#so interpret whatever the smush you want

[coloredscribbli]

How's Mentalist today?

8:11 pm, 10/13

I'd usually try to make up a witty response but i remembered i saved this semi-poorly cropped video for zero reason. so you get this

[star-eyed-angels]

Secrets and Sleep

bang chan x gn reader

fluff 1.6k

where you spill your heart out to your sleeping boyfriend.

AN: A small thing I started when I was sad that morphed into something more hope you like it.

______

It’s nearly 2 a.m. as you lay in bed, your boyfriend at your side. With Chan’s habit of working through the night in the studio, it’s rare you have him in bed with you before the sun is up. But tonight he’d come home earlier, wanting to spend a little more time with you to ease his stress. Tonight that meant cuddling in bed after a takeout dinner. 

Now you found yourself wide awake with a sleeping Chan next to you. His body is turned towards you as he sleeps on his side, pillow smushed against the side of his face. 

You brush the curly hair delicately out of his face, smiling softly when he shifts closer to you. You’ve always thought he looked so beautiful while he slept. Looking nothing but relaxed. Exuding pure warmth and comfort when he sleeps. You tuck your hands back under your cheek resting on them as you watch Chans even breathing. Your eyes trail over his features slowly, a small smile on your face as you watch him. The room is quiet as you feel your heart squeeze with the need to speak. 

“So many nights I used to wish for someone. Nights I dreamed of finding love, the right love,” your voice is soft as you speak into the open room, being careful to not wake Chan from his sleep. “And then the universe sent me you… perfectly wrapped in your endless black hoodies and topped with your messy little curls,” you gently trace a finger around one of his curls. 

“I remember the first time I met you at the cafe. You hadn’t even been in the building for five minutes before I was spilling half my order into your lap,” you cover your face in embarrassment. A laugh escapes you as you recall the memory.  “God, I was absolutely mortified. And then you were the one apologizing to me.” 

“To be honest, I never thought someone could look like you and still be that nice. Hot and kind Mr. Bahng,” you snort out quietly. You remember his smile as he waved off your apologies. Even as the lingering bits of coffee dripped onto his lap. You think you hadn’t 

“But there you were. Being so kind even after I ruined your clothes. And then you just stuck, like me embarrassing myself in front of you just made us friends. You were so willing to bring me into your circle and into your life.” You pause, staring off into the room around you. 

The room is still quiet as you glance at the photos and decorations littered around the space. Memories of before and after your relationship started, pieces of furniture you’d bickered over before laughing at how much you sounded like an old married couple. Even the bed you sleep on holds the memory of putting it together and suffering with Chan as he struggled to interpret the instructions. You can't help but feel sentimental in your room, your home. Thinking about how it all started with meeting Chan.

“I don’t think I’ve ever told you how grateful I am to have you. Ever since we met, you’ve always been so kind and willing to help. Even without knowing you, I could see that. And when we became friends that didn’t change, you offered me someone to lean on and the opportunity to make my own little circle with your members. In the short time after we met you added so much joy to my life and I genuinely couldn't believe it.” 

You turn back to look at Chan, who is still asleep, his slow breaths the only sound in the room. 

“And then you asked me out and I had never been so nervous in my life.” The memory of when he asked you out warms your heart. You don’t think you’d ever seen him that nervous as he avoided eye contact with you. His ears and cheeks pink as he had stumbled over his words. To be fair you weren’t doing any better, with your barely controlled giggles and warm face.  You’d thanked whatever in the universe kept you standing on your feet as you listened to his confession. 

“I was scared, you know, to fall in love again. Even though I wanted it, I didn’t think it was for me…” You hesitate, but decide to continue, “Everyone before, they didn't- They didn’t make me feel like I was worth the effort… I felt like a chore really…

“I was so convinced that I was unlovable. Each and every heartbreak just made me feel I wasn’t worth the effort.You place your hand on his cheek, softly rubbing your thumb against it.

Your voice is soft as you continue, ”But you’ve never made me feel like I was invisible. Like I was a cutout in this relationship. When it comes to you, you’ve shown me what it really means to be in love.”

“The ways you love me, you’re so attentive, so caring, so.. You. I’ve never felt a love like this. I wish there was a greater word to use than love, because you do more than love me. It’s like you give me the world in every little thing you do for me.” You laugh, a hint of embarrassment making you warm even though Chan is sleeping quietly next to you. 

“We’ve been together for so long, yet you’re still here giving me butterflies like a schoolgirl crush. I know it's a little silly, but you just make me feel like I’m something special”. You pause, stopping the words on the tip of your tongue.

Even after all this time, the hesitation from past relationships makes you nervous. But one look at Chan makes your worries fall away. He’s been your safe place for almost as long as you’ve known him. Even with this. Even if the thought of saying it out loud scares you, you know Chan would never judge you. You smile as you look at him, taking a calming breath. Even in his sleep it still feels like he’s helping you to calm your nerves. 

“You make me feel like I’m worth a forever,” Your confession comes out in a shaky whisper. You pause, even in the still room it feels like the world may suddenly come crashing down at your confession. But nothing changes. The room is still quiet. Chan still sleeps peacefully next to you. Your heart is still slightly beating out of your body. But a weight on your chest has slightly been lifted.

“I know that being in a relationship isn’t easy. But even through all the ups and downs, I’ve never felt unloved by you. Even the hard days don't feel as hard.

“I know at the beginning, loving me was hard. A lot of the time I  let my fear of us get in the way… but you were always patient. You never pushed me, never made me do something I didn’t want to. It’s like you know me better than I know myself most days.

“And I just… I just really hope you know how much I love you. How I would bring heaven down for you if I could. Catch all the stars in the sky for you. I want to give you the world like you do for me. And I kinda really want to spend the rest of my life with you.

You pause smiling softly at him. You lean forward, gently brushing your lips across his forehead. “I don’t know if you feel the same, but I really hope you do,” you mumble softly. 

You place a gentle kiss against his skin, smiling as you lean back. 

“Sweet dreams my love,” you say softly, bringing your hand back down to your side. You watch Chan’s steady breathing, feeling your eyes get heavier with the need to sleep. The last thing you remember is moving closer to Chan, before you’re fast asleep next to him. 

_______

Chan has no secrets. He’s always been open with you. Even with the occasional surprise he still manages to give it away.

‘I did get you an anniversary gift. But I won’t tell you what it is.’

‘I’m planning your birthday party, what kind of cake do you want?’

Most people would be put off by this. Something about needing surprises to keep a relationship going. But you love Chan's openness. You love how he wants everything to go perfect, paying attention to every little detail.. It makes you feel special and you love it. Other than that, Chan has no secrets.

That is until tonight.

Tonight as he lays with his eyes closed next to you. He shifts closer to you sleepily as he feels your fingers near his hair. He’s about to open his eyes to look at you when you speak. His heart feels like it’s beating out of his chest as you open your heart out to him. He thought that he couldn’t fall even more in love with you, but here you are stealing his heart once again.He doesn’t think he’s ever felt more in love with you than this moment.

He fights the urge to jump up and trap you in his arms, to pepper every inch of your skin in kisses and tell you how much he loves you. He knows this is a delicate moment. One he’ll treasure for the rest of his life. 

So after tonight Chan has two secrets.

The first being that he’s not actually asleep next to you and can hear every word you’re saying. He figures he’ll tell you eventually. When the moment is right.

Which brings him to his second secret.

When he’s gonna give you the ring he plans to buy you first thing in the morning. His commitment to never stop showing you what you mean to him. A promise to a forever that you deserve.

A forever that he really wants to spend with you too.

[syrupgirl]

this is a request lol but i havent seen really anything on the ATWOW characters and a chubby!human reader. like would they like her belly? would they like how “squishy” she is? what are your thoughts on this:)❤️

a/n: wasn’t sure if I should interpret this as a full fic request or just my thoughts so i mixed the two and turned in more of a hc direction! I also tried to keep this written in a way that could be perceived as either romantic or platonic (Tuk is most definitely platonic tho) :p

The beautiful bodies we are in -assorted ATWOW characters

As a general rule of thumb, I think all of the characters would be a lil curious, as all Na’vi we have seen have been quite slender. But I truthfully can’t see anyone of them being anything but generally indifferent towards readers body type :)

JAKE

Jake wouldn’t bat an eyelid.

๑༄ ‧₊˚Like I said, I can’t see anyone being feeling any type of negative way about a reader’s body and that applies to Jake, too. If, for whatever reason, you were insecure about your body because of your weight or size, he would comfort you the best he could.

NEYTIRI

Has you in high regard because she believes you’re absolutely stunning

๑༄ ‧₊˚Don’t ask me where this came from, but I just think Neytiri would find you absolutely gorgeous. Not in the ‘awwww so adorable like a puppy’ way but ‘Oh my goodness you are ethereal’

NETEYAM

Fascinated but then just treats you like he would anyone else :)

๑༄ ‧₊˚ Depending on whether you grew up with the Sully’s (like Spider) or you met them later in life, they would have different ‘first impressions’ when it comes to your body type! Growing up with them from a young child, he would probably just know that human bodies behave differently to Na’vi bodies and that’s normal. If you were introduced when he was a bit older, he might ask a few questions, like, is there a reason for it? but after you explained that it is just how your body is for no particular reason, he would just say okay! and happily move on with his day

KIRI

Small, silent, fascination to respect and love

๑༄ ‧₊˚My homegirl Kiri, hard to get a read on her tbh. Again, NOTHING negative. EVER. She might ask if it is an evolutionary thing for humans? To which you would answer no, not really, just how my body grows and she would understand that and stop the questioning. Would hate to make you uncomfortable in any way or make you feel alienated or estranged so probably doesn’t comment on your body much after that or at all.

LO’AK

Possibly less…restrictive with his questions but not less respectful in the end

๑༄ ‧₊˚He probably runs the risk of asking an innocent question in a direct way that is really fkn rude like ‘why do you look like that?’ when what he really means is ‘hey, why is your body different than mine? that’s interesting’ If he could see you took offence, he would immediately apologise and try to formulate his question better. Much like his mother, I think he adores you and your body to no end. I also feel like he would say ‘there’s more of you to love’ and would like to be touching you all the time. Likes to lay on your tumtum and talk to you

TUKTIREY

she’s just a babyyyy my babbyyyy

๑༄ ‧₊˚ Whether or not you were around since she was small(er) or not, I don’t think she would have any types of feelings since she’s so liddle. Maybe a frequent series of hugs now and then and a you’re so warm and soft muttered into your stomach while she’s smushed there but that’s just normal for her.

TONOWARI

This man…I love this man and he loves you

๑༄ ‧₊˚Like Neytiri, you would be his deity. Maybe it’s me projecting how I want to be worshipped by this blue alien but good golly miss molly. He loves every little bit of you and just wants to hug and squeeze you all the time. I have to stop before I gush over him too much (also yes, it would be hard to take this in a platonic sense even tho i said i would try to keep it neutral 💀)

RONAL

I don’t have a good grasp on m’lady Ronal

๑༄ ‧₊˚She is just a skeptical lady, you could probably catch her looking at you out of the corner of your eye and she doesn’t even bother looking away once you’ve caught her. Her interest about your body isn’t based on anything negative ofc just complete fascination.

a/n: while writing this, I tried to not alienate the reader because of their size as I know that just isn’t on. I truly hope I didn’t cross any lines <3 If you would like this same concept with a specific character, feel free to send in a request :p

[tenebraevesper]

Sonadow Moments in Sonic Cyber Revolution (The Team Dark Arc)

[...]

''Take that!'' Sonic went for a kick, with Shadow blocking his attack with his arm.

Smirking, he grabbed Sonic's leg and swung him around before throwing him away, only for Sonic to do a backflip and safely land on his feet, his gloves scraping the ground as he braced himself. Shadow rushed towards him, but he was ready, using what appeared to be a breakdancing move to kick Shadow off his feet, then quickly pinned him down by his arms to make sure he wasn't getting up. Both hedgehogs were breathing heavily, still feeling the adrenaline surging from their fight, but also knowing that the fatigue would be kicking in soon. Sonic smirked as he looked down at Shadow, gazing into his red eyes.

''Looks like I win this time,'' he said smugly, with Shadow furrowing a brow as he stared back, clearly not pleased by his loss. Sonic chuckled lightly, getting up and extending his hand to Shadow. The dark hedgehog accepted it, getting up. ''You know, I think I'm getting much better at this 'being cornered in an area where I cannot use my speed' type of combat. Don't you think the same, Shads?''

Shadow, knowing very well that Sonic was just fishing from a compliment, folded his arms across his chest. ''The student is only as good as their teacher.''

Sonic's happy gaze turned into a half-lidded stare with a sweatdrop forming. ''Eh, is that supposed to be a compliment or an insult?''

''Interpret it however you want,'' Shadow replied, walking up to the tree below which they had placed their bento boxes. Sonic just stared at him, before grinning.

''It's a compliment then!'' he said proudly. Both sat down under the tree, opening the bento boxes, with Sonic staring hungrily at his. He had to admit that hard training made him really hungry, even though he was a bit disappointed it wasn't his favorite food. Although, he had heard enough of Lucas nagging him to eat other stuff rather than just chili dogs, and he figured that a cheap bento box would be enough. He glanced at Shadow, who already opened his and was eating it in silence. ''Hope you like the lunch!''

''It is fine,'' Shadow replied without a beat, placing another batch of rice in his mouth. Sonic didn't appear to be too bothered by that response and just decided to dig in. Things were pretty silent for most of the time, with Shadow reaching out for the red and black bottle next to him. He was about to drink it when he felt weight on his shoulder, his eyes darting o the side as a frown formed on his expression.

Sonic smushed his face against Shadow's shoulder, looking at the bottle curiously. ''What are you drinking?''

Shadow, a bit irked by the sudden invasion of his private space, replied, ''It's just normal water.''

''Oh, I see.'' Sonic suddenly backed away, realizing that he got a bit too close, but didn't completely back away. ''I thought you would be drinking coffee.''

Shadow's expression remained unchanging, even though he had to admit that he was a bit amused by Sonic's assumption, ''I mainly drink coffee in the morning, and it would be a bad idea to drink it after a training session. Not to mention, I don't trust you to take it, even if accidentally, because the last thing you need is caffeine.''

Sonic paused, then chuckled. ''Yeah, you're right. I'm already full of energy, so I don't need that.''

Shadow just sighed in response, noting that, while Sonic is more than capable with keeping up with him, be it in combat or speed, he had to wonder whether he could match Sonic's infinite energy. Unlike Sonic, who was a social butterfly, ready to strike up a conversations with strangers and turn them into his friends, while Shadow grew tired and weary of just standing in a crowd, not wanting to talk more than necessary, even if it were his own teammates. He did come to acknowledge them as his friends, but that didn't mean that he was going to spend time with them in a way not related to whatever task he was asked to perform.

So, how did he end up spending so much time with Sonic, even engaging in small talk?

Shadow closed his eyes, folding his arms across his chest as he remembered how all of this had started. Sonic came several days ago to the Kageura residence, reminding Shadow of how he wanted to learn how to fight in a situation where he couldn't use his superspeed, and Shadow agreed easily. After all, it was just training to improve Sonic's combat skills, who was a quick learner and developed his own way of fighting. Once the training was done, Shadow would try to leave, but was stopped by Sonic, who would either keep him talking by asking him about specific techniques or even invite him for lunch. Shadow would get caught up in those conversations as Sonic seemed to have an infinite amount of questions and he was patient enough to answer all of them, only to realize that their conversation would slowly steer towards something more mundane, like the weather. As for the invitation for lunch, Shadow considered it a payment for the training sessions, something Sonic didn't disagree with. Since Shadow wasn't too fond off the idea of constantly eating chilli dogs, Sonic offered to buy them bento boxes at the local grocery store instead.

As a matter of fact, Shadow had noticed that Sonic wanted to spend more and more time with him, clearly happy to just be in his company, even if they were sitting in complete silence. Actually, Shadow was quite surprised that Sonic was able to keep silent for so long, but he wasn't going to complain. He would usually just lean back and just take everything in, completely relaxing. Shadow, on the other hand, had a hard time relaxing, his mind always filled by some kind of worry.

A life filled with peace is impossible for me. Shadow sighed, only to hear Sonic sigh as well.

''I should've bought another bento box,'' Sonic muttered, looking at the empty container, clearly still hungry. He rose an eyebrow when a half-eaten container was shoved under his nose, realizing that Shadow was giving it to him. ''But, aren't you hungry?''

''I'll be fine,'' Shadow replied. However, instead of just taking it, Sonic just scooted closer and placed the container over their legs.

''Well, we can share,'' he said, happily eating his part of the lunch and leaving enough for Shadow. The dark hedgehog was a bit surprised by this solution, as well as how physically close Sonic got to him, he just accepted it as a thing Sonic would do. ''You know, Knux told me that he and Lily decided to hire the Chaotix to keep an eye out for Rouge.''

''They did?'' Shadow knew about Rouge's disappearance, but this was news to him.

''Yeah. Knux did tell me that, while he is worried that Rouge might be up to something, he pointed out how she would've antagonized him already in some way,'' Sonic replied.

''Even if the Chaotix are the greatest detectives on Earth, I doubt they'll find Rouge if she doesn't want to be found,'' Shadow replied. ''But, I suppose it is a bit suspicious that she had been gone for days.''

''I just hope that nothing bad had happened to her,'' Sonic said, with Shadow giving him a curious look, only to be surprised by Sonic's following question, ''Hey, what would you do if I just disappeared one day without a trace?''

Shadow took a moment to think about it, as this was a very sudden and unexpected question. ''Considering how you're my teammate and friend, I believe that the obvious answer would be to immediately search for you…'' Shadow trailed off when he saw Sonic smirking at him. He narrowed his eyes, staring back in annoyance. ''Why are you looking at me like that?''

''Heh, you just called me your friend,'' Sonic replied, only to lean closer. ''So, do you see me like your best friend or rival-turned-friend or second best friend, considering how there is also Touka, or…''

''It is rival, teammate, friend… In that order,'' Shadow replied in a somewhat matter-of-fact tone, folding his arms across his chest. He didn't know why he was feeling so weird. He didn't really feel uncomfortable or anything, nor did he feel annoyed enough to punch Sonic for breaching his space, but he certainly felt weird. ''Why are you even asking me that?''

''I'm just happy to see you open up like this, even if you still act grumpy about it,'' Sonic replied, a wide smile on his lips. ''It's been a long time since what happened at Codex. Or, at least it feels like it has been a long time.'' Shadow lowered his head in thought, having to agree with Sonic. Even if his mind at times wandered back to the events at Codex, it always felt as if that event occurred years ago, not weeks. ''You know, I would definitely search the entire Earth and space, and even other dimensions, if you ever disappeared.''

''I'm pretty sure that you'd do the same for any of your other friends,'' Shadow replied, his eye-lids lowering as he looked back at Sonic, who just scratched his cheek.

''Yeah, true, but now you also have a confirmation of what I'd do in such situation,'' Sonic replied. He then placed the almost empty container on the grass as he leaned back against the tree, placing his hands behind his head, taking a deep breath and closed his eyes.

Shadow couldn't help but smile a little at how predictable Sonic was. In one moment, he could have a very deep and meaningful conversation, and in the next, he acted like nothing happened and took a nap.

That's so typical of you, Sonic.

xXx

It was late in the night at the Kageura household, with both Touka and Kisaki being deeply asleep. Shadow was lying on the bed next to Touka, staring at the ceiling of their attic room. He had been awake for a while now, his mind once again filled with thoughts that didn't let him sleep. Admittedly, he could handle a sleepless night, having been trained to work under extreme pressure, but looking back at things, he wondered just how necessary it was. He was leading a relatively peaceful life, with his only worries being The Eggman Empire, something that was a problem the entirety of Team Neos was dealing with, and Mephiles and Toshiro, who haven't showed up in a while. He knew that most of Team Neos was back to their daily life, not really worrying about what Dr. Eggman might be up to, as they were certain that they could handle anything he throws at them.

At this point, I'm the only one who is concered about this stuff. Maybe I should follow their example and not put too much thought into it… No… I don't think that will ever be possible. He turned to his side, his eye-lids lowering as a familiar face appeared in his mind, followed by that weird feeling. To live life freely… I'm not like you Sonic.

Shadow took a deep breath, trying to relax and finally drift off to sleep. But then, he heard it. A creak.

Follow your instincts.

[...]

Sonic tapped with his foot impatiently at the usual meeting spot. He tapped on his AR Visor, which showed him a holographic screen of the time. It was only a couple of minutes past his agreed time to meet up with Shadow for their training session, but Shadow was late. Except, Shadow was never late. Sonic knew that, if there was an agreed time, Shadow would be already there, waiting for him.

''So much for The Fastest Thing Alive arriving on time for a meeting.''

''Hey, only because I'm fast doesn't mean that I can't be late for a couple of seconds. Look, I brought us lunch!''

Sonic waited for another minute, trying to calm down and ignore the sense of panic he felt. Maybe Shadow was late because he got caught up in something. That was a possibility. Sonic decided to call him, but he couldn't reach him. He figured that Shadow was just being Shadow, either busy or just didn't want to answer the call for some reason. So, he called Touka, knowing that she was the one who'd usually answer. However, to his shock, the number was blocked.

''Wait, this is not supposed to happen,'' Sonic said, raising an eyebrow. ''Usually, Touka would answer the call.'' He shook his head, lowering it and placing his hand on his chin. ''Something doesn't make sense here. Maybe I should go to their house.''

[...]

''Have you tried to call your friends?'' she asked, nodding towards the AR Visor. Shadow shook his head.

''ARMS might track the call,'' he said. Rouge didn't look too surprised.

''Yeah, you're right. From what I've seen, they're keeping an eye on any information that gets in and out of this place,'' she replied. ''However, knowing your friends, I'm certain that they have noticed your absence and are probably trying to figure out how to find you.''

Shadow paused for a moment, remembering his conversation with Sonic the previous day, and nodding in agreement. ''You're right. Sonic and I had a conversation about this kind of scenario and he had told me that, if I ever went missing, he would do everything in his power to find me.''

His stern gaze then softened as he thought about his relationship with Sonic. Even though they started out as enemies way back when Shadow had no idea what happened to Touka and decided to get his revenge on humanity for the suffering they had caused, Sonic never really acknowledged him as an enemy. While Sonic had indeed fought Shadow, it was less because he Shadow was someone capable of destroying the world, and more because he knew that Shadow was hurt and that there was still a chance for him to turn things around. Shadow didn't want to admit it, but he was glad that Sonic was correct.

Another thing that stood out was their confrontation after the whole incident with Mephiles. Shadow knew that Sonic was just worried about him, but all the frustrations and stress he had built up at that time was too much for him and he snapped, getting into a full battle with Sonic just to take his own anger out on his rival rather than directing it at someone who actually deserved it, like Mephiles. But, instead of knocking some sense into him, Sonic took it upon himself to battle Shadow until he finally calmed down, acting as if nothing had happened. He did all of this while trying to talk to him, trying to coax him out of his self-imposed isolation. All that Sonic wanted was to make it clear to him that he wasn't alone, and Shadow felt guilty for attacking him in the first place. Yet, Sonic didn't care, moving on from their fight as if it were nothing. Still, his actions left quite an impression on Shadow.

''Sonic will fight for me…'' he muttered, feeling a strange sense of warmth spreading through his chest. He spread his hand against it, wondering why he felt like this.

''Well, now that you're done reminiscing about your boyfriend, we still need to find our own way out of this place.''

Shadow snapped out of his thoughts, his eyes darting towards Rouge, who just gave him a smug smile. A tint of red spread across his tan muzzle, leaving him blushing in embarrassment, but his crimson eyes turned sharp, showing pure fury towards her as he gritted his teeth, his quills bristled.

''What are you implying-?!''

''Hey, Rouge! I forgot to tell you that Knuckles has been looking for you!'' Touka quickly leapt on her feet, standing between the two. She knew the look Shadow was giving Rouge meant that he was most likely two seconds away from murdering her and she wasn't going to let that happen, especially since they needed Rouge's help to escape the ARMS HQ. Rouge, who still had that smug look on her expression and was enjoying the fact that she got under Shadow's fur, perked up at what Touka had just told her.

''Really? Well, I'm happy to hear that the Knucklehead is missing me,'' she said, quite pleased about the news. Touka just gave her a sheepish look, scratching her cheek as she was about to respond when Shadow interrupted her.

''Tch, Knuckles was just making sure that you're not up to something again. Don't think too much about it,'' Shadow said in a sharp, dismissive tone. Rouge pouted, frowning as she shoot him a glare. As for Touka, she sweatdropped, wondering why she was the one to end up playing mediator between the two. She then sighed audibly, only to realize something.

''Wait a second, would be possible to convince the Commander to let you join me and Shadow?'' she asked Rouge, who in turn gave her a surprised look, only to think about it.

''I suppose it would. After all, you are the new recruits, and someone would have to show you two the way around. It might take some sweet-talking, but as long as you act as if you had resigned yourselves to your fate as ARMS agents, I think everything should be fine,'' she replied, then glanced at Shadow, who did not look happy about this proposal. ''Do you have something to say, Black Blur?''

''Hmph, as long as it gets us out of this place, I'd be fine with it,'' he replied.

''It is nice to see that you are on board,'' Rouge said, getting up. ''If you two don't plan on resting, I could show you around and then we could go to the Commander with your suggestion. Trust me, there is a lot to talk about this place, so you better get comfy.''

''Right, I guess I should put on my uniform,'' Touka said, reaching for the clothes on her bed and her AR Visor, surprised to see that it was given back to her. Rouge then walked out of the room to let Touka change from her PJs into the uniform, with Shadow following, but not before he turned around, glaring daggers at Touka.

''Don't you dare to say anything about this,'' he said in a calm, yet threatening tone.

''I have no idea what you're talking about,'' Touka quickly responded, feigning ignorance while also feeling heart beat rapidly. Shadow stared at her for a moment, then exited the room. It is only then when Touka took a deep breath, feeling her legs shaking. ''Man, what was that?!''

She was well aware that Shadow was referring to Rouge's earlier comment, but to make things even worse, he also now knew that Rouge basically gave Touka ammunition to tease him and he was making sure to get the message across that none of that was going to happen. Touka knew that, as much as she wanted to question Shadow about his reaction earlier, especially considering how she never saw him being so flustered, she would be met with a wall of silence at the best and a Chaos Spear to the chest at the worst. While Shadow was typically open about his emotions around her, it seemed that this time, she wasn't going to get that privilege.

[...]

Sonic took a deep breath as he sped down Cross Layer Highway, having decided to go for a run after the meeting. Unlike Lucas, he simply couldn't stay cooped up at their home, and while he understood that he couldn't do much at the moment, he needed to go outside and stretch his legs. It gave him something to do, a temporary reprieve of everything that was going on, and he was certain that there was no way that ARMS would be able to track him like this. He needed this sense of freedom, the exhilarating thrill of knowing that he could go anywhere he desired.

He actually found himself on the highway towards Mikado City, having gone past Infinity Forest and the borders of Neos City, and he knew if he continued, he could easily reach the other side of Starpoint Area and visit other countries, exploring the wide world all on his own. This was something he genuinely enjoyed, the freedom to go wherever he wanted, whenever he wanted, and no one could stop him. He trusted this feeling, embraced the sensation and entered a new adventure.

However, instead of allowing his insticts to take over, Sonic skidded to a halt and entered a nearby open field, getting up on the top of a highway billboard, then turned back to the highway as he sat down and observed the cars passing by him. He knew that, while he could go anywhere he desired, he would always return back to his friends, especially since he knew that there was a new adventure on the horizon.

''Com'n, it'll be fun!''

''So, you want us to use Cross Layer Highway as our personal racing track, ignoring the fact that there is traffic there?''

''Heh… well, nothing happened… so far. I'm sure things will be fine. Besides, don't tell me that you're afraid of a bit of traffic.''

''Hmph. You'll be eating my dust.''

''You'll have to catch me first!''

Sonic chuckled at the memory of him convincing Shadow to go on a race on Cross Layer Highway. The dark hedgehog clearly had some reservations about racing in an area with so much traffic, but after a bit of banter, he accepted the challenge. It was fun overall, both weaving across the highway and trying to outspeed each other. It was an activity both enjoyed to the fullest, with Sonic even spotting Shadow smirking at him whenever he got ahead. The blue hedgehog then shook his head, feeling a sense of hollowness in his chest.

''Great, Shadow hasn't been gone even for a day and I already miss him,'' he grumbled. ''Admittedly, this is different than him going off somewhere on his own. This time, no one knows if he and Touka will return.'' He then grimaced, getting up, still balancing on the top of the billboard. ''Oh, what am I talking about, of course he'll come back. It's Shadow! There's nothing that can slow that guy down!''

Satisfied with this sudden burst of faith and confidence, Sonic smiled, only to get a message from Tails on his AR Visor. At first, he gave it a suspicious look, well aware that the team wasn't supposed to communicate like it, but he still opened the screen, only to find an URL link next to a message that said ''Sonic Adventure 2 Mod''. Curious and trusting Tails, he opened the link, only for the holographic screen to crackle and flash red, and Sonic was shocked to see The Eggman Empire logo appear on it.

''Tails, what did you…?'' Sonic trailed off when the logo disappeared and Tails' face appeared on the screen.

''So, you got my message! Great!'' Tails exclaimed.

''Uh, what did you do, little bro? Why did I see Egghead's mugshot on my screen?'' Sonic asked.

''The link you used is an app that directly connects you to the private chat room on the EggNet. That way, we don't have to worry about ARMS spying in on our conversations,'' Tails explained.

''Wait, the EggNet?'' Sonic was both surprised and impressed that his little brother thought of using Dr. Eggman's private computer network for communication. ''Won't Eggman know what you've done?''

''Oh, he already does, but we managed to restrict his access to the chat room,'' Tails explained. ''Warren is sending out the links to the rest of the group. Let's hope that Shadow will open his.''

''I'm sure that he will,'' Sonic replied, grinning happily. ''Should I stop by at the Workshop?''

''No, you don't have to,'' Tails replied. ''Just keep an eye out for Shadow contacting us.''

''Will do!'' Sonic did a two-finger salute, feeling quite optimistic about their situation, with Tails then vanishing from the screen.

[...]

Shadow's ears flicked as he heard soft buzzing and opened his eyes, reaching underneath his pillow and taking out the AR Visor he kept hidden there. He turned to the bed on the other side of the room, taking note of Touka being fast asleep, her back turned to him and then sat up, throwing the blanket over his head before answering the call.

''Sonic, why are you calling me at 2AM?'' Shadow stared at the small screen that was showing Sonic, who was lying in his bed. Sonic, in turn, gave him a sheepish smile.

''I couldn't really sleep, so I wanted to check on you,'' Sonic replied innocently, having realized the moment he saw Shadow's annoyed expression that he really shouldn't have called his rival this late. However, he spent most of the night tossing and turning in his bed, until he decided to call Shadow for his own peace of mind.

''Well, I can sleep and you just saw me a few hours ago during the team meeting,'' Shadow replied in a matter-of-fact tone, his eyes narrowed as he wondered whether there was something more to this conversation. ''Is there anything you want to talk about? I sincerely doubt that's the only reason you had called me.''

Sonic fell silent for a moment, then sighed, a small smile forming on his lips, as he should've known that Shadow would be blunt about this. ''It is really dull without you.''

''I suppose you just got used to us having our daily sparring matches, so it is not surprising that you would feel like that,'' Shadow replied, keeping his voice in a whisper to make sure that Touka doesn't wake up.

''Yeah, you're right…'' Sonic trailed off, wondering if he really should continue the conversation. He knew that Shadow had a mission tomorrow and he probably shouldn't interrupt him like this, but on the other hand, he was genuinely happy to see him and hear him.

''Sonic?''

''Huh, yeah?''

''You're staring at me.''

''Oh, sorry.'' Sonic was flustered to be caught like this. Was it really that obvious?

Shadow sighed, wondering what this situation even was. His mind was still occupied with the mission, so having Sonic call him out of nowhere to talk to him was a bit jarring, albeit not unwelcome. Perhaps having someone to take his mind off the things that troubled him would put him at ease, if only a little bit. ''How was your day?''

''My day? Well…'' Sonic had to admit that he was genuinely surprised that Shadow would initiate small talk. ''Lucas, Warren, Tails and I had talked to Loki, the wolf Commander of the Hunters, and he knows about ARMS, but doesn't trust them because of an accident where an Irregular like us was taken by them and never appeared again. I don't think that the Hunters are too familiar with ARMS.''

''I wouldn't be surprised,'' Shadow said, narrowing his eyes. ''After all, ARMS treats Irregulars like dangerous weapons. They even wanted me to absorb as much of Touka's BioEnergy as possible, so I was forced to use Chaos Surge to stop it.''

''Are you okay?'' Sonic asked worriedly. ''I know that you're not to keen on using BioEnergy, even if it's for a Chaos Surge.''

''I'm fine, since Touka has also recovered from the ordeal. I'm concerned what ARMS might do if they attempt to investigate my Chaos Surge ability. They might go after the rest of Team Neos,'' Shadow told him, rubbing his temple as he felt an oncoming headache.

''Don't worry about us, worry about yourself,'' Sonic told him, giving him a confident smile. ''I wish I could just bust into ARMS HQ to get you out.''

''If it weren't for the current circumstances, I would've done it by myself,'' Shadow told him. Sonic gave him a sympathetic look.

''You know, I am a bit jealous that you get break into Eggman's base,'' he said, smiling cheekily. ''I bet it's going to be exciting.''

''You could join us,'' Shadow suggested. Sonic sighed.

''I wish I could, but you know, that would blow up our cover. I also don't want to get my friends into trouble by doing something stupid,'' Sonic told him. Shadow rose an eyebrow, giving Sonic a scrutinizing look, leaving the latter confused. ''Uh, Shadow? Is something wrong?''

''I believe that's the first time I heard you say something sensible. Maybe you aren't the real Sonic and were replaced by a look-a-like,'' Shadow told him. He couldn't help but smile when he heard Sonic groan in annoyance and saw him roll his eyes.

''I know I can be reckless, but this situation is different,'' he said in an exasperated tone, then muttered, ''I also talked to Lucas about there being a possibility to break in, and he told me that we can't do that.''

''There is a reason Lucas is the leader and you aren't,'' Shadow said in a teasing tone, only to add in a more resolute tone. ''Not many would have enough sense to admit that.''

''Not many have the humility to admit that,'' Sonic said proudly.

''Humility? Your ego is the size of a skyscraper,'' Shadow said, with Sonic snorting in amusement.

''Right back at you, Shads. You aren't better than me, Mr. Ultimate Lifeform,'' Sonic told him. Shadow rolled his eyes, but Sonic could see the faint smile on his lips, making it clear that the dark hedgehog was amused by their banter. It made him feel quite happy to see his rival being this relaxed. ''In any case, you have to tell me what happened once you return from the mission. I want to hear all of the details.''

''I will, because knowing you, you'll probably spam my inbox with questions about what had happened,'' Shadow told him in a dry tone. Sonic gave him a sheepish smile.

''Sorry about that,'' he said, knowing well that Shadow was referring to the event right after their meeting with Mephiles and Toshiro, where Sonic just wouldn't leave him alone. ''I guess I should let you sleep now.''

''I didn't mind having a conversation with you, even if it was this late,'' Shadow said, surprising Sonic, who smiled back warmly as he looked at the screen. ''Good night, Sonic.''

''Good night, Shads. I miss you,'' Sonic said, the holographic screen before him turning black. Sonic then lied back down on his back, taking a deep breath, only for his brain to finally process what he just said to Shadow. He turned on his side, a faint tint of red spreading across his fawn muzzle, his emerald green eyes wide as he placed his gloved hand on his chest, feeling his heart race as if he just returned from his nightly run. Wait! Why did I tell him that? I mean, I do miss him, but that wasn't necessary! I just hope Shadow hasn't noticed anything, because that was just weird.

Meanwhile, Shadow placed the AR Visor back under his pillow and lied down, pulling the blanket over his shoulder, turning on his side and staring at the wall, his mind in a disarray. Unfortunately for him, the image of Sonic giving him a soft and kind smile just wouldn't get out of his head, and he groaned, furrowing a brow as he tried to fall asleep.

''Of course that idiot misses me,'' he grumbled under his breath, trying to ignore the wave of warmth that spread through his body and the tint of red appearing on his tan muzzle. ''Who else is going to be his rival?''

[...]

Sonic took a deep breath, exhaling as he was lying on the soft grass in Eden, staring at the blue sky above him. He had been wondering how Shadow was doing, wishing that he could've joined him and the rest of the group, but for obvious reasons, he was pretty much trapped here. He hated this waiting game, even though he knew that this was the only thing he could do.

''You don't have any news from Shadow and Touka, right?''

Sonic looked up as Silver walked up to him, holding a can with water he was using to water the nearby rose bushes. Sonic shook his head. ''I wish I did, though, but I can't even call Shadow now, since ARMS might be spying on him. I have to wait for him to call me. It's really frustrating.''

''I'm sure that they will be fine. We know that Shadow is quite capable of holding his own,'' Silver said in an assuring tone. Sonic sat up, crossing his legs.

''Yeah, you're right. Still, I wouldn't mind joining him,'' he replied. Suddenly, there was a flash on his AR Visor, with Sonic realizing that it was an incoming call from Lucas. The same happened to Silver's AR Visor, but the grey hedgehog joined Sonic as he answered the call.

''We have some good news!'' Lucas said, being on the same screen with Tails and Warren. ''Touka, Shadow and Rouge have completed their mission and we got access to the ARMS file.''

''That's geat!'' Amy said excitedly, clasping her hands, with the rest of the team also murmuring happily.

''Yeah, but we kinda ran into an issue. The file is locked under four passwords and we need to figure out what the hints mean to access the file,'' Warren said.

''Then, don't let us wait,'' Lily said. ''What's the first hint?''

''It says 'My full name','' Tails said, looking at his teammates. ''Any clue what that means?''

''Maybe it's referring to the person who wrote down the hints? How many tries do we get?'' Minami suggested.

''Only two before the file gets locked,'' Warren replied. ''Tails and I didn't want Eggman to access anything.''

''So, whose name should we write?'' Tails asked.

''Let's go with Touka Kageura. If it doesn't work, we'll have to choose between, ah-'' Warren said, a smile forming on his lips as he realized that this was the correct choice. ''Three more to go. Next one says 'What did I take from you, Guardian?' I think this one was set up by Rouge specifically for you to decipher, Knuckles.''

Knuckles' eyes narrowed as he thought about it for a moment. ''It was a red jewel.''

''Are you sure, Knux?'' Sonic asked. Knuckles nodded.

''I'm confident that she was referring to what happened at our first meeting,'' he said. Tails typed in the password, only to smile when he got to the next one. ''Okay, so this one is a bit weird. It says 'Sonic Heroes Team'.''

''That's a reference to the Sonic Heroes video game, which features four teams of three as playable characters,'' Minami said. ''Team Sonic, Team Rose, Team Dark and Team Chaotix.''

''So, which one should we go with? Team Sonic?'' Silver asked. Lucas shook his head.

''No, I think the answer is Team Dark, since Shadow and Rouge are part of that team. Not to mention, Dr. Eggman did mention that this Egg Base contains the E-100 Series of robots, and if my gut feeling is correct, they might run into E-123 Omega there,'' he explained.

''Is that a good thing or a bad thing?'' Amy asked.

''Well, in the video games, Omega wants to get revenge on Eggman, and if this version is the same, then this is a really good thing,'' Minami explained.

''Okay, last hint,'' Warren announced, raising an eyebrow. '''What is our relationship, Hedgehog?' That has to be set up by Shadow for…''

''It is rival, teammate, friend… In that order,'' Sonic suddenly said. He couldn't help but grin as he recalled his conversation with Shadow. ''We kinda had a conversation... I can't believe he would use that as a password.''

''It worked! All right, we'll sift through the data here, but it will take a while. Wish us luck!'' Tails said. The holographic screen soon closed, with Sonic and Silver exchanging cheerful glances. It seemed that things were finally working in their favour.

[...]

Shadow glanced towards Touka's bed, knowing well that she was quite exhausted from using up most of her BioEnergy and hoping that she was already fast asleep. Still, he laid awake for a few more hours to be sure, since he didn't want her to eavesdrop this conversation. After all, they had already discussed matters earlier with the rest of Team Neos, introducing Omega and telling them about the Commander knowing about Chaos Surge. Lucas, in turn, told them how he, Warren and Tails got an angry call from Dr. Eggman, who chewed them out for their stunt with the passwords, but they didn't care much. They assured Team Dark that they would sort out the data as soon as possible and cut the call. Still, Shadow had one more call to make, as per his promise.

''Shadow!''

''Keep quiet, Hedgehog!'' Shadow hissed at Sonic, peeking under the blanket to make sure that Touka was still asleep before returning back to the call. Sonic gave him a sheepish smile.

''Sorry, Shads. I'm just happy, and surprised, that you decided to call me back,'' he said in a hushed tone.

''I had a promise to keep. However, I don't have much to tell you about our raid on the Egg Base,'' Shadow replied. ''Omega destroyed all of the Badniks inside, and while we had a brief fight, Rouge quickly ended it.''

''That's fine. At least you have something to talk about, while I don't,'' Sonic replied. ''Nothing has happened today, and I feel really bored.''

''You could just leave and go somewhere to have an adventure if you feel like that,'' Shadow suggested. Sonic shook his head.

''And miss any upcoming action? No way. This is just a lull before the storm,'' he said, his emerald eyes sparking with excitement. Shadow furrowed a brow, sighing.

''I suppose that this is an answer I should've expected,'' he muttered under his breath, pausing for a moment. Sonic still had that stupid grin on his expression, and Shadow decided that it was time to wipe it off his expression. ''So, what was that about missing me?''

Suddenly, Sonic got really flustered. ''Uh… I- It's nothing! It was just a slip of the tongue.''

''Was it?'' Shadow had to admit that seeing Sonic losing that cocky attitude was quite amusing. It truly felt like another of their challenges, except this one required some proper thinking and wording to leave the other a complete mess.

''Y-Yeah!'' Sonic had no clue why he got suddenly so flustered, but he didn't like the look Shadow gave him. It felt as if the dark hedgehog was reading his mind, clearly not believing any of his excuses, and Sonic hated that he got rattled so easily. Admittedly, he was also fascinated by Shadow's ability in being able to match him not only in a battle, but also in their conversations. Any quip Sonic would make would immediately be countered by a remark from Shadow, whether it was the blunt truth or an actual quip, and Sonic loved how these kinds of conversations managed to keep him on his toes. He was also certain that, despite Shadow's aloof attitude, his rival was also enjoying these kinds of conversations and he wanted to keep them going as long as possible. Sonic then smirked, realizing what the perfect response to Shadow's question would be. ''Why are you even asking? Wait, do you miss me?''

Much to Sonic's amusement, Shadow huffed in response, clearly trying not to show that he was also slightly flustered by this question and deciding to not dignify it with an answer. Sonic, on the other hand, knew that he won this one and decided to add another layer to this conversation. ''Aww, you do miss me! I feel so honored.''

''Why would I miss someone as irritating as you?'' Shadow replied in an irked tone.

''If you actually thought of me as irritating, you would've ended this call a long time ago. But, you didn't, which means that you like to talk to me,'' Sonic teased him. Frankly, he really liked getting this kind of reactions from Shadow.

''I could end the call right now,'' Shadow threatened. Sonic's ears folded for a moment, showing that he clearly didn't want to end this yet, only for them to perk up again.

''You could… but you won't,'' he said, issuing another challenge. Sure, this one came with a risk that Shadow would actually make good on his threat, but this was just too tempting and Sonic wasn't someone who would shy away from taking any kind of risks, especially if it made him feel this excited. Surprisingly, Shadow kept the call going.

''Keep telling yourself that,'' he said. ''After all, you need me to keep yourself entertained.''

Sonic opened his mouth, only to close it again, feeling as if he was just kicked in the gut. What Shadow just said was indeed true, even if Sonic didn't want to admit it, but instead of getting riled up, he decided to take it in stride and counter attack with a remark of his own. ''Fine, I'll admit that that's true, but only because you won't admit that you also need me.''

''What are you talking about?'' Shadow responded, his eyes narrowing. He didn't like the smug grin Sonic was giving him.

''Don't tell me that you also didn't get bored without me around to keep you company,'' Sonic teased him. Shadow just rolled his eyes, but then the same dark thought from before entered his mind. He fell silent, and Sonic's smile faded as he realized that his rival got serious.

''It would be better for you not to be here,'' Shadow said.

''What's wrong?'' Sonic asked, now a hint of concern in his voice.

''ARMS knows that you and the rest of the team are Irregulars, and if they learn that you are also capable of Chaos Surge, they would turn all of you into their weapons,''Shadow told him in a grim tone. He wasn't too surprised when Sonic gave him a confident look.

''Don't worry, I'm sure that we could handle that,'' he said. Shadow shook his head.

''Not if they attempt to destroy your sense of self. Rouge and I may be exceptions, but there is no way of predicting of what they might do to you,'' he explained.

''I understand. I'm not going to be reckless unless the situation calls for it,'' Sonic said, with Shadow being genuinely surprised by his mature response. To see and hear him take things seriously for once did leave a warm feeling in his chest.

''Let's just hope that things will turn out right in the end,'' Shadow said.

''I'm sure they will, Shads,'' Sonic replied, smiling confidently and giving him a thumbs up. ''Just hold on a little longer.''

Shadow nodded in response, and he couldn't help but smile a little at the assurance he got.

[...]

''Hey, Shads.''

''I see that you had actually remembered to whisper during these calls,'' Shadow said, with Sonic rolling his eyes. It was in the middle of the night, and while Team Dark and Team Neos had already exchanged information in regards to the situation with Mephiles and Toshiro, Shadow decided to also call Sonic, feeling that this has already become a habit. He also knew that Sonic would be thrilled to finally have something he could talk about on his end, so he immediately added, ''You had said earlier that you and Silver had confronted Mephiles.''

''Yeah, and I wish that we had managed to deal with him at that point, but he got away,'' Sonic replied, sounding a bit frustrated, then snorted, trying to cover his frustration with some humor, ''So much for being The Fastest Thing Alive if I can't catch up to Mephiles or find him for that matter.''

''Finding Mephiles has nothing to do with your speed. He is someone who lives in the shadows, coming out only when nobody expects him,'' Shadow responded in a matter-of-fact tone. He was well aware that Sonic hated the fact that he couldn't stop Mephiles from hurting the Hunters or even the ARMS agents and Irregulars, so he simply made a logical statement. However, going by the smirk that had formed on his lips, Sonic understood the message a bit differently.

''Thanks for trying to cheer me up,'' Sonic told him, with Shadow giving him a puzzled look.

''I wasn't- That wasn't my-'' He tried to clear this up, only to realize that Sonic already knew that, giving him a wide smile. Shadow exhaled sharply. ''Fine, I suppose you can interpret it that way.''

''You know Shads, you can be as cruel in your honesty as you want, but sometimes the stuff you say feels quite comforting,'' Sonic told him, with Shadow just nodding in acknowledgement. ''So, do you have any idea what Mephiles wants from you? We all agreed earlier that he was antagonizing the Hunters and ARMS to get to you.''

''I believe that all he wants is another battle, just like last time,'' Shadow replied, a grim look appearing on his expression as he remembered their last encounter.

''He'll also probably try to manipulate you, just like he tried to do with me and Silver. Don't give in!'' Sonic said, pumping his fists and giving Shadow a resolute look. Shadow was a bit surprised to see Sonic suddenly turn into his personal cheerleader, but decided to play it cool.

''I'm not going to be swayed by anything Mephiles says. I have unfinished business with him and I'm going to focus on that,'' Shadow told him.

''I'm glad to hear that. Too bad I nor the rest of the team can join you in this battle,'' Sonic said, recalling the earlier conversation. Since Team Dark was going to be at the Codex Research Facility, the possibility of Team Neos helping them was brought up, only to get quickly dismissed when Lucas pointed out that if ARMS finds out that they know about Codex, Team Dark would get in trouble. Therefore, they would have to sit this one out, even though all of the team wanted to join in regardless of the danger.

''I know that I can trust the rest of Team Neos to not interfere, but I doubt that you would just stand at the sidelines,'' Shadow commented.

''Well, I'm trying my best not to do anything reckless lately. It also helps that I hear your voice scolding me whenever I make up my mind,'' Sonic said, sounding somewhat proud of his achievement. Shadow was a bit stunned for a moment, feeling a wierd mix of amusement and that familiar warmth he sensed whenever he talked to Sonic.

''So, you're telling me that whenever you think of me, it's me scolding you for doing something reckless? I don't know whether I should feel offended or flattered,'' Shadow replied in a deadpan tone. Sonic snorted.

''Maybe I should've put this in a different way…'' Sonic suddenly shook his head. ''You know what, forget it. I'd be happy to hear you yell at me whenever I do something stupid so long as I know that you're back at home safe and sound.''

Shadow fell silent, a faint tint of red spreading across his muzzle. His crimson eyes were wide, and he was stunned by Sonic's sudden confession. It was quite unexpected, but at the same time, he knew that Sonic said that because he genuinely cared about him. As much as he wanted to deny it, he was glad that this was the nature of their relationship. It still puzzled him that they were able to tell each other things the other needed to hear, or understand exactly each other's moods without needing to say anything, but he preferred it that way. He wasn't someone who engaged in pointless conversations, but somehow every conversation he had with Sonic ended up in some kind of revelation for Shadow. He felt as if he was learning more about himself this way, and one of the things he understood was that he was going to match Sonic in anything.

''I suppose it would get a bit boring without having you to annoy me, so I'd do the same for you,'' Shadow said, his tone being the usual business-like way he spoke, trying to ignore the strange fluttering feeling in his chest. Why did I even say that?!

''D'aaaww, that's so sweet coming from you, Shads! I appreciate the sentiment,'' Sonic replied, feeling quite happy that he had managed to get Shadow to admit how he felt about him. He couldn't help but chuckle lightly when Shadow shot him a glare.

''Don't think anything of it, Hedgehog. This is just a courtesy. I don't want to be in your debt,'' Shadow growled. Sonic waved his hand in a dismissive manner.

''Yeah, yeah… But you have to admit it, you do care about me,'' Sonic teased him. Shadow was silent, still glaring at his rival, but Sonic knew that this was less because he was offended and more because both knew that this was the truth. He then held up a finger. ''How about this? I admit that I care about you, and you admit that you care about me.''

Shadow folded his arms in defiance. ''That's not going to happen.''

''Maybe you won't say it, but you do care about me,'' Sonic pressed on, still having that dumb smile that irritated Shadow. Despite Shadow managing to keep an unreadable expression, aside from his trademark scowl, he knew that his rival was struggling with this conversation, clearly not wanting to admit the truth, either because of his pride or because he was just too embarrassed.

Shadow, on the other hand, had to wonder how in the world had he ended up in this conversation. Somehow, Sonic had the uncanny ability to rile him up with just a simple smile, and being the stubborn person he was, he wasn't going to back down from a challenge, even if it led him to confess stuff he never wanted anyone to know, not even Touka. ''I have already stated that if the reverse were to happen, I would go to save you. There is nothing else to discuss.''

''Yeah, yeah…'' Sonic was still grinning, while Shadow just frowned, both staring back at each other in silence. Even if some things were left unsaid, they knew exactly how they felt about each other.

[...]

Sonic raced from Eas towards the western side of Neos City where Infinity Forest was with a determined look on his expression. Sure, he did promise that he wouldn't be reckless and he certainly was going to leave this battle to Shadow, but that didn't mean that he could watch from afar, just to keep an eye on Mephiles. It wasn't as if he was bored from the lack of action; no, absolutely not!

''You're such an idiot!''

Sonic grinned, completely ignoring the Shadow-like voice in his head as he got to Sentoraru and made his way towards Westoru, avoiding pedestrians and cars. He was actually quite in high spirits, as Tails and Warren had informed him and Lucas earlier that they were close to finishing sifting through the data they got, and what they had found was actually rather shocking. They haven't told them yet what it was, but Tails said that this would get them into a lot of trouble with the public. In Sonic's mind, that was good enough.

The azure hedgehog then sped through Westoru and towards Infinity Forest, trying to remember the path towards the Codex Research Facility. It has been a while since he had been there, but he was certain that he would be able to find it. However, what he didn't expect to find was a huge structure made of crystals and surrounded by fire.

''Yikes!'' Sonic realized that this self-imposed mission might be a bit harder than he thought. The crystal wasn't transparent, but more of a purple and red hue, making it impossible for him to see inside. All he could conclude was that there were several layers of crystals placed at the field, keeping him away from whatever battle was happening inside the structure. Sonic then smirked, clenching his fist. ''Well, something like this has never stopped this hedgehog!''

He leapt into the air, curling into a ball and burrowed into the ground, creating a hole just in front of the structure. Less than a minute passed and he emerged again from the hole, breathing heavily and raising an eyebrow. ''Great, even the ground is crystal. Mephiles made sure that no one can enter it.'' He then shook his head. ''No way! If I cannot find a way inside, how will Shadow and the others find a way outside? I have to solve issue as soon as- aaagh!''

Sonic was startled when suddenly a bunch of figures made out of pure shadow and darkness appeared, confronting him. ''Ah, so Mephiles also left a couple of guards. At least things won't be boring!''

[...]

Sonic shredded through the shadow-like entities, pinballing from one to another easily, but the issue was that he also needed to avoid the flames and the crystals that were keeping him from getting through the wall. He had actually managed to run around the structure, taking note that it was way bigger than he initially thought. He had to give it to Mephiles, the guy was determined to make sure no one gets inside those walls.

''Woah!'' Sonic suddenly stopped due to a black hole opening right beneath him. He sunk, trying his best to free himself, but when he looked up to find a branch or something to lift him up, he saw the crystal walls suddenly turn black and purple. His emerald eyes widened. ''Oh, no…''

However, before Sonic could move, everything turned black. Only a moment later, the light returned and he was quite disoriented, only to hear a car horn and quickly leap off the street. It took him a bit, but he realizes that he was somewhere in the eastern part of Souto. He was quite baffled when he realized what had happened.

''How in the world did Mephiles teleport me to Souto?'' he muttered under his breath, his gaze turned towards the west where Infinity Forest was. A sense of worry bubbled in his chest, but he shook his head. He knew that Shadow could handle this.

[...]

Suddenly, a giant entity rose from the darkness, its body consisting of shadows, crystals and flames, with the crystals forming the armor around its formless shape. It sprouted four arms, breaking the crystal ceiling and causing shards to rain down. There was a sudden chill in the air as they heard Mephiles laugh darkly, his voice like ice and filled with nothing but calculated intelligence and insanity.

''Your heart was filled with nothing but hate for this reality and its people! So, why don't you join me in destroying it?!''

Team Dark couldn't see Mephiles nor Toshiro anymore, as it seemed as if they had been swallowed by the entity they had created. All they could hear was Mephiles' voice, seemingly speaking through the entity. Touka, Rouge and Omega turned to Shadow, with Touka and Rouge's expressions clearly showing concern for Shadow, and even Omega was apprehensive to the whole situation, his cannons already pointed towards the entity Mephiles had just summoned. Shadow, on the other hand, was just staring at the entity silently, his expression unreadable. He then turned to his teammates, his expression slightly shifting to that of pure of determination, only to face the entity once again.

''I may have hated this world once, because it stole someone precious from me. I also feel no obligation towards it or towards its people. Even if the world chooses to become my enemy, I will fight like I always have,'' Shadow responded, reaching for the golden rings on his wrists, twisting them and letting them fall on the ground. He could feel the Chaos Energy flowing through his body, almost bursting out, his hands crackling with energy. ''That said, you made a mistake endangering those I care about!''

Suddenly, everything stopped, and time and space warped. The entity couldn't even move, despite Mephiles efforts to break through. For some reason, he wasn't affected by whatever was going on, and his attempts to control this entity – Iblis – have failed. Then, Shadow appeared right in front of the entity, his size diminutive in comparison to the monstrous being, but his whole body was sparking with orange energy, his eyes glowing as he gathered all the power he could muster. His fingers were curled and he placed both of his hands together at chest level facing the same direction, with the palm on the back of the other. He knew that he only had one shot, and he could sense the Chaos energy, Mephiles' Chaos energy, within this monstrosity. All he had to do is to aim.

''CHAOS BLAST!''

Thrusting both of his hands forward, he fired a powerful blast of energy, the beam tearing right through the entity, not only powered by the Chaos Surge and the latent Chaos Energy that was concealed by the Inhibitor Rings, but also by Shadow's strong emotions and desire to protect everyone. He could hear a wail of distress as the entity, which had just formed before him was shredded, its wretchedness only gracing this reality only for a moment. Shadow was not going to allow it to exist any longer than that.

Then, everything went silent, and Shadow closed his eyes. Everything went dark, and he found himself falling into a deep abyss. His body couldn't move anymore and his mind was as empty as the nothingness that embraced him. Or was it?

''Shadow? Shadow?!''

Shadow could feel a sense of warmth, and he forced his eyes to open despite the pain and numbness. He never felt so broken and exhausted before. Staring back at him was Touka, having somehow managed to catch him mid-fall, her eyes having gone from crimson back to dark brown with that hint of red in them. She looked just as exhausted as he was as she cradled him in her arms, kneeling on the ground. On her right was Rouge, holding one of Shadow's Inhibitor Rings and looking relieved to see him alive. On her left was Omega, holding Shadow's other Inhibitor Ring, and while he certainly had no expression to show, it was clear that he was quite impressed by the destruction the dark hedgehog had caused.

As for Mephiles and Toshiro, they were gone. The crystal walls were still standing, but only barely, as more and more cracks started to form inside them, shattering and falling apart. Shadow narrowed his eyes as he gazed at the empty field, aware that despite the destruction he had caused, they were probably still alive, only barely escaping his wrath.

''What was that?'' Rouge broke the silence, still shocked by what had just happened. Shadow wanted to answer, but Touka was faster.

''That was Chaos Control, but in the sense that Shadow had stopped time itself,'' she responded. Rouge gave her a baffled look and turned to Shadow.

''Wait, you can actually do that?!'' she asked, her voice a bit too loud for Shadow's comfort.

''That is only possible with the power of Chaos Surge,'' Touka added, sighing tiredly. ''Even then, it is a technique that drains both of our energy, so we have good reason not to use it too often.''

''It was my last resort, and I was fortunate Mephiles had drained all of his own energy and Toshiro's BioEnergy to summon that entity. It only took one blast…'' Shadow explained, trying to get up. His and Rouge's ears the flicked as the group heard the helicopter getting closer and closer. None of the members of Team Dark were happy to see it, as that meant returning back to ARMS HQ and have to endure their frustrating stay even longer. Still, they were too exhausted to fight back… well, three of them.

''If you don't wish to return, I will just shoot the helicopter down,'' Omega offered.

''No!''

''Absolutely not!''

Touka and Rouge made an ''X'' sign with their arms, denying Omega the opportunity. They were well aware that they would suffer the consequences, because there was no way they would get away with this. Shadow, on the other hand, remained silent, having put the Inhibitor Rings back on his wrists and deciding to leave this conversation to his older sister and the treasure hunter. He managed to recover enough to climb into the helicopter on his own, wondering how long it would take for him to get back to his old condition. He pressed the lower part of his palm against his forehead, knowing he'll probably sleep like the dead in their graves the moment he was back in his bed. The helicopter then took off, but not before another scream pierced the air before it could be drowned out by the noise of the helicopter.

''Shadow! Shadow!!''

''Wait, is that Sonic?!'' Touka gasped in surprise, as the door to the helicopter hadn't been closed. Shadow immediately got up, his eyes wide as he leaned out of the helicopter, holding onto a nearby strap. To his bewilderment, Sonic was shouting and waving at him, and he could see the playful grin on his expression. Shadow mentally facepalmed, and despite saying nothing, it was obvious from Sonic's expression that there was nothing he needed to say. Sonic was simply relieved to see that Shadow was fine, while Shadow couldn't help but crack a genuine smile and even chuckle lightly, well aware that there was nothing that would stop Sonic from supporting his friend and rival, regardless of the methods.

Sonic, you're such a reckless idiot… Thank you.

[...]

Eggman had landed the Egg Carrier at a more wooded area close to ARMS HQ, but fortunately far enough to keep it hidden from it. Team Neos has already walked out of the aircraft, all of them powered up via Chaos Surge and waiting in anticipation. There was a sudden flash of light, revealing Shadow as he had Chaos Controlled to their location, giving them a firm look. Sonic walked up to him with a wide smile, only to get confused by Shadow's response.

''You're late again, Hedgehog,'' Shadow told him. Sonic was puzzled, only to realize what Shadow was referring to and snort in amusement.

''Well, I wanted to be here several days ago, but you know how things are…'' Sonic said, with Lucas approaching the two.

''We're ready to go. I guess Touka, Rouge and Omega are also ready,'' he told Shadow.

''They should be at the main building at this point,'' Shadow said, getting surrounded by the rest of the team. His eyes then flared up as he extended his hand. ''Chaos Control!''

[...]

''I assume you already know who we are, but I'd still like to properly introduce myself,'' Lucas said, stepping towards the Commander. ''My name is Lucas Kinomoto, and I am the leader of Team Neos. You have made the mistake of kidnapping two of my teammates, which is why we have attacked ARMS HQ. We are here to bring them back home.''

''Forget it. I won't let any of my agents go, and as for you, I will have all of you arrested and imprisoned,'' Commander Williams threatened, feeling furious about this situation. This group of teenagers and their Irregular ARNavs just stormed a military base, beat up his agents with the help of Team Dark and were now making such a ridiculous demand. He was not going to let them get away with this.

Upon hearing this, Sonic turned to Tails, holding out his hand. ''Tails, give me the the Miles Electric.''

''Uh, sure,'' Tails said, a bit confused, only for Sonic to walk up and sit down on the control panel, now being at a height where he was eye-to-eye with the Commander.

''I will give you one last chance,'' Sonic suddenly rose his voice, with everyone inside the room turning towards him. He was uncharacteristically serious, his tone low and calm, to the point that even Shadow was giving him a stunned look, as he never saw Sonic act like this. ''Release my friends, or you will suffer the consequences.''

''No, I won't-'' Commander Williams cut himself off when Sonic shot him a cold glare, pressing a button on the Miles Electric. Suddenly, a new window popped up on the screen, showing a red uploading line, already getting to 5%. ''Wait- What is that?''

''This is all of the information we have gathered about ARMS, and it is being uploaded online for all the public to see,'' Sonic replied. Commander Williams' eyes widened.

''You're kidding me!''

''You hurt my friends. I'm dead serious,'' Sonic told him in a cold tone, then smirked. ''It also pays off to have a genius as your little bro.''

He then turned to Tails, who was now hovering next to him, and both gave each other a high-five. Commander Williams remained shocked.

''Y-You're bluffing! There is no way you could've had any access to ARMS-related information…'' he trailed off when another screen suddenly popped up, obscuring the line below, which was now at 13%.

''They aren't bluffing, Commander. In fact, they had made an alliance with me. My own genius allowed them to access any information ARMS was hiding,'' Dr. Eggman said. Commander Williams turned back to Team Neos and Team Dark furiously.

''So, all this time, you worked for Dr. Eggman?!'' he growled, only to get startled when Eggman scoffed.

''Bah, as if! Team Neos is not affiliated with the Eggman Empire, and the only reason we're allied at all was because of your foolish actions,'' Eggman told him, clasping his hands and placing them on the panel in front of him as he leaned closer. ''As you have already learned, the terms of the negotiation for Team Neos are the release of Team Dark. I'm here to add my own terms…''

''Do you really believe that I would do anything like that?!'' Commander Williams shouted furiously. Eggman just rolled his eyes.

''So stubborn…'' he muttered. ''I believe Kinomoto and the Blue Rodent have told you that you have no say in this and that it would be smarter for you to just go along with our demands.''

''Y-You can't just blackmail me!'' Commander Williams protested, but seeing the line at 50%, he realized that he was running out of time.

''You blackmailed Shadow and Touka, so we decided to do the same,'' Sonic responded, then glanced around at the room, locking eyes with Shadow, who nodded in acknowledgement. Commander Williams gritted his teeth, gazing at the line on the screen again and seeing that it got to 53%.

''You-'' He was clearly struggling with his decision. On one hand, he knew that he would lose Project Shadow if he agreed to this, a project that had been in development for more than a decade. On the other hand, he also knew that he was screwed if any of the military secrets get out to the public. Not only would he lose his position, but he would be the one sitting in prison for this. He hissed through his teeth, ''Fine! Agents Sakamoto,…'' Commander Williams almost flinched when Touka shot him a venomous glare. ''Agh, Agents Kageura, Shadow, Rouge and Omega are free to leave.''

''You will also swear to never pursue them again and to let them have their freedom to live their life as they wish,'' Sonic said, earning a hateful glare from the Commander.

''Not only that, but ARMS will also not meddle in the business of Team Neos, as well as delete any information you have on us. We are not your enemy, Commander Williams. We just want to protect Neos City from anyone who wants to hurt the people that live there, be that an Irregular or a human,'' Lucas added, earning the same hateful glare as Sonic did.

''Lastly, ARMS will also not meddle in the affairs of the Eggman Empire, or any battles between Team Neos and myself,'' Eggman said, with Commander Williams giving him a somewhat confused look.

''What?''

''It seems that you either don't understand or don't know, but I don't like having outsiders interrupting this game. The only players allowed so far are Team Neos and their allies. ARMS doesn't have that privilege,'' Eggman told him.

''I won't just stand on the side and watch-''

''That's why we're here,'' Sonic interrupted him, giving the Commander a determined look. ''This is what we do. This is what I do! We are all willing to fight for what is right.''

''You're just a bunch of teenagers…'' Commander Williams trailed off when Touka and Shadow suddenly stepped up.

''Yeah, we are teenagers, but you still forced us to work as ARMS agents,'' Touka pointed out angrily. ''All we wanted was to live a normal life outside the Codex Research Facility and you took that away from us! We didn't ask to be created or live this kind of life!''

''Don't make this harder for yourself, Commander. Your hypocrisy will be your downfall,'' Shadow added, arms folded across his chest. Commander Williams looked back at the line, which was now at 79%. Time was of the essence.

''Fine! You have my word that ARMS won't meddle anymore in any of your affairs, and you can live your life however you want. Now stop that upload!'' Commander Williams growled. Sonic got off the control panel, still holding the Miles Electric and strolling over to Shadow.

''I guess I'm not the only one who kind of ran out of patience. Should we go home?'' he asked, giving Shadow an innocent smile. Shadow smirked at him.

''We have no business here anymore. I agree that we should leave now,'' he said. Before the Commander could even react, both Team Neos and Team Dark gathered around Shadow, whose body was crackling with energy due to Chaos Surge.

''Chaos Control!''

''W-Wait!'' Commander Williams shouted, but the group had already vanished. His attention turned back to the screen, with Dr. Eggman being gone as well, but the line remained, showing that it was at 85% and continuing the upload. His eyes widened in shock and despair as he realized that Team Neos had no intent on cancelling the leakage of information.

xXx

''Finally! It's over!'' Lily exclaimed, stretching her arms as Team Neos and Team Dark found themselves back at the wooded area where the Egg Carrier was. ''Now we can go home!''

''I'd say that we should celebrate this! This is a big victory for us!'' Minami said, with everyone giving her a look of interest.

''Yeah, this calls for a big party!'' Sonic said excitedly.

''I suppose we could celebrate this at my home. Knuckles and I will arrange everything,'' Lily said, with he rest of the group cheering in approval and getting into the Egg Carrier, and Rouge and Touka trying to convince Omega not to blow up Eggman yet as they still needed to return home. The last ones to climb inside were Sonic and Shadow, with Sonic having given the Miles Electric back to Tails, the upload having been complete.

''That was a quite decisive behavior you had displayed earlier,'' Shadow commented, drawning Sonic's attention.

''You think it was decisive?'' Sonic asked in a sheepish tone, rubbing the back of his head. ''I don't know… I did come off as a bit… rough and cold, I guess.'' He then stopped walking, only to snort in amusement. ''Actually, when I think about it, I kinda sounded like you.''

Shadow rose an eyebrow. ''So, I sound rough and cold?''

''Well, now that I think about it… You actually sound way warmer than before,'' Sonic said, scratching his cheek and grinning. ''It's actually really nice and calming to listen to you talk.''

Shadow remained speechless, being genuinely surprised by the compliment. He then tried to play it cool. ''I suppose I will also have to listen to you talk as well.''

''Heh, I missed you too, Shadow,'' Sonic replied, taking note of how tense Shadow looked and just figuring that the latter wasn't going to admit that he missed his rival as well.

[...]

''Speak of the Devil,'' Rouge said, suddenly spotting the two missing teammates at the front gate. Touka and Shadow had soon joined them, with Touka carrying a plastic bag with her, looking around at the yard in front of the Crystle Mansion, clearly impressed by how fast Lily and Knuckles had arranged for the place to be decorated and food to be delivered for the party. As for Shadow, he was suddenly approached by Sonic.

''You're late, Faker,'' he said, giving Shadow a smug grin. Shadow snorted, just shaking his head, well aware what Sonic was referring to. Meanwhile, Touka approached Omega, holding up the plastic bag.

[...]

Sonic then looked up, spotting a dark figure on the roof of the mansion and smirked. He managed to find his way up to the top of the roof, with Shadow giving him a slightly questioning look, well aware that Sonic was about to interrupt his moment of peace.

''Do you mind some company?'' Sonic asked, with Shadow pausing for a moment, then shaking his head. Sonic sat next to him, with Shadow taking note of just how close he was, but he didn't mind his presence. Sonic gave him a curious look. ''Why don't you join the others at the party? After all, you're one of the guests of honor.''

''While I am happy to be here, this doesn't mean that I'm going to socialize,'' Shadow responded, glancing at Sonic. His rival just grinned, understanding well that Shadow still wouldn't socialize with other people unless necessary – even if they were his own teammates. Nevertheless, that didn't mean that he didn't appreciate them.

''It seems like things are gonna go back to normal,'' Sonic said, both him and Shadow watching over their friends as they had fun.

''I don't think that you can call this kind of life normal in comparison to those of other people,'' Shadow remarked.

''Yeah, but you can now live a life without having to worry that anyone from Codex or ARMS will go after you and Touka. I'd call that a 'normal' life,'' Sonic pointed out.

''I suppose you're correct in regards to that,'' Shadow responded, feeling a sense of relief. It was as if someone removed a huge boulder from his chest and he could breathe a bit easier now. He knew that Sonic was right and that with Prof. Sakamoto being dead and ARMS not bothering them anymore, he and Touka could live a life without having to worry that they would be used as weapons again. ''It is a relief…''

Shadow was startled when he was suddenly pulled into a hug by Sonic, his own heart racing and his tan muzzle turning a faint shade of red. His crimson eyes were wide and his body tense, with his first instinct being to push Sonic away. However, he knew he couldn't do that. He couldn't explain it, but there was just something about being hugged by Sonic like this, something comforting, and he wasn't really sure how to respond. But, before he could even say or do anything, Sonic had released him, giving him an awkward smile.

''Oh, right… you don't like physical contact that much,'' Sonic said, rubbing the back of his head. Shadow stared at him for a moment, only to sigh, realizing that Sonic was just happy that he was here and wanted to show it in a different way.

''Since it's you, I suppose I can give you a free pass this time…huh?'' Shadow was startled when Sonic suddenly pulled him into another hug, burying his nose into his shoulder and holding him tightly. Shadow, trying to ignore a familiar sensation of warmth, narrowed his eyes, adding in a deadpan tone, ''What I meant is that I'll give you a free pass for the hug earlier. That wasn't an invitation for more.''

''Too late, Faker. You won't get rid off me so easily,'' Sonic lifted his head, gazing into Shadow's eyes and grinning at him mischievously. Shadow remained unamused and, for a moment, he thought about his response. To Sonic's surprise, he suddenly felt Shadow's arms wrapping around his torso, with Shadow burying his head into his shoulder, pulling him as close as possible. Sonic felt a wave of heat spreading through his body, his fawn muzzle turning a slight shade of red and his heart beating like crazy. Rest assured, he never expected that Shadow would hug him back, but it wasn't an unwelcome gesture. In fact, he really enjoyed it.

''Heh, so you are a hugger,'' Sonic said, his voice carrying a comforting warmth, only for the smile to fade a moment later when Shadow spoke again.

''I don't mind getting a hug so long as it is from a person I trust. It was a source of comfort for me, especially whenever I couldn't deal with the pressure I was put under or when I suffered from nightmares,'' Shadow said in a calm, somber tone. Sonic felt his own heart breaking for Shadow.

''Shads…'' He wanted to offer words of comfort, but nothing came to his mind. His ears then perked up when he heard Shadow speak again in a sharp tone.

''If you tell this to anyone, I will personally throw you into Cosmo River,'' Shadow threatened, moving his head back and glaring at Sonic, but still keeping his hands around Sonic's waist. Sonic snorted, trying to sound as serious as he could.

''Understood,'' he said, offering a sincere smile. While Shadow still kept a stern expression, Sonic did take note that his gaze did soften a little. ''Thanks for telling me that. I'm really glad that you trust me so much.''

''It cannot be helped… After all, you are a thorn in my side,'' Shadow responded, with Sonic suddenly burying his head right into Shadow's white chest fluff.

''D'aaaww, I heart you too, Shads,'' he said.

Shadow sighed, knowing that, if Sonic had done this several weeks ago, he would've kicked his rival off the roof and yelled at him for getting so close. But now, he realized that he had warmed up enough to Sonic to let him do whatever he wanted. Shadow then buried his muzzle on top of Sonic's head, feeling the soft blue fur, and took a deep breath. It was certainly a confusing feeling, and he had to admit, it was a bit daunting to deal with it, but at this point, whatever wall he put between himself and Sonic had been broken down. He knew that he could trust Sonic with his own life, but he still wouldn't trust him with his own insecurities and show his vulnerable side… at least until now. As a matter of fact, he was looking forward to going back to their usual rivalry.

''So, do you want to race?'' Sonic's question snapped Shadow out of his thoughts, the latter having no clue how long they had remained in that embrace. Sonic, clearly clueless about that, grinned as he gave Shadow a confident smile. ''I had been itching to finally challenge you again.''

Shadow just gave him a haughty look. ''I see… I suppose I should've figured that you'd be eager to lose to me.''

''Lose?'' Sonic suddenly got up, scoffing. ''Only in your dreams, Shads. You won't catch me so easily.''

Shadow stood up, folding his arms across his chest. ''Hmph, don't get too cocky, Hedgehog. One distraction, and you'll be suffering a humiliating defeat.''

''We'll see in a bit! Ready?'' Sonic said, taking a running stance.

''Set,'' Shadow said, smirking as he felt the familiar rush of adrenaline.

''GO!''

There was a rush of wind, with the blue and black-orange blurs vanishing into the night, both determined to continue their rivalry and prove who the faster Hedgehog between them was.

Links:

#Sonadow Moments in Sonic Cyber Revolution (The Starfall Arc & The Green Hill Zone Arc)

#Sonadow Moments in Sonic Cyber Revolution (The Chaos Rising Arc)

#Sonic Cyber Revolution (Masterlist)

[dark9896]

Flufftober 2023

Day 17: "I'd give up anything for you" [x Femt]

You were sitting back against a large, fluffy beast and reading a book, just trying to relax when Femt waltzed into the room with a strange look on his face. Before you could even register what that look might be, he had bounced himself back to what you would consider normal.

"Femt, hon." You cooed in a mocking sort of way, "What was that?"

Doing his utmost to play dumb, "A smoothie."

"You're not holding anything though."

"Yes, I'm well aware of that Dearie." He grinned up at you so awkwardly that you couldn't help but smile, "But I couldn't pass up the chance at a good joke."

"You think its a good joke."

Femt sat up gaping at you, "Are you implying that it wasn't?"

"I'm not implying anything." You turned back to your book, "What you interpret my words to mean is your own fault."

"Well I never!"

"Yes you have... three times this week in fact."

The way Femt frowned at you couldn't have been more adorable. Though he did settle, which wasn't like him. Typically one to argue until he had the last word, you couldn't help but wonder what would make him so... docile.

"Hon, what's wrong?" You finally spoke up after making sure he wasn't trying anything else, "It isn't like you to be this quiet, at all."

"Oh, I was just contemplating a few things, Dearie." He squeezed your thigh as if he were trying to fluff a pillow, "Nothing more."

"Example?"

"Oh... just considering the possibility that my mayhem might run you off, or that you'd prefer someone who doesn't have such an insane price tag to one's sanity."

You lowered your book, "You're worried I might leave? What for?"

"I just can't get the idea that I ask too much of you out of my head." Femt admitted, "That for whatever reason, I'm simply too much. And I'd much rather be quiet around you to show that I don't have to be chaos incarnate. Instead of constantly taking the risk of losing you."

"I can assure that--"

"I'd give up anything for you Dearie." He continued, "Anything and everything... I couldn't live without you, despite how utterly difficult I've made it seem at first. I don't say it often enough, but you truly are my sunshine, my rain, the little table in pizza boxes that keep the pizza from being smushed. I'd give up everything if it meant keeping you in my life Dearie."

As much as you wanted to try and argue that, words were failing you. Just a silent staring contest between you and Femt... he really meant everything...

[onewomancitadel]

On the other hand (weak drama aside and my punching bag bad fantheory aside as well), one of the things I wonder about fandom is how many people who silently have different opinions aren't engaging so you just get a warped perception of what people believe at large. I guess my one wild hope is that my blog is a small reprieve for similarly-minded individuals, making fun of bad fantheories notwithstanding.

Like, once a bad fantheory becomes 'the' thing, or one particular interpretation becomes the fanon (dreaded thing) - Emerald is definitely involved in Cinder's redemption/Pyrrha's ghost is/Ruby is Prince Charming, whatever - how are you supposed to challenge that? Lol? Especially when ideally fandom is about expressing your ideas but also you want to fit in to a community and then also like, you know, you want attention and you want community and you want to be seen. Can you be seen if you disagree? Whether it's a Tumblr thing or a Reddit thing (get downvoted lol) or a Discord server thing (yuck), it's all the same stuff.

Now I would hate if I became that which I hated. That would be boring and stupid. But equally like, as absolutely insane and unreasonable Pyre theory is, it's not like every single person is a bad person for liking it (I have never said that) and once it becomes a popular thing, it's a popular thing. *shrug* Surely that's how you could make Jaune/Cinder work? Makes sense, too, if it's hard to figure out how to smush them together, and yeah maybe that weird interaction in V5 was just a product of subconscious jealousy and not anything that was like, material product of their characters interacting. The latter is hard to reason because why would they write Jaune and Cinder being weird about each other? Surely it has to have some other justification? Bad reincarnating fantheory it is.

It's just the ongoing hilarity for me because I view Jaune/Cinder as the simplest and easiest solution out of all Cindemption theories. Enemies to lovers romance baby

[jjproductdeluxe]

So, here’s my interpretation of what burntrap/glitchtrap is..afton AND the mimic

now I might sound crazy but here we go, and this mostly refers to glitchtrap since..yeah..old burnt man in charging station already has enough evidence of it being AFTON than mimic, but as for glitchtrap, I have something NO ONE mentions..Man in 1280, while yes stand-in alligator guy..this story is..probably in the canon, but with Cassidy instead of..ANDREW, first off..cassidy KEEPS afton suffering, death is too good for him as she says..no matter how many times they burn them, afton shall stay alive till there’s no more of him left, second off..is that at the end of man in 1280, aftons spirit goes into some circuitboards..who’s circuitboards though..although not told or confirmed, it probably was a mimic program..which afton then took full control of..thus when mimic gets put into the vr game that is help wanted..it ain’t..the mimic, it is..afton, just using mimic as a BACKUP plan, a escape vessel let’s say, till blah blah blah, events of help wanted happen, vannesa gets possessed, blah blah blah, you get it, but..afton can now go BACK into his old body, which is now rebuilt, and now doesn’t have a peanut head, but afton doesn’t have to deal with the mimic, since his rebuilt body doesn’t NEED the mimic, then blah blah blah, he gets left in the charging pod or whatever you think happened to him, help wanted 2 happens..glitchtrap either escapes into a staff bot/mask bot (doesn’t mean he is Helpi, just means he could be mask bot) or gets smushed..but as he says..he always comes back..also mimic looks nothing like burntrap, though that’s been said before

anyways you can call it glitchduo or burnduo whatever floats your boat

PEEPAW AFTON FOR LIFE BABY

[un-love]

seventeen and types of hugs

@holdinbacksecrets the inspiration that had struck me two days back has since disappeared but i still tried to finish it . hbd 🍯

warnings: angst for dino's

'95, '96

￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣

'97

☽ seokmin

good morning hugs, pull you closer in your sleep hugs, i just want to feel you next to me hugs.

you can feel him come up behind you before his hands slide across your waist as he closes his eyes and rests his face in the crook of your neck. it's almost habitual at this point. a morning ritual. hums softly or just stays there for a minute to ground himself.

☽ mingyu

mingyu, mingyu, mingyu. left hand cupping the back of your neck as a frequent form of affection as he runs his thumb over your jaw absentmindedly. rests his cheek on the top of your head when you wrap your arms around him.

picture this: sitting down, he'll wrap his arms your waist and snuggle into your chest. you know what i mean? i believe mingyu gives the best hugs, and i just want to sob, okay? the type to spin you around and sway you to whatever song he's humming or play-wrestle you till you given in. i have too many ideas for him fuck my life

☽ minghao

taking you by surprise as he extends his arms for a goodbye hug. the ones that last a beat longer than you expect them to.

wouldn't be frequent but once he sees how happy they make you, any little victory would be worthy of jumping around the house and a celebratory hug. u know those little giggles he does?

hopping around gleefully because you solved the puzzle you'd been at for two days? hug. finally got the recipe right? hug. rocking each other from side to side, trying not to lose balance you may not agree with my interpretation but it is what it is

'98

☽ seungkwan

you're the only person i'll let myself break infront of

his hands tremble as you lightly massage his shoulders. it's been a tough week for him and he doesn't understand the concept of taking it easy. inevitably, it all becomes too much and here he is now with his legs intertwined with yours and face smushed into your clothes. just listen to his worries and cuddle him AND reassure him, okay? “i'm so proud of you”

☽ vernon

fever dream

sometimes, when it's raining outside and he's watched the occasional romcom, he'll take your hand and want to dance with you in the dimly lit kitchen. hands running through his hair, you look up and he has the shyest smile on his face. you hold each other close and the night seems welcoming. he won't want to let go till the sun comes up. don't talk about it the next day, though

'99

☽ chan

fingers clutching each others' clothes so tight knuckles turn white. salty tears dripping down your cheeks but you can't stop. suffocating and drowning in those emotions never led you anywhere good anyway. you're here saying goodbye anyway.

every part of your being aches with the burden of unsaid apologies, begging him to stay. hands refusing to let each other go, his fingers slotting themselves perfectly between yours because they're not ready to be abandoned yet. he lets go first. “i'm sorry”

[theepisceswriter]

Jjk dudes promising just the tip but breaking it like 2 seconds later please!

Bestie I know you wanted multiple JJK characters, and I’ll probably still give it you, but I had something similar to this in my notes with Toji, so I decided to make a little ficlet with him instead surrounding this idea....kinda.

Synopsis: Your toxic baby daddy Toji hits you up after not being heard from for months with that smirk on his face that you just can’t resist.

TW: Dub con might apply here but I did my best to make reader aware that Toji was 99.99% lying abt just the tip and knew abt his intentions from the start, but I guess you can interpret it how you want, fembodied!reader, Toji is a trigger warning on his own, manipulation, implied that you have a child together, pregnancy mention briefly, breeding kink, toxic relationship, 18+, MINORS DNI

Word Count: 1.7k

Your heart dropped to your stomach when you flipped your phone over to see ‘TOJI WOJI 🥺🧸🥰....is FaceTiming you.’ Whatever he was calling for couldn’t have been important or even worth your time listening to at all. It was edging on 12 am in the morning, the ungodly hours of the night where sin ran rampant and thoughts became loud as the world around you silenced, a concoction of emotions that meant nothing good. Especially when the last time you received a phone call from him this late it resulted in a booty call that led to you pregnant with a child that Toji barely came to see. Still, you found your thumb lingering over the green answer button and faintly tapping on it, hoping that it wouldn’t go through, but instead, you were met with the sight of Toji. The raven locks on his hair poking out like always, the same old scar over his lip, and the same basic black tee decorating his body. He looked exactly the same as you had last seen him except the outside lights of the world illuminated his face as he appeared to be in what you assumed was the driver’s seat of his car. You felt your heart clench in your chest, memories of your relationship before he up and dipped on you clouding your mind to the point where you were damn near in tears wondering why it had to end so abruptly; why he left you the way he did. But those tears were soon pushed back by with an anger that had you ready to hang up in his face. You were so conflicted when it came to him, always had been.

“What do you want Toji?”

“You. I miss you, y/n. I’ve been thinking a lot about you and our family.” God, here he went with this bullshit again. Just when you thought the cycle was over he always popped up again, little white lies about missing you and his child so he could find solace in your bed for a week or two before dipping like he always did. Apparently, he wanted to come in and talk things out, just talk and try to redeem your relationship. You knew he was just telling you everything you wanted to hear with an ulterior motive behind his words, but you couldn’t resist that grin on his lips and the compliments of how nice you looked even in your nightclothes.

He was too good at this because the next thing you knew he was sitting on the couch in your living room with his legs manspreading out and trying to inch his way closer to where you sat on the opposite end. Your arms crossed and staring daggers into him while all he did was look at you as fondly as he could, as if he were genuinely envisioning a future with you and the child he left you within this moment.

“What the fuck do you really want Toji?” Your voice had a bite to it that left him smirking at your attitude and digging deeper into his mind to pull out lines he knew you wanted to hear, lines he knew would get him that satisfactory ending of you giving into his sweet talk and bold advances as he scooted a couple of inches closer to you. So close that his hand was able to rest on the part of your left thigh that the shorts you were wearing left exposed, gently kneading the area with his palm.

“You know you look good right?” You scoffed and rolled your eyes ready to push his hand off of you but his other hand blocked you from doing so, bringing both of your arms over your head and adjusting the two of you so that you were now smushed between him and the cushioning of the couch. As mad as you wanted to be at him you just couldn’t. He had indestructible shackles placed over your heart that tugged with each time he forced himself back into your life just like how they were now.

Flashbacks of the night you got pregnant suddenly came flashing before your eyes. The vivid imagery of the way he had your legs folded to the point where your ankles were by your ears as he pounded into you ruthlessly from above, hand around your neck tightening your airways and making tears form in your eyes. Blissed dazed out in a space that was too similar to subspace, too out of it to even respond to the “I’m going to fuck a baby into you and how ever many I want after that. Use you like the slut you are and breed you so good.” That had left his lips at that moment. 

Which is exactly what he did and here he was again, the two of you in the very same spot shimmied out of your clothes, and him ready to fuck a baby into you again once more.

“I just want you.” When he says it like that, voice soft and laced with what you hope to be some form of honesty, it’s easy to pretend like this is okay in a relationship—if that’s what you could even call this. That if you squinted your eyes hard enough and looked past Toji’s flaws that all this pain and suffering he put you through in the end would be worth it. Your feelings changing for him with each entrance and exit he made in your life. Always wondering what the two of you could’ve been if he was a better man. You had to be soulmates, there was no other explanation for why you kept coming back to each other. At least not any logical one that you could think of.

All the logical thinking left your mind the moment he pressed his lips to yours, those oh so soft lips that you missed and craved badly on nights when other men’s lips couldn’t contort to yours the way that he did.

This is exactly what he wanted—his gentle caresses and touch to distract you from the real reason why he was here. Which was only to use your body how he wanted before he went on with his life, not thinking about you again until he got horny once more. And it was the touch of his cold hands against your skin, working its way up to grope at your enlarged breast, that brought you back to this realization. Lips moving off of his immediately and backing up against the arm of the couch. Your lips opened in protest, only to be cut off by him speaking up first.

“You don’t understand how much I’ve missed your touch—your body. Do you know how much gorgeous you’ve become with a post-pregnancy body? Just looking at you is driving me crazy.” He continues on with his compliments. Each one hitting you straight into your heart and going up to your head to shush those thoughts that scream at you to not fall for his trap, but instead, you fell right into it. Allowing his to resume his position on top of you.

“We don’t even have to do much. Just the tip, I promise. I just miss the feeling of you around me so much.” It’s the first time this whole night that you were able to recognize one of his lies as just that, a bold-faced lie. You knew how he got when he was in the mood, how dark and clouded his mind got with lust to the point where he was a whole different Toji. But you let him believe that you believed that, a small okay leaving your lips along with a nod as you accepted his lips on yours once more; his tongue slipping past your lips to find yours, gently sucking on it and letting out a light moan at the familiarity of it. He didn’t even have to use his hands to guide his cock to your entrance because he was just that big, breaking away from the kiss to look at where the two of you connected and using his hips to guide his erect tip inside of the warmth of your cunt. For a minute, maybe even less, he kept his “promise” of inserting only his tip, but the feeling of your walls gripping on only the tip of his cock was enough for him to go crazy. Something on the verge of a whimper and a moan leaving his lips. He needed more of you and he was going to have more of you. Disregarding his promise like you predicted, he ruthlessly bucked his hips up against yours, his whole length entering you with ease from the build-up of your arousal that had taken the physical form of wetness.

“Pussy so wet just for me that you swallowed me whole.” He tried to pin it on you and if you weren’t stuffed to the brim with him right now maybe you would’ve rolled your eyes and told him how dumb he sounded, but you went along with it. He didn’t even give you time to adjust to him because even after months without touching each other he knew the pussy that he trained with constant fucking every week would remember his shape and form, adjusting your legs so they were folded up against your stomach and immediately getting to work.

“I might have to put another baby in you if this is what post-pregnancy pussy feels like. You feel so good and right around my cock, baby.”

Each thrust was like heaven on earth, his cock curved in just the right spots to his every sensitive area inside of you that left your toes curling and a faint white creamy line begin to form at the base of his cock. It had been so long since you’ve had a nice good fucking. You couldn’t remember the last time you felt so full, so good to the point where tears formed around the edges of your eyes. No one, not even the toys you had spent $100’s on tucked away in your closet, came close to the affect that he had on your body.

He always knew just what to do and just what to say to have you crumbling underneath him. One of your favorite but also most disliked quality that he possessed.

[birchlogz]

The way you draw sander cohen makes me go insane. He’s a little guy, he’s hot, he’s a little insane a little crazy, I want to smush his face. LIKE AURHHRBRJE you draw him so well fr…

PLSSS im fixated on him so badly its awful. i try and make him look bald but youcan always tell that i Really Really like him when i draw him ... ITS ALSO LIKE sorry im taking this opportunity to basically just infodump. ITS SO HARD TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO DRAW HIM i swear to god he has never looked like the same person in any of his art. i mostly base my interpretation off of his radio portrait and some elements from this concept art (like the hair he styles like little sideburns along his cheeks), as well as taking some notes on his profile from the 3D model. we dont discuss whatever theydid to his face in burial at sea he scares me so severely in that. anyways he drivesme fucking CRAZAYYYY worst character invented <- (is obsessed with him)

[fuckingrecipes]

Recipe For: Ballistics Armor

The cross-section of a plate body armor used by the military shows each type of material they use. 

I’m going to go over what each layer is used for, and how you can sub it out for DIY shit.  Please don’t expect this to work against actual bullets - it is intended for defense against less-lethal projectiles like rubber bullets and gas canisters. 

Layer 1) Outermost Containment. 

Why:  The shell/wrap/skin to keep everything inside.

Can use: Heavy Tarp, Duct Tape, anything with a strong fiber that won’t rip/tear, and can be pierced/scratched without falling apart. 

Layer 2) Impact Protector

Why:   Begins slowing whatever was fired, and reduces harm from smaller impacts. Usually dense foam or rubber. 

Can use: EVA foam, Rubber from tires, Mouse pads, Car floor mats, several layers of duct tape and craft foam. 

Layer 3) Adhesives 

Why: Glue. Duh. You don’t want things falling off and scattering everywhere

Can use; Contact cement, Wood glue (make sure you have over 24 hours to cure before use), Hot Glue, Epoxy (again pay attention to cure time and ventilation)  

Layer 4) Strike Face Material 

Why:   If you’re going against actual bullets, this is the stuff that smushes the point of the bullet, and shears the bullet into a wide pancake shape, to slow and spread its momentum. If going against less-lethal things like rubber bullets, it still helps spread the impact area. 

Ceramic Plate body armor uses thick ceramic. Steel Plate body armor uses a huge chunk of steel.  Both are fairly heavy. 

Can use: Ceramic floor tile, Ceramic from pottery or dishware. Make sure they’re tightly nested together. 

Below is a cross section of a Ballistic Protective Ceramic Plate. 

Layer 5) Support Plate

Why:  Once the ceramic shatters, you still have to catch the momentum coming in at you

Can Use: Metal. Seriously, must be metal. Can be flattened corrugated sheeting, cut up metal trash can, car scrap, metal sheets you get at home depot, whatever, but metal is what you want in this layer. 

Layer 6) Backing Material

Why:  Catch any shards that dented through the metal, further spread the impact to a wider area.  

Can Us: Heavy Canvas, Rubber car mat, Thick plastic, Layers of duct tape, Wood, etc. Very open to interpretation.

Layer 7) Soft Armor 

Why:  Further soften blows, spread impact, and make the hard armor plate more comfortable to wear. 

Can Use: Dense foam, rubber mouse pads, EVA foam, Carpet, layers of cloth, etc. 

---

 When making this, you want to make sure your Strike Face Material and Backing are removable from the Soft Armor so it can be replaced after use. These are taking the brunt of the hit, and doing the most protection from lethal damage. Once the ceramic shatters, it’s no longer useful to take another hit in that spot. 

I cannot guarantee your creation will be bulletproof against any caliber gun. 

Key areas of protection: 

Mid Chest + Upper Belly: Protect heart, lungs, liver, and stomach.

Upper Back: Protect lungs and heart and spine. 

Lower Back: Protect spine and kidneys 

---

Be fucking careful out there, folks. 

[mrs-nate-humphrey]

how do u think a dair + serenessa double date would go? 👀

i tried my best, but tbh i think it’d be chaotic because i feel like the kind of things serena and vanessa would do on dates vs the kind of things dan and blair would do on dates would be wildly different! so if any of these options feel ooc that’s probably why. this was a fun ask though! and i came up with 5 potential double dates so hopefully at least ONE feels correct....

under the cut, because it got long (of course it did) 

pre-date, dan & vanessa get ready together, and blair & serena get ready together. i think blair would do fishtail braids for serena or something, and serena would give blair input on what to wear, zip her dress. they'd fix each other's make-up. dan and vanessa would be doing the same thing! vanessa fixes dan's tie (she's had practice with nate's ties after discreet make-out sessions at his WASPy relatives' place, she knows how to fix a tie) and smooths down his suit. dan probably does something elaborate or fancy or pretty with her hair, braiding ribbons in or something (he grew up with jenny, he knows how to help a girl look fancy for a special occasion).

option 1:

they'd meet at a neutral location, like a park or something, and vanessa and serena would walk around slightly ahead of dan and blair, arms looped together, talking excitedly about something that dan and blair exchange puzzled looks at. dan and blair would walk around too, more leisurely, not really saying much but just enjoying each other's company? or maybe the would talk a lot because, well, they're dan and blair. eventually, blair reaches out for dan's hand and holds it and dan turns a fascinating shade of pink

they're in the park for an hour, until they either get bored or get kicked out for hanging out in the kids area because they're making the children wait lkhfdlkfgklgf. i think vanessa and serena would spend a lot of time on the merry go round while dan and blair stare at them with disappointed horrified wonder, like "how are they going so fast and not throwing up?" / "i don't know" . dan and blair would just sit on swings and not swing LKFHLKDGH.

after this, they do dinner at a posh restaurant, blair's choice. 

option 2:

art gallery date!

dan and blair are being their lovely pretentious selves, going deep into symbolism and historical context and interpretation of paintings using different frameworks and like - vanessa knows enough to join them in the debate, but like....

serena is right there staring at various pictures and saying things like "this shade of green is so calming and soothing, makes me think of peppermint" or "if i could only see one colour for the rest of my life, it'd be this violet" or "this blue feels so melancholic" and vanessa finds herself so so so curious about what serena means, and she really wants to know what her girlfriend means, so she loops an arm around serena's waist and asks all the right questions (she's not trying to ask the right questions, she genuinely wants to know), all "what do you mean by that" or "why do you think that is" or "melancholic how? could you give me another example?"

serena is touched that vanessa actually wants to hear her interpretations as opposed to being academic or whatever

meanwhile dan and blair are two seconds away from yelling or frothing at the mouth. they are looking at a picture of sisyphus and arguing about what it means.

"do we do something about that?" serena asks. "nah, they're flirting," vanessa says.

db disappear for a hot minute, and when they return, blair's lipstick smudged on dan's face, serena and vanessa do a GREAT JOB at keeping their expressions neutral

option 3:

beach date! blair hates it because of all the sand but then dan piggybacks her everywhere and she's too busy having fun to really think about the sand. until dan runs right into the waves and she's shrieking, and she's like, humphrey do you know how much these clothes cost, and he thinks she's going to cry or something, and she knows he thinks that, because the next thing he knows, she's pushing him back into the water and he's spluttering because he actually dressed up for once (yes, he dressed up for the beach, his fancy ass girlfriend is totally rubbing off on him)

serena and vanessa just look at them like why are our friends like this

serena gets a surfboard and vanessa watches her and cheers

dan and blair are both just lying on a picnic blanket (vanessa's picnic blanket, now covered in seawater, thank you very much) and laughing so hard that vanessa goes, 'hey, are you both sober? did you show up here drunk?' and that just sets them off again

option 4:

open mic! blair bullies dan into performing a poem, and he goes, i know you write too, waldorf, so you’ve got to do something as well, and she does!! she’s never really thought of herself as a writer before but at that minute, she does. 

vanessa gives serena a poem she’s written on the back of a receipt from some coffee shop, and serena goes and performs it, and dan and blair are both like, why didn’t you perform your own poem? and vanessa’s like, i wrote it for serena to perform. it’s a poem meant for serena in every possible way 

they want to tease her for being a sap but they unfortunately have no ground to do so 

after this they go to some nice, fun, extremely casual eatery in brooklyn and blair complains loudly and at every possible opportunity but once they’re actually there, she’s all smiles. she steals the salad off dan’s plate

serena talks to vanessa later, about ‘did you give me a poem to ensure i wouldn’t feel left out?’ and vanessa goes ‘no i gave you a poem because i wanted to. because i can’t stop writing poems about you and you mean so much to me’ 

option 5: 

vanessa takes all of them to a lesbian concert

blair’s initially awkward about it like ‘i don’t want people to think im a lesbian!’ and dan is like “you can just kiss me in that case” and vanessa is like, “funny, nate never complained about that”

later, blair talks to dan about how the real reason she’s iffy about this concert is her hugeass crush on serena from when they were kids, and she’s over it, but sometimes she remembers it and it always hurts

and dan, to her surprise, gives her a hug and tells her about the hugeass crush he had on vanessa, and how she took him to these concerts all the time before she left and he kept wondering what it meant, because it always felt like a date, their bodies always smushed close together because of the way the crowd would be, and he tells her that it hurt, but he wants to go to a concert with blair, to make new memories or whatev

blair is like ‘nothing about this experience sounds appealing’

dan is like, ‘give it a try before you judge it’ 

and blair does and she hates the crowd as expected so she and dan sit outside together and she feels mildly awful about making him miss the concert, but they’re near one of the doors and they can still hear the music and blair thinks the band isn’t half bad and she tells him that, and dan laughs, like, ‘see? i knew you’d like them’ and blair gives him an incredulous look and kisses him 

and keeps kissing him

serena and vanessa come out of the venue laughing, faces pink and flushed, and they look at dan and blair, who are standing there and smiling and looking sort of quiet and at peace and happy despite leaving in the middle

vanessa checks on blair, and blair smiles at her and says it’s all good, and v believes her, because she looks really happy

[whattheflameo]

The map you made is really cool, but um.... what does it say? 😅👉👈😅

Gather round, children, Captain Kit is gonna learn you on a few of the basic arts of nautical navigation. (This is going to get a bit in-depth so I’ll put it under a cut)

To begin, what I posted is a chart- a map designed for air or sea navigation. The only ones who will give you crap about the terms are boat people. I’m one of them, and I’m not sorry. Reading a chart on a basic level is the same as reading a map. Big words are names of bodies of water. Green is land, blue is water, and the darker the blue, the deeper the water (at least, here). A green area without an outline is a swampy type area, where land vs. water is meh. The compass rose in the top right corner is used to orient the chart. From the angle, we can see that Yue Bay and its tributaries actually run more West-East than North-South, which fucked me up mentally at first.

Speaking of lines, the black squiggles in the water are (very loose) bathymetric lines. What they do is trace an area of similar water depth to give you an idea of what the seafloor looks like. Using them you can find: shoals, underwater hills/seamounts, the continental shelf and slope, “the drop off?!?!?!,” etc. As a rule of thumb, the further from land, the deeper the water. Usually, charts have numbers scattered around them reflecting water depth, but like I said on the original post, FireAlpaca didn’t give me a change to mark soundings (depths) the way I wanted to and I was not about to make a new text box for every single fuckin number.

In this cutout you can see part of the Mo Ce coast, a marshy area around it (personally, I think of mangroves), and three different colors of water, each representing a major change in depth. Lighter blue approximates the continental shelf. Middle and dark blue, where there are a bunch of bathymetry lines smushed together, would be the continental slope- where the floor shifts down to the ocean basin. The soundings are open for interpretation, but in my head, the shallowest line on light blue may be about 5-10 feet, and the outer zone of dark blue is fuck all of two thousandish feet. 

See that loopy area in the innermost shallow water line, right under the words “Mo Ce” on the land? It looks like it’ll finish in a circle? Thats a raised area of sea floor. My intention was a shoal here. Don’t hit it with your boat.

What about actual navigation? Here’s a list of navigational things you can expect to see on a chart: locations of lighthouses or foghorns, shipping lanes, harbors, channels, bridges, shipwrecks or buildings on the water, and major roads/things on land. The land bits are fairly self-explanatory, and so are the (bigass yellow) bridges. If I weren’t tired, I’d have included major buildings that have lights on them, but life is meaningless and so is this.

If there are lighthouses, how come they don’t look like those paintings? Because there isn’t room for that. Here, any sort of light is going to be marked with a raindrop droptop shape. There are two main types on light on this chart: lightHOUSES and just lights. We call both ‘just lights’ when we talk, because water people are lazy.

Lighthouses look like this. There’s a black dot with the exact location of the lighthouse, a teardrop showing “this is a fuckin lighthouse,” and a purple circle. Nearby, in bold, is the name of the lighthouse (Mo Ce Light). Next to it will be a series of letters and numbers telling you how to identify this lighthouse. If every lighthouse blinked the same, at night you’d never know where you were, because during the day and ESPECIALLY at night, every fucking thing on the ocean looks the same. In daytime, they’re all different colors and yadda yadda. At night, the lights flash different. ‘Fl’ stands for flashing. This light is flashing, and the two indicates that it flashes twice. 15s is how often it flashes. So, from the first three chunks, we see that Mo Ce Light flashes twice every fifteen seconds. If you’re looking at a light that blinks once every nine seconds, its 1) not Mo Ce Light and 2) fucking useless because by the time 9 seconds passes you’ll have already hit something. Next is the height of the lighthouse itself (109 ft) and how far away you can see the light on a clear night (30 miles). What does ‘clear’ mean? Who fucking knows. 

Smaller things, like a channel or point, are marked with smaller lights. You read these lights are read the same way as the first part of a lighthouse’s description, with an added R or G meaning red or green. They’re marked with a black dot, a purple teardrop, but no big ass circle.

Red and Green are, after blue, the absolute most important colors on a chart. Red and Green are how you orient yourself to know where a channel or lane is, and those are where it’s guaranteed that the water is safe to take your vessel. To know which color to keep where, remember Red, Right, Returning- when you’re headed back toward shore, red aids should be on your RIGHT side, and green on your left. When you’re headed AWAY from shore, they should be flipped. Savvy?

Lanes are designated for Very Big Boats (ships). There’s only one lane on this chart, leading into Republic City Harbor. It’s outlined in black dashes and purple triangles on a chart. Physically, its marked by red and green lights. The name of the lane (Republic City Harbor Traffic Lane) is written in the middle of the lane itself. Lanes like this exist to make sure there aren’t huge ships wandering everywhere throughout the harbor fucking shit up, and also to make sure they stay where the water is deep enough to accommodate them. Among other more political reasons but pfffffft. 

Channels are more useful for smaller recreational/fishing vessels. They’re zones of deeper water, occasionally human-dredged, that allow safe passage.  Channels are marked, both physically and on a chart, by red triangles and green squares. The signs are big as hell, mounted on big wooden poles, and (unless your chart creator is a lazy bum) marked with big numbers so you can tell where in the channel you are. 

The last thing of note are foghorns. Personally, living in lovely, wonderful Florida, these fuckers are not my problem, but I could not assume the same for the citizens of Republic City, so here we are. Foghorns are audible lighthouses, for when you can’t see a lighthouse because, y’know, fog. They’re marked by open black circles, usually close to lights. In bold will be the type of foghorn (spoiler alert, they’re all diaphones). In parenthesis are dits and dashes representing the sound. In the one below, the sound would be a blat, a pause, and then another blat.

But Kit, what are all those little words and details at the top?

Don’t concern yourself with those. On the left is legal jargon, and in the middle is the scale (but if you’re trying to measure actual distance, good fucking luck because the scale here is arbitrary) and where the chart actually starts and ends (guess what, more fuckery. I just used a random chart from Florida to get these numbers). Below those are who published the chart, and when. 

And there, kiddos, are them facts. You now have some very basic understanding of what’s going on on a nautical chart. Use this info, and this big dumb chart that took me way too long to make and that nobody fucking asked for, for whatever you want. Questions comments or concerns can hop in my ask box. Someone maybe write me a nice little thing about like. Korrasami or Kyalin sailing around on a boat. Its going on midnight. I feel like I deserve it. Boats are nice. I feel like they deserve it. I feel like we all deserve it. Class dismissed.

[itsclydebitches]

I’m almost finished the second season of The Mandalorian and am absolutely in love with the fairy tale-esque nature of this pocket of the Star Wars Universe. Idek if that’s the “correct”/best way to describe it — and I’m definitely no SW expert, so apologies if I’m going about this badly — but I just mean the unspoken rules that govern the story and how the characters adhere to them. Embedded in the overarching plot, each episode has its own tale that feels just sci-fi whimsical enough to start with a “Once Upon a Time...” (as opposed to merely “A long time ago...”) There’s a sand dragon to defeat, a town to save, old magic lost and then found again, etc. Money is obviously exchanged, but the primary currency is bartered favors: You help me with my problem and I’ll help you with yours. Those who agree to such an exchange are bound by that code and breaking your word can only end badly (for you). Words also hold a great deal of meaning, whether it’s someone vouching for another, or an enemy coming up with the wrong interpretation of a promise to their detriment (the guy in the premiere didn’t die by Din’s hand). Alongside SW’s wonderfully strange aliens, there are anthropomorphized animals designed to look like they walked out of a storybook — just a little frog lady who wants to get home to her little frog husband — “pets” that show gratitude when you assist them, talk of lineage or royalty, and though the story isn’t usually explicit about it, tiny morals embedded into many of the adventures. 

Despite pulling so heavily from the larger canon this season, The Mandalorian still feels small to me and that smallness comes with a unique, fable-like familiarity. The space opera origins are still there, as are the obvious Western and Sci-Fi elements, but it has all been smushed down to fit Din and the comparatively small world of him, his ship, and the Child. The galaxy is still vast and the Empire is still an epic threat, but most of the story is told through interactions with the everyday people who exist underneath this clash between Good and Evil: The one man who is willing to help his neighbor, your regular repair woman, someone nameless in a bar who will help you if you help with his bet. When Season One finished I heard a lot of people say that they didn’t need a Plot™ in this show; they’d happily watch Din and the Child just bopping around the galaxy for the whole series. That episodic structure, combined with their wholesome relationship and the more fantasy-heavy aspects of the show (Din learning about this “magic”), makes the end result feel very... comforting to me. Not just in the “and the good guys will win in the end!” way of the original trilogy, but like this version of the SW universe has more to offer than badass Jedi and planet destroying villains. It’s both scary-exciting and domestic, like a bedtime story I’ve settled down to listen to that follows up its epic battle with a tea party. There’s something there and whatever it is exactly I’m digging it immensely. 

[booksandgalore]

A Day Late, A Dollar Short

Your old life ends on the day you accidentally notice the white paint on Taehyung's face—and those red lips of his colored into a mischievous, all-consuming grin.

PSYCHOLOGICAL, HORROR, inspired by the JOKER

Yandere!BTS preview with a female reader

SPECIAL THANKS to @cakebite​ for the header. This upcoming one-shot is a gift for you (estimated date: before the end of summer—end of July or early August)! You’ve always been cheering me on.  

PREVIEW OF FINAL ONE-SHOT

Grades were still important despite the college acceptance letter in your hand, so, like you told your mother, you really did go to the library to study, even if your studying just happened to last for five minutes before you stumbled upon the yellow brick road to Jeongyeon’s house, where it was conveniently—no, coincidentally—shy of a minute’s walk from the library in the first place.

Now, now, details didn’t need to be disclosed.

Minuscule effort had to count for something in your senior year, especially when your days should be simple, mundane, free of worry, merely existing to count down graduation. You did study against the finer essence of things, did you not?

Similarly, senior year perpetuated the same beliefs in Taeyong. Always pushing the limits of when he would start his Calculus homework, your classmate preferred Animal Crossing over graphs and lines that seemed to bend one way more than the other, but was it such a bad thing, pray tell, for him to do what he wanted to do at his own pace? And for you to do whatever you felt like doing because it was your God-given right?

You scratched the sole of your left foot with your right and scrolled through the random slime videos recommended on your feed. Somehow, you became addicted to watching these dessert items being smushed by hands, disrupting the illusions of the cakes and cookies to reveal that the items were, in fact, slime, much to your surprise.

From the corner of your eye, however, you noticed Jeongyeon’s chest rising and falling to every deep breath, her shoulders slouching and her fingers curling tightly around the electric fly swatter she had been waving around for a good ten minutes.

You sank deeper underneath her blankets, the thick weight relaxing the tension in your muscles.

“Did you get it yet?” you asked, accidentally double-tapping a random advertisement from scrolling too fast.

“As you can see,” Jeongyeon swung at the air, “no.”

“Hurry up and kill it.”

“I’m trying.”

“Try harder.” Aggravating her was always a fun pastime.

But maybe it wasn't as fun when your legs were suddenly being crushed by the weight of Jeongyeon’s body and, GOD, was she heavy. When she wiggled around, the pressure amplified.

“I need water,” she demanded, soft brown locks clinging to the sweat on the sides of her face. “I need snacks.”

The epiphany struck you late, but you realized how some words were never meant to be spoken when Jeongyeon leered down at you with her petty, little eyes.

“This is your house,” you emphasized, and you reluctantly adjusted yourself out of these blankets to shove Jeongyeon away from her own bed. ”Guests should be treated like kings.”

“You raid the fridge every time you come. It’s time you return the favor, you freeloader.”

That was not true. You raided her cupboards as well.

“Oh, yeah?” You huffed, straightening your shoulders and puffing out your chest. “Would a freeloader do this?”

Releasing a wistful sigh, you smoothed the crinkles on her pillow before dropping your head dramatically on it, her one-hundred-percent-cotton fluff being put into good use.

Jeongyeon loomed over your body. “Go and do what I ask. . .” she brandished the swatter close to the tip of your nose, ”or else.”

You raised your hands. You were just messing around, but she didn’t have to go that far. The circular light on the handle was still green, and with one wrong move, one wrong step, she could fry off your skin.

Jeongyeon continued staring at you, and for a second you thought she would bring it closer—out of pure curiosity to observe what it was like for flesh to burn—until you blinked and the racket was nowhere near your vicinity.

Unconsciously, you started laughing. “Good one!” you said, the repressed stammer lodged in your throat doing you a favor.

As Jeongyeon stood back, the evening sun filtered through the seeps of her blinds, ironically highlighting the shadows of her face instead of the soft planes of her lips, or the curve of her long lashes. Gone was the girl you viewed her as moments before, her cheeks now sharp, strong, and. . .gaunt, if you were allowed to confess this.

When she smiled, it felt a bit lopsided. “You’ll be a good friend, right?"

You thought her teeth seemed sharper for a moment.

“You’ll get me what I ask for, won’t you?” Her eyes were a little too wide for your liking.

But then you blinked again, and this funny interpretation of her vanished.

Jeongyeon puffed out her cheeks and placed her index fingers on top of them. “Jeongyeon”—she whined—“wants some snacks and some water!”  

Oh, a horrible sight!

You threw a pillow at her. “Don’t ever act cute.”

Begrudgingly, you made your way out of the comfort of her bed as she applauded you for your efforts, each slow and calculated smack of her palms against one another lingering in the air mockingly, matching the pace of your own beating heart. You wrenched the door open and navigated yourself down the stairs, nothing but the creak in the wooden floor boards accompanying you now with each step, before you arrived into her kitchen.

There, on the table, laid an unopened bag of salt-and-vinegar chips, but your tongue already shriveled up at the taste. Nevertheless, you grabbed what Jeongyeon requested, snatched an extra water bottle for yourself, and were about to hightail it back to her and her room and her oh-so-comfortable bed when a sharp noise reverberating from the hallway ceased your movements.

You turned your head around curiously, retracting your foot from the first step of the stairs to listen, but the sound never returned.

Deeming it to be nothing, you brought one foot on top of the steps again when it resumed, louder this time, and you recognized that it was some sort of rough laughter, vaguely manic, oddly bitter in nature.

Jeongyeon did have a twin, but it wasn't any of your business to disturb him.  

With that in mind, you craned your neck back to the stairs in front of you, yet the same rough laughter ricocheting off the walls had shifted into that of a faint, sorrowful tone, hardly distinguishable to the human ear, the change so slight it was a miracle you had picked up on it just barely.

Was it encroaching on his privacy if you checked up on him?

Conflicted, you let out a breath. It didn’t help how Jeongyeon had confessed, very vulnerably, might you add, that she felt disgusted when her friends would talk to her brother. You couldn’t blame her—not when she gave you detailed stories about her classmates back in Korea, who befriended her for the sake of getting closer to him.

“And if you can understand me,” Jeongyeon had told you after school one day, her voice hoarse and lips downturned, “can I trust that you will do this for me?”

And you did comply to her request like the good friend you were—for four years now and counting.

But when another rumble of laughter, tinged on the edge of what seemed like despair, echoed mindlessly, it tugged at your heart, dragged its teeth for good measure, and reminded you of a memory you worked so hard to suppress—of your father and the hollows underneath his eyes and his desolate gaze.

Perhaps Jeongyeon could make an exception this time. You weren’t like them.

Quietly, you ambled down the hall, stopping short when you noticed the generous slit of the bathroom door, revealing Taehyung who. . .

You felt your breath hitch as your heart leapt in your throat.

A question, colored in red, was written on the mirror:

WHY SO SERIOUS?

You traced the edge of each letter, but it became increasingly difficult to breathe.

“AH HA HA!”

Taehyung covered both of his eyes with his hands momentarily. Then, he peered at his reflection again through the gaps of his fingers, as if unable to do nothing but stare and stare forevermore. His entire face was smeared with some sort of white paint chipping along the edges of his jaw, the flakes dropping to the odd, purple suit he adorned as a green tie rested around his neck.

“AH HA HA!” He leaned in closer to the mirror. “AH HA HA!” he repeated, each forced laugh willing his shoulders to heave up and down with every breath.

Taehyung’s lips extended unnaturally from cheek to cheek, a thin red line, wavering slightly at the ends, drawn on to resemble an everlasting mischievous grin.

You had to go back to Jeongyeon. This. . .this wasn’t right. This wasn’t normal.

You stepped back, but you should have known better when the floor creaked and Taehyung’s gaze pierced into your very being through the mirror.

You expected him to speak, to part his mouth to sputter out a few rushed words, but he didn't. Instead, he simply stared at you with that crazed, inhuman glint in his eyes, and with those curved lips of his that just would not stop smiling. Slowly, he dragged his tongue across the expanse of his skin, never once breaking his transfixed stare, as a sneer escaped through the clench of his teeth. 

You were unable to distinguish if his smile was truly painted on, or if it was replaced by something else entirely, a viscous liquid in its stead, the crimson color plastered across his face switching to a shade darker, a shade sinister against its nature.

Much to your relief, however, the light fixture in the bathroom had flickered off. For a moment the darkness binding your vision provided you with a small sense of comfort, while the sound of your labored breathing, shallow and quick, reverberated throughout the halls.

But just as suddenly, the light flickered on again, and Taehyung’s smile stretched impossibly wider through the mirror this time.

“You ever get tired of life?” Taehyung smacked his lips, speaking to you with his reflection. “When the razzle-dazzle isn’t cutting it out anymore? Hmm?”

It was hard for you to see past his paint. 

[iwouldfuckdarkiplier]

What is Dark, to you? Like, the machinations of what powers that dead body. Is it just damien and celine (sleppin) with damien using her power, or did homeboy get access to spooky void demon powers when it 'changed him' like she said it would, or did they smush w/ a house demon? Im personally a 'twisted, demonic damien with a slippin sister in the background, giving him access to her powers and broader void energy/powers b/c of it' kinda gal.

Okie doke, so at the beginning, I was part of the Damien + Celine + Unnamed House Demon = Dark squad, but after the DAMIEN video came out, I think it’s more like Celine gained powers from the UHD (hence that scene at the end of WKM Chapter 3, where she’s got the Darkiplier effects), then they both got trapped within the body that Dark uses. However, in DAMIEN, i interpreted that end part as her using both her power AND the power from the UHD to basically keep Damien alive by turning him into Darkiplier. This bit of dialogue is what solidified it for me.

Celine: “You can’t come back from this. It’ll change you. Forever.”

Damien: “Well, he did say he wanted me to be the villain.”

Celine never mentioned herself. It wasn’t phrased as if they were going to be the villain, or like it was going to change them. It was him, Damien, that they were talking about. That’s why in my writing, on my blog, and in conversation with other fans, I tend to use Darkiplier sparingly (unless, like on here for headcanons, I’m separating it to show differences). The fans came up with the name “Darkiplier” back when it was just a creepy thing Mark did to spook us, back with ‘Don’t Blink’ and ‘Don’t Move’. 

No one (save Mark and the fans) has ever called him Darkiplier/Dark in the actual videos. Never. If I’m wrong, feel free to correct me. But he’s also never called himself that. I feel like, now that we’ve got a backstory, the name Dark(iplier) is just a nickname that the fans don’t want to let go of (and for good reason, don’t get me wrong. I love it). But I feel like when it comes down to it.

It’s Damien. It’s just Damien. It’s a Damien who had his sister give him otherworldly abilities, hence why he’s, you know… a demon, but it’s still him. And we, the District Attorney, Y/N, whatever you want to call us, still love him.