#this was supposed to be a silly little doodle while i worked on a bigger wip but it ended up taking roughly 10 days off and on to finish or

[starlitshoals]

peekaboo :)

[axvwriter]

The idea of Beauty and The Beast-like as Twins is great. Rip the dorm that Beau runs over? I’m guessing he’s not a fun dorm leader if his personality is to basically be mean to everyone.

The wording for Aurelien’s signature spell is a bit confusing. Is it that when he uses his spell, the person will turn into a sort of beast? Or like, he turns into a mirror image of that person? How is the ugly and insecure side shown?

Oh, do either of the twins know how to sew and fix clothes? Since it looks like Aurelien rips his clothes when he turns into a beast?

MEET MY SONS 🌹✨

Beau :

Age: 18

School: royal sword academy

Dorm: dorm leader

Personality: he is very aggressive and mean because he hates other people , but is very protective over his twin

Likes: reading ,black coffee and being by himself

Dislikes :people and bullies

AURÉLINE :

Age: 18

School: Night Raven College

Dorm: Pomefiore

Personality: he’s shy and not super confident but is very sweet after his shyness cools off

Likes: reading , feeding birds, and tea

Dislikes: coffee and ripping clothes.

Background :

The twins family are under a cursed every 40 years a son or daughter will be born as a beast and the rose will grow back and will reset itself for every 40 years. The twins were the last one to be born and unfortunately one of them was cursed as they grew up the twins were treated differently. One was treated with kindness because of his beauty and the other was treated like he was unwanted. Beau notices that and he doesn’t like it. He never understood or why his parents and other people treated his brother so poorly because of something he could not control. The days that he was bullied, he was there to protect his brother, he refuses to be friends with anybody because he believes that everybody has the same thought process. Aurélein grew up with a lot of self doubt and not confident in his appearance because of how people treated him in the past so now he’s in NCR in vils domain to build up his confidence.

Hope you enjoy them That’s all I got.

Pose references:

[baddiewiththebook]

Over the Years | e.m x reader | p. 2

-> The origin story of Eddie Munson, and how he fell in love with the worst person he possibly could - his best friend.

-> eddie munson x you (she/her)

-> friends to lovers, slow burn, angst

-> warnings - strong language, suggestive themes, smut [18+]

-> <-

Sep. 1974

It’s as if you’re already going off to college. Dropping her baby off for the first day of first grade gives your mom crippling worry. She tugs at the fabric of your frilly pink top that she was gifted while you were still in her belly.

There is a part of her that always wants you by her side. She can’t let go of when you were a brand new babe. You and her did everything together. She still sits in the back with the other parents, while you practice at your etiquette classes on Saturdays.

If you could tell her how ridiculous they are without shattering her spirit, you would without a second thought. Who knew there were so many different types of spoons? Or that walking with your shoulders up is aggressive and unladylike?

You have much more fun when you’re digging for worms with Eddie and racing him around the trailer because you’re faster than him even on such short legs.

A set of footsteps approach from behind where you stand at the front of the school. It tears your mom up, but she’s got to stop picking at your clothes and slicking down loose pieces of hair. You’re clean, you’ve been fed a full meal and you have your lunch pale. Oh - she twists your arm. Lunch pale? Where’s your- the pink strap drops from her shoulder.

“Here, baby,” she might lose her head if she isn't careful. Handing over your lunch pale, she loops the strap over your shoulder and secures it with a tight tug. “You ready?”

Wayne’s giving a lecture to Eddie about responsibility, and he’s hoping that whatever Eddie is staring at behind him isn’t too interesting and that he’s actually listening to what his uncle is saying. Alas, there’s only so much he can do.

“You take her hand and you walk her straight to her classroom. Eddie,” Wayne’s warning straightens Eddie out, “make sure the teacher sees her. Okay?”

“I got it,” Eddie kicks the gravel under him. “Can I go now?”

“Hug,” it isn’t a question and Wayne sneaks a kiss on the top of Eddie’s head.

Meanwhile, your mom is suffocating you into an endless hug. She holds back her tears as best as she can, but her sniffling gives away the secret.

When she’s ready, you turn away from her. Your backpack is half of your size. Silly little doodles and sparkles scream out across the fabric.

Eddie holds out his hand, and you gladly wrap your fingers around his. The two of you are sucked into the swarm of kids entering the school building, and your mom will stand there until she absolutely is sure that pink glittery bag is gone.

“Do you think it ever gets easier?” She toys with the necklace around her neck.

Wayne wipes her eye, “no, I suppose not.”

“Do you want to get a bite to eat before I head off to work?” Your mom offers. “I’ll pay.”

“I’ll pay,” Wayne shakes his head. “I’ll meet you at the diner around the corner.”

The crowd tightens inside the school, where you’re hardly able to move around the sea of kids. Parents hang around outside of the classrooms waving goodbye to their children.

You’re hardly sure of yourself. The school is still new under your feet. Tile slips beneath you. Everything smells fresh inside. It’s clean. You’re a fan of clean.

Eddie keeps to his word and even tightens his grip when you’re about to be separated by a bigger guy. Fifth graders. They’re all that once they’re at the top of the food chain. Compared to scrawny you, you’re like a minnow in a sea of swordfish.

You near an open classroom where the orange candy colored door has a number one stuck onto a bright orange sun. There’s a few smiley face stickers dancing down the door frame.

A friendly face greets you at the door. Her hair is like the maple syrup you drown your pancakes in. Skin like soap. And, you think she smells like mint.

“Good morning, Eddie!” Her cherry cheeks pinch upwards. “Are you helping your friend to class? That’s very sweet of you!”

Eddie was enrolled in her first grade class a few years ago. Mrs. Clark is one of the kindest ladies that he ever met. They had fun guessing colors and counting numbers together. Sometimes she would give them funny little rewards like candy or cool shiny pencils.

Mr. Brown, Eddie’s new third grade teacher, will surely not do that. The man is about as interesting as a plank of wood. Still, he should try to learn something. Maybe he can finally master cursive writing. That would be a neat trick.

You spin around when Mrs Clark ushers you forward. Brows furrowed into the center of your forehead, Eddie drops your hand and sends you on your way with a wave.

“I’ll see you at recess,” he reassures you.

“Okay,” you swallow those nerves. “Bye, Eddie.”

There’s a hum that separates the classroom from the hallway. Chaos consumes outside the room, but inside is much calmer and quieter. Encouraging posters flash at you from the walls. An alphabet stretches across two corners or the walls at the tippy top. You know your alphabet like you know your numbers because your mom wouldn’t let you rest all summer. She insisted you must know them, before you get into class.

“Do you see your name on the front of any of these desks?” Mrs. Clark encourages your independence.

Weaving between the rows of desk, you do find your name plastered largely on a piece of construction paper that sits atop your desk. You hang your backpack over the back of the desk, before sliding into your chair.

“You can color your name tag if you would like,” she encourages, “you can use your crayons or there’s a big bucket we share over there.”

There’s a whole wall of construction paper, crayons, markers and art supplies that you could choose from. You’re going to enjoy this class a lot. You just know it.

Mrs. Clark leaves you to return to the hallway, while waiting for a few more kids. That cookie cutter grin never leaves her face.

Your mom told you that everything you need is inside that backpack. Unzipping the biggest pocket, you find a purple pencil case. It still has that zesty waxy smell from last year. You go ahead and drop the case onto your desk, before popping the lid open.

“Hi,” pops out a young brunette girl about your height and weight. She’s got on overalls that are one size too big, and she’s missing a tooth in the front of her face.

“Hi,” you smile with all of your teeth.

“Can I borrow some of these?” Her eyes go wide with interest at the particularly pretty pink crayon you have in that box.

You are ready to tell her that there’s a shareable box on the countertop that’s already being picked through by several of your classmates, but before you get the chance, she’s already taken a couple of your crayons. Scrunching your brows into a tight knot, you let the interaction go for now. Your mom’s voice rings in your ears to share with the other kids.

It’s not your favorite thing to do, and your mom chops that up to not having a sibling. Mom says you won’t get one, even though you really want one. Apparently it’s too difficult to get a sibling these days, they’re really expensive. You’ve never seen a store in the mall that sells siblings, but your mom has never been one to lie to you.

They must be rare.

The crayon thief sits right across from you, so you can keep an eye on her. Tongue stuck out from focusing too hard on whatever she’s coloring, you peak over to see. She’s got a cool fish doodled on the right side of the construction paper. The pink is being used roughly to draw some scales across his back.

“That’s cool,” you pipe up.

She finishes the scales, before she speaks to you again, “thanks! Yours is cool too!”

You spent a couple moments drawing lines and shapes across the piece of construction paper in all different colors.

“Thanks!” You say, “What’s your name?”

Lifting the piece of construction paper out in front of her with such theatrics, she traces her name across the paper.

“Robin,” she points. “Yours?”

In a swift motion, you’re also holding up the construction paper so she can read your name off. She nods in acknowledgment, and hands off your pink crayon. Bye, not without sneaking the orange one to scribble a few more scales.

“We should eat lunch together,” Robin decides in that moment. “I don’t have many friends, but I think you’re going to be one of them.”

Your face flushes, “Okay, Robin.”

The moment of chatter has passed, as soon as Mrs. Clark comes into the room with an agenda. She begins by writing her name out in big letters across the chalkboard and then telling you guys something interesting about herself. She has a big dog named Fluffy.

You want a dog, but your mom does not. She tells you that you’re enough responsibility. Dogs are messy.

You never get what you want.

Most of the morning time goes without a hiccup. You’re spelling new words, and your teacher even gives you a list to share with your mom. There’s also something called ‘adding’ and ‘subtracting.’ You haven’t quite gotten the hang of that yet. But, your new friend Robin understands. Her hand shoots up faster than anyone else in class.

By the time lunch rolls around, you’re all told to stand in a straight line at the front of the classroom. Mrs. Clark is leader. You stand with Robin somewhere in the middle, and await your turn to walk. Clutching your lunch bag, you’re excited to share what you have with Robin. She didn’t come with a lunch today, but rather a few dollars to pay for food.

The cafeteria is quite a ways down the hall. You pass by other classrooms that are also ready for lunch. Maybe you’ll find more friends from those classes. Where is Eddie?

When you get into the lunch room, the cafeteria is nearly bare. The children who have a lunch are instructed to sit at a table and to eat what they came with. You’re sitting down amongst a small group of girls that hardly pay attention to you. Their pretty bows wrapped in their hair and their nails all painted up tells you what you need to know.

“This seat is saved,” is also a clue.

You scoot down to give them room for their friend that will never come. Putting your lunch box on top of the table, you undo the straps to find what’s inside. Your mom has given you a sandwich with the crusts cut off. There’s a baggy of chips and a juice pouch. Your favorite flavor.

While you snack on the chips, the cafeteria begins to flow with more life. Eventually, you do see Eddie. He comes into the cafeteria with his own classroom. They’re rambunctious and awfully loud. Eddie heads for the long line to buy his lunch, but not before catching you sitting by yourself and he sends a wave your way.

You wave back at him, and hear the girls next to you snickering. Dropping your hand, you go back to hiding in your bag of chips. One of the girls leans to your ear;

“Do you like-like him or something? Is he your boyfriend?” She snickers. “He looks like a girl. Look at his hair! Do you like girls or something?”

“Eddie is my friend, and he’s not a girl,” your eyes begin to well up, but you take a deep breath before any of them fall.

“Aw,” she doesn’t miss a beat, “you gonna cry? Where’s your mommy?”

Robin approaches the scene just in time, as she overhears these pigs making fun of you. Slamming her tray in between you and her, she swings her leg over the bench.

“This seat is saved,” the girl scoffs, then puts her hand on the bench.

“I don’t see any name on it,” Robin sits hard onto the girls knuckles.

The girl yelps, and babies her fist.

“Are you going to cry?” Robin imitates the girl’s pouty lip.

“I’m telling!” The girl shouts in defeat.

“I’m not scared of you,” Robin rolls her eyes as the girl gets up. When she’s gone, she faces you, “you okay? Don’t let her get to you.”

“I’m okay,” you hold out your pudding cup. “Here.”

“Oh, wow!” Robin beams. “Thanks! You want my jello?”

“Sure!”

The two of you talk about not-so-important details of each other’s life. Robin’s bedroom has a red clock on the nightstand, and your bedroom used to be an extra closet before you were born. It’s all the same to you. Then, Robin tells you about her parents being business people. She’s not really sure what that means, but the house they live in is just down the street. She says she’ll talk to her mom, and maybe you can sleepover sometime.

You’ll talk with Robin throughout lunch, and then some more while you play on the structure outside at recess. The slide quickly becomes your favorite. Robin really likes the swings. While you push her on the swings, Eddie takes a turn on the one next to you two.

“Hi!” Eddie bounces into the seat.

You wave, “Robin, this is my neighbor, Eddie.”

“Hi, Eddie,” Robin twists about in the swing. “Do you want to play?”

“Okay,” Eddie taps your shoulder. “Tag, you’re it!”

Wind whipping in your face, you dart through the play structure after Eddie. Robin hugs the slide where you can’t see her, but her laughter gives her away. You tap on her shoulder because Eddie has grown much longer legs, and you’re too tired to find him across the field.

You dash away in Eddie’s direction. Screaming at the top of your lungs, you charge at him to yelling that Robin is ‘it’ now. Hugging a tree, you spin a few times, before Robin will give up and run after Eddie.

It’s not too long, before a few of Eddie’s friends join in on the fun. They’re older and much speedier than the two of you, but the chase is so rewarding.

Lungs burning. Heart pounding. A smile that cracks the sides of your lips. The only reason you stop the game is because a whistle blows in the distance. You're beckoned inside by your teachers.

"I'll see you later, Eddie!" You wave to him across the playground.

Eddie shouts from the line forming in front of his class, "Bye!"

-> <-

[July 1979]

tags -> @leelei1980 @sheneedsrocknroll92

[nelson-and-friends]

What are your hobbies?

Eh, well, I've always been pretty busy, with all the work I do, but I suppose now's the time to get back into the little hobbies I have.

I've always enjoyed doodling my Pokémon. Even if it is mostly in the margins of my research notes. I get to draw their silly little faces! And they greet me when I flip through my old notes.

My other bigger one is the flute. Any kind of flute. I have a collection of all different kinds of flutes: a couple different standard metal one, a traditional wooden one from Johto, and a Celestica flute heirloom from my dad's family. I would love to get my hands on an accurate Azure flute replica, but those things are super rare and expensive.

Usually I keep one of my standard flutes in my bag, so if I have any free time I can play it on the go. It's fun to make up different tunes for each place that I visit.

Now that I think about it, there's a couple places around Unova that hold jam sessions often. Maybe I'll visit those while I'm recovering.

Also, I only know how to play one thing on the Celestica flute. It's a very finicky instrument, with it having no hole or buttons to actually play with. On the outside it just looks like a tube, but the inside is very intricately carved, with all sorts of strange channels and stuff. It's a really cool instrument and I want to learn how to play it more. Then again, there's little to no guides on the internet on how to play it, and my dad only knows the one tune. I would ask my grandma, but she lives in Sinnoh and doesn't have a phone, and I can't really go far while I'm recovering.

Oh! Um, sorry about that little tangent on flutes. I hope I answered your question? I don't really have many hobbies. Most of my life revolves around Pokémon.

[twdeadfanfic]

St. Patrick’s night III

Murphy MacManus x Reader

Summary:  You’re left alone on St. Patrick’s night, the people you were supposed to hang out with  seemingly having forgotten you, but what seemed to be an awful night turns into something completely different when you meet the MacManus twins.

Another chapter for this thing that was supposed to be a one-shot but got out of hand...

The next day at work, you were once again distracted thinking about the MacManus twins. You wondered if they meant it when they’d said they’d pick you up from work that day, you were a bit worried that they wouldn’t, but you couldn’t see them lying like that…maybe they’d forget, though, or something else would come up… You knew it was better not to overthink it, though, and you tried to focus on doing your job.

It wasn’t easy, though, as you kept wondering about Murphy, and how he hadn’t said anything about having kissed you, and he hadn’t kissed you again either… You knew it was probably because he’d kissed you only because it was St. Patrick, but, what if he thought you didn’t want to kiss him? That you weren’t interested? Maybe you should have said something when he’d kissed you? You wouldn’t mind kissing him again…

You wouldn’t mind taking time to get to know each other either, see if you both wanted to go on dates or something…your cheeks heated up at the idea, feeling nervous already and it was just an idea in your head…and Murphy might not even be interested. He hadn’t said anything about it after all. Maybe you should try to gather the courage to actually ask him yourself…it sounded intimidating, though…

Focusing on your job was proving to be hard, even if you tried your best, and you couldn’t stop counting the hours until you were done, barely managing to eat your lunch. Once the clock marked five, you and your coworkers began to clean up your desks and put everything into place before gathering your own stuff and leaving.

You walked in front of a group of your coworkers, who were talking and laughing together, ignoring you, but you didn’t care anymore, you were better off without them. As you walked outside, you saw the MacManus waiting for you, and you couldn’t help your smile. Yes, you were much better with the twins as your friends than trying to socialize with the assholes you worked with.  The brothers smiled too when they saw you, approaching you to greet you.

“Hi, lass.”

“Hi, you came.” You didn’t mean to sound like you had thought they might stand you up, but you did sound a bit surprised.

“Of course, love, we told ye,” Murphy said, frowning.

“Yeah, yer a woman of little faith, lass,” Connor teased you, but he frowned when he saw your coworkers walking out of the building too, stopping at the door to chat and say goodbye to each other without even giving you a glance. “Don’t blame ye, considerin’ the kind of pricks yer surrounded with,” Connor said, didn’t seem to mind if your coworkers hear him or not…you were a bit afraid of their reaction if they did…but no, Connor was right, they were pricks.

Murphy was looking at your coworkers too, but he wasn’t frowning like Connor, instead, he smirked as his eyes filled with mischief, and you barely had time to wonder what he was up to before he’d stepped even closer to you, reaching to cup your face, and then he was kissing you.

It wasn’t as tentative and soft as the St.Patrick’s kiss, neither as brief, and you felt your brain sort of melt as butterflies seemed to flutter in your belly. Your hands found their way to Murphy’s shoulders almost by their own accord, but he didn’t seem to mind, as he placed a hand on your waist while the other kept cupping your cheek, even when he pulled back.

You could only blink at him in silence, your brain still feeling a bit numb in the best way, and Murphy smirked at you.

“Better than the St.Patrick’s kiss, love?” He asked, loud enough for your coworkers, who had gone silent, to hear. You nodded, still wordless, and Murphy’s smile went bigger.

“So…should I kiss the lass too or…” Connor said, and it was obvious that he was joking, but Murphy frowned nonetheless, scoffing as he shoved his brother, who chuckled.

“Come on, love, let’s go.” Murphy smiled at you, offering you his arm, and you felt a bit shy but hooked your arm with him, smiling bashfully when Murphy smiled at you. Connor smirked and walked to your other side, hooking his arm with yours too, and Murphy rolled his eyes. “Will ye quit?!” He complained, trying to hit his brother, and so you ducked your head.

“Hey, not fighting while I’m in the middle…” You joked, chuckling.

“Sorry, lass,” both twins apologized as you three began walking, Connor letting go of your arm.

“So…do you have plans?” You asked as you walked.

“What if we get somethin’ to eat and go to our place before goin’ to doc’s?” Connor suggested.

“We live right in front of the pub,” Murphy explained.

“Well, that’s convenient,” you chuckled. “Okay, sounds good.”

The Irish neighborhood wasn’t close to your work, but you went walking anyway. You didn’t mind, and neither did the twins, who kept arguing about what to get for dinner. Murphy wanted pizza and Connor Chinese, and both twins were trying to win you to their side, but you didn’t mind, you liked both.

“Come on, ye have to pick one,” Murphy told you. “And sure ye know pizza is better, aye?” You didn’t know how Murphy could look like trouble one second, then the next he could give such convincing puppy eyes, but you were about to cave and pick pizza even if ye were leaning more to Chinese.

“We literally had pizza yesterday,” Connor complained, rolling his eyes at his twin before looking at you. “Seriously, lass, we’d only eat pizza if it were up to him.”

“Ye weren’t complainin’ that much when ye ate a whole pizza by yerself…” Murphy grumbled.

They both looked at you expectantly, waiting for you to choose, and you tried not to give in to Murphy’s puppy eyes. “Well, if you had pizza yesterday, then I’d say it’s fair that we have Chinese today.”

“Aye!” Connor nodded, looking at his brother with a smug grin, and Murphy scoffed.

“Can’t believe ye betrayed me like this, love,” he pouted, but then he was smirking, and so you knew he didn’t mean it.

“We can have pizza any other day,” you offered, smiling.

“Aye? Ye wanna eat with us another day?” Murphy asked, grinning in that way that lighted his face in such a pretty way that gave you all the butterflies.

“Yeah, sure.” You nodded, looking down shyly. “If you wanna.”

“Sure we do, love,” Murphy said with that pretty grin and Connor nodded, smiling.

“Okay..okay, great.” You smiled bashfully, glad that it seemed they did want to eat with you any other day and hang out with you.

*

The brothers hadn’t been kidding, they did live in front of the pub, in an old building that didn’t seem quite fitting for housing… You didn’t know how you expected their place to be, but certainly not what you saw when you walked in, and you blinked as you looked around.

It was…it was illegal lofting, that for starters, you were sure of it, and the distribution was…peculiar, so to speak, especially for people not living alone, considering that there were no rooms. Not even a bathroom, there was no wall or anything at all hiding the toilet, neither the row of showers against the wall. You get that the MacManus were twins and all that but…they really did not seem to care for privacy. You really hoped that you didn’t have to pee while you were there, because you weren’t about to do it in front of them.

The place was small, and there wasn’t much there. On one side, there was a couple of mattresses on the floor, separated by a nightstand table in which you saw a couple of mugs and bottles of beer, a small table with some more empty bottles of beer and empty packages of pizza, and a couple of ashtrays full of smoked cigarettes, and some mismatched chairs around it.  Against the wall, there was a tattered sofa that seemed about to die, a small tv on top of an even smaller table, and for some reason, the fridge was between the sofa and the tv, with a lamp on top of it…peculiar, but the whole place was…peculiar.

On the other side, there was a small, old stove, an older sink, and a small worktop which surface was almost covered by bottles of booze, some still full but most empty. If you had any doubt that the boys liked to drink, it was gone by now.

You didn’t want to seem rude or shallow, or judging, or anything like that, and so you stopped looking around like that. The brothers hadn’t seemed to notice, though, or to care, they walked in and took off their rosaries, hanging them on a couple of nails on the wall next to the door, and then Connor left the Chinese takeaway on the table.

“Ye hungry, love?” Murphy asked you and you nodded, since you had barely been able to eat your lunch as you wondered if the MacManus might forget that they had made plans with you, which now sounded silly, you shouldn’t have doubted them.

“Let’s eat,” Connor said as he began to take the food containers out of the bag, the smell making your mouth water already.

You stepped closer to the table to help him with it, and your eyes landed on an open notebook under a beer bottle, spotting some drawings and doodles on it, though before you could get a closer look, Murphy snapped it, almost making the bottle fall, and he closed the notebook and threw it to one of the mattresses.

You frowned, confused, but Connor snorted. “Murph likes to get all artistic sometimes,” he said, prompting Murphy into hitting his twin’s head as he snapped at him to shut up.

“You draw those?” You asked, looking towards the notebook on the bed before looking at Murphy, who to your surprised, seemed almost shy. For how cocky and smug he seemed to look more often than not, it was strange to see him looking almost embarrassed, and you didn’t like it. You hated that you had made him feel like that.

“Yeah, he drew our tattoos in that notebook of him,” Connor said, nodding.

“Told ye to shut up,” Murphy snapped again and this time Connor was quick to stop his hands before he could hit him.

“I think that’s really nice!” You rushed to say, and you meant it, you were impressed. “Seriously, it’s great!”

“Aye?” Murphy looked at you like he thought you didn’t mean it, or even like you were trying to make fun of him, and so you nodded eagerly, smiling.  He still seemed a bit embarrassed, but he smiled at you. “Connor draws too, he tattoed all mine,” Murphy said, gesturing to his neck, and before you could say how impressive that was, Connor spoke.

“You did all mine better.” Connor shrugged, reaching to grab Murphy’s arm and frowning at the tattoed cross. “Parts of this look wonky.”

“I think it looks great!” You said, impressed. “Both his and your tattoos, it’s so impressive, seriously!”

“Aye?” Murphy asked you, his smile bigger now.

“Yes!” You nodded. “Seriously, you not only draw your tattoos but you tattoo them too?! It’s amazing! If I ever want a tattoo, I know who to ask!”

“Ye’d ask me?” Murphy asked with a smile that made you feel all funny and smile too, and you nodded.

“Sure, why not?” You shrugged, and Murphy gave you that pretty, bright smile, that made you consider if he might mind it if you kissed him again…

You barely noticed Connor as he began fumbling with the food containers again, focused as you were on Murphy and that damn smile, but when you finally looked at Connor, you noticed that he seemed amused at Murphy and you. You felt your cheeks heating up a bit, and you tried to kick your brain into working again, helping with the food.

You three decided to settle on the sofa for dinner instead of at the table, since Connor suggested that you could watch a movie, even if you weren’t sure that old thing would hold you three without falling into pieces, and so they dragged the tv in front of the sofa. Connor had a small stack of what seemed old action movies, and once again you had the final vote on what to watch, since the twins kept arguing about it, Murphy complaining that they’d seen the movie that Connor’d picked a million times already while Connor retorted that it was classic worth watching another million times.

You didn’t give it much thought, you didn’t care much and you didn’t want the food to go cold while the boys argued. Since you had sided with Connor on what to eat, this time you voted for Murphy’s choice of movie. He smiled smugly at his twin, but Connor didn’t complain much, since he liked that one too.

It was so much fun, to eat and watch the movie while the twins kept commenting on it, usually Connor saying details that you hadn’t cared to notice before, things that he liked, and Murphy just making fun of it until they both hit each other from time to time, but you knew they didn’t mean anything bad by it, so it was fun too…you didn’t know what was more entertaining, to watch the movie or to watch the MacManus…they had a way of moving in sync most of the time that was hypnotizing, even if it was just to bring food into their mouth, but when they began bickering they were so endearing and funny…you loved it.

At some point, though, once you three had finished your food, you started to find it hard to focus on the movie, as you felt Murphy’s fingers playing with your hair. You froze for a second before looking at Murphy, who was sat down between Connor and you. He smirked at you and you felt your cheeks heating up but a smile tugged at your lips too, it seemed that every time that Murphy smiled, you couldn’t help but smile too.

Murphy’s smirk went wider at that, and his fingers caressed your hair again before he casually placed his arm around your shoulders. It felt nice, to have him so close to you, almost kind of holding you, but you couldn’t stop your shyness and nerves. You tried to relax, though, you didn’t want Murphy to think that you were uncomfortable or that you wanted him to move away from you…not that there was much space left on the small, tattered sofa though.

“Ye both ain’t lookin’ at the screen, yer gonna miss the best part of the movie,” Connor complained, and you looked away from Murphy and to the tv, a bit embarrassed at being caught by Connor staring at his twin, but also part of you was kind of glad to escape Murphy’s intense glance, that made you feel shy while also making you feel twirls in your belly…

“The whole movie is the best part of the movie for ye,” Murphy scoffed, chuckling.

“It’s a damn good movie,” Connor said as he shoved his brother, pushing him closer to you…not that Murphy seemed to mind, and honestly, you didn’t either, even if it made you shy.

You still wondered what was Murphy’s deal, though, if he wanted just to mess around and have fun, kiss you sometimes, hold you while you watched tv it seemed too, and that was it, or if it meant something else, more. You still didn’t know how to bring it up, how to ask, you knew you should, so as not to obsess, thinking and wondering about it all the time, but the idea of asking him made you feel so awkward… You decided to just enjoy whatever it was, at least for that night.

Once the movie finished, and Connor’s monologue about it finished too, you three made your way to the pub. No sooner had you stepped inside, you excused yourself and rushed to the bathroom. You had been needing to go for a while now, but since there was no walls or anything hiding the toilet at the MacManus’ place, you had been waiting until you were at the pub, no matter neither of the twins had seemed to have any qualms about it while you were there.

Once you left the bathroom, you noticed that the brothers had sat down on one of the tables instead of at the bar counter, and you liked it more. They were sat down next to each other, and when you approached them, Murphy smiled at you, pushing a pint towards the seat in front of him, while Connor looked at you seeming amused.

“We ordered ye a pint, love, hope it’s okay? Murphy asked you.

“Yes, it’s perfect, thanks.” You nodded as you sat down, but you frowned at Connor, wondering why he seemed so amused, and he noticed it, smirking.

“So, lass…I was tellin’ to my brother that ye were too shy to take a piss at home and that’s why ye ran to the bathroom like that,” he said, and you almost groaned aloud, mortified and beyond embarrassed. Your cheeks burned and you almost hid your face on your hands. “See…told ye.”

Connor chuckled, looking at his brother, and you felt like hitting him in the head like Murphy sometimes did…they both seemed to enjoy embarrassing each other, and you hoped Connor, or even both, hadn’t decided to extend it to you too and try to embarrass you too.

“What…but lass, ye got nothin’ to be embarrassed about!” Murphy said, which just made you feel more embarrassed. “We all gotta piss!”

“Can we just…talk about anything else at all? Please?” You begged, feeling your face so hot that you wouldn’t be surprised if it caught fire.

The twins seemed to take pity on you, letting it go, and they began telling you about one day at work in which Murphy got himself locked inside the bathroom of the meatpacking factory. and Connor had to “throw the door open to rescue him, lass, we had to pay for it, ‘cause Murphy was an idiot,” he explained, earning a shove from Murphy.

“I ain’t an idiot, the lock was not openin’ no matter what, I promise, love,” Murphy insisted as if it was a matter of life or death.

“I believe you,” you assured him, laughing, and as the brothers began bickering again, you couldn’t help your grin looking at them, they were just so fun to be around, that soon you had forgotten your earlier embarrassment.

Unsurprisingly, the MacManus finished their drinks before you, and so Murphy went to the bar counter to order a couple more. The waitress was busy waiting tables, Murphy had been right when he told you that the pub was busier at the weekends, there was almost the double of people than you had seen before, and so the twins didn’t want to bother the waitress.

You looked at Murphy as he waited for Doc to get him the drinks, getting lost in thought again. You had tried to, but you couldn’t stop your mind from wandering to what Murphy thought of you, of this thing that seemed to be going between you and him, whatever it was…

You heard Connor chuckling and when you looked at him you felt your cheeks heating up at his amused smirk.

“Do I wanna know what are ye thinkin’ lookin’ at my brother like that…or don’t I?” He teased you, arching an eyebrow.

“Nothing,” you murmured, looking down, and judging by Connor’s chuckle, he didn’t believe you.

“He’s been all corny and givin’ ye the heart eyes since St. Patrick’s too, it’s made it easier to mess with him, gotta thank ye for that,” Connor chuckled again.

You felt as if your heart had done a summersault while butterflies decided to flutter in your belly…Murphy gave you the heart eyes? Really? Connor knew his twin, so it must be true, right? Unless Connor was just messing with you…it didn’t seem like so, though.

Connor looked at his brother, who was coming back with their drinks. “Don’t go breakin’ my brother’s heart, though, lass.” His voice let you know that he was joking, but anyway, you didn’t plan on doing that, you were more concerned about the opposite…still, the sight of Murphy’s grin as he sat down in front of you, had you smiling like an idiot again, despite the mess of feelings in your heart and the mess of thoughts in your head, despite any concern about what was going on between you and him.

*

Well, we got kisses.

If you liked this, reblogs and comments are more than welcome, thanks.

As always, excuse my English, it’s not my first language.

Murphy MacManus taglist, let me know if you want to be (un)tagged:

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@huffledor-able541 @browneyes528  @princessxpunk @easypeasyweasleywheezes

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@crustyrose @dazzledamazon @pittbull-enthusiast  @elodieyung @leej2468 @angelofthorr @pulplorrd @collecting-stories @sapphire-angel​

[tomfreakinghollandneedsaoscar]

Ice Cream Princess

Pairing: JJ Maybank x Reader

Summary: There isn't a day that JJ doesn't come to visit you at work. On the day he doesn't, you decide to visit him at work instead.

Word Count: 1,876

Note: A Stranger Things and Outer banks crossover imagine that no one asked for. Please give me feedback on anything but the title, I'm judging it and laughing at myself because of it. I hope you love it!

An ice-cream parlor opens up across the street of The Wreck. The owner quickly judges all of the teenagers that come in looking for a part-time summer job. Luckily for you, your older cousin Robin sweet talks her way - agrees to watch his daughter- to get Hopper to hire you on the spot.

Your favorite co-worker is Steve. Both of you share stories and talk about anything and everything. You're weren't too surprised to find he hang outs with "lil punks".

He has a childish side that comes out when it's you two in the shop. If a touron gives you a weird feeling and tries to flirt with you, Steve takes over like a protective older brother. You started calling him mom when he bossed you around the first time.

Last night there was a party held by the Pogues at the Boneyard. When Robin's girlfriend texts you saying that she woke up with a hangover, you agree with her that it would be best if you cover her shrift.

When you get to the shop on your bike, you park it next to Steve car and cringe when the annoying front door bell rings as you enter. "I'm surprised to see your face this morning."

"Good or bad surprised, mom?" He rolls his eyes as you walk past him and pat his shoulder.

He yells, "the worst!" As you make your way to the small back room and put your backpack in your locker.

You grab the lanyard Pope gave to you and trace the lil doodles Kiara drew on your nametag.

Clocking in, you wave at Hopper through his open office window. He learns further in his chair, arms across his chest.

"You work too much."

"You don't pay me enough."

Humming to the radio that's connected to the speakers that hang from the ceiling, you look over Steve shoulder to see which Playlist he's playing.

You mutter, "I hate that thing" when the bell rings.

JJ is leading everyone, arms flaring around as he jumps on top of the counter. He bends one knee underneath his other leg to sit more comfortably sideways and grins at you.

"You're ass is going to break that and you'll have to pay for it."

"Are you telling me I have a fat ass?" He puts a hand over his heart and fakes cries. "That's the nicest thing you've ever said to me, Princess."

You shove him off, chuckling when he almost doesn't save his fall and trip over his own two feet.

"So dramatic like always and Y/N is still my name." You point down at your nametag. "Y/N. Not Princess."

"What do you guys want today?" Steve asks.

JJ glares at him but smirks when you pick up a scoop. He leans over the counter and says, "I'll like a lick of that."

You tell Pope thank you for slapping JJ in the back of the head, making his gray and red snapback fall off.

He runs his fingers through his hair and you barely catch it when throws it towards you.

"You would look better in it than that." He reaches over to tap on your uniform hat wear.

You blush at the hidden complaint and slap his hand away.

"Stop flirting." John B says as he hands over JJ his ice cream.

Kiara slightly pushes him towards the table, they always sit at.

Steve smirks as he leans against the counter. "Princess?"

In the corner of your eye, you see JJ giving himself whiplash. You know Steve is on a mission to find a nickname for you, especially something that you hate as much as he hates 'mom'.

But JJ doesn't. "It's a long story."

"I'll love to hear it someti-"

JJ claps his hands together as the chair slides across the floor as he stands up. "Once upon a time, little miss Y/N dressed up as a princess one Halloween. There was a picture of proof that her mother gladly showed me. Ever since, I've called her Princess and one day she'll call me her Prince. The end."

Sarah 'awwws' and says, "That's actually really adorable."

"Thank you, I know." JJ says proudly and you both smile at each other.

─────

During your next shift, it's only John B and JJ.

"Well hello there boys."

JJ takes off his sunglasses off slowly and puts his arm on the counter. "Princess."

You try not to pay attention to how good his arms look with his gray tank top.

You're the one who breaks eye contact. You don't miss the little fist pump he does but you miss how his shoulders drop when you look at him after seeing how panic John B looks.

Oh, right.

"We need to get the biggest bowl of Sarah's favorite ice cream. Her monthly came to visit and John B, the sweetheart idiot he is, doesn't remember her flavor."

You make 'o' shape with your mouth. "Got it. It's the end of the world for him. Well lucky for you, I know it."

John B screams out, "I owe you one" as he grabs the cup container from you and runs out to the Van.

JJ puts money in the tip jar. "From future Sarah."

After you watch him put his sunglasses back on and the door bell rings when the door closes, Robin pinches your leg.

"Are you going to start helping me again with this or am I going to have to restock everything myself?"

Blushing, you say, "I'm not Steve."

She stops laughing after a few seconds to say, "I bet you that JJ knows his Princess favorite ice cream flavor."

"Shut up."

─────

Pope, Kiara, and JJ all give you a pointed look when they stop by the shop before seeing a movie. The movie you agreed to go to one minute but then the next you said "wait sorry, I have to work." and hanged up on JJ.

"I'm about to drag you and your cute stubborn ass out of here for once and all, Princess."

Kiara has a hand on her hip, when she says, "You need to take a break."

You close your eyes and throw your head back, annoyed that she's right. "You guys know how much I need this job and the money."

A look of understanding crosses JJ's face but he straightens himself and says in a stern voice, "You are also supposed to have fun with your friends once a while."

"I know that!" He doesn't flinch at you raising your voice.

Thinking he's used to it, your heart and face fall.

"I- I'm sorry. How about we all hangout tomorrow at the Chateau and relax? Or we can do anything you guys want to do. Let John B and Sarah know and-"

JJ strides behind the counter and pulls you in a hug. No one words are needed when you shove your face against his chest and catch your breathing.

Pope puts a hand on his shoulder. "Come on, JJ. We're going to be late."

"You know what? I'm actually in the mood for ice cream not theater popcorn. Go on without me."

Kiara tells you both goodbye and Pope mouths "whipped" and does the wrapped around a finger hand's motion as she pulls him away.

You look up at JJ. "You didn't have to do that."

"Do what?" His cocky grin becomes bigger when you roll your eyes before helping a costumer. He leaves the counter to sit at the table, hands on the bottom of his chin as he does silly faces from behind the stranger's shoulder.

─────

Steve looks up when he hears the bell ring and watches as JJ loses his step.

Before he can walk away, Steve says, "She will be back shortly. I sent her to the bank real quick for more change."

JJ lets the door close behind him. He takes a big breath in as he turns around. "You trust her that much, huh?"

"Don't you?"

JJ lets out a dark laugh. "It's different. You get payed to see her, I do it because I want to."

That's Steve's breaking point. "Okay, I don't understand why or how you started hating me the first time you met me but I think I can get a wild guess why. A attractive, couple of years older comes into her life. You're jealous over nothing, dude. I see her as annoying little sister. And yeah, I get payed to do this shitty job but when she's working too, she makes it fun."

"Are you done?" JJ is looking at anything but him.

"One more thing, don't waste anymore time."

Steve looks at the clock on the wall and figures you'll be back any minute.

"I have to get to work." JJ looks over his shoulder.

He opens his mouth but changes his mind, and closes it and walks out.

On the other side of the sidewalk, he doesn't stop when you call out his name.

──────

"Funny seeing you're here."

JJ slams his tray down on the table next to yours. "I work here."

He stops wiping it down and gets the sudden urge to squirt you with the cleaning product bottle when he hears you tapping your feet against the chair across on of your table.

When he looks around and notices there aren't a lot of people in the dinner room he sits down and huffs and puffs. "Why are you here?"

"What? You can come visit me at work but I can't?"

When you both notice another bus boy, you let JJ grab the nearest glass pitcher and pull you some water.

"Now you can't walk away and ignore me, like how you did a couple of hours ago."

"I'm sure Steve told you all about it." The biter in his voice makes you lean over the table to grab his hand.

He jumps but doesn't pull away.

"He told me that you came in the shop, you looked like a little lost puppy when you made eye contact with him instead of me. You guys actually had somewhat of a conversation, which, I'm surprised actually happened."

JJ smiles a little as you start spinning one of his rings. "Steve didn't tell me what it was about...at first."

JJ can't sit still.

He stands up and as he talks, he walks in pace. "He, he uh- shit. Fuck, okay. He got in my head. I couldn't talk to you cause I didn't want to say something that would ruin our friendship. I didn't even know how I would say it-to be honest, still don't but you're smart, I think you know where am I going with this-"

He stops talking, mid-sentence when you laugh. "JJ, just say it or I'll crush your ego by saying it first."

"I love you." He says it over and over again in the middle of the kisses after you say it back.

He stops when someone yells his name and tells him to get back to work.

You give him a quick peak and have to put your hands on top of his to move them off of your hips.

"I'll see you later, JJ. We can go watch a movie?"

"Sounds like a date, Princess."

[insomniac-arrest]

Hey, youre the only author I follow on this side and I have a big question... For 5 years by now I try writing a book myself. I have everything! Toughed-out characters, a fully developed plot, sideplots, a map of the world, etc. But... I just cant get it on paper. I draw a lot. Some scenes or just the characters to have refs on hand, colors, clothes and stuff but I just cant put down ONE Chapter in words! Maybe its because I'm a perfectionist and struggle too view my work with the eyes of my friends (who all say my writing is really good) I dont know, I'm never happy with my writings and dont wanna put out stuff I dont like. Do you have maybe some tips? I really wanna publish my story! It makes me sad that it takes soooo much time...

“Perfect is the enemy of done.” ― Catherine Carrigan

I wish I had some easy advice for this dilemma, but the truth is that it’s a toughie. It kind of reminds me of when I used to put off doing essays in high school. I’d make my outlines and think about it in my head. I’d plan. I’d wait for the right moment. Then the due date would pass.

If I got a shitty essay in by the due date I was usually good, it was fine, even half-baked essays usually got me B’s (this isn’t a brag on myself, this is just because the American school system lacks rigor). However, if I missed the due date then I was pretty much screwed. The clock was ticking and the task just got bigger and bigger in my head. It was due! I could do it! Nothing was stopping me! I just needed to actually do it.

But I couldn’t. It was too big in my head. It loomed too large. After the due date passed it had to be perfect or else it had to be nothing. And I would just, never turn it in. By college I stopped doing this, but by then I was studying things that I loved and looked forward to reading about and taking tests on.

There are a couple approaches to your dilemma I can imagine:

1. Go do another project: yep, let it go. Set it aside. Forget about it for a while so it becomes less scary. Time and space can do wonders for the creative process.

In the meantime, I recommend honing your craft. Write silly stories, write stories without plot or structure, write fanfiction and terrible prose, write something for the sake of writing. Honestly, there’s a lot of tried and true wisdom around the artistic statement: start small, get good. Painters do all sorts of tiny doodles before they attempt a masterpiece. Begin with doodles. Learn to build a scene before you build an entire house with it, my friend.

However, if that doesn’t help, then here’s option two:

2. Do some emotional exercises: Walking away from projects works, but not always. It’s something I’ve done in the past and I’ve talked to other people where it’s worked really well for them. Some distance from any projects is good.

However, I see a lot of online advise that’s like “if you don’t like it then walk away!” And that stuff frustrates me because I’m like “I don’t want to walk away! I want to fight for this!” Plus, whenever I have just “walked away” I’ve literally never gone back to any those projects. I don’t regret writing them, but I think we as artists need to emphasize the importance of finishing as well. If you’re serious about this then some parts of it are gonna suck so bad. It’s gonna hurt. It’s gonna be hard. You’re gonna feel shitty because the story is not how you imagined it. You’re going to doubt yourself. Do it anyway. Do it anyway.

“Everything you want is on the other side of fear” —George Adair

I have a mood swing disorder so I do a lot of emotional exercises that are primed to help me distance myself from my emotions. “But you’re supposed to feel your feelings!” You say, and that’s true. Feeling your feelings is step one-- you have to let in, life is suffering, sit with it, look at it, feel it. However, the next step is taking action. You do the thing anyway.

You are not your emotions. 

You have control of how you react to your self-doubt and fear.

Acknowledge them, feel them, and then let them pass like clouds above your head. Then act. It’s okay to be a little hard on yourself here-- like a kind mother. She loves you unconditionally but she also has you do the dishes and put your toys away. She has you do the necessary and hard things, because she loves you.

By the time I was able to write essays in college and actually turn them in I had been to a lot of therapy and then I just . . . started writing. First I wrote for fun, like a madman possessed by a spirit, and now I write for the challenge of it (but at a much slower pace). Writing still often scares me or frustrates me, but that’s okay. It’s normal. They are just passing clouds-- stormy or otherwise. The clouds can’t touch you, not really, so I do it anyway.

Choose whatever path sounds best for you! Writing is a very personal process. It’s hard, but also an incredibly rewarding process. Good luck!

[diyunho]

The Joker x Reader -”On Cloud Nine”

The Clown Prince of Crime died protecting his girlfriend and now The Afterlife Assessment Bureau doesn’t know what to do with him: although J’s actions didn’t change the outcome, it scored major points in his chart and they have to recalculate the final score. Until that happens, The Joker was allowed to wait on the Lower Clouds right below The Higher Clouds where the woman he tried to save is spending eternity.

“Hey lady!” you hear as you watch the beautiful blue skies from your fluffy cloud. ”Hey!”

Y/N looks towards the source of the noise only to notice this strange man with green locks waving at her from the cloud below.

“Yes?”

“Where are we?” the guy asks, having a hard time processing what’s happening to him.

The two don’t recognize each other: once you’re dead, you’ll have no memory of your past; they definitely don’t recall being together while they were alive.

“Not sure, but it’s beautiful,” you sigh and he huffs, annoyed.

“Ugh, it’s boring. Nothing to do besides sitting down and analyze… whatever the hell this is!” J flares his arms around as a voice coming from everywhere echoes in the stillness:

“Please mind your language, sir!”

“Who said that?!” The Joker tries to find the person that just admonished him and there’s no other soul besides the woman he’s having a conversation with.

“I don’t know,” you lift your shoulder up, intrigued. “Kind of weird,” you dangle your feet above the abyss, totally unconcerned about the invisible presence. “What is that?” you point at the sketchbook he’s holding.

“My drawings,” The King of Gotham sulks, restarting to doodle on the almost blank page.

“Can I see?” you curiously inquire.

J bites the pencil and frees his hands, then shows you his current masterpiece.

“Could you hold it higher?” you squint your eyes. “Higher!!”

The expression on your face demonstrates you can’t perceive too much.

“Why don’t you come over?” the man proposes and your stalling makes him snicker: “Don’t worry, I’ll catch you.”

“Hmmm…” you debate on the offer not because you’re afraid of a little jump but because you’re uncertain it’s worth the trouble.

“C’mon!” The Joker wants to get up and help yet Y/N is already hopping down on his cloud: she’s always been independent, one of the qualities he secretly liked about her before they both unexpectedly kicked the bucket. “Nice landing!” J chuckles as you take a sit by him, the artist reprising his work. “What do you think?” he proudly boasts.

You glimpse at the clumsy lines depicting an apparent landscape filled with pumpkins and can’t hold in a smile.

“I think there’s a lot of potential hidden behind the primitive naivety of this little gem,” you give him your honest judgement and J scoffs, intrigued.

“Primitive?!”

“I like your style,” you sweetly reply since you realize you shouldn’t have blurred out the comment; he might be offended by your genuine critique. “The pumpkins are super cute,” you add in order to divert his attention.

“I like pumpkins,” The Joker growls. 

“Me too,” you continue. “That would be an adorable nickname for someone, don’t you think?”

“I suppose,” he shakes his head and mentions: “Why are you staring at me? Do I have something in my teeth?”

“They’re silver,” you bring your face closer to his, puzzled to discern the detail.

“Are they?!” The King touches his mouth, appalled.

“Yes, but it suits you,” the sincere tone calms down his frantic movement.

“Am I ugly?!” his ego emerges even beyond the grave and Y/N has the perfect answer:

“No, you’re handsome in a sort of eerie way.”

J frowns, suspicious.

“So I look creepy?!”

“You don’t look creepy to me,” you candidly emphasize. “In my humble opinion, you’re attractive.”

He straightens his back, pleased at the statement and your rosy cheeks give him a boost of confidence.

“Are you going to ...e-hem…” you cough, flustered at the stupid confession, “…draw another pumpkin over here?” your finger taps on the corner of the paper.

“Might as well,” J agrees and you have no clue that what he’s doing is basically thanks to you.

God knows how much you encouraged his practically nonexistent skills just to keep him away from problems he created for himself and others! You were actually his number one fan and to be honest his only fan: as long as The Clown Prince of Crime was immersed in his unique hobby, it meant Gotham and its citizens were safe.

The Penthouse was filled with The Joker’s phenomenal paintings and sketches, extravagantly framed by yours truly to overcompensate the lack of substantial talent.

“Ma’am, please return to your cloud!” the voice you heard earlier resonates all around once more.

“Why?” you glare left and right, annoyed you can’t see anybody.

“You belong on The Higher Clouds,” the elusive response doesn’t enlighten the mystery. “Hold on, we’re sending our representative over!”

After a few seconds Y/N and the former King distinguish an individual dressed in a black suit carefully jumping from cloud to cloud, steadily approaching his objective.

“Apologies for the delay,” he addresses the stunned couple once in The Joker’s space. “Sir, we had to compile a lot of paperwork for you,” the guy flips pages of a thick file, annoyed. “After adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing your points, turned out your final score is still a negative number.”

“Huh?!” J puckers his lips, confused.

“It seems you were a very bad person, sir; did a lot of despicable things and dying while protecting the girl you loved doesn’t mean diddly squat in the end!”

“Awww,” you gush at the revelation. “That’s so romantic,” you whisper and the man bends over, completely overwhelmed:

“Ma’am, allow me the honor of shaking your hand,” the agent grabs your fingers, softly squeezing them. “You are a true legend and we are forever indebted to your greatness: you put up with him and saved numerous lives also,” he gestures towards The Joker and you gasp, finally understanding the bigger picture.

“He died…for me?!”

“I died for her?!” the awkward pair asks in the same time.

“Yeah, no big deal. You were killed anyway and I’m so, so sorry for that,” the emissary extends his regrets to the woman he admires, entirely disregarding The Joker’s sacrifice.

“No big deal??!!” the latest shouts. “Dying for someone is no big deal?! How the fuck am I still in the negative?!!”

“Language!!!!!!” the omnipresent voice surfaces again.

“WHO.IS.THAT?!” Y/N gets vexed at the multiple invisible interruptions.

“Steve Rogers,” the representative notifies. “He’s in charge of The Profanity Control Department.”

“Who?!” J crinkles his nose, fed up with the messy situation.

“It’s not important,” the agent cuts him off. “What’s important sir is that you can’t be here; we have to move you.”

“Move me?! Where?”

“Yes, where are you taking him?” you quiz the black suited guardian.

“Far away, unless…”

“Unless what?” J crabbily interrogates.  

“Unless someone is willing to transfer their points to you, sir. It hasn’t been done in centuries though; lots of bureaucracy involved and frankly, if I may: why would anybody donate their hard earned credits to you??!!”

The Clown is scandalized at the brutal affirmation while Y/N has a magnificent idea:

“How many points do I have?”

“Mmmmm…,” the man flips more pages and finds the information: “Ten gazillions.”

“How many does he need?”

“Three gazillions.”

“Oh,” you cheerfully clap your hands. “I have plenty so I’ll donate my credits to him.”

“Nah, you don’t want to do that,” the man shrieks, already unhappy with the perspective of putting in overtime for this project. “We’re out of clouds; we’ll have to make more and that takes forever.”

“There are plenty of empty clouds around!” The Joker barks.

“Not empty. They are inhabited by others but you can’t see them: you can only see the people you are connected with, true love type of deal,” the emissary indifferently blurs out.

“So…that’s why I can only see him and he can only see me?!” Y/N’s burning, red face matches J’s stellar entitled smirk after the astonishing revelation.

“Precisely,” the flat tone prompts The King’s logical question:

“Then why can’t I stay on this cloud?”  

“The Lower Clouds are similar to a waiting room; we can’t have them occupied for long periods of time.”

“I’ll share my cloud with him!” you firmly suggest as the emissary is panicking:

“That means more paperwork!! We usually don’t have two residents spending eternity on the same cloud.”

“Make it happen!” J commands. “The lady wants to give me her points and share her cloud. You can’t say no, you said it yourself: she’s a legend!” he preys on the guy’s hesitation.

“I would really appreciate your help,” your disarming smile gives the guardian a nudge in the proper direction.

“Of…of course ma’am,” he stutters because how can one say no to a legend?!

And you surely count on it.

“I have to stipulate a reason for all this, what should I write on the formulary? In a simple sentence, it needs to be specific and concise: why are you gifting him credits and share your personal area?”

Your brain slots are hollow yet there’s one motive:

“I like his drawings.”

The impeccable suit ogles J’s silly scribbling, muttering under his breath:

“Another Picasso…” then louder:

“I’ll do the paperwork; for now, please vacate the premises and go on the Upper Cloud; we have new arrivals that require the Lower Clouds,” he exhales and starts leaping away, leaving you and The Joker behind.

Your cloud descends so you both can step on it and then floats higher in the air again.

Y/N gazes at the stranger in silence, until he breaks the shell:

“Thank you for your generosity, Miss…” J sniffles, realizing an important detail is absent from the whole dialogue. “What’s your name?”

“…I don’t know…” you regretfully answer. “I can’t remember…”

The Joker scratches his chin with a brilliant solution on the horizon:

“You said Pumpkin would be an adorable moniker for someone. Do you mind if I call you Pumpkin?”

“No, not at all,” you gladly accept his proposition. “And you’re welcome, I had so many credits, might as well use them. I have to thank you too for dying for me, Mister… What’s your name?”

“Bits me; I can’t recollect.”

Y/N pouts, upset she doesn’t have a name when a genius recommendation escapes her lips:

“You know… you have this small “J” letter tattoo under your left eye…” you gently poke it and he feels a sudden warmth taking over his body. “Is it ok if I call you J?”

“U-hum,” the hypnotized King gazes at the woman in front of him. “So I have tattoos on my face?”

“Yes, a few: a tiny star and a big one on your forehead that spells ‘Damaged’. And playing cards on your neck…” you describe his ink, mesmerized.

“Do they make me look horrible?”

“You don’t look horrible to me,” you praise and J inflates his chest at the declaration; oh boy, you definitely have a way with words.

“Thank you Pumpkin,” the flirtatious Clown winks and you play with the hem of your shirt, about to burst out with delight. 

“You’re welcome… J.”

“Oh my God!” The Joker snaps out of it since the artist in him is begging for attention:  “The sunset’s gorgeous! I have to sketch this!”

He sits down on the cloud and you scoot over until your thighs touch, interested in his new project.

“Your cloud is a better quality than the one I was on,” he bounces on the white, velvety texture. “It will certainly improve my technique!”

“Absolutely!” you enthusiastically exclaim, determined to assist no matter what.

Heaven knows your new friend J evidently requires steady guidance regarding his hobby: he’s no Picasso yet, but with a legend’s help he might eventually get there.  

Also read: MASTERLIST

You can follow me on Ao3 and Wattpad under the same blog name: DiYunho.

[reeselowrey]

⌠ROSS LYNCH, 21, CIS MALE, HE/HIM⌡ welcome back to gallagher academy, REESE LOWREY! according to their records, they’re a SECOND year, specializing in COVERT OPS + RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT; and they DID NOT go to a spy prep high school. when i see them walking around in the halls, i usually see a flash of (a half zipped hoodie, unkempt hair, and spy comic books). when it’s the (virgo)’s birthday on 9/17/1999, they always request their CHEESE PIZZA WITH EXTRA CHEESE from the school’s chefs. looks like they’re well on their way to graduation. TLDR: Reese is a mega-dweeb! He’s been obsessed with spyhood since youth, thanks Tom Cruise, and learned as much as he could about it. He taught himself to code and made a virtual “spy mission” app that was pretty damn on the nose - so Gallagher knew they needed him. He’s got some weird obsessive tendencies (he’ll remember most everything you tell him), but overall is a dorky gamer geek that’s a total fish out of water at Gallagher. He’s a sweet kid at heart, just overly excitable.

“It’s just a phase, he’ll grow out of it.” Reese vividly remembered hearing those words from his parents day in and day out. Little did they know, it was anything but a phase, and if anything, he grew into it further rather than out of it. What was this phase, you may ask? An absolute fixation on the world of spies.

He remembered when it started. Nine years old, watching Mission Impossible with his cousins. They laughed at how the movie’s special effects hadn’t aged too well and how absolutely ridiculous the plot was. Sure, it was overexaggerated, but Reese was fixated on it. “Are spies real?” he asked one of his cousins. “Yeah, but it’s not like that. They probably just catch people for fraud or something.” “For frogs?” “No, fraud, nevermind kid. It’s real but it’s not like there are people out there dropping from ceilings. It’s just a movie.” “Oh,” the boy sounded downtrodden. “Well… are there other movies?” “Yeah, a fuck ton.” “You’re not supposed to use words like that.” “Right, you’re like two, sorry. Yeah, I’ll find you some buddy.” “I’m nine - thank you very much!” And that was the beginning of a beautifully, moderately unhealthy, obsession. Mission Impossible, James Bond, U.N.C.L.E, hell even that silly cartoon Totally Spies (so what if it was “for girls”). He devoured every bit of media he could, and then went through it again. Every Halloween costume was some iteration of a secret agent. And that was what he stayed close to… until high school.

World War II. Not exactly a topic to take lightly. Reese was decent enough in school, but he got easily distracted, often lost doodling in the corners of his notebooks or trying to keep his eyes open after a late night of gaming. He liked strategy games, even considered himself pretty good at them, they were as close as he’d get to being on a mission. Even if it was chasing after a treasure chest that fell from the sky in Fortnite. “One of the ways that the United States credited their wins was due to acts of espionage.” Reese sat up straighter, furrowing his brows as he stared at his teacher. “Or as some may colloquially know it, spyhood.” Spies were real, and they were better than just tax fraud!

That night Reese spent hours upon hours in the endless internet blackhole learning about notable spies. They were real, and they were cool, and man, they saved people’s lives! Sure, it wasn’t all lasers, smoke, and sex, but it was pretty cool. His parents couldn’t even be mad at him now because it was for school. 

The school year came and went and aced history for the first time in his life. Even when it wasn’t about spyhood, he found himself listening more in class. Call it a conspiracy, but what if more than just the known spies were out there? Imagining that every major historical event had a mission behind it made him tune in more.

“Reese, what are you planning to do all summer?” his mom asked, “You really should get a job.” “Uhm.” The now sixteen year old paused. “I’m gonna learn to code.” “Oh? You are?” “Yeah… Apps and stuff. It’s good for college, I think? It’d be fun.” “That’s very proactive of you. Let me know if you need help finding courses.”  She said with a smile.

“Yeah, yeah.” Well, now he had to do it.

But coding was cool, so he really didn’t mind. It was building things from nothing and making whatever he wanted come to live - just like the spies did, the man behind the chair. He felt even more important when he wore his gaming headphones while he worked, microphone in all. After making replications of basic games like Snake and Pong, he wanted something bigger, something cooler. “What if…, What if I make my own mission?” he whispered to himself. It could be a real world game! Just like that Harry Potter one. Finding clues and pieces in the real world to unlock steps. So that was what he did. If he couldn’t be a spy in real life, he damn well was going to be one online.

It took him a while, but he got the game in full swing. At the urging of his friends, he even posted it to the app store for a couple bucks (he needed pocket change). A few months later, the app kept rising in sales and climbing the download charts… He had created a viral hit.

Senior year was spent finding ways to add to his app, make it more lifelike, more interesting. It was fun, and it made his obsession feel a little more profitable.  

“Ree, mail! Looks like it’s from a college.” “I.. haven’t finished my apps,” he muttered, dashing down to swipe up the envelope and read it up in his room. Congratulations Reese Lowrey, we are pleased to offer you a spot at the exclusive Gallagher Academy…

“I’m going to be a spy?!”

[dreammutual-remade]

high school!mark

request: highschool!mark if u love me plspls

 word count: 5.5k

a/n: lucky that I love u anon hehehehe !!!!! also wOW I didnt mean to make this so god damn long itS REALLY JUST THESE GOD DAMN HIGH SCHOOL AUS IM WEAK FOR THEM OKAY. look at this cutie hOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO RESIST

mark, renjun, jeno, donghyuck, jaemin, chenle, jisung

warnings: the usual intermittent cussing and probably an inappropriate joke or two

this au is my Ultimate Weakness it makes me soft as hell alright

………………….

LETS DIVE IN

okay so your mom has a job that forces your family to move around….. A LOT

and while you’ve gotten used to it for the most part it still sucks having to leave people behind and make completely new friends once every couple of years

this time you’re moving to a new school for your SENIOR YEAR and you’re livid

bc like ??? it’s senior year and you have exactly zero (0) friends since you’re new,,, yet again

you Threw A Fit when you found out but your mom was like shut up you ingrate soon you’ll be in college and won’t even have to worry about it

so you, an ingrate, shut up :/

you move in a month before school starts and the house is nice and your room is cute so that’s a plus !!!!!

you hang up some pictures and organize all your cute little trinkets you’ve collected over the years aw

you’ve even got a lil succulent garden growing on your windowsill

ITS CUTE AS HELL OKAY

alright so you’re gonna go explore around town because you , don’t know where anything is and you wanna find some good spots to hang

you take the bus into the middle of town because who tf is tryna drive themselves amirite ladies

support ur local bus driver

anywhom this isn’t a HUGE town but it’s one of those cute towns where you can pretty much walk anywhere you need to go

(god i wish that were me)

so you spend all day just, walkin

you find a library and pick up some books …….

both for decoration and reading okay

and you find a couple of restaurants and write them down to try later along with some coffee shops and whatnot

eventually you’re tired and prolly a lil sweaty bc it’s summer and you’re outside and ugh

so you find a nice big park and a tree and sit down at the base of it to read and mindlessly sketch things in the margins of your book

whEN OUT OF NOWHERE

someone shouts

“HEY WATCH OUT”

and you look up just in time to dodge a sOCCER BALL HURTLING TOWARDS YOUR FACE

it bounces off the tree and rolls a couple feet away

“uhhhh holy shit” - you

you just kind of sit there astonished for 5 seconds before you get up to get the ball and look around for who saved your LIFE

and there’s boy jogging toward you looking extremely embarrassed

you meet him halfway to hand him the ball and he’s like

“oh mY GOD i’m so sorry i told them to settle down but they never listen to me and jisung just ??? doesn’t know how to not take everything seriously and he lost and got pissed and kicked it and we didn’t even kNOW you were over here and also i’m so sorry”

you smile and tell him it’s fine and hand him the ball

you go to get back to your tree and he’s like hey uh you there uh wait up

god he’s awkward

and you turn around to face him with an expectant look

“so um, what’s your name? i haven’t seen you around here before and like in case i ever gotta make this up to you you know ??”

cute

you tell him your name and stick out your hand to shake and he grabs it very hesitantly and tells you his name is mark

he has , very warm hands and they’re only slightly bigger than yours but that’s still cUTE

MARK HAS BABY HANDS I DARE U TO SAY HE DOESNT

he says he hopes you enjoy your book and he’ll make sure the boys don’t disturb you anymore than they already have

you wave as he goes and he gives you a smile over his shoulder and his cheeks are tinged pink and wOw this boy is a cutie patootie

you go back to your reading but now instead of doodling you’re just writing his name or drawing his big doe eyes or his smooth hands

(((((let’s pretend we’re all good at drawing okay god knows i can’t do much more than a stick figure)))))

the boys leave after an hour or two and you leave pretty soon after then because the sun is setting and you gotta be home for dinner

basically your mom wants to make sure you aren’t kidnapped and/or lost in a new town

which, to be fair, is not that unlikely

you have your headphones in and you’re leaned against the bus window half asleep as you go

bitch wake up youRE GONNA MISS YOUR STOP

it’s the same bus driver who saw you get on and honestly there aren’t a lot of people on the bus so he makes sure you get off

“hey you, girl back there, hEY! this is your stop girly”

you thank him profusely and tip him because uhhhh u gotta get home and like Not Lost

you skip home with your bag of books and miscellaneous items you found at the thrift store!!!

you bought a little figurine of a dragon and she’s beautiful her name is saraphina because why not

that’s completely irrelevant i’m so sorry

i have ADHD

anywhom

you walk in and you’re all like hey momma !!! how goes it !!:3

and your mom is Sus™️ because why are you in such a good mood

and you’re like !!! cause i had a good day okay love u bye i’m going to my rOOM

don’t let her question anymore or else she’ll dig out that you met a Cute Boy

you go to your room and get out all your purchases and organize them while you still have the motivation to do so

and yeah

you use one of the blank notes to start like a lil drawing diary of sorts ???? like just to draw stuff in whenever you’re inspired or you see something pretty

and you definitely saw smth pretty today ;))))))))

hint: ITS MARK

you try to draw him from memory but it doesn’t look quite right and like :(((((( how sad is that what if you don’t even see him again

the rest of the month passes pretty quickly in the same fashion

by now you’ve befriended the bus driver and he tells you all the cool secret nooks and crannies of town for you to go find

he’s also your bff pretty much he always tells you about his daughter and all the cute things she does and you just talk about your life in general and he gives you advice

congrats you’ve unlocked Wise Uncle

he gives you directions to this teeny TINY flower shop where you befriend the old lady who works there by bringing a muffin everytime you go by

she trades you for a seasonal flower and makes a big deal out of tucking it behind your ear herself

basically you find all the cute old people in town and make them your friend because.

THATS CUTE

ADDED BONUS OF LIKE 17 PARENT FIGURES TO GIVE YOU ADVICE

this is accidentally straying into art hoe territory i hope y’all are okay w/ that

school is starting really soon and you’re nervous but also used to this so it doesn’t affect you as bad as normally

also you did meet some people so you aren’t going in with no friends but like, pretty close to no friends

on the first day of school you ride the bus and you see ???? mark ????? on your bus ????????

so you get on and do your daily greeting of the bus driver

his daughter lost her first tooth AW

you fake cry and he says “mood” and you lose it because you’re pushing internet culture onto this unsuspecting middle aged man skdkdkkd

you pat him on the shoulder as you walk back to find a seat but there are none because for some reason the bus is busy this early in the morning ????

you wouldn’t know lmao summer sleep schedule had you up at 10 at the earliest

so you go to stand and hold onto one of the poles in the center

(nearby our boy mark LEE)

mark looks up from his phone

these god damn millennials always on that damn phone

and he sees you and he’s like wHOA what’s up uhhh Soccer Ball Girl

and nice you remembered his name bUT HE DIDNT REMEMBER YOURS

but then he’s like nahhhh just kidding i remember ur name hey y/n !!!

you talk otw to school and find out you’re both seniors at the same school and how you’re excited for sports games and like, GRADUATING

mark keeps trying to offer you his seat but you refuse and he pouts everytime you say no :((((

good god just take the seat look at the sad baby boy :((((((((((((

there is an, occurrence

at one point the bus goes over a bump and you stumble a little and mark reaches up to catch you before you literally fall on him

his hands fly out and grab you by the hips to steady you since he’s sitting and you’re standing and he can’t exactly reach your shoulders sO YEA

or at least that’s his explanation in his head huehuehuehe

his hands linger for MAYBE 10 seconds before he whips them back into his pockets and blushes while you thank him

you: are also blushing

the bus driver: completely did that on purpose

when you get off the bus your Second Dad tells you good luck and pats you on the head and mark is like ???? do you know him

and you’re like yeah that’s my man maurice we’re buds

and he’s like ???? i’ve rode that bus all my life to school and i’m not buds with him wtf :/

“srry you’re not as lovable as me!! jealousy is a disease <3”

and he laughs his dorky laugh

you highkey are smiling so big because this boy is so cute and he’s walking close enough that your shoulders brush every once in a while and he has a silly laugh and AW

as you walk into the school marks group of Boys starts waving him over excitedly and he turns in their direction but then stops when he sees you aren’t following

“hey whatcha doin???”

“well uhhh those are Your Boys you know and i’m, i don’t, really, uh they don’t know me”

“aw cmon they’ll love you!!! look ill just introduce you and if they’re terrible and annoying you can leave”

“........ i gue-“

but he’s already grabbed your hand and is pulling you over to them

“sup fellas this is y/n and she just moved here this year so don’t be too overwhelming.”

the smaller one with the highish voice chimes in

“aww but overwhelming is my only setting”

“then just don’t be yourself, chenle”

“heYYY it’s that girl i almost killed in the park !!! so sorry about that by the way”

he introduces them to you one by one and they all shake your hand

jisung is the one with the big ass yaoi hands and also the one who almost ended your young life

jaemin is the one with pretty smile

jeno is the one with the squishy eyes

renjun is the Art Hoe of the group you can just tell

he’s wearing some got damn overalls you gotta befriend him immediately

donghyuck is the one with beautiful skin and a v high voice you’re highkey like hey but can you dROP THE SKINCARE ROUTINE and he’s like “i just wash my face every day xoxo :*”

you quickly learn who is a piece of shit and who isn’t

you figure out who has classes with you and then set off for the day !!

mark has gym and economics with you but those are after lunch :(((

he squeezes your shoulder before he leaves and says good luck though so you’ll survive

you have art with renjun first and this boy is your bestie already

he’s such a sarcastic shit and he too likes drawing random things and vandalizing school textbooks with artistically correct memes

he also has the AUDACITY

“so, you and mark already ;););)(;);)))”

“i uh don’t know what you mean by that”

“you SO do!!!!! you guys walked into school together everyone probably already thinks you’re a thing”

“oh shit really??? ah i feel so bad”

“is that a bad thing???”

“i mean yeah i’m not tryna Tarnish mark’s reputation”

“that is some self hatred bs he would be lucky to have you !!!!”

“renjun you don’t even know me that well yet”

“i know enOUGH”

you just uhh change the subject which renjun def notices but like

who cares

renjun apparently also goes to the same flower shop as you !!!

you find out because you see him drawing the front of it and you’re like heY i’ve been there my girl edna works there !!!!! she insist i call her grandma tho

and he’s all oh sHIT that’s my girl too !!!!!!

long story short edna is now your shared grandmother

now THAT is some uwu shit

you go about your day and it’s lunchtime and yOU uh don’t know where to sit :(

you see a girl that you met who works at the little coffee shop you like so you set off in her direction and you’re almost there when jeno and jaemin walk up and sling an arm around your shoulder from either side

“hEY BUDDY” -jeno

“SUP SQUIRT” -jaemin

and they start steering you in another direction towards their own table

“god of all nicknames you had to give me sQUIRT”

“yes it’s because you’re cute and small like squirtle”

“that’s a god damn reach if i’ve ever seen one but okay”

you get there and they practically TOSS you into the seat next to mark

he winces and gives you and apologetic pat on the back before starting the conversation

“alright so who actually did the summer reading”

as the table bursts into Absolute Ruckus you just kind of sit back and watch

mark notices you being quiet and while renjun and chenle are arm wrestling he leans over to quietly be like

“hey you doin okay over there? are they too much”

“oh not at all i’m just takin it in lmao”

“yeah that’s understandable. they’re easily the most entertaining group of people you’ll ever meet but also i’ve wanted to strangle every single one of them at least once”

“what are you 30??? you talk about them like you’re their mom”

“i mean someone’s gotta do it”

you and mark talk all throughout lunch and head to gym together since that’s next

exercising right after eating ??? sounds like a GREAT plan thanks so much public school system !!!!

you go to pull out your bag of gym clothes but ??? all you’ve got is shorts ?????

S H I T

you start whining because you’re like aWW i’m gonna get in trouble :(((((

and he’s like here i have like 12 shirts in here because i always bring too many and then leave some when i got soccer practice i gotchu

(he gives you the clean shirt that hasn’t been sitting in his locker <3333 what a guy)

you thank him proFUSELY and then go to the girls locker room to change

the shirt is too big and you don’t wanna look like a Bag so you tie a lil knot in it in the front

you don’t look like a thot tho you just look Cute As Fuck

some girl in the locker room lets you borrow a hair tie and off we go !!!

it’s the first day so everyone literally just stretches and sits around talking

you’ve hashtag LOST mark and you don’t have any friends yet so you’re just chillin talking to the girl who gave you a hair tie because she seems nice and you got nothin better to do

you’re explaining to her how to take care of a succulent /properly/ when mark catches a basketball that was headed right for you yelling a watch it !!!! over his shoulder

he turns to you and giggles a little, nudging your foot with his

“you’re just a danger magnet aren’t you”

“i mean danger is my middle name so”

“uGH get your ass over here away from all those freshman hoodlums who think they can play”

you wave bye to your friend because there’s literal fear in her eyes at the sight of mark ??

you ask her what’s wrong later and she’s like oh it’s not him i just have a crippling fear of boys

(that’s a mood)

you and mark pass a volleyball back and forth and fuck around pretty much all period

this is actually the one (1) sport he isn’t good at thank GOD you were worried he had no flaws

at the end of the class you ask him if he wants his shirt back and he says, and i quote,

“nah you and your thot knot can keep it, looks cuter on you anyways”

you smack his arm for calling you a thot but then thank him anyways for the shirt and for calling you cute :))))))))

econ passes the same way except normal clothing and no sports

although mark does throw a wadded up piece of paper on you that says u want 2 hang w the boys n me after school ? if yes then breathe if no do a backflip

this headass boy

you throw it back so it bounces off his forehead and then nod to confirm you will

you don’t have any of the boys in your last class and you don’t where to meet up so you just kind of loiter by your locker since jeno’s is pretty close to yours and maybe they’ll meet here ????

luckily jisung spots you and is like hey what r u doin here aren’t u hanging with us after school??? cmon

you follow him out to the parking lot where they’re all gathered around jeno and jaemins vehicles because apparently they’re the only ones with actual cars

rip

they start waving too excitedly when they see you and mark smiles all big

wooOOO baby boy already has a crush on you :3

they’ve apparently already decided to go to chenles house because apparently he’s fuckin loaded

you don’t believe that for a sECOND because he’s wearing crocs and an old ass polo shirt but

we’ll see

you mark and renjun ride with jaemin while the Babies ride with jeno since he is able to ignore them being crackheads in the backseat and drive his vehicle without crashing

apparently they’ve cause multiple vehicular accidents ??? possibly the reason renjun doesn’t have a car ???????

who knows

y’all have a blast in jaemins car tho playing tokyo drift from the third fast and furious movie if u haven’t heard that shit plEASE GO LISTEN WHAT A SONG HEHEHHEHHEHE

you pull into this BIG ASS house and you’re like no fucking way dude

and everyone else in the car simultaneously says

“i know right ???”

y’all pull in and go inside and it’s real nice holy SHIT

chenle comes in cackling followed closely be jisung and more sedately by jeno who looks ready to fckin die

you pat him on the shoulder and go you did well, soldier

he salutes solemnly before breaking out into the smile

y’all know the one

you UWU right there on the spot but hold yourself back from poking his cheek and cooing

chenle then SCREECHES and yells

“WHO IS TRYNA PLAY JUST DANCE”

and everyone crowds into his living room

somehow the couch is big enough to fit all of you comfortably that’s fckin impressive

you play just dance for 3 whole ass hours and now you’re Tired and Ready To Go Home

there’s a bus stop nearby and you insist upon walking since jaemin already have you a ride here and you didn’t even have gas money to give him :(((

mark goes to since you have to catch the same bus

you hum as you skip around the sidewalk and he walks behind you smiling fondly while you twirl around

he recognizes the song and whistles along and wow !!!!

Harmony™️

when you get to the stop you’re like 5 mins early

so to entertain yourselves you play rock paper scissors and each time the winner gets to flick the loser on the forehead

mark is a sweet boy so he flicks softly but you go all out

wouldn’t be surprised if he had a bruise tmrw girly u need to chill

you sit on the bus together when it arrives since there’s actually room now and he slumps down low until his head is pretty much rested on your shoulder

(our man maurice sees and is like GET IT GIRL but only so you notice and you make threatening hand motions at him)

you’re not sure if he’s asleep so you stay extra still just in case

and no one needs to know you rested your cheek on top of his head

but when it gets to your stop you’re like mark? mark lee??? mork ???? wake up ??? and you nudge him a little with your shoulder and he sits up and rubs his eyes aW

he slow blinks at you and goes

“hm?”

and you’re like i uh gotta go now

and he’s like :/// okay i’ll see you tomorrow and stands up and gives you a half hug before you go

maurice is DYING in the front you’re going to kill him

you walk home with a smile on your face and again your mom is suspicious of your good mood but you’re like aw it’s nothin just had a good day at school made lots of friends !!!!!!

as summer turns into fall you make more friends but you mostly hang out with the boys because they’re funny and nice to you and also Mark is there and we love our boy

you guys all attend football games together and go absolutely ALL OUT for whatever the theme is

for example: the theme was halloween and you all dressed as god damn SMURFS

it was legendary there was not one bit of you all that wasn’t covered in blue paint

jisung almost fought some girl who thought he was from the movie Avatar until everyone was like jisung cHILL OUT ITS NOT HER FAULT YOURE VERY TALL AND COMPLETELY BLUE

and well

can’t argue with that

it gets chillier though so you all bring blankets and cuddle most of the games

all of the boys suspiciously aren’t cold at first until you and mark share a blanket

they’re so obvious GOD

with each time y’all share you get more relaxed around each other until eventually mark has one arm slung around you and your legs are hooked over one of his thighs while y’all Snuggle

renjun waggles his eyebrows at you every five minutes and you discreetly give him the finger every time

little ASSHOLE

college applications are due like. right now

you all apply to a nice university close by as a backup/safe place and then apply to more brazy places just to see if you can get in

everyone’s been real stressed lately so you’re like !!!!! hey imma throw a friendsgiving party !!! yeehaw !!!!!!!!!

and you invite all of them over

“everyone bring smth and i’ll bake a ham or smth,,, i swear to GOD if all of you show up with store-bought pumpkin pie. i will kill you and then myself”

“what’s with you and pumpkin pie?”

“jUST. don’t”

((((srry i’m projecting my hatred of pumpkin pie onto u reader heheehehheh))))

everyone comes over and it’s really chilly so you have a fire in the fireplace and you have a couple of your gal pals over too

your mom is nice enough to leave y’all alone for the night and she’s not hurt since it’s not real thanksgiving

we stan moms

you bring out the ham and someone has brought green beans and mark ,,,, tHAT ANGEL he brought cornbread stuffing do y’all know what i’m talking abt

OOO THAT STUFF IS GOOD

and there’s sweet potatoes and apple pie and all the Thanksgiving Essentials

jisung wanted to be a dick so he brought cranberry jelly

“why don’t you have some:) cranberry preserves:) , jisung” -you, every 30 seconds

everyone sits down to eat and it’s LOUD so you’re like shut UP !!!!!!!!!!

“every1 say smth ur thankful for :3333”

“my family !!!!”

“you guys <3”

“awW BOOO” - everyone, while throwing things at jaemin

“my life !!”

“that i’m happy”

“gay” -chenle

“minecraft”

anyways no one took it seriously until it got to mark

“i’m grateful y/n moved here :))))))”

everyone goes KSKDDIDI and you blush and you’re like okay ily mark JSKKD

everyone EATS A LOT and then you go sit in a pile in the living room

you go to make hot chocolate for everyone and when you come back it’s , interesting how there’s only room for you next to mark . hm

you pass out the hot chocolate and everyone reaches Maximum Sleepytime

at this point you’re too tired to give a fuck and you just flop onto the couch next to mark and curl up into his side

he puts his arm around you to pull you close and this mf presses a tiny barely there kiss to your temple

you look up and like talk with your eyes

did u just

i did

oh

yeah

and then you just settle back down

it’s too crowded in here for any Moves to be Made

bUT YALL BEST BELIEVE WHEN ALL THESE YOUNGINS GET OUT UR HOUSE

you’ve got the karate kid on bc ??? who doesn’t love the karate kid and all of your cutie friends are asleep in various places

but once it gets super late you start waking people up and going hey i love you but your mom called mine like 8 times you gotta gO

you make sure everyone is awake fully if they’re driving and to text you when they got home safe

at long last

you’re alone

in your house

with mark

actually where is mark

mark has disappeared ?????

you start looking around for him and find him in your room ???

“you snoopin thru my things ??!?!??”

he jumps and is like uHH but you’re like nah you’re fine idc

so he continues and he was really just lookin at what kind of books you have and the little drawings and paintings and knick knacks everywhere

you just sit on your bed and observe him

let’s be real he’s nice to look at and you’d be perfectly fine doing this for uhhh the rest of your life

he pulls a book off your shelf and starts flipping through it until he pauses at a page

and his face blooms into this big smile and he looks hella giddy

and you’re like uhh hey whatcha lookin at there bud

and he just keep smiling and it’s a little smug now wtf

“when were you reading this?”

“oh uh i don’t know i got it this summer at that cute little bookshop”

“was it, by chance, the day we met?”

“i mean maybe??? why ????”

and he shows you the page and it’s tHAT oNE WHERE YOU WERE DOODLING BITS OF HIM AND WRITING HIS NAME ALL OVER IT

FUCK !!!!!!!

you immediately turn tomato red and snatch the book in to hold it tightly to your chest

“uhhh i do that with uhhhh eVerYONE I MEET”

“aw i thought i was special:((((”

he’s creeping closer to you this whole time until he’s INCHES AWAY

he gently pulls the book out of your hands and places it aside before grabbing your wrists and uncrossing your arms

“personally, i think it’s really cute”

you blush even more this man knows what he’s doing

you mumble a thanks with your eyes trained on his fuzzy socks what a dork

he releases one of your wrists to push your chin up so he can look you in the eyes

“do you really do that with everyone you meet?”

“,,,,,,, no it’s just you”

“alright cool”

and then he wraps his arms around your waist to pull you close til you’re pressed together chest to chest AW

he nudges his nose against yours and you close your eyes because your god daMN HEART IS POUNDING AND YOU CANT LOOK DIRECTLY INTO THOSE BIG PUPPY EYES

he presses the sweetest and gentlest of kisses to each cheek and then to the top of your nose

he presses one last lingering kiss on your forehead before he tilts his chin down to press your lips together

it’s so soft and innocent wow i’m going to SHED TEARS WRITING THIS

and he pulls away and you press your face into his neck in embarrassment

he chuckles a lil and rubs your back, leaning his cheek against your head

“hey, you down there”

you say “yeah?” but your voice is muffled by his neck and it’s more like eh ???

“my girlfriend y/n will you be ???”

what the fuck

you pull your head back so you can look at his face which is turning steadily redder

“uh what”

“shIT uh i meant will you uh bemygirlfriend”

your confused expression turns into a shit eating grin and you’re like

“what was that :)))) i didn’t hear you :)))))”

he groans and rests his forehead on your shoulder and pitifully whines out

“please be my girlfriend :(((((“

you pick his face up and hold it between your palms and he pouts playfully

“well how could i say no to that face”

and you smooch him right on those lil pouted lips

“yes i’ll be your girlfriend”

he smiles real big and smooshes you against him aw

wow so now you’re mark lee’s gf

LUCKY BITCH

lowkey you get a few threats but as soon as mark catches wind of that he stands on the statue in front of the school and announces that if anyone has a problem with you they’ve got a problem with him !!!!

and he looks like: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ

you drag him down while apologizing to everyone in the general vicinity

mark is. veRY CLINGY NOW

i mean no complaints here it’s just

wow

you’ll be standing at your locker when BAM mark is wrapped around you from behind and you get a hey baby how’s ur day right in your ear

in gym class he restrains himself since the coaches are always like LEE KEEP YOUR HANDS TO YOURSELF

but he always whines after and is like

:((((( but you look so cute in my shirt i wanna squish you

whenever mark comes over you force him to let you draw him at least once

each time it gets easier since you’ve started to memorize the details of his face and the knuckles of his hands and the shape of his shoulders

a lot of times he just comes over to watch movies and talk

he’s not an eloquent guy

(“you all look like pretty grass :)))” - mark lee)

but he gets what he needs to say out and he enjoys listening to you talk about whatever’s on your mind

you’ve started a glow in the dark star sticker collection to put on your ceiling and each time he comes over you put a constellation up there

so you’ll lay in bed and turn off the lights and just stare at the ceiling and try to name them all

soon you’ll just get sleepy though and press your face into his chest

he uwu’s every time :((((

after he’s done being astonished by his Baby™️ he’ll wrap his arms around you and stroke a hand up and down your spine wow

Real Relaxation Hours

your mom will come home and find y’all asleep and then SHE uwu’s and it’s just one big cute MESS

he loves to kiss you right as he’s leaving like he’ll lay one on you then RUN to the bus stop

p.s. maurice is on y’all every day saying he called it AY

his other favorite kisses are when he catches you off guard and just turns you around and kisses you and you’re like

I’m Confused But I Like This

lots of sweet pecks throughout the day and then longer slower stuff when you’re home and alone and relaxing

leaves hickeys on your neck literally just to be annoying

it’s oKAY THO DONT TELL HIM YOU LIKE IT

months pass and youve said your first “i love you’s” to each other and renjun is always like so when y’all gettin married huh

you both SMACK him simultaneously

but lowkey you would marry mark he’s the best and you love him so wHY NOT

but it’s early and you know that and you’re happy with what you have now :))))))

pls love and support our hardworking baby mark lee he is doing his best and i love him goodnight

[multiimuse]

All of those questions! >:) For any/all of your KH muses, but specifically Dilan.

// …I’m a masochist apparently, so I’m going to do all three. RIP me. Readmore because wow long.

Dilan

1: Describe their routine of a normal day/how do they feel when this routine is disrupted?

Dilan’s routine has gone through a number of changes over the years, and is a very different thing lately from what it was either as Xaldin or even before losing his heart. His current routine, however, simply involves waking up (be it from proper sleep or from dozing off over his own tea), getting his day started, and then spending most hours doing one of a few things: working at cleaning and repairing the castle, training, or cooking. 

It’s a calm enough routine, he supposes, if terribly dull. Disruptions are more than welcome, at this point, because they might mean a chance to do something that has a little more importance to it.

2: Greatest strength?

His determination, mostly. The man does not give up in the face of hardship, and has spent long hours perfecting the things that are important to him. Of course, the downside of this is that he’s incredibly stubborn about everything, not just when it’s a good thing, but still - determination and an unwillingness to surrender will get you pretty far. (An honorable mention goes to his honor code, which has effectively made him rein in his temper on more than one occasion, and that is difficult to do.)

3: Greatest weakness?

His temper, by far. As Xaldin this trait was scraped away, leaving only a sort of bitterness and a hollow echo of it, but now that he has his heart again, it’s back in full force, and regaining the control he had over it before losing his heart has been… an adventure. (And his control wasn’t that great then, though he’d made progress from how bad it was in his youth.)

4: What one thing would your muse change about themselves?

…Can he remove his heart again? Life was easier without it. This is only partially serious, but he’s frustrated with himself for how complicated having a heart makes everything, even things that should be simple, like Braig having turned on them. He can’t simply write him off as a traitor and be done with him - he cares too much about the man he’s known for years. The same with Lea, even though he knows in a general sort of way what he got up to at Castle Oblivion: he still remembers the teenager who’d sneak in and (get thrown out) all the time, and his damn heart won’t just let him focus on one set of feelings over the other.

5: Introverted or extroverted & why?

Dilan is actually neither! He’s an ambivert, which means he’s not quite so extreme in either direction. Instead, he’s pretty balanced between needing alone time versus needing company. He’ll lean more toward introversion some days, and more toward extroversion others. However, given the instability he struggled with upon first awakening, he probably comes across as closer to an introvert of late, due to how difficult his returned emotions can be to deal with.

6: Organised or messy & why ?

Organized and clean. He thinks everything should be kept as efficient as possible, and keeping things clean and sanitary is a part of that. He’s less strict about things like paperwork, but clutter is something he’s never been fond of.

7: What three things do they consider themselves to be very good/bad at?

He considers himself to be very good at lancework (and combat in general), very good at cooking … but very, very bad with looking after plants. (He had a bonsai tree once, because he’d heard that keeping one could be good for your mental health … Aeleus had to rescue the poor thing before he pruned it to death.) 

8: Do they like themselves?

… Honestly? No. Not at all. He doesn’t see himself as good company or a good friend. A good ally, perhaps, but he knows he’s irritable, impatient and all-too-often in a poor temper, especially since getting his heart back. And when you know yourself well enough to be aware of how difficult you are, it’s really hard to like you. (Really, he has a hard time seeing any of his good traits, and tends to brush them off as a fluke whenever he can’t outright ignore that they exist.)

9: What are the reasons for their profession? Are the REAL reasons different than what they TELL others?

Dilan’s reasons for being a guard are, in fact, a bit complicated. Early in life he simply wanted to do something that would make his father proud of him, when it seemed like there was only one very specific path he could follow to earn that, and that still holds true - but he also came to genuinely love the structure and the discipline, and he can’t imagine himself in a civilian life now. (As for what he tells others? ‘It was a job that needed doing, and I could do it.’)

10: Where do they see themselves in five years?

He hasn’t actually thought about this, much. Probably doing much the same as he is now: trying to rebuild the Garden and the life he’d lost, while knowing that most of it can never be the same as it was.

11: How do they want to die?

In combat, preferably with honor and dignity.

12: What would they want to be remembered for?

… Not for spending so much time hanging around Beast’s Castle and bullying him, that’s for sure. Honestly, this is another thing he hasn’t thought about too much, considering his initial answer of ‘having served King and Castle with honor’ has already been dashed to pieces.

13: What three words do they use to describe their personality?

‘Done with this.’

14: What three words would YOU (the mun) use to describe their personality?

Cranky, honorable, caring

15: What advice, as the mun, would you give to your muse

Stop being so grumpy about having a heart and accept it already, you silly man. And that breakup was over twenty years ago by this point, let yourself heal properly, because clinging to that bitterness has really left its mark.

Isa

1: Describe their routine of a normal day/how do they feel when this routine is disrupted?

Isa doesn’t really have much of a specific routine at the moment, though he does have a daily ritual he’s taken up: he reminds himself of who and what he is the very moment he wakes up, and spend a few moments deliberately focusing on his stronger, positive memories to help reinforce that. Only then does he start his day properly - not that his daily routine is of any great import at the moment, as he’s mostly just trying to adjust to his state of being and stay off the radar until his other half can be freed from Xehanort’s possession. As he doesn’t have a particularly strict routine, there’s really nothing to disrupt.

2: Greatest strength?

Isa used to think that his greatest strength was his mind, being relatively smart and capable of taking care of the details Lea would often overlook in his bigger plans, but given his inability to work out what had happened to him as Saix and being marked as a vessel, he doesn’t really consider himself that smart any more. Instead, he’s trying to rethink his view of himself, and is in the process of trying to find a new ‘greatest strength’. (Really, that in and of itself may be his true greatest strength: his willingness to change what he needs to without losing the core of who he is.)

3: Greatest weakness?

Isa tries to bottle his more negative emotions, such as jealousy, anger, or even simple hurt feelings, and that’s his greatest weakness because when you bottle something up, it will come out eventually. (Ironically, the state he’s in at the moment makes it much harder to do this than it would be were he whole. However, it does come with a trade-off of a temporary weakness of a different sort: his fragile hold on himself, and the efforts he has to go to in order to cope with it.)

4: What one thing would your muse change about themselves?

Besides getting both his heard and body back together with no hitchhikers? Phyically, he wants a haircut. No ifs ands or buts about it, he wants some kind of a haircut once he’s complete again, so he can celebrate being properly whole. Other than that… he’d like to get rid of the jealous streak he knows he has. He doesn’t want to be selfish and monopolize Lea’s time, not when there are other people who love him and who Lea loves right back - but he can’t quite make it not sting, sometimes.

5: Introverted or extroverted & why ?

Isa’s another one that’s kind of in-between, actually, if leaning more toward introversion - he needs time to recharge and pull himself together, but he’s not actively exhausted by socializing. He is, however, more comfortable letting Lea put himself out there and biding his time until it’s the perfect moment for him to step in. After all, if a person doesn’t like Lea, then they’re simply not worth bothering with in the first place.

6: Organised or messy & why ?

Organized. Very organized, albeit not with military precision - just the sort of organization of someone who has a lot to juggle and refuses to lose track of it. Originally it as pretty mild, just a tendency toward cleanliness and orderliness, but all those years of being Xemnas’ adjutant made what was already a habit nigh-unbreakable, and even now he has an ‘everything in its place’ way about keeping things in order. (And a habit of alphabetizing things that he really can’t shake.)

7: What three things do they consider themselves to be very good/bad at?

He likes to think he as pretty good at astrophotography once upon a time, but he hasn’t had the opportunity to do that in years. He knows he’s good at managing people, and likes to think he’s decent with technology. (However, he will never, ever draw anything for anyone, because he cannot so much as doodle anything beyond kind of wobbly moons and star-shapes.)

8: Do they like themselves?

He… liked himself well enough as a kid, but he doesn’t like who he became as Saix, especially with Xehanort’s influence. Right now, the answer is no. He doesn’t. He doesn’t like who he became and what he did, but he wants to be someone better, now. Someone that he can like, someday.

9: What are the reasons for their profession? Are the REAL reasons different than what they TELL others?

Well, at the moment, he doesn’t really have a profession? Apart from half of him acting as Xehanort’s vessel, if you really want to count that. He’s thinking about trying to see what he can do to find work, though, so nobody has to keep him funded. (Having lost his heart and home as a teenager, however, makes that a little more challenging, even without counting the state he’s in at the moment.) 

10: Where do they see themselves in five years?

He hopes that in five years he’ll be whole at last, still alive, with Lea, and home. As an actual prediction… Well, he’s trying to hang on to Lea’s refusal to give up on him, and he hopes they’ll all survive whatever is coming.

11: How do they want to die?

He would like to die whole, forgiven, and loved. None of the other details matter.

12: What would they want to be remembered for?

He’d mostly just like to be remembered for being Isa, and not a vessel. But he really is afraid that the latter is how the world’s most likely going to remember him.

13: What three words do they use to describe their personality?

‘Rebuilding that, thanks.’

14: What three words would YOU (the mun) use to describe their personality?

Witty, loving, playful

15: What advice, as the mun, would you give to your muse?

Hang in there, and have faith in your friends. They’re pretty good at beating the odds. (And don’t be afraid to lean on them, it’s okay to I swear.)

Riku

1: Describe their routine of a normal day/how do they feel when this routine is disrupted?

Riku’s days start early, with stretching to work out any stiffness from the injuries that never quite healed correctly, then he trains for a while before eating, and after that he finally turns his attention to whatever he needs to be doing that day. Mostly, that’s working with Mickey on how to get to Master Aqua, but occasionally it’s checking in with other groups or places, just to make sure Xehanort hasn’t made his next move yet. He handles disruptions to his routine pretty well, unless it’s his morning stretching - if he can’t do that, then he will pay for it the next day and be cranky as a result, so it’s best not to interrupt him or anything until at least his stretching’s done.

2: Greatest strength?

His devotion to his friends and his willingness to walk through fire for them. It’s been one of his driving forces for a while now, and the amount of things it’s allowed him to accomplish is pretty staggering. A close second, however, is his self-mastery. Seriously, he’s still a teenager and he’s reached a level of understanding himself that some people never manage.

3: Greatest weakness?

He’s not… really that great with people. Once upon a time this was a little less noticeable because his cockiness and pride overshadowed it, and then his guilt and shame did similar, but the truth is Riku’s just a little too shy and awkward and reluctant about opening himself up to others, even when he needs to. He’s working on it, and he’s come a long way, but he’s never going to be quite the natural at connecting with people at large the way Sora is, and he knows it. (He’s also fine with it - not everyone can be like Sora.)

4: What one thing would your muse change about themselves?

Actually, at the moment, there’s not a lot that he would change! He’s finally gotten to a point where he’s mostly comfortable with who he is and what he can do, so there’s no point in stressing too much about changing anything. Sure, he’s still got some rough edges to work out, but he’s proud of who he’s becoming, and has no intention of diverting from the path he’s on now.

5: Introverted or extroverted & why?

Introverted. He can manage dealing with people if he has to, but Riku isn’t really that comfortable around large groups of people. He draws strength and energy from quiet time alone, and tends to do his own thing more often than not when given the chance.

6: Organised or messy & why ?

Somewhere in between. He likes his spaces to feel like someone lives there, so he doesn’t go overboard with cleaning or organizing, but he also doesn’t like his spaces looking like a storm went through them. Overall, he generally knows where he’s left something, and if he’s misplaced it it’s not usually too far off from the place he thought he’d put it.

7: What three things do they consider themselves to be very good/bad at?

Riku considers himself bad at connecting to people, but good at athletics and following difficult, complicated topics.

8: Do they like themselves?

More or less - he has good days and bad days, but more good than bad as time passes. He knows he’s made mistakes, and hurt the people he cares about - hurt a lot of people, really - but he also knows that he’s done a lot of good things too, that he regrets those bad things and will never do them again. So… yeah, he likes himself well enough. Riku’s put a lot of effort into making himself someone he can like, and it’s starting to pay off.

9: What are the reasons for their profession? Are the REAL reasons different than what they TELL others?

Riku’s only profession is that of a Keyblade Master, and his reason for it isn’t a secret at all: to protect the people he cares about.

10: Where do they see themselves in five years?

Hopefully alive and in a world that’s survived Xehanort’s plans, whatever they may be.

11: How do they want to die?

With his loved ones nearby. Specifics don’t really matter - he just doesn’t want to die alone.

12: What would they want to be remembered for?

He’d like to be remembered for being a loyal friend, and for being a person who overcame his mistakes and inner demons to do something good.

13: What three words do they use to describe their personality?

‘The cool one.’

14: What three words would YOU (the mun) use to describe their personality?

Devoted, sappy, brave.

15: What advice, as the mun, would you give to your muse?

You’re just as sappy and over-dramatic as everyone else is, Riku. Embrace it.

[lockwoodlitherland]

DAMIAN

It was summer now yet outside the sky was a stormy blue-grey and rain pattered down over The Park in thick sheets. Damian sat in the driver’s side of his truck, back to the door, knees up and feet resting on the passenger’s seat as he stared down at the open notebook in his lap. Thick brows furrowed in thought as he tried to concentrate on the muted sound of raindrops hitting metal above him. Idly, he traced small circles in the outer corner of the blank page. Attempting to clear his mind of the frustrated fog he stared at his fingers in motion.

Part of him felt stupid... doing this for her. Soft. Particularly considering the boiling pot of mixed emotions between them now. He would never voice the feelings he was having, especially not to her. He was scared that she’d spit them back at him with vitriol, or worse, stare at him with those big, brown, pitying eyes. 

Sometimes he had these moments of clarity were it was so painfully obvious to him that he didn’t even really like Jamie. They just didn’t mesh, they always eventually got on each other’s nerves. But sometimes that stream of thought was muddied and things became more complicated. Tonight was one of those nights, so he had decided to write to her.

Damian still wrote to his mother, but he often tried to do this in her native script. Although he was unpracticed these days it made him feel closer to her, as if that way it were a closed loop just between them. He found some comfort in the fact that no one here, aside from Silvie, would be able to read these letters if they were found before he had chance to burn them in a campfire, or let one of The Park’s many rivers carry them away, so that his mother would be able to read them. Strangely, he never wrote to his grandfather in the same way; Damian had always preferred just to talk to him. Sometimes he would speak to his grandfather’s watch, which Damian always wore on his left wrist, as if it were a conduit between them. He also remembered, less fondly, the many times he’d been encouraged to write or speak to his father over the years. He’d never done so. Never accepted the calls, never read the letters he still received now, addressed to him in his father’s hand.

Damian felt that he was best at communicating with people when they weren’t really there. He pretended that this was something he was trying to work on. Half the reason he’d changed so drastically in his physicality over the past few years was that he often resorted to push-ups as a means of growth instead. Physical exertion was less complicated and more distracting than thinking too deeply about himself; it had been an easier challenge. Moving his body, especially outdoors, stole his mind away from the internally raging anxiety, anger and grief that he was so afraid of taking over.

He noticed that the circles he’d been doodling in the margins were becoming bigger and bigger, deeply indenting the page with thick overlapping lines of ink. After scribbling a little more, as if trying to remove some sort of barrier between pen and paper, he moved the pen over to the first line on the page. He knew he’d feel a weight off his chest once he just let it go; once it was on the page it’d be out of his head, and maybe he could just get on with his day without it plaguing him. Damian let out a short, heavy breath and began to write the letter.

Jamie, I don’t think it’s got any easier between us. You confuse me, the way you’re hot and cold. I suppose it’s always been that way. Everything’s fine when you’ve been gone for a while, I don’t want to be with you,  I know that we’re not good for each other. But then you come around again, pay attention to me, look at me like that and I remember how you used to make me feel. You make me angrier than anyone else can. But no matter how much we hurt each other I know that I can’t stop caring about you. I’ll always answer your texts. I’ll always feel something when I see you light up my phone. I’ll always remember our silly jokes and the stories we told each other. The mornings we spent baking. The evenings we spent driving. The days we spent in bed. The nights we spent wrapped up in each other.  Do you still think about me? I feel like an idiot, but I still think about you. About how I used to kiss your head and wrap you up in blankets in my arms until I felt you fall asleep. Do you remember when I used to wash your hair in the bath and make sure the warm water went over every inch of your skin so that you weren’t cold for too long?  Do you remember when you used to read to me by the fire? And I would act out some scene and mash together whatever costume, stick some stupid shit on my head? You’d narrate, I’d be dumb protagonist of the week. How can I miss you after everything that happened?  I’m struggling to override the part of myself that remembers how important you were to me and how completely in love with you I was. I want to be your friend but we’ve never just been friends.  Having you back in my life confuses me. I know that I’ll always love you in some way, because you were so important to me, but it can’t be in that way. The way that I’m sometimes worried I still love you. I never told you that I’m sorry. That I wish things would have been different. I know that towards the end, and afterwards, I treated you badly, sometimes I still do, and I’m so ashamed of that. I can’t forgive myself for it. It’ll never work between us. It didn’t work before even though we were different then. I tried so hard, too hard.  I still think about you all the time and I hate it. I still want some kind of relationship with you and I hate it. I can’t stop myself from wondering if it could work now and I hate it, because I know it can’t… I know that you don’t love me. I don’t think you ever did. Sometimes I think that I still love you and that’s a problem. I can’t carry this anymore. I don’t know how to be around you. I want to touch you and laugh with you and kiss you. I want to feel you again. It fucking freaks me out because when I see you now, and when things happen between us... it’s nothing like it was before. It’s like I’m filled with adrenaline in the moment and I’m on fire and you’re all I want and it’s meant to be happening, but I always feel so wrong afterwards. It’s overwhelming.  You were the first person that ever made me feel like this and maybe that’s why I can’t shake it. It’s the only reason I can think. Nothing else makes sense. I know that this can never work. I can’t love you, it doesn’t make sense, it’s not fair. …Luckily, I don’t feel like this all the time. Sometimes, I really don’t want you around. I hope I start to feel that way again soon. I hope that that’s the right way to feel.

With a shaky breath Damian slumped a little, letting go of some of the tension in his shoulders. He hadn’t realised how tightly he’d been holding onto the pen as he wrote. Swinging his legs back under the steering wheel, Damian lodged the pen in the ringbinder and shoved the notebook into the glove compartment. He’d have to remember to rip it up later. Damian hoped shredding the pages he’d just poured his heart out onto might be a bigger symbol for the change he wanted. His head did feel less heavy now, that was a good start.

[emberfaye]

Bitter

So @windsurfingthroughhell posted a really cruel thought about Cassie, Pritkin, and a coffee shop and I got inspired to write something for the first time in forever. It’s my first time writing Chanceverse, so I’m sorry if the details are wrong or characterization is bad.

John Pritkin had been many places in his life so far. There are many adjectives he supposes suit him: experienced, voyager, wayfairer, adventurer, seeker….

He’d sooner face another demon in the Shadowworld than claim one of those words.

If he had to pick, he’d probably best be described as “bloody exhausted”. Transfering across time zones is tough on your sleep cycle, especially if you wrapped up all your assignments in your old country before skipping over the Atlantic and having to come from behind and assist with a massive fuck up that only led to another mess that needed to get cleaned up

To say it had not been a smooth transition was a bit of an understatement.

Luckily, one of the few things that made John have some semblance of hope was the fact that America was a culture of instant gratification, no matter the occasion. They wanted what they wanted, when they wanted, the bigger the better.

Which worked out, because that meant you were guaranteed to find an open restaurant, store, or, Pritkin’s happy place, a 24 hour café. And not only was Bitter Beans open all night, all day, it had damn good coffee. (He was skeptical the first time he had it that it would live up to the name, but one sip and he could feel his adrenaline increase 1000%.)

And the absolutely best part was that his coworkers weren’t here. (Don’t get him wrong, he would die for one of his comrades in a heartbeat. But occasionally he just didn’t want to tolerate the comradery outside of “shit hitting the wall” kind of situations.)

Walking into Bitter Beans, rolling his eyes at the fact that the door stuck just the slightest when first pushed, he instinctively began to notice his surroundings. Being that he liked to work out early in the morning, he had gotten to use to a max of 3 other customers, however usually it was just him and the barista in the “gave up trying to modernize” dining room.

He supposed there’s always one thing that isn’t going to suck.

The barista, one he hadn’t seen before, is idly doodling, leaning on the counter with one arm. She calls out a greeting and straightens, and a strange look flashes through her eyes when he steps up to order. It’s gone in a heartbeat, and he doesn’t care to even think about it. People are crazy, and he just wants his coffee.

“One extra large black, to go.”

If his brevity bothers her, she doesn’t show it. She nods, one finger hitting the buttons on the computer. “4.12, please.”

He counts out the change, sets it on the counter and slides it towards her, then steps to the side to wait. She tenders her drawer, pushes her black and brown ponytail back over shoulder. He lets his eyes drift shut for just a minute, even though a part of him wants to keep an eye on the coffee, because last night was ridiculous (Did these mages even get properly qualified for their jobs?) and sleep was sparse in the few weeks he’d been here. Hell, sleep was parse this year, period.

“Here you go, sir!”

Sighing and opening his eyes, he turned to grab his coffee and saw the girl with two extra large cups. He opened his mouth to correct her, but she simply said, “You look really tired. My treat.” John was about to refuse again, but then he met her eyes and the sheer concern in them silenced him.

“Thank you.” He took them and started walking, an unsettling itch between his shoulders.

Who had that much compassion for a stranger, in this day and age?

The next time he stepped into Bitter Beans, was of course, the day it was crowded. Because he was angry, he had to deal with people. Of bloody course.

Scowling, he got into line. Where had these people been for the last several weeks? Were these even people, or just golems the universe had activated to aggravate him? The line seemed to not even move by inches, but simply in shuffles and sighs. He could barely see the overwhelmed barista as she did order by order, taking their money and then making their drink, and repeat.

Whatever expression she wore before he made it to the front of the line, he didn’t know. But he did notice that when she looked up and saw him, her face shone for just a split second and a smile teased her lips before she schooled her face back into the pleasant look all harried customer service workers rely on.

“One extra—”

“Extra large black, to go! 4.12, please.” John didn’t like being interrupted, especially when it was almost completely in sync with his words, but he also didn’t like that she had caught him so completely off guard. His scowl deepened and he dropped the money on the counter before moving aside to let her get the coffee. She was apparently out of the right cups, because she disappeared through the small door for a few minutes, and then came back with his beverage. She handed it to him with a smile, and he made sure to scowl as he took it from her (gently, he didn’t want to spill it, not just for the waste but also irritated as he was neither of them needed to feel that burn) and maneuvered to the exit.

It was hours later, after so much tedious meetings and paperwork, that he happened to see the name she had written on it, and before he could stop himself he let out a huffing laugh.

He went in the next morning, extremely relieved when it was again empty save for the older woman eating a bagel and typing away, her headphones keeping her isolated from the world.

The barista had her back to him, wiping down a machine, and called a greeting over her shoulder. He stood, hands in his pockets, and waited. When she got to a pausing point, she dropped the rag and stepped over to the register, finally looking up, a smile already on her face.  “Good morning Grumpy!”

He raised an eyebrow, but she just shrugged. “You looked like you want to just burn everything down yesterday, so…Anyways, extra large black to go?”

Although he had every intention to make today a busy day, and should appreciate less chatter, he found himself mildly irked instead, and, examining it later, he realized he wanted her to feel off balance (not that she made him feel off balance, not at all).

“No, I’ll take it for here.”

She blinked at him, seemed to look up for a second, and then just smiled. “Okay, have a seat, I’ll bring it right out. Anything else for you?” When he shook his head, she continued “$1.75”. He again slid the money across the counter, and she picked it up.

Choosing a seat against the wall midway from the counter and door, he observed her. She was completely unremarkable, her hair a common mix of black and brown, and her eyes a simple black. She was completely average in her movements, her speech, and even the fact that she remembered his order was not that unusual if most days were super slow.

So why did she give him the exact opposite vibes? His scowl must have come back, because she had a teasing smile again on her face as he brought the coffee.

“Here you go, Grumpy.”

“Do you always find such unflattering nicknames for your customers?” He hadn’t meant to speak, but she paused and put a hand on a hip and looked down at him.

“Only when they don’t introduce themselves when they become a regular.”

Damn, he really didn’t have a reply for that. “You didn’t introduce yourself either, I thought that was part of your training?”

She actually giggled at that. “I don’t even wear a nametag, do you think they want the rest of this crazy city knowing my name just by looking? Stalker ville, population one.”

He felt a smirk coming and drank his coffee to curb it. “Fair enough.” It was a clear moment for her to exit, but she lingered. He blamed his time in the Victorian ages for his manner, because he said, “What is your name?”

“Cas—Cathy” she stammered.

He narrowed his eyes just the slightest and took another sip. He heard the door being pushed, and as she began her trip back to the register, he murmured, “John.” Judging by the smile on her face and the small glance she gave him before the new customer blocked the view, she had heard.

He told himself he didn’t care.

After that, he never got coffee to go. He didn’t go everyday, but if there wasn’t work to do and he wasn’t too beat up, he would make his way two blocks down to that little silver door with the faded red cup on it, and push it open, careful of the fact that it stuck.

It seemed like Cathy had a 6th sense for when he was going to show, because he would barely have gotten through the doorway before she was calling out hi and pouring a steaming cup of joe as he settled into “his” table.

If it wasn’t busy, and it very rarely was, they would talk.

The first time she plopped down at his table, he was taken aback, although he really should have seen it coming. She complained about being bored, and then asked what he was reading (his assignment glamoured to be a classic novel) and she smiled that cursed, teasing smile.

“I bet you just read that to look cool in public.”

“Yes, of course.” But inside, he didn’t like the fact that he liked that she thought he was cool.

A few weeks in, and she would have her own cup ready to sit next to him, and a daily paper on his table for them to share (In reality, she would read excepts she thought he needed to hear, while he drank his coffee and interjected whenever she missed the point. He was more than amused with the way she made it dramatic and silly, she loved that he felt the need to nitpick everything).

It hit him all at once that things were not okay because of a stupid clock.

Like every morning there wasn’t a mission to recover from, John had woken up and done his morning routine of shielding, followed by a work out. However, on his way out the door to bitter beans, he happened to glance at the clock beside the door and realize that it wasn’t even 430am yet. He always was done with his workout by 5, and out the door by 5:20.

Frowning, he paused, hand on the doorknob, and after a moment realized he had rushed through his routine like a schoolboy, skipping one part entirely.

Leaning his forehead against the door, he whispered a very emphatic “Bloody hell.”

He had grown attached to Cathy.

Like a little idiot, he had gotten into a routine that involved a mortal, and he was going to get her killed, like everyone else, if he got any further in. He didn’t know how Cathy, the average barista, of all people could have become someone he counted as a friend but…

“Of course you do, idiot.” Groaning, Pritkin rubbed his forehead. He was out of practice lying to himself. Cathy was nice, and fun, and always gave him an oversized mug but charged for a regular. He was an idiot.

And he couldn’t return there, ever again.

Opening the door, he made his way to headquarters. Their coffee sucked, but he would get used to it.

It was 7am, and Cathy’s replacement was due to arrive any moment. She looked around the dining room again, and Pritkin had not magically appeared in Bitter Beans. She bit her lower lip, and tried to think of an excuse to be alone so no one would worry when she cried.

[journeysintowebcomics]

Homestuck Liveblog #157

UPDATE 157: And There Was Oil Everywhere

Last time everyone alive had despaired for a while, then decided to start working to solve the disastrous situation they were in. Roxy went to meet her denizen, and John is going to try to get a grip on his retcon powers. Terezi...uh, guess she’s going to bleed to death. So let’s continue!

Since Terezi’s attempt to do something didn’t work – apparently not my fault, it wasn’t supposed to work yet -- she just...gives up and decides to lie down and die, so to say. It’s not a cheery thought, but she had enough of everything. At least John is determined to do something useful, and leaves Terezi behind. Good luck, John, everyone’ll need you to succeed. Otherwise this story is over, and I know there are like...a thousand pages left! It can’t end here.

Cut back to Jade and Calliope, still talking about what the other Calliope said. Cool, what is it? Jade’s tale starts in the land of Wind and Shade – John’s land, that’s where John’s death started.

A lot of credit to the artist who draws these images, really. So, the tragedy started shortly after the three-year journey began. She just was there, sitting around and minding her own business, when randomly John’s planet explodes. John and Davesprite perished.

Well that’s a bit of an anticlimactic tale. I thought it was going to be about John’s death, but we just started and John died! Like one minute into the story. Awful storytelling, Jade! Hah! Okay, let’s get serious for a second. Why’d the planet randomly explode? It’s true it had abundance of oil, and therefore it was flammable, but a lot of heat and oil would be needed for the whole planet to explode. Did something happen at the core of the planet?

JADE: i supposed it must have meant johns death was heroic... but i couldnt for the life of me imagine how

Huh, that is...something to wonder about, that’s for sure. A heroic death involving the planet exploding, hm...well, it isn’t confirmed the explosion and John’s death are related in any way. Heroic deaths have many ways to happen, it could be possible that John died saving Davesprite in some way, maybe from the explosion or from something else. There are many possibilities. Maybe the doomed Calliope does know and told Jade, and that’s going to come later.

...it’s very sad that she spent three whole years in mourning and without the company of her two friends. Ouch. But of course this isn’t what happened to the Jade I know. The Jade from the story isn’t the same Jade that was crushed by a building. Who knows, maybe John’s retcon powers have affected the timeline in unexpected ways, creating these events in a different timeline.

Three years passed, and as expected they weren’t fun years for Jade. One day, she fell asleep and dreamed the alternate Calliope.

Cool! Excellent art, seriously. I really like it. So they traded stories...and Calliope specifically mentions she killed her brother. Really? How did that happen? Please, tell it, Hussie, that’s something I have great interest to hear about! But for now John’s death is the focus of Homestuck, so of course Calliope’s tale is about that.

JADE: she went on to say that lowas was destroyed because johns denizen had suddenly woken up  JADE: typheus, a great monster of truly terrifying power  JADE: she said he had destroyed his land and slayed his own heir of breath not out of malice, but to make a slight correction 

Ah. That explains how the planet was destroyed. Denizens reside in the center of the planet, don’t they? Yeah, it makes sense. ‘A slight correction’ is a strange way to phrase the denizen’s reasons, though.

It seems the John from the Game Over timeline did reach an agreement with that Typheus, and the consequence of such bargain was for this John and Davesprite to die. Huh. That’s...certainly a consequence. I can only see one reason why that’d happen, though, and it’s if somehow the John from the Game Over timeline is meant to replace the John that just died. If so, that’d make the timeline from Calliope’s story be the new main timeline, wouldn’t it? I mean, bigger purpose and all, and I don’t think a timeline with two Johns would work. Yeah, this could be what’s going on.

...the difference between that doomed Calliope and the Calliope that lost to Caliborn seems to be that one never contacted humans. Ouch. Being less lonely – not by much, but less lonely nonetheless – may have changed Calliope’s tendencies towards an attempt to work with Caliborn instead of resisting and ultimately overcoming him. Welp. At least I don’t think Calliope would ever regret making friends with the humans.

So, about the deal, the two plots currently ongoing are fusing together, because now Jade seems to be telling how the John from the Game Over timeline achieved his deal with his denizen. Hopefully it won’t start here and then end in “and so he achieved a deal!” the next page! While Calliope continues dutifully drawing what Jade tells her to draw for the benefit of the invisible audience, she decides to take a pause.

JADE: hmm, maybe we should pause before i go on?  CALLIOPE: paUse??  JADE: like  JADE: some sort of intermission  JADE: so i can collect my thoughts a bit, and to give the audience a little breather between two significant arcs  JADE: we were at it for a pretty good while there, after all  CALLIOPE: what... aUdience?  JADE: well, that would be you in this case  JADE: ooh i know!  JADE: i can doodle a quick story about the antics of the silly consorts on the golden ship before moving on  CALLIOPE: >:U

Oooooh no. Please don’t. Heck, not even Calliope likes the idea! No intermissions, Jade, please! Let’s get this done as soon as possible, shall we? You don’t want to lose the momentum of the story! But nope, looks like it’s time for an intermission, featuring the consorts. Oh well.

I’m curious how you differentiated one consort from another enough to give them names, Jade. Animals don’t look too different from each other!

You seriously named one ‘yiffyiff’ with a straight face. Oh dear. Calliope lost her patience with this intermission, thankfully, and tells Jade to forget about the silly consorts and focus on the tale. Hah! Thank you so much, Calliope, knew I could count on you. Aaaaanyways, about the story. As said, John returned to his planet to attempt to strike a deal with his denizen, and hopefully save the situation. The personal quests each player has usually affect the planet in a way that solves whatever widescale problem it has. In John’s case, fireflies were trapped underneath the clouds. Given that John can use wind powers, it’d make sense for him to dispel the clouds with wind, right? Shouldn’t be too difficult for him now.

JADE: to free the fireflies john would have to play a special song JADE: it had to be played just right to summon the breeze through the pipes 

...nevermind! It isn’t as easy as I thought it’d be. In Homestuck, things are never as simple as they could be. The song mentioned there would be done through the pipes, but it was all clogged with oil. To do it, John’d need to confront Typheus. It’s said Typheus filled the pipes with oil, after all. John journeyed into the fortress of the denizen, this time hopefully not to be killed like a chump.

Hah! Calliope is having doubts about drawing Typheus, because it’s a big snake. Of course. Why does everyone in this story have to be a teenager, hahaha. How about you don’t draw Typheus, Callie, and just pretend he’s there? It isn’t like Hussie has ever drawn a denizen besides Yaldabaoth! Go ahead, take a page out of his book, because I’m sure Typheus won’t appear in the frame.

JADE: why dont i draw it?  CALLIOPE: very well.  CALLIOPE: bUt yoU mUst excUse me if i giggle.  JADE: ok but i dont see whats so indecent about a big old snake!  CALLIOPE: tee hee!  JADE: lol

Hussie, you totally made cherubs turn into astronomically large snakes at their mating phase just to do this. I swear I’m 100% you did it for this. Ouroboros or Auryn imagery? Pah! No, forget all that, those all were coincidences or second thoughts. The real reason was that Hussie wanted to make alien innuendo in-story, you can’t fool me, Hussie!

And indeed, Jade doodles Typheus and Calliope can’t avoid giggling like a flustered schoolgirl in a biology class about the reproductive system.

I stand corrected, Typheus is here and on-screen...kinda. Wasn’t it said at some point that Typheus was hideous? I suppose I should be glad these glitches and the lens flare exist. So, John arrived and made his request, immediately being given his options. Apparently at times like these, what option to choose is a no-brainer. It’s never said what the exact options are, but given that John is determined to learn how to use his retcon powers, I can imagine what they are.

Whatever John chose, it led to Typheus flooding the place with oil, a life-or-death situation. Either he made himself disappear, or he’d die...hm. Would that even count as a heroic death? There’s nothing heroic about drowning in oil, even if it was to save the timeline.

...oh. Jade is right, simply disappearing and saving himself that way wouldn’t help the planet. I hadn’t thought about that. A third option is needed, and what John decided to do...

...was make the oil disappear. Oh! Right. Honestly, I wouldn’t have thought about that on the first try. It seems obvious in hindsight. I have no idea how John managed to make all the oil disappear when he was having trouble making himself disappear, but eh. I’m not going to complain. John has made progress, and that’s what counts.

Oh! So that’s what all the oil everywhere was! I...I honestly stopped paying attention to the oil and the arms. But yeah, here’s the explanation of all that! Clever, John, dispersing all that oil through time and space. Does it mean he managed to clear the pipes? Wow, excellent! And now he’s able to play his instrument and complete the goal.

An organ? Good thing John has experience playing the piano! Pianos and organs aren’t the same thing, but if I’m not mistaken the principle is more or less the same, isn’t it? The flash file that has the music is...rather reminiscent of other songs I have heard before! I can’t pinpoint which ones, though. I know that harlequin song was in there, but I’m sure there are another two or three in this.

The wind was so strong it managed to push out the cartridge from the machine, clearing out the candy corn and the dust! John may have managed to remove all the glitches from the session! That’s very impressive! Here we go, points for quick thinking and for finally learning how to use these complicated retcon powers.

Seriously impressive! And the end result was far more than I expected. I knew John would manage to clear up the clouds, I mean, that seems to be a vital part in this all mess so it was likely he would, but I didn’t think he’d remove all glitches.

Without the clouds this is a seriously beautiful-looking planet. So what’s left to do now that he learned how to use his retcon powers? Meet with Roxy, I suppose. I wonder if we’ll see her side of the story, what she talked with Nyx. She must have had her own choice to do.

Now that the fireflies are free, John walks around the planet. All these places and moments I had forgotten, hm. There’s the village where John threw a flammable shaving cream bomb, and here’s the car that crashed down from high near the house. Along the way he finds Roxy. Guess talking to her is happening sooner than I thought it would!

But that’ll be for next time.

Next update: six updates