#sorry if this seems sorta bland answer

[riddle-me-ri]

So we all know how we’re feeling about the Hish MOVIE Riddler. But what are your thoughts on the Hush COMICS Riddler?

I'll admit it's been a couple years since I read Hush but I do remember throughly enjoying The Riddler even if he's more apparent in the ending.

I think its one of his best moments in the comics, and it shows just what all he's capable of. Not to mention we get some hints of vulnerability which I always eat up with any of the Riddlers even if it's said out of anger or frustration.

Also I'm a sucker for any comic that comes around and solidifies a rogue for being a solid adversary and not just a running joke or punching bag. And Hush does that for Riddler, even if just for a moment.

I really ought to re read it again sometime. Maybe replace him with DCAU Hush the only reason he even got a pass was cause his design is stupid cute *ahem before the twise ahem* Plus I didn't see anyone else writing for him lmao

[pvtchurch]

auston matthews and ginger from chicken run (connor mcdavid) for the ask meme ?

auston matthews

first impression: so, this one's kinda specific, but my first impression of him came from a fanart I saw on here. so really I didn't know much (this was before my hockey era) except, oh, the people here are really into shipping him with some other hockey guy. okay. not like I formed a lasting impression off that, but I did think his outfit was really cool, so you know, there's that. he's the first hockey guy to breach containment for me, I was not really interested at the time (this was not even a year ago 😭) but it's kinda special in that way

impression now: in general, seems like a chill guy. you know I try to perceive the leafs as little as possible but I respect him. also, cool outfits. he slays. good for him. however I DID read a fanfic which I'm pretty sure changed my brain chemistry and which starred him as the protagonist! doesn't change the way I see him, he just exists, doing his thing, except now I'm more aware of the leafs narratives. (thanks cody!)

I can't really answer any of the rest of the questions because like. I really don't know this guy. sorry reuben. you (leafs fans) can keep him. I don't wanna get dragged into another rabbit hole.

connor mcdavid

(aka, ginger from chicken run.) the fun begins.

first impression: generally thought he was kind of bland? I was like. that's just a dude. like he's good at hockey, which is fun, but he seems to have the amount of personality (and structural integrity!) of a piece of wet cardboard. so I elected to ignore him. I didn't know what was to come.

impression now: hoooooooly shit. this man occupies every single one of my thoughts and I don't even remember how it happened. genuinely. something clicked in my brain and suddenly I was obsessed with him. ofc there's something to be said about like, this anxious teen with the weight of the world on his shoulders who grew quite awkwardly into his adult frame, but like, people have already said these things. there's the insane hockey plays, of course he's amazing and all that, but idk, maybe it's the anxiety that touched me? he's so anxious and he's still going and you can tell he worked on it, it's not perfect but it's better than before? like the growth? I don't know. I kinda love him. he's quiet. a little pathetic-looking. I got no explanation for this one

favourite moment: I listened to a podcast and he was saying that he always has to remind leon of just how good he is, and he's taken it upon himself to make leon see it, and you can tell he really does care about it (beyond just the game). and it's a small moment but I'm a big fan of bros supporting bros. keep it up king 👑💪

idea for a story: so I was sorta maybe not quite writing something... which may or may not involve hanahaki disease and mcdrai. and it mostly deals in guilt (that's the good stuff) but it's actually kind of leon draisaitl centric, because he's the one with the disease and he's the one struggling to see that he is loved and he is cared for and he feels guilty for dumping this on connor and it's mostly platonic but also kind of not and well. I have like my own version of hanahaki which I did tell one (1) beloved mutual about but the document has been untouched for exactly a week now and my brain has moved onto other things, so. (if you feel like reading some hanahaki may I recommend this one, it's mceichel, I enjoyed it a lot)

favourite relationship: my most beloved mental illness. mcdrai. (which I found really flavourless like a few weeks back. character growth!) there's something to be said about the our stories are linked and our names are tied together aspect of it, and how they've found each other, and leon would find me even if I was invisible and all that. something about connor always hyping up leon to the media, because he sees so much in him, and he's waiting for other people to see it too, but in the end they never will because connor is right there and connor is the best player in the league and it's always about connor. he'll always overshadow leon by being there. connor can try, he can try to be selfless (and how can you not be when you are this good, haven't you internalised by now that it's no fun if you take the whole stage for yourself?) and maybe he would like a break from the constant attention but he won't get it. something else; they are the centre of the whole oilers team. like, and I'm not an oilers fan but I think I can say this, the team would absolutely collapse without them. no question about it. maybe they would be fine with just one or just the other but they would definitely be missing their other half. (and I could talk about how they are BOTH anxious and they are maybe each other's support, but that's for another day because I don't think people have noticed how anxious leon actually is yet.) …you could say I've had a normal amount of thoughts about these two.

favourite headcanon: I'm electing not to answer this one because as you can see from my mcdrai paragraph there are a lot of things I have extrapolated from bits of interviews, body language and the like, also maybe a bit of projecting in there. let's be honest that I'm pretending to know a man that I don't. I'm not even an oilers fan. this is all headcanon.

if anyone actually read this far. hope you had fun. sorry.

[mybeautyandrage]

Can you give an example, please, wlm ship wich was not "hand on a silver plate". If it's not hard))

i don’t know whether you’re genuinely interested or just trolling but my head thinks the latter and i’m not here to argue with you when i’ve made my point??

[miniwolfsbane]

Sweet Tooth S1 thoughts (BIG SPOILERS)

First off, I am disappointed we were shown a PURRING PUPPY BABY in the trailer and had 0 follow up with it? Did he/she escape to Istanbul with it’s parents? Get captured? Live a nomadic life? Live in the forest? I WANT ANSWERS!! :( Also, puppies don’t purr, so I want answers to that too. Unless they were trying to go for a whimper or an animal noise and just went with that instead.

BIG SPOILERS under the cut

Anyway, the only two things, aside from the bits of gore and violence (Reviews are all like “IT’S A FAMILY SHOW!” And I counter back with “I would not let any child under 13 watch this and I have never seen a family show with three seconds of guts being removed and two scenes of implied, live vivisecting on sentient beings without anesthetic.”), the only things I didn’t like about this were using 2 overused cliche’s. One being the hero hanging off a bridge for what seems like 12 years above peril, and the other I can’t remember. It was Jeppard nearly missing the train. The only thing that saved it was the flashback.

The other thing was that, while dark, there’s a bit of predictably and not much depth to the story. I realized last night that the comic source material my have the depth I’m craving out of the story. Just because it has child actors doesn’t mean the story can’t be dug into deeper and have more meaning. I applaud them for what they did and how they handled it, mixing in human-ish vivisecting with neighbors burning down their friends houses and being murderous hypocrites into a story about children, but it wasn’t enough for me. I wanted more.  Edit: Not more violence, obviously, just more to the story. dig into the universe, hard. Like gardening, just shove both metaphorical hands into that story soil and root around in it. Find all the gems that are the interesting parts of this universe and answer our questions. 

Sadly, I see someone on tumblr called it...something. Like, were we even watching the same show?? A multi-racial cast that gives all it’s characters dignity isn’t...that.

Bobby isn’t creepy to most and not shown that much. If you really think Bobby is that creepy, you need to go see original Bobby and get back to me. https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=mv4YBZHa&id=071BD6BDAA183CA5965247E7F8F68E873375399B&thid=OIP.mv4YBZHau8dTzxGoK0L0ggHaHD&mediaurl=https%3A%2F%2Fvignette.wikia.nocookie.net%2Fmarvel_dc%2Fimages%2Ff%2Ffc%2FBobby_Sweet_Tooth_001.jpg%2Frevision%2Flatest%3Fcb%3D20150813115735&cdnurl=https%3A%2F%2Fth.bing.com%2Fth%2Fid%2FR9afe180591dabbc753cf11a82b42f482%3Frik%3Dmzl1M4eO9vjnRw&pid=ImgRaw&exph=616&expw=647&q=sweet+tooth+comics+bobby&simid=608026455638091252&ck=7A4DBACCF6BFE43E3B1E799F7F88C55A&selectedindex=0&adlt=demote&shtp=GetUrl&shid=3fb5000d-4d63-494a-986d-006fedeb28d5&shtk=Qm9iYnkgKFN3ZWV0IFRvb3RoKSB8IERDIERhdGFiYXNlIHwgRmFuZG9t&shdk=Rm91bmQgb24gQmluZyBmcm9tIGRjLmZhbmRvbS5jb20%3D&shhk=NjRWN4Jv1KDrxu8T30I3UN0IQ71oVtCAEnsLIeSmFl4%3D&form=EX0023&shth=OSH.nyb0RMh%252Bnm%252B%252B%252FIH1cnkhHw

Okay, kid does sorta look like a gremlin mixed with a Furby in the show, like one post said, but I’ve seen worse. https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=F9mlBjUo&id=49C0257935E4A941563E579C7E9DCF48B72BEC01&thid=OIF.eyTVbAuEqt0R%2bKFmrIK4gA&mediaurl=https%3a%2f%2fepipoca.com.br%2fwp-content%2fuploads%2f2021%2f06%2fE3NUK2kVoAE5Ct_.jpg&cdnurl=https%3a%2f%2fth.bing.com%2fth%2fid%2fR17d9a5063528805f1ade0ea77464df86%3frik%3d%26pid%3dImgRaw&exph=675&expw=1482&q=sweet+tooth++Bobby&simid=297111136187&ck=7B24D56C0B84AADD11F8A166AC82B880&selectedIndex=49&FORM=IRPRST&ajaxhist=0&ajaxserp=0

Sometimes stuff goes over my head. I had no idea that the babies were being born and not made in a lab. When they showed them in the maternity ward, I genuinely thought they had been experimented on and didn’t come out of the womb like that. Apparently I missed that it was a maternity ward in a hospital. That’s my other problem with this show I forgot to mention: It defies logic and you really have to turn off your brain to accept the hybrid concept. I’m guessing the virus or other means (possibly according to the comics, I tried to avoid big spoilers), mutated them in utero. That still doesn’t satisfy me. Thankfully, Gus was somehow lab created, so that helps. (More information and context would be appreciated. Was it, like, they were experimenting with in-vitro or what?) Edit: This article https://screenrant.com/sweet-tooth-theory-purple-flowers-cure-sick-virus/ explains that putting the virus in a chicken egg produced Gus. Which makes even less sense. Edit: This MAY or MAY NOT be right. Someone on YT pointed out they never said this in the show.

 IRL, Virus + chicken embryo=would never randomly produce a human/deer hybrid baby. It’s so freaking random it sounds like nonsense or the delusions of a madman, not a rational comic book author with a presumably sane mind. Just...I’ve said it before...things have to make sense, even in fiction. 5 step process of anything cannot equal random result. It goes against all science, right? And made up worlds have to have rules, even silly worlds. Like I said, you have to turn your brain off, but this stretches even my disbelief. Hybrids, I get, fine, but that? I’m sorry, what? *headdesk* I don’t know, maybe the comics had something I’m missing since I never read them.

I’m eager to learn the connection to the kids and the virus as we go. And if we don’t get a season 2, I’ll be getting the comics to satisfy my thirst for this show.

Gus is my baby and I don’t understand how a kid could be that cute. Jeppard is the GOAT (lol) Bear could use better line delivery at times, but her acting will improve I’m sure. Nice to see Diana Ramierez acting again, her character is likeable. Wendy is cute, but kinda just there for me. Needs more traits or character development to get on my favorite characters list. Bear also needs more than just backstory and a tough girl persona. She’s not bland, she just needs more spark to her as a character. More personality, if that makes sense. 

Lastly, I wanted a tiny bit more from the make-up department. Wendy and rabbit kids (yes, I took note of this detail and I love bunnies) make-up is on point, but the rest look like kids dressed up in dollar store feathers and fur for a school play. Get more creative if you’re gonna show these hybrids, even if it’s just for a few seconds. You have the budget!! (But I think most of that went to Bobby’s puppetry/CGI and Jeppard’s baby, to be honest.)

I wanted a cat girl or boy, because the lulz for the anime community (Also, because I have 2 cats and stuff), but at least we got bird kids, even if they weren’t cockatiels like mine. I’m ready for Season 2, hurry Netflix!!

I can see why people wouldn’t like this show or wouldn’t recommend watching it, but I see many have embraced it. It’s either you’re thing or it’s not, but you should give it a chance and see. Just don’t shoot it down if you hate it, there’s enough wet blankets out there and we all have different tastes.

Edit: One last thing. I do have a problem with hybrids being half-human. Like, you would think that being half-human, they’d still have all the problems humans have with causing wars and all. I know it’s a dark story with a good outcome, but there’s something too saccharine about hybrids having “The best parts of us.” What exactly are those best parts? Last I checked, humans are selfish and vain at their core. Even the most altruistic, giving person can be greedy about something or want more. It’s like Genie said in the new Aladdin, “You can have all the money and power in the world and it still won’t be enough”.  Wouldn’t bird people and pig people and deer people all want to side with each other instead of living in some grand utopia? Fighting over land and resources? Portraying hybrids as taking over the earth after people are gone from extinction and everything going peachy doesn’t quite work for me. Not that I’d want it to still be dark, but, eh, they’d have to have SOME problems, wouldn’t they?

[rydenstories]

A Spiral Staircase

REDDIT

My Grandma lived out in the country. Not the real country, with farms and cornfields. Just far enough away from the city that the houses are a good football field away from one another, with expansive backyards. Mom always said she felt we needed the space to run free, though we both knew it was just an excuse for her to drop us off for months at a time, obligation free. We were rambunctious kids, my sister Amanda and I, without a care in the world and so we spent those summers running all over the place.

Along with our energy, we were blindly friendly to everyone, despite most of the surrounding residents being more than a little annoyed with our presence, running through people's yards. Grandma's right side neighbors, though, were very kind to us. I had always found myself personally interested in their house, being much larger and newer than anything I'd ever even set foot in. I also knew there were children over there, though they rarely came outside to play. It was actually their father, Isaac, who initially invited us through Grandma to meet his children.

My sister and I and chased each other across the large field between the two houses. Isaac waved from his porch and as we grew closer and I noticed the two children behind him. Twins, a little girl and boy, who's names I learned were Eloise and Edward. They started off shy, but soon warmed up to us. Isaac suggested that we play in the yard. Both children looked at their father with a surprised look before booking it excitedly off the porch, yelling for us to follow them.

This started a friendship that, although only lasted only a few weeks, felt years old fairly quick. Both children, who my sister and I called simply The Twins, were quiet but incredibly intelligent. Mature. Knowing. They could both be bratty, having been home-schooled and sheltered most of their lives, but it didn't show often. It didn't take long after that initial play-date for the Twins to start staying over at our grandma's house nearly all the time. However, we'd never been to their house. My sister asked a few times during the early days. Either of them would just shrug it off.

"It's nothing special. We don't have a lot of stuff, and there isn't much to do. It's much more fun at your house anyway."

We'd correct them; it was our grandma's house, not home.

Mom hadn't been back to even visit in weeks. Hadn't even heard from her, at least not until she called my grandma up, near the end of July, and needed bailed out of jail. Grandma argued with her on the phone for a while before hanging up and frantically calling people in her phone-book, looking for ANYONE that could watch us while she tended to her business. Soon, she found herself walking us across the lawn with Amanda and I in tow, knocking on the back screen door, and politely asking Isaac to keep an eye on us. He hesitated but ultimately agreed and let us into the house. "Remove your shoes, please! I'll be in my office. It's by the kitchen, so if you need anything, just holler for me!"

Stepping into the door, I scanned the room and realized that the twins were right; there really wasn't anything in their house. Not even a TV set. Two white couches, a glass coffee table, and a plain grey rug. It all seemed nice but kind of.... bland. The room was far too large to be so empty, too. Isaac called to the kids, who jogged up from around a corner. Their faces lit up when they saw us. "Oh my gosh! Hi!"

Soon they were leading us around and showing us everything. Each room was very clean and mostly empty, aside expensive and bland furniture. The Twins led us to the den and something immediately caught my eye; at the corner of the room, a metal spiral staircase both rose into the upper level of the house and plunged into the depths of the basement. Without thinking about it, I exclaimed "Wow! That sure is pretty!" Eddie stopped and the rest of the group did, too.

"Yeah. It's really nice. My mommy had it put in when we moved here. There's another staircase in the hall but that one was hers. It leads right up into her bedroom and down into...." He trailed off for a moment. "Where her craft-room used to be."

Obviously, even as a naive kid, this all struck me as odd. I'd never seen or heard about their mom and this definitely didn't seem like a crafty-mom house. "Your mom?"

Ellie answered this time. "She left. She didn't like us anymore."

I immediately caught the frown that struck my sister's face and knew I probably wore a similar one. Both of us knew that feeling. We tried our best to pretend we didn't get that feeling, but we did. Kids aren't much to dwell on sour subjects, though, because the twins immediately moved on from it and so did we.

"Anyway, we aren't allowed to use it. Too dangerous, daddy says. Plus, we don't really wanna go down into that basement, either." Before I could ask why, the twins were already walking towards the swirling staircase and gesturing for us to follow. My sister stayed behind but I followed and looked down into the hole in the floor.

The basement was a stark contrast to the bareness of the rest of the house. Even from what little I could see, the entire place was packed floor-to-ceiling with absolute junk, filling giant clear and multi-colored plastic tubs stacked on top one another. "Who's stuff is it?"

With the statement, I looked back and realized that Eddie and I were the only two left in the room. Ellie must have noticed my sister's discomfort and led her to the next room. Eddie was quiet for a minute, almost searching for an answer. "I really don't know. Dad's I guess." And with that, it was as if the thought was out of his mind, because he turned away from the staircase and continued on his tour of the house. Nothing else stuck out like that staircase, and no other room had the same kind of insane clutter as that basement seemed to have.

The Twin's bedroom was large and about as plain as the rest of the house, though it definitely had more in it than all the other rooms (leaving out the basement) combined. The children owned dozens of books and puzzles. Ellie had an impressive collection of porcelain dolls that my sister couldn't keep her eyes off of, while Eddie's pride was a heavy stone chess table with perfect little glass pieces. They definitely had more than I expected, but I could see why they found our more modern toys had a wider appeal.

Still, we found fun easily. Both mothers and other oddities were out of our minds for hours as we played pretend and Eddie taught me how to play chess. Without notice, much of the day had passed and I eventually had to use the restroom. I tried to remember where it was but failed and had to ask the Twins. "Aw man, you forgot already?! I told you, the main bathroom is busted so you'll have to use the one in my mom & dad's room. It's just down the hall."

I asked one of them to go with me but they both laughed and asked if I was serious. Embarrassment washed over me and I quietly led myself out of the room.

Isaac's bedroom door was open wide and I could see the staircase from the hallway. I entered the room and veered off to the bathroom, which had a huge jacuzzi tub that had clearly never been used. After finishing my business, I exited the bathroom and began to leave before my curiosity stopped me and the staircase caught my eye again. Isaac had told us he'd be in his office, I told myself. He wouldn't notice or care if I just went down the staircase and into the den. I could run right back up and nobody would even know!

There wasn't even a question in my mind before my feet started moving and my hand went for the cold, metal rail. I almost expected a loud, rusted creaking sound when I put the first bit of my weight onto the top step but found the entire thing to be surprisingly stable and quiet. Immediately, being on the thing felt dreamy and the quick trek down was suddenly taking much longer as I studied the design of each step as my foot landed on it. Before I knew it, I was in the living room, and staring into a deep, crowded hole. I snapped back to the moment and realized that I probably needed to go back up before I got into trouble.

Before I could turn and escape back up the stairs, the low sound of humming coming from below caught my attention and I froze in place. Shoot. I'd been caught and my grandma would not be happy to hear that I'd been misbehaving when she was already so stressed. The humming continued, quiet and sad. I actually look back now and recognize the song as If Tomorrow Never Comes by Garth Brooks, though at the time I only felt it was extremely familiar. Somehow, my brain began to reason that the Twins had lied, and their mother really was around, in her craft room. Again, my feet began to move before my brain could put reason behind the steps and I was descending into the basement.

Almost immediately, I knew that my initial suspicions were wrong as soon as I hit the landing. The basement was much too dark for anyone to see anything down there. The walls of filled containers seemed even higher and more close together than they did from upstairs, but formed a path that led deeper into the basement. On the floor, I noticed literally dozens of moth balls spilled everywhere, a familiar scent that I picked up the moment I'd entered the house but couldn't place until then. Up close, the smell seemed almost enough to knock a full grown adult out, but I ignored it as the humming continued from somewhere in the darkness. I started following the sound and called out, sorta clumsily, "Hello? Uh, Eddie and Ellie's mom? I'm sorry to come down here it's just-"

I turned a corner in what now began to seem like a maze of junk and the humming halted, cutting off my speech and stopping me in my tracks. The manufactured corridor was nearly pitch black without the illumination from upstairs, though a little light still leaked through the cracks between containers. I stood there in silence for a moment before the humming picked up again, which seemed less pretty now and more labored, sour notes coming between low whimpers. I started feeling for the walls, continuing into the basement and towards the sound. I gasped after almost slipping on a large cluster of mothballs and the humming stopped yet again. The moment was much shorter and the humming never resumed. Instead, I heard someone softly gasp, then one of the loudest cracks I have ever heard in my life, like stomping on million dried branches.

Startled, I froze again for a long time, my curiosity dropping for a moment and reality reminding me that I was deep within somewhere I wasn't allowed to be. Before my good sense could make me turn around, something crashed somewhere in the basement. Pink light leaked through cracks on the far side of the basement. Again, everything sensible retreated to the back of my mind and I slowly began making my way through the zig-zag of big tupperware tubs and junk. Too much junk, I started to think as I turned the final corner.

Nobody was down there, but it was clear that one of the topmost containers had been opened and something had fallen out. It was a little music box with a bright pink light inside. I suddenly felt stupid, realizing that the music I heard could have easily come from this, although it didn't make much sense and the quiet tune didn't match. I walked over and picked it up. A container lid sat next to it. I grabbed it as well and recoiled at the foul smell that stuck to it, unbelievably somehow cutting through the raw stench of mothball.

On the other end of the row, there was the normal staircase that led up into the kitchen. It was clear at the other end of the house and even Isaac would notice, his office was right next to the kitchen. I didn't care anymore, though. It would be better than trekking all the way back in the dark, and they were gonna notice my absence regardless.

I picked up the lid and music box again, holding them far away from me as I searched for and spotted the tupperware container they likely belonged to at the very top of a stack. Somehow feeling a naive sense of courage after all of that, I began trying to climb up to put them back. Soon, I found myself standing on the very edge of a container and reaching with all of my might to just tip the little music box into the bin. After a moment or two, I was finally able to push it over, but not without my fingers catching the edge of the open bin. The surprise made me lose my balance and soon I was falling backwards. My caught hand pulled the bin down with me as the momentum caused my legs to knock the others I'd been standing on forward.

The contents of the container hit hard and heavy, causing my head to smack the ground. My vision blacked out and I laid there, feeling woozy. The smell from the container hit harder as well and I fought the pain and nausea.

I closed my eyes for a while, listening for an adult or one of the other children to inevitably come find me but as a few moments passed in silence, I started trying to move myself. Something heavy laid on top of my chest. I finally opened my eyes and my vision started coming back. As they adjusted, I realized almost immediately that a pair of glassed-over eyes were staring back at me. A girl, frozen stiff in the fetal position, lay on top of me, head laying lax over my shoulder, peering straight into my soul. Panic rose and I began to scream.

Fighting pain, I scrambled out from underneath the tiny dead girl, though I had trouble standing up. One of the other containers had also been knocked open, a much more decayed woman slumped out, feet bent unnaturally close to her face. The contents of another had clearly been jostled and I could see wispy black hair poking through the junk packed around the poor girl I knew was inside. Another scream rose but caught as the creaking of the basement door caught my attention and light from above spilled over decay.

Isaac looked in shock at the scene below him, covering his mouth to stifle a gasp before stepping backwards and running away to somewhere else in the house. The man was caught.

I froze there for a moment, having seen enough horror movies even at that age to know that he would probably be coming back with a knife or something. I really didn't want to be in that basement anymore. The girl with the glassy eyes stared blankly into me, and I finally pulled myself up off the floor, I weighing my options. I could go back, through the dark, and return to the spiral staircase or I could chance the set of stairs in front of me.

The sound of movement from above, in the kitchen, made the decision for me.

It took me another short moment to make myself go back through the zig-zags of variously colored tubs, frightened of what was probably inside, but fear of being killed overcame the fear of those who'd already met the same fate and I started running, only looking down at the floor below me to avoid slipping on mothballs. My vision was limited, though, and I fell a few times though I tried my best not to knock any more containers over. The scent of death had already almost completely overwhelmed the pungent mothball smell.

Through the persistence of fear, I'd almost gotten to the looming spiral staircase when a creak came from the other side of the basement.

I froze as Isaac called out "Helloooooo?" and began descending the stairs. Each footfall felt like a punch in the chest as I struggled to snap myself out of it and get moving again. I'd only need to pass through one more narrow passage and then turn the corner. I did my best to move quietly, quickly, but while still avoiding the mothballs. One fall could be it for me.

"You're not in trouble. I just want to talk. I promise." His voice was fake-gentle, almost sarcastic and annoyed. It made my heart race faster and faster. Still, I did my best to control my breathing, keeping low and quiet as I passed container after container, wondering again if they all held the same horror.

From upstairs, I could hear Amanda and the Twins calling out my name. Isaac had heard it, too, because I could no longer hear his footfalls on the concrete floor. By then, I was inching around the last corner. I peeked behind me one more time and saw someone sticking their head out at the end of the corridor. At first, I thought it might be Isaac - about to close the distance between us.

Then, I saw those glassy eyes. A shush escaped her decaying lips and she disappeared back into the darkness. I couldn't stop it - I just started to scream. Staying quiet, playing it safe, had completely gone out the window. Swear to God, I practically launched myself around the corner and towards the towering staircase, somehow avoiding the last of the mothballs without even trying. I ascended the twisting steps as quickly as my sore legs could take me. I couldn't bring myself to look back to see if the dead girl or Isaac were in pursuit, just keeping my eyes upward as the living room slowly came back into view. Amanda stood across the room, in the doorway. The Twins were nowhere to be seen.

"What are you doing? What did you do?"

Before I could respond, there was a loud but quick gasp from below. The noise itself practically propelled my body forward. I grabbed Amanda by the wrist and we ran back to grandma's house. Nobody followed. My sister continued to protest and beg for an explanation, but I said nothing as I grabbed the corded phone off the receiver and dialed 9-1-1.

It took a moment to get the dispatcher to take me seriously, believing at first that it was nothing more than a prank call. Eventually, I suppose the details were too much to ignore and the woman said she'd send a car over. She kept me on the phone while we waited, instructing me to lock both the front and back doors, and to stay away from the windows until we saw the blue and red lights of the cop car. By that time, Amanda had also realized that I wasn't joking and began to softly cry. "What if he hurts the twins? What if he hurts Ellie and Eddie?" I worried for them as well, but fear overcame worry.

Soon, we saw the flashing lights and watched from the front window as two cop cars came down the street, one pulling into our driveway and another continuing down to turn into Isaac's driveway. Our officer was a girl - short with light blonde hair tied high in a ponytail. She asked questions and I tried my best to give detail, but it was hard to focus as more cop cars pulled past, then an ambulance, then two. There would also be news vans, but that wouldn't come until later, when the word got out that a serial killer had been living among the quiet houses of that rural neighborhood.

Though not every tupperware contained a body, it was difficult to accept how many brutal murders he'd gotten away with. 15 women and girls, each with broken necks, over the span of six years. Isaac was smart - he'd put together the perfect cover family, only getting rid of his wife when she started to wise up to his awful deeds. He was charming, no doubt about it. Had my childhood curiosity not gotten the best of me, who knows how many more lives he'd end?

Speaking of lives ending - Isaac was found among the bodies that night, in the basement. Died of a heart attack, though there were whispers that his neck had been broken. The twins had locked themselves in their bedroom. Their father had taught them to do so whenever they heard commotion in the basement. They never knew what was taking place below the floors of their eerily bare home.

Somehow, our traumatic experience was enough to finally sober our wayward mother and tether her down. That was certainly the last time we ever had to stay with Grandma long term, and even in adulthood, I still avoid long visits if I can. The house still stands empty, unsellable with a reputation that so far precedes it, and I can barely look at it for fear that those glass eyes will be peeping out of the window.

[melacka]

A Blacklist Secret Santa

Hello there @meetmeatthecoda! Tis I, your Blacklist Secret Santa and I come bearing (slightly late) gifts! I wanted to write you a soulmate au but I just couldn’t get it together to write a good one, so I might just have to return to that idea later! Instead, I have written a sorta holiday-themed, weirdly angsty yet fluffy Lizzington fic. I hope you enjoy it!

Wishing you and yours a wonderful holiday season and a happy and prosperous new year!

Title: Less Conventional Methods by Melacka

Rating: M (mainly for some swearing and mild dirty talk at the end, it’s Gen most of the way through)

Summary: Tired of the way their relationship was going, Liz uses the opportunity of an undercover operation to be someone else for an evening.

Or, Red and Liz actually talk about their feelings.

You can read it on AO3 here or keep reading below.

Liz shifted nervously on her feet as she stared at the numbers ticking by in the elevator. After a moment, she realised what she was doing and willed herself to relax, conscious as ever of people possibly watching her. How many times had she herself profiled someone based almost entirely on surveillance footage they had obtained? How much information was she giving away in this short journey to the top of the building? She wondered idly what it would be like to just be able to go places and not consider who might be observing her. She dimly recalled a time in her life when she used to do that, when she could move with relative ease and freedom through the world. It seemed a lifetime ago, now.

Liz had borrowed a dress from Samar for the occasion. She hadn’t had time to go home before she needed to be at the party and apart from a rather noticeable difference in height, she and Samar wore about the same size. She glanced down at herself and tried not to feel self-conscious about how much skin was on display. She wasn’t exactly confident in her ability to pull this outfit off, but she had already decided that the best way to get through the evening was to pretend to be someone else entirely. Luckily for her, she knew just the person to create an entirely new identity for her. Tonight, she’d say goodbye to Elizabeth Keen and step into Andrea Deacon’s shoes.

Andrea Deacon was a successful accountant who dabbled in money laundering. She wouldn’t hesitate to wear a tight, low-cut dress and she was perfectly comfortable in those spike heels. Andrea Deacon was a strong, confident woman. She was unattached and unashamed. While Elizabeth Keen balked at the idea of schmoozing the city’s elite, Andrea Deacon merely smiled in anticipation.

She sighed and put her best bland smile on her face, smoothing down her dress in preparation for the evening ahead. They were all arriving separately and had agreed not to interact with each other unnecessarily. Red had provided them with some information about who would be in attendance but had, as usual, kept several pertinent details to himself. Liz was becoming accustomed to this particular habit of his, she saw it now more as a challenge to be overcome, rather than the constant irritant it used to be.

Liz stepped out of the elevator and glanced around the room slowly, locating the rest of her team easily. Ressler was ordering a drink at the bar, Aram was chatting animatedly with a young woman who kept touching his arm playfully, an action that Aram seemed baffled by, and Samar was dancing with someone that Liz was fairly sure ran one of the biggest banks in the country. She didn’t acknowledge any of them, they were all playing different roles tonight and would only check in sporadically. She couldn’t see Red anywhere, but she knew he was bound to be around here somewhere. There was no way he would trust them to handle it themselves and he could rarely resist a party. She caught sight of Dembe as she strolled calmly across the room and she smiled at him in invitation as she passed. She walked up to the far window and feigned interest in the view while she waited. Sure enough, within a minute she felt him come up behind her.

“Beautiful view, isn’t it?” she murmured without looking at him.

“Stunning,” he replied quietly, looking out across the city.

“Are you here alone?”

“No, I am here with my employer.” Dembe finally turned to look at her and smiled. “He is not far.”

“Oh,” Liz replied vaguely, glancing at him quickly before looking out the window again. “I don’t know many people here tonight. Are you able to give me any insight?”

“What do you want to know?”

“Well,” Liz drawled, allowing a flirtatious smile to mask her anxiety once more, “is there anyone I should really avoid?”

Dembe smiled in response and beckoned her closer. She leaned in obediently, thinking to herself that Dembe could probably be quite the charmer when he put his mind to it.

“Avoid the blonde man with the moustache, he is very dangerous and not related to your mission here tonight. It would be unwise to draw his attention unnecessarily. The woman talking to Aram is well-connected but unskilled in these matters, she should be targeted. Agent Ressler has made contact with a business associate of my employer’s, he is talking with him now. This avenue should be pursued if you want this evening to be a success.”

“Anything else?” she whispered, careful to maintain her bland expression.

“Raymond is on the balcony and he would like you to join him when you can.”

“There’s a balcony?”

“Yes, to your left. It is quite well-concealed, no one will disturb you there, I will see to it.”

“Thank you.”

Liz stepped away from him quickly and walked straight towards where he had indicated the balcony was. Sure enough, as soon as she pushed her way outside, she could see the outline of a man near the edge. She shivered slightly in the cold but determinedly stepped towards him.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” she said playfully. “I didn’t mean to intrude on your solitude.”

He turned around to smile at her, the same smile he used when he was trying to charm someone.

“Not at all,” he said smoothly. “I would appreciate the company.”

She approached with her hand outstretched and he accepted it gracefully.

“Andrea Deacon, nice to meet you.”

“Raymond Reddington,” he replied, bending over her hand to press a gentle kiss to her knuckles. “A pleasure.”

“So, Raymond,” the name tasted delicious on her tongue and she savoured it for a moment before continuing, “what are you doing out here all by yourself? You’re not enjoying the party?”

“I was hoping to meet an acquaintance here tonight, but she has yet to arrive.”

“An acquaintance?” Liz said lightly. “Is she a special acquaintance of yours?”

“Oh, she’s very special.”

She felt a rush of warmth spread through her in spite of the cool air on the balcony.

“I believe you could make anyone feel special, Raymond.”

“You barely know me, Andrea,” he rumbled. “How could you possibly know that?”

“There’s something in the way you’re looking at me.” Liz took a careful step closer to him so they were standing almost inappropriately close to each other. “It makes me think that anyone you focused on at any time would feel like the most important person in the universe.”

He smiled at her, slow and teasing. She stared at his mouth, completely unashamed.  

“It’s a dangerous sensation, of course,” she continued. “Intoxicating, to be sure, but nothing more than a façade, I fear.” She stepped back from him and turned her attention to the view. “Unsustainable.”

“You are remarkably perceptive,” he said dryly, turning to face the view with her. “Are you here alone?”

“For now, yes,” she said casually. “But the night is still young.”

“And full of possibilities, no doubt.”

“There is at least one possibility that appeals to me.”

“Oh?”

“Yes,” she said calmly. “Would you like to dance?”

“I would be delighted,” he said cheerfully. “Lead the way.”

Liz laughed and put her hand on his shoulder.

“I think it’s better if you lead, Raymond.”

“You want to dance out here?” he said with a smile as he took her hand in his and wrapped the other around her waist. “Without any music?”

“If there’s no music, you can’t be out of time,” she said happily. “And I like it out here.”

“As you wish.”

Red started to slowly lead her around the balcony in an easy step. She caught herself trying to lead a few times but for the most part, she left him to handle it. She pressed herself closer to him, shivering slightly.

“Are you cold?” he murmured after a few minutes.

“Just a little,” she lied. In truth, she was freezing, but she didn’t want to go inside just yet.

Red started to unbutton his tuxedo jacket, but she stopped him before he could take it off. Instead, she moved even closer to him and wrapped her arms around him inside the jacket.

“Better?” he asked, amused.

“Much,” she said contentedly. “Do you mind?”

“Not at all,” he murmured, pressing his lips into her hair softly.

“The woman you mentioned earlier,” Liz said suddenly and Red paused slightly in his swaying rhythm. “What is she to you?”

He didn’t answer for a moment and she pulled back her head to look at him, keeping her arms firmly around him.

“It’s difficult to explain,” he said quietly, not looking at her.

“But she’s important to you?” Liz persisted.

“Of course she is, but I don’t know what I am to her.”

“What?” Liz scoffed. “How can you not?”

“To say that there have been some mixed messages between us would a dramatic understatement.”

Liz snorted and leaned her head against his shoulder again.

“We’ve been different things to each other at different times, but never quite what I want us to be.”

“What about what she wants?”

Red laughed loudly and dipped Liz suddenly.

“I have no idea what she wants.”

Liz gasped slightly as Red brought her back upright and resumed their slow circling dance.

“Have you ever asked her?”

“I feel that might be counter-productive, Andrea,” he said calmly, and Liz just barely suppressed a flinch at her assumed name. “We have never had the kind of relationship that encourages open communication.”

“Why not?”

“A lot of reasons,” he said dismissively. “A certain suspicion seems inherent to both our natures, for starters, our work means that we go from allies to adversaries from day to day, and there have been several times when one or the other of us has been right not to trust the other.”

“Sounds very complicated,” Liz whispered, feeling her heart sink within her. “Is there no way through?”

“Not through conventional means, I fear.”

“You don’t strike me as a slave to convention, Raymond. Maybe it’s time to try something a little unconventional.”

“Any ideas?” he said lightly, twirling her away from him and then back into his embrace. “I am open to suggestion.”

“Talking doesn’t seem to be working for you, so maybe it’s time to act.”

“And what action should I take?”

Liz thought in silence for a moment and then grinned as she said, “Is that mistletoe over there?”

“Perhaps,” he said, not turning around.

“Maybe you should have a moment under the mistletoe and forget speaking for a while.”

“And if the lady is not receptive?” he asked mildly.

“Perhaps the lady is waiting for you.”

They stopped dancing and stared in silence at each other. Liz allowed her eyes to dart down to his lips once more, projecting her desire as much as she could.

“Raymond,” Dembe called quietly from the door and Liz nearly groaned. “The lady’s absence has been noted.”

“Damn it,” Liz said quietly.

Red smiled coolly at her and stepped away from her.

“I fear our time has come to an end, Andrea, but I thank you for the advice.” He swept her hand up to his lips and pressed a lingering kiss to her skin. “And thank you for the dance.”

He lowered her hand again and left without a word. Liz watched as he made his way easily through the crowd and straight for the elevator.

“Damn it,” she said again.

Later that night, freshly showered and dressed in her normal clothes, Liz nervously knocked on the door to Red’s safe house. She'd spent the last two hours working herself up to the point where she felt she could talk to him, but she hadn't really planned what she would say.

“Elizabeth.”

Dembe exhibited no surprise at seeing her so late at night, he simply stepped away from the door to allow her to pass. He silently pointed at a closed door that Liz assumed concealed Red. She nodded her thanks as Dembe retreated down the hall without a word.

Liz took a deep breath as she paused in front of the door, psyching herself up to what could be an uncomfortable conversation. She hesitated and briefly debated within herself about whether she should just come back the next day, before she rolled her eyes at how ridiculous she was being and pushed the door open. Unfortunately, she pushed it with a little more force than was strictly necessary and it rebounded noisily off the wall. Red stared at her in shock as she stopped the door with her hand and moved sheepishly over the threshold.

“Uh—” she said awkwardly.

“Now that’s how you make an entrance,” he said with a smile and Liz felt the little knot of tension she’d been carrying ease slightly. “I wasn’t expecting to see you tonight, Elizabeth.”

He said it mildly enough, but Liz could hear the question in his statement and knew that it was her way in, a way to start the conversation they needed to have. She could ease into it, just like she planned.

“I really wanted to kiss you at the party,” she blurted out and then cringed.

Smooth, Liz, she thought to herself. Real smooth.

“Oh?” Red said blandly, an expression of polite interest on his face that infuriated her. “Are you here to collect?”

“Well, yes,” she replied with far too much honesty. She cringed again. “I mean that I – that is, I’m not—” Liz trailed off with a sigh. “I’m no good at this stuff, Red. I don’t know how to—”

She gestured vaguely with her hands, hoping that he would put it together for himself and save her from her embarrassment.

“Don’t know how to what?”

Clearly, he was not in the mood to save her.

“Red, please,” she groaned.

“Elizabeth, I’m going to need you to spell it out for me.” He wandered over to the bar and started to pour himself a drink. “We have had far too many misunderstandings recently and I am far too tired to play any more games this evening. Drink?”

“Please.”

She followed him to the bar and watched as he poured her a drink. She kept her eyes on his hands, mesmerised as always by the grace of their movements. Such beautiful hands for such a dangerous man.

Liz sighed as Red handed her a drink, but she didn’t move away from him.

“Why are you here, Elizabeth?”

“You’re right,” she said decisively. “There have been too many misunderstandings between us lately and I’m sick of it.”

“Are you?”

“Yes, I am.” She gulped her drink down and he raised his eyebrows in surprise at her. “So, I’m going to try something a little different.”

“Oh?”

“Yes, I’m going to tell you what I want and ask you to respond honestly. Can you do that?”

“I—”

“I know you don’t want to commit yourself, Red, I’m not asking that of you.”

“Elizabeth, you are the single greatest commitment of my life,” he said wearily, moving away from her to sit in the armchair by the fireplace. “So, when I hesitate, it is not for a want of commitment.”

“What is it then?” she asked quietly.

“Experience,” he said harshly. “My experience tells me not to commit to anything with you, but—”

He stopped talking abruptly and looked away from her. He sipped his drink in agitated silence for a moment. She replaced her own glass on the bar and moved toward him slowly. When she stood directly in front of him, she waited for him to look at her again. When he did, his expression was carefully neutral again.

“But what, Red?”

“My experience is one thing but what I want—” He shook his head again and looked away with a sigh, leaning back in his chair slowly. “When you tell me that you are going to tell me what you want and that I should give you an honest response, I desperately want to believe that it is possible.”

“It is!” she insisted desperately.

“Is it? My experience with you, Elizabeth, tells me that it can never be. But my heart?”

Her breath caught in her throat and she felt the tears begin to build. This was not going like she planned it at all. She slowly knelt in front of him and placed her hands on the arms of the chair.

“Red, please, tell me.”

“My heart is a fool, Lizzy,” he hissed. “Every time there is even the slightest chance—"

“Red—”

“An old fool, that’s what I am. My heart has turned me into a fool.”

“We are all fools,” she whispered.

“In love?” he said mockingly, and she flinched.

“Would you believe me if I said yes?” she asked him miserably.

He stared at her in silence for a moment and then said, “I want to believe you.”

“Then we come back to my original purpose. Will you let me tell you what I want from you? And will you try to respond honestly?”

“Yes,” he sighed. “Tell me what you came to say.”

She took a deep breath to steady her nerves once more.

“I don’t know how to get past this barrier between us, Red, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.”

“The barrier has always been your choice, Elizabeth.”

“It may have been my choice, Red, but you can’t pretend that you don’t contribute to it at all.”

He didn’t say anything, which she took as acquiescence. Or at least, not outright disagreement.

“But like I said earlier, talking hasn’t done has any good lately. It’s time to let go of conventional methods.”

“Oh?” he said, his interest piqued. “And what unconventional methods did you have in mind?”

She grinned at him and removed a tiny sprig from her pocket.

“What’s this?” she said, feigning confusion. “I think it might be mistletoe!”

Red just stared at her silently.

“You still haven’t told me what you want, Elizabeth.”

“I would’ve thought that would be obvious.”

“Humour me.”

“I want you,” she said simply. “I want us to be able to talk through our issues and deal with them like adults. I want to spend evenings with you where we’re not working and we’re not playing games. I just want to be able to be with you and not constantly worry that you’re playing me or using me. I want to make love to you.”

Liz smiled when she saw Red’s sudden intake of breath.

“I want to know how it feels to have you all around me, Red.” She moved her hands, so they were grasping his thighs and he jumped. “To be surrounded by you, consumed by you.”

“Lizzy—” he croaked.

“I want to fuck you,” she whispered, raising herself from her knees and slowly climbing into his lap, maintaining eye contact as she moved. “And I want you to fuck me. I want to still be able to feel you the next day. I want to know how you taste.”

Red closed his eyes as she rolled her hips against him.

“I want to love you, Red,” she whispered. “And I want to know that you love me in return.”

“Lizzy,” he groaned, her name drawn out and desperate.

“But if all that is too much right now,” she continued quietly, extracting her sprig of mistletoe yet again and raising it above their heads, “there’s always this.”

“Mistletoe, Lizzy?”

“Yes, because talking clearly isn’t working. It’s time to try slightly less conventional methods.”

She leaned in close to him but still kept a very slight distance between them. Red searched her eyes desperately and Liz tried to project all her love and desire in her gaze.

“The lady is waiting for you, Raymond,” she whispered.

“I would hate to keep a lady waiting,” Red said and Liz grinned in triumph as his lips finally met hers.

[dorky-arsene]

Day 3 -- Reunion

@shuakeweek 

Welp, here’s the Day 3 entry of mine, using “Reunion” as the main sort of theme and “Meeting” as a secondary theme! This time, I feel I’d rather go with a fic. Also, kinda-sorta major spoilers for Persona 5 under here, since the endgame context is needed for this one. :p

Uhh, consider this one a Teen-rated fic, I suppose.

The first time Goro had ever met Akira, was because of that cat. It was pure chance his ears caught those words, and he realized upon retrospect that maybe he shouldn’t have heard them, yet did so anyway.

A voice like no other he’d heard rang out that day, and the thing he’d heard clearest was..

“...I wanna go to that pancake-looking place we passed on the way here!”

He’d decided on a tiny detour, as he knew the building just well enough by now to check out whose voice had spoken. The detective soon heard more talking among the group of people he heard chattering down the hall, so he kept his hold on his briefcase and kept going.

Yet, when he reached that bit of hallway at last, wanting to inquire about the pancakes thanks to his hunger, Goro lost his train of thought for a few moments. A distraction, as he’d called it in those days, presented itself to Goro. He locked eyes for the few moments he’d fallen silent with another teen, one of the three he saw in the hallway. His eyes seemed to Goro like a brewing, quiet storm behind his glasses, a tone of grey the detective only really saw on days a thunderstorm hung over Tokyo like uncertainty on his mind. The teen’s hair seemed akin to a bird’s nest, but was a very good shade of black, shining like a polished diamond in the lighting of the TV station’s otherwise bland halls.

Goro mentally shook the distracting attractiveness of the boy out of his mind temporarily to greet the teens, consisting also of a young woman with a hoodie around her waist and crisp blue eyes and platinum blonde hair, as well as a more rule-breaker sort of teen around the same age as the dark-haired one, with thick eyebrows and clearly dyed-blonde hair that turned out the color of a bright golden yellow.

“Excuse me, but I couldn’t help noticing your uniforms,” Goro settled on, recognizing the plaid all three teens wore. “Are you students of Shujin Academy?”

“Yeah, whatddya want?” asked the blonde male teenager, turning to him. His shirt was bright red, a little distracting, but much like any punk on the street Goro would hear about.

“Ah, well..” Goro began, walking forward again before continuing. “I happened to be passing by, so it seemed polite to greet you. We’ll be filming together, after all.”

The blonde-haired female teenager seemed to open her mouth to speak, but to Goro’s own surprise, the teen who’d caught his eye first spoke. “I think my homeroom teacher told me. You look familiar.. I’ve seen you on TV a few times.”

The voice of that teen seemed much different than the voice Goro had first heard, and it just further made the brunette so curious that he walked forward again, plopping himself in a way into the very middle of the three teens. A foreign, but not unpleasant, fluttering filled Goro’s heart at being told he was familiar, but he smiled pleasantly as always, to hide the strangely mortifying feeling of being known already to someone he’d practically just met who happened to be attractive as hell.

“..Hah, where are my manners? My name is Goro Akechi,” he said, instead of clarifying why he was on TV so often as he’d planned. The dark-haired teen seemed to catch on, somehow, and gave the slightest head tilt, a smile appearing on his otherwise neutral-looking face.

“Don’t worry about it, Akechi-san,” the teen said, but before Goro could let his cheeks catch on fire, his phone embarrassingly went off with the default ‘pili’ noise his P.A.D. came with. From looking at it, the embarrassed detective finally had his escape for the time being, so he backed off, putting his phone away.

“A-ah, I really was just passing by, my apologies,” he excused himself, finding that his palms had suddenly become wetter under his gloves over the past minute. “I’ve got a briefing for tomorrow’s recording that I have to attend. Goodbye now..”

As he’d turned around and began to walk away, Goro felt a very, very brief weight in his left pocket after a few feet, but he didn’t get around to checking it until he’d already ran to the elevator and closed the decently ancient doors. It was a slip of folded-up paper, and upon unfolding it, there was a phone number written on it, just that and a name. It, somehow, had been written in under a second, so it was just readable enough to tell the basic numbers and kanji of whoever wrote it..

Akira, the name said. No surname, just the name alone besides the number. Thanks to being all alone, Goro let out a shaky breath, feeling his cheeks flare up in warmth. How’d this end up in my pocket..?? How strange..

                                                    ---

It was terribly hard for Goro to be in Yongen-Jaya again, many months later, after all that had happened. His wounds still hurt terribly, and after so long of being away from the public’s eyes, the detective had made his return. Shido’s reputation was well and shattered, but so was his own reputation (according to Sae), and he’d have to rebuild it slowly. At the very least, people at least weren’t heckling him and some of the social media hellstorm had quieted down by now, so that was good..

That was when he saw Morgana again, when he walked alone in Yongen-Jaya, for the first time since his defeat in December since somehow landing himself in the hospital until today, right on Valentine’s Day. The cat began to slink his way into the familiar alleyway leaning to Leblanc.. and for some reason, Goro found the urge to follow. The pancake-brown haired teen readjusted his new orange-brown coat and walked forward, as quietly as he could and as carefully as he could, as to not aggravate his many bruises and cuts that still haunted him.

So, eventually, Goro made it to Leblanc. It was, by his own interna; admittance, pretty damn late for coffee considering it was evening time, but he deeply missed the place, deeply missed him. Goro had tried so hard to get better just for him, and he wasn’t even sure if the guy was out of prison yet. At least, he’d been in prison by Sae’s words when Goro finally woke the hell up back in January..

Swallowing his anxiety, he stepped into the cafe, the bell chime dutifully ringing as he entered. Goro saw surprise flash in Sojiro’s eyes as he stopped in front of the door, on the welcome mat, with his hands in his coat’s pockets and a whole heap of worry burrowing into his stomach.

“H-hello, Akira. Honey, I’m home.”

Akira turned at the sound of his own voice, eyes widening as he tried to keep back what Goro assumed to be relief and mourning and a hint of disbelief from shaking him. Goro could see Akira’s lip wobble, and already the detective felt tears start to escape his eyes once he blinked a time or two.

“..Akechi? Hoo boy, it’s.. it’s been a while since you came in,” Sojiro commented hesitantly, rubbing the back of his head. “Akira.. well, he.. hm.. How do I put this..”

“W.. Welcome h-home!” Akira finally sputtered, abruptly interrupting Sojiro, and he finally succumbed to his decidedly relieved tears as he rushed forward, sliding right past Goro’s arms and burying his face into the crook of the other’s neck. Yes, the dark-haired boy who had taken Goro’s heart was crying, but Goro swore he saw a smile break out in the split seconds before the taller of the pair let out a small “Oof!”, feeling some of the wind knocked out of him.

Even so.. Goro couldn’t help himself but embrace Akira in return, feeling the shorter teen tremble slightly with his happy sobs and occasional sharp hiccups. Goro did feel a twinge of regret for being unable to tell Akira he’d been alive this whole time, as Morgana made some groan noise and attached to his leg as a way of saying “Apologize for breaking Akira’s heart!”.

“I’m sorry, Akira,” Goro humbly sighed, as if to answer the implied demand of the black cat’s claws poking through his jeans, squeezing his eyes shut and holding the dark-haired teen just a bit tighter. “I’m sorry for not telling you sooner about my recovery.. I should have..”

Akira huffed, his tears soaking right into Goro’s sweater vest, the one the shorter teen had complimented about 50 times 4-ish months ago. “S-shut it, Goro.. I’m glad you’re okay. I.. I could barely take not having you around, in prison and all.. It hurt, Goro..”

“I’m here now, though.. I’m not planning on going anywhere anytime soon, either..”

At that, Akira huffed again, giving a light punch to Goro’s side. But, Goro knew that wasn’t really meant to hurt, and the further huffs now registered as some sort of laughter. Well.. It didn’t really work completely, though, as right after that Akira just hiccuped again, lifting his head with flushed cheeks and a nervous smile. “You -hic- goof.”

Sojiro took that moment to walk towards the two teens, shaking his head. “Seems like he’s gotten some hiccups.. Oh well.

Akira, take over for me, will you? I think I’d best leave you two to catch up.”

Morgana detached himself from Goro’s leg, flicking his tail. “Hey, Akira, don’t get too blubbery when you tell Goro, alright? I’m gonna be with Boss, but if anything goes awry, tell Futaba and I’ll come right back.”

With that, Sojiro stepped out of the shop with Morgana, and after a minute Akira detached from Goro, rubbing at his eyes with his sleeve. An awkward silence settled over the little cafe, and it still smelled faintly of coffee and curry. Akira, definitely so, and the warm smell of the stuff now attached to Goro’s own clothes thanks to the intimate hug.

After a while, Akira turned back towards the counter, shakily sighing with another awkwardly placed hiccup. “U-uh.. Hey, you can -hic-.. sit if you’d like. Do you want your usual?”

“..Certainly. Some curry would be nice, too. Hopefully it’s better than that damned hospital food,” Goro joked, removing his jacket and heading to a booth seat. “At any rate, at least you give a damn about nutrition and flavor..”

Akira snort-laughed, the tension he’d seemingly had before lifted from how he stood while setting everything up like normal. “I’ll make this curry extra good, then, if you just got out of the hospital today. W-well.. It’s also Valentine’s Day, so.. So d-don’t tell Boss I’m changing things up, okay?”

“Changing things up?” Goro inquired with a head tilt, his now too-long hair brushing against his cheeks. Admittedly, I’ve got to improve my look.. Nearly 2 months’ time does not do favors for maintaining one’s hair. Especially since Akira’s seeing the result of that.. Maybe I should’ve cut my hair before I went here..

“I mean, I made a dessert for you, since you like sweet stuff,” Akira clarified, as if in a mumble. “I made it anyway, j-just in case.. well, if you did come..”

Goro smiled at him, feeling his own cheeks go a rosy pink. “Akira.. That’s very sweet of you. Oh.. er.. I brought you something as well..”

Akira didn’t say anything to that or Goro’s goofy attempt at Akira’s preferred brand of humor, but Goro could see a brighter flush of red covering the teen’s cheeks as he prepared the coffee, curry and what Goro could distantly see had to be some kind of.. cake? Goro wasn’t entirely sure, as the dark-haired former thief kept standing in front of it a lot.

Maybe it’s meant to be a surprise, Goro thought to himself, thinking of the chocolates he’d picked up from one of the shops in Shibuya, with the intent of mailing them to Akira anonymously originally earlier in the day. The chocolates in question were somewhat expensive, a premium sort Goro had picked for being relatively bitter. They just happened to have ground coffee in the middle in a salted caramel.. and to Goro, they seemed much like Akira.

...

After what felt like an eternity of silence and the little sounds from Akira fixing up the coffee and curry and mystery dessert item, Goro heard the apron-clad Akira place plates and cups onto the booth table. There was two of everything, including the dessert itself- a little lava cake, from what it looked like, which had a little heart made out of strawberry syrup.

“..A-ah, is this some kind of romantic dinner?” Goro asked, smiling slightly in jest, in Akira’s direction. “How charming, Akira.”

Akira flushed red, shuffling into his seat and looking away shyly as he began to explain, all while twirling the ends of his curled bangs. Well, I guess I got it on the nose.. Makes sense, for Valentine’s Day.. But for me..?

“D-duh. And surprise..?

Lava cakes. They were a little simple to make, but I thought you might like them. Not sure if it goes with the curry, but.. Oh well.”

Goro took that moment to try the lava cake first, feeling a little rebellious and quite curious. Well, and he just really wanted some damn sweets, as he was pretty deprived of that in the hospital. The soft cake didn’t disappoint, and he was greeted with actual, real strawberries, a pleasant freshness coming along with the sweet syrup the strawberries came with, pairing nicely with the rich chocolate.

The detective knew he was grinning the second he put that bite in his mouth, and he felt the expectant gaze of Akira, hearing the teen’s pleased exhale.

“Oh, goodness me, excuse my manners,” Goro suddenly mumbled, putting down the fork that came with the lava cake. “You did really well with this cake, Akira. And fresh strawberries? A smart move, really. It makes this so much better than it already is, haha.”

Akira’s expression was something like art to Goro when he’d said that, a little pride and a lot of joy appearing in how the other teen smiled and directed his warm gaze at Goro. “T-thanks..”

The meal, after that, went quiet, until the curry and lava cakes had disappeared off their plates, leaving just the coffee. Goro felt a little nervous now that they were very much alone to their own devices, and now that he technically had no excuse to stick around besides the coffee. It was already a bit late by now, and the brunette sat awkwardly where he was, trying to think in his head of how he wanted to confess to Akira.

“..It’s a little quiet today,” Akira finally spoke up, seeming equally nervous as Goro felt. “Well, kind of. I saw a bunch of people bringing in their dates in today.. I kinda wish I had a date of my own..”

“Akira..” Goro hummed, putting a hand to his chest. “To be honest, uhm.. I’m not that experienced myself, I’m afraid.. B-because of my status, I never really was.. uh.. Encouraged to date.”

Akira, of course, went back to twirling his dark, curled hair, frowning timidly and not looking Goro in the eyes. “H-hey, Goro..? You won’t laugh if I tell you t-this, right..?”

“Of course not, Akira. I don’t want to breach your trust again like that. I promise I won’t laugh.”

The teen’s head lowered more, and his cheeks went pink. “W-well.. uh... The lava cakes aren’t the only thing I prepared for today..”

To Goro’s surprise, the teen shuffled something out of his apron pocket, a simple heart-shaped box, and he placed it on the table, right in the middle and right within range for the long-haired detective to take.

“Y-you see..” Akira began, his flushed cheeks becoming redder as he spoke, and his words breaking up with stutters. “U-uhm.. I.. I learned how to make chocolates for your sake. I m-made them myself. T-the box, I got from Yusuke. H-he said he was delighted to try and make something like that... I t-tried to pay him, but he insisted no..”

Goro gazed upon the heart-shaped box. Now that he looked at it, it appeared to have a look sort of like the striped malachite he’d seen Yusuke sporting way back in November, back when he’d been in the Phantom Thieves for awhile. Well, the wavy striped pattern was mostly in reds, golds and whites instead, roughly the same colors as his own secondary Metaverse outfit. Carefully, he pulled them towards himself, looking at it with a careful awe.

It’d clicked, suddenly, what must have been happening behind his back, besides that idiotic plan that could’ve had Akira killed. All that time..

“..Y-you.. You made the chocolates and had Yusuke do all that.. f-for me?”

Akira nodded, shyly smiling. By now, Goro was surprised the confessing teen’s cheeks hadn’t caught fire already, from how dark the red got, and the red had even spread to his exposed, pierced ears, brushing the tips as if Yusuke’s red watercolor had blossomed over.

“I.. I want you to have this, then,” Goro surrendered, pulling out his square box and sliding it across the table. “I.. well, I obviously hadn’t had the time to make mine homemade, b-but.. E-er, take them before I die of anxiety!”

“...” Akira didn’t say anything, wordlessly, taking the chocolates. Then, he smiled, seeming giddy as he got up from his seat and planted himself next to Goro. He held the detective’s given chocolates close to him, as if they were a Treasure he’d taken from a Palace, and he didn’t look at Goro directly, although Goro could feel the reciprocated happiness radiating off the dark-haired teen.

“I... T-thank you, Goro..” Akira finally said, scooting himself even closer and depositing his head on Goro’s shoulder, since he was tall enough to lay there. “I didn’t think y-you’d confess to me today, too.. but I’m glad y-you did. ..Jeez, I.. I can’t really think straight right now..”

Goro rolled his eyes, before putting an arm gingerly around Akira’s shoulders. “I think you shouldn’t have to anymore, Akira. I’m happy you love me back, too.. L-like I said though.. t-this is new to me.”

Akira snorted again, at Goro’s little joke, before closing his eyes and contentedly rubbing his head against Goro’s arm like the cat-person he was.

“Hey, Goro? Don’t move too much, please.. It’s sacrilegious to move a c-cat off you, y-you know,” the dark-haired teen joked, grinning madly. To Goro, Akira now seemed much at ease, since they’d reciprocated their feelings, and he seemed to go back to the silly jokester Goro knew him to be when comfortable enough.

“Of course not,” Goro hummed, then chuckled, his own self trembling with the laughing for a moment or two. “I’m comfortable right here, if you are.”

“Good, ‘cuz I’m not moving an inch, Goro Akechi,” Akira replied, shifting himself so he was in a little more of a comfortable way of sitting, even if his legs sort of hung over the edge of the booth seat awkwardly. “Oh, a-and.. Come visit me, will you? I’m still heading home to my hometown since my probation’s over and stuff..”

Goro grimaced at that, sighing disappointedly. Oh, that’s right.. Akira said his probation originally ended in March.. How could I have forgotten that..?

“..I’d forgotten, admittedly,” he confessed, and Akira looked back at him again, his smile fading. “Hm.. Surely there’s got to be a legal way to ensure you stay here, in Tokyo..”

“Argh.. Goro, please don’t break the law.. Only I get to do that,” Akira huffed, sticking his pink tongue out at the long-haired detective. “Besides, unless my parents say I can stay, I’ve gotta go back. Plus.. won’t you be busy with detective stuff..?”

“I’m on medical leave until the end of the month,” the brunette rebutted, turning himself around to hug Akira in some awkward placement of limbs. “Hrm. Maybe if you’d let me stay in Leblanc for the rest of the time, will that make up for it? I m-mean.. we did pine over each other for so long.. The least I could do until you leave is to make up for all that wasted time..”

Goro’s now-boyfriend grinned, closing his eyes again. “We can cross that bridge when we get there, then.. I’m fine with your suggestion til then. Morgana’s just gonna have to deal with it.”

“Damn right,” Goro agreed, gently putting his head on Akira’s. “And one more thing, honey.”

“Yeah?”

Goro gently kissed the mass of ink-black curls, still smiling, and he held Akira close to him, quietly enjoying the warmth the other teen radiated. “I love you, Akira.”

“..I love you too, Goro,” Akira replied. His voice was soft, but Goro could hear that the words held a sincerity he’d rarely heard until now.

...

I had a romantic evening with Akira..

---

END

[hunnywrites]

Arcade Dreams: Chapter Eight

Summary: There’s a new girl working at the Palace Arcade and Hawkins’ Family Video. Billy can’t stand her, and the feeling is mutual. No matter what everyone else seems to think.

Pairing: Billy Hargrove/OFC

A/N: Sorry I didn’t get this up sooner! We’ve been getting ready for the hurricane!

“Alright, Teddi. You gotta tell me your address so I can take you home.” 

Teddi scoffed. “Why? So you can stalk me some more?” she snapped, crossing her arms firmly and dramatically across her chest.

Billy’s hand slightly clenched around the steering wheel. If Teddi was stubborn on a normal day, she was at least five times more stubborn when she was drunk. “Larsson, I’m not fucking around here…” he warned. 

Teddi sighed loudly and sunk in her seat. She leaned over and rested her head against the window, watching the trees pass by in a blur. “I don’t wanna go home.” 

Billy looked over at her. He grabbed the shoulder of her coat and pulled her upright before looking out the window made her blow chunks all over his car. “And why not?” he asked. He knew, or at least he had an idea, but he was still a little curious about whether his suspicions were correct. 

“If my dad knows I was out this late and sees how shit faced I am he’ll kill me. Like literally kill me. Fucking prick. You know I used to do this all the time back home? Yeah. I went to parties like...all the time. And I used to smoke because I thought it made me look cool, and I was actually popular until I moved to...this.” she waved her hands at the bland scenery that was passing them. 

Billy admittedly had sort of a hard time imagining that. Maybe New York was different. Teddi was more like that girl Samantha in his Biology class, Johnathan Byers and that chick Robin (who he was also pretty sure was a lesbian because he had tried putting the moves on her during lunch once and she had laughed so hard milk came out of her nose); weird and very not cool. But he smirked over at her anyways. “Is that right? What happened?”

“I moved to Hawkins and I died inside,” they both laughed. Teddi studied him for a moment. “Is all this part of you trying to be nice? Like with the beer?”

Billy shifted uncomfortably. “I don’t know...I guess.”

“Well, how come you wanna be nice all of the sudden?”

“I don’t know,” he huffed. He supposed he could give her the long version. Complete with Max almost chopping his dick off. But he figured Teddi was a little too drunk to take any of that in. “I guess...ever since we moved here I’ve sorta been…”

“The worst?” Teddi finished for him with raised eyebrows.

“Yeah. I’ve got a lot of shit going on and-”

“I’ve got a lot of shit too. But I learned to stop being such a jerk to everyone.”

“Yeah? Well, you’re sure as hell a pain in the ass.” he argued. He didn’t know why Teddi drove him up the wall the way that she did. Maybe it was because he knew she was right. He hated it when other people were right about him. 

Teddi crossed her arms and glared over at him. “...What’s your zodiac sign?” she asked suddenly.

Billy shot her that look again. That one that like she had sprouted another head. “My what?” 

“Your zodiac sign! You know, with the stars and all…” Billy only blinked. Teddi huffed. “When is your birthday?” 

“...November 28th.” 

Teddi groaned. “A Sagittarius.” she said curtly. 

Billy didn’t know why, but he felt offended by her tone. He looked over at her with an annoyed and expectant look.  “And what the fuck is that supposed to mean?” 

“Nothing. It just explains a lot. Do you know what time you were born? Or in what city?” she hadn’t even noticed that Billy was looking at her like she had gone absolutely insane. 

“How the fuck am I supposed to know any of that? And what does it explain, weird girl? What the hell is a Sagittarius?” Teddi didn’t answer him. She just sat there with her arms crossed and looking like she was going through some weird girl rolodex in her head. 

Suddenly she perked up. “Ooo! That means we’re sister signs! I’m a Gemini!” as if Billy was supposed to have any idea what that meant.

“Gemini? Sister signs? Larsson, what the hell are you talking about?” he asked incredulously. 

Teddi rolled her eyes. “It means that we’re like super compatible...huh. Wouldn’t have guessed that.”

“Compatible like...in bed compatible?” he asked, a smirk teasing at his lips. Teddi only scoffed at the question.

“Like compatible in general. Yin and Yang...I guess that makes sense. I’m like super chill and you’re basically the hulk,” she laughed. Billy was going to throw a smart ass response her way, but before he could Teddi reached over and snatched the cigarette that was between his lips. He let out a huff to show his distaste, but Teddi ignored it. She let out a loud groan as she took a drag of the cigarette. “Christ, I missed these things.”

Billy found himself chuckling. If someone had told him a week ago that he would be giving Teddi Larsson a ride home while she rambled on about zodiac signs and sharing a cigarette with him, he would have told them they were crazy. Yet there he was, taking his cigarette back from her after she handed it back to him with a happy, content look on her face. 

“What’s funny?” she asked, smiling over at him. 

Billy shook his head. “Nothing. This night has just taken a really weird turn.” that little part of him wished that this could be how things always were. Sure, he probably hadn’t had a friend that was a girl since the third grade, but he could see himself being friends with Teddi. If they could both get past that animosity that was always there. Well, more like if he could learn to control his temper a little more was more like it. 

He turned onto his street, slowing the Camaro down so that the engine wouldn’t wake anyone at home and let his dad know that he’d been out so late. He had missed his curfew by about two hours, but with Susan around now she and Neil held Billy to an honor system when it came to him going out. Teddi didn’t look as confused as he expected her to be as he pulled up to the curb. 

“You uh...said you didn’t want to go home so…” he didn’t know what else to say. He didn’t want Teddi to know that he had figured out her secret. He would play it off as her refusing to tell him her address. If he let on that he was onto Teddi, there was a chance she would start to ask questions and soon she would be onto his secret. 

Teddi looked over at Billy’s house with narrowed eyes before looking back at him. “This is your house?” she asked.

“Yeah...look, I’m not like putting the moves on you or anything. Trust me. You can crash in Max’s room. I just figured…” he wouldn’t meet her eyes. 

Teddi gave him a tired smile. “No, it’s...this is nice.” she nodded. 

Billy flinched a little. He hated that his first reaction to someone telling him he’d done something nice was wanting to make some sort of biting remark. He swallowed the nasty comment and only shrugged. He shut the Camaro off and climbed out, rushing over to the other side as Teddi nearly fell out onto the street. She was giggling loudly as she tried to get herself upright. 

“Christ, Larsson,” he muttered as he helped her stand. “You have to shut up, okay? If anyone hears you we’ll both be dead.” he snapped.

Teddi pretended to zip her lips before letting out a small giggle. Billy rolled his eyes and pulled her along. But he didn’t go to the front door. He led her around to the side of his house to what Teddi assumed must have been his bedroom window. She leaned up against the wall to try to keep her balance while he expertly slid the window open. Wordlessly he bent down, his fingers intertwined to give her a boost up. 

She wondered briefly just how many other girls he’d done this with before stepping into his hands and sliding clumsily into his room. It was a weird angle. If she wasn’t careful she’d land down on his stereo instead of the foot of his bed. Teddi wiggled through the window and aimed herself for Billy’s bed as best as her drunk mind would allow. 

She landed with a soft thud and groaned. Billy was in almost immediately after her. It was obvious that he had done this more than a few times. Teddi waved him away when he tried to help her stand. 

Billy’s room was...exactly what she had imagined. Not that she had spent a lot of time thinking about it. It was more or less as messy as she’d expect it to be. And it had that sort of “I don’t give a shit” attitude in the way he had decorated it that was very Billy. It smelled almost overwhelmingly like him. Cigarettes, his cologne and spearmint. His cologne had this really warm, woody smell to it. Sort of like a bonfire with a hint of something fresh and earthy. It gave Teddi this comfy sort of feeling whenever she smelled it and she briefly wondered if Billy had chosen the scent because it reminded him of back home. Teddi shook the idea away and looked further around his room. She rolled her eyes when she spotted the poster of Shauna Grant hanging on the wall. There were a lot of cassette tapes. Nearly anywhere Teddi looked there was a stack of tapes or vinyls along with a crushed beer can or two and an ashtray full of cigarette butts.

Of course there where all of his weights and workout gear, that definitely didn’t surprise her. What did surprise her were the two neon boxes on a shelf in front of her. “Excuse me,” she hissed, reaching up on her toes in order to reach them. “These are Atari games!” 

Billy shushed her, shooting a dirty look in her direction. “So what?” he asked. He snatched the two games out of her hands and reached over her to set them back on the shelf. 

Teddi swallowed nervously as Billy’s chest bumped into hers momentarily before she took a step back. She shook her head and fixed an angry look up at him. “You can’t call me a geek when you’re a geek.” 

Billy rolled his eyes. “Everyone plays video games, Larsson. Now stop going through my shit. Unless you wanna sleep in here tonight. That’s more than alright with me…” he smirked down at her.

Teddi rolled her eyes dramatically. “Don’t make me puke, Hargrove.” Billy only chuckled, taking Teddi by the arm and sneaking out of his room and down the hall. He nudged Max’s door open, quickly pulling Teddi in before shutting the door behind them and turning on the light. 

Two heads popped up from the bed. Max blinked wildly as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. El watched Teddi and Billy with such a blank expression that Teddi suspected that El was positive she was only dreaming. “Billy? What the hell?” Max asked with a yawn. 

“I need a favor.” he began.

Teddi cut off whatever he was going to say next with a loud gasp. “Oh my gosh, Max, the sleepover!” she squealed. “Look, I didn’t miss it after all!” 

Billy slapped a hand over Teddi’s mouth and shot a glare in her direction. “I told you, Teddi. Be quiet.” 

“Drunk.” El whispered to Max as she watched Billy attempt to keep Teddi under control.

Max raised her eyebrows and nodded. “She’s trashed. Jesus, Billy, what did you do to her?” 

“I didn’t do anything,” he snapped. “Heather Holloway and about a dozen jello shots did this. Look, she won’t tell me where she lives and I don’t know what else to do with her. Just let her crash in here and make sure she doesn’t choke on her own vomit.” he helped Teddi over to the edge of Max’s bed so she could sit. 

Max and El both shot each other a few confused looks as they watched the pair. Billy struggled to keep Teddi still as he pulled her puffy coat and boots off. Teddi kept complaining, each time Billy hissing out a “stay still” before Teddi would pout and listen before the whole thing started again. Max didn’t think she’d ever seen someone look so inconvenienced by being nice to someone before. And what was even more confusing to her was the fact that Billy had nearly gone out of his way to put himself in this position. 

“Did he do that?” El asked Max quietly, nodding towards Teddi’s bruised eye.

Max shook her head. “She said she slipped on ice or something. It’s been like that for a few days.” she explained as El watched Teddi carefully.

Billy tossed Teddi’s coat and shoes aside and stood, jabbing a finger in Max’s direction. “Make sure she doesn’t wake anyone up, alright? I’ll take her back to her car in the morning. And neither of you tell anyone about this, got it?” 

“Whatever, Billy. Just get out of my room already.” Max hopped out of bed and nearly shoved her older brother out of her room. He shot a slightly worried glance in Teddi’s direction before glaring down at Max. He jerked away from her and disappeared down the hall to his own room. Max shut her door again and let out a heavy sigh. Teddi was lying on her back, staring blankly up at the ceiling.

“...You guys wanna play truth or dare or something?” she asked, her voice slightly slurring. 

Max and El both stifled giggles. “Teddi, it’s a little late for that. I think you need to get some sleep...what are you doing with Billy anyways?” Max asked as she got back into bed. 

“My date totally ditched me. And Billy said he’s trying to be nice...did you know that he’s a Sagittarius?” 

El frowned. “What’s a Sagittarius?” she asked. 

Teddi sat up quickly and turned to face the two girls. “What’s a Sagittarius?” she repeated, her jaw dropped. “You guys don’t know about zodiac signs either?” the two girls shook their heads. “God, what is wrong with this town? Okay, forget about truth or dare. I have like...loads to teach you. It’ll totally blow your minds.” 

Teddi turned to face Max and El, crossing her legs. Max hopped out of bed once again before muttering “wait, wait, wait!” before disappearing for a few moments. She returned with a bowl of popcorn and three cans of coke. The three settled in and Teddi launched into her zodiac lesson. Maybe her night wouldn’t be such a bust after all. Getting drunk with Heather and teaching two twelve year olds about their zodiac traits at two in the morning way more fun than anything she would’ve done hanging out with some idiot on the soccer team. Hanging out with Billy hadn’t been so bad either. It was too bad she probably wouldn’t remember most of it in the morning. 

[namtanlovesfilm]

Love Is A Losing Game

on tumblr: chapter 1 | chapter 2 | chapter 3

on AO3: full work | chapter 4

*

Chapter 4

*

“You’ll never believe what I’m gonna tell you,” Shao Fei announced as he sat down next to him during their lunch break.

“You’ve met a guy.” Zi Xuan answered, sipping his glass of water.

Shao Fei’s eyes doubled in size from his surprise. “How do you know?!”

“Well, you’ve got your ‘I’m in love’ face.”

Shao Fei blushed. “I’m not in love! I just met him two days ago!”

“And?” Zi Xuan wondered, letting a bit of his curiosity show.

Shao Fei turned his full body towards him. “He’s the most perfect guy I’ve ever seen! He’s handsome, kind and a tailor!”

“Maybe he’ll help your terrible fashion sense then,” Zi Xuan mocked with a straight face.

Shao Fei hit him on the shoulder. “Don’t be mean. I’ve got other talents.”

“You do,” he agreed unironically. Shao Fei was an amazing artist. “So what happened?”

“You know that there’s a big launching party for my comic and other releases this week-end, I invited you. Well on Saturday, my parents dragged me to this tailor to get a suit for the event, and Tang Yi worked there.”

“Tang Yi, uh?” Zi Xuan teased. “That’s a cool name.”

“Right?!” Shao Fei nodded excitedly. “Well Tang Yi asked me for my number!”

He was basically shouting in his ears now, grabbing his arms in sheer euphoria.

“And we went on a date yesterday!”

“Already?”

“Yeah, he couldn’t wait to see me again.”

“So I guess it went well then,” he smiled suspiciously.

“Zi Xuan,” Shao Fei was now basically whispering in his ear, as if it was the most important secret, “I had the best night of my life!”

Zi Xuan laughed, happy for his friend, who had really needed to get some for a while now.

“Well I’m happy for you my friend.”

Shao Fei’s hype had toned down a little now, though he was still wearing the cheesiest smile on his face.

“What about you?”

Zi Xuan felt himself get shy. “What about me?”

“Well? Is there someone you like?”

He sighed. For a month he had kept his relationship with Yu Hao secret, but now it felt like everyone was bound to know about it.

“Do you remember the trainee that was here last month?”

“No,” whispered Shao Fei, under shock.

“Well we’re sorta having a thing.”

“You’re dating him?!”

Zi Xuan shook his head, annoyed. This was exactly why he didn’t want to talk about Yu Hao. Even he didn’t understand their relationship.

“We’re not. It’s… quite complicated.”

“But… you’re banging a teenager, though?”

It wasn’t said with malicious intent, but it still hurt a little.

“He’s not a teenager, he’s 21. And he’s the one who pursued me first.”

Shao Fei seemed to pick up on his defensiveness, but still carried on. “Isn’t he… a bit young, though?”

“You think I don’t know that?!” He exclaimed, feeling embarrassed and angry all at once. “I tried to stop it, but he always comes back to pursue me…”

“I’m sorry,” Shao Fei said.

“It’s not like I’ve been into younger guys or girls before. I like people my age or a bit older, never younger,” Zi Xuan continued. “But he came into my life and made me have more fun than I’ve ever had before.”

He was smiling slightly now. “It’s not just about sex, Fei. I love him.”

Shao Fei stayed silent for a while, staring at his own hands, contemplating what he could reply.

“I get it. I’m sorry for what I said.”

Zi Xuan felt like crying. “I’m sorry for yelling at you. It’s just… I hadn’t felt guilty about him for a while. You reminded me of why we aren’t officially together.”

“Do you want to, though?”

“What?”

“Be with him?”

“Yes.”

*

*

*

Yu Hao invited him to a concert. It was on Friday night, and apparently none of his friends liked that kind of music.

Zi Xuan liked it just fine, like the bland music you hear on the radio, but had accepted to go with him since the tickets were cheap and he couldn’t seem to say no to Yu Hao.

The concert was good. Live music is almost always better than recorded one. What he liked the most was seeing Yu Hao revel in the song’s words and dance the night away.

It felt good to be with him here, in a faceless crowd where no one could judge them. He felt safe, feeling Yu Hao’s arm around his waist, his head on his shoulder or lips on his cheek. That night felt a little surreal.

He invited Yu Hao to come home with him. It had become natural, when it was something taboo a week ago. Now Yu Hao knew his house almost as well as he did.

They made love many times, Yu Hao’s insatiable appetite pushing them to continue.

Zi Xuan liked the many sleepless nights they spent together, having sex, talking, eating some random snacks at 3 am and having uncontrollable fits of laughter.

Zi Xuan woke up earlier than usual for a week-end after having spent the night with Yu Hao. It was Shao Fei’s launch party and he needed to be there in time for his comic launch announcement.

The party was happening in the fancy part of town in an expensive hotel and started at 5 pm.

This meant Zi Xuan had enough time to find his one and only suit lost in his closet, have lunch, have some more sex with Yu Hao (he knew sex never stopped with him) and spend one hour in the bus to get to the other part of town.

Yu Hao woke up a few minutes after him, kissing him tenderly.

“I can’t spend the entire day with you today,” he reminded him.

“Because of your friend’s party?” He had already talked to him about it.

“Hm,” he nodded.

Yu Hao seemed to hesitate for a while, before asking: “Can’t I come with you?”

Zi Xuan sighed. He had hoped he wouldn’t say that, but deep down he knew this would happen.

“It’s a boring party about books and comics,” he replied. “I’m only going for Shao Fei, but I won’t even know anyone. You won’t like it.”

Yu Hao looked disappointed, of course he did. “But I’d know you.”

Zi Xuan turned on his side, facing him. “Why do you want to come?”

“To be with you,” he answered truthfully, making Zi Xuan’s heart swell. “And also… I’ve always wanted to have sex in fancy hotel bathrooms.”

He had whispered the last part jokingly, letting his hand wander on Zi Xuan’s ass.

Zi Xuan thought about it for a minute. It’s true that Shao Fei would probably not have a lot of time for him, preferring to stay with his family.

He also knew about Yu Hao, so wouldn’t make any comment. Maybe it’d be good for him that Yu Hao be there.

“Do you really want to go?”

“Yes.”

“Then okay.”

“Yaaaay!” He exclaimed, rolling over him, kissing him sloppily. “Thank you.”

“Okay okay, I’ve already said yes, stop trying to be cute,” Zi Xuan joked, kissing his cheek.

“I don’t need to try, that’s my natural form.”

*

*

*

They ended up having to go to Yu Hao’s studio for him to fetch his suit, before going on their hour long bus ride.

During that time, Zi Xuan could feel his hand on his thigh. It wasn’t trying to caress, or arouse, it was just there, to show him Yu Hao was here, next to him.

Zi Xuan’s heart was starting to hurt from his love for Yu Hao. It didn’t hurt in the way it had before, when his first boyfriend had broken up with him or he had realized he and his girlfriend were doomed.

It hurt because things between them weren’t clear, and it was mostly his own fault. It hurt because he wanted to date him so bad, but couldn’t find the strength to ask him.

It hurt because he loved him in a way he hadn’t loved anyone before: with the others, he had never been so consumed by love.

They arrived at the fancy hotel about 10 minutes after the party had started, and found their way to Shao Fei in the crowd.

Yu Hao stayed a little behind him, suddenly shy for the first time in his life, while Zi Xuan hugged his friend.

“Congratulations! I’m proud of you!”

Shao Fei had never looked so radiant: it seemed as if all his body was smiling. “Thank you, Xuan.”

He then looked behind him, seeing Yu Hao. His eyes didn’t lose their joy, but became tinted of curiosity.

“You brought him here.”

“He insisted,” Zi Xuan replied with a small smile, faking confidence.

It was a big deal, though. To introduce him to his friend.

“Hi,” said Shao Fei, addressing Yu Hao.

“Hello,” the student replied, a little embarrassed.

Zi Xuan knew that Shao Fei would ask him if they were finally together, but, luckily, he spotted another man behind his friend as well. It suddenly appeared that this party was just a double date after all.

“So. You brought him,” Zi Xuan replied with a teasing smile.

Shao Fei blushed slightly. “He insisted.”

“Hello,” Tang Yi said, shaking both Zi Xuan and Yu Hao’s hand. “Nice to meet you.”

“So, you’re the famous Tang Yi, uh?” Zi Xuan asked. “Well I’ve heard a lot about you in the past week.”

The man’s confidence was wavering, which was Zi Xuan’s goal. His friend had been single for a few years and deserved a good man, so Zi Xuan felt extra protective of him.

“Zi Xuan, you’re making him nervous,” Shao Fei laughed, interrupting their exchange of gazes.

They talked for a little while until it was time for the launch announcements. They all sat next to Shao Fei’s parents, who looked as proud as peacocks.

When they called Shao Fei to announce his comic, the little group applauded like crazy, and Zi Xuan felt the irresistible need to scream ‘that’s my friend!’ on the top of his lungs before he reminded himself that it wasn’t this kind of event.

The announcements and speeches done, they all found a table and started eating the delicious free food together.

After a few minutes, Shao Fei’s parents went to dance in a corner of the room, and Shao Fei immediately pulled at his sleeve.

“So, now you can tell me, are you together or not?”

It had been louder than a whisper and lower than his regular speech, which meant Yu Hao had heard it all.

Zi Xuan turned his head to verify his theory and yep, here he was, staring at both Shao Fei and him. Damn this nosy artist.

“What about you two,” he said in a full voice to obtain Tang Yi’s attention. “are you together already?”

He was stalling. Of course he was, even Yu Hao knew it, having tensed up next to him.

“Well…” Shao Fei started a little sheepish.

Tang Yi took his hand in his and looked at Shao Fei with a soft look. “Yeah, he asked me this morning.”

“That’s great!” Zi Xuan exclaimed. “Thank god, you’ve gotten him out of years of being single!”

Shao Fei hit him on the shoulder with a pout, before turning back to his boyfriend and adopting the cutest look. “Thank you for rescuing me,” he joked.

Zi Xuan smiled at that view and continued eating his meal, until he realized he had three pairs of eyes on him. He looked back at Shao Fei.

“So? Are you together?”

Zi Xuan gulped and stared at Yu Hao in the hopes that he would say something, but he didn’t. Instead, he just stared at him all the same with an unreadable expression.

“We’re not.”

Shao Fei must have felt the awkward atmosphere because he left it at that. Next to Zi Xuan, Yu Hao was standing up.

“I’m going to the bathroom.”

Zi Xuan nodded, going back to his plate.

“I’m so sorry, Xuan! I thought that you had finally asked him to date officially since you showed up together...” Shao Fei explained.

“It’s okay,” he replied. “Let’s talk about something else. You better offer me a copy of your comic when it comes out.”

“Pfff, you thought. I need money, dude.”

*

*

*

After 30 minutes, Zi Xuan’s mood was already better. Shao Fei’s parents had came back to the table and were chatting happily, distracting him, but eventually he realized that Yu Hao hadn’t come back from the bathroom.

He decided to go search for him.

There were multiple bathrooms in that fancy hotel and Zi Xuan had to search a couple before he found Yu Hao. He wasn’t even in it anymore, but was instead sat on the carpet in the hall.

“Yu Hao, what’s going on?” He asked urgently. “Do you feel sick?”

He didn’t answer right away but when he did it was a clear: “Yes.”

“Where?”

“I feel sick of us.”

He had looked up when he said that, tears in his eyes. Zi Xuan felt himself exhale loudly. He had always known that day would come, when Yu Hao would get bored of him.

But he didn’t think it would happen now, not right after the night they had spent together. Nothing indicated Yu Hao’s disinterest of him, up until this damn party. Maybe he was just too unpredictable.

“Okay.”

Yu Hao’s body shook a little, from laughter and sobbing all at once.

“Okay? That’s all you’ve got to say?”

“Well, what do you want me to say? I always knew you’d get bored of me eventually.”

Yu Hao exploded, laughing uncontrollably, tears rolling on his cheeks.

“Fuck you. You think it’s about boredom?! You fucking asshole.”

Zi Xuan’s whole body wanted to sink into the ground. He didn’t want to deal with that. He was so happy, that morning, and now it was all going to shit.

“I’m sorry. Tell me why you feel sick of us, then.”

Yu Hao got up, breathing some fresh air for a while before he said, calmer: “I’ve accepted everything from you. That you didn’t want introduce me to anyone you know, that you didn’t bring me to your home, that you didn’t want to date me.”

Ah. There it was. What made him feel sick.

“You’ve accepted everything?” Zi Xuan had to laugh. “I have literally always done everything you wanted me to do, I’ve given in to every single one of your whims, and I’m supposed to be the egoistical one here?!”

“I didn’t say you were egoistical,” Yu Hao replied. “I’ve said I’ve always accepted us for what you wanted us to be. But now I can’t anymore.”

“Well okay, then.” Zi Xuan replied. “Then let’s break up.”

Yu Hao laughed again, looking a little crazy, new tears rolling down his cheeks.

“For that, we should’ve been together in the first place.”

“Is that why you’re acting like this? Because of what Shao Fei said?”

“No shit, Sherlock. You know, I thought that if I showed what a capable boyfriend I was you’d finally ask me, but you never did. And even today I was still hoping that you’d ask me before we went to the party, because I would have said yes. But instead, you’re horrified at the idea of dating me when your friend asks you.”

“Yu Hao, you should have told me you felt that way.”

“What do you think? That I can have sex with a guy, go out with him and tell him all my thoughts and secrets for weeks and not feel anything like you?”

Zi Xuan closed his eyes, tears forming in their corners.

“I don’t feel nothing,” he whispered. “But you’re too young for me, I told you that already.”

“Youth!” He shouted, exasperated. “All you talk about is youth! But I’ve proven you again and again and again that I’m a capable boyfriend. I take care of you, I cook for you, I take you out to have new experiences, I satisfy your every need -”

“You’re too immature,” Zi Xuan interrupted.

“You’re like a kid, when you want something, you need it immediately. I can’t say no to you. Besides, you want a relationship but you’ve never had a real one. All you’ve done is jump from guy to guy ever since you were sixteen. And I’m too old for you. In a year I won’t want to go out as much because it will have bored me or have sex as much because my body won’t be able to handle it, and you’ll resent me for it.”

“Why are you always planning ahead?!”

“Because you exhaust me now, Yu Hao! I can’t imagine what it will be if we’re really together.”

He was still crying, but now he looked more hurt than ever before. He looked up to the fancy ceiling, before looking at him again. “You’re really a fucking asshole.”

“I’m sorry, but this is what I feel.”

“Well, what I feel is sick. You disgust me,” he concluded. “So fuck you, and never contact me again.”

And with that, he left, leaving Zi Xuan alone with his thoughts.

Love was such a losing game.

*

*

*

Chapter’s notes: okay but writing Shao Fei and Zi Xuan as besties made me realize that Shao Fei and Cheng En are essentially the same person: pushy, loud and excited all the time haha.

Sorry for the sad ending, but you know it always gets better with me because I can’t seem to write bad endings haha

[alexlayer69]

This is why you don’t try to mansplain Jaune’s shitty behavior and RT’s horrible writing decisions to me.

Because I’ll rip you a new one and deconstruct every ridiculous argument and accusation you try to make, just like I did for @outcasts-redeemer when he tried to defend Jaune at Weiss’ expense before me, and since I quoted it all, I thought: Why not make it is own post?

Oh my fucking goodness, the amount of bullshit in this post alone is more than I even dared expect altogether...

If I remember correctly, Jaune was never a douche towards her.

Then you probably don’t remember correctly or are extremely lacking in self-awareness, because refusing to just take no for an answer (multiple times) is a douche thing to do. It invalidates her emotions, her autonomy and agency, showing he’s got no respect for any of those, and by extension, for her. The fact that he later tries to hypocritically lecture Neptune about disregarding Weiss’ feelings just shows how much lack of self-awareness the writers have for writing Jaune.

Jaune was the dunce who couldn’t read the atmosphere to save his life. He was awkward, clumsy and took things literally.

True, but that’s unrelated to the subject altogether.

It was Weiss who was the rude bitch.

Oh, HERE we go.

Instead of telling him outright the moment he started to flirt she wasn’t interested, she was sarcastic, condescending and rude and pointed to her upbringing as a reason why he was not worth her time.

So what? She still made it perfectly clear she was not interested, and even then, she eventually did tell him “No” straight on his face, and he still didn’t listen.  

Then there was Pyrrah. The girl who was patient, kind and thoughtful, the one who befriended him and treated him with respect something he never had received before. She pressed him to find the deeper meaning behind his actions. Jaune told her, and we see that Jaune’s actions and affection was more than superficial, it had depth and meaning.

None of which justifies disregarding her agency and refusing to take no for an answer. It’s not even that hard. That’s without mentioning that, having had near to zero close interaction with Weiss in... ever, it’s hard enough to argue that Jaune actually got to know her and care for the real her (otherwise, he likely would have been more respectful). Instead, it feels far more like he just fell in love superficially with her. He describes her as “Cold but also incredible, smart, graceful, talented”, all of these being things you could tell from Weiss at borderline first glance. It doesn’t shown any evidence that he really knows her.

It was like Pyrrha’s, full of emotion and depth.

More like full of naivety.

Jaune fell for Weiss for her character. Pyrrah fell for Jaune because of his.

Pyrrha fell for Jaune because she was made to suck him up. The girl practically wanted to deflower him from before they even properly introduced themselves to one another. She was never her own character, just an accessory to Jaune’s, and that’s all the more reason for which I dread Weiss associating with him any further, because lord forbid any other characters have to follow Pyrrha’s fate of becoming little more but a sidekick to a bland, boring and uninteresting male character that’s not even meant to be the protagonist yet for some reason is treated as such more than the actual leads that the show is named after!

Yet, on the flip side Weiss Didn’t

Instead she fell for a smooth talking asshole who turned her down after she worked up the courage to ask him out after he spent much of the time flirting with her.

While I’m not gonna argue that this is definitely one of Weiss’ lower points, you sure seem to like exaggerating Neptune’s flirty attitude to extremes. He’s yet another douche, sure, but asshole? He just refused Weiss’ invitation, which - flirt or not - he’s got all the right in the world to do, just like Weiss has every right to reject Jaune. None of these characters are entitled to each other. The only difference is that, upon being rejected, Weiss takes it with dignity and just leaves it there, which Jaune just can’t do, as you actually proceed to illustrate in your next paragraph.

Jaune on the other hand was the opposite of Neptune. After he saw Weiss asking Neptune out, he gave her up for her own happiness, even going so far as talking to Neptune and demanding that he not take her feelings for granted. Which if you don’t remember Neptune dose anyway during the tournament.

The fact that Jaune only “gave her up” once he saw her asking for Neptune is by no means a point in his favor. He should have given up when she rejected him, not when she showed interest in someone else. He’s respecting Neptune’s “claim” (which is all in his mind) over Weiss than he’s respecting Weiss herself.

And he didn’t just save her once. He had been constantly protecting her. Initiation, Neptune, The Breach, keeping Ruby Save, Haven. All examples of him protecting her either directly or by extension.  

The most he did in the initiation exam was try to catch her while falling, and he did it with every intention to flirt with her rather than to save her (otherwise he may have actually had an effective tactic).

He never tried to protect her from Neptune. He was just competing against him and was bitter as fuck because Neptune had what he couldn’t have and let it go.

Jaune and Weiss never even interacted during the Breach. I don’t know what you’re on about.

Keeping Ruby safe is all about Ruby. He’s not doing that for Weiss, for fuck’s sake. These characters have their own goals and motivations, their worlds don’t revolve completely around another character. Weiss’ doesn’t revolve around Ruby and Jaune’s doesn’t revolve around Weiss, and they shouldn’t. And that’s without mentioning that Jaune was doing a TERRIBLE job at protecting Ruby, seeing as he’d rather close his eyes and look away when Tyrian was about to strike her rather than attempt to protect her.

And as for Haven? Lemme remind you that it was Jaune who started the fight that led to Weiss getting injured, even as Qrow was trying to keep it from happening, and it was even his own words to Cinder that made her decide to target Weiss instead of just finish him off. Unlocking his Semblance to save her later on hardly saves him any dignity

Weiss on the other hand? The moment he needs help, she fails. And Pyrrha dies because of it.

Okay, this just takes the CAKE in bullshit levels!

Are you seriously blaming WEISS for Pyrrha’s death!? So what, Ruby is also to blame for this?! Because they didn’t get there in time!?

How about the fact that all that could have been prevented if Jaune had done his fucking job and actually watched the entrance like he was told to, maybe then blocking Cinder’s arrow that finished off Amber, preventing her from becoming the unstoppable juggernaut that killed Pyrrha. He had ONE job that could have changed everything, and he failed at it, and you wanna blame Weiss for it!?

And even then, he had the upmost respect for her and it was clear that he still held her in high regard even after eight months without seeing her following her failing to save his partner. And that isn’t just for her, he had no anger directed at anyone except himself and Cinder.

Because he shouldn’t hold any grudge for anyone but himself and Cinder! Nobody else that’s alive played any role on that, and certainly not Ruby or Weiss!

When Weiss came back into the fold Jaune didn’t do anything except shit on himself and try and kill himself via Cinder for Team RWBY because they’re the ones who matter.

You mean, avenge his idea of Pyrrha (because let’s be honest, just like with Weiss, he never really got to know Pyrrha) and his own sorry pride after Cinder insulted him without even meaning to? Initiating a fight that put everyone in danger? And what bullshit is this about “try to kill himself”? That’s just you projecting more drama onto the character than what’s really there. And even if that was right, he should at least pick a death that doesn’t put others in danger.

Weiss and Jaune’s relationship is as old as episode one of volume one. They have been intertwined just as Jaune and Ruby are. If Weiss shows Jaune more respect it will be due to their long relationship and their individual growths from snotty bitch and weak fuck up respectively to humbled warrior and dependable savior respectively. So no I won’t be proof of outdated thinking. Matter of fact it would be proof that Miles and Kerry are still capable of writing for RWBY.

The entirety of this argument is nothing but utter bullshit that hinges on believing Jaune to be an innocent boy that never did anything wrong (which he’s not) and Weiss to have her character meant to revolve around male characters like Pyrrha’s did (which it shouldn’t). I sorta suspect you meant “it” instead of “I” when you said “I won’t be proof of outdated thinking”, but I think you nailed it there, denial aside, because your way of thinking is clearly as backwards as it was the idea to have Weiss get worfed and injured just for the sake of Jaune’s man-pain and the unlocking of his Semblance.

The whole idea was easily RWBY’s lowest point in its entire run, and the last thing I need is a Jaune stan like you coming to mansplain it to me, trying to defend Jaune while shitting on a much better character like Weiss.

[1apple-fox1]

This is a thing 1/idfk dude

posting it on fanfiction.net didnt go over well cause i got too scared and i d ont really w ant critiques i guess c ause i already really really hate the way i write and would love not to feel any shittier so uh-

this is for Monster!Minato/Makoto I have him named Makoto in this one so i can tell the two apart better- this is basically the intro i guess and uhhhh- enjoy??

also i dont have ao3 sorry if its hard to read....

"Iwatodai, Iwatodai," the not so enthusiastic voice sang on the train speakers. Makoto sighed- after what felt like forever he was here... Again. His brows knitted together into an expression of annoyance, or maybe even slight anger? Sometimes even he had problems thinking what emotion he could possibly be experiencing. But he knew, he wished he could have been anywhere but here.

After walking out into the open walk way he stopped. It was rather dead now that he was paying attention. He pulled out his phone. 11:59 PM... It was almost time for...

Just as he thought about it the time changed to 12:00 AM, only for everything to suddenly stop. The world gained a sickly green hue, and everyone around him had ceased to move, transmogrifying into coffins. Another night, another dark hour... With a solemn sigh he pushed onwards, the sights, the blood, the everything- this wasn’t new to him anymore.

There was a sort of sticky splashing noise as he stepped onto one of the many 'bloody' puddles on the streets, but he didn't really care. Looking up at the building before him, it was... smaller than he thought it would be. He thought to himself, looking over his hastily made map one last time. "This is it." He spoke aloud, almost as if trying to convince himself this was indeed the dorm he was assigned. With one last breath he pushed the door open to be met with...

A girl?

The auburn haired girl hummed as she finished signing a sheet of paper and closing the book. She looked around in her small bag, placing the pen back as she finally noticed the new guest. "Oh!" She seemed rather surprised by his sudden appearance. "Man, I didn't even hear you there, that's some major sneaking talent you got there!"

Makoto wore a dumbfounded expression before responding with a quick "Sorry I guess," shrugging the whole ordeal off, and in the process sounding as un-genuine as he could while apologizing. He eyed the place the paper was, only to see that whatever the girl has signed had disappeared now too. "Anyways I guess that means this is a unisex dorm, pretty cool huh?"

"Uh-"

"Who's there!?"

The third voice yelled, with obvious panic laced throughout her words. While the dark hour was known for being dark, Makoto always found it pretty easy to see, and by the stairs indeed there was a third figure, wearing some sort of pink uniform top. "Don't tell me, you're-!" Without even a warning the girl pulled out a gun.

"W-wait hold on a minute!" The auburn haired one spoke up, now even she was panicking. "We're students! ordinary students and-"

"Takeba wait-!"

A fourth voice now, called from the stairs. Just as she had interrupted the lights, the TV, his headphones. Everything came on again- everything was back to normal.

Meanwhile the situation’s tension lessened. The red head explained who they were.

"Oh um..." The pink clad girl almost seemed embarrassed now. "Well my name's Yukari Takeba. Sorry for uh-"

"So why do you have a gun?" The auburn hair girl interjected, Yukari seemed taken aback by the sudden comment.

"Well um, it's- sorta like a hobby of mine-"

"A hobby?" Makoto finally spoke, there was something odd about calling a gun a 'hobby' of all things.

Yukari looked like she had just been cornered by some wild animal when she heard him ask the question. "I-It's um-"

"For protection," The red head chimed in. "You can never be too careful in times like these."

He nodded. Despite his questioning before, Makoto had all but run out of caring for this situation.

"Fine, I buy it-" The auburn haired girl spoke. She wore a cheeky grin, and despite how big it was it was hard to tell what exactly she was thinking. "Well, Yukari and..." She gestured to the red head, while she finally reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Oh-" It took her a bit to understand why the younger girl had stopped. "Mitsuru Kirijo- a third year- And you, if I remember correctly by your file, are-"

"Hey, hey! You can't just take away my introduction like that!" The auburn hair girl interjected in a childish manor."I'm Kotone Shiomi, second year, and new to this area!"

"Oh hey, uh- me too-" Yukari spoke up, and when she did it was almost an instant match in friendship heaven. The next thing he knew the two girls were hoping to be in the same class as they both walked to- what he assumed- was their rooms.

It was just him and Mitsuru now. With a cough to draw in his attention Mitsuru started again. "And you are Makoto Yuki, correct?"

He nodded. Whether he meant to or not though his posture and lack of an audible response made him come across as rude to the senior, though she didn't dare say anything. "Come, I'll show you to your room."

Without a word he followed Mitsuru up the stairs and down the hall in silence, the tapping of shoes on the carpet was the only audible noise. But even that came to a stop as they reached the end of the hallway. "Floor one, last door on the right shall be your room." She forced a pair of keys into his hand. "While I do have extras try not to lose those keys, I wouldn't want to be seen as unreliable."

Unreliable?

Without another word Mitsuru walked back down the stairs- she must have something else to do still...

With a click and a turn of the door knob he opened his room. The first thought that came to his head was "Bland" and really that was an understatement, aside from the essentials like a bed, and a desk there was barely anything in the room. Not even his boxes filled much space. Makoto sighed, shutting the door behind him. With a quick change he hopped into bed- and tried his best to sleep.

___________________________

The clacking of the train wheels were audible over Makoto’s blaring music. He sighed trying to turn the volume up- even though he already knew he had it at max.

Yukari was talking to both him and Kotone, but of course he couldn't hear a word she was saying over his own music. Makoto saw them both looking at something through the window and without realizing, he felt his own gaze shift to the window.

A tall white building sat on the horizon, almost blinding him as the sun reflected off it. It stung his eyes, letting out a wince he couldnt help but start rubbing at his eye, like doing so would relieve the pain. Of course it didn't.

“...”

“... Hey-”

“Hey!”

Kotone practically screamed in his ear after removing his headphones. But his expression remained pretty neutral even as Kotone stared at him, wearing a pouty expression. What was a surprise to him was when the girl removed his headphones. (He could have sworn he heard a giggle come from Yukari.) “You know both of us are trying to speak with you you know? It’s not nice to ignore a girl like that!”

“I don’t really care-”

“Don’t really-! Yukari’s being nice enough to show us around and you don’t care!?” It was obvious the girl was mad with him, her pouty almost playful face had turned into a full on scowl.

“Hey Kotone- it’s fine he’s taken them off so-”

“So what? He’s still a jerk- and I just realized I don’t even know this jerks name!”

Yukari was practically clinging onto Kotone at this point. “Just drop it ok? We’re almost there anyway-” She pleaded with the headstrong girl. And indeed she was right- the train screeching to a halt, announcing their stop clearly. But Kotone still glared at the boy.

“Don’t think this is over punk-!”

And with that she ran for the exit with Yukari close behind.

He suppose he should get off as well… Makoto took his sweet time departing the train. He tried to stay away from Kotone as much as possible, not to be kind or even out of fear of being yelled at, but because he knew he had pissed her off. Staying away for now would be for the best… Probably… People were hard to read…

_______________________________________________________________

The school was like a confusing maze to him, when he thought he was headed the right way to the office he’d find himself in a courtyard, he briefly wondered if maybe finding a teacher to tell them ‘hey I’m the new student’ would be too much of a hassle.

After asking around he had finally found it, sliding open the door to the faculty office he was greeted by-

Of course, of course she was here too, it was her first day too wasn’t it? She scowled at him as she left, no Yukari in sight… Huh, odd. Then again their friendship was new.

“Ah, then you must be the other transfer student-” A woman sang from the back as she looked over sheets of paper she had laid out on her clipboard. “Makoto Yuki yes?”

He nodded.

“You’re in… Class F, that’s my class- oh yes I’m miss Toriumi. I look forward to having you in my home room!” She extended her hand for a handshake. The boy took it reluctantly. She quickly went back to the notes, skimming a page or two. “You’ve sure moved around a lot, more than I expected from only a second year but-” She looked back at the notes one last time. “Let’s see… In 1999. That was- what ten years ago? Your parents-” She cut herself off with a gasp.

This always happened- no matter where he went people brought this up, and even though his face stayed rather stoic, Makoto felt an odd mix of emotions.

Sadness.

Anger.

Regret.

He felt himself straining to keep his usual composure, hearing it never got easier…

“I’m- I’m so sorry, I’ve been so busy I didn’t have time to read this before hand.”

“Can you just, take me to my homeroom now?” His straightforward answer seemed to throw his new homeroom teacher for a loop, she wore an expression of annoyance before immediately softening up.

“Of course, sorry for my earlier blunder.” She spoke and headed toward the door, Makoto following close behind.

________________________________________________________________

When he entered the classroom went silent. “Good morning class!” Toriumi called. “I have two new transfer students to introduce today-” She gestured to someone in the corner, when Kotone stepped up with a peppy step Makoto’s suspicions were confirmed. “Now go on and introduce yourselves-”

Without a second of delay Kotone blurted out a happy go lucky “Hi! My name’s Kotone Shiomi- I Like cute things and the color orange!” Every boy in the class seemed enamoured, while Makoto just sighed like he’d had enough of this already.

“Ah right, you may take a seat near… Ah! The empty desk behind Yukari there-!”

“You got it teach!” And she skipped off and took her seat, she was probably happy to be sitting beside someone she knew.

“And now it’s your turn.”

“Makoto Yuki. Nice to meet you.” That was it, that’s all he said. The ‘nice to meet you’ tacked on to avoid being yelled at by the teacher. He didn’t even wait for the employee to recommend a seat, simply sitting down on the closest one available… Which happened to be… The one beside her.

Kotone was glaring daggers, and if looks could kill he would definitely be dead by now. No matter how hard he tried to ignore it, it was like some chill that ran up his spine and kept him aware. Man she really hated him didn’t she? For some reason he couldn’t bring himself to care all that much, but the thought about dealing with this every day, at the dorm and at school… Well, it gave him more motivation to at least try and fix things.

________________________________________________________________

The final school bell rung and the teacher dismissed herself and her students, Kotone looked about ready to dash out the door. If he wanted things to get better he’d have to do them now.

“Hey Ko-”

“Sup!” A tall lanky boy greeted from the side. Makoto couldn’t help but be drawn to the sports cap on his head. “So you two’re the new transfer students right? Nice to meet you! The names Junpei Iori!” He wore a friendly grin. “I transferred here while in 8th grade so, I kinda know what you two’re goin’ through… And I thought I’d help you out you know?”

“You sure you’re not just trying to hit on the new girl Iori?” Yukari chimed in before the capped teen could finish what he was saying.

“Yuka-tan!”

The two bickered and Kotone seemed to really be enjoying the energy this kid brought. Makoto though… He felt almost like he was watching from outside his own body, the talking and everything- he wasn’t used to this. Was he being overwhelmed? Or was it because of something else? He knew he couldn’t just leave, he hadn’t even apologize to her yet what was he-

“Hey you OK?” Someone asked him, it was one of the girls but he was so disoriented he couldn’t tell who.

“I…” He began, blinking a couple of times, looking at Yukari’s concerned face, and then Kotone’s. “I’m fine.”He breathed in. “I uh,” He didn’t really think apologizing in front of Iori was the best way to go about this. “I actually have something I’d like to tell Kotone-” He should have sounded more excited but he found himself speaking in that flat tone he always did. “So-”

“Ah I get ya man! You wanna make the move as quick as possible!”

“Junpei!” While the two bickered and complained Yukari still managed to drag Iori out of the room, leaving just him and Kotone.

“So- what’d you wanna say to me?” While there was still a hint of aggression in her voice, after the weird zone out he had earlier she couldn’t help but be a little concerned. She hoped Junpei was wrong and this wasn’t about to be some love confession.

“So- I noticed you’re upset with me-”

“No-! Me?? Upset?” She said sarcastically, Makoto ignored it.

“I have a problem with being… Blunt? I guess you could say?” This was hard, being honest and talking with others was way too hard. “I know I sounded like I didn’t care and that upset you. So I wanted to apologize.” He was trying his best to sound sincere- he was so used to using the same uncaring monotone voice that he knew he probably sounded like he was trying too hard. There was no reply from the girl, at least not at first- he wondered if he had made the situation worse for a second.

The more he looked the more he was confused, she looked as if she was staring at something, but there was nothing where she was staring. And a few blinks and a second later she seemed to snap out of it with a surprised “Oh-!”

“It’s OK! After a while I could tell you’re not really a people person- you prefer to be alone right?”

“Most days- yeah.”

“No problem then!” She wore a genuine smile- Makoto thought this was too easy. That’s all it took? There had to be more… Right? “I should have taken the hint when you had those headphones on I guess- But still Yukari went through all the trouble so it was kinda rude-”

Makoto shrugged, letting out a “My bad.” in response. Kotone wore the same smile,but it was obvious she was thinking of something in that head of hers.

“We should probably get goin’, I hope Yukari isn’t still waiting for us.”

Us?

Before Makoto could register anything else Kotone had grabbed his hand and started dragging him along…

________________________________________________________________

The smell of coffee filled his nose and he couldn’t help but grimace. Coffee was never a welcoming smell to him, infact he barely touched the stuff but as he looked to Kotone, who wore a smile that was some how endearing and threatening all at the same time- Makoto thought it best to stay quiet for the time being.

“So-” Kotone started, immediately causing him to tense up. “What’s up?”

“What’s…. Up?” he seemed quite confused at this point, this girl had hated his guts before, then suddenly he was being dragged to a cafe at a mall and being asked something as casual as ‘what’s up’ Like they had been friends for years… Then again…

“Well um…” she started, looking off to the side, as if looking for the right words to say. “We- got off on the wrong foot this morning- or- more like I did.” she paused to take a sip of her coffee. “To be honest when you were ignoring us I thought maybe you were just being an ass hole for no reason- but uh- whatever happened in the class room…” Kotone twirled her hair in between her fingers, focusing intently on how she was about to word her thoughts. “... Makes me think it might be something more than ‘because I’m an asshole’- and whatever that is um, well you don’t have to share but if you need support just ask me OK?”

“Ah…” This seemed odd- for someone to go from hating his guts, to buddy buddy. Something had to be up… Right?

Kotone kept on a convincing smile, but she felt the uncomfortable silence that hung in the air. Makoto took it as a sign to leave, getting up from his chair without a word, but at least waving good bye- last thing he wanted to do was get on her bad side again. Before exiting the cafe he took one more glance, she seemed to be muttering something to herself, odd- but really none of his business. He shrugged and continued on.

________________________________________________________________

[sincognito]

The Nature of Instincts

*Kicks down the door* “WHO SAID WESTERN AUS?!?” 

*Coughs* anyway, I saw @cheapbourbon  ‘s beautiful art for their spicyhoney AU based in the Old West and my God I had a neeeeedddd that couldn’t be sated until I finally got around to writing. Honestly, I couldn’t sleep last night because I needed to write something *flails*. Sorry in advance if it’s not great, I’ve had a killer headache the entire time I was writing this x-x

Warnings: SFW, however it’s definitely suggestive. 

Rus watched silently as the sun began its slow downward journey toward the horizon. He stood, back lent heavily against the sturdy wooden wall behind him as he finished off the last few puffs of his cigarette. While the ground was mostly a bland mixture of sand and dirt, there were small patches of grass dotted around a small pool of water, growing strong under the shade of a single spindly tree.

His mare, accompanied by a stallion not owned by the bandit, quietly grazed upon the freshly sprouted foliage, flicking her tail at the flies that relentlessly pestered her. She was a deep bay with two white socks on her hind legs and a uniquely shaped star in the middle of her forehead that helped to distinguish her from most others.

She was a horse of good stock, an Arabian of the highest pedigree, signalled by her sleek body and tail that was raised proudly. Rus was pleased that her previous owner had been most agreeable to the offer of his life for the horse.

He chuckled softly to himself, casting away the useless butt of his smoke before stomping out the weakly smouldering end. He dusted off his hands, watching as the second horse, a pristine silver mustang, proceeded to snake his mare to a better grazing spot before taking a moments pause to begin nibbling at her mane gently. So much for being a loyal steed – the moment he had the scent of a young mare the mustang had been all too eager to follow after them, much to his master’s annoyance.

The thought reminded him of his current guest and with a smirk to himself he mounted the front porch of the small house, entering through a loosely hanging door, ignoring the loud squeak of its hinges. He had left his new friend waiting long enough – he would have been a bad host if he’d simply continued to ignore him.

“I see ya’ still comfortable there,” he stated upon entering the living room. He placed his hands on his hips, giving another smirk as he watched the other skeleton weakly struggling for freedom. He loosened the holster from his shoulder, lazily dumping his weapon on a nearby table before approaching the other monster.

“Yer a persistent bastard, I’ll give ya’ that,” he breathed, shaking his head in displeasure, “Most other marshals would’a given up the chase by now,” he continued, taking a slow step closer, “But not you, why’s that now?” It had been several months since the last marshal had been replaced by the monster before him, and it had since become far harder for Rus to make any real profit.

They had encountered each other enough for him to have easily recognised the sheriff stopped by a small lake, allowing his horse to drink. It had been all too easy to catch him unaware. He had also noticed through his numerous meetings, that the monster seemed to behave oddly around him. Odd at least for an enemy intent on bringing his alleged reign of terror to an end.

Rus thought he knew exactly why it was so hard for the marshal to manage his successful capture.

The other skeleton, had been securely tied down, his arms roped to the back of his chair, and his ankles to its legs. He gave a low hiss, sneering in distaste, seemingly refusing to answer his question and only providing a sharp glare. It was disappointing, but not an entirely unexpected reaction.

He crossed his arms over his chest, leaning back on one leg casually, “Let me guess, ya’ doin’ this outta some sorta honour? A sense of duty?” he gave a humourless laugh, “I’ll clue you in sweetheart, that ain’t somethin’ worth much out here,” Rus had moved close to the marshal, leaning his body imposingly over him, placing his hands on either side of the chair. He didn’t miss the slight rose tint that appeared on the other’s face. “Somethin’ like that? That’s sure to get a man killed.”

“Then why haven’t you killed me yet?” His glare waivered ever so slightly, scowl twinging minutely, perhaps in well-hidden fear. His deep crimson eye lights were doing well to stare back so strongly into Rus’ own.

“Where’d be the fun in that?” He chuckled, leaning away, and straightening up, his hands moving once more to rest upon his hips. He couldn’t help grinning at the way the other’s eyes followed his hands. It would be a long while before the marshal’s friends managed to track him down, and so he had plenty of time he could spend playing about.

“How about we get to know each other a little?” he asked, swaying his hips slightly and snapping the other monster’s attention back to his face, “Ya’ know my name, but what’s yer’s, beautiful?” He again revelled in the way his face turned red.

“Why the hell should I tell you?” he spat, his teeth parting and eyes narrowing in some form of angered snarl.

Rus gave a laugh, his eyes closely scrutinising the other skeleton’s features, drinking in all of his sharp features, “Well, for one it makes it easier ta’ flirt with ya’, handsome,” he added a wink for extra emphasis. He couldn’t help bursting into an uproar of laughter when the other monster made a sound similar to choking, immediately stumbling over his words to try and form a response.

“Aw, c’mon now, don’t try an’ deny it,” He stepped closer again, once more leaning himself intimately close to the flustered monster, “Yer not just interested in bingin’ me ta justice, are ya precious?” He began to slowly loosen the scarf wrapped around the other’s neck, leaving just enough slack for the monster’s neck vertebrae to be accessible.

“The hell are yo-” his whole body jerked when Rus craned his neck, gently pressing his teeth against the naked bones. He began squirming again, desperately pulling at the ropes binding him to the chair, “I have no idea what you’re talking about!” he snapped, leaning as far away as his restraints would allow.

Rus slid onto the monster’s lap, ignoring his sounds of displeasure, “If ya’ want t’ survive in this lovely world o’ ours, ya’d best learn to take what it is ya’ want,” he began, playfully running his hands along the other skeleton’s femur and toward his pelvis, unable to hide his smirk at the way he shivered.

“Now, I seem to ‘ave just what it is you’re lookin’ for,” he moved his head close to the other monster, their teeth a mere hair’s breadth away from each other, “You just have to take it,” he whispered, as he closed the distance between them.

It took a moment, but Rus grinned when he felt a tongue gently slide into his mouth.

[manyfears-blog1]

Neibolt Blues

Prompt: Could I get a get a fic of reader feeling like an outcast among humanity. Like reader is just too strange and weird that most people find them off putting. (The story of my life.) And even when they make friends eventually there friends leave them because reader is a handful. They go to the creep house to be alone and sorta slump into a depressive state. Penny shows up and finds it weird why someone would actively come to "his" house. Reader is not scared, They are depressed its a whole different ballgame for the clown. Not sure what do with the human he allows them to stay around. Reader is thankful someone is there for them even its a murderous clown. Reader talks to him he listens, sorta. And thats enough for reader to feel listened to. Maybe reader leaves thanking him for listening. Then comes back and a bond starts to develop. Penny finds the reader so strange he likes them (He is quite a freak himself) and they both become friends.

Thank you so much @i-fuck-monsters for the prompt, I really do appreciate you messaging me!

So this one is a little long I’m sorry! I hope it isn’t too bland but I’ve never written something like this and enjoyed giving it a go. My inbox is always open <3

Words: 1684

You shove your hands into your side pockets and slink past pedestrians blocking your path; your breathing is sporadic as you hold back the tears welling up in your eyes, blurring your vision. You make your way through the town without drawing much attention, it almost feels like everyone around you sighs with relief at the thought of you leaving and never coming back, although you believe that to be true more than just a feeling, you stop at the edge of the footpath and stare into the road; replaying countless conversations, your brain cycles through all the people that you once called friends but have all left you like a run-down couch on the side of the road. With a huff, you kick a rock by your foot hard, not looking up to see where it travels but when you hear the ‘tink’ of it hitting a fence you look up, only then realizing you’re standing across from the infamous neibolt house. There are stories of something evil living inside that place, stories of people entering the house but never leaving, without hesitation, you walk straight for the door; the old wooden stairs wobble under your weight but without taking much notice you reach out and open the front door.

Once inside you scan the large room: It’s dusty and reeks of rotting meat, dead animals you assume, cob webs litter the peeling walls and dirt covers the deteriorating floorboards. The appearance doesn’t bother you and you make your way to an old couch stationed in the corner of the room but as you sit down a puff of dust further pollutes the air around you and you cough hoarsely, the coughing quickly turns to sobs and you lean on the arm of the couch and quietly weep. Deep down you hope the stories are true and you do go missing like the others.

The silence is disturbed by the sound of weighty footsteps stalking through the room not far around the corner near the staircase, slowly you lift your head from the arm and look around, heavy tears roll off your face and drop onto the old material below your head. It’s a tall, quite menacing looking, clown? Staring down at you with cold eyes. At least you think it is a clown but its palette is bland; dull, off-white costume with red ropes separating its arm sleeves and frills dangling over white gloved hands. You have no desire to properly analyse its wardrobe choices and gently rest your head back down although you’re still facing the weird clown but stare just past it. Something in the back of your mind is telling you you’re in danger but the mild concern is clouded again by the thick smog developing across your mind and throughout your body; your limbs are heavy, impossibly heavy, the ache in your heart has stopped and now you are numb, you’re not even really thinking anymore but just slowly embracing the nothingness the promises to relieve your invisible pain.

The clown is standing right next to you, still staring, it’s confused. Do you know it’s there? It feels nothing from you; no fear, happiness, not even an inch of curiosity? You might as well be part of the furniture as far as it’s concerned. It does detect a feeling but it wouldn’t know what to do with that: fear is sweet and enjoyable, whereas happiness is bitter. Prey without feeling fear tastes like cobwebs and mothballs but what if they are feeling nothing? The clown crouches next to you and forces its face into your distance field of view.

“Hello, Y/N!” it chirps happily. “You must be a little lost…What are you doing here?

The words rattle through your head a little making it hard to really make sense of the question. Silently you make proper eye-contact with it- the smile looks a little sinister but the fact it’s giving you attention catches you off-guard. Weird looking guy but it’s nice to have anything to talk to, really.

“Uh… Hey.” Your monotone voice creeps out of your throat. “I’m uh- I’m not lost, thanks.” Your dismissive responses show promise of ending any conversation, a tactic you know all too well used against you on the daily.

Before you drift away in thought again it talks to you again.

“Mind if I sit?” it asks, patting its hand on the cushion next to you.

“Sure.” Making sure to turn your head to avoid the dust assaulting your nose and throat again as it sits swiftly next to you, turning to face you.

“Why do you feel like this, Y/N? The emptiness is like nothing else.” The question is blunt and you have to repeat it in your mind to fully grasp the random intrusion by a creepy clown in an old house.

You give it all your attention now, your face red and puffy from crying and coughing.

“…Wait, who are you exactly?” your suspicious tone comes off harsher than expected.

“Oh! Well I’m Pennywise The Dancing Clown!” in his enthusiasm the bells on his costume jingle with his movements. Pennywise doesn’t give you time to respond- “You’re all alone, no friends, Y/N?” His tone becoming a little more derogatory. You used to be afraid of being alone, forgotten, hated, it used to keep you up at night with just the thought of everyone leaving you until it happened. One by one your ‘friends’ have left you. I just don’t think we should hang out spewing hate, twisting rumours to deter others from you You’re so annoying, Y/N, go bother someone else! This used to scare you and you could feel the familiar fear in the back of your mind but it was extinguished before it had a chance to manifest. Again, blank.

“Nope, not really, Penny- err?” The clown’s expression went blank for a brief second, like he was trying to conjure a different response, but his expression lifted slightly again. “Pennywise.”

“Well, Pennywise, I’m here because I want to disappear like the others, I’m already invisible to everyone else so I might as well..”

He seems to ponder over your response, what a weird clown, does he care about what I’m saying? Maybe he isn’t even real, maybe you’ve just-

“Really?” He interrupts- “Peculiar one you are, tell me.”

“Tell you…?” You ask, holding your head up higher to pay more attention to Pennywise.

“Tell me why you are feeling nothing, tell me what happened.”

You’re bewildered by his question, you perk up a little, straightening up your body more to face the clown sitting next to you and you scan his face suspiciously- You can’t read him like the others but you know the look of someone not caring, dismissing you like a fly on the table, but you don’t detect any hidden agenda to his questioning, in fact, he seems genuinely curious.

You take a big breath and tell him about your problems, it seemed so odd at first, you just met this thing and it has occurred to you it can’t be human but you’re not bothered by that in the slightest. It is more like talking to a very quiet, possibly disturbed, cat and you slowly begin to enjoy the time you spend with him on the dusty old couch. After a few minutes, you get up from the couch and walk around the decrepit house with Pennywise following you not too far behind, further supporting the disturbed cat theory, you talk and talk and without knowing, your spirit raises and you’re exploring the house more.

It’s late in the afternoon before you realise how long you have been here chatting and looking around, tripping over the occasional loose floorboard or rat carcass, but Pennywise caught you every time, giggling at your clumsiness.

“I should probably get going actually.” Realising the time, you look up at the clown, a little sad you should leave.

“Good.” He says, a little bluntly. You frown, have you annoyed him? He probably hates you like everybody-

“You didn’t disappear once in this house! Maybe you did something wrong...” He jokes, it takes a minute to process what he is saying but you begin to laugh, something so alien to you.

“You’re right, Penny.” You touch your face with an exaggerated expression of shock. “Maybe I should try again later?” Before he answers you leave the house and wave as you walk into the street.

 The next day you wake up feeling blue again, was yesterday a dream? Did you really meet some weird clown in the neibolt house? You begin to spiral out into your broken state again, so many scenarios buzzing through your skull you feel sick. Lying back in your bed with a thud you sigh loudly and stare out the window; the sky is grey and the sun is hidden by the thick clouds. Out of nowhere you get this feeling, it’s an odd feeling like someone is with you, in your presence but not present, it feels familiar and you start thinking about the day before again. You get a warm feeling inside of you, only just noticeable but you notice it.

Without much thought, you roll out of bed and quickly change clothes so it doesn’t look like you slept in the clothes from yesterday, you did, and race out of the house. Making your way through the twisting streets you finally spot Neibolt and you run towards the dilapidated dwelling. When you open the front door you briskly search the rooms for Pennywise, he isn’t here! You frown and turn to walk out but just as you do, you hear the familiar sound of bells tingling behind you, you turn and face the tall clown who is smiling down at you.

“Hiya, Y/N! You don’t seem so lost this time, want a balloon? He giggles at your surprised expression, you step forward, a smile tugging at the corner of your lips.

“Yeah, lets hangout?”

“Yes.” He grins, you smile in return, the warm feeling in your heart spreads ever so slightly.

[salithemage]

Timeswimmers transcript

I relistened to Timeswimmers a ton to make an illustration and I really wished I had a transcript so I made one. @arsparadoxica feel free to add this to your website if you so please

SFX: Cheeful oldtime radio music

NARRATOR: From ars Paradoxia and Wisperforge radio stories on the air but it’s the internet now, it’s Timeswimmers! Dateline: September 11th, 2003 AD, Eastern Time. We find our hero and story protagonist, Dagmar Pumpernickel, locked in the basement of the Pentagon! That dastardly dunce George W. Bush has her tied to a waterboard, for nefarious waterboarding purposes no doubt. What villainy awaits young Pumpernickel? Find out today on Timeswimmers!

George W Bush (GB): Heheheh, not so time-swimmy now are you, suspected terrorist and story protagonist Dagmar Pumpernickel?

Dagmar Pumpernickel (DP): I told you, I don’t know nothin’ about no Timeswimmers!

GB: Save you rich character tapestry as the daughter of an Italian mob boss who can’t seem to separate herself from the family business while secretly harboring a desire to be a concert violinist for some other sucker, or else my name ain’t George W Bush, president. And it’s September 11th, 2003. And we’re in the Pentagon. Is this… are we all on the same page here?

SFX: water falling

DP: (gargling) Yes.

GB: Heheh, good. Heheheheh. So you’ll start talking?

DP: Nevah!

GB: Bah! You know what they say… Waterboard you once, shame on… shame on me. Waterboard you… You’re gonna get waterboarded again!

SFX: water falling

SFX: splash, cheerful mission music

Xander Time (XT): Hey, George W Bush! Why don’t you pick on someone your own size?

GB: I tried, but that sneaky bastard keeps popping up in my bathroom and copying my every move. Hey wait a minute, who said that?

XT: Ha, Xander Time of the Timeswimmers at your service! Now unhand her!

GB: Huh? I wasn’t gonna cut her hands off for a couple hours.

XT: Christ… forget it!

SFX: punching sounds

DP: Hey, watch it youse! He’s cornering us!

GB: Heheheheh

XT: Don’t worry, look! The water in the basin is settling. It’s smooth as glass, or…

DP: Gasp! A mirrah!

GB: What the… You again! How’d you get out of my bathroom?

SFX: Walking in water

GB: Ah… I see you are trained in the ancient art of karate. But only one can be the master. [Battle grunts] Didn’t see that one coming, did you? 

XT: Let’s go!

SFX: Adventurous music, splash, futuristic sound

DP: Ey, just who do youse thinks youse are? And just what the heck is this place, some sorta varvangouled(?) timewarp or somethin’?

XT: My name is Xander Time of the Timeswimmers! And yes, this is a timewarp. Look, there’s no time to explain. Get on the back of Peanut the Timedolphin!

SFX: dolphin sound

DP: Oh, I’m allergic to nuts. And fish.

Peanut: Actually, I’m a mammal… and a legume.

DP: Then giddyap, sea beast!

SFX: dolphin sound, futuristic sounds, splash

SFX: quiet wonderous music

XT: Welcome to scenic Costa Peruva in beautiful The Year 9,999 BC! This is the headquarters of the swashbuckling time defenders, the Timeswimmers! And I am Xander Time, their fearless leader! Is this… are we all on the same page here?

DP: (sigh) Yes.

SFX: dolphin sound

DP: This place is incredible!

XT: Thanks! The design of the Pyramids of Giza are based on our headquarters, except ours are WAY cooler.

DP: They look pretty much the same.

XT: Yeah, but ours as Ethan, who likes to hang out and skateboard in the abandoned swimming pool!

SFX: skateboard trick

Ethan: Radical!

XT: Ethan just got sponsored by Redbull, and he’s only 13! Oh, he’s so cool. Ethan: Well, I’m 160 in time years, but thanks for the compliment Mr. T! 

XT: God, Ethan’s so down to earth, even though he’s so so cool. I sure hope he doesn’t die tragically in the coming time wars. Anyway, let’s meet the rest of the Timeswimmers!

SFX: Automatic door opening, ping pong, psychic sounds, computer sounds

XT: Hey, Timeswimmers! Stop playing ping pong, practicing telekinesis, studying a high-tech virtual battle map and other activities and both establishes your role in the group and culture of our organization during a quick horizontal panning shot! There’s someone I’d like you to meet!

SFX: footsteps

XT: Everyone, this is Dagmar Pumpernickel, story protagonist and sacrificial messiah of the Timeswimmers!

DP: Wait what

XT: Dagmar, this is Harriet Tubman, time badass!

Harriet Tubman (HT): Sup

XT: This is Marie Curie, time scientist!

Marie Curie (MC): I’m riddled with cancer!

XT: Annorack, the one from the future with the timeswimming hyper wheelchair!

DP: Youse from the future? And ya need a wheelchair?

Annorack (AK): Yes, I caught a nasty case of polio when President Trump outlawed all vaccines.

Ethan: Topical!

XT: Hahaha, And Ethan of course, who is super duper cool but still so chill, we hope against hope he isn’t murdered in cold blood by the Timesharks before being replaced by an identical archetype in subsequent adventures!

Ethan: Fingers crossed!

SFX: record scratch, explosion, Wilhelm scream

XT: Ethan! Nooo! I’m going to dwell on your death for the next fifteen seconds and then briefly mention that our victory is bittersweet at the very end of all this!

Timeshark Tommy (TT): Cleanup on aisle Timeshark!

SFX: Old West bad guy music

XT: Blast, the Timesharks! How’d you find the secret hideout of the Timeswimmers?

TT: It’s a giant inter-dimensional pyramid at the beginning of existence.

MC: Subtlety is not our strong suit.

AK: Well said, tumor-striken Marie Curie.

MC: Thanks, futuristic disabled boy. 

DP: Wait, who are the Timesharks?

HT: They’re the dead-eyed rapscallions making trouble in their neighborhood. The neighborhood… of time.

TT: We meet again, Xander Tim.

XT: It’s Xander Time.

TT: You sure it’s not Xander Tim?

XT: No, it’s Xander Time… and the Timeswimmers! 

TT: I coulda sworn it was Xander Tim and the Tim Xanders…

XT: That makes no sense!

TT: You make no sense!

XT: Your mom makes no sense!

TT: Yeah, because she has advanced Alzheimer's and doesn’t recognize me anymore!

XT: That’s really sad!

TT: I know!

XT: I feel kinda bad right now!

TT: Don’t beat yourself up, we all say things we don’t mean sometimes!

XT: I hope your family has lots of photos and home videos from better times!

TT: We do! When I show them to mom her eyes sometimes light up and I think for a moment she remembers!

XT: THAT’S HEARTWARMING

TT: THANK YOU

DP: Hey! Sorry to interrupt but I really need to get back to my waterboarding!

TT: And I need to get back to my time-borting. Which is to say, aborting time. Observe on your time screens, the Mona Lisa. Notice anything… different about her?

XT: Well… she still has no eyebrows, just like Marie Curie

MC: I have radiation poisoning!

HT: Wait! The Mona Lisa’s bland homely face… it’s… it’s… been replaced with a shark!

TT: A million dollar answer from twenty dollar Tubman. Look, all of history is becoming FISHtory! The Dark Ages are now the Shark Ages. Tiger Woods is now Tiger Shark. Ancient Carthage is now Ancient Cartilage. ‘Cause we don’t… have… bones.

XT: In that case, the Timeswimmers have a cartilage to pick with you!

SFX: violin

TT: Whoops, looks like we’re getting our summons! If you want your precious time back, come get it! Timesharks, roll out!

SFX: splash

XT: Alright, set your watches to pursuit! It’s time for a synchronized timeswim! HT: The only way to travel through the transdimensional time stream is with an intricately choreographed routine.

DP: Ohhh, like the Netflix series, The OA!

HT: Just like that, but with more water and less horseshit.

XT: Timeswimmers, are you ready?

HT: Ready!

DP: Ready!

MC: Sickly!

SFX: Ballet music, splash, adventure music

DP: Look, the Timesharks are up ahead!

MC: We can’t outswim sharks. How will we catch up?

SFX: dolphin sound

AK: Ha ha, looks like we’ve got backup!

XT: It’s Peanut and her pod of timedolphins: Butter, Jelly and Ryan Lochte! Climb on, everyone!

SFX: Cartoony running

HT: We’re closing in! Break out your timeguns!

DP: I don’t agree with the use of guns!

AK: Don’t worry, they’re actually transdimensional plasma weapons that transport their target into a near immediate future!

HT: A near future where they’re ripped apart by bullet holes!

SFX: gunshots

TT: Nice try, Timeswimmers! Two can play at shooting haphazardly at moving targets!

SFX: gunshots

Ryan Lochte (RT): Ahh!

HT: Oh no! Timedolphin Ryan Lochte! He’s never seen someone point a gun at him that wasn’t a lie he made up. I’m losing control!

MC: The Timesharks are escaping through that time rift. Try to hold on just a little bit longer.

XT: Hold on to your time speedos everyone, we’re going through the rift!

Timeswimmers: Woah!

SFX: splash

AK: We made it.

HT: Not all of us…

RT: Ugh…

DP: Oh no… Ryan Lochte

XT: It’s no use, Dagmar. If there’s anything Ryan Lochte would’ve wanted, it’s a slow, painful death. Right, let’s go!

RT: No… please… that’s no true…

DP: So where are we?

MC: The real question is, why didn’t I take more safety measures during my experiments?

[beat]

XT: And also when are we?

AK: Guys… check your time watches.

HT: Zero o’ clock… that means…

XT: That means… we’re in the holiest place in all of time.

DP: What’s that?

XT: Greenwich, England!

SFX: British music, clocktower gong

TT: Well done, Timeswimmers. Welcome to Greenwich. You’re in for a… mean time.

HT: Dang, now that was a solid one-liner. 

TT: Timesharks, attack!

SFX: Tense music

XT: Dagmar, take cover!

DP: But I’m the protagonist!

XT: Timeswimmers, unleash your time abilities!

DP: Watch out Harriet Tubman, they’re surrounding ya!

HT: Not for long… (heavy breathing)

TT: What’s happening to the ground?! HT: (battle cry)

SFX: train whistle

HT: You just got hit by… and underground railroad.

DP: Woah! Every shark within a fifteen foot radius is dropping dead!

MC: Everyone who gets close to me dies. Just ask my family!

AK: And now for my special ability.

SFX: sword unsheathing

DP: Cool! Is that a sweet future sword?

AK: No.

DP: Oh, so it’s magic or somethin’?

AK: Just a regular sword.

DP: He can travel through time, got a hyper wheelchair, can’t spring for a cool sword?

SFX: sword fight, laser beams

TT: Timesharks, retreat!

XT: Good job, team! We’ve got them on the time ropes!

SFX: whip

TT: Oh damn, there’s actual ropes!

SFX: violin

HT: Those aren’t time ropes…. those are time STRINGS!

DP: And somebody’s pulling ‘em!

Mysterious Woman Who Sounds Suspiciously Like Dagmar With An Echo Filter (MW): Not pulling… playing.

XT: My time scanner’s showing a mysterious woman!

MC: My jealousy scanners indicate all her organs are working.

MW: Greetings, Timeswimmers. Welcome to Greenwich. You fans of music?

HT: The only music I’m a fan of is the sweet music of freedom. Which to me is someone saying, “Welcome to Canada Eh?”

MW: To me, nothin' is more freeing than the music of the violin. And no violin is as freeing as mine.

XT: Wait… Those giant strings are just part of a giant machine!

DP: She’s turned all of Greenwich into an enormous violin!

MW: Behold, my Stradlevarius! By manipulatin’ its strings, I can straddle various realities, picking and choosing my favorite parts and making them my own. Think of it as a giant time gun, only the futures don’t have to be bullet related. My most recent sharking of history? That was just the beginning.

MC: This woman’s plans are just like our constant self-referencial jokes: They must be stopped!

MW: I can’t be stopped! I’ve already won.

XT: Not if the Timeswimmers have anything to say about it!

MW: Oh, right. I really should do something about that. How about…

Timeswimmers: [Muffled panicing]

DP: The Timeswimmers’ mouths! They’ve disappeared!

MW: Indeed. I spliced into a reality where nobody has mouths. Plus side? Everyone listens more. Down side? No 69ing.

DP: But why am I fine?

MW: Don’t you see Dagmar? A random protagonist chosen for seemingly no reason?

DP: I mean… I was getting waterboarded by George W Bush.

MW: Who does nothing but hamper the plot?

DP: Hey now, I didn’t make a big deal of it but I ruthlessly murdered numerous Timesharks!

MW: Thrust into a situation she has no reason to be in?

DP: What’s your point, lady?

MW: Yes, what IS my point? Why am I saying this? Interesting questions. Just like why were you being waterboarded in the first place? Or why was it mentioned that you were an aspiring violinist at the beginning of the journey, then never brought up again?

DP: Because the writers are hacks?

MW: Oh, most assuredly. But why else?

SFX: music stops

DP: Wait! Am I… you?

SFX: dramatic music sting

DP: And you’re me?

MW: I am he as you are he and you are me and we are all together, copyright Michael Jackson. We’ve done this countless times before! Don’t you remember? Discovering that your arch nemesis is a transdimensional version of yourself? Sound familiar?

DP: Oh yeah, just like Bioshock Infinite!

MW: No. No! This is nothing like Bioshock Infinite.

DP: Mm, sounds a lot like Bioshock Infinite.

MW: It’s not Bioshock Infinite!

DP: I don’t know, we’re in a city floating through spacetime arguing about the fate of the multivoise…

MW: Stop yapping about Bioshock Infinite! And START yapping your final goodbyes.

DP: What?!

MW: Simple! If I am going to be queen of the multivoise, that means I must destroy every iteration of myself in every dimension. So listen closely to my Stradlevarius as I play you your funeral doige!

SFX: sad violin music, slow laser

DP: Aw cripes, this sad music is so emotionally crippling I can’t manage to move! And that transdimensional beam is heading right for me at a steady yet predictable pace!

MW: Say goodbye, other me! Muahahaha!

RT: Noooo

SFX: zapping sound

DP: Ryan Lochte! Ya jumped in front of that death ray! But how are ya still alive?

RT: My death was not quite drawn out enough. And plus, I realized that if someone was going to be completely wiped out of existence, I would want it to be me. Ryan Lochte.

DP: That’s… That’s beautiful.

RT: Dagmar, quickly! Only you can save you… from yourself.

DP: That’s surprisingly deep, Ryan Lochte.

RT: They can’t all be losers. Quickly, the death ray destroyed most of my body. But if there’s one thing I’m good at… It’s lying to the Brazilian police. Well, actually I’m pretty bad at that. They figured out my bullshit… almost immediately. God, I am really hungry. You ever had a breakfast chalupa? They’re so good. What were we talking about? Oh yeah, if there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s dying slowly. Quick! grab my spine, Dagmar!

DP: Ugh, what?

RT: It still has some ligaments on it! Use it as a bow! Be the violinist you mentioned wanting to be only once and pretty off-handedly at the beginning of your journey!

DP: Alright… I’ll do it for you, Ryan Lochte.

RT: No, don’t do that. Do it… for yourself.

SFX: ripping, squealching

RT: Ahh! Jesus! Ahh fuck! Jesus! This is agony!

DP: I’m sorry, you told me to!

RT: No… no, you’re right. It’s cool.

DP: Alright, me. Prepare to meet your doom.

MW: No, you can’t!

DP: Sorry, lady. Better Lochte next time.

RT: Nice

SFX: bad violin playing

MW: This is awful…

RT: Yeah, this sucks

DP: Yeah! Just because I’m an aspiring violinist doesn’t mean I’m any good!

MW: No, it can’t be!

DP: It can! All your worlds are crashing down on you! And Ryan Lochte! MW: Nooooo

RT: I am okay with thiiiiiis

XT: Dagmar! You’ve done it! Although this is a little bittersweet with Ethan dying… 

SFX: sad piano music, record scratch

XT: Enough of that. This is a celebration! Everything’s returned to normal!

MC: Even my radiation poisoning!

SFX: Instrumental of Cyndi Lauper’s 1984 hit “Time After Time” begins to play, continues through end of audio

DP: It was my pleasure, Timeswimmers! Now if you don’t mind, I have a waterboarding to get back to!

Timeswimmers: (laugh)

Timeswimmers: (singing) If you’re trapped in the Pentagon with George Bush, time after time. If you role as protagonist needs a push, time after time. If your hamfisted dream is the violin, time after time. If you meet the Timesharks and cut off their fins, time after time. Time after time. Time after time...

[six-foot-five]

CHOICES FAN INTERVIEW

I was tagged by @blazerina

Thanks you for the tag! ❤ Favorite book and why: Endless Summer. I’m a sucker for fantasy/adventure/mystery, and this book seems to cover all things I expect from a narrative. Elaborate backstory of a character, mysteries and clues, great comedies and friendships… not to mention the sweet spices of romance. Yes, I also love it when the squad is in danger that could kill them any second

Least favorite book and why: The Sophomore. I mean, I couldn’t figure out the actual plot??? I just feel like the writers are not putting too much effort anymore on expanding the story. :’) I mean, of course I believe the are, and The Freshman series is AMAZING, but The Sophomore gets less and less interesting. Even the chemistry between the characters feels like getting bland…

Your MC’s LI for each story you’re playing:

TF/TS: James Ashton.

RoE: Leo.

Hero: Kenji Katsaros.

ES: Sean Gayle.

TRR: Drake Walker. (Ugh but I’d hate to break Liam’s heart… 😞)

LH: It’s hard to choose between Mark and Ben, but I’m more inclined to Ben Park!

HSS: Michael Harrison.

TCatF: I’ve only finished book 1 and actually wanted to restart it, so I guess we’ll see after finishing the complete trilogy!

Favorite MC ship: Sean x MC!!! But let’s be real, I also love Drake x MC a lot. And James x MC (in TF, not in TS because, well…)

Least favorite MC ship: From my MC’s LI would be Leo x MC, I guess. I mean, Leo is undoubtedly awesome, but there is something about RoE MC (compared to the other MCs) that makes me feel her relationship with Leo isn’t exactly my favorite. Favorite Non-MC ship: Oh my god, so many!!! The best ones are Grace x Aleister and Craig x Zahra ❤  I love my nerds and geeks. Oh and also Becca x Sebastian and Penelope x Poodle Least favorite Non-MC ship: Nerdy!Twin x that blonde girl… I’m sorry, what’s her name again? Audrey? IMO, their relationship is kinda forced. I just can’t find the chemistry between those two, and I feel Audrey is being really clingy to her.

Favorite character and why: I. CAN’T. CHOOSE! But boy, I aspire to be as sassy as the queen Michelle Nguyen, as positive as Brooke Williams, and as determined as Elena Sanchez. I love tough women characters! (despite looking like a complete cinnamon roll in Brooke’s case and having rough surface in Meech’s case). Oh, and!!! I love my hilarious cheerful guy squad who always light up the narrative: Zack, Tyler, Diego, Craig, Raj, and Cole. Least favorite character and why: Audrey from RoE. I’m sorry to all Audrey fans, but I just can’t find connection to this character. And also Nana, because I think her task for Violet is just plain mean. Character you like that most people don’t: Sebastian Delacroix, I guess? I know he’s a cunning pompous ass (no, I’m not referring Michelle’s nickname for Jake XD), but after learning his history from James, I understand why he’s being like that. Also, in The Sophomore, I feel like he deserves to be treated better by the squad instead of them going straight to making mean accusations. Character you don’t like that most people do: Kaitlyn Liao. Listen, I don’t hate her. It’s just sometimes she’s acting sorta immature and clingy to MC (just like Audrey to Nerdy!Twin), and I don’t really favor those kinds of characters. Still, Kaitlyn is a lively best friend, though! Which character are you most like in real life? A combination of Brooke, Sean, and TF MC, I think. Why? This could be a long essay. 😂 If you could live in any choices story, which one would it be and why? Endless Summer. What? I’m risking myself getting killed? Yes, I’m that person who seeks for adventure and goes, “I don’t care about the danger as long as I’m going through it with my gang.” 😎 How long have you been playing? Since 2016, around the first time Choices itself was launched.

Tagging @secretnerdharmony @holly-park @kamybelen-blog @ohmysnarkydrake @kittenmusicals @mrwalkerchoices @teamdrake27 @ladyashtonofcordonia @protect-drake @choicessa

Tag 5 people and see what they say!

I know I’m against the law by tagging more than 5 but I just want to see your answers, guys. 😂

[nokikissa]

Ohhhhhh boy. I'm answering this like this to avoid it showing up in the search results and such as one of the answers is not gonna make me friends in this fandom....

Rhys and Sasha and Rhys and Fiona both sorta fall in the same category for me: I don't ship them, but I don't dislike them either and like sometimes some art of those pops up in my dash that makes me go like "oh okay sure that's kinda cute". And I feel that especially rhy/sha doesn't deserve all the hate I've seen it sometimes get for being canon by people who dislike it and such.

Rha/ck on the other hand....

Okay first of all if you ship it, cool! Good for you! You do you! I am envious of how much content you guys have. But yeah, I reaaaaaally don't like it and wish to sorta never see it, almost all my blacklist tags are various variations on that ship and so on. Honestly, completely at first I didn't... mind it I suppose? Like I didn't ship it or get it but it didn't bother me. And at one point I even tried giving that ship a chance, like I had read pretty much all the other fics and such about other stuff and was bored and had too much free time and the stuff that was left was rh/ack, and I read some some fics. I gave it a chance. But pretty much the more I saw of it the more I disliked it and eventually went kinda "okay you know what I kinda hate that".

The issue I have with it is mostly that it does not match with my interpretations of the characters almost at all. Okay Rhys, Rhys' personality can depend a bit on how you played him and even though most of the time it didn't match my idea of him I'm more lenient on him. But Jack in those just did not match at all how I think of him, part of the issue is basically this, though there is some other things too I'm not gonna try to put to words. But yeah, it does not match how I think of them and after giving it more thought I came to the conclusion that for it to be in character with the character interpretations I have it'd have to be some fucked up manipulative consent issues filled thing which yeah actually I am not interested in reading so yeahhhhh. So it's pretty frustrating when majority of the fandom is about a thing that to me seems out of character.

Honestly I probably wouldn't have as many issues with it if it wasn't like almost the only thing the fandom seems to give a shit about. Like yeah, Jack being out of character in my opinion is not exclusive to rh/ack, like I kinda like Jack and Nisha but there's some content of that where I also have the issue of Jack feeling out of character for me. But part of my dislike for rh/ack kinda stems from the annoyance and bitterness of how that's the only thing majority of the fandom cares about. I've seen plenty of content creators who made content for other ships and such fuck off from the fandom which yeah, I can understand that, the environment does kinda easily make you feel underappreciated and like that the fandom has nothing for you. Sometimes I feel like I myself should also try to find something new to move on to but on the other hand I am quite stubborn and find stuff I like enough to get in the fandom super rarely, so I'm stuck here in sitting in this ship of mine that's slowly sinking as most content creators have left and I'm surrounded by stuff I very much dislike, trying my best to do my part on keeping the ship alive by going all "Well I guess I gotta draw it myself since other's aren't doing it".

So yeah. I really don't like it. I have so many blacklist tags of it and whenever I consider following a blog that posts blands I gotta like look at their tags and search through their blog to see if they post that ship, and if they do do they tag it and how often and then consider do they post it rarely enough that I'd be willing to deal with it. If you like it good for you, I'll be here bitterly in my own little corner I've dug for myself where I try to avoid it as much as I can.

Ahhahahaaaa sorry some general saltiness about the fandom bled into this answer I'm sorry. And let's see how many followers I lose over this...