#no beta we die lie nihil

[yesandpeeps]

Birthday Kiss 🎂💋🦇

Rating: Teen.

Word count: 1146.

Pairing: Swiss/Aeon.

Summary: Aeon’s curiosity for his new life on the surface leaves him excited for any type of celebration. He overhears it’s a certain ghouls birthday, and can’t help himself. Kissing and petting.

Read below or on AO3.

New summons often had difficulty adjusting to the surface’s day and night cycle. It’s a struggle to learn how to initially regulate their energy. New ghouls tend to be keen on long naps, that is, if they even wake up in the morning.

Aeon was no different, granted slack due to his “new summon” status. Snoozing long after the sun had risen above his window. As long as he gets his chores done and gets to practice on time, Papa doesn’t seem to mind. The crisp air of autumn doesn’t help persuade him out of his warm bed, but the ache of an empty stomach sure does.

Eyes barely open, Aeon dresses himself and exits his room, guided towards the common area by smell alone. Whatever had been prepared for their midday meal was already put away, cold and stiffened in the fridge. It’ll do. Had the bright, cold light not clicked on upon opening the door, he would’ve never noticed the white cardboard box that nearly took up a full shelf. Aeon blinked at it for a moment, noticing a plastic viewing slot on the top of the box. Too curious for his own good, he slid the box halfway off the shelf and tilted it, peering in on a white sheet of. Something. Fancy curling letters decorated the surface. After a couple more dumb blinks, Aeon’s finally able to register what he’s seeing.

A sheet cake, elegantly piped with the words, “Happy Birthday Swiss!” Aeon’s jaw might as well have hit the floor. He took a glance around the room, empty except for him, and oh, so carefully slid the cake back onto its shelf. Why had nobody told him? He grabbed another boxed container, a portion of left overs saved for him, and closed the fridge door. He mustn’t waste any time, barely grabbing a utensil to scarf down his first meal of the day. The dish was cleared in what felt like seconds. Aeon had something more important to focus on: finding Swiss.

Thankfully, the rotation of chores was listed on a white board in the common area. Swiss was stationed on laundry duty, so he’d better check there first. Aeon bounded off down the corridor, hard to believe he was out cold barely ten minutes prior.

A little out of breath and sluggish from his hurried meal, Aeon pushes the door open to the laundry room as quietly as he can manage. He pokes his head in, and just like he’d hoped, there was his target with his back to him. Unaware. Alone. Perfect.

Swiss continued the steady pattern of folding towels out in front of himself, using his chin to assist, and tossing them into a basket. Mumbling and nodding along to whatever song was playing in his earbuds, blissfully ignorant to what lurked behind him. While Aeon stalked, the muscles shifting in Swiss’s back caught his attention, and he couldn’t help but admire his arms as he worked. The song must’ve gotten good, because Swiss began a little dance, shifting his weight back and forth between his feet and rolling his body. Aeon felt his cheeks grow warm.

Against better judgment, Aeon believed this was the perfect time to launch his attack. Holding his breath, he crept up behind his victim. He trembled in anticipation before launching his hands forward and grabbing Swiss’s sides, yanking him back against his body. The poor multi ghoul probably would’ve shot through the ceiling with how hard he jumped if he’d not been held down. Off balance and dazed, Swiss grabs at whoever’s arms were squeezing him and whips his head around. His breathless laugh sent a swoop through Aeon’s stomach. Swiss takes a step back to right himself again, letting his head roll back to rest against the quintessence ghouls shoulder.

“That’s a way to greet someone,” Swiss breathes, removing his ear buds.

“You didn’t tell me it was your birthday,” Aeon pouts, tucking his chin over Swiss’s shoulder.

Swiss turns his head, enough to brush his nose against Aeon’s hair. Talk right into his ear. “No?”

“No,” He chuffed, reveling in the way Swiss’s warm breath passed across his cheek. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Wasn’t on purpose, just never came up. Sorry bug,” Swiss shrugged, patting his hands over the limbs wrapped around his middle.

Reluctantly, Aeon let his arms fall to his sides, letting Swiss step out of his range to retrieve a towel that got dropped during the ambush. “So?”

“So what?” The multi ghoul tossed over his shoulder as he refolded the fabric.

Aeon rolled up onto the balls of his feet. “How old are you?” He prodded.

The beat of silence made him drop back onto flat feet, suddenly uncertain. Was that not an appropriate thing to ask?

“Well,” Swiss starts, “I’ve been topside since the reign was shifted to our Papa-“

“Not what I meant,” the other interrupts.

The taller ghoul hums for a moment before giving his answer. Aeon nods slowly before stepping back into Swiss’s space again, this time wearing a grin. Too innocent for the way he crowds Swiss back against the table.

“Well,” Aeon huffs, “I may not have known it was your birthday, but I do have a present for you. Maybe a bit of an apology, too.”

“Is that so?” Swiss tilts his head, unable to stop the smile that splits across his face.

“Mhmm,” hums the agreement. Finally, Aeon reaches to cup Swiss’s face in his hands, letting his fingers lightly scratch over the stubble on his cheeks. Before he can react, Aeon leans forward and places a quick peck to Swiss’s mouth, mostly kissing his teeth.

“Yeah?” Swiss barks a laugh, his head tilting the other way.

“One,” Aeon smiles.

“Just one? That’s it-“

The multi ghoul is cut off by another quick kiss.

“Two.”

Finally catching on, Swiss begins to melt into chuckles. He wraps his strong arms around Aeon, able to reciprocate the kisses now that he sees the game he’s started.

After the tenth kiss, Aeon’s not counting them out loud anymore. Maybe it’s because he doesn’t care, or maybe it’s because the kisses barely break enough for him to say anything. The kisses turn deeper, hotter, wetter. He’s letting his excitement wander, dropping a hand from Swiss’s face to pet at his chest. A shudder runs through him when he feels a wide palm slide up his back and rest on the crook of his neck, huddling Aeon closer. The quintessence ghoul indulges in Swiss’s form, allowing himself to trace the fat padded muscle going down his chest, his ribs, his stomach-

“Y’know,” Swiss mutters between soft licks and sharp fangs biting at his lips, “Plenty of other places could be getting this treatment, too.”

“Is that so?” Aeon chuffs, his fingers tracing the hem of the other's shirt.

“Mhmm,” hums the agreement.

[hampermarketplace]

One of the things about homestuck is how it subverts the idea of the epic with a postmodern lens

Like, it took this idea that humanity and/or the universe was leading up to something meanignful, a “higher history hithertho” , quite literally, with the “ultimate reward”, and it ran with it, but not without having several themes of “everything is meaningless”.

For all the complete circles of stupidity, for all the alternate timelines, the void and its inane afterlife, for all the things that point towards embracing nihilism, in a frank, postmodernist, myth-of-sisyphus-no-exit-waiting-for-godot subplots, it still grants its characters meaning. 

(Pictured: the absence of meaning)

All three sessions that we see in the story were played and all of them were doomed. The sgrub session because of what it created, the beta session because of what created it, and the alpha session just out of innate design. Not gonna lie, before the ending i didn’t even really believe they would ever get that “ultimate reward” at that point, they were just trying to survive, just playing along with the game because there was nothing else to do. Rose had her ubermensch-im-too-good-for-the-laws-of-the-universe streak and it really didn’t help with anything. Half of the trolls died not even from the game, just because having their purposes challenged led some of them on a murderous streak. It’s kind of funny how the trolls who died were also the ones to least interact or try to change the beta session. (I’ll get back to vriska). Meanwhile in the alpha session they were just hangin out essentially waiting for a bunch of ex-machina people they didn’t know but were told were important and it was kind of their reason to live, apart from fear of not existing. 

(pictured: the productive results of being an edgelord.)

(Pictured: waiting for Godot)

What I’m saying is that, in many ways, Homestuck is Absurd. It’s absurd because they keep trying to achieve some sort of goal and they never do, because of themselves, because of life, the universe and everything. 

This kind of story, though, does not, logically, have an ending. But Homestuck ends. It ends twice, even. First with game over, when the characters are progressively ripped apart from believing any of this has any meaning, become depressed, addicted, meandering, and are ultimately caught up by the doom that’s chasing them and die. Or just kind of get stuck in a crumbling, meaningless world y’know. 

(Pictured: the rational choice of giving up)

(Pictured: having lost control of your life)

In the second ending Vriska doesn’t die. Or, at least, she doesn’t die where she did the first time around.In the story, Vriska’s this fucking meaning machine who just keeps trying, y’know? Even though half of the time she’s also the reason everything goes to shit. Even when she’s dead she tries to overcome obstacles and achieve her goals. She’s sysiphus happy. And through her delusional trying-even-though-she’s-dead-and-paradox-space-can’t-be-controlled, she actually finds a loophole which doesn’t have her succeed per-se, but provides the story with a pull-factor, once again. The meteor crew is not just pushed towards the game because doom is chasing them, they’re being pulled by a certain idea of success, they’re reminded that life DOES go on, but that they have to fucking do stuff, or at least, yearn to do stuff. 

(Pictured: stuff-doing.)

And it pays off. 

What I’m saying is, I think the moral of Homestuck is that, even though failure is omnipresent, even though the best of plans will often be foiled by reality, even though in the end, it doesn’t really matter, even though some resolutions are inevitable, success is not. Success is not inevitable, it has to be believed, planned, and enacted. Happiness is something towards which you pull yourself, not something toward which you can be pushed by the rules of the world. And the rules of the world can be broken, if they only lead to dead ends. They’re not easy to break, but it can be done. There is a reason to have faith in things even after other things you believed in have proven quite meaningless: it gets you moving. 

(pictured: Hope, getting things done.)