#real velma hours

[july-19th-club]

seven or eight times now ive watched the episodes in which they take the andromache and this is the first time ive realized that during the initial battle, after they board, every time the camera is from dufresne's perspective it's blurrier than otherwise because. he took his glasses off for the fight

[kiwi-on-ice]

Halloween couples costumes with Overwatch men + women with fem!reader

Word count: 2.8k

Warnings: Not fully smut but definitely nsfw elements in some

Notes: Happy Halloween!! <3 and thank you all so much for your support throughout kinktober, it’s been stressful but so fun! Hope you all have a spooky day, love from kiwi xx

Women:

Ashe:

Inspired by @ovwechoes she’d definitely love to go as Poison Ivy, with you as her Harley Quinn, buying you both the best quality costumes. Makes the perfect distraction, people are too busy staring at you both unashamedly to notice her gang pick-pocketing them and robbing a few shops before you disappear into crowd of costumes.

She buys you Harley's original jester outfit (the tight leather has her blushing just a little, as her hand won’t be able to help wandering over your curves). She wears a green corset, with tights and gloves that feel so lovely to the touch, complete with fake leaves that go around her. Every time your eyes go to her cleavage, she tilts your chin up with a teasing smirk, telling you ‘my eyes are up here, sugar.’

Junker Queen:

Loves Halloween, she’d definitely want to dress SCARY. Would want to see the slight fear on people’s faces, so she goes as a vampire. But she whites out her face, putting red contacts in her eyes, and covers herself in fake blood. She looks horrifyingly sexy, in a tight black outfit fitted with a cloak, and even fake fangs.

When she shows you your costume…or lack thereof you’re confused. But then with glee she tells you that you’re clearly the vampire’s plaything, the tasty morsel she drags around. That’s why you’re in a short white nightdress, with lacy stockings and garters. She paints red marks on your neck and wrists like you’ve been bitten (and even offers to leave some real marks, for the sake of realism of course)

Kiriko:

Another one who loves Halloween, and you both scroll through Pinterest for hours collecting ideas before you decide on what to wear to the Halloween party you’d been invited to.

You go as Daphne and Velma, and you both do a coin toss to decide who gets who. She gets Daphne, dressing in a tight purple dress with white go-go boots, whereas you get an orange jumper and red skirt, with some black rimmed glasses to complete it.

Kiriko insists on pulling up your long socks for you, kissing up your leg to tease you. You get her back though, running your hands down her dress under the guise of smoothing it down, so you can feel her up. On second thoughts…maybe you both are gonna be late for the party.

Mercy:

Surprisingly can be a little self conscious about dressing up, despite how much she actually loves it. So having you also be enthusiastic helps her a lot. You show her lots of pictures, but she seems the most curious about Kim Possible and Shego. You assume she wants to be Kim, but you couldn’t be more wrong.

So on the night, your jaw drops to the floor when you see her in the skintight black and green body suit, blonde hair tucked away underneath a curled black wig. She looks stunning, as she tells you she wanted to dress as the opposite of how she normally presents, an angel into a demon so to speak.

But when she holds your waist where your black crop top ends, your knees almost buckle out how gorgeous she is. And it makes your eyes wander to attempt to find how exactly she zipped it up…

Moira:

She’d laugh at you teasingly for how much you want to match with her, but she allows you to pick her costume. For once, you can dress her up like your own doll, and dress her you do.

You pick Rapunzel and Flynn rider, with you wearing a shorter version of her purple dress, with a dainty crown, and her in as close to the film’s costume as you can. You practically drool as you see her (and you’ll probably have to show her the film, since she’s clueless as to who she’s meant to be)

Although afterwards, she’ll make teasing comments about ‘stealing’ your heart away before grabbing your crown and holding it above your head, delighting when you attempt to jump and grab it.

Sombra:

Oh man she loves Halloween; and you both go all out every year. This year, she gets the idea to do beetlejuice and Lydia. She creates a ‘sexy’ beetlejuice outfit, with the black and white striped jacket and top, with a short skirt and sheer tights. She does her makeup gorgeously, with a black smokey eye and matching lipstick, painting green patches on her face just like the film. You have to forcibly stop yourself from ogling her, before she shows you your costume.

It’s Lydia’s red wedding dress, but cut shorter which makes you roll your eyes playfully. She insists on doing your makeup for you, giving her an excuse to get close to your face so she can paint the red lipstick precisely.

Tracer:

When you both are invited to the Overwatch halloween party, she knows that she wants to do a matching costume with you. She's a pretty crafty person, so she makes it from scratch for you both.

You're Cosmo and Wanda, with Lena having made little headbands that have a crown on top, as well as a star magic wand. You wear a wig, but Lena surprised you by actually dyeing her hair, making you giggle when she emerges from the bathroom with a goofy grin. All throughout the party, you both pretend to grant other people their wishes, having a blast.

Widowmaker:

While she loves Halloween before she was experimented on, now she looks at it slightly different. Despite her usual outfits, she feels less desirable than she did before, her blue skin something she can’t seem to get past.

But she wants to move past it, for you at least, so she agrees to dress up as whatever you’d like. You dress her as marceline, with you as princess bubblegum. She laughs at the slightly juvenile outfit choices, but she can’t deny you look just lovely in your pink dress, and she can’t help but fiddle with the crown on your head. You tell her breathlessly that she looks beautiful, and she gives you a teasing spin. That night you both are practically joined at the hip, and hey if her hand slips down a few times, who’s gonna stop her?

Zarya:

She’s a little shy about dressing up. When you approach the subject about you both having a couple theme, she’s hesitant. After all, there’s not a lot of buff women in media in general, so she’s afraid of looking a little silly wearing a costume for a character that doesn’t look like her. Despite all your reassurances, you know it’s something you won’t be able to shift her on, so you get a better idea.

Booting your game console up, you make her play the last of us with you, and as soon as she sees Abby, you know your plan worked. So you both rock up to the overwatch party and Abby and Ellie, grinning as the fake blood you applied to her face really makes her eyes pop.

Men:

Baptiste:

It was while you both were doing a movie marathon that you mention the upcoming overwatch Halloween party. You both happened to be watching blade, and after remarking how hot you think he’d look in leather, the idea is sealed.

You knew you were right when you finally saw his costume, the black leather making him look alluring and dangerous. You were dressed as Abigail from the sequel, a crop top squeezing your chest and a fake bow and arrow strapped to your back. As you make your feelings known, he pulls you to his chest and whispers the filthiest things you’ve ever heard before teasingly winking at you, explaining that the taxi is waiting outside. It’s gonna be a long party…

Cole Cassidy:

Jokingly suggests you going as the cowgirl to his cowboy, but you pout and tell him you want to go as an actual costume, which includes him dressing up. He has a think, and having just watched death note with Genji, suggests Light and Misa. You beam and start to prepare the outfit on your phone, and he sighs in relief that you didn’t seem to pick up on the fact he suggested it so he can see how you look in the ensemble.

And god is it worth the wait, when you come out wearing that black corset, stockings barely reaching your plush thighs as you give him a spin that nearly has you flashing him with how short the skirt is. Although you’re just as affected, seeing him in a nicely pressed white suit and tie, strong hands clutching a fake copy of the death note. He insists on making you sit in his lap, running his hand up the corset to feel the material, before you feel just how much he likes how you look.

Doomfist:

Hadn’t even thought about Halloween, too busy to have spared it a passing glance. So in the days leading up to the holiday, you both realise that you need to sort out a costume. You’re a little stumped, but he has an idea.

Men in black was always one of his guilty pleasure films, and dressing in a suit and sunglasses was certainly easy. Although seeing you in a tight suit he’d had custom made for your measurements was certainly making his thoughts stray as you arrive. The whole night, he keeps making excuses for you to dance with him, drink with him, be with him.

Genji:

Secretly a massive nerd, has several costumes he wants to try. But he finally settles on spider-man, thinking it’ll be more identifiable than the other obscure costumes he has in mind.

He shows you his idea for you, and is delighted when you agree, and dress up as spider-gwen, tight white outfit exentuating your body and making his heart rate increase. All throughout the overwatch party, he’ll teasingly pull down the hood of your costume to get your attention. But with each playful glare you give him back, he has to force himself to not get too flustered, thinking about you giving him that glare while climbing into his lap…

Hanzo:

He initially scoffs at the concept of dressing up, seeing it as a childish activity. But he can’t seek to deny his beloved of anything, not when you look up at him with puppy eyes and beg so prettily for him to share this experience with you.

That’s how he finds himself looking at the mirror, observing him dressed as the phantom of the opera. He tries not to be a prideful man in terms of vanity, opting to focus his pride on his skills, not his looks. But he can’t deny he looks good tonight, the mask covering half his face making him look like a mysterious danger, but not one someone would shy away from. And when he sees you as Christine, your white dress glistening in the low light, he takes the opportunity to hold your hand in his gloved one and plant a kiss upon the back of it seductively. He may not be a man who emphasises his seductive qualities, but he doesn’t mind playing the part for tonight at least.

Junkrat:

Loves dressing up! Or to be more specific, loves you dressing up. Always gets off on seeing you in some sort of cosplay or costume, but you also want to see him dressed up for a change, so it's your idea to come to a compromise that'll effect you both.

After doing his makeup, and forcing him into the outfit you bought him (he thinks it's scratchy, but he'll bare it for you), you turn him to the mirror to see you've dressed him as Captain Jack Sparrow. He laughs manically when he sees himself, doing a crude voice impression to make you giggle too. You excuse yourself to the other room to put your costume on, and when you come back in dressed as Elizabeth Swan, specifically in her pirate costume, he practically drools like a puppy.

Lifeweaver:

Is delighted that you want to do a matching couple costume with him, and when you tell him your idea, he’s overjoyed.

You choose Morticia and Gomez Addams, explaining that how Gomez treats Morticia is how he treats you, so it fits! And when he gets the costume on, dear god. You love him in it, the dark colours a contrast to the usual colour palette he has.

And wow, when you come out in the tight fitting black dress, he nearly collapses. He immediately does a reference to the movie, grabbing your hand and kissing up your arm to your neck, finally to your ruby lips. You both go where you’ve been invited, but he whispers promises in your ear that tonight, he’ll ravage you in the way a gorgeous woman like you deserves.

Lucio:

Loves Halloween!! Loves the spookiness!! If anything, he’s the one to suggest a couple costume. Wants something with makeup and sfx and gore and guts and everything.

You both go as zombies, and you go all out on the disgusting makeup. When you walk the streets on the way to your party, people actually cross the street to avoid you both, something you giggle at as soon as they’re out of earshot. But to tease him, you decided to have your zombie wear tight denim shorts, so the whole time you both are partying and having fun, he has to train his eyes to look at the fake blood spattered over your cheeks as opposed to how delicious your ass looks.

Mauga :

Any excuse for a good time, he’s down, so he lets you control his costume. But he says he wants something comfortable, doesn’t want anything that’ll hinder him. So you give him a plaid shirt and jeans, telling him the mask will be the main focus. He’s a little confused at the wolf mask you give him, but you tell him to sit tight and wait until you return.

And when you do…it’s almost like he gets into character with the way he growls at the sight. You’re wearing a red riding hood outfit, corset perfectly exemplifying your figure as the frilled white shirt shows off just enough cleavage to leave him wanting more. With his big hands, he gently takes the red hood and moves it from your head, before lifting you into his arms for a kiss. All throughout the party, his eyes are firmly on you, making sure nobody gets any ideas to play with his girl. And afterwards well…he shows you just how beastly he can be.

Reaper:

Doesn’t care for dressing up, so you attempt to bribe him by saying he can just wear his normal mercenary outfit but change the mask.

And when you pull out the scream mask, he isn’t a fool. He knows what you’re doing as he slips it on, and your cheeks immediately flush at the sight. He leans into it, walking over to you before crowding you against the door, placing his hand by the side of your head and tilting his own as he asks in his raspy voice ‘do you like scary movies?’

After that…well, you both are very much late to the talon Halloween gathering, you hadn’t even gotten your costume on yet. You quickly had dressed up, but all the while his hands were around your waist, trying to convince you to ditch the party and instead have a round two with him <3

Reinhardt:

Another one who’s delighted that you want to do a couples costume, thinks it’s so cute of you to ask. But he also takes it as a competition. You both have to be the best dressed!

You both spend ages discussing ideas before you settle on one that he likes. In all honesty, you’re surprised he could actually find a Batman costume that actually fit his huge frame. But still, he looks amazing, the dark costume emphasising his muscles.

But my god when he sees you as catwoman, curves squeezed into tight leather, his knees nearly give way. Huge hands immediately wrap around your waist, brain racing a mile a minute as he attempts to compliment you in a way that doesn’t sound crude. Please tell him you don’t mind…but he fears your costume will end up ripped if you enable him too much.

Bonus venture time:

Venture:

Obviously they're excited when you tell them you want to do a couple costume...until you pull out your phone. Then they're rolling their eyes playfully and passionately explaining 'actually babe, Indiana Jones is a very poor representation of an archaeologist! I mean he doesn't even do desk based assessments before partaking in an excavation-'

But you're convincing, so that's how on Halloween night you're feeling up their muscles over the tight brown leather jacket, before playfully flicking the hat atop their head. You're dressed as Lara Croft, the tank top pushing your tits enough that their eyes are practically glued to your chest.

Although they need to get you both to the party, so they playfully get their fake whip and wrap it around your waist, dragging you out the door as you erupt in a fit of giggles.

[lamentationsofalonelypotato]

Pairing: Russell Shaw xf!reader, Reader POV

Summary:  The last thing that you wanted was to be woken up in the middle of the night by Colter Shaw for a favor, but when he shows up toting a ruggedly handsome man with green eyes you decide to forgive him. Reader is the niece of Velma and Teddi!

Word Count: 10.3K

Warnings: I'm gonna label this one 18+ just in case I missed anything. Blood, Cleaning Out A Wound, Mentions of Allergies? Gunshots, Some Cursing, A Bit of Sexual Innuendo, Sexual fantasy/reader has active imagination, Self-deprecating Thoughts/Body Issues (reader), Mentions of Infidelity, Reader Is A Single Mom, Appearance Of Creepy-Jerk Ex Husband, Probably a Poor Description Of What It’s Like To Be A Single Mom (I tried my best, please I do not mean to offend anyone❤️), Russell Shaw might be a little bit OOC. Reader is occasionally described as "curvy."

Song Inspiration: Long As I Can See The Light By Creedence Clearwater Revival

Note: This is told from Reader's perspective. Any references to the reader is made using you or your. There is minimal use of y/n if any. I tried my best to proofread, but nobody's perfect. If you don’t like, don’t read, but if you do like, you’re my favorite! This is my first time writing for Russell Shaw, so, please be gentle. 😅

Internal monologue is in italics and is in first person.

Main Masterlist

A/N: I finally watched Tracker… Could you tell? 😂

Sunday nights, in your opinion, were the worst.

It was like the last few moments of freedom before you were thrust into a busy work week, like the last few rays of light before the coming darkness that you barely survived with copious amounts of coffee and bloodied fingertips. Monday always loomed, but never as much as on Sunday nights.

The dull thud of your phone vibrating against your wooden bedside table grates on your ears and pulls you from the sweet precipice of sleep before you can fall into the void.

It felt as if you’d just collapsed into your bed and one look at the alarm clock on your bedside table as you blinked your bleary eyes confirmed it. It was 3:58 am, which meant you had been in bed for exactly three minutes.

You were still covered in chocolate cupcake batter, pink frosting, and rainbow sprinkles from the last six hours you'd spent in the kitchen making gluten free, sugar free, and peanut free cupcakes for a bake sale at your son’s school.

Even though you hadn't volunteered Stephanie Jacobson, or rather the wicked witch of the PTA, had cornered you in the pick-up line on Friday afternoon to remind you of your "duties as a parent" and the coming bake sale to support the building of the new gym. And then she’d handed you a list of student allergies and asked you to create something that was safe for everyone.

Taste be damned.

Why the school needed a new gym you didn't know, but the guilt that rose when Stephanie mentioned your "duties as a parent" was enough to make you say yes to whatever she asked you.

You had enough guilt already about raising your kids without a stable father figure, and the last thing you needed was guilt from a stuck up bitch in the PTA.

Stephanie reminded you of the girls in high school that used to pick at their food, the ones that knew exactly what to say to make you feel like a freak, the ones who dated the football players and spent their Friday nights wearing cheerleading uniforms and waving pom poms, and the ones who basically made everyone else's life a living hell.

Everything about her screamed superior. The flawless way she curled her perfect platinum blonde hair, the stylish clothes she wore than never seemed to have a wrinkle or a mashed carrot smeared on the pants, the supple breasts that she swore were real, a perfectly toned stomach that never seemed to change despite her having a child two months ago, and the easy way she handled all of her three children with a flourish of her left hand that housed a 6 karat diamond ring from her gorgeous husband that was so attentive, perfect, and rich that it made you feel sick to your stomach.

All of which anyone could read on her mommy blog that she'd dubbed "Little Mistakes Make Perfect Lessons," and the same blog that she'd created an empire from.

Fuck, you hated her.

Mostly because despite everything you tried you never had enough time in the day to look as flawless as she did.

Your hair never seemed to be as bouncy or perfectly styled, you never had time to put makeup on, you always had mashed carrot on your pants or some form of cheerio or baby food, as many times as you tried to carve out time for the gym you never seemed to make it, the small ring you'd once wore on your finger was sitting idle in your jewelry box upstairs where it had been for the past year after your husband of six years told you that he met someone else, and your stomach and your breasts… you didn't want to think about that right now.

You had two kids and you weren't going to pretend that it did nothing to your body, any part of your body. And as many times as you saw all the other mothers around you who were proud of the way they looked, you never had their confidence, especially not after the comments that your ex-husband had made each time the two of you finally had some time to be alone together.

But that wasn't to say you hated being a mom, you loved it, wouldn't change it for the world. It was just sometimes you wished you had a little help, that, and you wished that Mondays didn't exist. 

You groan as you reach for the phone that still vibrates desperately on your bedside table and flip it over to see who's calling before you answer it.

"Colter, why the hell are you calling me at four am?" You half moan, pulling the comforter up over your head as if that'll make Monday go away.

You'd been close to murder several times, first when you found your husband in your bed with his nineteen year-old secretary, second when your local coffee shop was out of espresso and you did your entire shift at the hospital with no coffee, and Colter Shaw waking you up at almost four in the morning was quickly becoming number three.

"Because I didn't want to wake up Emma or Luke. Can you open the door?" He replies, stating the names of your children, sounding slightly out of breath.

"What door?" You groan again, eyes still shut wishing that this was just a bad dream and Colter wasn't calling you because he needed your help… again.

"The front door. Please, I need you to let me in."

"Why are you here? Couldn't it wait until tomorrow? Did you try to call Teddi or Vel-"

"I'll explain when you come open the door."

"By doing that I'd have to get up."

"Please."

You hesitate. Colter didn't usually say please, let alone twice whenever he showed up needing your help.

You'd met him by accident.

Sure your Aunt Teddi had talked about the "rewardist" that she and your Aunt Velma worked with, but you hadn't been expecting to ever meet him. But when Colter got shot on a job and showed up at Teddi and Velma's home you'd helped patch him up. You'd been there picking up your six year old son Luke and your three year old daughter Emma, after work. Teddi and Velma watched them for you when your deadbeat ex Lance couldn't be bothered to give you the support you needed.

Which was all the time despite his continuous arguing that he was in their lives enough and if anything it was your fault that he didn't have more time with them.

Each time he said that it made you want to slam his head in the door of his brand new bright red BMW, the one he'd bought right after you found him in your bedroom plowing his secretary now girlfriend Crystal. Or as you liked to remember her, the girl who still believed that Santa Clause existed and that the U.S government was hiding him from the world.

But Colter had been hurt and it was just fate that you were there at your aunts home to pick up your kids.

Being an ER nurse meant that you knew how to patch Colter up and it wasn't long before he went on his way. That was about four months ago and since then you'd talked to him occasionally when he'd pop by at your aunts home or just to see if you could help him with something.

"Five minutes." You sigh.

This time you crawl out of bed, standing just to the side of it for a second shaking your head to clear the sleep, and grab the long sleeved blue colored duster/robe that was hanging on the back of your bedroom door. Navigating your way down the stairs in the dark as quietly as you can, while half asleep was difficult, but somehow you avoid falling to your death.

Unfortunate, because now you have to go see what Colter wants at freaking 4 am.

The second story home had been you ex-husband's idea, stated that the two of you needed "room to grow" and that the two of you were "investing in your future."

You frown at the thought.

Yeah, room to grow right into your fucking secretary.

As if you needed another blow to your self esteem, but looking at the skinny red-haired goddess that he'd traded you in for that was about as dumb as a rock had been enough to send you so low you might as well be navigating the Marianas Trench in a submarine with a Megalodon chasing after you.

Maybe that means I'd get to be with Jason Stratham.

That thought was welcome. Honestly the thought of any man was a comfort, especially in the dry spell you'd been having since -well- since you'd had Emma three years ago.

Not gonna think about that right now.

The smell of chocolate cupcakes hung heavy in the air as you crossed through the messy living room, wafting out through the open concept kitchen into the space. One look into the kitchen would show enough cupcakes to make anyone salivate, and yes maybe you'd eaten a few before going up to bed, but eating the chocolate didn't count if it was on Sunday night and you could always go to the gym tomorrow…

Yeah. Like that'll happen.

You open the front door. "Alright, somebody better be dying Colter or I swear that I'll-" You stop mid-sentence when you take in the scene on your porch.

Colter is standing there, looking worse for wear. His usual black jacket is gone, he's got a black eye and a scrape along one of his perfect cheekbones, but that's not who you're looking at.

Colter isn't alone.

There's a man leaning heavily on Colter, his muscular right arm is thrown across Colter's shoulders and due to the fact that the man is a little bigger than Colter, he's buckling slightly under his weight. The man is wearing a green army jacket that is soaked around his left shoulder in blood, his dark hair is falling long into his bearded face, and his skin is a few shades paler than it should be. But that doesn't make him any less handsome.

The man still manages to throw you a sly grin, brilliant green eyes shining beneath the strands of his dark hair. "I think you got your wish sweetheart."

"You're not dying Russell." Colter sighs as if he's annoyed. "Hi." He directs at you.

You do feel a little bit bad about saying that now, but you shake it off.

"What the hell happened?" You say as loud as you dare and pull the front door further open so Colter can drag the man, now named "Russell" into your home.

"Shoot out." Colter breathes. "Where do you want him?"

"Kitchen table." You say trying to reach for Russell's left arm to help Colter, but he groans low under his breath and you retract your hand.

"You've got to be a little gentle with me sweetheart." Russell laughs more to himself, but it comes out in a choked sound. "But you can have me wherever you want."

"Colter, he needs to go to the hospital." You say, following behind them, keeping your voice down. "I don't think that I can-"

"Can't, they'll report it. They have to report all gunshots, you know that." Colter grunts, helping Russell lay back on the large kitchen table. "Why are there so many cupcakes in here?"

"Bake sale at Luke’s school." You clip while waving a hand and looking down at Russell who is laying on the kitchen table.

You can't deny that he's attractive, even in this condition. Russell has the perfect ruggedly handsome features that would make the smartest girl stupid and combined with the piercing green eyes that shine beneath the hair that's fallen forward into his face, even you could see yourself being susceptible to his charm.

Fuck.

Deep down you know that Colter is right, that if he did go to the hospital they'd be required to report it and that meant police and an official report. You figured that it was the last thing that Colter wanted.

Then again the guy has so many marks on his record already. You eye the man on your kitchen table. Russell kinda looks like he would have a few marks too.

"Don't want who did this to find him." Colter clarifies.

"So instead you brought him to my house where my children are?" You cross your arms over your chest.

The fear that whatever Colter and Russell had stumbled upon following behind them to your home made a cold trickle of fear race down your spine.

"We weren't followed." Colter soothes. "I promise I'd never do that to you. And I've got Bobby doing a trace to make sure they don't come close."

He actually looks a little hurt that you'd think that of him. Colter was a lot of things, but uncaring was not one of them.

You relax, but don't apologize despite the guilt swimming in your gut. "Fine. Give me a second." You leave the room to find the first aid kit in the hall closet, the same one that you'd made for your aunts to keep at their house if Colter showed up in the middle of the night with this exact problem. You'd even been involved enough to show your aunts how to deal with a gunshot wound if you weren't there.

When you get back in the room, Colter is removing Russell's jacket, and Russell grits his teeth when it jostles his left arm.

You set down the kit and reach for the bottom of Russell's shirt to pull it up off him, and he chuckles.

"Aren't you going to buy me a drink first? Better yet we could have a few bottles of my home brew-"

"She's not going to help you, if you annoy her." Colter interrupts.

"I told you that I didn't need anyone's help, I'm perfectly fine- ow!" Russell exclaims when you accidentally yank the shirt over his left arm. "Your bedside manner is a little lacking." He grunts, but his eyes still twinkle with humor.

"Too bad. I'm tired and I've been making chocolate cupcakes for the past six hours, so you get what you get and you don't throw a fit."

"What?" Russell grins at the rhyme that you often tell your children.

You shake your head, and drop your eyes to his chest. There are two perfect circles on his right upper pectoral muscle, but not high enough to reach the collarbone and one in his left bicep where blood seeps around the bullets, but truthfully you're trying not to notice how perfectly muscular he is. There are dark splashes of tattoos against his skin, swirling around other scars that resemble slashes and bullet wounds that you wish to drag your fingertips across to study each mark, to memorize each one beneath the soft pads of your fingers.

How is he just as beautiful covered in blood?

You clear your throat to focus back at the task at hand, examining the current wounds. "Okay. The good news is that the one on your arm is through and through, but these two," Your hand hovers over the two on his right upper chest. "I've got to extract the bullets. Which means that this is going to hurt."

"Been through worse sweetheart."

Your eyes scan the rest of his scarred muscular chest thoughtfully. "Yeah, you have." You murmur it more to yourself than to Russell, but he still grins.

Colter's phone rings shrilly in the kitchen and he groans. "One second. Try not to make her want to kill you Rus."

"No promises little bro."

Oh, so this is Colter's brother.

You'd heard little bits and pieces about Colter's brother, mostly second hand from your Aunt Velma. One of the best things about going over to Teddi and her home was sitting in the living room and hearing Velma gossip about everything she heard from Teddi while drinking wine and eating fancy cheese that you could never afford.

Russell Shaw was no exception.

"Alone at last." Russell says with a wink. "I didn't think he'd ever leave."

"I'm going to get some water to clean these with." You reply, ignoring him, but when you turn away the end of your mouth quirks up into a smile.

He wasn't what you were expecting based on all the rumors that you'd heard from both of your aunts, in fact, you thought he was kind of charming.

You roll up your sleeves and wash your hands before turning back to Russell. He's sitting up on your kitchen table, hands braced on his sides, with his legs spread wide apart. He doesn’t look like someone with three gunshot wounds, and you wonder if this is a regular day for him. Colter certainly didn't get shot that much.

"So are you a rewardist too?" You ask standing between his legs and trying not to focus on the warmth of his breath against your collar bone.

"Naw. I work for a private security contractor." He breezes.

"Oh." You swallow, looking up into his green eyes for a minute. They're even more beautiful up close, green with flecks of gold around the iris that flicker in the light like stars. "Is it okay if I touch you?"

"You don't gotta ask me that sweetheart, the answer will always be yes."

You flush and brace your hand on his left shoulder, before pouring water into the two wounds on the right side of his chest, trying to clean them the best you can before you extract what's left of the bullets. His skin is warm and smooth beneath the palm of your hand and it's difficult to focus.

Just pretend you're in the hospital and you're treating a patient. You take in a shallow breath. He's just a patient and he's not that good looking.

You know you're lying to yourself, but you were trying your best. It probably didn’t help given the current dry spell you were in or the fact that he even smelled good. Something like gunpowder, leather, and a hint of something spicy that you bet was his shampoo. It prickled under your nose, and activated something in the back of your mind that was having a hard time being quiet. You hadn't been this close to a man you found attractive in a long time.

"Okay. This is going to hurt." You say as you look through the small medical kit that you'd grabbed from the hall closet for the tweezers, trying to calm the thudding of your heart.

"It's okay." Russell replies. "Do what you have to baby. I won't stop you."

You weren't prepared for the warmth that bloomed in the pit of your stomach when he called you baby in the wonderfully rough rumble of his voice.

A voice like that could convince me to jump into a pit filled with alligators with no regrets. Fuck. I'd bet that a voice like that could make me- FOCUS. I will focus. He is Colter's brother and he just got shot. He doesn't need you lusting over him.

Extracting the bullets is as painful for you as it is for him. Watching the way his face scrunches up in pain hurts you more than you thought it would. His hands grip the rim of the wooden kitchen table so hard that they're turning white, and Russell's jaw is clenched so tight that you're afraid that it's going to snap.

You squeeze his left shoulder to give him some comfort. "Almost done." You murmur, searching for the second bullet.

Russell lets out a breath when you finally fish out the other bullet and drop it into an empty cup with a resounding "ping" just as Colter walks back into the room looking worried.

"What?" Russell asks him, looking over your head at his brother.

"That was Bobby. He said that the trace we put on the phone just got a hit a few miles north of here." Colter states. "I'm gonna go check it out."

"Alright, I'll come with." Russell starts to get up, but you push him back with your right hand that you've still got pressed against his left shoulder. Difficult given the fact that he was almost twice the size of you and broader than anyone you'd ever seen. And also difficult because of the way you were trying to ignore how good it felt to feel the pull of his muscles beneath your hand.

"No. You still need stitches and I haven't finished patching you up." You clear your throat, but it still sounds a little hoarse.

"Baby as much as I like you ordering me around-“

"It's alright Russell, I've got this. Just stay here and let her take care of you." Colter interrupts.

Russell frowns at his younger brother. "I'm fine."

"You're not." Colter rolls his eyes. "Stay here. I'll be back in a few hours to pick you up." He turns to look at you. "I'm sorry that we woke you up-"

"It's okay." You shrug. "But you owe me."

"Just add it to my bill." Colter smirks.

Honestly, you weren't as angry as you were when you answered the phone. Something about Russell was different and you didn’t mind helping him at all.

He wasn't like anyone that you had ever met, certainly not in the circles you ran with.

All the dads from your mom friends were blue and white collar workers who worked in the big office buildings downtown, wore suits to work and were more straight-laced, but there was something refreshing about Russell.

He was mysterious, sexy, and his had this aura of self-resilience and survival that you found immensely attractive. Especially when compared to your ex, who couldn't survive without his mocha-caramel double shot latte or wifi.

Russell was the exact opposite of him and you found yourself wanting to know more. More about the almost beautiful scars that curved over his muscular body, more about each tattoo that he’d chosen, and more about him.

He seemed like the kind of guy that hid his trauma under easy smiles and jokes, the kind of person that shrugged off anything that seemed remotely serious with a well placed joke, but you could feel that there was something deeper beneath that he didn’t allow many to see.

And you wanted him to show you.

You weren't sure where any of this was coming from. Russell probably was about as stable and consistent as his brother, and you liked consistency. Spontaneity and surprises tended to make you anxious. But not with Russell.

Though the stability might have been an issue. You were a single working mother, which meant that you didn't want to introduce some random guy into your children's life just to have them get attached and him to bail with no strings attached and-

Calm down. You just met the guy, it's not like he's asking you out on a date.

When Colter leaves and after you’ve cleaned around the wounds the best you can with some alcohol, you realize just how quiet it is in your kitchen.

“You know, I think I’ve seen you before.” Russell says breaking the silence while you search for a needle and thread in the medical kit.

“Really? Where?" You ask looking up.

“In my dreams.”

“Wow." You smile at him. "That line is pretty cheesy."

You shift your right hand over to begin to sew up the wounds on his chest. Russell doesn't even wince when you push the needle through, almost as if he didn't notice it at all.

It made sense, given how many scars and tattoos covered his body. You remember what he said about "being through worse" and it made you feel bad for him, to worry about him. Odd given the fact that the two of you had just met.

"Well I'm a little distracted at the moment sweetheart. It's not often that I get such a beautiful woman to take care of me."

"I thought you didn't need my help?" You smirk.

"Maybe I did." He admits sheepishly.

"Mhmm."

"So how do you know my brother?"

“Why?”

“Trying to see if you’re off limits or not.” Russell tilts his head to the side and flashes a charming smile.

You laugh at his boldness. You’d never met someone so upfront before, it was refreshing. Most of the men you’d meet occasionally at work tended to beat around the bush and made you want to give them a map to get to the point. "We met when he got shot a few months ago."

"Oh so the two of you aren't-" He wiggles his eyebrows and you snort.

"No."

"Huh."

"What?"

"I was just wondering why not?"

"What?"

"Well, you're gorgeous, you're smart, and you're not scared of blood or gunshots. Colter really seems to be dropping the ball."

"Colter doesn't exactly have a stable lifestyle. And I'm kind of complicated."

You were, there wasn't any way around it.

"Why do you think that?"

"Because I've got two kids."

Russell blinks in surprise. "Really?"

"Mhmm." You hum continuing your task, not phased by the blood at all.

His eyes trace your figure for a minute, making a shiver travel down your spine. It was the first time in a long time that you were okay with someone looking at you like that and to be honest, the first time that you wanted someone to look at you like that in a while.

After everything that happened with your ex-husband and his secretary you were more inclined to sit on your couch with a glass of wine and read away your troubles with a steamy romance novel that did more for you than any of your ex-husband's attempts to satisfy you. It also didn't help that you had no interest in going out with your few friends and meeting someone at a club who probably would never call you again and probably wouldn't be as enthusiastic to learn that you were a mom.

You'd only been on one date since you'd broken it off with your husband with your aunts accountant Jerry, and the date stuttered to a halt when he learned you had two children and weren't interested in having an open relationship.

"I wouldn't have guessed that."

“Really? The mountain of chocolate cupcakes wasn’t a clue?” You arch an eyebrow with a smirk, while gently tying off the string to close the first wound before moving on to the second.

“I thought you just really liked baking. And I’m okay with coming home every night to a mountain of chocolate cupcakes if it means you’re there too.” He winks.

“Not sure you want any of those.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because they’re gluten free, sugar free, and nut free.”

The horrified look on Russell’s face makes you feel like you’d just told him that hot dogs do in fact contain trace amounts of dog.

“Why on earth would you make them like that?! They're not even cupcakes anymore!" He exclaims.

You found it funny that he seemed more upset over the mutilation of the chocolate cupcakes than over being shot.

Maybe he's always like this?

"I know. I'm a monster." You sigh. "But Stephanie Jacobson said I had to." You let out a frustrated sigh with her name.

Bringing anything other than what she asked for was a suicide mission. The last person who did that was Gale Smith in the great Fourth of July Cook-out calamity of 2021. In Gale's defense, no one though that the bushes would catch fire so fast, but Stephanie had a memory like an elephant so Gale decided to transfer her children to the school one town over. The last thing you wanted was for your name to go down in history for the Cupcake Catastrophe of 2024.

Russell leans forward and lowers his voice like it's a secret. “Is Stephanie your imaginary friend?”

“No!” You laugh. “She’s this other mom at my son’s school who said I wasn’t living up to my ‘duties as a parent’ and that I needed to ‘participate.’”

"She sounds great."

"Oh yeah, we're practically best friends." You continue to work on the other wounds in the silence that follows.

"I bet you're a good mom." Russell says watching you with an unreadable expression. He's leaning a little bit towards you still, making the smell gunmetal, leather, spice, and just a hint of mint come through the space between the two of you.

Damn he smells really good.

"Uh-huh. You've known me for ten minutes and you haven't seen me with my children-"

"I can tell."

"Is that your superpower or something?" You reach for a bandage to lay over the wound in his chest smiling to yourself. "All the other useful superpowers like being bulletproof got taken?"

"I don't think it's useless if it makes you smile like that when I say it, sweetheart."

Your eyes flick upwards to Russell's face. His green eyes are shining in the light of your kitchen, his dark hair still hanging over his forehead, and he is still just as ridiculously handsome as he was the moment Colter dragged him through your front door. You don’t remember why you were so mad at Colter anymore.

"Has anyone ever told you that you're too smooth for your own good?" You raise your eyebrow.

"No ma'am." Russell cracks an even wider smile and it makes you loose all feeling in your legs. He was just so effortlessly handsome that it made you want to do something stupid, like have sex with him on top of the same kitchen table that you serve blueberry pancakes to your children.

"Hmm." You bite the inside of your cheek. "Well, now you know and maybe now that you're aware, it could prevent you from getting shot."

"Are you saying I got shot because I'm too smooth?"

"Maybe."

"Because usually it has a different effect."

"Huh. Well in that case, maybe try using some of that to smooth things over and you'd avoid getting shot." You begin to wrap another fresh bandage around the bullet wound on his arm, bracing your free hand against his chest, trying to ignore the way his skin is warm and chiseled beneath your palm.

He had the kind of body that you'd never imagined actually existed. Russell Shaw looked like he walked out one of the romance novels you loved so much.

Hell, they should use pictures of him to make the book covers.

"I'll remember that next time." Russell pauses. "But then it means I wouldn’t get shot and I wouldn't get to have you patch me up."

"I guess not."

You didn't think that you'd smiled as much as you had in the past twenty minutes with him than you had your entire five year marriage. Not to mention that it was nice to talk to someone who wasn't trying to convince you why they should be allowed to have a cookie before dinner.

A charged silence passes through the air between the two of you, his eyes locked on yours sending goosebumps over your skin. You weren't sure if anyone had ever looked at you like that before. You'd noticed that most gave you the obligatory skate over, but Russell didn't. He looked at you as if he was studying you as if he were genuinely curious to know more. 

Your eyes trace his broad shoulders, toned abdomen, and muscular arms, noting that he's the kind of strong and broad that was made to handle someone a little more curvy like you. And you'd be lying if you said that you hadn't thought about it more than once since Russell came through your front door.

You felt your mind sink into the fantasy of Russell pining you to the kitchen table and feeling the warmth of his rough hands against your body-

Snap out of it. The guy is bleeding, he got shot. He needs to rest.

"I think you'll survive." You smile pulling back from him to clear your head. It was much easier when you couldn't smell him as strongly. "And if Colter isn't going to be back for a few hours you can crash on the couch. It's not the most comfortable but-"

"I'm sure it's fine." Russell shrugs and stands from your kitchen table.

You try and fail to ignore how his muscles pull with the movement as he reaches for his shirt and you step forward to help him put it on, knowing that it might hurt with his injury. "Okay." You clear your throat, that has become thick all of a sudden. "And if you're hungry I've got plenty of cupcakes-"

"Please don't call them that. They're an disgrace to the cupcake name."

"Yeah, but the ones in the microwave are actually cupcakes. I had to make a few that were edible." You gesture with your hand and laugh at how quickly Russell goes to get one.

He doesn’t even bother to pull away the wrapping before he takes a bite and he audibly moans. Russell looks at you awestruck. "Holy shit, you made this? Where have you been all my life?"

"Shut up." You roll your eyes at him.

"I'm serious, this cupcake is my reason to keep living. Here I thought putting sriracha on French fries was the height of cuisine, but damn."

You could feel yourself blush bright red at his compliment. You weren't used to a man going out of his way to compliment you on something other than how you looked, but everything about Russell Shaw was refreshing and nothing like you expected.

"Thank you." You wait another second, watching him eat more of the cupcake and smash icing and flecks of chocolate over his chin. You laugh at him and hand him a paper towel. "You're worse than my three year old."

"Your three year old is a lucky kid, if she’s got a mom like you to make stuff like this for her."

It's like he wants me to fall in love with him. How can someone look so unbelievably cute and sexy while covered in chocolate cupcake?

Don't answer that.

"Sometimes I think I'm the lucky one. I love my kids-" You say before you can stop yourself. You hesitate afraid that it would send Russell for the hills when you brought up the fact that you loved your children.

"Yeah?" Russell's smile brightens as he wipes his face with the napkin.

"Yeah." You blink mildly shocked. Of all the people in the world to talk about your children with, you never expected someone like Russell Shaw. “I do."

Again he was surprising you, and talking to him was just so refreshing and it made you feel like your head had finally cleared, like your chest was lighter and you could actually talk to someone for real without putting out this together image of yourself you thought you had to when inside you were crumbling from the overbearing expectations of the people around you.

The silence is back, filling the kitchen with a palpable energy that you wonder if Russell can feel, but you shake it off.

"I guess I'll see you in the morning. It was nice to meet you Russell, but I'm sorry that you got shot." You smile.

"I'm not." Russell smiles. "I got to meet you."

"Alright Casanova, I need to go to bed, because my kids will wake me up in about two hours." You frown over at the couch. "There's a pillow and a blanket down the hall in the bathroom closet." You gesture with one hand. "I'll see you in the morning." You repeat because you're not too sure what to say.

"Yeah. Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

You turn and walk up the stairs to your bedroom, feeling the thin blue robe swishing around your ankles as you do.

And as you fall into your bed all you can think about as you start to drift is the ruggedly handsome man downstairs, with the brilliant green eyes that crinkle with his smile, and the large hands rough from hard work, that seems to be more than what meets the eye.

The alarm clock on your bedside table might as well be employed by the devil for waking you up and the idea of smashing it to bits with the heavy metal table lamp that sits beside it crosses your mind. You weren't sure how many hours you'd gotten in, only that they weren't enough, and you were in desperate need of coffee.

You roll over on your back, looking up at your ceiling as you blink your eyes open, following the familiar sweeps of the paint brush that were left behind.

The memory of the night's events come back in full color and you stiffen remembering exactly why you'd gone to bed so late. Images of last night flash through your mind. Colter dragging a bloodied Russell through your front door, Russell sitting on your kitchen table looking much too attractive covered in blood, him flirting with you with a wide smile that made you feel warm from the inside out…

Oh fuck he's still on my couch. How am I going to explain that to my kids?

You dress in a flash and stumble down the stairs as quickly as you can, tripping and falling into the living room, but when you look you realize that Russell isn't on the couch. The pillow and brightly colored quilted blanket he used are neatly folded on one of the plush cushions, but he's nowhere to be found.

I guess Colter came to get him.

You weren't expecting the wave of disappointment that comes with that realization, but as you turn to go back up the stairs to ready yourself for the day, you hear your daughter’s voice.

"Mommy!" She says. "Look! Rus is making pancakes."

What?

You turn to investigate your spacious kitchen. It was still covered in an alarming amount of cupcakes, but that’s not what’s surprising, what’s surprising is Russell, standing at your crowded stove with a spatula in his hand, sliding a perfectly golden brown pancake around in the bottom of a pan.

You blink your eyes to make sure that you’re not imagining it and make sure that you’re not asleep.

"Hey gorgeous." Russell flashes a wide grin. "How'd you sleep?"

"Um-" You glance at where your daughter is sitting with your son, both eating stacks of pancakes at your kitchen table, the same kitchen table that you were fantasizing about Russell and you-

Nope. Not going there.

Honestly, any fantasy you had about him was blown away by the sight of him standing in your kitchen making pancakes for your children. Something so domestically wonderful that turned you on even more than the image of him shirtless sitting on your kitchen table.

This was something even your husband refused to do, cook. Any day that you tried to get him to, he'd said that it was your "job." And here Russell was standing in your kitchen looking even more effortlessly gorgeous cooking for your family without being asked.

"I sleep good. How did you sleep?" You ask taking a hesitant step towards him.

"Good. Better than I have in a bit actually." He turns back to the pan and flicks his wrist, flipping the pancake inside.

Emma claps happily and Luke watches Russell with a look of absolute awe on his face, while you try not to have impure thoughts about Russell in front of your children.

"You didn't have to make breakfast-"

"I did." He plates the pancake and holds it out to you. "I wanted to thank you for patching me up."

"It wasn't a big deal." You shrug, but take the pancake from the plate, rolling it up like a taco before you take a bite.

Russell cocks his head to the side studying you for a moment. "It was to me." His green eyes are just as hypnotic today as they were last night, tracing over your body in a way that makes pins and needles tickle over your skin. "Plus, wanted to make the kids something that wasn't gluten free, nut free, and sugar free. Emma sure can put away some pancakes."

It was odd to see someone so eager to make himself comfortable in your house, especially a man you barely knew and who you owed absolutely nothing to. Not to mention that Russell genuinely seemed happy to be making breakfast for your children as if he belonged there.

It was so different from every other man that you'd ever met, and you wanted to get used to it. You wanted to get used to having a man around again, to having Russell in your home and in your life. You'd never been spontaneous or wanted to jump headfirst without looking at the pros and cons, but watching Russell standing at your stove, with the sunlight coming through the windows behind him and illuminating his broad shoulders and sifting through his dark hair, you saw absolutely no downside.

"Yeah she's always had a good appetite."

"Hope she doesn't lose that. I hate it when women don't eat." Russell shrugs his shoulders and goes back to make a pancake for himself. "Plus Luke needs to bulk up. He said his dad is going to sign him up for baseball."

You stiffen at the mention of your ex, not sure if you should supply the information, or if you should let it slide. Russell's eyes flick down at your left hand for a half-second, so quickly you could have missed it, but you understood what he was doing.

"He's my ex-husband." You murmur low enough so only Russell could hear.

"Good." Russell replies with a knowing smirk. "Means that I don’t have any competition."

You roll your eyes at his reaction and walk over to where your children are eating. Luke is covered in maple syrup as per usual. He had always been a messy eater, but because he insisted on having his hair cropped short, it never seemed to be too much of a problem.

Just as Emma looks like your ex-husband, Lance, Luke looks like you. He has the same eyes and same colored hair, but he'd always been a little short for his age. Lance usually picked at him for that, but you didn't know what Lance was expecting, Luke was six years old, he'd grow!

"Good pancakes?" You ask, trying to wipe at his face with a napkin but he pulls away with an exclaimed "Mom!"

"What? You're covered in syrup." You laugh, raising the napkin again, but Luke dodges your hand.

"Mom!" Luke says again.

"Alright, fine. But go get dressed, your dad will be here to pick you up any minute." You say, urging him with a hand against his shoulder.

Today Lance was taking Luke to school and picking him up after for a baseball game, before staying with him at his apartment. You’d told your Aunt Teddi and your Aunt Velma that you'd help them plant a garden today, and Emma had been looking forward to it as much as you had.

Velma had been talking about it all through last week, and you’d gotten the day off specifically off for it. Emma was also excited about it because Teddi had bought flowers specifically for butterflies and your daughter loved them more than life itself.

You were looking forward to working out in the sun, feeling the healing rays against your skin, listening to the sounds of the world outside your aunts familiar home soothe you, play with the dogs for a little bit, and finally go inside for a few glasses of wine while Velma, Teddi, and you talked about the book of the month. Book club nights were especially special for Emma as well. Velma always poured Emma's apple juice into a plastic pink wine glass that she'd bought for Emma so she could feel included.

This book had been really good and you couldn't wait to share what you'd thought while eating expensive cheese and cupcakes and while the dogs circled below like raptors.

You loved being at their home. It was always such a comfort to be somewhere where you felt that you could be yourself especially after Lance left you. Your mother had died when you were a kid and your dad had never been equipped to handle things like that so your Aunt Teddi had picked up the slack in your early years and now after she'd married Velma, you had another person in your life who supported you and made you feel like you could be yourself. Both of them had been furious when they learned about what Lance had done and sat with you while you cried into a box of tissues.

It had been difficult to talk them both out of killing Lance. Surprising since your Aunt Teddi was usually the voice of reason.

Luke sighs, but listens to you, getting up from the table to make his way upstairs. You can hear his footsteps as he walks down the hallway above and into his room.

Despite his reluctance, he was looking forward to today as well. Sometimes you thought that he felt left out when you all went over to your aunts house. You knew that Luke longed for the attention of his father, and something broke inside of you each time your ex-husband made him feel forgotten.

You turn to look at your daughter. "Good pancakes?"

"Yes!"

"Did you tell Russell thank you?"

"Thank you Rus!" She sing-songs with a wide smile, before moving her plastic fork back into the pile enthusiastically.

"You're welcome sweetheart." Russell says from the stove, picking up the pancake in the skillet bare handed before he puts a generous stripe of maple syrup along the inside and rolls it up just like you did. "Do you want another one?" His gaze turns to you, warm and open.

Fuck, why is he so damn attractive?

"No I'm-"

The knock on the front door interupts your answer signifying the arrival of Lance. When he'd moved out of the house you'd changed all the locks and then refused to give him a key. Something that he'd pouted and stomped about worse than your toddler, but you'd held firm. You didn't want him in your house and you definitely didn't want her in your house either.

"Daddy!" Emma squeals and before you can stop her, she leaps from her chair like she'd been shot from a cannon and runs down the front hallway to open the door for your ex.

You sigh out a breath to prepare yourself for what comes next. Talking to Lance was always tense and as much as you tried to be civil, Lance didn't. He didn't pull punches, and often lacked the common decency that everyone else had.

Russell's studying you again, his easy smile slipping into a frown when he notes the change in your attitude.

"Stay here. This shouldn't take long." You force a smile, but it lacks the enthusiasm you’d had whenever you talked to Russell before.

Sometimes just the thought of your ex took the energy out of you, as if you were on a space ship and all the air got sucked out into the cold silent vacuum.

Lance is standing on the front step hugging your daughter with one hand while the other holds his phone behind her head, his gaze intently on the screen while Emma chatters in his ear. He's not paying attention though. He never was and never did.

His black hair is slicked back over his head and cropped shorter than the last time you saw him. Now it barely touches his collar but hangs long over the top of his head. His brown eyes glint an amber in the light of the sun, and he’s wearing a tailored blue suit with a dark patterned tie.

“Hey.” Lance clips to you as he stands, releasing Emma who is still trying to talk to him, but he ignores her.

You grind your teeth together. “Hi.”

He sighs audibly sensing the tension, as if it’s you that’s done something wrong.

“Emma, why don’t you go finish your pancakes?” You smile down at your daughter and pat her on the head. “We’ve got to go soon.”

“Okay! Bye daddy!”

“That’s nice honey.” He says absentmindedly, still typing furiously on his phone, while Emma rushes back down the hallway and into the kitchen, that is hidden from view of the front door.

“You know you could put the phone down for once. The world won’t implode if you wait a few seconds to answer a text.” You say.

“Don’t start.” Lance rolls his eyes.

The BMW idling at the curb catches in the early morning sunlight and you see a flash of red-hair. Crystal is in the passenger seat, her auburn hair piled on top of her head effortlessly, her lips painted a dark colored red, there’s a pair of heart shaped sunglasses over her eyes, and she’s wearing black dress low cut enough that her ample breasts spill out through the wide V.

She peers at you from where she sits in the car, her phone perched in her lap, and you watch her dark colored lips twitch into a knowing smirk when she catches you looking at her.

Each time you saw her was like taking a punch to the gut.  It made you pull your oversized sweater a little tighter over your chest self-consciously.

“I’m not starting anything. I’m just saying that you should pay more attention to-“ You begin, but Lance interrupts.

“I don’t want to do this with you. I have a deposition due today and I have to finish sending this email.” He snaps.

“Fine.” You sigh, trying to remain calm. You hated when he did this, when he made it seem like no one and nothing else was important except his job. “Luke is getting ready. I have to box up these cupcakes for a bake sale at the school. All you have to do is drop them off and tell-“

“Oh sorry babe. Can’t do the thing today.”

You bristled when he called you babe. You weren't his, not after everything the two of you had been through.

“What do you mean you can’t do the ‘thing’ today?” You plant your hands on your hips trying to comprehend what he's saying.

“With the kid. Sorry. Crystal made plans for us at some fancy restaurant or whatever. Supposed to be the best in the city-“

“What?”

“I can’t take the kid today.” He repeats slowly, this time looking up, but he doesn’t bother to apologize, and his gaze barely meets yours before he drops his eyes back to the hand clutched in his perfectly manicured fingers.

“But you promised Luke that you were going to take him to a baseball game today after school. That he was going to get to spend the night with you and-“

“Sorry.” The apology isn’t sincere and you know it, despite Lance’s attempts to drop his smile into a sympathetic frown. It comes across as more condescending.

Crystal honks the horn of the car as if to tell Lance to hurry up, and it takes a very large amount of effort for you not to flip her the bird.

“No. Luke has been looking forward to this all week! Not to mention I had to ask off for today specifically-“

“And I’ll apologize to him too.” Lance goes back to typing something on his phone. “This dinner means a lot to Crystal-“

“I don’t give two shits what means a lot to that red-haired bimbo!” You snap, the rage and frustration building in your chest. “You made a promise to your son to take him to a baseball game and actually spend time with him and that’s exactly what you’re going to do!”

Lance looks up from his phone, his eyes narrowing. “You always fucking do this.”

“Do what?”

“Pick a fight.”

“I am not picking a fight Lance. All you’ve done since you’ve shown up here is ignore your daughter and tell me that you’re backing out of the one thing I’ve asked you to do in months!”

“I told you that I have a meeting and a deposition due today! Damn it, what do you want from me? To quit my big job that pays for this house?” He steps forward towering over you. Lance was taller than you, but he had always been lanky and thin, unable to gain too much weight or muscle at a time. “Why do you find the need to make me feel like my life isn’t important?”

“What are you talking about? I didn’t say anything about your life! I’m talking about our son’s life-“ You shout incredulous.

“This is exactly why I got out when I did. Because you always try to control every little thing. You’re so damn OCD that if I did one microscopic thing that wasn’t apart of your ‘special plans’ you’d spontaneously combust! You never just shut your big mouth and let me just fucking live my life! You never let me feel like a man! And Crystal understands-“

“Crystal can’t even understand that pickles were once cucumbers! I doubt she can understand whatever warped reality you’re living in Lance.” You spit. “But I’m sorry that me asking you to be a part of our children’s lives is too much for you. That it’s such a chore for you to make them happy.” The frustrated tears had begun to burn against your eyes.

You didn’t know why you expected anything different. Lance had been doing this since your son was born, putting his career above everything else, working late, schmoozing whoever he could, being so damn selfish that he was willing to throw everything the two of you built together for the woman sitting in the car on the curb watching the two of you go at it with a sick satisfaction.

“Don’t fucking do that!” Lance roars and this time he slams his hand against the door frame so roughly that the glass inside shakes and you flinch. “I don’t know why I even try to talk to you. So why don’t you get your big ass up those stairs and-“

“Is there a problem?” Russell’s voice interrupts whatever Lance was going to say, his body sliding into the space behind you so suddenly that you didn’t hear him walk up.

But it felt good for him to be there, to feel the warmth of his body through the air at your back.

He places his hand on the door to open it up a little wider and to seem a bit more intimidating. Russell is easily taller and broader than Lance.

Lance looks up at him confused, puffing out his chest to look more intimidating. “Who the fuck are you?”

 “Maybe you shouldn’t use that kind of language around the kids-“ Russell says with a tight lipped smile.

“They’re my fucking kids. Don’t tell me how to talk.” Lance’s gaze flicks to you. “Who the fuck is this?”

“I’m Russell.” He replies before you can. “And if you know what’s good for you I’d take a few steps back from her.” Russell’s large hand gently presses against your waist, a comforting weight that you weren’t expecting, but welcome, nonetheless.

It made you feel a little bit bolder.

“Don’t tell me what to do!” Lance snarls. “Is this your boyfriend? Really? You finally decided to go out with someone and that’s who you pick?”

“Look buddy, if you keep talking to her that way, we’re going to have a problem.” Russell sighs. “And I don’t want to get any blood on your fancy suit.”

“I’m not your buddy. And trust me she’s not worth the fight.” Lance sneers at you, giving you a once over that makes you want to crawl into a hole and die.

Russell’s jaw clenches tight and he takes a step forward, but you hold out your arm to stop him.

“He’s not my boyfriend and even if he was, it’s none of your business who I date!” You snap back.

Lance only shakes his head, ignoring what you’ve said. “I’m serious pal you don’t want to get involved with her. She’s fucking crazy, not to mention nothing special when it comes to se-“

The next words are lost in the sound of Russell’s fist landing against Lance’s face, the sharp crack followed by the inhuman scream of Crystal at the car. Lance stumbles back off the front step clutching a hand to his face while blood streams through his pinched fingers and over his chin.

“I warned you. Now if you keep talking, I'll make your eyes match.” Russell growls, flexing his hand.

I hope he didn’t rip his stitches.

“You son of a bitch.” Lance sputters, his hand still holding his broken nose. “You’ll be hearing from my lawyer!”

“It’s worth it, if it shuts you up.” He replies unfazed.

Lance’s eyes narrow with hate as he looks at you one more time, before stumbling back to his car where Crystal has begun to wail over the amount of blood coming from his nose. The car squeals down the street and out of sight, leaving Russell and you standing on your front porch. Thankfully Emma was still in the kitchen eating her pancakes and Luke was upstairs, you didn't want either of them to see Russell punch their dad.

But that didn't mean that you wouldn't mind seeing it again.

You groaned when you thought about your son. You didn’t know how on earth you were going to explain to him why his dad wasn’t going to pick him up or take him to the game.

But at the same time there was a sickening amount of pleasure that bubbled beneath the surface at the thought of Russell breaking Lance’s nose.

“Are you okay?” Russell asks turning to look at you. There’s anger still simmering beneath the surface. You’d never seen him angry in all the time he’d stayed with you. All you’d seen was the funny, easy going, guy with the gorgeous smile, but to see him like this and especially to see him angry over what had just happened…

Just when I thought he couldn’t get any more attractive.

“Yeah. I’m sorry-“

“Don’t apologize for that asshole. He shouldn’t have talked to you like that.” Russell hesitates. “Does he always talk to you like that?”

“Pretty much.”

“Damn, should have knocked a few teeth out too. He’s got to learn how to speak to a lady, especially one as beautiful as you.”

You felt your cheeks flush. You couldn’t remember the last time that someone called you beautiful and before you can stop yourself you say:

“I don’t think you’re too bad looking yourself.”

“Oh I know. You couldn’t keep your hands off me last night.” Russell’s grin makes you smile and roll your eyes at him.

Again you’re struck by how charming he is and how kind. He didn’t have to do any of the things he’d done today, but he did anyway. He didn’t have to make breakfast for your children, he didn’t have to step in when your ex-husband got mouthy, and he didn’t have to punch Lance in the face, but Russell had.

He'd done more for you in the past few hours than your husband had done in the six years you'd been married to him.

Behind where Russell's standing, Colter’s truck pulls up to idle on the curb in the same place that the BMW had been sitting moments ago, and you raise a hand in a half-wave to greet him. Colter shoots you a grin and waves back.

“Guess my ride’s here.” Russell says glancing back at his brother over his shoulder before he looks back at you.

“Seems so.” You nod. “Are you sure you don’t want me to check your stitches for you one more time before you go? I mean you probably ripped them when you punched Lance."

“Sounds like you just want to catch another peak of me without my shirt on.” Russell laughs, wiggling his eyebrows.

“Shut up.” You roll your eyes and hit him on the arm.

“Ow.”

“You’ll survive.”

“Maybe.” He’s studying you again, the sunlight turning his hair a honeyed brown and his eyes into a sharp jade. The light catches his broad shoulders and traces along his strong jaw that is covered in a healthy amount of stubble that makes him look rugged and more handsome than any man you’d ever met.

You bite the inside of your cheek. “It was nice to meet you Russell. And again, I'm sorry that you got shot."

Russell shrugs. “It was worth it. I got to meet you and I got to punch that asshole in the face so win-win.”

“You didn’t have to-“

“Yes, I did.” Russell’s jaw tightens. “You didn’t deserve any of the things he was saying about you or about the kids.”

“True.” You hesitate.

Should I ask him for his number or is that too forward?

“I’ll see you around.” Russell smiles at you one more time before making his way to his brother’s car, just as Emma joins you on the front step.

“Did daddy leave?” She sounds sad.

“Yeah. He did.” You take her small hand in yours.

“But why does Russell have to go too?” She whines.

“Because he’s going home.”

You felt a twinge in your chest watching him get into the car, knowing that you probably would never see him ever again. It made you sad to know that. You'd been interested in him and you thought he was interested in you, but he hadn't asked for your number.

Maybe he's flirty and charming with everyone.

You hide the frown that comes with that thought. Emma waves goodbye with her freehand, and Russell smiles from the passenger seat, waving back at your daughter, before he raises his gaze to yours again and winks.

Or maybe not.

When you go back inside the house, Luke is still upstairs, and instead of going up to tell him about his father, you turn to go back into your kitchen to clean up. As you near the stove, you notice a bright green piece of paper under one of the magnets on your refrigerator, fluttering slightly in the air-conditioning.

You pull it down to look.

In case you want some more pancakes or if you bake any more of those life changing cupcakes. Give me a call. -Russell.

His phone number was written under his name, next to a smiley face that made you laugh aloud to yourself.

Sunday nights were the worst, but not this time.

A/N: Alright, I had so much fun with this one! I just had this urge to write Russell with a reader who had children and a trash man ex because why not? And I know I said it would be a one-shot… but my mind is already thinking of all the possibilities lol. Mostly because we all know I can’t really write just a one-shot 😅😂

As always thank you so much for reading! Reblogs, Likes, and Comments are not required but are always appreciated. I love hearing what y’all think!

Taglist:

@roseblue373 @livya99 @mrsjenniferwinchester

[libraryofgage]

Meddling Kids

Part of: Steve Deserves Good Parents, Actually

Debbie and Fester Addams One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six Rick and Evelyn O'Connell One | Two | Three Harley Quinn One | Two | Three 10th Doctor and Rose One | Two Scooby Gang One (you're here!) Jedidiah and Octavius (from Night at the Museum) One | Two Queen Clarisse Renaldi One | Two | Three Leverage Crew One

From the girl that brought you that silly little Spicy Six Scooby Movie post (I've been thinking of making that post into one of those social media series things on Tumblr but imma let that cook a little longer actually lmao) is a brand new Stranger Things and Scooby Doo crossover

Anyway, we're here for good vibes and fluffy Scooby gang, so definitely don't point out any typos hfjkds

Have fun reading!

---------

People coming.

Steve freezes, looking at the possum that's scurried into the room and sidled up next to him. He takes a deep breath and forces his shoulders to relax. People have come to explore the abandoned lab before; usually, it's just older kids daring each other to stand inside for a few minutes. There's been that lady recently who likes dressing up as a weird rat-thing, but she hasn't bothered Steve or his friends. Actually, she may not even realize Steve is here.

"Is it the lady again?" he asks, his voice low as he places a hand on the possum's head. He feels its nerves flow through his palm, and it pushes its head against him, snout nuzzling against the 004 on his arm.

No. Four big ones and a beast.

Four adults and a dog, probably. Steve frowns slightly and gets up, carefully making his way across the dirty floor toward the window. He lifts the corner of the curtain and stares at the bright blue, green, and orange van parked in front of the building. Four adults are standing around with a big dog, which isn't looking too happy about being near the place. Steve can't blame it.

He slowly pushes the window open a crack, straining his ears to hear one of the adults say, "Okay, gang. Daphne, Velma, and I will look around downstairs. Shag, you and Scooby will take the second floor. We'll meet back in the lobby in an hour."

"Can't we just, like, not explore the creepy abandoned lab for once?"

Steve assumes this is the one called Shag, and he hopes the other man agrees to just leave. That would make his life so much easier. He hears the dog, Scooby, agree with the sentiment and hopes the other people can understand him, too.

Unfortunately, one of the women says, "C'mon, guys, the monster isn't real. Here, I'll give you some Scooby Snacks for the road."

And that seems to be the end of that. The man and dog accept the snacks, the people enter the building, and Steve resigns himself to hiding for however long they stick around.

He bunkers down, leaning against the wall beneath the window, and goes back to coloring the floor with markers. This entire room is covered in drawings that reach only a few feet up the wall. Steve isn't tall enough to go any higher.

Right now, he's drawing all the animals in the building. There are the ones that were there to begin with (mostly rats and rabbits) and the ones that moved in after the bad people left (possums and raccoons and cats and more rats). He doodles them marching across the floor, a relaxed smile tugging at his lips as he colors a cat purple.

He's putting the finishing touches on the final animal in the line (the very same possum that came to warn him about the people) when he hears a scream from down the hall. Steve blinks, looking up just in time to see Shag and Scooby throw open the door, slide into the room, and slam it behind them.

They lean against it, sinking to the ground, and finally notice Steve sitting against the opposite wall. "Like, Scooby, please tell me I'm imagining that kid over there," Shag says, his voice wavering and cracking near the end.

Scooby starts out looking as scared as Shag, but then he tilts his head. He hesitates for a few seconds before dropping low to the floor and slowly moving toward Steve. "Scoob, what are you doing?" Shag asks.

Not a ghost, Shaggy!

"Not a rhost, Raggy!"

Steve blinks, frowning in confusion. Scooby talked. Like, actually talked. He talked out loud and Shaggy (it makes as little sense as Shag in Steve's opinion) understood him. "There, like, can't be a kid here!"

By the time he says this, Scooby has reached Steve, looking up at him from the floor with hopeful eyes and an eagerly wagging tail. Steve holds himself back for all of two seconds before reaching out and scratching behind Scooby's ear.

The dog lights up and tries to squeeze into Steve's lap, licking his cheeks and covering him in slobber. Steve laughs, trying to evade Scooby's tongue and utterly failing. "Stop, stop!" he shouts breathlessly, still giggling even when Scooby finally gives him a break.

"Oh, man," Shaggy says, slowly moving from the door to approach Steve. When he's a few steps away, he stops and crouches. "What are you doing here, little guy?"

Steve blinks, glancing at Shaggy before turning his attention back to Scooby. He reaches up, scratching under Scooby's chin and trying to ignore his nerves about talking to another human after being alone for so long. "This is my home," he says.

Your home?

"Your rome?"

"Like, man, this is not a good home," Shaggy says, looking around at the dust and the cobwebs and the possum in the corner of the room. "Don't you have, like, parents or something?"

"Not really."

Can we keep him, Shaggy?

"Can re keep him, Raggy?" Scooby asks, his tail wagging hopefully as he looks at Shaggy over his shoulder.

"Gee, Scoob, I don't know," Shaggy says, frowning slightly as he finally sits down on the floor and hunches over. "A kid's a lotta responsibility, man. We gotta feed him and clothe him and, like, make sure he doesn't get sick."

Steve looks between the two and can't help a slight smile. Shaggy is nice, and Scooby is a dog, which automatically makes him good to Steve. He doesn't mind helping them out a little. "You're here about that lady, right?" he asks.

Lady?

"Rady?"

"Like, what do you mean lady?" Shaggy asks.

"The one dressing like a rat," Steve says, wondering how they didn't make that connection themselves. Haven't they already realized it's not a real rat-thing?

"Oh, man, I guess Velma was right," Shaggy says, a relieved laugh bubbling out of him as he slumps even more. "We gotta tell the gang, right, Scoob?"

Yeah, yeah!

"Reah, reah!"

"Are you trying to catch her?" Steve asks, looking between the two once more.

"Well, like, the rest of the gang's gonna want to."

"I can help with that," Steve offers, smiling reassuringly at the concerned looks that Shaggy and Scooby give him in return.

------------------------------------

Hawkins is supposed to be a vacation. Sort of. There's a possible mystery in the town, but even Velma couldn't confirm for sure, and Daphne had encouraged them to just relax.

Steve is inclined to agree with her, especially when she buys them a house with a pool that Scooby immediately launched himself into.

Still, he can tell that Velma won't relax unless she gets a chance to look around, so he finds her to go on a grocery run. "Oh, you're right," she says when he points out the lack of food in the house. "We'd better get something before Shaggy and Scooby start chewing on the walls."

"We'll set up the bedrooms while you get groceries," Fred says, grinning at them from across the living room. He digs in his pocket and pulls out the keys to the Mystery Machine. After making sure Steve is ready, he tosses them over.

"Please just don't put me in that plaid room," Steve tells him, catching the keys and passing them to Velma.

"I think that would count as cruel and unusual punishment, Steve," Daphne calls, her voice coming from down the hall where she's no doubt started setting up her room. She pokes her head into the hall, smiles at him, and adds, "Don't worry. We'll put Shaggy and Scooby in that one."

"Knowing them, they'd like it," Velma says.

As if he was just waiting for his queue, Shaggy leans over the second-floor railing and shouts, "Dibs on the plaid room! It looks groovy!"

Steve snorts as Velma rolls her eyes with an amused smile. "Come on, Steve, let's get going."

The drive to the grocery store is quiet, with Steve paying more attention to the town around him and Velma focusing on driving. He notes anything that looks weird, like the lack of people walking around. They pass other cars, of course, but even when they drive past what could be called Downtown Hawkins, he doesn't see anyone walking around.

He tucks that away for later, seeing nothing else of note until they park near a pile of bikes at the grocery store. "They're not locked," he says, nodding to them.

"It's a small town, Steve," Velma says, unbuckling as she turns the radio down so their ears aren't blasted when they get back. "They probably don't feel the need to."

"I guess," Steve mumbles, hopping out of the van and waiting for Velma to round the front. He walks next to her and holds the door open when they reach it. "Maybe we can get sandwich stuff."

"We'll have to wipe out their entire deli section," Velma says, sighing as she grabs a cart and pushes it towards the produce aisle. "At least we never have to worry about food waste."

Steve hums in agreement, easily falling into their normal routine of Velma calling out items and him grabbing at least five of them if there's enough in stock. "What do you think about that mystery?" he asks, placing a bag of apples in the cart.

"I think that forest out there is prime real estate," she replies, leaning on the cart's push bar. "Get a watermelon, too, Steve. Anyway, demon dogs aren't the weirdest we've run across."

"They were demodogs. Not demon dogs."

"I still think that was just a typo. Either way, I'm sure we can walk around the forest later and, you know, learn what the squirrels have seen."

Steve crinkles his nose, glancing at her as they make their way towards the deli. "You know the squirrels are too flighty. We're better off with the raccoons. Or, like, the sparrows."

He looks over to see her smirking and realizes she was just teasing him. Steve huffs and grabs as many sandwich meats as he can, getting everything but ham since Velma can't eat it and it gives Daphne migraines.

"Well, whichever animals you interrogate, I'm sure they'll clear up this mystery in no time."

Steve hums in agreement, follows Velma into the cereal aisle, and is about to say they should consider focusing on field mice when a voice from the other side of the shelf says, "Dude, spray cheese isn't gonna help us against the demodogs."

He blinks, pauses, and looks at Velma. She tilts her head, holds a finger up to her lips, and waves off the smirk he gives her at being right about demodogs not being a typo. "Yeah, I know," another voice says, followed by the clatter of grabbing a few cans, "but I want Cheez-Whiz."

"That stuff is gross," a girl's voice says, her tone flat in a way that Steve almost recognizes. He frowns slightly, tilting his head as he silently places a few cereal boxes in the cart. "It tastes fake."

"That's the point, El."

"Shouldn't we focus on lighters and hairspray?"

"I mean, this is technically a spray, right?"

Steve glances at Velma, raising an eyebrow before gesturing to the end of the aisle. She nods once and starts pushing the cart in that direction, huffing in amusement when Steve drops in a few more boxes along the way. "You'd think we're feeding an army," she says, tone dry.

"We might as well be," Steve replies, feelings his shoulders relax at the routine exchange.

They round the corner to see three kids down the aisle, two boys and one girl. One of the boys has curly hair and a baseball cap while the other is wearing a basketball jersey, and the girl has short hair that falls to her shoulders. They're all looking at the shelf, but the girl glances over when Velma and Steve enter the aisle.

She meets Steve's eyes, and he wonders if he's met her before. Her eyes narrow slightly, more in confusion than anything else, and her gaze travels down. He feels it on his arm as she lands on the 004, and her eyes widen as she steps away from the shelf.

Steve glances down at her arm in turn, sees the 011, and feels like his breath has been punched out of him. "Eleven," he whispers.

Next to him, Velma shifts closer, placing a hand on Steve's shoulder. "I'm here," she says, her voice low and more reassuring than she'll ever know.

"Four," Eleven says, walking up to him without another glance at her companions. "Are you here to hurt me or my friends?"

Steve blinks. "What?"

"Are you violent? Kali, Eight, was violent. And angry. Are you angry?"

As she talks, the two boys move to flank her, looking between Steve and Velma with something between suspicion and confusion. "Is this one of your siblings, El?" Basketball Jersey asks.

"Yes. Four. He was...transferred a year before the Upside Down. Four, these are my friends Dustin and Lucas"

"I go by Steve now. And, uh, no, not violent. We're grocery shopping," Steve says, awkwardly gesturing to their cart.

"Steve? You can name yourself and you choose Steve?" Dustin asks.

Steve blinks and frowns. "I didn't name myself. I asked the smartest rat I knew to name me."

The two boys blink as El nods in understanding. "The rat chose well," she says.

"Dude, how many people are you feeding?" Lucas asks, seeming to finally notice the shopping cart.

"Well, one of them is a Great Dane," Velma says. "Hello, El. I'm Velma, one of Steve's...guardians, I suppose. How would you like to come by for dinner? El and Steve can catch up, and you can tell us about those demodogs you mentioned."

"Were you spying on us?" Lucas asks.

"You weren't exactly being quiet," Velma tells them.

Before Lucas or Dustin can start arguing, El cuts them off, "We will come by for dinner. I am glad we met again, Steve."

"Yeah. Me, too," Steve replies, smiling at El and wondering if they'll have to explain how Scooby can talk.

----------

Tag List (please let me know if you'd like to be added!)

@romanticdestruction,

[dylweedwastaken]

How I would write a teen/adult Scooby Doo series

The Setting:

All over the USA. They are driving from town to town hunting/investigating monsters, ghosts, and cryptids. This is a world where the supernatural is real, but not super common.

The Gang is well-respected almost everywhere except for their hometown of Coolseville, Massachusetts.

The Characters:

The gang are all in their early 20's. They all genuinely love and trust each other. There is very little drama, but when there is, they figure it out because they are all better together.

Fred Jones:

• Large, tough, man

• Total sweetheart

• Mechanically brilliant (he can build a trap out of nothing and fix the van in hours)

• Himbo and sees the best in people to a fault

• Has willingly taken hits for the other members of the gang

Daphne Blake:

• Comes from old money and has a shakey relationship with her parents and sister's

• Emotionally/socially intelligent

• If there is anyone who would willingly get involved in a fight, it's her

• While she may not have Blake money, she has Blake resources

• Sometimes has to be reminded that not everyone is rich

Velma Dinkly:

• Enthusiastically curious about the supernatural

• Sometimes forgets to sugarcoat things to people who have been hurt by the monster

• Has alexithymia (I hope that's how that's worded) so while she may not always be able to empathize with people, she genuinley wants to and tries

• Sometimes so engrossed in her investigation she ends up in danger

• More booksmart than street smart

• In a long-distance relationship with Marcy Fleech

• Has actually supportive parents

Shaggy Rogers:

• The resident skeptic (mostly as a coping mechanism)

• The only one who can cook well

• Has a seemingly random set of knowledge and skill

• The youngest of the group

• The funny one

Scooby Doo:

• Giant dog (Great Dane's are fucking huge)

• So much love in his heart and cotton candy in his brain

• The Doos are a cryptid canine species

• Has a large family

• Generally friendly, but can bite and be protective when needed

Inter-gang dynamics:

Fred x Daphne: In a happy, healthy, long-term, relationship. Pincushion couple.

Fred x Velma: They are the most invested in the investigation and will often work on traps and plans together.

Fred x Shaggy: Fred boosts Shaggy's confidence and Shaggy teaches Fred new skills

Fred x Scooby: Great Dane/Golden Retriever solidarity

Daphne x Velma: Very similar dynamic to Fred x Shaggy with the addition that Velma often keeps Daphne grounded.

Daphne x Shaggy: Both have similar backgrounds and weirdly relate. They have rich parents who don't approve of their life decisions.

Daphne x Scooby: They are just very sweet to each other and she will often go to thrift stores to get his costumes.

Velma x Shaggy: They dated briefly in high school, and broke up on really good terms because she doesn't like guys. They occasionally bake together.

Velma x Scooby: Whenever she gets stressed or overwhelmed Scooby comforts her. She puts a lot of effort into making sure his needs are met. She often googles whether or not he can eat something.

Shaggyx Scooby: Scooby is Shaggy's best friend and psychiatric service dog for his anxiety. Shaggy is Scooby's best friend.

Other Characters:

Scrappy: Scooby's nephew who genuinely loves and looks up to him and think's he's fearless.

The Hex Girls: A goth band local to Coolsville. Mystery Inc. Were some of their first and only supporters. They have since made it big and still keep in contact with Mustery Inc.

Marcy Fleach: Velma's girlfriend of 3 years. Basically, it's just Marcy from "Mystery Incorporated".

This has been largely inspired by this post https://www.tumblr.com/inkoutsidethelines/706626597058396160/thinking-about-how-i-would-write-an-adult?source=share

and the JelloApocalypse video about Fred

Any other suggestions?

[sunsetconcert]

rewrite concept for scooby doo.

fred is a golden retriever of a man who has literally no idea of the actual real world money his parents have spent trying and failing to mold him into an uppity snooty rich piece of shit. head empty. has ghostwritten at least five books on van maintenance that are best described as surrealist romance. has a habit of saying patently absurd yet ominous shit like "I don't sleep, I dream" with total sincerity

daphne is juggling some 37 extracurricular activities and acing all of them because She's Just That Good. exudes the sort of Nice Young Lady energy that suggests in other timelines she would be a serial killer. thinks jessica fletcher from murder she wrote is just So Neat. she isnt romantically interested in fred at all, he is just a blorbo that she wants to see get put into situations.

velma is a "ghosts are observable scientific phenomena" girl trapped inside a "ghosts are totally spiritual and have no scientific basis" household. had a phase where she identified as a disney villain declaring that they were Surrounded By Fools! has never had a human friend before, thinks that fred and daphne are Normal.

the original three members of mystery inc were all insane and had literally zero restraints or hesitation about anything. this usually meant they would spend upwards of 24 hours on a case not eating or sleeping, only to crash when the case was done. shaggy started feeding them out of genuine concern that they might die of starvation.

shaggy is addicted to puzzles, riddles, and all manner of games and joined the gang because he foolishly thought mystery solving wouldnt involve ghosts. dressed up as Professor Layton one time. the narrative wants to doom him, but hes too good at running. he WILL feed you and that IS a threat. has a lot of Opinions about celebrity chefs. hes distantly related to international superstar Barbie but that is a Whole Situation that he is desperately trying to ignore

scooby is an impossibly ancient canine deity whose name has been forgotten by mortal men. stays with shaggy because the bellyrubs are nice. literally zero braincells. has goofball-to-goofball telepathy with shaggy. hes a fan of columbo and would very much like to wear a trenchcoat, but society does not make trenchcoats for doggies. do not trust him with your money, he has a gambling addiction.

their first case as a team is catching a spook confusingly called Mister Bones. he has no bones at all because he is a ghost. this is CRITICAL information to solving the case.

[4rainynite]

Scooby Doo x Goosebumps

This better be some universal foreshadowing that we're getting a Scooby and Goosebumps crossover or I'll be so mad!

This week while I was in Barnes & Nobles I came across this and almost cried from joy. I'm a huge fan of Scooby- Doo and Goosebumps so this was just perfection. I know this was most likely a setup from leftover Halloween stuff, but I love it (also give the person a raise for the idea)!

Headcanon Time/ Scooby Doo x Goosebumps AU:

The Mystery INC is called by an anonymous benefactor to help find some missing people (mainly children) in a small town.

The gang jump to it since they love mysterious, but they love helping people more.

Once they arrive in the small town they begin investigating and hear strange stories around town for example: an evil dummy coming to life, a witch who grants terrible wishes, haunted mask that attach to people and turn them evil, cameras that predict omens, and so on.

At first the gang thinks it's another hoax and real estate plot, but the stories sound eerily familiar like something out of a 1980's -90's children horror book series.

The townsfolk don't trust Scooby - Doo due to his abilities to do things a normal dog can't possible do: speak human language, cook, dance, the works. This hurts Scooby and makes him start doubting himself (how dare you townspeople!).

The gang then investigate a writer who half the town think is responsible due to the kidnappings are similar to the horror novels he writes. When they meet the writer it's none other than *drumroll* R.L. Stine (who plays himself in the movie fanfic).

Mystery Inc: It's famous children's horror writer, R.L. Stine!

At first Velma is excited to meet the famous R.L.Stine, but after her encounter with Ben Ravencroft, she fears he'll be the same as Ben. Until -

R.L. Stine: So, you've met Mr. Ravencroft. How was he?

Velma: (Gloomy) I was excited to finally meet one of my favorite writers. Only to be disappointed when he turned out to be evil.

R.L. Stine: Yep! I met him before, he's a huge jerk! You should've met Stephen King aka the 'Adult horror writer of Goosebumps'.

Velma: *Perks up*

R.L. Stine reveals that he called them, and he is the cause of what is going on due to bunch of works he never finished/ can't find the ending for a current story from his old typewriter he had since he was nine, and if he can't come up with an ending soon things will get worse. The gang don't believe him and think all the rumors around town about him being the kidnapper are getting to him. The gang stays with R.L. Stine's place during the investigation and Scooby and Shaggy come across certain items from the Goosebumps, Fear Street, The Nightmare Room, and The Haunting Hour franchise. Scooby and Shaggy come across Slappy in his inactive state and unknowingly read his spell.

The next day Stine's home is trashed with a message in blood (or ketchup) reading: SLAPPY'S BACK!

Slappy (played by Jack Black or Cal Dodd) plans to possess Stein to bring a new era of horror to the world. He's been bringing all the monster/villains to life and the real world and framing Stine for the crimes.

Slappy: Hello papa, I'm back!

R.L. Stine: Slappy!

Slappy: That's right. Ooh! I see you got some friends and their dog.

Scooby: Rog rhere?

Shaggy: Check it out Scoob, the puppet really is haunted.

Daphne: Yeah, I guess we were due an evil dummy sooner or later.

Slappy: (Flabbergasted) W-what? You're not scared of me?

Fred: No offense Mr. Slappy, but we've dealt with real monsters before.

Velma: Zombies, cat-people cultist, witch's ghost, aliens, virus monsters, the list goes on and on.

Shaggy: Me and Scooby here even taught at a monster school once.

Scooby: Reah!

Slappy: Wow! I just met you people and I hate you already.

The gang and Stine recruit now adults Carly Beth, Danny Anderson, Hannah Fairchild (ghost child), and a few others to help end Slappy's reign.

There's an epic battle and the find a way to defeat Slappy and return everything to normal. R.L. Stein and the gang are cleared of all charges and are now heroes to the town!

It wouldn't be Goosebumps without a twist - Slappy survives and with his own typewriter he begins writing his own series. His first book is of the original Goosebumps series with an image of Mystery Inc. and R.L. Stine in the Mystery Machine with looks of terror on their faces.

[delugedecade]

Scooby-Doo! Legend of the Phantosaur

forcefully review as watched by Deluge

spoilers, obviously, but then again, I’m the one watching it for the first time.

I've been told this is the origin of Ultra Instinct Shaggy

It feels weird not to have the normal Scooby Doo intro theme, with this one having a Beatles pop rock like song.

Scooby and Shaggy really do get the short end of the stick a lot of the time.

I think this one is the first one on this list with Matthew Lillard that I've watched. and then the next being Lillard's first time as Shaggy.

Is coffee even good for dogs?

Shakey Joe is like high on coffee back there

Scooby channeling his inner Tassie Devil

THESES GUYS ARE STILL IN HIGH SCHOOL? OR AT LEAST COLLEGE?

The US Bureau of Supernatural Forces definitely exists purely for the gang to fuck with.

I was wondering why the GPS sounded familiar, It's John DiMaggio. though I'll be honest, I thought it sounded like Danny DeVito

God that barbeque looks sooooooo nice

I forget you guys call scones "biscuits"

Damn, they're giving Velma a love interest. I mean, they did with Mystery Inc with both Shaggy and HotDogWater. but still

They just happen to find a bone by being DOG

Winsor is like, almost identical wtf

The Phantosaur is here!

The action of this is definitely a lot more dramatic than all the others.

Yeah fuck up the Europeans!

The Psychedelia of this movie has much evident. I guess that's why the intro was so Beatles like.

I guess this movie really is early in their career, if Daphne's Tsundere about Fred.

Some wild theories by Daphne, but I'd expect nothing less.

ULTRA

INSTINCT

SHAAAAAAAAAGYYYYYYYYYYY!

Hahahaha. Dude punched himself to avoid Shaggy

Hmmmm Thaumtrope Mining Co really introducing the sus ones.

Daphne really knowing Fred won't be satisfied without a net catching someone.

Damn that's a really good RP idea. Daphne wearing fishnets to catch their significant other.

Velma in her own world but still being the brains for Daphne's Brawn. Pretty sure she's brawn, doesn't she have like martial arts training or something?

Daphne has motorbike experience, good to know

Scooby... please...

They really said that.

メニュー

Okay, Winsor, that's a little rude

Even thinking of the word bad breaks him out.

Biker gang actually being helpful with the gang.

There's two Phantosaurs.

Meddling kids ✅

Hmmm... Yeah it usually would take longer, and there's a whole half hour longer.

Oooh, Another mystery!

That thing didn't even bake, how did that decoy end up solid?

HOLY FUCK IS THE TOWN ON FIRE?

THE REAL PHANTOSAUR!

But probably using a souped up version of the Hypnomachine thing

YEAH BIKERS!

Oh my, it's the paleontologists

The paint stripper thing doesn't make sense, how the fuck does it get directed through the mouth?

Ahh, so it was a whole plot to get people out. just its for a keepsake giant dino and not the silver mine

Oh, they planted the paint strippers everywhere.

DAPHNE....

Superhuman strength to break off quartz. unless the strength of quartz is pretty bad.

Awfully long belt between three dudes. and probably the belts off of the professor.

Damn, Fred do be the heart of the team at this moment.

And there goes the whole town.

Or looks like just the main road.

Velma really asking him out after he leaves.

Probably shouldn't have all of them in the room

Wait so the meme of all of them dressed up as shaggy is from this movie?

Memes aside. Fun, exciting, really interesting mystery.

10/10

@submissiveking99 @tokufan400 @freeusemuses @asexxxualauthor

[strawberrysatellite]

i did one thing right

inspired by taylor swift’s call it what you want

word count: 2.9k

Y/N and Harry met in October.

It was one of those super cliche Halloween meet cutes. But it was that Halloween party that brought them together, so they supposed the cliches weren’t all that eye roll worthy.

Truthfully, they already knew of each other; Y/N was what she likes to call a semi-influencer (she had a few hundred thousand followers- enough to make a living off of- but never really liked grouping herself with other influencers considering most of the ones she had met always looked down on her for not having millions of followers, and were known to be less than stellar people) and Harry was a tattoo artist. They followed each other because of some mutual friends who mentioned Harry to Y/N in passing after she had spoken about wanting to get a tattoo at some point.

So the two knew of each other’s existence, liked a few of the other’s posts, but had never actually met before that night.

Y/N was so glad to be going to a party that wasn’t brand funded or overflowing with other influencers. Don’t get her wrong, she was eternally grateful that she was in the position she was; being an influencer meant she was able to work whenever, wherever, and didn’t have half of the stresses as people with more conventional jobs. All she had to do was post her little youtube videos talking about her favourite books or the clothes she’s been wearing recently, share pictures on her perfectly curated Instagram, and make TikToks with trending songs in the background.

But it got so exhausting sometimes.

She felt like she was constantly performing, putting on a face for people to judge and critique. People seemed to forget that there was a real person behind the virtual image she portrayed; the amount of hate comments she received were nowhere near what she assumed other content creators got, but there were enough daily to where it got to her sometimes. Just because she chooses to put out content for people, doesn’t mean that she’s giving them permission to give opinions on every detail of her life.

It’s like she’s constantly just floating in this liminal space, trying to bend over backwards to please her followers whilst also trying to stay true to herself.

That’s one of the things most important to Y/N- being as true to herself as possible. After meeting more than her fair share of other influencers, she knows that most of the time the kind and polite image they project online is completely contradictory to their actual personalities.

The last thing she would ever want is someone thinking she was rude. It gives her nightmares just thinking about it. Especially considering she worked in hospitality through university before she gained an online platform, so she’s had more than enough rude encounters with the general public (and she also understands how important it is to be kind to people. And to always tip waiters.).

So really, Y/N was just happy to shed her ‘online’ persona for a couple of hours and be around her friends without feeling the need to perform for anyone or please them.

Also, she really really loved Halloween and was super excited to dress up as Juliet from the movie with Leo DiCaprio, complete with silky white dress and clip on angel wings. It was casual enough to where she didn’t feel like she was going overboard, but dressy enough to where she still felt in the Halloween spirit.

When she actually got to the little pub where Sarah had told her the group was meeting, she was met with the sight of Sarah and her long time boyfriend Mitch sat in a corner booth and dressed as Velma and Shaggy from Scooby Doo, complete with bright orange turtleneck and coke bottle glasses.

“Look at you guys! Cutest couple I ever did see!” Y/N manages to get her words out through laughs- she doesn’t think she’s ever seen Mitch in anything but black, nevermind puke green.

“Yeah, laugh it up.” Mitch’s eyes roll but he gives her a slight smile and a warm hug. That’s a secret between him and Y/N- Mitch is secretly a huge hugger. He just has to be either high or slightly tipsy to come anywhere close.

“Look at you, honey! Real life angel.” Sarah’s warm tone interrupts Mitch’s grumbling, her eyes crinkling with a smile behind her fake glasses and full fringe.

“Thank you, thank you. I do try.” Y/N curtsies and nearly falls about in giggles. “I’m gonna go get a drink and mingle, think I saw Niall on the way in.”

She sets off through the packed pub after a wave to the couple at the booth, trying to avoid knocking into people with her slightly inconvenient wings.

She likes this. Likes not being immediately recognised. Likes not being considered an internet celebrity. Likes being treated like a normal person. Loves being around people she can be herself with.

When she does eventually get to the bar, she finds another figure already talking with the bartender. From what she guesses, it’s a guy. An attractive guy.

Well, from the back of his head he seems attractive.

She guesses over 6 foot, with long hair down to his shoulders and a sheer black almost blousey shirt loosely buttoned. And the skinny jeans make him look like something straight out of a tumblr post.

Through the chiffon fabric of his shirt she’s able to see the masterpiece that is his back. There must be well over a hundred tattoos collated across it, spreading down his arms and wrapping around his neck. Most- if not all- are monochrome, and only serve to make him look even more intimidating.

Kinda turns her on, if she’s being completely transparent.

Making her way next to him to wait for the bartender to be free, she somehow manages to bump him with her new temporary appendages, startling him enough to make him twist to see who it was.

When he does turn around, she’s greeted with his actual costume: a skull painted on one half of his face and only serving to accentuate the impossibly perfect structure of his face. He has model-worthy cheekbones and brows so furrowed he seems to have been born with a frown.

Upon seeing Y/N in her angelic fluster though, he softens up and a look of recognition flashes through his eyes.

“Oh, hi. Y/N, right?” He asks, as if he hasn’t looked at her Instagram more times than can be considered healthy. Like he doesn’t view her stories daily just to see what she’s interested in and which books she’s reading at that moment. Like he doesn’t get hot and blushy when he gets the little notification to say she liked one of his posts.

It takes her a minute to place him, having been slightly caught up in the aura he radiates, “Hi! Harry…right? God, I hope you are, otherwise I’ll look like such a massive bitch. Okay, even if you aren’t Harry, please just go along with it.”

Her world stops turning when she hears the chuckle he lets out at her anxious word vomit. Like, literally stops on its axis. She’s pretty sure she hears the screech of it skidding to a halt, the elevator music that plays in her ears after her brain turns to mush.

“No, love. I’m Harry, don’t worry.” An amused smile covers his face, endeared with her rambling that he’s familiar with after watching her videos where she rants about book characters and their “stupid, unrealistic actions” and why Gus Everett was actually the best book boyfriend ever (he had no idea who that was- just took her word for it) and why her favourite Starbucks drink is the best ever and how she’s so upset that it’s being taken off the menu because it’s seasonal.

A relieved breath whooshes out of her pouted lips, face now covered in a slight flush, “Oh, thank fucking god. How embarrassing would that have been? I’ve probably made it so much worse now, huh? Nice one, Y/N. Fucking idiot.” Her eyes roll at her own actions, words coming out as barely a mumble, and Harry’s smile just grows even more.

She’s cute when she rambles, he thinks.

“Honestly, don’t worry ‘bout it. Won’t mention it. Never happened.” His hand comes up to graze her shoulder comfortingly and a tangible spark passes between them, “D’ya want me to get you a drink? We can go sit with Mitch and them lot?” Harry secretly crosses in fingers in the hopes that she takes him up on his offer.

Her smile is wide and relaxed, looking up at him like he’d just gifted her a litter of kittens, “That would be so nice, thanks Harry. Listen, don’t judge me but my favourite drink is..”

As long as she keeps smiling at him like that, Harry doesn’t think it possible to ever judge her.

Their first date is kept casual and relaxed- which you wouldn’t be able to tell by the sweat Harry is currently working up just thinking about meeting up with her for an official date- and Harry decides to take her to the shop, named Satellite Studios, after a walk around Hyde Park and a stop in Pret to get chai lattes. She had been asking him for a while now to show her his tattoo shop and some of his sketches (yes, she had seen them on his Instagram, but she was on the pull and this was the one talking point she could think of at the time- also, she truly did want a tattoo, so this worked perfectly).

Harry didn’t expect that the date would end with him actually giving Y/N a tattoo, but here he was, perched over her and inking the skin of her collarbone. She had decided on a quote she lived by- ‘treat people with kindness’.

A month or so later, and the two are freshly into couple status, still just getting comfortable referring to the other as their significant other.

It’s late November by this point, and Die Hard (the first one, obviously) is playing on Harry’s TV while the two sit on his black velvet couch, Harry sprawled on one end whilst Y/N lays horizontally and props her feet up on his lap underneath a fuzzy blanket. Neither of them are that into the film, only putting it on to fill the silence, and so Y/N decides to scroll through Instagram to check the comments on her recent post.

She had actually really liked it; the picture was one Harry had taken of her when they went to Waterstones, a puffer jacket wrapped around her while she carries a stack of books and looks back at the camera, smiling wide and mid-laugh (she recalls his joke- something about being replaced by fictional men- and a tiny smile breaks on her face when she remembers how proud he looked at having made her laugh).

Only, that smile quickly disappears when she begins to read the comments.

Of course, there’s so many from her fans and other influencer friends being so sweet and love;y, complementing her and talking about how relatable the caption was (something along the lines of “a book for every situation”). But there were more rude ones than normal. Of course she was more than used to people being rude by this point, she had been a content creator for long enough now that she knew how to compartmentalise and ignore hate. But it was nearing her time of the month and she was feeling extra sensitive and seeing people talk about how annoying she seemed, or how she looked to be gaining weight, or how they just in general disliked her, really wasn’t what she needed.

A small sniffle makes Harry’s ears perk up and his head shoots towards his girlfriend- she wasn’t ill the last time he checked, why was she sniffl-.

His face completely drops when he sees the face of his sweet girl covered in tears, cheeks glistening and flushed, lips pouted and more pink than usual, eyes watery and glassy. “Hey, pretty girl, what’s up? Come on, talk to me.” He immediately leaps up and kneels beside her, hand cradling her cheek and thumb wiping under her reddened eyes.

She just shakes her head and frustratedly wipes her face, “Nothing, I’m just being stupid.”

Harry tuts at her and reaches up with his other hand, gripping her face gently but with enough strength to force her to look at him, “It’s not stupid if it’s making you cry like this, honey. Tell me what happened, babe, let me help, hm?” He doesn’t want to force her to talk if she truly doesn’t want to, but he can’t bear to see her so distraught and dishevelled.

Her face collapses at his gentle words, “I just- people are so mean. I don’t know what I did to deserve it. They’re so- it’s just,” A heavy breath is released from her cry-swollen lips and her head leans into his palm.

“I know, lovely girl. You didn’t do anything. Don’t listen to them, they’re just bitter and projecting onto anyone they can.” He feels anger flare in the bottom of his chest. How could anyone be anything but sweet to his lovely girl? The last thing he would ever want to do would be to make her feel as though he’s angry with her, so he reigns it in for her sake, but knows that he may have to go to the gym for an extra hour to let it out.

“I just wish I could get away from it all for a bit. Like I love my job- you know I do. But it just would be nice to run away for a bit.” The words come out sad, unenthusiastic- nothing like his girlfriend normally sounds- and it haunts him. He has to do something.

That’s how the two find themselves in Scotland for a month. Just them, their rented cottage in the Highlands, and Harry’s tiny black kitten, Pumpkin. Harry had booked them a train from Paddington Station to Edinburgh that same night when Y/N finished crying, wrapped up next to him in his black silk sheets with tear tracks still staining her face.

Harry figures he can trust Mitch to look after the shop whilst he’s gone, having saved enough days up to take off for a bit (and being the owner of the shop meaning he’s his own boss and can afford to) and he tells Y/N not to even open Instagram or YouTube or TikTok until they get back home, going so far as to delete them from her phone.

“Out of sight, out of mind, my petal.” He tells her with a kiss on the tip of her nose upon seeing her slight frown.

The couple spend every waking moment together, making breakfast together in the morning (or really, afternoon considering neither of them bothers with an alarm upon having nowhere to be) and eating it lazing on the couch with an old movie on in the background- Y/N has rediscovered how much she truly loves The Sound of Music after watching it nearly daily for a month. They take walks around the lake near their cottage, skimming stones and having competitions on who can throw one the farthest; usually Harry wins, but Y/N calls it unfair everytime because of the wingspan advantage and how strong his hands are after years of tattooing. Their favourite part is how they spend the week of Christmas: they take a train into Edinburgh city centre, go window shopping and wander around the markets, marvelling at the displays and thousands of twinkling fairy lights, Harry calls his mum from the cottage on Christmas Eve and lets her know he’ll be round in a couple weeks to drop presents off, and the two exchange gifts whilst sat next to the giant log burner fireplace.

Neither went too crazy on the other after having only been official for a little over two months, but Harry gifts Y/N a new Kindle (she had been complaining for months how hers was out of storage and “soooooooo” slow) and a delicate necklace with a silver ‘H’ pendant dangling from it.

“Not because I’m like claiming you, or some shit.” He hastily explains when he sees the furrow of her brows.”But I just- I know you, sweet girl, and I want you to have a little piece of me wherever you are.” Y/N’s lip trembles at his words and she nearly mauls him with how fast she tackles him with a hug.

“I love it, H. Thank you.”

Y/N in turn gifts him a vintage Fleetwood Mac vinyl that she had scoured every London flea market for and a new sketchpad with some pencils he had been eyeing for weeks but couldn’t justify buying himself.

When the two do eventually return home, Y/N’s phone is hit with an influx of comments from fans wondering where she had disappeared to and, instead of doing the (technically) right thing and answering their questions, she decides her next post will be a picture of the chain around her neck and Harry’s tattooed hand lazily draped over her shoulder and her tattoo on display. Unexplained, but enough to reintroduce herself onto the internet after people not having heard from her for months.

She tags him in the picture, leading to his already substantial following increasing rapidly, his page (‘satellitestudios’) being mostly pictures of his work and sketches, the occasional black and white filtered selfie or picture with a celebrity client (the one he brags about most being Dave Grohl), with the most recent post being a black and white picture of the bottom half of his face, bunny teeth on full show with Y/N kissing his cheek and captioned ‘kissy.’.

Of course her fans go wild, flooding her comments with questions and labels, rumours and timeline theories. She decides they can call it what they like, but she’s happy. So very happy.

[baddecisionsgoooo0]

Super Doo Au Prompt #1

So, as I mentioned in an earlier... ( I don't know the term. Post? Tumbl? Crack? Blog?), Superman only got his super powers after eating some of Ma Kent's baking.

For this prompt, the Kent's live in/around Coolville/Crystal Cove, and Clark became friends with the Scooby gang while growing up. Through a number of events, the Scooby gang receives powers, and forms the core of the justice league with Superman.

Characters:

Shaggy is obviously a speedster, taking the place of the Flash. He can run real fast, and has to eat far more than a normal human can.

Scooby could be a Kryptonian super dog. If he is, then he belonged to Clark growing up, until Shaggy and Clark "married" and raised Scooby as their son. Eventually, Shaggy and Clark "divorced", and the judge (The school children) awards equal custody. (It was a highly controversial decision, and regular fist fights still break out even though none of the children are still in school)(Shaggy and Clark are best friends though)

Alternatively, Scooby could be able to transform into other animals, as well as be an excellent mimic. He could also turn into a larger version of himself.

Velma could be the girl in the chair. However, I propose something different. Hot Dog Water is the girl in the chair, and Velma is a cyborg-like character. Hell, both Hot Dog Water and Velma could have enhancements. They are also dating b/c obviously.

Daphne is Batman. Flat out. She funds the gang, knows a ridiculous amount of unique topics, and has a bit of a ditzy public persona. Either no additional powers, or maybe something that makes her really lucky.

Fred is difficult. On one hand, he could be Batman with how much he loves traps and in certain timelines is rich and acts like an absolute himbo. On the other, he is a bit of a himbo. So instead, he gets powers to control metal, somewhat.

Something that will let him tinker with the Mystery Machine, let him fully construct traps, let him lift large objects with ease. Eventually someone thinks to put some metal in a rope, and Fred now controls ropes. (The amount of sex/bondage jokes are outstanding, and Fred just smiles and nods along. He has no idea what anyone is talking about. People make a comment about kinks and he's just like "??? there are no kinks in this rope???". Fred is a human golden retriever.)

Scrappy could be a Bizzarro clone of Scooby, or just be part of a junior team.

The Hex girls absolutely get saved one time, and make custom theme songs for each of the gang as thanks.

Vincent Van Ghoul is like John Constantine. He uses his acting career as cover while he deals with demons. He is also unimpressed with the... lackadaisical attitude of the gang.

The Parents:

Ma and Pa Kent have that midwest farmer attitude. If you're there, you'll do your work and eat your fill. Family is the most important thing, and you leave 30 minutes to an hour after you say goodbye. You also leave with about twenty various leftovers. (Oh, we'll never eat this pie. And I know chocolate chip is your favorite. I made too much mashed potatoes, take some, etc.) They never throw anything away (It could be useful), and they always tell people to watch out for deer as they leave.

The Kents know Clark has super powers, so when he starts having helpers, they figure out who it is pretty quickly. Que Clark telling outrageous lies to protect his friends and his parents pretending to believe him. Ma Kent always piles Shaggy's food much higher than everyone b/c "he's a growing boy" and not because she knows he needs way more calories. Pa Kent asks for Fred's help around the farm because Fred can move tractors easier. Etc.

For the rest of the parents, they should be caring, but a little oblivious. except Fred's parents. Fred's parents being evil and him not realizing because he can be very oblivious to his loved ones is funny. Like, "Oh, my parents aren't evil, they just *insert terrible excuse that a five year old wouldn't fall for*"

Ages:

I would say it could start 14-15 for that sweet, sweet puberty angst. and also to start the threats small. As the gang gets more used to their powers, they can start going further afield.

That's all I've got for now,

Tune in next time for more cracked out ideas.

[ohdeedraws]

Bit late to the trend but since the Velma show butchered the scooby gang so badly, I've seen people sharing their ideas for a scooby doo rewrite and I wanted to share an idea for a reboot I've been working on for a while now.

The story would take place in Coolsville, a small town famous for the high number of disappearances every year and the rumors of monsters, a witches curse and other paranormal activities. It's also famous for its renowned Personal Dectecives, Mystery Inc.

The gang would be older in this, probably in their 40s. They have grown up in Coolsville and become local celebrities. Aside from Mystery Solving, they have their own lives and families.

Daphne became the writer of an immensly popular series of mystery books detailing the gangs adventures throughout the years (I'd imagine these to be episodes of the past shows, eg. 'What a Night for a Knight' from Where Are You, 'Camp comeoniwannascareya' etc., because yes, they're canon in this reboot). She married a famous fashion designer (but during the events of the story they're going through a divorce because she has finally come to terms that she is a lesbian). She has three kids.

Fred coaches the local highschool football team when he's not inventing new traps or catching monsters. He married a woman who works as the main news presenter on the local channel and he loves her dearly, more than his traps. Together they have two children.

Velma's main focus is Mystery Inc. But on the side she runs the local book shop, the main supplier of Daphne's books. She was married to an English Professor who works at the University a few hours outside of town, but they realised they weren't right for eachother and got divorced. They had one child together.

Shaggy runs a cooking/food review blog where reviews food from all over the world and shares his own recipes and tutorials, all with his trusted dog Scooby by his side of course. He's a single parent of one, and no one talks about his wife because, quite honestly, no one knows who she is.

The Gang are still close, like family, even after all this time. But the show wouldn't focus on them, it would focus on their eldest kids.

Let's meet them!

Grey Matthews-Blake is the richest kid in Coolsville. He's often seen wearing his father's newest line of clothes and his signature designer green sunglasses (that he even wears inside). He's known to be quite dramatic, sarcastic, and generally uninterested in anything to do with his mother and her job.

Wren Dinkley is often told that it's hard to believe they're the Velma Dinkley's child. Whether it's when their preforming their heart out on the stage during whatever production the local theatre group are putting on, or failing science, Wren doesn't let it get them down. They're headstrong, passionate, and totally comfortable with themselves...'totally'.

Cassia Jones is the nicest girl in town. She's captain of Coolsville Field Hocky Team, Head of the debate team and Student Body President. She's bubbly, hard working and determined to live up to the Jones legacy and make her father proud.

Billie Rogers doesn't care what her dad and dog tell her, she knows the supernatural rumors in town are real. And she's going to be the first person to prove it. She's talkative, outgoing, and very knowledgeable in the paranormal - much to her dad's dismay.

Despite their parents relationships, the kids aren't that close. The town's folk expect them to be just like their parents and that couldnt be farther from the truth. But they do have one thing in common with the Original Gang, their mystery solving talent. Unfortunately, for some unknown reason (*wink* plot *wink*) their parents are strongly against them following in their footsteps.

But things come to head one day when Mystery Inc disappear, and the local police turn up useless in the investigation.

Now its up to the kids, Billie, Wren, Grey and Cassia to band together to take up the jobs left in Mystery Inc's absence and find their parents. But in doing so they'll discover that their quaint small town is not all that it's seems and have to unearth a witches spellbook, an old grudge and an ancient evil that many have tried to escape but no one has defeated.

Ft. Side Characters such as The Suspects aka Jinx and Mozz McKnight (daughter and son of Thorn from the Hex Girls!), RJ Herring (Son of Red Herring), and other callbacks from all of scooby doo lore!

This is just the bare bones explanation, I'll go deeper into each character in their own posts and introductions. But this is my own little passion project. I've been obsessed with scooby doo since forever and I've always wanted to make my own iteration :)

[i-ideate]

guys i saw chicago

it is the cuntiest thing ever omg I literally cannot put into words how much I loved it. I was literally like holding in screams the whole time The dancers were so talented omg! They were extremely confident in everything they did - if there were any mistakes, I didn't notice them! The set was simplistic but fun, the band was on these different levels, kinda like steps, that also had doors and stairs that resembled a courtroom (which made sense cos yknow...chicago) Did I mention all the actors were talented? The girl playing Roxie sounded JUST like Kristen Chenoweth, and lowkey looked like her from where I was sitting! She was super talented and delivered every joke spectacularly! The actress for Velma was also amazing, her general attitude was real clear, and her vocals omg!!! When she did the cartwheel holding the note infjdkfbjdskfsd; Billy Flynn and the others also did spectacular, I don't think I can talk about them enough! Overall, it was an awesome experience, I would love to talk about it more but I'm kinda blank after 3 (total 5) hours of driving ;-;

[vdinks]

LOCATION: the river, the woods.

FOR: @norvillc

Velma sat at the edge of the river bank, knees pulled tightly against her chest. Eyes focused on the stream of the water so intently and how the ripples echoed against other and floated on, down down down. The sound of reuniting loved ones around her began to drown out, to the point where a high pitched ringing chime replaced it. It was no use. She had been here the whole time, she never left. She gave up counting the days, the hours, the minutes. She was living in limbo like a ghostly apparition. Doomed to walk the earth unheard and unseen. Walking through loved ones as she wasn't real, screaming into the void only to go unnoticed. She had tried everything, traveled endlessly in search for an answer. Only to give up with no hope. She missed her home, her friends and the gang, but most of all Shaggy.

Had he moved on? She hadn't dared checked home in awhile. It was too painful to watch Shaggy deteriorate right in front of her eyes without being able to help. Knowing that she was the cause of all his pain and yet she was face to face with him. If it was limbo, it was her own personal hell. She couldn't go home as there was no home to go back too. So she sat by the river, wondering which would turn to dust first. The bank or her.

[lostyaotl]

Transformers One: Fear overshadows excitement.

This is just a bit of rant and I apologize for the lack of eloquence and structure in my thought process as I type this message.

To begin with, I have been quite a fan of transformers franchise for many years now, and although not an expert, I really appreciate the characters and the expansive lore behind it. When I first saw the trailer for 'Transformers One," I got extremely excited at seeing another Transformer movie to add to the collection and the fact that it was an animated added to this feeling. But as I started to maul over it and reflect on what I had just watch I couldn't help but feel an gnawing emotion: fear. It may seem odd why I would feel this way so let me explain:

Lately, media has used comedy as some sort of foundation for every show/movie/etc. Don't get me wrong, comedy is great, it adds a touch of lightheartedness and can even emphasize emotional shifts. I could go on for hours on examples and how they just work and how comedy has changed nowadays to the point that it seems more like a nuisance than anything. I think just for a quick example, think of the shift from Kung Fu Panda and Kung Fu Panda 4. (I would love to go on a rant on this). And one of the main issues with this excessive comedy, is that it sacrifices story. We lose those deep heartfelt moments, those growth moments, and so much more because either they are erased from the narrative or they are quickly washed away with comedy. Now back to 'Transformers One,' I fear for this movie simply because of this tendency.

I love how it is an origin story, especially because it would add so much to the characters. Don't get me wrong, I think most of us knew that Megatron and Optimus were close friends before they became who they are but it's not really talked about (again, not an expert I'm talking from like Transformers Prime and MTMTE which I need to reread). It gives an itch, but we can't really delve or feel the actual loss between the two. To see these two characters grow and their traits interact and leave us asking what could have been. So this movie would be an amazing chance to feed us.

I am also excited because if you really think about it, the real reason why the war started, the social issue at hand, was quite hard hitting (depending of iteration) and I think could easily be applied to today's world. Because it wasn't just a caste system, the cybertronians were literally stuck in their role depending on the model they were born as (ref. MTMTE) to the point that they would try to change their parts (if I remember correctly). I don't know I am just rambling at this point, but again, I fear that this message will be lost because it will be glazed over with comedy.Like I know it's an origin story and they aren't supposed to be even thinking about war, but it sets up for it.

I was also a bit anxious about the characterizations. I fear that they will be changed just to be more 'likeable' to younger audiences. Like don't get me wrong, there are many examples where characters have been changed from the source material while still keeping the core characteristics that make them who they are. I think a good example would be Leonardo from "Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles." He was drastically different from the other iterations (cocky, dramatic, arrogant vs serious, focused, stern) but keeping the core characteristics (self-sacrificial, perceptive, most rational, quick-thinking, strategist). And there are examples where it is bad (Velma, although not completely bad but could use some work Wednesday, and some others I literally had a list and I just forgot.) And I think this concern first appeared when I saw Bumblebee....He...I didn't know what to think. Bumblebee always gave off little brother vibes but this time he just gave of 'chad' vibes and I fear how this will work out in the movie. Maybe there will be some growth! Hopefully. And this spiraled down to D-16 and Orion's characters as well. I enjoy the use of the iteration of both of them being slaves, it really pulls them in together, but I did love the character dynamic we say it 'Transformers Prime' where Orion is still serious, but he's a bit more naive, fully trusts his best friend with no second thought, obedient, loyal, perceptive, compassionate which we still see in Optimus Prime but not as blind, we can see the growth, like he trusts his allies but is cautious with newcomers etc, he is loyal to his cause, compassionate in keeping his people safe and still has the idea mercy/of second chances. And it can become flaws at times as well, if I remember at some point Ratchet calls him out saying that he was too soft and it costs them because Optimus still had hope that they could be united without the violence. D-16 has just the same potential, we have seen proof that he was passionate about what he stood for, but his traits sadly were fed to the wrong end and quickly became huge flaws that turned him to what we know him as. I always say it as Optimus cared for the People, as Megatron cared for the Cause. Two sides of the same coin. And this could be set up in the movie, we could easily see these traits and how they differ. I don't know, I just fear that a great dynamic could be lost to just 'hur hur they are bros and they are silly and learn to tolerate each other.'

Again, I apologize for this rant and how messy it is, I just needed to get it off my chest. Again, I am not dissing on the movie. I am genuinely excited to watch it because the art style looks really cool, the premise looks promising, and I can't wait to see what characters make an appearance.

Ps. I also apologize if when referencing Prime I am confusing Megatronous with D-16 it's hard when rapid typing and thinking keep track of the the names

[queenofthecats]

Is it just me, or has their been an extreme misogynistic wave in every fandom? Not even just anime or manga, but even in every single type of media. Don’t even get me started on the weird fetishization of gay men, taking men’s trauma who are genuinely complex characters, and making them ugly twinks? Not to mention, the sudden second wave of romanization of mental illness?

Even shows that don’t have men as much, and revolve around the women, it’s happening. Why are all the female characters being gender bent with horrible x readers or ocs? I don’t think this is support for the queer community as much as I think it’s just another wave of misogyny and fetishizing. As a lesbian, it’s so uncomfortable. You can read stories about gay men, but that is not what most of you guys doing. You can head-cannon characters, but again, that’s not what is going on.

Don’t even get me started on the taking of lesbian characters and making them like men. These people will explicitly mention they do not like men, but somehow is in love with a male insert? Lady Dimitrescu and Velma especially.

I’m so tired of not being able to find any sapphic media in most fandoms, unless extremely main stream, because straight men find it attractive or straight women feel disgusted.

Not every character needs to be a male twink or lesbian who somehow is in love with men? Not to mention, the people who write this crap have no idea of what ACTUAL queer people are like.

I can’t even watch any type of media without this crap popping up. It’s so funny how you can find millions of fan fictions, edits, and all that for men who y’all make twinks, but people have to search for hours to find lesbian media.

Also, rewriting a male character as gay and making him feminine doesn’t excuse him of his actions. Nor does his trauma. I have met people with actual trauma that these characters have, I have been to mental hospitals, have depression and family issues and everything, it’s not an excuse. It’s not “hot.”

People feel embarrassed in real life, and it causes people daily struggles.

MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS, PEOPLE WITH TRAUMA, AND QUEER PEOPLE AREN’T YOUR FUNNY LITTLE PLOT TWIST OR FETISHIZATION. WE ARE REAL PEOPLE. If you genuinely can’t write people without making them be fetishized and for other people’s views instead of representation for said communities, then maybe you are just a bad writer. You can write trauma. You can write queer people. You can write people with mental health struggles. All without fetishizing them.

Pro tip: if the media you’re writing about said group is mostly viewed by people not in said group, especially while they’re leaving disgusting comments, you aren’t doing it right. Do research, talk to people, do whatever to stop writing characters like this. If you’re not going to write it like the struggle that queer people, people with trauma, and people with mental health issues face, then don’t write it.

[broke-on-books]

Hi Swishy!!! 👋😊 If you’re still accepting these:

☕️ + Gang origin stories (what you like/dislike/prefer in canon or fan-made origins for Mystery Inc)

Oh my gosh Cally you picked like the best question on the face of the earth for this ask wth okay

SCOOBY: This one's easy, and I'm sure you can guess it if you've been around my blog for more than five minutes. GRILLO'S PETS ORIGIN STORY!!!!!!! Love love love the Grillo's Pet Shop origin! If you're somehow unaware, this is the origin shown in flashback in Scooby-Doo Goes Hollywood (1979) aka my favorite movie ever. Basically the gang (as teens already) go to a pet store wanting to buy a dog. While there, a baby Scooby tries to shows off for them and makes a whole mess (as usual <3) but is so endearing they take him home anyways. This is by far my favorite origin for Scooby as here he's more than just "Shaggy's dog" but the gangs' as a unit. This origin has really great gang interactions in and about Scooby with Shaggy showing reluctance to get him in the first place! (As opposed the the besties since birth origin that's common in other adaptations, such as APNSD) I really love that detail as we get to see other gang members (especially Velma!!!! The Grillo's pets origin has some amazingggg Scooby+Velma interactions and screencaps) argue for Scooby becoming a part of their lives, and it also paints Shaggy in the family-member-who-didn't-want-a-pet-but-now-they're-best-friends role that often exists in real life (and which is just HILARIOUS for Shaggy and Scooby!)

SCRAPPY: Of the Scrappy origins I'm familiar with (those being the one from the SD&SD theme song, and the other the episode surrounding his birth [the one all the baby bonnet scrappy screencaps are from]) I definitely prefer the original theme song version much better. Some of that strong preference is likely because I've spent a lot of time thinking about how I would go about reintroducing (or redeeming [in the public opinion] as my blog title says) Scrappy Doo, and that's by doing an extended exploration of the box-in-the-mail origin story. I'm also just obsessed with what that origin means for Scooby's family life and his relationship with Ruby that she would send her son (who Scooby has never met!!!!) to stay with him for an indeterminate length of time without notice (by MAILING SCRAPPY IN A BOX NO LESS) while also having Scrappy arrive at Scooby with a full hero-worship situation going on. Like do you know how much potential that idea has?!?!?!?!? I could talk about the Doo sibling semi-estrangement (as it exists in my mind and nowhere else) for HOURS and what it means for Scooby, Ruby, and Scrappy like !!!!!!!!!!. Warner Brothers needs to hire me to rewrite this introduction ASAP

Shaggy: I'm not informed enough on the Rogers family lore to say too much about it, although I don't see Shaggy having too large of a nuclear family. He's someone I see with a lot of cousins though and aunts and uncles (and differing relationships with each, as seen in the 'I'm a man? Another first! Take that Uncle Dave!' or however it goes clip from bcsd) I can't evision what his parents would be like at all, although I'm sure they're very interesting people for naming their child NORVILLE of all things. After some quick googling, I've learned he canonically does have a younger sister, Sugie, which I could definitely fit into my image of him with a big enough age gap bet the two. Shaggy is someone I see as growing up pretty alone (without Scooby in the Grillo's origin though, which... ouch) but could definitely fulfill the youngest/er child niche within a large extended family.

VELMA: I like Velma as an older sister and I like Madelyn Dinkley. I don't have a ton ton to say about her origin other that I like the parts we've generally seen (especially the fear of clowns lol). Velma to me has always been a lifelong reader and I think that's something that's likely true for her parents as well. Not a huge fan of her SDMI parents, but I don't like any of the SDMI parents so that's not exactly a surprise here.

Daphne: For Daphne, lots of Scopby properties like to portray her family as pretty wealthy, and I think I'd agree on that assessment for her. However if I was going to pick between Daphne origins/family situations I'd definitely go with the BCSD one for sure. I like her as an only child much more than having a gaggle of sisters like in SDMI, and I think that tying into her quirks and how her family is rich gives a good explanation for many of her more esoteric skills. Basically what I'm trying to say is that she had lessons in almost everything under the sun growing up, no matter how weird or useless.

FRED: This is definitely the hardest one. Believe it or not I haven't gotten to the BCSD episodes with Professor Huh? yet so I know pretty much nothing but idk. LOVE how Fred has tragic backstories with villain!parents leaking out his ears that's sooo funny actually (THREE TIMES FRED. AT LEAST.) However. Idk. I'm a fan of Skip and Peggy. Like Fred's embarrassing overbearing normal parents is also so entertaining as well. So idk I'm pretty flexible with Fred. This man has no siblings though. When he was bored at home he talked to his nets or something

THE GANG: I don't have preferences really on how the gang as a unit came together, besides the edition of Scooby and Scrappy. It's just not an event that interests me a ton, mostly because I see it happening in very similar ways each time. Like either they're all friends and a mystery pops up and they solve it together and BOOM! Mystery Incorporated or they're mystery enthusiasts and a mystery pops up and BOOM! close friendship (and also mystery incorporated)

But anyways thank you so so much for asking this question actually this was a very good pick Cally (esp in regards to the dogs, I have Opinions about those two)