#the same thing happened with cleo last week

[ivys-garden]

Life Series Session Recap and Alliance Analysis

Pearl opens her episode clarifying she and Impulse did nothing wrong. Finally I don't have to write “get over double life, tumblr” every week.

Yes, another Saturday means another instalment of the Life Series. This session was far more chill and slow paced than last weeks, ironic considering that this week's Wild Card was a perpetual speed increase! Going from a complete time freeze to full hyperspeed. Naturally, this led to about a 7.5 on the madness scale, so let's see what those teams were up to.

The Final Girls - (Scott, Cleo, Pearl, Impulse & Bigb (not anymore ;3 ))

On the topic of Pearl and Impulse, Cleo decides that they will fully enable all of they're future actions. Yes, she might sigh when they talk about all the evil stuff they're going to do, but she's fully on board.

Right about now Scott is probably regretting being team mum for three chaos gremlins as he's already had to instruct them not to give Gem any more reasons to kill them & had to break up the fight that was issued once they all went Matrix mode.

Speaking of Gem & Joel, a new development in the great drama sees Impulse explain himself and apologise to Gem. She doesn't buy it but it's the thought that counts. During this apology Pearl, the attack dog, is ordered by Gem and Impulse to slaughter grian. So while Cleo and Scott go off to make friends, Impulse and Pearl pop over to Rens for some very serious murder discussion, with an eventual “let's murder Grian” party forming consisting of Pearl, Impulse, Ren, Martyn, Bigb, Scar & Jimmy. If even a fraction of these people stick to this next session Grian is pretty firmly doomed.

In other news Scott manages to make allies with the Bamboozelers through several means, including staring at Jimmy's ass. Cleo & Impulse have a little caving adventure and Impy manages to make a working Creeper farm that they may or may not be sharing with Renwood. This leaves Pearl once again building the tower, which is good since she has arguably to much experience in that

While building the tower we get more Drama! Grian and Mumbo managed to get a quick kill on Scott early on the session by digging a big pit under the tower and spleefing him in. Mumbo and Skizz later come back to this trap only to be discovered by Pearl. The Suits try to get her to lure Scott over, but Pearl is far to loyal for that…. But not loyal enough to kick them out, reasoning that it would be really funny if it happened twice. On top of this she negotiated the ability to kill grian without them stepping in, very useful given her current plans & the second spleefing doesn't work anyways, so no harm no foul.

No one would actually agree to luring their team to their Death intentionally… right Bigb?

I'd say I'm surprised, but I'm not. He's worked again every team he's been in except Nosey Neighbours. I guess the “B” must stand for “Betrayal”

Bigb pulls the same thing Pearl did only not under the pretence of a joke, when Grian is around to actually make sure his team gets the kill, actually agreeing to lure Scott and doing it INFRONT OF CLEO. This being the second time this has helped to them, Cleo immediately goes off to find Scott to warn him about the traitor…Scott still falls into the trap anyway but that was a skill issue on his part. Bigb actually tries later to gaslight Scott into thinking that he didn't mean to betray the team, which almost worked until he started saying Cleo was the traitor, which obviously Scott would never buy. Oh he also did this in earshot of Cleo so she set her attack dog (Pearl) on him.

Bigb also later betrays the “Let's Kill Grian Gang” and warns Grian about the plan to murderficate him. I guess someone hasn't gotten over Double Life after all.

The Fast And The Furious - (Joel & Gem)

Actually, the fast and the paranoid might be more accurate as while Joel is just off having a grand old time prattling speed bridging, Gem is terrified that everyone is out to get her and doesn't seem to understand that putting your base on the main path means more people will come visit.

Aside from sending everyone they can to kill Grian and disregarding Impulses genuine apology, the team due doesn't really do much themselves

Gem was officially the last person to lose a life though, with no less than 4 people, including 2 greens, having to help kill her.

Also Joel added racing stripes to the car and… it actually made it a lot less hideous, well done Joel.

The Bamboozelers - (Jimmy, Scar & Lizzie)

Jimmy has regained the title as most confident member of this team…scarily confident in fact, just this session he was able to steal a potential kill from Skizz & kill his teammates, get another good kill on Joel using Lizzie as bait, managing to turn his relationship with Joel around to become allies and reaffirming his alliance with Renwood. Honesty 100 IQ plays from Tim all around.

He did die once this session, but that wasn't his fault and was also incredibly funny to watch Martyn bimbo his way through traps made for Bigb and accidentally kill Timmy. Great job everyone.

Speaking of failed traps… oh Scar… he started of strong, absolutely annihilating Etho in slow motion and living up to the villain he shares a name with by tossing him off a cliff, but after that every single attempt to trap someone fails miserably and he's forced into a cheap kill on Grian that results in him calling for vengeance… wouldn't be to worried about that tho considering Skizz and Mumbo's track record.

The Spanners - (Mumbo, Skizz & Grian)

How are these idiots not dead yet.

They get one (1) successful kill this session, spleefin’ Scott. A trap Mumbo tries his luck with several times after this despite knowing the Final Girls already knew about it.

Skizz gets no kills despite Grians efforts. An attempt to build a super TNT minecart launcher is made… on Scars mountain… and Grian spends several.minutes explaining to his worst enemies how the trap works… and then he and Mumbo stand directly under where they know the TNT will land. Yeah obviously Jimmy sneaks in and pulls the lever to kill them.

A second attempt to launch TNT is made, but this launcher is pathetic and ends up being turned into a party game. oh, and then Grian gets hotguyed by Scar. Grian immediately screams vengeance and blows up the reputation board, ranting about how little it meant since he was in good favour… which only proved he never read the damn thing but it's the thought that counts.

In their last hoorah for this session the team goes on a proper hunt The Bamboozelers as they hide in Joel's car. Mumbo sneaks up to pure lava on them… and burns himself to death. He then tries to hypersonic pvp Gem and you can guess how that went. He then joins in trapping Gwm in a big hole and burning her, only for the kill to go to Ren anyway.

These guys are Doomed. Especially because Final Girls & The Family are allied with Scar & The fact that Renwood actively wants to murder them.

Predictions: Grian goes Yellow next session, Mumbo goes out-out and Skizz is somehow still Red.

Renwood - (Ren & Martyn)

We actually covered everything these guys did already, The Grian Murder Crew, Martyn being a trap bimbo, Ren allying with Impulse to make up for beheading him, really the only thing we haven't discussed is Martyns strange choice to make the first 5 minutes of his episode unlistenable

The Tuff Guys - (Etho, Tango & Bdubs

Etho finally admits they're the comic relief. Like any good comic relief, these three stooges spend the entire session failing at everything. Tango fails on the same trap 3 times. Bdubs almost kills himself in said trap. There's more fights and bickerings than you could count on 15 hands and a toe

Oh also Tango also perma-died to Pearl after going invis and being pumped full of arrows.

Honestly it's not a question of if someone dies next session, it's a question of who.

[tunastime]

in the span of 48 hours I went from being indifferent about helsknight to not being able to stop thinking about him. who's out here putting curses on me. speak up

[whimsicalwritingsandmore]

Want You Back | ateez x reader

Pairing: werewolf!ot8!ateez x werewolf!reader

Genre: fluff mostly, romance, poly, a little angst?

Warnings for this chapter: none

Word Count: 1774 words

a/n: ahhhh it's so surreal to know so many of you like this story!! thank you, thank you thank you so much!! your comments, likes and reblogs mean the absolute world to me!! I already have another fic in mind that I can't wait to share hehe. I was hoping to have this posted yesterday but the week was a bit busier. I'm aiming to post twice a week now that the story will pick up from here! hope you enjoy this chapter!! lots of love <3

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Chapter 3

Things hadn't been the same for the boys anymore. It was six months since you disappeared, without any trace and they were unable to locate you with their bond. Fear had engulfed them when they were told of the attack. They wasted no time in getting back to the mansion to protect you, as their mate and alpha protectiveness senses rang out.

But when they returned, you were nowhere to be found. Cleo, who had been saved by a member of the pack recounted what happened up until you two went separate ways. They searched for you but came back with no clues.

Where did you go? 

In fact, when they tried to call for you through the soul bond, they discovered how strained the bond had become. 

Slowly, each member began to realise just how little they had seen or been with you, and could not even recall the last time you spent time together. At first they tried to deny the truth, surely, there had to be another reason? They couldn’t fathom not taking notice sooner and allowing the connection to reach like this. 

Hongjoong's father wasted no time in educating them about their actions when they came to him seeking answers, especially when his wife tried to pipe in.

“It’s your fault.” he declared unapologetically. 

As he recounted everything to them, they were shattered and distraught by their actions. It dawned on them how ignorant they were to assume that you would always be there no matter what. If there was anything they were taught, it was how precious life is and how important it is to care for those around you. 

How could they do this to you?

"We all make mistakes." Mr. Kim said, "But one can only be redeemed, when he’s willing to learn from it and make a change."

After that confrontation, neither of the boys were the same again. With you now apart from them, your missing presence was felt more than ever in the home. Yeosang walked the mansion’s hall completely despondent, hoping to possibly find you in the little corner where the two of you read, every time he entered the room. Alas, you were not there. When Yunho woke up every morning and heard movement in the kitchen, his heart raced as he believed it was perhaps you, making breakfast just as you always would…but it was only Seonghwa who carried about low-spirited and disheartened. Yunho noticed the dark circles that were forming under the eldest eyes - Seonghwa never slept like he used to, getting approximately 3 to 4 hours of sleep and waking up at daybreak, trying to busy himself so he could forget the aching feeling in his chest just for a little while. He didn’t cry but rather, bottled up his emotions since being the eldest, he felt like he needed to be the strong one for the others. But, like every glass that reaches its brim, Seonghwa finally broke down when Yunho approached and back-hugged him in the tightest hug possible as he let his own tears fall. 

Unlike Seonghwa, San and Jongho slept all day when they could and only left their rooms, if it was for something important. But nothing else felt important except you, so much to their disdain, they ventured out of their rooms, only to head straight back once they got home. Wooyoung became quieter and stuck to Yeosang like glue. He didn’t do or say anything much, he was just there. Sometimes he would stare at the front door, hoping to see you waltz in with your charming smile and he could rush to you and spin you around like he always did. And then playfully scold you and then apologise profusely.

However, there was one particular wolf who was extremely impacted to the point where nothing could comfort him. While the others still tried to find solace in sleep or in each other, Mingi was unable to find consolation in anything. He felt like his heart had been ripped off his chest and there was a void that was only something you could fill. But they still couldn't find you. Mingi tried to initiate the bond hoping that you would feel it and call out to him, but like all the other times he tried, there was no response. He cried until the early hours of the morning and he could not sleep. Even if he dozed off, his dreams were of you and then he would jolt awake again, the aching, distressful and bitter void resurfacing again and he remembers you’re still not here. Then the cycle would continue.

As the boys coped differently, the most different was Hongjoong, who by all accounts had become emotionless and also very mean. He would let Lila wrap her arms around him as if they were a couple, he would try to bring her home only to have Seonghwa immediately denounce it and make it abundantly clear that this kind of behaviour would not be allowed or tolerated. Lila would leave the second she stepped foot into the foyer and Seonghwa and Hongjoong would have it out until the latter stomped off to his room never to be heard from again until the next morning. And that was if anyone did see him. He would leave before Seonghwa came out of his room. It took all effort in Mingi when he did see Hongjoong to not punch him in the jaw. He did not know what he was playing at, and quite frankly, he did not care to know Hongjoong's excuses as he was already extremely fed up, especially because of the way Hongjoong's mother spoke.

"Maybe you should forget her and move on with someone else," she said as she eyed Lila, “The pack needs their Luna and people are talking.”

That was during a family dinner with all their respective families. First and foremost, Mingi was not amused. He was already dragged to the dining hall against his will, and then when he saw Lila present standing next to Hongjoong, he was ready to just explode into thin air. And then, Hongjoong’s mom decided to speak, and that was the last straw. 

It didn't take even a second for Mingi to slam his hands on the table and get up with a low growl in his throat.

“With all due respect Mrs Kim, I suggest you stay out of our personal lives and let us handle it on our own. Your comments are very unnecessary.” he seethed venomously. 

 Mingi then stalked off, slamming the door behind him. He didn't care if he was disrespectful, he was fed up with the nonsense. It baffled him as to why Mrs Kim had such disdain for you, ever since he met you, you told him about her low tolerance for you but there was never a clear indication as to why. 

He knew you were still alive and he knew the other boys felt it too. Your soul connection was still there, though strained, he could feel it lingering. But where exactly were you? He was interrupted by Wooyoung shouting his name.

“Mingi wait!”

“What are you doing here Wooyoung?”

“I wasn’t going to let you leave like that, not everyone is pleased at your outburst.”

“And? I do not care Wooyoung, I’m not going back to listen to Mrs Kim spew ridiculous nonsense. Lila shouldn’t even be there.”

“I know and I agree. Mrs Kim has wanted to replace Y/N since the beginning but she should know better than to even suggest something like that.”

“Go back and tell them I won’t be coming back any time soon. I need to clear my head.”

“Fine but please reach out, I can’t lose you too…” Wooyoung muttered.

Mingi turned to the black-haired boy and saw the fear in his eyes. Wooyoung is the second youngest and basked in being taken care of, doted on and adored by you. In contrast to Jongho who was more reserved most of the time and sought you out privately, Wooyoung, although an alpha, is like a playful child. You were right in between Mingi and Wooyoung in age and so, right before you came Mingi and at a time like this, Wooyoung saw Mingi as the closest.

“I will, don’t worry.” he answered in a soothing and reassuring tone.

After Wooyoung left and Mingi decided he wasn't going back home to get an earful from his parents, he sauntered off towards the lake and the Moon temple. 

He recalled Cleo saying it was the direction you went when you two broke off. Maybe he could find something there.

Arriving at the clearing of the lake, he saw the shimmering blue water glistening under the moonlight. It was another full moon, just like when you disappeared. He had to spend the holidays and his birthday without you and he hated it. Mingi couldn’t even recollect the times he had spent holidays and birthdays by himself. As soon as you and the boys came into his life, his life became a kaleidoscope of colours. 

When Mingi saw the temple, he felt his walls come down. He forgot about Mrs Kim’s comments and the anger that bubbled through his veins. Instead, the wave of pain and hurt opened like a locked dam and he fell on his knees in front of the temple, choked with tears.

"Please..." he cried, "Please bring her back. I need her. I-I was so wrong for what I did. I can't believe I treated her that way. I promise! I'll do better! I won't ever neglect her again. Please bring my angel back. Please."

Mingi sobbed and sobbed profusely that he didn't hear the rumble the first time. He thought it was his stomach and now was definitely not a good time. But then the second time, when he realised it was coming from elsewhere, he turned around to see the ripples in the lake and how much more brightly the water shone under the moonlight. It was mystical and divine. He approached the lake cautiously, he couldn't explain it, but he felt a pull and for some reason…he felt you. Your tie to him and your aura felt to be coming from the lake. But was that possible? He pushed away any intrusive thoughts, focusing solely on you, a clear image of your bright smile and eyes lit up etched into his mind. It was the way you would always look at him as you cupped his face in your hand and teased him before kissing him.

Mingi inched closer, trying to take his time.

But then he fell in.

[legally-allowed-to-slime]

I think gem's just reacting to pearl the same way pearl reacts to scott/cleo. Pearl doesnt trust scott / cleo at all (for good reasons!) and brings up previous seasons around the same amount as they do to her. Gem, likewise, was betrayed by Pearl during SL from a very pivotal moment that has constantly haunted her since (the 2v1 constantly hangs around her lol) and now holds a bit of a grudge towards her. while pearl has only ever done this once to gem, it was also gem's Only season and also is probably her biggest betrayal. however, yes, pearl does not realize how far this grudge goes and to her, gem is still her ride or die. This unfortunately leads her to choose gem for the poison wall bit which only cements the idea in gem's head that she Cannot trust pearl (and also misunderstands pearl's "everyone else is my ally"). gem also does constantly say that people are antagonizing her, which i think is also a remnant from SL where she thinks people coming over to their base is equivalent to an attack (which it isnt, but she's just being paranoid). (also for the skin discussion, i think people's reactions to her skin being red is valid. to everyone else, the last time pearl did something like that it was just to mess with people and be a menace. so even to gem, seeing the red on her is a big warning sign that things might get dangerous around her. of course, to pearl, its just a transition and a really cool concept! ) as for why she's favoring scott, well he's scott and he's good at pandering to people. in session 1 he's the one that defended joel and gem and reinforced that they were not the ones to steal impulse's cows. because impulse kept pushing it, gem got even more frustrated and put impulse on her hit list. for session 2 he just happened to walk by as pearl left and simply nodded along to what gem was ranting about (i also dont think he said anything relevant here to poison the waters between them. if anything, he's Also a bit confused as to why gem's so mad at pearl because he knows theyre supposed to be close, and just took it in stride).

now for the twitter interactions, pearl is basically signaling that she's going to ally with impulse above all. being number 1 on gem's hit list (especially since he came back in session 2 to steal things), they're both now equally terrible in her eyes. anyway thats how ive been interpreting things at least!! its very interesting reading everyone's opinions on this. i think everyone's reacting in a pretty valid way if you're standing in their shoes and forget the little aspects that we know from watching multiple povs

oh wow it’s rare that i get an anon that i 100% agree with, but i think you said everything so much better than i could have (not a dig at other anons i love every single ask i get and in fact if i could just get one anon disagreeing with me on everything it would make my day)

let me be clear, i can entirely understand why gem did what she did. i don’t want it to seem like i’m hating on her excessively, especially when she’s in my top 2 (top 1 if pearl hasn’t uploaded in two weeks). i absolutely agree with the gem/pearl and pearl/scott+cleo parallels, with scott+cleo not taking double life seriously and pearl regarding SL as irrelevant when gem is hurt by it. something something her own feelings over betrayal are dismissed in her own alliance so she finds it fair to ignore gem’s

and you’re very right for the bit about gem not understanding pearl’s harmless intentions. she’s very paranoid for whatever reason, when everyone’s been nice to her except for impulse, who is having a terrible horrible no good very bad day. she tells joel they have a target on their backs but afaik no one has been nasty to them. BUT this also makes sense, because in SL she was explicitly targeted for being too powerful (eg grian’s TNT ambush), so her paranoia is understandable.

as for pearl, she is loyal to a fault, including to gem. in SL gem kills her twice and pearl barely minds, so there was the faulty assumption that this time, the cobblestone wall isn’t enough to make gem distrust her, because if gem had done the same to her she wouldn’t have cared. again, pearl having extraordinarily high tolerance for her allies but not realising that, obviously, it would not be reciprocated. unfortunate clash of girl with high standards (gem) and girl with no standards (pearl)

red skin thing is just your stereotypical misunderstanding. pearl literally gets cut off before she can explain to gem what it actually means, so gem thinks that pearl decided to go half-crazy unprovoked, when that’s not the truth. so. if they could just talk 1 on 1 and not get interrupted by three other people in the span of twenty seconds that would be great (for me. not for either of them probably seeing the train wreck they are now). but i did think the reason for the red skin thing was an unusually sensible decision for traffic!pearl, considering she throws on the red skin for lesser things. so. just really bad luck that scott started talking there, no one could possibly be at fault for that

as for scott. well. scott. i guess i misspoke there because i’ve gotten like three asks and five tags pinpointing that bit. ok, yeah, gem was already mad at pearl, but like i said, scott reinforcing this belief and making it into an objective fact and not personal grudges is pretty significant to me.

but anon you’re so correct for saying that scott knows how to pander to people. that’s the word for it. he constantly brags about how good he is at making friends, but well! if you’re making friends solely to have more strategic power then that’s not really sincere is it. but he’s good at putting on this inoffensive, just charismatic enough persona to slip under the radar and end up on the side of general approval. to say what people want to hear, basically

and i might be hallucinating but he also becomes much friendlier to gem after he realises that she isn’t weird about pearl anymore. remember, he views her and pearl’s alliance in SL as a near betrayal — so from his pov, gem has had character growth and become a Good Ally TM, and not “rogue” like jimmy or pearl. and it’s always about perspectives. scott is acting perfectly normally from his own pov, and since he wasn’t there for what actually happened. so if gem comes up to him and complains about pearl, an ally he already has tensions with, he’s going to think that pearl must have done something to deserve it. and is he wrong? no. any other person in his position would think that too

also omg the twitter thing makes perfect sense now. pearl aligns herself with impulse, and impulse is gem’s no. 1 enemy, so pearl is now gem’s no. 2 enemy. that sucks for pearl because at the rate impulse is going he’s going to be an outcast in 2 sessions, and with pearl’s already shaky reputation, allying with someone who would be rightfully ostracised, and doesn’t seem to have much morals at all (i fully support him for that btw), is not going to help her image, or her relationship with scott/cleo/gem/rest of the server. gritting my teeth like yes i do want her to be happy but she can’t even act unhinged because all of her exes will pounce on that. she hasn’t even acted unhinged and they’re already saying she is. like oh man just wait

uhh but yeah. toxic yuri for gempearl at least pearl’s kinda happy with impulse?? i guess?? i’m so embarrassed i didn’t even consider that gem would remember the SL betrayal but breakup in ep 2 goes hard. alexa play i love you i’m sorry

ETA: also not sure how to feel about pearl being a legitimate underdog this time. gem and joel are both a powerful and popular alliance, and i don’t think pearl realises that it’s really really bad if she allies with their enemy. but she doesn’t really care about placing high anyway so shrug emoji?

[hatopixlriffs]

This week, on CHC:

Flowers, trees, and dragons, Oh My!

Welcome to the CHC recap, my name is Pixlriffs, our writer is ZloyXP, our physical copies printed by Lyarrah. So much has happened in the past week and a half since the last recap, so without further ado:

Let's take a look at all the events and mishaps that occurred on Camp Hermitcraft, this week!

Starting with @gem-the-oracle, who caught a nasty bug, and spent most of the week ill in the Big House. Being the Oracle of Delphi of course, absolutely nothing could go wrong! Besides, it couldn't be weirder than her vision of purple flowers that were quickly identified as Hyacinths, the same kind of flower plaguing every Apollo kid and especially Apollo himself! This spirals into madness as @sungod7-fuckyoupearl starts getting texts from none other than Daphne, known to her account name @notoriginallyatreenypmh and the sun god as "The One Who Got Away". Apollo quickly undergoes the five stages of grief as he realizes this isn't a prank and @boatboynr1- who was turned into a cat by Apollo literally ten minutes prior- berates him with yowls.

Oh, and Apollo's dead boyfriend Hyacinthus seems to have been the one sending all the flowers. How @hyancithus is doing this beats all reason as he is stuck as a Hyacinth flower and can only communicate in 🪻 emojis. Daphne claims he's able to channel energy through her and the phone she stole but refuses to elaborate further. After a minor breakdown, Apollo teleports Daphne and Hya from their temporary prison of Italy to Camp Hermitcraft, where Daphne takes her axe- also stolen- and takes a breather in the camp lake. Apollo's hands are full as he does his best to take care of his dead boyfriend, whom is still stuck as a flower. A similar rescue mission is still ongoing, as @askhermesgrian, @camphermithater, and Joel have left on a quest to go retrieve @pearl-likes-hunting from some myserious woods. All at the request of @shutupapolloplease, of course.

And what do you know, a third retrieval is also ongoing! @hatotangoftek's metal dragon, Fotia, is loose in NYC and he scrambles to get her back before he ends up in more trouble than he already is.

@undead-daughter-of-heb attempts to help Tango, but not before blacking out and waking up hours later, with the Hebe cabin rearranged, nice notes everywhere, and people claiming that Gem had briefly possessed her. The strangeness doesn't end there, as she finds and almost adopts a stray cat in camp, before eventually realizing it was @askxisumachc who'd gotten cursed while shifted and couldn't change back. Cleo takes X to Camp Jupiter, where @lovemushroomsandflowers successfully returns him to human form. Ignoring the purring, cat tail, and cat ears that stayed behind, of course. And according to Scott, Xisuma also seems to have retained cat-like attributes, such as the innate need to chase a laser pointer.

(click for better size- couldn't enlarge it w/o crunchiness) Unluckily for Scott, or maybe luckily for X, @goldenqueenfalse ended up putting him in the hospital before he could test catnip on the acting camp director. This does mean that the fashion show, which most demigods have agreed to simply call "Prom", will be delayed some time, which is fine as some campers have yet to pick out outfits.

Some campers may need to re-choose outfits after ending up back as adults, as Cleo has figured out how to control her powers! Yay for Cleo!

Chaos isn't the only thing going on, as @asktheshreeper and @boatboynr2 spend the week hanging out and even make some shopping plans!

@askscarpjo makes head bead bracelets :)

@hatorendiggitydog also wants head bead bracelets. He then proceeds to dream about Tartarus and acts like thats normal. Etho is not convinced.

@askhatoskizz is not immune to his dad's dead boyfriend and after receiving Hyacinths, decides to do something else. He decides to take @erempulse to a musical and manages to get tickets from Apollo before the whole shrubbery shenanigans (see: above) go down.

@spoonsandmustaches spends his free time playing tech support for @hato-grumbot (ooc- run by the creator of the au himself: @ahllohehn).

@askhatokeralis spends the week running camp in Xisuma's absence. He's doing fantastic.

And finally there's @askluckskall, who's been contemplating his gender identity and is seeking help from Cleo. As of writing this, we have yet to see where this is headed.

AND that's about it for this weeks recap, our writer is ZloyXP, and my name is Pixlriff, physical copies printed by Lyarrah. Don't forget to leave a like while you're here, and follow so you don't miss future recaps. Thanks for reading, and we'll see you next week.

[katsu28]

save the day

pairing: firefighter!JJ Maybank x fem!reader 

summary: an AU in which JJ is a firefighter and goes on a rather interesting call (2k)

a/n: my submission for day one of @surftrips obx writing week! unfortunately this is the only day i’ll be able to participate in due to things happening in my personal life right now but definitely check out everyone else participating in the challenge!! <3

Being a firefighter in a big city looked different from day to day. Sometimes it looked like fighting a multi-story blaze engulfing a skyscraper downtown. Sometimes it meant running drills on the apparatus floor all day because the station never got any calls. Sometimes it looked like pulling people out of burning buildings or prying them out of wrecked cars, with the occasional water rescue. 

And sometimes it looked like this—heading out on a call to rescue a cat stuck in a tree. 

JJ liked the unpredictability of it all, the thrill that came with never knowing just quite what he’d be up against when the alarm bells went off. He liked being able to help people when they needed it most. 

At Station P4, they rotated shifts in the ambulance. Today was JJ’s turn to ride the ambo, and he loved it just as much. He flicked on the siren as he pulled out of the driveway, rolling down the driver’s side window to let the breeze whip through his already wild blond curls. 

“Dude, can you at least try to obey some traffic laws?” The man sitting in the passenger seat huffed, gripping the handle beside him a little tighter. 

Pope Heyward was one of JJ’s best friends at the station. They’d come up through the fire academy together and got assigned to different stations at first, but were eventually both assigned to the same one. JJ liked to call it fate that they ended up together in the end, because Pope was one of the reasons why he hadn’t gotten dropped in the early stages of training. 

“That’s the beauty of the siren, my friend!” JJ exclaimed, banking a hard left with a gleeful smile. “Turn and burn, baby!”

The location of the call was fairly close to home, so it didn’t take long to arrive at the scene. JJ pulled the ambo to a stop right before the fire engine did the same, grabbing the jump bag from the back before jogging to catch up with the rest of his fellow firefighters. 

There were seven of them total, each one of them making up the rest of JJ’s closest friends. John B. was the station’s captain, but he never acted like he was above the rest of his crew. Kie was his trusty right hand, and Sarah was on track to making lieutenant in a few months. Last but certainly not least, there was Cleo, the station’s newest addition, a probationary firefighter with spunk for days and a fiery attitude (no pun intended). 

Together they formed what JJ liked to call “the dream team”, working together like a well oiled machine in whatever situation they were thrown into. 

JJ fell into step with Kie, elbowing her playfully. “Ten bucks we’ll get the cat down in under twenty.” 

“Make it under fifteen and you’re on.” 

“Thank god you guys are here!” You exclaimed from where you were standing under a giant oak tree, looking fraught with worry. JJ’s smile faltered for a split second and he nearly tripped over his own boots, too distracted by you. He didn’t believe in love at first sight, but if he did, he imagined it would feel something like this. “I tried to get her down, but she kept going higher and I didn’t want her to fall out of the tree and I didn’t think I should go up there so I called you guys! Is that—is that allowed? Does this count as an emergency, can you guys get her down?” 

JJ shook himself out of his daze, opening his mouth to respond, but John B. was faster, offering a more collected reply than JJ probably could in his state. 

“Of course we can get her down, ma’am, you did the right thing by calling. Let us take a look, assess the situation, then we’ll see if we can’t get her down from there safely.” He’d turned his captain’s voice on, the one that made him sound all official and professional and made JJ kind of want to bust out laughing. Now that wouldn’t have been professional at all. 

“Okay, okay, thank you so much,” You breathed, shoulders sagging with relief. The team spread out under the looming tree, peering up into the canopy to locate the cat. One of the highest branches hissed and shook violently, then there she was, a very angry ball of fur with big yellow eyes glaring down at them. 

“Does she normally do this? Climb up trees and not come down?” John B asked, cocking his head. 

“No, she doesn’t, and that’s why I’m worried! She usually never tries to leave the house, but I just opened the door for a second to grab a package and she bolted outside!” 

JJ could tell you were on the verge of panic, and he also noticed the long gash on your arm. 

“Quite a nasty scratch you got there, ma’am. Why don’t we let my friends rescue your feline friend while I check out that wound, yeah?” He insisted, nodding towards the ambulance. You looked apprehensive at first, but he turned on the charm, flashing you a pearly white smile that had you nodding slowly and following him. “Did she scratch you?” 

“Yeah, a little bit when I was first trying to get her down. It’s nothing though, it doesn’t even hurt that much.” 

“Well, I gotta check it out regardless, so if you wouldn’t mind having a seat for me right there.” JJ rummaged through the jump bag for a pair of exam gloves, snapping them on quickly before gesturing for you to give him your arm. You still looked a little uneasy, so he decided to try and lighten the conversation a bit while he examined the scratch running the length of your whole forearm. “I’m JJ. What’s your name?” You told him your name and he repeated it, letting it roll off his tongue easily. He thought it was a really pretty name. Seemed fitting for a pretty girl like you. “And your cat? She got a pretty name too?” 

You pressed your lips into a thin line, looking a little embarrassed now. “Her name’s Porkchop.” JJ cleared his throat, trying his best not to laugh. “It’s stupid, I know—” 

“No, no, it’s not stupid! Porkchop is a very distinguished name. My great uncle’s nickname was Porkchop, and he was pretty cool.” The cut on your arm was long, but shallow and pretty clean, no excessive bleeding or anything else that would suggest a need to take you to the hospital for further medical examination. He grabbed a few supplies that he needed to wrap the wound, spreading them out between the two of you. 

“Is that a joke?” 

“Uh…yeah, it was a joke,” JJ admitted sheepishly, cheeks flushing pink. “It wasn’t a very good one now that I think about it.”

“Is this your way of trying to keep me calm?” 

“It’s…an attempt. Is it working?” 

Your mouth quirked up into a small smile. “Yeah, it is.” 

“Good. I’m glad. Because I gotta clean your cut, and it’s gonna hurt like a motherfucker.” He said solemnly. You shifted in your seat, eyeing the cleaning solution in his hand nervously. “You can hold my hand, if you want.” He added, propping your arm up on his knee to free up his other hand. 

He wasn’t expecting you to take him up on his offer, but you reached for him immediately, curling your fingers around his own. Thank god you weren’t able to feel how his pulse skyrocketed at your touch. 

You squeezed his hand hard, letting out a pained hiss at the stinging sensation that came with JJ’s care. He bandaged your forearm as quick as he could, though he contemplated taking his time so you wouldn’t let go of him for a little while longer. 

“M’kay, all done. Sorry about that.” 

“It’s okay. Didn’t hurt.” 

“Didn’t seem like that with the way you were gripping my hand,” He teased, bumping his knee against yours. You were still smiling at him and if he didn’t know any better, he’d say it was making him a little flustered. Maybe even nervous. And he never got nervous. “If you could just fill this out while I go grab something from the engine, I’ll be right back. It’s just a release form saying that you consent to us not taking you down to the hospital. Standard procedure, just crossing our I’s, dotting our T’s.” 

JJ hopped down from the ledge, passing a clipboard to you and hurrying towards where Pope was spotting Kie on the ladder before you could realize he’d totally butchered that expression. “Pope! Yo, Pope, I gotta talk to you.” 

���What’s up?” 

“What’s the policy on asking out people we save?” 

“You wanna ask out the cat?” Pope snickered. 

JJ rolled his eyes. “No, I don’t. You know what I mean. And her name’s Porkchop, by the way.” 

“Cute. But no, there’s not really any policy against it, I guess. Not one that I know of, anyways.” 

“Yeah?” He cocked his head thoughtfully, gears inside already turning. Pope nodded. “Good to know.” 

“Hey, wait, that doesn’t mean you should—” JJ was out of earshot before Pope could finish his sentence, beelining right back for the ambo to you. Just as he came around the corner, you looked up, capping your pen, holding the clipboard back out to him. 

“All done? You’re fast, I like it.” 

“My number is on the medical form. In case you need to follow up on anything in the near future.” You offered, running your fingers along your bandage absentmindedly. 

“Ah, so we usually don’t do the follow-ups, that would be—oh. Oh! You meant—got it, you want me to….yeah. I mean, I want to, ‘cause you seem cool.” It was like word vomit escaping JJ’s mouth, because he couldn’t seem to stop talking, but you just smiled warmly at him, giving his hand a soft squeeze. He kind of liked that you’d made the first move instead of him.

Throughout this, the rest of his team had managed to get Porkchop down from the tree, as evident by the way she was purring in Kie’s arms contently like she hadn’t just scratched the shit out of you earlier. 

You leapt away from JJ quickly, though he wasn’t sure if it was more about not being caught cozying up to him or that your cat was now safe and sound. He hoped it was the latter. 

“Thank you so much!” You gushed, gathering your beloved cat into your arms as Kie passed her off to you. “Thank you, thank you, thank you—you guys are the best.” 

“Just doin’ our job, ma’am.” John B nodded, tipping his helmet towards you. 

“Some more than others.” muttered Pope. It went unnoticed by you, but JJ heard the comment, giving his friend a swift stomp on the foot in return. “I mean, we’re happy we could help.” 

“If JJ’s all done patching you up, we can go ahead and wrap up, leave you to the rest of your day.” 

“Uh, yeah. Yep, all set and ready to go, JB.” 

“Right then. You have a good day, ma’am. You too, Porkchop. Try not to climb any more trees, ‘kay?” 

The rest of JJ’s team filed back towards the engine and Pope made his way up to the front of the ambo, leaving you and JJ alone yet again. 

“Talk to you soon?” You asked hopefully, shifting Porkchop higher in your arms. 

“You know it,” JJ replied, shooting you his signature wink. He went to hop  into the driver’s seat swiftly, taking another few seconds to soak in the sight of you smiling bashfully at him before he had to drive away. 

“You asked her out, didn’t you?” 

“What? Of course not. Why would you even think such a thing?” Even as he spoke, there was a giddy sort of smile on his face, one that Pope clocked in on immediately. 

“You’re lying! You’re such a liar, you totally asked her out! JJ, you really—” Whatever Pope was about to say was cut off as JJ cranked up the radio as loud as it could go, drowning out the other man’s complaints. 

So yeah, being a firefighter in a big city looked different from day to day. Some days held bigger calls than others, but sometimes it was the smaller calls that were the most memorable. Days like today. 

follow @katsu-library to be notified when i post a new fic :)

[aliteral-ghost]

This is the piece I did for @hermitzine! It was so much fun to be a part of this project and get to work with everyone! The theme of this zine was music and I hope that's obvious in this piece :)

~~~~~~~~~~~

The sound of the record skipping is Joe’s alarm clock this morning, and it’s only because it skips multiple times that he actually gets up. Darn, he slept in again, and now he has to stay up late again so he can finish the parts of the machine that he needs to get done, and it’ll just end with him sleeping in again. At least he has–oh. The record that has been playing all night (and also for the past few weeks, if he’s honest) has a massive groove in it, tearing through all of the ridges and splintering the vinyl.

“Aw, man,” Joe mutters, staring at the destroyed disk in his hands. “That’s my last one of those.” To be fair, he probably should have expected something like this to happen after using the record player while placing hundreds of blocks of sand, but it’s still sad. To be fair, this has happened to the last five disks he overplayed, but Joe is nothing if not persistent. 

The next day he and Cleo are halfway through their weekly crafting session when they hum. “No music today?” Joe waves a hand.

“Some days the best music is the sound of nature around you.” He sets down a pencil and listens to said sound of nature, which is currently someone very violently chopping down trees. “You know, be in the moment, and all that.” He’s never lived in the moment once in his life and they both know it, but then again neither has Cleo.

“Sure.” Cleo pauses for just a minute. “Not this music, though. Ugh, who is…” They both glance over across the river, where Keralis is hard at work collecting wood. He pauses briefly to wave once he’s noticed them looking, smiling widely. They both wave back and Keralis continues, moving on to the next tree.

“Do you ever think about how our lives have a soundtrack?” Joe says after a minute, mindlessly coloring the sheets of paper he brought, tracing out the blueprint for a part of the pinball machine. Cleo looks over from where she’s drawing in her own notebook. 

“No?” They say, voice lilting up like a question. “I don’t? Why, do you?” She wrinkles her eyebrows, more focused on the calligraphy than really focusing on the conversation. It’s how they roll, most weeks. Joe talks and Cleo nods along.

“Well, sure! I like to think about the song that might be playing while things are happening. For a while, it was otherside, but…” Cleo glances over again, this time more interested. 

“You broke all of your disks, didn’t you?”

“Yeah. I must have played them in the sand too much or something. Whomp, whomp.” He follows the statement up with a laugh, sort of high-pitched and frantic. “D’you think we all have different soundtracks then, if we do?”

“Oh, for sure,” Cleo says, in a voice that still sounds like they’re just humoring him. “Like Doc? His soundtrack is all scary, like heavy metal, right? There’s no way he and Scar have the same backing tracks.” They pause for just a second. “No, I lied. Doc’s isn’t heavy metal, he’s too much of a softie. Pearl’s is. She’s bloody hardcore.”

That’s an accurate assumption, Joe guesses. He hasn’t been privy to much Pearl has done this season, but he’s fairly certain she just built an entire Ender dragon out of pilfered dragon eggs. If there’s someone able to intimidate Cleo, it’s her.

“So what’s yours, then?” Cleo asks, setting her pen down and leaning on her hands. “Whatever song you’re obsessed with now over and over?”

“I don’t have much time for anything else.” Joe laughs again. “Besides, sometimes the best soundtrack is the same song, over and over, just played at different tempos depending on mood.”

This earns him a patented Cleo lookTM as she turns back to her journal, picking up a small knife. They don’t talk for a while after that, instead listening to the leaves rustle, water flow, and trees topple. 

“Here,” they say eventually, after the wood-collecting has gotten to be too much, and pass Joe a record. “Put this on, I know you’re aching to.” He gasps, energy he hasn’t felt in a while jolting through him, and pulls out his jukebox. 

“Thanks, Cleo!”

The aforementioned record is a simple piano tune, the melody and harmony weaving in and out of each other’s path, spinning down the river and floating high into the air. It fills the server with its music, and although Joe knows that the little song is barely reaching further than Keralis he’d like to think that Tango, in the depths of Decked Out 2, and False, high up on a snowy peak, and Grian and Doc, fighting their battles over the perimeter, can hear it. 

It’s a song that, although the notion is cliche, feels like home. It has managed to encapsulate the feeling that persists, from all ten years of Hermitcraft, of family and friends and feeling like belonging.

[cassberry]

(Looking to watch 3rd Life, Last Life or Double Life? Here you go!)

If you are looking for a guide of some Limited Life episodes to catch up on for no particular reason at all (certainly not a new season being around the corner), I've got you covered!

Now I'm not going to lie, trying to curate this list for Limited Life broke me. The mechanics of this season meant that you gained time by killing other players and in doing so it felt like 50 things were happening all at once constantly across the server. As such I haven't been able to get absolutely everything onto this list, but I did try my best to get all the important events and a wide range of perspectives!

WARNING: Incredibly long read more where I go over why I picked certain POV's and what to expect. I do so love to ramble. Spoilers ahead!

SESSION ONE

Skizz - Breaking from tradition from recommending Grian first because you need to watch Skizz's POV first out of everyone unspoiled. The way things unraveled this episode felt like a sitcom in the best and worst ways lol 

Grian - Just a good solid first episode honestly and with the start of the Bad Boys™ how can you not love it. 

Scar -  I really have no words for whatever is the dynamic of the Clockers because you really just have to see it to understand. It’s a fun episode and as Scar, Cleo and Bdubs have set up near spawn, you always get to see something interesting. 

Big B - Big B’s episodes are always a treat as he does super long ones that give you a little more insight into what's happening on the server, rather than just the big events. But if you wanted something specific to watch, his last 10 minutes of this episode were a blast. 

SESSION TWO

Joel - Bad Boys Bread Bridge was both the most amazing and ugliest build on the server and I’m so glad it was made. Also Joel gets some amazing kills this episode that are so tense to watch. 

Martyn - Look this one is here because of a little personal bias. Martyn shouts me out in the episode so I couldn’t not add it lol It’s also a very good episode in of itself in that it introduces the Mean Gills and I’ll always be a Mean Gills supporter. Also that Tilly roast? oof 

Pearl - Pearl is constantly on the move this episode and living up to her Nosy Neighbour title so watch her episode if you want some good gossip and to see the lay of the land. 

Tango - Tango always delivers a solid episode and as he was building the TIES Tower a majority of the time he receives a lot of foot traffic through the area creating some fun interactions. 

SESSION THREE

Scar - And in this episode of Limited Life, Scar rediscovers the joys of minecart TNT. 

Impulse - Impulse is such a fun boogey to watch, and the way he edited this episode around his thought process of who to kill was great. 

Grian - Kind of a different episode this session as Grian was sick so he was afk the entire time. It was very very very funny to watch, but as he wasn’t interacting with anyone you’re going to miss a lot of context if you only watch his POV. You should still give this a watch though! 

Joel - Watching poor Joel run around after Grian trying to keep him safe was incredibly entertaining lmao 

SESSION FOUR

Scott - I believe Grian said it best, but this session felt like a final session with the way the yellows were chasing after the greens. It was pure chaos the entire time and Scott beautifully evading them all until his descent into yellow was perfection. 

Tango - Tango is here for the same reason as Scott but as the last green the final hunt for him was terrifying to watch. 

Cleo - I love Cleo’s episodes and this one was just a joy. She was slightly sick this week but I feel like that only lowered her inhibitions to do some out of pocket stuff. 

Jimmy - The exciting saga of Judge Judy and Executioner continues in Jimmy’s episode this week and if you didn’t know anything about it, that's ok! Neither did anyone else on the server except for Jimmy, Pearl and Big B lmao consider this the best episode to watch if you want this plotline covered. 

SESSION FIVE 

Etho - Considering the episode starts off with Etho having to babysit Bdubs, then an awkward family dinner and an explosive game of catch, I really couldn’t have asked for a better Etho video. 

Big B - This session was a lot more calm than the previous, so there was a lot more alliance talk happening. Big B has a great perspective on all that as he and Pearl get up to a tonne of mischief that causes some problems with some alliances they already had. 

Scott - Once again this was an alliance building week and Scott’s episode really highlights some of the more fun things that happened to make and break some relationships. 

Grian - Poor Bread Bridge o7 you will be missed. Thankfully M-Rye 5 was there at the end to rain chaos from above. (<-sentences that make no sense out of context) 

SESSION SIX 

Cleo & Pearl - I couldn’t choose between either of these two this session. Both Cleo and Pearl were out sick so they handed over their accounts to two other players. I won’t spoil who they are but these episodes were amazing. 

Jimmy - The Bad Boys were going through it this week goddamn lol It never stops being funny how much of a mess everything becomes when they get together. 

Martyn - It was his birthday this session and he’s just a little guy! Surely nothing would go wrong at his birthday party? And certainly not caused by him! 

Tango - The last half of Tango’s episode is just a comical amount of deaths that only get funnier and funnier as the time between them shortens. 

SESSION SEVEN

Skizz - Oh Skizz. You are too good for this world. His ending for this episode was heartbreaking and Affirmation Station will live on in my heart forever.

Scott - I love watching Scott run around the map and hunt people down because he is so good at the game! I believe he had the highest kill count this session and I loved every minute of it. 

Joel - (Major Spoilers) Ah Joel it just wasn’t meant to be! But hearing the desperation in his voice grow higher and higher as the clock ticked down was nail biting. Scar - Just a good Scar episode honestly! Shows what the Clockers are up to during all the chaos and a great view of the server devolving into anarchy.

SESSION EIGHT 

Martyn - WOOOO YESSSS LETS GOOOOOO (<- does that count as spoilers???)

I distinctly remember being on the edge of my seat this whole episode and Martyn delivers in every way possible for a fantastic final episode of the season. 

Impulse - I haven’t mentioned it yet but Impulse’s editing this season went wild and it's none more apparent than in this episode. He and his team went crazy for the finale. 

Etho - Such a fun episode!! The twist at the end with the diamond sword coming into play was everything I could have wanted and more. 

Pearl - It was really a toss up between Pearl and Scott for this last spot, but I loved her perspective for the one last minigame on the server. 

BONUS 

Bdubs - Do you have a spare 12 hours to dedicate to Limited Life? Then oh boy does Bdubs have a video for you! Instead of weekly videos he decided to collate all his episodes into one mammoth video which was an absolute blast to watch over a weekend! It’s a really interesting POV to watch because when LimLife was airing Bdubs would just appear all over the map and we never had any idea what he was doing so it was awesome to have some concrete evidence of his shenanigans. Definitely give this one a watch if you’re in the mood for a marathon! 

IN SUMMARY…

I swear if the next season is as messy as this one, I think I’m going to have to start taking notes when it's airing because I think this took years off my life haha if you think I’ve missed anything please tag it because I would love to see it! I definitely could have added more POV’s per session like I did with the Last Life and 3rd Life guides, but I think a more curated list helps keep down the overwhelming nature of trying to watch a million Limited Life episodes. 

But really, I loved watching Limited Life live so I’m glad I give myself an excuse each new season to go back and watch the season over again. There are so many little foreshadowed moments that you don’t see on the first watch and honestly it all just makes me more excited for the new season! Thanks for reading <3

[hmshermitcraft]

I thought the "x goes to the life server to see what's up" ask was going to end with, "x went to the death games and had a great time bc hes doomguy"

The vast majority of the time the hermits have known x, he's been a very friendly, goofy, mild mannered admin. He takes care of them, protects them, and loves them with all his heart. What they don't know about x, is that he has not always been this way.

X is a man born of divine violence, he has fought to be kind, clawed his way out of hell for another chance more than twice and defeated the final sin. All in a metaphorical past life, it's been hundreds of thousands of years since he's done anything like that, and he has no desire to go back.

But...he will say that the life server feels familiar in a way he nearly can't remember. Nearly.

Once he goes red, all bets are off the table. His diamond sword feels like the crucible in his hands and his friends and lovers smell like hellwalkers. Xisuma has so. much. fun. Cutting them down, spilling their blood, it's refreshing, he's present for every second of it and in the back of his mind he knows the regret and shame of his actions will crush him to dust, he knows that his hermits won't ever see him in the same way, but he's busy right now.

He wins, and is sent back to hermicraft where he begins his tour of regaining the trust of his family. Etho is the easiest to win over again, saying that everything that happened is forgiven and forgotten as long as x tells him where the hell he learned to use a sword like that. And grian is the hardest. It takes some coaxing from the rafters, lots of soft kisses, hours of explanation and apologies for how he acted.

X doesn't wear his armor anymore and never brings out any weaponry around anyone. grian still isn't totally comfortable and Cleo won't turn her back to him. He understands and hopes that he can leave his last behind for good someday.

That day finally comes years later. Grian knocks on his door in the dead of night and asks him to help preen. Xisuma welcomes him in and coaxes new pinfeathers out of their protective casings with gentle ease. Grian falls asleep as x holds him close, stroking through his hair.

Cleos gone back to playfully punching his arm and sprawling over his work when they want attention, unafraid to bare their neck, to be vulnerable.

Pearl perches on his shoulders and leans down for a kiss, scar asks him out on dates, Bdubs curls up with him in the dark.

Things are good, and the games have never come back, apparently satisfied with his debut performance enough to leave them all alone.

Ough this got so much longer than I wanted it to be cause I need everything to work out and be ok in the end. Sorry lads

-s

Xisuma knows the road in life isn't always a straightforward one, but he's still disgusted with himself for his actions. He scared nobody more than himself.

That bloodlust should be reserved for threats, not the hermits he loves so dearly. He would've gone his entire life without them seeing that side of him if he could.

He acquiesces to any request asked of him for a while, hoping to earn back that trust. He announces himself when walking into a room, pays attention to his footsteps, keeps his weapon tucked away.

It's Cleo who calls him out on it eventually. X had spent most of his week grinding because Impulse just so happened to mention needing a resource. Just like any dressing down, it's a good one. And it ends with them knocking the back of his head and telling him, "We don't care who you were before this. We don't really care for you moping around like this, though Scar probably enjoys it. We just want our stupid admin that listens to metal too loud and can't read a book to save his life back."

Xisuma... He can do that. With time, but he can do it.

[eluminium]

SKIZZ WEEK DAY 7. FINAL DAY. Well, okay I have to catch up on day 3 and day 6 BUT. STILL. DAY 7!!! this one got LONG again. I based this fic on that one scene from Skizz's episode 1 where Beef decides they're gonna spoon each other. Yeah.

As always, HUGE thanks to @skizzlemanweek for organizing this in the first place! It has been really fun to write for and the fact that it got me to write shit after like, 2 years of inactivity is insane. Huge props to them!!!

ANYWAYS! ONTO THE FINAL DAY!

Prompt 7: Free day!

-

Okay. Take some deep breaths, Skizz. It's not that big of a deal. You are fine! It's just being on THE Hermitcraft server with all the hermits as a hermit. That's just your average Tuesday for the Skizz- wait.

Void, he is on HERMITCRAFT. He's a HERMIT. FOR REAL. Is this real?! Or has he been dreaming or hallucinating?! His eyes dart around, and yep, those are hermits. Quickly, he pinches his arm. He lets go just as quickly with a squeak to boot when it's confirmed that this is real. He is a Hermit.

Now, he isn't the type of person to be nervous or scared. He thinks of himself as a pretty chill guy! He's Skizzleman. What dignity does he have to lose? However, maybe the fact he's not the type of guy to freak out means that because he's freaking out right now he has NO clue how to cope. He's so cool that he forgot how to deal! Agh, why now!?

"I'm gonna make a bed for our team, so we're gonna sleep in a communal bed, cuz there's only one right now." Someone- Oh it's Clebert!- comments while a newly crafted white bed appears next to the crafting table and furnace combo. It shakes Skizz out of his thoughts and back to the present, thank void. It's also a sweet reminder that just because he's on Hermitcraft doesn't mean he's a total stranger! In his mining team (what were they called again? Musterd Milktots? What is a milktot-) he's got Clebert and Tango Top! He knows them well! Then there's Doc, and he's hung out with Doc before! Like at the OlympZITS! And last, there's Beef! Who he….uh…Okay, he's never talked to Beef before. But how hard could it be? He'll charm his way into Beef's heart soon enough.

Speaking of the man, here he comes over the hills now! "I have a bed already. I have a bed!" he announces as he jogs over to use the crafting table. The sky behind him has faded to a soft yellowish orange as the sun sets on Skizz's first official day on Hermitcraft. Good thing they managed to make these beds in time!

Cleo seems to agree as she declares: "Oh okay! Now we can split up our sharing of the beds! That's cool!" While they speak, Tango appears behind them. He doesn't even acknowledge what just happened. The blaze man starts placing dirt around their little area to prepare for the night. Skizz giggles to himself. He's always task-focused, that guy.

As night starts falling, it dawns on Skizz that they only have two beds. And there are currently four of them. Doc disappeared somewhere, but he was told Doc tends to do that. Still, even with one less Milktot, they need to share beds in pairs or have one or two of them sleep on the ground. Well, he can do both! Nothing against a little snuggling with the homies!

"So, everyone under the covers?" He asks, looking between his fellow teammates. They also seem to have realized the situation and come to the same conclusion as him.

Their faces tell Skizz of the various levels of internal conflict occurring in this dirt hut. Tango doesn't seem very excited at all with the low burning flame on his head and a frown decorating his face. Cleo also wears a frown on her lips but a glint of understanding in her eyes. Once again, Skizz doesn't know Beef well enough to read him accurately, but he seems the most accepting out of the three. That's when it dawns on him that maybe not everyone is as comfortable with cuddling the homies. And now he feels like a dumbass for instantly jumping to that option. And he's the new guy, too! Void, this is going great so far!

Okay, how can he fix this? Maybe he can volunteer to sleep on the ground. Or he could invite Tango to a bed (god he's gonna get a headache from all these jokes he shouldn't make-!) since Tango knows him best and Skizz already has experience dealing with Tango's fire. Besides, they both have old man backs. If they sleep on the ground, they'll be incapacitated for days. And there's no way Tango should be allowed to do that, not on his watch!

But as he's turning towards Tango to make the offer, Beef unexpectedly grabs his gaze instead. Huh-?

"Skizz, you're mine~. Get in here, big boy," He growls in an overly sultry tone. Completely outta nowhere! So outta nowhere Skizz can't help but giggle at it.

Now, he recognizes what a bit is and realizes that it's probably an attempt by Beef to lighten the mood. So obviously, he's gotta keep it going! That's the one rule of improv, baby!

"Big spoon or little spoon?" He responds in a comedically deadpan tone while moving towards one of the beds. Cleo and Tango laugh at his theatrics, and the mood does indeed lighten. Mission success! He and Beef also chuckle a bit before Skizz moves between the beds and puts on a more serious face.

"Okay, for real though. How are we doing this? Are there some kind of Hermit rules around snuggling with your fellow Hermits I don't know about?" He asks the other three.

"No Skizz, I don't think we have rules about that. Although I don't know how…safe and comfortable it is to cuddlebear ol' Tango over here. With all the fire stuff and possible burnificating in your sleep," Tango responds honestly. Skizz rolls his eyes.

"Come on, Top. You're not that bad, dude! We've shared many a bed during Third Life, and Last Life, and Limited Life, and Secret Life-"

"Don't act like you weren't complaining in the morning! You were like: 'Ooo Tango I'm never cuddling with you again! This is awful, bleugh!'"

"That's because I got SWEATY from your crazy body heat! Not because I was on FIRE like you seem to be thinking!!!"

"Okay guys we get it, you're very affectionate with each other and it's cute, now lets get back to the point!" Cleo calls out to stop this madness before it escelates into a slap fight. Skizz and Tango both shut up in compliance.

"I have an idea!" Beef chimes in. All of them turn their eyes to him. They stay silent but nod at him to continue.

"Cleo, you can't really feel temperature, correct?" Beef asks, turning towards said Cleo.

"Yeah, being a zombie and all," Cleo answers with a shrug.

"So if you and Tango take one bed, we'll minimize the amount of…sweating happening. And, for you Cleo, it'll be easier to keep your body warm enough not to freeze up during the night!" Beef finishes off.

Tango and Cleo both contemplate this plan. It makes a lot of logical sense to split it up that way.

Cleo turns to Skizz. "Can you promise that he doesn't light up like a flamethrower? Don't get me wrong! I do like fire, just not ON me," She asks him. Tango makes some vaguely offended noises in the background despite the fact he was the one who brought it up.

"I promise you, Clebert! Top sleeps like a dead man. There's no way he'll light up at all. And if he does, dude, just kick him off the bed. It'll be funny," He answers with a smile and a wink. Then he laughs at the increased amount of offended Tango noises. They're just the best, okay!

"Alright I guess it's you and me, Tango. We'll sleep back to back, yeah?" Cleo gestures at Tango while she starts preparing the bed closest to them. Tango sounds like he agrees, but Skizz has already tuned them out to focus on his deal with Beef.

"So, I guess I was yours, huh?" He jokes as Beef joins him by the other bed.

"I guess so!" Beef cheers back.

For a second, they just stand there. Waiting for the other to make a move. …Maybe Skizz should give Beef the bed anyway. Skizz's the new guy, after all. He can't be making moves like this.

"Hey man, if this is really not your style, I'm fine with sleeping on the ground," He offers, meeting Beef's eyes. Said eyes light up in amusement, however.

"I think everyone in this hut knows that if anyone slept on the grass they'd wake up with a ton of back pain. We're all too old for that! Unless you'd feel uncomfortable, but I'll take a guess that you're not considering…you know." Beef reassures while patting Skizz on the back. He's right on that. It doesn't really bother Skizz…Then Beef's face morphs into one of contemplation.

"I was thinking more about how we're gonna fit in this bed," He continues, gesturing to said bed.

Oh, oh yeah. Second observation of the night. The bed is kinda small for them. They're both big, burly, broad men, for crying out loud. Unless they're going to connect like puzzle pieces, there is no way both of them are fitting in this bed.

Skizz smacks his lips. "Well, big guy. Either we snuggle up real close, or one of us ends up on the ground. You in?" He says bluntly, almost like a challenge.

Beef thinks about it before exclaiming: "I'm in," while lifting up the blanket. He then crawls in towards the opposite edge of the bed and lays sideways. Skizz has never been one to think too hard before doing something, so he crawls in next, and the great shuffling begins.

It's, well, not the easiest. Each time one of them moves an inch, something gets kicked, punched, or pushed. It's a miracle that they manage to avoid kneeing each other in the jewels. But eventually, they managed to settle into a comfortable position. What a blessing!

That blessing ends up being them curling their legs around each other like two strings of DNA, pressing together like a sandwich, and Beef's head resting on top of Skizz's, while Skizz almost has his face in Beef's mantits. It's not something Skizz thought would be included in his first day on Hermitcraft, but he isn't unhappy about it. Beef seems content, breathing a sigh of relief as they finally fit together. Afterward, he lets out some soft laughter that Skizz feels more than he hears.

"Welcome to Hermitcraft, Skizzleman. This has been your initiation ritual into this madness," He jokes, his log-like arms resting around Skizz's back.

"I think I'm gonna like this gig," He responds with a laugh before wiggling a little bit. He feels Beef smile into his hair. On the other side, the shuffling sound from Tango and Cleo ceases as well. After a long negotiation, everyone is finally comfortable.

"Goodnight, everyone," Skizz says.

"Goodnight." The others respond.

As silence falls on the Musterd Milktots dirt hut, Skizz feels the most relaxed in months. Beef is already drifting off based on his breathing, and soft snores are heard from the other side. As Skizz starts succumbing to sleep, he thinks:

"Yeah. I'm gonna love it here."

[accidentally-in-fictional-love]

Chocolate Whiskey and a Borrowed Bed - Leo Fiske/Jack Delroy

Warnings: Era-influenced homophobia, publicly closeted Leo, entirely closeted Jack, mutual pining, Leo really gets around, blowjobs, handjobs, anal sex, hopes for the future ;w;

Wordcount: 10074

Summary: It's been one year exactly since Night Owls was brought back from the dead, so Leo throws the crew and their friends a big party at his unlisted address so they can all celebrate properly away from prying eyes after the near disaster last year almost was, and maybe, a little party is all Jack needs to finally get some things off his chest.

Notes: I wrote this for my wonderful talented amazing friend @glamgoths for her birthday, love youuuu 🥰���💗💗 she's a Jack/Leo truther to the point where it made me a Jack/Leo truther, Leo became so cool in my eyes that I not only have fun writing him in readers but it also overwrote my selfship jealousy in order to ship him with Jack, so I surprised her with this hehe

Halloween, 1978.

No one could explain what had happened last year no matter how they looked at it, their carefully planned show to get great ratings just in time for the start of Sweeps Week nearly ruined by a series of bad luck. Even he couldn’t figure it out, not with undeniable certainty, but it’d led to Christou getting some kind of food poisoning after his unknowingly staged communication with someone in their audience, then some carefully planned messages from some poor woman's son, and finally ending with him throwing up all over Haig after having to deal with his usual bullshit. 

It was funny if not shocking, but it had done the ratings good, something from his pre-show meal turning the contents in his stomach black, squid ink he'd said, which sounded disgusting when Leo had heard it, but damn if it hadn't worked in their favour.

Haig had kept his check in the end, and he'd flashed it in June's face when he'd been able to recreate the same kind of hypnosis as her, hell, it’d even gotten him a little backstage, but he’d never admit it. She'd stormed out when Jack tried to replay the footage of Lilly’s possession to then prove that she hadn’t faked anything, that'd been the last straw even with Lilly wanting to show Haig once and for all that he was wrong, and the show had ended with Cleo singing to a disappointed audience. But the ratings, the fight for that last scene that never came, they'd impressed Cavendish’s new vice president of marketing just like they’d wanted, and it'd brought the show back to life.

It was a year later, Halloween again, and this time Jack was determined to have Haig eat his words. He'd searched high and low for even better guests, found another illusionist like Haig had been but better, and the moment she’d walked out on stage it was clear that there was an air to her that Christou hadn’t held. She'd claimed to levitate as well as commune with the dead and read futures, and he'd almost paid - his presence was practically required after last year, to Jack's chagrin - but decidedly hadn't when she refused to tell him how it was done. The audience had been split, one half telling him to pay her while the other wanted to know how she did it when he did the same and he was perfectly fine with explaining it, and she'd ended up being consoled by Jack when she became overwhelmed on camera.

Leo didn't like that part of the show, just another June to replace Madeleine, and he'd downed a bit too much whiskey as the show continued on after the break. She didn't stay no matter how much Jack pleaded for her to, her bit was done in her eyes and Haig wouldn't let up even when the cameras were off, so Leo had to be the one to help her gather her stuff and make sure she reached her ride. He did it as calmly as possible even though the memory of Jack's arms around her made him light up a smoke while they waited by the busy street, despite her request that no one smoke around her; it was petty, but she'd live, a little smoke wouldn't kill her when it was very clear she'd only come on the show because she wanted to be near Jack, not because she believed in his mindset about the occult despite her career choice.

The show was wrapping up now, it felt like it'd lasted several hours this time instead of just one, and Leo had Jack's favourite ready for him with a spin, picked especially for tonight; it was a glass of Ballotin's new brand of chocolate whiskey, to keep in the spirit of Halloween and candy while also being perfect for a man surely stressed beyond belief because he needed to top last year, and as soon as the cameras cut and he handed over the glass, Jack downed it all before he even had a chance to open his mouth to congratulate him on how it’d went. It took him a moment to register the chocolate amidst the usual burn of the whiskey, his eyes going wide in surprise as Leo just smirked.

‘Thought you could use a taste of the party before we get there,’ he told him before blowing a light lungful of smoke towards the ceiling, Jack swirling the last drops around before taking a sniff.

‘So is this considered a trick, or a treat?’ he asked him, already starting to calm again now that it was over, and Leo liked the sight of that as he led him backstage to gather his own things as the crew cleaned up for the night. 

‘Depends on how much of a surprise it was,’ he figured as they reached the snack table, or what was left of it, it'd been picked clean between the crew and Jack sneaking the chocolatey treats to the Madame all night before her departure. Jack thought about it before considering it a treat apparently as he poured himself another glass, drank it back, and then left it to be cleaned up later. ‘You doing alright after Haig drove away your girlfriend again this year?’

‘You know I'm not seeing anyone, and I'm more concerned with how it all turned out, how were the phones this year?’

‘Ringing off the hook once she started floating and no one could find the strings, not even Haig,’ Leo told him, the two making their way out of their set room and into the hallway leading to the elevators. ‘Rang so much we had to borrow some phones, lots of questions about how we did it and if she'll be back with more, since she isn't performing live for a while.’

Jack did a little leap for joy as the elevator doors opened, his eyes wild with excitement over the news, he always got so youthful despite nearing his 50s the moment he learned that a show had done well; he was getting better with accepting he would never beat Carson, he'd been against the therapy at first, but seeing how much his fans and co-workers still cared for him had encouraged him to despite the stigma, and while he was still getting over Madeleine, at least he was okay with putting on a good show without also putting his entire self-worth on the line.

That was good, Leo liked to see him happy and wanting to be ready to knock ‘em dead again, he could worry about the numbers and the sponsors enough for the both of them from now on.

‘How late you gunna stay out tonight?’ he asked when they reached the ground floor, Jack thinking about it and pulling on his thick coat over top of his suit while they headed for the door leading to the staff parking lot.

‘Not long, trying to get better sleep, Bianca says that it'll help me focus better if I cut down on the late nights, try sleeping when the sun is down instead of working til it rises,’ he told him as they reached their cars, Leo holding his cigarette between cold fingers as he rested on the roof of his car.

‘Another woman in your life?’ he teased, but there was a bitterness in there, his eyes hidden by the dark as well as his sunglasses as Jack leaned against his own car.

‘Far from it, she's my therapist and she's married, for one,’ he chuckled almost nervously, Leo raising an eyebrow.

‘Hey, I won't tell her husband if you don't,’ he joked just to see if Jack liked her, the other man running what was definitely a nervous hand through his hair at that one.

‘For two, she isn't married to a man,’ he continued in a quieter voice than before, silence falling between them as Leo caught on instantly; they didn't talk about this sort of thing even though more of them were appearing in public. He was one of them, not that he'd ever tell, but she must trust Jack in order to tell him that, and the thought of why she'd trust him made him nearly crush his cigarette before he snuffed it out on the back of his hand really quick before tossing it away.

‘Ah, well, that'll put a stop to things,’ he agreed, Jack laughing again a little more easily now that he knew Leo wouldn't judge this random woman he knew. There was a flash of something in his eye, even from afar and in the dim lights he could see it from there, and he gave the car a tap to get Jack's attention when he started to unlock his door. ‘Hey, why don't I give you a ride to my place, save a bit on gas?’

‘You gunna drive me home later? I already told you I can't stay long this time,’ he reminded him, but he was already walking over, and Leo waved away his concern for his sleep schedule.

‘You know I've got plenty of room, just steal a bed when you've had enough, at least stay up to bob for some apples and watch a movie with us, I spent a lotta time setting all this shit up,’ Leo insisted, and Jack laughed even easier as he reached for the handle.

‘You mean you got your assistant to set it up?’

‘Fuck no, she only knows about the penthouse, not the house.’ They piled into his car and he turned on the heat as soon as the engine turned over for Jack's sake, and he had to admit it was a nice sight to have him sitting there in the passenger seat as he fiddled with its position and got warmed up. He didn't smoke anymore, he'd quit for good after last year, and Leo made sure not to light up on the way to the house; naturally there was a group of them gathered around his front door when they arrived, he'd banned it inside to avoid Jack giving in to any cravings and forcing him to restart again, and made a mental note to tell them to go out back next time. He shooed them aside as they approached even though Jack didn't need him to, everyone was already inside since those who knew about the place knew where the spare key was hidden, and they'd started everything while the show was finishing up.

He found out who'd gotten there first and went to thank them as Jack went through the motions of another successful show to those who didn't see him as often, the two separating as the party took them elsewhere for a while; he'd made sure to leave a note for the ones who arrived early, since it'd be a choice on their end seeing as they all knew that filming didn't finish til 1AM, and the living room and kitchen were filled with adult versions of the classic activities the kids around the city were surely also doing. There was a cheap tub filled with water and apples as promised, but there were also a bunch of hidden items in boxes the guests could touch and then guess at what was inside. There was a pin the skull on the skeleton taped to the wall as well as the tail on the werewolf for those who were feeling a little more childish on this fun night, and of course, the kitchen was filled with snacks and candy galore. 

He'd secretly spent a fortune on tonight because he knew this was Jack's favourite holiday, and because he needed to keep riding the high of good company and even better alcohol - he was still working on that - so he needed to make this as tempting as possible. On the outside he looked uninterested with it all, he was the adult here amidst this group of children, but on the inside he was glad everyone was enjoying themselves, small smiles escaping him when someone got too excited about placing the tail or skull correctly, by grabbing an apple on the first try. It took a while but Jack joined them after he met with what was probably every single person in the house - and even the ones outside - to continue marketing himself to them, making more connections, now that he was back, as he put it.

Leo let him mingle until he was done, and he had more Ballotin ready for him when he found him in the kitchen while he was going over the supplies for the remainder of the party. ‘No thanks, I've been trying to cut back, believe it or not.’

‘Jack Delroy, I can believe you when you say you've given up smoking, but drinking? What's gunna keep you running these late nights?’ Leo joked as he accepted the glass from himself instead, but this time Jack didn't laugh, in fact, the mood seemed to have dropped a bit. ‘You're serious?’

‘Yeah, Bianca helped me see I was relying too much on it after- after Minnie, so I've been cutting back, what you gave me earlier was the first drink I've had all week,’ he confessed in the emptiness of the kitchen while everyone else partied in the other rooms, and Leo felt a somberness he hadn't felt since he'd heard about Madeleine's diagnosis fall over him. Jack talked a lot about things, he had big dreams and never stopped at them no matter what tried to keep him down, it was the thing that drew Leo to him in the first place when he was looking for a producer to help get him into TV, and it was what made him fall in love, along with a long list of other things.

Yeah, he'd admit it sometimes, he'd fallen in love with Jack instead of just telling himself it was a crush that grown men shouldn't have on other men, but Jack was easy to love, always had been, even when Minnie had gotten there first and stolen his heart so completely that she never left, even after death.

He set the glass down on the counter and walked over to Jack where he was still picking through the assorted snacks for the specific ones he wanted, a small pile of chocolate-covered pretzels in his hand as Leo rounded the island and clapped a hand on his friend's shoulder. Jack stiffened, he'd probably meant to keep this one a secret since the smoking was shared by so many in the studio, and Leo squeezed to let him know that he'd respect that journey the same way he had the moment Jack had swore he'd quit for good when he'd been offered a smoke come November 1st last year.

Jack smiled and held Leo's hand over his shoulder, this was getting dangerous, but there was no one there to judge as Leo refused to pull away, just like he always did when Jack needed him to stand by his side. ‘You're a good friend, Leo, you've been there for me since the start, if you hadn't been with me when I lost her, I… I don't know what I would've done,’ Jack told him quietly, his energetic voice so soft the way it always was when he talked about Madeleine and almost quitting the business, and he knew he shouldn't, but he couldn't help but pull Jack into a tight hug. 

‘You're a good man, Jack, always been better than the rest of us, how could I let you crash and burn out there when there's still so much fire in you?’ he asked into his arm, because he couldn't face him, and he heard Jack let out a breath as he nuzzled into his neck in appreciation. He didn't get the shivers, his heart didn't skip a beat, his face didn't redden, but Leo felt like he could maybe admit he was in love twice in one night as Jack took all he could from the hug and finally pulled away. He looked a bit better, he must've been having a hard time restraining from everything when this time of the year was so hard to top, and instead of the whiskey, Leo grabbed two glasses and filled them with ice water instead.

This one Jack did accept, and they toasted over chocolate pretzels and candy corn while someone pinned something perfectly according to the yells from the next room. Jack drank it with a hiss through his teeth at the freeze instead of the burn, and he placed the glass on the counter and took his pretzels with a small shrug towards the stairs in the distance. ‘Gunna turn in for the night, you still got my room made up?’ he asked as he walked backwards towards it, and Leo tipped his glass towards him, of course he did, he always would. Jack nodded and helped himself to one of his pretzels before disappearing into the crowd, Leo watching him go before heading back out there himself, a smile plastered to his face as he greeted the night owls and other business casual friends, the late hours ticking away until they needed to either leave or crash on his couches. 

He made sure to clean up before retiring for the night as well, he'd hate himself come morning if he didn't no matter how much he wanted to put it on the ones currently taking up his couches, armchair, and even floor as well as the remaining rooms upstairs, and it was well into the AMs by the time everything in the kitchen at least was tidied so as to not disturb those already resting. He was dead tired as he scaled the stairs so he could finally get to his room, a symphony of snores coming from the spares lining the halls as they always did when he threw parties like this; it was the reason he bought the place, he'd always known people, even when he was young, thanks to his parents and who they in turn knew, so continuing that tradition and getting a place where he could gather everyone together and create this kind of environment for them in this unlisted home had always been second nature to him, always been who he knew he would be when he grew older.

He reached his room and turned the handle, everyone knowing to stay away because he did not lend this one to anyone if he was going to stay the night no matter who they were, and he was in the middle of taking off his sunglasses and rubbing his eyes when he noticed that the bed wasn't empty.

His eyes adjusted to the dark as he stared at the form under his blankets, someone had come in and snagged it while he was downstairs, and an annoyance like no other overtook him as he stormed over to kick them out, this room was off limits. He stopped when he saw it was Jack, his suit jacket ditched and the buttons on his shirt undone as he snored soundly away under the covers. The hair peeking over his undershirt made Leo stare even though he'd seen it before during emergency costume changes, or when Jack and Madeleine used to take over his pool. Now it felt like this was against some rule that'd never been spoken, this was intimate, a side of him he shouldn't be seeing, and he sighed before rubbing his eyes again and giving his friend a small shake.

‘C’mon, I wanna get some rest, go find your room,’ he told him softly, like he didn't want to wake him despite what he was both saying and doing, but when Jack understandably continued to sleep he steeled himself and pushed a little harder. ‘Jack, let's go, let me sleep.’

‘This is where I wanna be,’ Jack mumbled as he got even comfier, and Leo retracted his hand instantly as if he'd been burned.

‘This is my room, thought you asked about your usual?’ His voice just kept lowering even though he was actively fighting to speak loudly so as to keep Jack from falling back asleep, the latter glancing up at him through one barely opened eye before reaching for his hand and pulling it back to not his arm, but to his chest.

‘Let me stay…’ he whispered before his face softened again, he was just conscious enough to ask as he now actively tried not to fight off sleep so he wouldn’t have to leave, and Leo considered it before he frowned; he knew this couldn't be what he wanted, it was dangerous to be what he was and he couldn't have Jack following after him after working so hard to gain Cavendish's favour and sponsor and bringing Night Owls back from the dead.

‘Jack, stop this, get outta my bed,’ he demanded, his usual firmness back in place to protect himself, and this woke Jack up as he sat up with surprisingly clarity and stared him down.

‘I'm where I want to be,’ he repeated, and Leo's eyes trailed over his chest before he grabbed onto him, tried to pull him up.

‘You're too old to be playing games like this, you're a grown man for Christ's sake,’ he insisted as he tugged, Jack fighting him until he lost his balance; he fell forward, a knee shooting out to stop himself from crashing into the other man, and there was a moment where they stared at each other in the dark. He swallowed, this was too intimate, this was dangerous, if anyone heard and came to see what was wrong the both of them might lose everything even though nothing was even happening, he couldn’t do this to him, he’d nearly lost it all before.

He tried to shove him away, just let him have the bed, he’d find another room or join someone on the goddamn floor if he had to, but Jack was holding him so firmly, just like he did when he’d come to him about Madeleine’s sickness, and her passing. He was refusing to let go, and there was a sadness in his eyes underneath the desperation and fight to stay, there was something he was hiding from him just like he had about going sober. He tried to pull away again but Jack tightened his grip and used all his strength to attempt to bring Leo to his chest, and when that didn’t work he threw himself into his arms.

‘Jack, you don’t know what you’re doing,’ he warned, but his voice wasn't as harsh as before, and he felt Jack shake his head against his shoulder before turning to press his face into his neck. ‘Jack-’ He grabbed on but he couldn’t yank him off, he hadn’t drank much and that had been hours ago but he must be drunk, he knew the dangers too, there was no way this could happen no matter how the world was progressing, not for them.

‘Please, I’ll get you something to drink, you don’t even have to do anything with me, just let me pretend that it’s normal to feel this way, just for one night,’ Jack whispered into his skin, his unkempt hair disturbing Leo’s curls, and he froze and stopped trying to pull him away when he felt Jack tremble.

‘How long?’ he could only ask, and Jack didn’t pull away.

‘Since the Grove, being around the other men reminded me of what I’d forgotten.’

‘Fuck, no- how long have you wanted this from me?’ He paused when Jack didn’t answer. ‘Or am I just- the one you thought you could ask?’

It took him a while but he did answer, and Leo saw himself standing in the UBC lobby while Jack tried to make it past the receptionist all those years ago. All his big dreams to get into television instead of radio had made him turn on the charm with her, but when she couldn’t do anything because his low priority appointment had been canceled in favour of a high priority call and lunch date, he’d become desperate. Leo had watched as Jack had looked almost ready to give in and try again later, that fire in his eyes still there along with his frustration because he’d come so far, he had the experience and charisma, he just needed a chance.

Leo had been the one to give it to him, not because he’d fallen in love, because it’d taken a while for that to happen, but because he wanted to see what he could do.

‘Even before Minnie, I’ve… always wanted it from you,’ Jack confessed in the quiet of Leo’s bedroom like they were a couple of confused and experimenting teenagers again, just two kids who felt things that the world would never understand, come 30 years too late. Leo was definitely confused, he’d seen the way Jack loved Madeleine, that had been real, there were no lies or performances for the cameras between them, but for him to say this, to look like he truly meant it, maybe he knew less about the world than he thought. ‘Sorry, forget it, it’s the whiskey talking, I’m not actually a-’

‘You’re sober, you’ve been sober,’ Leo reminded him harshly, not wanting him to back out when it was reminding him too much of every single man he’d ever been with who told him the same the moment it was over, along with many utterings of it throughout whenever they asked him to fuck them. It hurt too much to see it come from Jack, the one man he actually wanted to be with, not just sleep with, and he let himself slip for just a moment as he pried his hands off of his arms so he could hold them instead. ‘You say it came back to you at the Grove? Have you been with anyone since you moved up here?’

‘No one, just Minnie,’ he replied like saying it was easing that weight, and Leo let his head fall forward until he was almost leaning on Jack’s shoulder; this was hard, if he let Jack know that he felt the same it would change everything, he could have what he wanted and be there for him in more ways than just as his producer. He could know how it felt to go home with him like tonight all the time, he could hold him in his bed without having to push him away or worry about those on the other side of his door, he could be the one Jack whispered and smiled at the same way he watched him do to Madeleine for years.

If he told him, he might just be the one Jack loved.

‘I just saw someone, the other week I think it was, right after the show,’ Leo told him, he hadn’t told anyone before, there was no one to tell. ‘We’ve been on and off for a few years, nothing actually serious, just casual fucking whenever we need it, cause I- shit, I never forgot, Jack.’

Jack swallowed as he looked at him in a new light, and it was like a weight had lifted off his own shoulders, but now a new weight was replacing it, because if Jack was like the others, if he did this with him now and then pretended like it’d never happened the next day, Leo would drink himself into a fucking oblivion.

‘So you’ve actually…?’ He couldn’t even say it, so Leo matched him by only nodding. ‘Yeah, me too, that thing they say about the rituals and the- the orgies, christ- it’s all- it’s all true, and once I was in, and they invited me to them, I couldn’t forget again.’ He looked almost ashamed, he might actually be like those other men, and Leo let go of his hands to grab him by the shoulders, he wouldn’t lose him to that shame over who he was now that he was saying it.

‘Jack, hey, listen to me,’ he urged as Jack actually looked away even though he’d been so ready for this, he’d planned on it by coming in here and getting into his bed, begging him to stay, he couldn’t back down now. ‘There’s nothing wrong with you, you hear me? Even if you had to find out again because of that, there’s nothing wrong with either of us, but it’s up to you whether you want to go forward with who you are, or to hide it again.’ Jack refused to look at him as he spoke, but he could see the gears turning, he was thinking, deciding on what his future would be now that they both knew about each other, and Leo was ready to give him all the time Jack needed to think when he suddenly leaned forward and kissed him.

His eyes went wide while Jack’s scrunched shut, this was so different from the way he held Madeleine, and he decided to give him time with this until Jack slowly pulled away; the gears were still turning, and Leo watched as he licked his lips, looked at his producer’s, and leaned in again. This time it was softer, more testing than just going for it, and he pretended like this hadn’t been what he’d been wanting for years as he eased his grip on Jack’s shoulders and let him figure it all out, he wouldn’t rush him.

It felt like he’d forgotten how to kiss, it’d been over a year since Madeleine had died already but he’d figured that he’d been at least hooking up once the guilt of having feelings for others had lessened, but with the way he was kissing him so carefully, like he was afraid to want more let alone touch him, he had to wonder if Jack had just been alone this whole time. It made him want to be patient even more despite his brain telling him to kiss him back already, and it wasn't until Jack rested his hand against Leo’s jaw and tried to deepen it that he allowed himself to. It came easier for Jack after that, like he was remembering it all, like he was getting comfortable in what he wanted, and Leo finally felt what Madeleine did when Jack let out a small sigh against his mouth and started to shift forward.

This was bad, this was exactly what he wanted and Leo didn’t know if he could stop as Jack got more into it, his unbuttoned shirt slipping off his shoulders before he was moving onto Leo’s. Jack was too big to slot himself onto Leo’s lap like the smaller men who wanted him to hold them down and treat them like girls, even like the men who’d never bottomed in their lives but wanted him to show them how, but damn if he wouldn’t try as he gave in and kissed him back with everything he had. He took off his own shirt thanks to Jack’s helpful hands, his own then sliding over Jack’s warm thighs to cup his ass.

He felt different than the others because he was Jack, this was a body he’d been beside every single day since he’d brought him upstairs to get his canceled appointment followed through, one so familiar to him in every way but still feeling so different under his palms and fingers. He knew each curve hidden under those pressed slacks, knew the exact angle his back naturally curved to when he hunched forward, knew how sharp his jawline was as he talked, but it was fresh and new to him as he reacquainted himself with each one. His thighs were full yet they held a slimness that allowed him to partially crawl onto his lap without any trouble. His ass was firm but also gave way in just the way he liked when he kneaded at it. His spine could just slightly be felt when his hand slipped under his undershirt for more, and his jaw worked in an almost devilish way as his clever tongue danced over Leo’s own.

It was all new, but in a way he’d always known all of this, and he groaned when Jack broke the kiss to mouth at his neck.

He shoved him back down onto the pillows, he didn’t know what Jack had done at the Grove and he wouldn’t ask, but for now he would show him how it felt to be loved by a man, not just fucked. It seemed to be exactly what Jack wanted, if he wasn't lying then he’d wanted this for maybe just as long as Leo had, and he returned the favour by leaving a trail of marks where they wouldn’t be seen by the cameras. Jack let out a noise that went straight to Leo’s dick as his hands tangled in his hair, wrapped in his curls and tugged in a way that drove him crazy, was he like this with the others, with Madeleine? 

He didn’t want to think about them now, not even her because he was with her husband, just like how he could never look her in the eye after every single night he got off imagining that the man underneath him was hers.

He lifted Jack’s undershirt over his head and moved down even further, it was clear that he either did really want this or he really hadn’t been with anyone since she got sick because Jack was so hard it looked like he could barely stand it. It made his mouth water at the sight, and he licked his lips before mouthing at his pants, his hands working on his belt. He didn’t give head that often, he preferred to receive it, because that way he could help himself to a cold glass full of dark liquid and guide their heads while he shut his eyes and pretended, but tonight he wanted to if it was going to be for him.

‘Leo…’ Jack moaned as he watched, and he wished he hadn’t taken off his sunglasses so soon because now Jack would know exactly where his eyes were while he did this. He tugged his pants down his hips a little, he was getting too old for this kind of foreplay this late at night with no sleep, but he was sure as hell going to try for as long as his back allowed if it meant getting to look up and see Jack looking back at him with that expression. He looked ready to burst, maybe it was the former and not the latter, and he hoped that it was true as he mouthed him through his briefs and started to palm him.

He waited until Jack was practically begging for it before pulling him out, and he mentally recited what had to be the first prayer he’d said since he was a child in Sunday school as he ran his palm dryly over the shaft just to feel his heat. He felt Jack pulse against his palm, a twitch following as Jack lifted his hips to try and fuck his loose fist, and Leo spit into his palm before stroking Jack more eagerly. His head fell back against the pillows, his legs already tensing as he was forced to look away, and Leo licked his lips again before taking the tip into his mouth and swirling his tongue over the leaking head.

Jack was already panting, a new but familiar desperation was overwhelming him more than he could handle after a year of abstinence, and Leo had to take his mouth away to hush him before continuing; if anyone woke up from their drunken stupors long enough to hear Jack’s voice coming from his room then it was all over, and he eased up just enough for Jack to catch his breath. He waited until he was quieter before taking the rest of him into his mouth as much as he could manage, and he savoured the taste of him and his lust like he would die the moment he forgot it.

Jack covered his mouth before grabbing Leo’s discarded shirt and biting down on it to muffle the noises when he couldn’t keep his hand in place, and Leo glanced up to see his friend bucking his hips and screwing his eyes shut tight as his teeth showed over the fabric. He moaned around him, Jack shaking his head at the feeling because that was too much, he couldn’t handle that, and Leo cocked an eyebrow at him before doing it again. Jack let go of the shirt and needed to cover his mouth again while his other hand found Leo’s hair, tried to get him to stop because it was going to make him come, and he just gripped his hips and bobbed his head a little faster in response.

He was lightly thrusting against his mattress so his moans came easier, he was never this vocal but it was driving Jack wild, and he was ready to be whatever he wanted him to be as the hand in his hair gave him a warning tug. He took him deeper, it was making him choke, he was definitely getting too old for this, but between Jack pulling his hair with both hands to get him off before the pleasure took him over and the growing sounds of his need he knew he’d risk that sore throat to finish this. He had to shut his own eyes when the sight of Jack fucking up into his mouth so he could come nearly pushed him over the edge, and he swallowed down every last drop as he felt his come shoot down his throat between punishing thrusts of the soft head hitting him where no man had been allowed before tonight.

He didn’t pull off until Jack was done, he’d needed that so badly that he’d gone limp the moment he was done, and Leo caught his breath and cleared his throat as he pushed himself back onto his knees; he never swallowed, he didn’t like the taste, but with Jack, like everything else, it was different, and he crawled up until he was practically straddling him. ‘Did anyone ever do that with you at the Grove?’ he rasped, Jack just shaking his head as he covered his eyes with his arm.

‘Always… made me take it… I… I liked it,’ he heaved, and Leo’s dick twitched so hard in his pants that he needed to get them off before he broke the old zipper. He didn’t take himself out, there was no way Jack would want to go again even if he was able to after coming that hard, and he gave himself a few tugs out of sight to ease the pressure before noticing that Jack was watching him again. He breathed a little heavier as he stroked himself again, Jack’s eyes trailing down until there was no denying what he was looking at, Leo doing it again, then again, until he couldn’t take it.

He rested on his heels as he jerked himself off, Jack eagerly watching like he wanted more before he sat up, slid his legs further under Leo’s body so he could get closer. He didn’t ask for permission again, just went for it as he palmed his friend and felt the way his hand moved under his pants, and Leo groaned again at his curious fingers then slipping in beside his own. Jack silently pushed aside his hand to stroke him instead, and his hand was smooth from years of easy labour even though he worked so hard. He braced himself on Jack’s shoulders and moved his hips, properly fucked his hand when Jack pulled him out so he could see him too, the two of them moving with each other in a way that Leo had never done with any of the others.

Jack loved gently, even though there was desire behind it he made love, Leo knew that just from the way he was being held. He pushed aside thoughts of him touching Madeleine just as gently, thoughts he’d kept coming back to when Jack had been a little too affectionate while they were in public, but no matter what they kept returning until Jack noticed his distress. He kissed his neck again, did it the way he liked to, and there were no desperate bites, no marks left behind by men who wanted to get off and go back out there like this wasn't who they were.

Jack kissed him like he loved him, and if Leo were an emotional guy that might’ve wrung something out of him, but it didn’t entirely as he just let his nails dig into his back and leave behind proof that this was happening. ‘I want you to fuck me, as soon as I felt that man inside me I knew I wanted to feel you too,’ Jack whispered to him, not in a way to turn him on more, but to left out this secret that he’d been holding onto for years.

‘You gotta stop touching me in order for that to happen,’ Leo reminded him, but neither made the move to disconnect as his pleasure built higher and higher. Right when he was about to come he grabbed Jack by the wrist and got him to stop, if he just had tonight then he wanted to fuck him too, he wouldn’t accept that Jack wouldn’t pretend like this was more than just longful sex once the sun rose, and he went to his nightstand to pull out his lube and condoms.

‘No, we all had to wear them at the Grove, I want to feel you,’ Jack insisted as he placed his hand over the condom, and Leo shook his head.

‘I’ve been with too many men, and it’s been a while since I was tested with how busy this month was, I won’t put you at risk.’ It wasn't a lie, but he also didn’t want to know how Jack felt around him like that, how warm and tight he’d be when he finally pushed inside.

‘Then stop seeing them,’ Jack blurted out seriously, his hand closing around the condom and wrenching it from Leo’s grip, ‘just stop, you won’t need them anymore if you have- if we-’

‘I won’t tie you down as some random fuck whenever either of us needs it,’ Leo frowned, and Jack shook his head again, his shoulders hunching as he thought about how to word this.

‘You don’t understand, I don’t just want a random fuck, Leo.’ Now Jack was frowning, but Leo wouldn’t believe it, he couldn’t after wanting this for so long, and Jack broke him out of it by kissing him again. He didn’t pull away until Leo was kissing him back, and he brushed his curls aside as he rested his forehead against him, their faces mere inches apart. ‘You know me, you know how much I care for the ones I love, I don’t want you to just be a random fuck,’ he continued in a whisper, they were so close again, and Leo felt his hands grip Jack even harder. ‘I’ve wanted you ever since you helped me get in, long before I saw Minnie.’

‘You chose her,’ Leo finally said, he’d been holding it in for so long, and Jack nodded this time.

‘I loved her more than I have any other woman, but I’ve always loved you, too, I just couldn’t have you, not out there,’ Jack confessed to him, and for once Leo let himself get sentimental as he hugged Jack tightly.

‘You won’t be able to have me out there even after this, they don’t understand people like us,’ he said softly, Jack nodding again, ‘I can live with it with those men, I don’t love any of them, but you-’

Jack froze as Leo realized what he’d said, he’d admitted it, he hadn’t wanted to but it’d just come out, but Jack didn’t look like he was going to back out now that he knew exactly what was going on here. ‘As long as we’re here, they’ll never find us,’ he murmured so softly it was almost below a whisper, said only for him, ‘we don’t need the penthouse or my place, we can just come here.’

‘They’ll find it eventually if we keep being seen together, we can only explain away so much to those vultures out there,’ Leo said bitterly, but Jack was soft, he was so soft as he was the one to hush him, this was how he loved.

‘I’ve always pushed the boundaries on Night Owls, it might skyrocket the ratings if they learned that Mr. Midnight was a homosexual, or whatever I am,’ he didn’t exactly joke, but Leo still coughed out a laugh all the same.

‘A widowed TV host and his homosexual producer revealing themselves to be getting together behind the scenes, the media will have a fucking frenzy with that one,’ he agreed, and Jack kissed him again before tossing the condom out of reach even though there were more in the nightstand.

‘Exactly, so why don’t you fuck me for tonight, and we’ll figure this out tomorrow, just like we always do?’ Jack suggested as he broke away to lean back against the headboard; Leo didn’t need to be convinced any more after that, and together they finished stripping each other like this was their first time and they couldn’t wait to get to the main event. Jack was already getting hard as they ditched their clothes and started kissing again, and Leo was about to touch him before thinking of something. He quickly got up and locked his door, no one would be able to come in no matter what they heard now, and it wasn't perfect but it would have to do as he rejoined Jack on the bed.

‘How do you want me to do this, old man?’ Leo teased now that Jack had finally passed the final threshold before he reached 50s as of this year, and he thought about it before getting on his hands and knees. ‘That’s a young man’s position, you think your knees can handle it?’

‘You think you can make me come again before your back acts up?’ Jack teased right back since they were only a few months apart, and he smirked and rubbed himself against his ass to get him to shut up; this felt right, this was how they’d always talked even though Jack was pushing back against his dick for just a little more until he could fuck him. If he’d just bit the bullet and asked back then, threw out some subtle hints that maybe he was interested, could they have had this all this time? Could he have been the one Jack came home to after every show instead of her? He didn’t know with how long it took either of them to say something, but he was glad he could have it now as he lubed himself up and started to stretch Jack out. ‘Don’t waste time, they never did, we can go slow the next time we’re here, I want to spend the whole night with you.’

Leo didn’t like the thought of who knew how many men treating Jack like that, but they could unpack all of that later, for now he really needed to get off now that it was coming back to him again. He teased Jack for just a moment before pushing in, and it was too tight but he didn’t seem to mind it, Leo would have to teach him about actual gay foreplay at this rate, but Jack was right, they could do it when they could spend the whole night together. It took him another moment to set a pace, Jack felt even better than he expected and he couldn’t get enough of the slow drag until the head was catching on his rim and making him keen, and he repeated the action a few times before getting to it.

He was used to the position, to the feeling and sounds of men under him like this, but he wanted to forget it all and learn it all again as he ran his hands over Jack’s back and started to thrust. Already it sounded like it was too much for him, like he was about to come if he kept this up, and he alternated between going fast and hard enough to nearly make him shout and slowing down until it almost felt like torture. He rolled his hips as he slowed, made Jack feel every inch of him as he did, and he could see his arms shaking in the dim light, he couldn’t hold himself up for long at this rate. He splayed his hand over his lower back and pushed as he traveled down to the base of his skull, and he guided Jack to rest on the pillows before trailing his hand over his jaw and to his mouth.

‘Suck.’

Jack obeyed, he must’ve been used to this command because he gave a wanton clench as he ran his tongue over Leo’s fingers, and he shuddered at the feeling before fucking him hard again. Jack moaned around his fingers as they both got what they wanted, two men who couldn’t even hold hands out there finding solace in fucking in silence, in the safety of his home that was currently compromised by the people he’d so willingly invited in. They couldn’t take this from him, when Jack had married Madeleine he’d thought that he’d have to let him go for good, but fate had allowed him just this one happiness that hadn’t been bought, hadn’t been given to him on a silver platter.

It was real, it was his, and he removed his fingers from Jack’s mouth so he could grip him by the hip and the shoulder as his orgasm started to build.

Sweat was dripping off the both of them from the exertion, the bed creaking with each thrust, Jack’s sounds muffled by the pillows as he hung on for dear life, Leo so expertly quiet after a lifetime of hiding that this was easy for him until Jack turned his head to the side. He looked back at him, eyes half lidded, mouth slightly agape with a smile, and in that expression Leo saw not lust but love, he really did love him, and he reached around to quickly jerk Jack off until he was coming just so he didn’t have to look at that expression any longer. He practically cried into the pillow at the feeling of Leo still going until the sensation was too much and he came too, and he’d never had sex without a condom before, but fuck if he didn’t like the feeling of coming inside the man he was resting his forehead against.

He didn’t pull out at first, he physically couldn’t, but eventually he had to, they needed to get cleaned up and one of them needed to find a different place to sleep before the others awoke and saw them leaving together. He was already thinking about the dawn but Jack was still a Night Owl, and when Leo pulled out and moved to get up Jack was quick to pull him right back down. They bounced on the mattress and it gave a concernedly loud creak that had them both freeze, but there were no bangs on the wall to shut up, no signs that anyone had heard them at all.

Leo lay with his back to his friend, or whatever he was now, before he couldn’t take it anymore and turned to face him, and he wasn't surprised to see how wet Jack’s cheeks were. Here it came, now that it was over he’d realize that he’d said a lot of things he didn’t mean like all the others still in hiding, he wasn't ready for a relationship in general, let alone one with a man, the end was coming before the sun rose. But Jack never said he regretted it, he was crying but it wasn't in sorrow this time, and Leo just laid there as Jack reached up to trace the shapes of his face, learned them more intimately than anyone else ever had before.

‘I nearly asked you to dinner that day, when we were in the elevator,’ he said vaguely, but Leo still knew he meant the day they’d met. ‘I was so scared being up here, thought for sure I was going to fail and that I’d have to go back to Chicago to beg for my job back, but you… you’d been the first to see me, you believed in me, how- how’s a guy not supposed to fall in love with that?’

Leo swallowed, he’d know those words anywhere no matter how they were changed, and he swore he wasn't sentimental, but he thought he might be as Jack looked up at him with a vulnerability he hadn’t seen since the funeral. ‘It’s a good thing you didn’t, I would've made you buy,’ he joked, but Jack was serious, and he didn’t say anything as the other man leaned in to kiss him again. He didn’t know what an afterglow was like, he was used to the others getting up and leaving while he had a smoke and got back to work, that was what worked best for him now that he’d gotten it out of his system and could go another week pretending that he was into all the pretty girls who tried to woo him to get onto the show, just for a little bit.

He turned them all down, he couldn’t fake an orgasm to save his life and any one of those girls could out him on that when he didn’t let them on the show after such a poor performance, but now-

Now he wouldn’t have to, they would never ask Jack himself after crying on live TV over his wife, and now Jack could come to him whenever one of the guests got a little too friendly, he didn’t have to watch him entertain them anymore. He chuckled to himself when they parted before rolling over to grab a smoke from the other nightstand, losing himself in the thought all the way up to flicking the ignitor, and he stopped with the cigarette in his mouth before remembering that Jack had quit. He quickly apologized but Jack just took it from him, lit it up, and enjoyed one single puff before handing it over.

‘I’m more concerned with the drinking, little late to cure more lung cancer if I’ve got it,’ he figured as Leo took his own puff, although that thought of that made him falter and hold it a bit too long.

‘Should we get that checked when I make sure I’m clean this weekend?’ he suggested, but Jack shook his head.

‘Already did, it skipped me, but if you want to…’ He trailed off, Leo exhaling again before putting it out, he could live with that much. ‘I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you to it too, to see you like that, I wouldn’t be able to come back to the studio knowing you weren’t there, it was hard enough going home to an empty house back then,’ he admitted, and Leo swore to himself that he’d quit too, cold turkey, if it meant he wouldn’t put the man beside him through that again.

‘We can do that, then,’ he decided, their first decision as a whatever they were, and Jack slightly smiled at him as another tear fell. ‘Christ, never thought I’d get clean because of anyone, let alone because I wanna do it for you,’ he muttered like he truly couldn’t believe it, but deep down he knew that he would’ve done it sooner had Jack asked, would’ve done it the moment Madeleine got diagnosed if he’d said those words to him. He knew it, and he could’ve sworn that Jack knew it too as he found his hand and held it. 

Jack was always a cuddler, he liked to be near those he loved and it made him inseparable from Madeleine until the end, and while Leo exactly wasn't the physical affection type, he never could keep his hands off Jack, and he let him curl up against him with a sigh that didn’t sound as forced as he’d wanted.

‘Y'know we can’t tell Gus about us, right?’ he said to the ceiling when Jack started to fall asleep again, and he came back to life at the sound of Leo’s voice. ‘He’s a God fearing man, he’s bound to have a sermon or two ready if either of us let it slip.’

‘Gus is fine, he seemed surprisingly interested when I casually pitched to him the possibility of having Bianca and her wife come on to talk about their lives, they’ve been talking about telling their family,’ Jack yawned, Leo raising an eyebrow at him again.

‘Pretty personal confession to a patient,’ he frowned, and Jack shook his head as the sleep started to take him again.

‘I told her about myself, which prompted her to tell me, it’s because of her that I wanted to do this tonight,’ he confessed, he was too tired to save this for when he was fully conscious, and Leo rubbed at his eyes again at the mental image of Jack coming out to some random woman only to come to the conclusion that he needed to finally confess after what was probably a very long session about the both of them, not just him.

‘Should’ve told me after how long we’ve known each other, but… I guess I get it,’ he figured, Jack nodding just slightly over his chest, he was almost gone. ‘So we get these lesbians on air, talk about therapy or something, and then you and I announce to the whole world that we’re now, what? Fucking, dating, living together?’ Jack mumbled out a confirmation, he had no idea what was going on on the other side of his eyelids. ‘It sounds nice, honestly, to imagine a world where we could do that and now lose the show, and the crew.’ No response, just light snoring. ‘It’s nearly the 80s now, dawn of a new decade coming up in just a couple years, maybe times will change before the next century, maybe one day you can talk to everyone about your own life, and I’ll be out there with you.’

He was talking too much only because he knew Jack couldn’t hear him, he was sentimental.

‘I think I want that for us, if we’re really doing this, fuck, 49 years of hiding and sleeping around with whoever I could find out there, I dunno how you did it for so long,’ he continued quietly, or maybe he was thinking it, sleep was starting to take him too now that he finally knew how warm an afterglow could be. Jack had pulled himself over his arm, and Leo fought to bend it until he could hold him back, the latter now even more on his chest to allow it. He looked down at him in the dark, he’d wanted this sight for so long that he still couldn’t believe he could have it, and he was definitely sentimental as he leaned over just enough to press a kiss to the top of Jack’s head.

He felt him grin against his bare chest before draping a leg over him, he must’ve smothered Madeleine all the time in their bed back in the day, and he shut his eyes and willed her from his mind for good. He apologized to her as she left, but Jack wasn't the only one who hadn’t let her go in all this time, and he prayed that she could finally rest as he ran his fingers through the short strands at the back of Jack’s neck, he’d take care of him for her, for the both of them, from now on.

[raindropren]

I've had a really hard time putting "Real life" into my canon without it being, weird?

It's hard to put the events, mechanics, and scenes into something that fits into the canon of my AU. Not to mention I can't put my Headcanon of life games being in a longer time frame than the actual episodes were since it was only one episode, I'd debated about making it completely non-canon to my AU, but that felt, bbbaadddd,,,

my first actual idea was to straight up make it some sort of VR thing in canon, that way, the way they acted made more sense... but the other stuff didn't, so while I liked the visuals I was thinking of, it felt off, and kinda stupid when I thought about it more :/

the entire thing has been bouncing around in my head since I decided to bite into "Real Life" and actually watch the videos(I hadn't before, probably a week ago lol)

I thought about it more, and it being a collective dream, might work well. Dreams are short, shorter then you normally realize, and they are kinda funky feeling? You have a reason for it only being an episode worth of canon and the reason everyone's acting sick and uneasy with movement despite it still being a Minecraft-based world.

In my AU, the Watchers are the reason the life games are happening, they control what's there and the mechanics that we see. They can't control what the players do, but they can manipulate the players, they change certain emotions to be easy to come and hard to go, they can't change everything but they can twist it to be more to their liking. This has become my canon's reason for why everyones so hostile, paranoid, and angry during the games, but outside of it, they're all still friends, and would never actually want to hurt the others.

so in my AU, how i've started thinking about it, is that, "Real Life" was a quick, "we haven't really done anything in awhile" type move, They were stuck on what Wild Life would be and decided to do something easy, because they couldn't possibly just,,, leave these critters alone for once, no no, never! So they put them in a collective weird dream that had the same mechanics as the first, but because Dreams are funky feeling, it made them uneasy with movement, and some, sick feeling.

I'm now toying with the idea that everyone that had the dream thinks that they just had a really really weird dream that so happened to have everyone's personalities as pretty damn realistic. That nobody else had the dream and it was just them!! it wasn't! lol

It very well could be the explanation for why when talking about "The last series that happened" they talk about Secret life instead of RL or just never mention that "Real life" was a thing or that Cleo won it,, I haven't watched all pov's of Wild Life's first episode's so if someone does mention it, I could explain it with, they realized it wasn't just a random dream. that'd be fun i think,,

either way, I'm having so much fun with this, i love thinking about how things connect in a minecraft based world. this is so fun.

it's hell sometimes but i like it so likkeeee,,, :p :3

[crystaljellie]

Dropping another Scar thing because idk, Scar angst

Leaning against the stone pillar, the clouds block the moon out, and the stars seem to be flickering, growing dimmer. Of course, that couldn’t happen. The world doesn’t work like that, but then again, it had been days without the sun, maybe weeks? Nothing moved here, so it was hard to tell the difference between days if there were any at all. The Secret Keeper and grown vines around it, engulfing it to the point where only its glowing purple, now opened eye, was visible. 

Scar had long since stopped pushing that button, but every now and again, he thought, would one more push be it? If I pressed it one more time, would they let me go home? But that would only send him spiralling further, so his back turned to that success pillar, he doesn’t look at the button. 

He can’t understand why they’ve left him here; he wants to go home; he wants to go home so badly. There aren’t even ghosts watching him now; the bodies that used to exist around him have long since decayed. That’s why he doesn’t go looking anymore.

That’s why he just sits and thinks and cries.

He thought that maybe if he won, he wouldn’t be lonely anymore, that it could end, and they could hold him and love him. That he wouldn’t be an outcast. But how lonely is it, being the last one left in the world? How lonely is it that even his own body has begun to decay? How lonely is it that he can’t even see his own row of hearts?

Maybe it was the last time. Maybe there is no next time for him, for anyone. Maybe he killed them all. 

‘I’m so sorry mother’

The quiet sounds of a lullaby played in Scar’s mind, the turning of a music box, the same repeat song, a feeling of familiarity.

He hummed a soft note. But what need is there to be quiet in the land of silence?

So he kept humming that same song, a song of which he didn’t know where it had come from.

Only that Cleo had taught him it.

So he thinks of them.

And he thinks a little of the sun, and maybe one day it will rise to shine upon him once again, and he can sing alongside the birds.

Or maybe he’s left like a dog, howling sombre sorrows to the moon. 

[surftrips]

TATTOOS TOGETHER

OBX WRITING WEEK DAY 5 — HOW YOU GET THE GIRL W/ KIARA CARRERA

word count: 900

summary: the pogues get matching tattoos, but y/n takes it a step further to show her love for a certain turtle-loving girl.

a/n: i feel absolutely awful for posting the last few stories for obx week late but i appreciate every single person who has participated in it by writing, reblogging, and reading along :') <3

“Let’s get matching tattoos!” JJ blurted out. 

“Are you crazy?” John B. asked his best friend.

You and the Pogues were all on the boardwalk, spending another hot summer day just wandering around.

“Come on! Something to remember this moment by.” JJ explained. 

“I don’t know…” you started.

“Wait, I actually think that’s kind of a cute idea. I mean, you only live once right?” Kiara interrupted. Not that you minded. You could never be annoyed at her. 

“Wait, are you serious?” Sarah said. 

“Yes, dude. Pogues for life, right?” 

“Yeah! Right…” you said, hoping no one noticed how quickly you changed your mind. 

But because you and the Pogues had all been friends for so long, they had found out about your “secret” crush a very long time ago. 

You had been falling for Kiara ever since you met her in elementary school. Her wavy brown hair and golden highlights, the way she cared about the environment, her sense of humor. Something about her pulled you in, you always felt the need to be in her presence. To be seen by her. You wondered how it felt to be loved by her. 

A few years ago, you were admiring Kiara as she did tarot card readings for your friends when JJ came up to you. He whispered in your ear, “Pretty, huh?” snapping you out of your thoughts. 

“Yeah— wait what?” 

“You like her, right?” 

“Uhh, no. Not like that,” you said, unconvincingly. 

“So you just look at everyone like that?”

You relented, “Ugh. Fine. Maybe I do have a tiny, tiny crush on her. But it doesn’t matter, she would never like me back.” 

Your “tiny, tiny crush” on Kiara never went away. Soon, the other Pogues began to find out (mostly because JJ couldn’t keep his mouth shut) and you were growing scared that Kiara would be next. But to your knowledge, no one had told her. Yet. 

However, this matching tattoo thing was your chance to make it known. For a while now, you have been complimenting Kiara’s tattoos. The 11:11 on her wrist, the star on her anklet, and your favorite, the sun on the inside of her arm. Once, you joked about getting the moon to match with her, but she insisted that you actually do it. 

After more convincing from JJ, Kiara, Cleo and you against Sarah, John B., and Pope, the seven of you walked into the one and only tattoo parlor on your side of the island. 

Kiara and JJ were the only ones out of the group that already had tattoos, so it was safe to say the rest of you were just a tad nervous. You were braving it for the sake of not embarrassing yourself in front of who you thought was the coolest girl in the world. 

You had all decided to get “P4L” in tiny font in various places. Kiara on her wrist, JJ on his arm, Pope somewhere “hidden” according to him, Cleo and Sarah on their back shoulders, and John B. on his thigh. You just happened to be getting yours in the same spot as Kiara. 

After everyone took turns in the chair and expressed varying levels of uncomfortability, it was finally your turn. You had made up your mind. 

“Guys, I’m actually going to get two,” you announced.

“Y/N, are you sure? It’s your first time!” Sarah asked, concerned.

“I’ve been wanting this second one for a while so might as well get it out of the way,” you shrugged. 

“What are you going to get?” Kiara asked.

“I think you know.” 

“Wait. Are you serious?” 

Pope jumped in, “What is she talking about?” 

As the Pogues waited impatiently for the artist to stencil in your design, Kiara realized what you were doing. 

“Y/N. No. Freaking. Way.” 

“Yes. Way. It’s not too late for you to take back what you said, though.”

“Are you kidding me? This is incredible!” she squealed. “I can’t believe we’re going to have matching tattoos!” 

“Woah, woah, you guys are going to be matching? You’re more in love than I thought,” JJ said. 

His comment was punctuated by a thick silence in the air. 

“What? Was I not supposed to say that?” 

It was true. You being in love with Kiara was like a blind item in the group. Everyone knew, no one was sure if Kiara really knew, so no one brought it up. You were content with being her best friend on most days, and you only didn’t make a move in fear of losing the most important friendship you had. But if there was even the slightest chance she might feel the same way…

“Y/N?” Kiara broke the silence, looking at you. 

“Yeah?” you said, sheepishly. 

“Is that true? You have feelings for me?” 

Fuck it. You were already halfway through getting a permanent matching tattoo with her, you had nothing to lose. 

“Yes, but I don’t just have feelings for you. Feelings are fleeting. I’m in love with you,” you paused. “And it’s okay if you don’t feel the same way. I’m still getting this tattoo, for our friendship. Because I want to have that forever with you.” 

“Shut up,” Kiara stopped you, placing her hand on your cheek and pulling you in for a kiss. 

“Finally!” Everyone cheered, including the tattoo artist, who just seemed happy to be there.

[desolationcleo]

compiling as many last life/secret life parallels as i can think of off the top of my head (ik there's more but my brain's too scrambled and full of static and screaming all the time to be able to recall them all)

-artificially made starting circle in the ground with something (enchanter/campfire) in the center

-at least 1 newcomer

-lizzie and mumbo are there

-trading lives/gifting hearts

-you have been given a mission that you have to do by the end of the episode, also many boogeymen in last life hid it even from their allies meanwhile the tasks are secrets

-whatever is going on with "and you all obliged, bar one"/jimmy and joel both going for boogeyman kills despite already being red and pearl doing the same despite knowing she'd be dead before the end of the week either way, none of them needed to do that, and the fact that failing a non-hard task has literally no consequences you don't lose anything but so many people did tasks that they didn't want to anyways

-scar is alone and lonely with his attempts at making allies failing, wears hood and purple

-watcher lore is more prominent than in other seasons (LL had more scenes with the Voice than every other season combined and the shadow alliance is lowkey a watcher cult, meanwhile SL's got the secret keeper statue and end access and overall lowkey evo vibes with the rewards for task success and whatnot)

-mumbo goes red and immediately goes feral

-jimmy kills lizzie, making her red

-grian unleashes a wither

-mumbo dies moments after jimmy and to the same thing

-the apocalypse vibes in last life episode 7 with a ton of people going red and the few remaining non-reds, many of whom are from different alliances, being forced to band together to survive, and the same thing happening in the gempocalypse

-speaking of the gempocalypse, the weaponization of friendship in last life with many reds trying to kill people so they don't have to be separated/can be friends as red lives, and the infected telling the survivors to join them and trying to kill them to be together

-martyn outlives his whole team which includes jimmy and mumbo, and his pov of the episode after their deaths opens with a heartbreaking scene that makes it evident he is not taking it well

-cleo and etho's alliance at the end of last life (which gives me shrimp emotions) and their teamup throughout secret life

[tunastime]

currently in a strange state of thinking about how etho, known runner and ‘he’s a survivor,’ chose to protect cleo and grian even at the detriment of himself and the rest of the server, something something ethubs is in a weird position while cletho is definitely winning (idk if any of this is making sense) the difference between “he loves me” versus “i never expected him to protect me”

YES. OKAY. I had to run and watch bdubs' episode from this week since I hadn't seen it and good grief. yeah. I've really been avoiding making silly life series things into dramatics this time around, but there's something that runs so deep between etho and bdubs regardless of that that I had to answer this. I actually wrote something up and then reworded the whole thing into this:

so I think etho and bdubs play the game very differently, and I also think, that, at least from a character standpoint, bdubs and etho understand that difference between each other. both etho and cleo don't see bdubs as a threat, even on red (especially with the way etho waltzes around him like it doesn't mean anything, aligns himself with him as soon as he's infected, and has since the beginning, offered some sort of haven for bdubs to exist in). so as much as ethubs might be on temporarily shaky ground, if we consider the context of them in the life series as a whole, I think this isn't the first time that etho's elected to protect his teammate and chance of winning. Which. Help girl!!

etho is also more scared of cleo than he is of bdubs--I think etho's often taking advantage of bdubs' kindness and forgiveness, and I think he thinks it's much less likely that cleo will forgive him as easy as bdubs would. with that, I think also that etho doesn't remember the bargains and pacts he makes when he's faced with a quick decision. his loyalties at the beginning of the season don't stick throughout the whole time the game is played--or they nearly don't. I think they kind of treat their loyalties differently as well. as much as etho wants to keep everyone he cares about in his immediate circle, he is, like he always is, spreading himself much thinner than he actually can.

so I think. yeah. it makes sense that etho would elect to protect cleo. I think he protects grian less than he does cleo (since he talks about where grian is in the base, and goes to get the warden and such), and part of me thinks that's because people know what happens when you team with grian. lest we forget grian's horrible track record of killing his allies. I also think it's important to note that I think both cleo and etho are scared--of the game, of the people around them, of losing their progress--while grian is not. grian doesn't fear the games at all.

I will also say, that the phrase we also should be bouncing around is bdubs' "this is how you treat me?" because. good grief. something about that--I think the real jealousy of bdubs' voice kind of seals the deal for me. I really do think that bdubs' jealousy is warranted, despite him knowing that etho never agreed to give him anything. I think he's operating less on an assumption that etho would offer him something in return, and more on the idea that etho, after hearing bdubs tell him how far he would go for him, still chose to hide his overt ally. that's the real kicker here I think. etho up until this point was trying to play both sides, and doing well, up until he deliberately chose to side with cleo, his overt ally, and not bdubs, his long-time friend. I think etho cares about both of them deeply, but he's having to choose a side that serves kind of his best interest, and cleo is that side, both for his own protection, and because bdubs isn't really his overt ally.

I really think this is like. holding up a mirror to last life. we get comments from bdubs about the heart, about how etho and him can be on the same side, and then we also get etho choosing his partner over the rest of his teammates, and almost over himself.

do I think it comes down, this time, to etho's supposed clear path at winning? to not wanting to dig himself further down into a hole, like he did spreading himself too thin in last life? maybe! do I think bdubs is seeing the same thing pan out again and wondering if it'll be different? absolutely! do I think this means cletho is winning? maybe? I think if anything, this dissuades them from turning on each other. loyalty granted sort of situation, and etho's respect and care for cleo shining through. do I think this means that ethubs is losing? no <3 never <3 if anything, etho will ultimately recognize his horrible mistake and come crawling back, like he always does. but I think him choosing cleo over bdubs in that moment is to protect himself from a fallout he knows he can manage, versus one that might have him killed.

he's a survivor, man.

BUT ALSO. lest we forget. they are SO stupid and silly. bdubs as both a character and creator is incredibly dramatic, and will always cajole etho into the worst situation possible. and etho is a pathetic loser who will always fall for it and worry about upsetting his friends. he will also always be the most spooked person in the world.

UM LMAO did any of that make sense?