#this is so fukcing funny i can’t take it | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

a-small-batch-of-dragons · 4 years ago

Text

Remember, Don't You Miss Us?

Prompt: hey, if you're taking requests for Sanders sides, can I request some angsty human au! familial sides? patton/janus as parents that get/have gotten divorced and (some of) the others move between houses or smth?? idk do what you want as long as its angsty with a happy ending

Thanks for the prompt, babe!

Read on Ao3

Warnings: divorced moceit at the start, they fix it, other than that you good

Pairings: parental moceit, errybody else is the kids

Word Count: 3738

The void never used to be as obvious.

Patton and Janus got divorced, their children split between the two houses. They manage to keep up appearances, but the emptiness never really goes away.

The kids decide to do something about it.

The void never used to be as obvious.

There were times when Patton would come downstairs, expecting to see at least someone else awake, perhaps Logan in the corner chair, curled around a mug of coffee and staring out the window, perhaps Roman at the table with his notebook out and his pen flying, or perhaps Virgil, just rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he tried to figure out what to do next. Remus wasn’t an early riser, but perhaps—on very rare occasions—there he would be, sprawled across the floor, playing with his toys.

But now there’s no one to make the coffee for Logan, no one to encourage Roman to write down his ideas, no one to chuckle softly at bleary little Virgil. No one to halfheartedly scold Remus for leaving his toys all over the floor.

Patton still goes to the coffee pot and turns it on, even if there are buttons on the top he doesn’t dare to touch. Logan asked him once why he refuses to change the settings, even if he doesn’t like the kind of coffee it makes. His hands had shaken too much to answer.

He still goes through all the motions of making breakfast, even if the sudden tug in his chest at the worry they won’t have enough eggs goes limp as he realizes there are only three of them in the house now. Roman asked him once why he was staring at the carton of eggs lying there on the counter. He’d shaken his head and said he was counting.

He still hesitates at the door too long when it’s time to take his kiddos to school, expecting a green blur to tug a blob of purple down the stairs so fast he worries they’re going to hurt themselves. Both Roman and Logan look at him confused when he wants to wait a little longer before taking them out to the car.

But mostly…

Mostly he misses the flash of yellow in the corner of his eye. He could never quite pull off the color, something about the way his undertones refused to cooperate or…something like that. His own wardrobe looks…smaller now, simpler. He never used to blend into the walls this much.

Mostly he misses the low voice coming from the other room, up the stairs, just over his shoulder. His own voice is too high, too bubbly to be properly sarcastic and the absence of that voice twisting words around and around and around. Or when it would soften, and oh how much he could drown in the softness.

Mostly he misses the gloved hands on his shoulder, the small of his back, around his waist, on his hips, cupping the nape of his neck. Patton hugs his kiddos all the time, but there was something about the drag of gloves against his clothes that made him tighten his hugs.

Mostly he misses waking up to someone else warm on cold nights.

The bed feels so much bigger.

No.

No, don’t go down that road, it only leads to crying and Roman and Logan trying frantically to fix it.

They couldn’t.

It wasn’t their fault, they’re kids. They didn’t deserve to have to fix these things, these were an adult’s responsibility, these were problems they wouldn’t know how to solve. It wasn’t their fault that Patton never learned when to stop pushing. It wasn’t their fault that Patton could never figure out where the lines were drawn. It wasn’t their fault that Patton could never stop crying, making it all about himself, never wanting to listen.

Patton scrubs a hand under his nose before it can start to drip.

No. No, it wasn’t their fault, it was—it is his.

It’s his fault they can’t see their brothers anymore, not like they used to.

It’s his fault their Papa went away.

It’s his fault that he couldn’t figure out how to love Janus.

But goodness, does he miss him.

———————————————

The room’s never felt this small before.

There were times when Janus would open the door and expect someone, anyone, to barrel into him before he could step over the threshold and words would tumble out, perhaps a new idea Remus had, perhaps something Virgil was worried about, perhaps Logan with a slew of new questions for him, or perhaps—if he was coming home on a night that Roman didn’t have an after-school club—it would be Roman, wrapping his arms tightly around Janus and refusing to let him go.

But now there’s no one to keep Remus supplied with new sketchbook paper, no one to sit quietly and talk through Virgil’s fears with him, no one to go on Wikipedia odysseys with Logan, and no one to beam at Roman.

Janus still walks to the bookshelf and runs his hand along the spine of the books, searching, searching for something to read that he hasn’t read in a while, and unbidden his mind will go directly to what puns he could make from the titles. Remus had looked up at him once as a chuckle forced its way out through his lips and asked him what was so funny. Janus had shaken his head and said something had just crossed his mind.

He still walks into a room and instinctively picks up a pen to toss into the corner, expecting a soft ‘thank you’ or an ‘ow!’ from the chair or the couch or the desk. Virgil had stared at him one time when he’d walked into the room and without thinking, grabbed a pen from the pen pot and chucked it across the room, eyes wide, wondering what was happening. Janus had dropped to the ground and done his very best to comfort the poor dear, saying that no, he wasn’t angry, he did that from a habit, it’s alright, it’s alright…

He still has the urge to buy another beanbag chair, even though the one they have right now fits the three of them perfectly, unable to get the worry of making the twins share for longer than absolutely necessary out of his head. Virgil and Remus had shrugged and said they’d be fine with having their own beanbag chairs, but they look too small all alone in the sea of fabric and small plastic balls. He’d shaken his head and said he prefers seeing them all together.

But mostly…

Mostly he misses the bright, bubbly laughter that would fill the house to bursting, drawing a smile to his lips at how unabashedly happy it was. The siren song would lure him from every corner of the house, even if he were knee-deep in work, just to see what made its owner so deliriously happy.

Mostly he misses the easy words, the sweet nothings, the effortless comfort. He’s a little too rough, too guarded, too intimidating to sound as gentle and kind and reassuring, he can’t be the softer kind of support that his sweeties need sometimes. That loss, the fumbling of his tongue, always makes those sobs sound so much louder.

Mostly he misses the shameless questions. How is he doing today, what can we do to help, you know we love you, right? Such selfless care, emanating from everywhere, unconditional support, that promise, he doesn’t know how anyone could do that. For someone for whom love still fit clumsily on his tongue, he was in danger of dying of thirst after years of feeling like he could drown in it.

Mostly he misses turning around and not seeing an empty space next to him.

Don’t start.

Not again.

You don’t deserve to miss something when you threw it away without caring.

This road only leads to silences, silences Remus tries to fill by being too big, too loud, too much, silences Virgil detests and hides away, waits out, curling around his security stuffie until feels it’s safe to come out again.

It won’t be.

It’s not their fault, they’re kids. They shouldn’t be trained to read every single emotional cue to make sure their worlds won’t be upended again, they shouldn’t have to try and take of their parent, they shouldn’t be worrying about what’s going on with a problem they can’t fix. It isn’t their fault that Janus never learned how to let himself be vulnerable. It isn’t their fault that he never learned how to bite back some of his harsher remarks. It isn’t their fault that Janus could never stop trying to defend himself from someone who would never hurt him, never wanting to listen.

Janus takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly.

It’s his fault. Of course, it’s his fault.

It’s his fault Remus still looks around for his twin in the mornings.

It’s his fault that the brothers will grow up divided.

It’s his fault that Dad lives separately from them now.

But damn, he misses Patton so much.

———————————————

Logan: So we’re in agreement, this happens this Friday.

emo-nightmare: no need for all the grammar there L

Princey: Yes! This Friday™! It will be glorious and victorious!

living nightmare: we all will shout uproarious?

emo-nightmare: cause life is so euphorious

Logan: That’s not a word, Virgil.

emo-nightmare: if you wanna write to disney and tell em theyre using made up words i can think of better places for u to start

Princey: no virge don’t he’ll actually do it

Logan: Putting that aside, we agree that we’re doing this this Friday, yes?

Princey: Yep. Dad thinks we’re gonna go to the park to hang out after school and he’s meeting us there.

emo-nightmare: papa’s got a photoshoot with that new brand and rem and i suggested the park at 530

living nightmare: I got the fake blood and mannequin heads

Princey: REMSU WHAT THE FUKC

emo-nightmare: wow how is L letting yo make that many typos

Princey: fuck off V

living nightmare: how is Dad letting you get away with swearing that much

Princey: I am disowning you

living nightmare: on what grounds?

Princey: on the grounds that your a douchebag and you swear every two words

emo-nightmare: *you’re are u proud of me L

Logan: Had you not used the ‘u’, I would be

emo-nightmare: smh when will I be enough

Princey: you don’t need to be enough for us to love u now NO MORE SAD TALK IT IS OPERATION GET OUR DADS TO PULL THEIR HEADS OUTTA THEIR ASSES TIME

Logan: Everything is a go?

Princey: Sure is!

emo-nightmare: Roger

living nightmare: so I shouldn’t bring the mannequin heads?

Logan: No.

Princey: NO

emo-nightmare: guess not

living nightmare: :(

———————————————

In the end, it’s surprisingly easy for their kids to do things without them noticing.

Patton doesn’t Roman sneaking a camera into his backpack on the way to school, or the way he nods at Logan as they spilt up upon reaching the gates. He’s too preoccupied with scanning the parking lot, seeing if maybe, just maybe, there’s another familiar car here that he shouldn’t be caught looking at.

He doesn’t notice the way Logan texts him to remind him that they’ll be meeting at the park, across the street from the library, at 5:30 pm sharp, next to the fountain, and says that Patton will be there, not him. He’s too busy remember the last time he was at that fountain.

Janus doesn’t notice the way Remus pouts one more time at Virgil as they get ready to go, sighing and rolling his eyes about how boring the others are getting. He’s too focused on how he still expects to see a different person in the passenger seat as he drops them off a block away from the school.

He doesn’t notice the way Virgil doesn’t ask him to remember that they’re meeting after school in the park so he can help with taking the photos, but tells him, in no uncertain terms, that Janus better be in the park by the fountain at 5:30. He’s…busy remembering why he agreed to have the photoshoot by the fountain in the first place.

“Wait, why don’t you want to do the partner photoshoot?”

Janus sighs, leaning back against the fountain. “Because it has me fake being a couple.”

Patton’s mouth opens and closes and Janus sighs. Patton looks at the ground.

“I don’t believe that kind of bond can be just an arrangement,” he says after a moment, “as if it were a…contract or something. For something that they want but not—not like that.”

The fountain burbles quietly. Janus tips his head back to look at the stars.

“And what do you want?”

Patton turns, straightening as the frustration in his voice drifts away. “What do I want?”

Janus nods.

“What a good question,” he murmurs, looking at him, “what I want…is for you to come closer.”

Janus blinks in shock, his brow furrows just the slightest bit. Patton smiles and beckons.

“Yes,” he encourages when he takes a tentative step, “come closer.”

He stands to his full height as he stops in front of him, still searching his face for a clue as to what is going on. He doesn’t hold his gaze, instead looking at him with such awe that the sweet thing flushes. His hands come up slowly, hovering above his shoulders before carefully, carefully taking hold of his arms.

“This,” he breathes, “is what I want,” he says as his fingers toy with the roughness of his jacket, “this is what I want, what I have always wanted.”

Oh.

Janus’s breath catches in his throat but Patton doesn’t stop.

“To have you here in my arms and to know—“ his gaze flashes up to catch Janus’s— “that you feel at home here.”

As his eyes go wide, Patton takes them a step away from the fountain. His gaze searches his face desperately.

“Tell me,” he asks, “do you still feel comfortable here? With me? Is it still home for you?”

It’s too much. The way his gaze threatens to tear his heart from his chest, his words pluck his walls apart, brick by brick, it’s too much. He can be the friend, he can’t—he can’t see Patton like this.

“Please…please…don't turn away from me—look at me.” A hand catches his chin, guiding him back. “Look in my eyes.”

I can’t, he wants to say, it’ll hurt when I have to look away.

“Are you scared?” His face falls. “By what? I won’t hurt you, I’d never hurt you, unless…”

He swallows, and something flickers behind his eyes.

“…you want to go?”

“It’s not that,” he manages, closing his eyes as he shakes his head, “I promise it’s not that.”

“If not, then what?”

“The others—I can’t—“

He doesn’t let him finish, swiftly cutting him off with a shake of his head. “No. No one can tell you that you can’t be here with me. I want you here, as long as you want to be here.”

I can stay? he asks with the furrow between his brows.

You can stay, he replies with the appearance of a smile.

“I know what I want, Janus.” Patton takes the smallest step closer. “Always have. And there was a time when…when you wanted that too.”

Janus chuckles. “You sound ridiculous.”

Patton laughs too. “Maybe. Maybe not. But I’m happy to be ridiculous if it lets me…”

He trails off and Janus frowns.

“…lets you what?”

“Be yours,” he murmurs as Janus’s heart pounds, “and to hear you be called mine.”

His face contorts as he traces the curve of his cheek again. He follows the trail of warmth, pushing into it with the hesitant desperation of a single trickle of water, halted by a dam in the river.

“You’re still here,” comes the quiet observation, “so clearly you're not afraid…are you?”

“…I don’t know anymore.”

“Then if you didn't trust me…” He swallows. “Then I’d ask you to—to go. Because I don’t want you to be here if you don’t want to be.”

The thought of leaving sends a spike through his ribs, punching a breath out of his lungs. He presses into his hand as much as he dares.

“…but if you do trust me,” he whispers, the fountain still humming behind them, “if you are truly not afraid of my touch as you've shown…close your eyes.”

“What?”

“Close them,” he repeats, “…please.”

He does as bid, all but thrumming in his hands. The hand on his cheek trembles for barely a moment, as if its owner is suddenly overcome by the realization that they’re here, before he feels a warmth next to his face and a puff of breath that isn’t his own.

“W-wait!”

The air freezes.

His eyes fly open as he struggles to process what just happened.

Patton. Patton. His Patton. He—he loves him. He invited him here tonight because he loves him. He wants to spend time with him because he loves him.

Gods above, he loves him.

He—gods, he just tried to kiss him because he loves him.

He just tried to kiss him.

And he—

—oh, gods, he told him to wait.

“Patton—“ he tries to find him but it’s too late.

The second he meets his eyes, he’s met with a tidal wave of anguish, slammed quickly behind iron doors that fail to banish the hurt from his expression. It breaks his heart.

“I understand,” he says lowly, going to move away, “I understand—“

“No—please, listen to me, I—“

“You don’t have to say anything,” he says smoothly, his hand already leaving his face, “I understand. That was an abuse of power, it was not my intention to—“

“I didn’t mean it like that, I don’t want you to think that I—“

“The last thing I want is to pressure you into something you don’t want.”

“You don’t know I don’t want it!”

“I do!” His gaze flares sharply with anger, with hurt, seas of pain buried behind smiles and guarded expressions. He takes a deep breath and tries to force it away. “You told me to wait. And, forgive me, but I won’t wait to have my heart be broken all over again.”

“I’m not trying to break your heart—“ he scrabbles frantically for him— “please, just listen—“

“You don’t need to explain yourself, you never have, I understand that you don’t want me like that.” He lets him grab onto him but does not stop turning away. “But if you could give me a moment to collect myself, I—“

“I don’t know how to kiss!”

He freezes. “…what?”

His cheeks burn with the weight of his embarrassment and his unshed tears. “I don’t know how to kiss,” he repeats at a much more reasonable volume. He twists his hands in front of him. “I…you…I’m sorry, fuck, I’m making a mess of this.”

He buries his head in his hands, willing the tears to stay behind his eyes. As he looks up, he knows he’s going to fail as he spots the red-rimmed eyes staring back at him.

“Don’t ever,” he starts, voice wobbling a little, “don’t you ever believe that I don’t love you.”

His breath leaves him in a rush.

“Of course I love you,” he continues, growing stronger when he lets out a whimper and reaches for him, “of course I love you.”

“Then why—“ he grasps his shoulders, tighter than before, “why did you ask me to wait?”

The fountain bubbles and burbles, the soft smell of their drinks mixing with the sweet smell of the water. It’s warm here, in each other’s arms. It feels like home.

“I’ve never kissed anyone,” he confesses softly, “not like…not like that. It scares me.”

Patton shifts, not enough to hurt, just enough to hold Janus closer.

“I don’t know how to speak it.” His eyes fall closed, breathing in the warm smell of safe. “I don’t know what to do with it. And I—“

Patton gives his sides a gentle squeeze.

“…I am terrified of what normally comes after.”

“You don’t have to be,” comes the immediate reassurance, “not here, not with me. I won’t force you to do anything you’re not ready for. I will never ask anything of you that you wouldn’t give. Not until you want to.”

“…and what if I never want to?”

Janus feels his soft smile as he rests his chin on top of his head. “Then we won’t.”

“No?”

“No.” His forehead comes to rest against Janus’s once more. “But kissing doesn’t have to lead to that. It can just be a kiss.”

“It can?”

“Of course.” There’s a pause. “As that is the case…”

His eyes open. Is he…

“…are you asking?”

Patton pulls back just far enough to look him in the eyes.

“May I teach you how to kiss, my love?”

Janus’s breath leaves him in a rush. “Yes.”

They would say that it took a lot of work. And it did; getting back to a place where they could trust each other again, to live together again, was a slow progression. Over a year, at least, but there they were, working together against the problem, not each other.

But really, really it…

Well, Janus turned around, expecting to see Virgil, and saw Patton instead, blinking in confusion.

Patton mumbled something about Roman and Logan saying he should be here, a small smile growing when Janus says that Virgil and Remus did the same.

“…our kids, huh?”

“Our kids.”

Patton cautiously broached the topic of whether he remembered the fountain. Janus had smiled and said that how could he forget?

“…anything else you remember?”

And, well, maybe there was something to be said about the movies that Roman loved so much and everyone else pretended they didn’t.

Because as Janus wraps his hand around Patton’s hoodie and pulls him in, they could swear they could hear cheering and whooping all around them.

In fairness to the kids, they had an excellent reason for why they shouldn’t be grounded for lying about their after-school plans.

General Taglist: @frxgprince @potereregina @reddstardust @gattonero17 @iamhereforthegayshit @thefingergunsgirl @awkwardandanxiousfander @creative-lampd-liberties @djpurple3 @winterswrandomness @sanders-sides-uncorrect-quotes @iminyourfandom @bullet-tothefeels @full-of-roman-angst-trash @ask-elsalvador @ramdomthingsfrommymind @demoniccheese83 @pattonsandershugs @el-does-photography @princeanxious @firefinch-ember @fandomssaremysoul @im-an-anxious-wreck @crazy-multifandomfangirl @punk-academian-witch @enby-ralsei @unicornssunflowersandstuff @wildhorsewolf @thetruthaboutthesun @stubbornness-and-spite @princedarkandstormv @your-local-fookin-deadmeme @angels-and-dreams @averykedavra @a-ghostlight-for-roman @treasurechestininterweb @cricketanne @aularei @queerly-fluid-fan @compactdiscdraws @cecil-but-gayer @i-am-overly-complicated @annytheseal @alias290 @tranquil-space-ninja @arxticandy @mychemically-imbalanced-romance @whyiask @crows-ace @emilythezeldafan @frida0043 @ieatspinalcords @snowyfires @cyanide-violence @oonagh2 @xxpanic-at-the-everywherexx @rabbitsartcorner @percy-07734 @triflingassailantofmyemotions

if you want to be added/taken off the taglist, let me know!

#sanders sides #fic #dragonbabbles #virgil sanders #patton sanders #janus sanders #deceit sanders #sympathetic deceit #remus sanders #sympathetic remus #roman sanders #creativitwins #logan sanders

67 notes · View notes

crowifey · 4 years ago

Text

hogwarts au where tiktok exists:

(THEY GET BETTER AS YOU GO ON I SWEAR)

draco *unintentionally* playing electric love everytime harry walks into a room

i don’t know why but i just know for a fact cho would be the QUEEN of room tours like i KNOW she’d do the whole “dorm room check !!”

luna would be the person on your fyp who does really random shit but her voice would be so aesthetically pleasing that everyone just follows her anyways

fred and george make the stupidest funny videos that make you shake with silent laughter at 2am.

or they’d be like those two red haired boys that always do the cursive accent and wear wigs for their skits. y’all know the ones i’m talking about... TUCKER AND SOMETHING RIGHT??

hermione would be pulling off them life tips videos but she’d make them 💫 i n 6 0 s e c o n d s o r l e s s 💫

ginny would be queen of the sustainable fashion community (like girl has got that whole sewing machine out everything !) but you’d also find her leading the self-defence side of tiktok

(for some reason i think draco would also be really popular because he be flexing his fancy suits all the damn time)

hermione would be the leader of book tok period

oliver woods entire page is just him making tiktoks about quidditch (this includes the: get you a guy who can do both ones... you know the ones i’m talking about)

draco would be doing dance tik toks but the transition ones so it doesn’t look like he’s trying but he’s actually really fukcing hot and suddenly all of his comments are like 💫rail me☺️

and he’d also crash everyone’s dance tik toks and absolutely eat them up! crabbe and goyle struggled with the renegade but it was okay because it made draco look even better😌

pansy would make like the cinematic aesthetic videos of her and her friends that would make you start crying because you wish you had her life

ron trying to teach dean, seamus, neville and harry the wap dance because fred & george said the girls think it’s really hot

the professors making vine energy videos in the teachers lounge

the professors also making the “hello i’m __(professors name)__ and i ship __(student A)__ with __(student B)__ and now i’ve made seating arrangements and they have to sit beside each other like for part 2 to see their faces!🙈”

harrys entire page is just him remaking vines no i do not take constructive criticism

cedric making the “what i would wear if i took you on a date” outfit videos

the students making different hype houses and the professors suddenly getting really confused because they are already in a specific house why do they want to be in another one😭

the students also creating and following little schemes like someone posts a video saying “everyone sit a different table for breakfast on tuesday” and then everyone in the comments is like “omg theodore!! dumbledores gonna kill us🙈” but then when everyone walks in and sits down at another table they can’t help being confused when they realize the professors are not in their assigned seating either ???

someone making a tiktok about the triwizard tournament tasks and all the comments are just like ... they tried to scream 😱 but their heads were 💫 u n d e r w a t e r 💫

draco doing “things in my evil slytherin family home that just make sense”

the students at hogwarts finding out about MUGGLE tiktok and getting really confused because why do muggle kids drink so much iced coffee and why does everyone eat avacado toast and WHAT THE FUCK IS THE BREAD MADE OF CLOUDS😭

someone made a dance to one of the weirdsisters songs and it definitely went viral (wizarding world renegade maybe ??)

i will be adding more because i think this is the funniest shit EVER please feel free to add/ think of more sksksk

159 notes · View notes

pianostarinwonderland · 4 years ago

Note

(i’m not a writer but,,,,)

Closing time-- the blue backlight from the aquarium illuminated the lounge, tidied up after another busy day. Everyone went back to their dorms and the last lingering servers checked out for the night. However, in the supposedly alone cafe, there remained two students. Documenting the revenue from last month, Azul swiftly moved the fishbone pen across the page. The final dot was marked and he stood up, putting the papers away and grabbing his coat.

Click-- the VIP room door was locked. Down the halls, the clicks of his shoes and the thumps of his heart melodiously accompanied him. At the lounge, he spots the Vice Prefect who placed the last cups away but Azul instinctively glanced to his left.

The lone instrument gleamed where it stood. Fond memories of a special someone played back and he stepped closer to run his hand at the edge of the lid.

“Azul,”

The said student reeled back as if the piano burned him. With a perfectly poised smile, Jade observed then continued, “It’s time to go.”

“Of course,” Azul pushed his glasses up, striding to the exit. Holding back the heavy sigh, he looked at the piano one last time before closing the door.

It’s been a while since you have visited,

And Azul can only hope that you will be back soon.

Okay, I did respond to this but Tumblr erased my progress so this is round 2.

.......... You YOU .

YOU FUKCING JFJSJSJSJDJ NEARLY GOT ME WITH THIS AND I HAD TO DISTRAC TMYSELT BY TALKJNG TO MY FRIENDS YOU YOUUUUUUU DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I KEPT READING THIS??? MAN .

Ok, if I may, can I add a (loose) continuation to this~? It’s kind of long, so I’ll place this under a cut.

Is it stupid to stand beside the restaurant doors and lean on the wall because I just cannot confront the manager of said restaurant?

I wonder to myself as I clutch my chest, a vain attempt to appease a racing heart. It’s kind of funny, really. I’ve been to the Mostro Lounge before, I’ve talked to Azul — heck, I developed a crush on him. And for Pete’s sake, I (unwillingly) became his assistant!

But well, I did a dumb and not only lovemailed Malleus Draconia for April Fools, but I also went and ditched my job just for that prank. I suppose that’s why I’m a ball of nerves right now.

Because what would Azul say the moment he sees me? He’d be mad that I ditched, I bet. And that would not be pretty.

Okay okay, I cut off my own train of thought, I’ve thought of all the reasons why I feel nervous 100 times already. I just gotta enter that Lounge before anything gets worse and the Leech twins end up hunting for my ass.

I take a breath, then let out a big exhale.

I move from my spot, heading towards the closed doors of the Mostro Lounge and opening them.

The place is empty, save for a few waiters cleaning glasses and tables to prepare for the opening. Once more, I freeze on one spot, biting my lip in nervousness. Despite the familiarity of the place, I feel like a foreigner who stepped in a new country, a lost soul who wandered to uncharted territory. If I make one mistake, everyone would see me and say oh is that the assistant who ditched and pretended to love Malleus Draconia?

Yeah no okay, I shake my head to myself, this was a mistake, nope nope, I cannot see Azul now.

And yet, I can’t bear to leave. It took so much painstaking effort to put on these clothes and walk all the way here with a heart heavy with guilt. I might as well try.

Immediately, my eyes find a familiar lone instrument nearby. Somehow, the sight of the piano brings a slight sense of ease, and seeing the closed lid and the seat pushed in makes me even happier. The restaurant isn’t open yet, perhaps...

... Yeah, you know what, I mentally shrug to myself, at least if people see me, I’m just playing piano and they’ll be distracted by that. Anyway, I kinda miss playing it...

I approach the vacant piano, a small smile of childlike excitement forming on my face. I quickly pull out the chair underneath and take a seat, then lift the cover of the keyboard, meeting a long red fabric that I remove to expose the familiar black and white keys underneath. Adjusting the seat to how I like it, I soon daintily place my hands on the keys, fingers not quite in a set position yet, on standby as they wait for what piece my mind decides to play.

I stare at the keyboard, as if it can help me decide on that answer. As seconds pass, however, nothing comes up, and I sigh, retracting my hands back to myself. I don’t move then, remaining in my seat for some time, not quite ready to stand up and move, not without playing one piece.

Hm, come to think of it, my mind starts to wander off, this happened to me the first time I played here.

The same thought causes me to blink in surprise. Wait... that was also the first time I first met Azul...

At that moment, my piece is decided.

My hands return to the keyboard, but this time, placed into the first notes of the piece. I take in a deep breath, then exhale out any tension in my body.

No turning back, no memories, just play, I tell myself before pressing the first notes.

1... 2...

A smooth shift to the next notes.

3... 4...

A few more notes flow out of the piano, in the same slow rhythm.

A pause.

I take one more breath.

Fingers shift to their positions.

And in a faster rhythm, the main melody starts.

I start to lose myself within the music, letting its calm melody take me away from my unease. I let myself feel light, floating like the white cloud that cares not of any worldly problems. Perhaps a few mistakes are played, but it’s fine. I’m not playing for the crowd, after all.

The first half of the piece concludes when footsteps echo in the lounge, seemingly approaching me. I recognize them: the sharp tap of each step, a pace that seems to command authority. It soon reaches a halt, and in the corner of my eye is a flash of light blue and black.

Slowly beginning the second half, I allow myself a glance at the newcomer. My heart, which had slowed into a calm rhythm, picks up pace once more, as I lock eyes with Azul, who leans on the side of the piano. A smile sits on his face, as if almost relieved.

Relieved to see me perhaps? My dumb heart wishes to hope, but I quickly shut the thought down.

“Why did you stop,” he asks me. “I thought you were going to play until the end.”

“O-oh,” I look back at the keyboard, embarrassment weighing in my gut. “Sorry.”

Once more, I take a deep breath, releasing any tension in my body. I’m watched now, I know I’m going to make more mistakes.

But you know what, I’m playing for myself.

So I pick up the melody once more, losing myself to its magic once more until the end.

#ask #azul ashengrotto #piano leaves abstinence

17 notes · View notes

ladybugkisses · 4 years ago

Note

I love her so much!!I wanna know about all her relationships!! She seems very well fleshed out

AAA THANK YOUUU ! !! 💕💞💕

let me try and talk about Those now then (gonna keep stuff a bit brief so this doesn't turn into a very long post + because we don't actually know all that much about the characters yet (i might still throw in some headcanon based stuff though lmao))

Alastor

they met in 1927, he was a regular at the diner she worked at

yes she listened to his show on the radio but in the previous >post< i mentioned how she sucks at processing audio/audio recognition so she didn’t recognize him at all lmao eVERY BASTARD ON THE RADIO SOUNDS THE SAME

they started bonding over the fact they were both Single And Not Interested In Mingling, Love Is For Fools

fastforward almost a year they start thinking “well shit if i wanna spend the rest of my life with someone it’s with you” and start dating, oops

fastforward a few years and a little funny fun fact is my sona reveals to be a messed up bithc before he gets the chance to do it first

“hey alastor uhhh you wouldn’t happen to know how to hide a body, would ya” (would like to add this is the first and only murder she commits and it was a case of self-defense turned into going overboard with it)

couples that kill together stick together :^)

fastforward more years. he dies. she dies nearly a year later. a few months after being in hell they reunite and she breaks things off with him LMAO now we can start a nearly-a-century-long case of Will They Won’t They

also known as what i want to think niffty would later name it The Cycle Of Stupidity where we’re good friends > uh oh we end up getting too close > awkward > keeping our distance now > nevermind we’re good friends again > uh oH W

the amount of slip-ups these two have that they end up sweeping under a rug infuriates me and i’m the one writing this, hi

things get a bit more complicated when my sona starts to work for neøn in the 2000s though because they’re said to not treat their employees well and it makes alastor’s overprotective nonsense shoot through the damn roof and i don’t much appreciate that. sir i can take care of myself

most of the years before that were dealt with a lot of stubborn pride, bad timing and fears. now they just think they wouldn’t work anymore while still insisting to have each other in their afterlives somehow, even if the amount of time they go without seeing each other seems to be getting longer

anyway fastforward to the present AKA the pilot- they 100% believe they’re over each other. spoilers: they’re fukcing NOT and good god are they emotionally constipated/stupid about it

there’s so much left to say but i want to show it in art form rather than here so hey i hope y’all got the very extremely basic idea of the timeline for now gdskgsks

Rosie

of course alastor would introduce my sona to rosie. OF COURSE

should probably mention this is going off the assumption that alastor would know rosie pretty early in his death (if this ends up being wrong i’ll rewrite it a bit, it’s fine lmao)

anyway, he didn’t like the shitty job my sona had and thought rosie could offer her something. BOOM new gardener if rosie doesn’t end up having a big garden and a manor i’m sueing, c’mon. look at her. look at her name

my sona was kinda scared of her at first ngl, but got over it pretty quick. like. in the span of an hour

i’d like to think that, while mostly work related at first, our relationship becomes an actual friendship

she’s actually probably a bit motherly towards me. and i believe in rosie being taller than alastor supremacy so that’d make me TINY to her and she ends up petnaming me “rosebud” and “little dove” (y’all remember when i said alastor and i have a bunch of slip-ups? that last petname is related to one of them lmao)

she sure knows how to keep a secret!

doesn’t much appreciate how often alastor seems to visit her just so he can see me, but she also can’t help but find it kinda endearing i guess? ??

we stay in touch even after i stop working for her. it’s all good! but boy is my sona glad to be out of the cannibal colony more often gdsGDSKN

Niffty

going off the assumption niffty knew alastor early in her death, we meet sometime in the 50s

alastor introduces us by getting her to help me clean my apartment after staying way too long in a depressive state. which i don’t appreciate like No i don’t care that it’s somehow part of the deal she made with you. ALSO I DON’T NEED A NEW BABYSITTER-

she’s at least enthuasiastic about it i guess?? he also has her check on me for a while. and she insists on coming because thinking about the mess will drive her crazier

also she’s so nosy about me and alastor gsdkngs she’s invested

all that made us develop a very genuine friendship tho!! ! dare i say she’s one of my best friends!

she was also the one to introduce me to more modern stuff (50s stuff at least) and the reason my sona likes 50s fashion a lot in the first place lmao- it’s the start of my sona’s path to keeping up with the times i suppose

it’s also thanks to her that my sona finds a new job- it’s in retail but oh well we’re already in hell

i’ve listened to hairspray’s “welcome to the 60s” and twisted it enough in my brain for it to be about niffty showing my sona around the 50s themed side of hell after she’s been cooped up in her apartment for too long one too many times

i was very excited to find out i’d be working alongside her and husk at the hotel! but-

-more on that in (Part 2)

#because this turned out much longer than i thought it would oops good thing i got another ask about this haha sEE YA THERE #asks #anonymous #hc tag #no pictures this time oR ELSE

9 notes · View notes

xbubbledumbbx · 4 years ago

Text

Wanna talk about Chris Thorndyke? Let’s mother fff*cking y’all about Chris Thorndyke

You opened this can of worms now dRINK IT

You see this boy? This itty bitty boy who’s face looks like a comfortable place for my fist?

Chris is a character from the “Anime” SonicX and I hAte his fukcing guts. Now you might be reading this and going, bubble what the fuck? You hate this itty bitty foot scrub? But he looks like a rat, I love rats!? Why do you draw yourself with his hairstyle if you hate him so much??? (First of all stfu!! I can’t believe I hurt my own feelings, damn)

LiSten

Not only does that boy have not one, not tHREE but five adult figures in his life that love and care for him! Now if that isn’t the biggest bULLSHIT YOU EVER SEEN

HIS PARENTS AINT EVEN DIVORCED, LOOK AT HIM AND HIS PARENTS

And on top of the parents he has a butler who teaches him martial arts, a cool tech wiz grandfather, a famous uncle and a maid!

My guy has he audacity to feel lonely when he always has company around who loves him, meanwhile I got left alone in a room for hours with only a couch and PBSKids for entertainment but oh sure, you don’t have enough friends, you’re lonely.

That’s mad disrespectful to your friends Frances, Danny and Helen :/

My second reason is that Chris really has no personal problems, no outstanding character arks and nothing interesting going on. He’s got the emotional depth of flour.

Chris is rich so they could’ve had something revolving him being a pretentious snob or him being entitled but they don’t. I’m a sucker for the “asshole turned into nicer asshole” trope but they didn’t even do that.

The most development he gets is how he overcame his creepy possessiveness over Sonic in the Episode 50 ark.

In this episode, the Earth fucked around and merged two dimensions which was terrible for its sense of time. Now all Mobians have to return to their dimension or they gonna fuck around and stop time forever.

Instead of letting Sonic leave and saving their worlds, Chris takes Sonics hand and books it, he said “fuck y’all and the linear flow time”

Chris has a habit of being selfish and only caring for his own wants and needs; which would be a good ark for him but not in the middle of a global crisis.

Chris is so bland he diDNT EVEN PASS THE SEXY LAMP TEST!

It’s funny to me that they stole a bunch of deep, emotional and impactful moments from good characters and gave them to Chris. They really just sprinkled him into scenes he had no business being in.

My favorite example of this is the scene with Amy and Shadow on the ARK

In the game Amy talks to Shadow, asking for his help and telling him that there is still good in this world even if people are bad sometimes. Her words help him remember the forgotten promise he made to his best friend, you know the story and it’s sweet.

In the show Shadow just beats the shit out of Chris for 3 minutes cause he can’t keep his hands to himself for five seconds (did I mention how creepy Chris can be?)

The only reason Shadow begins to reflect on his past actions is because he took one look at Chris, bruises and beaten and it triggered his traumatic memories to come back. I’m not even joking look at this shit.

As someone who suffers from PTSD, I hate this, I hate Chris. Look at this!!

You broke him even further is what you did. Look at him now he has anxiety, good job!

It wasn’t even necessary to touch Shadow to get your point across. You can even hear the panic in Shadows voice when Chris lays his hands on him (which is a symptom of PTSD)

So not only was he an unnecessary insert Chris into this plot line but he was wORST AT IT. THE BLUEPRINTS WERE THERE HOW DID YOU MESS IT UP?!

My third point is very neatly summed up in comment by redditor /sunstart2y

Chris is a fucking useless addition, an annoying fly on the wall at best and a probably a self insert from one of the writers shitty middle school Fanfiction.

Helen should’ve been the main protagonists, you can’t change my mind

#long post #rant #ramble #text post #swearing tw #bubble rambles #I know I said I’d do this in a couple days but I was too pressed #you get it now #I hate Chris #hate

14 notes · View notes

themanicgalaxy · 3 years ago

Text

SPN 6X4 Weekend at Bobby's

heh that's a funny reference

ooo Crowley!!

o a summoning ritual

sWaN diVE

ten from Romanian judge heh

bobby’s british accent isn’t BAD!

“been drinking it since grade school” ahahah

look the “souls as currency” and then crowley coming right back, that’s not bad

JEEZ THAT CONTRACT

that’s also kinda cool, the contract

his FUCKING DOG

“happy hunting” OOOO

oh he’s a FUN ASS villain

also Bobby has like…barely been there, he was there with Lisa and Ben

“you’ve fallen and can’t get up” “hilarious”

oo he’s doing research

BOBBY YOU BROKE INTO A LIBRARY

bALLS

oh the song is FUN I don’t know it but it’s FUN

mans is chugging coffee

he’s exhausted :(

LMAO THE DEMON IN THE BASEMENT

sexy demon trope there we go

ooo “it’s a myth” “uh huh”

damn he doesn’t give a SHIT I LOVE HIM

KING OF H E L L ?

nosy neighbor huh

“it’s a horror movie” lmaooo

“have you seen drag me to hell” “I’m trying to avoid it” AHAHAHAHA

I get weird vibes from her

boy the fire thing is effective

WE CALL HIM LUCKY THE LEPRECHAUN BEHIND HIS BACK

“It’s scottish” ahahaha

damn Bobby that was dark

ooo the phonesss

“the REAL FBI” “how are you still alive” AHAHA

“you gotta help me bury a body” LMAOOO

“sits on his ass” hmmm

monsters are just coming from everywhere huh?

why the fuck does Rufus know Craig

“what am I a heathen? I know what Craig is” AHAHAH

“I didn’t ask for your help” “I didn’t ask for your permission” AW

“It didn’t pan out” PAN TO THE PRIEST

SAM IN THE BACKGROUND

THE COVER UP WITH HIS MOM

JODY COVERS! OR TRIES TO!

IT WORKED!

“I got a body in the basement and one buried in the yard” AHAHAHA

B a L L S

fun they found the grave

HE STABBED IT THE WRONG AMOUNT OF TIMES

“single white females” whoop

Bobby there had to have been a better option than that

ope there she is

well that’s…also a good way to kill something

who needs bamboo knives am i right

aw there went the lady :(

“woodchopper” “yeah..that works”

a SON?

AHAHAHA HE CAN’T ASK FOR HELP

man the cobbler

she really just wanted to date him

Dean it can’t always be about you man

RUFUS AHAHA

“I GOT GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS”

Bobby singer and the terrible horrible no good GETTING HIS FUCKING SOUL BACK

DEAN COME ON FOR FUCK’S SAKE

D E A N YOU ASSHOLE

“sometimes you two are the whiniest, self absorbed sons of bitches” AHAHAHAHA

“yes, I am aware you’re fucked HOWEVER”

honestly, this is REFRESHING GOOD TELL THEM

yes it feels like the writers yelling at the characters but it feels deserved

“…you’re not joking” AHAHA

ooo he’s gotta ask for help

this isn’t a bad character study for him? I feel?

JODY’S FUCKING FACE SHE’S SO ANGRY AT HERSELF FOR DOING THIS

I LOVE JODY

ooo yay ghost summoning

heyyy it worked

he’s not happy to be king of hell huh

“It’s been hell” pfft

AHAHAH “DO i look like dr phil to you”

ah yes the making fun of each other’s accents

of course he doesn’t care

oh insider trading

lovely they don’t get along

DAMN BOBBY

smart guy

F ER G U S

HE SOLD HIS SOUL FOR PENIS ENLARGEMENT

BOBBY SENT DEAN AND SAM TO SCOTLAND

KILTTT

OO THE BURNING BONES THING WAS A TRIAL RUN

Ghosts with an Ego

…was DEAN FLIRTING

BOBBY GOT HIM

ahaHAAHAA HE’S ANGRY ABOUT IT

ah Dean did not take the flight well lmaooo

good yes acknowledge he was right :)

BOBBY YOU FELT AN EMOTION I’M SO PROUD OF YOU

DEAN NOT THE OLIVE GARDEN

MANS JUST WANTED HIS COBBLER

Listen I really liked how this was one arc that was done for an episode. Like I know this means they kinda ruined their premise but Bobby on the hunt for Crowley, the GOOD chekov’s gun, the smarts, the little bits we’ve seen of the formula before(him researching, the lamia hunt in the background, solid way to set up the rest of the season), and actual change to the status quo(it probably won’t last but it was good). Like really pull back the curtain type thing. Also, the whole not dating thing pretty clearly as far as hunter life. Back to Hunter Life Sucks but has to be done, and like…I appreciated that

It was REALLY NICE how Bobby’s arc was just learn to ask for help and put boundaries, because he got taken for granted but also let it happen. Does he use it as punishment? is he just that good a person? either way I just… really liked that. And when he tried to roll back to the status quo, they said he was right. That was FUN!! a good cohesive mini-arc!! Y E S !

Dean and Sam had the negative traits here, and I saw that thing being said that Dean treats Bobby as emotional support, which is RIGHT!! and then he’s his own man! like it turned a side character into his own character, and we got to see our main character through other people’s eyes

That whole thing of Bobby being so OP because he knew all the lore, he summoned ghosts, demons, he handled it all, found that old lore to deal with Demons, like. holy fuck, good use of lore. Also I liked the contract being written on people’s skin. And the improvisation was insane!

Crowley’s a bitchy disney villain who snarks when he’s in trouble. He’s a fucking icon. I love him.

JODY!! I FUKCING LOVE HER AND RUFUS!!!!

#pawswatchesspn #6X4 Weekend at Bobby's #probably due to Formula Breaks #I really liked this one.#And I liked Bobby’s arc #how people were supporting him after it was clear how much he supported them #this one was GREAT :D

3 notes · View notes

bangtan-sonyeonddaeng · 5 years ago

Text

Yoongi Scenario| Crossing paths without meeting, all of it destiny

Summary: On a lonely night you decide to text a random number on a whim in hopes of making a new friend. You fully weren’t expecting anyone to respond, so imagine your surprise when you received a response back and soon realized maybe fate was on your side for once.

This is fluff fluff and more fluff. <3

You sigh heavily as you stare at your wall. You’re tightly clutching your pillow and hugging it to your chest as you lay in bed as you have been all day. You feel a weight on your chest, a sadness and pretty soon a few tears start to stream down your face and onto your pillow. You hastily wipe them away willing for the tears to stop. For the entire day the only emotions you have been feeling are loneliness and sadness. You are craving a connection with somebody, anybody. It is that very thought that wills you to take out your phone, and text a random number in search of a friend when you need one the most.

You: I’m depressed and lonely plz respond.

It’s a random message, you try to lighten your own mood with humor in hopes that maybe someone will give you a funny answer back. You don’t know why you picked this random number, it just seemed to pop into your head. You save the contact name as random stranger. You give it 5 minutes before you give up and throw your phone on the bed sighing heavily.

“I knew this was a stupid idea.” You say to yourself. You shut your eyes tightly in hopes that you'll fall asleep. You are just about to drift off when your phone chimes with a new message.

Random Stranger: Who the hell is this? Are you aware that it is 3:00 in the fucking morning. I swear to god if this is Taehyung playing some stupid joke I will end you.

Out of all the people you could have messaged, it had to be this one. Your stranger seemed awfully grumpy in his message. But then again you'd be mad too if you were woken up at 3am. You hadn't realized the time when you sent out that message and immediately felt bad.

You: What’s a Taehyung?

Grumpy Stranger: Cut it out you asshole I’m trying to sleep. I know where you live and I will cut you.

You: Oh I highly doubt you know where I live since I just texted a random number. Looks like you were the lucky winner.

Grumpy Stranger: ...

Wait you’re serious? So you actually just texted a random number that you were lonely?

You: Yeah pretty much.. Pretty pathetic huh? I don’t have any friends who actually want to talk to me so I went seeking a random stranger to talk to. Sorry I woke you. Go back to sleep and just forget this ever happened.

Grumpy Stranger: No, wait.

I’m sorry.

I shouldn’t have snapped at you I just genuinely thought you were my friend trying to mess with me. Uh, I’m not exactly sociable but.. if it helps you feel better I’ll stick around.

You: No really it’s fine. I’ll be okay just had a moment of weakness.

Goodnight

Slightly less grumpy stranger: I’m not tired anymore you might as well just stay awake and talk to me. It’s the least you can do for waking me from my peaceful slumber.

You: ... Okay.

Slightly less grumpy stranger: Okay then. How about if you start of by telling me your name?

You: It’s y/n.

Slightly less grumpy stranger: Where are you from?

You: Okay I know I said I was lonely but I’m not trying to get murdered.

You could be some mass murderer for all I know I am not telling you where I live.

Slightly less grumpy stranger: Fair enough.

My name is Yoongi by the way.

You: Aw and I was happy with my contact name I had for you now I have to change it.

Yoongi: What did you have it as?

You: Well

I changed it throughout the course of this conversation.

First you were random stranger, then you were grumpy stranger, then you graduated to slightly less grumpy stranger. But now you’re just Yoongi. Boring.

Yoongi: Maybe you can think of something more clever the more we get to know each other.

I had some contact names for you too.

You giggle at that, wondering what he could possibly have set your contact name as.

Yoongi: First you were ‘little shit Taehyung’

You read that and immediately burst into laughter.

Yoongi: Then you were weirdo, then lonely weirdo. And now you're just weirdo y/n.

You: Alright well fine then I am saving you as grumpy yoongi in my phone then if you're going to insult me and call me weirdo. You brought this upon yourself.

Grumpy Yoongi: I’m not that grumpy you brat.

You: Don’t call me brat I could be older than you. Or wait maybe you're an old man. Oof what did I get myself into.

Grumpy Old man: I’m not an old man! I’m in my 20′s. Not gonna tell you my exact age since you could also be some crazy murderer. 😜

You: Did you really just use an emoji with me Yoongi? Look at how our friendship is progressing! Also I’m not a crazy murder. Promise.

Grumpy Yoongi: That’s probably exactly what you say before you lure in your victims.

You laugh again and instantly find that you are comfortable with this Yoongi. You guys didn’t get off on the best foot at the start, but having seen this new side of him you are actually growing quite fond of this stranger.

Grumpy Yoongi: You laughed didn’t you?

You: Yeah I did.

You’ve actually made me laugh on quite a few occasions. You're funny.

Grumpy Yoongi: I’m going to have to screen shot that and show my friends. They think I’m some boring old man but now I can show them some kind stranger called me funny. HA take that Taehyung.

You: This Taehyung sounds like quite a character.

Grumpy Yoongi: He is. He’s hilarious. Even though he’s a pain in my ass I actually am quite fond of him and couldn’t ask for a better friend.

You: I’m glad you have people like that in your life, Yoongi. You should cherish him dearly.

Grumpy Yoongi: You okay? I mean I know we don’t hardly know each other but.. You said you were depressed I just want to make sure you don't need me to call anyone for you..

You: Oh, no I am alright. Even if I wasn't though there’s no one to call.

You sigh heavily and start to feel that familiar sadness creeping up again. However no sooner than the feeling came did it disappear.

Grumpy Yoongi: Well you have me now.

You: Waht thjhe fukc

is taht you?!

Yoongi: Yes?

You: HOW THE FUCK DO YOU LOOK SO GOOD AT 3AM I LOOK LIKE FREAKING GOLLUM.

THE WORLD IS NOT FAIR.

WHO DID YOU SACRIFICE TO BE BLESSED WITH A FACE LIKE THAT?

Handsome Yoongi: What’s a Gollum?

You: Who is... Who is Gollum?!

What the hell have you never seen The Lord of the Rings? Or The Hobbit??

Handsome Yoongi: No?

You: I take it back.

We can’t be friends.

By the way this is Gollum I hope it fuels your nightmares.

Handsome Yoongi: What the fuck?!

That thing is terrifying as shit what the hell kind of movies are you watching ffs.

Get that thing off my screen.

You: skljdf;wje

]slkjf;ewijrjwbr;jqr

kjsenr;wehr;iq

weoirj;wijrq

Is it gone now?

Handsome Yoongi: lol yes thank you.

You’re cute. I’m sure if your looks match your personality you’re adorable.

There is no way you look like that creepy.. whatever the hell that is.

You: Shit now I’m blushing

You smooth talker look at you go trying to win my heart over and stuff.

Handsome Yoongi: Is it working?

You: ... Maybe a little.

Handsome Yoongi: Good :)

Are you feeling better?

You: After seeing that beautiful face of yours I feel like I can conquer the whole world.

Handsome Yoongi: Lol and you said I was a sweet talker? Listen to you.

Seriously though are you feeling less lonely now?

You: If I say yes are you going to leave?

Handsome Yoongi: Of course not.

You’ve seen my bare faced selfie at 3am you know too much

so guess you’re stuck with me.

Sorry those are the rules.

You: I ain’t even mad about it.

But I to answer your question yes, I am feeling much better. When I messaged you this was not what I was expecting to be honest..

Handsome Yoongi: What were you expecting?

You: To be ignored.. like always.

You see the 3 dots appear on your phone as Yoongi seems to be typing a lot. You wait a few minutes before his message finally comes through.

Handsome Yoongi: Listen, I don’t know what kind of assholes you had in your life but they didn’t value you at all. In just the short conversation we’ve had I can already tell anyone would be lucky to have you in their lives. You’re funny, you’re caring and kind, and witty. Honestly you’re one of the most down to earth people I have talked to. If people can't realize that then fuck them. They don’t deserve you.

You reread the message at least 3 more times, letting his words really sink in before you text him back. You’re in the middle of typing when he sends you another message.

Kind Yoongi: You alright?

Did I say too much?

Shoot I probably came on too strong and scared you away.

Or maybe you’re just asleep.

In that case I should stop texting you or you might wake up shit I’m sorry I’ll shut up now.

You: I’m here. Just typing back something long give me a sec.

Kind Yoongi: Okay.

You: Yoongi you have no idea how much that means to me. To hear you say that, it’s exactly what I needed to hear right now. I think fate was kind to me today in making sure you were the one I texted. I can’t even begin to describe how happy you’ve made me in just the short amount of time we’ve been talking. You’ve made me laugh so much that my cheeks hurt from smiling and I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to thank you.

Kind Yoongi: Just keep talking to me and that’s all I need from you.

Honestly I’ve been in kind of a rut lately too.

But talking to you really helped me feel better.

Even though our paths may never cross, I just want you to know this is enough for me. You’re enough.

You: I swear to god if you make me cry one more time Yoongi..

Kind Yoongi: D: Sorry!

Anyway it’s late!

Get some sleep okay? I’ll be here in the morning just text me when you wake up.

You: Promise?

Yoongi:

Promise.

You: Whut lol did you change your shirt or something just to send me a selfie?

Kind Yoongi: I was in a robe before. I just finally got my ass out of bed to change into my pajamas.

You: #mood

Kind Yoongi: Alright no more texting get some rest!

You: I will.

Um. Yoongi?

Kind Yoongi: Yeah, beautiful?

You: Thank you..

Kind Yoongi: You don’t need to thank me. Sweet dreams, angel <3 I’ll talk to you in the morning.

#BTS reaction #BTS reactions #BTS scenario #BTS scenarios #BTS imagine #BTS imagines #bts #min yoongi #suga #yoongi x reader #reader x yoongi #suga x reader #reader x suga #yoongi reaction #yoongi scenario #yoongi imagine #suga reaction #suga scenario #suga imagine

227 notes · View notes

andrewjhozier · 5 years ago

Text

hello i’m home and fukcing buzzing one cos i’m stoned and two because holy shit. holy shiitttt was I close. I almost felt uncomfortable in a weird way!!! omg I just can’t believe how close I was to the stage, literally three feet away. I could have touched his fucking feet if I wanted to. I’m not bragging I swear I just can’t fuckingdmfdnxc belive.

like I said earlier, during angie mcmahon’s set, I saw him bopping along on the side of the stage for the first like three or four songs. it was very sweet. she was super funny and also fucking adorable, she had on the cutest overalls sdjsfjdsjfd. she was insanely endearing. highly recommend seeing her if you get the chance to.

also, they would NOT let us record anything. pics were fine, but anytime I would hold my phone up to take a picture, I was so uncomfortable, so I didn’t really take many. they were super strict in our area, probably because we were in the pit. I’m sure people were able to get some video though.

okay just to get it out of the way, hozier and I made eye contact several different times. also with alex and jess - who dabbed when he introduced her and when I laughed she smiled at me. love this band and their interactions, always.

I genuinely can’t remember a lot, I was like completely in shock the whole time, my fiance took pics of me watching him and you can see it in some of the photos lmao. I was genuinely out of breath the whole time and nervous and sweating. Anyway, here’s what I can remember:

As It Was is a beautiful, chilling opener. I legit had chills throughout. I’m sad Would That I has been taken out though :/ I did miss hearing it. Anyway for the most part other than that, the new songs and the cover, the setlist is pretty much the same as the previous shows this year (nothing wrong with that! just saying). He dedicated NCP to Mavis :’). He also did the thing where he asks us to woooOOOOOO during the beginning of To Be Alone and we sucked of course and he’s like ‘are you okay’ several of us said no lmaoo. And of course he does that introduction about the meaning behind No Plan and he was talking about Katie Mack’s book and how at this moment we’re in the ‘spring period’ or wahtever I’m not smart enough to understand everything he said (or remember), and then he said, ‘but soon we’ll be in an endless winter’ and I said ‘winter is coming’ because I couldn’t keep my mouth shut, but at least people around me laughed lmao. anyway he also mentioned “heat death” and this guy yelled “yeah atrophyyy” I loved it.

alex is hot.

The new songs are so good. I don’t remember what the first song is called (I know it’s been mentioned on here, but shows you how much I know lmaoo), but it was really good. I think someone mentioned it’s very Take Me to Church -y. Definitely agree with that. Jack Boot Jump is like....fucking crazy, I genuinely think it’s one of his best songs, musically, yet. Couldn’t understand a goddamn word he sang lmaoo but it was awesome and fucking Rory is insane. I’m pretty sure my fiance has a crush on him lol. he’s his favorite.

He didn’t jump down for Take Me to Church, but that’s cool. if he did, I probably would have passed out, I’m not kidding. I was like really nervous the whole time that he would basically jump on my head because he could have lmao obviously he wouldn’t but he would have been on top of me basically and I would not have made it.

omg this is long i’m sorry. Anyway after TMTC after he bowed he looked me straight in the eye and mouthed “thank you” and I curtsied 🤦‍♀️ Cherry Wine with the full band is so good. And Work Song of course is fucking *chef’s kiss*

And again at the end, after they bowed, he looked at me and mouthed ‘thank you’ AND THEN he came UP TO ME and leaned down and fukcing shook my hAND like we just left a fucking business meeting sjfdjskf and said “good to see you thank you for coming” and his hand was soft and he’s so soft, but also good to see you? am I crazy or does he remember me from last time djfksdljfl? probably not, but I can dream right lol.

I love him and his soft hands and his obscenely tall body.

#hozier #pics probably will be posted tomorrow #It's late af!!#most likely won't post another review unless sometjhing ~crazy~ happens #love you bye #also I think I'm bringing a bi pride flag tomorrow!

104 notes · View notes

skyhon · 6 years ago

Text

I always find it so fukcing funny when ppl can't read lyrics and the deeper meaning behind them and take certain words at face value instead of using their god damn brains. Like, if you listen to “Desert” by Brand New and completely missed the point that it was written in a conservative’s perspective, while openly mocking that perspective in subtle word choices and showcasing the far right’s internal and external disallusion by showing how contrived and harmful and violent it inheritly is — like use y’alls brains. I feel like more than half the ppl crying “Cherry is an Incel!!!” and showing us All Men Are Pigs lyrics are doing it on purpose. You can’t be that stupid. You can’t be that fucking dumb. “the voice of cherry is a man” okay? Well her writers are woman. You just want something to be outraged about, huh? Go be outraged about actual incels for once jfc

#cherry #studio killers

24 notes · View notes

0ldsold1ers · 6 years ago

Text

can’t wait to go home with you

Reaper76 week, TUES: keep yourself alive/ Omnic Crisis

AO3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17850008

Reinhardt is stiller than Gabe’s ever seen him. There’s blood dripping from his collarbone, seeping through a bandage which is just hours old but he sits still and quiet, letting the healers take care of him.

They’ve taken cover in an evacuated set of flats. This portion of the city had been emptied a couple of days ago after the first attacks, so now they’re waiting for an emergency evacuation of their own - the closest aid had been forty minutes away. Things had gone wrong, really wrong this time around. It was meant to be a simple strike mission, destroy a bunch of the Bastion units which had been terrorising central Berlin from an abandoned hospital, and get out fast before they could summon other units. The intel had come straight from the Crusaders and the mission was top secret. Only Gabriel, Ana and Reinhardt had known any details.

Or it was supposed to be top secret, anyway.

Somehow the Omnics had known, they’d been prepared. The hospital had been swarming with them. And they were lucky so many of them had gotten out alive - his retinas are still burning red from the blood and his coat is stiff and stained dark. His shoulder is aching where a bullet wound has already been patched up. He doesn’t even want to think about how he must smell. He couldn’t think, even if he tried.

Because Jack hadn’t made it out with them.

He doesn’t know where he went or what happened - one minute they’d been fighting back to back, the next he’d vanished, running to a scream for help from across the corridor. Gabriel had tried to follow before Reinhardt had grabbed him and pulled him behind his shield - just in time, as a spray of bullets had almost reduced his face to mincemeat.

In the chaos, Gabriel hadn’t had the chance to look for Jack - he hates himself for it now, is plotting out a million different things he could have done to save everyone - but as commander, he had to get as many out alive as he could. There hadn’t been any chance to scout the area as they beat an immediate retreat, carving their way out through the mass of enemies. Staying would have meant death.

He tries not to think about what that means for Jack’s chances.

“He could still be alive, Gabriel.” Reinhardt says quietly, and just the fact that the German is so quiet tells Gabriel how weird and fucked up and unlikely the situation is. He nods once but doesn’t reply. He doesn’t trust himself to speak right now and keeps pacing.

The door crashes open once more, and Gabriel turns for the millionth time, hating himself for being disappointed when he sees black hair, not blonde.

Ana looks at him, angry and grieving and a million other things but still determined. “Choppers are five minutes out, Gabriel. We have to get ready to go.”

Gabriel feels his heart break a little. This can’t be the way they end. They’ve been through so much already, it’s not fair. There’s so much Gabriel never got the chance to say, so many unsaid words, unseen films, unspent moments they’ll never get to see now.

“Get the troops outside together. I’ll do final perimeter sweeps.” ‘I have to make sure he’s not coming.’ is what he doesn’t say. They both hear it anyway.

There’s nothing though. No signs of stragglers, no flash of gunfire, thankfully no Omnics in pursuit.

He keeps staring back at the smoke of the hospital over the skyline, waiting for a flash of blonde hair, a panicked cry for help, a blast from that insane rifle he insists on carrying - but there’s nothing. The air is thick with something which isn’t quite silence but drowns him all the more for it.

Until the insistent shuddering of helicopter blades breaks through his reality and it really hits home - he’s going to have to leave without Jack. His eyes are burning but he’s got another six troops in this old apartment building who need to get home and see their families again.

He scrubs at his eyes and is about to return to his squad when his wrist unit beeps once to let him know he has a message.

from: boyscout

message: fukc

He blinks once. There’s relief, so intense he thinks his hearts going to burst and he laughs out loud. He’s going to strangle the stupid motherfucker when he gets his hands on him. The device beeps again insistently.

from: boyscout

message: i fucked up, are you guys still here, need extraction, at church opposite hospital

Gabriel doesn’t blink again before he’s tearing back up the stairs to where Ana’s assembling the team on the roof and onto the helicopters.

“Jack’s still down there,” he starts, and Ana’s relief matches his own.

“You’re going back.” It’s not a question. She knows him too well.

He nods. “If you hear nothing for fifteen minutes, leave without us.”

She looks at him before dipping her head once. He knows he can trust her to do things in his stead - he wouldn’t try and do this if it was anyone else. But it’s Ana.

And this is Jack.

He’s flying down the stairs and out the building before he can catch his breath. He knows he has to be quiet, but also fast - it sounds like Jack is in trouble and he briefly wonders how he’s going to be able to get him back to the others. Or why he didn’t just activate his location tracker.

The hospital comes into sight soon enough, and Gabriel thinks for a half second before running down a back road. The Bastion units might not be able to get heat signatures yet, but some of the other Omnics have infra-red sight modes.

The church Gabriel thinks Jack means is old - really old, and the grand architecture is obvious even from the tight alleys hidden in central Berlin. If Jack was going to pick an obvious place to hide…

There’s a tiny door at the back of the building his HUD informs him, and he eases it open before slipping inside. He’s hidden in a quiet chapel, carved stone saints peering down at him, and feels a prickle of discomfort. He’s never felt too comfortable in these places. He’d sworn off religion a long time ago.

He scans the interior of the building with his HUD display but there’s no trace of any other machinery in the vicinity. Which means that a) no Bastion units but also b) Jack’s tech is either offline or c) not here.

Neither of the latter options are great.

He leaves the chapel carefully, listening closely before he hears it.

There’s laboured breathing coming from the front of the pews and finally he lays eyes on the golden hair he’s been searching for, a fallen angel before the altar.

Something is wrong. He realises with a creeping dread just how much red is smeared into the gold, and drops any pretense of stealth, sprinting up the aisle.

“Wondered when you’d get here.” Jack says, strain clear in his voice.

The room spins for a moment as he lays eyes on him.

There’s a really nasty cut along his temple which would explain the HUD not showing up in the scan - it looks like the Omnics have gouged out the implant from his head. He’s holding a hand over his stomach, and from the copious quantities of blood, Gabriel would guess he’s probably been holding his intestines in since he left the hospital. He can’t see any other obvious injuries but the left leg of his pants is badly ripped up and stained as well, and he doesn’t seem to be focusing too well when he looks up at Gabriel.

He’s seen some nasty injuries before, but this… this is awful. Even SEP applicants have died from less.

“What the fuck happened, Morrison.” He breathes, not really expecting an answer. He’s guessing a pretty bad concussion from the lack of focus in the usually sharp blue gaze. Hell, he’ll take it right now, it’s better than the alternative. He pulls off his coat and starts ripping it into bandage strips as he places a call to Ana from his wrist unit, no longer caring if the Omnics can track his location from it.

“I’ve got him, Ana. He’s in a bad state, I don’t know if I can get him back like this.”

The audible sigh of relief is quickly taken over by a hum of concentration. “You might have to, Gabriel. There’s no way we can bring the choppers closer, it’ll be an obvious giveaway where you are. How bad are the injuries?”

He quickly lists off what he can see. “I don’t know if he can walk.”

Jack pouts at him. “You could ask, you know. I’m right here.”

Any other situation, Gabriel would have laughed at his childish expression.

“Do what you can, you might have to carry him. Keep me updated with progress. We might have to leave and arrange for a secondary evacuation if you can get far enough away.”

Gabriel nods, then remembers it’s a phone call. “Wheels up in fifteen minutes.”

Ana begins to complain, but he cuts across. “That’s an order, Captain.”

She goes silent, before a stilted “As you wish, Commander,” and then she hangs up. It doesn’t escape his attention that she hadn’t suggested for a second leaving Jack behind, and he’s beyond grateful.

Gabriel doesn’t think as he works, letting instinct take over as he wraps wounds as tightly as he can. He re-sets Jack’s leg - he’d cried out, the pain overwhelming the delirium for a second - but the healing factor would hopefully be able to do enough that they could walk out.

He pulls Jack to his feet, dragging one heavy arm across his shoulders. Gabriel staggers - Jack isn’t holding himself up properly, there’s still too much blood and he’s holding himself together with his hands at this point.

“Come on, you big lump,” he grumbles, pulling his best friend from the church, “there’s no way I’m dying in this hell hole.”

Jack sighs dreamily, and Gabriel really doesn’t like the sound of that. “Can’t wait to go home with you.”

Gabriel chuckles. “We don’t go home together, pendejo. You’re moving in with Vincent aren’t you?” Jack had spoken briefly about his plans a couple months ago, but Gabe hasn’t heard anything since. Delirium does funny things to the head anyway.

“Wish we could go home together though. Love you.” Jack sighs, and Gabe freezes for a second, heart pounding, before realising: he must have thought Gabe was Vincent. He almost laughs again, in relief, in love, in despair, but Jack won’t understand any of those.

So he just says, “Love you too, golden boy.” He wishes it was a lie as he drags him back to the apartment building.

“Next time I tell you to evacuate a war zone, you do it. Understood?” Gabriel stares down his unimpressed Captain from the sick bay lobby.

“You were on your way back. If Jack didn’t get immediate attention he could have died, from what you said.” Ana replies, mulish as she refuses to drop eye contact.

She’s obstinate and stubborn and determined, funny and deadpan and sometimes edging on rude. Gabriel wouldn’t have her any other way.

“How is he?” he asks instead of reprimanding her like he should. The doctors had ordered him to ‘fuck off and get some sleep,’ in their own words, and the doors had been programmed not to let him in until his brain was functioning at a certain level of activity again.

“He’ll be fine,” she says, mouth twitching up just a little, “but the doctors are a little worried about the head injury. They think removing the implant could have caused some long-term brain damage, but they won’t know until he wakes up. And he’ll have to stay in for a couple of days until his gut has healed anyway.”

Gabriel sits down heavily. That recovery time is slow for them but at least it’ll be fixed. But brain damage? Jack had been acting very strange, and the doctors had confirmed multiple concussions. His implant as well… it allows them to interface with their tactical visors without speaking, allowing everyone to see where the rest of the squad is. That the Omnics knew to rip it out is both awful and really worrying. They’re getting smarter.

“Gabriel?” he looks up at Ana as she crosses over and sinks into the seat next to him. He sees just how tired she really is in the sink of her spine, the tightness around her eyes. How she’s still so composed, he’ll never understand. He must look like a mess. “It’s not your fault. It’s because of you he’s even alive. Stop beating yourself up.”

He gives her a tired smile. “Shouldn’t have left him in the first place.”

She scoffs, shaking her head. “A saviour complex doesn’t suit you. Stop feeling sorry for yourself and tell him how you feel before you lose the opportunity again.”

He gapes at her for a moment, but why is he even surprised? Ana doesn’t really need her cybernetic eye when she sees everything anyway. She stands and moves to the door. “I need some sleep, I’m done babysitting stupid men for the day.” More softly, she smiles at him, properly this time. “I want to know the minute he wakes up.”

Gabriel just nods once before entering the ward. The scene which greets him is infinitely preferable to the one from twenty hours ago.

Jack is breathing, peacefully now, and Gabriel could watch the soft rise and fall of his chest for the rest of his life. All of his limbs are smooth, straight lines once more (he’d missed the broken arm in his rush to get the man back to safety), his hair is gleaming a soft yellow in the sunlight streaming from the window, and the heart monitor he’s hooked up to steadily beeps at his side.

He lowers himself into the chair next to the bed and tries not to frown as he sees the jagged scar running over Jack’s temple, narrowly avoiding the corner of his eye. “Dumb blonde,” he mutters, running his eye over the rest of his face, “why have you gotta put me through this bullshit?”

Jack’s always had a hero complex, it’s how he got picked for the SEP, throwing himself in front of his squad to protect them from an explosion. As soon as he’d been patched up, his CO had volunteered him for the programme – ‘mental fortitude’, the report Gabriel had read had said. And he sure does have buckets of it. If anyone will make it out of this…

He takes Jack’s hand on impulse, weaving their fingers together. “We’re gonna get through this, punk. You’re gonna see Vincent again, you’re going to move in together and go home with him. Just like you wanted.” He pauses for a moment. Ana’s words are ringing in his head. “That’s what’s gonna make you happy. That’s all I want for you, Jack. I wish…” he stops. “God, if you weren’t unconscious I wouldn’t even be saying this. I don’t know. I just wish I could be the one to make you happy.”

He looks up to find an unnervingly blue gaze watching him. Shit.

“How much of that did you hear.” He demands. It vaguely registers that he’s still holding Jack’s hand.

Jack clears his throat and smiles his shit-eating grin. Fuck, he’s so far gone for this dumb bitch. “Everything since you called me punk and held my hand.”

Gabriel refuses to drop that, it would be proving a point if he let go now. “And you just laid there and let me talk? Puta.” He makes a point of looking away and sniffing.

Jack laughs croakily and starts coughing immediately. Gabriel look at him with concern. “Damn, feels like I got put through a meat grinder.”

“You did. You lost. I had to pull your dumb ass out afterwards.” Gabriel deadpans. He’s alive, and now he has to suffer the consequences – endless mockery.

Jack smiles sheepishly. “Thanks, Gabe. You saved my life.” He stops for a moment and looks unsure. “What you were saying-“

Gabe cuts across him, “Don’t, just pretend I didn’t say anything-“

“Shut up, Gabe.” He smiles up at him and Gabriel feels his heart flutter a little. “You do make me happy. I got separated from the group and all I could think while I was trying not to die was seeing your smile when I wasn’t dead. And then you ripping me to shreds yourself.” He manages another wheezy chuckle, and Gabriel feels his heart squeeze. This man is going to be the death of him. “You’re my best friend, and sometimes… sometimes I wish we were more. Even if you don’t feel the same.” He’s thoroughly avoiding eye contact with Gabriel now, who can’t believe what he’s hearing.

“Maybe you have got brain damage,” he says, watching the five stages of grief cross Jack’s face before he bothers to continue, “If you think I don’t feel anything for you.” The realisation blossoming in his mind is beautiful to watch.

“You… you feel the same?” Jack asks faintly, and Gabriel scoffs.

“Even Ana noticed what was going on. What about Vincent though?”

Jack looks confused. “What about him?”

Gabriel is staring at him. He was joking earlier, but maybe there is some memory damage or something. “You’re his boyfriend? You wanted to go home with him? I thought you were moving in together.”

Jack stares at him like he’s the one who’s being ridiculous. “Vincent and I broke up a month ago.”

“What.” Gabriel stares at him. How had he possibly missed that?

“I only spoke to Ana, and she wanted to tell you straight away for some reason…” It’s satisfying in the most frustrating way to watch realisation settle on his face. “Oh.”

“Yeah. Oh.” Gabriel echoes, disbelief on his face. What an idiot. Why did he have to fall in love with such an idiot.

“No, but I knew you’d have been too sympathetic and close, and I couldn’t have handled that when I was already heartbroken!”

“So when you said you wanted to come home with me…”

Jack looks at him nervously. “I did mean you.”

“And the other thing?”

Jack licks his lips nervously. Gabriel can’t look away. “Yeah, that too.”

Gabriel leans forward and kisses him. It’s warm and slow and relief and ‘you absolute dumbass’, a knot slowly coming undone in his lower abdomen which he didn’t realise had been there for so long. Jack responds eventually, shakily placing a hand behind Gabriel’s head to deepen the kiss. He’s warm under Gabriel, and he has to brace himself on the bed with his hands so as not to lean on broken ribs.

They have to breathe eventually, and Gabriel stares at Jack, lips red and cheeks flushed. He notices now a small mole hidden just above his left eyebrow and raises a finger to stroke it without realising.

“You’re an idiot.” He idly comments.

Jack grins bashfully. “I know. But I’m your idiot, if you’ll have me.”

He tries to ignore the grip around his heart. “Does that mean I have to keep carrying your ass out of danger?”

Jack flashes him a boyish grin, and Gabriel feels dizzy for a moment. “Only if you want to.”

“Good thing you have a nice ass,” he grumbles, and Jack beams back at him like he’s smiling at the sun.

#reaper76week #r76 #day 2: keep yourself alive #omnic crisis #overwatch #ow #fanfiction #jack morrison #gabriel reyes #graphic injury description #first kiss #gabe sweetie im so sorry you gotta deal with this bs

25 notes · View notes

viktorredemptionarc · 6 years ago

Link

Title: Think of me softly.

A/N: What if musicals and Jayce and Viktor in a blender. This.

Word Count: 10220.

Characters/Relationships: Jayce/Viktor.

Rating: T (for swearing).

Summary: Jayce has been having a pretty good time playing every main role until Viktor steals the spotlight.

Link to AO3 again.

Madness, folly, and insanity. An outrageous act of disrespect towards Jayce, the best actor that company is going to have the pleasure of encountering in its, most likely, short life.

Caitlyn watches as he speaks, no, declaims. She stands in front of him, in the dressing room, with her arms crossed and her lips pressed into a thin line.

“Are you done?” she grits out, and Jayce would have said that no, he is not, but her eyebrows are pinched together and that is never a good sign so he nods instead. “I have not given you Erik because Viktor is good at being a gloomy bastard and his pitch fits better. Now you can either keep on being a brat about it and bugger off, don’t bother coming back, or accept it.”

Jayce breathes in deep. He tries to stay reasonable and level-headed. Like an adult would. But it’s hard, because he’s both a senior and a good actor. And companies aren’t supposed to give the leading role to new additions. It doesn’t work like that. It’s absurd and offensive towards the rest. Then again, if he says that Caitlyn will probably drop a latte on him and then kick him out.

“So what am I supposed to do, then? Play a supporting role?”

Caitlyn quirks an eyebrow. “You are going to play Christine. E6 Christine? Highest note in the whole production Christine? How is that a supporting role.”

And that is another matter that they should be discussing. He isn’t sure that he’ll be able to reach that note in his lifetime. But alas, he won’t be the one mentioning the issue. Not now, not ever. He gets it, now. This is a challenge. Caitlyn gave him the role because she trusts him and his prowess, bringing the matter up will only disappoint her and show her that he’s weak. And he isn't weak. He's the best actor they have.

Jayce forces a smile. It's a good one, Caitlyn will buy it. He's positive. “Fine. I’ll do it.”

The door opens with a bang and Caitlyn, just a second ago sighing in relief, groans. Viktor strides in and Jayce stares at the scene as it develops as he’d look at someone putting an egg in a microwave. In quiet horror, fully aware of the disaster that’s to come the second Viktor faces Caitlyn and opens his mouth.

“I won’t play Erik,” he says, and Jayce scoffs. Caitlyn glares his way before turning to face Viktor, not even attempting a smile. Jayce has only seen Viktor once before, when he got introduced to the rest of the cast, and he looks even worse than then, which is a mighty feat. His hair is an absolute mess and he seems unaware of what color coordination is. What color is, full stop. Viktor hasn’t even glanced his way, though, so Jayce says nothing. “I’ve hated him since I’ve been old enough to know what hate is. Can’t he play him? I’d do any supporting role, I don’t care.”

“Hang on,” Caitlyn replies, and she makes a show out of getting her phone out of her pocket, dialing, and bringing it up to her ear. “Vi? Yes, it’s me. No, I’m okay. Could you please check some files for me? Nothing happened, I just want to check if Viktor and Jayce are really of age.”

Jayce can hear Vi laughing through the phone before Caitlyn hangs up and seizes them with a withering look. When she speaks, she does so pointing at them and carefully enunciating every syllable.

“I’m saying this once and only once. You will play your parts, you will not complain about them again, and you will be grateful that I even thought of you when casting. Are we clear?”

“Crystal,” Jayce chirps in, as obnoxiously as he feels he can get away with, and Viktor huffs.

“Fine,” he says, between his teeth, and Caitlyn drags her hands down her face with a drawn-out sigh, turns sharply, and leaves slamming the door shut behind her. "Jayce, right?"

"The one and only," Jayce answers, grinning, and Viktor's expression goes from neutral to mild annoyance. Why, Jayce can't know. It's kind of offensive, kind of entertaining. "Seems like we're going to have to work together. Hope you aren't too sloppy. Not everyone can be on my level, I get that, but you have to earn your place on a stage with me."

Viktor clicks his tongue. "Right. I'm going to leave now. See you around, Carlotta."

He doesn't add anything or address Jayce further before leaving the room. Jayce doesn't care or think much of it, not until later when he's home about to fall asleep and realizes the exact implications of what Viktor had said.

-x-

Three years before joining the company, Viktor saw Jayce for the first time.

He was twenty-four then, trying to find a place in the acting world, frustrated and desperate and attempting to have at least one afternoon for himself to do something that he knew he'd enjoy. So he went to the theatre, not knowing what they'd perform, and was lucky enough to catch Frankenstein onstage.

Jayce was playing Victor, and he had never seen anyone face the role like that. There was something about him, an air of sorrow yet so much passion. He moved with so much purpose but knew when to be soft. It was fascinating, nuanced, and Viktor couldn't take his eyes off him.

And then he sang, and Viktor stared at him as he did feeling his heart beating against his chest. He had been moved before, he had admired actors before; yet never had Viktor felt so strongly as he had upon hearing Jayce's voice. It was overwhelming, how controlled and careful Jayce was when singing. The inflection, the pitch, just the right touch of emotion to elevate it instead of smothering it. He was, in a way, enamored.

It was one of the reasons why he even tried to join that company in the first place. And after three years of trying, he had time to wonder almost endlessly about how Jayce would be like. Judging by how he played Victor, he thought that he might be a complex and disciplined man. One who took his craft seriously and valued his peers. It was, as far as fantasies went, a pretty nice one to indulge in.

Viktor now knows that he shouldn't have expected Jayce to be anything but an irredeemable asshole.

He shouldn't have kept on hoping after meeting him when he got introduced to the cast and Jayce looked him up and down, scoffed and left without a word. Yet he did, and he tried to talk to him, and he got what he deserved which was a thorough letdown.

Jayce isn't aware of Viktor having met him before, after all. It's not as if Viktor has told him, or is about to now. The last thing Jayce needs is confirmation of how good an actor he is coming from the man that stole the leading role from him, to add insult to injury. Viktor can only imagine the gargantuan proportions his ego would reach if he were to tell him that his rendition of Birth to my Creation left Viktor breathless and vaguely in love.

So the second Jayce smirks and says "the one and only" with the arrogance of someone who's never faced a serious letdown in their life, Viktor is certain that he was mistaken and that he must move on and forget his fantasies at once. Jayce's next claim only serves to strengthen his resolve and though the contrast from what he imagined to the reality of Jayce is harsh and ungainly, he guesses that it's for the best as he walks into the costume department to find Vi squinting at the lapel of a suit jacket.

"Hello?" he says, uncertain, and Vi turns his way and smiles.

"Hey, Viktorino. How's it going? Is everyone being nice?"

Viktor walks her way and she slaps his back. Hard.

"It's...I'm okay. You're all great, yes. Although..." he pauses, wondering if Jayce and her are close and whether or not he can talk to her about him. Then he decides that he doesn't specially care all that much, since he doesn't have anything particularly bad to say about him besides how irritating he is. It isn't her fault, or even Jayce's, that he didn't meet his expectations. She's looking at him as if she knows what he's going to say, anyway, which is a bit unnerving. "Has Jayce always been that much of a diva?"

Vi guffaws. "It took you way too long to complain about him. Most crack during the first week. You didn't talk much, did you?"

"No, not really. Mostly only today."

She snorts, again, and holds the suit jacket in front of him, hanger and all.

"Right. He's kind of an asshole but he's a funny asshole, you know? Just...try and give him a chance. Turn around."

He turns and hums as she holds the jacket against his shoulders, then taps his back for him to turn again.

"I can try, but I don't think it'll end up well. He's not like I thought he'd be," she hangs the jacket and, alarmingly, turns to him with a knowing smile on her face. "What."

She shrugs, still smiling. "Like you thought he'd be."

Right. Viktor dodges her gaze and Vi starts laughing.

"Chill, okay? It's not as if you're the first one who got fucked up over an idealized version of Jayce. Won't be the last either, probably," she pats his shoulder and he nods, mortified but trying to avoid showing just how much. "He's my best friend, though. Has been for years. The Jaycer ain't all that bad."

She slaps his back again and winks before leading him out of the room, and Viktor would like to know in which way a man who thinks that it is proper to tell another actor that he hopes he isn't too sloppy, as if he has any right to judge anybody else's performances, isn't that bad.

After all, once deciding to give up on even trying to get close to Jayce in any capacity but the strictly professional, the prospect of getting to know Jayce the "funny asshole" is dreadful, to say the least.

His phone rings and Viktor digs it up from his pocket as he walks out of the theatre, surprised to see that Jayce, of all people, has texted him.

Jayce (company): hey were rhew fukc is the scdeipt

Jayce (company): wairt ur not vi

Jayce (company): were rhe fucki s th e script tho i need to starrt reading it liek yesterday

Viktor blinks down at his phone. Then he looks up and blinks at the cars parked in front of the theatre, and looks back down at his phone to stare at the screen, puzzled. Mildly endeared, and annoyed at himself for being so, by how awful Jayce's texting etiquette and skills are, which is alarming. Maybe a bit foolish of him to expect his crush to die down just like that.

Me: it should be in the meeting room

Me: that's WHERE I got mine from, at least

Jayce doesn't answer until that night, when Viktor is in bed leafing through the script.

Jayce (company): o fortunata non ancor abbandonata

Jayce (company): .I.

Viktor laughs despite himself, then blames it on exhaustion for his own peace of mind.

-x-

As far as Jayce is concerned, Viktor's only redeeming quality and the reason why he got the starring role instead of him is that he looks like he hasn't slept in weeks. That was, mostly, his first impression of him. A tired, unkempt, man. Barely even interesting. And Jayce had to rehearse anyway, so he left the second he saw that Viktor didn't look like much.

That might have been a mistake, he reckons, now that it's been a week since he got the script and he has to build his whole performance around both Viktor, playing Erik, and Ezreal, playing Raoul. Ezreal he knows and he can work with, no problem. Viktor? He's an enigma. Jayce hasn't seen him perform, not once. Not even during his auditions. That was Caitlyn's job, after all, not his. So he's completely in the dark and with no point of reference from which to begin putting together the puzzle of his Christine. Christian, as the script says, it's the same character either way.

He reads his lines for the first scene during the first act, over and over, holed up in one of the rooms they use to practice. He'll get to the annotations later, once he has a clue of how he's going to do this. For now, he's guessing that a sort of bland naïveté is as good a starting point as any. So he bats his lashes at no one, gazing at the middle distance in affected bashfulness.

"I don't know, sir," he says, in the most obnoxiously Victorian way he can come up with, and almost feigns a fainting fit if only to amuse himself.

"Oh, not you as well," comes a voice from the door, drawling and low, and Jayce stares at Viktor as he stands there, looking way too irritated not to be overacting and for all he can see following his lead. "Can you believe it? A full house...and we have to cancel!"

Viktor does affect a fainting fit against the doorframe, arm over the forehead and all, and Jayce refuses to smile out of principle. Viktor straightens and walks his way, script held loosely in his hand, and Jayce feels like he has to somehow justify himself. You see, this isn't really how I do things. I'm just trying to get a feel of the character. This is not me.

"I'm assuming that since you are such a great actor you don't need any help with establishing the character?" Viktor says, face inscrutable, and Jayce decides that he doesn't need to justify himself after all.

"Fuck off. How are you dealing with Erik?"

Viktor huffs, but as far as Jayce can see there's no farther emotional reaction to that. Until he frowns and kind of grimaces? Jayce thinks. And looks at Jayce in such a sour way he somehow feels inadequate.

"Insolent boy, this slave of fashion basking in your glory. Ignorant fool, this brave young suitor sharing in my triumph," he doesn't sing it as he's supposed to, he recites it. He does so looking at Jayce dead in the eye, enunciating every syllable, and every word sounds both like he's taunting Jayce and like he very much would rather be anywhere else but there.

It's an absolute mess of a register for that line. Tonally, a disaster. Specially if he's supposed to be talking to Christine. But, in a way, Jayce gets what Viktor's trying to convey.

"So bitter jackass is what you're going for," Viktor nods. Jayce is kind of pissed off. Getting his own interpretation of the character doesn't imply that he has to like it, and it's not like he has it all figured out but there's something about the situation that irks him. "You know that disliking Erik doesn't justify getting rid of the things that can make the audience empathize with him, right?"

"Why should I make the audience empathize with Erik, exactly?"

Jayce spares a second trying to reconcile himself with the idea of someone asking that question. Maybe Viktor is an entity from a world in which this play they're working on doesn't exist, and he doesn't know how it goes. Then again, he did say that he had hated Erik since, if he recalls correctly, he knew what hate was.

"Have you read the script?"

Viktor frowns and Jayce is bewildered. If Viktor gets mad at him over whether or not the audience is supposed feel sad for Erik he's probably going to end up throwing a boombox at him.

"Yes, I have. My point still stands. Why should the audience be made to empathize with Erik when the only thing he does is let himself get dragged around by his emotions, harming others while doing so, and send pointless notes."

"That's what most of the characters do. Erik is given a background for a reason. It's not like we're supposed to agree with him, just think about why he does what he does," Jayce says, and Viktor doesn't answer. He stands in front of him, staring, grimacing. "If his emotions are more out of control that those of most characters', I disagree by the way, is because he's supposed to be intense and make the audience feel his sad, anguished, fury."

"I know," Viktor says, slowly, and Jayce would love to start rehearsing and stop talking about this only no, actually, he's invested in the conversation now. He's intrigued. "What I mean is that his actions still condemn him, and those actions are driven by emotion. And what he seems to be feeling most of all is bitterness. He's bitter at Christine for having a life, the gall. He's bitter at Raoul for existing. He's bitter at the theatre's new owners for not doing things how he wants them to which is absurd, to begin with. He's bitter at Carlotta for being the prima donna instead of Christine. He's bitter at himself, but not as much as he is at everybody else. And you expect my starting point to be anything but bitter jackass?"

"That's not what we were talking about," is what Jayce has to say to that, because Viktor is making a lot of sense and he wants to be contradictory.

"Fine. They can empathize if they want, I have no control over that, but I want to play Erik as he is written. Softening him for the sake of sympathy sounds like a copout. If I play a bitter jackass and they can still empathize, that would be awful and awfully telling but a success, in a way. "

Awfully telling, he says. Yet Jayce can see, now, how his ideas make sense. He might not agree, he doesn't think he ever will because, for one, his idea of Erik differs greatly, but he can see how it can be useful to Viktor as an actor. It's interesting.

"Right. So bitter jackass it is, then."

Viktor, to his credit, doesn't seem eager to gloat or show any sign at all that he's won an argument. He merely nods and flips some pages of his script until he finds what he's looking for, then looks up at Jayce and hums.

"How's your Christine coming along?" Jayce shrugs. "We could try doing some scenes, see how it goes."

They try. Viktor is, Jayce is surprised to see, a fairly decent actor. Not as good as him, not likely to happen anyway, but they work well together. By the time Ezreal arrives and they can start getting to Raoul's scenes in depth, he has a way better grasp on Christine than he had when he first tried.

"Viktor, I want to try that line I was doing when you came in again. Ezreal, can you see if it's gonna go well with your Raoul?" he says. Viktor hums and stands in front of him. For that scene, he has to get in the mindset of someone with dreams too big for them, that's at an impasse and suddenly given a chance to get closer to what they want. It takes him a bit, to reach that mindset. There's not much that he needs, or a dream he hasn't yet conquered.

But once he feels like he can do it, he looks right at Viktor and he stares back, waiting.

Jayce dodges his eyes, then. He fidgets, looking at Viktor's chin as he loosely closes his fists and wets his lips.

"I don't know, sir," he says, and he tries to make it sound firm but trembling. A string of sound but one with purpose. It's harder than he anticipated and he kind of botches it, a little, but it's going to have to do. He looks back up at Viktor's eyes and he catches his gaze, almost unblinking.

"That was good, I think. I can work with that," Ezreal says while walking his way, and Jayce notices with some trepidation that Viktor seems to be barely breathing. "Jayce? Hey, it was a good one. What's up."

"Him," Jayce points at Viktor and he seems to snap out of it, blinking rapidly and gasping before turning away. "You okay?"

"Yes," Viktor croaks, and Ezreal snorts by Jayce's side. "I'm fine. Got distracted is all."

"Well some of us are professionals so try to keep up," Ezreal jokes, but Jayce almost hits his smug face. Viktor just nods, waving a hand their way gesturing for them to continue as he steals Jayce's water bottle and takes a sip.

"I'll be back in a second," he leaves them with those words, and Jayce stares at the now closed door until Ezreal kicks him in the shin.

-x-

It's too early to have a phone.

It's not the most coherent thought he's had in his life, but it will have to do until Viktor's awaken properly and, hopefully, his phone stops beeping. He gropes for it, half asleep, around the bed and finds it inside the pillowcase. How it ended there, he dares not think about.

He blinks blearily at the screen. It has stopped beeping, thankfully, but he has gotten a string of messages from Jayce once again. Why can't he grasp the concept of proper texting hours is a mystery to Viktor, but it's the second time since they've met that he's done it when anybody else would've been either asleep or about to be.

Viktor refuses to read them until he's taken a shower and is dressed, sitting in his living room nursing a cup of coffee. The only real reason he can find to be that petty is that Jayce irks him in that way that things that he doesn't like but can't fully hate do. It would be nice if emotions could start making sense, Viktor would appreciate that, but it doesn't seem to be going to happen anytime soon. And anyway, if it had been an emergency he would've called. He cannot possibly be stupid enough to just text him and leave it at that in that case.

He isn't, which is a small relief.

Jayce (company): vi

Jayce (company): havde u evaer trde to hit e6 it sucs

Jayce (company): is it enve possibl?????

Jayce (company): y iou arent vi

Jayce (company): Again.

Jayce (company): See? I'm writing like a stuffy old man so you don't have to correct me

Jayce (company): fuc it its annouin

Jayce (company): can u reac e6??????? bet u cant

Jayce (company): ??????????????????????????????????????????????????

Viktor reads the texts twice, then leaves his coffee on his living room's tiny table to avoid spilling it everywhere when he starts laughing in disbelief.

Me: I can't

Me: Is this going to happen often? I don't want to know any more of your secrets

Pocketing his phone after checking the time, he leaves for the theatre without expecting an answer and, sure enough, he doesn't hear of Jayce until he arrives and finds him sitting crossed legged on the floor of one of the rooms, looking morosely down at the script.

"Good morning," Viktor says, and Jayce looks up at him and waves. "When did you get here?"

Jayce frowns. "I don't know. A couple of hours before I texted you? Sorry if I woke you but you should've been awake by then, anyway."

If that is true, and ignoring the jab, Jayce has been there since six in the morning.

"What have you been doing?"

"Warming up. Lines. Think of Me, which is sounding quite good actually," he says, standing up, and yawns. Viktor quirks an eyebrow. "Fuck. I'm going to go over that again. You can stay if you want, you could even end up learning something, who knows."

Viktor stays, mostly out of spite. He has been amazed by Jayce's acting, he now has a very complicated relationship with that fact, and he has played along with Jayce's overacting too. Maybe that's the day he gets to hear Jayce squawk.

It isn't.

Jayce starts hesitant, as he should. He avoids looking Viktor in the eye. And slowly, steadily, his voice grows stronger. And he glances Viktor's way. And Viktor can't look away. Up until then, he was certain that he could never feel what he felt during Frankenstein again. It was a once in a lifetime occurrence. That sense of wonder, the beating of his heart against his ribcage, his own breathing stuttering. It was impossible to recreate. Yet he feels it again, and it's twice as overwhelming because then Jayce is standing right in front of him. There's nobody else in the room, there are no costumes, there's no set. The experience is raw and Viktor finds himself drowning in his own emotions until Jayce snaps his fingers in front of his eyes.

"I know I am good but you need to breath, I refuse to carry you all the way to the infirmary," he says, and Viktor bites the inside of his cheek as he abruptly comes down from his elation and crashes into the room with Jayce, notorious asshole. A funny one according to Vi, but an asshole nonetheless.

"You do carry your ego around every day," Jayce's laughter sounds as surprised as Viktor himself is to hear it, and he looks at Jayce in wonder as he shakes his head.

"That's why my back is so broad and dreamy, I reckon."

"I'm sure the spotlight's flare weighs heavily on you."

"It's almost unbearable," Jayce says, gravely, and Viktor has to fight off a smile. "You'll find me crushed under it one day and regret your harshness."

"Should I hire a troupe to sing Prima Donna to you? That should soothe your weary soul. Give you some peace."

"I'd rather you did it yourself," Jayce steps closer and Viktor crosses his arms, defensive yet unwilling to give into the temptation of stepping back. "Caitlyn spoke so highly of you, maybe that way I'll get to listen to you myself before my ego shatters me."

Viktor has been doing a great job of keeping a stern, sour, expression throughout the exchange. He's proud of it. It's Jayce's roundabout, stupid, and overdramatic way of asking him to sing that breaks him and makes him snort and ruins everything.

"You could have just asked. It would have been easier. There's no point in trying to be subtle when you're this flamboyant to begin with."

Jayce shrugs. "You laughed, kind of? I think. It sounded a lot like a sneeze but I'll count that as a victory."

Why Jayce would want to make him laugh, that's another mystery added to his whole person. He refuses to make any sense. Viktor doesn't know if he was right when he thought about Jayce during those past three years as a hardworking, serious, actor with a heart of gold. But he isn't sure if he's right about him being an irredeemable asshole either. Maybe he's neither. He seems to be waiting, in any case, for Viktor to sing.

"Fine. Any requests? I'm feeling generous."

"Whatever you want is fine. Something from the play would be nice, to see how you're going to do it," Jayce steps back then, and Viktor finds that his breathing evens out without having him so close. He hates it. So he decides that he might as well go for something mean, it's a happy coincidence that Erik has a wide repertoire of those, and takes a deep breath before he starts.

-x-

If he has to be completely honest with himself, Jayce didn't expect it to work nor for Viktor to see right through his stupid taunt. Yet he did, and he's breathing in slowly with his eyes closed. Jayce doesn't think he's warmed up, so he doesn't expect anything spectacular or for Viktor to blow his mind.

In a way, he's right. He is also incredibly wrong.

Partly because Viktor chooses The Mirror, which involves him, and Jayce sees it as a challenge. Not only because Viktor is looking right at him as he sings, it's his posture. How he starts circling him. And his voice might not be amazing, but Jayce has the dreadful thought that it's not amazing yet and that it will be when he's had the time to get ready. It's raspy, aggressive, more emotion than intonation as far as Jayce can discern in that moment. It makes Jayce want to sing back and fuck Christine's character completely by doing it in an equally cocky way.

Viktor has stopped walking and Jayce can feel his presence behind him, his breathing. There's silence, for a beat. Jayce turns, and accepts Viktor's challenge singing Christine's reply. Viktor smiles, and Jayce could swear that it's the first time he's seen him do it so openly, before answering. He's getting closer, brushing Jayce, stepping around him but just out of reach when Jayce tries to follow. Viktor's harshness makes it more vivid, and it doesn't matter so much that he isn't nailing every note. It makes Jayce feel how Christine would in that scene, in a way. Her desperate plea for forgiveness from an entity that she doesn't understand after a mishap that wasn't even hers. How she would have considered Erik to be. Frustrating, maddening, and incomprehensible. Yet alluring.

And suddenly it's over, and he's leaning into Viktor and Viktor's holding his shoulder and keeping him at an arm's distance, staring down at him. It surprises him that it developed so organically, considering that it's a scene that they've never done together. Viktor pats his shoulder once and lets go, and Jayce steps back as he mulls over the whole situation.

So maybe Viktor and him improvised a whole scene so naturally that no rehearsing was required to set the tone and make Jayce get into character. That happened. Without Viktor needing to even be in tune.

"Was it that bad?" Viktor asks, and Jayce looks up to find him frowning slightly. "I was out of tune, but it didn't seem to bother you much so I kept going."

And what is Jayce supposed to say then.

It was maybe the easiest time I've had acting with anyone in my life? That would be ludicrous. They don't know each other and Jayce kind of dislikes Viktor? Maybe? A little? He doesn't know. Viktor is dry and way too into poking fun at his ego.

He's also staring at Jayce.

"You didn't hit one note right," he says, lets his mouth run wild because he's an idiot who sucks, and Viktor grimaces. "But I guess Caitlyn was right, because it worked anyway."

Viktor smiles, again, and it reaches his eyes even though he also seems reluctant to be showing any mirth at all.

Jayce doesn't like the way his own breathing stutters one bit.

-x-

viktorino: vi, what is Jayce's deal exactly?

Me: hwo am i suposed to knww?

viktorino: you know him

Me: am not him tho????

viktorino: I don't understand him

Me: I am Caitlyn. Vi is getting more popcorn. Hello.

Me: She also says that I should be the one to handle this.

Me: I don't know why.

Me: Jayce is just Jayce.

Me: am bac

Me: caitl did a shtity job

viktorino: you think

Me: shur up

Me: lstien

Me: ust go w the flow dude

Me: youll gt him evdntually

-x-

Viktor certainly does not get him. It's been two weeks and Jayce is still an enigma that he cannot decipher. He's nice enough, yet he's still overbearing. He spends hours rehearsing by himself, trying to train himself into reaching e6, and then rehearses with the rest as if he isn't exhausted. As if they can't see the bags under his eyes or feel his frustration. Yet he keeps speaking as if he's a diva that has graced them with his presence while, at the same time, being frustratingly charming.

So Jayce is this man that is exactly how Viktor expected him to be yet the complete opposite of what he expected, both things somehow at the same time. And he has to deal with that, every single day of his life, since they work together and have many shared scenes. At least he gets to wear a cape sometimes, and can have the satisfaction of walking around with it in a dramatic fashion. Small mercies.

It's too late to be in the theatre right then. Maybe past midnight, but there was a scene that eluded him and he stayed until he felt that he had the fundamentals right. He was well and truly exhausted and only wanted to stop thinking about Jayce and leave.

And then he hears coughing, coming from a room with the door ajar a few steps from where he is, and Viktor peaks inside to find Jayce rubbing at his throat.

Fuck.

Viktor strides to the small kitchenette they all share with purpose and doesn't bother to second guess himself before he's heating water and dropping honey and lemon in it. This is, no matter how convoluted his feelings for Jayce might be, a serious enough matter for him to act without thinking. He stirs the mix as he walks back to the room and sure enough, Jayce is still inside.

He doesn't look up when Viktor enters. He's standing by the mirrored wall, looking down at his hands with a frown.

"Jayce," he says, and Jayce starts and looks at him wide eyed. "This'll help."

"Thank you," Jayce takes the cup from him and sighs. "If only I weren't so good, they wouldn't ask me to do ridiculous bullshit like reaching e6."

He laughs, but it's weak. Viktor raises a hand, puts a finger on Jayce's mouth to channel his frustration in a way that doesn't imply hitting him.

"Shut up."

Surprisingly enough, Jayce does. He smiles, nods, and drinks in silence. Viktor stays with him, if only to have something to do instead of fuming at home. He's angry at Jayce but it feels wrong to snap at him when he's obviously over-exerted himself, even if that's the main reason why Viktor wants to kick him in the teeth.

Yet, somehow, a piece of the puzzle that Jayce is falls into place and it brings a little bit of order into Viktor's chaotic idea of him. He feels closer to Jayce, which is good for work and for maybe friendship? Very bad for his juvenile attraction for him, which refuses to fade no matter how angry he gets at Jayce.

At some point, Viktor doesn't know how much time passes, Jayce leaves the cup on a speaker and gestures to the door with his head. Viktor nods, somehow reluctant to break the silence, and Jayce throws a tired smile his way.

They leave together without a single word spoken between them until Jayce gets to his car, giving Viktor's back a light pat before getting in.

"You aren't that bad," he says, more to himself than to Viktor, and then he closes the door and drives away.

-x-

There is something cathartic about staying in bed staring at the ceiling in quiet panic, Jayce thinks. It lets him ponder about how to approach the subject of him thinking that Viktor, after a couple of weeks of knowing him, isn't that bad. Perhaps even likable. Maybe. Uncertain on that.

Jayce should stop lying to himself.

He likes Viktor's dry witted humor and no-nonsense approach to things, and his rants about Erik being too emotional. It's crept on him silently, treacherously, this feeling that Viktor's someone who he likes to spend time with.

It's an awful revelation, considering that they have to work together.

Jayce grabs his phone.

Me: vi soemhing awful happende

Viktor: before you continue, I am not Vi

Never has he ever been so thankful for hesitating before hitting send before, since it was the only thing that stopped him from telling Viktor that he was a frustrating motherfucker that made Jayce question how the fuck someone could be so funny yet so stupidly coarse. Not in those many words, but almost.

Viktor: do you need any help?

Viktor: has a spotlight actually crushed you?

Jayce snorts. It sucks.

Me: yes

Me: so i tried to text vi

Me: am gfonna dei anyway so better alugh it off

Viktor: is it because she's the only one who can decipher your texts?

Viktor: you two write in exactly the same horrifying way

Me: i wrtie fast sue me

Viktor: not in your dying bed

Jayce is tempted to kick his feet like a child. He doesn't, deciding that it'd be best to get ready for work instead, but it's a close call.

After that, it's oddly anticlimactic for Jayce, when he gets to the theatre and enters the room they use to rehearse to find Ezreal and Viktor already doing a scene and think, absentmindedly, that Viktor looks good in that shirt. Being how things were going, it would have been fitting to have a dramatic revelation, he thinks.

He'd expected it to be bombastic, to blow his mind, to be loud and horrifying.

Instead of that, he just glances Viktor's way and finds him to be casually attractive.

In a way, he figures that the natural flow of it all is what makes it extraordinary.

"Hey Jayce, are you gonna join or just gape at us?" Ezreal asks, and Jayce sighs and reluctantly walks their way. "I mean, I get it. I'm very handsome."

"You keep telling yourself that," Jayse says, and Ezreal huffs but lets it slide. Viktor doesn't say anything, writing something down on his script as they talk. Somehow, he also expected a certain hyperawareness of him. So far, he's mildly alarmed he expected anything at all and that's about it. "Which scene were you at?"

"Erik's backstory," Viktor drawls, and Ezreal snorts. "I'm being his Giry until Camille arrives."

"You have the tessiture for that?"

"Not really, but it's not like I have to sing much."

"He's good enough," Ezreal pats Viktor's shoulder and Viktor hums. "Maybe a bit too mad about having to give the ghost a backstory at all. But since Giry's so stern listening to her speaking like she's mocking the ghost is funny. Challenging, also, since I'm trying not to break character and Raoul has to be like super into the whole story."

Viktor huffs. "Glad to be of service."

"Like...the accidents part? Do that again," Viktor sighs but doesn't argue. He takes a few steps the mirror's way and straightens his back, his face set in a distant gesture.

"I have said too much, monsieur," he starts, and already his voice sounds different. Detached. "And there have been too many accidents."

Ezreal gasps. Jayce has always liked how he tackles his roles, expressive and as faithful to the character as he can be. Wide eyed, preoccupied, Raoul is a good fit for him.

"Accidents?" he says, sounding properly scandalized, and Viktor seems to almost smile, yet not quite.

"Too many," Viktor says, and the delivery of the line drips so much with joyless irony that Jayce wonders where the fuck Viktor reaches to achieve that. Yet he doesn't keep the character going for long, and as soon as he's said it he relaxes his posture and walks back to where he is, with Ezreal.

"See? That line is supposed to be ironic but that? What the fuck. It was chilling and so out of character I want to hit him but I can't because it was so good," Ezreal says, pointing at Viktor, and Jayce doesn't know what to answer to that. It's true. Ezreal's right. Viktor would be a terrible Giry but there's no denying that he's good. Jayce looks his way and catches him shrugging.

"Sorry? It's how Giry feels to me. Wouldn't you be tired of someone if he kept throwing the catwalk on everybody they don't like? Or crawling around the trap room. I would. I'm guessing she is, too, just too scared to voice it. So she finds her ways."

Viktor shrugs again. Ezreal keeps pointing at him mouthing "unbelievable" even as he checks his phone and starts for the door.

"I gotta bounce, Camille is here. Hopefully she'll stop complaining about me not being properly outraged this time around."

He leaves, and Jayce is left with Viktor. Who looks good in that shirt.

Jayce opens his mouth and is saved from droning out "you look good in that shirt" by Viktor snapping his fingers in front of his eyes.

"Are you okay?" judging by his tone, it's probably the second time he's asked.

"Yes. Frustrated over that e6," Viktor hums, grimacing. "But all I can do about it is practice."

Viktor looks like he wants to add something, but he sidesteps Jayce and after a second throws a thermos his way before leaving the room without another word.

Jayce, having barely caught the thing, opens it and smiles upon finding warm, honeyed, water inside.

-x-

The first time Viktor sees Jayce when not in the theatre since they start working together, he's taking a walk through a park near his apartment and is trying to avoid thinking about Jayce. He needs a break from his own confusing emotions, some distance. At least to reconcile the highly contradictory ideas of Jayce that he has.

As his luck may have it, it's barely been ten minutes since he's set foot in the park when he sees Jayce sitting on a bench, looking out into the middle distance, with his phone cuddled in his hands and his headphones on.

Viktor looks at him while he considers his options. He could leave and pretend that he never saw him, go back home and let that be it, or approach Jayce and face the consequences. Leaving is tempting but he knows himself and he'd feel guilty afterwards for ignoring Jayce, no matter if he hadn't seen him yet, so he takes a stealing breath and walks his way.

Jayce doesn't notice his presence until Viktor sits by his side, and he blinks at Viktor and tugs his earphones off.

"Hey. You live nearby?" Viktor nods. Jayce hasn't turned the music off and Viktor can hear the part of Phantom of the Opera where Christine sings in e6 through the headphones over and over again. "I do too, kind of."

"Today, too?" Viktor points at Jayce's phone and Jayce pauses the music with a drawn-out sigh, dropping his head against the back of the bench.

"I'm so close. It's even more frustrating now that I know for sure that I can do it, only not just yet," he smiles, bitter. "But I didn't get into this business because I thought it'd be easy."

Jayce straightens then. It doesn't help matters for Viktor that he's handsome, yet he has a feeling it wouldn't have mattered either way. Him being a ridiculously hardworking yet arrogant man would've got Viktor, in the end. He's cursed.

"Why did you?"

"I wanted to be famous and I knew that I had the talent for it," Jayce shrugs. "I was aiming for Hollywood, but ended up in a theatre company performing musicals. Not that I'm complaining, I love it. Now, that is."

"You've given up on Hollywood, then?"

"What can I say," Jayce answers, and he leans close enough for Viktor's heart to skip a beat. "I rather enjoy telling you that those who have seen your face draw back in fear."

Viktor scoffs as Jayce laughs. "You would love to be able to overdramatize everything."

"Of course. Why did you get in the business?"

"My parents were actors, they showed me how it went and I liked it. It's not a great story, but it's the one I have."

"And how did you find our company?"

"You," Viktor blurts out, and almost stands and runs back home when he realizes. Jayce expression hasn't changed, though, so he guesses that in for a penny in for a pound. "I saw you perform as Victor Frankenstein three years before I joined. Itwas good. I liked it, and I looked into the company because of it."

Jayce seems genuinely happy to hear that and Viktor would like his heart to beat at a normal pace please and thank you.

"That was one of my first roles with them. And the hardest, maybe? Victor isn't easy," Jayce snorts and Viktor quirks and eyebrow. "I think. Are you easy?"

Viktor's horrified by how his skin prickles at Jayce's tone, but he hits his arm nonetheless.

"No. You were a good Victor, in any case. Hard to believe, knowing you. But you were."

"Knowing me," Jayce says, leaning farther into Viktor's space, and Viktor huffs. "You'd be a better Victor, I think. But I was already the best actor they had, and Ezreal was better as Henry."

"Camille?" Viktor asks, just to be an asshole, but Jayce doesn't bite.

"You saw her as Adam, too. It fit her like glove," Jayce is still too close for Viktor's comfort. "You think you could play Victor?"

"I could," he answers embarrassingly fast, but he's sure that he can do it for once and Jayce seems more amused than offended by it. "I like the role."

"Isn't he too emotional, too?"

"He is, but I don't see him sending notes around asking for a salary."

Jayce laughs at that, and his breathing hits Viktor's cheek, and Viktor looks at him under the shadows of the trees and for the first time finds comfort in the idea of loving him.

-x-

Ezreal is home nursing his sore throat after a particularly long and frustrating session and Jayce is alone, facing the record player with a frown because he’s never been good at practicing duets alone and he’s yet to get All I Ask of You to the level he desires.

He could try. And he does. And it’s a disaster.

“Do you...need help with that?” he starts and turns, halfway through a verse, to find Viktor standing by the door. He’s too tired to feel mortified, at least. “I can leave if you want me to. Sorry to interrupt.”

Jayce should tell him to leave but he wants help and he also wants to see if Viktor can sing Raoul. So his nodding is half morbid curiosity, half a desperate plea for help that he hopes Viktor can answer. If not, at least he’ll have a good laugh. Nothing to lose.

“Yes, sure. Can you do Raoul?”

Viktor enters the room, looking around as he walks, and hums.

“Probably better than Erik, yes.”

Jayce huffs a laugh because honestly, he’s unbelievable.

“Of course. You do love to walk around in that stupid cape, though.”

Viktor shrugs. “It adds a nice dramatic flair,” he stands by the cd player and fidgets, glancing at Jayce from under his fringe. Jayce blames the odd little jump in his heartbeat on nerves. “How are you going about this with Ezreal? Movie approach? Broadway style? Still figuring it out?” “We haven’t decided yet but we are kind of going for over the top. Seems to be what works best.” “Okay. I can do over the top. Whenever you’re ready, I warmed up before.”

Jayce takes a deep breath and nods. He mumbles "fine" between his teeth and approaches the cd player trying to shake off his nervousness. It’s just a rehearsal, one of many, and nothing else.

He starts the music. Viktor takes his hand. And he sings. And Jayce realizes just how awful an idea this was.

Jayce had begrudgingly recognized that Viktor was a good actor and singer but him as Erik is worlds apart from him as Raoul. As Erik he’s a force of nature, brash, unknowable and dangerous. As Raoul he’s tender, soft, he feels close and solid and safe and Jayce almost misses his cue because Viktor has him by the waist and is looking down at him as if he wants him. He’s afraid of his voice cracking with how overwhelmed he feels but he lets it flow and it flows clean. He lets Viktor lead him, grab him by the waist and lift him, tag on him and push him away. And when Viktor steps close and holds his hands throwing his arms around his neck and kissing him feels like the right thing to do.

Viktor freezes and Jayce panics until Viktor lets go of his hands and circles his waist with his arms sighing into his mouth. Jayce doesn’t really care about the playback anymore, his focus is on Viktor’s warmth and his lips and the way his heart is beating in his throat. His fingers grace Viktor’s hair and Jayce opens his mouth and licks Viktor’s lips until he finds his tongue. The player beeps and Jayce jumps and steps away from Viktor as a recorded voice tells them that the next song will start in four seconds.

Viktor is staring at him, wide eyed and open mouthed, and Jayce doesn’t know what to tell him or what to do about all the things he should be facing but refuses to.

So he clears his throat and avoids Viktor’s gaze as he turns the cd player off.

“That was...good. Very convincing. It’d be a good tone for the song, I think.”

“A good tone,” Viktor mumbles, and Jayce swallows. “Why...”

“I’m a professional,” he interjects, before Viktor can say anything else that implies that Jayce kissed him because he wanted to, and plasters a smile on his face before turning to look at Viktor. He looks tense, but Jayce can’t read his expression anymore. “Every adaptation has a kiss. It’s mandatory.”

Viktor stares, blinks, and all of a sudden all tension seems to leave his body and he smiles, small and queasy.

“Right. Of course. That makes sense,” Viktor nods. Jayce nods. “Want to go again?” “No!” even Jayce is offended at how fast he answered but Viktor only raises an eyebrow and shrugs. “It’s okay. I don’t want to get used to your Raoul and have to adapt to Ezreal later.” That’s...not a lie but not exactly true. He doesn’t want another ride on that emotional rollercoaster is the truth.

“I’m...going to leave, then. Good luck.”

Jayce tries not to stare at Viktor’s retreating form but it doesn’t work. He looks fixedly at his back as he walks away and can’t stop looking until he glances over his shoulder, nods, and closes the door behind him.

-x-

Maybe telling Vi what had happened during rehearsals as she's poking at him with pins in the dressing room isn't the best idea he's ever had, but Viktor feels like he has to tell someone or he'll overthink himself into a nervous breakdown.

Vi doesn't prick him but she has never laughed so much in her life, Viktor thinks. She's doubled over, gasping for air, and it takes her a while to be in enough control to breathe properly and straighten.

"If Jayce ever changes I'll be so heartbroken," she says. "I don't see what the problem is? He snogged you, then said something stupid. But he isn't being weird about it, right?"

Viktor shakes his head. If anything, he feels closer than before. It's a small comfort. Even the more so after Viktor has made peace with his own feelings.

"So what is it, then? Just grab his stupid face and kiss him back. It isn't that hard."

"I don't know if he wants me to do that," Vi snorts. "I'm serious. He could've being following the flow of the scene. Something like that."

"Oh my God," Vi's laughing again, more controlled this time, but she does slap Viktor's shoulder hard enough to make him stumble. "Why don't you ask him about it?"

Viktor blanches. Vi rolls her eyes.

"Fine, don't ask him then," she shrugs and Viktor sighs. He's way out of his element. "I told you he wasn't that bad, though. I knew you'd get on with him."

"Maybe too well, is the problem here."

"Funny assholes are so charming," Vi quips, beaming, and Viktor punches her arm softly. "But like. Honestly? If you aren't sure, just wait it out. Knowing Jayce, he'll break eventually. Knowing you, you'll pour all your feelings into your performances and make them very uncomfortable to watch. Caitlyn will be ecstatic, though."

She grimaces, suddenly, and Viktor frowns.

"What."

"Jayce is going to come crying to me about it. He's so overdramatic. He'll throw himself on a couch and start declaiming and I'll have to listen to him for hours on end. Fuck."

"Sorry?"

She shrugs. "It's his own fault. Now stay still so I don't poke you with a pin."

By the time he gets home, he's only been pinned once and he's the one to blame for jumping upon hearing Jayce enter the room, then exiting again once Vi tells him that she's fitting Viktor.

And Jayce has texted him something.

It's a video. Short. It's of Jayce himself, sitting with his back straight, and singing the part leading to the one on e6. His voice breaks and he spits "fuck" and tries again and there it is. He hits the note for maybe a full second and then his voice breaks again but Viktor has heard it. He got there. He can do it. Now it's only a matter of holding it.

Viktor's smiling so wide it almost hurts.

Me: congrats

Me: though I should tell you that I'm not Vi, just in case

Jayce: i knwo

Jayce: i wanted you t see

Viktor feels like screaming.

-x-

Jayce has many problems with Phantom of the Opera, the song, and they not only revolve around the fact that e6 is a hellish note to reach. Some of them are about Viktor.

Specifically about how he looks in full suit, cape strewn around his feet, looking at Jayce with a fire in his eyes that burns him from the inside out. And about how he sounds, mocking and raspy, voice booming as he smirks at Jayce.

If he didn’t know any better, Jayce would think that Viktor was doing this all to spite him. But this is just how he plays Erik. Gloomy but cocky as he reaches out and grabs Jayce from behind, a hand on his hip and the other on his cheek, and Jayce goes with him and struggles to keep his composure because fuck finding Viktor hot, he’s a professional. But it’s so hard when he’s forced to look up and back and they’re harmonizing and Viktor’s leaning in and over and Jayce stutters as he feels himself trying to reach Viktor’s lips.

“What the fuck are you doing,” Ezreal says, and Jayce snaps out of his reverie and disentangles himself from Viktor to step away with an awkward little cough. “Caitlyn, are you seeing this? Oh my god. Is that allowed? Are they gonna start sucking face onstage?”

“It wasn’t bad, it added some nice tension to the scene.”

“No, Ezreal’s right,” Viktor says, behind Jayce and closer than he expected, and Jayce swallows. “This is...it needs to be subtle. We set the wrong tone. Sorry about that.” Jayce almost starts laughing. It’s a close call. Sorry about that? About what? Sorry Jayce almost grabbed me by the neck and made out with me wildly because he has the hots for me? Sorry Jayce can’t control himself? Sorry I look great in costume? But Caitlyn is staring at him and Jayce stops himself before it’s too late.

“Right. We...were trying something new and it didn’t work. Sorry. Can we go again?”

He endures Caitlyn’s piercing gaze for what feels like minutes and Jayce is one hundred percent sure she can see through him and his excuses. She smiles nonetheless and nods.

“Certainly. Take it from the top and, Jayce? I get the awed amazement but please, can we get a bit of fear there too?”

And Jayce is absolutely positive, because he is at that very moment as afraid as he’s ever been of how stupid Viktor makes him, so he affects a smirk and struts into position as he shoots a “sure” over his shoulder.

-x-

They've been rehearsing for so long that there's a certain soothing cadence to going through the motions. There's still tension between Jayce and him, but they're dealing with it in a way that isn't leading to disaster. He likes to think.

He's happy about how that particular enactment of Phantom of the Opera is going. The mood is right, they're in tune, they've been harmonizing fine, they haven't botched the subtlety of it, and now all that's left if Christine's last part. And Jayce felt confident enough that day to try.

So he does.

Viktor does what he's supposed to, though he suspects that he'll never find it any easier to avoid laughing when he has to bellow at Jayce to sing for him, and Jayce sings. Viktor circles him. Tugs on him. Listens to him with his heart beating faster and faster until the moment comes and Jayce is looking at him, almost pleading, and Viktor grabs his wrists loosely as Jayce breathes and his voice flows clean.

It doesn't break, he holds it until the music fades, and then he stops and grabs onto Viktor's forearms breathing hard and fast, still staring up at him wide eyed and looking as shocked as Viktor feels.

"You did it," Viktor says, overwhelmed, and Jayce throws his arms around his neck and kisses him.

Viktor holds onto Jayce's waist and kisses back with all he's got, trying to tell him everything he can't quite put into words in a way that doesn't need any. He bites at Jayce's lips until he groans, opening his mouth and licking at Viktor's holding him closer, tugging at his hair. Viktor's heart is beating in his ears and he only breaks the kiss to breathe, refusing to step apart or let Jayce go anyway, feeling Jayce's breath on his chin.

Jayce laughs, dropping his forehead on Viktor's shoulder.

"Fuck you're hot when you sing," Viktor blinks down at Jayce's back, watching his own hands on it in quiet amazement.

"Fuck you're hot always? No, scratch that. Your ego doesn't need to get any bigger."

"Too late," Jayce kisses Viktor's neck lightly and Viktor fidgets. "Stay."

Viktor does.

-x-

Something beeps by Jayce's side and he slaps in its general direction and snuggles into Viktor's side in his bed. The thing keeps on beeping. Viktor groans but doesn't move, so Jayce sighs and sits up.

It's probably way too early to be alive. He looks down at Viktor, sleeping by him, and his stomach does a fun sort of flip that at least makes having woken up worth it. As it turns out, what's beeping is Viktor's phone and Jayce answers it out of spite.

"What," he croaks, and laughter explodes on the other end of the line. Laughter that he recognizes as Vi's. Jayce regrets everything he's ever done, from being born to answering that phone, anticipating what's to come.

"Jaycer! What the fuck!" she's still laughing, gasping for air. Viktor stirs and throws an arm over his lap and Jayce's heart clenches. "I didn't know you were so risqué. Like what if I had been his mom?"

"I would have hanged up, which is what I'm going to do now."

"Oh come on, don't be a stranger. I just wanted to ask my dearest Viktorino how he was feeling about premiering tonight but I'm guessing that the answer's pretty damn good."

She snickers and Jayce rolls his eyes. "Aren't you a riot."

"Jayce, in all seriousness," Jayce does snort, then, because when has Vi ever been serious, and she huffs. "Listen to me. I'm happy for you, okay?"

Viktor mumbles something between his teeth then, sitting up, and Jayce looks at him as he blinks blearily at the wall.

"What time is it," he drawls, and Jayce shrugs. Viktor frowns at him. "Is that my phone?"

Vi's cackling away. This could be the most embarrassing moment of Jayce's whole life, and he acts in musicals for a living.

"It's Vi," Viktor hums, leaning against his side, and Jayce holds his weight with a sigh. For all he knows, Viktor has gone right away to sleep again. "He's out."

"I meant what I said," she says, and Jayce smiles despite himself. Sitting in Viktor's bed, with his weight pressed to his side, holding him as he presumably sleeps, talking to his best friend using Viktor's phone. He feels whole. Satisfied with his life in ways unknown to him until then.

"I know."

Viktor snores, and Vi guffaws loudly in his ear as Jayce tries not to laugh himself.

#league of legends #fic #jayceviktor #jayvik #jayce #viktor the machine herald #i have been awake for a week hello #frankenstein a new musical is Good

17 notes · View notes