#just some random thoughts I jotted down while watching

[writerblue275]

Random BF!Heartsteel Headcanons!

Inspiration: You know what, why the hell not? I had these random thoughts and decided to jot them down and expand on them!

Genre: Headcanons

Type: Fluff

Gender: Gender Neutral reader

TW: None besides general swearing (because I swear lol)! This is very fluffy. 💙

Aphelios

Aphelios is an excellent gift giver. It’s not his main love language, but he is SO GOOD at reading people, so finding gifts that he thinks you’d like would come second nature to him. Not necessarily just big or grand things or even clothing. Phel is the type of person to see a cute little thing, like a keychain or pin, and because it makes him think of you, he just gets it for you. (Hehe he’s even gotten you a recepticle/container where you store all your other small gifts from him!

He would absolutely go to Comic Con-esque events and would do a couples cosplay with you if you asked him to and would totally do a professional-level photo shoot to capture your outfits. Aphelios might be cool as hell but this man is a NERD too (hell yeah). Absolutely loves watching an anime/show with you (he won’t even watch ahead because it’s not the same when he’s not watching with you) and gaming with you. He will also gladly game while you’re settled on his lap or whatever.

When he’s tired he’s extremely needy for physical affection. Like if you’re relaxing on the couch, he’ll come over and either lay/sit on you (congrats on your Aphelios model weighted blanket btw. A true one-of-a-kind model) as his way of demanding cuddles. And he’s not subtle about asking for affection either. Alune absolutely has a video of a very tired Phel, who is nuzzled against your neck, taking your hand and placing on his own head to signal he’d like his hair played with (he may or may not have also softly whined).

Ezreal

Ezreal is the king of coordinating outfits with you! And it doesn’t even have to be super overt, like not necessarily wearing the same things as each other. Think more like corresponding colors in your outfits, similar patterns, matching accessories, things that still show off your personal styles, but at the same time, show that you two are a pair. He just really loves to do that. (Also it makes for some extremely cute photos together.)

MUSEUM. DATES. Ez is such a history nerd and it’s so fun to watch his unbridled excitement when you’re visiting museums with him. If it’s a topic he knows a lot about, Ezreal’s going to discuss it with you further in-depth. When he’s traveling he’s even more excited because NEW MUSEUMS OMG. If you’re not with him, he’ll tell you about all the things he saw. (People might think him a bit of an airhead, but nah. Ez is wicked smart for sure.) And he’ll always buy you something cute from the gift shop to memorialize the visit.

The two of you have just the cutest dates in general (even beyond museums). We’re talking amusement parks, arcades, fruit orchards in summer/fall, bowling alleys, etc. All the other super fun shit that you can think of, he plans. Ez just has such fun and bright energy (Hey that’s one of the reasons you fell in love with him!) And he puts so much thought into planning dates for you! As suave as he tries to be, Ezreal still even gets a little nervous before every date just because he really wants you to have a good time. (He’s got those perpetual butterflies for you, fr!)

Kayn

Kayn is a big back hug man. Like it’s his favorite way to hug you and he will do so whenever he has the chance. If you’re hand-washing dishes? Boom, you now have arms around your waist, a chin on your shoulder, and a low voice asking if you want help. Whenever Kayn’s stressed he clings to you from behind and nuzzles your neck and just stays there for a while, blocking out all the bullshit. (Whenever he hugs you from behind he loves when you reach back and play with his hair.)

Whenever he has to leave you for any extended period of time, Kayn always makes sure to bring a clothing item of yours with him. You calm him down the fastest, so when you’re not physically around he wants a piece of you with him to keep himself grounded. Before he leaves, he’ll have you spray whichever item he’s taking with whatever scent you wear. (The opposite is true too btw. Kayn will make sure to leave your favorite hoodie of his with you, and he’ll spray his cologne on it, just so you can always have his comfort with you.

He secretly loves to do skincare nights with you. Listen, Kayn might be chaotic, but you know what isn’t? His skin. Flawless (fucking jealous). The first time you found out your boyfriend had a very rigorous skincare routine, you were shocked. But that shock quickly turned to glee when he asked if you wanted to watch an episode of a show while doing sheet masks with him. Kayn has the good shit too. And so that’s now become a tradition between the two of you. Twice a month you two have a night where you just do masks and serums and all the extra bells and whistles, chatting and watching media while you do. It’s great!

K’Sante

K’Sante loves to discuss art with you. His brain just seems like it would be really interesting to pick on the topic. Especially as someone who is involved in creative endeavors, and uses his sketch pad to design both clothes and other things (take the background effects in the “Paranoia” MV which I believe were designed by him in lore), K’Sante has a deep understanding of artistic concepts (and he’s always happy to show them to you if you aren’t visually artistic). He has a growing art collection and especially loves commissioning local artists to make gifts for you!

K’Sante definitely has a “secret” folder on his drawing tablet dedicated to sketches of you. This folder has both designs he wants to make for you and just sketches of you because he loves to draw you. Often times when the two of you are just quietly spending time together, you’ll notice K’Sante drawing on his tablet, and while he does so, he keeps looking up at you before going back to sketching. Once he’s done with any sort of sketch, whether or not it involves you, he always asks for your thoughts!

K’Sante will absolutely cook for you whenever you ask him to (idc if Sett is the best cook in Heartsteel, you cannot convince me K’Sante can’t throw down in the kitchen almost as well). He absolutely loves to do so, finding it an excellent way to show his love for you. He quickly learns all your favorites so he can make them for you when you need a pick-me-up. And when you let out a happy sigh after the first bite of a meal he makes? It’s lowkey the best reward he could ask for. That wordless praise makes him so happy.

Sett

An odd one, but Sett totally reads romance novels/watches rom coms (though you’re like the only person that knows). If you also enjoy rom coms, then trust that watching a rom com is a very common date night activity for you two. And it’s super fun and sweet to just cuddle with him and watch these cheesy movies (occasionally you just get so comfy cuddling with him you fall asleep before the end of the movie and Sett finds it adorable).

You’re Sett’s guinea pig for new knitting patterns. Whether it’s for a new style of hat he’s making, or if he wants to try a new type of yarn, it’ll always be used in a project for you. Even the experiments that aren’t so successful (which is very rare because he’s a GREAT knitter), you keep because Sett made them for you and that’s really sweet. You always feel how much love he put into each project.

Sett loves when you serve as his work out buddy. You know the cheesy thing where someone lies under a person doing push-ups so that each time the person doing the push up goes down, they get a kiss? He adores doing that with you. Same with sit ups. You waiting to give him a kiss really helps motivate him to do his sit ups properly. Even if you’re not much of a fitness buff, just having you there makes his workouts so much more enjoyable! And Sett’s such an incredible workout partner, always making sure you’re doing things safely and just being so encouraging to you!

Yone

Yone is a big fan of spa days with you. Do you see how stressed this man can get? First of all, the music industry can be BRUTAL. And secondly….his fellow band members are a little….chaotic sometimes. Any sort of relaxation he can get is well deserved. And it can be at an actual spa, but it doesn’t have to be. Yone loves doing at home facials, shower steamers, yoga, and anything else that can help him distress and unwind. And doing that sort of stuff with you makes it 100x more relaxing to him.

Yone is always doing something with his hands. You’ve often caught him tapping out rhythms on his leg with his fingers. Whenever he’s with you, well, you’re somehow involved in that fidgeting. He loves to gently play with your fingers/hands. And when Yone’s holding your hand, he always likes to rub his thumb along your knuckles or gently massage your hands when you’re stressed. He also likes to run his fingers through your hair (if you let him). He finds it soothing when you do it to him, so he wants to return the favor.

Yone has all of your orders/preferences memorized. (I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: The quiet ones are the most perceptive!!!!) Even before the two of you started dating and you were just friends Yone memorized your favorite restaurants so he could help brighten your day. Once the two of you get together that knowledge extends to more domestic things. Like what area of the closet you prefer to keep your pants on. how many blankets you like to sleep with, or which toothpaste or toiletries you like to use. He is just incredibly sweet and thoughtful when it comes to knowing exactly what you like.

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed these fluffy thoughts! Things have been so chaotic lately and it was really lovely to get back into writing some more! 💙

[chaengluva]

Assigned To You

Nerd! Loser! Ellie Williams x Fem! Popular! Reader

WC: 3.3k

Warnings: reader crying (emotional drunk), fluff

Part 3: Prev/Next

Let me know it you wanna be in the taglist!

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Every night seemed to stretch into eternity for Ellie as she counted down the days to Saturday. The anticipation gnawed at her nerves, making even the simplest tasks feel insurmountable. Thursday Night was no different. She walked through the door, dropped her bag onto the floor of her small, organized room, and tried to dive into her usual routine to keep her mind occupied.

Ellie opened her desk drawer, pulling out her stack of neatly organized notebooks. She started with her math homework, scribbling equations and solving problems with a level of precision that Joel would’ve praised if he’d been home. But even with her focus honed on numbers, her mind wandered back to the thought of you—your laugh, your confident smile, and the way your skirt swayed when you walked away from her at your locker.

Shaking her head, Ellie forced herself to move on to her history assignment. The project you two were supposed to work on together loomed in her mind. Should she prepare some of it ahead of time? Would you even care if she did? The thought made her stomach twist, and before she knew it, she was flipping through pages of her textbook, jotting down notes for the upcoming project.

By 6:30 p.m., Ellie had completed her assignments for the week. But she wasn’t done. She pulled out another notebook, this one for biology, and began revising chapters they wouldn’t even cover until the next semester. Her handwriting remained flawless, her notes color-coded as always, but the words on the page blurred together. She groaned, leaning back in her chair. The clock on her desk read 7:00 p.m.

With a sigh, Ellie pushed away from her desk and headed downstairs. The house felt empty without Joel. He was working the night shift again, and the stillness made her feel uneasy. She wandered into the kitchen and opened the cupboard, hoping for a quick snack or something she could throw together for dinner. But the shelves were nearly bare, save for a can of soup and a box of stale crackers.

Frustrated, Ellie checked the fridge, but it wasn’t much better. She closed it with a huff and trudged back upstairs to grab her phone. Scrolling through her contacts, she found Joel’s name and pressed the call button.

It rang three times before his familiar voice answered, warm and reassuring. “Hey, Ellie! What’s up, kiddo?”

“Hey, Joel,” she said, a small smile tugging at her lips. “Umm, there’s nothing I can cook for dinner...”

“Oh, right!” Joel said, his tone brightening with realization. “I forgot to tell you, I left some money on the counter. Order yourself something nice, okay?”

Ellie’s heart sank. She hated the idea of interacting with strangers, even if it was just a delivery driver. “Yeah, okay,” she muttered, trying to keep the disappointment out of her voice.

After hanging up, Ellie reluctantly opened the UberEats app. She scrolled through the options, finally settling on a burger and fries from a local diner. At least this way, she wouldn’t have to talk to anyone. She could just grab the bag and retreat to her room.

When the food arrived, Ellie stood by the door for a full minute before mustering the courage to open it. She grabbed the bag from the delivery driver with a quiet “thanks” and quickly closed the door. Back upstairs, she set the food on her desk and turned on her laptop, deciding to distract herself with a YouTube video while she ate.

But even as she watched clips of a random gaming stream, her mind drifted back to Saturday. What would you wear? What would you talk about? Would you even like her?

Ellie pushed the thoughts aside and finished her dinner in silence. She cleaned up and spent the rest of the evening scrolling through her phone, occasionally opening your chat and rereading your short messages. By 10 p.m., she was lying in bed, staring at the ceiling.

The house felt too quiet without Joel’s familiar hum downstairs. Ellie wrapped herself in her blanket, trying to push away the ache of loneliness. She wanted to text you, but she didn’t want to seem desperate. Instead, she let herself imagine what Saturday might be like, her nerves and excitement battling each other until sleep finally claimed.

Friday night was a welcome change for Ellie. The days leading up to Saturday had felt agonizingly slow, but now, with only one more sleep separating her from seeing you, her excitement was at an all-time high. The thought of finally being around you again filled her with a nervous energy that bubbled over into her every action.

Joel was home tonight, which only added to the excitement. With him around, the house felt warmer and more alive, and she was glad for the distraction from her nerves. She decided to give herself a break from her relentless studying and headed downstairs, following the sound of Joel humming a tune as he cooked dinner in the kitchen.

“Hey, Joelllllll,” Ellie drawled, her voice tinged with playful charm.

Joel paused, his spatula hovering over the sizzling pan, and turned to her with a knowing smile. “Yeah, kiddo? What do you want?”

Ellie grinned, rocking on her heels. “Can we have a movie night tonight?” she asked, her voice full of hope and excitement.

Joel chuckled, wiping his hands on a dish towel. “Of course we can! I assume you wanna watch the Jurassic Park movies again?”

Ellie’s face lit up like a kid on Christmas morning. “Yes!” she cheered, clapping her hands together before dashing into the living room to get everything set up. She fluffed the couch cushions, grabbed a cozy blanket, and sorted through the movie collection until she found the first Jurassic Park.

Meanwhile, Joel plated the dinner—spaghetti and meatballs, a favorite for both of them—and brought it into the living room. “Ready?” he asked, balancing the plates and drinks as Ellie snuggled into the couch with the remote in hand.

“Ready!” she replied enthusiastically, pressing play as Joel set the food down on the coffee table and took his spot beside her.

The familiar sounds of roaring dinosaurs and adventurous theme music filled the room, and for a while, Ellie’s excitement about Saturday took a backseat to the thrill of the movies. They laughed together at the cheesy lines, shouted warnings at the characters who were inevitably about to get eaten, and debated which dinosaur was the coolest (Ellie was firmly Team Velociraptor, while Joel argued for the T-Rex).

As they moved on to the second and then the third movie, the hours ticked by unnoticed. By the time the credits rolled on the final film, the clock on the wall read 2 a.m.

Joel yawned and stretched, his arms extending above his head as he sat back on the couch. “Whew, that’s enough dinosaurs for one night,” he said with a tired chuckle. He glanced over at Ellie, expecting her to do the same, but she didn’t move.

“Ellie?” he called softly, leaning closer.

She didn’t respond. Her head had lolled to the side, her cheek resting against the back of the couch, and her chest rose and fell in the steady rhythm of sleep.

Joel smiled fondly, shaking his head. “Out like a light,” he murmured. He stood and carefully gathered the empty plates and glasses, setting them in the sink before returning to the living room.

He crouched beside the couch, gently brushing a strand of hair away from Ellie’s face. “Come on, kiddo, let’s get you to bed,” he said softly, but she didn’t stir.

Not wanting to wake her, Joel carefully scooped her up in his arms. She murmured something incoherent, her head resting against his chest as he carried her upstairs. Her room was just as tidy as always, the bed neatly made and her desk covered in perfectly organized stacks of notebooks and textbooks.

Joel pulled back the blankets and laid her down gently, tucking her in with care. He stepped back for a moment, watching her sleep peacefully. She looked so small and unguarded in that moment, a stark contrast to the driven, determined girl she was during the day.

“Big day tomorrow, huh?” Joel whispered with a smile. He reached down, brushing a hand over her hair before switching off the lamp on her nightstand.

As he closed the door behind him, he couldn’t help but feel a swell of pride. Ellie had grown into someone special, even if she didn’t always see it. He knew tomorrow meant a lot to her, and he silently hoped it would go as perfectly as she dreamed.

Back in her room, Ellie shifted slightly, a small smile tugging at her lips even in sleep. Saturday was just a few hours away, and even in her dreams, the thought of seeing you made her heart race.

Friday night for you was business as usual—the kind of night that perfectly matched your status as the popular girl. It wasn’t uncommon for weekends to blur into a whirl of parties, late-night adventures, and the kind of social life most people could only dream of. This time, it was at your best friend Olivia’s house. Her parents were conveniently away for the weekend, which meant only one thing: the unofficial party of the year.

The music was loud, the drinks were flowing, and the house was packed with what felt like the entire senior year. People danced in the living room, spilled onto the patio, and crowded the kitchen. Olivia was in her element, commanding the room like the queen she was, while you stayed nearby, laughing and making rounds to talk to everyone who came up to you. You wore a sleek, black mini-dress paired with heels that clicked confidently against the hardwood floor, effortlessly drawing attention wherever you went.

As the hours passed, the crowd began to thin. One by one, people filtered out, leaving just you, Olivia, Nat, Sara, and Alex sprawled across the living room couches in various states of exhaustion and tipsiness. It was well past midnight, but none of you were ready to call it a night just yet.

"Should we go get ice cream?" Olivia suggested, her voice still buzzing with energy despite the hour.

"At, like, 2 a.m.?" Alex asked, half-laughing.

"Why not?" you chimed in, already grabbing your bag. The suggestion seemed to electrify the group. Within minutes, you were all piled into Olivia's car, driving to the 24-hour ice cream shop on the other side of town.

By the time you arrived, the initial excitement had been replaced with ravenous hunger. The alcohol buzz was wearing off, and you all devoured your ice cream as if it were a five-star meal. You sat at the table, laughing about the night’s chaos, trading stories, and planning the rest of the weekend.

Eventually, you excused yourself to the bathroom, leaving the table and your half-eaten ice cream behind. But when you returned, the booth was empty. At first, you assumed they were messing with you—Olivia especially loved pulling pranks—but when you stepped outside and didn’t see the car anywhere, the truth hit you like a truck.

They had left you.

You stood in the parking lot, blinking in disbelief, your breath hitching as you tried to process what had just happened. Panic and embarrassment clawed at your chest, and the alcohol in your system didn’t help. Before you knew it, hot tears spilled down your cheeks. You tried calling Olivia, then Nat, then Sara, but no one answered. Each voicemail made your stomach sink further, the feeling of being stranded alone in the middle of the night overwhelming you.

In your haze, it didn’t even occur to you to call an Uber or a taxi. Instead, you unlocked your phone and opened Instagram, scrolling mindlessly until one profile caught your eye: Ellie’s.

She wasn’t your first thought. You barely knew her beyond the project you were working on together. But something about her—maybe the way she’d seemed so eager to help earlier that week—made you pause. You didn’t even think twice before sending a flurry of frantic messages.

notyourfriend Hi Please wake up Ellie, I need help Ellie

Ellie groggily woke to the rapid vibration of her phone. She fumbled for it on her bedside table, squinting at the screen. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw your name, and for a moment, she wondered if it was a dream.

Ellie_TheDino What’s up? Is everything okay? notyourfriend Finally Ellie_TheDino y/n, are you okay? notyourfriend Can you call?

Ellie didn’t hesitate, her thumb hovering over the green button before pressing it. The phone barely rang once before you answered, and the sound of your shaky sobs immediately put her on edge.

“Hey! What’s going on? Are you okay?” Ellie’s voice cracked slightly, her usual awkwardness amplified by her nerves.

“I-I was at an ice cream s-shop with my friends, and I went to the b-bathroom, and now they’re g-gone,” you stammered, barely able to get the words out through your crying.

“Okay, okay, just breathe,” Ellie said, trying to steady her own voice as much as yours. “I’ll come get you, alright? Just—just tell me where you are.”

You sniffled, giving her the name of the ice cream shop. Ellie repeated it back to make sure she got it right, already scrambling out of bed. She grabbed Joel’s truck keys from the kitchen counter, scribbled a quick note explaining her absence, and bolted out the door.

It should have been a 10-minute drive, but Ellie’s nerves turned it into five. As she pulled into the parking lot, her eyes immediately landed on you, huddled near the bench outside, arms wrapped around yourself to ward off the cold. She stepped out of the truck, awkwardly adjusting her oversized Spider-Man T-shirt and mismatched sweatpants.

“Y/n?” she called, hesitantly approaching you.

You looked up, your tear-streaked face softening slightly at the sight of her. Without a word, she handed you a gray hoodie she’d grabbed from the backseat. You threw it on without hesitation and pulled her into a hug, clinging to her as if she were your lifeline.

“Thank you so much, AEllie,” you whispered, your voice muffled against her neck.

Ellie’s cheeks turned scarlet, her hands hovering awkwardly before she tentatively wrapped them around you. “Uh, yeah, no problem. Are you—are you okay? Like, besides, uh, this?” she stammered, her words coming out in a rush.

You nodded, pulling back slightly. “Can you just take me home? I can’t go back to them.”

Ellie helped you into the truck, carefully typing your address into Google Maps. As the voice-guided directions filled the silence, she glanced over and saw you had already fallen asleep, your head resting against the window.

As Ellie pulled up to your address, the calm voice of her GPS announced, “You have arrived at your destination.” Her eyes widened as she came face-to-face with an imposing gate, complete with intricate designs and a keypad entry system. The size and elegance of it left her feeling slightly out of her depth.

She sat there for a moment, staring at the gate before glancing over at you. You were slumped against the window, eyes half-closed but still awake. Ellie sighed and gently nudged your shoulder.

“Hey, uh, we’re here… but there’s a gate. What should I do?” Ellie’s voice was hesitant, almost apologetic.

You stirred, groaning softly as you straightened up. “It’s fine. I can walk from here,” you mumbled, already reaching for the door handle.

Ellie’s hand shot out instinctively, her voice coming out louder than she intended. “No!”

You froze, startled, and turned to look at her. “Sorry! I just—um—look, I can’t just leave you here. What if you pass out or something? It’s… uh, it’s not safe,” Ellie stammered, her cheeks turning pink.

You sighed, the exhaustion evident in your voice. “Okay, okay. The gate code is 8018.”

Ellie nodded quickly, hopping out of the truck and making her way to the keypad. Her hands fumbled a bit as she punched in the numbers, the gate groaning to life as it slid open. She scurried back to the driver’s seat, muttering, “Fancy gate, geez…” under her breath, and drove up the long driveway.

Her jaw dropped as your house came into view. It wasn’t just big—it was a mansion, complete with towering columns, immaculate landscaping, and enough windows to light up a small town.

“Holy moly…” Ellie muttered, her nerdy tendencies slipping through. “This is, uh, really nice. Like, billionaire-nice.”

She parked the truck near the front entrance and hurried to your side, opening the door for you. You stepped out unsteadily, leaning against her for support. Ellie awkwardly wrapped an arm around your waist, helping you up the steps to the grand double doors.

Once inside, the sheer size of the entryway left her gawking. “Okay, wow. This place is like—uh—something out of Architectural Digest. Where’s your room?”

You gestured vaguely toward the stairs. “Upstairs… third floor…”

Ellie’s eyebrows shot up. “Third floor? Are you serious?” She eyed the grand staircase nervously, already dreading the climb.

You shook your head. “Take the lift,” you said, pointing to an elevator tucked discreetly into the wall.

“Oh. Right. Of course, there’s an elevator,” Ellie mumbled to herself, guiding you toward it.

Once inside, Ellie’s eyes darted over the panel. “This thing has more buttons than Joel’s old TV remote…” she muttered, pressing the number three.

The elevator doors slid open to reveal a sprawling hallway. You led her down the corridor to your room, which was so large it could have easily been a small apartment. Ellie’s mouth fell open as she took in the plush furniture, floor-to-ceiling windows, and a bed that looked like it belonged in a five-star hotel.

You collapsed onto the bed without a second thought. Ellie hesitated, then began searching through your drawers until she found a pair of pink tracksuit pants and an oversized white shirt. She handed them to you, her gaze averted.

“Uh, here. You can, uh, change into these,” she said, shuffling awkwardly toward the door. “I’ll just, um, wait out here. Take your time!”

Ellie paced nervously in the hallway, glancing at her phone every so often. She had no idea how long it would take you to change, but she didn’t want to rush you. After about 30 minutes, she heard your voice call out, “Done!”

When she re-entered the room, you were lying in bed, your makeup still smudged from the night. Ellie hesitated, then walked over to your vanity and grabbed a pack of makeup wipes.

“Uh, I think we should, like, take this off. Your makeup, I mean. It’s not good to sleep in it, right?” she said, her voice uncertain.

You gave a small nod, too tired to argue. Ellie gently wiped your face, her touch careful and deliberate. As she worked, she couldn’t help but notice how stunning you looked without the makeup—your natural beauty left her momentarily speechless.

Her phone buzzing in her pocket snapped her out of her thoughts. She pulled it out, sighing when she saw Joel’s name on the screen.

“Ellie! Are you okay?” Joel’s voice was filled with concern.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” Ellie said quickly, glancing at you to make sure you were still resting comfortably. “I, uh, just had to help someone get home. I’m heading back now.”

Joel let out a relieved sigh. “You’re a good kid, you know that? Just don’t stay out too late.”

“Got it. Be home soon,” Ellie replied, hanging up.

She turned back to you, pulling the blanket up to your shoulders before quietly slipping out of the room. As she made her way back to the truck, she couldn’t help but smile, feeling oddly proud of herself for the night’s events.

Taglist: Hopefully I got everyone! @vahnilla @radioheadfan699 @defnoteleonor @robinphobia @liztreez @deathbydollz @hemmo01 @soodle-noup @reneesub @ellensmithxo @lamorenita @kissedberries

[breezy141]

INSPIRED - james marriott masterlist

any quotes in this are from pinterest !! i did not come up with any quotes or names of books !!

throwing your head back in annoyance you could not figure out what to write, to say you were currently dealing with writers block was an understatement. every time you thought of something to write, your brain would pick it apart and in the end it sounded absolutely ridiculous.

you were quite a popular author, you wrote books of quotes; some happy, some sad, some lustful, some angry and some romantic ones. you dabbled in full books, but they took more of a creative mind and you didn’t believe you were ready for that level yet.

the series of books was under the name the smell of books, they are the most popular amongst the more young people. people often posted pages on their insta stories, tagging you in them, which helped gain you a little more popularity.

but right now, you were sat at your desk, head thrown back and eyes closed. it was hard being an author, sometimes you will have moments where you are full of creativity and excited to write, other times you dread sitting down with your book and pen as you have nothing to jot down. it was already late at night which was only making you more anxious.

the sound of the door being pushed open startled you a little, turning around you saw your sweet boyfriend. “oh! i’m sorry i didn’t know you were in here, thought you were in bed” smiling to yourself, you shook your head.

“it’s okay, i came to write but i don’t really know what to write. you came to stream?” you asked leaning back in your chair further. he nodded softly, “if that’s alright with you darling, i don’t want to distract you or anything”

“it’s okay, i promise james.” he nodded and gave you a kiss on the forehead as he walked by, he sat at his own desk and set up a couple things.

“so, no inspiration at all?” he spoke looking over at you, you shook your head feeling quite annoyed at yourself. you used to be so good in thinking of things on the spot, you loved it but now it was almost like you were running out of fuel.

“i’m sorry angel, i wish i could help; i believe you will figure it out though, you have a creative mind and always find a way” smiling sweetly at him, you thanked him for his kind words and went back to staring into space thinking.

after a while, james began speaking to his twitch chat and reacting to tik toks sent to him. it was funny watching his reaction, but what was even better was watching him laugh at such silly things.

you caught yourself smiling at the fact of him laughing, it was a cute laugh, one that could immediately light up a room. his outgoing and precious personality was so attractive to you, whether it was for a camera or not. he was amazing and extremely perfect to you.

as you watched james many ideas came to you, you picked up your pen and began writing with ease.

“he looks just like a dream, the prettiest boy i’ve ever seen”

“he found his happy in me. like i found mine in him. in us. in this.”

“a may be the writer, but you’ll always be the words”

“home is whenever i’m with you”

“when he calls me pretty i feel like i’m floating”

and many more.

giggling to yourself, you were happy you managed to get more then 2 quotes down. james noticed your sudden happiness and smiled to himself, remembering to ask you about it all once he was done.

you closed up your book and put your pen in the mug james hand painted for you as a random gift one day. stretching your arms above your head, you dragged yourself over to james and gave him a kiss on his cheek before waving him goodbye and dragging yourself further to the bedroom.

-

you were all cozied up in bed, one of james large t-shirts on paired with some cotton pink pj shorts. otto laid on your stomach giving you your own personal hot water bottle, and a large fluffy blanket was lazily thrown over you. focusing on the book in front of you, you didn’t even realise james had opened the bedroom door and made his way over to the bed.

jumping at his presence, he chuckled a bit. “i noticed you had managed to get a couple things wrote down” he got into something more cozy and had slipped under the blanket with you.

“a couple is a understatement, i got loads wrote down. loads of inspiration too” you placed your book on the bed side table and cuddled up to james, otto soon jumped off of the bed and found his way into his own bed.

“oh yeah? what kind things did you write?” he asked genuinely curious. “hmm, you can’t know yet. just know it was heavily influenced by you” he raised his eyebrows and smiled.

“your adorable, i love you” he said kissing you slowly, it was full of love and passion. “i’m proud of you for sticking to your job, instead of giving up like some people do” snuggling closer, you breathed in deeply, breathing in his musky scent. a scent you loved always.

[storiesofsvu]

Home

Amanda Rolins x reader (brief mentions of Amanda x Nick) Warnings: language, alcohol consumption, it's hurt/comfort but mainly fluff, if that makes sense? LOL. This has been sitting in the drafts for a very long time and I think was a tipsy idea while watching old svu ideas that got jotted down and then added to bit by bit. I'm not sure if I'm totally happy with it, but I was determined to finish it and this is what we're left with. Basically Amanda deserves all the proper love and affection. The end.

You’d had a thing for Amanda for a while, it started out as a physical attraction that morphed into friendship, someone you enjoyed spending time with, someone you didn’t mind getting trapped in a car on stakeouts with. You shared interests, had similar coffee tastes, were both dog people, preferred take out to cooking and could spend hours watching trashy reality television. All it took was one night at a bar with a few too many beers and a few of your favourite songs on the dance floor to lead to a hot and heavy make out session that ended tangled in the sheets of Amanda’s bed.

When it happened a second time she felt a little bad, letting you know that while she was being safe, you weren’t the only person she was sleeping with. In return you let out a small laugh, telling her that it was clear as day her and Nick had something going on and you had no concern if she was hooking up with him too. With that conversation out of the way you were free to continue on with your random casual nights together. Some nights you’d end up with Amanda, others you’d go home alone and sometimes you’d find your own fun elsewhere, there were no hard feelings or sense of jealousy between either of you.

You slowly watched as Amanada started to slip under Amaro’s charm spell, ever the girl who wanted to be the fixer, the problem solver, do it on her own big sister. As his parenting relationship with Maria got worse her desire to be the one to help him through it grew, wanting to be there when he needed someone, no matter what the context was. Some nights he wanted to drink, to vent, talk things through with someone who could stay somewhat neutral and not argue with everything he said. Some nights he wanted to just forget and those were the ones he always went to Amanda for. The deeper he sank, the more entangled she became and he pulled her right down with him.

When it came to your relationship with Amanda, you truly never cared, even if she was leaving your living room because he called. The night he showed up at Amanda’s when you were there you were the first one to pour him a drink and toss him a smoke, reminding him how much relationships can suck. You continued to be Amanda’s friend, trying to support her through the entire ordeal while she was giving Nick her all and letting herself derail in the process.

“Thanks for meeting me.” She huffed, sliding into the bar stool beside you and you could tell she was pissed.

“Don’t worry about it. What’s up?” You asked, sliding her a shot that she threw back faster than you’d expected.

“Fucking Nick.” She grumbled, signalling the bartender for another round, “I get that he’s going through it but isn’t he supposed to be arguing with Maria?”

“’Manda…” you cautiously warned, “is he taking this shit out on you now?”

“He’s not doing it on purpose.” She defended, “he’s just so fucking irritable now. Everything’s an argument, he either wants to drink in silence or fuck.”

“I think it might be time for you to step back, let him cope on his own.”

“No, it’s fine. He needs someone to talk to and I know I can get through to him, I just need a little bit longer, really get under his skin.”

“Then maybe try to do it without pushing all his buttons?” You offered and she rolled her eyes, only half offended.

“It’s the easiest way to get him actually talking, I thought maybe a different emotion would come through this time.”

“Just be careful okay. I don’t want you getting too deeply wrapped up in all this and then end up being the one licking her own wounds afterwards.”

“I’m a tough kid,” she shot you a grin, “I can handle it.” Her phone buzzed on the bar top and she let out a sigh, throwing back another shot of whiskey before scooping up the device, “duty calls.”

You watched her pick up the phone as she disappeared out of the bar and let out your own sigh, wondering if you were going to be down a friend by the time all of this sorted itself out.

Two months later and you didn’t have much left to wonder about as Nick was gone, leaving the squad to relocate across the country in LA with his new family. You’d watched Amanda when he made the announcement to the team but she didn’t even flinch, a soft smile on her face knowing that he would be happier out West. His last few weeks it was as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders, the stress evaporating as he finally found where he truly belonged.

Amanda felt lighter too, that sense of having to consistently check in and make sure someone was okay floating away with the summer breeze. She was able to relax, get up early enough to spend her mornings running through the park with Frannie and finally catch up on all the reality tv she’d missed. And this time the evenings on your couch were free from any and all interruptions. She wasn’t sad, she knew that everything happened for a reason and that her situationship with Nick had an end date all along, but there was a part of her that missed her friend, her work partner and that was what you could feel floating off of her.

She hadn’t been mopey about it at all, but there was still a sense of melancholy in the air as the commercial break played. Your arm was strewn across the back of the couch, Amanda tucked into your side, letting out a little sigh as she relaxed deeper into the embrace. You instinctively pressed a soft kiss to the top of her head,

“You wanna talk?”

“No.” She mumbled back, “I’m fine, swear. Just been kinda moody recently, dunno why.”

“You’re allowed.” You replied, your arm squeezing her softly before your finger curled under her chin, tilting her face up to yours, “you want me to help you forget?”

“Yeah?” Her brow raised in your direction, a gleam in her eyes as her lips curved up into a grin, “what’ve you got in mind?”

“Well…” you leant down, pressing your lips to hers, your teeth nipping at her lower lip, smirking at the way her breath caught in her throat, “I was thinking for starters that I could fuck you so good you wouldn’t even remember he existed.”

Amanda laughed softly, catching your lips in another kiss, “I certainly like the sound of that.” It only took a moment before your tongue slipped into her mouth as you caged her into the couch, a hand already creeping under her shirt and the television (among other things) were long forgotten.

And just like that your sexual affair with Amanda was sparked right back up again, your relationship skyrocketing from barely seeing each other to spending practically every night tangled in each others bedsheets. Though there was something different this time, nothing was holding either of you back, there were no other outside players, you spent nearly all of your time together now. Partnered up at work meant your days were spent together, the pure carnal desire for sex meant nights were shared, and what was left was evenings to devour takeout on the couch while the tv played and coffee in the park with Frannie on weekend mornings. Amanda would often catch herself with a dopey smile on her cheeks while she watched just how comfortable you were in her home. How you treated it like your own, you never had to ask questions, you just new exactly where everything was. A warmth would bloom in her chest every time your hand found hers, glancing up to catch the soft smile on your cheeks before you’d make a kissy face in her direction.

Not only was she finally starting to feel whole again, she knew that the reason was you, that you were the one who had been making her whole all along. She wasn’t quite sure what real love felt like, but she was certain it had to feel something like this, you were always there for her, you supported her in whatever dreams she wanted to explore, you helped ground her when she needed to be brought back to earth. You made her inescapably happy and she was noticeably more relaxed and joyful whenever you were around. She couldn’t be totally sure without asking you, but she was pretty confident that you shared similar feelings by the way you’d let out a small laugh and you cheeks would tinge whenever she caught you staring at her.

Amanda wanted you, that was for certain, and she wanted a future with you, to face life together as a team, grow old with you and spend the rest of her life happier than she ever had expected. But she suddenly had a piece of baggage that was a very big deal breaker and that’s why her heart was pounding out of her chest when she finally summoned the courage to knock on your apartment door.

“Hey.” You greeted as you pulled the door open, “didn’t expect to see you tonight, it’s late.” You stepped back to let her into the apartment and Amanda felt frozen on her feet, completely unable to move as she let out a shuddering breath and you noticed the tears in her eyes. “Whoa, what’s going on? Are you okay?”

Amanda shrugged, flailing her hands as she did her best to keep her emotions inside, her lip quivering as it attempted to all spill out.

“C’mere.” Your voice was impeccably soft as you wrapped an arm around her shoulders, guiding her into the apartment and over to the couch. “You wanna drink? I’ve got an open bottle of pinot.”

She shook her head and you dropped down onto the couch beside her, your hand finding hers, linking your fingers as your thumb stroked across her knuckles. She took a minute, taking deep breaths to try and calm herself down and once she was sure she wasn’t about to burst into tears she finally looked up at you.

“I fucked up.” She admitted, a tear escaping to glide over her cheek. You were quick to reach out, wiping it away as you cupped her cheek, your thumb stroking soothingly. The tenderness made her heart swell even more and she let out a shaky sigh, “I’m pretty sure I’m in love with you and instead of having the balls to say it I screw it all up like I screw everything up.”

“Amanda…” you started softly, a warmth beaming from your eyes toward her as you squeezed at her hands, “you didn’t have to say it, and I doubt you’ve screwed anything up, just talk to me.”

“I want to be with you, this is so much more than just sex to me and that alone is scary enough.”

“It doesn’t have to be, because it’s always been more than just sex, we were both too nervous to admit it.”

Amanda sniffled, wiping away another tear, “fuck.”

“What’s going on Amanda? I adore you; I want to be with you too, I see a future with you, a future of us, I even referred to you as my girlfriend earlier this week so I don’t see what the problem is. We practically live together already and—”

“I’m pregnant.”

She had to get it out before you listed another ten reasons that you were perfect for her, that you would be perfect together, she couldn’t bear to hear all of that only to have you walk away in the end. She risked a glance up, her teary eyes meeting yours as your head tilted slightly.

“Oh. Okay,” your voice somehow got even softer, “have you thought about what you want to do?” You asked, your thumb continuing to soothingly brush over her knuckles.

Amanda took a breath, ducking her gaze, “I can’t just get rid of it, no matter how hard I try to think about it, that’s just not me and once it’s born I don’t think I’d be able to give a baby away.”

“Have you been to the doctor yet? My sister’s OB was fantastic, we could set up an appointment next week.” It was Amanda’s turn to look up at you with a quizzical expression on her face, watching as you glanced around your apartment, lower lip tugged into your mouth, “your place is bigger, extra bedroom and all, I’ll talk to my landlord about getting out of my lease.”

“Wait, what?” She asked and you looked back towards her.

“A newborn’s a lot of work, I’d want to be around as much as possible and like I said we practically live together already, why bother renting two places?”

“I’m confused…” she admitted with a small laugh, “I thought you were going to break up with me, not suggest moving in together.”

“Why would I break up with you?”

“You said you didn’t want kids…” She shrugged and it was your turn to let out a little laugh.

“So did you.” You squeezed at her hand, “but surprises happen and this can be a little happy one for us. I wasn’t adamant on not having kids, they just weren’t a big priority for me.”

Amanda chewed on her lip, her hands fidgeting in her lap as she tried to make sense of everything flying through her head at the moment, “but why change your mind for me?”

“I didn’t change my mind per say, life just presented me with an opportunity and I’m choosing to take it, because I want to, and I want to be with you, because I’m in love with you.”

“Really?” Her eyes were wide when she looked up at you and you giggled, the warm smile remaining on your cheeks.

“Of course I do, you doof. C’mere,” you tugged on her hand, effectively pulling her into your lap and she let out a little surprised squeal as her knees settled on either side of your legs. One of your arms wrapped around her, the other cupping her cheek, “you’ve always been my best friend, and I’ve always loved you like that. I’ll admit I was a little scared of falling in love with you another way and losing what we had, but it looks like that was the perfect thing to let myself do because I love what we have now, what we will have in the future.”

“I love you too.” She finally uttered the words and felt a weight lifted off her chest, a small smile breaking onto her cheeks and you leant up, kissing her softly. Amanda melted into you, her hands looping around your shoulders as your lips moved with grace together. You barely pulled away from the kiss, her forehead resting on yours as you kissed the tip of her nose and she let out a happy hum. “You make me so fucking happy, happier than I ever thought I could be, and I never thought I was gonna find something like that.” This time the tears blurring her eyes were ones of joy and they matched the ones forming in your eyes.

“And now you’ve got even more than that,” you smiled, “because we’re having a baby.”

“We’re having a baby.” She replied in a whisper, a smile etched permanently across her feature and she laughed softly as you stole another kiss. “Are you still gonna love me when I look like a beached whale?”

“Of course, I’ll even rub your feet and hand feed you grapes.”

“Promise?” She asked with a grin and you laughed, kissing her once more.

“Cross my heart.”

The warmth Amanda felt blooming through her was like nothing she’d ever felt before and she knew that in that moment she was exactly who she was meant to be, and exactly where she was meant to be. She knew she was safe, cared for, she had someone who had her back and always would, someone who loved her and truly meant it when they said it. She felt at peace, and most importantly, at home.

Because being anywhere with you meant she was home. You were her home, and that was all she needed.

____________________

@mickey-gomez @hbkpop @bisexualcrowley @red1culous @imlike-so-gaydude @altsvu @lesbianspacecowboy @wannabe-fic-reader @gaylorrds @beccabarba @mysticfalls01 @alexbllake @infernumlilith @australiancarisi @wandas-wife @emskisworld @samwithnoplan @multifandomlesbianic @sia2raw @dxtery @anlin2058 @itisdoctortoyousir @alexxavicry @daddy-heather-dunbar @evilregal2002 @7thavenger @m00nkn1ghts @sapphicprentiss @geekyandgay98 @onmykneesformarvel @desperate-gay @kmc1989 @irishavengersassemble @noahrex @temp0rary-bliss @wittygutsy

[wanderersbell]

between the pages

wanderer x gn!reader

genre: modern!au, meet-cute, fluff

warnings: none

word count: 2206

✧.* a/n: sorry i haven't posted in forever teehee i had to use all of my effort to squeeze this out of my brain ૮ ◞ ﻌ ◟ ა

try as you might, it’s impossible not to notice the new customer perusing the bookshelves in the old, worn down shop you’ve taken a job at over the summer. compared to the aged shelves and creaky floors, it’s like seeing a shiny new car in the middle of a junkyard, pristine and vivid against the washed out backdrop. 

it’s pleasantly cool inside away from the sweltering july heat so for a moment you’re sure he only ducked in to cool off, but he actually appears to be looking for something as he approaches one of the towering displays. 

you watch discreetly from the counter as the boy slides a book out and opens to a random page, little specks of dust floating up from the pages and around him, visible only because of the sunlight from the window in the back that casts its glow right above him. 

you cringe a bit at the sight. no matter how often you dust, it never seems to go away, which you suppose is to be expected of such an old little shop. he doesn’t seem to mind though, hardly even seems to notice it as his violet eyes stay fixed on the words in front of him. 

he’s beautiful, so much so that you almost wonder if you’re hallucinating the first time he pushes through the door and takes in the towering shelves lined from wall to wall. he has an air of grace that shows through his calculated movements, almost like a robot that’s programmed to be perfect. 

but he’s very much real when he finally finds what he’s looking for and brings it up to checkout. 

“borrowing or purchasing?” you ask automatically, praying silently that your voice doesn’t sound weird. up close, you realize he can’t be much older than you, and that somehow makes him all the more intimidating. 

his eyes are sharp and cold as he meets yours, practically the textbook definition of unapproachable. 

“borrowing.” he replies. his voice is a bit softer and higher pitched than you were expecting, but there’s a hint of roughness to it that almost makes your skin prick with goosebumps in a way that you try to ignore. 

as you turn away to find the notepad for him to write his information down on, his eyes drift to the whiteboard next to the counter. ‘book of the week’ is written at the top in blue marker, with the title of a novel underneath. 

there’s a half written annotation on the board that you were in the middle of jotting down before he walked in. in your opinion it’s messy, unorganized, and impossible to understand. just a jumble of thoughts that you scribbled down as they came to you. 

you’re the only one who ever adds anything every week and most people coming in hardly spare it a glance, but when you find what you’re looking for and slide it over to the customer you notice his eyes flitting over your scribbles. 

it almost makes you feel self conscious of what you’ve written. it could be worded so much better, and your handwriting looks so much nicer when you slow down a bit, but you hadn’t anticipated anyone actually bothering to read it. 

he shifts his attention back to you as soon as he realizes you’re looking at him and he takes the notepad and pen from you without a word. 

you fidget with a stapler while he fills it out, suddenly becoming aware of how fast your heart is pounding behind your ribcage. when he’s done he hands it back to you, you hand him the book, and then he turns to leave without another word. 

your usual ‘have a good day’ gets caught in your throat for some reason so all you can manage is a small, awkward wave that he doesn’t even notice as the door swings shut behind him. 

when you glance down at the ‘borrow’ list, the first thing you notice is his handwriting, somehow equal parts neat and messy. the tops of his letters nearly loop together but blunt angles prevent it from being considered neat. the other thing, is his name. 

‘kuni.’

he seems to have chosen not to write his full name, which technically isn’t allowed but also isn’t really that big of a deal at the end of the day, because his phone number is still written where it should be and your boss never checks the list anyway. 

the entire thing was such a normal, boring interaction that had it been anybody else you probably would’ve forgotten about it by the next day—but this lingered on your mind throughout the rest of the week. 

the following week when he returns the book, he exchanges it for another one. there’s a new novel listed this week, and you don’t even process the fact that kuni pulls his phone out to write down the name of it because your eyes are glued to the red eyeliner lining his lower eyelashes. it’s stark against his pale skin, so perfectly drawn that you once again find yourself questioning whether or not he’s even real.

you almost choke on your spit when his gaze flicks up to meet yours and you quickly slide the ‘borrow’ list over to him, completely missing the way one of his eyebrows quirks up in mild amusement at your reaction. 

it takes him a bit longer than last time to write his information down because he pauses to skim over your annotation for this week's book, which is much more presentable this time around. 

if you weren’t awkwardly staring at your feet still caught on the fact that he looks like he walked straight out of a painting, you would’ve noticed the flash of an impressed expression on his face, but you keep your eyes pointed down until he sets the pen back into the tin cup to the side with a clink. 

when he grabs the book and silently turns to leave, you take a grounding breath. 

“have a good day.” you blurt out to his retreating form, internally thanking the heavens that the words come out even and not too quiet. 

kuni doesn’t stop walking towards the door, but he turns his head to the side and lifts his hand up in acknowledgement. 

“you too.”

you don’t work fridays and the shop is closed on the weekends, but when you return on monday, kuni’s book is already filled out as returned, meaning he must have stopped by on your day off. 

you feel a bit bummed out at the fact that you missed him when he came back, but he had replaced it with another so all you can do is hope he’d show up again sometime before friday. 

much to your surprise, when you turn around to erase last week's book and change it to another, there’s something new written on the whiteboard. 

just off to the side of your previous annotation are notes, scribbled in a slightly familiar somewhat elegant chicken scratch. it takes you a second, but when you realize it’s kuni’s handwriting your heart jumps into your throat. 

his notes branch out from what you have written in response, taking in your thoughts and then challenging them with a counter argument that has you thinking from a perspective you hadn’t been able to see before. 

after being frozen on the spot for a bit longer, you grab and uncap the marker and start scribbling a response to his response, trying to ignore the excitement thrumming in your limbs. 

to think that someone else would take an interest in the featured books, and even bother to pick apart your annotation and invite you to think harder about the story was almost hard to believe. 

especially because it’s him.

anyone else might feel a bit bothered having their opinions countered so bluntly, but you’re so stuck on the fact that you have someone to indulge you in this interest that it never even crosses your mind. 

when you finish and stand back, an entire half of the whiteboard is taken up by two people’s handwriting where it once would have been nearly empty. instead of erasing it to add the new one, you move to the other side of the board and add the new week’s novel, as well as your thoughts on it that you had organized over the weekend. 

still feeling elated by the unexpected happening, the rest of your shift goes by in a flash until an hour before the store closes when kuni finally shows up again, all intimidating sharp gracefulness.

it’s not until he walks up to the counter after wandering off to find something to check out that you finally realize it’s not the featured book he’s returning, and he had actually never even checked out the book that was listed on the whiteboard last week.

you had wanted to say something about the notes, but the way he doesn’t even acknowledge that they exist has you clamming up and doubting whether or not he was even the one who wrote them in the first place. out of the desperate desire to not embarrass yourself, you decide it’s best left unmentioned. 

“thanks,” you say almost hesitantly as you add the book to the return pile to put away later and pass him the clipboard so he can cross his previous entry off the list and add a new one. 

if only you had been paying attention instead of being lost in your own doubt, you would’ve seen how he eyed the whiteboard and the way a corner of his lips turned up a fraction at your messy reply, but his back is turned and he’s already leaving by the time you look up again. 

and you would never know it, but a while later across town a boy with the pretty red eyeliner walks into a library and checks out another book, one that had been hastily written down on an old whiteboard where a pretty person that made his hands sweat with nervousness works.

this continues for another two weeks and another two books before you finally muster the courage to mention it to him. one of the things he had written under your annotation didn’t make any sense to you, and you can’t help but ask the next time he comes in. 

he clearly wasn’t expecting you to know that it was him, because he looks absolutely taken aback when the words come out of your mouth. 

“what did you mean about the protagonist's actions mirroring the dialogue in the first half?” you try to say this as casually as possible, but your hands are wringing each other behind the counter as you speak. “i mean, i noticed that the emperor almost perfectly predicted what would happen, but it was still super vague.”

it takes kuni a few seconds to gather his bearings before he responds in stride. 

“it was in the story one of the elders told.” he explains. “the one that describes the man who had to pass three trials before he could figure out how to lift the curse.”

“oh!” you gasp, finally understanding what he had written. it was such a small section that you had completely overlooked it so you can’t help but feel a little amazed by his attention to detail. “i never caught that, good eye.”

“mn.” he responds stiffly. 

in the silence that follows afterwards, neither of you know what to say for a moment. the annoying fluttering is back in your stomach and even though you want to say a million things, not a single word forms on your lips. 

“did you know it was me the whole time?” kuni eventually asks, eyes burning holes into the counter. 

“yeah, pretty much.” you admit sheepishly. 

if you didn’t know any better you would think the tips of his ears looked a little red as you slid the clipboard in his direction, but you decide not to point it out and instead clear your throat and give a pathetic attempt at pushing the conversation forward. 

“so did you read the new one?” 

you don’t realize how stupid that question is until it’s already out of your mouth given the fact that it’s monday and you had just added the new one to the whiteboard about an hour ago, but he pretends not to notice that and glances behind you to see the title. 

“not yet.” kuni replies. “i’ll get around to it tomorrow.”

you can’t stop the smile that takes over your face at his words as a rush of warmth and anticipation fills your chest. 

as soon as you begin to internally debate whether or not to ask him where he’s been getting the weekly recommendations if he’s not borrowing them from here, it’s almost like he knows you’re waiting to bring that up because he’s already halfway to the door after he scribbles his information down on the list. 

“do you already own all of these books or-“

“see you next week.”

you can’t stop the tiny pfft that slips out as the door swings shut behind him. and just like that, the store is empty again. 

[realityjoey]

PRANK (RILEY ANDERSON MC x EVAN BUCKLEY)

It was a typical afternoon at Station 118, and the team was in need of a caffeine boost. Buck, ever the eager helper, had volunteered to go on the coffee run, jotting down everyone’s orders before heading out the door. As soon as he left, the station seemed quieter, the usual buzz of his presence absent. Riley was sitting at the kitchen table, scrolling through her phone when Hen, Chimney, and Eddie shared a conspiratorial glance.

“You know what we should do?” Hen said with a sly smile. “We should prank Buck.”

Riley raised an eyebrow, intrigued. “Prank him? How?”

Chimney grinned, always up for some mischief. “Oh, I’ve got an idea. You should call him, ask him something random like ‘What time are you coming back?’ and then hang up without saying ‘I love you.’ He’s so used to you saying it that I bet he’ll freak out.”

Riley chuckled, but a part of her hesitated. “You think he’ll really care that much?”

Eddie snorted. “Are you kidding? That guy lives for your ‘I love you’s. He’s obsessed. Trust me, you leave him hanging, and you’ll see just how attached he is.”

Riley smirked, considering the challenge. It was true—Buck had become incredibly affectionate since they’d started dating, and they always made a point to say “I love you” on every call. She couldn’t imagine him not noticing if she didn’t say it.

“Alright, fine. I’ll do it,” Riley said, her mischievous grin spreading. “But you guys owe me if this goes wrong.”

Hen laughed. “Deal. Just make sure to keep a straight face when he gets back.”

Riley dialed Buck’s number and put the phone on speaker so the others could hear. It rang twice before Buck picked up, his familiar, warm voice filling the room. “Hey, babe, what’s up? Everything okay?”

“Yeah, everything’s fine,” Riley said casually, already suppressing a laugh. “Just wanted to ask, how long until you’re back?”

“Uh, maybe ten minutes? They were kind of slow with the orders today,” Buck replied. There was a brief pause, then, in a softer voice, he added, “Miss me already?”

Riley felt a flutter in her chest but kept her voice steady. “Yeah, something like that. See you soon.” And with that, she hung up, not giving him the usual “I love you.”

The second the call ended, Chimney doubled over in laughter, and Hen grinned widely. Eddie was watching Riley intently, waiting for her to crack under the pressure.

“How long do you think it’ll take him to realize?” Hen asked, barely containing her amusement.

“Two minutes, max,” Eddie predicted, crossing his arms.

They didn’t have to wait long. Exactly thirty seconds later, Riley’s phone buzzed with an incoming call. Buck’s name flashed across the screen.

“Here we go,” Chimney whispered, as Riley answered and put it on speaker again.

“Riley,” Buck’s voice sounded confused, almost vulnerable, “you forgot something.”

Riley feigned innocence. “What? Did I forget to tell you to grab something?”

“No, no, you—uh—” He paused, clearly uncomfortable. “You just… you didn’t say ‘I love you’ before you hung up.”

Hen stifled a laugh, and Eddie mouthed “Told you” from across the room.

Riley bit her lip, trying not to burst out laughing. “Oh, didn’t I?” she said, playing it cool.

“No, you didn’t,” Buck replied, his voice a mix of uncertainty and concern. “Is everything okay? Did I do something?”

Chimney mimed clutching his heart dramatically, while Eddie shook his head in disbelief.

Riley couldn’t drag it out any longer. She felt bad for the worry in his voice. “Buck,” she said, trying to sound serious, “of course, I love you. It’s just that…”

“What?” Buck interrupted, clearly on edge.

Riley smiled, glancing at her co-conspirators. “I’m sitting here with Hen, Chim, and Eddie, and they convinced me to prank you. They wanted to see how long it would take you to freak out if I didn’t say it.”

There was a pause on the other end. Then, Buck let out a loud, relieved laugh. “Oh my God, you got me good. I thought I was losing my mind for a second. I was like, ‘There’s no way Riley would forget to say I love you.’”

The room erupted in laughter, and Riley grinned, feeling a little bad but mostly amused. “Sorry, babe, they made me do it.”

“You’re lucky I love you so much,” Buck teased. “Because otherwise, I’d be plotting revenge right now.”

“Oh, you definitely should plot revenge,” Hen chimed in. “This was all Riley, after all.”

Riley rolled her eyes, already knowing she’d pay for this later. “Alright, alright. I’ll make it up to you when you get back.”

“You better,” Buck said playfully. “See you in a few. Love you.”

This time, Riley didn’t hesitate. “Love you too.”

When Buck finally returned with the coffees, the first thing he did was walk over to Riley, wrapping his arms around her in an exaggeratedly tight hug. “That was cruel, you know,” he murmured against her hair.

Riley laughed, patting his back. “You’ll survive. Besides, it’s not like you don’t prank me all the time.”

Buck grinned down at her, his blue eyes full of mischief. “True. Guess I’ll just have to get you back when you least expect it.”

As they broke apart and joined the others at the table, Hen raised her coffee cup in a mock toast. “To the best prank in weeks.”

“And to Buck being totally whipped,” Chimney added with a wink.

Buck just shrugged, not even bothering to deny it as he kissed Riley’s temple. “I mean, can you blame me?”

[stormyoceans]

random thoughts and recollections about the jimmysea and pondphuwin fanmeet in rome!!!!!!!!

WARNING. this is just a ridiculous amount of obnoxious ramblings by yours truly with basically no pictures whatsoever because 1) im terrible at taking them, 2) my phone is old and has terrible quality, 3) even when @petrichoraline so kindly offered me her spare phone to take some decent photos and videos i almost yeeted it across the room in the midst of things, so. yeah, just be aware these are a lot of boring words ;;;;;;;;

ANYWAY. let's get into it!!!!!!!

JIMMYSEA PHOTO SESSION

putting the jimmysea photo session LITERALLY FIRST THING FIRST sure was a choice and not a good one for my heart which clearly shows in my picture with them because i look like a deer caught in headlights (im not subjecting y'all to my face but trust me on this i was SHAKING)

with the way the queue and the room were set up i feel like it was so much easier to look at and make eye contact with sea rather than jimmy, so at the end i whipped around to thank jimmy too and i think i automatically tried to wai to both of them, which i hope wasn't inappropriate ;;;;;;;;;; in my defense everything that was going on in my head in that moment was FUCK FUCK FUCK THEY'RE ACTUALLY REAL AND SO HANDSOME FUCK

also i had no pose in mind and i ended up panicking ;;;;;;;;

(more ramblings under the cut)

PONDPHUWIN Q&A PANEL

i bought the cheapest pass for them at the last second so i was sitting very far in the back during their panel and yet i could still see pond's jawline from all the way over there like i swear that shit is so sharp it could cut glass

i keep forgetting just how young phuwin actually is because he both looks and sounds so mature and confident and suave it's honestly insane

although one of the games was like. one of them had to be blindfolded and try to guess which pose the other was making just by touching them, and at the very beginning when pond put the blindfold on phuwin kept running away from him which was both so funny and cute

also the host kept putting up numbers with his hand and asking 'how many are these' to a blindfolded pond and one of those times pond answered by going 🤟 and i was like POND GOD DAMMIT

btw phuwin invited everyone to the GMM building so jot that down. if anyone gets there and securities asks you something y'all can blame him now (jk)

phuwin's favorite scene in we are is the art room scene with a sleeping phum in episode 11, while pond's is the pool scene always in episode 11. THE TASTE THE VISION THE FLAVOR TRULY MEN AFTER MY OWN HEART

JIMMYSEA Q&A PANEL

i was sitting in the second row for the jimmysea panel so i could catch so many small moments i absolutely loved such as:

they had to press a buzzer for questions and they always did that together, with jimmy's hand being on top of sea's like 5 times out of 6

jimmy poured some water for both himself and sea and he made sure that sea drank some

there was a game with balloons where the two sides of the audience were supposed to get the balloons to the back and then bring them back to the boys, and we failed spectacularly on jimmy's side (HE FELT SO BETRAYED IM SO SORRY BBY), so when the balloon got to sea very quickly he pushed it back towards the audience to buy jimmy's some time

both p'tha and p'aof were actually sitting next to the audience on my side of the room watching jimmysea panel and in my head i was like EXCUSE ME SIRS CAN WE TALK [slides monopoly money towards p'tha for a new jimmysea series] [has WORDS with p'aof]

so the way questions worked was like. they had to press a buzzer and after that a spinning wheel with different colors would come up on screen and on whichever color it stopped on they had to pick a piece of paper of that same color with a random question written on it. during one of the spins, the wheel landed on yellow and jimmy picked one of the papers, but i think because of the lighting it actually looked green from the audience's pov, so everyone was screaming 'that's green'. however jimmy insisted that it was yellow, and that what we were saying was yellow was actually orange (the host was agreeing with jimmy but sea was agreeing with us so im still a bit confused on the matter sfjksgfj). then the host said 'we're still gonna do this one' (as in the yellow/green one that jimmy had already picked) but jimmy went 'two questions' and picked one of the yellow/orange ones too, so the host just turned towards the organizers like well since he's the one who said so. JIMMY JITARAPHOL TRULY A MAN OF THE PEOPLE (but also please stop giving nomnoms reasons to have beef with the color orange sfjkshfksg)

actual thing that happened:

host: describe each other in 3 words

jimmy: very cute creature. he's my cat

sea: my good boy

me: WHAT THE FUCK AM I EVEN WITNESSING RN

jimmy said he would like to play a detective in a future series and i almost vibrated out of my seat like YES PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD YES THAT'S A MAN AFTER MY OWN HEART HE KNOWS WHAT'S UP P'THA ARE YOU HEARING THAT PLEASE MAKE IT HAPPEN I HAVE SO MANY IDEAS I COULD GIVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!! sea said he wants to play a dentist but he actually meant dermatologist, he just messed up the word, and jimmy said that if we want him to be a dentist as well we should give him six more years sfjksjksf

at one point sea said 'mamma mia' and i burst out laughing so hard that's when i almost flung @petrichoraline's phone across the room (and that's when i also decided it was just better for everyone involved if i didn't try to take pictures or record stuff ;;;;;;;;;)

they also had to act out some words and when the host said 'sleep' sea was like 'i thought he (jimmy) would point at me' SON WHY ARE YOU CALLING YOUR OWN ASS OUT ✋😭 (and of course jimmy took the chance to point out that sea did in fact sleep right before the panel)

when the host said the word 'love' sea pointed at jimmy and jimmy pointed at the audience and then they were both quick at mimicking each other (so jimmy also pointed at sea, and sea also pointed at the audience)

SEA IS SUCH A GOOD SINGER AND JIMMY GOT SO MUCH BETTER TOO I WILL GENUINELY ACCEPT NO SLANDER TOWARDS THEM WHEN IT COMES TO SINGING AFTER THIS FANMEET

it was established that the most important words in italian are 1) mamma (mom), 2) pasta, 3) pizza, 4) ti amo (i love you). hard to disagree with that tbh

i think after this fanmeet i've really got to give it to jimmy and admit he actually might be an extrovert because he was just soooooooo ridiculously charming and witty and quick on his feet when it came to find funny answers and deal with some sound issue during his song like i really do think he shines when he's around people

i think you can tell sea is definitely more reserved compared to jimmy but what he doesn't have in expansiveness he makes it up with being so incredibly endearing like he really is just SO. DAMN. CUTE. (even if he tried to give me a heart attack by having his arms out for the fanmeet PUT THOSE GUNS AWAY SIR)

AUTOGRAPH SESSION

had a chance to get a closer look to pond and phuwin when they all walked inside the room and im trying to say this in a way that doesn't make me sound like an insane creep but like. the sheer amount of FACE pond has. i've seen him with my own two eyes and i still can't believe that's a real human being just going around his life. WITH THAT FACE. kinda understand now why greeks decided that the human form was the most important subject for artistic endeavour because jesus. that man really is sculpted by the gods

all that being said, i think the one whose pictures don't give him justice is sea. he is just so ridiculously handsome in real life and has the most beautiful smile i've ever seen i kinda. lost it a little about it ;;;;;;;

i think it's one of the reasons i suddenly got even more nervous and ended up messing up so badly ;;;;; i had this entire speech in my head about vice versa but i was so worried about holding up the line and the fact that everyone had even small gifts for them while i was empty handed and they were just. SO MUCH. so i just said 'hiiloveyouthankyou' to both of them and rushed away ;;;;;;;;; and i regret it so much because i think sea was trying to say something but after that he just went 'oh. love you too. bye' IM SO SFJKSHFKSGFJGSJDFJDK STUPID

FINAL CONSIDERATIONS

pondphuwin and jimmysea give off such different vibes and energies imho, at least during panels, like idk how to explain it but they truly feel like the cool kids and their silly goose uncles (and im saying this in the most loving way)

so. i guess this is the moment where i get a bit emotional about jimmysea. like i know im very biased but at the same time im also very aware that what we get to see of them is always somewhat performative, and yet. if before there was a part of me that was like 'this is gonna be a reality check and a reminder that i don't do parasocial relationships', that got pretty much crushed after this fanmeet. jimmysea genuinely look like the loveliest darlingest sweetest softest most precious boys who always make sure to thank everyone for getting where they are now. like my heart is so full of love for them i honestly don't know what else to say rn

if i have to find one negative thing (aside my blundering of the autograph session so badly) is the vice versa erasure. like both jimmy and sea had a solo song and that would have been the perfect opportunity for 'have i found' or 'by my side' but of course that didn't happen. one of the questions was 'what was your favorite scene to film' and they just assumed it was about last twilight. this is not me blaming them btw, because even when the fanmade video for them was played it only had last twilight scenes and moments so like. it's obvious they would think everyone just cares about last twilight. which is why i regret the autograph session so much and im sad im not the type of person who can just shout 'what about a vice versa scene!!!!!!' from the audience 🥲

this is also why i ended up buying the italian version of the vice versa novel btw BECAUSE IM NOTHING IF NOT A WEAK ASS PETTY HOE

my biggest warmest thank you goes to @petrichoraline who was just so endlessly patient and supportive and sweet and nice through it all, idk what would i have done without her. i also don't really have the words to properly express myself but like. I LOVE HER SOSOSOSOOSOSOOOOO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!

a big thank you and sorry also goes to @puppy-phum who is just sooooo lovely. i feel bad because i wasn't there for her as much as i wished to but im grateful we went through the photo and autograph sessions together. I LOVE HER SOOOOOOOOO MUCH TOO!!!!!!!!!!!

[petersbaby]

Fuck it, I’m pressing post and you can’t stop me

Green - Gareth & Eddie x Reader

Warnings: high sex, reader is high but they are too (EVERYTHING’S CONSENSUAL), oral (m receiving), smut, male masturbation, threesome

Gareth is aged up to 18

-

“He’s still mad that I got you and not him.” Gareth says, leaned back and nonchalant in your computer chair.

“I’ve told you guys this, I’m not an item to be ‘got’. I get I’m the only girl in the group, but seriously.”

“Hey, I know that. It’s just like- it’s gotten worse, I think. He’s got it bad for you.”

“I’m yours, though. Wanna be yours.”

You look at him from the bed with eyes so sweet he has to come squish you and lay on top of you, hugging you tight. You giggled as you only struggled to breathe just a little bit, it wasn’t a problem. Worth it.

-

In the car on the way to Eddie’s to smoke, a couple of days later, you use the flip-down mirror to apply a fresh coat of lipgloss and Gareth takes his eyes off the road briefly to look at you.

“You’re so pretty. You know that?”

You blush. “Stop it.”

“I’m serious.” He laughs.

When you get to the trailer, you and Gareth both find a place on Eddie’s old and well loved sofa while he retrieves his supplies. You hear him rummaging around in his room, but he finally comes out with everything: the weed, the tray, the grinder, the rolling papers.

He sits and starts working his magic, grinding up the green substance and rolling it up, soon producing a pretty big joint that he lights in his mouth. You pass it back and forth to each other, 3 doesn’t really qualify as a “rotation”. You watch as the boys immerse in their creative process; sometimes they get like this.

They’ll go into song-writing mode and come up with their best ideas when they’re stoned. Eddie strums random cords on his guitar and your boyfriend jots down words in a beat up notebook.

“I’m gonna go to the bathroom, be right back.” Gareth announces, weirdly loud and formal, very high. You look over at Eddie and he’s stifling a laugh, trying to hard not to crack up. Very high too.

You couldn’t deny that you weren’t on the same level as them, but you were better at composing yourself. You just smile at him and shake your head, going back to watching tv.

Gareth gets up and goes down the hall to the bathroom, and as soon as the door clicks shut, Eddie puts down his guitar and scoots close to you. Like, right next to you, the spot Gareth was just in a minute ago.

“Uh… whatcha doing there, eds?” You laugh nervously.

“Listen, I just gotta say sorry in advance. I have to do this, I’m sorry.”

“What the-“

He leans in quickly, and in less than the amount of time it takes to blink, his lips press hard against yours. You felt like you were floating, felt like maybe you were in a dream. You were somewhere far away and on cloud nine, and all you could consciously do was let him kiss you. His lips tasted good. Weed, tobacco, cherry chapstick maybe?

You take in a deep, sharp breath once you realize what’s going on. It felt like forever to you, but Gareth was still in the bathroom, it must’ve only been a mere few seconds.

Yeah, for whatever reason, you decide to kiss him back. There would be major consequences for this, this was cheating. The more you thought about it, the guiltier you grew, you finally pulled away from him.

His face was flushed and red, eyes pink tinged and glassy. Standing unexpectedly right beside the couch was Gareth, and you immediately just wanna run. You have no explanation for why you did that. You didn’t do it, you tell yourself, he did it. You just let him. And then also sort of encouraged him. Just as bad? Maybe. Either way, both of you were frozen.

“Gare, I’m so sorry, I-“ you start to tear up.

“No, man, it was me. I kissed her, I fucked up and I kissed her. Don’t be mad at her, be mad at me, if anything.” Eddie interrupts, and starts to ramble.

Gareth ignores him and looks straight to you, for some reason, worry on his face. Concern?

“It’s okay. I told you he liked you, I tried to warn you. Are you okay? Did he go too far, you know, anything you didn’t consent to?”

“N-no.”

“Good. Did you… did you like it?” He asks, noticing your heavy breathing and frazzled expression. The room fell silent. Terribly silent. You weren’t gonna answer that.

“I asked you a question.” He reminds you firmly, as though you forgot. Really, the cogs in your brain were just desperately attempting to turn.

“I- I uh, I dunno, I’m just really high. I don’t know, I’m sorry.” You were overwhelmed, feeling like your body was overheating.

“Hey, don’t cry.” Eddie tries to comfort you. “It was all me, I’m serious. Don’t be mad at her.” He tries to defend himself to Gareth.

“I’m not mad. If she likes it, I’ll let it slide. Just this once, though, Munson. Never again.” He points at the boy.

“Really?” You ask, a little dumb and confused.

“Yeah, god, if you could see yourself right now. You look desperate. You want me to share some of you?”

“Mhm. Please.” You nod.

“Alright. Remember to speak up if you change your mind or don’t feel comfortable anymore.”

You nod again. He comes to sit on the couch beside you, on the other side of you this time, patting his lap. You happily climb into it, straddling him and attaching your lips to his right away.

To be honest, it didn’t matter who’s lips they were, kissing felt really really good right now. You have little perception on just what you’re doing subconsciously, just going with what felt right. You didn’t mind it at all, just happily soaking in every sensation you feel while on top of the world.

The boys didn’t mind either. They could tell you weren’t thinking, just going with the flow. You share a deep and filthy kiss with your boyfriend and you moan softly and repeatedly while your tongue invades his mouth.

You also soon started grinding down on him while doing this, truly a desperate little mess. Eddie sits on the other side of the couch just watching you, palming his achingly hard dick in his jeans.

“Mmh. ‘M hot.” You whine and Gareth pulls your top off over your head for you without hesitation. He wanted you to feel comfortable and if you were hot, he’d help you with that. There was nothing underneath the top he took off for you.

“Jesus christ.” Eddie mutters out loud, causing you to remember he’s there. You both look over at him, he’s already sweating.

“You wanna give our friend some sugar, baby?”

“Mhm.” You nod quickly, and crawl over to him. You do the same, climbing into his lap except this time only straddling one of his thighs, and he leans in to kiss you again.

You make out now, harder than the earlier kiss, more lust in it. You find yourself rutting against his jean-clad thigh, you feel the need to look over at your boyfriend. He gives you an approving expression, as if to silently say ‘yes, that’s fine.’

Eddie surprisingly kept his hands to himself, reluctant to possibly fuck this up. All he did was look, and he looked a lot.

-

“Fuck, want somethin’ inside of me.” You huff, pulling off.

“That’s gonna be me, I’m not letting Eddie fuck you, baby.”

“Okay.”

“Here, scoot toward me and bend over.”

You do as he says, arching your back while he checks out the view of your ass from behind.

“You wanna suck him off?”

“Should I?”

“I think it’d be the nice thing to do.”

“Okay. Yes.” You nod.

You look up at Eddie from below your lashes and he quickly turns to face you, undoing his best buckle hastily and pushing his pants and boxers down his thighs.

You hear the same belt and zipper noises from behind you, then feel your jeans and panties being pulled off of you and you help in their removal. Gareth presses his cock against your soaking wet hole and groans to himself, you take Eddie’s cock in your hand and stroke it a few times.

“Shit.” He comments at the feeling. Your hand felt so much better than his own. You spit on the tip and it runs down his length, warm saliva glistening, and you keep jerking his cock.

You grow desperate, achingly aware of the emptiness in your cunt and wiggle your ass slightly to try to tell him you want it now. Gareth grabs your hips to still you, and sinks in not-so-gradually. A loud moan erupted from you.

“Ohhh, fuck. Oh, fuck.” You moan as he slides in and out of your wet heat with ease.

Now that you had something filling up that part of you, you decided to fill your mouth up next. You take the tip of Eddie’s leaking cock past your lips, tongue running up and down the slit to collect the precum.

“Ah, god damn it. Holy shit.” Eddie grips the couch cushions closest to his reach, not prepared for your level of skill with this.

“Her mouth is good, isn’t it? It’s all mine, too.” Gareth says smugly, smacking your ass with a little sting.

“Yes, mmmh, fuck.”

You sink down deeper, taking more and more of him into your mouth until your lips reach the neat curls at the base of his cock. Gareth pounds into you harder from behind, making you moan around it. Eddie feels the vibration to his core, almost shuddering. He’s a moaning, groaning mess.

You pull off of his dick, a string of saliva connecting it to your mouth, to speak.

“You can pull my hair. Please.”

Eddie finds his dominant hand in your hair, collecting a fistful of it and tugging at it roughly, which makes you moan.

He uses the leverage to guide your head up and down, at the perfect pace that had him quickly stumbling to the edge, hitting the back of your throat each time without a problem. You didn’t seem to have a gag reflex, so he took advantage of that. You truly were something.

But soon, you feel your release coming, just needing a little bit more. You take your hand off Eddie, pulling off of him, and reach between your thighs, beneath your body.

You start to rub circles over your clit while Gareth fucks you from behind, selfishly chasing what you want and now neglecting Eddie.

He watches you desperately and feverishly touch yourself like an animal in heat and starts fucking his fist. You whine and cry into the cushions, beginning to chant “please, please, please.”

“I’ve got you, shh. You’ll get it.” Gareth soothes, gently rubbing your ass.

“Please, daddy, oh fuck.”

Both boys groan. Eddie is so fucking jealous of Gareth.

“Please, please, I’m-“ you let out a loud, pornographic moan, one that’s familiar to Eddie only because he watches a lot of porn. You sounded just like the girls in them, heavenly.

You tighten up around Gareth’s cock and feel yourself gush a little, orgasming hard. He doesn’t let up, continuing his pace, while you whine and come down. You look at Eddie again, and see that he’s fiercely stroking his cock while just looking at you, watching you enjoy yourself.

You take over again, swatting his hand away and replacing it with your mouth. It takes a very small amount of time after this before his cock is twitching in your mouth, and that’s the only warning you get that he’s cumming.

He cums with a groan and a string of curses, letting you suck the soul out of him til he has nothing left. You feel it all run down the back of your throat and swallow it down.

When you’re done, you look up at his face to see his eyes blown out, huge and wide. He was panting, almost like a dog who got too excited, looking down at you with wonder.

“You make eds feel good? You make him happy?” Gareth asks.

“Mhm. I did.” You answer, feeling proud of yourself.

“Good girl.” He breathes heavily, fucking into your cunt hard. “My- god damn it, my turn.”

You feel his thrusts get sloppier and you know he’s close, you wait patiently to be filled up and you soon are.

-

“You okay?”

“I’m good.” You sigh, nodding your head.

You lay there, still in a daze, still a bit high. Still very naked. Both the boys were all clothed again, and look quite normal and casual besides their hair being a little messier than it usually is.

They seem to have come down, or are in the process of coming down, which you were still not yet.

“Okay, well put your clothes back on, ‘kay? Here.” Gareth hands you your shirt, panties, and pants, telling Eddie to go get you a cup of water. Once you have everything back on, you chug the water very fast, and they both chuckle.

Gareth lets you lay your head in his lap, playing with your hair. You’re sleepy, but you can hear them talking above you.

Something about “a one time thing,” and “don’t go telling anyone about this.” and Eddie agreeing. Too sleepy.

[smoshsfavoritepizzaplace]

I feel like I've been inspired heavily by The Twilight Zone and The Choose Your Own Adventure Series.

I thought it be cool for this to be in two parts from both Shayne and Court's perspective.

Alright, here goes...

It is Halloween Night and Shourtney are playing with a Ouija board and everything seems to be going according to schedule. Shayne being ever the skeptic, while Courtney is on an adrenaline rush from the whole experience, that is until it is time for them both to go to sleep.

When they awake they are both in for quite the shocker, this is where it gets trippy.

Shayne - Wakes up back in 2019! He looks exactly the same as he did back then, back in his old apartment, but he is Shayne from the present, and worst of all Courts not there.

Courtney - Wakes up in 2024, think everything is ok? Not so fast, this isn't our regular Court, this is them from 2019! Luckily they know just the person to turn to in times of crisis, all they need to do is just turn over on their side and he's right there... WHAT?

How did this happen?

Why did this happen?

Why is Shayne getting a text about shooting The Goldbergs?

Why is there a diamond ring on Court's left hand?

Overall, I want to keep this grounded and just be a wild escapade of the dream world for both of them, heavily influenced by their past up until present day. I wouldn't mind a supernatural aspect to it, but I just feel like that can get overblown too much, ya know?

I'm still deciding if I want it to be a Ouija board or a scary movie that incites all this chaos, and if I want it to be 2018 or 2019 for Shayne depending on whenever their relationship started.

I decided to have current day Shayne go back in time because I believe Court fell first and he fell harder. Given what Court said about being down bad for their coworker while doing Chanse's drag makeup.

Shayne gets to go back in time with all the knowledge of the present, while this version of Court gets to live out their fantasy which we all know becomes reality. Without having to deal with the mental gymnastics and nerves.

Now I wish I could write this, but unfortunately I can't write to save my life unless it is a term paper for college.

So, I am offering this idea for any creative writers out there who want to take a crack at it!

Some of my personal favorites :

@veecastillooc

@undercover-bro

@missflufffanfics

@winterxgardener

Obviously there is no pressure or anything like that. I just have been sitting on this idea for some time and I thought it would be cool to put it out there and see what comes of it.

If it were up to me and I could actually put pen to paper I'd love to make a couple of chapters. Either with or without the supernatural element, regardless it is open to interpretation!

Thanks for letting me showcase my idea, trying to be better about not letting my nerves get the better of me! They are just random ideas at the end of the day that I've jotted down here and there.

Why not give it a go?

🙏👋

I’m not saying this just to say it, but I genuinely enjoy this idea. I do think a scary movie would be a better cause of this bc it’s more shourtney coded than an ouija board. They both love movies (idk how they feel about horror specifically) but I can see them watching that more. I also feel like 2018 might be the move bc we don’t know when they started dating, but I’m willing to bet it wasn’t 2018. So it would make more sense, imo, of it being Courtney’s dream and not reality and her not being there with Shayne. But other than that, I could see this being a really great concept. Like I said, I don’t read fics but I would give this one a chance. And I would say to try writing it yourself, I feel if you really put your mind to it then you can create this if you really want to. But if you can’t, someone please get to writing this ASAP !

[fanficonly]

Wenclair X Reader- What Are You? - Chapter 7

Yeah at this point I don't even think I know why it takes me so long to post... sometimes the drafts are just sat there and I spend a week trying to figure out what it's missing before I can post.

But either way, apologies for my lack of posting, working on some one-shots still aswell which I never posted ... shocker

Hope y'all enjoy😋

After pacing towards the foyer and turning back every few seconds to ensure you were not followed by the two persistent girls, you finally reach where your bags are situated and breathe a sigh of relief.

All here. All in tact. So you grab the jacket, your favourite might you add, out of your rucksack and pull it over your shoulders to cover the blood-stained white shirt beneath it.

Now ... If you take your stuff to your room will they be gone... That is the question.

You give it a few minutes, deciding to sit on your suitcase a observe your surroundings for a while, now that you no longer have a suspicious red patch on your back visible to the public view it seems safe enough. Besides, you need to give Wednesday and Enid time to leave your room, atleast you hope that's what they're doing. Leaving.

The odd student passes by you, some giving you light smiles or nods, others too wrapped up in drama or conversation to pay a random student the time of day, understandably.

But one. There's one student who, although you had been sat here for 10 minutes hasn't said or done anything and instead opts to stare at you from across the room.

"For God's sake" you curse quietly to yourself, rather disturbed at the amount of stalker-like attention you seem to attract from these outcasts.You flit your eyes back to him every once in a while and nothing about his stance changes. Creep.

He's a rather tall looking guy with long shaggy hair, sitting on one of the lounge chairs, a note book in hand and no sense of privacy it would seem as he makes no attempts to hide the fact that he is watching you.

You're painfully aware of his eyes on you but it would seem every time you look directly at him he flits his eyes back to the notepad Infront of him jotting down god knows what.

Another 5 minutes go by and you become lightly frustrated with the uneasy feeling of being watched so this time,when you feel his tortured eyes watching you, you whip your head around to stare directly at him giving him a "what the fuck are you looking at?" Kind of look.

He finally smiles, seemingly unfazed by your looks of judgement. You watch as he chuckles to himself looking away from you and gliding his pencil across the page again before standing up to approach you.

"Hi" he says,now stood Infront of you he looks even taller up close which for some reason annoys you. The audacity to just be like 'Hi' was enough of an annoyance that you're mind quietly screams at you to settle your emotions before someone gets hurt ...or worse.

But you won't get very far unless you reply so all you say is "Umm Hi can I help you?" standing up as you do, so you're not craning your neck so high just to look at him.

"Sorry I just- I was watching you and-" something in you snaps a little, the feeling of uncomfortable subsiding and being replaced with more annoyance that he had so casually stared at you for 15 minutes straight without any thoughts to how it would make you feel.

"Yeah I could tell you're not exactly discreet" you spit, raising your eyebrows in complete disapproval of his invasive actions

"Woah woah I'm sorry, sorry" he repeats raising his hands in defense. "I just- you looked so-" he squints his eyes shut and practically face palms at his own idiocy before taking a breath.

He shrugs and awkwardly rubs the back of his neck doing everything in his power not to make any unwanted eye contact with you. Suddenly, he no longer seems threatening and instead an intense vulnerability emits from his entire body.

"Sorry I didn't mean to snap it was just a bit weird, I don't like being stared at" you scold him but also try to settle the awkwardness.Not a lot you should be apologising for but you wanted to avoid unnecessary confrontation. I mean you don't even know what this guy is or who for that matter.

"No no you're completely right" he interjects " It is weird and I am really sorry for making you feel comfortable" he continues and seems genuinely annoyed with himself and almost ridiculously apologetic now "Let me explain?" he asks clearing his throat and looking to you for confirmation which you grant with a slight nid of your head. He doesn't speak though instead he just turns the notepad towards you.

"Holy shit" you mutter earning a step back from him and another laugh. His eyes widen at the curse not expecting that reaction of course but after shaking it off he smiles with pride.

The notepad you had earlier thought him to be writing in was actually a sketch pad. The image staring back at you was ... Well you, in the exact position you were only moments ago, perched on your suitcase staring off into the distance.

The sketch was incredible for a quick 15 minutes drawing, which is why it deserved the shocked reaction you had just given, it looked exactly like you. The hair, the eyes, the shape. It was like looking at a photograph.

"Thanks" he says smiling again "Sorry again I just saw you and it was like this perfect moment, you weren't paying attention to me but you were so engrossed in the world around you, I'm an artist so I just- I can't really control the pencil when it hits the paper you know" he explains further. A little cliché you think to yourself but at the same time you were no longer mad, the explanation was good enough and you more than anyone understood bad first impressions and hoping for second chances. It was basically your whole life

"No no I get it that's fine that actually- like wow you're really talented" you compliment his work, trying to move past the once impending altercation.

"I'm Xavier" he finally introduces himself holding out his hand for you to shake. Instantly you worry, again not really wanting to initiate any kind of physical contact especially from a stranger. So instead of out right offending the nice student who had offered you his hand you make a joke of it.

"And I'm a Germaphobe hehhh" you step back slightly holding your hands up and laughing a little.

He once again holds up his hands, one still grasping the notebook tightly between his boney hands "No problem uhhh" he points to you this time awaiting a telling of your name.

"Oh right yeah I'm Y/N I'm new" you state the obvious and he smirks slightly but before he can say anything, a loud " Yo Xavier!" Is yelled from somewhere in the near distance. The Lanky dude waved at his friends and looks back to you

"Well it was nice to meet you Y/N hope to run into you again" he walks off joining the boys and as he talks to them he looks back at you. You can only imagine the questions he is being asked right now as he ushers his friends away pushing them playfully into the halls and leaving you to get back to your quiet observing.

Eventually you find the strength to drag your bags to your room, mentally commending yourself for having a very small amount of belongings as you finally reach your door with one last huff.

While reaching for the handle you have a spine chilling feeling of someone's eyes on you and instinctively dart your eyes around in search of any immediate threat.

A few seconds go by and you roll your own eyes at yourself. God you were really on edge today, understandably, so you just shrug it off and make your way into your new quarters.

Meanwhile*

Wednesday and Enid had been left in your room

"That waaaaas-" Enid drags out the word, desperately racking her brain for the right adjective to describe the entire interaction between the 3 of you.

"Odd" Wednesday finishes, staring after Y/N for a brief second and then turning toward Enid.

"Very kooky" Enid smirks at Wednesday with pride as if she had just dropped the smartest quip of all time.

""Very amusing dear" Wednesday's eyebrows jump up as she turns to look at Enid with a somewhat tired look.

"You love it really" Enid giggles and skips over to her girlfriends side, squeezing her upper arm and inhaling her sweet scent.

"Not as much as I love you ma Cherie" Wednesday cooes, still reeling from her encounter with Y/N, she awards Enid a quick but lingering kiss and reaches for the wolf's hand for comfort.

"Soooo do we wait here orrrr..." Enid smiles deviantly at her bloodthirsty paramour. She would never admit it but seeing Wednesday get all worked up gets Enid all worked up and now because of this she was buzzing to retreat to the privacy of their dorm.

Wednesday, having become used to Enid's 'Hints', just squeezed her hand lightly and pulled the smitten werewolf along behind her. She stopped at the door and glanced back at the room, Enid's playful bliss still in full swing but her face contorting in confusion as to why they had stopped moving.

"Me amore this feels like a missed opportunity" the darker haired girl scans her eyes across the room with curiousity.

After a moment of thought Enid understands what her girlfriend is getting at

"We are not going through her room Wednesday!" She scolds tugging at her arms like a whiny child wanting to go home after a long day out.

"Why not? It doesn't seem like she has much here anyway" Wednesday defends, a glance of a hopeful smile fading across her lips.

Enid bites her lip, nawing at it in contemplation, taking a quick glance down the stairs then back at Wednesday, who takes the opportunity to stare deeply into the wolf's eyes. She caresses Enid's face, whispering against her lips

"Cara Mia" before connecting their lips once again then pulling back to gaze into Enid's eyes again. The blonde goes weak, in the knees, hazy from Wednesday's intoxicating scent and she hums in contentment.

When she pulls back and opens her eyes, Wednesday is staring at her in what can only be described as mischievous hope.

"Urgh fine" Enid concedes and Wednesday smirks and turns to re-enter the room.

"Works every time" Wednesday mutters, a sinister smile playing across her pale lips, while she starts scanning the small room.

"Not every time!" Enid follows behind Wednesday, in denial of the power of persuasion the Seer had over her.

"Hmm I seem to forget you have inhuman hearing abilities piccolo lupo" Wednesday hums again, flicking her dark eyes towards Enid before continuing on

"And don't you forget it" She hugs Wednesday from behind and the Ravenette takes a moment to inhale Enid's stimulating perfume before removing herself from her warm arms and getting down to business.

10 minutes go by and the once calm and calculated Wednesday was now back into full frustration mode.

"Baby I told you there's nothing here" Enid had watched Wednesday search the draws,wardrobe and surrounding area but to no avail and commended herself privately for remaining an innocent bystander.

"She must not have had her belongings sent to her room yet nobody is this minimal" Wednesday narrows her eyes "How unfortunate" she all but mumbles before pinching her chin in deep thought. After deliberating with the voices in her head she makes a decision

Wednesday runs her hand along the bed sheets, then stares hungrily at Enid, awaiting the werewolf's eventual realisation of what she was proposing. Look, If she wasn't going to get anywhere with their investigation she might aswell get somewhere else with her beautiful and inviting confidante

"Not here!" Enid almost immediately stutters out after letting her mouth fall open in surprise. Wednesday's ability to bewilder Enid to this day with her unpredictable advances is something the werewolf would never get over.

"I am sure she would not mind" Wednesday shrugs, raising her eyebrows suggestively.

"Who are you?" Enid narrows her eyes at her girlfriend suspiciously. Don't get her wrong, she had seen this side of Wednesday before but the occasions were very few and far between and usually she wanted something or had done something wrong which she was trying got make up for or was about to do something that she couldn't make up for.

Enid giggles though and Wednesday throws back the quilt to playfully entice Enid. But Wednesday notices Enid has pulled her attention away from her and is staring at something on the bed.

"Mon Chiot I am trying to do the whole 'hint' thing am I performing it incorrectly?" Wednesday asked a twinge of vulnerability escaping her tone.

"No no!" Enid fumbles her words "Great job babe but umm what's that?" She points towards the item in curiousity.

Wednesday follows Enid's colourfully painted, pointed finger to see that a piece of paper that had flung from the bed as she had thrown the covers back.

In one swift move Wednesday swipes up the letter and reads aloud "Y/N" before smirking and looking up at Enid with mischief in her eyes once again. "Finally" she deadpans, happy that her efforts to uncover more about Y/N were not entirely in vain.

"Baby I don't think we should read her mail it's private" Enid somewhat whines at the idea of being so intrusive but Wednesday just hums in response, still staring at the letter as if fighting an inner battle between right and wrong

"Wednesdaaaay" she eyes the shorter girl disapprovingly

"Calm cucciola, you will not be implicated in my federal offense I assure you" Wednesday holds her hand up to settle her girlfriend and begins to open the envelope. As if any part of that sentence was suppose to make Enid feel better... It didn't, of course, and she was unable to stop her impulses from taking control in order to stop her Girlfriend.

"Wednesday!" Enid jumps across the bed practically pouncing, arm out stretched, attempting to grab the letter from the Seer tight grasp. Her efforts were thwarted when Wednesday swiftly turns to the side in one quick move, only craning her neck down to watch her incredibly clumsy little wolf fall over herself and land at her feet.

"Enid this might be what we are looking for?!" Wednesday reaches out a hand to her beloved and smiles slightly when she clumsily clambers to her feet. "Why search if I'm not going to investigate what I find?" Wednesday speaks logically

"It just feels wrong" Enid Huff's out, swiping at her clothes.

"Everything I do feels wrong darling because It is, in fact, rarely do I do what society deems correct" she states fact and then insultingly remarks "honestly it's like you haven't known me for the last 2 years" Wednesday fights the urge to roll her eyes and steps back from the blonde and attempts to once again open the letter.

"No Wednesday" Enid's morality gets the best of her and drives over her curiousity as she attempts to grab the letter a second time. Naturally, Wednesday had done far worse and Enid had actually been implicated in her criminally and somewhat irredeemable behaviours but that didn't matter because she loved Wednesday and something about it all excited Enid. Plus, no matter what, her Girlfriend always found a way to protect her and bypass the law.

"Your efforts are futile my dear" Wednesday states bluntly as Enid claws at her girlfriend, playfully of course, to avoid her criminal intent.

"My efforts are not-" amidst the struggle both Girls freeze as they hear a loud bang and some fumbling coming from the bottom of the stairs.

"She's back!" Enid whisper screams at Wednesday letting out a small squeak in her panic state and Wednesday's eyes widen still gripping the letter tightly in her hand, her knuckles turning an even more pale shade as she does this.

[ashecampos]

ANYONE BUT HER 5

JANIS IMI-IKE X FEM READER

PART ONE PART TWO PART THREE

Warnings - smoking, alcohol, drugs, swearing, cheating, mentions of anxiety. janis being adorable.

The POV switches between reader and Janis (I use — when I change the POV)

there will be more parts to this, make sure to re-blog and comment and I will get the next few parts up as soon as I can, happy reading lovelies

[with Damien and the girls]

"so how do we get the two lovers together?" Damien turns to cady who is sat next to him jotting down math problems, she looks up and shrugs at the boy. "hey look its Tess" she says as the other girl comes running over to the two, phone in hand, her arms flailing, she looks like a loony as she plops herself down next to the two. "you will NEVER guess what i just walked in on" she screams dramatically, making the other two friends cringe. Damien catches a glimpse of the photo she has opened on her phone and practically screams. "TESSA GEORGE no you did not" he hits the girl multiple times as the girl holds the phone up to his face, revealing what she indeed did walk in on just moments ago. "this may be easier than we thought then guys" cady interrupts the others screaming. "shh Janis is coming she cant know our secret plan" Damien hushes the girls just in time as Janis reaches the tree and sits down.

"that girl will be the death of me" she sighs but is nudged by Damien "girl shut the hell up, you have been hopelessly in love with her since middle school, and the time when she gives you an ounce of attention you try to back away and pretend to hate her guts." he glares at his best friend while Cady and Tess sit watching in shock

"you should totally tell her , yes Bea has fucked with her for years but i know that you are good for her and she is good for you. i wont let you dismiss your feelings for my best friend." the taller girl nudges her as she gets up, her phone ringing in her hand.

"how would i even tell her?" Janis says looking at Tess, which in turn earns a shit eating grin from the other three teenagers.

Tess laughs while looking at her phone "look I'm going to go grab miss dramatic from the principle's office, i will see you guys later and we will scheme" she smirks while picking up the call and walking away from the trio.

////

"hey pookieee" i sing into the phone as i walk down the hallways looking for any of my friends and cautiously avoiding Shane or bea, wherever they may be lingering. "girl where are you? did someone leave you all high and dry in the bathrooms?" she asks in a mocking manner which made me laugh, earning a scowl from some random freshmen as i pass by them, i smile awkwardly back to them apologising. "nooo, i got called into Mr Duvall's office, meet me and ill spill the deets" i sigh into the phone, passing Regina who smiles at me. this school year has been so weird and its not even been a week.

turning the corner i see Tess, i hang up the call and she hugs me tightly. she abruptly latches onto my arm and drags us towards the doors to go outside onto the track field. we find a seat near the top of the empty bleachers and sit, taking out our lunch/snacks.

"right spill" she says while plopping a French fry in her mouth. "firstly, how did you get fries? secondly gimmie one then i shall tell you" i grin as she holds out a singular fry for me. i take it between my teeth and eat it before leaning forward ready to tell her my 'punishment' she waves her hands in a circular motion urging me to start talking as she shoves a few more fries into her mouth.

"okay so Shane, Bea and Jason came up to me in gym and Shane went to floor me but Janis pushed me out of the way. she's fine though, she wasn't touched. but because of that i kind of blacked out and went for him." i start explaining what happened but she points at me. "okay cute but I've been told what happened, but Janis tried to save you. Cute. plus that explains the bathroom" she laughs as i throw a piece of lettuce at her "gross, get your grubby veggie food away from me" she screams as it lands near her food, earning a cackle from me. "may i continue" i look at her smugly "yes yes but c'mon get the the point" she slaps my leg.

"so then he was like 'you have two options here, either you agree to this deal or your suspended' and he obviously didn't elaborate on said deal but i had no other choice" i say eating my salad while talking. "so what where your options?" she cuts me off "let me finish, he was like 'either i can suspend you or you must tutor Janis Imi-ike' so now i have to tutor her in gym, Spanish and drama" i say whilst pointing at her letting her know I'm done "so the deal worked out for you basically?" she points her fork at me with a shit eating smirk. "no it really didn't. Tess you don't understand, after you left the bathroom i ran from her." i put my head down, avoiding eye contact.

\\\\\\\\\\\\

[in the bathroom after Tess walked in on Janis and y/n]

"i totally just cockblocked yall" Tess shrieks happily before snapping a photo and running out of the bathroom. i look back to Janis being brought back to reality and panicking, i look away before grabbing my phone and bag before quickly turning back to her "i should probably go to see Mr Duvall before he sends out a search team, see you later" i look back at her, she nods and smiles a little as she picks up her own bag, throwing the paper towels in the trash.

\\\\\\\\\\\\

"YOU RAN? oh y/n seriously? you've been talking about her since that night you met her. and you fucking ran" Tess brings me back to reality by slapping my knee multiple times to get my attention. shrugging i continue to eat while she stares at me scheming "stop looking at me like that, yes i like her but i don't think she wants me like that" i try to justify my actions but she continues to stare at me, not saying a word. she grabs my hand as soon as we are done eating and drags me to the other end of the school, i see that we are headed in the direction of Janis, Damien and cady, i look at her with pleading eyes. "oh look what the cat dragged in" Damien speaks up first being the only one to click onto the fact that me and Tess came over, Janis looks over at me, her face going red before she looks back down at her cross stitch.

me and Tess sit down, Damien looks at me then back to Tess, smirking. those two will literally be the death of me with their scheming looks. "so little miss Joan jett, what's the news? how long are you suspended for?" the boy asks, making Janis' head shoot up, intrigued by the boys question and what i had to say about being sent to head office. "actually no, i made a deal" i smile proudly at the looks i get from the others, excluding Tess who already knew what happened. i look down at my phone and feel everyone's eyes on me "don't spare any details, what was the deal?" the boy pushes. i look at Janis and shake my head "hey can we talk for a second?" she nods and we stand up and walk over to a different tree "hey about earlier i-" she starts "the deal was that i have to tutor you" i smirk a little as she looks up at me a little baffled. "what do i need tutored in?" she laughs, her shoulders loosening a bit as she settles down, i lean against the tree and hand her the note Mr Duvall gave me to explain what the deal was, she takes a second to read it and scoffs with a hurt tone "drama? why do i need drama tutoring?" she looks up at me as if i should know which i shrug to "i know that's what i thought because you Janis Imi-ike are very dramatic" i point at her and she gasps "rude" she fakes being shot in the chest "heart-breaking even" i reply. she pulls out her phone, "our next class is Spanish right?" she queries, i nod "cool, sit with me?" she more demands than asks but regardless i agree.

we go back to sitting with the rest of our friends for the last ten minutes of lunch before the bell rang.

//////

we both sit down in the back of the classroom, the teacher smiling at us and greeting y/n in Spanish as she hands us some books, they keep a conversation in Spanish, the teacher laughing at whatever y/n is saying to her, the teacher, only say ten years older than us turns to me and smiles. "i assume you have been told about the tutoring programme that you have been placed in, y/n will be tutoring you in this and a few other classes to keep your grades up to ensure you don't fail" she then smiles at both of us and walks to greet other students who are still walking into the classroom. "what was that about?" i ask her while opening my book and looking down at the worksheet inside it. "she's friends with my dad" y/n shrugs "I've known her basically my whole life, don't worry she's really nice" the girl continues while she finishes the work sheet like it was something she's been doing for years "how are you so good at this, i don't get it" i laugh as she puts her pen down and looks over smirking as if it was meant to be obvious "Janis I'm Hispanic of course i know my language" she laughs as if stating an obvious fact, i just sat there staring at her, taking in her features, and her tanned skin. it was apparently obvious that she is Spanish but i just didn't notice or was too distracted to notice this major detail about the girl I've crushed on for like forever. just as the lesson is starting, the teacher is taking names. Tess and Aaron walk into the classroom, Aaron greets the teacher alike to how y/n did, Tess sits down who is followed by Aaron who sits next to her, y/n smiles at her best friend completely oblivious to what had just possibly happened. the teacher writes her name and class number on the board, everyone copies it onto their books, then the board shows a few questions in Spanish, a few words i recognise but the majority of them i don't have a clue on what they mean. i turn to y/n and she is nearly done with the work, she looks up and chuckles mouthing 'what' to me, i whisper "what the fuck does '¿Cómo estás?' mean?" i look at her while she laughs at me a little making me blush a little "how are you?" she asks me, i look at her, thinking she's joking "I'm not good, now tell me what it means" i whisper shout, she shakes her head "no that's literally what it means dumbass" she laughs while i write it down. and that's how the whole lesson went, me being confused and her laughing at me.

when the bell rang we all stood up, the teacher pulling y/n to the side to catch up, leaving me to wait outside of the class as y/n had told me to wait as we where going to our next tutoring session now. it took ten minutes for y/n and the teacher to bid their farewells, the two both walk out of the class and say bye to each other, y/n grabs my hand and turns me to face her with a mischievous smile on her perfect face "how do you feel about track?" she asks full of energy.

"when you said track i genuinely thought you where joking" i said out of breathe as she leads us to the athletics' field. she starts stretching, while i just stare, taking in the view, with it being golden hour, the sun it her skin perfectly and with what she was now wearing, her toned arms and legs flexed as she stretched and started jogging on the spot while looking at me. "if you don't start moving i will literally make you" she said with a hint of sarcasm "make me then" i say with a smirk, she shrugs and picks up her water bottle, taking off the lid and walking over to me. i quickly notice what she was doing and start backing away from her. she laughs as she gets closer to me. just as she gets a few inches away i grab the bottle and splash her with it. the freezing cold water drenching her head to toe. her white t-shirt turning see-through, showing her black Nike sports bra under it. she lets out a shriek while trying to pull the shirt over her head, when she gets it off i cant help but stare, while temporarily distracted she takes this opportunity to throw the rest of the water at me, along with her wet shirt, she laughs and runs off, i chuckle at her behaviour and take my hoodie off then run after her.

we end up on the 100m track part of the field and she is running backwards beside me, slowing down then speeding up when i catch up to her every so often. we do this for a good half an hour, making small talk "so are you doing the art show this year?" she asks, slowing down as we continue to run. "I'm considering it, are you planning on joining track? you would be really good at it" i say, trying my best to catch up to her again as she sped up a little. how she hasn't fallen over yet confuses me, but as I've learned today i don't know a lot about her.

/////

after two hours of Janis' constant complaining about running, we decide to call it quits for today, we sit on the field and she gets a phone call from Cady "Janis what do i do, Regina wants me to sit with her and the plastics at lunch for the rest of the week" to this Janis' face lights up, "oh my god this is amazing, you should definitely do it then report back to us telling us all the stupid shit they say" Janis continues to the girl, i try to keep myself entertained on my own phone as she convinces Cady to take up Regina's offer, my face drops as Cady says that she will do it.

heyy guys sorry again for the really short chapter,, i have terrible writers block, i will try write some more over the next week but i cant promise anyything as im at work until sunday now,, hope this was a good update,, sorry again lovelies <3

[ourflagmeansgayrights]

ofmd s2e1 rewatch where i pause to jot down my thoughts and other random shit

not quite a reaction post bc i've already watched the whole thing. not quite a liveblog bc it's one post and it's probably gonna take me a full hour to get through a 28 minute episode at the rate of pausing and typing i'll be doing

s2e1, s2e2, s2e3, s2e4, s2e5, s2e6, s2e7, s2e8

anyway, pirate time:

i love how much fun con is having choking on his own blood

dream!stede's extremely teary face right before he takes off running down the beach is doing psychic damage to me

also dream!stede's stupid ridiculous outfit with all the long ribbons and shit...

ed and stede make contact so hard shjfkhsgjkfd the loud OUGH sounds from both of them

also the return of ed's old beard! i didnt expect to see her at all this season, so that was a surprise.

"babe" "love" im tearing out my own hair

stede has yet to learn that ripping ass near your beloved can be a love language

stede is a terrible fucking roommate just deal with wee john's gas in silence like the rest of them. goddamn.

WHO HAS THE OUR FLAG MEANS DEATH TRAMP STAMP. WHO IS THAT.

i like when the background OST is familiar to me lol the little strings when stede starts his letter throwing me back to s1

olu: that–that's the swede the swede: Im the swede roach: he's single ;) me: *pissing my pants with laughter*

also the direct confirmation that the swede literally doesn't have a name. incredible

shjkfhdhfkj the crew encouraging him. stede's "it's okay" and roach "be brave" im CRYINGGGGG

stede doing customer service is something that can be so personal. "reservation?" "eat my fuckin' shit" "right! walk-ins, then" average restaurant experience

the random background guy saying "my favorite hand!" abt getting stabbed in the hand is making me giggle. i love the humor on this show

why does stede have so much shoulder movement going on when he's walking through the bar. whore behavior.

"this is for mom!" sorry but i want to know more abt whatever's going on there

also the purple mohawk. dope.

buttons is so distressed LET HIM RETURN TO THE SEA THESE CONDITIONS ARE INHUMANE

"i know the odds of you finding this are slim but so were the odds of us finding each other in the first place" IM RIPPING OFF MY OWN SKIN

also stede's lil sad hopeful smile after throwing the bottle... i care him

i love how they make this wedding fucking suck so we don't feel too bad abt the whole massacre thing. "the natural condition of humanity is base and vile. it is the obligation of people of standing, such as yourselves, to elevate the common human rabble through the sacred transaction of matrimony" if i was at a wedding and the officiant said that i'd also start killing people probably

yayy murder montage :)

FANG BREAKING THAT GUY'S SPINE OVER HIS KNEE

the whole cake scene is so fucking funny im sorry. i love u jim drawing the line at attacking a shitty wedding. i love u archie who wasn't here for the good old days so you dont really see a problem with how things are. i love u frenchie with ur box in ur brain that u never open again. i love u fang it's gonna get better i swear. i love u frenchie again bc u just took the cake right out of fang's hands while he was fucking sobbing hfjhgkjhdkjkf

I MISS IVAN JUSTICE FOR IVAN. wish they could've said he'd just fucked off somewhere instead of dying but i think that would've raised the question of why hasn't anyone else fucked off since they all seem so miserable

very relieved that stede isn't taking the racist/antisemitic caricature drawings of ed to make like a boyfriend scrapbook like some people were theorizing. would've been overkill if after episode 4 from last season stede still didn't realize that ed hated these sorts of depictions of him.

INTERESTING DETAIL THO the background music in this scene is "a pirate's life" aka the song frenchie sang in the pilot. it's an instrumental version obviously but yeah i recognize that tune

also more cool background ppl with dyed hair man i love this show

zheng yi sao flirting with olu is so good. he deserves it.

how nice of ed to offer his drugs to the crew. sharing is caring.

also it's so funny to me that the thing izzy is tormented by is ed saying "you can't do the job, someone else will" the toe thing's happened three times and apparently that was fine but the thing the show edits together right before izzy breaks down into the most pathetic aheemheem whimpers isn't any of that it's ed threatening to fire him

also they cut ed throwing knives at izzy!! what the hell.

releasing the clip of izzy crying kinda ruined it for me when it came time to watch it in the show bc i watched it several times since it dropped and now seeing it in context i was like "ok i've seen this already fast forward." i mean i didnt fast forward through it but i did kinda zone out bc i've seen this bit already. this post kinda sums up my thoughts on it

"trifling ingrate plan" dshkjfshgdskhfjkhgkjh

"SEMI-CLEAN WATER"

JACKIE CALLING THE SWEDE "BOO CAKES"

"i know that guy we had breakfast together!" "you'll be having a lot of breakfasts-es together" "oh, okay" i fucking love this whole dynamic like i can tell they're writing the swede out of most of the episodes for budget reasons (sorry nat faxon) but by god do they give him such an excellent fucking send-off. can't wait to see him again when he's in his trophy husband number 20 era

roach is upset abt not being able to cook, buttons is tied up so he doesn't go running back to the sea (i assume). stede you are not giving your crew the environment they need to thrive.

olu being an optimist :)

buttons opens his mouth to drink the rain and in the background u can see roach yanking the rope around buttons back fhdjskgfjhgkjfh STEDE YOUR SEA WITCH CANNOT THRIVE IN THESE CONDITIONS

stede tries to make things sound good in his bottle letters to ed but out loud he says his actual insecurities... it's so fucking tasty tho that he thinks ed could be doing better without him and THAT'S why he's been stalling so much. not afraid for his life even a little bit he just assumes he's not wanted. brb i have to cry now

"im sorry if that's a little bit creepy" "you are creepy" in this scene where they're soaked from the rain. ofmd said this prince ricky guys is creepy and wet.

stede's fucking FACE when prince ricky says "you're my hero" his fucking "clearly you dont own an air fryer" face I CANT STAND HIMMMMMM (affectionate)

prince ricky "these rubes" "men of our standing" yeah i cant fucking stand this guy (derogatory) i love how he's barely even in this episode

stede's face when the swede is talking abt how happy he is with jackie... my man believes in love so much im gonna cry

also in what fucking way does the swede owe them a life debt. roach and buttons literally tried to eat him

izzy's "you know me better than anyone knows me and i daresay the same about you" this is literally so false i dont even know where to begin. izzy in e6 being like "if i didnt know any better i'd think maybe ed might possibly maybe be actually enjoying bonnet's company" while ed and stede are giggling and making each other friendship bracelets. this guy doesn't know ed at all.

also i cant get over how izzy wont make eye contact he's like staring blankly into the middle distance delivering these lines so flatly until he goes to say "i have... love for you" and in that moment he looks like he'd rather ed were feeding him more toes.

"im worried about you, we all are" not gonna lie my dude you've had a weird way of showing it thus far. where was all that worry when you told him he was better off dead than wearing a robe and singing songs?? where was that fucking love then?

and NOW izzy wants to talk it through. izzy literally voted to make blackbeard great again and now he wants to give open communication a chance???

lmao there's a limit to how many characters can be in a bulleted list so here's fucking. part two. on the same post:

ed asking everyone if the vibe is poisonous and fang cant stop crying and ed's face is just like "eh good enough" im fdhksgfkjtdkh

anyway ed with a loaded gun under his chin talking to himself is hurting me so fucking much actually. ed my beloved babygirl for whom i would die. this poor traumatized man. yes he is making this workplace toxic as hell but god. GOD. im gonna throw up.

the way ed is so fucking casual about shooting izzy in the leg. just calm and jovial as he promotes frenchie to first mate. stepping over izzy all crumpled on the floor. everything about this is so fucking good. i mean it's horrible for ed and everyone around him but for me watching the show this shit is DELICIOUS. i love when the pirates get violent and unhinged i love when this shit gets fucked up. ed's mental state is so bad right now and it is causing me severe anguish but also it is so tasty. fuck.

anyway frenchie trying to turn down the promotion fhjkghdfjkhf

the cut to the swede performing the husbandly duties is INSANE. COMPLETE TONAL WHIPLASH. I LOVE THIS SHOW.

"fuck those hammies up!" spanish jackie i love you

black pete why are you so fucking loud AND WHY WOULD YOU JIX IT LIKE THAT???

why is prince ricky so small. he's like a full head shorter than stede. also this guy is insufferable i love how stede just fucking abandons him fhjkgdhkdfghkj

"the calf muscle is the most mysterious of alllll the muscles" what the FUCK does that even mean. oh swede i will miss you

NOSE REMOVAL FUCK YES. I LOVE THIS SHOW.

obsessed with the swede playing dumb. the dramatic gasp. "wow, so bad!" fhjsghdkjf

"aint you that soup bitch?" "im the money bitch" i love women.

sfdsjkh spanish jackie being into double-crossing. and slapping the swede's ass on the way out. i love this show

i love how zheng says "this much indigo is worth three times what i paid" while spanish jackie and the husbands are still like, right there. and they just don't hear that bit. incredible.

OUGH the back of jim's weird rope armor looks like a ribcage that's so cool

i love how jim is so fucking bad at telling this story. i love how the monkey's paw comes into it. i love fang asking them to do the voice. i love archie trying to hold back her laughter i love jim and fang giggling together I LOVE THIS SHOW

ed's fucking voice breaking through his whole convo with frenchie. im tearing out my own teeth

HEY DID YOU GUYS KNOW THEY HAVE POST-CREDITS SCENES IN THIS SEASON?????????? WHAT THE HELL

i take back what i said about jim being bad at telling this story their version is so much fucking better. squeaky voice "I pray to you, Dark Lord, to make me real flesh! I want to be real flesh!" IM FUCKING OBSESSED. JIM I WOULD DIE FOR YOU

[cod-thoughts]

Sorry you got some bad news, I hope you're doing okay <3 Numbers for the ask game; 4, 7, 38 please!

I'll be fine, it's just stuff on top of stuff on top of stuff so uhh not the best time and i have my finals starting in a few days too so its uhhh not great but i'll be fine it is what it is :O

Ask game in question!

4: How many fic ideas are you nurturing right now? Care to share one of them?

Oh boy theres a LOT, i use notion to like keep track of all my ideas cause it syncs nicely and its a good archive, i dont use it to write cause the spell check sucks lol but its good storage. The problem with that system tho is the moment i get an idea i jot it down there so theres currently 47 ramblings and ideas, some are similar so i eventually combine them! I did a random number generator to pick the idea lol and it was number 13: reverse dating trope, basically people not believing that a couple is together! Havent decided who yet but its probably gonna end up as a 5+1 knowing me lol

7: Share a snippet from one of your favorite pieces of prose you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

This was hard, mostly cause i dont think most of my stuff is that good but id have to say this section from day 1 of ghostpriceweek and its probably the work im most proud of to this day, i just think it flowed so well and that their voices are really solid. Here's a part of it that i like for no particular reason:

"He’d finished heating up a tin of beans, stirring it absently before putting the lid on it to keep it warm, and set the kettle on for tea, knowing Price would be done soon. The small tasks felt grounding, almost domestic—there’s that word again, strange but, maybe, it was what had been playing at the edges of his mind for a while now. This rare ease, this strange new rhythm. Ghost found himself watching the steam rising from the kettle, a bit lost in the warmth that filled the air.

He wasn’t quite sure when it happened—when the lines between Price as a superior, a mentor, had blurred into something… more. It was a disquieting thought, one he’d been trying to keep at bay, though not with much success. And here he was, cooking up beans and making tea, so utterly settled in Price’s presence that the prospect of leaving, of returning to the job, made him feel something uncomfortably close to hollow.

He never imagined this was even possible for him. To be alive and wanting something so fiercely. To want a life outside of being a soldier. It was all he ever knew but as the kettle clicked and he made them a cup each, exactly how Price liked it, it hit him like a blow: this was it. This was what he wanted, more than he’d ever wanted anything.

The bathroom door creaked open, and Price emerged, towelling his hair. He’d discarded his usual gear in favour of an old grey t-shirt, soft and worn, that clung to his still-damp skin. He looked… ordinary. Beautifully ordinary. Ordinary was the wrong word entirely for that man, Ghost realised, because there was something extraordinary in the way Price took up space, in how naturally he filled the room."

38: Talk about a review that made your day.

OOO this was somehow even harder omg i love every comment or tag i get they all bring me immense joy, even if its just a bunch of emojis i love it thank you <33 but i will say that these in particular made my day as it was an absolute mess of a day and i was really doubting everything; about to delete said story but @nekrosmos the angel that he is dropped this in the tags and so did @jgvfhl (excuse the light-mode my desktop for some reason decided its in light-mode lol) and it made me literally light up and altered my brain chemistry for that whole day so thank you both genuinely <33 and sorry for the random tag whoops

[slow-writer]

TMAGP (and TMA, indirectly) Spoilers and Thoughts...

You have been warned...

I wasn't part of the original TMA crowd back when it was first airing. I'd heard mutterings of it, but never really thought much about it. To be honest, I probably wasn't mentally ready for it back then. Instead, my younger sister started listening to it last year and then kept talking about it until something she said made me go, "Y'know what? Okay. I'm in."

I ended up bingeing through it during work this past October, and holy sh*t. I fell down the rabbit hole hard. (Maybe, in this case, it would be more akin to running face first down those coffin stairs? I digress.) Being so new to it when everyone else had already been swallowed up by the sky, it was cool to dig into the Wikis that had already been made, to see the links and foreshadowing.

But now, it's the beginning of TMAGP, and I actually get to listen the day they release, to jump on here, or reddit, or tiktok, or wherever to be a part of the theorizing AS IT HAPPENS. And boy oh boy, I'm happier than Simon Fairchild in the stratosphere.

Do I have a notebook to jot down my thoughts as I listen? Of course, I do. Do I have multiple tabs open, some with ARG info, some with TMA info, and yet more with references to alchemical symbols and practices? Duh. Have I started my own spreadsheet for it all? Well, if you knew about my Lego Dimensions spreadsheet.... nevermind. Yes, I have.

But nothing beats being able to talk (or type) about it with other fans, like my sister, or those faceless avatars (lol) of the interwebs. And man, has my brain been CHURNING.

First, let me get out of the way that I wasn't able to take part in the ARG as it was happening, and my goodness! I'm so happy there are other people out there like me who were able to sum up and load it up for the rest of us to learn about. No idea how much of it will be *necessary* to unlock all the secrets, but I'm the kind who loves to know trivia just cos. And the details I am learning definitely pull me deeper.

Second, I feel like in the beginning of TMA, there was barely anything for the listeners to dig through. One guy working on behalf of an organization, trying to dig through seemingly implausible and overly spooktastic first-hand statements dating back centuries that are in crazy disarray from the previous archivist, and he's laying on a hefty helping of "this is utter balderdash, complete poppycock, and absolute piffle" opinion. It was a slow burn, something that (as an American, and being exposed to so much more instant gratification in storytelling than necessary) UK storytellers seem to be experts in, and was even more expertly done in this case, since so many little things had to eventually build up without listeners automatically assuming what would happen next, without them getting bored.

But TMAGP is already so full of so much extra stuff, so many little things (even before it was released) that we may all get BURIED in the sheer amount of data we think is vital. We're not listening to tapes this time, we're definitely listening via internet-connected devices, like computers, mobile phones, and security cameras. So, while TMA had old tape recorders magically appearing (or were they being dragged by hordes of spiders?) and switching themselves on so they could hear all the random happenings within the archive, TMAGP is no longer reliant on such hand-wavery. Whatever/whoever is listening can do so from anywhere to anyone they want. That makes the world of TMAGP

SO MUCH BIGGER.

Third, I know not everyone who listens to these things is like me (or, let's face it: us--there are so many fans doing regular deep dives on here, we should have our own categorization on the wiki). There are bound to be listeners who just leave everything at face value and wait for the story to unfold itself organically, and when it's done, it's done. But even as an adolescent, when I got into something, I did my best to listen to, watch, or read everything I could find on that very niche thing. At least for a while. (Hello, undiagnosed ADHD!)

So, I watched/listened to a couple interviews and Q&As regarding the new show prior to release. And while both Alex and Jonny have been clear saying you don't have to have listened to TMA to enjoy TMAGP, I kind of think just saying that is leading us TMA fans in a very specific direction. And I think it's very intentional, and that a lot of fans either haven't heard about it yet, or are choosing to ignore it.

They say that TMAGP is tangentially related to TMA in that there will be familiar themes, but

it's taking place in a completely different universe from TMA;

time in TMA worked differently (especially during the Entity Torturepalooza in S5) towards the end, so dates of events there may not line up with dates or events in this universe; and

the main or overarching theme is different.

In TMA, the story was "what makes a monster a monster?" As in, is there a line one crosses that they can't return from? Is it a physical manifestation, like it alters their appearance? Is it an action they have to take? And does that action have to be done willingly, or can it be coerced? Does becoming the monster to protect someone else, or to achieve a greater good... does any of that matter?

In TMAGP, they've already said that the story will be "what makes a person a person?"

The implications of that sentence are many and mind-boggling.

I first thought it had something to do with the idea of the humane (not human): kindness, empathy, compassion. The ties that bind us together as people (like being fans of a little horror podcast from across the pond) could be part of this.

But, now that we have 5 episodes out, and a metaphorical army of lore-deep-divers digging through every word and sound effect and episode title, I think we can truly start to figure out where we're heading.

Artificial Intelligence.

It struck me as I was re-listening to the first episode this morning. (I really am trying to fill out my spreadsheet in a semi-logical manner and with as many pertinent details as possible, really. That's the main reason I was doing that this morning. At least, that's what I tell myself.) We are hearing all these happenings over web-connected devices (don't think I don't see you, Alex and Jonny, and your oh-so-hilarious punning!), the OIAR employees are working on a modified business-forward version of Windows NT 4.0 that precedes Windows 95 that has a name that we interpret as 'Freddy' (or Freddie, depending on where you are in the transcripts), one of the documents from the ARG was a spreadsheet called 'Klaus' (which IS the name of the former IT guy Gwen's asking about because she heard/saw young Lena arguing with him), and we have at least 3 text-to-speech "voices" that Alice has given names (Chester, Norris, and Augustus).

All of that was running through my brain, and then I heard this passage within the first few minutes of the episode:

LENA - Nonsense. Sam is the only one who has had any cake so far. GWEN - And that was only because you practically forced it down his throat. SAM - No, no, it was… nice. LENA - People like chocolate cake.

People like chocolate cake? She didn't even ask her employees (all 5 of them at that time) what flavor they'd prefer, or if they'd want something else? No. She just knows a fact that "people" like chocolate cake, so of course, her employees--who are people--would like chocolate cake.

Almost like a computer following a logic-based workflow, perhaps?

Lots of people have been trying to figure out who in the office is the Big Bad, and many are saying Gwen just because of her ambition and her last name (Bouchard), but I think her name is a red herring. Others are saying Alice knows more than she lets on (and so many are hating on her, and I will NOT ABIDE THE ALICE DYER SHADE because I love her and I would very probably hide bodies for her) but I agree that certain things she's said are a little sus, though they really could just be her personality. I really have known some women like her, and they are some of my favorite people. (Plus, the fact that we now know that she's the most tenured employee at the OIAR--save possibly Lena--does make the brain churn some more.)

But with this line about chocolate cake, and how she was unable to join them at the pub, and how we haven't had a scene with her outside of the OIAR office, it makes me think that Lena might just be part code.

[Let me also add this really quick: I've seen A LOT of people trying to make the current episodes fit into Smirke's 14 +Dekker's 1, but I don't think the Entities as we codified them are what we're dealing with in this universe. I think trying to link everything back to that show will be a lot of wasted thought, because as they said, this isn't a direct sequel. (Do I think it's actually Jon, Martin, and Jonah--yes, Jonah, not Jurgen--trapped in the computer system? A bit, but it won't shatter my appreciation if the voices are something else entirely.)

Plus, I've seen others saying that the statements we've heard, while creepy, aren't all necessarily to do with fear. Most of them are about desires and obsessions.

The woman who wanted so desperately to see her dead husband again that she'd get scammed over and over to possibly resurrect him;

the person who wanted to spelunk an 'unsolved' site to the point of crime;

the woman who wanted to finally feel comfortable in her skin to the point of disfiguring herself;

the man who wanted so badly to climb out of his assigned station and achieve fame that he'd regularly 'feed' his violin blood from other people;

and the man who wanted to feel the same terror he felt when watching scary movies with his dad when he was a kid to the point of chasing down 'borderline illegal films' and ignoring LITERALLY ALL the red flags to the end.

I think that theory is the closest to what we may actually encounter.]

I've seen others on reddit saying they think that this series will be about the race to create the philosopher's stone--the stone that creates the elixir of life and, essentially, immortality. I think it's a valid idea. But, what if it went further than that?

Because with all the alchemical hints dropping in the show's logo, the ARG, and the 3-category system to the statements (yes, I'm keeping track) that could make one think of the spirit, the mind, and the body in alchemy....

What if they're trying to create life from software?

What if these entities or desires or whatevers have been working through some ancient busted code, feeding off statements from "real" humans experiencing strong emotions, watching the employees that work with it every single night, so they can create something as close to a human as possible from just wires and 3 decades of unreadable code?

Oh lord... it just occurred to me that--due to this being a HORROR podcast--they might need to collect a skin suit for the Not Quite Human. Is that what happened to Klaus? Ick. And now I'm hoping I'm wrong.

[where1endandyoubeg1n]

I think for every athf season I watch I'm gonna do a series of quick reviews for each episode. I like jotting down my final thoughts

Season 1

Rabbot- A pretty good pilot episode tbh, I really loved their dynamic here with Shake being so uppity about getting things done yet so uncaring at the same time and Frylock just kinda going with it. The shitty lipsyncing took a bit to get used to, but great start. Also HAHA HE SAID THE FUNNY DANCING IS FORBIDDEN LINE

Escape From Leprechaupolis- Fun concept. Didn’t get too attached to the leprechaun guys but Carl and Shake were especially funny, and Meatwad’s big sunshine and rainbows speech at the end had me holding back laughter.

Bus of the Undead- Wasn’t enthusiastic for this one. Not a fan of zombies, which is what usually comes to mind with “undead” but it was completely nonexistent vampires so that was a relief. Tangential rambling aside. the moth guy was cool and while I don’t remember too too much about this episode, I remember it getting some of the best laughs from me.

Mayhem of the Mooninites-

Ignignokt and Err’s debut in which they entirely destroy Meatwad’s morale and Frylock acts like a guardian to Meatwad, and really what more could I ask for? I love me some mama Frylock. And of course the stars of the show, the Mooninites, do not disappoint. Ignignokt has a whinier voice than I remembered, but I don’t mind because that homestly makes him even funnier, and Err has some really aggressive lines that caught me off guard in a good way(“GO BACK INSIDE! WE’RE FIGHTING!”). Fave moments have to be when they lazer Carl and when Meatwad tries to give “the finger” and just morphs into a hot dog. I was very giggly during this one.

Balloonenstein- Fun premise that just spirals out of control the further into the episode it goes. I like the first half where Meatwad has control of the whole household when he gets electricity from being spun around in the dryer. And the literal plothole that’s just a random massive vortex that shows up for plot convenience is honestly hilarious.

Space Conflict from Beyond Pluto- Favorite episode of the season, no contest. I was in tears by the end of it, my cheeks hurt from smiling too much, I was so amused throughout you don’t even know. Possibly the funniest fucking thing I’ve seen and I don’t even know why. The jokes just get thrown at you nonstop again and again and again and stellar vocal deliveries + terrible(/pos) character dynamics + stilted animation = just… perfection. Fave joke is definitely the running gag of all the buttons triggering balloons and confetti(“Did… Did we blow it up?” “YOU ARE TOYING WITH ME!”). I didn’t think the Mooninites would be outclassed by the Plutonians but here we are.

Ol’ Drippy- Was totally unsure what to expect and was very pleasantly surprised. Ol’ Drippy was a super pleasant addition to our nice little list of characters, big fan of the entirely decent character hanging w the total dipshits trope and it's stellar here. Poor dude, I hope he returns for another episode one way or another. Yea, can you tell he steals the show this ep? Such a soothing voice too.

Revenge of the Mooninites- Hear me out but I think this is the worst of the "these aliens are stupid nuisances" episodes of the season. It's kind of just a retread of Mayhem; They come to earth for essentially no reason, take advantage of Meatwad, terrorize Carl, and run away after an anticlimactic showdown. I mean it's still good, like a solid 7/10 episode, not that I'm giving them number ratings, but not very original. I think I would have liked it more if this premise were saved for next season.

MC Pee Pants- Scared of spiders... a little freaky, but I honestly loved the premise of "giant spider coerces innocents to use their brain waves to drill a hole to the center of the earth for candy." it's as nonsensical as it sounds, and i don't have lots to say on it but it's good.

Dumber Dolls- Wasn't a huge fan. I don't have much of a reason, I just thought everything was done pretty average, and there weren't a lot of laughs. I dunno, I wasn't feeling this one.

Bad Replicant- The replica Shake is really goofy, definitely ringing a bell for Emory, which is funny because he's also here. They're kinda just... guys. And I love that. Plutonians are hilarious as always, got tons of laughs from everyone... Great episode.

Circus- I enjoy how many fuckass blob characters this show just throws in 😭 First the Plutonians, then Ol' Drippy, then Randy the Astonishing, today's new flavor of alien! I'm not even getting tired of the aliens, all of them are terrible in their own ways and it's great. Randy gets tons of laughs, and Shake in the circus was really funny.

Love Mummy- Weird premise I'm digging. I really love how absolutely none of these plots are tropey or already established episode archetypes, at most being something that seems tropey and then is totally flipped on its head(e.g. aliens come to earth... but only to corrupt the impressionable with drugs and crime. a biohazard mess becomes sentient... but the monster is friendly and does everyone's dirty work.). I do find the mummy grating after a certain point, but still for the most part fun.

Dumber Days- Now it starts to fall into trope territory, and I'm not even mad because I love this kind of episode. It's the Patrick Smartpants of the show, and I'm running out of things to compliment, dude... Funny!!! Go watch it damnit!!! Good show!!!

Interfection- Shake and Meatwad being total fucking nuisances 💖💖💖 They really did predict just how bad subscription models would get though... I thought Shake would be more internet savvy but him just clicking on ads like a grandma is really funny. The scene where Frylock is trying to retrieve Meatwad from the scene of ads is great.

PDA- The monster of the week format works so well for this show... This and the previous one especially feel like a cracked out version of Regular Show, they're more similar than I would have thought at first. I wonder if there was any inspo from this show. Love how Shake just gets the random ahh tar monster's PDA, and the actual tar pit tour scene was 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓴𝔂... Enjoyed this one.

Mail-Order Bride- I wasn't big into the premise of this one. Kinda sucked, not a lot to say. It felt like it dragged on for a good ten minutes longer than it was.

Cybernetic Ghost of Christmas Past from the Future- The way the robot's story stretches on and on here is really funny, he just like me frfr(yapping). Everyone being so fucking done with him was great, and the twist at the end was really funny.

BEST TO WORST: Space Conflict from Beyond Pluto, Ol' Drippy, Bad Replicant, Mayhem of the Mooninites, Rabbot, Circus, Bus of the Undead, Interfection, PDA, Dumber Days, Balloonenstein, MC Pee Pants, Escape from Leprechaupolis, Cybernetic Ghost of Christmas Past from the Future, Love Mummy, Revenge of the Mooninites, Dumber Dolls, Mail-Order Bride

OVERALL: I thought I'd like the show, obviously... but I think I'm hooked. It's got its teeth into me for sure. The comedy isn't the lowbrow shit I expected from an adult animated comedy, and I'm hungry for what's next in S2!

[thelastspeecher]

Weird Little Critter - Chapter 2: Study

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 AO3

Here's the next chapter of the thing @elishevart and I have been working on together! Enjoy some quality axolotl Ford moments!

——————————————————————————————

              The sun had just begun to peek over the horizon when Angie sat bolt upright in bed, abruptly overcome by the events of the night before.  She threw her covers off and ran to the bathroom.  She had to reassure herself it hadn’t all just been a dream.

              The bathroom door still lying on the floor indicated that at least some of what she remembered was true.  Angie made a mental note to track down a toolbox from somewhere to fix it later.  She crept through the doorway as silently as she could, holding her breath as she approached the bathtub.  Her breath escaped in a soft gasp when she saw the mysterious creature still sleeping below the surface of the water.

              Getting a good look at Ford’s strange form in the light of the day, when she was fully lucid, made it possible for her to notice more subtle details.  His light pink skin along his back had stray tiger stripes of a barely lighter pink.  He had random spots of black and light green that looked more like freckles than the kind of coloration that helped with camouflage.  His caudal fin was a baby blue, as were his external gills and the tuft of material on top of his head in the same shape as his hair.  His external gills flicked slowly, matching the pace of his breathing.  Ford rolled over onto his back, exposing his solid white belly.  Angie barely held back a squeal at just how adorable the movement had been.  It reminded her of one of the many kittens the farm cats had back home.

              All right, best get out of this room ‘fore I get overwhelmed by the cuteness and wake ‘im up.  Angie glanced at the window above the tub.  The moon was still in the sky, but slowly drooping behind the tree line.  She had some time before Ford returned to normal.

              Angie hurried back to her room, grabbed her camera, and took a few photos of Ford.  Then, she went to get dressed and brushed her teeth in the kitchen sink.  She didn’t want to be in the bathroom, just in case her friend transformed back to a fully nude human while she was brushing her hair.  A faint blush spread across her cheeks at the thought.

              Once she was ready, Angie grabbed a pencil and new field notebook, then sat down at the kitchen table to jot down what she had observed thus far.

              His features are broadly similar to that of an axolotl, though that could be a false lead.  Angie tapped her pencil against the paper, thinking.  The traits that make him resemble an axolotl, namely the external gills and caudal fin, aren’t inherent to axolotls.  They’re just juvenile traits that have been retained to adulthood.  Presumably, any salamander that retained those traits would be axolotl-like in appearance.  Ford’s also far bigger than any axolotl I’ve ever heard of.  There are larger salamanders out there, but none of them have the coloration that Ford has.  Of course, the coloration he has doesn’t fit an axolotl well, either.  I don’t think even leucistic axolotls look like that…

              Angie had been chewing on her thoughts and idly writing them down when she heard noise coming from the second floor.  Water splashed, followed by a loud thud and soft grunt of discomfort.  She smiled.

              ‘Bout time he woke up.  Angie got up from the table and got started on breakfast.  By the time Stanford entered the kitchen, wearing clean clothes but his hair still damp, the small room had been filled with the smell of brewing coffee.  Ford made a beeline for the coffeemaker and poured himself a cup.  Only after he took his first sip did he notice Angie standing at the stove, watching him with amusement.

              “Oh!”  Ford startled slightly.  Angie chuckled.  “I, uh, I didn’t realize you were…”

              “It’s okay.  Ya needed yer coffee to fully wake up.  I get it.”  Angie shrugged.  “Rarely is there a day that I don’t take quite some time to shake off the sleep m’self.”

              “Are you making breakfast?” Ford asked.  Angie looked down at the skillet sizzling away in front of her.  She looked back at her friend.

              “I certainly hope so,” she drawled.  Ford turned pink.

              “You didn’t have to.”

              “Do we have to have this conversation every time I make food fer us?  I was raised right, Stanford.  Now, sit down.  The eggs ‘re almost done.”  Ford obeyed and went to the table.  He sat in the chair Angie had been occupying, raising an eyebrow at the open notebook with her observations.

              “You’ve gathered quite a few notes in a short amount of time,” he remarked, flipping through the pages.  Angie smiled.  She carefully slid an omelet onto a plate and placed it in front of Ford, then grabbed her own and sat across from him.

              “I’m a quick learner ‘n observer.  It’s what I was trained to do.  Ya don’t always get much time with critters, so you’ve got to be able to notice a lot ‘bout ‘em fast.  It helps that I had a bit of a head start with the rumors I heard.  But most of m’ notes are just speculation and comparison between critters I know ‘bout.”  Angie paused to eat a few forkfuls of her breakfast.  “I know I said you resemble an axolotl, but I ain’t quite sure anymore.”  Ford swallowed his mouthful of food before replying.

              “Because of my size?” he asked, sounding slightly sheepish.  Angie chuckled.

              “Yer definitely bigger ‘n any axolotl ever recorded, but there are some salamanders out in Asia what are even bigger ‘n you!”

              “Really?”

              “Oh, yes.  The zoo I used to work fer had one of ‘em Chinese giant salamanders.  That sucker was just ‘bout as big as me.”  Angie chewed her breakfast for a few moments.  “Yer features in that other form don’t resemble any single salamander I know of.  Could be a hybrid or maybe even a whole new species.  Frankly, given that yer some sort of were-critter, anything is possible!  Ain’t that excitin’?”  Ford was silent.  He poked his omelet halfheartedly.  “…Stanford?”

              “To be frank…”  He set down his fork with a loud sigh.  “This is exciting.  Or rather, it would be, were I not the subject.  This is all rather overwhelming.”

              “I understand.”

              “But even with being overwhelmed, I am still most excited to finally get some answers about what happened to me, what I’ve become.”  Ford offered a weak smile.  Angie returned the expression.  “I look forward to picking your brain further and discussing our own observations.”

              “Yessir,” she said with a nod.  “I reckon we can talk and plan after we go to the store.”

              “Pardon?” Ford asked.

              “Stanford, I told ya, yer current lifestyle ain’t beneficial fer whatever kind of creature ya are now.  After breakfast, we’re headin’ to the store to find some dif’rent body care items.”

              “But-”

              “I ain’t takin’ no fer an answer,” Angie said firmly.  She got up from the table and set her empty plate in the sink.  “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve needed the restroom fer quite some time.”

-----

              “Can’t believe they didn’t have a single thing I was lookin’ fer,” Angie’s voice carried through the door of Ford’s bedroom.

              “Are you still thinking about that?” Ford asked as he removed his clothes.  He could feel a tingling sensation beginning to spread across his skin, as though he was getting goose bumps on his entire body.  The full moon was going to rise soon.  “This is a small town.  I have to order most of my more specialized equipment to be mailed in.”

              “I know,” Angie whined.  Despite a fervent and thorough search of the various shops in town earlier that day, they returned home empty-handed when Angie couldn’t find any of the items on her list.  “I got too used to livin’ in a big city where ya can find everything ya need without leavin’.”  She sighed.  “I guess we’ll just have to go to Eugene at some point.”

              “We don’t have to.  I’ve been fine thus far.”

              “That ‘fine’ is very debatable,” Angie said firmly.  “And think about it like a scientist, Stanford.  We’ll learn more ‘bout yer condition if we learn how to make ya operate on the same level ya were ‘fore it happened.”

              Dammit.  She has a point.

              “Yer not sulkin’, are ya?” Angie teased.  “Don’t worry, I ain’t always right.”  Ford chuckled despite himself.  Suddenly, the pricking sensation turned into needles.  He let out a gasp of pain.  Angie shifted outside the door.  “Stanford?”

              “Please…go downstairs,” Ford grunted.  Angie had managed to talk him into allowing her to listen to his transformation, but he knew she couldn’t stay.

              Like F, she has too kind of a heart.  It would pain her to hear what comes next.  To her credit, Angie didn’t try to argue.

              “Okay,” Angie said softly.  He heard her gently place her hand on the door.  “If ya can’t get out when yer done, smack yer tail on the floor three times ‘n I’ll let ya out.”

              “Under…stood,” Ford managed.  Pain flared through his flesh, seeping into his bones.  He wouldn’t be able to hold back much longer.  Footsteps sounded as Angie walked away.  Once the footsteps faded, Ford dropped to all fours.  He screamed as his bones rearranged.  Six points around his head and neck itched, then burned when his gills erupted.  A similar sensation accompanied the growth of his tail.  The most painful part was over, but what remained was more uncomfortable.  Ford fell to his side, groaning.  He could feel his flesh rippling and shrinking, his skin changing.

              After what felt like hours, the lingering pain and discomfort finally faded.  Ford laid on the floor, panting.  He didn’t want to move.

              Angie’s waiting.  She’ll get worried if you don’t communicate with her in some way.  She might even take down another door.  Angie repaired the bathroom door after lunch, requiring only a bit of help, as she couldn’t reach the top hinge well.  Ford slowly, effortfully, got to his feet and traipsed over to the door.  He stood on his hind legs, using his tail to balance so that he could turn the doorknob.  To his relief, the door swung open with ease.

              “Stanford?” Angie called from downstairs.

              “I’m coming,” Ford squeaked.  His high-pitched voice was quieter than he expected.  He cleared his throat and tried again.  “I’m coming!”  Staying on his hind legs, Ford clumsily made his way to the stairs.  “Dammit.”  His vision, poor normally, was even worse in this form.  He reached out a paw to steady himself against the wall and, at an agonizingly slow pace, crept downstairs.  By the time he reached the first floor, Angie was already waiting.  “H-hello.”

              “Goodness, I just want to pick ya up and squeeze ya!” Angie burst out.  “Yer too cute, consarnit!”  Ford blushed.  “Okay, now I got that out of my system…”  She crouched down so that she was at his eye-height.  “Why did ya walk on yer hind legs?  Surely walkin’ on all fours would be easier ‘n more comfortable.”

              “I’m fine,” Ford said.  Angie pursed her lips.

              “If that’s what ya want to do, I can’t stop ya.  Now, come on over with me.  I’ve got all my equipment ready.”  Angie stood to her full height and walked into the living room.  Ford followed her, continuing to walk on two legs.  In the living room, Angie had placed a mat on the floor, which she directed Ford to stand on.  She sat cross-legged in front of him and began to take measurements.  When she measured the length of his external gills, her fingers brushed up against one.  The gill instinctively twitched.  Angie paused.

              “What?”

              “Did ya do that on purpose?”

              “No, it was a reflex.”

              “…Can ya do it on purpose?”

              “I don’t know.  I’ve never tried.”

              “Would ya mind tryin’ fer me?” Angie asked.

              “Um…”

              “Maybe next time,” Angie said, smoothly moving on.  Ford let out a small sigh of relief.  He wasn’t opposed to trying to move his gills on purpose, but he was feeling an extremely high level of anxiety.

              Even if I can move it, I doubt I could while being studied so intensely.  Angie continued to take her measurements, jotting each one down in her notebook.

              “There’s that done,” she said softly, setting the measuring tape aside.  She smiled at Ford.  “If you want, you can sit down.  I don’t need ya standin’ fer this next part.”  Ford gladly sat down, being careful to move his tail to the side so it wasn’t directly under him.

              “Now what?” he asked.

              “I’m just goin’ to make some qualitative notes on yer appearance,” Angie said.  She picked up Ford’s tail and gently ran her fingers along his fin.  “Texture, color, things of that nature.”

              “And then?”

              “Then I figured we could do some tests.  Walkin’, runnin’, checkin’ yer vision,” Angie rattled off.  She got up and walked around to look at Ford’s back.  He shivered as she traced her finger down his spine.  “I’m treatin’ this like the annual check-up ya get at the doctor’s.  It’ll give us a lot of data.”  Angie sighed heavily.  “I ain’t quite sure what to do with all the data, but that’s somethin’ we can discuss together.”  Ford nodded.  “After I’m done gettin’ measurements ‘n whatnot, I figure we’ll talk about yer experiences since becomin’ this critter.”

              “That sounds like a good idea,” Ford said.  He yawned widely.  He was still a bit tired from the previous night.

              “Oh!  Could ya open yer mouth again so’s I can look?” Angie asked eagerly.

              “Okay.”  Angie came around to Ford’s front again.  Ford opened his mouth.  Angie grabbed a small flashlight and shone it into his mouth, a look of concentration and curiosity on her face.  A look that Ford recognized as one he made on a regular basis.

              Is this how I act around the anomalies of Gravity Falls?  Angie muttered something under her breath and scribbled in her notebook.  Sweet Moses.

-----

              An alarm clock was going off somewhere.  Ford reluctantly opened his eyes, blinking away a crusty film that had formed while he slept.  Angie was slumped over, fast asleep, a few feet away, still in her now thoroughly wrinkled overalls and yellow T-shirt.  She even held a pencil limply in one hand.  Ford pushed himself up into a seated position.

              Shit.  We must have fallen asleep while discussing Angie’s observations.  He shivered.  Why am I so cold?  Angie grumbled something and sat up as well.  Their eyes met.  Angie’s gaze briefly dipped south before rocketing back up, her face beet red.  Ford suddenly realized why he was cold.  I am not wearing a single stitch of clothing.

              “I, um, I will go get dressed,” Ford stammered.  He stood up.  Angie’s face turned even redder.  She quickly looked away.  Ford turned around and bolted out of the living room.  As he dressed, he desperately tried to tamp down his embarrassment and humiliation at Angie seeing him completely nude.

              She was flustered by it as well.  Just like me, she’ll want to move on from it without any discussion.  Ford pulled on a turtleneck sweater, hoping it would stifle his shivers.  However, even fully clothed, he was still cold.  Ugh.  I hope I’m not getting sick.  He shrugged off the concern and returned downstairs.

              Angie was leaning against the wall, paging through her notebook, a thoughtful expression on her face.  Ford coughed quietly.  She looked up, smiled, and tucked her notebook under one arm.

              “I was just goin’ over some of my notes,” she chirped.  “I figure we can discuss ‘em durin’ breakfast?”  Ford nodded, relieved.

              As I hoped, Angie would like to avoid mentioning my nudity earlier as well.  He wiped his suddenly sweaty forehead.  Spots danced in front of his eyes.

              “So!” Angie said.  “What do ya want fer breakfast?”  Ford opened his mouth to answer, but before he could, his vision went completely black.

-----

              Ford awoke to the smell of something cooking in the kitchen.  He slowly pushed himself up into a seated position and took stock of where he was.  He was laying on the couch in the living room, a thick blanket gently laid on top of him.  There was a pillow where his head had just been resting.

              Angie must have moved me to the couch after I…wait, did I pass out?  But why?  Ford pressed a hand against his forehead, suddenly aware of a raging headache.  Why do I feel so horrible?

              “I left some water fer ya!” Angie called from the kitchen.  Ford looked over at the dinosaur skull he had repurposed as an end table.  Sure enough, a glass of water sat on it.  He picked up the glass, ignoring the dull, deep ache permeating through his entire body, and downed the entire drink.  “I would’ve liked a heads up that he’s so good at pushin’ himself to fallin’ down,” Angie continued.  Ford frowned, confused.  “Oh, hush.  I ain’t that bad.”  There was a pause.  “No, even ‘fore grad school I was better ‘n he is!”

              Oh.  She’s on the phone.  Presumably with F.  Ford leaned back and closed his eyes.  His head continued to throb painfully.  After a few minutes, he heard Angie hang up the phone and enter the living room.  He opened his eyes again.  She stood by the side of the couch, dressed in clean clothes and carrying a bowl in her hands.  Steam rose from it, along with a tantalizing smell.

              “I was awful shocked to see ya go down like that,” Angie remarked.  “Reminded me of the time a diabetic collapsed against me at the DMV.  But at least ya didn’t take me down with ya.”  She set the bowl down on the end table.  “I whipped up some vegetable soup.  Chicken is, in my opinion, more healin’, but we didn’t have any, and I didn’t want to leave ya alone to go shoppin’.”

              “Thank you,” Ford croaked.  He picked up the bowl and took a sip from it.  Like everything Angie made, it was delicious.  Angie frowned.

              “Ya sound awful!”

              “…Thanks.”

              “You know what I mean,” Angie scoffed.  “Sounds like ya were garglin’ with rocks.”

              “It feels like it, too.”

              “What happened?”

              “I’m not quite sure.”

              “I was just talkin’ to Fidds on the phone.  He told me ya have a tendency to push yourself too hard.  But it didn’t seem like ya pushed yourself too much recently.  Unless…”  Angie trailed off.  Ford looked at her curiously.

              “Unless what?” he asked.

              “Well…”  Angie sat at the end of the couch.  Ford made room for her.  “When we first woke up, I noticed somethin’ that ya tend to cover up with yer clothes.”  Ford felt his face promptly burn.  He quickly took another long drink of the soup to avoid eye contact with her.  Angie’s eyes widened.  “Not- not that!  No, I just- ya seem awfully scrawny to me.  Have ya been eatin’ right?”

              “I…”  Ford set the bowl in his lap and rubbed the back of his neck.  “I have lost some weight,” he confessed.  “Since I developed this…condition, my tastes seem to have changed.  Much of what I used to enjoy disgusts me, and what I can manage to choke down causes me to vomit roughly a third of the time.”

              “Hmm.”  Angie frowned at the floor.  “Could be that yer gastrointestinal system has been affected, same way yer skin has.  After all, salamanders don’t really eat what humans eat.”

              Great.  Yet another inconvenience with this condition.

              “I doubt that my struggles to find an appropriate diet were the cause of this particular loss of consciousness,” Ford said.  Angie looked at him.  “I’ve been dealing with it for quite some time.”

              “True,” Angie murmured.  She leaned over to rest the back of her hand against Ford’s forehead.  “Ya still feel a bit warm, but not as feverish as ya were when ya first passed out.  Maybe ya just caught a bug of some sort?”

              “Maybe.”

              That doesn’t feel like the right answer, but I don’t know what else it could be.

              “You should prob’ly spend the rest of the day on the couch.  Unless ya feel up fer makin’ yer way to yer proper bed?” Angie suggested.  Ford shook his head.  “Fair enough.”  She smiled sheepishly at him.  “Sorry I could only move ya to the couch.  I’m stronger ‘n I look, but no taller ‘n I seem.  The dif’rence in our heights kept me from takin’ ya to yer room more ‘n the dif’rence in our weights.”

              “It is quite all right.”

              “When ya transform tonight, you’ll be smaller, so’s I can take ya upstairs to the bathroom,” Angie continued.  She got up.  “But fer now, rest up.  I can stay in the livin’ room with ya if you’d like.  Or if ya don’t want anyone ‘round ‘cause ya don’t feel good, well, I can manage that, too.”  She looked at Ford for an answer.  When he didn’t respond, she prompted him.  “Stanford?”

              “I think I know why I became sick,” Ford said softly.  Angie cocked her head at him.

              “Oh?”

              “You mentioned bringing me to the bathtub tonight.”  Ford met Angie’s eyes.  “I spent the entirety of last night outside of the bathtub.”  Angie’s eyes widened.

              “Oh, shoot!”  She slapped her forehead.  “Ya done got dried out!”

              “It would appear so, yes,” Ford said softly.  Angie sighed.

              “Well, at least yer not sick with somethin’ contagious.”  She shook her head.  “Okay, we’ll have to make sure ya stay damp in the future, I guess.  At least while yer in yer amphibious form.”  Ford nodded.  “My question from ‘fore still stands.  Do ya want me to spend the day in the room with ya or go elsewhere?”

              “Um…”

              It’s been how long since I had company while I was sick?  Ford managed a small smile at Angie.

              “I may not be up for conversation, but merely having your presence in the same room would be quite nice,” he replied.  Angie beamed.

              “I’ve always been a proponent of the idea that ya get better faster when someone’s with ya,” she said cheerfully.  She picked up Ford’s empty glass of water.  “I’ll top this off ‘n come back to look over some of the stuff I wrote last night.  You rest up, okay?”

              “I shall do so gladly.”  Ford downed the rest of the soup and set the empty bowl on the end table.  He then spread out on the couch, laid back, and closed his eyes.  There was a soft breeze as Angie passed by him to set his filled glass of water down, then footsteps as she went to the table in the corner of the room.  He opened one eye.  “I heard some of your conversation with Fiddleford.”

              “Did ya?”

              “Yes.  Apparently, you are prone to pushing yourself when you should not?”

              “Not as much anymore.  Had to stop doin’ that in grad school or I would’ve had a heart attack my first year.”

              “Before then, you engaged in that behavior?”

              “Yes.”

              “Interesting,” Ford murmured.  Angie laughed softly.

              “Are ya tryin’ to make me come off as a hypocrite fer pointin’ out ya shouldn’t do it?”

              “No,” Ford lied.  Angie laughed again.

              “Like I said, I don’t do it no more.  But I’ve still got the stubbornness what drove me to push myself past my limits.  And I don’t got any qualms ‘bout usin’ that stubbornness to fight yours.  So close both yer eyes and take a nap, Stanford!”

              Ford chuckled.  He closed his other eye and rolled over so he was facing the back of the couch.  Sleep came quickly.

-----

              “All right, I’m done!” Angie’s voice said.  Ford looked up from the book on amphibians she had lent him.  They were in Eugene, due to her insistence on purchasing supplies that couldn’t be located in Gravity Falls.  Thankfully, Angie had offered that Ford sit outside while she shopped in the specialty soap store.  She held up the shopping bag.  “I got ya plenty of things.”

              “I really don’t need-” Ford started.

              “Just think of ‘em as an early Christmas gift,” Angie said smoothly.  Ford raised an eyebrow.

              “I’m Jewish.”  Angie winced.

              “Then think of it as an early, uh, an early, uh…”  Angie was fumbling for the right words, speechless in a way that Ford had yet to see her.  Recalling how oblivious Fiddleford had been about Judaism when they first met, Ford took pity on her.

              “Hanukkah, perhaps?” he suggested, closing the book on amphibians.  Angie sighed in relief.

              “Yes.  Think of it as an early Hanukkah gift, then.”  Angie rubbed the back of her neck.  “I’m awful sorry, Stanford.  Fidds must’ve mentioned to me you were Jewish, but I plum forgot!”

              “Whether Fiddleford told you or not, I won’t hold it against you,” Ford said.  He stood and handed Angie’s book back to her.  She slipped it into her large purse.

              “I’m glad to hear that.  I didn’t mean to offend-”

              “I’m not offended,” Ford interjected.  Much like her older brother, Angie was perpetually worried about upsetting or offending her friends.

              “I just-”

              “Please, Angie, no need to drag this out.  That wasn’t the first time someone has assumed I am Christian, and it won’t be the last,” Ford said firmly.  Angie nodded.

              “Well, I hope that ya remain unoffended after our next stop,” she said.  Dread began to build in Ford’s gut.

              “Where are we stopping next?” he asked.  Angie smiled nervously.  Instead of answering, she took a few steps forward and opened the door of the adjacent store.  “A pet store?”  Angie nodded and entered the store.  “Do you plan on purchasing a pet?” Ford asked, following her inside.

              I would have liked some warning, but I don’t see how that would offend me.  Angie led Ford to the back of the store.  They stood in a dimly lit corner, surrounded by occupied terrariums filled with moss and logs.  Perhaps she wants to purchase a snake and is worried how I might react?  Another possibility presented itself.  Ford winced.  Sweet Moses, please no.  Anything but that.

              “No, I ain’t purchasin’ any critters,” Angie said slowly.  “I’m purchasin’ stuff fer critters.  Well.  One critter in particular.”  Angie met Ford’s eyes.  “You.”  His stomach plummeted to his feet, his fear realized.

              “No,” he whispered.  Angie nodded.  “Angie, you can’t-”

              “Trust me,” Angie hissed.  “I know what I’m doin’.”

              “You can’t buy items for me here!”

              “I don’t really have any other choice.  They don’t sell mealworms at the grocery store.”

              “Meal-”  Ford cut himself off and shook his head.  Angie used the pause to continue her argument.

              “Like I said, I know what I’m doin’.  I’ve got a degree in this, Stanford!”  She straightened her back firmly, with a confidence that made her very short height seem taller.  “Entertain yourself while I pick ya up some things.”

              “Ugh.  Fine,” Ford muttered, crossing his arms.  Angie playfully punched his shoulder before walking away.

              I hate this.  I hate this!  But…she truly does know what she’s talking about.  The full moon ended a few days ago, and with Ford fully recovered from being “dried out”, he and Angie had gone over her meticulous notes.  There were many instances in which he’d needed her to explain what she had written.  Herpetology truly is not my area of expertise.  I need to defer to her in matters regarding my condition.  Regardless of my personal feelings about it.  Ford took a deep breath.  Seriously, though, is she really going to try to feed me mealworms?

              “Dislike stranger.”  Ford’s head whipped around.  He was alone.

              I could have sworn…

              “Want food.”  Ford quickly zeroed in on where the voice had come from: a tank containing a bullfrog.  He cautiously walked up to it and crouched down to look at the little inhabitant.  The bullfrog eyed him with disdain.  “Dislike stranger,” it croaked again.

              “You- you can talk?” Ford whispered.

              “Strangers bad.”

              “How did you-” Ford started.  The bullfrog turned away and crawled into the log inside its tank.  “No, come back!  Talk to me!”

              A talking bullfrog!  What a charmingly mundane anomaly.  And one Angie would love.  Perhaps we should return to Gravity Falls with a pet.

              “Don’t bother, brother,” another voice said.  This time, it came from a tank to the left of the bullfrog and a bit higher, roughly at Ford’s eye-height.  The inhabitant of the tank was a black axolotl, eyeing Ford with fascination.  “Our tongue is too different from theirs to allow for much intelligent conversation.  Only the basics.”

              “…Our tongue?” Ford whispered.  The axolotl seemed amused.

              “The Salamander Tongue.”  It swam closer to the glass and looked Ford up and down.  “I’ve never seen a salamander like you before.”

              “That’s because I’m- I’m not a salamander,” Ford said quietly.  The axolotl cocked its head in a gesture that, oddly, reminded Ford of Angie and Fiddleford.  “Or, at least, I’m not usually one.”

              “Hmm.  I thought there seemed something odder about you than your shape,” the axolotl remarked.

              “What do you mean?” Ford asked.  The axolotl shrugged.

              “It’s difficult to put to an actual word.  I just have this feeling that, even if you looked like me, you’d seem different.  You’re a strange one.  Aren’t you?”

              “Many people have described me in that way.”

              “It’s the best way to be,” the axolotl said cheerfully.  The genuine tone made Ford smile.

              “Do you- could you have any idea why I am the way I am?” Ford asked, unable to keep desperation from spilling into his voice.  “I wasn’t always like this.  And like I said, I don’t take a salamander’s form often.  Just a few times each month.”

              “I’m not well-versed on magic, though many of us axolotls are.”  The axolotl stood a bit prouder.  “Our species tends to have innate magical abilities.”

              “Fascinating.”

              “Yes.  But because I’m not particularly skilled at magic, I don’t have any answers for you, brother.”

              “Oh.  I see.”

              “I can tell you something, however,” the axolotl said.  Ford perked up.  “Whether you take the shape of one of us or one of them, you are always one of us.  I can sense it.  Your being is salamander.  Not human.”  Ice spread through Ford’s veins.

              “Mom, look, look!”  A child sprinted into the corner, his beleaguered mother behind him.  The child pressed his face against the glass of a tank containing a tarantula.  “I want it!”  While the weary woman explained to her son that she wouldn’t purchase the tarantula, Ford placed his hand against the glass of the axolotl’s tank.  The axolotl placed one of its own tiny hands on the glass as well.  He smiled weakly at the salamander.

              “Stanford?”  Ford looked over his shoulder.  Angie had returned, carrying bags covered in the store’s logo.  “I’m all done.  We can head home.”

              “Ah.  Yes.”  Ford followed Angie out of the store.  He put his hands in his pants pockets as they walked past the storefronts of the strip mall.  “What did you purchase?”

              “All sorts of goodies.  Mostly worms ‘n crickets.”

              “You do realize that, even in my other form, they will be so small that the entire supply would be one or two meals,” Ford said.

              “I’ve read through that Journal of yours,” Angie said.  She grinned crookedly.  “Those size-changin’ crystals will help the bugs last us a while.”

              “Oh.  That’s quite clever.”

              “Thank you!  I also got ya some supplements.”

              “Supplements?”

              “Some amphibians and reptiles need extra calcium or things like that ‘cause their diet don’t simulate what they’d have in nature well enough.  I think it’d be a good idea to do the same fer you.  Just to see if it helps ya feel better.  If not, we don’t need to keep doin’ it.”

              “That sounds reasonable,” Ford replied.  He frowned.  “How do they taste?”

              “…I have no idea.”

              “You’ve never asked a salamander about that?” he teased.  Angie laughed.

              “I have, but I ain’t ever gotten an answer.  After all, they can’t quite talk.”

              “Maybe you just can’t understand their language,” Ford said.

              “Oh, and you can?”

              “Well…”

              “No!” Angie gasped.  She grabbed his arm.  “Stanford, you can understand salamanders?!”

              “Not so loud,” Ford hissed.  He grinned.  “But, yes.  Though I didn’t discover until today.”  Angie let out a squeal of delight.

              “Tell.  Me.  Everything!”

              “Gladly.”

-----

              When the man and woman got into their car, Melvin quickly backtracked, retreating to the closest pay phone.  The man and woman had been quiet enough to keep most people from overhearing them.  But Melvin wasn’t most people.  When he heard the woman’s initial squeal, he paid attention to the rest of the hushed conversation, following close behind the entire time.

              He was rewarded for his thoroughness.  The man was apparently harboring a magical secret.  A secret that one of Melvin’s clients would be interested in.  Getting his hands on the man would be easy enough.  But he would need someone else to do the transportation.  Luckily, he knew just the money-desperate soul for the job.

              Melvin put coins into the payphone and dialed the number.  After a few rings, the person on the other end picked up.

“Stan Pines.”