#like yea joe's a weird dude

[direwombat]

Ruthie for the OC questionnaire thing! :D

01. Full name: Ruthanne Bette Croft 02. Best friend: weird pull but, virgil :) yeah, she's besties with the mayor. what about it? but also just like...anyone over the age of 65 tbh. she may be in her late 20s, but she's got an old lady name and the soul of one too <3 03. Sexuality: demisexual with no real preference towards men or women. 04. Favorite color: yellow <3 05. Relationship status: single, "married to her work," not looking because she's too busy trying to study the local cult leader like a bug 06. Ideal mate: tbh she never really thought about it and doesn't really think an "ideal mate" really exists. besides what does "ideal" even mean, anyway? 07. Turn-ons: well read, a keen intellect, a willingness to have long philosophical debates about the mundane. 08. Favorite food: werther's originals buffalo mac and cheese with grilled chicken and a side garden salad 09. Crushes: very few until joseph, and even then, she didn't start crushing until after she's spent a considerable amount of time arguing engaging in spiritual and philosophical debate with him 10. Favorite music: her "polite company" answer is classical music, with a particular fondness for the romantic composers. the real answer is heavy metal tho. 11. Biggest fear: that her degrees in psychology, philosophy and religious studies (especially the religious studies one) were a waste of time and money :/// 12. Biggest fantasy: writing and publishing the first book on joseph seed and the project at eden's gate. she's literally been tracking the cult since it's time in georgia, and after getting her degree she went straight to montana to observe them :) 13. Bad habits: chewing on her nails/pencils/the arms of her glasses 14. Biggest regret: not taking latin or greek in college. she's taught herself some latin but it's nowhere good enough to read actual texts in the language. also now that she's knee deep in cult shit, she kind of wishes she had a few more anthropology courses under her belt (especially ones on ethics fla;skjdf) 15. Best kept secrets: fla;kjdf her own conspiracy board tracking the project. i mean. this wasn't a secret from her housemates, but she sure as hell didn't disclose that to earl during her interview and she refuses to answer questions about how she knows so much about the cult despite not having been in hope county for very long. 16. Last thought: "I wonder what joseph's/the cults opinion on x passage from y book of the bible, and i wonder what they think of it in contrast with passage b from book c?" 🤔🤔🤔 17. Worst romantic experience: afdl;kjadfadf she really hasn't had a bad one considering she's only dated like two other people in her life, but uh...does catching feelings for a cult leader you're actively psychoanalyzing count? 18. Biggest insecurity: her abysmal math skills 19. Weapon of choice: her words. 20. Role Model: as an adult she doesn't really have one, but as a kid it was probably mr rogers, tbh

[bisluthq]

lmao nah dude. This is some Maylor tripping bullshit. I just… don’t. I can buy she thought about him time to time but this is some retconning of idk her life.

Do you think it's a coincidence for example that Matty in the NMEs speech said something like be a cowboy like me and then Taylor writes a song with that title? 💀 Also from what I heard Matty said that he regretted in the NMEs not talking to her about his idea for producing an album of hers. And what happens later Joe gets producer credids.

Do you think it's a coincidence that Folkmore suddenly is filled with songs about cheating? I think if she wasn't cheating then, the idea was definately sounding appealing

Yes I would sooner think it’s a coincidence - cowboys are a pretty standard trope tbh, I myself have written cowboy stories/westerns like neither of them invented that - than Taylor is utterly psychotic lol. She can’t have been cheating when she wrote folkmore because she was in lockdown with Joe and her staff and then her collaborators and Matty was with Twigs and getting engaged lol like… yes weirder coincidences have happened and YEA it felt FUCKING FATED which would’ve been absolutely dizzying. It’s very romantic that way. But if she did what you say - heard the speech, went home, ignored her boyfriend, pretended to love him and diligently followed him around for 3 more years, scammed him a Grammy for no reason etc while actively pining after Matty she doesn’t just need therapy and it stops being romantic like she needs to be institutionalized because she’s like… schizophrenic and has antisocial personality disorder and is apparently not on meds. (Not armchair diagnosing this is just not real life lol same as it WAS real life that Tatty 1.0 HAPPENED).

Why must people be SO WEIRD about all her exes (and especially Matty and Joe tbh)??

[destinyc1020]

I went snooping through your blogs because you have a lot of opinions I agree with. But your dislike for Jacob Elordi and his time with Z is a bit off lmao. We don’t know when they started dating or broke up so idk why some people act like he cheated we don’t know that. And I seen some post of you not happy if Joe he treated her on a grown or plane or something like that and saying you felt he want into her based on pictures. But plenty of people feel the same with Tom about Z or vice versa. And it’s stupid because you are making assumptions based on pictures or videos that don’t give context or show the full day of them together. And please don’t think I’m a JE shooter because I think he cane be very pretentious and a bit full of himself without having the credentials to be that but yea I just think it’s weird how people act like they know what went on between Z and Jacob when we literally know nothing 😕

Thanks Anon for your input. We have a relative idea of when they started dating and when they broke up based on the receipts we've had over the years. Are we going to know everything? No. Of course not. I keep repeating that we only see 1% of these people's lives.

Anyway, I've always said that we don't really know what happened btwn JE and Z. Even when cheating allegations are brought up, I've usually always said that these were ALLEGED and that we really honestly don't know. All we can really go by is tea based on what others who met them said, how Claire behaved regarding him, how people close to her behaved regarding him, and more importantly, how Z hasn't even given him the time of day since their breakup...Like, she didn't even talk about him or even make cryptic shady bitter tweets about him LOL. It's almost like he died or something lol. ��

After Tom Holland, I just didn't think JE was on her level. I'm sorry. I just never really took their relationship all that seriously lol. 😅 I knew it wouldn't last lol. But I've always maintained that I don't hate the dude.

Not sure what else you want me to say Anon... 🤷🏾‍♀️

[bellaslilpapercut]

Eclipse reread part 2! This is gonna cover a lot of chapters because I forgot to include stuff from chapters 4, 5, and 6 in part 1 (in my defense your honor, this book is very grating to read). Awayyy we go:

1. so chapters 4-6 really could have been one chapter tbh since the plot is: Bella ditches work at Newton’s Outfitters to hang with Jake and then writes some graduation invites with Angela. She pushes her rusty old behemoth as fast as it can go through driving rain but then hangs outside with Jake the whole time so I don’t really know where the rain went. She also manages to hear Jake gasp through her closed car door! Super sonic! Anyway, Bella insists that Edward is a good guy, Jake makes Bella hold his hand, Jake explains imprinting (yuck we can skip that), and then Edward drives threateningly past Bella while she’s on her way to Angela’s house. Angela reminds Bella that, at his core, Edward is a teen boy who is Totally Jealous of how Ripped and Sexy her 16 year old best friend is. Then Alice kidnaps Bella. Fun times!

2. During the imprinting convo it becomes very apparent that Meyer thinks the worst thing that can happen to a girl is getting broken up with. Somehow Leah got the “worst end” of the Sam/Emily/Leah fiasco despite Sam turning into a “monster” and Emily getting literally mauled in the face. What’s worse is later in the book, during the “Legends” chapter, when Bella wonders if Leah thinks Emily’s scars are a form of “justice.” Yea, Bella, that’s justice. 

3. I love this Rosalie quote but hate the entirety of they way meyer writes her story. Others have mentioned it before but Meyer writes Rose's dialogue there as if Rose is an author and not like...a person telling a story. An easy fix would be to format Rosalie's story "flash back" style rather than have her narrate all the way through. Then you can include all the superfluous details of exactly what everyone's voice sounded like and all the excessive dialogue tags you want.

I also Violently Abhor this quote here:

Yea, meyer, the Hot Girl hates your self-insert because her stupid ass brother didn't have the hots for her. It just reads like weird middle school revenge fantasy "I only hated you because you were so Special!!!" Sure, sure. Also "all those females!" People don't talk like that @stephanie

4. I do love the scene when Bella “escapes” from Alice with Jake (I don’t know why i put escape in quotes, Alice could definitely murk Bella) but then that whole adventure ends with Jake telling Bella he’d rather she die than turn into a vampire. And yeah, fair buddy, but also you’ve known Bella for a long time. This should not be a surprise to you at all even a little bit. a) she mentioned it before, b) you knew she would never get over Edward even if your plan in NM had worked, and c) you’ve known that she’s fully obsessed with the Cullen’s since you started hanging out with her again. The last time you guys hung out she went on an impassioned rampage about how lovely and good and fantastic Edward is (footage not found) I really don’t know why you’re surprised that this hard-headed girl is prepared to commit to vampirism for him. She is not normal lmfao.

5. The legends chapter. Oh boy. Stephanie, Meyer, Smeyer. Honestly it might have been less offensive if she had just made up a whole new tribe to give these backstories to, for all that they have in common with real Quileute legends but actually that would still be offensive and terrible anyway. I don’t know how to describe this adequately but if you’ve ever seen G.I. Joe’s portrayal of indigenous people that’s exactly what meyer made Old Quil and Billy’s dialogue sound like. Just absolutely dripping with Mystical Native/ Magical Native trope from the content to the tone. https://mthg.org/ Because it can’t be plugged enough.  

6. The legends chapter ends with this Wuthering Heights quote:

I have no qualms with it's inclusion, if you really want to push the Edward is Heathcliff and Bella is Cathy agenda, I don't believe it but fine, whatever. But those last two paragraphs are such a dumb way to end a chapter. Every chapter ending should make the reader want to turn the page: this makes me want to shut the book (actually I did take a long break after this lmfao). Anyway, just end the quote on "drank his blood," bold those three words, and end the chapter there. Don't go back and say "the three words that stood out were... Anyway it could have fallen to any page I believe in coincidence teehee!!" That's just annoying.

7. Okay guys I hate to say it but Edward does get a lil bit of ~character growth after the first few chapters. He comes home after having Bella kidnapped (she decides not to be angry, surprise surprise) and is all "so I've been thinking about it and you're right my Beloved Angel Face or whatever, please hang out with Jacob but also wear a helmet on your motorcycle my Beloved Dumb Idiot or whatever" (paraphrase). And he also says this in chapter 12:

Which is like, man I hate when I agree with Edward but I agree with Edward here. Now I know from MS that he only wants Bella to stay human because he's creating an Unfolding Drama in his head but this bit of dialogue is really sweet. And it's funny that he thought Bella didn't want to marry him because she just wanted to use him for immortality but it's also a Dark Reminder that he's literally only romantic with her because he can't read her mind and can't tell that she's just as obsessed with his looks as the other Teen Girls TM.

8. uuuh Jasper’s Backstory Time. This is so infuriating to read for so many reasons. So we know that smeyer got Jasper’s name from a confederate memorial/ listing (from a New Moon Q&A but the link isn’t secure so I can’t share) so I know that his backstory was always meant to be Confederate Soldier which makes everything else about his characterization just baffling. Again, he was the only Cullen that was genuinely kind to Bella besides Carlisle for the entire first book and he’s still incredibly kind during Eclipse (which is another issue I have though because no one mentions again that Jasper tried to eat Bella and they stand close to each other and hang out and Bella’s never like “this is scary, this dude tried to kill me” but i digress). The point is: smeyer knew he was going to be a confederate from book 1. She never addresses that this was bad, she never has Jasper mention that he regrets his role in the war, he is the only Cullen that’s actually capable of empathizing with humans anymore (Carlisle cares but I would not categorize him as empathetic), it just... None of these pieces fit together. This is a fraught and bloody history that smeyer throws in with no thought to how it might alienate black readers (though tbh she constantly emphasizes “white beauty” throughout the series so I doubt she cares) and the editors don’t question it either. No one, at any point in time, said “Hey, steph, you know confederates fought for slavery, right?” Every black american deserves reparations. White women and men who glorify the civil war should be the first to pay up. 

9. I’m gonna jump back to chapters 9 & 10 here (target & scent, respectively) to say: no tension is being effectively built. I get it, someone stole your clothes. You’re annoyed because you have nothing to wear and Victoria is scary. But where is she? Where is the volturi? Move it along, please! This is one of the challenges of 1st person narrative because the author is stuck in the eyes of, usually, the person who knows the least. Meyer is not a talented enough author to make this interesting. Not to bring up THG again but Suzanne Collins really knew how to work 1st person. Everything that Katniss asserts with certainty throughout the series gets either confirmed or denied by the narrative, keeping it interesting. She assumes the worst of the people around her so we’re pleasantly surprised when people violate those assumptions. We’re kept on edge by how little Katniss knows and SC never gifts Katniss with more knowledge than she could be expected to have. Bella is constantly gifted with knowledge and her assumptions are rarely proven wrong. You can dig into the canon a little bit more, read the lexicon and the guide, and find all the examples of Bella being unreliable or making wrong assumptions. But within the narrative she is rarely incorrect. She doesn’t get opportunities to grow out of her false assumptions (while Edward does, at least in Eclipse). So to keep the Victoria debacle interesting, smeyer has to plant seeds like- during these two chapters- Bella thinking of Laurent and Victoria while the cullens discuss who could have been in Bella’s room. That just doesn’t cut it for me. 

This is hella long and I’m only halfway through the book. I probably should split the second half into two parts as well but based on how talented smeyer is at stretching out the mundane, especially just before the climax, I probably wont need to. 

[jesterjamz]

now i’m thinking about that ai dungeon story i did one time where i was andrew horowitz & tally hall was doing a reunion concert & andrew performed a song called “the grand canyon” & then rob was like “ok good job now i also wrote a song called ‘the grand canyon’ but it’s different from andrew’s so yea” & so later the band was having a meeting & andrew was like “why do we all have songs called ‘the grand canyon’ that’s a bit weird huh” & then some dude named kenny showed up & joe beat the shit out of kenny & then everyone else went to lunch.

what a great story.

[an-american-teen-against-crime]

top 5 male ND characters!

Thank you so much for the tag @ladylindaaa !!!!

(ONLY FIVE?! this is going to be very very difficult)

So I am going to say, Joe and Frank are the ultimate !!! Joe is so witty and funny and Frank is so sarcastic and clever and I just love each of them and their dynamic and talking on the phone with them is probably one of my favorite parts of these games. (Full analysis coming sometime in the hopefully near future)

But after Frank and Joe...

1. Nicholas Falcone

This boy. Is my MAN okay I love him so much. I love how his dynamic with Nancy develops over the course of the game, and not only is HAD IT cool, but he is just really cool himself. Even if he wears those really gross cargo shorts. He’s also the only one who actually tries and succeeds at helping you find Maya, and his roasts towards Brady are👌👌👌 I just really like him ok

2. Alexei Markovic

Not only does he have a super sad backstory that really flushed out his character but he has an awesome antique store, and has Detective Brain. He’s like the only townsperson that always believed in Nancy and is really helpful at the end, he’s just a quality dude👌

3. Henry Bolet

Worthy of all love and praise, needs protection. I honestly just have so many feelings about this boy. Also his aesthetic, his sass, his voice, he’s also really cute....I just love talking to him and I wish him the best.💜

4. Wade Thornton/whatever his actual last name was

I LOVE talking to Wade, he has such a rich personality like everyone else in this game, and I just love talking to him about ghosts and stuff. He’s kinda the classic “never been fully a thornton” type of kid who really wanted to stick it to the rich people which I love.

5. Sonny Joon

I think I might limit this to just comic book Sonny cuz MED was...a mess, but he cracks me up, has crazy awesome art skillz, really heckin smart and just a weird dude and I love him to bits. (Full analysis coming soon)

Honorary mentions: Dylan, Alec, Dave, Grigor (grigor almost made the list sniff)

So I kinda cheated. But yea��️

Consider Thyself Tagged @mrshenrybolet and @nancydrew-onthecase and anyone else that wants to do it!

[whirlybirbs]

i yearn for MIT!peter

     P.P.  —-- BAD IDEA !

summary: during his second semester at MIT, peter gets an invite from his lab partner to a party at a frat. he brings ned, his harvard counter-part and best friend. one beer in, peter steps up, stopping a dicey situation you totally could have handled. cue the top gun love ballad. campus-crossed lovers, much?rating: hey! don’t under-age drink! T, for beer and mean frat boys.a/n: i needed to start writing more for MIT!peter – he’s 19 here, still a hopelessly good person. we love college spidey. 

“This is a bad idea.”

“Peter, it’s the college experience, dude!”

Ned is bouncing with excitement as they round the corner, cutting through the quad and heading straight for Frat Row. The over-glorified hub of drunks can be heard from three blocks over – the heavy baseline of a handful of parties echoes through the Friday night air. 

Peter fiddles with his collar, jamming his hands in his pockets as he groans. 

“I dunno, Ned.”

“Your lab partner invited us!”

“Yeah,” Peter supplies, “But he’s weird. Like, really weird.”

Ned raises his brows, pushing back his hat. “I thought he was cool –”

“No, yea, I mean, he is, but –”

Frat parties? Peter is having one of this crisis where he starts thinking about what Aunt May would say, and then what Mr. Stark would say – and then, y’know, how he had to watch those P.S.A.’s Captain America did on under-age drinking and Cap’s technically his teammate and it would be, like, super rude to just… ignore his century of wisdom, right? I mean, does Spider-man party? Because right now, his spider-sense is putting the brakes on. 

But, Ned is driving 100 mph down the Frat-Party-Highway. 

“Listen,” Ned supplies, raising his hands, “We go in, we dance, we ditch. Easy. And! Then we can successfully say we’ve gotten into an M.I.T. frat as freshmen.”

Peter taps his foot, blinking over his shoulder at TKE”s house. There’s a line forming already.

“Fine.”

Ned fist pumps. Peter raises a finger. 

“But, next weekend we’re going to the Natural Science Museum on your campus.”

Ned shrugs. “Harvard perks, baby.”

Ten minutes, two high-fives and one awkward “hey man!” later, the daring duo is in – and Peter has to admit that movies make frats out to be a little bit more glamorous. It’s, like, ninety degrees in here and he’s already sweating and dear god, he just watched someone vomit in the kitchen sink. 

His lab partner, though, a gap toothed kid named Joe who plays rugby, ushers him in and moves behind a counter being manned by a Senior in a TKE jersey. Suddenly, two cold PBR’s are handed Peter’s way and he freezes – oh, this is illegal. Spider-man is breaking the law. Oh god. Ohhhhhh god. 

“Here, dude!” Joe grins, slapping Peter on the shoulder, “A party favor!”

The laugh that is clawed out of Peter’s throat is so forced, Ned has to elbow him in the ribs to remind him to stop panicking. Joe gives Ned a quick knuckle touch before dipping back out the kitchen and past the vomiting kid who works the gym’s front check-in desk. 

And so, in the ratty kitchen of a frat house, Ned and Peter crack open their first beers. 

They both pull faces at the taste.

Ned leans, yelling over the bass of some Iggy Azalea song. “What now?”

Peter shrugs. “Upstairs, maybe?”

It’s a lot better upstairs – not as hot and not as loud and a lot less bodies. Peter can feel the sensory overload dying down. As he follows Ned through the halls of the brother’s rooms, though, he can feel the trademark prick of bad, bad bad bad. 

Hello, spidey-sense.

Annnnnnd that’s when he sees you for the first time.

It’s one of the world stopping moments where he knows – 

… He has no fucking clue what he knows.

That you’re beautiful? That you’re terrifying? That you’re sporting a Spider-man t-shirt? That in-front of you, a brother three times your size and six times your alcohol content looms?

In that moment, Peter knows what’s going to happen – you land a heavy shove on the man’s shoulders, face twisted in rage as your friend tries to pull you from the bubbling fight. 

And Peter just… steps in.

Ned has no idea what he’s doing.

Peter doesn’t either.

“Is there a problem?”

The first time you see ever Peter Parker, he looks out of place. He’s got a maroon button down on, sleeves rolled. His sneakers are too clean for a frat party. The Pabst in his hands is half-full and even still, his cheeks are rosy. He is – in every way – a good kid. It radiates off him in waves.

If it wasn’t for the circumstance, you’d be smitten.

Right now, you’re mad. Your ass was just grabbed down the hallway. Mad doesn’t even cover it. Furious might.

“Stay out of it, fresh-meat,” slurs Patrick, a senior TKE brother with a fucking complex, “This bitch is just playing hard to get –”

“Excuse me –?!”

“Yeah, okay,” suddenly, anger bites into Peter’s tone and his beer is handed off to Ned as he steps up to the plate, lodging a hand on the senior’s chest, “That’s no way to talk to a lady, okay?”

“What is this?” Patrick booms, “D&D? ‘Lady’? Go home, nerds.”

The shove that the senior lands on Peter’s chest sends him stumbling. 

And it ticks him off.

But, before Peter can do anything about it, though, you land a mean right hook on the idiot’s jaw. 

Your roommate, Jen, gasps – her and Ned have the same expression on their faces.

(You’re drunk, okay? And maybe defending the honor of a chivalrous, freshmen D&D nerd is how you want to spend your Friday night… especially one with dimples.)

The fight that ensues is a slaughter. Peter picks up where you left off, laying out the senior as he moves to retaliate – only after a well aimed sock to the eye. It hurts, but mostly just Spider-man’s pride; the growing crowd jeers at the fight. A bit like the Wild West, rules don’t apply here.

(You wonder how the hell some 5′8″ kid can hand Patrick his ass on a silver platter – it’s insane. The kid doesn’t even break a sweat, just cracks his knuckles and chirps a cocky: stay down.)

It’s all fun and games and saving-honor until the other brothers catch wind of what’s happening and force all four of you out the front door and kick you to the curb.

The first time you really get a good look at Peter Parker is on the sidewalk outside TKE under the streetlights of Cambridge. For the first time all night, Peter’s spidey-sense is silent. You both just kinda… stare. 

Ned coughs.

Jen is calling an Uber.

You finally wave bye, hoping his black-eye is worth it in the morning.

All a part of the college experience, Peter guesses.

Ned nudges Peter on the way back to his dorm. “Bad idea, huh?”

“Horrible.”

[robinrunsfiction]

On A Summer Day

Pairing: Patrick Stump x Female Reader Rating: General Requested By: None Word Count: ~1,300 Author’s Note: I was inspired by my oven breaking in my apartment last week

“Hey Patrick, how are you?” You asked answering your phone happily.

“Is your air conditioning running?” He asked, completely ignoring your question. He sounded desperate.

“Why? Because I better go catch it? Very funny Trick,” you answered, rolling your eyes, a little annoyed at his brusque answer.

“No, I’m serious, mine went out and I think I’m gonna diie!” Patrick whined. “My landlord said he won’t be able to come repair it until Monday, and none of the guys are in town this weekend. Can I come over to your place for a while?”

“Obviously! But dude, pack a bag, you’re gonna stay here as long as you need to,” you replied understanding why he seemed so miserable. A heat wave had settled in and showed no signs of letting up anytime soon.

“Thank you,” Patrick sighed. “I really owe you one.”

“Don’t worry about it. Just bring a pizza with you when you come over. Oh! And I just had a great idea, this is gonna be fun! I'm really excited,” you laughed. “I’ll see you soon!”

~

When Patrick arrived at your apartment, the temperature outside was sweltering. But as you ushered him into your tiny place, a blast of cold air hit him like a snowball to the face.

“Oh my god, it’s so nice in here. Here’s the pizza, I bought Oreos too because I know you like them,” he said, as he let his bag drop to the ground. “Wait, what is that?”

“That is a blanket fort,” you said simply as you took the pizza from him and set it on the kitchen table and grabbed plates from the cupboard.

“But why did you build a blanket fort in your living room?”

“Because the AC unit is on the wall in here, and it gets stuffy in the bedroom. I’ve been sleeping out here on my futon all summer actually. And this way we can stay up and watch movies and hang out. I mean has a blanket fort ever not been awesome?”

Patrick was already crawling under the blanket wall when you turned around. You laughed and followed suit with the pizza and plates.

“You really went all out,” he said looking around in awe of the fairy lights that were strung up, casting a warm glow on the enclosed space. It was perfect combination of cool and cozy.

“Well, it would be kinda weird if I did this just for myself, but since you were coming over, I can pull out all the stops,” you chuckled as you settled in next to Patrick on the floor. “What do you wanna watch?”

Patrick put on The Office and you started to dig into the pizza. Since both of you had seen the show so many times before, it was almost more like background noise as you chatted and joked around. After finishing most of the pizza, and a row of Oreos, you let your head rest against Patrick’s shoulder. You felt him look down at you, but you kept your eyes trained on the tv screen in front of you. Tentatively, he put his arm around your shoulder, and you wiggled contentedly against him, finding the perfect spot. You couldn’t help but smile knowing that the move worked exactly the way you hoped it would.

A while later you were starting to get sleepy and kind of uncomfortable in your denim shorts that you had been wearing all day. “I’ll be right back, I’m gonna go change into something more comfortable,��� you said getting up.

“Holy smokes,” Patrick muttered once the bedroom door was closed behind you. Patrick had a major crush on you for the longest time but was always too nervous to do anything about it, mainly because he rarely got time alone with you. Now he didn’t know what was about to happen when he heard the bedroom door open again. He didn’t think you’d move this quickly, but who knew what was about to happen.

“Much better,” you said crawling back under the blankets and Patrick let out a sigh of relief. You had changed into a pair of tropical floral print pajama shorts, and a bright pink tank top. He did catch a glimpse of your lace bralette that was visible due to the lowcut sides of your top and he tried not to let a blush creep up his cheeks. You laid down on the flattened-out futon behind where Patrick sat. “Get up here,” you smiled patting the spot next to you.

He smiled shyly and crawled up next to you, both of you laying on your sides facing each other. “Thanks again for letting me stay over.”

“Of course,” you smiled. “I really like spending time with you, especially without the guys around.”

Then a piece of your hair fell in your face. You tried to blow it out of your face, but it didn’t work, and you laughed. Patrick reached up and brushed it behind your ear, his fingertips, a little calloused from playing guitar, brushed along your cheek.

“(YN),” he said softly, his heart speeding up as you smiled at him.

“Hmm?” You hummed innocently.

“I really like you.”

“Feeling's mutual, Trick,” you grinned. He grinned back and bit his lip, while your stomach did flips. Then he leaned in and gently pressed his lips to yours. When you pulled back, he was blushing, and his glasses were slightly askew.

“I'm really glad no one else was available for you to stay with,” you said.

“Me too,” he said before leaning in again. His lips moved against yours again, this time with more need. It felt like heaven to finally make out with Patrick after so long of wondering what it might be like.

~

The next morning as you woke up you wondered if the last night had been a dream, until you opened your eyes and found yourself face to face with Patrick. His hand holding yours as he slept peacefully. You smiled as you let yourself fall back asleep.The next thing you knew, you felt the hair being brushed out of your face again. You opened your eyes and Patrick pulled his hand back nervously.

“Sorry,” he said, looking embarrassed.

“Its ok,” you mumbled sleepily, a smile forming on your face. “Sleep well?”

“Yea,” he said, tentatively reaching out and putting his hand on your waist.

“Good,” you said leaning in and kissing him again. “I’m gonna make coffee. How does French toast sound?” You asked crawling past him and out of your fort.

“Yea, that sounds great,” Patrick replied.

As you set to work in the kitchen you heard a phone vibrating back in the living room. “Is that me?” You called out.

“No, mine. Hey Joe,” Patrick replied as he answered his phone. “No, it’s ok, I’m staying with (YN).” Another pause. “Yea, yea.” Pause. “Shut up,” he said sounding embarrassed. “Ok, I’ll see you guys later.” Then Patrick came in to the kitchen, looking a little flummoxed.

“Everything ok?”

“Yea, Joe said he could give me the code to his place so I could get in if I needed to while he was gone, and then he was just giving me some shit,” he said rubbing the back of his neck. “So last night was…” he trailed off.

You turned your attention from the bread on the stove in front of you to your nervous friend in front of you and smiled reassuringly. “A lot of fun.”

“I agree,” he smiled, suddenly seeming less worried.

“And maybe could be repeated on a regular basis?” You offered.

“I would love that,” he said, a smile forming across his face.

“Good because I don’t have anywhere to be all day today and I really like French toast and making out with you and I think those things will go really well together.”

“Especially in the fort,” he said taking a step toward you and putting his hands on your waist as you draped your arms over his shoulders.

“I told you the fort was awesome,” you replied with a grin before he leaned in and kissed you again.

[youiswhoisyou]

Unsaid - Joeck FanFiction

(This is purely fictitious and means no harm to irl people)

The first big group trip in a while was upon them. The mates, Josh, Caspar, and Oli had planned a trip to Sydney, Australia for some much needed down time with all vlogging equipment away. Their partners included, the mates also invited Joe and Dianne on the trip. Unknown to Joe, they also invited Jack, who wasn’t told of Joe and Dianne either. 

Everyone knew something had gone down between the two of them, even if Joe and Jack never actually said what. Caspar and Josh had noticed the sudden change when Joe told them about Dianne. Suddenly, Joe had a girlfriend and Jack was nowhere to be seen. Busy schedules were blamed whenever one of them brought it up to Joe or Jack, but they weren’t even talking  anymore.

So comes the plan to get both Joe and Jack on the trip, forcing them to interact. It sounded like a solid plan to Caspar and Josh. The boys would hash out any problems, maybe some heated words, but ultimately get back to good ole friendship.

When the morning came to head to the airport, Josh and his girlfriend, Oli and his girlfriend, and Jack would take an earlier flight than Caspar, his girlfriend, and Joe and Dianne. That way, Joe or Jack couldn’t back out right before take-off. It was hard keeping the secret on the very long flight to Sydney. Josh accidentally mentioned Joe and Dianne during a conversation with Jack. 

   “Well, Joe said the parasailing was sick so we’ll probably give it a go again,” Josh said.

   Jack looked at him, “Joe?”

   Josh quickly tried to correct himself, “Yea, joe said when he was in Sydney, he loved parasailing the coast. He told me to check it out myself,” he said.

   Jack bought the lie and turned back to his movie, “Oh, ok. We should do it then,” he put his headphones back on.

Josh returned to his own show and slowed his heart rate back down. He pulled out his phone and told Caspar what had just happened.

   Mate I almost f@cked up big time! I mentioned Joe and Jack got weird. 

   Dude! I asked about Jack and Joe clammed up again.

   WTF is going on with them???

   We’ll Find out soon bro

They made it to the mansion without any problems. Everyone drew papers for which rooms were there’s. Josh drew for Caspar and made sure there was one room left for Joe. Jack managed to pull a decent room this time. He went up the stairs to put his things down and change out of his flying gear. After changing, he walked out onto his own private balcony that overlooked the massive pool in their back garden. The mansion was placed on a hillside with Sydney and the afternoon sun stretching out before them. Jack loved these trips when the views were once in a lifetime. He heard noise and looked down at the pool. Josh, Oli, and their girlfriends were already trying it out.

   “Jack! C’mon! Pool time buddy!” Caspar called up to him.

   “Yea, man!” Jack yelled back and went to change.

His tan wasn’t worthy of being called a tan so he did a quick dip in the pool then lounged himself in the sun with his shorts pulled up. Josh and Oli played some water jousting with their girlfriends on their shoulders holding pool noodles. Jack peeked at them a few times, noticing the ease each of them had with the other. He turned his head away and soon felt himself drifting off.

   “Heyoooo!” A voice came from the backdoors.

Jack’s eyes shot open. He hoped what he heard was in his head and not reality, but a second later he got his answer.

   “Josh, get your toosh out the pool and show us where our rooms are!” Joe started walking towards the pool. Josh rocketed out of the water and rammed himself into Joe before he could get far enough to see Jack in his lounge chair staying stone still.

   “Hey mate! Of course, I’ll show you and Caspar and company to your rooms,” Josh laughed as Joe pulled his damp shirt away from his torso. He led them back into the house and up the stairs.

Jack was still stuck in a waking nightmare and couldn’t bring himself to move. Oli noticed that Jacks eyes were wide open and waded over to the edge of the pool.

   “Jack? You alright, man?” Oli said.

   Jack blinked a few times then sat himself up and slid his legs to one side, placing them on the hot concrete, “Why didn’t anyone tell me Joe and Dianne were coming?”

   “Well, Jack mate, we knew you’d back out if we told you,” Oli said, “Maybe you two can talk now. Get through your issues.”

Jack stood up and went for the backdoor to find a better hiding place or better yet, call a taxi to take him back to the airport.

Joe and Dianne were walking around their room which happened to be right beside Jack’s but much smaller. Joe went to the windows and looked down. He watched a glistening Jack get up and walk inside. His ears caught the far off sound of the backdoors slamming shut.

   Without turning from the windows, Joe spoke in a hushed tone, “Jack’s here,” he said.

   “Oh yea, he is. I must’ve forgotten to mention it,” Josh said. He rubbed his back to relieve the tension. Him and Caspar exchanged worried expressions.

Joe asked Josh and Caspar to give him and Dianne some privacy for a moment, so they left the room. Joe closed and locked the door behind them. Josh and Caspar rushed back down stairs and out to the pool, but Jack was gone.

   “Where’d he go?!” Caspar yelled at Oli.

   “He went back inside the house. I think I saw him run for your side of the house,” Oli said.

Josh ran back inside and went to his room. The door was locked. 

   He held his ear to the door and heard jack’s voice, “Jack? What are you doing in my room with the door locked dude?”

   Jack stopped talking and opened the door, “I’m hiding and  calling a taxi. I’m going back,” he said as he continued to pace and give details to a taxi service.

   Caspar came in behind Josh and watched Jack pacing, “You’re not flying all the way back to England an hour after you got here, Jack,” Caspar came closer to him. 

   “Yes, I am,” Jack held the phone away from his ear. Hold music played, “You don’t know what happened and making us ‘work it out’ by forcing us together was a stupid bloody plan.”

   Josh motioned to Caspar to leave the room and they went back into the hallway. 

   “We can’t let him leave,” Caspar said.

   “Should we tell Joe what Jack’s doing then?”

   Caspar sighed heavily, “We don’t even know what’s going on with him and Dianne right now.”

   “Well, I’m going back up there and telling him about Jack,” Josh said.

He took the stairs two at a time and stopped in front of Joe and Dianne’s still locked door. He could hear Joe arguing with Dianne. Josh thought he heard Joe say they needed to leave.

   Josh knocked loudly, “Joe? Mate, I need to talk to you.”

He heard them rush through some more arguing before the door finally opened up and Joe looked at him with anger and annoyance plastered to his face.

   “What do you want, Josh?”

   “Look, I don’t know what’s going on, but I need to talk to you,” Josh looked to Dianne, “alone, if that’s alright.”

Dianne shrugged and left the room. Josh closed the door and turned back to Joe already getting his things back together.

   “What the hell happened that you and Jack would rather take 22 hour flights back to England than be in the same room?” Josh said.

   “Look, it’s really complicated and can’t be fixed over one trip to Australia,” Joe put a hand through his hair, “Dianne won’t let me leave though,” he braced himself on the back of a chair with his head hanging down.

   “Joe, Jack’s already booking his way back. I think you need to have a talk with him before he finally gets a taxi to drive all the way out here,” Josh said.

Joe didn’t move fore several seconds, then breathed in deep and walked for the door. 

Jack had been on hold since the boys found him trying to leave. His bare feet had made a light path in the carpet. It was getting cold in the room with the sun setting fast and he was still in just his swim trunks. The hold music was some kind of cheesy jazz lounge music. He finally stopped pacing and looked out of the window and down at the city he would hopefully be leaving in a couple hours. Through the loud saxophone and piano in his ear, Jack heard his name. He didn’t turn around.

   “Jack,” the voice said again, louder.

Jack removed the phone from his ear and cancelled the call.

   “How’ve you been, mate? Joe walked in further. Behind him, Josh and Caspar sneakily closed the door and went to busy Dianne and the rest of the crew to give Joe and Jack time.

   Jack didn’t want to turn around, “Alright...you?” he said.

   “Yea, good. Just finished doing the tour with Di.”

   “Oh, cool. Bet that was fun,” Jack mumbled.

   “Jack, would you just turn around.”

Jack obliged slowly and moved his eyes to the carpet just in front of Joe’s feet.

   “Now look at me,” Joe said a little softer.

Jack trailed Joe’s body all the way up. He noticed Joe had more muscles and a darker color to him. He looked good, Happy. Until Jack met his tormented blue eyes.

   The words came before he knew what he was saying, “I can’t be here with you and Dianne.”

   “Why?”

   Jack moved closer, “You know why. You know what you did, Joe.”

   “We never said anything about what we were. How was I supposed to know how you really felt if you didn’t tell me?” Joe said.

   “I thought the last night we were together was a good teller.”

   “I didn’t plan my feelings for Dianne,” he said,”And when you didn’t give me a reason to stay....I guess I let it go.”

   Jack moved to within inches of Joe’s face, “I called you. I went to your dances and stood after every one. I was there, but you ignored me,” Jack’s voice was damaged, angered, “you stopped answering and then told everyone about your new girlfriend. what was I supposed to do then?”

   Joe moved away and put his back to Jack, “Maybe I just wasn’t ready to go there,” he turned back, “You’re the first guy and maybe I wasn’t ready. And maybe you were. It’s just poor timing,” Joe said.

Jack gave a sarcastic laugh and moved back to the other side of the room. Joe watched him shuffle around with his hands on his hips.

   “Maybe you’ll always be too scared to tell everyone, but it’s 2019. Does Dianne not even know?” Jack shot back.

   “There’s nothing to tell, Jack. We had a thing and now it’s over,” Joe said.

   Jack went to him again, “Nothing? You’re calling months of sneaking off from our friends and secret hotel rooms nothing? You’re saying it was all just a fun bi-curious game for you?”

   Joe moved back a step, “Yea, that’s all it was,” he swallowed.

   “So...this,” Jack brushed his fingers down Joe’s torso, “this has no effect on you anymore?” He whispered.

   Joe stopped breathing and let Jack’s hand fall all they way down to his hip before pushing Jack away, “you can’t do that anymore. I’m with Dianne. I have real feelings for her,” he said, “I’m not giving that up just because you got attached.” He walked towards the door.

   “Attached? you’re the one who can’t let go! Why don’t we just see what the mates think about it, huh?” Jack pushed past Joe and ran for the backdoor where he could hear laughing and splashing. He arrived at the side of the pool a little out of breath and with Joe right behind him.

   “Hey! I have an announcement to make!” Everyone stopped and stared at Jack and the crazy expression on his face, “All of you have no idea what’s been going on with Joe and myself, but tried to help us ‘fix it’ by getting us far away from home together,” Jack caught his breath and looked back at Joe. He looked dangerously angry, but his eyes held the most fear Jack had ever seen. He turned back to their friends, “Well, I’m happy to reveal...I’ll be leaving on the next flight back to London. I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday.” He moved past Joe and back into the house, up the stairs and into his room. For a moment he felt a very big weight lift from his body. Then, he fell onto his knees and started crying. He held his head between his hands and bent over, swallowing every breath in a sob.

   Joe looked at the shock and confusion spread across his friends faces. He rubbed his head and shrugged, “Some things can’t be fixed so easily, but nice try mates,” Joe said with no humor in his voice. He went back inside, leaving everyone to mumble to themselves about what just happened. Joe was stood in the kitchen taking deep breaths when he heard a loud thud and agonizing broken sobs bleed through the ceiling. He rushed up the stairs and into Jack’s room to find him folded in on himself struggling to breathe.

   “What the hell happened? Did you hit something?” Joe asked, coming over next to Jack.

Jack jumped up and away from him into a corner, “You happened! You let me think you felt things for me and then you ripped it all away!” he choked on his tears, “You can’t even admit you felt anything at all. I...I thought...” Jack cried.

   “What?” Joe asked, moving closer to him like Jack was a scared animal.

   Jack stilled himself and looked into Joe’s eyes, “I can’t believe I thought I was falling in love with you,” he said. He shook his head and shoved Joe out of the way to the door. He stopped short when he saw Josh standing in the doorway. Caspar, Oli, and the girls right behind him listening in.

   “Jack. Jack!” Joe called after Jack rushing past everyone. 

   Dianne stopped Joe in the hallway, “Was that true? Did you have a thing with him?” Her tone wasn’t demanding, but curious and worried.

   Joe rubbed her shoulder, “I’ll find you later. I’ve gotta sort this out,” he kissed her cheek quickly and went after Jack.

Joe found him walking down the road in only his swim trunks. The deep sunset cast everything in otherworldly elongated shadows. Jack’s pre-bleached hair caught the falling rays, making a light halo appear over his head.

   Joe jogged to catch up with him, “You’re not leaving until we talk about what you said, Jack,” Joe said.

   “Why? A few minutes ago, you wanted to leave too,” Jack said.

   “I did, until you said you loved me.”

   “I said I was falling in love with you, not that I was,” he mumbled.

   “And the difference is?” Joe said and turned him around, “Point is you were getting really serious feelings and I trudged all over them,” he put his hand on Jack’s shoulder, “I should’ve come to you. I should’ve asked you how you really felt.”

   “And I should’ve told you,” Jack said.

Joe pulled him into a hug. Their chests pressing tighter together with each breath. Jack rest his chin in the nape of Joe’s neck, breathing him in.

   “Everyone knows about us now,” Jack whispered.

   “Technically, they know you fell in love with me, not what I felt,” Joe teased, then looked at Jack’s still broken face and sighed, “We’ll explain what happened when we get back to the house. I’ll tell them.”

They returned to their embrace for a few more moments before breaking away and heading for the house. After a few paces, Jack stopped. Joe kept walking until he noticed and turned back to him.

   “How did you feel?” jack asked.

   joe walked back to him, “I...I think I was getting there,” he shrugged, “but it didn’t feel like real life to me. Like I could see how much you cared and it felt like a dream,” he lowered his head.

   “So, you just...woke up,” Jack said.

   “I didn’t think I could stay in that dream. I didn’t know I could’ve made it real.”

They looked at each other, the ghosts of their feelings mirrored in each of their faces. 

   “I’m so sorry, Jack,” joe finally said.

   “Me too.”

[blundergato]

afriendtosell replied to your post “i cannot tell you how much i hate the direction they took gohan’s...”

It always struck me as odd that the Z-fighters went into hiding, essentially, or that guys like Yamcha and Krillin didn't become (until at least Super, for Krillin) more involved in protecting "the little guy," rather than hole up in solitude waiting for the Next Big Crisis to happen. And the same applies to Gohan, to go off your later post: it's so weird to me that he'd choose to become an academic and not try to give back to the world in a meaningful way.

i can kinda see it for yamcha and to a lesser extent, krillin.

these guys all trained as martial artists and werent ever really “heroes” in the normal sense. they were just regular dudes who wanted to become strong martial artists and got thrown into some wild ass situations.

yamcha especially is just about the most regular person on the cast so i could see him not really wanting to get into superheroics and just hanging back and living a regular life (whatever the hell that would be for yamcha).

krillin is like that too, though to a lesser extent because i could see him becoming more proactive. he was a character who was bullied and trained at first to surpass his bullies. i figure that he would would want to protect people from being bullied as well, which means his profession as a cop is some bullshit because cops are TRASH. 

krillin should have become a private investigator or like a dragon ball version of the get backers. he could take on smaller level weird crime shit and help people on a personal level; 18 could be the big guns for when he’s outmatched by something and also definitely handles the money and business side. have i mentioned that krillin being a cop is bullshit?

god i want p.i. krillin now. krillin and 18 work with baba to solve the smaller scale, weird mysteries of the world.

gohan just...becoming a regular joe is absolute garbage though, yea. this kid was jumping into the fray at 5 years old and helping people whenever he could and by the time super rolls around hes like “yea, you know what, f**k that shit, im a nerd now and thats my personality now.” its even worse that VIDEL also gave up helping people out. how do you take 2 characters whose core tenants are protecting people and just strip that away from them?

gohan can live a regular life and i would guess that his character is the type where he would want EVERYONE else to live a regular life too and if he has the power and ability to make that happen then he would do it.

his regression is just...illogical. he was by far the most powerful character by the end of the cell saga and goku said that he was the most reliable person on the planet. he saw what happened when he didnt keep up his training and by the end of the boo saga, he was once again the most powerful character in the entire series.

why would super then go on to have gohan just...give up? he had the power to protect the planet and he was the single strongest character in the series ALONG with having a hero’s heart which separated him from the rest of the cast.

like whats the reasoning? 

“yea im really powerful, even stronger than my legendary dad. i have the power to protect this world that i love and the people in it...but f**k all that my dad is back and even though im more qualified to protect this world than he is, im just gonna rely on him to do everything and completely give up on martial arts altogether...nothing could possibly go wrong even through it already has in the past.”

[bisluthq]

For the love out loud anon, I think we (swifties but critical ones who can freely say what we do and don’t like lol) have to remember the swifties who say ‘the current bf does this, therefore the ex never loved her’ are full on cupcakes and focus only on one issue. Taylor didn’t want to be in the basement, they see her with someone who puts her in the penthouse so they get excited. But you can only stay excited for so long, so they need something to be critical of, so the ex enters the chat and everything said in miss Americana documentary and the other love song lyrics gets ignored and forgotten.

That’s just the way that side of the fandom operates.

I find being loved out loud a really interesting topic because I am extremely private (would give Joseph a run for his money ijbol) and usually act in accordance with the vibe (should I be reserved, booty popping or smiling slightly despite being dead inside??) but if I’m comfortable with my environment and the people in it, I come across as extroverted. So for me, being loved out loud would be if I think of someone as my best friend, I’d hope I’m a bridesmaid in their wedding, or if I go somewhere nice with my friend who puts everything on her Instagram stories and she doesn’t post about our outing or the place we went to, I’d wonder why. I’m very single which is why I’m using friendship examples lol but also I don’t post to my real social media pages, so I would feel no desire to post about or have posts made about a romantic relationship, unless I had a partner who was always posting things and then deliberately excluding me, that would be a red flag to pause on.

With Taylor, I think it’s very easy for the current bf to say he’s proud of her and mention her in interviews and on his podcast because he’s always in the media and he’s welcomed some of his personal life to be talked about by talking about it on the podcast (I assume anyway, I’ve only seen the clips relating to Taylor lol). So it’d be very weird if he shut that down without a simple ‘yeah I’m proud, she’s great, it was an amazing show’ type of basic answer. Joe only had one movie/ press tour before Taylor (and they were together half way through it lol) so he had no precedent to live up to, it didn’t seem weird him not talking about her because honestly the dude just rarely talks. Most of the questions he was asked about her were completely irrelevant to his usually very serious film talks, but I do think the fandom and Taylor would’ve exploded if he posted a photo of his Grammy with a caption of “what an honour - W.B 🎼” because that would’ve been in line with his behaviour but a way of acknowledging their relationship.

I think living in a world where so much is shared, when people don’t share a lot, they come across disingenuous or ashamed or like they’re trying to hide something — all things that have been said to me because I don’t like posting to my own social media 🙄

But cupcakes are gonna cupcake. It’s very on brand though that they can’t hype something up without pitting women against each other, I mean comparing it to something else…. 😜

yea…

[stayextrafrosty]

Of Saints and Sin: Chapter 3

Fall Out Boy Mob boss AU

Warnings: cursing, violence, sexual content, and vague non-con

Read on AO3

Chapter 3

The meeting room was silent. It had been for days. No one could come up with anything more than cut the head off the Snake. Patrick was stressed for more reason than one. They had that guys sister in a holding room. She was untouchable as long as she behaved. He wasn’t going to kill her simply because Reggie’s family killed his.

It seemed strange to him that that creep would even care about someone other than himself. He didn’t even pay attention to his sister. No calls had come asking for her back. No threats.

Patrick had sent some people to fix the bar that got destroyed in the crossfire. But now he had to assign a new head of that section. It was too big to just split up between the surrounding areas. Patrick ran a hand through his hair and groaned.

“That really does wonders for our morale, dude. You have no idea,” Joe poked. They were all stressed. How could they not be?

“Sorry, I’m just really trying to figure out what he’s up to. He hasn’t made a single move since he sped off the other day.”

“I mean, he was pretty badly wounded if I do say so myself.” Pete leaned back in his chair, playing with a knife he had lifted off one of the Snakes. Pete hadn’t been all there recently. He was always distracted by something. He would constantly come in late to meetings and would ignore Patrick’s phone calls.

“Glad to see you’re actually invested in the conversation today, Pete.” Andy and Joe looked between the two, not daring to say anything.

“I’m always invested in the conversation. The fuck are you talking about,” Pete said, glaring. The knife he was holding snapped closed.

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe you’re just too focused on our guest a few doors down?” Pete clenched his jaw and stood from the table.

“Well it’s not like anyone else is interacting with her. She can’t just sit in isolation.”

“Have you at least gotten any useful information out of her?” Pete glared at him. It wasn’t Patrick’s fault. He didn’t want to take any chances.

“Her name is Mana. And I told you she doesn’t want anything to do with this. She’s told us what she knows.” Patrick stood from his spot, clenching his fists. He didn’t understand why Pete was being so damn protective of her.

“I wouldn’t know that for certain, now would I? I’ve been trusting you to pass along information. Maybe that was a mistake.” The room fell silent. Pete flicked open the knife he was holding and thrust it into the table.

“Don’t trust me, huh? What happened to you, Trick?” Pete ran a hand through his hair, laughing sarcastically. “And don’t start spewing that bullshit about trying to protect everyone.”

Joe and Andy stood from their spots. This had gone far enough. There would be no choosing sides today.

“This isn’t helping anything,” Andy said. Patrick sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Andy’s right. You two arguing over some girl is way too reminiscent of high school drama. Last time I checked, we were at least trying to be adults,” Joe scolded.

Patrick shared a look with Pete. Fighting over girls wasn’t common with them. Not even in high school. And as cliché as it was, Patrick trusted Pete. But he definitely didn’t trust Mana.

“Just watch yourself around her, Pete.” It took a moment, but he relaxed. He yanked the knife out of the table.

“You got it, Boss.” A knock resonated through the room. His three best friends immediately moved between him and the door.

“Who is it,” Joe called cautiously. The handle jiggled as the door swung open. Both Andy and Joe reached for their guns.

“Chill kids. Just me. And our guest.” Smyth stepped into the room, Mana following behind. She kept her head down. Patrick relaxed his shoulders and shook his head.

“A bit of a warning would be nice.” The door clicked shut again as Smyth guided Mana to a chair.

“It’s not my fault you haven’t been paying attention to your phone.”

Patrick glanced back at his desk where his phone sat. He had a bad habit of leaving it places. Smyth had scolded him about it many times before.

“Sorry. So, what’s the news?” He tapped Mana on the shoulder and she looked up at Patrick. He could see the blotchiness of her face and her eyes were still red. She had been crying.

“I have information. I’m sorry I haven’t said anything. I just want all of this to be over; to get out of here.” Patrick narrowed his eyes.

“Do you want to go back to your brother?” He crossed his arms and she shook her head. She seemed to shrink in size even more.

“He’ll kill me if I go back. I know it. I messed up by saying his name. I have no where anymore.” A few tears leaked down her face. She wiped them away quickly. Patrick wanted to trust her. But for all he knew, this was all an act.

Patrick fiddled with the straps on his fingerless gloves. They were slightly too big for him, having been his brothers, who was much larger than he was. He thought to himself for a second and glanced over at Pete. Pete watched her with a gentleness he hadn’t seen in him for a while. He warned him but there was no way he could stop Pete if he had developed a crush.

“There’s a safe house we can let you stay in. But let me warn you, you will be watched. If you try to contact your brother, you will be thrown back on the street.” She clenched her fists but nodded.

“I know you don’t trust me. But I promise to not cause any trouble. If there’s anything I can do, just tell me,” she said. Her voice shook but she seemed sincere.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself.” Patrick turned to Pete. “You can take her there and get her situated. Then find Elle and have her get her some clothes or something.” Pete tried to hide his smile but wasn’t very successful. He really needed to work on that.

“Yes, sir.” He stepped up to her and signaled for her to stand and follow him. Once they were out, Patrick ran a hand through his hair. He looked between the other three guys in the room. Joe had a raised eyebrow.

“Don’t give me that look. Pete can handle himself.” Joe lifted his hands in surrender.

“Around women though? That’s an awful lota trust.” Patrick rolled his eyes at the jab. He wanted to laugh but Joe knows how reliable Pete is. Smyth cleared his throat.

“Well now that we all have determined Pete has a bad taste in women, I have info for you, Boss.” He handed a folder to Patrick. He thumbed through it briefly. The stuff about Vinn he had requested.

“I’ll look through this in detail later but give me the general run down.” Andy stepped forward.

“Generally, he’s an asshole.” Patrick rolled his eyes. “He has several convictions for drugs. And more than just weed. The mob has bailed him out every time. But not necessarily with the approval of the boss.”

“There’s also evidence suggesting some human trafficking,” Smyth added slowly. Patrick clenched his jaw. He could throw up.

“So why has no one gotten rid of him yet?” Andy and Smyth shared a look. “Someone answer me before I hit something,” Patrick said, gripping the table.

“His family. They’ve been with the Overcasts for a long time. He grew up when this stuff happened regularly. Your brother never investigated him too deeply for that reason. Throwing someone out with that kind of legacy isn’t exactly smiled upon.” Patrick slammed his fist down on the table.

“I don’t care what he grew up with! His conscious is clearly not working properly. He needs to be removed as leader of his sector. He didn’t listen to my brother, and he won’t listen to me.” Patrick grabbed his jacket, ready to storm out the door. Joe grabbed his arm.

“Dude now you’re not thinking rationally. Take a second to think,” Joe said. Patrick shook him off.

“I am thinking. I’m thinking about the people he sold and the minors lives he ruined.” Patrick was close to yelling.

“There’s no hard evidence, Trick. You can’t pin him for anything. It simply looks that way as someone with a trained eye,” Smyth said cautiously. Patrick took a breath and collapsed in a chair. They were right. He couldn’t storm into wherever and start accusing him. That wouldn’t exactly help his reputation either.

Patrick thought racked his brain for a thought about how to approach this. V popped into his mind. He knows how she responded when he asked about him initially. Discomfort. She had to know something. He stood quickly.

“I have to go talk to V.” He grabbed his jacket again.

“Just cause you’re stressed doesn’t mean there’s time for you to fuck your head clear,” Joe said. Patrick could kill him sometimes. He glared.

“You’re supposed to be better than Pete. Come with me. I think she knows something about our friend.”

-

The car ride was silent. Pete wanted to put music on or something, but he didn’t know if that would be weird or not. Mana didn’t say much; just stared out the window. Pete didn’t understand exactly why she was so interesting. It’s not like his heart fluttered or some bull shit when he looked at her.

“Feel free to turn on the radio or something,” he said awkwardly. She turned her head slightly in response but nothing else. Something she must have picked up from her brother. Back to silence.

A few minutes later, he heard her sigh and mumble something. Not sure if he was meant to hear it or not, he didn’t say anything. She tapped her fingers against her leg. Pete almost jumped when she started talking.

“I really didn’t want anything to do with all this gang stuff. But I suppose that was a naïve thought.” Pete glanced over at her. She tucked a piece of black hair behind her ear but because of the curls, refused to stay in place.

“Nothing wrong with being hopeful. Is it a family thing?” He didn’t expect an answer. But apparently Mana trusted him enough to at least give some insight.

“Yea. A bit. Not for long. Started with my grandfather. Been passed down to the oldest son since.” Pete nodded along. That wasn’t uncommon, but it was falling out of practice pretty quickly.

“I don’t mean to be rude, but your boss seems pretty soft. At least compared to the others I’ve met.” Pete clenched the steering wheel. He had to be careful of what he said. He trusted her more than he should already, but that doesn’t mean he wanted to talk about Patrick with her.

“He just doesn’t favor the taking of life to solve problems,” he said. He hoped she would just drop it. No such luck.

“Well I suppose that’s lucky for me then. I just don’t know how long he’ll be able to hold onto his title that way.” Pete took a sharp turn down a back street, making Mana press against the door slightly. She stared at him for a moment. “Understood. Your boss is an off-limits topic.”

Pete relaxed slightly. At least the message got across. He wanted to learn about her, but that usually required spilling some stuff about yourself with it. He pulled up to the seemingly run-down condo building. It was still functional, but they had a permanent hold on a floor of the building.

He parked in a spot in front of the door. He locked Mana’s door so she couldn’t get out until he came to open it for her. She rolled her eyes at him, clearly not appreciating the lack of trust.

“Seriously? Where the fuck else am I gunna go?” Pete raised an eyebrow at the curse word. He just never expected to hear something like that from her.

“Sorry, dear but we can’t exactly trust you yet. For all I know, you’re going to kill me as soon as we’re out of public view,” he said, holding the door open for her. She scoffed at him.

“I could say the same about you. I don’t exactly feel safe when I’m alone with one of the ‘trio from hell.’” Pete nodded to the receptionist and tried to keep the grin off his face.

“Ah so you’ve heard of us.” They stepped into the elevator and she shrugged, leaning against the wall.

“Hard not to.” It was Pete’s turn to shrug. He knew what their reputation was. He wasn’t ashamed of it, it was just strange to actually be referred to by that name. The elevator dinged at the ninth floor.

Mana looked around, probably taking note of the lack of guards. This place was monitored heavily. There were cameras at each end of the hallway and a motion detector for the door to the stairs. Pete grabbed her arm gently to pull her a few rooms down.

These condos were nice. They might have been studio, but they worked as safe places. He pushed the door open and Mana raised an eyebrow at him.

“No lock,” she questioned?

“There is. The only person that has access to it will be whoever is on watch that day.” She wandered around the room.

“Great so I’m still a prisoner, just in a slightly nicer room with my own bathroom.” Pete sighed.

“Look. All you gotta do is prove that we can trust you. You’re the one that offered to help our boss earlier, so it shouldn’t be like this for long.” She blew a piece of hair out of her face and crossed her arms.

“And I’m supposed to trust you and I don’t even know your name.” He thought for a moment. She had a point, but did he really want to make himself that vulnerable? It wasn’t Patrick’s name so it should be ok. She made a motion with her hands as if to say, ’see?’

“It’s Pete. Happier now?” She scrunched her nose in doubt.

“Yea, but how do I know you’re not lying to me,” she asked, almost playfully. He could have sworn that he saw her look him up and down but maybe he imagined it.

“What? You want my ID or some shit?” She shook her head and giggled.

“Nah, I believe you.”

-

Patrick banged on the door to the club. There was a lock clicking and a new bouncer poked his head out. Not quite as tall as the other guy but still buff and not to be messed with. But he really didn’t care about that right now.

“Where’s V? I have business to discuss.” Joe stood quietly at his side, not wanting to face Patrick’s wrath.

“And you are?” He crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. Patrick didn’t have time for this.

“I’m the guy that keeps this place going. I’m your bosses’ boss so god damnit get me V.” Patrick yanked out his ID again and showed the guy. He moved out of the way pretty quickly then.

“Uh, sir, can you wait in her office? She’s in the middle of a show,” he said, trailing off when he realized Patrick wasn’t listening.

It was harnesses this time. Wrapped around her body every which way. Bills hung out of various straps as she ran her hands over her body. Patrick tried not to stare but it was hard when she was the only thing to watch. Joe tapped his shoulder.

“Reminder that there is no time for a quickie,” he whispered. Patrick smacked him as Joe chuckled to himself. When he looked back at the stage, V had noticed him.

Her eyes locked on his as her body swayed to the beat. He cursed himself for reacting, but it was hard not to. He was the one to break eye contact again. It was like going through puberty again. He rushed off to the back room, Joe following closely behind him.

“And you give Pete shit about being into a girl,” he mumbled. Patrick glared at him again.

“Oh please, that was mostly you,” he retorted. Joe shrugged but didn’t deny it.

“Yea well be sure to hide that before she walks in here. Otherwise it’ll be awkward.” Patrick felt the blush rise to his face.

“Fuck you man.” So it had been a while since he got off. Not his fault he was so busy. It was just frustration. It was the only reason he was reacting the way he was. He tried to think of some weird stuff to make it go away but the door squeaked open.

V was shrugging on a sweatshirt but hadn’t changed out of her costume. Patrick’s eyes drifted but only for a moment before he caught himself.

“So, what did you boys need that was so important?” Joe cleared his throat, clearly not expecting her to walk in mostly naked either.

“We have some questions about a certain person. And we think you can help us,” he said. She raised an eyebrow and looked between them. She sat on her desk and crossed her legs.

“I’ll tell you what I can but like I told you last time Patrick, we have a confidentiality policy.” Patrick slipped his hands into his pockets.

“Look, I think I’m going to have to override that sentiment. It’s about Bult.” Patrick noticed her jaw clench. Why wasn’t she talking? “We have reason to believe he’s involved in trafficking. And if you know anything, please tell us so we can respond accordingly.” She ran a hand through her hair and stared at a wall. Joe tapped Patrick’s arm.

“I’ll wait outside. Seems personal,” he whispered. Patrick nodded. He trusted Joe to read a room when he couldn’t. Joe was rarely wrong about this stuff. The door clicked shut once again and Patrick moved toward her.

“Hey, if there’s something you need, you can just ask,” he said gently. She shook her head and took in a shaky breath.

“I need you to promise me something,” she said, meeting his eyes. He found himself nodding without even thinking.

“What is it?”

“Immunity. From the wrath that is you being the boss who makes the rules.” His brow furrowed as he considered. Just how bad was it and how deep did it run?

“You have my word,” he promised. Her shoulders relaxed but only slightly. She took another deep breath before starting.

“At one point, there was a girl who worked for me. Drew in a lot of customers. Specifically, Vinn and his buddies. They could get a bit rowdy, but they paid well and ordered drinks all night. I was taking out garbage one night and I saw her. She was giving all the money she earned to Vinn. Then he would grope her and his friends would join in. When I tried to ask her about it, all she would tell me was that she was doing this for her family. Then I found out she was under age. Vinn had faked all of her papers and made her work for me.” A couple tears slipped down her face, but she wiped them away.  Patrick wanted to reach for her. Comfort her. But that wasn’t the end.

“I refused to let her dance anymore and she was devastated because she was just protecting her family. The one that Vinn had threatened because they owed him money for drugs or something. I confronted him and he threatened me. Said that If I ever told anyone, he would make sure my business was run into the ground. And that he would kill the girl and her family,” she barely squeaked out the last sentence. She wrapped her arms around herself.

How was he supposed to respond to that? She wasn’t to blame. And he hated to do this to her, but he needed more information.

“Where is the girl now?” Her body shook with sobs. Patrick winced at how fragile this strong woman had become.

“I don’t know. I was forced to let her dance for a couple weeks then she disappeared. I couldn’t get in touch with her after that.” She wiped her face with the sleeve of her sweatshirt. Patrick couldn’t just watch her anymore. He stepped into her personal space and pulled her against him, hugging her.

She stiffened for a moment in surprise but then fell against him. He pet her hair gently as she buried her face into his shoulder. He could feel how strong she was but even he knew that everyone needed this sometimes.

“I hate to keep asking questions V, but what was her name,” he asked softly. She pushed away from him.

“Tiara Brookland. I’ve checked social media, homeless shelters, everything. I doubt you’ll be able to do any better.” He tried to smile at her but it was strained.

Patrick was beyond pissed. Really Vinn shouldn’t even be alive. Perhaps this was a situation he needed to take care of himself.

“I promise you. I will take care of it.” She nodded as she wiped her face some more. The tears had stopped flowing but her face was still red. He turned toward the door so he could go deal with the problem.

“I’ll hold you to that, Mr. Stump.” He paused at the door. “Come visit me sometime. Preferably when you don’t need something.” He turned back slightly but decided rather to just give a backwards wave.

Joe waited outside, arms crossed, leaning against the wall. His eyes were shut as if he was taking a nap. Patrick gave him a pat on the shoulder as he walked by. He took out his phone and dialed Smyth. He picked up after a couple rings.

“Get anything useful?”

“It’s personal Smyth. Just get Pete back to headquarters. And make sure no information is passed on to Vinn Bult ever again. Make sure that gets around. Oh, and track him down.”

“You sound scary kid. Should I be concerned?”

“He trafficked an underage girl Smyth. He doesn’t deserve to live. We’ll be doing humanity a favor by getting rid of him.” Patrick looked over at Joe who had has fists clenched. He wouldn’t have to convince him to help.

“Listen, if you want to do this, I’ll stand behind you. But make sure you know what you’re doing. I know your brother told you to not make decisions out of anger.”

“Yea well I know my feelings won’t change even once I’ve calmed down.” The two of them climbed into the car.

“Understood, Boss.” Patrick ended the call. He shared a look with Joe before speeding off towards headquarters.

-

Reggie winced as he maneuvered around the small bar. Smoke filled the air and the bartender coughed as someone blew it in her face. He looked around to his guys enjoying the whores he was paying to be there. He needed a new source of revenue since losing that little run-down thing to the north siders. And sex always sold.

These pretty little things were all hiding this side of them from their families. So, it would be easy to get them to do what he wants. He had pictures and videos of all of them. And he knew exactly where they lived. He grabbed a girl by the arm, pulling her against him.

“Hey, babe, why not help me get out some frustration.” She nodded but not quite as enthusiastically as he would have liked. “Come on you little bitch, be happy that you get to be fucked by me, the Boss.”

He pressed his mouth against hers, groping her body as he pleased. He needed this distraction. That little shit from the north side was better than he originally thought. But he didn’t care. He would destroy all of them.

He grabbed the girl by the neck, forcing her mouth open with his tongue. She squirmed but that just turned him on even more. He enjoyed himself, but it didn’t last for long. A throat cleared, making him groan. He shoved the girl away from him.

“What? I’m in the middle of something.”

“Apologies, boss. Just wanted to let you know that I’ve been cut off. Those stuck-ups are lookin for me.” A beat passed.

“Well, what the fuck Bult? You were supposed to be my inside man. All ya had to do, was not get caught.” He stood from his seat. Then there was a gun pressed against Vinn’s head. “What use are you to me now?” He lifted his hands in surrender.

“Look man, I still know shit. I know where hideouts are. Patrick won’t have a new leader of that sector for a while. You could move in easily. Have a base in the middle of their territory.” Reggie considered for a moment.

“Keep talking and I might not shoot you.”

-

Patrick tapped his fingers impatiently on the desk. Pete still wasn’t back. He ignored the possibilities that worried him and focused on the fact that he was probably getting laid or something.

“Fucking hell, Pete. I’m going to kill you.” He grabbed his phone again, dialing his number. Voicemail for the third time. He resisted the urge to throw his phone.

“Trick. Chill. We have time. No one knows where the guy is yet,” Joe pointed out. Patrick ran his hands through his hair, messing it up more than it already was.

“Why the hell not? It’s one fucking guy!” Joe and Andy shared a look.

“Trick. We’re just as pissed as you, but you need to calm down,” Andy said. “You’re too riled up and I wouldn’t want you making any decisions like this.” The door to the room opened and there was Pete, wandering in. Joe tried to stop him as Patrick stormed up to Pete, grabbing him by the shirt.

“Where the fuck have you been? I’ve called and texted and not a single reply? I told you to drop her off and that was it! That shouldn’t have taken hours!” Patrick snarled at Pete. He grabbed Patrick’s arms and shoved him away.

“The hell is your problem? I came as soon as Smyth called me. The safe house isn’t exactly close if you remember. Of course, I don’t think you can even think straight right now!”  Patrick lunged for him again, but Andy held him back.

“Knock it off, Patrick. You’re letting your emotions run wild.”

“Look, Trick. I am all for getting rid of this guy. But I will not do it when you can’t get a hold of yourself.” He stopped struggling against Andy. He looked at the four pairs of eyes focused on him.

They were right. He was the boss and he needed to act like it. He needed composure in this kind of situation. At least while he was in front of them. Andy released him hesitantly. He straitened his vest and took a moment to breathe.

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t in control. I’m fine now,” he said. He wasn’t sure if he would be fine when he saw Vinn but as of right now, he was calm.

“Nice to have you back,” Smyth commented. “That doesn’t change the fact that we don’t know where he is. My guess is that he booked it once he found that he was cut off.” Patrick nodded.

“And how’s other people’s opinions looking,” Andy asked?

“No one seems to be questioning so far. Our friend must have been causing trouble everywhere.”

Patrick ran a hand over his face and he thought back to V. He should have gotten rid of Vinn much earlier. He knew something wasn’t right and he ignored it in favor of trying to be merciful. Clearly a mistake.

“Smyth, I need you to locate someone for me. At least while we wait for more information on Vinn.” He nodded and signaled for him to continue. “Tiara Brookland. She used to work at V’s club. One day she just stopped coming and hasn’t been heard from since.”

“Got it. I’ll see what I can find.” He headed for the door, still limping slightly.

“And what are we going to do, Boss,” Pete asked?

“We are going to his sector to see how he left the place. Pilsen is where his base of operations should be.”

[tenacioussheepalpaca]

tag meme !!

I got tagged by this cats-pajamas rockin awesome possum @xyloophones!! thanks \^^/ 💕 (Ohmygosh this is still in my drafts... I thought I posted it months ago... whoops.)

How tall are you? 5′6″.

What color are your eyes? Hazel, always liked the mix between brown and green and depending on which fam member I compare with and the lighting it can lean one way or the other

Do you wear contacts and/or glasses?nope! 

Do you wear braces? no?? I’m the freak of nature switched at birth kind of child my parents just scratched their heads at over this, literally everyone else in the fam needed em

What is your fashion style? I’d like to say classy and comfortable with a range from business demimagnate hyperformal to i don’t really care too much/ fite me i sniffed it and it wasn’t too bad, kinda matched and is super comfy

How old are you? 22 mah dudes, 22 and you forget your own name and how to count because i swear i had to figure that on my fingers... smh

Do you have any siblings? YUSS One of each <3 love em. they’re my built in  battle/life buddies and confidantes who I’d literally bury a body for 

What school/college do you go to? i go to the University of Suffering and Stress  (... ok thats... yea that’s too perfect, imma leave that one in unedited. because don’t we all?? @xyloophones truth.)

What kind of student are you? 😭😭😭 works my ass off, attends Every. Single. Lecture. come hell or high water. (I don’t care if it’s a spot of the plague, I’M GOING). Notes that resemble an odd mix of cursive, cuneiform and chicken scratch but are fairly well organized...ish. Sometimes office hours but I didn’t start that till year 3 really??  it was more of just living in the tutoring center that did it for me?? Loved to have group study parties before finals but otherwise a loner for preetty much the rest of the year  😭 loved my program, graduated now but def need a break with lots of sleep to make up the deficit before going back for any other degrees! anything i’d change: make friends next time around. 

What are your favorite subjects? I LOVE foreign languages and history and politics (international relations). 

What are your favorite movies? OKAY SO EDGE OF TOMORROW ANYONE?? all time fav. second to that one is The Bourne Identity, Knight and Day, The Tourist, and Megamind

What are your favorite pastimes? reading, painting, learning languages, goofing off on the internet, chatting with the fam, cooking, TaeKwonDo, going on walking/travel adventures and swimming OOH and taking pics. 

Do you have any regrets?  haha who doesn’t? but I try pretty hard to not dwell on them.

What is your dream job? I’d love to do a bit of everything. I’m teaching ESL right now which is a love hate relationship <3<3 but who knows, maybe I’ll do freelance editing/ online esl tutoring, computer programming or maybe even truck driving. The possibilities are endless and I’ve got time so....  

Would you like to get married? yup, one of these days. I’d love to find someone that jives with my weird shenanigans 

Do you want kids? how many? Bwahahaha aaaack?? idk i keep going back and forth on this. When I was little I wanted kids like, so much. now.... idk?? It’d take some serious consideration and discussion with my partner before I’d be comfy even considering but if I did have em, I know I’d love them and give it my all to the umteenth degree bc that’s just the way mah heart works

How many countries have you visited? Mexico, England, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Finland, Estonia.... got plans to see some more soon!! 

What was your scariest dream? torture of a loved one that i was unable to stop. yea that took a turn, sorry guys

Do you have a boyfriend/girlfriend/significant other? hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahah........ short answer, no.  many reasons, but let’s just say ‘since she’s an idiot, she’s probably gonna take the long way round to find love...’

Put your playlist on shuffle and without skipping list the first 15 songs

Lola Blanc - Don’t Say You Do 

(Hisaishi Joe) Howl's Moving Castle Theme - Sungha Jung 

Most Wondrous Battle Music Ever: The Descent  By: Fired Earth Music [Charles I. Evans]

Потап и Настя - Бумдиггибай 

'Bad Blood'' by Welshly Arms 

CloZee - Apsara Calling (David Starfire Remix)

grandson - Blood // Water

seven nation army by the white stripes

MISSIO - Bottom Of The Deep Blue Sea

Peter McIsaac - Most Wondrous Battle Music Ever: The Last Of Us

Kaskade - Winter Wonderland

SleightlyMusical  【Re:Zero】OP 1 - "Redo" Cover ft. LilyPichu

Gryffin, Bipolar Sunshine - Whole Heart

Phil Good - Sleeping In

Hozier - Arsonist’s Lullabye 

THANK YOU!!! THIS WAS SO MUCH FUN!! :D Ok, so I’m tagging @angelofdudes @dreamywritingdragon @angelofdudes @iwritebetterthanispeak @screamingatanemptyroom @sodiumphosphate @katineto @livixbobbiex @cherryhan-ji @hangelove @oddxiety@captainlonelywolf99 @ALL OF YOU LOVELIES WHO ARE HERE AND FEEL LIKE IT BECAUSE I ALWAYS WANT TO MEET NEW POEPLE :D

[imeugene]

Today’s writeup was entirely based on the Super Bowl win. The Super Bowl being the “international” American Football championship for the international folks that read this. It’s more or less a second independence day type holiday in the United States. But I think Philly is a good topic to bring up and definitely something I’ve been meaning to do for a while. That’s cause I honestly think the East Coast has shifted heavily towards Philly in the modern times. 

The Animal influence on the East Coast is something I’ve brought up multiple times. In it’s gist is that the Animal videos of the early 2000′s brought attention to a form of a street riding that very new to the BMX world. The center point to it all was definitely New York City. It’s completely understandable why. A lot of the riders were from NYC. The noticeable scenery was all NYC. Snoffshack of Brooklyn being home to what seemed like everyone on the Animal pro team at the time. It was all a very complete tidy package. New York Culture is ubiquitous in the world. It’s why dudes in Egypt wear Yankees hats and random fashion companies have NYC in the branding for extra points. It’s where movies outside of Hollywood take place and where hip hop was born. For Animal to be an extension of all that is just natural. 

For the longest time it was that way. Even the recent Animal House video that restarted the brand was entirely New York City based but the problem I think was that there wasn’t enough forward momentum to push NYC consistently into the newer BMX media landscape. Bob has a very slow process, something he’s admitted. It makes for memorable full length projects but it really doesn’t work for anything outside of that model. Photographers were rare. Videographers also. Not to say they didn’t exist cause NYC has a strong underground identity but the underground isn’t something that can move units and that’s what the East Coast needed. For a point in time it seemed like the East Coast went into some weird remission where nothing was coming out. Animal seemed dead. The original Animal riders were quickly aging out and honestly there weren’t a lot of well known NYC riders that could pick up the mantle that the original crew created. Then Philly kind of happened. 

There has never been any shortages of good riders from Pennsylvania. Bethlehem had Joe Rich at some point. Pittsburgh has their legenday trail scene. Allentown is Butcher and A-town Trash and Philadelphia was the grounds for upcoming South Jersey riders and random streets pros from surrounding areas like Tom White, Joe Mcintire, Van Homan and Wiz. All those cities in Pennsylvania have cemented themselves as creators of legends and maintained a thriving scene. Philly itself seemed really slept on. There wasn’t a real identity to attach itself with outside of Animal, which was being very NYC-centric for the longest time. But when NYC kind of lost its way for a while, Philly kind of slowly started to take its place. Philly is cheap. It’s not NYC but it’s definitely one of the largest cities in America. The surrounding suburbs are breeding grounds for bored slightly anti-social suburban kids who are the main demographic for people who want to BMX. There were plenty of skateparks, plenty of land to create trails. Plenty of places to be a kid, which is needed for BMX. NYC was becoming a city that couldn’t accommodate that type of culture. The high cost, the seriousness, it creates greatness but its not the type of the place that cultivate something like BMX easily. Even a lot of the old school edge once associated with NYC like punk rock and rap quickly disappeared. NYC as a city changed drastically and lost some of that underground flavor it was once famous for. When it couldn’t produce, it seemed like Animal and the East Coast was doomed. 

I mentioned earlier that Animal was the only identity for street in Pennsylvania for the longest time, while street was thriving. I want to say at a certain point that Pennsylvania was overflowing with talent and it had to blow up. There had to be an outlet for what was happening. With the birth social networking and being able to reach a worldwide audience through more or less self distribution, a new form of underground was beginning to show itself in Pennsylvania/Philly.  Chocolate Truck, Stinkpit, Jib, The Yea. These local crews who were immensely talented were popping left and right in the area. In a way that I don’t think any other city in America truly has. Sure there’s plenty of crews with hashtags but very few who have been able to solidify any type of real brand identity like these Philly-centric crews have. I think Animal realized this and really tapped into this new reserve while the old one was taking time to renew itself (different story for a different day). 

Currently I think we live in a time where the East Coast is Philly more than anything else, it’s their Golden Age. It’s Pennsylvania riders who are coming up and making a name and today. They have their own zine that focuses solely on Pennsylvania. Their own mail order. It’s a living, breathing scene in an otherwise seemingly dated community and today they can celebrate escaping their forever underdog persona with their first Super Bowl win. I’m pretty sure there is a few scene DVD’s in the making right now. CT2 is definitely something coming soon. Philly really blew up and it’ll be interesting to see what comes of it in the coming years. 

Philly On My Back by Philly Swain

Animal - Cuts(2010)

Edited by Bob Scerbo

[trugreyloki]

Ticket To Life ch. 1

Fanfic by GreyLoki

~Day 0~

'I see everything he sees. Hear what he hears. Feel what he feels. The pain of being like this almost unbearable. He never listens to me... Can he even hear me? I guess... he neglected me for so long my screams of common sense can't reach him... I'm useless aren't I? I don't care anymore. If he won't listen to me I won't guide him anymore. Just let me out! Out of this prison in his mind! It's painful to sit and watch. I want to act, move, dance. Something! It's torture watching him play "Dodj or Dahr" so many times and feeling the pain. Although I've noticed his resistance to pain increasing, I don't want to keep feeling it. When will my time come?

'Gumball Watterson... How is it that in a family with names like Anais, Nicole, Richard, and Darwin they name their son Gumball? Even if Richard has the IQ lower than a bag of corn, Nicole should have put her foot down at Gumball's birth, but hey she's somewhat of an enabler so... It's just that all of his pet fish got normal names, all of them Darwin of course. Goodness. I'd blame his name for his antics, but I know better. Even if his name was Steven he'd still be a lovable, destructive goof.

'Yea... I said lovable. I can't bring myself to hate the kid, even if he doesn't listen to me. He has this charisma that he can get so many people to like him. Tobias, the rainbow kid, is rich and seems somewhat popular and he still hangs with Gumball from time to time. Even Banana Joe, why does Elmore have so many weird names, is kinda the third to Gumball and Darwin's duo. Gumball's bullies can't even hate him. Tina sees him as a friend, typical Tsundere, and Jamie is tolerant of him. Carie, Teri, Penny, Masami; so many names ending with the e sound; Bobert, etc... The only ones I can say who definitively hate him are Ms./Mr. Simian; can't tell half the time; and Penny's dad.

'Is he annoying? Yes. Does he cause thousands of dollars in damages? Yes. Is he stupid? Yes and no; if put more effort into thinking before he acted there'd be less stupid craziness. But can you hate him? Not likely. If it wasn't for the bad things happening around him I would say he was a Gary Sue of his own life. Some important stuff just work for him. He still needs a conscience, but I'm sick of being it. I want a life of my own. Some day... I might get my wish.'

~Day 1~

Be-Beep be-beep be-beep...

The alarm has been going off for half an hour now. I don't mind the darkness I see, but I really don't want to look at the inside of Gumball's eyelids.

'Wake up lazy bones! Today's Sunday, you got one more day of doing jack,' I yell in the back of my mind. I know this is futile, but hey, it keeps me sane... Not really. How can I be sane when I'm just apart of this guy's mind. Being an ignored conscience is brutal. No control, no choice, and no one to "talk" to is heck.

'SOMEONE WAKE THIS BLUE CAT UP!' I yell once more.

Be-beep be-beep be-beep

"Hey. Gumball? It's time to get up," said a voice of innocence.

'Thank yooouu, Darwin!'

Darwin Raglin Caspian Ahab Poseidon Nicodemus Watterson III, the third orange pet fish of the family. Also, the only one to grow legs and develop, mentally, past 8 years old.

"Come on Gumball. It's 10:30. Get up."

Slowly Gumball yawns, sits up and begins to open his eyes.

'Finally! I can se... Oh my goodness the sun burns the eyes!'

Gumball closes his tight and rubs the sleep from them. "Mornin' Dude," he says as begins to get outta bed, "So what's planned for today?"

"Well," Darwin pulls a piece of paper from behind his back.

'Where did he keep that?'

"First, we sit and watch cartoons for 2 hours, then video games for 2 more..."

'Wow, sounds like an exciting and mentally stimulating day so far.'

"Then we go to the park to hang with Tobias, Banana Joe, and Bobert," Darwin finished with that innocent smile, like nothing is wrong in the world. By this time Gumball had gotten dressed in his signature outfit: light blue denim pants, white-ish tan long sleeved sweater and no shoes.

'What no shower? *inner sigh* So that makes it the 4th day without washing?' sarcastically 'So nice...'

"Well buddy, lets get started," I can feel Gumball smile lightly as he said this.

Darwin puts on his own signature clothes, socks and green shoes only.

'Nother day in da nude, Darwin?’

As they descend down the stairs Gumball smells something delicious coming from the kitchen. Nicole; Gumball's mother, who he resembles (only taller than him); is cooking a small breakfast for the family. Anais and Richard are already sitting at the table waiting. Both of them pink bunnies. Richard is big; in height and weight, reads at the 2nd grade level, and has a child-like innocence like Darwin. How did he get Nicole? Anais, I call her Ms. Einstein, the baby of the family at 6. She's about half Gumball's height and five times smarter. She's basically smart enough to have graduated from a university, but for some reason she goes to Elmore Junior high with Gumball and Darwin. I think it's the stigma of being a Watterson.

"Morning boys!" Richard greeting them with his warm, somewhat dimwitted smile as they enter the dining room.

"Morning Mr. Dad!" Darwin replying the same way.

"Good Morning," Replied Gumball with a yawn. "Morning Anais."

The small bunny in her slightly perky voice says, "Morning. What do you have planned for the day?"

'Oh, you know same old same old. Stimulating study sessions and homework,' I sarcastically think to myself.

"Oh, you know same old same old. Stimulating study sessions and homework," Gumball replied.

‘What?’ I asked shocked.

"What?" Everyone else asked the same thing, looking flabbergasted.

'I know right he stole my sentence! Can he really hear me?'

"Sike!" he said laughing. Everyone actually sighed in relief, they must of thought the world was coming to an end. He continues, "Me and Darwin are just gonna due the usual."

His mom enters with the breakfast she made, "Sometimes I wish that you would actually do that, you know?" She place the dishes on the table; scrambled eggs, slightly crispy bacon, and hash browns.

"Everything looks good honey," says Richard who looked at the food as if he hadn't eaten yesterday.

"Thanks Richard," replied Nicole.

After everyone got their share Gumball was staring at the hashbrowns on his fork.

'You know this coulda been Idaho's cousin,' he thought as I felt his mouth salivate.

'Who thinks like that?' I yelled.

4 mind numbing hours later

Gumball and Darwin had finished gaming an hour early cause Nicole wanted them to get outta the house and play. So decided to play a quick game of "Dodj or Dahr" in the backyard. Now Gumball is walking to the park with a few scratches and what feels like a broken rib. How did he increase his pain threshold to the point of walking off broken bones.

"What are we gonna do at the park, dude?" Gumball finally asked.

"I don't know," Darwin replied with a look of questioning on his face. "Tobias just said to be at the park by 4 o'clock."

'I hope this isn't a prank or something,' thought Gumball knowing that Tobias pulls a couple of cheap tricks on Gumball and vice versa. They made it to the park, but didn't see the fluffy rainbow headed kid or the strip happy banana. As they entered Gumball sees a small white robot walking towards the rock formation near the lake.

"Hey, there's Bobert," said Gumball, "Hey, Bobert, over here."

Bobert turned his head to see who called out to him. He look in Gumball's direction and I guess used a zoom function as his eye did that unusual camera thing. He look as happy as a robot kid could and motioned for Darwin and Gumball to approach.

"Friend Gumball. Friend Darwin. It is quite elating to see you," Bobert greeted as they got closer.

'I don't know why, but... I like the way this guy talks' I thought to myself.

'How come he talks like that?' thought Gumball. I already knew we differed in thoughts, but he doesn't hate the way Bobert talks. He just thinks it's different. Nothing wrong with that. Gumball's also "different."

"Hey Bobert," Darwin begins, "Do you know why Tobias wanted us to meet at the park?"

'I know why,' I thought out loud. Sometimes I really wish Gumball could hear me here in the back of his mind. 'Who usually meets here on Sunday and what do they do?'

"It is most likely to observe the cheerleaders as they practice their routine," informed Bobert, "They have scheduled to meet here every Sunday for the last six months."

"Oh," Darwin looked like he wasn't quite sure why Tobias would want to watch them. Isn't innocence precious? Gumball on the other hand... Well let me tell you what I feel his body doing (age appropriately). His heart is beating as fast as a jackhammer, his palms have gotten a bit clammy, and I feel a lovestruck smile on his face. If you don't know; Penny, the cute peanut with antlers, is a cheerleader. Gumball is helplessly in love with her, but to nervous to say this to her. He also doesn't know that she likes him the same way, but she doesn't appear nervous around him, not like he is around her anyway.

'Come on, Gumball. Just breath,' I instructed, not like he can hear me.

'I would totally hug Tobias if it wouldn't...' he stopped in mid thought. 'Wait a minute!'

"Why are you here, Bobert?" he asked. "You don't seem like you would enjoy watching."

"He's hear to record everything," said a voice with a matter-of-fact tone. Gumball and Darwin looked around, but couldn't put a face to the voice. Then it spoke again, "Up here."

Gumball look and see Tobias looking down from the rock cliff. His rainbow face has this smug look on as if it's saying, "Nice idea, right? I thought of it before you could."

"Sup Tobias," greeted Gumball. "Where's Banana Joe?"

"He's up here looking for a good place for Bobert to catch everything," He replied. "Hurry and get up here or you'll miss everything."

Gumball didn't need to be told twice climbing up the slightly steep rock face. He was ignoring the sharp pain in his side from the hurt rib.

'Tsk... How can you not feel this pain in your side, dude,' I thought, 'you're not Supercat or anything.' Now I realized that I'm whining while the Gumball, the one who's in control is brushing it off like nothing. I would feel kinda sad, I guess, if it wasn't for Gumball's emotions overwriting mine.

As Gumball reached the top he saw Tobias had set some small snacks to enjoy while watching the show. Banana Joe had directed Bobert where he could sit to see everything. Darwin had held out a fin to help Gumball up.

"How'd you beat me up here?" He asked.

Darwin pointed back to Bobert, "He used his extending legs. You could have hitched a ride if you didn't rush up the side." At this point I could feel Gumball's face heat up in embarrassment.

'Think before you leap, Gumball.' I'm starting to enjoy the thought of seeing the cheerleaders practice. Maybe that's Gumball "infecting" me again. 'Well lets see what's happening Gumball'

Gumball strolled over to the edge and saw the cheerleaders getting warmed up. He could see everyone. Masami, the rich cloud; Molly Collins, the friendly sauropod; Teri, the cute hypochondriac paper bear; Carmen, the cactus; and Leslie, the potted flower whose also the only boy on the squad. Gumball's eyes scanned over the scene until he saw a certain peanut with antlers. Penny Fitzgerald, a nice girl with kind eyes and sweet voice, was leading the squad through small drills.

Gumball couldn't take his eyes off her. Since I could only see what he could see I learned to observe everything through the periphery of his sight. As I glanced around I noticed he was too close to the edge. I know he can take pain, but a fall from about three stories coupled with his hurt side and we're looking at hospitalization.

Nervously I try and say, 'Gumball... Slowly and safely... back away from th...'

"GUMBALL!" Darwin calling him startled Gumball and he quickly turned. At this time his foot slipped off the edge. At the same time small pieces of the cliff cracked off. Now Gumball is falling and I'm along for the ride watching from the back of his mind. I scream in Gumball's mind as he screams out loud. I see the ground close in and at the last moment he closed his eyes. The impact hurt, a lot, and I could feel repeated hits along his back. The pressure from the last few hits lingered and I realized Gumball is now trapped under the rubble.

"Help me," I weakly think aloud as I lose consciousness.

[billiejoeshappytrail]

do all 140 questions you coward i dare you ;)

jfigkgkgkg okay guys, never do this to gee because she will do it back eventually, ,,,,, 3 Fears? Never being able to get top surgery, relapsing, bad things happening to Green Day 3 things I love? Green Day, my cat, malachite 2 turns on? Oh yikes,,, i'm tryna make this blog more kid friendly but i'm pretty sure you already know my weird kinks 2 turns off? Being right wing, being a posh twatMy best friend? I don't have one.. maybe my cat lmao Sexual orientation? PanHow tall am I? 5'6"What do I miss right now? Honestly? Uni. I know that sounds lame af but I just want it to be Monday alreadyFavourite colour? I have a lot of them! I'm an artist Do I have a crush? *exhausted noises*Favourite place? I really don't know right now What am I listening to right now? Nothing Shoe size? UK 6Eye colour ? BlueHair colour? PinkMeaning behind my URL; 😂😂😂Favourite song; IdkFavourite band; Green Day How I feel right now; Okay Someone I love; Bilky My current relationship status; Uh My relationship with my parents; Weird but not badFavourite season; SummerTattoos and piercing i have; lion tattoo on my chest, pink panther in my left elbow ditch, a dotwork crown on my left middle finger, a lot of stick and pokes, septum piercing, snakebites, earlobes, tongue Tattoos and piercing i want; Too many tattoos to explain, eyebrow piercing, nose piercingThe reasons I joined Tumblr; Fuck knows 😂Do I ever get “good morning” or “good night ” texts? ! !! ! !!! I sometimes get a good morning from Gee on kik Have I ever kissed the last person you texted? My phone is dead but I think probably not?? How long does it take me to get ready in the morning? Uh, about five minutes unless I'm going full punk Have you shaved your legs in the past three days? Jgkhkh nope Where am I right now? My roomDo I like my music loud or at a reasonable level? Depends on the setting Do I live with my Mom and Dad? I live with my mum Am I excited for anything? ! ! !! ! !!!!! ! ! ! Tomorrow Do I have someone of the opposite sex I can tell everything to? Sounds cishet but okHow often do I wear a fake smile? Never, if i'm sad of pissed off yr gonna know about it If I could meet anyone on this earth, who would it be? Billie Joe Armstrong What do I think about most? Mad shit, food, weed, music, intrusive bpd crapDo I prefer to be behind the camera or in front of it? BehindWhat was the last lie I told? I don't know, I try not to lieDo I perfer talking on the phone or video chatting online? I'm sort of uncomfortable with both but like, the select few people I'll call usually skype me so I guess video chat Do I believe in ghosts? How about aliens? Ghosts; dunno, aliens; fuck yea Do I believe in magic? I want toDo I believe in luck? What's there to believe in? Sometimes you have it and sometimes you don't but it exists like just by virtue of people being lucky sometimes What’s the weather like right now? GreyWhat was the last book I’ve read? Idk manDo I have any nicknames? Ya i'm itchy or itch to most of my online friends Do I spend money or save it? Idk man, I'm poor so idk Can I touch my nose with a tounge? NahFavourite animal? LionWhat was I doing last night at 12 AM? Maybe sleeping?What’s a song that always makes me happy when I hear it? Any Green Day song What is my favorite word? I don't have oneMy top 5 blogs on tumblr; yo i'm not going that I have way too manyIf the whole world were listening to me right now, what would I say? Feed the fucking poor you heathens Do I have any relatives in jail? Not that I know ofWhat is my current desktop picture? I don't really use a computer but my tablet one is billie joe Had sex? Ya Bought condoms? NahGotten pregnant? Nope Have I ever kissed somebody in the rain? Yeah it was kinda not as good as it sounds Had job? Sort of Smoked weed? Ye Smoked cigarettes? YeDrank alcohol? YeAm I a vegetarian/vegan? Veggie ✌Been overweight? YeBeen underweight? Probably not Gotten my heart broken? YeBeen to prom? YeBeen in airplane? YeLearned another language? Not fluently but I can sort of speak German like, more than the average brit can speak of their Fremdsprache :0 Wore make up? YeoDyed my hair? YepHad a surgery? Not yet Met someone famous? STZA REPLIED TO MY MESSAGE LAST NIGHT HFGJG also i met jeremy corbyn a few times, eddie izzard a few times and i have a wild story abt how I almost stabbed him Stalked someone on a social network? Ye Been fishing? Nah Been rejected by a crush? YeWhat do I want for birthday? It just happened Do I like my handwriting? I guess Where do I want to live when older? Everywhere Have I ever got caught sneaking out or doing anything bad? YeWhat I’m really bad at? Being neurotypical What my greatest achievments are? Not dying The meanest thing somebody has ever said to me; dude in my high school found out my mum had cancer and he said i deserved for her to die What I’d do if I won in a lottery; pay people's tuition, pay people's medical bills, buy either avocado toast or a house, I haven't decided yet What do I like about myself; Lots of stuff :0 My closest Tumblr friend; The goons :0 Any question you’d like? Are you outgoing or shy? Both at different times What kind of people are you attracted to? It depends, I don't really have a type Do you think you’ll be in a relationship two months from now? God I hope not, I never want that ever again for a really long time Does talking about sex make you uncomfortable? Depends who with Who was the last person you had a deep conversation with? RoryWhat does the most recent text that you sent say? IdkWhat are your 5 favorite songs right now? RVIVR - Resilient Bastard, Armstrongs - If There Was Ever A Time, Riverdales - Rehabilitated, New York Dolls - Personality Crisis, Green Day - The Grouch Do you like it when people play with your hair? Ye, unless I just did my mohawk in which case they can get the fuck away from me Do you think there is life on other planets? YeDo you like bubble baths? Sometimes Do you like your neighbors? Yeah!!! My next door neighbour is this lady called Lily and she encouraged me to try roller derby Where would you like to travel? A lot of places Favorite part of your daily routine? Taking my sertraline with a coffee maybe but not because it's exciting, just because it's the only thing I do every day without fail.What part of your body are you most uncomfortable with? TiddiesWhat do you do when you wake up? Feed my cat Do you wish your skin was lighter or darker? I like it how it isDo you ever want to get married? Fuck no If your hair long enough for a pony tail? Nah Would you rather live without TV or music? TV Have you ever liked someone and never told them? YeahWhat are your favorite stores to shop in? Uh, alternative places, every city has one, Afflecks, Camden etc. Do you believe everyone deserves a second chance? NahDo you smile at strangers? YeahHave you done anything recently that you hope nobody finds out about? NahEver wished you were someone else? YeahFavourite makeup brand? IdkLast thing you ate? Lasagne Ever won a competition? For what? I won a few art competitions as a kid Ever been in love? YesFacebook or Twitter? Facebook Twitter or Tumblr? Tumblr Are you watching tv right now? Nah What colour are your towels? Red Favourite ice cream flavour? Cookie dough or salted caramel First person you talked to today? IdkLast person you talked to today? ??? Gee ??Name a person you hate? Theresa fucking MayName a person you love? Jeremy fucking Corbyn Is there anyone you want to punch in the face right now? Oh god, so many people Do you tan a lot? NahHave any pets? My baby boy ! !! ! My gorgeous little lion, my Corbyn, orange boy, fav boy Do you type fast? Sort of Do you regret anything from your past? Abel lmao Ever broken someone’s heart? NahHave you ever liked someone so much it hurt? YeaIs cheating ever okay? NahDo you believe in true love? SureWhat your zodiac sign? Virgo Do you believe in ghosts? Idk Get the closest book next to you, open it to page 42, what’s the first line on that page? "Annika shrugged. She was worried about the goldfish"