#since he thinks Dev has forgotten it anyway

[rainbowolfe]

Okay but honestly, since I’ve already asked you a question, what’s the deal with narilamb anyways, I’ve never really been the ships biggest fan, but you think it relates to the games lore?

always happy to answer :3c

So Lamb as they are in-game is a blank slate character. That Lamb is you and you are that Lamb.

But,

I think "Lamb" is a blank-slate title too. In a world with many Gods, there would realistically be many lambs of those Gods. It's not a title granted specifically to sheep, game!Lamb just happens to be both a sheep (species) and a lamb(metaphorically).

All the different Lambs that appear in the animated trailers and marketing aren't just them dressing up in little costumes, those are other Lambs (metaphorically) from throughout history. They weren't necessarily sheep.

NariLamb is "real" in the sense that Narinder did love a lamb. Just not game!Lamb. What TOWW is is the culmination of Narinder's and "Lamb's" love. I think that's why he and his followers wear a veils. It's a funeral veil (because the Phoenix and the Turtle Dove's union was actually a funeral in the poem).

So there's reason for the devs to tease about how Narinder has a thing for Lamb/s. The Lamb he loved wasn't his usurper or his vessel. They're someone forgotten by time.

[ShamGoat is likely also "real" in the exact same way lmao. It is conceptually the opposite of the Phoenix and the Turtle Dove.]

"Nature's law demands creation spring from destruction." "They seek destruction as their nature demands."

Technically. Technically. The ship name should be TOWLambs or something, but I guess that doesn't roll off the tongue as well. XD Because the cat we have in-game isn't Narinder anymore, Shamura makes that very clear.

TOWW is technically Narinder's child (who's also made of Narinder and someone else(who's also made up of the two deities that brought Narinder into existence)).

So the question we should really all be focused on is which Lamb was actually Narinder's. If we've even been shown any hints of them. (My guess is that it relates to the Clasped Hands) How much of either Narinder or that Lamb remains in TOWW?

NariLamb as it exists in the fandom now is just self-shipping for cowards. /lh

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

As time goes by, I realized Ace is always left behind from Deuce, Yuu,and Grimm whenever something seriously happened. In Glorious Masquerade, Deuce was chosen and Yuu and Grimm were invited because of Grimm begging which left Ace behind in school not knowing they were in serious danger. In the White Rabbit festival, Ace was too busy to come to Deuce's hometown which made him the only member not to join in. The starlight event has Yuu,Grimm, and Deuce help with the wishes. And let's not forget that the second Halloween event in which Yuu and Grimm aren't that active where Ace has to rescue his friends only to learn about Malleus being behind it with the help of Yuu and Grimm even to the point that Ace looks deeply upset and felt frustrated that everyone forgotten about what they done and just party.

Sure there are times where Deuce was left behind while Ace isn't but it is shorter compare to the reverse. Like Ghost Marriage, Deuce volunteer only to be slap by the ghost and gotten himself stun which is only a short time they were seperate, Fairy Gala is more of a what if scenario. The latest stitch event seems to one event where the danger is high without Deuce and include Ace given they were trapped in the book. But if you compare to Deuce and Ace, seems like Ace is always left behind and that times in seriousness is Yuu and Grimm mostly with Deuce than with Ace.

Unless the Pinocchio event will have Ace join in with Deuce, Yuu, and Grimm (Given the chance he might have the event card since he wasn't included in the Masquerade event or the possibility that Ace is still not included but more in his perspective like the second halloween event), seems like Ace is a bit left behind.

I mean... maybe so (although personally, I don't see it)?? But I don't think it's with any malicious intent or to indicate that Ace isn't important to the friend group. It's probably just the devs having to come up with excuses or circumstances (ie "Ace was given an invite, but has basketball practice so he can't go with them to White Rabbit Fest") due to the predetermined limitations placed on the game (ie "welp, we already have our 4 limited characters for this event, so no space for Ace"). All of the examples mentioned were events, which are pretty limited in the boys that can be included as the themed cards. Some of the event stories just wouldn't play out as well if Ace is expected to swap in or to be present every time Deuce or Yuu/Grim goes somewhere. (That would also just unfairly give Adeuce more event cards than any other boy.) Yuu and Grim didn't even necessarily spend "more" time with Deuce in some cases (they went around checking in with every group in Glorious Masquerade). I also think Ace's absence in that particular event was well-utilized for a funny punchline, so it's not as though nothing came out of his exclusion. I'm sure his role and Deuce's will eventually zero out anyway, since the next Halloween event will give him some screen time (although not necessarily glued to Yuu/Grim at the hip). If you think about the events Ace or Deuce have been features in, they often being up the other boy or actively go out of their way to get a souvenir for them—the other guy is out of sight, but definitely not out of mind. I don't believe Yuu, Grim, and Deuce were always necessarily caught up in "serious danger" or high stakes either (Wish Upon a Star and White Rabbit Fest, for example). In the case of Endless Halloween Night, Deuce was possessed by a ghost and was also separated from the others (with Ace as a rescuer and Yuu and Grim as part of the pranking group). I think Ace's frustration in that event wasn't even totally directed at his friends for "leaving him behind". In Ace's Halloween vignettes, he expresses upset at Malleus for not understanding the gravity of the situation and for making him worry about the safety of his friends. (We also see many instances of Adeuce, Yuu, and Grim hanging out on a regular basis in these vignettes, which clues us in to just how much time they already spend in each others' presence. A few events apart isn't a big deal compared to how often they see each other regularly.)

Ace definitely does get his own moments to shine (Ghost Marriage, Lost in the Book with Stitch, and Fairy Gala: If to a lesser extent; he even gets to meet Yuu and Grim in the prologue before Deuce does), whether that's in the presence of Deuce, Yuu, and Grim or not. I don't think the others' absence really adds or takes away anything from Ace's character.

Just because the group splits up sometimes or aren't always depicted together doesn't detract from their friendship or mean one person is being neglected. The characters are all individuals, not monoliths expected to always hang out with the exact same people. It's nice to see them as a unit, of course, but everyone needs time apart too. I don't even know if "left behind" is an apt term for most of these instances; most of the time, the characters are not traveling super far away or deliberately leaving Ace out from the festivities. He's still around, just not playing as big of a role due to how the events are structured.

[beevean]

If a Castlevania 3/Akumajō Densetsu reimagining game was created, with all the background details added by Lament of Innocence and Curse of Darkness, what would you suggest for the gameplay and storytelling structures, and handle the language strength in accordance to a T, or possible M, rating?

A hypothetical M rating would influence a lot more than language. In Europe, ShTH, LoI and CoD were all rated 12+: the first game had "damn"s abounding and aliens bleeding green blood, the second game had this utter abomination, and the third game had a graphic stabbing, some swear words peppered around, and Isaac. ShTH looks pretty quaint in comparison lol. A M-rated CV game would probably lean into much more graphic violence and monsters before even changing the number of swear words thrown around. (man, if Beelzebub and the Forgotten One looked ghastly with the graphics of their time, imagine nowadays what they could do...)

Anyway I'm happy with the occasional "damn" and "bastard". Maybe one F-bomb. As a treat. Because IGA knows how many CV characters would benefit from one :P

As for the gameplay, well. Of course I'd retry a 3D approach! LoI and CoD were restrained by an obvious lack of budget and time and probably not much experience: after many years of expertise with the three dimensions, ideally the devs should be able to come up with more compelling level design, perhaps taking inspiration from the LoS games. It would be cool to go through the locations of CV3, but in 3D and popping graphics, switching between characters, with plenty of focus on platforming and combat.

It would be nice to have some sort of Yakuza-esque structure where you switch between two stories, so you'd play as Trevor and his friends in some chapters (keeping the idea that he has to find them and befriend them), and Hector in others, which would recreate the Innocent Devil mechanic... perhaps without the evolution chart, since it would no longer be the point of the game? You'd just make them by finding the right materials, kind of like weapon crafting. You'd play as the villain at the beginning of the game - imagine creating demons as Hector to send to Wallachia, and then killing them as Trevor! - and then you'd play out his betrayal: his final boss would be Isaac, of course, then it ends with them sensing Dracula dying... and then we get to play that moment with Trevor.

(my dream would be playable Isaac too, but I wouldn't know how to make him feel different from Hector and what he could do lol. It would be very funny if he was much faster, like Maxim lmao)

LoI wouldn't influence the game much, I think. It would mostly impact the story. Some easter eggs, like a hidden painting of Elisabetha, could be cool. I'd definitely add more flashbacks that show how Dracula fell in love with Lisa and how the two raised Alucard: perhaps they could be unlockables, to not bog down the main plot?

[senior-mourn-watcher]

I deep dived into spirit lore again to double check and something our single braincell here seems to consider is that Manfred, being a spirit, can easily be refound and resurrected even for Lich ending.

(Spirits) / (Cole (Spirit of Compassion))

Considering this more deeply, I don't think we can. But I don't know why it's a choice between Manfred and Lichdom either.

-------------------LONG POST BELOW CUT---------------------

I know Emmrich has dialogue with companions right after mentioning Manfred, but I think they [the devs] even went so deep as to make it timed. They might have, though.

I'm about to play through the Lich ending again to double check, but I don't think Emmrich mentions Manfred at all after entering Lichdom including the companion comments after a certain amount of canonical "in game" time passes (main story quests.) The reason I think this is because I completely missed all of this dialogue involving missing Manfred my first time playing. It's probably because I had sped through companion hero of the veilguard quests before entering the next story quests (think it was the Treviso one for Lucanis?) and barely explored beyond those. I had already completed most of the areas, so it's likely I simply missed them in general since I wasn't running through companion dialogue trigger areas at that point. Further testing is necessary but even if the companions still mention Manfred after doesn't necessarily mean it's canonical he's remembered that long after his "death." There also isn't any dialogue that I can find of Rook mentioning Manfred after the choice is made.

I don't remember seeing any codex entries or letters mentioning missing Manfred like there is of Assan if you chose that. And yes, I know there is verbal dialogue of Manfred being missed but, again, there is a very big possibility that all that dialogue was supposed to canonically happen in a specific timeframe after the thing and why it's never brought up again by the same people. Then again, it's also possible they do remember it and the devs chose to just not implicate it much more so they aren't rubbing your nose in the choice. Pacing and all that.

Anyway... so I concluded that it is because by nature a spirit is forgotten. And I think that it is related to why Emmrich as a Lich fears mourning Rook (when romanced) and is so upset about it because he's feeling the lingering emotion already and no memory of who it was for - and just assumes it's fear of Rook dying? (In addition to actually being terrified of Rook dying, I mean.)

But wait, you might be thinking, how could he have this fear when he passed his final Lichdom morality test thing?

It's important to assume Emmrich was wrong about why he wouldn't be able to become a Lich if he resurrected Manfred. Emmrich says something about the reason is being unable to let the dead rest, but that's not really it, is it? Firstly- the Lich on the balcony never answered. (Nor did he correct Emmrich either, to be fair...) Secondly - Emmrich still possess that fear after becoming a Lich (romanced dialogue with Rook.) If that was truly what would have been holding him back, then he would have failed to become a Lich. So let's assume he's an unreliable source on the reason why and look at the other already implement lore about spirits and what happens when they "die."

Maybe by choosing to resurrect Manfred and bring him back from the ether, or wherever in the Fade Manfred returned to, to the Liches it might seem like something similar to how Solas felt Cole becoming a human would be. The choice to resurrect Manfred would possibly look like Emmrich doesn't respect spirits being spirits. It is also a selfish choice on his part, and selfishness might instead by the reason he's denied becoming a Lich rather than anything else.

But that is where it's a little frustrating to me.

If you resurrect Manfred, Emmrich asks you to recall something about Manfred specifically to assist, because that's how spirits are alive (I guess?) Memory of that particular spirit gives it power or something like that. The wiki explains it a little better than I have.

Manfred comes back on his own, of his own choice and of his own power. Emmrich's "spell" seems to be nothing more than a beacon of sorts to give Manfred the option. That means Manfred wanted to come back and did so of his own choice.

There is no reason, I conclude, that bringing back Manfred should have impacted Emmrich's ability to become a Lich outside of the Lich Lord just being a jerk about it for no other particular logical reason. It isn't even up to them who becomes Liches and who doesn't, it's ultimately up to the Spirits. Johanna didn't become a half-Lich because of the Lich Lords telling her no, but because the spirits denied her or something like that. So that's further proof Emmrich could just give those turds the finger and lean on his good rapport with the spirits that he already has and just become a dang Lich... lol

I also want to "well actually" ☝️🤓 Professor Volkarin on his comment that Manfred learned magic by crossing through the Fade. Manfred learned magic because he is, at that point, a person.

Finally, to conclude this nerd-ramble, I think Emmrich is neat and I like having a character to obsessively break down like this.

[biff-adventurer]

aiight thoughts so far

tldr; i am 50% excited and 50% trepidatious

SO i'm excited about the whole "summer vacation" aspect of the trailer and upcoming expac. also, the return to being an adventurer, which is so well deserved after everyone saved the universe and all. and the part about a sort of el dorado being involved is interesting! it has a fraught history, but if done right, can be very cool and exciting!

the visuals are stunning and the snaps to the characters doing fun new things was very charming (i don't always love g'raha but i enjoy his never ending quest for enormous food).

the new job looks cool! i think everyone's pretty sure it's going to be a rogue/pirate job and i'm excited! i was also very excited to see himbolander in a new outfit! he is very cute looking and yeah, i'm debating on whether biff will grow out his hair or if he'll keep his current hair. i usually do change it as soon as expac drops but i don't really need it for him to look more "pirate" since my guy is already born from a pirate and a farmer. and i can always find ic reasons for keeping it the same, but i may not be able to find it for growing it out that feels right. there's a whole year left so we'll see.

i'm personally a little worried about where the story will go. i hope it can avoid some colonial stereotypes and depict these peoples of the new world in empowering, positive ways. that just hasn't always been the case in xiv. the devs are always working hard to create a positive experience, so it's not anything against them. just... there have been problematic elements throughout the entire game, due to unchecked bias. and a lot of impressionable folk just take that in without a second thought. they forget that the creators are human and err, too.

for example, the idea of "unclaimed" land in the americas is a very loaded assumption. there were people warring for land on the americas long before the west colonized them.

also, the idea that unclaimed land is "untamed" is an incredibly anthropocentric and colonializing notion. nature simply is what it is. animals have claimed that territory. plants live there. water and earth live there. land is not something to be taken. the earth is not wild simply because we don't understand it and are overpowered by it. the thing is, this is the precursor to thinking people are uncivilized (and therefore barbaric) just because we can't understand how they live.

shadowbringers and endwalker took a turn into focusing on character relationships which appealed a lot more to people's emotions. that aspect of it was much needed, but i find it excessive. in focusing too much on emotionality, we stray from making important judgments. we glorify villains and put emphasis on intentions over actions.

people love emet-selch and the rest, and the writing doesn't sway you from it. it doesn't warn you. where it once said "conquerors have done monstrous things, despite being human," the message quietly became "it is a great tragedy when noble men are on the wrong side of history." that is ALARMING! we must always remember who the creators are and where they're from!

yes, it is noble that some characters died for causes they fully believed in. but the monstrosity of those actions cannot be forgotten. we mustn't lose perspective on that. this isn't to say that villains can't be enjoyed; they can and should be! the villains were wonderful! but i worry about the lack of emphasis there is on their wrongs. forgive but do not forget. do not forget so it doesn't happen again - so you don't follow the path that lead others astray.

fantasy is a place where we can imagine better lives and empowering tales of humanity. xiv has always presented resonant stories and i have no doubt that they'll continue to do that. i'm just cautious about it until i know how it goes, because these stories reach a lot of people. and the power of stories is such that it can reinscribe false assumptions as well as the truth.

anyway take me seriously or don't, i'm not in the mood to discuss, this is my blog so i'm just getting this off my chest ok bye

[erasinglines]

although he hadn't expected this, coming here tonight, now that they're here, like this, he doesn't think there's ever been a better place for them to end up. it reminds him of the invisible string that's always bound them to one another, that's transcended time and distance, always a tug, that pulls them back together— and like a moth drawn to the flame, he returns, each and every time. and he's glad he has, now, with their bodies flush, when she's looking up at him like that, taking in the curve of her smile, drinking in her features, up this close; something he's never forgotten, no, but something he appreciates, being able to reacquaint himself with her. soon, he can feel his own features mirroring the look on hers, a soft smile, one that's only ever been reserved for her, nestling against his lips as she echoes his words back to him. every fiber of his being feels alive, rekindled by the spark that never truly died between them, as though the very essence of him has been revived in her presence, the flame of their loved never truly extinguished, merely smoldering in the background of their lives. he closes his eyes, as she finishes with the buttons on his shirt, as the barrier of the material falls away, savouring the sensation of the tender kisses she presses against his flesh. perfect wasn't a title he's ever felt worthy of, not when he's made so many mistakes, especially when it's come to them, to her, but he tries to believe it, allows himself to, right now, at least, being in her comfort, the place he's always belonged. breath hitches, the further her fingers explore, and his heart swells simultaneously, as she speaks of her appreciation for him. outside of here, he’d shrug it off, remind her that’s just what they do for one another, what they’ve always done, since they first came into each other’s lives. but here, he wants her to know that he doesn’t take it for granted, this time with her, that he wants it just as badly. “ of course i would. it’s… you, you know? i’d do anything for you, ” even if so much has changed between them, that sentiment never will. and it’s as if the words are ripped directly from his chest, authentic and raw. “ would go anywhere for you— you’re… everything to me, dev. ” and for tonight, at least, she was all his. as the words leave his lips, it all clicks into place for him; this night they had, as one. decides that he doesn’t want to wait any longer, then, the hand at her back tracing gently along her spine, until it reaches her shoulders, his free hand coming to join, so he can slip the straps of her dress off of each. leaning forward, he presses his lips to her skin, a gentle kiss, before he allows himself to do the same along the curve of her neck, her jaw, finding his way back to her lips. feels lucky that she meets him there, and he returns the kiss just as fervently, his tongue tangling with hers in a silent confession of his own longing; their bodies aligned, hearts echoing each other’s rhythms. his hand comes to rest atop of hers, at the button of his pants, not to stop her, but just to pause, lips breaking away from hers to let out a breathy chuckle. “ help me get you out of yours first, ” he whispers, fingers already trying to find the zipper on her dress. “ otherwise, we’re totally uneven and i just… god, need to touch you, to make you feel good, to know that this is real, ” to make it better than his imagination, all that he’s thought of, over the years. his own pleasure is heightened from her own, anyway. “ want to congratulate you for tonight, really… show you how proud i am of you, how much i’ve missed you. ”

safe to say she didn’t expect this, upon seeing him earlier— of course, she felt that same buzz of attraction at first sight, spending half the night wishing to have their lips intertwined just like they were now, but she held no expectation that this would happen, that they would end up like this, undoing each and every button of his shirt in the bedroom they once shared. she’s been desperately trying to ignore it, especially since they couldn’t, but it’s always present— that need for him, that desire to be close. this was inevitable, she thinks; they couldn’t ever deny it for long. electricity blooms beneath his touch against her back, the current flowing all the way to where his hand rests. it pools there, as he tugs her against him, attempting to stifle a sigh as her own hips press further into him, too, seeking contiguity, closeness. only craves it further at his affirmation, hearing him call her perfect— a word she would never associate with herself, but wants to believe, when it comes from him. it causes a soft smile to tug at her cheeks as she looks up at him, gaze overflowing with tenderness as it travels across his features, to all the pieces of him she missed so much. god, she missed everything about him. every single fucking thing. that’s why she’s holding on so tightly, now, taking her time— she couldn’t bear to think about saying goodbye, to be forced to wait such a long time to see him in person again. so she won’t, instead focusing on finishing the last of the buttons of his shirt, fingers sliding beneath it to pull it off his frame. wastes no time in exploring the newly exposed flesh as fingertips graze along his sides, pressing an open-mouthed kiss to his clavicle, lips trailing across the bone. “ fuck, that’s what i was gonna say, ” she teases, muttering the words between kisses. “ you really are, though, ” a beat passes, only to press a tender kiss to the spot on his chest where she imagines his heart might be located. “ so perfect. ” in every single way, in every sense of the word. there would never be anyone better, in her eyes. tilts her head up to look at him, then, as her fingers move down his stomach, towards the waistband of his pants. her gaze is filled with nothing but admiration, with love— honestly, part of her thinks she could cry, right now, with all she feels for him. “ i still can’t believe you came all this way for me, for one night, ” she murmurs, teeth sinking into her lower lip for a moment, trying to contain all that swells inside her. “ i think that’s one of the nicest things anyone’s ever done for me. ” and he’s always been there, from the very beginning, it seems, supporting her, encouraging her, believing in her, even when her own family didn’t, even when she didn’t, herself. she doesn’t know how she could ever repay him for that, but she’ll try, for the rest of her life. lips ache to return to his, suddenly, and she doesn’t waste another second before she’s kissing him, again, albeit a little more fervently, this time, tongue slipping into his mouth, uttering a soft sigh as needy, shaky, digits begin to work at the button of his pants. “ want to show you how much it means to me, how much i appreciate it, you, ” she breathes, practically panting against him. “ i want you so fucking bad, miller. ”

[appleciderp]

Hold onto your hats, because I want to rant about how Blizzard fucking sucks with women or any minority rep. And why it'll suck for your fav in whatever MW is coming up.

Fully inspired by this post, I'll be referencing to a few points that @spookykittenwrites made

As I said in those tags, I've been playing WoW since Burning Crusade, so I've known about the company since about 2007. I've not touched overwatch, but according to emp, their rep there is surface-level as well.

It's half me yelling about MW and half me yelling about how WoW fails in representation.

I have 0 faith in them with any sort of proper representation. I'll mostly be sticking to queers and women. I do have a small section about Gaz, but I'm white and keep that in mind.

Onto the bullshit

They're not gonna make any main character queer. This means Soap, Gaz, Price, and Ghost. Farah and Alex by extension. Most likely not Alejandro and Rudy. They won't risk the repercussions.

Hell, Alejandro is implied to have a family, but we skimmed over that part as a fandom.

What they will do, like Laswell, mention that a side/secondary/tertiary character has a partner, but won't put ANY thought into it. Laswell's wife could SHOULD have been talked about by name.

They don't CARE enough about their characters to even solidify her over a facade of rep that will make the queer people happy. It did in a sense, I am happy that she has a wife. But if you're bothering to have a line about her, just add a second. Like Price could ask "Oh, how's Madeline doing anyways?" or "Yea, you've told Jenny you'd stop smoking how many times already?"

WoW-wise, their queer characters are mostly surface-level. Which isn't bad in a world full of queer stories that are queer-centric. The problem is they don't have the balls to upset any fan by making a popular character explicitly queer in their portrayal. Hell it wasn't even THEM who made Matthias and Flynn queer, it was originally put into the novels (I believe Chrissy Golden?)

Here's a quote from an executive producer: "We don't try to put a big focus on it and make it a big deal, we just try to make the game feel comfortable, friendly and approachable for everybody"

I don't know about you, but using "comfortable, friendly, and approachable for everybody" as an excuse for why you don't have more outwardly queer rep (versus "hint around it") leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Because my sexuality or gender identity is uncomfortable for people? My existance is uncomfortable for people, so you don't want to explicitly say it???

but he implied that the devs don't think Pelagos is the first trans character. Fuck you. It's giving JKR saying that Dumbledore is gay, but it wasn't important to Harry's story. What isn't explicitly said in the source material is not canon.

They had, HAVE, the chance to make major players into canonically queer characters, but they're afraid of backlash. Vol'jin would have been so easily bi in canon, especially with his whole thing with Tyranthan in the fucking novel. And that Tyranthan went to his funeral??? even though they're on opposite sides????

Onto the next point, they don't and won't give a shit about the female characters. All I'm thinking about is the disappointing outcome of Tyrande's revenge after the burning of Teldrassil, hell even the whole Azshara thing. I'm not gonna go into detail about how it, just know it led to nothing. She didn't get revenge. She didn't have a satisfying end. Why? Probably because Sylvanas and Azshara are both more popular than Tyrande. Sylvanas probably being the WoW character with the most merch (not to mention the whole thing about a dev loving her).

Farah is gonna be brought up minimally, much like she was in MW II. Valeria/El Sin Nombre and most likely the Vaqueros will be completely forgotten. Maybe brought back (again like Farah was in MW II)

They're not consistent with their characters in the first place, why give a shit about a promise they made. It'll most likely be implied between games that some shit will be solved, or a line or two in the next game. Just so people get closure.

The surface level rep keeps going throughout. We have a bunch of diversity in the operators, but significantly less in the campaign, where the characters need to be fleshed out more than a written backstory and voiced lines.

How often have they shown Alex properly since he lost his leg?

The dudebro's are pissed that they changed Gaz, a mostly 1-dimensional character that died within the first Modern Warfare. Gaz is a good character, there's no reason that they're pissed about him vs them being pissed about any other member of the task force. But I've seen more hate on Gaz than any other 141. Which sadly leads me to conclude that they probably only dislike him due to his race.

But the aspect that isn't giving me much hope is the phasing out of Gaz in additional content. You're telling me the only POC in the 141 is not included in the red team? Out of all the dudes you could have removed?? Like I'm all for including Farah into the red team; but removing the only person of color on the team, one who was canonically in the Ghost Team mission, isn't the win they think it is.

Not to mention the numerous merch of the 141 that have Ghost, Price, and Soap; but not Gaz. With only 1 design containing Gaz.

And don't come at me that "those are the old designs though!" It's in their current website for sale. The 8-bit design is fairly recent within the last few weeks or so. Gaz is a main character in MW 2019 AND 2022. He deserves more than 1 solo shirt that is just the repurpose of the 141 shirt.

Onto the points brought up by @spookykittenwrites

Ghoap

Either won't be mentioned at all or will be excessively "haha we're just pals" kinda vibes.

They WILL play up the dynamic in trailers and such, as it did bring a new group of people to the games, and it seemed to make the dudebro's happy with their bromance.

Death

None of the main characters will be killed off. There's too much opportunity to make money off of their survival. So far the new games have been very light with the major character deaths. In the original games Soap and Price are the only 2 that survive past 1 game.

Roach

They're not gonna make him mute or selectively mute.

I do think they might bring back Roach to kill him off within the same Game though.

Hell, they might not even bring him back.

Farah and Alex

I honestly hope that we see them together, it might not happen. I think they're gonna keep the Farah/Alex line as the raid focus.

As for the no chemistry thing. Depends. If they're seen for 3.5 seconds they definitely won't. Hell, they aren't technically ever stated to be dating in canon AND the dudebro's get pissed that people are shipping them. Again with the not saying anything that'll upset the target audience.

For the Muslim aspect; not sure they even think about their own characters enough to have her religion mentioned in game. (They can't even get the bios straight when they update the game, I'm not gonna complain about this here)

Laswell's Wife

Important thing to remember, the line about her wife isn't even in every playthrough. It's a hidden one.

No doubt about her never being mentioned in my head. It only got past the dudebros because it's a lesbian couple. If it was a dude talking about his husband I doubt it would have gotten into the game.

US can do no Wrong

Definitely, the entirety of the blame will be on Russians. They did in fact blame a real US warcrime on Russians in the past.

Interestingly enough, the most recent info I can find is that the Military took out their funding post-sexual harassment allegations from Activision-Blizzard in December 2022.

Military Propaganda is still Military Propaganda even if the Military isn't funding it.

Moral of the story? The comfort of the dudebros, the target demographic for the game, will always be priority. They won't risk hurting their profits by claiming a character is queer or putting too much importance on a woman. Whatever their comfort level is, is what that we'll be getting.

I'm gonna stop my rant here... Don't go into the next game hoping to get some good rep.

On a slightly positive note: they are getting better. Farah was genuinely a good character in MW 2019. The fact that there's a mention of a same-sex partner, even in passing, is pretty good.

Also, enjoy the Christmas merch shirts that I found of Price and Ghost.

[suneatersupportsquad]

red handed; colby brock

request:  im not sure if you do requests or even any imagines for colby brock anymore but i was wondering if you cold make a exception, so basically the plot is that the reader met colby through kat and since then they hit it off, now their in a secretive relationship the only person who knows is kat but she only knows the reader has a crush on colby. one day everyones hanging out in the same room room and colby is sexting the reader, sams curious to whos hes texting and they find out their dating.

dedication: @whydontweanons​

genre: fluff, subtle smut?

pairing: colby brock x gn!reader

characters: colby brock, sam golbach, katrina stuart, corey scherer, jake webber, kevin langue, brennen taylor, devyn lundy, tara yummy

word count: 1.8k

warnings: alcohol, what would probably be underage drinking, NSFW (barely), sexting (duh), mentions of COVID-19, quarantine

a/n: of course i’ll still write for sam and colby!! it’s just that, since i’m not as active of a follower of them as i used to be, my goal is to write for fandoms that i’m more invested in at the moment. but, honestly, i don’t think i could ever really stop writing for them. i love those boys so much. also this plot made me laugh so hard when i saw it in the best way possible. getting this request honestly made my day, so thank you for that!! anyways, i’m a little rusty, but here we go.

important links: masterlist

find more fics at my new blog @trapboysbunny

You and Colby had known each other for a long time - pretty much since he’d moved to LA with Sam - and you had been involved romantically just as long. You had met him and Sam through Kat on a boring Saturday night when all their friends flaked on coming to a little kickback they were hosting. Trying to be a good friend and cheer the boys up, Katrina had invited you to hopefully kickstart some emotional momentum. Your eyes met Colby’s for the first time and you clicked. Something in your gut had told you that the two of you would end up being close, and it was right. You had hit it off immediately, not taking very long to start laughing at one another’s corny jokes and telling stories over Smirnoff Ice while some random late night show played in the background. From that night on, it was history.

Since then, you two had been practically attached at the hip. If you weren’t sitting on the same room or facetiming, you were definitely texting one another. It became a running joke in your friend group that you two had evolved into a pair of siamese twins, or that being without you gave Colby separation anxiety. The two of you found it even more amusing when you actually began dating, not long after that fateful first night. It amazed the both of you that you were able to hide your relationship so well. No one had a clue. The two of you laughed about it quite often, actually, over late night phone calls and tipsy afternoons spent only with each other. No one knew, and nobody needed to know.

Colby, due to the internet and his fanbase being the way it is, preferred to keep his personal (and especially romantic) relationships more on the private side. His intent wasn’t necessarily to hide his feelings and relationship with you from his friends, but that particular topic of conversation never really came up in your friend group. Everyone had just kind of figured that everyone single would simply date someone when they were ready and tell everybody about it when they felt the time was appropriate. It wasn’t that Colby didn’t want to tell them, he just didn’t see the point in going out of his way to tell all of his friends hey after God knows how long I finally have a partner. He just didn’t want to make a big deal out of your relationship. Knowing his friends, they would definitely make it into some type of big thing, not to mention that Jake would dub the occasion as “cause for celebration” (which was really just an excuse to drink more). So Colby preferred to keep things on the quieter side for you two; neither of you wanted to make your relationship into an object for speculation.

Kat was the only person out of all of your friends to have any knowledge of your feelings for Colby. And thank God for her; if you didn’t have her to gush about Colby to, you probably would have either exploded or died. Or both. And she was there for every single second of it. She loved hearing about your movie nights, your urban exploring adventures, the sweet yet mundane things he would do to make you happy, literally anything. She ate that shit up like a man starved, and you did the same for her and Sam (regardless of the fact that their relationship was public already). You hadn’t told her explicitly about the nature of your relationship with Colby, really just gushed about your ever-growing love for the boy. Unbeknownst to you, she firmly believed that you only had feelings for Colby, clueless to the fact that the two of you had actually been dating for quite a while now. With her “go get ‘em, tiger” comments, along with similar remarks, you assumed that she had some sort of idea about your relationship with Cole, hence why you had never explicitly told her about your secret boyfriend. Kat, being the good friend that she was, never spilled your “secret” feelings to anyone else. Not even her boyfriend.

Eventually, quarantine started up amidst the international COVID-19 pandemic and you had begun practically living with the trap boys. A day without you in the house was enough to prompt concern for the boys, minus Colby who always knew the real reason why you weren’t coming over. This soon became the new normal, you taking a “day off” every few weeks to get tested just in case. At this point, it was almost comical that no one had figured out you two were dating yet.

One particular weekend afternoon, everyone in your friend group was hanging out at the house. You and Colby were sitting on opposite sides of the room, you next to Kat and Colby seated beside Sam. It was particularly warm today seeing as this Saturday landed smack in the middle of the infamous August heat wave, so you had thrown on a tank top and some shorts, nothing to flashy. Colby had dressed similarly, wearing only a muscle tee and a pair of trunks.

You were sat beside Kat, the both of you trying to listen to the story Devyn was telling. No matter how hard you tried, you couldn’t ignore the way your boyfriend was staring at you from across the room. You looked away from Dev for just a second to shoot him a glare when you realize exactly why he’s looking at you. The speed at which the blood rushes to your face is dizzying, and you drop your head to stare at your lap. Motherfucker- You sigh as you pull your phone out of your pocket. “Quit it with the blowjob eyes asshole,” you type before pressing the blue send button.

You feel his gaze break as his phone vibrates. Trying to ignore him, you refuse to meet his gaze again, putting all of your effort into focusing on Devyn’s story. Seconds later your phone vibrates in your pocket. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” the screen reads, and you shake your head.

“Uh huh sure ok.” You pressed send again.

Another few seconds passed and your phone vibrated again. “That shirt looks really good on you.” 

You blushed as you read the message, flustered by the comment. Brows knitting together in confusion, you looked up to find him staring back at you with a dopey grin. You hunched over your phone and sent a message back. “You really think so?”

“Yeah, of course,” Colby replied, a gray typing bubble sitting under the message. “But you know how it would look cuter?”

You cocked your head to the side and typed out your response. “How?”

“On my bedroom floor.” You almost snorted at that, clamping a hand over your mouth to prevent any noise from escaping. Typical. Thankfully no one had been paying enough attention to you to notice that you were distracted.

Colby, on the other hand, wasn’t so lucky. “Give me this, dude,” Sam said, snatching the phone out of Colby’s hand and effectively bringing the conversation on their side of the room to a halt. “You haven’t been listening for like the past 20 minutes, dude. Now let’s see what’s got you so distracted.”

“You don’t need to look at that, Sam, it’s not that important-” The tall brunette sounded slightly panicky as he reached and grappled with Sam for his phone. Sam played around for a little bit before finally reading the screen, eyes widening in amusement.

Upon finishing his reading, Sam lowered the phone and Colby relaxed, already knowing that he was caught. “So who’s ‘angelcakes,’ huh Colbert?” Sam prodded teasingly.

Colby blushed ever so slightly, rubbing the back of his neck. “They’re just a friend-”

“Which friend, huh?” Sam continued his teasing, growing louder and louder with every response until all eyes were on the two boys.

Colby shrugged, trying to be nonchalant but looking more stressed than ever in actuality. “Just a friend.”

“What do you say we call this friend, huh boys?” Sam suggested.

Kevin nodded, agreeing. “I think we definitely should.” Brennen also nodded when Sam looked to him for approval, essentially finalizing the decision.

“Okay then, let’s do this thing!” Sam yelled, earning cheers from all the other curious folks in the room. The blonde boy pressed call and Colby simply held his face in his hands.

You jumped when your phone rang, honestly having forgotten that oh shit, I’m angelcakes. Everyone turned to look at you curiously, Colby even peeking through his fingers. You didn’t even pick up the device, already knowing whose name would be lighting up the screen. “You gonna pick that up or something?” Corey asked awkwardly.

You shook your head, leaving your phone face down in its spot beside your thigh. “No, it’s probably not important anyways.”

A beat of heavy silence passed before Tara spoke. “Gee, they sure aren’t giving up. Maybe you should answer it.”

“Nah, I’m sure it’s just-”

“Yeah, you should answer the phone, Y/N,” Jake agreed, the pieces seeming to click in his head.

You sighed, burning bright red to the tips of your ears. “Okay okay, fine.” You stood and clicked the answer button. “Hello?”

And there it was, your voice echoing from Colby’s phone. The room erupted in cheers of disbelief, the boys pouncing on Colby and the girls slapping you in playful excitement. “I knew there was something going on between you two!! There’s no way there couldn’t have been -- I can’t believe you didn’t tell me!” Kat squealed, smushing you in a hug.

The rest of the girls echoed the sentiment, a chorus of ‘same’s and ‘I can’t believe you’s. It took a while for everyone to calm down but, once everyone settled, you and Cole managed to get some alone time. The two of you escaped out back, the less than mediocre breeze cooling the sweat that slicked your skin. You held each other, almost as though you were about to start slow dancing. “Damn, caught red handed, huh?”

You laughed breathily, leaning your forehead against his shoulder. “It was only a matter of time, ya know?”

“I know,” he agreed, cheek pressing against your hair. “I’m glad we don’t have to be weird around them anymore.”

“Me too,” you hummed.

Colby pulled away a little bit, just enough for him to look you in the eyes, your arms still around his neck. “Hey.”

You giggled, confused. “Hey.”

“I love you.”

You smiled your confirmation, eyes twinkling under the cheap backyard lights. “I love you.”

.x

[kitkatt0430]

hey, i've been reading your Cisco-related Flash fics, and what struck to me as impressive is how you implement the mentions of tech so well. i've run into trouble into writing scenes, where Cisco might have to tinker. 🤧🤧🤧 i know this is by a long-shot, however, do you have any writing advice on how to add tech as part of a scene??? or like wording on how tinkering works?? idk just basic tech stuff i guess. thank you and sending good ~~vibes~~ your way!

Cisco tinkering is definitely fun to write, but I'm not exactly sure how to describe my process for writing those scenes. But I'll give it a shot anyway.

So Cisco's tinkering with tech in fics usually fits one of two scenarios when I'm writing. Either it's to give him something to do in the scene since Cisco's definitely someone who likes to keep his hands busy. Or it's a specific tech I plan to use for plot reasons, so it gets threaded throughout the fic. That way Cisco's brilliant ideas to save the day don't come out of nowhere.

If its the former, then I'll usually just pick something we know he's worked on in the show. The quickly forgotten Boot Tech (how useful it would have been if perfected instead of forgotten after the S2 finale), updates on the suppressant tech (the cuffs, Caitlin's snowflake necklace), the weather wand... I don't really have to go too much into detail on it, but it can be fun to poke at canon a bit for all the things Cisco develops that never show up again once their original use in the plot is over. Sometimes I just have him working towards perfecting something that didn't work as expected. Other times I have ideas for alternative uses for the tech that can be fun to mention.

I've also been a Star Trek and Stargate fan for a long, long time. So I've learned technobabble from the two scifi series that did it best. ^_^

Though, really, watching Sam Carter (SG-1) and Rodney McKay (Stargate: Atlantis) spout technobabble is a great way to learn how to make made up science blend with real science to sound relatively believable. Stargate (SG-1 particularly) was pretty good about grounding their made up science in real world concepts. Definitely having obsessively watched those two shows has helped shape how I write Cisco now that I'm in the Arrow verse fandom.

When I have Cisco's tech being used in a specific way for plot reasons, however, I definitely have to know ahead of time what the tech is for. If I'm going to make, say, the Rainbow Raider the villain of a story and have him experimenting with new applications of his powers - messing with emotions other than anger - then I'd have Cisco pull out the device they originally used to combat Rainbow Raider's powers to work on upgrading for the new scenario. That way it still works when they need it. Then I can throw in things like, maybe it gets pulled out of mothballs and immediately tried on one of RR's victims but it doesn't work. Cue drama. :D

I think some of the development process I put in there comes from what I know about tech development from a software side of things. Since I'm a software engineer, I know how different types of design and development models work. Waterfall vs agile vs... anyway, I won't necessarily ever name the dev model being used, but it'll influence how I write Cisco's development process and it'll differ based on when he's working with a team, vs one other person, vs on his own.

Having Cisco collaborate is especially fun to do. Cisco starts off as a particularly brilliant mechanical engineer and by the time he leaves the show he's become very much a multi-discipline scientist. He does so because he learns so much from the people he collaborates with - or competes with, as the case may be. Cisco's knowledge of sonic technology and acoustical engineering improves due to his exposure to Hartley's Pied Piper gear. He learns bio engineering from his many collaborations with Caitlin. Harry being rather multi-disciplined himself, often pushes Cisco to have more confidence in himself and reach beyond his comfort zone.

So I'll pick who he's collaborating on based both on when I want a story to be set, how AU I want it to be (Hartley joins Team Flash? Harry doesn't leave post S2?), and what kind of tech is being developed for the plot (improving the amnesia inducer they used on Barry? that calls for Caitlin).

A story that I've been wanting to write is Cisco mentoring Chester while Chester creates tech that - predictably, I admit - saves Barry out on the field at the end. We never really got the mentor/mentee relationship between them expanded on the way I'd been hoping for when it became clear Chester was a permanent addition to the cast. The story hasn't happened yet because I haven't really fleshed out what the technology they're working on will be. I'm probably overthinking it a bit at this point, but I want it to reflect where Chester's at mentally during the story - his struggles with self doubt and learning to be more assertive, generally showing why Cisco felt so comfortable leaving Team Flash in Chester's hands when he eventually leaves. (So it's intended to be canon compliant and set before Cisco and Kamilla leave for Star City.)

I don't know how useful my rambles have been, but I hope this helps.

[lokiarsene]

Unused Goro Third Awakening scene.

This is my translation of the unused version of Goro’s Third Awakening, which you can watch here. The subtitles missed a few things, and I wanted to try my hand at translating again anyway, so here we go~

Goro: How nostalgic. It’s been some time since I last spoke to you.

[Ren’s dialog]

Goro: Reminiscing, huh? Hah, we can do that. Though it is a bit bitter for me.

Goro: First things first--you have my thanks for making the deal back on the ship.

Goro: According to you, in the true reality, Shido’s heart was changed and he was arrested, yes?

[Flashback happens] [Ren’s dialog]

Goro, remembering and in response to Ren back on the ship saying he still has Goro’s glove: You truly are... naively honest, huh?

Goro: Originally I wanted to settle the score with Shido on my own. That was the only way (lit., It was the only path). Sorry to say it, but I don’t owe you for what you did. You’re the one who owes me; I lost my chance at revenge because of you.

[Ren’s dialog]

Goro:  Even if its logical, perhaps I’m just not convinced? …I know, I’m the crazy one. But I can’t help it. This is how I truly feel.***

Goro: Maruki distorted reality in an attempt to fulfill people’s wishes. But such a reality is a paradise only in his eyes. It’s no different from what Shido did.

Goro: It’s not worth living in a reality made to satisfy someone else.

[Ren’s dialog]

Goro: I truly do envy you. You’re so uncomfortably straight-forward. I can’t understand how you can live that way.

Goro: Talking with you now about this has made me make up my mind (lit., Taking with you has made me realize this). I do not accept this reality. I’ve had enough of living like a puppet on a string.

Goro: Let’s go back home, to our reality.

[Third Awakening]

Goro: Hah, this is... What a rush! I won’t hold back anything anymore! (lit., I feel high! I’ll run wild as much as I please!)

Goro: You still have it--my glove. I haven’t forgotten about all that. I will never lose to you. Bye.

---

***: Correction provided by @koisuru-mijinko. Thank you!!

Hey remember when I made that post saying that Shido and Maruki are similar and a Maruki stan jumped on my dick and made a hateblog about me to tell me how wrong I was? Well, the devs agree that Shido and Maruki are similar too lmao

Anyway, I think this conversation is fantastic. I’m not sure if I’d prefer it in place of what we get on 2/2, which is far more emotional, in a more intimate setting, and centers both Goro and Ren’s feelings, but I do rather like the discussion. It comes off more like a normal Jazz Club convo in the third semester, so I’m glad that they decided the Third Awakening required a more pivotal scene. Pity it had to come so late in the game, though...

It was so nice hearing Goro talk again. Is it odd to say that I’ve missed the guy?

[inevitably-johnlocked]

do you have any fics of john flirting with sherlock over text? maybe sherlock being utterly clueless? thank you & and much luv ❤️

Hi Nonny!!!

Ahhhhhhhhhh AGES ago, I did an Epistolary / Texting / Letters fic rec list, back before I had A System™, so it’s a bit messy but it is there :) I don’t have a lot of new ones to add to it, BUT I decided I would pull all the Texting fics from that list since I now have neater organization with tags and Chapters, and then just add my NEW fics onto that one, how about that? Would that be okay? It wouldn’t be specifically just flirting, but I think that the list is long overdue anyway!! Hope you like something on this one, and I’ll TRY to tag the flirting fics WITH flirting so that you can pick them out :) 

And as always, add your own fics, Lovelies!! <3

TEXTING AND SEXTING (JULY 2020)

See also:

Epistolary / Texting / Letters (My List, 2017)

First Meeting Via Internet / Phone / Letters (Mine)

Phone Sex & Texting (Alexx’s List)

Wrong Number Texting (Alexx’s List)

They Met Online or Texting (Alexx’s List)

Message Not Sent by Queerasil (K, 762 w., 1 Ch. || Angst, One-Sided Texting, Pining Sherlock) - Sherlock texts John after the fall and during the hiatus. The messages are sent, but never received. Sequel to WORDLOCKED, TSTM, and Wait, How Do You Play This Game Again?

Texts and Tea by JillianWatson1058 (K, 959 w., 1 Ch. || Friendship, Texting, Humour, Fluff, POV John, Cranky John) – A John who is woken up at 2:30 in the morning is not a happy John. Sherlock, frankly, doesn’t care. He just wants his tea.

Untouchable by greengrapegaze (T, 1,368 w., 1 Ch. || Pre-S3, UST/URT, Oblivious John, Lonely Sherlock, Angst with Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt / Comfort, Emotional Sherlock, POV Sherlock, Pining Sherlock) – “He never would. Petty, childish, immature-bitter. Jealous. She had all that he wanted. All he could never have.” Part 1 of Steps to a Bittersweet Symphony

Yorkshire Gold by Tammany Tiger (K, 1,467 w., 1 Ch. || Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Mild Angst, Holmes Brothers, Open Ending, Grief, Implied Bondlock) – Mycroft may not mourn Sherlock's death-but even if he knows his brother lives, he's not without his own grief. It ain't easy being The British Government. But at least he's got good help. Set between the Fall and the Return.

Text Me When It's Over by immaculately-flawed  (K+, 1,937 w., 1 Ch. || Friendship, Humour, Post-TRF, Texting, Sort-Of Pining Sherlock) – After the fall Sherlock starts writing texts to John. Of course, he never sends them... Until he does by accident. Post Reichenbach fic but not angsty.

Denial Isn’t Just a River in Egypt by satanatemycat (T, 2,107 w., 1 Ch. || Humour, Friendship, Texting, Bored/Cranky Sherlock) – In which John makes a bet with a co-worker. If he wins, she shuts up about him and Sherlock being a couple. If he loses… well, that doesn’t matter, because he won’t lose. Because he and Sherlock ARE NOT a couple. Right?

The Art Of Communication by StillWaters1 (T, 2,679 w., 1 Ch. || Friendship, H/C) – Lestrade was used to getting odd, non sequitur texts from Sherlock. But when "John went out for milk" was followed by a terse "two hours ago," Lestrade immediately understood three things: John was missing, Sherlock was quietly panicking, and this could all end very, very badly.

Unquantifiable by 221b_hound (M, 2,799 w. 1 Ch. || Est. Rel., Grumpy John, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Pet Names, Texting, Sweet Sherlock, Princess Bride References) – John remains a terrible and foul-tempered patient, but he does try to make up for it with pet names and text message silliness. In the meantime, Sally Donovan visits Baker Street for a hint about the Milverton case, and has to deal with a Sherlock Holmes who can't find words big enough to thank her for saving John's life at the warehouse. For afters, there's a viewing of The Princess Bride. Part 33 of the Unkissed series

The Sweetest Taste In The World by crossroads (G, 3,121 w., 1 Ch. || First Kiss, Jealous Sherlock, Fluff, Pining, Friends to Lovers) – The sweetest taste in the world is rarely ever the easiest to come by.

Entanglement by orphan_account (G, 3,218 w., 1 Ch. || Confessions, Physics, Metaphors, Texting, Pining, Christmas, Mind Palace, Sick Fic, Fluff, Humour, Praise Kink) - On Christmas Eve, snow covers London, John visits Harry, and Sherlock and Mrs. Hudson untangle some knots.

Come home. by hudders-and-hiddles (huddersandhiddles) (E, 3,763 w., 1 Ch. || Texting / Sexting, Lonely Sherlock, Nude Photos, Pining, Fluff & Smut) – When John leaves for a medical conference, Sherlock tries to entice him back home.

Happy anniversary by Salambo06 (E, 3,772 w., 1 Ch. || Est. Rel., Vulnerable Sherlock, Wedding Anniversary, Anal, Texting, Lingerie) – John inhaled deeply, feeling his cock pulse under the silk gown, and he let his eyes travel on the lean body in front of him. Sherlock was kneeling on the bed, their bed, and the picture had been taken so John could perfectly see his bare chest and pelvis. But what mattered most, what made John harden rather quickly, was the pair of panties Sherlock was wearing in the picture. Black, string over each hip and laces that outlined Sherlock’s erect cock barely hidden under the soft underwear.

Lingerie by Sexxica (E, 4,135 w., 1 Ch. || Valentine’s Day, Lingerie / Women’s Underwear, Mildly Public Masturbation, Picture Texting / Sexting, Bottomlock, Body Worship, Anal Sex / Fingering, Rimming, Orgasm Delay / Denial, Est. Rel.) – It's Valentines Day and Sherlock is taking John to Angelo's for dinner. Sherlock also happens to be wearing a garter belt, stockings and a rather small pair of women's underwear under his clothes. There's no dessert at Angelo's because John needs to get Sherlock home just as quickly as he can before they both lose their minds entirely.

If He Knows by shamelessmash (M, 4,513 w., 1 Ch. || TSo3 Fic, Pining Sherlock, Bed Sharing, Angst, First Person Sherlock POV, Texting, Internal Monologue, Blanket Forts) – I imagine mornings: John handing me a cup of tea, hair sticking out at odd angles. How he would bend down to kiss me, smiling fondly as he pulls away. The way his skin crinkles at the corner of his eyes, the way his skin looks in the morning light. The soft sigh as he sits in his chair with the morning paper, the way his toes curl in the carpet, the way he rolls his shoulders before sinking deeper into his seat. I watch him, how he is when he is content, as it should be. As he deserves. Happy. With me.

Tease You Till You Come by phoenix089 (E, 6,090 w., 1 Ch. || First Time, Clueless Sherlock, Sexting/Texting) – Initially, Sherlock was rather put out by John's lack of presence on the case. But then he starts to receive pictures, several of them, of an unexpected nature. The case is forgotten rather quickly after that.

What Did I Do Wrong? by Starlight05 (T, 7,880 w., 5 Ch. || Hurt Comfort, Angst, John Whump, Hospitalization, Worried Sherlock, Emotional Turmoil, Nightmares, Sherlock Being Dumb) - After John almost dies on a case, Sherlock disappears. So John is left to figure out what he can do to get his best friend back. Meanwhile Sherlock, guilt-ridden and willingly alone, is doing everything he can to stay away.

Bread and Wine and Curry Once a Week by cwb (E, 8,737 w., 1 Ch. || Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Stroppy Sherlock, Love Letters, POV John) – Sherlock asks John for relationship advice. Little does he know that it’s him that Sherlock is in love with.

A Building of Bridges by Unique (K, 12,325 w., 3 Ch. || Drama, Alternate First Meeting, John’s PTSD / Flashbacks, Mute John, Dialogue-Heavy, Caring Sherlock, Friendship) – No one would ever send Sherlock in to diffuse a stand-off; but on one unlikely day, that's exactly what happened. "Congratulations, Lestrade," he called out sarcastically. "You're traumatizing a war veteran."

A Brand of Gold by aquabelacqua (M, 12,757 w., 1 Ch. || Mutual Pining, POV John, Phone Sex, Texting, Masturbation, Long Distance, Drunk Texting) – What am I doing? he wondered. The answer came back at once: Flirting. He let the vital, missing piece snap into place as surely and as cleanly as if it had always been there. He was flirting with Sherlock Holmes.

Traitor's Gate by roane (E, 17,714 w., 6 Ch. || Post-TRF, Case Fic, Mystery, Bets and Wagers, Undercover for a Case, BAMF John, Scientist Sherlock, Teasing, Established Relationship, Military Base, Sexting/Texting, Military/Uniform Kink, Frottage, Dirty Sex, Anal, Bottomlock) – John and Sherlock go undercover at a top secret government lab to find out who is selling research. John is back in uniform and Sherlock is back in a laboratory, but they have to pose as strangers. Sherlock thinks he'll have an easy time of it, but John has his doubts. It's up to them to find out who is responsible for putting a dangerous weapon in the wrong hands, and try to keep their hands off each other at the same time.

The Real Meaning of Idioms by feverishsea (T, 21,691 w., 13 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || Texting, Humour, Post-TRF, Awkward Romance, Idiots in Love) - After two weeks away, John finally texts Sherlock. He doesn’t expect Sherlock to respond. He doesn’t expect Sherlock to keep texting him. And he really doesn’t expect things to spiral out of control so rapidly.

A Study In Auto-Signatures, Sniper Dolphins, and Sex Holidays by cwb (E, 32,689 w., 8 Ch. || Case Fic, Post S3, Evil Mary, Dev. Rel., Beach Holidays, Confused Sherlock, Friends to Lovers, Honeymoon, Epistolary, Bottomlock, First Kiss / Time, Fluff, Secret Agents, BAMF!John) – John and Mary go on their sex holiday, and Sherlock is grumpy and pining about it. Part 1 of HOT DOLPHIN SEX

A Week is Just Seven Days Isn't It? by scifigrl47 (T, 39,906 w., 4 Ch. || Humour, Friendship/Bromance, Stroppy/Bored Sherlock, Undercover/Army John, Texting, Pining-ish Sherlock, John Whump) – When John heads overseas for a week, Sherlock's forced to fend for himself. It goes about as well as anyone could have anticipated. Which is to say, very, very poorly. Don't worry, things'll be fine in just seven days.

Definitions by siennna (T, 101,528 w., 12 of ? Ch. || Dev. Rel., Pining, Fluff and Romance, First Kiss, Love Confessions, Fluff, Cuddles) – Sherlock’s journey in defining his flat mate and stumbling through the muddled world of emotion. {{This feels complete; the chapter count is listed as ? but I feel like it is done}}

[hirazuki]

Ooo I'm curious about your hot takes on the Inuyasha reboot after reading your tags 👀

Ahaha, where to start XD Idk if they are hot takes, but here are my thoughts in bullet point form for coherency, I couldn’t figure out how else to organize them. Under a cut, as usual, because it got lengthy... as usual :D

We are 13 episodes in, and I still have no idea wtf is going on or what the series is actually about. And yes, I’m aware that we didn’t know of Naraku’s existence or of the overarching plot until at least episode 16 of that series either and Inuyasha was still very episodic in nature at that early point too, but here’s the thing: Inuyasha did not build upon a pre-existing series. For better or for worse, Yashahime has certain expectations to live up to that the original anime didn’t, by virtue of its being a sequel. Unfair? Maybe, but tough; that’s what happens when you make a sequel. Additionally, despite us not knowing The Main Plot™ of Inuyasha until later, the basic framework for it was laid out clearly by... episode 2? I think? Find and collect the Shikon Jewel shards. Boom, done. Were there distractions or fillers? Sure, but you never got the sense that the characters simply up and forgot about the shards. Even in fillers, the shards often made some kind of appearance. With Yashahime, there’s like three potential storylines going on: 1. The most obvious: most of our main cast from the OG is missing; where are they? Apparently no one in-story cares! :D Inuyasha, who’s that lol. I’m all for a sequel focusing on the new generation with cameos of the old crew; after all, they already had their own series. But this is like... no one cares about them? No one talks about them? And the more characters go about not mentioning them, the stronger their absence is felt. Like, for instance, Kaede knows Moroha is InuKag’s daughter. Moroha grew up on her own, doesn’t know her parents. Kaede doesn’t mention them to Moroha, doesn’t even spare a passing thought about them for the audience’s benefit, Moroha doesn’t ask. Kagome’s family in the present day meet Moroha, recognize her as Kagome’s daughter and... say nothing??? Souta shows Towa Kagome and Inuyasha’s old photos, but doesn’t say a word to Moroha?! Like. It makes no sense. By people not even acknowledging their existence, it makes the fact that they are nowhere to be found even weirder. Also the new gen girls don’t care about their parents or finding out who they were/are... like, okay, it would maybe be in character for one or two of them, but all three don’t give a fuck??? 2. Kirinmaru/the rainbow pearls: Idk how familiar you are with the story, but similar deal with Naraku and the shards here. Kirinmaru is being set up as the villain, still a mysterious figure; our new gen trio is supposed to collect the rainbow pearls that... some of his henchmen have? Or he is after them? Or is that Riku? Unclear. ANYWAY the new gen girls often forget all about the pearls’ existence :D 3. Setsuna’s memories: Setsuna’s dreams have been stolen by the dream butterfly and they need to get them back, because without her dreams she has no memories and is unable to sleep. Cool! Finally a solid, easy-to-follow plot line! Except wait! Towa, who supposedly made it her goal to get Setsuna’s sleep back, forgets all about it! All the time! Like, none of them make an effort to look into this other than being like “oh yeah, know anything about the dream butterfly?” to random folks every now and then. The Inugang back in the day was putting some grad school level research towards their goals, just saying. It just feels like everything’s all wishy-washy and there’s nothing really solid tying the series together. People just remember shit exists when it’s convenient.

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Character development is MIA. I’m not expecting ground-breaking char dev in 13 episodes (though I do know 12 episode series that were phenomenal in that regard), but like... I do expect the series to focus on building the dynamics between the main three characters. So far, the series is more focused on teasing the audience with glimpses and promises of the OG cast instead. The creators are using nostalgia and bait (esp of a certain pairing) to drive interest in the series, rather than developing the new characters as fully-fledged characters for their own sakes. 

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Moroha is was the only thing I actually liked about the series. She is a little spitfire and you can somehow instantly see both Inuyasha and Kagome in her, while she also remains very uniquely herself; I have never seen such a successfully developed main pairing child in any series. She featured quite prominently in the first few episodes -- and unlike both her parents, she’s got a great memory and knowledge of lore -- where she balanced funny moments with badass fighting moments and being the token supernatural encyclopedia. It was great! And then... they’ve like... forgotten her. She’s been left behind so many times by the twins. She’s the butt of every joke. She’s become the type of comic relief that’s, well, insulting. More like a buffoon than anything else. And it’s basically all for the sake of giving the floor to Towa :/

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Setsuna is okay. Not offensive, but unremarkable. She’s got her dad’s personality but like way toned down due to her different growing up circumstances, which is nice, but like... I feel she isn’t given any room to grow or breathe or anything. She’s also basically there as a device to enhance Towa’s development.

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Towa... oy. I tried to like her, I really did, but she just doesn’t work for me. They set her up having a very Kurosaki Ichigo type deal with beating up bullies and getting into trouble at school and shit -- I’m fine with that. That’s cool. Esp if it’s linked to not feeling like she fits in bc she’s a hanyou? Awesome. Except once she travels back in time to the feudal era it’s all “Oh killing is bad you shouldn’t kill people” and “even though they attacked me I can’t possibly hurt them” and “you need to empathize and talk things out” and “friendship is magic” and shit. It feels like she had a personality transplant, it literally makes no sense. Her design is totally nonsensical too -- out of everyone at her school, she’s the only one dressed in a bright white suit? Do protags not wear the school uniform? Someone should tell Kagome lmao. She’s a pro at hand to hand, and she can absorb demons’ powers and fling them back at them like a personified Tessaiga, and she has a lightsaber sword, and she’s immune to miasma, and -- like... you get it. It’s too much. It’s way too OP for the type of universe that Inuyasha/Yashahime is set in. She’s hanyou for fuck’s sake; remember all the training Inuyasha had to go through? When he couldn’t lift his sword? When his sword attacked him? Sango, Miroku, Kagome, even Sesshomaru all had trouble with their weapons and had to work to become stronger. But Towa? Nope. Towa is straight out of the Yas Queen/Girl Boss manual, so she gets a free pass on everything.

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UGH they are doing the VLD/bad writing thing where things happen (like, BIG THINGS) and none of the characters actually react to them. Or stuff happens and there are no consequences. No one ever talks about anything. It’s wild.

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Everyone has amnesia!! :D People either don’t know or don’t remember anything or anyone. People who absolutely should know things all of a sudden magically don’t know them. Like, Kohaku -- traveled with an undead priestess, spent years in the company of demons, traveled with Sesshomaru... and yet had NO CLUE that Setsuna is Sesshomaru’s daughter or that she is hanyou, despite her living and working with his team of demon slayers all this time. Like... how, man. How. And Kaede! Don’t get me started. Since when does she perpetuate random demon-boogeyman type stories as facts? Demon children will kill each other in the nest so that only the strongest one will survive, therefore Setsuna must have killed Towa when they were infants. O_O What are they, sharks? Has she been hanging out with Kisame? Wtf?? And she’s speaking about Sess’s kids as though she doesn’t know him or anything about him, when she has had Rin under her roof all these years. It just makes. no. sense.

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Things that happened in the original series are happening again now! Because that’s the best we’ve got, recycled plot elements wooo! No, but really, characters that died or things that were resolved in Inuyasha keep coming back. Why? What was the purpose of bringing back Kinka and Ginka? To have a foil for Towa and Setsuna as twins? Someone please tell Sunrise they can just create new characters. Like, it’s one thing to have call backs to the original or cameos, references, whatever. But like... this is entire (dead) characters and interactions.

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No one knows how long it’s been since the original series ended. Fans initially heard 20 years from promo material, then “over 15″ and “10 years since” in-series regarding two different events, and now in a future episode summary we’ve gotten 18 years since Hosenki II gave Inuyasha the black pearl. But like, which black pearl? Because the one in Inuyasha’s eye doesn’t exist anymore, but Hosenki II had told Inuyasha that it would take 100 years for him to produce one. So, are we retconning that or where the fuck did it come from? Also, this doesn’t help one bit, it just confuses things even more. Back to the point, though, we have no coherent timeline or real frame of reference whatsoever, and I’m betting it’s in large part to keep the mystery of who is Sesshomaru’s wife going, as it keeps Rin’s age very vague. Everything is vague and mysterious in Yashahime, to the point where no one knows what’s going on, in fandom or in-story even. It’s kinda like how too much plot twist/shock reveal ruins a story, too much mystery does the same. It’s insane that both shippers and antis of that ship can lay equal claim that the “18 years since” announcement works in their favor.

tl;dr: Idk man, Yashahime is a clusterfuck of a series. Even if the mother of Sess’s twins is either of the characters I ship him with, I will still not like the series. There’s no saving this writing. Every episode feels like this:

[malefiquinn]

My Cyberpunk 2077 review

I finished the game last night and I have Feelings™ about it, so here goes my review. While the heavy spoilers (ending related) will be hidden under Keep Reading, I might mention some minor ones here and there, so read at your own risk.

Let’s get the Big Thing out of the way first: yes, the game is buggy af. The good news is most of them are visual bugs, so while annoying, they don’t really matter gameplay wise. But I did have to reload an earlier save file two times to get rid of gamebreaking bugs, both messing with main story quests. It was frustrating. And nevermind the times my car got destroyed because the game suddenly realized there were two cars occupying the same space. However I did manage to finish the game and make the choices I wanted, so it wasn’t that bad either.

My biggest complain is the blantant transphobia shown in the character creator. I know Claire exists and she’s awesome and I love her, but the cc options are just not inclusive enough. What’s the point of having them if you can’t use them anyway? Linking V’s pronouns to voice types makes absolutely no sense. And not being able to remove breasts from the female body type (or put them in the male body type) rubs me the wrong way as well, though I understand that it would involve a lot more animation work. Lastly, having body type-dependant hair styles is just plain inexcusable when the devs took the time to design genitals that are just not shown past the character creator (unless V walks around naked, I suppose). So, why bother having all these ✨choices✨ when the player can’t get a good, accurate customization anyway?

And it gets worse if we talk about romances. Real people have specific tastes and that’s completely understandable, but real life has a lot more than 4 choices in total. More importantly, bisexual people are a thing? There should have been at least one female and one male bisexual romance options in game. So to make it al worse, the constraint in gay romance options is... awful. Why have 3 types of gender-related customization if you can’t use them if you want to romance someone? I’m a cishet female who plays as a cishet female first if given the option, but I’m still bothered for the queer community (which I’m still part of btw, since I’m in the ace spectrum). It feels like being trans is more of a fetish in Night City than a real trait.

Speaking of romances, I played River’s and I found it... bit of a lackluster. I don’t find him physically attractive (shaved head and no beard are not my thing) but his voice was pretty nice and I liked his personality despite being a cop. But the main downside was the way the game treats his romance. I knew I wasn’t going to get a BioWare-style romance, but V’s relationship with River was like a sidenote and once he’s romanced, there’s just no way to interact with him again. That perhaps is the same for the other romances but there’s no replayability, in a sense that there’s no way to talk to/kiss him again or replay the sex scene, for instance. It bothered me that the game forces V to say that “she’s too busy” and apologize to her boyfriend all the time, because *I* would’ve made time to visit if there was ingame acknowledgement of it. The worst bit is that I feel like River’s romance is the least polished of them all, because Panam and Judy play important roles in main quests and Kerry is pivotal to Johnny’s sidequests, while River is... just there (also more further on, regarding the ending). So the fact that he’s like the forgotten child in the romance section while being the only cishet female option is heartbreaking.

The silverlining is that, at least, the mistreated community was het females instead of gay females. Although, this is just another example of game devs thinking about male players first.

Now the good part: what I liked

The cars. I’m not a car enthusiast, I don’t enjoy driving in real life and I’m a terrible driver in games, but I fucking loved the cars in CP2077. The Caliburn was like my game baby, I had so much fun driving around and hearing the different engines for each car, and the differences in driving... it was awesome. I got and bought *all* the available cars for the sake of it, just because I liked them so much.

The story. I love games that get me invested and this one was definitely one of those. Falling for Jackie when I knew he was not gonna be around for long was an expected, but still perfectly excecuted punch to the gut. And Johnny’s guidance and company was something I was hyped about, but still played out even better than I though it would. So to my next point, Keanu Reeves. I was thrilled to play a game with Keanu in it and it blew my mind. Those reviews that pinpoint Keanu’s acting as the weak link in the game are fucking wrong, how else you expect to see (and hear) an angry, resentful man permanently stuck in time? Even worse, when he knows the people he hated the most managed to kill him? I wasn’t happy when I learned Johnny was not a romance option but after meeting him, I’m glad that’s the case. He’s the perfect antihero-turned-best-friend for V, if you can stand him.

Stealth and hacking. Most of the time I choose the option to play stealthy and this time it wasn’t just that, it was the option to use futuristic technology at the same time. I LOVED it. Quickhacking enemies instead of shooting them is so much fun. Enemy detection is a bit wonky at times but still, I enjoyed it much better than if it had been a plain shooter. And those guns with homing shots are so cool that I wanted to play them over sniper rifles, my usual go tos.

The characters. I got invested in V’s relationships, even if the romantic aspect wasn’t as great as it could’ve been. Friendship with Kerry and Panam, clousure for Judy and Rogue, mourning Jackie, being part of River’s family, so many the fixers in existance... and Johnny, my bff Johnny. Even Alt, with her somewhat little role, was great. I was promised a compelling story and deep characters, and I did get both.

The soundtrack. Overall it’s pretty great, but my favorite songs are those related to Samurai. And it’s not even because of my love for Johnny, I really do enjoy them for their musical content. Unironically my all time favorite is Johnny’s as well, Never Fade Away. I won’t exit a car or open the menu when that song is playing.

The easter eggs. From GlaDOS and Silence of the Lambs in the Delamain quests to the Matix-esque pills of the main storyline, to Hideo Kojima and the BB in a lab, “Harvest like a Reaper” and the many “You’re breathtaking!” references (Kerry’s take was my favorite), the game presents A LOT of pop culture nods and I’m here for it. Having real life content creators around for several levels of cameos was a nice touch as well.

So without mentioning the heavy spoilers (aka ending), in my opinion, Cyberpunk 2077 deserves a 9/10. Bugs are fixable and the story and characters carry the game on it’s own because they’re just too good. The main story is kinda short and I believe Johnny’s sidequests should be part of the main story, but I get why they are not mandatory if you want to roleplay a full on dislike towards the rockerboy. But still, there are some things related to gender and romance that are complete misfires. I hope that some of those will be fixed via patches (the character creator bits), but the lack of more romance options or at least bisexual NPCs obviously won’t be fixed and that’s what keeps CP2077 away from a perfect score in my book.

Now, regarding the endings:

The one thing that truly bothered me was that the Rogue one had no real goodbyes for V. She goes into a suicide mission in space and everyone’s post-credit messages complain she just disappeared without a trace? I get she’s dying and all, but, for fuck’s sake leave a message explaining it if you cared so much about them. The game *makes* you care about the characters but doesn’t give you an option to honor that love at the end.

Also, again, romances. I played both Rogue and Panam’s endings so I know there’s no way to have a happy ending with River, which is bittersweet and probably for the best that it happens with him since his romance seems to be the least engaging, but again that makes me feel cheated. Not that they parted ways in the Nomad ending (that was sad, but sad endings are not bad), but that there is no happy-ish ending romance wise for a cishet female. People who romanced Panam obviously stay together with her and those who romanced Judy do too from what I’ve read (and no idea about Kerry’s romance), but not getting that option if you choose to be female and go for a het romance takes away from the game. Sadly. Also my last interaction with River in Rogue’s ending was fucking terrible, I liked how poetic that ending was for Rogue and Johnny until I got to the rest of my V’s life.

(But I still headcanon that River eventually joined V with the Aldecaldos in my canon ending, aka the Nomads’, despite what he said. Since his post-credit message implies he might visit her and stuff.)

As for the rest of the ending... CP2077 clearly states that life isn’t happy and that there’re no happy endings for people who live in NC, so I like that no ending is completely happy since you are bound to die anyway, but. But. It’s somewhat disheartening that the overall arc can be resumed to “all that you did served for nothing, you’re still dying so your efforts were absolutely useless.” I really don’t see how to improve it without defaulting to a happy, sunshine-esque ending that fixes everything, so I don’t know. It still wasn’t exactly what I wanted to hear at the end, so... I liked it but didn’t, at the same time. Ha.

And lastly, I hoped for endgame playability and there is none, you have to revert to an earlier save to keep playing. I get why it wasn’t done, to give a definitive end to V’s story in NC, but anyway. What I really liked about this choice was that no matter the ending, V becomes no one again. They will be forgotten by most people after a while either because they leave with the nomads or because they ‘disappear’, aka die in a blaze of glory in that casino in space. Or well, sell their soul to Arasaka or commit suicide on the rooftop.

So overall, I loved this game and critics are somewhat too harsh. But I agree there are some terrible design choices and a long way of bugfixing to get to the specific masterpiece that we were hoping for.

[shadowofthelamp]

I’m slowly stretching myself back into reverse au and writing Timber again. Minor retcon for the reverse au: Sonic’s dimension wasn’t just conquered, it was destroyed from the inside out. When they went back to check it out, everything was roboticized- there were no signs of life left, not even Robotnik.

Some context: It’s semi-explained in the writing, but Timber moves into Devi’s dimension after they get married because he feels like he can do more there and he trusts the twins to take things back at home. They’re from entirely different universes (and different dimensions within those universes) but can traverse between them via the interdimensional highway. Timber’s universe is based on the M:XYL series where he’s a Shadow/Sally kid who was had a few years before Sonic and Sally got back together, and Devi’s is based on my ‘reverse au’ where Scourge is Sonic Prime and Sonic is anti-Sonic- she’s the daughter of their clone son. Got it? Good. Here we go.

Wordcount: 1050

Timber groaned, rolling his shoulders as Sonic settled down at the table across from him. His book was splayed open and forgotten mere inches away.

“Slept funny?”

“No, it’s the natural energy of this world.” Timber held up a hand, a yellow flame flaring from his fingers before it twisted around in midair as if someone had blown at it. The color flickered from yellow, to green, to red, then back to yellow. “My body just has to get used to it. It always happens when I’m here for longer than a day.”

“Oh, huh.” Sonic tilted his head to the side. “That sucks.”

“You got moved here from another dimension. How did you deal with it?”

Sonic shrugged, counting off on his fingers. “Between the starvation, the cold stone floors, the electroshocks, and Scourge generally being as much of an asshole as he could, I barely even noticed.”

Timber flinched. Genius move, Acorn. “Oh. Right.”

Sonic set a hand on Timber’s head, scratching a little between the fluffy ears. “It’s fine, that’s all long in the past. If you want, I’m sure the nurse can help- she’s dealt with Devi long enough that I’m sure she knows how to handle interdimensional jetlag.”

“Right…” Timber’s ear twitched before he pulled away from Sonic a little. “Maybe later- mostly it’s just kind of an uncomfortable tingling, nothing painful.”

“That’s good, that’s good.” Sonic nodded. ”Devi still wrapped up in the wedding plans?”

“She’s probably talking poor Annette’s ear off. I’m to go down and make sure that she actually eats in...” He pulled a pocket watch out of one of the pouches on his overcoat. “Half an hour, but she doesn’t want me to see the actual dress until the wedding, and I’ll oblige her that.” He looked back up at Sonic. “So, how is ‘Grandpa’?”

Sonic grinned. “Being kind of pissy you’re moving in, but I wouldn’t worry about it. You can take care of yourself, and you’re going to be family now- he respects that more than you’d think. He actually likes Krysta- she kind of grew on him.”

“It’s still weird to think we’re going to be in-laws.”

“He’ll live. He still adores Dev, and you’re a nice kid.” 

“He hates me. I’m pretty used to people making snap judgements, but I’d like to think I’ve gotten pretty good at bringing people around to at least tolerate me.” Timber slid one of his inhibitors off, rolling it around underneath his index finger. He’d taken to wearing fingerless gloves instead of nothing at all on his hands, and he could feel the energy within the bracelet shifting from the anarcym in the atmosphere. 

“He doesn’t hate you. If he hated you, you’d be dead.”

“Reassuring,” Timber replied dryly. 

“You know…” Sonic thought for a moment. “I think you remind him of his dad.”

“His dad?” Timber raised an eyebrow. “Grandpa Jules? He’s a nice guy, sure, but-”

“It’s a sore spot. This universe is all switched up from yours, remember?” As if Timber could forget, considering he was moving into an alternate version of the same castle he’d grown up in. “I don’t think he was that great to Scourge since he was obsessed with politics, and trying to make the whole world better meant he left his family behind.”

Timber sucked in a breath through his teeth. “Ah. But that’s not-” 

“You said that was part of why you came here, right? To try and help give us a better idea of what running a monarchy should be like, and helping the people?” He shrugged. “I’m not saying that’s the only thing that you’re here for, since I can tell you and Devi are genuinely tight. Honestly, though, you’re staying for the same reason I did.”

Timber jolted. “I thought you were-”

Sonic raised an eyebrow. “You think Scourge could keep me here for forty-five years without me wanting to stay?” Timber just blinked, and Sonic idly ran his fingers over the leather collar around his neck. “He took the shock collar off when we were twenty. There’s a starpost buried in the basement, and plenty of people didn’t like him when we were younger. I could have gotten out if I’d really wanted when he started giving me some more freedoms, but home was completely destroyed, and shoving aside some random Sonic would have probably caused more problems.” He paused. “Especially considering Scourge is the blueprint for what a Sonic should act like, so all his friends would probably be jerks anyway.” 

“Ouch.” Timber winced. “You-”

Sonic waved a hand, dismissing Timber’s concerns before they could even be voiced. “Yeah, yeah, I’ve gotten used to it. I like Scourge now- he really grows on you. Plus, I started helping to reshape things- having a partner that rules the world means I’ve got a lot of power by influencing him. Over the years he’s learned to listen to me- it cuts down on the coup attempts.”

Timber groaned. “I’m going to have to learn to deal with those too, aren’t I? Once the Dark Presence dissipated, we haven’t had too many problems with people grabbing for the throne.”

“Yeah, it doesn’t happen too often anymore, but we’ve got warning systems in place after the time with the knockout gas. You’re a good fighter, Devi says, so you’ll be fine.”

“Oh Chaos,” Timber muttered before straightening up. He’d slumped over at some point.

“We should try a sparring session at some point. If you can fight me, you can fight off any intruder, trust me.”

“It’s not that.” Timber said. “I know I can defend myself, it’s just- still weird realizing I’m going to be staying here long enough to deal with all of this.”

“Hopefully it’ll be forever, if you and Dev don’t drive each other nuts.” He grinned. “We don’t bite unless you ask.” At that, Sonic set a hand on Timber’s shoulder and squeezed. “Just relax. If you ever need somebody to talk to, I’m here, and Krysta is too. Most of the maids are really nice too. I know Scourge, Remy, and even Devi can be kind of a lot at times, but we love them.”

“Yeah, it’ll be worth it,” Timber said, nodding to himself as he stood up, chair grinding against the stone floor. “I’m off to pry my fiancée off her seamstress. Can you tell the cooks to start something?”

Sonic nodded. “Got it. See you later?”

Timber smiled back. “See you later.”

[make-it-mavis]

Homesick (Entry #20)

01/07/88  11:56 PM

Hey.

That first night was rough.

The following six would not be much better.

Honestly, most of my time spent in the dump has excused itself from my memory, on account of being so profoundly unremarkable and entirely unpleasant. I’m pretty sure I know what I did, but a large sum of the details are basically gone. Thankfully, none of it’s all that important, but I still feel like I should write down what I can recall. It’s kind of weird -- it feels like the more I write, the more I remember. Maybe once all’s said and done, I should try keeping a journal or some corny crap like that. A real one.

‘Dunno if I could stay regular on it without the added benefit of pretending to talk to you.

Anyway. Seven-ish days, I stayed there, and each day, relations with Wreck-it stayed just as strained, clipped, and awkward as the day before. I found out on the first morning that he had a strike system in mind -- I break three rules, that’s three strikes, that’s my ass hitting the road. Of course, I found out about this shortly after making my first strike. Literally seconds into the first day. 

I hadn’t slept at all, being too sick and anxious and plagued by a snoring gorilla. So, when he woke up, before he could even stand, he was greeted by a violation of Rule #2:

“Hey, Maestro, what’s it like havin’ an entire brass section lodged in your nose?”

Then he, let’s say, ‘explained’ that I’d just struck one of three.

The second strike was not long for this world, either. Just hours later, I’d break Rule #5, completely by accident.

Business was pretty slow that day, being so early in the School Year (I heard some things here and there about so-and-so’s throwing First Day of School parties, but there was no festival this year -- not in the climate for it, I guess). Fix-it had a fair amount of free time between gamers, and made the incredibly ill-advised decision to try to talk to me. I was curled up on my pillows trying very hard to sleep when I heard him climbing up the bricks, calling out cautiously, “Mavy? Are you here?”

I didn’t say anything. I just grabbed a brick and tossed it in the direction of his voice. I then heard a yelp, a handful of Nicelander gasps, those tumbling sound effects, and that morbid little funeral drone. I didn’t expect to actually hit him, let alone K.O. him. He’s so damn easy to K.O., it’s like cracking an egg.

Regardless of it being an accident, regardless of the fact that Fix-it was assuring everyone he was fit as a fiddle seconds later, regardless of the fact that Wreck-it wasn’t even in the dump at the time, but watching from the roof of Niceland, it was a strike. So I had one left until I was out on my ass. I really had to pull it together in that regard. And I did, sort of.

I spent each day more or less the same: Looking for distractions that didn’t break any rules, puking, and trying to sleep.

I wandered around when I could. I took sporadic catnaps. I took very, very cold baths in the river, which I did not miss doing at all, but I certainly couldn’t use the showers in your game anymore. I drew sketches of the gamers’ faces as they played. I spent lots of time hugging a bucket. I very quietly played my guitar, more for the motion than the music. I snuck into the building from behind and raided apartments during gameplay, stockpiling food and water as my appetite slowly came back. It was all repetitive, futile, and not nearly enough to distract me the way I needed. I wanted buffs so, so bad. Even a drink. But for the life of me, I could not leave the game.

I tried many times, often several times in a day. I’d go stand at our dinky little train station, staring at the dinky little train I’d have to use as a newfound ground-dweller, and shiver. I’d pace. I’d kick the train, usually. It was so demeaning and frustrating. Nobody can keep me locked up. Yet there I was, too afraid to leave my own Dev-damned game out of fear that I’d be murdered. That had to be exactly what my attacker wanted me to feel. Just crippling, paralyzing fear. She may not have killed me, but maybe she was counting on other ways to make me disappear. And there I was, giving her what she wanted.

Wreck-it, on the other hand, left the game nightly to go to Tapper’s, right after closing. He’d check in with me beforehand, and it’d be the same each time.

He’d say, “Hey. Holdin’ up okay?”

I’d say, “Yup.”

He’d say, “Think you might leave soon?”

I’d say, “Hopefully.”

He’d say, “I’m going to Tapper’s, if you’re interested.”

I’d say, “No, thanks.”

End scene.

Word for word, the same every night. Those were really our only brief windows of communication, right up until the fifth night, after he had come back from Tapper’s and settled in. 

The withdrawals had cleared up by then, but, needless to say, I still didn’t feel too good. I’d been stuck in there for nearly a week, feeling more broken and pathetic than I’d ever felt in my life. Everything was weighing down so, so hard, it was like I could barely breathe. Being unable to find you, nearly being murdered, being villainized, practically losing my brush -- it all had me cornered. There was nowhere to run. I was wishing so deeply for a way out. So, like I’ve done countless times before, I stared out into the arcade through the screen, trying to imagine a reality where I could break out and leave all of this behind.

The thing is, though, I’d only ever dreamed of that when no one else was around. This time, I was peering over the mound of bricks that I’d been sleeping behind, barely ten feet from Wreck-it’s stump. I was lying there for Devs know how long before, completely by accident, a question slipped from my mouth.

“What do you think it’s like out there?”

Wreck-it jumped. “Huh?”

I jumped. “What?”

“What’d you say?”

I felt my face burn up. I couldn’t have that conversation, not with him. I slipped back down the bricks to my privacy, and instinctively grabbed my guitar. “Forget it. Doesn’t matter.”

Wreck-it didn’t press, but I didn’t expect him to. It was the heavy, awkward silence after that I was worried about, so, without a second thought, I started playing my guitar. I’d played quietly while Wreck-it was around a few times before, and he didn’t seem to mind. Up until that point, though, I’d been silent on the vocals, because… y’know, I guess I just didn’t feel much like singing since you’d left. But in my panic, I started singing the first thing that popped into my head. It was this song I’d started writing about a concrete world and a neon storm. It wasn’t done. I’d forgotten most of it. It was a freakin’ mess -- eventually, I just gave up. I sighed and started plucking no tune in particular. Me and my unpredictable mouth.

That’s when Wreck-it piped in again, casually.

“Was that a new one?”

I cringed. “Yeah. It’s... not done.”

He paused. “It was nice. When it’s done, you should play it at Tapper’s.” He paused again. “...Y’know, after… things die down a bit.”

“...Yeah, right. As if I’ll ever play there again. Certainly not at Qix, either.”

“No?”

“No. Sprites at Qix are there for a good time, and I’m not super conducive to those anymore, so… even if it ever opens up again, I’m off the setlist.”

Qix had, indeed, been barred from the public not too long after the incident. It had become even more of a hotspot for buff use and dealing. Hardly stopped users and dealers from finding new places for it, but, still, the arcade lost its one and only nightclub. So that was grand.

“And, as for Tapper, I kinda doubt he wants the arcade’s most hated sprite playing at his bar.”

“Tapper still likes you,” he said. “I mean, he even talked about you the other night, said he’d run into you at the memorial. Wanted to know how you were doing.”

It was true -- I had met Tapper briefly at the memorial, and I remembered that he said that I was always welcome in his game if I needed company. It really was a sweet thing, looking back. But I didn’t take him seriously at the time, ‘cause I still thought it was a big joke. And after that, I definitely made him regret his offer. All I’d done at Tapper’s was drink myself violent and end up throwing punches and breaking glass. I was certain that he’d changed his mind and started hating me like everyone else. That thought really stung.

I waited, for a moment. “...What did you tell him?”

“I just told him I wouldn’t know.”

“Good,” I nodded, “good.”

We were both quiet for a long while, before words slipped out of me again. “I’m gonna miss that bar.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well… whether Tapper likes me or not, I’m… bad for business, now. I could draw sprites in with my music, before, but, now… Even if he says I’m welcome there, I’m not really. It’s not entirely up to him.” I sighed, and felt my voice drop so low, it practically dragged. “I’m not welcome anywhere, anymore, so… that’s great.”

“Nowhere at all?”

I said, “Nope. Didn’t you say yourself that I’m trouble? Big trouble? Everyone seems to think that. Bigger trouble than anyone can deal with nowadays.”

Once again, we were both silent for a moment. I’d stopped playing, reduced to flicking one string with my thumb, just enough to hear it.

I heard Wreck-it take a deep breath behind me. He paused, and then, in a slow, awkward voice, said, “Well… Yeah, maybe, but… You don’t scare me, kid.”

I wished that could have made me feel better. It was, objectively, a pretty decent thing to say, and another sprite probably would have been very comforted by the chance of an ally in this mess, or at the very least, someone with something resembling loyalty. But it just made me feel worse. I felt too smart to believe any of that crap could last. He didn’t know it yet, but he’d change his mind. I’d always figured that sooner or later, everyone would decide I’m too much. That was just the way of things. 

However, given my bleak circumstances, I had little choice but to accept his… tolerance while it lasted. Having someone on my side, even for just a little while, seemed like it could have proven helpful.

So, after a long, sullen silence, I just went back to plucking idly on my guitar. “Good to know you’re not as dumb as you look, then.”

His breath caught in disbelief for a second, before he dropped right back into growling, “Name-calling. Watch it.”

“It was a compliment, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah, a super backhanded one.”

I closed my eyes, trying to play myself to sleep. “Just take it, pal. I don’t got that many kind words to share, so I gotta ration them out wisely.”

He grumbled. “You would call that kind.”

“I do. Now, can we cut the yammerin’ and sleep?”

“Fine. Yeesh.”

He slept. I didn’t. Not ‘til midday the following day, anyway. I fell asleep during gameplay hours, and woke up just after closing when Wreck-it stomped his big ol’ stumps up the bricks. We had the usual pre-Tapper’s exchange, ending, of course, with me refusing his offer to come along. I was tired as hell, and I still wasn’t ready to go out there.

But, as I quickly discovered, it didn’t matter if I was ready or not.

I’d been in a fitful sleep for what must have been barely half an hour when Wreck-it’s feet woke me up again. This time, he came around behind my bricky knoll to stand next to me, towering with this look on his face that I didn’t like at all.

He said, “Hey kid, guess what.”

“I’m being evicted?”

“No,” he grinned in a way I couldn’t read -- don’t really see him smile that often, honestly, “but you are leaving. You’re going to Tapper’s!”

I was not following. “Uh… ‘kay, you do know that I said ‘no thanks’, right? That’s a thing you remember?”

“Yup, yup, I do. But listen to this -- I talked to Tapper for you, and all that stuff you said about him hating you or -- or, y’know, all that --” he shook his head, “-- not true. He misses you, kid. You gotta get out there and show him you’re alive.”

I felt my face burn up.

“You-- You--” I sprung to my feet, “You TOLD HIM I’M STAYING WITH YOU!?”

He put his hands on his hips nonchalantly. “Yeah, maybe I did.”

“HOW-- WHEN I SPECIFICALLY SAID NOT TO?! THAT WAS RULE NUMBER ONE!!”

“Ah, ah,” he pointed, “polite request number one, and, request denied.”

I’d have throttled his fat neck if my fingers could fit around it.

“WHY’D I WASTE MY TIME BEING POLITE, THEN, LARD-FACE!?”

He seemed thoroughly unimpressed. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’m gonna let that one slide, because you can bellyache all you want, but it doesn’t change the fact that you’ve been in here way, way too long, kid.”

“QUIT CALLING ME KID! I’M GONNA LEAVE, OKAY! SOON! ON MY OWN!”

“Uh huh, I’m sure you were going to,” he nodded in a condescending sort of way that made me want to hurl a brick between his eyes, “but now you get to leave with me, right now.”

“NO, I DON’T!”

“You said you’re here ‘cause you had nowhere else to go, right? Well, now you’ve got somewhere else to go, so get up off my bricks, and come go to the bar like I know you’ve been dying to do all week.”

He wasn’t wrong. But I was so angry. And I was still so scared.

“I DON’T WANT TO GO, AND YOU CAN’T MAKE ME!”

His eyebrows raised for a second, and he shrugged. “Alright, I guess we’re doing this.”

Then the colossal bastard grabbed me. Me, as in, my entire body, in one of his huge, meaty paddles he calls hands. It’s not that he’s never done that before, but it’s always been to throw me, and lasted only a second. This time, he started walking down the bricks, with the clear intention of just carrying me the entire way to Tapper’s. His code is still less dense than that of Fix-it, but that prolonged contact still made my binary crawl. Devs, did it crawl.

So, after a quick burst of threats and shrieking, I conceded. I agreed to go with him if he would just put me the hell down. He dropped me, I ran back to grab my book bag, and we trudged to the train. The way he walked behind me made me feel like he was marching me to some grim fate. Some grim, unnatural, unspeakably awkward fate.

As much as I lamented being reduced to riding the train like a chump, seeing the way his massive ass just barely fit into one of the cars was pretty rewarding.

Once we started rolling, he told me, “You know it’ll do you good to get out. You’re just not coded for life in a box, kid.”

I don’t remember if I sighed or gave the flattest laugh of my life. “Yeah, tell that to the Devs. And for cuss’ sake, quit calling me kid.”

In all truthfulness, as scared as I was, I really was so relieved at a chance to finally leave. And as much as I hated not being able to do it on my own, I was, admittedly, glad to have a second pair of eyes. It was probably a pretty decent thing of him to do, scouting out a safe place for me to go. Even if I really, really didn’t want or ask for it.

But I’m still pissed at him for denying my incredibly polite request.

[notveryglittery]

all the way home i’ll be warm

summary: 'tis the season for spending time with your loved ones! for some mischievous college kids and their "unfortunate" dads, that happens in more ways than one. ships: romantic roceit, romantic moxiety. siblings logicality, brotherly thvi. familial morolo, familial remceit.  wc: 6.8k / warnings: sympathetic deceit, food mentions, flying mention, two characters locked in a room together. author’s note: participated in @sanderssantas as a pinch hitter and got to write some lovely wishes for @max-is-tired!! it was a lot of fun and not gonna lie, i kinda want to write a moxiety prequel to it now LMAO. anyway, happy belated holidays!!

read on ao3 | @fandersfic-roceit @fandersfic-moxiety​

—  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  — 

“Did your disaster of a dad sweep the librarian off his feet yet?”

Patton sighed and rested his cheek on the palm of his hand. It made his face sort of squished and extra cute. Virgil wished they were having this conversation directly so that he could be the one squishing Patton’s face with his hands. 

“Nope! Vee, I swear, they’re worse than we were.” 

“That’s really saying something,” Virgil said. 

“Do you want to hear something impressive?” 

“Anything you say is impressive.”

Patton giggled. “Oh hush, that doesn’t even make sense.”

Virgil shrugged helplessly. “Nothing in this world does, babe, but you sure help make it easier to deal with.” 

Patton was turning properly red now and Virgil made a mental note to thank Picani again for the suggestions when he’d expressed wanting to buy a new phone. The camera quality on this one made video calling with Patton even better. 

“I said hush!” Patton squeaked. “We’re moving on!” 

Virgil just smiled back innocently. “Well, what impressive thing do you have to share?”

“Logan hasn’t gone a single day without complaining.” 

That was, actually, pretty impressive. 

“Logan? Complaining?”

Patton nodded.

“Never has anything to say about you always mentioning that you’re fifteen minutes older-Logan? Has aced literally every final he’s ever taken without a single whine-Logan? Can sit in traffic for hours and not protest once-Logan?” 

Patton nodded, fervently. “I know!”

“Explain,” Virgil demanded, feeling very much like he’d just been deposited into an alternate universe.

“Well, you know how he had a secret sweetheart for, like, ever and we only found out on accident, right?”

“Right.”

“He says Dad’s being ridiculous for pining for so long! Apparently, in the time it took for Logan and his lover to get their feelings sorted out, Dad had only just got Dev’s phone number.” 

“You’re having fun with alliteration,” Virgil mused, before continuing. “That…” He paused to process. “Pat, they’re not just worse than us, they’re like… the worst in existence.” 

“I don’t know how they do it,” Patton moaned, tilting his head back. 

“At this rate, I’m going to visit over break just so that I can lock them in a closet together.”

“And that’s the only reason for you to visit, hmm?” 

“Of course,” Virgil answered, solemnly, “not like I got my act together and have a handsome boyfriend that I’d like to spend 7 Minutes in Heaven with, or anything.” 

“Virgil!” Patton exclaimed, nearly screeching. 

“Yes?” 

“I’m hanging up on you now,” Patton threatened. 

“You’re impossible to fluster in person. When else am I supposed to snipe you?” 

“I’m confiscating the love gun!” 

“It’s cute how you think that’ll stop me,” Virgil said, delighting in the way Patton was still pouting.

“Good night!” 

And with that, the call ended. 

Virgil laughed, switching to their text thread without missing a beat. 

stormcloud: love you lots. hope your dreams are as happy as you make me. sunshine: i love u too, u bully, good night!!!!!!!! >:(  sunshine: … sunshine: 💜💙💜💙

—  

“Operation Matchmaker is a go!”

“I am making the executive decision to reject that name immediately.” 

“Vetoed.” 

“On what grounds?”

“I was born first.” 

“By fifteen minutes, that hardly counts.” 

“It does, too! It counts fifteen whole times.”

“You realize how little sense that makes, don’t you?”

“It doesn’t have to.”

“And why’s that?”

“Because I’m older!”

“That is not how this works—” 

“What are we debating this time, kids?” Roman interrupted, arriving before a full blown argument could start.

“Dad!” The twins chorused, one far more enthusiastic than the other. Then again, one of them had been complaining for the last two weeks of his father’s oblivious pining. 

“Patton and I were wondering if you wouldn’t mind driving us today, since you haven’t got anything planned?” 

“And just how do you know I’m not busy? I could have many dragons to slay!”

“And princes to swoon over,” Patton mumbled. 

Logan elbowed his sibling in the side. “It would be quite efficient to take just the one car out instead of both. However, we all know how much I dislike driving in the snow, and I don’t trust Patton behind the wheel when I know Virgil could call at any moment.”

“Hey!” 

“Good point.”

“Hey!”

“And if we leave now, we’ll beat rush hour traffic and be home in time before nightfall.”

“Alright, fine, as long as we’re all good with stopping to get takeout for dinner.”

“That is agreeable.”

“Perfect!” 

The trio separated to get their things together. Roman had still been in his pajamas when he happened upon Logan and Patton at the dining table. 

They had seemed suspiciously like they were scheming but given it was nearing Christmas, it was safe to assume they were just figuring out gifts. He’d taken care of presents for everyone last month, including Patton’s aforementioned boyfriend. That one had been fun to plan and if everything else went up in flames (as the holidays were sometimes wont to do), he knew that this, at least, would be well worth the work. 

Figuring the pair only had a few quick errands to run and that all they’d really expect of him was to keep the car running and warm, Roman went with dressing down for the day. He bundled up in crown patterned sweatpants, a maroon turtleneck, and a black beanie. His hair would not see the light of this day, thank you very much. 

“You look comfy!” Patton chirped as they regrouped at the entryway. Their pink pronoun necklace matched the earmuffs and gloves they were wearing; in fact, Patton seemed to have decided on more of a pastel aesthetic than normal today, what with the rest of their outfit in complementary soft shades. 

Logan, on the other hand, had gone with his usual and was covered head to toe in navy and black. “Indeed. Do you intend to join us at all or will you be taking self portraits in the car?” 

“Ha ha,” Roman deadpanned, shooing his kids outside and locking the door as they left the house.

It wasn’t until they were settled and on the road that Roman thought to actually ask what the plans were.

“What’s on the agenda, then? Gifts? Missing ingredients for cookies? Dropping anything off at Goodwill?” He hadn’t missed the fact that they both had bags, and that they seemed rather full. 

“All of the above, actually,” Patton piped up from the backseat. “I wanna donate some of my old plushies and Lo’s got some books he doesn’t need anymore.” 

“Patton is in need of vanilla extract and food coloring. I wonder how we could possibly be out.” 

“If I don’t make red velvet French toast every morning during holiday break, then what's the point of you being home from college?” Roman asked. 

“Quality time spent together, a reprieve from coursework—” 

“There is no point!” Patton interrupted. “It’s the best part about being back!” 

“Patton, there is no ‘being back’ for you seeing as you do not even live in the dorms. Theoretically, you could have red velvet French toast every morning, regardless of the time of year.” 

An offended gasp from his father made sense but to hear it from Patton as well surprised him. 

“Blasphemy!” Patton cried. 

“The disrespect!” Roman exclaimed. 

“That breakfast is tradition, Lo! We’d never have it without you,” Patton promised, clasping Logan’s shoulder and squeezing. 

“Thank you,” he responded, voice dripping with sarcasm, “that truly eases my concerns. I was so worried.” 

With the streets empty as they were, getting to and from locations took no time at all. Sure enough, Roman waited in the car while Patton and Logan stopped in at the grocery store. 

This hadn’t been part of their plan but it was better this way; originally, one would have had to distract him while the other worked. Logan emptied the contents of his backpack, old plastic bags to be recycled, to make room for the pre-ordered bouquet of flowers from the floral department. 

“It’s lovely,” Patton gushed to the seasonal employee. “We’re finally gonna get dad to confess his feelings to Dev. It’s been years in the making, they’re both just so clueless. Not that that’s a bad thing!” They hurried to correct while Logan muttered “It really is,” under his breath.

“I think it’s real sweet what you kids are doin’ for your pa,” Valerie said sincerely. “Roman’s been a blessing since I moved out here. I swear, the number of times he’s sighed wistfully during our Disney movie marathons while thinking about that man… I bet the whole town’s rooting for them.” 

“It’s a miracle the whole town hasn’t lost their collective mind waiting for one of them to make a move.” 

“Logan!” Patton scolded despite looking delighted over their brother being so exasperated that he could hardly be bothered anymore to resist roasting their hopeless father and his crush. 

“Well, keep me up to date, won’t you?” Valerie requested, shoving another handful of ribbon into Logan’s bag. 

“You bet!” 

With the flowers and groceries, not forgotten thanks to Logan, safely secured, they were on to their next stop. Roman denied any teasing of having picked just the right parking spot for prime selfie lighting (not that any of them would have been posted anyway, given his casual look today).  

True to their word, Patton stopped in at the local Goodwill and emptied their backpack of stuffed toys and books. If they stopped by the counter to buy something they’d begged be held for them earlier that week, well… 

“Darlin’, I dunno how y’all are gonna pull this off.” 

“Oh, ye of little faith!” Patton said, running their hands through the purchased scarf to check for any snags or loose threads. “I think I know enough about romance to make it work.” 

The snap of Remy’s bubblegum startled Patton into peering up at him. 

“You’re joking, right?” 

When Patton didn’t answer, Remy reached up and took his sunglasses off. He pointed them right at Patton’s nose, who went slightly cross-eyed trying to focus. “Babes, tell me you’re pullin’ my leg.” 

“I’m not!”

“Oh, bless your heart,” Remy cooed, smiling as he perched the eyewear on top of his head. “Honey, romance could be painted on the broad sign of a barn and you’d still miss it.” 

“Uhm, hello? Virgil?” Patton replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“Planned the cutest prom-posal in the history of prom-posals despite his anxiety after you mistook your first three dates as him trying to get to know Logan better through you.” 

“Listen—”

“Yeah? To you yelling at me over the phone about whether or not Virgil kissing you meant he liked you or like-liked you?”

“Remy!” Patton whined.

“I’m just sayin’, sweetie,” Remy relented, “It’s a good thing Logan’s helping.” 

Patton huffed, shoving their receipt into the bag. “You’ll still meet us there? You’re kinda important to this going right.” 

“Only kinda?” Remy rolled his eyes. “I take offense to that. But yeah, I’ll be there.” 

Patton bounced a couple times on their feet, leaning across the counter. Remy couldn’t help grinning as he pressed his lips against their forehead. 

“You’ll grow out of that someday.”

“Never!” Patton crowed, backing up and towards the exit. “See you later!”

Patton returned to the car and startled Roman by opening the driver side door. 

“I’m afraid we might’ve been a bit dishonest with you,” Logan said, only barely managing to cover smug with sheepish.

“Out, daddio! I’m driving us to the last stop and you get to be blindfolded for it!”  Patton exclaimed, bright and mischievous.

“The betrayal,” Roman cried, unbuckling his seat belt. “And so soon before Christmas, too. Whatever are you surprising me with?” 

After some poking and prodding at Patton’s ticklish spots and Patton yanking Roman’s beanie down further over his eyes, they were off. Roman didn’t stop griping the entire way. Logan kept the banter going, texting Remy all the while to make sure everything was going according to plan. 

 —

“I’m here, you’re welcome,” Remy called into the break room very obviously marked Employees Only.

“I’ll only be thankful if you brought lunch,” the pile of blankets on the couch replied, muffled.

“Hot soup, hot cocoa, hot tea.”

“Last one’s literal or figurative?” 

“Guess you won’t know ‘til you shed.” 

“Uuugh.” 

The voice groaned the entire length of shrugging the blankets off until they were all gathered around his waist and over his legs. 

“Ah, there he is! Dearest dad emerges from his cocoon.” 

Devereux glared at his son as Remy crossed the room and set a plastic bag down on the table. 

“All I do for you, just to be relentlessly tormented by your sass.”

“I learned from the best,” Remy said seriously, setting up a series of thermoses and tupperware. 

“Suck-up.” 

The moment Remy was sat beside him, Devereux was ruffling a hand through his hair, tousling the oh-so-meticulously-taken-care-of locks. Remy shouted in outrage, batting his dad’s hand away and scooting to the other end of the couch. 

“All I do for you!”

It took nearly a minute of the two glaring at each other, waiting for one to make the next move. When Devereux’s stomach growled noisily, the stalemate ended. Remy smirked. 

“Truce?” He offered.

“... Truce.” 

They reached for the table at the same time, picking their own containers. Remy grabbed a thermos, no doubt filled with hot coffee. Devereux chose a microwavable bowl and a spoon, cradling it carefully to his chest. Silence followed for awhile longer while Remy texted with one hand and Devereux stared out the window as he ate, scowling slightly when snowflakes started drifting slowly into view. 

“A shame I won’t get home tonight,” he grumbled, glaring into his soup. 

“And why’s that?” Remy asked distractedly.

“The weather. Too cold. If only you’d look up from your phone and—” 

“Okay, boomer.” 

“I hate you.”

“I’m telling mom.” 

“Who’s she? Never heard of her.”

Remy took an extra loud sip from his drink, maintaining direct eye contact with his dad as he did so.

“I’m sending you to boarding school. Far, far away. You’ll live with your grandparents.”

“No, not the Witch and the Critic,” Remy hissed, actually suddenly nervous. 

“They really aren’t that bad,” Devereux said, doing a terrible job of hiding his self-satisfied grin. 

“I had to sneak my caffeine in!” 

“It would’ve canceled out Grandma’s sleeping spells.”

“Stop that!” Remy shrieked at the same moment his phone started ringing. He glanced at the screen and then back up. “You’re lucky I love you even when you’re being this mean to me.” 

Answering the call, Remy set his thermos back on the table and stood up from the couch. “Y’all make it safe?” 

Devereux tuned the conversation out as he put his soup down and worked on getting out of his blanket nest. He cleaned up as Remy chatted, thinking about everything that needed to be done before the day was over. Did the grind ever stop? Not that he’d change anything; Remy was the best thing that happened to him, and while the nightmares had seemed unending at the time, life nowadays was a dream come true in comparison. Sure, there was one unattainable fantasy that would be the cherry on top, but he’d learned not to get his hopes up anymore. 

“Got something to show you,” Remy said and Devereux supposed he could put up with whatever nonsense was to follow since Remy had brought him lunch. 

They headed out into the library, which was relatively empty since school was out for the holidays. That didn’t change the fact that some families simply couldn't handle being cramped in the same house together for long periods of time. Devereux saw all sorts come through for a reprieve from the stress: teenagers with headphones blaring music loud enough that even he could hear it, parents with tense shoulders that appeared worn out no matter the hour, students visiting home that felt out of place after being away, now in need of a break from their discomfort. 

Devereux followed Remy to the private study rooms. These were ideal, usually, for finding some peace and quiet, but he had a feeling some sort of havoc was inevitable. 

“Eyes closed!” Remy exclaimed suddenly, pivoting. He practically resembled the Cheshire cat. 

They had paused in front of room five. The lights were on and the blinds pulled but Devereux could see shadows moving through the slats. 

“Might as well get it over with,” he muttered sarcastically, doing as requested. 

Several things happened in the next moment. 

Remy knocked once on the door and it creaked open. A hand took Devereux’s wrist and yanked him forward, presumably into the room. He collided into something sturdy, though the sound of crinkling plastic sounded less so. Someone erupted into giggles, another muttered “finally,” and then the door slammed shut, and the lock clicked. 

“Oh,” squeaked the voice of whoever it was holding Devereux up from falling backwards. 

(‘Whoever,’ we say, as if Devereux wasn’t achingly familiar with this voice.) 

His eyes flew open and he resisted yelping in alarm. Just so. Roman was stood in front of him, dressed in loungewear, and holding a bouquet of flowers. He was rapidly turning red and he seemed about as confused as Devereux felt. This wouldn’t last long, it never did with the two of them, but it was really just a matter of who would snap out of it first. 

“You look exquisite,” Devereux murmured finally, pulling back from Roman just enough that he could brush a hand along his forearm. “As if you’ve just gotten out of bed and yet… still so effortlessly handsome.” 

“I can only imagine how divine it’d be to lay with you,” Roman responded smoothly, “though there’s not been created a material that could match your warmth.” 

A pause, both realizing what they’d just said. 

“Flowers!” Roman exclaimed suddenly, voice cracking, as he stepped away, and thrust the bundle towards Devereux. 

“Wonderful,” he coughed, holding them gently, and admiring the colors. “Not nearly as lovely as you, of course, though one could search the ends of the Earth and still nothing would compare.”

“Why, Devereux,” Roman purred, “it sounds almost like you’re calling me the prettiest thing on the planet—” 

“Aren’t you?” 

“— when in fact, your beauty outmatches that beyond this world. I’d choose still to gaze into your eyes, reminiscent of sweet honey crystallized, even if offered a glittering sea of endless diamond skies.” 

… Was it getting hot in this room? Roman looked exceedingly pleased with himself and Devereux cursed the competitive, theatrical streak they shared. There would be no moving from this spot if they continued like this… Not that he had a problem with it. Roman truly was a vision: hair tousled (Devereux could only imagine combing his fingers through the tangled locks), cheeks rosy (what he’d give to cause that blush daily), lips curved in satisfaction (oh, how he’d love to kiss that grin right off his face). 

The same moment Devereux glanced upwards, Roman’s gaze flickered down. 

‘Interesting,’ thought Devereux, taking note of the little sprig of green pinned to the ceiling.

Their eyes met again, their smiles melting into something softer, more sincere. 

“Our kids will be the death of us,” Roman muttered with a resigned sigh. 

“Our?” Devereux echoed. “I like the sound of that.” 

“Oh,” Roman managed, breathlessly. 

Keeping the flowers tucked in the elbow of one arm, Devereux reached forward with his free hand and rested his palm flat against Roman’s chest. His heart was racing. They had that in common. 

It was imperceptible, trying to figure out who leaned closer first. The kiss was hesitant to start, years of yearning and pent up passion and fragile feelings. Once the realization hit, that the pining was mutual, that they both wanted this, that they both had been wanting this… 

Well, it was a good thing the window to study room five was shuttered. 

 —

“Vee, it went perfectly!” Patton screamed into the receiver. 

“Uh, yeah, I sure hope it did,” Virgil answered, shifting so that his cellphone stayed firmly between his ear and shoulder, despite Patton’s volume, “given how long they’ve been flirting for.” 

Patton went on, gushing about how he and Logan had successfully tricked their dad into driving them to his own trap; how Remy had been instrumental in bribing Devereux with lunch; how they’d unlocked the room to find the pair slow dancing to music playing on Roman’s phone— “A Thousand Years,” covered by Boyce Avenue, they’d discover later. 

Had Virgil not been so busy with finals, he surely would have heard the story sooner; it had been just under a week since the set-up and, apparently, Roman and Devereux were, somehow, even more sickeningly affectionate than before.

Not that Virgil would have any room to talk in… He glanced at his watch. The nerves over his flight were replaced quickly by the excited anticipation about seeing Patton in three hours. 

“Sweetie?”

“I love you,” Virgil exclaimed suddenly, “just… so much.” 

Patton squealed. “Ahh!! I love you too!!” 

“Good. That’s… I’m glad. Hey, I gotta email a couple of professors. Talk later?” 

“Of course!” 

‘Sooner and closer than you think,’ Virgil mused, smiling at his lock screen photo after the call ended. They’d been going through his closet for spring cleaning and despite the silliness at the time, something about seeing Patton wearing his clothes warmed him all the way to the tips of his fingers and toes. 

Virgil let his mind wander as he headed through security and to his gate, wondering just what he’d do during his two weeks back home. Attending college a state over was miserable to start but he’d been grateful there’d been one still relatively close, at least, with his stupidly specific major. He hadn’t been able to visit during Fall break and so it’d been an agonizing five months since he’d last hugged Patton, last held his hand, last— okay Virgil calm down before the touch starvation rears its ugly head. 

Boarding, thankfully, took no time at all, since it was a smaller flight. The weather stayed mercifully clear and landing went off without a hitch. Grateful that he’d only needed to bring a carry-on and his backpack, he headed passed baggage claim and right for the pick-up zone outside. He was checking his phone to see where Thomas was parked when a body slammed into him from the side. Before he could panic about being attacked or robbed, his brother’s voice was rambling a mile a minute. 

“I literally have so much to tell you, I cannot believe how much has happened since you were here last, and look!” Thomas exclaimed, shoving his phone into Virgil’s face. It was a picture of a kitten he didn’t recognize which meant Thomas had adopted another pet. Virgil gave Thomas a deadpan stare as he rattled off all the reasons he’d definitely needed a new cat. 

He threw an arm over Virgil’s shoulders and led the way to the car, still gesturing excitedly as he went on about everything that had happened in Virgil’s absence. Apparently, Halloween had seen a jack-o’-lantern carving contest that was all for naught when Remy and Patton switched pumpkins, Logan’s boyfriend got a little knife happy with the picnic table, and Devereux realized halfway through his design that it was too humiliating for anyone else to see and had promptly threw the entire thing against a tree. 

“Was it Roman’s face?” Virgil asked, rolling his eyes. 

“Joan swears it was but you know them,” Thomas responded. 

“Agent of chaos,” Virgil agreed. 

Thanksgiving was the same as each year: Roman and the twins, Devereux and Remy, Valerie, Leo, Joan, Talyn, Terrence, Kenny, and Thomas all gathered at the local theatre. Even if any of them did have a house big enough to host a large group, the theatre held so much weight in all of their lives, and felt like the best place to express all the things they were grateful for— namely, each other. They made sure to leave the stage as clean as at the start of dinner, taking care to not leave any stains or scuffs by laying the floor with a plastic tarp. It took a bit of extra work, everyone having to transport their food, but the following games of charades and group improv made it all worth it. 

Virgil swore to himself he’d never miss another one again, college be damned. 

“No offense to Roman but the twins really got him good,” Thomas was saying as he merged onto the freeway. “They left Goodwill and just drove in circles until Remy let them know he’d made it to the library.” 

“The fact that neither of those disaster idiots had even a clue as to what their kids were planning is…” Virgil gestured broadly, as if he could pluck the word out of thin air, “ridiculous.” 

“But not unbelievable!” Thomas added. “I think they get blinded by the gay.” 

“Yeah, you’re one to talk,” Virgil began but Thomas was slamming the button on the console to turn on the radio, drowning out whatever his brother was planning on saying next. 

Virgil just settled into his seat, whistling innocently as Thomas’s face went bright red and Straight No Chaser sang through “The 12 Days of Christmas.”

Making it to the Sanders household took longer than Virgil would have liked but it was three days before Christmas and people were out and about for their last minute shopping. It didn’t help that it had snowed heavily the night before and so traffic was slow moving with everyone driving so carefully. 

Still, they arrived before Patton got home, which was the important part. Roman was standing on the porch, waving excitedly as Thomas pulled into the driveway. Virgil glared at the second parked car, recognizing it as Devereux’s, and prayed that Roman didn’t actually have company over. Patton’s surprise was supposed to be known by as few people as possible and the gossip in this town spread fast. 

“Welcome home!” Roman exclaimed, yanking Virgil into a hug as soon as he was within arm’s reach.

“Yeah, yeah,” Virgil said back, voice muffled as his face was pressed against Roman’s shoulder. “I’m happy to see you too, don’t get me wrong—” 

“I know,” Roman sighed, dramatically, relenting as he let Virgil go and ushered them in from the cold. “I’m not the one you want to be squished by.” 

“Shut up!” Virgil spluttered, swatting at Roman as if that would wipe the amused look off his face. 

“Oh, there he is!” 

Virgil was accosted the next moment. His face was met this time with a leather jacket and all he did in response was groan. Remy eased back but not before gently tugging once on Virgil’s earlobe and then tapping his nose. 

“We are way too old for that,” Virgil complained, scowling. 

It lasted all of three seconds before he caved, kicking out to tap the tip of his shoe against Remy’s ankle. 

“I still stand by that being a stupid handshake,” Devereux said, appearing out of nowhere just as suddenly as his son had. 

“Well good thing it’s not a handshake then, huh?” Virgil replied. However, it went mostly unheard as Roman stole Devereux’s attention at the same time, as if they literally hadn’t just been in the kitchen together three minutes ago. 

“I hate this already,” Virgil said, taking his phone from his pocket, hoping for a text from Logan to distract him. 

Sure enough, the younger of the twins had sent a photo of Patton at the candy store, eyeing a display case filled with fudge. His pronoun necklace stood out against the white of his sweater and matched the violet beanie pulled over his curls… the same one Virgil had left with him the day he had gone off to college. His heart swelled and if he’d been paying any attention, he’d have noticed the picture Remy snuck of him and the absolutely smitten smile on his face. 

Thomas clapped his hands, snapping Virgil out of it. “Okay, I’m gonna drive home. Roe’s gonna follow and then bring us back over here. Doesn’t make any sense for me to be hanging out but, not gonna lie, I think the twins would be sus if Roe wasn’t here.” 

“Hey!” Roman protested. 

“No offense, darling, but he’s not wrong,” Devereux said, smirking. 

At Roman’s put out expression, Devereux pressed a quick kiss to his cheek. 

Remy and Virgil were staring at each other as if they were each other’s cameras on The Office. 

“We got the decorations out earlier,” Remy said, pointing towards the living room. 

“Oh thank God, please get me away from them before I get cavities.” 

The two ducked out of the entryway where they’d all been gathered since Thomas and Virgil’s arrival. For the most part, the house had already been dressed up for Christmas. The tree was lit, the stockings were hung, and there was one final box left to be unpacked. It’d been left on the coffee table, waiting to be opened and taken care of. 

“I forget how sappy you look when you’re thinking about Patton.”

Virgil only gave Remy a rather rude hand gesture in return before lifting the lid off the container. Inside were the ornaments he and Patton had made together over the years. It was a tradition they’d had since before they began dating. Some of them were simple, made out of foam or cardboard and drawn on in marker or glitter glue pens; others were glass or ceramics and decorated with paint or sequins. The one thing they all had in common, though, was the indigo ribbon used to hang the baubles. It was the perfect mix of their favorite colors and needed to be special ordered anytime they ran out. Each one had the year written on it wherever there was space for it. Virgil loved them. Patton loved them so much that he refused to hang any of them without Virgil there to do so with him. 

According to Roman, who Virgil really had to thank for making this trip possible, Patton hadn’t even considered touching the box housing the ornaments, since there hadn’t been any guarantee of Virgil making it home for Christmas. Now, though… 

“Seriously, Virge, if I didn’t already doubt your dark and edgy exterior, I would be right about now.”

“Shut up, Rem,” Virgil said, laughing. 

For awhile longer, the pair just caught up on the last half year. Eventually, Devereux and Thomas returned. Apparently, Patton had gotten chilly and sad (not that he’d admit to that last part but there was no hiding it from his twin), so he and Logan were heading home early. That was all fine and good; they mostly had just needed to get Patton out of the house long enough for Virgil to get home and to bring out the special ornaments. 

While Virgil wanted to disagree with Thomas, Remy, and Devereux being there, he couldn’t be mad about having them around to keep him distracted… as long as they were gone before Patton arrived. With Remy sticking around… Virgil doubted it would happen, and he wouldn’t actually be mad if it did, but he was very good at hogging Patton’s attention. Which was hardly fair! 

Remy got all the attention he could ever ask for already; admittedly, he and Patton had grown up together, were best friends throughout school, not to mention still living near each other and getting to see each other every day and okay sure, without Remy’s guidance, he was pretty sure that even now, Patton wouldn’t believe that Virgil loved him because no offense, but he could propose and Patton would still ask “as like… friends?” 

… Alright, so maybe Virgil couldn’t get mad, pretend or not, at Remy being greedy with Patton’s company. That still didn’t make it fair. 

The following thirty minutes were agonizing. Sure, this wasn’t going to be nearly as extra and it wasn’t like Virgil wanted to outdo Roman and Devereux’s confession but also if he could outdo the drama gays (a term coined by the majority of the town, which was really saying something), then he’d have it to hold over Roman’s head for the rest of time, and that sounded pretty cool. In his humble opinion, jumping out and surprising your loved one was way more romantic than being locked in a room with them and hoping everything would go well. Was he sure yet when he’d be jumping out and surprising Patton? Nope! He kind of figured it’d just be something he knew. 

“They’re here!” Thomas exclaimed, nearly dropping his phone at the suddenness of receiving the text. 

“Get out,” Virgil snapped immediately and unthinkingly at Remy and Devereux. 

“Kinda late for that, doll,” Remy said, at least looking a little sorry about it. 

“We’ll hide out in the crafts room,” Devereux offered, already pulling Remy down the hallway. Virgil pointedly ignored the kiss he blew in Roman’s direction. He very pointedly ignored Roman catching it.

“You know they’ll see Roe’s car, right?” Thomas prompted, grinning.

“I’m glad you’ve already thought up a reason for them to be here then,” Virgil responded, shooting finger guns at his brother, who started stammering reminders that he was terrible with excuses. Never mind that he was an actor and should have been able to improvise something. 

“I’ll handle it,” Roman cut in, patting Thomas on the head, which looked a little ridiculous since they were the same height. “Better get hiding, Virgil.” 

He didn’t need to be told twice. Virgil hurried to the kitchen where he proceeded to shove into the storage closet, which had been cleared out just enough for him to cram his scrawny self into. It smelled like various spices which reminded him of last year and baking cinnamon cookies with Patton. He wondered what they’d make this time. 

The sound was muffled but the front door opened and shut and… God, how was he supposed to wait long enough to properly surprise his boyfriend? Just hearing Patton’s voice made Virgil want to throw himself into his arms, to kiss him senseless, to hold onto him and never let go. He steadied his breathing by focusing instead on the various scents surrounding him, only half listening to whatever Roman was saying to the twins. The noises got louder as they moved towards the kitchen, probably for Logan and Patton to put away the desserts they’d gone shopping for. 

“Thanks for agreeing to help decorate, even if it is just a— a possibility,” Thomas expressed, voice cracking on the last word. Ugh, he really never had learned how to lie.

“The odds of Virgil actually being able to visit are quite low, Patton,” Logan was saying, “I just don’t want your hopes to get up too high.” Wow. Were they even trying to be subtle? 

“I know that!” Patton exclaimed and Virgil was sure he was flapping his hands. “Imagine if he could, though! What if he showed up on Christmas Eve, oh, that would be so magical!” 

This certainly wasn’t as magical as it could have been but Virgil was sure he’d explode if he waited a second longer. So as soon as it started to sound like the trio was heading back out, Virgil nudged the door open with his foot. It creaked and he winced. No doubt having peaked Patton’s curiosity, Virgil threw the door open the rest of the way, and practically launched himself at his boyfriend’s back.

Patton, for good reason, screamed.

The arms locked around his neck now, however, allowed him to see the hands clasped over his chest. Purple nail polish. A black ring on the middle finger of the right hand. An old friendship bracelet hanging loosely from the wrist. 

Patton screamed again. 

“Virgil!” 

If asked, neither could guess how long they stayed embraced for. Patton was laughing breathlessly into Virgil’s shoulder, muttering his name over and over, sprinkling in the occasional “I love you.” Virgil couldn’t have stopped combing his hand through Patton’s hair even if he wanted to. 

Eventually, they would separate, but only just enough so that Patton could pepper kisses all over Virgil’s face. There might have even been a couple minutes of just gazing at each other, soaking up the mere presence and warmth of the one they loved so dearly.  

Of course, they weren’t really alone which meant the reunion had to end at some point. The house was still full of nosy siblings and parents, after all. So, when Remy came crashing into the kitchen, shouting about how bored he was, neither Virgil nor Patton were all that surprised. He stole Patton away, claiming they had to do something really quick and insisting that Virgil catch up with Logan in the meantime.

“Hey, L,” Virgil said, greeting Logan with a signature two finger salute.

“Nice to see you again, Virgil. How was your semester?” 

They chatted about college, and their respective majors, and any hall mates from hell. Without really realizing it, they got into making a large batch of hot chocolate for everyone while they talked. Each mug was picked especially for its recipient, as well as the various ingredients added to each one. Virgil dropped a peppermint stick into his, added extra marshmallows to Patton’s, and a generous spoonful of caramel sauce for Thomas. 

With Roman’s help, all the drinks were brought out safely to the living room. Devereux seemed to have dozed off in the recliner closest to the fireplace. Thomas was nowhere to be found, so Virgil assumed he’d been roped into whatever nonsense Remy and Patton were up to. 

“So,” Virgil started, settling into the corner of the couch. “Did I outdo the drama gays?”

“Absolutely not,” Roman responded vehemently. 

“Virgil!” Patton shouted suddenly, appearing from the hallway, carrying a bag. “Honey, oh my god.”

Patton shot an apologetic look towards Devereux, who was stirring from his nap, as he hurried towards Virgil. He threw himself onto the couch next to his boyfriend and abandoned the package in favor of grabbing onto Virgil’s arm.

“Earlier, you…” He paused, giggling. “You came out of the pantry.” 

Logan groaned. 

Virgil blinked, slightly bewildered, before he started laughing, too. “Yeah. Yeah, I guess I did.” 

“I have something for you,” Patton continued, retrieving the present. He shoved it into Virgil’s lap.

“Christmas isn’t for another three days?” 

“Yes, and?” 

Thomas, who had just arrived with Remy, snorted. “As if you’ve ever had the patience to wait until the actual day to start opening your gifts.” 

While Virgil pestered Patton about not needing to get him anything, really, Remy and Thomas fought over the last armchair, and eventually just ended up tangled together on it. Logan rolled his eyes at their stubbornness. 

After some insisting from Patton, Virgil pulled out all of the colored tissue paper. Patton proceeded to ball it up and throw it at Remy, whose complaining got progressively louder, until his dad finally tossed a pillow at him with a grumbled “please shut up.” Roman settled on the arm of Devereux’s recliner with the most adoring look in his eyes and carded a hand through his hair, whispering sweetly to him.

“Oh,” Virgil gasped, momentarily losing himself in sensory bliss at the material he’d just got his hands on. 

Patton wiggled, patting Virgil’s knees excitedly. It was the very same scarf he’d bought from Remy barely a week ago. It was black which meant it’d go with anything in Virgil’s wardrobe or with whatever outfit Patton decided to wear should he steal borrow it from him. 

“Try it!” Patton said, moving the rest of the wrapping out of the way.

Looping it around his neck provided Virgil the realization that it was of an infinity scarf, which meant all sorts of different ways to wear it. Would he still just bundle it up to hide his face in it as much as possible? Probably. 

“It’s so soft,” Virgil murmured, rubbing the fabric against his cheek.

“Cashmere,” Remy piped up. “You’re welcome.” 

Patton leaned in, waiting with bright, hopeful eyes. “Do you like it?”

“Like it?” Virgil huffed, failing spectacularly at downplaying his delight. “I love it. Thank you.” 

If a person could embody !!!, then Patton would be doing a very good job of it. He surged forward, catching Virgil by surprise with the intensity of the kiss. One hand cradled his face while the other clutched at the scarf, using it to pull him closer. Smiling against Patton’s lips, Virgil couldn’t help but think that this was very much something he’d like to have for the rest of his life.

Later, they would hang up their personal ornaments. Tomorrow, they would work on making new ones. The holidays would only continue to get more magical as the years passed, he was sure of it, and honestly? He was really looking forward to it.