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writingtraumaforever · 2 months ago

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Courtship: Chapter 3 (Finale)

Notes: AAAAAAAAAND DONE. This was such a joy to write, guys. I love the movie-verse so, so much, and I'm glad I was motivated enough to write a little fic about our two favorite boys. I hope you all enjoyed this as much as I did, and who know! Maybe if the demand is there, I'll write a little epilogue for our two cuties~

Summary: Shadow meets the Wachowski's. Again.

Chapter Select: Chapter 1, Chapter 2

Mini-Sequel: Home Alone

Link to my AO3!

Start:

Sonic is nothing but nervous energy.

He’s been rushing about the entire morning. He took a bubble bath. He bathed Ozzie in the same bath after. He tidied his room. He put on the coolest pictures of him in the living room and the dopey ones in his dresser drawer to not be found. He combed his quills and brushed his fur. He has prepared in every possible way and still feels like things aren’t near good enough for Shadow to be impressed.

Maddie climbs up the ladder to the attic, gently lifting the door to find Sonic moving his action figures around on his shelf as if to try and find some sort of specifically aesthetic organization.

“No..,” he moves them all around again, “nuh uh,” again, “not it,” again with a frustrated groan, “You know what?? He’ll probably think they’re lame anyway.” And then he’s dumping them all in the upper drawer of his nightstand.

Maddie can’t help but smile at her spazzing son, a sympathetic knit to her brow as she knocks gently on his bedroom floor, “Knock knock?”

Sonic’s attention instantly shift to his peeping mom’s head peering through the attic door, “oh- hey, mom.”

“Hey, kiddo,” she smiles, entering now that he’s granted his approval. She looks at the neat room with raised brows, “Wow.. don’t think I’ve ever seen it so clean in here.”

“Yeah, well. I can’t have a guest thinking I’m a slob.”

“Right. Because that would be misleading,” Maddie says with a playful wink and a hint of sarcasm. Sonic just smiles at this, rolling his eyes before dashing over to his comic books that are stacked next to his bean bag. He begins looking through them, trying to decide which should go on top for viewing.

“You think Batman is cooler or the Flash??”

“Hm.. I think the Flash is pretty cool,” the mother answers as she approaches the hedgehog with a knowing look in her eyes.

“Mm… yeah, but..,” he looks at the Batman comic again before stacking the Flash and then the Batman one on top, “Shadow would probably like Batman more.”

“You’re probably right,” Maddie agrees with a nod, Sonic nodding in return as he turns to his mom again.

“Did you get the hot dogs?”

“Yup,” she assures, “Three whole packs. And the chili is currently in the slow cooker.”

“Sweet,” Sonic grins approvingly, “Shadow is gonna die when he tries your chili dogs. He’ll finally understand that they’re the best thing humans have ever invented.”

“Right,” Maddie snorts with a giggle before she crouches down to eye level with the blue blur, watching how Sonic’s eyes skim around the room looking for something else to perfect. Nerves. Anxious. Excited. Scared..

She knows.

“Hey..,” she says softly, catching Sonic’s attention then as she takes his gloved hands into her own, “He already likes you. He wouldn’t be coming here if he didn’t.”

Sonic sighs, some of the tension leaving his shoulders as he squeezes Maddie’s hands, “I know. I know. I just-.. I really want him to think I’m cool.”

“Sonic Wachowski?? Not cool?? That’s an impossible conclusion to come to,” she smirks, Sonic giggling a bit in return.

“I know, but-.. I don’t know..”

Sonic’s ears flatten just slightly, his gaze shifting away sheepishly. And nervously..

Maddie’s smile softens again, squeezing his hands again as she speaks, “Try and relax. If you’re a nervous ball of energy, he likely will feed off that and be one too. Being cool is a nice thing to be, but being welcoming is the more important bit.. You want him to feel safe here.”

“Yeah..,” Sonic breathes with a small smile, looking at his mother earnestly, “..I just want him to want to come back.”

“I’m sure he will,” she assures with a nod, moving to kiss her boy’s spiky forehead before resting hers against it to look him in the eye, “It’ll all go just fine, Sonic. You’re a great kid.”

“I’m seventeen,” Sonic groans with a little eyeroll, but it’s harmless and he’s smiling. He knows good and well no matter how old he is, he’ll always be her baby.

“I’m sorry, you’re a great man,” she corrects with pure confidence, “And you have a big heart. I’m sure he sees that too, and finds comfort in that…”

Sonic’s eyes shut with a sigh, leaning his forehead against his mom’s a bit more before simply moving to slide his arms around her shoulders and give her a big hedgehog hug.

“Thanks mom..”

She pets her hand along his head and rubs his ear with a smile, hugging him in return tight and warm, “Anytime.”

Sonic stays like that until he feels most of his nerves melt away, pulling back then to look her in the eye with all seriousness, “Dad’s gonna behave, right???”

Maddie hums and looks away as if unsure, “I think so,” she immediately laughs when Sonic’s face shifts to horror and gives his shoulders a playful shake, “Calm down, I’m kidding. We had a talk. And he absolutely is going to behave. As are the other boys.”

Sonic deflates with a breath of relief, “Oh thank God—“

Maddie giggles and stands up again, lightly thumping Sonic’s ear and making it twitch in the process as she turns to exit the attic, “Try and relax a bit. You’re gonna run a hole in the ceiling if you keep at it up here.”

Sonic just scoffs in playful offense, “Is that a fat joke?!”

“It’s a warning,” Maddie says with a pointed look his way as she climbs down the ladder, slowly closing the door on her way down. She playfully points at him in mock threat just before it shuts, leaving Sonic chuckling before moving to his bed.

He sits down carefully on the edge, not wanting to have to make it again. Laying back with a heavy sigh, he stares at his ceiling and tries to ignore the very aggressive butterflies that are multiplying in his stomach..

•••

Shadow has prepared himself appropriately according to his research.

He anointed himself in his favorite scent: lavender and coffee. He combed his quills neatly. He brushed his chest fur to get any knots out. He’s even wearing an extra article of clothing: a black leather jacket. And to impress Sonic’s parents, he bought two motorcycle helmets to show he cares about safety, wearing one when he shows up at their driveway.

He read motorcycles are often an alarming sign to most guardians for their children to be associated with, but Sonic once told him that Mr. Wachowski thought they were ‘way past cool’. So he opted to try and impress the man by catering to his interests.

Parking the bike on the street at the end of the driveway, Shadow removes his helmet and rests it on the seat. His crimson eyes stare at the Wachowski residence for a long time. A sick feeling in his stomach.

Maybe he’s ill.

No.. no, lying to himself is pointless. He’s terrified.

He doesn’t get the luxury of domineering first impressions. He’s already made them long ago, and they weren’t exactly ideal. None of this situation is, honestly. But he has to play the cards he was dealt, and he’s determined to try his damn hardest to win this family over.

He’s watched YouTube tutorials on how to hold conversation, dinner etiquette, appropriate movie watching commentary, manners when meeting parents, common humans topics of conversation..

He’s done his research. Theoretically, this should be a walk in the park.

So why the hell couldn’t he get his feet to move???

He stares at the home. Can see the lights on, humans silhouetted and moving about through the sheer curtains of the windows.. and one blue blur flashing by now and then.

Shadow’s lips purse, his fists tightening at his sides as his stomach aches a bit more uneasily.

Sonic is inside.. Sonic is depending on him to make a good impression. Sonic has done his part in this ritual, now it’s time for Shadow to do his and-…

Nope. No, what is he thinking?? Shadow can’t do this. He doesn’t deserve this. He’s a fraud. He doesn’t deserve redemption or forgiveness. He doesn’t get to just waltz into their home and act as though he’s just some random hedgehog their son brought home.

He nearly destroyed them.

Picking his helmet back off his motorcycle’s seat, he starts to put it back on with one last glance to the Wachowski home.

The home untouched by a monster. The home he hasn’t destroyed yet. The home that doesn’t need him involved in it..

And ruby finds emerald.

Sonic’s wide, eager eyes are looking out the window in search of his guest’s arrival and find Shadow standing there.

Damnit.

The front door opens in an instant, the blue blur standing there grinning wide and excited and happy. Shadow can see his tail wagging from here.

“Shadow!”

Shadow slowly puts his helmet back on the seat of his bike.

Welp.

No going back now.

Walking around the bike, Shadow offers a small smile to Sonic despite his current need to vomit. Or run. Running sounds more convenient.

”You’re here!” Sonic beams, and Shadow swears he’s never seen the hero so damn giddy.

“I am,” he confirms with a small nod, approaching the steps to the doorway now and stopping right outside the door.

Sonic just stares at him all sunshine and giggles for a long moment, Shadow feeling increasingly weary under his starstruck gaze.

This hedgehog expects far too much of Shadow.. he’s going to end up crushed when he sees him for what he really is eventually. But Shadow will selfishly take whatever attention Sonic will give him for now.

There’s something powerful about it.. a pure-hearted hero like Sonic wanting to court Shadow. The monstrosity. The creature. The thing.

Shadow wonders if Sonic even realizes how much of an impact the way he looks at Shadow has on him..

Sonic’s eyes linger and then look down at Shadow’s attire, “You’re wearing a jacket!”

Shadow shifts a bit on his feet, looking down at his jacket with slight embarrassment now.. maybe it wasn’t the appropriate choice?

“I.. am..?”

“It looks great!” Sonic beams, bouncing on his toes as he bites his lower lip.

“Oh..,” Shadow looks back to Sonic, a shy smile curling on his muzzle, “Thank you.”

“Sure thing,” Sonic replies immediately, going back to just staring at Shadow as if he isn’t real. Like he’s a dream. A vision.

Shadow doesn’t know what to do with that..

“May I—“

“Oh! Yeah, man, sorry—“ Sonic chuckles with a pink tint growing on his cheeks, moving out of the way to allow Shadow inside the home. Shadow steps inside and is immediately met with the smell of peppers and mahogany. He’s guessing it’s the dinner mixed with the natural Wachowski home scent. It’s not unpleasant.

Sonic closes the door behind him, and Shadow looks up to find the Donut Lord and Pretzel Lady themselves looking right back at him.

Oh sweet chaos kill him—

”Hello, Mr. And Mrs. Wachowski,” Shadow greets immediately, nerves making his hands feel a bit shaky but he steels them into hard fists at his sides.

The missus of the home speaks first, “Hello, Shadow.” Her voice is soft and sweet, and her smile looks genuine and welcoming. “We’re so happy to have you here. Welcome to our home!”

“Thank you for allowing my attendance,” Shadow politely nods, swallowing hard as his eyes shift to the man. The father. The leader. The Donut Lord.

He doesn’t look nearly as genuine as the woman when he smiles. But he is smiling, which is something, at least.

Last Shadow saw this man, he had a foot placed firmly on his neck with a gun pressed to his temple.

Shadow will gladly and gratefully take a damn disingenuous smile.

“Of course,” the man assures, seeming a bit reluctant in his words but Shadow recognizes the effort regardless, “Any friend of Sonic’s is always welcome.”

Even if they blew up half the moon???

Shadow refrains from saying this.

“You have a lovely home, Mrs. Wachowski,” Shadow compliments, trying for some of the training he received from the Internet, “It’s very well decorated.”

“Oh- that’s so sweet,” she smiles, a hand over her heart as if it’s been touched. Shadow is glad this seems to have been the right thing to say.

“Why don’t you let Sonic give you a tour, and I’ll the table set for us to eat out back?”

“Sounds great!” Sonic approves, Shadow looking back to the hedgehog that’s been standing behind him watching the interaction with pins and needles this whole time, “C’mon! We’ll start with the living room.”

Shadow follows Sonic throughout the home, feeling Mr. Wachowski’s lingering gaze now and then when in sight. But Shadow tries not to focus on this and instead on the words Sonic is saying.

“These are our bean bags,” the blue hedgehog points to the line of three large bags, blue, yellow and red, stored against the wall of the living room behind the couch, “We pull them out in front of the tv when we watch a movie or a show. Mine is the blue one— duh. Knuckles’ is red and Tails’ is yellow. Mom and Dad take the couch.”

Shadow nods with a small hum to show he’s paying attention, not having much commentary on the matter. Sonic doesn’t seem to mind this. He makes up by talking enough for the both of them. Always has. This is their dynamic. And the familiarity of it helps Shadow feel a bit more at ease as he continues on with Sonic’s tour.

“This is the dining room where we eat— except we never eat here. We usually just sit in the living room or at the table in the kitchen to eat. We only eat here on special occasions like birthdays or holidays.”

“This is the downstairs bathroom. Always use this bathroom. Knuckles uses it the least.”

“That’s the kitchen, but we’ll stay outta there right now so we don’t get in the way.”

“This is the downstairs office where Dad will do paperwork or Mom will do some vet stuff. Sometimes she brings home animals to foster, and they sleep in here. It’s super cool! Once, she brought home an earth hedgehog. It was super slow.”

“This is the backyard—“

He’s interrupted by instant barking when he opens the door, the family dog having been outside and seemingly waiting at the door for them to join him. Shadow doesn’t like the loud noise, instantly feeling a bit overwhelmed as he takes a small step back with a frown and watches Sonic wrangle the dog by his collar.

“Ozzie! Easy! I know you’re excited we have a guest, but you gotta chill, dawg,” Sonic scolds affectionately, grinning as he tugs the pup away from the door to allow Shadow to step out without being tackled.

Shadow does, eyeing the dog and keeping his distance the entire time.

The dog— Ozzie eventually seems to calm, his barking stopping and being replaced with little whines as he eyes Shadow. His tail is wagging like Sonic’s was when he first got here.

Actually, Sonic’s tail hasn’t stopped wagging, Shadow notes.

His ears perk up from their folded back position once the barking stops, observing the dog silently with an unsure gaze..

Sonic picks up on this, offering a hand out to Shadow as he stays crouched at the dog’s side holding its collar with his opposing hand, “It’s cool. He don’t bite.”

Shadow frowns a bit, looking at Sonic’s hand a bit unsure before looking to the dog again.. then he hesitantly reaches and lets Sonic’s hand guide his own to the dog’s fur. It’s thick. He imagines it’s probably soft without his gloves on, as most well-kept fur is..

The dog’s head seems to tilt up into his palm when it touches between his ears, Shadow lightly curling his fingers to scratch there as Ozzie’s tongue hangs happily to the side of his muzzle. Panting and no longer whining now that he’s getting his wanted attention and affection.

Shadow’s frown dissipates slowly, replaced with a content sort of expression. He.. likes petting it. It’s comforting.

Shadow smells the distinct scent of grass on his palm when he retracts it from the dog.

“He’s a good boy,” Sonic smiles, petting the dog under its chin and behind its collar, “He likes you, too! That’s a good sign.”

Shadow’s eyes glint with pride at that, eased that he has passed yet another Wachowski test.

They go back inside after Sonic shows Shadow the firepit and then picnic table in the back, walking in to find Tom carrying some plates towards the backdoor..

“Dinner is ready to serve,” the sheriff informs with a small smile at the two, seeming a bit more at ease now that “introductions” have been made, “Go get your brothers, huh?”

“On it,” Sonic nods, waving his hand for Shadow to follow— which he does once he’s done holding the door open for Mr. Wachowski.

“Tails’ room is the basement, “Sonic informs as they approach what Shadow had assumed was a coat closet. Instead, he finds there’s a staircase down when Sonic opens it.

“He was in the guest room, but Dad moved him when he kept waking him up at night tinkering. Said he needed more room to work.”

“That was generous of him,” Shadow replies, following Sonic down the stairs.

“Yeah. Dad is pretty supportive of our hobbies,” Sonic shrugs with a little smile, though he seems to hold a new nervousness now..

Once downstairs, Shadow is a bit taken aback by the sight.

The walls are lined with all sorts of tools and gadgets and gizmos, some he recognizes and some he’s never seen before. The room is very much divided by a workspace and an actual bedroom. The workspace being what Shadow would only describe as organized chaos while the bedroom portion is neat and tidy. Clean and almost looking untouched.

It’s intriguing, the contrast.

A personality for each tail, he supposes.

Speaking of— the young kit himself was found seated at a workbench, headphones over pointed ears and fluffy tails winding together then unwinding again behind him repetitively. He seems locked in on whatever he’s fiddling with, his tongue sticking out and his brows furrowed in concentration. Shadow almost hates to interrupt him, but Sonic approaches without a thought.

“Hey Tails,” the hero lightly nudges his shoulder causing the fox to flinch before quickly removing his headphones to turn to Sonic, “dinner’s ready.”

“Oh sweet! I’m starved!” the smaller one grins, “Just let me—“ his smile drops, eyes widening and body stiffening when he sees Shadow.

Shadow swallows, shifting his weight from one foot to the other and trying not to seem too intimidating nor too intimidated.

“Oh,” Tails says, his voice small and his ears drooping back just slightly. His body shifts as if to be a bit more behind Sonic, “hey, Shadow. L-long time no see!.. heh..”

He’s scared. Shadow hates that..

Hates he’s given the kit more than enough reason to be..

He’s actually quite good with kids, contrary to popular belief. He was made to comfort and tend to one after all..

His heart would’ve broken to bits had his sister ever looked at him like that..

He clears his throat, glancing around before trying to break the ice with a compliment, “Your.. workspace is impressive,” he looks back at the fox to show he’s earnest, “I haven’t seen many of these tools before.”

“Oh,” Tails’ ears perk up, though a bit hesitantly, “I uh-.. I made most of them myself.”

“You build these things??”

“Yeah! Um.. I can show you some if you want??”

“I’d like that,” Shadow nods.

Sonic listens with a growing smile, watching as Tails stands and slowly begins to show Shadow some of his creations lining the walls and tabletops. He seems pleased this is going well thus far. More than pleased. This is important to him, of course, that much is obvious. But this fox is special to Sonic. He’s protective of him, a guardian of him. He wouldn’t want Shadow to be an object of fear for him.. nor would he want to bring Shadow around if it caused Tails distress, the hybrid is sure.

There’s a soft look in Sonic’s eyes as Tails laughs at something Shadow says, though. It makes Shadow’s stomach do flips. He pretends not to notice.

“I’m actually working on a design for a plane,” Tails explains as he approaches his workbench again, showing Shadow the blueprints, “I kind of got addicted this one time I flew one while fighting Eggman. Wanna make one bigger and better.”

Shadow looks over the blueprints with intrigue, finding the knowledge of this child absolutely baffling as well as simply endearing. His thirst for knowledge is familiar to Shadow..

“The engine design is formidable,” the hybrid observes, “have you considered replacing the transonic truss-braced wings with elliptical ones??”

“I… haven’t..,” Tails hums thoughtfully, tapping his chin as he eyes his blueprints, “that would make it far more aerodynamically efficient—“

“—and produce less drag,” Shadow finishes with a nod, watching as the fox quickly picks up his pencil and makes adjustments to the blueprints

“That’s brilliant! Team Heroes definitely needs this to be fast—“

“Okay you two! Before you start nerding out, we have chili dogs-a-waitin’,” Sonic interrupts, gesturing dramatically to the stairs with a bow.

Shadow and Tails look to him, the fox chuckling sheepishly and putting his pencil back down as he rubs the back of his neck and approaches his older brother, “Sorry. Got carried away.”

“It’s cool, lil’ bro,” Sonic assures with a shrug, waiting for Shadow to walk up the stairs before following behind, “I know you’re a big dork.”

“At least I’m not a big dumb,” Tails retorts with a grin.

“Zing!” Sonic chuckles proudly. Shadow is fairly certain he could’ve thought of a comeback and simply chose to allow the fox the win. It’s cute.

“Alright, let’s go get Knucks because the dawgs are callin’ and I’m staaaarviiiiing~” Sonic sings the last word in a nonsensical way that Shadow has grown accustom to from the hedgehog, smirking slightly as he follows him towards the side door.

Once outside, Shadow notes a large, white shed to the side of the house with its lights on, putting together that that must be where the echidna stays.

As if reading his mind, Sonic narrates, “Knuckles’ room is in the shed. Him and Mom had a lot of fights when he first moved in because he was a bit destructive. After a while, though, we realized this was just because he wasn’t use to sharing his space. He was pretty much a loner before all us, and he likes his independence and to be his own boss. So Mom renovated the shed for him and surprised him with it. I think that’s the first time he hugged her. It was pretty cool,” Sonic reminisces, walking backwards towards the shed so he can keep his eye on Shadow as he speaks.

“She sounds like a very perceptive mother,” Shadow analyzes.

“Oh, she is,” Sonic nods with wide eyes, “It’s scary sometimes how she knows things. It’s like she can read minds or something.”

Shadow’s ears fold back slightly at that, glancing towards the house again and wondering if his mind is currently being invaded..

To his knowledge, humans don’t have this ability, though.

Sonic knocks on the shed door once before opening it right on up. They’re instantly met with loud rap music playing over a speaker, Shadow’s ears once again folding back at the unwelcomed noise.

Sonic seems to notice this, rushing in a dash to switch the music off. This immediately disturbs the echidna who is sitting on a weight bench with a large spear in hand, sharpening the tip with a rock of some sort.

“Hey! Who dares to interrupt my bops?!” the red echidna barks, purple eyes turning to lock on crimson ones.

Oh boy.

The fox was one thing. He feared Shadow, which is something Shadow felt he could change relatively simply with time and trust. But the echidna???

He challenged Shadow.

“Ah! The Utmost Living Being!”

“The Ultimate Lifeform..,” Shadow mumbles the correction with a small frown, trying not to seem annoyed by the guardian’s incompetence. He’s had a lot of practice with Sonic.

“Whatever. You have arrived!” Knuckles continues, standing to approach the two now. Shadow is wary of the spear still in his hand, not even flinching when Knuckles points it directly at him, nearly grazing his chin. The echidna’s voice is deathly serious, gaze firm and menacing like a predator, “What are your intentions with my brother?”

Sonic’s eyes widen with a loud and awkward, “OH-KAY! That’s enough of that, ha-ha!” He’s quickly between the two, shoving the spear away from Shadow’s face with a little glare to his brother. Knuckles ignores it, keeping his eyes locked daringly on Shadow over Sonic’s shoulder. Shadow just looks back unphased before looking back to the nervously laughing Sonic.

“Don’t be weird, Knuckles,” the hedgehog growls under his breath, the echidna scoffing at this as if offended.

“Weird?! I am not being weird! I am merely engaging in conversation with our guest.”

“A weird conversation. And an unnecessarily aggressive one!”

“All aggression is necessary,” Knuckles corrects, finally looking from Shadow to Sonic, “Besides, I am the eldest brother. It is my duty to protect the tribe from newcomers!”

“Dude. Mom and Dad already have it covered. Just— be cool,” Sonic groans, crossing his arms at his brother.

“The Lady of Pretzels and Lord of Donuts are easily persuaded. I am not,” Knuckles shrugs, looking back to Shadow, “You are welcome to our home! But I will be watching you..”

Shadow just nods at this, “Understandable.”

Sonic groans more at this, seeming annoyed with Knuckles’ typical dramatic antics before he just rubs a hand down his face and shrugs it off, “Whatever. Just— dinner’s ready.”

“Oo sustenance! Is there grapes???” Knuckles’ demeanor shifts from intimidating to giddy like a dime, his eyes wide with hope.

“Yes. She made fruit salad and included grapes. Just for you,” Sonic huffs, turning towards the door to which Shadow promptly follows.

“Superb. She is absolutely a wonderful mother,” Knuckles hums pleased as he follows behind the two, “I am very glad I picked her.”

“Right,” Sonic rolls his eyes, leading the trio across the yard, picking his battles and not arguing with Knuckles on that one.

Shadow can’t help but find the entire interaction amusing. Their dynamic is so different than Sonic and Tails’, but it’s still laced with affection. It’s also endearing.

Once back inside, the three find that the house is empty and assume the others are already out back waiting in the yard.

Joining them outside, Shadow is immediately met with the appetizing aroma of chili as well as assorted fruits and some sort of meat.

He doesn’t have to eat as much as normal people do, but he certainly doesn’t mind it if it’s a good enough meal.

Tails is sitting with Mrs. Wachowski at the table, fixing his plate with a hot dog and a simple topping of ketchup with a bowl of chili separate on the side. He’s already digging in, not realizing how hungry he was since he had been caught up in his work.

Mr. Wachowski is squatted by a cooler, filling his cup with ice along with three others that Shadow assumes is for the three who just came outside. Sonic dashes right up to the family, obviously quite eager for their dinner if his wagging tail is anything to go off of. Knuckles follows behind, grabbing himself a paper plate and beginning to stack it up quite messily with anything that seems to be appetizing to his eyes. Topped with a concerning amount of grapes, Shadow notes.

“This food palette looks very balanced and appetizing, Mrs. Wachowski,” Shadow comments, looking at the full picnic table. The vet smiles wide at this, “Thank you, Shadow. That’s very sweet.”

Sonic turns to Shadow, handing him a paper plate with a little smile, “Here ya go.” Shadow looks at the plate a moment and then Sonic, “Thank you.” “Yup! Fix yourself some sides. We got beans, salad, chips– but your dawg?? It’s mine.” Shadow blinks. “I don’t have a dog.”

He notices the way the mother bites her lips together with an amused smile behind Sonic’s shoulder, exchanging knowing glances with the fox who giggles quietly.

“I meant your chili dog,” Sonic clarifies with a head tilt, “I’m gonna fix your first ever chili dog for you.”

“Oh..,” Shadow mumbles, cheeks turning a bit rosy with embarrassment at his incessant habit to take things a bit too literally and not quickly catch onto slang.

“Yeah, so fill your plate and let the master do his thing,” Sonic winks before turning around to get started on building Shadow’s chili dog. And my isn’t it a concoction..

Upon closer examination once placed in front of him, he takes in the ingredients he can curiously, his nose overwhelmed with the complexity of spices he senses.

A hot dog. Chili. Shredded lettuce. Cheese. Ketchup. Mayo. Onion. Tomato. Peppers. And to Shadow’s slight surprise, brown sugar mixed with hot sauce sprinkled on top of it all.

Interesting.

Shadow’s mouth forms a sideways line as he looks at the intimidating beast of a feast placed before him, looking at Sonic whose chili dog looks identical and is already being devoured by the blue menace.

Taking a breath, Shadow looks back to his chili dog. He can feel the others watching him. The Wachowskis, Tails, Knuckles.. Sonic even pauses to look at him expectantly, waiting to see his reaction to the ultimate food.

Shadow slowly picks up the chili dog, having to be extra careful not to make a mess of his gloves from all the sloppy contents of the item. He examines it only a moment longer before he opens his mouth and takes a big enough bite to get at least a little of everything.

And as he expected, he’s overwhelmed. There’s too much going on in his mouth for him to properly process it. The flavors are strong, the textures varying with each chew. It makes his spine shiver a bit, slowly chewing it as he keeps his tongue in the back of his mouth like it’ll calm his senses a bit.

But courting etiquette for humans is to always compliment your host for their meal.

So swallowing his disgust and the bite, Shadow offers a small smile and lies, “It’s delicious.” Sonic snorts at this, immediately bursting into laughter as Knuckles snickers as well. Tails is giggling with the mother and Mr. Wachowski is smiling as if amused.

Shadow just blushes a bit more, shrinking slightly in fear he may have said something wrong. “Oh you poor thing,” Maddie tuts sympathetically, standing to grab another plate and begin fixing a new chili dog, “You don’t have to eat all that. The Sonic Special is very much coded for Sonic.” “Yeah, man,” Sonic snickers, lightly shaking Shadow by his shoulder and then moving his plate from in front of him, sneaking it onto the ground for the dog to devour, “It’s cool. Not everyone can handle so much in one bite.”

Shadow looks at him and then glances up to watch Mrs. Wachowski place a new plate before him. This one looking more like the fox’s. Simple. A hot dog, nothing on it.

“You can add any toppings you like, sweetie,” Maddie smiles, taking her seat again.

“Or you can just have it plain! I only like ketchup on mine,” Tails encourages with a little grin.

“Mine is a mighty volcano,” Knuckles brags, forking another large scarf of the conglomeration down.

“See? It’s alright to like different stuff,” Sonic winks, nudging Shadow’s side with his elbow before looking back to his own food to continue eating.

Shadow looks around at the others a moment, watching as they all get on with their meals now and not paying him as much mind. Mr. Wachowski’s gaze catches his, though, still watching him with an expression Shadow doesn’t know how to translate. But the officer offers a little smile and nod, to which Shadow returns. He then looks down, and after a moment of hesitation, he tries his simple hot dog.

The rest of dinner goes smoothly. Shadow finishes his plate with ease, quite enjoying the more traditional forms of the food rather than the exaggerated versions his counterparts ate. They all share conversations, the subject often shifting and leaving Shadow a bit lost now and then. But he does his best to keep up, even adding a small input here and there but nothing more.

It’s intriguing.. watching a family. He remembers his time on the ARK with Maria.. How they’d share meals in the cafeteria but often would sneak away to sit on the floor in front of the large window viewing earth to eat together instead. They didn’t have a large family, but they had each other. And that was plenty..

He sees that in these people. Their bond is strong. They’re comfortable with one another. Open and honest and accepting of their differences. It’s..refreshing.

The only time he’s directly addressed is by Mr. Wachowski. “So Shadow,” he starts, swallowing his bite before continuing, “What are you doing these days?”

Shadow pauses. He read about this. The parents of one’s partner will often feel out how successful or motivated one is to see if they’re worthy of taking care of their offspring.

“Shadow??? He’s doing his own thing, you know. Being cool and–”

“I believe I was talking to Shadow,” Tom cuts Sonic off, though his voice holds no spite and he’s smiling knowingly at Sonic.

Sonic just smiles a bit sheepishly with a quiet “right” before looking to Shadow, not speaking for him this time. Though, Sonic looks a bit nervous, now. Perhaps he fears his father won’t approve of Shadow’s answer.

“I have recently began working with GUN,” Shadow says, looking at Tom now who seems a bit taken aback by this answer if his raised brows are anything to go off of. Next to him, Shadow sees Sonic’s face shift to one of surprise as well.

“You didn’t tell me that..” “It was confidential up until recently,” he explains, looking from Sonic to Tom again, “Nothing is official, but we’re getting close to some sort of work agreement..” “Sounds serious,” Tom replies with an intrigued look, “Didn’t really expect you to want anything to do with GUN..” After my grandfather who was an agent shot your sister goes unsaid, but Shadow hears it nonetheless.

He replies, “I didn’t. Not for some time, at least.” “What changed your mind?”

“Sonic,” Shadow answers bluntly, feeling everyone’s eyes land on him at once, including the said blue hedgehog next to him.

“..He’s not from here. He’s different. Powerful. And in terms of this planet’s mentality, he’s a threat. That’s what I was seen as,” Shadow explains, eyes staying on Tom’s as to not be intimidated by the many others peering at him, “He was hunted by humanity at first, not seen as a hero but rather a mystery. And humans never take to things they don’t understand well.. But Sonic didn’t let this discourage him. He continued to fight for his freedom and for the freedom of this world from evil-doers like Ivo Robotnik. And with time, he earned their trust. Proved himself. They stopped seeing him as different and saw him as an ally and a hero.. I don’t want to be a hero, but an ally is a good place to start. And while GUN has been corrupted before, I’d say they have good intentions in the long run to protect this world even if often misguided. I plan to be there to help guide them. Make sure what happened on the ARK never happens again..”

He looks to Sonic now, quoting something the blue hero once told him, “I can’t expect change if I just stand still.. I gotta make a move.”

Sonic’s eyes stare back at Shadow, a slow and wide smile forming on his muzzle along with rose tinted cheeks. A look of pride glistening in his eyes.

“That..,” Tom speaks, gaining Shadow’s attention again, “.. is a pretty damn good answer.”

Tom smiles at him. Shadow smiles back.

Dinner ends, and Mrs. Wachowski stands to start gathering up plates to trash, “Okay, Knuckles and Tails. Dishes.”

“What about Sonic?” Knuckles asks, looking distraught that he has to do more work than his brother. Tails is unbothered and already working on gathering up the serving dishes and leftovers to carry inside.

“He has a guest over,” Tom answers with a pointed look at Knuckles, “So he has to host.”

“So having a guest means you don’t have to do these silly tasks??” Knuckles scoffs as if scandalized by this information, as though he’s been personally targeted.

“Yup. ‘Fraid so, buddy.”

Knuckles huffs at this, snatching a few dishes as he begins making his way back to the house with something along the lines of ‘I must make more friends’ being grumbled from him.

Sonic sticks his tongue out mockingly at the red echidna when he walks by, earning the blue hedgehog a hard punch to the gut.

“Sonic? Have you shown Shadow your room?” Maddie asks, earning a pointed glare from Mr. Wachowski. Sonic immediately grins and, “Oh! I haven’t! Wanna see??”

Shadow nods at him with a small smile, “Yes, please.”

“Sweet, it’s this way,” he nods his head for Shadow to follow him back inside.

“What the hell was that??” Tom hisses to Maddie once they’re gone, “They don’t need to be alone in his room together–”

“Oh stop,” Maddie rolls her eyes at him with a little grin, “They’ll be fine. Sonic gets antsy just making eye contact with Shadow for too long, and Shadow-... well, I don’t even think Shadow knows how to flirt, let alone make a move.”

Tom groans a little but lets it go, figuring she’s probably right..

Plus, he trusts his boy to make good decisions.

“Here it is!” Sonic announces, climbing up a ladder into the attic, Shadow following behind. It.. isn’t exactly what Shadow was expecting. He was honestly expecting an absolute trainwreck. Clothes everywhere, weird smells, the whole shebang. Instead, he finds a room that so painfully screams Sonic. It’s enchanting in a charismatic sort of way. There’s charming lights lined along the ceilings, multiple road signs that allude to Sonic’s speed. The bed itself resembles a racecar, Shadow finding this immature but endearing. The shelves are lined with trinkets and random objects that must hold enough meaning for Sonic to keep them despite seeming unimportant. A beanbag is sat in the corner with a stack of comic books next to it. Sonic has lended some to Shadow before, and he respects the hero’s infatuation with them. Definitely sees where he gets his heroic antics from.

Shadow looks around the room in wonder. It’s a stark contrast to his own current sleeping arrangements.. Up until a few weeks ago, Shadow had honestly sort of just skipped around from rooftops to caves to trees to sleep. GUN offered him a more permanent place in an apartment in Central City..

It’s very empty. And very unlived in. Sonic’s room?? It’s warm and comforting and feels like a home. A safe space.

Shadow can tell each and every object that’s in here is likely treasured dearly by the blue hedgehog.. Well. except the dirty sock peeking out from under the bed. But Shadow chooses not to acknowledge that for Sonic’s sake.

“Welcome to Casa de Sonic,” the blue hedgehog grins, spreading his arms in showmanship of his space, “Pretty cool, huh??” He seems chill, but Shadow can tell he’s holding onto Shadow’s every move and breath.

Shadow looks at him and then around the room, turning to do a slow 360 look of the place before looking back to Sonic and offering a small smile and approving nod, “Very cool.”

Sonic’s arms drop with a breath of relief, a little chuckle escaping him as he looks at Shadow a moment and then looks towards his bed. In a blur of blue and brief gust of wind, Sonic is plopping onto the bed and then sitting up to look at Shadow, “Mom and Dad set it up for me as a surprise one time. I’ve kinda made it my own since then, but they did a pretty great job of laying down a solid foundation for all my dudeitude.”

“Dudeitude??” Shadow questions, walking over to sit next to Sonic on the bed once Sonic pats the spot next to him. “Yeah, you know, like– dude attitude?” “Oh,” Shadow smiles a bit at this, looking down and discreetly brushing the dirty sock out of sight under the bed with his heel before Sonic can see and be embarrassed, “Yes. Dudeitude is a very accurate word for you, I’d say.”

Sonic snickers at that, smiling all wide as he looks at Shadow. Shadow shyly keeps his eyes away, looking around the room and examining the smaller details like the subtle footprints on the ceiling or the jar with one singular owl feather on the nightstand.

“...So..,” Sonic says after a pause, breathing a quiet sigh before speaking, “What do you think??” “Think?” Shadow questions, finally meeting Sonic’s intense gaze again. “Yeah. Of.. ya’know. My family?” “Oh,” Shadow blinks, a bit thrown off by the question before he offers a soft look and mumbles quietly, “They’re really lovely.”

“They are, aren’t they?” Sonic smirks. “Mm,” Shadow nods, his eyes drifting away from Sonic’s and down to his own lap as he fiddles with the zipper of his jacket, “...What do you think they think?” “Hm?”

“Of me..?”

There’s a long pause of silence, and Shadow isn’t sure if that’s good or bad. But when he brings himself to look back at Sonic, he sees he’s simply thinking his answer over rather than answering immediately.

“I think Mom likes you,” he starts, offering a reassuring smile, “But she’s the easy one to win over, honestly. Tails seems to like talking nerd with you, so that’s totally a good sign! Knuckles is an idiot,” Sonic rolls his eyes and Shadow smirks slightly, “but I think he sees you as strong and formidable which means you have his respect. That’s all you can really ask for of him, honestly. It’s a pretty high honor.”

“And what of your father..?”

Sonic looks at Shadow, tilting his head at him with a sympathetic sort of smile, “..He seems to like you enough to give you a chance. And I think what you said out there about being the change you wanna see in the world definitely won you some brownie points.”

Shadow deflates in relief, some of the tension leaving his rigid spines as he nods and looks down with a mumbled, “Good.. then I’m doing well.” “You’re doing great,” Sonic assures, his hand moving to rest on Shadow’s shoulder and giving it a small squeeze.

Shadow looks back at Sonic at this, not being able to convey it with words but hoping his eyes show how much he appreciates this. All of this. This opportunity and this bond..

This chance.

Shadow’s hand moves to rest on Sonic’s knee as his way of trying to show he acknowledges the reassurance, but Sonic’s face does this funny thing and his ears get all pink.

“Okay!” he’s suddenly standing, Shadow’s hand dropping back to his own lap, “Well, we should head back down! I wanna be there when they pick a movie, so Knuckles doesn’t make us watch Planet of the Apes for the billionth time!” His laugh seems a bit shaky, his face flushed.

“Are you okay??”

“Me?? I’m cool. Coolcoolcoolcoolcool–”

“Hey,” Shadow interrupts, standing to shove Sonic’s shoulder, “Bring the dudeitude back.”

Sonic pauses, blinking at Shadow before a little grin forms and be breathes, “Right. Dudeitude.”

Shadow nods with a small smile, not at all realizing the affect he has on this blue hedgehog, but not wanting him to be nervous around him either.

They got back down the ladder to find Tails and Knuckles have finished the dishes and Tom has finished putting away leftovers, leaving Maddie and Ozzie sitting on the couch flipping through Netflix for something to watch.

“Hey you two! You’re just in time to pick a movie,” Maddie greets, “Shadow, you have a preference?” Shadow offers a small shake of his head, “No ma’am, I don’t know many films..”

He was brought up on a space station in the 50s. Movies weren’t exactly on-demand.

“That’s alright. We’ll have to fix that!” she winks, making Shadow’s stomach flip at the idea of them potentially inviting him over for more movie nights in the future, “Sonic, you got a pick??”

“Let’s watch a heartfelt film about a man who loves his dog–,” Sonic begins his answer with zero hesitation, Tom walking into the room to shut that down real quick.

“We’re not watching John Wick,” he grunts as he plops onto the couch next to Maddie, throwing his arm on the back of the couch behind her, “Nothing that isn’t PG.” Sonic groans, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms, “You guys are no fun.” “Yeah, it’s in the dad job description,” Tom coos with a smirk.

Sonic concedes, shrugging and walking towards the loveseat against the wall diagonal to the couch, “We can sit here, Shads.”

“I thought your spot was in the bean bag??” Shadow’s brow furrows, sitting beside Sonic on the loveseat nonetheless.

Sonic’s body tenses a bit, blushing as he fumbles, “Uh, well–” “Yeah, Sonic,” Mr. Wachowski teases from the couch, “Why don’t you sit in your bean bag like usual??”

Sonic’s puffs his cheeks with a glare at his dad, Mrs. Wachowski swatting at the snickering man’s shoulder with a huffed, “Leave him alone.” “Yeah! Leave me alone!” Sonic agrees, throwing a pillow at his father’s face.

Tom grunts when it hits him, huffing as he tosses it back at Sonic with an offended face, “Since when was this abuse the father night??” “Since you decided to challenge the world’s best hero,” Sonic smirks proudly.

The banter continues, but Shadow is completely lost on any of what just happened anyway. He just finds the interaction between the family members amusing.

And Sonic does not in fact sit in his bean bag.

Tails and Knuckles join them in the living room, Tails carrying a bucket of popcorn and Knuckles having a bowl of grapes. Shadow doesn’t think he could eat another single thing even if he wanted– which is what he tells Sonic when he asks if Shadow would like any snacks.

They all come to an agreement on a movie called Wreck It Ralph. The plot being something along the lines of a videogame character that somehow has thoughts and feelings and doesn’t want to be the bad guy he was written to be.

It sounds silly in concept, but Shadow can’t take his eyes off the screen the whole time.

It’s not until he feels Sonic shivering a bit beside him that Shadow averts his attention to the blue hedgehog beside him. Shadow has been sitting up straight watching the film this entire time, but Sonic is curled in a small ball leaning against the arm of the chair next to him and watching with tiny shivers now and then. It is chilly in this room, Shadow supposes. But he never gets cold, so..

It doesn’t take but a moment for him to decide to take his jacket off and carefully drape it over Sonic’s curled up form.

“You don’t have to–”

“Hush. The movie is playing,” Shadow mumbles, ignoring how precious Sonic looks all huddled under his coat with only his nose, big eyes, and perked ears peeking above the collar. The way Sonic’s eyes squint in the corners let him know he’s smiling..

Shadow’s attention turns back to the movie, unbeknownst to him his warm gesture was noted by his counterpart’s parents and had Maddie smiling all soft with a silent ‘aw’ as she leans over on her husband who just smiles as well.

The movie’s ending has Shadow feeling certain ways.

Ralph is still the bad guy, but he’s.. happy with that. He knows his purpose, and he knows the candy princess speedster will still accept him despite his destructive tendencies.

It..perhaps hits him a little close to home, and when he Ralph is chanting the villain support group’s affirmation, he finds himself memorizing it to heart.

‘I’m bad, and that’s good. I will never be good, and that’s not bad. There’s no one I’d rather be than me.’

Shadow gasps when Ralph sacrifices himself for the others in the arcade, eyes wide and glossy on the screen and his heart pounding in his chest. He feels like he can’t swallow. Like his palms are sweating. He’s seeing stars fly past him. Seeing the ARK get further and further away as he falls. Seeing–

He feels a hand rest on his and squeeze tight, flinching at the touch and immediately looking over to find Sonic staring wide eyed at the screen too..

They’re both seeing the same thing..

Shadow squeezes Sonic’s hand in return, finally allowing a deep breath to exhale as he relaxes again and looks back to the screen.

They’re here. Not space. Not the ARK. Here..

And there’s nowhere Shadow would rather be than here.

The movie ends. Maddie moves to carefully and silently step next to the bean bag Tails is laying in, the poor fox having fallen asleep around when Ralph was building Vanellope’s race track. She carries the kit down to his room to tuck him in, Knuckles rising from his own bean bag and stretching his muscles before announcing that he too would be retiring for the night.

He wishes his family goodnight and offers Shadow a simple nod of his head and smirk before heading out to his shed.

Tom looks over to Sonic and Shadow. Sonic is now properly wearing Shadow’s jacket and sitting up again, Shadow next to him looking back to Tom as if awaiting what they’re expected to do next.

“Well, Sonic. I think it’s time to call it a night,” the father announces, Sonic’s ears folding back at this and a small pout forming on his muzzle.

“Aw, but we’re not even tired,” he ironically says just before yawning. Shadow chuckles a bit at this and Tom just smiles and raising a brow at Sonic. Sonic groans and stands up, “Alright..” Shadow stands as well, looking to see Maddie now coming back up from the basement.

“We’ll walk you out, Shadow,” Tom offers, Shadow nodding politely as they all move towards the door.

Once outside, Tom immediately takes notice in Shadow’s bike sitting at the end of the driveway. “Did you ride that here???”

There it is.

He seems impressed as he looks the bike over the best he can from the doorway, Shadow looking to his bike as well now.

“I did,” the hybrid nods.

“What kind?” “Ducati Panigale V4 SP.”

“The Dark Rider??” “Yes sir.”

“Nice. Helmets?” “Two.” “Very nice,” Tom smirks, nodding approvingly as he looks back to Shadow.

Shadow just smiles small and proud, pleased his plot to impress the Donut Lord with his motorbike came to fruition.

“That mean I can go for a ride on it??” Sonic chimes in.

“No,” Maddie answers instead, the blue hedgehog knitting his brows and looking at Tom in preparation to protest only for Tom to wink at him and subtly nod.

Sonic grins. Shadow hums out a chuckle.

“It was really nice meeting you properly, Shadow,” Maddie says warmly, reaching out her hand to shake Shadow’s. Shadow obliges and shakes hers politely with a nod, “Likewise, Mrs. Wachowski.” “Glad we could see this version of you,” Tom adds, reaching to shake Shadow’s hand now, “Ya’know. The version that isn’t set on destroying the world.”

Shadow is about to get nervous at this, but he sees the playful smirk on Tom’s face. Glad to know where Sonic gets his sarcastic attitude.

“I appreciate the opportunity, sir,” Shadow chuckles breathily, shaking the Donut Lord’s hand.

“I’m sure we’ll be seeing you around more often,” Tom adds with a knowing smile, “So long as you take care of my son, that is.”

Sonic groans audibly, flushing as he rubs a hand down his face.

Shadow just nods seriously at this, seeming to take this task to heart.

They both speak at the same time.

“We’re not like that!” “I will.”

They blink. Each processing the other’s words as wide eyes meet in surprise. Both blushing. Both seeming to try and register what the other just said.

Maddie and Tom stare with wide eyes too.

“Ooo..,” Tom hisses, “Awkward..” Maddie is quickly grabbing her husband to pull him inside, chuckling awkwardly as she goes, “Well, be safe going home, Shadow.” “Yeah, take care!’

The door shuts.

Sonic and Shadow stand alone on the doorstep, still staring at each other.

Sonic, never being one to stay quiet long, is the one to speak first.

“You will..?” he breathes a little smile at that, looking shy now as he rubs the back of his neck with a blushing muzzle, “What did you mean by you will?”

“I meant I’d take care of you,” Shadow states as though it’s obvious, though he’s starting to fear he has in fact had a very deep and embarrassing misunderstanding of their circumstances. His ears stand extra tall, tensing them up so they don’t droop back in disappointment.

“We.. aren’t like that..? I don’t understand.” “I-... you thought we were like that??” “I thought that’s what all this was,” Shadow says quietly, becoming more and more embarrassed as he reruns all this in his head, “You chasing me. Insisting on being in my life. Always planning to meet again. All the circling and snorting and puffing–”

Sonic deadpans, “the what?” “Hedgehog courting rituals!” Shadow huffs, now getting irritated the more he grows humiliated, “All my research talked about it! It’s clearly stated that everything you were doing to pursue me was as a mate.” Sonic’s eyes widen further at this, ears drooping back and now his entire chest and ears are pink too.

“Mate??..,” his voice is small as realization begins to build.

“And then you invited me over to meet your parents for their approval, yes??” Shadow asks, tilting his head with a knit of his brow as he tries to understand where he misread the signs, “That was the objective??” “Woah, hey. Shadow. The objective was to have their approval on me getting to hang out with you, not–”

He stops, seeing how Shadow’s ears twitch back a bit. How his stance is now a bit more drooped than tall and confident. How his eyes hold confusion and shame..

It breaks Sonic’s heart.

Sonic purses his lips, sighing as he looks away shyly and, “...I guess I kinda did do all that, huh??”

Shadow doesn’t answer, just slowly moves to cross his arms in a defensive sort of manner. His crimson eyes averted towards the ground.

Sonic chews on his lower lip and looks back to Shadow, “I’m a hedgehog. Not an earth hedgehog, though, ya’know?? I don’t even know how my kind of hedgehog would try to initiate a–... what’d you call it??” “Courtship,” Shadow mutters.

“Right. That,” Sonic sighs, frowning at how this night took a sudden turn for the awkward and heavy.

It had been going so well.

“...I’m sorry, Shads–” “Don’t-,” Shadow interrupts, eyes closing as he takes a deep breath to gather himself, finishing with a sighed, “--apologize. I shouldn’t have made so many assumptions. That’s not your fault.” “Well, I feel like it kinda is,” Sonic insists, brows knit at the ebony hedgehog in front of him.

This can’t ruin this. He can’t lose him.

“Look..,” Sonic says after a breath, rubbing a hand back through his own quills before pausing to notice Shadow’s eyes were still shut, “Hey… look at me, Shads.”

Sonic’s hand reaches up to delicately cup Shadow’s cheek, tilting his head up to face him as crimson eyes open to meet emerald.

Sonic offers a soft smile, “I know I’m all about going fast, but...we don’t need to rush this.”

Shadow blinks, staying quiet as he listens to the blue hero speak.

“I.. don’t know what we are,” Sonic admits quietly, “I thought we were just buddies, but.. I’d be kidding myself if I said I didn’t know you were different for me.” Shadow chews on the inside of his cheek, still not saying anything in fear of saying the wrong thing and humiliating himself further.

“..I think.. We can take this slow, huh??” Sonic offers, a small smile as he knits his brows up and tilts his head at his rival, “Learn each other better. Learn ourselves better. Maybe go on some actual dates..?” Sonic chuckles a bit and Shadow can’t help but lean his cheek into Sonic’s palm slightly.

Sonic rubs his thumb along Shadow’s muzzle.

“We’ll figure this out,” he assures simply as if it’s just a fact of life, “Because I’m not goin’ anywhere. And even if you tried to, I’d find you, Faker.”

Shadow can’t help but smile at that, chuckling at the reference to one of their not-so-friendly first encounters. He looks down between them a moment before lifting his eyes back to Sonic.

“We’ll figure this out,” Shadow agrees with a nod.

“We’ve got plenty of time.” “Plenty.”

Sonic smiles at this, breathing a small sigh of relief through his nose that they’re gonna be okay. This misunderstanding won’t ruin or change anything.

“We just gotta learn how to communicate better, dude,” Sonic chuckles, Shadow humming amusedly as well.

“Agreed.”

Sonic smirks at this. And maybe he looks at Shadow’s eyes a little too long or lets his hand linger on his cheek a bit longer than needed, but sue him.

He just found out Shadow the Hedgehog wants to court him.

Screw that. He just found out what the heck courting even was.

Sonic needs to get educated, he decides.

Shadow ever so subtly rubs his cheek against Sonic’s palm in a nuzzling sort of manner before he takes a step back, Sonic’s hand falling back to his side. The two smile at one another a moment longer before Shadow just smirks with a “hmph” and turns to walk down the front steps.

Sonic watches with a content little smile, “...Wanna race tomorrow??” Shadow keeps walking, not turning around as he responds, “Arcade or waffle house??”

“Waffle house. I’ve been craving french toast.”

Shadow chuckles, waving a hand up at the hedgehog over his shoulder with a nod.

Sonic just grins at this, biting his lower lip before flinching at the sudden realization–

“Oh! Shadow!”

Shadow turns to face him again as Sonic quickly makes his way down the steps and across the yard to him, moving to take Shadow’s jacket off himself– though Shadow notices the slight look of loss as Sonic removes his arm from the first sleeve.

“You forgot this–” “Keep it,” Shadow interrupts, lifting his hand to halt Sonic.

“..Really??” Sonic’s tail wags behind him, a smile curling back onto his muzzle.

“Looks better on you,” Shadow insists, moving to help Sonic put his arm back in and settle it properly on his shoulders once more.

Sonic just beams at this, “Agree to disagree, pal,” his gaze softens as Shadow looks him over, “But thanks..”

Shadow just smirks at this, shrugging and turning to his bike, “Don’t mention it.”

Sonic shoves his hands in the jacket’s pockets, crossing his arms so that it’s snug around him.

It smells like lavender.. Like a hug from Shadow.

Shadow straddles his bike, looking back to find Sonic standing there with his eyes shut and his nose buried in the jacket’s collar. He smirks smugly.

“It’s called anointing, by the way.” “Huh??” Sonic jumps slightly, jolting from his daze.

“Covering yourself in your mate’s scent,” Shadow explains, placing the helmet he doesn’t actually use in the bag attached to his bike before finishing, “It’s called anointing.”

Sonic blinks, eyes widening as a blush grows on his cheeks with a sheepish, “oh..”

Shadow just cranks his bike up, revving it to life before looking back to Sonic with a wink, “See you tomorrow, Hedgehog.”

Sonic’s left feeling dumbstruck as Shadow drives off from their home and down the street before eventually disappearing with a roar of the engine.

Sonic may not know it yet, but Shadow knows..

They’re absolutely courting.

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sorivii · 1 year ago

Text

Σ੧(O□O✿) JD you are literally on of the most skilled ppl on earth! This is amazing!!

Tbh I got carried away but it was fun to draw~

I think I can accurately say that @somerandomdudelmao's Donbot has us all losing our collective shit so I couldn't resist~

4K notes · View notes

vraisetzen · 4 months ago

Note

https://www.tumblr.com/vraisetzen/759944146657148928/hi-v-howre-you-after-reading-notte?source=share

Woah! Oh my god, this is such an awesome response! It’s so thoughtful and well-written! I really love your answer to the first question! It’s absolutely incredibly thoughtful!!

I’m not anon, but I’ve also been curious about the way a meeting between Michikatsu and Tengen would go, too… I wonder — does Michikatsu, on some level, want to impress Tengen? And how would Suma, Makio and Hinatsuru react to Michikatsu? What about Amato?

And how would the rest of the surviving people react to the marriage? Would they know or would only the closest — like Tengen — know?

And also just another thing I’ve been curious… what do you think Michikatsu would do now that he’s human again? He’s no longer a demon and no longer has to think about Muzan’s wishes… and because there are no demons, he doesn’t have to think about being a demon slayer anymore… so what would he do?

You are SO COOL. I cannot believe you provided such an amazing response to those questions. You are so thoughtful. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone respond in this way before on Tumblr.

And can I just say? You’re such a cool writer. You are so good at conjuring the mood, using just the right descriptions, writing believable dialogue, and just being able to replicate believably human behaviour… That is so cool!

I honestly wish more people knew about ‘Notte Stellata’ because it’s fantastic. It’s so well-paced and it’s just filled with some of the coolest imagery and dialogue. You truly have a gift for writing.

Hi Anon! I'm so happy that you enjoyed my answer! It was a fantastic question and I had a great time thinking about it~

I think Michikatsu, firstly as the Reader's husband, and secondly as someone who is naturally competitive and always aspires to be the best, would seek to prove his worth — though more so to himself than to others. As a human, he no longer has the supernatural strength and skill of a demon (though his Breathing techniques will always stay with him), so he is keenly aware that he needs to show his capabilities in other aspects of his life even if the Reader assures him that there is no need for him to do so.

On a separate vein, he also understands that Uzui is not just the Reader's former comrade, but also the closest person she could have to a family; he therefore knows that Uzui expects him to show that he deserves the Reader's husband.

"Still, there was no reason for Tengen-sama to come rushing over, demanding an explanation," Hinatsuru said with a sheepish smile. Amato, sitting on her laps, gurgled in agreement.

"I don't think Uzui-san meant any offence nor harm," you offered, embarrassed that you might have sowed some seeds of discord between the quartet. "We really should have told you earlier."

"You had no obligation to," Hinatsuru assured. "It's your marriage, and we understand that you needed some time with each other."

"And Michikatsu-san has been nothing more than gracious towards us," noted Suma as she carried Amato into her arms, tickling the young boy in his sides. "Amato was so happy when he'd made a little wooden horse just for him!"

"Well, he's good with his hands," you agreed, looking down at your reflection in the tea cup just in time to catch the flash of pride that flitted across your eyes.

"Does he work as a craftsman?" Makio asked, setting down a small bowl of sweet potatoes. Instantly, Amato dove for the snack, using his fingers to prod the mash. Makio pulled his hand away. "Hey, manners!"

"Does he work at all?" Suma joked.

"Well, it's not a bad thing to be idle," Makio noted, feeding Amato a tiny spoonful of the sweet potatoes. "But not as idle as Tengen-sama though..."

"Girls..." Hinatsuru interjected, but you waved off her concerns with a small smile, touching your ears in a bid to quell the heat that has stained it a deep pink.

"Michikatsu does have a job," you explained. "Well, sort of..."

"Sort of?" Makio raised a brow, pausing as she hovered the spoon inches away from her son's mouth. Amato cried in protest, and she turned her attentions back to him. "Ah, sorry, kiddo..."

Michikatsu, to your knowledge, has never had to work a day in his life. In the past, he had been a samurai, tasked with managing his estate's finances and ensuring the discipline of his men. And in the following centuries as a demon, he never needed to worry about accumulating worldly possessions and wealth.

It thus came as a surprise to him, after he had recovered from his injuries, when you suggested that he tried to put his skills to good use. While the pension you received from the Corps was enough to keep you two fed and warm for the rest of your lives, you thought it best if Michikatsu could explore this new world as a human.

The only issue, of course, was that Michikatsu was a man displaced from his time. Any skill he possessed had been outdated for many years; the carrying of swords was banned by the Meiji government for several decades before you were born. While he was a skilled Go player, the game had become increasingly unpopular as many turned to Western chess and other new imported curiosities.

It was one thing to be a demon in a world of humans, but another to be an old soul in a world of modernity.

And though Michikatsu may remain silent, you sensed that he was becoming rather antsy at his alienation from this modern world. You noticed that he would retreat into the study or the woods for hours at a time, and would not emerge till it was minutes before dusk with a pensive look on his face. He never spoke of his worries nor expressed his frustrations to you, but it made the atmosphere at home rather tense.

Anxiety gnawed at your bones as you wondered if your marriage was doomed even before you had time to bicker over chores and sleeping patterns.

But you did not tell this to the girls, of course. What you could tell them, however, was a small twist of fate that turned things around for the two of you:

There was a small bookstore in town which you and Michikatsu enjoyed frequenting for its quaint collection of old books from the Edo period and Chinese classics. The owner was a widowed old man, balding and slight with a pair of half-moon glasses, who always allowed you to borrow the texts instead of purchasing them, in exchange for the occasional afternoon tea.

"A few weeks Michikatsu pointed out that the chapters in a copy of The Analects had been written in the wrong order. The shop owner was rather impressed when he managed to arrange them correctly from memory, that he asked if Michikatsu would like to be his assistant."

At the moment the owner made his offer, Michikatsu had glanced at you, a small flicker of light flashing across his eyes while you smiled at him with encouragement. You took his hand in yours, and while your slim fingers were engulfed by his longer ones, you squeezed them tight.

"Of course, I won't be able to pay you as much as those banks and law firms in the city, but if you don't mind keeping an old man company and an eye out for any thieves..." the owner had drifted off, twiddling his thumbs.

"That is fine," Michikatsu had said, looking down at your entwined fingers. "I can start tomorrow."

"A librarian!" gushed Suma. "How romantic!"

"He's not exactly a librarian," you hurried to explain. "Michikatsu's just helping the store owner with sorting the books and making sure everything's in order. He also helps the customers with reaching for the top shelf since he's rather tall..."

"Oh, that we can relate," Makio remarked, throwing Hinatsuru an amused grin.

Hinatsuru nodded. "It sounds like honest work."

"It is," you agreed.

And it was exactly that Michikatsu needed: something on which he could spend his time learning more about this new world, speaking with other people besides yourself (and Uzui, if and when they decide to talk). Just yesterday afternoon, you managed to slip into town and spy through the windows to see how he was faring, and it warmed your heart to see him engrossed in a game of Go with one of the owner's friends. There was a levity in his posture which you missed seeing, and you were delighted that he had found it in the most unexpected of places.

"Why, isn't it the missus!" the store owner — Tanaka-san, as Michikatsu had so kindly informed you — greeted when you stepped into the bookstore, the bells dangling over the doors pealing in an effervescent chime. "Would you like anything to drink?"

Michikatsu looked up briefly from the game board, and crossing gazes with you. As the sunlight poured in from the open windows, you could see every shade of his brilliant eyes, dancing from a soft heather to a rich violet. His scars, barely visible, creased as he gave you a smile — and at that moment, you have never been more thankful for the small, lucky stars that gave the moon its radiance.

And how would the rest of the surviving people react to the marriage? Would they know or would only the closest — like Tengen — know?

This is a very good question too, Anon! I think for most part, the Reader desires to have a peaceful, quiet life with Michikatsu, with as few people knowing about her marriage as possible. It wasn't because she was afraid of their judgment, but because she simply wanted to move on with this new chapter of her life. Hence, I can't imagine her divulging her marriage to anyone else in the Corps, not even Tanjiro.

Tanjiro had a brief encounter with the Reader in the early chapters on Notte Stellata, and ever since he mentioned that he could smell demons near her, she avoided him like the plague. And while Tanjiro was puzzled by the Reader's sudden absence during the events of the Hashira Training arc, he was unable to write her a letter to her because she had not exchanged her details with him.

It would be up to Uzui, a chronic yapper, to finally reveal with a slip of the tongue — not that she was married, but where she lived. Excited, Tanjiro would write a very polite and well-worded letter, asking her if she was doing well, and — if she so wished — to visit the Kamado residence.

The appearance of the letter would naturally surprise the Reader, who had no idea how Tanjiro would come to know where she lived. She had heard occasional updates from Tengen that the young ones had settled down in their family home, but had never been keen on knowing more.

And as she went over the lines of the letter, taking in Tanjiro's innocent invitation and pondering whether she should reply, Michikatsu came over.

"Kamado Tanjiro," he noted, recognising the name of the young boy written on the outside of the letter. He did not spot its contents, however — nor did he wished to intrude, especially when he noticed that you had gone rather silent.

"Should I reply?" you asked, folding the letter back along the creases.

Michikatsu's eyes ran over the worried clouding your expression, and how you bit your bottom lip as you began drafting a response in your head. He took the letter from your hands, placing it face down on the desk where its sender's name was hidden from you. "Take however long you need."

And "however long" was about a week or so, after you woke up one morning before Michikatsu to compose your reply:

"Dear Tanjiro,

Thank you for your letter. It is so wonderful to hear from you, and to know that you are doing well.

I should quite like to visit your home someday, if I am ever close by."

And that was it. No promises, and no lies — and you had meant every word of it.

Sanemi, on the other hand, would prove to be rather difficult. To begin with, the Reader has always thought him a little unpredictable, despite the good nature beneath that fiery temper. And as someone who had fought Kokushibo and lived (something which Michikatsu would eventually tell her), she just couldn't tell if Sanemi would still recognise the first Upper Moon, and how he would react if he did.

Unlike Tanjiro, Sanemi never made the effort of reaching out to his fellow comrades, and the Reader suspected that he, too, would like to spend the rest of his days in relative peace and quiet. Uzui mentioned that he had met a young woman who worked at a wagashi store; despite your friend's slightly sardonic tone, you were happy for Sanemi, and wondered if he had mellowed out in the wake of the battle.

It was then inevitable that you would receive a wedding invite (no thanks to Uzui who also revealed to Sanemi where you lived). This time, you did not reject the good will shown by your former comrade. In fact, it would only draw unnecessary attention to yourself if you did not appear.

The wedding was set to take place in the far reaches of Tokyo, closer to Iruma, Saitama. It had taken half a day for you and Michikatsu to get there, and throughout the train journey you were thinking of the possible answers you could give Sanemi should he ask about your husband.

"I didn't think you would come," Sanemi said by way of greeting, though his eyes were fixed instead on Michikatsu, who stood beside you firmly and quietly. "Is that...?"

"My husband, yes," you confirmed, and Michikatsu took a step forward, offering a small bow. "Tsugikuni Michikatsu."

"Tsugikuni," Sanemi repeated, and you held your breath, waiting for the barrage of questions, or the light of recognition to dawn in his eyes. Instead, he was distracted by Amato, who traipsed into the scene, still carrying the horse Mchikatsu made for him.

"Hey!" Sanemi snapped, as the toddler hugged his leg as a bear cub clinging to a tree. "Uzui, come get ya brat!"

So much for mellowing out, you thought.

The wedding ceremony began and ended without much fanfare, and the dinner reception took place at a small restaurant in town. Sanemi's bride, whose name was to the tune of Kazuko or Kazuki, was a delicate vision of white silk and powder as she and Sanemi exchanged a cup of sake to mark their marriage.

Thereafter, more drinks were poured as side dishes were served; Uzui entertained a distressed Giyuu and his wives with his signature kappore routine, while Michikatsu disappeared outside, volunteering to take care of Amato. You settled into the corner of the room, seated beside a frazzled Sanemi who could finally sit down for a drink.

"Y'know, your danna..." Sanemi began, and instantly you were on guard, your clasped hands gripping so tightly that it cut into the flesh of your palm.

"Yes?" you asked, the picture of perfect calm. It was something you had learned from Shinobu, and Sanemi saw her face in yours too, as he gulped a finger of sake and poured himself another cup.

"Nah, it's just..." he furrowed his brows, looking at the bottom of his drink. You wondered if he was inebriated enough to forget this conversation come sunrise. "It's strange, isn't it? The people we end up marrying."

You blinked, the unexpected turn in the conversation leaving you a little loss for words. But Sanemi was nothing if not unpredictable, a sweeping typhoon whose trajectory one could never quite figure out. You poured yourself a drink from the bottle, and tipped your sake dish in his direction for a small toast.

"Indeed," you observed. "Love is a strange little thing."

Thank you for the question again, Anon! And sorry that this took me a while to answer; I had a great time thinking about the responses here, and I hope you enjoyed reading it too :D

xoxo, V ♥️

#ask box #demon slayer #kimetsu no yaiba #notte stellata #kokushibo #kokushibo x reader #kokushibo x you #uzui tengen #uzui hinatsuru #uzui makio #uzui suma #shinazugawa sanemi #kamado tanjiro

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zabala0z · 4 months ago

Text

Welcome back to “listening to S4 of TMA and sobbing!” I’m your host, you know me, unfortunately. I swear to god-

MAG 125: Civilian Casualties

Am I going insane or was Callum McKenzie mentioned before??? The name is so familiar and I searched through all the transcripts and my notes. Closest thing I could find was in A Sturdy Lock, the old man’s last name was McKenzie but I don’t think that’s related. Anyways, I think this is the slaughter

Also the bullet. And Melanie’s screaming. Is that also related to the slaughter, her increase in violence??

MAG 126: Sculptors Tools

The whole time I was like “is this Michael??” But no this guys name was Gabriel but then he mentioned Sannikov and I was so confused until Jon mentioned the worker in clay and I immediately shrieked. And Gertrude stopped him. What a badass.

Martin talking to Tim makes me wanna scream. And Peter said some interesting stuff. Isolation. Elias’s ritual. I think Peter is trying to make a ritual for The Lonely before Elias because competition or something. And then the “when it’s over, you won’t want to tell him” like wtf does that mean. This is why I equally hate him with Elias.

MAG 127: Remains to be seen

Very The Eye. I actually never thought much on Jonah Magnus but I should’ve because yeah, that guy is suspicious. I need to pay more attention to old timey statements.Also, “I was trying to see if the statements called to me” like Jon, you know that makes you look more unhinged, right??? And Martins mom is dead now which makes me wanna like strangle myself.

And then there’s the infamous bastard; love Elias’s prison arc, it suits him more.

(EDIT 9/19: forgot to mention, Albrecht said at one point “I don’t read the books, the books read me” which reminds me of MAG 91 when Mike said he couldn’t read that one book but it read him. Think those are related. Okay that’s it)

MAG 128: Heavy Goods

I know they (or he now) are evil but Breekon was low key sympathetic during this. Also, DAISYS ALIVE. Oh so Daisy can be alive but Tim can’t, someone rip out my throat. ☹️ but I am happy. And sad. She sounds like she’s going through it according to Breekon. Or at least Breekon words extracted by Jon, which, by the way, what the hell. He can do that??? Starting to realize the true horror of his powers cause damn.

MAG 129: Submerged

Oh yay, gentrification. The true horrors of the world.

“I miss you” so what if I screamed! I need to like punch a pillow after every Martin/Jon conversation.

Anyways, I think this entity is like the buried? Can the buried count with water? Drowning? You know? Anyways “The Sunken Sky” is like the coolest name ever for The Buried. How do they all have such cool names?? Apparently Gertrude sacrificed Jan Kilbride because he was marked by The Vast and throwing him diwn a pit was enough. That’s the guy from MAG 106. There always seems to be at least one sacrifice to stop a ritual, y’know. Hate it

I have a bad feeling about Jon trying to find Daisy. Because duh. And basira is off on a secret errand which I believe is whatever Elias told her about. The new way to defend themselves. I don’t know who it’ll be. Maybe a new character?? If not, I can’t think of a strong character who could help them, especially associated with Elias

Okay!! I think that’s everything. I’ve been filling my sketchbook with TMA art, I love it. Final thoughts, uh, hate Peter, worried for Martin, worried about Melanie, overly analyzing everything, etc, etc. I hate my brain can’t ever stop when listening to this.

#tma #the magnus archives #tma podcast #tma s4 #zabala0z thoughts #my brain is constantly running when listening to this #someone turn it off

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spidey-x-male-reader · 2 years ago

Note

Pls do spot with a non-binary spider reader who not only thinks he and his abilities are cool, but teaches him how to properly use them. Pls I have so much brains of for this man I'LL TAKE EVEN THE TINIEST CRUMB JUST PLS🙏🙏

Pairing: The Spot x nonbinary!reader

Warnings: ///

A/N: God I was really trying my best with this one. I hope it's alright!

REQUESTS ARE OPEN

MASTERLIST

Being part of the spider society probably isn’t your dream job (mostly because you don’t get paid for some reason?) but it was fun most of the time.

You hang out with people who understand you better than most people around you do, you have fun missions and get to kick ass. What’s better than that?

Of course there’s the occasional multiversal threat but you are great at dealing with that. And you would never get compromised because of anything…never…definitely…

“Oh my god he’s so cool” you mumble to yourself while swinging after the spot.

You were alone for the while, Jess having stayed back to do some damage control, but Miguel has clearly tasked you to catch the Spot and make sure he didn’t do anything dangerous. But currently you are way too focused on how cool the guy looks to think about catching him.

“Hey! Can I ask a question?” you ask while swinging next to him.

“Wha– I guess?” He seems more confused than anything. As much as you can judge from…his non-existent facial features.

“Do your powers have some kind of limit of distance or could you like…go to Italy right now if you wanted?”

“I–” he stops moving and stays standing on a rooftop. “That’s a good question actually.”

You stop standing next to him, carefully touching his shoulder. It feels pretty normal. You imagined something else.

“...aren’t you going to arrest me or something?”

“I’ll think about it when my boss starts paying me.” you shrug. “My name is (y/n) by the way.” you hold your hand out to him. Ah yes. Telling your secret identity to the guy you’re supposed to be hunting. Miguel would give you the most disapproving glare if he saw you right now.

“The spot.” he shakes your hand. “But…I guess Jonathan if we go by first names” this was probably the weirdest interaction you had all week…or the second weirdest.

“So…tell me more about your powers. How do they work?”

“What? So you can make fun of them?”

“Fun? Are you kidding? This is like…the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. And I saw a guy that turned into a giant rhino. And that’s pretty cool. But those powers are like…” you look up to (were you guess) his face is. “...absolutely incredible. They’re beautiful.”

“Well that’s the first time someone says that…usually they tend to make fun of it or just…the way I look.”

“What’s wrong about the way you look?” you frown, looking at him. “Sure…it’s a bit weird to not have a face to look at but I think we can work with that.”

He doesn’t say something for a few seconds, just studying you silently. “Thank you” he eventually says.

You want to say something when your communicator blinks as you hear Jessica’s voice out of it. “(y/n)? Have you caught the spot?”

You look up at him for a moment. “...no. I lost him. Sorry.”

“It’s okay. Meet me at the meet up point. We’re going to have to think about a new strategy.”

“Of course. I’ll be there in a few minutes. I’ll check the territory once more.” you say before hanging up. “I do not like lying to Jess.”

“Why…did you lie?”

“I didn’t see the reason for turning you in.” you smile at him. “And…you know. Maybe I can help you if you need some more help with your powers. I mean I’m not an expert at portals and stuff but I’m good…positive affirmation.” you grin at him before stepping to the edge of the building.

“How am I…going to find you for that?” he asks, taking a step towards you again.

You turn back to him again. “Don’t worry. I’ll be the one finding you.” you grin and let yourself fall off the building backwards.

That looked cool, right?

You are hoping it looked cool.

And you’re trying to do your best to not think about the fact that you wanted to impress the new villain.

….that was okay….right?

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cal-daisies-and-briars · 4 months ago

Note

LETS GET THEM MARRIED ⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️

HELL YEAH!

144 for ⚡️:

---

“Thank you,” Buck tells him when he breaks the kiss. “For talking sense into me.”

Eddie lays back down next to him.

“You want to know what I was thinking?”

“What?” Buck asks.

“How would Hen handle you?”

Buck bursts out laughing. “Fewer kisses and sweet remarks, I think.”

“Well, okay. It’s a modified version.”

☆☆☆

Bobby knocks on their door before they even have a chance to eat breakfast. Which is bad, because no one has had coffee and Buck slept terribly. But good, because it can only mean that something has happened.

“I have a venue for you,” Bobby announces, grinning smugly, as Eddie hands him a mug of coffee. Like Buck’s insistence one couldn’t be found was a challenge he could personally overcome.

Buck blinks. “Wh-what? How?”

“I stayed up late calling Department contacts,” Bobby explains. “They got me in touch with the LAFD Historical Society.”

“Historical Society?” Eddie asks, dubious. “Are we getting married in a classroom?”

Bobby smirks. Oh, he is enjoying Eddie’s doubt. Damn.

“Why, yes, Eddie.” He says, delighted. “The same Historical Society that operates the LAFD Museum in Hollywood.”

Buck ‘s jaw drops so quickly Eddie’s afraid it’s going to fall off.

“No,” he gasps.

Bobby grins. “Yes.”

“A museum?” Eddie asks.

“Bobby, that’s the coolest thing I’ve ever heard!” Buck practically squeals.

“A firefighting museum?” Eddie asks again.

“Yes, Eddie!” Buck says, a little shortly. Like he’s miffed Eddie isn’t also trembling with excitement. “You know this museum! I’ve taken Chris.”

Right. Because Eddie remembers every nerdy thing they’ve ever done without him.

“Yes,” he says anyway. “Of course.”

“Bobby, how?” Buck asks. “And can we afford it?”

“Well, that’s the best part,” Bobby says. “It’s free.”

“Free?” Eddie asks. Fuck nerdy. This museum sounds great.

“Free,” Bobby repeats.

“How is that possible?” Buck asks.

“Okay,” Bobby’s expression switches to nervous for the first time. “So I might have milked it a little. Heroic queer firefighting couple who have been shot, crushed, and struck by lightning for this Department, only to have to put out the fire at their venue days before their own wedding…”

“Oh my god,” Eddie mumbles.

“Yes!” Buck exclaims. “Wax poetic about us! We deserve it!”

Eddie thinks this is truly something Buck would only ever say under the pressures of wedding stress.

Bobby chuckles. “So it’s free. For your service to the city.”

That’s… That’s actually pretty fucking cool? Not that he’s ever thought of them as a heroic queer firefighting couple before. Whatever. He’ll take it for the hundred percent discount.

“Bobby,” Buck says, eyes tearing up. “Oh my god.”

Bobby smiles triumphantly. “I had a feeling you’d like it.”

“It’s like… It’s like the coolest thing ever.”

In that moment, Eddie thinks Bobby looks more like a dad trying hard to impress his kid more than he’s ever seen. He knows that exact feeling. Like you’d do anything, move a fucking mountain with your bare hands, just to see your kid smile. Damn it. Why don’t those two just call this what it is? They’re worse than Buck and Eddie were.

“I’m happy it’s a good substitute,” Bobby says.

“Are you kidding? It’s better!” Buck proclaims.

Bobby grins.

Eddie feels a profound sense of relief. A restaurant wedding is more his style than a museum wedding, to be honest. But Buck had been so distraught. Seeing him this excited? That feels like a supreme win.

“Thank you, Bobby,” Eddie says. “Seriously. I can’t believe it’s even available at such short notice.”

“Yeah, I couldn’t either,” Bobby admits. “Funny thing… There was a big birthday party there, but it got canceled. Same day. Life’s funny like that, I guess.”

The thought crosses Eddie’s mind without permission.

It’s meant to be.

Oh. Oh, boy. He’s not used to having thoughts like that. But it feels true, doesn’t it? That Buck would get this sort of dream venue, instead of nothing?

Eddie feels a strange emotion overcome him.

“Wow,” Buck says. “Okay. Amazing! We just have to get decorations and stuff sorted, then. Right?”

Another smug smile from Bobby.

“Your sisters are already on the job.”

🗲🗲🗲

The night before their wedding, they go out with their families for a nice dinner. They didn’t want to do the whole big wedding week of preparations. Mainly the expenses. So they’re not having a proper rehearsal dinner. Just a dinner they booked months ago at a place that serves handmade pasta that Buck personally thinks is to die for.

He’s feeling a lot more relaxed about everything. Or, less catastrophic anyway. As excited as he is for the museum, he’s still nervous that it’s not what they’d planned. That he doesn’t have a clear image in his brain. That things need to be delivered to a new address. But overall, he thinks he somehow scored the coolest wedding ever.

Well, not somehow. Bobby. Bobby did that for them. Buck and Eddie would have never thought of it. Or have the necessary connections, likely.

Buck finds himself watching Bobby a fair amount during that dinner. He’s chatting easily with Eddie’s father. Saying something that makes Ramon laugh. Across the table, Buck can’t quite hear it.

#daisies and briars writes #things we're all too young to know fic

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fandomsandflyingstingrays · 9 months ago

Text

Luz has been here before.

When she stood between two different worlds, between two different families who needed her, and watched one of them disappear behind a door she didn’t know how to open. When she bridged the divide between dimensions as an echo to reach out to her mom, only to watch her mom's tears mix with the rain as she shrank into a memory and Luz was pulled away. When she watched her mentor’s eyes fill with darkness, the shadows sealing Eda so deep within herself that Luz didn’t know how to call her back. When she sat in a white-walled room facing a separation beyond portals or curses, seeing her dad right beside her and knowing, at the same time, that he would never be with her again.

Luz has been here before, again and again and again, and she never manages to find the right goodbye.

All she can do is admit that to Eda and King before she can no longer see them through her tears, before they splinter into light and she is obscured by shadow, unable to conceive of anything but the embrace of a dark ocean and a single thought.

I know what I should have said. I should have thanked them.

The lost words, the goodbye that she has never, ever been quick enough to get out, lodge and swell in her throat before finding their release in a single sob. She watches the tears mix with the water that holds her and relaxes into its embrace.

Then, all at once, there is a hand around her wrist, and she is being yanked upwards into light and air.

It feels exhausting just to stand, and she sways, blinking at her rescuer through bleary eyes. At first, all she can see is a blurred form, a sort of worm… bird worm… Hooty? Only, when she blinks again, she realize that this Hooty is still, expressionless, and tiny, protruding from the eye socket of someone who looks like…

“King?”

The figure chuckles in a voice that is decidedly not King’s, deep and measured. “No. But he does get his good looks from me.”

In the last twenty-four hours, Luz has faced down a dragon of eyeballs and mold, been chased through a celestial playground, and seen Mattholomule with a drawn-on mustache, and she’s managed not to get overwhelmed. But this? She feels like her brain is a plate of warm spaghetti, being twirled around and around on a fork.

“Oh, Titan,” she breathes.

“Oh, me!” her rescuer says, pleased. “Nice to meet you, Luz the human.”

He’s wearing a Bad Girl Coven shirt, Luz realizes half-hysterically. And glyph-patterned pajama pants. But still, she reaches out and takes his hand. He might be some kind of mold-blast-induced dream, but that’s no reason not to be polite.

“You can’t actually be the Titan Titan, right? You’re the Boiling Isles, and that Titan is all—“

“Dead-looking?” he asks. His expression is sad, but there’s no denial in it, and Luz feels her knees go weak. She wraps her arms around herself, slowly sinking back into the embrace of the water.

“Does that mean I’m also…”

“Ah, no, nope, no, you don’t want to do that.” He reaches out, pulling her back to her feet. “If you go under without a portal, you really will be dead-looking.”

So… she’s not? And neither is he? Luz finds herself beaming. “I can’t believe this. You’re King’s dad!”

“I think King said it best once: ‘I am both king and queen, best of both things!’ But dad works fine.”

This might be the coolest being Luz has ever met.

With her most pressing questions answered, Luz looks around, and realizes to her surprise that her surroundings are familiar. The liquid below her, the floating cubes above… this is the space between the Human Realm and the demon one. Only, she’s never been clear about where exactly that is.

“What is this place?”

“This is the space in between… well, in between a lot of places. And I’ve been stuck here for quite some time. But at least I can keep an eye on my child, and those who have been kind to him.”

King’s dad grabs hold of a passing cube and watches images pass over it. Luz grabbing King in a hug, the two of them laughing over a pile of bread slices, Eda embracing them both. Luz feels warm and cold all at once. She’s thrilled for King, eager to tell him, that the parent he felt so far away from him was watching him with so much love. But behind that happiness is the question of her own dad, and the breathless wish that he could be watching her and the people she loves in the same way.

As soon as she thinks it, shame rises in her, so thick and choking that she has to look away. Does she really wish her dad could see what she’s become? This person who was nearly responsible for the deaths of an entire island of people, who can never make a plan that doesn’t fall apart almost immediately, who has turned so angry and vengeful?

“I’m not so kind,” she whispers. “When I saw the Collector fly up to Belos, I hoped with all my heart I would see them blast him away, and—"

“Hey, I can relate. I was willing to do anything to keep my kid safe. But I attacked the wrong person, dragged the Collector down here for nothing.”

“Does that make us as bad as Belos?”

To Luz’s shock, King’s dad laughs. “What? Have you been drinking Eda’s homemade apple blood?”

“Well, Belos says he’s trying to save humanity, and we’re saying we want to save our families, so isn’t that the same thing, don’t those feelings come from the same place?”

“Well, you assume Belos’s goal comes from a genuine place. But that man doesn’t care about anything but his need to be the hero in his own delusion. And because of that, he fears what he can’t control.”

“And now that fear is going to win.”

“Ah, dang.” Luz turns to see King’s dad staring down at his chest. She gasps.

There’s a glowing tumor there, eating a hole into it. It’s the same fungus that’s covering the Isles, she knows, the one Belos conjured— but it looks so much like her childhood nightmare, like the way her younger self began to picture her dad’s insides as his outside grew weaker and weaker, that a single look at it is enough to burn her eyes.

“I thought I had more time left,” King’s dad says, “but Belos will have full control soon.” He looks at Luz. “You ready to stop him?”

“What? What can I do?”

Nothing. It’s the obvious answer, the lesson Luz has learned time and time again. She moved to Gravesfield without complaint because she thought it would fix her dad, and she was wrong. She did that stupid book report because she thought it would fix things for her mom, and she was wrong. She tried to fix things for the Isles, again and again and again, and she only made things worse— and then, when she attempted to set that right, she ended up here.

“You’ve already helped King so much. Now let me use my last bit of life to help you.”

King’s dad extends his hand, glowing with a combination of glyphs Luz has never seen before. But she knows what it means, what he’s offering: a second chance. A new body. Magic.

“Are you sure you want to give this power to me?”

“Well, you’re the one here, and you seem like a good witch. But I can’t give you anything unless you choose to accept it. So the question is, will you choose yourself?”

Luz has a flash of seeing the Titan as she knew him, watching his skeleton in the sea from high above on Owlbert, Eda on one side of her and King on the other. Look, kid, everyone wants to believe they’re chosen. But if we all waited around for a prophecy to make us special, we’d die waiting. That’s why you need to choose yourself.

Luz came to the Isles wanting to be a savior. If the person she was then had been in this position, she would have taken the Titan’s hand without hesitation, overjoyed to fulfill her fantasy. To be the hero in her own delusion. But she knows now that she’s not a hero. She’s just the one here.

The one here... because King’s dad believed she was a good witch. Because even when she was caught up in her fantasy, he still saw enough in her worth empowering to show her the glyphs she withheld from Belos. That has to mean something.

You’ve helped King so much, he said, and she believes him. She knows King loves her. And if she had given up after her dad died, if she had let herself believe it would be better for her mom if she became someone neither of them recognized, she never would have found him. Never would have found Eda and reunited her with Lilith, helped Amity leave her parents’ shadow and reconnect with Willow, helped Hunter see the truth about Belos before it was too late. She tried to help people, and yes, sometimes there was nothing she could do. Yes, sometimes she hurt people in the process. But she never meant to. Not like Belos… not like Philip.

Luz has been here before. Standing before a father she can’t heal. But there is still something she can do. It’s something she did for her mom, opening The Good Witch Azura for the first time in her black dress and reading it through puffy eyes. It’s something she did for Eda and King, following Owlbert through the portal door. It’s something she did for Amity and Willow and Hunter and Gus, running to that same door with them as it threatened to splinter apart. It’s something she did for all of them when she stepped back into the Isles two months later.

Luz can choose herself.

She reaches out to take King’s dad’s hand. And she comes back to life.

#happy one year of watching and dreaming everyone #the owl house #toh #luz noceda #camila noceda #manny noceda #eda clawthorne #lilith clawthorne #king clawthorne #papa titan #willow park #gus porter #amity blight #toh hunter #toh hooty #emperor belos #philip wittebane #ray rambles #ray writes

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oldiesstationlover11607 · 3 months ago

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*In SpongeBob’s voice* 🧽Hi. How are ya?🧽

The amount of joy that surged through my body when I saw that the sponge was yellow is indescribable. Anyways, hi. What up? It’s me 💛, back at it again with another request! You went above and beyond with the last Torchbearer story btw! Like, honestly, novel worthy in my eyes. It was so good and the ANGST!!! And I like the cliffhanger ending. Gives you places to go if you so choose, but also can keep it just as a one part story and the reader can sort of extrapolate what happens next.

So, I come to you with a new request. It’s Josh (Josh-Josh this time. Not one of his incredibly neglected lore characters. Have no fear). Idk if this is too similar to something else you have written (disregard if it is), but I was wondering if you could write a fluffy one shot about the first time Josh introduces the reader (his girlfriend) to Tyler and Tyler makes it his mission to bring up any embarrassing story about Josh that he can just to mess with him. Josh gets all flustered and stuff, but the reader loves it. Idk. I just feel like Tyler would do something like that.

Tease - Josh Dun x Reader

Relationship: Josh × Reader + Tyler!!

Warnings: none - fluff

Word Count: 1056

A/N: HOPE YOU LIKE THIS!! I'm using it for bandito battle bc I love how it shows off their friendship and it's nice a short!

Josh had been raving about Tyler since the day we met and for a while I thought they were dating. He thought it was a good idea to disregard the fact Tyler had been married for a year and describe him as ‘handsome, talented, and the coolest person he’d ever met’. It wasn’t until we hung out at a local park that he confessed he liked me. I admitted I thought he was gay–let’s just say that was a fun conversation. We’d been dating for about a month when he deemed me worthy of meeting his lord and savior Tyler Joseph. We’d agreed to meet at a diner close to our house–some fake 50s themed place which Josh claimed had the best milkshakes despite the fact I was severely lactose intolerant. Josh had been jittery all day about this meeting. I caught him pacing in the kitchen at least three times, mumbling things like, “What if he says something stupid?” and “Maybe I should cancel.” But I reassured him with every step, telling him Tyler was probably just as excited to meet me as I was to meet him. We walked into the diner, the bell above the door chiming, and there he was—Tyler Joseph in the flesh, sitting in a booth with his arm draped over the backrest like he owned the place. He glanced up from the menu, a smirk already forming when he saw us approaching.

“Josh! Dude, finally!” Tyler stood and gave Josh a bro hug, patting him on the back with a little too much force. Then he turned to me, his smile widening. “You must be the famous girlfriend.”

I laughed. “Famous, huh? He’s been talking me up?”

“Non-stop,” Tyler replied, sliding back into the booth.

“I’m assuming he’s told you I thought you two were dating?” I chuckled.

“Yup,” he laughed, “But don’t worry, I’ve got some even more embarrassing stories about him.”

Josh groaned, sitting beside me. “Ty, please, not today.”

Tyler gave him a mischievous look. “Remember that time at the festival, Josh? You were supposed to hop on our tour bus, but you got on the wrong one and ended up at a completely different venue. Man, that was priceless. We didn't even know you were missing until you sent that frantic text from some random band’s bus.”

I giggled, looking at Josh, who was already turning red. “Seriously?”

“It wasn’t that bad…” Josh muttered, avoiding eye contact.

“Oh, yes it was. You should’ve seen the look on his face when he realized. And have you seen that video of him in a blonde wig? He made it with some old friends on iMovie.” Tyler leaned in conspiratorially, eyes gleaming.

“He didn’t.” I burst out laughing at that. “A blonde wig? Really?”

Josh buried his face in his hands, clearly embarrassed but smiling underneath it all. “Tyler, you’re killing me here.”

Tyler just grinned wider. “Hey, she needs to know the full Josh Dun experience.” Then he shot me a wink. “Trust me, it’s worth it.”

I could feel Josh squirming beside me, half-laughing, half-pleading with Tyler to stop. But the teasing wasn’t over yet.

Tyler leaned back, tapping his chin as if deep in thought. “Oh! How could I forget? The YouTube Bible readings! Have you seen them?”

Josh groaned louder this time, his head falling back against the booth in defeat. “No, Tyler, don’t.”

“What?” Tyler asked, feigning innocence. “I think they’re inspirational. You looked so serious, man, like you were auditioning for a role in a biblical drama. And that shaky camera work? A true classic.”

Josh peeked at me through his fingers, his face practically glowing red. “I swear they were for a good cause.”

I laughed, patting his arm. “I bet they were. We’ll have to check those out on movie night.”

Tyler’s grin turned devilish as he added, “I’ll send you the links. Honestly, it’s prime content.”

Josh let out a loud, exaggerated sigh, trying to hide his smile behind his hand. “Why did I bring you here again?”

“Because I’m your best friend and you love me,” Tyler said, not missing a beat. He took a sip from his milkshake, watching us with amusement. “You know, you got yourself a good one here,” he continued, looking at me now. “Josh has been over the moon since you guys started dating.”

Josh looked up, his cheeks still a bit pink, but his expression softened. “Well, I’m pretty lucky too.”

Tyler made a gagging motion. “Ugh, gross. But sweet. I’ll allow it.” He glanced at me again, a playful glint in his eyes. “Just make sure you remind him every now and then that he’s a dork, okay?”

I grinned. “Oh, don’t worry. I think I’ve got that covered.”

Josh chuckled, finally relaxing a bit as he reached for my hand under the table. “Yeah, she definitely does.”

Tyler clapped his hands together dramatically. “Alright, now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s order some food.”

The rest of the night was filled with more jokes, teasing, and stories—this time with Josh doing his fair share of dishing it back to Tyler. But even through the laughter and light-hearted banter, I could see how much they cared for each other. Tyler's endless teasing was more than just poking fun at Josh—it was a way of showing just how close they were, how deep their bond went.

As we left the diner, Josh laced his fingers with mine, a soft smile playing on his lips. “That wasn’t so bad, right?”

I squeezed his hand. “Not bad at all. Actually, I think I love you a little more now.”

Josh raised an eyebrow, his smile growing. “Because Tyler embarrassed me?”

“Exactly.”

He shook his head, laughing as we headed toward the car. “Great. Remind me never to let you two gang up on me again.”

“No promises,” I said with a grin.

Tyler called out behind us, “Next time, I’ll bring the blonde wig and we can make a part two to that movie!”

Josh groaned, but I could tell he was happy. And as we drove home, I knew I’d just witnessed something special—this crazy, hilarious, wonderful friendship between two guys who would always have each other’s backs, no matter how many embarrassing stories they dragged up along the way.

REQUESTS OPEN

Tags for bandito battle:

@banditobattlemotherfuckers @the-paladin-gay

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jujurose222 · 8 days ago

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Sorry in advance. But new year means I gotta be radically truthful about the things I’m ashamed of. Everything I say is how I honestly feel and I don’t like to be cruel these days, but this is my last step it appears. I’ve stopped being unnecessarily mean in MANY regards, but this regard is the one I must express. I want the world to know my true thoughts, so when I evolve, other jealous girls can learn from my thoughts and evolve too. I think my salty feelings are fair, and I think every girls are, but I’m tired of being bitter. It can’t last forever.

Beginning the new year I should tell everyone the truth. I’m scared. I feel extra lonely despite having a best friend I spent some time with and a mother who is sat downstairs. I just think about that one new year.

And I think about the coolest person I’ve ever known who “fucked a blonde bitch.” I think about my friend who knew and lied to me, I think about telling him what I heard and him saying, “oh you heard about the blonde he fucked.” And me saying, “is that Samantha?” And him saying, “Oh no.” (Name drop idgaf).

Also if that blonde bitch is who I think it is… LMFAO. Sorry. Pathetic ass hair. Anyway.

And I think about getting a text that said, “apparently they kept getting kicked out of rooms because he was basically on top of her.”

Oh I also think about that fucking playlist all the time. It makes me cry still.

I think about Samantha messaging me. I think about the insane fucking pea brain that bitch has. Apparently we have the same birthday? I dont know according to her, and from what I can tell, that bitch will say anything. March 28th, whatever even if we do. I’ve had enough shit make me sick because of you.

Have you ever wanted to kill someone? I don’t want this on like forensic files if someone brutally murders her one day, but I can’t lie. I’m a vivid dreamer. I would tell you how I’d do it, but I really don’t want to get in trouble. That’ll stay in my diary. You know that makes you feel like a “little girl.” I’m a little girl alright.

“My dad tried to kill me.” “We always end up back with each other.” “Oh yeah the drug thing.”

Too bad your dad didn’t kill you, dumb fucking bitch. IDEK YOU WHY YOU ARE TELLING ME THIS. PLEASEEEEEEEEEE KYS. PLEASEEEEE. It was really hard for me to be the bigger person, but I was. I wanted to get the info I needed, so I had to play along. Even though I wanted to do what I’ve always done when I was in drama, tell her to kill herself.

Don’t get me started on the other one.

I was scrolling on Harmonys phone one day and she did a side by side of her and Caitlyn Jenner. I didn’t even know she did it. She said, “oh yeah I didn’t want to show you, I know it triggers you. But she’s fucking ugly.”

Yeah well fugly don’t mean shit, it just means you’ll fuck it.

And oh “the prettiest vagina I’ve ever seen” just sits around waiting for the future timeline, the one where you finally feel good enough to be inside it, because you know it doesn’t want anyone else. Even if it didn’t fit. Nobody else would have even got me in that position. I’ve always been a fucking prude.

A bitter girl who liked to tell little girls to kill themselves. That was who I was. A salty little girl who hated other girls because they got attention and I didn’t.

I wish I could sit and tell you I’m not like that anymore.

But if I got the chance, I would pounce on Samantha and bash her face in. (I would go into more depth, but seriously I know she’s a real person, and I don’t want to become a suspect one day. And she will probably get killed with a mouth like hers, so like seriously don’t wanna be a suspect).

The root of my issue is that fact that boys never liked me, and when they did I always managed to ruin it. So I find it very fucking awesome how fate has done me? You know?

Okay, I’m done being a hater. But I think the world should know, Julia Rose hates a couple of girls very very much. I want to enter my new year leaving that behind. I’ve let go of many bitter feelings, but that is the thing I’m most bitter about. This stupid fucking competition I unwittingly became apart of. And it just sucks because it’s my mind that affirms the fact it’s a competition. Even though I know it’s not. Egos are just hard to navigate. So I want to admit my fears. That I’ll lose the competition. Even though I already technically lost.

That’s the thing, I didn’t win or lose, because it’s just life. Being a girl is hard though and I feel like boys just don’t get it at all. I feel like even some girls don’t get it.

I’m also sick of fake poets.

Oh also! “Yeah apparently he took them to this Asian masseuse.” WHAT? I was so fucking pissed that I had to slash your tires. YOU HAD A FUCKING GIRLFRIEND ACCORDING TO FACEBOOK SO WHY ARE YOU PAYING FOR A HANDJOB???????? YOUR FUGLY GIRLFRIEND CANT DO IT? Or is it just not as fun doing cocaine and getting a handjob from a girl you have to see the next day? It made me irrevocably angry. I took a knife from my sister’s kitchen and did what I felt needed to be done. I thought hell, maybe this’ll keep him from getting drugs for one night. Probably didn’t. I felt bad for your fugly girlfriend. And then she took you to Paris! Oh just such. a. fucking. dream. And your mom in your comment section, “oh I love you two!” Yeah well I fucking HATE you two.

Goodnight world. I’m sickened with jealousy that idiots can steal my lover but hey, that’s life!

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vestaclinicpod · 1 year ago

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Audio Drama Sunday - 30th July ✨

Another great week of audio drama has kept my brain busy while my data collection is less busy. Happy Audio Drama Sunday, please allow me to share my favourites!

SPOILERS!!

🌲 @hellofromthehallowoods (127) Oh NO Mrs Wicker get your children away from that Church!!!! I love to hear the J-sibs starting to push back against her, long may it continue! I'm also still obsessed with the Raven-Writing Desk dynamic and it's only going to get juicier when Mr Writing Desk actually wants to follow Penny’s demands… And Danielle!! I love that she still gets to be an active help in the mission to the North in a way that doesn’t feel like deus ex machina because it’s just her.

🎞 Tiny Terrors (022) this episode had me yelling ‘what’s the catch?!?!?’ internally and I’ve just seen that the wait is over to listen to the other side of the tape!! Angela, what are you??

🌍 @lastechoespod (7) As some of you may know. . . I am a huge fan of Drs in Space. This episode had me gripped, those poor people 😭 What a cruel scare tactic from the Collected for that to be played to the people trying to decide whether to join. I’m so tense to hear what the final archival selection is going to be!

🧛‍♂️ @re-dracula Things are TENSE aboard the Demeter. Even in <60s of audio, the creeping dread is so palpable. And Mina, sweet Mina! So thrilled to have her back! Listening rather than reading has makes it so much easier to parse the long, chunky sections describing Whitby!! I have high hopes that I'm going to stick with it to the very end this time.

💫 Wolf 359 (24-32) Oh fuck. I am so glad I have all the episodes to listen to at once. I could NOT have dealt with the wait between seasons. Ep 30, Mayday, is possibly one of the coolest things I’ve ever heard. I love that feeling of rooting for a character so hard that you forget that they don’t really exist and that you know they make it because there are another 30 eps of the show left. And the new characters - Kepler, Jacobi, Maxwell - wow, I LOVE to hate them. They’re fantastic in the worst way.

🎩 @ethicstownpod (5) Things got a little creepy on the emergency broadcast this week. Memory is created as it is recalled?? What?? My mind is boggled. I’m very excited to hear how this, and what seems to be a growing discomfort between January and Artemis, plays out in the next episodes!

🥾@doyoucopypod (3) Now. Hear me out. I know that being stuck up in a radio tower all day has got to be boring but I do think there might be a better time to flirt with your colleague than when 3 people are missing in a place called the ‘Dead Zone’ where strange ecological events are occurring . . . Just me?? Have I got the braincell here??? I’m so excited for these shenanigans to get even spookier.

🏴‍☠️ Yeah. I listened to @levianpod again. What are you going to do? Support their crowdfunder? Good. Do it.

🎧 Such an interesting episode of The First Episode Of with @wirelandranch! The wireland vibes have always been immaculate and it’s so interesting to learn about where it came from and why it’s an amalgamation rather than a straight-up audio drama.

🐬 Described as a weird mystery, @patterspod is exactly that. It’s batshit in the best possible way. Perhaps I hang out with strange people, but the main character is so normal in his weirdness, I feel like most people know a guy like Ryan even though Ryan is a liar ghostwriter trying to hunt down his thieving EX-boss with ?paranormal connections. It’s great stuff.

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend! My goal is to have season two of the show written by the start of August . . . So I should stop writing this and get to writing that . . . Right? Okay.

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fisherrprince · 1 year ago

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hi. rolls up wearing a "Terra Fan #1" t-shirt. FOR the character ask game, 1, 2, 12, 14, 18, 21 (or 22, optionally), and 25, all for Terra!!! feel free to skip some if that's a bit Too Many At Once i'm simply the world's nosiest little beast :3

squints and carefully puts “Terra fan #2” shirt away (I can’t compete with my irl who loves Terra more than me it’d be foolish)

He’s BIG hes TEDDY BEAR and he has SO SO MANY PROBLEMS and he was three people and a terrifying armor ghost for years I love Lingering Will I think lingering will is the coolest thing ever. Wayfinders are my favorites when they’re vengeful ghosts

coughs. Lingering will. But actually I love that he’s a very polite boy I think a lesser medium would have made him edgier. He’s very polite and asks for things nicely and says please. good boy. 12. oh no I’m in a list wait

12. I think he’s very bad at cooking. I think he’s just downright bad at it it’s not that he doesn’t want to he is just bad. After kh3 he tries to get into it because aqua likes to bake as stress relief but he is not good at it however he CAN!!! make a KILLER kebab. because he just piles everything he likes to bbq on a stick

14. I. Honestly his normal aesthetic is so good for him. Samurai fantasy tech warrior is so good. And I don’t think athletic wear quite fits him? Put that boy in climbing gear maybe. Plenty of carabiners

18. Ummmmnnnnnhhhh UHHH ACTUALLY YOU KNOW WHAT i don’t quite know about this one bc all of his relationships are either sad or very brief I think he should interact with sora more though. I think they would get along well. I hope he chats with riku more too….. it’s so cute… maybe that’s the answer to the actual question. Wiku

21/22. Can you believe I’ve written him like once? Unbelievable. He’s just hard to do for me I think. I like it when ppl make Terra the lets go lesbians let’s go guy I love it when he’s just a woodworker he’s in a trade of some kind and lesbians just love the guy. It’s a trope I’ve seen like three times and every time it’s so funny to me. Who would have guessed. the big gentle himbo. But I also don’t like it when fics make him Too Mean?? You know? This is a problem with both Terra and Aqua I think people assume they’re older and therefore stricter and more entrenched in master eraqus’ teachings and completely unwilling to go near the idea of accepting darkness and while I don’t think that interpretation is wrong or not easily supported, it just feels… too harsh… like they didn’t also go through a big darkness revelation and have to deal with it all by themselves and maybe they wouldn’t find Riku to be comforting, if not a major relief. idk. You can make them as complex as you want (personally I have thoughts about how unintentionally bad they are at emotions and communication ALL THE TIME) but i get sad if they’re one dimensionally mean :( I get it you want a bad guy in your vanitas redemption. But cmon :(

25. I (thinking) I basically watched kh backwards. Sort of. So my first impression was actually,, Terra giving his friends a big hug and crying!! So I always knew he was a sweet boy. Now he is a complex sweet boy who made bad decisions and his whole arc can be taken with different readings beyond even the effects of manipulation into cycles of power and relapse or su(i am dragged offstage by a comically long cane) HEY

#suolainensilakka #I. write urls manually I hope that’s spelled correctly #ask game #ask #AND!!!!! I think Terra has more fat on his body than his model. I love him. He’s STRONG strong; not model strong

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foreststarflaime · 2 months ago

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All 50 "honest" fave prompts for Loki as a whole

( @izunias-meme-hole )

Hooo boy this is gonna be fun! Here we gooo

I’ll. I’ll just cut here bc this is going to be inevitably long. I tend to ramble even when I’m just asked one of these so I cannot wait to see how long this post gets lmao

1. Do you project onto this character?

As always with my favorites, yeah ofc lol, although actually in fewer specific instances than I can think of for some other characters at the moment. Honestly I liked him so early on that it might have gone the other way around. Gender weirdness, feeling the need to ingratiate yourself with people you need (not sure I phrased that one properly but anyways), (for comics Loki) I’m adopted too.

2. Did you always like this character? / 4. Did you initially dislike/hate this character?

Oh yeah, absolutely, I always loved him. One of my earlier favorite characters, particularly the marvel version of him, and he’s stayed drilled into my head!

3. What first drew you to this character?

Hmm it’s kinda hard to say, exactly. I think he was really the first/best trickster type character I encountered, and since that is my favorite character type, I latched on immediately. Also he is very gender and whumpable, so that probably played some part in it too.

5. If this character were a woman, would you honestly still like them? Or in reverse, what if they were a man?

This is. Not the question for this character lmaooo Loki is very genderweird, and that’s I think part of the reason I love him so much. So taking this question as would I still like him if he wasn’t…whatever weird gender thing he has going on? I’d probably still like him, but not nearly as much. It wouldn’t be him. Them. Her. Etc, you get the idea.

6. Do you have any nicknames or pet names you use for this character?

Not that I can think of? At the moment at least

7. Does the character’s age matter to you?

Not really? I mean it’s cool he has so much history behind him, but. I guess…the only different age instance I can think of is kid Loki from comics, and I liked him too, so I don’t think so really

8. Does the character’s looks/design matter to you?

Not to be shallow lmao but yeahhh, he’s gotta be stylish and gender, it’s part of who he is!! For general myth Loki I’m not really as picky on designs as long as they capture the vibe, but for comics Loki, the scrappier and more feral he looks the better, and I do prefer the shorter horns I think.

9. Does this character remind you of anyone you know? Does that affect how you see them?

Hmmmm not particularly I don’t think

10. Do you see yourself in this character even without projecting?

Yeah I do I think. I’ve always loved some good mischief and wordplay, tricks and riddles and thinking my way through loopholes. Some of the other things I said in projecting still apply here too, I’d say, and I’m sure there’s more not coming to mind immediately amidst all the Loki adaptations I’ve seen.

11. How did you “fall in love” with this character?

Loki: Agent of Asgard, especially the part in Last Days where he becomes the god of story, and then tells that story to the gods above the gods. Coolest most meta thing ever. Exactly everything I love. Altered my brain chemistry irreversibly.

12. If you could write effortlessly and as much as you wanted, what story (s) would you write for this character?

Oooo hmmmmm…lots of fix its probably, lots of him finding someone who loves him (probably platonically, I have to think really hard to do romance and I don’t tend to like it as much). But there would be a loooot of hurt on the way to the comfort >:) also lots of legendary pranks gone hilariously wrong

13. If you could draw effortlessly and as much as you wanted, what scene (s) would you draw for this character?

Probably a lot of him being goofy and mischevious. For comics Loki specifically lots of him doing cool things with that blue story fire, that is badass

14. Are you physically attracted to this character? / 15. Are your thoughts surrounding this character usually sexual, non-sexual, or a mix of both?

I don’t think I’ve ever been attracted to anyone sexually or romantically fictional or otherwise ever in my life tbh, closest it gets is gender envy. Which yes I very much do want to look like him lol

16. Have you ever cried when thinking about this character? Genuinely?

It is so unbelievably hard to get me to cry for anything. It’s not really a good way to measure how much something fictional has moved me since I can literally count the number of times it has happened on one hand. That being said, yes actually—I was very upset they decided to kill him off in the first 30 mins of Endgame and in such a sad way

17. Have you ever felt physical pain over this character? (ex: physical heartache).

Well I tend to feel things quite physically, so yeah. Never really connected that with the word heartache specifically until now, but I guess that’s what it is. Whenever I’ve gotten immersed in whatever thing I’m reading/watching, I tend to feel along with the characters I love like a weird sort of pain in my chest I guess? I’m having a hard time finding the words to describe it but yeah this definitely happens with Loki angst

18. Do you prefer to see this character suffer or know peace? Angst or comfort? Both?

Hurt/comfort my beloved. The more angst the better as long as the comfort at the end matches it o7 that said moments of comfort do tend to stick with me for longer, being so rare as they are, but I wouldn’t say I enjoy one more than the other exactly.

19. Does this character serve as a stress ball/ security blanket for you? Something you run to after a bad day to feel safe or happier?

For comics Loki in particular, yeah absolutely. I’ve definitely sat down to read the first or third volume of Agent of Asgard after rough days before, and I recently brought them over here to uni to have at the ready since I’ve been so stressed lately. Loki my beloved you finding yourself gives me so much joy and hope

20. Do you feel affectionate towards this character?

Of course!!! That’s my guyyyy!!! I love him!!!! If you wrong him I will stab you violently :)

21. Are your feelings about this character platonic, romantic, or familial? All of these feelings at once maybe?

That’s my bestie!!! (NO romance) That’s my little brother!!!! That’s my idiot pulling crazy stunts and getting himself in endless trouble!!! I’d definitely choose him as a patron god!! That’s the weird guy whose soul is akin to mine!!!! I adopted him in my formative years and drew up so many connections and ideals and dreams between us that it’s hard to tell where I stop and he begins!!! Look just. I love him ok favorite favorite character for like. A very long time

22. Do you think you will always love this character?

I am not letting go he will escape me over my cold dead body and even then I will haunt him. Or he will haunt me I’m not sure

23. Has this character permanently altered or impacted your psyche in a way you won’t forget?

Um. See the above. Also made me go crazy feral for characters who mess with the narrative in a meta way, and/or have powers related to story in some way. Hence Foreststar, if you’ve seen anything about her

24. Do you ever dream about this character? If so, describe a dream you once had about them.

Ohh I think I did once but it’s very hard to remember. I think I was allied with him in that weird dream within a dream I had where I was fighting alongside a bunch of my favorite characters against…something, I don’t really remember, it’s been too long rip

25. What kind of fan-fiction do you read about this character? If you don’t read fan-fics about them, why not?

Yknow. Shocking, it has never occurred to me until now to look up fanfiction about him. Unless you count all modern adaptations as fanfiction about myth Loki. In which case I read many and my favorite is when they crammed him into a superhero au

Yeah tbh I didn’t really get into fanfics until quite recently—dsmp days I read a little bit of sbi found family stuff towards the end, then I actually started actively seeking stuff out with Good Omens. I wasn’t allowed to be online much when I was younger and so it never really occurred to me to get into fandom until recently (here with ff7 is really the first time I’m actually interacting with other people about it online lol), just had some really good friends to gush about stuff with in person

I’d probably be quite picky with Loki fanfics tho since my idea of him is so deeply ingrained into my psyche

26. If you look for this character’s name on AO3, what tags are you including or excluding?

Anything romantic/smut excluded, I don’t think I could take it. It almost never occurs to me to think about him in that context. Well that’s the way I am with every character really, but. Hm I’d maybe accept Lokius stuff. Or stuff with Sigyn. Ok so maybe I’m not very strict about that. Maybe I don’t actually care idk. That said definitely excluding if anyone ships comics!Loki and Verity, let them be friendssss I am begging their chemistry as besties is amazing and that idiot needs to learn to love himself before he gets into any romance. Definitely including hurt/comfort tho. And tags with his kids as major characters. Parent Loki my beloved I need more of you

27. Do you like to ship this character with other characters or do you prefer not to?

Well. See above. With shipping the baseline is that I don’t really care about romance as long as it isn’t smacking me in the face when I don’t want it to. I’m along for the ride if I’m in the mood. It is VERY rare that I will actively enjoy a ship and ships with him are not part of that exception

28. Do you get defensive about this character? If yes, then why?

Hm I don’t get defensive too often if we’re talking about interpretations, when I do it’s usually because people aren’t letting other people enjoy what they want, so in that sense no not really. Now if we’re talking about against other characters, well.

ODIN WHEN I CATCH YOU—GET BACK HERE THIS IS CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT. YOU ARE DEAD THAT IS MY DUMBASS AND HIS WONDERFUL CHILDREN DONT YOU DARE PUT THEM THROUGH THE HORRORS. AND FOR WHAT HUH FOR WHAT 🔪🔥

29. Do you affectionately bully this character?

Oh absolutely. Dumbass loser <3

30. Are you especially sensitive about this character?

Hm probably yeah, he is my fav fav, there is a lot of attachment there

31. Are you ashamed of liking this character?

Nah

32. If you could make this character a meal, what would you make them?

Homemade cookies. Maybe my salmon I mentioned in the Angeal ask too. He deserves something made with love he gets put through the whump machine enough

33. Are you “blinded by love” for this character or do you accept any flaws they may have?

I SUPPORT HIS RIGHTS AND WRONGS jk lmao. Well kinda. I know he has many flaws but I love him anyways and look he had good intentions ok

34. Does this character inspire you with little things in your daily life?

Hm not…exactly? At least not really in any instances that I can think of at the moment? Besides what I answered in the comfort character question, 19 I think it was

35. Has this character ever prevented you from sleeping because you can’t stop thinking about them?

Well. It’s not exactly hard to do that, I always have a very hard time turning my brain off so I can sleep. So yeah, happened just last night lol

36. Do you feel a spiritual/soulmate connection with this character?

Yeah a bit ngl. Well not in the usual sense of that

37. Is your love for this character a secret from people you know in real life?

Absolutely not, when I like a character I cannot be stealthy about it lol. In fact with the besties, since we all love pjo and I’m adopted and have no idea who my bio father is, it is the common conspiracy that Loki is lol

38. Do you tend to joke more about dying or killing for this character? Both? What causes the distinction?

Both, I don’t think one really outweighs the other when it happens. As for distinction, usually turns to killing when I get defensive of him, see 28

39. Do you feel lovesick over this character?

I don’t think so? Aromantic and confused lol

40. Are you very empathetic towards this character? When they feel a certain way in the story, do you feel those emotions too?

Reiterating what I said in 17. Yeah in a weird way

41. Do you prefer to interact with this character directly via self-insert/reader type content? Or do you enjoy seeing them mostly with other characters in the story and/or your OCs?

I do imagine self-insert stuff in an oc-y way for Loki a lot just in my own head. Don’t go seeking any out that anyone else has written. Probably prefer that bc he’s the character I’m most interested in in whatever story he’s in by far

42. If you could, would you write this character a song or poem?

If I was in the mood, sounds fun. Don’t do poetry much myself, I tend to prefer prose

43. What type of weather makes you think of this character?

Snow. The mischief it can bring, whenever some child drunk on the joy of life stoops down to make a snowball and ambush innocent passersby. The mischief turns to grand fun in an hours-long war, with snow forts build and hot chocolate being made for afterwards. But maybe someone gathers a little too much ice in one snowball, and the mischief turns suddenly to wrong. He didn’t mean to. A heavy blizzard, raging outside and driving everyone inside, to sit around the fire and tell stories.

44. Which season makes you think of this character?

Winter. See above reasons. Also a season usually hated and villainized, even though there’s plenty of beauty and joy that can be found if one looks in the right place.

45. Do you feel as if you are intimately familiar with this character?

I mean he’s been my favorite for so long and so passionately that I kinda do yeah

46. How much do bad interpretations of this character upset you?

Not much? It depends how bad the interpretation is. I’m very hard to upset with this kind of thing—you can get me to enjoy pretty much anything, at least while I’m watching it. If I don’t like something I just kinda ignore/avoid it, or rant a bit to one of the besties and then kinda forget about it. If it was a really bad interpretation, I’d probably be annoyed, but not hugely upset.

47. Does this character ever make you laugh sincerely?

Oh yeah! Can think of several instances immediately for mcu Loki alone.

48. What’s your favorite physical/design feature for this character?

Agent of Asgard Loki’s iconic little gold hornssss and the green trench coat with the fur at the collarrrrr he looks so good and I need that outfit!!! Also love the choice to make one of them broken on his story crown. Also love that they gave him black painted nails

49. What’s your favorite personality trait in this character?

Hmmmmmmmmmm so many to choose from that I like rahhh I think for my favorite I would have to go with how he refuses to be anything other than himself, no matter who he thinks that is, villain or hero or anything in-between. I find myself being a bit of a people-pleaser a lot, especially in person, so I really respect that. And kind of envy it.

50. Link your fav song, playlist, aesthetic board, fan-fiction, reference pile, personal artwork, analysis post, meme, headcanon, or quote for this character. Whichever one (s) you are most comfortable with!

I’ll go with quote for now. Or scene really lol

#sorry like half of this is specifically comics loki lmao I cannot resist him in particular #I promise I love all lokis I just have the most thoughts about that one #loki #ask game #star rambles #agent of asgard #norse mythology

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