#please listen to a 1 crush by garbage

[mio-nika]

Disgusting Part 3: Reminiscence and fish

[hueberryshortcake]

ducks on da road part 1

this is me when my girlfriend is at her job three miles away from my house two days in a row so i cant come fall asleep on her couch

theyre tryin ta make gyro sound soooo smart and listen i learned this stuff in my freshman year astronomy class L

dickie is so me you dont get it. ok actually now im just being reminded of the time the fourth worst person alive called me ditzy while i was having a pain flare in a hotel room in florida but this isnt about that this is about how im cute and make good decisions and have good taste in clothes

16yo me would have had INSANE gender envy from this gyro please keep him away from me for both our safety

gyro: THE SANCTITY OF MY COLLEGE CAREER IS HANGING ON BY A THREAD MY LIFE IS OVER

dickie, eating a garbage sandwich: whoa. they have american pie in this magazine, which i also found in the trash

do you think this gyro has chicken feet or human feet

daisy needs migraine medicine. gyro needs anxiety medicine. dickie needs adderall or perhaps ritalin

this is gonna be me and B when we start performing folk music in public

how bad does it have to be for you to get publicly banned from a pizza shop on the square.

if my crush asked me to rent a van with them, fill it with guitars snacks and books, and drive cross country together i think id pass out on the spot

aaaaand theyve kidnapped gyro great

[avellino]

ok here are some aemond-coded songs i've been thinking about recently... #1 crush by garbage, a pearl by mitski, army of me by bjork, exit music (for a film) by radiohead, mama you've been on my mind by jeff buckley, i bet on losing dogs by mitski, black beauty by lana del rey, arsonist's lullabye by hozier, you know i'm no good by amy winehouse, boys don't cry by the cure, long & lost by florence and the machine, you and whose army? by radiohead, please please please let me get what i want by deftones, and psycho killer by talking heads

these are soooo fucking real god brb about to listen to all of these and escape into my magical fantasy world

[the-teddy-bear-butch]

and here I am again, being a menace in your inbox. 1, 3, 4, 6, 11, 13 for run away (crying to your soul)

Hello again! Fun fact, I fully believe this fic to be my worst fic even though it’s my most popular 🤪

1: What inspired you to write the fic this way?

I saw a TikTok about Steve getting Vecna’d and his song being Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Tears For Fears > I started thinking about Vecna songs > what the fuck would Robin’s be? > oh Robin would be such a good candidate to be Vecna’d actually > looking for Robin gets Vecna’d fics and not finding many > “fine I’ll do it myself” > spontaneously writing my first fanfic fucking ever and proceeding to dive face first into the worst case of brainrot I’ve ever had to date. Hallelujah

3: What’s your favorite line of narration?

Cheating again, this is technically in an unfinished chapter so sneak peek ig hehe

Nancy had revenge tattooed on her heart, black ink that sank deep into the muscle, turning it hard and blackened and cold. Her wrath was all encompassing. A bullet, chilled lead, sat heavy in her pocket, carved with one, singular name: Vecna. She would kill him for what he had done to her hometown, but especially for hurting Robin. And she would survive the encounter on ice cold rage and spite alone.

In conclusion: Nancy Wheeler shoot me please <33

4: What’s your favorite line of dialogue?

Again dialogue is one of my weak points help omfg

“There is a suspicious number of love songs,” she teased.

Nancy hid her face in her hands.

“Robbie—“ she whined, cutting herself off. She seemed to be struggling for words.

“‘Crush On You’ by The Jets? ‘Lay All Your Love On Me’ by ABBA? ‘True Blue’ by Madonna?” she listed, wiggling her eyebrows. Nancy dissolved into a flustered mess.

“It really seems like you’re trying to say something, princess.”

She was so certain of it, Robin realized. Their shared moments over the past few days played over and over in her mind, and she came to a pair of conclusions.

She liked Nancy Wheeler. And Nancy Wheeler liked her back.

“Robbie, I’m going to kill you,” Nancy groaned, shoving the other girl away.

Robin smirked, flopping back on the bed.

“I was hoping for another k word,” she teased.

I really like writing these bitches just being soft for each other. Silly gay people. They fill me with cuteness aggression and I’m shaking them violently

6: What makes this fic special or different from all your other fics?

Well for one, this is legitimately the first fic I’ve ever written. I spontaneously hopped on the fic writing train late late late July this year with this fic, and it’s still ongoing. I think it’s messy and the pacing is weird and it’s unbeta’d but it’s kind of charming like that I guess, and I like to think you can kind of see how I fell into the characters and developed my writing style as the story goes on? Idk, it has the same energy as ugly-cute animals, like pugs.

11: What do you like most about this fic?

Stop making me be nice to this flaming piece of garbage 🔫

But in all seriousness, like I said, I think you can track my development as a fic writer over the past several months, and I really enjoy the dynamic between Robin and Nancy through this whole thing. I also think my music choices are very Big Brain and Correct.

13: What music did you listen to, if any, to get in the mood for writing this story? Or if you didn’t listen to anything, what do you think readers should listen to to accompany us while reading?

I have an unofficial fic playlist that I used just for writing vibes, as well as the mixtape Nancy made for Robin in one of the later chapters! Basically a lot of 80’s music and Maya Hawke with a couple other songs sprinkled in because they were favorites at the time or just the vibes were fitting. Specific shoutout to “Smalltown Boy” by Bronski Beat as Robin’s Vecna song, and “Seventeen” by Janis Ian being runner up. I did a bit of research in queer music artists of the 80’s because it was important to me that, whether or not she knew it, Robin’s Vecna song was by a queer person/band! Also special shoutouts to this playlist and this playlist, which are just favorite songs and work really well for me to write to. (I have the best music taste, actually, btw, and I don’t have an ego about it—)

[neoneun-au]

hey mads, please share some music with me

7, 12, 19, 22 and 23 for the ask game 🤲❤️

yesssss thank you for asking haha

7: a song to drive to

driving songs are one of my favourite categories of music honestly haha it is such a vague feeling and can mean a million different things to each person. as such, i will give you two that leave me with two very different and distinct feelings, but they both just sound like driving to me. roses (imanbek remix) - saint jhn and wheat kings - the tragically hip (this latter choice being a very niche canadian prairie driving experience LOL)

12: a song from your preteen years

i was a huge music snob as a pre-teen / early teen tbh LOL i sort of launched into this phase of needing to listen to things that were different from everyone else my age and stuck my nose up at a lot of pop music from the time. so i listened to a lot of older stuff. i'll give you one from a band i listened to incessantly at like....12/13. #1 crush - garbage

19: a song that makes you think about life

mmm a lot of them do, so this is going to take some searching for one that maybe brings up this thought more often than not haha i'll go with a slightly more optimistic one from a band that a lot of people chalk up to radio drivel but who used to have a really great sound / perspective. don't panic - coldplay. it's pretty simple. like the lyrics are not that complex but something about the simple refrain paired with the instrumentals....idk. it just does it for me.

22: a song that moves you forward

this is a cool prompt. a few options, but one of my all time favourites: cloudbusting - kate bush

23: a song that you think everybody should listen to

another all time favourite song: dove - pillar point.

[piquedpequod]

"kirill semyonovich”

Listen (Youtube). Lyrics:

1. Queer - Garbage The queerest of the queer Hide inside your head The blindest of the blind The deadest of the dead You're hungry 'cause you starve While holding back the tears Choking on your smile A fake behind the fear The queerest of the queer

2. I Don't Give A Damn - Yin-Yang Don't be so happy, I'm not your foe I just don't give a damn about anything I don't give a damn about anything, baby

3. Best Friend - Strakh Imagining the ocean I see the ocean But a shot A shot is heard The sun is always with me Get up and follow me Today the asphalt is damp You won't return home

4. Sickness - Iggy Pop Hey, little girl, you're black and blue Hey, little girl, you're six foot two I know a man who loved too hard He lost his mind, it wasn't hard Over this sickness, over this sickness Over this sickness, this sickness of love

5. You're Gonna Need Someone On Your Side - Morrisey With the world's fate resting on your shoulders You're gonna need someone on your side You can't do it by yourself any longer You're gonna need someone on your side And here I am! And here I am! Well, you don't need to look so pleased

6. Prayer - Agatha Christie And why don't we get drunk? I found it, I found it This is my new way of praying To kill a neighbor, it is necessary to drink a lot Then everything is good and the heart does not hurt And the mind says what's done has passed

7. Wrong - Depeche Mode There's something wrong with me chemically Something wrong with me inherently The wrong mix In the wrong genes I reached the wrong ends By the wrong means It was the wrong plan In the wrong hands The wrong theory For the wrong man The wrong eyes On the wrong prize The wrong questions With the wrong replies

8. Mofo - U2 Mother, you left and made me someone Now I'm still a child but no one tells me no

9. #1 Crush – Garbage Violate all the love that I'm missing Throw away all the pain that I'm living You will believe in me And I can never be ignored

10. Tinker Tailor Soldier Sailor Rich Man Poor Man Beggar Man Thief - Radiohead I am here Come to me Before it's too late The one you light your fires to keep away Is crawling out upon its belly And all you have to do is say Yes...

11. Fear - Linda Enter into my house as a friend in order to betray me Eat the bread from my hands, sleep in the fire Love me like a brother to know how to kill me

12. Lunapark - Bi-2 The month split in two, as if a demon took root The door tore from its hinges, and the carousel began to swirl On the steps of the throne the crown waits for you You did not play for nothing, take it, it's yours

[solalunar-eclipse]

Sonic Boom - S3E1

Episode title: Friendship 101

Word count: about 3000 words

Author’s Note: I’m trying a rather new format for this fic, since it’s based on a TV show with various songs and camera angles. If you have any comments about whether it works well or not, please let me know!

(Also, the theme song choice is all thanks to khinesthetic, who used it here and inspired me to put it in this fic.)

Next

[cue Mr. Blue Sky by ELO (0:00-3:45)]

[The show opens on a zoomed-out view of Hedgehog Village from above. Stone walls separate the village from the wilderness outside. There are large spaces at several points throughout the structure for entry and exit. A large patch of grass with benches scattered about sits at one end of the village, and a marketplace made up of wood-and-cloth stalls runs along one of the walls. Houses are grouped in seemingly random clusters throughout the town, and the (in)famous Meh Burger stand sits all on its own, with picnic tables spread across its wooden flooring. As the music progresses, the camera begins to zoom in on the village- then on one of the streets in particular- and rotates down to eye level to face…]

Sonic the Hedgehog walked through the streets of Hedgehog Village with a bounce in his step, occasionally dancing to the music playing through his earbuds. As he wandered throughout the town, he passed the usual people running their stores, arguing over botched orders at Meh Burger, and, at one point, Aqua the Rabbit absolutely freaking out over the loss of a single follower on Angstagram (the latest social media network for moody teens).

He did a 360-degree spin before winking and pointing finger guns at Amy Rose when he spotted her haggling with the local grocery store owner. She paused briefly to wave at him with a smile. “Hi, Sonic!” she called, completely ignoring the irritated fennec in the process.

Then, the music froze and changed to something extremely ominous as she turned around to face the shopkeeper once more. A dangerous gleam appeared in her eyes as she pulled out her signature hammer. “Now then, about those prices you’ve been setting lately…”

The song cut back in as the view switched back to Sonic, who was now moving away from the scene at a slightly faster pace.

Really, though, he was more than happy to see his other friends not long after. Knuckles and Sticks were currently busy rummaging through the town’s garbage together, excitedly chatting about the latest piece of interesting junk they’d found, while Tails was fixing someone’s broken rain gutter (and attempting to ‘improve’ it in the process, which meant that it could now measure the amount and intensity of rainfall in a storm- a very useful, though unfortunately unwanted improvement).

Surprisingly enough, as he continued on his way through Hedgehog Village, he managed to get people from a few different places to wave back at him when he said hello. Although perhaps it wasn’t quite so surprising when one considered that this was one of the most cliched opening sequences that could possibly happen in any movie or TV show. Ever.

And of course, the only logical outcome of this scene led to everyone beginning to stop their usual activities and gather in one of the few open spaces in the town, clearly prepared to break into a fantastic musical dance number straight out of Broadway. Incredibly, this was one of the few moments in which everyone in the village seemed to be able to get along…

...until Eggman’s latest giant robot slammed feet-first into the ground, sending everyone off-kilter and scrambling for cover. Shrieks of panic rose in place of the music as the villagers fled the scene to hide in their houses. The dramatic entrance didn’t just ruin the mood, it absolutely crushed it with the sheer force of its impact.

And that was, obviously, when the show really began.

[cue In Your Face by Shockwave Sound (0:00-1:04)] 

[Each of the five members of Team Sonic appears on a black screen with their name spelled out in their signature colors (blue, yellow, red, pink, and green) and does a couple of cool fighting moves, followed by snippets of scenes featuring them from previous episodes of the show for about eight seconds each. All five of them then appear together in their usual fighting stances, emphasizing their status as a team.

The Eggman logo then appears in an ominous, glowing red, backlighting the doctor himself and all his creations- before the lights flick on to reveal him alone in his evil lair with a green screen behind him, at which point he shrieks and covers the camera with a hand. Then, neon blue electronic lines begin to appear across the screen and the camera spirals to follow them, selecting one particular line to trace. Not long after, said line ends at a circle which, with a flash, turns into the words ‘Sonic Boom’. Beneath the title, it says ‘Ancient Secrets’ in neon blue.]

[Then the music ends, at which point the episode title- “Friendship 101”- appears for a few seconds in the same color before the show itself returns.]

Sonic scrambled to his feet and zipped over to Tails, pulling him up from where he’d fallen after the robot’s overdramatic arrival. Amy managed to do the same with both Knuckles and Sticks simultaneously, which let Sonic stare for a moment, startled, and then promptly resolve to remember not to get on her bad side anytime soon.

Soon enough, the team had scrambled into their usual positions, ready to fight. Amy and Sticks kicked the battle off by handling the various smaller robots that threatened to get too close to their team, never faltering (and in fact seeming a bit gleeful in the badger’s case) despite the sheer number of enemies. Knuckles, meanwhile, launched Sonic bodily into the air for Tails to catch, before picking up a boulder about the size of a house and lobbing it directly at the robot’s chest.

“Hey! Easy with the boulders- QuakeBot took a lot of effort to make, you know!” Eggman shrieked from above, hovering in the relative safety of his Eggmobile. 

(Relative, in this case, was of course in comparison to mixing absurdly volatile chemicals in a lab, bothering Shadow at any and/or all hours of the day, or being on Tails’s bad side when the fox had a glue gun. The doctor still remembered that situation all too well, and currently ranked it as far more terrifying than merely being punted into the stratosphere by kids under half his height and about a third his age.)

Sonic paused to stare at Eggman from where he was currently dangling in the air. A smirk began to spread slowly across his face. “…what did you just call it?”

“You heard me the first time!” the doctor roared, now incredibly embarrassed. “I named it that since it makes the ground shake when it moves, like an earthquake??”

General laughter came from the heroes assembled on the ground and in the sky.

“Argh! Nobody appreciates my genius around here! Now, QuakeBot, stop standing around and start attacking!”

“I suggested TerraBot, since it still has to do with earth and is a play on the word ‘terror’, but nobody ever listens to my ideas, now do they?” Orbot muttered irritably to himself, tucked inside the Eggmobile.

“I listen to all your ideas!” Cubot offered encouragingly.

Orbot’s mouth shifted into a small smile. “Thanks, Cubot.”

Meanwhile, Sonic had been pulled into a spin by Tails, who whirled the hedgehog around before letting him shoot downwards toward the robot in a spin dash- only for him to get caught and sent flying into the nearest house.

He shook off the surprise quickly (and apparently sustained absolutely zero damage despite having literally crashed through a house, because superpowered teenagers), darting back over to the group. “Well, uh, guess it’s time for Plan B then!”

Crickets chirped in the ensuing silence. Even the robot had stopped moving to hear what he had to say.

“And the plan is…?” Amy prompted.

Sonic folded his arms with a huff. “I dunno, I thought you guys would have one!?”

The pink hedgehog rolled her eyes at that. 

Tails piped up. “I have an idea! Sonic, you’re going to need to be curled up for this, okay?”

The hero promptly did just that, before emitting a muffled “mmhmm?” from inside his layers of quills.

“Alright then, Amy, I need you to hit Sonic with your hammer right at the side of this house.”

Sonic’s blood ran cold. “Whoa whoa whoa, wait a second can we maybe rethink thiaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAHHHHH!”

He ricocheted all over the palace like a pinball, slamming into several key points of the robot thanks to Tails’s rapid calculations. However, the robot was sadly unaffected by his screaming at a pitch that came dangerously close to shattering glass.

The robot was easily disabled and the attack overall quickly repelled after that. Thankfully, it took Sonic only a moment to recover from his impromptu stint as an out-of-control projectile and get back to fighting with the others…complete with a “Let’s do that AGAIN!” moment, which was met with a resounding no from both Amy and Tails. 

Their ears were both still rather sore from last time, after all.

After Eggman was punted all the way back to his island by a well-placed kick from Sticks, though, the crew was about to head over to Meh Burger for a post-battle meal when they discovered that they had an entirely different problem to take care of. The villagers, who were beginning to come out of hiding after the attack, were furious upon seeing the damage dealt to their homes and stores.

“How could you let this happen?” one shouted.

Before long, the villagers found themselves a more specific target when the owner of the house that Sonic had smashed into pointed her finger directly in his face. “This mess is awful!” she cried. “And it’s all his fault!”

Within seconds, a mob of people had descended upon the overtaxed teen.

“I’ve never known a hero so irresponsible.” one fumed.

“How dare you!” the fennec from earlier roared.

The elderly wolf of the village shook her cane at him. “Shame on you!”

Sonic could feel himself beginning to tense up as the villagers turned their ire on him. Whether or not he’d admit it to anyone, he needed two main things in order to be his usual heroic, cheerful self: open space and positive reinforcement. Right now, he was getting exactly the opposite of both of those.

And he was not feeling good about it.

He looked briefly over to his friends for help, but Sticks had already vanished, Knuckles and Tails looked more nervous than anything, and Amy was already walking towards him with that look in her eye…

“Sonic, next time you do need to work on making sure the robot doesn’t catch you, you know-”

A streak of blue shot out of the village, leaving nothing but a scorched trail of grass and the snap of a sonic boom behind.

Sonic didn’t slow down until he reached the mountains- which technically wasn’t very far from the town at all, so he ran quite a bit more after that until he ended up in the middle of the jungle. Then, he sat down with his back to a tree and his arms around his knees, feeling very unheroic and overall pretty lame.

The blue hedgehog frowned at the dirt. Honestly, some days it really did feel like nobody seemed to like him. The only person who ever even suggested he was important on a regular basis was Tails, and Sonic didn’t blame him at all for not jumping into the middle of that crowd. Tails was only thirteen to his seventeen and a half years old- not exactly an age when he should be expected to go toe-to-toe with a crowd of angry adults.

Still, though. When being a hero got him all risk (no matter how low) and no reward...it was difficult for him to keep hold of that core feeling of “I can make the world a better place to live in!”, which, despite all his other claims, was truly at the center of what had motivated him to start fighting against Eggman so long ago…

[The scene morphs in a manner which shows the lighting shifting so that the sun is overhead. A sound effect of birds chirping plays over the scene change. This implies that it’s been several hours since he first fled the village.]

Sonic was still lost in thought when the snap of a twig in the bushes made him jump to his feet in surprise. The surrounding vegetation rustled ominously for a moment...only to reveal the four members of his team in front of him. He watched them all cautiously, his expression tense. More than anything, he looked ready to run at a moment’s notice- something which only served to make his friends(?) seem a little more distressed. “Uh…hey, guys?” he began tentatively.

“Sonic, I…” Amy began forcefully, before stopping herself. At first, it looked like she was about to scold him again, but then suddenly her face fell. “Listen, Sonic, we’ve all been talking a lot about what happened back at the village…and there’s something I want to say.” She gave a slightly tired sigh. 

“I know we usually like to make jokes and witty commentary, but...sometimes, the world’s just a difficult place to be in.” she said. “...so we really do need to talk about serious stuff occasionally, even though I know it’s tough for you to even mention how you’re feeling. Unless, you know, it’s ‘great!’ or ‘cool!’ or something like that.”

Sonic cringed at the mere idea, looking more and more like he thought running away was the preferable option here.

“So what I wanted to say was that in a world where there are too many people trying to beat you down...what I was trying to do was tell you how to be more tolerant, because I thought that would help. I figured you can’t change how other people are going to be, just yourself, so I hoped that might make things better.

“But...I’m not actually a licensed therapist- yet, anyway. So I might have been wrong on how I went about that. Maybe...instead of telling you off for not being able to stop all those people...in the future I’ll pull out my hammer and tell them to knock it off already. Does that sound better to you?” she asked.

The blue hedgehog froze. “Ames…I...” he croaked, trying his best not to think about why exactly it felt like his throat was so tight all of a sudden.

Sticks folded her arms. “I like that plan! Those people are way too crazy sometimes…and you guys know I have a verrrrry high tolerance for crazy.”

“We can make the villagers quit bugging you together, just like how we fight Eggman!” Knuckles added encouragingly. “It’s always better that way, isn’t it?”

There was still one person who hadn’t spoken yet, though.

Suddenly, Tails crashed full-force into Sonic, squeezing him in a hug that for once he didn’t pretend to hate. “You know I’ve always, always, always got your back, right, Sonic? No matter what?” he asked, looking up at his older brother. “Even if I don’t always know how to do it right.”

The blue hedgehog simply nodded, not trusting his voice to help him maintain his ‘cool guy’ status.

“It’s okay if you don’t feel up to talking about it now, though.” the fox added understandingly, stepping back but still leaving a hand on his arm. 

“But!” Knuckles added. “We won’t tell anyone if you ever decide you do need to get some stress off your chest every once in a while!” He smacked his own chest with a fist for emphasis.

“Nobody needs to know.” Sticks growled, the camera suddenly showing a dramatic angle of her face as the lighting dropped noticeably.

“Uh…that’s kinda dark.” Sonic said, holding up a finger with a bit of a confused frown, which let the lighting and camera angle zip back to normal.

“Anyway!” The pink hedgehog clapped her hands together, turning to face the group as a whole. “What do you guys think about heading over to my house and watching some movies? I’ll even…” She sighed, her whole body slumping. “…make some messy, simple, unprofessional chili dogs. In my state-of-the art kitchen. I know Sonic probably could use a pick-me-up right now, after all.”

“Thanks, Ames! You’re the best!” the hedgehog in question said cheerfully, the promise of good food and great companionship boosting his mood significantly.

Then, his posture shifted once again into something a little more vulnerable. “And thanks to all you guys. For, y’know, everything.”

“Of course!” Amy chirped.

Tails smiled at him. “No problem, Sonic.”

Sticks folded her arms. “That’s what a team’s for, ain’t it?”

“Of course it is!” Knuckles said, in that rather confusing manner where nobody was actually sure if he understood anything about what had just happened.

The echidna actually walked over to Sonic after that particular declaration, though, placing a hand on his shoulder as his face became uncharacteristically serious for a second. “Really, Sonic, we can all help you out, alright? Nobody gets to yell at our leader without getting yelled at back!” he declared, punching a fist into his other hand.

The hedgehog blinked twice before looking up at his friend. “You…just called me the leader?”

“Well, duh! That’s why everyone calls it Team Sonic, right?” Knuckles asked with a smile, letting an awkward (but genuine) grin spread across Sonic’s face.

Within seconds, the hero found himself squeezed in a big hug from all sides by his friends- and then actually lifted off the floor through a joint effort from Knuckles and Amy. 

“Guys- come on! I can’t even move here!” he cried out, his legs flailing so quickly they made a vibrating noise in the air. “Guyyyyssss….” he whined, though nobody seemed to care much about his halfhearted complaints (judging by the happy expressions on their faces).

Then, the episode began to end, as evidenced by an iris out transition. The slowly shrinking circle paused for a moment on Sonic’s current expression, highlighting it against the otherwise black screen. He now sported a sheepish, if slightly pleased smile, complete with a faint pink blush on his face from all the positive attention. 

Clearly Sonic liked being, well, liked far more than he let on.

Then, the circle snapped closed with a pop, and the credits began to roll.

[Voice Actors: 

Roger Craig Smith

Colleen Villard

Travis Willingham

Cindy Robinson

Nika Futterman

Mike Pollock

Kirk Thornton

Wally Wingert

Bill Freiberger

Original creation by:

Evan Baily

Donna Friedman Meir 

Sandrine Nguyen

Bill Freiberger

Takashi Iizuka

Writer/editor:

Solalunar “Sol” Eclipse

Thank you for watching reading.]

[petri808]

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14

Inukag *warning this chapter might hurt*

Staring out through the windshield of his car, his darkened home was the picture-perfect mirror of the pain settling into his soul. Inuyasha had no idea how he’d even managed to make it home without driving off a cliff or plowing himself into a stone wall, because his body and mind were completely numb.

‘Read’ but not answered…

Was it a good sign that the woman at least looked at it? Inuyasha rested his head against the steering wheel and closed his eyes. He’d fucked up… again— just like the night of the accident. His eyes squeezed tighter shut as the emotional pain of everything slammed him with the force of a freight train. This was bad… bad, bad, bad… “FUCK!!” He roared into the still night air. With Kagome’s memories coming back, she’ll remember everything, and it was over. He’d had this second chance to reverse all the damage and he went and fucked it up again.

Not surprisingly, Kagome didn’t respond to his first text, so he typed out a final message for the night: ‘You’re mad at me. I get that so I’ll give you some space but I just wanna say good night Kagome. I love you -Inu’

‘Read’ but not answered…

It was all he could do for now, his only solace knowing Kagome had her mother to comfort her. Inuyasha sighed, long and deep as he pulled the keys from the ignition and dragged himself into his home. His body felt heavy with exhaustion. A weight crushing him down like a boulder. It took all he had to just drop his keys to the floor beside the entrance and shuffle into the bedroom instead of falling right then and there. He didn’t want to move anymore. He deserved the silent darkness of this tomb-like home along with its judgmental echoes of the life it once held.

The next morning after a restless sleep, Inuyasha called out of work. When would he be back, he couldn’t answer them? Part of him didn’t care anymore. Fire him, it wouldn’t matter to the walking dead. Miroku called in concern for his friend, but Inuyasha let it go to voicemail. He didn’t feel like talking to anybody right now, not when he knew it would have a ring of ‘I told you so,’ mixed in. That wasn’t necessary. Didn’t he feel bad enough?

A good morning text sent… left on Read…

An apology text….

Another apology text…

Voice messages left randomly through the day…

All left on Read and unanswered.

The anxiety filled hours ticked on with Inuyasha left curled up in a ball under his blanket. He’d done a number on his living room to physically release the anger he felt at himself, and now he was just dead to the world. All the drapes were tightly closed to the sunlight outside and he only left his bed to attend to bathroom matters. He didn’t wanna give up all hope, but with his mind in tatters and thoughts only of despair, there was nothing left to cling to.

By nightfall Inuyasha was convinced Kagome had truly given him up and he couldn’t blame her for it. This was all his fault. Him and his stupid big mouth. There was no denying it. He shouldn’t have argued with her. Just like before, instead of using his ears to listen, he responded with ego when he had no right to chastise her over not telling him something. The whole reason he was in this mess is because he never listened to her when it mattered the most— and there in lay the heart of it all. Neither of them had the opportunity to talk about what caused the original fight or process what drove Kagome to leave. Inuyasha thought he’d understood its origins and accepted responsibility for it, but clearly, he was wrong, and this new situation is most certainly what would have taken place if Kagome hadn’t crashed her car— a debilitating depression.

If Kagome didn’t want him anymore, then there wasn’t anything left for him in this world as far as Inuyasha was concerned. His yoki called out for her, wept for her loss, and with it all the energy in his soul to care slipped away. He was simply empty without her. No appetite or desire or thirst, just an ocean of dread, and waves of numbness dulling all his senses.

How much time had elapsed, how many days gone by? The clock ticked away hour by hour like a death knell with Inuyasha simply waiting for a release to come. All the messages left on his phone were from everyone other than the one person who could have brought him out of this funk. But her ringtone never came. It is what is it. Was it day four? Five? Six? Inuyasha couldn’t tell, but feeling his body starting to let go, he decided to send one last message to Miroku before shutting off the phone for good.

At the Hoshii residence, Miroku and Sango were on edge dealing with the crisis. Sango had been doing her best to help Kagome to cope with her pain, but Miroku was growing frantic over Inuyasha’s refusal to answer him. He’d driven by the man’s home and knew the car was there, and that was it. No one answered the door and with all the curtains closed he couldn’t see inside. Finally, on day five while they were visiting with Kagome, Miroku heard his phone ping with a message.

Inuyasha: thanks for being a good friend. Tell her she was the only one I’ve ever loved

“What the hell?” Miroku blurted out as he mulled the message over and over in his head.

Sango rushed over at the concern in her husband’s voice. “What is it?!”

“I think that idiot is planning to kill himself— I better… I better go.”

Hearing the commotion, Mrs. Higurashi also came out of the kitchen. “What’s going on?”

“It’s about a message Inuyasha just sent,” Sango explained as her husband was digging around in his small pouch and grabbing his car keys. “Miroku is gonna check on him.”

“What did it say?” Mrs. Higurashi questioned.

So, Miroku showed the woman his phone. “It doesn’t sound good.”

“Oh, dear!” She reached for a jacket near the front door. “I’m coming too! Sango will you stay?”

“Of course, I’ll be here with Kagome. You two go.”

It was a good thing that Miroku had held onto a spare key to Inuyasha’s home that he’d been given and simply forgotten to return. When he and Mrs. Higurashi walked through the door, chills crawled over his skin. It was evident that the house had been closed-up for several days, no windows opened, or ventilation, just a silent graveyard feeling with a fog of musty air mixed with the scent of rotting kitchen garbage and body odor. It was revolting and only heightened the pairs concern for the occupant.

“Inuyasha?!” Miroku yelled as they made their way through the dark home but received no response. The man wasn’t in the living areas or bathroom, so the logical option was the master bedroom at the far end of the hallway. ‘Please be alive,’ he prayed.

Once inside the room, they could see an unmoving body underneath the blankets and if the buildup of body odor told a story, it was sure to be his friend underneath those covers. “Inu?” Still no response.

Mrs. Higurashi turned on the bedroom light, and the brightness finally caused the blanket to shift ever so slightly. “Oh, thank heavens,” she gasped out in relief as she held a hand to her chest. He was still alive.

Miroku rushed over and yanked the blanket off. “Inuyasha!” Tears instantly gathered in the panicked man’s eyes. The state of his friend was heart breaking. Inuyasha had lost weight. His skin was gaunt and pasty white, hair matted and dirty. “Oh, fuck, we— we should call emergency!”

“No…” Inuyasha croaked out and buried his face deeper under his arm. “Let me die.”

“Fuck no, you idiot! Kagome still needs you!”

“Better… off… without me…”

‘Seriously?!’ It was rare for Miroku to get so upset, but in that moment, the anger that bubbled up to surface took over and his arm flew up ready to strike his friend. “You stupid—!!”

“Don’t!” Mrs. Higurashi yelled at Miroku. “He needs help, not anger right now.”

That seemed to snap Miroku out of his emotions, but the tears broke free. It was hard to see his friend in this position, just so frail— nothing like the tough hanyo that he’s known for years. Even after the death of his mother, Inuyasha didn’t break down this badly. Miroku grit his teeth to his own pain and pushed forward. “You idiot. Dying isn’t gonna help Kagome. So, whether you like it or not, we’re gonna help you.”

Mrs. Higurashi now moved around the bed to where she could sit beside Inuyasha. Her own eyes were clouded too, but the woman pulled on all the strength she could muster to hold it together. She placed a hand on the arm he was using to cover his face. “Inu, Miroku is right. Kagome is hurting just as much as you, and I don’t think you’d want to cause her anymore heart ache by going out this way.”

“But she hates me…” Inuyasha whimpered weakly. “Please just let me go.”

Mrs. Higurashi had to squeeze her eyes shut to hold back her tears. Her heart broke for the man. Gently, she pulled his arm down, her voice shaking as she spoke. “Inuyasha, you’re like a son to me, and I won’t let me son die. We’re gonna figure this out, but you need to live please, for her, for all of us that cares about you.”

Inuyasha’s eyes cracked open just a tad. “I’m so, sorry,” he mumbled. “So… sorry…”

She kept her voice as soothing as possible. “I know, and so does Kagome.” Mrs. Higurashi then turned to Miroku. “Do you think you can get him into the shower and clean him up? I’ll make something for him to eat. He needs something in his stomach immediately.”

“Y-Yeah, I think I can do it.”

It took both of them to help Inuyasha into the bathtub. He was so emaciated and dehydrated, that he had no strength left in his body, just dead weight. While Mrs. Higurashi left them to deal with the kitchen, Miroku stripped his friend of clothing and ran a bath to bathe him. Inuyasha offered no resistance, just a few tears flowing down his cheeks.

“I’m sorry,” Inuyasha kept repeating.

“Don’t apologize to me. Save it for Kagome. I can’t believe you’d think we’d be okay with you dying! You’re my best fucking friend you asshole! I want my kids to grow up with their uncle!”

“But I keep screwing up.”

“And that’s life. It ain’t the end of the world yet.”

“Feels like it.”

“Whether you believe us if not, Kagome is hurting cause she in love with your stupid ass too. You can still fix this.”

“Don’t know how.”

“And that’s why we’re here.”

“Thank you…”

Inuyasha’s eyes started to roll back, so Miroku slapped him hard in the face. “Oi! Don’t you be dying on me now! So, wake the fuck up!”

“So… tired…”

“Gonna clean you up and momma Higurashi will get your strength back, so hang on just a little longer…”

Now cleaned up and dressed in something comfortable, they prop Inuyasha up in a recliner since he was still struggling to hold up his own body weight. He simply had no reserves left to draw from and under human standards wouldn’t have lasted this long. A hospital was better equipped to deal with this kind of situation. Inuyasha should have been put on IV fluids to hydrate him faster along with special supplements pumped directly into his system because after this long, the organs would have started to shut down, and his stomach would struggle to process anything. But Mrs. Higurashi made due to honor his request, starting with a bland rice water chicken broth of starch, proteins, and vegetable nutrients to re-prime it slowly. She also sent Miroku to the store to purchase drinks with electrolytes given to infants when they are dehydrated. It was a painstaking process to feed Inuyasha spoonful by spoonful.

“I need you to help me fight Inuyasha,” the woman coaxed the weakened hanyo. “So, you can live through this and see Kagome again.”

Tears flooded Inuyasha’s eyes at the mention of Kagome’s name. “After everything, why would you still want me around her?”

“Because you love her, and she loves you, and as long as there’s love it can find a way. Son,” she placed a hand on his, “I know it feels like the end of the world, but it will get better if you want it to. Do you want it to?”

“Yes,” he sobbed.

Her hand now gripped his tightly as her expression grew determined. “Then fight for it!”

It took several bowls of soup before gradually Mrs. Higurashi started giving Inuyasha fish and small pieces of chicken meat to eat. She had to stick to easily digestible foods, but at least his coloring was improving, and he could feed himself now. The sun has already set, by the time Inuyasha could finally stand up on his own.

“You’re lucky you’re a hanyo. That’s what’s probably saved your life.” Miroku expressed to his friend.

“I know.” Inuyasha could feel his demon half working harder to regenerate his physical body. Though while his body was recovering, his heart still felt broken. They kept telling him that Kagome still loved him so there is hope, but a part of him struggled to believe it. He’d already hit such a low point, to suffer rejection now was almost too unbearable to even comprehend.

Miroku continued talking. “Inuyasha, you’re not gonna do this alone. We will be there to support both of you, but it’s time you confront this. You and Kagome need to talk… about everything— even though she may not remember, a lack of communication is exactly what triggered this whole situation.”

“I know…” Inuyasha sighed.

“All couples go through struggles,” Mrs. Higurashi added with a comforting tone in her voice. “A strong relationship doesn’t come from a having a perfect one, Inuyasha. It’s developed through adversity. How well a couple can take the challenges thrown at them and grow from it.”

“You remember what happened with me and Sango, we almost didn’t make it because of my bad behaviors…”

“Your damn womanizing,” Inuyasha cut in.

“Yeah, that,” Miroku grumpily agreed. “She had to give me a harsh ultimatum to wake me up. But I did, and now look at us. This is your harsh moment, and you can choose to wake up, or loose the best thing that’s ever happened to you. It’s your choice.”

“Okay, okay, I get it.” Inuyasha ran a hand down his face. “Of course, I don’t wanna lose her.”

“Then are you ready to see Kagome?” Mrs. Higurashi questioned.

Inuyasha exhaled slowly. “Ready? No…” he was terrified to face the woman. “But I’ve gotta do it.”

[boop-le-snoot]

PARTY FAVOURS | CHAPTER 2

Rating: Explicit. 18+

‼️TW: Reader is EIGHTEEN! Recreational drug use, smoking and alcohol consumption, deeply internalised self-loathing, very questionable moral standards. Daddy kink taken half-seriously. BDSM themes in later chapters - explicit content will come with it’s own TWs. FIRST PERSON POV.

Summary: You’re Peter’s classmate, a child of rich and famous but uncaring parents. Getting paired up for a lengthy project with the boy was an interesting turn of events and you don’t know whether to feel blessed or cursed when you develop, seemingly, a perfectly normal, harmless crush on Tony Stark. Fueled by feelings of inadequacy and boredom, your life spirals out of control - and you’re lucky your newfound friends are there to pick up the pieces even if you cannot find it in yourself to believe these amazing human (and not so human) beings voluntarily give you more than a fleeting glance and an offhanded thought. And they brought cake!

A/N: Bad girls are sad girls! Always wondered what goes through the mind of a spoiled, rich but intelligent and perceptive teenager? Have you found yourself craving that adrenaline rush, the danger of a forbidden fruit? Okay. That was cheesy as hell. Gross.

Let’s try again. Sarcasm? Check. Vine references? Hell yes! Crude humour? Check. Blunt honesty? Double check. We’re living in a Lana del Rey song, ladies.

The author doesn’t actually condone codependent relationships in real life. This is a filthy little fantasy. Enjoy, deviants.

THE TAG LIST IS NOW OPEN! @vozit​ @another-stark-sub ​ @mostly-marvel-musings​

Beta read by the lovely and patient @miscmarvelwritings  ! She deserves all the love 💙

Peter woke me up at eight AM the next morning like the little shit that he was, demanding I make him pancakes. It wasn’t the first time I’ve had the joy to experience him in the morning and he knew exactly how to antagonise me enough to make him the special pancakes he liked so much. They had become kind of a ritual whenever he stayed over at my house, which was quite often - teachers liked me enough to pair me up with one of the most sensible kids for any projects that couldn’t be done alone by yours truly on her own.

I put on my yesterday’s dress, applied moisturizer and obediently trotted behind an excitedly mumbling Peter. The kitchen was large, beautiful and delightfully empty of any resident superheroes. I’ve indirectly crossed paths with all of the tower’s residents hanging around Tony, but I’ve yet had to speak more than polite niceties to any of them. 

Spying a bowl of boiled eggs and some sort of weird salad alongside half burned toast on the counter, I suddenly understood why Peter demanded his pancakes. I strictly instructed the disaster child to stay away from my cooking process and set to work with one ear listening to his ramblings and a headphone in the other. 

A set of thumping footsteps appeared behind me as I was pouring the batter for the first pancake. Their owner loudly sat down next to Peter, sighing, groaning, generally making “I’m not a morning person” sounds.

“Good morning, Mr. Barnes,” Peter’s tone was way, way too chipper.

“‘mrng,” The Sergeant grumbled. “Who’s this and why is she making pancakes?”

I turned around, spatula at the ready. “It’s me,” We’ve actually met before, but Barnes had left before I could even come over from my side of the work bench to say hello.

He nodded in acknowledgement after giving me a suspicious once-over. “One of Stark’s science children. I’m James but you can call me Bucky,” His voice sounded rough and gravely, and he clutched a coffee cup half the size of my head.

I snorted. “Science child, sure,” It wasn’t half-bad actually. I wisely choose to ignore the part of being Tony’s. No matter how hot the man was, I wasn’t anybody’s but my own, thank you very much. “Go get the bananas, Nutella and maple syrup, fellow science child.”

Peter scrambled to follow instructions as I plated the pancakes and cut the bananas into neat little rings to fill the sweet circles with. A tablespoon of Nutella, half a sliced banana, wrap, garnish with powdered sugar and pour maple syrup generously on top. I really didn’t see how this could be difficult but any and all attempts to teach Peter how to recreate my masterpiece always ended up in an absolute mess. I turned around to ask Bucky if he wanted any. The look of a man starved answered all my questions.

“You’re a goddess,” Peter moaned around his mouthful, nose smudged white with the powdered sugar.

“Gross, chew first then talk, you neanderthal,” I scoffed, prepping more batter for the second batch of pancakes. I wasn’t sure if everybody would show up but figured it would be rude to exclude them from the sheer magnificence that were my pancakes. I was just that good.

The music in my ear drowned most of Peter’s disgusting chewing noises, thankfully. My second batch vanished into thin air, inhaled by the two males like the garbage disposals that they were. Peter, in particular, ate an alarming quantity of food and I was surprised how he managed to stay so skinny. His daily eating schedule resembled the Hobbits.

More people appeared, this time acting less surprised regarding me standing at the stove. Hawkeye, Black Widow, Scarlet Witch and her brother, all of them wandered in wearing sleep attire with various amusing prints. Thankfully, they mostly kept quiet or chatted with Peter - I would have definitely grumbled if someone tried to talk to me. As far as my body was concerned it was still the middle of the night.

“PANCAKES,” A booming voice announced and I shuddered at the sheer intensity and devotion contained in that one word. Thor.

“Please use your indoor voice,” I snapped reflectively. My brain caught up with what I just did so I hastily backtracked. “Sorry, I’m a bitch in the mornings.”

The blonde man chuckled, coming over to poke his nose into my flurry of pour-flip-fill sequence. Then, with all the grace and manners of a prince, he dipped one (1) large finger into the jar of Nutella and wandered off with it stuck in his mouth. With this turn of events the Nutella was bound to run out sooner than expected.

I turned around, annoyed confusion in plain sight. “The fuck?.. That’s gross, don’t do that,” Finding his brother (adopted!) sitting next to Thor, wearing a haughty smirk, finger still in his mouth. So Loki turned into his brother to steal Nutella from a jar. I sighed. Nobody even batted an eye. “Your alien germs are in there now, double ew.”

“Alien germs? Where?” Bruce entered the kitchen with a tablet under his arm, wearing Hulk themed pajamas, Captain America in tow. I was honestly on the verge of breaking down into hysterical laughter. Domestic Avengers wasn’t something I’d expected to see or experience, ever, much less be a part of. It took a moment for me to remind myself that they were people, too, and each of them was entitled to their own quirks. 

“America, egg-splain,” Peter muttered under his breath, giggling. “Loki stuck his hand in the Nutella jar,” He pointed at said jar. “She got grumpy,” Peter pointed at me. “Don’t make her grumpy, please, I want more pancakes,” And turned his pleading puppy eyes in my direction again.

“This is indentured servitude,” I pointed my spatula at the little shit. “You just had, like, ten.” But I made more batter nonetheless. I must admit it was kind of cool, seeing the earth’s mightiest defenders so relaxed. And Pete being happy, that was just… The best. I don’t know how to explain it. His eternal cheerfulness was highly contagious.

Chuckles filled up the room, the adults chatting and bickering amongst themselves while they patiently waited for their own breakfast. 

“Do you need some help?” Bruce approached me after stopping to fetch himself a cup of tea. It smelled strongly of tangy herbs and honey.

“I need more Nutella and bananas,” I admitted, surveying the sheer amount of people I had to feed. I didn’t doubt the Captain and two Asgardians had an appetite to match Peter’s which meant a literal extra set of condiments was required. Thankfully, Bruce fetched them for me, coming to a stop next to me. “Anything else?”

“You know, I tried making these with Peter and he just ended up with powdered sugar and chocolate all over himself,” I mused, noting the way Banner was carefully observing the assembly of a pancake. “You think Doctor seven-phds can manage to add a few toppings to a pancake without causing a disaster?“ 

Bruce rolled his eyes fondly, bumping me with his hip. "I’m no Clint Barton when it comes to cooking but at least I don’t burn my toast like Steve,” True to his word, his hands made swift motions of filling, wrapping and plating each individual pancake. They were almost as good as mine albeit more messy. I had lots of practice though. We finished off a batch in companionable silence, sounds of the team and my music playing in the background. 

I didn’t notice when I started swaying to the rhythm, catching a confused look from Bruce. I brushed back my hair, revealing a wireless headphone in my ear and he chuckled in understanding. “What are you listening to?”

“Right now? Kings of Leon,” I said, leaning towards him so he could hear the chorus “Use Somebody” currently occupying my right ear. 

“I like them, too,” He said, his cheek gently touching mine. His hands slowed on the pancake, a soft hum vaguely reminding me of the song’s melody emanating from his throat. “What else do you usually listen to?”

“Mostly heavier stuff, but I have a whole separate playlist dedicated to mid-2000s bops,” I answered. “I’ve heard I’m quite old school when it comes to music.”

“Well, I am an old man, so…” Bruce grinned mischievously. “But my guilty pleasure is Lady Gaga,” He admitted with a laugh.

I laughed, too. The image of his dancing in his lab to Born This Way was too much for my brain and I hung my head, fighting giggles. Bruce bumped me with his hip again, faking a pout. “Okay, okay, that was a fucking hilarious image, you go dude,” I finally powered through my struggle to contain laughter. “My own guilty pleasure would be… Umm… Lana Del Rey, I guess.”

Bruce made a vague noise of confusion. I took a brief break from mixing the batter to dig out my second headphone, presenting it to him and switching to a song. “This is what makes us girls”. Despite the fact I have never stolen a car or had a close female friend, the nostalgia was real. “Carmen” followed after the first song and I silently thanked whatever deity that “You can be the boss” was taken out of Spotify - I don’t think I was prepared to share that kind of information with a lab partner. An older, handsome lab partner. Wait… Where did that come from?

“I like it,” He said after the song ended and my more usual stuff began playing. “It suits you, I think.”

I groaned. “Really? I think it’s edgy,” Hiding away the embarrassment, I passed him a tray of freshly baked pancakes, occupying his immediate attention.

“You’re an old soul,” He gave me a lopsided smile. I saw a very faint blush tinting his cheeks, the kind of blush that had me wondering about the meaning behind his words. 

I gave an attempt at a smile in response, the left corner of my mouth barely tilting up. We talked some more about the rock music we shared in our earphones. I had a lot of 80s hair metal and 90s grunge in my playlist. Bruce was not a Curt Cobain man but enjoyed the works of his legacy, Marcy Playground. 

A tan hand wormed its way between me and Bruce, snatching a handful of banana slices and disappeared just as swiftly. “Tonyyy,” Bruce groaned, picking up another banana to replace the stolen pieces.

The spatula in my hand became a weapon as I blindly aimed at the target behind my back. A loud “ow” indicated I hit it. When I turned around, Tony was clutching the side of his face, a hurt look in his eyes and cheeks stuffed full of stolen goods. I stared him square in the face, absolutely refusing to acknowledge the fact that he was shirtless - the arc reactor glowed brightly in the middle of his toned chest. Fuck.

His chest was honestly what I was aiming for. I constantly kept forgetting how short he actually was. There was this one time when Tony had to put his arms around me to steady a piece of tech - he felt huge, hard and enormous around me. 

“What’s that for, Princess?” He finally chewed through his food and found his voice.

“For being a Tony,” I retorted. “Stay away from my workspace and wait for your breakfast like everybody else.”

“Hey! This is my kitchen,” He whined immediately, like the adult man that he was. I nearly cried from how adorable his face became, eyebrows scrunched up. “I don’t want to wait! And why does he,” Tony’s finger accusingly pointed at Bruce, “Get the bananas?!”

“Because he’s Brucie-bear,” I stuck my nose up in the air when Bruce’s arm wrapped around my waist. “He’s my science father,” I stuck my tongue out at Tony, seeing Bruce’s triumphant smile. Banner used every opportunity to get back at Tony’s incessant sass. 

The gleaming in Tony’s eyes should have alarmed me. “But he’s not your science daddy,” Tony’s flirting was accompanied by a salacious eyebrow wiggle and Peter’s screech of “OH MY GOD!" 

It took me every ounce of willpower to not flush. It was one of those rare times that I was at a complete loss of words. Thinking on the spot, I gave a very meaningful look to Bruce - thankfully, he got the gist and returned an equally filthy smirk back. Tony gaped.

"Is this how they are in the lab?” The Captain’s quiet voice leaked horrified amusement.

“All.The.Time.” Peter’s resonating groan was followed by Romanoff’s laughter.

We went up to the lab after breakfast. Thankfully Tony stopped his dramatic bitching when I served him my pancakes, scarfing them down much like everybody else. So me and Pete were accompanied by one (1) happy engineer, all three of us tinkering away on a robot that we were supposed to present in our science class in a month. The focus that was required to solder was immense and our usual banter was missing, replaced by an occasional request for a specific tool or a water bottle.

It took a few hours to get the dirty job done even with Tony’s help (technically he wasn’t supposed to but neither me nor Pete had the heart to forbid him from it when the man looked so content and happy soldering away). By the time I uncurled from my spot on the bench, my back was in knots and my dress had oil stains and holes all over it. I immediately went to the nearest water bottle, finishing half of it in seconds, picking up my phone to see if I had any important messages from my mother.

None.

Just a message from Bruce.

I tapped on my phone, idly scrolling through the Instagram app, liking some pictures of people I barely knew and keeping up a general appearance of being very busy. When the ringtone started playing, it took me a whole five seconds to understand it was, in fact, coming from my phone - I certainly wouldn’t put something so… Outrageous as my main tone.

Banner had discovered the power of the internet. You Can Be The Boss played loudly, and it played from my phone and Bruce was calling me. I picked it up, turning around, fighting the incoming laughter. “Yes, Brucie?" 

To say that Tony’s and Peter’s faces were scandalised was nothing. The boy’s face was such a deep shade of red, I started worrying about his blood pressure and Tony’s mouth hung open limply, like he was witnessing the second coming of Christ. 

"Is Tony sufficiently traumatized?” Judging by the breathless tone of his voice, Banner was resisting a mighty laughing fit of his own.

“Oh, absolutely,” I happily chirped.

“Good, keep it up. Come to my lab before you leave,” Banner snorted and then, realising what he’d done, promptly hung up, the tell-tale beginning of a giggle fit abruptly interrupted by a dial tone.

I put the phone in my bag, gathering the rest of my things with a look somewhere between innocence and indifference. At least, I hoped it was - my mind kept jumping between the engineer’s ridiculously scandalised face and the way his mouth went slack, lips moist and soft and plush. That’s a very dangerous trail.

A very dangerous trail I couldn’t resist exploring in the solitude and privacy of my own bedroom, at home.

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

Top 5 Most Hated Characters

As y’all can see, this week’s T5F is a request sent in by anon. I picked it because I guess at the time I thought it would be fun to explore some of TWDG’s least popular, and most hated, characters while also taking into account characters that I can’t stand. 

These are characters that the vast majority of us don’t like or downright despise for many different reasons. None of us are going out of our ways to defend most of these bastards, and anyone who is I get the impression they’re doing so for the sake of being Different™... though while looking around for info about these characters and what people were saying about them, I did find myself in some odd places.... come across, eh... odd fanart. 

But I guess this is the part where I say this is all in good fun and if you happen to be a legit stan of any of these people, that’s cool. Maybe you can answer some of my questions as to why??

5. Nate 

Okay, when I said that I found myself in odd places, it turns out that Nate actually has a bit of a fanbase. It’s not big or anything, from what I can tell, but big enough for me to question why because I was under the impression that we all agreed that this dude sucks.

Seriously, I would’ve put him higher on this list if I hadn’t discovered this handful of people making fanart for him and claiming him as a comfort character. While I find that an odd choice, you do whatever makes you feel comforted, y’know? Just would like to understand why. 

As for the rest of us, he’s terrible. Every time I go back to 400 days, he’s someone I never look forward to seeing. I’ve even tried not getting in the truck with him while playing Russell’s story, but in true Telltale fashion, you’re forced to drive along with this creep. 

Red flags start going off when Russell’s sharing his story about his previous group, something you can tell left some trauma with him, and Nate is just weirdly fixated on the girl Russell liked. Like yeah okay dude, I get it, it’s the apocalypse and you haven’t had any action for a while but oh my god. 

Then the whole walker thing that almost gets Russell chomped is annoying. Oh, and how could I forget about how it’s implied that he attacked the old couple before and was there to finish them off, which he does no matter what and it’s not great. 

Hell, he even uses the line Russell gave him but it’s worse because crazy eyes. And if you don’t say anything, Nate murders them right there without a thought and then continues to be a real creep. Fuck this guy. 

As the wise Eddie once said, “I don’t what that guy in my life, man!” 

4. The Stranger

Hey, have I ever mentioned how much this dude sucks? 

I don’t even have to tell you why he’s on this list. We all know the obvious reasons-- manipulated and kidnapped Clementine, which caused Lee to get bit by a walker and fucking die. No one here is white-knighting for this dipshit. 

Sure, it sucks what the Stranger went through. He lost his family and that would be enough to drive anyone up the wall. I mean, just look at Kenny. But this dude, okay. Look. Listen. I can only feel so bad for you when you lost your son on a hunting trip that your wife told you not to go on, then when you went looking for him, you literally left the car unlocked and running for anyone to come across. Then you come back and gasp. So your wife leaves you for being a moron... then when you find her dead, you cut off her head and keep it like a damn bowling ball because...??

At least that’s what I get from it. The writers probably should’ve done a better job with explaining what the hell happened but y’know. 

That’s not the only reason no one likes this guy. Oh no, you also add to the pile that the Stranger himself is dull. As a character, the dude is just.... boring. And I get that’s probably what they were going for with the whole “I’m just a guy, but you ruined my life and made me this way.” 

However, when you set him up the way you did with the talks over the walkie and the stalking, I was expecting a bit more personality outta this loaf of soggy bread. But no... boring yet crazy. Interesting combo and I’m afraid it doesn’t work. 

3. Larry

Larry?? On a list of most hated characters?? Nooo...

Yeah, surprise. Larry also sucks. Stop the presses. 

Larry is a pain in the ass to deal with for two episodes, constantly belittling the people around him and treating his daughter like shit. Oh, and don’t forget how he behaves towards Lee even if you try to be as nice as possible. Nope, he doesn’t care, he still thinks Lee is garbage and will continue threatening to reveal Lee’s secret to the group. Who cares if that could fuck up the dynamic and endanger the group? Larry sure doesn’t. 

Until the very end, this dude is just a splinter in the foot. By the time you get to the meat locker and he has a heart attack, you’re not gonna save him because you think he’ll be better if he survives. No, you’re attempting to save him for Lilly and Clementine’s sake, and if you don’t even care about that, you siding with Mr. Family Man to smash his head in. 

Not only is he a soiled diaper, he also don’t have much personality outside of asshole. He has maybe two moments where he’s shown to be just a bit chill? I mean, Lilly tells us that he has a lot of pain and that’s why he’s like this.... but that doesn’t excuse his behavior. 

Oh, and can’t forget that apparently he was obsessed with Lilly leaving the lights on so he let the power get cut, so Lilly couldn’t eat ice cream and had to let her hair air dry like a heathen. Unforgivable. 

So yeah, fuck Larry. 

2. Troy

Ugh, Troy. Fuck this guy. 

No really, out of all TWDG characters, this dude and my #1 pick are my most hated. Can’t stand Troy and the only reason I didn’t do a tie for #1 is because for a split second, Troy does show a tiny bit of humanity when Carver is beating down Carver, but blink and you’ll miss it.

Which had me a little concerned to find a handful of posts about having crushes on Troy and drawing fanart but.... again, I guess you do you? And if you can, please explain why because I honestly don’t understand. 

Just looking at the screenshot of him annoys him. He’s got one of those punchable faces, y’know? 

Anyway, when playing as Clementine, I’m always worried that he’s gonna pop up outta no where and grab her by the neck like he does later in ep3, even though I’ve played s2 a bunch to know that he’s not going to. 

But hell, he doesn’t need any excuse to smack anyone around, and there are a handful of times he can really hurt Clem depending on her choices. 

Not great, dude. 

Can’t say I’m too sorry that Jane shot your dick off. 

1. Badger

Yeah, you guys remember Badger. Y’know.... the man who murdered Mariana then laughed about it, claiming that he enjoyed watching her head explode and would do it again and again if he could? 

That’s what puts him at #1. He may not have the most screen time like Larry or Troy, but when he is around, he’s fucking awful.

He gets joy from killing Mariana, like it’s some sort of sick thrill for him to go around murdering children and other innocent people. 

Remember Francine? Caught her and used her as bait to try and get Javi to come down, and even went as far as to have some fingers cut off. Like, he gets off on destroying people, entire communities.

Shit, he seems to even get off to his own beat down. 

He’s fucking gross and outta everyone on this list, I haven’t found a single person being like “Yeah, he’s garbage but I like him kinda?” like no, you’re such garbage that even the Different™ crowd don’t want you. 

Fuck Badger. 

By the way, if you’ve never had Conrad kill him in your game, I suggest looking it up. It’s pretty good. Gives Conrad a little bit of closure after what happened to Francine, as well as give Javi some closure for Mari’s murder. 

Not a single soul wept for you, Badger. 

---

Dishonorable Mentions

-Joan. She’s boring, forgettable, and no one is out here gushing over her because most of the time, we can’t even remember her name. -Danny from Vince’s story in 400 Days. Y’know, the dude going to prison because he was convicted of SA. I’ll never understand why people go with him over Justin. Justin sucks, too, but not the same level Danny does.  -Lilly in S4. Ugh. That’s a whole other topic for another day. -Arvo, though I guess he has a bit of a following, too

---

Well there ya go. Do you agree or disagree with any of my choices for this list? Or have anything to add? I’m always down to chat.

Have any suggestions for future T5F’s? Feel free to send ‘em in! :D

---

Next week’s T5F Top 5 BROTPs

[tinyboxxtink]

Helpless *Part 5*

Note: I appreciate the support guys, you have no idea. You believe in this story and it makes me SO happy!! <3

Masterlist:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 6

Tag List: 

@wanniiieeee

@chasingeverybreakingwave

@word-scribbless

@dumauier

You promptly followed Arianna to the back, practically stepping on her heels.

"You're WRONG about him, Arianna. He's too smart for this, for me-- for us," You warned. "AND he works for the MAYOR. Do you really want to go to prison when he figures out our game?!"

"See but THAT'S how much faith I have in you babe," She didn't even hesitate to shut you down. "I know you would never get us in trouble..." She wrapped an arm around you.

"...EVER," The arm going around your shoulder was soon pushing you back out into the restaurant, where a now composed Rafael sat, watching you intensely.

"....What the fuck was that?" He said in an eerily calm voice.

"W-What are you talking abo--" You tried to speak but he immediately jumped over you in an angry voice.

"What the FUCK, was that?!" He asked again, then proceeded to talk not waiting for you to answer.

"I have never, EVER spoken ANYTHING about my father out loud. To ANYONE. I have spent my entire adult LIFE making sure of it. And here 30 minutes with you and I'm making a flippant comment about my childhood trauma?!" His fist pounded the bar.

"What, the fuck...did you do to me?" he growled.

Alright, keep calm. You had this.

"What did I DO to you?" You snorted, like it was the stupidest question in the world.

"Rafael 10 minutes ago you didn't even BELIEVE in the science, and now all of a sudden I put a SPELL on you? Are you out of your mind?!" You rolled your eyes with a dismissive laugh, clearly agitating him more. People tended to be easier to read when they became emotional, and certainly easier to manipulate.

"Then how do you explain it, hmm?" He licked his lips, signs of disgust. God you hated this.

"Gee, I don't know Rafael. You ever stop to think maybe it was something MORE than science, some kind of different 'voodoo'?!"

"Like what...?" He blinked at you, trying to figure out what you were implying.

"Something about you just makes me feel...safe," You placed your hand over his once more, playing with the hair on his knuckles.

"Look, I understand why you're upset. But-- you know, it's not only you who's vulnerable right now," You lowered your voice into a soft, soothing tone.

"You know, I've never told anyone else about me and Ari before," you bit your lip and looked at the floor. Sure you hadn't, except every other guy Ari had made you scam.

"You ever think that's why you just blurted out stuff about your dad? Maybe that we had a connection that was bigger than some emotional reading bullshit?" Gaslighting was always a great way to knock someone down real quick.

You saw Rafael's anger dissipate from his face; you watched as his eyes filled with hope. You knew you were preying on his very obvious need for acceptance and affection, and you hated yourself for it. 

"I...well, maybe..." he rubbed the back of his neck, you saw the logical side of him fighting with his emotional side, trying to remind him that 'soulmates' or 'connections' didn't actually exist. And you watched it lose, as a beautiful smile crawled across his lips.

"Maybe you're right," He now took both your hands, and looked deep into your eyes. Right then you could see every little bit of trauma, hurt, anguish, wanting, all being pushed down by the growing look of hope, and security. And suddenly, you couldn't do it anymore.

"No, I'm not," you dropped his hands, unable to look at him anymore.

"Wh-What? Seriously?" He shook his head in utter disbelief, trying to figure out how the hell you were so hot and cold from one second to the next.

"Look just, take this," You scribbled on a check and handed it to him. "Go pay at the register, and get out of here. And don't come back,"

"What the fu-- are you on something?" he stared at the check, then you, then the sky like he was looking for answers.

"Look, I'm--I'm begging you, Rafael. Walk out of here RIGHT NOW, before Arianna comes out here," you almost whispered, praying she wasn't listening.

"....Why do you not want--"

"Just, forget it. Please, go. PLEASE," Your voice was shaking, tears lined your eyes. You had literally never been this unhinged emotionally in front of someone other than Arianna before, EVER.

"I..." Rafael was clearly shocked and disturbed by what was unfolding, but he didn't want to see you like this. You could see him backing off because he pitied you, he felt sorry for whatever inner turmoil was happening with you, even if he didn't understand it. He put his hands up and walked to the register, pay and give you one last sad look before disappearing into the night.

You felt your legs shaking, your heart beating outside of your chest. You had NEVER let Arianna down before, ever. You had never just...broken, like that. Lying was your LIFE. You barely had a moment to process what just happened before Arianna came storming out from the kitchen.

"What the HELL, Y/N? Where did he go?!"

"H-He caught on, Ari," you looked at the ground, terrified to meet her eyes.

"HOW is that possible, you never--"

You jumped over her words immediately, defensively yelling at her:

"I DON'T KNOW, okay?! He--He came from the bathroom all freaked the fuck out because he had literally never told ANYONE about his dad, and then he-- he accused me of DOING something to him! Like I was a witch or something!" Well, you weren't lying. Not like she could've been able to tell, like she said she didn't have your skills. 

"He wouldn't let me say ANYTHING. He just grabbed his check and stormed out of here! I didn't have TIME to work him over, okay? I'm sorry. I failed you," The tears around your eyes now dripped down your cheeks, little did Ari know they weren't for her. 

"Aw...honey," Arianna's anger vanished, you knew she couldn't stand to see you cry. She wrapped her arms around you and coddled you like a mom to a toddler.

"I know, you tried your best. And I know it must've been hard, giving up your abogado like that," she stroked your hair. 

"You'd just better pray we find another benefactor, FAST" her strokes turned into her acrylic nails running down your face, mildly aggressively. You looked into her eyes, she knew something had happened. She didn't know what and she would never accuse you, but you knew she knew. She always knew.

"I'm on it," You quickly tried to get away from her. "I promise,"

------

The night wrapped up pretty routinely, and the evening went about the same. The next day, you and Ari were walking up the subway towards Fazzoli's when you saw him-- Rafael was waiting, discreetly. Well, discreetly to him anyway.

"I uh-- You know what I forgot to make change before we left, I'm gonna hit the bodega real quick. I'll meet you inside, okay?" You quickly moved in front of Arianna as you talked, praying to God she hadn't noticed him. Luckily, she was thoroughly engrossed in a game of CANDY CRUSH.

"Mmmkay," She nodded and waved you off, not looking up from her phone.

As soon as she was inside, you walked straight up to Rafael and pulled him around the corner into an alleyway.

"What did I say?!" You hissed.

"Well first of all, this is my favorite restaurant, and I was here first, so you're not gonna 'ban' me from eating here," he stated. "And second, you need to tell me what happened last night,"

"No I don't have to tell you anything," you scoffed.

"But you want to,"

"HOW do you know that? You don't know that," you crossed your arms and rolled your eyes, signaling him to back off.

"Then what was that insane Dr. Jekyl/Mr. Hyde act? One second you're batting your eyes at me and the next you're literally throwing me out! Are you nuts?"

"YES. Yes, I am unhinged and a psychopath, Rafael. Clearly. So you need to--to stay away from me," You huffed and turned to leave, but he grabbed your arm.

"I was right last night, wasn't I? That's why you freaked out,"

"...What are you talking about?" You stopped and turned slowly to face him again.

"You're not the only one who can google," he pulled out his phone and began reading an article he had found.

"...Behavioral scientists are hesitant to teach micro-expression reading to the masses, as it can be used for nefarious purposes,"

Your face fell-- You were right, he WAS too smart for you.

"People with these skills can easily manipulate any sort of information out of anyone, if trained properly," He continued, looking you straight in the eyes.

"I...Um.." Jesus Christ this had never happened to you before-- you literally COULD NOT lie to him.

"YES, okay? Yes, I manipulated you last night, are you happy?" You threw your arms up, starting to walk away again.

"No, I'm not! I wanna know why," He jumped in front of you preventing you from leaving the alley.

"Why? You wanna know-- does it matter?" You tried moving past him, but he wasn't budging.

"YES, it matters! For fuck's sake Y/N you-- you had me thinking-- I..." He trailed off, you saw the pain in his eyes. He had actually started to fall for you, and you had crushed him.

"Because it's what we do, okay?" You sighed. "It's not personal,"

"NOT personal? What 'we' do? What, you and Arianna?" he narrowed his eyes.

"Yeah, but you don't understand ok? We, we lived in our CAR, Rafael. We didn't eat for WEEKS at a time, we started going through garbage like actual rats,"

"And then I found this book, and I studied it, and I just tried it ONCE--Just for a meal," you looked up, trying not to get emotional.

"And Arianna latched on to it. HARD," you looked everywhere but Rafael's eyes.

"She--She grabbed anything she could with information on micro-expressions, she quizzed me, she coached me-- she helped me," Finally, you let yourself look at him.

"So you could help her," he looked at you seriously.

"So I could help US," you argued.

"In six months we had enough money for a nice little studio apartment in the Bronx and a full refrigerator!" you heard yourself defending you and Arianna's life together, but saying it out loud you didn't know how much you believed it yourself anymore.

"...And what exactly do you do," His words made you shift uncomfortably on your heels.

"Y/N....." ," He lowered his voice, emphasizing his seriousness.

"I...we...Arianna picks a target, someone who's in the public eye and has money. and I...sweet talk them," you glared holes into the ground.

"...And then I get something out of them, something they don't want the public to know, that they don't want ANYONE to know," You could literally feel how these people must have felt because this was the last thing that you ever wanted Rafael to know, for anyone to know.

"...And she finds out more information about it and--"

"And shakes them down," He finished your sentence, you could hear the disgust in his mouth.

"Look I'm sorry, okay?" Your voice shook a bit.

"I know you are," He stepped closer to you.

"....Okay? Just like that? You're just gonna believe a professional liar?" you half laughed, rolling your eyes.

"Yeah, because if you really wanted to-- you wouldn't have kicked me out last night," a very small micro smile came across.

"I--Yeah, well um-- I...I couldn't," you bit your lip.

"Which makes me think you don't ever really like doing it at all, do you?" he looked at you with knowing eyes.

You shifted uncomfortably, not willing to verbally agree.

"So why do you let Arianna manipulate YOU?"

"Because she's all I have, Rafael!" You cried.

"She's literally the only person I have. It's been me and her against the world since high school, I can't...I can't just, abandon her! I can't let us starve,"

"You have honest jobs now, do you not?"

"Yeah I know, that's why I was pissed she asked me to do you-- I mean, use you," you bit your lip over your Freudian slip. 

"She KNEW I was in love with you, and she just--" you stopped talking, noticing a smirk spreading across his face.

"I'm sorry, what?" He asked you with a shocked expression. You looked at him in confusion, then realized you had just spoken without thinking.

"I--It's a figure of speech. Like, "oh my god I'm so in love with Justin Beiber I could just die","

"...Don't like being compared to the Beebz like that but okay," he chuckled.

"Just...shut up. She knew I LIKED you, and she-- she just-- PERVERTED it," you spit out the words, your anger bubbling up. You knew from the moment he caught you sniffing his glass that you and him had something pure, and she just made it into something dirty, something evil.

"So...what EXACTLY happened, last night Y/N?" He stepped even closer, lowering his voice but his tone was soft not serious.

"I...You...You came in, and--everything was fine. It was just me, and-- and you, and we were--" You waved your hands, trying to be casual about it, but he grabbed them and made you look directly at him.

"...It was real," you whispered.

"And THEN, Arianna started telling me that I needed something out of you," your face went red again. "That-- that she hadn't 'planned' on using you, or me, but when she found out you were the ADA she just-- snapped," you went on again, feeling your anger rise again.

"She thought that she could use my actual feelings for you to get what she wanted, and I played along," you folded your arms, ashamed of yourself. You looked away, but Rafael's hand cupped your chin and turned you back to him.

"...But you didn't,"

"I COULDN'T," you could barely speak, tears choked your throat. Suddenly, feeling very uncomfortable having any kind of kindness being shown to you right now, you once again backed away from Rafael and paced around the alleyway.

"I...you don't get it. Lying is my THING. And--And usually okay maybe I have moral qualms about seducing dudes and exploiting them but I get over it, and I do it anyway!" You shook your hands into the air.

"B-B-But you, with you--your stupid eyes, god dammit those eyes!" you paced faster, shaking your head. Those fucking eyes.

"These eyes?" He pointed to his eyes, a very small smirk on his face.

"This isn't funny, okay? You--You made me betray my BEST friend," you stopped and stared into those eyes.

"With my eyes," he couldn't stop a smile.

"YES! I-I gave you that sappy load of bullshit about us having a 'connection', because I knew that was exactly what you wanted, what you   ," you looked away in shame.

"Wow..." Rafael shifted uncomfortably, you did know what you were doing.

"A-And you just, you ate it up! YOU, the most level headed, narcissistic, pessimistic lawyer, you just-- believed me," you almost laughed, the thought was actually unbelievable.

"And you were so happy," you added sadly, feeling the guilt rise in your gut.

"...And I think I started to believe it myself. And then I just...I couldn't--" You walked back up to him, this time taking his face in your hands.

"With everyone else I am a shark, but with you I just felt...helpless," you pressed your forehead to his for a brief moment, an intimate moment to say goodbye.

"So I sent you away. And I told you to stay away!" You literally pushed him away, gesturing out of the alley way.

"Why send me away though?"

"Because Arianna will KNOW now,"

"So? Let her know," he scoffed.

"NO," You stepped back into his face, trying to show him how serious you were.

"She's given up on you, because I told her you figured us out,"

"And she bought that?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Well not figured figured out, just that you knew something wasn't right and we couldn't risk going to prison or something,"

"But if she knows that I just...let you go, she'll start digging on her own," your eyes grew wide with fear for him.

"And she will dig until she finds something. Something other than 'daddy issues'," you rolled your eyes.

"...And you think she'll find something?" he asked.

".... You're really telling me you don't have ANY skeletons in your closet, counselor?" now you raised an eyebrow.

"...I'm not leaving you alone with her," he took your hands again.

"Oh come on, I told you. She's my PERSON, she's not gonna hurt me. I don't need protection from her," you rolled your eyes, the thought of being afraid of Arianna was ridiculous. Kind of.

"That doesn't mean I won't fight for you," he touched your face.

"Raf please--" you pleaded once more.

"Give me your phone," he ordered, and you obliged.

"Wha--Okay..."

He took it and programmed his number into it, then handed it back to you.

"Arianna is NOT the only person you have now," he took your hand and kissed the back of your knuckles, before winking and walking away.

...What just happened?

[obx-adventures]

The Fall

Summary: Grace just moved from Figure Eight to the Cut. She never expected to run into her old friend, Kiara, and discover she lives next door to JJ Maybank.

Catch up on Ch 1

——

Chapter 2

“Mom, I’m home.” Grace sets down her keys and kicks off her shoes in relief. She’s been working almost every day at The Wreck since JJ asked Kiara if they were hiring.

It’s been 3 weeks and 2 days since she officially became a Pogue. Everyday has been spent with them either before or after her shifts and today is no different. JJ is supposed to pick her up in 30 minutes, giving her time to check on her mom and shower before having the rest of the day to herself.

“Mom? Are you here?” Grace walks into her mom’s room and discovers her passed out on her bed with a mostly empty bottle of vodka on her bedside table. Unfortunately, this has become a common occurrence since their move a month ago. Amanda Porter has begun searching for solace at the bottom of the bottle, leaving Grace to fend for both of them.

Grace takes the vodka bottle to the bathroom with her and empties it before climbing into the shower. As she rests her head against the tiled wall, she allows a few tears to stream down her face while she thinks about her new life. Grace has reveled in having real friends for the first time but can’t help the sorrow she feels over her mom’s depression and dad’s absence. Paul Porter has never been World’s Greatest Dad material but it doesn’t make Grace miss him any less or dull the ache in her heart over not speaking with him all this time. She has tried to call or text him every day since he kicked her and her mom out but he continues to ignore her.

Grace shakes her head to snap out of her downward spiral. While she washes her hair, she reminds herself of the positive changes in her life. First and foremost are Kiara and JJ. Kiara has welcomed her with open arms into her life - introducing her to the Pogues, getting her the waitressing job at The Wreck, and reminding her everyday that she has a new family. JJ is a horse of a different color. He constantly surprises her with his thoughtfulness and sense of humor but he doesn’t treat her differently because of her home situation. Grace catches herself watching him more often than she cares to admit and still feels tingly when he touches her. But what’s weird is how she’s pretty sure she feels him watching her too when she’s talking with someone else.

Grace towels off and gets dressed quickly when she notices that JJ will be there any minute. As if summoned by her thoughts, she hears the van pull up in front of her house. Before leaving, Grace leaves a note and glass of water for her mom but is almost certain that she’ll still be passed out when Grace gets home later.

“Hi, JJ. Thanks for picking me up.” Grace clambers into the van and smiles at JJ. He’s been watching her closely over the past couple weeks and knows this isn’t her real smile, which is bright enough to warm JJ’s heart from a mile away.

“What’s wrong?” He reaches over to clasp her hand and feels the familiar spark that he’s beginning to associate only with her.

“Just a long shift. I’m ok. What’s on the agenda for today?” JJ studies her face and decides that there is something more there but doesn’t push her. He’s growing accustomed to her reserved demeanor, which has been a bigger adjustment than he thought.

All the Pogues are really open with each other about their good, bad, and stupid thoughts and feelings. But Grace is different and JJ is trying his best to give her the space she needs to open up to him.

“Well if you want me to bring you home early tonight, just let me know. Or you can take a nap at JB’s. Or crash there tonight. Whatever you want.” JJ silently cursed himself for sounding so frazzled. What is it with this girl?!

“JJ, I told you that you don’t have to drive me home every night. I’ve gotten used to The Cut and can just walk like I do after my shifts.”

“You’re walking home after work?! Kie said she was driving you.”

“She usually does but there are days when we don’t work the same shifts. It’s not a big deal.”

“Yes it is. Let me know what days she can’t drive you home and I’ll pick you up.”

“That’s silly! I am perfectly capable of walking by myself.”

“Not the point. It’s not safe.”

“What are you talking about? You know this neighborhood better than I do and you know no one in The Cut would hurt me.” JJ finds himself backed into a corner. He doesn’t want Grace to end up running into his dad on her way home but he doesn’t want her to know that either.

“Grace, please... most of our neighbors are great and we all look out for each other but there are a couple people who I don’t want you to run into. Please trust me and let me protect you.”

Grace is taken aback by the desperation in JJ’s voice. This is the closest he’s come to explaining to her what he’s worried about and she can’t help thinking that this is personal to him. The pleading look in his cerulean eyes is enough to get her to nod in agreement.

“Thank you.” He notices that his hand is still holding hers and softly brushes his thumb over her delicate skin. She fidgets nervously and her cheeks flush pink. When he’s driving to the Chateau moments later, he can’t help thinking the pink tinge was the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen.

——

Grace tumbles out of bed at 1:30am when she’s woken up by insistent knocking on her window. She immediately thinks back to JJ’s alarm earlier in the day upon discovering that she’s walked through The Cut without him and worried that he was right. She tentatively approaches her window and sighs in relief when she recognizes JJ’s blond locks. She opens the window quickly, confusion quickly replacing relief.

“JJ, what the hell are you doing here?” When he turns to look at her, she gasps at his bloodied face. “Oh my God! What happened?”

“Look, I’m really sorry to wake you up but can you please let me in? Fast?” Grace lifts up the window screen so JJ can climb through. Once he’s inside, she leads him to the bathroom to clean him up.

She begins to silently clean his wounds while JJ watches her anxiously. Grace jumps when she hears a man bellowing out in front of her house.

“You little son of a bitch! You can’t run from me for long! Get your ass back here and face me like a man!” She looks to JJ, hoping for an explanation for all of this, but is saddened to see his face drooping in defeat. Before she can second guess herself, she pulls him in for a hug and holds him close until he hugs her back. She feels tears dropping onto her exposed shoulder and holds him tighter.

“That bastard is my father...” Grace continues to hold JJ as he tries to explain. “I don’t even know what I did this time.” Grace turns her head to kiss his cheek and tries to think of how to respond.

“I’m so sorry... I’m glad you felt you could come here.”

“Please don’t tell the others. JB knows and I’m sure Pope and Kie suspect but I don’t want to get into the details and see their pity. I didn’t even want you to know... I usually go the Chateau when this happens... but I needed... it doesn’t matter.”

Grace pulls back to study his face, desperate to understand how she can help him. JJ reluctantly meets her eyes and is surprised to only find concern. They hold each other’s gazes for a minute and jump apart when Grace’s mother bursts into the bathroom.

“Who the hell are you?” Amanda slurs at JJ. The pungent smell of alcohol rolling off her.

“Uh, mom, this is my friend JJ. Remember, I told you about him. I met him through Kiara.” Grace refuses to look at JJ, despite feeling his eyes on her, while her mom tries to process the half-ass introduction.

“What is he doing here? It’s late.”

“He got hurt and didn’t have any first aid supplies at his house. We’ll get out of here so you can use the bathroom.” Grace walks out of the bathroom without even a glance at JJ. She hears him mumble hello to her mom and leads him into the kitchen to continue cleaning him up. She regrets this decision quickly when she sees the empty alcohol bottles next to the garbage can.

JJ is more than a little confused by the turn of events. He went from worry about what Grace would think of him to worry for Grace in a matter of minutes. After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, he tries to talk with her.

“Grace, were you worried about your mom when I picked you up this afternoon?”

“Uh... yea... She was already passed out when I got home from work.” JJ has to inch closer to her to hear what she’s saying. He’s learned that she gets really quiet when she’s embarrassed or anxious so he tries to lighten the mood.

“And here I was planning on giving Kie’s dad a piece of my mind for working you so hard.” When Grace remains silent as she works on cleaning the last cut on his face, he catches her hand in his and lifts her chin with his other hand. “Listen, I’m here for you if you need to talk. You heard my dad, he wasn’t exactly sober. To be honest, he hasn’t been since my mom left us. But we can take care of each other, ok?”

JJ’s words cause Grace’s internal dam to break. She breaks down against his chest and, for the first time in her life, allows someone else to support her. He runs his hand up and down her back as she sobs and soon starts crying with her. When both of their tears run dry, they head back into Grace’s room, both feeling a little awkward.

“Do you want to stay here tonight? I don’t want you going home if you’ll be in danger.” Grace’s offer surprises both of them but JJ quickly accepts.

After getting settled in her bed, JJ turns to Grace and brushes her hair out of her face. He lets his hand rest tenderly on her cheek and gently slides his thumb back and forth until she falls asleep. He watches her sleep for a while and tries to figure out what is happening between them. JJ has had crushes before but this feels different and is a little disconcerting. But when Grace starts mumbling in her sleep, he can’t help but smile and feel thankful to have her in his life. Her slow, deep breaths soothe him and he eventually drifts off feeling at peace.

Ch 3

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[maybe-your-left]

Good Intentions: End of Summer

Did I write a Solo Triplets fic even though I have two other fics that I should be working on? Yes. 

Did I write about the triplets because I am lusting after all three of them and I’m projecting my lust of Adam Driver in a competitive swim suit? Also yes. 

Am I going to write a fuck ton more of this because I’m a garbage human being who loves angst? Yes again. 

Okay so this is written in a High School AU. You’re a junior in highschool whose been friends with the Solo boys (they are seniors) for a couple years, Matt being one of your closest friends. This fic is going to involve a lot of drama, and a lot of swimming lingo that you might not get but its okay because no one gets it outside of the swimming community. It’s mainly just so I can get this thought of AD characters out of my head and into something more productive. I hope you like it! Also yes there will be smut. Not yet, but yes. Just because the AU is different doesn’t mean I’m not gonna have them make sweet sticky love to us when the moments right. 

Thank god outdoor events had tents set up. Or else you would be baking in the sun waiting for your races. 

You sat under a large white tent surrounded by towels, goldfish, Gatorade bottles, and an assortment of games. Your teammates were sprawled around you, some were playing cards with each other, some were listening to music to pass the time,  and you were just sitting down playing on your Switch. 

The Rebellion swim team had been a great escape for you. It allowed you to make so many friends, almost considering them family throughout the years. It was a way for you to get away from your problems and immerse yourself in the competition. Most of the friends you’ve made had been through swimming, some from school, but all of you had a shared bond. 

Right now you were resting after your medley relay, the rebels as you were called, had beat everyone else by a landslide. You reached over and drank from your water bottle when you heard faint screaming from the exit doors of the pool. Pulling back one of your headphones you looked around to see what the commotion was about. You couldn’t see all the way over, but you were sure it had something to do with the boy’s relays going on inside. They always were rowdy, and it didn’t help that most of the guys on your team screamed and yelled whenever they had the chance. 

You shrugged and put your focus back on your game. Steady beats were playing through your headphones, you barely noticed the three boys running up to you. Suddenly a very large, and very wet body was jumping on top of you. 

“Earth to (Y/N)! Why didn’t you come to watch us kick the First Orders ass?!”

You groaned and tried to pry him off of you, fuck he was huge, “Please get off me Ben,” you slapped his back in an attempt to force him up. 

“You missed it,” Ben huffed into your stomach, “Matty almost false-started!” 

“Is that right?” you patted Ben's shoulder, he was always the most competitive one. You glanced to your right towards the other boys. “How did you do Kylo?” 

Kylo didn’t respond, only grunted towards you while grabbing his towel. He was the quietest, even though you had been around the boys for years he always kept you at arm’s length. You tried not to feel hurt by it, he seemed to do it for everyone but it still stung. 

“Don’t be rude Kylo,” Matt smacked his brother’s shoulder, “He’s just grumpy that he almost lost.” 

“I did not,” Kylo growled back, settling in front of you with his eyes glued to his phone.

Ben snorted, lifting his chin to settle on your sternum, “Could’ve fooled me, you almost let Hux beat you.” 

Without warning, Kylo smacked Ben in the back causing Ben to muffle a scream into your suit. “What the fuck dude?” he yelled and launched off of you, tackling Kylo to the ground. They started wrestling with each other, Kylo getting Ben in a chokehold while Ben was trying to elbow him in the gut. You sighed and stared at Matt who just stood there staring at the two roll around. 

When you first met the triplets, you weren’t used to the hostility between Ben and Kylo. Ben always tried to push his buttons, while Kylo tried to one-up Ben at any physical event which always led to the two of them fighting on the floor of wherever they were. Your first experience with that was when Matt had invited you over to their house to study for chemistry together. Although they were a year older than you, you and Matt had met in science class your freshman year the two of you quickly becoming good friends. Once you came over to their house you were quickly thrown against a bean bag chair by the boys who were fighting over PlayStation controllers. Needless to say, you started crying because Kylo had broken Bens’ nose and Matt was trying to calm them while also introducing you to the other two. Once they heard your tears all three of them apologized and swarmed around you, Ben and Kylo especially trying to show you that they didn’t really ‘hurt’ each other. 

But now them fighting was normal, you just had to wait for one of them to run out of steam, or when Kylo eventually caused Ben to pass out. Although Kylo is the middle triplet, he is the strongest. He has the most muscle compared to the other two, although they all are exceptionally large boys for their age, Kylo looks like he could fight a bear at any given moment. 

“Come on guys that’s enough,” Matt yelled, attempting to pry the two apart with his foot, “We don’t need someone telling Dad that you two can’t be civil anymore.” 

Kylo pushed Ben off him, “Fine,” he pointed a finger at Ben, “This isn’t over.” 

Ben rolled his eyes and brought his attention back to you, “(Y/N) big bad Kylo hurt my neck, will you kiss it better?” 

“Get off me, Ben,” you chuckled, “I need to go get ready for my race.” 

He huffed and rolled off you, grabbing a bag of snacks from his swim bag. You turned to your left and grabbed your cap and goggles, standing up and stretching before walking off towards the entrance doors. Kylo grabbed your ankle stopping you, “Good luck.” 

You swallowed and smiled at him, “Thank you Ky.” 

-----

After (Y/N) left, Ben threw a towel at Kylo’s face, “What was that about, lover boy?” 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he rolled his eyes and brought his attention back to his phone. He had been mindlessly scrolling since he sat down, trying to get over the embarrassment of (Y/N) seeing him freak out about almost losing. Usually, he didn’t let Ben get under his skin but whenever he provoked him in front of (Y/N) he couldn’t help himself. 

Matt stood up, putting on a t-shirt and grabbing his glasses, “We better get inside, I don’t want to miss her breaking the 200 record.” 

“She didn’t come to watch us swim, why should we watch her,” Ben groaned, stretching his arms before grabbing his shirt to throw on. 

Kylo reached in his bag for his stopwatch, “Because she’s our friend and this is important for her, besides I’m sure you’re #1 fan will be inside too.” 

“Fuck is she here? I didn’t see her at warm-ups…” Ben looked around hastily, scanning the team in case his ‘favorite’ person found him before he could duck and hide. 

“Yeah,” Kylo grunted, “She cornered me this morning when I came out of the locker rooms, pretty sure she thought I was you.” 

“Common mistake,” Ben laughed, grabbing Kylo and Matt’s shoulders, “You two do take after your older brother's good looks.” 

“Piss off Ben, let’s go I’m sure the rest of the team is already down by her lane.” 

Matt and Kylo jogged in first, with Ben trailing not far behind. Making sure to scan the crowds for any ‘danger’. Kylo spotted (Y/N) first, hollering and waving his watch in the air, receiving a large smile from her in return. “Let’s get close, that way she can see us when she turns,” Kylo said over the crowd. 

Everyone was packed into the building, the crowd was screaming and cheering for the open 200. The boys maneuvered their way to the end of (Y/N) lane, pushing out other spectators and calmly hopping the barrier between the swimmers and patrons. All three were crouched down, ready to watch. 

“Event 3 Women’s 200 Freestyle, Heat 4. Swimmers Step up.” 

The girls hopped up, (Y/N) gave a big smile and wave to the triplets and also a thumbs up to her timers. She always was so polite even when she was racing. 

“Judges and timers ready, Swimmers take your mark.” 

BEEP. 

The crowd erupted, they dove and everyone was shouting. Matt and Ben were hooping and hollering at (Y/N) to ‘keep a steady pace’ while Kylo stared in silence. Making sure to get the splits when she made it to the wall. 

“She’s gotta kick it up, that girl to her right is already close,” Ben yelled down at Kylo. 

“She’ll be fine, it's just the first lap,” Kylo grunted, getting the first lap timed. 

“Have a little faith, Benny,” Matt smiled before turning back to (Y/N). 

Three laps later and it was the final stretch, (Y/N) was just a little ways ahead at the wall. All three boys were screaming at her, at the turn they were right in her face. Yelling to go faster, push harder. They stood up abruptly, watching the clock to see if she was going to win. 

“That’s a new record for (Y/N) (Y/L/N)!” the starter announced. 

“Let’s go let’s go!” Matt shouted, scrambling to get around the excited spectators. 

Kylo stayed quiet, he was so happy for (Y/N) but he didn’t want to show it. He would wait to talk to her alone that way Ben and Matt wouldn’t embarrass him if he stumbled over what he wanted to say. Even though he had been around her for so long, she still left him tongue-tied. She was so smart and sweet and put up with each of the triplets' moods. Not to mention she was beautiful and was always so happy to see and include him even if he was in a shitty mood. He had had a crush on her for a while now, Matt and Ben knew about it. Ben made it clear he also liked (Y/N) which was proving to decrease Kylos chances. 

Kylo was pulled out of his thoughts when he saw you coming down from the lanes. Chatting with the coaches, thanking people, and crying about how excited you were. It was a big deal, you had worked so hard over the summer to beat the record. Kylo fought back a smile as you approached the boys. 

“You did amazing, babygirl!” Ben shouted, lifting (Y/N) up by her armpits. Effectively crushing her face onto his cheek. “I’m so so so proud of you!” 

He kissed her on the cheek, giving Kylo a side-eye before setting her back down. 

Matt spoke up, wrapping his arms around (Y/N) in a much calmer fashion, “That was great, we were worried for a second that you were going to lose.” 

“Glad you guys had so much faith in me,” (Y/N) huffed, she was beaming with joy. So proud of herself and happy that everyone could see her do well. 

She looked up at Kylo, eyes wide and a big smile. Waiting for him to congratulate her, or say anything. Nothing would come out of his mouth, he was awestruck, and making a complete fool out of himself for the second time today. 

(Y/N) nodded and crawled out of Matt’s arms, smiling and saying thank you for watching before turning to her other friends. “The fuck was that dude?!” Ben smacked Kylo upside the head. “She was waiting for you to say something!” 

“You don’t have to hit me,” Kylo covered his face in his hands, “She just kept looking at me like that, I didn’t know what to say.” 

“You’re ruining your chances with her if you keep acting like that,” Matt grumbled, staring off into the distance. Suddenly his eyes widened and he ducked down, “911 Ben she saw us!” 

“What?!” 

“Get down!” 

Kylo hunched down, trying to become average height along with Matt and Ben. Blending in and attempting to make it to the exit undiscovered. 

“Hey Benny,” a voice rang out in front of Kylo. “Are you hiding from me?” She smiled and pulled back on his shirt making him stand to full height. 

“Wrong twin Bazine,” Kylo huffed and pointed towards the locker rooms where Ben was stalking towards. 

Bazine whipped around, distrust coloring her face. For having a crush on Ben she sure wasn’t able to recognize him, making mistakes left and right between the two boys while Matt was left in the clear from her lustful gaze. 

“Sorry Ky,” she flashed her teeth, “He keeps slipping from me today, didn’t even answer my texts.” 

“I can’t imagine why.” 

She glared at Kylo, turned and skipped off towards Ben, letting out a huge breath once she was gone. 

Matt patted Kylo on the back, “One of these days she’ll get the hint.” 

“Hopefully while we're still young.” 

The two turned around and walked back out to the tents. 

——

After your race, you were exhausted, but you were sure to say thank you and check in with your coaches and friends. Rose, Rey, and Phasma were so excited for you, they even filmed the race. Although the triplets were blocking them from getting very many action shots, they also were the loudest on the video. 

You walked out towards the tents, plopping down and chugging some water. You shot a text to your parents, letting them know how you did. They weren’t there to watch you, even though they promised they would try this time. But it wasn’t a new thing, they were absent enough for it to be normal. It would be weird if they had shown up. You made sure to send them the video Rey took. 

Looking up you noticed Matt and Kylo speed walking towards you, Ben nowhere to be found. Settling down in front of you, seeming to sigh in relief. “That was so close,” Matt said. 

Kylo hummed and grabbed his water bottle, brushing your knee as he reached. 

“Bazine find Ben?” you chucked. That poor girl. She was on the high school team before she transferred last year, she had her eyes set on the triplets. She even ‘faked’ being your friend for a while when she noticed how close you were with them. But of course Ben couldn’t keep it in his pants, and now she wouldn’t leave him alone. “It’s his fault really, he shouldn’t have led her on,” you said, grabbing a goldfish from Kylos bag. 

“Hey,” he huffed, “I didn’t say those were to share.” 

“It’s a swim meet Kylo, everything is to share. Now did you time my splits?” 

He cleared his throat and nodded, “Uh yeah I did.” 

“Wanna tell me them or am I supposed to guess?” You scooted over to his right, placing your hand on his knee. Kylo coughed and sat up straighter, showing you the stopwatch. Although he never tried to show it, he was always the most proud of you. Made sure to help you with technique, work on turns and dives, and he always would time your races even if you didn’t ask. “You did a good job,” he swallowed, “I uh, I’m sorry about earlier-“ 

“Why the fuck would you guys leave me with her?!” Ben shouted, pushing Kylos head down into his lap as he made it back to your group. “She fucking cornered me in the locker room! The men’s room!” 

“Ben why don’t you just tell her to buzz off,” you rolled your eyes and glanced over at Kylo who was trying very hard to not knock out his brother. 

“He won’t because he likes the attention,” Matt stated. Earning a glare from Ben, before he sat back and grabbed his phone from his bag. 

“I don’t like the attention,” he huffed, “It’s not my fault that she’s in love with me. We barely did anything!” 

“You slept with her!” Kylo shouted. 

“Not right now I didn’t!” 

You looked at Ben, trying to give him ‘you’re a fucking idiot face’. 

Ben averted your gaze, staring off instead at Rey sitting with the other girls, “We just made out, nothing else.” 

“You just made out with her?! Even though you’ve been avoiding her for a week?” you yelled. Ben clearly was not understanding that he was responsible for Bazine attachment, he kept stringing her on and when she got too close he would run away. 

“Whatever I don’t need you guys to tell me what to do,” Ben said back, “Come on Kylo we have a race.” 

Next to you, Kylo chucked, the two of them always raced against one another. Right now they had a 50 freestyle that was supposed to be neck and neck, however, Kylo always seemed to beat Ben no matter how hard he tried. 

“Good luck,” you whispered to Kylo, “I’m rooting for you.” 

Kylo smirked down at you and grabbed his stuff and left, Ben following behind him. You sighed and looked at Matt. Sweet normal Matt, he was so calm and level headed. Nothing like the other two, aside from their identical faces you could hardly believe they were related. 

“Let’s go, whoever loses has to be my counter for the 500,” Matt sighed. 

“You say that every time but Ben never follows through, he doesn’t have the attention span for it” you giggle, grabbing the stopwatch and running off to the lanes. 

Inside is the same story, people shoving around each other. Trying to get a look at the top heats of every event. Thank goodness Matt was behind you, guiding you forward through the crowds. Ben and Kylo were side by side, Kylo lane 4, Ben 5 with Hux in lane 3. Hux was Kylos rival, or even arch enemy. They hated each other with a passion, even more than Ben and Kylo. 

You got right behind the barricade, when suddenly you were lifted over it. “What are you doing Matt?!” 

“It’s fine we did it earlier.” He hopped over too and stood at Bens lane. You turned and stared at the blocks. Both twins were stretching and jumping, getting ready for their sprint. You could see Ben was cracking jokes with his timers, probably making a big show about the top swimmers being brothers. While Kylo just stood and stared. You did a small wave, showing the stopwatch as he did for you earlier earning a very small smile. 

“Event 8 Men’s 50 Freestyle, Heat 5. Swimmers step up.” 

Up they went, strong and ready to beat the shit out of each other. 

“Judges and timers ready, Swimmers take your marks.” 

BEEP. 

Diving in, Kylo and Ben were underwater longer than everyone else. Ben edging out ahead just a little. You and Matt were screaming, watching their every move. 

At the wall you saw Kylo take his first and only breathe, shooting off the wall. Suddenly he was past Ben. Earning an almost full body length ahead of him and he glided into the opposite wall. Easily set a new record for himself and the team. 

“You think he was going easy on Ben?” Matt smirked and looked at you, it was clear in the first half he wanted Ben to get tired. “Whatever the case, Kylo won’t let Ben win that easily.” 

The two of you headed towards the exit, waiting for the twins. “Matt go get ready for your 500, I’ll make sure to grab the boys for you.” 

“Thanks (Y/N).” 

He turned and jogged out. Suddenly Bazine was at your left, her hand on your shoulder. “Can you believe Ben let Kylo win? Unacceptable,” she tsked. 

Rolling your eyes you shook her hand off, “Whatever Bazine.” 

Kylo and Ben came out, after shaking hands with the other competitors they were smiling and wrestling each other. Happy to have shared a good time. Once in front of you, their smiles fell slightly, probably because of the presence of Bazine. 

“Awesome job guys! Matt and I were screaming for you,” you smiled and grabbed them both in a hug. Being sure to give them both attention, Ben was known to sulk whenever he lost. 

Bazine rolled her eyes and pulled Ben to her arms, “Why’d you let him win baby? You’re so much better than that.” Grabbing his face and kissing the tip of his nose, you had to look away. Afraid that your temper would flare up, she was always so rude about Kylo. Even though he was nothing but ‘nice’ to her, she always tried to put him down. Ben just closed his eyes and clenched his jaw, trying to get her away with silence. After a moment he sighed and spoke, “I have to go.” and then pushed past Bazine. 

She quickly followed Ben outside, trying to soothe his wounds. You turned and looked at Kylo who was staring at his feet. “You did a great job. Really, I even got your splits!” you smiled at him, trying to lighten the mood. 

Kylo nodded and mumbled, “I should go get Matt’s stuff ready.” 

“Let’s go together!” you smiled at him, slipping your hand in his while pulling him towards the lanes. 

——

The rest of the meet went by smoothly, each boy winning their races. Matt especially, he was the odd one out. Only did distance races so he had his own set of rivals. But you all cheered just the same. Finally, the meet was wrapped up and you and your girlfriends were packing your bags. 

“Are we all meeting for pizza?” Rose asked. 

You shrugged, “I’m down if you’re down, I think we’ve earned it.” 

Rey and Phasma jogged up beside you two, confirming the pizza plan. Everyone from the team was supposed to meet at the restaurant in fifteen minutes. “You guys wanna ride with me?” you said at the girls, each of them shaking their heads and proceeding to wrap up. 

“I’m gonna head inside and change, see you guys there” you walked back towards the locker rooms. You looked at your phone, shooting the boys a group text about the plan. 

Walking in you heard whispering, right around the corner to the men’s bathrooms. You leaned in and listened. 

“I don’t know why you’re acting so weird dude.” 

“I’m not acting weird!” 

“Yes you are and if you can’t get it together I’m gonna swoop in.” 

“That’s not fair Ben,” one of the voices silently screamed. 

You peaked around the corner, huddled in a group were the triplets. Each one was already dressed down, and they were very close to fighting one another. 

“I don’t give a shit anymore Kylo, I’m tired of watching you be a pussy,” Ben huffed looking up at the ceiling. 

“He’s not ready Ben, don’t push him!” Matt yelled. 

“He’s had years! Years of dibs!” 

“Stop pushing me!” Kylo shouted, burning his face in his hands. 

“If you don’t tell (Y/N) how you feel then I will.” Ben pointed at Kylo. 

You cleared your throat, trying to get them to stop talking about you. Matt was the first to notice you, smacking both Kylo and Ben to shut up. Once Kylo noticed you his face went beat red, while Ben just smiled at you. 

“Hey (Y/N)...” Matt waved. 

You rushed into the locker room, frantically changing so you could quickly run out to your car before the boys could talk to you any further. This was going to be a long night. 

TAGLIST: @finn-ray-nal-beads​ @morby​ @kirah36​ @reylo-trash​ @onlykyloscenes​ @candycanes19​ @clumsycopy​ 

I just tagged people who have liked my stuff or who I think would be interested in my garbage writing! 

[tinycaprisun]

a song about it raining somewhere else

title: a song about it raining somewhere else characters: chuck taylor x trent beretta word count: 3822 part: 1/1 warnings: mild cursing, and like that’s kinda it? maybe mild angst? but also i’m a baby and it becomes fluff by the end? a/n: howdy, this is not another i’m back i’m back piece as much as it honestly is. no, see this time- this is actually a gift! 2 days ago was @trentjinshi’s birthday and i wanted to write him something! so i sat down for like 6 hours with my goopy goblin gay brain and spit out this obvious magnum opus. so, like, don’t hate it please. also hugest happy birthday to emil again!! yeehaw... i’ve technically already sent this to u

You know, of all days to have the soul crushing realization that you’ve secretly been in love with your best friend, Trent should have expected it to happen on Valentine’s Day.

The man had garbage luck anyways, and good things seemingly never happened to him. So when Chuck animatedly told him he had a date that night with some girl, Trent’s heart shouldn’t have blown apart like he had been shot. Sure, he pretended to be supportive of his buddy, returning his radiant smile despite the effect never reaching his eyes, And yeah, he wished him all the best, telling the taller man he hoped it went well.

But did Trent mean any of that? Fuck no! He was dying on the inside, mourning the loss of a relationship and love he didn’t even know he wanted! Perhaps he should have considered himself lucky that he didn’t start bawling his eyes out on the spot. The New Yorker had a tendency to wear his heart on his sleeve, so the crying really was not out of the question at that moment. But he contained his feelings somehow, moving on through the rest of that afternoon like he was trudging through a snowstorm. Slow, cold, and slowly dying from the inside out.

So that led him here, sitting in his car as the rain started to come down, refusing to turn the damn thing on. He didn’t want to go back to his hotel room. Because if he did, it would remind him of the obvious. He went home alone tonight.

Chuck wasn’t alone. His friend had a probably beautiful person with a perfect personality sitting across from him at a fancy restaurant. A person who wasn’t him. Why couldn’t Trent be his perfect date? He would laugh at his jokes, softly hold his hand as they walked in from the parking lot, pull his chair out for him, admire him like he was the sun-

A harsh banging came from his left, rhythmically tapping against the glass of his car window in time with the rain drops. Trent’s head jerked up from where it had defeatedly slumped against the steering wheel to see who was trying to get his attention.

It was a security guard, holding an umbrella in one hand and wavering him off with another, politely telling him to leave the premises as the arena building they were at was closing. To be honest, getting a ticket from not leaving and instead rotting in that parking lot forever sounded like a far better time than he was having. But, he didn’t have a choice. Story of his life.

Trent started up his car, quickly leaving off into the vast night with only his thoughts to keep him company. And that was rapidly becoming annoying. The singular thing on his mind was one person, and how all this time, his feelings were so obvious. Every time he even glanced in his friend’s direction his heart rate would spike. Before now, he had chalked that up to coincidence or - considering it was Trent and how his body loved to torture him - underlying health conditions. Evidently, it was neither of those things.

One would think he would catch on to his festering crush sooner; considering he thought the entire world of Chuck and whenever he had to go more than a few days without seeing him, he would get a weird sense of longing to be back in his presence, but nothing ever wanted to work out that way. Life thought it would be much funnier if Trent felt like he was being ripped apart at the seams by a simple sentence.

Between the still processing of what it even meant to have a crush on your best friend, and knowing that right now he was out with some other person having the time of his life, Trent was not feeling great as he drove down the freeway. Grumbling under his breath, he flicked the radio on to fill the car with something other than his problems. A song the brunette had never heard before crackled to life, being about part of the way through.

By the time we get there, everybody will be drunk The chairs will be on tables and the band will be unplugged We're gonna look real good, but we're gonna look real rude I'm sorry I'm not sorry that I'm-

Fucking perfect! The last person to mess with the radio in Trent’s car was Chuck, and bastard left it on one of his stupid country stations. Trent didn’t even like country music! That didn’t stop him, however, from a few days ago when they were driving from city to city and let Chuck put on whatever he liked, even if it was something he was going to hate. He would make tiny sacrifices like that all the time for his partner, because he knew it would earn him one of those sunlit smiles. Trent really would do anything to make Chuck happy, and had been since they met.

Late to the party with you Oh, who needs confetti? We're already falling into the groove And who needs a crowd when you're happy at a party for two? The world can wait 'Cause I'm never late to the party if I'm late to the party with you

It... It was a love song?

“Throw me off a fucking bridge.” Trent mumbled to himself as he exited an off ramp. Seriously, who out there was tormenting him and making him have possibly the worst day ever? What omnipotent being did he piss off? He thought he was an alright dude, not getting into other people’s business and sort of keeping to himself. Most days he made an attempt to be somewhat nice to others and never did any of that vile or cruel shit. And yet, he was cursed to drive home while listening to a love song in a genre that he hated, and only helped to remind him more of his best friend.

Let's promise when we get in that we'll try to get right out Fake a couple conversations, make the necessary rounds These kinda things just turn into "Who's leaving here with who?" But I just want 'em all to see me come in late to the party with you

Wasn’t that a funny line. Wanting others to see the person you’re with because of how much you loved them? Trent understood that. Whenever he would go anywhere with Chuck, he would always want people to know he was there with him- whether he realized it or not.

He could talk for hours about him. It could be the simple telling of a funny story, or gushing about how good he was in the ring. Or how great of a friend he was. That made Trent wonder about what Chuck would be like if they were together. His mind wandered, dreaming up scenarios and infinite possibilities as he pulled into his hotel’s parking garage.

The musing didn’t stop when he killed the engine, happily ending that fucking song that was starting to piss him off with how cute it was. Trent pushed himself out of the car, gathering his singular bag from the trunk and wandering inside through the rain. Which, if anyone was curious, was even worse than it was when he left. It was coming down in buckets now, being slung into the New Yorker’s face by the wind.

Checking in was easy enough, having the briefest of conversations with the man at the desk who happened to have a thick southern accent.

Chuck had an accent, but only when he drank a lot. It took about 3 and a half beers for it to come out, but by that point he didn’t care all that much to hide it. He wouldn’t be trashed, as he was a pretty solid drinker and had made putting strong shit back a hobby over the last few years. Trent knew exactly how it sounded, though. A smooth Kentucky accent that always caused him to punctuate the last word of his sentences and pronounce certain things differently. Never anything like “y’all” or something southern like that, after all Chuck wasn’t that dime store cowboy they worked with.

The thing Trent remembered the most about Chuck’s accent was how he said his name. He would draw it out, almost like he was whining, except it was low in his voice and always accompanied by a wide grin. One that’s toothy like Cheshire Cat, and annoyingly sweet like bubblegum. Trent idly wondered if he tasted like bubblegum too, but the thought turned vivid fantasy was interrupted for a moment by the elevator reaching his floor.

The brunette slowly approached his room, still partially entranced by the ideas he had created in his mind as he unlocked his door and slipped in. From there, it felt like he wasn’t even alive anymore. Not in a morbid sense, but as in he wasn’t participating in the concept of reality at that moment. Trent was so disconnected from his actions, it was almost as though he was outside of his body and looking in from somewhere else. So much so, that when he snapped out of his revere from his phone buzzing, he was lying in bed wearing only his boxers.

Not that what was on his phone was of any importance to him. All Trent saw were notifications for things he didn’t care about, the only thing sticking out was a short text from Orange sending him more condolences over his current “issue”. Damn, he was acting like someone had died, not his friend’s heart being broken. Trent didn’t bother responding, tossing the device back on the bedside table and rolling over to face away from it.

The alarm clock on the other stand read “10:17 p.m.”, blinking at him like the piece of shit was broken. It also only now occurred to Trent that he had never turned the lights on while he was basically astral projecting. So he was bathed in darkness, with the only illumination being that digital clock and the street lights below outside the window.

Was he going to fall asleep at a respectable time? Because deep in his bones he could feel the shroud of tiredness creeping through him from all of the emotional energy he drained today. And with that, Trent grabbed one of the unused pillows and wrapped himself around it, cuddling it tightly and not bothering to get under the bed covers.

Maybe if he tried hard enough, Trent could pretend the pillow was something else. --

Who in the hell was knocking at his door at - the New Yorker stopped his angry brain tirade to peek at the clock again - 11:53 at night? He had only gotten to sleep an hour and it was cut short by who knew what. If this was Orange coming to tell him he had broken another hotel microwave by “forgetting to take the metal spoon out of his mac and cheese”, Trent was going to fucking kill him.

Getting up from where he lay, Trent stumbled blearily across the room to the door. In those few seconds, it processed with him that his hair must have come untied while he was sleeping because it was messily draped around his shoulders. Among that, he was still only dressed in boxers, riding rather low on his hips. Maybe he had a restless sleep even though it was quick?

He didn’t care what he looked like though as he slowly pulled the door open with a yawn and blinked from the harsh light flooding in from the hallway. Trent prepared to open his mouth and berate his shorter friend when he heard a sniffle come from in front of him.

Chuck was standing on the other side of the doorway, soaking wet from the rain. By the look on his face, it seemed as though he had been crying as well, with red eyes and a running nose. His eyes didn’t meet Trent’s as he all but whispered, “H-hey, man.”

Did the longer haired brunette care that his friend was ice cold and drenched from head to toe? No. That was why without words, he dragged his friend into the room and hugged him tightly, letting the hotel door slip closed on its own. Chuck didn’t need to be told twice to hug back, nearly crushing Trent from the strength of his shaking arms.

They stayed like that for a good while, with Trent rubbing soothing circles into his back and letting him rest his head on his shoulder when he began to weep again. That was before he slowly drew back, silently taking Chuck’s hand and guiding him to his bed so he could sit. Trent grabbed the comforter and wrapped it around his friend, figuring he could just use a blanket later when he needed to sleep.

“I... didn’t even tell you- what’s wrong..?” murmured the Kentuckian, slouching in on himself and bringing his knees up so they were closer to his chest. He must have been really cold. Trent paused for a moment, looking with a pained yet sympathetic smile.

“Don’t need to. You’re upset, and I gotta fix that.” He wasn’t sure who hurt him, or even what, but just let it be known he was going to destroy whatever it was.

“Well, uh, t-thank you?”

“Yeah, dude. I-” Love you. “Care about you. You’re my friend and shit. Hurts to see you cry.” With that, Trent carefully maneuvered around Chuck and hopped off the bed to go rifle through his clothes for something dry he could wear. And- probably some pants for himself. When he first opened the door, he couldn’t help but notice Chuck gave him the slightest look up and down, with his cheeks going red afterwards. Trent assumed it was only because he was cold, and the warmth from his bedroom had fucked with his internal body temperature.

While digging through his bags trying to find some of the clothes he always packed for his friend - and if it were any other day than today, Trent would have told you it was because he was just being a nice guy. He knew better than that now. - Chuck began to talk again. “Date ditched me...”

“They didn’t show up?”

Chuck sighed. “No, she did. But- when her ex came around... She would’a rather been with him.”

Trent grabbed the extra clothes and stood, turning around to face Chuck who was staring off into the corner. Considering how already destroyed his heart already was from earlier, he was a bit surprised it still had a few more pieces that could shatter at this sight. Coming back over, he set the pile to one side of him, then sat back down on the other. “Chuck...”

“I don’t know what I expected? Every girl, or hell- every guy, I’ve ever tried to date has never worked out for me. I don’t get it.” Oh, Trent should not have been so happy to hear those words. Well, he wasn’t happy to hear most of them, and was hurting for his friend, but two of them in particular stuck out to him like a sore thumb. Every guy. That meant Chuck had been on dates with men. That meant, even though it was fucked up to think about this at the moment, that Trent still had a chance.

“You just haven’t found the right one, man. None of those assholes from before deserve you anyways.” Chuck brought his gaze back over to Trent, eyes glassy and expression- disbelieving. His hair was matted to his head, still wet in some places, but mostly stuck in small spots to his forehead. Everything else about him was still about the same caliber as that, slowly drying and clinging to parts of his body that weren’t being disrupted by the comforter.

“Or maybe I didn’t deserve them...” Something- came over Trent then. There wasn’t a word for the mix of emotions he felt upon hearing that. But what he could feel were his hands taking either side of his best friend’s face and holding his head up to where he would look him in the eyes.

“That’s not true, you and I both know that. Anyone in the world would be lucky to have you.”

Chuck honest to god laughed at that and tilted his head. “Name one person.”

Fuck. For all intents and purposes, the answer he desperately wanted to give was ‘Me’, but that never came out of his mouth. Instead, it was like Trent was suspended in fear, unable to say what he wanted for the thought of being rejected. Or somehow even worse, him thinking it was a joke and getting upset with him. So, Trent said nothing, trying to think of a different response that would be true, but didn’t give himself away.

That was the nail in the coffin, though. Chuck took his silence as an answer, unable to provide a single person who could possibly want to be with him. The other man shook Trent’s hands away from his face, hurt welling up in his eyes with a grimace as he moved to grab the clothes that were gotten for him.

“See,” Chuck hobbled to a standing position, holding the clean garments close to his sodden chest like it was going to protect him from the pain he was feeling. Trent, just say something, anything, he yelled to himself whilst watching Chuck shuffle over to the bathroom and pull the door open. He flicked his eyes down to the floor for a moment before coming back up and locking onto Trent’s. “No one could ever love me...”

“Chuck-” Trent was too late, Chuck had already disappeared into the bathroom and locked the door behind him. And God damn it, his stomach had sunk to the depth of his being, twisting and turning like he was going to be sick. He should have said something. Even if it meant ruining the only thing he really had left to care about. There was his job, his other friends, his family and that; and while they meant a lot to him as well, he truly believed in that moment, and probably for some while now, that Chuck was his world.

As goofy and kind of bullshit as it was to hear, that’s what he felt like. That this guy he’s known for a good chunk of his life was his sun, moon, and every star in the sky. And Trent knew he’s never felt that way about another person. He knew that no other person on this Earth - or fuck, any other planet - could beam at him when they pull an upset and win a match together like he could. No one else made his chest feel warm whenever they complimented him quite the same way that Chuck did. There wasn’t a soul who had the same giggle, the wit, the determination, the personality- fucking any of it. No one had quite what his best friend had, and that was why he loved him.

Trent had no idea how long Chuck was going to be in there, or if he was ever going to come out. Knowing him, he could stay in there all night, not wanting to face the world again- let alone his friend. Even still, he got up from where he was and placed himself a few paces away from his bathroom door. Within his head, he hyped himself up, vowing that no matter if he got scared or felt like everything was going to go wrong, the New Yorker was going to tell him the truth.

Approximately 4 minutes later - if you asked Trent it felt like 10 years - Chuck finally emerged from his hiding place, dressed in some of his friend’s clothes and with shockingly drier hair. Not sure why he was so surprised that he had run a towel through it or something, but that didn’t matter. The taller man seemed confused as to why Trent was standing at the door, but before he could ask what was happening, Trent said, “I do.”

Chuck squinted at him with a, “What?” but it came out choked off and shaky, like he wasn’t prepared to speak.

“You said no one could ever love you, and that’s not true. Because I love you,” He wanted to protest, but now that Trent was talking, he couldn’t stop. “And I didn’t realize it until today, but I seriously am so in love with you that I don’t think I could picture my life without you. You mean everything to me and I would do anything for you just to see your beautiful smile or hear you say my name. And I know it sounds like I’m lying and that I’m trying to make you feel better, but I’m not. If I think about it, I feel like I’ve loved you forever but never realized it, and I wish I could have known sooner. Because you need to know that you’re the most amazing person I’ve ever met, and I would be the luckiest guy in the world to even have a chance with you-”

“Trent-”

“I love the way you purposefully send me a string of those stupid emojis over text because you know it annoys me. I love how you can make anyone feel better with just one smile and your passion for loving others. I love how much you love animals and how every dog you see, you consider kidnapping-'' Trent had become so caught up in his declaration that he hadn’t noticed his friend had moved from in front of him and Chuck’s lips were on his.

Before he could even do anything; not even get a gasp at the sudden action, Chuck was already pulling away, breathing as if he had just run a mile. His face was bright red and his hands were holding either of Trent’s arms as he searched his face for a reaction. Or anything really.

“I- I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have-” It felt as though Trent was living in one of those shitty romantic comedies he secretly liked to watch, because he was the one who cut Chuck off while speaking with an somehow even more desperate kiss. He felt him respond almost instant, bringing one of his hands up to Trent’s face to cup it gently as his own arms latched cautiously onto Chuck’s hips. And that was where they stayed, for who knew how long, but every second of it was exactly where they wanted to be.

You know, of all days to have the life-changing realization that you’re secretly in love with your best friend, Trent - and Chuck for that matter - hadn’t expected it to happen on (the day after) Valentine’s Day.

[utterlyinevitable]

The Messy Route

Dom’s OH playthrough where we use Ethan to get the diagnostics job, are FWB with Bryce and trying to romance Raf. MC is Dr. Love Lao. 

Ch. 1

Book 1, Ch 2

OH SHIT ANNIE IS CODING AND LIL LOVE LAO AINT PREPARED FOR THIS

ALMIGHTY HEROES BLESS U FOR SENDING JACKIE TO HER IN HER TIME OF EXTREME NEED. 

SHIT

So much for the plan. 

Sienna Trinh. Goddess of all things good in the world. We’re friends now. She doesn’t have a choice - Love nor Sienna. These girls are ride or die!!!

Asshat’s words get under Love’s skin and she is REELING. Being a doctor is all she’s ever wanted and on her first case she almost killed someone. Maybe everything she thought was wrong?? (Can you hear an identity crisis in the distance because I sure can)

Loves not a quitter. Never has been, never will be. Could the angry words of the one renowned attending she idolized change her?

Definitely not.

Girl just needs a mental break. Oh look there’s a supply closet!

Breathing in and out and trying to wrangle in the crushing feel of failure, she doesn’t get two minutes alone before the door swings open.

It’s the annoyingly attractive surgeon with the now-faltering smile and warm glow.

“Get in or get out Bryce. Just shut the door” ouchhhh she snapped at him and his smile completely disappeared

He joined her in the cramped space.

All signature cockiness left when he asked in his delicate and concerned honey-like cadence “what’s wrong”. She told him and he was a pretty good listener, all things considered. 

(She says that now but little does she know that is EXACTLY what she about to do the next two years 🎉)

Honestly it’s a shock that this dude has a heart and a pretty decent outlook on life. He’s oddly good at pep talks. Judging by his physique he wasn’t on cheer squad but dayummm

His hugs were soft and warm and peaceful as he pulled her against his toned chest. His arms strong and safe. Love could certainly do this again. Minus the whole closet breakdown thing.

She really wants to not like the guy. But

There’s just something about Bryce Lahela 🤔

And she wondered what his other talents include 😏

As he’s looking down at her with that sweet lopsided smile asking if this is all a ploy to get him alone she has a strong urge to stand on her toes and kiss his pretty lips.

But she pushes the urge aside with a chuckle. Time and place babes. This ain’t it. Also he’s a colleague. And they just met. And they’re in a supply closet. Not really a good first impression for all parties 👀

She gets a bit of flush on her pale cheeks when he departs with a wink. Leaving her alone to collect herself from her mini breakdown.

((I hc that with all Mrs Martinez’s free time and boredom she’s just doing squats in her room and has a very toned ass for an old person and just wants to show off. If she can’t lay naked in Cannes she’ll get the thrill of the breeze through her gown and the satisfaction of knowing she pulled someone out of their comfort zone for a minute or two))

Asking the nurses to page dr grumpmunch to meet her in Annie’s room was the most satisfying and gratifying feeling. Eat shit mothafuckerrr

He doesn’t have the common decency to come into the room? Or talk to the patient? Just lean against the doorframe like a limp ass tree ??? Absolutely ridiculous and callous behavior for a grown ass man. 

She’s SO pleased with herself as she follows Ethan out of the room.

Which lasts about 2 seconds until asshat checks his watch and hands her a prescription.

Love FLIPS. She does not need his charity or opportunity and just wants her patients treated with the best care. Having Annie wait another hour was precious time wasted. Wtf was he thinking???

Ugh 

Dr. Ramsey made a good point about growth and crap. But she’s too riled up to apologize or even listen. She just scowls and goes to walk away

BUT THEN she stops when Aurora finally turns up all pissy.

And Ethan’s kinda hot when his anger isn’t directed at her. Woah nelly, reign in the heart eyes he’s a total prick.

Though power is an aphrodisiac 👀

(Why am I just now noticing he calls himself a badger???)

(gosh she’s so pretty. And yet she’s going to let Mitch get away with treating her like garbage??? Oh pb and their inconsistencies 😔)

The surgeon looks good shirtless. His arms look amazing in his scrubs and the green really compliments his complexion. In his everyday clothes he looks... like and Ivy League douche. But those bracelets accompanying his watch are doing things to her.

Everything about Bryce Lahela is off putting and exciting.

So she joins him and his surgical buddies for a game of darts, wagering a kiss. They’re not at work no’mo might as well see if he lives up to all the talk 😏

He doesn’t play fair. His hot breath tickling the shell of her ear. Taunting that “medical interns can’t handle the heat”. 

Oh she can handle the heat alright. But maybe there’s more value in losing this bet? 

Love’s counting on it 

But she’s also not gotta let him off that easily. She does the same but lets her lips graze his ear. And, well... 

That stupid victory dance was a reward in itself. 

She licks her lips and grabs his outstretched hand. 

For a second time that day she’s pressed up against him with his strong arms wrapped around her. He tastes like malt and mint and sugar... Did he snag some cookies somewhere?? 

And then his lips trail away from hers and down her jaw and up to her ear and she’s molded into him and holding onto his biceps tightly in a state of pure bliss at this point. It’s going to be a good year. 

The surgeons call rounds for another game and Love taps out on that. She observed her friends all around the bar and found one pair of eyes swiftly averting from her. 

So she makes her way over to him. 

She eyed the empty glass in front of him and scoffed to herself. Scotch. It was her drink of choice in undergrad - she thought it would give her an enigmatic edge over her peers, instead of drinking beers like everyone and their older brother.

For the first time in the 15 hours she’s known asshat he shoots her a small smile of approval. Bingo. 

She scoffs audibly this time when he thinks she’s bribing him. He’s not completely wrong but she won’t give him the satisfaction. 

So she gives him a wry smile and says some garbage about a thank you for making her better.

He orders two specials and up this close she notices how devastatingly handsome Dr. Ramsey. Devastating because those looks are wasted on his garbage personality.   

Of course the drink he orders is delicious and she refuses to admit it. Dr. Ramsey sees right through her bluff and Love kinda appreciates it. She’s learning she can’t trick him and that’s valuable insight to file away for later. 

She’ll be blowing you, Ramsbo, darling.

(I’ve also never paid attention to Landry before... but now I’m starting to think he has a crush on MC and oh my god this route just got a lot more fun) ((but then again asking mc to teach ramsey his name is throwing me off)) 

________________________________________

A/N: Thanks for making it this far! I’m adding my taglist. Let me know if you’d like to be tagged in this mess or not ✌🏻❤

Masterlist

Perma:

@rookiemarsswiftie @lucy-268 @binny1985 @thegreentwin @queencarb @danijimenezv @starrystarrytrouble @terrm9 @interobanginyourmom @adrex04 @maurine07 @mercury84choices @schnitzelbutterfingers @theeccentricbibliophile @wingedhairstylemusicweasel​ @whimsicallywayward15​ @mvalentine​ @rookie-ramsey @drariellevalentine @lifeaskim @otherworldlypresents​ @therookie​ @aylaramseycarrera​ @angela8754 @fireycookie @stateofgracious​ @missmiimiie​ @uneravine​  @peaceinmidstofchaos​ @choicesaddict5​ @iemcpbchoices ​

[bogkeep]

i wrote down a rough outline for the Timian Fable and Vinta Qir story, just to have it written down Somewhere, and i feel like it’s only fair to share it with people who care about them!! i wrote it in a google doc but i’m gonna copypaste it under the readmore, so i hope the formatting isn’t too fucky.

(here’s a toyhouse page for my iphimery characters)

Prince Aljanah (third son of the queen, pretty far down in line to the throne, generally bored, has zero responsibilities and zero accountability) seduces Timian mostly for the heck of it. I mean, Timian is super cute, so like. Why not. He gives him a smooch and a stealthy “think about it, OK?” and oh god does Timian ever think about it. It’s a really Big Conflict in his brain because he has a DUTY and this goes against ALL DUTY and Aljanah is almost literally his employer (his loyalty is sworn to the royal family) so it’s like! What the hell is he supposed to do!! What the prince wants is supposed to trump what he wants, unless it puts the royal family’s safety in jeopardy, and AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH (and he kind of really wants to?? There’s a lot to unpack here?????)

 There’s some genuine friendship in there, where Aljanah helps Timian overcome some trauma around magic, but for the most part Timian is left pining for a relationship Aljanah isn’t interested in.

(Aljanah teaches Timian some light magic maybe??? Timian isn’t too keen on using it, ever. He does learn some very useful magic blocks though.)

Vinta is on a mission to assassinate Aljanah. Timian stops them and they are equally measured in strength. Vinta is about to use their magic (which they only use as a last resort), but Timian then has a moment of Gay (their faces are very close together) and blurts out something like “oh... you’re beautiful” which takes Vinta so unexpectedly aback they kind of… flee

Vinta tries again another time, but Timian is there again to meet them, and this time Vinta goes straight for the magic - which freaks Timian out bc trauma, but he remembers what Aljanah taught him and counters it. The ordeal leaves both of them so exhausted, they kind of just lie down and… start bonding over how magic kinda sucks. Very begrudgingly, on Vinta’s part at least. 

(“Please don’t forget me?” “I don’t think I could even if I wanted to”) Unsure If Vinta Agrees To Stop The Assassination But They Certainly Seem Very Unhappy About The Prospect Of One

Despite it seeming like Timian may never meet Vinta again… Vinta keeps showing up. Not as an assassin in the dark, but like, on the street? Off the clock? So they sort of start hanging out?? Vinta has a real knack for finding Timian anywhere, anytime… one time they come across him singing by himself down by the water, but they don’t approach him. Just sit down and listen out of sight, a little guilty for intruding. 

Timian seems awfully forgiving of Vinta attempting to murder his crush, but hey, Vinta was just trying to do his job. Timian seems extremely reluctant to talk about Aljanah at all ever though. Vinta slowly pieces together that Timian has some really strong and painful feelings towards the prince. IT’S COMPLICATED

Vinta never ever addresses the whole “you’re beautiful” thing. Timian never brings it up either. THEY’RE BOTH THINKING ABOUT IT, CONSTANTLY

This is like. The first time either of them has a friend who’s really their equal and who kind of really gets them. It’s so incredibly precious and neither wants to mess that up. This has never happened before in the history of gay

Timian’s relationship to romance/sexuality is very… he has a duty, you know? He has to be stronger than that and not let it ever distract him. So of course Aljanah comes along and MESSES ALL OF IT UP. GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

He has some issues. He’s working on it. 

In all honesty he started out very clueless like he didn’t recognize crushes as crushes for such a long time because “they’re just such lovely friends :)” you know. So it was very easy to say he was above these things BUT HE WASN’T!! HE WASN’T!!! HE WAS JUST A DUMBASS!!! What Aljanah does is essentially just confront the dumbassery head on and it’s like oh no *pictures of all his dear lovely friends spill out of pocket* “i’m gay???” “always was”

Vinta’s relationship to romance/sexuality was to repress all of it because they don’t belong to themself. They were like, keenly aware every time Some Feeling showed up uninvited and they would throttle it and shove it down where it never got to flourish. 1) they can’t have it 2) they don’t deserve it So don’t even try, you know? There’s no fucking point. 

AND SO THEY PINE FOR ONE ANOTHER

I mean they kind of… help each other a lot, sharing traumas, letting the other that they deserve to have nice things, and be a person maybe?? Maybe duty isn’t all there is for them out there? Sounds fake but ok [gazes longingly into each other’s eyes]

Vinta never goes through with the assassination on prince Aljanah but sometimes they kind of really want to. Not because of a job, but because oh my god Aljanah broke Timian’s heart and also AAUGHH HE DOESN’T DESERVE TIMIAN’S DEVOTION THIS IS UPSETTING I DON’T KNOW HOW TO COPE WITH THIS DSJKSDJKDSFJB!!

They also gotta deal with the pressure from the assassin’s guild. Since they’re one of the top assassins they got a lot of leeway at first, but now that they’re questioning both their purpose and loyalty and kind of push back… it’s getting kind of dangerous maybe. The other assassins start getting on their case as well and Vinta has to keep up appearances and prove that they’re not too Weak to do it.  Vinta has a lot of pride in their skills ok. Pride is one of the emotions they’ve let themself foster.

Meanwhile Timian is kind of slowly able to let go of his yearning for Aljanah, because he’s found a relationship that’s filling in all the wounds from what he’s not getting from the prince?? Like he’s investing in a friendship that’s actually fulfilling and a two way street? And maybe?? Something More?? SJAJHSDJKA???

It’s giving Timain the ability to set a boundary between himself and Aljanah that was sorely lacking before. Things are still kind of Strange and a little Painful but he’s on a healthier path and we’re all very proud of him

Look I haven’t thought too hard about the actual plot with the assassination and stuff but imagine that other assassins take on the mission to kill Aljanah and VINTA TEAMS UP WITH TIMIAN TO PROTECT THE GARBAGE PRINCE BECAUSE HE MATTERS TO TIMIAN. 

Aljanah hasn’t met Vinta before (he just sleeps through assassination attempts for the most time, it happens frequently enough that he just accepts that this is his lot in life???) and is like oh thank you and who do I owe the honor and Vinta just punches him in the face

Since that was overall confusing, Timian and Vinta kind of have to talk about it, and Vinta admits to having some… Selfish And Greedy Feelings and they are clearly not ready to confess properly yet

Timian has, for better or for worse, learnt some things from Aljanah. “You want to see something selfish?” he says, kissing Vinta. “Think about it, OK?” he says before he goes, leaving a VERY DAZED Vinta just standing there

[MORE THINGS HAPPEN????]

In the future. When Vinta has quit the guild and Timian is no longer a royal guard, and they make a home together and create a life where they no longer work in violence… 

Vinta collects knives because they love knifes. Knives have always felt Safe to them because magic has been the dangerous tool. Vinta gets really good at woodworking.

Timian helps out at an apothecary. Which is funny because his name just means thyme in norwegian. He doesn’t keep any polearms around, but if necessary he can wield a really mean pitchfork.

They’re both highly skilled fighters, but don’t try to drag them into any pointless wars, ok? It won’t end well for you.

They love and care eachother