#random prompt generator

[drowning-in-greed]

Check out these all the different random writing prompt/Ao3 tag generators over on my website, Prompt Roulette! Categories include:

With over 25,000 prompts and tags, these generators provide endless possibilities to help you craft something unique. Give these generators a try and see where your creativity takes you. Happy writing!

(I seriously learned coding just so I could make this - it's amazing what boredom from unemployment can do lol. If you have any suggestions, let me know!)

[modern-inheritance]

I’m flying back to the state where most of my bullshit is going on. We’ll see what happens but I’m determined to continue to at least fiddle with a few prompts.

While I’ve been here I managed (well, ChatGPT managed) to make both a python program that helps me randomly select characters and prompts to put to them and an iOS app that does the same. I can’t release the app but if you want the python code for your own use (you can easily replace the MIC content/lists with ones of your own choosing) just hit me up via messages and I’ll do my best to send it to you.

[spellwing777]

[kaijucabal]

Thi past two weeks have been rough, medically, and I’ve been home from work and unable to do just about anything, but back to work tomorrow, and I wanted to make sure I did my monthly update of my random prompt generator!

A short time ago I programmed a random prompt generator in excel and I have been updating, adding, and refining ever since. Access is through a QR code in my THIS ZINE FIGHTS ARTIST’S BLOCK zine and the whole thing is updated monthly. Today, it spit me out “wolf head”, “herb” with a tattoo vibe in a pop art style using mustard and dark olive hex colors….and that’s how we got from there to here! ❤️

[tinsil]

trance quina + gastro fork 👅🍴✨

[crustyfloor]

Luka is very good at keeping himself composed on stage, mostly with the help of maintaining track of his heart rate, but during Mizi's attack in ROMH he seemed to slip up, not only was the red background a tell-tale sign of Mizi's violent intentions but it was a more symbolic way of showing Luka in quite visceral fear. Even if for only a second.

I'm not convinced Luka will be as continuously calculated as he normally comes off, it all seems too fake to me. Because it is. It’s a similar case to Ivan who can't feel, isn't normal, isn't human enough so he makes a persona to blend in. So Luka, whoever he is, makes this version of himself to cope with what he has to live through, pretending like he's on top of it all to survive in this world.

So in round 7, I think something drastic will happen to make him 'snap' in a way.

It's safe to say that we don't know Luka. We don't know who he really is. We don't know his real desires. But we do know one thing--he is scared. he is afraid of the aliens. That's why he appeases them--being their trophy. He's only kept around for his purpose as an entertainer and nothing else and he's very aware of that. He knows very well that a dented trophy will be discarded; with that mindset, he's been able to get so far, and he's scared of losing. That's why he holds any little thing he can get his hands on close. And an important extension of that fear is his fear of losing power.

Till should be the more likely in this position, given he's such a rebel. But isn't that just too predictable? Keep in mind, that Till is a strong person. Even after all he's been through, even after he's been beaten into something more manageable for the aliens--He still hasn't lost his spark. Till is a raging storm. subdued but nonetheless a force to be reckoned with.

Round 6's effect on Till is greatly ambiguous for now but at this point when the time for round 7 comes, Till has been put through so much hell. Whatever Luka does to provoke him probably won't work, he and Luka are equally talented individuals and will make for an intense battle, and at the end of the day, the numbers won't lie. Exactly that is what Luka is ready for but scared of--a worthy opponent for the throne. Someone capable of stripping him of his power. (Is fear what makes Luka so dismissive?)

It would be so aggravating that this 'pest'. who is so indignant, so rebellious (in a way Luka envies.), could so easily destroy everything Luka has worked for, disregard every pain Luka has been through to get to this point, and Till doesn't value this throne as much as Luka does, and Luka doesn't want to feel the pain of death anymore. If his facade is as destructible as I think it is, that will be what ultimately brings out Luka.

This idea may be flawed. Luka is so perfect, too perfect and confident and experienced for something as little as that to break him, just think of all the training Luka went through to get to this point. I'm positive he's very aware of what playing unfairly will lead to. But isn't there always room for a wild card?

Just remember what happened to Hyun-woo.

What happened here isn't fully explained (and probably will be in round 7) but imagine Luka: "Trophy child, goody two shoes" Luka possibly killing another human. Whether by accident or not, what happened?--what and how did Luka feel in the moment for the repercussions of whatever happened to be that bad?

A Luka that is secretly greatly insecure, pliable, and defensive enough that in a spur of emotions, he can’t help but lose his cool in a way he hasn’t in a while because he’s afraid—just to try and prove he is still valuable. That is the type of character I theorize we'll come to see in round 7.

[emcapi-gaming]

Roevember: Name

Baderon: "So what do they call y─ Nay, don't tell me. 'Tis on the tip o' me tongue... 'Tis...'tis...'tis bloody gone is what it is. Bollocks."

???: "...You know what's real funny? I... just realized I don't remember either."

Baderon: "They say this forgetfulness is some lingerin' effect o' the Calamity. I say it's a Leviathan-sized pain in the arse. Mind, yours seems especially bad. I've seen plenty o' folks what can't remember other names, but not rememberin' yer own? Hmm. What's the last thing ye can remember?"

???: "I... had a strange dream. Then I woke up on the ship, just as we were pulling into port. But before that, it's... fuck, there's nothing."

Baderon: "Well! That's mighty strange. No good frettin' about it too much, though, I reckon. Either it'll come back to ye in time, or it won't. Could be the Calamity. Could be as simple as ye took a bad knock to the noggin - ye look like a fightin' sort to me. Trouble is, though, I can't get ye properly registered with the guild without some sort o' name."

???: "I swear, it's right there, I just can't quite... I think... Ar... Ar-something?"

Baderon: "Take yer time, lass."

Ar???: "Think there's a D in there somewhere. ...Snrk. Ahem. Ard...? I think maybe... Ard...win? Yeah. Yeah, I think that sounds right."

Baderon: "A-r-d-w-y-n?"

Ardwyn?: "No, with an I, like wind. Or winner. I'm pretty sure. My first name."

Baderon: "Good a name as any, I reckon. Fits ye pretty well. Care to venture a guess at a family name?"

Ardwin: "Oh, gods, no, I've got a splitting headache already from trying to dredge up that much."

Baderon: "Hah, fair enough. Just Ardwin it is, then."

[demonzoro]

[fic] turnabout (is fair play)

pairing: roronoa zoro/sanji rating: teen and up word count: 2.5k

"No 'fair'; no fouls; no rules," Sanji sing-songs at him. Which (and Sanji should really, really, be at least this self-aware) is an incredibly dangerous thing for someone like the cook to say. Or: the one where Zoro and Sanji hash out the unspoken rules of their little contests. On the floor. Horizontally. (Not an entendre.)

read on ao3. 

[vvelegrin]

google search writing prompts

google search good writing prompts

google search writing prompts that aren't bad

google search writing prompts that are not stupid and in the very particular tone of certain social media writing communities that i do not especially care for

GOOGLE SEARCH WRITING PROMPTS PLEASE AAAHHHH

[spacenintendogs]

so sleepy....

30 days of wolfox: day 1

[hella1975]

in secondary school my form room teacher was a really strict, by-the-book lady who took herself very seriously and generally had an odd, hard to crack sense of humour, but it was a known thing that she was married to one of the maths teachers, who was the loudest, most emotional guy in the entire world, and it was so funny bc everyone in the school was baffled that they were married but my form room, in having her as our form teacher for five years, got like. VIP extra rare insight into their marriage to the point people would beg for anyone in my class to trade gossip about it like looking back it's hysterical how invested we all were in this couple and one thing we'd always tell people was when the maths teacher would just. show up at our classroom. because basically for people who don't understand form room, it's the class you go to every morning - the same one, the same teacher, the same people - for five years to do registration, and the maths teacher didn't have a form room so sometimes when he was bored before first period he'd just. show up to ours. and every single time without fail my form teacher would rip his head off for it bc it was 'unprofessional' and he was 'bugging her' and he'd wander off again with his tail between his legs but without fail would do it again another day. like he would just show up at her classroom whenever he was free and she'd be like 'well IM not free. get out' and we'd all be there like this is fucking golden i can't wait to tell literally everyone. one time he beat her to class and started doing the register for her and making up new names/butchering our actual names as he went and when she came in i actually thought she might throw a chair at him.

[drowning-in-greed]

[puhpandas]

prompt from @kookyc

Extinct

(891 words)

It was supposed to just be a silly marathon.

Gregory threw out the idea to Freddy, who mentioned wanting to learn more about the outside world. Which... he cant really do as only a head, despite Gregory and Vanessa having plans to get him a body.

Gregory just wanted to show him some of the world around him, nature and all that crap, from the comfort of Vanessa's apartment, by watching a nature documentary.

Gregory should have known letting the episode about bears play was a bad idea.

"Bears are extinct?!" Freddy cries, once again suprising Gregory with the suprising amount of emotion in his robotic voice.

Gregory sighs, and facepalms, pausing the TV. "Yeah. Went extinct a couple years back. Polar bears went first, and then they all just kinda dropped from there."

Freddy sputters, and looks at the grizzly bear on the TV with somehow shiny eyes. "B-But I thought humans were supposed to protect nature and the wild animals that inhabit it!"

Gregory frowns. "Yeah, they're supposed to. But things happened and not everything can be saved."

Freddy looks away from the TV and at him, LED eyes shining bright with emotion. "I am a bear. I am Freddy Fazbear. What does this mean for me?"

Gregory sighs. "Oh boy."

"If bears are all extinct, does that mean I am the last bear in the world?" Freddy starts, eyes staring blankly at the wall. "I am not a real bear, though. Does that mean I am apart of my own species? With the Pizzaplex closing down, will there be no more of me made? Am I the last of my kind?!"

Gregory pats Freddys head when he begins to sound frantic, and he grabs the remote, turning off the documentary and putting on YouTube. "Maybe we should watch something else. I dont think worrying over whether you can go extinct as a robot is good for your programming."

Freddy mimics taking a deep breath, like how Vanessa showed him how to do if Freddy ever malfunctions over Gregory being away. "You are right, Gregory. What would my ancestors think if I was wasting the life of the last bear on earth with worrying? They would want me to live it to the fullest!"

Gregory pauses. "Er... that's not what I meant--"

"Nonsense!" Freddy exclaims. "Put on some more information about nature, Superstar. I want to learn about those before me!"

Vanessa walks into the room before Gregory can respond, holding a bowl of popcorn. "I heard yelling. What happened?"

Gregory waves sporratically at the TV and then at Freddy. "Vanessa, tell Freddy that he isn't apart of a species and that he wont go extinct like bears did!"

Vanessa plops down on the couch, and she hums nonchalantly, in thought.

"Well... technically..."

Gregory stares at her. "Vanessa."

Gregory can see a slight twitch in her carefully neural expression, and he feels his blood boil. "Technically, Glamrock Freddys have gone extinct, since they wont be rebuilding another Pizzaplex."

Gregory stands up off the couch. "But he isnt even apart of a species to begin with! He cant even go extinct!"

Vanessa's stony expression finally breaks, and she bursts out laughing when Freddy cries out.

"So it is true!" Freddy exclaims, distraught. "I am the last Glamrock Freddy!"

Gregory shakes his head and sighs, sitting down. "Sure, I guess... but Freddy, you arent just a Glamrock Freddy," Gregory says, and sends Vanessa the stink eye when shes still laughing.

"You're one of a kind. And being so unique that there arent any more of you isnt a bad thing. How would you feel if there were two of me?"

Freddy hums, mulling over Gregory's words. "I cannot imagine there being two of you, Superstar, same with Vanessa, but..." He trails off. "You are not like me, Gregory. You were not created to entertain and inspire. You are just you, and I am me."

"That's right. You're you." Gregory counters. "It doesnt matter why we were created, it matters what we do with our lives while we live them."

Gregory sends Vanessa a meaningful look, and she just stares at them when her laughter dies down considerably, a serious expression on her face.

"Damn," Vanessa pokes him. "Why are you pulling out all of the existential wise words, squirt?"

Gregory shrugs. "I dunno. Freddy seems like he needs it."

Freddy rumbles a low sound, and Gregory recognizes it as thinking. "So..." Freddy begins. "you are saying that I am myself, and there is nobody else like me, therefore I cannot truly die?"

Gregory scratches behind his head. "Well, I didnt put it like that..." He says. "But yeah. I guess."

Freddy smiles. "That was very wise, Superstar." He praises. "I will keep this in mind next time I feel like I am in a jumble."

"...Jumble?" Gregory mutters, then shakes his head. "No problem, Freddy. I just don't want you to have an existential crisis again."

"How about we watch one of your, as you put it, 'vlogs', Superstar?" Freddy asks.

Gregory grins. "You dont even have to ask."

The video Gregory put on was only playing for a couple minutes when Vanessa spoke up suddenly, a quiet mumble.

"Well technically, a long line of Freddys have been fizzled out over decades and never used again, so Freddy can go extinct."

"Vanessa!"

ao3 link

[wellfine]

Can I take a wild swing at your Childhood friends AU?

I've had a few people reach out and ask if they can write stuff about that AU (or just straight up say they're going to take it without asking, haha..) so I'm gonna answer this one publicly as a blanket answer that's basically "yes"!

I don't own the concept of a childhood friends AU and I'm sure I'm not the first person to think about Usopp & Sanji meeting when they were young, so already I don't feel right telling people they can't take inspo from my AU. And also, I'd love to read more people's takes and interpretations on this AU and sanuso in general!

Sometimes I can be precious about my concepts in case I'd like to work them into my own comics/stories but I think this one is fair game! If you take direct inspiration from my work in your fic then I would appreciate credit/a link back, but like I said, I can't really claim ownership over such a broad concept.

Let me know if you publish it though so I can read it!

[peaceoutofthepieces]

57. or 59. + 67. for Kandreil again please!! 😭🙏

i am sorry this has taken approx. two years. i sincerely hope you still enjoy

57. “Listen to me!”

59. “Don’t yell at me.”

67. “It’s you, it’s always been you.”

Being alone—truly alone—for the first time in one's life would have thrown anyone.

This is what Kevin told himself as he left. This is what Kevin told himself as he sat on the plane. This is what Kevin told himself as he stood in a bare apartment, empty but for the boxes and bags surrounding him. This is what Kevin told himself as he went to bed without another body no more than a door away for the first time in his life.

His body, exhausted enough from the travel and the private practice Kevin had put it through (he didn't yet have keys to his new court), pulled him into sleep, but it could not keep him there for long. His mind would not rest the same way. 

He would like to say the buzz of his phone woke him, but he'd been awake with the sun, staring at the ceiling—white, still white, but not the right shade—and it merely drew him out of a daze. The list of people who had his number, and who used it, had grown longer in the past year, and he did not waste time going over who might be trying to reach him at this hour. Not when the majority of his contacts were in a different time-zone, anyway. In the few seconds it took him to collect his phone, though, an entire cycle of emotions raced for his attention—panic, fear, annoyance, relief.

He could not name the feeling that overtook him at the sight of Neil's name. 

Part of it was—not surprise, exactly, but an unexpectedness. Neil was known for his inability to contact, purely from the disinterest he took in his phone, despite Andrew's constant warnings. He'd used it, Kevin knew, to keep an eye on Jean in the beginning, and he used it to maintain contact with his uncle, which was somewhat concerning but not Kevin's place to comment on. Then, he'd used it to keep up with the graduated Foxes, but Kevin knew Neil was never the one to initiate contact even there. 

Neil did not understand the concept of casual in any sense, but when it came to texting or calling, his bafflement reached yet new heights. Kevin understood, in a way, having grown up in the Nest. Living a life on the run made traceable contact more than uninteresting—it may well have been deadly. It made sense that still, Neil only felt the need to use it in emergencies. 

Which probably should have made Kevin worried. But while fear was mixed into the unnamable emotion, it was not the primary sensation. 

If it was really an emergency, Kevin justified, surely Neil would have called.

The message that awaited him was far from worrying, but he couldn't deny his confusion. 

Neil: You left your navy shirt with the weird horse logo. Andrew's joking about burning it.

Kevin's first instinct was to roll his eyes; trust Neil to have no lick of knowledge about branding, despite Andrew's tireless work at recreating his wardrobe. His second reaction was to frown in mild concern. 

He did not overthink it. He messaged back. 

Kevin: Since when does Andrew joke? 

A few minutes later, his phone pinged, but it wasn't Neil. 

Andrew: I'm not joking.

Kevin's phone slipped, and he gripped it tighter in sweaty fingers. If Neil was terrible at using his phone, Andrew was a hypocrite. Kevin was fairly sure the only people Andrew ever messaged were Renee, Bee, and Neil himself. He had never once messaged Kevin. 

Kevin supposed they'd never needed to, before. 

His phone pinged again, then again. 

Neil: All the time. It was easier to tell when he was high, now it just depends on how bored he sounds and how unlikely it is he means what he's saying. 

Neil: Even Nicky realised it this time.

Neil: Apparently Andrew ‘has enough taste to know better’, whatever that means. I'm guessing the shirt is expensive? 

Kevin blinked. 

Kevin: Is everything alright? 

There was no obvious explanation for the texts. Kevin would worry Neil was dancing around something, drawing him in to ask something of him or break some terrible news, but Neil was not the type. He always had been and always would be a liar, but he was also blunt. He did not sugarcoat. There would be no reason to message Kevin such nonsense if he had something more important to say. 

He waited, but this reply took longer. He was debating finally getting out of bed when it arrived. 

Neil: Yep. Everything alright with you? 

Oh. 

Was that what this was? Checking up on him? 

Kevin: Yes.

He debated with himself, then gave in to the impulse. 

Kevin: I'm not used to the quiet yet.

Neil: Makes sense.

Again, Kevin waited, but there was nothing more. Kevin could not think of another response—it didn't seem necessary, and he had already embarrassed himself enough. He expected, really, for that to be the end of it. 

By the time he got out of the shower, there was another message. 

Andrew: Respond to Neil if you're still alive.

Kevin checked, but Neil hadn't sent him anything else in the interim. He debated responding directly to Andrew—the two lonely incoming messages looked out of place and unfinished, when he stared at their text thread too long—but decided against it. Neil was the safer option of the two. 

Kevin: The shirt is expensive. If you're going to do anything with it, you should wear it. It will cover your next trip to Eden's. 

This was not, however, the safest response. It was stupid at best, but now there was no way of taking it back. 

He hadn't expected the distance to fuck with his head this quickly. In the past two years, he had held himself tightly in check, and would never have let such a suggestive thing slip. 

Neil wouldn't pick up on it, Kevin knew. At worst, Neil would be pissed off at Kevin managing his fashion choices from a distance. He would take it as derision, or dry teasing, knowing now Kevin was capable of such a thing, but not as an invitation. Not as a hopeful suggestion; not as Kevin being just short of begging. 

No, Neil would never pick up on it. 

But Andrew might. 

Before Kevin could spiral under the implications of this, his phone buzzed again. 

Neil: Won't be the same without you.

Oh, dear. Now Kevin could spiral for an entirely new reason. 

~^~

Kevin expected, after, for the texting to become more of a habit. 

He wasn't expecting Neil to show up at his door with Andrew in tow. 

It was mid-term, and Kevin had thought they might take an extended trip to Columbia. But there was no reason to waste two full days of their break just to get to Kevin and back. 

“What are you doing here?” Kevin asked, still frozen in the doorway of his apartment. 

Neil made a face at him. “Nice to see you, too. I brought your shirt.”

Kevin stared at him. He was startled all over again by how blue Neil's eyes were, now that he'd gone so long without seeing them. Neil never tried to hide them anymore. They gazed up at Kevin, clear and unflinching and beautiful. Since Neil returned to the Foxes after Baltimore, he and Kevin had never been apart long enough to go through any remarkable change without each other. Part of Kevin suggested that even now, nothing was different, but a larger part of him was reacting as if he had never seen Neil before. Perhaps that scar was lighter, or his jaw was sharper, or his hair had grown. But Kevin couldn't pin down anything, couldn't explain why Neil seemed to him, in this moment, more beautiful than ever. 

Was this what loneliness had done to him? 

No, Kevin thought. This is what they've always done to you.

He hadn't yet looked at Andrew. 

Kevin clenched his left hand to stop its trembling. “You've come all this way to give me a shirt?”

Andrew stepped up to Neil's shoulder. “We can leave.”

It was an unmistakable challenge. Kevin's mistake was in finally giving in and meeting Andrew's gaze. 

Andrew's beauty was softer than Neil's. Quieter. Neil, certainly against his best wishes, could not be overlooked. He attracted attention like a knife or a gun, harsh and deadly and surprising. Andrew did not have the same unexpected quality; he was beautiful like the night, vast and reliable and consuming, and no less lethal. 

Kevin's knees threatened to buckle. He covered it by stepping back and allowing Neil and Andrew in. 

Neil immediately began giving himself a tour of the apartment. Andrew dropped their bags, then planted himself in the middle of the hallway and watched Kevin, who was still hovering by the door. He had never been so unsure of himself in their presence, but it had been over a month. Here, now, with Andrew in front of him, that time felt like both a blink and an eternity. Nothing had changed. Everything was different. He could not remember. He had spent so much time feeling the absence of them, he couldn't be sure if this was how he used to feel with them near. He wasn't sure how he'd survived this long if it had been. 

“Take a picture,” Andrew drawled.

Kevin tore his gaze away, then resolutely directed it back, mustering some of his old confident irritation. “Excuse my surprise. I'd have thought you would have told me you were coming.”

Andrew shrugged. “Last minute decision.”

Kevin almost huffed. Even so, the hours it would have taken them to get here would have been plenty of time to notify him—even so, a text would have taken a few seconds before they'd even left. 

“We were bored,” Neil said, returning from wherever he'd been nosying through. “And we were already in the car.”

That stung more than it should have—more than Kevin could allow himself to acknowledge. He parsed through that for a response and came up with, “With my shirt.”

Neil shrugged, now showing a vested interest in the hallway itself. “You told me to wear it.”

Kevin's stomach flipped. He swallowed, roughly, and turned away. “You can put your bags in the spare room.”

Andrew moved to do so wordlessly. Kevin knew he would use it as an excuse for doing his own poking around, but he didn't care. There was nothing material Kevin wanted or needed to hide from them. 

“How've you been?” Neil asked. Kevin had forgotten the weight of his scrutiny. It didn't matter what Kevin answered—the way Neil was looking at him meant he'd already begun taking Kevin apart. 

He couldn't help answering, “I'm fine.”

Neil's smile was wry, but less vicious than it had once been. 

“You gonna show us your new court?” Neil asked, doing a slight bounce on his toes that made Kevin's heart tumble. This was alright, though. This was safe, familiar territory. Kevin's feelings became much less complicated when he could focus on exy. 

Andrew rematerialised at Neil's side with a derisive sound. “I am having food first.” He looked expectantly at Kevin, and Kevin felt another shiver of inexplicable nerves, of something like failure or inadequacy. 

He mended it quickly. “There's a cafe a few blocks over that does desserts.”

Andrew looked as close to pleased as Kevin had ever seen him; Neil looked all too knowing. Kevin stopped looking at either of them. 

~^~

Even when darkness fell and they parted ways into separate rooms, Kevin’s awareness of their presence was a physical thing beside him, a buzzing in his ears that would not allow him to sleep. He strained to hear over it, in case there really were any audible signs of life in the apartment aside from his frantic heartbeat. Then he realised what he was doing and turned onto his side, pressing his face to his pillow in hopes of muffling everything else. 

It didn’t work.

He dragged himself out of bed, hoping a wander to the bathroom and to the kitchen for a drink would settle him. But this was just another mistake. 

A silhouette already occupied the kitchen. Kevin made out Neil's shape, his outline wreathed in moonlight where he stood in front of the window, his hands planted on the counter. There was no hope of turning tail and escaping; Neil heard him before he'd even fully entered the room and turned to glance at him. 

Neil's eyes were midnight blue in the dark. “Hey.”

“Hey.” Kevin crept into the room. “Trouble sleeping?”

Neil shrugged. 

Kevin did not require explanation, really. He knew what it was like, trying to make yourself comfortable in an unfamiliar environment. Maybe Neil had been used to it, once, or maybe that was unfair—maybe, once, he had struggled all the more. Kevin knew well that the imminent threat of death could keep anyone awake. 

“Why did you really come?” Kevin asked. It was easier, in the darkness, over-tired, when he already felt raw and exposed and apart from reality. 

The afterward was the nerve-wracking bit, and Neil did not make it easier. He turned to lean back against the counter and eyed Kevin quietly, his hands flexing where they gripped the granite. “Why do you think we came?”

Kevin bit down a scoff. He should have expected the non-answer, but that didn't make it less irritating. He gave a jerky shrug. “I suppose you still don't think I can take care of myself.” 

“That's not true,” Neil denied, his brow furrowing. “I never thought that.”

“You're a known liar,” Kevin dismissed.

“Known to be bad at it.” The voice came from behind him, but Kevin didn't turn. His breath hitched as Andrew slipped past him and into the kitchen, ignoring them both as he filled himself a glass of water. 

Neil nodded at him, as if that was all the explanation and evidence necessary. Then he eyed Kevin a little more thoughtfully. “Do you not want us here?”

“That's not it,” Kevin said, because he was not known for being a good liar, either. 

“But there is something?”

Kevin fidgeted. “I just don't—I don't understand.”

Andrew clinked his glass down into the sink and turned to stare Kevin down. “What is there to understand?”

You, Kevin thought exasperatedly. Why you're here. Why you didn't tell me you were coming. Why you still allow me in your lives at all, when you must know by now how I feel. Us. This. Pick one.

“Don't you want to spend your break together?” Kevin landed on, with a little more bitterness than intended. 

Neil and Andrew shared a look, and that, right there, was what Kevin meant. When he was in their presence, he couldn't deny their unity, that together they were a part of something that Kevin was not. He could remain in their orbit, clinging to their gravity, but they were a world of their own and in the end, he was just a blink in their universe. 

Kevin had hoped that distance would allow him to find his own gravity, and he would not feel so untethered when he looked at them and remembered he was not theirs. 

He should have known that a pull that strong could not be weakened by something as insignificant as space. 

“It is not as if we don't see each other enough,” Andrew finally commented, dry and unconcerned. 

Neil pulled a face at him. “We are spending the break together,” he pointed out. He turned back to Kevin with a shrug. “We just wanted to see you, too.”

Kevin waited for the punchline. For Andrew, at least, to refute wanting anything other than Neil, which he still denied even at its most obvious. But Andrew just stood quietly, and Neil kept looking at Kevin in a way that was not soft, was not really even friendly, but was all the more honest and disarming for it. 

Kevin felt suddenly, inexplicably furious. “What a generous afterthought.”

Neil furrowed his brow. “Kevin���”

“I do not need your pity,” Kevin snapped. Neil, to his credit, didn't flinch. “I am not the answer to whatever poor attempt at self-improvement this is.”

Andrew glanced back and forth between them, looking as close to amused as he got as Neil rolled his eyes heavenward. “Jesus Christ, you're impossible. I don't know which one of your issues this meltdown is stemming from, but we only came to—”

Kevin turned and strode back into the hall before he could hear the rest. 

Neil said something loudly in Russian which Kevin assumed was a swear before calling after him. “Do you always need to be such a drama queen? Kevin, come on. Kev, listen to me!” He caught up to Kevin and latched a hand around his wrist. 

Kevin spun on him, jerking out of his grip. Neil retracted his hands, holding them up peaceably. “Don't yell at me.”

“Then listen to me,” Neil insisted. “What's wrong? You've been weird since we got here and now you're being pissy.”

Andrew followed them out. “Neil, don't tease him.”

“No, I need him to say it.” Neil didn't tear his gaze away from Kevin, resolute and equally pissed off in the face of Kevin's ire. 

Kevin shifted. “Say what?”

“Kevin, why do you think I'm here?” When Kevin opened his mouth to respond, Neil held up a hand. “No, think about it for a second. Not just here in your apartment. Why do you think I ever came with you in the first place?”

“To play,” Kevin said easily, blankly. What did this have to do with anything? “It was the stupidest thing you have ever done.”

Andrew twitched, and Kevin wondered if he was about to disagree or simply amused again. They both knew Neil had done much stupider things, but that had been the causal point of them all.

Neil was undeterred. “Probably. So do you think if anyone other than Kevin Day had asked me, I would've done it?”

Kevin opened his mouth. Closed it again. 

Neil inched closer. “What other reason could I possibly have had that would've made me think it was worth it?”

“I didn't think you were thinking at all,” Kevin couldn't help answering. 

Neil made a sound of frustration, almost a growl, then crushed it into softness. “It's you, Kevin. Do you not get that? It's you, it's always been you.”

Kevin's breath caught, and it was ridiculous, because Neil didn't even mean it like that. He had never meant it like that. Kevin had understood, upon finding out who Neil was and the connection between them, that Neil's joining him had always been something more, but it had never been that. It was something like how Kevin hung onto Jean, even now—that memory of the brightest part of a dark place and the desperate desire to cling to it. He'd made the comparison before, and it almost made him laugh, how accurate it was, except Kevin knew now how Jean had felt and how it had hurt and that it didn't any longer. 

This—them—could never be so clean cut. Neil was a gun or a knife and Andrew was the night and so it would always hurt, like a wound reopened again and again, as surely as the sun would always set. 

Kevin's response was scathing. “I'm sure I've exceeded all your expectations.”

Neil laughed, sharp and sure. “Oh, you're so much worse.”

“Enough.” Andrew put himself between them, slipping into Kevin's space as easily as if he had never left. His gaze was a trap that Kevin fell into without a second thought. “Tell us you don't want us here.”

“What?”

“Tell us to go,” Andrew said easily, “and we'll go.”

Kevin fumbled. “I didn't—that wasn't—”

“Or tell us to stay. But it has to be one or the other. A non-answer is as good as a no.” Andrew shrugged. “The choice is yours.”

“Don't pretend it's that simple,” Kevin snapped. He felt tense and agitated, unsure of which way to run. It all came down to deals with Andrew, to definites, but they were never as straightforward as he made them seem. Kevin had witnessed it, with Aaron and Neil and himself—how easily one gave to make way for another, how a yes was only a yes until it was no. 

Kevin would tell them to stay, and at the end of the week, what would happen? They would have to go, and instead of being Andrew-and-Neil and Kevin, they would return to their planet of two, and he would still be alone. 

“You suck at this,” Neil said bluntly, and Kevin blanched for a moment before realising he was talking to Andrew. 

The look Andrew sent back at him would have meant death, to anyone else. When Neil was the recipient, it was almost affectionate. “Because it is clearly your area of expertise.”

“Alright, genius. The fact even I can tell you're confusing him just makes my point.”

“He isn't confused.” Andrew cut his gaze back to Kevin. “He's a coward.”

Kevin fumed. “What makes you think—”

His breath cut off as Andrew took another step into his space, until he was forced to tilt his head down just to look at him. “Why,” Andrew asked softly, “are you still waiting to be punished for wanting something?”

And just like that, everything shifted. 

“You know.”

Andrew raised a brow. Neil rolled his eyes. “I was able to figure it out on my own, Kev. Are you saying you didn't?”

Wordlessly, Kevin shook his head. 

“You are even more dense than I gave you credit for,” Andrew said. 

“Can you—” Kevin cleared his throat “—can you spell it out for me?”

Andrew let a breath out through his nose. 

Neil nudged up behind Andrew's shoulder. “Yes or no, Kevin?”

Kevin blinked and tried to hold in the immediate yes that wanted to escape. “To what?” he managed, though it didn't matter. He could play defense all he liked, but it wasn't where his talents lay. In the end, he would take the shot. 

He wouldn't be able to resist giving them anything they asked for. 

Neil nodded to Andrew and said, “Kiss him.” 

Kevin did not take time to think anything trivial or snarky like him? Not you? because he was not stupid enough to miss such an open net from one of the few people in the world able to shut him out. Thoughtless and breathless, but with the surety and precision that came from thinking a move over again and again, he said, “Yes.”

And then Andrew was kissing him. 

Andrew was kissing him.

Kevin had been kissed plenty, and it apparently did not make a difference when it was another man; kissing was kissing, and his body knew how to do it. His head was last to process, unable to make it past the fact that Andrew was kissing him, but by then they'd already reached a rhythm and he was fairly sure he'd made an absolutely embarrassing noise, and Andrew's hand was in his hair. Incredulous, irrepressible laughter bubbled in Kevin's chest. 

Andrew's teeth dug into his bottom lip. “What's funny?”

Kevin laughed a little more. “When I imagined this, I failed to focus on how short you are.”

Andrew's look spoke death. To Kevin, it felt almost affectionate. 

“I'm sure there's ways around that,” Neil said dryly. When Kevin managed to look at him, he noted with not a small amount of satisfaction that Neil must have only managed that tone with a dedicated amount of control. In the dim light of the hallway, his pupils had blown, and he seemed unsure of whether to look at Andrew or Kevin. 

The impossible part, Kevin realised, had already passed—his lips were tingling with the remnants of Andrew's kiss. The game had changed, and no move from here on was too risky to take. 

He raised his brows, letting the corner of his mouth curl upwards. “Are you offering to test that theory?”

Neil had never been one to back down from a challenge. 

[specialshinytrinkets]

Tomboy Wee Bee, give it up for tomboy Wee Bee 👏👏👏

The OG he/him lesbian. Or transmasc. Or yet-to-crack transfem- There can be a lot of interpretations, you just gotta look into my brain and accept it