#no but I thought I had them downloaded but they needed to be redownloaded for some reason

[valewritessss]

When I was on a plane for 10 hours a few days ago I had to survive without fanfiction and 6 hours in I started experiencing symptoms of withdrawal

[angelwishess]

—⋆𐙚₊˚⊹ THEORY TIME : Crowley Summoned Yuu ?! ( ˶°ㅁ°) !!

Before I begin, I’d like to give credit to @cheshiresaf on TikTok for inspiring this theory! Seeing their thoughts on the matter made me want to dive into the topic myself and give my own thoughts and opinions on the matter !

Reminders, this is all just speculation ! I have no concrete proof of any of this being canon in the slightest ! This is just a theory to make some sense of things, or atleast try to.

This theory will be cut into two parts, one focusing on the Opening scene and the second focusing on the Prologue.

Without further ado, lets begin !

Ever since I first downloaded TWST, the opening scene always bothered me. It was never really the scene itself, it was the fact that it was never brought up in the game afterwards.

The closest thing we get to a character acknowledging what happened was Yuu mentioning to Crowley how they remember “Seeing a horse with a scary face” / “Passing through a dark forest” in the prologue.

But after that, its never really brought up again. I had always wondered, ‘Why?’

I waited, played through the game wondering if it would ever be mentioned— But it never was.

Eventually, even I forgot about it. But after seeing that theory on TikTok, my curiosity flared up again.

Now, I was finally able to redownload TWST since I recently just got a new phone. So, I paid much closer attention to the opening scene.

—₊˚⊹ Part One : The Opening “Mirror” Scene.

Ill be talking about these two shots of dialogue first. What interests me is the way Crowley is speaking. Although you can obviously tell it is Crowley, it isnt seem as playful nor as dramatic as he usually speaks. He spoke somewhat more seriously than usual here, and, it seems like hes speaking directly into the mirror— or, more specifically, he is speaking directly to us, as Yuu.

With no one else in the room, Crowley speaks without his dramatic flair, with no room for playfulness. He speaks directly into the dark mirror— speaks directly to the person behind it. The person he knows hes talking to. The one hes trying to summon.

The definition of “Benefactor” is a person who gives money or other help to a person or cause.

Though, its pretty well known that Yuu is always helping around NRC (whether by will or not) and Crowley is almost always the one to take advantage of this— I doubt that is what he is referring to.

No, Crowley knows something. This was all on purpose, Yuu coming to Twisted Wonderland, to Night Raven, it was all on purpose. Ill research more into Crowley later, but for now lets focus on whats being said in the opening scene.

He definetly has plans, and he knows Yuu has more capabilities than what is known so far.

What interested me the most, though, is the wording right after referring to us as his “esteemed benefactor”.

“My proud, beautiful flower of evil”. This one sentence truly had me thinking, because what did he mean by this?

Well, the only thing I could think of is the vague hint that Yuu is much, much more than they seem. When you think about it, Yuu is strange in many ways. Not only do they come from another universe entirely, they get dreams of the past which warn them of future events— directly parelleling Levan/Revan (Malleus’ father).

I wouldnt be surprised if it somehow turned out that Yuu has either had magic this entire time and it just being hidden from everyone in the cast (including themselves), or theyve been absorbing the magic of people around them after being exposed to so much magic, especially from the overblots.

What im thinking, is that the true nature of Yuu and their capabilities is yet to be revealed, and will “bloom”. Just like a proud flower. And, flowers need to be nurtured to bloom ever so beautifully, do they not? Who would be a better fit than Crowley?

Now, Crowley may be somewhat immature and unreliable— But that does not make him stupid, nor does that make him oblivious. Many of the staff respect him greatly, and its a no-brainer that he must be quite powerful. He definetly knows more than he leads on, hes extremely mysterious despite being the first character (after Grim,) to be introduced to us.

Its clear to me that he knows what hes doing. He has plans, whether for better or for worse, and i think its safe to say that those plans include Yuu in some way. Perhaps theyre the final piece of the puzzle Crowley so desperately needs. ← keep that in mind. Hes desperate.

(As for the “evil” part… Man idk leave me alone)

“O magic mirror, thy wisdom I entreat…”

Remember what i said earlier? About Crowley being desperate? Dire, even?

Well, the definition of Entreat is to plead with especially in order to persuade. ask someone earnestly or anxiously to do something.

He is earnestly, pleading the Dark Mirror for answers, for wisdom regarding the “Visage he seeks”.

“Reveal onto me the visage I seek…” Once more, this further proves that Crowley is speaking and seeking out someone specifically. He is seeking out the visage, the face and appearance of the benefactor he is requesting for.

“You, whose image the Dark Mirror did beckon forth…”

Here, Crowley once again speaks directly to us/Yuu. Later on in the Prologue, when the Dark Mirror states that no dorm could possibly suit us/Yuu because our soul is “empty and colorless” due to the lack of magic, Crowley objects, saying that its impossible for the Dark Mirror to summon a student without any magic, as the system has never once erred from the beginning of NRC being established.

(Crowley ure not slick i know what u are)

So, in NRC’s 100 years of being established, why would it’s seemingly very stable system of retrieving students fail? How would the Black Carraige retrieve a student from an entire different universe, putting aside the simple fact of Yuu not having magic? Well, its simple.

The Dark Mirror did not summon Yuu. Crowley did.

Crowley was the one to bring Yuu into this world. The Dark Mirror did not beckon forth Yuu for the sake of the school, rather it was because Crowley requested for it, for whatever reasons he has.

(Alright, now this is where i will be getting into some delusional territory but i will try to remain as logical as possbile pls have mercy on me ໒꒰ྀིっ⸝⸝⸝ ꒱ྀི১)

This scene has always bothered me. Not in like, an uncomfortable way— but ever since first downloading the game, I have always wondered what this scene meant.

“If your heart bids it, take the hand of the one reflected in the mirror.”

Although Crowley is obviously the one summoning us— it is not his hand extended out to us. Rather, it is one of the characters we meet later on. (The sleeves are quite obviously the ceremonial robes, too)

To take the hand of the one reflected into the mirror… Why is that? Why do we need to take someone’s hand? And, furthermore— the hand of a specific character? Though it is a clever way to introduce the cast of characters and give us our first card of our chosen character— why this way if it doesn’t have any significance in the game other than to serve as a “baby’s first card!” scene? We already have the later free gacha, so what was the point?

(I may be overthinking this guys someone help me)

Ive always been curious, since the game never seems to mention this part, and in none of the mangas they have never shown this, either. So, whats the purpose of it?

My guess is that Crowley himself cant summon us himself. Though Crowley must be powerful— summoning someone from an entirely different universe must be difficult, almost impossible seeing as this has probably never happened before.

See, no matter who you are or how poweful you are, I have no doubt summoning someone from a different universe is an incredibly strenuous feat that near no one average could ever do. To break past the bonds of reality, and peer into another, that is something that is beyond imaginiation.

So, what if us taking the hand of our chosen character was the last nail in the coffin for us? The last thing needed for us to be brought into Twisted Wonderland.

To establish a connection.

“If your heart bids it,” why else would you take the hand of a complete stranger? One that mysteriously appeared before you in an extremely strange situation, you can’t even see their face in this scene. Yet, we still take their hand. Why? I couldn’t think of any other explanation other than an already existing connection between us and the character that we chose. Why else would your heart tell you to trust?

Now, i have absolutely zero proof of this being true, its mostly just a little guess, a situation i like to daydream about but hey, its better than nothing.

Anyways, what if Crowley needed the assistance of one of the characters to finally bring us into Twisted Wonderland? Yes, as i mentioned before he is alone in the room when speaking to us— but perhaps theres some ‘magical’ explanation to the figures of our beloved characters standing before us and not Crowley himself, despite him actually being there.

My guess is, that Yuu and whoever they chose have a strange connection. And i dont exactly mean this as strictly romantic, it could be platonic or hell, even more than both of those bonds (maybe even hatred LMAO)— but im talking about a bond and a connection that somehow transcends the borders of realities and their universe itself. They would not be aware of this— neither would Yuu. But it is there. Perhaps its a kind of “soulmate” situation (once again, i do not mean this strictly romantically, you may interpret this however you please!!)

This furthers my suspicions that Yuu needs that connection with your chosen character in order to be brought into their world.

The sound of dragging chains could be somewhat like symbolism or a physical embodiment for Yuu being tied down to their original world. A last effort of their universe to keep them there, but yet Yuu fights against them and is “freed” from those chains after taking the hand of our chosen character.

Only when you take the hand of the character you chose are you able to start the game, both literally and figuratively. (I like to imagine the characters js pull Yuu in after they take their hand i think its funny HAHAHAHA)

The mirrors and coffins at NRC are used as gateways. But it seems Yuu is the only one who needed that extra help to actually be sent into NRC through said gateways. Yuu needs that law-defying, reality bending connection with one of the characters to be able to even step foot into their world. And honestly? I think its super cute HEHEHEE🤭 (fanfic writers, feel free to use this i live to serve content)

(Unfortunately, I have hit the photo limit here. So, I’ll have to settle for typing out all the dialog for the lasst few screenshots ! So please bare with me ૮꒰ྀི⊃⸝ ⸝ ⸝⊂꒱ྀིა !)

────୨ৎ────

“As flame reduces even the stars to ash

As ice seals away even time itself

As great trees swallow even the sky

Fear not the power of darkness.

Now— demonstrate your power.”

────୨ৎ────

In the next views of dialogue, Crowley is obviously foreshadowing to the kinds of magic the player will have to get used to during battle scenes— but what interests me is the very last part of the dialog. The last thing Crowley says before the mirror brightly flashes and the game sends us into our first battle against the overblot Grim.

“Now— demonstrate your power.”

Yuu is magicless, so what power could he be referring to? This could be taken both literally and figuratively, as “power” is not only strength, it can come in many forms, and Yuu has obviously shown to be quite cunning themself, and that could be considered a power.

But, what if Yuu DOES have powers, in a literal sense? What if that power has been secretly sleeping inside of Yuu this entire time, waiting for the right moment to burst forth and bloom like a flower? Their power could be much more than just being a peacemaker or a beast tamer, who knows?

────୨ৎ────

“To me. To them. To yourself.

The hour grows long and time is scarce.”

“Keep steady your grip, no matter what may come…”

────୨ৎ────

This final piece of dialog paired with the earlier “As ice seals away even time itself” statement from when Crowley was speaking of the elemental forms of magic, it really does feel like its hinting at a time loop.

Perhaps that is why Crowley had summoned them, and why he seems to not be even trying to look for a way to send them home. Not just because hes “lazy”, but he very well may have a plan for Yuu. He is purposefully trying to keep Yuu in NRC.

Maybe he is aware of this timeloop, and out of desperation seeks out the wisdom of the Dark Mirror, trying to find a way to put a stop to it— and who better than Yuu to be that final piece he needs? His dear, esteemed benefactor… His fair, beautiful flower ready to be extorted for whatever purpose he had summoned them for.

Nothing is a coincidence. Everything happens for a purpose, good or bad. And Yuu just happens to be in the middle of every messy situation that happens at NRC.

“For them”, who is “them”? The one whose hand we took? Or perhaps the friends we meet later on? Whatever i means, its obvious theres a certain danger lurking in the shadows that has not made itself known. Atleast, not yet. And for some odd reason, it is up to us to “show our power” and keep it from happening. (If it has something to do with Grim, maybe that “Beast Tamer” title was hinting to that all along lol)

“Time is scarce.” An absolutely chilling line that is never really explained. Time has always been an element that seemed infinite, yet in some cases thats still too little. Time is something no one can have enough of, no matter who they are. Yet what does it mean in this context? Why is our time running out, and furthermore what are we trying to prevent? For Crowley? For them, for our friends… And for us? I’m sure Crowley himself must know, if he didn’t why would he be asking the universe to bring him a helper so desperately?

“Keep steady tour grip, no matter what may come…” This, paired along with the earlier dialog of “Fear not the power of darkness,” could be foreshadowing the later overblots that we face in the game. Crowley knows that we will face hardships, and says to keep steady our grip. To not let the darkness consume us or our friends. To not fear the “darkness“. Crowley could be aware of the challenges we are to face, not even bothering to help in the midst of Riddle’s overblot (very responsible of you, Headmaster). Almost as if he expected it?

That is the final line of dialog from Crowley before the Prologue actually begins.

And now, speaking of the prologue, lets talk about some dialog from Crowley in the actual prologue!

—₊˚⊹ Part Two : The Prologue

“Ah, I’ve found you at last. Splendid.”

Crowley’s wording here, “I found you at last.” Is pretty sus, he speaks like hes been keeping out an eye for a specific someone. And the fact that he went out of his way to find Yuu is also pretty telling. After all, from what we know of Crowley its obvious that hes not the type to do that kind of thing. If Yuu was just any other student, Im sure Crowley wouldn’t have gone out of his way to look for them for the sake of the ceremony.

Furthermore, judging by his tone and expression, he doesn’t seem very surprised to find a student where they aren’t supposed to be. Yet he playfully mentions that most other students usually wait for him to open the lids of their caskets before running off. Making Yuu differ from the rest of the student body once more.

Later on in the prologue, we have the infamous “Deuce throwing Ace at the chandelier” scene. (I giggle everytime I hear Ace’s scream. Its so funny i cant)

When Crowley comes over and discovers that our little group had broken the chandelier and expels us, Ace tries to reason with Crowley saying that surely, he must be able to fix the chandelier himself with some fancy pants magic.

“Even magic has its limits.”

If Crowley can’t fix a magical chandelier without it having any circumstances— Then surely there must be some very… Specific conditions when summoning a person, let alone one from another universe.

Magic itself is limited in certain scenarios. Later on, Deuce mentions that if you can’t strongly visualize your magic, it isn’t going to happen.

Which must be why Crowley went to the Dark Mirror for wisdom. “Reveal onto me the visage I seek,”

It could be that Crowley himself didn’t exactly know what form or appearance his dear benefactor would take, and because of that could not properly ‘visualize’ who he is seeking out. Out of desperation, he seeks out the Dark Mirror for wisdom to finally be able to summon this benefactor he desires so greatly, and it just so happens Yuu fits that role perfectly.

After the fiasco at rhe Dwarfs’ Mine, Yuu, Grim, and the Adeuce duo all return back to NRC safely and recap the story of their little journey to Crowley in the privacy of his office where he promptly bursts into tears after.

He begins to ramble about how the students of NRC, as talented as they are, have egos bigger than mt. Everest and this is the first time in his decades of working at NRC where the students have finally joined hands to defeat a common foe.

“I am convinced that people like you are necessary for the future of this school.”

This line of dialog caught my interest greatly. Though he was already going on and on about how Yuu’s “mundanity” is great for the students of this school— for some reason this line simply seemed to stand out to me.

“People like you”? But, there has never been a magicless student at NRC before Yuu, atleast as far as we know. Could this possibly hint to the Yuuniverse? People like you being the countless of other Yuus that were summoned in a past timeline— perhaps each one restarting after the last Yuu fails, and Crowley summons another in an attempt to stop the constant loop of each timeline resetting after every calamity that falls upon NRC.

Perhaps Yuuken failed during Leona’s overblot, and that is why he’s replaced by Yuuka in the Savanaclaw manga volumes? Maybe Yuuka failed during Azul’s, then Yuuta was summoned forth? And then so on, so forth.

Perhaps that is why Crowley is so desperate. Continuing to try and summon the perfect benefactor, the right flower to nurture in hopes that they would survive and deal with each and every calamity accordingly, in order to stop the timeloop.

Why he doesn’t get off his lazy ass and help Yuu himself? Who knows, I’d like to give him the benefit of the doubt and say theres a completely understandable reason of him not helping the students hes supposed to be protecting— but then again, it is Crowley. You really never know with him.

Right after he accepts Grim and Yuu as students, he immediately foists upon another job for Yuu. Gifting them a Ghost Camera, which captures the Memories of the photos taken by the photographer.

The photographer and the subject are then considered “Soulbound”, which apparently just means that when the photographer and the subject’s bond deepens, the Memories captured in the photos come “jumping out”. Crowley says it enables the user to not only photograph the subject, but parts of their soul itself.

(I want to relate this to the part where we take the hand of our chosen character but i cant think of anything so …)

He then tells Yuu to take the camera, and make a record of their campus life. But why Yuu, specifically? And only Yuu? Surely, he could’ve given such an object to the Housewarden of each respective dorm— yet he gives it to Yuu and Yuu alone. As if he knows that they’d get involved in all sorts of trouble, face the unthinkable. And he brushes it off saying how much more convenient it would be instead of documenting everything himself, but how could he be so sure that Yuu would come across such events?

“As a prefect, consider it your duty to maintain a sharp eye on your surroundings and record them.”

Yuu and Yuu alone has been given full freedom to mettle in whichever dorm they see fit and “beast tame” them. They do not have the restriction of the Housewardens, where they only keep an eye strictly on their dorm and dorm mates. No, Yuu has been given full and complete freedom to keep an eye and ensure that everyone is in line regardless of their dorm due to Crowley’s blessing upon Yuu to do just that.

While Housewardens are only limited to their respective dorms, Yuu is allowed to discipline and punish whoever they see fit regardless of which dorm they belong to.

It is because Yuu is magicless that they alone have this privledge of overseeing every dorm— even being able to tell off the Housewardens themselves.

It is because Crowley has given them this role that Yuu is constantly faced with so many challenges from each dorm as a result of their meddling.

He pushes them to meddle in the business of other dorms, making it their “duty” as a prefect (A job that he forced unto them). In a way, this is isn’t just Crowley extorting Yuu into looking after the students instead of him despite it being his job and not theirs, perhaps it is him also trying to ‘nurture’ Yuu. Putting them into these situations, in hopes that they allow Yuu to unlock their true potential and stop the timeline from resetting.

It is because of their job as a prefect that they get into these situations. And it is because of this meddling that they face such challenges. Yet, they wouldn’t have had to if Crowley just didn’t appoint them as “Prefect”. (Well, I suppose Ace was the one that started it— but shh lets ignore that for now!)

Thats all the dialog that stuck out to me for the Prologue.

—₊˚⊹ Conclusion !

In conclusion, I think that Yuu was not brought to Twisted Wonderland by mistake, but on purpose by none other than Crowley himself.

Perhaps each character has their own “Yuu”, and that connection between a character and their Yuu was what enabled Crowley to bring them into their world.

With each Yuu failing at a calamity / overblot, the timeline resets and Crowley summons another Yuu to try again to stop the timeloop, hence the Yuuniverse.

Crowley alone remembers every reset, perhaps not all of it which is why he has given Yuu the Ghost Camera in hopes that the Memories in the camera remain. But, he is aware that the timeline resets every time a Yuu fails— yet it is only a Yuu that can stop the calamities due to the mystery of their true nature.

Yuu is Crowley’s “esteemed benefactor”, the one summoned specifically to aid Crowley in his agenda, whatever it may be. Yuu was brought to NRC to assist him, and Crowley seeks to nurture Yuu until the time their true powers are revealed.

Crowley was desperate to summon Yuu. And it seems the worst is yet to come, and for that reason he summoned Yuu.

With Yuu’s mysterious background and even more mysterious ability to see the past through their dreams— Yuu must have some sort of secret power. The true nature of their being, perhaps they themselves have some sort of magic, or are destined for something great. Whatever it may be, Yuu is not a normal, everyday person. Though they are magicless, that does not make them average at all.

To summarize: With every calamity that falls upon NRC, the timeline resets to the night before the Opening Ceremony. Crowley, being the only one who retains any memory of every reset, desperately seeks out the Dark Mirror in search of wisdom, and a benefactor who can help him and the rest of NRC and finally end the loop. That benefactor being Yuu. Yet, because of the limits on magic— it is difficult to summon such a person, let alone the right one. Conveniently enough, there are a select few of students who have some sort of connection with the one Crowley may be looking for (ex. Yuuken paralleling Riddle, Yuuta paralleling Azul, ect.), and it is because of that law-defying connection that Crowley is able to summon each of their respective Yuu’s.

Yuu’s true abilities have not yet been revealed, and still remain veiled in mystery. But, Yuu may have powers of some sort, or a destiny that they are to fulfil. One greater than they can imagine.

— Phew! That was a lot, wasn’t it ? Sorry, I didn’t expect it to be so long ! (Thats what she said)

Anyways, if you’re still here and managed to make it to the end— Thank you so much for reading my little yap session !!! I appreciate it, and I’d love to hear your thoughts on the topic !

If I got anything wrong, please feel free to correct me! After all, I don’t have the best memory and I may be remembering things wrong. But once again, thank you so much for reading !

Don’t forget to drink water, and take care of yourself, pretty ! See you next time, bye-bye!~ ♡

[frenziedslashers]

I hope you get the switch issue sorted out and it just needs a new memory card or something :( I'd love HCs or a oneshot with Handsome Jack, maybe with a reader who's a medic who takes care of his scars and mask? SFW or NSFW or both, whatever you're feeling.

Thank you, I appreciate your support man. It is so far downloading Borderlands: The Pre-sequel alright. So I am crossing my fingers that it at least works at redownloading that game since I was working on a rerun with it and would hate to have to wait until I could get a new memory card to replay it 😭 thank you for the request too, though! I am absolutely living off the fact that there are still people on here who read borderlands stuff. I have really missed this fandom tbh <3

This may be pretty ooc for Handsome Jack. I never write for him, but I was in a fluffy sort of mood so I hope you enjoy Anon :)

Taking Care of Handsome Jack:

He never really let anyone touch him, before or after he became Handsome Jack. The thought of getting too close to someone and having them slip through his fingers like everyone else in his life hurt him, it really did. He just chose not to let anyone know that. I mean, he was supposed to be a feared man, showing any sign of weakness would surely get him demoted to Pandoras most feared, to Pandoras Softest Villain.

But there you were, sitting next to him on the floor of his home, a first aid kit strewn out on the floor before the both of you. "You know, I could tend to these wounds a lot better if you let me take you to my station and clean these with proper equipment. Unless scars are today's form of tattoo, it almost seems like it." You fussed while working away at bandaging up his arm.

"And let someone see that I'm not made of steel and that I bleed? Yeah, fat chance, princess." You rolled your eyes at the pet name. "Why do you trust that I won't tell the world that the all-great and powerful Jack bleeds blood like the rest of us?" You asked him, peeking up at him through your lashes with a small smirk before looking back down to tend to his wounds. "Oh, I just know you won't" he hummed, his other hand moving to rest on your thigh. "I feel like you get cockier each time I come here," "Call it confidence, dolly." He cooed with a snicker, though that quickly faded when you pressed on one of his cuts just right. A hiss left the man's lips, glaring over at you as you tried to hide a smile. "Sorry. "

He watched you for a few more moments until you leaned back, declaring your work finished as you looked over the mans body one last time. At least from what you could see of it. "Like what you see?" He asked you, and you rolled your eyes for what felt like the fiftieth time tonight. "I'm just checking over to make sure you didn't get shot anywhere else. Remember last time?" "God, don't remind me." He groaned.

Last time you did have to take him to your place of work. He had gotten shot in the back, literally, and hardly noticed until his adrenaline wore off. If it weren't for your second inspection and you seeing the blood he would have been a dead man. He never even said thank you for it, either.

"Well?" He asked, and you nodded your head. Eyes moving back up to meet his. Smiling softly back at him. "Looks good, handsome." You teased with a smirk. "Well then come here, gorgeous," he sniggered, pulling you closer to him by your hips. Moving you to rest over his lap. "Has anyone ever told you how hard to get you are?" You sighed, leaning forward a bit, "humor me." This wasn't the first time the two of you had done something like this. It started to become a common occurrence each time he called you to come to his house and patch him up. Some days you wondered if he was putting himself in the line of fire just so he could see you. You didn't think that much into it, though. The last thing you needed was the thought of Handsome Jack actually liking you for more than just your body and easy help. He was ruthless and cared about no one. At least that's what you were always told and assumed.

He sighed back, leaning forward to rest his chin on your chest, staring up at you with a smug expression. It was an awkward angle to stare back down at him, but it made you smile nonetheless. "I think that's what I like about you most." He hummed, "That and the fact that you save me about once a week, and god damn do you fuck really well." He partially joked and you groaned. There he went ruining the moment that you were starting to think was actually really sweet.

"Is that all I am? A toy?" You truly didn't care what the answer would be from the man, you were more so just playing along. But something behind his eyes told you that it struck a chord with him. His brows furrowing together. "Why the hell would you say that?" Well, that wasn't entirely the response you were expecting. Jack leaned back so the both of you were able to look at one another properly.

"Well, you only ever contact me when your bloody and bruised, and then we screw around, and I leave. Sorry, I was just playing around." You confessed, and he shook his head. "Have you ever thought about the fact that a call works both ways? You never call me, I call you for help because it's the only time you'll come and see me. I asked you to come over on three other occasions and each time you said you were busy. You only ever come if I'm dying, I can't believe you think so little of me." He spat, pushing you away from him. This wasn't like him, the sudden emotional change made your heartache. You felt horrible for making him upset. Then again, a part of you expected him to start laughing and point out the look on your face.

He wasn't lying though, he had asked you to come over three other times. Two of those times you assumed was just for sex, but the third time, thinking back on it now with the way he worded it. He did really just want to see you, even if he was drunk and you could tell.

"Jack, I don't think little of you," you tried to reassure him, and he scolded you. "Oh, yet you thought I was just using you as a fuck toy? Yeah, I enjoy it, but that's not who I am. I'm a lot of things, and I've done a lot of sick, idiotic things, but I'm not a user," he frowned, his eyes still focused on you. You could tell he was pissed, betrayed, hurt. You didn't know what you could do to make it up to him, and that's when you saw it. The blood dripping down his mask that made your chest clench in panic.

"Jack, did you hit your head today?" You asked all while leaning forward. "Oh, now you think I hit my head because I'm showing emotions? I'm not a fucking lunatic," he hissed, and you ignored him. Reaching out to touch the face of his mask. Pulling it back to show him the blood on your fingers. "Why are you bleeding from your head, Jack?" You asked with a stern expression. A bit upset he was ignoring the fact that he was still hurt.

"Oh shit," he muttered. Reaching up to touch the blood himself. Slight panic setting into himself. The last thing he needed was a concussion, or something worse. His head did hurt a little, but he didn't think it was that bad. "How many fingers am I holding up?" You asked while holding three fingers up for him. He pouted a bit, "Jack," you stated sternly. "Fine, three." "Good," you hummed, reaching into your bag for a light. "I'm going to shine my light on your eyes to make sure your pupils dilate properly, is that okay?" "Whatever you have to do, doc."

You completed the tests that you had to to make sure he was alright. Though you did suggest he take a concussion test, you knew he wouldn't. He was too stubborn to admit that he had one. Lucky for him you were sure it wasn't too severe if he did have one. "You call me if you start feeling worse, okay Jack?" He sighed as you mothered him. Closing his eyes while you worked on checking the wound through his thick hair. Minus the wound itself, he liked the feeling of you taking care of him. It made him feel normal in a sense. Like you were his loving partner, taking care of him after he got hurt at work, but he knew now that wouldn't be a thing. Or at least he assumed. You seemed to have higher expectations, or at least ones that weren't named Handsome Jack.

"Is it bad?" You shrugged. "Sort of? I suggest taking a shower before I stitch it up." You told him, moving some of his hair that fell onto his forehead. "Can you join me?" You frowned a bit, "Come on, just make sure I don't fall and die. Because if I die, I'm leaving you Hyperion as payback." He quipped, and you let out a groan. He knew you hated working for the place, let alone the thought of owning it. You were a medic, not a business person.

You knew that Jack was playing his games again. The moment the both of you got into the bathroom for him to take a shower he asked if you could join him in it. "As in without any clothes?" "I mean unless you want to shower with clothes on, what are you, crazy?" Jack asked with furrowed brows as he worked at removing his shirt. Turning around so his back was to you to allow you to remove your own clothes. Which did shock you a little. It did give you the chance to look over his back wound though. It was healing up nicely, just as you presumed.

"Alright," You hummed, opening the door so he could step in, you following after. Shutting the door behind the both of you.

The whole shower was quiet, besides the water that echoed in your ears. A nonstop stream that was almost comforting. His eyes were either on your face or the wall behind you the whole time while you helped him clean his hair and body. Giving you the opportunity to make sure he had no other marks hiding from you.

"Thank you," you froze up. God, you were sure you were wrong and this man had the worse concussion you had ever seen before. First, he practically told you he had feelings for you, and now he was thanking you? After nearly eight months of you helping him out like this? "You're welcome." You didn't question it, it was nice having him thank you for your service for once. You did practically do all of it for free. It was the least he could do, even if he was technically your boss.

It wasn't long before the both of you were exiting the shower. Drying off and changing. Jack had a spare set of clothes for you. Most of the time it was the clothes that you left behind, but this time it was clothes you had never seen before. "Are they your size? I picked them out myself. It's an apology for ripping your shirt last time." He told you with a smug grin. He was still proud of that, but you didn't even have the time to be mad at him. They were your size, and the fabric was the type that you liked and that didn't bother your skin. "Yeah, these are great, thank you, Jack." You smiled back at him, and he nodded. Pulling his shirt back over his head after tugging his pants up his legs.

"See, I'm not so unthoughtful, am I?" He asked with a brow raised, sitting on the edge of his bed while watching you head back into the other room after getting changed. He knew you were just grabbing your supplies to bring them in there. He trusted you, after all.

When you did come back, he scooted back so he was leaned back against the head board. Waiting for you to come over and attend to what you both hoped was his final wound. "So," you started as you dug out the supplies to patch up his scalp. "If I'm not a toy, what am I? Or... What are we?" You asked, glancing at his eyes before working on his head.

He was quiet for a while. Long enough that it had you worried, but each time you looked down at his face he was staring at you like he was thinking. Thinking long and hard about his next words. Really, he was praying that you would know without him having to say anything. "Truthfully, I don't even know." He told you, and you frowned a bit. There it was, you got your hopes up just a bit and you were brought back down.

"Well, I know what I want," Jack told you, a small laugh leaving his chest. "I always know what I want, it's what I'm best at. I want you. I want you by my side when I take down the Vault Hunters and open the Vault on Pandora." You stopped your work, staring at him with wide eyes. He had to be joking, right?

"What do you mean, by your side? Like as your medic?" You stammered a bit, pulling your hands away and Jack took this as a chance to grab your hands, pulling them close to him. A crazy glint in his eyes that worried you a little. "Well, that too, but as my partner. My other half. I want you as mine, and I really thought I made that damn clear with you being the only person I ever screw around with. I mean, I let you leave hickeys on me, you think I'd let just anyone do that?" He laughed, and you felt your insides turning. You were scared he was going to start laughing at you if you said you wanted all of that too, I mean. It wasn't like you didn't like him. You liked him quite a bit, actually. You always just pushed those feeling away.

"Are you making fun of me? This is a joke isn't it?" He could see the worry on your face, and it frustrated him. "What part of I like you do you not fucking understand?" He snapped, squeezing your hands a little tighter, and that made you flinch, your eyes and jaw squeezing shut. He regretted his actions, wishing he didn't let his anger get the best of him, but it was just who he was.

He released the grip on your hands. Letting them go completely so he could reach up to cup the sides of your face. "Look at me," he wanted to see your eyes. "Hey, look at me, please?" He asked, rubbing your cheek bones as he waited for your eyes to open. When they did finally flutter open he smiled. A smile that seemed almost too genuine for Handsome Jack. It scared you a little, really.

"Look, I'm sorry I yelled. I just don't understand why you can't trust me. I've been nothing but good to you, haven't I? If I did anything wrong, tell me now." He spoke, and you shook your head. "You didn't do anything wrong." He nodded his head, "Then what is it?" You stared back at him for a second while you thought of what you wanted to say. You didn't want to confuse or frustrate him any more than he already was. "I just don't get it." He furrowed his brows, "Everyone told me you were some heartless bastard who didn't care about no one. So I always just assumed you were using me. I never told anyone about me coming over to help us, or the time that we shared, but the rumors that people spread about them. I believed a lot of them." "Why?" He asked, looking a little wounded. "I guess I just never expected you to like a nobody like me." He sighed, pulling you close to him so he could wrap his arms around you. "Yeah, well I guess I'm just full of surprises." You shrugged, resting your head on his shoulder. "You really are, Jack." No one would believe you if you told them you were sleeping with Handsome Jack anyways, but you were glad to know you were hopefully the only one. If you could even believe him.

"I always just assumed you would want someone like Moxxi," "And have my heart broken again? No way, baby. Plus, you take better care of me, and you let me spoil you without having to flaunt it to the world." You smiled a little, he did spoil you. A lot more than you liked, actually. You always felt like he owed you back each time he would buy you the new supplies you needed and wanted for work or just the little things you wanted for yourself. No matter how much he assured you, you always wanted to pay him back somehow.

Your silence made him a little antsy, giving your hip a light squeeze. "Does this mean you'll be mine, and just mine?" He asked with a grin, and you smiled a bit back yourself. "Yeah, only if you let me make earlier up to you." You stated, beginning to place all of your appliances back into your bag while Jack settled down onto the bed. "Baby, when have I ever denied you?"

[bless-up-1nferno]

i redownloaded tumblr because i was watching voiced by mandy’s sonados iceberg youtube video and she meantioned this very specific trope and i was like, i have to investigate immediately. so i opened reddit. not because i particularly wanted to but because instagram meta doesnt need to know about my search history fuck you mark zuckahbug, but ultimatelot the finds were underwhelming and all reposts, 50% of them without credit to the original artist and i thought, man, i gotta go straight to the source.

so i downloaded tumblr again. and my ipad suggested old login info… old login info? hello? what era of my life could this account be from? i sign in, scroll a little, see some gay ass haikyuu fan art (love u kkumri) and then look at my profile. suddenly the year is 2017, i;m deep in my bts army era and i seemed to only use my page to reblog y/a bts fantasy au fics. GAGGED. i finally had proof; evidence of these memories i’ve had for years now and. my oh my it was worse than i remember. i laughed my ass off reading through me page, only to be shocked! when i found at the very bottom of my page, so the first thing i ever posted, be vkook MOANING VIDEOS. bing bong BAM there were three of them! i was mortified. i had absolutely no regard for my digital footprint, not that i can really talk now either but, bruh. shipping real people like that… nahh dawg . it’s funny cause the only reason i was into that stuff was cause i was unlknowingly a lesbian , trying to find loopholes that made men attractive to me. i mean i was 14, but still find it all kinda crazy looking back on it.

but yeah, now i’m here！

welcome to bless up inferno <3

[dizziesims]

Helloo it's been awhile ;-;

A lot has happened in my life in the past couple of years since I deleted my original blog. I did save my username on a diff tumblr account I have, for some reason I couldn't 100% get rid of it ya know?

Anyways, I decided to make a new blog and start fresh kinda. I recently moved into my own apartment, first time living on my own, and I just had this want to play sims. I backed all my cc, sims, etc. up on mediafire like a year ago and I'm really glad I did!

I kind of just plan on posting pics and probably gameplay because I really want to play the game with my OCs. For the time being I don't plan on making cc like I used to. I no longer have any of the programs on my new pc and the thought of redownloading/re-teaching myself how to do it is exhausting lmao I deleted the blog all my cc was on because I wasn't the original creator of the website and I kindly asked who that was to delete the page. I do want to put all my old downloads in one place for everyone to access because I've seen some people bulk reupload my stuff, so this would just be easier. I think I'm going to put them on a patreon page because it's easy to use and it'll be my own little archive of my creations. (Not behind a paywall at all btw lolol)

(I may post SL here and there because it is still something I enjoy playing every once in a while. I work full time so I don't have a lot of freetime to do my hobbies like I used to but it's a creative outlet I love to useee ;)

So yeah, if you wanna follow me and my lil simmies, I'd appreciate it! I've been snooping a bit in the s3 tumblr tags and there's still a bit of a community here which is super cool! I really need more people to follow so follow mee and I'll most likely follow back at some point :D

[lewdmememonarch]

GENDER DIVERSE MENSTRUATION CREW HOTTIP

Just FYI to anyone that is gender diverse and menstruates if you need to download a period tracker app download CLUE I've been feeling very bad gender dysphoria lately, using bad self talk, upset with my body, casually joking about selfharm and suicidal ideation. I'm normally not too unhappy with my body but this periods really got me upset with it and when I redownloaded Clue it had changed a lot since I last used; which was when I was identifying straight and cis, it now has articles for trans users to help alleviate some of those thoughts by telling stories from other trans folk who menstrate and I'm reading them like oh shit this is exactly what I'm going through and it just helped me feel so much better and less alone. So please if your having trouble during your menstruation or even during other tracking of your cycle requirments, because CLUE is a app for tracking your whole cycle including ovulation if your trying to get pregnant, use CLUE read some of the articles hopefully it helps 😊

[jehovahhthickness]

Everytime I redownload dating apps and feel like I've moved on from my ex-bedmate (he refused to call me his SO) I get so insecure and afraid of getting my heart fucked up again that I delete my profiles... eg. on Saturday, I downloaded Tinder and after about an hour, had a breakdown.

What am I supposed to do? I want the intimacy of a relationship, but a bitch is too scared to put myself out there again. Do I just go through with it and hope for the best? Shake my ass at Barnes and Noble and hope for a man to come along (@glazedkait, 2021)? Join the nunnery?

(I'm looking for a local therapist, but I also want to hear your wisdom~)

I really think you should try to move on from the guy that doesn’t even claim you, first and foremost.

I really hate that I completely understand how you feel. This shit really sucks.

However, I know what it’s like to feel this intense burst of emotion when you really want attention/intimacy/sex from somebody else. It’s important to learn to not get obsessed with feeling this way because it can lead you into really unsafe and desperate situations.

What helps me when I’m on these days, I have a list of what I’m looking for and not looking for. It’s important to have standards and to uphold them because you are doing yourself a disservice when you don’t.

Also, any guy that’s worth your time is not going to ask you to chill on the first meet up. Homie gotta come up with an actual plan to go on a actual date! He needs to put some thought and effort to it.

It’s not the end of the world if you end up sleeping with people on the first day because shit happens and a lot of relationships are formed after the first hook up. However, I think it’s always good to get to know this person first, speak to them frequently and be around each other in social settings before y’all sleep together.

This is something I wish I implemented into my own life a lot earlier

[thesimmer40]

Functional Elevator Door and Portals - UPDATED Sep 12th, 2020

It’s been a while since I don’t post anything, but when Realm of Magic was released and included those debug portals, I thought that they could be useful for making elevators, so what I did is I created rugs that function as portals from Realm of Magic that you can use along this elevator door (which is basically the City Living cheaper elevator turned into a door) to make functional elevators for your builds. You can decorate the interior of the elevator however you like. Notice that sims will still teleport, but at least they will go inside the elevator before they teleport. More info and the download link are under the cut.

You can have up to three independent elevator shafts by using different colored portals (blue, red and green). For example, if you have two elevator shafts like in the first image, you could use blue portals for the elevators in one shaft and red portals for the elevators in the other shaft.

For 2x2 elevators, you should place these OUTSIDE the elevator (one square behind it, facing inwards), like in the picture below. Otherwise, the door will not open when sims go inside the elevator.

For each color, there are entrance (IN) and exit (OUT) portals. There needs to be at least one of each type otherwise it will not work! For example, if there are three floors, you could have either two IN portals and one OUT portal or the opposite, but not three IN portals or three OUT portals. See the example below.

After you place them, you can make them invisible by choosing the black (invisible) swatch:

The doors and portals themselves do not have any special interactions, to use the elevator you just click on the ground where you want your sim to go. If it’s the fastest route, the sim is gonna use the elevator.

The portals can be found in Build Mode > Wall Attachments (I chose this instead of Rugs because it’s closer to the Doors category) and cost §1 each and the door can be found in Build Mode > Doors (obviously) and costs §1000. I’ve only made the door for the cheaper City Living elevator, not the fancier one as that one is lit up and I don’t know how to add that light effect to a door (no longer true after June 28th, 2020, since there are now more doors models to choose from). Because the portals use Realm of Magic tuning, that pack is required.

EDIT: Some people have asked me about how to move/delete the portals after you made them invisible. To do that, you can place any object near where you placed the portals and use the sledgehammer to delete it by dragging it from the object to the area where the portal is. If you just want to move them, you should first delete them by this method and then replace them somewhere else.

UPDATE: If you downloaded this before June 4th, 2020, please redownload it because there was an issue where the black swatch would have the regular door swinging animation instead of the sliding animation. This was because I had forgotten to change the tuning for the black swatch and it had the original door tuning, but now this is fixed.

UPDATE 2: I have added new elevator door models that you can see in this post. The download link is the same in both posts, though. If you downloaded the previous version where there was a file called just "TS40_ElevatorDoor", delete it because it has been split into these two files: "TS40_ElevatorDoor_CORE" (tuning and animation) and "TS40_ElevatorDoor_CLSimple" (actual door). Also, make sure to have both the files "TS40_ElevatorPortals" and "TS40_ElevatorDoor_CORE" in your Mods folder because they are required for the mod to work!

UPDATE 3: The doors have now been updated for the Star Wars patch that broke CC doors and windows. Please redownload them.

DOWNLOAD

[glowyjellyfish]

Not so much of a fun update with pictures as a... long rambling complaint, but it is something. I am sure I made progress, it just doesn’t feel like it right now.

Oh, boy. I thought I had a simple task of “download some nice makeup and a few lots, then work on the Megakingdom conversion some more.” First I downloaded way too much makeup—everything that was recommended! When really all I wanted was a respectably varied set for eyeliner, eyeshadow, and blush. I already had lipsticks I was happy with! I am never going to use nose masks or dimples! But boy do I have them now!

Then, instead of sensibly downloading just a few lots, I had to go and download EVERYTHING that I liked. EVERYTHING. Plus all the not included CC! And carefully install all of it, which because of the way things get installed, results in me needing to do more sorting work!

So then I loaded up the game (very slowly), in order to test whether all the PT DR mods I installed worked. Naturally, I had to make a test man in a little medieval house to test it Properly. It went fine, the mod worked perfectly and he had a little sidhe baby girl! Then because of the nature of the Megakingdom, I wanted to test out the Curious brothers and Strangetown. So I added a Strangetown shopping district, and discovered to my horror that the road replacement mod I had converted Strangetown to grass. The horror! ...but the curious brothers went fine. Pascal’s child was disconnected from any second parent, but seemed to keep the regular alien appearance (and, I guess as part of the mod or perhaps a different one, the baby had the last name Technician just like the other test baby had the last name Sidhe! Fascinating). Then I tested Vidcund being abducted a couple of times—the first time nothing happened, and the second time he was given magical powers. Awesome! I need to check whether that works with the inheritable supernaturals mods I think I have! But I can probably simulate inheritance manually if I want to.

...so I quit out to go to bed, but decided to quickly check to see if there was something wrong with my road DR. Then I had to hunt down a desert dirt road DR. Then I remembered a couple of side tables that were having blue flashing shadows, and figured I should look up whether that was just a me problem and maybe redownload, and that turned into an hour and a half of scouring every medieval sims cc site I knew to try and find this set I was sure was fairly recent and I could swear I saw it everywhere just a little while back and I knew it was called the medieval wood living room set but it was nowhere and talk about useless searching terms… until I finally realized the sensible way to do this was find the files for this set in my downloads in order to get a creator name and work from there, which solved the WCIF issue embarrassingly fast. And of course, in the process of this hunt I saw so many great objects I don’t think I have in my game, and I keep having a pressing need to download as close to literally everything I can get my greedy little hands on. And I was so consumed by adding CC that I’ve barely had time to actually play the game, and completing my sorting project is literally a tantalus of my own making.

On the plus side, I have decided I mostly don’t think downloaded lots are the way to go? Because there doesn’t seem to be a ton of variety or MCC-compliant collections as far as I could find? I got a bunch of castles, a few hovels and community lots, couple churches. So I guess I will mostly make my own. Although I’ll probably use a few castles, and use small non-residential churches for most subhoods. I have started planning what to do with BDC, and figure that most apartment lots I just need to trash instead of trying to convert. And no wealthy sims living in apartments, apartments will only be included for serf homes, if at all. Mmmm I do want to replace BDC’s trailer park with a wagon apartment lot I got? Other than that… BDC definitely needs a community meadow with herbs and flowers and berry bushes and a few scattered trees, and I have decided that I am only allowed to remodel or replace existing community lots, and cannot add new ones until after the subhood has earned them via MCC rules.

...of course, it would help if I didn’t keep discovering that many of the objects included in lots I downloaded are just blue, or worse turn blue after a few days for some reason. I would like to have all objects in my game be functional please, and remove all the ones that can’t be fixed, and it. is. hard. And so very long.

[withteeths]

Maybe Steamrolling Games is Bad Actually

Videogames are unique in that they are inextricably tied to corporatism and have been since birth (this is an oversimplification but roll with it). This means that to an extent most companies even since the ’80s have never really cared about proper preservation or easy access to their titles. Nintendo carts were originally manufactured to have their battery die in 3 years so you would have to buy a new one (this failed, but it’s why you still see a lot of dead carts floating around). I think there's a nostalgia issue within the gaming fandom regarding "oh x was great back then" but a lot of the time, games manufacturers have been historically shitty and anti-consumer and it’s just that they now have the tools to execute it much more effectively. Regarding obtrusive DRM, that’s an issue PC games have had since their zenith, where if you lost your original copy of a manual or a small plastic key you could never play a game again because the codes were individualized for each copy and support would refuse to give you a new one. Even back in the arcades, there were particularly batshit examples like the CPS board, which I shit you not was built to explode a battery pack filled with corrosive acid if it detected you were attempting to repair or modify it. There’s a lot to say about the current state of games but what I would likely illustrate is that 2/3 major consoles are racing to decide who will be obsolete first. Games consoles are reaching a point where they are trying to emulate PCs with more restrictions and DRM. We're already seeing interest in steam spike again and it’s likely that eventually, we will see almost a crash for consoles where no one can justify the price for games they can play on a PC rig. The only solution I see there would be a merger between the two consoles which feels inevitable. 

That being said as interest in the PC space increases again so does attempts at entering the bubble. We have Epic, Origin, Microsoft, Indiegala, Itchio, and Steam all vying for attention, requiring accounts, and offering exclusives to justify the use of their storefront over others. Some people think this is a good thing because it's breaking up Steam's monopoly but it literally is not, if you ever really wanna hear me rant ask me about Leftist obsession with itch being some sort of ethical steam, which it is provably not. In the end, the real sort of saviour figures that work to preserve games are random ass people on the internet. I know people who automatically assume that at the end of the day, companies care about games preservation too, and they usually have a three-pronged argument that cites a) Steam’s ability to allow the redownloading of delisted games, b) retro companies periodically rereleasing titles for modern consoles in compilations, and c) companies doing limited reruns of a game that fans request. All three of these examples are basically an incredibly effective use of diversionary tactics, but most of the time when someone cites these I just assume it’s a misunderstanding and not outright malicious intent because a lot of the time companies will attempt to actively implant these ideas to build brand loyalty.

My main dissertation is usually that Steam is incredibly selective with what titles you can redownload, and most importantly, corporate benevolence is more-so a band-aid on a gaping wound! There’s no contingency for when Steam might migrate to a new service, go belly up, or become obsolete when a new OS is created. That means thousands, tens of thousands of dollars worth of games are just gone, permanently, along with fan mods, DLC, and content. It’s a terrifying thought that not many people bring up when discussing the problems with game storefronts that focus so much on providing a cloud and have DRM attached to every purchase. In a way, Steam preceded the trend of not allowing consumers to actually own the things they purchased, and they’ve avoided criticism by strategic use of silence and creating the illusion of a company being made by the consumers they’re attempting to serve. At the end of the day, Steam is a business, and if you ever lose access to your Steam account, or they decide to up and leave one day, you will not be able to play almost all of those games, even if you have them installed on a hard drive, because if you’re online, they connect with a server to ensure your steam account has the ability to play them. When it comes to other arguments like the limited rereleases or use of compilations to preserve arcade titles, I usually just beg people to look at community-driven options that have existed for years. The Scott Pilgrim game is a big source of contention, but I would point out that for years now, it was playable, for free, with all the DLC, on PCs. Preservationists didn’t wait for the gods of Universal and O’Malley to rerelease it for 30 bucks or save up to snatch the fucking ridiculous 200$ limited edition with shitty paper cut-outs, they straight up just did the work to make the game free and available. RCPS3 has (with a contemporary build) been able to run the game pretty flawlessly for years now, in fact, it was how I played through a majority of the game in high school on my shitty brick of a laptop. If you look further out than this one example then it gets even better, MAME and other emulation backends have been able to play obscure, unfinished, and homebrew titles with 100% accuracy, on almost any setup, for free, for decades! I found out about many of these options back in 2015 or so, certainly late to the curve, but I never really questioned as to why emulation, games preservation, and some key titles being available on PC remained some sort of arcane, unknown knowledge to most people interested in games. In the end, the answer was a highly effective propaganda campaign that combined with strategic use of DMCA takedowns has resulted in the concept of communal games-preservation and emulation becoming some sort of debate, where people will wholeheartedly side with corporations in some sort of quest for preserving things the “ethical and correct way,” which is code for preservation on the condition that it remains profitable for the IP owners.

 I think the best way to illustrate this would be with the community built around the preservation of an infamous PS4 title, PT. The story of its inevitable delisting from the storefront and the messy breakup between Kojima and Konami is well known, so I won’t regurgitate it, look it up at your own leisure. What is significant here is corporate reactions to attempts at preserving the game, which can basically be boiled down to Konami acting with borderline rabid fervour to prevent redownload, redistribution, or recreation of a seven-year-old demo, released for free download. Mentions of solutions to redownload the game have been taken down, fan-made recreations for PC, and archival servers that store a copy of the game for future preservation or emulation. Usually when this is brought up a debate occurs citing that technically speaking, Konami has a right to do this whenever they want, for whatever piece of media they believe infringes on their copyright. On one hand, yes this argument is factually correct considering the current state of copyright and ownership of media, but on the other hand, what compels someone to step into the ring for a multi-million dollar company with the primary argument being “well actually, people SHOULDN’T be able to play this specific video game until it benefits the shareholders”? In my opinion, it’s some sort of corporatized symbiosis where players believe that, if you cull the bad actors and play by the rules of the company, you may be able to eventually play the game a couple of years down the line. Sure, this has happened in the past with a few isolated cases, but it can’t be stressed enough that this is a genuinely dangerous and reductive position for people to take regarding games preservation.

 I have two colleagues, Mariken and Fotocopiadora, who released a short interactive title called Videopulp (playable here: https://fotocopiadora.itch.io/videopulp). It’s a dramatic reimagining of a real historical event, wherein a promotional event was held in 1994 at Lelystad to destroy bootleg carts by a figure in a Mario costume. This perhaps best encapsulates something I am pleading with younger generations to understand, as an archivist, art historian, and creator: corporations are not your friends, and they never will be. With the rise of online circles of leftism, this concept is starting to gain traction but is starting to be polluted with concepts of fandom and tribalism. This has lead to arguments that while *most* corporations are bad how could you say that about Nintendo? Or Valve? Mario is so innocent and characters like Wheatley are beloved by all! I feel some people don’t realize that they can enjoy a select title or character without enlisting in a corporate faction in the battle for “best company” or “best videogame”. It leads to a parasocial kinship with a nonexistent figure that was hand-crafted to ensure consumer loyalty to a certain brand. It’s depressing, terrifying, and should stand as a disquieting example of how the grip of capitalism on works of art has permanently distorted how we think and engage with media today. So, what’s the solution? As always I can never really provide something concrete that’ll act as a cure-all, only things that people in games need to work towards. Bring up conversations about games preservation, create archives for your own work, support archivists and boost their work whenever a new discovery is created, and try to promote optimism and solidarity in your hobbyist communities. I’ve noticed a lot of futility being intertwined with the future of AAA gaming, use of online storefronts, and the inability to own pieces of media anymore, and I feel this should be pushed back against, even in a minute way. Open-source programmes still exist that allow you to hold on to what you have purchased, offline and ad-free options exist for games launchers, e-readers, and media players. The future isn’t bright, but it is not a place without hope, and as long as people continue to enter communities with passion and ingenuity, I think we have a chance at stopping the events at Lelystad, 1994 from happening again. 

[aharris00britney]

ASKS 20

lmao last time i did one of these was February there is a lot

Anonymous said: What's your collab process when you and other creators make packs? Like how do you decide to do it together and how do you split up the ideas and everything?

I’m going to answer another ask outside of this post that details this but I’ll answer this one here too. The way me and ayoshi do packs is not like a usual collab (in my opinion I don’t think people collab like this). I am good at making meshes. So usually I make a mesh for something and ayoshi makes a base texture that I can use to finish the base of the top/bottom and then we work together to fix any texture issues. Nothing we’ve made has ever been 100% mine or 100% his except for the hairs. Sometimes a mesh is easy but the texture requires a lot of work so it’s more work for him, sometimes I decide I want to try and texture something (like with this AxA I made textures for some of the clothes) and then ayoshi will clean the texture up for me and add some shading for me. So it’s a lot different than what I imagine most collabs are. But I love the way me and him work together and the ability to change something I don’t like because it isn’t just his, it’s ours. 

Anonymous said: I'm so excited for your new AxA collab that female hair is stunning!!

Anonymous said: I s2g if it werent for your cc my sims would just have to walk around naked lmao you literally make the game playable for me, so thank you ❤❤❤❤❤

thank you!!! Assuming the 2nd ask is about AxA too because that’s the only time I make clothes lmao. Excited for you guys to see everything this week. 

Anonymous said: Do you know anyone who recolours your hairs? They’re so gorgeous I’d love to see them in more colours! Xx

I usually reblog recolors of my hair at @aharris00britneyrecolors​.

Anonymous said: I'm a sucker for your sim Bella. Every time I see Bella as your hair models, I click and download

Anonymous said: Hi, sorry to bother, are you planning on uploading your Bella Sim Anytime soon? Love your content!

Bella is a queen, she’s a streamer in my game at the AH00B house. I don’t think I’m going to upload my Sims anymore though :( I have a ton of sliders and presets in my game and I have no idea which ones I use. I have 3 of the ones I know I use listed on my resource page but there are so many more and I don’t want to share them and they be broken in peoples games.

Anonymous said: will there be an axa this year im in desperate need of new clothes for my sims :(

I got this a few days ago before the teaser came out which I thought was funny fvghb yes there will be one

@lysssimpatico​ said: I was wondering if you might consider making the Elli hair have ombre accessory options. There aren't any cute curly ponytail ombres anywhere!

I think I tried making an ombre accessory for it when I made the hair and it didn’t fully work with the way I changed the UV maps. I’m sorry :(

Anonymous said: why the HELL is your dog so cute lemme have her please

Right? She’s an angel omg my dad is watching her while my foot heals but I miss her so much fghvbj 

Anonymous said: Your Daphne hair is so cute!!

thank you! 

Anonymous said: I have the feeling everyone knows what kind of Supernatural they would be if they were one, so what's yours?

I think I would want to be a ghost so i could fuck with people ya

Anonymous said: Does the Natilie hair need to be updated?

Nope, all the updated stuff is in my post that lists all the updated content off. Everything on my download page is up to date.

Anonymous said: Hi im just submitting an idea if you want to - i love your melanie hair and i was wondering if its possible to remove the accessory on it? im sorry if im bothering you im new to all this hope you have a nice day!!

hey :) I am pretty sure someone had to have made a hair similar to that already as it’s just the university ponytail with new ponytail on it. If not I could look into doing it sometime in the future. 

Anonymous said:I LOVE U 😍

and i love u

Anonymous said: Do you know if there’s any hair accessories (like ones that change the color of it) that work with your Elli Hair? ❤️

It comes with an accessory that changes the elastic :)

Anonymous said: Hellooo! first of all, how are you? how´s your day? i´m sorry but, do you know if someone makes maxis match hairs based in kpop videos? I´m searching for that bull all i can find is alpha hair and i´m not into alpha cc :( Thank you very much! have a great day!

I’m not sure if there are people that specifically only do that but I think there are a handful of creators that get inspired from kpop/music videos and make hairs similar to that. Cause we use EA meshes most of the time the hairs aren’t going to look exactly like the inspiration though. Like I have two hairs that are based off Go Won from loona (Go Won hair and Kelsey Hair) but i don’t think you can tell that just from looking at them. 

Anonymous said: I downloaded the new version of the sydnie braids but my game says they're corrupted and won't let me play with them in my mods folder

try to redownload and they should work, I haven’t had any other issues. 

Anonymous said: hey, i was just wondering whether you did or are thinking of doing eyelashes at any point

I am not lmao I don’t think I would be able to make my own eyelashes

Anonymous said: you are incredibly prolific. constantly amazed and delighted by your high-quality work. have a good day king

thank you!!!!

Anonymous said: aaaahh I know this is probably a long shot but I was wondering if you had the quartz eyes psd? I've been trying to find it but all of the links I've stumbled onto are dead :( thank you in advance!! ♥️ and no problem if you don't have it or can't share it :)

here is a link to a post that has the PSD

Anonymous said: the mica hair looks so cute 🥺 you’re amazing

thank you! It’s named after the main singer from Magdalena Bay ;n; i love them

@whendowestopcaring​ said: I love, love, love your work!! + your blog, aesthetic, etc. Keep it up!

thank you!!!! pink and blue all the way bb

@marsupialmother​ said: Not an ask, just a comment. All you stuff is so beautiful. Thank you for being such an amazing creator!!!

no, thank you for sending me this! I appreciate it a ton <3 have a wonderful day

Anonymous said: How long have you been creating CCs for?

I recolored a get together cardigan in Dec 2015 and started making hair in November of 2016 to promote Britney Spears lmao. So around 4-5 years. 

Anonymous said: hi!! just wanted to say i love the item index download option! thank you for your awesome cc and organization :)

You’re welcome! item indexes make things so much easier I agree, happy to help simplify things for downloaders. also they look nice so that’s a plus for me. 

Anonymous said: i love your cc, they are really beautiful but can you do more male hair cc? im just asking

I prefer doing female stuff tbh, I feel like I’m better at it and I get more ideas. But i did 4 male hairs in this upcoming AxA 2020 pack and a bunch of male clothes. I’m sorry I can’t do more :( I just don’t get inspired to make much male stuff personally.

Anonymous said: what happened to Ayoshi???

he’s in the basement working on AxA, don’t ask.  he actually just doesn’t like being on Simblr anymore but still likes making CC with me, so we just make cc on call sometimes when we get bored of a game we’re playing. he sends his regards from the basement of AH00B studios <3

Anonymous said: hello i love all your cc and you’re my favorite creator, i have a question, are you planning to make some more clothes anytime soon?

getting these while working on AxA was so funny because there are like 80 new clothes for male/female sims in it and i was like... these people don’t know what they have coming their way. thank you!

Anonymous said: 💃 How you make all your item index for your pack and collab? 💃

I make mine in Word using tables and then save as PDF. Here’s a peak at the AxA 2020 one

Anonymous said: am i on drugs or have u uploaded an eco lifestyle kids dress conversion? i remember seeing it so vividly, (the zip up kids dress), but maybe it was another creator... lol

I think that was from grimcookies! Here is a link to his eco lifestyle add on set that he made. 

Anonymous said: would you happen to know how to get rid of the weird gloss that can be on some cc hairs?

if you download Sims4Studio and open the package you can make the specular blank but that could cause issues in your game if you play on certain graphic settings. So do it with caution. 

Anonymous said: Awww we have very similar life aspirations, I just want a boring/calm life, settle down with a wife (I'm a lesbian) and become an lit teacher.

yup yup boring lifes are where it’s at. Like i just want something simple lmao if I wanted exciting I wouldn’t do teaching. 

Anonymous said: hi! i hope youre doing well! could you please tell me wcif the two toned jeans on the sim in your eco lifestyle addon collection?

They’re in AxA 2020! We have had so much of the stuff done for a while so i’ve been using it in previews for a while lmao. 

Anonymous said: WAIT is the Love Bomb palette named after the Fromis_9 song???

yessss ayoshi is their #1 fan

[mystic-lodi]

A Tinder Date Amongst Friends - Chapter 1 (Yoosung)

Ship: YoosungxMC

Word Count: 2,414

Rating: T for Language

ao3 link

...

Tinder. The hellhole of an app that leads users to download it to their phone for approximately eight days, delete the app, and then proceed to redownload it a few days later because certainly it’s not as bad as you remember. I knew all this, and yet here I was, once again downloading Tinder after a long session of crying in the shower and convincing myself that this time would be different. This time, I wouldn’t receive any unsolicited dick pics. This time, I wouldn’t have to endure bland conversations about my favorite color or try to figure out how to respond to various almost nonsensical pick up lines. This time, I would meet someone who would let me forget about Yoosung.

Try as I might, nothing for the past year has been able to get me over this adorable blonde haired boy. While preparing for my first RFA party, I thought we had a mutual attraction but he wasn’t reciprocating my advances, so I backed off and decided to swallow my feelings. I assumed things would get better and we would become close friends. That’s what happened, but not quite in the way I expected. Spending more time with him only sparked more feelings, leading me down a rabbit hole of late nights over thinking my texts to him and debating whether or not I should just suck it up and tell him already. We’d spent countless hours just chatting into the night over the phone, gossiping about the other RFA members or discussing plans to go to conventions, but never once could I bring myself to tell him. Weeks, months, and now a year of this, I finally decided that I needed to be more proactive in moving on, which led me to this horrible app.

The first time I downloaded it, it wasn’t too bad. Just a creep or two, but nothing significant. I got bored and deleted it. A few weeks later, I downloaded it again, and that’s when the creeps started pouring in. Now on my fifth attempt, I started to ask what was wrong with me. Why did I keep doing this? Was I hoping for some Prince Charming to sweep me off my feet? 

“Well, there’s no harm in trying,” I mumbled to myself as I typed in my phone number and created a new account. The app loaded my selected photos, the calm before the storm. I waited patiently and it made a soft ding. Let the swiping frenzy begin.

Shirtless in the first pic. Swipe left.

Vaping through his nose. Swipe left.

Kinda cute hair cut. I stopped and decided to click to his next photo. His dog kissing him open mouth. Quick swipe left.

Cute smile. Look at those-

My heart skipped a beat.

“Yoosung?!”

I paused for a moment, letting it sink in. I didn’t know what to do. Should I swipe left? That could be weird though. What if my profile shows up for him? Would he swipe right on me for shits and giggles but think it’s odd I didn’t also swipe right for shits and giggles? Before I could go further down that road, my thumb ignored my brain and listened to what my heart was screaming, I swiped right. I held my breath. And then a window popped up. 

You and Yoosung matched! Send a message below and say hi!

Shit. Was this a good thing or a bad thing? What do I say? Should I wait for him to send something first? Man, what the hell am I doing…

> “Hey lol fancy seeing you here 😂”

Okay, sent. That should be fine. Not flirty, but not rude. I shut off my phone before anyone else’s profile could show up. I let out a big sigh of relief, so incredibly glad that was over.

Ding!

Dammit. Hesitantly, I tipped my phone up to check what notification I had received. It felt like my throat was closing up as I spotted the little flame shaped Tinder icon. Quicker than I’d like to admit, I unlocked my phone and immediately went to my messages. It was from Yoosung.

> “Ikr! I never thought of you as one to have a tinder lol”

Now what does that mean? Was that a good thing? Does he mean that I seem too innocent to have an account, or does he mean that I seem like someone who’d be above all that? Or did he think I was dating someone, and that’s why he never returned my advances…? I shook my head vigorously. He’d known me for a year and I constantly complained about my singlehood. He definitely knew I wasn’t seeing anyone. 

> “What, do I seem too innocent for one?”

I read it over a few times and then deleted the draft. It seemed too accusatory.

> “I’m less innocent than I look, Yoosung ;)”

I immediately deleted that one. It was way too flirty.

> “What about you? I never expected to see you here either!”

That was the best I was gonna be able to muster in my current frenzied state of mind, so I sent it. The three little dots signifying Yoosung responding popped up quicker than expected, causing me to stare with rather intense anticipation while I waited for his response.

Ding!

> “I thought it was about time for me to try a bit harder to get a girlfriend, apparently me flirting in person doesn’t come across very well ^^;”

Flirting in person? Had he been flirting with someone before, and I never knew? I felt a little pang in my heart.

> “Well, how’s it been going so far?”

I didn’t really want to know the answer to that.

> “I’m ngl, not that great,, Man, tinder is a weird place lol”

Oh, that was a better response than I was expecting. Of course I wanted him to be happy. Nothing in the world would put a smile on my face faster than seeing him happy. I wasn’t over him in the least at this point, though. There was no harm in slightly jealous thoughts as long as I didn’t share them out loud, right?

> “What about you?”

He wanted to know how my Tinder escapades were going? That’s kind of odd. No, he was definitely just asking because I asked him first.

> “About the same for me too lol”

That wasn’t wrong. Well, not until he showed up.

> “I have a fun idea!”

I smiled softly to myself, imagining his wide grin as he sent the message.

> “Lemme hear it!”

The three little dots showed up and then disappeared. Showed up again, disappeared again… What in the world was he typing?

> “We should go out for a fancy dinner date!”

I nearly choked on my own saliva. A date?! Did he just ask me out on a date? The dots showed up again. My heart started racing.

> “If neither of us are meeting anyone on here, I thought it’d be fun if we pretended we’re on a date, got all dressed up, and went out to eat! :D”

Damn this boy. This sweet, adorable, dumb boy. My heart started to calm down a bit, anxiety replaced by a mix of calmed and disappointed. My racing thoughts began to slow and one in particular stood out.

> “That sounds kinda fun actually, let’s do it!”

I smiled at the thought of Yoosung all dressed up. Sitting through a dinner while trying my best to not reach across the table and hold his hand or brush his hair out of his eyes would be worth it if I meant I could get to see him and talk to him and just feel his presence near me.

> “Perfect! I can pick you up tmrw night around 7, does that work?”

Of course that worked. Any time worked. If I had something to do, I would happily rearrange my schedule to be able to meet up with him.

> “Definitely, I’ll see you then!”

> “Can’t wait! :D”

That last comment made me giddy. Maybe it wasn’t romantic, but it still made me so excited to know that he couldn’t wait to see me. Finally prying myself off the couch I had been lazily perched in for who knows how long, I quickly went up to my bedroom to rifle through my closet and find what I would be wearing tomorrow night. It couldn’t be anything too revealing, it wasn’t a romantic date. But it had to be something classy, since wherever Yoosung was going to get reservations was most likely going to be a classy place, seeing as he did call it a “fancy dinner date.” I froze in my tracks, one hand gripping the now open closet door and the other between hangers. This was going to be my one and only chance to go on a date with him. Realizing this, I felt a new, sudden wave of confidence run through me. I was gonna go all out, strut my stuff, even if it killed me. What did I have to lose?

…

Ding! Ding! Ding!

I groaned and rolled over, my arm flopping out to grab my phone and turn off my alarm. My eyes were squinting tightly to try and block out the late afternoon sun streaming through my window. My phone lockscreen read 6:15pm. A grin broke out on my face. A day and a half of waiting, napping to fill in the time, and now I only had forty five more minutes until our “date.” I groggily and slowly pulled myself up from under my covers and made my way over to my closet. On the back of the door, I had hung up a short, black, off the shoulders high-low dress that came down to mid thigh in the front and just below the knees in the back. On the floor I had placed a pair of matching black heels and a silver handbag. I gave myself a mental pat on the back for having picked this out in the dead of night, half asleep the night before. 

I slipped out of my t-shirt and shorts and into a bathrobe, making my way over to the bathroom to put on some makeup. I leaned over my sink and, with my face far too close to the mirror, I applied soft brown and red eyeshadows, a gentle eyeliner wing, and some fantastically red lipstick that popped in the best way. I leaned back and admired my handywork, earning myself another mental pat on the back. I brushed out my hair, deciding to keep it natural with its soft waves, before I made my way back to my bedroom. I carefully, slowly slid my dress on. I then moved over to my bed, sitting on the edge of it to put on my heels.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

I sighed and turned off another phone alarm, this one signifying it was 6:45, giving me fifteen more minutes to mentally prep. I leisurely strapped on my heels as I let my mind wander. Why did I agree to this? I mean, obviously it’s because I wanted to go out on a date with Yoosung, but this wasn’t even going to be a date. Was I gonna try and seduce him or something? Is that why I was getting so dressed up for this? No, that wasn’t part of the plan. If he didn’t have the same feelings for me that I did for him, I wasn’t going to force myself onto him. I just want him to be happy, whether that’s with me or without me. 

Suddenly, a harsh clunking sounded from downstairs and I jumped slightly, the sound pulling me from my thoughts. I stood up, taking a few careful steps to test out my heels and I was ready, moving quickly to go investigate the sound. The sound returned, this time a bit quieter, but I finally recognized the sound as knocking. 

“Coming!” I shouted. I rushed over to the door, quickly swung it open, and I froze in blissful shock. I smiled ear to ear when I saw Yoosung in front of me. He stood at my doorstep with a nervous smile on his face and a single long stemmed pink peony in his hands, dressed to the nines in dark blue suit, a long soft yellow tie pairing nicely with a lighter blue dress shirt, and of course his adorable two brown hair clips pinning back his hair.

“Yoosung, you…you look amazing…” I couldn’t help staring as I pushed my door open further to let him step in for a moment. A blush crept up on his cheeks and he stared at me for a moment. He shook his head lightly, as if to bring himself back into focus, and followed me inside. He made a soft noise that slightly resembled a gasp as he stretched his arm out to offer me the flower he held.

“This is for you!” His nervous smile grew wider and I giggled. Why was he so nervous? It’s not a real date, what did he have to be afraid of? It might be rude to ask that… He just looks so damn cute when he’s nervous!

“You’re too sweet, thank you so much! You didn’t have to…” I trailed off and became a bit nervous myself. His jittery energy ended up being rather infectious.

“Let me go put this away and we can get going,” I practically skipped over to my kitchen, straight to one of the higher cabinets. I stretched my arms up as high as they’d go to pull down a tall thin vase from a shelf that was almost too tall. I managed to pull it down without dropping it and I filled it with water. I slid the beautiful flower into it and placed the vase on my dining table.

“A-ah, you’re gonna display it…?” Yoosung stuttered and anxiously rubbed the back of his neck, causing me to giggle once more. 

“Of course! I want everyone to know what a wonderfully sweet friend I have!” Calling him my “friend,” I felt a little pang in my heart. If I didn’t know any better, I would have sworn I saw a bit of hurt in his eyes at this statement. I mustered up all the courage I could and placed a soft kiss on his cheek.

“C’mon, I don’t wanna be late,” I smiled back at him as I walked through the door.

[dontgotothenetherworld]

love alarm au 2 (frankie x phoenix)

p1

i really enjoyed this au, so i decided to write a second part! this one starts at about the same time as the last part ended, right after frankie walks off.

2005 words

cw: nbjo.

frankie was determined to figure out who had rang her alarm. she told y/n earlier that she didn’t care, but that was a lie. she just didn’t want you prying.

she was certain there was only two people who had runge her alarm. she knew that jo was one. it was incredibly awkward that she hadn’t rung their alarm, but they were bound to figure it out sooner or later.

but the second? frankie needed to know.

as she had been walking to y/n’s classroom, she had walked past the library, with her love alarm app open, obviously, and it had gone off. the number had quickly jumped back down to zero as she kept walking, so frankie assumed the person was inside.

she turned the corner, out of sight from you and her brother, and began running to the library. she wasn’t sure how long this person would be there, or if they had already left.

she ripped the door open. she quickly composed herself when she saw a boy, who had been walking toward the exit, staring at her oddly. the boy was familiar, recently transferred to her english class.

”oh! hi! phoenix, what are you doing here?” frankie asked.

”checking out a book, obviously.” he held up a thin green paperback. “is that not what you’re here to do?”

”uhh not exactly.” frankie pulled her phone out, “you see, i have love alarm, do you have it? anyway, i was walking by here earlier, and someone rang it. so, on the off chance that they’re still in here, i really need to know who it is. is there anyone else here?” frankie blurted.

”slow down there, frankie.” phoenix laughed.

”do you have love alarm?” frankie asked again, this time showing him her screen open to the app.

”i downloaded it this morning,” phoenix started, “but i deleted it a little while ago.”

frankie deflated a bit. “why’d you do that? also, is anyone else in here?” frankie looked over his shoulders.

phoenix looked back. “unless the it’s the librarian, which i think would be kind of illegal, i don’t think so.”

frankie squinted her eyes at the librarian. he was a recent college graduate, and had quite a collection of literature themed button up shirts. “y’know… illegal, but…”

”very illegal, please get that idea out of your head.”

”thought gone, head empty, happy?”

phoenix laughed, “sure.”

”wait, so why did you delete the app?”

phoenix shrugged, “it just didn’t sit right to me. i really don’t feel like love should be told by an app. and also i just moved here, so it’s basically definite that now one gives a shit about me yet.”

frankie, who really hoped that phoenix had rung her alarm earlier, asked, “did it ring while you had it?”

phoenix looked down, embarrassed, “i only checked in crowded places, because… more people, it’s more likely that one of them has a crush on me. that’s how it works, right? maybe not because it didn’t change from zero all day.”

frankie reached out to grab his arm, to try to comfort him.

”what about you? i mean, obviously at least one person did, because you barrelled in here.”

frankie hesitated for a second, “just the one.” she lied. she didn’t really think it over, the lie. but she wanted him to think that she would definitely be available to him, if he had a crush on her. she would be anyway, but it’s a bit harder to explain the best friends with benefits, where one person accidentally caught feelings, situation she had with jo. well, it wasn’t hard to explain, but she didn’t want to give phoenix the wrong impression. but he seemed understanding, so he might get it.

whatever, she had already said the lie. too late to take it back now.

phoenix was very attractive, she’d stop fucking with jo to fall in love with him in a heartbeat. frankie was suddenly glad that he had deleted the app, otherwise sometime during their conversation, his alarm would suddenly go off, and it definitely wasn’t the hot librarian.

frankie glanced at the hot librarian again. if only it weren’t so illegal.... frankie should read more often. damn. 

”well, i’ve got to go. and since you involved me in this, i am now very invested in if you figure out who this person is, can i please give you my number so you can keep me updated.” said phoenix.

”uh sure.” frankie handed him her phone.

”i know this is a weird way to make friends, but hey, i’m new. text me even if it’s not love alarm related.” phoenix smiled and started walking out, towards the parking lot.

frankie briefly considered chasing after him, begging him to redownload love alarm, and rejoice in their shared ring, but decided otherwise. she had a book to check out, anyway.

phoenix was somehow able to act cool the entire time he was talking to frankie, but now that he was by himself, he was shaking like a car on an old wooden roller coaster. it was bad, but luckily most everyone else had already left the school. or else they were in the school, doing club stuff, or on some unseen field. 

phoenix slid into the driver’s seat of his dad’s old car, even though he had no intention of driving home at that time. he needed to relax a little before he felt he would be safe enough on the road.

phoenix opened the book he had just checked out from the library. the perks of being a wallflower. the librarian, who frankie thought was attractive, had recommended it to him. phoenix had been expecting a less well known recommendation from a guy who looked like he considered ‘indie’ to be one of his personality traits. not only that, he looked like the kind of guy who had a superiority complex about liking things that no one else had ever heard of.

phoenix read about two and a half sentences before he noticed something moving from the corner of his eye. one of the only other cars in his row, a good five or so spaces down, there was someone hunched over their steering wheel.

phoenix turned back to his book. he had decided that whatever they were going through was none of his business.

he looked up again. the person had straightened up, and he was able to see their tear streaked face.

phoenix turned back to his book, but he was contemplating why they were crying, instead of really absorbing the words.

phoenix turned back to look at them. this person just looked like they needed someone to vent to. or at least just know that they could vent to someone if they needed to.

phoenix had made up his mind, he was going to walk over to them. he felt a little bit of anxiety, worried that they might be rude to him, even though he just wanted to help, but he decided that potentially making them feel better was worth it. but what if he made them feel worse? shit... 

phoenix knocked on the driver’s side window. they lowered it.

pawing away at their tears they said, “what do you want.”

it slightly bother phoenix that they phrased a question as a statement, but he said, “you were, um, crying and stuff, and i wanted to know if you needed to, uh, vent to someone. but if that’s stupid and i shouldn’t have walked over here, i can drive off and pretend this never happened.”

they stared at him oddly. “y’know what? i do need to vent, thanks.” they unlocked the car doors, and gestured for phoenix to sit shotgun.

”i’m phoenix, by the way.” he said as he sat.

”jo.” they rolled up their window. “so... “ they tried to figure out where to start, “my best friend and i, well… a while ago we started hooking up. i thought that she had feelings for me, right? but thanks to this fucking love alarm, she knows that i have feelings for her, but my alarm hasn’t gone off once! all day!”

”that sucks, but you know people can’t control their feelings…”

”i know that! i’m not really even upset about that. it’s just… she hasn’t addressed it. she hasn’t mentioned it. and she seems to still want to hook up with me!”

”and you want more than that?”

”hell no! not if she doesn’t have feelings for me! i just want her to stop using me. i either want her to be just my friend, or my girlfriend.”

”have you tried telling her that?” phoenix was trying to be supportive, but he was pretty sure he was just become the combination of every scene like this that he had seen in movies or tv shows, and he was just regurgitating those words.

”i don’t think she’d listen…” jo said glumly. “frankie cares about herself far more than she cares about anyone else.”

frankie? wait a minute, what’s going on here… “frankie healy?” phoenix asked.

”yeah, why?”

phoenix started thinking out loud, “so… i was just talking to her in the library, and she said that only one person had rung her love alarm all day, but… you just said you rang hers, and she told me that she was trying to figure out who it was that rang hers.”

”she was trying to figure it out? she told me that she didn’t care. and why the fuck would she say that only one person rang hers?”

”i’m trying to figure that out too. what would she have to gain from telling me that?”

”probably avoiding talking about our relationship, like she always does…”

the two sat in silence, mulling over their newfound knowledge.

jo suddenly realized something. they looked up at phoenix, “she likes you.”

”what?”

”she didn’t want you to think that there was anyone else in the way of you dating her, so she conveniently didn’t mention me.”

”that’s ridiculous, she doesn’t even know who rang her alarm. the other person, that is.”

”did you open the app with her?”

”no, i deleted it like an hour ago.”

”do me a favor, and don’t download it again.” jo advised. “she definitely thinks it’s you who rang her alarm, and i don’t think she cares if she’s wrong.”

”what do you mean?” phoenix asked.

jo groaned. “this damn has probably just made it easier for her. she’ll use it to find people who like her, then use the people until she’s done with them.”

”wait a minute, you don’t know that.”

”yes i do, i have super psychic powers, and i’m predicting the future for you! you don’t want to just be the first person in her string of flings, do you?”

”i… don’t think so. but wait, frankie seems so nice.”

”that’s how she gets you! ugh i am definitely going to tell her how i feel.” jo got their phone out and started texting. “thank you so much for this, phoenix.”

phoenix took that as them asking him to leave.

”oh, wait. what’s your number? i need to keep you updated on this.”

phoenix told them, and they sent a smiley face.

”i should probably get going.” he said, glancing at the time on his phone.

”okay, bye! seriously, i really needed this conversation, so i’m going to thank you some more.” they smiled at him.

phoenix weakly smiled back, and jogged back to his car. he started the engine, even though his head was up in the clouds.

was that a good thing? did he do jo a favor with that? or was he just the catalyst in their radical conclusion?

he figured that jo would’ve ended up at that, no matter if he had talked to them or not, but he still felt personally responsible.

he checked the time. shit, he was going to have to hurry home if he wanted to drop his school stuff off before work.

@meangirlsx @meangirlmurphy @eliza-is-confused @boredomimi

[headoverjojo]

I am seeing if I can write a fic in the time it takes to redownload a game I want off steam so here we are: Bucciarati's team takes care of a duck.

"Just try... one more time," Fugo pleaded. He pointed to the mostly blank page before him, trying to urge the other teen to work. "It's simple division."

"Huh? Isn't that an oxymoron?" 

"So, you know what an oxymoron is, but not what 9 divided by 3 is, Narancia?" The teen just nodded in response, humming to himself as he thought. On the other side of the table, Mista and Abbacchio were talking about the weather. The teen stared at the numbers on his paper, trying to put the whole puzzle together at once instead of taking it piece by piece like Fugo was suggesting. Abbacchio and Mista looked over at the archway to their right, just in time to see their boss walk through. Mista greeted him warmly but Abbacchio was beyond confused. 

"How is he doing?" Their boss asked sweetly, taking a seat beside Abbacchio. Fugo answered without looking up, thus missing what Leone was gawking at. 

"Terribly. We're taking it piece by piece."

"He'll get it, soon."

"Hey, Bucciarati," Mista started, "Did you ever have trouble with math?"

"Well, I-"

"Is no one going to bring up that Bucciarati is holding a fucking goose?" Fugo and Narancia finally looked up. Sure enough, the capo was cradling a fluffy white bird in his arms. It was looking around quizzically. Fugo looked at it for a moment before scoffing.

"Abbachio, that's a duck."

"That's all you have to say?"

"Mimsy is in fact a duck," Bucciarati said calmly, petting the little creature on the head. It gave a happy quack and Narancia was now completely enamoured with it. "Vincenzo is out of town. He asked me to watch his pet duck."

"Vinny owns a duck?" Mista started, leaning over the table and staring at Mimsy like she was an alien. "...Does it bite?"

"Mimsy is a she and yes, watch your fingers-"

"Please tell me you aren't going to be carrying that thing around all day."

"Of course I am, I promised I would watch her."

"Can I hold her?" Narancia begged, giving Bruno the sweetest puppy dog eyes. Bucciarati just smiled, handing over the confused duck. The moment the duck got into Narancia's arms it lurched forward, biting the teen on the nose. He promptly dropped the fowl and the little duck began to waddle in circles near the table. Bucciarati didn't seem too concerned, just giving a light chuckle. 

"Don't take it personally, she bit me when I met her, too. I actually need to take her for a walk soon-"

"You aren't seriously going to walk about town with a duck on a leash.... are you?"

"I can't believe you're walking that thing on a leash around town." Abbachio lamented, walking 5 feet behind a very serious Bruno. The little duck was dragging Bruno around the street of Naples and the capo simply greeted everyone as normal. His team didn't accompany him on his babysitting job, except for Abbacchio and Narancia.

"Wow, look at her go!" The teen commented, excited at the adorable running duck. "I like how ducks waddle when they run."

"People are staring at you."

"Let them stare," Bruno said happily, "Mimsy is exploring her town."

"This is weird."

"Abbacchio, Mimsy is my responsibility." Bruno started, pulling the duck back to him. She seemed offended to be stopped but tapped her little feet on the ground as she waited for Bucciarati to continue their walk. "I have to take care of her. I have a duty to this town and these people and when I'm needed I will do what I must."

"I know," Leone sighed, "It's just... babysitting a duck is a weird favor."

"It is a little strange."

"Mimsy is gone." Narancia's statement made Bruno and Leone panic. They turned around and were horrified to see the empty leash. "I looked away for one second and she just-"

"Split up, Now!" Bruno ordered, "We have to find her!"

"Mimsy!" The teen called, getting on the ground and looking under a parked car. "Mimsy, Girl where are you!"

"Aw," Narancia looked behind him, seeing an old woman with a hand to her cheek. "Young man, did you lose your puppy?"

"No, My duck." His answer was so seamless that it actually threw the woman off for a solid minute. Narancia ignored her, running up the street to another parked car and peeking under it. "Ugh, where is she-"

"You know, I thought I saw a cute little duck go down the alley," The woman recalled, making Naracia perk up. "Just down that way-"

"THANKS, LADY."  He jumped to his feet, charging down the alley to her left. A fluffy white butt was peeking from behind a trash can and the teen couldn't hold back his grin. He reached for it, only for a dove to turn around, look at him and fly away. "Oh come on..."

Abbacchio and Bruno accidentally met up at the end of the street, both admitting they haven't found the little lady yet.  Both were out of breath, frantically looking in every direction.

"She can't be too far," Abbacchio reasoned, "She's a foot tall."

"She is very fast."

"Can ducks fly?"

"Don't you dare ask me that right now, I don't want to think about it." Bruno breathed, " Where would you go if you were a duck?"

"Water I guess?"

"What's the nearest source of water to us-"

" AH! THAT DUCK BIT ME."

"I'm going to guess in the direction of wherever that scream came from." Bruno didn't hesitate, grabbing Abbacchio's hand and running in the direction of the screaming. When the two rounded the corner they were immediately shocked by the sight. Mimsy was on the table outside of a restaurant, sticking her beak in someone's spaghetti. The people who were at the table had already fled and passerby's were just watching in awe. Bruno walked over slowly, reaching for the small waterfowl. The owner of the restaurant stormed out, holding a broom and ready to strike.

"Oh, Mr. Bucciarati, Thank goodness," The owner eased up, "That evil goose is scaring away my customers."

"It's a duck. I am so sorry for anything she's done." 

"...Is this your duck?"

"I'm responsible for her for the day."

"I don't think it was fair to charge us that much but at least Mimsy is safe."  Bucciarati said sweetly, snuggling the fluffy thing. She was happy and not hurt so that was a victory. Abbacchio didn't seem to mind that the duck was staring at him, even giving it a little smirk.

"You put us through hell you little shit."

"At least she's safe... Where is Narancia?"

"He'll turn up. So, what's next on your babysitting list?"

"She needs a bath-"

"WHICH ONE IS IT?!" The men turned their heads to an unassuming fountain. Narancia was standing in the water, trying his best to figure out which of the white birds in the fountain was the duck he was looking for. Bucciarati was about to head over but Abbacchio stuck his hard out to stop him.

"No, Let's uh... leave him with that-"

"But those are actual geese-"

"Which are very territorial, let's just let nature take its course."

*I had to end it quickly because my game finished downloading. I was fully prepared to have those geese attack Narancia*

---

I'M CRYING SO MUUUUUUCH 😂😂😂😂 I love Mimsy, oh GOD I really love her!! Little evil börb 💖💖 bless the game for taking some time to download!! Wish it had taken a bit longer... I'm now dying to see how Nara would handle a bunch of angry geese! 😂😂😂

[the-pav-archive]

I think I have an idea for a piece

I just need a ‘lil feedback on the idea

(Information for this piece under the cut!)

So, the idea I got in mind is for a Yandere!AI character X Reader piece.

The reader’s just scrolling through apps one day, trying to find one that they’d want to download to kill time, when they find one called ‘Yan.AI’, and it’s marketed as an app in which people can talk, ‘video call’, play minigames, and do all kinds of things with an AI that is custom designed for them based on their personality. 

So, deciding to download the app for kicks, the reader gets their yandere custom-made for them- the perfect friend. 

After a while, the reader slows down their usage of the app, eventually stopping completely. They forget about the app for a long time- Until one day, they get a notification stating that the AI in the app had sent a message, which simply reads ‘I hope you haven’t forgotten me, (Y/N)!’

Deciding that they didn’t want to deal with the app anymore, the reader decides to delete the app. But the next day, the reader has found that the app has redownloaded itself.

I can’t say much more without revealing spoilers for the rest of the storyline I had in mind, but I was wondering-

Who do you think would be a good character to write this for? I initially thought Izuku, but then I thought that that would be too obvious

[dingletragedy]

one last night on this earth, can you teach me how the heart works?

ao3 link (part one)

London is one of Aaron’s favourite cities in the world. He’s so used to the stillness of village life that the buzz of the city makes him feel alive. Alive and brand new. There’s possibilities hidden down every street, hope in every bright light, and anticipation thrumming up every unimaginable skyscraper. It’s just a shame he’s not the one who’s made a life for himself down here, no, Adam has.

Truth be told he couldn’t be happier for Adam, but he can’t help the envy that flows through his veins. Aaron is stuck in Emmerdale still, the same routine day in day out. Work, eat, sleep. It’s not as if anyone is stopping him from following in Adam’s footsteps, well, anyone but himself. It’s just that he’s finally settled in Emmerdale, finally, after so many long years of feeling lost in his own body, he’s found a home. A home in his body, his mind, the village.

So of course he takes any and every opportunity to escape down the bustling city for a week. And Adam is more than happy to put him up, even goes as far as paying for his train tickets on occasions, desperate to see his best mate. Neither anticipated quite how painful the distance would be. Aaron now understands why people say losing your best friends is like losing a limb.

The thing is though, even spending the week with Adam can’t stop the gnawing feeling of loneliness eating him up, especially not when Adam ditches him for a date on the first fucking night. He’d matched with her on Tinder apparently, which Aaron scoffs at, because do people really still use that app? Her names Amelia, and that’s about all Adam knows about her considering they’ve only been talking for twenty-four bloody hours.

That feeling of envy is back again. Aaron can only wish he was as carefree and confident as Adam.

The hours tick by and Aaron betrays himself, somehow in the midst of feeling sorry for himself, he redownloads the Tinder app. Aaron’s had tinder for a lifetime but his profile hasn’t been updated since he was 20, he’s not exactly arsed about online dating, he reckons it’s overhyped and underwhelming. He finds himself scrolling through Tinder once a year, at most, when he’s exceptionally bored or having a dry spell in the sex department. Nothing has ever come of the swiping though.

The app alerts Aaron the second it’s finished downloading and curiosity gets the better of him.

He reviews his own profile first, and he instantly regrets his decision of entertaining his loneliness. It’s awful. Maybe this is why his previous success in online dating has been slim to none. He’s got two pictures up: the first is a silly photo of him and Adam, tongues poking out and shit-eating grins on their faces. The second is a picture his Mum had demanded she took of him after his first shift at the garage, his overalls are covered in grease and his own sweat has matted his hair to his forehead. Attractive, Aaron thinks. His bio reads a simple ’Not after anything serious’, and he cringes against it.

He doesn’t know what he’s after really, but with a bio like that he’s practically asking for unwanted dick pics. So he changes it.

Aaron, 22, Yorkshire. Mechanic. Trying this thing out again.

He’s happy to keep the simplicity of it without sounding like a creep.

Adam is pottering around in the kitchen, making himself (and Aaron) a predate dinner, when he stops and leans over Aaron’s shoulder. And Aaron curses himself for not being more secretive about his swiping, because suddenly Adam is acting like a small child on Christmas Day.

“Yes mate!” Adam exasperates when he notices the not-so-subtle app illuminating Aaron’s phone screen. “It’s about time you got yourself back on the dating scene.”

Aaron blows an unimpressed breath of air between his lips. But okay, Adam is probably right, only Aaron isn’t going to tell him that.

“You can’t swipe left on everyone,” Adam laments. “He was cute.”

“Nope.” Aaron flicks his finger again.

It's almost automatic. See a picture, swipe left, see the next picture, left again.

“Oh come on!  He’s cute, too!”

“And what would you know about it?” Aaron questions with a raise of his brows.

“I might not be gay, Aaron, but I do have a pair of perfectly good eyes.”

Fair point, Aaron thinks.

Adam rolls his eyes at him yet again. “C’mon, there’s gotta be someone here that’ll fit your exacting standards. Oh - what about him!”

“If you fancy them so much then maybe you need to start accepting that Ads.”

And he gets a punch on the arm for that.

With one final swipe left Aaron closes the app and Adam’s straight in his ear. “Oh come on mate, just give it a chance. Ya never know, you might just meet the love of your life.”

And so Aaron opens the app back up, to shut Adam up more than anything. He watches on as it refreshes itself, finding a new bunch of not-quite-right-men for Aaron to judge.

And then, the next profile comes up.

“Wow” he hears Adam blow out, frowning down at Aaron’s phone, “He looks like a bloody model”.

The photo staring up at them isn’t one Aaron expected to see on a site like this. It’s too sophisticated, too perfect, too gorgeous. Admittedly, this guy did have a really nice face. Aaron would have to be blind not to see that. If that's all they were going by, then he was definitely a winner.

He enlarges the profile, curiosity getting the better of him. Luckily the oven timer steals Adam’s attention back to the job at hand and Aaron is free to browse without judgement.

Robert, 24. It reads.

He’s a business manager or something fancy like that and he’s not at all Aaron’s usual type, but when he comes to think of it, what even is Aaron’s usual type? He curiously reads on.

Travelling between home and the big city.

Proud owner of an Audi R8.

Looking for someone to keep up with the demands of my non-existent social life.

I’m on Tinder because I’m Solo, what’s your excuse?

And honestly, that last bit goes straight over Aaron’s head.

He’s got four photos, dressed impressively in all except one, where he’s in his sweats and has a younger girl laughing at his side. That’s Aaron’s favourite. It looks like somebody's home, if the furniture in the background of the shot is anything to go by. It's taken from Robert's front as he leans against a wall, though he's in the middle of talking or laughing, his mouth open in a smile as he focuses on someone off camera to the side. He's got a can of cider in one hand, the other tucked into the pocket of his jeans. Casual yet jaw-dropping.

And yeah, for once Adam was right, he does look like a bloody model. A too-good-to-be-true model.

“Just swipe right will ya.” He hears Adam pipe up, and of course Aaron acts as if he has no idea what Adam’s talking about.

“Mate I’ve seen ya staring at his face for the last ten minutes. Just go for it”

“What’s the point anyway? He’d probably just be another nobody. Another one to add to the ever-growing list of nobodies.” Aaron falters. “Or, he could be the one” “I won’t meet the love of my life through a screen, Adam.” “And you won’t meet them cooped up in here all day either.” And, again, he has a point, but Robert is bloody gorgeous and Aaron is, well he’s Aaron. With one final look, Aaron sighs loudly and locks his phone, leaving Robert’s profile just sitting there, waiting for someone else to take the chance Aaron just threw away.

---

Robert is 24. Which doesn’t mean he has his shit together, because he doesn’t. But what he does have is a degree, and a more than successful job. And although technically he’s been an adult for six years, his downfall comes in the shape of dating. He's had relationships before, plenty, boys and girls, but never one that’s lasted longer than a year. Some may say commitment and Robert Sugden just aren’t compatible.

Except he’s got an invitation through the door this morning, another university friend is getting married and Robert really wishes he was at that stage of his life. He doesn’t mind being on his own for the most part, and it’s not as if he’s short of one night stands, but there’s something about the loneliness that digs at him, sometimes. The thought that maybe it’s too late for him, maybe he missed his chance somewhere along the way. There’s a party he should have gone to, or a train he should have missed. There’s someone he should have met by now, right?

He shakes his head of the thoughts but still finds himself scrolling through Tinder later that day, determined not to put his phone down till he’s fired off at least one message.

After an excruciating half an hour his thumb is throbbing in pain, but then gets to the profile of a man named Aaron, who is currently a few kilometres away, and he purses his lips. Because the guy’s picture has two attractive men on it, but one of them sparks Robert’s interest a lot more than the other. He looks young, but his profile also looks very outdated and Robert laughs against it, because it’s obvious this guy sucks at online dating. It really shouldn’t be so endearing. Robert gets plenty of attention online, but he wouldn’t exactly say he’s a dab hand at Tinder. A couple of one night stands and a few terrible dates isn’t anything to show off about.

Luckily the boy, Aaron, has another photo. And fuck, he’s wearing overalls. Robert claims he doesn’t believe in love at first sight, but he’s definitely feeling something at first sight.

As if by some miracle, Aaron has his Instagram linked to his account and although it’s is about as bare as his Tinder, it gives Robert the chance to do a spot of obsessive stalking. And even after thoroughly looking through all of Aaron’s 7 photos, he still can’t pinpoint what it is about the younger boy that’s making butterflies dance in Robert’s stomach.

At first, Robert thinks about swiping left because Aaron is, objectively, very hot. Maybe too hot. And Robert’s not sure he can handle the rejection. But then he reminds himself who the fuck he is and swipes right.

It’s a match! the app announces, and Robert wants to immediately fire off a message to Aaron.

So he does.

---

Aaron should know better by now than to leave his phone unattended in Adam’s company. If he doesn’t return to a camera roll full of ridiculous selfies, then he returns to a new match and message on Tinder.

Considering Aaron hadn’t swiped right on any of the 5o or so suspects he got through, and Adam is looking rather sheepish, it’s pretty obvious what’s gone on here. He gives Adam an earful, makes sure he knows exactly how pissed off Aaron is but stop abruptly when he unlocks the notification.

It’s a match, Robert likes you too. Getting chatting!

Aaron clicks on the message with a thudding heart and sweaty palms - Hey, tie your shoes! I don’t want you falling for anyone else.  - it reads. And can barely stop the laugh from escaping his lips.

Adam spots the bashful smile that Aaron is sure must be covering his face, “So, what did he say?”

“I don’t think that’s any of your business, do you? Anyway, haven’t you got a date waiting for you. You know you can only be fashionably late a number of times, Adam.”

And then he as much as pushes Adam out of the door, as if he’s shipping his moody teenager off to school. Once alone, Aaron has the time to think of a reply for Robert.

Aaron wasn’t one in favour of online relationships. He thought the whole process was awkward and unsafe. You never knew exactly who you were talking to online – they could be someone old and gross rather than what they proclaim to be. But he figured there was no harm in chatting to Robert, it’s not as if he was ever going to meet him.

Aaron: That sure is a shit pick up line for someone who claims to own an Audi R8.

Robert: Hey that’s one of my best! And not one I use lightly, thank you very much

Aaron: It was terrible mate Robert: Friend-zoned already? Ouch. Wounded :(

Aaron: What are we, 17?

Robert: God no. Well at least I hope not. Although I’ve got to admit you do look pretty babyfaced on those photos.

Aaron: Charming

Aaron: But yeah, I probably was about 17 then. I don’t use this thing much

Robert: Guess I should count my lucky stars then? ;)

Aaron: Are you always this dramatic?

Robert: What can I say, it’s all part of my charm

Aaron: Sure, mate ;)

Robert: Right go on then. you’ve got three questions. Pick wisely.

Aaron: Who said I want to ask you any questions? Bit sure if yourself aren’t you?

Robert: Are you always this mean?

Aaron: What can I say, it’s all part of my charm ;)

And Aaron has to take a minute out, because surely that can’t be right, surely he, Aaron Dingle, can’t be flirting? Aaron had never been a flirt, anyone would tell you that, in fact, the only way to describe Aaron’s flirting was hopeless. But after all of the few minutes he’d been chatting to Robert, he felt like he’d known him forever – which was strange because they hadn’t even talked about themselves yet - but Aaron felt comfortable enough to let his guard down for the first time in years.

Aaron bit his lip – wondering why he was analysing his own behaviour so much. Sure, Robert was fit, but that didn’t mean that anything was going to happen between them, so Robert’s opinion on him shouldn’t mean anything. But it kind of did.

There’s something about Robert that makes him never want to stop talking to him. Something so compelling, so different, so - exciting.

So he doesn’t stop talking to Robert, not until it’s nearing three in the morning and Aaron’s losing the battle he’s been having with his eyes to stay open.

Aaron says his goodnights to Robert and shyly suggests they pick up where they’re leaving off tomorrow. Thankfully he gets an eager response and falls asleep with this foreign, but warm, feeling in his chest.

---

They talk every day for the next few days, alternating between messages and silly photos of absolutely anything. It becomes a mainstay in Robert’s days, something he looks forward to when he wakes up and anticipates throughout the day.

It’s the fourth day of consecutive conversation when he dares to suggest something to Aaron. A skype call.

It’s Wednesday evening and Robert’s had the day from hell at work, but he’s made it past the halfway point, now there’s just a mere few days before he’ll be back in the comfort of his Leeds office, with people who actually know how to do their jobs.

He’s perched on his bed, the bedside lamp is creating a warm glow around the hotel room, the nights drawing in earlier every day now. And Aaron’s in the same position, Robert figures when his blurry figure takes over the screen. He’s wearing a long-sleeved white shirt and what appears to be a pair of tracksuit bottoms. Suddenly Robert feels like an idiot for purposely keeping shirt buttoned to the top and fixing his tie. Aaron looks gorgeous though, so much more so that Robert could’ve ever imagined. It’s obvious he’s the same boy from the few Tinder pictures, that cheeky grin is unmistakable, but he looks so different also. Older, as if he’s grown into himself, and there’s stubble now, stubble that Robert can’t wait to get his hands on. And his eyes, Robert doesn’t know what to say about his eyes, just that he hopes all his future children have those eyes.

Aaron’s voice is quiet and soft and delicate. Not at all the kind of voice you’d expect to come from someone with Aaron’s appearance. He sounds almost timid, nervous even, and a part of Robert hopes he is, because if Robert’s rapid heartbeat and sweaty palms are anything to go by, then so is he.

They chat for hours, Aaron lets Robert whine about work and Robert listens to Aaron as he moans about what a terrible host Adam is. Robert tentatively asks about Aaron’s plans for the rest of the week, he knows Aaron’s heading back to Yorkshire soon and, well, he wants nothing more than to see him - really see him - while they’re both down in London.

“Me and Adam are heading out tomorrow, he’s finally decided that we should do something other than play Fifa all day whilst I’m down! He said something about sight-seeing and then a few drinks, but what he probably means by that is pointing at the London and then sitting in a pub all night.” Aaron replies, and really, Robert is on awe of him. “Why?”

“Well I was just - um - wondering - if you - um,” He takes a depth breath and reminds himself who the fuck he is, “Can I take you out, Friday night?”

And Aaron’s back to biting his lip, a frown taking over his features. It does nothing to stop the nervous feeling tearing apart Robert’s stomach.

And suddenly Robert’s backtracking, “I mean if you want. It’s fine if you don’t I just thought-”

“Shut up idiot, of course I want to.”

“Yeah?” Robert questions with what must be a shy smile, one replicated by Aaron.

“Yeah.”

Three hours later he’s still there, on Robert’s computer screen, yawning and scrunching up his eyes and smiling without teeth. Robert smiles back at him and says, “You should probably go to bed.” And Aaron fake whines and says he doesn’t want to go to sleep when he could be talking to Robert instead - sleep deprived and inhibitions melted away. They spend another half an hour just ending the call, arguing about who will be the first to press the threatening red button at the bottom of the screen. And honestly, Robert feels like a teenager again with the way they're just looking at each other, unable to hold their laughter in.

And when Robert wakes a few hours later his laptop is still placed on his knees. Aaron’s face filling the dimly light screen. Aaron’s soft snores pouring out the tinny speakers. Aaron’s chest rising and falling in a steady rhythm. Robert falls back to sleep and for the first time ever, he dreams of a warm body and the deepest blue eyes.