#maybe a handful who write decent books and like one of each is at the library

[seven-saffodils]

.

[anastasiabowe]

𝙍𝙄𝘾𝙃 𝙂𝙀𝙉𝙏𝙇𝙀𝙈𝘼𝙉 — As a broke college student, it’s not wrong to want a rich boyfriend! That doesn’t mean you’re a gold digger, or will stoop so low you will ruin your worth, it just means you want a man who will take care of you, and guess what? You found him.

note: this will be a 3 part series! First one I’ve ever made and may be my last! So please not too much on these writings! Luv you!

𝙋𝘼𝙍𝙏 𝙄 𝙋𝘼𝙍𝙏 𝙄𝙄 𝙋𝘼𝙍𝙏 𝙄𝙄𝙄

Content Warnings: language, suggestive content

Nanami is a man of morals. He usually keeps his hands and eyes to himself, he holds the door for anyone, women especially, he respects boundaries, and if anything that causes him to think inappropriately he will kindly excuse himself to make sure he doesn’t seem like a creep. But Nanami is just like any man.

Nanami longs for a lover, a wife. He desires children, a family. But in this cruel, sick world, he can’t find a woman who wants him for him. Nanami is one of the top 10 richest men on the planet, he not including himself, but his company in that title.

Every woman he has attempted to date tries to put on their best “I love you for your heart not your money!” act, but it slips the second they tell him “oh no! I forgot my wallet!”

Nanami knows every trick in the book, he knows the look women give him when they are impressed by his wealth, he knows the lip biting they do to show interest in his looks, he knows the voice and excuses they say to make him fall down to their feet, which he never once has done nor will do. He knows it all. So dating people that have seen him before he’s met them makes it all the more boring.

So, when Nanami’s friend, Haibara introduced him to dating apps, he obviously was shook.

“You really had no idea there were dating apps?” Haibara blankly looked at him. Nanami bit his thumb in uncertainty.

He grumbled a little “no.” And his friend smiled. “Then sign up! What can you lose? They don’t have to know what you look like.”

Nanami hated that idea. “No, I want them to know who I am.” His firm voice erased that idea completely from his friends plan.

“Well, 80% of this world knows who you are, that wish you want isn’t going to happen.” Nanami sighed knowingly, just tired from his sad lonely life.

“Haibara, thank you for this..” Nanami thought carefully of his words. “Great discovery, but I think it’s best you head home and I sleep on it.” Haibara understood, and firmly grabbed Nanami’s shoulder on his way out.

“You’ll find her, I know you will.” Nanami placed his hand firmly on Haibara’s in a thank you, and Haibara left.

After Nanami heard Haibara leave, he hurriedly sat down on his couch and opened the dating site.

“RICHTON THE DATING APP FOR THE WEALTHY!”

Nanami quickly laughed at the cringe advertisement, but it was a popular app, so something was working.

Nanami put in his information and had to choose which photos to put on his profile. He chose the first decent ones he could find, not caring too much about perfection, and he was brought up with the interests slide.

He clicked three random ones and pressed continue. The app asked to use his camera to verify his age and photos. Nanami positioned the camera to where it said to and he was verified. The app welcomed him to a very ugly woman.

Nanami had skipped the tutorial at the beginning and just swiped towards the X like he has seen on TV. This app was the definition of a gold diggers dream. Rich men pay to speak with women that aren’t even all that.

Nanami swiped and swiped towards the x. No woman looked like a decent women. They all looked like they seduce men or are prostitutes, maybe both. Nanami frowned seeing all the half naked women.

“Should I really be on this app?” He thought to himself. He continued to swipe, heart sinking each swipe to the left seeing women who don’t know their worth. Ass in the camera more than their face just to get a quick buck. Nanami swiped one more time ready to turn his phone off, and his thumb froze.

A girl with straight hair smiling in what seems to be senior photo. She was in a white summer dress posing in a daisy field. The beach was calm behind her and he couldn’t help but stare at her smile. She seemed so pure, so innocent and that was exactly what he was looking for. He swiped right on her profile and it opened up a message saying:

“YOUR FIRST MATCH! SEND HER A MESSAGE WITH THE AMOUNT YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEND!”

Nanami saw a text box and a drop box. The drop box has let Nanami type in the amount he would like to send. The minimum was 5 dollars. He typed in $100 and pressed on the text box.

His thumbs again froze. What should he say? Should he compliment her? Introduce himself? Nanami combined them. He typed.

“Hello, my name is Kento and I couldn’t help but be in absolute awe seeing your photos. You are absolutely beautiful.” He sent it without looking back, this was already hard enough.

Nearly instantly you saw his message and typed.

Y: “Oh my god, you did NOT have to send that much money!”

He imagined your voice as he read your message. He chuckled to himself like a madman and he started typing back.

N: “I wanted to, you are so beautiful, I couldn’t help myself.”

He nervously tapped his thumbs on the side of his phone waiting for your response.

Y: “I really do appreciate the compliment but $100 is too much, I can’t accept that!”

N: “Too late, I want you to have it, I want to talk to you.”

Y: “You can’t talk to me for free!”

N: “That’s not how this app works..?” Nanami was confused.

Y: “Oh, right.. I forgot you have to pay to chat.”

N: “Please don’t be alarmed by the money, I’m not running out anytime soon😂”

Nanami cringed at himself for using such an emoji, but he wanted you to feel at ease.

Y: “Thank you, you really didn’t have to though. I won’t stop saying that.”

N: “Then let’s change the subject. Why are you on this app?”

You saw his message but didn’t text back. Did he ask a triggering question? You soon started typing, and his nerves came back.

Y: “You know, a broke college student who needs a little extra cash😅”

He chuckled, for a girl who didn’t want a hundred bucks, that’s sure what she was looking for.

N: “Haha, so you won’t mind if I send more?”

Y: “Don’t send more! I’m not that broke😭”

Nanami smiled. He smiled as if you were really there. He imagined having this conversation with you and how hard you would make him laugh with your silly remarks.

N: “Don’t worry, I won’t 😂, but it’s not like you’re going to stop me.”

Y: “I’ll send it back😜✌🏾”

N: “I’ll send it back!”

Y: “And I’ll send it again, it will be a whole thing if you make it💀”

The fact you both were arguing over money is crazy, Nanami never argued with a woman about sending them money. They usually do a “oh no you don’t have to do that!” But will eventually accept. You on the other hand are just outright refusing. Nanami is now intrigued by you.

N: “If you won’t accept my money via here, how about dinner? I’ll pay, and I won’t argue about it when we get there.”

You again took your time typing, very obvious you are unsure.

Y: “Okay… but where are you tryna take me?”

N: “I was thinking…. Hermes?”

Y: “You’re joking!”

N: “What?”

Y: “I can’t afford that!”

N: “You’re not paying.”

Y: “Still, I can’t make you pay for that!”

N: “I want to pay for it, I eat there all the time.”

Y: “Not for two☹️”

N: “I’ve paid for 10.”

Y:“Kento..”

N: “Y/n, please. I want to meet you. You intrigue me, I’ve never met someone like you. I don’t want to seem like a begged, nor do I want to pressure you, but I would love to meet you and enjoy a nice dinner with you.”

Nanami felt desperate even though he just met you not even an hour ago.

The long response time again happened, and Nanami felt like he blew it. The once time he felt like he actually found someone worth the time, he blew it.

Y: “Okay.”

Nanami’s heart fluttered seeing your message.

N: “You will have dinner with me?”

Y: “Yes! I’ll have dinner with you😂”

Nanami felt like a little boy again. He hadn’t felt this excited to ask a girl out since never and it felt good.

N: “How does tomorrow sound? I know that’s soon, but it’s the only day my schedule isn’t busy.”

Y: “Yeah, tomorrow would be great!”

N: “Alright, I’ll see you then!”

Y: “See you!”

+

The next day Nanami felt different. His head was somewhere else, somewhere lighter, happier. He felt… excited? He wasn’t sure, he hasn’t felt this way until his first client offered him half a million dollars as he started his journey in this company.

Nanami played more upbeat music, very different from his normal taste, and he swayed and stepped with every beat to the song as he ironed his clothes. He had opened windows and instead of wincing from the sun hitting his eyes, he smiled.

“What a beautiful morning.” He thought to himself. Nanami must have been in a different place that he didn’t even know was so negative until now. He was looking forward to a dinner with someone. He hasn’t felt that way in years and he just wishes he could meet you right then and there.

Nanami nearly put on his freshly ironed clothes and grabbed his briefcase and blazer. He locked his garage door and headed straight to his black Porsche that he usually doesn’t drive, but today, why not?

Nanami drove to work with a smile on his face. Haibara greeted Nanami as he stepped out of his car and a valet stepped in for him.

“Good morning.” Nanami smiled and Haibara walked beside him.

“Good morning…” Haibara stared at Nanami’s face.

“Did something happen?”

“What do you mean?”

“Did you win the lottery? What’s got you so happy?”

“Haibara.” Nanami stopped and turned towards his friend, “Thank you.”

Haibara wanted to laugh, he didn’t even do anything, right?

“for what” Nanami smiled at Haibara.

“For showing me that ‘app’. I’m going to meet someone for dinner tonight.” Haibara smiled at Nanami.

“That’s great, Kento! What’s her name?”

“Y/n.”

“Hm, is she pretty?”

“Beautiful.”

“Is she rich?”

“Eh..”

“Is she young?”

“Kind of.”

“What do you mean by ‘kind of?”

“She’s… 20..” Nanami purses his lips waiting for Haibara’s reaction.

“20?!” His eyes were wide and he laughed. “You’re 34!”

“She’s very aware of my age.” Nanami said not amused by his friends reaction.

“I mean, hey, if a woman 14 years older than me asked me out, and she was hot, I’d go out worth her too.” Haibara threw his hands up in a ‘what can I say’ pose and Nanami rolled his eyes.

“We meet at 6, so I just need to get through today.” Nanami said more to himself. The happy facade started to break, and he felt the butterflies pool in his stomach.

He was nervous. He hasn’t been on a date with someone he actually wants to meet in over 10 years. He doesn’t remember how to be charismatic, he doesn’t remember how to be enticing and interesting. Work has been the only topic that’s been keeping his conversations alive. He doesn’t talk to anyone about anything personally other than Haibara and that is hard enough.

Haibara saw Nanami. He knew Nanami for nearly 6 years and this was the look of nervousness. He’s seen it countless times, but that’s only because he knows him. He can tell from the slight twitch in his jaw and the subtle fidgeting with his hands.

“Come on Nanami, let’s go to my office.” Nanami nodded and followed Haibara.

+

In Haibaras office, he gave Nanami tips.

“Now I have met countless women. Hard to believe, I know, and I know how to get them wanting more.” Nanami cringed at the thought of his good friend seducing women.

“I’m not trying to get anything from her, I just want to hold a conversation and hopefully get to know her more.”

“Alright, I got you.” Haibara walked over to his whiteboard and wrote “NANAMI’S FIRST DATE”

“This isn’t my first date, Haibara.”

“I know, but you’re acting like it is.”

Nanami nodded in agreement, and Haibara clapped his hands together.

“I have cancelled all meeting that require you to be there, and will have your secretary fill in for the ones that don’t. We have all day to get you ready for your date, alright?”

“Ok.” Nanami replied. Nanami felt silly sitting in the chair and listening to his younger friend teach him how to act right on a date. Nanami usually lets the women talk since he usually doesn’t care too much about them. He usually just lets his colleagues recommend a woman and set up a date. Nanami regrets every single dollar he wasted on the money thirsty women. But he wants to try with you. He wants to talk to you and let you talk. He wants to actually get to know you, maybe even go on more dates and hang out.

“Ok, first step. Do NOT let them talk the whole time. Even if they ramble, try and have a mutual conversation. Sometimes when they ramble, they think it’s because you aren’t interested and they will want to make sure you're still intrested” Haibara took in a huge breath, “OR they are nervous.”

Nanami nodded.

“You just have to read their body language.”

“Well, how will I know if they are nervous or not?”

“You’ll know. If they look around when talking, when they cover their face when talking, when they hold their hands in their lap, if they look tense, come on, you know what nervous looks like.”

Nanami nodded again.

“Use your words, this is practice. Don’t just nod your head,” Haibara mocked him by aggressively nodding his head “say things like ‘I agree’ or ‘I’m listening’ or ask them about whatever they’re talking about so they know you’re listening.”

“Okay.”

“And don’t just say ‘okay’.” Haibara mocked again. “Try and be more creative! Let’s practice.”

Haibara sat down in his seat and tried his best to look more feminine.

“So yeah, me and my friends went mini golfing and I didn’t know what to do so I just sat and watched them play.”

Nanami sat there. What did Haibara want him to say? Haibara looked at him, waiting for a response.

“Oh, well that is very sad.” Nanami said unsure. Haibara sighed and rolled his eyes.

“Yep, might as well pay the bill and leave.” Nanami sat there dumbfounded. What was he supposed to say?

“What should I have said instead?”

“Nanami, I can’t tell you what to say, but that would have sent her home crying. You sounded like you didn’t care. You should say something along the lines of ‘did you ever end up knowing how to play mini golf?’ That will at least let her know you’re listening.” Haibara stood up and sighed.

“We have a lot of work to do.”

+

After many hours of preparing, Nanami’s watch chimed. It was 5:30 and he needed to head home and change.

“Thank you Haibara, this was very helpful.” Nanami shook his friends hand and headed towards the front of the office.

“Don’t try too hard! Just let it come out naturally!” Haibara cakes out to Nanami. Nanami smiled back at his friend and Haibara sighed.

“Please don’t screw this up.”

[ollie-lolly]

Hiya, Ollie! Hope you're doing good whenever ya read this. And if you're not, I have a fluffy request for you:

For the Brothers and dateables, where would they take someone for their first date, what would they do, and how would the day/night end?

Sending you hugs and cuddles, friend! Have a great day/night! ♡

Authors note: Hi I know you’ve requested this in September and I haven’t been writing in FOREVER, but I’m so happy I am finally feeling up for it again! Enjoy!! I’ll just start with the brothers first, if people still think I write decently after all these months I’ll write the letter rest! Also 700+ followers WOW I love y’all.

Lucifer💙

He likes his everything dates very organised. He plans everything out to a tea, he knows he will win you over, but it takes time if he wants you to love him exactly in the way he already fell for you. I think he would take you to a museum, then to a restaurant he somehow knew you wanted to try the food from. Making a reservation to guarantee the best table. He will subtly compliment you throughout the whole day. As a subtle way to tell you he is having a great time. At the end he will walk you to your room and bid you goodnight. His lips touching your knuckles as he kissed your hand. He is the eldest brother, but that doesn’t hold him back from thinking about you all night after the date ended. 

Mammon💛

He will NEVER admit he was nervous even asking you out, but you knew. He likes to be flexible on his dates. Really going with the flow while subtly showing off how much he likes you. I’m mostly thinking of him taking you out to go shopping together, while he secretly takes pictures for the things you find ‘to expensive’ so he could buy you them later when he will make sure his debt declines. Then if you’re that kinda person going dancing together! Either way I think you two will both end up a little tipsy at the end, Mammon accidentally giving you a kiss on the cheek as he drops you off. Remembering when he finally fully sobered up in the dead of night. He would text you about it the next morning, preying you didn’t mind and maybe would want him to give one on the lips next time.

Leviathan🧡

I’d like to think he asked to hangout in his room and if you ask if it is a date, he would throw his phone the moment he replied with: “If you’d be okay with it!”. Safe to say he is scared shitless at just the thought. He preys Asmo will help him with the fact he is sweating buckets. It will most likely be a date in his room, watching a movie or playing a video game with him you expressed interest in. He can’t even enjoy the movie or video game most of the time, because he is constantly worrying if you’re enjoying yourself or not. I think he could finally calm down the moment he would see you smile while eating the take-out you and him ordered. If you ever suggest feeding him some of your food he will be flustered and nod. Avoiding eye contact as you feed him. When the date ends he tries not to be sad you’re leaving already.

Satan💚

He finds your comfort the most important thing at all times. He is extremely considerate, who said chivalry is dead? Because then he would be dead. He is still a little nervous, but that’s because you’re so attractive to him. The date will most likely be to a book store where the two of you would pick a book for each other to read. I think then he would take you to a cat cafe. Him paying all of it with a smile. Just don’t give the cats all your attention, because he wil get a little jealous. I think he would ask to hold your hand on the later part of the date, giving you his jacket as you two walk beside a river on the way home.

Asmodeus🩷

He is over the moon. He will must look his best because he wants you to be entranced by him every second that he is with you. From the outfit, the perfume, the make up and the hair. Everything is top notch. When he sees you, in his mind you couldn’t look better. It doesn’t matter if you choose something more simple to wear and he definitely lets you know how he feels. Our sweet Asmo is most likely taking you to shop together then a self care spa at the end. He is quite touchy the whole time if you don’t mind that of course. Holding onto your arm, complimenting you, he might as well yell to the whole world he is madly in love with you. He might take you to his room by the end if you’re comfortable with it.

Beelzebub❤️

He wil be smiling throughout it all. When you would meet up at the spot he would have his usual blank face, the moment he would see you his sweet smile would appear. His bouquet of sunflowers in his slightly happy and nervous shaking hands as he gave it to you. I think you and him would do a workout class or go to a sports game together. He really pays attention to the things you like and talk about as you two talk in between breaks. Taking you to eat your favourite foods at the end and sharing desserts.

Belphegor💜

This sneaky little cow is most likely showing you the stars constellations in the planetarium on your first date. Little picknick blanket laid out as he would explain all your questions about the stars. Having lavender and chamomile tea and biscuits beside the two of you. The conversation eventually deepening to the thoughts in your heads to the memories the both of you have collected over the years. Belphie eventually placing his beloved cow pillow under your heads as the sleepiness slowly overpowers any nerves you might have had. Holding your hand as the two of you drift to sleep under the starry night above.

[dalilacherie]

Darbit is one of my fav ships could you write anything abt that?

𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐦

[𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐱 𝐓𝐰𝐨-𝐛𝐢𝐭 / 𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐛𝐢𝐭]

𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐞: I wanted this to be longer but I guess I can't complain. It's a decent chunk of writing. Love y'all, have a nice day/night.

𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬: 824

The house was quiet, too quiet. I sat in my chair, trying to lose myself in a book, but the words on the page kept blurring together. Sleep had evaded me, as it often did these days. There was too much on my mind.

Steve was crashed out on the couch, snoring softly. It was a peaceful sound, a reminder that at least someone in this house could rest. I glanced at him, feeling a pang of something between envy and affection. The kid had been through hell, same as the rest of us, but he seemed to find sleep.

It was well past midnight when I heard the front door creak open. My heart skipped a beat, and I tensed up, but then I saw it was Two-Bit, stumbling through the doorway. He was drunk, as usual.

Two-Bit spotted me and grinned, his eyes glassy and unfocused. "Darry," he slurred, staggering towards me. "Darry, I... I gotta tell you somethin'."

I closed my book and set it aside, watching him carefully. "What is it, Two-Bit?" I asked, trying to keep my voice steady.

He stumbled closer and grabbed my hand, his grip surprisingly firm despite his condition. "I love you," he said, the words slurred but unmistakable.

I blinked, not sure I had heard him right. "What?"

Two-Bit frowned in concentration, then lifted my hand and positioned it to make half a heart. He completed the other half with his own hand, our fingers intertwining awkwardly.

"I love you," he repeated, more clearly this time. Then he sat on the arm of my chair, pulling me into a sideways hug. His head rested on top of mine, and I could feel his breath against my hair.

I sat there, frozen for a moment, before I let myself relax into his embrace. Two-Bit had always been the joker, the one who kept us laughing even when things were at their darkest. But tonight, in the quiet of our living room, he was just Keith, my Keith, needing to be close, needing to be loved.

"I love you too," I whispered, my voice barely audible.

He squeezed me tighter, and I felt the warmth of his body seeping into mine. It was comforting, like a blanket on a cold night.

“Why don’t you ever tell me this when you’re sober?” I asked, my voice gentle.

Two-Bit let out a soft laugh, his breath ruffling my hair. “'Cause I'm a chicken,” he admitted. “Always been better at jokin’ around than sayin’ what I really feel.”

I reached up, gently rubbing his back. “You don’t have to be scared with me, Keith. You know that, right?”

He nodded, his head still resting on mine. “I know, Darry. Just... sometimes it’s easier to let the booze do the talkin’.”

We sat there in silence for a few minutes, just holding each other. I could feel the tension in my body slowly melting away, replaced by a sense of contentment I hadn’t felt in a long time.

“You smell nice,” Two-Bit mumbled, his voice sleepy.

I chuckled softly. “You’re just drunk.”

“Maybe,” he said, his words slurring more. “But I mean it. You always smell good. Like home.”

I felt my heart swell at his words. Keith had a way of making the simplest things sound like the most important truths. “Thanks,” I whispered, giving him another squeeze.

Two-Bit shifted, sliding off the arm of the chair to sit on my lap. He was heavy, but I didn’t mind. He nuzzled his face into the crook of my neck, and I could feel his eyelashes fluttering against my skin. “Can we stay like this?” he asked, his voice barely more than a whisper.

“Yeah,” I said softly. “We can stay like this.”

Steve stirred on the couch, mumbling something in his sleep, but he didn’t wake up. I glanced at him, then back at Two-Bit, who was already starting to drift off.

“I’m gonna take care of you, Keith,” I murmured, more to myself than to him. “I promise.”

Two-Bit’s grip tightened on me, and he mumbled something I couldn’t quite make out. I rested my cheek against his hair, breathing in the scent of him – a mix of alcohol, cigarettes, and something uniquely Two-Bit.

“Get some sleep,” I whispered, stroking his back in slow, soothing circles. “I’ll be right here.”

As Two-Bit’s breathing evened out and he finally fell asleep, I felt a sense of peace settle over me. The world outside might be falling apart, but in this moment, with Keith in my arms and Steve snoring softly on the couch, everything felt right.

I closed my eyes, letting myself relax completely for the first time in what felt like forever. The house was quiet, but it was a comforting kind of quiet now. I knew that come morning, we’d have to face the world again, but for tonight, we had each other. And that was enough.

🫶

[kotir-propaganda]

Mossflower has so much going for it, like I’m not even being biased because my blorbo is in it. I will die on the hill of it being Best Redwall Book for several reasons.

-It’s as early Redwall as you can get without actually being Book 1. As such, it avoids a lot of subjects and patterns that would later become repetitive tropes... but it also avoids the Book 1 jankiness of horses and human structures and the implied existence of Portugal. The world as we will come to know it feels more or less fully realized here. The abbey’s not here yet, but its foundation literally is- and we also get our first look at Salamandastron and the extent of Mossflower Wood as a whole.

-It has some of the most solid protagonists around. The legendary hero Martin is here, but he’s at a low point for most of the story and has to work his way up to that legacy! And this is where he does it, this is what future Redwallers remember him for, not the events of Martin the Warrior. Also, Gonff is here? Hello? Maybe the single most charismatic character in the series? Not to mention Dinny, how often does a humble mole actually get to go on a quest in these books?

-This isn’t even getting into how badass all the rest of the woodlanders are, too, but... they absolutely are. This is a small band of rebels that’s been driven from their little houses, they don’t have the luxury of those huge sandstone walls to protect them, but they’re still fighting like hell and outsmarting their enemies to boot. Some of them are seasoned fighters, but some of them are just ordinary families, all banding together to take back their homeland. And they keep it up the whole time! They’re not just waiting around for a guy with a sword to tell them what to do!

-The villains are probably the most nuanced in the whole series. Seriously. There are four whole wildcats here (don’t forget Sandingomm!) and only ONE of them is unquestionably evil. It’s absolutely implied that Verdauga was a fearsome warlord in his day, but if nothing else, he raised ONE kid who turned out to be about as Lawful Good as you can get, and he actually scolds Tsarmina for being mean to her brother!! I wish we could have spent a little more time with Verdauga, honestly, I have so many questions for this man.

-There are a decent handful of morally grey characters here, actually. Chibb spies for the woodlanders, but he’s not the most dependable and is motivated by payment more than sympathy to their cause. Snakefish allies with our questing heroes, but he minces no words in warning them that he’ll just as soon eat them if it comes down to it. Even Argulor is really just out here looking for a bite to eat and can you really blame him, because ashleg is a snack

-Tsarmina herself is irredeemably cruel, but even still there are multiple facets to her. On one hand, she’s scary- big and powerful and ready to rip into anything/anyone with her bare claws. At the same time she can be a clever strategist when she wants to be- poisoning her father and framing her brother, and later manipulating two of her obstacles, Argulor and Bane, into taking each other out. And still yet it can be kind of funny to watch her in action, as she gets humiliated by the resistance on multiple occasions. And maybe there is even a little pathos there, as we see her mind start to slip, and get some glimpse into the deep fear and paranoia that completely overtake her at the end.

-There are just great supporting characters on both sides. Mask is amazing, Fortunata is fantastic. And yeah, Blorbo Supreme Ashleg is here, and I don’t NEED to write a whole essay about him to promote Mossflower as a whole but... having him here is nice! It helps!! May we all follow his example and pursue happier lives for ourselves!!!

-Mossflower laid the foundation for so many events and characters of later books. I mean yeah, it’s a prequel. It’s there to support the first book and by extension, everything that comes after. But so many other great titles in the series have a direct line to Mossflower, from Outcast to Long Patrol to Lord Brocktree and more. Did you enjoy those books? You’re welcome. The threads were already there, just waiting to be expanded upon.

-at one point a wooden leg gets used as a projectile weapon and if you don’t think that’s the best thing ever, I don’t know what else to tell you buddy

[sundaynightlive]

Fresh Night Air [Book was there, it was there…](Greatwise)

Disclaimers: No age gap shit. They’re 16 and 17 respectively.

Also: I do not hate Mike or any of Will’s friends—I’m just exploring the way they might tip toe around him after all the shite he’s been through.

Realistically: I ship Byler. But I like healthy love interests MOST and whatever’s going on in ST right now is not that, so why not throw a Gareth in there?

If it’s not your thing, I get it :) I only wanted to write a sweet little happy-Will fic with LIGHT angst for like two seconds. If you’re going, have a good rest of your day <3 peace and love darlings.

If you’re staying, enjoy :)

“Gareth Emerson,” the boy introduces, and Will shakes his hand over the table. He’s still a little pissed about his friends joining another party while he was in California, but when’s the last time Mike took anything Will said seriously, ever?

He shouldn’t be surprised.

They sit back down—across from each other, no less—and turn their attention to Eddie now that they’ve all been decently acquainted. The DM claps his hands together and rubs his palms excitedly—despite Will’s initial annoyance at being completely and utterly betrayed, he actually really likes Eddie, fangs and all. He’s cool, he’s nice, and he’s the only Upside Down monster that doesn’t wanna kill or eat any of them, save for the occasional half-cup of blood that seems to satisfy him completely.

They had all been astounded at the convenience of that—blood being so filling.

Or maybe Eddie’s affliction hadn’t fully taken by the time they got his body out of the Upside Down and a troupe of federal scientists pumped him full of drugs—they aren’t totally sure.

Either way, he’s a sad excuse for a vampire, and a completely awesome dungeon master.

“Good evening, intrepid heroes, and welcome to my eighth,” Eddie pauses, as if he’s in awe of that number himself, “And best campaign yet. Drumroll, please!” Will starts a little as the boys around him (plus Erica) begin to pound on the table with their fists. Will joins them after a moment, allowing himself to grin both at the nerdiness, and the undeniable giddy excitement that’s filling his chest and shoulders.

Eddie uses his hands to push his feet up on his seat—his throne, really—and then stands, throwing his arms out wide—

“Plight of the Hellwalkers!” A cheer rises up from the table, as if any of them know what that means other than tieflings and devils and the sort. Maybe something celestial, if any of them are feeling particularly combatant. Will’s already got all these ideas forming in his brain—he’s known for being pretty creative when it comes to PC’s. Will the Wise hadn’t exactly been the height of ingenuity, but Mike hadn’t always wanted to DM a complicated character—he just wanted to run impossible dungeons and make his players sweat.

Eddie’s a different story.

Will’s running all kinds of characters through his brain when he notices Gareth looking at him. Will would’ve thought he’d be chatting with all the other boys, or even with Eddie since the two of them seem to be pretty close—but no. He’s looking at Will.

Hesitantly, Will makes eye-contact with him. Gareth doesn’t seem bothered about getting caught staring. Will’s brows furrow—this is… weird. They just met not even five minutes ago.

What? He mouths.

Gareth holds up a finger, like he’s gonna tell Will in a second. Will’s confused by this (because when are they gonna have a second?) until Eddie announces today’s session is all about working on PC’s, and in order to keep the campaign interesting and fun, he’d like them all to leave the room and come back in one by one so he can get a brief idea of each character, by the end of today, and hopefully by next session, have everything ready to go.

And then he says—

“Gareth, you first. And then Mike. And after that I don’t care who goes when—figure it out.” Gareth gives Will one last glance. He raises an eyebrow. Then, he absentmindedly looks over at Eddie, and finds he’s staring daggers into the side of Gareth’s skull.

What is happening?

Still perplexed, he leaves the auditorium with his friends, unable to shake the feeling that he’s being discussed in the room they left behind. He picks at his clothes—his nice, plaid button-down and his khakis. He feels kind of stupid—everyone else has a Hellfire t-shirt of some sort—all his friends in a baseball tee, and some of the older members in what are probably older t-shirts. All Eddie’s school-allocated budget must go towards them—Will’s certain they probably don’t get more than fifty bucks, if that.

“So?”

Will starts as Mike throws an arm around his shoulders, completely oblivious to how that affects him.

“Isn’t it fucking awesome?”

Will snorts at the profanity—Mike’s been cussing more and more since he started tailing Eddie like a lost puppy. Will assumes he thinks it makes him sound cool—not that he has anything against cussing, it’s just a little funny to him that Mike never talked like that before.

“Totally,” Will says, letting a little sarcasm seep into his tone, “You just couldn’t resist breaking your promise, could you?” Mike’s eyes widen—deer caught in headlights.

“I–it’s—you never said anything about extracurriculars!” Mike tries, and Lucas and Dustin burst out laughing at the lame attempt at an excuse. Will rolls his eyes, shrugging off Mike’s arm.

“Asshole,” he mumbles. Lucas and Dustin roar with more laughter as Mike looks for other excuses—Eddie this, Dustin that—

“Dustin didn’t promise me anything,” Will points out, and Mike groans.

“Dog house!” Erica is teasing, “Mike’s in troooooubleeeee.”

Truth be told, Mike’s not in trouble. There was certainly an initial sting—the only thing Will had asked of him had not been honored—but beyond that, Will’s not fond of holding grudges, especially given he knows full well how quickly life can go from bad to worse.

It’s just fun to watch Mike squirm.

“I’m sorryyyyyy,” Mike whines, “But Eddie’s just so cool and I couldn’t say no!” He puts both hands on Will’s shoulders, shaking him lightly. Will bites his lip to stifle his grin—the way Mike is pouting at him for forgiveness is equal parts adorable and hilarious.

“Forgive me?”

Will shakes his head, still biting back that grin.

“Figure out how to make it up to me—then we’ll talk.”

Mike straightens up, puts two fingers against his forehead, and dramatically salutes. Will loses the ability to stifle his grin and fully laughs at this ridiculousness.

They’re alive, they’re friends again, and Will’s desperate crush is dwindling by the day seeing how happy his sister is. Will couldn’t stay mad at his best friend for anything, and he won’t go on liking him, either.

Things are okay. Things are on their way to good, again.

“Wheeler—get your bony ass in there.”

And that’s Gareth.

“You—” he points directly at Will, exactly like Will figured he might, “Can I steal you for a second?”

Will stands. He doesn’t miss the confused look that Mike gives him, but he does choose to ignore it, mostly because he’s equally as confused. Gareth motions for Will to follow him outside, and sensing no danger or malintent, he decides there’s no point in saying no, especially since he’s not certain how long he’s gonna be sitting bored on this bench otherwise.

“Okay,” Gareth says, once the doors are shut firmly behind them. The night air is cool and nice on Will’s skin. He wants to take a deep breath—relish in all this comfort of being home, of being able to breathe—but he doesn’t know if Gareth would clock that weird reaction to just stepping out. So he tells himself he’ll take that moment later. “I had a crazy idea, and I wanted to know if you’d be down.”

Will raises an eyebrow.

“I’m listening.”

“So, totally shoot me down if you have a better idea, but I think it would be sick to play as angels—you know, since it’s a hell campaign—but specifically an Angel still in line with Heaven’s order, and a fallen one. So, they like, know each other super well, but also are at odds with each other, and like, one’s trying to convince the other to fall and vice versa.”

Gareth looks at him expectantly. Will stares back, trying to comprehend how Gareth even…

Gareth must have read his mind.

There’s no other explanation for how spot on that idea is compared to all the concepts he’d had running around in his own head mere moments ago. And not only that, but Gareth is looking at him like… how did Will not notice he looked like that, before? Why is it only now that—

“Hello? Earth to Byers?” Will starts. Right—he has to answer.

“Yeah—I mean, that sounds awesome,” he manages, cheeks growing pink in embarrassment. He looks away from Gareth’s cool gaze, unsure how to handle the feelings he’s feeling at this moment. Excitement, anxiety—and a myriad of other things he doesn’t feel right naming yet.

“Awesome,” Gareth repeats, slugging him lightly in the shoulder. Will’s whole stomach jumps into his throat.

This cannot be happening.

“So, if you’re down, I’m free tomorrow night. We could kick it at my place and talk background and logistics and shit.”

That’s a terrible idea.

“Sounds great,” Will says, and in his mind he’s repeatedly kicking the shit out of his own kneecaps. He wishes he were a stronger man, but the idea of playing a character that’s not only complex in his own way, but has a strained relationship to another PC? It’s too good to pass up. Plus, Gareth already talked to Eddie, so Will get’s to play under a DM who’s capable of managing that kind of storyline—it fills his chest with something downright palpable.

“Fuck, I’m excited,” Gareth says.

“Me, too.”

Will wonders briefly if his internal criticism of Mike’s cussing was spoken way too soon.

-

Gareth’s bedroom is a dream—Will would call it a loft, but that’s not exactly what it is. It’s adjacent to the attic, an alcove that sticks out from the roof and makes the house look both magical and completely ridiculous. All sides of it are fitted with windows, and in between those, the walls are a deep, navy blue. For the most part, it’s immaculately clean apart from misplaced shoes and a sock or two.

The slivers of walls which are not windows are covered with intense shelving that holds both an extensive collection of cassettes and vinyls, and books. Will wouldn’t have guessed Gareth was a reader, but by the looks of it, he’s practically a library.

The carpet is soft, the bed is big and covered with an enormous quilt. There are soft white Christmas lights hanging throughout the space, creating an inviting glow. Gareth tells Will to drop his bag anywhere, so Will finds the most out-of-the-way corner he possibly can, and sets his stuff down gently. He’s absolutely enamored with the space, but he’s trying not to show it. He could only imagine the teasing that would ensue if he told Gareth the bedroom he spends every night in is like Will’s own personal heaven.

To Will’s further dismay, Gareth plops down on his bed and pats the space next to him. Never in his life did Will expect to be sitting in bed with a cute boy who’s also basically a stranger, but here he is, swallowing his own nervousness and settling down. It’s unbelievably soft. Will let’s his mind wander to what it must be like to sleep there, and then quickly snaps himself out of it.

That’s creepy, he scolds himself. Stop.

“So, did you think of anything in the last 24-hours, or do you wanna start with just the general idea I had?” Gareth asks—and it’s so impossibly normal for how abnormal Will feels. He’s so stiff he might as well be made of wood. Jesus—even his fight or flight is starting to act up.

“Well,” Will says, deciding he’ll force himself to relax by talking, “You know how angels are, like, usually a patron of something? Like, they have a specific purpose, or whatever? I thought we could use something like that to determine our proficiencies, and stuff. I was also thinking that I could be the straight-edge angel and you could be the fallen one? But that’s totally up to you—your idea, your rules.”

Will fidgets nervously with his own hands. Gareth is… actually listening to him. His expression is attentive. Will’s not used to that—so he keeps rambling.

“Also—I like the idea of a sibling dynamic but I thought it would be better if it was strictly a best friends thing? I feel like a lot of D&D overdoes the, like, “you were my brother” thing but meaningful friendships or whatever can be so much more impactful because you choose your friends and stuff, and for a character to choose their person and then lose that person and find them again but still be at odds is just—Sorry, I should shut up. I just realized I’ve been talking for way too long.”

Will wants to melt into the bedspread—hell, he just might.

Gareth grins at him, shaking his head.

“No, totally keep going. You’re brilliant.”

Yup. Melted. Absolutely a liquid. Will doesn’t think he’ll ever be a solid again.

-

Will starts spending an ungodly amount of time with Gareth, but it’s not his fault. His own friends are great, and he spares them every moment he can, but it’s been a long time since being with them has ever felt like this—totally and completely void of tension. His friends… they haven’t been giving him attention freely. It feels weighed down by this notion that they’re forced to hang around because everything they’ve been through.

It’s not fair to think of them that way—he knows they’d still care for him, regardless.

But that pity is stuck behind their eyes. And they won’t talk about things in front of him, like how they’re feeling, how they’re doing. Once, he was hanging around Lucas and Dustin, and they left the room after uttering some lame excuse. Curious and a little hurt, Will had pressed his ear to the door to find Lucas venting about Max, and how she was doing, and how he’s trying to hang out and have fun but she’s all he can think about—half-paralyzed and totally blind, all alone at home when he’s not with her.

It’s selfish, he knows, but he couldn’t help feeling offended. He can be a shoulder—he knows he can be a shoulder. He’s not going to break down the minute someone else needs a hand. They’ve been plenty good for him—he can do the same.

He just needs a chance.

But they won’t give him it, so he loses himself in the simplicity of a brand-new friendship. He and Gareth start just talking over the campaign, and the D&D stuff, but it soon evolves into much more than that. It starts with a book—

“Gertrude Stein,” Will muses, slipping the collection of poetry right off the shelf. He lets it fall open in his palm to a random page. Gareth had gotten bored of devising background and trying to locate biblical information without a bible—so he’d flopped over on the bed and hidden his face in his pillows.

Will had rolled his eyes at him, and went looking for something to entertain himself.

This is where he finds himself, now.

They read a little Gertrude Stein in English, and Will remembers it fondly. He’s not a huge poetry guy, but Stein’s poetry is so ridiculous it actually manages to interest him. It was also generally impossible for most of the class to read aloud, because of it’s insanity, but Will excelled at it. He read it so well, and so succinctly in class, the teacher herself had been shocked.

Maybe his trauma had rewired his brain for nonsensical poetry.

Book was there, it was there. Book was there. Stop it, stop it, it was a cleaner, a wet cleaner and it was not where it was wet, it was not high, it was directly placed back, not back again, back it was returned, it was needless, it put a bank, a bank when, a bank care.

Gareth looks up at him from the pillows curiously, and Will grins in his direction. He begins reading with the utmost conviction, as if anything he’s reading makes a lick of actual sense.

Suppose a man a realistic expression of resolute reliability suggests pleasing itself white all white and no head does that mean soap. It does not so. It means kind wavers and little chance to beside beside rest. A plain.

Suppose ear rings that is one way to breed, breed that. Oh chance to say, oh nice old pole. Next best and nearest a pillar. Chest not valuable, be papered.

Cover up cover up the two with a little piece of string and hope rose and green, green.

Please a plate, put a match to the seam and really then really then, really then it is a remark that joins many many lead games. It is a sister and sister and a flower and a flower and a dog and a colored sky a sky colored grey and nearly that nearly that let.

Will finishes the poem—called Book—and looks back up at Gareth, who seems to be stifling a laugh. Will raises an eyebrow.

“What?” he teases, “Didn’t get that? I’ll read another one.”

Suppose it is within a gate which open is open at the hour of closing summer that is to say it is so.

All the seats are needing blackening. A white dress is in sign. A soldier a real soldier has a worn lace a worn lace of different sizes that is to say if he can read, if he can read he is a size to show shutting up twenty-four.

Go red go red—

Suppose and Eyes is cut off abruptly by a pillow smacking into Will’s chest and falling over the book he’s holding out—an accident which has Gareth absolutely howling with laughter. Will retaliates immediately, tossing the book to the floor and going after Gareth with a pillow.

The rest is history.

They hang out after school, they go to record stores and diners and swimming in the pond behind his house. They have an absolute blast role-playing ex-best friends while becoming best friends, all the while, Will’s fondness growing exponentially every time they share breath. They spend nights at each other’s houses, they talk for hours, they read together, they listen to music together—Will even get’s a little bit into metal, even though it’s not totally his vibe. Weeks and weeks pass—then months. They know everything about each other like the backs of each other’s hands. Will’s friends start making comments about it—Mike especially—and light-heartedly complain that Will is “replacing” them when that is certainly not the case.

They could never be replaced.

But being around Gareth is like magic, up until the moment it’s not.

“Hey… can I talk to you about something?”

Famous last words, but Will is so full of pizza and so content with his back pressed into Gareth’s bed, head resting lightly against the outside of the boy’s knee, that he doesn’t quite grasp the connotation.

He wishes he had—that there had been warning.

“Sure.”

“So… after the earthquake—”

Will should’ve known then and there this was headed in a foul direction, but he was none-the-wiser. He was still half-engrossed in Emily Dickinson, who had grown to be his absolute favorite poet over the last few months.

“Eddie told me everything that happened. And he told me what happened to you.”

This is where it hits him. Will jerks away from Gareth’s knee like it’s scalding, hurt painting over his face as it all crashes over him.

None of this has been any different.

“Will?”

“Are you serious?” Will asks, horror growing in his chest, in his tone. Gareth’s face screws up, a look Will knows all too well—a look he only sports when he’s thoroughly confused.

He must be stupid—Will’s reaction shouldn’t be confusing to him at all.

“I just wanted—”

Everything is tainted. The way Gareth looks at him, acts with him, the way he chose Will out of everyone from that stupid table that first day of Hellfire—he knew. The whole time.

Will is some pathetic charity case who needed a real friend. And he let Will think, this entire time, that he actually liked Will for himself. Not because Will desperately needed to be liked, not because they were bonded by some shared hell, not because Will had suffered, but because Gareth liked him.

It had all been a lie.

“How could you?” Will asks, shakily. He feels tears gathering in his eyes, and he hates himself for it. Now he’s gonna cry like the broken, traumatized baby he really is. The one Gareth has always seen in him. He’s just proving a fucking point.

That’s all he ever does.

“How could I—”

“I can’t believe I let myself be another fucking charity case,” Will hisses, wiping at his eyes with the back of his hand as he scrambles to his feet. Gareth seizes his wrist.

“Will—”

Will’s stronger than Gareth—he doesn’t look it, but there’s a lot of muscle beneath his clothes. He makes sure of it—he doesn’t wanna be the victim of anyone or anything ever again. He wrenches his wrist out of the boy’s grasp, pointing at him accusingly with the other.

“You. Suck,” Will snaps, doing his best not to yell. He doesn’t wanna get worked up enough that Gareth sees just how deeply this has stricken him, and part of him, a naive part of him, hates how devastated Gareth already looks. “I can’t believe I thought you actually liked me. I’m so fucking stupid.”

And with that, he snatches his bag up off the floor, and gets the hell out of there.

It’s only when he’s home, past his mom and his brother, and in his bedroom with the door shut tight, that he crawls into his closet and muffles his sobs with his teeth bared into a sweatshirt.

Heartbroken.

-

“Hello?”

“Don’t hang up!” Will should absolutely hang up. It’s been three days of nothing—avoiding Gareth at school, refusing to speak to him, neglecting to answer the phone even when he was nearest to it.

And now, just when it so happened that nobody else was home, Gareth was on the other end of the line.

“I should so hang up,” Will snaps, already angry. He didn’t wanna be reminded. He’s been so fucked up the last few days, it’s almost like Gareth dumped him. In a way, he kind of did. Or, Will did.

Whatever, the details aren’t important. What’s important is that Gareth lied to him. Extensively.

“Listen—I need to talk to you, but I wanna do it in person, okay? Please—just ten minutes of your time, and if it’s not fixed, I’ll never talk to you again. Except at Hellfire. But that’s it! Okay?” Will wishes he had the balls to say fuck no, but it’s too difficult. He allotted months of his life to Gareth, and as much as he hates it, can attribute a ton of his recent healing to him. Being carefree and spending time with Gareth had been exactly what he needed most days to get out of his own head, to stop thinking about things that couldn’t be helped.

A breath of fresh night air, one might say.

Looking back at that now makes Will nauseous, but he swallows it down. He doesn’t exactly want his and Gareth’s time being good friends to forever be tainted by the fact that it had all been out of pity, but Will doesn’t know what he could possibly say to make that better. He sighs into the phone.

“Get here ASAP. And ten minutes is all you get!”

“Sir yes sir!”

-

“Thank you for letting me talk,” Gareth says. Will crosses his arms over his chest. He’s got no intentions of letting Gareth step foot over the threshold, and Gareth seems to be able to tell.

“Ten minutes,” he says firmly, and Gareth nods quickly.

“The first thing I should’ve done when we started hanging out is tell you I knew about the Upside Down,” he says quickly, and yeah, he’s got that fucking right. “I’m really sorry that I hid that from you—I guess I didn’t think you’d wanna talk about it, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have talked about it. I’m sorry.”

“Decent start,” Will says begrudgingly.

“Second, I did not choose you as my D&D partner because I felt bad for you,” Gareth says, and then his face get’s all screwy, and he starts shifting his weight back and forth, like whatever he needs to say is really hard for him to say. He looks left, and then down at his shoes, and then crosses his arms over his chest and let’s out a breath he’d been holding—

“Spit it out.”

“I thought you were cute!” he says, all his words running together, so much so that it takes Will a second to process what he’s even just said, “And I wanted to hang out with you and I thought that if our D&D characters shared a backstory then we’d spend a lot of time together and I’d be able to make a move but I felt bad about making a move knowing stuff about you you hadn’t shared with me so that night I wanted to kiss you so bad but I wanted to talk about what I knew first so that I wasn’t kissing you and then bringing up your childhood trauma because that wouldn’t be smooth at all, but then I messed everything up and—”

Will’s not sure what happens to his body. First of all, he’s absolutely floored at the notion that he wasn’t a charity case or anywhere near that at all—this boy was attracted to him and wanted to be around him. That’s so far out in left-field it’s practically a home run. Second—Gareth likes him? Like that? In small-town, middle-of-nowhere Hawkins, Indiana, a cute boy likes him? And it’s not Mike Wheeler, feelings-denier extraordinaire, or someone Will would rather eat glass than hang around with?

God, it’s Gareth?

He completely loses track of his ability to command his own body—he steps forward, puts both hands around Gareth’s face, and kisses him right on the mouth to shut him the hell up. Will’s never kissed anyone in his life, save for one girl in California, just to prove his own disinterest, but he makes it work. Gareth certainly doesn’t seem to be complaining, the way his arms move securely around Will’s waist and he kisses back with fervor.

They break, both void of breath. The kiss wasn’t exactly long, but all the excitement has Will’s ribs heaving. He presses his forehead into Gareth’s, blushing like crazy and avoiding the eye-contact Gareth’s trying to prompt from him.

“You’re such an idiot,” Will manages between breaths.

“Kiss me again.”

“Definitely.”

-

It was only a few weeks later that things started getting bad again, but they were heavenly weeks of sneaking around, sharing looks when no one was paying attention, and kissing in dark corners. Will started feeling whole again, like the places and things that the Upside Down had stolen from him were things that Gareth could replace, curling up on couches with him, meeting his mom, holding his hand, and treating him like someone who was already whole.

And though he wished, ached to ignore the warning signs, he told Gareth immediately when The Mind Flayer felt like it was slithering closer, lifting the hairs on the back of his neck and tugging at the corners of his mind.

And Gareth had been there, as fresh as summer night air in his lungs, all the way until the end.

[cadybear420]

Cadybear's Reviews- Murder at Homecoming

Welcome to the thirty-seventh official Cadybear's Reviews! Today I'll be talking about Murder at Homecoming, which I have ranked on the "Platinum Tier" at 9 stars out of a possible 10. My last and only playthrough of this was during September-December 2022.

This is definitely one of the better, if not the best release, of 2022, and it’s easily among my personal faves. 

A MC who is proactive and gets shit done, multiple LIs, highly compelling story. How can I not love that? All three of the LIs are amazing characters– and Tyler especially is just precious. I think he’s the first love interest I have ever adored nearly as much as I’ve adored Aiden. I miss when we had male LIs that are just so babygirl. 

The incorporation of mature topics and queer themes was especially excellent. MTFL, take notes! Because THIS is how you write a teen story that talks about queer sexuality and mature behaviors. Besides maybe BiBound I mean BloodBound, this is probably the first book in Choices where each LI has some degree of confirmed sexuality outside of their LI option status for the MC. 

One thing that’s especially notable is how Tyler will talk about how he used to think he was straight if you romance him as a male or enby MC. I normally don’t mind much when LIs in GOC stories are made with the “playersexual” style of writing, but these sort of little changes are a good show of effort and give Tyler more character.

But of course, it’s not without a handful of problems. 

Like COP (1), the story is incredibly linear and none of the clues or choices really affect your story. Sure, they give you a bit of extra background, but that’s about it. 

The only choices that really have any impact are the stuff related to the queer discussions, Tyler’s romance route, and how the options for how your MC can talk about their queer experience can change based on your MC’s gender and romance choices. Which is still highly praiseworthy, don’t get me wrong, but I’d have loved to see some variation in the other elements of the book too.

And as much as I did enjoy this MC and do consider them one of the more refreshing ones, they were also a bit too rigid and pre-set for me at times. I get that some MCs will need to have pre-set details about them, and to some degree that does apply to this MC, but it was a bit much at times. Like, there was especially no need to give them a default first AND last name. I do like the aspect of MC preferring to go by their middle name, but we still could have been allowed to change their first and last names too, to be honest. 

I found it really hard to feel for the loss of Perdita for this reason; the traumatic event backstory didn’t feel as well established, compared to that of ILITW and ACOR MCs. Though to be fair, I do remember there being a handful of premium scenes to see a memory with Perdita, and I do remember skipping all but two of them. 

But even then, I never felt she had quite as much importance as the writers clearly wanted her to have? Outside of being a motivator for MC to solve Gabbie’s case and allowing MC to connect with Donovan better. Maybe my opinion on this might change after I give it a replay, though. 

That being said, I’m actually fine with the story not telling us what really happened to Perdita, as much as I’d have loved a continuation for this book. MC not knowing what happened to Perdita is what motivated them to solve Gabbie’s case, and in that regard, the two cases kind of juxtapose one another. Whereas MC is able to get closure for Gabbie’s case, they don’t do that for Perdita’s case.

That makes the ending a little more nuanced in my opinion. Sometimes, we don’t always get closure for these kinds of things. While I’m still mixed on how well the story integrated Perdita, this message was handled decently and didn’t feel like it was in bad spirit. 

So if there were a continuation for this story, I wouldn’t mind it being centered around MC finding Perdita, motivated to work on that case more actively after their success with Gabbie’s case. But rather than having them solve the case, it can mostly center around them struggling between whether they should keep up that search, or leave it as a cold case and move on. 

Overall, definitely a higher-tier and very respectable story that definitely deserves a replay. 

[alpineshift]

I love love love ruthless Jack! If you wanna write more of him maybe prompt 31 “I’ll be there as soon as possible” ? Thanks for all the awesome shorts so far!

I'm the elmo on fire gif right now YES

thank you for this one!

31. “I’ll be there as soon as possible.” 

Let's say they're at a charity event. One of those big, showboat-y types, that feels more like a who's who of faces rather than really focusing on the causes. But Jack goes anyway, because there are people he likes there, and because by virtue of showing up people usually pony up some more $$$, on the off chance they might get to speak with him.

It's the first time he's bringing Nico as an official plus one, though.

They'd done plenty of schmoozing and black tie events in the past, with the Devils or otherwise. But it's different now, even if their relationship is locked down from public knowledge. People will just assume they're going together as friends. But they know what's changed.

And it thrills Jack to his core, to show up with Nico by his side, all smiles and dimples and boyish charms, knowing Nico is his. That's his Nico, in a suit Jack picked out for him (in spite of Nico's many protests.) And nobody has a clue.

Food is average. The bar is kind of fun, with themed drinks and good top shelf liquor. They run into one of Quinn's old classmates and ends up chatting for a solid hour; decent guy, seemed genuinely pleased to see Jack, and polite to Nico.

Jack basks in the easy pass of the evening, an arm slung behind Nico's chair, and delights in the occasional feel of Nico's back resting against his arm whenever he leans towards Jack.

They hang around until they've just about filled their socially polite appearance quota, and Nico goes down to the valet while Jack goes to get their coats. They're barely a hallway away from each other, which is why Jack immediately goes on high alert when his phone screen lights up with Nico's call.

"Can you come over here, please?" Nico says, without a greeting. His voice sounds strained and he's slightly short of breath. "I--I can see Stefan outside, and I just--"

"Stay where you are. I'll be there as soon as possible."

He refuses to show any emotion other than caring and protective when he approaches Nico, who's waiting for him by an alcove in the lobby. His expression is faintly pinched, a shade haunted, and that is simply unacceptable in Jack's books.

He holds Nico's coat open for him, gently slides it up his boyfriend's broad shoulders, and tucked their linked hands out of sight between their bodies. The valet is already pulling up with their car. Jack leads them outside, squeezing Nico's hand in is, and feels a squeeze back.

He clocks when Stefan sees Nico first, then Jack, and then the way they're standing together. Jack knows he can't tell whether or not they're holding hands. He can see the outrage and the hesitation and the hatred. But better yet, he can see the base layer of fear. Good. Stay the fuck away.

Nico climbs into the passenger's side without so much of a glance in Stefan's way. Jack closes the door after him, and makes a split second's worth of eye contact as he walks to the driver's side.

Mouths the word pathetic before he gets in the car and pulls out of the fancy roundabout, down the drive, and onto the highway. Doesn't exhale fully until he feels Nico's hand rest on his thigh, palm turned up invitingly, and hears Nico's quiet "Thank you, Jack" as they head on home.

[el-moscorrofio-y-el-mercachifle]

What do you think would have happened to change the course of history as we know it in the show if the guy who accompanies his friend for the betty-aura maria double date was genuinely interested in getting to know her (at least being a friend to her)...maybe they had a common interest in say finance or books or music. Betty wrote in her diary that men seek for desirable women and she didn't feel like that. What if this guy made a decent attempt to connect to her and wanted to see her again. Your opinions are so interesting and I want to hear your thoughts. Thank you and have a good day.

Omgggg I looooove this question!! But also it's so complicated to answer because this supposes to alter a LOOOOT! On one hand we can go for the realistic route of "if Betty hadn't had her hope of love fully crushed and she had actually seen that another man could have had an interest in her, she wouldn't have beeb so utterly blind and devoted towards Armando" especially because the night of the doubke date is the night that Betty gives on on love. On the other hand, we can also take the also canon but less realistic view of "Armando and Betty were destined to be and once Betty fell for Armando there was no going back nor person that ever made her doubt it," given that they share a canonical psychic or soul bond. In other words, would Betty give it a chance with someone else, or would her love blind her to anh other possibility but Armando?

Although I DEFINITELY think that a love rival would have spiced things up and quickened Armando's realization of his own feelings, which I loooove and it's why I DESPERATELY wanna write about that lmao. After all, he did have the biggest jump in his own feelings for Betty when he learned about Nicolás, except that this would be an even bigger kick in the face because he doesn't yet have the embargo excuse! And also, he could actually get to see a real peak of Betty being courted. I've actually been trying to write a short story based on the idea of a rival!

Anyways, let's see!

Imagining that the guy, Rafael (canon name) actually liked Betty would imply that we need to re imagine his whole personality lmao that canon ratman is canonically too uncool for my girlie, but let's say that he is a now a cool guy. He's charming, fun, and actually not superficial. He's open to friendship

He doesn't immediately reject Betty at all, and is in an active conversation with Betty through the whole night. He doesn't leave early, and let's say they even dance a little. They're in a friendly convo but there's no romantic spark.

In any case, Aura Maria is still happy for Betty! She's enjoying her time with the other guy but she's happy to see that Betty and Rafael are getting along, even if she's a bit sad that there's obviously no attraction between them

Anyways, Betty gets a little later home, and when her mom asks about how it went, Betty is so happy to tell her she had an actual good time! She writes in her diary that she had a good time but can't help but feel a little disappointed, because she noticed the guy wasn't into her like that

At this point it's where the major change happens, because this is the night that Betty is fully convinced that she will never experience love, that men only like beautiful women, that the powerhouse of her life must be work, and that Armando is the only man who will ever want and need her, even if it's only because of her work

In this scenario, Betty isn't as pessimistic as she was in the novela. She is just a little sad, but she didn't give up on love fully, because she wasn't fully rejected and mistreated like in the novela. She actually has a bit of hope because the guy and her exchanged numbers.

This supposes a BIG change because it's due to the devoted mentality that Betty agrees to do everything Armando asks for

Given that the dude is from Medellin, this would imply that they cant see each other often, and their relationship, fully platonic at first, would be mainly through phone

So this means Armando doesn't really have to know about him for a while

Obviously Aura Maria would mention Rafael and their night out all together to the rest of the Cuartel, but Betty would shut all of that down arguing that they just ended up as friends

But this is definitely a source for the Cuartel to gossip and tease her! They would definitely ask her if she's now over Nicolás, and she'd say no

Betty and this dude's friendship would continue for a while, but at the same time, Betty spends most of her time with Armando, which also furthers her crush on him, because after all, I really don't think Betty would ever fully love another man

(This is mainly because it's heavily implied in the show thay Armando and Betty share a special psychic connection and that it's probably faithed to be, like when Armando yelled her name and she heard it all the way to Cartagena lmao I don't think either of them would have been happy with any other partner)

There would need to be a point in which Rafael comes back, and that would probably be when things really get going!

Him being away is the main reason why I don't think it would fully develop into a relationship. Betty just wouldn't be able to lower enough of her barriers like that

It'd be interesting to see when him comjng back happens, but for the fun of it, let's say this happens before the embargo. Just to change this up a little from the canon "Nicolás is Betty's bf" canon paranoia

Imagine this dude coming over to Ecomoda one day showing up with a bouquet for Betty. Aura Maria would be sooooo happy for her and would so quickly call her to her office to tell her he's there!!

Would Betty accept these flowers?? Probably she'd be a bit hesitant but get them at the end. She's kinda flattered with them but remember she still has so many barriers up because of the trauma she went through

What for Rafael and any other man may be a simple gentlemanly and romantic present for their lady love, for Betty it can be a painful reminder of what happened. It's not thay she doesn't want to give herself the opportunity to love, it's just that fear will always remain after such trauma

With Armando, after all, she was already fully devoted and trusting of him because he had demonstrated through actions, words, and even conversations with Mario that he appreciated and trusted her fully, and even when their relationship started Betty continued to be full of doubts but she loved him so much that she couldn't close herself to the experience. He made her feel safe enough to lower her barriers and push herself through her doubts. With Rafael it's hard to get to this level of trust and safety when they basically just communicated through phone for a while

Anyways, imagine Betty coming back to her office holding this big bouquet of roses. Imagine Armando's stunned face for a moment, before asking what is that and why she has it, before Betty laughingly and dismissingly saying a friend got it for her

Imagine his killer stare. Just imagine that lmao

His deadfaced, teeth gritted, muscle tensed, sarcastic and dry comment of "what a romantic 'friend', right?" Lmaoooo

He'd totally spiral. He'd be in a terrible mood the whole day!

Imagine he goes out of his office because he's so angry and the first thing he hears Bertha and Sofia talking about is Rafael lmao

He's definitely go as far as to ask Aura Maria about this dude once he finds out they're friends

He'd be so angry and mortified with no apparent reason as to why when learning those two had been on a date, dancing and chatting and having fun

Ohhhh, imagine that same day Armando actually gets to meet him!! Perhaps Rafael goes to Ecomoda yo invite Betty to lunch

Lmao imagine Armando witnessing that and making up something like a lunch meeting just so she doesn't go

To me this scenario is soooo hilarous, the idea of a rival kills me because it's so full of potential for funny jealous Armando and Mario teasing him about it lmao i want a full fanfiction of this😂😂

Anyways, I don't really think this would become a full relationship. There may be some interest between the parts but I don't think it'd be strong enough to become a relationship and they can always use the distance excuse

Maybe Rafael realizes that Betty's appearence is a deal breaker after all, after months of only talking through phone and basically forgetting how she looks. It wouldn't be such a stretch, after all, it's basically Armando's situation in the sense that they like Betty's personality very very much but they can't break past her appearence

Armandk was forced to see past that due to the embargo, but Rafael can just walk away. He has no real attachment, and ghe "situationship" can easily be broken up becauseof the "distance" between where they live

But the simple fact of knowing that Betty can actually be desirable for other men, see it first hand, and that she's interested in dating, will definitely make Armando be extra alert

It's also the realization that Betty is sweet, kind, and devoted to other people. It's basically the same realization Armando has when he first heard about Betty havin a bf, except that he is now seeing it with his own eyes!

Would this quicken things? Feeling wise, absolutely. Action wise? Hard to say. Armando still has so many prejudices and his own barriers up

Although it would definitely later be fuel for Calderón's tease and further of Armando's paranoia.

Something like "Well, maybe her crush on Nicolás is stronger than we thought, after all she also rejected that other dude. And an uggo of such magnitude giving up an opportunity like that? It has to be love!" Every time Betty rejects Armando or tries to break up

On the other hand, if this man turns out to be more Michel like, given that he is introduced so early in the story, he could change everything. It all depend on how his personality and goals are, but given that he's a canonical asshole and this scenario supposes re inventing him completely, it opens so many possibilities

Since he's a blanck slate, how do we want him to be according to what story we want? Is he carefree and laid back? Protective and serious? Fun and trusting?

Because if we go full Michel mode, he could have wanted to make Betty his gf and take her away from that toxic work environment to take her to work where he does, resulting in Ecomoda collapsing under Armando's bad decisions

Would they be happy? No, Betty and Armandk are faithed to be and they definitely wouldn't be happy without each other

This whole idea of Rafael offers soooo many scenarios, depending on when he shows up, what his intentions are or end up being, in what point of Betty's arch he appears, etc!

So much fanfic material omg

The question made me crack my brain open trying to put a single answer to a vlear scenario but since there are so many choices I put a bit of everything. I think it endedup being more scrambled than of usual lmao

Thank you for the question!

[excelynch]

are you the king, mirror, ghost, magician or dreamer?

(write the letter of the answer you chose on a paper, at the end you will have the result of each letter)

1 - are you a poet, king or soldier?

a) poet

b) soldier

c) king

2 - choose a part of the song meet me in the woods by lord huron.

a) "I took a little journey to the unknown and I've come back changed I can feel it in my bones"

b) "I have seen what the darkness does. say goodbye to who I was"

c) "meet me in the woods tonight"

d) "I fucked with forces that our eyes can't see, now the darkness got a hold on me"

e) "show me yours and I'll show you mine"

3 - choose one of my opinions about trc that MAYBE you don't agree.

a) the dreamer trilogy has a slightly more interesting story.

b) the raven king ending sucks. like what is that DEMON?

c) adam and ronan were a little quick (but they're perfect anyway, maybe because it was so sudden, i wasn't expecting ronan lynch's secret)

d) declan was right most of the time, he just wanted to take care of what was left of the family.

e) noah deserved at least a decent goodbye.

4 - pick a random thing that was mentioned in the books

a) the pig

b) squash 1, squash 2, squash 3...

c) adam parrish's worn clothes.

d) lampshade dress (or ronan's lack of interest.

e) blue's pink pocket knife.

5 - you woke up at 03:49 am and you feel happy but you don't remember what you dreamed about. later, as the day goes by, you reflect. what did you dream about?

a) I don't remember exactly, just one person in front of me, they says my name and then they hugs me and I feel loved and then aliens take us to a distant planet and I turn out to be that person is a little girl who stole a lego of mine when i was a kid and we started battling for the hand of the cockroach queen.

b) I woke up happy that I finally got some sleep, but dreaming? it's something I'm still trying to remember how to do.

c) I can't remember what I dreamed about.

d) me in front of a mirror and in that mirror I saw myself as a kid. they told me in a calm voice "you can grow up now"

e) a house with all the ghosts that haunt me, they say they can move on now. I'm alone in the house, there's nothing left, but that emptiness doesn't bother me. I like the silence after so much noise.

6 - choose a quote from the books

a) "he threw me out the window"

b) "excelsior"

c) "maybe i dreamt you"

d) "safe as life"

e) "i am being perfectly fucking civil"

7 - ok, without judging the inside of the books, just choose by the cover.

a) the dream thieves

b) the raven king

c) the raven boys

d) blue lily, lily blue

e) call down the hawk / mister impossible /greywaren

8 - which of Ronan's dreams do you most identify with?

a) adam's perfect teeth (i know, i know)

b) matthew, the golden boy who just wants to be a normal boy

c) the other ronan who was born to die

d) forests and more forests

e) a hoverboard that will save everyone in the end

9 - if gansey is the king, blue is the mirror, ronan is the dreamer, noah is the ghost and adam is the magician so henry is...?

a) the one that's left (maybe you didn't care enough to give him a meaning)

b) madonna's number one fan

c) the bee

d) the son

e) the master

10 - if someone came and told you that you were going to die in a year, how would you react?

a) "no shit, sherlock! now say something new"

b) I would accept my fate and live normally. "After all, we're all going to die, I'm just going to die sooner"

c) I would do what I was always afraid to do.

d) "I've been dead for seven years"

e) I would do anything to change my destiny.

...

if you chose king add a point for ronan. if you chose poet add a point for noah and gansey. and if you chose soldier add a point for adam and blue.

now just add which letter you got the most and tell me in the comments the result :)

a = ronan

b = noah

c = gansey

d = adam

e = blue

I hope that you enjoyed and sorry for any mistakes, I'm learning english :)

I was thinking of doing a "which brother lynch are you" and one about the marauders, what do you think?

[angel-eyes05]

bite the hand (chapter 6)

PREVIOUS CHAPTER

pairing: spider-woman!oc x miguel o’hara 

summary: lorena's whole world was taken away from her in the blink of an eye, after she accidentally broke a canon event. lucky for her though, she was able to find a portal watch in her dimension and used it to get out before she glitched out of existence. unfortunately though, running from dimension to dimension, she's been named as an anomaly by the spider society. now, she's constantly on the run from them, their leader in particular. when she eventually gets caught though, she's recruited onto a mission to catch another anomaly who might be from her past. to her dismay though, her partner on this mission is her very captor. will she be able to stop arguing with him for long enough to get the job done?

info: enemies to lovers, maybe a slow burn depending on chapter count, oc is 24 and miguel is 27, both oc and miguel are super sad lmao, they're also both super violent so, they also hate each other what a slay, in regards to my oc you can read her character sheet right here

warnings: there might be spoilers for atsv in this so watch the movie before reading this, cursing, implication of suicidal thoughts, blood mention, ANGST SO MUCH ANGST

word count: 2.4k

notes: thank you olivia rodrigo for dropping vampire in the middle of me writing this because that was such good backing music for the argument🤭  (i love angst if you couldnt tell)

-----------------

As the soft, delicate rain turned into a heavier pour, Lorena started to wish she went inside the motel lobby with Miguel, instead of waiting outside.

Miguel had gone in about five minutes ago and still hadn’t come out. Now having moved underneath the awning, she was enjoying watching the rain, and different civilians running through it on the street. Her momentary peace was interrupted when Miguel came slamming through the door, wiping his hands across his face and groaning. “I didn’t know booking a hotel room could be so stressful,” Lorena joked. “You’re gonna hate me,” he said, sounding genuinely sorry. Lorena sighed. 

She had seen this trope play out in movies all the time. “You got the keys?” she asked, avoiding his statement. He held up the keys in one hand and jingled them sarcastically. “Ok, lets just get going before we get even more drenched,” she said, guiding her hand to the stairs so Miguel can lead the way up to the room. 

Lorena headed up the stairs slowly, still in a good amount of pain from her earlier wounds. Once she and Miguel made it to the door, and he unlocked it, she was met with the very thing she was dreading this whole time.

One king sized bed, smack in the middle of the room. Not even a couch for one of them to lay on. 

Lorena sighed before walking in. “I’ll take the bathtub,” she said exhaustedly before walking in. “You sure you don’t want me to take it?” he asked kindly. “You really think you’ll be able to fit in that?” she asked rhetorically, looking back at him and pointing up and down at his massive body. He shrugged it off. “Ok, but I need to shower first, so at least take the bed for now,” he insisted. 

The room was a decent size. A king sized bed in the middle, with a desk by the far away window. A dresser was perched in front of the bed with a medium sized TV straight above it. The bathroom on the other hand, was much more of a mess, conveniently. The tub was an ugly teal color with cracked linoleum tile floors. An orange-brown rust shrouded all the metal material, and the yellow overhead light was headache inducing. Perfect environment for sleeping. 

While Miguel was in the shower, Lorena sat on top of the tacky looking quilt while she flipped through free movies on the cable. It wasn’t like she was actually going to pay attention to any of them, but having one on in the background would at least make time seem like it was moving a little bit faster. She eventually just landed on Coco, a cute little movie to just have on, and left it playing in the background as she let her thoughts wander off. 

It just clicked to her now that this was the first time that day she had a moment to rest. Whether it was running around New York City, almost falling to her death, or patching herself up, her adrenaline had been at an all time high for the whole day. As a result, it felt weird to just be sitting and doing nothing, even if it was relaxing. Especially while she knew he was out there. 

Her Spider-Sense was going crazy, even though she wasn’t in any immediate danger. It was just the fact that she was going to have to see him again that wanted to make her pull her hair out. It had been so long, she was even beginning to forget what he sounded like. She promised herself she never would. Yet here she was. Searching deep through her memories to try and remember his diction. 

The way he would hang on his vowels a little, and extend the last syllable of the word, like he wanted to keep it in his mouth a little longer. He always had a relaxed tone to his voice, combating her quick, harsh one. He matched her so well, she could never imagine herself with anyone else. Or at least she used to think that. That’s why Miguel scared her so much.

Almost as if on cue, the door to the bathroom opened, steam clouding its way into the main room, and Miguel standing in the doorframe with a towel tightly wrapped around his small waist. Lorena had to keep herself from admiring his chiseled body. Although, when she was able to move her eyes away from his six-pack, she only felt more butterflies in her stomach from the sight of his wet, sloppy hair. It was so different from his put together, almost uptight appearance.

In a desperate attempt to get away from her own lustful thoughts, she blurted out, “Lo juro por dios, if you used up all the hot water O’Hara.” “Don’t worry, don’t worry, there should be enough left for at least a quick rinse,” he defended, taking another smaller towel from the closet in the small hallway and ruffling it across his hair. 

She got up quickly and made her way to the bathroom, before she heard Miguel say, “Do we really have to watch this movie.” She paused. “What’s wrong with Coco?” she said jokingly, and almost like she was offended. “I just don’t wanna watch it,” he responded flatly. “I didn’t know you were too grumpy to enjoy a kids movie.” “Can you just cut it out.” Lorena was getting energized off of the banter though, deciding to continue it by running to snatch the remote just before he could. “Lorena, give me the remote.”

Took a moment. So did he, realizing what he just did. She pointed her finger up at him in a mocking manner. “Ha! You did it! You said my name!” “I don’t have the energy for this, anomaly.” “Nuh uh, no take backs” she teased like a child, jumping around the room while he tried to grab the remote while still holding up his towel. 

“Would you just give it to me?” he almost shouted, trying to block out the sounds of the TV while the lullaby rendition of “Remember Me” started playing in the back. “Oh come on, why can’t you just have a bit of fun for a little, Mr. Grumpy-Pants,” Lorena continued. “Just give me the fucking remote already!” Miguel was now full on shouting at her. “Just tell me what’s wrong with the fucking movie then!” she shouted back, getting a little more annoyed at his actions. “Because this was my daughter’s favorite movie!”

Lorena froze, embarrassment showing bright on her cheeks. Miguel sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose while the song finished. Lorena quickly shut off the TV as silence filled the room. “I…I didn’t know,” she tried to apologize. “It’s fine, just forget it,” he said, taking the remote and placing it on the desk next to him. “Can I ask what happened,” Lorena said meekly. All the attitude and cockiness she previously flaunted was broken down now. Miguel sighed, took a seat on the bed, and patted next to him. Lorena took her place on top of the bed as well. 

“It was a while ago. That I had her. Gabriella.” Lorena tried not to look at him, as if it would alleviate any embarrassment he might’ve been feeling. “It was a different universe. Other than my own. I wasn’t supposed to be there…but I had to. I was…” he took a deep breath. “I was so tired of being alone.” Lorena knew how that felt.

Shortly after Eddie’s death, she had gone down a dark path herself. If she didn’t have her aunt there with her, she might not have been sitting there on that bed right now. 

“It was so wonderful. She was wonderful. She was such a bright girl. Had a little spark to her. You would’ve liked her,” he pushed at her shoulder with his, getting Lorena to blush a little. “...What happened,” she hesitantly asked. Miguel took a bit to answer. “Like I said. I wasn’t supposed to be there.” 

“Oh.”

“It happened the same way yours did. She glitched away in my arms.”

Lorena’s attitude quickly changed when she heard the first part of that statement. “What do you mean ‘it happened the same way yours did’?” she asked, a tang of anger and confusion in her voice. Miguel knew he made a mistake the minute the words left his mouth. But he had gone too far to go back now. “I’m the reason the canon collapsed and destroyed Gabi’s Earth.”

Lorena stood up slowly from the bed, and turned away from him as she felt her face and eyes get hotter. “So…we made the same mistake…right?” she asked slowly. Miguel sighed, knowing where this was going. 

“Yes.”

She let out a slight laugh to herself, wiping her mouth with her hand as she felt the anger rising inside of her. “And you get off scot-free right?”

“Lorena, it’s not like that-”

“No, you know what, it sure seems it's that way. Big shot Miguel O’Hara gets to strut around destroying universes at his own will-”

“That’s not true and you know it.” He was starting to yell now too, standing up now as well.

She continued though. “While the rest of us can’t even get a restful night of sleep without fearing that some guy in a red and blue suit is gonna come from behind and slit our backs open?!”

“I’m trying to stop it from happening again!”

“Then why are you always too late, huh?”

Silence echoed through the room. 

“If you’re trying so hard to stop the same thing from happening again, why is my entire home gone? Why is everyone I love fucking dead Miguel?!” she shouted, her volume growing louder and louder. 

“That isn’t my fault!”

“And it’s not mine either, so why should I be punished for it?! Do you think I asked for this? I didn’t ask to watch my entire world disappear before my eyes as I ran away like a fucking coward!”

“You know what, you are a coward. Because at least I didn’t run. At least I tried to help!”

“Oh how noble of you! Everyone give it up for Miguel O’Hara, the hero who can do no wrong!” Lorena mocked. “You’re a fucking hypocrite, Miguel!” This conversation was the first time she used his first name as well, but both of them were too busy clawing at each other’s throats to notice. 

“At least I’m doing my job right! The more anomalies like you I put away, the better the multiverse will be. You sick fucks don’t do anything except cause trouble for everyone else. And to the ones who’s worlds are already gone? You creatures had it coming to you. You deserved what happened to you, you fucking anomaly!”

Miguel felt the sharp sting of Lorena’s palm against his cheek. “You call me that word again O’Hara and I swear to god, I won’t hesitate to kill you, take your watch, and run,” she stated, boiling with rage, before storming off into the bathroom and slamming the door shut.

She pressed her hands to the door as her back slid down it. She then slammed her fists onto the hard tile, repeatedly, her own strength cracking it even more. Blood flew from her skin as she continued to take her anger out on the floor, until her hands were shaking out of control. His words continued to echo through her head. You deserved it. Coward. Anomaly. 

Shakily, she stood up from the ground, and leaned her bloody hands on the sink counter in front of the mirror. Her own reflection looked ashamed of her. Memories ran through her head. Her uncle shot dead on the street. Her aunt looking to her, eyes wide, unsure of what was happening to her as she disappeared from existence. Then, it was coming to her again. Eddie.

~~~~~~~~~~~

She had been fighting the symbiote for what felt like hours. Thankfully, the surrounding area of the city had already been evacuated, so she wasn’t as worried about the alien hurting civilians. But she was beginning to get tired, and the gashes in the side of her suit from the alien’s claws were starting to take a toll on her. Remembering a lesson in class about symbiotes and their weaknesses, she took two metal poles from the destruction around her, and banged them together to break apart the alien. 

As its warped screams tore through the atmosphere from the clanging, Lorena took the opportunity to finally use her acid webs to slice off one of its arms. It worked. While it was still broken apart, she managed to stab the body inside the alien straight in the chest with a jagged pole. Once the symbiote fell to the ground, and the black goo started to crawl away from the body in search of a new host, Lorena could feel her heart sink into the bottom of her stomach. 

Even while dying, he was still beautiful to her. 

Eddie Brock. The boy she loved her whole life. 

His arm was sliced off and blood was gushing out of his midsection. Lorena ripped her sweaty mask off her face as she rushed towards his body. “No no no no Eddie, what are you doing here,” she asked him, while pressing her hands to his chest to stop the bleeding, as if that would actually do anything. “I-I…didn’t k-know,” was all he could manage to get out. “Shhh, it’s okay, I’m gonna get you out of here, it’s gonna be fine,” she blurted out, hot tears already burning her face. She felt his hand grab hers, then pulled her head down to his lips. She pressed her lips to his as the tears transferred down from her face to his. Once he let go, he managed to whisper something to her. 

“Don’t lose your heart.”

Lorena feverishly shook his body as the light left his eyes. “Eddie please don’t do this to me, please just stay with me, don’t do this,” she pleaded and begged to him over and over and over again. Her suit was stained in red from sitting next to his bleeding body for so long, her hands most effected. She sobbed over his body until morning, fleeing the scene when the police came to inspect the area.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

She cradled herself into a little cocoon on the shiny, yellow tile as she silently wept. Miguel was right about her. And she knew it. 

Once she was finally finished, she stood up and wiped her swollen eyes. “Idiot,” she said quietly to herself.

-----------------

NEXT CHAPTER

a/n: the chapter was starting to get super long so i just decided to split it into 2 so chapter 7 should be out pretty soon since i've already got most of it done

taglist: @the-ikran-man @jenniferdixon05207 @yuuuumii @elwyn7 @waniesss @lust-for-pan @natthernandez @pix-stuff @ang3lf4c3 @artfulthoughtswp

[dove-skulls]

Little snippet of Shattered Earth AU bc I changed a LOT.

Warning for cursing!! (and for Juno acting like a boomer /j, "back in my day" - Juno voice)

Juno's fist slammed into the crate she used as a desk, damaging the already-worn wood with a loud crack. "Damn it all," She hisses, sitting back down in her chair, the leather tattered and torn.

She'd gone through every simulation, every scenario, and no matter what plan she thought up, she just.. Couldn't think of any way to beat those horrid Portal Masters. She'd tried everything, read every Portal Master Book she could get her hands on, there was only one left. Juno idly flips through the book, annoyed. Half of the nonsense wasn't even useful to her as she possessed no magic of her own, and she begins to get more and more irritated until a certain page catches her eye, her focus immediately drawn to an illustration of an ornate mask, which even in the drawing seemed to radiate with immense energy. "The Mask of Power..." She mumbles, her eyes narrowing as she scans the page. She could've sworn she's heard that name before.. But where? The nagging notion that she knows that name only grows as she reads the decision. Each piece associated with its own element.. Huh. Juno flips through her collection of old newspapers before she finds it. "The Mask of Power.." She skims over the article, her teeth gritting in irritation as she reads about what happens. "Damn it all to the abyss!" She growls once more, slumping back into her chair. "Of course that damn Kaos would get the thing destroyed-" She stares down at the picture in the article before glancing over to the picture in her book. "Wait.." She counts the pieces. "That's not..?" The picture of the mask used in the article is missing two pieces, the horns representing light and dark that stand out so prominently in the pages of the book. Did Kaos skip a step?

Sitting up straight again, she glances back at the page. Sounds like the mask gains power as more pieces are connected, but it's not entirely unusable if one or two pieces are missing. "Ok.." She mumbles, taking a look at the book again. ".. So.. Maybe two pieces are left." Not entirely helpful, as even if there are two undestroyed pieces, it won't be enough to beat a Portal Master. The idea of having at least a little magic at her disposal does sound decent, but perhaps not worth scouring the Skylands for them. She's about to flip the page, but her eyes land on something interesting. "'A destroyed Mask of Power can be reassembled if at least two of the pieces remain intact'...?" She leans back once more in her chair.

".. Interesting."

Juno turns to her phone, a shitty rotary phone she found barely working in some antique shop maybe four months ago- it'd do for now, she hated all this damn technology anyways. Felt like she could hear the electricity in those annoying wires she tripped over every other day. She'd have to find some way around that.

More important than Juno's hatred for the niceties of the greater Skylands was another missed call, one of many from the same number. Nightshade, a famous thief, had been pestering her for weeks, calling nonstop since he first learned of her plan to take down the Portal Masters. 'Mabu have to stick together, don't they?' He had said. Apparently the guy had some issues with the Skylanders, nothing Juno cared to listen to.

In any case, she had bothered to research the guy, considering how hard it was to find people willing to work with her in her efforts. Nightshade seemed mostly like a stuck-up pest who stole for the fun of it, already coming from a rich family. His only skill seemed to be his stealth, which Juno had really no use for at the moment.

Or did she..? She glances back at the news article. If anyone had any idea where those last two pieces of the mask were, it was Kaos, and even for all his idiocy, he'd be smart enough to write it down somewhere in his castle. Unfortunately, with her stature, Juno was.. Not built for stealth. Not in that setting at least. Sure, Juno could stalk through the grass, but sneaking through a castle- or any building for that matter- was a different issue entirely.

Now, Juno admittedly knew very little about Nightshade, but if he was really as good at his job as her research led her to believe..

Perhaps the spoiled brat had a use, after all.

[magical-girl-coral]

Catwoman stories that DC should write, part two:

*The armless master, Ted Grant and Alfred all fighting over who gets to walk Selina down the isle only breaking off when Selina tells the exciting news of her grandparents coming all the way from Cuba to see her away.

*An issue about a gossip reporter trying to catch the new it girl socialist Selina Kyle in a compromising position except it's always something stupid. He caught her on time sneaking off from a party with Harvey Dent and Bruce Wayne but it's so they argue somewhere quiet about ancient roman history. Another time she ran with famous singer Dinah Lance but it was to order pizza because either of them remembered to eat. The one time he gives up and doesn't bother chasing her, she went to a forgotten bathroom mid gala to dress up as Catwoman.

*Crossover story with Batman where they both find out Killer Croc escaped prison again and together they try to find him before anyone gets hurt. It's revealed in a flashback reveal Selina and Waylon met as young street rats trying to survive who had no one and vowed to watch the other's back since then. Even without using their sob story. Bruce is merciful with Waylon and is maybe the second person who has ever shown him compassion, even giving him a job offer as a chance for a new life. This could have been Selina's big "oh, Oh" moment if it weren't for her massive emotional constipation.

*Forming her own thievery group with the girls who were at her bachelorette party with a Maven cameo as Selina's assistant/the force of nature expert keeping Selina's civilian life together through detailed schedules and iron will.

*Selina visiting Ireland with Maggie to put their father's ashes to rest only to get bungled up in fae shenanigans against their will.

*Selina getting to be a mom without drama. That's it. That's the story. No one dies, lost in time, kidnapped by an evil origination or given up for adoption since DC are fucking allergic to allowing women of color to be decent mothers.

*A whole chapter dedicated to Selina's slow battling of her phobia of water to give courage to other readers who are fighting their own anxieties cause I doubt a young teen can walk off being nearly drowned to death without longtime consequences.

*Selina finding out a family member nearly got killed cause of gang violence and Catwoman tearing Gotham apart limb from limb until the message was sent across. People tend to forget her claws can cut through steel and many remember that lesson the hard way.

*Showcasing every job Selina had off screen while the rest of the cast tried to kill each other over what's good and evil such as: ancient linguistic expert, professional dancer of multiple genres, Hollywood actress, art gallery owner, veterinarian, book author of ancient myths retelling with actual research (she was sick and tired of all the tiktok takes), and a part singer for charity events.

*Having an on again off again team ups with the Riddler. On one hand, he is a somewhat decent friend who's great with gadgets and a ruthless gossip, but the other hand he just does not stop dropping clues of their crimes and is always too lax with their getaway plans and god damn it Eddie, it's like you're trying to get us caught!

*Tragic friendship that could have been romance turned enemies between Pammy and Selina before either of them dawned their costumes. Selina donating a large sum of money she "gathered" over the weeks to the firm Pammy worked at because they were one of the few that didn't test their products on animals. Sweet shy Pammy saw Selina with walk in with confidence and beauty of a goddess and nearly tripped over herself when Selina asked for her opinion on a matter she couldn't even hear them talk about. They became friends afterwards, and Selina would regularly come back for talks and advice about poisons that seem shady but Pammy was too in love fascinated by the subject to question her motives.

*A pre street kid story where it shows Selina having a happy home life with her parents and little sister before it was all taken away from her. If Batman can have a hundred versions of his parents murder, Selina can have variation where her family didn't suck.

*Selina going through a crisis when she hit twenty and decided to take a bisexual gap year to travel the world where she gained Bast's favour in Egypt, accidentally seduced a moon deity in hiding, had a summer romance with Talia in Singapore, gained Shiva's attention by mastering sword dancing in China, put an angry one thousand year old spirit to rest by returning her precious hairpin and gaining more divine favors and returning to Gotham to get hammered on her 21th birthday.

[stillstuckin2000spunkrock]

Smitten Kitten (Lev Haiba x female!reader)

I think I’m going to post some of my old stories from a year or 2 ago. This one always stuck out to me because it was one of my more detailed stories. I believe I write this in about 4 days maybe? Anyway I know there’s not a lot of Lev Haiba fanfic out there so I thought I’d post it! Sorry if it’s terrible in advance lmao <3

The final bell rang, signaling that class was done for the day. You scooped up your books and started to pack them away in your backpack, when you felt a small tap on your shoulder. You looked up to see a guy with spiky black hair, who looked like he just rolled out of bed. You stifled a giggle at how ridiculous he looked, “Can I help you?” You calmly asked him. “You’re a second year, right?��� He asked. You sighed, you got this all the time. “Yes I’m a second year, and I’m in more advanced classes for my age.” You rolled your eyes and started to leave. “Wait! I was just wondering because we have a new member on the volleyball team who’s a second year and he needs a tutor.” You turned to face him “Why are you telling ME this?” The man sighed and rubbed the back of his head “Well, if he can’t get his grades up then he’s kicked off the team, and he’s part of Nekoma’s starting lineup so....I was wondering if you could tutor him?” You thought to yourself. You could use the extra cash to save up for that cosplay you wanted...”How much will I get paid?” You asked. “He’s loaded, so probably a decent amount.” The guy shrugged. “His name?” “Lev Haiba.” He replied. “Meet me in the gymnasium after school. You can meet him then. If they question you tell them Kuroo sent you. I’m the captain of the team so that should earn you entryway into the gym.” You nodded. With that the man (now known as Kuroo) gave you a wave and walked out of the classroom.

Later that day after all your classes were finished you headed over to the gym. You felt out of place walking through the building when school was out. The closer you got to the gymnasium the louder the squeaking of the shoes became. You slowly peaked around the door. Inside was a bunch of boys playing volleyball. They must be the school’s volleyball team. You never really paid attention to the sports world at school. I mean occasionally you would hear how someone got injured, but that was about it. “Oi! Katey! We’re over hear!” You glanced over to see Kuroo yelling across the gym to you. Does he have to be so loud? You walked over to him. You could feel peoples eyes all over you. “Woah! Who’s this babe?!” Some guy with a buzz cut yelled. You ignored him and pressed on towards Kuroo. “Hey, you came! I thought you weren’t gonna show.” Kuroo said. “Well I’m here. Where’s Lev?” “LEV GET OVER HERE!” Kuroo yelled. You winced at how loud his voice projected throughout the gym. You noticed a very tall, lanky boy make his way over to you two. “Y/n, this is Lev.” Kuroo said, introducing you to each other. “Oh! You must be my tutor!” Lev said. “Umm yeah.” You replied. You were a little shaken with his height. He was practically a giant! “Oh right, I forgot to introduce myself! I’m Lev Haiba!” He blushed, extending his hand out for you to shake. You took his hand and shook it “I’m Y/n Y/L/n.” “It’s nice to meet you! So, do you think you can help me?” He seemed nice enough..a little goofy though. “Of course.” You replied, nodding your head. “Great!” Lev cheered. “Do wanna meet at my place tomorrow night?” Lev asked. “I’d have to discuss it with my parents, but I’m sure it’s alright.” “Great! Can I put my number in your phone? That way you have my address?” “Oh sure!” You said, giving him your phone. You both swapped each other’s numbers. “Well, I should let you resume practice. Bye!” You said, Turing around and waving. “Thanks again!” Kuroo replied. “Byeee Y/n!” Lev yelled. You smiled to yourself, Lev seemed sweet..

The next day after you had finished eating dinner with your family, you headed over to Lev’s house. His house was close enough that you could ride your bike and get there in 10 minutes. When you rode up to the house you thought there had been some mistake. This house was GIGANTIC! You then recalled that Monday Kuroo had said that Lev’s family was rich. “If only I had worn nicer clothes..” you mumbled to yourself, looking down at your favorite sweater with disdain. Realizing it was too late to change now, you made your way through the wrought iron gates and up the smooth cobblestone driveway. You felt a little intimidated by the large mansion looming infront of you. With a deep breath you rung the doorbell. A few moments later you could hear footsteps approaching the door. The door opened and there stood a girl who looked around 20, and was very dressed up. “Oh Lev! Your girlfriends here!” She yelled, while beckoning you inside the doorway. You blushed at her choice of words “I’m..uh..not his girlfriend.” You chuckled nervously. Before she could reply you saw Lev bounding down a set of stairs. “Oh, hey Y/n!”Lev said. He then turned to who you assumed was his sister “And she’s not my girlfriend, Y/n’s just here to help me study.” You didn’t know why but you felt your heart drop when he said that you weren’t his girlfriend, like it was merely a question of the weather. It’s not like you cared, obviously you had just met the man. But the way he almost seemed disgusted by that idea kind of stung. His sister rolled her eyes, and walked away. “Sorry about my sister..” he said, scratching the back of his neck. “Oh no, it’s fine.” You said. “So uhh nice place.” You said, surveying your surroundings. “Heh, thanks.” He blushed. “So uhh.. wanna go get started?” You asked. “Oh! Yeah right. Duh!” Lev said, playfully hitting himself on the head. “Follow me!” He said, leading you to the staircase. Wait! Were you gonna go IN his room!? He continued leading you up the rather large flight of stairs, and down a corridor till you stopped at a door at the end of the hall. “This is my room.” He said opening the door for you.

When you stepped inside Lev’s room, you noticed a lot of sports posters, books, trinkets, and a cat tower. “Do you have a cat?” You asked, nodding towards the tower. “Oh yeah! We have 4 actually, but the house is really big so they can be hard to spot sometimes.” You giggled. Lev smiled at you “You can have a seat on my bed.” He said walking over to sit on his bed. His BED!? Oooo boy... Every cliche Wattpad story you ever read racing through your mind. You cautiously took a seat at the edge of his bed, and opened up your backpack unloading your stuff on the bed. “Can you get out your last math assignment please?” You asked. Lev nodded and reached for a very crinkled sheet of paper. Oh boy. This was gonna be IMPOSSIBLE. You took the paper from him, and uncrumpled it the best you could. “Really?” You laughed, as you attempted to smooth it out on your textbook. Lev laughed and said “I know I’m not the neatest. You can probably see why I need a tutor!” Once you had finally made the paper readable again you started helping Lev. Turns out he was really bad at math. His score was horrible, he was a doodler, his notes were just chicken scratch, and he had a hard time concentrating. Somehow, you managed to get through the study session without losing your patience. When it was about 8:00 you and Lev had finished. “Do you understand it now?” You asked. “Kind of. But not really..” He awkwardly chuckled. You couldn’t help but laugh a little. “Yeah well keep practicing.” You gathered up your things, and Lev led you back downstairs to the front door. “I actually kind of enjoyed math tonight.” Lev said, smiling his goofy grin. You laughed “Well I’m glad you did!” “Hey, I have volleyball practice tomorrow, but do you think you could come over on Thursday to help me prep for the test?” You actually enjoyed yourself tonight, and you liked spending time with Lev. “Sure!” You said. “Great thanks! Bye Y/n!” He said, as you walked down the front porch steps. You turned and waved. As you made it back home safe, you saw your phone light up. It was a text message from Lev:

LEV: Goodnight, Y/n ;)

You blushed and giggled to yourself.

ME: Goodnight Lev :)

You didn’t see Lev throughout the week, so by Thursday you were excited to see him again. When you rang the doorbell Lev answered it this time. “Hi Y/n! Come on in!” You smiled and squeezed past him into the house. “How was practice yesterday?” You asked, placing your shoes on the rack. “It was alright, Kuroo wouldn’t let up on my serves though.” He said, frustratedly. You gave him a sympathetic smile “Sorry about that.” He cheered right up “It’s fine! Let’s go to my room.” You once again followed Lev up the stairway, and to his bedroom. “Oh! I have a surprise for you!” Lev said, stopping right in front of his door. “What is it..?” You asked cautiously. Lev grinned “Don’t worry it’s a good surprise!” “If you say so..” You teased. When Lev let you inside his room you didn’t notice anything peculiar or out of order. “What is it?” You asked. “Over here!” Lev said. You turned to see Lev in the corner of his room kneeling over a basket of...KITTENS!? You rushed over “Awww! Their adorable!” You gushed. “Yeah, one of my cats gave birth a week ago.” Lev explained. He then scooped a little white kitten with brown spots, and set it in your arms. “Awww!” You whispered, cradling the kitty in your arms. Lev chuckled, and rubbed the kittie’s head. “Y’know we can’t keep ‘em all..do you want one?” Lev asked nervously. “Really!?” You asked, excitement flowing throughout your body. “Yeah! If your parents say it’s cool you can pick one out now and take it home in 2 weeks!” He explained. “I’ve always wanted a cat!” You said, snuggling the little kitten closer. “I can take a picture on your phone so you can show your parents?” Lev said. “That’s a great idea! Here.” You said, handing him your phone. Lev took the picture, and you sent it to your parents, who agreed if you paid for it with your own money. “They said yes!” You cheered. Lev laughed “Alright, how about we play with them for a bit, and you can pick out which one you would like?” Lev suggested. “That’s a great idea!” 

You and Lev were having a fun time playing with the kittens. You were about to pick up a feisty orange tabby cat, when a sharp pain jolted through your leg. “Owww!” You exclaimed. “What’s wrong?!” Lev asked, all panicky. “Calm down. It’s just a scratch.” You said, setting the cat down so you could inspect your wound. Sure enough, there on your calf was a deep scratch. “Do you have any bandaids?” You asked, covering the scratch so it wouldn’t bleed all over. “Oh yeah! Follow me.” Lev said, getting up and walking towards a door on the far side of his room. He opened the door and inside was a small bathroom. All of a sudden Lev picked you up by your waist and set you on the counter, then went back to digging for bandages. He did it so casually, while your heart beat quickened a bit at his actions. “We only have actually bandage wraps..so can I..?” He trailed off. You realized that he meant that he had to wrap the bandages on for you. “Oh! Yeah, of course.” You blushed a little. Lev slowly took your leg and carefully pressed a cotton ball on the wound to weaken the blood flow. Your skin grew hot where he touched it. You let out a little hiss when he pressed a little to firmly. “Sorry, I know this stings.” He said, removing the cotton ball and picking up the bandage wrap. He cautiously started to wrap your leg up. You were surprised at how gentle he was being, after all Lev could be a little clumsy at times. When he finished wrapping the bandages around your leg, he leaned down and planted a quick kiss on your knee. Then, as if realizing what he just did, he quickly blushed and chuckled nervously saying “Sorry! Our mom did that to me and my sister when we were kids!” You cold feel your face flush about 20 different shades of red and pink. “No.. it’s okay. It was really sweet actually..” You whispered the last part. You looked up and locked eyes with Lev’s emerald ones. You both stared into each other’s eyes before you cleared your throat and said “Well, uh we should probably get some studying in!” Lev cleared his throat to “Oh yeah! Right. I wanted to show you my score on the homework today.” Lev awkwardly helped you off the countertop, and you both headed back to his bed to work.

You deadpanned when Lev showed you his “good” score on the math homework. “I wouldn’t call this good, but it’s an improvement I guess.” You laughed. Unlike yesterday, this study session was filled with awkward silences. Was it because of the almost kiss? “Hey Y/n?” Lev asked, breaking your train of thought. “Huh? Yeah?” You blushed at your awkwardness. “What do you think is a good goal for me to get on this test tomorrow?” He asked. “Hmmm...” you pondered that for a moment. “I would say at least an 85%.” Lev nodded his head in agreement. “So if I get an 85% or higher, can you come to my game Friday afternoon?” He wanted YOU to watch him play?! “I think that’s a good plan!” You smiled warmly. Lev grinned back that goofy smile that you loved. “It’s 9:30, I should be heading home.” You said, loading up your book bag. Lev helped you gather your things, and walked you downstairs. Just as you had finished saying goodbye, and were walking out the door, you turned around “Oh, and I thought about what kitten I wanted.” You smiled. Lev grinned “Which one?” “That feisty orange tabby.” You laughed. Lev chuckled “It’s a deal!” He said. Then you rode into the night, back home to your own house.

The next day you couldn’t help but hope that Lev passed his test. After lunch when you were exiting the cafeteria, you heard someone yelling your name. You turned to see a tall guy with silver hair, approaching you. It was Lev! You could tell because he was 2 feet taller then the crowd. “Hey! I passed!” Lev yelled, excitedly. “What?! No way! Let me see the paper.” You said, holding your hand out. Lev reached into his book bag and pulled out a piece of paper. You looked at it. Sure enough, there on his paper in red ink was a 89%. “Great job Lev!” You squealed, giving him a high five. He grinned from ear to ear. “So I guess that means your coming to my game, right?” Lev said, rather smugly. You snorted “Don’t get a big head.” You joked, flicking him on the forehead. “Ouch.. Y/n!” He whined. “Speaking of pain, how is your leg?” You instantly blushed remembering the kiss. “O-oh it’s better! How’s my kitty?” You asked. “That’s good news! And your kittens doing great. You should pick out a name!” Lev replied. You thought about it for a moment “Hmm.. what about Tigger!” Lev chuckled “Haha, that’s cute!” “So you like it..?” “It’s perfect.” He smiled. The bell rang. “Oh I’ve gotta get to class! My game is at 3:00 in the gym!” Lev said, rushing off. “Got it!” You called after him. You giggled to yourself at how scatter brained he could be.

At around 2:45 you entered the gymnasium. The bleachers were filled with people. Most of them wearing your school’s team colors, red and black. As you walked across the gym to an open seat, you saw Lev setting up the net. “What a great view..” you sighed contentedly, staring at his thighs. Just then he turned and caught your eye. He smiled and waved. You face grew hot, and you nervously waved back. You felt like the entire gym was staring at you as you made your way to a seat. 

The game was tied. If Nekoma could make this final score they could win! The whistle blew, Nekoma was switching a player in. But who? You peered over the person in front of you to see. It was..LEV!? You knew Lev didn’t do great under pressure, so why would they send him in? It was up to Lev to win the game for Nekoma. You found yourself cheering “I BELIEVE IN YOU LEV!” You blushed when the people sitting next to you gave you some dirty looks. Oops! You held your breath as Lev was getting ready to set. It was too much pressure even for you! You squeezed your eyes shut, and crossed your fingers. A moment later the whistle blew, and you could hear the announcer saying “The game goes to Nekoma!” You opened your eyes to see the crowd going wild, and the team high-fiving one another. Joy rushed through your veins, as you jumped off the bleachers and ran to Lev. Before you could even stop running, Lev scooped you up in his arms and spun you around. “You did it!” You squealed. “I know! I can’t believe it!” He replied. Just then Kuroo came by informing Lev that they had to get their stuff from the locker room. “Oh, sorry Y/n! I have to go. Can you maybe meet me outside in 10 minutes?” Lev asked, getting ready to run. “Yeah, of course.” You said. “Thanks!” He replied, bolting off. You wondered what he wanted to speak with you about...Honestly you were a little surprised that he had won. Lev could be clumsy and a little headstrong at times, but I guess when it matters he really pulls through. 

You were leaning against the cobblestone wall, waiting for Lev. It had been 15 minutes and he still wasn’t ready yet. Just then you heard the sounds of someone’s feet slapping on the concrete. “Hey!” Lev said, a little out of breath. “Did you run a marathon in those 15 minutes?” You asked, laughing. Lev smiled “Ha.Ha. Very funny. So uhh wanna go for a walk?” He asked nervously. What was going on? Why was he so nervous? “Sure.” You replied. You guys started walking. “So...you were amazing out there!” You said, smiling up at him. “Heh, thanks!” Lev said, blushing and rubbing the back of his neck. “Y/n..I uhh..it was because of you.” “Because of me?” You questioned, very confused. “Yeah. I was worried but when you said you believed in me..I wasn’t anymore...Y/n I like you! And I was wondering if you wanted to maybe...go to the dance with me tomorrow?!” Lev blurted out nervously. You froze. Did he just say...? “Lev..I.. I like you too. I have since I met you actually..” You blushed, looking away. “And about that dance? I would love to go.” You said, smiling back at him. “Oh great! I was scared there..” Lev ranted. You giggled, and leaned into Lev as he put his arm around your shoulders. He walked you home that night. Just when you were climbing into bed, your phone chimed. It was a message from your now BOYFRIEND Lev:

LEV❤️: Hey, thanks again. I’ll meet you outside the school tomorrow. Goodnight! Sleep well!😘

ME: Can’t wait! I love you too!💖

The next night when your parents dropped you off at the school dance, you were nervous. What if Lev had changed his mind? What if he thought your dress was ugly? Just then you felt a light tap on your shoulder. You spun around to see Lev. “Wow..you look really beautiful!” He said. “I..uhh..thanks!” You giggled. “I like your tie.” You said, nodding towards his satin tie. “Oh! Thanks!” He said. “Are you ready?” He asked, taking your hand and kissing it. Your face flushed, and you nodded. Slowly Lev led you into the gymnasium, which was now turned into a ballroom. You had a fun time talking to his friends, and doing goofy dances to silly songs. The night was almost over when a slow song started playing. Lev looked at you, and grinned. You blushed. “Y/n? Can I ask you to dance with me?” Lev asked all dramatically, getting down on one knee. You smiled “Yes you may.” With that Lev wrapped his arms around your waist, as you attempted to reach

his shoulders the best you could. “Can you reach?” Lev chuckled, mocking your height. “In all honesty, not really!” You laughed. “Guess I’ll just have to do this..” Lev said, slowly leaning down towards you. You froze. Was he gonna KISS you?! You felt his lips meet yours, and your tongues collided. They danced around, exploring each cavern to behold.  And you and Lev spent the rest of the night dancing and laughing. That night was one of the best nights of your life. Why? Because it was the first time you kissed your husband.

[bluedalahorse]

Complicated queer media feelings beneath the cut…

Is anyone else feeling… I dunno… complicated about the part where we have Heartstopper, Red White and Royal Blue, and likely more YRS3 promo happening all in the same month?

I find a kind of enjoyment in each of these, so on one hand, I’m happy about it! (YR is my dearest fandom love right now about which I have many deep feelings, Heartstopper brings me joy and is what I’d watch with my middle school kids if I had kids, and RWRB is more on the “fun popcorn media” side of things for me but also has a lot of government humor that I laugh at as a person living in DC who gets subjected to motorcades etc.)

And I also think it’s awesome that queer rep has come a long way since when I was in high school, and there was only kinda Will and Grace and Willow on Buffy and you barely heard about some kids watching Queer as Folk if they were lucky enough to have HBO and parents who weren’t weird about it.

And and at the same time I know I’m going to be looking at my dash like, huh, that is a lot of mlm romance kissing between photogenic cis men.

Which. Again. Is progress? But also I’m a not-skinny aroace homosocial queer who is very interested in the stories of women and nonbinary people as well, and stories about friendship as well as relationships that reject traditional definitions. I want sweet romantic moments in my stories and decent makeout scenes but I also want stories about how queerness can challenge capitalism and hegemony and how we can create new families of choice and so on.

And for some of the texts I’m talking about, the canon definitely delivers? Things feel balanced? YR explores the class system with so much skill, and makes me ask powerful questions about justice and identity and such. It also has incredible female characters, including Sara as B Plot Protagonist driving a significant part of the story. (I wish I could find more fanfic from female characters’ POVs. I wish there were just as many “can’t wait until they get their happy endgame” posts about the Sara-Felice friendship as there were about the Wilmon romance, and I adore the Wilmon romance. I just love everything else about the show alongside it, and sometimes I find myself desperately craving discussion about the other aspects of the show while not knowing how to find ways of engaging about it.)

Heartstopper—I love how a multiqueer friends group is so centered in the story. Nick and Charlie are the main characters but Charlie’s friendship with Tao matters as much in the first season as his romance with Nick. I love how the show chose to have Elle carry a significant subplot in season 1 (although they could do better with that) and I am hopeful that we’ll get an ace discovery story for Isaac in season 2 and I’m looking forward to seeing more Imogen and we get a new disabled character and we’ll also get Tara and Darcy being Tara and Darcy! I don’t really follow people for Heartstopper necessarily, because it’s not really something I analyze or write fic for, but, you know, there’s a lot of it that goes around and I have generally positive feelings about it. I’m curious about what parts of the show and what characters people will choose to focus on.

RWRB… well, it’s been a long time since I’ve read the book, but I’m sort of holding off on comments until I see what’s different between the book and the movie.

Long story short I think I’m going to feel great about these various mlm pairings individually, because they’re all distinct personalities with stories and such, but I’m going to be feeling kind of weird and overwhelmed about the attention and gif visibility and squeeing that mlm romances between photogenic cis men get in aggregate.

But also also. Maybe that’s on me for not being into something like Yellowjackets fandom or not spending more time browsing the tag for XO Kitty. So the problem could also be me. I mean who knowsss?????

[cluelessbees]

Okay….

A concept— Dash and Lily Byler AU (I posted a part 2-ish)

Idk if you guys have watched dash and lily but it’s a very cute season-long like cheesy Christmas romance. The whole premise is that Lily puts this book in a bookstore that Dash finds and they essentially communicate through the notebook. They don’t know each others identities but they have to do a dare in order for the other to answer their question.

Im like not explaining it well but it’s very cute 😭. So like I was wondering ….byler au 👀?

So now enjoy my take on their notebook entries to each other—

(For context this one is Will’s to Mike after Mike proposed being called Blue + Mike’s entry afterwards)

Idk if it’s any good but enjoy—

***

Blue huh? 

You really aren’t giving me any clues to your name? I guess you do really like the mystery aspect of this all.

I guess I’ll continue in the theme of colours. Call me yellow. Or…think of me as yellow. I don’t think yellow works as well as a name compare to Blue, but it’s my favourite colour.

It just feels warm….which feels sorta weird to say. How can a colour feel warm? 

I don’t know. It just- reminds me of sun and how it would tickle my skin when I would lay on the grass in the park with my family. It’s just one of those warm memories. Something I think about when I want to escape.

That’s- a really weird thing to admit to a boy I’ve never met. But it’s just easier to tell you these things I guess? You’re easy to talk to- or write to.

I’m sorry if I’m being weird. I hope I’m not scaring you away.

Because ….i like talking to you blue. I hope you like talking to me.

Anyways, enough about me. It’s time for your dare. 

You’ve mentioned never really being an artist, huh? I’m not buying it. I think you like being creative. You just hate showing it.

I’ve attached a drawing of a map to this art centre. Go to it. I’ve booked you for a 4pm painting lesson. Let me know what you draw.

Don’t focus on perfection just have fun, okay? 

Give the book to the instructor, tall guy with a weird mustache you’ll know what I mean when you see it.

From, 

Yellow (?) (i have no idea of yellow is working or not)

***

Dear Yellow,

I’ll have to admit- it doesn’t work as well as Blue, but that’s okay. I think I’ll continue calling you notebook boy. I like the mystery element behind it. You’re very mysterious to me. I cant help wanting to know more about you.

You do remind me of yellow though- the warmth that is. I don’t know how else to describe it you just seem like such a warm person. Which- is weird to admit because I don’t even know you but it’s true.

Also, you don’t have to worry about scaring me off. I’m far too intrigued in knowing who you are to be scared off by anything. 

And….I happen to like you too, Notebook Boy

(See notebook boy just works better)

Anyways, a finger painting class huh? Have to admit I did not expect that. You’re always filled with surprises.

At first I thought you were just being sadistic. Like- you wanted me to stain my hands as some sort of punishment for a previous dare. But- I have to admit it was fun getting messy.

And I managed to get a sweet finger painted rainbow out of it. I’m sure I can’t compete with the art you make. You’re probably the most talented artist I know (I’m aware I haven’t seen your art yet but I’m still right.) But I like it- I think. It’s a decent painting.

Scratch that my friend just asked me if it was made by my little sister— okay so maybe not decent, but I had fun. Maybe…I do like creativity. Although no one will know but you.

I hope I get to see your paintings someday.

For now, i leave you with a dare and a question. 

What’s your taste of music like, Notebook Boy?

Mine is a mixed of genres, but I thought it would be fun for you to try something new. You seem very reserved so…I’ve attached a ticket to a friends rock show. It’s for tomorrow at 9. He makes good music. I’ve always like the atmosphere of his gigs. They’re so loud and the energy just seeps through the veins. 

I hope you like it. 

Blue 

P.S. hand the book over to my friend at the end of the show! He’s the guitarist. Tell him Blue sent you. 

***

I have more if y'all want but yeah--- thoughts? (Part 2)