#swyntae

[gem-morey]

Gem almost laughed in Tae's face.

No one gets it. No one knows what it's like to be a fuck up.

Yeah, no, Gem didn't get that at all. He had no idea what it felt like to fuck up. Get punished for oh...let's say five years. Then, try to build your life back up only to have everyone judge you before they even talk to you. To be afraid of you. To not give you a chance before you could even begin.

Nah. He didn't understand Tae, who, from Gem's limited perspective, had a cushy fuckin' life. Sure, maybe his dad had died but everyone's parents died eventually.

"You didn't," Gem said bluntly to Tae's apology, because it was true. Gem didn't really give a shit about Tae's problems. They weren't Gem's problems and he wasn't the kind of person to take on other people's baggage like that. He had enough of his own.

"You're not the only person in the world whose ever fucked up. So, first things first: stop feeling sorry for yourself. And, for the record, you should've asked before wasting your time on something that couldn't be implemented. I could've given you a project that would've impressed your brother. I am not out to get you or whatever. I'm doing my job. If you want to learn or gain more responsibility just bloody ask. It isn't a bad idea, but I'm not gonna say yes to it just to make you feel better--when it's gonna make everyone else's lives more complicated. This is a team."

@moon-yeongtae

How to Sibling | Gem and Tae

[gem-morey]

All Hands on Deck 🔥 [Gae]

@moon-yeongtae​

Today, Gem was hazing the new kid.

Kidding. Probably.

They were, however, going out on one of Tae’s first proper jobs. It was just the two of them, since the project was not that big. A deck for Mrs. Ursa, a sweet old lady who lived alone because her two daughters had abandoned her for London, as she was fond of saying. She wanted a back deck, though why she’d waited until September to put the order in, Gem hadn’t the faintest clue. Not his problem.

His problem was Tae Moon. This one on one would be an easier way for Gem to assess Tae’s skills and abilities, but Gem didn’t really want to. It was kind of a pain in the ass. 

“You have any questions before we get inside?” Gem asked, standing on the front porch with their tool kit under one of his arms, two hand saws hanging loosely from his grip. “Mrs. Ursa is nice but she doesn’t like people asking stupid questions.”

That wasn’t really true. Gem was the one who didn’t like stupid questions but...what Tae didn’t know worked in Gem’s favor.

[outfit]

[simba-bonfamille-lyons]

Tae had gotten the better deal. Simba was sure to be pouting about this outcome to Ber in beautiful rhyming prose later. Which--right. His husband. He hadn't received a panicked phone call from him, o Simba wasn't too worried. And if he and Tae were anything to go by, these were silly, harmless effects. They'd probably wear off. Simba had lived in Swynlake too long to be phased by a bit of rhyming and talking to dogs.

"Uh? Oh. We should go home and check on Papa," Simba told Turtle, wondering how much the dog really understood. At the very least, he knew he understood home and Papa.

"We can go on an adventure after that, maybe with Papa." Rhyming the same word? Sure.

"See you around, Tae. Don't get in any trouble, okay?"

@moon-yeongtae

Dog's Day Out /./ [Simtae]

[gem-morey]

The thing was: if Gem was normal, this would be about the time he kicked Tae under the table or reached over and grabbed him by the shoulder, giving it a squeeze, so that he would shut the fuck up. He couldn't do that. So, instead, a long time ago, Gem had learned how to screw his face in to the cruelest, ugliest looks he could manage. Like a king cobra flaring its hood, a warning before the strike.

He fixed Tae with one of these stares for a beat, two beats, long enough that the boy squirmed.

Then, he smiled. A cruel, twisted kind of smile. A dangerous light burning in his eyes.

"Please," Gem said, gesturing towards the table as a whole with a gloved hand. "Enlighten me on your business plan. I thought I brought you here to learn, but apparently we have a master designer on our hands. A hidden jewel. So sorry, Tiana. I didn't mean to hide such talents from you. Go on, Tae. Conduct your business. I'll just sit here and look pretty."

He leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest and nodding at Tiana to answer the question. This had nothing to do with his pride. Really, he just wanted to watch Tae fuck this up because it would be funny.

If he thought he knew how all this worked--by all means.

@truitt-story, @moon-yeongtae

Ready For My Closeup | Tiaegem

[gem-morey]

Gem was distracted.

He had been for the last month. Every time someone entered the shoppe, he'd tense. He wasn't sleeping. He'd been plagued by nightmares. Where he was falling into that dark grave. Where he was burning everything around him. People he loved, people he hated. Where the police knocked and took him away. Where the cell he was in got smaller and smaller until it crushed him.

It made him jittery and on edge, two things Gem hated to be, because it was dangerous. It made him feel like a bomb.

So, no, Gem didn't notice Tae fucking up. He was just trying to get through the motions, so that he could get home and crawl under the covers to greet another nightmare.

"Hm? Oh, sure," Gem said with a shrug.

Maybe it'd take his mind off things. And, hey, at least Tae was asking, instead of just going off to try and do something, which he'd done several times over the last few months, despite Gem's nagging not to.

@moon-yeongtae

How to Sibling | Gem and Tae

@gem-morey

Tae was having trouble focusing today. He was stumbling on every task, overthinking it to the point of failure, and he knew Gem could see it. He was surprised, actually, that Gem hadn't said anything yet, considering this was probably the fourth nail that he'd bent into a completely useless shape and was busy prying it out of the board.

And the thing was, Gem wasn't exactly the easiest guy to get along with. Tae wasn't even sure if he liked him exactly, but Gem had a lot of brothers and maybe he knew a thing or two about how to impress them?

That sounded so stupid even just thinking it in his head, but Tae knew he wasn't going to be able to move on from this. It was literally all he could think about. He sighed deeply and turned to Gem.

"Hey so, I had this idea for the market remodel," he said, turning to Gem. "Can I show it to you and you can tell me what you think? It's about break time anyway, right?"

[gem-morey]

@moon-yeongtae

Clean up post-random-magical-event was basically a Morey Construction specialty. They’d cleaned up after freak July snow storms, random hurricanes caused by a storm sorcerer, and demon attacks. This was the second demon attack in just over a year--which was wild. To be fair: both had completely separate sources. Or, well, Gem was pretty sure that Amity Blight hadn’t done this. And if she had: she was fucking stupid and he hated her even more than he already did for her just getting a slap on the wrist the first time. 

But that was all hearsay. 

Who knew who had done it. Or why. According to the statement released about a ritual in the woods it could be anything from an evil sorcerer trying to open the Gates (again) to stupid fucking teenagers. So--

Best not to dwell.

Instead, Gem was here to haul toxic and dangerous shit like insulation debris and boards from roofs, off the streets of Swynlake. There was a whole team working, with Gem overseeing. But Gem’s version of being foreman was jumping into the fray. He didn’t like to sit around to watch.

He whistled at Tae as the kid jogged by. “Oi, come help me with this,” Gem said when Tae stopped. He nodded down to the large beam that Gem had a boot on. “Careful, there are a shit ton of nails.” 

[outfit is just his morey construction overalls]

Everyone Do Your Share 🔥[Gae]

[gem-morey]

Gem heard him the first time and his brows twitched in consternation. He wanted to say: And? Like--why was that his problem? Why did Tae feel the need to announce it?

Part of him just wanted to tell Tae to go back to work. Gem didn't have time to handle him with kid gloves. To tell him everything was alright and he was sorry that he was being mean. Because he wasn't sorry. And, in his opinion, he wasn't being mean. He was being practical and professional.

But--it was clear that this pattern was going to just continue. Tae was going to keep pushing, probably until he pissed Gem off enough that Gem talked to his parents about firing him for insubordination. And Gem didn't want to fire anyone, because that shit sucked. He didn't want to give his family a bad name. People liked the Moons. It'd just be a whole mess. Ergo: saying nothing. Maybe Tae could work his shit out by whinging a bit first.

Gem just shifted his weight a little, cocked his hip and crossed his arms. When Tae met his gaze, Gem just raised his eyebrows in invitation.

"So...what? You just want my approval?" Gem asked bluntly, though, he was also a little confused.

Maybe Tae was just projecting because his actual older brother wasn't giving it to him. And Gem was the next best thing as his...boss. Sure. It was still a weird feeling. No one asked Gem for his approval on things. He was the younger brother. Even Devyn called him his big-little brother, because he'd come last.

@moon-yeongtae

How to Sibling | Gem and Tae

[gem-morey]

Gem was waiting for Tae to argue, because that was all that it had felt like Tae had done since he'd started working under Gem. He was a good worker, but he was also a bit of a brat, who didn't like to be told what to do. In which case, he was in the wrong career--because there was always gonna be someone over you, telling you what to do. Even Gem had his parents, who oversaw all the construction. And, even if you owned the bloody place, you were beholden to whatever the client wanted.

Even if you thought the client was stupid.

So, being recalcitrant wasn't really a good habit to have.

And it annoyed Gem, because where did Tae get off on thinking he had a right to talk back in the first place? He was here to learn. Finnley didn't talk back. (Good ol' Finnley.)

For once, though, Tae actually seemed to absorb what Gem had said. Surprisingly, Gem was not the type to shove a "told you so" in someone's face, though it did mollify him a bit to be told he was right.

"Depends on what the project is," Gem said with a little shrug. "If it is something we've done before then sure, I don't see why not."

@moon-yeongtae

How to Sibling | Gem and Tae

[gem-morey]

"Yeah," Gem said with a little nod, assessing the rod that was sticking out of the rubble pile.

It was big, probably one of the stabilizers for the concrete of the building nearby that had been smashed through. Which meant it was big, longer than they probably thought, and maybe even attached to concrete. It was going to take both of them. Gem hated this fact, but that didn't make it less true. (Annoying thing about facts.)

So, he took a few steps closer and put his hands on it, about a foot from the top.

"Put your hands closer to the top, stand on the other side," Gem told Tae. This had nothing to do with the physics of pulling out the rod. And way more to do with who Gem was. This way, Tae was far enough away that they wouldn't be touching. And if one of them slipped, they wouldn't knock into each other.

"On my count." Gem adjusted his grip slightly. "One, two, three--pull!"

Gem leaned back, throwing his weight into it. The rod wiggled and pile of shit groaned. Gem grit his teeth and wiggled the rod. After a moment, something broke loose.

The intertia for their pulling caused Gem to stumble back several steps, nearly falling over the rubble. Only reason he didn't was he managed to catch himself on a sturdy piece of concrete.

The rod was long, and sure enough, there was a piece of concrete on the bottom. The trash pile groaned threateningly, not taking kindly to the wound.

"Nice. Well, we can chuck that. Let's see if that loosened anything up." Gem headed back over to where they'd been to start testing some pieces.

@moon-yeongtae

Everyone Do Your Share 🔥[Gae]

[gem-morey]

"If it is what the customer wants, then we find a way to do it. Otherwise, it isn't our job to design new things," Gem said, for probably the hundredth time. They weren't designers, they were builders. Sebastian did most of the plans, but even then, they had designers who worked for them that handled it for the most part.

Gem, for sure, wasn't a designer. He knew how to build things. He could see how they were going to fit into a space, but not in an aesthetic manner. He didn't care about that. It wasn't his concern.

"My job is to make sure we stay on track with time, that everything is built properly and up to code, and that we stay on budget. Your job is to build things, as you are told. I know this is an important build for you, but there is a hierarchy to these things. If Mr. Moon wants it done differently, we will figure that out then. If he wants another aisle, he can tell me that. Sounds like he just sent you to me because he didn't want to tell you no and knew that I would."

Typical brother thing to do.

@moon-yeongtae

How to Sibling | Gem and Tae

[gem-morey]

"Nah," Gem determined.

After all, if it wasn't budging--probably wasn't worth their efforts. They had to move all of this stuff anyway. They just needed to find a better starting point so that they could whittle away at it. Which was annoying, because Gem wanted this done quickly, but there was nothing for it. The whole junk pile was a jigsaw puzzle, probably pushed there earlier in the day by the front loader that'd come through to help clear the roads.

"Go around that side, I'll take this side. See if you can find a better place to start."

Without waiting for Tae to answer, Gem hopped down off the log he'd been standing on and started around his side of the pile. It wasn't tall, necessarily, he could still see Tae on the other side, but it was wide. And there was a lot of shit. Gem leaned over, wiggled a few pieces, then moved on until they came to the end.

"Any luck? I think I found a rod or two we could take out and see if that shakes anything loose..." The other idea was to go on top, but that was way too risky. Gem'd rather come back to this pile later with more people and work through it that way.

Everyone Do Your Share 🔥[Gae]

[simba-bonfamille-lyons]

Simba smiled at Simone when she came over and licked his fingers. He reached down to rub her silky ears. Still jealous of Tae for being able to hear them. There had been one time when Jiji had been running for board, that Simba had been able to hear what Bowie had to say about things, but he'd still been a puppy then. Now, he was a distinguished gentleman. He probably had different thoughts. More mature ones.

Like--wondering if Simba was okay.

That made sense. Bowie was a trained service dog. It was his job to pick up on the mood of the people around him and act accordingly. With his big, sweet brown eyes, it wasn't hard to see the worry there. Though, a little more concerning coming from Simone. Who was a bit more selfish. Who never could've been a service dog. It touched his heart and he knelt down to the dog's level, rubbing a hand over Simone's head and then scratching Turtle's ear.

"I'm going to be just fine," Simba told them reassuringly. "Swynlake is just being funny. It is making me rhyme! And Tae can speak...doggy!"

@moon-yeongtae

Dog's Day Out /./ [Simtae]

[gem-morey]

Gem took a deep breath and only just managed to not pinch the bridge of his nose. He was not a fan of Tae's innovations. Maybe, if he was a different person, he would be. But, he wasn't. He was grumpy and sour and didn't really care about some kid's opinion.

The only reason he didn't say this outright was because this was the Moon Market. (Though, really, kind of like a hospital, he didn't think Tae should be on the project at all. Too personal. Yes, Gem took it that seriously.) So, Gem didn't snark. He listened, though he wanted to snark soo bad. (Like--who the hell was hyung? But, Gem wasn't stupid, he could use context clues.)

Did he sense a little bitterness towards hyung there at the end? Cute.

"I think it throws off our plans and requires more materials," Gem said when Tae finally looked up at him. "Which is why your brother probably wouldn't go for it. We're trying to cut corners on the pricing. Ironically, cabinets would be more doable."

@moon-yeongtae

Gem just agreeing? That was...weird. Not really the agreeing, but the way he did it like he was thinking about 15 other things and didn't care that Tae was bothering him. Gem always cared when people bothered him. This weirdness worked in his favor, though, so he decided not to overthink it. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his notebook.

"So I was doing some math, which is something I never thought I would say," he said, looking up at Gem with a grin before turning back to the page. "Anyway, I was doing some math and I realized that we could actually fit another aisle into the store and still have aisles that were wide enough as long as we positioned them perfectly. There are also some plans for cabinets on here but hyung doesn't want those because we don't need storage space for some ridiculous reason or something."

Tae realized his voice was a little bitter and he cleared his throat. "But yeah, anyway, I know it kind of throws off the plans we had and we would need some more materials, but I think it's a good idea. What do you think?"

@gem-morey

[gem-morey]

Yeah, Gem didn't need to be told to be careful with the sheet metal. He gave Tae a look that communicated this before leaning in to inspect the rest of the pile. The sheet was the least of their problems. What was weighing it all down was a few cinderblocks and roof tiles, not to mention other beams. It was a massive Gordian knot of shit.

He mostly ignored Tae explaining to him what he already knew, his gaze tracing the different pieces of junk. Eventually, he wandered back over to where Tae was and got his hands on the other side of the sheet metal.

"Alright, on three--pull. If it doesn't move, don't keep yanking. We'll just come at it from a different angle. The last thing we need is someone falling on their ass."

Gem gestured with his head towards the nail-ridden log just behind them. "1, 2, 3--"

He crouched slightly to throw his weight into the pull and winced at the sound of scraping, groaning metal.

Everyone Do Your Share 🔥[Gae]

[simba-bonfamille-lyons]

@moon-yeongtae

The day was, as far as Simba was concerned, perfectly normal! He'd not talked to anyone yet this morning, except to tell Ber he loved him when he'd rolled over this morning before getting up to eat breakfast and pray Fajr. After that, he'd gone for a run and showered.

When he'd gotten done with all that, he'd laid back down in bed for a bit, but it was a lazy Saturday, which meant Ber would barely be up before noon--and Simba was too restless for that. So, he'd gotten dressed and headed out with the dogs to take them on a walk.

They meandered through town, until Bowie started tugging Simba towards someone. He raised his hand in greeting when he saw Tae.

"Hey, Tae! Lovely day!" he greeted cheerfully.

"You have snack?" Simone barked eagerly, sniffling towards the boy's pockets.

"Hey, I want treats!" Turtle perked up, also starting to tug Dad forward towards the new friend.

"Dad doesn't like it when we pull," Bowie said, but he had also caught the smell of something on the boy and was curiously creeping closer, though not as quickly as his brother and sister.

[outfit]

Dog's Day Out /./ [Simtae]

[simba-bonfamille-lyons]

Tae could talk to his dogs.

Tae could talk to his dogs!

...And all Simba got was some stupid ability to become the world's worst rapper.

Why was life like this? He wanted to talk to his dogs! He wanted to know what they were thinking. Wanted to know if they were being treated well. If they loved him and Ber. If there was anything that he could be doing differently for them. All of these questions piled up inside of him, hit by the road block of his own spell.

"Turtle has been blessed by a spell, once upon a time he wasn't very well. We got him when he was already old, how many years he had left we weren't sure when he was sold. Then we all dreamed of pirates one day, and when we woke up Turtle was no longer dying and grey!"

Dog's Day Out /./ [Simtae]