged and slung his arm around Adam’s shoulders, leaning on him heavily. “At least we’ll be together, right?”

“Oh sure. Now you’re suddenly fine with this whole hiking thing.”

“Nah, but I’m fine about spending an entire day with you. I guess it is nice, knowing that you won’t be distracted by homework or school shit or your phone. Or your little school friends.”

“I guess that’s true,” Adam said slowly, finally realizing the depth that Ronan was jealous of sharing him. He bumped his hip, hard enough to make Ronan take his own weight back. “Maybe we need more days, just the two of us together. No distractions.”

Ronan made a pfft sound that was probably disdain but Adam knew to read as agreement.

“Whatever,” Ronan said and turned his head to bite Adam’s cheek. “Now how about I pretend I’m a tick and I bite and suck you.”

“You’re such a romantic, Lynch,” Adam said, but he was already fighting with his belt as Ronan started to laugh at him. “But if I get a tick-borne illness…”

“I’ll take care of you. Promise,” Ronan said, his voice suddenly deepening.

Adam reached for him, holding his face in his hands, as he looked over the familiar, annoying, beloved face. When Ronan kissed him, it felt like a promise of something deeper and truer than an off-the-cuff joke; like many of his interactions with Ronan, pairing the obnoxious with the holy in one desirable package.

“Thanks for coming with me today,” Adam said as Ronan kissed his way down Adam’s neck.

“Thanks for spending it with me,” Ronan replied, his hands taking over on Adam’s belt. “Now shut up and enjoy the view.”

Adam did, very much.

[idatenjumpfanatic]

I Got Your Back (Begrudgingly)

Loosely inspired by this thread here

Specifically about the Samejima siblings. We all have our own chance to make up backstories for the side characters of the show, but I wanna flesh out what yall already wrote about Gabu, plus some thoughts of mine with those headcanons on the end of this oneshot.

No word count bc I just wrote everything here. Not proofread, so this is basically word vomited before I lose the idea (and motivation)

Notes are that this happened far before the show. Anyways enjoy!

=================

Gabu never did house chores. He was never really fond of them. It was boring, tedious, and above all, not worth his time at all. There were better things to invest his time on, and it was definitely not on those. And besides, Taiga's there to do them instead of him.

However today Taiga was sick.

The older sibling was terribly bedridden, unable to leave his room levels of bad. He said just yesterday that he wasn't feeling well, and then it just got worse now. Gabu would've first thought he was faking it, both have done it before in the past (and neither snitched each time), but the vomiting sounds he heard earlier that morning behind the bathroom door was plenty enough to convince him otherwise.

"Mom, Tai's sick."

"Well, we're still busy at work. Just let him rest, okay?"

"Are you serious?!"

Gabu would've started an argument with his parents about this given the chance, but said parents were too quick end the telephone call before he got another word in. He growled, crossing his arms.

He didn't want to deal with sick brother quite frankly. It's just another chore before school.

Or, I could skip school using Taiga as an excuse.

That thought made Gabu grin. He'd say his poor older brother was down with sickness and he took the liberty to take care of him today, as his parents were really of no use in that aspect, but really he'd just go MTB riding at the trails. Yeah, that'll do it.

Though he needed to wait for a few more minutes to make sure his parents wouldn't catch him.

While he did though, he could hear coughing from the second floor.

Gabu frowned, listening as Taiga's coughing continued for a good few seconds before it stopped. He stayed where he stood even after the house fell into silence. Without even realizing, he was squeezing his own arms as he found himself double guessing.

He stared at the door for a long while, subconsciously humming quietly as he did so. His humming then turned into a grumble, and once he finally made his mind up, he threw his hands and groaned before walking away from the door.

Meanwhile Taiga, he wasn't in the best shape clearly. Every limb felt like lead, and his head was throbbing. It would've been a lot worse if not for the menthol ointment he kept in his bedside drawer, but even then it wasn't enough to alleviate everything else. It didn't help too that every time he wanted or needed to get up he felt like throwing his insides out.

Whatever he got, it was bad.

But still, he knew it was best to just power through it as much as he could. He didn't need to worry about convincing his parents; lately neither would notice if he or Gabu missed school, or if they were even home at all, because neither would be at home either. Sometimes it was for the better, oftentimes it was just depressing to think about, and right now it was the latter.

Gabu at least was told that he was sick, but Taiga knew his brother wouldn't be be able to take care of him. He loves him, but he's also well aware how incompetent Gabu was when it came to basic things. He once set something on fire in the kitchen when the Four Kings were trying to teach him, and whether that incident was in purpose or by accident the fact still stood that Gabu was no longer allowed to try to cook anything.

Which meant Taiga was left by himself.

Taiga heaved a sigh at the thought, but already accepted it ever since he felt the first signs of sickness. He just wasn't expecting that it'd get this bad. Whatever scolding he'd get for not cleaning around the house, despite his condition, he'd take, but for now he would rather try to get a shut eye and think about the aftermath later on. Food and water he'd figure out on getting later on once his body would cooperate.

He turned to the side where his unclogged nostril was up, pulling the blanket some more over himself as he tried to go back to sleep. That part, at least, wasn't that hard. He didn't even realize that he did fall asleep until he woke up in a coughing fit.

Slowly sitting up, Taiga rubbed his throat once the coughs finally died out. He grumbled to himself, disliking the idea of needing to get up for some water, but alas he couldn't blame anyone but his past self for not preparing sooner.

He was already willing himself to get off the bed, but once he was one foot down he spotted an unopened bottle of water just sitting on his nightstand. He stared at it for a long while, wondering if he actually left it there before. Though, his own body didn't let him think about it for any longer as he felt another round of coughs crawling its way up his already parched throat.

Downstairs, Gabu was still staring intensely at the pot of water that sat on the stove. Through rummaging the pantry, he found the easiest thing to cook: packets of chicken broth soup that was just needed to be put in boiling water. He read through the steps earlier, but he was now met with the roadblock of not knowing how to operate the stove.

During this he heard Taiga coughing again, which signaled that he was awake once again. It only meant less time for Gabu, unless his brother went back to sleep right after. His staredown with the inanimate kitchen equipment continued.

Gabu thought about calling one of the Four Kings, if one of them weren't at school, for assistance, but the thought of asking for help for such a menial task only made his cheeks flush with embarrassment. The Four Kings were by no means judgmental towards him, but the issue lied with him and not them.

Damn him for his issue of either serving his ego or knowledge.

"Okay, think about it this way," he began telling himself, "it'd suck if I have to say I still don't know after all this. And if I figure it out myself, I get to stick it in Tai's face."

Yeah, seemed doable. He grabbed one of the stove's knobs and started experimenting.

=================

Taiga laid still, blankly staring at the ceiling. The water helped for sure, but now his stomach was rumbling. He couldn't tell if it was hunger or wanting to vomit, but either way he needed to resolve it with food first. If he were hungry that was it, and if he needed to vomit it meant he needed medicine, and he couldn't take that on an empty stomach.

The stillness was really him psyching himself to get up despite aching all over. He took a few deep breaths (while hovering his ointment over his mouth and nose), before wrapping the blanket around himself as his slowly got up. Sitting up he could already taste the bile coming up his throat, but he pressed his lips shut as he swallowed it down.

Finally he was standing, despite all odds. He fought his urge to hurry as he took little steps, keeping his eyes down on the floor to avoid worsening his migraine. Though, in the few steps he'd taken he heard his bedroom door creak open.

"Ugh, why are you up?"

Taiga tilted his head up and saw Gabu standing in the hallway holding a tray that seemed larger in his tiny hands, and a mask over his nose and mouth.

"Go back to bed," he demanded.

Taiga stood and stared, blinking in shock while Gabu made his way into the room. Gabu was fast to notice his brother not responding, his scowl behind the mask deepening.

"Hey, are you deaf? Go back to bed!"

He didn't wait this time. Gabu quickly set down the tray on the table before he marched forward and practically shoved Taiga back to the bed, and yet despite his sudden actions he still did them with carefulness.

Taiga didn't give him much hassle though and shuffled back. He didn't have the energy to argue or fight back either, so he sat back on his bed and let his sibling do whatever he was planning to do.

"I called mom in her office today telling you were sick, but she didn't care. 'Too busy with work' as always," Gabu scoffed while retrieving the tray.

"And dad?"

Gabu gave him a half-lidded stare. "If mom's busy then he is too, duh," he replied sourly. He set the tray on the nightstand, adjusting it so that it wouldn't tip over since the table was smaller. From there Taiga could see what his brother brought.

A small thermos, a large bowl of soup with a spoon, packs of saltine crackers, a new bottle of water, and multiple sleeves of medicine tablets.

"I heated too much water so I made tea too, but yeah there's more soup downstairs, just let me know."

"You... made this for me?"

"Yeah, don't overthink it."

Normally making a bowl of soup wasn't much of a feat, but for Gabu it was an accomplishment, and Taiga knew that. He was impressed, actually, that Gabu was able to not only gather all of these, but to make some food unsupervised without burning anything down (at least, he hoped. His nose was a little stuffy at the moment to smell anything burning) as well.

Taiga smiled, picking up the bowl as he muttered Gabu a thanks. The warmth of the broth was welcoming to his hands, he'd been getting the chills so the hot food was such a relief. Before he took a scoop though he realized something.

"Aren't you supposed to be in school right now?"

"And so?" Gabu shot back with a shrug.

Taiga looked at him for a little while before he gave a defeated sigh. No way he'd be able to convince Gabu to try and catch up with school for the day. He went back to the soup, and while he started eating he could hear Gabu rummage through the tablets.

"You're welcome, by the way. Don't say I never do anything for you."

Taiga couldn't help but grin again. "Of course, I appreciate it," he said with full sincerity. Gabu glanced at him but then quickly looked away.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm calling the others though after their class to look after you this time. At least they're more reliable."

The last part fell into a mumble, but Taiga still heard it. He wasn't sure who Gabu was referring to, but he was hoping it wasn't a self-inflicted insult. A bit of a reach of course, but it was still a valid concern for him. He didn't know how to comfort him either, as words often didn't translate to what he wanted to convey; a problem for the both of them, in all honesty.

He genuinely wanted to thank Gabu again, since his sudden decision to stay actually solved so much of his concerns, but he also knew his brother was terrible with handling compliments. So instead, he reached out and ruffled Gabu's hair.

Instantly a complaint. "Ew! Get your sick hands off me, I don't wanna catch whatever you have."

Taiga laughed, though it quickly cut into coughing. While his little brother reached for a bottle, the same thought ran in his mind:

Yeah, it may be hard that mom or dad weren't there when he needed them, but Gabu always was, no matter how much he says he doesn't care. And of course, he'll always be there for Gabu just the same.

=================

After writing that last paragraph I realized that the headcanon of Taiga and Gabu having such a tight-knit relationship prior to everything is so much more devastating considering the events of the show.

I like to believe that the brothers are genuinely close, in tandem with the headcanon that their parents are neglectful to an extent, so blood-wise they don't have much besides each other. Also, I like to think that their parents are rich or at least holds a high status, since Gabu does a lot of stuff he gets away with (particularly with the stealing school equipment incident), but because they work first before their own kids, they've become blissfully unaware of what their children are up to. Which is tragic.

One last thing, I initially titled this one-shot as "Love Language" because I headcanon that both the brothers' love language is act of service (mostly through bossing other people). Seeing how Gabu is so bad at handling verbal compliments, I take it he's more of a "show, not tell" kind of person, and on top of neglectful parents it's more likely for him to pick that up from Taiga.

Also as siblings, especially in an Asian household, verbal show of genuine affection, gratitude, or sorry is difficult to do so at times. Often it's expressed through other means, like food or asking the other if they wanna hang out outside after a fight. Those kinda stuff