#my friend offered me a top of the line pc for free and it felt like offering a homeless guy who loves music a grand piano

[samwisefamgee]

god wants me to kill myself sooooo fucking bad lately lol nice try bitch im queer

[cafeacademia]

𝐁𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠

𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫 𝐑𝐞𝐢𝐝 𝐱 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲: Spencer always walks his best friend home whenever he can, especially knowing that she has anxiety and is afraid of going home alone at night. On their way home they get separated but Spencer is right there to protect her.

𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: Mentions of anxiety and some mild descriptions, a persistent guy, some harassment but it doesn't go far, protective Spencer, reader is all shaken up and scared, lots and lots and LOADS of fluff, friends to lovers, gentle slow romance vibes, some moments of confident Spencer.

𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: approx 4.4k

𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞: Hello! This is a repost, I originally posted this on my second blog. This is my second Spencer fic, hopefully this is still good despite making him a bit more confident compared to my last one. I hope you enjoy, feedback is always appreciated! Thank you for reading!

Spencer was just glad to be home. The case they had worked in Chicago had been tiring, to say the least, but now they had arrived back in Quantico, Spencer was eager to catch up with one of the two people he shared the team with but didn’t always get to see regularly.

“You want to come out with us tonight Spence?” Morgan asked as he organised his bag, collecting a few things from his desk. Shaking his head, Spencer frowned as he pulled his jumper over his shirt. “I don’t think I will, I’m too tired after the flight.” He made up an excuse on the spot, adjusting his jumper and picking at the sleeves until they were settled comfortably on his arms before he picked up his coat. “Alright, could just tell me the truth though.” Derek teased, earning an unimpressed stare from Spencer. With a sigh, Spencer pulled his coat on and settled it on his shoulders.

“There’s someone I need to go and find,” Spencer admitted. “Ooh, is it a lady?” But Spencer was far too wise to Derek’s teasing by now and didn’t humour him with much of a response. “I’ll see you next week.” And with that, Spencer picked up his bag, slung it over his shoulder and then grabbed the two cups of coffee he’d put on his desk while he had been getting ready to leave.

Getting your jacket and scarf on, you realised how tired you felt from staring at screens nearly non-stop for the last few days. The case the team had worked on had a lot of intricate bits and pieces to put together and you and Penelope had worked tirelessly until it was over, only now you were exhausted from it all and excited to take a well-earned break over the weekend so you could sleep and rest your head from the migraine that threatened to settle on top of you.

“Hey,” Spencer’s voice filled your office, breaking the silence over the hum of your pc. His voice was welcomed, soothing even, especially with the softer tone he used when he spoke to you. You turned to face him, a smile on your lips when you saw him in the doorway, alive and well, cheeks slightly pink from the warmth of wearing his jacket inside of the office, hair swept back and a little messy and features so warm and welcoming to look up at. “Spence.” You grinned and without even thinking, you abandoned your bag on your seat and crossed the room to hug him tightly around the middle.

He attempted to hug you back, but could only hold you so much while also holding two cups of coffee in his hands.

“I brought you some coffee for the way home.” He told you, holding one cup out for you.

“You didn’t need to do that Spence.” You pouted up at him, a softness in your eyes when you met his gaze almost melted Spencer.

“It’s okay, I got a free extra coffee since I finished another line of stamps on my loyalty card.” It was a lie. He finished that loyalty card a week ago and forgot to hand it in and get another fresh one. But he knew you would accept his offering of coffee more easily if you thought he hadn’t spent anything on you.

Letting out a little sigh, you smiled and nodded as you gently took the cup from him and brought it up to your nose to breathe in the warm scent of coffee.

“Thank you.” You hummed out, failing to notice the way Spencer’s smile widened at the sight of you getting all flustered at the simple act of him giving you a coffee.

Of course, it was already eight at night, perhaps not the time for coffee but it was the best time, right after a gruelling case, one that had tired you to the bones to drink a nice hot, comforting cup of coffee and let yourself be still, just for a minute.

“Come on, let’s head home. Don’t forget to turn your computer off.” Spencer reminded you, having noticed the way your mind had purely focused on the coffee and you would have gladly walked out of the office leaving your computer on and your bag on your office chair.

“I’ve got your bag.” He said, picking it up off the chair as you leaned over your desk to turn your computer off and switch off all of your monitors before quickly piling up all of your paper notes and dusting them off the desk and into your drawer before you turned and took your bag

from him.

“It’s cold tonight,” Spencer noted as you both stepped out of the office.

“We had a bit of a cold snap the other day, it’s supposed to last a while longer.” You told him as you walked down the steps from the office, sipping your coffee as you went.

“I think it might snow tonight, the sky looked a little yellow before the sunset.” You went on, Spencer nodding as he listened to you talk. He listened as you walked down the road towards the subway station, content to just listen as you told him the things that had happened during the last few days that he had been away. He laughed softly as you told him about a conversation you’d had with Penelope late the previous evening, a joke coming to mind about something you had said to her.

When you approached the steps down into the subway, you quickly linked arms with him, your hand resting on his arm, fingers trailing over the soft wool texture of his brown trench coat as you stepped down into the station with him, Spencer pulling you closer to him to keep you from getting separated on the way down in the crowd.

“I missed this. You.” Spencer said suddenly as you stepped out onto the subway platform, your coffee cup coming to a standstill mid-sip before you pulled it away from your lips and looked up at him with a softness in your gaze that made Spencer want to kiss you right there and then.

“You missed me?” You asked shyly, almost afraid you had misheard him.

“Of course I missed you.” Spencer smiled, chuckling softly at the way you so obviously became flustered at his words, unable to contain how soft he had made you feel and you moved from one foot to the other, a very sweet smile on your lips that told him just how much you had loved to hear those words from him.

“I always miss you.” He added quietly and you weren’t sure if he was speaking to himself or you with the way that he looked down at his coffee as he said those words.

“I missed you too.” You admitted, revelling in the way that Spencer smiled down at you so brightly, so genuinely upon hearing your response.

This was what you always missed when Spencer was away from Quantico. You missed his company, his science rambles, his gentle admittance of feelings and thoughts when it was just the two of you. You missed going home together, taking the subway together and feeling someone you trusted and loved right next to you, to make the journey in a crowded, overwhelming space that much less scary to you than it was when you were alone.

You missed the feeling of his presence next to you, warm and soft, the texture of his jumpers and coats when you inevitably sunk against his side, holding onto him when the train was packed or the exit from the station was too crowded for your comfort.

And sometimes, occasionally, if you were really lucky, Spencer would hold your hand. He’d only done it twice. Once because he’d been afraid that the person who was fast approaching you was about to do something that would surely scare you, so he’d gripped your hand in his and gently pulled you against his side, fingers linking together with the soft touch of his skin against yours.

And the other time was one evening, you had walked home after a case had shaken you both and the comfort of holding hands was something you had both needed at that moment.

Finishing off your coffee, you dropped the cup into a bin on the platform as you watched your train speed in and come to a quick stop in front of you both.

Following Spencer, you kept close to him as he walked you both onto the train. It was busy, too busy for your liking, but he knew that which was why he was quick to gently pull you against his side and hold you close as the train grew heavy with chatter and shuffling footsteps. The doors slid shut with a thump, the wheels squeaking on the rails as the hum of the train intensified, pulling the train up to speed and pulling you all into the darkness of the tunnel.

But you felt safe, leaning against Spencer, the warmth of his presence surrounding you, his arm holding you in place against his side. You breathed in the scent of his woody,

warm cologne, the smell of coffee still lingering on him.

He smelled warm, he felt warm and you realised in that moment, despite the bustle around you and the overwhelming noise of the people in the same carriage as you both, Spencer brought you a sense of peace.

He quieted the chatter, brought an air of security to you that you couldn’t find anywhere else. His soft words brought you comfort, the way he touched you, held you in those moments grounded you. And you realised, like the many times before this moment, that you loved Spencer.

But maybe it was more than the type of love shared between good friends. Perhaps what you felt was something more. And that was okay. Maybe one day, those feelings would flourish and grow into something beautiful and flower with such delicate petals. But for now, you were content to remain as friends, to allow your love for Spencer to gently bud and grow at its own pace.

You rested like that, against Spencer for the rest of the journey. Your head felt less clouded, less exhausted and as if the onset of a migraine was bearing down on you, no, now you felt at ease and sleepy, but in the best way.

“This is our stop.” Spencer reminded you, noticing that you were concentrating more on your thoughts than your surroundings. But that was why he liked taking you home, so you didn’t have to worry about being afraid, being alone at night. He could take you home, take the fear away and bring you back safely and know that you were home and happy.

Holding onto you, Spencer worked his way through the crowd when the doors opened, helping you off the train and onto the platform. The silence of the calm had left you now, despite Spencer’s presence because the people around you seemed to be louder than before. Shouting and laughing at the volume of three individuals, pushing and shoving through the small station halls.

It was too much. It was overwhelming. But it was alright because right as you were about to trap yourself in a sea of overwhelmed thoughts, Spencer brought the calm back again.

“Hey, we’re almost out, just gotta get up the steps and then we can walk home.” He reminded you. And he was right. Just up those stairs ahead of you was the exit. You could feel the cold air from the street against your face as you began to climb the steps, feeling the cold breeze against your features but you welcomed the chill, staving off the stuffy, overwhelming feeling of being in the subway.

You turned to Spencer, parting your lips to speak, but as you did, a group coming up from behind pushed in between the pair of you, forcing you apart as they all wound their way up the stairs and through the crowd.

The gap between you filled with people, none of which were Spencer and you breathed in another gulp of cold as you climbed the stairs. You would just have to wait until you got to the top, Spencer would wait for you if he got there first, you knew he would.

But as you reached the top, lungs full of crisp, nighttime winter air, you were pulled aside from the crowd.

You felt relief wash over you, Spencer had found you and pulled you away from all of those people. But then you realised, that grip was not like his.

Looking down, you saw a black coat sleeve and hands that did not resemble Spencers. Casting a glance upwards, you saw a man who looked a similar age to you, a smile that did not seem genuine twisted onto his lips and his hand seemed to grip you much tighter.

“What are you doing?” You could barely get the words out, trying to pull away from him, but his grip was too tight for you to escape. You felt a horrible sense of dread overcome you, the peace that had settled in you was gone now, the migraine was looming over you and the most horrible pit in your stomach turned and knotted in its place, making you feel uneasy and sick as you tried again to pull your arm away from the stranger.

“Let’s go somewhere quiet.” He spoke, voice low and you could almost feel the lie on his breath as it hit your cheek, his face far too close to your own for comfort.

“Let me go.” You tried to sound demanding, to sound

confident, but it came out meek and quiet and scared. You heard your words wobble as they left your lips, the pit in your stomach intensified as you tried again to pull away from him, yanking your arm back towards you, but he kept you in place, a bruising grip tightening further on your forearm.

“There you are, baby.”

And suddenly everything felt okay again, relief flooded through you, like watercolours flowing over textured paper, sinking in and painting something soothing over the surface. Spencer was here.

“Get your hands off my girlfriend.” He asserted, a streak of confidence overcoming him as he approached the stranger.

Girlfriend.

If it had been any other situation, you might have swooned, giggled and been unable to stand still in your flustered state. But now, here, you were stuck, fear gripping you as tight as the man in front of you was.

Unmoving and solid.

“We’re just talking.” The man deflected.

You wanted to say something, to speak up, but the words would not come. Your lips parted, breath drawn in, but nothing would come, no words, no exhale, nothing. You were too scared.

But in a moment of absolute desperation to get you out of that situation, Spencer reached into his pocket, pulled out his ID and flashed the stranger with his FBI badge.

“I’m a federal agent, either you let her go or I’ll have you arrested for harassment.”

And just like that, without any further attempts, he let go of you and backed off before turning away and disappearing down the street.

The breath you let out was shaky, your arm hurt from his grip and your eyes ached from the tears that threatened to spill.

You never knew what to do in these situations, you never knew how to respond, if you should even respond and how to get away from the person doing it to you.

You might’ve been FBI, but that certainly did not mean that you knew how to handle these situations when the part of the work you were used to involved computers rather than people.

“You’re okay sweetheart, I’m here now.” Spencer’s soft voice soothed you, arms closing around you, pulling you close, letting you melt against his chest.

“It’s alright, you’re safe.” And you believed him, allowing yourself to sink into his embrace, feeling the way he held you so tight, his lips pressing a gentle, comforting kiss to the top of your head and he soothed you.

“Did he hurt you?” He asked softly, voice careful and gentle as he leaned back to look down at you, but not making you move away from him if you weren’t ready to part from him yet.

“A little.” You whispered, your voice or lack thereof was enough to tell him that you were crying or at least trying hard not to.

“Let it out, baby. It’s alright, he’s gone, he can’t hurt you. I’m sorry I wasn’t there.”

You wanted to tell Spencer that he didn’t need to apologise, that you getting separated on the stairs wasn’t his fault and neither was not being able to find you when there was such a big crowd at the top of the stairs to wade through in order to find you, but your voice failed you, only coming out in a little sob.

Spencer calmed you down slowly, holding you tightly and pressing kisses to your forehead now and again until he felt the tense feeling in your arms around him slowly relax until you had fully melted against him, pliant and comfortable and safe in his arms.

“Let’s get you home and warmed up, I can’t tell if you’re shaking because of anxiety or the cold.” And truth be told, it was a bit of both, but when you thought about it, you were pretty sure that Spencer knew that was the case.

The entire walk home, albeit, it was not a long one, you clung to Spencer. He didn’t seem to mind though, keeping you tucked against his side, his arm around you keeping you secure against him. And when he felt you shaking halfway to your apartment, he insisted on taking his scarf off and draping it around you just in case you were cold.

But what seemed to carry some weight with you on the walk home was that there was no well-measured scientific remark, no rambling from Spencer at all. He was so focused on making sure you were home and safe and

felt okay that he barely had room in his head to think of anything else to say.

“Will you come upstairs with me? Please?” You asked as you approached your building.

“Of course, if you want me to, I'll come with you.” Spencer agreed, allowing you to enter the building first and following you in.

You still held onto his hand as you made your way into the building and up to your apartment. Despite being indoors, away from nearly everyone, you still felt uneasy.

Spencer tried to soothe you as you rummaged in your pocket for your key, his hand gently rubbing your back as you shakily pulled the key free from your jacket pocket.

“Let me,” Spencer spoke softly, gently taking the key from you and leaning over to unlock the door for you.

Stepping inside, you were relieved to breathe in the scent of your home, to feel the warmth against your skin and finally feel like you were fully safe again.

Flicking on the light, Spencer looked around your apartment. It wasn’t the first time he had been here, he’d been over a few times before, mostly for movie nights on your days off, but this time almost felt more personal, more vulnerable and he was glad that you felt safe enough to invite him into your home when you were still feeling the effects of your anxiety.

“Let me see your arm, sweetheart,” Spencer spoke. It wasn’t a question and you knew that, though he didn’t say it in a demanding way either. It was soft, delicate and careful and if you truly had refused you knew he would have backed off.

“Okay.” It came out as a whisper as you shrugged your coat off and untangled yourself from both Spencer’s scarf and your own.

You held out your arm for him to see and carefully, so gently, Spencer pushed your jumper sleeve up to inspect your arm. His touch was warm and soft against your arm, so careful not to hurt you as he examined you slowly.

“I think you’re okay, maybe some bruising will come up, but it seems alright.” He told you. “If you get any bruises, message me and I’ll bring over something to help.”

“Can I make you some tea? Do you have everything you need?” He asked.

You were tempted to ask him to stay because really that’s the only thing you wanted. But you knew that was far too forward of you to ask and you could barely get out a simple answer, let alone pluck up the courage to ask him to stay the night.

“Some tea would be nice.” You agreed.

“I’m so sorry.” You mumbled, approaching him slowly as he stood in your little kitchen, moving around to fill the kettle with water before putting it back on its stand and setting it to boil.

“What are you sorry about, sweetheart? You didn’t do anything wrong.” Spencer asked, turning around to gently take hold of your arms.

“I’m a federal agent, I should be able to protect myself.” You replied, too afraid to look him in the eyes.

“Please don’t say that, that’s what I’m here for. I’m the field agent out of the two of us, I will always protect you.”

The thought crossed your mind, a thought you didn’t like that had manifested itself in your head, selfish and likely unrequited.

But Spencer saw it as if the thought crossed your features as well as your mind, he read it as if you had written it across your skin, in your eyes for him to see.

“What is it?” He asked softly, but he could tell before you did it that you would recoil, too afraid to say it out loud. Finally, after a moment of internal debate, you surprised yourself and spoke.

“What if,” you paused, chancing a glance up at your best friend, his eyes filled with concern, brows knitted together in a worried frown. “What if I always want that with you? Always want this but maybe,” you paused again, trying to find your words but your mind swam with so many thoughts.

“More?” He offered the word, soft, quiet so as not to interrupt your train of thought, but you nodded, again too shy to look up at him and Spencer knew.

“More.” You agreed in a whisper.

There was a pause, a silence that blanketed you both as the kettle simmered down from boiling. The silence was not stifling however, it was comfortable and soft. You felt his gaze on you, but in

a way that you knew he was thinking, mulling over your words, taking his time to work out what he wanted to say.

“I want more of us too.” Spencer finally spoke, his voice soft and kind. You couldn’t help it then, you looked up at him suddenly, eyes wide and full of something that Spencer discerned to be a mix of anticipation and love.

He reached up, the backs of his fingers brushing softly against your cheek while his other hand found its way between your fingers, intertwining you, bringing you closer, forming a physical bond between you as he leaned in, lips so close that his breath, warm and coffee scented brushed softly against you.

You closed the gap, eyes hooded until they closed from the feeling of his lips pressing gently against yours. Spencer hummed, low and heavy as he kissed you, it was slow and warm and everything you had imagined a kiss from Spencer to be.

He parted from you, hands moving up to hold you against his chest, eyes meeting yours in a deep, loving gaze.

“Let’s work this all out tomorrow,” Spencer spoke softly. “Maybe I can take you out for lunch?” He asked.

“I would love that.” You smiled sweetly, finally fully relaxed and Spencer was happy to see you that way.

“Good, I’ll let you get some rest, we’ve had a long few days and I think you must be exhausted.” He didn’t mention it, but you knew he was talking about the encounter earlier, about how the anxiety would have exhausted you and he was right. You felt drained, but at the same time, Spencer made you feel so wonderfully warm and safe and happy.

Quickly, Spencer finished making you some tea, handed you the warm cup and gathered his things.

“Spence,” His movements paused as he lifted his bag. “Thank you, really so much.” You smiled sweetly up at him.

“I would do anything for you, sweetheart.” He grinned, leaning over to press a kiss to your cheek.

He watched as you became flustered under his gaze, it made him smile and chuckle softly at your reaction and it made him want to kiss you all over again until you were both breathless. But tonight was not the time for that, you had been through enough and now you needed to rest.

He moved to the door, his hand on the handle ready to go, but he paused.

“Sure you’ll be alright?” Spencer asked, earning a little nod in response.

“I will now, I think.” You replied.

“One more thing,” He turned to face you completely. “Promise me that when I’m away on a case, you’ll call me to tell me when you get home and that you're safe.”

Your smile softened, eyes warm as you looked up at him, nodding. “I promise.”

“Good girl.” He grinned, leaning over to press one last kiss to your cheek. “I’ll come and pick you up before lunch tomorrow for our little date.” He told you, saying one last goodbye before he left your apartment and closed the door behind him.

You were beyond grateful for him being there that evening, for getting you out of that situation so quickly and getting you home and calmed down so fast.

And maybe you couldn’t quite believe that Spencer, your best friend who had so slowly opened up and become more confident around you, had kissed you and asked you out on a date.

You were in love, it had budded, but now it was growing and soon to blossom.

@magicchai

[jadequeen88]

Incel Tomura

I couldn’t think of a good title for this, so... I just went with something real blunt. Anyway, this was inspired by a friend and how she actually met her IRL boyfriend.

PAIRING: Incel!Shigaraki x egirl!reader

TW: face sitting, degradation, mommy kink, reader basically bullying Tomura (he deserves it)

3.2k~

AS ALWAYS MY FICS ARE STRICTLY 18+

“TCH!”

Tomura scoffed at the screen of his laptop. The Discord server he helped admin had gone to shit since he let that idiot Dabi loosen the requirements to join. It was one thing when Toga joined. He knew she was a decent gamer. But you? With those stereotypical cat-ear headsets, perfectly done make-up and short skirts? Please… He saw right through you. Just another fake ~uwu~ e-girl trying to pretend they knew what they were talking about.

It didn’t end with you being annoyingly informed in the gaming chat, either. You were always in the anime and manga chats, too… Suggesting different ones that there’s no way you actually enjoyed.

But the WORST part of you being in the server? Spamming the picture chat with selfies and outfit pics. No, it wasn’t against the guidelines and yes, you got lots of compliments (of course, you were clearly hot), but it made Tomura livid. Where there used to be pics of half-built PCs and screenshots of character upgrades, now there were endless pictures meant to tease and bait the guys in the server.

Today’s picture is what sent him completely over the edge. Your hair was put up in two messy space buns, signature pink cat-eared headset perched on your head. Your black, mesh top was straining against your tight, hot pink bra, barely hiding your cleavage and your slender neck was adorned with a chunky, black collar with a large, silver ring hanging from the front. The icing on the cake, though… the thing that broke him, was the face you were making. Eyes crossed, little pink tongue lolling past your perfect hot-pink lips, it was an obvious ahegao face. The caption read:

“New collar! Thank you for da gift @XxXknifey_wifeyXxX”

Followed by a bunch of annoying ass emojis.

Tomura shifted in his gaming chair, his growing bulge making his sweats tight. He gritted his teeth and opened his DMs…

******

You snickered as you opened your text chat with Dabi. Poor Tomura… He had no clue his friend was an old high school buddy of yours and sent screenshots every single time he bitched about your presence on the server. At first, it was just a couple of snide comments, but you quickly decided to turn it into a game. You’d add more emojis than you normally would, flirt shamelessly with Toga in the chat, and be very vocal with your opinions. Then it progressed with more and more selfies, pics showing off your new skirts, and pics of your pink, girly gaming setup. Today you pushed it with the ahegao face, you’ll admit. It was pretty out of character for you, but you couldn’t wait to hear about Tomura’s reaction from Dabi.

It was everything you hoped it would be:

Decay_666_

So can we give those bitches their own chat or what? Seriously, I’m sick of seeing their shit everywhere. Did you see her ahegao face selfie? This server was supposed to be for ACTUAL gamers, not fake e-girl sluts spamming the chat with their bullshit…

Cremation_Daddy

Lol, damn dude, calm down… we can make a separate chat. You’re the only one on the server complaining. Y/N really fucking you up that bad?

Decay_666_

Oh, fuck off… she’s just being an attention whore and it’s getting on my nerves.

Cremation_Daddy

Yeah, whatever you say. Prolly jerkin it to that selfie right now

You didn’t know why, but you kinda had a crush on the skinny loser. Knowing how worked up he’d get over the smallest things you did thrilled you. You wanted to know just how badly you affected him and today was the day you’d find out.

*****

Tomura heard a ping from his monitor alerting him to a new DM. expecting it to be Dabi giving him more shit, he scowled and clicked over to his Discord tab. When he saw that it was you DMing him, it was like someone had poured a bucket of ice water over his head. He could barely type he was so nervous.

Y/N

Hey :)

Decay_666_

Hi

Y/N

How did you like my new collar?

Tomura panicked. Had Dabi said something? There’s no way he’d do that. How did he even respond to that? He decided to feign ignorance.

Decay_666_

What collar?

Y/N

*image*

He audibly gasped. You sent him the selfie you’d posted in the chat earlier. Somehow, it was even hotter than the first time he’d seen it. Probably because you had sent it to him. You wanted to make sure he saw it. The thought alone made him painfully hard. He typed out a shaky response:

Decay_666_

Yeah… you look really pretty :)

He grimaced. He couldn’t think of anything clever when he was put on the spot like that. Plus, how long had it been since he’d spoken to a girl one on one? Much less a hot one? Never. That’s when.

Y/N

Aww, you’re so sweet :) wanna see it in person?

Now Tomura was wondering if he’d died and gone to heaven. Did she want to meet up? Wearing that fucking collar? There’s no way… He stared at the screen for a good ten minutes before another ping brought him back to reality.

Y/N

I’m free now if you are. Plus, there’s a new episode of *insert favorite anime* out and I didn’t wanna watch it alone.

Decay_666_

Yeah. Sure.

His response was almost uninterested but inside he was panicking. When was the last time he showered? How much time did he have to get ready? Did he even have any clean clothes? He leaped from his chair and ran to the bathroom to brush his teeth. Another ping rang out and he raced to check his DMs to see that you’d sent your address. To his surprise, you only lived a short walk from him. Another jolt of excitement shot through his spine as he quickly responded.

Decay_666_

Be over in 30 :)

He turned on the shower then started picking through his pile of clothes finding the ones that smelled the least offensive. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been this nervous and excited at the same time.

*****

 Tomura shifted from one foot to the other, nervously scratching at the side of his neck. He caught himself before the skin there broke and he ended up having to deal with a bloody neck on top of already being a nervous wreck. He’d only been standing outside your apartment for a minute or two, but it felt like an eternity. He kept checking his phone to distract himself. Just as he was starting to question if this had been a good idea, the door flung open.

His eyes widened and his mouth turned into a thin line. You answered the door in a fucking towel. He began opening and closing his mouth like a fish that had been plucked from the water. You giggled innocently like it was perfectly normal to answer the door nearly naked.

“You’re here a little earlier than I expected! I just got out of the shower. Come on in,” you moved to the side to give him room to walk through the door into your small apartment. You were sure to not move completely out of the way so he’d have to almost brush against your chest. You could feel him stiffen and hold his breath as he passed by.

This was going to be so much fun…

*****

Tomura’s dick had been painfully hard the moment he’d seen you in that towel. Luckily, when you’d gone into your bedroom to get dressed, he was able to position it in his waistband so he wouldn’t be pitching a tent in front of you. The thought of you noticing him popping a boner just by looking at you in a towel was mortifying. 

However, what you decided to change into didn’t help his situation. Your baby pink terry cloth shorts would have shown the curve of your ass had it not been for the little row of ruffles around the bottom. Your tank top, the same baby pink color as your shorts, was pulled tight across your chest (holy shit, were you not wearing a bra?!). A fleeting glance at your chest proved to Tomura that you definitely were not wearing a bra.

“You can come on back,” you beckoned from the doorway of your bedroom, “I thought we’d be more comfortable in here…”

He gulped and rubbed his sweaty palms on his jeans before nodding and rising to walk towards you. Your room was foreign to him. Decorated with all shades of pink and purple, soft, plush bedding, and a soft pink glow emanated from the LED strip lights that lined the walls. Tomura stood awkwardly, looking around for a chair to sit in when you flopped onto your bed and began pulling up the streaming app on your tv. 

You looked up at him sweetly and patted the spot on the plush comforter next to you. “Come sit, Tomu! You don’t have to stand way over there. I don’t stink, ya know,” the wink you gave him made his knees buckle.

“Umm,” he chuckled nervously, “No, of course not. You, uhh… you smell…”

No, you were way too close. This was bad. There’s no way he would be able to string together a coherent thought, much less hold an actual conversation with you. You pout and lean in even closer to him.

“Tomuuuuu!” fuck, he hated that he loved that stupid nickname, “You think I smell?!”

“What?! N-no, not at all. I was trying to say that-”

Before he could finish his sentence, you tilted your head to the side offering up your neck for him to smell and he swears his eyes crossed as he tried to absorb what was happening.

“I even wore my new perfume! Go on, smell. Tell me what you think,” you smirk looking out of the corner of your eye.

Fuck.

You were teasing him, he knew you were, but his dick was so hard that he was completely at your mercy. He leaned in to take a tentative sniff and his eyes wandered lower. His breath hitched when he noticed the outline of your hardened nipples peeking through the thin material of your tank top. Before he knew what was happening, you turned your face forward and put your mouth next to his ear.

“Are you looking down my shirt, you pervert?” you purred. Tomura made some sort of incoherent noise and pulled away.

You laughed and pushed his shoulder playfully, “Geeze, I’m just kidding! You’re wound so tight.” you pause making a thoughtful face.

“Oh, I know how to help! Come on, over here,” you pulled him between your spread thighs and proceeded to rub his shoulders, working out all of the knots in his lean back.

After a few seconds, Tomura began to relax into your touch, slumping slightly and letting out a tiny sigh. He was deathly still the entire time you massaged him. He was terrified if he moved too much that his raging boner would free itself from his waistband. When your hands left his shoulders, he started to move away just to be pulled back into your lap. His head landed in your cleavage as your hands trailed down his chest. 

“Hmm, so tense, Tomu,” you whispered into the crown of his hair, “Is my massage not working?”

He wanted to yell that of course he was tensed up. That his dick is the hardest it’s ever been in his life and if he doesn’t hold as still as possible, he’s scared he might start humping the air like a pathetic dog. Before he can answer, your hand trails down to the waistband of his jeans, and he freezes. The tips of your fingers brush across his leaking tip and Tomura lets out a low, needy moan before he can stop himself.

“Just what I thought,” you purred as you began to trail your fingers up and down the hard bulge in his jeans, “Pathetic. Look at you, so fucking hard for me. And all I did was rub your shoulders.” He wanted to defend himself, but all he could do was whine as his eyes rolled in the back of his head while you continued touching him through his jeans.

“And to think, I never thought you’d want anything to do with some fake bimbo like me. Because I only game and watch anime for attention, right?” you squeeze his cock through his jeans, causing him to yelp. “Well? What do you have to say for yourself, incel? Wanna tell me why your dick is this hard for me if I’m so annoying to you?”

The realization that Dabi had told you everything flitted through the back of his mind, but he didn’t have room in his brain right then to be mad at him. He had to do whatever he needed to do to keep you touching him.

“I, ahh... I’m s-sorry,” he stuttered pathetically. The front of his jeans was wet from your teasing and the denim was rubbing him raw through his thin boxers, “D-didn’t, fuck, didn’t mean it like… ahh, l-like th-that.”

You loved how easily you could wreck him. You pet his hair back from his sweaty brow as you cooed at him lovingly.

“You know,” you removed your hand from the front of his jeans and he whined from the lack of friction, “You really hurt my feelings, baby. I thought you were so cool and the whole time, behind my back, you said just mean things about me.”

He sat up and turned to face you. His pathetic, needy gaze shot straight to your core. The power you held made you drunk and you desperately wanted more.

“No, no no no…” he grabbed your hands and you realized how clammy they were, “I’m-I’m so sorry. Please! Please…”

“Hmm,” you studied him for a moment, “Well… There might be a way you could make me feel a little better.” you tucked a strand of hair behind his ear, “You were so mean to me.”

“Anything! Please! I-I’ll do anything for you!” desperation started creeping in, thinking you’d leave him hanging with no relief. Little did he know, you had no intention of letting him go any time soon. Your plush lips curled into a devious smile. A soft hand reached up cupping his jaw.

“What a good boy, Tomu,” a tremor passed through his body. You reached over to your nightstand and pulled out the collar you’d taken the selfie in. 

“You know,” the collar danced between your painted nails, “This also came with a leash. I was thinking,” your lust-filled eyes meet his, “If you wanted to be a good boy for me… You’d let me see how pretty it looks around your neck.”

Tomura hesitated, his eyes rapidly moving between your eyes and the collar you held. After a moment of consideration, he nodded. You giggled and clapped your hands together excitedly leaping off the bed. You returned with a short, chain-link leash.

“Now,” you leaned in and fastened the collar around his neck. Your bodies were centimeters apart and Tomura thought he might pass out, “When you’re wearing your collar, you don’t call me Y/N,” you nudge his ear with your nose and whisper, “You call me ‘Mommy.’ Do you understand?” you feel him nod against your face.

“That’s not how good boys answer their Mommy. When you answer me, you say, ‘Yes Mommy’ or ‘No Mommy.’ Is that clear?”

“Y-yes… Mommy.”

“Mmm, what a good boy,” you placed a soft kiss on his neck and he let out the most delicious whimper. You hooked a finger through the ring on the front of the collar, “You’re gonna go sit in Mommy’s gaming chair and let her use you as a toy. Okay?” 

Tomura’s head was spinning and he almost couldn’t answer until you jerked him by his collar, “Y-yes, Mommy. Please, please make me your toy.”

You stood and dragged him over to your chair and made him sit, “What a polite boy you are! Saying ‘please’ without being asked. If you keep that up, you just might get a reward,” his belt buckle rattled as you worked his jeans down his narrow hips. 

A ragged breath escaped his chapped lips as you removed your tiny shorts revealing a black, lace thong. You straddled his lap, your dripping slit hovering a centimeter over the angry, leaking head of his cock. His hands shook as you placed them on your hips and slowly moved your thong to the side. Descending an inch at a time, only teasing his tip, was causing him to come undone underneath you.

“You’re already so close and I’ve only put the tip in. You better be a good boy and not come until I tell you to or you’re going to be punished,” you pushed another couple of inches inside and he nearly wept.

“I-I’m trying, M-mommy! I wanna be a good boy!”

“Mmm, I know, baby. You’re doing so,” another inch, “So…” and another, “Well.” you were fully seated on his cock now. Tomura knew he wouldn’t last. Your velvet walls were sucking him down harder than anything ever had before. It made his fleshlight feel like it was made of sandpaper. You had ruined him for anything else. 

With a few rolls of your hips and some high, airy moans, he was about to bust. “Mommy! Mommy, please! I-I’m g-gonna…”

“Tomu,” your voice was authoritative now, “If you come in Mommy’s pussy, I’m going to make you clean it out with your tongue then I’m going to sit on your face until I come as many times as I want.” your hand wrapped around his throat and you started bouncing on his cock. Your filthy words and aggressive motions catapulted him into an orgasm.

“You bad, BAD boy,” a smack to his cheek broke off his moans, “You disobeyed me! Did you do that on purpose?” your hand around his neck flexes, “Are you just a dirty incel that wants Mommy to get mean with you? Answer, Tomu!”

“Yes, Mommy!”

“Tell Mommy what you are…”

“I-I’m a-a… dirty incel.”

“And what do you want?”

“W-want… want Mommy to b-be mean to me…”

You lift him by the collar and attach the leash. He’s thrown onto the bed and you waste no time hovering your dripping slit over his face.

“Now,” you jerk the leash, “Clean up your mess.”

Tomura knew he should be disgusted right now, but his dick was getting harder by the second. With each lick inside your sloppy hole, he shamelessly moaned against your skin. The vibrations were going straight to your clit, causing you to ride his face harder. This went on until you’d almost reached your peak.

“Oh, baby,” you’re making Mommy feel so, so good, “I-I’m gonna…”

Tomura grabbed your ass and moved you back and forth on his face as he sucked your clit into his mouth. Your orgasm hit hard and fast. You lifted your body giving him a moment to breathe before sitting back down, earning a startled mumble from him.

“Don’t think that’s all,” you laughed and humped his face, making his eyes roll into the back of his head, “Be a good boy and mommy might even let you come…”

Tomura only nodded as he began to eat you again like he was starved. Maybe all the stuff you posted in the Discord server wasn’t so annoying anymore...

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

Flying High, Falling Fast

Warnings: non-consent sex and rape; fingering, oral, fucking, subtle creep factor, deceptive charm, the usual fare you know

This is dark!Sam Wilson x reader and explicit. 18+ only.  Your media consumption is your own responsibility. Warnings have been given. DO NOT PROCEED if these matters upset you.

Synopsis: You meet the new Captain America at an event and impress him with your homemade project, but his interest is more than friendly.

Note: We all need some dark!Sam, right? This is a pretty long one shot, just over 7k words but it was super fun to write a character I don’t get to a lot. But I hope you love him as much as me!

Thanks to everyone for sticking around and putting up with me and thanks in advance for all your feedback. :)

I really hope you enjoy. 💋

<3 Let me know what you think with a like or reblog or reply or an ask! Love ya!

You’d never been to a meet and greet before but it seemed like the perfect opportunity to meet up with Reese. The two of you met a year and a half ago on a Discord server for PC builds and eventually waded through the awkward blank cursors to real conversations. Little updates on new additions to your machines, memes about coding, and the occasional gaming session. He became a stalwart in your mostly solitary existence between work and your empty private life.

It wasn’t that you didn’t trust Reese but you felt safer meeting a stranger from the internet in a public setting. Plus, it was his suggestion. His roommate fell through on attending the event with him and you eagerly accepted the unclaimed ticket. Of course, Reese insisted it was his treat but you made him promise to let you pay for lunch.

Even more exciting, you were going to meet the new Captain America. THE CAPTAIN AMERICA. You wanted to squee but had to play it cool as you waited with Reese in the winding queue. 

As exclusive as the meet and greet was, it was stiflingly crowded, even more strenuous as you and Reese tried to adjust your rapport to a face-to-face environment. You mostly ended up chuckling and struggling for some cogent thought.

“What’s in the bag?” Reese asked, finally cracking through the stunted small talk.

“Oh, oh my god, I almost forgot,” you carefully lifted the bag and opened the top to let him peek inside, “I made this last year during lockdown. It’s silly but it was fun.”

He poked his finger around the opening of your drawstring knapsack and his brows rose in surprise. The drone had taken you most of your spare time but you hadn’t yet had a chance to do more than hover it around your bedroom. It was an exact replica, or exact as you could get, of the former Falcon’s Redwing.

“Holy shit! You never mentioned it,” he said.

“Oh, well, I guess… I never thought to. I just spent about an hour or so whenever I could, getting it together. Most of the time was spent on programming,” you closed your bag and let hit hang from your elbow, “and that’s another checkbox on the nerd list.”

“Please, look who you're talking to,” he joked with a snort.

You smiled at him sheepishly and looked ahead of the bodies in front of you as the line shifted forward. He wasn’t exactly disappointing, if anything, he was exactly what you expected. Skinny with black-framed glasses and a bright tee with the Captain’s shield emblazoned across his chest. He wasn’t bad-looking and thankfully not an incel.

“So, uh, you gonna give it to him or something?” Reese asked.

“What-- uh, no, I was hoping he’d sign it actually,” you chewed your lip anxiously, “if I don’t spaz out and just walk away.”

“Right,” he scoffed, “the last time I went to one of these I almost passed out.”

“Oh? Who was it?” you wondered aloud.

“Tony Stark. But I was still in high school,” he explained, “everything else sells out before I get to it. These I got by luck. If David hadn’t swiped them, we’d be standing outside wishing we were in here.”

“I can’t believe he passed on the ticket,” you uttered.

“I’m happy he did,” Reese said, “it made it easier to convince you to meet.”

“Well… we didn’t have to--”

“I’m teasing. Sorry. I’m not very… experienced at this,” he fidgeted.

“It’s fine,” you shrugged as you moved with the line, “I’m just nervous about meeting Captain America, you know? You’re not as intimidating… but I like that.”

“Uh, thanks,” he laughed as you got closer to the table and fidgeted with the straps of your bag. You were almost there.

You stepped up when the people ahead of you cleared away and you couldn’t help but stare at Bucky Barnes’ metal hand as he signed Reese’s special edition Blip magazine. He cleared his throat and you looked the Winter Soldier in the face. 

“Oh, sorry,” you slid the poster you got from the shop on the way in onto the table and he unrolled it and signed. You tried really hard not to focus on his hand, you were so curious as to how it all worked. “Thank you.”

He smiled through tight lips and said, “your welcome” before you sidled down to Sam Wilson as you rolled up your poster.

“Don’t worry about him,” Sam said, “he hates these things. I can’t take him anywhere.”

His laughter received a sharp look from the super soldier. Sam took Reese’s magazine and asked his name. You were too lost in thought to answer when he asked for yours. You coughed and sputtered as you tried to remember and Reese answered for you, adding that you were nervous.

“I, uh, oh,” you lifted your bag, “I was hoping, maybe, you might sign this instead,” you handed the poster to Reese and reached into your knapsack, “if you don’t mind?”

You carefully placed the drone on the table and his brows shot up in surprise. He lifted it just as you let it go and admired it as he leaned back, “you make this?”

“Yeah,” you answered shyly, “doesn’t have all the cool features like yours but it flies.”

“That’s awesome,” he put it back down and uncapped his marker, “where do you want me to sign?”

“Just on the top is fine,” you pointed, “thank you so much.”

“My pleasure,” he put his signature after spelling out your name and he grabbed the drone again, “hey, Buck, look at this? I don’t see any fancy arms that need signing.”

“Shut up,” Bucky grumbled and eyed the drone, “pretty cool, though.”

“Thanks, uh, well, we should get out of the way,” you said.

He handed you the drone and smiled. You began to shuffle away and he called you back to the table, “you code? Do a lot of programming?”

“Mostly just corporate sites,” you answered.

“Here,” he reached into his pocket, “send me a text. I think I know some people who’d like to meet you.”

“What?” you took the card rigidly.

“Sure, we’re always looking for techs,” he said, “and if we can’t find a spot for you, maybe you can see the real Redwing. I’ll make sure of it.”

“Wow, thank you, you… don’t have to do… that,” you stuttered.

“I’d be stupid not to,” he waved off your protests, “you go have fun, you two.”

You backed away and turned to walk away with Reese as you shoved your drone back in your bag with the card, numb with disbelief. 

“Wow, I can’t believe…” you trailed off as you mind wandered.

“Me either,” Reese said oddly, “that’s… wild.”

You looked at him and smiled. He didn’t look mad, only serious. You tightened the neck of the knapsack and slung it over your shoulders.

“So what are we doing for lunch?” you asked.

🌠

In the two weeks since you attended the meet and greet, you and Reese kept up mostly online, many arrangements interrupted by your real life responsibilities. It wasn’t until you offered for him to come with you to the SWORD labs that he had any free time for you. After a stressful text exchange with Captain America, you were too anxious to go alone and he was more than welcoming when you asked to bring a friend.

You stood on the subway as Reese sat and played his Switch. He was jittery as you kept your own nerves hidden just beneath the surface. You found it easier to stay standing as you felt as if you might combust if you sat.

“This is so awesome,” he said as he zipped his Switch up in its case, “thanks for inviting me.”

“I figured I owed you since you got the tickets for the meet and greet,” you said, “and it’s been a while.”

“Sorry about that, work’s been nuts,” he stood as you approached your stop and held onto the pole above your hand, “I kinda skipped out on half a day for this.”

“No,” you frowned, “you didn’t have to--”

“And miss a chance to see the real Redwing? Come on,” he scoffed.

“Oh,” you hung your head, “yeah, I guess that’s worth it.”

“I didn’t mean-- I’m happy to see you too, it’s just kinda a big deal,” he said as you approached the door with the few other passengers readying to hop off.

“No, I get it,” you hooked your thumbs under the straps of your knapsack as the doors slid open and you stepped out onto the platform, “I just… I couldn’t go alone. It’s so… scary.”

“Scary? Jeez, Captain America invited you to a job interview!”

“No, that’s not--”

“Uh, yeah, that’s exactly what it is but I promise, I won’t get in the way,” he said as you head for the concrete stairs, “maybe if he needs an extra coder I might piggy back.”

“Uh huh,” you came up onto the New York sidewalk and came into view of the immense SWORD building, “well, I don’t think it’s all that.”

“So why’d you bring this?” he tapped your bag as you neared the large glass doors and men in suits with coiled wires at their ears squared their shoulders.

“He asked me to,” you said as you were approached by one of the big security guards.

“This isn’t public entry,” he said sternly, “no tours.”

“I have an appointment or… I’m expected,” you pulled out your phone and pulled up the electronic pass Sam sent you, “see?”

“Hmm,” he eyed it and took your phone without asking. Another guard came and scanned it with his phone, “checks out but we’re gonna called down Mr. Wilson and get confirmation.”

“Oh, okay,” you fidgeted as he made no move to return your phone. Reese seemed to shrink as the two men spoke into their headset and nodded at each other.

“Hey,” the glass door burst open as Sam appeared and strode towards you, “hey, sorry, these guys are such buzzkills,” he approached and patted one of the men on the shoulder, “they’re with me.” He assured and waved you after him.

“Um, my phone,” you said to the taller man with the buzzed head. He tilted his head wryly and held out your cell between two fingers. You took it and followed Sam to the doors.

“Anyway, we were just going over some basic maintenance today and I thought you might like to observe. See everything that goes into keeping me and my toys in the air,” he smiled as he held the door and nodded at Reese, “nice to see you again, man.”

“You too, Cap...tain,” Reese answered dumbly.

“Sam is fine,” he chuckled back and tailed the two of you across the lobby as he pointed you towards the elevators. He made Reese look even more like a stick bug. “You bring it?”

“Yeah, it’s in my bag,” you stopped yourself from popping your knuckles out of nervousness, “thank you so much for this. I usually work in cubicles so… uh, yeah… I don’t know what I mean.”

“Hey, don’t be nervous, you built that thing all by yourself? I’m sure you’ll fit right in,” he said.

You got off the elevator and had to hold in a gasp at the shining laboratories as the hi-tech equipment gleamed through the glass walls. Sam led you down the curved staircase onto the lab floors as techs and assistants in both lab coats and starched suits milled around the tables along the edge of the room.

“Hey, Greta,” he called out as he showed you to a metal table, “get a look at this.” A woman with twisted red hair approached as Sam tapped his fingers on the table, “show her,” he urged you.

You swung your bag around and took out the little red and silver drone. You placed it in the middle of the table and the woman, Greta, tilted her head curiously.

“You said you can make this thing fly, right?” Sam asked as Reese watched from the other side of the table.

“Um, yep,” you unlocked your phone and brought up the beta app you designed, “just…”

The drone rose slowly and steadied before you as it hovered over the metal. Greta lifted a dark brow and ran a nail along her chin thoughtfully, “cute.”

“Ah, come on, tell me that isn’t awesome? She did it all by herself,” Sam boasted, “so, what do you think? She’d be a great tech, huh?”

“Tech? I…” you blinked and giggled, that was absurd.

“Does she have a resume? A list of her credentials, at least,” Greta rebuffed.

“Greta,” Sam warned playfully, “I’m her credentials. I’m giving her a reference right now. Hire her.”

“What?” you mumbled under your breath and you saw Reese’s eye cling to Sam darkly, almost enviously.

“You know, if I hadn’t let that kid go for hi-jacking the alpha, I’d tell you to go back to breaking your toys,” she warned, “but I trust you and… I cannot say I’m not impressed,” she narrowed her sights at the floating drone, “how long did this take you?”

“A year or so,” you answered, “it was… just meant to be a hobby but--”

“Well, make it your life,” she said tersely, “Wilson, you deal with HR, Sheila likes you better.”

“Leave it all to me,” he grinned and she walked away.

“Here,” he turned back to you, “I’ll show you the operating system for the real deal.”

He ushered you and Reese over to a computer after you lowered your drone. The real Redwing sat on a module next to the screen and Sam punched the keys and took a hooked earpiece from a small stand, “put this on.”

You slipped the earpiece on as he revealed a bracelet and adjusted it on your wrist, a small ring looping up your index finger. 

“Bend your finger,” he said and you did it, “lift it up, back… like that.” Redwing rose and you watched in amazement, “tilt your head…” the drone aimed in the same direction as your head, “now back,” it flew higher, “just like that. You’re getting it.”

You steered the drone in a circle and Sam helped you maneuver it back down. He let you hand the controls over to Reese who had more fun with it and nearly took out one of the workers. He apologised and Sam just chuckled, though it didn’t sound so amused. 

When Redwing was back in its place, Sam took you all around the room to show you every gadget; his wings, his suit, all his little weapons, and even pulled up some Wakandan schematics of Bucky’s arm. Much of it wasn’t in English however and you could only decipher what was visually laid out. 

He left you there for a moment as he excused himself to chat with a tech about his wings. Reese huffed and leaned against the wall. You were quiet, mostly stunned, though your usual reticence could also be blamed. 

“I don’t think you should’ve brought me,” he said, “I told you it was a job interview.”

“I didn’t know, I thought you would enjoy it,” you felt awful as Reese had given up trying to hide his jealousy.

“Yeah, yeah,” he said, “well, it is pretty cool but…”

He was interrupted as Sam returned, “sorry about that, guys, I kinda messed up one of the engines on the wings on my last mission.”

You smiled and said it was fine. You hadn’t expected so much attention and thought it would be a brief little show and tell, not an entire tour. You returned to the table where you left your drone and shut down the app. You packed up your Redwing, it felt lighter but you were sure you were just imagining things as your head spun. You looked down at the bold signature across the shell and knotted the drawstring above its nose.

“Sorry, I…” you took your bag from the table, “I hate to bother but is there a bathroom I can use.”

“Oh yeah, just head back up the stairs, left of the elevators,” Sam pointed above, “we’ll wait here, there’s one last thing I wanna show you.”

“Okay, I’ll be right back,” you headed for the stairs and latched onto the railing before you could trip upwards.

You bumbled up the stairs and after a brief moment of blankness, you found your way to the bathroom. You quickly slipped into the stall and spent a minute at the mirror after washing your hands to get your head straight. It felt like a dream, or worse, a joke.

You headed back out and Sam was waiting just by the elevators to your surprise. You pursed your lips and glanced around, “where’s Reese?”

“Oh, yeah, uh, he left,” he said as he shoved his hand in his pocket, “said he wasn’t feeling it.”

“Really?” you shrunk, just a little, “erm… that’s too bad.”

“Yeah, kinda weird, I don’t think I’ve ever just ditched a girlfriend in the middle of the city,” he said.

“Girlfriend? Well… it’s… it’s early,” you rubbed the back of your neck, “I hope he’s okay.”

“Damn, I hope he didn’t ruin it, I still wanted to show you the shield,” he intoned, “but if you’re not feeling up to it--”

“No, no, I’m here, that would be awesome,” you forced a smile. 

Had you done something wrong? Was it rude to invite Reese and have all this rubbed in his face? You thought he’d feel worse if you didn’t invite him. Your doubts flurried in your head as you stepped onto the elevator with Sam, chewing your cheek as you tried not to show your disappointment.

You were brought back to the present as the metal doors opened and Sam nudged you as you stared right through the open space. You stepped out ahead of him and he caught up and walked beside you as he explained what was hidden in every room; mostly offices and training gyms.

He unlocked a door at the far curve of the circular hallway and jiggled until it opened. He pushed it open and the lights flicked on automatically.

“Bucky,” he grumbled, “he almost took the handle right off… so now I gotta fight it.”

“Oh,” you entered as he beckoned you inside and you looked around the spacious office.

“You know, there’s lots of paperwork when you take out a whole bridge, even if it is an accident,” he laughed, “and it gives me a place to show this off.”

He went to the wall where the shield was held on small metal hooks and slid it out easily. The vibranium sung in the air as he turned to you and held it out. 

“You wanna?” he asked.

“Sure…” you murmured as he turned it around and held it so you could hook your arm through the straps. He let it go and stood back to look you over.

“It suits you,” he said, “got your own Redwing and you hold that like a real champ. Maybe it’s time I step aside.”

You laughed nervously and shook your head. You peeked down at the metal and lifted and angled around as you admired the smooth curve. 

“Thanks,” you offered it back to him and he took it with one hand, “for everything.”

“You’re taking the job, right?” he prodded, “it’s perfect.”

“Mmm, well, I got a job--”

“Better than here? Better than suiting up the Cap?” he chided.

You bent your ankle under you and swayed on your feet. It was a great opportunity and way better than your desk job. It just felt like you didn’t deserve it.

“I need an answer. Greta doesn’t like indecision,” he said.

“O-okay, okay,” you surrendered, “I… if I said no, I’d feel even worse.”

“You won’t regret it, promise,” he said, “if you do, Redwing is yours. The real one.”

“No, no, I’m…” you rocked as you gripped the straps of your knapsack, “I’m sure I won’t.”

🌠

Your two weeks notice rolled by. Your boss was less than pleased by the sudden departure but you didn’t care much as you wouldn’t have to deal with him for much longer. You wrapped up your last day with your replacement and left feeling free, though the anxiety of your job loomed on the other side of the weekend.

In those weeks since your visit to the SWORD facility, you hadn’t heard much from Reese. That night when you messaged him to make sure he was okay, he didn’t say much more than ‘just tired’. After that, he was always offline when you signed onto the server and all your co-op requests were declined. You were ready to give up. 

Oh well, it was an online thing anyway, you were stupid to think it could work out.

But you were not entirely isolated. To your surprise, you got several messages from Sam, you still couldn’t help but think of him as Captain America and feel like you had nothing interesting to say to a hero. When he found out you liked to game, he even joined you for a session on headset but again, you were hyper focused and quiet. You were flattered that he was trying to make you feel welcome, that he even bothered to get you a job, but it all felt so above you.

When you got home that night, you logged in and sent a request to Reese, just one last attempt. He didn’t even respond, even after fifteen minutes of waiting. You shut down your PC and grabbed your switch instead. You changed as the system updated your Animal Crossing and flopped onto your bed.

You laid across the mattress, one leg over the edge and the other bent. You ran through, planting, fishing, and selling as you tried not to think too much. You’d done enough of that lately. You zoned out as your eyes narrowed at the small screen but in your peripheral, you felt a shadow move. You shrugged it off as the sunlight playing through the curtains and rolled onto your side to ignore it.

You kept on, ready to log out as you didn’t want to spend another Nook Ticket to go to and island and get nothing but flowers. You heard a subtle whirring and glanced over at your computer. It was sleeping and it was never that loud. You noticed that light shift again and turned. There was nothing. Nothing but your dresser and the signed drone, just as you left it.

You squinted and turned off your Switch. You went out to the front room to drop it back in the dock. You stretched and grabbed your phone from your purse to put in an order for some take-out. You stopped as you noticed Sam’s unanswered messages.

‘Whatcha doin’ tonite?’ and several that assumed you must be busy.

‘Sorry, got caught up gaming,’ you replied guiltily. 

Your phone shook before you could close out of the chat and you answered as Sam’s name flashed across the top. 

“Hello?” you squeaked.

“Hey, hope I’m not buggin’ you but I thought-- stop, Jesus Christ, sorry, we’re on our way to dinner and we hoped you might join us.”

“We?” you echoed.

“Oh, ha, yeah me and Bucky, Greta, and some of the techs. Not too many of us but you’re more than welcome,” he said, “since you start on Monday, it will be good to get to know some people.”

“Y-yeah, for sure,” you answered. It felt more an obligation than an invite. You didn’t want to come across snobbish or lazy even if you’d rather eat fried noodles and watch some trash reality TV.

“Great! I’ll send you the address,” he growled and hissed under his breath, “sorry, again, I’m just dealing with this-- I’ll see you there. Save ya a seat.”

He hung up abruptly and you stood dumbfounded staring at your jacket. You dropped your phone back into your purse and headed back to your room. You had to find something to wear that didn’t seem like you were trying too hard or not trying enough.

As you entered, that same whirring floated through the air and suddenly stopped. You looked around confused; not a fly, not your PC acting up, nothing. You grimaced at the poster with the star emblem across it and went to your dresser to pick out an outfit. It was probably the neighbour fucking around. Apartment living was rarely peaceful.

🌠

The restaurant was bustling as you were met by the hostess at the door. You told her you were there to join the party from SWORD. She showed you to the table and Sam saw you above the din and waved to you then shoved Bucky over on the cushioned bench. 

“Right here,” he pointed as he waved you over and stepped aside to let you past. You sidled along and sat, apologizing to Bucky as he rolled his eyes, “not too late.”

You gave your drink order as a waiter came by and shrugged out of your jacket, letting it bunch up around your back. Sam offered his menu and introduced the people you didn’t know at the table; alongside Bucky and Greta, were Xan and Wyatt. You said hello and opted for the fiesta salad as you set aside the menu.

“Are you excited?” Sam asked.

“For what?” Bucky huffed, “she’s gotta put up with you.”

“Hey,” Sam took the lemon off the rim of his glass and tossed it at Bucky, “he lightens up… sometimes.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Bucky grumbled but you could hear the humour in his voice. 

You sank into the background as the night went on. You spoke up when you were called on but felt it hard to assert yourself, especially with someone as outspoken as Sam beside you. Still, he made sure to make you feel included when you started to feel forgotten. For that you were grateful and he was right, it made you feel a little less anxious about your first day.

As you came out onto the sidewalk, your wallet painfully lighter, you bid goodbye to everyone but Sam hung around. You clutched your purse and peered down the street.

“Thanks for inviting me,” you said.

“Ah, you know what, I shoulda asked that guy, Reese? How’s it going with him? He your boyfriend yet?”

“Ha, no,” you sucked in your lip and took a deep breath, “I don’t even think we’re friends anymore.”

“Oh no, what happened?” he asked.

“I dunno,” you said wistfully, “but it is what it is.”

“He’s missin’ out. You’re a cool girl,” he said, “building drones for fun. Kinda why I had to snag you, you know? Someone with your skills, that’s dangerous.”

“Dangerous?” you chortled, “no.”

“Well,” he checked his phone, “how are you getting home?”

“I’ll just take the train,” you said, “my place is only about a ten minute ride from here.”

“You sure? I can give you a ride,” he said.

“Nah, really, you’ve done… more than enough.”

“Alright, well, see you Monday?”

“Monday?” you wondered.

“I’ll pop in before I head out,” he said, “got a mission so I might not be around more than that.”

“Okay, Monday,” you confirmed, “see ya.”

🌠

Monday was a whirlwind. It started on a high as Sam suited up and showed off his wings before he headed up to the jet pad. Greta muttered that she was happy he’d be out of your way before she went through the task of getting you acquainted not only with the tech but with their workplace rituals. It was a lot to take in but you did your best to absorb every word and second.

When you got home, you had a folder full of notes and spent too long going over them before you remembered the groan in your stomach. You ate a lazy super of Kraft Dinner and lazed across your bed doing nothing but watching Youtube tutorials on your tablet. You fell asleep early and woke to your alarm and a dead tablet.

You got up, got dressed, ran out, and did it all again. The first week dragged by and yet it felt like you didn’t have enough time. On Friday, you got home and fell across the couch in your work clothes. You held your phone above you and scrolled dozily through your feed.

A dot popped up and you flicked over to your notifications. The selfie you posted on your first day at the lab with Sam in his suit had lots of hearts but your first comment was less than pleasant. Beside Reese’s icon was all caps: MUST BE EASY SLEEPING YOUR WAY INTO A JOB!

Your heart pattered and you sat up. You deleted the comment but another soon appeared; several as you kept deleting and finally blocked him. ‘Slut, whore, dumb bitch…’ it was the last thing you expected from him.

You opened Discord and clicked on his chat. ‘What’s going on? Why are you doing this?’

The text flicked across the bottom that Reese was typing but he stopped and you sat there for what felt like forever before his response popped up.

‘I can’t believe you brought me all the way there to rub my face in all that shit. And for what? You should’ve just told me I had no chance and I woulda left you alone. If you wanna fuck Sam Wilson, do it, but don’t chain me along like your little bitch boy. Get fucked slut.’

You flinched as you read it and re-read it. You typed shakily as your eyes watered. ‘I’m not fucking Sam and I wouldn’t. I brought you there because I wanted to and thought you would like it. I didn’t know you felt so strongly about it. But I see what you think of me so I only wish you the best and hope you find peace.’

You sent the message but just as quickly, you were blocked from sending any more. You tossed your phone and fell back against the couch. That must have been why he took off but you couldn’t figure out how he thought you of all people were sleeping with Sam Wilson. Really? He was just another incel after all.

You phone jangled with your annoying ringtone and you grabbed it, expecting to be insulted by Reese again but it was Sam calling. You really weren’t in the mood to talk with him. You just wanted to be left alone. But you couldn’t just ignore Captain America.

“Hello?” you answered.

“Hey, I just got back in town. Whatcha doing?” you could hear the wind in the speaker.

“Just got home. I’m exhausted. Probably gonna just nap.”

“You okay?” he asked after a moment.

“Fine,” you said dully.

“Don’t sound fine,” he said, “what’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” you insisted.

“Oh, so it’s not what that boy said on your photo?”

“You saw that?”

“You tagged me, remember?”

“Oh, yeah, no, it’s…”

“Shit, don’t listen to him. He’s just a boy, he blew his chance and he’s bitter about it,” he said, “how about I come over, make sure you’re really okay?”

“No, I don’t think--”

“Ah, come on, don’t make me worry all night about you,” he chided.

“Sam, you really--” There was a knock at the window and you froze. “Sam?”

The line clicked and you heard the tapping again. You lowered your phone and went to the window. Outside, geared up in his wings and suit, Sam hovered before the glass. You blinked and he rapped again. You snapped out of your shock and unlocked the window and slid it up.

“What are you doing?” you asked, “wait? How do you know where I live?”

He grabbed onto the frame and hooked his leg through as he retracted his wings. He bent under and sat half-in and half-out of the window, “forgive me? I did a bit of snooping in HR.”

“I told you not to come. I really don’t feel up to-- It’s really weird that you’re here,” you sat as he ducked pulled his other leg through and stood, “Sam, I think you should go.”

“You shouldn’t be alone, especially after that moron sending you that shit,” he said coolly as he took off his tinted goggles.

“Well, I want to be alone, so you should--”

“I mean, I haven’t even fucked you yet and he’s jealous,” he snickered, “so I guess we should give him a real reason.”

“What are you talking about? That’s… gross. You should go--”

“Come on, girl, you think this was really about a drone,” he tossed his goggles down and set his shield on the chair as he strode around the room, “convenience. I want you close.”

“I don’t--” you looked down at your phone, “get out, Sam.”

The tone of your finger pressing ‘9’ sounded and he spun quickly to face you. He stormed over to you before you could hit ‘1’ and ripped it from your grasp. 

“You’re gonna call the cops and say what? I’m Captain America,” he snarled, “but you can just call me Cap.”

He winked and threw your phone out the window smoothly. You gasped as he chuckled and lifted his wings off his back. He leaned them against the wall and stretched out his shoulders. He looked around as he twisted his tongue between his teeth.

“I like this, looks cozy,” he toed the side of the couch with his boot, “look better with you on it.”

You watched him stroll around the coffee table as he unzipped the collar of his suit. The scene was like some tainted nightmare. Maybe you’d fallen asleep. You were so tired you must have just passed out but you weren’t waking up.

You spun around and ran into the small hallway that led to your door. You were caught from behind, pulled back by the nape of your blazer as Sam tutted. His arm went around your waist and he lifted you off your feet. He turned and carried you back into the front room. You kicked and writhed as his strength enwrapped you.

“Please, please,” you begged, “I… I don’t understand. This isn’t-- this isn’t what I wanted. I didn’t--”

“Baby girl,” he cooed as he brought you close to the couch, “be good and listen to your Captain. Now stop this.”

“No, no,” you gulped at air as the panic rose in you, “I never-- please, you don’t have to do this--”

“You gotta do what I say,” he snapped and flung you onto the couch, “I don’t want to make you.”

You looked at him as you trembled in fear and disbelief. This couldn’t be. He was Sam Wilson, the Captain America; he was a nice guy.

“You have one minute to get naked,” he said and you just gaped at him, “you gonna make me repeat myself?”

Your throat tightened as his dark eyes bore into you. His hand balled to a fist and finally you found an ounce of strength. You pushed your legs over the edge of the couch and slipped out of your blazer. You stood carefully and watched him cautiously. You had to look away as your hands quivered over the buttons of your blouse.

You turned and folded your shirt over your blazer. You could hear him behind you as you unbuttoned your pants and pushed them down your legs. The question of what you were doing flitted through your head but the fear pulsed through you and took over.

“Ah,” he sighed and you peeked back as he freed himself of the top half of his stealth suit.

You turned back and hesitated. You knew there was more, you knew what he wanted, but your body locked up as your fingers curled and your insides knotted.

“Let me get that,” he came close and his fingers tickled along your shoulder blades and he unhooked your bra, “hmmm,” he let go and the cups fell off your chest, “almost there, baby.”

He stepped back and you shuddered. You dropped your bra and hooked your fingers under your panties. You wiggled them down a little at the time and heard the intake of breath as you pulled them down entirely. You stood still, unable to move, too mortified to face him.

“Come on, baby,” he said, “get comfortable.”

You inhaled and turned slowly. You went to the couch as he shed his undershirt and added it to the pile atop his shield. He looked at you and tilted his head as he licked his bottom lip. He snarled as he took in the sight of you and pointed you to the couch.

You sat and hugged yourself as he stripped off his pants along with his boxers in a single swipe. You flicked your eyes away as you glimpsed his hard dick as he stood straight and you stared at the open window. You smushed your lips together in horror and held in the tide of tears.

He came closer and you tried to tune out the room. This couldn’t happen. It just couldn’t. You felt his hands on your knees and he urged your legs apart. You resisted for a moment then let him guide your limbs. It would be over sooner if you just let it happen.

He knelt on the floor as his hands kneaded along your thighs and framed your vee as he leaned over your lap. You winced and he kept your legs from closing as he pushed his body between them. His thumb grazed your folds and he pushed between them. You let out a hushed gasp as he swirled around your clit.

“See, it’s not so bad to be good, is it, baby?” he purred, “you’re wet already.”

He slid his thumb up and down and spread the wetness along your cunt. You were shocked and humiliated by your obvious arousal. You shouldn’t be turned on by this. Your body was not listening to your mind, it was obeying his touch.

“Mmm,” he hummed as he turned his hand and poked along your entrance with one finger. 

He pushed inside and you clenched around his intrusion. He pulled in and out and added another finger. Your nails clawed at the cushion and you pressed back into the couch. He kept his thumb on your clit as he worked his fingers inside of you and the tension clustered between his fingertips.

“Oh, baby, listen to you,” he bet forward and replaced his thumb with his tongue as he kept fingering you.

You turned your face up to the ceiling and squeezed your eyes shut. You bit your lip as the ripples radiated from your core and your breath hitched. His hand moved faster as he suckled at your bud and his free hand groped your chest blindly. You slapped your hand over your mouth as you came, your back arching as you pushed into him.

He teased you through your climax and pulled away only as you quaked and whined at his unyielding touch. He drew his fingers out of you and sat back to lick them clean. You peeked down at him and quickly away as his eyes blazed back at you.

“Up,” he stood and stroked himself shamelessly as he strode around the coffee table, “put your hands on there.”

You rose unsteadily, legs shaking beneath you as your entire being felt like jelly. You went to him and turned your back to him. You bent over and he grabbed your ass and squeezed with a growl. You gripped the table and hung your head as the cool air grazed your cunt.

He shoved his hand between your legs and rubbed you again. He stepped closer and bent his knees as he lined himself up with your entrance, sliding in between his fingers as he spread you wide. You choked as his tip poked inside and he eased himself inch by inch into you. He held your hip as he reached his limit and groaned.

“Baby, oh god damn,” he thrust so that your whole body jerked. It was painfully delightful. Of the few men you’d been with, he was the biggest, or at least the thickest.

He rocked slowly and a moan escaped your lips. Despite the torturous pressure of his intrusion, you could ignore the pleasure laced in the pain. His hand brushed up your as and along your back. He bent over you as his fingers curled over your shoulder and he pressed his body to yours as he fucked you.

You kept your head down as you tried to measure your breaths and the pathetic noises rising from you. He pushed his hand down your stomach and between your legs again to play with your clit. He moved his legs against yours and forced them together so your cunt hugged him even tighter. He grunted and you whimpered as his fingers added to the new pressure.

He sped up so that the table scraped against the floor but kept you up with one arm around you. He rutted into you wildly as his sultry voice filled your chest and his heat consumed you. You cried out as another orgasm swept through you and your cunt quivered around him desperately.

He pulled you up suddenly so you stood on your toes. He tilted into you as he brought his arms up around yours and tined his fingers behind your head. His flesh slapped yours loudly and you opened your eyes as you heard a familiar whirring. The drone flew before you, the signature on its shell, but a light blinking at its nose. Yours didn’t have a light.

“What--”

“Ah, yeah,” he rasped through rampant breaths, “looks like they got mixed up.”

“Huh--” you sucked in your breath as he thrust harder and deeper.

“I didn’t mind, he helped me keep an eye on you,” he said as he nuzzled you above his hands, “you look so cute in your little tee shirts.”

You groaned and leaned your head against him as another rush of fear was met with unwanted bliss. You murmured senselessly as he picked up his pace and the drone came closer. He purred as you felt his muscles tighten.

“Don’t worry,” he puffed, “I’ll make sure the boy knows he was right.”

He buried himself in you, nearly taking you off your feet, and twitched as he emptied himself into you. He rocked his hips subtly as he rode out his climax and stilled you as his voice gristled to rampant pants. His arms fell to embrace you and he kept you flush to him as he lingered inside.

“Or I can keep that little video to myself…” he brought his hand up to cradle your chin and poked his finger along your lower lip, “it’s all up to you, baby.”

[cinnaminsvga]

🌸 social media au where y/n posts a fake boyfriend application on twitter as a dare but ends up seeking something real in the long run (aka how to fall in love the zillennial way) 🌸

A/N: Well, this update kicked me in the proverbial nuts! All I gotta say is... good luck to my Yoongi stans out there... You’re kinda gonna need it ;-; || W.C. 2.2K

prev // part 31 of ? // next masterlist here.

[updates every 6PM PST]

August 22, 2020 — 9:39PM

When you exit the taxi, the cold night air causes goosebumps to form across your arms. You pay the driver without looking behind you, shutting the door with the back of your foot as you take in the familiar surroundings. You’ve been to this apartment complex more times than you can count; you’ve crashed on your friends’ couch so many times that it’s become a second bed to you at this point, especially with how often all five of you love to drink the night away. In many ways, this place has become a safe haven for you.

Normally, you would let yourself into their apartment without needing to knock or text in advance. After many years of coming over, you even have your own set of keys, graciously gifted to you by Park Jimin after you found yourself locked out of your own home for the fifth time in one week after Jungkook kept taking your keys by accident. They don’t even answer the door when you knock anymore; they always assume you’ll just barrel in whenever you please, usually with takeout bags and caffeine-laden drinks in hand for impromptu study sessions or video game nights.

But tonight is not one of those nights. This time, Min Yoongi stands waiting for you by the entrance, sitting on the concrete steps in his worn gray hoodie and sweatpants. He looks cold, judging from his pink nose and shivering body, like he’s been waiting outside for at least a few minutes. His dark, inky hair is standing up in all directions, a sign that he must have just woken up from a nap before coming down to meet you. He notices your arrival mid-yawn, his eyebrows shooting up comically as he scrambles to his feet. He rushes towards you, stopping just before the gate that separates the two of you.

“Yoongi,” you breathe out, puffs of white air leaving your lips and dissipating into the night sky. The sight of him alone makes your eyes burn with unshed tears, just aching to fall. He notices immediately, judging by the way his brow crumples with worry.

In an instant, he rips the gate open, giving you no opportunity to say anything else before he pulls you into a bear hug. You gasp in surprise, inhaling sharply and getting a whiff of a scent that you can only describe as wholly Yoongi. It’s comforting, clean, and cozy: everything that encapsulates Yoongi’s whole being.

“I’m sorry,” you say. You don’t know what you’re apologizing for exactly—for interrupting his evening? For making him wait in the cold? For shedding tears on his clothes? For asking for comfort when you didn’t deserve it? Your mind is too tired to wonder which of these things weighs the heaviest amongst your mistakes.

Yoongi hushes you softly, his hand carding through your hair as he rocks you slowly. He presses your face closer to his chest, not chastising you for crying like you thought he would. He only whispers gentle nothings into your ears, the words meaning nothing and everything all at once. “It’s okay,” he repeats over and over again. He says them until the words start to blur, until they make a home inside your heart. Until you almost believe them.

Almost.

You do not know how long it takes for you to run out of tears, how long you stand in silence. All you know is that your frozen hands have grown numb around the straps of your overnight bag, so much so that it takes a second for Yoongi to unfurl your fingers and take the bag away from you. He reaches for your hand with his free one, gently leading up to the apartment without another word.

The world feels cold and still, your muffled footsteps on the carpeted floor the only sounds that keep you grounded to reality. The doors of neighboring apartments start to shift and blur, causing the shadows on the wall to morph like ghosts from the corner of your eye. Yoongi’s apartment is dark when you both enter, no signs of his other two roommates being home even this late at night.

“Jimin left to go to a PC bang. Taehyung hasn’t returned home since I kicked him out this afternoon,” Yoongi says, answering your unspoken question. You turn your head towards him in surprise, not expecting the latter part of his statement.

“You kicked him out? Why?”

“It’s… complicated,” he sighs, aggravated. He gazes at you wearily, and it’s only then that you notice the deep bags lining his eyes like purple moons. The moonlight streaming from their open window casts shadows upon his face, emphasizing the sunkenness of his cheeks. The guilt in your throat builds up, tenfold. You’re disturbing him with your silly little love problems, aren’t you? He already has so much work to do and you’re here, crying over something that you should have known ages ago. You’re acting childish. Coming here was a mistake.

“Don’t give me that look,” Yoongi interrupts your thoughts, squeezing your hand. You had almost forgotten he was still holding you, but the reminder tethers you. His touch lets you know that you are not alone, that he is there because he wants to be. “I know you’re worrying again. You’re not a nuisance. You’re not a bother. I’m your friend, and I care about you. Will you let me care for you? Just this once?”

Your heart, which has felt heavy in your chest ever since this afternoon, lightens ever so slightly. It allows you to force a little smile on your face, but you doubt its of any use, not with the tear tracks evident on your skin. But it’s a start.

“You can use my bathroom to get changed. Do you need some clothes?” he asks, but you shake your head at his offer. As much as you enjoyed wearing his comfortable sweaters, you did still have some clothes that you hadn’t worn in Ilsan. It almost pains you to see them still unworn in your bag, but that’s just you being ridiculous, isn’t it? You chose to leave, after all. He had told you it was the right thing to do, and at the time, you thought he was right.

You shuffle into Yoongi’s bathroom, staring at your reflection with red eyes and teeth-worn lips. Your reflection stares back, undeterred. You find no answers to your misery, so you stop looking and let all your thoughts flow down the drain. Being empty, after all, is better.

You go about your nightly routine with robotic grace, scrubbing and brushing with numbness. No amount of water can wash away the tiredness on your face, and so you give up. You quietly make your way out of the bathroom, peeking inside his bedroom to check if Yoongi had gone back to bed.

Instead, you find him sitting in front of his desk, his laptop closed and phone locked beside him. Trancelike, he stares listlessly at the wall with his fingernails in his mouth, an old habit that he has yet to break, but it only means that he’s deep in thought.

You clear your throat, breaking him from his stupor. “Can I borrow a pillow for the couch?” you ask timidly, the question you really want to ask just barely dangling from the tip of your tongue. Yoongi regards you for a moment, unmoving save for the slow rise and fall of his chest.

“Do you want to be alone?” He answers your question with his own, gaze heavy upon your skin. He asks you that, but you know what he’s truly asking: Do you want to stay with me?

Like always, Yoongi always did have a penchant for knowing the true color of your heart, a skill you sometimes wished he didn’t have. You felt vulnerable around him, but rarely in a bad way. It never felt like he was intruding or meddling; it was always good and warm. To be known without the need to defend yourself.

“No, I don’t want to be alone,” you say, a simple truth. He nods in understanding, standing up from his chair and heads towards his bed, slipping under the rumpled blankets. He stares at you from underneath his covers, his hand patting the empty space beside him with a small smile.

“Then you don’t have to be alone,” he responds, another simple truth. You take the few short steps to reach his bed, climbing onto his bed and placing yourself as close to the edge as possible. Yoongi rolls his eyes, waving his hand haphazardly as he gestures for you to come closer.

“Are you really going to start getting shy with me? After you literally confessed you had a crush on me just an hour ago?” he teases, but his tone is tender. He grins his gummy smile when you cover your face in embarrassment, distracting you long enough to pull you gently towards him.

“I hate you,” you say. You don’t.

“I know,” he replies. He wraps an arm around your waist, pressing a gentle kiss to the top of your head. “Do you want to talk?”

Your breathing grows shaky, your hands automatically grabbing fistfuls of his hoodie as you force yourself not to cry again. The simple truth is this: you don’t want to talk about it. You don’t want to think, you don’t want to be in pain right now. But you are, and there’s nothing you can do about it. You feel like crawling inside yourself and never coming out again.

So instead, you tell him, “I had a good weekend. I really did.”

Yoongi hums sadly. “I know.”

“It was really good. I had so much fun with Namjoon,” you say. You sniffle a bit, but the tears don’t fall.

“I know.”

“Meeting his parents, going around town, eating everything I could ever want… It felt so good to just be with someone without wondering if they liked me back or not, without second-guessing every little thing. Because just being together was… enough. It didn’t matter that it was fake because it still felt real in a weird way. I didn’t have to pretend or hide my emotions around him.”

“I know.”

“But even then, I couldn’t help but think,” your breath hitches, and you clench your eyes shut until you see stars behind your eyelids. “I couldn’t help but think… that this weekend would end badly, one way or another. And maybe I was just destined to have every good thing in my life snatched away.”

“I know you think that, even though it’s not true,” Yoongi says. He holds you tighter, tucking your hair behind your ears.

“Even then, why is it every time I’m just beginning to think that I can be happy, something always comes along the way to mess it all up? I was perfectly fine before all of this happened. Everything just went to shit the moment I started wanting more, when I started becoming selfish,” you say. You tilt your head upwards, forcing yourself to look at Yoongi and his sad eyes. “Everyone keeps telling me that I deserve to be happy, that I deserve to love myself. But is it bad that I want someone to love me too? Is it bad that my happiness lies with that desire?”

But for once, Yoongi doesn’t have a straight answer. He carefully loosens your grip around his hoodie, clasping your hands in his own just like before. He rubs circles into the back of your hand, before placing them over his heart. “Do you feel that?” he asks.

You nod your head, not fully understanding.

“This is a heart that loves you,” he explains, voice low but honest.

“But that’s… that’s not the same as…” you trail off. It’s not the same as Jungkook. Or Namjoon. Or…

He continues, “In the PC bang across the street, there is a heart that loves you. Somewhere else in Seoul, there are two hearts that love you. In Ilsan, there is another heart that loves you. But even then, I know it’s not quite the way you want it.”

“It’s because I’m selfish,” you say, ashamed.

“It’s because you know you’re allowed to want more,” he corrects kindly, wiping away a stray tear. “It’s not always a bad thing, you know.”

You laugh, the sound warbled even to your own ears. “I know,” you say. You watch as Yoongi’s eyes begin to droop, the fatigue from today weighing heavily on him. You feel as though you should be the same, but sleep evades you that night. “You know, if I wasn’t already emotionally fucked up right now, you could’ve made me fall in love with you again tonight.”

Yoongi closes his eyes, a small smile on his lips. “Is it working?” he mutters, words slurring slightly as he begins to drift off.

You answer him, but it falls on deaf ears. He falls asleep with you still in his arms, keeping you safe. It’s his presence that gives you the courage to respond to the texts you receive later that night, filled with one last burst of hope that maybe, just maybe, you could find happiness elsewhere.

[somethinglacking]

Shooting For Stars: Chapter 1

Summary: 

Hyuna Lee just started college, and while procrastinating decided to give a popular MMO called LOLOL a try. Here she will meet new friends, battle monsters, part takes in epic quests, and potentially find love!

Most of this will take place in LOLOL at the beginning.

This takes place a year/ year and a half after Seven's good end, and the secret endings. Yoosung x OC

**Update's once a week**

Smut in later chapters, of course ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Hyuna groaned as she sat staring at her computer. Her assignment was to draw something that inspires you, some sort of introductory assignment for the Professor to get to know her small class of Art Student Misfits. Nothing seemed to inspire her as of late, and no matter what she did manage to sketch out onto screen seemed to call her out: The Un-Inspired Art Student with no muse or motivation. Her fingers ran the length of her caramel brown locks, and her nails lightly scratched her scalp trying to ease her growing frustrations. Hazel glared at the taunting screen before her, daring it to keep on challenging her. 

After what seemed like an eternity, the artist sighed in defeat. Nothing was coming to her, and the lines she had managed to get down didn’t seem to be coming together as anything. Annoyed with herself and lack of a muse, she set her tablet to the side and opened her social media. Not much was going on, and she didn’t really have any friends anymore. Her sister posted a photo of her and her little class of second graders. They were cute and her sister looked happy. Smiling at the photo she offered it a thumbs up. 

When she was done scrolling her newsfeed she opened boogle. Bored she searched for fun things to do on the internet. The search results varied in interest, but an ad on the web page she was on showed a popular MMO and a free trial. Curious she clicked it and went to the homepage of the game. She read of the spec’s and nodded noting it would work on her pc. She clicked the download icon and downloaded it. 

Hazel eyes read every bit of detail the game had to offer her as it booted up the character creator. Feeling a little nervous, having never played an MMO before and unsure if she’d actually like being in contact with actual people. Logically she knew she could just play solo and ignore the events, or even delete her entire account after the free trial ran out and simply say she tried it. Biting a plump bottom lip she was greeted with page after several final updates. 

First, she selected her gender debating on being a boy, but ultimately settled for female solely because she knew their armor would be cuter the further she got into the game. She clicked through the races and settled on an elf. She smiled customizing the hairstyle and making the hair a lovely hue of blue. The eyes matched her avatar's hair. Hyuna chooses the least appalling beginner to wear praying she would be able to get something that wasn’t such an eyesore to wear easily. Overall the artist was pleased with the look of her new online persona and moved onto the next page.

Here she had to choose a username. Chewing on her lip she knew she go to Sapphire would be already taken in such a massive game, but gave it a go anyway. Slightly disappointed when it was already taken she contemplated what to use. She typed in several weird spelling of the name before Sapfyre worked. Making a surprised and pleased noise, she made haste to click the arrow button that would take her into the game. 

The screen loaded and she took her time going through the tutorial and getting the hang of the world, and command functions. Hyuna watched as her pretty avatar moved about doing little missions and basically busy work with prompt boxes explaining the gameplay.

 Soon enough she had completed her ‘training’ and was warped to a busy square full of other players. Hyuna blushed feeling slightly overwhelmed by the sheer number of avatars on the screen. She had picked one of the busier servers, but she hadn’t imagined it’d be this popular. Chewing her lip she ran around getting used to the shops and how the currency worked. Hazel eyes scanned the screen and took notice of where the world chat was, besides it was a little icon that lights up red with a little 1 beside it. Curious she clicked it and noticed it was the private messaging system. 

SupermanYoosung★: Hey you look lost ^^ SupermanYoosung★: You must be new! SupermanYoosung★: If you want help doing some quest or anything let me know. Hyuna tapped the pads of her fingers against her lips reading the message over and over again honestly wanting to take them up on their offer. Yet, she also felt rather shy about it too, it was strange. It wasn’t like it was a real interaction with someone, just two gamer bros going on a digital epic quest, so to speak. That being said, the artist wasn’t really a people person. Taking a moment to think about the other player's offer she opened the tab at the top that showed the servers rankings and who was online at the moment. Hazel went wide as she stared at the first couple name’s noticing the friendly strangers rank. They where rank number 2, basically LOLOL royalty. Hyuna let out a girlish giggle in disbelief. She clicked back onto her private messages and re-read the person’s name. It was for sure rank #2 SupermanYoosung. Before her brain could catch up to her fingers the typed with speed across her keyboard. 

Sapfyre: Oh wow! Sapfyre: I just check up on you, and it says your rank #2 ^^; Sapfyre: You must have better things to do than help a little noob like myself!

Before she knew it an impressive tank build avatar ran towards her. Hyuna bumped her forehead lightly with her fist watching as he positioned himself next to her Hobo of an Elf avatar. What a contrast that was to behold. However, if he did have time to waste with her, she almost wanted to beg him to help her get something more suitable for her avatar to wear. Something less beggar and painstakingly noob. 

SupermanYoosung★: Hahaha Yup! That’s me, I’m pretty awesome, huh? 

Hyuna couldn’t help but roll her eyes as a smile played at the edge of her mouth.

SupermanYoosung★: I’m also pretty free at the moment. I have no issue bussing you through some dungeons and helping you get some decent equipment.  SupermanYoosung★: Plus once you get passed level 20 you can join guilds! SupermanYoosung★: If you want, I can invite you to mine, haha!

This person seemed pretty nice and welcoming, Hyuna mused smiling to herself. She didn’t want to get his hopes up, nonetheless. Still unsure if she wanted to pay for the month to month subscription, or would even bother logging in again once she decided she had procrastinated enough for the evening and got back to her assignment. Best to play it coy. 

Sapfyre: Well alright then!  Sapfyre: Lolol can you add me to the party, I have absolutely no idea what I am doing  SupermanYoosung★: Oh! Sure thing!

The notification of a party invitation popped up. Hyuna clicked it and accepted. Soon there was an Icon over the two opposing in style avatars linking them together. 

Sapfyre: Wow they really go out and show you who you're with, huh? Sapfyre: We should get out of the public eye, haha… Someone like you hanging out with a LOLOL hobo can’t be good for the reputation! ^^ SupermanYoosung★: lol naw, it’s fine, I’m buying potions. I’ve got a feeling you’re gonna need them at the start ^^ SupermanYoosung★: I know just the Dungeon that shares exp! It’s pretty high rank, but I can handle the monsters myself. You can just sit back and enjoy the show! Cheer for me too! Sapfyre: I might be a noob, but I do freelance as a cheerleader on the side Sapfyre: It’s not much, but it’s honest work~ Sapfyre: Go! Yoosung! GO!  SupermanYoosung★: Haha! I didn’t expect you to actually cheer for me >_< SupermanYoosung★: Now I definitely have to help you get to at least level 20!

Hyuna’s character automatically followed the party leader’s avatar about the busy town square. There was an option to turn it off, but she didn’t feel like it. It was fun watching the two of them run around side by side as this Yoosung got the supplies she would most likely need to brave the dungeon. The artist clicked on her avatar and gasped in surprise. 

Sapfyre: There are little social action commands! Sapfyre: Ooooh~ 

She made her Elf do a little tribal type dance around Yoosung. She giggled as he made his brolly tank dance with her in the middle of the square. That was cute! 

SupermanYoosung★: Hahaha >_< SupermanYoosung★: They do! And some of the actions are special to race, gender, and class. SupermanYoosung★: Oh! You get to pick a class at level 10 SupermanYoosung★: Any ideas on a build you want to make? Sapfyre: Thank you for the dance Monsieur~ Sapfyre: I dunno what build to make??? Sapfyre: I guess I want something ranged so I can hang back. 

A box popped up on the screen declaring that SupermanYoosung would like to item share with her. Hyuna clicked yes and his inventory opened along with her own. She flushed when she saw all the cool things he was carrying and how she only held a level 2 stick from one of her tutorial missions at the beginning. She watched as Yoosung threw 99 potions, and 99 mana restore potions at her along with a level 2 wooden helm. She giggled equipping it to her Elf. 

Sapfyre: Now my look is finally complete. What a sexy helm! SupermanYoosung★: lololol, sooo sexy~ SupermanYoosung★: Back on the topic of builds SupermanYoosung★: Ever consider being a support healer? SupermanYoosung★: It’s sooo hard to find a decent one D:

Sapfyre: I dunno if I’d make a good support ^^; Sapfyre: If they are hard to find there must be a reason right?

SupermanYoosung★: They just don’t know how to build themselves, and/or try to fight when the tanks have the situation covered and die, SupermanYoosung★: I never built a healer before, but I do know a few things. I could help you if you want?

Sapfyre: Welllllllll Sapfyre: Sure why not~~! Sapfyre: Since you’re helping me out so much already, I don’t mind trying to be a healer for you.

SupermanYoosung★: Thank you! SupermanYoosung★: Rest of the guild will be so jealous when I show off my own personal little healer~ haha~

Sapfyre: >_< lololol I’m shy~

Hyuna bit her lip re-reading the messages. It almost felt like this guy or girl or whatever they are was flirting with her. They couldn’t possibly know she was a girl. She assumed many male players would make a female avatar, let's be honest, the higher rank armor leaves little to the imagination. She wrote off the interaction as this Yoosung being friendly and excited to help her create a healer support he seemed to need desperately. 

SupermanYoosung★: Haha that’s okay! SupermanYoosung★: Do you have a headset, it’s easier to chat that way while in dungeons.

The artist flushed again at the thought of letting a stranger hear her voice. She could see why it would be more convenient. Seeing as she had never played an online game, and preferred solo JRPG’s or Horror survival-

Sapfyre: I never required a headset before

SupermanYoosung★: It’s okay, it just means we are gonna crawl dungeons a bit slower since we’ll have to type to one another. 

Sapfyre: ^^; I’ll look into investing in one in the future. Sapfyre: I’m on a college student allowance, it’ll have to be a cheap one.

SupermanYoosung★: Haha, I’m a student too. I get what you mean. SupermanYoosung★: No shame in having an off-brand HS since you’re just starting SupermanYoosung★: I’m gonna teleport us to a level 30 dungeon. Keep your guard up

Sapfyre: Sure thing ^^

They were off, the screen turned into a load for a moment before both of them spawned in a dungeon. The artist smiled as she watched the other player navigate the surrounding area. She was careful to fall back when zombie looking monstered spawned and swarmed them. All level 30, which made sense, Yoosung had stated it was a high-rank dungeon. Turns out level grind was a bit of a grind, even for beginners. Luckily it was a shared exp dungeon and since there were only two of them in the party it got split in half. Slowly where minimal communication since she lacked a headset they crawled through the Dungeon. Yoosung was kind enough to allow her to loot the corpses and the treasure chests. 

They had even run into some other players who would say hello to Yoosung via the world chat. They had custom speech bubbles, and Hyuna was interested in obtaining some of her own. It was impressive how immersive this game was. You could build sperate skills like smithing, mining, fishing, cooking, act. It was super customizable. Yoosung had rattled off about how there was an event boss just recently and the cool stuff he got for himself. Hyuna smiled, sometimes even giggling to herself as she read Yoosung’s messages. 

Even though she had gotten some pretty decent armor and weapon’s they couldn’t be equipped before she was level 30. It was probably a power scale to disallow players to equip armor so far above themselves early. Yoosung assured her in a few sessions he would have her beefed up and ready to stand on her own in no time. Hyuna despite herself agreed to meet up tomorrow evening and found herself genuinely enjoying the game. Maybe she was just enjoying Yoosung’s company, who knew. 

Once they finished the dungeon, Yoosung warped them back into the town square and sent her a friend request. Hyuna didn’t even think twice as she accepted it. 

SupermanYoosung★: This way we will get notifications when either of us logs on, and it even shows where we are on the map.  SupermanYoosung★: I’m gonna be on a little while longer, you good?

Hyuna looked at the clock and gasped blinking, unbelieving what she was thinking. Had she really wasted three hours? Was it really 1 am?

Sapfyre: OMFG!!!! It’s 1 am!!! I have an assignment due tomorrow morning! SupermanYoosung★: It’s 1 am for me too, we must be pretty close. Lolol SupermanYoosung★: You should go get the project done SupermanYoosung★: Guess I’ll see you tomorrow~ ^^

Sapfyre: Ya tomorrow! I’ll be off! Sapfyre: Enjoy ruling the online virtual world!

With that Hyuna was quick to log off and sighed to herself. It had only meant to be an hour break, and somehow she got so caught up in it she was looking at either failing her first assignment or not sleeping. Looking at the clock she grabbed her a tablet and the pen and looked at whatever these lines she had drawn were suppose to be. Deciding to delete all the progress she had apparently made, she settled herself in for a long night of drawing her assignment for her 8 am class. 

[enixamyram]

Curious Archer Christmas Chapter 2

  “It's really getting cold.” Robin noted, shivering and tightening the hold she had where she and Alice had looped their arms around one another. “Won't be long before it starts snowing.”

  “A white Christmas! Isn't that what's in all those Christmas stories?” Alice laughed, curling against her side as best as she could. It really was getting cold and she could see her own icy breath frosting in front of her every time she spoke.

  “Most of 'em.” Robin admitted. “Personally I'd rather a hot sunny beach side Christmas!”

  “Maybe next year.” Alice laughed.

  “It's a date.” Robin kissed her cheek.

  Alice grinned and raised an eyebrow at her. “I didn't know you hated snow, though. You always said you missed it in the Enchanted Forest.”

  “Oh I don't hate snow. I love it! And I did miss it a lot when we never had it, but as much as I love the snow, I still hate the cold!” Robin laughed, shivering as if to prove her point. “It's like; I'm fine with the cold so long as we get some snow out of it. But the dry cold or rainy cold is just lousy. There's nothing good about it, if you ask me.”

  “I don't know about that.” Alice said, resting her head on Robin's shoulder. They were quite close in height, so it was a little awkward, doing it while still walking, but somehow Alice managed it in a way that made it look easy. “Cuddling's a pretty fun winter sport.”

  “Okay, you got me there.” Robin grinned, leaning her head against Alice's in return.

  They kept walking through the brisk late morning dew, down the quiet streets of Storybrooke’s town as quickly as they could manage while holding onto one another and tightly bundled in warm layers. It really was a chilly morning and they were both looking forward to tucking themselves back inside, but only after they had made a quick trip to see Zelena.

  Yesterday afternoon, they had received a call from Robin's mother, asking if they wanted to take some of the families old Christmas decorations for their own house. She and Chad had recently bought a new set with them from their old home, but they knew how sentimental Robin could be over these things and thought she might like a few of her childhood ones before they were all thrown out. And she was right. Not only was Robin unwilling to let so many old memories be simply tossed aside, but between their minimum wage jobs, Alice and Robin could barely afford their rent and other basic necessities, let alone a whole new set of Christmas decorations. And this wasn’t even including all the present they still needed to buy everyone. So it was a big relief to be offered everything for free. And Alice was also looking forward to seeing what kind of things Robin grew up with as a child on Christmas.

  As they finally approached the house sitting at the end of one of Storybrooke’s original streets, the picked up speed slightly, never breaking the hold they had on one another’s arms as they did. Even with all their tops, jumpers, jackets and coats that they had pulled on themselves before leaving the house, the two were quickly becoming very blue from the cold air hanging around and noticeably shivered against each other. They were both eager to grab the decorations and get home to their warm waiting house as soon as possible.

  “Mum!” Robin called as they approached the door, knocking hard on the surface before they’d even come to a complete stop. She had a key but was far too cold to waste the time fishing it out of her pocket. “We're here!”

  A few seconds later, the door swung open, revealing the Wicked Witch of the West herself. Zelena was positively glowing, and had been ever since they returned to the United Realms together. But that wasn't surprising. When Zelena had joined the others, she was forced to make a decision and tell Chad the whole truth – all of it – about who she really was. She had confessed and proven her story to him with magic, and was then immediately shunned while he worked through his shock. Zelena had been depressed during the build up to returning home, and had cried often, waiting for him to return to her. At one point, it seemed like he never would and Zelena’s heart ache grew so intense, all her family became seriously worried for her.

  But of course, Chad did come back. He returned to her at the last possible second, declaring that the last few weeks were painful for him but he truly loved Kelly, whether she was Zelena or whatever other name she went under, and he would do anything to make their relationship work. Even if it meant accepting a crazy world of magic and leaving his life in San Francisco behind for a whole new land across the country. It was a romantic spectacle and everyone was relieved when Zelena burst into fresh tears, knowing these were ones of joy.

  Some people were worried he might change his mind once he saw the full world he had agreed to be part of, or when he began missing the old friends and family he was now forced to lie to and see only on the holidays he could travel back to San Francisco. Regina in particular kept an eye on him, as if daring Chad to leave and break her sisters heart. But in the end he surprised everyone, Zelena included. It took some time, but bit by bit, he grew more comfortable with this new life and with the woman he really married. And soon they were almost like a normal couple again, even if, after all this time, Chad was still adjusting to certain aspects of the United Realms.

  “Robin, what took you?!” Zelena laughed, stepping over the threshold and grabbing them. “It's freezing! Get inside, quickly!” She shivered dramatically. “Brrr!”

  “We weren't that long.” Robin grinned. “Be easier if you just poofed us here, you know.”

  “Yeah well, Chad's still a little uncomfortable about me using magic,” Zelena admitted shyly.

  “Oh, I thought he was doing better.” Robin mumbled, glancing around the hallway for the man in question.

  “He is!” Zelena said quickly. “It's just gonna take time before I can fly home on a broomstick again, that’s all.”

  Robin and Alice smiled at her as they wandered down the hall and into the living room, listening to Zelena talk about how her driving was improving at least. They had just stepped into the doorway where they promptly froze on the spot. “Holy hell mum!”

  The whole living room – usually so clean and well kept – was stuffed with an endless arrange of boxes lying side by side and piled atop of one another, filling up any spare the original furniture didn’t. The boxes varied from colours of plain brown, to dark red, to old faded black boxes with shoe and clothes still clinging logos onto them. One even had a picture of an old PC on that Robin remembered her mother buying for her when she started high school, now empty and full of brightly coloured tinsel and tree decorations instead. And that wasn't even including the decorations that seemingly didn't fit inside the boxes and had so been left lying on top of everything else.

  “I thought you said you had a couple of boxes?!” Robin shouted, gaping at everything lying in front of them.

  “Um, I don't think we're going to be able to carry all these by ourselves.” Alice noted.

  “Seriously! I thought you said you had a couple! Like you were actually keeping some for yourself. Why are you getting rid of all of it?” Robin yelped.

  “Well we are keeping the rest.” Zelena shrugged.

  “What rest?!”

  Zelena shrugged again. “A couple of lights.”

  Robin rolled he eyes and shook her head. “Mum... You're something else. How are we supposed to get all this stuff back home? We'll have to make several trips back and forth at least.”

  “Well...” Alice held up a hand. “I could always get us all home.”

  There was a pause. Then: “That's my girl!” Robin beamed. “Why didn’t do we that in the first place?”

  Alice smiled at her but the smile dimmed when she saw Zelena chewing on the inside of her lip, suddenly looking very anxious about the idea. “I mean, we don't have to. We can just carry it like normal.”

  “Oh come on!” Robin protested.

  “No, no you do your thing, Alice.” Zelena said. “I don't want to use magic with Chad but it's not fair to stop others from using theirs. Just... Let me keep him busy so he doesn't accidentally come into it halfway. Okay?”

  “Thanks, mum.” Robin grinned, reaching over to hug her tightly once more. “You're the best!”

  “Yeah, I know.” Zelena said, her smile returning now as some tension left her shoulders. She turned quickly and hugged Alice too. “Come round sometime before Christmas, okay? We can have a big lunch, all four of us.”

  “Will do!”

  With that, Zelena turned and hurried into Chad's study to keep him distracted while Alice turned to the rest of the boxes waiting for her. She rubbed her hands together and took a slow breath in and out. She wasn't very much used to random acts of magic these days. Alice had never been crazy about using it for every little thing despite Robin’s encouragement. And when she did, her magic was mostly used for helping the gardens grow and taking care of the local animals that wandered by... All in all, she was just worried about being a little rusty in regards to transportation magic.

  As if sensing her hesitation, Robin reached over and placed her hand over the top of Alice's shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze and leaning close until Alice could feel her breath on the back of her neck. It was a pleasant feeling and gave Alice all the confidence she needed to go ahead with the spell.

  Closing her hands into temporary fists, Alice forced herself to relax and focused on the warm magic she always felt rolling inside of her. She reached out her hands, unclenching her fists at the same time, and waved towards the multiple boxes lining the walls and filling the floor. Barely a moment later, the whole room was filled with a cloud of white smoke that had an soft yellow shine to parts of it. The smoke stretching out from one corner to the next and coating every box and package. It lasted for just a short second and faded just as quickly as it appeared, the smoke vanishing in a dramatic sweep of sudden wind and taking almost everything along with it.

  “Uh, Alice?”

  Breathing hard from nerves more than effort, Alice glanced up and saw Robin pointing to the now clear and spotless room. Alice looked around but it took her another minute of scanning the area before she finally realised that her magic seemed to have taken all the sofas and chairs along with the boxes.

  “Woops.” Alice blushed.

  “Can you, uh, bring it back?” Robin said, barely managing to hold in her giggles. “I think Chad might notice that much furniture missing.”

  “Yeah, one second!” Alice said, quickly searching for the magic she had used and tracing it in her mind back to where everything was now waiting for them at home. It was an odd feeling, but despite not using her powers for this type of magic often, Alice found it easy none the less.

  A few seconds later, everything had appeared once more in a similar swirl of white and gold smoke. Only it all may have been a little off centre and the girls quickly took some time to push everything around to where it had been originally, working off their memories as best as they could.

  “Okay, that's as good as it gets. Let's go before Chad asks how we did it all so fast.” Robin said, pulling Alice back to the door. “We're off, mum! Thanks again!”

  “You sure you got everything?” Zelena's voice came from the upstairs hallway.

  “Yup! Catch up later!” Robin said, stepping outside and pulling Alice behind her, letting the door slam shut on its own. She’d barely taken a step passed the porch and yet was already shivering once more. “Let's get home. Quickly!”

  Alice pulled on her arm and stopped her from going any further. “How quickly do you want to?” Alice asked, grinning shyly.

  Robin blinked before jumping to stand back beside her, sliding her arms around Alice's hips. “Do it!” She said excitedly.

  “Shall I wiggle my nose first?” Alice teased.

  “I dare ya!” Robin laughed.

  A few playful seconds of inside jokes later, Alice had magicked the two of them back home where all the decorations were waiting for them... Even if it was waiting for them in a ridiculous mess from having fallen over everything else in its way upon arrival.

C*H*R*I*S*T*M*A*S

  “Okay, that's the last of it!” Alice said happily.

  The two of them had spent the better part of their day, clearing up the mess Alice had accidentally made during her transportation, fixing everything back to how it should be and lining all their new decoration boxes up against the wall on the far side by the window. It still made everything look very untidy, but at least it was an organized untidy.

  “So, you ready for lunch?” Robin asked, stretching her arms and pressing her hands against her spine until she heard a satisfying click.

  “Yes!” Alice beamed. “We'll eat and then start decorating!”

  Robin laughed as she stepped into the kitchen. “Not so fast, Tower Girl. We don't decorate until twelve days before Christmas. Then take it all down twelve days after.”

  “What? Why?” Alice frowned.

  “It's a tradition.” Robin shrugged, like that explained it all.

  “Why?” Alice pressed.

  Robin paused and glanced back over her shoulder at her. “Uh, well... I'm not really sure. But it just is! It's a tradition and we just kind of do it that way now.”

  Alice began pouting. It seemed pretty silly to her. Why wait so long to do a tradition that they couldn't even remember why they did it for? And they had so many lovely things to put up and admire for as long as possible so why bother putting it off?

  But Robin knew more about Christmas than Alice did, and she hadn't steered her wrong yet. When it came down to it, Alice did trust Robin... She was just also very impatient.

  Inside the kitchen, while Robin began to root around for something to make a lunch out of, Alice hovered by the doorway and looked longingly towards the boxes piled up, some still not quite closed to hide the beautiful things tucked away inside. She had been so excited when they had gotten the offer to go pick them up and now she couldn't do anything with any of it. It was like taking a kid shopping and letting them pick up their birthday present right there and then but refusing to let them actually play with it until their actual birthday in a couple weeks. It was needless torture!

  “Damn, the breads no good.” Robin sighed, standing and tossing the last two slices of molding bread into the bin. She looked back at Alice and grinned. “Fancy going out to eat today?”

  “Hmm,” Alice hummed. “Not especially. Why don't we have some popcorn instead? I’m sure we have a bag leftover somewhere.”

  “Yeah, but I fancy a proper sandwich.” Robin said, already walking for the door where her coat hung on the wall at the side. “If you don't want to come, I can pick you up something from Granny's?”

  “Marmalade sandwich!” Alice said immediately.

  “Of course,” Robin laughed, doing up the buttons and double checking she still had her purse and keys in the pockets. “I'll be back as quick as I can.”

  “Say hi to Granny and Ruby for me!” Alice said cheerfully.

  Robin paused in the open doorway to groan loudly, remembering her last run in with the pair of diner owning werewolves. Even as half human, they reacted to the young female archer the way all animals seemed to; by being on edge and even growling if she happened to surprise them at the wrong time. She didn't go out of her way to avoid them and they didn’t hate each other per say, but she certainly didn't cry when they happened to miss one another. Unfortunately, Granny's cooking was just too good to give up on so Robin was going to have to suck it up and see the half mutts every once in a while.

  “I'll be back,” Robin repeated, heading out and letting the door swing shut behind her.

  Alice watched her go in silence before sighing and wandering back into the living room, stepping over to the boxes and peering over them and out the window to watch Robin walk onto the street. She let her hands drift over and rest on top of the closest box for support, waiting until Robin had completely vanished from sight before she looked down at them. There really was so much more than they were expecting. She and Robin hadn't thought they would have enough to fill the main room, but now it looked like they would have enough to do the whole first floor of the house. Alice felt giddy with the thoughts- the ideas of the house they could make, now they had the tools to do so. It would be the most magical thing and Alice wouldn't even need to use actual magic to make it happen!

  Now she just needed to wait for the right time for it to happen, which apparently wouldn't be for another week! How anyone could honestly wait that long, Alice had no idea. And she still didn't see the point in it. It would take them so long to put them all up in the first place, and they'd only be around for a short time before they had to take them all back down again. It just seemed like such a waste. Like Halloween. Why bother having so many wonderful decorations up for a single night just to pack them away again for a whole year? Why couldn't they put them all up early and really celebrate the holiday all month long?

  But there were a lot of things Alice didn't understand about normal life in Storybrooke yet, and she had long since accepted that. She was just going to have to wait and play by Robin's silly rules like she always did.

  With another deep breath, Alice turned away from the decorations and glanced around the room. She and Robin were pretty good for keeping their home clean – Alice loved this building that she now shared with her love, so much that she wanted to take care of it and Robin seemed to pick up on that as well, doing what she could to help. But they weren't perfect and if they couldn't put the decorations up now, then Alice could at least get them ready for when they could.

  So with that in mind, Alice drifted back into the hallway closest, collecting a series of sprays and polish as well as some old rags to have a big official clean up. She started by dusting all the shelves and counter tops, shuffling all the little things temporarily out of her way before placing them back again and moving on to the next. Once that was done, she pulled out the larger pieces of furniture and grabbed the vacuum, running it over all the carpets, floor boards and tiles of the entire house until it was as clean as she could possibly get it. Then she returned and cleaned down all the windows and doors and mirrors, just for something to do.

  The whole process was meant to keep her busy until Robin came home, but there wasn't that much to clean in the first place. And on top of that, Alice was – accidentally – quite a fast working cleaning and once she got going, she sometimes lost herself in her work and finished much faster than other people might. Which meant she still had plenty of time to waste before Robin got back with their lunch... Might as well squeeze in a quick shower before eating.

  As she turned away from the living room, Alice accidentally dropped one of the polish bottles on top of one of the boxes closest to the door. It only dented the lid slightly but it was enough for a shiny gold piece to peek through and catch Alice's attention. She left the polish bottle on the floor and instead, pulled back the lid on the box, exposing the decoration inside. It was a Santa doll ornament, but with a golden coat rather than a red one, positioned like he was sitting on something invisible and holding an odd French horn in his grip. And Alice had no idea if it was random or part of the many more secret traditions she had yet to learn.

  Crouching beside the box, Alice placed the cleaning supplies in her arms on the floor and reached into the box, carefully pulling the golden Santa out and holding it in front of her. It was the most ridiculous thing she had ever seen, and yet Alice was indescribably amused by it all the same! Whether it was the bright colours or the cheerful smile on the old face, or the tiny detail such as the little round glasses he wore, Alice found herself grinning at the thing, wondering where it would sit the nicest in their house once they were ready to put it up.

  Climbing back onto her feet, Alice wandered towards the windowsill, holding the golden Santa up by the edge to see how he'd look. She remembered Robin saying something about everything having a perfect place, and you just needed to take the time to find it. So Alice spent a few minutes at each location, wandering around the living room before she ended back in the hallway, setting the golden Santa on the shelf by the staircase where they normally kept trinkets from their travels.

  There. That was the perfect place!

  Alice paused, glancing back through the open doorway where she could see where the open box still sat. There really wasn't much point putting Gold Santa back now that he had a place on the shelf. He might as well stay where he was for now.

  Turning back into the living room, Alice wandered over to pick up to cleaning supplies and close the box back up but stopped short just as she began to crouch down. Something else caught her eye. Only this time it was a flash of silver.

  Without hesitating about it, Alice once again forgot the cleaning supplies and turned back to the box. Reaching into it once more, this time Alice pulled out a second Santa that was very similarly designed to the first one. She held it up in front of her like the last one, staring at it curiously and looking it up and down. It really was very similar to the Gold Santa now sitting on the hallway shelf, but instead of gold clothing, his was silver and he wasn't sitting down with a leg crossed, but rather standing upright on his two chubby legs. And the instrument that he held in his hands wasn't a small trumpet, but rather, quite a large old fashion accordion.

  Once again, Alice was fascinated with how nonsensical it was!

  “Well...” She mused quietly. “You look like you're a pair... And it wouldn't be fair to unpack one of you and not the other...”

  She doubt Robin would mind if she unpacked just these two.

C*H*R*I*S*T*M*A*S

  Getting food from Granny's had taken much longer than Robin had originally thought. It didn't help that everyone she ran into wanted to stop for a chat, including her aunt Regina who was eager to find out what to get her niece for a present this year. By the time she reached the old diner, the lunch rush was at its busiest and Robin was forced to hang around for a stretch of time before Red could finally take her order. She did it with only a slight upturned nose and – to her credit – seemed to want to get Robin out of there as quickly as Robin wanted to leave, leading the young waitress to rush around to make the sandwiches. She even threw in a couple chocolate cookies for Alice, whom she ironically had a soft spot for. But even with Red's rush, it still took Robin far too long to get her food and get out. And then, as if the universe was having a laugh at her expense, she ended up running into Mulan and Dorothy, one of whom she deeply admired, and one of whom she wished she could shove into another cyclone. Mulan barely managed to pry the two of them apart as an argument built up and when Robin stalked away in a huff, she realised it had been a couple of hours since he had left Alice alone!

  Doing her best to rush home without destroying the carefully wrapped sandwiches in the carrier bag hanging off her arm, Robin was no longer feeling the cold breeze as something irritating by the time she reached her street. Instead it was a comforting relief against her hot sweaty skin. As she closed the distance to her house, she paused on the corner road, checking the bag to make sure it really was all okay inside. It seemed only one of the cookies had broken in her haste, but Robin would happily have that one for herself. Otherwise it was all good.

  With a deep slow breath to calm her racing heart rate down, Robin stood back up straight and continued home, slowing her pace to a steady walk now she was close. As fun as walks through Storybrooke were, Robin had officially had enough of them for today. She was looking forward to kicking her feet up for the rest of the day inside her warm home with her wife by her side. Maybe she and Alice could put on a couple Christmas-...

  Robin's thoughts trailed off as she caught sight of the house.

  Robin wasn't oddly caught between being a little annoyed and a little amused. But mostly she was just stunned. Because, yes, she had been gone for a couple of hours but there was no way what she was staring at was just a couple hours work. She had to have used magic. Or have gotten help from other people. Or something!

  The front of the house had a layer of lights hanging down from the roof of multiple colours like a waterfall, as well as matching lights circling around the front door and bottom two windows. Robin squinted slightly and realised there was a familiar door chime that was hung on the wall where the bird feeder normally was (the bird feeder had been moved to a branch of a tree stretching over from one of the neighbouring houses) and it seemed that Alice had take the fake snow bottles and sprayed it along the edge of the house and over all the window sills. On top of that, the second floor windows had happy elf stickers showing through the glass and there were three plastic reindeer ornaments lining the roof with a child sized Santa holding onto the chimney in front of them. And then there was the front garden, which had a pair of miniature Christmas trees beside the path with leafs that slowly turned every colour other than their natural green – okay, that definitely had some kind of magic involved.

  Robin slowly drift through onto the front garden and glanced around to find a series of plastic woodland creatures in winter clothing waiting for her. Zelena used to line them along the staircase, but now they were lining either side of the front path leading to the front door instead. They were directed to face towards the front door as well, as if guiding visitors inside, and each of them had an additional star sticker placed on one of their cheeks. Without a doubt, it was one of the simplest, yet cutest things Robin had ever seen.

  “Robin!”

  She looked up sharply, just in time to see Alice scrambling out from behind one of the reindeer, leaning over the edge of the roof and panting heavily. She sounded completely tired, but looked as fresh as ever and didn't hesitate to swing her body round and jump off the roof. Robin felt a single flash of panic, which proved to be needless as Alice floated gently down to the ground like a feather, coming to a peaceful stop in front of her.

  “I...” She paused, glancing around towards the constant colour changing trees. “I kind of... Got a head start on the decorating.”

  “I can see that.” Robin nodded, feeling her lips twitching and fighting the urge to smile. Guess being amused outweighed her slight annoyance at missing the chance to help her. “Is it just the outside or is there a Wonderland inside as well?” Alice raised an eyebrow at the Wonderland expression – there were only so many of them she could let slide. “Sorry.”

  Alice brushed it off and put her hands guiltily behind her back. “I may have... Touched up a bit while you were gone.”

  “I figured.” Robin snorted. “Come on. Let's see just how much you got up to.”

  “You're not upset?” Alice asked nervously, leading Robin inside but watching her face closely for sign of irritation.

  Before she could answer, Robin stepped inside the house and was floored and not just by the warmth hitting her dead on.

  Robin was sure they hadn’t had this many decorations at her old house when they picked them up and was genuinely confused as to where some of it had come from. Almost every shelf had a different snow covered building or snowman or Santa sitting atop if, and there was tinsel in greens, purples and blues lining the rail of the stairs and draped around almost every doorway. The one thing Robin did recognise was the animatronic snowmen, Santa's and reindeer – all wearing skies – set up in the hallway and ready to be switched on just as soon as they were given some fresh batteries. Each of them was a different outer design but once they were up and running, they would immediately sing their matching recorded Christmas songs.

  When they wandered into the living room, Robin saw a series of familiar snow globes lining over the top of the fireplace. All of them were depicting a famous place from the Enchanted Forest – presents that her aunt had given her Robin and her mother over the years. There were also half a dozen pictures that had been taken down and replaced with art works of various make Christmas scenes, and ceiling decorations had been hung with obvious care and attention. There were some that dangled in streams, others that were shaped like snowflakes, and some that were twisted into cute little curls of randomness, each of them coming in every colour from purple, blue, green, gold, silver, red and white.

  In the end, it seemed that only three boxes had been left unpacked. Instead they had been pushed into a corner that looked oddly bare compared to the rest of the room. It didn't take Robin much time to guess that they were for the Christmas tree they didn't yet have. Otherwise everything else they had gotten from Zelena (and so many things that Robin still didn't recognise) was unpacked and set up perfectly in place.

  “This is... Amazing!” Robin laughed, turning slowly. “Where did you even get half this stuff? It can't all be from mum’s house.”

  “Well, I did get a little into it and I found some stuff that looked cute but could have been nicer if it had been in a different position or a different colour. But I didn't want to alter any of your stuff so I just used some magic to transfer some things we already owned into them instead.” Alice explained. “It saves us packing it out of the way and we can turn it all back once the holiday's over and done with.”

  “That's awesome!” Robin gasped, dropping the food carelessly on the nearest chair. “So like, the front trees?”

  “Yeah they were fun to make.” Alice grinned.

  “This is really something, Alice.” Robin breathed, still turning to take it all in. “How did you even manage it all on your own? Magic again?”

  “I may have used a little magic to speed up the process.” Alice continued. “I got kind of excited about the whole thing and couldn’t wait to get it done.”

  “Just a little?” Robin laughed, pulling Alice into her arms and kissing her. When she pulled back, they kept their arms firmly around one another, leaning into each other for support and grinning stupidly. “Guess we need to think about getting a tree then, huh?”

  “Oh, I've already spoken to Henry about that. He said he knows someone and Lucy's gonna show me where to find one tomorrow.” Alice said cheerfully.

  Robin blinked in surprise and let out another laugh. “Alice, I freaking love you!”

[haughtbreaker]

Special thanks to @jaybear1701​ who messaged me early this morning basically asking me what the hell I was doing with commas. Thanks to everyone who keeps reading.

** Companion song for this chapter is Lay Me Down - Sam Smith ... cause yeah I'm basic like that. I actually do have an in-progress Spotify playlist that I've been adding songs to as I post chapters**

Nicole looked around the party, feeling her body already moving slightly to the music that boomed from the speakers. She was exhausted from her shift at the shop but she was happy to be around friends.

"Nicky!"

Nicole smirked as she found Shae leaning against the couch, drink already in hand. She was waving her free hand to get Nicole's attention, even as their friend continued to talk to her. She detoured for a red cup from the keg station before moving to her girlfriend, capturing a hello kiss. "Hey." She turned to her friend. "Rosita, you're looking extra thirsty today."

"Fuck off, Red." Rosita gave her a rough shove. "You're late, as always."

"Some of us have jobs." Nicole took a long sip of the god awful beer before coughing. "Jesus, they could have at least sprung for the mediocre shit."

Rosita pulled a flask from her back pocket, waving it in front of Nicole. "It's a good thing vodka makes everything tolerable… if only I had a friend to share it with."

Nicole smirked, holding her cup out.

Holding out for just a few seconds, Rosita unscrewed the cap and poured a good helping into Nicole's cup. "You're lucky you're cute."

Shae laughed, reaching up to brush the back of her knuckles against Nicole's cheek. "She's okay." She tangled her fingers in auburn hair before pulling her forward for a kiss. It was needy and possessive, as if she had something to prove in front of even their friend. Nicole just went with it until Shae pulled away. She was used to her girlfriend's drunken shenanigans.

Some people might have been put off by it, frustrated by what seemed like a lack of trust Nicole just didn't care. She was used to it.

"I'm gonna get something else to drink." Shae commented before stepping away.

Don't let her go.

Nicole blinked against the sudden urge, reaching out, her hand closing around Shae's wrist. She felt like she was fighting against something… against instinct and fate.

Shae turned to look at her, confused.

"Here, take mine. I'm not enjoying it anyway." Nicole pulled Shae back to her. "Just… don't leave me."

Shae smiled. "Why would I ever do that?"

Nicole looked up as Rosita grabbed her arm.

"Let her go, Nicole." Her voice was stern, her grip firm.

"What the hell, Rosie, let go."

"Nicole!"

Nicole jolted up in surprise, her eyes bleary as she took in the still unfamiliar surroundings.

"Girl, you are one deep sleeper." Gus huffed as she picked up the extra blanket Nicole must have kicked off. "Isn't this Waverly's?"

Rubbing at her eyes, Nicole nodded, still slightly dazed. "She let me borrow it for now."

"Well, you best get a move on. Waverly won't tolerate being late. She cannot risk her perfect attendance." Gus's voice was thick with mockery, as if she'd heard it a million times which, having met Waverly, Nicole had no doubt about.

"I'm up." Nicole reached for her backpack, digging out her pills. Looking at the photo sitting on the nightstand, she sighed softly. "I'm up."

Nicole adjusted the bag on her back before taking a deep breath, looking down the hallway of the school. It was one building, much smaller than her old school. She looked over the schedule in her hand and the map in the other, trying to make sense of it.

The weekend had been… strange didn't seem like an adequate enough word. She'd stuck to what was now her room mostly, unpacking, avoiding the others. Wynonna had disappeared through most of the day hours, being dropped off by a red land-yacht of a car as the sun was disappearing below the horizon. Waverly stayed home most of the weekend but she had a friend stop by, a strange nerdy kid that looked like he'd been picked on most of his life. He'd stared at her with big, bright eyes the first time they met.

Jeremy.

Nicole blew out a large breath of air before returning her attention to the schedule. She had to somehow find her English class that looked like it would be her homeroom on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Canadian Geography would be Tuesdays and Thursdays.

"What's the damage?"

Nicole looked up to see Waverly standing in front of her, a big grin on her face. "Just your standard new kid in her senior year sort of damage." She'd thought, when Waverly disappeared after dropping her off at the front office, that she was going to fend for herself.

"Sounds like fun. Let me see." Waverly held her hand out, raising her eyebrows when Nicole hesitated.

With a soft sigh, Nicole handed the schedule over. If anything, at least Waverly would be able to point her to her first period.

"Oooo, we have first period together, Calculus, and Physics…" The smile turned into a disgruntled look. "And gym."

Nicole raised an eyebrow at that. "Not a fan of gym?" She wasn't a fan herself. It was usually just a place for stronger kids to pick on the weaker ones.

"I'm fine with gym, I just think it's a waste of time. I mean, I think if you're actually on a team sport, you should get credit for it." Waverly wrinkled her nose. "I'm significantly more active during cheer practice than I ever have been tossing balls back and forth in gym."

Nicole nodded. "Completely understandable." She watched as Waverly's eyes darted over the schedule. "So… we're in a lot of the same classes?"

Waverly nodded absentmindedly. "Yeah. And Jeremy too, but he has clearance from gym so not that." With a shrug, she handed the schedule back over. "It's Purgatory. Pretty much everyone in the same grade are in the same classes… with exception of math and science. We just lucked out, I guess." She smiled brightly.

Luck. Nicole wasn't sure of that yet. She wasn't sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing that she wouldn't have much of a break from the youngest Earp, but she would probably find out.

"Come on." Waverly nodded down the hall. "It's not that far down the hall."

"So… where's this American?"

Waverly rolled her eyes as she sat down between her friends Stephanie and Chrissy. Jeremy sat across from Chrissy who he considered safer. "Calm down, Stephanie. I'm sure she'll be here soon." She peeled the top off her salad and shook the small container of dressing.

"Is it true?" Stephanie asked with a smirk. "That she's a lesbian?"

"Gotta love living in a small town," Waverly commented as she tossed her salad with the small bit of vinaigrette. She'd been friends with the two girls since they were toddlers and Stephanie could be a bit much sometimes.

"Holy shit." Stephanie uttered, her eyes on the doors of the dining hall.

Waverly looked up to see Nicole entering, her auburn waves covered by a red and black toque that matched her flannel shirt, her hands tucked into her jeans pockets.

"Yeah, she just radiates gay."

"I'm pretty sure that's not very PC, Steph," Chrissy spoke up.

Waverly's brows furrowed and she stabbed at her salad as she watched Nicole follow the crowd, getting in line to collect her lunch. "She's actually really nice when you talk to her."

"Sure, in the stoic and solitary kind of way," Jeremy remarked, peeling his orange. "But I guess when you're tall and gorgeous, you can get away with it."

Waverly rolled her eyes. She didn't think Nicole was all that bad. Or maybe it was because she knew the reason behind the withdrawn temperament. She hadn't told Jeremy. She'd learned her lesson that first night and didn't intend on spilling those particular beans. When Nicole looked her way, Waverly waved her over with a smile. It looked like Nicole was going to refuse for a moment before she started heading that way.

"Hey." Nicole smiled in an obligatory way as she sat down in the empty space across from Waverly.

"Nicole, you know Jeremy but this is Stephanie and Chrissy," Waverly pointed her friends out.

Chrissy smiled and waved. "Hi, hi. Wish we could chat, but I have a yearbook meeting."

"Nice meeting you," Nicole commented as she began to pick through the hamburger and fries she'd picked up.

"Nicole, huh?" Stephanie smiled a smile that could best be described as nefarious. "The American lesbian the school is all abuzz about."

Nicole froze, looking from Stephanie to Waverly and back to Stephanie again.

"God, Steph, can you not be an asshole today?" Waverly huffed. "Sorry, Nicole. It's kind of a small town and Steph has a weird habit of perpetuating every bit of garbage she picks up."

"Rude much?" Stephanie snorted.

Nicole returned her attention to her meal, tearing open one of the small packets of ketchup. "That's me. Technically I'm only half American but I'm all gay," she responded with half a smile. Picking up one of the ketchup covered fries, she popped it in her mouth before freezing, her face twisted in disgust. "What the hell is wrong with this ketchup?"

Waverly tilted her head in question.

"It's way too sweet." Nicole wrinkled her nose, offering the small boat of fries to Waverly.

With a shrug, Waverly picked one up and tasted it. It tasted like it always did. "It's fine."

"Yeah something's not right with it." Nicole sighed softly before pulling the soggy leaf of lettuce out of the hamburger, applying a very small bit of ketchup to the bun. "Maybe it's just a Canada thing." She gave Waverly a look with just the corner of her lip curling up. "Probably all the maple syrup."

"Wow, way to perpetuate stereotypes," Waverly commented with a chuckle before jumping as a hand landed on her shoulder.

"Who's the new girl?"A boy plopped down onto the seat beside Waverly that had been emptied by Chrissy, his arm slinging over her neck.

"Ugh, get off me." Waverly shrugged his arm off, pushing away from him slightly. "This is Nicole. Nicole, this is my ex Hardy."

Nicole rose an eyebrow as she ate one of the fries. "Charmed." Her voice was flat and unimpressed, bringing a slight smile to Waverly's lips.

"Sup! Everybody calls me Champ." He nodded his head at her. "Number one steer roper in the town."

"Nicole is from California, Champ. Not a lot of rodeo," Waverly commented, trying not to push him off the bench. She wasn't sure why he was there except to bother the shit out of her.

"Cali huh? You surf, dude?" He used a horrible accent you only saw in ridiculous beach movies.

Nicole gave him a tight smile. "Yes actually, but not many waves around here." She looked at Waverly and her smile softened. "Except the Earp variety, that is."

Waverly felt her cheeks growing hot and cleared her throat. "Ha ha." She looked at her ex who was looking at Nicole suspiciously. "Champ, what the hell are you doing here anyway?"

"I just wanted to see you." He leaned closer to Waverly, his attention on her now. "I was just wondering if you wanted to come over after practice…"

Waverly grimaced. "I'm sorry, did you forget that I broke up with you?"

He gave her a confused look. "Wait… You were serious? I thought it was like, that time of the month…"

"Yeah, no. Get the hell out of here." Waverly shook her head.

"What?" Champ blinked in disbelief. "But I thought we could get back to normal.. It's Monday and you know we would always…"

"Don't even finish that sentence," Waverly cut him off. She couldn't believe him. She needed him to just leave before he embarrassed her further. "Just get the hell out of here."

"God, you don't have to be such a bitch about it." Champ growled as he stood up.

It took everything in Waverly not to just punch him in the nuts as he moved away. She felt the sting of embarrassment in her cheeks as she let her eyes drift over to Nicole who was watching Champ leave with a look that was pure poison.

"I don't know why you dumped him, Waves." Stephanie shook her head. "He's so hot."

Waverly cringed. "I just… outgrew him I guess." Scrunching her nose, she looked up to find Nicole watching her. "I guess he's just not my type anymore."

Nicole tilted her head to the side before dropping her gaze back to her lunch.

"Oh Honey… he's everybody's type." Stephanie commented in disbelief.

Nicole sighed as she sat on the bleachers, watching as Waverly and the other cheerleaders practiced on the other side of the gym. There was a time she would have enjoyed the sight, cheerleaders moving to music, flipping through the air… but instead she sighed softly, taking out her cell phone.

I dreamt of you last night. She sent the text off with a smile. Being in a new school really made her miss her friends back home. As if on queue, her phone began to vibrate with a call. She quickly hit the talk button. "That was super creepy."

"Says the person texting me saying they were dreaming about me." There was a soft laugh before she turned serious. "Was it the same dream?"

Nicole took a shuddered breath. "Yeah." She didn't need to say anything else. That was something she missed about being home. She didn't have to answer questions. No one stepped on eggshells around her because they knew where not to step. "Don't take this the wrong way, but I fucking miss your dumb face, Rosie."

There was a soft sigh that came over the phone. "That's pretty gay, Red." There was a brief pause and what sounded like a sniffle. "But… I miss you too. It's so quiet around here and I keep bringing too much booze to parties."

Nicole snorted. "No such thing."

"Yeah for alcoholics." There was another brief pause before Rosita cleared her throat. "So, you gonna tell me about your new roomies."

"Well," Nicole watched as Waverly was tossed into the air easily. "Right now I'm watching one at cheerleading practice."

"Ooo. A cheerleader? I love cheerleaders. Is she hot? Can you describe the uniform to me? Well fuck actually send me a picture."

"You're a fucking pervert." Nicole could feel the day's worth of stress beginning to bleed away. "I mean… I guess she's cute, in the way too chipper kind of way." She shrugged as if Rosita could see her. "Maybe more your type - cute, straight, and ready to break your heart. " She didn't want to go into her own type really, because that meant thinking about Shae, and thinking about how right now they'd probably be hanging out in her room back home.

"Well then definitely send me a pic later. What about the other one?"

Nicole chuckled. "Wynonna? Definitely rough around the edges. Maybe a complete opposite of Waverly. Definitely some damage there." Blowing out a long breath, Nicole stretched her back a little. "It's so fucking cold here."

Now Rosita laughed. "It's a nice 87 degrees here. A nice swell came in Sunday morning."

"Fuck off." Nicole laughed.

"I think I might have gotten a sunburn," Rosita continued.

"You don't fucking burn," Nicole snorted.

"Whoa… language Haught."

Nicole jumped as Wynonna plopped down beside her. "God Dammit, Wynonna!"

"Oooh is that her. She sounds hot. Let me talk to her. "

"Shut up, Rosie," Nicole huffed. "I'll talk to you later." She didn't wait for a response, just hung up. She knew Rosita wouldn't mind. She was the closest thing to a sister Nicole had.

"You don't have to hang up for me,." Wynonna commented as she leaned back on the bleacher behind them, her eyes on the cheerleaders. "You spying on my sister?"

Nicole rolled her eyes. "She's the one driving us home," she answered matter-of-factly.

"And how was your first day of school?"

Nicole snorted. "New place, same shit." She toyed with the edge of her phone before slipping it into her pocket. "What are you doing here, anyway? You don't even go here anymore."

"Maybe I just came to watch my baby sister?" Wynonna's gaze wasn't on Waverly tho. Instead she was eyeing up the girl that looked like she was consulting with the cheerleading coach.

Nicole had watched the older girl as she began to help with the choreography. "Who's the girl?"

"What girl?" Wynonna pulled a flask out of her pocket and took a quick pull from it, not even caring that they were in a school gym.

"Tall, dark, and smokin'...if you're into the goth scene of course." Nicole leaned back against the bleacher as well. She was glad for the interruption and distraction. As much as she loved hearing from and talking to her best friend, it was the bridge that took her back to Shae and to the place she was before. "Ex girlfriend?"

"What?" Wynonna scoffed. "God no. Her and her perfect skin and amazing dancing skills…" She cleared her throat. "She's the ex of someone I…" She waggered her hand in the air, "am friends with?"

"Friends?" Nicole gave her a wry look.

"Look… some friends you go shoplifting with, and some friends you…," she took another sip from her flask, "get naked and bump pelvises with."

Nicole cringed. "Ew. Straight people," she said under her breath as she shook her head.

"Hey now…" Wynonna glared at her. "Watch who you're calling straight," she scoffed, standing up to stretch her back out. "Waverly's probably the straightest one in the house."

Looking over at the youngest Earp, Nicole pursed her lips.

"I need a ride back to the homestead, but I can't take this high school shit anymore. I'm gonna go pass out in Waverly's jeep," Wynonna huffed.

Watching her slip away, Nicole just shook her head before looking out towards the cheerleaders. She'd thought she felt something not-so-straight coming from Waverly over the weekend, and definitely during lunch, but maybe she'd been wrong. After all, her spidey senses weren't really in top shape these days.

Wynonna hummed softly to herself as she looked through the carton of records. All through dinner she kept thinking too much about the argument she'd had earlier that day with Henry. Their on again off again thing was starting to piss her off and while she knew it was mostly her fault, she really wanted to punch him in the face.

"She was really pretty." Waverly was sitting on the floor of the basement, staring at her cell phone.

Wynonna looked up from the stack. "Who?"

Waverly pursed her lips, her face illuminated by the light of her phone screen. "Nicole's girlfriend. The one that…" She let her voice trail off. "I guess her name was Shae."

Wynonna lost all interest in the records, scooting next to Waverly on the basement floor. "Are we stalking Nicole? I'm not against it but normally you are."

"I'm not stalking her!"

Wynonna looked at Waverly through the corner of her eye, trying not to laugh. "Ok, Baby Girl." She focused on the phone instead, seeing the girl with darker skin in a variety of photos wrapped around... "Damn. That's Nicole? She looks completely different."

Waverly nodded. "Totally. I mean… she looks the same, just… happy."

"Well I guess she's got a type."

Waverly sighed, scrolling down the photo feed. "What do you mean?"

"Well…" Wynonna shrugged. "Just something she said earlier today, about Kate."

"Henry's ex?" Waverly's brow furrowed. "Like you think she likes her?"

"She said she was hot, in that angsty goth way."

"Oh I bet that went over well." Waverly laughed, but it sounded a little empty. "I mean, she is kind of gorgeous…"

Wynonna rolled her eyes. "Whatever…" She looked at the screen as Waverly seemed to have stopped on one photo.

This wasn't the Nicole that lived with them. Gone were the sunken cheeks and dark circles. In it, Nicole was in a bikini top and shorts, her wet auburn hair that was much longer was half draping in her face as she had a smile on her face that reflected... genuine happiness.

"Nicole looks… really happy here."

"They probably just had sex," Wynonna joked crudely. The look Waverly gave her could no doubt kill someone at 20 paces and Wynonna physically leaned away. "Or they're just happy..."

Waverly looked back at the phone, a troubled look on her face.

Wynonna had to raise an eyebrow as she tilted her head, a suspicious look taking over. "Why are you so interested in Nicole's girlfriend, anyway?" The conversation she'd had with Nicole was still fresh in her mind.

"What?" Waverly looked up quickly, her eyes filled with guilt. But what was the look for, Wynonna had to wonder. Guilt for prying. Guilt for something secret? Something she wasn't able to admit? "I'm not," Waverly responded with indignance as she huffed, moving to close the app and freezing suddenly. "Oh my god." Waverly looked down at her phone in horror.

"What?" Wynonna looked over to see a bright red heart under the photo. She barked out an obnoxious laugh. She wanted to say she'd never done the same, but she'd stalked enough social media in her life. "Nothing like getting notifications for photos that are a year old."

Guilt turned to horror on Waverly's face. "She's going to know I was going through her photos." Out of panic, Waverly quickly unliked the photo, as if she could take back the last 30 seconds.

"What? No! She'll still get the notification. She's going to know you were trying to stalk her secretly now…"

"Shit!" Waverly quickly liked it again.

Wynonna rolled her eyes, snatching the phone away from Waverly. Her sister was such a flustered mess at the moment. "You… are the worst at cyber stalking." With an upwards flick, she closed out the app. "Well, maybe she doesn't have notifications turned on, you never know," she commented as she tossed Waverly the phone.

Waverly looked nervously at the stairs as if expecting Nicole to come running down the stairs to yell at her.

"Waverly's probably the straightest one in the house." Wynonna's own voice echoed through her mind as she watched her sister fidgeting nervously, eyes darting from her phone to the stairs and back to her phone. Wynonna hummed to herself as she returned her attention to the records, filing the information away for later.

[blessedbrooklyn]

Today, while working from the kitchen table, the power went out.  I had no idea that if the power ceased I would lose my remote connection, but that is precisely what happened.  I decided to take the opportunity to go to the post office because I told a friend I was going to mail her a pair of sandals.

After I got in my car, I went into the center console to grab the tiny piece of paper with the address of the post office on it.  I left it in there, purposely, after I went the last time because I knew I would forget.  I pressed the button on my navigation system and said, “Navigation, street address.” because that is the way I have to command while driving.  Instead of my car’s navigation system speaking back to me, Siri said, “The post office located on such and such street is open from seven am to six pm.”  I was dumbfounded. I had not spoken a word about the post office or the address for that matter, nor did I look up the address on my pc or Iphone.  There is absolutely no way Siri could have known where I was headed.  I pulled my car over, at that point, to make a facebook post because it freaked me out. 

When I arrived at the post office, the parking lot was empty.  Another car pulled in, just as I did, but they did not get out. Instead, they picked someone up, which made me wonder if they had just closed. I proceeded to get out and try anyway, hoping I was wrong. The door swung open fast. Was I the only one here, I thought. I was. It was amazing. No line. I shipped off the sandals and I was on my way. 

I came to a stop at the end of a winding, country road. There was an old country house there, on the corner, and they had a bunch of those billowy type American flags that country homes often have hanging from fences. I noticed this little flag, just underneath their mailbox, that read, “Land of the free, home of the brave”.  My favorite description of America. I wondered if they got that flag down the street, at the little farm market I love,  that sells trinkets like that. 

I pulled into the farm market to see if they had the flag. It’s one of those cut out red barns. As I arrived at the back wall of the barn, I noticed a small spider dangling from a web, directly in my path, so I stopped short. I was stunned and thankful that I did not walk right into it. I have a thing with spiders. We are cool. Really cool. At that moment nothing mattered but the spider. It crawled back up the web it was dangling from, stopped, crawled back down and stopped in front of me again. Just beyond the spider was a wall of decorative signs. Literal signs. I thought to myself that there must be a message for me on one of them. Then, as the spider crawled back up to the ceiling and I lost sight of her, I felt something touch the back of my leg. I screamed and jumped forward, where the spider had just been. 

It was a Great Dane. HUGE. In the pattern of a dalmation. The woman who works there ran over and said, “Oh, I guess you met Pebbles.”  I laughed and explained to her that I had just had an encounter with a spider before Pebbles startled me. We had a chuckle and I asked her about the flag. She said they had it but they were all gone now, so I just decided to browse around a bit.   

There was a pretty set of ceramic canisters, that looked like mason jars. FLOUR, SUGAR, COFFEE, TEA. They caught my eye because of the screw top, so I grabbed TEA by the lid. CRASH. TEA was in pieces at my feet. Turns out, it wasn’t a screw top. The ladies ran over and I apologized. I felt terrible. I offered to pay for it and asked if they were only sold as a set. She said they were, but that they would just reprice it and the one I dropped was worth around twenty dollars. “We’re not assholes here”, she said. “Things happen, don’t worry about it, just buy something else and it’s fine.”  Because she said that, I wondered if I was supposed to purchase something on the wall where the spider was, so I went back there. 

As I scanned the wall, I noticed three ceramic angels at the top center and I immediately knew someone was trying to relay a message. I remembered the one sign the spider was directly in front of when I snapped it’s picture.  It was the only one with a pink background. All the others were sort of neutral. 

YOU ARE AMAZING.

YOU ARE IMPORTANT.

YOU ARE SPECIAL.

YOU ARE UNIQUE.

YOU ARE KIND.

YOU ARE LOVED.

YOU ARE PRECIOUS.

I thought of my Mom. I thought it looks like it’s for a little girl. I thought, I am her little girl. So I grabbed it. You don’t argue with my mother. It was only Fifteen dollars, so I scanned the wall again to see if she had one for my dad.  There it was:

I’D LOVE TO

BUT

MY DOG SAID NO

I grabbed that one too. At the register, there is a small box of key chains that I really like. I know because I purchased one there before when I had just had an extra key made and needed a keychain for it. They look like old school motel key chains and they have little messages on them as well. I scanned the box for one, but figured nothing would catch my eye because I already went through them before. There was one pink one. Only one. It was right up my alley and I’d never seen it before. 

weekend 

VIBES

suite number 

11

That was the one. Only it wasn’t alone.  It’s tag was attached to the tag of another one and I could not remove it. That one was black and read:

designated driver

that is all. 

I thought, Ha!, that one is for Dad.  And I made my purchase. The total was 

$42.69. 

On the way home I realized I was wearing all pink. And I knew the power would be on when I returned. 

It was. 

[talk-time-live]

TALK TIME LIVE EXCLUSIVE: HANDS-ON THOUGHTS on the RETROMANIA WRESTLING DEMO

by Daxavier Josiah 11/25/19

I headed to the HOUSE of HARDCORE here in Philadelphia’s legendary 2300 ARENA (formally and famously known as “The ECW ARENA”) to meet up with my previous guest on TALK TIME LIVE EXCLUSIVE Mike Hermann of RETROSOFT STUDIO and get my hands on the demo to the official successor and sequel of WRESTLEFEST (which was first announced on our show). I had the opportunity to play the demo to @RetrosoftStudio  at Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore wrestling show and let me tell you gamers especially if you own a Nintendo Switch there is a lot of promise for those who were desperate for a possible fun wrestling title. 2020 has promise.

GAMEPLAY:

If you played enjoyed the original WWF WRESTLEFEST by TECNOS in the 80′s you may feel right at home with this RETROMANIA WRESTLING.

While playing through the game’s single-player mode, one of the most noticeable factors when playing with the characters you choose is the fluidity of movement. Controlling the characters feels as free-flowing as the original game if now more.  When I first played (and got my ass handed to me by a kid with a skill level higher than me) I was able to move around and not feel like there was a lot of weight behind it which in some cases felt better than even Fire Pro.  One of the cool elements that this game has added on is a combo system which if you connect to your opponent right you can pull off a two to four-hit combo knocking your opponent dramatically off their feet.  There was also a light, medium, and heavy attack button much like you would experience in a Fire Pro game which adds much more depth to this game. There is also a reversal system in the game to which makes for some epic and competitive gameplay with a friend both locally and online.  Another noticeable contrasting gameplay features RETROMANIA WRESTLING offers is the ability to whip your opponent to 8 directions including the turnbuckle prepping you for a top rope attack. As mentioned in my interview with Mike the addition of adding high flying and springboarding moves has been added and they were able to be pulled off with no problem.  With this being the demo we were only privy to just the House of Hardcore stage (being that we were at an H.O.H. event which makes sense) and a few characters at this time including The Road Warriors and two test characters as well as single-player mode as the crew are hard at work on the other gameplay modes such as tag, retro rumble, cage, and the 10 pounds of gold mode that was talked about on TTL EXCLUSIVE.  There were more on the select menu such as Tommy Dreamer, Zach Saber Jr. (NJPW and REV PRO wrestler), and The BWO (Blue Meanie, Nova, and Stevie Richards), as mentioned and advertised there are more to come including stars from NWA POWERRR and more to be announced at a later date.  NOTE: This is a very early demo of the game that is said to be released sometime in 2020. 

PRESENTATION:

This game looks to provide full-on Nostalgia as it not only represents the sport of Professional Wrestling but also celebrates its history. 

With HOUSE of HARDCORE being one of the stages that the game will include RETROSOFT did a pretty respectful game with the design of it.

It’s the little things that matter some time and one of the things that stuck out to me was the banners in the 2300 Arena Game stage with celebrates some of ECW past including the late Ted Petty (of ECW/WWE/WCW tag team PUBLIC ENEMY) and many more. 

If you are a wrestling fan I believe there will be a lot to love about what you see in this because the fanfare and nostalgia are definitely there. 

The game sprites and pixel design are huge and well detailed.  The character designs appear to be a little more slender and proportioned in the right places which are different from the over-exaggerated design of the first game. It will be interesting to see what the game will be able to do visually down the line when added special match types that will have the camera pan out farther to capture everything. 

EARLY OVERALL THOUGHTS:

I was very happy by the end of my playthrough with excitement that by the time this comes out we should finally have a fun arcade wrestling game that was created by fans for fans. We will get more on this game as things develop but right now (and especially for the Nintendo Switch gamers) there is a lot to be excited about.  So get ready as this game will be available for all major consoles and PC sometime in 2020.

Be sure to visit RETROSOFT STUDIO official website by clicking here.

And to check out my interview with Mike Hermann as we talk about all of the things we should expect from this game click here.

[seederturnip4-blog]

Basement Bedroom Reveals

August 25, 2018

Oh man, it’s time for our basement bedroom reveals and we are so excited!! We went for clean and simple, modern with a touch of traditional.

Is it weird that redoing our basement actually taught us a lot about life? It’s been so, so busy picking things out and making decisions that this past month I found myself doing something I didn’t expect, I stopped working on the basement. These basement bedroom reveals are everything to us, but they definitely aren’t what we envisioned, they are better, but different.

How’s that for confusing?

Here’s the thing, I don’t like design. It’s not my thing. I’d rather figure the most amazing pancake recipe, and I did… Melt in Your Mouth Buttermilk Pancakes, but design, no thanks. It stresses me out, doesn’t come easy to me, and I hate forking out all of that money.

We had felt it though. Finishing our basement wasn’t just because we thought it would be fun, but because this Christmas we had literally felt inspired to do it. So we threw caution to the wind and jumped in with both feet.

And don’t forget to check out Becky Kimball, our lovely photographer for all these photos.

Park City Blinds and Design

Once things were moving along and it was time to fill the rooms I seriously wanted to stop the whole process. The stress had hit. And then, and I mean, like within a day we discovered Park City Blinds and Design. If you aren’t following them on Instagram, get yourselves on over there,  such beautiful inspiration. We ran out to PC and visited their gorgeous showroom, and got totally inspired.

We learned soooo much too. But I have to take you back in time to explain…

Elsie Mahe

Elsie Mahe lived in our neighborhood, a little toddler with the most darling family, including a dad who coaches BYU football. This sweet little girl accidentally got a cord from the blinds wrapped around her neck and passed away. It was incredibly tragic for our neighborhood and I’ve felt multiple times in this build process that our basement blinds should be cordless. In fact, I’m desperate to switch out our entire house, but that’s going to take some time.

So we started there. We got inspired by our window coverings and learned one thing I never knew.

Buy High Quality Window Coverings

I’ve always loved a good deal, but I learned quickly that when you use the cheapest curtain rods the room automatically looks less pulled together and yes, I took to the internet, and it really was true! On top of that, we had previously learned that buying and installing blinds pretty much never fits right, so when we heard that they would come out, measure, fit, and install the blinds I was alllllll in!

Thankfully they are also really good at what they do, so they also guided us on colors and textures and brands that would be the right fit for us. Nothing too crazy expensive, but also not the cheapest stuff that would look awful and more importantly, not end up lasting a long time, which is also a big deal to us.

We started with the windows and everything else fell into place. We are so glad we partnered with Park City Blinds and Design, for a million reasons, but especially because of how incredible they look!

The blinds are super cool too, you merely push and pull them with just one hand! So simple, clean, and lovely.

We lined this particular bedroom because it faces a direction that more light would be pouring in once morning hit.

The rest of the rooms were kept simple. This room started off with the blinds, but it was actually that side table that came next. I’d bought it for another room but ended up loving it in here. It gave guests a place to sit things and  helped to break up that long wall.

The Truth About the Bed

The bed honestly isn’t our favorite, I’ll link up to it but it’s not very sturdy and was a real beast to get together. If it hadn’t been such a hassle I would have bought a new one by now. The sheets and bedding are worth it though.

Our Favorite Sheets After Trying So Many

We asked and asked about sheets on social media, and ended up trying out a few different kinds which we didn’t like. And then came Sweet Sheets. Seriously the most soft sheets ever and they haven’t pilled or stretch even a little bit! Winning!

And best of all, there’s more than just the standard white, so buy whatever suits your needs.

Oh my goodness, and the signs! I’m obsessed and we are totally loading them into our shop asap (that’s right, we are creating a shop where you can easily buy all of our favorite things anytime!) They are a team effort between the Etsy Shop, SK Wood Designs and Cade and I. We wanted them simple and clean, but to also immediately make our guests feel welcome and at ease.

Discount Code for Oh Sweet Basil Readers

Oh and Kim has been nice enough to offer you all 10% off! Just use the code, OHSWEETBASIL10 

All Wood Letter Board

This wood letter board is also a new favorite. We see all the same letter boards everywhere and were super excited when we found this one from Emerie Lane! It’s so, so fun to leave little messages, quotes and even access to our guest wifi. You totally should snag one.

See that little grey dome on the table? Every single one of us have a Dohm sound machine in our rooms as it drowns out those crazy 4 am birds. We thought our guests might sleep better in a strange place with a little white noise too.

Our bedside lights were a total win. We got them on facebook page, but they are originally from West Elm . We ran them through a simple wood bracket for $5!

Now it comes to the part where I tell you that it’s not what I expected. If I was a designer I would have finished decorating those side tables, thrown down a rug and maybe a little more artwork and some fun pillows, but I didn’t. And I’m glad.

Letting Go

After a while I noticed that I was spending so much time searching websites and stores for the perfect pieces, stressing over things I couldn’t find and overall not connecting with my family like I should so in a quick decision I ditched it all. I don’t feel bad about it either. The rooms are totally live-able and perfect just how they are. I don’t need things totally finished up to be happy, I need my family. Maybe one day if I happen upon some great pieces I’ll buy them, but until then, I’m good.

Scroll through the links and feel free to drop your own links in the comments for anything you think would work well in the space.

Shop Our Rooms

Beds

Wall Art

Window Coverings

Extra Furnishings

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

About the author

Carrian Cheney

Lover of all things beautiful, good and delicious. Wife, mother, friend, foodie.

Source: https://ohsweetbasil.com/basement-bedroom-reveals/

[waverule2-blog]

Basement Bedroom Reveals

August 25, 2018

Oh man, it’s time for our basement bedroom reveals and we are so excited!! We went for clean and simple, modern with a touch of traditional.

Is it weird that redoing our basement actually taught us a lot about life? It’s been so, so busy picking things out and making decisions that this past month I found myself doing something I didn’t expect, I stopped working on the basement. These basement bedroom reveals are everything to us, but they definitely aren’t what we envisioned, they are better, but different.

How’s that for confusing?

Here’s the thing, I don’t like design. It’s not my thing. I’d rather figure the most amazing pancake recipe, and I did… Melt in Your Mouth Buttermilk Pancakes, but design, no thanks. It stresses me out, doesn’t come easy to me, and I hate forking out all of that money.

We had felt it though. Finishing our basement wasn’t just because we thought it would be fun, but because this Christmas we had literally felt inspired to do it. So we threw caution to the wind and jumped in with both feet.

And don’t forget to check out Becky Kimball, our lovely photographer for all these photos.

Park City Blinds and Design

Once things were moving along and it was time to fill the rooms I seriously wanted to stop the whole process. The stress had hit. And then, and I mean, like within a day we discovered Park City Blinds and Design. If you aren’t following them on Instagram, get yourselves on over there,  such beautiful inspiration. We ran out to PC and visited their gorgeous showroom, and got totally inspired.

We learned soooo much too. But I have to take you back in time to explain…

Elsie Mahe

Elsie Mahe lived in our neighborhood, a little toddler with the most darling family, including a dad who coaches BYU football. This sweet little girl accidentally got a cord from the blinds wrapped around her neck and passed away. It was incredibly tragic for our neighborhood and I’ve felt multiple times in this build process that our basement blinds should be cordless. In fact, I’m desperate to switch out our entire house, but that’s going to take some time.

So we started there. We got inspired by our window coverings and learned one thing I never knew.

Buy High Quality Window Coverings

I’ve always loved a good deal, but I learned quickly that when you use the cheapest curtain rods the room automatically looks less pulled together and yes, I took to the internet, and it really was true! On top of that, we had previously learned that buying and installing blinds pretty much never fits right, so when we heard that they would come out, measure, fit, and install the blinds I was alllllll in!

Thankfully they are also really good at what they do, so they also guided us on colors and textures and brands that would be the right fit for us. Nothing too crazy expensive, but also not the cheapest stuff that would look awful and more importantly, not end up lasting a long time, which is also a big deal to us.

We started with the windows and everything else fell into place. We are so glad we partnered with Park City Blinds and Design, for a million reasons, but especially because of how incredible they look!

The blinds are super cool too, you merely push and pull them with just one hand! So simple, clean, and lovely.

We lined this particular bedroom because it faces a direction that more light would be pouring in once morning hit.

The rest of the rooms were kept simple. This room started off with the blinds, but it was actually that side table that came next. I’d bought it for another room but ended up loving it in here. It gave guests a place to sit things and  helped to break up that long wall.

The Truth About the Bed

The bed honestly isn’t our favorite, I’ll link up to it but it’s not very sturdy and was a real beast to get together. If it hadn’t been such a hassle I would have bought a new one by now. The sheets and bedding are worth it though.

Our Favorite Sheets After Trying So Many

We asked and asked about sheets on social media, and ended up trying out a few different kinds which we didn’t like. And then came Sweet Sheets. Seriously the most soft sheets ever and they haven’t pilled or stretch even a little bit! Winning!

And best of all, there’s more than just the standard white, so buy whatever suits your needs.

Oh my goodness, and the signs! I’m obsessed and we are totally loading them into our shop asap (that’s right, we are creating a shop where you can easily buy all of our favorite things anytime!) They are a team effort between the Etsy Shop, SK Wood Designs and Cade and I. We wanted them simple and clean, but to also immediately make our guests feel welcome and at ease.

Discount Code for Oh Sweet Basil Readers

Oh and Kim has been nice enough to offer you all 10% off! Just use the code, OHSWEETBASIL10 

All Wood Letter Board

This wood letter board is also a new favorite. We see all the same letter boards everywhere and were super excited when we found this one from Emerie Lane! It’s so, so fun to leave little messages, quotes and even access to our guest wifi. You totally should snag one.

See that little grey dome on the table? Every single one of us have a Dohm sound machine in our rooms as it drowns out those crazy 4 am birds. We thought our guests might sleep better in a strange place with a little white noise too.

Our bedside lights were a total win. We got them on facebook page, but they are originally from West Elm . We ran them through a simple wood bracket for $5!

Now it comes to the part where I tell you that it’s not what I expected. If I was a designer I would have finished decorating those side tables, thrown down a rug and maybe a little more artwork and some fun pillows, but I didn’t. And I’m glad.

Letting Go

After a while I noticed that I was spending so much time searching websites and stores for the perfect pieces, stressing over things I couldn’t find and overall not connecting with my family like I should so in a quick decision I ditched it all. I don’t feel bad about it either. The rooms are totally live-able and perfect just how they are. I don’t need things totally finished up to be happy, I need my family. Maybe one day if I happen upon some great pieces I’ll buy them, but until then, I’m good.

Scroll through the links and feel free to drop your own links in the comments for anything you think would work well in the space.

Shop Our Rooms

Beds

Wall Art

Window Coverings

Extra Furnishings

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

About the author

Carrian Cheney

Lover of all things beautiful, good and delicious. Wife, mother, friend, foodie.

Source: https://ohsweetbasil.com/basement-bedroom-reveals/

[daleisgreat]

Dale’s Top 36 Gaming Experiences of 2018

Greetings dear readers and welcome to my annual top gaming experiences/moments/favorite games I played in 2018 that may or may not have released in 2018 round-up!!! Consider this my personal greatest hits compilation of my year in videogames that was 2018! Buckle up buck-a-roos because I am going to take you on a several thousand word journey as I count you down my handpicked top 33 gaming ‘experiences’ of the year! This is not going to be any other ordinary quick scroll through of listed top games of the year because almost anything I did gaming related qualifies for a ‘experience’ in 2018. That experience could be my overall time I invested into a certain game or series of games I decided to lump into one list item, or it could be a certain other piece of gaming memorabilia, news item that really struck me or a memorable gaming session with friends and family that makes it perfectly eligible for the list! So if you have not by now then use your favorite bookmark app (I recommend Pocket) or ‘control + d’ to manually bookmark this page to revisit this feast of words because it is going to take some time to consume! For optimal experience I highly recommend a big cup of coffee and blaring one of those 10-hour YouTube videos of ambient rain because that is exactly what I did to craft this beast! Speaking of YouTube videos I linked to a whole boatload of them throughout the rankings from trailers for most games I discuss and moments that really popped for me if you so desire to click them for a reference to the corresponding footage. If you managed to finish this monster and dare to seek out my similar takes on previous years of gaming experiences then I triple-dog-dare you to check out my write-ups for my best of 2017 and best of 2016 gaming spectaculars. Enough with this intro, to the list we go! ---Recommended – This is Bonkers Long So Please Read This in the Suggested Installments--- Part 1 - Rankings 36 through 31 Part 2 - Rankings 30 through 24 Part 3 - Rankings 23 through 18 Part 4 - Rankings 17 through 14 Part 5 - Rankings 13 through 10 Part 6 - Rankings 9 through 4 Part 7 - Rankings 3 through 1 PART 1 - RANKINGS 36 THROUGH 31 36) Telltale & Prima RIP I hate to kickoff this list with a downer, but that is why this is at the bottom of the list. The saga of Telltale announcing its closing in 2018 was quite the affair with all the misguided reactionary hoopla. It initially leaned towards fan outcry of Telltale now being unable to finish the final season of its acclaimed Walking Dead line of episodic games it was in the middle of releasing getting more attention over the developers who lost their jobs and benefit plans. Things were getting heated in the wrong ways real quick, but there was a modicum of redemption with fellow videogame developers reaching out and picking up many of the laid off and publisher Skybound Studios picking up the rights for the remaining episodes of the final season of The Walking Dead and following up that announcement with good news of Skybound being able to re-hire most of the original developers who did not already land jobs elsewhere.

I feel I wronged Telltale this year by having 2018 be the first year in several years where I did not complete a season of a Telltale game. Tales of the Borderlands and both seasons of Batman are in my massive ‘want to play’ stack, and now with The Walking Dead being on its way to being concluded I now feel obligated to pick up where I left off after finishing season two a few years ago. Prima closing up surprisingly resonated with me. They have been the constant major publisher of videogame strategy guides for what seems like an eternity. Part of me is surprised Prima hung around this long with how easy it is to reference GameFAQs and other online guides, wikis and YouTube playthroughs for free in an instant. I prefer to go that route too, but I would occasionally pick up a Prima guide and would prefer their more detailed layouts and maps when playing Fallout 3 and Skyrim than compared to what an average text GameFAQs guide can offer. I will also give a shoutout to their supplementary NES & SNES Now You’re Playing Power/Super Power guides/nostalgia books that launched alongside the NES & SNES Classic. Both feature lots of vintage scans from Nintendo Power alongside new interviews with developers, pro speedrunners and creators of fan art, music and website communities. When I heard of their closure I went out and ordered Prima guides for other Bethesda games like Fallout 4 and New Vegas. When I went to file them away I hung my head in shame to see I already procured the Fallout 4 guide awhile back, so now I have two copies of that one. Backup copy! There will still be other specialty strategy guide publishers (major props to FanGamer’s guides!), but none with the presence or outreach of Prima established. 35) Non Virtual Boy VR Last year in the round-up I stated how I have too many reservations about getting on board with the VR craze that has swept up a segment of the gaming world and that I will stick with my Virtual Boy for my VR needs. My Extra Life friends Chris and Lyzz have a Playstation VR headset and had me try it out at their place in 2018 and after trying out a couple games in PSVR…..I was impressed, but still not sold on it overall. I played one or two of the mini-games on the PSVR Worlds mini-game collection that came with the peripheral. I then played about a half hour of London Heist. That experience was a memorable one as I got to admit it was cool looking around the gangster hideouts while being tied up and taking in the unique 360 camera of my surroundings that is only possible in a VR experience. The gameplay was on the money too in some shooting gallery segments and eventually a car chase portion that was the highlight of my time with London Heist.

I was relieved I did not suffer from any of the motion sickness I heard wide varieties of minor and severe reports of from VR players. Then again I only played PSVR for only an hour. I have kept up with the games hitting PSVR since its launch and in its first couple years it has built a library of several games that appear to hold their own as premiere VG single player experiences with bonafide hits such as Moss, Astrobot and Farpoint. After some legit hands-on time with PSVR I will maintain my reservations on VR in general. The price entry point is way too high and I would rather spend the money needed for starting off a proper PSVR experience in upgrading my PC instead. It requires a lot of cumbersome setup, it is a safety hazard by completely blocking off your surroundings and finally after playing for a mere hour my face felt like it was sat on for many more hours after removing the headset. I may try out VR down the line at friend’s places or wherever I run into it at and will likely enjoy my time with it, but as far as owning VR goes I will continue to be happy with my Virtual Boy and reliving the complete Virtual Boy experience in 2019 with Jeremy Parish’s Vitual Boy Works line of videos. 34) Hadoken 2018

If you do not have it already on last-gen systems, I still would recommend Ultra Street Fighter IV as it collects nearly all the DLC characters and costumes and goes on sale digitally frequently. It was a hit revisiting with Chris, but the surprise SF hit among us online was Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection. Aside from collecting 12 of the earliest SF games, it made four of them online and Capcom had a slick online lobby system to make it quick and seamless to jump from playing one version of SF to another. Chris and I got lots of fights in throughout the year and I also did about 20 fights in online ranked lobbies against random opponents in hopes of getting just one win to get a trophy. That proved to be a brutal endeavor as my assumptions of my meek hadoken skills hoping to get lucky once were foolish as I lost every time (thought a couple of times I won once out of three…yay?). The worst was when higher skilled opponents would sit there and wait for me to come at them before schooling me with counter attacks. That happened even worse in Mortal Kombat X online against randoms, but as they say, practice makes perfect. 33)Mass Effect Andromeda Novels I have seen nobody talking about these…probably because of how lackluster Mass Effect Andromeda was received. I was a huge fan of all four novels published concurrently alongside the original Mass Effect Trilogy and they helped fleshed out the story between games and gave a ton of back story to characters I was thrilled to see finally appear in the third game. I had no idea publisher Titan Books were releasing novels set in the Andromeda universe until about a year after the first one hit. Just a few months ago they released the third of the planned four books set in the Andromeda timeline.

I finished the first two books and enjoyed both of them. I gave more thorough reviews on my GoodReads account and will link to them here. For the quick breakdown though Nexus Uprising deals with a crisis of the Nexus mothership arriving at Andromeda attacked by a mysterious ‘scourge’ and the hysteria that results with its limited crew in charge of a ship barely hanging onto survival. Nexus Uprising leads right into the start of the Andromeda game. Initiation has a new Andromeda recruit fresh off her seven years of Asari training traveling for one last mission before journeying to Andromeda where the new recruit encounters a hostile VI/AI in a facility she must now survive and rescue as many survivors along with her. The latest book, Annihilation, I am only halfway through and I regret to report that I am just not feeling this one. Annihilation explains why about a third of the original Mass Effect races are not in the Andromeda game as it goes into detail why they all took a separate ship there that wound up having a disastrous journey. I enjoyed the peripheral races in the original games in nice little spurts, but having a book focusing entirely on the volus, elcor, drell and a couple other races so far has been a slog to get through. I will keep my fingers crossed it picks up in the second half. 32) HDMI Cables for Retro Consoles The past couple of years have seen an emerging trend of either having deluxe HDMI conversion kits for older systems to display at their proper resolutions on newer TVs or having third parties re-release older systems like the NES and SNES with new HD capabilities. Those are great options to have if you want a pristine picture on your HDTV for retro gaming goodness, but they cost a premium and 2018 saw manufacturer Pound release their HDMI cables for SNES, Dreamcast, Xbox and PS2 all for around $30 each. I picked up the Dreamcast and PS2 cables, but have only had time to test out the DC cables so far. I dug out the Dreamcast and tested out several games with regular cables and then the Pound cables and noticed a definite improvement in the graphics! They no longer have that washed out ‘muddiness’ look when I would ordinarily run a SD system on a HDTV with composite/RCA cables. There was a minor caveat where I noticed a minor background graphical effect in menus and only when I took the time to squint and stare during gameplay, but other than that this was a much affordable alternative. I found out about these from YouTuber, MetalJesus and you can see his coverage of it by clicking here with plenty of before and after comparisons to see if they may be what you are looking for. 31) Father’s Day Gaming I have nostalgic memories of the many long gaming sessions I had with my dad and siblings while spending weekend visitations with him. We went all the way back to the original Pong and Atari 2600 in my childhood years through the NES, SNES and finally N64 during my high school years. While I have wonderful moments of many games with the family in each era the N64 years were the ones I cherished the most because of the ease of four player multiplayer with its four controller ports which was perfect for my dad, my brother Joe and either my sister Ann or another friend that would be over to helm the fourth player spot. Almost a couple hours of every visitation during that time we played countless hours of competitive N64 multiplayer.

That was many years ago though since we regularly played, and while thinking of ideas for what to do for Father’s Day this past year instead of going out for dinner and catching a movie like we would usually do I threw out the idea of staying in and having pizza and doing an N64 gaming day. I was delighted to hear my dad and brother were both up for it and thank goodness the games still held up and were just as much fun to play as they were around 20 years ago. My dad loved New Tetris and was a total pro and would be in a trance when he used to play it all the time so I was mighty curious to see how well he remembered it all these years later. We were all a little rusty, but we all got back into the rhythm of things after a few minutes and it was like we did not miss a beat. I am always disheartened to hear New Tetris get overlooked when I was hearing multiple discussions of past great Tetris games when Tetris Effect took the gaming community by storm in 2018. New Tetris was the first 3-4 player console Tetris game and also the first home console game to debut the incredibly handy ‘hold piece’ which is why New Tetris ranked right up there with Tengen Tetris, OG GameBoy Tetris and Tetris DS for my favorite versions of the legendary puzzle game. We also played a hefty amount of Mario Kart 64 and GoldenEye 007. I have heard the countless debates over the years, and I will forever contest the N64 Mario Kart as the pinnacle of the series. I have also heard the many people proclaim that GoldenEye is an outdated mess all these years later. Every two or three years I bust out GoldenEye and the same thing happened here as before, after a few minutes of adjusting to the graphics and controls the game had its hooks in us again and we were having intense rounds of deathmatch with muscle memories suddenly kicking in of our favorite map and weapon presets. The three of us went on to have many rounds of fun blowing the crap out of each other! I have been watching Giant Bomb’s line of recent Die Another Friday videos where they try and run through the campaign in Perfect Agent difficulty. Instead of the expected jokes about how dated the graphics were I was relieved to see that most of the GB crew eventually were legit surprised at how fun GoldenEye still is. ---YouTube Break From This Already Way Too Long List--- A semi-decent laugh should be had at this point for a breather. Behold, the greatest Family Feud moment of all time! Now witness Always Sunny’s blatant ripoff tribute to that legendary game show when the cast competes on the exact same style of show they call Family Fight! PART 2 - RANKINGS 30 THROUGH 24 30) Videogames in Theatrical Form Longtime followers of my work may recall my podcasting days where my co-hosts and I would go out of our way to track down and cover almost every major and obscure videogame licensed film that hit theaters or direct-to-video. Minus a few exceptions, they were usually painful experiences. Even though my podcasting days are behind me I still like to keep up the tradition of catching any new film that hits the theater or video that is based on or around videogames. 2018 I managed to catch four new films that fit the criteria. The new Tomb Raider featuring Alicia Vikander as the one and only Lara Croft was solid, but nothing spectacular. It had a handful of memorable stunts and captured a few of the moments I recall from the acclaimed self-titled reboot game in 2013 so on the videogame film curve I would categorize that as a ‘win.’ Rampage featuring The Rock totally surprised me how they were able to get a fun movie out of a straightforward arcade smash-em-up from the 80s. Within a half hour I was feeling for the monsters and Rock’s connection for them was surprisingly powerful. Really good stuff that you should not dismiss!

Looking back on Ready Player One several months after its release I can safely recommend it. I loved the book when I read it shortly after its release several years ago and I was somewhat conflicted coming out of the film. This is because of how far it strayed from the book yet essentially maintained a similar over-arching plot on how a world full of gamers playing the same VR game are tracking down the creator’s hidden ‘easter egg’ in order to inherit his riches and become his heir. Avid game player I am I could not help but keep my eyes peeled for as many as ‘blink-and-you-will-miss-it’ cameos from the beloved mascots of videogames and pop culture from over the years. After hearing how the author wrote the screenplay and gave his seal of approval for the changes I eventually was won over by them especially since the changes were entertaining and since the film came out only four or five years after the book it could have been a slog to see the movie play out 100% the same. To close off 2018 a few weeks ago I took two of my many nieces and nephews to see Wreck-It Ralph 2: Ralph Breaks the Internet. That was a unique experience because my middle-school aged niece and nephew were ecstatic to point out a couple of YouTubers they follow that have cameos in the film. The sequel had a similar structure to the first where the first 20-ish minutes circle around Ralph and Vanellope loving life in their arcade they reside and visiting other arcade classics of gaming lore. I love how Tapper got a lot of love in the film with Ralph and Vanellope making that game setting their late-night watering hole of choice! Eventually though their arcade gets hooked up to WiFi and it was fun seeing Ralph and Vanellope take a journey in Disney’s CG version of the Internet with lots of real-life companies like Google, Amazon, etc. having their own fun representations in the film. This sequel was a big hit with me and once I got past the welcomed videogame references in the first 20 minutes I enjoyed Wreck-It Ralph 2’s overall plot exponentially more than the first film. 29) Yippee-Kay-Yay-Mutha….. For readers of this blog who may or may not also keep up with my film reviews here, I recently reviewed Die Hard in honor of it being a Christmas film classic (yes, I am one of those people). It should go without saying that Die Hard is one the all-time greatest action films, and after watching it again a few weeks ago I recalled how there were a few PSone and GameCube games I had vague memories of fairly decent receptions at the time and after discovering how low they were priced on eBay I decided to take a chance on them. I loved the arcade game, but do not own a Saturn so I did not hunt down that version, but got the two PSone Die Hard Trilogy games and Die Hard: Vendetta on GameCube. I have not had a chance to play them yet, but I have since watched a few entertaining Game Informer Replay videos on them revisiting these ‘gems’ to varying degrees of quality all these years later that will suffice for now until I get around to them. Here are a few links so you can check them out and do the same! 28) ….And Raging Justice….For All

I referenced in these round-ups before how every few years my friend Matt and I would marathon several random beat-em-up classics usually consisting of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and X-Men variety. The last time we did that was around 2015, and the current gen systems have been flooded with a quality amount of re-releases of classics and obscure releases and all-new installments in the genre that we have been neglecting for far too long. Just a couple weeks ago Matt and I finally got around to playing through one of them on the PS4 called Raging Justice. It had a similar look and feel to Final Fight, but with a slightly pastel-esque touch to the graphics that made the late ‘80s punk ooze right out of the game! The story had all kinds of goofy street punk gang warfare that we both ate up and we were really gelling in our playthrough and we were surprisingly not eating up that many lives. As a matter of fact we only went through one continue between both of us! After plowing through it within two hours we made a list of other similar new beat-em-ups that hit PS4/XB1 over the years so hopefully we will do better at sticking with this genre in 2019. 27) Now You’re Playing With a Power……ed Up NES/SNES Classic

If you do not want to go down the route listed above by hunting down HDMI cables for a system you do not own or a pricey HD-capable 3rd party version of a NES/SNES than there are a couple of grey-area alternatives. I talked about the RetroPie in last year’s round-up, so this year I want to focus on what people are calling ‘modding’ your NES/SNES Classic. I am not going to give you a step-by-step breakdown, but a quick Google/YouTube search will point you in the right direction. Once it is done you can add up to as many games that will fit in the Classic’s internal memory. If you stick with just NES games you can fit a majority of the NES’s library on the internal memory, SNES game sizes are noticeably bigger and if only going that route with ROMs you can fit roughly 200 of them on there…..that is if you in good faith own the original copies. There is a nice benefit to the NES/SNES Classic compared to the RetroPie and that is a friendlier user interface complete with upbeat background music and the ability to upload your own box art which ostensibly delivers the nostalgic sensation of browsing the shelves at a videogame rental store and thus is more appealing than scrolling through a large text box of games on a RetroPie. Since the NES/SNES Classic is HDMI it provides an excellent HD picture for these classic 8 and 16-bit games. This resulted in busting out both the NES & SNES Classic several times throughout 2018 for some free spirited gaming nights. 26) Tabletop/Pen and Paper Madness

I referenced last year how I started to get into semi-routinely board game nights with my friends Derek, Ryan and Brooke and we managed to keep the board game nights churning throughout 2018. Derek & Brooke have amassed a hearty collection of board games and we were able to rotate a fair amount of games from last year and new ones to try out this year. One of the board games we revisited often was Betrayal at House on Haunted Hill, and they release a spin-off called Betrayal at Baldur’s Gate we were all eager to try throughout the year. We finally busted it out on a day where my brother was able to join us and it was a great medieval themed take on the original game that did not disappoint. Another new board game we tried out was Elder Signs. Thank goodness Derek, Ryan and Brooke are awesome tutors because the game had an elaborate setup with many pieces and by about halfway through our session I was familiar enough with the play style that yielded a fantastic end to that round when all of us were able to mount an insurmountable comeback that resulted in an unlikely, thrilling win for us all! Shifting from tabletop gaming to pen and paper gaming, I have always been a fan of the SNES/GEN versions of Shadowrun. I always knew a group of friends that have been roleplaying the pen and paper RPG it is based on for quite a few years now and they reached out before to get me to play, but with my gonzo work/sleep schedule I knew it would be impossible to routinely play with them every week. I still had that itch to want to at least give it a honest try all these years later so I reached out to them and asked if I was able to commit to playing at least once a month with them and if they would they find a way to squeeze me in? Thank goodness they found a way to create random characters and place me into their campaign for the three times I made it out there to play with them. Mike is an awesome storyteller and ran a fun campaign, and I will also give props to Justine, Ron & Robb for being very welcoming and tolerant of my noob-ness and by being quite gracious sharing their infinite Shadowrun wisdom unto me. Unfortunately I fell out of the routine of playing with them after a few times, but I am glad to finally tried it out after all these years and would be down to make random cameos in their future sessions. 25) Kicking that Early Access Bug

I am going to cheat a smidge on this one because in December of 2017 through 2018 several games I invested lots of time into and/or have been majorly anticipating finally left Steam Early Access (SEA) and got official releases. Some went onto have official releases on console of well. Gang Beasts has always been silly goofy wrestling/brawling fun with creatures made of a silly puddy-esque substance and it was fascinating watching that game evolve over the several years Gang Beasts was in SEA until its official December 2017 release. I had fun times with friends in that game, and especially witnessing countless Giant Bomb sessions of its madness. FirePro World was another wrestling game that came out of SEA in December of 2017, but it was only in SEA for several months…not years. I have loved previous FirePro games for their faithful representation of a wrestling match and endless customization options, and was thrilled to see it get a physical PS4 release which wound up being the first physical wrestling game I picked up since…..wow…WWE 2K14. Road Redemption was another game that spent a few years in SEA and I was stoked that it finally got an official release in 2018, with later digital versions that hit PS4 and XB1 in the following months. I raved about it before in previous year-end round-ups, and it is long overdue to finally have a motorcycle combat racer that is finally worthy of being deemed a successor to the heralded Road Rash series. There is a lot more to Road Redemption than being a Road Rash clone, so stick with it as its bizarre rogue-lite nature of its career mode and bonkers weather and weaponry will unleash mayhem you likely did not anticipate coming in. Distance is another driving game that was in SEA for far too long, but after four years Distance emerged a fleshed out release. It is a driving game like nothing else, and the best way I can sum it up is a ‘trippy neon platforming Trials-esque’ driving experience. Its standout feature is a platforming ‘adventure’ mode which was rebuilt for the official release and went on to add so much other tracks and customization features since I last played Distance in SEA that I hope my meek PC can still handle it when I eventually revisit it!

Not done yet because two more driving games trapped for years in SEA also fully released in 2018. Jalopy is another adventure-esque driving game where you take your uncle on a trek across Eastern Europe in the family’s run-down lemon of a vehicle that needs constant attention and repairs and not to mention other tomfoolery the duo stumbles into amidst their travels. I have had my eye on Jalopy for awhile and was relieved to hear when its long SEA cycle also concluded. Finally, Bugbear’s project formerly known as Next Car Game released in 2018 as Wreckfest. It is the spiritual successor to Bugbear’s FlatOut line of demolition derby racing games that I have so many fond memories of. Wreckfest looks and feels like a current-gen FlatOut and I was glad to see it retain its excellent physics engine the series was known for. I was bummed to see the console release get a delay into the second half of 2019, but for those with capable PCs, Wreckfest is fully out now to consume in all its destructive glory! I do have two quick honorable mentions for this category. Super Indie Karts is an adorable Mario Kart-clone featuring mascots from many hit indie games as drivers that has also been in SEA forever. The developer keeps regularly adding content though and it just released a fresh batch of tracks and drivers (featuring the not-so-indie ToeJam & Earl) to the build a few days ago. I have nothing but super-fun memories of my time with Super Indie Karts so I hope it gets its long-awaited official release in 2019! Finally, while Shaq-Fu 2: A Legend Reborn never was officially in SEA when Shaq accidentally leaked it out in an offhanded interview four years ago shortly before its Kickstarter campaign premiere, it feels like it never left there once the game released to worst game of the year-caliber reception. I own two copies of the 1994 original Shaq-Fu, so I felt obligated to purchase the sequel when I recently stumbled upon it in the clearance bins for $6 just a few months after its release. 24) Good ‘ol Fashioned Videogame Couch Multiplayer

I will also give a quick mention to the videogame nights I was glad to be a part of with Derek, Brooke and Ryan! While 2018 saw us hit up more board game nights we managed to sneak in a few couch videogame multiplayer nights of some old favorites like Sony’s take on the JackBox Party Pack that is called That’s You where the four of us chuckled away the night at its irreverent trivia and doodling nonsense on each other’s faces. We also mixed in a couple other games into the rotation throughout the year. I heard great things about Towerfall before, but finally playing it was a rush and a half with its fast intense bouts of bow-and-arrow deathmatches with sudden death animations that left us in stitches! Derek introduced us to the bonkers four player game called Ultimate Chicken Horse where users play several quick rounds trying to reach a goal but insert random objects of torture between each round that makes getting to the goal near impossible by the end of the game. It was a big hit with our group. Finally it will behoove me to include the crazy night we had with the 360 game, Cloudberry Kingdom. It is an absurd runner game filled with all kinds of deathtraps just waiting to obliterate our adorable avatars. Cloudberry Kingdom has literally hundreds of levels, and as expected each one got procedurally more nuts but was still a blast to attempt to complete! After a couple hours of the madness and many attempts on one particularly troublesome stage we all had this priceless defeated look on our faces after we finally finished it and we all knew in that instant that we were DONE with it for the night! What a fantastic runner I hope we get to revisit again one day! ---YouTube Break #2--- Time for another breather! You do not have to be a fan of wrestling to enjoy these! ‘Bawdy Bawdy, We Like to Party’ legendary ECW tag team Public Enemy elucidates to rookie Mikey Whipwreck how championship wrestlers train in the mid-1990s. While we are here reminiscing about the Public Enemy, click here for their EPIC WCW theme song that was unavoidably catchy to sing-a-long with! PART 3 - RANKINGS 23 THROUGH 18 23) Wanting More Time to Dedicate to 2018’s Top Indie Games

There are a few websites and podcasts I follow that have tons of game of the year coverage, and it is a great place to get a reminder of those indie games that slipped through the cracks and I completely forgot about or neglected throughout the year. I heard enough praise about three of them that seemed up my alley and before the end of the year I was able to put in a 20-30 minute session with each of these. I wish I had more time for each, but my initial impressions were high for all three and I know I will put more time into them throughout 2019. Yoku’s Island Express is a hybrid of a pinball game and a MetroidVania that somehow delivered on both fronts as I unlocked more paths through an island by flipping my character and ball through a variety of colorful environments. My love for both genres makes me want to return to it ASAP. Minit is a roguelite RPG with an dastardly hook where each session has a one minute timer, but you retain all the items collected on each session that unlocks other paths on the map. I did about 20 sessions and as I got familiar with the game world I already was starting to plan my next steps ahead for my next minute run. Many jovial curses to the developers who intentionally programmed the NPC W-H-O-T-A-L-K-S-T-H-I-S-S-L-O-W to keep me in a nail-biter of a moment to hit the next checkpoint with literally a single second to spare! The last indie game I snuck in some time with was the Super Meat Boy-esque platformer, Celeste. This comes from the same developers who made Towerfall that I just got done shedding some love for above. The instant restarts and checkpoints make its fair-yet-punishing platforming worth the challenge to get through and I can already see its addicting ‘just-one-more-try’ instant respawns reminding me of the longer-than-intended sessions I had with the Trials games and I look forward to them in Celeste! I am only about a half hour in, but have heard nothing but the best of acclaim for its narrative about overcoming personal struggles to make it to the top of a mountain! 22) Fans of Gamers Who Crave Limited Runs

I imagine you have heard of them before, but if not then both Limited Run Games and FanGamer have both been great sites I have been persistently coming back to for primarily physical copies of smaller indie games and top-tier quality gaming memorabilia. I am happy to see Limited Run expanding in 2018 by finally starting to publish games on Switch and landing their more anticipated games in a limited window preorder program so everyone has a shot at getting a copy. It was also encouraging to hear that some of their games will be shipping in smaller quantities to Best Buys across the country so people who do not order their games online have a shot at getting some of their titles the traditional way. Some of the titles I ordered this year from them that I was stoked to get physical copies of include Late Shift, Read Only Memories and Golf Story. That is right, I do not own a Switch yet but ordered Golf Story because I loved the GBC/GBA RPG takes on Mario Golf that Golf Story is the spiritual successor of and I kept hearing how it hits all the right notes for fans of those handheld classics. I anticipate I will get a Switch within the next year pending the inevitable smaller redesign of the system. My only qualm with Limited Run now is with their growth their shipping times have significantly increased. I recall my first few Limited Run games I ordered taking 2-4 weeks to ship, now the last several I got all took 3-5 MONTHS each. Step it up guys! I will also tip my hat to FanGamer for their plethora of must-have merchandise. I loved their meticulously detailed strategy/companion guides for Earthbound and Mother 3. It is awesome they are collaborating with Jeremy Perish to publish deluxe hardcover books of his transcripts for his excellent Works line of anthology retro gaming videos. FanGamer has a ton of artistic shirts, posters and other memorabilia for many top-rated indie games. I ordered my first shirt from them recently with this design that perfectly captures the spirit of WindJammers. I am also perplexed with their sudden infatuation to the classic run-and-gunner, Sunset Riders, FanGamer recently obtained the merchandising rights for. They celebrated the occasion with a unique cosplay promotional video that almost convinced me to order their Sunset Riders branded wallet….almost! 21) 25 Years of the Real-est Interactive Multiplayer in the Room!

Guys, the 3DO is a pretty neat system! Seriously! Of course I did not spend the obscene $700 when it first launched 25 years ago, but I got it for a bargain in 2007 and went on to hunt down many games that I always wanted to try for the platform. Not all of them were winners, but there were several that wound up as worthy inclusions in my library. My recommended games for the 3DO include the awesome party game Twisted, its mascot platformer Gex and the original Need for Speed. 3DO also has excellent versions of Super Street Fighter II Turbo, Family Feud, Madden and arguably the best version of the classic motorcycle racer, Road Rash! Nearing its 25th anniversary and just in time for Halloween, the good people at Your Parents Basement Podcast invited me on to guest host and commemorate one of the 3DO’s spooooop-iest games, the Tia Carrere FMV thriller, The Daedalus Encounter! I busted out my 3DO from the closet and booted up my old save and came pretty darn close to finishing it before the puzzles got to be too much of a brainbuster for me! Riveting times were had breaking down and dissecting the game with the YPB crew which you can check out and download here. 20) Shmuppreciation 2018

One of my favorite podcasts I have been a listener to for over 13 years now is Super-the-Hardest. They use to be primarily videogame-centric, but have since evolved over the years to focus on whatever topics pique their interest such as craft brews, board games and jamming out to vinyl records! One of their longest traditions has always been dedicating March to shmup/space shooter games. I am not a pro shump player by any means, but always am down to pump in a few credits and blast away for as long as I can survive. They have a small, but tight-knit forum community I have always been a part of and when March hit the hosts were asking there if anyone was playing any shmups yet. A couple days went by with little response, and knowing how big shmup-month was for that community in previous years I was suddenly inspired to start up weekly high score chases on the forums there with the focus this year being on three random NES shmups each week. I tried to have a consistent rotation of the three games being one common/popular shmup such as Gradius & 1943, another lesser known domestic release like Alpha Mission & Zombie Nation and finally a imported Famicom game that never saw a stateside release with picks this year including Parodius Da & Gradius II. At least a few us participated each week posting our scores and exchanging tips and breaking down how good/awful that week’s selections were. It was a heck of a month and somehow I managed to keep up posting selections each week and got in time with every game! No idea if I will do it again for 2019, but if I do I think it may be time to upgrade to 16-bits! 19) The 3DS Soul Still Burns!!

I somehow managed to sneak in an hour of time into my 3DS each week. I was ecstatic to track down an English translation for Ace Attorney Investigation 2 that never saw an American release. I loved the first game and always wanted to play the follow-up and got most of the way through the first case. I finally played my first Fire Emblem game by putting in several hours into Fire Emblem Echoes. Hearing that Echoes was a good entry point for the series having played Advance Wars many years ago the gameplay was not that difficult to pick up. It has that same addicting strategy gameplay as Advance Wars, but with a medieval theme and a far richer narrative than what I recalled from my Advance Wars days. Just the couple of sessions I had with Echoes I was already starting to get attached to the cast. Hotel Dusk and its sequel, Last Window are my favorite DS games. They are mystery visual novels, and when I found out earlier in 2018 that some of the developers at Cing who worked on those games went on to make a bite-sized spiritual successor to it on the 3DS eShop called Chase: Cold Case Investigations - Distant Memories I knew I had to get it. I bought this around when it released in 2016 and neglected it until John from the Super the Hardest podcast recapped it earlier in 2018 and inspired me to pick it up. It is essentially a more stripped down version of Cing’s earlier games as it revolves around two detectives interviewing suspects for a hospital blast. Graphics and style remind me of Hotel Dusk and the lead detective in Distant Memories looks quite similar to one Kyle Hyde. It was a decent little visual novel that can be finished in less than three hours, and I hope it gets a follow-up, but it appears this one came and went because I have heard nothing since. I finally started up Theatrhythm 2: Curtain Call. In case you missed out on it before it assembles the protagonists from past Final Fantasy games and makes a fun battle system/rhythm game of over 100 songs from the rich history of Final Fantasy soundtracks while somehow fitting in a intricate narrative too. Wish I had more time to get into it and I think I will have to restart it I manage to deep dive into it because I spent the bulk of my 3DS time once again this year with Dragon Quest VIII. My save file is currently approaching 110 hours in DQVIII. However, the last 15-ish hours have been spent grinding from levels 40-65 for most of my party members for the final boss. To say the boss is a pain is an understatement. I failed multiple times at vanquishing him, thus the hours at grinding away. I will never forget my time with DQVIII, but am looking forward to finishing it on one of my next sessions so I can finally put more time into other games. The 3DS still had a strong 2018 from Nintendo published games and I wound up picking up Captain Toad, Detective Pikachu and WarioWare Gold which I desperately want to dive into! 18) ‘Get Ready for a Cruise Missile!’

I use to play a ton of sports games until several years ago. I took a long hiatus from them to focus on more narrative-driven games. Madden NFL ‘18 premiering its story mode dubbed ‘Longshot’ got me curious at giving the acclaimed football series another go for the first time in five years. I surprisingly dug Madden’s take on a story mode and loved playing as the fictional Devin Wade working his way through the reality show challenges and playing in flashback high school games with lighthearted local announcers providing the unintentional best sports commentary out there. Longshot also had a well-rounded cast filled with some surprising moments I never thought I would get invested in such as getting them sports feels flowing for the Longshot acoustic sing-a-long! The story mode only took a few hours to play through and even if you are not a fan of football games I would recommend giving it a shot as the football parts are few and far between and the story mode is primarily QTE/mini-game focused. Story mode aside, I managed to play a few rounds online against my friend Steve I use to play countless sports games with over the years and it felt good to reignite that rivalry. Madden still plays as good as I remember, and one thing I want to point out from the core game is the new NFL commentators they brought in for ’18 & ’19 with Brandon Gaudin & Charles Davis easily being the best announce team in Madden history that added a ton to the presentation unlike any Madden announce team before them! I did pick up Madden NFL ‘19 recently because it has ‘Longshot Part 2’ which promises to conclude the storyline for Devin Wade and his buddy Colt Cruise, but other than a couple rounds online with Steve again I have yet to dive into it. After catching a couple scenes online I am psyched to see how Longshot concludes and plan on blitzing through it around Super Bowl time like I did with part one in 2018.

If you are not a fan of sim-football and prefer arcade style action in the vein of NFL Blitz than I will instead point you towards Mutant Football League which I played nearly a full season of off-and-on throughout 2018. It is the spiritual successor to EA’s awesome Mutant League Football on the Genesis, and part of me is still surprised how the team did not get a cease-and-desist from EA with a slightly altered name change and bring over so much of the look and feel of the original game. It modernized all the things I loved from the first game with a game engine that plays like a amped up version of Blitz, and retains classic elements of the Genesis game like being able to kill your adversaries in all types of gruesome ways and introducing awesome powered up attacks that can be used once per half to up the brutality. And yes, you can still bribe and kill refs! I was a little bummed Mutant Football League did not get that much of a buzz when it finally released because it had a successful Kickstarter campaign and a follow-up to the Genesis game has been long demanded in the sports gaming circles I follow. A physical copy released later in the year with a new Franchise mode included so hopefully that will bring some new eyes onto the game. If you want more over-the-top arcade-like gameplay out of your football games then by all means give Mutant Football League a try! I also got really into my first basketball-sim in many years. I dabbled with a couple arcade-hoops games over past couple years and really dug the Neo-Geo Arcade Archives re-release of Street Hoop on Xbox One, while the free-to-play Xbox One hoops game, 3-on-3 Freestyle…..not so much. I always stuck with NBA 2K games as my NBA sim of choice since their debut on Dreamcast and picked one up every couple years and played them regularly through 2K11. Early in 2018 however a super cheap digital sale on NBA Live ‘18 convinced me to give it a shot. I have solely been playing its create-a-player story/career mode ‘The One.’ I have been digging it and loved the first several games I played in ‘The One’ proving my worth in street games of 21. Every few games there would be these hilarious FMV updates from a First Take set with Stephen A Smith and Max Kellerman being over-the-top versions of their already over-the-top personalities which convinced me that my created player was going to dominate the street leagues and become the #1 draftee in the NBA….it did not turn out that way, but I am having a blast so far proudly representing the Timberwolves while dishing out far too many three-point attempts than I should be. ---YouTube Break #3--- Re-watching that NBA Live ’18 clip of Stephen A. Smith got me to dig up this compilation of clips of Mr. Smith at his zaniest. Here is the final version of the full Longshot song of which I have no shame having it in my running playlist! PART 4 - RANKINGS 17 THROUGH 14 17) The End Day is a Lie!

I was going to say a couple entries earlier when covering all those NES shmups that I have not played that much NES in years, but that statement would have been false because mere weeks before that I played through the entirety of the post-apocalyptic, action-RPG Crystalis on NES! It was the featured game on the first of two Your Parents Basement podcast episodes I guest hosted on for 2018. I picked up both the NES and GBC versions a couple years ago after hearing countless years of love from the staff at GameCola about it. I managed to play through most of it by the time we recorded that YPB episode and finished it off a few days after that. All these years after its original release, Crystalis is still a fun action-RPG to plow through. I loved the accessibility of the combat, and while the options to choose from to level up seem quaint now, I can imagine how they were top of their league at the time. After beating the NES version I put an hour into the GBC port to see how it held up. I heard the GBC version get a fair amount of slack over the years, but from my initial time with the handheld port it seemed noticeably cleaner and had some useful tips at the opening town that would have benefitted my first time through. I had a great time sharing my experience with the YPB crew and if you are interested in hearing our takes on SNK’s 8-bit RPG then click here to check out that episode. It seemed only fitting that the NES original got its first retro re-release later on in 2018 on the SNK 40th Anniversary Collection on Switch. 16) Pinball Quest 2018

Welcome to my yearly blurb all about feeding my addiction to videogame pinball. In case you skipped around this year-end round-up (I do not blame you!) I will refer you to entry #23 for some quick thoughts on Yoku’s Island Express. I only got a few rounds of my favorite PC-exclusive pinball game, Hyperspace Pinball in 2018, and the last time I played it a couple weeks ago I had a great run and was briefly ecstatic until the leaderboard indicated I missed my personal high-score by a smidge! I also gave a couple runs to what appears to be a mobile pinball game ported to Xbox One in Quantic Pinball. It is a fine little pinball game, but its mobile roots are too apparent and not many upgrades are present to make the console release feel warranted. 2018 was a strange year for Pinball Arcade. I wanted to make the switch to primarily playing it on PS4 in 2017, but that proved difficult upon discovery of my dozens of tables I purchased on PS3/Vita not being import-able to the PS4 version like I was able to for the dozens of tables I acquired for Zen Pinball 2 to work on Pinball FX3. So that meant I would have to buy the tables all over again. I held off for a long time, but I wound up spending roughly $200 on all of the DLC for it upon hearing midway in 2018 all of Pinball Arcade’s collection of tables under license from Williams/Bally would no longer be supported for purchase with only a few weeks notice to be able to buy them and add them to your Pinball Arcade library. Plopping down around $200 all at once for that DLC was a punch in the gut, but ultimately I do not regret it because there are some minor, but noticeable enhancements to the visuals on the PS4 version of Pinball Arcade and it has a slightly cleaner feel to the gameplay too. Additionally the developers at Farsight now have a separate game called Stern Pinball Arcade so the newer Stern tables have a flashier place to reside. I perfectly understand the idea to make the Stern tables pop more on their own platform. The Stern tables purchased theoretically work in both Pinball Arcade and Stern Pinball Arcade, but doing so requires reactivating the purchased license in the clunky Playstation Store interface and it once lead to me to inadvertently purchasing the same table twice.

A couple months later I was stunned to find out that Zen Studios gained the license for the Williams tables and by the end of the year would have their first seven tables from the Williams/Bally collection available for download to Pinball FX3 (PFX3). I have mixed feelings about this. I do like Zen’s optional upgraded graphical enhancements to the tables, but the overall physics for the ball movement does not feel like the authentic movement that Pinball Arcade faithfully represented. There is an option in Pinball Arcade for ‘classic mode’ which kind of slows down the speed of play and leans the gameplay to marginally feel like an authentic pinball experience, but it simply does not cut it overall. Hopefully Zen can take the feedback and continue to improve in future DLC tables. Gripes on the Williams tables aside, I enjoyed the rest of my time in 2018 with PFX3. I have heard the criticism for Zen Studios’ unrealistic style of pinball, but I have always been a fan of theirs and feel there is room for both authentic digital pinball from Pinball Arcade and faster physics with the more fantastical tables from Zen. I finally started to grasp PFX3’s initially intimidating ‘mastery’ system of each table. The mastery system is topping off essentially an experience meter for each table by achieving score goals in each gameplay option available and maxing out several stat meters. I did this for The Infinity Gauntlet, Back to the Future and almost all the way for Medieval Madness. I also got into the weekly online scoring ‘matchup’ league play where PFX3 randomly picks four tables and scores posted by three random players in three skill levels for three minutes of play each week. By toying around with trying to master tables and online score chasing in matchup play it lead to a lot more time invested in Pinball FX3 compared to 2017. 15) Sega Channel 2018

In the summer of 1996 I spent about five or six afternoons a week at my friend’s place playing Sega Channel. No memories of it? Here is some vintage archival footage of its menus of the Sega Channel experience. It was Sega’s sweet-at-the-time service where in coordination with cable companies from 1994-98 you would pay $15/month to have a rotating monthly selection of 40 games playable from a special cartridge that hooked up to the household cable line. Games would download to a temporary internal memory on the cartridge from the cable line over a minute or two and save states were also available. It was the current Netflix streaming of gaming and was way ahead of its time. It was also how I discovered countless Genesis favorites I hunted down at local shops and online after I got my first job a few years later. It took 20 years after Sega Channel shutdown to get a faithful reincarnation of it, but only far better in every way. GameTap sort of brought it back to the PC for the few years it was around in the 2000s. However, Xbox brought it back in full force with its excellent Game Pass service for Xbox One it introduced in 2018. Instead of 40 games available to play each month there are 100+ rotating games for Xbox. Add on Microsoft’s bold move of making all their first party games available on Game Pass on day one of their release and it would be insane not to recommend it, especially for new Xbox One owners. I actually am that insane though and do not have it because of my massive backlog and lack of time to commit. However for new Xbox One owners and/or game players on a budget like students or parents looking to save lots of money getting games for their kids they would be in an ideal position going with Game Pass and a Games for Gold subscription which additionally nets ownership of four games each month to their Xbox games library. 14) Ride or Die

Like pinball games, I also have a yearly blurb on my experiences with racing/driving games for the year. I felt my year in driving titles slightly nudged out my pinball times, thus it being a couple notches higher ranked. If you dear reader are randomly bouncing around this list then I will refer you to entry #25 where I touch on driving games coming out of Steam Early Access such as Road Redemption, Wreckfest, Distance, Jalopy & Super Indie Kart. There were a few driving titles I dabbled this year in that I wish I had more time to plug away at. As you will see later in this round-up, I am a nut for the Sega 80s arcade driving titles like Hang-On & OutRun, and the PS4/Switch release of Horizon Chase Turbo is the best spiritual successor to that type of racer I have seen over the years. They brought on the same composer from those games and the visuals have a nice modern HD look to them that capture the spirit of those 80s greats. It has been a great while since I played a snowmobile racing game and Ski-Doo Snowmobile Challenge was a limited, but fun budget title racer on PS3 that reminded me of a fond time when all I wanted was a no-thrills career mode with a few dozen races and simple stat upgrades to deal with in a career mode. Drive!Drive!Drive! was the final racer I put some minor time into, and that was an extraordinary title where I would have to bounce around multiple cameras to control simultaneous races. At the beginning of the year I was wrapping up the last dozen or so races/events in the 360 version of Forza Horizon 2. I had another good time with it like its open-world predecessor and took advantage of that rewind button to avoid retrying the same track over and over, but looking back I preferred the experience of the first FH more as the sequel seemed more of the same, but in a less spectacular backdrop. Friends are telling me to skip three and jump to the new fourth game in the series getting a lot of buzz online now, but the third game has that tempting Australian outback setting I froth to explore and on top of that the unique Hot Wheels DLC pack I heard nothing but superb things about. So I will continue to be extremely behind on that series and plan to jump into FH3 later this year.

I went on an odd Monster Truck binge in 2018. The Xbox One digital store had Monster Jam: Crush-It available for dirt cheap one week, and having a modicum of nostalgic memories of past entries in the long running budget title series I wound up taking a chance on it. After spending far more time than I should have with it, ‘budget’ is a generous description for Crush-It, because this racer is full of absurd physics, bizarre collision detection and endless other bugs. After a ton of bugs causing too many rage-inducing moments I beat enough tracks and finished all the challenges to make Crush-It of all games to have the dubious honor of being the first Xbox One game I unlocked the full 1000 gamerscore in. After wrapping up my time with Crush-It I stumbled into picking up a copy of Monster Truck Madness 64. Microsoft was developing the series at that point on PC for awhile, but ported it to N64 and had a pre-GTA Rockstar Games publish it for them. Unfortunately the Rockstar branding could not have saved MM64 as it too was also rough around the edges with terribly loose steering that had me dreading every corner. It did feature the nWo muscle trucks at the time though that brought back memories of the old WCW Motorsports advertising. The racing game I put the most time into in 2018 was The Crew. Not the sequel that came out later in the year, but the original game. I got around halfway in it via staggered play over the previous year or two, but with the release of the sequel approaching I grinded away in the couple of months leading up to its release to finish the avenge your brother’s death storyline which I actually kind of dug. There was a surprisingly gripping cinema building up to campaign’s final race where I was legit getting behind protagonist Alex Taylor. I had fun just messing around and cruising around UbiSoft’s condensed open-world of the continental United States and tracking down their take on iconic landmarks. I messed around a little here and there with their instantaneous online coop/versus multiplayer reminiscent of Test Drive Unlimited, and had a few fun online moments but I enjoyed most of my time in the single player. Gameplay wise it is not five stars by any means, and I would prefer Forza Horizon any day, but there was something about the gritty underground nature of The Crew and its car-culture-gang-warfare story that kept me sticking with it. I eventually picked up the sequel recently on a bargain bin digital sale for the ultimate season pass edition being 60% off so who knows, I likely see myself in 2019 playing The Crew 2 and Forza Horizon 3 concurrently at my regular on-and-off pace. ---YouTube Break #4--- I am always a sucker for when a racing game injects a storyline to its single player campaign, especially if it is completely ridiculous! Hey, you know what other racing game had super-cheesy-yet-awesome cutscenes? The original Need for Speed: Most Wanted in 2005. Here is a link to its entire half hour of cutscenes. Eat your heart out Tokyo Drift! They came a long way from EA’s DIY live-action cinemas from the original 3DO game that you can see right here. EA tried to recapture the glory days of their cornball cutscenes with 2015’s Need for Speed. It has some moments like first person fist-bumping and energy drink chugging that you see in their entire bro-ness right here, but 2005’s Most Wanted will always reign supreme in my book! PART 5 - RANKINGS 13 THROUGH 10 13) Spoooooky Gaming For Halloween I brought up to my board game/videogame night friends Derek, Brooke & Ryan about doing a spooky gaming marathon. They did me one better and recommend I bring over my copy of Hidden Agenda on PS4 to binge through that I have been occasionally throwing out for an option over the previous months. Hidden Agenda kind of snuck under-the-radar towards the end of 2017 as it came from the same team that made the critically acclaimed teenage spooky thriller, Until Dawn. This is another spooky-thriller, but designed to be played with your friends and finished in one session within three hours. It is a game that requires a smartphone app to play, and luckily it came close, but did not deplete our entire charge by the time the credits rolled. The app had some clever functionality that kept tabs on case notes and presented us with options to vote on which way to take the story next like having to choose which part of the case to investigate, or which path to split off into. While the story was a little all over the place it managed to get us riled up and jumpy a few times, and was still a blast to play through in its entirety in a single night on Halloween weekend. Now I need to replay it on my own to have complete control over the story so on my calendar this October I am going to write a big reminder to replay Hidden Agenda and finally bust open and plow through Until Dawn. 12) Back-to-Back!!!

I have been avoiding most co-op gaming that cannot be finished in a single session like Hidden Agenda for a few years now due to lack of time to finish lengthier co-op games. I made one exception this year where my same friend Matt and I met up twice to persevere through A Way Out. It is a coop game clocking in at around a whopping six hours. That is a lot for me nowadays. Matt and I absolutely loved our time with A Way Out. Spending the first couple of hours getting to know the prison system and plan our escape was a rush and it reminded me of the equally awesome first few hours of Xbox’s Chronicles of Riddick. Crawling up the air shaft with that back-to-back mini-game will go down as one of my favorite moments in co-op gameplay. The plot I found myself getting into where two would-be fugitives found themselves teaming up to escape prison and get back to their loved ones. It kind of disappointingly unravels in the final moments with some bold narrative choices the developers made that I am still processing in my mind on how I feel about the final hour of play. The ‘must talk to everyone’ extremist in me was addicted to talking to nearly all NPCs and have brief choice-based conversations with all of them. The developers at Hazelight Studios cram in diverse gameplay throughout with plenty of exploring, interrogating, QTE segments, platforming, gunfights, intense car chase sequences and a big highlight being a hospital chase sequence where A Way Out seamlessly bounces back and forth between the two characters as they get split up and must evade the police. If you are looking for something fresh and different than the infinite amount of co-op shooters available, then give A Way Out a chance. 11) ‘This is a No-Smoking Flight!’

If you do not recognize that quote it is from the adorable master of cooking eggs, Sunny, at the close of one of the numerous lengthy cutscenes that Metal Gear Solid 4 was known for. The ending cutscene is literally the length of a movie, and the cinemas between each of MGS4’s acts are right around an hour each and I would not want it any other way! MGS4 was the first MGS game I finished nearly 10 years ago and I decided it was only appropriate to revisit it after finishing the first three MGS games in the past couple of years. I got so much more out of MGS4 this way by actually getting the countless past references to the core trilogy of games this time around. I loved that MG4 also had memorable debuting characters like the aforementioned Sunny and the soda-chugging gun-runner, Drebin! Since I last played MGS4 Konami has also patched in trophies so it was worthwhile to hunt down those and look into some that swayed me to approach gameplay in a different fashion which yielded a refreshing second go-around. After finishing MGS4, I continued my ritual of view that installment’s complete gameplay commentary from Dan and Drew at GiantBomb to get essentially a third playthrough experience out of MGS4. I did not make major progress in the rest of my Metal Gear quest otherwise throughout the year. I did get a little ways into MGS5 at the beginning of the year, but then felt compelled to drop it and play through MGS4 before it instead. That was probably a wrong decision in hindsight, but at least it gives me an excuse to restart it and experience one of gaming’s grandest opening missions yet again. I did pick up the GBC version of Metal Gear Solid last year for a decent price at a local retro shop, so if I ever do finish MGS5 I would like to play the GBC title along with the MSX versions of the original two games. 10) Better Late than Never

I have no idea why I held off seven years on getting around to the highly-touted Saints Row the Third, especially after loving the first two games and finishing them in quick fashion right around their release. The third game in the open-world crime action series upped the zany factor the series debuted in the second game with some of its activities by introducing all kinds of over-the-top elements in the story missions and into the weapons, upgrades, you name it. Here are a few examples so you can see for yourself. Saints Row the Third gave the franchise its own satirical identity when before it was only a pretty solid GTA-clone. Waiting seven years to get to this classic made certain parts of the graphics seem a little long in the tooth, but for the most part the visuals and core gameplay held up nicely. Experimenting with the huge variety of weapons and vehicles available made cruising through the open world a lot of fun. Same goes for the series trademark offering of mini-game ‘activities.’ The developers at Volition pushed every button to get the most out of that M rating to make its missions standout like no other as they go in places you will not believe. I went on to play both pieces of the story-based DLC content which take the Saints in filming their own Gangstas in Space movie and chasing down an evil mutant clone of series mascot, Johnny Gat. If you missed out on this landmark achievement in open-world gameplay then consider this synopsis somewhat timely since THQ Nordic will be releasing Saints Row the Third later this year on switch. ---YouTube Break #5--- Grab a glass of water dear reader for still sticking with me through this unbelievable amount of words! If you stuck with last year’s round-up to the very end, then you will remember this video I will treat you to a little early. That is right it is time for the epic John Cena animated prank call of doom! Speaking of Mr. ‘You Can’t See Me’ here is a fun clip I recently ran into John promoting his recent BumbleBee film where he chats up Matt McConaughey about old school Texas wrestling. What is that? You want a non wrestling-related video, fine I get it, then enjoy this take from James Rolfe as he breaks down two childhood favorite video game themed game shows I grew up with in the early 90s, Video Power & Nick Arcade. PART 6 - RANKINGS 9 THROUGH 4 9)Discovering my Favorite Gaming Blog

Early in 2018 I was scouring the webs digging up info on the must-have import games for the Super Famicom/SNES. I came across this top 50 list ranking the most obscure SNES imports from a blog called RVGFanatic. It is a blog primarily dedicated to covering SNES/Super Famicom games, but also has the occasional feature covering a game on another system or a random personal life story. The site has been around for over a decade and RVGFanatic continues to publish a few new entries a month. His writing and coverage reminds me of the writing style dominant in gaming magazines from the 90s and RVGFanatic stated in various articles that was his intention with the design in the blog. I spent a good chunk of the year revisiting his site and perusing the archives there because there is an earnest quality to his writing that captures the sheer joy of growing up with those games. He manages to be both reflective and current with his writing recognizing pros and cons the games have been known for, while also recapturing the experience of playing that game for the first time. A prime example of this is his recent review of Clay Fighter. It perfectly encapsulated my memories of the much hyped fighter looking wicked cool with its revolutionary graphics which helped hide its haphazard gameplay. His occasional personal blogs were metaphorical page-turners too as I related with him perfectly to his excellent write-up of rental store memories as well with his piece on wrestling nostalgia of the Hulk-a-Mania years of the then-WWF. I can recommend so many more of his articles and reviews, but instead I recommend you dive in and get lost in RVGFanatic’s archives like I did! 8) My Handpicked Top Gaming Videos of 2018 I have been scouring the YouTubes and GiantBombs throughout the year and have some of my highest recommendations of my favorite videos to add to your watch later q! Without further ado, here are my top picks of 2018… GiantBomb - Die Another Friday| Winter Games 2018 | Gaiden the Ring & Get in the Ring| Mario Party Party 11 | Quiet Man Quick Look | Wreckfest Quick Look | Detective Pikachu Quick Look Jeremy Parish ‘Works’ Videos - Too hard to pick just one all of them are so informative and comprehensive. Pick a system of Works videos from the playlists indexed here MetalJesus - Game Pickups with Reggie | Vinyl Record Pickups | Wii and PSP Hidden Gems |PS2 Hidden Gems Gaming Historian – Story of Punchout | Story of Tetris Game Sack – Star Trek Games Up Up Down Down - E3 Live – Elite vs New Day Street Fighter V Challenge | Edge and Christian NHL 95 Faceoff No Clip – History of Bethesda AVGN - Earthbound | Home Alone games with MaCauly Caulkin Same Name, Different Game – FirePro Wrestling | Punisher | Street Fighter Alpha Classic Gaming Quarterly - Let’s Read TurboPlay | Nintendo Power | Game Pro | Official DreamCast Magazine Scott the Woz - Wii Ware Chronicles | Devils Third | Madden NFL 08 That list there is days full of quality videos to last you throughout 2019, I hope you dig them as much as I did! 7) Videogame Vinyl

How the hell did I go down this whole!? I recall first getting clued into the world of emerging videogame soundtracks on vinyl from this music primer episode of Retronauts. Later in 2017 a friend gifted me his old record player since he recently upgrade along with a couple records. Since I had the record player in my possession I figured I had to had to track down a just a few records for it and I heard good things about soundtrack vinyls from Mondo and I went and ordered several records from them. That was the first domino tumbling right there, and from that point it was inevitable to prevent the rest tumbling after them. Throughout 2018 other websites I follow like Limited Run, Data Disc and FanGamer started to offer videogame OSTs on vinyl and I made several more purchases throughout the year. I do not have hundreds of vinyls mind you, but I finished the year with around 15. I made sure to track down some iconic videogame soundtracks like a few from the Castlevania series, Earthbound and Snatcher. There were also a few oddballs that still boggle my mind why they got a vinyl release like Windjammers and Mortal Kombat I & II that I convinced myself I had to have. I am not buying these to sit on the shelf though as I have been getting some quality use out of my record player jamming out to soundtracks while cleaning the house and doing DDP Yoga three times a week. 6) Hey-a Fellers

It was practically impossible to avoid getting sucked up by the whirlwind of hype in the months leading up to Red Dead Redemption 2’s release. I also loved its predecessor so much that I knew I had to be there day one to be in on the conversation going around the gaming press zeitgeist about RDR2’s opening acts. South Park got in on the RDR2 hype train too with a couple episodes where the whole town is addicted to it. Rockstar does not disappoint with their narrative and audio/visual presentation. I will not bore you with the details you have likely read elsewhere by now, but rest assured the open-world, cast, narrative, visuals and especially the score and voice acting is aces all around! Not all is aces though as RDR2’s multi-faceted control scheme has been divisive among many in the gaming media. Bottom line, there are too many functions for every button on the controller, and at points I completely forgot certain controls and had to do a quick online search for a refresher on how to do specific abilities like dual wielding and changing coats. Those gripes quickly washed away after extended sessions with RDR2 where I cannot help but get immersed and lose myself in the world. I spent so much time looking forward to getting distracted by whatever quick instant side mission or event that popped up traversing to my next checkpoint. According to my progress I am 36% the way through RDR2 after what seems roughly that many hours in the game, however I am only in chapter two because I keep having so much fun clearing out whatever side missions get accumulated in my checklist. I easily see many more hours to come in RDR2 throughout 2019. 5) The Hidden Beauty of Shield Snow-Surfing!

2017’s #1 pick, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild took up so much of my playtime in 2018 that it managed to eeek its way into my top five of 2018! There is simply so much to explore, see and do and I am insane at refusing to take advantage of fast travel due to fear of missing out on seeing cool stuff. The photo I attached here showing my 133 hours of total play time was taken shortly before Halloween and I have put at least several more hours in since then. I will give a shoutout to my co-worker Mike who has been awesome to trade tips and stories with since Breath of the Wild’s launch. He gave me a ton of great pointers and his advice has made my experience with BotW a better one! Mike filled me in all about the wondrous technique that is shield surfing! I later discovered more about it when my random traversing lead me to a corner of the wintry mountainous region of the map where I was taught shield surfing and how that lead to the thrills surfing through the snow blanketed mountains of Hyrule. I have made so much progress this year! I am down to needing to unlock only two more parts of the map where my one last divine beast to conquer lies before finally taking on Hyrule Castle and Ganon! I loved my time in the Lost Woods and Lomei Labyrinth Island that was a hoot to find my way out of. I finally got the Master Sword. I took some stabs at the DLC trials for the Master Sword which is reminiscent of the extremely tough-but-fair challenge that is Eventide Island. I failed after several attempts, but would like to conquer them to increase the Master Sword’s power! Speaking of DLC I waded around with a handful of the DLC quests available and unlocked the Korok mask from the DLC quests which looks funky as hell, but it has helped me amass at least triple the amount of Korok Seeds I would have found on my own. I want to jump into the DLC quest that unlocks the ‘Master Cycle Zero’ (aka Hyrule Motorcycle) as footage I have seen so far looks straight-up rad cruising through Hyrule in their trippy looking hot-rod. Mark my words, Breath of the Wild, in 2019 I will finally finish the core quest and vanquish Ganon and unlock the Master Cycle Zero! 4) Eeeeeeelsss Oxenfree was my game of the year in 2016. I loved its art style, mysterious narrative and especially its script where the teenagers would one second be trying to solve this multi-layered mystery on an island and the next have a heart-to-heart chat about stereotypical teenage drama. Night in the Woods was receiving a lot of the same buzz over it also being a Narrative Exploration game with a relatable 2D art style and similar plot hooks to the point that among the gaming press it was generating buzz of being 2017’s top Narrative Exploration title. After looking into Night in the Woods I could not help but be reeled in by its plot where a failed college student drops out of college two years in and returns to her small podunk town of Possum Springs to try and recapture her days of chilling with her high school friends but only for them all to be later caught up in local town superstitions proving not to be so superstitious.

As attractive as the plot was I could not help but, I would not say be turned off, but rather mystified about the decision to go with humanoid-structured animals representing all the characters. First impressions watching initial gameplay of Night in the Woods made that choice in character style difficult to suspend my disbelief and maintain my focus on checking out the game. I am not saying that is a bad thing, I am simply stating that is what was perplexing my mind. There must have been others who felt similar to me because there was also a harsher vocal contingent who was upset with people avoiding the game due to the art style who wrote a few articles stating that if you were avoiding playing this because of animals as characters than to F off. That led to me not wanting to get caught up in all that hoopla so I decided it was best to avoid that controversy. It was only around game of the year time at the end of 2017 where I heard friendlier supporters of the game rally behind it with high praise that convinced me to give it a chance and start it up at the beginning of 2018. I am relieved I did because Night in the Woods is a kickass Narrative Exploration game! The writing is right up there with Oxenfree as all the characters captured that local post-high school angst and rebellion of trying to make it in the real world and things not quite working out. I settled into a convenient routine of daily life gameplay where the player character Mae would check in with her parents and of course with me being me, make sure to talk to every local I would come across because they had something different to say every day! The dialogue for every major and minor character was so spot on that it made going out of my way to talk to everyone worthwhile and random spots in town had special one-time moments going in with periphery characters that if I did not check out I would have completely missed out on such as a poetry reading contest, breaking light bulbs behind a corner store and checking out the stars with your old teacher.

There are a lot of singular moments that really stuck with me in Night in the Woods. Every day in the game you are presented with the option of going out on a side-adventure with one of Mae’s two best friends Gregg or Bae. I chose to do all mine with Bae so if I do get around to playing through this again I will do Gregg’s side stories on my replay to have at least a little bit of new content playable in each day of gameplay. Bae has some priceless moments with Mae where the two have serious chats about their most personal feelings that few other games I have seen dared, and they also have some priceless lighthearted moments where the two get mischievous in a dilapidated mall, complete with a mini-game on trying to steal from a Hot Topic-esque store. The most hard-hitting moment that I vividly recall was when Mae’s mom has a bad day and does a 180 heel turn on her daughter! It hurt so much! Mommmmm!!!! I was thinking once Night in the Woods was going to focus more on the supernatural mystery it would take away from Mae’s personal drama that was so irresistible to get caught up in. Thankfully, that was not the case as it was doubly entertaining to watch Mae’s crew come together and discover the truth behind the superstitions plaguing Possum Springs. As you can tell I got so into Night in the Woods’ page-turning narrative that within about a half hour of starting the thought of the characters being animals did not cross my mind, and looking back on it the designs of the animals corresponded appropriately to the personalities they were representing. Minus the handful of over-ambitious dream sequences that were a little bit of a chore to get through and I might have given this a nod over Oxenfree. That split hair aside, Night in the Woods is a spectacular Narrative Exploration game and hangs in the upper elite tier of them with Oxenfree, Firewatch and Gone Home so if these games are up your alley make sure you do not make the same mistake I did and hold off on Night in the Woods for this long. ---YouTube Break #6--- Holy hell, I did not intend to turn my listing for Night in the Woods into a full-on review, but I could not help myself! Good news though dear reader, we are finally at the last YouTube break as we approach the final three entries of my Top 36 Gaming Experiences of the Year!!! So let us cleanse our palates from games for a moment and grab a Yoo-Hoo from the fridge and mix it with a shot of Rumchata as we watch my last YouTube recommendations. Cinemassacre started a new line of videos on their channel in 2018 that I got into called Rental Reviews. Those reviews are four guys gathering around and breaking down a new or classic movie they watched earlier that week and it reminded me of going to films with a few friends and hanging outside the theater for awhile rambling on about how much we loved or hated that movie. The Cinemassacre crew has some fun with the episodes with mini sketches introducing the episodes and random mid-episode gags. My favorite episodes from their first year that I recommend the most are for Star Trek V, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, Rental Store Memories, Street Fighter, Die Hard & Commando. Now that we got all that movie criticism out of the way, let us proceed with the final three entries for the year. Thank you all to have hung in with me so far on this one-of-a-kind game of the year journey! PART 7 - RANKINGS 3 THROUGH 1 3) Returning to the Midwest Gaming Classic

From 2007-2013 one of my favorite times of the year was attending a local retro game expo, The Midwest Gaming Classic. Many great times were had there hunting down retro games, hanging out with an awesome forum community I once frequented, classic sessions of late-night karaoke and checking out tons of arcade machines and game consoles set up on free play. Unfortunately the timing of it always fell in a rough time of the year for me and it grew increasingly difficult to make time for it each year until it came down to where I had to stop going for four years. I was not going to make it this year again until a couple of my online gaming friends who I hung out with at MGC before and still keep in touch with asked if I was making it and that convinced me to pull some strings at work and manage to split up some vacation days I had coming so I was able to make the 12-hour drive out to Milwaukee and back home with a couple hours to spare before my first shift back at work. Bear with me as I give yet another shoutout to Glenn and Jeff for reaching out and asking me about MGC because it resulted in an awesome weekend with some wicked weather to dance around to make it there and back. Wound up hanging out and touching base again with tons of great people I had not seen in four or five years. We had a blast hanging out late night after the show playing SNES games on a projector until we were zombies and watching the spiritual successor to King of Kong in Man vs. Snake. It also helped that MGC has moved to a bigger and nicer venue from the last time I went with room to grow. It was like MGC got revitalized by having adequate room for the mammoth vendor halls, game museum, free play arcade and conference rooms for speakers and panels. I caught a few panels on retro gaming and hung out with On the Stick’s Joe Drilling talking wrasslin’ and retro gaming after his panel. I succeeded in my game hunting quest in the vendor hall to hunt down the last couple of NES PowerPad games I did not own, and accidentally came across a homebrew bag toss game I never heard of before called Tailgate Party that I picked up to complete the collection. It proved to be a epic time that I was barely able to pull off at the last minute, but I do not regret it because it was yet another classic MGC weekend for the ages! 2) Forklift Races

It is kind of hard to place how much I love both Shenmue I & II. I got a theory from 1997-2000 for people who played either Final Fantasy VII, Metal Gear Solid or Shenmue fresh off their release. For those three games, people would be so blown away by their then-groundbreaking new standards set for their cinematic cutscenes and ambitious narratives that they would remain forever loyal to that particular game and swear by it forever no matter how credible the negative criticism is out there for those games. That is exactly what happened to me with Shenmue as it was the first of those three games I played, and I have seen people react in near-identical fashion to the other two games. I am aware of the criticism for Shenmue and I will not deny it, but there is so much else going for it that won me over that it made me overlook it and enabled me to have one of the best single player experiences in a game ever. These last few years I was getting the itch to replay the original Shenmue when the Kickstarter was announced and funded in record time for Shenmue III. I was pleasantly surprised Sega quietly announced they were releasing a HD remaster of the first two games for current platforms to cash in on the upcoming sequel. As soon as the remaster collection hit in the summer of 2018 I dropped all other gaming and cruised through the first Shenmue within a month. I was initially trepid that the unique controls would be so outdated that Shenmue would be near unplayable. It was indeed a clumsy control scheme to get reacquainted with for my first 10-15 minutes, but after that I was whisked away back to 2000 again when I first experienced Shenmue and I was reminded how much I loved the setting of Dobuita. There are plenty of cheesy characters filled with so-awful-its-great voice acting that it was a treat reliving it all over again.

Like Night in the Woods I developed a regular daily routine while in the process of hunting down clues to find out more on who killed Ryo’s father so he could avenge his death. I would start off the day going to the local corner vending machines and grabbing an iced coffee and capsule toy. Ryo has got to have his morning coffee with the absurdly drawn-out drinking animation every morning like any other ordinary person! I would talk to as many regular shopkeepers I would about finding the latest clue and occasionally would have to battle off some street thugs for information or chase them down in a QTE sequence that Shenmue helped institutionalize among games. A guilty pleasure was visiting You Arcade nearly every in-game day for a round of a perfectly emulated version of Hang-On that I kind of was starting to ‘get gud’ at the checkpoint-based racer by the end of Shenmue. Eventually I got Ryo his infamous job driving forklifts as the plot came to a boil with Ryo hot on the tail of his father’s killer! Every day at work started off with a forklift race that had a catchy theme song I made up lyrics to nod along with for momentum. There was an achievement for winning a race…..it was the only achievement I failed to achieve! The penultimate 70-man mega-battle leading up to the final boss fight was a rush and a half to experience all over. Again, there was some outdated controls and other quirkiness that was noticeable, but it did not get in the way from my unabashed love for the series resulting in my replay of the orginal Shenmue being my second best gaming experience of 2018! I cannot recommend it for everyone as I have seen the nature of that game rub some people the wrong way and my only answer for that is Shenmue is not for everybody. My spirits were riding high after finishing it that I started watching GiantBomb’s endurance run of it recently, and I went out and tracked down the vinyl OST for Shenmue and additionally the vinyl OST for Hang-On as well. Yup, I am kind of into Shenmue just a hair or two. I did not start up Shenmue II yet off the remaster set and plan to plow through it before Shenmue III’s currently planned August 2019 release. 1) Oh my God, You Killed Connor!

After 16,000 words we are finally here at #1! I know Detroit: Become Human has some hot-button controversies around it and if you decided to avoid the game I totally get it and respect that. Now that I got that out of the way let me start by saying I have been a huge fan of Quantic Dreams going back to Indigo Prophecy and Heavy Rain. I even dug Beyond: Two Souls regardless of that title getting messy at a few points. I know each game has their fair share of nitpicks, but the thing Quantic Dreams nails is how they branch out their stories with its multitude of choice-based gameplay having actual impactful results in the narrative. This is not like most Telltale games where the greater arc stays the same, but the journey is slightly altered. No, characters can abruptly die when presented with a sudden major decision or major paths can be altered to skip entire levels. That is what I loved about Quantic Dreams’ games is these major chances they take on their games and Detroit absolutely kills it in these departments. Quantic also lives up to their past precedents set by moving the bar for Detroit being a true technical marvel and one of the best looking games this generation of consoles. This is coming from a person playing on a slim PS4 and not a 4K Pro system so I can only imagine the improvements if I were to play on a 4K setup. Like Heavy Rain and Indigo Prophecy, Detroit follows the story arcs of several characters. All four are androids at different states of becoming ‘deviant’ and thinking for themselves. Each character path has major moments where I had to pause the game and think over the imperative decision I was presented with. Quantic Dreams is clever at masking some choices as right or wrong that created some moments that I will never forget. Android Detective Connor and his human partner Detective Anderson were my favorite characters to follow throughout the game. Connor can get killed off like other characters in the game, but unlike other characters he is always instantly replaceable from the agency. I did not know that when my Connor perished in a jaw-dropping way I did not see coming. I instantly debated on rewinding my last save to play it differently, but I sternly stuck to my decisions the whole game no matter how they played out. I was relieved to see Connor come back and continue his love/hate relationship with Anderson, and eventually became amused by the inadvertent ways my decision making kept getting my Connor killed.

The other characters all had nearly equal major moments to get behind with a few examples such as saving a daughter from her abusive father in one of the most intense escape sequences in Detroit, rescuing a bunch of experimented androids from a psychopath, leading a android-rights revolution to trying to stealthily escape from the madness to the Canadian border. Quantic Dreams always has had Quick Time Events (QTE) button prompts handle the majority of their gameplay, and they have evolved it with each of their games to have the best implementation of QTE in gaming. Minus a few key moments they almost never result in a instant game over if one QTE prompt is missed and there usually is a few chances to correct a mistake in order to recover and win the scene…or you can intentionally fail and flub through a fight or chase scene like a dummy to hilariously disastrous results. Depending on how you succeed through the prompts and the narrative based decisions made results in an ostensibly infinite amount of endings for each character. Quantic Dreams introduced a remarkable new feature at the end of each scene where a branching tree of decision options is displayed showing the choices made and blank boxes representing other options available and the percentage of the connected PS4 users that picked each option. From this same dialogue tree box checkpoints can be selected to pick up right from there in the gameplay scene to change a decision you were unsatisfied with. After finishing Detroit within two days I took advantage of this and hopped into one key part of the plot where Connor is presented with a choice that essentially gets the ball rolling for the final two-to-three hours of gameplay. I replayed that final chunk of scenes three more times within a week to see big differences in the endings for each character. Some did not survive, others endings all my characters made it to the end while others wound up skipping out on some of the most pivotal scenes in the entire game based on earlier decisions. I knew two other coworkers who were on the fence on picking up Detroit who were fans of Quantic’s previous games and I insisted on borrowing out my copy and we later went on to thoroughly breakdown how we handled key decisions and our various endings. It is insanely rare for a game to cause me to replay it multiple times that soon and that is saying something special about Detroit: Become Human and why it is my #1 gaming experience of 2018. ---The End?---

My word tally count is now tipping over 17,000 words so I think I better end this. It took me nearly 10 days to write this, and I do not blame you if it took that long to read it. That said I hope this proved to be a best of the year list/round-up like no other you experienced! Once again, if you liked what you read and want more of my end of the year ramblings then I will refer you to my best of 2017 and best of 2016 top gaming experiences features. So until next year…..oh wait I almost forgot it would be inappropriate of me to suddenly end this without rewarding you with a few more YouTube recommendations! I failed in unearthing my all-time favorite SNL sketch of Sports Center with Ray Ramono and Tim Meadows, so this sketch on the origins of the iconic NBA on NBC Theme will have to suffice. Need a refreshing beverage after getting through this list; Dusty Rhodes has the answer for you! These sparring kickboxers needed some beverages after getting bombarded in their training session by a acapella group. Mr. Worf wants to drain his sorrows in other beverages after witnessing this montage of his fails. Finally, here is a nice compilation of background music for your home with the top 100 ranked N64 songs of all time. Ok that is seriously it for 2018, thank you again everyone for riding this out with me! If you want to send any feedback my way I would love to hear it so reach out to me on my Twitter @Gruel or email dkulas @ hotmail.com.

[barbosaasouza]

Razer Blade Stealth Review: An Undersized Brute

I’ve been using PCs forever. I prefer to work with desktops unless the situation demands otherwise. I have used laptops on and off since they became ubiquitous in the mid-90s, but I’ve never been a big fan of them for several reasons. The compromises required to fit modern computing power into such a portable form factor have always led to products that are expensive and often become tethered to a desk or wall, negating their benefits. I accepted the opportunity to review Razer’s newest ultrabook expecting to find more of the same. After spending a couple of weeks with the Razer Blade Stealth, I believe that laptop computers are finally nearing their full potential.

Unboxing The Stealth

The Blade Stealth comes in a simple, understated cardboard box that was much less gaudy than I expected from my previous experience with Razer products. Included are the laptop and a nice braided power cable with a USB type-C connector and a very slim power brick. The Stealth is a 13.3” laptop with an IGZO-based display. This display technology offers comparable image quality to IPS and VA while reducing power consumption. The Stealth has a reduced-size chiclet keyboard that features RGB backlighting that can be customized by Razer’s Synapse software.

The model I received included the Intel Core i7-8550U processor. This is a Kaby Lake family part that first debuted last fall and has a base clock of 1.8Ghz and can turbo up to 4.0Ghz. This wide range of available clockspeeds allows for enhanced battery life for normal use without sacrificing the raw power needed for tasks like video encoding or rendering. 16GB of DDR4 memory and a 500GB SSD make up the rest of the critical core components of the Stealth. The graphics are handled by the Intel HD 620 IGP that is included with the i7-8550U.

The display features a 3200x1800 panel that gives a good first impression. Out of the box, the Windows DPI scaling is set to 300% for readability, but all objects on the screen remain razor sharp. I found the screen to be a bit oversaturated compared to other displays, but this could be a positive depending on your personal tastes. It makes colors pop and gives game environments a very lush appearance. Rounding out the feature set is the Killer-branded wireless solution, a USB type-C plug (Thunderbolt-ready), HDMI port, and 3.5mm audio jack.

Going Hands On

The first impression I got from the Razer Blade Stealth is that is a solid piece of equipment. It is small, but has heft. I powered on the device and was pleasantly surprised by how fast I was up and running in Windows 10. As best as I can tell, the Stealth comes with a clean installation of Windows and no bloatware, save for Razer’s own Synapse software for configuring the keyboard RGBs. As an owner of multiple Razer mice, I am not a fan of Synapse at all, but I cannot fault its inclusion in this package.

My first impressions of the laptop are that it is incredibly snappy and responsive. The Core i7-8550U may not be as powerful as its enthusiast desktop siblings, but I don’t see how anyone could reasonably argue that it is not up to the task of powering the Stealth through any workload. My past experiences with Intel’s low-power mobile CPUs were less than stellar, but this chip gives you the desktop experience with no apparent compromise. I copied over some h264 videos and let Handbrake loose on some encodes. The speed of the encodes got closer to the level of my desktop i7-7700K than I’d like to admit.

While most of my early interactions with the laptop where while it sat on my desk, I decided to make use of the portability and brought it to my stereo setup to help with recording needle drops from my turntable. The Stealth’s small footprint was just what the doctor ordered and made the process relatively painless compared to the lengthy cable runs I had previously been using to accomplish this same goal. The USB type-C port was also a huge plus for me. Transfers from my mobile phone’s storage were lightning fast and I was able to grab a charge from the laptop at speeds comparable to using an electrical outlet.

Time to Play?

The last big test was to play some games on this thing. Razer informed me that this particular model was not intended for gaming, but the box it came in proudly proclaimed “By Gamers. For Gamers.” and Razer’s product page for the Stealth advertises a range of games that are playable on the Stealth, including Metal Gear Solid V, Project Cars, Tekken 7, Borderlands 2, Rocket League, and more. I felt that it was fair to see what the Stealth could offer if you needed a break from work or felt like joining some friends for a round of Rocket League while you were cooped up in some hotel room.

I installed Steam and downloaded Rocket League and Borderlands 2 (a pair of games that I owned and were specifically mentioned on the Razer website). In my opinion, both of these games need 60fps to be enjoyed, but I can see an argument for playing Borderlands at 30fps. The Stealth was able to give a steady 30fps in Gearbox’s loot shooter when all the settings were lowered, but it was less than ideal. In Rocket League, I feel that the experience is compromised below 60fps, as it makes controlling your rocket car difficult and the twitch adjustments required for success are hard to make. I could not get Rocket League to hit 60fps at any resolution or combination of settings using the integrated Intel 620 GPU.

I should also note that while the Stealth comes with a 3200x1800 screen, I was unable to select any resolution above 1600x900 in games. I’m not sure if it is a driver limitation set by Intel or a choice by Razer to keep the games from running any worse than they already do. I understand why it is the way it is, but it's a shame to have such a high resolution screen and not make full use of it.

That being said, Razer recommends that you purchase its Core v2 module if you have intentions for making your Razer Blade Stealth a legitimate gaming machine. The Core v2 is an external GPU enclosure that has multiple connections and a 500w power supply. It allows you to install a wide range of off the shelf GPUs and connects to the Stealth via the USB type-C Thunderbolt connection. Assuming you installed a beefy GPU like the GTX 1080, gaming on the stealth would be a breeze, even at the 3200x1800 resolution. This expandability comes with a big price tag though, as the Core v2 will set you back $499, plus the cost of the GPU. Going with this type of setup negates many of the portability benefits of buying a laptop, but pairing a dedicated GPU to the Intel Core i7-8550U gives you a gaming experience that offers zero compromises.

Closing Thoughts

Using the Razer Blade Stealth was a bit of a revelation for me. I was not expecting the snappy performance I got from the i7-8550U. It did not matter if I was plugged into the wall or running on the battery, using the Stealth felt like using a high-powered desktop PC. The sharp display made things easy on my eyes. I took advantage of Steam’s in-home streaming service to play some of my more demanding titles (The Hunter: Call of the Wild, Resident Evil 7, and NIOH) out on my back porch. It was the first time I’ve ever had the chance to play stuff like that away from the desk and the image quality was excellent. I wouldn’t recommend it for twitchy games, but the ease of setup and end-user experience was top-notch.

I have to type lots of stuff for work and attempted to do some of that on the Stealth’s RGB keyboard. The condensed size, along with the almost flush-mounted keycaps led to lots of frustration. The problem is easily solvable with a USB keyboard and other users who weren’t born with 35-lb meat claws may fare much better than I did. I tried the 3.5mm audio jack with a few sets of my headphones and found the music listening experience to be adequate and most importantly, noise-free. The jack does not provide sufficient juice for hard to drive headphones, but it was not designed to, so it's no big deal.

The Razer Blade Stealth has its issues, but the one thing about it that I must focus on is battery life. I have never used a laptop that could provide real, usable power for as long as I got on this Stealth. I don’t know what kind of black magic Razer conjured up (or if it was simply a combination of well-chosen parts), but I was shocked every time I checked the battery icon in the taskbar. There was always power to spare, even when I had previously drained other laptops doing the same types of tasks. The USB type-C charger also got me back up to a full charge in no time.

The battery life on this laptop is so good, that I almost feel comfortable in calling it a game changer. I’ve never been able to count on a powerful laptop to offer more than three or four hours of uptime for heavy use and the Razer Blade Stealth still had enough power for me to screw around on Youtube for an hour after I spent the better part of an afternoon encoding videos and testing out games on Steam. This almost makes me feel like laptops are reaching the point where the power/portability compromise no longer has to be made.

I am still a desktop guy, but I have no reservations recommending the Razer Blade Stealth to anyone who needs desktop-class power with a strong battery in a very portable package. If you need gaming performance, Razer has a lineup of laptops that can server that purpose, or you can opt for the pricey Core v2 GPU enclosure. The Stealth is not cheap (the model I tested retails for $1699), but no computing products that offer a top of the line experience ever are. This is a laptop for those serious about getting work done. The lack of bloatware shows that Razer is also committed to this as well.

This review is based on a laptop provided by the manufacturer. The Razer Blade Stealth starts at $1399. The model reveiwed is $1699 as configured. You can pick up one today from Amazon.

Razer Blade Stealth Review: An Undersized Brute published first on https://superworldrom.tumblr.com/

[sidemission]

UPDATE: Where the heck have I been?!

Two and a half months. A lot can happen in that time, yeah?

I'm not dead yet, but this blog seemed like it was. Long story short: life got in the way after I put up my initial, day-1 impressions of The Evil Within 2. I actually had plans to post a full-length review of it in the days after I finished it... that is until Wolfenstein 2 released... and then Super Mario Odyssey... and then I started getting into Hollow Knight... and then Okami finally came to PC.

Turns out this was a really insane year for games, but between all of that I had work and school duties to to attend to before I could write about any of it. As much as I wanted to join in on the discussion of some happenings in the industry, real life kept me away from getting to the bigger moments while they were topical. Even when I had some free time to write, my stances tended to line up with what others have said, so I couldn't really bring anything new to the table.

Still, I am confident that I can deliver content in a more timely manner. The new year is around the corner and I felt like I launched the blog in the middle of a really turbulent period of both my personal life and in gaming.

In the next few days, I'm putting together my own, special Game of the Year choices that I've been scraping together over the course of this hectic 12 months. The first one I'll be posting is an honorable mentions-like category that highlights some of what gaming had to offer this year. Perhaps a day after that, I'll be ready to deliver my personal Top 10 games. Before the end of the year, I hope to revisit and talk about The Evil Within 2 again.

This blog isn't going anywhere, and I really hope whoever is still reading this will stick around for what I have in store for the next few months. Thank you so much for your time and patience!

Happy Holidays!

-Your belated dumb friend