#the twins are great. lemon and tangerine are The Brothers Of All Time

[greatdisaster]

i don't bleed

🍋

[little-miss-dilf-lover]

Ran over here as soon as i could!

Imagine Tan with his baby girl (4 years) and shes playing with his hair, putting clips and bows and ties in his hair or making tiny braids? Mum an Lem are trying not to laugh out loud when they see them, Lem asks his niece if she wants make-up which she finds a such a great idea! Mum has to stop Lemon. Tan trying his best not to upset his baby girl. And so on and so forth...

Have fun with it🍊❤️🫶🏻

this is the cutest!!! I forever love dad tan!! and with all dad tan stuff, mandy is his daughter (it’s like mandarin, another baby orange) thank you for requesting, hope you like it 💌

BOWS AND BRAIDS.

dad tangerine x fem!reader — fluff

word count. 532

Lemon and Tangerine often acted like they were twelve - the everlasting phase of wanting to annoy each other, joining them into adulthood. They were the others' biggest windup, and now Lemon was having the fun poking at Tan, knowing there was nothing he could do to retaliate. 

Uncle Lem had popped by to see you all - to spend time with his family during the week off. All gathered in the living room: you on the sofa beside Lemon, Mandy, your daughter, sitting on the coffee table with Tangerine cross-legged on the floor facing her. 

Mandy had her tiny hands in Tan's hair, placing accessories and ties in his curls - cutesy pink and purple clips attached in clumps around the front of his face, messily placed bows at the back of his head and knotted half-braids starting midway through his hair. It was admirable, really.

"Don't daddy look pretty," Lemon teases, crouching beside the coffee table to get closer to Mandy. "He'd make a pretty girl, won't he?"

"No," she shakes her head, shoving her finger into Tan's moustache. "He has a hairy face."

You resist the temptation to laugh, instead leaning closer, resting your elbow on your knee to cover your mouth. 

Lemon snickers before continuing, watching the displeased expression grow on his brother's face. "That's right. You should shave it off, Mands. Make him all pretty looking."

Your eyes widen. "No, no, absolutely not. We're not doing that."

"Boo, mummy. Mandy boo her," Lemon eggs your daughter on, lovingly brushing over her face.

"Why can't we shave him, mama?" Mandy asks, turning around to look at you, her face sweet and innocent. 

"It makes him look pretty. You know how it doesn't make him a pretty girl? Well, it's the same thing. He's not a pretty boy without it," you tease, looking over at Tan. Your words are harsh, but nothing like the soft, loving expression on your face. 

"Do I not get a say?" Tangerine adds, looking between you all with lightly furrowed brows. 

"No. You're a mannequin. Mannequins can't talk," Lemon pipes in, immediately dismissing his twin. "How about some make-up instead, Mand? That'll make him pretty."

"Yeah," she smiles, her grin wide and genuine. "Mama has some," she adds, climbing off the coffee table. 

"What a great idea," Lemon encourages, standing up to follow after his niece.

You look over to Tan, noticing the 'help me' face he is giving you - silently asking you to stop it.

"I think daddy's had enough for now, no? He looks so pretty, and you did such a good job," you pick your daughter up, placing her on your lap - kissing her cheek. 

"Mands," Tangerine calls, dragging out her name. "I just had the best idea," he looks between you and Lem knowingly, a small smile forming. "We should give Uncle Lem a makeover, too. Wouldn't that be fun?" 

She gasps, her face lit up in excitement, grinning as she climbs off your lap. Tangerine stands, following his daughter. 

"I'll help you, poppet. We'll get all your mum's make-up, yeah?" he chuckles, hitting his brother on the way out. "He's gonna look so pretty when we're done."

[gh0stsp1d3r]

hii!! i love your tangerine fics and i was wondering if you could write one where tangerine and the reader are enemies/rivals/can't stand each other and for some reason are sent on a mission together

they accomplish the mission but the reader is hurt and tangerine has to "patch" her up (not sure if it's the right word for that but i think you know what i mean) and maybe stich her up. while he's quietly scolding her for being irresponsible/getting hurt he notices that she's crying (maybe bc it's hurting or she's afraid of needles or both)

thank you angel<3l

(Wo)man with a plan

@kpopgirlbtssvt

@little-miss-dilf-lover

@earth-elemental18

You and the twins weren’t enemies exactly, more like rivals. Tangerine and his brother always somehow beat your number one spot in the agency. Whenever you got sent on a mission, they got sent on three. It was ridiculous, and they were clearly being favored.

So when they told you that you had to go with them on a mission, you feel like pulling your hair out. They’re asking you to stay with your rivals for a whole day!

“Just get the job done fast and you’ll be fine, girl. Plus, tangerine is like… fine as hell. I wouldn’t mind staying with him for a few days.” Your friend said while she took a sip of her milkshake.

‘ She wasn’t entirely wrong’ you thought, but quickly shook that thought away. “You’re not helping!”

Your friend shrugged “Sorry. Just saying the truth.”

You groaned and put your head on the table, you spotted something in the corner of your eye.

Tangerine and Lemon.

You side-eyed them while they came up to you and your friend.

“So, we’re going on a mission together?” Lemon asked.

“I guess so.” You mumbled.

“This is ridiculous. They can’t change it?”

“I already asked. Apparently it’s some hard mission that three of the best agents need to go on.” You mocked them.

“Great. Just fuckin’ perfect. C’mon, Lemon, we still gotta debrief.”

They walked away and you rolled your eyes and turned your head back to your friend.

“I mean, who actually debriefs? I just click yes to all the questions on the computer.” You rolled your eyes.

“Same. It’s just too annoying.”

“I mean, Why can’t we be partnered up? We’d be great partners.”

“I keep asking, but noooo.” She rolled her eyes.

“Fucking idiots.” You sighed.

——————-

The mission wasn’t too hard.

The three of you stalked the target, apparently it was some millionaire who was a gang member and a big deal. The rival gang leader saw him as a threat, and that’s why your here.

You looked through your sniper scope, and followed him with it. You put it down and turned to them, you threw crouched on a roof

He had lots of bodyguards, so it wasn’t gonna be too easy.

“Alright, so what do you say we do?” You said.

“I say we snipe them all from up here.” Lemon said, thinking better than his brother.

“I think we should just go down there and do OUR thing.” He emphasized the our, referring to him and Lemon.

You usually did long range, and you were better at snipers, which was your main weapon.

“Seriously? Now is not the time for this. There’s too much of them, and you’d be too outnumbered.”

“I’ve handled more than them by myself.”

“Yeah and you almost died.” Lemon snickered, his brother hit him in the arm.

“Jesus Christ. Would you both shut up?” You mumbled, pinching the bridge of your nose.

“So, what do you think we should do, Angel?”Tangerine scoffed.

The gears turned in your head as you thought. You grabbed out a piece of paper that you always had and a pen that you also always had.

“Why do you just have paper and a pen in your pockets?”

“Because I’m prepared to plan, unlike you.” You mumbled.

You started to draw out a plan.

“Okay, so this is you both.” You pointed to two circles with a T and a L, then you pointed to what was supposed to be a back door that was unguarded. And you continued with the plan, they understood and the plan begun.

You stayed up on the roof, while they went down and knocked out most the guards while you shot the others. They were on high alert, and you didn’t notice some of them look directly at you and sneak out from the other door.

One had come up behind you while you focused on the boss, then he came up behind you and stabbed you in the back. You yelled out in pain, and dropped your gun. He stabbed you again in your stomach once you turned around.

You quickly jumped on him, scratching him and punching his face repeatedly. You grabbed his knife that he had dropped on the ground and stabbed him in the heart, twisting it and then leaving it and standing up heaving.

You didn’t have time to worry about you bleeding out, and instead you immediately picked up your gun and looked around for the boss.

It wasn’t that hard to kill him once the people guarding him dropped to the ground and he was the only one left. He held out his gun, frightened. He finally saw you, you smiled to yourself and shot him before he could shoot you.

You put the gun away, putting it back into your bag behind you.

You sat down, breathing heavily. You took out a first aid kit from your bag, you didn’t realize how much you were really bleeding. You held your stomach and your head rolled back.

“Fuck…” you mumbled, looking at the blood on your hands now.

Tangerine and lemon came over to you, both worried.

“Oh shit. Alright.” Tangerine said, he sat next to you and slapped you so that you did not fall asleep.

Lemon handed him some bandages as tangerine lifted up your shirt, he grabbed some towel that was in the first aid kit and applied pressure on the wound. Once the bleeding somewhat stopped, he put a bandaid on it.

“He get you anywhere else, Angel?”

“My back.” You mumbled, pointing.

He mumbled something you didn’t hear and looked at your back, he lifted your shirt up and shook his head.

“That one’s not as bad, but still..” he put a large bandage on it.

“There’s a safe house not too far, we should probably head out.” Lemon said.

“Yeah.” Tangerine said, and held out his hand to help you stand up. You grabbed it and walked next to him.

“It’s not that bad, yeah?”

“Nah, I’ve had worse.” You said.

He chuckled. “Of course you have.”

——————

As soon as you got to the safe house, lemon was asleep.

Tangerine stayed up, he patched you up even more. You complained that it had hurt, and he had hesitantly agreed to let him take care of it even more.

He pulled off the bandages, and looked at the blood. He grabbed some rubbing alcohol and put it on the wounds, your shirt was off and you were left in your bra. If you currently weren’t hurting so much, you would’ve been embarrassed. But you weren’t.

You sucked in a breath as soon as the cold liquid hit your skin, it burnt and tangerine was focused.

“You’re so irresponsible. This is why I keep telling them explicitly that I don’t wanna do missions with you. You’re a good assassin, we just don’t work together-“

It burnt, it felt like your stomach was on fire almost! Your tears hit his arm and he looked up.

“Jesus Christ- Are you alright?”

“I’m fine. I don’t know why I’m crying.” You mumbled and wiped away the tears.

“Does it burn?”

"Yeah.”

“You’re crying because it burns?”

“Well… yeah.”

“You’re a top assassin, you’ve been shot and stabbed multiple times and you’re crying because rubbing alcohol burns?”

“Yes.” You laughed out, still crying.

He laughed quietly and shook his head. He continued cleaning it.

“I didn’t mean what I said. You’re not irresponsible. Just kinda wish I saw the bastard leaving soon so that I was in bed already.”

You laughed quietly “I’m sorry, about all this.”

“It’s alright.” He shrugged it off. He didn’t get much sleep either way.

And maybe, just maybe, this team would work out.

[hehe-69]

Tangerine x reader

Warring: possibly very bad writing. Definitely swearing. Mentions of death, reader had a brother but he passed.

Also your code name is kiwi…because I said so.

————————-

It’s safe to say that what went down on that bullet train in Tokyo Japan, was nothing short of a shit show. And, per your great luck, you got front row seats to said show.

Now why you got front row seats is mostly due to the fact you took a mission from a rival of the White Death, and for a man who is supposedly the most influential mob boss of the entire fucking world. Dude sure has some serious issues with holding grudges.

That and you just so happened to be off and on partners with a certain fruity pair, and may or may not have been the getaway driver for a certain job in Bolivia.

Which leads you to where you are now, in a safe house in downtown Tokyo, with the Twins and Ladybug.

Safe to say tensions were high and rising.

____________

“I don’t fuckin’ care if you’re sorry, YOU SHOT ME IN MY FICKIN’ SHOULDER! YOU FUCKING PRICK!!!” Tangerine and Ladybug have been non stop bickering ever since you and the group walked through the door of your safe house.

Well bickering may be a stretch, considering Tangerine was just screaming at Ladybug while the blond when on and on about doors and windows to peaceful resolutions of conflicts.

“In my defense you hadn’t been exactly nice to me, so how was I supposed to know you weren’t trying to shoot and innocent girl” Ladybug retorted from a safe distance as you stood by Tan patching up the bullet wound in his shoulder.

“Oh, I’m sorry princess. I didn’t realize that I’m supposed to BE FUCKIN’ JOLLY TO A SLIMY BASTARD!!!” Tangerine’s sarcasm was blatant as ever.

“Tan,” you began voice filled with annoyance, it has been hours and they’re still going strong as ever. “To be fair, we were all tricked on that train. And we’re luck to even be alive right now…so can you both…Just…Stop…Talking. For like five fucking seconds!” Tangerine let’s out a hiss as you not so accidentally pull the stitch just a little too tight. But he reminds quite afterwards.

“Thank you Kiwi!” Ladybug says exasperated.

“Oh for fucks sake.” Tangerine mumbles. “She was talkin to the both of us you twat!”

“Alright you know what. Ladybug go wait in the hallway for your handler to come back with the food. And you.” You turn to Tangerine looking him in the eye. “Stop acting like a child, you’re 30 years old for Crist’s Sake.”

“I’m the child?!” Tangerine says raising an eyebrow.

“You both are!” Lemon speaks up taking off a pair of headphones you had given him so that at least one of you didn’t have to suffer through the bickering. “Look I know you’re all shaken up after this shit show, but you need to clam down bruv. We lived no one died that didn’t need to be killed. Job well done.” Lemon put simply.

“What about the White Death’s Son, or oh I don’t know…THE FUCKIN CASE!” Tangerine exclaimed.

“First of all, that’s not our fault, and secondly don’t you dare say ‘Well what would Thomas say’ because that’s just mean.” Lemon pointed at Tan. “And third of all, I’m gonna just go wait for the food. And you just sit and quit being so grumpy all the damn time.” Lemon hopped off the couch and went to wait in the hall with Ladybug.

“Great you can go talk about trains with that PRICK!”

“Tan.” You say sharply after wrapping up his shoulder.

“What is it luv.” Tan says, expecting a lecture.

“Want to talk about what’s really bothering you or do you just want to keep pissing everyone off?” You question as you tie the wrapping.

“What are ya goin on about?”

“Well… for starters I’m sure seeing Lemon in that…” tangerine is now glaring at you. “In that situation must of scared the shit out of you.” You finish softly, moving a one of his curls back into place.

“You know, I’ve never told you. But I had a brother…” You began. “Me and him were on a snatch and grab…and, it didn’t end well. I found him after we were forced to split up, thinking it’d be for the best…but it wasn’t.” You could feel the burning in the back of your throat, the kind you get when you know you’re going to start crying if you keep talking. And you were not about to cry in front of Tan, especially when you were trying to comfort him. “He didn’t make it out of that job, but I did. What I mean to say is, I can understand how that might affect you. Seeing your brother like that.”

“All I’m saying is that you don’t have to always cover up the way you’re feeling with anger. Even if it feels like it’s for the better, it’s usually not.” Most people would’ve been punch in the face by now, but after working with Tan and Lemon for years. You and Tan reached an understanding or some sorts, sometimes you’d listen to him vent about a job or you’d both sit in silence, till you were ready to talk.

“I’m alright luv.” Tan says just a tad bit more softly, a tone he takes with no one but you and Lemon.

“No you’re not. I’m sure almost getting shot the neck didn’t help at all.” You offer up another chance for him to talk or make a joke.

“Yeah, well…it’s not just that or Lemon that is bothering me…”

“What is it?” Tan looks up to meet your eyes, you’ve got a feeling, well a hope. That you know what it is.“That wreck, you’re lucky you made it out alive Kiwi.” Tan says after a pause. “I almost thought…”

“Thought what?” You say softly, your hand resting on top of his.

“I thought we had lost you…” Tan says looking at your hand over his.

“I’m still here.” You say your free hand on his cheek. “We can talk about this more when we get back to London. Does that sound good?” You offer.

“Yeah, thanks luv.” Tan gives you one of those rare genuine smiles, you wish he would smile more.

“Kiss! Kiss! Kisssss!” You a not so whisper through the door going out to the hallway.

“And now the moment is ruined.” Apparently Ladybug’s handler is back with the food because that’s definitely her voice carrying through the door.

“OH FUCK ME!” Tan exasperates and then sighs.

And god, you would love to.

__________

Decided to do something simple, to see if I hated it.

It’s been forever since I’ve written a x reader, so I’m sorrry if it sucks. All I know is that I’ve definitely been hunting for more of tangerine x reader. So I thought I might write some.

Please feel free to comment some prompts for writing or even some advice.

And thanks for reading!

Ps: I definitely did not just pull this story out my ass

I did….for the plot

[stnexus]

white rose

general audience

tangerine x black!reader

summary: the dreadful ending of a beautiful start.

word count: 560+

angst, bullet train spoilers, mentions of lemon dying (no twist), mentions of death, funeral descriptions

“tangerine. what a shitty codename,” a chuckle escaped your lips. the clear gloss that overlapped your brown lipliner glistening in the evening’s drooping sun. green patches of cloth rubbed at the soles of your black heels, the uneven terrain underneath it bugging you slightly.

basking in the silence your eyes peered over the sterling silver bars that secured the edges of the the six foot deep rectangle dug into the ground. a sense of dread and despair wiped that million dollar smile off your face faster than it appeared. and just as your smile faded you toyed at the stem of the white rose that you held in your hands.

the closed black varnished casket stood between yourself and your once lover like a locked door. the key stuffed into a glass bottle and left to sink into the depths of a vast ocean. your head bowed at the sight, your two-strand-twists falling forward as well.

“you’re such an asshole. you and lemon. i mean…mmcht,” your lips smacked in disbelief. your words failing you for a moment. “what kind of asshats go out on a ‘easy’ mission — your words not mine, and BOTH die?”

you were sure if either one of the twins were to see you right now they’d be somewhat concerned. they never saw you dapple in grief. no, you understood the risks that came with this job. even though you were rarely ever put in harms way — working behind the scenes is what you’d call it.

how you had become involved with the man that lay six feet deep before you had even been a shock to you. a few missions, a few ‘great work’ praises, and a pretty nosy twin brother to be exact. but it had all been washed away with one mission. that was all it took for both of them to be a moment of the past. one mission.

no more welcome back kisses and hugs. no more mockery of accents and sly little jokes. tangerine for fucks sake, they couldn’t have come up with a better codename? his love was warm and sweet, unlike the cold and dreadful occupation he held. a love that would definitely have prospered through man lifetimes.

with a defeated sigh, you let the white rose drop freely from your hand above the red ones that already rested on the covered casket. but watched as it ricocheted off the top and slipped to the dirt beside his final resting point. and that was all it took.

a tear slipped from your darkly lined eyes, eyeliner streaking down your soft brown cheeks. it felt like every bit of air had been stolen from your lungs and lips open into an earth shaking wail. a cry you had been holding in since the news of his passing. one that you had held in as you lie and your shared bed in pure shock.

your hands turned into tight fists at your side. if this had been another place at another time, anyone who looked on might have said you looked like a spoiled adult throwing a fit from afar. perhaps you were.

the moment you shared had passed. the door had closed on what you thought would be your happy ending. as the white rose lay on the ground beside the casket, tarnished it seemed. much like the moment had been tarnished.

[tangerinesgf]

Speak No Evil (Tangerine)

Summary: Tangerine used to think that dying was his worst nightmare. But ever since Tokyo, Tangerine had been living a new sort of nightmare, one he couldn’t seem to wake up from. (5.8k words)

Cross-posted on Ao3

Tags/Warnings: angst (lots of it), mentions of blood, language, BSL, Tangerine being an asshole, non-speaking character, anxiety, denial, delusion, self-hatred, in short Tangerine is not having a great time here, Lemon is the best brother though, fluff at the end, happy ending?

A/N: This story has been my baby for almost a month now and I’m so excited to finally share it with you guys. It’s a lot of angst, but it gets worse before it gets better :) Sorry in advance, because I know it broke my heart just writing this. Another thing is that I have decided to make this a little universe so there will be more, since this is mainly Tangerine adjusting to his new condition and he doesn’t use a lot of BSL yet.

Also please a round of applause for @friedcheesemogu my beta for this fic, again thank you so much!!

Alright I’ll let you guys get on with it now, have fun!!

Tangerine used to think that dying was his worst nightmare. Countless sleepless nights plagued by the thought of leaving this life and especially his brother, Lemon, behind. He knew their job was dangerous, hell they dealt with all sorts of murderers and psychopaths on a daily basis. He knew that the risk of getting hurt or worse, dying, was always lurking around the corner. Still, he loved his job and he was really good at it. Everyone in the business knew "The Twins" and they were feared, especially after they pulled off that job in Bolivia. It gave Tangerine a sense of pride. 

Growing up in foster care meant neither he nor Lemon had a lot of money or belongings. So when both of them got recruited as ‘outside contractors’ and started making a ‘decent’ amount of money, Tangerine wasn’t afraid to let people know he had it. The luxury lifestyle suited him, the suits, the jewelry, and especially not having to worry about anything but his next job.

But high-end living aside, if Tangerine had anything, it was confidence. He was confident that he and Lemon could complete any job thrown their way. Sure they could be a bit messy and chaotic, but they always got the job done no matter what. Most of the anxiety came from his unconscious mind. The intrusive thoughts and repeated nightmares never stopped plaguing him.

Taking all of this into consideration Tangerine was pretty satisfied with his life. Or well, he used to be. Ever since Tokyo Tangerine had been living a new sort of nightmare. Everything about that job had been one enormous clusterfuck that had ended with both of them on the verge of death. And while Lemon’s stomach wound healed nicely, Tangerine wasn’t so lucky. 

When he woke up in the hospital the first thing Tangerine noticed were all sorts of tubes sticking out of him, making it almost impossible for him to move without damaging them. 

The second thing -- or better said the person -- he noticed was his brother sitting next to him. Lemon was fast asleep, but that didn’t stop him from holding Tangerine’s hand in a death grip.

When Lemon finally awakened, he couldn’t help running his mouth about everything that had happened during the time Tangerine was out, stopping multiple times to tell him how he had thought he’d lost him forever and how thankful he was to have him back. Not that Tangerine could say something back, because there was still a tube stuck in his throat helping him breathe. And even if he could, he didn’t feel like complaining about it. When he felt the blood spewing out of his neck, Tangerine himself had thought that would be the end too. 

“Seriously man, you have no idea how worried you had me.” Lemon said one last time before finally taking a breather. As much as Lemon kept on repeating how happy he was, he still had this sort of ominous/scared look in his eyes as if there was something he wasn’t telling him. 

He found out what that was soon enough. 

The bullet had not only hit part of his artery but had also chipped one of his vocal cords. When Lemon had brought him to the hospital they rushed him into surgery. The surgeons had done everything they could to repair/ replace the cord and add bulk to it. Unfortunately at this time in the process, they weren't able to tell if it worked and if it would heal properly or not, making it uncertain if Tangerine would ever be able to speak normally again. 

--

When Lemon heard for the first time while his brother was still unconscious he was terrified. Not necessarily terrified whether Tangerine would make it or not -- he was stubborn enough to survive a bullet in his neck --, but about how he would take the news. Tangerine always said everything that came to mind. He had no filter and everyone who knew him learned that fact the hard way. 

Lemon watched as whatever color Tangerine had left drained from his face when the doctor told him what the damage was. Between all the fancy medical terms neither of them understood, he could see his brother’s eyes widen at the words ‘vocal cord paralysis’. You didn’t have to be a doctor to understand what that meant. 

After only a few days in the hospital, Tangerine was getting annoyed. The only extra freedom he had gotten was sitting up because the doctors didn’t trust him enough to breathe on his own yet. Meaning he was stuck in his bed with that bloody tube down his throat for a week or two. In the meantime, Lemon had come to visit him every day, catching him up on whatever was on his mind. 

He’d spoken to Ladybug, said that he’d asked if he could come to visit. Apparently, he was ‘really fucking sorry’ and wanted to apologize. The very mention of that fucking prick made his blood boil, let alone the idea of seeing him. Lemon seemed to notice and quickly dropped the subject. 

Since talking was out of the question for now Tangerine had to find another way of communicating for the time being. They had originally started with a notepad, but Tangerine’s handwriting was unreadable to anyone but himself.

“I’m tellin’ ya man, this shit's just a bunch of squiggly lines. Who taught you how to write?” Tangerine had thrown his hands up in frustration as Lemon continued decoding his handwriting. 

The next day Lemon came to visit again, only now he had brought a tablet with him. That way Tangerine could just type what he wanted to say and they would be spared a lot of frustration. 

He wasn’t at all surprised when the first thing Tangerine typed was; This clear enough for ya, you fuckin’ muppet? 

Two weeks later, they finally decided to see if he could breathe on his own. It took Tangerine some time to adjust. The combination of the still-healing wound on his neck and having had that tube down his windpipe for a month didn’t exactly do miracles for his throat. Swallowing and even breathing hurt like hell. They advised him to breathe through his nose for now, to minimize the pain. It could take 4-6 months before they would know for sure if it was fully healed or not. In the meantime, he had to attend voice therapy to strengthen the damaged vocal cord and increase the chances of a full recovery. 

After 3 months of barely any improvement, Lemon started to worry about his brother. When they returned home from the hospital in Kyoto, he decided to move in with Tangerine to keep an eye on him. And although he could breathe through his mouth nowadays, his breaths were short and noisy. Week after week he watched Tan come home from his therapy appointment with that same look on his face. He was starting to lose hope. God forbid he admit that to anyone though.

“ ‘m fi-” Tangerine tried to get out, but got caught in another coughing fit as he always did when he attempted to talk. Even when he did manage to somehow push words out of his mouth it didn’t sound like him anymore. His voice was breathy and hoarse, it made him feel weak and he hated it. Lemon kept telling him to shut up and let his vocal cords rest, but Tangerine was as stubborn as ever, even without his voice. He knew the pain in his brother’s throat must be excruciating from the way he was holding onto his neck accompanied by the pained look on his face. It sounded like he was about to cough up a lung. 

When he finally calmed down Lemon offered him a glass of water along with his tablet so he didn’t have to speak. Even swallowing took much more effort than it should. The doctor had told them that because of his disfunctioning vocal cord, his windpipe couldn’t close properly while swallowing. Meaning it was easier to choke on water or food. Tangerine had to put all his effort into not choking while drinking. He didn’t always succeed at that, resulting in a similar coughing fit. 

“Please just give it a look, it might help you in the long run..” 

Lemon had tried to get Tangerine to learn BSL, British Sign Language. Since it seemed more and more likely that he wouldn’t fully recover from this, Tangerine would need some other form of communication. Something that didn’t require him to strain his vocal cords. Therefore, Lemon bought him a BSL book for beginners, just to get familiar with it. Unfortunately Tangerine refused to make any sort of effort to even look at it, still too proud to give in to what seemed to be inevitable right now. 

‘Don’t need it.’  he typed.

Tangerine held on to the fact that he was going to recover and therefore didn’t need to learn any sort of sign language -- at least before his next doctor's appointment. He’d thrown Lemon’s book in the bin where it belonged, not knowing Lemon had fished it out again just in case. 

It had been about 6 to 7 months since Tokyo now and this was the moment of truth. Although improvement could never be written off in the future, today they would be able to tell them whether or not Tangerine would make a full recovery. 

Tangerine was surprisingly positive going into this appointment, still hanging on to that spark of hope despite the lack of improvement in his condition these last months. How he did it Lemon had no idea, because was already preparing himself for the worst-case scenario. Of course, he didn’t want to exclude the fact that his brother’s vocal cord might heal, but it seemed unlikely to him at this point. He had tried to tell Tangerine that it might not work out and that he shouldn’t get his hopes up, but he had brushed him off. 

‘I’m gonna be fine, don't worry, always am’. Tangerine typed, combined with a look that was meant to calm Lemon’s nerves but did the exact opposite. 

It wasn’t a complete lie though; anytime Tangerine got hurt he always came back from it no matter how bad it seemed to be and he sure had the scars to prove it. He had deluded himself into thinking nothing could touch him and if it did, that it wouldn’t have any lasting consequences. 

“Right…just don’t get your hopes up too much.” 

Tangerine dismissed his comment completely, shaking his head. With his attitude, Lemon was worried about how his brother would take it if he, in fact, couldn’t come back from this. 

--

Tangerine felt his blood run cold. He completely zoned out. 

It was like every emotional and physical feeling was drained from his body. He completely disappeared from the conversation with his doctor, who after another exam had told them that the chances of a full recovery were less than 30%. He knew that the progress had been slow or, well, almost non-existent, but Tangerine still believed he could pull through on this. He’d done it before. 

A strange feeling of fear settled in his stomach as the reality of his future sank in. 

No. 

No this couldn’t be it. It can’t. He won’t let it. 

When some feeling returned to his body, he felt a warm hand on his shoulder carefully shaking him. He snapped out of his trance as the shaking became more violent, causing him to inhale too much air at once. Fuck, not this again. He’d gone almost 2 months without a coughing incident. Apparently, it took only one setback to undo all of that. 

Lemon gently patted his back, while the doctor went to get him a glass of water. 

The younger brother tried to pay attention as Lemon repeated what he missed while spacing out. Again the subject of Sign Language came up, but Tangerine still wasn't having it. Deep down he knew it was his only option if he properly wanted to communicate with people again, but something inside him just refused to do it. 

Who needed sign language when flippin’ people the bird said enough. 

--

In the days after that Lemon watched his brother completely shut down. Tangerine didn’t make any effort whatsoever to communicate with him. Lemon had offered him the BSL book again when they got home, but he acted like he was allergic to it. He had hoped his brother just needed some time to wrap his mind around the whole thing. It was a big change, he understood if Tangerine just needed a few days. But a few days turned into weeks and Lemon seriously started to worry. Whereas before he’d constantly get annoyed with everyone and everything, and tried to talk even though Lemon specifically told him not to, now Tangerine just seemed to exist. That’s all he did, just mindlessly living. He didn't eat, barely drank and Lemon could see the clear weight loss. 

However, the thing that worried him the most was his lack of expression on his face. Tangerine was a very expressive person, especially with his face. He might not always talk through his emotions, but his face has always been an open book. Lemon was always able to tell what was going on in his brother’s head, except for now. Since the car ride home Tangerine has been completely blank. There was nothing going on on his face, which meant he was bottling everything up. It scared Lemon. He had never seen Tangerine like this before, not even after their first kill. 

Lemon had tried talking to him, of course, but was met with nothing but blank stares. Even talking about Thomas & Friends did nothing for him. All Tangerine really did was read, at least he hadn’t also discarded that. 

Lemon still went on jobs sometimes, nothing too difficult. Tangerine on the other hand never left their apartment. Besides each other, The Twins didn’t have a lot of friends. In their business it was really hard to trust people, never knowing if they had ulterior motives or not. Lemon had run into Ladybug a couple of times since Tokyo. Sure his inspirational quotes were annoying, but he had started to warm up to the man. Ladybug had asked about his brother multiple times, but Lemon didn’t tell him much, sensing that Tangerine wouldn’t want him to. All Ladybug knew was that Tangerine was alive and currently recovering. Knowing their job and luck, they’d run into each other sooner or later, but for now Lemon tried to postpone that as long as possible. Seeing Ladybug would set off a bomb Lemon wasn’t sure he would be able to contain. 

Sooner or later Tangerine was gonna break, he could feel it. It wasn't healthy to keep pushing everything down, especially for someone who used to talk as much as his brother. The longer he was gonna shut everyone out, the bigger the fallout was gonna be. For now Lemon could only watch as the brother he loved so much became a shell of the person he once used to be.  

--

There was nothing going on in his mind. No thoughts or anxiety, nothing. Tangerine had gone absolutely numb, almost emotionless. Pushing all of his feelings away had felt like his only option. A way out of his mind that kept on torturing him every fucking second. He couldn’t take it anymore. 

Every irritation, every fear was pushed down. There was no room for those anymore. Whereas before his mind plagued him with anxiety and intrusive thoughts, now there was absolutely nothing.

He had no trouble falling asleep anymore with his mind not running a million miles per hour. Tangerine knew that probably wasn’t good, but he wasn’t complaining. For once his mind was quiet, just finally fucking quiet. To him, it felt like a blessing. 

The only time he allowed himself to feel something was while reading. Transporting himself into this other world, with other people and their problems forced him to focus on that and not on himself. Within the first few days after he’d heard the news Tangerine had already bought all of the books on his list. He couldn’t, no, wouldn’t deal with his own issues, so he had to find other ways to keep his mind busy. But even those didn’t spark his emotions as he hoped. 

Lemon had kept offering him that bloody book, kept trying to talk to him, but he couldn’t get himself to interact with him. He buried the book in the back of his closet along with his tablet. Out of sight, out of mind, right? 

And when it was out of his mind, he could pretend none of this was actually happening.

He didn’t understand why Lemon was so concerned about him anyways. Tangerine could feel his eyes on him every time they were in the same room, they were filled with that look of pity. He hated it. If he couldn’t even get him to care about himself, why should Lemon? But he couldn’t exactly tell him to leave.

No- don’t go there. 

It was currently 3 am, and Tangerine sat staring into space. He couldn’t sleep, the pain in his throat burning more than usual. Where on the one hand, he wished he would just fall asleep, on the other hand, he wanted to wake up. Wake up from this nightmare that never seems to end.  

He was aching for a smoke. He missed the feeling of a cigarette hanging on his lips, how the smoke filled his lungs, and the calm he felt while blowing it out again. However, the doctor had strongly advised him not to smoke, noting that it would only decrease the chances of recovery and further damage his lungs. When they came home Lemon had scoured the house for cigarettes and threw them all out. Tangerine thought it was a bit overdramatic, but in the end, he was grateful for it, knowing that he couldn’t have resisted the urge. 

After another hour of nothing but purposeless staring he finally decided that maybe a glass of water would calm his throat and finally help him sleep.

As Tangerine stumbled into the kitchen he saw the light of the fridge brightening up the room. Shit. He had really hoped Lemon would be fast asleep right now. It was almost 4 in the morning, what the hell was he still doing up?

Then again he’s here too. 

For a minute he hesitated if he should continue, not in the mood for Lemon’s chit-chat, but then decided to just get it over with anyway. He really wanted to sleep and that wasn’t going to happen with the still-burning feeling in his throat. 

He tried to draw as little attention as possible, hoping he could be out of there within seconds. But of course, Lemon never failed to strike up a conversation with him. 

“Hey I was just thinkin’ maybe you could make some breakfast in the morning, I bought bacon and eggs.” 

Tangerine made no sign for Lemon to think that he had even heard the proposition, grabbed a glass of water, and walked away without any sort of reaction, leaving his brother alone in the kitchen once again.

What was the point of making it if he wasn’t going to eat it anyway? He supposed Lemon was looking for some form of normalcy that they once had. Before Tokyo, before-

He forced the memory out of his mind.

“You can’t keep this up forever you know. It’s gonna break ya.’ he heard Lemon yell from the kitchen. 

Fuckin’ hell. 

Why’d he have to go and say shit like that? Why won’t Lemon just leave him alone to deal with his misery on his own? He wasn’t going to break, he wasn't a glass that shattered when you put just a little bit of pressure on it. The whole shutting himself off was precisely to avoid dealing with all this shit and prevent anything from happening. Tangerine felt anger starting to emerge inside him as he slammed his bedroom door closed a little harder than necessary, a bit of water spilling over from his glass onto the floor. 

Deep breaths, Tan. Deep breaths. He thought to himself.

Even after the ache in his throat disappeared he wasn’t able to sleep. He just lay in bed, while staring at the ceiling. When he checked his clock again it was already 7:30 in the morning. 

Fuck it. He could try again tonight. Right now he needed a shower, a nice hot shower. He grabbed a new pair of sweatpants and a shirt and made his way over to the bathroom. The sound of running water already started to calm him down. After he had stripped himself from all his clothing, he stepped in, he hot water on his skin washing away all the anger from before. 

Hot showers wouldn’t solve anything, but they sure made him forget about it for a second. After washing his hair followed by another 10 minutes of just standing there, absorbing the warm water onto his skin, he finally decided to get out. Normally the mirror in the bathroom was foggy because of the shower, making it hard to see anything in it. Tangerine was usually already outside before the steam cleared, purposely avoiding looking in it. 

Today however it wasn’t. 

The mirror was right in front of the shower, making it impossible to miss your reflection while stepping out. Tangerine froze as he caught himself in the mirror or well… someone that looked like him. He could barely recognize the man staring at him through the mirror. 

Before, he regularly looked in the mirror. Always checking if every hair was properly slicked back and that his mustache looked nothing less than perfect, much to Lemon’s annoyance when they were on the clock. It was part of his look, part of who he was. He even had a full-length mirror in his room. That particular mirror was now covered up with blankets.

Right now he had no idea who he was. He looked pale, too pale, making the contrast in color between the bags under his eyes even bigger. Tangerine looked himself over, disturbed by the amount of weight he seemed to have lost. His once perfectly fitted pants, now hanging low on his hips. Since he was barely eating enough to keep him alive it was an expected consequence, still, really seeing it was different. He looked so small, so weak.

But that wasn't even the worst thing. No, the worst part was the huge scar on the side of his neck. A constant reminder of everything he had lost. Tangerine stretched his neck to the side putting it on full display in front of the mirror. Slowly he brought his shaking hand up, tracing the scar along the side of his neck. 

How did he become this? This…empty shell of his former self. 

It felt like all the emotions Tangerine had been pushing down for the past few weeks came rushing back up, hitting him like a truck. Every trace of the person he used to be was gone and it was his own fault. He had been shutting Lemon out since they came back, when he had done nothing but try and help him. A sudden feeling of guilt hit him. Had it been the other way around Tangerine would’ve done the same thing for him, only Lemon wouldn’t have been a complete arsehole about it.

Lemon is the closest thing to family he had, the only person who he truly cared for and he has managed to fuck even that up. Tangerine had never been especially good with people, (mostly because he just couldn’t stand them.) and that trait only grew with age. Though that didn’t include dealing with clients, he knew how to do that. In fact, they always preferred to talk to him instead of Lemon. He was a professional after all, or at least he had been. 

Not talking to Lemon had been a dick move, Tangerine knew that, but it made sense for him. In his mind, he chose not to talk to people. He chose to. For him, it was a conscious decision to keep his mouth shut, not a disability holding him back. 

If he was Lemon he would have given up on him by now. Hell, he’d already given up on himself if the state of him was anything to go by. 

What ensued was a staring contest with the mirror. The longer he kept glaring into the mirror the angrier he got, the walls he had put up for himself slowly breaking down. Until he finally couldn't take it anymore. All his emotions boiled over and he could feel tears threatening to fall from his eyes. He couldn’t stand to look at himself anymore, but his legs didn’t listen to his brain. Unable to walk away, Tangerine fell back on how he usually solved his problems; violence. 

With as much power as he could muster Tangerine threw his fist at the mirror, breaking it into a million little pieces. 

--

While his brother was in the shower Lemon was in the kitchen making breakfast. Usually Tangerine cooked some bacon or eggs in the morning, but he hadn’t done that in weeks. Given the fact that Lemon wasn’t a great cook, he had switched to breakfast cereal, which was edible. Tangerine didn't mind, but then again he usually only drank a glass of milk in the morning these days.

His attempt at conversation last night didn’t exactly work out as he had hoped either, resulting in Tangerine slamming his door. However Lemon took the small display of anger as a win for now. He has no idea how long he was planning to keep this up, but it was getting really fucking annoying. He didn’t want to be angry at Tangerine, he knew that what he was dealing with was a real struggle, but Lemon was just about done with it. He wanted his brother back.

He just sat down when he noticed Tangerine was still in the bathroom even though the shower was shut off at least 15 minutes ago. Normally he was out of there as fast as he could. 

Before he had even taken his first bite, Lemon heard what sounded like shattering glass coming from the bathroom. Tangerine.

“Fuck.” he sighed. He dropped his spoon back into the bowl and walked over to his brother. The door was unlocked per Lemon’s request, just in case something like this happened. Tangerine hadn’t said anything about it when he had asked, however to Lemon’s relief he had actually left his doors unlocked.

“Tan?” he asked through the door. When all he got in response was labored breathing he decided to go in. The only positive point he found walking onto the scene was that Tangerine, thankfully, already had his pants on. 

Tangerine was leaning on the sink, face in a pained expression as he let cold water run over his bloody hand. The water in the sink quickly turning red. Lemon’s eyes moved from his brother to the broken mirror. It wasn’t hard to piece together what had happened. 

He crossed his arms and raised his eyebrow at him, giving him that ‘I told you ya’ look he always had when he fucked up. Tangerine was avoiding eye contact, knowing full well what Lemon was doing. 

“Gonna start talkin��� to me now, eh?” He asked.

Tangerine shot him a glare, finally meeting his eyes and clearly not appreciating the choice of words, but at least it was a reaction. Being angry was better than nothing at all. The barrier Tangerine had put up for himself had broken down and Lemon hoped that he could finally start picking his life up again. 

Lemon took the death stare as a yes, turned the water tap off, and ushered Tangerine out of the bathroom. “Go sit in the kitchen, I’ll grab the first aid kit.” 

“Don’t step in the glass!” he added once Tangerine slowly started to make his way over.

He snatched the medical supplies out of the cabinet and while he was busy he also grabbed the tablet and BSL book from Tangerine’s closet. He thought he had hidden it from him, but Lemon knew everything.

He found Tangerine sitting at the kitchen island slumped over the counter, holding his injured hand in the other. Lemon placed the book and tablet in his line of sight and took a seat next to him. He saw Tangerine look at it, but didn’t make any move to either throw it away or smash it into a wall. Progress, he thought. 

While Lemon started to remove the remaining pieces of glass that were stuck in his left hand, Tangerine grabbed the tablet with his uninjured one. Once he was done typing he slid the writing pad over to Lemon. 

‘I’ve been a real twat’ 

He refused to make eye contact with his brother. Tangerine had never been one to apologize. And even though this still wasn’t really an apology, it was a big deal for him. Lemon knew that.

He let out a dry chuckle. “Yeah, you were.” 

Tangerine winced when the rubbing alcohol connected with his hand. He’d been through this a hundred times already but never got used to it. While Lemon disinfected his wound, he debated whether he should say something else or not. He probably should. Weeks of ignoring any sort of contact had him wanting to pour it all out. Only thing was that he couldn’t. Not really. 

Tangerine grabbed the tablet from where he had given it to Lemon. He erased the previous sentence and wrote a new one, again sliding it over to him.

‘why?’ 

He didn’t need to elaborate.

“‘Cause, you’re my brother, man. You’re stuck with me, even when ya act like a fuckin’ prick.” 

Tangerine takes a moment to take it all in, a comfortable silence falling between them. He didn’t know how, but he must’ve done something right in his previous life to deserve someone like Lemon. Because despite the fact that Tangerine had been a complete and utter asshole, he didn’t hesitate to stay by his side. He grabbed the tablet again, then slid it back over.

‘I’m sorry´ 

There was a beat of silence before Lemon answered him. “It’s okay, not like any of this is fuckin’ easy. Just…let me help you, okay?” 

Finally Tangerine looked up, meeting lemon’s eyes. There was a mix of sadness and hope in his eyes. “I know you believe you can do this on your own, but if today was anythin’ to go by…well.” 

He looked down again, ashamed that he let it go this far. It took him completely shutting off, ignoring his brother, and disregarding his own well-being, resulting in a complete breakdown for him to finally get the message; as much as he wants to, he can’t do this alone.

Tangerine slowly nodded his head, finally accepting his brother’s help as Lemon finished bandaging up his hand. He let out a sigh of relief, happy that Tangerine was finally ready to move forward. 

After he cleaned up the table Lemon sat back next to his brother and reached for the BSL book. Tangerine still looked hesitant, but leaned in anyway. 

“Let’s just start easy, kay?” again Tangerine nodded in response.

So that’s what they did. The brothers spend the entire rest of the day learning the basics of sign language. In these last few weeks Lemon had taken it to himself to already get familiar with sign language. He knew you couldn’t just learn it in one day, so he gave himself a little head start for when Tangerine would come around. It would be easier for his brother to learn it with someone who already knew some of the basics instead of starting from scratch. He’d also make sure to learn all the names of Thomas & Friends in BSL, but that could wait for now. 

Tangerine picked it up surprisingly quickly in the months after that, much to Lemon’s relief. On the other hand he could have seen it coming. Tangerine never did anything half-assed; if he set his mind to something it was gonna get done no matter how long it took. To Lemon’s surprise he’d even signed up to classes every week, and once in a while he went with him. It was really effective. Of course he wasn’t fluent yet, neither of them were, Lemon read that it could take years before someone was really fluent at sign language. For now though it was enough that they could properly understand each other. 

One of the first things Tangerine had done after Lemon insisted on teaching him the signs of those fucking trains was learn all of his favorite insults. He made sure that Lemon knew them too, cuz there was no way that he was gonna insult someone without them knowing exactly what he was scolding them with.

‘If I find your dirty fucking socks laying around my house one more time, I will throw them out the fucking window, you read me?’ 

His hand movements were still a bit slow, his brain still getting used to the fact that he needed to think of what he wanted to say and then translate that to his hands. However there was so much emotion on his face, that Lemon couldn’t help but feel as if he was actually saying it. 

Lemon was very chuffed to see how Tangerine seemed to regain his confidence and attitude a bit more everyday. He would have never thought he’d miss that eye twitch whenever he managed to piss him off. It put a beaming smile on Lemon’s face. 

‘What are you smiling about?’ he signed, giving him the usual ‘are you fucking serious right now’ look. 

He was dead serious about this, as he usually was over these stupid little things and Lemon found it adorable. It reminded him of how they used to share a bedroom when they were younger and how keen Tangerine always was on keeping in neat. The thought made his smile grow wider, failing to contain it no matter how sharp his brother was staring at him. Tangerine was still that little brother of his, no matter how many years had passed. 

Eventually Tangerine gave up trying to get Lemon's attention. He rolled his eyes and flipped him off before walking away, quite literally throwing his socks out of the open window. 

“Ah man, those were my favorites!” Lemon yelled after him. 

Tangerine didn’t look back, but he was sure that he was wearing that same old cocky grin on his face. Even though a lot of things have changed since Tokyo, he couldn’t help but be grateful that no matter what life put them through, they’d always come out on the other end. 

Together. 

A/N: I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it. Like I said, I do plan on writing more stories in this ‘universe’, so if you have anything you want to see/read, please let me know. Next up: Tangerine and Ladybug meet for the first time again after Tokyo.

Taglist: @venusthepirate @bratdoll666 @assmaster37 @wrendermeuseless @waiting4ff @kpopgirlbtssvt @earth-elemental18 @sisterslytherinog @dontknownameauthor @avocado-writing @thegremlinofransei @sugarpenchant @notfrom-outerspace @stinygirl009 @violetexpress1 @thenarryparable @pugperson99 @ozym4ndi4s @thirstyfortangerine  (lemme know if you wanna be added or removed)

[heartyfruitsalad]

Miscellaneous Fruit #3

It's that time of year again - The air of Christmas morning arrives not too long after the twins' slumber. It's warm, welcoming, festive... And a great deal exhausting.

Tangerine steps foot into the hallway, carefully silencing his footsteps as he makes his way over to his brother's room. He moves in a way that would hint at him attempting to hide something.

It's not often that Tangerine would make the effort to surprise his brother for holidays like these in the morning; usually he'd do it in the day, but today was different. Lemon was especially tuckered out, for the two had gone on a trip the night before to celebrate a little, before the holidays.

"Lemon..." he whispered as he walks into the room. Tangerine makes himself comfortable, seated on the bed. He places whatever he was holding down on the floor before shifting over to come closer to the sleeping man. "Wake up, you bum. Jesus, you're always so lazy in the mornin'."

His eyelids finally slit open, slowly but surely, groaning as he returns to consciousness. Lemon didn't look very happy. His eyebrows were scrunched, and his sigh was a hint irritated. "Ugh..."

"Come on, now. You promised we'd actually get to do Christmas this year." Tangerine holds his brother's cheeks in his hands, patting them gently.

"Yeah... mate, gimme a second, I just..."

Lemon rustles around in this position, before sitting up straight. His irritated expression shifts over to a weary, worried one. His head beckons downwards, eyes closed once again. Tangerine can't help but notice the curious situation the two are in, and he moves lower to get a look on Lemon's face.

"Everythin' okay? What? You had a bad dream or somethin'?"

Lemon clears his throat. "...a little worse than that."

Tangerine sighs, not sure what to make of the situation. But even though he doesn't really know what to do to comfort his brother the way he wants, he still makes the attempt.

He brings the curly-haired boy close, putting his head onto his shoulder as the two come to an embrace. Tangerine strokes Lemon's hair with a careful touch, the recipient sitting there almost motionless. It was at that moment that an air of grief was apparent to the man. He understood what Lemon meant by his words.

"You're fine, mate." Tangerine moves his brother's head against the bandaged spot on his neck, almost as a way of reassuring him.

"You weren't."

"Well I am now. What, you meant in your dream?"

Lemon silently nodded.

"Only a dream now, isn't it?" Tangerine's voice softens, almost barely a whisper. "Don't be such a bloody baby, Lemon. I'm sure there could be worse. Look - I'm here. So don't go cryin' on me now, else Santa's givin' you coal for pissin' yaself over something that never happened."

He looks down at his brother's shirt as he hugged him. Lemon's expression returned to a blank slate, staring at his white little shirt that he would always wear. He finally reciprocates his little brother's gesture, holding him tightly.

The two brothers stay in this for a moment. Lemon contemplates his thoughts as Tangerine continues the embrace, unwilling to leave if his brother doesn't want to. He wasn't going to let the morning beat itself up just because of some passing dream, Lemon thought to himself. But... this moment was nice. The hug was nice. They usually were, and fortunately still are. It reminded him of a simpler time when they were kids.

Lemon finally smiles through his steadying breaths. "You're right. I've hardly even woken up too."

"Damn right you haven't." Tangerine returns the smile, pulling away from the hug with his hands on his brother's face once again. "Now get movin', you fuckin' bastard. We got Christmas, and Santa don't got all day."

[littledellprince]

The Twins as caregivers <3

Lemon

🍋 Great at noticing your body language. He knows whenever you’re uncomfy and easily defuses the situation.

🍋 Watches cartoons with you (and sings along more than you do).

🍋 Lemon insists on buying you the cutest little clothes ; and decorating your *prop* weapons.

🍋 When Lemon and Tange get into a fight, they go to you to settle the score - even when your giggling and babbling doesnt make sense, they always manage to get goofier.

🍋 Lowkey bribes you; “Alright, ill give you as many candies as you want if you take the blame. Tangerine wont be mad if it was you!”

🍋 Helps you wash your hair ; he’ll dye his hair with you and let you pick the colors ; “Make sure you keep your eyes closed, love.”

🍋 Lemon loves to bake for you. He’s always making you something that will give you cavities. Especially as an apology, he’ll bake you your favorite sweets and spend the whole day with you.

🍋 “Ursula sure is a diesel, isn’t she dear?”

🍋 Lets you name the house plants and take care of them.

🍋 Lemon’s bath times are literally the best ever. He sets out all your bath toys, has music or a show playing in the background that he sings to you, is very thoughtful of the products he uses on you. Sometimes Tangerine comes in and helps when you get out. Best big bro’s ever.

Tangerine

🍊 carries a sentimental little gear/stim toy item and pulls it out in public without a care

🍊 When Tangerine first started looking after you, he refused to show physical affection & wouldn’t hold your hand if you asked. Now, its all he wants & gets glum when you dont want to.

🍊 He enjoys tucking you in for bed, the whole process. He adores seeing you hum while you brush your teeth, helping you pick out pajamas, reading you a story or when you ask for a goodnight kiss. He finds your sleepy-pouty face adorable.

🍊 “Sweetheart, missy/mister, love, little bugger, honey, darling.”

🍊 “Give this to Lemon, will ya’ hun?”

🍊 Tange is really skilled at cooking. His #1 way of showing you care is making you food; simple or extravagant (Mostly extravagant).

🍊 Wont let you near him whatsoever if he’s in a bad mood. Other times, its the biggest comfort seeing you small after a bad day - he just doesn’t want you to seem him upset.

🍊 Finding out that the twins were your ‘big brothers’, no one messes with you.. Less because of Lemon, more because of Tangerine.

🍊 His nicknames are Tangie or Luce/Lucy (for Lucille).

[ghosti02art]

Heyyyy luv ur writing for tangerine. Could u do tan x reader reader and ladybug are on a mission together and they bump into the twins and tan just hates ladybug and theres this hilarious tension between reader and tan but lemon and ladybug are just having a great time. Hope it makes sense

I think I understood what you meant! Anyways, I wrote something tension filled, and a little spicy towards the end (implied smut).

This was supposed to be a simple snatch and go.

Yet right now, you and Ladybug are holed up under a counter, waiting on a pair of foot steps to leave. Wait, no. TWO pairs of footsteps. You and your partner were supposed to quietly slip into this office building and swipe a hard drive. You both got in here easily with janitor uniforms, even taking along a cleaning cart to help blend in.

“And why can’t we just mosey on out of here, pretending to be finished cleaning?” You ask, ignoring the slight panicked look of your male companion. The older man shushes you, glancing over the edge of the counter,” Because I may or may not know them. You remember Johannesburg?”

“Oh, the one time I didn’t go with you on a job, and you managed to get shot twice? I e gotta meet these guys now.” You snort, rolling your eyes. You had sick the day Ladybug went on that job, and laughed your ass off when you saw him all bandaged up.

“Then it’s your lucky day then.” says a voice from behind you two. You both tense up, and while Ladybug moves to try and come across non-hostile (meaning, he puts down his gun and puts his hands up like a coward), you don’t. You and Ladybug might be good partners, and might both go to therapy, but I assure you, it’s not for the same reason. Ladybug goes because he wants to ‘find himself’.

You go because you know yourself too well. You know how to push your own buttons- and the button you’re pushing now is a big red nuclear one.

You turn to see the two men behind you. The one who spoke was the curly hair Brit with a mustache, while the darker skinned one was blocking an escape path.

“Awww, I was expecting someone a bit more….what’s the word? Strong? Dominant? You look like a fucking wet dog in a suit.” You sneer, grabbing the mop at your feet, and striking his abdomen.

Clearly that pisses him off, and you two get in nothing short of a wrestling match. Ladybug manages to slip past and is about to argue with Lemon (who was still standing in front of the elevator), when they both notice the light blink. Someone was in the elevator.

And they were coming to this floor.

The two non-fighting men quickly scamper off to hide, but Lemon pauses to try and stop Y/N and his brother. He is unable to get out anything between the vicious insults thrown and fists colliding with skin. Eventually he gives up, and just hides, prepared to shoot whoever gets off the elevator.

The doors open, and it seems that the two fighters have finally paused. Tangerine glances at the elevator, trying to come up with a plan. There’s not enough time to hide properly.

Y/N grabs him by his tie and pulls him to the ground, so they are both crouching behind what little cover is available for the moment. They whisper to him.

“Hey shithead! When they round the corner, kiss me.”

“Why the fuck I do that? I don’t exactly feel like throwing up right now, thanks for the offer.”

Y/N rolls their eyes,”I don’t exactly want whatever disease that’s atrophied your brain, but look. You’re in a suit. Businessmen-Service Staff affairs aren’t uncommon. It’ll make a good excuse to quickly leave. C’mon.”

Lemon and Ladybug are both watching this interaction from across the room, looking off a closet from a crack in the door. While Ladybug is less than pleased to hear how Tangerine talks to his partner, he rather enjoys watching this interaction. And Lemon is just excited that there’s someone out there who can deal with his brothers shit.

Tangerine scoffs, but when the footsteps get closer, he pushes you onto your rear, grabs you by your hip to pull you closer, and kisses you. His mustache tickles your upper lip, but you’re surprised at how much you’re enjoying this kiss. Perhaps if his personality wasn’t so sour, you’d sneak your number into his pocket.

You kiss back, tangling your fingers in his curly locks, intentionally messing up his hair to irritate him. He can tell what you’re doing, and bites your lower lip in retaliation, pulling a moan from your throat.

“Hey! Take it out of the office and go home- or get a hotel room. Out!” yells who appears to be the secretary that was on the elevator. Tangerine pulls away and stands up, grabbing your upper arm and yanking you up with him.

He doesn’t say anything as you two make a beeline for the emergency stairwell, where Ladybug and Lemon had maneuvered to. All four of you quickly make it down the stairs, and once out of the building, Tangerine grabs you by your hair and spins you around, and pushing you up against the wall.

“Now, where’s the hard drive, hmm? I know you have it.”

You look up at him, chuckling a bit,”On my body.”

“Then take it off.”

“Take me to dinner first, Wet Dog.”

He growls, letting go of you and backing away. You think he’s finished, so you relax slightly, but he charges forward, pressing your body against the wall and his body against yours. Your head hits the wall harsh enough to bounce, but the pain is temporary because he kisses you right after. It’s less kissing really, and more ravishing. You’re so caught up in the way he tastes, the way he feels against you, the way his knee has been pushed between your legs and presses against your heat.

You don’t notice his hand slip under the jumpsuit, and snag the hard drive from in your bra.

He pulls away again, this time for good, and storms off the other direction. Lemon is laughing his ass off and following behind him. Ladybug is giving you a look, and walks over.

“Perhaps you have some unresolved trauma-“

“Shut it, I’m not going to see your therapist.” You cut him off, still dazed slightly. You won’t see a therapist, but you might do something worse. You might see that man again.

[legends-of-apex]

'Bullet Train' info from the book: Lemon and Tangerine

**Spoilers for the ‘Bullet Train’ book and film below**

This is not an exhaustive list of character attributes, just what I can currently remember after the reading the book awhile back!

[Click here to see posts on some of the other characters]

General

They're not brothers in the book but are said to bear a striking resemblance to one another and are therefore referred to by other characters as either 'The Twins' or 'The Fruits', implying they've had their operational names for awhile

They've been working together for 5 years when the book begins and are renowned in the industry for being very good at what they do but are slightly unhinged

They frequent an erotic bookshop in Tokyo run by an older woman named Momo to buy and sell information from/to her about the criminal underworld. Momo is very fond of them and even calls them whilst they're on the bullet train to check in and see how they're doing and give them advice on the other assassins on the train

They say that when die, they’ll keep coming back like the fruit that grows on fruit trees every year

They met Ladybug in a bar frequented by a lot of other assassins a few years before the events of the book and were said to look so similar that Ladybug couldn't tell them apart despite them having no blood relation

They’re both described as being tall with slightly longer hair and very conventionally attractive features

They’re real names are never revealed to the readers

Lemon

Like the film, he's very good at reading people and he relates people's behaviours to various characters from Thomas and Friends

He says he learns more of his life lessons from Thomas and Friends

Lemon is known for being very unpredictable and is considered to be the more deadly of the two because of this

His parents were neglectful alcoholics so he doesn't drink for this reason

He had his first kill when he was still in school

He thinks he's not physically able to die because if he was he'd have been dead a long time ago, in his opinion. However, he does die after being shot in the head by Prince in the climax of the book

Like the film, Lemon shoots Kimura, but the wound is unfatal

Lemon is fiercely loyal to Tangerine and pretty much no one else

He is described as a formidable fighter to the point where Tangerine doesn't even worry about him losing a fight to Ladybug

When asked by Prince 'why is it wrong to kill people?' Lemon essentially responds with 'It isn't'

He tends to wake up a lot later than Tangerine 

He is exceptionally good at remembering people’s faces 

He is remarkably intuitive and makes character-based judgments on people very quickly that are usually accurate. He then assigns people a character from Thomas and Friends based on their personality and gives them a sticker from his sticker book

Unlike the film, when Lemon gets shot by Prince he isn't wearing a vest. He gets shot in the head and dies. His body is soon found by Tangerine

Tangerine

Unlike his film counterpart, Tangerine in the book is described as being frighteningly calm and in control of his emotions at all times to the point where only Lemon can really tell when he's upset as he starts quoting a film or a book he likes

He reads a lot. He seems to prefer a lot of classic novels such as the works of Dostoevsky and Tolstoy (yes, including 'Anna Karenina’ lol) and he uses these as a basis for his worldview and morality

He tells Lemon that one of his biggest fears is dying alone

He is implied to have had a bad relationship to his Father, who is now dead

He is perpetually irritated by Lemon’s ramblings on Thomas the Tank Engine however he does prove that he’s been listening towards the end of the book when he sees the Diesel sticker on Prince’s jacket as was put there by Lemon

He’s described as being incredibly neat and clean, taking great care to wash his hands as thoroughly as a surgeon might before a procedure after going to the bathroom

When asked by Prince ‘why is it wrong to kill people?’ he responds with a philosophical ramble that lasts several pages of the book, quoting various philosophers as he does. His response amounts to him thinking that the concept of ‘crime’ in general is fluid depending on the country you’re in and is therefore meaningless in terms of moral value

When he realises that Prince was the one who killed Lemon, he hands Prince a gun as he says he wont shoot a child unarmed. He starts quoting Dostoyevsky and it is clear that he’s had some kind of mental break upon finding Lemon’s body

Ladybug walks in on this interaction and Tangerine turns around to fight him but falls in a gangway and breaks his neck upon hitting the ground

[haliaiii]

Kinda wanna make a comparison list of the bullet train book vs the movie just for fun since I reread it (includes spoilers for both movie and book)

- So in the book there really isn't a main character, it's most likely hinted to be Kimura instead of Nanao (ladybug)

- the book gives you more info onto what happened to Kimura's son, apparently the prince pushed him off a department store building (he lives dw)

- the villain in the movie (white death) does not exist in the book, it's actually the previous yakuza boss (Minegishi) that the white death killed in the movie who's the villain (the prince also has no relation what so ever to this guy)

- the prince in the book is a young school boy and the reason he pushes Kimura's son off a building to lure him into killing Minegishi is because he's an actual sociopath who like to manipulate people

- Lemon and Tangerine actually aren't brothers in the book, they just look similar so people assume they're twins

- Lemon in the book and the movie are more or less the same but Tangerine is really into novels and is a Virginia Woolf fan (he recommends novels to lemon but lemon doesn't read them because he only likes books with pictures)

- (spoilers) in the book both lemon and tangerine die, lemon is killed by the prince (fr this time) and then tangerine is killed by ladybug when he tried to get revenge on the prince

- Book Ladybug's real name is Nanao and him and his movie counterpart aren't too different except he's a lot more cringefail in the book

- The wolf actually doesn't really have a prominent role in the book, his whole backstory was movie original (he literally just shows up and gets his neck snapped, poor guy-)

- Kimura's mom in the book is actually not dead, she's also a cool assassin like his dad and they both go onto the train together to take on the prince and have a chat with him

- what happens to the prince at the end of the book is not told and kinda left up to the imagination, all we get is that Kimura's parents took him and probably did something (probably killed him)

-Kimura spends the last few chapters of the book presumably dead and locked inside the train bathroom with a very dead Lemon, there's no cool fight scene at the end of the book :/

- Kimura is also not a great dad but a good enough one to go and kill a 14 year old who pushed his son off a building, he's also a recovering alcoholic

- the hornet in the book is the lady who was the server (not the one in the weird character suit thing she was wearing)

- prince's real name is Satoshi Oji, that's why he's nicknamed prince (also because he manipulates his whole class at school and his friends)

-Kimuras parents have no relation to Minegishi, they're both well respected assasins instead

Anyway that's all I have for now, i definitely left out a lot but I'm gonna stop here. I enjoyed the book and the movie a lot, i wouldn't really say the movie is an adaptation of the book but more like heavily inspired since the plot is pretty different towards the end. Definitely enjoyed the movie tho even if I'm a book fan

[little-miss-dilf-lover]

Okay!! What about one where Tangerine is really nervous to ask out him and Lemon’s partner?? I thought It’d be cute with an uncharacteristically nervous Tangerine

I love this so much!! thank you for requesting, hope you like it💌

ask her out (tangerine x fem! reader)

wc || 354

warnings || none just swearing

readers code name is Cherry

masterlist + rules

taglist

in the POV of tan and lem-

“What’s up with you, bruv?” Lemon questioned, curiously eyeing up his brother as he paced around the room.

“Nothing, fuck off.” Snapping in reply.

“Clearly there is.”

Lemon was so used to his twin shouting and snapping, but he could tell that this time it was because of a different reason. Usually, it would be out of frustration or anger, but not now, it was as if he was uneasy.

“Oh sod off.” He brushes his brother off.

“Why do you keep looking at Cherry like that?” Lemon asks, noticing the inconspicuous glances.

“Like what?” His face screws up as he snarls.

“Like this.” Lemon mimics his brother’s expressions, making puppy dog eyes to mock the way his eyes softened when they looked at Cherry, or how Tangerine anxiously rubbed the back of his neck. After all, Lemon can read people very well.

“Piss off.” Tangerine snaps, slapping his brother's shoulder.

“Do you like her?” Lemon asks sincerely.

“No.”

“Yeah, you do.”

“No, I don’t.”

“You do, I’ve seen the way you look at her. You’re basically smitten by her… you always have been.” Lemon says sweetly.

Instead Tan doesn’t reply, he just slowly nods his head as he put his hands in his pocket.

“You should ask her out. She will say yes.”

“How do you know that?”

“I’ve seen the way she looks at you.”

“But what if it makes things weird for the three of us?” 

“What’s with all these questions? She definitely likes you, and we’re all close enough to make things not weird, y’know? Ask her out, she’s right there.” Lemon gently pushes Tangerine’s back, nudging him to ask.

Tangerine groans trying to resist his brothers force.

“You can do it bruv. Nut up or shut up.” Patting Tan’s tense shoulder to offer a sense of luck. 

Lemon felt like a proud parent watching from afar. Snickering to himself watching the way his twin failed to flirt. Tangerine usually had great game and reams of charisma, but there was something so special about Cherry that made it near impossible to do so. 

[gh0stsp1d3r]

Ooo can I please request a brothers!Tangerine/Lemon x Little sister where it’s like home alone lol? They have to rush to a mission and leave their 8 year old sister Y/n at home (with a babysitter of course), however, the babysitter doesn’t do their job… Leaving Y/n in the mansion by herself. She does what any little kid left alone would do… Watch a lot of TV, okay a lot of video games, eat a lot of candy, jump on the beds, etc, until enemies of the Twins show up and break in and Y/n goes all “Home Alone” on them. The Twins rush back having gotten the alert that someone broke in (they’re rightfully panicked), and walk in guns blazing, only to see a very messing house filled with traps, the bad guys tied up, upside down, hanging off of the upstairs rail… And a very proud little sister happily kicking her feet and waving at them while she’s just innocently watching a kids show

Lol Lemon being like like, “Welp, she is our little sister”

Tangerine face palming but also feeling a sense of pride in his lil sis😂

Also the twins rushing to hug her because they were super worried

oh my god I LOVE THISS 😭

Home alone

“Alright, you got our number, jus’ call if you need anything.” Tangerine had said to the babysitter, she just nodded and continued to scroll on her phone.

“Thank you.” He said, before they both left the house.

“You sure ‘bout her?” Lemon asked.

“She’s the cheapest one I could find.”

“You’re so cheap. Look at where we live.”

“Babysitters a babysitter, mate.” Tangerine rolled his eyes. “She’ll be fine.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” He said, and they both got in the car.

The babysitter stayed for a little, before saying she was going to a party, and to tell your brothers that she was still there so she’d get paid.

You looked at her confused but agreed anyways, you were now home alone. You smirked when the door closed, and switched the channel. It was a horror movie, Texas chainsaw massacre.

You smiled as you realized you had hours home alone now. You could do anything.

You quickly raced to the kitchen, and jumped on top of the counter, and opened up a cabinet. A cabinet you weren’t usually allowed to open.

Lemon and Tangerine were auger addicts, and they always had to hide the candy from you (or you’d go crazy and eat it all like you are now)

You smirked and quickly got down a bunch of boxes, grabbing as much as you could and hopping down onto the floor again. You sat snack onto the couch, and ate almost all of it until you couldn’t eat anymore.

You switched the channel to another horror movie, saw this time.

You watched all the traps, and got bored after a while. So you went to one place you weren’t allowed.

The both of their bedrooms.

You made your way to Tangerines first, it was neat, and books were scattered around the room. Some plants and some flowers as well. Pictures of Tangerine, Lemon, and you all around as well. As well as an old painting.

You stood up, and started to jump up and down, laughing loudly as you did so, the bed getting messed up while you did so.

You then fell down, laughing wildly and grinning. That was about the most fun ever.

You cleaned up his room back to normal, then went to Lemons.

You’ve been in Lemons room tons of times, the both of you watching shows and TV.

It was messier, and it was more childish and fun. It had pictures of you, tangerine, and himself all around like Tangerines did. His bedsheets a bright blue. And small train figures scattered on his desk, along with some stickers of different things.

You smiled and did the same, smiling and laughing for a while before you heard a knock at the door. You furrowed your eyebrows and made your way back downstairs.

Your brothers couldn’t be home this early. No way!

“Who is it?” You said, in the best grown up deep voice you could muster.

“Its uh… your grandfather!” He made up a liez

“My grandpas dead.” You said back.

“It’s… your great grandfather.”

That’s a lie. You knew that.

So quickly, you ran down the basement, grabbing anything you could with a small smirk. A rope, some tape, and some other things. Your brothers had showed you what to do in case something like this happened.

You quickly set up the trap, the man outside fidgeting with the door knob. You placed the net hidden, and hid what activated it underneath some tape. It looked like a mess, but it would work hopefully.

The man grew agitated, and blew the door open with his shotgun.

Tangerine looked at his phone when he got the alert someone was at the front door, of course he had only seen the part where the man blew the door off.

He showed Lemon, and they both drove faster, breaking the speed limit a couple times while doing so.

The man was now in a net, it barely was hanging on, he fell down slightly every minute.

His gun had fallen, and you just stared at it, waiting on the stairs.

The twins had come in, both guns out. They looked around and noticed you on the stairs.

“Holy shit. Are you alright?” Tangerine said, going up to you while Lemon stared in amusement at the man captured in the net, hanging on by the stairs.

“I’m fine. He’s not.” You pointed to the man, who just growled.

“Is that who I think it is?” Lemon snickered, and went closer.

“Think it is, Lemon. What do ya say we kill him right now?”

“Nah, I say we torture him.” Lemon sniffled, and the man just thrashed in the net, making it fall from the rope. He fell onto the hard floor with a groan, and looked up to the three of you staring at him.

“Can’t believe you got beat by a child?” Tangerine teased, grabbing him out of the net, and pulling his wrists roughly.

“Now I want you to tell everyone, including the person who hired you, to never come here ever fuckin’ again. Don’t even lay your eyes on her ever again.” Tangerine said.

“Yeah, you’re lucky we don’t shoot ya fuckin’ eyes out right now.”

“Well then who’d give everyone our message?” Tangerine said, and shoved him outside, the man tripping and falling on the driveway while running.

“Nice job, y/n.” Lemon said, turning back to you and giving you a high five, making you beam.

[adambstingus]

IPAs for people who think they hate hoppy, bitter beers

 (Courtesy of Otter Creek Brewing)

 (Courtesy of Sixpoint Brewery)

 (Courtesy of Founders Brewing)

 (Courtesy of 21st Amendment Brewery)

 (Courtesy of Dogfish Head Brewery)

Previous Next

Everyone loves IPAs, right? That was my theory when I started writing Complete IPA, my deep dive into the recent phenomenon thats seen IPAs take over tap lines from L.A. to Tokyo, Rio to Berlin and beer-soaked lands in between. But as I, uh, endlessly researched (hey, that double IPA aint going to drink itself), I discovered both bitter revelation and opposition: I dont like IPAs, I heard time and again.

Anchovies? Blue cheese? I get the intense dislike. Whats not to love about fragrant IPAs? Theyre flavor chameleons, tasting like rainbow sorbet or evoking pine forests, sipping as smooth as gelato or spiky with bitterness. Theyre blank slates for breweries experimental whims.

The IPA is not one thing, its everything, with flavor combinations as infinite and inventive as Ben and Jerrys ice cream. Ive heard the complaints, the bitterness and booziness, staleness and uncertainty. Whatever your beef with IPAs, I guarantee Ive got one youll actually like.

Problem: You dont like bitter beers

Fix: Try the new-breed Northeast-style IPAs.

During the IPAs early millennium ascent, brewers escalated bitterness, constantly one-upping each other with beers so bitter you could barely finish a bottle. It was like sports bars serving ever-fierier chicken wings.

The newest member of the Alchemist Family! Cookie. pic.twitter.com/Y4nVcjhOUX

John Kimmich (@alchemistbeer) May 24, 2015

That fads phasing out. By using hops (especially varieties evocative of things like tropical fruit and ripe peaches) later in the brewing process, beer makers intensify fragrances and aromas, not bitterness. Keep the beer unfiltered for a foggier color and fuller flavor, maybe add oats and wheat for smoothness, and you have a template for the juicy new-school IPA thats sweeping the Northeast and the nation.

If youve had the Alchemists silky-smooth Heady Topper or any IPA from Hill Farmstead, youll like the dankly addictive Substance from Maines Bissell Brothers, or maybe Trilliums Congress Street IPA. Think: biscuits, sun-warmed peaches, sweet melons.

Many Northeast IPAs are hard-to-get, requiring a road trip. (Try this Vermont trek.) More widely distributed examples include Otter Creek Backseat Berner, a sweetly hazy stumble through pine forests and citrus groves, and Sixpoint Puff, as cloudy and resinous as a dorm room.

Moreover, the Northeast style has spread nationwide, with Colorado-based Odd13s Caribbean-fruity Codename: Superfan and Portland brewery Great Notion doling out hazy, hardly bitter hop bombs like Ripe and Juice Box.

Problem: IPAs all taste the same.

Fix: Seek out a new hop variety.

Pine trees. Citrus. Primo weed. Taste too many IPAs and they blur together like lunch at a cut-rate Chinese buffet. To escape the flavor fatigue, grab a pale ale or IPA humming with fresh varieties of hops, the flowers that impart bitterness, aroma, and flavor. Here are some hops to look out for:

Founders Mosaic Promise and Karl Strauss Mosaic Session IPA both showcase (you guessed it) Mosaic hops, which impart notes of blueberries, papaya, peaches, and pine.

IPAs for People Who *Think* They Hate Them: https://t.co/lasZsIfw5F from @JoshMBernstein & @bonappetit pic.twitter.com/QSGXitOkSr

Founders Brewing Co. (@foundersbrewing) August 31, 2016

Germanys Mandarina Bavaria hop adds orangey complexity to beers such as Skas Modus Mandarina IPA (it also contains sweet orange peels).

Like watermelon Jolly Ranchers? Youll love El Dorado hops, which star in Maine Beer Companys A Tiny Beautiful Something and Stone Delicious IPA, a gluten-reduced beer also containing the citrusy Lemondrop hops.

New Zealands fruity Nelson Sauvin hops provide a white winelike nuance in Widmer Brothers Upheaval IPA and SanTan Brewings MoonJuice, which also contains Australias peachy, melon-like Galaxy hops. Give it a go in Tasmanian IPA, from Schlafly, or Tallgrass 8-Bit Pale Ale.

Always want to be surprised by an IPA? Firestone Walkers canned and bottled Luponic Distortion features a new blend of experimental hops every 90 days.

Problem: IPAs are too strong.

Fix: Grab a session IPAor six.

Over the years, the IPAs baseline ABV has crept up to around 7 percent. Two or three pints can swirl eyes like peppermint candy. Thats to say nothing of the double, triple, and quadruple IPAs, rivaling Riesling and Cabernet for ABV supremacy.

Instead of sacrificing sobriety for flavor, breweries have created low-alcohol, high-aroma IPAs that are about as boozy as Bud Lightbut about a million times more flavorful. Try Evil Twin Citra Sunshine Slacker, as bright and tropical as a Caribbean vacation; 21st Amendment Down to Earth, reminiscent of toast topped with berry jam; or a Founders citrus-spritzed All Day IPA, a party beer sold by the 15-pack suitcase.

Problem: IPAs never, ever taste fresh.

Fix: Check for the bottled- or canned-on date, or hit a brewery for a release.

To savor an IPA as the brewer intended, you should drink them close to their birthday.

Deciphering freshness used to be difficult, the date code a hieroglyphic string of numbers and letters. Increasingly, breweries utilize a simplified best by or packaged on code, commonly found on a beer bottles neck or label, or a cans bottom. Generally speaking, IPAs are ideally enjoyed within 90 days. And seek out beers stored cold, far from sunshine.

Instead of stalking a delivery truck, you can also look for Stones Enjoy By series of IPAs. Their expiration dates37 days after packagingare built directly into the label, while Sam Adams similarly themed Rebel Raw double IPA has a 35-day shelf life.

Problem: You dont know what an IPA tastes like

Fix: Try a fruited IPA.

Buying IPAs has never been easieror more mystifying. But labels dont always accurately describe the liquid inside, sometimes leading to disappointment. To hedge your bets, look to the new breed of fruit-infused IPAs. Done deftly, adding blood oranges, grapefruit, or pineapple can accentuate the inherent fruity profile of hops. Fruited IPAs are never subtle, sure, but they are truth in advertising, a trusted commodity.

Try Dogfish Heads brand-new Flesh & Blood, tart and zesty with lemon pulp and blood orange juice, and New Belgiums Citradelica sweetly tropical love letter to tangerines. Also, Ballast Point has spun off several variants of its tropical Sculpin, including pineapple and grapefruit versions that taste like never-ending summer vacation.

from All Of Beer http://allofbeer.com/ipas-for-people-who-think-they-hate-hoppy-bitter-beers/ from All of Beer https://allofbeercom.tumblr.com/post/176711439537

[allofbeercom]

IPAs for people who think they hate hoppy, bitter beers

 (Courtesy of Otter Creek Brewing)

 (Courtesy of Sixpoint Brewery)

 (Courtesy of Founders Brewing)

 (Courtesy of 21st Amendment Brewery)

 (Courtesy of Dogfish Head Brewery)

Previous Next

Everyone loves IPAs, right? That was my theory when I started writing Complete IPA, my deep dive into the recent phenomenon thats seen IPAs take over tap lines from L.A. to Tokyo, Rio to Berlin and beer-soaked lands in between. But as I, uh, endlessly researched (hey, that double IPA aint going to drink itself), I discovered both bitter revelation and opposition: I dont like IPAs, I heard time and again.

Anchovies? Blue cheese? I get the intense dislike. Whats not to love about fragrant IPAs? Theyre flavor chameleons, tasting like rainbow sorbet or evoking pine forests, sipping as smooth as gelato or spiky with bitterness. Theyre blank slates for breweries experimental whims.

The IPA is not one thing, its everything, with flavor combinations as infinite and inventive as Ben and Jerrys ice cream. Ive heard the complaints, the bitterness and booziness, staleness and uncertainty. Whatever your beef with IPAs, I guarantee Ive got one youll actually like.

Problem: You dont like bitter beers

Fix: Try the new-breed Northeast-style IPAs.

During the IPAs early millennium ascent, brewers escalated bitterness, constantly one-upping each other with beers so bitter you could barely finish a bottle. It was like sports bars serving ever-fierier chicken wings.

The newest member of the Alchemist Family! Cookie. pic.twitter.com/Y4nVcjhOUX

John Kimmich (@alchemistbeer) May 24, 2015

That fads phasing out. By using hops (especially varieties evocative of things like tropical fruit and ripe peaches) later in the brewing process, beer makers intensify fragrances and aromas, not bitterness. Keep the beer unfiltered for a foggier color and fuller flavor, maybe add oats and wheat for smoothness, and you have a template for the juicy new-school IPA thats sweeping the Northeast and the nation.

If youve had the Alchemists silky-smooth Heady Topper or any IPA from Hill Farmstead, youll like the dankly addictive Substance from Maines Bissell Brothers, or maybe Trilliums Congress Street IPA. Think: biscuits, sun-warmed peaches, sweet melons.

Many Northeast IPAs are hard-to-get, requiring a road trip. (Try this Vermont trek.) More widely distributed examples include Otter Creek Backseat Berner, a sweetly hazy stumble through pine forests and citrus groves, and Sixpoint Puff, as cloudy and resinous as a dorm room.

Moreover, the Northeast style has spread nationwide, with Colorado-based Odd13s Caribbean-fruity Codename: Superfan and Portland brewery Great Notion doling out hazy, hardly bitter hop bombs like Ripe and Juice Box.

Problem: IPAs all taste the same.

Fix: Seek out a new hop variety.

Pine trees. Citrus. Primo weed. Taste too many IPAs and they blur together like lunch at a cut-rate Chinese buffet. To escape the flavor fatigue, grab a pale ale or IPA humming with fresh varieties of hops, the flowers that impart bitterness, aroma, and flavor. Here are some hops to look out for:

Founders Mosaic Promise and Karl Strauss Mosaic Session IPA both showcase (you guessed it) Mosaic hops, which impart notes of blueberries, papaya, peaches, and pine.

IPAs for People Who *Think* They Hate Them: https://t.co/lasZsIfw5F from @JoshMBernstein & @bonappetit pic.twitter.com/QSGXitOkSr

Founders Brewing Co. (@foundersbrewing) August 31, 2016

Germanys Mandarina Bavaria hop adds orangey complexity to beers such as Skas Modus Mandarina IPA (it also contains sweet orange peels).

Like watermelon Jolly Ranchers? Youll love El Dorado hops, which star in Maine Beer Companys A Tiny Beautiful Something and Stone Delicious IPA, a gluten-reduced beer also containing the citrusy Lemondrop hops.

New Zealands fruity Nelson Sauvin hops provide a white winelike nuance in Widmer Brothers Upheaval IPA and SanTan Brewings MoonJuice, which also contains Australias peachy, melon-like Galaxy hops. Give it a go in Tasmanian IPA, from Schlafly, or Tallgrass 8-Bit Pale Ale.

Always want to be surprised by an IPA? Firestone Walkers canned and bottled Luponic Distortion features a new blend of experimental hops every 90 days.

Problem: IPAs are too strong.

Fix: Grab a session IPAor six.

Over the years, the IPAs baseline ABV has crept up to around 7 percent. Two or three pints can swirl eyes like peppermint candy. Thats to say nothing of the double, triple, and quadruple IPAs, rivaling Riesling and Cabernet for ABV supremacy.

Instead of sacrificing sobriety for flavor, breweries have created low-alcohol, high-aroma IPAs that are about as boozy as Bud Lightbut about a million times more flavorful. Try Evil Twin Citra Sunshine Slacker, as bright and tropical as a Caribbean vacation; 21st Amendment Down to Earth, reminiscent of toast topped with berry jam; or a Founders citrus-spritzed All Day IPA, a party beer sold by the 15-pack suitcase.

Problem: IPAs never, ever taste fresh.

Fix: Check for the bottled- or canned-on date, or hit a brewery for a release.

To savor an IPA as the brewer intended, you should drink them close to their birthday.

Deciphering freshness used to be difficult, the date code a hieroglyphic string of numbers and letters. Increasingly, breweries utilize a simplified best by or packaged on code, commonly found on a beer bottles neck or label, or a cans bottom. Generally speaking, IPAs are ideally enjoyed within 90 days. And seek out beers stored cold, far from sunshine.

Instead of stalking a delivery truck, you can also look for Stones Enjoy By series of IPAs. Their expiration dates37 days after packagingare built directly into the label, while Sam Adams similarly themed Rebel Raw double IPA has a 35-day shelf life.

Problem: You dont know what an IPA tastes like

Fix: Try a fruited IPA.

Buying IPAs has never been easieror more mystifying. But labels dont always accurately describe the liquid inside, sometimes leading to disappointment. To hedge your bets, look to the new breed of fruit-infused IPAs. Done deftly, adding blood oranges, grapefruit, or pineapple can accentuate the inherent fruity profile of hops. Fruited IPAs are never subtle, sure, but they are truth in advertising, a trusted commodity.

Try Dogfish Heads brand-new Flesh & Blood, tart and zesty with lemon pulp and blood orange juice, and New Belgiums Citradelica sweetly tropical love letter to tangerines. Also, Ballast Point has spun off several variants of its tropical Sculpin, including pineapple and grapefruit versions that taste like never-ending summer vacation.

from All Of Beer http://allofbeer.com/ipas-for-people-who-think-they-hate-hoppy-bitter-beers/

[little-miss-dilf-lover]

Hello love 🖤

Can I request Pietro playing a game with tangerine and lemon? Maybe truth or dare, or cards and tangerine is losing his shit 🍊

Love you 💕

hehhe I love this sm!! I did this as my thoughts, just as I couldn’t figure out how I would write it. also I put your other ask on this post too, it’s at the bottom. love you!! 💌

also im sorry idk how I only just saw that it said pietro ?!? I wrote this a few days ago, and I quickly read this over before posting and did not see pietro until just now 😶 my bad, ive been a scatterbrain lately

monopoly has been tearing families apart for decades !! so it will definitely be the same when you play with the twins

im thinking that you like to have game nights when you all have time to spare, maybe on weekends and you'd all be sat at the dining table. def having a couple beers with crisps, pretzels, nuts

you're all really competitive and are ruthless when it comes to games, especially monopoly!!! lem always seems to do really well, landing on all the good properties and snatching them right up. definitely cackles when he counts his cash and looks over his cards

tan would be such a sore loser, and gets really pissy bc he always lands on the shit places and/ or on lem's houses and hotels. he'd throw the money, maybe make a point about how he has none left, "fuckin' hell man, ya robbin' me,"

maybe you gave up playing properly hours ago, sipping on your drink, far too entertained watching them bicker. maybe you roll casually and the number would be on the last card tan needs to complete his set. he'd ask you not to buy it, saying he'll give you all his other cards AND money, "I will give you my strand and my last 50 quid, just please don't buy it,"

you'll be nice and leave it until lem comes around and snatches it up, snickering as he sets his cash down to pay. he'll be like, "come on mate, it's just a game," only he's winning and dominating the board

it would end with you playing on your phone, tapped out the game as they continue fighting. new rules would be added after every turn and tan would be in heaps of debt - constantly borrowing money from the bank to give to lem when he lands on his properties

tan would still be convinced he can win, and lem would just be entertaining it.. until hours go by, and lem decides to call a truce, offering a rematch next week

maybe it ends in a game of uno at the coffee table to rewind - only it's the same story again, ruthlessly slapping +4 on top of +4. he'd end up with half the deck of cards. BUT he'd give you all a run for your money for casino games though

I think he'd be a great uncle while simultaneously being an awful brother !! he'd let his niece do things she wanted, knowing that lem wouldn't be happy. she wants to eat ice cream before dinner? two scoops won't hurt. she wants to go to the toy shop and get even more toys? no problem, uncle tan has his cards at the ready. she wants to watch tv before bed? one episode is okay surely

tho he won't always go over his brother's head, bc he respects him - but sometimes he just can't help it, he loves to spoil

he'd begrudgingly let her do his makeup. she'd be bossy, making him sit and be quiet as she brushes on purple eye shadow and crazy amounts of blush. she'd also want him to join in with her tea party, or play make-believe/ princesses with her, he'd have no choice but to play along and smile while wearing the tiara

like lem, I feel like she'd be very loud and quite full-on, so when there's finally a moment of silence, he savours it. she'd probably knock herself out from all playing and would just curl up at his side

towards the end of babysitting, tan would probs make her super hyper just to annoy lem tehe. maybe pump her full of sugar or spin her around for ages