#my least favorite ship but i could come up with more songs for them....

[blessedbyahuntress]

Blessed by a Trickster

Chapter Sixteen: I'm More Popular Than Ody?

Prev/Next

A/N: Who else thinks the Ithaca Saga is AWESOME??? And you know when I said that "Wouldn't You Like" was my favorite EPIC song? I'm now guilty of loving "Hold Them Down".

Warnings: I don't think so... maybe minor swearing?

Word Count: 1.1k

Listen to: No Longer You

Your legs stop shaking, and your shoulders pause in their trembling before continuing. Eurylochus can feel it resume under his hands, and realizes that you’re cold; he can hear your teeth chattering and feel the icy touch of your skin. He unbuttoned his cloak, wrapping it around your shoulders. He is freezing now, yes, but at least you’re not.

You can feel your own mental health return to its normal state as the screams fade.

Turning to give Eurylochus a small smile of gratitude, you walk up to your captain. He’s directing a landing to the shore, and you follow his gaze to a spire of rock jutting out in front of the ship. You squint, and for a second you believe you have caught a glimpse of a young man, staring at the anchoring boat. Then he’s gone.

“That was him, wasn’t it.” It’s more of a statement than a question. 

“Yes,” Odysseus responds. He finally looks over to meet your eyes. 

“Feeling better?” He asks.

You nod, a small smile playing on your lips, only a faint glimmer of happiness before you turn serious. “I’m sorry about your mother,” you whisper.

Odysseus pretends to miss your question. “It’s good that your mind has repaired quickly. I need you to come with me to speak to this… prophet.”

You have learned to stop gaping when Odysseus asks you to go on missions with him. Instead, you give him another nod. “Of course, captain.”

Eurylochus lowers a plank down to shore, gesturing for you and Odysseus to come over.

Polites joins you, a slight bounce in his step. You smile warmly at your friend, remembering how he had helped you during your mental breakdown. Polites tries to return it, grin faltering a little as he observes the cloak draped over your figure- Eurylochus’s cloak. The vile Aphrodite had given him feels heavy in his pocket. 

“Good luck,” Eurylochus says, pulling you into a hug from behind. 

You pat his forearm. “My luck’s not running out anytime soon,” you tease, completely missing the look of pure hatred Polites sends Eurylochus. 

“Y/N!” Odysseus calls, stepping foot on the shore. He turns, eyebrow slightly raised as he takes in Polites pouting figure and Eurylochus’s arms wrapped around you. “Looks like everyone comes to wish you off, and not their own captain!” 

You blush furiously, squirming out of Eurylochus’s grasp. 

“Wasn’t my idea,” you pant when you reach the space beside your captain.

Odysseus dismisses your comment. “It’s fine. I was just teasing.”

You turn your attention back to the spire of rock ahead of you. 

Odysseus notices you tensing. “Are you… fine to go with me? I can go get someone else…”

You force a smile, walking ahead to the path that would eventually lead to the top of the rock. “Me? Pft, I’m always up for a little jog to talk to a person who’ll reveal my doom!”

Odysseus chuckled, following you as you disappeared around the bend.

You look out at the scene laid out before you. 

The prophet has his back turned to you, but he turns as he hears your approach. His eyes are covered in cloth- old bandages, you assume. You get the odd impression that under those bandages, his eyes are glowing. 

You feel Odysseus emerge behind you, and instantly the prophet’s attention snaps to the captain. You try not to get annoyed by this.

“I am the prophet.” His voice is surprisingly smooth for a dead person. “With the answers you seek.”

He gestures widely, keeping the monotone as he speaks, “time, I’ve unlocked it. I see past and future running free.” Above his head, two hologram-like images chased each other around his head. The past- a dog- chasing the future- a cat. 

“There is a world, where I help you get home.” You’re intrigued by this. What could he mean- ‘a world’? Were there multiple. “But that’s not a world I know.”

You furrow your brow. “What?” You and Odysseus demand in unison.

The prophet ignores your question, pointing just over your head. “I see a song of past romance.” 

You turn, startled by seeing Penelope’s form watching over Odysseus. “Ody-” 

You’re interrupted by the prophet, who motions to a spot next to you. You cover your mouth with one hand as you see Polites, Eurylochus, and Hermes locked in a fight. “I see the sacrifice of man.”

“I see portrayals of betrayals and a brother’s final stand.” The images dissolve as you reach for them. “I see you on the brink of death. I see you draw your final breath. I see a man who gets to make it home alive.” 

The prophet indicates to Odysseus, who’s eyes widen at his words: “But it’s no longer you.”

You feel rage boiling inside of you. Your captain seems speechless, so you decide to take it from here. 

“This can’t be,” you said. “We’ve suffered and sailed through the toughest of hells, now you tell us our effort’s for nothing?” 

The prophet promptly ignores you, attention trained on Odysseus. “I see your palace, covered in red. Faces of men who had long believed you're dead.”

Another image of Penelope, and you feel your heart ache for her. The queen’s husband is missing, probably a long line of insufferable suitors with dirty minds. “I see your wife with a man who is haunting, a man with a trail of bodies.”

This ticks you off. “Who?” You screech, grabbing the hem of the prophet’s tunic and holding it in your iron-clad grip. You’re pretty sure that they can hear you all the way from the ship.

Yet the prophet doesn’t flinch, instead backing you, step by step, toward the edge of the plateau. “I see a song of past romance. I see the sacrifice of man. I see portrayals of betrayal and a brother’s final stand.” 

“I see you on the brink of death.” This was pretty ironic since you were one step away from falling off of the spire. “I see you draw your final breath.” 

You gasp, arms flailing as you begin to fall. This seems to snap Odysseus out of his daze. 

“Y/N!” He cries, lunging forward to grab your hand.

“I see a man who gets to make it home alive,” the prophet continues. Odysseus’s main focus is keeping you suspended, so he doesn’t see when the side of the prophet’s bandages dips to his cheekbone, revealing glowing teal eyes who burned into your soul. 

“But it’s no longer you.” 

And then the prophet kicked Odysseus off the ledge.

Taglist: @barrythestrawberry041 @thereigningking @m-carriaga2021 @jackintheboxs-world @fallenh34art @itzkingbo @sabrina-senpai

[citruslullabies]

hii, I hope you're well! idk if you are still accepting requests, but if you are, i wanted to ask you for a dogday x reader inspired by the song "100 years" from the clover álbum (made by Or30) Where dogday before being...dogday, was reader's husband, who never showed up again after going to work one day, i think that song I would fit very well for this

(sorry for my bad english btw)

💜🐈‍⬛

Of course darling! And no worries, your English is good!

Trigger warnings: none that I can think of

Romantic/platonic?: romantic

Requested by: mauumeow

Category: angst

Ship (romantic or platonic): Dogday x reader

Word count: 1021

100 years

The cabin was still and quiet as you stood in the kitchen, dicing up carrots for dinner only for one instead of two.

The table had two chairs, and your bedroom had a bed meant for two and two night stands. Clothes meant for you and clothes meant for someone else who couldn't even wear them anymore, left untouched in your closet. You sighed and shut your eyes for just a moment as sorrow that attacked you every day came in for battle. It had been ten years, and yet you could still never get over him and it was pitiful for you to admit you still loved him.

You still remembered the day he left like it was yesterday, August 8th 1995. You were in the kitchen making breakfast for two, having two plates out and two servings made, two napkins and two forks. As you cooked your scrambled eggs and flipped your bacon, a smile creeped onto your lovely face as you felt arms come around your waist and a nuzzle against your neck.

“G’morning…” Your husband tiredly mumbled, his large hands delicate against you no matter how rough and calloused. You chuckled and glanced back at him, admiring how he looked so put together but acted as if he wasn't ready to face anything let alone the day. You continued to cook and pressed your lips against his temple delicately.

Adoration wasn't the word you'd use to describe how you felt, or love. Those words just simply didn't feel strong enough to use but you knew no other words for it. “Good morning, handsome. Sleep well?” You cooed to your husband that acted like a dog, loyal and loving every day and struggled to tear himself away from your side.

He nodded dazily, and smiled as he smelled the air. He reached over to grab a piece of bacon which earned him a swat to the hand, making him groan and pout. “You're so mean to me.” He complained. You simply rolled your eyes and giggled while continuing to prepare breakfast for the two of you as he took a seat and adored you from afar. You were his everything, even if you two got married later than some. You were 38 and he was 42, only having been married for two years but he wouldn't have it any other way. His brown eyes glimmered with happiness as he saw you approach with two plates, setting them down as you kissed him in which he happily reciprocated.

During the kiss, you separated your lips just momentarily to reply to his previous comment. “Love hurts, Rich.” You hummed before kissing him for just a moment more, taking a seat when you were done and left him in a daze. Even after being with you for so long and married so short, you still had him in the puppy love phase and he couldn't drag himself out of it. He playfully poked your ribs and started to eat his pancakes first. “Yeah yeah, I know.”

The morning went smoothly as always, with Rich scarfing down his breakfast and just adoring you while you finished up. Then his least favorite part came which was leaving, he sighed as you fixed his tie and hair while he was at the door. “Maybe I should call out today.. just spend the day here with you.” He murmured, causing you to raise an eyebrow and hum in amusement.

“Well, while that would be nice.. we can't really afford it right now Rich. Just go in and I promise, we can cuddle and watch a movie on our DVD player when you get back.” You said softly, since you still had a rented out DVD player to put to use. He nodded and gave you a kiss with a delicate squeeze to the hips, before leaving.

That was the last time you ever saw him. Now here you were in the kitchen alone in a cabin you two had bought together, 48 and getting grays and wrinkles. You still loved him after ten years and didn't dare touch anything that was his after he left, the thought of getting rid of anything hurt you more. It was 2005 and today marked 10 years, and honestly you hoped he came home most days. Others you honestly hoped you developed dementia early just to forget about him but it wasn't that easy.

You still felt his touch lingering on your skin, still felt his lips pressed against yours and your neck and the house still smelled like him in a way. Your loved ones had tried so desperately to get you to move on, go on dates and go to clubs but it never felt right. It always felt like you were cheating on a man that wasn't even there anymore.

You lost your appetite which was a normal occurrence since that day, but finished cooking before putting the leftovers in the fridge. Your body wasn't the same as it used to be, with age and loss of appetite from a broken heart. The floorboards creaked beneath your feet, aging with you as you waited and walked into the living room. You sat on your spot on the couch, looking over at the one beside you that you never allowed anyone else to sit in. With a soft sigh you glanced at the window and waited patiently, like you did that night. You waited for hours and didn't fall asleep, not once and you fretted the worse may have happened and maybe it did. Your heart yearned for him and it ached no matter what you did to fill it. Nothing could remedy it and you knew that.

You still loved him, but the memory of his face was fading and all you had to remember it were photos from your wedding but they hurt to look at. Everything around you caused you nothing but pain and memories that you wished you could claw out of your brain and start anew but you stayed.

You stayed and waited just a little bit longer hoping he'd come back.

Thank you so much for requesting!

[aspiringtrashpanda]

A conversation about ship names with @shootingstarrfish inspired me to write this silly little fic featuring my favorite OC ever, Starr's MC Sidra!

Characters: Belphegor x Sidra (MC, he/they), Leviathan Ridiculous discussions in ship names, Belphie is still bad at art. No warnings apply

“You want to… what?” 

Belphie wasn’t sure he had heard correctly. There was always that stretch of time where he laid in limbo, somewhere between sleep and the waking world. Everything felt a bit like a lucid dream, like the voices around him fed him prompts and he could do with them what he wished. 

He was sure Sidra had spoken. The subtle vibration had lanced through their thighs where Belphie rested his head. Then, he had heard his own voice. Had he meant to speak aloud? Ah, whatever. It wouldn’t be the first time he spoke in his half-sleep. 

Another rumble through the pillow he had made of Sidra. “Come up with our ship name.”

Alright. So, he had heard correctly. It took him a while, maybe so long that Sidra had forgotten what they were even talking about, but Belphie managed to pull himself upright, to rub his tired eyes as they adjusted to the dim firelight of the living room. Sidra hadn’t moved an inch since Belphie had curled up for a nap, his nose still buried in his D.D.D. as he played some sort of rhythm game. Levi had probably introduced them to it. At least he looked comfortable, lounging on the plush couch before the crackling hearth.

Belphie peered at his partner, eyes a sliver of violet as he processed the words, hoping that the more time he took would equate to knowledge magically filling his head. He didn’t like not knowing. Maybe that’s why he got along well with Satan. Well, aside from other shared interests…

Belphie sighed, giving up. “And what’s that?”

“It’s…uh…” Sidra balked, and it wasn’t lost on Belphie how he exited out of his game mid-song. That wasn’t a good sign. 

“Did I hear ship discourse happening over here?” A familiar voice, overly enthusiastic about something Belphie was sure to find uninteresting, interrupted. Leviathan appeared like a sonic boom, heard before seen. Arms teeming with snacks and beverages, Belphie was certain Levi had been on route to a gaming session in his room. A second later and he wouldn’t have heard anything. Terrible timing, really. 

Yet, Sidra indulged him, a lazy shrug accompanied by a breezy, “kind of, sort of.”

Belphegor was lost. In a feeble attempt to understand what his partner could possibly have to discuss with Leviathan, he asked, “Are you flooding the Devildom again? Is that what’s happening?”

Ships. Water. Flood. It checked out, okay?

Alas, Levi laughed. It was that haughty laugh that irritated Belphie to his wit’s end. The one that said I know something you don’t know. So annoying.

Satan would understand. 

And despite the pity in his orange eyes stoking the defiant fire in Belphie’s gut, Levi confessed, “No, Sidra isn’t referring to a literal ship. He’s referring to you.”

Belphie blinked. “What about me?”

“No, you.” Levi went to gesture, but then seemed to remember his hands were full. He settled for jerking his head from Belphie to Sidra and back to Belphie. A violent blush bloomed to life as he stuttered, “As a…c-c-couple.”

Still, the whole concept was lost on Belphie, for he was too busy internally criticizing Levi’s inability to speak of romance without turning as bright as a screaming hell tomato. “I still don’t get it.”

“When two characters have romantic potential,” Sidra, clearly done with whatever threeway foxtrot was happening around the subject, decided to throw Belphie a bone. He chose his words carefully, pushing the sentence along with his hands. “It’s called a ship. Like a relationship.” 

His D.D.D. had fallen into his lap. Belphie liked when Sidra talked with their hands. He was so cute. 

But then, Levi had to go and ruin Belphie’s quiet moment of admiring his partner with an obnoxious but actually, “It was coined way back in an online forum where fans of a series about aliens and mysteries believed the two protagonists would get together. They called themselves “relationshippers”, and then it was shortened to “shippers” and bam! Ships.” 

The fire crackled in the hearth. For a moment, Belphie considered resting his head in Sidra’s lap and going back to sleep. Maybe he could pretend this was all a dream. 

Unfortunately, Sidra was looking at him with this expectation glittering in his eyes. Classic Sidra. Always afraid to ask for what he really wanted. But that’s why they were with someone like Belphie, right? Belphie smirked. He wasn’t afraid to speak his mind. 

“Okay,” He feigned nonchalance, flopping backwards against the arm of the couch. “So, what’s our ship name?”

“Well,” Sidra chewed the inside of his cheek. His warm brown eyes darted to the log in the fireplace, bark peeling away in bleached strips as the flames ate away at the wood. “Typically, the two character names are mashed together. Like, um…”

Levi’s grin brightened. This time, a bag of gummy salamanders fell to the ground with a thud! “Taizuki is the name for the romantic pairing of Taichi-san and Azuki-tan!” 

Sidra snickered, “And Lucifer and Diavolo would be Dialuci.”

Belphie lit up. Well, wasn’t that useful information. Cataloging such a name in the back of his mind, he considered his own pairing. “So we’d be… Belphdra?”

Levi snorted. Sidra frowned.

Belphie pursed his lips, “What?”

‘’Why does that sound like a monster?” Levi completely abandoned any pretense of leaving, dropping his trove of snacks on the coffee table as he chuckled, “Oh, like Lotan but with Belphie’s various expressions for each head.”

With a gasp, Sidra’s entire body lurched forward, their hair flopping with the movement. They searched the drawers of the end table, cheering when they found an old notepad Mammon had left lying around after this last round of monthly budgeting. “Wait hold on, I want to draw this.”

The silence that enveloped the sitting room was unnerving. The glint in Sidra’s eyes warned of something that Belphie wasn’t necessarily going to like, their pencil scrawling across the compressed pad with an irritating scratch. 

Sure enough, when Sidra presented his masterpiece, a flare of indignation roared to life in Belphie’s chest.

Pictured was a rather magnificent looking dragon, if Belphie did say so himself, but each of its three heads wore a displeased expression, all furrowed brows and bared teeth. Certainly a rather unflattering representation of himself. He wasn’t that grouchy, was he? Sure, maybe when he was woken in the middle of a good dream, but that wasn’t always. 

Biting his tongue, Belphie settled for scoffing, “That is not what a Belphdra would look like.”

“Then you show us,” Sidra volleyed back with ease. There was no bite to their words, only curiosity burning in the stretch of his smile and the light of his eyes. 

For a moment, Belphie forgot about Levi, forgot about the doodle, forgot about the challenge. Lost in the radiant glow of his partner’s amusement, in their dimples and their little moles and the happy blush that seeped across tan skin, Belphie considered tossing the conversation aside in favor of carrying Sidra away to the attic. There, he could kiss the creases in the corners of Sidra’s hazelnut eyes. There, he could show him exactly what a Belphdra looked like. 

But then Leviathan was clicking his tongue impatiently, and Sidra was pushing the pad of paper into Belphie’s hands. 

With a roll of his eyes, Belphie got to work. Tip of his tongue peeking out between his lips, he pressed the dull point of the pencil to the paper again and again. A curved line here, a straight line there. A little squiggle for a mouth. 

When he was done, he revealed his work to… complete confusion. Sidra and Levi stared, mouths flapping around words they couldn’t quite say. Their gazes traced the slope of the seven necks, but they didn’t seem to acknowledge the tiny circle that represented the body. They glanced from the pointed tail, to the goofy tongue, to the fancy hat upon the third head, and still, they failed to provide any sort of praise.

“It’s…” Levi started.

Sidra put him out of his misery, “Unique?”

Before Belphie could make some sort of snarky remark, his partner patted him on the shoulder. With a sympathetic smile, Sidra waved away the disappointment with a cheery, “It doesn’t matter, anyway. Our ship name isn’t Belphdra.”

Levi cocked his head. “No?”

“It’s Sidphie,” Sidra asserted, bold smile booming with certainty. At this, Levi’s expression changed rapidly. Something akin to indifference morphed into shock, into horror, into a mix of resigned yet impressed acceptance. 

Belphie was lost. Stifling a yawn, he looked between Levi and Sidra for some sort of explanation, asking, “Wait, why?”

There was a beat of silence, a mischievous smirk from Sidra the only warning Belphie received before Levi laughed, “The character who tops is usually named first.”

He was kicked out of the room via pillow thrown at light speed. 

*・゜・*:.。.*.。.:*・☆・゜・*:.。.*.。.:*・☆・゜

MY REQUESTS ARE OPEN! I've finished the first round, please give me more! This is a fun little writing exercise for me! Find out more HERE.

[rosearcanaeum]

(Ten) people I'd like to know better

Tagged by: @screechingfromthevoid <3

Last song: Far From Me by Chase Noseworthy is just on repeat. Sad boy Vax and perfect for my range!

Favorite color: it really depends on context honestly. But the most general is soft pink.

Last book: 😅 I've been struggling through Nein Eyes of Lucien for a while.... more honestly its Call of the Netherdeep and Explorers Guide to Wildemount. I truely read far more fanfic than anything else.

Last movie: I watched Night at the Museum for the first time this week. It was waaaaaay better than I ever imagined. I knew it was good and funny. It was also incredibly sincere and I can't get enough of that.

Last show: speaking of sincere, I'm about halfway through Frieren: beyond journey's end. And holy shit! I have never seen any media with a character who views and interacts with death the way i do. Its pretty heavy as shows go but its trustworthy. (I have a hard time with new stuff most of the time. Cr is one exception and this is too apparently)

Sweet/spicy/savory: no joke I've eaten salt before lol. But i prefer combos or all 3. Sweet spicy is underrated.

Relationship status: I live with my queer platonic partner. Its still just buckwild to me. As a kid i hated the idea of living with a partner cuz i didnt want so many aspects of what i was told that looked like. But hey guess what, y'all can decide what your relationships look like. We have separate rooms, are not sexually involved, rarely even touch tbh. And we love each other very much and want to grow old together in a house with cats.

They're touch averse and I'm sensory seeking. My fun Sunday night (out dancing) is their nightmare. But because we are who we are and how we understand and communicate in our relationship we rely on each other for only things that are available. I'll tell them all the dumb shit i see and do on Grindr and we'll sit on the couch and knit together.

Also my brain nearly explodes everytime I realize not only do we do couple stuff, we have couple friends we do couple stuff with. 18 year old me would have never believed you if you told them.

Last thing I looked up: I looked up the caffeine content of the thai tea concentrate I got my partner to see if i could try it. And shockingly i should be able to. Still gonna eat first and be careful though.

Current obsession: I'm pretty spread out rn, unusually. Ive got a sweater im excited about. And I'm on my 3rd attempt at a dorym water bottle sleeve I'm designing. This one should work now. Honestly dorym is probably no. 1 on my list. I shipped that back in exu, along with a bunch of stuff cuz I'm a delightful multishipper. So i feel particularly excited about dorym finally taking off. But also that while dorian was always looking to orym if anything else had come along he was there for the ride. I love robbie so so much. He is such a good character storyteller!

Looking forward to: today im hanging with 2 friends im usually in a larger group with so thats gonna be fun. Looking forward to baking off the beef wellingtons i made for my partner for xmas. And im looking forward to being able to work full time again in the new year. Ive been on part time for health reasons and stayed because i was spending hours on the phone fighting for insurance coverage. Now that both a done i can work more. I love my job and its a particular kind of boredom that i get when i cant work. Lol speaking of, im looking forward to the holidays being over. The office closures normally screw us but now im only working thurs fri for the next 2 weeks and I'll have try really hard to keep busy enough. At least my partner has 2 of the days off with me!

No pressure tags; not sure I can get to 10 and please dont feel obligated but I'd love to see yours (if you havent already. Ive been avoiding spoilers a lot recently so may not have seen it): @vigilante-apologist @standbyyourmantis @soedblackchaos @forestthechonkykitty @corrrvid @local-redhead-bookworm and luddles looks like you did already do this.

Thats all i got. If you see this and want to do it, consider yourself tagged!

[diakittyau]

Theme of Kuchizuke's story.

Hello. (￣▽￣)ノ I wanted to talk about the themes, personal experiences and fears I put into the first part of Deluding Moonlight AU, Kuchizuke.

First of,

! spoiler warning for the animation ! Please watch it before reading.

And second, the topics that I'm going to cover, as well as some scenes from animation, may be unpleasant to some people. I'll be covering: abuse, unhealthy relationships, depression and death.

With all that out of the way, let's begin.

Here's a fact: I'm not into shipping, even though the story of Deluding Moonlight is heavily tied to one character having an infatuation for another. I don't care about fanon romanization, kissing stuff or anything like that. I have favorite duos, such as Sonic & Amy, Knuckles & Rouge, Shadow & Maria, none of which I see in the romantic relationships and just enjoy their canonical dynamics. Some of them are funny, some comforting, I don't need to see them kissing or something. So if that's the case, how did I get to making this story? At first the idea of vampire Rouge just randomly came to mind when I listened to the song "BUCK-TICK — Kuchizuke". I thought it might be an interesting idea to make an animation of it. But since the song is heavily implied of love, obsession and passion, I had to think of a plot line that can accompany it. When it comes to characters, for me it's always important to keep their initial characterizations without significantly changing it. I probably should add that I'm only into Japanese Sonic, so I'm staying true to their original Japanese characterizations. Not including anything from the American side, as comics, tv shows and even dubs. And yes, there's no official Sonic couples (I'm talking games only) and I'm not going into fanon. What should I do? Well, there is one thing I can work with, and that is one-sided love. And thankfully, Rouge has it. On multiple occasions she's shown to have interest in Knuckles, flirting and mocking him. And as I said, I enjoy their fun dynamic.

So now on to building up the story. We're talking vampires, so deception and no mutual love were main points that I focused on. And that's where my personal stuff comes to play. The first one is:

Fear of abusive relationships.

As a child born in Russia, in a typical fashion I saw the horrors of dysfunctional family. I never got physical abuse myself from it, but I've been neglected by one parent and saw the suffering of another. Since the early childhood I didn't have normal ideas about love and relationships, because I simply didn't saw any. My psyche was affected, and I live with the trauma and fear ever since. I've never been in a relationship. All my life I could only analyze it by looking at others, which gave me an idea about what love is and that entering into a relationship with someone was a very important step. This cannot be neglected and done haphazardly. This is a union of two people, and understanding, compromise, and consideration of personal interests are important in it. Otherwise things can end up pretty badly.

Isn't that right?

And that's the part of me that's been reflected on Knuckles, but more on that later. First, we need to understand what parts of me were reflected on Rouge, and it was:

Depression.

I was in a depressive state for at least seven years. While depressive episodes have occasionally faded away, they reached their peak two years ago. That's when I succumbed to seclusion, intensive self-flagellating, imposter syndrome, feelings of rejection and uselessness. And for the first time I felt desperate for love. I have had a difficult time understanding my own feelings before, but back them it just got 200 times worse. I didn’t understand whether I felt love for the first time or was it something else completely? Did I really want to love, or did I just want someone to pity and comfort me? Do I really have friends and people I can trust, and do they accept me or just use me? I didn't know myself anymore. It's been hard and long way of figuring myself out, and only the huge possibility that I had autism explained everything that had happened to me throughout my life. That's when I accepted myself and was able to climb out of this deep hole that seemed bottomless. There's also another thing that really bothers me since my early years:

The fear of time passing.

I don't like changes, I don't like growing old and fading, I don't want to lose something or someone because their time has come. I fear death, future, the unknown. I never wanted my video-game characters to die and my own stories have always been stuck at one particular time without much moving forward. That's why I have always had a deep connection with vampires. That and the aesthetic, of course. That's should be all the main point, now let's see how all this falls on the characters. Starting with Knuckles.

Now I should mention, that out of all the Sonic character I can relate to Knuckles the most. His worldview, his social skills, his dedication to his life's work, his short-temper and so forth. And this is perfect, since it is so much easier for me to stay true to his character. Back to the personal stuff: several times I was in situations where some people wanted to date me. The thing was, I hadn't felt any attraction to any of these people, it was simply beyond my understanding. Not to mention I didn't know them for a long time, but after a few short conversations it seemed like they were seriously considering me their girlfriend. I treated them quite indulgently and friendly at first, but very soon I caught myself thinking that they just irritate me, and my attitude towards them was already beginning to border on hate. I just wanted them to leave me alone with their imposition of relationships. That personal experience pretty much resonates with Knuckles' role in Kuchizuke. He's been forced to fall in love with Rouge by her dark magic, and the latter didn't even took his own feeling into consideration. And his personal boundaries were not taken into account either.

To Rouge, Knuckles just been the possession. This approach to getting his love only led to hatred and ended up in the tragedy.

I kept Rouge's mysterious nature with her own goals and ways to achieve them. Back to the personal stuff once more: as I established before, I have a hard time understanding my own feelings, and at the peak of my depression I didn’t know how to deal with negative emotions at all. Perhaps that's why I felt the need for a soulmate for the first time. But was it love? Now it seems to me more that my special interest simply fell on a certain person who filled the voids in my soul and brightened up the endless stream of negative thoughts. Even so, I find my past self quite selfish, because I only wanted my own happiness with that person, even though the feeling obviously weren't mutual. However, it is also worth clarifying that I didn't have enough courage or social skills even to make any moves, most of the times simply living in my own world of illusions. But when I got out of depression, this not-love of mine simply vanished. So, this is were the theme comes from. Obsession and the desire to be with someone who can fill your mental emptiness. Of course, regardless of the opinion of this very person. The romanticized scenes of a "dream date" were mear delusion, having nothing to do with the real feelings of a person she loved.

I will explore Rouge's character more in the future, so keep in mind some of the stuff I said.

In conclusion.

Through this tragic tale of one-sided love I really wanted to say something simple yet very important:

Love is not a fairy tale.

and relationships are a very serious step for both parties, where understanding, compromises and trust are important. Love in this story is a complete self—deception and manipulation, with selfish motives and a sad outcome.

[the-authoress-writes]

Somewhere Out There

Tom “Iceman” Kazansky x Wife!Reader

Synopsis: Deployments are hard, but when you have someone to come home to, someone to love, that makes things easier, painful as it may be.

Warnings: Maybe a little bit of angst, I guess, offscreen sort-of implied married-people-doing-married-people-stuff 😉😉, minuscule cursing, a PG-13 use of the F-word, and a crap-ton of fluffy, lovey-dovey goodness.

Author’s Note: I don’t write reader fic.

I really don’t.

I write ship fic and gen fic, and I’d say I’m pretty decent at it, judging from the comments on my stories.

But then, @valmare came along, and we just clicked.

Mostly through screaming about Top Gun, naval aviators (*cough*tomkazansky*cough*), and our mutual appreciation for Val Kilmer.

And I knew I wanted to write something for her, especially since she was celebrating 300 followers!

Unfortunately, deep down, I knew I couldn’t write a ship fic for her.

I would have to write a reader!fic.

So, because I love her, I delved into the uncharted (for me, at least) waters of reader!fic.

I’m honestly not sure if this is any good, I wrote it in a perspective I’m not used to, and I hope and pray it makes any kind of sense.

Title is from the song of the same name, “Somewhere Out There”, from An American Tail.

To my dear Mir, I swear I began writing this yesterday, but I touched on things that you did in your own most recent fic, however, I couldn’t for the life of me, find another way to put what I wrote.

I promise on Goose’s grave that I did not plagiarize you.

All I can say is… fangirls think alike?

Please don’t hate meeee!!!!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this attempt at wading in the waters you so expertly navigate, my dear!

Happy 300 Followers!!!

The mist was rolling in from the sea, she absently noted, while the rising sun caught the minuscule droplets of water in the air, making the very wind shimmer.

Even inside, she could smell the faint tang of salt in the air, one of her favorite scents, but it was missing the key part—so much was missing.

The warmth of her husband behind her, for one thing, as they watched the sunrise on this window seat, her legs bracketed by his, his arms around her, the scent of spice, bourbon, and jet fuel which was all him, surrounding her.

God, she missed Tom.

Right now, he was halfway around the world on a ship, and she was watching the weekend sunrise without him, for the first time since they got married.

She knew this was part of being married to an active duty naval aviator, but it didn’t make the ache any better.

She tugged the collar of the USNA t-shirt up to her nose, but the scent was so faint from when Tom had tossed it to the floor the night before his deployment.

She sighed; she could still remember how he’d made her feel that night—he’d made her body sing, playing her like an expert musician would his instrument.

She’d felt him for days after, and if she focused enough, even now, she could almost feel his hands on her, the paradox of how gentle they were, despite the callouses on his palm, his lips on hers.

For all that he was called “Iceman”, she never saw an iota of the reasoning; with her, he was never anything but unfailingly warm, gentle, kind, loving, and passionate.

It had been nearly a week since she dropped him off last Monday at Miramar, exhorting Mav and Slider to bring him home to her.

The grave promise in the two men’s eyes as they readily agreed, had to be comfort enough, and wordlessly, they hauled Tom’s seabag between them, a strap in each of their hands, cheerfully bickering as they went, to give her a chance to say a more private goodbye.

She didn’t know what to say to him—this had to be one of the most painful things she’d ever done—giving her husband up to the sea and sky for ninety days, not knowing if he’d return to her alive, safe, having to trust only in his skill on the stick and his wingmen to bring him back to her.

Tears stung at the corners of her eyes, and Tom’s eyes softened, as he drew her into his embrace. “I’ll come back to you, lyubimaya moya,” he whispered in her ear, all too aware of how dangerous it was to speak Russian on base, outside of the safety of the walls of their house, but aware that she needed the comfort.

“Promise me—promise you’ll come back to me, Thomas Kazansky,” she fiercely murmured, drawing back to look at him, taking the opportunity that she would shortly not have.

“Always.

No matter what, no matter what oceans part us,” he replied, an intensity which would frighten others, but which soothed her, in his crystalline eyes.

She gasped and desperately tugged him to her, his kiss piecing her heart together and breaking it, all for knowing that it was the last time she’d feel it for three months.

He’d taken her soul with him the moment he let her go to do his duty.

Back in the pain of her present, a sob masquerading as a sigh tore from her lips—it wasn’t enough; it would never be enough until she had him back in her arms, back in her bed, back in this house, where she felt like a shade of herself, a modern-day Eurydice.

Her legs reluctantly carried her to the kitchen, where she prepared her weekend coffee, narrowly resisting the urge to pull out two mugs instead of one.

But when she picked up the can of Maxwell House, she fumbled it, because it was far lighter than it should’ve been—heavy, but not the still-full can it should have been.

Tentatively, she opened it, and gasped when she saw that the can was filled with folded-up pieces of paper, each marked with dates on them, in Tom’s careful, exacting writing.

She tipped the can over, and the papers came spilling out—there had to be at least three months worth of letters here, one for each day of his deployment.

She frantically searched through the pile, looking for today’s date.

Upon finding it, she dashed back to the window seat, deliberately peeling the tape holding it closed, unable to treat the letter with anything less than the utmost care.

She quickly noticed Tom’s writing here was cramped, as if he were trying to fit everything he wanted to say on this one small piece of paper.

“Hello, solnishko,

If you’re reading this, it means that you’ve found the letters I wrote for you; one for each day of my deployment.

As I write this, I am next to you in bed, looking at your beautiful face, so peaceful in sleep, but the mere thought of my impending departure already tears me apart more than I thought possible.

I won’t have thought of anything else but you since the moment I left your arms, I am absolutely certain.

You know all too well why I joined the Navy—my search for a home, a real home, one not plagued by unattainable standards and harsh words.

I eventually found one in the sky, and for the longest time, she was enough, with her freedom, her thrill, but there were still demands, still standards, though the words were kinder.

Then I met you.

And you changed everything.

You are my home, lyubimaya moya; with you, I don’t have to be Iceman, or Lieutenant Kazansky; with you, I can be Tom.

Just Tom.

Your Tom.

I can’t wait until I can be your Tom again.

Eighty-four days, zhizn moya; and I’m yours again.

Yours forever,

Tom”

She pressed her hand to her chest, careful to avoid crumpling the paper beneath her hand, a tear slipping from her eyes, the ache of his absence soothed with the absolute confirmation that he was thinking of her just as she was about him, and intensified, knowing that he was so far away.

Eventually, she sniffled, brushing away her tear tracks, wishing it was Tom’s hand, and gathered herself.

Eighty-four days.

Eighty-four days, and she’d have him back—a short eternity, to be sure, but a small price to pay for what she’d get back at the end.

Until then, she’d count the sunrises, holding him and the words he’d written for her, close to her heart.

Tom stared out at the horizon, watching the sun come up on the relatively quiet deck of the Enterprise.

It meant that he lost a good thirty minutes of sleep, but it was worth it, just to know that his wife was looking at the same sunrise, or she would be, at any rate, given the time difference.

The horizon spread out before him; endless, and the fleeting, errant thought that she was just there, beyond the beyond, entered his mind.

So far—a little over six thousand nautical miles, more or less, depending on the course and speed of the Enterprise, further than any F-14 could fly—and yet so near, because she was never far from his heart.

He’d never thought he could love anything or anyone more than her—among his other endearments for her was zhizn moya, because that was what she was to him: his life.

Tom idly twisted the band of gold around his left ring finger, more proud of that simple ring than the hard-won blue-jeweled Annapolis ring on his right.

God, he missed her.

“I thought I’d find you here.”

Tom turned to see Mav, coming up to lean on the railing beside him, none of the usual cockiness on his face.

“You shouldn’t be up yet, Mav.”

A haunted expression lingered on the edges of his wingman’s face as he searched for anything but the truth to tell, and Tom knew. “The usual?”

“Yeah,” Mav rasped. “I—I checked on Merls and Sli, but I got—got worried when I—I didn’t find you, so…” the black-haired pilot trailed off, before continuing, “you okay?”

“I should be asking you that, but… yeah, I am, just…”

“Just missing her,” Mav nodded sagely, almost wistfully.

“Yeah.”

“How do you even handle that?” Mav asked, frowning.

The sunlight made him feel more honest than he would probably otherwise be, Aurora’s kiss a comforting benediction, reminding him of all he had to come home to, and he replied, “What makes you think that I am?” He shook his head, “Doesn’t really feel like I’m even here, honestly.”

Mav good-naturedly smirked, “You left your heart in San Diego?”

Tom side-eyed his wingman. “Yeah, actually.

You’ll understand it one day, when you meet the right one,” he sighed, thinking of his wife’s beautiful smile.

“I dunno, Ice, I’m not sure if I want to be you, or be thankful that I’m not.”

Tom scoffed, unable to help his grin. “It’s the worst feeling in the world, to be away from her, to exist without her, after knowing what it’s like to be with her—”

“Not exactly selling it, Kazansky,” Mav interrupted.

Tom rolled his eyes, “I wasn’t done, dickhead.”

At Mav’s grin, Tom continued, “As I was saying, it’s the worst feeling in the world, to be away from her, to exist without her, after knowing what it’s like to be with her, but knowing that I get to come home to her… that makes it all worth it.

I hope you get this someday, Mav.

You sure as hell deserve some fucking happiness in this life.”

Mav smiled weakly, but honestly. “Maybe one day, Ice.”

The two of them smiled at each other, before Tom clapped Mav on the shoulder. “We better get going—the guys should be awake now, and if we don’t get to mess, Slider and Merlin might just take all the good stuff.”

“Good is relative,” Mav scoffed, making him laugh.

“Okay—the better stuff.”

They laughed, beginning to make their way back in.

But just before he stepped through the door amidships, he couldn’t help but look back at the horizon, the sun shedding the last of its dawning gentility, to turn into the harsh, blazing light that it was in this part of the world.

Eighty-four days.

Eighty-four more sunrises holding her only in his heart until he could also hold her in his arms.

It was a high price, to be sure, but in the face of having eternity as hers, what was eighty-four days?

Until then, he’d count the sunrises, holding her close to his heart.

“Hey Ice, you coming?” Mav called.

“I’m coming,” he replied.

And with that, he stepped inside to do his duty, eagerly awaiting the next sunrise, each consecutive one bringing him closer to his home, to his beloved wife.

I headcanon Ice as having Russian descent, but quite frankly, you can tear Slavic!Ice from my cold, dead hands.

To me, he’s either Polish or Russian.

Russian Glossary

Disclaimer: endearments and translations taken from Google—please don’t hesitate to correct me if I’m wrong, which, odds are, I am.

Lyubimaya moya: my darling/my one and only sweetheart

Solnishko: little sun

Zhizn moya: my life

[athforskz]

More Random Ult Kpop Group Questions: SKZ Version!

I did something like this a while ago when I first started this blog. So it’s time for another round! Questions below the cut I'm marking as MDNI. Like before, feel free to use this template of questions for your own ult group & tag me (and some friends if ya like). I love to see everyone’s responses 🤗

Dumbest thing you believed as a new fan?

Oof… there’s a few things I fell for as a baby stay, technically I still am a baby stay I think, BUT here’s my uhhh list: 

I thought Hyunjin had an identical twin brother.. 🫣 wait WAIIIT before you come at me, there was a rumor/joke going around at the time and obviously I didn’t know any better, so I believed it. There were even really good edits of Jinnie and his “twin” too. Then when I watched interviews where Hyunjin said he was an only child I was like ???? but eventually I figured it out.

I thought the sunshine twins were legitimately twins (they are) . Like biologically. Wtf is up with me believing twin things??

At first, I could NOT for the life of me tell the difference between Lee Know and Jeongin. No joke thought they were the same person. Which looking back on this one… how could I ever have trouble with them? They literally look nothing alike in facial structure and sound completely different in the way they talk & sing. Only thing they’re the same in is their menace behavior. 

2. Favorite duo/ship?

Usually not a shipper type of person but in regard to favorite friendship dynamic in skz, it’s gotta be SeungChan. Just watch this and there’s my reason why. Jilix is a close second because, again, sunshine twins. Followed by MinChan because watching Lee Know with his only hyung is so precious.

3. Favorite Racha (or other mini group within the whole group)? 

MeanRacha (Minho, Seungmin, & I.N) One of these 3 is literally always up to something. Causing chaos when you least expect it. The phrase “Lee Know is linoing” has become a favorite of mine because it always means he’s doing some menace antics again.

4. Favorite unreleased song?

There was a song that Hyunjin and Chan recorded years ago that Chan supposedly lost. We got a snippet of it and when I heard it I went feral because like Red Lights part 2???! PLEASE I NEED THIS SONG LIKE I NEED AIR! Chan like wtf do you mean you lost the track?! FIND IT. RECORD IT AGAIN. 

Also, all the solo performances they did at the opening concert in Seoul for the DominATE tour. Yeah, I need all those unreleased songs to be RELEASED right tf now. Give us another Replay album! And Chan… ykw let me shut up and be good for once, but I just wanna say THE GRASS AINT WORKING 

5. Favorite old song of theirs? Favorite song from their most recent project?

HEYDAY by 3racha. The whole song is a vibe but Jisung’s lazy rap when he first starts his part just does something to me 😩 

In regard to the whole group, I’d say the song 'YAYAYA' is one of my go-to jams from their older stuff. I love the tempo changes, scratches my brain in a good way.

Now as for the new album “ATE” this may be controversial to say but “I like it” is my favorite. It’s just so catchy!

6. Has your bias/bias line changed?

Since the last time I did this, yes and no? I mean as I’ve grown more as a stay I can confidently say OT8! But if I was forced to choose I say Hyunjin no surprise there and Minho.

7. What about your wreckers?

Chan continues to wreck me every. single. day. Like it’s truly insane, that man KNOWS what he’s doing. I’d also like to add that I.N has been wrecking me left and right the last few months which I blame his hyungs for that. 

NOW FOR THE UNHINGED QUESTIONS!

Please skip this portion if it makes you uncomfortable. This is the delulu brain talking. 

8. Which member are you attracted to the most physically? What about emotionally?

Physically I’m going to say OT8! Like have you seen those MEN?! I would be lucky to even get a crumb from them like bffr. Changbin, Hyunjin & Minho

Emotionally probably Changbin & Chan. From the glimpses we get of their true feelings & perspectives on things I relate to them the most. Honorable mention for this one will be Hyunjin because he’s such a romantic and I wanna say Seungmin too. I feel like before we didn’t get to see a lot of Seungmin ‘off camera’ per se, but with his [Song by] series we get to see more of his real personality and thoughts.

9. If you ever actually had the chance, who do you think you’d work out in a long-term relationship with (please remember the first rule of Kpop)? 

Probably, Changbin. Mans is a walking green flag. He’s a good listener, considerate of other’s feelings while still being honest. Always there for you. Funny af too. Overall, considering how I am as a person I think, Changbin would just be a good match for me. Like in my delulu brain me and Binnie would have that friends to lovers trope going for us. Even my dearest honey bun thinks so, she did write about it for me afterall💕 

10. A favorite kink of yours and member to fit that kink?

To keep it somewhat light in the kink department I’m going to go with hands. And a member to fit it the best, aka who I think has the most attractive hands will go to Jeongin. Innie has giant and such well structured hands. Rings sit so pretty on his fingers too which makes me feral. Like AHHDKSISVJKDW please grip my wrists and throat sir! *ahem* I mean, please let’s hold hands 🫶🏽 

Honorable hands mention will go to Minho because the veins on that man’s hands are just so ✨🥴

11. Favorite sluttiest choreography/move they’ve done?

Damn do I have a lot for this one *cracks knuckles*

The choreo for Silent Cry. Need I say more?

Anytime Hyunjin body rolls

Every single hip thrust/roll from Minho

The “POPPIN 🗣️” part in Maniac, especially when Binnie does it.

That one part in Charmer. Y’all know exactly what part I’m talking about.

Red lights. Need I say more, pt 2

The entire choreo for Taste. Bonus points to Minho when he did the special stage where he’s fucking hip thrusting from the side (I hope y’all know which one I’m mentioning here)

12. Most unhinged fic or edit you have enjoyed of them?

There’s a lot for this question too but I’ll keep it short. I’ll start with unhinged fics. I enjoy dark themes because let’s face it. Trauma. Please be warned these fics aren’t for the faint of heart, so if you read them, be warned. Some are lighter than others, but please read warnings!

Game Over feat. Seungmin & I.N by @sanakimohara

Games feat. I.N by @dandelions-143

Chemical Infatuation feat. Han by @hanjisick

ABANB series feat. OT8! by @doitforbangchan

The SKZ House series feat. Chan & Hyunjin by @writeonwhiskey

As for edits, there are even more that I enjoy. But I’ll only choose 1 for the sake of time and it’s only letting me attach one video.

Alright, that’s it! Thanks for reading if you stuck it out this far! I really didn't intend for it to be this long but it was so fun that I got carried away. Now for tags, I’ll go with my typical beautiful babes @doitforbangchan @jehhskz @torialefay + anyone else who wants to join!

[farm-witches-fic-recs]

Farm witch friends, you have done the coven proud.

We've got so many good recs it's going to take a few weeks to share them all!

Starting with these that were recommended more than once, if you haven't spend some time with these fan favorites, you should check them out now! And leave the authors some love, of course.

========

Everyday Magic (houdini74/@mostlyinthemorning)

Each magic story is so unique, so sweet, so... D&P! 

I couldn’t pick just one of these wonderfully variable scenarios that all include just a little (or maybe a lot of) magic added to the perfect scene setting and banter. 

Favored Nations (@blueink3)

ALL OF IT! It’s my go-to when I’m feeling down, when I need to revise our boys. The characters, writing, and plot are all amazing. 

Amazing world building, very in character slow burn.

The ultimate slow burn, the perfect love story set amongst the wonders of Broadway and NYC.

It’s just so, so good!  I am a sucker for secret romance fics, and this one has that and so much more.  Add in some Shakespearean theater with a twist and just the right amount of angst and sexiness, it’s just perfect! I love it so much.  

This author knows David, Patrick, and the NY theater world inside and out. The volume and level of specificity, volume, tenderness, anxiety, and love of these characters and worlds is astounding. The characterization is so vivid, it's the easiest fic to forget isn't canon.

Fifteen hundred miles (morehuman)

I go back to this fic a lot! I just love the idea of them both challenging themselves and finding out what they are capable of.

The most incredible journey, a gift to go along with them in it.

I carry these heart-shapes only for you (@ladyflowdi and @ships-to-sail)

I love this transportative, visual feast of historic fiction. Luscious WW2 Paris is so vividly portayed and David’s wild, wealthy, LGBTIQ+out flamboyance juxtaposed to the farm-boy turned military-man Patrick is sexy and sweet. It undoes me every time. I actually first came to the piece via FairManor’s outstanding podfic. Both the text and the podfic are high art. It’s not just one of my favorite fan-fics. It’s one of my favorite stories of ALL time in any genre. I read/listen and I am at the Gaston, riding on the back of Patrick’s motorcycle, kissing in windmills, eating crepes, touring junk shops & dancing naked to 40’s blues. I’d give anything to see this as a film with Dan & Noah & cast. I want a leather bound print copy of it. Also - The epilogue is progressive, heartbreaking thoughtful genius. I’ve just finished rereading & listening to it again. Each time there are new Easter eggs to be found. Joyous. 

It's just the most beautiful piece of writing ever written. Descriptive, lyrical, hot, stunning, heartbreaking. It has everything. 

I’d swing with you for the fences (@nontoxic-writes)

Achingly sweet and fluffy all set in the perfect baseball/famous AU with secret relationship AND musician Patrick. I come back to reread this one a lot!

What isn't there to love?  Baseball, long distance relationship, sex, songs, coming out to the parents, coming out to the team, coming out to the world, excellent use of side characters....I could go on and on.  There are so many amazing fics out there, but I've read this one at least a dozen times! 

Incorrect (@lisamc-21)

You can hear David saying it, but now picture the Maldives.

A beautifully written story of our boys meeting on vacation. Their trip is so sweet and so hot, and when they say goodbye, it's heartbreaking. The twist- they are both famous in their own worlds but don’t recognize each other so don’t realize who the other has hooked up with. When their week ends, they try to maintain a long-distance friendship as they learn who the other is. What was a hot hookup becomes a slow burn, and it’s amazing!!

The Last Rose Video (@distractivate)

Gorgeous writing, the perfect mix of canon and AU, clever plot, great dialogue.  The fic I read over and over.  It’s as comforting as a warm blanket. 

Swoon. SWOON.

Strike Anywhere (@madlori)

Hot firefighters. Hot sex. Hot romance. But like in a Sandra loves Keanu sliding out of a speeding bus kind of way.

Hot hot hot!  That’s the first work. Then- the author developed a prequel that is also hot but is also funny, loving, sweet. Love fireman Patrick!

This enemies-to-lovers-to-secret-husbands story featuring Patrick Brewer as a firefighter, is deliciously tropey and blazing hot, but also it’s written with such authentic emotion and perfect banter that it keeps me coming back to read it whenever I need a mood lift. 

Such great heights (@likerealpeopledo-on-ao3)

Great story, the very best jokes, and the wedding date chapter is so good it would work as a stand alone fic. 

It's got the mother of all fake dating scenarios, and Stevie in this in among the best I've ever read her. It's also very very funny. All the times when they say Feel The Air crack me up every time!

Sustineo (@rockinhamburger)

This is a perfectly paced one-shot AU that builds a world in which David is a brilliant, stormy, reclusive artist whose whose treatment by the press (and one Sebastien Raine) has made him unwilling to engage with the world…. Until he meets an intuitive and kind art writer who sees him for everything that he is (and can be). All of characters here are perfect and I love the descriptions of David’s art. 

Incredibly hot art fic.

You can fall (sweetsirius/@wordthieve)

It takes the David and Patrick rescue each other theme of the show and makes the stakes even higher. Plus it's just a genuinely beautiful piece of writing.

The story arc and pacing are fantastic. I love how David and Patrick's relationship develops and how Patrick learns to open himself up again after grief. It's incredibly well written. I've read it so many times, from full read thrus to dipping in and out of my favorite moments and chapters.

Patrick is so heartbroken, but then he meets David. So romantic, and feels lived in.

[jiangwanyinscatmom]

1, 2, 5, 6, 10, 11, 14, 16, 17, and 20 for Wen Ning. If you’re feeling bored you can do 1 - 25😊🌸(I’m begging you to do all of them I love wen Ning and I feel like I don’t see enough of him😭)

1. Why do you like or dislike this character?

His kindness and will to have helped others is very admirable. (u dislike him I don't trust u...)

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

Loves money. That's my boy.

3. Least favorite canon thing about this character?

Nothing. He's also perfect and has done no wrong, ever.

4. If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?

I would like him to have tea time with Qiqi from Genshin Impact and I am very sure he would get along very well with Baizhu who is resident Genshin Impact resurrector.

5. What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?

Now I do not have an answer for this one but may later.

6. What's something you have in common with this character?

...... willing to throw hands for Wei Wuxian....

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

Realizing the extent of why he is Wei Wuxian's friend and just why he chooses to stand with him as much as Lan Wangji does.

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

Downplaying his sense of honor.

9. Could you be roommates with this character?

I'll be your sugar mommy Wen Ning don't worry!!!!

10. Could you be best friends with this character?

Yes. 10/10 bro would bestie up.

11. Would you date this character?

If I was not a lesbian, yes.

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

He knows that he can get away with anything when it comes to making puppy eyes to Wen Qing and definitely runs with that for all it's worth.

13. What's an emoji, an emoticon and/or any symbol that reminds you of this character or you think the character would use a lot?

(｡Ó﹏Ò｡)

14. Assign a fashion aesthetic to this character.

Lots of soft big sweaters and jeans. Nice neutral colors.

15. What's your favorite ship for this character? (Doesn't matter if it's canon or not.)

Jiangshi x Jianghshi action. Sad boi hours with Song Lan and getting Song Lan to be more hopeful.

16. What's your least favorite ship for this character?

Jiang Cheng x Wen Ning. Ew, no. The guy literally just old Wei Wuxian to kill him again, had the audacity to blame Wen Ning for everything wrong in his life while helping to kill off Wen Ning's remaining family.

17. What's a ship for this character you don't hate but it's not your favorite that you're fine with?

I cannot tell a lie and despise 98% of all pairs for him. Best to say I have no good answer on this one lol.

18. How about a relationship they have in canon with another character that you admire?

Wei Wuxian! The amount of effort Wei Wuxian goes to make sure Wen Ning realizes he isn't anyone's servant and doesn't owe Wei Wuxian anything because they are simply friends.

19. How about a relationship they have in canon that you don't like?

Jiang Cheng? If it can be called a relationship. Cunt owes Wen Ning a few licks on his boots too.

20. Which other character is the ideal best friend for this character, the amount of screentime they share doesn't matter?

Again Wei Wuxian. The man made sure they stood on equal ground!

21. If you're a fic writer and have written for this character, what's your favorite thing to do when you're writing for this character? What's something you don't like?

I haven't written for Wen Ning honestly. But I have had general ideas to explore his thoughts and introspections because he really is just such a kind mellow man for the lot in life he was given.

22. If you're a fic reader, what's something you like in fics when it comes to ths character? Something you don't like?

Conflating his loyalty to Wei Wuxian as romantic. I feel like much of Wen Ning's own ideals are dropped to say he was in love with Wei Wuxian

23. Favorite picture of this character?

His Birthday promo art

24. What other character from another fandom of yours that reminds you of them?

Qiqi from Genshin Impact, and Prim from The Hunger Games.

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

Also, still too precious for this earth, someone spoil him now please

[earlgreytea68]

hi egt

what fob songs scream hiatus to you?

i need to experience emotional ruin real quick

God, there are so many, like, basically allll of Save Rock and Roll feels like them working through the hiatus together (not least because of how it has a higher percentage of Patrick lyrics than usual, probably because of him coming off his solo work). But the hiatus loomed so large for them as this nuclear blast in their relationship, it seems to bleed all through Pete's words (and hence their songs) for years afterward.

And it actually even starts before the hiatus, with the "What a Catch, Donnie" music video, which is the most hiatus-y thing to ever hiatus, Pete going down with his ship while he sends everyone else away to party without him. IT'S ALL SO SYMBOLIC.

And then to title a song on the first Believers Never Die album "From Now On, We Are Enemies." WHAT THE HELL hahahahaha WHAT A CHOICE, PETE WENTZ. (a downward spiral, just a pirouette and I only what what I can't have -- wanting what you can't have is a total hiatus theme for me that shows up a bunch in Pete's lyrics. I have not done an empirical analysis to see if it's a more prevalent theme after the hiatus or not.)

"The Phoenix" has obvious symbolism for their life as a band, raising their career from the ashes, changing themselves up like a remix, wearing their vintage of misery better than everyone else. Also, I love the imagery it has of peace, the "release the doves, surrender love" bit. Waving the white flag and putting down your weapons (in contrast to put on your war paint). But I've always kind of felt like surrender love is one of Pete's deliberate ambiguities: It could be "surrender your love" but it could also be "surrender, love." And Pete doesn't often use "love" as a term of endearment in his lyrics but he called Patrick "love" on stage not too long ago, so, you know, it seems not too outside the realm of possibility to think that these are really lines about reconciliation. It feels like time is running out, so let's surrender and hold tight.

Then there's "Alone Together": I'm outside the door, invite me in so we can go back and play pretend. The image of playing pretend / make-believe with someone also recurs in Pete's poetry, and it's something else I always read as Patrick-coded. Who did he used to "pretend" with for the sake of the shippers? And, of course, starting at the end of the road to ruin sounds like people who have burned everything down but are finding their way back.

I wrote a whole fic about "Where Did the Party Go" :-)

What is there to say about "Miss Missing You" that hasn't already been said? The infamous "hot whiskey eyes" line that honestly can only be about Pete Wentz lol. The imagery of the person you'd take a bullet for being behind the trigger: they have both at separate points in time proclaimed their readiness to take a bullet for the other. The fact that Pete wrote in a poem once before the hiatus I miss you missing me, and this song is I miss missing you. Like, everyone just die over this song.

To me "The Kids Aren't Alright" is a hiatus song in that it's about surviving the hiatus, coming through it, reversing the curse, it's our time now if you want it to be, in the end, I'd do it all again, I think you're my best friend.

"Fourth of July" is another hiatus song for me, the reference to the burned bridges being the light that leads you home is just so hiatus-y. Also, the torture of small talk with someone you used to love just smacks of the hiatus, of how they stopped talking to each other, of how they knew so little about each other and had to start over. This is more wanting what you can't have, too: my favorite what-if, my best I'll-never-know. I said I'd never miss you. I wish I'd known how much you loved me. It's so much, this song lol

Twin Skeleton's: ouch. This song is so painful. This song scrapes over your skin like sandpaper. This song is so angry and bitter. This song is I need a new partner in crime and you shrug. oh my GOD that line kills me every single time. That one and the way Patrick snarls, I could just die laughing on your spiral of shame. This is an angry song, but the anger is born of a depth of emotion and it ends with Patrick promising hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on over and over, and that's what makes it extra-hiatus to me, like, hold on, it all gets better, I'm coming back, hold on, hold on, hold on...

I find the hiatus infects their songs less and less the farther they get away from it, which is good. It's healing. As we've discussed, they've almost forgotten the whole thing even happened, it's been blurred over by the sands of time.

[shakingparadigm]

For the ask game: Hyuna!!🔥

HI TOON THANK YOU!!

favorite thing about them:

Man, what's not to like... she's just a fantastic character all around, probably the most likeable character in my personal opinion! I love her perserverance and her incredibly strong sense of self. Her character design is also just so incredible, probably the most unique and distinct character in the cast (shades?? almost 6ft?? abs??? a prosthetic leg???)

She's just so badass.... save me noona......

least favorite thing about them:

I don't really have anything that I dislike about Hyuna honestly. Maybe a cause of concern would be her habits of drinking and smoking but hey she's grown and reclaiming her freedom so really she can do whatever she wants with her life!

favorite line:

This might be a weird one but "A bird is set free​" from All-In has always stood out to me. It carries a certain feeling and just perfectly encapsulates Hyuna. The shot that's presented during this line is one of my favorite Hyuna frames too.

(Honorable Mention: "c-cheers!" man I love Hyuna.)

brOTP:

MIZI AND TILL!!! I love the idea of Till acting as an adopted little brother to Hyuna (is this a Hyunwoo coping mechanism? Who knows). Of course her fellow rebels Dewey and Isaac as well! I also think Hyuna and Ivan would get along (suprisingly enough). She'd have a hard time figuring him out at first, but eventually they'd warm up to each other and probably be gym buddies or something.

OTP:

Hyuluka is the given of course since they're paired together.... while I don't have any particularly strong feelings about it in a romantic sense I find their relationship incredibly interesting to analyze and think about. Hyuluka and Ivantill are really in the same boat of obssessive perfect guy x rebel who does not like them back 😭

A ship that I genuinely do find adorable (and super underrated) is offrec/actor Hyuluka!! Offrec Luka seems much more chill and down-to-earth but also kinda jaded because he had to go through the whole idol thing which he hated. Offrec Hyuna is bright, innocent and the youngest of the cast which I find really cute.... there's this one offrec fancomic I like where Luka gets flustered because Hyuna approached him and then immediately deflating when he finds out she just wanted an autograph 😭 cute

nOTP:

Honestly haven't seen many other Hyuna ships besides Hyuluka.

random headcanon:

Hyuna has accidentally seriously fucked people over with her voice mimicry talent. At one point she was begged to stop doing it because she kept freaking people out.

unpopular opinion:

Okay, this one is a bit long and kind of less an opinion and more of a story, but I will admit that at first I really did not like All-In. LISTEN TO ME OKAY SAVE THE GUILLOTINE FOR LATER.

I fell off of Alien Stage after ROUND 5. I saw ROUND 1 and ROUND 2 and while I found them interesting, I didn't really think about them that much. ROUND 5 was the only one that caught my attention enough for me to come back to the video maybe 4 or 5 times after my first watch, even searching about Alien Stage on social media and stuff. Still, I wasn't too invested yet.

When I saw All-In freshly released on my Youtube page I was like "oh hey it's this thing again. there's a new one? okay" and out of curiosity I watched it.

I don't know what it was, but something about All-In just did not click with me at first 😭 I remember feeling as though it sounded kind of dissonant? Like something was a bit off with the instrumental, maybe it sounded a little low in volume or something. The rhythm of the song threw me off a little and I could not for the life of me explain why. This is purely personal by the way, I'm no professional music analyst or anything, it just seemed weird to me personally at first.

But that's the thing. Because I found it so strangely off, I kept coming back to the video (it helped that the visuals were absolutely banging). Everytime it showed up on my homepage I would just sit there and watch it entranced like a zombie and I couldn't even explain why. At one point I woke up at 1AM, opened my phone, and watched All-In completely unmoving expressionless unblinking in the dark of my room, then shut the phone off and immediately knocked out again. Once again I cannot explain this. That video had me in an absolute chokehold no joke. Eventually I started to understand it more and it really grew on me, to the point where I played it in the shower on loop and then proceeded to start the rest of my days with the damn thing. I began to get curious about the deeper aspects of Alien Stage, took the plunge, and now we're here.

Anyways, that's the story of how my opinion on All-In went from "this sounds kinda off" to "this is the best thing to ever be created by human hands". All-In is now one of my most favorite ALNST songs and Hyuna absolutely killed it in her debut video. Sorry I couldn't understand the true extent of your genius back then queen, but at least I do now.

song i associate with them:

Eight by Sleeping At Last

When I see fragile things, helpless things, broken things,

I see the familiar

I was little, I was weak, I was perfect, too

Now I'm a broken mirror

But I can't let you see all that I have to lose

All I've lost in the fight to protect it

I can't let you in, I swore never again

I can't afford to let myself be blindsided

favorite picture of them:

It's come to my attention that Hyuna was being taken away by the guards. I didn't notice because she just looked so cool in this shot 😭

[lightsoutletsgo]

Hey there! Could I request maybe two ships? And I would mind a little nsfw too anyways here’s a little bit about me

I’m studying international business

My favorite food is pasta cause im very picky

My friends usually say I’m sarcastic, funny, very honest and loyal, and just chill to be around

I really like going out but the music must be good and it’s gotta be with my friends

But I also like staying in having a movie or board game night

I don’t know exactly what I look for in a partner but maybe someone who is playful and that I can call a best friend too

My emoji is 🎆

ahhh tysm! this one was so fun to write hehe happy reading! mimi 🤍

LANDO NORRIS ᝰ.ᐟ₊ ⊹ - always calls you love or baby - he loves your sense of humour and the way you smile at his jokes - his love language with you is quality time - he appreciates the way that you've gotten him invested in movies and whenever he gets offered tickets to movie related events like premieres he takes them just so he can take you!

lando is always asking you if travelling round the world with him can count as the "international" part of your degree. poor baby doesn't understand, he just misses you too much when he's away. absolutely loves a night out with you! and when he was dj-ing he would always play all your favourites, just to watch you and your friends sing along on the dance floor.

loves how sarcastic and funny you can be (even if he doesn't always get it at first) and thinks that conversations between you and oscar are hilarious. he learns to make good pasta just for you and loves being able to take care of you like how you take care of him!

goes all out for movie nights and will persuade you to build the cosiest pillow fort with him. he has one of those big screens and a projector and the two of you will spend all evening cuddling and watching all your favourite movies. he always takes you to the store first to pick your perfect movie night snacks. (however sometimes movie nights take a turn because he gets to distracted with how soft and cosy your thighs are...)

"here you go baby." you watched from your cosy pillow pile as lando carried in a huge tray filled with little dishes of your favourite snacks and dips. taking it from him, you settled it down in the gap between the two of you, "thank you honey." "so what are we watching?" lando stretched his back before throwing a blanket over your lap and tucking you in even more, "what's left to go on our list for this month?" grabbing his phone to check, lando opened up the arm nearest you as a silent invitation for you to cuddle, "I'm not sure love, let me take a look..."

࿐ ࿔*:･ﾟ

CARLOS SAINZ ᝰ.ᐟ₊ ⊹ - always calls you mi corazón or amor - loves your collarbones and your shoulders. he'll press kisses there when you least expect it just to watch how you shiver - his love language is acts of service - carlos loves to do things for you, like run you baths after a long day or cook your favourite meal just because.

carlos loves surprising you with flowers whenever he can, just for the way it makes your smile light up. He would definitely call you his best friend! you're his rock whether he's had a good or a bad weekend. he values your advice and the fact he can come to you to rant or ramble about anything. carlos loves how fiercely loyal you are to him and to your friends.

he's a sucker for feeling your hands in his hair... whether it's during cuddles or when his head is between your legs. he proudly wears your scratch marks and loves seeing the sweet marks you leave on his hips. he loves cooking with you in the kitchen. you sitting on the island or the counter and picking what song plays next while he makes you pasta. of course he will dance his way over to you just to steal a kiss between steps in the recipe and while he's waiting for something to boil or simmer or cook, he's tugging you down gently and pulling you in to slow dance with him round the kitchen.

he does his best to help you study, whether it's testing you, reading essays or just reminding you to take breaks and refilling your water so you don't forget. "amor?" you rub your eyes, blinking to try and force the sore, dry feeling away, "amor?" carlos presses again, his hand rubbing your arm as he slides onto the couch next to you, "here's your water." he places your re-filled cup onto the coffee table and kisses your head, "need a hand?" you shake your head and lean into him, finally allowing your eyes to close, "I'm done for the day." you sigh and he wraps an arm around you, "good job mi corazón, I'm so proud of you!" you hum happily before he's gently pulling you to your feet and leading you to the bathroom where a hot bath has been run for you. complete with bubbles and your favourite face mask and book on the bath tray. carlos kisses the back of your neck as he hugs you from behind, "you, are going to relax," he kisses you again, "while I make dinner." you turn in his arms and kiss his lips, hands sliding underneath the hem of his t-shirt to gently scratch at his hips, "join me... dinner can wait..." he groans against your lips, making you giggle, "if you insist amor..."

[farfromstrange]

Helloooo, 💕💕💕💕

I had an idea for a fratt and reader fluff piece. They are stuck in the car on a road trip, Frank is driving (because is his truck), Matt is in the copilot seat and Reader is in the middle seat in the back.

She falls asleep and Matt asks Frank to stop the car. Frank asks him "Why?" and Matt says "Because I want to cuddle with her".

When Matt is in the back, Frank asks him "Ever wonder why she always falls asleep in the car?"

That's it, I leave the rest up to you 😘😘😘

Also I wanted to thank you again for doing my request about the teddy bear, it was the cutest like these two gentlemen 😍😍😍😍

I am so sorry for the wait, darling! I had a lot going on. I've honestly never written for Fratt or Frank before in my life, so this is my first. I tried my best, and I hope I did your request justice <3 I’m so happy the teddy bear request was to your liking, so I hope that it’s the same with this one. Sending you all the hugs and kisses, especially for these gifs!!

Ours | Matt Murdock x Frank Castle x Reader

Masterlist

Pairing: Matt Murdock x Frank Castle x F!Reader

Summary: You fall asleep in the car and the boys wonder why that always happens.

Warnings: Tooth-rotting fluff

Word Count: 2.6k

A/n: I have no idea if this is good enough or not, but...I tried? Let me know if you liked it and maybe I'll write more for Frank in the future. I don't know. Also, I have decided not to tag for this because I'm not sure how everyone on my tag list stands with Frank. Since this is a poly ship and not everyone is into that :) Just so you know that I didn’t forget you, I just know not everyone ships Fratt. This is the first fic in that direction I’ve ever written, and I’m a bit shy, but oh well…

The purr of the engine resonates through the cab of Frank's weathered truck as it speeds down the open highway, the asphalt stretching out before them like an endless ribbon. The moon stands high in the sky, the clock showing an even number of 4:00 am. The car is dark except for the light of the controls and the headlights reflecting off the puddles in the road.

At first, the radio had been playing a random 80s rock tune, but as soon as Matt slipped into the driver’s seat, he sneered at Frank, “Turn that off.”

In response, Frank turned up the volume even more. You told him before that it’s your favorite song, and you wanted to hear it.

“Fuck that!” he’d said. “Our girl wants to hear this. You wanna say no to our girl, Red?”

You smiled so innocently from the backseat, Matt could only sigh and cup his ears to try and keep the volume out. With his heightened senses, something as easy as that won’t even remotely work, but he tried.

Frank laughed out loud. “Told ya!” And then he sang along with you to whatever song came after that one, and Matt had to suffer through it.

The first ten minutes of this drive were torture, to say the least.

Matt accepted it for a while, but eventually decided he had enough and turned the radio off entirely, leaving the car in an eerie silence.

Now, you’re driving without music.

The gentle hum of the tires beneath you eventually lulls you into a peaceful daze. One second, you are lecturing Frank on why opening the car door and throwing Matt out of it while he was driving eighty miles per hour wasn’t such a good idea, the next you slowly start dozing off.

It doesn’t take long before the rhythmic vibrations of the car have you drifting off into a quiet slumber. The soft sounds of Matt and Frank's conversation turn into a distant murmur as your head nestles against the backrest. The gentle sway of the vehicle matches the cadence of your breaths, and soon you are lost in dreams.

Frank lifts his eyes off the road for a moment, looking at you through the rearview mirror. You don’t talk much, but every time the three of you come from a mission, the adrenaline runs high in your bloodstream and you become chatty. Ever since you went quiet, Frank has wondered whether or not you’ve fallen asleep, and he gets his proof when he looks at your sleeping form in the back.

Matt notices him shifting and he tilts his head slightly in your direction. The gentle rhythm of your heartbeat resonates in his ear, your breathing even, and your shirt brushes against your chest ever so slightly whenever it lifts to let some more oxygen into your lungs.

“She’s asleep,” he states.

“Yeah,” says Frank. He reaches back and cups your knee. You don’t move. “Dead fucking asleep, I’d say.”

Matt only shoots him a glare, his unfocused eyes landing on the point closest to where his voice is coming from. “Would you mind keeping both your hands on the steering wheel?”

Rolling his eyes, Frank straightens up. He wants to say something smart, but Matt has said more annoying things in the past. And when he looks at him, he can’t be mad because he looks so soft in the moonlight. It hits his dark curls just right, meeting the brown of his eyes and turning them slightly green, maybe even a little golden.

Matt Murdock is golden, Frank does not doubt that. More golden than you? No, but he is golden nonetheless. A golden retriever, you once called him, and you were onto something then.

Frank doesn’t like a lot of people, and while Matt can annoy the shit out of him, there’s something too good about him that makes it impossible for him to hate the man that’s sitting next to him, his red suit hugging his curves just right, the gloves that usually hug his thick fingers placed in his lap as he fidgets.

He’s aware that the relationship between you three is unconventional, but he couldn’t care less.

Matt frowns. “What?” he asks him.

Frank blinks. “Nothing.”

“Do I have something on my face?”

“Not yet,” he retorts.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Exactly what I fucking said, Red. Exactly that.”

Once again, Matt only rolls his eyes. He leans back in his seat, head tilting even further to listen to you sleep. You sound so peaceful, your body slack with relaxation. You always sit in the middle so you can talk better to them, or hold his hand in the passenger seat. Whenever you’re alone with Frank, you are the passenger princess, but that changes as soon as Matt is involved. They sit in the front to protect you, that much is true, but Matt also gets sick easily in the back, so he always sits in the front. That doesn’t mean you don’t want to hold his hand every once in a while, so you recline in the backseat, always.

Matt reaches behind himself to cup your other thigh. You shift slightly, bucking into his touch as if seeking his comfort. Your heart skips a beat. With the moonlight hitting your face the same way it does him, Matt is sure you must look ethereal.

“She does,” Frank murmurs beside him.

He shoots him a confused glance, but Frank chuckles and adds, “You tend to think out loud when you’re turning into a needy mess. Ain’t my fault.”

A blush forms on Matt’s cheeks, and he instantly turns his head away. He forgets that Frank sees him better than anyone, probably. Not just in the literal sense but in a very deep, emotional way as well. They are so alike yet so different, and you only seem to tighten the bond they already shared from the beginning. With you, life is easier.

Matt slips his hand from your thigh back into his lap, and a mischievous smile spreads across his face. He leans over to Frank, his voice a low murmur. "Hey, could you do me a favor and pull over?" he asks, his hand already fidgeting with the seatbelt.

Frank's brows come together in confusion, so close they almost touch, and the slightest hint of frustration flickers in his eyes. "Why?" he asks back, his gaze fixed on the road ahead.

Matt's smile remains. "Because I want to cuddle with her," he confesses.

Frank's lips twitch into a half-smile as he glances at Matt. “You're such a fucking softie, you know that? It’s disgusting.”

Matt shrugs. "Well, she's asleep, and I don't want her to wake up all stiff and uncomfortable."

With a huff, Frank slows down and finds a spot on the side of the road where he can pull over. “You’re lucky your tits make great pillows,” he says as he pulls into the small lot.

He opens his mouth to protest, but one look at his armor makes him shut up. Frank isn’t entirely wrong.

The truck rumbles to a stop on the shoulder of the road, and Matt swiftly unfastens his seatbelt and moves to the backseat. He methodically makes his way forward by using his bare hands to find the door handle and then climbs back into the familiar interior.

Frank watches him through the rearview mirror, admiring how gracefully he moves, all just so he won’t disturb you. “You good back there?” he asks.

Matt nods. “Yeah, I’m fine. You can drive.”

Carefully, he slides in next to you, grabbing the blanket from the seat next to you. You must have been so tired, you forgot to make yourself comfortable. He wraps it around your form, tucking you in. The truck starts moving again, but he won’t let Frank’s driving distract him from taking care of what’s his.

Matt wraps an arm around your shoulders, pulling you closer to his side, and you snuggle against his chest. The steady beat of his heart creates a soothing melody that harmonizes with the gentle hum of the car's engine.

As Frank resumes driving, his eyes occasionally flickering to the rearview mirror, he can’t help but smile at the sight. He had seen many things in his life, but the simple tenderness of this moment was a reminder of the unexpected bond you have formed over the past few months, and it continues to fasten every single day. Whether it’s sharing a bed, sharing dinner, or taking down a bunch of gang members in an abandoned warehouse far away from your familiar Hell’s Kitchen, you always find a way to come out better together.

After a while, as the sun dips lower in the sky, casting long shadows over the road, Frank's curiosity gets the better of him. He glances over at Matt, who is running his fingers through the messy strands of your hair, and his voice is gruff but tinged with intrigue when he speaks. “Hey, Red,” Frank says, catching his attention. “Ever wonder why she always falls asleep in the car?”

Matt pouts. "I don’t know,” he answers honestly. “Maybe it's the steady rhythm, the feeling of movement. Makes her feel safe like she's being taken care of."

Frank nods thoughtfully, his grip firm on the steering wheel. "Yeah, maybe."

“Or maybe it’s us. She has this thing…” Matt shifts you slightly, and you curl even closer to him in your sleep. He chuckles. “She has this thing where her heartbeat skips whenever one of us is near, and then it slows when one of us touches her.”

“Slow down?” Frank cuts him off, a smirk on his lips. “Man, you sure about that?”

Matt kicks him. “Oh, shut up, Frank!” he says. “I didn’t mean it like that and you know it.”

“C’mon, you can’t blame me. I may not have your super senses, but I know her body inside-out. I know that her heartbeat doesn’t slow down when we touch her.”

“You don’t really know her heartbeat then,” his voice is barely above a whisper. He lowers his lips to your forehead. Your heart jumps again as if you know what he’s doing. “Whenever we’re being affectionate with her–not in a sexual way, mind you–she calms down. She’s always so on edge, but when we’re together like this, when we’re talking and driving and everything is a little less heavy, that’s when she sleeps best. I can’t describe it, but it’s…it shows me that she feels safe with us. With you.”

In an instant, Frank shuts his mouth. Matt’s words make sense, but they still hit him hard. He has a hard time believing that anyone would feel safe in his presence, that anyone would love him, but whenever he looks at you, he knows he’s often just overthinking because you do.

You love him, you love Matt, and you love what the three of you have. You feel safe. You come to him when you’re sad, and he can come to you when he feels the same. You open up to him and Matt, no one else. You let your guard down for him. He never thought he would feel this way again, and it’s often overwhelming to even exist with all the pain he’s carrying, but he’s not alone anymore.

“Can’t say I blame her,” Matt adds.

Damn him, Frank thinks. He doesn’t even have to say what he’s thinking; Matt always knows. He hears his heartbeat, he hears his breathing change, and he feels something switch in the atmosphere, and he instantly knows something isn’t right. Frank thinks too much, even though it doesn’t seem that way, and Matt is very susceptible to people thinking too much. And he’s attentive.

Frank huffs, his fists clenching around the steering wheel. “Fifteen minutes, Red,” he says. “I’ll drop you off at your place. Both of you. I think she’ll be more than happy to stay with your annoying ass tonight.”

“We’re all staying at my place,” he sounds so calm back there.

“Can’t. I’m busy.”

“Yes, you can, and no, you’re not. You don’t have a life outside of me and her, and your guns. We both know that.”

Yes, he can. And no, he’s not busy.

Frank shakes his head, but he doesn’t say anything else. Matt continues to stroke your hair, his attention both on you and the man in the driver’s seat. A small smile plays on his lips. He’s home right here. With you, with Frank, even if it’s an open road–He’s home wherever you are because that’s where his heart is.

The journey continues through the night, the road unwinding beneath the truck's wheels. The moon remains their silent companion.

Even in your sleep, you seem to sense the harmony of the moment, a soft sigh escaping your lips as you nuzzle closer into Matt's chest.

Frank's eyes flicker to the rearview mirror once more, catching sight of your peaceful face. He can't deny that there is a certain comfort in seeing you this way, your guard down and your worries temporarily silenced by tranquility. It's a rare sight, one that fills him with a sense of contentment he didn't anticipate.

Matt's focus remains on you, his fingers lightly brushing against your hair. He marvels at the vulnerability you exhibit in your sleep.

He tilts his head slightly. "Does she look as peaceful as she sounds?" he asks softly.

Frank grunts in agreement. "Yeah, she does," he says.

Matt smiles. "Good." The miles slip away. The open road ahead holds a unique kind of therapy, and the world outside seems to fade into insignificance, leaving only the here and now.

Matt's fingers trace patterns on your arm as he speaks again, his voice low and steady. "You know, I think that when we're in the car, it's like a sanctuary for her," he says, adding to his previous answer. "The movement, the sounds, they offer a sense of security she rarely finds anywhere else. She said her life wasn't pretty before we came along, and we can argue that it still is far from pretty all we want, but she loves us. That counts for something, Frank."

Frank contemplates, his lips pursing. "Security?" he questions. Of course, he would pick the part he didn’t emphasize.

“Yeah.” Matt sighs, then he nods. “She feels safe with us. It's more than just the physical presence—it's the emotional support we provide. We're her safe haven,” he says.

Frank's eyes flicker to Matt's profile, his lips twitching into a shit-eating grin. “You've thought this through, huh?” He chuckles. “That’s a new one.”

Gone is the doubtful Frank, leaving behind the teasing asshole he likes to be. And Matt eats it up every single time.

He rolls his eyes, something he should get paid for at this point, but the hint of a smile plays at the corners of his lips. "I've had a lot of time to think," says Matt. "I always think, especially about her. And you."

A small chuckle escapes Frank's throat, the sound almost incredulous. He's trying to play off the blush that is threatening to break out. Whenever Matt is being sweet, he does it with such precision, Frank wants to break out into hives. But in a good way.

“I'll be damned, Red,” he says, his voice edging on a mock. “Who knew you could be such a fucking philosopher and shit-eating romantic at the same time?”

Matt's lips turn into a full-fledged grin. "Well, we all have our talents," he says.

"Yeah, I guess we do," Frank agrees, his voice softer than usual, even bordering on a whisper.

As the road stretches ahead, the miles disappearing beneath the truck's wheels, Matt's fingers continue their gentle dance along your skin. His touch is a silent promise that he's always going to be there for you, no matter what, and the sense of safety makes you melt. His touch holds a magic power, and you're too weak to fight it.

Frank's eyes flicker to the road again. He's not one to openly express emotions, but he knows that this connection—the one forged between you, Matt, and himself—is something he wouldn't trade for anything in the world. He finally has a reason to live again, and he'd be damned to let it go. To let you go.

"You think she knows?" His question hangs in the air. He doesn't even have to say what he means for Matt to understand.

Matt's expression softens as he takes in the sight of your peaceful form. "I think she feels it," he answers. "She knows she's cared for. She’s knows we’re here for her. That we love her. Both of us."

It's a simple truth that Frank has come to realize over time—that you've found a home within their unconventional dynamic, and that the sanctuary of the car is just one representation of the security they offer you. You spend most of your time there, anyway.

And so, the miles roll on. With the open road stretching before you, and the soft embrace of sleep enveloping you, you continue your trek, each moment etching your story deeper into the tapestry of your lives.

[justeliiijah]

1:25 Siffrin!

submitted by @sammusbird my beloved <3

1. Why do you like or dislike this character?

HOOO boy okay a lot of characters with anxiety, PTSD, and depression in media are shown as uwu soft or evil with NO in between and siffrin has a LOT OF NUANCE TO HIM. there was a lot of care and love put into how they react to the hopelessness of their situation and by god do i adore it.

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

dude is so fuCKING shape. also SUCH fun nonbinary rep??? give more queers knives. i know a lot of us have them but more. more should have them. me. give ME a knife.

3. Least favorite canon thing about this character?

how do i draw him in color he looks Wrong

4. If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?

ace attorney bc i think it wld be funny. they wld get framed for a murder that they did commit somehow i can Feel it

5. What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?

dont kill me bc this is kind of hilarious but the song is called Time Travel by Never Shout Never it's linked lol. u can extrapolate abt who's talkin to who in the song but i imagine it's loop and siffrin

6. What's something you have in common with this character?

[thousand yard stare] hot and transmasc next question

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

fuck that lad up yall ur doing great

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

as king of angst every time i see siffrin unburdened with trauma i lose ten years off my life span (i don't have any real pet peeves and am not super active in the fandom!)

9. Could you be roommates with this character?

i can't even be roommates with my roommates, man

10. Could you be best friends with this character?

unfortunately i am a bit of an asshole and i also have ptsd i think we wld kill each other with our eyes immediately

11. Would you date this character?

we are the same type of fucked up so that is a solid dear god no

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

ftm (i am projecting ok). they are canon nb i believe but i don't know if. like. there's a canon depiction of them w top scars or some shit but it wld fuck!!!

13. What's an emoji, an emoticon and/or any symbol that reminds you of this character or you think the character would use a lot?

feel free to assume what i mean from this bc i'm not adding context

14. Assign a fashion aesthetic to this character.

i am not a fashion bitch but i think someone shld give him a choker

15. What's your favorite ship for this character? (Doesn't matter if it's canon or not.)

surprisingly canon for once! isafrin <3

16. What's your least favorite ship for this character?

mira or odile w siff. those mfs are his besties stop trying to make them kiss. also mira is aroace

17. What's a ship for this character you don't hate but it's not your favorite that you're fine with?

loopfrin. ironically my bf @codacheetah is extremely abnormal abt this one lol

18. How about a relationship they have in canon with another character that you admire?

mira and siffrin's relationship makes me fuckign emotional literally dont look at me???? but siffrin and odile too bc like. they share that lack of ability to Know where they come from (if only partially on odile's part). and bonn-- okay i think. i think all of their relationships are insanely complex and important ok

19. How about a relationship they have in canon that you don't like?

not applicable tbh. i do think that he shld kick the king in the wiener tho

20. Which other character is the ideal best friend for this character, the amount of screentime they share doesn't matter?

mira my beloevd <333

21. If you're a fic writer and have written for this character, what's your favorite thing to do when you're writing for this character? What's something you don't like?

i havent posted fic since like. 2017

22. If you're a fic reader, what's something you like in fics when it comes to ths character? Something you don't like?

i love the introspection abt the recovery i've seen!!! like, ppl showing how they think siffrin copes after the fact.

as for dislike,,, hm. i don't love the Other People Loop aus despite how intriguing they are because,,, well. there's a Reason to me that it was siffrin, a reason that their desperation to stay was so powerful. they are singularly capable of that level of need, i think.

23. Favorite picture of this character?

man its gotta be

24. What other character from another fandom of yours that reminds you of them?

ur gonna laugh but. like s4 jon sims. i think they wld get along but jon is far more of a loser

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

honestly i think i thought they were a very malleable char? like, that he wld change w the player's decisions. and i wasn't wrong entirely, because that's. how story driven gaming works, but siffrin has a much stronger personality and identity than i thought. i also thought they were in space for some reason i did NOT listen to coda's rants

26. FREEBIE QUESTION!!

hes a cutie :3

[veryinactiveartist]

MY SILVER MOON

Triple Frontier | Frankie Morales Moodboard ft. Santiago

A Musical Moodboard for @jolapeno & @goodwithcheese Fall Challenge!

⏯️ Now playing: Luna de Xelajú (entre cuerdas) ⏭️

Concept Synopsis

Coffee & Espresso: Morales Mocha

Specialty Drink: Stargazing

It's hard explain a longing that cannot be. It's so easy for life to get in the way. To get in between what they really want. They were so young when they met; eager boys who drafted and quickly grew a bond thanks to similar up bringing, interest, language and all the other little things. They didn't have anyone else to connect with, always in close quarters and the circumstances were just right when they start right when they started to feel it.

Frankie and Santiago both knew but it didn't feel safe at the time. Time only passed and neither could ever feel ready. Thanks to their uncertainty the months turned into years yet they said nothing. At that point Frankie gave up, moving on to leave Santiago behind just as he was ready to confess. Only it was to late now. At least they could be friends right?

Well... they could be; working together could be ok enough and maybe they both grew out of that need for each other. That was the case for years but after losing Ben, something shifted. How the weapons they held seemed weak compared to the longing that was killing them in the inside.

Frankie was married, but sometimes he wished he wasn't. He didn't stop loving his wife, child and even felt happy, but maybe it wasn't enough. She had left him, and frankly, he felt blindsided. It hurt Frankie to be alone again but it didn't take long for Santiago to find out, come back and pick up any pieces. Neither of them knew where to start, what to even say. What do you tell someone you couldn't love after all this time? They didn't know but Frankie didn't want Santiago to be far away from him again. Not anymore.

After weeks of hangouts and unofficial dates, Frankie figured they'd be honest with each other and he wanted them to be alone and at ease when it happened. Away from any prying eyes, and the walls of their home weren't enough. He thought they could take a trip, just like the ones they used to. They would camp out by the nearest mountain range, light a fire, and if the weather was cool enough. They'd just sit out and look at the stars above.

A/N: So, this on is a bit long- my shipping powers kinda activated as I might make this into a possible fic in the future. Anyway it wasn't stated if we could do ships or not hope that's ok so I just went with it! Also it was really fun using Gaby's and Oscars cover for this as the song has been inspiring me for a Frankie & Santi fic for a hot minute. It's like Santiago is singing about Franky. maybe he'd even sing it to Frankie while playing the guitar👀

Ok secondly I had this idea of placing the mood board in a video so music can play vinyl style! If I could change anything I wish you could export videos with a PNG background but oh well.

So I'm currently ending my work season so I wanted to knock this out before I take the long trip back home and hope get my life in order jskksjs. My favorite part was the music board-(?) juke Moodboard? Idk what to call it lol but I would really like to make more of these boards in the future and will probably be my go to ones from now on. 🤗

[amerricanartwork]

More Love for Lilypad

Hi! To be honest, I don’t know why I’m writing this, I guess because reading everything has moved me more than I probably thought.

I don’t know how much text he let me put

I have read the current Lilypad publication and I honestly loved it, otherwise I would be here writing like an excited silly girl.

How do you connect the story of Luna and No Harassment with Sleeping Beauty (From the Disney movie because the original story is horrible, believe me, you wouldn’t want to use it if it were the original), it’s so beautiful that it moved me and connected me more with the ships. how much I love them and lilypad mainly sadly for my part I don’t see much art from them (I think it happens to me with ships that generally are not so popular or so loved, it happens to me with the message of love from SpearmasterXHunter, Godmode SaintXEnot, lilypad and PebblesXSun )

The topic, I loved reading these ideas that come from your ingenious and beautiful imagination, I want to read more of this and that would be all! Nice day/night :3!

PD: As a warning, I don’t know where I had to send this and I’m sorry if I didn’t have to send it here, and I take this opportunity to say that your ArtiXGourmand is simply beautiful and I adore it!

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Oh my, @amaerumeru, thank you so much for this submission!!

I’m so glad to see someone enjoy those ideas so much, and to hear my essay has inspired some more love for these two sweethearts! Seeing people sympathize at least with the fairytale stuff is a very pleasant surprise!

Regarding the lack of content, I feel you, I’ve had my fair share of rarepairs across my fandoms too (heck, I’m even considering adopting a super rare RW ship right now...), and not being able to find content of them is always pretty rough! Although for me, the struggle doesn’t always come from lacking any content of the ship, but lacking the specific kind of content I want for it. 

Part of the reason why I began that extension of the Lilypad essay by listing the ship tropes I love and particularly explaining the main two was because, to me, how a ship is depicted is just as important as which ship is depicted. It’s so much so I actually won’t like content of a ship I normally love if I don’t like the way the characters are and act within it, or if I don’t like the ideas being shown through the characters enough. 

Both situations exist with Lilypad, and although I can excuse the lack of content as Rain World generally not having much canon ship potential, the portrayal struggle is one I have faced in basically every fandom I’ve been in, where no one seems to really appreciate those traditional dynamics I love with the ships I enjoy the most. Most of the time I still enjoy the content because it’s pretty cute and romantic, and I don’t dislike anything about it enough to cancel out that cuteness/romance factor, but it’s still not what I love most, tailored to what I identify with the greatest; I’ll eat it, but it’s not my favorite flavor. And with the New Year and self-improvement being a common focus this time of year, I figured I’d finally get the courage to take my classic art approach with these themes now; if I can’t find someone else who’s made the content I want, I’ll make it myself (like this sketch I drew up for this post), and just maybe they’ll find me!

And find someone I have! Once again, I’m so glad someone appreciates these older fairytale tropes, and I really do feel inspired to openly make more content including these ideas! I’ve always had a habit of thinking about not just ships, but fiction in general through the lens of the poetic significance characters, scenes, and plot points do or can have, and recently I’ve developed a habit of linking characters and ships back to songs and previous characters from other cartoons (like I did with Sleeping Beauty here), and trust me, if you want more content of this sort, I could both write similar essays deriving these themes within other ships AND make a lot more Lilypad content like this! I mean, after posting that addition I realized somehow forgot to talk about “Once Upon a Dream” specifically and how it so perfectly fits this ship, so I’m already probably gonna do a post and drawing on that sometime soon — !

And one last thing, thanks for liking the Artimand stuff too! Artimand is probably a better example of my “I like this ship in general, but I really wanna see more of these traditional themes in content for it“ attitude, so it’s nice to see that’s enjoyable to other people on some level too!

 Big thanks for the submission, a reason to ramble even more about Lilypad and my favorite ship tropes, and inspiration to make that drawing, Meru! And hey, I love hearing the deeper reasons why other people ship what they do too, so if you ever wanna ramble about your own ships, I’m all ears!