#no real reason just like he seemed to like Curly and that says a lot like he actually playfully busted his balls he clearly respected his

[dykedvonte]

Swansea also has like blueish grey eyes and I've talked about their faded nature compared to Curly's and how Curly's are similar to the mouthwash.

But the point is I think he has those like intense grey blues that make you just as uncomfortable as Curly's harsh crystalline blue eyes he just frowns and squints a lot so you cant see them.

[babyleostuff]

― BROKEN CAMERAS

𝜗𝜚 THEME: fluff, domestic vibes, absolutely whipped kim mingyu 𝜗𝜚 PAIRING: dad!mingyu x mom!reader 𝜗𝜚 WORD COUNT: 1.2k

⦗💌 ⦘in which your little girl wants to take a picture of you and mingyu but drops the camera she stole from him in the process

„i was thinking,” mingyu murmured into your hair and turned the volume of the tv down, „that we could go to the farmer’s market tomorrow. since i don’t have any schedules, y’know.” 

you peeled your eyes from the screen and looked up at your husband from where your head was resting on his chest and nodded immediately, as if you’d ever say no to a day out with him and your daughter. „sounds perfect,” you sighed happily and fixed the blanket that mingyu wrapped you in some time ago. „maybe we’ll manage to find some vintage frames to match those in the living room.” 

he hummed and brushed his nose against your cheek. „just… this time we have to avoid the section where they keep the plushies.” 

ah yes, the plushies. 

your little girl’s current hyperfixation and your husband’s cause of nightmares. not that you minded, there was something endearing in a 6 foot something man sitting in a circle of bears and unicorns drinking tea from a miniature teacup. 

you smirked and lifted your head. „but she’ll be devastated, honey,” you fake-pouted.

she wouldn’t though, not really. your little girl has had her dad wrapped around her little finger since day one and she was a very smart kid, so figuring out how to get her dad to do anything for her wasn’t that difficult. she’s had the puppy-eyes technique figured out for a long time now, which… she used a lot to her advantage. 

mingyu groaned and lowered his head, bumping it against your shoulder. „there’s literally no room left in her bedroom. last night, when i was kissing her goodnight, i tripped over at least three of them!” he whined.  

that was very much true. you spent fifteen minutes this morning trying to find one of her shoes amongst the mess of unicorns of all shapes and sizes, and all you found in the end was a sock that you had been looking for for the past month. it didn’t help that soonyoug bought her tiger plushies every other week, not to mention seungcheol who loved spending his money on your daughter for some reason. 

but you couldn't help but throw your head back and laugh at your husband wholeheartedly. „gyu, you’re capable of tripping over air, it doesn’t count in your case,” you giggled and ran your fingers through his messy hair, pushing back the few curly strands that fell over his eyes. “besides, she’ll find a way to get those plushies either way. it’s not like you’ll ever say no to her.”  

you could feel your husband’s pouty lips against your collarbone as he said, “you’re right. but it’s unfair that mr.unicorn gets all the cuddles now. even that ugly monkey that looks like it had been through a car crash and a bad lip injection is more loved than i am.” 

heavens, sometimes you wondered who the real baby in your family was. 

“gyu, listen to me,” you took his face in your hands and peeled him away from you, “stop overreacting-,”. 

“but what if she’s all grown up now and won’t-,”. 

“she’s three, kim mingyu. besides, she loves you, you dumbass,” you ran your thumb over his cheek, though that didn’t seem to convince him. “she’s a daddy’s girl, okay? trust me, i am the one who should be complaining about the lack of cuddles,” you said and smoothed the crease between his brows.

“if you say so,” he sighed, and nuzzled his cheek into your hand. “but-,”. 

suddenly, out of nowhere, you heard a loud bang behind you, like something fell and... glass broke? mingyu being mingyu, almost fell off the couch, but you were quick to turn around to inspect where the sound came from. 

and your heart almost broke when you saw what, or rather who, was standing behind the couch.

"oh, honey," you cooed.

your little girl was standing in the middle of the room, clad in her pink nightgown mingyu had bought her on one of his trips abroad, only instead of the bright smile that always graced her face, there were tears in her gorgeous, brown eyes.

"what the?" your husband murmured next to you. “is that my camera?” 

your daughter’s eyes widened in panic as she looked at him. “‘m sorry, daddy,” her voice wobbled in the most heartbreaking way possible. the little girl’s tiny hands were clutching onto the neck strap that was supposed to be connected to the camera. “didn’ mean,” she sniffled, “to break it,” she said and the first tears started rolling down her puffy cheeks. 

you quickly untangled your limbs from the blanket but before you could get up, mingyu put his hand on your thigh. “no, no, no,” he almost tripped from how fast he got up from the couch. “it wasn’t your fault, princess.” 

you thanked whatever grace that your daughter was smart enough not to move because the floor around her was litreed in small glass shards and you weren’t sure what you and mingyu would do if anything happened to her. 

not even a second later, he was at her side, picking up her small body and engulfing her in his big arms. 

“don’ be angry, daddy,” your baby cried into mingyu's shoulder and wrapped her arms around his neck. 

mingyu shook his head and turned around to face you with a heartbreakingly sad expression. “i’m not angry, baby. i was just scared,” he murmured. “daddy thought you hurt yourself.” 

you waved for them to come over to where you were sitting and muttered a quiet “come here”.  

your husband placed your daughter on his lap, her head pressed against his chest, on the same spot where yours was just a minute ago. her tiny fists were pressed against his naked tummy as she continued to sniffle quietly. 

wiping every tear that escaped her eyes you started to hum one of the lullababies mingyu used to sing to her when she was a newborn, something you still did when she was upset. your husband was stroking her hair the whole time, rocking her back and forth, as you continued to hum quietly.

“why did you take my camera, sweetheart?” mingyu asked after a while, when her breathing calmed down a bit. 

“i woke up,” she said, looking up at him with her big brown eyes. “and i saw you n’ mommy sittin’ and i wan’ to take picture. like you always take of me n’ mommy.” 

mingyu’s own eyes welled up with tears and he quickly tucked her head back to his chest so she wouldn’t see him upset. 

“oh, baby,” you whispered quietly, though you weren’t sure who needed more comforting at that point. “that’s so sweet, but next time ask me or daddy for help, okay? you could’ve seriously injured yourself.” 

your baby girl nodded and she scrambled off mingyu’s lap to throw herself in your embrace instead. well, it was nice to know that the unicorns and your husband hadn’t replaced you completely yet.  

“what do you say we go and grab a camera together, hm?” he asked. “and we can do a whole photoshoot, we can even make a white background with the sheets.” 

“pink. pink sheets,” she said and clapped her hands. it seemed that you and mingyu breathed a sigh of relief that your daughter was back to her normal, bubbly self.  

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[kiss-me-muchoo]

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐭 || 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐬 𝐀𝐜𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐮𝐬 𝐱 𝐟𝐞𝐦!𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐱 𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐮𝐬 𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐮𝐬

part one: here || part two: something real

summary_ having an affair with General Acacius overseas while conquering lands turned into a problem after coming back to Rome, when you fell for a gladiator that turned out to be a missing prince.

warnings_ CRINGE, girthy age gap (legal) (I’m 20, sorry) historical inaccuracy, angst, violence, gore, animal death, sexism and misogyny, fluff but angst, a lot of canon divergence bc I said so. NO PROOFREAD, BEWARE!

note_ I can’t remember which year the movie is set in, I can’t remember many things but let me know if I fucked up too much. And listen to fallen fruit from Lorde while reading.

♪ ♫ Pedro playlist

♫ ♪ Paul playlist

✰ Index (+ fics here)

𖦹°⭒˚｡⋆ 𓆇𓆸⋆｡𖦹°⭒˚｡⋆ 𓆇𓆸⋆｡𖦹°⭒˚｡⋆ 𓆇𓆸

The sea was a free land. Nobody could conquer it because there wasn’t anything valuable floating around. Perhaps at the bottom of the ocean, a treasure may lay, but no man had shown the desire to dive into the deep.

The screams of the innocents are loud enough to make you feel empathy for them. But Acacius had trained you to put a mask of neutrality when leading war.

Loving the most effective soldier of Rome was your little secret. He married the daughter of an old emperor and he fought to get her privileges and prevent her from danger.

Always the insane little girl running around the palace, rambling about plants, the stars, a dream of Rome in flames. It was enough to be secretly sent to a scribe's university in Egypt for some time.

Upon your return, not much had changed, only that your father, once lead of the council, then the wise of Rome had died. Consequently, your evil stepbrothers were crowned emperors. They named you a soldier and made sure you were at every battlefront, hoping for your death.

But your general trained you well, and with months of practice, you ended up tangled up with him on his sheets in Greece.

Adultery was considered a crime in Rome and you’d give the perfect reason to your brothers to burn you like a witch. Or worse, to send you to fight at the arena of the Colosseum.

But the people who accompanied you and Acacius overseas were loyal and couldn’t care less if you had an older man fucking you each night. They only cared about you being a good soldier on the battlefront and being a good princess in Rome.

With a couple of hours left to be home again, you had your wounds checked. Conquering Numidia was one of the last African cities to be marked by the Romans and your brothers desperately wanted to own it. Only a few burns scattered across your leg and your shoulder needed stitches were the price to pay.

The wooden floor creaked and the general turned around alert but as soon as he saw you, he seemed to calm down.

Your arms wrapped around him and he immediately had to lean and kiss you. His lips tasted like devotion, peace, and lust. Acacius always grabbed your hips first. Then he moved to your waist, only to end up caressing your cheeks as his lips kept marking you his.

“What did the doctor say?” asked Acacius as he gasped for air.

“Nothing to worry about…” You nodded at him and he turned his back to you again, looking at his open windows, to the sea.

“What about yours? How is the scar on your nose?”

“It’s fine. Could’ve been worse” You walked towards him, sensing he had bathed like you as well, his hair looked perfectly curly and you couldn’t help but smile.

You could stay looking at the horizon forever, just because he was by your side. The sound of the waves calmed your mind after another day of calamities brought by war.

“For those who chose the sea, greatness waits at the end of the rainbow,” you said smiley. But the general remained stood silent.

“Those are ludicrous tells, the truth is that even war has infected the sea as well.”

“Because we chose to fight, then yes, the sea is also an arena. But if we chose not to, the way will not depict war” his eyes kept looking at you, completely fixated and even threatening, like Acacius was trying to understand how much you were judging him.

“We do this because we don’t have any other choice, princess y/n,” Acacius said, finally turning to look at you.

“We could run away, to the south, the islands of the Tyrrhenian Sea are empty, nobody wants to live there” your voice trembling, nervous and waiting for his response. He stared at nothing, probably thinking. And that made you uneasy.

“I can’t leave Rome, I have to go back to…” he said coldly.

“Your wife….Right”

Silence. Even the sea seized the sound of the waves.

“Haven’t you told her?”

“What’s there to be told? I said this was only a thing of passion and lust” You bit your tongue at his harsh words.

“Was it? Would you say that all those nights you shared your past with me meant nothing, Marcus?”

There it was. His most personal name, that one nobody used. The general got closer to you, paying attention to your face. Princesses did not have scars, but you did. He wanted to say so much, but he couldn’t. You noticed how his fingers were about to trace the pink scar on your chin but he moved away.

“I was drunk most of the nights, doping the pain” Finally your eyes crystallized.

“Do you love Lucilla, General?” His steps stopped then turned around to face you one last time.

His eyes looked doubtful but soon landed on his feet.

“… I do love her” you nodded, holding the tears and bursting out of his room in anger.

“Of course you do”

Your disappointment was so evident that Acacius was able to look at your face reddening and tears falling freely. He could only sigh and go back to pack his things and get ready to arrive in Rome again.

If only you knew…

…

The crowds of Rome couldn’t stop screaming your name. It was “PRINCESS Y/N!” and “ACACIUS!” everywhere.

You were no hero, you just wanted a peaceful life in a free Rome with the man you loved. And you can feel his hand brushing yours while his left salutes the parade of people chanting both of your names. The truth is you have no purpose but to serve your brothers and pretend that is your life.

The twins always hated you. Their mother was a wealthy woman but yours was the emperor’s true love. The twins used to pull your hair and always picked poisonous berries to give you as a meal while being toddlers. It got worse as everyone noticed you were your father’s favorite. And with him gone, you were utterly alone in the world.

Your clumsy steps made you arrive later. There was no crown for you waiting like it had been for Acacius. Geta and Caracalla were talking to him. And when you noticed the sword in the general’s neck, your face went serious.

“Do not forget the privileges we’ve made for your wife” you heard Geta saying.

“Same benefits we’re making for your whores, frater” The twins turned to look at you, quickly releasing Acacius and going straight to you. Their golden armors were a mere matter of display. They could barely wield a sword. They were bad with the bow and arrow and their reflections were poor too. They were good with numbers and shapes, but that wasn’t much in the city they shaped. One full of segregation and violence.

“Dear, soror… you’re back…” you think Geta gets closer to hug you, but his hand has raised and he gives you a sharp slap across the cheek.

“Dazzling and with such a big mouth as always” he added while you looked down, your cold hand against the reddening skin and sending him the worst look you had.

“Leave the princess alone, emperor. We should be focusing on the games ahead. We brought many slaves that some of them could fit as gladiators” Acacius said, looking affectionately at you, with disguise.

Caracalla only laughs in your face and his monkey reaches you for some seconds, but your brother pulls him away quickly. You wonder how far his disease has spread. Before leaving Rome, he was completely against seeing a doctor.

“Acacius is right, Geta. Let’s focus on the games” the twins agreed but sure, they had to humiliate you one last time.

“Alright then. But the next time I see you, dear y/n… I don’t want to see your hair down freely. You look like a whore and not the princess of Rome” he whispered loud enough to make everyone hear. But finally, the twins were gone.

“Are you alright?” The general asked but you rolled your eyes.

“I don’t need your help, Acacius. I’ve dealt with Geta and Caracalla since the day I was born. Which was before we met you” he sighed, understanding you were still mad from your last conversation. He appreciated your free hair, long and healthy despite the fires you went through while in combat.

“I just don’t want to see you hurt. It’s enough they sent you to serve in the war when you should be here, safe from the horrors”

“Go home to your wife, Acacius. Your dinner will be cold…” you spit out with a bitter tone before walking away, disappearing through the walls of the palace.

…

Standing naked, dripping, and waiting for servants to dry you up, you stare at the dress hanging in your room. It had been months since you wore a dress, used to armor and tight braids, and the sensation of the fabric felt odd.

As a kid, you wished to befriend your servants, but they remained professional and apologetically brushed away your questions. Which made you feel even more lonely while they dressed you up; placing gold jewelry and rings with quartz, spraying perfume, and cleaning your teeth. Geta and Caracalla always stole the sweets from you as kids, you thanked them because instead, it was Caracalla who ended up with a decayed tooth and a gold one as a replacement.

“You’re ready, princess,” said one of the servants and you smiled at her as a thank you.

The whole time while you and your brothers awaited to arrive at the Colosseum, you ignored them. You sneaked away as soon as you arrived. Knowing the place like the palm of your hand, you took a secret passage, in hopes to go and tend your horse to delay the entertainment as long as you could.

Gladiator fights were of no interest to you. But the people loved it. Their ignorance made you understand why they hadn’t tried to throw your brothers from the thrones.

But being months away made you forgetful of the architecture of the Colosseum, forgetful enough to end up in the cells of gladiators. Looking perplexed, you gulped nervously. There were indeed many slaves brought.

Being the only woman there made you the center of attention. Even worse when you looked exactly like a princess would do.

“Princess y/n, What are you doing here?” Asked one of the high-rank soldiers, running towards you.

“I wanted to tend my horse. It was brought here by accident” you replied, eyes wandering through the cells, noticing the people inside them were full of new people, probably from Numidia. You wonder if they recognized you.

Your eyes met the ocean-blue ones of a man, he certainly recognized you as he looked at you with anger. You gulped once again, looking away from him. But his gaze had been so strong that you didn’t hear a servant come running from the end of the hallway.

“A TIGER ESCAPED! A TIGER ESCAPED! CLOSE THE DOORS!” he screamed and soon everyone went into panic mode. You didn’t have enough time to process what he said and do anything. You stood there confused for some seconds. The violent roars of the animal could be heard closer. You looked around trying to find a weapon.

“Stay behind me, princess,” said the same soldier but you didn’t trust him so you went to grab a bow and arrow. The prisoners yelled and quickly you understood they were having a private show. They hated you for being Roman, and they thought they would see you dying.

But you wouldn’t give them that satisfaction as much as you sympathized with them.

The tiger appeared, big and imposing. The animal was angry, visibly distressed, and ready to attack.

You had killed men, but an animal was different. There was no exact description of what to do. Just pure instinct. So you try to calm yourself before the tiger spots you and the soldier, who are the only ones that remain vulnerable. The guards closed the entrances as protocol, unbeknownst that you were there. And it had been too late to use the secret passage.

You felt the same man’s eyes on you and indeed, he looked carefully at you, probably wondering what would be your next move.

“PRINCESS, STAY AWAY!” The soldier screamed when the tiger came running towards you two.

The tiger jumped and threw the soldier, roaring as it tried to kill him. So you ran away in hopes of aiming at the eye of the animal to gain time. Your hands shaking and you could feel your legs get tangled up in the fabric of your dress. But your nervousness isn’t visible as your hands work on getting ready for the arrow. You don’t have time to calculate, the tiger has already bitten the soldier’s fingers.

You hit it very near the eye and the animal roared even louder, in pain. That’s when you spotted the sword the soldier had left behind, where you threw yourself to, as the tiger had tried to attack you again. The man with blue eyes pushed the sword towards you from inside the cell and you didn’t even look to thank him, you only grabbed the weapon and rolled to the right before the animal could scratch your face and kill you.

You heard the soldier cry out in pain but you couldn’t help him. Thinking you could end the beast chasing you, you failed, sinking the sword in the ribs of the animal. You felt a deep scratch in your arm and you cried out. Anger quickly builds up as you know you had to get out of there before everyone at the coliseum found out. The tiger roared one last time and before it could throw you to the sandy ground you grabbed another arrow and directly pierced the eye of the animal. Blood starts pouring and before the tiger can try to bite and break your neck, your hands end up in its mouth.

The fangs were dangerously digging into your hands and more blood started coming. Scarlet droplets fell all over your face and you didn’t care. You screamed in pain and pulled all the strength in your body to put the pressure on your arms and hands. The men inside the cells cheered and made you even more angered. Until you had torn open the tiger’s mouth, breaking its jaw and killing the animal.

Breathe….

Pushing the dead animal aside, you sighed, resting on the dirty floor for a couple of seconds before taking a long breath and standing up.

Every man inside each cell looked at you quietly. What’s there to say?

Five guards open the main entrance and look confused at the mess, then at you tending the heavily injured soldier.

“Bring a doctor,” you tell them and they nod without asking more questions. Only one comes to your side.

“The games are about to begin, princess. I must escort you back to where you should be” Trying to catch your breath, you nodded.

“Do not say a word about this mess” The guard only bowed his head in agreement.

The least you could do was to put some bandages around the bloody hand of the soldier. Then you cleaned yourself and noticed you were a mess.

Giving that soon-to-be gladiator one last look, you tried to thank him with your eyes for what he had done to help you. He understood, giving you a cold nod.

And as you walked towards the royal platea, you wondered if that was the slave your brothers mentioned. A poet…

“Oh heavens! What happened to you?” Asked Lucilla as soon as you tried to take a seat beside Geta. Then everyone turned to look at you in horror. You noticed Acacius looked worried and he couldn’t keep his eyes away from the blood in your dress and bandaged arm.

“An accident” you replied politely at the woman, not in the mood to face the wife of your ex-lover.

“You look horrible,” said Caracalla.

“It won’t; happen again, frater” you tiredly answered, sinking onto the chair, ignoring Acacius’ eyes on you.

Soon you are surprised to see the gladiator who helped you in the arena. You don’t face him when he ends up winning and he looks at you. But you do notice Lucilla’s behavior and quickly you have connected the dots.

What an odd coincidence…

…

This time, you checked the animals first, then you made sure nobody had seen you entering the cells, but you went where the mysterious gladiator of blue eyes rested.

“Barbarian, monkey eater, slave, gladiator…. Prince of Rome, How may I call you? Hanno or Lucius?” Soon you had him inches away from your face. At that moment, you had time to appreciate his features. He was handsome and looked pretty much like he belonged to Roman royalty. But his gaze was fueled by anger and pain.

“What do you want?”

“I know Lucilla came before me. She had been waiting for you ever since I can remember” he looked at you with cold eyes and unbothered. But you knew he was curious about you too.

“What do you care? You’re the princess, you support all of this” his anger was palpable, it was part of his way of fighting you had noticed.

“Who did you lose?” You asked.

“My wife” he replied after a little silence, you nodded apologetically. He didn’t believe you.

“My father was a friend of your grandfather, part of the council. Now I realize that when he was elected emperor, he started hunting you down. I’m sorry”

“You don’t. You joined their cause and you fight proudly on the battlefront. I saw you…” you chuckle sarcastically.

“The twins you met the other day are my half-brothers. And they have tried to kill me since I was born. They sent me to war as punishment, but Acacius trained me well enough to survive each battle”

“So what? Should I pity you?”

“No, please don’t. But I don’t support any of this. I want to be a free woman and be with the man I love but I don’t think I’ll live enough to make it happen” he seemed interested in your words but pretended he wasn’t. Either way, you kept talking.

“You can’t kill Acacius. He’s leading a rebellion against my brothers” he stood quiet, trying to taste the lies in your words. But you seemed very truthful.

“Interesting that you want his head when all I’ve wanted is his heart” Through the cell his eyes sparkled and looked tentatively at you, for some seconds you got too attached to them.

“What about Macrinus?” The old man had been trying to gain your brother’s trust and you thought that was suspicious.

“Don’t trust him. Stop sharing any detail that could tell him what you want or fear”

“I don’t trust you either”

“You shouldn’t,” you said, a little smile unconsciously appearing on your face. And to your surprise, Lucius smiled too. There was something about you that he found lovely. You seemed honest, but he couldn’t trust you yet. So he cursed once you had left, you had him looking forward to meet you again.

…

Across the room runs a large table filled with food. A variety of fruits, bread, lamb, duck, pork, and lots of wine. Your hands float around the punch though, reminding you of the first time you tried Egyptian beer. You ended up drunk with Marcus Acacius, laughing on the sand and soon both ended up naked. You frown, trying to forget that messy night.

“You’ve been oddly quiet these past days,” said Lucilla appearing by your side, grabbing more fruits and placing them on her plate.

“I’ve been busy”

“Have you met Macrinus?” She said pointing in disguise at the man who laughs with some senators and your brothers.

“He’s been around for some time. But I don’t like him” you confessed.

“I’ve also met his poet gladiator” you added, opting to not look at her eyes because she responded very shocked.

“What?”

“He wants to kill Acacius for the death of his late wife, avenge his homeland, etcétera etcétera. I told him not to because we plan to free the city. You can’t proceed with the nonsense of taking him out of the Colosseum. Your son can’t be the alibi to start a revolution, Lucilla” you said whispering. She gasped in shock, wondering how you knew already. All while you carefully watched if any of your brothers or that nosy man were looking. Not even Acacius was looking.

You sigh, shrugging and looking at the woman.

“As soon as he came out wielding that sword in the arena, your face said everything. Then just by hearing his mysterious backstory. It was obvious, Lucilla” She didn’t say anything else, so you continued.

“I shall repeat myself once again. You won’t encourage Acacius to get your boy out of the Colosseum.”

“Why not?” you chuckled at the woman.

She was very pretty, sweet and caring. No wonder why the general loved her.

“You and your husband were lucky that I found out one of your maids heard everything and was about to spill it”

“What did you do, y/n?” She asked tired, thinking destiny was so meticulous and how you had ended up in such a position to hear and stop the maid before chaos unleashed.

“Let’s say I granted her eternal silence,” you said, Lucilla sighed, understanding. And before she could thank you, you spoke again.

“Wait till Lucius is in the arena to save him. And stop looping Acacius into this madness, you’ll make him get killed” She understood everything by the way your eyes looked at her. It shocked her, but she remained calm as you left to sit at the table. Only a woman in love spoke with a mix of venom and sweetness like that.

Taking a seat beside the General, he turned to look at you.

“What were you talking about there with Lucilla?” He asked in a very low but deep tone.

“Just gossiping about Senator Brutus and his new wife…” he knew you were lying but tried to act normal.

“Princess y/n… How true are those rumors about you breaking the jaw of a tiger?” asked a scribe, making you look away from Acacius, Lucilla returned to the table and your brother was already laughing at you for something you couldn’t hear.

“Well… it’s true, domine.” The table burst into laughter. Only the general and his wife remained silent.

“You did what?” Asked Acacius looking at you in horror.

“A princess shouldn’t be in combat” added Macrinus, making you set your eyes on him.

“Oh I am a princess but I’m also a soldier, domine. And I have to thank my brothers because they made me a woman capable of wielding more than one weapon by sending me to war” The twins stopped laughing. Geta sipped from his wine and returned to you.

“That’s true. While you were there getting battle scars, Caracalla and I focused on diplomacy, ensuring we gained more land” You want to laugh at his face. The council did that, not the twins.

“Did you ensure the poor were stable by cutting from the rich? Did you do the math to financially cover each branch Rome rules, Geta? Or did you and Caracalla just point at lands on a map to get like prizes?”

“y/n…” Acacius whispered your name, trying to make you stop. The tension has risen very quickly.

“You have one task, soror. To give us India. A woman shouldn’t even be speaking on the table” Caracalla said when you were about to stand up and burst out. Marcus grabbed your hand under the table.

And immediately calmed you down.

“I’m only saying you should wisely rule this great empire. Do not let it fall…”

Soon the chatting turned into drinking after the awkward moment. When most of the men were getting drunk you returned to the table, cautiously grabbing food again. When you looked up, you encountered the image of Acacius kissing Lucilla. And it made your blood boil.

In a thick piece of fabric, you placed bread, some fruits, cheeses, and a small piece of lamb.

“What are you doing?” you nearly screamed when you noticed Acacius standing by your side.

“I’m grabbing food”

“Isn’t it a little late to eat again?” He wasn’t judging you, he never would, but he was very curious.

You would start up a little fire after seeing the painful image of him kissing his wife.

“It’s not for me…” before he could ask you you sprinted away. His blood boiled too, his hand firmly grabbed your wrist to stop you.

“What are you playing?” He asked.

“Playing? I’m definitely not”

“Is this some kind of punishment for what I told you days ago?” You sighed.

“I didn’t mean to say it was nothing. But… you have to wait, y/n” Acacius whispered and you chuckled.

“I’ve waited long enough to realize you will always be trapped in a marriage with two different kinds of love. And Lucilla will never love you like you want because her heart will always beat for that gladiator whose name was carved from the Colosseum”

You had raised your voice, Lucilla was looking at you two, and everyone else was drunk. So you violently flinched away from the man, who looked at you with a mix of pain and rage.

You leave and he immediately sends a guard to follow you in disguise.

“We must talk,” Lucilla said to Acacius, taking his hand.

He nodded.

…

What did that man have that made you feel safe? He didn’t protest when you walked inside his cell. He didn’t demand you to go away. He quietly lets you inside, talk, and explain yourself.

Two visits filled with food from your dinners were enough to let him know you had no intention of killing him. Your curiosity must’ve been too big, his eyes too attractive, and an odd vibration that warmed your chest.

To be honest, you had no idea why you came back to him. You just felt something. And you hated to admit it.

“If the emperors have made your life so difficult, Why didn’t you leave?” Lucius asked. He had eaten everything you gave him and was sitting beside you on the dirty floor.

“Every time I tried to escape, I couldn’t make it far enough. So I stayed and accepted my fate. To serve them will keep me alive ” he nodded, finally understanding why you hadn’t revealed yourself against the evil emperors.

“You didn’t come down here just to talk”

“I didn’t. I- I guess I just want to believe you’ll do something greater than I have always tried. Everyone talks about your rage but I think you quite act like a prospect hero… with honor” you revealed and wanted to cut your thong like you did with that old maid. You hated oversharing. But instead, Lucius chuckled and you frowned confused, expecting him to talk.

“You reminded me of my wife…”

“How so?”

“She said similar things to you” Most unexpectedly, you blushed. Thankfully the darkness of the cell made it unnoticeable.

“I’m trying to find a way to get you out of here before your mother does something rushed”

“I was very harsh with her”

“How couldn’t you? I would have behaved the same way. But she loves you and she doesn’t want to let you go just when she found you” Lucius smiled once again, making you remain still, unsure of what to do next. Soon you realized the sun was very close to coming up again.

How many hours had you spent talking with the rightful Prince of Rome?

“I must go, Geta and Caracalla will know I spent the night away,” you said standing up, trying to clean the mess your dress had become.

“Will I see you again before that revolution happens?” You smiled, walking back near him.

He was tall, you had to completely raise your head to face him.

“The final day of the games is closer. I’ll bring you more food and I’ll try to see what will the next encounters look like”

“Thank you. I judged you too fast…” he said and you chuckled.

“You still have time to change your mind”

You didn’t notice when he closed the distance. Just when his face had been inches away from yours, you gasped.

But neither of you two protested, your lips touched his at the same time.

Tasting the wine you brought him made you feel intoxicated. No intrusive thoughts appeared while you kissed him.

You could only taste his passion, his need to take control. But all his hidden softness too. One of his hand caressed with softness your cheek and the other grasped your neck.

“Stay safe, Lucius,” you said as you moved away from him.

…

The whole day was lost because you spent it sleeping. Only when you woke up for dinner, did you learn you had missed the games of the day. But Lucius was alive at least. You dreamt of his kiss but when you woke up you had an odd sensation in your stomach. Confusion filled you and then… ache.

As you brushed your hair, you got lost looking at a red candle. It had been a present from your father some years ago. A red candle to be lit whenever you felt like you needed to feel love, he had said.

The wise emperor had wished to see his daughter with her true love. Just like had always wanted but couldn’t.

There was a broad shadow that you spotted through the mirror. It made you pull out a silver knife and point a the figure.

Soon the cape was removed and you sighed but also gasped shocked to see Acacius standing in the middle of your room.

“What are you doing here?” You asked worriedly, standing up and hurrying to close your windows.

“You had spent all these past nights in the Colosseum,” he said, sounding a little angered.

“Now you’re spying on me, Acacius?” He sighed exasperated.

“What are you doing with that gladiator?”

“What do you care?” You asked with defiance.

“He’s going to get you in trouble, princess y/n” Your eyes pierced his, but you decided to move away, leaning against the towers of your bed.

“He deserves more. And not only him, but every slave we brought and all those we left in ruins” you admitted, looking at the fire of the candle.

“They do, but it’s not our duty, at least not yet. We need to focus on the plan we have…” you wanted to roll your eyes and yell at him, his wife could’ve ruined everything and he was only paying attention to you.

Only paying attention to you?

“Stop going to see that man”

“His name is Hanno and I’ll visit whenever I desire” you spit out with bitterness and you knew he was angry. Acacius clenched his jaw and sighed once again. Under his cape rested his armor, his hair messy, and his scars fading.

“Why? Because he makes you feel things?”

You remained quiet. As simple as it was, his question took you by surprise.

“I-… I don’t know. I had no reason to go back to him, but I did it anyway”

“Oh heavens, y/n. Don’t you see that I’ve always told you to wait? Because I’m counting every golden coin I have to give you that house on the island you always point at. To leave Rome with you…”

It took you on a curve. You didn’t know what to say, only the tears wanted to be present.

His hands found your hips and his lips seek yours. Sometimes, while being overseas, you two would argue. And the only cure was to be silent and kiss after a day of ignoring each other.

This time feels different. You feel so confused.

His forehead softly bumped yours and you two stayed like that for some time.

“If you had those ideas to fulfill with me. Why do you remain married, Marcus?” He smiled.

“That’s different, satis. I was set to marry when you were very young. I just can’t undo it.”

“Why do I feel like you’re only doing this because you feel pressured?”

“It’s not like that”

“Either way you wouldn’t tell me that you love me. So it’s in vane…”

“BUT I DO LOVE YOU!”

You frowned, biting the inside of your cheek. For a moment you thought you could only hear how your heartbeats slowly thumped. What you wanted to hear for years had been delivered. It felt good, even right to hear it. And when you were about to believe it, something clicked.

“No, Marcus. You just realized you hate the idea of me falling in love with someone else. Even worse when it’s the son of your wife”

Without the strength to say anything else, you moved away. Your feet quickly dragged you out of your room, and then out of the palace.

You walked through the streets of Rome, seeing all the hunger, poverty, the lack of love from the government.

By midnight you arrived at the shore. The warm sand cured your bolting mind.

There was an imminent battle coming up. You had a place in the rebellion. And yet you had to be only thinking in two men. Who had made a mess of you in a matter of days.

You had nothing with any of them. It was just the causality of what they made you feel. Only one had made you feel utterly in love once. A little boy that always carried for you as a kid. No tears, no pain, just that little boy being your other half.

But there was no little boy now.

Lucius made you feel like the woman you would’ve been if you had escaped Rome years ago.

Acacius made you feel adored like the woman you turned into wasn’t as bad as you thought. He believed in you.

But it wasn’t enough. None of them were enough. Your mind was spiraling and you realized you were sobbing in the middle of the dark. You can hear and faintly distinguish the sea. You had cracked, like the fallen fruit every poet and philosopher always mentioned.

And even when you knew you had to only focus on the war, you still didn’t know what to do. You barely knew the men that had you losing it.

_________________________

Taglist: @stargirl-mayaa @willowpains @nicolebarnes

I don’t love the ending but I genuinely don’t know who should reader end up with. PLEASE SEND IDEAS!!

[transhitman]

Ok I posted about this in anger a while back but I'm gonna say it more intelligently and actually tag it because I think it's something people need to hear. Something that bugs me about how people talk about the morality of the men in this game is that a lot of analysis totally glosses over Anya's motives and what she actually asks of people, and in doing so once again strips her of agency. Like. The reason Curly sucks isn't because he failed to properly punish Jimmy, it's because he ignored Anya in favor of her abuser. He didn't listen to her regarding how to move forward, he didn't give her a way to protect herself. No matter what he would have done to Jimmy, Anya is still traumatized and in danger, and that's the most important point of failure.

I think a lot of people are projecting a revenge fantasy on Anya, and while I'm not gonna argue about the validity of revenge here, for Anya specifically I think that's a major mischaracterization. She's the one who says that our worst moments don't make us monsters. And while yes, this could just be her trying to appease her abusers, she still doesn't strike me as a particularly vindictive person. She's a nurse, symbolically in a role associated with care and healing. Before the crash, she seems like a very soft-spoken and restrained person. Hell, she can't stand giving Curly his meds because she feels so bad for him. There isn't really a point in the game where she calls for violence at all. And even if punishing Jimmy or Curly is morally correct (subjective), saying that it's what anyone Should have done still glosses over Anya's wants and needs. It still centers the abuser, even in vitriol.

It's especially weird to see people judge Swansea on these grounds, because like... We don't know what his dynamic with Anya was like. We don't actually know what she said to him, if she even confided about her pregnancy or the SA at all! I honestly think Swansea's actions give more credence to the idea that Anya herself wanted a peaceful resolution. The whole "Oh, I'm holding it together" thing, him becoming more hostile after speaking with Anya... He waits until Daisuke AND ANYA are dead before trying to kill Jimmy. I think the obvious reading is that he wants Jimmy dead, but Anya asked him not to do anything crazy. Genuinely, I think Anya just wanted to be safe. She wanted out above everything. She didn't want more violence. The only violence she commits is against herself in the end, in order to escape this hell her coworkers made for her.

And like. Swansea is kind of the only one who actually did try to protect Anya in a meaningful way. I won't say that he couldn't have done more for her - all of the men on that ship failed her in some regard - but Swansea intentionally keeps the axe out of Jimmy's hands. He keeps the pod a secret, probably to give to Daisuke, but we can't say anything for sure. I joke that Swansea should have killed Jimmy from the start, but if we're being real that would have been an insane thing to do given what the characters know. But Swansea isn't the point of this post. Like. Idk I just think it's really bizarre that when people discuss Anya's assault, they still do it from the perspective of the men involved. It's weird and I don't like it. Like people have said before me: it's not enough to hate abusers, you have to love victims.

[lightnersdream]

i've been thinking about exactly why people portraying one of the other crew members successfully killing Jimmy as a "for what you did to Anya" kind of thing rubs me the wrong way a bit and it's because like..... this is just another form of taking agency away from Anya, in a way. it's kind of framing her as some meek, shivery woman-thing who's entirely at the mercy of the men around her, either to hurt her or save her.

(i understand these are mostly for wish fulfillment on the audience's behalf because everyone would like to see Jimmy pay for his crimes. whether or not this is the intention of the person writing it isn't really relevant, characterization happens with or without intent. i feel like it misses the point by portraying it as an 'ideal ending'.)

because... Anya is a capable person. she takes things into her own hands when she can. it was partially(?) her idea to get into the cargo,

(before he interrupts her.. remember when she interrupted Curly in the dead pixel segment?)

it was her idea to get the code scanner from the cockpit,

it was her idea to get the medication from behind the foam.

(the chance to do these things herself is not given to her.)

she'd been keeping Curly alive for months in a critical state somehow, her psych evaluations at the start are only so useless because Jimmy refuses to take it/her seriously and Curly is obviously biased when he puts it into his own hands. he's known him a long time, like he said. "I'll just put good for that one."

there's not a lot of material to work with because of how the game is framed, but it's there. we are working with two very biased perspectives and neither one lends Anya what she deserves

there's significant changes in how she speaks post- and pre- crash, and depending on who she happens to be talking to. i recommend re-reading her dialogue, because the difference is drastic

she acts the way she does around Jimmy because he has tangibly done horrible things to her, is actively hostile, and physically could not escape him by any means. she can't take away Curly's agency herself, in my eyes. you have to remember that Especially in the post-crash segments of the game, it's entirely from Jimmy's POV, and he obviously does not (and has never) thought very highly of her or treated her with a shred of respect

i've seen a general idea that she can't bear to hurt other people for any reason, but that doesn't really track to me. this is the real point of the post by the way

it seems based on the parts where she says she struggles to give Curly medication. "It just hurts him so much, I can't stand the noise." "It makes me nauseous."

it's not really the same thing as, say, hurting someone in self defense

this sounds like she did want the gun itself. this never felt worded like someone who would refuse to, at very least, threaten Jimmy with a gun, with violence. if she had been given the agency to make that decision on her own. she wasn't though

she still tries to reclaim some of it even as she's denied it

by the end she's still trying to keep that gun out of his hands

i think some people overly soften her, for similar reasons the game itself is trying to comment on. she's not a tender victim who couldn't cause pain to another out of the softness of her soul, she's a person who's had every last bit of agency ripped from her repeatedly until she couldn't take it anymore. that's the point. that's why framing her that way, "needing" someone to save her, is odd to me

she didn't need Curly to save her, she needed him to take responsibility

she didn't want to escalate things, but she's not an idiot. self defense was absolutely on her mind

but who knows im just saying shit *smiles serenely*

[ckret2]

All of Bill's stock history and tastes that you mentioned are things he did after Euclydia, but nothing suggests that he had those tastes in Euclydia or there is something that made him a weirdo in Euclydia besides his mutation or his eye fetish.

ok let's break this down.

Nothing suggests he didn't have those tastes in Euclydia. There's no compelling evidence to suggest he was normal for a Euclidean. Take out his mutation and we don't know anything about what he was like in Euclydia except:

he had squeaky shoes (normalcy unknown—although, in humans, squeaky shoes are often used to help children with physical & neurological development issues learn to walk)

he wanted the crusts cut off his sandwiches (normalcy unknown; but the fact he had to remind his mom suggests it wasn't normal)

he could be manipulated into drinking his medicine with curly straws (normalcy unknown; the fact that he's specified as a "picky eater" suggests it's abnormal)

his birth was allegedly celebrated with a best baby award, holiday, and free knives (normalcy unknown, possibly a lie)

he didn't learn to tie his shoes until age 16 and called shoelaces fascist (the fact that his parent(s) apparently recounted this as an amusing anecdote later suggests it's abnormal)

it's heavily implied he murdered his optometrist, and possibly his family at around the same time (i'm just gonna take a leap of faith and assume this is abnormal for Euclideans)

So his normalcy score is "unknown but dubious; might be abnormal; might be abnormal; unknown/untrue; abnormal; abnormal." And that's everything we know.

At any rate, if we want to know what he was like as a Euclidean, it seems a lot less sensible to go "well we know next to zero facts about his childhood, so that must mean he was normal" than to look at what we do know about his personality and assume that... y'know... it came from somewhere. We have no reason to take it as a given that he only developed those personality traits post-massacre.

Plus, saying "he was normal except for his mutation" is sort of like saying "he was an introvert except for what a big fat party-loving attention-hungry extrovert he is." It's like saying "Ford was normal except for his mutation"—okay except Ford isn't normal, his entire life is shaped by being abnormal, everything he's ever done is a response to the tension between pursuing kindred abnormality versus seeking validation from normies, and all that is caused by his mutation. What person are you talking about if you're talking about who Ford is without his mutation? There's no Ford left.

Similarly you can't just excise the trait that made Bill who he is and act like you're still talking about the same character. Like yeah sure I guess he probably would be a lot more normal once you remove the trait that alienated him from everyone else he knew, led to him enduring medical trauma from toddlerhood, and caused his grade school classmates to chant "Cipher, Cipher, he's insane, starting fires with his brain." "Bill's a normal Euclidean once you remove his personality." Sure, that technically isn't a false statement.

"or his eye fetish"—okay, so we're talking about my version of Bill, not canon Bill Cipher? In that case:

he dropped out of school by equivalent-to-age-14 to run a cult (weird)

he claimed the third dimension was real and people who didn't believe in the 3rd D thought he was crazy (this part is kinda normal, and caused by his mutation)...

... and claimed that it was where heaven is, and people who did believe in the 3rd D thought he was crazy (this part is weird and NOT caused by his mutation)

by middle school he was telling his bullies that their moms fucked the family dog (weird) (also, when I rewrite that scene, in honor of the precedent set by TBOB, I'm probably going to change that to Bill telling his bullies he fucked their moms)

he handled all his homework by not doing it, all his tests by cheating on them, and getting caught at cheating by crying to his mom about how his teacher was prejudiced against him so that she'd get mad at the school before the school could tell her he'd been cheating & she'd get mad at him (weird)

he resolved an argument with his mom by murdering her at like 15 and then went right on leading his cult (incredibly weird)

he publicly went on a screaming tantrum that made national news against respectable scientists because he'd told a bunch of lies he KNEW were false and they went "you'd have to be dumb to believe this stuff" (weird & a terrible idea)

he publicly issued a million dollar bet against the entire scientific community as a teenager when he knew full well he didn't have a million dollars (weird & an even worse idea)

he ravenously devoured so much cosmic horror literature that when he met an actual cosmic horror and it acted normal he had a full mental breakdown over it not being horrifying enough (incredibly weird)

by the time of the massacre, he had developed into the kind of person who would respond to the extinction of his entire dimension by pretending he meant to do that, kidnapping a bunch of neighboring people, throwing a nonconsensual zombie party, and declaring himself god-king (unfathomably weird)

These are just the things that have already happened in the fic. I could cheat and tell you all the things that made him a weirdo that haven't come up yet, but I won't.

So sure, some of the things that currently make him look weird to humans are normal for Euclideans; but no, he wasn't normal for a Euclidean.

And on top of all that, he figured out he had an eyeball fetish after he left Euclydia ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ because he hadn't done any romantic/sexual experimentation by the time of the massacre (slightly abnormal) because—he would subsequently discover—the only thing that gets him going is grotesque higher-dimensional non-euclidean aliens (very abnormal).

[ovrour]

❝I'LL NEVER BE YOUR MOTHERS FAVORITE.❞➝ MATTHEW STURNIOLO

"I just wanted to be enough for her to like me."

pair: Matt sturniolo x Columbian!f reader

Genre; angst

cw; Racism, judgement, mentions of forceful break ups, I think that's it. If not pls lmk!

A/n: I know Mary-lou would never be like this in real life. She has the purest, and kindest soul in the world.

You really thought she liked you. 

You tried everything to impress her but nothing worked. 

Not the way you spoke Spanish, or how you’d been practicing English for years. 

Nothing was working.

You just wanted her to like you.

But, even trying to be nice was a failure.

“Babe, I promise you. She’s gonna love you!” Matt spoke, placing your hair behind your ear. “Are you sure?” You spoke, rolling your R’s.

“Yes baby, I promise.” Matt responded. He knew what it was like to be nervous, he had anxiety and so did you. But, yours wasn't as bad. So, you both had patience with each other because you knew it would take a lot of time to get used to. You took a deep breath and made sure you looked good before getting out of the car. 

Matt walked up to the front door, you following behind. Before he could knock, the door opened. A beautiful white, freckled face, brown haired lady opened the door. She looked you up and down before hugging Matt. After they pulled apart you attempted to hug her, but she just moved out the way to let you both in. 

“So Matt, this is the girl you've been talking about?” She spoke up, going to sit on the couch. Both you and Matt followed behind. 

“Uh yeah, this is my girlfriend, mom.” Matt replied, going to hold your hand. “Yeah. She’s…not what I expected to see.” She admitted. In all honesty, you felt kind of offended. What did she mean by ‘not what she expected?' Did she expect a white lady with blonde hair and blue eyes? You weren't any of that. You were a brown-curly haired, hazel eyed, brown skinned Colombian woman. Were you not pretty enough?

“Mom, that's not nice. You can't just say that.” Matt defended you. He never liked when someone would talk about you. Even if it was someone he knew but, he would've never expected this behavior from his mother. He never would've. 

“I'm sorry Matt. I just would've thought to see a beautiful white woman. Not whatever she is.” She remarked, pointing at you up and down with a disgusted look on her face. You heard all the nice stories about Mary-lou but, what she was saying and doing wasn't nice at all.

“I don't know where she's from, nor do I care. But, I'm not having a non-English speaking lady date my American son.” Mary-lou spat out. You got tired of her racism and her judgment. It wasn't fair to you. All you wanted was for her to like you. 

“I-im sorry but, why are you being so rude? All I wanted was to come here, and finally meet you but it seems like you don't like me just because I'm not from here. Or-or just because your son is dating a Latina woman.” You spoke, tired of the way she spoke about you.

Matt was right behind you. He was getting tired of it too, he wasn't liking the way his mother was talking about the girl he loved. The girl he thinks is so perfect, even if she couldn't speak English well, or that she wasn't American. He liked you, alot. And that's all that mattered to him. 

"Matt can I talk to you, in private." Mary-lou spoke, moving towards the kitchen. Matt followed behind, "what is it mom?" Matt replied, annoyed. He was tired of talking to his mother, he hated the way she was talking about his girl. "I think you should break up with her. I don't think she's good for you." Mary-lou whispered, trying to make it so you didn't hear her. "No mom, Absolutely not. I'm not breaking up with the girl that I love. There's no way in hell I'm doing that." Matt admitted. He was angry that his mom would ever say that to him, she had no reason too. You guys have almost been together 8 months, and there was no going back.

"Look Matt..." She sighed, hand on her forehead. "She's not even from here, she barely understands English for God sakes! She shouldn't even be in this country." Mary-lou shouted. Matt had enough he walked out of the kitchen, and spoke up.

“Mom. We’re leaving.”

“Matt-”

“No mom. I brought the girl that I love to come and meet you so you could get to know her. Instead, you were ignorant, rude, and racist. That's not okay, and I won't stand for that.” Matt stood up. 

Before his mom could say anything, both of you walked out the door and to the car. It was silent before Matt decided to speak up. “Baby, I'm so sorry. I didn't think she was going to act that way.” 

“It's okay baby. It's not your fault. Can we just go home?”

“Yeah, of course we can.” 

The ride back was silent, sounds of wind coming in through the rolled down windows. You didn't understand why she didn't like you. You were just like everyone else, a normal person. Just a girl that was in love. So, it wasn't fair for you to get treated differently. Sure, you knew that being a foreigner had its pros and cons but you never knew it could get this bad.

It has only been your second year in North America, maybe that would've made Mary-lou understand but, there was no point in trying. Suddenly, you felt your phone vibrate in your pocket. It was a call from your mom. You answered and pulled the phone to your ear

“Hola Mami, que paso?” 

“Namas quería saber como te fue. Estas amañado aya?” 

“Fue mal ma. No me trato bien su mama. Osea me odia porque soy de Colombia. La escuche hablando con Matteo Mami, y dijo que no Tengo el derecho de estar aqui."

“Ay mi niña Linda. No le hagas caso, princesa. A quién le importa lo que piensa esa vieja.” 

“A mi Mami. A mi me importa.”

Matt could hear you on the phone with your mom. He knew that you were telling her about what happened. He could hear you start to cry. Matt hated to hear you cry, it broke him into pieces. His pretty girl crying is something he couldn't ever handle, your pretty face wasn't meant to be stained with tears.

Matt was meant to make you happy all the time, but he knew sometimes he couldn't. Even then, he still tried everything to make you happy. Eventually, when he pulled into the driveway, Matt could hear you end the conversation with your mom. You hung up, and took a deep breath, wiping your tears away. 

“Come on sweet girl. Let's get you inside so we can talk about it, yeah?” Matt spoke, helping you out of the car. You just nodded, stepping out the car and walking towards the front door. You really wanted her to like you, but sometimes it just doesn't go the way you want it to, and that was hard to accept.

You walked in, kicked your shoes off and sat on the catch just staring at the floor. Matt did the same, sitting next to you. “Baby, I'm so sorry about what happened. I never should've brought you to meet her.” 

“You know,she's right Matt. M-Maybe, you shouldn't be with a girl who can barely speak English. You should be with a girl that can speak your own language and a girl that’s from this side of america.” You stammered, tears starting to swell in your eyes. You tried catching them with your knuckles, upset at the fact that you were agreeing with something that his rude mother had said. “No. No, no, no ,no, and no.”

“Baby, look at me.” He spoke, trying to get you to look at him. When you didn't budge, he moved to kneel in front of you. “Look at me.” Matt spoke sternly. “Baby, I don't care what my mom has to say or think. All I've ever wanted was you, since that day we met. You're the only one I want. The only girl I'm in love with, and I wouldn't ever have it any other way.” 

“She said absolutely ignorant and racist things. But, what she said doesn't define you or your personality. She didn't give you a chance, and that's her fault. Maybe, if she would've given you a chance, she would realize how good of a woman you are.”

“Matt.”

“Yes, pretty girl?” He responded looking at you in the eyes, tucking a piece of your hair behind your ear. He kissed your forehead.

“I just wanted to be enough for her to like me.”

Taglist; @bernardsbendystraws @flouvela @sturniolosarethebest @sturnthepot @soupuurr @nickgetsmewetter (if you want to get added to the tag list pls lmk!)

a/n: omg guys, it felt so good to be able to write again. You have noooooo idea. I really hope you guys enjoy this. It's been a week so I'm kind of rusty but I hope it's still good enough, I love you all so muchhh

lots of love, alondra

translations:

“Hola Mami, que paso?” - "Hi mom, what happened?"

“Namas quería saber como te fue. Te gusta aya?” - "I just wanted to know how it went. Do you like it over there?"

“Fue mal ma. No me trato bien su mama. Osea me odia porque soy de Colombia. La escuche hablando con Matteo Mami, y dijo que no Tengo el derecho de estar aqui." - “It was bad, ma. His mom didn't treat me well. I mean she hates me because I'm from Colombia. "I heard her talking to Matthew Mami, and she said I don't have the right to be here."

“Ay mi niña Linda. No le hagas caso, princesa. A quién le importa lo que piensa esa vieja.” - “Oh my pretty girl. Don't mind her, princess. “Who cares what that old woman thinks.”

“A mi Mami. A mi me importa.” - "Myself Ma. I care."

[alovesreading]

Chicken Shop Date - Part 10 Teaser

A/N: happy birthday Matty!!!!! to celebrate our favourite curly headed lad today, @imagine-that-100 and I have decided to give you a little teaser of part 10. it's slowly but surely coming together and we hope you enjoy this little taste of it! thank yous for being so patient and lovely, we love you lots and we're sending everyone lots of hugs xx

~*~*~*~ 25th February 2023 ~*~*~*~

“So sorry we’re late. We’re finally here.” You unlock the door to your Mum and Dad’s house with Matty in tow.

The only thing that’s gone right on your trip here is that you both made it into the car and you both had the bright idea of getting ready for your family party before you set off. Other than that, it’s been a bit of a mess.

First, after 5 minutes of driving away from Matty’s house, you both forgot your bags which you packed for the next few days of your stay at your parents so you had to go back to grab them. Then you kept on getting every red light you came across, followed by a standstill on the motorway which was 45 minutes of you and Matty singing 2000s bangers interrupted by each of you occasionally complaining about how long you’d been waiting in traffic.

Needless to say, parking up at your parents house was just that bit of comfort you needed after a shit journey. Though by the slight bit of worry you can detect on Matty’s face you feel that he may not be quite as comforted as this is the first time he’s meeting your parents.

He’s only briefly caught your Mum on FaceTime before now and it was just a quick conversation that you cut short because your Mum was about to embarrass you. But he’s yet to meet your dad and you know he’s nervous despite him having no reason to be.

“You’re fine, it’s better if we’re fashionably late anyway. Come in, come in.” You Mum shouts as she rushes to the door and practically all but shoves you out of the way after giving you possibly the quickest hug and peck to the cheek.

Clearly, her eyes are set on a certain someone else.

Your boyfriend manages to get his greeting in there first once you step to the side to watch the encounter. Matty smiles brightly, putting your bags down in the hall as he says, “Hey, so so nice to finally meet you.”

“Matty,” Your Mum’s grin is huge as she welcomes him with open arms, “So lovely to meet you properly.”

Being the teddy bear that he is, Matty isn’t phased by the hug in the slightest and he happily returns it, giving your Mum a tight squeeze as if relishing in the hug of another mother figure. It seems your Mum's grin is infectious because Matty’s is now just as big as he tells her, “So lovely to meet you in person. FaceTime isn’t the same. You’re even more gorgeous in real life.”

Your Mum starts laughing as they release each other from the embrace. “Flattery gets you everywhere in this house, you’re going to fit right in.” She pulls your boyfriend inside, like he isn’t being dragged when she says, “Please come in.”

Matty smiles at you on his way in, clearly having calmed down a little after realising you weren’t lying when you said that your Mum was lovely. You adore him for being nervous though, God knows if you weren’t badly jet lagged and emotional the day you met Denise, you would have been just as, if not more worried than when you met Tim.

Your Mum leads Matty straight into the kitchen leaving you to put both your bags at the bottom of the stairs out of the way, and you head to your lounge to see your Dad with a beer already in hand and he’s on his feet offering you a hug immediately. There’s a gin on the side so it’s great to see that they have had pre-drinks while they’ve been waiting for you to arrive and not sat hating you for being late.

After pleasantries are exchanged and you’ve given him a hug, he asks you. “Was the trip over okay?”

“Yeah it was good despite the traffic, thank you Dad.” You smile, picking up your Mum’s gin and smelling it quickly before you have a sip.

Ooooo parmaviolet gin. Stunning!

Putting the glass back down quickly, you nod towards the door and ask your father, “Come meet Matty?”

Your Dad looks entirely too smug as he asks, ”Do I pretend like I haven’t seen his face on your bedroom wall since you were a teenager?”

God that’s a whole different can of worms you’ll have to sort out when you get home later. Take the posters down, number 1 on the priority list.

”No, he knows I was a fan. But please don’t embarrass me.” You all but beg, even showing him some puppy dog eyes as you reiterate, “Please.”

“I make no promises.” Your Dad smiles teasingly and slight dread seeps into your system.

Even though you're slightly more than half certain he’s just trying to wind you up, you say, “Dad.” sternly.

Instead of easing your worries, your father just pulls you into another hug, and he kisses the top of your head before saying softly, “Good to have you home.”

You’re about to tell him you’re happy to be back, but before you can your Mum comes into the lounge with your boyfriend in tow. Immediately a smile finds its way to your lips, just because you can see his gorgeous face again but also because he’s clearly made friends with your Mum already as he’s got one of her precious gin glasses in hand which means he’s already won her over. You’re lucky if you even get one of those crystal gin glasses.

Your boyfriend’s grin only gets bigger when he properly greets your Dad, offering him a handshake.

As your father takes his hand, he asks knowingly, ”Did she make you drive Matty?”

”No, I offered,” Matty chuckles a little before he explains, “And I’ve not insured her on my car yet… But when I do that, I’ll make sure she drives next time.”

Matty glances at you all amused because you’ve told him in the past how you’re not too confident about driving around central London which is why you don’t have a car at your flat. The little bitch just likes teasing you about it, and from this alone you know him and your Dad will get on just fine because your Dad’s made the same joke in the past.

”Good man.” Your father chuckles, “Nice to meet you.”

After introductions are out of the way and you’re all settled with drinks in hand, Matty seems to relax right in and you’re really pleased because you knew he was nervous to meet your parents even though you told him there was no need to be. Regardless, you’re so happy he fits in seamlessly, and is doing God's work by entertaining all of your Mum’s silly questions.

But it’s when there’s a slight lull in conversation that your father takes the opportunity to ask a question you wish never left his lips.

Your Dad looks all proud of himself after he takes a sip of beer and asks, “Has my daughter ever told you about the time that she screamed and started crying when you announced you were releasing your second album?”

“Oh my god, STOP!” You yell before hiding yourself in your hands all the while Matty’s giggle fills the room.

“Ha, no she hasn’t but I’d love to hear all stories like that.” You hear your boyfriend say and you're already shaking your head.

“No, you don’t.” You say sternly, still hiding your now burning face.

Your Dad just laughs and ignores you as he tells Matty, “Oh there’s hundreds, I’ll tell you when she’s not here to tell me off.”

The whine of pain that leaves your lips has the room laughing, and Matty rubs your back for a second to silently tell you not to be embarrassed. If anything he’s grateful for your obsession with his music because it led to him being here with you right now and he wouldn’t change that for the world. No matter how obsessed you may be.

You take a second to compose yourself before you uncover your hot face and look directly at the culprit. “Dad,” You shoot him a pointed look that both him and your Mum start chuckling at, “Thought I just said don’t embarrass me.”

“Sorry sweetheart, but I can’t promise anything when you bring the man home who we’ve been shown pictures of since you were a teenager.” Your Dad drops you in it again and all you can do is look to the ground and sigh.

“It’s going to be a very long night.” You mumble before you take a long sip of your gin.

And something tells you that you’re not going to be wrong.

~*~*~*~

Matty is stiff in his seat next to you in the taxi as you make your way to the venue where your family gathering is. As nerve wracking as it was to meet your parents, he recognises that it’s gone well, but the prospect of now going to a place where he’s not only going to meet but interact with your entire family for hours, has him shitting bricks.

His breathing becomes shallow as he bounces his knee and fiddles with his fingers, and he doesn’t even notice he’s doing all that since he’s lost staring space. His thoughts are as all over the place as his fidgeting, trying to remember names you’ve thrown around or little details about your aunties and uncles that he could use to make a good impression.

You’re thankful you don’t fail to notice his clear signs of restlessness showing through. You almost coo aloud because you find it so adorable that he’s this nervous about meeting your family. Maybe you should mention they already adore him because you have never kept your love for the band from them, so basically everyone already knows who he is.

If anyone should be scared of things potentially going against them, it’s you who should be worried. God knows all the shit your family could say to him to embarrass you. Your parents have already tried their hand, but you know there’s so much more that everyone else could say.

Before you can even begin to make a list of all the possibilities, your hand rests over his restlessly bouncing knee. You gently rub his thigh as you send a smile his way, quietly telling him, “You’re going to be fine.”

His leg stops moving and though his hands freeze over his lap, his gaze falls on you and you can just read the worry on his face.

Bringing a hand up to cup his face, you rub his cheek softly and assure him, “They’ll love you.”

Just as much as I do, you want to add but you don’t think it’s the best time to say it. You just hope he can read it in your eyes, because your chest hurts with the amount of love you have for him and it shines on your face when you look at him.

He nods faintly and leans in to steal a quick kiss. “I trust you,” he mumbles against your lips before pressing a kiss to your cheek and finally settling in his seat.

His fingers intertwine with yours and he squeezes your hand before resting it over his thigh. Looking down at your joined hands makes you sigh in content, and you end up resting your head on his shoulder with the stupidest smile on his face.

Matty lets your warmth calm him down and soon he forgets where you’re going for all he can think of is how nice you smell and how soft your skin feels under his calloused fingers, how cute you look in this dress and how he could go an eternity with you pressed against his side like this.

When the car stops, you pick your head up and, just like your parents, thank the driver before exiting the taxi. You turn to look at Matty and see his nerves washing over him again, but you walk up to him and brush his curls back before kissing him softly and quickly in reassurance.

Though it really doesn’t help when your dad says, “Come on, let's throw you into the belly of the beast Matty.”

Matty chuckles quietly, and though he puts on a cool, unbothered expression, the way he squeezes your hand gives him away. He clears his throat before saying, ”You surely can’t be all that bad.”

Your dad snorts menacingly, knowing exactly what’s to be expected on the other side of the door, ”You’ll be eating your words soon.”

 ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A/N: We hope you liked that! We're so excited to keep on writing, time just isn't on our side most of the time but we're trying to make it work. Thanks again for all the love! xx

[frizzle-mcshizzle]

random Dizznee family headcannons that are part of my personal cannon

that get progressively more detailed

Kesler has a Tattoo of the alchemy symbols for fire, water, earth, and air on his right arm.

Kesler has glasses and curly hair, Milo Thatch vibes.

Juline is the one with Dimples and is the reason all the kids are sound sleepers shes harder to wake up than Dex. the only person who can successfully wake her up is Kesler

Bex has periwinkle eyes while Rex and Lex have turquoise Bex's hair is curly while the boys hair is wavy.

Kesler and Juline wear elven wedding rings which are similar to Cognate rings except that theres only one and it goes on the weares dominant thumb glows when their spouse thinks about them.

Juline has to wear her wedding ring around her neck when shes in her disguise because Kesler thinks about her so much that it’s constantly glowing.

Juline has a lot of jewelry with periwinkles on them and Kesler has a lot of jewelry with Snowdrops on them, because they like to wear little thingd that remind them of each other

Juline brings home human snacks and Kesler's favorite human candy is nerds and constantly begs her to get some. when shes out getting snacks she also gets them stupid grapic tees to wear around the house

Kesler was way more upset about her lying to him for ten years when he actually properly processed what she did and he just held it together in front of the kids. but they have a deal to never fight in front of their kids and apologize to their kids if they do.

Kesler runs warm and Juline runs cold (because froster) and they can’t sleep without each other

Juline badly picks her lips when she’s upset, along with frosting over whatever is around her because of her strong emotional connection to her ability.

when Edaline was a young adult she rasied Juline through teens because her parents deemed her difficult for not being able to control her ability, it resulted in Juline becoming very angry at everyone around her, and while she realized it wasn’t Eda’s fault she ended up taking it out on her often.

after making friends at school that didn’t call her defective, Juline’s mental health got to be a lot better and she apologized to Edaline profusely, Edaline was just happy to see her sister smiling again

Bex inherited her mom’s temper and is the ring leader of the triplets, shes the most outgoing has no filter and says what she thinks at all times, she likes to hang out with Lovsie because she likes having another girl in the house and was taught some basic fighting skills by her, while shes so much like her mom shes a daddys girl through and through and is the most skilled in alchemy second to Dex.

Lex is the prankster of the group and is the worst out of the entire family at alchemy, he goes out of his way to annoy people because he likes to get reactions out of people, his favorite uncle is the one who gave Juline and Kesler the Yeti as a wedding present and he looks up to him immensely. he also loves to create food abominations that he will eat as disgusting as they look.

Lex's full name is Alexander, he is the only triplet with a full name Kesler and Juline did this to confuse people and it works.

Rex is the mellowest and shyest triplet, he prefers to hide in his brother and sisters shadow, he is known as a troublemaker because people don’t care to tell the difference between him and Lex, he likes to spend time with Edaline at Havenfeild helping with the animals, after he doesn’t manifest he starts to isolate himself from his brother and sister and spend even more time with his aunt

Kesler and Grady where best friends before Jolie’s death and Kesler called him his brother, in reality he got along better with Grady than he did with his “real” brothers

Kesler and Juline where also broken up over Jolie’s death and constantly reached out to check on Grady and Eda, but when they seemed to want space they gave to them, Kesler and Juline still reached out every now and then to check up on them and let them know they loved them, but it wasn’t very often because they thought that was what Grady and Edaline wanted.

the triplets only met Edaline and Grady a handful of times in their memory because it was hard for their uncle and aunt to be around kids and the triplets high energy and overwhelming.

Juline and Jolie constantly exchanged letters, especially after she and brant where deemed a bad match Juline keeps all the letters in a box at the top of her closet and sometimes takes them out to read them when she misses Jolie.

Kesler and Juline where like the cool aunt and uncle to Jolie and they used to have family game nights once a week until she died, after her death the families drifted apart and didn’t get that closeness back until the kidnapping

Jolie was going to recruit Juline to the Black Swan and had written a note to her in her black cube that was kept until Livvy recruited her, she was given the box with Jolies note inside and keeps it in a locket

a lot of the black swan thinks Squall wants to be a homewrecker because of the way she talks about Kesler, not realizing he is in fact her husband and shes just so in love she can’t hide it even in a disguise.

part of Juline’s job is interrogating prisoners and shes lost coworkers she was close with whenever she has a hard day she comes home and cries into Kesler’s arms from anywhere from a ten minutes to a few hours.

Juline has a bunch of notebooks that she wrote to each kid, Kesler, and Edaline just in case she dies or has to wipe her own mind with the poison for her own peace of mind.

during the kidnapping instead of isolating themselves their families stuck together like glue over the two in a half weeks the kids where missing because they didn’t know what else to do 

they started their family games nights after they got the kids back, and started a new tradition of movie nights at Rimeshire, where Sophie would show the family her favorite movies and they would make pillow forts to sit in while they eat their movie snacks. 

Juline was pulling strings behind the scenes to keep Dex from going on missions and to just stay behind and work on gadgets, because she never wanted him to join in the first place, she didn’t want to lose him again

after revealing the fact that she was part of the black swan it took a long time for decks to trust his mom again because he was constantly asking questions she couldn’t answer, and he wanted to be let on more missions, but she wasn’t going to do either, so he was angry and upset (rightfully so) they had to work on their relationship for a long time afterwards

[moraymoth]

ethan with nightmares @jizskat

 Ethan had laid down to sleep on a cool, quiet night up in his room at his house in California, Foxfield. The whistles of wind haunted and pushed at his windows while a tree nearby rocked, making Ethan quite afraid to just rest by itself. Ethan oftenly had nightmares, despite it all - he was so aghast everytime it happened; it was very believed that it was due to his pitiful anxiety. Whether or not it was due to what happened with Cody was still way up in the air, but it did raise questions to Felix and Justin both; making them heavily concerned for Ethans wellbeing with how quick it happened to worsen.

 Ethans hands gripped the bed below - his body couldn’t decide if it wanted to relax or if it was restless. Ethan wore a gray shirt, similar to Codys, and a pair of gray and black sweatpants with a pair of compression socks. Ethans curly hair was unkempt due to having to shift constantly under the covers just to get the right position to sleep. There was a certain way Ethan had to sleep if he wasn’t without anyone else at the time - not like he would let anyone sleep in the same bed in the first place, maybe sleep on the floor together or rest on the couch, but that was beside the point - Ethans eyes slowly closed themself, finally easing into a gradual rest. Once he was asleep, the sounds did not seem to bother him one bit.

 However, on the other side of things for Ethan was the dreamworld - in which Ethan feared a lot more than the real world, to the point if anything that bothered him so bad he would avoid them for a few days and try and speed off as swiftly as he can. Yes, to say this was majorly weird and questionable was an understatement, but the reason for fearing the dreamworld more than the real world for Ethan was something his friends laughed at occasionally.

 Ethan opened his eyes finally, looking around what was presumably Wolfe manor. He was heavily confused now, looking around a bit. It had been the way things looked many many years ago compared to its recent state now. Ethan went to touch the walls a bit, gliding his hands across the soft brick before he looked to his hand. Fresh paint coated his fingers as he gave a bit of a held breath, slowly lowering his hand. He lifted his head upwards, peering around the area a bit as he stepped throughout the manor's many confusing hallways. It was oddly silent, without the constant noisiness of the other jocks, which scared Ethan because usually the manor was beaming with life due to Felix. Ethan could already tell by this point something would go horribly wrong, searching around - anytime he would be at the end of a hallway he would check each corner as if something would be out to grab and kill him.

 Ethan was sure he would be able to find Wolfe's room in the real world, but with everything being switched to how it used to be around the time he first arrived, it was hard to tell where Felix's room used to be in the first place. Ethan was too frightened to open any unknown door to begin with, the last dream he had was when Cody’s heart stopped and was ripped out of his chest - which only frightened Ethan himself thinking about it. Ethan roamed the halls for what felt like minutes before he approached a door he assumed would be Felix’s with what said on the door labeled, ‘Alphas Den! DO NOT ENTER!! I am SCHEMING’.

 Ethan reached to the door knob slowly, twisting it and pulling it open carefully - his eyebrow raising a bit as he was open into what was Felix’s current room.

 There sat Felix, on his bed - making out with Justin with for some reason Cody right there cheering them on. Ethan’s heart dropped in almost instantly, his breath quickening as he shut the door. He was getting shaky just seeing that, I mean, if they said ‘no homo’ it would still be a really weird thing to do - but why was Cody there cheering them on? Ethan was so scared to open that door once more, gripping the golden knob tightly in his hand. He took a minute before he slowly opened it again just an inch to peak in - and now Felix and Justin were playing… uno? For some reason? That didn’t seem as half bad, but Justin had lipstick all over his face. Why did he have lipstick? Felix didn’t even use makeup, he only ever painted his nails - looking at Felix which had lipstick and eyeshadow on. Despite this being somewhat amusing to a normal human being, Ethan shut the door once more. Ethan could not handle himself right now, his heart felt like it was going to pop out of his chest while his mind rushed.

 In an instant, Ethans eyes shot open - quickly lifting himself out of bed and feeling at his own face, before going to check his hands. Everything seemed normal, at least for now. With the way Ethan had slept, both pillows were on the floor with the sheet halfway off from how much he moved in it. Ethan took a few breaths, trying to regain himself after what occurred. He looked to the doorway slowly, raising an eyebrow slowly as it seemed as if it was already morning. Ethan quickly pulled himself from his bed, pulling on his usual clothes for school - before looking at his spliced letterman. He really did not wish to touch it, looking away, but he knew Felix would think that he was leaving them despite Felix being a homosexual - he grabbed it and pulled it over his shoulders slowly. He zipped it up pretty far before he stuffed his hands into the pockets of his letterman.

 Today was going to be a long day at school, the whole time he had to somehow avoid the the rest of the packe members, which would be extremely hard.

 Throughout the day, anytime Carver and/or Felix would approach Ethan, he would quickly hurry off with his heart pumping and mind eating away at him. Finally, Felix managed to catch up to him,

“Ethan!” Felix called, rushing up behind Ethan who tensed up, his annoyance growing as his brown eyes narrowed. “What’s up with you?! Why must you keep running and avoiding me and Justin!” Felix shouted, his eye twitching. “It’s NOT Packe behavior!” 

 Ethan had to swallow down his fears, shit. What was he to say - he was cornered as he could feel his body tremble and shake, “F-Felix, I-I can’t do this today,” Ethan started, his voice shaking with fear which made Felix’s eyebrows furrow further than they already were. “Y-you were homosexual in my dreams…” Ethan went to hold onto his letterman.

Felix’s jaw dropped, completely lost on the fact that this is why Ethan was avoiding the group, “THAT’S WHY YOU WERE AVOIDING US?!?”

[dim-paper-lanterns]

chp 17 of wsms is out, and since chp 16 was so fluffy, I have no high hopes for this one! lets get into it:

pony being so genuinely happy with his room at Bucks, and him noticing all the little things Dallas did for him UGHHH

oh.....

so its confirmation that their dad was abusive - but I feel like this goes deeper than just that. I think one of the more major working plot holes is why dallas left NYC, especially if he was forced too. The one reason he would leave is if him not being there was the price to pay for something that he valued more than staying by pony's side -> I think its been implied in previous chapters but its most likely pony's safety. But if that's true, then it would be a question of how did dallas leave assured that pony wouldn't be hurt, knowing he was still in the hands of his father

He wished Dally would come running up the stairs and beat the shit out of the guy.... Dally only fought the man when it came to Pony’s safety. Someone get this boy a savior PLEASE 😭😭

ughhh I really don't think dallas would have just taken his father's word that if he leave NYC, his father wouldn't hurt pony!! Dally literally had to fight this man to protect pony, its not in his character to just take his word! My guess is that there was a third factor involved that made Dallas leave the city, and their end of the deal wasn't actually pony's safety, but maybe something lesser. a) when dally first saw pony at the train station, he was upset at ponys black eye, but he wasn't like 'how could this have happened??! 🤨😱😱' so he knows that pony would still be getting into scuffles in nyc. b) I would say that dally left on a deal like 'dallas leaves nyc = pony is straight-laced and makes it out of the city', but with the way dally doesn't seem to care about pony/school, I wouldn't think so. c) leaves me to believe that dally either left for just pony's survival guarantee, or as a promise for his father to keep out of trouble so pony wouldn't be caught up in it

ALSO ALSO ALSO pony related the man in the hallway to his father bc of their clothing: white button down and black tie. very business professional attire, also clothing that would imply a higher income/better job. idk!! food for thought, especially since there have been comments about pony being underfed/not having a lot of clothes/general possessions/living in a small room. problems that should be easily solved with money.

pony and the closet hit me like a gut punch.

why does dallas seem so confused 🤨🤨🤨 does he not know pony sleeps in the closet as a coping mechanism ??? 🤨🤨🤨🤨

“Well, they get along real well. Close as brothers half the time. But the other half they’re getting into fights or on opposite sides of rumbles. Sorta like a love hate relationship I guess. But at the end of they day they’d always be there for each other.” 🙂🙂🙂

“I’d try the hippie stuff I guess.” PONY 😭😭😭

someone needs to analyze how pony is so desperate to be seen as a 'greaser', especially when (I think at least) nyc doesn't have the same societal divisions as tulsa does

“No it’s alright. I’ll think up a truth.”  why does that seem.... kind of nice ???? 🤨🤨🤨

surprised curly of all people noticed the dallas/dally name difference

pony and curly my loves

I was like whereeee is the angst this chapter and then I saw the last sentence and I was like okay perf there we go 🙁😒😒

📎 Where the Sun Meets the Storm by Legends_Never_Die

[slutforsnow]

New Beginning

(Part 1)

Tw/CW: Guns, talk of whoring, Violets SA trauma

Summary: Violet and Billy starting their new lives as outlaws

A/N: I've had a pretty bad headache lately so I'm splicing this chapter in half & bc i wanna work on my other drafts🫡

Violet stretched as her horse and Billy's trotted by the river of the Arizona territory. She was tired, hungry, and in need of a bath but she didn't complain. She knew what she was getting into when Billy agreed to try and rob the Chinese Laundry place back in Silver City. The question was if she would accept it, and she did without complaint. There was no room for outlaws who complained about the life they chose.

"Hey, Billy," She called, grabbing his attention from his thoughts to her. "You ever reckon why other women whore their bodies to other men?"

Billy blinked, scowling in confusion.

"No.... why?" He asked slowly while raising a brow at her. As the days went on, just ridin' away from their home, more Violet's than his, Billy was getting used to the random questions from Vi. The questions he never thought of until Violet would ask it. He didn't mind it, though, as he learned she was a very closed off person growing up.

Hidden away from everything else, raised to be a housewife and nothing more, Violet only started to explore the outside when she was 15. She had met Antrim while he was on a so-called "business trip," and he began to seduce her. Convince her that he was the one for her. Hearing how easily Henry had fooled Violet made Billy's blood boil.

Violet was a good person, and Henry tried to trap her into a marriage when he was married already with a child of his own.

The thought alone of Violet being forced to carry a child she didn't want pissed Billy off. He wanted to find Henry and shoot him between the eyes. He didn't deserve life.

"Billy? D'you hear me?" She asked him, bringing her horse, North, to a stop.

Billy stopped his horse as well and realized he hadn't heard her at all. "No, sorry, what'd you say?"

"I said the reason I think they do is 'cause men typically won't take 'em seriously. 'Specially if they have a real pretty face," She told him with a gentle shrug. "Unless they prove themselves worthy of workin' hard, a lot of men won't take 'em seriously and pay 'em less-hell, maybe even pay 'em nothin', so they'd choose to be a whore instead because that pays more if you're a good and experienced fuck."

Billy nodded in agreement with her explanation. It was no secret that women were paid less, almost nothin', compared to men unless they were a good fuck and real good one.

"Seems reasonable 'nough. You've given this a lot of thought though, Vi," He replied, a tad curious. "May I ask why?"

Violet blushed a little, looking at her hands embarrassedly.

"I, uh... considered goin' down that path after what happened when i turned seventeen" She admitted, looking back at Billy, whose curious expression grew to horror and anger.

"Vi-" He began, before Violet held her hand up, quieting him.

"Calm down, cowboy, I ain't thought about that no more. Trust me, the next time anythin' intimate like that is happenin' if and when I get married," She reassured, letting North continue down the path with Billy in tow.

"Good. I don't want you to ever have to do that; some of those men ain't the most polite," He replied, letting his body relax after she assured him that she wouldn't go down that path. She had blushed at his words, tucking some of her curly locks behind her ear. Billy had a way with words that made Violet's heart flip and twist in so many ways that made her feel as if she was spin dancing.

They sat in a comfortable silence as their horses continued onward, having small talk happening to avoid losing each other or going to far from the other, when they both suddenly stopped.

"You hear that?" Billy questioned, glancing over at her as he slowly reached for his gun.

"Yeah. Think it's a critter?" She answered, going to grab her makeshift dagger from her belt when they both stopped, hearing someone shut the safety off their rifle.

They slowly looked towards the newcomer. Violet's eyes softened seeing him, the older man (who looked maybe 40 or 50 years old) and was relieved it wasn't some guy like Antrim or a small critter. She wasn't fond of killing animals for food and understood it was a necessity to live, but that didn't mean she had to like it.

Violet's eyes switched between Billy and the mysterious man as they exchanged words. More focusing on the rifle that was still pointed towards Billy.

"And you? What are you doin' with him?" The man inquired, pointing his rifle to Violet. She took a deep breath, putting her dagger away slowly.

"He's my friend. I helped him get away and outta jail. I'm stayin' with him to keep his ass in check," Violet explained calmly, taking her hat off to the older man, showing him respect. The older man looked at both of them before lowering his gun slowly, believing them.

"You two hungry?"

Violet sat next to Billy as he watched the chicken cooked over the fire, spinning her hat on her finger as the three of them sat in silence; well, Violet wasn't really sitting. She was leaning back against Billy, whom was sitting a log. She occasionally glanced back at the horses, smiling softly and seeing North chilling with Billy's horse. She hadn't been sure if North would get along with the horse she had stolen for Billy but was happy to see that he was just chilling.

"You two got names?" The older man asked as he rotated the chicken.

"Sure do; I'm Billy the Kid," He introduced, refusing to use the name Antrim. Violet quirked up a smile towards Billy, a mutual understanding passing between them to never speak of or use the last name.

"And I'm Violet Evans," She finished, setting her hat on the ground next to her and sitting up properly as the old man offered them each a piece of chicken, which they took gratefully and ate.

"I'm Alias," the older man said in response, earning a puzzled look from both of them. Neither of them questioned it, but were a little bit concerned.

"So what's your plan now that you're living the life of outlaws?"

The duo looked at each other, realizing they never discussed what they would do now.

"Well, shit."

Tags: @etfrin @hearts4court @snows-wife @delusionalbunni @kiraflowersworld @victory-scream0462 @curled-hair-red-lips @morallygrayboys @phoward89 @xoxo-eyeballs @thereeallink @graciouslyc @acidaciruela @wanda-maximoff-enthusiast @firstworldproblemthings @nowitsmissing

[countrymusiclover]

5 - our Own Release

Part 6

Battle of Head and Mind

Tag list - ask to be added (in my ask box please) @aintinacage @hiraethrhapsody @mostlymarvelgirl @importantgalaxyrunaway

Inside the Mansion

Raven scurried her way through her home in search of her brother. She knew that he would want to hear what she had just seen between Addi and Erik in the hallway. She paused in her steps outside of the kitchen seeing him sitting at the kitchen table. “There you are. I have something interesting to tell you.”

“What do you want to tell me, Raven?” He asked his sister sipping from his cup of tea he had made.

She crossed the kitchen sitting across from him. “It’s about Erik and Addi.”

“What about them?” He sits the tea cup down on the table.

The blonde hit her hands on the table. “She was getting emotional over something and he found her like that. He offered her some form of help and they went outside together.”

“Why is this bringing you so much excitement?” Charles asked his sister to avoid reading her mind to get the answer. He promised her that he would never read her thoughts.

She gasped, hitting her hands on the table, baffled at the question he just asked her. “Are you serious? Have you not been able to see the chemistry between them?”

“I…I suppose not.” He stuttered.

She tilted her head to the side. “You haven’t been able to see the chemistry between them for a different reason. You have your own feelings for her don’t you?”

“I didn’t say anything like that-“

Raven shakes her head at him. “But it’s written all over your face. I don’t have to be a telepath to figure that out.”

“Raven, I love you. But you are being ridiculous.”

“No I’m not. You have feelings for her and I want to know why.” She pressured him.

Charles ran a hand through his curly brown hair sighing. “If I had any feelings for Addi it has to do with the way Erik treats her. He calls her a monster based on who her father is. So I wish he would get to know the real her.”

“Yeah I know he isn’t that nice. He seems closed off like he has lost a lot.”

He nodded, sighing heavily. “He’s suffered at the hands of some very bad humans. In one of the most terrible moments in the history of mankind. He lost his father…and his mother. All at the hands of Sebastian Shaw.”

“Because he’s Addi’s father. That must be hard on her. Having someone compare you to someone bad without even giving you a chance to prove you're not like that person.” The girl who could change into anyone she saw responded.

Charles took a drink from his cup. “It is indeed…maybe you are onto something with seeing them going off somewhere privately together.”

“What do you mean?”

He began explaining. “I mean a few weeks ago I don’t think either of them could imagine being alone together without them sitting in a room in dead silence. But if tonight works out then we might be onto something.”

“Where they are on track of maybe getting together as a couple.” Raven smiled in her brother's direction.

He made a grunt noise underneath his breath. “Or simply just where they get along with one another.”

“Sorry but the idea of Addi and Erik as a couple sounds better than them just being a good pair. We should all become family after this whole fighting Shaw and saving the world thing.”

He smiled at her. “Yes. We should hope that there doesn’t happen to be a war at all.”

“You want to be a part of the human world. Do you think that Addi would agree with you?” She questioned her brother.

He leans back in his chair silently staring at her. “I’m not entirely sure just yet. She has to learn to accept herself and her powers first. Otherwise it’s unclear what life path she wants to go down.”

“Well I’m going to see if I can peek in on their conversation.” The young mutant girl got to her feet heading to leave the kitchen.

Charles warned his younger sister. “Leave them be, Raven!”

“I love you, Charles.” She called back and he picked up his cup again finishing what was left inside it. He shook his head praying that she didn’t interfere with their conversation if she found out where Erik and Addi had run off too.

Addi’s pov

The sun had set and we hadn’t stopped walking through the woods. I wasn’t familiar with the grounds that belonged with the Xavier mansion. My boots crunched leaves underneath and I felt the wind blow through my hair. I shifted my gaze in front of me with Erik walking a few steps in front of me. It baffles me at the moment that he had offered to help me. He didn’t seem like the helpful type. “Erik, not that I don’t appreciate the offer. But what is your plan?”

“I can see that your mind is fighting against you. So I am going to help you with it before you explode half the mansion.” He responded back to me still walking until we could no longer see the school from where we were.

I made a disgusted face at his remark. “I am not on the verge of destroying the mansion. You don’t even know what I can do.”

“And apparently neither do you, Addison. I know where the source of my power comes from. I know what I can do with it. You need to learn the same about yourself.” He paused in his steps slightly, turning his body back towards me.

Staring at the man in front of me. “Oh really and how are you going to teach me?”

“Charles has tried to make us believe that it’s all in our heads. And that the mind is more powerful than anything. That’s great when you’re a telepath but we aren’t. So we're doing this my way.” He explained it to me.

Nodding my head I followed his actions where we kept walking forward a few good steps before he turned around gently shifting me in front of him by grabbing my shoulders. “Woah what are-” I cut myself short feeling his front pressing against my back.

I could feel his breath in my ear causing me to suck in a breath feeling my face turning red at how close we were. “Do you know that bubble that is constantly on the verge of popping?”

“Maybe. What's the point?” I mumbled under my breath.

He whispered in my ear squeezing my shoulders that he was gently touching my arms sending a shiver through my body. “The point is I'm telling you to let it pop. Let that built up energy inside of you all be loose.”

“Are you sure about this?” I questioned hearing him take a step away from me.

“Scream as loud as you can. I would never joke about this.” He nodded, putting his hands in the pockets of his jacket. “Yes I'm sure. Let it all out, Addison.”

“Okay Addison…” Sucking in a breath I closed my eyes feeling my mind spinning a mile a minute. I haven't ever been able to just let my power go loose. But it wasn't helping that Erik was standing behind me watching what I was about to do. Clutching my hands to fists at my sides where I raised my hands just screaming out directly in front of me. The trees that were in front of me suddenly got bent and broken into pieces at the Impact of my power that I had. My hair flies back behind me and the leaves with twigs on the ground got thrown up in the sky.

Erik silently watched the situation before him in awe. Memories of what Shaw had turned him into crossed his mind. He knew what it felt like to have all your emotions build up inside you and the only way to fix it was to let all those emotions out. At this moment he admitted to himself that they might be more alike than he originally thought. Charles wanted to see the good but they each were broken a little by the design that was thrown their way.

I don't know how long I was screaming for exactly. But when I opened my eyes I couldn't believe what I had done in front of us. The ground was broken up, all the trees were turned into broken splinters, yet overall I felt better than I did a few hours ago after training with Charles. Slowly spinning around on my feet with hair had fallen in front of my eyes with me staring at Erik from a distance. “How do you feel now?” He asked me slowly, striding up to me.

“I…uh…I think I actually feel better. Is this how you feel all the time when you need a release?” I released a breath feeling my heartbeat slowly down.

The metal mutant clicked his tongue. “Typically when I get a release it ends up with certain people dead that ruined my family. But the moment of calm you feel Yes I do get that sometimes.”

“Hopefully Charles won't be upset that I destroyed his yard.” Looking around it appears that a tornado went off around here.

He shrugged his shoulders. “Don't worry about it. How else are we supposed to learn?”

“I suppose you're right.” I paused tilting my head to the side at him. “So why did you really invite me out here? I know you don’t care whether I destroy Xavier's house or not. There's another reason here which is odd because I thought you hated me.”

He blinked his eyes at me a couple of times letting the wind be the only sound that we could hear. “I never said that I hated you, Addison.”

“But you haven't been very friendly with me in the past.” Reaching inside the front of my shirt I drew out the metal coin necklace dangling it in front of his face. “The only thing that tells me you might not hate me is that you gave me this. I know that you despise this coin for what it represents, the worst day of your life.”

Erik nodded his head slowly, he took a long one step stride almost closing the whole gap between us. “I'm not good with words like Charles. But I am certain that I can't hate you like I hate your father.”

“Then what do you feel for me, Erik?” I dared to ask the question in the pit of my stomach.

He remained standing there just staring me up and down. He hated feeling uncertain about this. He knew that his life had only been filled with death and pain. He considered saying that she was a tiny bit of light in his life. “I don't know what to feel. The only thing I do know is that if I hated you I wouldn't do this.”

“Do what, Erik?” I gasped, getting cut off and taken by surprise with him closing the gap that remained between us. He cupped my face in his hands, smashing his lips down onto mine since I was just a little shorter than he was. My hands unclenched from my sides and flew up into his hair tugging on it because otherwise I was sure what to do.

I hadn't ever kissed anyone before and I doubt he had either. Since I assumed he hadn't he clearly didn't show that he had no experience. He tilted my head a little bit and kissed me deeply. I did my best to kiss him back, moving my arms around his neck bringing him closer to me. “I thought I could hate you, Addi. But…turns out I can't.”

“You’re not a bad kisser, Erik. And I…I'm glad you can't hate me.” I mumbled where he broke the kiss resting his forehead against mine.

He responded in a whisper. “You’re not a bad kisser either, Addison.”

Comments really appreciated ❤️

[noxxiepoo]

hi! i saw your post about jimcurly and i'd like to say it's not for everyone, you're perfectly respectable if it makes you feel uncomfortable. it's certainly a very okay take to have! in that case, no one should ever make you feel bad for that. block the tag if it's what makes you feel better!

however, i think it might make you feel better about it to know that a lot of the people who ship it are very aware of the implications. i was concerned too, and it really exhausted me, but actively seeking out answers as to why they'd want to ship something like that really helped and i figured i'd share my perspective with you :)

i've noticed it very rarely comes with a softening of jim's abusive and predatory personality, and it's generally quite self-aware. they very much did play the same game, and it's just one of many ways they decided to look at the themes and interact with it under

i find it pretty unfounded to worry about these people ending up in toxic relationships of their own and being unable to get out of it: i've seen a lot of toxic pairings to actually be coping mechanisms to cope with older toxic relationships, and many of them come with a deep understanding of it. i get it as someone who has been in one!

if i'm being honest, i'm personally more alarmed by anyacurly that isn't self-aware than jimcurly that is, but honestly, i don't ship any of them because it's all kind of yuck to me.

either way, i think it's completely okay to be made uncomfortable by it. it's a heavy pairing, and i have the tag blocked so i don't see it. it's really their business imo i guess and taking that perspective made me feel a lot less upset about it :^)

(Cutting it here so it doesn't clog dashes!! Happy scrolling y'all)

Thank you!!! I really do appreciate this to no end. I know you won't get notifed when I post this but I do hope you find this. I appreciate the invitation for an actual conversation and wanting to shed light instead of uh the replies.

Im gonna be so real here, made that post at work, posted it, and uh here I am at home staring at my inbox (not including this ask dw!!) with slight confusion. And also being very real here, this isn't an apology post! I do apologize for not tagging it with a content warning, and being crass with my words, though you're gonna get that even if I'm speaking positively about something. Cussing is normal for me and I apologize if I came off as overly angry! I do want to reply to (and not being sarcastic at all here, I promise!! /gen) this anon who is being patient with me.

I do have the tag blocked, and I do feel better now. I'm a little less concerned knowing that people do see the implications and I'm really glad you mentioned it. I can't and won't speak on the coping mechanism aspect, I don't use it to cope and I've never been in a situation like this paring would cause. I will say however that yes, it is unfounded without context to be making broad statements like I did. I mean for those who take it very far. Farther than 90% of those who enjoy the pairing. I know the internet and I know it goes to insane lengths a great many times in the grand scheme outside of this Fandom.

You're 1000% right, I haven't really seen much anyacurly and haven't really gotten around to forming an opinion on it but it seems just as weird for me as this one. I think shipping in the game setting point blank, no aus or shifting of character is very.. off putting and to me depletes every purpose the game was trying to showcase.

And yes! Ship your blorbos I don't care, I don't like it, y'all love it apparently and I opened a can of worms that was unbeknownst to me outside my echo chamber. I made my post because I saw this amazingly worded one

And wanted to give my 3 cents on the topic, and obviously im not gonna repeat what they said in my own post. im not gonna steal someone's analysis.

And stepping away from the ask entirely right now:

this is sooo beyond me. I feel like I said I hate bakudeku and it's 2020. Also i think its funny that I also said jimmy can kill himself on the jimanya post, and im 1000% sure many others on here have said the same sediment. Honestly just block me man, I'm not entertaining anything on here, I have schoolwork and a job. I'm very happy to have a discussion though, like this!

[mochinomnoms]

So I recently found your AO3 and like

Do you happen to have any photo ideas on what Yev and the freshmen from PTM look like? <3 Cause they're canon to TWST in my heart (I love all of em so much)

Not really, I have a specific image in my head for each, but just not the time or the full talent to draw more than headshots lol. But I can try to provide references.

I can provide with some generally inspirational pics, as it's always hard to imagine an exact match to a real life person. Yev has a drawing I did here, but you can also imagine him referencing the Peruvian model Patty Wong. Similar to how Vil has a feminine beauty to him, Yev does as well.

James I think would most closely resemble Orlando Bloom as he was in the first two Pirates of the Caribbean movies. I think just a bit darker and with more freckles from being out in the sun. His hair in unkempt often, which infuriates Riddle, but for some reason no one can get it to not be poofy and frizzy. It's cause he needs a curly hair routine, lol.

I don't have a celebrity for Wynfred, but this model I was able to find I think is a pretty good resemblance. He has two slightly longer, braided strands framing his face that have his green moon hair charms. Also, he has a Rosarian (aka TWST British) accent, but it's a very good fake one :)

I had a harder time finding a reference for Marion, it seems that the internet doesn't appreciate chubby men >:( Also, they all have facial hair which Marion doesn't so that made it hard too. But, I think this pic of I think a younger Hozier is a good starting point. Imagine hair long enough to tie back and a bit more chubby cheeks.

Silas was easier to find references for, and they're androgynous, so they have a mix of feminine and masculine beauty to them. Vil and Rook would've loved them if they were around during PTM. I like to imagine that, like Epel, other students mistake them as a girl for a while. Unlike Epel, Silas plays along with it and even dresses up in the dress/skirt versions of the uniforms for some times. At least until they get bored and switch back to a more masculine appearance, which confuses everyone for a moment. When asked, they'll just say "I felt like a guy today, might be a girl tomorrow though!"

Aspen, Tony, and Yakub are all a lot harder to find references for, since they're nonhuman, and I've made some of those features a bit more prominent in their designs. If I were to assign someone to them as a starting point, Aspen I think would be best to refer to Troye Sivan. Tony is a bit easier, as I can very clearly imagine him as a very short young Anthony Ramos, love of my life. And lastly, I need you to hear me how on Yakub, because he's based on Iago who is based on a parrot which are mostly native to southern North, Central, and South Americas. Thus, imagine him as Xolo Maridueña but much taller and a bit darker, and the feather hair is a reference to the Tooth Fairy's own feather hair from Rise of the Guardians.

I'm hoping in the future I can either make the time to draw everyone on my own, or commission someone if I have spare money in the future.

[cartooncartoonpanic]

#006 Sins of the past

You approached Princess Morbucks and her friends...friends probably isn't the right term considering she was yelling at the boy and didn't seem to know the girl. It was entirely possible that they had only met today. Of course you did wonder how such a passionate argument could have broken out between strangers.

"You should know exactly how serious I am about this, Dexter. There's a huge vaccum in the market for villains right now since Mojo disappeared, and since I'm so generous I'll even fund your evil schemes." As always, Princess is pretentious and demanding. No surprises there. You do listen closely though, since you want to know exactly where Mojo might have disappeared to. It's possible that Blossom didn't tell you the entire truth

"I've already told you. I don't do that anymore. I broke off our contract for a reason" The guy in the lab coat, supposedly named Dexter, now speaks. He speaks in a thick accent though you can still tell he's upset. He has curly red hair and wears headphones though you can't tell if they're playing any music

Princess: "Didn't you used to be in a rivalry with Mandark? He's the top ranking right now?"

Dexter: "That's not my problem anymore"

Princess: "So you're just letting him be better than you?"

Dexter: "I already hurt someone important to me once, I don't want to risk it again"

Princess: "What, is this all because you fell in love with a Powerpuff girl?"

Dexter: "It's more-"

Princess: " I saw Blossom here and she hasn't said a word to you, so clearly she doesn't feel the same~"

Dexter: "That's not-wait, isn't that the reason you quit too?"

Princess: "Literally shut up right now"

Dexter: "Because I recall reading a tabloid magazine about how Bubbles left you because you che-"

Princess: "ENOUGH!"

All 3 of you were silent and just stared at her until you spoke.

"Wait, who's Mandark again?" The black haired girl looks like she's about to say answer you but then changes her mind. Princess speaks instead because of her need to dominate any given conversation.

"Oh...you're here. Greeeeeeeat". Of course she doesn't like you. Your last interaction ended with you and your brothers refusing to let her join you. But you were also like, 5. She still seemed petty though.

"Of course you wouldn't know someone that famous. Is it because you were never a real villain? But anyway he's like...mad scientist guy. Reads a lot of nerd shit but actually makes it kind of cool. It's called like...cloud rock or whatever"

"It's called steampunk...For someone acting like she's the grand authority of villainy, you really need to do more research. Anyway I saw him here earlier. He has like black hair, and some stupid cape"

"Oh uh-" You remember that description exactly fits the guy who you just punched. Thinking about it further, a future supervillain interning on whatever weird project had them kidnapped made a lot of sense.

"I may have taken him out...Didn't kill him but uhhh" You showed your now stained gloves, expecting a freakout but they seemed almost uncomfortably calm. The black haired girl looked as if she wanted to say something but realized she probably shouldn't. The guy in the lab coat seemed to smirk a bit. Princess, as always, looked annoyed.

"So...if whatever villain contract you were talking about is open, you should probably be offering it to me, if anyone" You weren't sure if it was something you actually wanted...but job security sounds nice. Even with someone as annoying as her.

"Yeah that's...never gonna happen. If a hero just wants to rely on physical strength and powers that's one thing. But villains have to be smarter. And you...I don't think you have that. Sure, your dad was a real villain. Regardless of my personal feelings I can't deny Mojo's impact. But you and your brothers...you were just a scheme. A means to take down the Powerpuff girls. And that's all you'll EVER be"

Rage flashes through you again but unlike last time you hold back, though your gaze is terrifying. She knows enough about you to know that you can shoot lasers out of your eyes.