#these guys are just a lil side story bc i kinda missed them & wanted to bring them back

[raiiny-bay]

finally finished cricket's group

[romanarose]

A one shot request

this is a request that @ahookedheroespureheart sent me!

I hope you like it! It's kinda like the start to Sunshine, but different! I kinda took a lil inspo from the Spider-Man/ Mj kiss from the first spider man movie bc that scene changed my life.

Remember kids, if someone is knocked unconscious, take them to a hospital! But for the sake of this fic, we'll ignore that

'Prompt idea. Steven has a crush on a coworker at the Museum. One night on his way home he notices her getting roughed up by a group of guys that jumped her. She's rendered unconcious & he has to step in to rescue her. He takes her back to her flat & waits by her side till she wakes up slowly in a daze, confused wondering who this mysterious stranger saved her. She wants to know who he is so she slowly lifts up his Mask just below his nose brushing his face lightly with her finger tips 'Are You Real? Or am I dreaming' 'I can assure you love,you are not dreaming' 'How do I thank you for saving my life?' *She looks at his lips & shyly smiles. Blushing *"

ENJOY

My asks are open for head canons or one shots!

Not beta read, have mercy

Steven Grant was in awe. Granted, he was generally in awe of you most days. He was in awe of you when he first saw you. It was your first day of work and he couldn’t believe that someone could look so casual but so beautiful. He was in awe of you every day as you led the children's groups, so friendly and kind to the little kids as you guided them through history themed crafts. And he was in awe of you now, how he saw you groaning and rubbing your eyes, but when he walked over to check on you, you swept it all away and lit up when you saw him. 

“You alright, love?” He asked.

You smiled at him, touched by him checking in “Yeah, just tired. I’m heading home now. Thank God.”

“I’m not off for another half an hour, if you’d like to wait I can walk you home?” Steven offered. He walked you home many nights during the week. Most nights, actually. And you wanted to wait for him, you really did. You relished those walks, he always asked you a million questions about your family, he listened to you complain about your younger sister getting in trouble with your parents again or your friend drama. Why did a guy care so much about people that he didn’t know? He seemed genuinely sad when you said your sister has been drinking a lot and he laughed so much when you explained your friend's mess of a dating life.

“As much as I would love to, I gotta get home. I have an early morning doctor’s appointment and I need to stop at the store before I get home.”

Steven was disappointed. He looked forward to the walks as much as you did. “But who will tell me how Amy’s tinder date went?” He joked. Really he cared more about updates on your sister. The whole situation seemed to stress you out so much.

You laughed “I’ll fill you in on Monday, I promise the weekend will get you some good stories.”

“Okay, be safe.”

“Thanks, you’re a sweetheart.”

Steven was walking home, wishing you were with him. You two lived pretty close to each other, you used to play around with paths to take, switching streets and sometimes going down an alley to “spice things up” as you said. Eventually, you settle on a path you liked. It passed a gay bar that was always having a good time and you two had gotten to know the security guard at the hospital you passed. Whenever the walk sign was about to change red, you both ran across the street to make it. If it were up to him, he’d stay and wait for the next round of green lights, but the first time it happened you took his hand and dashed across the street. The look of joy on your face from that tiny hit of excitement? Well, he’d run across every yellow light for the rest of his life if it made you smile like that. He was in awe of you. Steven took the way home the two of you always took, he missed you.

When Steven heard shouting, he didn’t initially think it was you. All he knew was a woman was in the alley getting attacked and he knew what he had to do. Steven summoned the suit and rushed to where he found, to his horror, you. Before he could react, he saw one of the men attacking you knock you out and Steven jumped into action. He made quick work of the men. He wasn’t sure if they were dead or not; it wasn’t his intention to kill them, but it wasn’t like he was trying to keep them alive… He looked over to you and could see you were in an out of consciousness, watching him.

First things first, he checked your pulse. Breathing, that's good. Steven sat down and carefully pulled you up onto his lap, checking for injuries. No blood, that’s also good. He scooped you up and still his suit, he carried you to your apart. You occasionally stirred, which was also a good sign. You had looked up and seen his masked face, but you didn’t look scared.

Steven sat by your side in a chair he pulled in from the kitchen, watching you, waiting for you to wake. Steven kept the suit on, knowing he could reveal his secret identity to you.

When he finally saw you wake, he moved to your bedside. You looked at him in confusion “Who are you?” you ask, not really expecting an answer.

You reach out, slowly, pulling up his mask just under his nose, brushing over his skin with the pads of your fingers. You tried to pull it up further, but Steven took your hands, stopping you. You saw him smile and despite not feeling well, you were comforted by the smile. You would recognize those lush lips anywhere.

“Are you real?” You whispered. “Or am I dreaming?”

Steven knew he wasn’t doing well with keeping his secret, but he didn’t much care “I assure you love, you are not dreaming” He brushed back hair out of your face as you still laid on the pillow. 

“How do I thank you for saving my life?” You glance at his lips, hoping he gets the hint.

“You don’t have to do anything but get better” You bring a hand back to his face, not daring to make a move on the mask again, but you brushed his lips with your thumb. When he didn’t move in but didn’t pull away, you figured he would never make the first move. You know your sweet Steven would never want you to think you had to do anything. But boy, did you want to. You gently guided his mouth to yours, and finally did what you had wanted to do since the day you saw him.

Hello! Comments mean the world, reblogs help a lot! If you like this, come drop a follow and check out my ongoing MK story, sunshine starlight sweetheart Brightside which you can find on this blog or on my AO3, which is romana_rose!

[wanderingchocolateeclair]

i am here to ask about your villain au! (please tell me everything about it! /hj)

-story anon

Heheheh okidoki then!!

So uhhhhhhhhh........this is LONG AF- you said “tell me everything about it” and i uh...maybe actually kinda accidentally did exactly that oops-

Edgejeanist stuff is lower down, after all the backstory kinda stuff.

Buckle up guys, Eclair’s back with their ramble-y self, and is about to make it everyone’s problem /lh

I shall just put a slight warning here, this’ll include mentions of death, murder and all that stuff, since it is a villain au.

So. Villain au.

Everything seems perfectly normal at first, but, as usual the commission are hiding their dark little secrets and manipulating and using their poor heroes for their dirty work.

In this au, a certain trio of heroes end up taking matters into their own hands.

I’ll summarise this important point and hc that ties into this au real quick:

Edgeshot, Best Jeanist and Hawks are a “commission trio”. In their earlier years, they got taken in and manipulated into working for them/doing their “important confidential deeds”. 

Tsunagu and Shinya become sort of parental figures to Keigo bc of their ages, and the fact they had to look after him.

(in my canon au, tsu and shinya manage to work their way out of this part of the commission and simply work as heroes, but keigo did not, he unfortunately stayed)

Anyway, after years of doing very dark deeds for the commission, and being treated like dirt (they threatened each of them that they would harm the other two/their family if they tried anything risky) they kinda snapped.

They came up with a plan to overthrow the commission and kill the big boss lady and the ppl that did them wrong!

And so, on that day, Tsunagu and Shinya basically stormed through the commision hq and got rid of everyone. Making their way to their “final target” and allowing Hawks to deliver the last blow.

This is where they kinda start to lose it. Their minds, I mean. After so much torture and the very sudden freedom, and all the killing, their sense of morality and general sanity just kinda dropped from here on out.

It wasn’t long before the whole hero community learnt of what had happened, and everyone went into shock when they heard of who did it.

The top three popular and probably most influential heroes in the entirety of Japan? That everyone knew and most loved and looked up to?

They were doomed. 

Of course, it also wasn’t long before crime rate crept up and many heroes started “going missing”, or retiring....or following in their traitorous footsteps.

(it gets long so heres a cut)

(it seems to delete my notes when i put them under a read more)

(so uh)

(ill just)

(make a few of these just in case)

(it decides to eat the first few points again-)

They had no intentions on hiding what they had done, and they started to enjoy this free feeling they were experiencing. It became addicting.

They started to influence more heroes. Bigger heroes. People who they knew would be happy now that the commission was gone. There was no more commission. No more cruel manipulators to form so called “heroes” just to corrupt them in the end.

Hawks went on his own little journeys, his lifelong dream of being free to do whatever he wanted now was true, and he was ecstatic. 

Jeanist and Edgeshot, however, decided to have a little more “fun”...taking a trip down memory lane and visiting a very dear old school of theirs.

They showed up, the students, teachers and pro heroes to scared to really try and do anything against the two of them, they were very dear old friends!! Friends who also wielded two of the most dangerous quirks when in full use...and they silently started to agree with their words and luring into the villainous side.

This is where this au brings in other characters, and each have their own lil story to how they turn to villainy.

Heroes who had been used/betrayed by the commission before, started to become happy, and more willing to take their words into account.

It was disastrous.

Eventually, there were barely any heroes left and any heroes that were left very quickly went missing or became a target of villains- heroes either went into hiding or retired (to avoid getting targeted by former coworkers), or they became villains.

It didn’t take long for students to follow either, they had been told the harsh truth and many decided to take the new route that had presented itself.

So.

No more heroes.

The world was now simply a haven for villains, and newly turned villains who were now free to do whatever they wanted.

BUT ANYWAY

Let’s talk more about villain au edgejeanist :)

They both quite literally went insane.

Shinya was trained to suppress his memories of his traumatic past, and the way it affected his emotions. This affected his mindset after he snapped.

Tsunagu was trained to manage and suppress his emotional self, and keep his image pristine and untouched. This affected his mindset after he snapped.

So, Shinya became very hollow and empty. His memory was very messed up, and he latched onto things/places/people that were familiar (even if they had once been a bad type of familiar) because it was the one thing that could bring him back to his normal self and he could feel more alive. 

(an example is how he knows Tsunagu is his Biggest Familiar Person, and knows that when he’s with him he is safe, he is aware of everything, he has a full grasp on his memory and he feels back to normal almost.)

Tsunagu lost complete control over his emotions. He would lash out over things like he used to, or succumb to his other emotions. His mind was also too fully gone for him to care about his image anymore, but again, like Shinya, there were exceptions.

When he is around people he cares about, he will do anything to keep them safe. He becomes more rational, and returns to his usual self when around these people. His emotions calm down, and he can think clearly again.

They have their moments, but are forever stronger mentally when they’re together......but they’re also hellishly dangerous.

Tsunagu ABSOLUTELY CANNOT handle being called “crazy”

Call him “insane” or “mad” fine. But the word “crazy”? It launches him into a very strong meltdown, where the person who said such thing, most likely will not be walking away.

On the rare occasion where it makes him become unresponsive and upset however, you’ll be dealing with a very angry ninja. And again, will not be walking away alive.

If anything happens to either one of them, be prepared for death via angry partner - quite literally.

They get caught by police very often at first, but soon the police learns that its kinda no use to send simple officers after them bc....they never come back-

Tsunagu made Tsukauchi swear a sort of truce, where as long as they didn’t send anyone to their home while they were in it, they would not put up a fight. And pulling in a lot of blackmail and previous favours they had done as heroes, they managed to pull this off.

So their home was their safe space. And they could live relatively normally, as it was just the two of them like always.

They had their friends who were all villains now also, so hm :)

But

There was one time

Tsunagu got caught. Properly Caught. 

And it was a big deal as he was one of the reasons this all happened. And so he was put into Tartarus for questioning.

Shinya FREAKED out.

Why were they taking his Tsunagu away? Where were they taking him? What were they gonna do to him?? How. Dare. They take away his Tsunagu.

So....they didn’t get anything out of Tsunagu, no matter how hard they tried. Until one day, where he simply grinned at them and started talking to seemingly himself. muttering the words “Oh, I knew you’d come for me. I’ve been so so very scared without you.....”

And well, with that, Shinya popped up and made his presence very clear. Answering with a simply “Sorry for the wait~” 

And they broke out!!

Making it very clear that it wouldn’t be an easy task to simply imprison these two.

They were villains with the experience and knowledge of heroes, and the physical experience of trained assassins.

And many others were just as troublesome as they were.

Oh my goodness. That was so much longer than I had planned, I do apologise-

But Hey!!

That’s my villain au :)

[tobi-momo]

A Comfortable First Date :)

@awmahleebakugou said:

okay so i’ve never asked before (god i hope your requests are open, i’m sorry if they’re not) but i found you just now and your writing gives me life. i hope i’m not missing any rules, but i wanted to req a kind of first date scenario (the date can be your choice but i’m thinking something out of their comfort zone that the reader kinda eases them into having fun and they actually end up having a good time) with bakugou, todoroki, and dabi. a fluff type thing with a fem reader. they don’t have to be all in one, they can be separate but i really wanted to see your take on this with bakugou. thanks for your time, and i hope you can do this req cuz i love your writing :)

a/n: dflhgdfjhgdfkjgh you make me malfunction omg- i jut started writing a couple weeks ago and to hear that you love my writing makes me smile so hard kfsdjgdfkjg omg ty <3 and, lucky for you, my requests are def open and feel free to come back any time! (if you do want to see my rules tho here’s a link: rules<3 (you didn’t req anything out of my comfort zone tho so dw )

Pairing(s): Bakugou x Reader, Todoroki x Reader, Dabi x Reader

Type: Headcanons

Genre: Fluff :)

Warnings: cursing, youre uncomfy for a lil- but it gets better- FLUFF SKDJGFJSD dabi’s is SO mf short im sorry skhgdlfg

A Comfortable First Date :)

Bakugou:

Man are you glad yall came with ya friends-

You were excited, but anxious. you have never been on a date before, let alone the one and only bakugou katsuki, so ya. you were nervous asf

On the ride, the radio played loudly while you rolled the window down and caught the warm breeze in your face, you were just wildin out in the car, making katsuki laugh in hopes of relieving some stress

when you arrive, it was a different story. there were so many people and the water was dark, and this is gonna be his first time seeing *this much of your body. Your nerves were not helping

“Yo, Y/n, you nervous or somethin’?” Calls Sero, averting your attention from the packed beach

“Uh, no, not at all,” you smile walking over to the trunk of the car, picking up towels

kirishima and mina walk together to find a spot, denki and sero leave you and katsuki alone and immediately start throwing the frisbee around

‘god this was so awkward’ you thought, although it really wasnt, it was just in your head

“Here, give those to me,” katsuki whispers as he takes the towels from your grasp, taking notice of the way you rub your fingers together, the way you keep looking at the ground

He can tell that youre unsure, but he knows that you wont be like this for long- i mean- its bakugou, right?

once yall get to your spot, kirishima and mina catch up to you guys, talking about whats more manly yall cant convince me they dont do this- im convinced mina teaches him how to drink his respect women juice although we know he drinks plenty

You dont even have time to realize katsukis arms around your things, picking you up and throwing you on his shoulders

You play smack his back, laughing and yelping at the same time while he runs towards the water

“kastUKI WHAT ARE YOU DOING??” all he can respond with is his laughter before he sets you down gently in the water

“What, you thought I was gonna throw you or somethin’?” he smirks

“Uh, YEAH? I DID! You scared the crap outta me, babe,” you laugh off, the water suddenly feeling a lot better than you thought it would

He’s still laughing, almost gripping his stomach while kirishima and mina join sero and denki with the frisbee

The face he makes when you splash water on him is-

hmmm

How do i say it

flabbergasted? no. thats a weird ass word. He was like that tho

His face was like 😂 > 😳 > 😶 > 😐 > 😑 > 😐 > 😏😈

yk? yk

He splashes back

hard

so skip to an hour later when you guys are tackling each other in the water holy shit this is soft i cant

yall are having a mf BLAST and yall ended up playing beach volleyball too- have yall seen the episode in avatar where azula, mai, ty lee, and zuko play beach volleyball?

ya basically that but yall actually have fun and its more playful- but yall DESTROY the other teams

you guys end up staying longer than expected and you sleep in the car on the way back with his hand on your thigh but shhh

Todoroki:

ok, this may be dif because i believe movie dates are awkward asFF and i just jfhfkg ugh yk

but anyways~

yall arrive to the theatre, buy your snacks and get your ticket ew ew ew ew

and you literally dont know what to do-

where do you sit? where do you put your hands? what do you do for the rest of the movie? all of these questions filled your head when you guys entered the room, it was empty

great.

You guys take your seats, the commercials starting while you guys start small talk

you and him make fun of the trailers while you guys are literally sitting down like 🧍🧍

So awkward even though yall are talking- like, who takes popcorn first, who gets to put their arm on the middle rest? just overcomplicating everything in your brain

until a skittle falls down your shirt sorry if you dont like skittles but cmon their skittles

coming out the bottom of your shirt, you pick it up, then look at shouto’s soft, playful smirk before he looks away like he didnt do anything

that cheeky bastard

so, you throw it back, knocking his head then falling down the seat to the ground 

he looks back at you with and incredulous expression- not a serious one, but a look of sarcastic surprised

when his hand grabs popcorn out of the bucket, your eyes widen and you quickly leap out of your seat, running out of the isle and up the stairs to the top row of seats, being chased by shouto, and eventually trapped in the corner before getting a face full of popcorn

“Shou!” you laugh out, and you can hear the faint sound of his giggles piercing through yours

Your hands are placed on his chest, and his have dropped down your forearms, holding you in place while you laugh into him

“What?”

“There’s popcorn in my hair now,”

“Oh,” he takes a gentle hand and takes the popcorn out of your hair, tossing it to the side

“This place is a mess now,” he adds

You just laugh it off, taking notice of the fact that the movie has already started

“Shou, the movie,” you point, him turning around to the big screen

“The movie’s boring”

“It’s barely started!” you chuckle

your voice was interrupted by more popcorn hitting your face, and Shouto holding the bucket

“You did not just do what i think you just did.”

“Maybe,”

“I’m gonna get you back for that!” you shout as he starts to walk back to your seat, you grab the box of candy and quickly open it, pouring everything on his head before rushing down the stairs to the other side of the room

lemme just say yall were kicked out PFT JSDHGFSDKJHF

ok but yall didnt care shsdlfsfg

you hung out more after that too, not wanting the day to end :)

Dabi: 

why 

on your first date

would you go

CLUBBING??

like- why??? 

when you arrived, you really do be FINE AS FUUUCKK and everyone is thirsting over you periodt get into it

and when you see him, his eyes widen, admiring your figure

you just smile bc you’ve never been to a club before and set your bag on the counter, taking a seat at the bar next to him

what do you do? are you supposed to order something orrrrrrr? are you supposed to talk? are you supposed to dance with him? like wtf

the most awkward feelings are making home in your stomach

just before you could rush off, his hand grabs yours, making your head whip up for your eyes to meet his, silently reassuring you

You smile before he stands up, and leads you to the dance floor, guiding you with your hips to the music

you place your hands on his shoulders, letting him sway you to the beat, before you turn yourself and dance on him, forgetting your problems

he smirks, running his fingertips down your back while you move your hips on him

after a couple drinks you guys were clicking, like really, really, really, clicking and you felt good

so did he, and he wanted to know you more, so after a couple more dances and drinks, yall were giddy and shi 😏

And yall decided it was time to get to know each other more😏😏😏

when you guys woke up with a hangover, you made him breakfast and yall talked ab everything under the stars omg yall are made for each other istg

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

thats it im sorry dabi’s is so short i just chugged rosé and im hanging out with friends be happy <3

taglist: @toosharkinternet @hitosushi @combat-wombatus @katsuhera @zerohawks

[honeymooneyy]

you kissed remus!

okay so this takes place before a dog in your past life and is when remus came out to the others, context: fifth year, remus came back from summer and is like “ayo when did sirius get so attractive??”, peter knows remus is gay bc he caught Remus and Cas kissing once, and if you haven’t read the other one - Cas is this guy Remus “dated” for a lil bit

The boys had found the “perfect” way to kick off their fifth year at Hogwarts. The train had arrived on a Friday this year, so after getting all the first years settled on their first day, the marauders had all of Saturday to themselves before they had to get in the “school mode”.

James had snuck a bottle of firewhiskey from his parent’s liquor cabinet and had just revealed it to the others.

“James,” Remus groaned, knowing exactly where this was going to end up. “How did you manage to sneak a whole bottle away?”

“Oh shush, Remus, you know you wanna try it.” James waggled his eyebrows as he settled on the floor, right in front of the foot of his bed. He motioned for the others to gather around, patting the ground.

“I’ve never tried firewhiskey,” Sirius admitted, sounding a tad bit too excited in Remus’ opinion. “Gimme gimme.”

Despite Remus’ reluctance, he sat down between Peter and Sirius, leaning back on his hands and watching the other settle down. He forced himself to keep his eyes away from Sirius, instead watching as Peter finished writing his letter to his mom. He had been writing his mom letters since first year, a tradition that had yet to die off.

Yet as James and Sirius argued over what game they should play with it, or if they should just chug it, Remus couldn’t help but glance at Sirius. His hair had been pulled back in a sloppy bun, seeing as he had been getting ready for bed when James pulled out the bottle, but a couple strands had slipped out, framing his face. If anything, it seemed to bring out his jawline, was it always this defined? And then when Sirius stretched out, much like a cat would, his shirt hitched up to reveal dark ink on his hip.

“Sirius, is that a tattoo?” Remus exclaimed and immediately leaned over to inspect it. If he hadn’t been so busy staring at the other boy’s new tattoo, he would’ve noticed the pink hue that had crawled onto Sirius’ cheeks.

“Er, yeah, I got it when I was at James’ house. It’s Canis Major, because it has-”

“Your star,” Remus breathes, reaching out to push Sirius’ shirt up higher. He was too busy looking at the splatter of ink on his stark white skin to realize just exactly what he was doing. “That’s wicked. Did it hurt?”

Sirius gingerly pulled his shirt out of Remus’ grasp and yanked it back down to cover up the tattoo that was the new center of attention. “I guess. Not the worst pain I’ve felt.”

The boys grew quiet at the thought of Sirius’ rough childhood, and Remus leaned back into his previous sitting spot. What was he thinking, just pulling Sirius’ shirt up like that?? Usually, they were all pretty affectionate with each other, but for some reason this just felt off.

Thankfully, the silence didn’t last long as James uncorked the bottle with a pop. He held the bottle up with a grin, “To fifth year!”

The other echoed him, smiles crawling onto their faces. Sirius had called being the first to try it and grabbed the bottle from James, tipping it back to take a sip. The others watched, wide-eyed, waiting for his reaction. He immediately began to cough, wiping his lips with the back of his hand, “Oh god, it’s hot.”

The boys burst into giggles at his reaction, holding their hands out for a turn. Once everyone had been acquainted with the drink, they had settled into a game of Never Have I Ever.

This game wasn’t the best to play when you’re trying to hide the fact that you’re gay, something that Remus didn’t consider until Peter’s turn came around, quite a few drinks in. He had decided to fully milk the fact that he had yet to get a girlfriend.

“Never have I ever kissed anyone,” he decided, grinning at the way Sirius groans, and in doing so, missing the daggers Remus glared at Peter.

“Not fair, you’re targeting me,” Sirius grumbles, sipping from his glass. It was no surprise that he drank, as the others had heard quite enough about his “relationship” with Mary last year. He set his cup back down, the alcohol quickly diminishing with the way he drank for almost everyone’s turn. They had ended up divvying up the bottle to see who finished their glass first.

“I’m saving myself for Lilly,” James declares proudly, shaking his head to get the dark hair out of his eyes before grinning lopsidedly. “I’m loyal.”

“Is it even being loyal if you’re not dating?” Remus snorts. It seemed the alcohol had rid him of his filter because he then sipped his drink, seeing as he had kissed Cas quite a few times.

Sirius didn’t miss it, turning to Remus with wide eyes, “You’ve kissed someone??”

“Moony!! You’ve kissed someone?? Why didn’t you tell us?” James exclaims, turning to Remus with his mouth agape and holding a hand to his heart in mock-betrayal. “I thought we’re best friends! When was it? Who was it?”

Peter jumped in, hurrying to fix the mess he caused, “Maybe he was just thirsty, I don’t think it wasn’t for the actual question.”

“S’okay, Peter, I’ll tell them,” Remus sighs, thankful that Peter tried, at least. He’s gotta tell them at some point... “It was last year.”

James didn’t miss the way he dodged the question of who, “Okay, but who was it? What’s her name, do we know her?”

“James,” Remus began softly, raising his eyes to James’ inquiring ones. He could feel his throat closing up so he spit the words out, as quick as he could, “I never said it was a girl.”

James’ mouth fell agape, “Blimey! I didn’t even know, what kind of friend am I?”

Remus couldn’t help but stare at him, “That’s it? You don’t care that I’m gay?”

He just shrugged and Remus wasn’t sure if it was because of the alcohol or if it was just James being James. “Don’t really care who you snog. I can’t believe I didn’t even know, we’ve been friends for five years.”

“I didn’t know until last year,” Remus admits with a small laugh. He pulled his legs closer so he could rest his chin on them, and watched James’ reaction. An hour or so had passed since they first started their games and the alcohol had taken a hold of all of them. The world seemed a bit more hazy than usual, but despite that he could feel Sirius’ gaze boring into his side profile. He decided to ignore it for now.

“Wait a minute.” James whirled around to point at Peter, “You knew! How did you know?”

Peter barely got a chance to open his mouth when James let out a sound of surprise.

“It was you, wasn’t it! You kissed Remus!” James exclaimed, seeming proud of himself for having figured it out. Remus couldn’t but fall into a fit of giggles at the thought of Peter and him.

“It was that boy, wasn’t it?” Sirius finally spoke up, leveling his steely gaze with Remus. His bun was falling apart completely at this point, and Remus itched to move the hair that hung in front of his eyes. “Carter, or something? The one you always hung around last year.”

“Cas,” Remus corrected, internally slapping himself for the way he had been staring at Sirius’ hair. “But yeah, we were together for a bit. He doesn’t go here anymore.”

James began on another tangent about how he should’ve known and that he had to admit Cas was a bit attractive, but Remus wasn’t interested. Sirius was uncharacteristically quiet. His dark brows were knitted together as he thought something over. Was he upset?

“Sirius?” Remus’ voice cracked as he whispered his best friend’s name. He needed him to say something more, tell him that it’s okay, that he doesn’t care.

Sirius was glaring now and Remus thought he might be sick, what if Sirius didn’t support him? He couldn’t bear the thought of losing his best friend. His worries only heightened when Sirius finally spoke, his voice unusually calm,“You didn’t tell us for months. Did you think we’d be mad?”

Remus wasn’t quite sure why he was so upset. “I wasn’t sure. It’s kind of controversial.”

“But we’re your best mates. You should be able to tell us stuff like this,” Sirius sighed, finally brushing his hair off his face. When he glanced up, Remus was surprised to see sadness swirling in his eyes. “And we scared you off. What kind of friends are we?”

So he wasn’t mad at Remus? But at himself?? Remus was thoroughly confused, why was Sirius so fixated on the fact that he didn’t tell them right away?

“I dunno,” Remus shrugged, wishing his sweater could swallow him whole. Why did Sirius need to question him like this, especially now?? “I didn’t want to take the chance and lose you guys. I don’t have anyone else.”

It was weird seeing Sirius so serious. He was usually as bouncy as James, cracking jokes and grinning 24/7. Remus decided that he preferred carefree Sirius, this one reminded him too much of the time Sirius returned from winter break with scars marring his back.

“You’re still my best friend, Sirius. I would’ve told you guys eventually.” Remus shifts over to sit a bit closer to Sirius and bumps their knees together. If he hadn’t drunk so much firewhiskey, he might’ve been more cautious about touching Sirius so casually, especially after confessing he liked guys. The last thing he needed was for his friends to think he was a creep. “It wasn’t that long ago.”

“You didn’t have to tell us, I’m not upset about that. I’m sorry you couldn’t come to us about it, I’m sure it had been kinda scary. We could’ve helped you figure it out, that’s what best friends are for.” Sirius bumps his knees back into Remus’, before giving him a sad smile. “I reckon not everyone reacts so nicely, do they?”

“I don’t think everyone’s so open to it,” Remus decided to say. Sirius already looked so sad for him, he didn’t want to add to it by bringing up how the kids in his neighborhood felt about gay people. Or even the way his parents spoke about it when seeing stories in the daily prophet. He hated the pity tainting Sirius’ voice.

Sirius’ eyes brightened as his gaze found Remus’, “So will you tell us about it, then? Cas? And everything? You didn’t get to tell us last year, tell us now!”

That caught James’ and Peter’s attention as they turned to Remus, eager to hear about his romantica adventures. Remus rarely brought it up, seeing as he never had much interest in their conversations about girls.

Remus could feel his cheeks heating up as he ducked his head, bashfully. “It was okay, nothing abnormal.”

“C’mon, Remus, you listen to us when we talk about girls. I talk about Lilly every day, tell us about who you like!” James prods, scooting closer.

Remus makes a point to keep his eyes on the ground at the topic of who he likes. He hated the way his mind immediately wandered to Sirius. He didn’t like Sirius, he was simply admiring his looks and he knew he couldn’t let those thoughts go anywhere. With a sigh, he started, “Okay, I guess I can tell you guys a bit about it. You know that I was friends with Cas for a bit, last year…”

Remus never thought he’d ever talk to his friends about boys, but here he was - describing his first kiss in detail.

[bookish-mind]

I read call down the hawk, here’s my aching heart:

*spoilers*

(I wasn’t planning on making a long post about this book but I couldn’t help myself, I had too much to say and I needed a place to scream about pynch)

“This is going to be a story about the Lynch brothers” I knew that already so why am I crying, already, the first line and I’m crying

It mentioned Ronan living somewhere other than the barns after Niall died and I’m just here like,, you can say Monmouth it’s ok

“Adam Parrish was the destination of this road trip” and “Ronan missed him like a lung” my heart my heart my heart

“the guy he loved” PLEASE

Ronan Lynch upon seeing Adam Parrish for the first time: *literally prays*

I see the obsession with Adam’s hands goes way back

“Funny how quickly a handful of weeks could render something unrecognizable” I know ronan was talking about the weather/the campus but my stomach dropped pls this better not be pynch foreshadowing

Their reunion was so chaotic I’d expect nothing else tbh

The watch keeps track of Ronan’s time zone I can’t-

“He was with Adam, and Adam still loved him” PLS THE USE OF THE L WORD KILLS ME EVERY TIME

“there was burnished Gansey, who might not have saved Ronan’s life in high school, but at the very least kept it mostly out of Ronan’s reach so that he could not take it down and break it” this line bothers me bc gansey literally did save Ronan’s life that was the whole godamn point 🙃

Objectively I understand that the crying club are probly decent ppl but subjectively they ain’t no gangsey that’s for sure

“he longed for him even while holding him” pls the yearning,, it’s too much for my frail heart

Bryde needs to gtfo of Ronan’s head is what need to happen

Who is lindenmere I only know Cabeswater

Ronan is crying I’m crying we’re all crying

It breaks my heart that Ronan is still yearning for something more while the rest of the gangsey are out there living

Gansey is chained to a tree in Oregon, seems legit

Chainsaw knows how to say “Atom” I’m fucking crying

“What, Declan? I’m trying to fucking tow a cow” I love this book

Matthew be like “I’ve been staring at the edge of the water long as I can remember never really knowing why”

I literally had a headcanon that Ronan says I love u to Adam in Latin

“He sucked in more longing with every inhale, he exhaled some of his happiness on the other side” this godamn book I swear 😩

“dreamt of you” AGSHSJAK

Oof I kinda love Parsifal all he wants to do is eat some bienenstich made by his momma

Wait wait wait these Niall and aurora doppelgängers are confusing me

“I saved your life because I love you” HE SAID IT OUT LOUD ! HE SAID IT ! IT HAS BEEN SAID

I know it’s common knowledge at this point that they are in an established loving relationship but it hits me the same every time I’m reminded

“It was possible no two students at aglionby had ever come away with such a thorough understanding of Latin (or, possibly, of each other)” I have no words

Declan Lynch falling in love with a dream? More likely than you’d think

Man I hope at the end of all this Declan gets to punch a judge and go somewhere to live and breathe art for the rest of his life

This whole dreamers are born to die young theme is stressing me out

“Ronan, I know you” literally everything they say to each other knocks the air out of my lungs

“They hugged again, merrily, waltzing messily in the kitchen, and kissed, merrily, waltzing more” brb if you need me I’ll be reading this line over and over again for the rest of eternity

Two things: 1) gansey left his mint plant for Ronan to take care of 2) ronan dreamed a literal sun to keep the plant alive when he could have just as easily put it by a window like a normal person that’s the cutest bro shit I’ve ever seen

“Adam stopped breathing” please stiefvater imagine how tired we are

Also where tf is opal I miss the lil weirdo

“he missed him acutely even as he was looking at him” it’s too much,, it’s all too much

Oh hell ya Ronan and Jordan/Hennessy/all the other girls finally met I been waiting for this one

Waaait is the dark lady seashore niall’s dream space like Cabeswater/lindenmere is Ronan’s ??

Oh Matthew, my sweet boy, he figured out he’s a dream

Jordan. Is. Painting. Declan. I. Can’t. Breathe.

Oh damn ok so the lace is trynna get out and destroy the world ? Is that it ?

Matthew asking “Do I have a soul?” broke me

Matthew said “I’m the fake brother” and Declan uno reversed that shit so fast

Alright lindenmere I see you I see you but the thing is.. I miss my girl Cabeswater

OPAL FINALLY

“He didn’t have it in him to love another dream. It hurt too bad. Loving anything did” ouch :(

Fuck fuck fuck this is the part where chaos erupts

Damn those sundogs are cool af tho

I swear I didn’t breathe until I knew Matthew and Declan were alive holy shit

Declan thinking “The world was broken” and “I never actually lived” </3

Let Ronan and Declan hug each other challenge

Adam Parrish please pick up the goddamn phone I am begging you

The way Hennessy is so in awe that Ronan has complete trust of lindenmere/his subconscious made me ache bc it took a helluva lot for him to get to this point

“Hennessy?” “Lynch.” “I’ve been alone a long time” excuse me I’m gonna need a minute-

The way Ronan describes what the lace is to him,, I’m fucking sobbing

Hennessy and Ronan’s swords are badass

I still don’t trust bryde but he got them out of there so points to him I guess :/

Where’s book 2 I need book 2

[inosukeslefttoe]

girl.... omg.... this game rlly means it when it says itll show me the ultimate despair....

so my first fav character was sayaka right,,, and then it was mondo,,, WHICH ISNT TOO GREAT FOR ME LMAO ALL MY FRIENDS HAVE SUCH TRAGIC FATES THIS GAME IS FULL OF TRAGEDY BUT ITS SO FUCKING WELL DONE AND IM EVEN MORE OBSESSED NOW (was low key scared id actually get depressed bc of this since i tend to get rlly attached to things like this,, and yeah i miss mondo like hell but ITS IN SUCH AN EXHILARATING WAY YKNOW AND I CANT WAIT TO KEEP PLAYING THE GAME)

but lmao i just wanna scream about all the little things that made this part of the game even more tragic,,, so first of all is like,, how similar mondo and chihiro are right ?? like at first you see them and ur like “wow these two are lowkey polar opposites bc mondo big tough violent outspoken scary man while chihiro is tiny passive inferiority complex timid man” but after hearing both of their stories, you can tell that they both suffer from the same things and have the same goal. they both have terrible inferiority complexes, they just deal with them differently: chihiro kinda gave into it and ran away from it by deciding to hide his true self behind something he saw as “weaker” than him and letting that become a part of his identity out of fear that he was too weak to try and change/fight it. Mondo on the other hand overcompensated big time for it and became the ultimate manly man when inside he felt nothing but weak and guilt. also like,, a few times mondo mentioned that hes rlly bad with emotions right and he handles them through anger and violence so,,, this means that whenever he has these negative feelings towards himself he has no healthy way to let them out and just keeps pushing them down and trying to maintin this facade of a strong man and never letting anyone know that hes “weak” but this just ends up as a big ball of negativity and adds to his “weakness”...and like... bro chihiro and mondo couldve grown so much stronger together bc they suffer from the same things but could learn how to deal with it better together and balance each other out.... but mondo acted so quickly and violently and did something he couldnt undo which just added to his self hatred and YKNOW ALSO KILLED THE MOST PURE HEARTED STRONGEST PERSON IN HERE BUT AT THE SAME TIME MAKES IT HARD FOR YOU TO BLAME MONDO AND HATE HIM FOR IT BUT UGH THERES JUST SO MANY LAYERS AND ITS SO EMOTIONAL

next.... as you can tell by the gif.... IS MONDOS RELATIONSHIP WITH TAKA... ill prolly make a post screaming abt how much i love them later lmao but like... god what hurt the most for me personally during this bit wasnt that my favorite boy died/had a whole tragic story.... but that his best friend had to go through such betrayal and such loss. like... not only did taka have to see this side of mondo that mondo was desperately trying to hide and find out that his best friend had broken everything he stood for and yknow,,, feel the ultimate sense of betrayal, but he also had to see his best friend brutally killed in front of him. like,, holy shit man mondo was straight up confessing but taka... TAKA REFUSED TO BELIEVE IT AFTER ALL THIS EVIDENCE AND THAT HIT SO MUCH HARDER THAN LEONS DEATH AND THE LIL RHYTHM MINI GAME THING bc in leons case he was like “it was self defense !! i had to !! its not my fault !!” after murdering someone,, but in this case,,,, mondo admitted to it but it was his Bro who refused to accept it and was fighting tooth and nail to save his best friend. AND LIKE,, TAKA IS THE ULT MORAL COMPASS RIGHT ?? AND HE STRAIGHT UP HAD TO KNOW IT WAS MONDO,, AND THAT BREAKS LITERALLY EVERY RULE ON ANY MORAL COMPASS,,, BUT TAKA STILL FOUGHT FOR HIM WITH EVERYTHING HE HAD..... also i noticed taka cursing and that seemed so ooc but so utterly heartbreaking.... and i love how they added extra drama in the game by having the va violently scream in agony for taka like.... talk about despair lmao. omg and my brother is watching the anime right and he was like lol you should watch the scene from it too if you wanna be more sad.... AND OH GOD HE WAS RIGHT... the fact that taka resorted to some violence by grabbing mondo aggressively and shaking him and yelling ... and the fact that he was like “why did you kill him make me understand” kinda thing and mondo couldnt even look at taka or say anything.... BUT EVEN WITH THAT,,, TAKA STILL COULDNT BEAR HIS FRIEND BEING KILLED AND BEGGED MONOKUMA TO KILL H I M INSTEAD ??? GOD MY HEART CANT FUCKING HANDLE THAT. LIKE THAT BOND THEY HAVE BRO AND HOW MONDO SEVERED IT AND HOW TAKA WAS NOT GONNA LET IT BE BROKEN THAT EASILY AND HHHHHH IM . SO . SAD. but seriously... that was a whole new level of despair imo for this game to add such a beautiful relationship between these two and have it end so tragically by taka, the moral compass, dropping his morals and refusing to see the facts in front of him and still ready to die for his bro.... also the whole “make me understand” line kinda just... he couldnt even condemn mondo for it, he wanted to know his reasonings so he could know that his friend wasnt a bad guy and couldnt die yknow...

HAHA I GOT ALL SAD AGAIN WRITING THIS DUDE BUT ITS JUST SO GOOD HOW COULD I NOT MAKE A POST YOU FEEL ?? im so hyped to start chapter three tomorrow but i swear if it gets any sadder it might actually affect my mood and ill have to take a break... but i think that the death of my fav + the relationship doomed to despair is quite a high level to beat for me personally since i always find things to be more sorrowful when it has anything to do with human connections like that lmao

1/2/21

[pekorosu]

just a lil “if ash lived” headcanon that i need to unload somewhere bc i've been holding it in for a long time

- set within the manga ‘verse

- takes place when ash and eiji are in their early 30s... so around the mid 1990s?

- i don’t get the weird animanga trope where older = longer hair, so they’re gonna look the same... maybe with slightly shorter hair bc they get regular haircuts now 

- (note: i've always interpreted long-haired eiji as symbolic of the fact that he couldn't move on from ash’s death)

- ash and eiji will continue living in the states, idk if still in NYC or somewhere else. they’ll move around a lot though.

- ash will mostly remain underground as he had to fake his death after lao’s stab, but he does it in a "hiding in plain sight" kind of way. only a handful of people know he’s still alive.  

- ash spends most of his time on the computer, mostly coding, hacking, being a nerd, among other fun stuff.

- he also takes on “jobs” anonymously, and occasionally from max (who’s still into investigative journalism) when he needs info that can only be obtained through Dubious Means.

- i also like to think that ash's a bit of a hacker robin hood lol. but he isn’t doing it purely out of the goodness of his heart, as part of it is a subconscious need to atone for his “sins” and cleanse the gnawing and persistent feeling of shame that gets amplified when he’s around eiji.

- also whatever he’s up to these days would ofc still be Highly Dangerous and Illegal, but it keeps him busy and would sate the part of him that’s still hungry for adrenaline without him having to engage in stuff like active bloodshed or substance abuse. basically that’s how i imagine he’d try to cope with life the only way he knows.

- eiji continues to do photography and other part time gigs bc he does not like the idea of mooching off ash forever, and he slowly makes a name for himself.

- ash and eiji live together but they are NOT together in a romantic sense... not yet >:)

- therefore eiji will probably date other people in the meantime, which gets a little troublesome bc it's not like he can bring them home to where his secret Very Important Friend is secretly hiding.

- ash will maybe have one-night stands every now and then. or not. idk. this isn’t a very important detail.

- anyway there will be lots of clueless but mutual pining :)

- ash especially, is of the opinion that they should start living separately bc someone will eventually track him down, maybe someone who has a past or present grudge on him. combined with his current activities, it’s only a matter of time before eiji would unwittingly get dragged into his problems again.

- eiji is v adamantly against that plan bc he's sorta developed a debilitating sense of paranoia that ash might just get killed somewhere while he’s not looking. not that ash isn’t paranoid either, but his insecurities often tip the scale over to “eiji is safer away from me” than “with me”.

- basically they’re doing their whole “stay. no, leave. no, stay” dance all over again, but like, dragged out over MANY YEARS.

- you thought eiji’s letter would’ve cleared up any crossed wires? 

- HELL NO

- like yea, there was probably a beautiful honeymoon period of about a year or two after they reunited, before their respective trauma and issues started creeping in and fucking things up again.

- esp on ash’s end, i think he’d engage in a lot of self-sabotage. and eiji is only human, he has his own limits and baggage too.

- there will be a government conspiracy plotline but on a smaller scale compared to canon that i am unfortunately not knowledgeable enough to worldbuild on, but it will probably have something to do with cybercrime/cyberterrorism/stuff like that bc it needs to tie in with ash's hacking shenanigans.

- i've heard that sing ends up becoming some sorta political big shot in yasha? idk, i haven't read it myself, but since china’s rising status was mentioned in GoL i imagine the plot should relate to that somehow.

- therefore sing would also get to be in this story! 

- i guess this means yut-lung would come into the picture at some point as well, and it would be a good opportunity for a redemption arc but i haven’t given it much of a thought bc i’m indifferent to his character orz SORRY.

- look i can’t do plot, but i am basically envisioning a political thriller with a side of slow burn romance (wait, you mean like a rehash of canon?)

- i’m thinking max is the one who kicks off the story by bringing something fishy to ash, and they just end up uncovering more and more and MORE stuff as they keep going.

- so for like 80% of the story, ash and eiji will be separated bc ash will be busy spying or infiltrating something... and being at the center of Plot Things, while max and eiji will be more on the outside dealing with the journalist side of things. i’m fond of max-ash interactions but i’m also REALLY CURIOUS about max-eiji’s dynamic :D

- meanwhile sing will be like, half in and half out i imagine. he's versatile like that lol

- ...i did NOT mean that in a dirty way

- anyway, this will provide ash and eiji ample space to work out their issues separately, as i think living in close quarters for so many years has actually been aggravating them. ofc those issues don’t get 100% resolved by the end, but some time apart from each other to cool off and spend with other people should provide a bit of perspective.

- i want ash to make some NEW FRIENDS (!!!) that are on the same wavelength as him bc there’s only so much that he can tell eiji and i’m sure he gets rather lonely, so there will be OCs that he will meet in the middle of Plot Things.

- ash will get trapped at some point. preferably with sing so they can have a much needed heart-to-heart talk. they’ll have a lot to hash out, ranging from the events in BF, shorter’s and lao’s death, all the way to ash’s love life. 

- btw i like the idea of eiji and sing being close drinking buddies who confide in one another but ash is kinda, justalittle, not very happy about that LOL 

- i mean, it's not like eiji can confide in ash when ash is the topic at hand, ya get me? as for sing, he’s similar to ash in the sense that they live dangerous lives, so i imagine he just finds it nice to be able to hang out with someone mundane like eiji every now and then.

- not to say that ash and sing aren’t talking to each other at all, but i think they’d have a bit of a rift between them. sing probably does feel some resentment, both at ash for killing lao AND at himself bc he knows deep down that given a choice, he would’ve saved ash over his own brother. ash can sense that tortured vibe, so eiji’s like their middle man. AND THAT’S WHY THEY NEED A HEART-TO-HEART TALK

- (SIDE NOTE: i want akira to have a role in this too. i actually have a separate headcanon that happens prior to this story... kinda like an alternate GoL? 

akira goes to the states to visit eiji, but ash is also there, yeah? akira and ash start out sorta prickly with each other bc ash is all weird and standoffish and always cooped up in his room. she probably mistook him as a jobless model mooching off eiji at first since 1) eiji and ibe have never spoken about him back in japan (cuz he’s supposed to be dead), 2) why would eiji be living with some random hot guy? unless they met during one of his photography gigs? right??? 

and then she ends up witnessing them in the middle of a tiff, which makes her not like ash even more bc HOW DARE HE YELL AT POOR OKUMURA-SAN??? UNGRATEFUL JERK!!!

but over the course of her visit, she snoops around learns a bit about their history and gathers hints as to why their r’ship is kinda strained. also ash and akira somehow end up bonding (reluctantly) over their emotional insecurities and part on a friendly rivalry to win over eiji’s affections (which eiji is completely oblivious to. also akira may have been 100% serious but ash was just jokingly playing along with her (OR WAS HE???)). anyway long story short, ash teaches akira some cool tech/IT stuff along the way so that leads to her gaining an interest in the field. 

she won’t be able to do much in this story, but a minor role would be cool :)

 ^ a lighthearted gyoza-making scene amid all the angst)

- (SIDE NOTE #2: i ALSO want cain to feature in this, but bc canon provided very little bg info on him it’s hard for me to figure out where he’d fit. but i suppose that’s precisely why it would be great to include him, since i can just make up my own backstory! lol. for now, i think he should be connected to one of the new OCs to make him more central to the plot. or heck, he can be involved himself! ...yeah, i’m just salty about how cain was treated more like a convenient plot device compared to the other major side characters. we barely know anything about him even though he was one of ash’s most trusted allies. #caindeservedbetter2k20)

- anyway, back to the main story. ash (and his new "friends") barely escape where they’re held hostage. ash would be rusty with combat now as he’s spent the past few years doing only stealth work and being rather sedentary. 

- so there’ll be lotsa old man!ash jokes like them poking fun at him whenever he complains about his back hehe

- when they finally emerge outside they find themselves in the middle of nowhere! they then hijack a passing pickup truck and do a roadtrip back to civilisation. ROAD TRIP FTW

- at this point, quite some time has already passed and ash even has a fuzzy beard and mane and all. he’s standing at the back of the truck with a small smile on his face and the wind blowing in his hair, thinking GONNA GO BACK AND SEE EIJI, MISS HIM LOADS, HELL YEA 

- (bonus: this song and this scene is the catalyst for this entire headcanon btw)

(drew this about a year ago. i was trying to imitate the manga’s art style... and the ash i had in my mind was a little different. i’m too lazy to redraw, but he’s fuzzier now okay! MORE FUZZ! like an actual freakin LION!)

- meanwhile, eiji and max will get into some deep shit around this point? 

- eiji in the pic above was me imagining that the Bad Guys had tossed some damning evidence (eg. severed body part?) on the ground like “ash’s dead/ash’s in a lot of danger now so hand over all the info u have”

- and eiji and max are like. SHOOKETH

- this would be the 3rd time ash has “died” after all, and as they say... 3rd time's the charm...

- eiji almost gives in, but then max spits in their face like fuck no and then... yeah. they get beat up and taken away or something lol

- EDIT: hmm... what if the Bad Guy is someone IN the government, and he uses his power to get eiji and max arrested for aiding and abetting a wanted fugitive (ash). and then ash has to rescue them... JAILBREAK STYLE

- also it might be cool to introduce ash's mom somewhere in this story... maybe SHE'S the villain! mwahaha *drama intensifies*

- anyways they will get saved by ash and gang bc that’s just the way things go, BUT! only on the condition they already made it out at least 80% of the way bc GODDAMN IT👏LET👏EIJI👏BE👏BADASS👏FOR👏ONCE👏 

- (that is, after he overcomes the initial shock of ash possibly being dead again... again...... again............)

- there will ofc be moments of “oh my god, you’re okay” "i thought i lost you...!"

- something like this, because one can never have enough cheesy reunion scenes

- this will eventually lead to REVELATIONS (of the romantic kind, yes) 

- buuuut they will never say "i love you" directly to each other bc ash is too emotionally constipated and eiji is too japanese. it's okay, they will communicate it through heated stares 👀

- i would love for there to be a scene where they have to be separated again for Plot Reasons and ash sorta hesitantly goes all "...will you wait for me?" as a direct parallel to canon!eiji's "i'll be waiting" and it’s like,

- FINALLY! 

- FINALLY!!!!!!!!!! ash has finally allowed himself to ask for this, to let himself want it! 

- and eiji would be like OF COURSE I WILL YOU BIG DUMMY, ALWAYS AND FOREVER

- but i think it'd be hilarious if eiji pops up while ash's in the middle of the final showdown and ash's like WTF I TOLD YOU TO WAIT FOR ME and eiji's like I WAS WORRIED OKAY YOU WERE TAKING SO LONG

- idk how this is supposed to end...

- oh wait! since the plot is government-related, maybe Someone will be able to pull strings to wipe out ash’s criminal record (past and present) and give him a brand new 100% legal identity, as thanks for his efforts? or maybe ash (or sing) just does it himself somewhere along the way LOL. anyway, he’ll be able to start over with a fresh clean slate and finally work on recovery FOR REAL NOW. yes this is a happy ending AND it didn’t require him to go to japan /flips off canon

- ...i realise it’s never going to be that simple but W H A T E V E R

- (also they probably will visit japan in the future with that shiny new passport... gotta meet the in-laws and all y’know)

- who do i gotta pay to write this cheesy self-indulgent fic for me

[quinintheclouds]

Thoughts on Putting Others First: SvS Redux as they come to me

AN HOUR LONG?!?!?! Y E S THANK YOU

I am LOVING this opening art style. The way it shows all the things Thomas could say and shuts them each down, the silliness tying in perfectly to the video game setting, the way we could SO STRONGLY empathize with Thomas despite him not saying anything. Well done!

“Eff friends, Patton!” Patton and I made the exact same gasp and noise at the same time in reaction to that dsjfhljdhg

Lookit Thomas’ lil vest awww <3

ROMAN WITH THE PUNS I LOVE IT APPRECIATE HIM

rhymes

rhymes

they’re rhyming is this gonna be

A SONG!!!

(Logan off somewhere watching all of this: “You guys are doing a RAP? Without ME? .....Unacceptable”)

Seriously poor Logan being left out BOTH TIMES despite clearly having excellent points on the matter

But I’m loving this Patton/Roman dynamic being explored in this way. They have a lotta similarities but the differences are really standing OUT so far and I like it! Also it looks like Roman isn’t gonna just shut up and do whatever Patton says out of fear that he’s a bad person/bad for Thomas this time. I’m glad they’re both getting a chance to talk cause they aren’t exactly taken seriously a lot of the time.

RETURN OF THE BLINDFOLD METAPHOR followed by Roman saying “in Patton’s defense...” so they like, KNOW what Deceit meant about the blindfold? Were they playing dumb? Or do they just suddenly get it now that it’s coming from Thomas?

Ok this Feral Cat Story of Roman’s is too specific for me to dismiss and now I’m convinced either Remus brought a shitton of cats home one day and they just flooded their house/rooms, or Patton brought home a bunch of cats out of love and didn’t realize he couldn’t take care of em...either way that’s an adorable anecdote

The car jump line that Patton took literally is just making me miss Logan even more :(

I’m glad they’re giving context to the relationship between Thomas and Mary Lee & Lee! A lot of fander questions and opinions circled back to “well it depends how close they were” so it was smart of them to fill us in.

“those baby-makin’ catholics”

6:45 Patton has clearly thought through a lot of possible outcomes to talking to Lee and Mary Lee before going to the wedding... he never brought them up, even when Roman did and then Deceit did. But he’s bringing up points no one had addressed, and I think that’s a great way to put more intensity to Patton’s apology to Thomas for lying back in SvS pt 1. He hid a lot more than he let on. Man, how much guilt is this poor man feeling right now? :(

“Talking about it could have been harmful” I’m very intrigued by the parallels between Patton wanting to keep things from Thomas’ friends to protect their feelings in this episode and SvS, and Deceit disguised as Patton in CLBG trying to get Thomas to... keep things from his friend to protect their feelings...

WOAH “But was it worth it? I don’t--” “No.” Thomas cutting Roman off with that much certainty DAMN Thomas REGRETS going to the wedding HARD and also is agreeing with Roman finally??

Patton: “sometimes you can make all the good choices, and still not get the good ending.” Thomas: “I’m not even sure there was a good ending to get.” Roman: “Mmmm, I’m pretty sure there was.” There is so much to unpack here oh my gosh.

WOAH WOAH WOAH WHAT??? DAMN THOMAS CAME FOR PATTON WHAT ON EARTH??? Patton: “I think we can all agree that you are a good fellow.” Thomas: Can we? ALL? Agree on that?” Patton: *sputtering noises*

Poor Patton... I mean they’re right but gosh I feel for him. He wants so badly for Thomas to be a good person and he realizes now how strict and unyielding he’s been, and wants to not do that but doesn’t know how to be more lenient without sacrificing integrity cause that’s his JOB and he doesn’t know how to do it better aaaa this is such a mood

MUSIC IS THERE ANOTHER SONG COMING?

Return of the bagel. Except this time it’s Roman guessing/wanting the bagel and Patton being like “what? no?”

ok not a song but video game style is back!!

“ugh you’re such a dad” I love it

Patton just made more puns and Roman omg “Like, you’re SUCH a dad that like it’s too much to handle sometimes”

I am loving this whole scene jdfhjadshg Patton ily and I relate

Thomas and Roman teaching Patton how to come up with imaginary scenarios skjfklsjdfh

Sondheim wrecking Leslie Odom Jr is such a hilarious visual

Ok all three of them are peak dumbass and I’m so here for it (like they’re smart and all but they’re peak dumbass)

Daaaamn Patton is letting out so much this episode. Like he’s been holding back but wowie. R: “Just like how you didn’t HAVE to give him a hotdog” P: *sucks air through his teeth* “I feel like you kinda do though?” YES PLEASE let’s discuss the concept of obligation in morality again!!! Where’s Logan when you need him? Or Deceit even? (I feel like D’s gonna show up later but I wanna hear Logan’s thoughts this time too)

Patton: You can disagree! But... it’d kinda be wrong?

LOGAN POPUP! Ok fine if he isn’t in the ep at least he pops up in a lil dialogue box on screen. Also he popped up to support Patton... neat!

“It’s just me, Logan. I’ve taken this form because I didn’t want to be too...invasive.” POOR LOGAN NO YOU’RE NOT INVADING ANYTHING YOU HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO BE HERE! Also Roman getting scared by the popup while Patton just waves happily like he always does upon seeing Logan aww

Okay I am getting serious DOPAMINE from Logan talking. Like, he’s spittin’ FACTS. Something about the way he talks is so interesting and soothing and makes me so excited to LEARN. Roman mockingly mouthing ‘behoove’ had me snort though XD

LOGAN AND I WERE IN UNISON HELL YEAH! Patton was all like ooh you’re sharing your lil factoids! And Logan and I at the same time corrected, “Facts,” and proceeded to state the definition of factoids (we worded it differently but yeah as usual Logan is on my wavelength)

Logan’s sprite getting so disappointed at Thomas’ interruption joke jgdkjghks he looks so DONE

OML I LOVE LOGAN’S DIALOGUE BOX TALKING TOO FAST FOR THEM TO READ THIS IS SO ACCURATE

Oof Thomas finally feeling like he GETS it and Patton being like yeah but not if you’re doing it bc you want to feel  good tho... (also that’s the same argument Deceit made in SvS pt1??? I’m confused by Patton/Deceit’s functions lately and I’m very invested)

Oh ok Thomas just brought up that very point haha

“we all agreed the right thing to do was go to the wedding” um are u sure about that

“I was wrong” PATTON CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT?? I know Logan has the reputation of not being able to admit when he’s wrong (which isn’t true -- he doesn’t like to but he has done so countless times...well not literally countless but you understand my meaning), but Patton rarely is in a situation where he has to, so this is jarring in a hopefully good way. Istg if this is Deceit disguised as Patton again I’ll be so disappointed... I feel like the writers wouldn’t do that though

Patton: says smth deceit said. Roman: and you...agree? Patton: Definitely! I mean uh maybe? (WHAT IS HAPPENING INSIDE PATTON’S HEAD RN SO MUCH TURMOIL)

Roman: “I’m not an expert in the... moral medium” Thomas:  “Go ahead Roman, we wanna hear what you have to say.”  Patton: *halfhearted gestures and noises for roman to go ahead* jashfjdh he’s trying so hard

AWWWW they’re validating Roman so much I love it

“whomstsoever” ok I take it back roman’s not valid

I adore Logan’s popup fun facts, and him giving definitions for Roman’s vocabulary reminds me how much the two of them love writing and poetry and language aaaa

Patton trying not to be harsh is somehow 10x harsher than he normally is

oh wow that got real.

I know I’ve said this but I love logan’s insertions... but I do wish he got to say them out loud like earlier :/ Pausing to read them is less fun than hearing him talk.

oh wow that got real part 2

I want. So badly. To jump into this video and debate Patton on the nature of morality and what “the right thing is.” Roman you’re not being dumb, you’re bringing up excellent points and you’re valid again.

Oh no Patton... empathy is not morality... please please address that there are people who can’t experience empathy and choose to be moral and good

THE  TROLLEY PROBLEM HERE! WE! GO!

Logan’s popups bc he doesn’t want to “be too invasive” and making them optional to read hurts my heart :( He knows Patton, Roman, and Thomas aren’t reading any of it but he doesn’t want to be too much so he stays silent. Why?? Logan it’s okay! Why is this a thing now but not in the last 2 episodes? What happened to Logan :(

OOOOOOH Patton didn’t flip the switch :o Interesting! Daaaamn he’s arguing to let 5 people die rather than flip the switch so only one dies

LOGAN’S TEXTBOX WAS SO BIG AND FAST IT KNOCKED PATTON OVER I CANNOT BREATHE hang on I gotta read it

HE’S TALKING ABOUT DEONTOLOGY YES LOGAN THANK YOU FOR TELLING PATTON WHAT I PHYSICALLY CANNOT please tell me you’ll talk about utilitarianism and moral particularism next

Okay he used consequentialism but it’s close enough to utilitarianism that the outcome is the same. (Do you get it? Do you like my joke about how the outcome is most important? When we’re talking about-- oh you got it already? Good, moving on.)

DID ROMAN JUST FJCKING KILL LOGAN

“I’m okay, figment of your imagination, so.” Okay so CAN the Sides get hurt or can’t they?? Cause Patton clearly got bonked, roman got hit in the eye with paper and said ow, but logan got hit in the head with a throwing star and had his teeth ripped out and he was totally fine?

 Thomas is being so HONEST with himself so early in the episode, wow this is refreshing and I’m hype

AW YAY Patton called textbox Logan in to help with philosophy yay :’)

Logan: “Pity seems to be at the center of your idea of ‘putting good into the world’” first, Logan doing a voice impression of Nietzsche is GOLD, and second.... I wish they’d let him finish cause I was waiting for a “but” cause Logan siding with Nietzsche on this one feels... wrong? Like I could see Dee bringing it up or Logan using it in an argument only to continue with a contradicting philosophy but Logan equating empathy to pity... idk I thought he’d grown more than to think that :/ Actually I don’t think he ever saw it that way. It feels out of character but I’m guessing he had more to say to debunk that.

HOLY SHIT PATTON SKIPPED ALL THE REST OF LOGAN’S DIALOGUE AND YEETED HIM OFF THE SCREEN bruh he may have been right and he should’ve gotten to say it >:(

ROMAN ISTG DO NOT TRY AND MAKE THIS YOUR FAULT

I SAID DON’T

GODDAMMIT

sjfkdjgjsh okay aww Thomas good job, Patton too. Thank god they’re being nice to him

Patton is having a breakdown holy heckity about time

damn Patton is freaking HARSH

“I have a difference in opinion on this one, Patton” Thomas: *relieved sigh whisper* “ohhh thank you, Logan” YES APPRECIATE THE BOY YES YES I LOVE HIM why are they looking around like he isn’t making sense?

LOGAN YES! CALL HIM OUT! LET THOMAS VALUE HIMSELF AND PUT HIMSELF FIRST SOMETIMES! “Every point you’ve made in today’s discussion has contradicted that sentiment.” I love you but also you sound a lil like deceit... very lawyer-y and feels calculated like he’s been keeping notes for this purpose... I want deceit and logan to debate already damn it. Maybe it’s just that Logan’s inflections feel reminiscent of Deceit to show...something?

Ok can I just say that Logan gets so much rep for his strictness or high standards but he’s been SO GOOD about that lately and him teaching about the importance of leisure and self-care and freedom in your life and self-esteem and valuing yourself like you do with others... not even just this  video -- he’s been like this in the last few as well and these recent episodes remind me of early Logan (esp My Negative Emotions)  and that makes my heart so so happy.

Continuation of the above, compare this to how Logan acted in Why Bed? with regards to Roman. Roman advocated for leisure time and following dreams, while Logan had a schedule that optimized productivity and health. Now he’s taking a similar stance to Roman and asserting the importance of these things... WHY is so much of Logan’s character development OFFSCREEN?? I wanna know what made him switch on this! Maybe just cause he’s listening to roman from why bed?

Why is Logan being so abrasive? He sounds like his intent is more to disprove Patton rather than state what he actually thinks... not a fan of that but he’s not wrong

WOAH WOAH TOTAL PATTON BREAKDOWN WHAT HAPPENED WHAT THE FCK HE’S A LITERAL MONSTER IN THIS VIDEO GAME?

OH, MY GOD. If Logan didn’t step in and save them here this would have been catastrophic. I can feel my relief. I mean, he screamed, but it was a relief. WAIT IT WAS DECEIT THE WHOLE TIME??? Daaaamn good job on this one Deceit and I definitely like him more now but also WHERE IS LOGAN. Was it the whole time? That makes sense in hindsight and makes me feel better about some things he’s brought up but I feel like it really was Logan at the start, it wasn’t until he started calling out patton that his voice and inflection and stuff changed

Patton trying to attack Deceit   and hitting Thomas instead was  an EXCELLENT way to  showcase the effect SvS 1 and 2 are having

Deceit’s lil “A DUH DUH DUH DOY” looked and sounded just like Logan’s lmao don’t tell me it’s another switcheroo (I doubt it greatly lol)

REAL LOGAN REAL LOGAN REAL LOGAN

So wait what was the point that Deceit switched with Logan? Cause Logan’s saying “one more fact” so he was himself earlier right?

“Not that any of you care, but  I am unharmed.” Nooooo they care </3 “I will do you all a favor and spare you my company” okay OUCH

EFFECTIVE ALTRUISM YES aw he’s talking about him and patton working together yes thank you

Damn, Deceit is LOVING everything Logan says haha same

Logan and Deceit teaming up to teach Patton that it’s okay to care about yourself

DECEIT WHAT he’s being so supportive of Roman holy heck this is so genuine OH Roman’s arguing with it  this is a lot of stuff I didn’t expect roman to say out loud wow

THOMAS JUST SAID DECEIT THE CHARACTER ISN’T INHERENTLY UNETHICAL WOW this episode really said let’s make Deceit--

WAIT WOAH SORRY HIS NAME REVEAL!!! He’s Janice?? Is that true?

WAIT WOAH PART 2 BUT DECEIT JUST SAID IF IT WEREN’T FOR THE MUSTACHE HE WOULDN’T KNOW WHO THE EVIL TWIN IS BETWEEN ROMAN AND REMUS HOLY SHIT HE ACTUALLY LOOKED VULNERABLE AND THEN HURT AND THEN RIGHT BACK TO SNAKE

ROMAN’S GONE

fuck.... patton...roman....deceit....thomas....logan....I’m gonna go cry about all of them now

LESLIE ODOM JR IS HERE??????? oh there he goes

patton oh my god I love you  this ANGST are you trying to kill me?

Patton telling thomas he’s worthy of love I actually teared up

dfjdakjhfa deceit don’t push it

Wowie that was an EPISODE

[9ineine]

❝ T Y P E S O F C U D D L E R S . . . ❞ MULTIPLE HAIKYUU

————

— PAIRINGS ; daichi x reader , suga x reader , kuroo x reader , kenma x reader

— SUMMARY ; types of cuddlers kuroken and daisuga are <3

— GENRE ; fluff

✁ — — — — — —

— WARNINGS ; pure fluff, kuroo being lowkey horny

— TIME TAKEN ; unsure

— WORD COUNT ; unsure

✁ — — — — — —

— AUTHORS NOTE ; enjoyyy <33

© ALL WRITING SHOWN BELONGS TO ninescoffeeshop ON TUMBLR. THIS WRITING IS MINE, DO NOT STEAL IT PLEASE <3

————

DAICHI SAWAMURA

* he is literally so affectionate omg

* after a long day of practice he’ll just plop on the bed and say “y/n, come here”

* even if you dont want to, daichi’s Father Stare makes u feel bad so you caved 🗿

* you both will be leaning on your sides, facing each other, with your head on daichi’s chest

* sometimes its the other way around tbh

* sometimes he jus wants to be held and thats ok

* but most of the time its the former

* def the type to kiss your forehead and whisper how much he loves you and how proud he is of you even if you did nothing that day

* hes just great like that

KOUSHI SUGAWARA

* BABY LOVES BEING HELD

* suga has such a special place in my heart so this may be a bit long 💀

* hes lowkey touch starved. very lowkey tho

* while he’s studying and doing schoolwork you might have to slip into his lap and hug him bcs we all know hes Fucking Stressed

* your hugs are a rlly good stress reliever

* so he’ll sit there, resting his head on your shoulder as you guys just talk about anything in that position

* he appreciates it a lot

* he wont even tell you to get off after he feels better

* if youre in bed, suga likes to spoon you

* DE F I N I TELY plays with your hair yall cant tell me otherwise

* if he can’t fall asleep and you’re already asleep he’ll make your hair into lil braids

* make sure you thank him for them whether you like the braids or not >:(.

TETSUROU KUROO

* definitely the type to pass out on the bed and then you pass out on top of him tbh

* your chests will be touching, your face in the crook of his neck and your legs on either sides of him

* his arms will be around you rlly tightly

* sorry if you have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night

* youre not moving anytime soon

* to help you fall asleep, he slips his hand under your shirt and traces circles on your back

* (sometimes his other hand will grab your ass oops)

* this position is v beneficial

* when he wakes up (most of the time he wakes up first) he can just wake you up too by picking you up in that same position and walking to the bathroom

* youll be so confused bcs one moment youre on kuroo and the next youre on kuroo but in the bathroom???

* if you dont wanna wake up yet thats fine

* but he wont put you down

* expect for him to get ready while still carrying you

* jfc my headcanons just keep getting longer and longer

* im not complaining

KENMA KOZUME

* HIGHKEY TOUCH STARVED

* wont initiate any cuddling unless hes has a particularly bad day

* if he initiates it he’ll be rlly silent about it

* like youll be in the middle of making a bowl of cereal then he comes up behind you and hugs u

* hes basically a baby

* all the haikyuu boys are babies in one way or another i said what i said

* moving on, most of the time he’ll be sitting on the couch, playing video games with kuroo

* then you just kinda like

* slip behind him

* like that tiny crack between the back of the couch and his back?

* thats where u slip

* and then u hug him like a koala

* arms wrapped around his chest, legs wrapped around his waist

* wont complain, he missed you anyway to this is a W

* he likes resting his head on your lap while doing anything really

* using his phone, playing a game, reading, it doesnt matter

* your thighs are PILLOWSS 🤩🤩

* please read stories to him while his head is on your lap

* brings out the baby in him

* and it helps him fall asleep, hearing your soothing voice

* protect this quiet boy pls

© ALL WRITING SHOWN BELONGS TO ninescoffeeshop ON TUMBLR. THIS WRITING IS MINE, DO NOT STEAL IT PLEASE <3

[spencermccn]

✧｡ jeong yunho. twenty three. male. ｡✧ is that SPENCER MOON living at THE LINKS in APARTMENT 202? i heard the ART TEACHER has lived there for FIVE YEARS now. every time you pass by you can hear TONGUE TIED by FABER DRIVE playing. maybe they play it because they’re friends would say they’re the STARRY EYED. it could just me assuming things. even if they would say they are GENEROUS and AFFABLE that doesn’t mean they can’t be PASSIVE or GULLIBLE let’s just stop by and ask them sometime. considering they’d describe themselves as midnight walks and fresh brewed coffee when you can’t sleep, figuring which of your favorite books you want to reread, and paint spattered hands that’s if they’ll actually answer the door. good luck. (ooc: hera, she/her, 26, gmt-6.)

hi loves! i'm sorry i'm here so late, i had to work today and only recently got off! besides that, i'm so excited to be here because it's been a hot dang minute since i've been in an rp, but i'm excited to be with you all nonetheless! until then, i'll be putting a bit below about this lil bean <3

name: moon haneul / 문하늘 / spencer moon nicknames: spence,  age: twenty-three dob: 06/30/97 zodiac: cancer sexuality: heterosexual occupation: art teacher [[TW: desertion & homelessness ]]

spencer was born as the oldest child of five children, two younger brothers, and two younger twin sisters. being the eldest, responsibility always fell on his shoulders, which he didn't really mind for the longest time, and for some time he felt proud to take the responsibility of his younger siblings.

his parents working full time only seemed to heavy the load on the boy's shoulders, his growing siblings (and brothers specifically) becoming more and more rebellious. at first, he tried to do the 'authorative brother' thing and help them out, but it only got worse and worse.

his parents' approach was to move their children's schools when things got bad enough, but after the fourth move in two years, spencer had had enough and stood up to his parents, expressing how much he hated being moved around, and that it was hard to have to make friends and plant roots over and over again, only to lose them.

he thought that since he was always a reserved kid, never second guessing or back talking his parents, that they'd at least hear him out. but he was quickly proven wrong, both parents berating him for how ungrateful he was and how at least his younger brothers were thankful for what they had, despite their abhorrent behavior. they ripped into him for what he could've sworn was hours, and when they were done, the boy was left speechless.

by speechless literally meaning that he didn't speak to his family for days, ultimately packing up a backpack the night before their scheduled big move (out of state this time, specifically) to sneak out to a friends house and stay for the night.

of course, he woke up to a flurry of missed calls and messages, his mother, father, and siblings all sounding furious, and he knew it wasn't something he should've done, but he was nothing short of absolutely shocked when finding his house empty, his family indeed leaving before he had came back home.

spence stayed there for a few nights, living out of what he'd packed from his backpack, to wait and see if they'd come back for him, but after a week had passed, then two, he'd lost any hope that may had been left.

for a few months, the at the time sixteen year old would sleep wherever he could, whether that be friend's couches or even an underpass or two, before he was able to land a job at a bakery that was within in his normal path. it was owned by a sweet old lady that he tended to smile extra bright at everytime he walked into her shop. he was able to disguise his living situation majority of the time, but soon enough the woman found out and was kind enough to let him stay in her guest room.

he lived there until he turned eighteen and could rent an apartment on his own, and stayed at that job while he went to school. he didn't end up leaving the job until after graduating college, but he still stops by the bakery frequently.

nowadays he's an art teacher and loves it to pieces. it may not be the best paying job, but that's when he also does art on the side to earn some extra cash.

personality~

he is SUPER friendly tbh. he never meets a stranger and will easily talk your ear off if you allow him.

he loves any and all kinds of art, be it paintings or sculptures, plays, music, books, movies...you name it and he'll easily admire it.

on the topic of admiring, boy is a BIG hopeless romantic! he's got a big weak spot for romcoms/full out romance movies because he loves any and all kind of love stories. if he's in a relationship, he put his entire soul into it, be that little notes or random visits or monthly flowers...anything that he can shower his significant other with affection.

a magnificent cook. he kinda had to learn how to take care of himself as a whole once his family left, and the grandma he lived with cooked for him on the daily. after so long he asked if he could help and learned how to make a variation of different delicious foods.

he will do anything for those he cares about. need him to cover your lunch? sure. need a ride or someone to walk home with because you drank too much? of course. bought a bookshelf and didn’t realize it wasn’t assembled and now need help with it? he’s your guy. just ask him and he’ll likely be there in an instant.

possible connections??

the grandchild of the grandma he stayed with, because after them having seen him a few times at her house, they’d probably be a little confused before learning the whole situation. this could have evolved into a close friendship or even a relationship??

i’d absolutely love a best friend he’s known since he was with his family! maybe even they could’ve let him stay with them while he didn’t have a place to live for a bit? also would lowkey love if they had a stupid bromance like the boys from this movie (x) (x)

a midnight walking buddy, because he has many many sleepless nights and his remedy is to stroll along the city, and he’d be happy to have a friend to talk to while he does so

i’m gonna ask shamelessly, but i’d honestly love like an unknown baby mama for like, y’know, drama 👀👀👀 also bc i’m a sucker for parent plots. but like maybe it could’ve been an ex that unintentionally got knocked up and felt like he wasn’t put together enough to have a kid, so she never told him and tries raising it on her own? granted if or when he were to find out he’d 1000% want to be there, but them trying to figure out each other still would be fun

former & current coworkers! someone who may’ve worked with him at the bakery, or may even a frequent? and someone who works with him at his school, or even a student teacher or so. they could be someone he meets up with for lunch every now and then and talk (one taken, but could have more also if applicable!)

i’d love to have his siblings (granted that may more of a wanted connection on the main, but i digress) but they’d range from probably like 18 to 22!

and literally anything else?? ex girlfriends/hookups (which he’s not usually the type for a hookup, and would prefer a relationship, but we all know how alcohol can get sometimes akdsjf) former roommates, a bad influence??  he’s totally open for options! :D

i apologize for this being so long >.< once again i look forward to talking with all of you and like this if you’d like me to come to you <3

[springday-aus]

Werewolf!AU with Chanyeol

moodboard link

Group: EXO 

Member: Park Chanyeol

Genre: fantasy, fluff, romance 

Type: Bulletpoint AU 

Word Count: 3k 

so the alpha is obviously Suho bc 

leader, duh 

Yifan and Minseok are co-betas 

and the exo boys all live together in a house in the woods

but this is more of a house they can go back to

they all live within the city/suburb

(depending on what they do)

Chanyeol lives in the city since he works part time at a music shop

he likes the hustle and bustle of the city

despite the pollution, crowdedness and rude people that are there

but when he found the whole in the wall music shop

he absolutely fell in love with it

the owner loves him btw

(Chanyeol brings in a lot of customers)

anyways

I don’t want to say werewolf!Chanyeol is just a giant puppy

but that’s exactly what he’s like

he needs to go on frequent runs in his wolf form

someone always needs to come with him because he rolls around a lot in mud

oftentimes, he has to stop himself from peeing on trees

Sehun: “dude, that’s been marked”

Chanyeol: “yeah… BY ME AHA SUCKER I OWN THE WOODS”

Sehun: “oh god”

Chanyeol is also super hyper

like he’s got more stamina and energy than the other boys

which is why he goes on the most runs

pent up energy is a scary thing

(so the exo boys have learned)

that also means he’s one of the best fighters of the pack

(Kyungsoo is a near second, but he’s really good when he’s angry)

but I mean fighting when necessary

so Chanyeol’s wolf form is………. huge

since he’s really tall, his wolf form literally towers over the others

he almost looks like the alpha

almost

this also gives him an advantage in fights bc intimidation usually works the fastest and results to the least amount of violence

anyways

so his fur is a light brown, mixed with white—there are some dark brown spots too, but you really have to squint to see it

you know how his ears are really big and stick out

best believe his ears are literally the same in his wolf form

they’re so big and fluffy and if his eyes don’t give away his emotions, his ears do too

his paws are also big

but that’s also bc his hands are big

Kyungsoo: “what did you eat as a child?”

Chanyeol: “jealous, shorty? no one can be as tall as—oW sTOP HITTING ME”

they can hit him all they want

bc by the end of the day, he, Sehun, and Yifan are the only ones who can reach the top of the cabinets

despite his tall stature and formidable fighting skills, this man is the clumsiest

he causes the most accidents in the exo house

in his apartment building

but he hasn’t had an accident in the shop

(not yet anyways—Jongdae and Baekhyun have a side bet going as to when that’s gonna happen)

it happens a lot in the city too

but it’s not his fault

he….. just has really long limbs and don’t know how to control them 100%

it’s fine tho because he was able to meet you through because of his clumsiness

okay so mates are a thing for supernatural creatures

including werewolves

while some mates are wolves too

others are human……………

……… like you

so Chanyeol was on the street, walking back to his city apartment

he was with some of the other guys (Baekhyun and Jongdae)

and then he smells something

something sweet

and alluring

so he follows it

in fact, he runs after it down the street

(with the others chasing him)

he’s running past all these people and he’s getting closer and closer

that’s when he runs into you

and I don’t mean the cute kind of running into you

I mean this man full on tackles you

obviously, it’s by accident but

it doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt less

while you were curious to what just happened

he was completely enamored

he’d heard of finding one’s mate

mate meetings can happen in wolf form

and others in human form

the main thing was that your body would just know they were the one

he had no idea how he was going to meet his mate, but this is was definitely not how he pictured it

meanwhile, all you knew was that you were walking back to your apartment

and next thing you knew, you were on the ground

and looking into a pair of brown eyes that sparkled down towards you

Chanyeol: “hi”

You: “hi”

Chanyeol: “I’m Chanyeol”

You: “hi, I’m (Y/N)”

Chanyeol: “that’s a nice name”

You: “thanks”

Baekhyun: out of breath from running after Chanyeol’s long ass legs

Baekhyun: “hey, as cute as this is, maybe you should get off of them?”

You: “I agree with the short one”

Baekhyun: “RUDE”

Chanyeol gets up and pulls you up along with him

when he gets a hold of your hand, he gets that feeling

that feeling that he never wants to let it go

unfortunately, when you do, a part of him cries on the inside

(that’s the big puppy coming out)

Chanyeol: “I’m sorry about ramming into you like that”

You: “apology accepted”

Chanyeol: “can I make it up to you…?”

You: ???

Chanyeol: “like…. a… dinner?........ date?.... if you want……”

you don’t know why, but there’s something in you that makes you say yes

maybe it’s bc this gigantic dude who towers over the crowd

looks like the softest lil marshmallow with his red cheeks and big ears

so you go on the date

and you actually have a great one

he takes you out to a drive in movie theatre, along with dinner

it’s simple

but it’s perfect

so you go on a few more dates and next thing you know

you’ve been in this relationship for like seven months

he’s great—he’s super supportive and radiates optimism 

Chanyeol and you.... just click   

but like there’s something kind of weird...... 

like there are periods of time when he says, “sorry, I’m gonna be busy that night :(“

and that’s fine, but he tells you like… a couple of months in advance

you wanna mind your own business

but you’re also kinda curious bc he never tells you what for

and things kind of get weirder when you officially meet his friends for the first time

you already knew Jongdae and Baekhyun from the first meeting

and you met them a couple of times after

but now you were going to meet the whole group

you’ve heard horror tales of Kyungsoo and Minseok

(courtesy of Baekhyun, but Jongdae says to ignore it—something about Baekhyun being annoying lmao)

you’ve also heard a lot about Jongin and his alarming chicken consumption

along with stories about Sehun and Tao

(and their inability to agree to anything—they’re like babies that way, at least that’s what Chanyeol says)

Suho is like a mother hen and Yifan is like the father bear

apparently, Yixing and Luhan are the nicest so you’ll bond with them the quickest

they’d be the least chaotic members, so you were advised to stay close to them lol

so this all sounds super cute and you are ecstatic to meeting them

and then the time comes for you to meet them

at first, the meeting is just………. kind of odd to you

because it’s at the exo house……………….

so he takes you into the woods to go to the house…………

but listen

if a man took you into a deep part of the woods

where you are very unfamiliar with—wouldn’t you be concerned about being murdered?

yeah, Chanyeol didn’t really think this through bc..... 

that’s exactly where YOUR head space is

lowkey you were like

hahahahaha pls don’t kill me

and just as you’re at the acceptance stage like

okay, this is fine—I’ll just die

the house comes into view and y’all enter

Kyungsoo made dinner

they planned a game night

it was so much fun—you could really tell these boys were like family

and for a second you forget that you are isolated in the woods with 12 rowdy boys

and that this is not normal……. at least, not for humans

unless they’re some frat boy that can’t get over the fact that they peaked in college

anyways

after this meeting, it was more and more common for you to join those group meetings

you’ve met the others’ partners too—well, at least those who have them

despite you getting along with all of Chanyeol’s friends, which is great

there’s still something a bit off

and the thing is 

is that Chanyeol knows you don’t know that they’re wolves

so he made sure to tell the boys that 

one, you’re human 

and two, you don’t know that they’re wolves so they need to keep it lowkey 

but.......... exo is anything but lowkey and this was something you kind of picked up on 

not just with all of them being in an isolated mansion-like house

the main thing with the boys is that they let it slip that they own the land here

but what do they do as jobs to have the house?

and sure, Suho is like a mother hen, but like they also kind of do like a reporting thing

like………… some kind of boss…………..

and yeah, Yifan is the father figure……. but there’s some type of hierarchy thing that Yifan is “reporting” to Suho too……

it’s all really weird

and you can’t tell if it’s a bro culture thing or something, so you don’t really say or ask anything

and yeah, Chanyeol thinks he’s slick 

he is not bc 

there’s also a couple of things about Chanyeol that’s kind of off to you 

like he’s weird, but then there are some things that are just………. Weird

for example, he’s very affectionate, right?

but like, he seems to hold himself back for you

yeah, skinship is a thing for you both 

but 

let’s just say second base seems to be the farthest you’re going, even tho you’ve made it every clear you are willing to go all around and do a home run twice

there’s also another thing, which is fine, but like

weird

he really likes tummy rubs

like really likes it

and you’re just kind of like

What

and like sometimes, when he feels like it, he’ll eat really really rare meat

he doesn’t eat it in front of you but sometimes when you buy raw meat

it just

goes missing

it’s just really weird

and then one day

you were at the exo house

at this point, you two have been together for about a year (?) now 

and you were chilling in woods with Chanyeol

he looks super super serious

Chanyeol: “I have something I need to tell you and I don’t know how you’re going to handle it”

You: “um, okay, sure—what is it?”

Chanyeol: “I am a werewolf”

You:

Chanyeol:

You:

Chanyeol:

You: bitch what

You: “are we going that thing where we just talk in vines bc you’re not making any sense and you’re doing it wrong”

Chanyeol: “no, I’m serious”

you…… just laugh

like uncontrollably

because this is the most ridiculous thing you’ve heard

Chanyeol’s just kind of…… watching you lose it

in retrospect, maybe he should have thought this through

after you finish laughing, you wipe a couple of tears from your eyes

You: “phew, Channie, that’s pretty fucking funny”

Chanyeol: “(Y/N), I’m not kidding—I’m a werewolf”

then, what he says………………… sinks in

and now it’s your turn to look at him like he’s lost it

You: it’s not too late, maybe I can take him to a therapist

You: “um, Chanyeol, you know this prank isn’t very funny”

Chanyeol: “don’t say that, I can prove it”

You: oh no

he steps back and takes off his shirt

(to which you snap a mental image)

he climbs onto a higher rock, where he towers over you

You: “hey, Chanyeol.. you might, uh, wanna get off that”

Chanyeol: “I got this”

You: he’s gonna die

and then he jumps off

there’s a flash of light and he transforms, landing on the ground on all four paws

all you saw was a giant wolf that’s at least twice your size

you could only stare

you tried not to move

that’s not very hard considering how frozen you were

for a second, you think you’ve gone insane

but it’s there in front of you

the wolf moves closer to you, slowly and carefully

when it gets close enough, it bows his head to you in submission

and when it opens its eyes

you see the familiar, warm, brown eyes that sparkle at you

the gold specks in them shine a bit more

I want to say that you were able to accept it real quickly

but you don’t

it’s kind of a shock……

so you take a little break from all of this

while Chanyeol understands, it doesn’t mean he’s not upset

his other half is apart from him and he feels like his heart’s slowly being ripped out of his chest

it’s not that you had a problem with it

it was the process

yeah, he lied but like

it’s bc he’s a supernatural being

(that you can empathize with)

but that means other beings probably exist

what if that one waiter was a vampire who could have eaten you

or that one swimmer was a mermaid

this is just a collision of so many worlds

at this point, you were just trying to understand what actually happened

time passes and you don’t even know how much has

until Suho and Yifan end up at your apartment door

they both came with like a fruit basket or something (in their defense, they didn’t know what you would like)

Suho: “hi~ can we come in?”

Yifan: “we just wanted to talk and check-in”

they end up at your place for hours

they really did come to check in with you and see how you were handling the whole thing

and took the time to explain how things worked for them

(the impact of full moons, the concept of soulmates, imprinting….. the whole package)

and they answer any questions you have had

they really were super sweet about the whole thing

and eventually, you ask about Chanyeol

You: “is… is he okay?”

Yifan: “he’s been acting like a kicked puppy since you left—oW”

Suho rolls his eyes at Yifan, not apologizing for hitting him

Suho: “yes, he’s upset, but he’s more concerned about you and where this relationship is supposed to go now?”

Yifan: “we’re not rushing you or anything, but he…. he’ll need an answer eventually”

Suho: “just think about and sort out your emotions, and when you’re ready…. you’re welcome anytime at the exo house”

it was real eye opening for you

when they left, they also left their numbers for you

Suho: “call anytime, a mate of an exo member is a member of ours”

later that night, while you in bed, you thought about it

you should really talk to Chanyeol, he deserves an answer

but, it wasn’t until another couple of days pass that you actually talk to him

it’s a rainy day and you were sitting on your couch, watching tv and eating cereal

all of a sudden, the sadness hits you

and you really miss him

and you really wanted to see him

so you do

you grab a pair of shoes and your keys—immediately heading out

you drive through the rain, thinking about what you were even going to do or say

next thing you knew, you were at the exo house’s door

you really should have thought things through, but

you didn’t really know what else to do

you knock on it, hoping that Chanyeol was there

Tao and Sehun open the door, seeing you standing there—soaking wet from the rain, in your sweatpants and with mismatched shoes

You: “uh, hi guys”

Suho pushes in between them and sees you there

Suho: “oh my god, (Y/N), come in, come in”

they get you in

Kyungsoo gets you some green tea

Yixing gets blankets for you

Luhan picks out some warm clothes for you

and Minseok dries your other clothes

the other boys and their mates keep you entertained for a bit

amidst the chaos, Jongin rests a hand on your shoulder

Jongin: “Chanyeol went out for a run, you can wait in his room if you want”

when you find a chance, you do—you go up the familiar stairs and hallway

and you just

wait

there’s a bit of a lull of silence and then you hear his voice

Chanyeol: “(Y/N) is WHAT?”

you can hear him running up the stairs and before you can say anything

he tackles you onto the bed

You: “CHANYEOL WE TALKED ABOUT THE TACKLING”

Chanyeol: “I’m sorry, I got excited” :(

you and Chanyeol settle on the bed and just………. talk

you get things sorted out and it’s great

after you figure out things, everything’s kind of back to normal (as much as it could be)

you lowkey kind of live in the exo house now

like your things are in Chanyeol’s room

anyways

werewolf!Chanyeol is a lot more fun than people would think

he’s a lot more relaxed about things

now he’s most likely to be lounging around in his half form, with the whole ears and tail thing

you give him a lot more tummy rubs

you scratch his ears too

the whole dog package

I mean wolf

you actually came to one of the full moon nights and it was super fun

Chanyeol spent the whole night right next to you

he’s also a lot more openly affectionate

I mean the whole package: hand-holding, lap-sitting, public cuddling

he knows no boundaries

he is super careful about his strength tho—always checking in with you and making sure you’re feeling safe and comfortable

and it’s safe to say that y’all are way past second base

I’m not saying anything else for the kiddos

other than the whole full moon transformation thing

there’s no real difference between the boy that tackled you and the wolf that you’re with now

and you can’t wait to spend the rest of your life with him as his mate

[kn1feinthec0ffee]

in too deep (part 5) - jules

jules x reader

TW: drugging

warnings: beating, homophobia, threat of death, i think that’s pretty much it??

notes: ooooohhh we’re getting closer to the end! not that i’m excited for this to end, but i’m just excited for you guys to see it

i really hope that me putting homophobia in this story doesn’t make you guys think i’m homophobic bc that’s the farthest thing from true. since i changed the gender of the mickey stand-in, i felt like it might be more interesting to add another dynamic into the story so it wasn’t just a word for word copy of the original except with a girl, bc that seems really one-dimensional to me. i feel like i need to put one of those things they have in movie credits like “the views in this film in no way reflect the views of the studio that produced it” kinda thing

also i think this may be my favorite part that i’ve written, bc if you didn’t notice, i’ve never left the reader’s perspective during the whole thing, so i had to improv a bit during the parts of the movie we didn’t get to see with mickey, and maybe i’m just a lil proud of myself :’)

******************************

for the first time since you came up with your brilliant plan to siphon the gas, you actually felt a glimmer of hope. jules was smart, she’d surely find a way out of the house; and she was damn loyal, too, so you knew there was no chance she’d leave you behind. 

sadly all those hopes were dashed when you heard the basement door creak open again. 

fuck, this whole plan was dependent on the fact that no one else came downstairs! your hands clammed up, your heart rate quickening as footsteps descended the stairs, stopping dead in their tracks once they reached the bottom. 

  “where the hell’d that little bitch go?” george roared, scanning every nook and cranny in the basement to see if jules was hiding anywhere. “answer me!”

you stayed silent, more out of fear than some sort of strategy. you quickly realized this was the wrong decision as george viciously backhanded you across the face. your head whipped to the side, eyes blinking back into focus from the impact. you felt something sticky on your lips and realized it was blood. 

  “you’re so angry,” you groaned. “why? just ‘cause you’re shooting blanks?” you pouted in mock sympathy. this sudden boost of confidence seemed to be a mistake as you saw george’s expression shift into a dangerously content one. 

  “i’m gonna rip your fuckin’ heart out.” your face dropped as he spoke. “i understand you not wantin’ to tell me where she is. in fact, if i were in your position i suppose i’d do the same. but god almighty i’m gonna watch ya’ die. i’m gonna hurt ya’.”

you were stunned into silence but you decided saying something, anything, would be better than nothing. “she’s gone, man. you just need to give it up.”

this seemed to strike a nerve in him. he turned towards you again and delivered another swift slap, knocking the wind out of you. he smacked you again, the back of your head knocking into the pole and causing your consciousness to fade for a moment. 

  “you think i’m full of hot air, don’t you? only good on roughin’ you up?” he asked rhetorically. “you know i worked as a door-to-door salesman for a few years? learned a lot, but the most important thing i learned was how to read people. and at the end of the day, you’re just an open book, sweetheart.”

the name sounded like poison dripping from his lips. it made you sick, that name belonged to jules. 

  “i know your type, believe you me, i’ve seen quite a few in my time. you see, you like to think you’re tough, strong, resilient, but at the end of the day, you just value her life above yours.” he laughed to himself. “am i right?”

he chuckled again when you didn’t answer. “that’s alright, you don’t have to answer, i know i’m right. well, you people are more loyal than i thought. guess i gotta give credit where credit’s due.”

  “fuck you.” you spat. “don’t fucking talk about her like that.” he stood up again, this time grabbing something from a shelf before making his way back to you. 

  “alright, no more pussyfootin’ around, time to get down to business.” he revealed the knife, positioning it under your ear as he prepared to slice it off. 

  “sheisn’tgoingtothecops!” you breathed out quickly, hoping he’d let you keep both ears with the statement. 

  “what? what’d you say?” he seemed caught of guard by the sudden admission, backing off of you. 

  “not yet, anyway.” you took a moment to catch your breath. “i told her to wait. yeah, we got a little meet up spot. now if i don’t show up there in an hour or so, then yeah, cops galore. you’re fucked, buddy. but, if i do show up, we just continue on our way like none of this happened.”

you took another shaky breath before you continued. “if we’re being honest here, i don’t want the cops involved any more than you do. y’know, the whole ‘not gainfully employed’ thing? the cops aren’t a huge fan of that one.”

george seemed to take this into consideration, nodding quietly to himself. “what about sweetiepie?”

  “her? i don’t give a fuck about her, she’s the whole reason i’m in this mess.” you winked at her, hoping she’d understand the message. 

george snapped the blade shut, producing the key from to the cuffs from his jacket pocket. 

------------------------------

  “any last words for this son of a bitch?” george asked gloria as he trained the pistol on you.

  “oh, i do wish you’d handled things differently. we could’ve had somethin’ beautiful here.” she smiled sadly, mourning what could’ve been. 

  “i’ll see you in hell,” george mumbled as he opened the door for you. you stepped into the doorway, only to stop dead in your tracks when you heard your girlfriend’s voice. shit.

  “stop, don’t kill her!” jules shouted from the top of the steps, baby doll in hand. “i will smash it!” she held it over the railing, dangling precariously above the hardwood flooring beneath. 

  “whew, that was close.” george laughed, closing the door behind you. “unhand my baby!” gloria whined. 

  “alright, missy, calm down. no one’s gonna get hurt.” he kept the gun aimed at your head, but gloria quickly pried it out of his hands and took a shot at jules. she crouched to shield herself from the bullet that thankfully missed, but in doing so let go of the baby that plummeted to the floor, shattering into hundreds of pieces. 

  “get your ass down here or i’ll blow her brains out!” george shouted gruffly as jules descended the staircase. she ran to you, hugging you close and helping you to stand on your injured leg. 

gloria rushed out of the room, bloody pieces of ceramic in hand as george turned back to you. “look what you gone and did. what did i do to deserve you two?”

------------------------------

  “cooking’s a zen art for my dear gloria. i’ve found there’s a method to it: the more upset she is, the bigger the dish it takes to pull her out.” george explained. “needless to say, i think the two of you just summoned up a banquet.”

the two of you had been crudely duct-taped to some chairs in the dining room, forced to listen to the stuffy dialogue between the husband and wife. “why? why do you keep her down there?” jules asked. 

  “it’s not what you think.” he looked over his shoulder to make sure she wasn’t listening. “my gloria, she’s always wanted a child. unfortunately, the good lord did not have that in his plans for us. so, i had to take matters into my own hands.”

  “oh, so you kidnapped her.” jules stated bluntly. george glared at her, but continued his explanation. 

  “as you get older, things get... complicated, and i swear to god i had no ill intentions. i just wanted to make my wife happy.” he smiled. “and she was for a bit, until she started to remind her of what she couldn’t have. she asked me to make her go away, but i couldn’t bring myself do that, so the basement is our compromise.” 

  “dinner is served!” gloria announced, wheeling in a cart full of dishes of shepherd’s pie. she placed one on everyone’s plate before she sat down. they quickly said grace before digging into their food. 

  “so are you guys gonna kill us or...? what’s the deal?” jules asked matter-of-factly. you wanted to nudge her shoulder and ask her what in the hell made her so bold, but you didn’t want to cause a scene. 

  “george, you didn’t tell them?” gloria asked confusedly. “i wanted to make ‘em squirm a bit,” he smirked. 

  “t-tell us what?” you cursed yourself for stuttering but you couldn’t help it, it came out when you were anxious. 

  “we’re not gonna kill you.” george mumbled, almost sounding disappointed. “i said we’re not gonna kill ‘ya, what are you deaf?” you stifled a grin at jules, not wanting to change their decision to set you free. “we’ve decided that, despite your piss-poor behavior, the logistics of it just don’t make no sense for us.”

  “sooner or later someone’s gonna come lookin’ for you two. now, i can hide a body like the easter bunny hides an egg, but the two of you have been sweatin’, spittin’, and pissin’ all over this place.” he paused to take a sip of his drink. “anywho, i’m bound to miss a spot. i figure we have a better chance of hitting the road. we’ll give it 48 hours, tip off the police, they’ll come by and pick ya’ up. i reckon you’ll do some time for whatever the hell you two did, but at least you’ll still be drawing breath. so congratulations, you should be thankful. you just won the damn lottery.”

jules spared a glance at you as if to say, what now? “take your time eatin’ you got another couple days in those chairs.” george muttered as he took another bite of his meal. 

screw it, you thought. we’re hungry and going to jail in the next two days, what harm could a nice meal do? you both picked up your forks and knives and tucked in to the plate in front of you. you nearly let out a moan in satisfaction as the food hit your tongue. you scooped up more greedily as you had no clue if and when the next time you’d get fed would be. 

  “wait,” jules swallowed the food in her mouth. “what’s gonna happen to her?” gloria glanced over to george, waiting for the answer to the question as well.

  “well, i’m sure they’ll put her some place nice. these orphanages, i hear they’re like five-star resorts.” george answered. 

  “does that upset you?” gloria turned to jules, a smile of mock empathy on her face. “anything’s better than down there.” jules mumbled. 

  “you got a heart of gold, jules. is your full name julia?” jules nodded in response. “my mother’s name was julia. she had a good heart, too, you remind me of her.”

  “she died of cancer when i was real little. it was a slow, painful process, but i was with her every step of the way!” she grinned as her husband blew her a kiss. “the day before she died, she told me to look in the closet, that i’d find a special surprise for me in there. it was a package, wrapped up nice and pretty, with a tiny card with my name on it. she insisted i opened it, so i wiped away my tears, tore open the paper and there it was. a doll.” 

everything stilled. every sound, the scraping of cutlery on the plate, the sound of everyone breathing, even the breeze blowing through the window decided this was a nice time to take a break. 

  “she said it was a magic doll,” she continued. “that no matter how sad i became, and believe me, i became very sad, i’d always have him with me. my ethan.”

your gut instincts finally kicked in as you spat out the food that was in your mouth, the gross pile of chewed up beef and potatoes looking oddly blurry to you. jules looked equally as mortified, probably even more since she was the one who brought about the end of the magic doll. 

  “and she was right; he was magical. and you took him away from me.” she grinned her creepy stepford wife grin once more. jules mumbled something but everything sounded miles away from you as your head swam. 

  “wha-what is this?” you slurred, the bright colors of the table morphing into one another. 

  “this is a drug overdose, y/n.” he chuckled when you sluggishly turned your head towards him. “i know, i know, i fibbed about lettin’ you live, but see, you had a veritable pharmacy in that bag of yours. you two just munched down enough pills to put a bull to bed,” his voice muffled into indiscernible nonsense, though you knew he was still speaking. 

  “f-fuck you,” jules managed, still keeping her head up. you, on the other hand, were slumped over, teetering on the edge of unconsciousness. 

george got up from his seat, pulling your head up by your hair. “not so tough now, are ya’?” he jested. 

jules muttered something in your defense, but as soon as your head dropped, you were down for the count; just missing the hopeful ring of the doorbell, possibly signaling you might live to see another day. 

******************************

i should probably put a link to previous parts at the top but i have no clue how to do that lol

tags: @emmyrosee​ @flowers-in-your-hayr​ @willyourecognisemee​ @bill-skarsgard-owns-my-ass​

[dancing-with-dichotomies]

Watched a movie on Netflix called either “A Silent Voice” or “The Shape of Voice”, kinda hard to tell, but anyways it was like... ALMOST halfway good/believable... SPOILER COMING...

EXCEPT THEY HAD TO GO AND MAKE THE DEAF BULLIED GIRL FALL IN LOVE WITH THE GUY WHO WAS AN ASSHOLE TO HER, GOD DAMN IT >>;;;; I WANNA BELIEVE HOMOPHOBIA KEPT THIS FROM BEING THE LOVE STORY BETWEEN SHOYA AND NAGATSUKA THAT IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE, BC SRSLY WTF I THOUGHT THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ABOUT THE BULLY REDEEMING HIMSELF, NOT THE BULLY GETTING A PIXIE DREAMGIRL FOR BEING A DOUCHEBAG AND BOTHERING TO SAY SORRY, UGH...

ALSO WHAT WAS UP WITH THAT ONE SCENE WHERE THE BLOND MOM/SHOYA’S MOM HAD HER EAR BLEEDING/HER EARRING RIPPED OUT?? DID SHOKO’S MOM DO THAT? WTF? I WOULD UNDERSTAND A SLAP BUT WTF DID I MISS SOMETHING WAS IT SUPPOSED TO BE INSINUATED THAT THE OTHER MOM STRAIGHT UP RIPPED HER EARRING RIGHT OUT AND SPLIT THE LOBE? BC DAMN EVEN THOUGH HER SON WAS A LIL SHIT WHO DESERVED EVERYTHING HE GOT LATER AND MORE LIKE WTF ASSAULTING HIS MOM TRYING TO APOLOGIZE RIGHTFULLY IN SUCH A VICIOUS WAY IS ACTUALLY NOT LEGIT? O_o

ALSO ALSO KINDA HATE THAT THEY JUST BLAME ALL THE NEGATIVITY ON THAT BLUE HAIRED CHICK KINDA DUN LIKE THAT THEY DIDN’T RESOLVE THAT SHOYA WASN’T THE ONLY ONE ABUSING HOH PINKIE-PIE AND ALSO HOH FLUTTERSHY PINKIEPIE WHATEVER I DON’T CARE ANYMORE? I’M SORRY, ITS NOT UR FAULT THEY COULD ONLY WRITE YOU HALF BELIEVABLE SWEETIE IT’S NOT YOUR FAULT YOU’RE THE BIGGEST PROBLEM WITH THE MOVIE THEY JUST CARED ABOUT MAKING YOU CUTE/HOT AND PINK HAIRED AND WHOOP U JUST SO HAPPEN TO BE DEAF AND BULLIED TOO WELL YOU JUST KEEP ON BEING A PERFECT LIL PIXIE AND WE’LL MAKE SURE YOU END UP SOMEONE’S GIRLFRIEND ANYWAYS~~~ *BIG SIGH...*

I liked a lot of the side characters though. Nagatsuka fucking owned and saved this movie and is the grape-headed chemo to the cancer that is Mineta from BNHA, the girl who tried to be Shoko’s friend and got bullied for it was cool, blonde girl was a damn liar but at least she roped her boyfriend into trying to fix shit all shady like and he seemed like a nice guy just trying to help even though he had no idea what initially went down, I liked Shoko’s GNC lil sis Yuzu (thought she was a lil bro at first lol) and even though she seems like a savage biatch I like Shoko’s mom, like damn if my kid was being bullied like that and wouldn’t defend themselves I might have to square up for them too, I just don’t approve of what she did to the hairstylist mom who was just trying her best with a lil shit son. ;/ ( BUT THEN AGAIN, ME KNOWING HOW DAMN EXPENSIVE HEARING AIDS RLY ARE AND HOW MANY HE DESTROYED I HONESTLY MIGHT JUST LET HER MOM SLAP BOTH ME AND THE DUMBASS KID IF SHE WANTED... >>;;;;; )

Uuuh anyone else...? Sry I’m HOH myself and missed a few parts of the movie due to my kid being loud playing anyways XD

[seekingthestars]

sarah watches the untamed: liveblogging adventures, part seventeen episodes 31, 32, + 33

(aka: everything hurts.)

okay i’ve had snacks and put in eye drops so let’s see if we can make it through the rest of flashback before my eyes revolt!!

episode 31:

i don’t think i’ve mentioned it before but i like however it is they do zixuan’s hair, with the little braid-thingie on the top in the middle, it’s nice n_n

the lotus look so pretty in their Burial Mounds home!!!!

look seriously wuxian in the Burial Mounds with the remnants of the Wen clan (especially lil Yuan) is just so cute, he’s so relaxed, having fun with his lotus, wwx is a GOOD BOY.

WANGJI’S LETTER IS SO SHORT HAHAHA idk why but i am amused

okay first of all the scene with Yanli and Zixuan and Baby Jin Ling is adorable and Yanli looks so happy, but also i verbally squeaked out “OH MY GOD” like four times at this face HE LOOKS SO HAPPY, IS THIS THE FIRST TIME WE’VE EVER SEEN HIM SMILE SO BIG? OMG T_______T

lol at these people gossiping and basically being like “uh Zixuan wouldn’t let the celebration be anything less than over-the-top grand” HE IS A PROUD PAPA :’D

ohhhh Wuxian made a special special present for baby Jin Ling!!

uh oh spooky music :(

HOLY SHIT AT WEN NING GRABBING THAT ARROW OUT OF THIN AIR 

but OF COURSE IT HAS TO BE UPPITY JIN THE ASS ugh i wish he would go away

oh dang baby wen ning snapped into Feisty Attack Mode :o

UPPITY JIN, GIVE THE BRACELET BACK >.<

THANK YOU FOR TELLING YOUR UPPITY COUSIN TO SHUT UP, ZIXUAN!!!!!!!!!!!

zixun smashed the bracelet wuxian worked on for a MONTH and i audibly gasped he is an ASSHOLE and he deserves this stupid curse

WEN NING WHAT NO

ohmygodohmygodohmygodwhatnonononononono

yanli being so devastated makes this hurt even more i’m sad

all of this hurts so much, i was not prepared for this much pain, i’m SAD

i’m so distressed

omg no everybody went

first wuxian gets his family taken away, then becomes an outcast that everyone hates, then gets his found family taken away from him too, i’m so depressed about everything, this turned so bad so fast ;nnnnnnnn;

and i keep thinking about how happy zixuan was (i took scrEEN SHOTS OF HIS HAPPY FACE) and how excited wuxian was to meet his nephew and i’m so SAD, my eyes are watering ;n;

okay guess we’ll move forward to what will be yet more pain, i’m sure ;; episode 32:

have i mentioned that this hurts bc everything about this h u r t s

wwx alone in the forest crying and hallucinating yanli and being tormented by voices hurts

look i gotta find my joy where i can and i think it’s funny that all these people are talking so bad about wwx but can’t freaking tell he’s standing right behind them but also them saying wen ning and wen qing have been burned to ashes makes it STILL SAD

xichen’s little head shake when jin clan leader scattered wen ning and wen qing’s ashes and everyone starts chanting ‘great’ ;;;; 

oh my god i HATE THIS GUY “even if you were attacked first and zixun had every intent to kill you, you shouldn’t have been brutal and killed someone back! murder is okay but only when we do it!” like dude. DUDE. YOU SUCK.

honestly shout out to wuxian for calling this freaking dude out on his hypocrisy and being like “oh so y’all can kill me whenever you want, but i can’t defend myself? cool story bro, you’re a dick.”

tbh i don’t remember who this guy is, just some minor clan leader or something, but he irritates me so much i hope he dies somewhere >.>

wx crying and laughing at the same time hurts

meng yao smiling when jin clan leader says they can’t let wx leave alive gives me mild chills, why is squish like this, he keeps doing little things that make me nervous

the way the spooky black smoke/spirits (?) don’t attack jiang cheng/his clan ;; i don’t care what anyone says, wx is good boy at heart ;; (also love how they’re like ‘quick huddle together like penguins!! they’re not attacking us? cool let’s just....stay in huddle. no need to break huddle and help anyone else. stay in huddle. huddle good.’)

wangji!

wangji pleading for him to stop, MY HEART IS GOING TO BREAK

oh god yanli no no no, go back no no no

there’s...another flute player??? oh NO

it’s honestly impressive that xichen can fight in that thick overcoat with the super sleeves and he’s so fluid while fighting too (we distract from the sad in any way we can okay thx)

YANLI NOOOOOOOO NO NO NO NOOOOOOOOOOO

fyi it’s hard to read subtitles through your literal actual tears

i’m in pain okay episode 33:

haha ha   ha...     ha................................

i would like a refund back to times when this show didn’t make me cry, please

WUXIAN??? coughing up blood?? DD:

wangji is distraught and so am i

“Lan Zhan. Let me go.” it hurts, this entire scene hurts

honestly the way wangji calls “Wei Ying” and the distraught look on his face just...have i mentioned that everything hurts

okay we’re flashing back to the future now, please let me see sizhui, i need his cute face and healing energy bc i have endured SO MUCH PAIN IN THE LAST COUPLE EPISODES thanks

wangji looks so different without his hair up in the little bun thing on top of his head, not bad different but so different!!!! he’s so pretty ;n;

wangji’s unconditional “yes I believe you” ;AAAAAA; <3

BUNNIES!!!!!!!!!!!

oh hello shirtless wangji

SIZHUI MY SWEET ANGEL CHILD every time i see sizhui on screen, i just kinda coo softly at him in my head, i love him

wangji’s hair piece is SO ELABORATE in the present with the front and back/side pieces, i keep staring at it

wuxian and sizhui chit chat time!!

XUE YANG ohhhh they’ve got an idea

sizhui’s lil baby smile at wuxian when wx’s like “heehee finally i won’t be controlled by all these rules!!!” oh sizhui, thank you for your healing energy

wangji and wuxian are so pretty i keep getting distracted and missing part of the subtitles so then i gotta rewind constantly i am a MESS

WUXIAN BEING SO OFFENDED OVER HOW BAD AND INACCURATE THE PORTRAITS OF THE YILING PATRIARCH ARE HAHAHAHAHA 

hi jin ling!

“he learned all of his father/uncle’s defects and none of his mother’s strengths” HAHAHAHA

i shouldn’t laugh but the FACES WUXIAN MADE when the pupper showed up XDDDDD also Fairy is such a cute pupper omg!!!!!!!

[imnotcameraready]

chivalry is dead (8)

A/N: PLEASE READ ALL THE WARNINGS!!! — also if i’ve missed any warnings, please please please let me know!!! this chapter’s a doozy, and i don’t know everything that could be construed into something that might upset someone, so please let me know if you think there’s something i’ve missed so i can update this chapter and make sure it’s tagged in future chapters! or if i've worded any of them wrong! 

anyway, im so stoked for this chapter y’all wouldn’t even bELIEVE. you also finally get to see how much i adore the em-dash, ‘cause there are 33 in this chapter Alone

WARNINGS: Sympathetic Deceit, panic, panic attack!!, scarring/scars, past fights, loneliness, isolation, self-hatred/self-deprecation, self-isolation, swearing/cursing, curses, death threats, thoughts of ducking out, public torture (implied), argument (no yelling but Hardcore Debates)

WORDS:  9752 (it.,,.s,.s  so su fkcing l ong .,,. ,. .,   akshdlgasf sorry im so proud of myself bc i rarely ever write single chapters this long and im screaming)

PAIRINGS: I. am so fucking proud to say. that there’s a lil’ Prinxiety, Anxciet, and Roceit. more Prinxiety than the other two, but that’s because Roman’s doing all the legwork in this chapter

MASTERPOST

AO3 link!

@starlightvirgil @forrestwyrm @daflangstlairde @marshmallow-the-panda@askthesnake @k9cat @patromlogil

enjoy!!! love y’all so much <3 <3 <3 <3 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Virgil didn’t think the first quest he’d have through Roman’s Imagination would involve trudging through a sewer line.

He pulled his hood tighter around his face, trying to block out the scent but leaving a hole just barely wide enough to see Deceit and the Thief walking in front of him, leading every step with the ball of his foot and basically tip-toeing through the cobblestone tunnel. The Thief had led him and Deceit around some roads too fast to follow, instructed them to put their hoods up and hide as much of their faces as they could until they breached the town’s defense wall, and to do that, they’d have to follow one of the paths beneath one of the two river branches. Underground and not seen. They were on the run from the guards, after all; Virgil agreed that getting caught would throw a wrench in absolutely everything.

Deceit was a little more careless. Virgil kinda wanted to kick him for it, actually. For someone so concerned about what was best for Thomas the real person, Deceit seemed very nonchalant about the whole “Roman, Creativity, might be gone forever” situation.

Roman was NOT gone forever.

Holy shit, Roman was gone.

Virgil squeezed his eyes shut and exhaled, covering his mouth with his hood. The realization was coming in waves, slapping him with the ice cold knowledge that they’d demoralized Roman so much he’d basically ducked out. He’d done more than ducked out. He was fucking dead.

Calm down time, he could hear Patton’s voice in the back of his head start counting one, two, three, four. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.

“Virgil. Are you coming?” Deceit said.

Virgil looked up to see Deceit and the Thief both stopped and standing a few paces in front of him, waiting. While Deceit just watched with his mouth pressed in a line, the Thief looked more concerned.

Was that concern? Virgil couldn’t tell. He just nodded, not removing the hood from his mouth or taking any further steps forward, but it seemed that his approval was enough to placate the both of them.

The Thief turned back around, continuing to lead. “Sorry. I know it’s dismal down here, but this’ the safest passage out of the city,” his fingers trailed along the right wall, making a soft scraping sound as the leather rubbed against the stone. “We’re almost out.”

Deceit was trailing right behind the Thief, close enough that his cloak’s flapping was gently hitting his shins. It seemed best to stick close to their guide, especially in as confusing a situation as this one. Plus he may be able to learn some more about the Pandora’s box that they’d opened when interrupting this death fight nonsense. He actually kept trying to grab the Thief’s hand, something to guide (not comfort), but he kept missing. Or the Thief was dodging. But no, no way would he be doing that.

They turned another corner and the Thief held up a hand, stopping Deceit and Virgil behind himself. Neither of them opened their mouths, but he still shushed quietly and turned to face the wall. It looked like dirt and stone like all the rest of the walls. The Thief said something, not to either of them but himself. Deceit leaned forward, hand outstretched, but Virgil swatted it away.

He also ignored the glare Deceit shot him. “What?” Deceit taunted quietly, “There’s nothing to worry about.”

“Fuckin’ liar,” Virgil grumbled into his hood, muffled enough that neither of the others could hear what he said.

Deceit heard that he said something, though, and smirked. It was always rewarding to watch Virgil squirm, especially since….

His smirk fell and was replaced with a sigh. The path to hell was paved in good intentions, after all.

The Thief stepped back, causing Virgil and Deceit to jump. They hadn’t noticed that he’d set a few fires — there were a few wicks embedded in the stone — and the glittering golden flames formed a circle in the wall. In the circle, where there used to be wall, was a hole leading to the outside world. Virgil could definitely see grass out there.

He followed the Thief as he stepped through the opening and out into the grass. “C’mon. And stop arguing, I can hear your eyebrow muscles moving,” he said.

Both Deceit and Virgil stopped, casting wary glances at each other before following again. The Thief didn’t look at them at least, but that just made it even more confusing as to how he knew they’d been shooting each other death glares for the whole sewer trip.

Ah, well. Nothing in this realm made much sense, anyhow. Virgil looked up, squinting at their surroundings. They were definitely out of the city. Behind them was the looming city wall, definitely over four stories tall and seemingly impenetrable. The hole they’d exited from was closed, small wisps of smoke rising from where the Thief had extinguished the spell’s flames.

And speaking of which, apparently there was a Roman who was a witch or something. Logan was right about the magic in this world, then. That was another thing he’d have to be wary about. Are you ever so stressed that you’re calm? Oh, worm.

Virgil snorted to himself and rubbed his face. The memes, they’d ruin him one day.

Deceit cast him a curious look, but disregarded it before Virgil noticed. They didn’t have the time nor expendable energy for animosity. Not here, and not with the stakes so high. He was trying his best to not antagonize Virgil — okay, but come on, it was just so easy!

To their left was the river, though it was more like a stream as it cut through a grate in the wall and along the grassy expanse towards the forest. The Thief seemed to be following it, humming a tune as he pushed around reeds and tall grass. To his credit, the Thief seemed less stressed now that they were out of the city; he was swaying, even, to the song he was humming.

“Thief,” he stopped humming when Deceit interrupted him, “You live in the tree, in the forest, correct?”

“I do. You’ve seen it?” the Thief looked over his shoulder at Deceit quickly.

“Yes. When we arrived in this world, we were in a patch of grass in the forest. Your tree was our first checkpoint.”

Deceit moved the reeds in front of him away with his hands. Crickets were chirping out here, the water glittering golden as the sun lowered behind them. Sunset would be happening soon.

It seemed everything shone gold, here.

“Like a video game?” the Thief asked, humor laced through his voice.

Deceit sighed. “That was Virgil’s idea.”

“Hey—!”

“It was a good one,” the Thief cut him off, waving a hand at Deceit without looking at him. “The concept of checkpoints isn’t just a video game thing. Any story has constants, things that’re always there to help the reader place themselves into the story and understand how things flow. My tree’s always been that, so we’ve always got somewhere we’re…,” he trailed off, then chuckled. “Rooted to.”

“Booo,” Deceit groaned, ignoring Virgil’s quiet snickering, “Patton would approve.”

The Thief winced. He stopped walking — they were halfway to the forest, following the river — and pointed two red fingers at them both. “I should warn you, watch out whose names you say. You never know who’s listening.”

Deceit shot a panicked and confused look right at the Thief’s back. He turned to Virgil and found his expression mirrored on the anxious side’s face, both not liking the implications of that statement.

They turned back to the Thief, who had just turned around and continued walking. Virgil cleared his throat first.

“What do you mean by that….?”

“There’s a curse on your guys’ names. Logan, Patton, Virgil, Deceit,” the Thief’s voice was light, airy, as though he didn’t particularly care. “If you say it, everyone hears it, knows where it was said and who said it. I don’t really care but, well. I would prefer not having too many uninvited guests tonight.”

“O….kay.” Deceit cleared his throat and shook out his hands, a little more frustrated now with that knowledge. He would have to ask more about that later — there were so many things they didn’t know about, that they needed to approach, but he couldn’t keep dropping things for others. “But….more on the tree. How old is it?”

Make the Thief finish a train of thought. Virgil raised an eyebrow at Deceit, who nodded. That was their gameplan. Milk him for information, on anything, because at this point, anything was helpful.

He clapped happily, Deceit noted, walking with a slight pep in his step as his thoughts were redirected toward his tree. “It was formed before this challenge. Roman made it, actually, back when Thomas was a kid and wanted a treehouse he could escape into. When….we feel like we want to be alone, it’s where we go, so it was fitting that I’d move into it once this challenge started.”

Virgil sped up a little, to catch up enough to walk inline with Deceit. No point in bringing up the rear the farther they got from the city. “You see this whole situation as a challenge? Like, the battle royale situation.”

The Thief waved a hand as the incline changed, entering the forest. “Something like that, yeah. Mostly we’re all fighting about what we think is best for Roman.”

Deceit and Virgil shared a look. They remembered the Playwright’s words, about maintaining order. It was easy, in the euphoria of finding Roman, to forget that all of these forms had ulterior motives.

Briefly, Deceit considered what the Playwright’s ulterior motive was. He hadn’t mentioned having one, but it was in his nature to not trust that sort of silence.

“What do YOU think is best?” Virgil asked as they both turned back to the Thief.

He didn’t turn to look at them, holding out a hand as a small bluejay — where the fuck did the bird come from?! — landed on his hand. The Thief whistled quietly at it, and it chirped back, and flew away.

They could see a sliver of his face, drawn up in a small smile, expression strained even as they couldn’t see it.

“....Stay in the Imagination. For forever.”

There was a pause.

Deceit was watching the back of the Thief’s head, eyebrow raised and glare frozen. That was a twist. No, no it wasn’t. He should have seen this coming — the others’ letting him stay locked in his room would definitely send the message that they didn’t care if he came out. Of course.

He glanced at Virgil, only to find the anxious side glaring absolute daggers at the Thief’s head. He wanted to duck out (quack). Son of a bitch, there was a part of Roman that wanted to duck out (quack).

Virgil was gonna scream.

Deceit made a gesture, and Virgil’s hand clamped over his mouth. He shot daggers at Deceit, who did his best to only focus on the Thief.

“That doesn’t sound healthy,” Deceit said, voice quiet.

“I don’t remember asking your opinion, little white lie,” the Thief grunted as he climbed over a particularly thick root.

He shot Deceit a quick glare before disappearing around it. His hand stuck out and motioned them both to follow. Virgil punched Deceit’s arm with his other hand and Deceit sighed, letting up so Virgil could speak.

“That wouldn’t benefit anyone,” Virgil hissed, dread laced through his voice as he held back as much of his panic as he could. He and Deceit both cringed when his Tempest Tongue slipped out, though.

They climbed over the root, Virgil first and giving Deceit a sharp kick in the side as he did so. Deceit hissed, and slapped Virgil’s back.

The Thief watched them both with a glare as they appeared over the root.

virgil could definitively say that the Thief was one of the parts of Roman that he didn’t like. He was squirrely, too ready to judge and too eager to cut ties, and Virgil didn’t see what a center-stage hog like Roman would gain from losing his audience. It was counterintuitive.

But maybe it was tied to ducking out. Who fucking knows.

The Thief’s expression seemed to let up, but he looked away again, continuing up the hill. “You, too, Dark Knight.”

They followed for while in silence, until Deceit asked, voice softer, “And what if you’re wrong?”

Now the Thief stopped. His shoulders were stiff, as though he had half a mind to tell them to shut up, or even to turn them back. Virgil opened his mouth, but Deceit held out a hand, shaking his head. Let him think.

Eventually, he slumped, tilting his head back and exhaling. “That’s the point of breaking Roman apart,” his voice was strained, “We need to piece him back together into something more, ah….I’m bad at wording, but something more indestructible.”

That was what he had suspected. Deceit sighed, lowering his arm and approaching the Thief’s back. Carefully, he rested his hand on his shoulder, giving him one tug to turn around and ignoring how stiff the Thief turned. The forest around them was darkening, and red light from the setting sun streamed in around them.

A harsh breeze swept through the opening. Virgil held his cloak tight around himself and looked around. The fear of bears was definitely more real now. But Deceit was unfazed. He held the Thief’s arm tight, even though it was limp in his grip.

He wasn’t going to lose Roman over something so….well, for lack of a better word, trivial.

“No one’s perfect, Thief. Everyone’s got flaws and denying yours might result in,” Deceit paused, trying to phrase this without revealing his exact thoughts, “Unwanted consequences.”

The Thief’s eyes were cast down, at the ground. His entire body was rigid, as though Deceit’s hand had frozen him upon touch.

Had he always looked so defeated? Held a darkness in those eyes just as bright as the shine that comes when spinning a yarn or acting in a play?

Deceit glanced at Virgil, then back at the Thief. How had they let this happen?

He shrugged Deceit’s hand off with a sharp shake, still refusing to look at him. “Yeah. It probably will. And, once you’re all out of here, you won’t have to deal with those flaws again.”

Deceit’s eyebrows shot up, hand curling into a fist at his side as he argued in the only way he could. The Thief didn’t care?! “It’ll hurt HIM, and it doesn’t matter who wins this stupid challenge. You understand that, right?”

“Yeah,” the Thief barked out a laugh, “I’ll take your word for it, Silver Tongue.”

He continued forward, not checking that they were following.

Deceit’s hands were curled into tight fists at his sides, shaking slightly. That went against all of his work. All of his and the other Sides’ wor, too! Trying to save Roman, for him to snap back and self-destruct like this.

It was going to hurt THOMAS, didn’t Roman understand that?

Did he WANT that?!

He huffed, eyes fixed on a dandelion growing in the grass. It did make sense, it was a long time coming — of course, what an oversight on his part, to allow this isolation to extend for so long—

“Hey, breathe,” Virgil’s whisper brought him back to focus, “C’mon.”

Virgil’s hand wrapped around one of Deceit’s, coaxing his hand open with practised understanding and gripping tight. “Don’t panic. That’s my job.”

Deceit cast him a sidelong glare.

Virgil shrugged, lips pursed, but a thin smile still present. He swung their arms up, then down again, and tugged him along. Deceit could feel him taking away some of his anxieties. There was no doubt that it was unhealthy, for Virgil to be roiling in everyone’s panic, but he couldn’t help but also being thankful as Virgil squeezed his hand in small pulses, tugging him along after the Thief.

After about a minute, he exhaled.

“Thank you,” Deceit murmured, eyes downcast.

Virgil glanced at him.

They could do this. Deceit swung their arms, and Virgil let out an exasperated sigh.

He was definitely still high strung, but they could do this.

But the Thief still wanted to leave.

Deceit pressed his lips together as he felt Virgil physically stiffen, the thought kicking him back into the reality. Which, in and of itself, was ironic, because the Imagination was super duper not reality.

“Thief,” he didn’t turn towards them, “You want to duck out.”

It wasn’t a question. Virgil was glaring at the Thief’s back, eyes a little wide.

Something was ringing in his ears. That’d been his fear — that’d been Virgil’s actual, personal fear for this whole endeavor. It’d just been confirmed.

The Thief stepped over a particularly large root, waving his right arm out towards the forest. “Of course. You’re necessary. Anxiety needs to have a seat at the table, yeah. You keep him out of trouble.”

He kicked a rock and hopped over another root. “We don’t. Uncreative people’re out in the world everywhere. Thomas can live without us, or with us muted.”

Oh my goodness gracious, Virgil was so glad Logan wasn’t there to hear that leap of logic. He couldn’t help the growing disgust on his face.

Deceit squeezed his hand again, but the Thief continued. “Getting to spend all our time here, in a world of our own creation? Win. You all get to go about running Thomas without getting annoyed by us all the time? Win. It’s a double win. A win-win.”

Virgil stood up straight, finally letting go of Deceit’s hand to gesture angrily at the Thief’s back. He seethed, throwing his arms into the air and shaking his tightly-gripped fists at the sky. It was like talking to a brick wall! An incredibly stubborn and narrow-minded brick wall who didn’t seem to have any critical thinking!

Maybe he should call it quits. He squatted, wrapping his arms around his head to block out the sunlight, trying to calm down again.

“Virgil.”

No, no, that wasn’t what he did. If Roman was stubborn, then Virgil was immovable, and he was gonna get his idiot back.

A hand rested on his shoulder, pulling him upward. Virgil swatted away at it, growling quietly into his own arms.

“Virgil, get up,” Deceit’s voice was barely audible over the blood pounding in his ears, “Or he’s gonna walk away.”

He nodded, exhaling into the ball he was curled into.

Let go. Let go of the damn worries.

“Virgil. Listen to my voice. Perhaps we cannot convince him, not alone and not tonight, but we can at least stay with him. Give him options.”

He’d trained himself to not listen to Deceit, who’d lied and manipulated his way around Thomas’ head. But, just this once….

Virgil nodded again and stood upright slowly, knees creaking and popping. They could do this.

Deceit patted his shoulder and motioned forward. The Thief was already a few yards ahead, but not out of sight just yet.

They both hurried after him.

Until he stopped.

The Thief’s shoulders slumped in relief as he finally spotted his tree in the distance. His pace quickened, jogging himself across the few meters between where he stood and the tree, and was followed by the other two Sides. Once they reached the tree, the Thief placed a hand against its side, running it along the bark slowly. As though greeting a friend.

“Welcome home,” he hummed, smiling up at the canopy.

He searched in his pocket and pulling out a lighter — a regular modern lighter, wasn’t there supposed to be a medieval theme or something?! That was MULTIPLE ITEMS— Deceit squinted at it, opening his mouth in an offended fashion. He was going to say something about that, because it was pretty unfair that he got to have something so modern while everyone else was relegated to objects that were period accurate, but Virgil elbowed him in the side.

The Thief, who was pressing the lighter to the black chalk, swirling the flame along the “door” opening, didn’t seem to notice. Virgil honestly just wanted to see what this magic was all about. Once he was done drawing the circle, he stepped back and held a hand out, pushing Deceit and Virgil back, too. “Open sesame,” he said with a grin.

All of the black chalk was alight, glowing gold from the flame. The Thief held a hand out for the drawn-on handle, and as soon as his hand got within an inch it glowed golden itself. The chalky text lit up red. He slowly turned the handle, now filling his hand with an amorphous golden light, and pushed the door open.

It swung easily, as though on invisible hinges.

The Thief smiled as the scent of home wafted over him. He took a deep breath, it’d been a long day, he was home, he was safe, and he turned to Deceit and Virgil.

Both of the other Sides were staring at the thick hole in the tree, mouths open slightly and eyes open much more. There wasn’t much to see inside the door, as there was a small staircase leading up to the actual living quarters, but the fact that the fairly solid tree opened was something. Neither of them had seen the magic in Roman’s kingdom, after all, and while they knew this was what happened….seeing it was a much different experience.

It was kind of humorous, actually. To think that he’d be bringing other Sides into his little sanctuary.

It felt….nice.

Shut up, shut up with that romantic bullshit.

“Are you coming?” he asked, cocking his lips into a smirk as he waved them in.

Virgil snapped out of it first, surprisingly. He shook his head and nodded. “Yeah. ‘Course.” He elbowed Deceit, who jumped and nodded so vigorously his hat fell off.

The Thief caught it, hand shooting out, and blinked at himself. And then he laughed.

His demeanor had flipped almost at the exact moment they got to the tree. He wasn’t curled inwards, dancing around words and ideas. No, here he was, his laugh light, airy and carefree, something that he didn’t seem capable of prior. A few birds in the forest even chirped along. One cardinal landed on his head, whistling with him, and he didn’t seem to mind.

Virgil and Deceit shared a look, both equally blushing. This was a stark change and their glum guide was kinda cute.

The bird thing was textbook Disney prince too, like, how did he even —

“Alright,” the Thief brushed off the hat, lips quirked in a small smile, “Enough fucking around, c’mon.”

He put the hat back onto Deceit’s head, hands carding through Deceit’s hair as he did so. If the Thief noticed how much redder he got, then he didn’t let on, because he turned around as soon as the hat was on snug.

Virgil noticed, though. He pressed the butt of his palm to his mouth, stifling a laugh as the snake spluttered silently at the Thief’s back.

The Thief, still unaware — maybe unaware, maybe not? — went into the tree and climbed the stairs without waiting for them to follow. Virgil went first, then Deceit quickly, not wanting to be alone in the forest for long and not wanting to think about that incredibly gentle and not-at-all pleasing interaction.

No sir. Not pleasing. Not what he absolutely wanted for the rest of his life.

For once, he cursed the existence of gloves. How much softer would the Thief’s hands be without them?

Deceit would die before acknowledging that he absolutely definitely didn’t not have a crush.

Virgil stepped up to the top landing, beside the Thief, and looked around. It was small, but cozy. Before them was a sitting area with a thick couch, identical to the one Thomas actually had in his living room but without the bend. In front of it was a wooden coffee table, beneath was a rug with circles, almost like the rings of a tree, Virgil thought. Atop the table was a vase of red roses in full bloom.

To the right was a small kitchen alcove, separated from the sitting area with a counter peninsula that had two toasters sitting on it. Two toasters. This Roman must like his bread, apparently. Floating around between the kitchen and sitting area were some candles, all lit and casting the room in a comforting warm glow. On the left was a stairwell, wooden and spiraling up in such a way that Virgil could only see the first few steps.

Besides the stairwell was a second door. As Deceit stepped up into the room, the Thief went to the second door and opened it. As soon as the door touched the back of the hall it opened to, it disappeared, leaving an uninhibited opening down to a curving hallway that seemed to wrap around the tree’s trunk.

“Make yourselves at home,” the Thief said, waving his hand at the living room, “Do you want me to take your cloaks?”

Deceit put up his hand dismissively, turning in a circle and examining the room.

Virgil also shook his head, holding his cloak around himself more. The Thief shrugged at him, taking off his own cloak. “Suit yourself.”

As he moved to hang it up, Virgil could see that the gloves went to the middle of his forearms, and his shirt seemed to be tucked into them. No part of him was exposed other than his collar, neck, and head. Interesting?

When Virgil turned back to Deceit, to maybe, you know, indicate that this Roman was taking some pages out of his book, he found that Deceit was wandering through the kitchen. He pointed to the two toasters, made a judgemental face at Virgil, and continued opening the cabinets and drawers. Virgil slumped a little. Figures.

He sighed, walking over to the couch and flopping onto it. Oh. It even smelt like Thomas’ couch. The tension left his shoulders as he rolled onto his side, pressing his face into the cushions and taking in a deep breath. It was dizzying, how quickly this lowered his heart rate. Virgil hadn’t realized how stressed he was with the fast-paced changes of this situation.

The hardwood floor creaking indicated that Deceit had moved from the kitchen to the hallway. His footsteps echoed away down the hall.

“You want some tea?” Virgil heard the Thief ask.

He shook his head. He just wanted to lay down for now.

“Deceit? Tea?”

“I’m fine, thank you. May I go upstairs?”

“Intrusion doesn’t seem to be something you worry about, given how you went through my kitchen.”

Deceit didn’t grace that with a response, and Virgil heard his footsteps tapping up the stairs.

Silence again. He hummed into the pillow and rolled over into his own cloak. He just needed some time.

“....Do you want something to eat?” the Thief tried and, again, Virgil shook his head.

“‘M good.”

“Mhm.”

The Thief went around the kitchen calmly. Virgil could hear it. His steps were soft, though not as quiet as Deceit’s. More just….comfortable. Not as heavy as Romans typically would be, either.

Virgil sat upright slowly, still hugging one of the cushions, and looked up. The Thief’s gloves were sitting on the counter, as was the Thief himself, cradling a mug in heavily-scarred hands. Virgil actually did a small double-take upon seeing them.

The Thief raised an eyebrow, questioning.

“....Your hands’re fucked up,” Virgil stated.

He got a nod back. “Wow, I had no idea ‘bout that. Not like they’re on my body or anything.”

Virgil rolled his eyes. Roman always was a smartass. “No shit. Were….Roman’s hands aren’t like that, right?”

The Thief took a sip from the mug and did a so-so motion with his hand. “Yes and no. All my scars are definitely real. It’s not like we get out of every scrap with creatures, monsters, villains, the like without any damage. But Roman just sorta conjures flatter skin on top of it.”

Virgil frowned. There were a lot of questions he had for that, but he didn’t want to bombard him just this second. “That’s pretty weird, not gonna lie. So they normally heal into scars?” he gestured to the Thief, who nodded.

“Yeah, and it’s better to conjure up new skin than make you all worried.”

He must have recoiled, because the Thief laughed a little at him and took another sip. He wiped his mouth with the butt of his palm, shaking his head and speaking into his hand. “C’mon, you can’t tell me Patt wouldn’t flip if he saw this shit.”

Patton….very much would. All of them would, if Roman ever came in with that many scars. He was scared of what they’d say.

Virgil was getting a clearer image of the Thief’s intentions every minute. Still, for now, he just shrugged and conceded. “You’re right, I guess.”

The Thief nodded, opening his mouth to continue, but Deceit’s footsteps hopping down the stairs interrupted him. The snake in question popped out around the spiral staircase’s bend, and Virgil saw that he’d removed his hat and cloak somewhere. He had a hand raised, too, to get their attention.

“Thief, question. Well. First, the top floor is beautiful — marvelous work,” the Thief raised his glass, but otherwise didn’t react. Must not be so susceptible to flattery, Deceit noted. “I saw a city. A modern looking one, behind the mountains.”

“Oh, yeah.”

The Thief took another sip of his drink and motioned for Deceit to sit by pulling out a stool from beneath the counter, with his leg. “That’s just another setting. We don’t always adhere to a medieval theme in here, but right now we’ve kinda fallen back on the Disney royalty theme because it’s something we’re familiar with. That, and we can all agree it’s marvelous.”

“I see,” Deceit sat beside Virgil, crossing his legs on the cushion. “So you’re never going to change the setting, though?”

Deceit thought it was a fair question, but the Thief let out a short laugh. “Are you kidding? We’d have to flip everything around! God, we’d need new names, too, and new hiding places. It’s all too much work.”

He took another sip, then set his mug down. Deceit then noticed his hands, brow furrowing. He opened his mouth to bring it up, but Virgil elbowed him in the side and waved his hand.

He’d explain later. Best not interrupt, because the Thief rubbed his mouth and continued. “I don’t even think we can. It’d need to be a unanimous decision, like a coherent thought, and we’re not really capable of that right now.”

“Why wouldn’t you?” Virgil asked.

The Thief looked at them both. He seemed to be debating something.

This Roman took his time with his words. That must mean he had a lot to hide, Deceit thought, or he didn’t want to expose certain ideas.

“For one. Dragon would kill us.”

Ah. “Dragon?” Deceit asked, “Care to elaborate?”

The Thief looked at his knees, then hopped off of the counter. “I’m going to make dinner,” he said, voice a little more airy, clearly trying to deflect from this conversation, “Spaghetti okay?”

“Tell us about Dragon,” Virgil pressed harder.

The Thief shot him a squinted look and relented as he set up the pot of water. “He’s another one of us, another Roman,” his voice held so much disdain. “He’s dramatic, loud, all that good stuff, but the biggest thing about him is that he really likes being right.”

“You don’t like him,” Deceit stated.

“Can’t say I’m a fan.”

He opened a cupboard and took out a box of pasta. He cleared his throat, glancing up at the two expectant faces before relenting again.

“He’s a bit of a sadist. Like….he moved into the castle. He controls the guards. They all listen to ‘Roman,’” here, the Thief did air quotations, “But they aren’t sentient enough to notice that there are seven of us now, so they listen to the guy who took charge. Dragon.”

A villain part of Roman, apparently. One who would attack the others, if the way they found the Thief being chased by guards was any indication. Virgil stood up, going into the kitchen. “Where’re the plates?” he asked quietly, “‘M gonna set the table.”

The Thief nodded to one of the cabinets and Virgil opened it, taking out some plates. He set them down on the counter only for them to be picked up by Deceit and dispersed around the peninsula, where the three counter stools were.

“Dragon,” Deceit reminded, and the Thief sighed.

“Before you guys showed up, he caught another one of us. Another Roman. And, God….” his voice trailed off.

The pot was boiling. The Thief put the noodles in, taking a wooden spoon and easing them into the water. He seemed to roll something around in his head, lolling back and forth, before grimacing and continuing. “He….he did a lot of bad things to Damsel, the other Roman. Beat him publicly, in the village’s central square so all the characters got to see. So that we could all see. It was horrifying.”

A chill swept through the glassless windows of the tree.

“That’s….” Virgil and Deceit spoke at the same time.

“Dark.”

“Awful.”

They shared a look before turning back to Thief, who was churning the noodles, eyes glued to the rising steam and boiling water. It was surprising that the steam didn’t put out any of the candles, actually.

He looked forlorn, lost and defeated. “It was like a warning, to the rest of us. Don’t get caught, or else.”

Deceit picking up the conversation. “I didn’t realize there was a part of Roman willing to do….that. And for what?”

“For approval. And what can I say? He lives for validation, would kill for it, too. We all know you’re in here, so he’s definitely hunting you guys, maybe to gloat and probably hoping you all will tell him he did good,” the way Thief said it sounded almost too nonchalant, like it were forceful.

He turned off the stove top’s heat — hang on, Deceit thought, a stove?! Well, fuck the theme-ing then. This was a neverending hell of inconsistencies — and pulled a strainer out from another cabinet. Slowly, the Thief strained out the water, talking all the while.

“He probably wants to….” his eyes flicked up at them, quick as a flash, and he let out a small exhale. “I dunno. He’s a bit of a dice roll. One second, he’s talking about how much he wants all of you to love him, brushing his hair in the mirror and painting his nails, just being harmless, and the other second he’s talkin’ about how much he wants to dismember you and throw your bodies into locked boxes in the river.”

Virgil and Deceit exchanged a look, one worried and one determined. They were safe, knew how to defend themselves, and had the means with which to defend themselves, but….

Virgil’s brow furrowed. Logan and Patton were out there somewhere. And there was a bit of Roman that seemed happy to kill literally anything.

He looked up at Deceit, who was watching him with squinted eyes. Logan and Patton must be fine. They must be.

What if they weren’t? Virgil squinted right back at him. They could be hurt.

No, they were fine.

The Thief cleared his throat, cutting through the tension like a knife and drawing both of their attentions back to him. He was heating up some sauce now, mixing in some herbs with what looked like a tomato-paste base, eyes shifting between Virgil and Deceit.

The staredown lasted for a minute or two before he relented, exhaling and hitting his spoon on the side of the pan.

“Let’s….pause, for a hot sec. Dinner’s almost done and, after that, you both should sleep,” his voice carried like a whisper around the small kitchen.

Neither of them responded, and the Thief just kept cooking. He slowly poured the noodles into the sauce, mixing up a little before gesturing to the pasta.

He couldn’t honestly expect them to just drop the conversation like that. Could he?

“We are going to have to confront Dragon,” Deceit raised an eyebrow at him, “You know that, right?”

The Thief shrugged. He picked up a plate, took out a pair of tongs, and began putting pasta on the plate. “Probably. I can’t help you there, though. I’ve just been setting off all the booby traps in the castle, so he gets stuck in them. And stealing his jewelry. He’s got a hoard of it.”

Like a dragon, Virgil thought. And with scales, probably, and claws. And wings. Maybe he breathed fire.

He was frightened to all heck, but if they wanted Roman back, they’d have to….what. Talk with him? Probably talk with him.

He looked at Deceit, who was looking at the pasta, and then he heard his own stomach growl. The Thief had sat down at one of the peninsula stools, pointedly ignoring them for his noodles.

Then, he giggled. The Thief covered his mouth with a hand, but they both could see that a broad smile was behind it.

“What?” Deceit asked, raising an eyebrow.

“The Child just said the Social Nerd-work’s name. That means Dad-ton Abbey and him’re safe at the Artist’s house,” he explained, waving a hand and swirling his pasta on a fork, “Wow.”

Wow indeed. A little bit of the tension in Virgil’s shoulders released. Patton and Logan were safe, fine, hidden away with another less-murderous Roman. That was some good news.

….Well. Virgil sighed, more at ease now, and relented to the pasta. As he sat at the counter, Deceit went to make himself a plate.

They ate in nearly absolute silence, none of them wanting to mention the lack of a plan and the looming fear of this villainous Roman who apparently wanted to kill them all.

Deceit finished first, and he ran his hand through his hair, smoothing it back. “We’re sleeping here, correct? I also don’t suppose you have a shower or something?”

Thief pointed down a hall. “We might have an aesthetic going, but I’d die without a whole bathroom set up. Down and to the left, there’re towels in the side closet,” he took a final bite and set his fork down, standing up

“Thank you,” Deceit said, shooting Virgil a small look as he ducked toward the bathroom.

Deceit probably wanted him to ask more about the situation. Virgil tiredly continued to eat, but the pit that was opening his stomach was taking up more room than the pasta could fill. It was clear that the Thief — both of the Romans they’d interacted with, but right now, the Thief — trusted Virgil a lot more than Deceit. At least it showed a certain awareness on Roman’s part of Deceit’s trickery?

And it wasn’t like Virgil could help how upset he was by all this. It was a stressful situation and had a stressfully silent week before it.

“I also,” Virgil looked back up at the Thief, who gestured to Virgil’s plate, “Forgot to thank you all. For coming after us. Honestly didn’t expect it.”

Virgil nodded and carefully stood up from his stool. The Thief smiled and took the plate, but his brows were pinched. He wanted an explanation, didn’t he? It felt like a weird thing to need to explain. It was obvious. Wasn’t it?

“We were worried,” it sounded lame aloud, but the Thief just nodded in response.

“Thanks,” he put the plates into the sink and pointed down the hall, too. “You should go check out a room, too. Maybe change into some pajamas or something more comfortable? There’re, uh, pajamas. I’m just going to do the dishes then head to bed myself.”

Again, Virgil nodded. He was at a loss for words, honestly, and that was all a lot of information to process.

Take one thing at a time, though. That was what the Thief was suggesting, wasn’t it? “Sure thing,” he said, dashing away immediately.

The hall was dark, long, and curved. There were candles floating along the walls, same as out in the living area, and there were doors on either side. One already had Deceit’s double-snake-head logo shining yellow. Besides that door was another, unmarked door, but Virgil could hear a shower coming from inside.

He needed to get a room, first. Across from the bathroom was another unmarked door, probably a bedroom, and Virgil ducked into it, closing the door quickly.

He immediately threw himself onto the bed and rubbed his face. That probably smudged his eyeliner. It was already smudged.

No, no, he didn’t have the time to care about that. Virgil sat upright and looked around. There was a small open-fronted wardrobe pressed against the wall, with some pairs of pants and some shirts hanging on the wall. Surprisingly, they all looked to be various combinations of purple, black, and grey. He stood up, against his desire to curl into a ball and sleep on that bed for all eternity, and checked out the clothing. Yep, everything was about his aesthetic, and some even had his logo on them. Neat.

There was the bed and there was a mirror on top of the wardrobe. Around the room were some floating candles, but none were lit, and there was a light switch by the door. Virgil squinted. How the fuck did that work?

He flicked the switch and they all turned on, lit by flames. Alright. That was cool.

Virgil had to talk to the Thief. He couldn’t dance around it.

Or he could stay in here and admire how the wardrobe auto-filled with clothes that fit his style. Or he could admire the cool candle lights. Those would look sick in his room, actually. He should talk to the Thief about that, instead of literally anything else he actually had to talk to him about.

He just wanted Roman back, goddamnit. He wanted the Roman who would do outrageous things just to see Virgil smile. The one who would put on Black Cauldron for the millionth time, without complaint, when Virgil was having a bad day. He wanted the Roman who worked to improve himself and worked to include him, and didn’t shy away, and didn’t want to hide, and didn’t make him feel like he himself had overlooked something so disastrous as a crumbling self-image and gnawing concern that no one loved him.

The guilt weighed heavy in his stomach. Yeah, guilt. Virgil had felt Roman’s anxieties growing, but did he bring it up? Well, okay, he did. But every time that he did, Roman had deflected it with a witty quip or incredibly stupid comment or even that dumb, dashing smile. And then Roman would catch that he was nervous about something. He would never guess that it was himself.

Virgil could almost imagine what he’d do. Roman would take him by the hand into his room, always with the lights dimmer, more simplistic than was usual. He’d sit him in his squishy armchair, stand behind him, rub his shoulders and let him just vent.

Or maybe Roman would lead him down into the kitchen, sing a merry tune and make Virgil some peppermint tea. Swirl around in the kitchen, making jokes or telling stories, on those days where Virgil didn’t want to talk.

Ever since they’d shifted to accepting him, Roman had done his best. Extra, frivolous, occasionally over-the-top, but his fucking best. Virgil owed his best right back.

Virgil had to get him back. He had to face the music.Virgil’s fists balled at his sides as he whispered to himself, “Fuck it,” and threw open his door.

He hurried out of the hall and stopped in the entryway into the living area. The Thief was cradling another mug, sitting on a stool and staring at the flower vase sitting on the coffee table.

“Hey, Roman,” the Thief jumped and some liquid splashed out of his mug. Virgil winced. “Sorry, Thief?”

Virgil felt a little more guilty as the Thief sighed, rolling his shoulders and casting him a raised eyebrow. “Yeah, Virgil? You need anything?”

“Not really,” Virgil leaned on the wall as the Thief pulled out a roll of paper towels and tore some off. “I just wanted to say thanks. For keeping us safe. I don’t know what we would have done if you didn’t let us sleep over.”

The Thief pressed the towels to the spilt tea and matched eyes with Virgil. He gave him a reassuring albeit crooked smile, hair falling out of whatever order it’d been. It fluffed up around his face and, almost, looked like a crown. One of his hands reached up and ran through his hair, pushing it back into the messy but suave side-part Roman always had.

Hey, stop staring. Virgil blinked slowly and focused on the Thief’s words. “....probably safest place in the setting.”

He nodded, then shifted his weight, putting his hands in his pockets. Here goes. “Also, I don’t really understand why you want to be alone so badly. Like, I do, I get that feeling too sometimes, but….”

The Thief sighed, frustration laced through his breath, and Virgil added. “You know we’d miss you, Roman.”

That got him to falter. He stared at the countertop, then lifted the flower vase and cleaned beneath that. “I can’t say I wouldn’t miss you all, too,” he said. “I wish I wouldn’t. That’s more what I want. When we are all together, the best moments are so good. Nothing brings us more joy than seeing you smile and laugh at memes with us, or hearing Logan’s gasp when he reads something enticing, or watching Patton fuss around the kitchen. Heck, even Deceit’s dumb smirk makes us happy.”

Virgil could hear the “but” hanging in the air, especially once the Thief scrubbed the counter with extra vigor.

“But the lows. We can’t always handle the criticism, the shouting, the arguing and belittling. Being told we’re not enough,” he sighed, then added in a much softer voice. “That I’m not enough.”

He tossed the paper towels away into the trash bin, beneath the sink, and leaned his back on the sink’s edge. “Sometimes, I can’t help but wish I wanted to be alone. And if we self-impose that loneliness, then it might make it easier. To be alone.”

Virgil rubbed the back of his neck, watching. He’d known that they were less than supportive, on the best of days, but that was their job. Especially Virgil’s. He was the guy who was supposed to spot possible problems, things that the audience might not like, things that might endanger Thomas. He’d thought that Roman understood that he was doing it out of….

Alright, there was the L word again.

His internal monologue was interrupted when the Thief stood up straight and faced Virgil determinedly, wearing a tired smile.

“If you can convince the others, then I’ll come quiet. I just think that being alone’s….easier to handle,” he laughed a little to himself, a quiet chuckle that Virgil thought sounded hollow. “Besides, if Roman isolates himself, then it doesn’t matter if….”

His smile faltered a little, eyes seeming to watch something distantly away from Virgil. As quick as the expression came, though, it went as he looked back down at the counter. He reached up and ran his hands through his hair, settling it back.

There must be something Virgil should do or say. There must be, because sitting in silence like this — god, the Thief was gonna start crying, wasn’t he?

What wouldn’t matter? The question burned in his mind.

“....Haven’t I been through enough heartbreaks?”

The Thief’s question was so quiet, so desperate, that Virgil thought he just imagined it until a floorboard creak behind him indicated that someone had approached. He glanced back to see Deceit, hair still damp, clothed in a simple cream shirt and dark brown trousers. Pajamas, clearly, maybe taken from the room. Deceit nodded to the Thief, who was hunching over the counter, eyes stuck on the counter.

Virgil pursed his lips and made a so-so hand motion. He didn’t know exactly what was motivating the Thief, but they were getting inklings. Deceit nodded again in response and stood behind Virgil.

Who turned back to the Thief, still staring at the table. “We need you,” was how Virgil started, trying to piece together the best way to phrase what he wanted to say.

The Thief looked up at him and Virgil saw some wetness glittering in his dark brown eyes. They locked with his, not necessarily a glare nor anything aggressive. You could have convinced Virgil that the Thief was pleading. But for what, he couldn’t tell.

And then he smiled. He smiled and shook his head, looking away again.

“I…” He covered his mouth with a hand and reconsidered, shaking his head, “Nah, it’s dumb.”

“You’re not dumb, Thief.”

Virgil pushed off of the doorway to stand besides the Thief as he sank into one of the counter stools. Gently, like Roman had done for him many times, he put his hands on the Thief’s shoulders. “Can I?” he asked, voice quiet.

The Thief nodded, hand holding his mouth tight. His other hand, resting on the table and not gripping anything, had a slight tremor. Deceit stepped into the dining area, lips pinched in worry. He certainly wasn’t the one silencing the Thief, if it was anyone at all.

Virgil began rubbing the Thief’s shoulders, leaning closer and watching as his shoulders hiked up a little more. He was so tense, stiff as a rock.

“Listen. Thief,” Virgil glanced at Deceit, who was shifting his weight lamely, and nodded toward the mugs.

Deceit seemed to get the idea, because he nodded and got to work immediately. The Thief’s hand slid upward, covering his eyes now, and he shuddered as Virgil put more pressure on his shoulders. “Is this okay?” Virgil asked again, quietly, and the Thief nodded.

“Thanks,” his voice was so quiet that Virgil could barely hear him.

“You know,” Virgil hummed, quiet but determined. “I tried the whole lone-wolf thing. Thought it’d be good to keep myself separate ‘cause it would protect you all. Thought that was for the best. None of you seemed to want me back then, either.”

The Thief whined, and Virgil let up. But as his shoulders stiffened again, Virgil felt his anxiety mount. “No–uh, sorry, no that just–that was a good spot,” the Thief tried to explain, face turning redder under his hand.

Deceit snorted behind him, and Virgil kicked his heel out, managing to hit him square in the shin. He let out a chuckle when Deceit hissed in pain.

“I’m sorry. That we made you feel like that,” both of the other Sides looked at the Thief, whose hands were now both on the counter.

Virgil’s were still resting on his shoulders, so he exhaled and pressed down again. “We-We shouldn’t have—” the Thief tried to continue, but Virgil cut him off.

“Not saying you shouldn’t have, but you’ve been apologizing for it. You….all accept me, now. I’m working on getting used to that, you all work on making me feel included, and we work together. Maybe there’re highs, maybe there’re lows. That’s how everything goes, but we always get through it when we work as a team. ‘Cause teamwork makes the dream work, right?” Virgil smiled when the Thief snorted, “And we can’t make the team work without the dream.”

The Thief sat up a little more. Virgil didn’t want to pressure him or anything, so he rubbed a particularly tight knot near the base of his neck before letting go. It seemed that the Thief came to some understanding, though.

“Hot chocolate’s done,” Deceit said.

He leaned down beside Virgil and set a full mug down on the counter in front of the Thief. He then nudged Virgil’s hip with his own, holding out a mug for him but eyes not meeting Virgil’s.

That was the first bad sign. Virgil pressed his mouth into a line. Before he could make a move, though, Deceit picked up his own mug and stepped away. “I’m going to sleep,” he announced, “I can only assume tomorrow will be just as taxing as today was. Goodnight Roman. Virgil.”

Deceit’s eyes were still cast lower as he nodded once toward the Thief and once toward Virgil, and he stared at the floor as he hurried to the hallway. He disappeared down the hall, into the darkness, and they both heard his door close sharply.

Damn. So much for that truce.

Yeah, sure, Virgil wasn’t fond of Deceit. Much.

He used to be. They used to be thick as thieves — Patton would be proud of that pun, Virgil thought — and while time and responsibilities have wore down that relationship….Deceit was still important to him. Yeah, he was a bad influence, but, like….

Whatever. He didn’t care. He didn’t.

The Thief leaned back a little, head resting on Virgil’s shoulder. “You should sleep, too, Paramoody.”

His head tilted back and he smiled up at Virgil, who squinted at him. “If you fall backwards on that stool, I’m gonna laugh.”

“In fact, I’m the owner of Roman’s single braincell,” the Thief’s smile softened, “Thanks for earlier. I’ll think about that.”

His eyes were so soft. Had Roman always had that little beauty mark? Virgil really only noticed it now, with his face so close and with that weird scar pointing at it.

Not that he endorsed Roman being damaged in any physical way, but the scar was also. Pretty hot.

The Thief chuckled quietly, one hand reaching up to patt Virgil’s cheek.

His hands were a little cold, but they were soft, despite the scars. Virgil could feel him shudder a tiny bit as the Thief gently ran his thumb along his cheekbone.

Virgil felt….comfortable.

Why didn’t he want this, again? The Thief watched Virgil watching him, and saw him slowly lean his head into his hand. He must be tired, that was why Virgil was so open with him. There couldn’t have been another reason.

Still.

“Alright, you actually need to sleep, ‘cause your eyeshadow’s all over your face,” the Thief pulled his hand away and sat upright again.

As he slid off the stool, saying something about sleep and grabbing his hand, Virgil tuned him out, letting himself be pulled around.

What the hell was THAT moment? This was the absolute worst time to be reminded that he was a disaster, and the Thief must be so creeped out by how he was just staring at his goddamn face.

“And my room’s upstairs. If you go up the stairs, take a left, you’ll find me, okay?” Virgil blinked, looking up.

They were at the entrance to the hallway now. The Thief smiled kindly at him, though his brow was pinched in worry. “Have a good night, Virgil,” he whispered, hand still holding Virgil’s.

Virgil nodded, not trusting what he’d say if he opened his mouth, and met him with a small smile.

He wished had retained more of the romantic parts of Roman. Then, maybe, he’d be able to find the right words to describe how willing he was to throw this whole challenge away just to see that smile for the rest of eternity.

The Thief leaned in and pecked Virgil’s cheek. Then, he darted away, waist sash trailing up after him as he escaped up the stairs.

Virgil stared into nothing, eyes stuck to the empty staircase. Slowly, his hand lifted to his cheek, fingers grazing where the Thief’s — Roman’s — lips had been.

What the fuck.

Don’t even consider it.

He found himself walking back to the room he’d chosen — it was easy to find, his storm cloud logo was glowing a soft purple on the door — and collapsed onto the bed.

Virgil was absolutely sore from how fast his thoughts had been running today. It felt like years ago that he’d found Deceit in the hall and slammed him into the wall.

Oof. Maybe he wouldn’t sleep tonight, now that he’d remembered that. Virgil groaned into his pillow, crossing his arms over his head and pressing into it as his breathing’s erraticness increased

Deceit had been truly upset. Frustrated, angry, yeah, sure, that was the point — Virgil hadn’t expected that flash of betrayal. He couldn’t get that stupid snakey hurt expression out of his goddamn head. Plus it was just poor instincts to immediately strangle someone. And the way Deceit had slunk out of the kitchen just now, not daring to look at either of their faces.

He screamed into the pillow, pressing down into it even more. Calm down. He had to calm down.

What, why calm down now? You’d been holding this panic attack in all day, Virgil.

The pillow grew damp beneath his face; he hadn’t noticed that he was crying a little.

Virgil flipped over, now pressing the back of his head into the pillow, and wrapped his arms around his head, wiping at his eyes with his hand. He began tapping his left hand on the back of his arm, counting quietly as he inhaled, held, and exhaled.

It helped that it wasn’t completely silent. Virgil’s room had a window, a circle in above the bed. A gentle breeze wafted in, as did the sound of the trees rustling, frogs croaking, and bugs buzzing — a solid background noise to focus on, rather than the day’s events. Virgil mentally counted the frogs’ croaks as he felt his chest loosen. Maybe it was a product of being in the Imagination and, by extension, Roman’s room, but he got a grip of himself faster than usual.

As he calmed down, though, he also regained the feelings of absolute exhaustion. Calm quickly turned to drowsiness, and Virgil was asleep within seconds.