#not over how the way I draw him went from super edgy to soft and that is the CORRECT way to go look at him

[ninja-knox-ur-sox-off]

He’s kinda neat bro he’s kinda he’s kinda neat tho

[whumpmatsus]

So. Todomatsu always ACTS like he hates that Karamatsu is so eccentric, but we all know he actually doesn't mind that much. If anyone else made fun of him for that stuff, I can't help but think he wouldn't let it fly. So what about a situation where Karamatsu gets made fun of/bullied/put down by someone OUTSIDE the family for being the way he be and Todomatsu gets an opportunity to go into full protective mode over him??

OH SHIT the youngest of them goes feral

dare I say... RELEASE THE BABY!!!!!

God I love Zaimoku, it’s so good <3

-

If Totty is being completely, utterly, unfailingly honest with himself, his brothers need his help if one of them is going to be going on a date.

Really, he’s the only one who has any clue about how to act on a date! He could hit his big brothers over the head with a Clue-by-four with that shit and they still wouldn’t really get it.

Even so… part of him thinks he shouldn’t really be following Karamatsu to a date. Karamatsu is the one Totty knows is never going to come running to him for advice or assistance, especially with girls; he’s got the undeserved ego of an avocado toast sandwich. Totty isn’t sure he’d be pleased to know his baby brother tagged along not because he has to sort out a schedule thing at work, but because he wants to keep an eye on Karamatsu.

What else is he supposed to do, though? Just let Karamatsu go alone and totally blow it? His usual behavior aside, Totty really wants his big brothers to be happy and have fulfilling relationships. He thinks if he can be there to keep an eye on things, well, maybe it won’t go so bad. Maybe Karamatsu will have a shot with this woman. Maybe he’ll get a girlfriend!

The very idea was enough to make him feel a little better about lying so that his brother will take him along. It eases his conscience, imagining that if he manages to help Karamatsu out to the point that the second eldest ends up in a loving, joyful relationship, (obviously as opposed to the past few horrible ones he’s had), then a little fib isn’t so bad, is it?

After all, if he were the one in need of something like this, he’d be grateful for his brothers’ help however they did it.

Of course, when he sees the look this girl gives Karamatsu, a look like the kind a baby gives after licking a lemon for the first time, Totty can’t help but wince. This isn’t off to a great start. He lingers by the counter, greeting Sacchi and Aida, trying not to look as if he’s watching his big brother’s date.

“Aren’t you off today, Totty?” Sacchi hums as she turns to start making a drink.

He nods. “Yeah, well, I can’t stay away, I guess, haha.”

Aida jerks her head toward the table where Karamatsu and his date are. “That’s one of your brothers, right? Still as painful as ever,” she teases. “Is he… oh, my God, he’s on a date??”

“Shhhh, shh!” Totty waves his hands a little, hoping to get his friends to quiet down a little. The last thing Karamatsu needs is to be drawing attention. “He thinks I tagged along to talk to you guys about my schedule. But, yes, he’s here on a date.”

Sacchi finishes serving her customer, one of the few in the shop at the moment, and then leans against the counter to look over. “Aw, good for him. He’s not either of our types, but he deserves a shot with someone who’s interested.”

He lets out a soft sigh. “Agreed there. I kind of just wanna keep an eye on him, you know? To make sure he doesn’t mess it up too much. He should have let me pick his outfit, ugh… that aside, he’s doing okay so far, though, I think.”

Aida frowns as she slides a cup of coffee toward her coworker. “Um, I hate to burst your bubble, but he’s got his work cut out for him. I’ve been to some mixers with that girl, and she always finds something wrong with every guy she hangs out with.”

“She’s right,” Sacchi adds. “Good thing you came along so you can carry him home, ‘cause that girl’s gonna tear him to pieces. I mean, she went out with Atsushi and the next day he was in here crying and telling me she made him feel two inches tall. Nobody’s good enough for her.”

Aida clicks her tongue. “Your big brother’s in big trouble, Totty.”

It’s Totty’s turn to frown as he looks toward Karamatsu. Unfortunately, Sutabaa is so small and he’s close enough that he doesn’t have to strain too much to hear what’s being said.

The woman is laughing. However… Karamatsu hasn’t even really opened his mouth yet. “Oh, my God! You’re my date, huh? Last time I let my sister set me up. That bitch, haha. Ah, well… wow, your jacket is hurting my eyes. Could you take it off?”

Karamatsu seems to be trying his best to smile. “O-oh, yes, of course.” He moves to tug it off, folding it over the back of his chair. “Please forgive me. Anyway, my name is Karamatsu. And you, my angel?”

“Ahaha, WHAT?” The woman raises an eyebrow at him. “C’mon, dude. Don’t call me that. I’m nobody’s angel.”

Totty feels himself starting to steam. You’ve got that right.

“A-ah… right, my apologies.” Karamatsu just keeps smiling. The expression on his face reads almost like he’s in pain. “Well, should we order?”

She gives a cursory glance toward the menu, then suddenly her eyes are drawn to Karamatsu again. “Oh, my God, hold on… is… is that your face on your shirt?! Holy shit! Are you really that full of yourself?”

Totty’s heart sinks as his brother’s cheeks flush bright red. This is not going well. And while, yes, Karamatsu probably should have picked a different shirt, what’s really wrong with what he’s wearing? Even though he’s a little over-the-top and dramatic, this woman can’t know whether or not he’s ‘full of himself’ when she’s barely letting him get a word in.

Totty is the most socially intelligent of his brothers, and even he doesn’t think Karamatsu’s actually doing anything wrong. He hasn’t drawn anyone else’s attention like he usually does, he hasn’t gone overboard with any poses, and he’s… kind of just being himself, slightly toned down. It’s not like he’s bragging or being a jerk. Hell, it’s just a strange fashion choice; how the hell does she think it has any bearing on what he’s like as a person?

“Damn,” Sacchi cringes. “She’s not wasting any time, is she?”

Aida gives a pout toward her friends. “He didn’t even do anything wrong yet. He’s been a perfect gentleman.”

“Yeah, he’s just a little odd and, like, a tiny bit painful. But he’s acting really nice and polite.” Sacchi sighs as she props her head up on her hand. “There’s no pleasing some people. Aida, why don’t you go take their order? Maybe you can accidentally spill it on that pretentious top of hers when you bring it to them.”

“Pfff, if only. I’m on it, though.”

Totty continues to fume as he watches his poor brother try to impress this girl, pretty much in vain. He gets the feeling that nothing Karamatsu says or does is going to be good enough. For some reason, that really pisses him off. Despite the fact that Karamatsu can be a bit much, that he’s overcompensating for being insecure on the inside, that everyone rolls their eyes at him… Karamatsu isn’t a bad guy. He tries hard to make other people happy and treats them with respect. Even his brothers who don’t always return the favor.

By the point Sacchi and Aida are finished making their order, the youngest is ready to explode at this woman. She never even told Karamatsu her name, but she’s spent the whole time talking him down. When she asked what he did ‘besides be super excruciating’, and he told her he didn’t really have a job, she laughed at him. He tried to save it by saying he occasionally played guitar at coffee shops, and she responded something along the lines of, “What kind of hipster loser does that these days??”

Listening to it just makes him so angry. She doesn’t think Karamatsu is attractive, she’s called him embarrassing more than once, and no matter what he does or says, she’s not happy with it. Why the fuck did she even bother going out with him, then?

Totty was worried that Karamatsu was going to screw this up; so far he’s actually managed to be a decent date. He wasn’t prepared for his brother’s date to be the shitty one.

Sacchi brings him a simple iced coffee while Aida returns with the serving tray, a fake smile on her face from laughing uncomfortably at one of the woman’s comments. “God, she’s exhausting.”

“I don’t even know her and I can’t stand her,” Totty mutterrs before taking a sip of his drink. “Why the hell is she treating him like that? He’s just… being himself!”

Being himself. Karamatsu’s really not doing anything wrong. He’s trying to talk himself up when this woman gives him a chance to, but who doesn’t talk themself up on a first date? He just wants to impress her.

It makes Totty feel a little guilty to realize that, honestly, all Karamatsu really wants is to impress everyone because he wants people to like him… including his brothers. If Karamatsu feels the need to seek love and acceptance from strangers like this girl, to the point that he’s willing to put up with the horrible way she’s treating him, what does that say about his brothers? It’s not the first time he’s sucked it up and dealt with something he shouldn’t have from someone just because he wants that person to love him.

His attention is drawn by the woman giggling a little too loudly. “Fuck, you wanna go out with me again? I mean, how do you think this is going? I’m two seconds away from sneaking out the bathroom window. You’re so obnoxious, you dress like an edgy middle schooler, and who wears sunglasses inside, especially when it’s raining outside? You’re, like, cringe incarnate.”

Completely contradicting every statement she made, she slid her hand across the table to take his, if only for a brief moment. The wicked look in her eyes, more sadistic than even Ichimatsu, made Totty’s stomach twist in anger. “I might keep you around, though. You seem like a guy who’d keep me laughing for a while. Maybe next time I’ll take you out with my friends so everyone can laugh at you.”

Oh, that’s it.

He doesn’t know if Karamatsu is oblivious to what she means because he’s blinded and deafened by the promise of another date, or if he knows exactly what she means but perhaps thinks it’s worth it. His eyes light up… and behind that hopeful spark is the pain she’s already put him through.

Baby of the bunch though he is, Totty isn’t going to sit around and twiddle his thumbs while some bitch takes advantage of his big brother.

“Oh, that is sooooo not happening!” he calls as he approaches the table. Although he feels a little bad about just stepping in like this, he’s not gonna let her get away with treating Karamatsu like that. Laughing at him herself was bad enough; parading him in front of her friends for all of them to laugh at him when there’s nothing wrong with Karamatsu isn’t gonna happen if Totty has something to say about it.

The woman gives him an unimpressed look. “Who the fuck are you?”

“T-Totty!!” Karamatsu,  on the other hand, looks immediately panicked. “I can handle this… please, go back and fix your schedule, and I’ll meet you at home.”

“Wait, you work here?” She tilts her head at him. “Oh, shit, hold up. You’re the asshole who messed up my drink last time I was here.” Her gaze flits between the two of them, and she laughs again.

“― Oh, my God! You had to bring your twin brother along to come on a date? You’re pathetic!” Her hand pulls away from Karamatsu’s. “Oh, you’re definitely coming out with me and my friends.”

Totty hisses and pushes her hand away from Karamatsu’s. He steps in front of his big brother to physically block this woman from him. “Keep your hands off him! You’re not taking him anywhere. He’s never seeing you again, because you treated him like… like, fuck, I wouldn’t treat a rock the way you treated him!”

He hears Karamatsu make a noise of almost-protest behind him; he can just imagine the other man sinking down in his seat and trying to hide his face. “Totty, please…”

“No! No, she doesn’t get to just treat you like dirt, Karamatsu-nii-san! You think my brother’s just some kind of dumbass you can show off to your friends and laugh at and treat him like crap?!” he snarls. “Well, guess what? He may be sort of a dumbass sometimes, and maybe he’s a little painful, and maybe he’s not the perfect guy you’re looking for! But he’s a whole hell of a better person than you are!”

Although Totty could kick himself for not saying anything to Karamatsu before, it might be best it’s coming out now. He doesn’t have a lot of time to really think about it or pretend or rehearse. What he’s saying isn’t practiced, it’s real. “Karamatsu is the kindest person I know, and you wish you had at least half the passion he does for the things he likes! Who cares that he wears a shirt with his own face on it? He was bending over backwards to make you happy, even though everything out of your mouth was word barf about how embarrassing he is! And, by the way, you’re wrong!”

It only takes half a step for him to reach over to grab his coffee from the counter, assisted by Aida who’s smirking as she holds it out for him. “If my choice was between you or him, I’d be way less embarrassed to be seen in public with him than with you! He’s not perfect, but he cares about people, and he’s always there when you need him, and ― and all this stuff you think is embarrassing, who the hell gives a shit?! It’s what he wants to do and it’s not hurting anyone! I’d break my phone before I let my big brother go out with someone like you again! Maybe he keeps striking out with dates, but he’s never going to be that desperate!”

He feels a little bad about what he’s about to do. That feeling is mitigated by the fact that at least his coffee isn’t hot.

“And, you know, I actually am sorry about messing up your drink last time. So here, you can have mine!” Almost before he’s finished speaking, he’s dumped his entire cup over her head.

He doesn’t stick around to deal with the aftermath aside from seeing the look of abject horror on the woman’s face as the coffee makes her bad mascara drip. And even though there’s a little bit of guilt over the fact that he’s leaving his coworkers to deal with her, the fact that Sacchi and Aida are cackling while they gather up napkins eases his mind.

He grabs Karamatsu by the hand and leads him out, tossing his coffee cup on the way. There’s not much choice on Karamatsu’s part, except he doesn’t particularly look as if he minds that.

“You didn’t… have to do that, Totty,” Karamatsu mumbles. When Totty glances over, the second eldest looks more tired than anything. He knows that look; the exhaustion of something not working out, of thinking you had a chance only for it to all go up in smoke.

Totty huffs, marching the two of them in the direction that leads back home. “Of course I did! You weren’t going to do it, so someone had to. God… you’ve gotta stop letting people walk all over you, Karamatsu-nii-chan.”

The shift to the more affectionate honorific suggests to Karamatsu that this is really, truly something Totty cares about. He squeezes his baby brother’s hand with a thoughtful hum. “… If that’s the case, perhaps a romance for me just isn’t in the cards. I… really thought it was going to go somewhere this time.”

At last Totty slows slightly, from an aggressive pace to something a little calmer. He’s still pissed off that someone treated Karamatsu like that, and although he’s a bit upset that Karamatsu sit there and let it happen, he knows what it’s like to want people to like you so much that you’ll put up with nearly anything.

However, that’s also the reason he doesn’t want Karamatsu just putting up with it. He deserves so much better than to have people treat him like dirt. It’s not right to do that to anybody, but… especially not to Totty’s big brother.

“I’m sorry I kind of… tapped into Murder Totty in there,” he sighs. “Did I go overboard?”

Karamatsu shrugs. “Maybe a little. But I wasn’t truly enjoying myself and I didn’t want to go on another date with her. I just… didn’t know how to tell her no. I suppose I really am lucky you were there, too.”

Silence falls between them while they walk, then after a moment, Karamatsu clears his throat. “Totty… did you… mean all those things?”

“Huh? All what things?”

“Those things, you know… you said I was… kind and passionate and reliable.” He lets out a soft laugh. “You… you said you’d rather break your phone than let me go out with her again.”

… Oh. He. Did say that, didn’t he?

He pouts a bit, then squeezes Karamatsu’s hand. “Yeah, I meant it. Of course I meant it.”

Beat.

“But as much as I love you, I’m just glad I don’t have to do that.”

[mk-wizard]

Sailor Moon 90s Anime is STILL the best

Hi. I know I am on a Sailor Moon binge here, but after seeing all of Crystal, Eternal and on R (season 2) of the first anime, I want to get this all off of my chest... and before I go further, since these are all animes, I will refer to them as 90s, Crystal and Eternal. And after watching them all, I have to say that the 90s takes the gold medal as the best Sailor Moon anime so far and this is why;

1- It had the best pacing. - While I admit that sometimes, it went too far with the filler, 98% of the time, it worked with the 90s. It took its time to make you get to know the characters for better or for worse, it made you see different sides of them, it gave them a chance to truly develop and be multi-dimensional, and it made you care about them. When a death happened, it felt tragic. When a victory happened, you cheered. And when you saw what side characters did, it mattered. I mean, who can ever forget the contribution 90s Naru Osaka had to the story? And everyone who has seen the 90s anime cannot forget her. More on the character development and getting to know characters later.

Sure, it wasn’t true to the manga and even the characters had different personalities, but I let that slide by because when Crystal and Eternal did follow the manga to the letter, we didn’t get a chance to digest anything. The only characters who develop are Usagi, Chibi-Usa and the outer guardians, and for the last bunch, it was the bare minimum. Crystal and Eternal were fun rides and I would be lying if I said I didn’t like them, but they were like roller coasters. They gave you a thrill, but fast and been done. The 90s was like a slow scenic ride that gave you surprises, emotionally touched you, made you cry, made you laugh, made you root for the heroes and even at the age of 37 years now, I keep rewatching this series.

2- The art of the 90s was better because it was sketchy, dark and edgier. - I know Sailor Moon doesn’t seem like this on the surface because the heroines are lovely girls in cute costumes, it emphasizes femininity and all things pretty, it has a romantic theme and is all about love, but Sailor Moon is also one of the darkest, grittiest, edgy and violent magical girl animes I have ever seen since Magic Knights Rayearth. Sailor Moon has on screen deaths which were permanent most of the time, on screen stabbings and the drawing of blood, and fights that got so hardcore, that real punches and kicks were thrown. The dark edges, black line art and sharp edges worked with the atmosphere of the story. I mean, look at the difference between the halls Dark Kingdom of the 90s (above) and that of Crystal.

And if that is not enough to win you over, the characters were much more animated, organic and conveyed more emotion whether they were exaggerated or serious.

In Crystal, the expressions and body language was very dulled down. Not to mention, very stiff.

Everything is also too bright and soft which makes the characters look like velvet dolls with too much make up especially with the line art. I will give them props for adding better details, cleaner lines, the glow of magical items, and details in the gems, but everything else is all wrong.

Eternal was better, but still not quite there. The colours are still way too bright and the characters still look too much like dolls from having line art that is too wispy. And I really do not like how the eyes have this unnatural glow to them. The edgy scenes become lost with all this brightness.

3- We got to see that there was so much more the characters than just heroes or villains. - Since Usagi is the titular character, let us just talk about her in the 90s since I could go on forever about how much we learned about the characters. In any version of Sailor Moon, Usagi’s role as a Sailor Guardian has always been the core of the story and she does indeed show progress as one. However, the 90s tells us that no matter what, she is still going to be herself too which is just as important and she shows character development as just plain old Usagi too. The manga, Crystal and Eternal which only paint Usagi as not doing anything right except be a Sailor Guardian, but the 90s show her hidden talents and learning new skills. For example, she was bad at cooking at the beginning of the series.

However, by Sailor Moon R, she gets the hang of it and is able to cook a meal by herself. Yes, she is messy, clumsy, never gets the hang of making cookies and is nowhere near Makoto’s level especially when it comes to presentation, but she is good at cooking food.

Another hidden talent of Usagi’s is her drawing skills. She isn’t just good at drawing. She’s got talent at it, so in the 90s, Usagi is quite the artist.

And it is admirable that 90s Usagi is open to trying new things even if she isn’t good at them. She practices, she explores and tries to enlighten herself. Sure, academics, coordination and organization will never be her fortes, but she really does have other and tries to discover more.

In Crystal and Eternal, she is good at being Sailor Moon, she is a good friend and a good girlfriend, but that is it. She is one dimensional here and she isn’t the only one to painted like that. Everyone is only the obvious and that is all the audience gets.

4- Better character redemption. - I mentioned before that Sailor Moon had grit and was dark, but the 90s also made it more complex and did character redemption right. It was open to the possibility of bad people becoming good. For instance, the Black Moon Clan Specter Sister are unforgettable for being successfully redeemed.

Yes, I admit that the monster of the day would get killed by the hands of the Sailor Guardians, but they also clearly showed that the monsters were not people or even alive. They were made of energy, clay or sand. When the monster of the day was a possessed innocent, they were saved through exorcism. Very rarely was an actual person ever killed and even when they were, it was either by the hands of another villain, their own hand, self defense or as a last resort. They never used killing as means of dealing with every single bad guy.

Furthermore, the bridge arc about the Makai Tree that also served as a prologue to Sailor Moon R could be seen as a story about mercy, kindness and love. It stands out as the one time the big bad was actually a misunderstood big good being the Makai Tree herself. And even Ail an An were never bad, but were raised bad. And even then, they changed. This story is unique only to the 90s so far, but it was great and stood out for that reason.

In Crystal, the heroines will kill a person without a second thought which I am shocked that no one brings up how repetitive and contradictory that is. The pretty warrior of love and justice should by all means protect the Earth, but doing so by killing off the bad guy all time is not love or justice. I also think the caption in this picture sums up how I feel about how the one and only time bad guys were given a chance to be redeemed...

Eternal was better because the Asteroid Guardians got redeemed and saved. However, even then, I feel like there is still a double standard. They were one of the good guys to begin with and Sailor Guardians. In the 90s, the Amazoness Quartet wasn’t, but were given a chance to change anyway. I find it cool that the Quartet turned out to be Sailors and even better that they will go on to become Chibi-Usa’s team, but mercy is not just for your allies or for your own benefit. Everyone should be given at least one chance to fix their mistakes.

5- We got to know Mamoru better. - I admit that no matter the incarnation, Tuxedo Mask will never be as powerful as Sailor Moon except when he is King Endymion, but the 90s take on his character made him better even if they did omit his super attack being Tuxedo le Smoking Bomber. What the well dressed masked man lacked in firepower, he made up for in intelligence, insight about the enemy’s weakness, courage and skill. The only times he ever did get overpowered was either by bad luck or because it was intentional because he was taking a hit for Sailor Moon. And even then, he always got back up. He’s a real man like that.

More importantly, we get to know him as Mamoru too. Even before he confides being an amnesiac to Usagi, we see his struggles with feeling alone in the world from having no memory of his life before a tragic accident which also killed his parents. Now, him being a stern cynical person makes sense because I probably wouldn’t be pleasant to be around either if I lived with that. Once his walls come down, we see that deep down, all he wants is to belong somewhere and have a family. It should also be noted that 90s Mamoru doesn’t love Usagi because he is “destined” to. He loves her because he wants to. Even during that brief period where he broke up with Usagi was an act of love. The thing I also always liked best about 90s Mamoru is that even though he loves Usagi more than life itself, his life doesn’t revolve around her which is a healthy thing and he tries to encourage Usagi to be the same way for her own good. He is studying to be a doctor, he has a job and he even has his own crowd which I think is great.

In Crystal and Eternal, while I do see an attempt at trying to follow this trend by showing that Usagi and Mamoru were on their way to falling in love even before they got their memories back, I still find he was one note and we never really learn much about him that has nothing to do with Tuxedo Mask, Endymion or anything royal related. Sure, we know that he’s studying to be a doctor and is a genius to an extent too, but that is it.

I would like to end this by admitting that the 90s was not perfect either, but out of all the takes on the tale of Sailor Moon as of date. Crystal and Eternal were ok, but they just cannot stand up to the quality of the 90s. The only thing I can say I find Crystal did better than the 90s were the costume designs. Specifically, how they let Venus keep her chain belt, Pluto’s key chain belt, Uranus and Neptune’s shorter gloves, Uranus’s sword, Uranus having two earrings, Mercury’s suit is shoulder less which I always found suited her better, and I liked Sailor Moon’s brooch and necklace better in season 1.

And even then, I should have liked it if Jupiter’s antenna was always on display as it is just something I always found cute in the manga, I liked Mars’ five point star earrings better in the 90s, and I like how in the 90s, each of the Inner Guardians’ sailor stripes were a little different.

Of course, this is all my opinion. I would like to hear which of the animes did Sailor Moon right in your opinion and why. Thanks for reading and stay safe, and have a great day.

[yarrowleef]

Daffodil, Laurel, Lily, Sunflower, Violet, and Wisteria? Also Begonia but I'd like to know your favorites of the old covers and the newer/reprint covers. And the Russian Warrior Cat covers too! Some of their art is quite pretty.

laurel, violet and sunflower answered previously

Daffodil: When did you first start reading the series?

Start of third grade when I was 8 years old, which I believe was 2007!!  .......so like literally most of my life I have given to these cursed cat books. I remember The Sight was the most recent release. It was the first real book series I ever read, and I think I went through the first 2 series within a couple months.

Prior to that I just read stand-alone books and I only read because I wanted to win “accelerated reader” points....i couldn’t do sports, so reading was the only thing I could win at AND I DID WIN. but warriors was the first thing I read that I was actually like...into. and realized I could read for reasons OTHER then winning the most points.

Lily: If your five favorite characters were foods, what would they be?

asdfghgfdxs I honestly have no idea how to answer this question, in part because I don’t think I even have 5 favorite characters. I suppose Firestar is doritos out of obligation. What else can he be?? I mean ok flaming hot cheetos maybe seems more fitting on the surface because ~flame-y~ but lets be honest, Firestar is a bit too bland a character to be spicy. He is one of my favorites for nostalgia sake, I mean it’s Firestar, how can I not be fond of him?

I also have a soft spot for Scourge just because of the sheer ridiculous audacity of him. I wish he’d come back as an evil ghost. Anyway, when I was about 9 and going through my brief (incredibly unfortunate) twilight phase (I was just jumping on the popularity bandwagon tbh) I went to Hot Topic right before one of the movie premieres and they had this...edible bag of blood? it wasn’t actual blood obviously, but I remember it was advertised as being really high in iron to mimic blood, but it was really this sickly sweet mystery juice packaged inside of a fake hospital blood bag. I of course bought it because I went through my edgy phase early, and for some reason thought it would look cool to pretend I was drinking blood. It was the most disgusting liquid i have ever consumed but hey it did also have the unpleasant metallic tang of blood because I guess they were going for authenticity over edibility, so it’s not like I didn’t get what I paid for (or rather what my mom paid for, because i was 9)

Anyway, Scourge is that. He’s awful fake blood juice from the Hot Topic in the mall.

 That's all I got.

Wisteria: Are you looking forward to the Warriors movie?

YES ABSOLUTLEY!!

don't get me wrong, I fully expect it to be terrible. Embarrassing even. I expect they will try to change it for a wider audience appeal, and of course it will end up bad, BUT IT WILL BE SO FUNNY!! I have this inescapable morbid curiosity about it, like I really want to see what they try to do. Like watching a train crash. I can't help it.

Warriors is a silly series. I have a feeling this is why a movie hasn't been made yet, even I would have no idea who to market it for. Yes it's violent and touches on very dark topics, but the fact that its about cute little cats with very dumb names coupled with those dark topics in a way makes it look even MORE silly. I don’t think Warriors will ever have wide appeal outside of its fanbase, the concept looks too ridiculous if you’re not someone already into animal xenofiction like this, but a movie is inevitably going to try to have wider appeal anyway because that's what movie studios feel they need to do. They will either water it down, or worse, try to go a more family friendly comedy route since that’s how general audiences are used to seeing animated talking animals and they think that's the only “”safe”” way to market an animal movie, which will 100% ruin it either way. The second one is more likely, I mean why else do you think they hired the guys who wrote kung fu panda, and the recent alvin and the chipmunks and Spongebob movies to make the script?? [no shade to kung-fu panda, it’s good in it’s own way, but it is not the same vibe as warrior cats at all]. For me, this is simultaneously the absolute best and the absolute worse scenario, because like, it’s horrible, its an insult to everything I love about the warriors world, i have surreal nightmares about it, but it’s so horrible it f*cking hilarious ya know? how can you not be a little curious to watch that train crash (and the outraged reaction posts that will inevitably follow)????

A warriors movie will be bad, I can't see any way that it won't be bad, and honestly? I think that's ok. I don't need a good movie, I simply need a good laugh, and then I'll go back to watching fan animations which will always be more interesting anyway because they don't feel the need to have ~mass appeal~

Listen, we don't actually need a good official adaptation. In some ways, a good adaptation might be bad for the fandom. The fandom is cool because of how wildly different and creative it is, the series is so bare bones with no consistent official art that people can go nuts with it. I worry on the off chance we get a really good adaptation, it might take over the books. People might be less likely to draw/create with their own wild bonkers interpretations of canon in favor of sticking closer to what the official adaptation presented us with, and idk if I want that. I also def don't want to deal with searching "warrior cats" for the rest of my life to only bring up gifs/discussions of the movie/tv show, rendering material and fan creations for the books almost impossible to find. This is something i've suffered with when other books i like get popular adaptations, where as series with bad adaptations (like percy jackson) I have less trouble finding content about the books. 

Begonia: Which book cover is your favorite?

So of the old covers I admit i have a soft spot for the darkest hour, it was my favorite as a kid and I know I tried to redraw it several times. Warrior covers have a tendency to blend together, there’s only so many ways to draw mysterious cats fighting, but I think this cover is one of the most memorable for me, if only for the center art (shout out to the old Fire and Ice cover though, I also really like the center art on that. I wish the box had kept being used for more than just a single cat face in the later series)

but now that i’ve gone and looked, I really really like the full cover art for Tallstar’s Revenge, the colors just look super nice and match his eyes and everything. Tallstar having a fun and more unique looking design gives it extra points. Maybe I just like warm tones idk. And shout out to Wayne for also imagining the moor as a golden-brown field even though it’s probably supposed to be green.

out of the new covers, I like the vibe of Dark River, it just looks spooky and mysterious......and I think this artists cats look better from the side, they are always a little crooked from the front (honorable mention to Place of No Stars cover, I really like the colors and the ominous vibe, it definitely had an impact when I first saw that cover, I just don’t love the look of the cats faces blown up close from the front. The more I look at it the more off it becomes, but the colors are cool)

and I definitely agree the Russian warrior cats art has a very charming look to it, I like seeing it whenever it comes across my dash, but unfortunately I’m having trouble finding a catalogue of it to look at so I can’t pick a favorite

[vannahfanfics]

Midnight Munchies

Category: Mild Romantic Fluff

Fandom: My Hero Academia

Characters: Ochako Uraraka, Izuku Midoriya

Requested By: Anonymous User 

Hi, everyone! Here today with another story for @bnhabookclub​'s Bingo Event, this time for the prompt "Nose Kisses"! I hope you all enjoy it! :3

Special thanks to @deliathedork​ for helping me with the concept! You're a doll~ 

Izuku fidgeted in the bed as he slowly lapsed into consciousness. He smacked his lips, finding them dry and cracked; similarly, the plane of his tongue was an arid desert. Water, he thought dully. Still blinking away the bleariness of sleep, he fumbled with unsteady fingers to pull the comforter from his sweaty body. It seemed that he had fallen asleep without the ceiling fan running, and thus, heat smothered the room. 

Izuku yawned as he languidly slipped off the bed like a boneless fish. He wriggled his feet into his slippers and pulled the switch as he passed underneath the overhead fan; what good would retrieving water do if he just got thirsty thirty minutes later? 

Izuku shambled into the restroom. Izuku had no care to be blinded, so he utilized his primitive night eyesight to grope around until he located the plastic cup he kept beside the faucet. He flipped the tap and bubbling, and lukewarm water gushed forth. Izuku filled the cup halfway and then downed it in one gulp, then did so twice more. He smacked his lips again, feeling moisture return to the parched skin. He lumbered out of the bathroom to collapse face-first into his bed. Then, his stomach flip-flopped in his belly. He grimaced as a long gurgling rumbled in his tummy. 

“Snack…” he muttered aloud. He peered at the All Might alarm clock seated on his bedside table. The bright yellow numbers read 1:47 a.m. He pushed his hand under his shirt to scratch his abdomen, debating whether to sneak downstairs to acquire sustenance or snuggle back under the covers to see if sleep would claim him before he starved. 

His yowling stomach decided for him. 

The stairs creaked with every hulking step the sleepy Izuku took; they were clearly displeased at their stair-business being interrupted at such ungodly hours of the morning on account of his midnight munchies. The soft moonlight spilled in from the row of glass windows decorating the hallway, casting an ethereal white glow over the floor and furniture. His shadow danced along the polished wood as he shuffled into the kitchen. Izuku rummaged through the various cabinets, picking up a box to blearily inspect the label before deciding against it, before he finally settled on some animal crackers. The bag crinkled as he shoved his hand into the small opening, and he grabbed an entire handful of the sweet cookies before unceremoniously shoving them into his mouth. 

“Yum,” he mumbled to himself, cheeks poofed out like a squirrel’s and crumbs raining from his lips. Munching loudly on the dozen cookies crammed into his mouth, he meandered around the common space, leaving a trail of animal cracker specks as he went. He stared out the window, watching the wind toss about the tree branches and bush leaves whose emerald green seemed blue in the gloom. He grabbed a carton of milk out of the fridge and guzzled a good fourth of it straight from the box, then shoved another handful of cookies into his mouth. He gazed at his hazy-eyed reflection in the flat-screen television, regarding his tousled hair and lidded eyes, before turning on his heel to begin shambling to the couch. 

He froze on the spot, mouth open to reveal half-eaten animal crackers when he spotted Ochako Uraraka sprawled over the sofa in a position that looked way to uncomfortable for how pleasantly she was snoring. 

One of her legs was slung over the back, bent at the knee with her foot hanging down. The other hung off the edge of the couch so that her foot was flat on the floor. One arm was bent over her head like she was cradling it, and somehow the other was stretched out to bridge the gap between the sofa and the coffee table. Her hand clutched a half-eaten milk chocolate bar. Her mouth hung open as she snored contentedly, and drool puddled on the throw pillow as it leaked out of her mouth. Izuku stared at her for a moment. Then, he snickered. 

“Cute,” he thought aloud. He walked closer and set the box of animal crackers on the coffee table, pausing to use his pajama shirt sleeves to wipe the white crumbs from his mouth. In her violent tossing and turning, Ochako had flung the blanket from her body. It was now but a useless bundle of cloth at her feet. Izuku gently tugged it from underneath her splayed limbs and draped it over his shoulder, then set to rearranging her into a more comfortable position. He flushed when she abruptly groaned and began to shift, and he froze, still holding her left leg above the couch. She only smacked her lips a few times and adjusted her head, exhaling deeply before falling back into deep, even breaths. Izuku slowly lowered her foot down onto the cushion, then threw the blanket over her body. 

“Here ya go, Ochako,” he murmured sweetly as he draped the blanket over her, settling it up to her chin. She had closed her mouth, and a pleasant smile now graced her round face. Izuku leaned over her as he tucked the blanket around her neck to ensure she wouldn’t so easily fling it off again. His face reddened, for he could feel her warm breath ghosting over his face. Just finish this real quick annnnd… He couldn’t finish the thought, because suddenly Ochako’s eyes fluttered open. Before he could move, her face jerked up. 

Several comical things could have occurred, like they do in the movies. They could have bonked their foreheads together with a resounding smack! She could have flung him off completely so that he ended up a tangle of limbs crammed between the couch and coffee table. Hell, they could’ve had a full-on accidental kiss worthy of the cheesiest of shoujo mangas. 

Instead, here they were, with Izuku’s lips delicately pressed to the tip of Ochako’s nose. 

They both froze like deer in headlights. Seconds ticked by as the two of them processed the situation they were currently in. Slowly, realization dawned on them, and identical blushes began to creep up their necks. The flush spread up to the roots of their hairs. 

Crimson-faced, they sprang away from each other with shrill screams. 

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” he sputtered as he scampered several feet away from her, one leg flailed up by his chest, and both his arms crossed in front of his bright red face. “I was… I was just fixing the blanket!” he explained with a frantic gesture at the cloth. Ochako blinked a few times, then glanced down at the fabric now surrounding her. 

“O-oh! I see,” she squeaked after several seconds of silence. She shifted under the blanket, drawing it around her. “Th-thank you, Izuku.” The green-haired boy spluttered out something along the lines of “no problem.” He twiddled his fingers by his sides as silence descended between them once more. He cleared his throat and then awkwardly lunged for the box of animal crackers still resting on the coffee table. Ochako raised her eyebrows. “Midnight snack?” she laughed. Izuku flushed pink. 

“Y-yeah,” he chuckled bashfully, playing with the curly hairs at the base of his neck. After retrieving a few of the animal-shaped cookies from the box, he held it out to Ochako. “Y-ya want some?” The bubbly brunette nodded and scooched over to the end of the couch to reach out and snag a few. Instead of just shoving them in her mouth to devour like Izuku did, she daintily bit the cookie in half, nibbling at it with her front teeth. She gazed wide-eyed at him when he began to giggle. 

“What?” 

“Y-you’re just really cute, is all…” he admitted shyly. A rosy hue flowered on her face, and she dropped the cookies in her hands to slap her hands to her cheeks. He squeaked and ducked down to hide behind the recliner, the closest object large enough to hide his small frame. “I-I’m sorry!” 

“No! I-I mean, why are you apologizing?” Ochako asked bashfully, winding a swathe of her chestnut hair around her finger. She stared out of the bottom right corners of her eyes as a little smile alighted her features. “I-i mean… I-it’s nice, to be called cute, y’know?” Izuku blinked at her over the top of the large chair. She twiddled her thumbs anxiously as she squirmed. “Y-you know… The nose kiss wasn’t so bad either,” she offered slowly. Izuku’s green eyes blew wide, like two emerald moons floating in white space. Ochako turned bright pink and shoved her face into her hands. “O-oh my! Was that weird? Omigosh, I don’t know what came over me; I’m just super sleepy, hahaaaa!” she blabbed as she attempted to dismiss the strange remark. Slowly, Izuku rose from behind the armchair. 

“Well… I could… I could do it again, i-if you like,” he whispered. Though he wanted nothing more than to crouch back down and bury his body underneath the inch of space between the recliner and the floor, he held fast, swallowing as he stared intensely at the shocked girl. Ochako’s lips drew into a thin line as she considered the opportunity. 

“Okay,” she squeaked. Like an edgy house cat advancing on a strange new object, Izuku crept around the furniture to gradually approach her. Ochako gulped audibly and compulsively straightened as he stopped in front of her. Izuku flopped backward to sit on the edge of the coffee table. He inhaled sharply through his nose and rubbed his hands together, psyching himself up for the little kiss. Come on, Izuku. Just do it already. 

“O-okay. Here it comes!” Izuku huffed, then went bright red, cursing himself for the silly statement. Thankfully, Ochako only rolled her shoulders once before fluttering her eyes and tilting back her head to present her nose to him. Izuku wiggled his fingers relentlessly, not sure what to do with his hands, before deciding to grip the edge of the coffee table as he leaned forward. Quickly, and without any more fanfare, he leaned in to press a light kiss to the top of Ochako’s nose. He jerked back after holding it for a second, his face reminiscent of a tomato’s hue. “Uh… um… How was that?” he asked stupidly. 

“It was nice,” she answered honestly, opening her eyes to smile brightly at him. Izuku deflated like a balloon, a relieved sigh escaping from his lungs. Ochako hesitated a second, then quietly asked, “D-do you want one?” 

“Oh, absolutely!” He realized that he was far too enthusiastic and turned a lovely shade of maroon. Ochako snickered before plopping her palms against his cheek, squishing the flesh a little. She leaned up to lightly peck his nose with her lips. A tingling feeling bloomed in the area, propagating across his entire nervous system, down to the tips of his fingers and toes. He couldn’t help the giddy, toothy grin that appeared on his face as she retreated. “Wow, that does feel pretty nice.” 

“What are you two doing?” 

The pair of them screamed and leaped two feet in the air as Mr. Aizawa’s disgruntled growl scared them out of their skins. The teacher slouched in the hallway, shining his phone flashlight on the two students. They both began stuttering nonsense and pointing in various directions, but Aizawa just glared at them, unimpressed. Izuku finally plucked up the box of animal crackers and thrust it at the teacher. 

“I-I had the munchies!” he explained lamely. Aizawa’s dark eyebrows narrowed. 

“Stop flirting and go to bed!” 

“Yes, sir! Right away, sir!” Izuku shrieked and scurried away from the couch. Ochako followed, the blanket flowing like a cap behind her running form. They bolted for the stairs, terrified that Aizawa stamped behind them, and scrambled up to the landing together. “Wait, wait, wait, Ochako!” he cried and grabbed her by the wrist as she made to flee to her room. Grinning mischievously, he yanked her forward to kiss her nose again. 

“Izuku Midoriya, so help me, if you do not get in your bed right now, you will be on house arrest for a week!” 

“I’m so sorry, Mr. Aizawa!” he yelled and sprang away from Ochako to clamber on all fours up the stairs. He vaguely heard Ochako shout “goodnight, Izuku!” after him, and he fancied her tone to be airily blissful. He dashed into his room and threw the door shut. Exhaling deeply, he melted against the wood, standing there for a few moments to still his pounding heart. 

Yet, it didn’t still completely. Every time Izuku thought of Ochako and her gleeful smile, his heart would resume pumping with gusto. He passed his fingers over the tip of his nose, recalling the sensation of Ochako’s plump lips. He still clutched the box of animal crackers in his hands. Smirking, he rolled the bag closed and sealed the container, then tossed it up in the air and caught it by the side. 

“Heh. Thank goodness for the midnight munchies.”

Enjoy this oneshot? Feel free to peruse my Table of Contents!

Tag List:  @simplybakugou​ @sadistiks​ @wesparklebitch​ @thomassoergel​

[timeoutforthee]

Dragon Witch-Spooky Month

Summary: Roman has a genius idea for his Halloween costume. Child!AU

TWs: Deceit (he lies but he’s not manipulative?? so sympathetic?? Yes let’s go with that.), discussion of snakes

@sanderssidesspook

“Mr. Patton! Mr. Patton! I’m done!” Roman Sanders called, running up to his teacher’s desk.

Patton suppressed a smile, trying to go for stern.

“That’s very good, Roman,” he said, “But remember what we said about getting out of our seats without permission? And using our inside voices?”

“Oh,” Roman whispered, “Sorry,” he held his drawing out proudly, “But I finished my drawing of what I want to be for Halloween.”

“And what is that?”

“Well, look at it, silly!” Roman said.

Patton felt himself panic, just slightly, as he looked at Roman’s drawing. After all, his ideas were a little...out there sometimes. Very unique, and Patton would never want to stifle his creativity, but that doesn’t mean he always knew what they were, a fact which usually upset his student. But this one...it had horns and a pointy hat...and a broom and was spitting fire.

“Is it a...dragon witch?” Underneath the desk, Patton crossed his fingers.

“Yeah!” Roman exclaimed, before he leaned against the desk and whispered, “It’s smushes together a witch, which is super scary, and a dragon, which is extra super scary, so that means it’s the very scariest!”

“Aw, why would you wanna be scary?” Patton asked, barely hiding a smile. He loved teaching first graders.

“Well, I was a prince last year, you know, and I had to make something that was tough enough for me to fight!”

“So this has been in your head since last year?”

“Yeah!” Roman held up the picture again, “Isn’t it cool?”

“Super cool.”

Some kid snorted behind Roman, who turned and narrowed his eyes.

“Definitely not super cool,” D.C. Berry said.

“Oh yeah? Well, what did you come up with? Something stupid, I bet.”

“Now, kids, what have we said about treating each other the way you want to be treated?”

“Sorry, Mr. Patton,” they both said in unison.

“How about you head back to your seat, Ro? You could even draw another picture, if you like.”

Roman’s eyes lit up, and he practically skipped back to his seat. He had almost finished his second drawing, adding the final touches of fire when D.C. walked by him. The two seven-year-olds glared at each other.

“Still lame,” D.C. whispered at him. Roman pouted, covering his picture with his arms. If D.C. was going to be mean, then he didn’t get to see something so awesome!

D.C. just kept walking, straight to the trash can. He slipped his own picture into it. He had wanted to be a snake, but Roman’s idea was so much cooler! How was he supposed to compete with that?

*

Roman was barely in the house before he dropped his mom’s hand and walked up to his older brother’s room.

Virgil Sanders was sitting on his bed, with his headphones on. Headphones on used to mean “I had a bad day, don’t talk to me” but it seemed like since Virgil started high school a month and a half ago, every day was a bad day. So Roman didn’t always follow the “don’t talk to me” rule.

First, Roman stood in the door. Then he walked in and sat on the edge of the bed. Then he scooted up to sit next to Virgil. When that still didn’t get a reaction, he threw himself across Virgil’s lap.

“What?” Virgil said, finally yanking his headphones off.

“Oh, hi, Virgil, funny seeing you here.”

“This is my room-”

“Shh,” Roman said, “I have a very important question.”

“Yeah?” he asked. When Roman didn’t respond, he furrowed his eyebrows slightly. “Roman?”

“Virgil, am I lame?”

Virgil frowned. He was dealing with typical high school stuff, such as existential dread and realizing cliques were everywhere even though ultimately labels were meaningless, and that people would pass judgments no matter what and sometimes those with negative labels were better than those with positive ones.

But Roman is seven. He probably couldn’t keep up with that. So to make him feel better-

“No, Roman, you’re not lame.”

Roman pressed a hand to his heart, “Thank goodness! I was worried for a second.”

“Why?”

“Some loser called me lame today-”

“Roman,” Virgil warned, “you can’t get upset that someone called you lame and then call them a loser.”

“Ugh, you sound like Mr. Patton.”

“You love Mr. Patton.”

“Not important!” Roman cried again, kicking one leg dramatically in the air. Virgil tried not to smile. Seriously, where did this kid learn this stuff? “I have a costume planned for Halloween, and I need your help.”

“My help? Why?”

“Because I am going to be a dragon witch!” Roman cries, “Something very dark and spooky, and you are dark and spooky.”

“I am not!” Virgil protested. The small child in his lap just gave him a look before looking pointedly around his room, at the spiderwebs and Nightmare Before Christmas merch.

“That is a Disney movie-oh, whatever,” Virgil paused, “Dragon witch? Isn’t that the thing you pretended was following us around last year?”

“You mean the evil doer who was attacking you that I had to save you from?”

“...sure.”

“Yes!” Roman said, “That’s what I’m going to be this year.”

“Couldn’t you do something easier?” Virgil groaned, letting his head fall back “Like...I don’t know...be a snake or something…”

Roman gasped and Virgil raised his head back up.

“Roman...are you...afraid of snakes?”

“Nooooo,” he said, crossing his arms, “I just don’t like them is all. I don’t like all sorts of things.” Virgil smirked, “For example, I do not like you.”

“Guess I’m not helping you out with your little costume then.”

Roman’s eyes lit up. “You mean you’ll do it?”

Virgil smiles. As edgy as he tried to be, he had a real soft spot for his little brother, “I guess I’ll do it.”

Roman leaned up slightly and looped his arms around his brother’s neck. Virgil hugged him back.

“Now get out of my room.”

*

Meanwhile, one street over, D.C. walked up to his own brother and clung to his leg.

“Hello to you, too, D.C.,” Logan said. He was standing by the cabinet, searching for an after school snack. His eyes went to the Crofter’s jar on instinct, but he kept scanning.

“Cookie,” D.C. muttered. Logan looked down, before reaching up to grab the cookies from the top shelf. D.C. finally looked up and smiled slightly.

“I won’t tell mom if you don’t.”

“I definitely will,” he said as Logan handed him two-two!-cookies. He finally let go of his brother. Logan also took one for himself.

“Bad day, huh?” he said as they sat down at the kitchen table.

“Nope, it was the best,” D.C. frowned at himself as he hopped on to the chair.

“What happened?”

“We were drawing, and this kid Roman who I hate, drew something dumb, and I told him that. It was so much worse than mine.”

Logan went through what he said, and then, “So you want to be Roman’s friend and you tried to tell him that you liked his drawing but you lied? And you thought it was better than your drawing?”

“No. We were drawing our costumes for Halloween, and he’s going to be a Dragon Witch. Isn’t that stupid? Much dumber than a snake.”

Logan frowned, “While a dragon witch is...creative, that doesn’t mean a snake isn’t a good costume, too.”

“But Roman’s is so much worse.”

“You can both have good ideas.”

“Whatever,” his little brother said, leaning back and pouting.

Logan frowned. His family had adopted D.C. when he was five. Ever since he was able to speak, they were told, he spoke almost completely in lies. They had taken him to therapists, and it seemed to be a mixture of a poor coping skill and a habit he had in the system, telling himself and others he didn’t want to be adopted, he didn’t care, you’re stupid. He was slowly starting to change, break his habit and learning to cope better, but it didn’t come easy. Logan hated seeing him like this.

“Could we try writing a note to Roman?”

“Oh, that would make everything better,” D.C. looks up, “Just tell him I am completely normal and can talk like a normal person.”

Logan frowned again. His parents had debated sending a note to school or talking to the principal about his little brother’s condition, but he had begged them not to.

“It’ll make everything better,” he had said.

It was times like this that Logan wished he was better at...everything, really. D.C. had been through so much already, he deserved a good big brother.

“What if we tried to make you a…,” venomous, carnivorous, predatory, “...scary snake?” D.C. perked up a bit at that. He was just planning on wearing his snake onesie, which was a basic green snake with his tongue sticking out on the hood. “We could do your facepaint to look like scales, get some fangs to stick on your teeth, and find something to give you a hood like a cobra…”

“Really?”

“Certainly,” Logan said. If it’ll help.

“Thanks, Logan,” his brother leans back, finally grabbing his cookie and taking a bite of it, “Lo?”

“Yes?”

“Would...would...you. Take me trick or treating this year?” D.C. has to force the words out to make sure what he’s asking is clear.

Logan freezes, but shakes himself out of it, “I’d love to, D.C.”

His little brother offers him a rare, huge smile before going back to his cookie.

[prodigal-sunlight]

Definitely Totally Married; Ch. 1

Chapter One

Reaper76 slow-burn shipfic, rated PG. (Some chapters may be rated PG-13; I don’t know yet. Any such chapters will be clearly marked.) Lots of mutual pining. Takes place during the Omnic Crisis. 

When a small group of terrorist fans the fires of the Omnic Crisis, Overwatch sends Gabriel Reyes and Jack Morrison undercover to put a stop to it. Going undercover as a married couple isn’t exactly Jack’s first choice, but as the two friends work on the mission together, their love story starts becoming less and less of a show. Falling in love wasn’t in the mission plan.

“Stop grinning like that Morrison, you’re unnerving me,” Gabriel said, snorting as he gave Jack a light shove. “Mind telling me what’s going on?”

Jack snorted, shoving his hands deep into his jacket pockets. “Maybe I will, maybe I won’t.” After a death glare from Gabriel, he started to laugh. “Fine, fine. Ana, Reinhardt and I were talking earlier. Apparently there’s an underground terrorist unit that’s been supplying weapons to the enemy omnics. From the sound of things, you and I are might get to have a bit of fun with this one.”

“Fun?” Gabriel raised an eyebrow, grabbing the door to the conference room. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I’m not really sure, but anything’s better than patrol, right?” Jack said, pushing the door open.

Torbjorn, Ana, and Reinhardt were already seated around the table, reading over a series of screens, each displaying a variety of news reports covering the omnic crisis. Reinhardt lifted his head with a grin, resting one hand on the helmet at his side. “Ah, friends! Glad you decided to finally show up!” Ana leaned back in her chair, leafing through a series of papers printed in thick, black ink. “Take a seat. We need to start discussing our next move.”

Gabriel and Jack sat in the two empty chairs next to each other, trading a quick glance between just them.

“So,” Gabriel asked, folding his arms. “This is about the terrorist unit then? What’s the deal with that?”

“After a bit of weapon tracing, I’ve figured out their general location,” Torbjorn announced, leaning forward in his chair. “They’re using sheet metal from an abandoned factory down in a small town in Idaho, and shipping out from a private hangar less than ten miles away. From what I can tell, their base of operations is undercover somewhere in a quiet neighborhood called Littlevale.”

Gabriel snorted. “Sounds charming.”

“We don’t want to spook them into relocating, so we were discussing the possibility of an undercover ops mission to shut them down,” Ana explained, sliding two manila envelopes across the table. “This is my official proposal that the two of you cover the mission while Torbjorn, Reinhardt and I continue to lead the charge against some of our more frontal threats.”

Gabriel and Jack high–fived, sharing a grin. “I think it goes without saying that we vote in favor,” Jack said, grabbing his own envelope, already digging through the papers inside. Sure special ops was more Gabe’s specialty than his, but he’d kill for a change of pace right about now.

Ana nodded. “Torbjorn? Reinhardt? What are your thoughts?”

“Sounds excellent! Best of luck to you both, my friends!” Reinhardt said eagerly.

Torbjorn nodded. “Aye.

Ana smiled, folding her arms on the table. “It’s unanimous then. The two of you will spend two weeks undercover in ‘Littlevale’. I’ve already taken the liberty of contacting the seller of a home there, as well as preparing cover identities for you both. Everything we know so far is in those files. Remember, as far as anyone there will know, you are Gabe and Jonathan Smith.”

Jack flipped through the pages of the mission file absently. “Why do we have the same last name? Are we supposed to be brothers or something?”

Ana raised an eyebrow. “Of course not. Who’d believe that? You two are married, of course.”

“Cool,” Gabriel said, absently paging through his own files.

“Wait, what?” sputtered Jack, his neck burning as color began to rise in his cheeks. “Why are we married? Who’s going to believe that?”

Torbjorn laughed into his hand, elbowing Reinhardt. “Hah! Can you believe that? Tell them what you told me.”

Reinhardt shrugged, grinning sheepishly. “When I first met you two, I thought you were married. You must admit, you two are rather convincing as a couple!”

Jack dropped his face into his hands, as if he could hide how red his face had turned. “Gabe, can you believe this? We’ve been betrayed! Tricked!”

“Calm down, Jack,” Gabriel said bemusedly, pouring himself a mug of coffee. “I’m not going to screw you, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

Rolling his eyes, Jack folded his arms. “You’re all ridiculous. What, do we have children too? No, you know what, you wanted us to be married, so now we’re gonna adopt some gay kids.”

“Shut up, Jack,” Ana said, smirking. “You already voted for this mission. Now, you’re going to want to pack.” She paused, regaining her serious composure. “On that note, Torbjorn, can you show Gabriel how to work the transmission codec? If these terrorists send any messages in or out of their base, we need to know.”

As they spoke, Jack leaned back in his chair, staring fixedly at the ceiling. Sure, he and Gabriel flirted sometimes, but it was always as a joke. They’d been friends for so long, it would just be weird if something happened now, right? Well, there was that one time at the SEP when they had to share a bed. It had been pretty nice, actually. Gabe had such soft skin. And he smelled like coffee grounds, and discharged pulse munitions. They had just laid there in the dark, listening to each other breath. So close.

“Hey.” Jack blinked, sitting up as Gabriel cuffed him lightly across the arm. “It’s just a cover. You don’t have to make that face.”

“Face?” Jack said, stifling a smirk. “I wasn’t making a face.”

Gabriel grinned, raising an eyebrow. “No? Not this one?” He stuck out his tongue, dragging down his eyelids with an exaggerated look of exasperation.

“Shut up,” snorted Jack, pushing Gabriel away. “That’s it, I’m divorcing you. We’re getting divorced.”

Gabriel grinned, leaning in close. Really close. Jack paused, trying not to stare. “I guess I’m just too badass for you.”

“Nice try, ‘My Chemical Romance,’ but I’ve seen the little doodles of skulls you draw on your arm with pink highlighter,” Jack teased.

“That was one time,” Gabriel protested, folding his arms moodily. “If you don’t stop bringing it up, I’ll rip off your arm, Morrison.”

Jack laughed. “Funny, you told me that the last ten times.” It felt so good. Right. Constantly teasing each other, bickering over stupid things, always having each other’s back. This was the way things were meant to be. This was perfect.

He picked up the mission papers, skipping ahead to the info on their new identities as Jonathan and Gabe Smith. Couldn’t have chosen a more generic last name, huh? Married four years, just returned from a yearlong work trip in D.C, and looking to settle down for a quiet family life.

Jack glanced up as Gabriel walked away, starting to talk with Torbjorn at the door. He found himself smiling, though he wasn’t really sure why.

Never mind this, he had a mission. Undercover or not, he wanted to make sure they would be armed and ready. Maybe he’d talk to Mercy, see if she could upgrade his biotic field, just in case things went south. Standing, he tucked the mission file under his arm. He paused a second, biting back a grin. As he passed through the door, he firmly smacked Gabe across the butt. “See you in Littlevale, babe.”

                                                .    .     .    .    .

“Can you believe this? We’ve got the tech and know how to fabricate completely new civilian identities on a whim, infiltrate the most high security organizations, fight an entire army of super strong, super angry omnics—but SOMEHOW it didn’t occur to anyone that this wallpaper is damn ugly?”

“Oh come on Gabe,” Jack said, leaning his suitcase up against a wall. “You’d probably decorate this room like a poster for some edgy teenage band, or a thirteenth century torture dungeon.”

Gabriel folded his arms, huffing. “You’ve got no taste Jack Morrison. I bet you think that floral print couch just looks great, huh? It looks and smells like crusty old mustard!”

“Calm down, it’s only for two weeks. Plus, we’re only using the house to station the surveillance equipment, it’s not like we’re going to actually grow old together here,” Jack snorted, pulling the living room curtains shut.

“Damn right we aren’t,” Gabriel grumbled. “If you were actually expecting me to live here, I’d divorce your ass in a heartbeat.”

“Not if I divorce you first,” Jack said, throwing one of the onion green pillows at Gabriel’s head.

Gabriel stumbled in shock, giving Jack an exaggerated look of furious betrayal. He lunged forward to grab a pillowy weapon of his own when—

Ding–dong!

The two shared a cautious glance. After a moment, Jack walked over to the door, opening it up. “Um, hello?”

Outside stood a tall, square–shouldered man with curly red hair. He wore a casual sweater vest, carried a small sleeping baby girl, and held a wicker basket under one arm. When the door opened, he split into a wide, white smile. “You must be the new neighbor! It’s really just great to meet you. My name is Andrew Miles. I live in the house next door with the wraparound porch.” He held out the basket, filled to the brim with fresh fruit, and neatly tied down with a red ribbon. “I figured I’d swing by and bring you a little house–warming gift. I grow the fruit in my own backyard, so it’s fresh off the tree. It’s really just my way of welcoming you to the neighborhood!”

Jack quickly smiled, shaking Andrew’s hand as he accepted the huge basket. “I’m, ah, Jonathan Smith. But you can call me Jack.”

Andrew laughed, bouncing the little baby lightly. “It’s really just great to meet you Jack!” he said, smiling. “So, besides being incredible handsome, what do you do for a living?”

Jack blinked. “Excuse me. What?”

“I asked what you do for a living,” Andrew said brightly, brushing a curl out of his eyes. “I coach the kids’ soccer team. It doesn’t pay a lot, but it’s really just fun seeing the kids so excited, you know? You?”

What did he do for a living? He knew it was in the identities they’d planned and the legal papers, but suddenly he couldn’t make himself think.

A warm, strong hand grabbed his shoulder tightly. “My Jackie here is a real estate agent,” Gabriel cut in, leaning in close. “I’m Gabe Smith, his husband. Nice to meet you.”

“Well Gabe, you really just won the lottery, didn’t you?” Andrew chuckled, offering Jack a wink. “I was just welcoming Jack to the neighborhood.”

“Great. Fantastic,” Gabriel said.

There was a long, uncomfortable silence, falling over everything like a thick sheet of snow. Finally managing to grab a hold of his senses, Jack coughed, cutting in quickly. “It’s been nice meeting you, Andrew. Thank you for the fruit basket.”

“The pleasure has been mine, Jack. Hey, there’s a neighborhood barbecue tonight. Would you like to come? You can bring your husband, if you want,” Andrew said.

“We need to unpack,” Gabriel said quickly.

“We’d love to come,” argued Jack, elbowing Gabriel. “Thank you for inviting us, we’ll be sure to come.”

The door was barely closed when he turn to Gabriel, glaring. “Come on Gabe, what was that about? You were being weird!”

“What was that about? I was keeping you alive, you idiot! We don’t know who could be involved in this terrorist group, and now you just want to go partying around to some stranger’s barbecue?”

Jack groaned. “I’m not partying around! I’m trying to find opportunities for us to investigate, Gabe! Plus, it’s not like anyone would shoot me to death right there in plain sight of the entire cul-de-sac!”

“But he was hitting—“

“So what if he was hitting on me! He’s kind of cute, okay? Maybe I liked it! And just because he was flirting doesn’t mean my guard was down. I can protect myself just fine!”

Gabriel let out a frustrated yell, dropping down on the couch. “Look, I don’t care if redheads are your kink, Jack! As far as anyone in this neighborhood is supposed to know, you and I are happily married. We have a cover to keep up! You can’t just—“

“Alright, alright! I’ll try and avoid it next time.” There was a long pause, and Jack sighed, slumping down on the couch next to him. He sat close to Gabriel, nudging him lightly. “It’s not my fault I look the way I do.”

“You’re right,” Gabriel said, sinking into the couch cushion with a small smile. “No one would be so ugly and disgusting if they could help it.”

Jack smiled at the joke, grabbing Gabriel’s hand. The touch was like a spark, and they both fell suddenly silent, not meeting eyes. For a moment, he wasn’t sure whether or not to regret it. No, it was fine. He was doing this to let Gabriel know he cared, because that’s what friends did. Just… friends. “I’m not going to promise I’ll be safe. You know neither of us can.”

Gabriel leaned in close. Jack’s breath caught. He was warm. He smelled like coffee grounds and pulse munitions. He was so, so incredibly close. “I know. But you’ll at least try to be careful, right?

Nodding slightly, Jack worked up the courage to lean in as well. This was nothing special, he reminded himself. They’d held each other before, been this close to each other before. Still, he couldn’t help but feel that this moment was special somehow. “Only if you are too.”