#kinda wrote themselves into a bit of a hole

[leliwardens]

i have nothing to base this off of only Vibes but i was chatting with a friend the other day how....Odd josephine's romance is as the only bisexual woman option? it's not bad by any stretch of the imagination but when compared to how well crafted dorian/sera romances are it seems almost like an afterthought with her being queer?

there's 0 evidence for this but to me i think at some point during development they had to decide between her and cassandra being the bi option bc it couldn't be just the pansexual bull (which..........i have my own feelings about) and they just picked her since cass was the postergirl for the game.

idk maybe i'm just projecting bc i feel so Odd about all pansexual companions in da4 (which is great i'm pan) but it's certainly some mixed feelings about it.

[allbark-no-bite]

marriage and honor.

jake seresin x reader (wc: 6.5k)

summary: the Navy has already taken two people from your life, and you don’t intend to let there be a third. that is until Jake Seresin walks into your life

warnings: severe plot holes, mentions of character death, swearing

authors note: based off of the movie Purple Hearts. it’s a great movie and i highly suggest watching it! please bear with me in the beginning of this, the plot holes fix themselves, i promise lol. i literally threw this together because i wrote one scene for shits and giggles and had to commit to it

(read parts two and three here: december and devotion, cats and christmas)

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No one ever expects to have to bury their brother at fifteen. Kinda just like no one expects to have to bury their other brother at eighteen. But you do it the first time and then you do it again three years later. It's a bit like deja vu the second time, like you're reliving the actual nightmare all over again. Except this time there's no one to hold your hand and tell you it's all going to be alright because he's dead and buried too.

They both die honorable deaths in service to their country. At least that's what they say at the memorials. You're not so sure there's anything comforting about dying honorably. They're both still dead, honored or not.

Raised by your grandparents, you'd grown up the youngest of three on a military base smack dab in the middle of San Diego, better yet known as Fightertown USA. True military brats, your old brothers enlisted straight out of high school, one after the other. As their young and impressionable kid sister, you worshiped the ground they walked on and had your heart set on following in their footsteps. That was of course, until they both went and died.

'Sometime these things just happen', is what you were told. And you know, freak accidents do happen. Engines fail, training exercises go awry, safety precautions are ignored. But that doesn't make up for the fact that lightning has, against all odds, stuck the same place twice.

So after the Navy takes away not one but two people from your life, you swear off all things to do with military life. The moment you graduate high school you pay out of pocket just to move off of the base into a shitty the-bedroom-and-bathroom-are-in-the-same-place apartment. You go to college and get the kind of degree that looks good on paper but you can't really get a job with. But it's fine because it helped you to put the past behind you and move on. So much that when your grandmother passes away unexpectedly, leaving your grandfather widowed, you're able to stomach moving back closer to home to take care of him.

At least, you'd thought that you had moved on.

Now, standing in the middle of the courthouse wearing what had been your college graduation dress (the only white dress you could find on such short notice) and watching the man before you slip a ring on your finger, you're not so sure. As a matter of a fact, you actually feel sick, queasy like you might have to bend over the nearest trashcan to get the blood rushing to your head again. That might would be a good idea because what the hell were you thinking.

Jake must take notice of the expression on your face because he offers you a weak smile, his pink lips pressed together. The same thought must be running through his mind too because he also looks like he might be sick at any moment.

What the hell were either of you thinking?

"I now pronounce you husband and wife." Thankfully the minister is too bored looking with his own job to notice that both of you are looking worse for wear. He also completely forgets to say 'you may now kiss the bride', which is another thing to be thankful for. That might have been the straw that broke the camel's back and sent both you and Jake running for the hills. Instead he mumbles a unenthusiastic congratulations and departs from the room, leaving you and Jake standing numbly side by side.

In the following seconds after the minister leaves the room, silence settles between the two of you, partially due to shock and partially because you don't even know what to say. It's a sight, Jake in his pristine navy dress whites and you in your too short college graduation dress.

Finally, Jake clears his throat, swallowing. "Well, there's no turning back now."

*queue rewind noise* 

You may be wondering how we got here.

*six days ago*

"C'mon baby, you didn't think that was funny? Girls usually love that line."

He'd been after you all night, smiling, cracking jokes, buying you beers. You had to admit, he was nothing if not persistant.

"Unfortunately for you, I don't date funny guys." Despite your tone, you're actually genuinely amused by the situation. He's trying so hard, and it's getting him absolutely nowhere.

He's handsome, without a doubt the most attractive man at the bar, but he could be the most attractive man in the world and you still wouldn't touch him with a ten foot pole. Not with that smile and defiantly not with that uniform on.

"And why is that?" he laughs, undeterred by your blatant disinterest. His friends are watching, have been watching the two of you do this dance all night, and he's not about to back down now.

You watch the smile lines that appear on his tanned face, the way his eyes crinkle in amusement as he awaits on your answer. He's probably a few years your senior, early thirties if that's anything to go by.

"Funny guys are dangerous. They make you laugh and laugh and then boom you're naked."

His smile twitches and yeah, you can be funny too, wise guy.

"Is that where you think this is going?" he asks.

"Where else would it be going?"

And that's how it all started. The beginning of the end.

"You know navy spouses get a monthly stipend and are allowed to live on base?"

You remain facing the bar, peeling at the label on your bottle, not bothering to glance to your side. "You know, I really fucking wish Natasha would keep her mouth shut."

"(Y/n)—"

"It's no one else's fucking business what—"

He grabs the seat of your stool, nearly jerking it out from under you as he pulls it closer to his own. "Listen to me," he growls, a stark change from his usual demeanor.

Stubbornly leaning away so that you're not so close, you regard him with suspicious and narrowed eyes. You raise an eyebrow as if to say he's got your attention, however unwillingly.

"Right now, we're both in a tight spot, okay?"

You knew about his dad. Heard the whole spiel from Natasha— who you're learning that while, your best friend, cannot be trusted to keep her mouth shut— about how they weren't on good terms, hadn't talked since Jake got into the academy, and suddenly he calls out of the blue to tell Jake that he'd had enough of his son's playing around and that it was time for him to start thinking about getting married. That if he didn't within the next few months, he'd arrange the whole thing himself.

"You need a place to live—" You shush him, eyes darting to the people around you. You don't need anyone knowing that you can't exactly afford to pay your rent. Jake rolls his eyes because he doubts anyone could hear him even if he was yelling with how loud it is in the bar, but he lowers his voice regardless. "You need a place to live, and I need to get my old man off of my back..." He trails off, as if you should know where he's going with this.

You don't. You're just staring at him with an increasingly annoyed expression on your face, wondering how soon you can get out of this conversation.

He takes a deep breath and sighs. 

"Hear me out, okay? What if we get married?"

You had actually laughed in his face at first, and Jake was so dead serious about it that he didn't even dwell on the fact that it was the first time you had laughed at something that he'd said.

"Not a chance in hell, Seresin,"  had been your second response. But that's the thing with pretty guys, they can be awfully convincing.

It all happens so fast that you have metaphorical whiplash. Next thing you know, you're wearing a brand new diamond on your finger and going out to the bar with his entire squad the night before their deployment.

Of course, they're all a bit shocked at first. You would be too. You and Jake hadn't exactly been even remotely civil with each other just a few days prior. But if any of them are suspicious of your's and Jake's sudden union, they don't let on, all too happy to have something to celebrate before they ship out. Fanboy and Payback have each brought their wives and Natasha her girlfriend as well. You suppose you're expected to mingle with them, maybe shed a tear or two over the shared bond that your partners are going across the country, but you can't really find a way to connect with them so you kind of just avoid them altogether. You do feel bad, sitting there without a care in the world while they all try to offer comfort and reassurance to each other. But you don't really know what else to do because it's not like you're exactly sad.

Thankfully Javy, or as he's known, Coyote, stands up and raises his near empty bottle of beer in the air and saves you from anymore uncomfortable sitting. "I'd like to make a toast! To the newlyweds!" You spoke too soon. The table cheers and raises their bottles in response, all of the attention turning to where you and Jake are sitting. Cheeks immediately flushing, you have to refrain from sinking down in your seat. Jake is grinning, accepting the few rough pats on the back that he receives from Rooster beside him.

And just when you think that's the worst it's going to get, it gets worse.

"Kiss!"

You're not sure who starts it, but like teenage boys, the entire squad parrots in unison.

"Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!"

At first Jake just laughs and shakes his head good naturedly, shrugging off the insistent urging of his friends, and you think that's going to be the end of it. But the chanting doesn't stop and finally Jake turns towards you. Your face is probably red hot and undeniably panicked. Heart racing, you try to read him in the half second that you're given as he leans and wraps his arm around you. Is he going to kiss you? Are you supposed to kiss him?

Neither option happens. Jake's arm wraps around your shoulders, pulling you close into his side and at the last moment, he turns to press a kiss to your cheek. A series of disappointed boos follow but they are drowned out by clapping for the most part. He's uncomfortably close, closer than you ever would have liked to be to Jake Seresin, but you have to remind yourself that it's all for show. When Jake does turn away, you can still feel the warmth of his lips smeared against your cheek. Even so, he hasn't let go of you pressed into his side. 

Your heart still racing, you reason with yourself that if Jake can play the part, you might as well too, and under that pretense, allow yourself to hide your face into his shoulder to conceal it's redness. The smell of his cologne washes over you, and oddly enough, you don't hate it. It's subtle, with a hit of what might be amber, and nothing like the overwhelmingly masculine scent that you would have pegged him for. 

If Jake finds your sudden willingness to touch him strange, he doesn't comment on it, likely assuming that you're just trying to make this thing between the two of you seem real. You somewhat reluctantly pull away when Coyote's voice raises again.

"And here's to shooting down some fucking MiGs!"

Again, the table erupts into a chorus of cheering and hollering. You still, allowing Jake to fully pull away from your side while the proclamation rings out in your head. It's a very grounding moment, and suddenly you feel very alone sitting at the table. No one seems to have noticed your shift in mood. Maybe you're the only one put off by Javy's statement because this is their reality. There are people who are not coming home from this mission; everyone just likes to assume it won't be them. You know better.

You can't help it, the words just come out of your mouth. "That's a fucked up thing to say."

It's the first time you've really spoken up the entire night and all heads turn towards you. Based on the look in Jake's eyes, which is a bit apprehensive, as if he knows this is headed nowhere good, you realize you probably should have just kept your mouth shut.

Payback shifts uncomfortably in his chair while the rest of the crew glances around the table wearing varying states of confusion. Their gazes shift from you to Jake, as if waiting for some sort of explanation. 

Coyote is the first to break the silence. "Look, sweetheart, that's just the way things are. Here in the Navy, that's a badge of honor. Your boy Hangman here is the only one of us with a confirmed air-to-air kill."

"(Y/n)—", Jake attempts to interject, but you're not about to let him explain himself to you in front of all these people.

You set your jaw and swallow back the anger threatening to rise up in your throat. "Yeah, because killing people is so honorable."

Coyote scoffs. "We're just doing our jobs. And if that means taking down a few planes while we're at it, so be it."

"Your job is to protect people," you snap. "There are people out there who have families—"

"Alright, that's enough—" Jake begins to interject for the second time, but this time it's Coyote who interrupts him.

"Come on, man. You're really going to let her say that kinda shit—"

You stand up. "I don't need his permission to—"

"I SAID ENOUGH." This time it's startling enough to cut both of you off. "(Y/n), what is your fucking problem?" Jake snaps.

You flinch at the harshness of his question.

Your eyes travel around the quiet table, where everyone is holding their breath, and then back to Jake. His green eyes reflect a type of pissed off what would be terrifying if you weren't so angry yourself.

A small, logical part of you knows that he has a right to be angry. You've picked a fight for no apparent reason in front of his friends and he hasn't the slightest clue why. It's not his fault your brothers are dead and you blame the Navy for it.

Regardless, that doesn't make up for the fact that you're pissed off by his defense of what Coyote has said. Even though you probably owe him an explanation, you're not about to answer him when he's just yelled at you. You also know that if you don't say something, he's going to and you'd rather die before letting him tell you off in front of all these people. You abruptly push away from the table and storm off for the bar top. You can hear Jake chasing after you.

"(Y/n)."

You ignore him in favor of heading towards the back door of the Hard Deck, pushing past people regardless of whether they're in your way or not. Being slightly more considerate, you can hear Jake moving much slower as he excuses himself through the crowd.

"(Y/n)—"

You come to a stop once you reach the door, spinning on your heels with a fire in your eyes.

"What's my problem?!"

Behind you, you can hear the loud jesting and jeering of his friends back at the table. They're still ruffled with excitement from your outburst, and Coyote's voice follows your retreating back. "Jesus man, get your girl under control."

I'm not his girl, you want to snap. He doesn't own me.

Jake has stopped a few feet away from you. 

"What's my fucking problem?! My problem is that your friends are sitting over there calling murder honor."

Jake sighs harshly though his nose. Shaking his head, green eyes looking up, he begins, "He didn't mean—"

"No. I know what he meant, Jake. You're all a bunch of cowards. You're all too goddamn scared to admit that maybe you're not doing as much good as you thought over there, and so you just justify it by saying all killing is good killing, right?" you spit.

His vibrant green eyes harden but he doesn't respond. "That's some real goddamn honor, right, Jake?" you repeat, angrier this time, wanting more than just some watered down reaction from him. If there's one thing that pisses you off about Jake, it's that you've never gotten anything more than what he's conditioned himself to respond with. It's like he's locked up in this stupid box of his and the most you can ever get out of him is a glance. You want him to be angry with you.

"That's enough." His jaw is tight, and you can tell that even despite his lowered voice and rather subdued demeanor, you've hit a nerve.

"Admit it. Admit that you—“

"(Y/n)." His voice adopts a seriousness that you've never heard from him before. It sounds almost dangerous.

Jake steps towards you and for a moment you think you've won. And then in the moment following that, you actually think that he's going to get physically angry with you. Your heart stalls. Jake's a big guy, a naval aviator, and no matter how good he sells himself to be, he could hurt you if he wanted too. You would never have pegged him as someone who would put his hands on a girl, even after only knowing him for a week, but a man is a man, perfectly ironed uniform or not.

Only he doesn't. Instead he steps into your space and leans in closer than you've  ever been before. His hand presses into your back, firmly pulling you into his chest so that you have no choice but to shift closer to him, your bodies molding together. "I said that's enough. They can see us arguing."

The press of his mouth to your ear conceals the exchange of your conversation from the listening table. You can smell his cologne on the starched collar of his uniform.

"I don't care if they see us—" Pushing your palm into his chest, you try to reestablish the distance between you, but like a brick wall, Jake doesn't budge.

"You realize that we have to make this look real?" he hisses. "From here on out, they're watching everything we do. The government is watching everything we do. Do you understood that?" His voice is tense, and it sounds more urgent than angry now.

Standing there, you realize his heart is thumping heavily beneath your palm. His body is uncomfortably rigid, like a scared dog waiting for its owner to show up and see the mess he's made. Behind you, the table has gone relatively quite. Rooster murmurs something along the lines of, "It's a little early for there to be trouble in paradise already."

Someone—Coyote—responds, "I don't think he thought this through, man. They won't last two weeks."

Jake's eyes meet yours, and you know he can hear them too. You swallow, trying to relax a little in his grasp. He's right, you have to make this look real, and fighting right off the bat doesn't exactly look good.

"Are they still looking at us?" You finally ask, leery now to even speak too loud.

Jake breathes a sigh of relief beside your ear, taking your sudden quiet as cooperation. "Yeah, just keep talking, okay? Act like we're working it out."

Despite trying to appear more comfortable than you are, you don't move your hand from his chest. The coarse material of his dress whites rises and falls steadily beneath your palm. It's calming in a sense, and you try to focus on its rhythm rather than the fact that you're so close that you can feel the heat of his mouth beside your ear.

"Still looking?" You ask after a few moments pass.

He hums. "Yep."

"Well then what do we do? We can't just stand like this forever." The longer you stand together, the more details you become aware of. Like the fact that his face is freshly shaven against your cheek and that he must have brushed his teeth before this because his breath smells like Listerine.

"Look at me."

"What?" You ask, your brow furrowing as he pulls away. His hand that had been holding your waist firmly in place lifts to grip your jaw.

"You're going to have to kiss me," he explains, glancing briefly over your shoulder.

"What?" Before you can even protest, he's leaning in and pressing his mouth to yours. Without the time to process what exactly is happening given your state of alarm, all you can do is go along with it. His lips mold against yours in what might be the most borderline tame kiss you've ever had. Despite this, you are reluctantly surprised to note how good of a kisser he is. It's just forceful enough to let you know he's in control but not so much that it's unpleasant. His lips are full and taste vaguely of his mouth wash.

You don't kiss him back.

It makes no difference to the group behind you whether you actually kiss or not; they can't tell from this distance and all they have to do is believe it happened. It's more for your own self preservation than anything. It's one thing to play the part, it's another thing to get caught up in it and catch feelings. And with Jake Seresin, that was a dangerous game to play. You'd already felt it, him prying his way under your skin when he'd held you at the table and the smell of his cologne filled your sense. It would be that easy.

To his credit, Jake lingers just long enough to make the kiss believable before pulling away. Even si, it still feels uncomfortably long. He leans back and you don't miss the fact that he wipes his hand across his mouth. "Sorry," he mutters under his breath, looking away.

"Jake..." you begin, immediately feeling bad, but he stops you.

"Whatever, (Y/n). It's fine." He won't look you in the eyes now. You turn to look over your shoulder, desperate to get yourself out of this increasingly bad situation .

"They're not looking," you say, finding the table now amicably chatting with each other rather than focused on the two of you. The sudden PDA must have finally diverted their attention. "...you can step away now."

"Right," he says, clearing his throat awkwardly. Jake drops his hand from your waist and steps back like he's glad to finally put some distance between the two of you. So much for making this look natural.

You return to the table shortly after, in hand to make it appear as if you've made up and smiling tightly when Bob cheerily welcomes you back to break the awkward silence. Once seated, you drop each other's hand beneath the table immediately. The rest of the evening is spent avoiding contributing to conversations that involve the other. If anyone notices, they don't comment on the fact that the two of you hardly look at each other for the rest of the evening, and somehow you manage to put up an otherwise happily married front.

When a few of the guys finally get a little bit too drunk, specifically Rooster, you're all too happy when Natasha calls it a night. Because they ship out the next day, Jake drives you back to the hotel where all of the married couples have rented out a room for the night. Apparently it's a tradition or something. You make the drive in silence. You let him check into the room and carry both of your bags up, disappearing into the small bathroom to splash cool water onto your face. It helps to ease some of the tension from this evening. Leaning over the sink, you watch the water swirl down the drain.

Is this crazy? This is crazy, right?

Jake is sitting on the edge of the bed, head in his hands when you step out. He's taken off his hat and suddenly he seems a lot more fragile than he was a few minutes ago. There's a softness to him, something having been previously concealed by the precise styling of his hair and tense pull of his set jaw. Before you can break the silence, he sucks in an uneasy breath.

"Hey, we need to talk about something. Um, you know... in case I..."

In case he doesn't come back.

You swallow, looking down at the ground. After tonight, after he's kissed you, all of this is starting to feel a little bit to real. What the hell happened to pretending? This was all supposed to be pretend. "Jake, please don't do that—"

He stands up from the end of the bed, and you notice the folded paper in his hands. "This is all of my personal information, you know, bank accounts, passwords, phone numbers... Anything you might need if something happens to me." He says it all as if it's so normal, but you can hear the apprehension in the thinness of his voice.

Already, you're shaking your head as he hands you the letter. "Jake, please. I don't want that." Your heart is pounding and all you want to do in the moment is go back in time and never have agreed to do this in the first place. This was insane. What were you thinking? Like you were going to put yourself through this again? 

"(Y/n)—“ Jake tries, interrupting your spiral of thoughts.

"I said NO, Jake," you snap, stepping back from him and the letter. There are tears burning at the backs of your eyes, like you might burst into a hit of hysteria at any moment. "I change my mind. I can't do this..."

Jake's eyes glance from you to the paper in his hand and then back to you, and then he drops his outstretched arm with what sounds like a laugh. "Right. Not like we're fuckin' married or anything." He releases a puff of air from his cheeks and runs his hand through his hair like he's contemplating pulling it out. "Do you know how screwed we are if anyone finds out about this? Do you, (Y/n)??" he asks, his voice rising to a concerning level. "We're done!" 

"Jake, I—"

He tosses the letter onto the bed and sits back down with a heavy sigh, looking down at his feet. When he finally speaks again, his voice had lowered to a more acceptable volume. "It's a bit too late for you to back out now. If the Navy finds out about this— if anyone one finds out about this, I could lose my job. We could both go to jail."

Silence settles over the two of you as Jake sits on the bed, staring at his feet, and you stand there in the middle of the room, willing your heart to stop pounding in your chest. You need to get out of here before your heart implodes. You turn and grab your coat from by the door.

"Where are you going?"  Jake asks, his voice tired and annoyed.

"I need some air," you say, shrugging on your coat and opening the door. He doesn't try to stop you on the way out. 

You regret the decision the second that you walk out the door. Now that the sun is gone, it's freezing outside. Your original plan had been to go for a walk to clear your head but you doubt now you'd make it very far. Walking down the stairs and out into the nearly empty parking lot, you look around, considering whether or not you would survive the trek to a gas station. When you realize you've left your phone back in the room, you decide against it. You aren't dumb enough to walk in the dark alone. Instead you head towards Jake's truck, which is parked out by itself at the end of the lot. To your surprise, you find it's unlocked and the door swings open when you tug on the handle. You climb in and the switch to lock the door behind you. Even the inside of the car is cold but at least it's out of the wind. You hug your knees into your check and tuck your chin into them, curling up in the driver's seat to keep warm.

And then you just sob.

It's the kind of sobbing that starts long and drawn out and then escalates into the rapid breathing that happens when you can't get enough air into your lungs and it feels as though there's an entire golf ball stuck in your throat. You haven't cried this hard since you were a kid—since your first brother died. You didn't cry the second time, didn't allow yourself to feel anything the second time because you knew there wasn't going to be anyone to pull you back together if you did. 

At least being away from all of this had allowed you some time to forget, even if for just a moment, that they were gone without having to be constantly reminded. You had moved to put as much distance between yourself and the Navy as possible. Because that way life wouldn't get the chance to take another person from you in the same way. Looking at the ring on your finger now, that's exactly the opposite of what you had just done. This was just supposed to be until you could get back on your feet, and if it helped Jake out in the process then great. Now that you think about it, it was stupid of you to think that you would be able to make it through this with out catching feelings for him. 

Now you're going to lose him too.

You cry until you almost make yourself sick and then some more. Your sobbing is interrupted every few minutes when you choke on your own air and have to swallow the golf ball that is lodged in your throat so that you can breathe. You're not sure how long you sit there just crying. Surely at least an hour has passed. By the time your sobbing has slowed, your head hurts and your chest aches enough to be sore.

Knock knock knock

You jump at the noise, head shooting up from between the bracket of your knees. It's dark outside, the parking lot just barley lit in a wash of grey by the moon. Even so, you can make out Jake's broad figure in the darkness.

"Open the damn door." His order comes out in a puff of frosty condensation that warms a spot on the window, his voice only partially muffled by the barrier. His shoulders are hunched against the cold, the upturned collar of his coat doing little to protect him from the brutal conditions.

For a while you just stare at him through the window, swallowing back the spit in your throat.

"Open the door," he repeats, knowing better than to think that you can't hear him. If only locking yourself in his car was the solution of all of your problems. Reluctantly, you reach over and click the lock, slowly rolling down the window.

After it stops, you stare at each other through the open car window, separated only by the frame of door that he could now easily reach out and open. His soft brown hair is mushed and in disarray, nose and cheeks tinted pink form the chill. The pleasant green of his eyes is mostly hidden as he squints against the wind.

Finally, you suck in a breathe, your chest shuddering. "I cannot do this," you stress, all of the fear that you've been shoving down now presenting itself in a singular sentence.

Jake sighs, his face softening to reflect a look of sympathy. "Look, I promise you, it's not that bad. You'll come with me to the carrier when I ship out tomorrow, we'll hug each other goodbye, and then you won't even have to see me for a couple of months. It'll be like none of this ever happened. And when I come back... we'll figure it out. Okay?" His voice is soft and understanding, like he's talking to a child.

You stare at the dashboard, your stomach still churning anxiously. "That's not what I'm... It's not you, Jake." Quite the opposite. "I lost my brothers to the Navy. Both of them. And I don't think I can take losing anyone else."

Immediately Jake's face falls as he puts everything into place. Your initial distaste for him, your furious outburst at Hard Deck, your reluctance to have have anything to do with the Navy... "I—God, I'm so sorry, (Y/n). I had no idea."

You shrug, calming down now that you've finally let go over everything that you've been holding in. "I asked Natasha not to tell you. I just thought that I could get over it so what was the point in even telling you?"

The wind blowing into through the open window is bone chilling and so you can only imagine how cold Jake is standing outside the car. For a while there's only the sound of his quiet breathing.

"Nothing's going to happen to me, (Y/n)," he says into the darkness.

"How can you be so sure?"

Hands shoved into his pockets, body braced against the wind, he shrugs. "I'm not. But if I didn't tell myself that every morning, I'd never get out of bed."

Sighing, you pull the handle on the inside of the door. "C'mon, it's fucking cold out there."

Jake huffs as if to say, you're telling me, and grabs the handle to pull open the door. Only instead of climbing in, he steps further inside the door and grabs your head in his cold hands so that your faces are mere inches apart. "I mean it, kid. I'm not going to leave you, alright? You just gotta trust me."

Looking into his eyes, you know he means it. For the second time since you've known Jake, you really see him. Standing before you is the same man that you saw in both of your brothers. Granted, they were much younger than he is now, but you get it. You'd been trying to see him as anyone else other than the brothers you lost, praying that it would hurt less, but you can't make someone into something they're not. 

"Okay," you whisper. "I trust you, Jake."

You're awake hours earlier than what you're used to in the morning, but that's only because you had glanced at the alarm clock at half past three and realized that you only had few hours left with Jake. The both of you had returned to the hotel room and changed in comfortable silence, slipping into the single bed together without a word. Jake had reached over and pulled you into him without so much as a second thought. Now his body is draped heavily on top of yours, his nose tucked into your hair as your fingers trace along the bare skin of his exposed back. 

You switch between staring at the ceiling and watching the numbers change on the alarm clock, trying to think about anything other than the fact that Jake would wake up in about an hour, you'd drop him off at the carrier at six, and that would be it. You'd only just gotten him and now you were going to have to let him go.

When Jake's alarm does go off, you're more emotional than you thought you would be, but Jake seems to be fine, dutifully putting on his uniform and carefully packing all of his bags, so you try to put on a brave face. You move slowly, dragging out the process of getting dressed as long as possible just so that there's no excuse to leave for the dock any sooner than you have too. After you're done getting ready, you watch him shave once and then again for good measure before he ultimately decides that you've both wasted enough time putting off the inevitable.

The drive there is silent as well and would have been unbearable had Jake not reached over the consol to reassuringly squeeze your hand. He doesn't let go of it until you pull into the crowded port. Between people trying to get their things on board and a bunch of teary goodbyes, it's beyond you how you manage to find the Dagger Squad in the midst of the chaos. Fanboy and Payback are saying goodbye to their families while Rooster and Natasha chatter excitedly with an older man also dressed in naval attire, the name plate on his uniform identify him as 'Maverick'. It's all so overwhelming that only when Jake squeezes your hand again do you realize that it's time for you to say goodbye.

Reluctantly, you turn towards him, interlocked hands swinging between the two of you. He does his best to smile, and to his credit, it's not entirely fake. "Well," he sighs. "This it it."

"For now," you add, returning his soft smile as you look up at him.

"For now," Jake agrees, his smile brightening now that you seem to be okay also. He pauses, just staring down at you for a moment before he adds, "Are you going to let me kiss you?"

You smile, answering him this time without hesitation. "Only if you keep your promise."

Jake's large hand comes up to cup your cheek, cradling your chin in his palm as he leans down to you. "I promise," he murmurs before pressing his mouth to yours, perhaps even more tender than he did the first time at Hard Deck. Only this time you reciprocate it, chasing his mouth as you lift up on your toes and run your fingers through the back of his hair. Groaning, Jake sighs into the kiss. It's dizzying and you don't know how it's possible to put all of the passion that you've been holding back into one kiss, but somehow you do. His lips are soft and you have to shove down the urge to grip his hair and demand him for more, because it by some miracle occurs to you that you're on a ship in front of hundreds people. 

Jake's the one to pull away, his eyes shining and pink lips slightly more swollen than they were a minute ago. You can't help but laugh, wiping away some of your lipgloss from his mouth with your thumb. "Goodbye, Jake."

"Goodbye, (Y/n). And don't forget, I'll see you soon."

[hellodragonkit]

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Opinions and Points.

SPOILERS... obviously.

Ok I watched the movie, and ... some things that are my own personal thoughts and possible points I noticed. And some things I have seen others point out to where this is just my over all opinion and its kinda long.

The backstory lets not forget beetle is a unreliable narrator as proven by the first movie as Julliard and Harvard did not exist while he was alive, and unless he was possessing someone when they graduated its unlikely he said the truth. - so I don't think he gave us the full backstory. Maybe yes he did marry her, but given he never dies on screen and previously stated point. I just find it hard to believe that he drank a poison then had enough strength to chop her up as much as she was, if it was actually effecting him. i find it far more possible he had already been poisoned so often he was immune at that point. and was just pissed his new wife tried to do him in. Also in first movie it was suggested with the red mark he hung himself... maybe he tried to take over the death cult and had to do himself in for a quicker death?

the Newspapper. Yes it did say people were falsely accused of offing themselves at death, I think this was to help clear up the plot hole that would have been with Astrid's dad. And maybe be a red haring for Beetle. Next few points are BeetleBabes related so if you don't like the ship, please move on.

He gave her autonomy in his power. During the therapist scene when he "sewn" her mouth shut, it was less truly sewn and more duct taped. She had the ability to remove it, yeah he had it stick long enough for a gag, but not much more. He didn't force her.

The Contract and Nullification of it. Beetle wrote the contract, and he worked as a dead con man for years, he knew the handbook inside and out. He wrote up the contract for Lydia to sign and save her daughter, knowing there was a Massive Loop hole. even blowing a hole in the "back door" of the Neither to insure the loop hole was as big as it could be the second he had her sign, obviously with a bit of theatrics for both signing and explosions. But would we expect anything else from him?

Delia calling him: when Delia died, she called him asking to go to Lyd's wedding. He did so no questions no strings. Any other deal he always asked for something in return but for Lyd's step mom he didn't charge a dime, possibly because he felt Lyds would be upset if she missed it, and didn't get to say good bye.

Rory Beetle obviously didn't like him, could tell he was scamming Lyds, and yeah he probably could have sent him off but instead had to prove to Lydia why that guy was bad, hence why he used truth serum. He need to make sure she wouldn't go back to that guy once he was gone again. It was even hinted he heard her talking in the graveyard rushing to the church that she was not ready to marry.

He planed to go away. His song at the end, was not one of love and togetherness. MacArthur Park is more of loss and remorse. He was saying Goodbye to Lydia! Not permanently anyway

He set up sending away Deloris and helped the contract become Null When Deloris burst in through the door, the wind didn't effect Lydia, or Beetle, or Delia but the book slid to Astrid as easily as it had moved away, He moved it to her, conveniently on the page to summon sand-worms and how to brake the contract.

He stalled for the cops I find it funny how in the first movie he summoned a Man of the cloth and the guests. But this time he had both, and unlike the first time he wasn't rushing... he took his time to sing a whole song and to let the Neither cops show up, possibly also baiting Deloris to take care of her but I'm still not sure on that bit. ether way He had won, he had Lydia, the pastor, and guests. But instead he did a song and dance, a song that I already pointed out was one more of goodbye.

He let Lydia send him away. Beetle loves to make a entrance, he also may love to make a exit. he has also shown he can silence someone for just saying his name once. But instead of silencing her or taking over her voice as he had before. He started a dramatic plea, showing her he was getting sent away, showing her he was going to let her send him off.

The ending given the fact he may have over heard about Rory, And all the other notes, he could probably see Lydia wasn't wanting marriage at that time. But I also feel... he just likes the chase. What fun would it be if the Coyote already caught the road runner? he didn't mind her sending him away, because it means he could keep trying to get her to call him willingly. Over all this is just my ramblings that I don't have any friends irl who may appreciate them or be able to properly counter lol And if you made it this far thank you. And I hope you liked the movie as much as I did.

[hunter-burton]

Recently, I’ve developed the headcannon that Alex owns a little sketchbook! Absolutely consumed by this idea, I made a physical “replica” of what I think it would look like- including some of the sketches inside! When making these pages in particular, I actually acted out a specific scenario to help myself figure out what to draw. This fic is that scenario a bit more fleshed out. Enjoy :)

Opening Up

It sucked coming home so late, especially with all that rain. After, yet, another dragging day of witnessing absolute horrors, coming home, Alex practically dropped their body into the door. Upon finally stepping into their house, they clicked the door behind themselves, muffling the sobbing clouds

Their weird ass cat, Clyde, sat at the small, round, dining table. Its yellow eyes blinked, “How was work?”

“Exhausting.” After closing and setting down their umbrella, Alex let out a sigh, lifting their uniform’s heavy coat off their hunched body and hung it on the thin coat hanger. “Y’know, the usual. Just gotta… sit down… maybe make a cup of tea.”

“Want me to make bubble water on the…��� the creature traced circles in the air, “hot thing?”

“Stove? Yeah, actually. I’d really appreciate it..” Alex paused, brows furrowed, “Wait- you know how to use that thing?”

It nodded, “You turn on the knobs and, then the, sttt..circle thing.. tops turn red. I’ve seen you do it before.”

“Hm, yeah. That sounds about right.” They eased their boots off by the door, then made their way to the kitchen cabinets, “Have at it. I’ll get you a pot.”

As Alex reached for and opened the cabinet doors, Clyde tilted its head, “What’s in the rest of those little doors?”

“Oh, the cabinets?” Alex handed Clyde a small, metal pot, which it, then, took to the sink and began to fill with water. “Just general kitchen stuff. Pots, pans, spices…” they spoke over the rain hitting the road and the pot’s wet, metal hum, “Not the tea though. That’s kinda more where you’re at- by the sink.”

Once the pot was filled, it stopped the water, passed the pot back to Alex and then began to pull open all the little doors, “What does the tea look like?”

“They should be in little boxes. One should have a bear on it?”

Clyde squinted into one of the drawers, “keeyy… leee… sty.. all?”

Alex raised a brow, “Does the word start with a ‘C’” they traced the letter in the air.

“Yes.”

“‘Celestial!’ That’s them.”

“Alright.” Clyde sifted through the boxes “Which one you want? Green? Sleep?… Gine grr?”

“Ginger? Ginger sounds nice.”

Clyde echoed Alex’s voice, “Ginger it is.”

“Thanks!”

Clyde huffed, “Don’t mention it.” The box rustled as it pulled out a tea packet. To the side of the boxes, it spots a brown oddity in the corner, adorned with colorful stickers. It pulls it out, along with the tea, “Hey, what’s this?”

Lights sparked on in Alex’s eyes, “Oh! That’s my sketch book!” They snatched the thing from its claws and began to flip through the pages, “Man! It’s been forever since I’ve opened this thing… I used to doodle in it all the time before this… fuck-ass job.”

Clyde scrunched up its face, “Doodle?”

“Yeah! Here, I’ll show you- hold on, le’me get a pencil!” Alex set the sketchbook on the dining table and raced to their bedroom and, soon, returned with a yellow pointy thing and a tiny metal object with holes. Over the trash can, they stuck the yellow stick into one of the holes, shedding off what appeared to be wood, then returned to the dining table to flip the sketchbook to a blank sheet. With the dark tip, Alex began to write symbols onto the page, narrating every movement, “I’ll start with a circle… then some rectangles… dot- dot… maybe some squiggles for the hair- then a neck…” with every soft scratch the tip made on the page, a line appeared. It was like watching magic. One moment, there was a blank page, then, the next moment, “Line, line, box box…” Alex drew an arrow and wrote

Me

“…And that’s me!”

Clyde sat there for a moment with its jaw ajar, “gimme that thing.” It held out its claw, then shifted its eyes, remembering the magic word “..please.”

“Pencil.” With a wide smile, Alex dropped the pencil into those claws, then twirled their hand, “give it a whirl!”

Clyde clumsily situated the magic stick into its four fingers, then began to scratch the page with the tip. Lines turned into shapes and shapes turned into little units of invigoration. First, there was the face, then the horns, the uniform stripes down its sleeves, then the large zipper in the center of its chest. Once blank, this section of the page was now Clyde’s closest replica of its reflection. To top off the illustration, it, while admittedly crude, attempted to copy Alex’s arrow and Me.

Arms crossed, Alex sipped on their ginger tea and nodded, “Nice! That’s actually pretty good for your first time!”

It felt as if some tingling force was tugging on the corners of Clyde’s mouth and from the inside of it’s chest. For some reason, though, it didn’t mind- it couldn’t mind. Dismissing the sensation, however, it looked up to its next subject, sitting across from it, and, once again, scratched at the page, lines flowing more than they did before, now that the pencil was solid in its claws. Once the image manifested, Clyde, again, copied the arrow, pointing to the portrait of Alex, writing:

YOU

Seeing that the page was now full, it dropped the pencil.

“Yeah!” Alex took the pencil and wrote the word by Clyde’s drawing of them.

Clyde shifted its eyes to the previous page and up to the writing stuck up in the corner. It pointed to this mysterious text, “What does this, in the corner, mean?”

“That’s the date,” Alex passed the pencil back to Clyde, “I always jot it down when I finish my drawings so I can look back and know when I drew it.”

“Hm.” Clyde twirled the pencil back into its four fingers, “What’s today?”

“Uhm…” their voice trailed off as they stood up and made their way to their calendar, “1988…January…”

In the corner of the page, Clyde scratched down the year and its closest approximation of the spelling for what it heard:

JANeeuARY

“Today’s a Tuesday… the twelfth!”

TWelth

The tip skating across the grainy texture of the page was an addictive vibration. Clyde flipped the page, then paused, eyes darting around the room for a new subject to draw, eventually landing on the front door. It scribbled down two rectangles, one for the door, then one for the door’s window, through which rain could be seen pouring down from the sky, then, finally, a circle representing the door’s handle. Besides the sketch, it drew an arrow, labeling the sketch:

DOR

“A door?”

“Well,” Clyde crunched its face, “what else am I supposed to draw?”

“Hm,” Alex put their chin on top of their hand, “What’s your absolute favorite thing in the world?”

After a moment, Clyde lit up and began to scratch at the page once more, first outlining several shaky curves, then scribbling in the one at top, and, finally, adding two triangles and a jagged mouth for a face, making a Jack-o-Lantern and, with an arrow, labeling it:

FAVORit thing

“Oh nice!” Alex beamed, “Yeah, I like Halloween too.”

Clyde dropped the pencil and slid it to them, now setting it’s chin on its hand, “What ‘bout you?”

“Oh- shoot…” Alex’s spine pulled them straight soon before they held their chin, “I need to think about this one- hold on…” their voice trailed off until, “Ah! Got it!” They snatched the pencil, twirled the book to face them, and sketched away. With five fingers, as opposed to four, their lines were, clearly, a lot more cohesive, dancing together to suggest depth in what appeared to be a ghost popping out out a TV screen, exclaiming,

BOO!

Alex turned the sketch book back to Clyde, who read the note they left besides the illustration:

I really like horror movies!

“Horror movies, huh?” Clyde looked back up from the page to Alex, “Like that Critters thing you showed me last week?”

“Yeah.” Alex's eyes sparkled, “Oh- and especially- like- the really bad ones. I heard “Creepazoids” is supposed to be awful- I bought it yesterday.”

Clyde scoffed, “You humans are weird.”

Alex smiled, “Wanna watch it?”

There was a moment where the sound of rain hitting the roof filled the room.

A smile. That’s what that tingling tug was, “Sure.” Clyde smiled.

[richeeduvie]

ok so i’m in a super deep angst hole and i wondered what would happen if baby jr or baby were to be kidnapped, like how would roman react or the whole family and like how would the reunion would be like

Okay, Baby Jr being kidnapped is kinda funny to me

been a hot minute since I wrote something a lil long for Roman and Baby, and of course it has to be angst to get me in the mood <3

I know it'd actually be so traumatic and sad when it comes to Roman and Baby's little girl because you know she'd be so scared. All she knows is her Mommy and Daddy and the world they made for themselves. Even if nothing's done to her.

But I remember seeing this siblingroyoc headcanon tiktok where they were kidnapped as a child but Logan didn't do anything about it so the kidnappers felt bad and sent them back. Like, the Succession fandom is filled with geniuses. Anyways, I feel like this is what would happen to Baby Jr in the sense that she's kidnapped by people who don't want to hurt her.

Maybe they realize that along the way, Baby Jr was the wrong choice? She's the baby of the guy who got the fuck out of Waystar and is now doing...nothing but being wealthy? Who knows, I just know that what makes it funny is that Baby Jr would eventually calm down and try to be nice to her kidnappers. She asks if they can play Encanto while Roman and Baby are just panicking.

Just imagine that, Roman about to kill himself while Baby Jr's out there having a good time with her kidnappingbabysitters.

It would happen when Baby Jr's at school. Out of the week, after a hesitant Roman allowed it, Baby Jr gets to go to kindergarten for three days. There's the weekend and then one special day saved for the family. But with all the events of wealthy life going on? Roman takes her out of school so much.

So much so that the school staff thinks the person signing her out of class is just one of the Roy family assistants. You'd think private schooling would have a lot more security.

Baby Jr's happy to get taken out of school by Mommy and Daddy, but she slows with her little legs when she sees it's this...person. She's never seen them before. She puts her thumb near her mouth.

"Daddy told me to come pick you up."

Now, she's learned about stranger danger. Just not in the sense the stranger could get into her school and pretend it's one of the many people whose existence benefit minor activities of the Roy family. She's a bit nervous, but okay. If Daddy said so.

"...Okay."

Okay. So they go. It takes the little girl to see another person waiting for them in the car. They talk, they look intense on the face. All scrunched lines.

Baby Jr wants her Mommy. She'll see her soon, but she wants her now.

"Don't be scared, sweetie. You'll just be with us for a little while."

"She still thinks were taking her to them."

"...What she thinks isn't going to change anything."

What gets Roman, in the all of all it, is how long it takes him to find out his daughter is missing.

He's picking her up, picking at his coat jacket. Baby's at home, making brownie bars. He thumps his hands on the office desk.

"Mr. Roy."

"Hi, Ms. school office lady. Here to pick up my kid."

Roman wants to flick her nose. Why the fuck is she staring at him like that? He'll feel bad that he does when him and Baby Jr past the office and waves her little, chubby hand like she always does.

"I know. School's done in ten minutes, but my wife has brownies that are best when they're fresh, which - can somehow be insanely sexual? But yeah...sorry to be a dickfuck and pick her up but I sorta need her now."

"...But you checked your daughter out at eleven."

Roman doesn't blink.

"No. I didn't."

"Not you. I'm sorry, not you - but your assistant. One of them came in and signed her out."

Roman scratches his neck with his middle finger. It digs in at the end, a sharp pain against the way blood rushes through his ears. He blinks fast.

"Yeah...no, I didn't send any fucking...assistant you're saying? No, no one would've came to pick up my daughter but me today."

"Did your wife send anyone to pick he-"

"She's the one at home, baking. Like I told you a minute ago, I would tell her that I'm leaving to pick up our daughter. Which...I'm here to do so did you make a mistake? Someone pick up their own fucking kid and not mines and it's just her name in the system or whatever?"

The office lady watches Roman's finger shake, tapping quickly on the counter, like he's pressing a key over and over and over again. She swallows.

"Sh-she left. She was sent to the office and she went with him."

The tapping stops.

"...Isn't there a list?"

"A list?"

"A list of people who parents put down as people that can pick their child up. Only those people, which...you're Ms. school Office lady so I'm hoping you fucking know about the list. Ours has...has - we have Connor Roy, Frank Vernon, Shiv Roy. Her son is in the building right now. Unless you're telling me you let him walk the fuck out with a stranger? Right? Is that what you're telling me?"

"...I'm...I'm new. It's only my third day."

Roman stares. The office lady watches his chest begin to rise and deepen.

He closes his eyes.

"Did you say eleven?"

"Yes, Mr. Roy. I am so-it's most likely-"

"It's two. It's going to be two."

"Mr. Roy....Mr. Roy-"

The room and it's walls watches the way Roman pressing the heels of his palm into his eyes, stepping back and out into the hall.

"Oh, fuck."

The walls hear this high, cracking pain in his voice. Something panicked with angry coating his throat. Roman bends at his knees to the floor.

"God. Fuck, fuck - fuck! Oh, God. God. You-"

He gets up suddenly, every line twisted in his face with his hair messy. He jabs a finger to the office lady.

"Call fucking 911! You fucking bitch-you're-you're nothing! Call fucking 911!"

It's the sounds of shuffles and buttons, then ringing. Then cursing.

The brownies are done just in time when there's ringing on Baby's end.

"Roman?"

"You need to come down here. You need to-I um...I'm sorry. I don't fucking know. I don't fucking know but you need to come down here and...fuck."

It's a cracking, soft cry. Baby can imagine Roman rubbing his eyes, or the bridge of his nose.

"What happened? Is she okay? Are you okay?"

Roman and her don't know that he feels like a child caught in the act of something bad. He needs to tell her something. He has to tell her something's wrong, and being the barer feels like a crime. It feels like he's going to kill her, and Roman doesn't think he's ever wanted to hurt her in his life.

"Someone fucking took her. They don't know who. The uh, the brainless bitch who gets fed off the tuition money said that it was someone who said they were one of our assistants."

Baby Jr turns to the cat paw oven mitts she got for Baby Jr. She looks to the tile floor.

"No. No."

She says it like saying no will change things. It's simple.

"Can you come down here, please? Please? I'm sorry, I should've picked her up earlier or...or shot the office staff in the head."

"When did h-he he...when did...was it a he?"

"Apparently. But I need that to not...not matter. Please, come down here."

It's all a plea where Baby doesn't know if Roman's on the verge of crying or he's just finished crying.

"I need that to not matter to you. But when? Are you asking when?"

Baby takes a breath that shakes with her body. She holds her palm against her stomach. If she presses in, she can feel her c-section scar.

Tears come as quickly as the panic.

"Roman."

"It's been two hours since they took her."

Baby's head tilts up, face twisting and quivering and her spine curves. She cries harshly.

Roman closes his eyes at the sound. He lowers his head.

"Can you come down? Please, I've sent someone to get you but fuck that if you just wanna come down here by yourself. But please, come down. Please."

It's an long, almost-gentle begging from Roman. He needs her body, he needs her for any sort of reality. He needs to cling onto her and he can't listen to her cry without wanting to touch her, bring her down. But he fucking can't right now because she's there and he's here and their daughter is gone.

Not gone. He'll do a lot of things if she's gone.

It's a big news story even before Baby manages to make it down to the school. It's a Waystar kid kidnapped midday. It's press, parents, people all over. It's a sea she has to cross. She can't cross it without notice, not when she's the mother.

But the flashes and callings fog out at the right of Roman. He's pale and brightly red all at once.

Baby Jr would giggle.

Her feet pick up. His don't even when he sees her. He knows he'll fall into the ground and he won't be able to get back up. But his face against her chest and his arms wrap like suffocation around his crying wife. Hers do too around his.

"Shiv's called about five times. And Karolina, for some reason, as if our daughter's on the company deed. I'm not even on anything anymo-"

"Did they find anything yet?"

Roman can't avoid that question because he's been asking it every thirty seconds. He gets more into a pale rage when the answer doesn't change.

"No. No, because they can't fucking do anything right. They can't find her. They can't-"

"Roman."

Baby pulls his hand away from his shoulder across. He was digging. She thinks he's colored a bit of his shirt red. She sees his coat on the steps of the school.

"Can we do something? Like fucking-they keep telling me I can't do anything and I get the feeling like I could rip their jaw apart but she wouldn't want me to do that."

Baby looks at the small of Roman's body, but the bigness of his rage and panic. It the fidgeting and shifting. For her, it's tears and questions where she can't afford kindness. As a mother, she can't afford cordialness to anyone at the moment.

"Mr. Roy, we got the security footage of them leaving the building. And...are you Mrs. Roy?"

Baby nods. The officer pulls out a phone, makes them watch the footage of a man dressed casually hold their daughter's hand.

Baby breathes so unevenly watching it, she wouldn't give anything to that man in the grained video if she could afford it. Roman keeps his mouth covered by his knuckles.

"Do you recognize this man at all?"

"No. I don't. Roman?" They both wait for Roman. His vein pops out and pumps. Pulses. His brow is raised under it. It's all harsh, it's nerves and it makes Baby even more nervous. She didn't know that was possible. "Roman?"

"Sir-"

He presses play on the video again. It's a short feature, ten seconds of bare information but Roman winds it out to forty seconds.

He presses pause.

"Roman."

It's a soft scolding as Baby licks and bites her lips, as Roman slaps the phone to the ground. He walks away, hands grabbing at the back of his head to pull at his hair.

"Roman, not this. We don't have to talk about everything, about how this happened, but we need to listen to them - we need to think about what's happened? Maybe? To figure out any information?"

She waits half as long in his silence.

"Rom-"

"Do you think she's asking for us right now?"

Baby closes her eyes. "Don't think of these things, baby. It's not going to help-"

She thought of every question she could on the ride here. Roman turns to her but looks to the ground.

"She's asking for us and wondering why we're not there? Our daughter's out there with people who will be dead come time and she's wondering why Daddy hasn't come to get her? Because I don't mean to think that highly of myself as a father but she wants her Dad to come save her and she doesn't know why he can't."

"She knows we're looking for her, Roman."

"She's five. She knows Mommy and Daddy, she doesn't know that things can come in between Mommy and Daddy. She's wondering where we are, isn't she?"

"Roman-"

"Why aren't we there?"

The way he asks the question, it sounds like years ago.

Baby cries silently, into Roman's shoulder when she tries to comfort him. It's this way until a phone rings.

"Mr. Roy. Mrs. Roy. The kidnappers have called, we have them on the phone. They've managed to get the chief's office personal number. With the information they've given, it appears to be a standard ransom case. They have said your daughter is unharmed-"

Roman's dragging Baby, both in the aftermath of their tears to the Chief officer.

"Give me the phone."

"Mr. Roy-"

"Give me the phone."

"Mr.Roy-"

And like a child, Roman snatches the phone out of their hand. It would be humorous if not for the situation. Baby Jr would've giggled.

"...Hello?"

How quickly Roman's hands find the need to pinch and peel at the sound of their voice would be funny too. His nose flares.

"I'm going to take the skin off your feet. Where is my daughter?"

"...She's fine. I said she's unharmed. This is not a political act, this is not a personal one against Waystar or the Roy family, although you can say we picked you due to your politics and what Waystar has done, but this is where we ask for ten million dollars in exchange for your daughter's safety."

Roman sniffs.

"Okay. I'll paypal it to you. Let me speak to her, though."

Baby's more than willing to give up anything for their daughter. She never expected anything less than Roman giving up ten million like it's nothing. Everything is nothing in the face of their baby.

"...Reall-"

"Put her on the fucking phone."

"...Alright."

There's shuffling. Roman and Baby wait as they barely blink.

"Daddy?"

Roman exhales something heavy. It's almost a laugh, but Baby cries fully again. Her forehead presses into the side of his head. Their breathing is unevenly, but somehow aligned with the other's lungs.

"Are you okay? This is Daddy. Daddy's sorry, honey. Did they hurt you?"

"No. We're watching Coco. I was super fear. It was crazy! Cause I didn't know anyone here, but they like Coco like I like coco. And they have Candyland! So it's okay. It is almost done. Where is Mommy?"

"I'm here, baby."

"Hi, Mommy."

It's so sweet and soft. Baby Jr hums.

"Daddy's sorry. We're-" Roman chokes on his own spit. "We'll be with you soon."

"Why are you sorry, Daddy? I go now, so you can say later."

Roman's stomach eats itself at the idea of her going. There's ten to eighty thoughts of how these people could be lying, how this could be the last time he hears her. It could be false, fake. He twitches. They could be doing everything his nightmares are made of. The things that are why he keeps her and Baby to himself.

This could be something that kills him. It drinks his blood and cuts off the air to his head and muscles.

But trusting these fuckers is believing she'll be in his arms soon, to never leave the penthouse or Mommy and Daddy. So, Roman lets her off the phone.

"We will text you the instructions on how we want the money delivered to us."

"Yeah, fuck you. Fucking bitch. You're so fucking ugly too. An ugly little nothing. You go ahead and do that."

Roman shoves the phone into the officers chest.

"Just, do whatever you want with my bank account."

It's a bit of time in trying to get ten million suddenly ready to deliver, but it's done. They wait. Roman can stop twitching and Baby can't stop wringing her hands. They both think of Baby Jr's room. They don't know the other thinks of the same thing.

"They've dropped her off at Waymond park."

They're at Waymond park way too quickly for the ride there to have been legally possible.

"Go fucking faster! Jesus fuck."

Baby wishes she could say that's not what she wanted to say to the driver.

Car doors slam when they see the little girl in the coat they made her wear to school on the swings. Always a bit too warm, that's how Roman likes it.

Baby Jr kicks her little legs. She lifts her head when she hears her named yelled out. She smiles brightly. Those little legs don't run sharply, and they can't catch her when Roman and Baby engulf her.

But they can catch her. They'll always be there to catch her.

Baby Jr giggles at how funny her parents are. They're hugging her like it's a competition to see who can hug the tightest and longest. So, she tries to join in. But she won't win.

Roman kisses her head as tears wet her hair, Baby's tears wet his. He kisses her. They kiss each other.

"I'm going to ask Kendall if we can borrow Colin."

Baby's not against that, not when she's a mother and her daughter's back in her arms.

[lazymonth]

Neg-rant ⚠️

Well, here we go again. Ya know, it's hard to explain the feeling rn, but I can simply say that I got jealous out of my friend again.

The wall of text :

I know that it's common for people to compare themselves to other people sometimes, but it's a bad feeling everytime it's happening. And I feel bad to that, that's happening to me when I saw my friend's work. Because I don't want them to feel bad for making me jealous too..

Most of the time, I got jealous because of the.. well, how good other people can do the " story telling ". Especially my good friend, Danish ( sorry for dragging you into this again ). She has an amazing talent on world building, story telling, and literally EVERYTHING. I'm always looking up to her tbh. But for me, I'm the kind of person who likes to keep stuff inside my head, and I'm quite enjoying drawing stuff like a character relationship and dynamic then a big world building and lore.. something like, you know, yaoi and shipping. But evey time I saw Danish's amazing world building, lore, and journey of The Føol. It's making me feel like " What the hell am I doing here!? She's out there cooking! But all I do all day is making gay drama- ". Main! Turbø is literally doing the REAL The Føol's journey, meanwhile my Turbø is still trying his best to ask Nitrø and KC out! (Maybe it's for the best for Main! Turbø to be Aroace, so he doesn't get distracted by other things )

And Føol's escape stories... It literally has nothing to be compared with the Dawn of Førgotten! That main universe is deep, amazing, and literally having a story inside whole rabbit hole waiting to be found! But mine? Pretty much a straight line... Turbø going out each land and kicking everyone ass so he could just get the hell out of Wøndergotten. Maybe having some self discovery too alone the way.. but compared with the main AU, it's literally having much better Turbø! The way he lost the memories can make so much interesting story of self discovery for that Turbø!! His anxiety, identity crisis, the over all evening!

Seeing how good of that Wøndergotten is making me guilty for having this much of simple storyline... I don't even really have a ACTUAL WORLD BUILDING! The Wøndergotten I have is literally using the same world building and overall thing as same as the main one, just a little bit more chilling for some reason. All the world building stuff is go to Danish who's the creator. Which it's making me guilty again for not doing anything other than playing around with the characters instead of doing some actual story like her.

Actually, If I want to tell the story, I'll be prefer to do the writing more than drawing. But the only reason that I'm not writing it out.. is because I lack of motivation to doing it. You know, when work doesn't get that much attention from the people you're just kinda throw it away... Same here, I wrote the actual Wøndergotten story long ago. I posted it in my writing blog, and even sharing it the main blog and hope people seeing it more! But yeah.. it's not really getting that much of a attention. So, I'm pretty much just F with it and go back to drawing toxic yaoi, which is something that I'm sure people love, and I love it too.

Lack of motivation is probably something that makes me don't draw or write stuff about the story or lore about Wøndergotten much. It's like, yeah I love the characters relationship drama and everyone loves the relationship drama! No one probably cares if I'm posting a draw or a written about a story of AU itself. So that's pretty much why The Føol's escape is 80% Toxic yaoi and 20% The Føol's journey.

Another thing that I want to say is that my humble ass self always makes me see people are better than me. If it's not the art, it's going to be the story telling, and probably the characters building too, sometimes. I never think I'm good enough tbh.. never think I'm a big artist.

Maybe Føol's escape is really the opposite of maine Wøndergotten.. probably the down grade of it.. I really think that sometimes.

[arcsin27]

Episode 2 of uzumaki was fine I suppose. I’m not saying it’s shit or the show is shit. It’s definitely still really cool and I will absolutely keep watching. I just have some criticisms is all!

The show continues to feel random and disjointed with an awkward pace, things just kinda happen out of nowhere. Massive “however” though: that’s also a criticism I had with the original comic since it’s an anthology about an unexplained curse ruining things any way it can (that does mean it’s kinda the point of the story and I’m being petty but still wanted to mention it)

The snake thing wasn’t foreshadowed like it was in the comic, it kinda just happened even more so than it did originally. I think if after one of the punches we got the twisted up torso shot or if they had that “like last time” line (I watched dub so maybe it was in sub idk) it would’ve made a tad more sense. We did see the snakes themselves so it’s not like it was completely out of left field but idk I just really liked the slow buildup in the comic

I don’t understand why the bodies in the lighthouse were in color. I can’t say for sure since yknow I only saw the actual version of the show, but I wonder if it would’ve been more striking in black and white instead of jarring. All I remember is the color, not many other details

I’m also wondering why they put this in color instead of anything else? It was clearly to emphasize the gory burns but then… why not make shuichis moms finger mutilation red? What about asami (azami?) having a giant hole in her head with an eyeball and its nerves and veins being torn from its socket? Why were nameless already dead bodies red but not major characters actively getting butchered?

The animation was nowhere near as stellar as the first episode. However, im giving the benefit of the doubt that that’s possibly because this is the second episode. It’s not the pilot so they don’t need to focus on hooking the audience, and it’s before shit really flies off the rails so not much is happening. I’m assuming they just didn’t allocate as much time and resources to this episode compared to more important ones, but I can’t know for sure till more episodes come out of course

Those were all my thoughts during/right after watching (wrote them on discord so I know lmao). I’m sitting here reaching for more things to be upset about (like Shuichi barely being in this one… who cares? He’s the deuteragonist, and iirc even in the comic he spent most of the time holed up at home or dumping exposition before fucking off) but I don’t really wanna do that. I still think it’s awesome, just that the second episode was a bit of a low point! I’m still very excited to see what’s in store in the next two episodes!!

[lippiethehoe]

Well hi tumblr queers again :D.

Okay so for starters CONTENT WARNING I'll be talking about sexuality sex and overall sexual stuff so if that's not something you wanna look at then don't read thanks :).

I kinda feel like starting a little conversation and also hopefully getting some answers from lgbts from tumblr which hmmm... idk if this is the best place for this, especially since I don't particularly have a big following, nor do I think I have the means to make this be more visible to randos on tumblr so hmm, if this amounts to nothing know I'll be embarassed about it but that's okay, but also I fucking hate reddit and all my google research efforts have resulted in either basically nothing or people asking similar questions to mine but having very deeply different prespectives of both gender in general and sexuality in general than me so google research didn't slay at all, and so I'll lend my trust to the tumblers ig.

Ok so hello, I'm lilly I'm a demiromantic trans woman and I've struggled for kind of a while with my sexuality, not because I don't know what it is, but because I'm actually a huge labels person. Having a word to describe the way i feel about things has always helped me feel as though I know myself better and can make others know me better aswell. Even if putting labels on complex human feelings and emotions is essentialy pointless, it's still something that means alot to me, and I hate that for the longest time I have been perfectly capable of knowing what my sexuality is, but can't simple it down to one word and use it on my day to day life and that makes me sad. It also makes me feel kinda alone in my feelings? cause I'm basically the only person i know with this prespective on my sexuality at least for now so I'm a bit confused, obviously I don't think I'm the only person like this cause that's basically impossible but it still feels that way ig?

Also I remembered this recently only because it's pride month, happy pride month btw :3, and I was doing a thing on discord where everyday I'd add a flag that I indetify with on my profile picture, problem is I've ran out of flags, because no sexual orientation feels right and from my knowledge of it there isn't a sexuality nor a flag for what I feel, and now not only does my discord pfp not look full of colors and pretty it also re-awakened a little identity crisis I've had for a while.

This is definetly gonna be a very long post but I won't feel like I explained myself correctly if it isn't a big post so bear with me, but let's start.

So I'm gonna start explaining how I personally view sexuality and gender so you, reader, can have all the means available to understand my prespective on this. Sexuality to me is kinda simple, simply means whatever a person is attracted to, what makes them sexually interested in someone, whatever other way you wanna put it, and gender is simply the way a person identifies themselves with, the eyes they navigate the world through, the way they percieve themselves and the way they want to be percieved as by others etcetera, I won't explain my prespective on romanticism cause that's essentially useless to my question, but yeah simple stuff right?

So here's where I don't believe I fit in with most sexualities, here's the question I've had for quite a while but never thought to express it in a place where more than just a few friends could hear, I am not sexuality attracted to genders, ok now is when someone screams at me and says pansexual, I don't agree, but moving on, I'm not sexually attracted to people much, I am sexually attracted to penis tho, and here's where someone screams heterosexual at me AND IF YOU DID I FUCKING HATE YOU FYI NOT CAUSE I HATE HETEROS BUT BECAUSE THAT AS AN ANSWER TO WHAT I SAID IS FUCKING TRANSPHOBIC, YEAH I SAID IT, BITCH!!!

But here's the thing, what is a gender, ok I wrote alot after i said that but deleted it all cause this could fall into a very long rabbit hole, but gender's a construct blah blah, can you tell I probably have some neurodivergencies going on in the head anyways continuing. Genuinely, I don't know what it feels like to be a sexuality that includes gender in it, not because I don't think it to be true obviously i know people are heterosexual bisexual homosexual lesbians any other sexual orientation that implies gender being a part of the equation. But to me I can't be sexually attracted to men because a man can be anything to me, I can't be sexually attracted to women because a woman can be anything to me, i can't be sexually attracted to enbys cause being non-binary can be anything to me and the list goes on. Nothing is set in gender because to me gender can look like, feel like, and be like anything, if I labeled myself heterosexual, sexually attracted to people of the opposite gender of me, what would I mean by it? cause think about it, there're big men small men skinny fat muscular men hairy shaved brown eyed dark skinned pussy having dick having blah blah blah and the list goes on again, and even in there I'm not specifically attracted to any of the traits on that list anyways, none of those traits sexually arouse me, men don't sexually arouse me, women don't sexually arouse me, but you know what does? penis. So therein lies the issue, cause surprise, there's a bunch of dicks in the world, what? that's crazy? Yeah penis is everywhere, there're men with penises women with penises nonbinaries with penises intersex people with penises dildos people with strap-ons and the list goes on and in that entire list, the only thing that sexualy arouses me personally, is penis, not who has it, not wether or not it was there from birth, not wether or not it's made of plastic or human skin, not wether or not I'm specifically sexually attracted to any other aspect of said person, but simply the thing that sexually arrouses me and makes me feel pleasure is the thing that sexually attracts me, which in my head is so fucking obvious? Like it's a conclusion so natural to me, but it seems I'm the only person in a 50 km radius that feels this way? It's also possible that I'm actually wrong and view the current existing sexualities in the wrong way and if that's what's up please tell me.

Also i feel the rising tension of someone saying stuff like "people can sexually stimulate others with fingers are u FiNgErSeXuAl?" and the truth is not really but I still find it sexually arousing when it happens, but the last thing I'm gonna do is look at fingers and blush I think. WOAH THAT JUST OPENED A NEW DOOR FUCKK OH NO THIS IS GONNA BE TOO LONG MAYBE I SHOULDN'T POST THIS IDK. I am also sexually attracted to certain actions, but at this point I feel I'm leaving sexuality and going into kink territory and that isn't really where I wanted to go. EITHER WAY my overall conclusion is I don't understand most sexualities and feel as though my view of my sexuality should have a label so I feel more comfortable, maybe I should be the catalyst who knows maybe someone's already been the catalyst and I'm simply unaware of that, either way I'd like a sexuality flag to add to my discord pfp so maybe I'll just make a flag up, who fucking knows, that's it tho. So yeah if anyone who sees this post experiences anything similar to this and wants to share about it please do I'd be really thankful.

Thank you so much if you sticked with me all the way to the end, and if you feel like you might have some insight on what I'm saying or simply wanna say something relevant to this topic please do, it's pride month and I'm incredibly proud of all queers and gender fuckers :3 happy pride month!

Ps: I just wanna say something, this isn't an invitation to flirt with me send me unsolicited dick pics or respond to things I clearly showed not to be questions, I want this topic to be taken in more of a discussion way than a sexual one, if that could be possible I'd be thankful, ok that's it bie bie.

[x-masc-reader-galore]

I’ve never really requested anything before and I don’t want to be doing this wrong but I would love if you wrote an Alastor x Fallen Angel reader? Reader being male or non binary is fine! Anyways the reader fell (or jumped) out of heaven and lands in a forest where Alastor gets his deer carcasses. He sees the reader and instantly becomes intrigued but doesn’t exactly walk up to them. He studies them for a while then finally decides to go up to them? The rest is practically up to you, both of them could instantly get along or take awhile to get along.

You don’t have to do this I just had an idea and wanted to share it and see it get written!

Ohhh this is a fun ask! I don’t want to rush things with Alastor, for I feel if he were to fall in love with someone, it would be a slow burn! This will just be the tip of the iceberg, but if a lot of you guys want more, I make a short series (probably 3-4 chapters) on ao3

Might be a bit ooc cause I can’t write alastor but I tried my earnest

——————————

You were falling. That was the first thing you noticed once you came back to your senses. Your wings were cut off and you were covered in Golden Light! How fun. (Not fun.)

He maneuvered your body and soon noticed Hell coming extremely close.

“WAIT WAIT WAI-“ You screamed as you soon fell into a tree, then a bush, and then you rolled out onto the ground. It was a miracle that you hadn’t died right then and there.

Now, you thought you were alone in these woods, but, that was a stupid thought. You had a feeling that you were being stared at. And you were right!

The Radio Demon, or better known as Alastor was in the distance, about to kill off some poor dear for his dinner before he noticed you. Alastor then saw you falling from the sky, which amused him.

He watched you from afar and saw you stand. He examined you closely but stayed away. He wanted to figure out what he was dealing with first. He noticed the glowing light on your body, especially how it was seeping from your back where your wings were ripped off.

“How… interesting.” He spoke lowly, getting a little closer to you.

You heaved and cracked your back, which was, a terrible mistake to say the least. “HOLY FUCK.” You screamed out in pain as your back ached in pain. You kinda just wanted to curl up in a fetal position and crumble away to ash. What left was there now? You were in hell. Kinda the end of road, isn’t it?

Alastor couldn’t help but enjoy that scream of pain. He examined you for a few more minutes before walking up behind you and poking you in your back. Where your wings were ripped off. Where it hurt.

Yep. You definitely wanted to crawl into a hole and DIE.

“OW WHAT THE FUCK?!” You screamed and looked behind you, seeing Alastor tower of you and grin. “I swear to god.” Is all you said before you rubbed your eyes and looked away, “Gimmie a moment, I need to process this.”

“Oh no, I don’t think we have time for that.” Alastor hummed out, spinning you right back around, “Aren’t you interesting, looks like we have ourselves a fallen angel.” He twisted his cane and pointed it to you.

“I’ll shove that cane up your ass.” You threatened as you went to go grab at it which resulted in you getting fwacked in the head with it, “OW.”

You just couldn’t catch a break now, could you?

“Would you, my friend like to join the Hazbin Hotel? You look like you miss heaven.” Alastor spoke, watching you eye him suspiciously.

“How do you know that?” You asked a bit worried. “Oh, know everything..”

You sighed, “What is this.. Hazbin Hotel?” You asked, walking up closer to Alastor and examining him. “Oh, nothing but a sad, sad hotel for sinners alike to try and redeem themselves into heaven!”

You were skeptical, but you needed a place to go. “Fine. Lead the way, smiles.” You grumbled, and you two were soon off!

Alastor was definitely intrigued by you. Maybe he could try and get you to give him your soul, so you’d be one of his pets. The idea of that made him feel great.

Only time will tell.

[pentrologram]

What Normal People Do - 3

You've been, frankly, having a shit day. Your boyfriend (whom you don't even like that much) breaking up with you was your final straw. Then two very attractive young men and their service dog walk into your life and can't seem to leave. bit of a rushed chapter- not as finely tuned as i would like it to be. the reader kinda took me by the ear and wrote this chapter themselves, lol ao3! ghost/soap/gn!reader (established ghoap)

Lately, I've Been Crying Like A Tall Child

You have, frankly, been having a pretty shit day. Firstly you had three difficult patients back to back with varying degrees of Bitching Mothers™️ that insisted on you throwing safety to the wind for a small payout. You heard a lot of:

“No, can we skip that vaccine? I heard from my nail girl that they have red dye 40 in them,” one had said, her springy six-year-old doodling with the crayons and colouring books provided. You feel your jaw tick as you put on your best customer service smile.

“No ma’am, we can’t because the diphtheria vaccine is meant to help her. She’s at risk right now of getting it. She could die, ma'am.” You say. She frowned, a little convinced, but still stubborn.

“I don’t know if I want red dye in her bloodstream-“

“There’s no red dye 40 in any vaccine she'll ever get.” You grit out. “Ma’am.” She sighed as if she was being forced, but she nodded her head anyway.

“Well, I’m trusting you here.” She said, dramatically sighing.

Another was upset you had given her son a purple band-aid after his vaccine. The last openly talked about her tween daughter’s problems- ‘blightin’ useless, she is, scored dead last in her class- surely there’s something you can do to her, lovie?’- she had said while the said tween sat, mortified, on the table after you had told her through gritted teeth that that wasn’t related at all to your job.

After all of that, you were done with your job. Like, ‘I’m going to punch my next patient kind of done’.

You make it through the last bits of your shift with no more rude and/or stupid patients and without assaulting anyone. You make it to your car before texting the one person you trusted to not overwhelm you in your fragile state ; your friend from uni, Emma.

                                                                                                                        Today 2:28 PM

                                                                                                                   - can we hang? please? abt to commit second degree murder

     - always, babes 😘

     - St. James’ Park

                                                                                                                                                       -   give me an hour

And that’s how you found yourself in a strawberry festival with Em, laughing at her as she tried to throw strawberry-shaped bean bags into strawberry-shaped corn holes while wearing a strawberry-shaped hat that was frankly ridiculous. Actually, this entire thing was ridiculous . Perfectly so because you could barely remember why you had been murderous earlier.

When you’ve both got strawberry scones and are walking to your next destination- a strawberry jewellery stall, at her insistence- two very hot, very large men with a dog pass by you. One of them is wearing a black surgical mask that does nothing to hide how pretty his deep brown eyes are, framed with pale blond eyelashes that almost blend into his porcelain-pale skin that’s marred by multiple scars. The other one, who was shorter than the blond but still tall in his own right, had bright blue eyes, a friendly smile and short, spiky brown hair cut in a mohawk. The German shepherd trotting along with them has a harness that reads ‘SERVICE DOG - DO NOT DISTURB’. You’re snapped out of your thoughts by Em whispering in your ear:

“Hunks galore.”

“More like a one-way ticket to pound town.” You whisper back. Em smacks your arm and then you cackle together because the two hunks are surprisingly very fast walkers and have already left you in the dust.

Maybe an hour later, Em gets a text from her girlfriend.

“My maiden!” Em exclaims as she looks down at her phone while chatting with you about nothing over strawberry tea cakes.  “Her car broke down!” Em says. “Oh, I’m sorry babe, I’ve gotta dash. I’ll see you later, mmkay?” She kisses your cheek and then she’s off.

Thinking of Em’s girlfriend reminds you of your significantly worse love life. You have a boyfriend right now, but it isn’t like you’re head over heels or anything. He’s nice but a little boring- admittedly, you’ve dated worse. Maybe that’s why you’ve stayed for half a year.

You decide to wander around the fair for a little longer, needing some extra cheer to make it through the work week and you more or less get pulled into getting your hand read by an elderly woman in a strawberry dress unwittingly. She’s small, definitely shorter than you, but her eyes are wise and her smile is knowing.

“Come, sit,” she frets, pulling out a wooden chair for you. So you do. Then she demands you give her your hands. So you do. She puts on reading glasses while she hunches over your outstretched palm, peering down at the fine lines. She makes a contemplative noise before tracing a wrinkle. “Misery soon,” she observes. “Oh, dear, within the hour.” She stares down some more. “It’ll be repaid tenfold with good karma, don’t worry your pretty heart.” Her face brightens. “Oh-ho, companionship! Soon! Oh- my, very good friends.” She says, gaping for a moment at your hand. “Hmm. Maybe some bumps on the road but that’s to be expected. It’ll be worth it, dear.” She pats your hand with one of her old, withered ones, slipping a strawberry bonbon into your hold with a wink. “Now shoo!” 

You leave feeling a little confused. Just an old lady with a complex, you rationalise. And just as you’re finishing up making your last rounds, passing by stalls, your phone rings with a text. So you pull over and read the text from your boyfriend.

                                                                                                                             Today 6:52 PM

     -  hey

                                                                                                                                                                                                        - hi babe

     - i need 2 tell u smth

                                                                                                                                                                                                        - okay?

     - i wanna break up

     - idk i feel like things hv gotten stale

     - u dont mind right

     -u can come get ur stuff 

So surely it’s no surprise to anyone when you turn into an alleyway, slump against a concrete wall and start ugly crying while staring down at your phone. While admittedly you weren’t that upset about being broken up with, you were upset about so suddenly moving out. Going out onto the housing market, so soon and so late in the day, no less, was sending you down a panic-induced spiral.

Then there is a large, comforting weight on your lap, like someone had covered you with a weighted blanket. You open your eyes a little, tears still falling, and you see a German shepherd on your lap, nudging your elbow with its muzzle. Then you see the service dog harness and remember the dog as the one that had been side by side with the hunks that passed you and Em. You gawk for a moment before determinedly trying to stop your tears; if the dog is here, surely the very hot, otherworldly hot owners are nearby. You’d hate for them to see you snivelling.

You focus on the big, fluffy body on you and, damn, whatever the hell the dog’s doing is working because you no longer feel like the world is ending. You just need a new apartment. Worse has happened.

Once you take some deep breaths, you immediately see one of the hunks standing there. Just… watching. You panic, because you can’t fully read his expression from under his mask, and surely he must be mad that his service dog had pounced on you. You try to convince the dog to move but it’s having none of it.

“Oh, no, I’m sorry, your dog sort of- um, trapped me here, I didn’t mean to-“

“No.” The hunk says (he’s hotter up close). He’s gruff and big and truth be told he does not seem like the kind of person you wouldn't want to argue with, so you stay quiet. “She wanted to help you. ‘S fine.” He says.

“Um,” you say. “Okay. Are you sure?”

The hunk merely grunts. “Are you okay?” He asks, and perhaps you’re being persuaded by his sheer mass and your new-found single status, but you swear his voice has softened a little, to not spook you more.

“Oh, um. Yeah.” You say, internally wincing at your overuse of ‘oh’.

The hunk stares down at you for a long while. Did you do something wrong? Shit. Maybe he does really mind. You shift underneath his dog awkwardly and feel the urge to explain yourself.

“I just, um- I have an, um. A thing.” You say quietly. It’s not an entire lie- yeah, you were half-convinced you had a ‘thing’ from Em’s insistence that ‘you’re not okay, babe!’ multiple times over. You can’t help the guilt of telling a lie when you weren’t diagnosed with anything, however.

“Are you okay?” He asks. Again. “Riley doesn’t start DPT on total strangers for no reason.” He sounds dry, but… insistent. Somehow. It leaves you with no way to squeeze out a lie. His pretty eyes stare two dead holes into yours, and you’re sure you’re gonna get vaporized, Terminator style. Unease creeps into your gut.

“No, I’m OK. Just… got a little upset.” You say weakly, forcing out your best smile. You’re proud that you don’t grimace instead. He just keeps on staring at you, showing no inclination of answering. Then, just as you’re about to force the dog off, the other hunk- an Amazon gladiator, holy hells- walks in, excitement in his eyes.

“Si, ‘ave found a strawberry sex stall-!“ He says, but then he notices you and his expression goes into something you can’t read.

“Well, hello, there.” He says. You surely must look like a deer caught in headlights.

“Hello,” you squeak out, because not one but two superhumanly hot men are paying you attention. You gently push the dog off of you, mumbling a ‘bye’ before you scurry away and straight to your car. You don’t look back.

——

The next morning, you’ve just packed up your every belonging from your ex-boyfriend’s flat- he didn’t even bother to help- and rented out a storage cube, packed in everything single-handedly, and then got the best sleep of your life in a hotel. You had woken up and then gone to a coffee shop because your entire day would be filled with hunting down an affordable place to rent. You had Em help you fill out a few applications while you were driving from the ex’s flat to the storage cube to the flat and then storage again .

You’re reading through an email one of the landlords of one of the nicer apartments sent you this morning as you walk inside, give the barista your order and pay. Your reading quickly becomes scanning- you got the place!- for payments to make, forms to fill, people to contact, etc. But you’re stoked! This new apartment is better than the ex’s, and the one you had before him, so you really can’t help yourself from smiling like a dork.

“Seems like ye’ve got a love-hate relationship wif’ that thing.” A masculine and not too unfamiliar voice says from your right.

You startle, almost ready to throw hands, and then remember that the voice is familiar. You stare at him- shit, it’s the Amazon from yesterday. Everything had been so chaotic you had forgotten about that embarrassing encounter with the hunks, but you had no such luck. It’s fine. He doesn’t seem too disgusted with you. 

“Oh! No, um. I got broken up with yesterday.” You say, reading his expression to see if there’s any hatred there , that you accidentally made his service dog sniff you out and take him away from his boyfriend. “Had to move out and find a new place on short notice.”

“And ye got the place?” He says, pretty blue eyes soft and inviting. It’s like he cares.

“Yes. It’s really lovely . Rent’s maybe a bit much but I’m sure I can budget it… It’s such a great stroke of luck that I’ve found it under 24 hours.” Ouch. Overshare. You cringe inwardly.

The Amazon nods.

“O’ course. ‘M glad fer ye.” Hot and nice. If he wasn’t a taken man….

“Thank you.” You say, smiling shyly. He smiles- big and bright and genuine.

“Och, no need tae thank me.”

Your brow furrows and you’re about to explain how your thanks are very much deserved- you should be thanking him for breathing the same air as you, much less hold a conversation with you- and then the barista calls out a poor butchering of your name and you leave because you’ve got some new-apartment paperwork to do.

It’s only halfway through scanning PDFs that you realise you hadn’t even gotten his number.

——

You’re going grocery shopping because it’s been three days and you’re frankly getting sick of takeout. You had written a list and you were considering if you needed apples when, for the second time this week, a masculine voice shocks you out of your train of thought.

“Well, lookit tha’!” The Amazon exclaims (you haven’t even gotten his name). You look up from your pondering. He smiles the way he had at the cafe; big and bright, and he claps your shoulder with his big hand.

“How’s the new flat?” He asks.

“Oh, it’s better than the photos,” you say. Just thinking about how pretty the flat was during your tour yesterday was enough to make you smile again.

“‘M glad, bonnie.” He says.

“Bonnie?” You ask, confused. Did he think that was your name?

“Don’t worry about it! How about this weather?” The Amazon says loudly , making you blink.

You chat with Johnny in the produce section about whatever comes to mind, and then at some point the Amazon- Johnny, as he introduces himself- shifts your focus from the groceries and he ushers you to a new cafe right next to the grocery store. You buy your drink and find a booth and you spend at least two hours talking with Johnny. At some point, you had to leave because you truly did have other things to do, no matter how nice the conversation was.

——

The next day, you’ve gotten your keys and are moving your boxes into your new flat. The neighbours seem quiet, you think, as you heft a box of plates into the apartment.

It’s been about half an hour before you get all the boxes inside and start fiddling with some deadbolts you’d bought on Amazon, just in case.

"Need help?" A voice asks, materialising behind you and spooking the living hell out of you. You then recognize him as the blond hunk- Johnny’s boyfriend, Simon. He’s staring- waiting for an answer, shit.

"No, I'm okay. Um, thank you, though." You say, still feeling remnant fear from his sudden appearance.

"Did you just move in?" He asks. Blunt, you think. The dog from earlier is there, too, tail wagging.

“Yes.” You hesitate- no way you have enough luck in this world to bag a beautiful apartment and beautiful neighbours. You decide you just have to know. “Do you… live here?” You ask.

Simon grunts. “We’re the flat over.”

“Oh!” You smile. “Well. Thank you for offering to help, neighbour.” You say, cringing a little- 'neighbour'? really?- but you put on a smile that must coax a smile from Simon from underneath his face mask. Then he says bye and you’re quick to reciprocate while the dog trots over to butt its head against your leg, and then they go into the flat over, just like Simon said.

——

The next morning, Johnny and Simon, your new, beautiful neighbours, are at your door at ten. Thankfully, it’s your day off, otherwise, they’d be knocking in an empty apartment.

When you open your door after the second knock, Johnny is standing in front of Simon outside your front door, holding a platter full of blueberry muffins and a still-tired Simon hovering behind him- almost protectively, you think. You probably don’t look the best as your plans today were to rot in bed.

“Hello, you two.” You say, trying to subtly fix your appearance while smiling .

“Hi! Ae made ye muffins. Tae help settle ‘ta the new flat.” Johnny says proudly.

“Wow, thank you. You didn’t have to. Here, come inside- I’m sorry, it’s a mess,” you apologise, inwardly panicking. After you’d gotten all the boxes in, you hadn’t even considered unpacking anything but the essentials yet. And you’d gone digging for certain things, leaving a few boxes open with stuff falling out.

“You got here last night?” Simon asks gruffly while you direct Johnny to set the muffins on your kitchen island.

“Can I make you some tea?” You ask, scrambling for your manners- God, it’d been a while since you last had new people over. You start looking for your kettle.

They start a conversation with you about the weather as you look for mugs and tea bags.

“Sorry, no sugar. Or creamer.” You apologise, making up for it with more tea than normal in their mugs.

Then you talk about leasing dates, the landlord, the best parking areas, the cheapest takeouts, and things to do around.

They manage to get you in their apartment once you become immersed in the conversation enough, just picking back up where you left off on their rather comfy couch. Johnny is more talkative than Simon is, but that’s not to say that Simon is a hulking statue (though that’d be hot, too). He grunts when appropriate, asks you questions, rags on Johnny and seems genuinely interested in the comings and goings of your life.

By the time you leave, it’s half past five and you have a full feeling from companionship. —— You come to realise that Simon and Johnny are the sort of friends you can rely on. You were putting your brand new bed frame up when you realised you didn't have a single screwdriver, so you had tucked your tail and asked the boys if they had one- and to your surprise (and delight) Simon came right over with a toolbox and made the entire frame without being asked to. He even put the mattress atop your new frame. He was just about to fix the hinges on your door before you had to stop him and make him lunch before he remade the entire flat. "Really, you didn't have to do that, Simon," you fret while putting a sandwich together for him while he stares at you, toolbox sitting on the kitchen island. "Sure I did." He says. It's like in their mind they've made up that they have to take care of you- like earlier this week. You'd just gotten home from work and decided to get groceries while you were out and about- you needed milk, anyways. But between the shopping bags and your work bag, your arms were a little overloaded. You didn't want to go through two trips, either, which resulted in you holding five bags and fumbling around for your keys. It was inevitable, really, that your work bag would slip and fall.  You had groaned and just began to bend your knees before you here an 'och, le'me!' from behind you. Johnny is there, taking your work bag and then three of the remaining bags from your arms. "Johnny, it's-" "Nae, I dinnae hear it. Open your door, bonnie." He seems intent on calling you that, too. Even though he knows your name. You'll have to ask about it soon. You just sigh and unlock your door before putting one of the grocery bags down, Johnny following suit.  "Thank you." "Nae sweat o' ma back." He says with a boyish grin before leaving and closing the door behind you. The attention is nice, really. It feels good to be so close to some people you could trust.

<- back next ->

[imfinereallyy]

Placeholders

another birthday bit, unrelated to earlier, but something I wrote on my birthday. it’s a bit sad, I’m sorry.

There is an empty space on the couch.

There is an empty space on the couch between Dustin and Mike. The light from the window touches it gently. Making the Byers-Hoppers worn leather couch glow a soft brown. The house is filled with noise and chatter; a happiness that was once lost resides here.

Steve Harrington turns 24, and there is empty space on the couch.

Steve knows Max wouldn’t have sat there. That spot is not reserved for her. She would have sat on the floor between El’s legs while El brushed her hair softly with her fingers, or she would have draped herself over the edge of Lucas’ chair, teasing him with her head hooked on his shoulder.

Steve aches. He sees her in the missing pieces sometimes. A space in the car, a hand grasping at nothing, a laugh when there has only been silence. As if they are all moving in the same ways they did years before, not filling in the holes, just moving forward with gaping parts of themselves.

The house is full of noise, and love, and laughter. Robin leans her head on the tops of Steve’s knees, her hand braiding away at the new friendship bracelet she’s making him. He gets one every birthday. Will and El are drawing on a giant birthday card that Steve knows he’ll hang in his dingy apartment. Nancy and Erica are chattering away in the corner about something that will make Steve’s head spin, he’s sure. Everyone is here; everyone is safe. Steve thinks sometimes he will lose this; they will all push him away. But they come back time and time again. Except…

It’s Steve’s 24th birthday, and there is an empty space on the couch.

Steve Harrington is 24 years old, and Eddie Munson never makes it past twenty. And there is a space, that really isn’t his, but is there for him anyway.

Steve grieves.

He knows it’s unfair. Steve didn’t really know him. They were only ever sideways of each other. Paths crossed one another but never at the same time. A distance in a small place.

Steve feels bad at times, knows they could have done great things. Lead their friends on their strange journeys. Made each other better. He believes that they were more similar than they once thought. Different sure, but would have understood each other somehow.

Steve thinks they were kinda like stars in the same galaxy. Both shine brightly, both guide the way, but too far apart to say goodbye when the other burns too quickly.

When Steve had known him, it was temporary. Eddie had been a temporary person in the life of Steve Harrington. It isn’t a bad thing per se, but an unfortunate truth. Their time together was, although not very long, is held closely to Steve. It was important.

Steve thinks it’s unfair that he gets all the time; he gets all this time to waste, and be happy about it. Angry. Sad. Steve gets to feel, and Eddie gets an empty space.

Steve hears someone’s laugh from across the room. He wants to hold it in his hands and bottle it up, put it on a shelf for safekeeping. It’s not as rare as it used to be, time heals some things, but he finds it makes him want it more. Keep it close. The kids, who are not kids, shout and scream and yell, “Steve, you be the tiebreaker!”. There is never silence, only sounds, so they never really see the gaps that remain.

But Steve thinks about the smile Eddie had once sent his way. The slight tick of the lip into laugh lines. Steve craves for that moment again. Not because it meant anything, not because it held some secret. But because it was good, and Steve at the time didn’t really know much of that.

Steve knows, if the space on the couch was filled, Steve would be in love.

Their time together doesn’t prove this, he knows and is not delusional, but Steve can feel it in his gut.

At times, you meet a person and realize they are going to stick around for a while. And other moments, you meet someone and don’t notice that you were meant to know them until your chance has passed.

There are instances you meet someone, and you feel as if you should say “Hello again.” Even though you are meeting for the first time.

Steve can’t help but notice more time has passed since he left, then the the amount of time he knew him.

Steve knows it’s selfish. It’s selfish to grieve something that was never his, to grieve the idea of a person. But he can’t help the mourning that comes when he wakes. He can’t help but think there is a laugh he is supposed to know, like his favorite song. He can’t help but think, Eddie Munson should have made it to 24.

Steve can tell the rest miss him, even the ones who didn’t know him. There was a role Eddie was supposed to fill, a balance thrown off by his absence. Steve sometimes catches them all trying to put the pieces back together of a ghost. They’ll take his old clothing from Wayne, read a book left on his nightstand, and tap their fingers to the beat of a song Eddie once knew. It feels like they are all trying to build him from scratch.

The party sings Steve happy birthday; they try to squeeze all the candles on it. Hopper yells at them, tells the kids it’s a fire hazard, but makes no move to stop them. The boys are yelling to wish for things they want. The girls, El, tells him to wish for love. Jonathan takes a photo of him blowing out his candles. Robin squeezes his hand.

I wish I could have known.

They cut the cake; they spread out again. This time Lucas sits on the edge of his chair, like he’s leaving space for only one person to come back and sit. No one makes a move to share with him. There is an empty space on the couch. The sun no longer touches it; only the warm lamp light reaches its corners.

Steve doesn’t think he knew Eddie Munson very well, but he likes to believe that Eddie would have liked this. He would have liked the noise. He would have liked a mismatched family. He would have liked celebrating a meaningless birthday of a friend he didn’t have. Steve likes to think they wouldn’t have been friends for long. He knows, somehow, Eddie would have loved him too.

There is an empty space on the couch. Steve doesn’t plan on filling it anytime soon.

***

Sorry for any of the tense changes or mistakes, this was more of a stream of thought piece. It’s bittersweet.

[inposterumcumgaudio]

Mr. Kite

Remember how I said you already know everything you need to know about Mr. Kite?

Mr. Kite, as a character, embodies a narrative concept that I think a lot of people struggle with these days. There seems to be this idea now that if a question is posed and then left unanswered in a story, it's unfinished or a plot hole. It's not! Not every story is going to spoonfeed and hold your hand all the way to the end. In fact, some stories will leave you hanging, left to determine on your own what happened. People who cannot do this will have a bad time with stories like those. Further still, some stories will purposely leave you wondering with deliberately inconclusive possibilities, such that you'll never have a satisfactory answer even if you have the wherewithal to actually suppose about it on your own.

Like the question of what happened to the kids on the train. There's not a canon answer for that; there will never be a canon answer for that. You can come up with your own answers, but you're never going to have the satisfaction of knowing whether it's correct or not. And real talk? There was never any intent to have a correct answer. The writers themselves almost certainly do not have the answer because they purposely didn't want one.

Do they not make kids read The Lady, or the Tiger? in school no more?

Anyway, the question of Mr. Kite does two very interesting things.

In a world where apparently people are no longer comfortable with being left with an unanswered questions, the game presents you with this one and then makes you play through three acts and three more DLC without ever giving you the conclusion. Kinda mean! Love it!

Though not specific to videogames, but I do think it's the best medium to play with this idea: that you never meet Mr. Kite or ever get very close to learning more about him is playing with the convention of anything you encounter in a world like this being there specifically for you. That is, you are playing the protagonist and so any information presented is for your benefit and any problems that arise are yours to solve.

The second is the more compelling concept because a world where you are merely a cog in the machine rather than the operator is more realistic, but videogames are constructed so it asks a bit of both the designer and the player to engage with that and be satisfied. For the designer, you have to put in things that seem extraneous to the experience and there's limitations and considerations to take into account. Because it's a fine line. We Happy Few does do this in ways far less successful than Mr. Kite. You know, those things I like to call go-nowhere-mysteries. There's a difference between a part of the story you're not permitted to get any closer to and a part of the story that wastes your time trying in spite of that. And for the player, one has to be okay with not being the center of the world's attention at all times. They have to have that understanding that not everything is going to be for you to manipulate or interact with.

Now that I've made you sit through my philosophical rant, here's the one thing I think it's important for people to know about Mr. Kite (but you probably already knew and just never really thought about it (unless you wrote Une Raison d'Être Au Courant in which this is a crucial detail).

Mr. Kite does not help just anyone. He only helps Downers who can still take their Joy.

Part of this is, I think, practical. That we find Prudence in the motilene mines tells us that the way out for him is the same as it is for Arthur who must make the same journey unguided. And to get there, you have to go through the Parade and to get into the Parade, you must be able to take your Joy at least once.

But... there's also a dismissiveness to the Wastrel condition in his instructions. That they're starving and cold is no concern of his, he cares only for his "favourite Rabbit". Still, his Edenham safehouse is guarded and populated by Wastrels who will attack other trepassing Wastrels who enter which means that even if there's no Resistance, he does have accomplices in this. I wrote a chapter detailing why a Wastrel might want to work for Mr. Kite, but less nobler intentions might be that working for a man who has access to "good food" is the better bet than siding with your fellow Wastrels in Barrow Holm.

And then there's that he calls Prudence his "favourite Rabbit". It's a little creepy, yeah? That Prudence does make it all the way to the end suggests to me that this isn't any sort of play on her so much as that Mr. Kite might just be Like That in General but still, if my life were in the hands of some mysterious benefactor, I don't know that I'd like him being that affectionate in his missives.

But I also like the idea that whoever he's moving out of town at the moment is his "favourite Rabbit". Means you don't have the change the codes on the phones every time you get someone new.

You know what rabbits are? Delicate. They break their own necks if you look at them the wrong way. A person who wants to leave town on their own could and does. Arthur, Sally, Ollie, and Victoria all leave on their own. But I think if you need Mr. Kite to guide you through a town you've lived in your whole life, it's because you're too timid to set out on your own.

His note also seems to imply a joviality about the whole thing. Prudence is having a miserable experience making her way through the town, but Mr. Kite's having a grand time orchestrating Downer escapes under the nose of polite society. I suspect his is a life of some privilege if he's having this much fun with it. Would explain his disinterest in the plight of Wastrels, despite his otherwise apparently charitable acts against the status quo.

He's also one of Sally's Blackberry clients meaning he's either someone of enough importance in the town to justify it or, more likely, he's convinced her that supplying him is a good idea. Possibly even both. Prudence was also a client of Sally's so it's possible she's the one who referred her to Mr. Kite.

Overall, I think Mr. Kite is someone who recognizes the problems of Wellington Wells, but is not suffering from them personally. In fact, he's having a lot of fun playing subterfuge with the local government and playing hero to people who would never have been brave enough to leave the town on their own.

[alpinefrsh]

This is definitely a stretch but omg it’d be so cool. Hi! 👋

So idk about you, but I’ve always seen a lot of similarities between Krang and the Egg, they both have weird tendril things, they’re both mind controlling, they both (if you count the Egg changing the appearance of whoever it possesses) ‘mutate’ their host, the Egg is red and the Krang is pink, they both work kinda like hive minds, just overall similar concepts I can’t help but notice.

So Y’know how Tommy’s immune to the Egg’s mind control, for god knows what reason? Yeah so, what if Tommy had the stupidest luck ever and was immune to the Krang mind control? Or at the very least partially??

I’d like to clarify, this isn’t a theory, this is a me wanting to see Tommy bullshit his way through life and cheat death! >:D There is literally no reason why Tommy would have any different experience under the Krang’s control. I just really like the concept of like, the Krang is right there he’s got his icky freaky tentacles and he’s trying to mutate Tommy and the turtles are just horrified and all probably having flashbacks and filled with dread and immense worry and then Tommy just fucking bites the little fucker! >:)))) (And then promptly chugs an invisibility potion to slink away and freak out ofc, the turtles can handle that by themselves a little bit longer while Tommy recollects himself :])

Just fun stuff of course! ;D

Hello! Apologies for the wait on my reply, It got a little out of hand.

It's a bit rough around the edges, and the ending's slightly scuffed- but that's alright, it's just for fun.

So yeah, I wrote a 2k oneshot about this- not canon to the main storyline ofc, but here you are. If there are any spelling mistakes, I didn't check.

It all happened so fast, so much so that Tommy was even sure what had happened.

All they'd been doing was playing a bit of late night basketball at the nearest public courts.

And by that, he meant Leo was steamrolling them by shooting three pointers left and right and then gloating on top of that.

In a rare moment of luck, Tommy had ended up with the ball in his hands- except when the time came to shoot, his ears picked up on something that made him falter mid toss.

The ball bounced loudly against the asphalt, frustratingly masking the noise before he could figure out where or what it was.

Mikey made a noise of complaint, “What kinda throw was that? I’m thinking you want Leo to-” 

Tommy held up a hand in Mikey’s direction, “Ch! Shut up a sec!” He’d probably feel bad about the harsh tone later, but as it was, he was far too preoccupied with listening to even register how he was coming across.

He was only slightly surprised when the turtles actually listened to him and the courtyard fell silent enough for Tommy to listen.

There was something… Slithering? No, that wasn't quite right, it was more like…

Tommy stepped closer to the sound, brow furrowed.

It was almost like the sound that Slimecicle guy made whenever he walked around.

"I think there's something-"

A blur of pink rushed at him from the shadows, slamming into Tommy hard enough to knock the wind from his lungs.

He heard the turtles shriek, "Tommy!"

A disgustingly fleshy tendril wrapped itself around his neck, sliding through his fur and threatening to crush his wind pipes with even the smallest increase in pressure.

Tommy grabbed at the tendril, digging his claws into the unexpectedly tough flesh as he was dragged into the air by his neck.

His captor let out a low, rattling hiss, "How dare you inferior creatures try to keep me locked away again. I'll tear you all apart, starting with this one," she threatened, turning Tommy enough that he could finally see the almost creeper-esque monster looming over him with pointed teeth and a gaping hole in the side of her face where her other eye should have been.

Tommy would have bared his teeth right back at her if not for the growing lightheadedness making even twitching his fingers a struggle.

Leo’s voice cut through his muddling senses, “Let him go, or else,” he demanded, and Raph was quick to chime in.

“Yeah, give him back, creepoid, or we’ll beat you up even worse than your slimy brothers!”

The appendage around Tommy’s throat slithered tighter, making him gag and cough as tears pricked his eyes. He could feel his grip growing weaker the longer he went without oxygen.

Whatever his captor said in response was lost to the encroaching mental fog.

And then the pressure vanished, dropping Tommy back to the ground and leaving him to gasp for breath.

His victory was short lived as he’d barely begun to catch his breath before something just short of slimy latched onto his face.

Tommy threw himself away from the big pink creeper with a panicked shriek, scrabbling to tear the thing off his face.

To his horror, it only spread further, sending shivers down his spine when it attached itself to his hands. The same fleshy pink that the homicidal creeper was made of crawled up his arms, leaving them unrecognizable and- oh fuck, was that an eye?

Tommy’s stomach churned as he forcibly tore his gaze away from the bright yellow eye on the back of his hand with a heaving gag that almost brought the chili he’d had for dinner right back up, “Oh, what the fuck,” he wheezed out breathlessly, already feeling another gag surfacing.

A shadow fell over him, making Tommy’s already thundering heart drop out of his chest.

He slowly craned his neck upwards to stare at the fucked up creeper with wide eyes.

The twisted glee on her grinning face made Tommy feel very small.

She opened her mouth- only to jump back by several blocks just in time to avoid getting one of Leo’s katanas stuck in what was left of her face.

With a crackle of blue light, Leo appeared in front of Tommy with his hand raised and tightly clutching the hilt of the thrown sword, “You’re gonna wish you’d stayed locked up in government custody.”

Raph and Mikey were at Tommy’s side in the same second.

Raph grabbed Tommy’s shoulders, pinning his arms firmly to his sides, “C’mon, Tommy, fight it!” He encouraged, though his voice shook with audible panic.

Understandable seeing as Tommy was currently half flesh monster.

Mikey leaned over Raph’s arm with determination burning in his eyes and balled fists, “Don’t give up! You can get through this, we’re here for you!” He shouted, and Tommy wasn’t sure if he was imagining the gold aura surrounding him.

A nearby sound like several miniature explosions going off in rapid succession followed by an enraged shriek made Tommy recoil back as much as physically possible with Raph holding him in place, ears flattening.

Tommy squirmed, “Mate, I- I- I- I’d love to, but I can’t- I can’t exactly fucking do anything with my arms pinned!” He snapped restlessly.

Mikey gasped, “You’re not zombified!” He exclaimed- which, what?

Tommy didn’t think he was capable of getting more freaked out at the minute, and yet, “What the fuck do you mean zombified?! Why would- was this shit supposed to turn me into a- a- a mindless freak?” The grip on his shoulders loosened enough that Tommy was able to start clawing at the fleshy gunk on his skin.

Something which had the unfortunate side effect of bringing the hand eyeball back into his line of sight.

Hit by another wave of nausea, Tommy squeezed his eyes shut, “Oh, fuck this, fuck this, fuck this. I do not do well with body horror,” he whimpered, still making an effort to free himself from the gunk.

Another set of hands joined in, ripping it all away with far more ease than Tommy’s trembling hands could muster.

Running his hands up his arms and patting his face, Tommy could tell it was finally gone. He just wished his crawling skin would get the memo, he didn’t have time to be incapacitated right now.

Tommy opened his eyes and forced himself to his feet, stepping away when Raph tried to help him stand.

The first thing he saw upon looking past Mikey and Raph was Leo and Donnie fighting that monster.

And it didn’t look like they were winning.

Tommy suddenly wished he hadn’t been so stubborn about refusing to carry a sword in his inventory, “Don’t worry about me, just go!” He pushed Mikey and Raph towards the fight.

To his immense relief, they didn’t argue on the matter, rushing in to help with mystic energy assisted combat.

Tommy turned his attention to his inventory, rifling around for anything even remotely useful.

He paused on the remaining collection of invisibility potions, casting a glance up to the battle.

Every attack they launched was met and blocked by one of the pink creeper’s tentacle appendages. Even all together, they wouldn’t last much longer like this.

Tommy’s eyes fell to the abandoned basketball, an idea forming.

With a shaky exhale that did little to dispel his mounting nerves, Tommy pulled an invisibility potion from his inventory and downed it in one go.

He didn’t waste a single precious second before dashing to retrieve the basketball, shoving it into his inventory to keep it hidden.

Raph took a painful looking hit to the side and Tommy decided that he couldn’t afford to stall.

Not taking his eyes off of the fight for fear of catching a stray attack, Tommy ran as quietly as he could.

Not that anyone would hear him over the clamor of battle.

He just needed one clear shot-

Tommy dived out of the trajectory of a translucent purple drill with a barely stifled yelp.

Near misses like that were not good for his heart.

Tommy snapped his attention back to the pink creeper, entire body tense and waiting for his opportunity to present itself.

The instant her back was turned and Tommy had a clear shot, he took out the basketball and launched it with all his strength.

It bounced off her back with a loud thwack- ultimately harmless, but it did exactly what Tommy had hoped it would.

She whirled around to stab her ambusher, and in doing so, turned her back on all four turtles.

In a brilliant flare of colour, Tommy watched as the monster was pummeled into the ground.

Then, while the pink creeper struggled to get back up, hissing out threats that rattled through Tommy’s ears, the basketball court became bathed in golden light.

Wind blew through Tommy’s fur, trying to tug him closer to the open portal.

Raph, arm encased in red energy, wound up for a punch, “And how about this time you stay gone!” 

With one last ear splitting screech, the fucked up creeper was sent flying through the portal to hopefully never be seen again.

Mikey closed the portal, the wind dying down with its absence.

No one said anything for a while, the courtyard was quiet.

It wasn’t all too surprising when Leo was the first to break that, “Ugh, if I ever see another one of those guys, it’ll be too soon,” he huffed, shoulders slumping the instant his katanas were put away.

Mikey leaned against Donnie, who wrapped an arm around him with seemingly little thought, “For real,” Mikey agreed with a big nod.

Tommy started padding over to the group.

Raph rubbed his chin with a contemplative look, “Hey, where’d you send her off to, anyway? I didn’t get a good look at the other side.”

Donnie’s eyes started roaming the battered basketball court, “Back to the prison dimension, I assume?” His brow was gradually starting to furrow the longer he looked around.

Prison dimension. Where had Tommy heard that name before…?

Mikey let out a scoff, “Straight into the sun, hopefully… Y’know, I’m not actually sure though, it  could’ve been the prison dimension, could’ve been space-” he shrugged nonchalantly, “-who cares. The point is that she definitely isn’t coming back this time,” he stated in full confidence.

Thank fuck for that, Tommy wasn’t sure he was willing to face off against something like that ever again. The phantom feeling of that fleshy pink gunk molding to his skin would probably be haunting him for weeks as it was.

Donnie cleared his throat, “I don’t mean to alarm you, brethren, but does anyone know where Tommy is?” He asked and immediately put his brothers back on high alert as a result.

Tommy blinked, looking down at his- oh, right, he was still invisible. Forgot about that part.

Seeing the mix of guilt and distress on their faces, mainly from Mikey and Raph, Tommy decided not to pull any shenanigans this time around.

“Right here-!”

Tommy was cut off by Mikey’s scream, “Tommy’s a ghost!” Mikey bewailed, clinging tighter to Donnie.

Tommy shook his head and waved his hands around uselessly, “I’m not a ghost! Invisibility potion, remember? Kinda saved all your asses back there, nailed that fucker in the back with a basketball,” he corrected with a proud grin that no one else could see.

Mikey sighed in noticeable relief at that.

Tommy walked over to the closest person, Raph, “Ayup, king.” He planted his palm on Raph’s arm just to let him know where he was.

Raph inspected the general area Tommy was standing in and gave him an experimental poke in the chest, “Huh, weird.”

Tommy scrunched his face in mock offense, which, once again, no one else could see, “It is not weird, it’s awesome. And you’re welcome, by the way. Y’know, for distracting her. I almost got fucking obliterated by one of Donnie’s drills to do that shit,” he grumped, crossing his arms, but leaning his shoulder against Raph to maintain a point of contact.

He told himself it was purely to ensure Raph knew where he was and not at all for his own comfort.

Donnie grimaced lightly, "Ah, is that so?" He fiddled with the goggles resting atop his head.

Tommy nodded, and then remembered that they still couldn't see him, "Yep! Had to dive out of the way and everything," he confirmed.

Leo clapped his hands together and cleared his throat, “Well, in any case… I’m just glad everyone’s okay- uh, Tommy, you are okay, right? I can’t really see you.” Leo gave a strained smile, understandably stressed by the situation.

Tommy hummed in response, “Slightly more traumatized as a person than I was before, but that’s fine. I shall simply walk it off, like I always do,” he only half joked.

Leo snapped his fingers into a double thumbs up, “Cool, very emotionally healthy of you.” Ah, sarcasm.

“Glad you agree with me,” Tommy decided to double down on his statement.

The look on Leo’s face made it exceedingly clear just how little he truly agreed, “Right… Why don’t we head back to the lair now. I don’t know about you guys, but I could really use a movie to destress right about now,” he proposed.

And a proposal Tommy would gladly take him up on as he didn’t want to be in this stupid basketball court a minute longer than he had to.

Mikey broke away from Donnie, suddenly energetic, “Dibs on picking the movie!” He took off before anyone could dispute his claim of dibs.

Tommy would have gotten annoyed and ran after him- except he was suddenly hit with the realization of what exactly that terrifying pink creeper was.

“Wait, was that the Krang?!”

---

Didn't end up getting around to mentioning the egg unfortunately, but such is life I suppose. Hope this satisfied your desire to watch Tommy bullshit his way out of dying at the hands (appendages?) of the Krang. 👍

[sunnykeysmash]

reposting a thread i did on twt under the cut cuz I think I kinda was onto something and the recent reveal of charlie n frank no longer sharing a bed only further confirms it to me but idk

losing my entire mind thinking of them possibly expanding on the hole meta in s16. the moment i hear anyone say "hole" im gonna yell at the screen

my prediction is that we're gonna get to know more about mac's hole. because it was only mentioned while dennis was away but... i do think it's always there, like it is for dennis. especially now that catholicism has let mac down, i wonder if he'll feel it more

and that's why he's looking for boyfriends/a partner. like how dennis gets with girls. it's an attempt to fill that hole. but he's never gonna get another rocket launcher, it'll just be like the dennis doll. it's not about sex for mac. it can't fill him

and i say this because im assuming we may talk about mac's dance due to frank taking back that "i get it". or im hoping, maybe. it's no coincidence that mac and dennis both aren't aware of the lowest point/vulnerability of each other. tends bar big feelings and mfhp dance.

because if they knew........ if they knew about each other's hole... the emptiness that the other feels when they're missing or far, the facade that they BOTH hold up of being strong (mac) and unemotional (dennis). if they could see behind that two way mirror

if they could see each other they'd see themselves. their own experiences, mirrored, and they'd understand

they'd see the storm, and they'd see the hole they need to fit into and it would show them who they both truly are. and that's the tragic beauty of their codependence. they're lost and blind without each other, they don't know who they are, and they can't save themselves

and they can only see themselves in the way the other sees them. dennis is only the golden god insofar as mac worships him. mac can only be the protector insofar as dennis believes him to be. im sure mac believes hes ugly because dennis let him think that's what he sees -

and if mac were to ever turn dennis down, he would literally crumble. because dennis TRULY doesn't know who he is outside of the way he's perceived. that's all he has. to turn him down means to plunge him into complete darkness

I think we can only get mac and dennis together as long as they have another hole outside of this. something each other really can't fix. for dennis it's obviously his son in ND. I feel like for mac, it could be his father.

not only does it rhyme like poetry (charlie n frank act like a couple, mac and dennis act like dennis is the father and mac is the son. and yes theres transcripts for this), but if frank takes back his "i get it", that opens back up that second hole for mac in a way dennis cannot-

fix, just like mac can't fix the ND situation, mac will never have a supportive father, no matter how much dennis could be there for him, because that's just not their roles. and you know. that's representative of life you know. you'll never truly be full,

even when you got something good like mac and dennis do, it can't fix the rest, and that's why it's allowed to stay and exist for the characters. it doesn't matter if macdennis happens, it doesn't ruin the foundation of the show, because it doesn't give the characters fulfillment

I also feel like mac and dennis are gonna get a pull out couch (like that inflatable one ig! but I don't know if the inflatable one specifically will stay lol) like frank and charlie have (*HAD), because I feel like frank and charlie are gonna start sleeping in separate rooms (NOTE: I WROTE THIS BEFORE THE ARTICLE CONFIRMED IT)

due to, you know, them switching dynamic. as I mentioned, since they got each other's right now. altho I was a bit simplistic in it, because I feel like mac is acting as a surrogate father for dennis as well, trying to fill that. it's equal for each other.

I don't wanna be corny and say "they're in the wrong holes" but that's like, what it is. even with the crate thing, something frank used to do. when mac presents the real one and it's full, he's stepping into shoes that shouldn't be his, trying to fix a trauma he cannot possibly (it's like throwing soup in someone's face instead of eating it... they're filling the relationship wrong due to all of their trauma)

and I guess getting them back into the proper dynamics (father and son for frank n charlie, couple for mac and dennis) is the first step towards some sort of healing, at least. I mean... that gets into much more on its own like, what counts as healing...

to that I say... this

they can't change the past, and they can't fix everything in their lives, but they can have a second chance at it. FUCK i love this show and its complex writing. no one understands. the GENIUS of it. anyways...

this last post applies to charfrank as much as macden btw i just mean like. when you have trauma and you feel empty you won't always know the right way to build something new with someone. it will warp everything. but now they can hopefully start

also, IMPORTANT, i was thinking abt gets romantic and i realized another crucial piece of this puzzle because. charlie n frank were paired with a father and son duo, but their story was about love. mac and dennis were paired with a couple, but their story was about a dead son -

you see where I'm getting with this? charlie and frank's story is a story about love involving a father and son, while dennis and mac's is a story about fathers and sons involving a couple

"it gets way straighter, I promise" in the sense that it's not really ABOUT them being a couple, at its core. like yes, they Are a couple, but that wasn't the point of it. and if people can't see that they're a couple they're also missing the BIGGER point of it

but it still all plays into the fact that they are a couple so that's a crucial part of it and very important... that's their second chance. that's the twist

but it may just be that way right now because the dynamics between mac n dennis and charlie n frank have been inverted with each other for so long.

[dmc-tings]

I thought of this at work and it made me sad.

Fight me but I really like the idea of the lords falling for a long lost Baker. So how’s it gonna play out if the Lords and their s/o find out a part of Jack and Margarette’s consciousness is still apart of the mold and because of that they’re able to watch their child through it and are maybe even able to manipulate it to communicate with their baby.

Long Lost Baker Kid (Jack and Marguerite But their in the Mutamycete)

This is part of the Long Lost Baker kid saga. It's a running theme on this blog now, and I'm addicted to it.

I wrote this one as a weird aftermath type deal. Made more sense. Just bare with me

Alcina Dimitrescu

You both had been looking around Miranda's study.

Permission given to you and your giant lady, by Chris

Alcina came across a journal

Notes about the Mutamycete and connections about it

You both sat and skimmed the journal

Pointing out every so often things that stuck out to you guys

But towards the end, there was an eye-catching note

"Evidence of the Bakers consciousness are evident. Even to the point where they themselves have reanimated. But the bodies weren't able to last with out the base of the Mutamycete."

You snapped the book closed, shivering

Alcina took you into her arms, not daring to speak

"I never!"

You both jumped!

"That... thats... Mama's voice..."

Alcina looked flabbergasted,

"What? Your birth mother? Is that why-"

"Now Darlin... You aughta be glad that they found someone to take care of em."

"Dad?!"

You started to frantically look around

Throwing things out of your way now

You finally followed their playful argument

They were in a jar...

That was covered in the mold....

"Momma? Daddy? Are... Are yall...?"

"Well, who else? Humm?" Marguerite said, you could hear the smile in her voice

You smiled brightly at Alcina and looked back at the jar, sadness forgotten

Donna and Angie Beneviento

It had been a few months since the explosion....

Angie and Donna had accompanied you to the site of the explosion

Currently, you were having a problem with pulling a massive beam out of your way.

Mr. Redfield had long gone, thinking that everything was dead, but Donna had kept you locked up safe in the Estate

Neither Donna or Angie were there out of any kind of want of their own, you pestered them into going.

Something, was calling you....

You couldn't put your finger on it, but this was important

Whatever or whomever it was that called to you

It was familiar, that's the only thing that you could tell them

"Let me, Dear."

It was Donna breaking you out of your stupor

With ease she moved the beam out of your way

(Despite the game not showing Donna's strength beyond the pollen, she's pretty damn strong. Fite me)

After jumping into a dark, yet shallow hole, you found... it?

Was this it?

A jar....

"ALL THAT FOR A DAMN JAR?!" Angie spoke

You gently lifted the jar up, mold... or some kinda fungus writhed within it

"Now, now. Let's not get off on tha wrong foot here."

You blinked, once. Twice. Thrice.

This... Was this your dad's voice?

"Daddy?"

"Aaaaannnnd?"

Your Momma's voice chimed in

There was water, but it wasn't raining

"Dear? You know them?"

You nodded, this water wouldn't move

"I found them, my parents."

You cried having thought you lost your parents forever

Salvatore Moreau

He had a hard time getting you out there...

It was part of what his brothers home was.. the bit that was left from the explosion

You insisted on going because of the possible research that would have been left there by Miranda

Moreau was against it, but he conceded at your request

Because you were his everything right now

And he'd do anything to make sure you were happy

You both were currently trying to find anything to reverse his current physical pain

You wanted him pain free, and couldn't care less about how he looked

But Moreau wanted to look like his human self for you

Right now you both were split up, him on one side of the wreckage and you on the other

On your knees shuffling through papers you found a journal

Surprisingly, the notebook was intact

You idly flipped though it, not really thinking you'd find anything

There was a bit of mold on the back pages, and once it hit your hand, you reached in disgust

"Gross! I guess they didn't blast everything!"

You threw the notebook, trying to wipe your hands on the ground and your pants

Salvatore quickly made his way to your side

"My love? Are you ok? Wha-"

He saw the look on your face and laughed

"Not funn-"

"Well that was damn rude! Both ya!"

You paused, a chill going up your spine

"Did you hear that?"

Salvatore gave you a confused look and then gazed around the area

"I... I didn't hear anything..."

"Now you just ain't payin attention chér."

"Momma?"

You looked around and moved closer to Moreau, taking his hand in yours

"Well well well. I told you she was with em!"

"D-Daddy?"

You squinted your eyes, then gave Salvatore a look, as if to see if he was doing anything

He looked back at you innocent and confused

Realizing he really wasn't doing anything you looked at the book

"It must have something to do with the mold then.."

Salvatore blinked at you

"Ah. You must have a bond with it... Y-your parents are in it still..."

You frowned, this was going to need more tests

But you picked up the notebook, making sure to safely put it in your bag

Karl Heisenberg

He grumbled, kicking some rubble out of his way

"This is ridiculous. I loathe this."

He had been whining this entire time...

You rolled your eyes at him,

"Som' bitch is annoyin' ain't he?"

The voice that sounded like your Dad, spoke out casually.

You nodded,

"Thats right, disembodied voice."

"Ah I bet the poor man is just tired..."

That was your Mom,

You shrugged, disembodied voice #2 may have had a point as well

It was odd.

You'd had your own monologs in your head, sure

But none of them ever sounded like anyone you actually knew

Until the explosion

And now you had two extra voices giving you advise or snarky remarks aimed at your disgruntled boyfriend

You would often speak out loud to them, and Karl learned to ignore it

You got done rummaging through the pile in front of you and stood up and pointed at some steel laying in a big pile

"Karl can-"

He waved his hand and haphazardly yeeted the pike away from you

"Thanks..."

He gave a "humph"

"Rude bastard..." your dad's voice rumbled

"He's not so bad." You spoke defensive, "He's just got some rough edges. Ya know, despite not wanting to come here, he came."

"Thats true. Jack cut the man some slack. He's with our daughter, and that's a victory in its own right."

You paused

"Your daughter?"

Karl looked at you, confused, cigar lit in his mouth

You looked at him and then back at your hands

"ARE YOU FUCKIN KIDDING ME?!"

Karl jumped and you started to rage

"You aren't just fucking voices?! Your my parents?! What kinda Twilight Zone shit is this!?"

Karl was really confused, he'd never seen you like this... And now your talking to yourself...

"Kitten. Are you-"

You turned to him

"Those note you found a couple of weeks back, Karl... The ones you old me about the-

"Oh shit. Seriously? So your folks where in there..."

Karl had previously come to the explosion, in search of any of Miranda's notes

He'd found some, that he had to piece together

It was done and the pair of you eventually learned that if parts of the Mutamycete had survived, anyone connected to it would be connected to everything that died nearby the mold

You finally calmed down

And sat down

Huffing, "Why didn't yall say anything before?"

"Well we didn't want you to do anything irrational. You're like ya daddy, you know."

Jack huffed at Marguerite

"Not my fault! She insisted bein around me all the time..."

You rolled your eyes at Karl

He laughed at you and heaved you over his shoulder

"You talk to your folks, I'll make sure we get home, ok?"

You patted him on the ass and relaxed

This was going to be a long walk...

[lowkeyclueless5137]

The Double Isekai Is back!

Hello...

I have a creative problem :'3

Like ya know... I had one double Isekai with Malleus... And ya know... All is good and well on that end... A lot of crack...

Until I came with another one TwTb

And this time... IT'S ORTHO...

So a few warnings before we proceed: this will have mentions of bullying and also chap 6 spoilers since chap 7 is literally hours away from us(when I wrote this one). :'3

So yep... That's kinda all :3

Now onto the Isekai explanation!

Under the cut cuz I will TERRORISE you with this for a while. /j

So for starters... If you skimmed through my oneshot book... There is a very suggestive title about what Malleus's double Isekai au looks like. So check that out if you want an unhealthy dose of crack. Healthify it by reading it in parts when ya feeling down if you want. :'3

Well we are going to use that premise of: character gets Isekai when they were smol so they can forget everything about twst.

Well... In Ortho's case... He was Isekai around 5-6 years old...

That's right, folks... This bby was Isekaid right when a Phanthom was ready to butcher him up. Right in front of Idia, who thought his brother was presumably dead.

Meanwhile, Ortho is found by a family outside, with different wounds and crying his eyes out. His hair wasn't a flame anymore, instead just a black wet lump on his head due to the rain.

They take him to a nearby doctor/hospital (whatever fancies you more) to see what was wrong with poor Ortho. It turns out he showed signs of amnesia and hallucinations due to a hit to the head. He had no home to go to, so he would most likely be sent straight to an orphanage. The only thing ortho knew about himself was his name, age and that a little gem pendant he had was very important to keep.

Meanwhile, Ortho was starting to bond with the couple that found him, especially with their child, Yuu. Since they were literally 5-6 years old, they quickly got attached as if they were blood related.

And that's how Ortho got adopted immediately by yuu's parents, having them to be siblings! :D

Years did pass and Yuu with ortho were closer than ever. Sure they were still siblings and acted like one was the most insufferable scum of the earth sometimes. But siblings are siblings... We all know what really goes in there, deep down...

Speaking of deep down... Sometimes ortho would be plagued by nightmares. Something about silhouettes screaming his name as he seemed to be dragged somewhere deep, akin to a big hole. Soon those nightmares were speculated to be the product of the bullying he received.

Due to the fact that he was a programmer prodigy and even a genius at exact science, Ortho was often picked on by the bullies or persuaded by the ones who only wanted him to do something for them.

He did wear glasses to help his sight out due to the endless hours of reading and staying in the front of a screen (most likely in twst the digital screens are developed to not tire out your eye), so he pretty much had a shit eyesight. Add to that his curly black hair that lately covered his eyes, having him actively slamming into things he notices too late. Sometimes, Yuu told him that they swore they saw the hair catching a faith blue or another color when Ortho would feel a powerful emotion. Along with the lil odd coincidences.

But no fear! Yuu to the rescue! Since they were a tad bit older by a few months, Yuu took it upon themselves to protect their 'Lil precious brother'. So Yuu being in a fighting arts club(it can vary for whatever fighting style you like...), they took it upon themselves to protect their lil bro from the big bad bullies.

Of course in exchange ortho gave to them the answer sheets to the tests. That's how siblings work, I ain't makin the rules here... :'3

But Yuu sometimes jumps the gun with the protectiveness. When Ortho wouldn't be home, they would immediately call like:

Yuu: ArE yOu GoInG oUt WiTh SoMeOnE?!

Ortho: Yuu... I'm at the grocery store... WITH OUR MOM!

Yuu: doesn't answer my question...

So with this, the base is kinda there... I know we all are here for the Isekai... Now let's get on with it!

It was a start of high-school year day... Like first weeks when everything sinks in that 'welp, you're in high school... Now ya making part of the tired kids'. So of course new things were on board like: new place, new teachers, new friends! All of this shit!

But also some things are still unchanged like the cafeteria food(if there is any cafeteria in your place), gut wrenching homework, oh so dreaded tests and expectations...

And bullies... Ortho can't forget about that one. :'3

Since in first days he showed to be a prodigy and always cowering behind his sibling, Ortho basically had a massive target on him. And since it was a local high-school, it was basically impossible for his old bullies or even some of their aquitances to not recognise him around or have that shitty luck to even run into them several times.

So of course the first moment Yuu wasn't around, Ortho immediately was targeted. Sure, he tried to stand up for himself, but really he was more on the artistic side of sports rather than violent... So all he could do is 'miraculously have a coincidence save him', by having the bullies slip on the floor so he could escape with his laptop tightly holded in his arms.

Meanwhile, Yuu was looking at a mirror that the students claimed it 'suddenly appeared on the hall wall', when Ortho dashed in, not seeing that well due to his hair, slamming into Yuu with force.

And that slam made the 2 to topple in and hit the mirror, which made them to dissappear right before all the students's eyes.

Now sure as hell no one will tamper with that mirror. :'3

Meanwhile, Ortho wakes up in a coffin and tries to get it out. He hears a voice outside searching for something, so he tries like any normal person to kick and scream that he needs to be out because he isn't dead.

Well the lid of the coffin sure gets blown up like Yuu's coffin too. This time, Yuu doesn't question the Raccoon-cat thing that blows fire. They immediately run to ortho to check if they are alright.

This had to be a grand prank... No? Floating coffins? Cult robes? Floating magic mirror?

Ortho does notice that he still had his laptop, so maybe they could use that to figure out wtf was going on...

But before they could do anything, the Raccoon, who by a good listen they found out was named Grim, threatened to make them BBQ.

Cue chase around the campus until Crow man appeared.

Everything goes exactly like in cannon, making the exception that Yuu was tested first, ending up with crow man leaving ortho off the hook bc 'they are a package deal'. Also because it was clear as day Yuu would obliterate him if he dared separate them.

So they go to the library to research from where exactly they came from. Ortho uses his laptop to prove that indeed they were who they claim to be, so crow man has no other option than to believe them and concluded that they came from another world.

The laptop's location function gave only error by now, but the internet surprisingly worked, so they could still bingie watch cat videos or memes. Or google shit about their world. Ortho needs to see those live performances of his fav k-idols after all...

They end up in Ramshackle and ortho has a new quest: find a goddamn power outlet.

They remeet Grim and also meet the ghosts.

Cue cringe af anime poses while holding Grim or protecting the laptop, their only way to kinda try and contact their previous world.

Crowley comes back to see the chaos unfolding. We get to redemonstrate how this shit works, so crow man can leave us alone. But nope! He doesn't! Because apparently now we are Janitors!

At least the night ends up with sum fluffy sibling cuddles.

The next day, the 3 are assigned to clean up the main street. To liven up the mood, Yuu tries one of those choreographies Ortho tries to learn, only for him to correct them and turn into a quirky time of singing and dancing.

Ace comes along and we get an intro of the great Seven. When they reach the King of the Underworld, Ortho's breath hitches for a moment, as if he saw that figure somewhere. He couldn't fathom where exactly, but he knew he saw it before.

And after the history lesson, Ace becomes a lil shit and jumpes a bit the gun when mentioning about the wierd af music these 2 magicless humans were singing, asking if the one singing it was a constipated elephant. (no... Yuu just doesn't know how to sing, Ace... Get over it.)

This time Ortho immediately flares up bc: 'how dare you disrespect my sibling and my fav band?!' and immediately kicks Ace in the stomach.

But Grim decided to square up while Yuu and ortho were minding their cleaning business. It ends up with the statue of the Queen of hearts getting charred and Crowley punishing them with cleaning 1000 glass windows. Ortho does the math like: 'so 250 for each...'

Bow we go exactly like in cannon, because ortho was the smart one who decided to stay behind and do his side of the punishment. Well now reduced to 200 since Deuce was apart of the group Unwillingly. Then find a power outlet in the cafeteria to plug in his laptop and watch sum cat videos or MVs...

Yuu and Grim return trashed and dirty af, but they are happily telling ortho that now all 3 of them will count as 1 student. Ortho does raise a brow at their deplorable state, but doesn't pursue it as Yuu made it clear they don't wanna talk about it.

But in the middle of the night, a collared Ace comes around. Ortho made him to sleep on the floor.

So the next day, they officially attend classes! Ortho did mostly the brainwork and Yuu with Grim the muscle work. Ortho properly meets Deuce tho, the 2 getting along great.

Grim tries to run away, but it doesn't work like that. :'3

Deuce clears out the fact that Ace was kicked out of his dorm. When asked about it, Ace revealed that it was all because of a slice of goddamn tart.

Yuu suggests that Ace should make a tart to compensate for the 'stolen' one. Yuu was actually decent in kitchen, but they still insisted to ask a dorm mate, who knows what their leader prefers, to help out.

They meet Cater. The older ginger gets so perplexed when Yuu and ortho tell him that they are indeed siblings. Like they looked so different you would say they were from totally different countries. Especially with ortho being so pale he could be compared to a ghost. Ortho does mention how his skin seems to be a tad bit more sensitive and so he cannot get a tan no matter how hard he tried every summer. He was just naturally pale.

Cater does bamboozle them into painting the roses for him so he could get them to Trey. But in the end, with some errands to do, Deuce snapping and finding out the truth about eggs and a lot of cooking mishaps... Finally they baked a mont blanc and were very proud of it.

They were ready to dig into the leftovers when Cater comes in and mentions about Trey's UM. It was another term that Brought ortho a lump in his throat, but he didn't mention it as he was surprised to see that the tart tasted like his favorite type of food. Yuu was also surprised, mentioning that if they could do this spell, they would eat anything in this world without any doubt.

But they have the mont blanc! And off they were to present it to Riddle.

Again, it goes like in cannon because ortho is the smart one who decides to just watch these idiots get their asses handled.

But that also means witnessing the overBlot. And that's when we get tricky.

Ortho started to have a headache and suddenly he could hear screams from the past and see misterious silhouettes he wouldn't recognize. He knew how the ob could be defeated and tell it to Yuu as being 'just a hunch'.

Well defeated ob means sad violin montage. Get yer tissues ready, folks...

After the whole ordeal and Riddle coming to his senses, we have an apology unbirthday party re-run. Riddle presented his extremely salty tart and the group collectively agrees to not let the redhead back in the kitchen. Trey is just laughing on the floor.

Once Crowley brings in Adeuce and our Ramshackle trio to tell them about blot, Ortho keeps it silent. Yuu knew their lil bro would totally ask a flurry of questions. So later on, at Ramshackle, they approach ortho about it.

Ortho just tells them that he simply just knew about overBlot. That he saw silhouettes and heard someone screaming his name, just like in his nightmares. And so he starts to get scared, since he doesn't know what is going on with him.

Yuu just hugs him and reassures that whatever will happen, they will stick together and get home one way or another. They are siblings, one will not make it out without the other.

For the rest of the night, they watch along Grim some funny videos on the laptop to cheer up.

A bit of time passes and things seemed to calm down for Ortho. He heard about the magishift tournament and gets curious, much like Yuu and Grim.

Crow man uses their excitement and curiosity for the game to have them investigate the wierd string of accidents.

So with a few interviews of the students at the infirmary, Ortho notices a pattern and tells to the group his theory: most accidents happened on the main hall/staircase.

They notice a security camera in there and decide to use ortho's genius to hack into it.

The problem? It needs to be manually.

So at 1 am, Adeuce are holding up Yuu who holds up ortho on their shoulders, who holds the laptop and connecting it to the camera while Grim is on his head, holding a flashlight for ortho to see what exactly he is doing.

They manage to connect it to the laptop! :D

But what they don't know is that by that, they disconnected someone else from that camera, gaining their attention.

Cue ortho pulling all nighters as Yuu, Grim and Adeuce continue with their investigation by interrogating people.

But at one point, Ortho suddenly got disconnected. He was took aback by this, so it becomes a war in between ortho and whoever else wanted control of the camera.

In the end, enough evidence is gathered and ortho has to leave the camera alone, much to the misterious party's confusion.

Again, things again roll like in cannon, since it was more handled by the Heartslabyul peeps. The overBlot still happened and ortho has almost a breakdown if it wasn't for Grim to snap him out of it.

The Ramshackle gained their place in the magishift tournament tho. Ortho is really eager to play, but because of his breakdown, he managed to get wounded at the foot, so he couldn't play. He was content with watching his sibling play tho. :3

Yuu gets headbutted by the murderdisk. 400K, ultra HD, color!

Both of them end up in the infirmary and fight with pillows. They also meet cheeka when the lil cub went after his uncle.

Adeuce and Grim fill the 2 in with what they missed: the Ignihyde actually making an appearance along with the Diasomnia's performance in the tournament.

Well ortho's foot and Yuu's head are healed completely by the time exams come. Ortho did raise a brow on how Yuu wasn't asking for him to tutor them, as usually this happened. Yuu just insisted that Ortho need a bit of time to clear up his mind and learn for himself. The younger was a bit touched, but also concerned about this motive, since usually Yuu wouldn't leave him alone unless it's really necessary.

The exams pass, but Ortho notices the lack of a bicker in between his friends. Even Grim stood along him more, which he usually wouldn't in favor of 'bossing' Yuu around or squaring up with Ace.

It turns out Ortho made an almost perfect score, getting in the first 50. Yuu was actually no.49, which had them breath in relief. Ortho wanted to ask why they were suddenly so relieved while Adeuce and Grim were fidgety. Yuu just tells him that they don't know why Adeuce and Grim are so panicky.

But as Jack comes to say hello, the anemones pop up. Yuu accidentally sputters out if Adeuce and Grim signed for the deal too, which gained a colective gasp in between the anemoned boys and Yuu.

Ortho is just confused on main. Jack is also a bit confused, but mainly disappointed in them for getting so low as to sign a deal for a cheatsheet.

As the anemones get dragged to Octavinelle, Yuu explained to Ortho that they signed a deal with Ashengrotto. The condition for not being an anemone and working at the lounge was to enter in the top 50, which they did. Ortho asked what did Yuu give as a collateral.

"Oh, I gave the Ramshackle." "THAT'S WHY I WAS THROWN OUT A WEEK AGO BY THAT TALL BITCH?!" "details... Details..." "DETAILS MY ASS!"

Jack just awkwardly stays there and witnesses the screaming match in between the 2. He does pick up a burning smell, but then again, it was a chaos and he feared that if he bothered the 2 siblings, Jack would get his ass handled.

So what to do? Go to the Octavinelle right now and face Azul. Ortho needs his and his sibling's bastard cat back.

Azul surely picks up too the burning smell, but he thinks it's sum dumbass in the kitchen, so he sends Floyd in there. Ortho was just simply bubbling with rage, but he tried to contain himself in there.

Azul notes how ortho looked familiar, but Ortho was there to see the terms of Yuu's contract, since he needed to know if he will dwelve more in the cafeteria or he can go back there and sleep properly.

Azul simply shows him the said contract, telling him that it was now kept as a receipt more. Ortho calms down once he realises that he can safely return to Ramshackle.

But Yuu wants to free the anemones, since they realised Azul scammed them all. Ortho had no say in all, but at least no contract was signed for the meantime.

But that didn't mean Azul forgot them. He put his eyes on Ramshackle after all...

So here it comes the gathering of possible blackmail against Azul. It doesn't work since that guy was good at literally everything on the surface.

Except PE, but then again, everyone knows that already.

The twins finally get a grasp on an alone Ortho, telling him that he seems quite familiar. His face, his voice, his eyes, all seemed quite familiar. Ortho tells them to leave him alone, which the twins tell him that now surely he reminds them of that 'someone' even more.

And that's when they drop the bomb: Maybe that someone can help Ortho with the mistery about himself.

That's when Ortho stops to listen, asking who that 'someone' is. The twins tell him that Azul can have him meet that person, of course for a few terms that are yet to be discussed.

When Yuu searches for Ortho, they are told by a student that ortho was going to Octavinelle along the Leech twins. Yuu almost strangles that student in that rage fit, but Jack stops them and the 2 go to Octavinelle too.

In the V.I.P. Room, Azul was again selling the idea of 'yes, you look certainly like someone I know', to Ortho, although he mentions a few things that are different, mainly the hair, which ortho doesn't really makes it as something that drastic of a difference.

Yuu just bangs the door with a murderous look, ready to unalive both Azul and the twins then and there.

Jack was just there. :'3

Azul does reveal that Ortho might have a quite important connection with twisted wonderland, especially with a certain individual, hard to reach, that only Azul could convince him to meet with Ortho.

Yuu takes ortho a bit to discuss about it. They did ask if Ortho was alright with such a thing. It must be a bit of a mess for him right now, so of course such things was something game changer for him. Ortho says that if he doesn't know, the nightmares will still plague him. And who knows what wierd things might happen to him in the future if he doesn't figure out?

Yuu this time signs again a contract, because they couldn't afford their lil sibling to get in trouble. The collateral was Ramshackle. Azul was extremely generous with his side of reward tho: giving the answers + freeing the anemones if they manage to get him a certain photo from the Atlantica museum.

So we goin under the sea✨🎶

No... I will never get tired of this joke... X3

We see the twins in their mer forms! They are long! And probably really lethal if we piss them off. :'D

So with the first attempt at  getting the photo being busted by the twins, Jack offers for Ortho, Grim and Yuu to sleep at Savanaclaw. Leona puts them to sleep in his room as long as they don't bother him.

Ortho seeks tho a bit of advice. He knew Leona was a dormleader and had family problems, so he wanted to ask what would happen if, suddenly his actual roots would come back at him. Sure, he was adopted and had to live with this label over him all his life. But on the other hand, suddenly he is supposed to have roots in here, which doesn't make any sense in his agenda.

Leona just gives a piece of advice: Life is full of shit. It's important only what you do out of it to matter for you. Rewards don't come without working hard for them. There are lucky and unlucky people and everyone has to deal with everything at one point. It's inevitable. So just do what makes you happy. You will have deal with shit sometimes, but that's not something to be avoided.

Ortho just thanks for the advice and heads on to sleep with Grim. Meanwhile, Yuu meets HoRnI bOi at the Ramshackle porch like it's totally not creepy. Yes, this is my version to the tsunotaro vs Hornton conflict.

The next day, Leona just gets a laugh out of them for being so dumb to sign a contract with Azul. They couldn't steal the contracts as they are 'protected by a magical zapping spell' as Azul told Ortho, but then he adds that it's also a paradox, mumbling more and more until it turns into ortho rambling about the contracts's theoretical and practical proprieties.

So what to do? Ortho has a plan!

Yuu, Ace Deuce and Grim go back after the photo while Ortho, Leona and Ruggie sneak in the VIP room. Ortho cracked open the safe codes using his laptop that Azul left in there, so they could seenlessly take the contracts.

And put a note with a funky donkey in it. Because that is a must. >:3

So when Azul realises that all of it was actually a diversion, he comes face to face with Ortho, who acted like he just came in. Azul asks if he took the contracts. To which Ortho shakes his head.

But Azul saw the pen in ortho's pocket along with the same sticky notes he found in his safe.

Ortho just showed a mischievous smile as he ran out of there, to Leona, Azul hot on his tail.

Welp... OverBlot...

Here we go again... Yuu just Exhales in 'is this a trend among dormheads?'.

Ortho tries to keep a bit his cool. It's the 3rd time. He can handle it! Yuu just throws again hands.

But everything goes slow motion, when his sibling is almost crushed by one of Azul's attacks. Ortho slides in to take the hit.

But it doesn't come at all.

Instead, gushes of wind almost push ortho and Yuu off their feet. When they opened their eyes, they saw that somehow the spell was conquered by something that also hit the overBlot, making Azul to lose his attention and balance enough to get successfully knocked out.

Ortho simply was at loss of words. He asked who saved him and Yuu in the knack of time, but he was meet with just worried gazes, as if something happened while he had his eyes closed.

Yuu breaks it to him... They saw what happened. They saw a blue flame that was summoned and gulped Azul's spell. Ortho again asked who did it, but it was a bit of silence, before Yuu actually spoke.

He did it. Ortho summoned that flame.

Ace adds how he saw an orange fire too, but that went out really quick. Deuce added that the spell must've been really powerful since ortho looked drained of energy. And instead of being 'Woa, I have magic, so cool!' and get all excited as everyone would expect from him, Ortho enters a panic state. This wasn't supposed to happen at all in his mind. It made no sense and it scared him a lot.

Yuu just suggests to stay for a little, drink a bit of water and try to calm down. It works only after a while. And finally things could start to go back to normal a bit.

Yuu and horni boi bond a lil while Ortho enjoys sum cat videos on his laptop along cuddling with Grim.

Yuu wanted to tell Crowley about the magic mishap, but ortho insists, more like begging, to not do it. He had to figure it out on his own before word would get out.

Leona, Ruggie and Jack decided to keep their mouths shut as the octotrio were forced to as a repayment for Ortho as the anemones were freed, but Azul didn't arrange for Ortho to meet this misterious dude it was speculated he might have a connection to.

With the exams off everyone's chest as well as the anemones, the winter holiday is coming in strong!

Crowley gives to Yuu, Grim and Ortho one phone to share in order to contact him while he is off to 'his very important research trip'. Yeah... The 3 just note in Adeuce and Jack's numbers additionally. They also make a gc with the 3 contacts. Just to be safe... Ya know?

But the shit part was that they still had to do a bit of handymen work while dealing with octatrio for the whole holiday. At least crow man promised them a feast at Ramshackle to patch up for it. Which was alright.

Ortho decided to hit the books seriously this time. So he borrowed a lot of them from the library and was studying in the cafeteria, as the Ramshackle was extremely cold, so they couldn't possibly stay in there without being decked in blankets.

They meet Jamil and the Scarabia peeps. And off they are dragged to the desert dorm. Ortho just wanted to study, but nah... Gotta go and party with Kalim and the Scarabia peeps.

Until the Dormhead suddenly switched moods.

Of course the first day of actual scarabia boot camp. Poor Ortho, Grim and Yuu. Even if 2 out of 3 were athletic a bit, they all ended up crawling by the end of the whole march.

But Kalim again has a wierd mood switch and gives them a oasis to cool off.

Already with the second night in, Yuu demanded that they had to get out. They were locked in there and who knew when Kalim would snap again and put them to March through the desert?!

So they break out!

But during all of that, Ortho trips and from his neck, his gem pendant's string rips and falls. He knew he should've changed that flimsy string, but he didn't have the chance. He didn't have a chance to even look for the gem, as the Scarabia students were hot on their tails and they had to escape via magic carpet!

But they get yeeted in the Octavinelle lounge.

Surely it was a wild night for the poor unsuspecting octatrio. :'3

Because Yuu blackmailed them with the fact that they still didn't repay them personally for everything they did to them, they had to help into the Scarabia mess.

And also find Ortho's pendant. Grim knew how ortho was smelling, so the pendant couldn't have a smell that far from their owner's.

Returning to Scarabia, Kalim seemed in a good mood. Yuu explained that Ortho lost something of value in here, to which Kalim happily showed them that he found a wierd gem on the halls, suspecting that it had to come from Ortho.

He shows a blue-ish gem in a silver frame, attached to a broken string. Grim confirms that it reeks of Ortho's usual smell, so the boy happily puts it in his pocket, thanking Kalim for finding it for him.

So first day was more like looking around and analyzing what seemed wrong, which at first looked exactly like normal, despite the Ramshackle trio's accusations and whines.

At night tho, they split up, having Jade alone with Kalim in the treasure room while the others distract Jamil with a game.

Jamil makes a move and asks what's with Ortho's pendant since it looked quite pricey. Ortho replies that he had it since he could properly remember. Yuu also mentions that it was true, since they only saw ortho with that pendant 24/7 since they first meet. Ortho adds that he doesn't know why, but he must keep it at him at all costs.

Jamil theories that it must be an important heirloom, to which Ortho goes silent. Azul thankfully drifts the convo from becoming too sour, shifting it to Floyd's winning streak.

Back in their shared room, the group contemplates about what to do tomorrow with the problem at hand. It was quickly settled a plan.

Later that night, Ortho couldn't sleep. Azul was also awake, asking why he couldn't sleep. Ortho refuses to say, to which Azul figures on his own that it had to do with what happened before, during his own overBlot.

So he takes ortho under his arm and makes a promise: if by any means Ortho needs to have the need to go to someone to vent, he will personally give him a private place and an ear to listen to him. It was a little thing for helping him out after all. And Yuu was always there, which meant it would be super rare for that to happen.

Ortho finally gets out his pendant, asking if it's possible for this to be magical. Azul tells him that he has to find out on his own, as it's his pendant.

Nonetheless, the next day they bust up Jamil like in cannon!

Cue ob, crying Kalim and the infamous: DOKKAAAANNN...

While trying to resist the gush of powerful wind, Ortho sees for a faith second the blue flames everyone told him about. He starts to panic a bit, but has 0 time to process entirely as he found himself flying off along the others, screaming and praying they won't become pancakes for good.

After some talking and convincing Kalim of the truth, they had to return.

That's when they notice that despite the darkness, they had a quite faith light with them. Turning towards the source, everyone is a bit silent or gasping.

Ortho asks why they are all looking at him, so Yuu pulls out the phone for Ortho to see his reflection in it.

His hair gained blue tints and a few blue flames were swishing around, as if the hair itself was trying to catch fire. That gave the faith light.

Of course ortho got a spook out of his, his panic flaring up the flames more and changing their color accordingly. Yuu tries to get close, but Ortho insists to not do that, in fear of burning them.

Yuu is a petty mf and still hugs their lil bro, even going as far as caressing their head when they realised the flames did not burn them.

Kalim mentions that this has to be something akin to 'their' hair, to which ortho perks up, but Jade reminds them of the overBlot.

While on their way back via oasis maker and the twins swimming, Azul tries to teach Ortho a basic shield spell. It's wonky, but they couldn't deny it would be insanely useful in this situation. Wonky as it was.

It proved to be useful, as ortho and Yuu tried to get out of the other's way of attacking, while distracting the hipnotised scarabia students.

Once the overBlot was defeated, Ortho took a breath of relief and his few flames dissappeared too. He still could do the said spell, but, now his hair was again fully black and curly like a mop. Yuu even joked about the 'mop head' being back, which did gain a small giggle from the one in question.

Unfortunately Grim picked that up and now Yuu is (insert fighting style) minion while Ortho is mop minion.

But still... Everything ends up like in cannon, with Adeuce returning, relieved to see their buddies safe.

Of course sum time passed and with the winter holiday over, the classes had to get their students back in.

While on the first day after the holiday, Yuu notices the statues of great 7. They told Ortho about all the shit with the funky af dreams and the knocking in the mirror. Ortho notes how only the king of the underworld seems familiar to him.

But their thought process gets intrerrupted by Deuce bumping into a boy and the boy starting to cry. Ace sure af didn't miss the opportunity to 'call on a teacher'. Yuu palmfaces as Deuce tries to calm down the boy, but he runs off.

Cue idiots leaving this incident aside.

The VDC gets announced and Yuu tries to nudge in their lil bro, saying that Ortho had some affiliation to this kind of shit. Ace asks if it's because of those girls and boys idols from his world, he keeps watching. Ortho gets really into it and explains that he appreciates the work and the music they make. Yuu just likes to watch crack compilations. :D

So with all the pestering, Ortho decides to finally give it a shot. They sign up for it at Rook tho, who does note that ortho looks familiar, to which he said 'yeah, I get that often... Moving on!'.

Like NRC dudes... Please... For 1 second could you NOT say that?

Training for the VDC was, surprisingly, along Jamil and Kalim, who were incredible dancers. Ortho was skilled into dancing as well, unlike Deuce, Ace and Grim's boiling noodles show. Yuu stood this one out, bc that was something they admit they aren't good at and would rather just dance in private or for the gist of it rather than that.

But because Grim still insisted to go in there, Ortho had to be the 2/3 from their student title to go with him. Sure they weren't fully the 1 student they are marked off ass, but still it is above half, so it can still count, ya know?

Yuu escorted them at the auditions, just to and I quote 'watch the good, the bad and the dumb in action'.

They meet again Lilia! Who notes that Ortho again looks familiar. It was at this point that Ortho was growing annoyed by this. They also see Cater and the older ginger happily explains to Grim how idols are in this world, which wasn't that far fetched from Yuu and Ortho's world.

They wanted to watch a choreography video on Cater's phone, but they had to watch an add of Neige. Ortho points out that the clothes look a bit too big for him to be ruled as just 'oversized style'. Yuu Exhales in the distance because here it comes the fashionista Ortho. As if it wasn't enough the whole 'lemme arrange your hair cuz it looks horrible'.

But also, Ace notes that a robot was in there, which gains the robot's attention and so, they are coming to the lil group.

Cue spiderman pointing meme, but it's Human Ortho and Robo Ortho. It was an awkward silence since everyone else knew this was probably fucked up. Robo Ortho notes how this is one of the 3 part magicless student, which was very curious. The human Ortho notes how it was super cool the robot design and all that.

They are very much empty headed in this situation... Like braincells go poof. :'3

One of the poemfiore guys tasked with organising breaks the moment by looking for 'Ortho' to go in, to which both respond. Even more confusion since 'We have the same name! Who is getting in first?!'.

Yeah... Even the poemfiore student is confused, since there are 2 Orthos. So he calls in Rook to see this one. Rook calls in Robo Ortho, saying that human Ortho was written in as a 2 part student this time, which meant he and Grim will share a comune score.

The auditions go normally after that mishap.

And a few days later, the braincell group was getting out of the lessons, when an arrow almost cut their necks off.

It turns out that Ortho didn't make it (Grim basically made his score split in half), but Adeuce did. Well, it was all up to the judge after all, so Ortho congratulated them on their work. He will support his friends after all. Yuu cheers Ortho a bit more by telling him that he will always be no.1 for them when it comes to dancing.

But also ortho, Grim and Yuu are required to come too! Which was a bit wierd!

It turns absolutely normal when Crowley is in there and announces that Ramshackle will be the new training camp place. Ortho is chill with it as long as his laptop doesn't get tampered with. Yuu is chill with it just if you let them eat their cake in peace.

Well... Somehow, both conditions are broken. Vil cursed all the food and also confiscated Ortho's laptop so he wouldn't stay up until late watching shit on YouTube.

The training camp was annoying for the Ramshackle trio and a hell for the others who participated into it. Ortho is actually glad he didn't make it past the auditions now.

But at least they befriended Epel. Epel was a good friend. :D

One night Jamil saw a bug crawling on the floor and he slept outside. :'3

With all the training and ordeals, finally the culture festival day came.

Ortho and Yuu each received 2 VDC tickets each. Yuu immediately gave one to their friend, Horni Boi, while ortho had no idea who he should give it to.

So as he was contemplating who should he invite, he happens to cross paths again with the other Ortho. They again talk for a bit, robo ortho bringing up the fact that he has to convince somehow his big brother to get the hell out of his room besides for the presentation. Human Ortho kinda pities the situation, so he gives to Robo ortho his other VDC ticket, telling him that he could use it to gaslight robo ortho's big brother into going outside.

Both are little gremlins... Pass it on...

On the big day, Yuu, ortho and Grim look around the stalls a bit. They see Jade, Trey and others who at the sports festival didn't have a club stall. It gets explained that the culture festival is the most important for clubs that aren't sports centered.

They also see the Gargoyle research society, but didn't find anyone in there. Bummer :'3

The trio returns just in time to see the rehearsals. First it was the 'NRC tribe'. Yuu still cannot shake the uga booga image formed due to the name.

Next was Neige and the drawves from RSA. Their performance made Ortho to question why tf these guys didn't go to kindergarten with this. Like it would be something that kids would absolutely eat it up.

Then it clicked for him when he heard Leona passing by and whining about his furball of a nephew coming in here to visit.

So he told his theory to Yuu, the 2 failing to see Vil getting to the backstage.

But Grim, Kalim and Rook saw it!

Cue cannon going downhill and overBlot Vil!

At this, Ortho is a bit took aback and his hair suddenly catches the blue flame it caught back in Scarabia. He notices it and mentions more to himself how he forgot to conceal it, to which Yuu ditches the overBlot to ask 'conceal it?! What do you mean?!'.

Ortho ditches the question in favor of not getting killed. He Aparently now has some better profiency at spells, which was also something that Yuu heavily questioned.

In the end, Deuce's UM saves the day! :D

After all of this, Malleus shows up. Everyone loses it over the nickname Yuu gave to this very OP Fae prince. Malleus is entertained by the nickname and ofc fixes the stage as both a thank you for the ticket and an unintentional flex.

Then he notices Ortho and confuses him for the 'little Shroud' who apparently seems to 'lose his flame'. Ortho is quick to retort that he is no Shroud and that most certainly he had no fire hair or something like that, concealing it back to the black curly hair. He is just a simple human from another world, who is Yuu's younger brother with a few months.

After the whole VDC ordeal which goes like in cannon, Yuu takes Ortho to the backstage to talk about it, asking to be honest with them. They are siblings through and though. They can figure it out one way or another.

So Ortho breaks down crying, telling Yuu about how the fire kept coming back and he tried to hide it. He is scared of this, because it meant he belongs in here, which got ortho to theorise that actually, the accident that brought them in here was because of him. He stated to blame himself for Yuu ending up in here and having to deal with this shit. He didn't want magic, he just wanted back home. He just wanted to not be a freak anymore, as it was clear that everyone else considered his case to be wierd and unnatural.

Yuu and Grim both hug Ortho and try to reassure that it will be alright, that he isn't a freak and that he will forever be Yuu's brother. They are a little family. Even Grim is included. They won't allow for anyone to separate them. They will go home one way or another and everything will be OK.

What they didn't know was that someone heard them.

Robo Ortho was looking for the other Ortho to thank him, bc finally they dragged Idia outside and had a fun time together. But he oh so happened to hear the convo. Sure he didn't intend to do it, it was purely accidental... But it was enough to piece together a few things and go tell Idia about it.

So... After that, everyone is tired, so they go to bed. Yuu didn't find Grim after talking with Mickey, so they went to search for them.

Ortho woke up due to yet another nightmare and so, he went out to search for Yuu, finding them wounded and trying to return to Ramshackle. Oh hell nah... Ortho is getting them immediately to the infirmary and calls Adeuce to get on board with searching for Grim, while Ortho made sure Yuu wouldn't pull a smooth brain move and go after the clearly rabid Grim.

Like in cannon, Grim couldn't be found before the Shrouds get him.

Yuu notes that it was the perfect opportunity for Ortho to meet the supposed Shrouds. He just had to go and ask for Grim. Ortho promptly refused. His denial power really was impossible to fight. :'3

So for the rest of the culture festival... It was that invisible thick tension over everyone.

Until the VDC tribe reunites and discusses about the outcome of it. With Vil, Rook, Jamil and Kalim's generous donations to Ramshackle, Yuu and Ortho were happy for finally having Ramshackle be a decent place.

And that is when the Charons come around. Ortho immediately recognises them, but doesn't know from where. But it didn't matter as the Charons tried to get Vil and Jamil.

And they also managed to take Azul, Riddle, Leona and Aparently Idia along the 2 initial targets.

Yuu is blowing a casket about it. Their friends are unconscious in bed, their cat-raccoon is gone and now NRC is dirty af. Ortho is the voice of reason this time, convincing Yuu to chill tf out before they do anything hasty.

Well chill gets thrown aside when they along Epel find out Rook is off to deliver to Vil something.

Cue crazy af broom race. :V

Rook reveals to be secretly filthy rich and also to have tracked Vil using his UM, which was actually cool.

Yuu tries to cheer Ortho, asking what his UM would probably be, but Ortho is still denying it. :'3

They get pom pomified and Yuu doesn't miss to be extra about it.

So they reach Stix and finally get let inside after Yuu blows a casket and Rook is extra af about it. Ortho and Epel are just 'we don't know these guys'.

They get let in and finally they face Robo Ortho and Idia.

Cue awkward af time... Robo Ortho is very welcoming while Idia is a bit shy. Human Ortho hid behind Yuu before Idia could spot him and he was glued in there.

Yuu tries to move and reveal him, but ortho would follow immediately after. Idia notices if Yuu is perhaps constipated, to which they are all like 'Nah... I have my mophead glued to me'. Idia asks what exactly a 'mophead is' and Yuu tries to show but hooman Ortho had none of that. :'3

It's just awkward for Epel and robo ortho since Rook seemed to enjoy this one to the maximum.

At one point Yuu loses their patience and bodyslams their bro before him, accidentally hitting Idia too.

Well isn't that a nice meeting? U-U/✨

Well of course it's a bit of silence once the 2 properly see each other. Human Ortho's glasses fell off so Yuu picked them and put them in their pocket. Human Ortho immediately hid his face with his hair and hands, saying something in between the lines of 'sorry you have to see me'.

Idia looks at robo Ortho who does motion for him to approach the other Ortho. It ends up with Idia telling the others that they can stay in a meeting room while the ob boys finish the tests and everything. There were just a few things he had to discuss with the human Ortho.

Ofc our hooman Ortho promptly refused, trying to stick to Yuu, but instead slammed face first in a pillar. He can't see shit without his glasses after all. Yuu simply gives him his glasses back and tells him that it will be alright. That he needs to know one way or another. Ortho tries to reason that this isn't how he wanted to find out, but Yuu reassures that it would be just a small talk and then they will be back together.

So while robo ortho gets Yuu, Epel and Rook to the said room, Idia guides human Ortho through the Stix halls, towards another room.

It was a very awkward silence in between them, which ortho decided to break by asking if Idia knew about his pendant, showing it to the other. Of course Idia knew about it. He explains that it was a protective pendant, meant to protect Ortho. Ortho notes how that surely didn't work at all back then, nor did in twisted wonderland, to which Idia responds with the fact that protective stones forcefully pull your magic out to react to different dangers.

That explained so much about the wierd bullies incidents, but Ortho wouldn't voice out that one. :'3

Idia goes on about how the Shroud family has a distinctive 'blessing', which gives them the job of watching over the tartarus. He elaborated about the blot and the 'blessing' having a tight connection, before making a pause and stopping on the hall. Ortho halted too and asked why did they stop.

Idia makes a pause before turning to him and mentioning how he thought he was dead. He thought Ortho died during that incident and he could still remember his cries and how his last words were for him to help, but he couldn't. It marked him deeply after all... And that's how robo Ortho was created. And Idia sure as hell loved his robot lil brother to the bone.

To that, Ortho responds that he can bearly remember. He doesn't have a sharp memory like a robot. He isn't and will never be like Robo Ortho, because he lives in the present and changed accordingly, while Idia still seems to live in the past.

At this, Idia cups Ortho's cheek in his hand. He does admit that he may live sometimes in the past, but even if Ortho before him is not like the other one, he will still be a Shroud. It's in their blood and he cannot change that one.

And that's when Ortho's hair ignites and is fully a blue flame. It wasn't now partially flame as it used to be, but a full blue fire.

Ortho gets back and asks what in tarnation did Idia do to him. Idia says that he did nothing, that it was simply coming from inside. He says that he won't force Ortho to stay in here, but he needs to accept one way or another that he belongs in here, that is his destiny.

It turns out, all this time, Idia guided ortho on another way to the room Yuu, Epel and Rook were assigned in. Idia had to go because something came up and gave Ortho sum time to think about it before leaving.

Ortho immediately makes that hiding spell for his hair, takes a deep breath and comes in, getting immediately tackled by Yuu in a hug, asking if he was alright and if they need to deck Idia. Ortho creaks a smile at that and tells them that it was everything alright... He just had to think a bit about it.

But when the power cuts out and seeming something wierd keeps happening, everyone starts to raise a brow. The announcements told about the layers of tartarus melting to which ortho remembers what Idia told him about STIX up until now.

Only the Shrouds were able to tamper with Tartarus. And only robo Ortho was fast enough to tamper with all the tech around. So of course he goes to the control panel to check if his theory was true, which is confirmed when robo Ortho intercepted his attempt at breaking in the sistem.

They needed to get out and Epel happily blows up the door. :3

They meet up with the kidnapped gang and try to blackmail the employees into getting into Tartarus. At first they are skeptical, until Ortho slams his hands on a table as his flame hair returns, this time a very annoyed orange, scaring the crap out of everyone.

But the employees get blackmailed anyway to help them. Since Ortho had 0 control of his magic and could brealy do something with it, he had to stick with Yuu and the pom pom trio.

At least his fire hair is a good flashlight. :'3

Ofc this one goes like in cannon, but with a few tweakings lore wise.

For starters, Robo ortho was gaslighted by the Tartarus Phanthoms. Once defeated they also formed a will for Robo-Ortho too. So now he is his own person too.

After that, like in cannon, everyone goes back to NRC. Ortho wants to hide again his fire hair, but Yuu stops him, telling him that it looks badass and no matter what, they are still their lil nerdy bro.

Ramshackle was renovated tho! It looks super fancy now. UwU

Idia and robo Ortho turn up to visit the new Ramshackle, revealing that now Robo-ortho had his own will and was officially an NRC student.

As for human Ortho... Idia already knew there was 0 chance of him actually staying with him, but he wants to at least be on good terms with him. They were after all brothers...

Human Ortho is still trying to accept everything, but he admits that even if his blood belongs to twisted wonderland and the Shroud family, his home is back in Yuu's world. His family was the one whom he was raised with and whom he loved for so long. Idia can still be his bigger brother... But it will take some time for that to settle in.

And that, theoretically, would make both orthos twins. :'3

So to tell them apart, Idia refers to robo Ortho as Ortho, while for the human Ortho as Orpheus, since this was actually his full name back in Yuu's world.

Yuu still refers to their lil bro as 'mophead'. Now it's a fire mop! :'3

They play video-games and bond a bit more!

And bc this is where chap 7 starts... Imma leave it at this... While I could convert at least that first smol part(really... Why 19? Usually there were more parts coming out... -3-) I decided that perhaps I should wait to convert it fully along the events!(since we have 2 orthos) :3c

So what do y'all think? What shenanigans would probably be valid and what crack potential can it have? Since I kinda went full on angst on this one U-U

Until next time! Buh bye!