“So, babysitting?”
Alberu follows after the delinquent. From the record the vice-principal gave him access to, Cale frequently drinks alcohol, he often gets himself into a lot of fights, and he barely passed his classes at the end of the grading period. The teachers never call on him in class, girls and boys avoid him alike, and he is- supposedly- completely intolerable.
Which is why Alberu Crossman, who’s only a little older yet infinitely more mature has been assigned by the principal (his father) to get the troublemaker under thumb. Cale's father is quite wealthy, actually, and since there isn't much known about the successor to the Henituse family... it'd be bad if he had to be expelled.
Cale scowled. “Yes, babysitting, your highness. Please, leave if you must,” He jeers at Alberu, but internally he thinks, 'No, really. Please leave.' Otherwise, he might get caught in the act.
Of not actually being Cale.
Roksu aims a sour expression at Alberu, who returns it with a more flowery one. Acting as his twin for the day had been easy enough, mainly because being trash is great!- until Alberu Crossman strolled into his lunch period and introduced himself.
He is even following him out of the school to his job. Well, this job is Roksu’s and not Cale’s, but because he can’t ditch work nor can he get glib-tongued Alberu off his tail-
Well shit.
Thankfully, the kids call him hyung. Except Raon, who calls him human. Hopefully Alberu doesn’t look into it too much. If everything goes right, Alberu Crossman will be Cale's problem to deal with tomorrow. As it should have been.
“I didn’t know you liked kids, Cale,” Alberu smiles charmingly, walking side by side with Roksu. “Can you introduce me?” Roksu struggles to not put on his own disarming smile out of spite, instead plastering on a classic Cale Sneer™. It fits on his face perfectly, like he’s playing a character in a play.
They enter the building and ‘Cale’ guides Alberu to a colorful playroom, decked out in toys and a fountain of running water as the centerpiece (A gift from his father, who is still upset that Roksu doesn't visit more often). There’s a tray of fruits and oatmeal on the small table in the corner of the room, except not a soul to be seen. Picking up a bowl of oatmeal and finding the ceramic to still be hot, Roksu almost smiles.
Alberu frowns. Where are the kids he's supposed to babysit?
Roksu tells the empty air, "Come on out."
Three children appear out of nowhere in front of them.
“Hyung!”
“Human! You’re back!”
“Hyung, nya.” On examines Alberu some more.
All of the kids had been revealed the moment that Roksu spoke, as Raon unveiled the invisibility on them.
Raon runs up and grabs Roksu’s hand, who places it on his head, rubbing the black hair comfortingly. “Mm.” Raon beams at the affection.
“Raon, On, Hong,” they each look up at him at the call of their names. “This is Alberu Crossman, he is doing a report on my trashy behavior. Don’t be rude."
All three children become hostile immediately. “He isn't trash!”
On observes Alberu with an intense glare. Raon shifts under Roksu’s hand, his deep blue eyes glinting with magic. Roksu positions him away from the older teen’s view. Raon grips onto Roksu’s pant leg with a vengeance. Hong stares openly, offensive.
Alberu smiles at them.
"I'm visiting with Cale Hyung for today, nice to meet you."
Hong gasps suddenly.
“He-!” On gives her brother a look, and he clamps his hands over his mouth. Alberu feels a deep curiosity, as if something isn’t quite as it seems.
Roksu sighs. It’s going to be a long hour.
At the midway point, Alberu has easily disarmed the children. They look fascinated at the magic he shows them, while Roksu can only rub a palm over Raon’s shoulder as a warning to keep his dragon magic under control. He's still just a child that wants to brag. Everything is going well.
Bang!
“Hey Roksu! How was-“ Cale bursts through the door, bright red hair equipped with a shit-eating grin, wearing clothes far less fancy than his usual. He tenses up, frozen in place when he spots Alberu on the floor, politely sitting "crisscross applesauce" with the children. Roksu narrows a withering glare at his twin.
“… Roksu?”
Alberu looks at ‘Cale,’ sitting next to him, the one he's spent the entire day with, who is trying to send what must be the real Cale into the sun with his eyes.
“Ha… ha?” Cale winces. Roksu wipes his expression from his face.
“Cale-hyung, run! That’s the human’s bad look!” Alberu’s eyes widen as he watches the confirmed real Cale bolt back into the hallway and out of the front door. Alberu whips his head back toward the stranger behind him, who is a perfect replica of the Cale who ran like Hell. Cale has an identical twin?? Since when? Why doesn't he go to school?
Roksu levels an emotionless gaze at Alberu. “Hello, your highness. Don’t mind me.”
Alberu can only watch in astonishment as this stranger walks out of the playroom, with a smooth and deadly gait as he hunts down his twin like a predator would to prey. He recalls the look 'Roksu' gave him and it sends a shiver down the principal’s son’s spine. That gaze held secrets.
Something about this stranger is even more interesting than the sudden appearance of a twin.
On walks up to him, sitting down in his lap and looking into his eyes. “Roksu-hyung will be back soon, nya!” Hong bounds over and sits next to his sister, grinning widely. Raon huffs and looks at the door. He wants his human to come back.
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Seriously from a comms perspective I cannot stress enough how incredibly smart and strategic this launch/evolution/whatever you want to call it is. And to be clear I’m not saying it’s because they are PR. THAT IS NOT IT. Taylor and Travis are real people who happen to live in extraordinary circumstances that necessitate a plan in this regard because people can be so fucking weird about it.
The idea of acknowledging the elephant in the room instead of ignoring it and letting it take up space is what it all comes down to. Sure it was a frenzy when they first went public and the first bits of PDA hit the airwaves, but in the end what it does is normalize it. By this point, everyone knows they’re a couple and it’s not weird when they do hold hands or kiss or acknowledge each other in public. Because that’s what anyone would do with their significant other and trying to make it secret just makes it weird, for both the media and the people involved in the relationship.
So the way they’ve navigated this again has been masterful. There clearly are boundaries (it seems especially on Taylor’s end which Travis happily obliges) but that doesn’t mean they can’t just be themselves either. So, they’re not inviting people into their living room each week, but the gradual public meshing of their image served a purpose to normalize it. From Taylor’s first game to the occasional fluff pieces to trusted outlets to steer the narrative to acknowledging the public outings to dipping their toes in social media official, it’s making it so that now that they’ve moved into the next phase of their lives (whatever that may mean now but whatever it is it’s clearly serious and clearly considered permanent by both of them), they can share what they want without it being a stressor.
So if Taylor wants to be goofy, she can change her song lyrics or invite him up onto the stage and it’s newsworthy because she’s her but it’s not weird. Travis can be interviewed and be asked about his partner who is a public figure and speak highly of her without it turning into a maelstrom. Gradually their domestic status is going to be normalized so that their every move isn’t as big of a deal. (It’ll still be news because they are who they are, but it won’t seem like they’re sitting down for a root canal every time.)
I hate to call this a “rollout” because they’re people, not products, but in terms of a PR strategy, it’s excellent. And it’s not that every move they do is PR!!! It’s that every move they make is public, so they need to navigate that so that they can maintain their personal boundaries as they wish. It’s not that every interview is calculated, but it’s more that what they do or don’t choose to share at any moment in time is helping them figure out what they’re comfortable with, and it’s also lessening the market value, if you will, of any anecdotes. The more people become accustomed to them as a unit, the less each quote like this is bound to make huge headlines. (I mean other than fans like us because we want our pop star bestie to have everything she wants.)
It’s not just that their teams have set a great example, it’s that THEY are handling it with such skill and grace. I’m honestly blown away by it from a professional perspective and suspect that they figured out early on that getting a handle on it and guiding the narrative instead of pretending it didn’t exist might have been scary at first but has proven to make things so much easier and takes up way less space in all their brains.
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Lucifer x MC [Heaven's Secret - Visual Novel - Romance Club]
From his position in the shadows, he saw Dino reach for her hand under the table. But just as she went to give it to him, she looked up and spotted Lucifer watching her.
And she immediately kept her hand to herself.
A shiver ran down his spine as she averted her eyes, but she stared at her plate in a way that was full of pure and absolute terror .
Well, well, well, he thought to himself. The little Angel was entirely afraid of him.
A small smirk curled on his face as he took a sip of his Glyft.
This would do nicely .
Read here on Ao3
Note: Serious CW/TWs apply for this fic. See tags.
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nobody ever talks about it,
but i feel like it's always important to remind y'all that the 10 episodes in which BotBots takes place in don't (usually) happen back-to-back, so here's a post about it because it's kinda fucked once you think about it.
TL;DR: the implications of how much time passes in this series are terrifying and the fact that the lost bots didnt lose their minds has me rolling a little
unrelated steak cuts pride hcz bc i need 2 spread more propaganda and also to catch your attention >:]
(Burgertron's are the butch, genderqueer, transbian and ADHD flags, Bonz-Eye's are the gnc, butch, nonbinary and autism flags!)
There's gaps in time between each episode, even with the half-n-half episode format, with very few exceptions.
Ep 1B, (Never) Be Yourself, takes place the very next night, right after 1A (Mall than Meets the Eye), and in episode 10 it's established at the beginning it also takes place the next night, after 9B (Shopping Brawl). Hell, Dimlit in Love and On the Bot Prom Dancefloor have a gap in time between each other-- Dimlit states it's been 6 days and 11 hours since he and Jackie started dating in OtBPD!
One of my friends, @knavewoods, did the math on it, and because the earliest date mentioned in the show is February and there's a Halloween/Christmas pop-up store, they estimated that by that point the Lost Bots had been at it for 7 months at LEAST, and that by the time of the finale it'd have probably been a year and a half because of the Science Alliance episode having a beach theme to it w/ the implications of it being summertime. (Not that either of us think that the Bots know what seasons are, but it's compelling evidence!)
A year and a half.
That is a LONG time to be isolated from literally everyone you've ever known and loved, and not only that but the Lost Bots are being actively BULLIED half the time. Sure, they have allies like Lady Macaron and Jackie, but like. There's no way that ISN'T insanely upsetting to any of them, ESPECIALLY Burgertron.
Imagine having your girlfriend play Hot-N-Cold with you for a YEAR AND A HALF. Idk about y'all but I'd be fucked up about that too.
And not only that, but the finale establishes that Spud basically had it out for BT from the start. Imagine trusting someone so much that theyre your BEST FRIEND and it turns out they hated your guts the whole time and was basically the reason everyone wanted you gone forever for a YEAR AND A HALF. I don't think i'd be able to recover from that for a while.
I don't know how to close out this post properly, so just. like. look at them and then absorb the words im saying into your brain ok? ok. bye :3
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Sometimes good goes bad.
The secret lover and you play with fire.
Mmm the thing people think is good girl can’t be bad. Let’s play my lover?
Let’s meet under shadows of the moon. Dance with each other on the crowded dance floor in the club. As the alcohol takes over the way the music pulls is deeper into the other. The sway of our body’s rhythm shows what we feel . The dark room led and spots lights making it hard to see but we don’t need it. Sensation of you breathe playing against my neck as you trail your lips. I turn my head upwards eyes close breaths hitching. I turn and kiss you hard and deeply. You find away gap between my lips part enough to bite my lip. I open my mouth letting your tongue venture. Your minty sweet gum has your breath tasteful.
I pull away whisper Let’s have a rondaeview point, meet you in the backseat, hidden spot in the middle of nowhere, hotel room, in the water you pick lover. I am all your in the shadows of night. Let’s play this dangerous game together risk it all lose it all just to have moment worth decades.
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for the ask game!!
gorgeous visage & soulful gaze
Thank you Tony :-)
this ask game
gorgeous visage ୧ ‧₊˚ does ur fノo keep photos of u in their wallet ? or do they maybe have a locket of ur hair ? what about u ? how much evidence do u keep of them in ur day to day life ?
oh he definitely keeps things of me, but most of them are tucked away, small bits of me in each little hideout he has around the city. Scraps of my handwriting from letters we've exchanged, a couple photos -- candid and non-candid of me. They're in his hideouts because those are easily retraceable to me. But he has things on his person from me, gifts I've given him that he can use in his day to day, ranging from gadgets (e.g. invisible ink) to tonics to keep him awake on late nights. Those things can't be traced back to me.
as for my s/i, they don't have much of him, since he's someone who doesn't leave any traces of himself. So the items they have "of him" would be more like seeds of a cypress tree (his favourite tree) tucked in their pocket, glowing items in their room (he likes lights) and a couple cherry scented things (his favourite fruit) He doesn't want to give away items where people can trace back to him, he gets a little paranoid about things like that.
heh.. um. if you want to talk about me irl.. i have a lot of things i keep on my person, like my locket, the 2 pictures of him on the back of my phone, my bagtag of his masked and unmasked version, photo of me and him in my wallet, and on my buspass along with my keychain of him attached to it :3 i always have to have a piece of him wherever i go
soulful gaze ୧ ‧₊˚ they say the eyes are the window to the soul. u look fixedly into ur fノo’s eyes and see an emotion so raw and undoubtedly pure, so real that it fills your chest with something indescribable. what is that emotion ?
His eyes would be filled with a myriad of emotions, it's not just one and it never will just be one. Reverence, Vulnerability, Curiosity. Eyes that look so deeply -- so earnestly that i could almost reach out and hold it in the palm of my hands. One that says "I want to learn about you forever" and "will you wait for me despite everything?"
The kind of emotion that he's afraid to let out, of everything he's kept within him from years of solitude, the kind of emotion that would make him crumble if even a bit of it slipped out. an emotion safely locked away in his eyes that only i can see if i looked close enough.
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