#remember that guy on vine who didn’t know what music was?

[ivetried27nameswhataboutthis1]

Wednesday: In an attempt to show my dedication to this relationship, I’ve researched modern pop culture and put this music on for you.

Enid: What is that?

Wednesday: A playlist I found.

Enid: Are those bird calls?

Wednesday: This is not rap music?

Enid: Oh, I see your mistake. See you typed TOUCAN. I’m sure you meant TUPAC.

Wednesday: Is Toucan not as skilled as Tupac?

Enid: It’s a different type of music, I guess.

Wednesday: In what way?

Enid: Well, in the way that one of them isn’t music at all.

[alarrytale]

https://www.tumblr.com/alarrytale/762609138761072640/your-answer-was-so-interesting-it-made-me-think?source=share

yikes. you should try to get to know Louis.

he was always an oasis/green day guy, into indie brit rock.

not surprised a larrie is looking down at him, but still. the way you people think so little of him, as if his taste and choices dont matter unless they're exactly like harry.

I just need to understand. Do you think Louis have chosen this indie kind of music style to support his laddy image?

I very much think it’s actually the music style Louis likes and he’s finally confident and free enough to make the music he really wants? It’s not a secret to anyone that he wasn’t a big fan of the first 1D albums and he did what he could to get their music in another direction.

Yes the music style goes well with his laddy bro image, but I doubt that he chose the music style because of that.

Hello, anon (yes, these two asks are from the same anon)

First of all, "he was always a oasis/green day guy" is simply not true and i'm pretty tired of this attempt at rewriting history. If you go back and actually look at the evidence and what Louis has said himself you will see that.

Jay said that Louis was obsessed with S club 7 from a young age. On Louis' own bebo account he had a list of his favourite artists and bands. Do you remember which one's he mentioned? I do. He was in a band the Rogue which did covers of hit songs. Do you know which songs they performed? Songs like I got a feeling by the Black eyes peas. Louis is also into musicals, he played Danny in Grease and has mentioned that his favourite movie is Grease and his favourite song from Grease is Hopelessly devoted to you. He's got a tattoo of a Nickleback song, he and H went to the same the Script concert. His guilty pleasure music is Abba. He covered Look after you by the Fray and didn’t sing anything Oasis, britpop or indie at his xft auditions.

He has mentioned being a Green day fan, but there is zero evidence from 1991-2020 (ish) that Louis has ever been into britpop. I can buy that he was a casual fan (like 99% of the british population in the 90's.). But this "Oasis is my inspiration, i've always been a massive fan" thing? That's a narrative they've created recently, to match his change in image and sound. He's never had an Oasis poster in his bedroom, or worn an Oasis t-shirt. He's never been to an Oasis concert. He was 4 years old when Wonderwall came out. I honestly think he's more of a 00's music kid than 90's, because that's what all the evidence suggests.

I think that Louis and his team felt he needed to find himself as an artist and find his sound. Who is Louis Tomlinson the artist? The pop world is hard to compete in, and i think he gave up trying to make it in that genre (with that note he posted about redefining what success means to him). He also needs to appear straight and like a lad that's into women, and he's northern, so his label probably suggested that he'd lean into his northern, common lad, chavvy style roots and northern common lad music. They probably suggested he'd go back to the 90's glory days of northern, common lad music and replicate that. It's something he is able to do, it doesn’t feel foreign to him and like pretending, and i don't think he dislikes the music.

I think Louis music style is still very much pop, with elements of indie, punk rock and alt. Music. But it's still too pop to be classified as something else. Matt Vines can say that Louis is indie and has always been indie with his full chest. That won't ever make it true. You can’t rewrite history.

[imnotgrimimjustagrumpyreaper]

Is one of thomas' Sanders sizes literally just the Sanders from vine that wore the su shirt and Jung out with the vas 😭?

I'm gonna use this ask as an excuse to introduce you to all the sides LOL

I’m gonna preface this by saying that this will be LONG and also it has been a while since I rewatched the series or refreshed myself on some of the older stuff

I’m also gonna go ahead and give a quick rundown of my history with the fandom. I was like 12 or 13 when it first started? I didn’t have vine at the time so I just watched vine comps on youtube LOL but I was already like a causal a fan of Thomas Sanders. It wasn’t until the third episode which was a crossover with Lily Singh (I was a Lily Singh and Liza Koshy fan back in the day) that I started watching the series though. I got really into it after that and it was one of the first fandoms where I was like actually a super active member (You can look at  the comments on some old prinxiety fanfics for proof of that LOL) I don’t remember exactly when I fell off but I fell off from the fandom for a good while around the Christmas episode where they all sing together through no fault of the series itself. I still watched the series but I didn’t like actively get into it or anything like I used to. Then the asides episode “Flirting with social anxiety” like REALLY dragged me back in hard and suddenly its like 13 year old me woke up as a 18 year old with the freedom to peruse tumblr as much as I wanted and I was back into it HARD. I try not to be ashamed of it but I know its one of those fandoms that gets a lot of shit for both valid and super not valid reasons. Long story short i’ve been a fan for years and unless things catch on fire worse than they already are I don’t think I’m ever going to be able to jump ship. 

Not a side but a character: C!Thomas (which I think is who you're specifically referencing?) (and yes there was a vine where he met the VAS LOL, “Who ate my fries?” ) 

So like I said I’m pretty sure Thomas was big on way Vine before he was really big on Youtube. He did other stuff on Youtube before SASI but SASI has sorta become his flagship. A lot of his characters that he uses for instagram and yes indeed the sides originated on vine. The one I think you’re specifically referencing is a weird one because its not one of the sides. Thomas wore his Steven Universe shirt A LOT way back when so its how a lot of early fans took to drawing him and to some extent still do. This is a weird one like I said hafljad. So Character Thomas or C!Thomas is what fans call the version of himself Thomas portrays in SASI. This sort of relatable everyman online persona he puts on. I’m glad we do this is a good and healthy way to separate the show from the the man and it makes it a lot less weird to see like an in-depth post speculating about Thomas’s mental health when there’s a little C! In front of it to let you know its the Thomas as portrayed in SASI. Like I said the reason you still see the SU shirt even though I can’t remember the last time Thomas wore it and honestly I don’t even really think fans draw him in it anymore is that a lot of the art and fan content that like has the most notes and stuff is from the heyday way back when when he WAS still wearing the SU shirt. So yeah SU shirt guy isn’t one of the sides that is C!Thomas. 

The basic plot of Sanders Sides is that its a guy standing in his living room with various aspects of himself talking about life. It did the very modern western cartoon thing of starting out a lot more episodic with some smaller long running plot threads being slowly introduced and then spinning wildly off the rails with a higher budget and musical numbers and intricate grand storytelling as the show went on but the basics are still the same hflajf. 

Logan

Logan is another character that made the jump from vine and our first actual side on the list! He started as “The Teacher” character. Now it gets confusing down the line as we talk about the old Vine characters and their side counterparts but with Logan I’m pretty sure “The Teacher” is dead and gone so we don’t have to worry about that. 

Sanders Sides characters all belong in name HELL. Its not really a problem with Logan or the other sides like it is for one of the them specifically (cough cough looking at you JANUS) but we’ll get there. 

*The place it causes issues and possible confusion is in shipping. When you see the ship names pop up like “Logicality” “Intrulogical” “Prinxiety” etc the early ones were established popular pairings way before the sides had names so Morality + Logic = Logicality and later ships like “Intrulogical” kept up the name scheme. Where it gets weird is the later ships though where some characters did have names and some didn’t or people just wanted to abandon the naming scheme altogether and just use their names. The WORST culprit of this that I’ve seen happens to be my own dearly beloved “Dukeceit” or “Demus” or “Receit” or “Trashnoodle” Both of the characters were introduced late in the game so naming conventions were DEAD and Janus didn’t get a name for A LONG ASS TIME so its just like I said NAME HELL (it suits them though). I can’t even imagine what poor Orange’s ship names are going to look like.* 

Back to teacher man who I’m afraid I’m treating just as badly as the series whoops…Long story short when the series first started the characters didn’t have names they had roles. So Logan made the jump from Vine as “The Teacher” character and became “Logic.” That is still his role but not what he gets called as a thing that got introduced later was that the sides had names and them telling their name to Thomas was like a very big series deal with a lot of meaning. Logan was the first to get a name.

So Logan is logic, his color is dark blue. One of the OG three (later four). He’s like the part of Thomas’s brain that wants to focus on work and being productive. He struggles with understanding his much more “Feeling based” companions. A lot of his angst is derived from Thomas’s career being so creativity focused a place where he feels he doesn’t really have much to contribute and Thomas’s continued struggles with (mental health) being productive and having a good work flow. A lot MORE of his angst is how often he is talked over, belittled and outright ignored by everyone. Logan deserves a lot better and with where we are in the series right now he’s gonna snap soon so hopefully he’ll get it. Logan is a bit of a funny case in the fandom. In the early days when it was just the four sides (aka when I was in the fandom the first time) he was the least popular side by a long shot. However, this did a full 180 and I would now argue he is the MOST popular side, which caused some cognitive dissonance because by the time the team made a meta-joke about him being the least popular, that shift was already well under way. 

Patton 

Is the “Dad’ character from Vine. The “Dad” character is our first instance where we see a split between SASI and Thomas’s other stuff. I’m pretty sure “Dad” still pops up in some of his skits but like infrequently, but when you see “Dad” in a skit it's not Patton unless stated otherwise. So there’s that weird split I was talking about LOL. Patton made the jump from Vine as the “Dad” character and then became “Morality.” 

So Patton is Morality. His color is light blue and he’s the second side to get his name. One of the OG three (eventually four). Patton is a really interesting character, it's all too easy to label him Thomas’s “Heart” but I feel like that’s an oversimplification. He is Thomas’s judgment, he is Thomas’s sense of right and wrong and yes he is most of his mushy gushy feely stuff. Patton is the “Dad” but in a very real sense he’s also pretty childish and I don’t say that to demean him. He struggles with being blinded by nostalgia and black and white thinking. His main source of angst is that he feels unprepared to be Thomas’s morality now that Thomas is grown up and it's not so easy to tell what’s right and wrong anymore. However, a good source of angst for him is ALSO his deteriorating relationship with his once very good friend and son figure Virgil. 

Patton is a complicated one to talk about because of how much perception of him in the fandom has shifted over the years. There’s always a tendency for the super cheerful friendly one of the bunch to get “Bullied” by the fandom (I’m guilty of it too) and in the early days there was a small pocket that didn’t like him or found him annoying or whatever. However, he was always, I would say, one of the more popular sides, I think he may have even been the most popular behind Virgil at that point.

This has definitely changed in recent years largely due to the introduction of the “Dark Sides,” especially Janus. There was always this tendency for the fandom to infantilize Patton and smush him down to his base components and it was easier to do so early on before Janus. His main role in the story besides being the sort of lovable goofy “White dad guy” who would scold the other sides for cursing (but might accidentally do so himself) was bringing Virgil into their little found family. However, he’s had a bit of a negative character arc lately that I believe we’re on the tail end of now. 

The fandom generally skews young so we’re just as bad about black and white thinking as Patton is. Janus was introduced as the liar to Patton’s honesty and the selfishness to Patton’s selflessness and Patton made a bit of an ass of himself through the rocky introduction process. This is true but it's also true that Janus was directly goading him a lot of the time to try to make him seem bad. So yes Patton has the capability to be a jerk but he was also a jerk under duress. This is also what led to his relationship with Virgil now being so rocky (mostly). We haven’t gotten a conclusion to that yet. I can’t really look at Patton centric posts without them being super divided between the Patton defenders who still love him and the “Patton is the real villain” crowd. Nuance is dead, Patton villain AUs are at an all time high and Patton defenders tend to turn it around and shit on Janus (I may not like Moceit like at all but god bless the enemies to lovers crowd working their asses off here). While he isn’t my FAVORITE I don’t think he deserves this at all and I hope things look up in the future.

Roman 

Roman is an interesting one on the name front. On vine he was “The prince” character and he jumped to sasi as “Creativity.” But he was still actively called the prince  a lot of the time and dressed like a prince, I think it was a little while before we actually got confirmation of what exactly his official title was? This discrepancy comes into play with his ships (which I PROMISE I will stop bringing up eventually LOL). I’m not sure if its just because “Creativity” is a bitch to work into a ship name or because of the thing I mentioned earlier but Roman’s early ships like the juggernaut “Prinxiety” (Prince or “Princey” x Anxiety) and Logince (Logic x Prince). His later ships however like the ever popular sister ship to my beloved dukeceit, Roceit (Roman x Deceit) do not share this descrepency as they simply chose to use the names. 

So Roman is creativity. His color is red and he was the third side to get his name. One of the og three (eventually four). Roman is not just creativity, he is as his name and color suggest Thomas’s capability for romance and romantic love. Now, I don’t remember the last time I saw “The Prince” character pop up in an instagram short or anything but where the same characters different but also characters drama rears its head for Roman is a little series called “Role Slaying with Roman.” The best way I can put it is the whole C.A Cupid MH EAH thing except not really because there it was canon she was the same person who had crossed over into the other world??...Role Slaying with Roman is basically just Thomas’s take on a DND podcast in which he (this is speculation) used Roman as a way to draw in his pre-existing fans by making him his player character. The universes are completely separate, the Romans are completely separate but they are both Roman. The fandoms have gotten pretty good at tagging for this but still I know it is confusing and it is a lot. As far as popularity in the fandom goes he has always been pretty middling and I think it suits him! He deserves to be higher but I think its pretty fitting that he has never ever dipped below the half way point of adoration. Roman is a theater kid extraordinaire, a sweet, slightly selfish, goofy himbo with big big dreams. He is a lover-boy and a bleeding heart. I HAVE to mention his early on rivalry with Virgil and subsequent friendship arc because its one of my favorite parts of the series but I think that about sums it up. Virgil is like the cause of all of Thomas’s stage fright and self doubt so of course the two are going to be at odds. Roman is very antagonist to Virgil because he can be scary so Virgil was antagonistic back but they slowly come to understand each other in a really believable and sweet way culminating in this absolute GUT PUNCH of a speech from Roman in the season finale and UGHH. Ever since they are besties who are constantly friendly bickering; they have a surprisingly healthy and supportive relationship and I love them dearly. Roman continues his trend of being deeply antagonistic to the dark sides by absolutely simultaneously adoring Janus because of his (sarcastic) flattery towards him and hating him after he figures out he’s lying. Janus made his debut in the series by impersonating Patton for a whole episode and it sort of made a fool of Roman and ever since it has been a very one sided rivalry with Roman absolutely HATING Janus. There is also this thing with a callback that he is very conflicted on and it made the whole thing so much worse. He has a hero complex and to him Janus is the villain and that is all he’ll ever be. I feel like it may also have something to do with…Who Janus brings with him but we’ll get there :))))). I feel like I’m talking about other people a lot in Roman’s section but that is where he shines, his relationships to ALL of the other characters are so nuanced and liable to change, especially now with everything that is currently happening in the series. Roman’s main sources of angst have been Thomas sacrificing opportunities for creative success for various reasons, not feeling like he can be Thomas’s “Hero” anymore (similar vibes to Patton) and Nico. Thomas in canon has recently started dating a man named Nico and…Wellll…Let’s just say things seem sweet now in a understandably bumpy but still favorable road…But the whole fandom can smell a break up coming that would push everyone including and especially our favorite prince over the edge. Hopefully he and Virgil don’t get back on the rocks! 

Virgil 

OH VIRGIL. Virgil Virgil Virgil… Originally the “Anxiety” character on Vine Virgil made the jump to SASI and became “Anxiety.” His is the character where you will see the most confusion with or at least it was before Roman. The confusion comes not only from “Anxiety” still being a pretty frequently used character in Thomas’s other content but also from the hoodie and his first arc. When Virgil first appeared in the series (although I don’t know if the episode technically counts?) was episode three in the crossover with Lily Singh I mentioned before. Both Thomas and Lily often spoke about dealing with mental health so Thomas’s anxiety character made an appearance in the episode as a (seemingly) one off antagonist for them to defeat (of course with the mentioned caveat that anxiety was not something you CAN defeat but still the point was he was an obstacle to face). Virgil in that appearance and every subsequent appearance throughout season one appeared in a grey plaid hoodie. However, after being “Redeemed” later on he swapped out the grey hoodie for a more patchwork custom purple hoodie. The Anxiety that appears in Thomas’s relatable instagram content still wears the grey hoodie and (I think) has a sign taped to his chest that simply says “Anxiety.” But the distinction can be hard to make so the confusion was always there and he was definitely the character where it was the most confusing until RSWR.

I think I have a lot to say about Virgil unfortunately. He is undoubtedly a fandom tour de force. In the early days finding a fander who’s favorite side wasn’t Virgil was a chore. He isn’t my favorite anymore but he still means a lot to me. I was a scared and dumb little kid with a family that mocked you for using words like “Mental health” and Virgil was the first time I ever saw a nuanced take on anxiety. He helped me come to terms with my own anxiety and not hate that part of myself. Despite the series later failures with handling nuance and mental health I stand by Virgil being a fantastic character. Besides all that he was just an angsty emo teen Zuko figure who loved MCR and Nightmare Before Christmas of COURSE he was popular.  He is the only one I think could give Logan a run for his money (I would say maybe Janus but Janus also has a fair number of passionate haters). 

Virgil is anxiety. His color is purple and he was the fourth side to get his name. When I say “original three eventually four” he is that fourth I am referring to, he has been around much longer than the two newer sides but also wasn’t in the first two episodes. Our first “Dark Side” on the list but also not really! That gets a little complicated lol. Virgil used to be a dark side, a concept introduced with the introduction of Janus. The dark sides are like the less desirable parts of Thomas, aka his anxiety and others we’ll get to later. Virgil, however, has been confirmed to be a “Neutral” side which will factor in later. Virgil is not just Thomas’s anxiety he is Thomas’s fear in general. We have seen that without him Thomas cannot function, he keeps him safe, he is fight or flight, he seemingly has control over more basic reflexes too or at least keeps them sharp and without him Thomas quote “Doesn’t fear death.” Which isn’t really a bad thing #deathpositive but in this case that refers to him not valuing his life and taking dumb risks like not locking his door or looking both ways to cross the street which is not good. Virgil’s whole arc first season was finding this nuance and coming to be accepted and it is still some of the series best. However, as time went on Virgil stagnated just a hair there wasn’t really anywhere else obvious for him to grow, he was on decent terms with the other three sides. I think this was about the time his popularity dipped slightly but I wasn’t around to see it. ALL of that changed however when Janus popped up and dragged all of Virgil’s history with him. Virgil wants so badly to forget that he was ever “Like them” he worked so hard to get away from being a dark side, from being seen as a threat to Thomas and now Janus waltzes in and just reminds everyone, literally. No literally those two have personal beef and Janus loves taunting Virgil over how he’ll always be a dark side. This is also where what had previously been Virgil’s strongest relationship crumbled, partially? I don’t know if its quite clear what exactly is the root cause but its definitely got something to do with these two factors. One, Patton simultaneously implying that all dark sides were unforgivable by the way he treated Janus but also two, treating Virgil as if he’d never been an antagonist in the first place, just generally not handling a (albeit very difficult situation with much grace). But also Virgil is definitely coded the youngest of the sides I think, he’s the most teenager and as such he acts like a teenager. Virgil (speculation) doesn’t like that Patton would imply he’s just a sweet helpless innocent baby, as much as he would love to distance himself from the dark sides I think someone else erasing that history for him invalidates him. On a less deep level it is a very typical teenager snapping at their parent and giving them the cold shoulder sort of deal LOL. They will work it out. Him and Janus though? His other parent figure? That seems like it may be another story. 

Remus 

OGH REMUS. I have two favorites and he is one of them. That being said there is some…Stuff to say about Remus. Remus was the second out of the two sides made specifically for the series and not being pre-existing characters to be introduced. However, he was the first of the two to get his name so that’s why he comes first on the list. He is the only side to date that has (and likely ever will) given their name the very first time they appear/meet Thomas and I love him for it. As much as I love Remus as a character, him as a concept is…Flawed… 

See, the dark sides seem to be doing the Virgil thing but ramping up in intensity. The series' whole thing seems to be that every part of you can be good and is necessary; you just have to work with yourself not against yourself. Janus is a good example of this. He isn’t a mental health thing like Virgil, but he is something that is often demonized: he is Thomas’s selfishness and the series had a wonderful and deep and complicated conversation about that and what the balance is of prioritizing yourself but still being a kind and giving person who does right by others. His whole arc (which isn’t even quite over yet, hopefully) is probably the best thing the series has ever done and I LOVE it. 

Remus on the other hand…Woof…So. Here’s the thing. Remus represents intrusive thoughts. The way they’ve spun this is that he’s also Thomas’s capability for more adult oriented creativity, darker stories and sex scenes and stuff. He’s all the stuff that Thomas has locked away as a creator who has made his whole brand kid friendly. AND THAT is a deeply deeply interesting conversation to have! However, he’s still intrusive thoughts. Now I can tell you as someone with severe anxiety that anxiety is no damn joke, chest pain, nausea, weak immune system, panic attacks, insomnia NO FUN. However, a big factor here is that anxiety isn’t demonized like intrusive thoughts. 

 I’m going to speak out of my ass here for a bit based on discourse I’ve seen but….There is a lot of nuance here and I deleted a whole paragraph because I feel like I can’t speak with experience on the matter. I haven’t really dealt with intrusive thoughts since I was a pre-teen and my memory there is practically blacked out. A lot of the issues come with just being slightly tone deaf I think and a lot of the other issues come from the person they consulted to write Remus who as I understand it isn’t a great person. Then there was the issue with fanders tagging Remus related posts with “Intrusive thoughts” and clogging up a tag that should have been dedicated to a serious mental health thing with their blorbo. All in all it was just a mess. 

Overall I don’t feel like this is a topic Thomas was fully prepared to handle. As such Remus has sort of been reduced to a joke character which is fine? I guess? I don’t know in his debut episode that was sort of the conclusion: that you shouldn’t take him seriously. BUT, the thing is he has so much damn potential as a character.  Remus. I love Remus and I think there’s a lot there, like I said the conversation about feeling limited as a creative is one I think would be very interesting but I don’t think its ever going to happen. It feels like Remus was meant for more but due to the (rightful) backlash he received he’ll never get it. Its like the series has backed themselves into a corner in my eyes. If they want to make interesting Remus content with the aspect of him that they can talk about in an interesting and nuanced manner they have to reckon with the fact that they tried to tackle a demonized mental health issue and people weren’t happy with the way they did so. MAYBE I’m just a jaded fan who’s sad my blorbo isn’t gonna get the spotlight but I don’t know. In all the supplemental material we’ve gotten since he cropped up he’s been sort of like the lovable outcast buffoon side character that’s just sort of tolerated by everyone and OCCASIONALLY we’ll see a moment where he makes Thomas feel like shit. And I’m like?? Where did THIS come from? It feels like Remus is a song where the last note never played. I LOVE to see him pop up and eat spaghetti with a straw but I’d also love to see him get treated like a character which they really can’t do because they decided to make him intrusive thoughts. MAYBE this legendary alleged four part season finale that’s SUPPOSEDLY on the horizon will give me what I want. But I don’t think so, it feels like the series has already moved on. And honestly? I wouldn’t blame them if they did.

The problem is is that the way the series is set up where “Every part of you has a role” is that at this point Remus doesn’t. It feels counter intuitive to what I think the series is trying to say to have ALL THESE OTHER CHARACTERS with so much nuance and good and bad qualities and then have that one guy over there who’s flat as a piece of cardboard by design. If they want to go the Virgil route with Remus and stick true to their (presumed) message and have that interesting conversation I want they have to deal with the fact that they made him intrusive thoughts. They’re going to have to have a very uncomfortable conversation about just how seriously and with how much value they should treat Remus considering what they’ve made him represent and face more backlash. And I don’t think they’re ever going to and honestly I don’t know if I want them to….UGH sorry its just MNNGHHHH. 

Anyways. Remus. Remus is…Lets call him “Dark creativity.” Which I believe is his official title. His color is green. He is the second out of the three new sides to be introduced and the first to get his name. He is canonically twin brothers with Roman and they are the only sides to canonically have a familial relationship with another side (although this is debatable). Remus is insane, clown car horn honking outside your window at three am insane. He is random and silly and gross and I love him. He cusses, makes sex jokes and has constant props and gags galore. He is also prone to anger and has a temper. He hates being ignored which unfortunately…Remus’s most interesting relationship is probably with his brother Roman although its never really been explored. Its the classic golden child vs fuck up dynamic with Thomas being the parent. Its unclear how Remus actually feels about his brother so far although he did bash him over the head in his debut episode, classic sibling behavior. Roman hates Remus. He hates that Thomas has (sort of because like I said, WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN) accepted Remus and he fears that people may see him and Remus as being alike in any way. Remus hasn’t had much to say on this matter so…A final note on them is that there is a very popular fan theory regarding their history. There is a line in the show about them having “Split like an amoeba” I believe it was which led a lot of people to think they were one person. That. And the fact that their titles are the prince and the duke…Both implying a higher power… 

Logan is the character with which Remus has had the most interesting interactions (hello intrulogical shippers I see you). The dark sides all have light side counterparts, the most direct example is Patton and Janus but Remus is an interesting case. While Remus’s light side counterpart is Roman the side that actually balances him out is Logan. Logan like I said is logic. How do you defeat unreasonable nonsense violence that your brain is spitting at you because its bored? With logic. So the two have a love hate dynamic, they’re very frosty but I think Remus is regretfully fascinated with Logan and fixated on messing with him specifically and I hate to admit it as someone who has a DIFFERENT otp but yeah there is a LOT of tension there (I am so sorry Remuskinn, if you’re reading this). My favorite dynamic with him is one we technically haven’t even seen play out yet in canon but MNNGHHHH. I love them. I have to get into shipping for a minute. So my otp is seen as basic for a very funny reason. The most popular ship in the fandom is an oldie but a goodie “Prinxiety” which is Roman x Virgil. I am sorry to logicality shippers but Logicality Logan x Patton was basically seen as a default if you already shipped Prinxiety. So when Remus and Janus were introduced the people who already shipped Prinxiety and Logicality picked them up as the third duo to complete the default set fhadlfjl. So they are seen as basic despite not really being all that popular? I love them. I’ll give you a bit more on the name because I think its funny. So, the two most popular options are “Demus” and “Dukeceit.” SO. The options for the Remus half of the ship name are as follows: “Remus,” “Duke,” and “Intrusive Thoughts.” He gave away all three in his debut episode which set ship namers into a frenzy because oh god there’s so much to work with what do we pick. For some reason “Intrusive thoughts” + “Deceit” never really caught on although I think “Intruceit” is fine if an ungraceful mouthful. So we get ‘The Duke” + “Deceit” = “Dukeceit” and “Deceit” + “Remus” = “Demus.” Other options are “Receit” “Intruceit” “Janmus” “Trashnoodle” and more. Remus was the main one complicating things here but I also feel like the conflict between the old and new shipping conventions in the fandom was just at an all time high title vs name war. This was only made worse by the fact that Janus didn’t even HAVE a name yet and wouldn’t until well over a year after being introduced. In short: they don’t really have a set name and tagging for them is hell. But in all honesty the chaos suits them. 

Now like I said, we haven’t seen them interact in canon: technically. We’ve seen them interact once or twice on screen in questionably canon content but as of yet they haven’t spoken a word to each other in a main series episode. We are working with scraps here but OH BOY are they filet mignon trimmings JUICY JUICY JUICY. There was a tiktok that Thomas reacted to a while back before even the semi-canon stuff had come out that was to the “Let’s not be to hasty, still I think he’s rather tasty” audio that he said was pretty much a perfect fit if that gives you any idea of them LOL. They have a Jessy and James ISH dynamic in that they’re a dynamic villain duo. They simultaneously have so much in common but also are opposites attract. Remus is all about loud bleating honesty and Janus is the secretive one who keeps his cards close to his chest. Remus fucks around and finds out and Janus is sick of his shit and cleans up his messes. BUT the beauty is he sticks around anyway. There’s a scene in the “incorrect quotes” video where Janus is keeping Remus company during a hospital stay and I think that’s very telling. I identify a lot of with Remus as someone who’s prone to saying shit that makes people look at me funny. Overly honest and kind of a jerk. As someone who is “Unlovable��� and gross. So the fact that there is someone who sticks around on purpose and seemingly enjoys his company makes me feel all mushy gushy inside. It's that “There’s someone for everyone” thing. Even beyond shipping their mostly unexplored but semi-canon friendship means literally EVERYTHING to me and the second their dynamic is fucked up is the second I probably can’t stomach to watch the series anymore. Dukeceit fans work with what we got which is NOT A LOT but hey! All I can say is “There’s a snake in my ass” LOL. 

Back on topic: Remus fans work with what we have too which is also not a lot and though I’d like to have hope that that will change in the future I don’t think there is any ground for that hope to stand on…At least there’s always fanfiction. 

Janus 

Janus is arguably my actual favorite character. I just love him SO goddamn much. First of all he has the COOLEST design because his face is literally half snake half human so freakin COOL. I love him. There is so much room for headcanon with that. Like? Does he wear so many layers because he’s all full of secrets or is he just cold because snake? Love love love it. 

I will say that Janus is also not free of controversy largely due to some unfortunate ties to anti-semetic stereotypes that I am definitely not qualified to speak on. Janus. Janus is Deceit and his color is yellow. He was the first of the new three sides to be introduced and the second to get his name. He is the side with the current record for longest time between introduction and name reveal which like I said I think sits at over a year. This suits him perfectly and also his name reveal is one of my favorite moments in the series. His name also not only suits him perfectly but fits very nicely into the current trend of dark side names just being a smorgasbord for Remus to make filthy jokes out of (I’m keeping my fingers crossed for Uranus to be next LOL).  Janus is Thomas’s capability for deceit, to tell lies to not only others but also to lie to himself. He is also his capability to be selfish. Janus is a character where its unclear exactly where his morals lay. He seems like a wrong things for the right reasons kind of guy but the beauty is we don’t really know. He desperately wants to take care of Thomas and to be recognized as a valuable and good part of Thomas. He wants him to blow off work and take a nap once and a while but also maybe to commit some arson. He is all secrets and shadows. He has so many fun motifs: Jeckle and Hyde, shadows, snakes and snake eyes. GOD I LOVE HIM. He’s also super well written too. There’s this fun thing where he seems incredibly intelligent and don’t get me wrong he probably is smart but he’s also bullshitting 90% of the time about as hard as your average uni student writing a 10 page paper. Every single one of his sources he cites is usually deeply flawed, he’s scrabbling for anything he can use to make himself seem smart and capable and all knowing. He also has this super fucking sick thing where he has six arm, six shadow arms Dr. Facilier style that he can use to make the sides “Silence” themselves ala Pearl from Steven Universe and slap a hand over their mouth and it is DOPE. He seems like a bit of a marxist so respect there, he’s been seen reading marxist lit lol. He is sarcastic as hell and you have to watch his tone to see how serious he’s being at any given moment LOL. OH! Also it's generally accepted that he has the power to suppress the other dark sides, letting Thomas lie to himself about them not being there which is why they didn’t start popping up until after he showed himself. So oh my god there is a LOT there too.  All in all everything about him is just SO COOL. 

A lot of his angst seems to come from (since he’s my favorite you have to take everything I say with a grain of salt) the fact that he is in fact deceit and as such no one really ever trusts him. Everyone distrusts him and calls him a monster and all that shit. 

People are really indecisive on Janus. He is super popular but he’s one of the sides where the love and the hate are about split equal. Since he is deceit a lot of people think he’s bullshitting at all times and is secretly just a villain. Not only do I think this goes against what the series seems to be about but everything we’ve gotten of him in the supplemental material thus far (keenly his character playlist) seems to suggest the opposite. He is GENUINELY trying to be accepted. Don’t get me wrong the way he went about this was a mess. Like I said way back in Patton’s section he goaded and manipulated both him and Roman into being their worst selves and making them question their own morality, which in a way is a good thing but come on man. He’s not so blameless but everyone who thinks he’s JUST a one note villain is as blind as poor Roman. Janus is grey not black or white. He’s a flawed and complex character. He’s funny and charming and there is SO much potential for angst. I could write a whole other 10k words just on his playlist alone and also before I forget to mention it he has  THE COOLEST theme music but GOD all this to say Janus is the best. I love him. I hope his arc isn’t quite over there’s so much more I want to see from him before he steps out of the spotlight. 

???🍊???

Speaking of characters stepping in and out of the spotlight. 

So. When Janus was introduced he brought a whole lot of new lore with him. We got this new idea called “Dark sides” the fact that our beloved guys weren’t just sides they were the “Light sides.” Patton and Janus have pretty direct parallels and Roman and Remus and twins. So the dark sides are all connected to and the counter parts of the light sides. This lead to a whole thing with the fandom trying to figure out Virgil. Was he technically a light side or a dark side? How many other sides were there? Was Virgil the dark side that was opposite to Logan? No. No he wasn’t. Thomas confirmed that Virgil was a “Neutral” side and is the only neutral side. Which left one more spot to be filled…

For a while there was debate on what color he was. We knew he was going to be a color of the rainbow based on the pre-existing color scheme. Most people immediately went to orange although there was a small pocket of the fandom that thought it may have been pink. This is because the color pink often appears as an entity on merch. But, pink is C!Thomas, that is the color that represents him (there is another character in the Thomas canon who’s color is pink but he’s not a side). 

We don’t know a lot about Orange. People debated his existence for a while until he was all but confirmed by the confirmation that Virgil technically wasn’t a dark side. He has now in fact been directly confirmed by the series via a series of teasers. Most exciting of which is Logan’s eyes glowing a bright orange. 

Orange. Purpose unknown and color orange. Name has not yet been revealed and neither has the character himself. We can speculate and it seems to be the case the orange represents anger. This ties into Logan as Logan has been shown to repress a lot of anger in the past. He is ignored and belittled a lot by characters that he can’t help but think of as less intelligent than him. So orange is anger or rage. 

The dark sides have been building in intensity. Janus is definitely the most intriguing so far and the one that had the most focus in the narrative but Remus is the scariest. Parts of his debut episode are literally like horror adjacent. Janus was a force to be reckoned with Remus is a force that you CAN’T reckon with…So the idea is that oh boy where does that leave orange? And considering that he’s waited to reveal himself until the four part season finale? OH BOY…Well…🍊

This is almost 10k. I had more to say but honestly I am out of energy even for info-dumping lol. If you are reading this why?? But also thank you ahfkjdahfkja. I’ll probably reblog this at some point with the rest. I’m sorry I used this ask to yell about my blorbos but it made me feel good to do so hfldjafhld. So to answer your question again: Yes but also no. He is C!Thomas.

[lampmanliveblogs]

Well. This ain’t good 

Kikimora saw that one meme, you know the one with the skeleton that’s like ”If it sucks… hit da bricks!!” She saw it and took it to heart. Because she left with Hunter and left everyone else to come cause problems in the next episode. They just gotta get past Odalia first.

The kids put out some good effort to stop Kiki though. Amity slowed her down, Willow’s power was so great that Kiki had to use hunter as a human shield, and Gus tried to blind her with a shadow spell. Sadly, the power of the abomatron combined with a healthy dose of pragmatism lead to Kikimora deciding that she could just leave.

Uuuugh, she’s gonna take Hunter to Belos….. I don’t wanna see that….. the only time I wanna see Hunter and Belos in the same place again is if Hunter is hitting him really, really hard with a stick.

This exit is way cooler than Odalia deserves.

Did I just witness a divorce? I feel like I did. I mean, the legal proceedings are gonna have to wait until the after world is saved, but still.

…

…

I have been tricked, backstabbed and quite possibly bamboozled.

The screenshot I made fun of? Gus had some spell circles activated. I noticed and thought ”huh, that’s kinda weird, I wonder what he’s trying to do.”

…

Right after Kiki tells Luz that Belos knows about the plan to stop the draining spell? Luz whispers something to Gus. I should’ve known, I should’ve remembered, I should have seen it coming. But I didn’t, because I am a terrible livebloger. I should just delete this whole thing right now and move to the mountains where I can’t hurt anyone else.

Luz took Hunter’s so Belos couldn’t hurt him and so she could go help Eda and the others. Luz, you stupid, brave, good witch. 

And so comes to and end episode 20. There is no music, we travel in silence towards the end.

You know, I was thinking that this episode wasn’t all that mindblowing. It was good, yes. I loved it, but it wasn’t the punch to the gut I was expecting. Right up till the very end. Well played creators, well played.

I made my way through this episode surprisingly quickly, this ”only” took me a few hours.

I don’t feel like talking on length about this episode. I did do my usual rewatch and here are a few things I didn’t notice or didn’t talk about the first time through:

•Kikimora said that the Emperor has eyes everywhere. That kinda implies that there might be a spy in the CAtTs. though I’m not sure who that would be. I think it’s safe to discount Eda and Darius. Eberwolf is… I dunno. Steve is most certainly NOT a traitor. That leaves the BAtTs, which… meh? •I suppose that someone on the streets of Latissa could have overheard them through the open doors on that balcony, that’s also a possibility. •Willow saw Hunter was in trouble and proceeded to summon up the biggest mass of plant vines we’ve ever seen her do while looking absolutely demonic. Good stuff •Oh, but let’s not forget that Hunter’s first instinct upon seeing Kiki in the mech coming to crush them was to push Willow out of the way. •There was a brief shot during the struggle against Kiki’s abomatron where Luz is holding out her fist in a weird way. That’s because that’s actually Hunter holding his staff, made invisible by Gus’ spell. •There’s a similar moment right after Kiki takes off, while the gang is surrounded by Odalia’s abomatons where ”Luz” is seemingly just… staring at her open hands. Which is actually Hunter holding Flapjack.

I loved this episode, Obviously, I finally got my ”Alador joins the good guys” theory confirmed, so that was nice. We had a bit off action which I’m always up for. But obviously, the one big stand out moment was the Lumity kiss. It literally could not have been done better. Absolutely perfection.

That’s pretty much all I have to say for now, so I’ll just get into the next episode. It’s the season two finale: King’s Tide! I will see you tomorrow. Until then, take care of the planet Earth and remember that anything can happen in space!

[sploink]

Thinking about that time back in 2019 when I blew up on TikTok and accidentally became a host for a children’s show.

All of this feels like a fever dream, but it happened. Luckily it all ended before the pandemic so I don’t think many will remember it, and I am very ok with that. Everything is deleted, and again, happened years ago before TikTok became a household name.

At this point in time, the content of TikTok was changing over from the music “transition” videos to 2nd generation Vine. It was easy to stay under the radar and there wasn’t any content creator drama.

My videos were basically a super suuuuuper exaggerated version of myself, but I can proudly say I NEVER broke character. Kept the videos PG-13, the but the majority were PG honestly. Didn’t really aim for it, that was just the direction the character ended up going in. Lots of absurd situations (mostly in public but not really interacting with people) that lead to countless innuendos, but no curse words or sexual content. No “heavy” conversations, no drama. Just filthy frank, wholesome tumblr shitposts, meets bob ross all day long. Ended up enjoying it.

I interacted with folks while in character. Replied to every comment. (There weren’t many at that point) Being absolutely ridiculous. So fun.

Then, deep in character, I did a reaction video to a dancing content influencer who was fairly well known and she LOVED IT.

Boom, followers were coming in 10k every few days. Went from having 34 followers to >600k in A MONTH.

It was absolutely wild. It got insane but I tried not to panic and just went with the flow.

Commit to the bit.

Anyway, I hosted my first livestream (sweaty palms.) Around ~25-40 folks were popping in and out, but it was really chill and everyone was being pretty cool in general. Pretty “rated- PG.” Stay in character.

Then I noticed something really weird about the chat. Almost everyone was typing like they were absolutely hammered, bad spelling and the sentences barely made sense. I figured they weren’t native English speakers or just super drunk for some reason, no biggie. It was a pretty cool night just chatting away being cringe. I’d go to their page and it would be blank, or the videos were locked. Ok, whatever, carry on. (Like a fool)

Anywho, get to streaming once a week, and just chattering away got boring so I basically hosted a super tame trivia night.

Stuff like “okay, guess what song this is” after playing only 5 seconds. I’d literally go to the grocery, pick up a bottle of salad dressing and ask “guess what the main ingredient is?” Like this HAD to be boring; but I commited to the bit and was suuuper cringe about everything.

Made a leader board that for folks who participated; drew out shitty stars with their usernames and staple it to the ceiling, trees, whatever…(idk. Gotta stay silly. That’s also anyone who cares biggest hint)

After like, two months, I was like ok guys whoever gets the most points after this stream we can collab a video it’ll be awesome. It was fun! All of my followers who could barely speak English were super into this!

After the stream, I contact the person who won so we could collab. It was a kid. Not a 15 year old, no no, like, 7.

What. The. Fuck.

But, I made a promise and the video he wanted a collab with was silly so “I’ll do it, but your parents need to know this is happening.” And it was cool, his parents had apparently been watching the livestreams and we’re fine with it. ??? Uh, ok. Silly video time! It was fun and his parents were very nice; it was heartwarming to know they were both involved in the kids online experience.

But, uh oh, flashbacks to my livestreams….all the people that can’t type. What if, just, what if, they are KIDS?!?! (Panic)

So I make a video, in character, asking anyone who is under 16 to please ask your parents if it’s ok to watch my videos and have them feel free to reach out and ask any questions.

Y’all. The response was wild. Parents were taking over the accounts, doing reaction videos, letting me know they approve of the videos and livestreams. They went on to let me know “it’s nice to see my kid watch videos that are aimed at kids.” ?????? Uhhhhhb ????

“You’re welcome?”

So, I just continue my videos and even a few livestreams. It was so nice for awhile.

But at that point I was hyper aware that I’m this wholesome cringe character that has content out there that appeals to young CHILDREN. I realized it was only a matter of time before someone would come at me and ruin the experience. I’m an adult man, making videos online, knowing kids are watching. Creepy. Even if I make it VERY clear that I want parents to interact and know that they see them. It all just made me feel unsettled and a bit nauseous.

On a random night. Blocked everything. I deleted it all. Shut it down completely overnight. No regrets.

Now and then I wonder what those kids thought, when I just suddenly disappeared with no explanation. But honestly, it’s for the best.

I haven’t made another account since, but from a third party perspective it seems like it’s changed SO MUCH that it wouldn’t be fun at all anymore.

This got sad.

[normally-alexis]

|| Twins

Pairings - Wilbur x Reader × Techno

Growing up within the Philza Minecraft household it was pretty tough being the only girl there. Tommy would always be yelling at Tubbo so you couldn't study properly, Wilbur was always loud fighting with Tommy. You all weren't blood-related but Philza just took you in from Dream when you were in your teenage years.

At the time You, Techno, and Wilbur were close to age so you all would get along smoothly. When you were 15 Techno and Wilbur were 16, Philza had you guys train a lot and work. You sorta were one of Philza's favorites so you didn't have to work all the time.

You and Techno were in a pretty tight relationship, he was calm and collective and wasn't so loud. He was one of the reasons that keep the house quiet.  Wilbur was sorta the opposite of his twin and It showed, he was into music while Techno wanted anarchy and no government.

Tommy usually wasn't home because he played with Tubbo, being only teenagers it was pretty boring without social interaction from other people. You decided to train with Techno for a while to get better if you needed to fight against anything or anyone.

He said he'd be gentle even though he wasn't even that stronger than you were, it wasn't a sword fight because you didn't want to get scared it was just a normal training session on seeing who gets on the ground first.

Of course, it's unfair since he weighs more than you. "This is unfair, you weigh more," you didn't like being on the ground more or less being underneath somebody. "I thought you like challenges." He stops for a moment and puts his hands in his pocket.

"Not ones I know that I'm going to lose," He knew that he would win so you can't let him win on his own. "Unrelated topic {Y/N}," you look back at him shifting your attention and hum as a response. "Since we aren't blood-related we could be in a relationship."

He's not wrong but it would be a large pill to swallow being in a relationship with somebody you grew up with. "You aren't wrong but we're still minors," you laugh it off not thinking about the moment.

As you grew up you didn't stop thinking about that moment that Techno said 5 years ago, you were an adult at the time so you could do anything now including drinking and having sex. You hung out with Techno and Wilbur more often since Tommy was a teenager you only sometimes visit him whenever you visit Philza.

You had a pretty big place to stay in but it was very secretive since you were attached to it and whenever somebody has attachments on the server it's a weigh down. You exit out of your house walking down the stairs.

You hear your wolf barking and ignore the sounds, Techno had invited you to a Hot springs to catch up on whatever you guys were doing. Nothing much was thought about the moment but you thought about being alone with Techno half-naked.

You continue walking through the dirty and deep vines, your shoe gets stuck halfway but you shake it off and keep going. The hot springs weren't originally spawned but it was something built by Lazarbeam.

You weren't far away from anything so it wasn't going to be such a long walk, you cut through the forest to get into the Dream SMP. Not too far from the path, you were a few feet from the hot springs.

You just assumed you were earlier than Techno and you open the door to the hot springs, you walk inside and close the door looking around. Techno's crown and cape is placed on the hook, he was here before you.

There's a red beanie on a hook as well but you don't look at it very much. You take off your jacket and hang it on the hook, you throw your shoes on the ground and leave them in the room. You make your way into the Female bathroom and close the door behind you.

You start stripping off your clothes off and taking your bra and underwear off. You place your old clothes on the top shelf, you throw your pocket knife on the ground because you didn't want it to get rusty inside of the bath.

You walk over towards the shower area and grab the showerhead, you turn it on and start spraying your body with the water. After a few light sprays of water, you grab a towel and wrap it around your chest.

You keep it tied up tightly, You look at your legs making sure they aren't bruised or showing any body hair. It wasn't visible or wasn't even there so you made your way out of the bathroom outside where the hot tub was.

You peek outside and see Wilbur and Techno waiting, having a dirty mind came with two perks. Having a threesome with men you grew up with but weren't blood-related too, or have rough sex with one of them and let the other be jealous.

You shake the thoughts and enter inside of the hot tub. You remove the towel once you were in the water and throw it to the side. You had seen male genitals before nothing to be dirty-minded about, plus you and Techno had multiple moments when you've seen each other naked.

being stared down at by two men naked was very odd. "Techno remember five years ago when we were about to fight," he takes a moment to think back Wilbur wasn't aware of the situation because it was an inside thing.

"Yeah, I suppose," he responds since you guys were still minors at the time of the conversation before it was illegal but if you did it now it wouldn't be illegal. The guilt of having sexual acts with somebody you grew up with faded away the older you grew up.

It's embarrassing to out yourself in such a pitiful way, "Want to do it now?" Knowing that Wilbur was still there with you and Techno it sorta gave you an ego boost. "Wilbur's still here," you smile at techno and cover the expressions because that's immature.

"Threesomes exist," Obviously there wouldn't be any relationship between Wilbur and Techno it was just having relationships toward the female in the relationship. Techno stays quiet for a moment and Wilbur leaned back putting his arms up.

You move closer to Technoblade and grab his chin looking back up at him. "C'mon Techno You'd enjoy it," teasing Technoblade is a very dominant move since he's normally more dominant than others.

Techno gives in and places his hands on your waist picking you up. You wrap your legs around his waist. He moves you both over towards Wilbur, Techno moves his towel to the side and places you on top of him.

You stop for a moment to take him in at once. Virgins are usually the horniest people, you don't move for a while neither does he at least 'for the moment.'

Wilbur isn't getting much attention since you had more feelings for Techno but also shared a good amount with Wilbur. Technoblade was everybody's favorite... Wilbur moves behind you grabbing onto your boobs.

He pinches your nipples for a moment, teasing your reflexes. You squeal from it and then get very weak from it.  Techno starts moving himself but it's not fast because the water slows the pace down.

Nothing could go possibly wrong, just with your two favorite boys.. Wilbur rubs over your nipples not being so rough on you. Techno grabs one of your legs and spreads it further apart by a little giving him more room to work with.

The water was getting really warm against your skin and the teasing wasn't helping it very much. Two twins in opposite positions one teasing your upper half the other teasing your lower half. Wilbur got bored and started leaving bite marks on your body, each bitemark trace hurt from the last one.

Techno hit your g-spot even inside of the water and you squirm and squeal. Guest the statement "never trust twins" comes into play at this moment.  It's not safe to climax into a hot tub even though there's chlorine inside of the water it's still dangerous.

Before you could ever state that you were going to Climax Techno stops thrusting and then pulls out causing you to have a failed orgasm. He likes seeing you on your edge knowing that you can't get what you wanted.

Your body was covered in bite marks and it was very visible. "You're so annoying," Techno laughs at you and flicks your head leaving you with Wilbur holding closely onto you.

✩‧₊ Make Sure to Drink water / Eat ✩‧

✩‧ Btw it's about to be 4 am < 3 ✩‧

[callme-barnes]

Drunk Crushin’

*GIF is not mine*

Summary: You have a night out with the girls to get your mind off of your ex. Now your in the tower confessing things you wouldn’t be if you were sober.

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Fem!Reader (with powers)

Word Count: 1,842

Warnings: None

A/N: Please do not repost my work anywhere! I wrote it for Tumblr so it stays on Tumblr. I’m trying to get back in the swing of writing things because well, I love writing. It’s been literal years since I’ve written anything so please be kind. I kind of just put this out as it goes. I don’t want to think about it too much or I will never publish anything. Anyways, for this pic I gave the reader the ability to manipulate nature but it doesn’t play a huge part in it. All mistakes are mine. Enjoy otherwise!

_______________________________________________________________________

The euphoric feeling of the satin dress on your skin was mixing in nicely with the feeling of too much alcohol in your system. The alcohol heightened the smooth sensation on your skin and the music caused you to sway from side to side to the rhythm, flashing lights dancing across the exposed skin of your legs, arms, and chest. Natasha and Wanda surrounded you, the pair of them a lot more sober than you were.

“Y/N/N...how are you feeling?”

You managed to open your eyes at hearing your name, although it sounded muffled due to your intoxication.

“I feel...amazing! Who...who needs men. Right? Right!”

Wanda couldn’t help the small laugh that escaped her lips at your response

“Babe maybe we should have you drink some water. You’ve been on the dancefloor for hours” she mentioned in slight concern but also was amused at how carefree and happy you were in that moment.

“I’ll take...I’ll take another shot” you said blissfully, looking at Natasha and Wanda before you reached over and moved your arms around each of their shoulders

“Thank you guys so much...I...I needed this so much. I can’t believe...believe he would do something like that. I mean...what...what the fuck was he thinking?! And in my bed for fucks sake”

Wanda and Natasha moved to walk you towards a small corner booth, Wanda excusing herself so she could get you some water.

“Don’t worry about him babe. He was a fucking asshole. I couldn’t stand him. If I had a chance to cut his head off I would”

Y/N laughed to herself as she leaned into Natasha, resting her head on her shoulder, her own head spinning.

“I love you Natasha. And you Wanda!”

Wanda laughed at your coo and she slipped into the empty seat next to you helping you get your water bottle open

“I love you too babe. Now, let’s get you sobered up just a little and get you back to the compound”

You don’t even know how the conversation was started due to your head not really remembering any complex thoughts, but your mouth was running as if you knew exactly what you were talking about.

“He’s...holy fuck, if I could get my hands on that man. He is probably...probably the hottest man I have ever laid eyes on. I’m glad he managed to get into this era because...I mean, the 40’s didn’t appreciate him much”

Natasha had her arm wrapped around your waist, your heels clacking on the hardwood floor and your dress had ridden up dangerously short above your thigh. You were smiling to yourself as images of Bucky Barnes flooded your mind, your intoxicated brain flashing the most sinful, perverted thoughts.

“Have you seen the man workout...when he’s all sweaty and...out of breath”

Wanda set your stuff down on the counter with a small smirk on her face as she listened to you go on about the super soldier, having known all this by now. She had always agreed not to read your mind but you didn’t exactly make it hard to notice sometimes. She was pretty sure everybody in the tower knew about your crush on Bucky.

“Sorry Y/N, you’re the only one who has noticed that I’m afraid”

Natasha set you down on one of the stools, Wanda moving to stand next to you to keep you upright. You swayed a bit to yourself, looking around in a haze.

“Oh come on! Don’t tell me. We’ve all been in the same room with the guy! He once took his shirt off during a sparring match with Steve and I haven’t stopped...thinking about it since. But you gotta....you gotta shhh because my boyfriend would get mad if he knew”

Natasha laughed slightly as she took some snacks from the cupboard noticing Bucky walking into the kitchen Before he got a chance to ask what you guys were up to, you let out a scoff as you looked over drunkenly at Wanda

“Oh wait….I almost, forgot! I don’t even...have a boyfriend! Not anymore. Fucking bastard. He...you know what. Fuck that guy. I think I’m pretty hot, I am a...I can make life grow with these hands!” you say as you hold up your hands in front of both you and Wanda, Wanda reaching over and grabbing onto them causing you to lean into her chest, your eyes looking up

“You think...you think I’m hot don’t you Wanda?”

Bucky watched the display in front of him, grabbing a water bottle from the fridge then looked over at Natasha

“What’s all that about?”

Natasha ate a chip and looked over at Bucky speaking quietly, “She found Leo in bed with another woman this morning”

Bucky’s eyebrows shot up, a bit in surprise but more so in disdain. He figured that’s how that guy would go out. Bucky would constantly see his wandering eyes when you would bring him around, even go far as catching up all up on some girl once. Leo had just laughed it off and said it wasn’t what it had looked like before before walking back to you. Since that day Bucky made sure to keep a close eye on him, which put Leo on his guard and just made it harder to catch him

“Asshole. How did she take it? Why didn’t she tell me?”

Natasha looked at Bucky with a knowing stare, “You know why she didn’t tell you. She hasn’t exactly been that open about her relationship since that day you told her you caught him on some girl at the BBQ last year”

Bucky drank more of his water and sighed, his gaze moving up to see you interacting with Wanda. He couldn’t help the slight smile that was on his lips as Wanda pushed hair from your face and spoke to you in a quiet, calming voice.

“Whose Natasha talking to? Hey Nat! I’m the drunk one here you’re not supposed to be the one talking….to yourself”

Natasha smiled in amusement as she ate more chips from the bag, “I’m not babe, I’m talking to Bucky”

Your eyes widened immediately as you straightened up from Wanda’s body and fumbled around with your hair, “Holy shit! Why didn’t you...tell me. Wanda how do I look?”

Wanda let out a laugh and shook her head as you loudly whispered to her, her hand going to hold onto you and smooth out your hair

“You look lovely Y/N/N”

You looked in Bucky’s general direction, a smile on your face at his words. You brought your chin to rest on your open palm on top of the counter, your eyes closing and opening so you could try to focus

“Y/N, Wanda and I are going to get out of this clothes and we’re going to bring you a change of clothes. Are you okay with Bucky for a few minutes?”

You let out a soft grumble in agreement, your eyes now just staying shut.

“Yeah. I mean as long as...he doesn’t take off his shirt because I wouldn’t remember it in the morning and that would be...a waste of a strip tease”

Bucky laughed a bit as he walked over and stood next to you to keep you upright, “Don’t worry doll my shirt will stay on”

Wanda and Natasha laughed to themselves before making their way to their rooms to change. Y/N felt her body sway to rest against Bucky’s torso, her head on his chest before Bucky moved to rest a hand on your waist

“Come on Y/N we should get you in a more stable seat”

You groaned as Bucky helped you up off the stool and made his way to the couch

“Bucky, you were right. I’m sorry, I should have...listened to you”

Bucky moved to set you down on the couch, taking a seat next to you “Right about what sweetheart?”

“About Leo...he was, he’s an asshole. That day at the BBQ, I knew...I knew you were telling me the truth. I just..do you know I had caught him talking to other women all the time? On his phone, when we went out. I just...I was so embarrassed. I didn’t want it to be true”

You moved to lay your head down in his lap and sniffled, “I tried everything, he just...I should have accepted that he didn’t want me”

Bucky moved his hand to push your hair out of your face, his other hand resting around your form “Don’t beat yourself up Y/N/N. He never deserved you. He’s an idiot if I’ve ever met one. And I’ve met many. If you want I can go scare him for you. You know, rough him up a little bit”

You laughed softly and shook your head, “It’s okay. Thank you though”

Bucky looked down as he continued to run his hand through your hair, watching as you held up one of your hands, “I should’ve choked him out with a vine when I had the chance”

He let out a loud laugh at this, his hand reaching up to take yours and set it down on your hip, “Calm down there Little Shop of Horrors”

Nat and Wanda entered the living area, clothes in hand, “Alright little lady let’s get you out of these clothes. Thank you Barnes”

Bucky helped you sit up, getting up when Wanda and Natasha sat down,“Bucky can’t leave. He smells nice, and he’s comfortable”

“Bucky can’t watch us change you sweetie. Remember, waste of a strip tease?”

Bucky smiled and turned around as Nat and Wanda helped you out of your dress and into a large t-shirt and shorts, “It’s okay I’d strip for that man any day”

Wanda scoffed with a laugh, Bucky’s smile growing into a happy little smirk at your words

“He’s still in the room lady behave”

“Oops, sorry”

You let out a drunken giggle as Wanda and Nat finished up, “Alright Bucky you can turn around. You’re welcome to join us. We’re just going to pop in a movie so we can keep an eye on her for the night”

Bucky nodded as he took his seat next to you again, letting you get comfortable in his lap again, his hand finding a comfortable spot on your waist.

“Psst...hey Nat you think I...got a chance with Bucky?”

Bucky looked down with a small smirk since Natasha was on the other sofa turning on the TV, “Absolutely doll”

You let out a content mumble of ‘thank god’ before stretching out your arm across Bucky’s lap.

“You know she’s not going to remember any of this when she wakes up right?”

Bucky looked up at Wanda before looking back down at your form

“Oh I know. That’s what’s going to make my days so much better for what I have planned”

[findingjoynweirdstuff]

Dream SMP Recap (March 9/2021) - Roses and Blood Vines

One day remains before Ponk’s attack. Ponk gives Foolish another warning, another chance to join the Egg. Foolish still says no.

Hannah returns from a five-day journey feeling sickened by something. The Blood Vines have crept onto her house... 

Something has to be done.

---

VOD LINKS:

Ponk

Tubbo

Foolish

Ranboo

Hannah

Karl

Eret

Captain Puffy

---

- Ponk makes his way through the Nether to the Temple of Undying. He surveys the place, wondering what to blow up first.

- He scouts through the chests, taking some diamonds here and there.

- Ponk places a few pieces of TNT in Foolish’s snake statue as a warning and heads back.

- Foolish joins the call, Ponk now at the Oogway Shrine.

Ponk: “Foolish...you know that time is ticking, right?”

Ponk: “Are you familiar with the hourglass parable?”

Foolish: “No, I am not.”

Ponk: “Me neither, but an hourglass has lots of sand in it, right?”

- Ponk starts talking through the Egg

“Hello, Foolish...the time is ticking...blood, fire and explosions will happen. You’re going to die, Foolish, if you don’t join me. DEATH.”

Foolish: “You speak of my summer home?”

“Your summer home will be no more.”

Foolish: “We’ll see about that.”

“Tick-tock goes the clock.”

- Ponk abruptly switches back to his normal voice and starts talking to Foolish about that scene in Kung Fu Panda where Oogway paralyzes the leopard guy  by poking him, and the leopard guy broke out of prison to defeat the five people

- Foolish asks if there’s a meaning to this. Ponk tells him he stole all of his music discs and put TNT in their place.

- Ponk says to be careful about the tripwires he put. Foolish says that with his emerald eyes, he will see through them.

- They go back and forth about preparations and Ponk’s plan. Ponk tries to convince Foolish that actually, he already blew it up (he didn’t)

Ponk: “Look, Foolish...I’m here to offer you another chance, okay? You can join the Egg, be a happy family, y’know? You can be a god, but you have to serve the Egg...”

Foolish: “You see, Ponk, I think the Egg will lead to heartbreak. Misery. Regret. And then death.”

Ponk: “Remember, Foolish, remember...you can never save a life. You can always prolong it.”

Foolish: “I might disagree with that...but that’s for another time.”

- They get distracted by Skeppy’s prank on the mansion

- Ponk goes to an Ender Chest and shows Foolish its contents. Foolish is outraged that Ponk actually took all his discs -- even Pigstep!

- Ponk shows Foolish the Wall of Pog Women

- The subject goes back to the Egg. Ponk asks again if he wants to join the Egg. Foolish says no.

Foolish: “I don’t think the Egg is good for anyone, and you know? The Egg may not even need you guys! The moment the Egg has enough power, it’ll toss you all aside like the little ants you are.”

- They start talking about cats

- Ponk meets Foolish down at the spider spawner and attempts his Technoblade-killing tactic on him.

- Ponk continues to prepare

- Foolish is still working on Tubbo and Ranboo’s mansion

- He goes to see Michelle in Snowchester. He ponders how strange their family is. A sheep pirate, a totem-part-shark and his totem son, an undead zombie piglin baby, the other brother -- a green blob?

“Nice meeting you, Michelle...um, yeah. Hopefully you never meet Dream.”

“...Just your average Minecraft family...”

(More “Schrödinger’s canon” family dynamics for now, but this is the moment the Wiki is referencing if you were wondering)

- Foolish continues work on the mansion

- Hannah heads back to the main Dream SMP area

- She’s been trying to make the server more beautiful, adding trees, flowers, natural things. But she was off picking flowers for the main pathway when she woke up with extreme nausea. She could barely walk.

- It’s finally time. Something is pulling her back.

Hannah: “It’s definitely time to bring spring to the server. This server is so, so messed up. There’s not enough trees, there’s not enough flowers, there’s not enough anything, especially in the main area."

- The only thing keeping her strong -- alive -- are the rose flowers. It took her two days to find the strength to walk back.

- Hannah starts planting flowers everywhere. The pathway is deteriorated, there are no trees, no flowers, not enough natural fauna that weren’t planted by the people. Her flowers have been picked and turned to dye by people. She needs more flowers to stay strong.

- She sees her house has been covered in Blood Vines. She suspects the Blood Vines have been eating up some of her rose flowers. All of it has to go. She doesn’t know who or what this is, but she believes it’s trying to kill her.

- Sam (and Tubbo disguised as Ranboo) arrive, and Hannah speaks with Sam about her house. Sam was coming to clean up the bank site.

- Sam helps Hannah start to clear off the Vines.

- A cow gets in the way. Hannah says it must be contaminated and kills it.

- All of a sudden, Sam shouts to not break anymore. Hannah looks and Bad and Antfrost have arrived.

- Bad says he thought Hannah was a supporter of plants. They don’t see why Hannah needs to clear the Vines away. Hannah and Sam insist they’re just trimming, doing some landscaping because Hannah is allergic.

- Bad and Ant suggest testing? They can take Hannah to a place with a large concentration of Vines and see if they have any effect. 

- Hannah says she’s willing to try. Sam tells Hannah he can’t go down there again. They tell Bad and Ant -- Hannah will try it while Sam takes a trip to the Nether. Sam whispers to Hannah that while they’re gone, Sam is going to clear the rest of the Vines in secret.

- Bad and Antfrost admire the Vines in Hannah’s house. Even the dogs seem to like it. Hannah promptly kills the dogs to put them out of their misery.

- Bad and Antfrost take Hannah down to the Egg Room. Hannah puts down a rose to help, but they destroy it. They tell her that the Egg likes her.

- They make her a “seat” (box) of black concrete and say she should stay there for “exposure therapy.”  They convince her to put her items in an Ender Chest even as she’s having doubts, and leave her alone there. 

- Hannah thought she had no enemies on this server, but she may have made a mistake.

- Karl wakes up in his library. He hangs up the poster for “The Haunted Mansion” and writes the Tale down.

- He writes his next diary entry. He feels confused. He doesn’t know who to trust anymore. At least the Inbetween seems like a genuinely peaceful place, but there were those books warning him about it.

- He decides he needs to get into that portal the next time he visits the Inbetween.

- His memory is getting worse. He needs to tell his friends the stories, but worries he won’t have any at this rate.

- Bad and Sapnap arrive to Kinoko. Karl wants to get new members.

- Sapnap kills Bad, sending him back.

Bad: “What have I told you about playing with fire there, son?”

- Karl plans to spread out advertisements about Kinoko.

- Foolish and HBomb arrive.

- They go to the Holy Land to put up posters.

- George arrives and they all decide to put up a massive poster in front of the prison, where the mining fatigue will make the blocks harder to get rid of. Bad protests this as a prison guard.

- They do it anyway

---

Upcoming events remain the same.

[lonely-lost-soul]

Under the Floorboards Part XI:

(Technoblade x reader) First Part / Previous Part

Shimmering lights sparkled above you, your dress was a deep scarlet that billowed around your feet like a halo. The corset around your waist felt tight as you leaned backward spreading your arms wide like you were asking for a hug from the universe itself. The ballroom was vast and empty, only soft music could be heard behind you, soft violins, and harps. You took in the warm lights above you, your diamond wedding ring shone brilliantly off the candles as you began to hum. Blood covered your masquerade mask, neck, and hands, a bloody sword laid by your feet, long since falling out of your hands. Hands traced the curvature of your figure and soft lips landed on the juncture of where your neck met your shoulder blade. A smile came across your lips as you breathed lightly, “Billiam.” His hands traced soft circles on your hips, the butler watched from afar, his brown hair covering his glowing red eyes. Karl watched in mild terror as Sir. Billiam whispered something in his wife’s ear, your grin only served to widen till your cheeks hurt, you brought your hand up to cup his cheek. Your eyes met with Karl’s and he took a few steps back, he couldn’t believe that all this time it was the mild-mannered wife, in the ballroom with the sword who killed the party. Sir. Billiam kicked the sword up and caught it in his hands, you leaned against your lover's chest as he held the sword against your throat, red rubies trailed down your neck in droplets. The violins picked up in a loud roaring crescendo, “Praise be the egg,” you whispered as he sliced your neck wide open swallowing your mouth in a kiss.

“Praise be the egg, my dear.”

You woke up in a cold sweat, it clung to you like a second skin as you sat up. Your hands came to cover your neck where it had been cut in your dream...nightmare? You couldn’t quite place a name on it, Aether and Technoblade both stirred beside you. Technoblade sat up on his forearms and turned his head to face you, you were breathing heavily. He watched as you brought your wrist up to your line of sight, three tally marks were etched into the skin, your jaw dropped onto the floor.

Technoblade reached over Aether to snatch your wrist and get a good look at the marks, three cannon lives. You had three, he gaped at you

You were intertwined in the twisted workings of the Smp, DreamXD had smiled upon you and your household.

“Is it supposed to be itchy?” You asked while you carried Aether upstairs trying to ignore the buzzing underneath your skin, Technoblade frowned at his wife, a mixed feeling churning in his gut. On one hand, he was relieved you had more than just one life, but on another hand now that you’ve caught the eye of DreamXD...you’d never be free to live a peaceful life. “Cause it’s really itchy,” You whined while sitting Aether down on top of Steve so you could scratch at your wrist.

“I don’t remember. I think mine was,” Technoblade gently removed your nails from your skin. “Don’t scratch at it, all you’ll do is irritate the skin, I’ll grab some ointment.”

“Thanks, Tech,” You kissed the corner of his lips and he smiled weakly at you, for that was all he could do in his current state of turmoil. He opened up the first aid kit and came back over to your place in the kitchen. Aether was sitting on the countertop lightly nibbling on a muffin. Technoblade stood beside you as he picked up your hand, he pressed a feather-light kiss to your new lifeline before he gently rubbed the hydrocortisone on your irritated wrists.

“Better?”

“Much,” You sighed in relief gazing at the lines with mild interest. Technoblade wanted to draw you away from whatever you were thinking,

“I got a letter from BadBoyHalo.” Technoblade piped up grabbing a pot of coffee, “He wants to meet up with the both of us, I have a feeling it has something to do with the egg.”

“Egg?”

“You’ll see.” He groaned, “I have a feeling he’s going to show up sometime today. I’ll bring Steve as a backup just in case,” Technoblade sighed watching you glance over at Aether, eyebrows furrowing together. You looked back over at him,

“We can’t let him know about Aether.”

“He won’t.” You let out a breath of relief and kissed the top of Aether’s head, he smiled up at you and made a happy sound. “We’ll keep him safe under the floorboards if he can keep quiet he’ll be okay.” Technoblade ruffled the top of Aether’s head with his hand, “You’re a good kid right?” Aether nodded his head rapidly not wanting to let Technoblade down, “Thanks, kid.” Technoblade caught your fond smile and flushed a light pink, “what?”

“You’re attached.” You hummed wrapping your arms around his waist, he grumbled under his breath and pushed you off, “I love you.”

“I love you too,” He sighed as knocking sounded on your cabin door. “Go hide Aether, I’ll distract BadBoyHalo.” You nodded picking Aether up into your arms and kissing the top of his head, Technoblade opened the door an eyebrow cocked. “New outfit?”

BadBoyHalo smiled a wide smile at the blade, his new black and white robes billowed from behind him as he stepped into Technoblade’s abode. “Yes! You noticed, do you like it?” He chirped fondly stepping back a little as Steve bared his teeth. “Is that a polar bear?”

“He’s Steve. It’s (Y/n)’s and I’s emotional support polar bear, he’s a good boy. He’s very good at following commands, he’s a great attack bear.” Technoblade tossed a fish Steve’s way and he caught it in his mouth tearing it to shreds in a matter of moments. BadBoyHalo’s nose scrunched up in distaste,

“That’s...um nice.” He cleared his throat before clapping his hands together, “where is your lovely wife?” He tilted his head to the side smiling a tight-lipped smile.

“She’s finishing up getting dressed. She’ll be back here in a second, slept in,” Technoblade waved the demon man off. Steve’s nub of a tail began to wag as you climbed back up the ladder, “Here she is now.”

“Hello! I’m Bad it’s very nice to formally meet you, Mrs. Blade!” Bad grinned reaching out to shake your hand, you took with a smile.

“Pleasure, and (Y/n)’s just fine. I’m more than just Technoblade’s eye candy.” You winked teasingly at the tall man who looked shocked,

“I never meant to assume-”

“You’re fine.” You reassured, “I was only teasing it’s no problem.” You smiled warmly as Steve nudged your elbow, “Hi big guy!” You cooed kissing all over the bear’s fur, he rumbled deep in his chest. Bad looked shocked at the bear’s complete compliance to your affections, “So! Where are we off to today?” You hummed as Technoblade pulled you close to his side, eyeing Bad suspiciously.

“I just have someone I want to introduce you to is all.” Bad hummed fondly, “I want to see what you think of it, I think all of you will get along great.” He praised his close friend fondly, and you smiled,

“We’d love to meet them, we can bring Steve right?” You looked up at Technoblade innocently,

“I’m not sure if that’s-”

“Obviously.” Technoblade scoffed called Steve over to him, he walked over with a gruff huff as Technoblade placed a lead on him. “Okay, we’re all ready when you are,” Technoblade nodded as BadBoyHalo blinked in mild shock,

“Um...okay!” He cleared his throat, “follow me then I suppose!” He headed outside the home and as you all left Technoblade caught sight of Ranboo. The halfling was holding a grass block in his hands and Techno motioned for him to follow. As the group of you made your way into the hole that was once L’manburg, Bad talked and talked about how wondrous his friend was, and how excited they were to meet the both of them. The entire way there Technoblade would destroy these red vines while urging you not to touch them, you were confused but listened without argument.

Even though you listened without argument, you couldn’t help but be drawn to touch them, they seemed to be whispering to you softly, wanting you near. You pushed the thoughts to the side, trying to block out those whispers, however, it was much more difficult than you anticipated. Your mind drifted wondering if this is how Technoblade felt daily, you understood him a little bit better at that moment. The raspy voices called Sir. Billiam’s name, the name meant nothing to you but made your head pound and your heart hurt painfully. You jolted feeling a hand grasp your shoulder, you were met with the concerned face of Technoblade. Unbeknownst to you, you all arrived at Bad’s friend’s hideaway, “You alright?” Technoblade whispered into your ear,

“I...Yes.” You responded as Technoblade squeezed your shoulder once again, he wished he could’ve brought Steve in with him to comfort you. “I’m alright Tech, we shouldn’t keep Bad waiting.” You entered the red room with your husband following close behind you, your eyes widened in horror seeing the entire room coated in thick red vines. There in the far right corner sat a giant pulsating egg, the voices grew louder urging you to reach out and simply touch the vines.

“Don’t touch them,” Technoblade told you almost like he could read your thoughts, the demon scoffed at Technoblade’s protectiveness. Bad crossed his arms in front of his chest but didn’t argue. The Blade picked you up in his arms just to be extra safe and carried you over to the egg, before gently resting you on the solid cobblestone floor. Your stomach churned with anxiety as Bad smiled brightly motioning to the egg, introducing you and Technonlade to his so-called friend. You were barely paying attention to what BadBoyHalo was saying, a voice entered your mind, it poked at the sides of your brain, trying to find any available crevice to slip into.

‘Lady (Y/n) I haven’t seen you in decades.’ It purred in your mind stealing your breath away, ‘You’re just as beautiful as I remember you being, and still married to a descendent of Sir. Billiam I see. Not even death could keep the two of you apart.’

‘I don’t understand.’ You thought pupils shrinking, ‘Who’s Billiam? Who are you?’

‘I go by many names the one most familiar to me is The Egg. I can grant and honor your deepest desires, my dear, I see all. I know all. I can help you get what you want most in the entire world.’

‘Oh do you?’ You mentally scoffed, ‘Jokes on you I don’t even know my own desires.’

‘Don’t you wish for Tommy to come back to you? For everyone on the SMP to be at peace. For the children not to suffer, to raise Aether in a safe environment free from government and its posion? Have other children with your husband, raise them well?’ You felt your cheeks turn bright red at the thought,

‘How did you-’

‘I know all my child.’

“Princess?” Technoblade grumbled beside you, pulling you against his side, “Keep your focus on me alright.” His eyes narrowed at an innocent-looking Bad, “What are you trying to do to her?��

“Absolutely nothing.” Bad hummed drumming his fingers gently against the egg, “She’s talking to the egg! It’s offering her the world just like it’s going to do for you! It only wants to help.”

“We don’t need anything else, especially not from some overgrown chicken egg. We’re fine.” Technoblade snarled at the demon and the egg the voices were demanding blood and the egg’s promises were drowned out by the voices. He was getting a migraine as his patience ran thin, Bad looked a little nervous at the way Technoblade’s teeth grit against one another.

“Techno…” You whispered quietly leaning against his side, You tried to reassure him but the way the voices urged for blood didn’t sit well with him, especially now that Bad had caught sight of Ranboo as well. Technoblade didn’t want to be forced to choose between Ranboo or you, he’d avoid that scenario at all costs.

“Just stay by me and don’t touch the egg or anything.”

“But-” Technoblade shot you a stern look, worry flickering across his face, he didn’t like that but, not at all. “It’s not all bad…”

“WHAT!” All four of them shouted, wait four? When did Captain Puffy get here? The only one overjoyed was Bad as he clasped your hands within his own.

“I’m so excited to hear that!” He exclaimed pulling you away from Techno who bared his teeth at the demon. “Come closer, you just have to touch it!”

“Oh fuck that!” Puffy snapped shooting an arrow right in between you and Bad, distracting you just enough so that Technoblade could snatch you back in his arm. “Bad you can’t just use the egg to manipulate people to join your side! Especially not (Y/n)!”

“Language!” Bad scolded the pirate his eyes narrowing, “I’m- We’re-” He motioned to the egg, “Aren’t manipulating anyone! The egg showed her something she desired, something she needs, and that it can help her get!”

Technoblade’s brow furrowed as he looked at you, red seeping into the corners of your eyes. He couldn’t imagine what you might want enough that he couldn’t give to you. A selfish part of him was hurt that he couldn’t provide enough, couldn’t make you happy enough so that’d you’d listen to an omlette. Still, he wasn’t just going to hand you over, he gripped you tighter,

“Look just, just give me one more chance to convince both of you!” Bad gushed, “All of you, follow me. You too little spy.” Bad pointed a claw-like finger at Ranboo who shrunk in on himself. He stepped over the vines motioning for all of you to follow, reluctantly you all did so, Puffy put a hand on your shoulder while Technoblade hovered close.

“You alright girly?” Puffy whispered to you, the red was still swimming in the corners of your eyes. “You can get through this okay?”

“I’m alright Puffy. I just have a killer headache.” You spoke with a strained smile, “Everythings just all muddled, I keep seeing flashes of...someone who looks like me in a striking red gown. I just…” You groaned rubbing your eyes causing Technoblade to turn to look over at you, you sent him a weak smile back. He growled under his breath, not mad at you just mad at Bad, he knew that you were hearing voices. He knew how difficult that was from personal experience you just needed to hang on a little bit longer, then you both could sleep the day away with Steve and Aether. When Bad brought all of you to the other egg-like structure he wanted to run his sword through Bad’s chest, fuck not bringing Steve along.

Bad tried to argue against the bear coming into the meeting area, he simply vetoed that by simply ignoring the demon man’s protests. Ranboo was silently hovering around you, everyone seemed to be on high alert as their nerves increased. Even in your delirious state, your hand interlocked with Ranboo’s claws giving it a reassuring squeeze,

“It’ll be alright Ranboo,” You reassured as Bad smiled at the both of you, “Trust me. If anything goes wrong Techno will protect us.” From behind you Technoblade’s shoulders relaxed considerably, he knew he would protect you, for now, that was enough for him. Bad went on and on about the egg, sliding in a few casual threats about Ranboo and even (Y/n). Technoblade was desperately trying to keep it together, the voices roared for blood after all no one threatens (Y/n) and one of his only friends. He watched as Bad gripped both the shoulders of his wife and Ranboo, a sinister smile on his face.

“After all Techno, it would be a crying shame if something happened to Ranboo and (Y/n) wouldn’t it?”

Technoblade’s pupils turned into slits as steam exited his nose, he grit his teeth. “Don’t touch them,” He hissed viciously even Puffy who was beside The Blade pulled out her sword. Technoblade decided to follow her lead and just as Technoblade pulled out his sword, the floor below you and Ranboo gave out. You let out a startled yelp as you grabbed onto Ranboo, as you fell, you held him to your chest you wouldn’t let him get hurt. As your head make contact with the stone ground you were out like a light.

An elegant figure stepped out of the large master bedroom, her hair pulled back, her slippered feet padding against the hardwood floors. Moonlight shone in through the large windows illuminating your features, you stepped out onto the balcony where your husband stood. A glass of whiskey in his hand, he twirled it absentmindedly, his loose pajama pants sat low on his hips. Your arms wrapped around his waist and rested your chin on his shoulder, he tensed only briefly before relaxing in your arms.

“Beautiful night Billiam.” You responded casually pressing a kiss to the side of his neck,

“Can’t sleep my dear one?” He asked, voice rich much like the taste of honey, as Billiam reached up and brushed his thumb against his wife’s cheek.

“I could say the same thing to you,” You shot back with a sad smile as he clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction. “Are you at all worried about the masquerade tomorrow?” You asked softly as he turned around to face you, he grabbed your hands brushing his thumbs across your knuckles.

“Are you?” Billiam asked tenderly as you looked away in shame, “It’s alright if you are. You don’t do this often, but the egg is pleased that you want to take part.” Billiam’s eyes flashed a deep scarlet, but the love in his eyes was still the same.

“I know and I’m honored.” You exclaimed passionately, holding your hands to your heart, your own eyes were a deep red color. “I want to help the egg grow and thrive!” Billiam smiled fondly and kissed your lips softly,

“I know you do. So relax, the masquerade will go off without a hitch. All you need to do is follow the butler’s and my lead.” You nodded obediently a tired smile on your lips, “Let’s get you back to bed.”

“Come with me?”

“Of course,” Billiam gave an elegant bow, taking your hand within your own and pressing a gentlemanly kiss to your knuckles. You giggled sweetly before placing a hand on your lower back leading you back to the bedroom. The both of you slipped into the satin bedsheets and fell asleep side by side. As the morning rolled around, Ranbutler woke the both of you up and requested you both got ready earlier than expected. Billiam waved him off as the both of you getting ready for the masquerade ball he was throwing that evening. You slipped on your deep red dress, there was a slit up the leg and a low cut neckline. You had diamonds adorning your ears and a neck, your high heels were also littered in silver sparkles that almost made you the same height as your husband. A crow-like mask was chosen as your main accessory for the ball, “You look gorgeous.” Billiam spoke from behind you, his fingers trailing down the slope of your neck you smiled shyly, “almost ethereal.”

“Thank you, my love.” You turned to face him, you couldn’t deny he looked pretty dapper in a suit himself. “You clean up rather nicely too,” You giggled flattening out his lapel and pulling him close to press a kiss to his lips. He hummed against them before pulling away,

“I have to check on the preparations for tonight, wait for me?”

“Always.” Your husband walked out of the room whispering something to his loyal butler who nodded, Ranbutler looked over to you and you sent him a small smile. He gave you a little bow and you shushed him softly allowing him to rise to his feet. “Checking on the egg I presume?” You smiled as the butler gave a stern nod, both your eyes flashed a deep scarlet, a loud knock was heard on the front door of the mansion. “Someone’s early,” You pursed your lips heading out of the room, heels clicking against the floor, the butler following behind you. As you stood at the top of the steps, you saw your husband talking to what you assumed was an early guest to your masquerade. He was handsome, brown hair curling all over the place, odd goggles adorned the top of his head. Your husband immediately called him poor and you had to hide your laugh behind your hand. You stepped down the steps hand gently touching the golden railing,

“Billiam, my love, don’t be rude.” He turned to face you just as the guest’s eyes widened,

“(Y/n)?”

“Oh? Have we met?” You titled your head to the side with a fond smile,

“No. You just...you look like an old friend.” He cleared his throat holding out his hand, “My name is Karl.”

“Pleasure to meet you,” You took his hand as he pressed a soft kiss to your knuckles, Billiam let out a soft grumble of displeasure.

“He’s a youtube streamer.”

“No way!” You gasp in awe taking Karl’s hands, “That’s wonderful you have to tell us all about it!” You gushed fondly as Billiam placed a gentle hand on your back, his mouth moved in the shape of your name but you heard nothing in your ears. Your brow furrowed as you saw your name again, suddenly you felt like you were drowning, people shouting your name. Your eyes snapped open as you took a deep breath in, you were being pulled from the water. Hair stuck to your forehead as you coughed, water dripping down your head. You recognized a shape wrap you up in a tight hug, they were saying something but everything was muddled.

“Billiam?” You croaked out and the figure pulled away raising an eyebrow, they cupped your cheek tenderly,

“Heh? Who? Princess, it’s Techno.”

‘Techno? Who was Techno? Your husband!’ You sat up taking in a gulping breath, your eyes turning back to their normal (e/c) color and not the sudden scarlet. You looked around, Ranboo was shuffling in the corner holding a grass block, Puffy was beside him a gentle hand on his back. You looked around and you seemed to be in some sort of stark white church, a bell was in the corner and purple stained glass windows littered the walls.

“Where are we? What happened?”

Techno ran his fingers through your wet hair detangling it, “You were briefly corrupted by the egg. But Puffy knew how to snap you out of it.”

“You didn’t kill Bad did you?”

Technoblade grumbled under his breath, “I wanted to.”

“I wouldn’t let him.” Ranboo murmured, “You’d be upset.”

“I would’ve been,” You licked your lips nervously as you heard Technoblade grumble behind you.

“He would’ve deserved it,” You hit him lightly as he rested his chin on top of your head, “What? He would’ve, the Egg hurt you and that Egg is his best friend. Therefore you getting hurt is his fault so I will spill his blood.” Technoblade hissed, “And we’ll make an omelette out of that fucking egg.” He snarled looked up at Puffy who sent him a nod and a smile,

“I’m glad to know you’re on our side in this Techno,” Puffy smiled kneeling to sit beside you, “You too (Y/n).”

“Obviously.” You said swiftly, trying to cover up any hesitance that slipped into your tone, while the egg’s corruption was washed from your mind, his promises still held tight. “Sorry...I just have a killer migraine.”

“That’s completely normal, make sure she gets some bed rest,” Puffy told your husband handing him a little bottle of the holy water. “If she’s starting to slip, this will help,” She reassured and you smiled at her gratefully. “You’ll be back to normal in no time cutie,” Puffy beamed kissing the top of your head fondly.

“Thanks, Captian.” You praised and she hummed,

“Anything for you,” Puffy hummed standing back up to her feet, “I know first hand how scary the egg and its power can be. Living far away will help, try not to bring her back here for a while.”

“I won’t.” Technoblade nodded picking you up in his arms, you nuzzled against his neck and closed your eyes tightly. He squeezed you tightly, “don’t scare me like Jesus you’re a liability.”

“I’m sorry, trouble just seems to follow me around.” You spoke softly, sneaking a little peek at the lives on your wrist. You still had all three,

Good. You weren’t going to let some egg take one of them, not again.

The woman in red appeared once more in your mind and the man who looked suspiciously like your husband, beside her. He spun her around and dipped her, before pressing a passionate kiss to her lips. As they stood up they both disappeared into an array of golden sparkles, you opened your eyes and Technoblade was staring down at you. He looked concerned, his sharp red eyes peering into your soul. Technoblade led Ranboo and Steve back to your shared property, you were halfway asleep by the time all of you stepped into the gates.

“We need to talk about what happened.” He murmured to you as Ranboo and Steve hovered around nervously. “Alone preferably!” Technoblade cleared his throat, Ranboo jumped up smacking his head on the doorframe, and nodded,

"I'm glad you're okay (Y/n). Genuinely,"

He said smiling sadly before slipping out of the house. Steve huffed out a snort and made his way down to Aether, to entertain him while the adults talked. You rubbed your eyes and sat down on the couch by the fireplace, trying to warm yourself up. Technoblade slipped off his cape and wrapped it around your shoulders to keep you warm while you talked. “What did the egg promise you?”

You looked ashamed, ears turning pink, lying was something you and Technoblade never did. There was a mutual trust earned and respected and you weren’t going to betray that trust, “That it could end all the pain everyone’s been experiencing. That it could help the children finally be at peace and get the freedom they deserved, that we wouldn’t have to worry about people hunting us down. That we could raise Aether and be a family together without worry.” Your voice was soft, refusing to meet Technoblade’s eyes.

“Do you think I can’t protect you both? Is that really what you think?”

“That’s not fair Techno! That’s not what I mean!” You looked up at him and he didn’t look happy, “I just want everyone to be at peace here! Kids shouldn’t be suffering or put on pedestals! I know you’re perfectly capable of protecting us. What if we have more kids? Will Dream eventually get to them too?”

“I’d never let anyone touch them, you know that.” He hissed eyes narrowing, “You need an omlette to promise you protection? Don’t argue, because you slipped under its control, you did. So some part of you agreed.” Your mouth snapped shut at Technoblade’s words, your eyes narrowed and you refused to look at him. “Why am I incapable of keeping you safe?” His true feelings bubbled to the surface, you heard the slight crack in his voice. You looked back up at him, his hands were balled into fists, your furrowed brow unraveled. You reached out and took his fist in your hand, you gently rubbed the fist as it slowly relaxed in your hand. “I love you, and I’m failing you.”

“You’re not failing me,” You said softly “Not once have you failed me. You saved me from Dream, you saved me from the egg today, hell you saved me in general. I’m your wife and I’ll always love you.” He gave your hand a tight squeeze, “I just wish everyone would feel as protected as I do with you.” You admitted quietly, “even though Tommy betrayed us...He’s still a kid you know? I can’t help but feel guilty, I could’ve done better.”

“You couldn’t have. You’re not his mother.” Technoblade scoffed, “I’ll be the first to remind you about how stubborn he is, stubborn and loyal. If there’s anyone he’s always going to stick to it's Tubbo, even if we showed him kindness.” He watched you nod his head before he leaned forward to plant a kiss on your forehead. He watched your brow furrow as Steve lumbered back into the room holding Aether by the back of his overalls. You smiled over at the sight as Steve dumped your son in your lap, he made a happy squeal and buried his head in your chest.

“I missed you too Aether, did you have fun today?” He gave a happy nod reaching into his front pocket to pull out a little drawing. It was a stick figure drawing of you and Techno both holding his hands, on top of Aether’s head in the drawing was a scribbled on crown. They were both labeled something in Piglin, Technblade made an embarrassing sound as Aether squealed happily. “What? What does it say?”

“Mom and Dad,” He spoke weakly pinching the bridge of his nose and he watched your entire face light up.

“Yes! Exactly! Good job Aether!” You praised pressing kisses all over his face, “I’m your mom, and Techno’s your reluctant father!” Techno clicked his tongue in distaste at the situation, but he couldn’t lie looking at your happy expression, and Aether’s pure joy it melted his facade.

“Yeah, good job kid. Go hang it on the fridge,” Technoblade urged shooing him away and he ran into the kitchen excitedly.

“You didn’t deny it.~” You teased biting your lip fondly, “You Aether’s dad now?”

“That depends does that make you a MILF?” Technoblade questioned with such a casual deadpan it made you burst into hysterical laughter. You nodded your head rapidly as he pressed a fond kiss to your lips. “Remind me never to say that again, if I ever do please run the nearest sword through my body.”

“Will do, you absolute idiot.”

You turned to look over your shoulder at Aether who was sticking his drawing on the fridge eagerly. Technoblade took in your features, watching you look so calm even with your still-damp hair. He adored you, every single inch of you, from your wondrous brain to your beautiful body. He watched as you snuggle into his cape before turning back towards him,

“We have to protect him with our life. If anyone ever lays a hand on him they won’t live to see the next sunrise. I’ll make sure they burn and water the land with their blood.” You hummed fondly closing your eyes, that shouldn’t have turned Technoblade on as much as it did. He cleared his throat trying to calm himself and the voices down. They wanted to pin her into the couch and devour her, he cleared his throat once again, now was not the time nor place. Especially not with his supposed son in the next room, he swallowed thickly. He couldn’t believe that he was beginning to consider the zombie piglin in the other room his son. He couldn’t believe the voices were considering Aether his son. The urge to protect the child and keep that smile on your face was strong, and he couldn’t help but bend to its pull. That’s when a thought occurred to him, a smile spread across his features, there needed to be people willing to fight the tyranny you were concerned about, something to make sure anarchy always remained supreme.

They needed a syndicate.

A wide smile spread across his face as he kissed you passionately, you let out a small surprised sound.

“What was that about?”

“I have an idea.”

Sic semper tyrannis. ~~~

Tag List: @iamsuchasimp, @victory-is-here, @pastelmoonwitche, @ignat1usaquar1us, @boiled-onionrings, @Natalie-is-a-wall@alovestruck-fool, @mack4676

[dandelionflower]

She sings alone

When they got to the room, Adrien was sitting at an enormous piano, playing a jaunty tune and bouncing in his seat. He wasn’t even looking at the keys, his eyes roaming the room and choosing to stick on-

Lila.

Oh.

Okay, maybe he hadn’t seen her come in. After all, the piano was really big, so even if Adrien was looking directly at the door, he might not have seen them come in.

Lila danced around the room, orange skirt warping around her legs as she spun near to Alya and pulled her deeper into the spacious closet, taking one of her hands and joining it with Nino, leading the pair in a quick-paced dance until she was satisfied that they would carry it on without her.

Adrien’s eyes stayed on her, closing slightly as he allowed for a fond smile.

Okay, okay fine. That was fine. Adrien was allowed to watch his friends! Even if his friend was (ugh) Lila. Marinette drifted further into the room, keeping to the walls as other friends mimicked Alya and Nino’s lively movements.

Finally, (finally!) Adrien’s eyes caught hers and he gave her a cocky wink as the song he was playing changed bit by bit until it was the accompaniment to her favorite pop song; one they had sung together on their way back from their first date.

Marinette’s lips turned up in a fond smile (she really couldn’t resist those green eyes, huh?) as she took a deep breath and-

“Living in my own world...” Lila hummed out the starting notes, approaching the piano with a coy smile, like Adrien was doing this for her. “Didn’t understand…”

Marinette dug her fingernails into the heel of her hand. This was fine. This was fine. Nothing wrong with a couple of friends singing a song together! Even if it happens to be one of the friends’ girlfriend’s favorite.

Lila hopped up on top of the piano, turning her waist so that while her knees faced one of the walls, her torso was pointed directly towards Adrien, so Marinette wasn’t even able to see what sort of expressions she was making.

...not that she needed to. Because she wasn’t. No one liked a jealous girlfriend, and anyway, Adrien knew Lila was a liar! So there’s no way he could be interested.

Lila leaned forwards, recapturing Adrien’s attention from the keys and forcing it back to her face. Adrien tensed in surprise, but seemed to relax even more than he previously was once his eyes landed back on Lila’s face.

Aaaaaand that was that. She needed to step out for a second.

Marinette pushed off of the wall and began traversing through the dancing pairs, eyes on the doorway. She had only made it halfway when Alix grabbed her and began leading her in an odd dance of her own.

“My usual partners are a bit occupied.” She quipped, jerking her head towards Kim, who was trying fruitlessly to get Chloe to join him on the floor. Nathaniel and Max had their own partners as well, though Sabrina and Marc seemed a bit more acquiessing than Kim’s intended. “Thought since you weren’t dancing, you’d like to join me.”

Marinette remembered all the times Alix had protested cancelling or even postponing class dances due to scheduling. During Bubbler, Alix almost seemed disappointed for the party to be over. Even though she never claimed to be as formal as her father, it was clear that she loved dancing in a crowd with only another person as her anchor in the waves of people.

She put on an encouraging smile, not looking at whatever scene was happening by the piano. Alix was her friend, and if she wanted to be dancing, they would dance.

“Sure thing. Thanks for thinking of me.” Marinette could focus on this, just this, until the song was over and she could go, or, even better, join Adrien by the piano.

It wasn’t a problem, until at the end of the song, Adrien’s voice harmonized with Lila’s in a chord that was so beautiful, it shattered her heart in more ways than one. Alix spun Marinette and between rotations she saw how close the two were, and how excited Adrien seemed. She caught her in a dip and Adrien pressed the keys in the final note, everyone separating from their partners to applaud the musical duo.

“That was great, you guys!” Nino placed a hand on both of their shoulders. “A match made in heaven!” His eyes caught Marinette’s and he amended his statement. “A professional match made in business heaven?”

Lila laughed and gave a mock bow. “Thanks, Nino. I wasn’t really planning on singing; after the rock slide accident where I had to call for help in the freezing cold for hours, I didn’t think my vocal cords would be up to it, but when I heard my favorite song start playing, I guess it was just instinct.” She shrugged in a gesture of humility that was about as real as the rest of her.

“Well, your instincts were great.” Adrien commented, standing up from the piano bench and giving her one of his wholesome smiles. “I really enjoyed playing with you.”

“Likewise.” Lila smiled back until her gaze wandered to Marinette. (Of course, everyone but her boyfriend was looking at Marinette (nope, no not bitter at all)) “Oh, Marinette! You’re still doing the costumes right?”

Marinette nodded, once, teeth grit into a smile.

“I found the most beautiful dress,” she spun to a box that was sitting by the wall, picking it up to bring it to Marinette and show her the red silk inside, “and I’d really love it if you’d modify it for me?” She tilted her head forwards and gave Marinette pitiful eyes. As if she didn’t already know Marinette couldn’t say no in front of everyone.

“Of course. I’d just need your measurements and what you want me to do with the dress.” She could be a ventriloquist with how little she was moving her mouth.

“Great!” She pulled out the bottom of the dress, showing off a familiar skirt. It was the dress from the picture. “I’d really like it if you could make it more form-fitting, less poofy, you know?”

“Don’t you think we should ask if we can modify these dresses before we make any decisions?” Please don’t make me ruin such an incredible dress. “Technically, they are historical artifacts.”

“Grace said you could redesign the costumes, right?” Alya tapped at her phone and pulled up a recording she had made.

“Your main job will be refitting and redesigning all the costumes for your friends.” Grace’s digitized voice affirmed Lila’s request.

“That settles it then,” at least one of her teeth must have cracked by now, right? “I’ll just get your measurements and edit the skirt. I’ll need to do it some other time, since I don’t have my-”

“Measuring tape?” Lila whipped out a stylized tape from the box. It was rose gold and was almost calling to her. “I found this near the dress. I’m sure it will work.”

Marinette took the device reverently, running her thumb over the engraved vines on the sides before catching herself and looking up.

“That’ll work. Can you hold your arms out?”

Marinette took Lila’s measurements with a practice ease, and rechecked before typing her numbers and desired modifications into a document on her phone. When she looked up, she was surrounded by boxes and her friends, looking at her with hopeful eyes, as well as a stack of suits of each boy, none of whom seemed to care.

“Okay, what do you want changed? I already have your measurements.” She knelt down and sat beside Lila’s box, letting her friends come to her. This was her favorite part about designing; giving people what they wanted and making them look however they liked.

Rose and Alix both wanted the fabrics from their dresses converted into suits. That was easy enough. Alya found a sweet orange dress that she just needed refitted. Juleka muttered something about “less wide, but still swishy.” Mylene wanted the opposite; to give her dress a larger diameter.

All in all, Lila’s would probably take the longest, because she wanted all the complexities of the intricate gown to be stripped off and for the silk to be repurposed as a cocktail dress.

Marinette nodded to herself and began stacking boxes, looking up at her friends who were still standing awkwardly nearby.

“Guys, these are way too many boxes for one person to carry; let’s each grab a box and take them to Marinette’s room!” Lila chirped, leaning down to pick up her dress, the hem of it dragging on the grimy closet floor.

Everyone murmured an agreement and picked up their respective costumes, filing out the door. Marinette was the last one out, but just as she was about to step out, she found herself face-to-face with Lila.

“You haven’t found your dress yet, have you Marinette?” Her voice was saccharine sweet, but with the masked loathing that Marinette found herself recognizing whenever Lila spoke to her. “Why don’t you spend more time in the closets?”

Before she could realize what was happening, the closet door had slammed in her face and clicked with what Marinette was certain was a lock.

“Oh no, Marinette!” She heard Lila’s muffled ‘concern’ through the door.

“What happened?” Alya’s voice grew louder as she approached the door, or, more likely, Lila.

“Marinette stopped to tie her shoe and I must have bumped the door closed by accident. I feel so guilty.” Sure, and the tears Lila was crying right now weren’t crocodiles.

“It’s fine girl,” Alya reassured her (no, it wasn’t fine!), “I’m sure Marinette will forgive you. Here, give me your box; I’ll take it upstairs while you go find someone who can get her out.”

“Right.” The sound of receding footsteps; they must have left. “Just as soon as I have a chat with one mister Agreste.” ...or not. There was a cheery ring of the phone, and Lila’s smug tone melted into something more pathetic. “Adrien! Come back downstairs, quick! I’ll meet you at the front desk.” Lila chuckled and left with a single knock at the closet door.

...Great. She was stuck. Through sheer habit from akuma attacks, Marinette traced all four walls with a finger, looking for another secret passage, or even a normal one at this point. Nothing, because of course when she’s comfortable she finds a random exit, but not when she actually needs it.

She groaned and fell back against the wall, sliding to the ground and tilting her head back so she could close her eyes and pretend she wasn’t actually in this situation.

The people I’m closest to either don’t know what’s going on or think it’s handled. She thought morosely. So I might as well get comfortable.

Just as she was about to let herself take a little cat nap (she could hear Chat Noir snickering now), she heard a trill come from the piano. Her eyes cracked open and slid to the corner of the room with the instrument, thinking that maybe one of her friends stayed behind.

But no one was there.

Marinette’s curiosity won out and she approached the keys. They pressed down in a few familiar chords; another one of her favorite songs. She wasn’t really sure how self-playing pianos worked, but it must have been ‘programmed’ with some of the more recent pop songs, despite the fact that the room looked like it had been untouched for years, aside from their recent discovery of it.

Shrugging, she sat down at the bench, watching as the keys continued playing the introduction to her second favorite song. She had nothing better to do, why not?

“I’ve got a lot of things I have to do… All these distractions, our future’s coming soon…”

She sang through the entire song, leaning to her left side occasionally, like some other person was sitting beside her; someone that hadn’t left. Marinette closed her eyes and adopted the illusion of company. Blond hair, beautiful eyes, a teasing grin- no a half-smile, like he’s hiding how much he’s enjoying this. Even though he knows she knows he loves it, just like she does.

Just like she loves him. Her grumpy dork. Her Fe-

There was a clatter near the door, and it crumpled, revealing Allegra, leg out in front of her like she had just kicked it down. Which she probably had.

“Marinette? Lost again?” Her laugh seemed shaken, nervous. She had expected to see someone else.

“Something like that.” She matched the laugh; Allegra’s business was her business. Not Marinette’s.

“Well, come on out.” She gestured over her shoulder. “Your friends are looking for you.”

They walked together out of the ballroom and into the main entrance of the building, where Alix and Kim accosted her immediately.

“Marinette! We need your help. Nino’s gone missing?”

~

“Grace!” Allegra barrelled into the room like a tornado. “He’s here! He’s manifesting.”

Her clipboard clattered to the floor as Grace’s knees buckled. “What? What are you talking about?”

“Felix! He’s here.”

Grace sighed. “Felix is an apparition, ‘Legra. Barely even a poltergeist. He has a mild presence, but there’s no way you could have actually seen him.”

“Oh yeah?” Allegra whipped her head at her, flames in her eyes. “Earlier today, I found Marinette in the hall of portraits. She said she followed a black cat through a tunnel.”

“Well- that could have been-”

“And, and just a minute ago, I heard the piano playing and singing. When I came into the closet; it was just Marinette. She thought the piano was self playing, Grace. As in, she wasn’t the one playing.”

“Felix didn’t play the piano.” Grace reminded her. “Bridge did, because-”

“Because her voice sounded like a dozen murder victims, I know.” Allegra rolled her eyes. “But it was Felix who taught her how to play. Gracie, it’s him.”

“It’s not.” Grace glared at her. “There’s no way he could be coming back so soon.”

“Fine, keep being ignorant. But I’m telling Finny, and he’ll believe me.” Allegra stormed out of the room, turning over her shoulder only once. “Oh, and it looks like Nicky has come out to play, so get ready to handle that.”

……

The rest

@merry-madness @calliopeia @drama-queen-supreme @kaydenth3gayden @mcheang @nomiegnome @never-say-donuts @vixen-uchiha @miracul0us-multishipper @hauntedfreakdeputyhero @chocolatecustarddanish @iwantswifttoblessmysoul @digitalmagpie @ilseofskadi @nerdy-and-a-little-birdy @minty-goose @nataladriana9 @aestheticnpoetic @constellation-king @animegirlweeb @persephonebutkore @ahalloweengirl @r0sebutch @marinettepotterandplagg @beelzzebop @akalovelymaybe @pleasefollowmeuwu @angelost4r @constancetruggle @speaknowtome @some-oxymoron @nerdy-scifi-birdy @purplesundaze @aestheticnpoetic @neptuningkai @2confused-2doanything @goggles-mcgee @grumpy-kitten-vixen @artemisdragona @lookatthestars1 @demonicbusiness @toodaloo-kangaroo @crazylittlemunchkin @vice-artist

[usagichanp]

what starkid show should i watch? i’ve just watched the very potter musicals

*limps wrist* ok SO

My personal favourite is The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals, so I'd rec that first.

I will say this tho: In general, Starkid has roughly 2 types of shows: Humour with Heart (Mainly comedy with emotional moments), and Heart with Humour (Still funny, but there's a deeper emotional story). It really depends on which type of musical you like more.

Humour with Heart musicals:

AVPM (at least 1 and 2, I havent seen AVPSY lol)

Firebringer (chaotic queer cavepeople. You ever see the "I don't really wanna do the work today" vine? Thats from Firebringer)

The Trail to Oregon (Oregon Trail game but as a musical. Extremely silly and chaos filled. A personal pick me up favourite)

The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals (Singing aliens invade a small town and chase down a guy who hates musicals. This teeters on Heart with Humour bc it's a dark comedy with some gore, but I find it mostly funny)

Holy Musical Batman (Batman vs Superman but actually good. Excellent villain and songs. I dont know shit about DC but was able to follow along easily. Batman and Superman scream "fuck you" at each other in song.)

Heart with Humour musicals:

Twisted (Ya know how Wicked makes the Wicked Witch from Wizard of Oz into a tragic hero? Well Starkid does that with Jafar from Aladdin. My first Starkid show, and considered by many to be one of if not the best show.)

Black Friday (A doll totally not based on Cthulhu takes hold of a small town mall and drives miserable adults into a violent frenzy. Takes place in the same town as The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals. Technically not a sequel to TGWDLM, but there's a few returning characters and references to TGWDLM. Despite it not being my ultimate fave SK show, this is the one I make the most fancontent for)

???? (aka shows I don't know/can't really place well)

Ani (Star Wars parody. Didn't like the MC and didn't finish it, but some people really like it. Obi Wan is fucking hilarious.)

Me and My Dick (Never saw it due to the recording quality being sorta bad + genital humour isn't my cup of tea. That being said, I know other people who genuinely enjoy it.)

Starship (It's like Aliens and The Little Mermaid had a weird, puppet filled baby ft probably my fave musical villain song of all time. I think it's more humour, but it's been so long that I can't really remember)

Nightmare Time (Little Zoom plays based off of Hatchetfield, the place from Black Friday and The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals. Don't watch until you've watched both BF and TGWDLM. Weird and dark and strange, but good)

Basically what I'm trying to say is: What Starkid show you should watch really depends on your mood. I love Twisted but if I watch it when I'm in the mood for a silly fun musical, it doesn't seem as good. If I'm in the mood for overall fun I do TGWDLM, overall emotional story I do Twisted, and overall silly fun time I do The Trail to Oregon.

All of these are up for free on the Team Starkid youtube channel. Some are in parts, others are fully uploaded. Sorry this was long but I hope this helps! :)

[ranger-rai]

Alright guys, A lot has happened in the last couple of days so let me catch you all up.

So we have been getting some reports of a "Swarm" of pokemon causing some problems around Sinnoh.

We looked into it and after a couple nights of steakouts, we discovered that our "Swarm" was actually a Purrloin who knew Double Team.

Apparently it had been stealing from alot of small homes, mainly trash.

This Purrloin was incredibly aggressive and seemingly protective of something.

We tracked it down to to a small den just outside of Solaceon Town.

Well we were expecting it to be taking care of its kittens, however we did not expect what we actually found.

-------

We found this Purrloin trying to feed the scraps it stole to a Lycanroc.

The Purrloin was very protective and tried attacking us.

It was surprisingly tough for a single Purrloin, however we managed to restrain it.

However we found it weird that this Dusk Lycanroc wasn't moving or reacting much.

I went and checked it out when it was clear and we found something really unsettling.

This Lycanroc has some spine problems, I know this because it struggled to get up but when it did, it got on four legs, then two legs.

Now a Dusk form Lycanroc is made to be on all four like this

However its back is arced upwards like it's slouching.

It's also shaking a bit, and is covered in scratches and bruises.

Every time I try and get close the Purrloin starts thrashing and clawing.

We let it go and it made its way back to the Lycanroc, and started to guard it again.

We knew this was bad, so we made a plan to try and help them.

-------

We managed to get Purrloin secure once again and Lycanroc into a cage very carefully, but we kept them close together as we transported them.

Lycanroc was surprisingly docile and just seemed tired and dehydrated, so we made sure it got plenty of water.

Purrloin was on edge the whole time, making sure that Lycanroc ate, and keeping us at a distance, but I caught her eating from time to time.

We had to hold her down once again, but she used her double team to evade us for a bit. She really knows how to use that move.

Eventually we restrained her when we got to the Ranger Base and we had a medical technician look at Lycanroc.

They said that it had some severe spine misalignment, not from an injury but from constant strain.

At some point during our conversation, we noticed Lycanroc trying to get up, and "stand up" again on two legs, like a Midnight Form Lycanroc.

It was really odd to see, and the tech helped put it him back onto two legs, but it almost seemed scared to be touched when in that position.

This wasn't battle damage, this was intentional trauma.

Purrloin was definitely upset, and managed to get free and started scratching at the technician.

Thankfully I restrained her so the technician could work more, and I calmed her down a bit.

The tech said that they would need to run some tests on the Lycanroc to see if they could fix his back, so we had to let him stay for a while.

However we couldn't leave Purrloin there in case she tried to attack the tech again.

-------

I didn't want to seperate them, but I needed her to be somewhere safe while the technician did his job, so I got her into a carrier and took her with me on my rounds.

She was hissing and scratching for a while but I sat and talked with her for a bit and she seemed pretty alert but much calmer.

Most of the day was just a usual trip around my areas, however I started finding alot more litter in some areas.

There was alot of trash on the ground in a park area just outside Veilstone City, and normally I would pick it all up, but there was alot, almost like there was a carnival recently there, but there was nothing planned as far as I knew.

I also noticed Purrloin getting really upset and hissing a lot.

I looked around the trash and found a bunch of flyers for some kind of venue.

"Mister E's Enigmas"

The flyer listed a sort of sideshow of oddities.

Things like:

The Fire Breathing Treecko Brothers, Dancing Donphan, and their star attraction-

"The Were-Lycanroc" a pokemon that could switch between forms.

That's when it hit me, and I knew someone was going to get in trouble.

-------

After bringing this information to the technician and my boss Jo. Me and my Ranger Team decided to attend the show incognito to see if we were right, and boy we wish we weren't.

We attended what could only be described as a shifty, pop up carnival.

There were a few games, a couple food trucks, and a large tent that held the "main events".

There were some "exotic" holding cages that people could interact with like a small cage for two Emolga to live in, they could barely get into the air before smacking into the roof.

There was a small area that had a large heat lamp for "desert" pokemon, but it was mostly a browning Cacnea, a Trapinch with barely enough sand to cover its body, and a Salandit which didn't belong there.

There were others but we already knew what those cages would be like as well.

The show kn the main stage was getting ready to start, so we decided to check it out.

"Mister E" took to the stage, he had your typical big top attire, top hat, long tails, but he had a stripey pattern that made him look like a hypnotic wheel.

He introduced his first act, which was "The Fire Breathing Treecko Brothers". I was worried.

Now Treecko is a Grass Type, and it only learns one grass type move naturally: Sunny Day.

They also don't have any natural immunities to fire types, so this didn't make much sense for normal Treecko.

From what I saw in the act, they learned how to eat fire and pretend they were using flamethrower. However you could tell they didn't like it. Treecko are calm and collected pokemon, but those two looked stressed out, and they were molting a bit in certain areas near their face and tails, probably due to the flames and stress.

After them was the "Dancing Donphan". Donphan is a very heavy pokemon, and it's main skill is rolling like a tire.

This Donphan looked much lighter, like it hadn't been fed its regular amount to keep it healthy.

Minnie also mounted out that the music playing during the dance had a weird sound mixed in. Basically, whenever we heard the sound, Donphan would do a move like jumping or rolling over. The sound was similar to a sort of crash, but it was clear that it was a sound that Donphan was afraid of.

Now came the finale, "The Were-Lycanroc" however that part didn't happen, and instead they brought out some clowns and the Treecko Brothers again.

Thats when we knew what was really happening.

-----

I went back to check on Lycanroc who was sleeping like a log with Purrloin right next to it.

I didn't remember any cages with any feline pokemon in them so maybe it was just a wild Purrloin, but I wasn't going to disturb them to find out.

The doctor told me that it might take some time, but Lycanroc's spine and back legs were forced to move in positions they weren't supposed to for so long, that it would take some time, therapy and equipment to help it.

If there was a chance to help this poor pokemon I knew we would take it, but we also couldn't leave all of those other pokemon to suffer.

We were about to get really busy at the Ranger Base.

------

The next day, Me and Minnie went incognito one more time and we had to sit through that horrible show once more.

We had Skip with us, helping to send info and let us know of any devices or intercept their communications.

Turns out we didn't know that was happening because they had police scanners to avoid getting caught and they had wireless security cameras inside the tent.

They were prepared, but so were we.

My whole team was on board, both Humans and Pokemon.

We had a plan that began with Kuriboh knocking out some generators by sneaking around and unplugging everything he could.

That caused some confusion for a bit while we got in place. While they went to secure their "precious cargo", we made our presence known.

Eddie was outside the tent, dealing with the muscle and moving crews, his Bewear is very strong and pretty quick too, so we didn't need to worry about them much.

However we still had Mister E.

I told Bliss to keep an eye on him so we wouldn't loose him in the panic, but we had a delay as some of the Treeco Bros fire got out of control and some of the tent started to catch on fire.

Minnie and her Cloyster were immediately ready to deal with it and she was ready to help the Treeco Bros as well.

Bliss was able to keep tabs on the ringleader who was trying to get into his van and split, most likely with his cash.

However, Sylvester doesn't like people who mistreat pokemon, and Jo's Tangrowth has some really strong vines. Strong enough to rip car doors off hinges.

------

We had caught this terrible man, and we discovered he had been doing this for a couple of years, just now making his way through Sinnoh, and he was looking for some pokemon to add to his show.

We also watched some of his security tapes and we learned that "Were-Lycanroc" was really just a Dusk Form that he forced to stand up and slouch over by constantly whipping with a flexible stick. And with the assistance of red lights, smoke machines and music, hey could make people think it was changing forms.

We also learned that Purrloin was tossed into Lycanroc's cage, possibly as a "play thing" but I guess he actually made a friend either her and hiding her from Mister E, and she had been caring for him as well, stealing food and causing trouble for them whenever she could.

Needless to say, we were able to get them arrested, and we are now in the process of evaluating some of these pokemon, but we may have too many to deal with here.

We might need to reach out for some help.

------

In the case of Lycanroc and Purrloin, they are comfortably resting in holding, and Lycanroc is be getting fitted for some equipment to help its spine and legs heal.

I'll be checking on them soon, but for now me and my team need to rest after this long day.

[capricornwritesstuff]

Coincidence

You were singing along softly with the music playing through your earbuds as you walked along through the forest, enjoying the spring weather, your heavy coat keeping out the chilly spring winds. It was weather similar to this, you remembered, when you met your friend Hayden here on this same path one fateful Day. You’d decided to take a moment to relax on the edge of the path against a tree with your eyes closed, curled under your large coat and basking in the sun, when their voice nearly scared you to death. You hadn’t even heard them walking up to you, laughing softly and telling them they were okay when they apologized. You both immediately clicked, having a nice long conversation, until the sun was setting and they offered to walk you home.

From then on you kept in touch, talking with them daily and getting closer and closer to them, until eventually you developed feelings for the blonde man. They were just perfect, so kind and caring, considerate and nurturing, but also chaotic and thrill seeking, taking you on adventures that always left you wonder ‘what next’. You just wish that their job didn’t send them away so much, where you wouldn’t hear from them for weeks on end sometimes. You’d actually asked Hayden if they wanted to go on a walk with you today, since they lived close by apparently, but they said they were going to be fairly busy today. So, unfortunately, you were left alone, listening to music and enjoying the weather. 

You’d sent a couple photos to Hayden for them to see once they were off work, blushing and reading through some of your conversations again. You squealed and hid your face as you read over something sweet they’d said to you, calling you the nickname they’d given you especially and complimenting you. It was beyond you how they managed to turn you into such a flustered mess, having previously prided yourself on not being the romantic type. You pondered telling them about your feelings, but the thought terrified you, the fear of them being weirded out and leaving you overwhelming you. You could deal with the pain, the pain of possibly seeing them smile and gush about another, the pain of eventually losing them. Yeah, you could deal with that.

You stopped when you neared the tree you had been sitting against that fateful day when you met Hayden, smiling, blushing and laughing softly. You sighed and sat down against it once more, looking up at the sky and letting out another soft sigh. You felt peaceful, at ease, comfortable in such a familiar spot. Maybe if you were lucky they’d find you again, take you away from everything, and it could just be you two. It sounded too good to be true, but you just wanted to be selfish for once, just once. You shut your eyes and sighed, listening to your music play, and nuzzling further into your coat.

You didn’t even realize you were falling asleep until you woke up, panicking for a moment as your eyes flew open, before freezing when you realized you were not in the same place you were before. The forest around you looked dead and gray, frozen, like nothing here had been disturbed for years. It didn’t look like ash or like the forest had been burned, it simply looked life sucked, and you quickly stood up to survey your surroundings. You paused your music as you stood, and you realized it was dead silent, aside from your breathing, the shuffling of your coat, and your footsteps, causing your stomach to churn as you strained to hear anything. Timidly, you started walking back the way you would have come if you were in the forest where you were before, praying you’d find something familiar.

The entire time you felt like something was watching you, following you. You constantly checked behind you as you walked, swearing you heard footsteps behind you that were trying to match with yours. You checked the signal on your phone and cursed when you saw there was nothing, stuffing it in your pocket and picking up your pace slightly. You just kept walking, silently hoping that if you did you’d find your way back to the forest you knew, but you couldn’t shake the feeling of eyes on you. You spun around one more time with wide eyes as you looked around for anything, any sign that you weren’t alone. There was nothing, and you were starting to panic, tearing up and looking around fearfully as you stood in place frozen with fear.

“(Y/N)-?”

You jumped and screamed at the sound of Hayden’s voice, spinning around with tears streaming down your cheeks as you stared wide eyed at the man’s familiar face, “Hayden?”

You both ran towards each other and embraced each other in tight hugs as you sobbed against Hayden, him patting your hair worriedly, “(Y/N), what’s wrong? What are you doing here?”

“I don’t know! I just- I was going on a walk and then I stopped at the tree where you and I first met, cause I remember which tree it was, and- and I sat down and closed my eyes and I guess I fell asleep? And then I woke up here, but- but I don’t remember getting here? And I just- I started walking to try and find the forest but I felt like someone was following me and I’m just- I was so fucking scared.”

Hayden hushed you gently as he pet your head, holding you tight and kissing your head to try and calm you down, “Hey, hey, it’s alright, I’m here. Do you know how you got here?”

You shook your head, sniffling and pulling back slightly, “No. I just- I just woke up. I fell asleep against the tree and I woke up here. What- what are you doing here? I thought you were at work?”

Hayden smiled and laughed softly at your question, starting to wipe the tears off of your face, “I am working actually. Um, I’ll explain everything to you later, okay?”

You gave Hayden a confused look, sniffling and wiping at your eyes. “What do you mean you are working?”

Hayden simply smiled and brushed some hair out of your face, “I’ll tell you later, I promise. Just come with me, okay?” Hayden started leading you off, the opposite direction where you were going.

You followed him, trusting him to keep you safe, but also having a horribly off feeling in your stomach. “Hayden, please, tell me what���s going on. I’m- I’m scared, and confused.”

Hayden stopped and cupped your cheek, causing you to blush as he smiled at you, “(N/N), you trust me right?”

You swallowed and nodded, absentmindedly leaning into his touch, “I do, yeah.”

“Then just follow me. I’ll explain later. Plus, I have some friends I want you to meet!”

His smile was nearly enough to put you at ease, making you smile as you nodded and continued to follow Hayden through the forest. You still couldn’t shake the feeling you were being watched as you walked with Hayden, trying to look through the trees to see if you could see anyone standing out there, but there was nothing that you could see. You noticed that Hayden had pulled out his phone when you looked back at them, texting someone or maybe a group chat, but when you tried to see he turned his phone off suddenly and put it in his pocket. His grip tightened around your hand slightly and you smiled softly, squeezing his hand back which caused him to look back at you curiously before returning your smile.

After a bit of Hayden’s eager walking he slowed to a more leisure pace, swinging your hands wildly between you two and giggling, making you start to laugh along with him. It was surprising how easily Hayden was able to put you at ease, making you almost completely forget about the feeling of being watched, the fear of waking up someplace unfamiliar suddenly. You were still scared and wary, definitely, but with Hayden you felt like you could get through anything. That’s when you looked up and saw it.

A large, large mansion that looked like something you’d place in the nineteen twenties, old, rundown, and overgrown with a large fence and gate surrounding it. You could barely just see through the vines covering the gate to see the actual mansion, but you could definitely see the top of it, with a large tower in the center. At the opened gate was a group of people, much taller than you, and they looked rather intimidating. 

You stood behind Hayden as they led you forward, seemingly excited to see the new people, and you felt a slight pang of jealousy in your gut. You’d never met these people, and Hayden had never told you about them, so who were they and why was Hayden seemingly excited to see them? You dismissed the question in your head for now, more worried about where you were and who these people were that Hayden knew, and what the hell you were doing here.

“Hey guys! This is (Y/N). (Y/N), these are my friends and work buddies!” Hayden excitedly introduced you all to each other as you timidly stood behind them.

You looked up at all of Hayden’s collogues timidly, forcing a smile and waving, “Hi, it’s nice to meet you all.” You spoke softly, your voice taking a higher lilt to it.

The tallest one in a yellow hoodie smiled and nodded at you, speaking with a deep southern drawl that made you blush slightly and shiver. “Nice to meet you too. I’m Brian.”

Another one of them scoffed, a man with curly hair and green eyes in dark clothes, he looked Hispanic if you had to guess. “Damn Brian, never heard you introduce yourself so properly before.” Brian shot the shorter man a glare which only seemed to make him laugh, before he looked over at you. His gaze made you swallow and avoid eye contact, feeling scrutinized, like he was sizing you up. “Name’s Cody.”

“And I’m T-Toby!” A slightly taller man next Cody piped up and introduced himself, with similar curly hair, brown eyes and a couple scars on his face as well as freckles. “We’re twins.”

“Fraternal twins,” Cody corrected.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever, dipshit.” Toby laughed as Cody let out an indignant ‘hey!’.

Another man, a little shorter than the others and much more scruffy and gruff, drew your attention, and he reeked of the familiar scent of tobacco. You forced yourself not to cover your nose as he glared down at you, causing you to take a step back. He scoffed, “Tim.” You didn’t like him.

A lady with black, unkempt hair scoffed and drew your attention, watching as she rolled her eyes before looked at you and smiled softly. You were immediately more at ease seeing her and her kinder attitude, “I’m Kate. It’s nice to meet you. Hayden told us a lot about you.” 

You smiled and nodded, a little hurt Hayden told them about you but not you about them, but you quickly brushed it off as another lady stepped forward, the shortest of them all and even shorter than you. She made you feel the most at ease as she smiled at you, feeling like you could trust her almost immediately, “I’m Jordan, nice to meet you.”

You smiled and nodded again, silently greeting her personally as well. You looked back at Hayden who seemed to be a little upset until he realized you were looking at him, immediately brightening up. “So, these are my coworkers, and this is where we live!”

You looked back at the rundown, overgrown, abandoned looking mansion, frowning and holding Hayden’s hand a bit tighter. “You… you live here?” 

You looked back at Hayden for an explanation, until Cody piped up with a laugh and explained first. “Don’t judge a book by its cover. The inside is much different than the outside, trust me probrecita~.”

You blushed slightly at the name Cody called you, tilting your head confused as the man laughed, looking at Hayden who was glaring at Cody now. His grip on your hand tightened painfully and you hissed softly, his grip immediately relaxing as he looked back at you, smiling apologetically. “Sorry. Come on, let’s go inside, I wanna show you my room!”

Hesitantly you followed them all inside, sticking close to Hayden the entire time and keeping your eyes cast downward, occasionally glancing up at the others curiously. It wasn’t till you stepped inside the building you realized what Cody meant, a long, large, luxurious hallway with red carpet and lit with antique lights greeting you. The others went ahead of you and Hayden as you took in the hallway in awe, confusion clear as day on your face and making Hayden laugh, causing you to blush. 

He convinced you to keep following him, taking peeks down the hallways that diverged at the base of the stairs before heading up them. You passed the second floor quickly, seeing long hallways filled with doors with plaques on them, spotting Cody heading down one of the hallways on his own. You kept heading up with Hayden and the others, finally reaching the third floor. There was a large, large door there, with large handles and intricate detail, and it was intimidating. Not just because it was so massive, but because it felt bad, it felt wrong, something was wrong on the other side of that door. 

You were thankful when you and Hayden quickly moved away from the door, looking back at it warily until it was out of view and finally sighing, following Hayden and watching all the others head off to individual rooms. You followed Hayden down a hall to what you assumed was their room, your suspicions confirmed by the nameplate on the door, and when they immediately opened it with their own key. You stepped inside and blinked at the sight and size of the room, letting out a soft ‘wow’ as you took in their room, with cyan striped walls and tons of posters on them. Their bed was covered in stuffed animals as you’ve seen from pictures they sent you, and there was purple very much everywhere.

You smiled softly and walked in with Hayden, spinning around in place in awe as Hayden asked, “What do you think?”

You looked back at Hayden with a smile, giggling seeing how excited they were, bouncing up and down in place, “It’s amazing! But, I’m- I’m still confused. Where are we?”

Hayden smiled at you, but it was different, and it immediately set you off. It wasn’t their same soft, cheery smile, stretched wide across their face with all the happiness in the world. This smile was just.. Wrong. There was something twisted behind it, something sick and demented. 

“We’re home.”

[barbasbodaciousbeard]

Accidental Feminist Icon

Between my own headcanon Barba becomes a very niche viral celebrity for being a mix of feminist icon giving one liners on the news and handsome/well dressed and the DJ Khaled post, this happened. 

“Counsellor, are you listening?” Olivia asked as Rafael Barba looked at his phone again. It had been months now since he started trying Manhattan SVU’s cases, and she hadn’t seen him this distracted before. 

“I just- why do I have rapid fire Twitter notifications? Over one hundred and fifty?”

“You have Twitter?” He rolled his eyes, not proud of the admission. But he liked to follow politics and music and satire. His colleagues would have discourse on legal proceedings and theory. But when he opened his notifications, the sea of professional headshots making up the icons in his notifications window were replaced by cartoon avatars and selfies. Handles like @Bradley_GreedADA were replaced with @feministkilljxy. 

What was happening?

Why were there GIFs of him now?

“Rafael?” He was snapped back to attention by Olivia’s hand passing over his phone screen, and he shook his head, holding the screen out to her. “What am I looking at?”

“Why have a couple hundred- are these all teenagers?”

“Are they following you? Or tagging you?”

“Both?” He scrolled through the mentions.

“Both.” A questioning look.

“Have I gone viral?” he asked herr, eyes wide and his tone disgusted. Twitter was where he posted law books, nice dinners out, homemade dinners in, and the nicer scotch he drank. Sometimes even pictures of himself; some of his friends enjoyed fashion as well, and their twitters all had a heavy thread of their suspenders and ties. Suddenly, he was having photos he’d posted to flaunt his ability to mix patterns retweeted in appreciation of something more than the color scheme.

“I think you have. What have you said now?”

“The girl whose tweet I keep getting tagged in mentioned Jocelyn Paley and the Adam Caine case.”

“That was seven months ago.”

“I’m very aware. I have to get to the office. I’ll get you that warrant.”

He continued to scroll as he walked, alarmed by the number of followers he was gaining and going to open a direct message from a friend to see a wall of messages from names he didn’t know. Once he was able to find Bradley’s message, he saw it was series of tweets with videos and GIFs of him on the courthouse steps. They were all from the same case, he assumed the Adam Caine case. He clicked the video of he and Rita Calhoun.

All I can say, today's Grand Jury indictment is the first step towards achieving justice for Jocelyn Paley. 

The DA's office is desperately trying to distract from their recent scandal with a high-profile case. 

Don't give me that--whether you're a john in the South Bronx or a $3-million-a-year talk show host, no means no. 

 He could remember the exchange now, and it had apparently been retweeted thousands of times. Cameras always made him determined to distract, determined to drive home a point. And now, he was seeing some group of teenagers had clung on to his words, and he wasn’t sure how he felt about becoming recognized enough by that demographic to warrant this rapidly increasing follower count. 

“Carmen, can I ask you something?”

“Of course, Mr. Barba. Need coffee?”

“No,” he said plainly, shaking his head and showing her his feed. “Is this normal?”

“They found you?”

“Excuse me?”

“Haven’t you seen the posts?”

“I don’t branch out on Twitter often.”

“I see it mostly, like, on Instagram with captions and people post clips of you on vine.”

“What’s vine?”

“A six second video app. Teenagers and young women post you. Vine is normally comedy. But people are obsessed with you. Niche, but sizable number. I think it’s mostly New York girls who see you on the news. But that means the vines went viral a couple months ago.”

“So now they’re all following me on Twitter?”

“You’re viral for being attractive, dressing well, and prosecuting rapists. Embrace it.”

“I can’t post my clothes anymore.”

“Just continue like usual. Don’t respond to DMs.”

He spent a few weeks terrified of this new following, but after three days, things calmed down. The number of followers he gained was weird and confusing to him, and he decided to listen to Carmen ultimately, keeping the profile the same and pretending nothing had happened. She did stop him one day, showing him that there had been people making fake accounts, yet another thing that was insane to him. She primarily told him because these accounts were attempting to take advantage of the fact young girls were the ones following him. He awkwardly slid the handles to Olivia, and Carmen filled out an application for Twitter verification that left him mortified. Even worse, it was approved. 

He was swept away in a case soon enough. Lindsay was assaulted by a whole fraternity at Hudson. They uncovered a previous victim in a hospital, a fraternity known for being a rape factory, and a dean helping create a culture that buried these attacks. It was becoming higher profile than he expected, and it wasn’t easy to try. He’d had to shut off his notifications on his phone during these cases. When Lindsay committed suicide, he accompanied Rollins when she went to arrest the dean. What he didn’t expect was for two of the women they saw to approach him, asking if they were here about Lindsay and thanking them when he said he couldn’t mention it. Then they asked for a selfie. Rafael was mortified but obliged. 

“We recognize you from Twitter.”

Well, now he knew he needn’t accompany the squad out anymore.

When he got tweets from the kind of scum that supported the fraternity, it took a concerted effort not to respond. That could jeopardized the case. He’d already had to tell the two girls they couldn’t post about him being there. He tweeted a disclaimer for if people saw him out, feeling like an asshole. Twitter was now becoming a liability, but he could balance it and refused to give up the feed. Slowly, the GIFs and stills of him on the news were collected, and he only got embarrassed again when mami’s students had discovered him and realized he was the guy in their principal’s pictures. Now Mami had a Twitter, and she followed people who praised him joyfully, though he’d managed to convince her not to interact in private messages or respond to people insulting him. 

The Jenna Miller case caused another leap in his follower count, and he had developed a little sense of pride instead of embarrassment when his followers jumped from people who mattered in New York to people who mattered elsewhere. A congresswoman from Ohio. Artists. Activists. He’d texted Olivia when Lady Gaga followed him. Plus that woman from True Blood. God, she was beautiful. Plus the hot boybander that had probably made him realize he was bisexual. It was weird, and he was unwilling to publicly acknowledge any of it. Unless they were on twitter, he certainly didn’t tell anyone he knew other than Olivia. Soon enough, someone had made a t-shirt on Etsy of the moment he’d turned on his heel. The media had called after Jenna, the olympian, and he’d told them no questions. Then the had the gall to bring up her sex work. He’d stopped on the steps, turning on his heel and announcing “Except for that one. Paid or not paid, no means no. Consent can be revoked at any time.” And now, Etsy users were profiting on it. This group was niche, but it ran deep. Luckily, he noticed the shop only had a few dozen sales.

Everything was fine until Rafael Barba lost his ability to maintain his composure. Up until now, he’d monitored his name, mentions, and a few hashtags people used with him. It was usually just the GIFs and stills and soundbites. He participated in some banter after the first couple of years, boundaries firm enough he felt he could. But he still didn’t bicker. Carmen said he got a following for being a good guy, and he thought it was gross openly condemning rape seemed to be all it took to be a good guy. But then through his lurking, Rafael Barba saw a tweet about DJ Khaled. He’d had to google who the hell that was, unsure who all of Twitter was piling onto, but he found the tweet objectionable enough to respond.

“Mr. Barba,” Carmen said, eyes sparkling with amusement as she came in to see her boss still scrolling through his phone. “You really decided this is the time to get involved on Twitter? You only ever respond to what people say to your stuff or your friends.”

He should’ve known she’d be on top of it. He’d given her access when notifications went through the roof the second time, and Carmen helped filter through DMs he didn’t want to see. But now, that meant her phone was vibrating like his in response to his first tweet in response to a stranger or someone who wasn’t in a thread under his own post.

“What? I’m supposed to endorse consent but not enjoyment?”

“You’re going to end up in a Buzzfeed article, sir.”

“If this is my legacy, so be it.”

“Your legacy? Taking it seriously now?”

“This is serious.”

Carmen’s phone buzzed in her hand, and she knew he’d sent another tweet. Her own account got notifications so she could monitor him. She sighed heavily, unlocking the phone and looking at it. 

“Mr. Barba, does your mom know you’re bi?”

“No, why?”

“She follows you, idiot.”

“Shit. Well, I suppose it’s time.”

“If you tweet Smash Mouth, I’m quitting. These kids are already thirst tweeting you. They must have tweet notifications on for you.”

“Who’s Smash Mouth?”

“How the hell are you culturally relevant?”

“According to Liv, I’m a feminist icon.”

“Don’t get arrogant sir. I help run this twitter.”

“I’ll change the password. I do all the posting.”

“I won’t tell you if Evan Rachel Wood slides in your DMs.”

“Why would I care?”

“I know why you watched True Blood.”

“Touche.” He paused. “Do you think she will?”

“Give me the phone. I’ll bring it when Liv calls.”

“Why would she call?”

“She made a Twitter, sir. Followed you last week.”

“Shit,” he said, eyes wide. “I posted pictures of my food. She saw me acting like a Twitter guy.”

“You are a Twitter guy.”

He rolled his eyes, ending with a retweet of his new favorite addition to the conversation. 

@mia-liz @chasingeverybreakingwave @thegirlwiththemaleficient-tattoo​ @teachingpanda​

[simplydm]

I don’t know as much about the egg arc as I thought. Punz fic tho here ya go.

Punz kept to himself most of the time now. He played Valorant, up in the gamer room in his tower. The red was almost completely faded from his eyes, save for right around his pupils. He didn’t look in mirrors much, so it didn’t matter either way. Here, alone, streaming for faceless crowds, he didn’t need to be anything except a guy playing games on a screen.

Sometimes he would look down at his arms as he played, expecting to see the red vines wrapped tightly around them, around his chair. There was nothing there anymore, of course, except for the burn marks that the red vines had left behind on his skin. Old memories, old ghosts.

--

Punz took off his headphones one day. He always had music playing, or the sounds of whatever game he was playing. There wasn’t really a need to take them off ever. But he took them off one day because of how clear the sky looked from the only window he didn’t have boarded up. The smoke and haze of the wars was finally dissipating, and god, how blue it looked. He knew beauty, but he’d always had a special place in his heart for the sky and it’s endless pallet of colors.

There was a high-pitched ringing noise as he set the headphones aside and looked out the window. It was quiet, so quiet that the ringing in his ears was all that there was to hear. He grit his teeth in annoyance at it, and drank in the view from his tower. A sunny day, with no movement beside the trees. His heart was sad through, remembering when the path was full of voices and movement. He itched to put the headphones back on, get rid of that endless ringing, or at least muffle it, and forget about the world outside his window. But the wind felt so nice and clean on his face, and his whole body suddenly ached to move and walk and run and fight. Behind him, he could see the loading screen of another game cued up.

--

His feet hitting the wood path sounded like gunshots. But no one came to see who was walking. Punz walked down the prime path, looking at the buildings still standing. A lot of them were becoming decrepit, evidence of creeper explosions and pickaxes all over. The targay was gone, messy tilled rows of dirt in its place. He went to Tommy’s house just for a moment, and looked at the dirt shack.

But there was no one. He’d heard of the fallout from the wars, from the strained relationships. Arguments he could hear out his window, and more and more buildings and houses becoming abandoned, owners heading for new parts of the world not yet tainted. But he had never realized just how empty the main dream smp land was now. What once was lively was now essentially a graveyard, with Punz the only person to mourn it.

“How long has it been since I’ve been out here?” Punz asked out loud, just so there was some human voice. His question echoed back at him, because he already knew the answer. He couldn’t remember much of it, except Bad supporting him down the path. Rushed conversations mouthed above him, but all Punz could hear was ringing. Ponk’s hands, one metal, one flesh, flying over his body, tracing the old burns in the shape of vines that wove around and around his appendages. Quackity had placed so much tnt.

His feet seemed to have a mind of their own, and Punz came back to the present with a splash, as his feet landed in the water of the spider spawner. Even here was quiet and still. It had been months since he’d been here. He slowly made his way down the short hallway, and at the end of it, there was his choice. He exhaled through his teeth, looking back at forth. On his right, the water elevator out. On the left, the boarded up entrance to the egg. Someone must have done a quick job of nailing some wood to the doorway, just to deter curious folks from going down after the banquet.

“The banquet.” Punz mumbled. He hadn’t heard a thing since the day the red banquet was supposed to happen. No one from the Eggpire had come back. They were alive, because Punz saw them every once in a while from his tower. But they had kept their distance, from him and each other. Something bad must have happened. Right?

Punz took down the boards covering the doorway to the egg with a couple swings of his axe. He had seen the entrance hallway twice before, with its elegant red staircase. He descended it, but very slowly and quietly. It was quiet here too, but the type of quiet that presses in on your ears. Punz wished the ringing would stop.

The egg room was vastly unchanged. The remains of decorations lay a bit more tattered and faded now, and there was stale soup in bowls on the big table. And the egg was just… there. In the far corner of the room, a dull red color. It was dead silent.

It was dead silent.

“No fucking way.” Punz felt for his ears. The ringing, that ever-present hell, was silent. He could hear his fingers brush at his hair, and the clang of his sword fall to the ground. Punz looked towards the egg.

“Punz.” As raspy as ever, yet slightly familiar, the egg spoke. The ringing was gone, replaced by the egg’s voice. “You’re back.”

Punz nodded, then remembered the egg didn’t have eyes. Or, at least, he was pretty sure it didn’t. “Yeah.” Almost without thinking, he began to walk slowly towards the egg.

“What do you desire, Punz? What is your deepest wish? Is it still power and money?”

“I-” Punz stopped dead in his tracks. “You’re supposed to be dead. You have no power here anymore… I think.”

There was a deep, painful-sounding sigh that echoed all around the room.

“I am weak, Punz. With no one to bring me gifts and offerings, I sit in wait. They tried to wound me, and when it failed, they tried to wound my people. Now you are all scattered to the wind, afraid to come back. You know fear, Punz. I saw them taking you out of here, covered in blood and screaming because you couldn’t hear. One of my finest soldiers, one of the best fighters in the world, taken down by those who envy my power.”

Punz rubbed a bit of his shirt between his fingers, glancing at the small hole in the wall behind the egg.

“You are scared, Punz, and I understand why. They hurt you. But I can take it away. You know this.”

“I know.” Punz whispered, reaching up again to touch his ear.

“Tell me what you desire, Punz. I can help you provide it to yourself.” The egg glowed bright for a second before going dark. It’s powers were close to exhaustion, and Punz felt that tiredness in his very soul. He shook his head, as if to clear it.

Punz left without another word. The egg said nothing, did nothing. He walked up the stairs, footsteps dully reverberating in his wake. He swam up the water elevator and began a brisk walk back towards his house. Sidestepping holes in the wood, waving aside smoke from wreckage, trying not to be so loud, even though he was the only thing disturbing what nature was staring to take back. He slowed to a stop, and did a slow circle where he stood, just looking at the land he called home. Dead. Just like the egg, just like he should be. A part of him ached so badly it hurt, to be held and laugh with friends, with family. He wiped away his tears angrily. The ringing was almost insufferable.

--

“I want the dream smp back.”

Punz strode into the egg room, kicking aside the tables and decorations as he went. He stood at the base of the egg and looked up.

“I want my community back. I want happiness and peace and just feeling like I belong.”

“I can do that.” The egg glowed bright for a second. “A world with the people you love, back and whole again. And you, Punz, the catalyst for that peace.”

Punz nodded, and tears were free-falling now. They fell to the ground, and from that spot, crimson sprouts began to grow. Delicate, precious things. Punz scooped them up and they wove their tiny vines around his fingers.

“You know what to do, Punz.”

--

Punz planted the sprouts, and they started growing at once. They memorialized his footsteps, and the vines growing on his hands and arms weaved themselves into a red crown. This was the new age of the Eggpire, with a new, stronger leader who wasn’t controlled by love for one person. Punz did love, yes, but it was a love for community. And the community, oh the community would finally come back, beckoned by the vines and the eggs voice. And then he could be happy. He just wish the ringing would stop.

[talkfastromance4]

something part 3--calum hood

A/N: This is it! The final piece! Thank you for bearing with me while I took you on this rollercoaster of emotions and for being so kind while I took my break. Much love💕

Word count: 5.2k

Warnings: drinking, mentions of smoking weed, dealing with heartbreak, sexual situations

Part one || Part two

***

Five months have gone by and Calum tried to push the idea to publicly date Missy away as best he could. The guys even tried to help, but inevitably he was forced to say yes. Calum’s reading over the itinerary he and Missy have to follow over his morning coffee. He takes a sip remembering when she was brought in to discuss the arrangements. It was the Monday following the best and worst weekend of his life with Y/N.

Calum’s body language is screaming ‘leave me the fuck alone I’m pissed’ as he sits slouched in the chair, arms folded against his chest and his hands in fists. His facial expression mirrors a rock, hard and unforgiving as Missy walks in with her manager and the band’s PR liaison. He watches her with hard eyes take a seat next to him, Calum purposely shifts his chair far away from her. She frowns slightly then smiles politely to the rest.

Calum listens as the team discusses the arrangement. How it will benefit both the band and up the ante on her modeling career.

“To be tied with one of the most desirable bachelors will increase magazines wanting to feature you,” Christina the liaison explains excitedly. Calum can’t help but snort.

“Pair her with Styles’ then, he’s more notorious than I am,” Calum grumbles.

“We couldn’t get in contact,” Missy’s manager says, her voice clipped as she narrows her eyes at Calum. “It will boost record sales for your music—”

“And we want the first single to be the love song, ‘Through the Dark.’”

Ashton, Michael, and Luke’s heads whip to Calum who has become even more outraged. It can’t be that song; he wrote that about Y/N.

“With the new romance rumors and the song, it will be a hit in no time, probably surpassing the charts of Ariana Grande and Styles combined.”

“No, we’re not having that be the single,” Ashton tries to dissuade the agreement that neither member of the band was a part of.

“Why not?”

“Because it wasn’t written about Missy,” Calum says. His voice is as monotonous as his face. From the corner of his eye, he sees Missy look at him with a quizzical look.

“So what? No one will know except the people in this room. The relationship will last about eight months, until the album is officially released, and touring starts. You’ll inevitably break up because Missy will be too busy modeling around the world and you gentleman will also be touring. Everybody wins.”

There’s grumbles amongst the band, Calum’s jaw clicks in anger. He turns his gaze to the window, sees the clouds rolling in as his private life is being scheduled like he’s some sort of robot. He closes his eyes thinking of Y/N, and how she looked in that flower crown and then how she looked with the petals scattered in her hair like she was some type of goddess. Then he sees her with tears in her eyes.

“Calum?”

He opens his eyes and turns at the sound of his name. It’s just him and Missy in the conference room. He’s getting really tired of hearing his name if it’s not from Y/N’s lips. She moves a little closer to him in her chair, an apologetic look on her face.

“Kind of surprised ‘fake dating’ actually happens. I’ve heard rumors and look, they’re true.”

“Imagine that.” He rolls his eyes.

Missy feels the iciness in his tone, and she tries again.

“Look, this is weird for me, too. It was all my manager’s idea which is insulting because if I need a fake boyfriend to get more modeling gigs then her faith in me isn’t all that great. I don’t think of you that way—”

“Your kiss at my party said otherwise.”

“I was drunk, I’ll kiss anyone. And…all right, maybe I did have a crush on but when that girl—”

“Y/N?”

“Right, her. When Y/N showed up and I saw the way you looked at her…I couldn’t compete with that. I don’t want to come between you two.”

“Too late.”

“What happened? Maybe I could talk to her—”

“I don’t really feel like talking about it, Missy, all right? She’s not even talking to me, so I highly doubt she’d talk to you. The woman of my dreams ended things before they even began, and I couldn’t even tell her I love her.”

Missy’s quiet for a moment then offers a kind smile.

“Sounds like you want to talk about it a little….”

He pushes away from the table in a huff then stops with his hand on the doorknob.

“I’ll play this act if it helps you in some weird, twisted way but it means nothing to me. We’ll do all the proper pap shots and appearances but no physical contact whatsoever. Those are my limits.”

He storms out as he hears a quiet ‘okay’ and the guys are waiting for him down the hall. They try to reach out for him, but Calum continues walking.

Calum looks down at his notebook, sketches and doodles of flowers are scattered about the page. Their stems and vines looping through the words that are constantly running through his head. He takes a long drink of his coffee, letting the bitterness warm his insides.

After the meeting with management and Missy, Calum called Y/N. He texted her. He knocked on her door. It wasn’t until Crystal told him to give her space did he really back off. He knows Y/N didn’t mean what she said. That night they shared was something special. From how she was so perfect with his untimely manner to how she took care of him while he had allergies from the flowers he picked. And finally, to the way they connected.

The radio in his car is still broken, but he doesn’t listen to music anymore, he can’t because it reminds him of Y/N. Everything reminds him of her.

It’s not like Missy is a bad person. She’s actually become a good friend to Calum and respected his boundaries he set up for their ‘relationship.’ The only touching that happens is by her with her hand holding onto his arm, and even that is just for pictures. No hand holding, no hugs, no kisses.

She’s gaining the hype her manager wanted and Calum has remained off social media as soon as it started. When he’s not rehearsing with the guys or doing PR with Missy, Calum’s secluded himself to his home and music room all while being viewed like a goldfish in a bowl.

So, he writes. He writes about flowers in hair, flowers pressed between bodies and flowers held together by a chain. He also writes about strawberries. He hasn’t eaten one since he kissed her last.

**

Y/N’s been keeping herself busy, well, as much as she can. Everywhere she goes she’s reminded of Calum. Especially when she opens her closet and sees the small wooden box she placed his bouquet of flowers and flower crown in. She couldn’t find it in herself to throw them away.

That first week after what happened with Calum she spent it crying and listening to sad music. Her heartbreak had her rethink of past moments with Calum. All of the ‘what if’s’ are now ‘will nots.’ Which is way too close to ‘he loves me, he loves me not’ for her liking hidden in the petals of the flowers.

She ignored his calls and texts.

The first time she saw them together was a month after the whole ordeal. She thought she was in a good place and as she was scrolling through Instagram on her lunch break she saw the first picture. Calum and Missy were walking along the pier going in and out of shops. They were wearing sunglasses and Calum didn’t really show much emotion but if he knew paps were around, he never did.

What Y/N zeroed in on was Missy’s hand on Calum’s arm.

Her heart fell into her stomach and she closed the app without even reading the caption. She deleted her Instagram and Twitter apps that day.

When she got home she opened the box of flowers, their scent mixed in with the cedar wood twisted her heart. Very delicately, she lifted the bouquet from the box. Calum’s chain was still wrapped around the now dry, frail stems.

She should throw them out. She almost did. She couldn’t. The dried flowers were the only reminder that what happened between her and Calum was real. That it actually happened. How could she let that go? Even if he was the one that got away and kept getting away?

“You did this Y/N,” she muttered to herself placing the flowers back in the box. “You made him leave before you could get attached.”

The next day there was a knock at her door. Not expecting anyone she peeked through the curtains and saw it was Ashton with a pizza box and a plastic bag.

“Ashton…what are you doing here?” she asks upon opening the door.

“I come bearing gifts of the heartbreak kind,” he grins sheepishly holding up the box and bag.

“Is that a champagne bottle I see in that bag?” she asks seeing the slender neck and gold foiling.

“It is. And caramel ice cream.”

“All right. You can come in,” she allows stepping aside so he can enter.

“So,” he sighs falling heavily against the couch. The pizza box is open on her coffee table, he has a glass of water while Y/N is holding onto the bottle of champagne. His hazel eyes take her in, “how are you?”

“That’s a loaded question,” she scoffs pressing play on the Marvel movie. She decided on Infinity War. “It’s been a month, so you think I’d be okay. I was told that however long you were with someone, that’s how long it takes to get over them divided in half. So, if you’re with someone for a year, you should be over them in six months. Calum and I were…’together’ for a day so it should have been twelve hours, right? But nope.”

She takes a long chug of the champagne until it makes her eyes water from the bubbles. The sweet nectar bites at her tongue and teeth.

“Who told you that math?”

“An old boss of mine,” she shrugs.

“Well, it’s stupid as shit. There’s no time limit for how you fall for someone just as there’s no time limit for you to lose feelings. You have feelings when you have them.”

“We went on one date, Ashton. I shouldn’t be this bent out of shape over that.”

“Hey,” he pinches her shoulder affectionately until she looks at him. His face softens. “You and Calum always had something between you. From an outside perspective, I get why you both danced on that line between friends and something more. You’ve both been hurt and there was always something in the way.”

“Or someone,” her eyes drop at the thought of Missy. Then she thinks of the photo she saw of them and rubs at her eyes, so the tears won’t come.

“My point is,” he stresses grabbing hold of her hand, “you’re allowed to feel hurt and sad and angry.”

“I’m trying so hard to not feel that way all the time, but it…it’s so consuming sometimes.”

“I know. Before you drink the whole bottle, eat some pizza, we’ll watch the movie and we can talk some more, okay?”

About halfway through the movie Y/N’s hugging the ¾ full bottle against her chest as a comfort object. She never drinks her sadness away, she knows how dangerous that is, but it feels nice to have her head not feel so full because all her thoughts are tumbling out to Ashton. His arm is around her shoulders in comfort as she leans into him.

“You always thought there was something between us?” she asks.

“I didn’t think, I knew.”

“What’s the difference?” she stares at him quizzically; the bubbly made his words confusing. Ashton smiled at her response.

“He’d always tell me how he wanted to ask you out. He’d ask if you were coming to any dinner or party we had. But he was scared to ruin your friendship and in my opinion, I think it scared him how close you two got so fast.”

“Hmph,” she slumps against the inside of his arm.

“Your song played while we were driving that night, you know.”

“Yeah? Which one?”

“Drive,” she giggles at the comedy of it all. “He gave me wildflowers with his chain around it and bought me a flower crown.”

“It sounds like a great night.”

“It was! But then he got sleepy cause he was allergic to the flowers, then he passed out on me. But I liked it…” she takes the last sip of her champagne then pouts that it’s empty.

“One is enough for you,” Ashton chuckles placing the bottle next to the pizza box. He settles back next to her and they watch the movie for a moment.

“I saw their picture today,” she says somberly. “I know it’s fake. But they’re both a catch…so it’ll be no surprise that it’ll become real.”

“Y/N—”

“It happens all the time Ash,” she shrugs. “I’m the person before everyone’s happy ending.”

“That’s not true. Look at all you and Calum have been through together. This damn arrangement is a roadblock for sure, but you two are the final drive.”

“That…kind of makes sense. I can’t tell,” she shakes her head.

“It’d make sense a full champagne bottle ago,” he mutters but she hears him.

She nudges him in the ribs playfully until they’re both laughing.

“I’m going to use the bathroom,” she says and moves down the hall.

Ashton checks his phone to see Luke is trying to console Calum, too. It was hard for him to act with Missy today. Luke reports that Calum has had only one drink but is smoking a lot of weed to help clear his head and wants to drive to Y/N’s house.

When Ashton has finished replying to keep an eye on him, Y/N is standing next to the couch. He looks up at her to see she has her arms wrapped around herself, her lower lip caught between her teeth, but he hears the quick gasps of her sobs.

“I really hate this, Ashton.”

“C’mere,” he opens his arms to her and hugs her tightly.

“It’s really hard being lonely.”

She cries into his shirt, finding comfort in his embrace and friendship.

**

Y/N’s found a good friendship with Max from work. Nothing romantic at all, but he makes sure they do a lot of fun things together. It’s been almost five months since that night with Calum and when Y/N comes across a photo of him and Missy together, Max is there to take her to the beach or a movie to distract her mind.

Now when she sees photos of them it doesn’t make her go in her closet to look at the wilted flowers. It’s still a sting in the thorn of her heart but it’s more bearable. The first single off their new album was ‘Through the Dark’ and it made her cry. Max found her laying on the floor of her room with it playing on a loop, the box of flowers unopened but lying next to her. He laid next to her and held her hand as tears rolled down her cheeks.

She’s meeting up with Max at his place for lunch and she was craving the chicken Caesar sandwich from the bistro on the pier. It wasn’t until she saw her that Y/N remembered this is a favored spot for Calum and Missy to be spotted and there she was. Standing off the side of the counter looking gorgeous in a spring dress.

Y/N tried to keep her head down as she ordered.

“And what’s the name?” the cashier asks.

“Y/N.”

“I’m sorry, what was that?”

“Y/N? Oh, it is you!” Missy says suddenly next to her.

“Got it this time, thanks. We’ll call you when your food’s ready.”

“Thanks,” Y/N mutters. She takes a deep breath and turns to Missy. “Hi.” She looks around the shop expecting to see Calum and trying to prepare herself to come face to face with him.

“He’s not here,” Missy says quietly glancing around the shop as well then grabs Y/N’s wrist pulling her to the far end of the sandwich showcase. “He’d actually hate me for even talking about this…and to you but…I’m so sorry. For everything. My manager came up with this PR stunt.”

“You don’t have to explain, I get it’s for publicity,” Y/N tries to get away from this situation as quickly as possible while also keeping herself together. Her neck is warm, and her breathing has accelerated in a slight panic.

Missy grabs her wrist again but pulls her into the women’s bathroom. Y/N’s affronted at the boldness of Missy’s actions.

“It is all publicity, I swear! I don’t know exactly what happened between you and Calum but he’s miserable. We’re friends now and all he talks about is you. How funny you are and kind you are. He really misses you,” Missy continues with a frown.

Y/N sighs. She really does seem nice but she’s still keeping her guard up. How could she not?

“He really cares about you, Y/N.” Missy stresses squeezing Y/N’s hand for emphasis.

“Missy, look. I appreciate you telling me all this. You… you actually seem really nice and genuine which makes it that much harder for me to dislike you.”

“I get that,” Missy nods her head, “but he really, really cares about you.” Her eyes grow bigger each time she said really, and Y/N gives her a confused look.

“Yeah…you um…you said that?”

“No, he…ugh he’s going to hate me, but he loves you. ‘Through the Dark is about you. He told me you’re the girl of his dreams when we met the Monday after his party. I’ve felt horrible all this time.”

Y/N stares at Missy while she processes what she just heard.

“When did he tell you that again?”

“His party was Friday, and we met that Monday to discuss the logistics of this stupid ploy. Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry for kissing him in front of you! I was drunk, I’ll kiss anyone, and I told him I did have a small crush on him but when I saw the way he looked at you it went away. I swear!”

“He really said he loves me?”

“Yes! When we’re not out getting photographed he’s always writing in his notebook and drawing flowers in it. Not that I’ve read anything,” Missy adds in a rush. “It’s just over his shoulder I saw it a couple times before he closed it.”

“Yeah but that was months ago, I’m sure he’s already caught feelings for you.”

“No, he hasn’t. Trust me. He’s become more like a brother to me, honest. I’ve been trying to force him to talk to you and our ‘contract’ is up in a few months anyway for the album release. I want to break if off early publicly so you can finally be together but he’s so stubborn he won’t.”

Y/N laughs lightly at how fast Missy talks. She’s not sure if it’s out of keeping this all to herself for so long or if that’s really how she is, talking a mile a minute.

“Thank you for telling me this, Missy. I…I can’t believe I’m telling you this since we don’t really know each other but I love him, too. I’ve loved him for so long but I’m the one who pushed him away. I’m the one who told him to do this deal with you because he and I only had one night together,” Y/N explains.

Missy’s eyes widen and she squeals in joy. “You love him too?! Oh, this is great. I’ll arrange for you two to meet up and—”

“Missy, Missy! No, no don’t do that. It’s been too long,” Y/N shrugs. “I doubt he’d want to see me.”

Missy plants her feet on the ground firmly, her face turning very serious very fast. Y/N’s a little taken aback at the fierceness in her gaze.

“Do you want to be with him?” she asks.

“Um..yes.”

“And you love him?”

“Yeah…”

“Then let me help you fix this, please. It’s the least I can do for coming between you when it wasn’t my plan to do so in the first place.”

Y/N takes a deep breath. She’s really starting to like Missy; she has a good heart.

“Okay. How can you help?”

“They’re all planning to go to the Invisible House for a week. I can’t go because I have a shoot to do in New York, but Ashton told me that Calum will be there a couple days before they all arrive.”

Y/N mulls it over, her mind thinking of ways to make it up to him. To apologize. To make him realize how sorry she is and how special he is to her. That despite all the hurdles and messes they’ve been through, that something they have is meaningful.

Then, she gets the perfect idea.

“Do you know when he’s going to be there?” Y/N asks and Missy smiles.

“I know all the details, Y/N.”

**

The drive to the Invisible House is pretty boring without his radio working so he hums to himself as he drives. Calum’s glad he decided to head there a few days before the rest of the group shows up. The pictures are immaculate and he’s excited to try out the hundred-foot pool.

He texted Missy when he was leaving, and she responded with an encouraging text in return.

‘Have fun! Let me know how everything goes 😉’

He’s confused by the winky face but appreciates it all the same. He’s glad to have her as a friend.

When he arrives at the building it’s dusk, the stars are just dusting the sky and the house is a glowing violet in the desert air. He stares at it for a moment, taking in the beauty of the panes of glass, breathing in the cool desert night. If they were all here a year ago maybe Red Desert would have been Purple Desert.

He shakes his head in disbelief. He’s starting to sound like Luke.

He grabs his belongings, two suitcases and a duffel bag and makes his way to the entrance. Ashton and Michael will be bringing the instruments for a jam session, so he didn’t pack his bass.

Once the door is unlocked, he’s mesmerized by the space before he hears music playing. Was that supposed to be playing? He sets his things by the counter and walks further in. The pool is lit up in a light blue and purple with glowing white lotus flowers floating on the water.

There’s flower petals beneath his feet as he walks the length of the pool. It’s a sweet aroma that fills his nose. Then he panics and thinks Michael has this set up for Crystal. He does not want to walk in on them having a private moment, but that’s hard to do in a glass house.

When he’s at the halfway point of the pool, the soft music becomes a bit louder and he recognizes the drum and guitar chords of Something by The Beatles. His mouth goes dry as he comes to the living area at the end of the pool to where Y/N is standing.

There’s petals on the carpet and she’s holding a white flower in her palm with a flower crown on her head. He’s at a loss for words.

“Hi,” she welcomes quietly.

“Hi…what are you doing here?” he wishes he didn’t ask such a dumb question.

“I should have rehearsed this beforehand what I wanted to say but I had to make sure this was all perfect before you got here. Um, I’m here for you. I know it’s been so long, and this is all my fault in the first place. Pushing you away and I thought I was protecting myself.”

She takes a step forward.

“I’ve been a mess without you, Cal. I miss you, so much it hurts. I think of you all the time, and that night we spent together. Your necklace is still wrapped around the flowers you gave me and that’s what made me think of doing this,” she gestures to her flowers on display all around. She takes another step forward. Closer to the step of the living area, closer to Calum.

“We’ve had our fair share of messes with each other. And it’s my fault for the last one so it’s my responsibility to rectify it. I wanted to show you how much you mean to me, how much that night meant to me.”

Another step forward and Calum is reminded of that night in his room. How he came to her, now he’s the one on the receiving end. He watches her with bated breath, and he knows she’s nervous (like he is) by the way she’s playing with the white flower in her hand.

“And the more I thought about the messes we’ve been through it made me think of the Lotus flower. It grows through the mud but when it breaks through, it’s this vibrant and full flower,” she takes two steps and is right at the edge of the step. She holds up the flower.

“And it’s like we’re the flower. We’re growing through the mud and I called it quits before we really bloomed. And…” she takes a shaky breath then laughs nervously, “this sounded romantic in my head but now it sounds super cheesy. But when I heard you were drawing flowers it made me feel like we were still connected.”

She doesn’t say anything more and neither does Calum. Then, when she looks up at him it all makes sense. What they’ve been through these last several months, that was their mud.

“Can you say something?” she whispers, “I’m starting to feel like an idiot and that this was a really stupid idea—”

He lifts her up to his level connecting their lips together. He brings her against him, and she wraps her arms around his neck, their lips getting reacquainted with each other. She tastes like strawberries and smells of flowers and he’s filled with bliss. He feels whole again.

“I love you,” he gasps when they pause to catch their breath. “I should have said it months ago, but I was scared. I thought it was too soon.”

“I love you, too. I’m so sorry for what I said that day. I wish I didn’t—”

He silences her with another kiss.

“Shh, shh, it’s okay. I understand why you did it, sweetheart,” he cups her cheek and gazes into her eyes. “I shouldn’t have walked away like I did.”

“We really are a mess,” she laughs brushing his curls from his face.

“A beautiful mess,” he corrects sucking a kiss from her lips then holds her against him in a tight hug. He never wants to let go.

“Was this too much?” she asks moments later.

“No, it was perfect, thank you for doing all of this for me. I’ll be honest,” he stands up straight to look at her, “I thought I was walking in on Michael and Crystal.”

Y/N laughs and continues laughing until Calum kisses her and she’s left gasping.

“How about we try out the pool?” he mumbles.

They spend a good forty-five minutes in the pool. Soft touches and kisses are exchanged until they reconnect as one. They’re surrounded by the glowing flowers and the ripples they create from their movements. Words of love are spoken and moaned, echoing throughout the space.

They transition to the bed that is also covered in flower petals. Calum kisses down the length of her body, his lips ghosting over her core. Their eyes lock as he attaches his mouth between her folds, his tongue swirling around her bud.

Her legs squeeze around his head on their own accord as she’s vibrating with pleasure. The moans are continuous as he works her over into her second orgasm of the night. When it surpasses, she’s giggling quietly as Calum peppers kisses to her thighs.

“Wow…”

“That good, huh?” he remarks, his lips smacking against her skin bounce off the walls.

“Yeah but…” she rises up on her elbows to look down at him. “Is that all you got? You told me you’d make me cum eight times when we were in your bathroom. Or was that just talk?”

“Oh, you want to be a little sass, huh?” he bites down on the fleshy part of her thigh. “You really shouldn’t have said that.”

“Oh yeah? Why’s that?” she smirks.

“Because now I’m going to make you cum ten times.”

“Okay, Cal, I was just jo—OH!” She falls back against the bed as she’s already filled with intense pleasure.

Suffice it to say, Calum did make her cum nine more times. The overstimulation and her noises got him riled up and he had to be close to her again. He made love to her slowly and tenderly. He gave her gentle kisses and she molded to him.

Before she fell asleep he was stroking her face after she drank some water, he really exhausted her.

“How did you know I was going to be here?”

“I ran into Missy at the bistro I love. She explained everything,” she replies sleepily. She’s struggling to keep her eyes open. “I like her, she’s nice.”

“Yeah, she is.”

“I think she and Max would get along,” she yawns snuggling closer to him.

“I’ll take your word for it. You can go to sleep you know.”

“I want to keep talking to you,” she squeezes his lower back.

“We can talk all day tomorrow. And tomorrow night. And the next day, and the next…”

“Mmm, that sounds nice,” she smiles closing her eyes. “I love you, Cal.”

“I love you, too, sweetheart.”

**

Two days later the rest of the group arrived, and it was a happy albeit awkward reunion because Calum and Y/N were still naked in bed. They spent their time eating, watching movies, and having sex as much as they wanted. It was perfect but also took a lot out of them.

They were both fast asleep until their names were shouted, and Calum scrambled to cover Y/N up.

“I’m glad to see you, Y/N but I’ll hold off on the hug until you aren’t naked with Cal,” Luke laughs.

“We’ll go bring in the rest of the stuff,” Ashton giggles then winks at Y/N.

“Please tell me this was the only place you had sex,” Michael asks peering at them both with narrow eyes.

“Umm…”

“Ugh!” Michael throws his hands in the air. “You guys better not have left messes anywhere!” he complains walking back towards the main kitchen area.

Calum looks over the wall separating their ‘room’ from the rest of the house and turns to her.

“We’re done with messes, yeah?” Calum grins down at her and she nods bringing his face closer to hers.

“Something great came from the mess,” she agrees and slots her lips with his. They’ll have to be super quiet now. 

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