#not feeling good today and had to look after a buncha babies but have this fhjsdh

[greedonya]

f.izz just wants to know about his special interest i mean m.ammon but she's trying to teach him math instead

[obsessedwrhys]

Can you pls write one scene with jesse where fem!reader decides to cut bangs in the bathroom and she doesn't wanna show jesse bc she thinks she looks ridiculous at first and jesse is outside the bathroom like "c'mon babe, it can be that bad, I promise I won't laugh, c'mon now, where's my girl?"

And when she opens the door and jesse it's literally speechless and like this https://pin.it/2CkB5fQRJ because she looks so cute wtf. "But jesse... really?" "Babe you look so adorable, come here😭"

ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁 .ᐟ Knock Knock... Babe??

ᯓ★ Lots of fluff and goofiness, reader is fem!! (HAHAH I LUV THIS ASK)

ᯓ★

You panicked inside the bathroom as the sound of banging on the door continued on. Clearly it was one of those boring days where your intrusive thoughts had won over... but what you didn't expect was for your boyfriend to be back from patrol sooner than expected.

He said tomorrow!!

Tomorrow is NOT today!!

"You okay in there?" He asked with a mix of confusion and concern.

"Uhh... yes! I'm just having trouble with my shirt!" You forced a happy tone but a frown was present on your face when you saw your reflection in the broken mirror on the wall.

Jesse chuckled from the other side of the door while you quickly try to dispose of the hair you've cut.

"I’ve seen you with your shirt off a buncha times, babe. What are you so worried about? Just come out so I can help you with it" He said in a teasing tone.

Argh this bastard...

"Can't!" You replied and tried to flush the hair down but there were still some strands that managed to survive it.

"Darn it" You cussed under your breath.

"And why not? You hiding something from me??" His tone now hinting a bit of worry.

You stutter, stumbling over your words since you were moving around trying to figure out what to do... but no matter what solution you thought of. Nothings gonna work. Whether you like it or not, you're completely cornered, in this bathroom.

"I just..." You sigh.

"I cut my hair and I'm scared you're gonna find me ugly after this" You confessed and it was painfully silent for a couple of seconds before he spoke up again.

"Ugly?" He laughs.

"Babe, come on. I’ve seen you after a month without a shower, I’ve seen you covered in blood, I’ve seen you crying in the middle of the night. A new haircut won’t convince me you’re not good looking" He said and oddly enough his words made you feel at ease... but only for a bit.

"Promise you won't laugh at me?" You stood by the door, hand on the door knob.

"Promise, babe. Just come out here, I wanna see you" He said.

You took a deep breath... then unlocked it. Once the door swung open to reveal your horrible attempt of a haircut to your boyfriend. He stares at you, his brown eyes soft and full of adoration. He tilts his head to get a better look of your new haircut.

"Wow..." His lips parted in awe while his eyes were looking you up and down.

"Ugh... stop it..." You covered your face with your hands but your boyfriend was fast to stop you, enveloping his fingers with yours as he stepped closer to have you look at him.

"What? You want me to stop admiring my cute girl? Not a chance" He smiles when leaning in to place a kiss on your forehead. You were confused and at the same time, not believing a word he's saying.

"Are you sure you're not just saying that to make me feel better?" You said which he seemed offended by.

"I'd never lie about something like that baby... I love you, and you look beautiful. With or without this haircut" He'd then wrap his arms around your body to pull you into his gentle embrace.

"I hope so..." You uttered with your face pressed against his chest. Hearing you say that, he pulled back from the hug to look you in the eyes, his hands now moving down to your hips.

"You’re adorable, you know that?" He said with a smile, lightly poking your nose with his index finger.

"Absolutely the cutest" He cooed which had you smile almost too easily.

"There she is" He grinned as he saw you finally smile, his heart was swelling with affection just from the sight alone.

"Now c'mon... let's go take a nap hm?" He gently tucked a lock of hair behind your ear, his fingers lingering on your cheek. You nod and it lead to him taking you to bed, where the two of you cuddled to sleep underneath the warm blankets.

[bubblyhoney]

buncha kisses

warnings: mature language, Good music mention, slight suggestive content, lotta name calling!, basically just fluff

tags: sapnap x fem!reader (a continuation of [renamed from “a collection of moments at the beginning of your relationship”] win for me, basically, with college!au)

words: 1447

A/N: a very sweet anon requested a continuation of college!au with sappy and had some great ideas for me! i love when you guys interact and talk with me pls continue to do so! been receiving a lot of really encouraging attention from some of my favorite people (ahem, for example @strawberrymilkgeorge [among others] <3) so i just wanted to say thanks for that :)

-

It’s a sticky day in May.

It’s that kind of hot that irritates under the skin and works its way through the hair on your arms. Makes you want to either rip your skin off or sink into a pool full of ice.

May is a month that Florida doesn’t take very well; it’s either raining like it’s the Great Flood, or hot as a mosquito’s ball sack.

And to make matters worse, it’s the due date of a huge calculus project. Like— weighted heavier than the final kind of huge.

You’d gotten up three hours before your final at 9 just to cram. Your desk was littered with folders, chapter notes, and highlighters dull with use. A half-eaten bagel was off to the side, staling by the second.

That was before your AC broke. Yup. Broke. Ka-put. Just full on died—it was almost audible. Your roommate had stumbled into your room, face creased with sleep, and cursed for thirty seconds straight.

Completely understandable, actually.

But you didn’t have time to fret about the damn temperature. You just took your shirt off, kicked the box fan near your bed into the highest gear, and breathed hot anger down into your notes.

The only relief you would find would be lunch with Sapnap after your final. His apartment had air conditioning, and he was surprisingly deft with a knife and cutting board. Dude didn’t know how to figure the mechanics for emailing his film class project to you that one time last semester but could whip up a Greek salad and broiled chicken like no other. Your own little Gordon Ramsey.

He was yours now, officially. As of last month he was yours. A month full of drive-in movies, failed study dates, and an absurd amount of McFlurry’s.

And that’s what is waiting for you in Sapnap’s cup holder when you swing your way into his car with an exasperated look on your face. You just melt, eyes flicking up to his gratefully and silently taking it.

“How was the final?” He lays a hand on the gear shifter and nudges the AC up one more tick. The door closes behind you and you shuffle your legs apart, leg hair tingling in this heat.

“It was fucking brutal. I think I developed an ulcer just looking at the reference page,” you huff and he just shakes his head, laugh hot on his lips. “Absolutely not worth the studying—think I got a good grade, though.”

“Well, that’s cool. I’m proud of you.” The engine chugs to life when he shifts into drive and starts for the side street.

“Thanks.” Your cheeks blush ever so lightly but you pass it off to the heat. A moment passes. “So.” The straw makes a choking noise as it nudges at the bottom of an empty cup. Jesus, you finished that fast. “What’s on the menu for today?” Brandy’s Sunny Day lilts softly into the blasting air as you settle into a comfortable conversation, schoolwork at the back of your mind.

“Thinking of making banana chocolate chip muffins and pigging on those. Thoughts?” Flicking on his left turn signal with his left hand, the right slides onto your knee.

It’s never too hot for that.

“Sounds perfect,” you reply, voice small in a sudden bout of shyness. He double-takes with a smile, squeezing once at your leg.

Pigging is a perfect term for what you two do the second those muffins are out of the oven; it is too easy to shove three of those in a matter of seconds. Bellies full and in a sugar coma, you two lay under the whirring of his living room’s fan and stare up at the ceiling.

“This feels so good,” he mumbles, eyes half-lidded. Reaching a hand out, he pats his way to your hand and takes it, immediately squeezing it. “Wish you were kissing me right now.”

“Oh, yeah?” You taunt and hike a leg up onto his hips, swinging onto his lap and leaning to get your lips near his.

And that’s that.

The night is perfect.

Sapnap ushered you into his car at midnight and within four minutes you were on a US freeway with your head out the window. Like a dog.

A lone bird flies past in the dark air and you watch it swing into a patch of trees. You just close your eyes and breathe.

The stress literally melts. Melts into a puddle and drips out of you, falling onto the black pavement whipping past at a moment’s notice. School is a bitch already, much less an American college education. Grades and tests and professors and GPA’s and all that.

You swear Logan Lerman’s character knew what he was talking about when he said “we were infinite” in The Perks of Being A Wallflower. That’s what this feels like: infinity. Going 70 in a car driven by your hunk of a boyfriend, feeling the wind in your hair and the taste of midnight in between your teeth.

The inside of the car feels sweet when you duck your head back in, smile wide and hair crazy and a content look in your eyes. Sapnap gives you a glance before looking back at the road nonchalantly and lifting to curl and twitch two fingers at you. You instinctively move forward, eyebrows drawn together in curiosity. Three fingers grip your jaw tight, and then his mouth is on yours as the chorus of The King swells through the speakers. You only get two seconds to hum in happiness and slide a hand up his chest before he’s pulling away and has those beautiful eyes back on the road.

“You’re mean to me,” you sigh, and settle back into your seat with a ‘hmph’. He just looks smug. Bastard.

The nights Sapnap plays video games with his friends are—hm. Definitely something. You like to let him have those nights with no distractions most of the time; and you’re categorized as a distraction by the amount of times he “lags” when giving you a kiss or getting you on his lap.

Tonight, he got off work early and on the drive home called and asked if you’d come over and sit with him while he Robloxes with his friends. (“It’s like you can’t go one day without your hands on me,” you’d teased, but he couldn’t say a thing in response. You were right, needless to say.) “You can bring your paints!” he’d even added, knowing you like to watercolor as a hobby. You weren’t necessarily Etsy-worthy but it was fun and a stress-reliever.

And so here you were. Legs crossed, sketch pad in your lap, watching your adult boyfriend yell so loud that his voice cracks and breaks with every change of tone. You really had to remember to apologize to his neighbors…

“Baby—,” Sapnap starts, swinging around in his chair to hit you with a look so pouty his lip was in danger of falling off. “My dear girlfriend. My lovely woman.” His question doesn’t even need to be asked— he wants you to go get him a drink.

“You’re a misogynist. I’m calling NOW on you.” But you’re already heaving yourself off of his mattress and heading into the hallway, faux-annoyed look on your face. It melts into a smile upon seeing that little canvas mounted on the wall next to the door to his bathroom. It was a haphazard portrait of his parent’s dog Bowser that you’d drawn the few days his step-mom forced him to bring you home over spring break.

When you return to his room a few minutes later with a Bang and a couple of snacks for yourself, Sapnap has his headphones off and is swinging his feet in his chair like a child waiting for their parents to pick them up from school. You approach him, apprehensive smile on your face, and hand his drink over.

“Thank you,” he drawls, mid-yawn, and sets it down on the desk. Snaking an arm around your waist, he drags you between his legs and stuffs his face into your shirt. He inhales deeply but pulls away after a pause, hands tight on your abdomen. You press a thumb into his cheek and rub fondly at his facial hair, watching the way his eyes close calmly and relax.

“You’re so cute it causes me physical pain,” is all you get out before leaning and pressing a kiss square on his pink lips. They move against yours like they were meant to, one hand sliding up the material of your shirt and onto your warm skin.

“You smell like Subway,” he murmurs, and then the moment’s over.

Typical.

-

A/N: ask or send me some stuff!! requests, rants, anything. :D let me know what you think in the comments!

[sickness-and-stealth]

i would like to hear about technoblade

hehehe well since you asked so nicelyyyy :]

keep in mind that some of this could be taken as quackity and tommy critical, but it's not supposed to be. to be safe though, if u still wanna read but dont wanna risk, the tommy critical would be under the "willing to put aside differences for a common cause (mostly)." section, and the q critical stuff would be under "movin on, he's got strong morals and i like that a lot." both are bolded, italicized, and end at the next point. it is undeniably lmanburg critical, so i tagged it as such, but if you still want to read, skip past "nother side tangent".

also!! this is not me sayin that c! techno can do no wrong, just stuff i really like abt him!!

without further ado, here's my super duper long post about both character and content creator technoblade, and why i think he's so darn cool!!

i'm not really sure how to format this so it'll probably be like half list and half paragraphs? i dunno but i really like technoblade and i think he's super neat!! he's a great storyteller, actor, content creator and friend, if what his friends have said is anything to go by. he cares deeply for a lot of things, from minecraft to his dog (that he'd planned on being indifferent about when they first got him) to his content and anything in between. he likes people to feel included and safe on his channel, i remember seeing a screenshot of a comment from 2016 where he was callin someone out in his comment section who said a slur i think. replied somethin along the lines of "you can be edgy all you want, i can't stop you, but i don't tolerate homophobia on my channel" and hes talked about how cool he thinks lesbians are but people still call him homophobic :[ makes me sad but that's not today's point

mm i think i'll go onto stuff i like about character! techno and then come back to cc

-all his pets. the big mean bad guy of the server keeps a whole buncha dogs, a horse, two polar bears, a fox and a few other things safe in his home because he cares about them... he was willin to get executed for his horse... big ol softie he loves animals

-his unwavering love for phil. techno loves phil so much, they're best friends in the entire world and would do absolutely anythin for each other and it makes me so happy!!!! techno's been betrayed a million times but he still trusts his best friend and companion with everything he has. also the fact that he let ranboo come live with them, mostly because phil said so even though he was super wary? makes me cry. also also, the fact that phil said that if redza wanted to kill techno, he would just let it happen and not fight back? (can't find the clip rn but i'll look) breaks my heart into a million pieces and makes me cry, but just shows how much techno would do for him :(

-willing to put aside differences for a common cause (mostly). the red banquet? him takin in tommy even after he'd been betrayed? thats a compromise baby. and yes i know he did destroy lmanburg after tommy decided to stay with tubbo, but he was goin to do that anyway, the only thing he did to spite tommy was team with dream imo

>little side tangent about that, i'm pretty sure techno has said MULTIPLE TIMES that he is not friends with dream, that he only worked with him on doomsday because they had a common goal and that he doesnt even really like the guy, but the last time i checked, the wiki said they were in good standin. i do not believe that, i think techno sees his entire relationship with dream as closer to neutral/negative, because the only thing that's keepin them related at all right now is the fact that techno still owes dream a favor. they have that to take care of and then techno goes back to not carin about dream.

-movin on, he's got strong morals and i like that a lot. he knows what he wants and he'll stand up for it!! if he feels someone betrayed his trust, he'll deal out whatever punishments he deems necessary. now this is not to say he should get to play judge, jury and executioner, but it is to say that i think him killing quackity was justified because even though techno didnt technically lose a life, he was very close to doing so. if he hadn't had the totem, he would have. he got all of the pain of losing a life, of getting crushed to death by an anvil, so i personally think that quackity had what was comin to him for orchestratin the whole thing. and while i dont think that him blowin up lmanburg was the best option, it was the only one that would drive his point home and make them understand what he'd been tellin them since he joined pogtopia. and it seems they mostly listened, so it worked

>nother side tangent, yes he blew up lmanburg but people act like it was the worst thing in the entire world. they're like "but it was terrorism!" yes but also this is on a server where it's standard to just shoot, blow up, burn, destroy or kill anythin that gets in your way, or really anythin you want to. this isnt real life, its a video game and irl stuff like that doesnt really apply because the rules are different in this universe (in my opinion). also, lmanburg was people's homes, yes, but he gave them time to move stuff outta their houses, gave them warning (even though they did start early, which was a bit dickish). and lmanburg was just land, really, he didn't take anyone's lives during it so personally i dont think people should hold it against him as much as they do

-lastly, he's just a cool guy and i like him a lot :] he added in his chat as canon characters/beings in the plot so that was really cool!! and he's got a lotta lore and stuff and he's a cool character to play around with and i want him to interact with more characters positively because he deserves it and yeah :]

onto cc! technoblade!!!! mr. cool guy himself!!

-he's so nice... he tries to hide it but so many people have said he's just a big sweetheart!! like niki (i hate the name of that vid) said that whenever they talk he makes sure she has time to say what she wants to and he invites her to stuff when she's feelin bad and she really appreciates it, and bbh (starts around 4:25) recently said that he's only spoken to techno personally like five or six times but he's had fun every time and thinks hes super sweet and funny and i just :'] his friends care about him so much and they know cares about them

-hes so funny and for what. comedy master, so funny, ive never watched a video of his where i haven't laughed, every time he's on someone's stream hes fuckin hilarious and i just think hes so funny. the "donde esta la biblioteca" bit?? so fuckin funny, he just rushes tommy while screamin about the library, kills him and then says "he was no match for my two years of spanish in middle school" LITERALLY UNMATCHED i adore him. and even on accident, the one time he streamed and forgot to unmute for like 30 seconds?? that was hilarious and he didnt even do it in purpose

-how much he loves floof. i just... he loves that dog so much.... he wasn't expecting to like him, he said his family had always had cats and they'd always been cat people and then floof just destroyed that idea... he loves that dog so much, he puts him in videos, talks about him on streams, there videos online about him fallin in love with the dog i just,,, he loves floof so much and it makes me really happy

-this ones smaller but that one video with his lil sister from like six years ago makes me cry they're so similar and she's so excited and he's so happy to just have her playin minecraft for his channel i weep every time i watch that video thanks

-the consistent inside jokes and things within his communities. like just,, so many jokes in vids and streams have been around for so long and idk why that makes me really happy. it makes for a really nice community and its easy for new fans to get into it, which is really nice :]

-the fact that we've seen his face multiple times but still have no fuckin clue what he looks like... like rn i cannot recall his face right now but if you showed me a picture of him i'd be like "yeah that's technoblade" and then you'd take the picture away and i'd forget immediately

-he's just genuinely cracked at the game. he's so good at minecraft. he crazy good, and when hes determined to get somethin done, it'll happen. his 1000 game winstreak in skywars? antarctic empire? the potato war? the dozens of wither skulls he grinded for? the gear he got for pogtopia and junk? insane literally insane hes so talented and cool

-his little traits that i recognize as adhd stuff make me rlly happy too :] its really nice to see someone i look up to who has it as well and it's not like the main point of his personality ig? idk how to say it but its really cool to see that he has it and talks about it sometimes and exhibits traits of it that i also have and hes super cool and successful and has a good time because that was somethin that seemed completely unattainable to me a few years back honestly, and the only sources about adhd came from accounts that focus solely on talkin about adhd and nothin else (which is still really great). its just really nice to be able to watch someone who just. is a minecraft youtuber and has adhd, and not someone who has adhd and is also this and that. its nice to see it not be the center of attention and it's just a thing, a fact of life (here's just some sources where says (around 4:20) he has/mentions his adhd)

-he's just overall a good guy, i think he's neat!! he posts videos when he can, streams when he can, interacts with his audience, cares about his friends, loves his dog and is just a cool dude and i think hes epic :]

there's probably more but i cant remember rn, thank u for readin this far if u have and super sorry for such a long post lmao :] lmk if i got anythin wrong :[ have a good day y'all, lmk what u think abt any of my takes in the replies or just come yell at me in my ask box or dms if u wanna hehehe

[ninjakasuga]

Sonally Celebration Week, Year 3, Day 2: Mystery

Day two has come for the celebration of one of the best furry OTP’s ever~. @gojira007 ‘s celebration blog @boundforfreedomsonsal of Sonic and Sally continues and here’s my second entry. Enjoy all~

Sonsally Week, Year Three!!

Day 02: Mystery

Foreword: This episode is still set in the Archie-Verse depicted in my fics of last year and day one’s story. This one is set some years after the fall of Eggman, when peaceful times finally settled on Mobius for the first time in ages. Of course, peace doesn’t always equate to ‘easy’, especially when babysitting two spirited scamps.

“Sonia, Manic- WHERE THE FREAKING BLEEP ARE YOU?!!” Shouted an irate, and clearly frustrated blue hedgehog as his right eye twitched something horribly. Standing in the town-square of the rebuilt Knothole Village, his gaze shifting back and forth from the trees, and the various huts of the quiet village. While mostly destroyed during one of Dr. Eggman’s devastating attacks; the entire village was rebuilt as it was during the war era of fighting the original Robotnik. With a few Eggman era buildings kept, and one or two new additions. Knothole was mainly a tribute to the village that sheltered the survivors of the fall of the original Mobotropolis, and became home of the resistance that would become the Freedom Fighters. Mostly a standing all-may-come museum to pay homage to the place that started as a Royal Retreat/shelter, but became so much more. A few of the huts were still livable, home away from home for certain members of the Freedom Fighters who occasionally would return to Knothole with their families to celebrate and remember those days.

Today, it was host to a game of hide and seek, giving the two instigators of the game a plethora of hiding places. One that was driving the elder brother of Sonia and Manic Hedgehog, one Sonic the Hedgehog, former hero of Mobius, crazy!

After tapping his foot rapidly for a scant few seconds, Sonic cupped his hands together again and shouted as loudly as he could manage. “MANIC! SONIA! FOR BLEEPING FRACK’S SAKE YOU BETTER GET YOUR BUTTS OUT WHERE I CAN SEE EM’! AIN’T FUNNY NO MORE!” It really wasn’t, Sonic nor his lovely wife, had agreed to hide and seek, but his two younger siblings opted to begin a game without anyone’s consent.

A voice soon called to him, followed by familiar footsteps. “Is there a reason you’re using frack and bleep? Is that a new sibling code of some sort Sonic?”

Speaking of lovely wife’s, there she was. Turning to face his wife, Sonic shrugged with a sheepish expression. “It was censor myself or risk using words I don’t think Mom nor Dad would care for two nine-year-olds to repeat.”

“That is probably for the best.” Agreed Sally, with a tired sigh as a hand went to her rounded stomach. She wasn’t far enough along in her own pregnancy; her movements were not hampered; but the extra weight of the two passengers in her belly was sapping her energy. “Whew, I’ve just been walking but I feel ready to kick back.”

Concerned, Sonic walked over and touched her shoulder. “All the more reason I’m not too happy they started this ‘game’ when I made it clear you can’t be as play-happy as usual because you’re pregnant.”

Shaking her head, Sally reached over to place her hand over his, giving an assuring squeeze as she managed a smile. “They’re just kids, it’s alright Sonic. They probably just want to get some last playtime with us before I’m truly an invalid.”

Sonic had to admit she had a point but his ire was not fully dissolved. “Maybe, but this is still too much. Even Mom n’ Dad told em’ to not get carried away.”

Smirking, Sally lifted an eyebrow as she glanced at her husband. “Sonic, they’re ‘your’ siblings. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. There seems to be an innate sass-o-meter in your family. Pushing buttons seems to be something of a religious doctrine.”

Opening his mouth to counter, Sonic slowly shut it, frowning deeply. “... Fair nuff, but I still say you’ve rubbed off on them if we’re going for sass influence.”

“ME?!” Sputtered Sally, an incredulous frown, forming over her face. Beautiful blue, eyes narrowing almost dangerously. “How pray tell, do I count as a bad influence toward Manic or Sonia?”

Smirking widely as he got her goat, Sonic yanked the chain more, counting off with his fingers. “Well again, you’re the Queen of Sass and not just the Kingdom. When you gotta be right, you will argue til’ the cows come home. Plus you’re good at being playful when you want something, Manny’s baby-of-the-family routine is killer thanks to watching you. N’ Sonia’s all about emulating her Sis-in-law’s fancy mannerisms, and silver tongue. Just the other day she was in trouble and convinced Mom to let her off the hook light with a buncha big words she got from you.”

Almost mirroring Sonic, Sally opened her mouth, then closed it as she thought better of it. “...Touche’, but that doesn’t excuse the bad habits you’ve given them love-of-my-life.”

Laughing, Sonic gave her a big, if careful hug. Letting her have that one as, one it was true, and two, he knew jerking her around too much with hormones a-flame was a bad idea. “Of course, of course, but they also picked up on my coolness factor.”

“Truly…” Replied Sally in a dull, drawl that spoke volumes of how little she believed that. “I just hope our own bundles give us something of a break compared to these two. I can see why your parents are all-too-eager for us to babysit when we can.”

“Knowing us, they’ll drive us insane cuz they’ll be just like us in ways, but we’ll love em’ anyway.” Sonic mused, placing a hand to her belly and leaning in to kiss her gently. Sighing in a content manner, Sally melted into the kiss and hug, feeling a bit of the weight of impending motherhood ease off her shoulders to a degree.

Almost as if on cue, a duo of childish voices are heard uttering, “Eeeew gross!”

Instantly, both Sally and Sonic broke the kiss, angled their heads upward, and pointed as they both cried out in triumphant unison. “AH-HA! THERE YOU TWO SCAMPS ARE!”

“Aw crude!” Muttered Manic, as he and his sister clung to one of the large tree branches, quite a ways up that was connected to one of the tree house type huts.

“Well we gave them the ghost for a good twenty-minutes I’d say we won.” Stated Sonia in a rather faux-haughty manner. The more purple-blue of the two, whipped back her-pink hair? Wait, Sonia was blonde! Plus some of her fur looked more magenta-purple now?

In fact, why was Manic’s fur and quills more of a green-ish tinge than the light-blue they should be? Not to mention that punk-esque quill style... Eyes narrowing, Sonic let go of Sally, zipped into the hollowed out large tree with a hut built around the base. With the same speed, he charged up the ladder within the hollowed out tree, allowing him to come out at the point where the tree-house hut was, and lean out where the landing gave way to a natural, thick tree branch. 

“Oh no, you two did not!”

Putting on the best coy, innocent face he could, Manic twiddled his fingers together in a playful manner. “What’re you talking about Big-Bro?”

“Seriously Sonic, you need to use clear, concise words.” Snickered Sonia.

“You both dyed your hair and fur!” Sonic pointed between each sibling. “Mom’s gonna have kittens!” Growled their elder brother as his mind swam with images of a none-too-pleased Bernadette Hedgehog glaring at her son and daughter-in-law.

Arms crossed, Sally tapped her foot, in a manner not unlike her husband. “You two sneaks lost us to go and do the dye-jobs yourself didn’t you?”

“Maaaaaaaaaaaaaybe.” Both twins chorused.

Sighing Sally frowned more. “Manic, Sonia, you do realize your Mother and Father are going to tan the crap out of your hides. They both told you, neither of you could have such radical dye jobs until you were fifteen, thirteen at the earliest if you both proved responsible enough! Plus, Manic, sweetie, why are you intent on making yourself look like Scourge?!”

“Hey!” Manic cried indignantly, a pout forming on his lips. “I just like the color, it’s not my fault Sonic’s scrub of a doppelganger had the same color-job! It screams ‘me’! Plus I don’t have sharp teeth or those evil eyes like he does, plus my quills are cooler lookin!”

“I’ll give you that li’ bro, on the being cooler looking thing, but dam-er dang it!” Sonic grabbed his own head-quills, mussing them up some in frustration. “Urgh Mom n’ Dad ain’t gonna let us watch you two ever again if you pull crap like this again!”

“He’s right.” Sighed Sally, rather dramatically. “We’ll be seen as so irresponsible they will forbid us from ever seeing you again!” She put a hand to her heart, and the other against her head. Truly, piling on the dramatic flair. “They may even question if we’re fit to be parents ourselves and have our babies taken from us.”

While Sonia rolled her eyes, Manic’s went wide as panic took over his earlier nonchalant attitude. “R-really?! We don’t want that!”

“Manny, bro she’s trying to guilt us!”

“Well it’s working! I didn’t wanna get them in that deep of trouble!”

“Manic she’s the QUEEN!! Mom and Dad can’t do jack to her!” His (slighty) older twin argued, seeing her partner-in-crime was about to fold.

“Wanna bet?” Sonic crossed his arms, smirking fully as he saw the sliver of doubt in the two’s eyes. “Mom can be scary when she wants and Dad, Dad is aaaaaaaaaall about the ‘subtle, quiet big stick’ kind of approach.”

Now even Sonia was doubting if they’d gone too far, especially as it pertained to how much trouble this might land her and Manic. Maybe she underestimated her ability to talk her way out of trouble. “M-Maaaybe we got a little carried away?”

“You sure did you two scamps, now if you come with me down the tree, we might ‘might’ convince Mom and Dad to let you both stay the night, and we can wash out the dyes and treat your fur so they never notice.”

Nodding as they both climbed fast, but still safely across the branch to Sonic. The two younger hedgehogs cling onto his legs. “We give, we give!!”

“Smart choice!” Laughed Sally from the ground, smiling at the won tag-team victory of talking the kids into doing their bidding. “If you two behave onward, there might be my special ice cream sundaes after supper.”

“Really?!”

Maybe handling kids wouldn’t be so hard after all? Sally thought before speaking aloud to them. “Cross my heart!”

“N’ you know Sal’s promises are good as gold.” Quipped Sonic as he guided the two once they stood up towards the ladder down to ground level. “Also, expect to help do some chores as further punishment for this stunt.”

“What?! Oh come on big brother-!”

“Nope, nada, don’t even try to talk me down Sonia!” Sonic cut her off as he coaxed first Manic, then Sonia to climb down the ladder. “Sal’s gotta take it easy and I need help doing this and that.”

“But you guys got a staff at the castle to do stuff!” Pipped Manic, his voice echoing through the hollow tree.

“It keeps us honest to do our own chores.” Quipped Sonic, watching them both get halfway before he started down the ladder himself. “Plus if you want us to keep quiet about the dye-thing-.”

“Oh fine!” Both younger hedgehogs huffed, giving up arguing.

“Being a big brother has its perks.” Chuckled Sonic to himself as he made his way down. Maybe in a few years, Sally and he could return the favor and foist their own kids on Manic and Sonia to babysit. Oh the payback will be sweet!

[barry-j-blupjeans]

@taznovembercelebration - Day 21 - College/school

BUT ALSO this is the first chapter of that blupjeans college fic i mentioned yesterday. i’ll probably post it to ao3 or something later, but yea :O!

Being in college and opening a bakery at the same time was not the smartest choice, but Lup couldn’t really stop doing one or the other. There was no way in hell she was going to waste the scholarship she had been given, but the idea of leaving her brother to open and manage a bakery by himself was ridiculous in its own rights. Still, they were only three weeks into the semester and Lup’s schedule was overbooked and crumbling apart.

And now, on top of it all, her math professor had told her to go to tutoring to make sure she was able to do the work. If he listened to one goddamn thing she said, then he’d know that she could do math perfectly fine, she just needed a little extra time to fit it in with the rest of her schedule.

Also who the fuck needed to do college-level math while getting a goddamn music degree?

Lup made her way into the campus library, already ten minutes late. She spotted a library volunteer and made her way over, putting on her best smile to hide how frazzled she was.

“Hey,” Lup said and they looked up at her. “Do you know where the uh, student-led intro to algebra study group is? We were supposed to be meeting here at three.”

“Should be in the corner over there,” the person said kindly, sitting up a little to point towards the back of the library. “Behind the whole non-fiction section.”

“Thank you so much,” Lup said, adjusting her bag and turning away. Just as the volunteer said, the study group collected back there, spread out over two tables. It only had about six people, two of whom were obviously in charge. Lup dropped herself into a chair and put her stuff down. One of the tutors looked up. Lup couldn’t help but notice how obnoxiously thick his glasses were.

“You here for the study group?” he asked and Lup nodded.

“I don’t need help,” she said before he could get another word in. “I just haven’t had time to do my assignments and my professor told me to come. I can do it by myself, thanks.”

“Oh,” the man said. “I- alright. Well, I’m here if you need anything, okay? My name’s Barry.”

“Charmed,” Lup said, not feeling charmed at all as she pulled her book out of her bag. She didn’t tell him her name. He didn’t need to know it. There was always the chance that if she did tell him her name, word would get out that she needed to come here for help. Lup knew it wasn’t high school anymore. She knew gossip didn’t travel like that and that probably no one would care if she came here, but she couldn’t shake the habit quite yet.

She tried to ignore the group as they talked. The other tutor was named Lucas and he had a nasally voice and bandaids on all his fingers. Lucas wasn’t particularly trying to hide the fact that he thought he was better than everyone here. Maybe because of that, the other students flocked towards Barry. From what Lup could tell, though, Barry wasn’t the greatest either. Don’t get her wrong, he seemed like a decent guy, tutor, whatever. But he kept asking her if she needed help. She’d always say no. Then she’d go back to work and ten minutes later, he’d be asking again.

“Hey so-” Barry started, but Lup cut in again.

“I don’t need help,” Lup said, looking up at him. That’s when she realized there was no one else besides them here. The chairs were all empty. Barry was cleaning up the table.

“I… wasn’t gonna ask,” Barry said uncomfortably. Okay, Lup felt kind of bad for that. “Everyone else went home. I was gonna go home. Just wanted to make sure you, uh, you realized.”

“Oh,” Lup said blankly. And then, “Yeah, okay. I’ll pack up, too, I guess.”

“Alright,” Barry said. The silence was terribly awkward as they both gathered their things. Even more awkward when Lup remembered that the library only had one exit and they both were heading that way. She sped up and got ahead of him, reaching the door before he said anything else.

“Uh, hey!” Barry called out and Lup cringed, pausing at the doorway. “You coming Thursday?”

“Maybe,” Lup said, which meant yes because her professor wanted her to go to at least three groups. “I’ll check my schedule and see.”

“Cool,” Barry said. “Um, see you then. Maybe, I guess.”

“Yeah,” Lup said offhandedly. “See ya, Bluejeans.”

“I- what?”

“Blue jeans,” Lup said, waving a hand at his pants. “You wear ‘em. Like… the mom-type too. Don’t expect me not to say anything about it.”

She walked away. Calling him Bluejeans was better than calling him Thick Glasses, so she didn’t feel to bad about his flustered look.

The bus ride home was okay. Well, not okay because it was a bus ride, but, still, she was used to it. Plus side was that there were fewer people than usual. She got off at the stop closest to her apartment and climbed up the stairs until reaching her door. There was a slight moment of panic where Lup couldn’t find her keys, but it was fine because they had just fallen off her keychain and into her bag.

The apartment was… still a mess. Not that she expected any different. She flicked on the lights and set her bag down near the door. She heard movement and talking from the kitchen and went to check it out.

Taako was there, hunched over some papers, talking to someone on speakerphone. His hair was a mess and he was still in pajamas, which probably meant he hadn’t left the apartment all day. There was a bowl of baby carrots near him, a half-eaten one sitting next to his papers.

“...just got home, so I gotta go,” Taako said saying. “I’ll call soon, yeah? You’re a fuckin’ miracle worker, Steven.”

“Eh, it’s all in a day’s work,” Steven’s voice said from the phone. “We’re on your side here, kiddo.”

“Not a kiddo,” Taako said, like he always did.

��Uh-huh,” Steven said, in his the same doubtful tone he always replied in. “Talk to ya soon. And get some rest, huh? Bye.”

“Bye,” Taako said, hanging up. He turned to face Lup, looking tired but happy. “How’d your study sesh go?”

“Fine, I guess,” Lup said, sitting next to him. She grabbed a few of the baby carrots from the bowl and he scowled at her. She grinned. “It was just a buncha nerds doing nerd things.”

“Bet Luce would love it,” Taako said and Lup shook her head.

“Nah, Luce is better than these nerds. Get this- one of the tutors claims that his grandfather made millions off inventing stuff. And he’s just bragging about it. He’s a fuckin’ prick, Koko.”

“Ouch,” Taako said.

“Yeah,” Lup said. “And the other dude kept asking me if I needed help every three seconds and I was like, pssh do I look like I need help? I’m only here because my professor fuckin’ made me come. Lemme work in peace.”

“Double ouch,” Taako said. “I’m sorry, Lu. I can help you if you want. Or maybe we can call up Dav and he can-”

“No,” Lup said. “I- no. You’ve got the bakery to work on, right? We need to get that set up. And Dav is probably on a business trip, who knows.”

“He’s not, actually,” Taako said, which surprised Lup. “Luce texted me earlier to tell me he came back early. There was a situation.”

“A bad situation?” Lup asked.

“Maybe,” Taako shrugged. “Luce said he hasn’t talked since he got back so I’m guessing something happened and he’s gone non-verbal for a while again.”

“Damn,” Lup said, leaning back in her chair. She took a bite of one of the baby carrots. “That sucks.”

“Yeah,” Taako said. “Brighter news, though? Steven’s helpin’ me with the business shit now.”

“For what price?” Lup asked.

“We gotta let Julia work there,” Taako said. “For experience, you know? But Maggie’s already wormed his way into our staff, so no doubt Julia was gonna end up with us anyway.”

“That’s true,” Lup said. “But hey, more hands can’t be bad, right?”

“Right,” Taako said. He shuffled through a few papers. “We’re still going with ‘For Goodness Bakes” for the name, right?”

“As long as ‘let’s bake the world a better place’ is still our tagline, for sure,” Lup said, snorting. They had come up with the name on the fly, after a night of no sleep and then never fulfilled their promise to choose something better. She shoved another baby carrot in her mouth. “What are we doing for dinner? Have you even eaten today? Besides baby carrots.”

“Baby carrots are food, Lup,” Taako said, snatching the bowl away from her. “And I have work to do.”

“Let’s get some takeout or something, then,” Lup said. “Put on a movie.”

“Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2,” Taako said. “And maybe some good takeout rather than the shitty burger place down the street. We’ve fuckin’ earned it, Lulu.”

She stole the carrots back with a scowl.

[thatwriterkei]

omg since i’ve been obsessed with animal crossing rating the characters with richie 🥺👉👈 i feel like u would write it better

She's a Bitch

Summary: With Y/N's YouTube channel kicking off, she makes a video with her boyfriend rating popular animal crossing villagers.

Warnings: just a buncha cursing and suggestive themes ;P

A/N: Aww, okay okay hopefully I'll be able to do this. Problem is, I'm not sure if this should be a headcanon or a blurb..I'll do a blurb!! Also, this is obviously going to be a modern au!

*MASTERLIST*

click here to be part of my taglist

________________

"Hey, guys! Welcome back to my channel, today I got my one and only boyfriend here!"

Richie's lips curved into a grin. "Well, I'd hope so, toots. Wanna be the only one kissing your soft lips. And I'm not talking about the ones under your cupids bow-"

"Okay, we get it, Rich." You cut him off, your cheeks a slight red.

You cleared your throat awkwardly and returned your attention to the camera that was being held up high enough to bring both of you into frame.

Behind your figures showed off your well made bed and stuffed animals you still kept around for nostalgic memory. You didn't care about what the internet saw or said about said stuffed animals, as long as it was respectable and clean to your liking.

"So, if you couldn't tell by the title of the video, we'll be rating popular animal crossing villagers from the new one that came out...I think, New Horizons, it's called?"

"I only agreed to record this video with you so we could talk about that one hot fox chick with the sunglasses and flower dress.." He wiggled his eyebrows.

With a deadpanned expression, you glanced over at him. "You know she's supposedly based off of a creator's grandmother, right?"

"I....She's really hot though.." He replied with a slight chuckle. The realization brought some color to his face.

You quirked an eyebrow at him, nodding a little though in agreement. He wasn't entirely wrong.

"Well, anyway, I'll pop up some pictures to show you guys when each character comes up..I think the list I found has 10 villagers.."

You clicked the tab on your computer and quickly counted the number of villagers on the list while Richie made goofy faces to the camera, unbeknownst to you until you had to edit the video tomorrow night.

"Okay, there are actually 18 on this list..We'll do only ten because..Because I said so, and we have a movie to get to after this so..Yeah, deal with it."

Richie snickered. "Way to stand your ground, doll." He commented and wrapped an arm to drape across your shoulders.

“Yeah, yeah. Okay, first character, Raymond! Thoughts, Rich?”

Richie’s eyebrows knitted together, eyes focused on your computer screen. “I don’t like him. He’s too much of a flirt. You better not have him on your island.”

You rolled your eyes at him, stifling a laugh. “No, I don’t have him on my island yet, but I heard from Bev that he’s very flirtatious. He kinda reminds me of someone, don’t you agree?” You hummed, looking up at the camera and silently pointing towards him.

He shook his head, “Not really..Unless..Actually, he kinda looks like our math teacher!”

You facepalmed in response to your oblivious boyfriend, waving your hand at him. “Moving on..Next up is Marina!”

“Personally, I despise Marina..She reminds me of a hairdryer and she’s very..Unique. In a good way, yes, but I just prefer her to never live on my island ever.”

Richie chuckled at your immediate distaste for the character, shrugging a little. “I could care less to be honest. I’ve never even seen or heard of her until now.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t make a joke about her mouth, hun.” You added then quickly progressed to the next few villagers.

Throughout the video, the two of you continued to make jokes and snide remarks about each character; whether it was referring to their appearance or personality. Both of you spoke for so long, getting lost in each other’s voices, your footage was nearly close to a half an hour long.

“Oh, shit. Stop talking, Rich. We need to move onto the last villager..Uhh, Audie! Wait, oh no..” You pouted, immediately regretting mentioning her name.

Richie smirked, rubbing his hands on the thighs of his black jeans. “Oh yeah, baby! Here comes the real fun! Let me just say that-”

“Nopenopenope, thanks for tuning in guys! Next video, I promise, it’ll be just me.”

“But-”

“I hope you have a wonderful day or night.”

“She’s hot..”

You whipped your head towards him with a glare, jealousy laced in the tone of your voice. “She’s a bitch.”

“Oh, save that glare for later, toots, and you can show me how you really feel back at my place.” He winked and leaned in to peck a kiss onto your cheek.

With your cheeks slightly flared up, you let out a huff and crossed your arms. You sulked back in your chair and kept your eyes on the floor near your feet.

“I know you can’t be mad at me, doll..”

________________

Richie Tozier tags: @god-knows-what-am-i-doing @soft-petey @parkershoodie @musicalkeys-blog @theamazingtomholland @that-one-eggo-child @murdermornings @fucking-greywater @peachy-wolfhard @soulwillower @just-jordie-things @just-alysssa @seamlessly-dreaming @billdendamnbro @beauregard-s

[kiapet2]

Aperture Sides Facility, Chapter 13: A Minor Case of Major Brain Damage

Masterpost

Chapter Summary: In which Thomas takes a trip through the past.

Chapter Warnings: Unethical Experimentation, Non-Consenting Test Subjects, Semi-Suicidal Ideation

Falling.

You don’t know for how long you’ve been falling, but it feels like far longer than a person should be able to fall, and when you look down you still can’t see the bottom. The elevator shaft is just small enough that you could probably brush your fingers on either side if you stretched your arms out, but unlike last time no plastic tubing appears to whisk you off to somewhere else Occasionally you pass an open floor, but they whizz by too quickly for you to see much of anything.

Just like your previous fall down this shaft, below you is obscured in darkness, the true depth of the shaft a mystery. You guess you’ll finally get to see what’s at the bottom, one way or another.

You close your eyes and steady your breathing for what could be seconds or minutes, trying not to think about what’s coming. Then there’s a jolt accompanied by a massive crash, and your world tilts and goes black.

Groaning, you blink your eyes open as the world gradually fades into focus. Above you, a vertical tunnel stretches into infinity, broken boards hanging off the edges from where you apparently broke through. The metal elevator shaft is not embedded in a wall or ceiling as you would expect but rather hanging down into open air; the actual ceiling of this room is so far above you, you can’t even see it. Instead, the distance above you looks hazy, almost like you’re outside on a cloudy day.

You sit up, checking yourself over and finding no visible wounds, though your body feels like one massive bruise. The Portal Gun is lying next to you and you pick it up, turning it over in your hands and finding no indication that it’s broken.

So, the good news is you’ve officially survived the fall intact. The bad news is, you’re trapped in the bowels of a facility that’s about to self-destruct, and by the look of this elevator shaft you’re not likely to find transportation back up.

The area surrounding you couldn’t be more different from the rest of the Aperture Science facility if it tried. Where the test chambers were sleek and sophisticated, this looks almost like a junkyard, all twisted metal and crumbled stone. If this place is even part of the actual facility, it hasn’t been used for a long time.

You couldn’t have picked a better place to really make you realize how truly alone you now are.

You’ve felt alone before. It can be hard to remember, now that you’ve become used to one of not many friends peering over your shoulder, giving advice and making jokes at your- or each others’- expense, but when you first woke up here it was to large, empty chambers with no company other than a distant Voice. You remember how relieved you were when you first met Logan, how worried you were every time he or the others left, terrified that this time they wouldn’t come back.

And yet, during all that time you never were as alone as you thought you were. Janus was watching you the whole time, giving his sarcastic two cents even as he tried to pretend to be distant and robotic, and the others never even considered abandoning you like you feared.

Now, you’re much too far away for Janus to see you, even if he was still in a position to be able to do so. Not that he would want anything more to do with you anyways, not after you betrayed the trust he so rarely gives in the first place. And as for the others, well. They were always going to side with Patton over you, weren’t they?

God, Patton. It’s hard to believe your optimistic, friendly companion could have become the nightmarish entity that just tried to take your freedom once again. You should have had him taken out of there at the first sign of trouble, should have done something to help him instead of just watching as your friend was subsumed by whatever malignant consciousness exists in this place. But you didn’t do anything when he needed you most, and now it’s too late. Too late for him, and too late for you.

For a moment, you’re tempted to lie back down, try to sleep and forget until the facility blows up and comes crashing down on top of you. Or, failing that, until you die of hypothermia or thirst. Why bother trying to find your way out of here, when all your previous attempts only hastened your inevitable demise? Can’t you just rest, for once in your short post-cryosleep life?

But even as you consider the thought, something in you rejects it, some deep survival instinct that refuses to let you just lay down and die. You owe it to the others, owe it to Patton, to see this through, even if the inevitable end is your death.

Sighing, you tentatively push yourself to your feet as your legs groan in protest and, not sure what else to do, begin picking your way through it, looking for a way out, or at least forward.

You make your way through the rubble, navigating your way around walls, fences and pits using carefully placed portals. The ground slopes gradually down, going deeper and deeper into the bowels of the facility, and as you continue to descend you start to pass signs, saying ominous things like Keep Out and Do Not Enter.

You probably should be at least a little concerned about that, but you can’t muster up the energy to really care. Your feet stamp out a regular rhythm on the ground, right-left-right-left, and you lose yourself in the monotony of walking as you move further downward. Eventually, you come to a metal door, similarly marked with warning stickers, and with some carefully placed portals through broken windows are able to move past it, into what's hidden behind.

Walking through the final door, you find yourself entering what appears to be some kind of waiting room, faded and decayed with age. As you watch, a large metal piece falls off a large iron sign hanging above the room, a piece you belatedly realize is the shape of the Aperture Science logo.

A voice suddenly sounds from the speakers, making you jump.

Welcome, gentlemen, to Aperture Science. Astronauts, war heroes, Olympians- you’re here because we want the best, and you are it. So: Who is ready to make some science?

The voice chuckles, and you glance around yourself, confused. It doesn’t sound like anyone you've spoken with during the time you've been awake, and has a different quality to it than the announcements you’re used to hearing- tinny and faded, like an old-timey radio announcer, but despite all that it still twinges a recognition deep within you, like this is someone you used to know.

Now, you already met one another on the limo ride over, so let me introduce myself. I’m Cave Johnson. I own the place.

There’s a thousand tests performed every day here in our enrichment spheres. I can’t personally oversee every one of them, so these pre-recorded messages’ll cover any questions you might have, and respond to any incidents that may occur in the course of your science adventure. Those of you helping us test the repulsion gel today, just follow the blue line on the floor. Those of you who brought in your pets for behavior therapy, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that they definitely won’t be chewing your shoes anymore. The bad news is it’s because they don’t really have teeth. Or mouths. Or head. Very well behaved, though! Anyways, so long for now, and happy testing!

You wait for a few more moments, but the recording- if it is actually that, and not another AI trying to trick you- seems to have stopped.

You look around again at the old waiting room surrounding you- a piece of history, Aperture Science when it was run by humans and their recorded announcements rather than the AIs who populate otherwise abandoned test chambers. You guess it makes sense that there must have been humans in this place once- the abandoned offices are proof enough of that, and Logan mentioned that he and the others were made by and from humans.

Your heart twinges, and you shove down thoughts of the others. You're on your own now, might as well make the best of it and push forwards.

The doors leading forward are high in the walls and the catwalks used to reach them have fallen away with age, but you’re able to finagle your way to them anyways by riding an elevator in the center of the room upwards and then using the momentum from jumping down the shaft to fling yourself over. It’s so weird to think that you used to be afraid of a simple one-story fall.

The old recording whirrs back to life as you enter the next chamber. Welcome to our next test on the Repulsion Gel, Cave Johnson’s voice says. Now, the boys over at Medical told me we should be giving testers regular drink breaks and not carrying out testing for more than four hours at a time. Well I think I speak for all you fine fellas when I say we’re not going to let a buncha namby-pamby whitecoat bigwigs get in the way of our science! If you pass out, we’ll send a retrieval bot to pick you up and carry you off to the nursery with the other babies. Now let’s get going!

In front of you is a test chamber. It’s older, with walls made out of metal and concrete rather than the sleek, moveable tiles that made the test chambers you’re familiar with, but still recognizable.

You start laughing, hard enough that you need to sit down. Even down here, even with no one else around, you’re still testing. Playing the good little lab rat, solving puzzles while you wait for the scientist to pull the plug. That’s all you’ve ever done here, isn’t it?

You take some big, whooping breaths, trying to calm yourself. You’re not sure how you know to do it, but you start counting breaths: in for four counts, hold for seven, out for eight. It takes a bit of time, but eventually you are able to get yourself to calm down, your aching abdomen the only sign that you lost control of your emotions.

Looking at the test chamber in front of you again, you notice that it’s astonishingly easy- jumping and then bouncing off the blue gel to get to the other side of a gap. You breathe deep again, closing your eyes and steeling yourself. You’ve done test chambers where you flung yourself across giant rooms filled with toxic sludge while turrets shot at you in the air; you can handle a few antique ones down here. Then you open your eyes and take a running jump.

Welcome to the Enrichment Center, Cave Johnson’s tired voice says. As you’ve made your way through the abandoned offices and test chambers that make up this old place, you’ve listened to his recordings become less enthusiastic, more run down, listened to him start talking about things like stolen inventions and bankruptcy and being forced to recruit new testers from the streets for practical pocket change. But you’ve never heard him sound quite like this- so raspy and worn he almost seems half-dead.

Since making test participation mandatory for all employees, the quality of our test subjects has risen dramatically. Employee retention, however, has not. He coughs, a harsh, rattling sound that sounds like it must tear at his throat. As a result, you may have heard we're gonna phase out human testing. There's still a few things left to wrap up, though. First up, conversion gel.

The bean counters told me we literally could not afford to buy seven dollars worth of moon rocks, much less seventy million. Bought 'em anyway. Ground 'em up, mixed ‘em into a gel. And guess what? Ground up moon rocks are pure poison- I am deathly ill. Great portal conductors, though. So now we're gonna see if jumping in and out of these new portals can somehow leech the lunar poison out of a man's bloodstream. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. He coughs again, harder. Let's all stay positive and do some science.

The recording clicks off, and you wince. You don’t really like Cave Johnson- he sounds like a bit of a jerk, honestly, and you can’t help but feel he’s at least indirectly responsible for the situation you’re in now- but hearing him like that, sad, hopeless, and slowly dying, is just painful. You find yourself wishing he did manage to get better, though you know that he’s likely long dead by now either way.

Focusing again on the task at hand, you make your way through the abandoned office and out a back door, coming out in old maintenance hallways, all smooth concrete walls striped with metal pipes. You come to a large, round vertical shaft, and while the walls themselves won’t hold portals, there’s enough scaffolding and smooth platforms to let you pick your way up with strategically-placed portals and the careful use of flinging.

Cave Johnson’s voice again fills the shaft when you’re about halfway up. He seems to be… ranting about lemons? And lemon-related weapons that burn people’s houses down? It’s kind of hard to follow when you’re so focused on the task at hand, though you almost find yourself wishing Remus was around- you’re pretty sure he’d get a kick out of it. Remus would enjoy a lot of the stuff down here, actually. The thought is slightly horrifying.

Johnson has collected himself by the time you reach the top, and this time you stop to listen.

The point is: If we can store music on a compact disc, why can't we store a man's intelligence and personality on one? So I have the engineers figuring that out now.

Brain Mapping. Artificial Intelligence. We should have been working on it thirty years ago.

The recording ends. You stand there for a bit, feeling like you’ve been hit over the head with a metal pipe. Artificial Intelligence. He’s talking about creating the program that made the others. Talking about using the program to download his own personality into an AI. Logan had mentioned that he and the others were developed from a human man’s personality, but you hadn’t ever stopped to think about what exactly that meant- that they are all aspects of someone who was a living, breathing person. Someone who was the head of this facility, no less.

Could you see the others in him? Remus, definitely, with his love of weird and dangerous science. Roman, maybe, in how dramatic Johnson seemed to have been, and Janus with his disregard for people he saw as beneath his notice. Logan and Patton are harder sells; Cave Johnson didn’t seem all that intelligent- rather anti-intellectual, actually- and he certainly wasn’t empathetic or kind. And he definitely wasn’t careful or restrained, either, so Virgil is right out. Maybe extracting certain parts of his brain exaggerated those aspects of his personality?

But then, if Cave Johnson’s goal was to be immortal, why split his personality into component parts in the first place? Why not just download his personality wholesale? Or did that turn out to be impossible?

By now the mystery has dug its claws into you, and you find yourself itching for more answers, more context on how exactly this came about. It’s a nice distraction, at least, from your imminent demise and the fact that none of the people you’re learning about actually want anything to do with you anymore.

And yeah, not thinking about that right now. You shake your head as if it could dispel the painful thoughts, and keep moving.

This time, when you find another stretch of abandoned offices you don’t immediately head back behind them, but instead move within the halls of the facility, using portals to traverse places that are locked or where the floor has fallen in. You move on instinct, maneuvering these hallways like you’ve done it a thousand times. You don’t consciously choose your destination, but aren’t terribly surprised when your steps take you up to an office door, the words CAVE JOHNSON, CEO engraved on a golden plaque at eye level.

The office is locked, so you smash the small office window, then shoot a portal through it to the opposite wall. The office is large but stripped almost bare, with an old computer desk and several file shelves all that remain. There are rectangles on the walls and floor, places where fancy furniture and paintings presumably used to be, and everything is covered with such a thick layer of dust you’re a little afraid if you disturb anything too much you’ll start coughing and not stop.

You move over to the computer, an old, boxy model, and start it up. Miraculously, it still works, and you’re soon greeted with an old DOS screen, black with white lettering asking you to input commands. You sift through Cave Johnson’s file cabinets, sifting through a pile of floppy disks before pulling one out with a victorious cry.

You slip the disk labeled PRE-RECORDED MESSAGES into the computer, then type in the appropriate command and start going through files.

Not having the time or patience to go through every single audio file, you scroll down to the last one and open it, intending to start from the latest created files and go back. You open it and the sound of an old audio recording once again fills the room.

Hello, sir, you wanted to see me?

Your head shoots up. That voice feels intensely familiar, in a way that tickles the back of your mind, but you can’t quite-

Thomas, my boy!

Your breath catches in your throat.

Come in, come in. Take a seat, make yourself at home. Have some tea, if you want.

No thank you, the second voice- YOUR voice- says, I’m more of a coffee person.

Probably a good idea, the last batch was exposed to radiation from Lab C and well, long story short we’re still not certain if it’ll give you bowel cancer. But enough about the unimportant things! I’ve been looking over your files, and I must say I’m impressed- you seem to be quite the renaissance man! A degree in chemical engineering, a relatively successful career in the theatrical arts, a damn near spotless record in our part-time development team, and it looks like you’ve been making quite a stir in the media department’s new short video program. What was it called, Stem? Ivy? No no, don’t tell me, I’ll get it eventually. I doubt that sort of thing will ever catch on anyways. But the point is it shows initiative, which is something I like to see in my employees!

Thank you, sir?

You are quite welcome, you’ve earned it! Now the folks in our tech department have been telling me they want someone with a well-rounded mind for the initial AI development tests, and I think you fit the bill. And you’re not a vital employee, which is good because we’re still not quite sure what being copied into a computer does to your brain. Best case scenario, you wake up from cryosleep in a few weeks with one heck of a headache, worst case scenario is brain death. But hey, chances are at least part of you will get to be immortal, so I’d say that’s a gamble worth taking!

Whoa whoa whoa, hold up. Cryosleep? Brain death?! I didn’t sign up for anything like that. I’m not even a tester!

Now, now, no one’s ever won at life by playing it safe. The AI initiative is our most high profile development right now, being selected to test it is quite the honor! And testing is mandatory for all staff as of last week, so don’t worry about being in the wrong department.

I- It’s not that I’m not honored or anything. But I really just want to go back to my desk. I’m sure you can find someone else, right? Surely someone is better suited to this than me.

I appreciate your humility, Sport, but I’m afraid it wasn’t a request. You’ll thank us eventually. Assuming that you, you know, wake up. Good luck!

Wait, wait no, let go of me! your voice screams, desperate and terrified. Please, please I don’t want this, I don’t want this, WAIT-

The recording fizzles out mid-scream. After a moment, it whirrs back to life.

Right, so you boys should probably edit some of that out in post, Cave Johnson's tired voice says. Every experiment needs initial trials, right? Like a taste tester, but for your brain. Anyways, you've got your subject, so get to work, alright? We- he breaks off into a coughing fit- we don't have much time left. Let me know when things are ready for me. Until then, this is Cave Johnson, signing out.

There’s a few more seconds of white noise, and then a click as the recording comes to a stop, leaving you in silence once more.

Your legs give out from under you and you sit down, hard. Your mind is whirling, the echoes of your own screams still sounding in your head.

How could they do that? How could they just do that? Take you away from everything you’ve ever known, without even leaving you memories of what you’d lost, and for what? So a CEO could get his immortality?

The thought that you had a life before this, that you had a family before this, had occurred to you before- how could it not?- but it always felt distant, unreal, like a dream. But it wasn’t. You had a degree, a career, a life outside of this place. What did the people from that life think when you disappeared? Did Aperture Science tell them you’d died, or just let them wonder what happened to you? Are they still out there, missing you?

You shake your head, forcibly reeling your thoughts in. You’re going to destroy yourself if you keep going like this. You need to pull yourself together.

And once your thoughts stop reeling quite so much, a new thought occurs to you. Johnson said that you were being taken for the AI program- that they were going to copy you into a machine. The Cores said they were made from a human man, and you assumed based on the previous recordings that human man had been Cave Johnson. And maybe they were- Johnson told you they were using you for preliminary testing. Wouldn’t they have moved on to him once they were done with you?

And yet, all sorts of little things are adding up in your brain, things you had noticed but never bothered to linger on- never thought to connect to each other. Singing and performing a theater song with Roman, your voices perfectly in sync. Trading silly puns with Patton. The way your heart would always leap into your throat at the exact time Virgil started giving you trouble. And most painfully, Janus’s parting words: you may act the part of an innocent little lamb, but deep down you’re every bit as devious and cutthroat as I am.

Could the others… be made from you?

Your heart pounds in your chest. You need to find out more. You need to know if this is real, or just wishful thinking. You fish through Johnson’s files, half-frantic, but can’t find anything on the subject.

Then, finally, you find in the paper files a report from the development Project JANUS. It’s short, with no information you didn’t already know, but it does include a scientist’s name and office number in the signature.

A few minutes of searching later, you’re in the scientist’s room, tearing apart their files, until you finally find a file folder labeled TOP SECRET. You flip open to the first page, heart pounding.

The top of the page reads, “Project JANUS”. It’s a diagram of a human brain, with specific sections highlighted, though you don’t know enough about the human brain to figure out their relevance. What really draws your eye, however, is what is written below the diagram.

Subject Name: Thomas Sanders.

The name rings like a bell in your head, something deep inside saying, me. Thomas Sanders. Your name is Thomas Sanders.

Your name is Thomas Sanders, and Janus was created from you.

Hastily, you flip through the next few pages of data charts and diagrams, until you come to the next blueprint, then the next, then the next, growing in speed and excitement as you go.

Project PATHOS, Subject Name: Thomas Sanders. Project LOGOS, Subject Name: Thomas Sanders. Project REMUS, Project ROMULUS, Project VIRGILIUS. Subject Name Thomas Sanders, Thomas Sanders, Thomas Sanders.

You sit down heavily in the office chair, putting your hands to your face. They’re you. All of them. God, you should have known. You think part of you did know, all along.

Part of you. That’s what they really are, isn’t it? Not you, not exactly, but parts of you. Created from different segments of your brain, different aspects of your personality.

The concept bounces around in your brain, the idea of something meaningful, some other revelation, hovering at the edge of your mind, just out of reach. Something about being parts, aspects of a person’s personality.

Aspects of a person, but not the whole. Self-preservation without the understanding that sometimes other people matter, too. Morality without the practicality to back it up. Creativity without the necessary restraints.

Oh god, you’ve been going about this all wrong. No wonder your plans didn’t work, the very premise was flawed. And wow, that was such a Logan thought, how did you not realize the connection sooner?

You need to get back to the others, right now.

After gathering the file and safely securing it in the folds of your jumpsuit, you take a quick trip back to Cave Johnson’s office with one intention in mind: his PA system. You don’t know if the announcement systems from down here will reach to where the others are, but you have to try. You press the button, ignoring the anxiety churning in your stomach, and speak.

“Hey, everyone. It’s Thomas. I know that some of you are confused and don’t know who you should be siding with right now. I know that for some of you, I have a lot to apologize for. All I ask, is if you ever trusted me at all, to come meet me at the place you introduced me to Remus. Because I have a lot I need to say to you guys, and because I’ve figured it out.”

You take a deep breath, and focus on projecting as much certainty with your voice as you can.

“I know how we can fix this. For good.”

[toxicpoisonedyouth]

Trans-Feminism

i wrote this thing for class about trans-feminism and it ended up being me projecting my issues as a non-binary person. and my celebrity crushes Leslie Bibb and Sam Rockwell.

First person POV; non-binary parent talking with their biological child they share with their partners, Sam and Leslie. ‘Nopa’ is a non-binary term for parent and used regualry in this story, as well as the basic ‘dada’ and ‘mommy’.

--

“Nopa?” my six-year-old daughter, Clara, asks me. I’m sitting on the couch, reading my newest book my partner, Sam, bought me. 

While he was filming his most recent movie, he explored the city he was in--London, at the time--and peeked into a small bookshop. There, he found a book on trans feminism for me, healing crystals for our other partner, Leslie, and a new coloring book for Clara. 

I’m only a few chapters in, but I’m loving the book already. Clara had been entertaining herself with episodes of Blue’s Clues, but now was ready to bug me with her endless questions. She crawls up on the couch and plops herself down next to me, holding her stuffed Scooby-Doo doll to her chest as she looks over my shoulder. “Whatcha readin’, Nopa?”

“A book dada got me,” I reply, bookmarking my place and showing her the cover. Her little hand smooths over the hardback cover and she giggles at the feel of the embossment on her fingers. “It’s about feminism.”

“Mommy told me about that,” Clara says, clever and bright for her young age. She gets that from Leslie and I, I’m sure. “She told me there’s a buncha fem-em-ist-um.” 

I laugh when she pronounces the word, her brows furrowing as she concentrates on each syllable. 

“Yes, there is.” I nod and chuckle. 

“What kinda fem… ladies’ rights are you readin’ about?” she asks, foregoing saying the word again.

“I’m reading about ‘trans-feminism’, baby.” I tell her. She looks at me blankly.

“Wha’s that?” she asks, her big green eyes staring at me. She’s got Sam’s eyes and Leslie’s thin frame and sandy blonde hair. But she’s got my smile. My partners also say she’s got my curiosity--which isn’t always a good thing. But, today it is.

“Well,” I begin. How do I explain this as simply as I can? “Well, do you know what transgender people are?”

Clara pauses, then nods eagerly after thinking about it. “Dada played one in a movie!”

“Yes,” I agree, chuckling at my child’s extensive knowledge of her dad’s filmography. “But do you know what a transgender person is?”

Clara thinks, then shakes her head ‘no.’

“A transgender person is someone who is born in the wrong body. Like, okay, dada played a transgender man, meaning he had a ‘boy-brain’ but was born in a girl’s body.”

“That’s not fair,” Clara says. “Why can’t we pick our own bodies?”

“That’s… That’s a different conversation, kiddo,” I say. “Let’s stay focused on this topic first. So, repeat back to me so I know you got it. What is a transgender person?”

“Someone who-who was born in the wrong body?” she says, unsure. I nod and smile.

“Very good!” I say. “Now, let’s say there was a girl born in a boy's body. She’s gonna do what she feels comfortable, and in this case, she’s gonna go to a doctor and have surgery to change her body and make it look like a girl.”

“You can do that?” Clara asks with wide eyes. “Like, if I wanna be a boy tomorrow, I can just ask Dr. Evans to make me a boy?”

“More or less.” I chuckle.

“Science, man.” Clara says in awe. I laugh and nod.

“Science, man,” I say in agreement. “Now, trans-feminism is when that girl, let’s call her, uh, ‘Judy’. When Judy wants to play basketball on the girl’s team, she gets to play because she’s a girl, right?”

“Right.” Clara nods.

“So, what happens when the basketball coach tells Judy she can’t play?” I ask. It’s always good to ask your child’s opinion so you know if they’re understanding and keep them involved. I use this tactic with Sam too, since he has a tendency to space out.

“That’s not fair,” Clara’s brow crinkles. “Why can’t she play with the other girls?”

“Because the coach doesn’t think Judy is a girl,” I explain. “Because Judy was born in a boy’s body.”

“That’s stupid,” Clara replies. “It’s not her fault she got put in the wrong body.”

“Exactly,” I say. “So, just because Judy got the wrong body, does that make her a boy?”

Clara shakes her head. “Judy’s a girl! And she wants to play basketball!”

“That’s right, baby,” I smile. “Trans-Feminism is all about including women like Judy into the feminim circle.”

“I like that.” Clara says. 

“Me too.” I nod in agreement.

“What about you, Nopa?” Clara asks.

“What about me?”

“What basketball team do you play on?” 

I pause. What basketball team would I play on?

“Uh,” I stammer, trying to think of a smart answer. “Um, I don’t think there is one for people like me, hon.”

“But that’s not fair,” Clara sighs. “Judy can play on a team, why can’t you?”

I shrug. I honestly don’t have an answer for that. 

“We should make our own team.” Clara says. 

I laugh and shake my head. “I don’t wanna play basketball, kiddo.”

Clara shrugs, effectively giving up. She hops off the couch and goes back to watching Blue’s Clues when the door opens.

“Daddy!” Clara cheers, racing over to the door. Sam barely has time to put down the groceries in hand before she’s leaping into his arms. He catches her with a ‘oomph!’

“Hey, baby-bug,” he laughs, catching his breath. “Careful, dad’s gettin’ old.”

Clara laughs as he lifts her in the air and swings her around, adequately disregarding his previous statement. Sam lifts Clara on his hip as he walks into the living room where I’m seated. He leans down and kisses my head.

“Hey, bug.” he greets me. I roll my eyes at the nickname. Sam and Clara plunk themselves down on the floor. Sam groans as he sits, his knees and back popping and cracking. Clara giggles.

“You are old, dada.” she laughs. Sam huffs.

“Am not,” he makes a silly face. “I’m only 52.”

“Hey, man,” I jokingly warn, poking Sam in the head with my socked foot. “That’s halfway there.”

Sam scowls at me playfully. “Shut it.”

“Just sayin’.” I giggle.

“Nopa told me about trans-feminism!” Clara says.

“That’s super cool, baby-bug!” Sam smiles at her. 

“We’re gonna start a basketball team for people like Nopa too ‘cuz there aren’t any.” Clara explains. 

“No,” I roll my eyes, smiling. “We are not starting a team.”

“I think we should start a team, baby-bug,” Sam says, just to tease me. “And you should coach.”

“Yay!”

The door opens again and Leslie walks in, immediately seeing the neglected groceries on the floor. “Why are there twinkies on the floor?”

Sam looks over and gasps. “I thought we agreed I was a twunk!”

Leslie and I both roll our eyes.

“We’re startin’ a basketball team and I’m coachin’, mommy!” Clara yells. Leslie looks at me.

I shrug. “Trans-feminism was taught today.”

Leslie pauses, then nods. “Seems fair. Now what should we have for dinner?”

“Pizza!” both Sam and Clara holler. 

[spideyfic]

Red and Blue

Peter reached out and moved the projection back and forth. “Did you change the color scheme? This looks red and black.”

“Thought it might be time for an image over-haul. Tone down the primary colors, make things a bit sleeker, a little more grown-up.”

Peter bit his lip, trying to say what he was feeling without sounding ungrateful. “And it looks great Mr. Stark, it really does, but I like the red and blue. Could we change the color back?”

When Peter is invited up to the compound to work on his suit with Tony, he's surprised to find that red and blue is now red and black, and Tony wants to know why he's so attached to his original color scheme.

Read on AO3

Peter was pulled abruptly from his dream by the sound of Back in Black blasting from his phone, which was weird on two levels – one, he usually had nightmares, not dreams, and two, his ringtone was a yodel.

He fumbled for his phone, pulling it towards him by its charging cable, and nearly dropped it when he registered the caller ID. Why the hell was Tony Stark calling him at 8am on a Saturday morning?

Hitting decline, he dropped the phone face down in the blankets, turning over to face the wall and wrapping his pillow around his head.

“Did you just send me to voice mail, kid? Why can I only see darkness? It’s like looking into the depths of my soul.”

Peter let the pillow spring away from his head and reached back behind him to grab the phone, dragging it over his body until he could see the screen. Tony’s face looked smugly back at him, entirely too cheerful for someone who had just woken Peter up from the best dream he’d had in months.

“’s 8am Tony,” he muttered, squinting at him with one eye closed. “I was sleepin’.”

“Yikes, rough night? You should get more sleep, you’re a growing spider-baby and all that. I was in bed by ten last night, and I feel great this morning. Hey, how come you’ll call me Tony when you’re half-unconscious but not when you’re actually awake?”

Peter suspected that Tony was mostly feeling great because of a massive amount of caffeine, if his run-on sentences were anything to go by. He felt a moment of jealousy - he was six weeks into a total caffeine ban after May caught him downing five cans of Red Bull following a patrol that had ended an hour before he was due to sit an AP exam. “Was there a point to you forcing your call through to my phone? Because I don’t mean to be rude, Mr. Stark, I like talking to you and everything, but I only got home from patrol at three and I’m tired.” Oops. And there was his early morning lack of filter.

“May still got you on that caffeine ban, huh? You’re very direct when you’re tired, did you know that?” Tony took a sip from his mug of coffee, and Peter caught a flash of the Spider-Man symbol printed on the side. That was almost enough to make him forgive Tony for his blatant caffeine consumption. “I was calling to see if you wanted to come up to the compound today and mess around with a few concepts for upgrading your suit, but if it’s not a good time - ”

Peter sat up so fast he nearly brained himself on the slats of the top bunk. “Yes! I mean, I gotta ask May, but yeah, that’d be great, thanks Mr. Stark.”

“Already talked to May, she said yes to you coming over and staying the night. Get moving kid, Happy will be at your place in fifteen. See you in a couple hours.” Tony ended the call on a wink.

Peter flung himself out of bed, standing in the middle of his room and looking wildly about as he planned what he needed to take, before pulling open his closet and looking for the overnight bag Tony and Pepper had given him for his sixteenth birthday. With the exception of the suit, it was the most expensive thing he’d ever owned - it probably cost more than the entire contents of his closet, and he lived in constant fear of somehow losing or damaging it.

“May!” he called, panicking when the bag was nowhere to be found. “Have you seen my bag? The one Mr. Stark and Pepper gave me?”

His bedroom door swung open and May stood in the doorway, his bag in her outstretched hand. “All packed and ready to go, baby.” At his confused look, she smiled. “Tony called last night when you were on patrol, so I packed for you and told him to call you this morning.”

“You’re the best, May,” he said, kissing her on the cheek as he slipped past her to head for the bathroom.

“And don’t you forget it,” she called after him. “I’ll have breakfast to go waiting for you.”

Exactly ten minutes later, Peter was sitting in the back of the Audi Happy always picked him up in, clutching a breakfast burrito in one hand and a blessed travel mug of coffee in the other, feeling slightly dazed.

“You OK there, kid? You look a little flustered.”

He met Happy’s gaze in the rear-view mirror. “Fifteen minutes ago I was asleep and dreaming about M - uh, I was dreaming, and now I’m in a car heading up to the Avengers compound to work with Tony Stark.” He shrugged, taking a bite out of the burrito. “And Mr. Stark woke me up by forcing a video call through to my phone.”

Happy chuckled, turning his attention back to the road and pulling out into traffic. “Yeah, Tony’s done that to me a buncha times. He stopped when he caught me – well, you don’t need to know what he caught me doing, but he doesn’t do it anymore.”

It took everything Peter had to stop him screwing his face up in instinctive disgust at the idea of Happy doing whatever he’d been doing and covered it by taking a sip of coffee. His timing was bad, because Happy spoke again. “Maybe he could catch you with MJ.”

Peter gulped his coffee down and breathed in at the same time and coughed so hard he thought he was going to hack up a lung. “Happy!” he rasped, when he was able to breathe again. “Me and MJ – we’re not – you know. We’re not even dating.”

“Only in your dreams, right kid?” Happy said, with a knowing tone. “You should ask her out. You talk about her all the time.”

“I talk about Ned all the time but you’re not telling me to ask him out,” Peter mumbled around a mouthful of burrito.

“That’s because you don’t look like a lovesick baby deer when you talk about Ned. All I hear from you is ‘MJ said this’, ‘MJ is so great’, ‘MJ is terrifying’. It’s like it’s 2011 again and I’m listening to Tony talk about Pepper.” Happy signaled to merge onto I-295, flipping off a car that tried to cut in. “What I’m saying is just ask her to be your little nerd girlfriend, and then you can mentally scar Tony for life and he’ll stop forcing video calls through to your phone.”

“Happy, stop,” Peter moaned. “MJ doesn’t even like me like that. We’re just friends.” He wasn’t about to tell Happy he thought MJ kinda liked him liked him, and that he was going to ask MJ out during the trip to Europe at the end of Junior year. OK, that was almost a year away, but he was a planner, and that plan involved – well, he wasn’t quite sure what, but it would be meaningful and heartfelt and away from New York and Spider-Man. It would just be Peter Parker and Michelle Jones in some romantic European city, and if he was lucky it’d play out like his dream.

“Sure, Parker, whatever you say,” Happy said, apparently deciding to humor him. “Finish your breakfast and go to sleep. I’ll wake you up when we’re five minutes out.”

Never one to pass up the opportunity for a nap, Peter did as he was told. He spent the rest of the journey curled up against the window and lulled into a light doze, only stirring as they passed the Esopus fire department.

“We’re almost there, kid,” Happy said as the car turned on to the narrow, tree lined road that wound its way down to the compound. “Hey, you know this road is called Parker Avenue, right?”

He said it so casually, like he didn’t know that Peter had obsessively Google Street viewed as much of the area as possible.  “Yeah, I know,” he replied. “Why?”

“Nothing really. I just thought it was a nice coincidence, Tony owning this place since before you were born, and the main road in being called Parker.” Happy pulled up at the security stop, flashing his ID at the bored looking guard stationed there, who waved them through. “You know you’re good for Tony, right?”

Startled by the question, Peter almost dropped his travel mug, his stickiness activating just in time to stop coffee spilling all over the expensive upholstery. “Uh – I – what?”

“You’re good for him. He’s really settled down with Pepper, the company is in better shape than ever, he’s sleeping properly for the first time in years, and he seems to get a kick out of spending time with you.” Happy parked up in front of the compound and then turned in his seat to look at Peter. “You’re a good kid. All I’m trying to say is I’m glad Tony found you.”

“Oh.” Unused to Happy showing him anything other than bemusement, Peter grabbed his bag and fumbled with the door handle, desperate to get out and break the awkward mood. “Uh, me too. Thanks for the ride, Happy.”

“You’re welcome, kid. I’ll be back tomorrow evening to take you home.” Happy, apparently feeling as awkward as Peter, made a show of busying himself looking through the glove compartment until Peter closed the door, then drove off.

Peter watched him drive away, then climbed the stairs up to the foyer, heading straight for the elevators up to Tony’s lab. “Hey FRIDAY! Could you take me up to Mr. Stark, please?”

“Good morning, Peter. Boss is waiting for you in lab two.” The elevator doors slid closed and the cab began to move smoothly up. “Are you enjoying your summer break from school?”

“It’s been great! May is letting me patrol every night until one, and Ned got the LEGO Saturn V as a reward for the results of his AP exams so we’re gonna build that next week,” Peter responded enthusiastically, long over the strangeness of making conversation with artificial intelligence. “Oh, and I keep seeing this dog when I’m out on patrol - he’s a husky and he’s such a good boy. His owner is this really sweet old lady, she’s like sixty, and I walk with her when she takes him out in the evening, because her husband died last year and she doesn’t like being on her own that time of night.”

The elevator doors opened, and Peter stepped out into the labs entrance hub. “Thanks, FRIDAY!” He dropped his bag outside the doors to lab two, then pushed them open to find Tony huddled over something on a lab bench. “Hey, Mr. Stark! Thanks for having me over.”

Tony swiveled around on his chair, grinning widely. “Hey kid. Did you manage to sleep on the ride over? I told Happy you were running on about five hours of shuteye and to let you rest.” He crossed the lab and pulled Peter into his side in a brief, one-armed hug as they walked back to the bench.

“Yeah, I zoned out for most of it. I’m good, May made me some coffee for the trip.”

Tony deposited him on a chair and then sat next to him, making a sweeping gesture that saved and cleared the hologrammatic schematics of the Iron Man suit he’d been working on, and bringing up the selection carousel for the Spider-Man suits.

“So, I ran with your suggestion of using your webbing as an underlying protective layer for the suit, and the initial tests are looking really promising for friction and fire resistance,” Tony said, expanding the schematics of a suit design Peter hadn’t seen before. “Even if the outer layer gets damaged, the webbing should hold up long enough to get yourself out of whatever dumbass situation you managed to get into.”

“Hey,” Peter grumbled, mildly offended. “The dumbass situations find me, not the other way around.”

Tony gave him The Look™ and even though he wasn’t a dad, he’d obviously been taking parenting lessons from May, because it made Peter confess every stupid thing he’d done recently.

“OK, so I guess accidentally knocking myself out with my own taser web was my fault. And that time I thought the mayor was breaking into her own office and I webbed her up was probably my fault too. But you have to admit my ass being set on fire wasn’t on me. And that did make me think about using my webs as fabric.” Tony raised an eyebrow and Peter sagged dejectedly. “I’m a dumbass, aren’t I?”

“The smartest dumbass I ever met, other than myself,” Tony confirmed. “When you’re old enough I’ll tell you about what happened in Vegas. It involves superglue, a massive amount of alcohol, and a poker chip, and you can’t hear about it until you’re twenty-one because I think telling you now would count as corrupting a minor.”

“Can you wait until I’m like, forty? I don’t think I’m ever going to be old enough to hear that story, Mr. Stark. The trauma of future me is so strong that it’s radiating back through time to current me.”

Tony snorted. “Trauma builds character, just like having your ass catch fire inspires innovation.” He tapped some codes into the system, and a half-scale, three-dimensional full color projection of the new suit formed in the air in front of them. “Take a look, see what you think. If you like it, I’ll start the building process and you can take it for a spin this afternoon.”

Peter reached out and moved the projection back and forth. “Did you change the color scheme? This looks red and black.”

“Thought it might be time for an image over-haul. Tone down the primary colors, make things a bit sleeker, a little more grown-up.”

Peter bit his lip, trying to say what he was feeling without sounding ungrateful. “And it looks great Mr. Stark, it really does, but I like the red and blue. Could we change the color back?” His voice wobbled and he swallowed in an effort to cover it up. “You know what, never mind, the red and black is fine.” He turned his seat back to face the lab bench, ducking his head and pretending to concentrate on the coding displayed on the StarkPad set into the surface.

Tony spun Peter back to face him, turning him with a hand against his knee. “Kid, you can have red and blue, it’s not a problem. Why are you so attached to that color scheme, anyway?”

Peter twitched a shoulder up in a one-sided shrug. “I just like it, is all.”

“Pete,” Tony said quietly. “C’mon, I can see you’re upset, and I’m not that great at comforting people, so why don’t you just talk to me?”

“I chose red and blue because they’re the colors of the NASA logo,” Peter said, twisting his fingers together. Tony didn’t say anything, just looked at him with a soft, sad expression on his face, like he knew there was more to it. “Ben – my uncle – he loved NASA, like full-on fanboy. He was a cop, but when he was a kid, he wanted to work in mission control. He was born in 1961, so he grew up during the space race, watched all the moon landings, and he had all these binders full of newspapers and magazines.”

“I wish I’d been around for the moon landings,” Tony said, and Peter believed it – he had a look of childlike wonder, the same look Ben used to have whenever he talked about it. “’We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.’ How can you not be inspired by that?” He gave a little chuckle. “Sorry kid, my futurist is showing.”

“No, it’s fine, that speech was Ben’s favorite, he had it pretty much memorized. He used to tell me all about the NASA missions at bedtime, and I when I started really getting into geometry, he got me copies of Katherine Johnson’s calculations. NASA was our thing, you know? He was going to pull me out of school to go watch an Atlas V launch, we had a whole road trip planned. But he died the night before. He knew about my powers, did I tell you that?”

Tony shook his head, and Peter carried on. “The night he died, we went for a walk, and he got the story out of me about the spider bite, what I could do, and he told me that I had power, and that meant I had a responsibility to do good with it. All I wanted to do was make a stupid YouTube channel and post videos of me doing pointless shit, and we argued. And then we walked right into the middle of a bodega robbery and he was shot.

“May came and got me from the hospital they took me and Ben to, and when we got home, she made me take a shower because I – because I was covered in blood. She grabbed me some pajama pants and this shirt.” He gestured at the NASA t-shirt he was wearing. “This was his, but it was mixed up with my laundry and she didn’t realize. We just sat on the couch together and cried for most of the night until May fell asleep. I couldn’t switch my brain off though, couldn’t stop thinking about how if I’d – “ he trailed off, his voice thickening with impending tears. “How if I’d stepped in front of him, he’d still be alive.”

“And you might be dead,” Tony said softly. “And I can guarantee that out of the two, he’d choose you living over himself.” He placed a hand on Peter’s shoulder, squeezing it gently. “He’d be so damn proud of you, Pete.”

Peter sniffed, pressing the heels of his hands against his eyes to stem the tears, but they kept coming, and so did the words. “The next morning, I decided I’d use my powers to do good like he wanted me to, and I looked down at his t-shirt and that’s when I chose red and blue for Spider-Man’s colors. Because it’s like having Ben with me when I’m out on patrol, reminding me why I’m doing it, who I’m doing it for.”

“Jesus Pete, I don’t know what to say.” Tony slipped off his chair, then pulled Peter off his own chair wrapped him in a tight hug.

Surprised, Peter momentarily tensed up before relaxing into it, bringing his arms up to make the hug a mutual one. “Oh,” he said, his face pressed against Tony’s shoulder. “Are we there?”

“We’re there,” Tony confirmed, slapping his back and then stepping out of the hug. “Kid, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have changed the design without talking to you first.” He made a move to delete the schematics, and Peter reached out to push his hand down, before closing the projection with a pinching motion.

“No, keep it,” he said. “It’s not that I don’t like it, I do, I’m just – not ready.”

“That’s fine, we can use the old external design and lay it over the new internal structure.” Tony paused, the moment still and quiet and loaded with emotion. “And it’s also fine if you’re never ready, too.” He cleared his throat and picked up his phone, rapidly tapping out a message to someone. “Give me a minute, and I’ll show you how to isolate design elements and combine them into one suit.”

Peter felt a wave of relief that Tony had understood. It had to seem like something so small and insignificant, but the idea of being Spider-Man without his own, private tribute to his uncle felt wrong. He knew that feeling might change in the future, but for now, the red and blue was like a comfort blanket he drew around himself every time he pulled on the suit. “Thanks, Tony.”

Tony looked up from typing something into his phone, and the smile that lit up his face made Peter’s internal struggle to say ‘Tony’ rather than ‘Mr. Stark’ totally worth the effort. “See, that wasn’t hard, was it? I knew you could do it.”

“I can only do it under a really specific set of circumstances, Mr. Stark,” Peter said, struggling to keep the smirk off his face.

Tony put his phone down, obviously not feeling the need to keep his own smirk in check. “Do those specific set of circumstances include us flying down to Florida next month to watch the Falcon 9 launch from Kennedy, followed by a private tour of the center?”

“Are you joking?” Peter gasped. “Please tell me you’re not joking, Tony. Because if you’re joking there’s a chance I might die of disappointment and you said if anything happens to me, it’s on you, and that’d definitely be on you. Really? You’re actually taking me to the Kennedy Space Center?”

“Glad to see that warrants a ‘Tony’. And yup. Got a buddy from MIT who works in Launch Control, he’s always inviting me down there for a tour. I’ve already squared it away with May.”

Impulsively, Peter flung his arms around Tony in a brief hug. “You’re the best Mr. Stark – “ he faltered at the look that got him – “Tony. Thank you so much.”

“It’s nothing, kid.” Tony waved it off, like his statement was actually true. “You work hard, it’s about time you had a little R&R to make up for it. And talking of hard work, come on, we’ve got a suit to build.”

It was an awkward segue, but Peter eagerly got to work, glad to move on from the unexpected emotion of their morning. Tony coached him step by step through how to use the system, and Peter clumsily mirrored his smooth, practiced gestures again and again until they were in perfect synch, hands moving gracefully through the air as they uploaded the finalized plan to the construction capsule.

Tony wasn’t a replacement for Ben. He had his own distinct role and place in Peter’s life, a mentor and a friend and a father figure all wrapped up in one, and Peter was pretty sure that Tony cared for him in the same mixed up way, the lines starting to blur in their relationship.

 “Tony?” The name was starting to have emotional weight in his mind and on his lips, like saying May,or Ben, a whole lot of meaning and emotion caught up in two small syllables.

“Hmm?” Tony looked up from watching the webbing under-suit forming in the construction capsule, his usually coiffed hair curling loosely over his forehead, and his eyes bright and unguarded without his glasses. He looked relaxed and happy, nothing like the carefully controlled Tony Stark image he presented to the world every time he left the sanctuary of the compound or Tower.

“I’m really glad I met you.”

Tony looked surprised, and tried to hide it with a sniff, but he gave Peter a soft smile. “Yeah? Same, kid.”

Peter wasn’t ready to leave behind the red and blue, but he felt like one day, red would mean Ben and black would mean Tony, and it would just feel right to wear their colors together.

***

Seven years later, but only one year older, Peter, weary, battle worn and determined, stands in a jet as it hovers above a field of tulips and decides that he’s finally ready to use the red and black suit.

When he glides down towards Tower Bridge and the biggest solo fight of his life, it feels like Ben and Tony are there keeping him safe, their colors wrapped around his body like a talisman. Proof that they existed. That they loved him. That he’s got this.

They’ve returned to stardust, but that doesn’t mean they’re gone.

[forehead-enthusiast]

A Buncha Tag Games (and yet not all of them)

tagged by: @eggyukhei mwah

tagging: this is a LOT of games so i’ll only tag @atinyphobe @nsheetee and @veonjun for the SECOND (2nd) game. if they or anybody wants to do any of the other games, absolutely go for it and say i tagged you <3 i’d love to see what you guys say!! (also, tk if you felt like you wanted to answer my questions from the second game i’d be interested to see!)

One:

tell me the first song that made you stan your current fave group and why did your faves attract you so much?

ok SO the song that probably got me into rv 100% (also yes ik this blog is 99% nct but rv is my forever fave no question) was probably ice cream cake!! i had been a casual listener of many groups up until that point and had never really stanned anyone, but icc was so infectious i found myself watching it over and over. i had heard happiness and be natural before but hadn’t really listened too closely, so icc was the song that captured me. after that, dumb dumb only cemented my love for them more, and the red is still one of my favorite kpop albums to date. rv attracted me primarily because of their incredible vocals and their versatility in genres and concepts. i still get so excited wondering what they’ll tackle next!! they’re just soooo unique and have one of, if not the best discographies of any group. i cannot stress enough, I. Love. RV!! also they’re funny and gay so. anyway stream monster once it drops uwu

Two:

rule: answer the ten questions and write your own!

1. what is your favorite song that’s been released during quarantine? ooooo honestly??? probably something off of Sawayama. literally every song bangs so hard i highly recommend that album to anyone!! i can’t pick a favorite off it but who’s gonna save you now is awesome and xs is just,,, chef’s kiss

2. what is your greatest mishap when you tried cooking? (or something you’ve witnessed) one time, while making soup at my late grandmother’s house on her like gas stove, i put a lid on a pot and somehow that led the pot to be engulfed in flames. IN MY DEFENSE i was like 7, and i’m great at cooking/baking now

3. what’s your go-to outfit or article of clothing? oh i love a nice dress. they can be casual or formal, and you look like you put effort into your outfit except i didn’t because i didn’t have to match anything yo!!!! also shorts have trouble fitting me cause i’m a weird body type so dresses tend to be very comfy for me

4. what is your comfort food? am i allowed to say like all food??? eating in itself is comforting,,, that sounds depressing but also i just like eating yummy food. i guess i’d say like my dad’s fried rice?? its my fave and no one makes it like him soooo

5. what singular moment in your life would you like to relive? i couldn’t tell if this meant like, a good moment you want to re-experience or go back in time and redo a moment and fix it. it’s kind of a hard question so i might cop out and go with a bit of a silly answer: i want to relive the hi touch with astro...... i wanna look at rocky’s beautiful eyes and touch moonbin’s hand ok,,,,

6. what is your favorite line and/or character from a movie, show, or book? i got a bunch but a few off the top of my head are genie lo (the epic crush of genie lo), ty lee, suki (atla), klaus, and ben (umbrella academy) 

7. if you could only choose one ice cream flavor and pizza topping/style for the rest of your life, what would it be? ice cream flavor: this very specific one from a local store that is banana ice cream with strawberries and oreo mixed in. it is heaaaavenly. as for pizza topping, i love a breakfast type pizza with an egg on top and like sausage and stuff!!!

8. what is the worst injury you’ve ever had or witnessed? funny enough, i’ve actually gotten badly injured quite a few times, and always on the face!! god hates me. the worst was probably when i hit a metal bench with my face and it took a chunk out of my cheek. i still have the scar! as for “witnessed” i accidentally broke a grown man’s rib once as a child, so i guess that would count.

9. would you rather explore the unknown of space or the bottom of the ocean? oceaaaan!! i answered this in some other game, but i like how mysterious and yet close the ocean is. like proximity wise it’s so near, yet there’s an insane amount we know nothing about. that’s so frightening but so intriguing

10. if you could be any cartoon character, who would you be? my first thought was literally “kirby. eat fast” GOD my followers are gonna think i’m just a glutton and they’re not even gonna be wrong im dying. but uhh idk mulan or smth?

my questions:

what is your go-to feel good movie?

are you the type of person who’s indecisive about buying, or the type to impulse buy once you see something you like?

do you prefer chocolate-y or fruity candy?

what idol do you think is most similar to you? (not your bias necessarily)

do you have any silly dealbreakers? if so, what are they?

what do you do to unwind?

what is a small thing you like to do for people you love? (be it sending memes, remembering their favorite shows, etc)

what’s/who’s your favorite myth/mythological being?

what is a non-typical pet you would want to have?

do you say pronounce data as day-ta or dah-ta?

THREE

rule: bold the statements that apply to you, italicize your aspirations, then tag nine people. 

AIR ༉⋆͙̈

i have small hands / i love the night sky / i watch animals and birds when i pass them by / i drink herbal tea / i wake to see the dawn / the smell of dust is comforting / i’m valued for being wise / i prefer books to music / i meditate / i find joy in learning new truths from the world around me

FIRE ༉⋆͙̈

i don’t have straight hair / i like to wear ripped jeans and overalls / i play an organized sport / i love dogs / i am not afraid of adventure / i love to talk to strangers / i always try new foods / i enjoy road trips / summer is my favorite season / my radio is always playing

WATER ༉⋆͙̈

i wear bracelets on my wrists / i love the bustle of the city / i have more than one set of piercings / i read poetry / i love the sound of a thunderstorm / i want to travel the world / i sleep past midday most days / i love simply lit dinners and fluorescent signs / i rewatch kids shows out of nostalgia / i see emotions in colors not words

EARTH ༉⋆͙̈

i wear glasses or contacts / i enjoy doing the laundry / i am a vegetarian or vegan / i have an excellent sense of time / my humor is very cheerful / i am a valued advisor to my friends / i believe in true love / i love this chill of mountain air / i’m always listening to music / i am highly trusted by the people in my life

AETHER ༉⋆͙̈

i go without makeup in my daily life / i make my own artwork / i keep on track of my tasks and time / i always know true north / i see beauty in everything / i can always smell flowers / i smile at everyone i pass by / i always fear history repeating itself / i have recovered from a mental disorder / i can love unconditionally

FOUR

the ultimate tag: answer whichever ones you want to because there are a lot and then tag a few blogs you’d like to get to know better! 

PERSONAL

name: sarah

nickname: bells

birthday: april 17th

zodiac: aries

nationality: chinese american

languages: english, some spanish, some korean

gender: female

sexuality: baby bi bi bi~

height: 5′10

BLOG STUFF

inspiration for muse: i suppose nct since i write for them the most?? but i feel like sometimes i come up with the idea before i think of a member so sometimes the muse is just my own fantasies oops

meaning behind my url: i made it at a time where loads of idols were getting bangs and honestly i believe most of them look infinitely better without them, thus i was and still am enthusiastic about foreheads.

blog established: like winter of 2018...?? i think

followers: over 2.5k but most deactivated/left during my hiatus lol

FAVORITES

favourite animals: sharks, chickens, snakes, cats, penguins

favourite books: the epic crush of genie lo and then iron will of genie lo, PERIOD

favourite colour: pink and purple!!

favourite fictional characters: lol, again, genie lo, ty lee, suki, klaus, ben, and just a few more: richard and evelyn o’connell (the mummy), dave (dave), michael (the good place)

favourite flower: sunflower

favourite scent: baking chocolate, heating butter, blackberry, wisteria

favourite season: probably spring! i like warmth but not HEAT

RANDOM

average hours of sleep: ugh idek i sleep horribly

cats or dogs: both, but unfortunately i’ve never had either

coffee, tea or hot chocolate: tea but then hot chocolate

current time: 5:29pm

dream trip: go to paris and eat loads of pastries and enjoy the fashions and beauty of the city, and also learn to bake better maybe?

dream job: actress

hobbies: making jewelry, drawing, singing, reading comics

hogwarts house: according to the quizzes, all of them. people who have just met me think slytherin or gryffindor, people who i’m friends with think ravenclaw or hufflepuff, people who know me really well know you can’t box a person into oversimplified archetypes :’) in my assessment of myself, it varies by the day, but i think perhaps gryffindor today?

last movie watched: hot fuzz (a classic)

last song listened to: summer breeze by sf9

no. of blankets you sleep with: like 2

random fact(s): i won lego building competitions as a child, one of my dream roles is anastasia from the musical named after her, i played violin for a very short time, i bake the cakes for all my family and friends’ birthdays, i have strangely strong grip strength

SIX

10 songs i can’t stop listening to:

love me 4 me- rina sawayama

cherry- rina sawayama

in & out- red velvet

crush culture- conan gray

manic- conan gray

the king- conan gray

summer- pentagon

told you now- jeremy jordan (originally sung by sam smith)

fuck this world (interlude)- rina sawayama

someone who loves me- sara bareilles

[bonbonswirl-blog]

Proud dad

NO ONE BELONG TO ME THEY ALL BELONG TO ONLY @brueklynn I OWN NOTHING.

anyway i was not satisfied with the last fanfic I worte at ALL, it was very bad and I wont blame you if you think that too im sorry it went like this. I decided to write this one since I got the idea. Mason is always a sweetheart btw guys! I just may have changed him a little by accident in this one. Bc im not too skilled, reminder none of this happened and not canon, all these just from my mind with some little "headcanons" from me thx.

It was just a normal day. The golden rays of sunshine caressing everyone faces, shining up the bright blue sky that gives a feeling of comfort and ease, faint chirping of birds can be heard near the trees. Mason was sitting on a bench in a park, with a little smile on his warm face, which is being tickled by the gentle gold beams. his eyes were slowly scanning the small letter in his hands, re-reading it once more after numerous of time, his fingers touched the writing of pen on the white piece of paper, as if checking if this is a true thing, And it is. His eyes drifted from the paper in his hands to the playground in front of him, The sounds of children playing echoed from the park, stomping, running and laughing. None of the worries of adults crossed their minds, only how to elude capture by their friends. The rhythmic creaking of swings went back and forth, and some kids tried to time their jumps from the swings to the rhythm. The colors of the playground equipment were still fresh and bright, despite the years of wear and the endless use. his eyes trying to search between this crowd of kids for a certain one of his own, a few years old one with messy brown hair wearing a flatcap similar to his own one, it was something he gave his child on his previous birthday, mason tried to consider it as a gift to his son as an attempt to bring some joy to his little heart, it was the only thing that was in his pocket right now. He hoped that in the next birthday he will find a better present to give for his little boy that can truly make him happy. Moments later mason had found him, merrily playing on a slide with the other kids, which made his dad smile get bigger. For a last time he looked at the letter, he was so happy that someone had finally toke notice of him and invited him for a job intrview tomorrow morning, he practiced a lot for hopes in getting that job, if he gets it, he will no longer be dependent on those small live making things that doesnt help a lot and will have enough money to provide a good life for him and his son. Looking at the sky, he noticed that the sun is going to set soon, and it will get late to walk for home, they dont live near this park. He smelled the letter as it was some fresh air then folded it to put it in his pocket, giving more five minutes for his son to play until he is going to pick him up to go home.

It was night. As the colors of the day rest the dark was covering every part of the sky. all the kids have already went to their home with their parents, the air was silent, maybe an owl or some cricket can be heard from here and there, the streets were empty, no one was walking on them, expect for a single man holding his little son hand, mason looked at his child and smiled "how was your day at the park wallaby? Did you enjoy it? " He asked wallaby, making sure his son had a good time playing and laughing with all the kids, that he was happy with where his dad brought him today. " Yes dad! I founda buncha fweinds today! We pwayed a game cawed tag your it! Ya pway it by runnin after someone and ya ne....." but mason didnt hear the rest of the talk of how wallaby is teaching him to play tag your it, because his mind was in another place, filled with thoughts of how the interview will go tomorrow, will he get the job? Will he fail? What will he do if he failed? He doesnt want that...What if he gets it? But it was harder than he expected? Will he leave it? Will he push himself to continue? Will he...

" Dad?!?!?DAd?!??! DAD?!? " His son voice distracted him of his deep thought. He guessed that he was inside his mind for too long that he couldnt hear his child. " Yes my dear? " "Ma legs huwt :<" mason smiled again and giggled at wallaby cute little pout, it could make anyone fall for him so fast, his dad knows that there is still a bit of a way for them to get to their home yet, and that wallaby had already walked long enough with his small foot, not to mention he must be tired from all the running today. " Do you want me to carry you for the rest of the way? " " YA YA YA! " Wallaby said excited at that suggestion, reaching both his short arms up in the air for mason hold him, which made mason laugh a little and lean down to hold his small baby in his arms. " Who is my little good boy? " "ME ME!! " " Yes You Are!! " Mason tickled wallaby a bit which made the small kid laugh childishly, his laugh fuel his dad heart with delight. He hugged his son gently while keeping to walk along the road. " Dad? " " Yes! my sunshine? " "I saw some of ma fweinds today tawk about who is better at studying in school! dad, what is school? " ....Mason smile went away and he was silent for a while.... he remembered that wallaby was already old enough for his age to start going to school...but he couldnt afford the money to give this child the chance to go the kindergarten like all the other kids...when will he give him the chance to start learning?... " School is a place where you go to get education dear! Kids go to there everyday to learn new things! " He tried to smile as an attempt to comfort himself and answer the child question softly. " Will I one day go to school dad?" Wallaby innocent smile wasnt enough to sweep away the little sadness that mason felt at that question, he wanted so much for wallaby to get education like all the other people, and he was ready to do whatever it costed to do so, but he know he cant... he cant find the chance. " Maybe one day you will do dear... " that even gave the dad a bigger ambition to pass the intreview tomorrow, he will work as hard as he can to give anything that is needed to his son. Wallaby was silent for a little time in his dad arms while mason just kept walking, the small one looked at his dad again to shot another question at him. " Dad im hungwy :< " that reminded mason that they both didnt really eat enough since the last two days, he is trying to save up for more important things. He wished he have the ability to give him something good to eat right now, he used a lot of energy playing today anyway. " I know my dear...how about I give you an apple when we come back home? " " But I always ate apples dad! How about some candy? " Mason laughed a little "aww my dear! You need to eat lots of vegetables and fruits to grow up! " "awwwww :< " wallaby pout never fail to make mason grin, wallaby didnt eat lots of sweets anyway...maybe in the near future he will have enough money to feed wallaby and him in a right way. They both went silent for another minutes, Out of topics to discuss. Wallaby was thinking about something, he looked at his dad once more to ask a new question, a lot More serious this time... " dad?.." " yes wallaby? " "I....today when we were leavin the pawk.....I saw lotta kids standing next to a....woman....evewy kid have their own woman! The women were holdin their childwen hands just wike ya do to me...and the kids all tawk about their day with them just like I do now...the women seems to be with them...evewyday and evewywhere...like they are with them evewy second!...dad do I....do I.....do I have a woman who take cawe of me wike all those kids do?....."

Mason stopped walking.

He felt his chest starting to ache.

He didnt expect that one day wallaby will wonder why he have no mother like the other kids.

That he will start missing her....

he have no idea what to tell his son now.....he cant just tell him that he doesnt have one....what is he going to do now.....how can he tell his son the cold bitter truth....he cant...he is even so young to know about it...what is he going to do...

" Dad?...." ...wallaby was scared about his dad sudden hush...did he make him mad? he started to get worried now.... "...wallaby........I......" mason was out of words....he moved his head to the side... avoiding eye contacts with his son, looking at the ground shamfully...his eyes no longer have any shine or bright when he hears the gladness in his son voice whenever he talks about about a joyful thing he tried, or when he achieved any small victory. Mason finally gave up, he couldnt ignore his son like this any longer, he need to say something to wallaby.... mason toke a deep sigh...returning his head to look at his little boy who is laying in his arms, wallaby didnt look cheerful as he was a minute ago...he was looking to his side, with a frown in his little mouth, the dirt blush on his cheeks wasnt as red as when he is talking gaily with his adorable puffy cheeks, but they werent puffy anymore...the boy flatcap was going to fall down from his head soon, funny how he can keep it still on his head while running and jumping everywhere all day, wallaby didnt feel really ok at this point...

Mason looked with a grievous look at him before beggining to speak..... "wallaby...listen to me... " his voice was heavy with shame, the same way his guilt wheighed down upon his shoulders, that made his son look at him in the face again, but the expressions still the same. " my little sunshine......you do....you do have a woman like them too...this woman is called...a mother...the mom is the person who brought the life to her children...toke care of them from childhood until adulthood, she is always there to share with her children the laughs, smiles and their happiest moments, always there to comfort them in the sorrow, fear and their hardest moments, she is always the shelter from every harm, the guardian from every enemy, the key for every solution, she will always support her kids no matter what happen in any time and any place....every mom love is always with her kids forever wallaby... all the moms are great! And you should know wallaby that...you have a mom...like them all...but you wont be lonely because im here with you..."

Mason voice was soft, almost fragile, as if it and his heart would break any minute. Perhaps his heart was already broken...broken to bits from the harsh cruel world....mason was never really good with coping with the loss... The sadness flowed through his veins like a flowing river, cold and unending, deadened his mind. It was a poison to his spirit, dulling him, killing off the other emotions he felt when talking to his precious son until it was the only one that remained. He learned that anyone can be a pareng...but not anyone can be a family...He wanted very badly to tell wallaby that lucy still loves him, she still love her family...love them...love them a lot to the point that she left them.....he have no idea where she is now after she dissapeared, its been a long time, but for some reason, he cant fully let her go, she left a hole in his heart that can not be fixed, wallaby is now the only thing that still bring some life in mason dead core, he promised from the day he was left alone with the kid, that he will do everything to make sure he is living safe and sound..

The small wallaby face began to draw a pure smile again, his flatcap back in place, his hued eyes are back to their bright, he got up a bit from his dad arms. "I knew it! I knew I had one too wike them! Dad? Will I eva meet her?!" "Maybe one day sunshine....maybe one day...." mason couldnt bring himself to say no to this one...he doesnt know if wallaby will ever meet her...he may not ever find her, He hugged wallaby more tightly and began taking faster steps, this chat already broke his heart enough and he wants to get home to rest for a busy day tomorrow...good thing wallaby slept on their way home.

The next morning came as usuall, the sun rised, sent its woven strands, free and united, to flow into the sky for revealing and solidifying a new day. Mason used to wake up late, but this time he was early, today is the day, his plan is simple, go the inreview, success, and go to the job. He wasnt very content, he felt nervous, looking after every way that this can go wrong with. Last night wasnt the best for him, it made him re-think about his life with wallaby and how he is going to raise him. he was standing at the door, preparing himself to bring his legs to work straight to the place of that job, but before he can move the handle, he heard a voice behind him

" Dad?.. "

He turned around to see that his son had already woke up, standing confused there with a large jacket around him, it was so large that the jacket ends were on the floor, wiping it wherever the boy go, he looked like a child who have jacket that should be wore by only adults wrapped around him, which is the truth, wallaby always wear it to bed, using it insted of a blanket. " wallaby...uh why are you up so early dear? " " Dad whewe are ya goin? we gonna go to work now? " Mason smiled and kneeled down to put his hands on wallaby shoulders " did you know I got an intrview today? Im going to try to get a job! If i got it! We gonna have enough money to eat properly and go to school to learn! " Wallaby was happy hearing this, it made him almost jump " reawy? Yaaaaay! Wait! But dad! Ya will need ma help! " Mason smiled and ruffled wallaby messy hair " aww my little one, when you grow up you will have your own job to take care of! " When mason turned around to open the door again, wallaby voice stopped him. " but dad! Ya cawt go! " Mason looked behind once more " but why dear? " "Becawse....im gonna be so lonely without ya! " Mason was surprised a bit, wallaby stayed home by himself a lot of times, why is he going to feel lonely staying today? " But sunshine...you always stay home alone by yourself, why are you going to feel lonely today?" " Becawse...I awways hewped ya in your work...this time I wont be there to hewp ya! Ya will awways go to work without me! ya will feel alone! and i will stay more time at home and feel alone! Ya cant leave me dad! Pwease stay here with me.. " after hearing this, mason felt sad, again. He didnt know that wallaby actually felt happy working with him and that he felt so lonely when he all alond without, but he cant do anything about it. "dear...im sorry...but...I cant do anything to help that...please im doing that for you...just stay here and you will find me soon at home..." " but dad! I cant let ya go! Pwease stay! Arent ya my mama? " Whenever someone mention the word 'mom' mason never feel so good. "what?.... " " arent ya my mama? Ya awways pway with me and take cawe of me like all the mamas do! " Mason didnt know his opinion about this kind of thought. " Uh, my little boy, im not your mother...im your father.. " " but ya stiw take care of me! Like any mama! I wont let ya go dad...why dont ya stay hewe and tell me more stories about my mama! " Mason now REALLY didnt feel so good about this one...reminding him of lucy by any chance can make him lose it all...worst idea to think about..." ....wallaby...I need...to go......maybe at night... " " but dad! Pwease! " " goodbye wallaby " "Stay with me! " " Im coming back at night " "dad come on!" Mason tried to get out the house but wallaby was still following him, he cant go anywhere, he stayed standing there, listening to his son conmplains, he already know he made him late enough, almost all of wallaby suggestions was to talk about lucy, lucy lucy and only lucy, that name bring a chill to him whenever he hears it, that made him re-think about last night. A bad memory for him... no. more, About the past, oh..why did she left them? He knows the reason, but was he already the full reason? Or....did wallaby have anything to do with this? Every thought made him dig deeper and deeper in the...unwanted memeories, he cant get himself to get out of his mind and go to the inreview, all he think about now was who fault it was.

" Wallaby...I think you really need to stop now!! "

And that was the first time that mason rised his voice a little at wallaby, and honsetly, wallaby was very surprised, his dad never rised his tone like that at him before, he always talk too soft and gentle with him, so excited yo hear about his day. But now he didnt look to be in the mood to do that.

" Dad.... " " wallaby you must stay here! " " But da- " "im already late for this i need to go! " "pwease da-" "bye. "and with that mason closed the door behind him completely. leaving the house, and leaving the young child to spend another day at his home on his own. Mason was on the streets running, he felt like a lot of pressure and stress on him have been realesed when he got angry, now there is no more complaining about lucy and her absence.....but...he didnt feel alright yet...he felt.....regret....it was so heavy...he felt his heart carrying a heavy weigh...or that there are rocks in his chest...that didnt make him feel well by any chance, he tried to ignore it but it was a lot not to feel something...he felt so alone...he started getting cold...a feeling he didnt sense long ago...cause his body and heart always felt warm whenever he used to be alongside his son..but now he feels like he left him...he did...he feel like he did a mistake..he didnt mean it...he didnt mean to do that at all....he was just pressured and sad to rememeber a doleful memory...he didnt meant to hurt anyone...he wished he could go back and change something of what just happened..but now he cant, all he can do now is pass this intreview.

The night had fallen upon the land, the sky left with only a matt black canvas with no stars to be looked upon. The darkness was thick, mason path was hardly lit, if a normal person cant see good in this dark then this only made mason sight worse.  The interview went..........fine..........it wasnt what he was really looking for...and that was dissatisfied....but all what mason could care about is returning to his home and check something, rather someone....Other than the darkness and himself all that seemed to exist was the chilly wind thats harsh bite could be felt through the man skin. He could feel the hairs on his arms rise and the bite of the wind had left its mark in the form of small bumps that were tingling on his arms, but its bite was more than flesh deep. His blood ran cold through his veins and his bones were chilled. but the heat of what he was wearing did not reach his skin at all, mason know why, after what he done today he knew that today will not be a pretty day at all. The cold wind could be felt that its his inner repent, after what felt like days he saw his home, he may not see a lot good but it he could recognize his house, he stayed in the chilly wind for a few minutes, what is he going to do and say when gef back home?....

He sighed and gently opened the door, waiting to see someone in front of him when he do, to his surprise, there wasnt anyone....the house felt so quiet.....

so empty....

" Wallaby? " He called for his son, waiting for a reply, but none came. "Wallaby? " He called again. began walking around the house, maybe his son just didnt hear him..but he began to sweat.. " wallaby...?... " he searched everywhere in the house, the living room, the kitchen, the bathroom, he couldnt find him! There was only one place left...the bedroom, he ran to there, seriously hoping that wallaby is here insode the house. He entered the bedroom and turned on the lights panicking.........then sighed.......wallaby was there...sleeping on the bed that they both together share....wearing the same jacket he woke up with around him...mason smiled a little at the view. With the corner of his eyes he toke a glance of some small crayons and a drawing white paper on the ground, he went to that drawing and picked it up to see what did wallaby draw while he was out, he slowly looked into it.

It was drawn in a chidish way, with simple colors of crayons...if mason not wrong, one of the two people in it was him, having a smile on his face, next to him a smaller figure, he wasnt sure at first if thats wallaby, that figure had a colorfull hair, and a red dot to where seemed to be the nose, that figure short arms were stretched and some different colored dots where around him. Was that a clown? Why would wallaby draw his dad with a short clown next to him playing with some balls?! But suddenly it hit him..he remembered...

Wallaby previous birthday....at that day, mason only concern was to give his child a little happy party...but he couldnt even afford a cake...let alone a present...when he came back home that day all what he brought was just a red ballon, but he didnt want the birthday to just go by like that, he wanted to try and give wallaby any kind of gift, the only idea in his head was to dress as a clown and try to impress wallaby or make him laugh. He made wallaby sit on the ground and just got some random things to try and throw in the air and catch them again, which was a fail, wallaby didnt do anything, other than sitting there with a stare, when mason thought about giving up he slipped on something and fell down, that did hurt a bit, but wallaby laughed a lot! Which made mason not regret this at all and laughed with his kid "Hahahha! That was so funny dad! Why ya dressin like that? :D " " Haha...i was trying to be like a clown son! " "a clown? Oooh! So today is dressin as diffwent people day? " " Heh..I guess? " " Yaaay! Imma dress like ya dad! " Wallaby looked right and left to find something that can make him look like his dad, luckily he noticed his dad flatcap and grapped it to put it on his head " look dad! Im ya! I love my son a lot! We both get books and stare at them together! " Mason laughed because that was actually funny and true, they both cant read correctly which lead them to just stare at any book they try to read. Mason got up and put a hand on the flatcap that was on wallaby head " and this, my dear son...is my birthday gift to you...happy birthday! " Wallaby eyes looked like they were starry and he touched his dad flatcap with both his hands " wooooow!! Rewwy! Thanks dad!! " wallaby jumped on his dad giving him a tight hug, to which mason gladly gave back.

Mason now got what the drawing is talking about, in wallaby birthday party he tried to make him laugh so he can feel better...now..wallaby saw his dad was angry..and wanted him to laugh again...so he dressed as a clown and tried to make his dad smile again...just like he did to him...mason looked up the two figures to see a childish writing, its may not be written right but he tried as hard as he can to read it.

' Am srry dad u ar angre, i wont u 2 smail plz, i lov u '

Mason felt he is going to cry.

He learned it, nothing in this world can ever be above his only family. He put the drawing on a table, turned off the lights, and layed down next to wallaby, though his small son was sleeping to his side, mason hugged him from behing carefully and whispered softly.

" Im so sorry I neglected you today my precious sunshine...I wont do it again...the words wont describe how much I love you, I will be your mama and dada...and will take care of you for every moment...I am a proud dad to have you...no matter what wallaby....you will always make me proud. "

[roscoexsykes-blog]

Farlo Bene || Roscita

Time & Place: October 12th, 2018. Rome, Italy  Summary: Roscoe makes the vow to be there for Rita and their new little family during their vacation in Italy.  Trigger Warnings: None, just a bunch of fluffy romance.

@theycallme-rita

ROSCOE:

Roscoe was...in the simplest words - so fucking excited to be in Italy. It had always been something they’d talked about, and joked about with one another. Italy is great this time of year was one of Roscoe’s favorite things to say whenever something went tits up in Swynlake, and honestly? After the entire fiasco with the Hunger Games, and with this baby, and DeSoto? They all just needed to get the hell out of England.

So when Rita had seriously suggested it? Roscoe didn’t hesitate to agree - even going as far as to agree completely for Oliver and his girlfriend to come along to. Was...it potentially a bit of a liability to bring a fifteen year old girl with Oliver to a new country? Probably. Did he care? No. Kept the kid happy at least. Besides, he had a list of things those two could do to stay out of trouble, but he figured they’d be fine on their own. As long as they checked in with Rita a few times a day, he was sure she’d be content.

Today however, he’d basically handed Oliver a bit of cash and told him to do something nice today - since he needed to keep Rita occupied all day himself. He had been serious when he joked to himself about renewing their goddamn vows once they had gotten their shit together. So why not here in Italy? He hadn't talked about it with Rita, but that was part of the charm of it all. A surprise renewal - a chance to do it right. Other than the quick courthouse agreement they'd originally had.

The man had taken his wife out to a nice brunch, a quaint little mom and pop place overlooking the beautiful landscape and when they'd gotten back to their hotel room, Roscoe had simply advised Rita to get ready for a… fancy sort of occasion. God knew he didn't want her coming back at him later and teasingly yelling at him for not preparing her to look her best for something so important. He even looked rather decked out himself, standing my the mirror fixing his tie, before folding up his sleeves to just below his elbows.

“... Y’almost ready, Ri?”

RITA:

Rita was in love with Italy. There was no other way to put it. Not only did it brighten Roscoe’s face but it was beautiful. The culture could be seen in every building, the people were so friendly and welcoming, there was an ease about it that just felt so different from Swynlake and New York. She could really see herself settling down there. Finding a little cottage with Roscoe to raise their baby. Ollie could go to one of the schools. It’d be simple.

But she knew that eventually she’d get bored of easy living. She liked the fast pace of New York and Swynlake. Liked the community.

That didn’t mean she couldn’t enjoy every second of Italy. The fact Roscoe seemed to know all sorts of off the tourist map places only made it that much sweeter. She’d done the tourist thing with Ollie and Isa, had taken so many pictures for her albums. It had been fun and enjoyable; but she couldn’t say she didn’t crave the alone time with Roscoe. The way his hand would gravitate towards her stomach in quiet moments or the oh so appealing way he would stuff his own face with such a large grin… she couldn’t remember a time where he looked more boyish— or happy.

Their day had been easy and quiet; a nice brunch with one of the loveliest little couples she’d seen yet. They had regaled them with age old wisdom and fed them til Rita felt she was bound to burst. But it was good for the bambino; or so the elderly woman had told her with a warm smile.

Not the best condition to be slipping into a nicer outfit but Rita did her best. She was curious as to what her husband had up his sleeve.

She was almost ready when his voice called out and she gave an amused laugh. “Just need help zipping up,” she called back, slipping from the room in the long yellow dress she’d decided would be proper for whatever it was he had planned. “Help me?”

ROSCOE:

The corner of his lips tilted up when he heard her response, brown hues glancing over himself one last time before his attention was caught by the flash of color behind him in the mirror. For a moment, the man didn’t turn, but simply observed his wife as she entered the room, the beautiful dress honestly making her look like she could easily fit in as a princess. Letting his smile grow, Roscoe finally turned away from the mirror, gesturing for the woman to come stand in front of him as he stepped back and made room.

“Never used t’understand how yous all get ready for dates all alone.” He teased, gently brushing her soft curls around her shoulder and away from the zipper of the dress, his fingers lingering upon the nape of her shoulder for only a moment before they dropped with a sigh. “...or is this why women always get together with their girlfriends before somethin’ big. Zip each other up n’fix each other’s hair n’all that.”

Which honestly he thought was a women’s thing. It seemed to happen at least - and not just in movies. However now he was only kidding, gently poking fun as he finally let his hands carefully work the zipper up, taking caution not to pinch hair, skin or fabric between the teeth as he did so. Once it settled into place, hues raised once more over the woman’s shoulder, taking in her appearance in the mirror again as he felt his smile grow at the very image.

“Yous so fuckin’ beautiful.” He spoke quietly after a second, fingers ghosting along her hip gently as he took in the image of the both of them together - content in the fact that they even appeared so much more healthy now. Like happiness wasn’t just some far fetched dream for either of them.

RITA:

Honestly, not very many outfits Rita wore were complicated. This dress just gave in all the right places and it didn’t make her feel as bloated as the other ones she had. Why a dress, one might ask. Well, for her, at the moment anyways, they just fit better. There wasn’t any discomfort around her growing midsection and they weren’t nearly as hot as a pantsuit would have been. Plus the chances for her to dress up like this were very rare and this was Italy. One of the most romantic places on Earth.

But Roscoe was right. She needed a team to put this look together. She’d settle for Roscoe, though, because even as he zipped up the back of her dress the action was tender. It wasn’t as if his touches had never been tender before. Rita hadn’t ever wanted them to be so tender or full of love. That wasn’t what their arrangement was. It had only taken a few life or death situations and indiscretion on both parts for her to realize that.

She caught as his gaze lingered on them, a soft smile playing on her lips as she leaned into him. “Yous forget I lived with a buncha guys who did that kinda shit for me,” she answered easily, unable to hide the teasing from her tone. “Course, they weren’t as kind about it as yous. Can’t tell yous how many times I got pinched ‘fore I learned not t’buy them with zippers.”

It was easy to turn in Roscoe’s arms with how they were standing and as she did her arms lifted to wrap around his shoulders, fingers tangling softly in the hair at the nape of his neck. “We’s a good lookin’ couple, ya know. M’gonna have to beat all them old ladies off yous. Theys gonna wanna take you home t’their granddaughters or somethin’.” Rita leaned up them to press her lips to his softly. “I love yous. But are you ever gonna tell me where we’re goin’?”

ROSCOE:

A laugh slipped past the man’s lips, remember unfortunately that yes she’d always had that idiot little ragtag street gang to help her with things such as this. Honestly it wasn’t all that hard to imagine one of them impatiently ripping the zipper up her back or side, catching skin and hair and muttering a quick ‘oops shit sorry’ with a snicker - mostly because it was what he’d see himself if he was a younger teen and was asked to do that for a woman. “..M’surprised it took yous so long to figure that out in that case.” He spoke with another chuckle, letting the woman spin easily in his arms as tightened his grip around her waist.

“Oof… yous right.” The older man spoke, pressing his forehead to Rita’s own as he rolled his eyes fondly. “Gonna have to disappoint a whole lot of nonnas on this trip.” Since all of their granddaughters could go pound sand as far as he was concerned. He’d found his perfect fit - and fuck if he was gonna let her go.

Easily returning Ri’s kiss, Ros tilted his head slightly with a hum, fingers brushing over soft fabric as he rocked the pair of them ever so slightly - as if in step with his own thoughts. “...I love yous too…” He started, pulling back to see her expression before he gave a small nod. “...but absolutely not… Kinda a secret.” That was half the fun, after all. Just like the whole Prom thing; where he’d dragged Rita to Duchess’ house without informing her of that entire portion of the surprise. There was something far too endearing about the woman’s face when she was surprised, and Roscoe wasn’t trying to lose any opportunities to see that priceless expression line her features.

“I promise you’ll love it though.” Since...even if she thought the area was awful (which.. Would be a very hard feat to accomplish) he had full confidence that she’d enjoy the general idea behind what they were doing.

RITA:

“I was young and stupid,” she countered with a pout. It hadn’t happened too often. Mainly when Dodger or Tito did it. Which was why she often had Einstein or Francis do it. They were gentler, more considerate of the fact she preferred not to have red welts on her skin. Bad for business. Or maybe that was exactly why Dodger and Tito did it…

Part of Rita thought that she’d be able to weasle some sort of hint out of Roscoe. But he was being so tight lipped about it. As tight lipped as he had been about his plans for prom. It was bullshit but she understood wanting to plan a surprise. She just really wanted to be in on the secret. “Are yous sure I can’t even have a tiny hint? What if I don’t wear the right shoes?”

It was hardly an excuse but she figured that maybe just maybe he’d take pity on her poor feet. A good evening could be ruined without the proper shoes.

When it became apparent he wasn’t going to give anything up she gave a soft sigh and pulled away from him, giving him a smile as she moved towards the bathroom. There were just a few last touches she needed to do before she was actually ready. It was just hard to get ready when her husband was out there looking so goddamn handsome. All she wanted was to stay locked in the room with him while Ollie and Isa were out doing whatever it was they were doing.

As if on cue, her phone buzzed and Rita glanced down at it with a smile as she saw Ollie’s face on it. Quickly finishing her make-up, she flicked up the screen and chuckled at the selfie she saw of Ollie and Isa. “Kids are having a good time. Did they say anything t’yous about what they were doin’ today?” She moved from the bathroom again, showing Roscoe the picture. Easily she leaned into his side, head resting just slightly against his shoulder. “And m’finally ready. Ain’t doin’ no blindfold. That’s just a touch to creepy, babe.”

ROSCOE:

“..Wear shoes you’re comfortable wearing.” He replied easily, a smirk appearing on his lips as he raised a brow in response to the woman’s pout that was slipping through her features. He knew she didn’t like being a part of the plan, but..there were times when it was worth it to be a little less than clear about his intentions. Even if he wanted nothing more than to burst with the details - he was honestly pretty goddamn nervous, after all. For what reason? He wasn’t too sure, but Roscoe could still feel the slight tightness in his stomach, as if there was some sort of fear deep inside him that he’d mess this up.

A lot of work had gone into to something he’d tried to keep relatively simple...but what if she didn’t like it? This was for her, after all. It would have been a shame to see her expression twist in disappointment.

Fortunately something told him that wouldn’t be the case. Watching after the other as she twisted away and returned to the bathroom made him laugh, eyes only returning to the mirror after she was completely out of his sight. Fingers returned to his tie, adjusting it slightly before he pressed a hand into his pocket - brushing carefully over the velvet box that laid within the folds of material as if to remind himself that it was still there. That would be a very important piece of this puzzle in due time.

Rita’s words broke him from his thoughts, glancing towards the screen and rolling his eyes (actually fondly though) at the picture of Oliver and his girlfriend. “Well...I mean would you believe me if I told yous I paid ‘em off t’do whatever they wanted tonight?” He spoke, tone teasing even if that’s pretty much exactly what he’d done. “...otherwise no. I guess you’ll just have to get that story from him later.” Not that Roscoe wasn’t positive she absolutely would tomorrow. He was sure the trio of them would catch up easily over breakfast. “...no blindfolds? Y’sure? Shit’s kinky ain’t?”

A laugh escaped him as he let his hand rest around her back, pressing a quick kiss to her temple before he moved to escort her from their room, leading her down the hall as he pushed a sigh from between his lips. “Good news though…” He spoke again after a moment, pressing the call button for the elevator, and stepping into it as it arrived, mischievous gaze landing upon his wife as he leaned against the wall of the lift. “...We don’t have to go too far, right?” Words were spoken as he pressed the button within the elevator - however instead of pressing the button to lead them down to the lobby, instead the man had simply pressed the very top one, marked easily to identify not a floor of suites, but...rather a floor that would lead towards the roof. Or at least… easily identifiable to a man that understood the letter combination along the metal.

RITA:

Those words were not helpful at all and Rita frowned just a bit as she stared at the shoes she’d brought. She hadn’t brought any real heels. They hurt her feet and probably weren’t too good for her anymore. But they still looked nice and she did like them. Still, impractical depending on where Roscoe was taking her. Flats would probably be better. Even though they weren’t ideal for her dress. Hindsight was a shitty thing.

Still, she slipped them on and moved easily with Roscoe out the door. “Paid off Ollie and Isa? This is a big thing.” It made her somewhat suspicious as they headed towards the elevator. What was so important that he had to pay off the kids to not show up? Even when he’d surprised her with a trip to Duchess’ home, he hadn’t had the need to keep Ollie busy. Maybe that meant that even Oliver didn’t know what was happening. It made her stomach tighten into knots, her hand holding tight to Roscoe’s.

“I’ll let yous blindfold me if you give me a hint.” She smirked up at him as they stepped into the elevator. As the doors slid shut she pressed herself against him, leaning as he pressed a button. For all her wanting to know where they were going, she didn’t pay attention to what button he was pressing. She just assumed that they were going to be making their way to the lobby. It was the only place they’d gone every other time they left the room. Why would it be any different this time?

She looked up at him as the elevator started moving, the direction not the one she was expecting. “We’re not leaving the hotel?” She asked with a raised brow as she pulled away from him just slightly. “You’ve got something up your sleeve and I’m onto yous.”

ROSCOE:

Okay so really Roscoe couldn’t pretend that he wasn’t at least getting some enjoyment out of watching Rita’s suspicions and confusion register across her features. It was like with every word he said to her, more and more cogs were turning trying to process the mystery being laid out in front of her. It was the real reason he pressed his lips tightly together in an attempt to teasingly tell Rita that basically; he wasn’t budging.

She wouldn’t have to suffer for too long, at the very least, which was why this was an event that was told her to rather last minute compared to the amount of time he’d spent planning it. A single brow raised to mirror her own as Rita turned to him with that accusatory gaze, innocence attempting to be displayed on his features, though he was sure it came off as something far more mischievous. He was too much of a trouble maker to even pretend to pull of an innocent look. “What’chu mean?” Ros teased, gesturing to the sides with his hands and glancing down at his arms as if he was looking just for that trick she was so implying. “I even got my sleeves rolled up t’show I’s ain’t hiding nothin’.” Even if that was a blatant lie.

It didn’t take a genius to see he was planning something - though clearly it would require quite the analyst to find out just what that something was.

“Yous just gotta trust me ain’t.” Ros mumbled, raising a hand to brush a strand of the other woman’s hair behind her ear as the elevator chimed with a soft ‘ding!’. “C’mon. Let me show yous something.” He tried, offering the woman his hand with a smile - making sure it was locked in his grip once more before they exited - walking down the narrow, dimly lit hall. At the end simply was a door, one that, once again, clearly displayed the words warning about roof access and needing permission to enter - that Ros simply ignored as he used his free hand to pull a keycard from his pocket. “Y’gotta promise not to get mad though.” He spoke, offering a smile as he swiped the card without waiting for an answer - opening the door and holding it open with a nod of his head for Rita to go.

Thankfully they were right on time, Roscoe could tell just by the way the sunlight filtered through the door when he’d opened it, the warm and dimming rays illuminating their surroundings - but most importantly, creating the most incredible portrait of Roma, and everything beautiful about her; all very much visible right outside the door. That alone was distracting enough he was sure - potentially enough for the woman to bother searching the rooftop for more clues - since there certainly were a few.

RITA:

Roscoe’s sleeves might have been rolled up, showing off the tattoo she loved so much, but she knew there was something he wasn’t telling her. Secrets he was keeping from her for whatever this surprise was. And Rita loved surprises, she did. But mainly she liked planning them. There was something to be said about watching the way someone would light up when the surprise was revealed. It was like watching a sunrise over the city skyline. It was a magical thing and she could see why Roscoe would want such a thing but it was beyond irritating for her.

Still, she let her hands travel up her arms, playing along with the little game she’d accidentally started. “Dunno how much I can believe that,” she hummed, tracing his tattoo slowly. “You’ve got this look, too, yous know. Always gives you away.” After three years of marriage it was easy to tell when the other was up to something. Not that they always called each other out on it. Some surprises were meant to be just that--- a surprise.

It was easy to let that suspicion fade away when his hands were being gentle with her and for a moment she leaned into it, nodding slightly. “Just so long as yous ain’t bringing me up here t’like do me in or somethin’.” She couldn’t help the teasing. It helped ease her own feelings over what was happening. Before she could fully relax into it the elevator was dinging and Roscoe was ushering her out. The hallway was less welcoming as the one to their room and Rita couldn’t help but wonder exactly why she’d needed to get so dressed up. Nothing fancy could after this hallway.

But this was Roscoe. The King of romantic dates and unorthodox surprises.

“Why would I ge---” she trailed off as the door opened and Rita was met with the most beautiful view she’d ever seen. It was like she was seeing the city for the first time. When she’d stepped off the plane she’d been impressed with what she saw but it was nothing compared to this. The sun illuminated everything in its path. It felt as if her breath caught in her throat as she moved closer to the railing on the roof, wanting to be closer to it.

“It’s beautiful,” she whispered, turning to look at Roscoe for a moment before letting her gaze fall back to the view. “Its--- Its gorgeous.”

ROSCOE:

There was a countdown in his head to when Rita would fall into the trap that Roma’s beautiful held. It was almost impossible not to get sucked into it, and so when Rita’s words cut off,  Roscoe couldn’t help but smile, following her gaze and admiring the view that felt so much like home to him. It didn’t matter he’d not grown up here - nor potentially even ever been here. Everything about it spelled home, and with Rita here with him? It might as well have been.

Ros followed her out along the roof, letting her move towards the railing as he hung back slightly, nodding at her words as a small laugh slipped from his lips. “È sempre bello qui…” He responded, honestly not meaning to slip into Italian but it seemed far more fitting here. Flowed much more naturally, and felt right. Even if it was twinged with the accent that pinned him easily to New York. His words were honest though - it was always beautiful here.

Just like Rita.

As just like Roma - Rita was always just as beautiful. While she was busy staring off into the sunset, Roscoe sidestepped slightly, picking up the single red rose that had been left as discussed along a ledge beside the door, fingers gently smoothing over the stalk as he finally joined Rita by the banister, watching the sky for a moment. “I wanted yous t’see the real Italy.” He spoke after another moment, letting his gaze drop to her as he offered her the flower within his hand with a gentle smile - one that was so rare, yet so genuine.

“Figure it’d be the perfect spot…”

RITA:

Rita was lost in the view of Italy. It was hard not to be when the view was this amazing. Roscoe had taken her to some truly beautiful places while they were there. Places that weren’t flooded with tourists and people that didn’t know about them. It was as if she got to see the real Italy. Even if neither of them had actually been there before. With Roscoe, though, it felt like they’d been living there for years now. They should have done this sooner. They should have gotten their shit together before this point. It shouldn’t have taken Swynlake killing both of them in some weird ass dream or them cheating on each other or any of the other terrible things they’d endured since moving to the small town.

No more. She promised herself that they wouldn’t back track. They’d keep on this track. Keep getting better and better. They’d keep this feeling of love and contentment.

She didn’t notice that Roscoe had moved from beside her. Her eyes stayed locked on the view, on Italy. She had no idea what he said other than beautiful but she knew that whatever it was he said, she agreed. Beautiful was the only way that this could be described.

But when his warmth returned, Rita turned to look up at him, that same wonder still written so clearly on her features. “I think you’ve been showin’ me the real Italy the whole time,” she whispered, not wanting to speak too loud in fear of breaking whatever magic there was in the moment. Her smile turned soft as she took the offered rose, wondering where exactly he’d gotten it from. Maybe it was all part of his plan. What even was his plan? Maybe--- Maybe it didn’t matter anymore. What mattered was the fact that both of them were there and in love. She could feel it so warm in her chest.

“The perfect spot for what?”

ROSCOE:

When Roscoe had originally asked Rita to marry him there had been no romance. It hadn’t been cute, or memorable, or even remotely something to cherish. It had simply been a conversation..a agreement that the pair had come to really. It hadn’t been too long after they’d known each other either. Simply put, Roscoe knew had known at the moment that Rita hadn’t seen him the way that he’d seen her - and even then, Roscoe didn’t see Rita the way he did now. It was far more possessive, less love (though there was still love) and more infatuation.

Now however that all seemed so far away. There wasn’t a single situation in which Roscoe could imagine himself without Rita by his side. She was his everything - more now than ever. Who else did he really have if he didn’t have Rita? He’d abandoned his family, and they’d abandoned him in return. His friends were severely lacking, and out of the rare few, there was only one he’d really considered close. One he’d just managed to get right again.

...and it made him realize he’d wanted to make this right again too.

At the woman’s question, Roscoe could only smile - a nervous hint to it as he shrugged his shoulders lightly. A hand reached out, carefully holding the one Rita wasn’t currently holding the flower with as he rubbed a thumb gently over the skin of her palm. “...The perfect spot to… well.” He paused, gaze dropping with another small laugh as he shifted in his spot. “...t’do this, ain’t.” Roscoe finished, giving that hand a small squeeze and moving forward to steal a quick kiss to the woman’s lips.

However that wasn’t his main intentions - and so when he pulled back, Roscoe was sure to keep a hold of the woman’s hand, even as he did the one thing he’d failed to do when he’d asked for Rita’s hand over three years ago. Get down on one knee.

For a moment, it felt incredibly weird - looking up at his wife, as he knelt upon the rough surface of the roof, however… with the beautiful cityscape to their side, and his entire world in front of him, Roscoe couldn’t imagine doing anything else. “I uhm… Y’know I figured we’ve been through an… an awful lot. And...that a hell of a lotta thin’s have changed ain’t? And...most people renew their vows after they get through that kinda thing but…” He trailed off, meeting Rita’s gaze as he offered her a soft smile, thumb still idly tracing the woman’s skin. “...I didn’t want to renew ‘em. I..I wanted to redo ‘em - cause yous mean so fuckin’ much to me, Rita. Everything about yous just… gives me a reason t’get up in the mornin’ y’know? ...and I can’t wait to continue growin’ our family together with yous. I just..I want yous to know that. That I love yous so fuckin’ much I can’t...I mean I can’t even say it enough. ...and that I promise I..I’m always gonna try n’be better for yous. You’re my entire world, Ri, and… I still want t’spend every minute of my life with yous.”

And that was the honest to god’s truth. Something he would never lie about. So as soon as he managed to get the small shake of his hand under control, Roscoe let his hand slip back into his pocket - finally letting go of Rita’s hand in order to present the box towards her - opening it to reveal the ring he’d gotten her. Not so much a wedding ring but… a ring that symbolized their family. No matter how little, and broken - it was everything.

RITA:

There was no words to describe the tenderness of this moment. She still wasn’t sure what Roscoe was doing; whether the sudden tenderness had anything to do with being in Italy or if there was something else behind it all. After all, this side of Roscoe was new to her. All of this was new to her, new to them. Everything leading up to this had been more like an arranged marriage. The two of the coming together because it benefited them. Rita got the security she’d always wanted as well as a good life for Oliver and Roscoe got the pretty girl to dangle off his arm. It wasn’t a fair arrangement but it worked (barely).

But now? Now everything had changed. They’d grown. Both as a couple and as individuals. They weren’t the same people they’d been three years ago when this had started. Moving to Swynlake had probably been one of the best things they could have done. At least for their relationship. Their mental health had suffered greatly but it had ultimately brought them closer. Breaking down those walls that they had both built up before they’d even met each other had been a pivotal point for them. Without it this would have never happened. They would have never made it to Italy, she wouldn’t have ever gotten pregnant. They wouldn’t have been happy.

Her brows furrowed in confusion as he spoke, watching him as he shifted nervously in front of her. “Ros, what’re yo---”

She trailed off as he knelt in front of her, tears immediately clouding her vision. This was actually happening. Roscoe was… He was proposing to her. Properly. Like they did in all the sappy romantic movies. Like people in love did. This wasn’t supposed to be something she’d ever have. The decisions she’d made in her life had made sure of it. All Rita was convinced she’d ever know was a warm body pressed against hers because they’d paid the most. And when she’d married Roscoe it was because he had offered the most. What use was it whining about something as silly as love when she had financial security and her boy taken care of for life? Love wasn’t meant for Rita Saluki.

Yet here Roscoe was, on his knees telling her that he loved her more than anything and that he wanted to do this all right.

A small sob broke past her lips as he stopped speaking and reached into his pocket, pulling out a small box. This was all too much; way too much. Rita knew that her husband had a flare for the dramatic. That nothing he did was small. But this? This was more than a necklace because it matched her dress or even a Duchess LaBlanc dress for a silly adult prom. This was a ring with Oliver’s name etched in it, his birthstone with it, and a blank spot for their baby with their projected birthstone next to it. It was so overwhelming as she beamed down at him, eyes watery as she tried to get herself under control. He’d had her put all that effort into getting ready and looking nice and she was ruining it by crying uncontrollably.

She dropped to her knees then, cupping Roscoe’s cheeks with her hands. “I love yous so fuckin’ much, you asshole,” she breathed, pressing her lips to his. “I don’t wanna do this with anyone else but yous. I-- I don’t care if we’s renew ‘em or redo ‘em… Whatever. I just wanna-- I wanna spend forever with yous. Even if yous drive me batty an’ make me wanna pull my hair out.” She kissed him again, this time letting it linger before she pulled away. “I love yous.”

ROSCOE:

In a way, Rita and himself were far too similar. He also never thought in a million years that he’d be here. If someone would have asked him when he was younger if he would ever get married...ever have kids? He would have looked at DeSoto with a scoff, and the two of them would have laughed in the face of whoever asked. He never knew what it was like to have more than a brother’s love in his life - never got to see what a functional marriage was supposed to be.

And he knew Rita never did either.

So perhaps that was what made it that much more special. Knowing that the two of them were always completely winging this thing they had together - and that they’d actually gotten to this point together when Roscoe was sure this entire thing would have crumpled a long time ago. It’d been one of his biggest fears, to watch Rita walk out on him when she finally found a better alternative - and though they’d since come to actually find real reason within their relationship, there was something about the way her expression twisted, the way tears flowed freely that almost cemented the fact that Rita was no longer lying to him when she said she loved him.

His free hand was quick to mirror the woman’s own actions, cupping her one cheek gently as his thumb brushed at those tears carefully - his own swimming dangerously behind his eyes, even if he didn’t wish to acknowledge them. The kisses were accepted easily, his fingers curling behind the woman’s neck as he smiled - a small breath of a laugh slipping from his lips as they finally parted. For a moment, Roscoe could only take in the beautiful face in front of him; knowing she loved him, and that together they were so much stronger.

“I love yous too.” He finally returned when he found his way around his words, wiping another tear from her face before pulling her forward and pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “...I always want yous t’kick my ass if I do somethin’ stupid but.. I’m trying to minimize that for yous.” Honestly, not drinking seemed to help an awful lot with that anyways. Letting his hand drop from Rita’s cheek, Roscoe took her own in his once more, thumb twisting that old wedding band absently for a moment before he picked the new one from the box, carefully slipping it onto her finger - the pair seemingly complimenting each other in the way an engagement ring might. Yet they’d always been missing one of those, hadn’t they?

“...famiglia è tutto.” He spoke quietly, letting his hands cup her own before he gaze finally rose once more to meet her own. “...this is the most important thing to me.” He promised, giving her hand a quick squeeze.

RITA:

This moment, framed perfectly and most likely on purpose by her husband, was one that Rita would never forget. It would be etched in her mind for the rest of her life as the real night Roscoe proposed to her. That conversation about getting together out of convenience never happened in her mind. The years of arguing and fighting were just a pit stop on their way to here. To something that was better. Not quite picture perfect but perfect for them. Neither thought they would have something like this but what they had was special and it fit them.   

Her hands shook only slightly as he slipped the ring onto her finger. It was perfect and she couldn’t help but admire it with those watery eyes of hers. The perfect engagement ring to go with her wedding band. She rubbed her own finger over it, feeling it as she looked down at it.

Family…

It was all she had ever wanted. Somewhere that she not only belonged but something she could feel and possess. Looking harder at it, it was entirely possible to say she simply wanted love. Love that didn’t have expectations or a price tag or limitations. She wanted someone who didn’t expect anything from her. No adoptive parents expecting her to be the perfect child, no partner expecting her to hang off their arm and look pretty, no friends expecting her to do exactly what they wanted. Now, all Roscoe wanted, all it seemed he wanted, was her love and happiness. And that was all she wanted from him. Nothing more and nothing less.

“Famiglia è tutto,” she repeated the words slowly, knowing what it meant only by the sincerity of which Roscoe had spoken them and the words that followed.

ROSCOE:

There was never any way to truly predict how this entire thing would have went. However even if Roscoe would have tried, there was certainly no way in hell he would have imagined it looking anything like this. With Rita looking so goddamn perfect in front of him, looking at that ring on her hand as if it was the key to everything they’d ever needed. Perhaps in a way in was.

It signified so much to them. To her. That was the entire reason he’d gone for a mother’s ring such as that over the standard for an ‘engagement’ ring. Somehow picking one that showed them as a whole, that signified all the work she as a person had done to bring this family together made it so much better. Part of it also just helped him in ways that words failed. Such as the dream bullshit had helped in slowly accepting Oliver into his family as one of his own, this ring helped to tell Rita that in a way that he’d never really be able to form with his own words. It was a hard thing to talk about between them, but he simply hoped this would do it justice. That anytime she looked down and saw it, she’d know they were truly a family. Every single one of them.

“...famiglia è tutto.. Family is everything.” He finally translated with a smile, knowing the meaning was probably already mostly understood surrounding the context, but knowing it was important she understood it nonetheless. Lifting a hand to quickly rub at his eyes - no, he wasn’t crying, shut up - Roscoe gave a small sigh, glancing to their side and noticing the way the sun was disappearing behind the skyline - the way it reflected off her features as his gaze switched back to Rita’s own. “...I want t’start a new chapter with you.” He spoke, his hand gently turning her own in an effort to see those two rings along her finger. “...So thank you… for giving me that chance. For...not just givin’ up on me.” Because honestly? Despite the circumstances? He probably would have given up on himself if he was in her shoes.

RITA:

Family is everything.

How fitting that that was a motto that meant so much to the both of them. How fitting that it was that which brought them close together, brought them back together. The saying that was engraved not only on the band of her new engagement ring but also in her mind.

Family is everything.

She smiled as he wiped away her tears that were still falling, albeit slowly, from her eyes. It couldn’t be helped, though. There was so much emotion inside of her if she didn’t cry she was scared she would implode. And she would never complain about feeling so close to her husband. She was finding she wanted it more and more; and she did not have to feel foolish for asking for it or initiating it anymore. “I love yous.” She murmured the words again, kissing him softly, as she shifted just a bit closer.

“You shouldn’t be thankin’ me, yous know that.” She whispered after a moment, looking up to Roscoe. “Yous always had a feelin’, some sorta spark or somethin’, ain’t? Yous stuck around with me for three years not even sure if-- If I even cared about yous.” She gave a soft laugh as she wiped at her eyes. “Yous stuck around waiting for me and… and I’m really fuckin’ glad you did. M’glad we got here. Ready t’start a new chapter together.”

ROSCOE:

“..n’I love you.” He returned once more, knowing that ever since she’d said it with the true meaning - the feeling behind his own had only shifted to reflect that. Becoming far less pleading and unsure, and instead just confident. Confident and loving, as it should be. A tone he knew wouldn’t be changing anytime soon, and he was so goddamn thankful for it.

Hands raised to gently swipe away those tears she’d been trying to rid herself of, Roscoe’s lips turning up in a gentle smile as he couldn’t help but laugh as well. It seemed so… weird now. To remember that..her words were true, and that he’d simply skirted by the past few years with the odd hope that one day Rita would turn around and love him too. Even weirder to know that...it actually had happened. “I’d...wait for you forever. Stupid as it sounds...but s’true. I’d always wait for yous.” A fact he’d apparently proved by being here now.

“...see if we’s could drink, this is where we’d make some cheesy toast to ‘a new chapter’.” The man teased quietly, voice coming out in a soft whisper as he glanced off to the side, as if looking for someone that was intruding on their conversation. However, a moment later, and Roscoe simply let his arms slip to the woman’s shoulders, pulling her into a tight hug as a sigh fell from his lips. “...sorry about ruinin’ your makeup though, Ri.” He teased with a laugh, squeezing his wife tightly, before he pulled back, pushing himself to a stand so that he could offer his hands out to her to help her stand up.

“...Also...are blindfolds still off the table…?” He asked with another mischievous little grin, tilting his head much like their dogs when they were curious about something.

RITA:

The evening couldn’t have been more perfect. Roscoe had truly, truly surprised her with one of the best outings of their trip. But that had been each day in Italy. Roscoe always managing to go above and beyond what she expected. She had expected their trip to be relaxing, a much needed break from Swynlake. And it had but in between their afternoons and evenings at the hotel, Roscoe had taken her places and shown her things that she hadn’t ever dreamed of seeing.

And maybe that was his plan to get her to agree to move to Italy. He was always saying it was better than Swynlake. And it was.

She’d barely noticed the way her knees were starting to protest from being on the ground when Roscoe rose. She took his hand and slowly stood, clinging to his arm as she made to steady herself. It happened more often than not but she did her best to ignore it. As long as she wasn’t falling over or fainting they were good. “Yous should know better than t’tease a pregnant lady about alcohol,” she pouted up at him, though she wanted to laugh. It had actually been surprisingly easy to cut all of it out of her every day routine. The health of her baby was more important than a drink. But it didn’t mean that she still didn’t crave a bit of wine here and there. Especially in Italy where it was had with almost every meal.

His head tilted and she raised an eyebrow at him, wondering what he had up his sleeve this time. Why he kept asking about that blindfold was what confused the most. It was as if this wasn’t the only part of the surprise. Which was ridiculous because this was more than enough. He’d given her a fucking engagement ring on the roof of one of the most beautiful hotels she’d ever been to overlooking a city that was breathtaking. It was overwhelming and more than she could have ever asked for.

“Already told you, babes, blindfolds are for the bedroom only.”

ROSCOE:

The man couldn’t help the half smirk that appeared on his lips at the alcohol comment, his shoulders shrugging up idly with a small laugh. “Aw c’mon. Yous don’t really miss it that much.” At least.. Roscoe didn’t so.. He had to assume that Rita didn’t either. They had both been pretty similar in the habit, so to speak, so it made sense to assume they’d both step away from it with the same mindsets.

“Kinky.” Roscoe laughed, giving a small wink as he looked out over the city - the lights of every building just starting to flicker on among the street lamps, and small fires of distant festivals and traditions. He’d only asked of course, because it wasn’t exactly over. Now it might not have been nearly on the same level as what they’d just done, of course, but… when Roscoe had planned this whole thing out… well, there had been something he’d enjoyed a little too much from a previous event that he couldn’t help but include here too.

Something he figured Rita might get a small kick out of - or at least a laugh at his expense if anything.

“...I suppose it’s not really blindfold necessary anyways.” Ros waved off, turning back to her with a smile as he nodded his head to the side. “...’sides you’ve already kinda seen half of it anyways.” Since...it was still on this rooftop. The damn big rooftop though, and that was certainly a good thing. “C’mon.” He spoke softly, gently leading the woman with one hand towards the opposite side of the roof - slipping past a narrow pathway between the banister and the way in which they’d entered the roof in order to slip onto the other half of the area - already lit up softly with strung lights that extended from extensions of the balcony back to the roof behind them, resembling all those rooftop bars from back home - that always had this kind of set up in the summer when everyone would just sit outside all night long and enjoy the weather.

Except this wasn’t a rooftop bar, and there wasn’t a crowd of people to fight through - it was just the two of them surrounded by Italy. “...I was thinking maybe...I could have this dance?” He asked with another small laugh, waiting a beat - complete with a glance towards the building—one that seemingly resulted in the gentle accompaniment of music in which they could dance to. Thanks, Fabrizio.

RITA:

Roscoe knew her and his comment only made her chuckle as she wiped at her eyes, trying to keep it from looking like a disaster. She didn’t know what else he had planned; if he was taking her anywhere she wanted to look presentable and not like an over emotional mess. “I don’t miss it. We’s gettin something much better in the long run.” It was a God’s honest truth. Their baby was a good trade off for not drinking for the next year or so.

They lapsed into a comfortable silence, just watching the cityscape before them. It was like magic how lights just appeared, peppering the rapidly darkening sky like fairies. Or how Rita imagined fairies to be when at night. Bright spots of light illuminating the sky in their wake. It was soft and romantic and it reminded her of nights back home. When the gang would climb up onto rooftops in the dead of night and just… exist. She’d had that with Roscoe a few times here and there; each time something special in her mind. This one was only going to be added to it, their first night in this new chapter of their lives.

She wished she’d had her camera with her.

But then Roscoe was speaking again and that eyebrow of hers raised even as she gave him a soft smile as she took his hand. It was easy to follow him back towards the door, thinking that whatever came next would be behind it. Until they passed by the door and moved to a different part of the roof.  

And just as before, Rita’s eyes widened as she took in everything around her. It was a fairytale. Something she had read about in books when she was much younger. The kind of thing that only happened in movies. Her life was never meant to resemble a storybook or a movie. It was raw and gritty. But Roscoe…. Roscoe was making it magical nearly every day.

“Course you can,” she breathed out, turning to look at him with the same soft features she’d had at prom when they’d done this. The music began to waft through the air and Rita couldn’t help but let out a small huff of a laugh. “You’re incredible, you know,” she smiled softly, wondering idly what she had done to deserve all of this.

ROSCOE:

Roscoe certainly hadn’t been kidding when he’d imagined this all in his head. He wanted this to be special for Rita - and if that meant going out of his way, if it meant planning and begging other’s for cooperation? Well hell, he was going to try his damn best to get everything to fall into place. That was why as soon as the option was on the table, Roscoe had begun planning for this. He’d made the arrangements as soon as they agreed on dates, and made sure to make a phone call or...dozens in order to make sure everything could be worked out.

He’d had one hell of a conversation with the owner of this hotel, after all. However thankfully the guy was a romantic at heart himself, and couldn’t help but offer his help to Roscoe in doing all this. He’d granted him the roof access, with little questions asked on what they would be doing up here - and hooked him up with the grounds security manager Fabrizio - who..for an old born and raised Italian was certainly open to helping as well. For once he had to give it to them too - he wouldn’t have been able to get all this shit together if it hadn’t been for them, and it was rare he could be appreciative of other people’s help. This time however, he felt so incredibly in debt to them, especially now as he watched Rita’s expression melt into soft adoration. His own smile mirrored her own as he shrugged his shoulders idly.

“...Only because you’ve given me a reason t’be.” He replied quietly, stepping forward and letting his hand rest upon her hip, as his opposite curled into her own, slowly leading her within their impromptu dance. What he’d said was complete truth in his opinion. What path had he been truly going down before he’d met her? A life of crime and family bullshit with DeSoto and their dad, a life that he’d never fully wanted to be a part of but felt like there was no way out. Rita...well she’d been part of that out. She’d given him something to look forward to - been someone that he could talk to that didn’t cycle around the mafia or the family or any of that. The person who’d kicked his ass into gear and was doing more every day to set him straight. She made him a better person every day. She was the reason he was still here.

As much as he loved his brother - there was a reason he was here with Rita and not back home with them.

She saved his life. Whether she realized that or not - she saved him. He’d only just started to realize that she deserved so much more from him than he’d been giving her. She deserved better, and hell if he wasn’t going to try to make things right. That was why this had been so important to him. Roscoe wanted her to know that this was important to him; that they were important to him.

RITA:

Nothing could have ever prepared Rita for this. For a time in her life where she had everything that she had ever wanted. The dreams she’d had as a child had been written off long ago. How could she ever achieve them when she lived in a run down apartment and made her money selling her body to the highest bidder? Love only lasted a night or two; it was fleeting and unattainable. Marrying Roscoe hadn’t done anything at the time except convince her that her dreams were forever gone. Left as nothing more than a childish escape from a far from perfect childhood.

It was prom that had brought those dreams back to her. The ones where she was allowed to be happy, where she had the love she had always wanted, the family she had always wanted. Prom had been the first time that Rita had seen the love her husband had for her, it had been the first time Rita had allowed herself to feel that love herself. It had been the selflessness that Roscoe had shown. It had been the way that even though he had showered her with all the intricate planning, he hadn’t expected anything from her. It was a gift without any strings attached. It was this. This perfect evening in the most romantic city in all of the world that was focused on them.

The perfect beginning to their new chapter.

Again those tears came, slipping quietly down her cheeks as Roscoe spoke. She still didn’t understand it. Didn’t understand how she had given him so much when she had fought him so hard for so many years. When she had run away from him so often. How could he feel so strongly, say such sweet things, hold her in such a regard? She’d been a terrible wife. Was still just learning how to maneuver their relationship in a way that didn’t cause conflict every few hours.

But Roscoe wanted to stay with her. He always was there. When she acted like a brat and ran away for days on end, when she was sick and acting like a child, when she was over excited over a new song and more than ready to show it to somebody, anybody. If there was one constant in her life outside of the gang, it was Roscoe. Always there to make sure she was taken care of and that she was happy. Ready to give her the moon if she asked for it.

Except she didn’t want the moon. She wanted this. Him. The both of them together and happy and working towards a functioning relationship.

“And here I thought I just drove yous batshit,” she gave a small chuckle, following Roscoe’s slow and graceful steps.

ROSCOE:

He only broke away from the positioning of their intimate dance to raise a hand to her face, gently cupping the woman’s cheek and swiping his thumb against her skin in attempt to rid her features of those pesky tears that seemed to just keep coming back. Roscoe could only be thankful however that they were purely happy tears - that she wasn’t here crying because he’d done something stupid or upset her. Instead, that he’d finally gotten it right and that she was only crying because he managed to get his shit together.

It might’ve taken over three years - but Roscoe wasn’t kidding when he said he wanted to start fresh. To begin this new chapter with her with a foundation built off of love and trust, rather than need and desperation.

Rita was his everything. His sun and moon, his stars and his dreams. She was his whole goddamn world, and it sure was about time he started treating her like she was.

“Naw.” He returned quietly, letting their bodies move gracefully under the soft twinkle of the string lights of the roof - mixing perfectly with the now emerging stars of the early evening. “..Yous only drive me batshit in the best way possible.” Which was true - because even when she did drive him batshit, it only reminded him of why he loved her so much. Even if she was giving him hell, or the cold shoulder. He still saw that woman he loved dearly.

The woman he twirled ever so gently within his arms, pulling her back against his chest gently a moment after and pressing a careful kiss to her temple. “...and I always want yous t’drive me batshit, ‘cause at least then I know yous still believe in me.”

So he’d take it - every single day for the rest of his life. Because all he wanted more than anything in the world was to spend the rest of his life with the woman still tucked within his arms - just her and their perfect little family.

After all, famiglia è tutto.

[esseastri]

Megan Reads Oathbringer (part 9)

Happy New Year, y’all.

“Heavy Fuel” by Dire Straits is a punk!Dalinar song, sorry, I don’t make the rules.

Part 9 encompasses pages 666-753 (previous parts)

Pray for the mountain internet, please, that it lets me do this liveblog without dropping tumblr every five minutes.

okay, but Elhokar is drawing a map and I’m suddenly vaguely desperate for Elhokar/Eshonai map buddies.

I s2g every time someone calls him “the bridgeman” I just hiss protectively. HE HAS A NAME

oh snap his baby’s name is Gavinor. that’s... listen bud, your dad doesn’t deserve to have anyone named after him, sorry.

“Nice work, Elhokar.” *Gloryspren* THIS CHILD NEEDS MORE ENCOURAGEMENT, PLS, HELP HIM. BE KIND TO HIM. HUG HIM.

“Storming lighteyes, Veil thought as she watched [the food distribution].” YEAH HON, THAT GOES FOR YOU TOO, NORMALLY.

Okay, no, not quite--Shallan would probably not go so far as to send her servants to get food that could be given to the poor instead of rich people, but like... the principle stands. Shallan does not recognize her own privilege half the time, and I guess?? that “Veil” noticing it... might? be a step in the right direction? But... probably not until she fuses her multiple identities back into one person.

And that doesn’t seem like it’s happening any time soon.

HOID

WHY ARE YOU WEARING SADEAS COLORS? 

aw yis. storytime.

Aight, can Hoid see through Lightweaving, or can he just recognize Shallan by like... her stance and the way she moves or? HOW COOL IS HE, IS WHAT I’M ASKING HERE.

“You look like you could use the opportunity to buy me something to eat.” HOID, PLS.

“I’m not stupid enough to get mixed up in religion again.” Again. Hoid, wth does that mean.

but dear god, Hoid as a Herald would be hilarious.

THE LAST SEVEN TIMES HE’S TRIED IT. WTH, HOID, OH MY GOD.

“The sum total of stupid people is somewhere around the population of the planet. Plus one.” “Plus one?” “Sadeas counts twice.” GOD BLESS, WIT.

wait, so he wasn’t lying about the promise? About “always being there when needed” but not always knowing where or why? hm. Interesting concept. That I kind of love and wish I’d thought of first.

“Who came with you?” “Kaladin, Adolin, Elhokar, some of our servants.” I thiiiink the other bridgemen would take offense at that, but sure. Whatever.

I’m...intensely amused that chapter 69 is titled “Free Meal, No Strings.” Because I’m eleven and crude as fuck.

Idk, Kaladin, they have a point: the world is ending, so you might as well party. You can be miserable and afraid, or you can be partying and afraid. I’d go with the second.

OH OOOHHHHH OH ADOLIN CALLED HIM “KAL” AND I DIED A LITTLE BIT INSIDE

MY BOY’S GOT FRIENDS AGAIN AND HIS FRIENDS ARE ADOLIN AND I’M CRY

(but dear god, the Kadolin is real)

Also, Adolin being stupidly happy about getting a new wardrobe is giving me life, I LOVE THIS RIDICULOUS FASHION BOY

HEHEHEH Adolin is going to bring Skar and Drehy pastries from the lighteyes party, that’S SO CUTE I LOVE THIS

“What?” “What what?” “You’re going drinking with bridgemen?” “Sure. Skar, Drehy, and I go way back.” “We spent some time keeping His Highness from falling into chasms.” I’M LIVING MY CROPS ARE FLOURISHING MY SKIN IS CLEAR THIS IS ALL I EVER WANTED THIS IS THE BEST THING THAT’S EVER HAPPENED TO ME I LOVE THIS I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS.

“He felt good lots of days. Trouble was, on the bad days, that was hard to remember. At those times, for some reason, he felt like he had always been in darkness, and always would be. Why was it so hard to remember? Did he have to keep slipping back down? Why couldn’t he stay up here in the sunlight, where everyone else lived?”

The Megan-and-Kaladin-Think-the-Same-Exact-Way-and-It’s-Both-Comforting-and-Terrifying Trend continues. 

Sometimes people ask me why he’s my favorite and I just. Have literally never related more strongly to another person ever, real life or fictional. It’s wild.

ADOLIN COMING TO CHECK ON KALADIN WHEN HE FALLS BEHIND WORRYING.

THERE IS TOO MUCH. STORMING. KADOLIN. IN THIS BOOK.

I love that the phrase “and you’re lighteyed today” is a normal thing now. That it changes and he can just. change it. and they’ve all accepted it. I love it.

PUNCHY GUYS.

IT’S THE ACADEMIC TERM

SWORDY FELLOWS OR SPEARISH CHAPS. AXALACIOUS BLOKE.

bless these two nerds

“Adolin Kholin was simply a good person. Powder-blue clothing and all. You couldn’t hate a man like him; storms, you kind of had to like him.”

YOU REALLY REALLY DO. He’s infectious, this sunlight boy. And I adore him.

oh no

“Should have just gone to the party” YES YES YOU SHOULD HAVE. I’M WORRY.

also, why did the illusion wear off????? Shallan, what you do?

“The stew didn’t smell anywhere near as good as Rock’s.” HEHEH Nothing does, I’m sure.

I loooooove that Kaladin gets to tell the truth about Amaram now. Drag him, my boy.

the over-friendly wall guards are makin me nervous

I’m sure there are some good men here, and a lot of good soldiers, but... who are they and where did they come from and why are they all lighteyes and.... I have sooo many questions.

......I don’t remember if the squires’ eyes turn light when they’ve been flying with Kaladin.

I don’t think they do, but I don’t remember, and now I’m thinking...maybe the highmarshal is. some kind of Radiant whose squires are all...lighteyes?

hm

AAHH!!!!??? AAAHH!!???? A LADY SHARDBEARER!!!!!?? A LADY!!!!

Okay. That was a pretty dang good speech.

But who is shhheeee

Is she a radiant or is that an Honorblade???

Mmmmmm, Kaladin also thinks she’s a Radiant, but WHICH KIND? If she’s got a bunch of squires, it could be Windrunner, but... dangit, I just... really want to meet a Stoneward.

“In every way, she was the perfect Alethi wife--and her unhappiness crushed his soul.” IT SHOULD. SHE DESERVES BETTER.

I’m reaaaally glad that Evi recognized the Thrill as a bad thing. A monster crouching in her husband’s body.

“...the Thrill was your reward.” Reward? Dalinar, listen to your wife. Please. That is not a reward.

Dalinar, look at you go. You did try this before, the talking thing. You are talking to this angry kiddo, and you’re bad at it, but you’re trying. This isn’t very punk!Dalinar of you. I like it. I can see the bits of presentday!Dalinar poking through the Thrill-encrusted shell of punk!Dalinar. I like it.

This is such interesting character movement, gaahh.

Evi still deserves better though. “Because of a good woman’s tears” ugh the fridge doors are slowly swinging shut, aren’t they?

whhhhhhhhaaaaat

I mean, I’m not surprised, because it’s Sadeas and he’s Sadeas and of course he’s a fucking traitor, but

whhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaat

...........gross.

Shallan needs to stop getting killed, please. This is really gross.

NO, DON’T TRY TO TALK WITH A CROSSBOW BOLT IN YOUR FACE PLEASE THIS IS REALLY UNNECESSARY

I DID NOT ASK FOR THIS LEVEL OF HORROR NOVEL PLEASE TAKE IT BACK, BRANDON.

Kaladin “Good at Making Friends” Stormblessed being all sheepish at making friends easily when it took so much effort to make friends with Bridge Four, like... listen, buddy. YOU are excellent at making friends and these guys were all ready to be friends with you. The Bridge was not ready and you had to wear them down with your charm, and you did, and doesn’t that make it all the more precious that you are friends with them?

Also, I miss them. Are my boys okay, Brandon? How are they doing?

omg, Adolin, pls. Yellow?

The Wall Guards making fun of Adolin’s new wardrobe is DELIGHTFUL.

Kaladin: HELLO, FELLOW LIGHTEYES, FOR I AM SURELY A LIGHTEYES, YES INDEEDY, LOOK AT MY VERY LIGHT EYES.

Hi, I love Kaladin, I am not sure you know this about me.

“Yes, his suit was a little bright--but if they would merely spend five minutes talking to him, they’d see he wasn’t so bad.”

Kaladin.

Babe.

You’ve come. So. Far.

I’m so proud of him, oh my god.  

mmmm this food shipment stuff is so weeeiiirrd. where is it coming from? why is it going?? uuugghhhhh

Part of me is like, “I love that they call Azure ‘sir’ and use male pronouns because there is no gender on the battlefield! Everyone gets treated equal!” and most of me is like “fuck this, she’s a fucking lady in command and she deserves to be known.”

also, wtf, she had them attack a monastery? Okay, I get it, you want to control the Soulcaster, but like.... you didn’t just go in there a kill a buncha monks for it, did you?

OKAY, SO MAYBE IT IS AN HONORBLADE THAT WAS DEF MY THOUGHT

but which one.

We have the Skybreaker one.......so whose is this?

Unless it’s not.

I’m

confused. and worried.

Tell me things, Brandon!

OH. But then she wouldn’t need the Soulcaster...if she had an Honorblade for Soulcasting... so she went and got the Soulcaster to...keep up appearances? Hm.

....is it awkward that Stormlight Archive has, so far, been the story of several people slowly becoming atheist (Jasnah, Dalinar) or agnostic (Kaladin) as their lives fall to pieces around them and they slowly rebuild?

Kaladin is a Good, guys.

The best.

omg, okay, but the Swiftspren is just.... LISTEN, BRANDON, YOU CAN’T GO MAKING SHALLAN A ROBIN HOOD. DON’T DO ME LIKE THIS.

I feel so bad for Elhokar.

Buddy just needs some hugs, okay.

Okay, I know logically that Roshar is Bad At Horses, but somehow it never occurred to me that they wouldn’t have archers trained on horseback. Mounted archer is just... such a very Alethi thing, especially non-Shattered Plains Alethi. I didn’t realize, but of course they wouldn’t have that. Horses are too rare.

aight, I didn’t really think Sadeas had betrayed them THIS early on, but STILL, I was so hoping...

Still, rockslide ambush is... a pretty solid strategy for dealing with a Shardbearer.

Sucks for his elites tho. They did not deserve that. That’s shitty.

“They must know the punishment for broken oaths.” Huh. Even back then...

“for none shall remain to weep.” #YIKES, my dude. y i k e s.

punk!Dalinar needs to take a chill pill.

And maybe get some sleep.

Listen, if the Thrill is telling you not to sleep, yOU SHOULD PROBABLY SLEEP.

also, any time you are actually LISTENING to SADEAS? You should probably rethink your life and your choices.

Just saying.

So... presentday!Dalinar had a conversation with Taravangian, about sacrificing the few to save the many. That’s...sort of what Taravangian’s entire plan for world domination salvation rests on. But now here...at the Rift. This is 100% Sadeas’ argument: sacrifice the ten thousand commoners living in the Rift to make an example of their highlords to stop any rebellion further down the timeline that might result in more soldiers’ deaths. Which gives ...a really fascinating insight into just how incredibly far Dalinar has come. past!Dalinar is literally employing the exact plan that Taravangian is trying to do on a worldwide scale, and so he knows it. He understands the consequences that Taravangian can’t know and can’t anticipate and refuses to consider. And present!Dalinar learned from this, and knows what end these means lead to and...refuses. To do it again.

It’s SUCH an interesting character progression. And it’s absolutely fascinating to see it laid out in this order--to see the good, honorable man we know and love first and to see this...monster that he was and see exactly how very much he’s grown... It doesn’t excuse this bad period, the good he’s doing now, but maybe it explains it a little bit. Dalinar is getting a redemption arc and we didn’t even realize that he needed one until he’s almost done with it.

And that’s some badass non-linear storytelling for you.

Also past!Dalinar can get fucked by a cactus, holy shit, what an unbelievable fuck.

nooooo wonder Kadash leaves and becomes an ardent.

hoooooly shit.

“We’ve gone too far.” YA FUCKING THINK??

Meanwhile, Sadeas: “Nonsense!”

Fuck Sadeas, uuugghhhh I’m so glad he’s dead. UUGGHHH

what

the

fuck

THAT JUST HAPPENED.

Fun facts, y’all, the refrigerator is now on fire.

hoooollly fucking shiiiiiiit

WELP

[tellywoodtrash]

ishqbaaz 19.09.17 lb

god, back to the mysterious kaagaz. fucking tell us already. 😒😒😒

shakti seems all cavalier about this, but dadi is fuh-reaking out. which of course means it’s gonna come out in a horrible fucking way and phelofy raita. 😖😖😖

oh great. it’s related to both billu and anika? PLEASE GOD DON’T TELL ME THEY’RE LIKE... RELATED OR SOME SHIT. PLEASE. THIS IS GULNEET, I PUT ABSOLUTELY NOTHING PAST THEM, NOT EVEN INCEST. 😟😟😟😟😟😟

please lord, let it just be the normal thing - the oberois murdered anika’s family or some shit. yes, that’s NORMAL for this show. 😣😣😣

billu ka OMG SECRET AGAINST ME radar is extra sharp after all the shit that’s gone down. try to even plan a secret birthday party for him? not gonna happen. the man is going to be just that heckin’ paranoid. 😐😐😐

dadi lying through her damn teeth like a pro. 😊😊😊

omfg, he just made sadface and was like “jaake intezaar karta hoon uska.” JESUS CHRIST BILLU, GET A DAMN HOBBY. MAKE A TUMBLR. REBLOG SOME MEMES AND PICS OF CATS. GET A DAMN LIFE YOU FREAK. 😕😕😕😕😕

but lord, it’s also kinda adorable. 💖💖💖

*does tilak and feeds gauri dahi shakkar* 

man what ghazab confidence this girl has, straight away introducing herself. i’ve been at my workplace for over 5 months now, and there’s people i see everyday and smile at, but don’t know names of. and now it’s too damn embarrassing to ask. 😕😕😕

aw, uncleji wants to learn english to talk to his bahu! 😌😌😌

oh great. a smart aleck teacher. already side eye-ing him. 😑😑😑

gauri kumariiiii sssarma’s looking kinda star struck and impressed by this idealist teacher dude. gosh i hope spoilers of a jealousy track are true, coz i would fucking love to see om jelly of this guy. hee hee hee. 😊😊😊

god i really don’t get why they make gauri all awkward about handshakes????? 😒😒😒

billu is chehak-ing coz wifey is back todayyyyy! 😚😚😚

OMFG HIS SHEEPISH GRIN MY GOD THIS MAN IS TOO FUCKING ADORABLE IT’S MAKING MY TEETH HURTTTTTT 😫😫😫😫😫

wifey is strong independent woman who don’t need no man and is back all by herself. tough luck to billu who might have been looking forward to maarofying chance in the car. 😝😝😝

GOD I AM SO HAPPY TO SEE HER BACK PLEASE SURBHI DON’T EVER LEAVE US LIKE THIS AGAIN UNLESS THERE’S A BANK OF EPISODES PLEASE THIS SHOW IS UNBEARABLE WITHOUT YOU LIFE ITSELF IS UNBEARABLE WITHOUT YOU I WILL NEVER LET YOU GO *clings to her leg* 😭😭😭😭😭😭

lololololol a simple question and she’s biting his head off. she’s still hellllla mad. 😂😂😂

HAHAHAHAHAHAH THANK YOUUUUUUUUU 🤣🤣🤣🤣

“jaise hawa mein aapke helicoptor udte hai waise roadon pe humare liye busein bhi chalti hai.” 

THE SNARK IS STRONG. 😆😆😆

“araaam se aana dadi!”

pffffffffffffffffffffft 😂😂😂

lmao anika ne toh thank you ka jaaaaap hi kar rakha jaise koi mantra ho. 

billu is suggesting they go to the roommmmm. 😏😏😏

LMAOOOOOOOOOOO HER FACE 

the slightest touch and the tharak is on! look at their bodies just gravitating to each otherrrrrrrrrr! holy shit, just baaaaaang already! 😯😯😯😯

i think anika’s maaarofying current these days like devrani used to. billu’s staring at his hand all perplexed. 😌😌😌

“thank you kehkar bohut badi galti kar di maine. nahi, PAAP HO GAYA MUJHSE!”

snort. you know what they say billu, hell hath no fury... 

dadi looks pareshaan af. 

oh great, anika’s going to take this on her head? 😟😟😟

oh thank god, she’s delegating to shivaay. good. 😌😌😌

billu’s here for round 2, but anika bohut hi gambhir mood mein. awaiiii. 🙄🙄🙄

this angst is so fucking random and unnecessary????????????// 🤔🤔🤔

billu’s been guilteddddd. 😐😐😐

LOL OM IS LOSING IT AND I AM FUCKING LOVING IT 😂😂😂😂

i fucking love kunal’s panic waala acting, like during the baby track

HAHAHAHAHA HIM RUNNING AWAY FROM THE DOOR PRETENDING LIKE HE WASN’T STANDING THERE WAITING FOR HER ALL THIS WHILE OMFG WHAT AN ADORABLE DORK 🤣🤣🤣🤣

yeah this asshole has gotten too complacent about her life revolving around him and needs to be knocked two or three pegs down. this is perfect opportunity. 😊😊😊

lol such ~subtle questioninggggg. 😋😋😋

awwwwww, he was waiting for her to eatttttt. 😯😯😯

it’s ok. ek din nahi khaaya toh kuch nahi hoga. suffer a little for being a dick. 🙃🙃🙃

still love you though, boo.  *pats his hair* 😘😘😘

OMFG THIS BILLU HAS GONE MAD. HE’S DEMANDING DADI INVENT A FUNCTION SO HE CAN MAKE ANIKA FEEL SPECIAL. MATLAB, HADH HAI YAAR. 😒😒😒

ALL THIS IS SO FUCKING UNNECESSARY, JUST FUCKING TELL HER YOU LOVE HER. MY GOD WHAT EVEN IS YOUR FUCKING LIFE, SHIVAAY? 😐😐😐

i blame his damn family for indulging him like this. my fam would just be like fuck off, we can’t be wasting time like this to validate your every whim and fancy. think of something yourself. spoiltass brat. 🙄🙄🙄

what’s anika so SMILEYYYYY AND CRYING about??? 🤔🤔🤔

god she looks so fucking pretty. i want to cap every frame, she’s that gorgeous. 😍😍😍😍

are those the papers billu tried to write her a letter on? she’s this happy just seeing “dear anika” written a buncha times? 🤔🤔🤔

but they look like some legal papers though?

billu be like hein? abhi tak maine kuch kiya bhi nahi? 

OHHHHH IT’S THE SAHIL KE CUSTODY PAPERS. SILLY TT. *FACEPALM* 😯😯😯😯😯😯😯

LOL GENUINE THANK YOU THA BILLU. DON’T LOOK SO SAD. 😄😄😄

lol he’s freaking out at her tears, as usual. 

aw, he’s remorseful that he can’t say what she wants to hear. “main koshish kar raha hoon, lekin atak jaata hai...” 

“jaanti hoon aapko waqt lagega, lekin please, thank you mat bolna, please.” 

an unofficial thank you ban has been instated. 😆😆😆😆

“what you said, it meant the world to me.” 

LOOK AT THIS SAD PUPPY WHO IS UNABLE TO SAY THE WORDS HE WANTS TO NO MATTER HOW MUCH HE TRIES 💘💘💘💘

she’s oh babe. tumse nahi hoga. stahp. 

ok crying a little lot. because like i said in my very first analysis post, she’s never really needed the words from him. he’s been showing her through actions that he loves her from waaay back. and she’s understood. right from then. 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

“YOU A DAMN BHEEGI BILLI”

his faaaaaaaaaaaaaaace. oh my godddddd. i love this idiot so much. 

GIRLFRIEND PUTTING THE MOVES ON HIM AGAIN SHE’S PUTTING THE MOVES ON HIM AGAIN THIS IS NOT A DRILL OMFG ALL MY DREAMS ARE COMING TRUE I CAN DIE HAPPY LORD 😫😫😫😫😫

OMG SHE TOLD HIM AGAIN AND BILLU LOOKS LIKE HE’S BEEN HIT BY A FRYING PAN OVER HIS HEAD ALL THAT’S MISSING ARE CARTOON STARS AND BIRDS ✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

sister here knows exaaaaactly what she’s doing to her husband. look at that smug grin. 😏😏😏😏

lol she’s waiting for another thank you! 😆😆😆

nope. not making that mistake again! 😎😎😎

left standing there with that same dopey smile! 😊😊😊

aw, he’s vowing to tell her anyway. you go billu!!!! 😘😘😘

svetlana’s showing jhanvi exactly why tej is being so cooperative. 

lovinggggggggg jhanvi’s shock. coz she’s such a dumbassss. honestly, she’s not even worthy of being svetlana’s foe. my girl be living in 3008, while you losers are living in two thousand late. 🙄🙄🙄

omki’s wifey is missing againnnnn. 🙃🙃🙃

great pinky is here to taang adaofy again. 😑😑😑

same, omki. #same.

what joy does this woman get from fucking with these kids’ marriages? does she have some kinda jocasta complex or what? coz i realllllllly don’t get it. 😣😣😣

god bless omkara and his sweet sassy smile while telling pinky that this is not a big deal. i’d just be like fuck off satan. 😒😒😒

god, yeh do - to - go dialogue chupke chupke se nahi churaya gaya? 🤔🤔🤔

why’s this teacher dude’s shirt open to like, the third button? it’s making me uncomfortable. 😖😖😖

ooooooooooooh gauri’s stuck hereee. 😯😯😯

“yeh mera badappan hai jo tum aise free ghoom rahi ho.” lmao i love svetlana so much 🤣🤣🤣

god queen, just kill her dumb ass. 😒😒😒

ughhhhhhhhhhhh. this garbaaaaage. 

PAINTING? WHAT PAINTING? PHIR MURTI KO KYUN DEKH RAHI THI??? 😧😧😧😧

HA. YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS, FUCK HER UP SVETTTTY. 😈😈😈

is this painting nonsense going to be supernatural too? like she travels through alternate planes using the painting or some shit, like the principals in harry potter? 😩😩😩😩

omfg she blew a kiss. i’m in loooooooooove. 😍😍😍😍😍

oh greattttt, allllll these idiots are on this case again. that too standing in the middle of the fucking house and talking about it louuuuuuudly. this is exactly why villains are able to fuck you idiots up. 😒😒😒😒

om looks least bit interested in all this. he’s just here coz shivika are, and the wife isn’t home to stare/passive aggressively banter with. 😆😆😆

oh, that got their attention. 

do you even know WHICH PAINTING? 😐😐😐

omkara exhibiting that his art degree is very much useful, thanks very much. STEM IS NOT EVERYTHING OK, DESIS????????/ 😒😒😒😒

WAIT THESE PPL ARE SO FUCKING RICH AND THEY HAVE AN ENLARGED PHOTOCOPY OF A PAINTING HANGING IN THEIR HOUSE? 😐😐😐

haaaaaye my handsome boys. 😍😍😍 

oh, svetlana replaced the painting. 

ok who the FUCK is this fucking white fucker IN INDIA who doesn’t know what fucking chai is? 😒😒😒😒

WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THIS TEACHER, WHY IS HE SUCH A LOSER? 😤😤😤

yes, i know what he’s doing. he’s forcing them to interact with this white asshole in english. but matlab, hadh hoti hai unconventational teaching methods ki. 🙄🙄🙄

ok bade bhaiyya is soooooooo fucking team Gauri that he’s just not even trying with omkara anymore. which ok, i love and all, but come on shivaay, you gave fucking rudra alllll that advice on his BS relationship, and you’re not even making an attempt with om???? 😣😣😣

chubby’s had enough of this BS. ladki toh chod ke chali gayi, raita phailaaake, sametna is bechaare ko pad raha hai. 😪😪😪

lol are rudra/chubby the couple for today? i am fucking lovingggg it. 😊😊😊

literally no one is interested in being here other than shivaay and anika. ugh these new couples and their enthusiasm. 🙄🙄🙄🙄

look at this poor anxious munchkin. 😚😚😚

.... has surbhi gotten extra golden on her vacay, or is nakuul not wearing his makeup today?? he’s looking reaaaaaallly pale compared to her in this scene. 😐😐😐

even anika’s like god knows what new plan you and dadi have made up to embarrass me publicly now. billu’s like wait and waaatch, jaaneman.  😏😏😏😏😏

great, passive aggressive sniping from pinky and shakti. LITERALLY NO ONE WANTS TO BE HERE BILLU. WHY CAN’T YOU JUST SHOW HER THE TAPE IN THE PRIVACY OF YOUR ROOM AND FINISH THIS OFF. AWAIIIII KA KHEENCHNA. 😫😫😫😫

oh god i dont wanna watch this nonsense. it’s super fucking late where i am (i fell asleep watching the episode mid way) and i have a hella long commute tomorrow and i just wanna go back to sleeeeep. 😭😭😭😭😭

shakti, this fucking savage is probably gonna come back with a cactus or some shit, isn’t he? 😂😂😂

oh suddenly now everyone’s ok with the “bhavya was a cop on duty at our place” theory???? like....??? memories and attachment to ppl like goldfish, these fucking oberois. 😒😒😒

OK RUDRA, FIRST OF ALL, PROTEIN AND CARBS KA MEL HAI IN A HEALTHY DIET. AND FUCK YOU, YOU’RE SUCH A LOSER. THIS IS WHY SHE LEFT YOUR ASS. THIS IS WHY SUMO LEFT TOO. 😑😑😑

godddddd. this episode just won’t get overrrrrrrr. 😫😫😫😫😫

meanwhile this doctor waala chutiyaapa continues. 

the white doctor just unironically said: 

waittttt, when did tej and svetlana move outta oberoi mansion??? what even is going on? where the fuck is thissss? 😐😐😐

god svetlana, why are you wasting so much timeeeee? just kill ALL these losers. 😒😒😒

gauri kumari sssssarma to the rescue. as usual. always carrying everyone’s inefficient asses. 😎😎😎

another thing she has in common with shivaay: both have leadership skills, anything happens and they jump to the frontlines and get to action. 

lmaoooooo “hai kathaiiiii angrez ki aulaaad, seedha paani nahi bol sakta tha????” 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

gauri, caaareful. don’t break his ribs or some shiz. follow the beat to stayin’ alive! 😣😣😣

what the fuck nonsense. he’s no more it seems. awaiiiii. 🙄🙄🙄

GOD I AM SO OVER THIS TEJVI PLOT AND THEIR BUDDHON KA ANGST. GIVE ME SHIVIKA AND RIKARA. 😩😩😩

ok someone fuckinggggggg kill this teacher for reallllllll. god. 😡😡😡

if she just needs to look on the internet for words she doesn’t know, she can already do that. why does she need to come to this fucking class? 😒😒😒😒

sulky!kara is standing away all angsty and shiz. what a child. anyway, good. burn, fool, burn! 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[sikereviewdotcom]

magic school bus - flexes its muscles (s1e15) review

ok so i wasnt sure what id watch today i had to find something just to chill and review but honestly watching this show was a terrible idea i mean it 

it was the most boring watch ive had and not because its bad but if youre over 8 honestly it is

w/e i watched it and im gonna review the hell out of this as i always do lets begin with why the 15th episode of the first season? very simple: the title, a natural basic choice "flexes its muscles" we all can see in our mind a flashback on a certain song concerning muscles and trucks as the title flashes on the screen oh yea mama i feel very at ease rn like timmy sitting in front of his tv a good old tuesday morning before school with that lil bowl of cereal except timmy is mute and makes up all they say on the shows so everything is his own he stole the rights from the voice actors and the plot along its cartoons (c) timmy now boys

so wats it about? ralphie being a loser as always, actually ive never watched any other episode but the tone he talks in gives him the loser etiquette after all he does throw a tantrum when his robot didnt work for the second time theyre all stupid, all of these characters are stupid and i have no idea how old they are anyhow yea ralph wanna have a robot to do his chores because everyone else is having fun while he has to do them because hes often late or w/e something like that now from now on we either side with the bitch girl

or the fat boy

thats probably how she qualifies him but yea you have to make a choice because there will be some serious competition: theyre betting because after ralphie runs to everyone shouting about making a robot she goes all "haha you cant do it, stupid" and quite a few other especially that one lil blue sweatered guy jesus hes bad yea like even the old guy from after that will be all "nah" at his bully-joke except he aint a bully, none of them are now why is she a bitch? because she said if he loses the bet he cannot play any sport game anymore and only do the chores wtf how does she even have that kind of authority? how old are they? no shes just a classmate, ralph dont be a pushover now well he isnt because he goes all "haha fuck you itll work im THE GREAT FUCKING RALPHIE AND MY 40 THIEVES-BOT" > “full of himself” is the exact word to describe him 

so after that teachah goes all "hey sup lol ive totally not heard you but lets all go inside the bus we have a full day!! wow!! im totally not gonna drive yall to a shop in which you can build a robot as i distract the grandpa ive been flirting with for years but let hanging on for decades waiting for his soon-to-be death when obvs hes all over me and im all over him but its a kid show and im not sure the public is ready for our intense wacky elderly passionate tension, nope nothing pegi 16 not even close its pg 13 actually but you wouldnt be allowed to watch the show then because if youre over 13 youre probably not gonna watch anymore of this, babies cant handle our hot old romcom nah" so yea theyre in a workbodyshop smthg next

this episode really revolves around the body and its structure, in the most basic way you have no idea how basic it went its the basics of basicness like the bases of every bases i havent learned anything and even if i were 8 i still wouldnt not have learned anything its probably a 6 yo focused show idk guys i was really questionned either id give it a final shot but yea, still it sucked, but i understand for a 6yo they may pick up the fact that they have bones and muscles and wow thats how you move now ill say the cybernetic aspect of how they build a robot is pretty weak, no explanations as to how the robot suddenly moves because ok you got the joints, structure and everything all figured out but.. what about everything else? what does this robot run on? stupidness? is it? because it goes apeshit

totally unexcepted this is a very basic formula: kids want robot to do chores, kids make it (somehow), robot turns against kids the end: you cant make robots without them turning evil also its the 90s wtf are you on? robots? wow? no brah thats future bs were not doing that anyway meanwhile the teacher was lying and saying the school bus is broken btw just straight up made her grandpacrush work for nothing for a buncha hours but eh look at her

i wouldnt trust her with my child, this face was an artistic choice so it says it all ok? so wassup next? robot be beaten by ralphie ass (who won the bet btw if youre on team bitch im not entirely sorry for you but because picking a team was a bad choice i was team nerd with glasses all along, yknow the ginger one?)

he seemed smarter than the others but also ended up disappointing me, everyone did and yet my exceptations werent high, my standards are pretty high but damn i tried to make an effort for this one, not specially surprising, is it? i guess i really did grow up since i was 6, huh

the end is this btw:

everyone was thinking the same as i did:

"stop flexing, we have no right to flex this episode was so blank the robot got more character development than anyone else"  

yep that happened

in conclusion? final rating? this is worth a big 3/10, not suitable for older than 7 y/o thats pretty much the limit really this close to not being entertaining if youre 7yo but chances are they exist, honestly it could be for older peeps but what do i know? i am making a global thing here, just painting the magic board so we can all (majority its a democracy) agree on something the animation is  kinda fine slash good for a show in the 90s? ig? and you CAN pick a things up if youre very young or have never been to primary school which is both very unlikely yet also sad if so

in the end: i do not recommand it there is nothing to be seen move along

obama tg, out