#throws this into the pile and leaves/lh

[tsuwumugiaowoba]

[sage-is-in-fact-very-tired]

coworkers polycule headcanons. brought to you by yours truly as well as all 3 of their respective cast members 100000 percent feeding into this (/lh)

- Ven absolutely makes sure everyone has at least eaten something within the day. Ari he typically doesn't have to hound on too much, but Icarus he *absolutely* does. (Ari usually helps.)

- Ari is constantly dragging a very asleep Ven away from his desk and or the main table to his bed because he fell asleep or is on the verge of it. More often than not she ends up sitting on the floor beside his bed and either reading, or she herself is asleep

- Ari and Icarus' part of the relationship is a bit more stained - mostly due to Ari's previous antagony of them. They're working through it, the best they can, but Icarus is. Having a bit of a hard time doing so considering everything.

- Despite that, the first-person Icarus breaks down in front of since the cathedral is Ari. They're constantly jumping around stuff, and at some point they just . snap. make a snarky comment they shouldn't, throw something, *something*, and it all comes crashing down - it all blows up. (But at least someone is there to pick up the pieces.)

- Cuddle piles in Icarus' nest are very common - both due to the fact Icarus' has the most comfortable bed (They're all very unsure how that one happened; but Ic is absolutely positive it's a quixis thing) and also just because. nest. (Icarus likes it to feel like the people they love.)

- While the three of them being in the nest is fairly uncommon - usually it's just Ven and Ari - due to the fact Icarus' isn't around nearly as often, when it does happen its always very fun. Ven and Ari just get smothered in fluffy wing blanket.

- Ari and Ven spend a lot of time chilling in the library and reading together - it's always fun and has more than once turned into "throwing books back and forth" kinda thing

- One of them (Ven) figured out Icarus can kinda sorta purr? it's a really low drawn-out bird trill that only happens when Icarus is *very* comfortable, but each of the other two coworkers have and will use this to their advantage

- Case and point; sometimes Ari has a really hard time relaxing after a conversation with Fable, so sometimes she will just straight up call Icarus over and drag them to their nest because bird purr trill thing is very calming.

- Icarus has started to learn how to braid by braiding Ari's hair. Both because they want to make up from lost time, and also because sometimes their hands are too shaky to make potions but they're not too shaky to braid hair - so they still have some kind of distraction for their hands.

- Ari likes to make them both little flower crowns and or bouquets!

- Ven leaves them both little notes whenever he fines the sleeping in the office - small reminders to drink water or eat something, or just a little note teling them he cares

- On more than one occasion they've all found each other passed out on the floor - while it's not very common with Ven and Ari, it's rather common yo find Ic curled up on the floor *in front of* their nest/bed but not *in it*

- Ari and Icarus help take care of each other's wings. While Ari's don't technically need maintenance due to their nature, Ic still likes to look them over just a precaution. Ari in turn looks over their wings - Ari hasn't been prompted to being allowed to preen them quite yet (Icarus is very protective of who gets to do that, which is fair) but she is allowed to touch them and pick out large pieces of dirt or silt or stuff, which counts as a win in her book.

- Icarus gave them each one of his feathers. They both carry them around - though they don't openly wear them on their person. (Both because that means Fable will know, and because then *everyone else* will know, and as of right now, it's just a thing they want kept between them.)

- Speaking of Fable, they've all learned pretty well just how to comfort each other after Fable leaves after a meeting. (Icarus can *say* they're fine all they want, but the way they shrink in on themself and look ready to cry and are very shaky say. very much otherwise.)

- Ari and Ven find Icarus perched and asleep in *very weird* places in the office much more than they probably should

- Ari and Icarus run a lot colder than Ven, so more often that not Ven pulling either or both of them into a hug just leads to them melting

- They're all respectively pretty touch starved, so they've learned small little touches add up and equal and lot over time

- On that note - Icarus really likes head scratches over. Anything else. Ven is more of a hug person, and Ari doesn't really have a preference but she is rather partial to either of them falling asleep on her shoulders.

- They have a lot of conversations about being worried about hurting each other - they always lead somewhere productive but some of them start of in a rather panicky place on someone's part

- They have a lot of hidden blankets around the office due to their habits of falling asleep in random spots.

- While no one will admit they have a specific blanket they put over people, they absolutely do. Ari will usually puts this mostly white with a snowflake kinda pattern over them. (There's absolutely a couple eye blood stains on there, but no one *really* cares that much.) The one Ven most often uses is a green kind of plaid. And the one Icarus most often puts over them is a lighter baby blue one with little orchids embroidered on it.

- If one of them is really tired while someone else is awake, and especially if they're yawning a lot, their ass is *immediately* getting dragged to bed.

- All of them like to put little braids in each other's hair. Sometimes they'll just start doing it while they're laying down and fall alseep halfway through, and other times they'll only stop because their hands start cramping.

- Icarus will often be the first to get to the office, and the first to leave. Sometimes they'll fall alseep with them in the nest, and awake without them. Sometimes they'll awake with them still there.

- Ari and Ven play tic tac toe way more often than they should considering, but. they do it anyway. (Icarus does. not understand the concept of tik tac toe.)

- On top of the Icarus can kinda sorta purr thing, they've also found out Ari can make very similar sounds to the Allay's clicks and chimes. Ven and Icarus absolutely use this to their advantage.

- Case and point - Icarus cannot fall asleep literal in silence (the thoughts in their brain and their own purrs *don't count*), so most of the time they end up curled and asleep against Ari while she is a) telling a story, b) talking to herself, or c) doing little allay chimes cause she's happy and comfortable

....okay thats probably enough it's been like half an hour of typing this and my hands hurt :((

hope yall like the silly guys; they deserve to be soft. (ignore the angst I slipped in there. it doesn’t exist. totally.)

[cyber-neptune]

Megatron agere headcanons/rambles

Because fuck you (/lh)

-Megs has always been embarrassed about age regressing. Terminus has tried to be accepting of it, he tried to support Megatron but sometimes he just couldn't deal with it. He would snap at him, mostly when Megatron was being too "whiny" or "needy".

He's learned to be more quiet and forced himself to push down that part of him, rarely regressing publicly or with people he trusts. Constantly feeling like an embarrassment for letting his mind act like that.

Only a select few are aware of Megatron age regressing : Kiloton, Soundwave and Terminus.

-Is usually quiet when in little space. However, there are times when Megatron will act more emotional. Either by throwing tantrums or simply crying and whining.

He tries to reject every attention given to him in little state, which depending on whoever does it, either makes him cry louder or try to break things. Sometimes causing him to injure himself accidentally.

Megatron doesn't have a defined caregiver due to being paranoid and anxious about people seeing him in a vulnerable state and taking advantage of it to assassinate or hurt him.

-Spends most of his time when regressed by hiding in a blanket and pillow pile in a corner of his room far away from any windows and doors. The warmth and feeling of soft textures make him fell safe.

Megatron tried to sleep it off but there's only so many times this can work to sleep himself out of his little state.

-Likes watching cartoons and movies while snuggling some plushies. His favorite to watch mostly being mlp kek. Other times, he reads or draw. On some occasions, Megs likes making up small stories with his plushies and toys.

-Has cried himself to sleep more than once, mostly due to the lack of nutrition and/or wanting someone to hold him close. Also exhaustion.

Megs hates wanting to be held or have attention and care directed towards him. He feels undeserving.

-Keeps a box filled with toys, plushies and pacifiers hidden somewhere in his "little corner".

-Has a habit of chewing on things like furniture

-Proud owner of 5 rubber ducks

-Leaves himself snacks for when he's in little space.

[sorcerous-caress]

one of these days, when your requests are open, you’ll get a flood of me on my knees requesting content with the short races. I feel like I couldn’t fix nere, kethric, lorrokan, cazador, jaehira, or z’rell but a cute halfling could /lh.

no, but seriously thank you for writing these niche races! as much as I will always eat up your elves, tieflings, drows, orcs/half-orcs, and Dragonborn x human reader content, I still have a special place for the smaller races. I’m also a little embarrassed you recognize me from liking your human kink stuff haha I never thought I liked that much of it!! Have an amazing day/night! Take breaks and I hope your wisdom teeth are healing nicely lol.

Today is really not my day, tumblr is being stubborn, and this is the second time I had to rewrite this.

And I should be the one thanking you for these kind messages <3 Thank you so much for sending them

Nothing motivates my writing more than knowing I'm adding droplets of water to an empty cup rather than a vast ocean. I'm being fr. When I first learned of my human kink, I searched up for mostly elves x humans and found a decent amount of results!

Then I searched for dwarves x humans and literally found nothing, z e r o results.

No matter how small this is, I genuinely want it to be the mark I leave behind. Fullfilling niche interests of people because things will add up eventually! Each relationship tag I started on Ao3 will expand eventually! It will be there forever for others to realise that this idea they had wasn't so silly after all and they do want more of this.

Even if that niche subject isn't something I'm interested in, it's good practice to write about things out of your passion zone every now and then! Realise your skills have more to them than simply love, and you can apply them to something you feel neutral about.

Also how regressive the dnd community tends to be- anti queerness is still present. People who scoff at any non-binary portrayals or gender ambiguity.

So I really love making the human kink gender neutral, that the kink Itself is about the human as a person. Not about their gender.

and there are people who throw tantrums at the idea of short races being treated as actual people rather than a gag character.

Because short people aren't just there for laughter, or infantilization. It's not just really old wise people or "cute must protect beans"

They can be attractive, have rich complex lives, love, hate, and be in relationships, have sex and act like any other adult around them.

And thanks for respecting my time and waiting for the requests to reopen, some people would've just sent them without regards- i still get the occasional stray ones.

So hey, if you do happen to accidentally send yours by accidentally writing them out and accidentally hitting the send button, then I will look the other way <3

I am telling you to send them yes, subtly of course. Because to be honest, I won't re-open my requests for a long time. I've been less active because one thing after another keeps piling up on me irl while I had so much more free time in the beginning of this blog- even the free time I do have now, I'm using for my other hobbies. Started reading the Odyssey! Weirdly fun, didn't expect it.

The flame for halfling reader hasn't burned out yet, and I am struggling to get through my other requests. They are fine and good but my passion just isn't there. Might as well use yours as an excuse to buy myself more time since I'll be writing about something I'm interested in.

[angy-mouse]

mouse- just a simple lurker here, but this simple lurker is begging you to do anything monster manor related. When you're feelin up to it, of course!

Get better soon! :D

I wrote this up super fast bc its an idea I've been playing with for a while, i was also toying with the old myth that if someone who loves the werewolf says the werewolf's name and throw their clothes at them they'll be able to change back, but i couldn't make that fit. sfw but very cute i like it and if you wanted nsfw just request again theres not a limit /lh

It was a standoff. You, arms crossed with a scowl firm on your face. Dream and Corpse, failing to appear nonchalant as they piled Dream’s tail in front of the attic door.

“I am not leaving Sapnap to suffer by himself all night. Move.”

“He’d kill us if we let you up. No way.”

Ah, the age-old battle. ‘I love you and want what I think is best for you’ versus ‘I don’t give a damn what you think is best for me if you don’t get the fuck out of my way-’. You were on the opposite side just last night when Punz decided fuck it, he wanted to know what garlic bread tasted like. 

“So, what? I’m just supposed to be okay with sending my partner away to suffer once a month for the rest of our lives?” They exchanged a look that clearly said, ‘fuck, the one flaw in our plan.’ “You’re all allowed to take care of me on my period, but I can’t do the same for any of you when you’re plagued by biology?”

Dream was clearly torn between his love for you and his loyalty to his best friend- Corpse was ready to let you do whatever you want. Dream finally huffed, shoulders slumping. “... He’s afraid he’ll hurt you.”

“Do you think he would?”

“No, but you try talking sense into him.”

“I will, thank you.”

Corpse stifled a laugh as Dream slowly processed what he’d just said. “Love you, good luck, maybe bring him some jerky,” he tossed out, pressing a kiss to your cheek as he left, cleansing his hands of the situation. Dream gave another huff, shaking his head with a small smile that he tried to fight.

“You’re too smart, you know that?”

“Too bad you love me and can’t get rid of me!”

“Yeah, yeah, just don’t let him use you as a chew toy.”

“How exactly would that be different from normal?”

You collected an armful of supplies before climbing the stairs. A bag of beef jerky, two water bottles, a blanket and pillow, and your laptop. You figured if he really was as animalistic as he seemed to think, you could toss him jerky bites and put on that sensory video with the dancing fruits. And if he was blowing it out of proportion as you suspected, you could… hand feed him jerky and watch the dancing fruit… No one could judge what you did in your free time.

You could feel your heart crack as you peered into the attic, Sapnap handcuffed to the old iron bed frame on the far wall. He was fuzzier, that was for sure, thick blankets of hair hiding the skin of his chest, arms, and legs. He’d grown a snout- that would be interesting to try and kiss. You were willing to bet not pleasant, but interesting.

His head snapped up with a sharp growl that faltered as he realized it was you. “Stop that,” you huffed, setting up your equipment in the center of the room to start. “Growling at your girlfriend- who do you think you are?”

“What are you doing up here?”

You sat criss-cross-applesauce in your blanket nest, cracking open the jerky bag. “I’m keeping you company,” you said, making sure to keep your voice even and very matter-of-fact. You could see in his eyes the way your tone affected him: this is what you were doing. It was simply a fact. Not a big deal.

“I told Dream-”

“I’m already tired of discussing this,” you decided. “Let’s skip the pomp and circumstance and get to the solution already.” “That you were going to hurt me. Why? You wanna hurt me?”

“No!”

“Then why would you?”

You could tell you were confusing him. Maybe he’s never had anyone talk this through with him, maybe they gave up where you were more stubborn- whatever it was, he had ‘you’re not following the script’ written all across his very fluffy face. “I’ve trashed rooms during the full moon, I’m clearly not in control of myself and I don’t know what I’m capable of.”

You thought about it for almost a minute as you chewed your jerky. “... Do you always lock yourself up in rooms like this?”

He blanked. “Like what?”

“Empty.”

“I guess, yeah. I don’t wanna break anything expensive-”

“You’re an idiot,” you decided, moving your nest to be able to cuddle into his side. 

“What the hell-”

“Do you know what happens when you leave a pet dog in a cage with no toys, food, or anything?”

“That is not the same thing,” he indignantly huffed.

“Why not?”

“Because I’m not a fucking dog!”

“What makes you different from a dog?”

“I’m fucking smarter, I have self-control, I-” He froze as he laid eyes on your ‘now you’re getting it, dumbass’ expression. “... Oh.”

“Yeah, ‘oh,’”

“... You’re human, you’re not supposed to know more about this shit than me.”

“I think you guys overcomplicate things,” you laughed, throwing half of your blanket over his lap. “You need a widdle ol’ simple human to point out the obvious.” Your nose wrinkled as you eyed his cuffs- he looked far too much like Jesus for your taste. “Where’s the key for those?”

“Gave ‘em to Dream,”

“They don’t look too thick,” you mused. “Can you just break them?”

“Uh, no, sugar, that’s kinda the point.”

“Well, sorry, smartass, but I can’t give you a kiss while you’re-”

Snap

You let out a laugh as his tail rhythmically thumped against the floor, remains of his cuffs hanging off his wrists like bracelets. “Gimme kiss,” he purred, nosing against your temple, tongue peeking out to lick your cheek. 

“Alright, come here, you big goof,” you hummed, pressing your lips to his fuzzy cheek then to the bridge of his snout. “No making out when you’re like this, I don’t know how I feel about the whole ‘no lips’ thing yet.” He simply gave a growling grumble and flopped onto your lap to nuzzle into your stomach, tail going strong as you scratched behind his ears. “... You wanna watch the dancing strawberries?”

“... Maaaaybe.”

[theres-an-impulstor-among-us]

I give you a lot of angsty requests, so here, have a fluffy one!

Among Us: Through some glitch, a round generates with no impostors. For the first little while everyone is really on edge and trying to accuse each other, but they soon realize that nobody is dying and relax, although they're still very confused. Everybody does their tasks as normal, but instead of completing the last task, they all build a big pillow fort under the admin table and just take a rest for a little bit, hanging out and laughing over previous games and just being together without the tension of possible death and betrayal over their heads. Many stories are told, many "bodies" of friends knocked over in pillow fights are "reported", and many memories are made, before they finally decide to end the round! 💙

okay so this request was MEGA detailed so i didn’t get to every single part of it but i hope this is just as good lol

also bring on the angst I DARE YOU /lh

…

A weird feeling in his stomach, Etho presses the emergency meeting button, teleporting everybody to the table. Once everyone is assembled, Etho realises something strange.

“Okay, there’s been no deaths,” he says slowly.

“Wh- Seriously?!” Tango gasps. “That round lasted, like, twenty YEARS! Half the tasks have been done!”

Etho frowns. “Nobody’s seen anything suspicious, or…? No venting?”

Everybody shakes their heads.

“Okay… I guess we’ll skip, then. Everyone keep an eye out, though.”

When the meeting comes to an end, Etho trots after Tango as the latter heads towards weapons. “Hey, Tango? Does something seem a little off about this round to you?”

“Yeah. We’re a bunch of idiots who can barely play this game on a good day - except you, of course,” he adds, “but it’s definitely weird that we went that long without a single kill. The imposters must be really slow for some reason.”

Etho considers this. “Maybe. I’m not convinced.”

He leaves Tango’s side and peels off into navigation as Tango keeps going. After finishing his download, he goes back up and does his task in O2, before heading back to cafeteria to finish wires.

After this, he realises there still hasn’t been a body reported so he catches Astro as the latter enters cafeteria. “Hey, Astro. Can you hit the button for me?”

“Oh, sure.”

Astro presses the emergency meeting button, bringing everyone back to the table. Etho’s suspicions are confirmed when he sees that everybody is still alive.

“Okay, I’m sorry to call you back here, but we need to talk,” Etho says. “There’s something wrong with this round and we may have to abandon it.”

“What do you mean?” Skizz asks confusedly. “What’s wrong with it?”

“It’s been over three minutes and there’s been no kills or sabotages. I apologise if I’m not correct, but I just have a feeling that there’s something wrong. If you’re the imposter, please raise your hand now.”

Nobody moves.

“This isn’t a trick,” Etho adds. “I’m sorry if I’m ruining someone’s imposter round, but I’m genuinely a little concerned that the game has gone wrong.”

“I’ll support you on that,” says Tango. “Etho knows about this stuff. If he’s worried about the game glitching out, I’ll take that seriously. I’m not the imposter, but if anyone else is, I’d advocate coming forward just to make sure nothing’s wrong.”

After a moment, a chorus of murmurs comes from the others, all confirming that none of them are the imposter.

“Okay, so it seems the game has glitched and generated a round with no imposters somehow,” Etho says. “No need to panic; if we all finish our tasks and win the round, it should take us back to the lobby like normal.”

“But do we have to do that, though?” asks Impulse. “Tasks are almost done and there’s no imposters, so why don’t we just hang out a bit, without the threat of death?”

“I’m down for that,” says Endless unexpectedly. “I’ve always wanted to build a pillow fort in admin. The table looks perfect for it.”

“You mean out of pillows like these?” Joker holds up a pillow that he seemingly pulled from out of nowhere. “Hey, Skizz?”

Skizz turns. “What’s u-”

Joker whacks him in the face with the pillow.

“GAAAH!” Skizz shrieks, tripping over his own foot. “What the hell?!”

Clutching the pillow by its corner, Joker doubles over with laughter. “Oh my gosh, your FACE!”

“Okay, that’s it. Imposter or no imposter, I’m gonna murder you.”

Skizz snatches the pillow out of Joker’s hand and swings it at him, but Joker dodges and takes off running down the hallway towards storage, giggling like a child. Unable to help a laugh of his own, Skizz pursues him.

“Where did he even get that?” snickers Tango.

“Same place I got mine,” Endless says, holding up an identical white pillow. “Medbay.”

Brody tries to hold in a laugh. “Endless, I’ll give you a high five if you hit Tango with that pillow right now.”

Endless considers this for a moment.

Tango gives him a warning look. “Don’t. Endless, I swear to-.”

He cuts himself off and ducks as Endless swings the pillow at him, but before he can do it again, Endless brings it back round and whacks him in the side of the head, causing him to let out a yelp.

Laughing uncontrollably, Brody holds up his hand for a high five, which Endless gleefully gives him. “I like this,” he says happily. “I feel cool.”

“Endless, you’re starting something you can’t finish,” Tango warns.

“Then you finish it,” says Impulse unexpectedly, appearing out of nowhere to hand Tango a pillow of his own.

A grin slowly spreads over Tango’s face.

Endless blinks. “Oh. I’m in trouble.”

On the other side of the room, Etho glances sharply over as he hears a THWACK sound and finds Tango and Endless whacking each other viciously with pillows. He chuckles to himself and continues looking through the game’s code.

After a while, Brody approaches him. “Hey Etho, we’re gonna go build a pillow fort in admin. You should come join us.”

“Thanks, but I gotta work through this code.”

“You can do that in the lobby later. C’mon, we’ve got a once-in-a-lifetime thing here. This glitch will probably never happen again. Let’s have some fun on this map while we have the chance.”

After a moment, Etho nods and lets Brody take him into admin, where Mrs Tango and Astro are already piling cushions in the middle of the room.

“Is this what we do when we think the game might’ve gone wrong?” Etho chuckles. “Build pillow forts?”

“I mean, we may as well,” Brody responds. “Right? What else can we do?”

“Finish our tasks and end the round.”

“Where’s the fun in that, though?” says Astro from the floor.

As Etho opens his mouth to respond, Joker bursts into the room and dives behind Etho, who spins round to find Skizz skidding to a halt outside admin. “Where is he?!” he snaps, panting heavily. “I’m gonna kill that idiot!”

“What’s going on?” Brody demands. “Who are you talking about?”

“JOKER! He said my mohawk looks like a dead bush!”

Relaxing, Brody rolls his eyes. “Oh no. How terrible. He’s a MONSTER. We’d better throw him out the airlock right now.”

“Sarcasm duly noted,” Skizz huffs. “Where IS Joker, anyway?”

Brody jerks his thumb over his shoulder. “Hiding under the admin table.”

“Brodyyyyy!” comes Joker’s muffled voice.

Skizz walks into the room and takes note of the group of people setting up the pillows and blankets over the top of the admin table. “So what’s going on here? Boy scout sleepover?”

“Yup,” Astro responds with a grin. “Do you have a problem with that?”

After a moment, Skizz shakes his head. “Nope. Can I borrow a cushion to hit Joker in his stupid face?”

“No,” says Astro firmly.

“Can I suffocate him in a blanket?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Can you relax and stop being a stupid schoolteacher for ten seconds?”

“Not if it means letting you try to kill Joker.”

“C’mon, I’m not ACTUALLY gonna kill him,” complains Skizz. “There’s no imposters this round, remember.”

“Mhm.”

Within five minutes, everyone is huddled under the blanket fort over the admin table, using a rusty lantern as a light source. It’s fairly roomy inside the makeshift tent, but the ten people are still sitting fairly close together.

“So now what?” Brody asks after a while. “Are we gonna talk about something?”

“How about we discuss what kind of dead bush Skizz’s hair looks like?” Joker asks innocently.

Skizz responds to this by whacking Joker in the face with a pillow, knocking him over backwards.

“Oh, report the body!” Tango yelps with a grin. “Skizz did it! Skizz did it!”

This causes the whole group to laugh, even Etho. After many rounds of chaos and suspicion, it’s nice to be able to joke around and relax a bit.

“How does it feel, huh?” Skizz smirks. “How does it feel to be hit with a taste of your own PILLOW?”

“Honestly, I deserved that.”

“Yeah you did.”

Joker yanks Skizz down next to him, grinning. “Shut up.”

A short pause follows this.

“This is the only round we’re gonna get like this, isn’t it?” asks Evil.

Etho nods. “Should be. Why?”

“Dunno. It just feels nice to just hang out with you all as a group and be happy. I love you guys so much.”

“I hate you,” Endless murmurs. “I hate you all.”

Immediately, the two people on either side of him grab him in a simultaneous hug. “Well too bad, cuz we love you,” Astro responds with a smile. “Grumpiness and all.”

A low groan comes from Endless, but everyone can see the hint of a smile on his face.

Etho sits back against the wall and gazes around at his friends. Mrs Tango is resting her head on Tango’s shoulder. Astro and Evil are still hugging and teasing Endless. Brody and Impulse are quietly chuckling together about something. Joker and Skizz have fallen asleep with the tops of their heads touching.

Even though Etho isn’t with anyone in particular at this moment, he still feels connected to his friends. He’s alone but he’s not lonely. And that’s a rare thing for him.

This group really is his family.

[kindcolors]

surely we wouldn't send charlevin for the prompt... not us... and hm mayyybe I like one-word/phrase prompts and the first words that come to mind are altar wine and geometry? I don't know if those are anything I'm not one of the people who writes sjwjkshsj

omg charlvein such a suprise !! /lh < 3 this takes place when donnies around 13 :] With a huff, Charles stepped into the kitchen, and the pile of books he carried hit the round kitchen table with a thump. Kevin craned his head, flipping the stove down a few pegs and offering a smile to Charles. The kitchen window cracked, and Charles smiled right back.

“You bring home more books than you take with you,” Kevin said, slipping off his apron that read ‘kiss the prophet’. He hung it on a hook next to the stove and strided over to the table, leaning on it with his elbows.

Twisting his wedding ring, Charles nodded. “What can I say? I’m very into theology,” he cooed, “Though, you know that. You don’t need me to repeat it. Though, I feel sometimes it does bear repeating,” Charles extended a hand, which rested on Kevin’s cheek. Kevin leaned into the touch. “I’m very into theology, Kevin. Very much so.” Charles stroked Kevin’s face, thumb dipping below his eye socket and down towards his jaw, where it met Kevin’s stubble. Usually, Charles didn’t like beards on men, but in the years he and Kevin had been together, he’d grown attached to the everlingering hair adoring his husband’s face.

Charles, distracted, leaned over the table. His chest hit the pile of books, and the chain reaction was instantaneous. The books hit two bottles of wine, which turned over and spilt, which stained Donovan’s geometry homework as soon as contact was made between liquid and paper.

“No, my joyous congregation wine!” Kevin exclaimed. He raised up off the table as soon as he heard the clinking of glass; for a strong, silent few seconds, Charles and Kevin just stared at one another. Slowly, they were brought back to their senses, Charles moving the books away from harm’s way and Kevin throwing a towel over the expanding puddle. Once the books were thrown onto the counter, Charles dragged Donovan’s homework out of the mess and looked at it as it dripped and ripped. With a quick hand, Kevin took the paper and laid it in the kitchen window.

“The sun will make quick work of it,” Kevin nodded, brushing the crack in the window. “It’ll dry before he’s even home.”

“We told him not to leave it out anyways,” Charles said, puffing out his chest, before once again slacking his shoulders. “Though, we also have a rule about no books on the table, and well,” Charles chuckled, throwing his hand lazily to the disorganized pile of books now on the counter.

“Well, when your husband offers such sweet words to you, who can fault him for getting a bit distracted,” Kevin laughed, cupping Charles’ cheek and resting his forehead against his husbands’. With a soft huff, Charles closed his eyes, and pressed his lips against Kevin’s. After years, the bumps and rough skin of Kevin’s mouth fitted perfectly against Charles’ own, and the feeling of their teeth brushing together was home. Kevin’s tongue darted from his mouth and hit Charles’ teeth, and his eyes fluttered open. The crack in the window deepened, and Charles closed his eyes once again, smiling against Kevin’s mouth.

Kevin pulled away first. “I’d love to,” he cooed, tracing over Charles’ bottom lip, “But we should really go get more wine.”

“Can’t have church without wine,” Charles nodded, “Bet we can make it home before Donnie’s dropped off?”

“Oh, definitely!” Kevin laughed, already racing to the door.

[sun-is-a-square]

Let it never be said I don’t keep my promises /lh

Even though they hadn’t set a date, Karl, Quackity and talked a lot about what they wanted their wedding to be like. It was fun, something exciting for the three of them to share. Quackity would boast about his plans to build them a big fancy wedding venue, and eagerly tell his two fiancés how pretty they would look in this or that suit. Karl could talk on for hours about what flowers they should pick, or what all the best desserts would be, and Quackity and Sapnap would listen for as long as he talked—there was a special love in those happy rambles, one they cherished more than anything.

Karl and Quackity were guaranteed to throw the wedding of a lifetime, and Sapnap was happy to be along for the ride. All he really wanted was for the wedding to be big. All of his friends, all of his family, hell, even people he only knew secondhand, he wanted to invite everyone. More than anything, Sapnap wanted the whole world to share the happiest day of his life.

In the end, no one came to the wedding.

There were no wild and colorful bouquets, no shimmering chapel, no tables piled high with desserts or bright and lively music. No laughter. No light. No love. There was nothing. There was no one.

It was raining. Not a heavy storm, just a steady cold drizzle, gray and bleak. The forest around Kinoko seemed lifeless, empty. It was silent, save for the hiss of rainwater through the leaves and Sapnap’s own heartbeat. He looked down at the two rings in his palm, both dented and stained til the gold had taken on a dull bronze color. He knew Quackity still had his set of rings. He could only wonder if Karl did too.

Sapnap had dreamt of this day a lot. All of them had, each ready to spend the rest of their lives together. Once, he’d thought George and Dream would be there to support him, his two best men there by his side. He’d thought about giving all his friends a big hug before walking down the aisle to be with the loves of his life. The dreams had always been full of sunlight and hope, like a glimpse of heaven. Their wedding was supposed to be a new beginning.

Sapnap swallowed the dryness in his throat, sliding one ring onto his left ring finger. It felt wrong. He shouldn’t be the one doing this. It should’ve been Karl, giggling and fumbling with the ring, leaning in to steal a quick kiss. His hands were shaking, but he managed to slip the second ring on. It doesn’t feel any better. It should’ve been Quackity, grinning like he’d won the lottery, pressing a quick kiss to the back of Sapnap’s hand. He shouldn’t have been doing this alone. Maybe he used to want this moment to be full of all the people he loved, but now, Sapnap would’ve moved heaven and earth just to have Quackity and Karl there.

It was their wedding. They were supposed to be there.

A wedding, with two of the three grooms unable to attend. Sapnap had tried to find someway to bring it to them, to make it feel like they were still a part of this somehow. But Karl had been gone for nearly a year, lost to some gray empty void beyond time. And Quackity… well, there hadn’t been enough left of Quackity to bury.

Sapnap took a shaky deep breath and closed his eyes. “I…” he winced. His throat was torn, his voice was rough and unpleasant. He took another deep breath and tried again. “I, Sapnap, take you both, Karl and Quackity, to be my lawfully wedded husbands,” he rasped, barely above a whisper. “To have and to hold, from this day forward—“ For a moment, words failed him. He’ll never hold them again. He’ll never again run his hands through Karl’s curly hair, or sit in Quackity’s lap, or fall asleep between the two of them.

Sapnap leaned his head back, letting the rain fall on his face. Cold rainwater and hot tears bleed together. “For better, for worse,” he said, “For richer, for poorer, im sickness and in health. Til—“ He choked on a sob, his chest heaving as he fought to keep composure.

He rolled his hands into fists, gripping tighter and tighter, until he could feel the metal rings biting into his skin. It took everything in Sapnap to not break again, to not fall to his knees and scream and sob, to let his damned heart bleed until it was empty. It could’ve been different. He could’ve talked Quackity down. He could’ve asked Karl what was going on. He could’ve held his temper. He could’ve been there more.

But it was too late now.

That’s what it was. Not a promise, or an oath, but a warning of how it all would end. “Til death do us part.”

U keep bullying c!Dream & I will write a Karlnapity wedding as punishment

oh anon you fool . that’s their happily ever after . that is far from a punishment for me . a wedding for c!karlnapity would make me so happy it’s all i want is for them to be happy <3

[spectrumscribe]

a solo act is good, too.

a Humanverse general TMNT universe fic, mostly using 2012 versions and borrowing from IDW here and there. i’ve always headcanoned 2012 Mikey as an aro/ace, so on the free day of the lgbtmntweek i decided to finally write a fic up for the hc. 

(not @ them bc of a slight NSFW situation involved. nothing graphic,  it barely lasts more than five sentences.)

“So Mikey, when’d you and Angel start dating?”

Mikey, age nine and a half, hits pause on his current model building project to give a blank stare to his friend across the table. Mondo keeps staring back, expectant.

“What??” Mikey asks.

“Everyone’s saying you’re girlfriend and boyfriend!” Mondo exclaims. He shoves aside his own Lego to lean forwards, whispering fervently, “You know girls have cooties, right?”

“Uh, yeah? Duh,” Mikey says, then remembers that his cousin Karai and friend April will beat him up for saying that, and diverts the subject. “But we’re not dating! Angel just likes Bionicle, that’s all. She’s fun, and we live really close.”

“Girls don’t like Bionicle,” Mondo says. “My sister hates it. She’s gotta be faking it so you guys can date.”

Mikey feels confused. He thought they were just friends who liked the same toys and TV show. And Angel never said so, so they aren’t dating. “But we’re not-!”

“You totally are!”

“Are not!”

“Are too!”

“Boys, settle down,” A passing TA says, and both boys quiet down.

There’s a moment of silence, and Mondo whispers, “Totally dating.”

And Mikey sticks out his tongue, not listening to another word his friend says all through free time. He’ll just ask Angel later, when they walk home from school together.

“My friends were saying the same thing, actually,” Angel says later, when they’re weaving through the streets back to their shared neighborhood.

Mikey scrunches his nose. “What? Why?”

Angel shrugs, reaching up and twisting one of her long dark strands around her finger. “They said we hang out a lot, so we gotta be dating.”

“That’s dumb. Donnie and April hang out a lot and they’re not dating.”

“I said that too, but everyone else thinks they’re dating anyways.”

Mikey groans. “So dumb.”

Angel shrugs again. “It’s not super dumb. I think dating sounds kinda fun.”

“Ew, no.”

“What, you wouldn’t date me?”

“You’re my friend.”

“So?”

“Friends don’t date, they do- friend stuff!”

“My big brother says that dating starts with friendship, though.”

Mikey thinks about that for a moment. “Really? People on TV just kiss a bunch, though.”

“Keno doesn’t kiss his girlfriend too much, they mostly just sit around and talk a lot,” Angel explains. “Or play music in his room, sometimes. So kinda what we do, but I guess big kid stuff instead.”

“So… are we dating, then?” Mikey asks tentatively.

Angel looks at him, contemplative as she examines Mikey’s baggy orange shirt, his cargo shorts, and wildly tangled brown hair. “Maybe? Do you wanna be dating?”

“Uh, we’d still do friend stuff, right?” Mikey doesn’t think kissing part sounds too bad. But only if it’s in little amounts.

“Well duh, we gotta finish Bionicle, right?”

“Oh totally.”

They keep walking for a minute, and Mikey remembers something that people who date are supposed to do. “I think we hold hands now.”

“Oh, right.”

Angel sticks out her hand, and Mikey takes it. They keep walking, go to his house where his brothers are already hanging around in, and they watch Bionicle season 2’s fifth episode together.

They end up kissing possibly three times over the course of the rest of the week, barely pecks on the lips, before Angel says they should probably break up.

“There’s no spark,” She says very seriously. “It’s not you, Mikey, it’s the spark.”

Mikey is hurt for about two seconds, and then shrugs. He’d only really been doing it because people said he’s supposed to. “Okay. You still wanna sleep over?”

It makes a lot more sense, around fourteen, why Angel hadn’t felt any spark for the brief relationship or Mikey. Mostly having to do with her dyeing her hair purple, getting a pink shaded button for her bag, and going steady with Alopex from her apartment building. Mikey isn’t really surprised- Karai had had the same kind of look Angel grew into at the exact same age, and his cousin had been dating girls since she figured out how to bleach her hair.

Mikey, by fourteen, has had exactly one relationship, three first kisses, and lacks motivation to seek out another situation to build those counts. He’s moved on from his Bioncle years- though he keeps some toys, for the sake of nostalgia- and dived headfirst into the Marvel comic’s universe.

The school library has an excellent selection, and at the beginning of his fourteenth year he meets a girl buried up to her ears in that section. Renet and Mikey hit it off immediately, swapping knowledge and recommendations and favorites and strong opinions about individual universes.

“Who’s your friend?” Leo asks after one evening, when Mikey had spent about an hour and a half debating heatedly on the phone. Guardians of the Galaxy verses the Avengers- who did more on the grand scale of things for the earth and its wellbeing? Mikey voted the Guardians, but Renet had fought back valiantly that ground troops frequently made more differences than long-range artillery support.

“Renet! She just moved here like, three weeks ago or something,” Mikey says, hanging up the phone. The debate would have to be continued at school, next lunchtime. He turns to his sixteen year old brother, grinning. “Can she come over for dinner sometime? You guys’ll love her, I swear.”

“Her?” Raph asks loudly from the living room. “Holy shit, did you finally get a girlfriend?”

Mikey frowns. “Uh. No? She’s just my comics buddy.”

“Who you’re inviting for dinner,” Leo says pointedly. “Who you just spent like, two whole hours talking to, instead of texting.”

“Hey Donnie, Mike’s finally got a crush on someone!” Raph hollers. Crashing follows and Donnie skids down the steps of their second story in all his fifteen year old lanky glory. He nearly wipes out on the pile of laundry by the steps.

“Did we get blackmail yet?” Donnie asks immediately, hardly taking the time to steady himself.

“Working on it,” Leo replies.

Mikey slaps his hands over his eyes, groaning. “Guyyys! Shut up! That’s not how this is! She’s just- really cool, okay? And knows about superhero shit!”

He hears his older brothers make disbelieving sounds, and Mikey ignores them all. Maybe he deserves a little teasing- he’d done so to all of them about their crushes- but it’s! Not! Like that!

And then the first school dance of the year rolls around, and Mikey is faced yet again by social pressure to be dating someone. He has limited options for a dance date: his cousin, who scares everyone and is probably too busy to come. His best friend, who has two dates already (Mikey doesn’t know how Mondo managed that or how he’s going to keep that a secret from both dates, but he promises his friend the funeral will be a nice one). His other best friend, but LH is twenty-something and would really scare everybody, even though he’s just a big softie who likes leather too much. None of those dates are acceptable, in hindsight.

Or there’s Renet.

Mikey wants to go to the dance, because dancing is great and he loves social events in general, so he agonizes a bit and finally asks Renet to go with him.

She turns bright pink when he does, and fumbles her hold on issue four of Wolverine and the X-men. “O-oh, Mikey. I didn’t know you, um, felt that way about me?”

Mikey rushes to abolish that idea. “No! I mean- I like you, but not like that! It’s just a stupid dance, okay? I just want to dress up nice and go dancing, I swear.”

Renet sighs in relief. “Okay, good. I’m not really supposed to date until I’m older anyways. I’m glad we don’t have to have such a totally uncomfortable convo.”

Mikey slumps in his chair, huffing. “You and me both. So will you?”

“Be your date?”

“Yeah.”

“Sure! I love dances, they’re totally bodacious,” Renet giggles, and Mikey grins in return. His friend’s outdated slang has to be one of his favorite things about her. He kind of wonders why isn’t crushing on her- Renet is curvy and cute and knows a ton about comics- but she’s just his friend.

Mikey puts that thought aside, and asks Renet what the hell a corsage is.

When the night rolls around, she shows up in a dress and hijab that’s color coordinated and he puts on actual dress pants for once. He wears his favorite flannel and a bowtie borrowed off Donnie- and grins and bears it as his father, brothers, and their friends all snap pictures of him and Renet.

“You two are so cute,” April comments, taking a picture as Mikey sticks his tongue out at her.

“I hate all of you,” He grouches, but smiles again so Renet’s parents will have good photos. At least he gets to have revenge, snatching up a camera and getting all the angles possible of Leo, Donnie, April, Casey, and Raph in their outfits. The five of them are going stag together- for reasons Mikey is Highly Suspicious of, regarding Donnie, Casey, April, and Leo in particular- and he’s only a little mad they didn’t tell him going stag was an option.

The dance itself goes great- good music, good mood, mediocre refreshments and minimal buzzkill from teachers supervising. Mikey sees and meets his family throughout the evening, throwing down on the dancefloor with Renet and their classmates. He sees Leo making his Nervous But Trying Not To Be face as he talks to a couple of his classmates, mostly towards one Asian guy with dyed white hair. Mikey also sees Raph drifting from the group with his friends and twin, towards the punch table and snacks, which leaves Donnie, Casey, and April shimmying in a circle and looking really awkward, and why can’t they just figure themselves out already, jeeze.

Mikey focuses mostly on twirling Renet around, and having fun with that. Mondo, who is soaked in punch from his dates dumping him and going off together, gives Mikey meaningful looks directed towards Renet.

Mikey ignores his friend and highly awkward family members, and just enjoys dancing with his comics buddy. Renet, at the end of the night, is flushed and grinning and Mikey really does wonder why he doesn’t feel the need to kiss her. She is awfully cute.

When the drop her off at home, all they say to each other is a reminder that comic swap is this Thursday and to remember to bring the ones they’d borrow from one another. And then Renet leaves, shutting the door and shutting Mikey inside a van with his stupid nosy family.

“So,” Leo says, and Mikey doesn’t have to look towards the driver seat to hear that grin.

“You two crazy kids kiss tonight?” Casey finishes, poking the back of Mikey’s head. Mikey swats the hand and tells them all to piss off. His family does not in fact piss off and pokes for juicy details for at least another few blocks.

There’s no ‘juicy details’ to tell, even after he and Renet meet up the rest of the week and keep meeting up. They swap comics and have debates and just hang out, still just friends and unchanged from the dance date. Mikey wonders on and off why he doesn’t have a crush on Renet- or anyone, really- but brushes it off in favor of the new Superior Ironman series coming out soon.

It stays that way, through years fifteen and sixteen- while Leo finally works up the courage to admit out loud he likes guys and ask Usagi out, Donnie and Casey and April keep making circles around each other and the elephant in the room, and Raph starts making eyes at a cadet in training he’s met at the gym. Even Renet starts going steady with a boy her family approves of, and she approves of even more so, and Mondo goes through about five more relationships, all ending in various states of chaotic mutuality.

Mikey watches his family and friends all be in love or at least interested in other people, and Mikey just keeps feeling more interested in his comics and skating.

“Maybe you’re gay, like me,” Angel suggests at one point, while they’re sitting at her kitchen table and cramming for a bio test.

“I dunno, maybe?” Mikey answers, and doesn’t feel against dating a guy, but feels about as enthused as he would dating a girl. Or anyone in between, honestly.

“You already tried girls, give some guys a shot. More for me.”

“You thinking of cheating on Alo?”

Angel flicks an eraser at Mikey. It lodges in his coils and he doesn’t even bother getting it out.

“Hell no, and if you say anything like that to her I’ll bust your kneecaps.”

“Noted.”

Mikey actually gives it a shot, dating guys. Dating in general. Keno introduces Mikey to a delivery boy his age at a local pizzeria, and Woody’s not bad to hang out with. He’s got curly hair to Mikey’s coily, freckles except in red, and skates most weekends. And he likes comics, albeit indie ones, and they find a bit of common ground by breaking in each other for new fields of reading.

It goes great, chaste kisses and holding hands and having coffee dates to skate parks- up until Woody asks to take it a step further. And Mikey doesn’t… want to.

“Is it your first time or something?” His boyfriend asks, and Mikey nods. “Then we’ll… wait, I guess. Until you’re comfortable.”

“Thanks,” Mikey says, and tries to not feel guilty for not being ready right now. He knows for a fact Mondo lost his virginity ages ago, described in detail that Mikey had to make his friend shut up about, that Angel lost hers a while ago, told in much less detail, and that most of their classmates have. He also knows that his brothers had at least tried things at this point, and Mikey hasn’t.

He feels a little left behind and frustrated about it.

He tells his buddy, Linnorm Hirutarum, named after a dragon because his parents had been awesome, all about it as LH tends to the vegetable patch behind his tiny house. Mikey flops all over the grass by it, grumbling and sighing, and snitching lettuce when he pretends LH isn’t looking.

“If you are not ready, then you are not ready,” LH says sensibly in his usual growling tone. Which is default for him and basically his version of a warm-fuzzy tone anyways.

“But I should be!” Mikey exclaims. “Everyone else was. Is. Augh.”

“Have you talked about this with Woody?”

“I… I don’t want him thinking it’s about him. Because it’s not! It’s just stupid whatever stuff for me and I need to get over it.”

LH’s shadow falls over him, and Mikey waits for his huge friend to gently lower himself onto the grass. LH’s wide scars move with him as he does, displayed by a sleeveless shirt only in the safety of the hedge protected backyard. His hand comes down on Mikey’s veritable afro, and pats Mikey’s head as he keeps talking.

“I know people who have made rash decisions about these sorts of things,” LH says seriously. “If you are not ready, then do not force yourself to. Respect your own boundaries.”

Mikey sighs, but agrees to respect himself. It’s easy to agree in that moment, with only LH’s non-judgemental presence near him, but it’s harder when he’s with Woody again and trying to explain himself without being rude.

He gives it a try, the whole sex thing. LH said to respect his boundaries, but Mikey thinks he can do it if he just figures out how it goes. Everyone else likes it, so shouldn’t he?

They talk about it, set up a date, and Mikey gets ready to experience the… experience.

It ends up being an unexciting, uncomfortable half hour of sloppy kisses and bumping parts. Mikey tries his best, but can’t figure out why anyone works so hard to experience this.

When it’s all over, Mikey hasn’t felt anything remotely close to pleasure, and actually feels a little over touched. Woody is a bit flushed, breathing fast by Mikey’s ear, but doesn’t seem super pleased either.

“…you didn’t enjoy it, did you?” He asks.

Mikey covers his eyes, and sighs. “No. Sorry.”

“Yeah, I thought you didn’t. Sorry, Mikey.”

“It’s not your fault,” Mikey says, taking his arms away and staring at the ceiling of Woody’s room. “I’m pretty sure this one’s all on me.”

They sit in stiff silence for a moment, before Woody asks if Mikey wants to stay for dinner. Mikey declines as gracefully as he can, and goes home instead. Slogging upstairs and heading into the shower to wash off.

He’s pretty sure he shouldn’t feel so much better, alone in his bedroom and freshly cleaned of the lingering smell of body fluids. His brothers find him there later, in a bathrobe and watching the original Twin Peaks on his laptop, and they ask him why he washed so early.

Mikey debates for a moment, and decides they’ll find out somehow anyways. “I had sex.” He’s unsurprised to hear Leo choke on his own spit, and Raph and Donnie make twin sounds of shock and disbelief. “Yup. Popped the cherry but good. You guys can stop teasing me about it, now.”

Does he sound a little bitter? Mikey thinks he does. From the way his brothers hover awkwardly in the doorway, they heard the bitterness, too.

“…you okay, Mikey?” Leo asks, genuinely concerned.

Mikey shrugs. “I’m fine. It just went awful, that’s all.”

Raph pats Leo on the shoulder, simultaneous with Donnie, as they both silently nominate the eldest to deal with the situation. Leo shoots them both an abandoned look, but steps into Mikey’s room to come sit on his bed. Mikey doesn’t pause his video, using it as a distraction from his prickling shame.

Leo watches him for a moment, before asking, “You used protection, right?” and Mikey groans, covering his face.

“It wasn’t that kind of sex, okay?”

“Oh. Um. Good?”

“Smooth,” Raph comments from the doorway, audibly swatted at by Donnie.

“Anyways,” Leo recovers. “You were both… you talked about it beforehand, right? You both wanted it?”

“Yeah,” Mikey says miserably into his sleeve.

“…you know first times are always bad, right, Mikey? It takes- um- practice-”

“It wasn’t because of that, Leo. You can stop.”

“Thank you,” Leo says gratefully. Donnie and Raph snicker from the doorway. “So… what was it because?”

“I can’t believe this is a conversation we’re having.”

“Shh!”

“If it’s somethin’ that kid did-”

“Raph we talked about that contingency already: only if Mikey says so-”

“It wasn’t Woody,” Mikey says, before death threats start getting thrown around. “It was me, okay? I made it suck.” He takes his arms off his face, shooting a look at all three of his siblings. “And before you say it- no it wasn’t just because it was my first time. It sucked ‘cause I suck and I couldn’t figure out how to enjoy sex, okay?”

A beat of silence, all three of his brothers staring at him, and then Leo breaks the lull.

“Mikey… you don’t ‘figure out’ how to enjoy sex. You just- enjoy it. It happens naturally.”

Mikey’s cheeks burn and he scowls. “Well apparently not with me.”

“Maybe you just haven’t met the right person yet?” Raph suggests. “I mean, you know me and how things go with that.”

Mikey shakes his head. “I kinda doubt it; I’ve tried to get crushes on like, ten different kids at school and nada. Zip.”

Donnie tilts his head, long hair following the movement. “Maybe when you’re older you’ll be more interested?”

Mikey sighs. “I don’t know. Maybe. I hope so. But it’s been like- never a thing, okay? I should’ve had feelings or whatever at some point, at least once, right?”

A collective “uhhhh” from his brothers and Mikey turns over into his pillow to suffocate himself. Leo pats his back comfortingly, saying Mikey should just give himself more time, keep an open mind to chances in the future- and Mikey makes a wordless complaining sound into his pillow for it.

He and Woody break it off a few weeks later. His friend tried, and Mikey recognizes that, but Woody needs a relationship that involves stuff Mikey just… can’t figure out how to give. He tries only two more times before they just call it quits. It’s not working, and trying to make it work is just frustrating for them both.

They keep being friends afterwards, and that’s actually better in the long run. It’s everything Mikey really wanted out of the relationship anyways, so he doesn’t feel like he’s lost anything.

He feels shitty for not being able to put out like he wanted to, though. And that drives him nuts for the rest of the year, until he’s seventeen and graduating finally, and gearing up to follow his siblings to local universities. Donnie graduated ages ago, but stayed local because of their family and he, April, and Casey’s really obvious secret relationship. Casey is in mechanics, and April in general sciences; Donnie is in both and more, because he’s insane. Leo is already a few years into his share of university courses, a hopeful nurse in the future, and Raph is neck deep in his art courses.

Mikey doesn’t know what he’s going to go for, and signs up for a random collection of electives to start with. Social sciences and psychology looks sort of fun, and so do dance courses. But those are months away, and before then is summer, family time, and June’s Pride Parade.

They’ve gone a couple times, when everyone has the day off from work or classes, and this year Mikey doesn’t have a shift at his outreach program scheduled on the parade’s date. So he, his family and friends, all end up watching the parade go by in a loosely connected group.

The standard drag queens, sponsor programs, and generally proud and loud folks roll by, music and cheer its usual levels of boisterousness. Mikey snags a couple plastic necklaces that are being given out, and just enjoys hanging out with his family. He waves to Angel and Alopex as they march by, part of the local lesbian representatives, watching the familiar pink and red flags flutter as they do, but pauses as the next group follows them.

It’s just a handful of people, walking with grey, white, purple, and black flags, mixed with ones very similar but instead of purple, they have green. There’s some polite clapping as they go past, and Mikey nudges Donnie beside him. “Hey, Donnie, what’re those flags for?”

“I… don’t actually know?” His phone is out within seconds, reflexes of a true technology addict. “Let’s see what our almighty lord and savior google has to say about it.” Mikey pushes close, reading as much as he can as Donnie flicks through the search faster than he can take it. “They’re- huh. They’re for ‘asexuality’ and... ‘aromantics’? I don’t even know what the second one is, and I’ve never heard about that first one being applied to anything other than asexual reproduction.”

“More explanation, please?” Mikey asks impatiently.

“It’s says- don’t push, I’m trying to scroll- it says it’s for individuals with little or no sexual drive, or little to no interest in romance. Actually that sounds contradictive, why are they listed together…”

Mikey’s eyebrows shoot up. “Really?”

“Well, that’s a gross oversimplification of everything here. There’s a spectrum for it, and apparently different categories? This is actually pretty interesting. I wonder why I’ve never read about it before.”

Mikey snags the phone from his brother, scrolling back to the top and rereading the first few paragraphs. He ignores Donnie’s grabby hands and keeps reading, feeling a twisty hopeful emotion build in his chest.

“Here,” He says, tossing the phone back at his brother. “hold my spot.” And he takes off at a jog to catch up with the parade members. They’re not too far ahead, and Mikey just has to avoid slipping on stray necklaces as he runs over to them.

“Hey- hey!” He shouts, catching up with the first person he can. The woman turns questioningly towards him, and Mikey blurts, “When did you- did you first know?”

She blinks at him, adjusting her hold on the big flag pole on her shoulder. “Excuse me?”

“That you’re asexual,” Mikey asks, heart tempo speeding up. “How’d you know?”

She stares at him a second longer, and then grins. “Around the time I had my first girlfriend, and I looked back at the times with my other partners and figured out I was always more interested in watching the movie than I was in making out.”

Mikey grins back. “Yo- same hat!”

“Oh yeah?”

“Totally! My ex always wanted to make out during Luke Cage and I was always like- dude no there’s good stuff happening. That’s. Wow.” Mikey feels a little breathless. “So that’s what it is? It’s not like- just a me thing?”

He barely hears the crowd around them, his focus tunneled around the conversation and the woman holding the flag. Mikey waits for a denial or an okay, a little scared while he’s so excited.

The woman smiles kindly. “No, that’s not just a you thing. We’re not a huge community, but there’s aces out there. Do you think you’re one of us?”

“I don’t know, I’m- I’m hoping so?” Mikey’s heart does a little twist. “I mean. My bro just pulled up the google explanation, and it sounds really, really. Um. Like me?”

The woman reaches up to the front of her jean jacket, and reaches into a pocket. When she pulls out her hand, she holds something out to Mikey.

“Look into it a little more, but if you think asexuality fits you- then welcome to the club, kid.”

Mikey takes the little button, grinning ear to ear. He thinks he’s shaking he’s so ecstatic. “Hey, would it be cool if I hugged you right now? I think you just solved like half my life problems.”

The woman laughs, and holds her arm out. It’s an awkward hug, because they’re both still walking and she’s carrying a flag, but Mikey appreciates it wholly.

When he comes back to his family, he’s got a new pin stuck to his shirt and an elated, hopeful feeling in his chest behind it.

“Hey guys, guess what?”

Turns out, not really feeling like dating people is fine all on its own.

So while Leo and Usagi go through the ups and downs of long-standing relationships, Donnie, Casey, and April all share their usual collective awkwardness and romantic overtures, Raph finally lands a date with the cadet Y’Gythgba he’s been following around for ages, and Karai and Shinigami disappear over the eastern horizon to share their seventh anniversary-

Mikey cracks a fresh pile of comics in his bedroom, turns up his music, and calls Renet on Skype to have a comparison hangout of their latest picks. He hangs out with Mondo and Woody around the skate park before that, and rolls by Angel’s place to say hi to his friend and her family on the way back. He pops in at LH’s place, trading half the casserole Angel’s mom gave to him for fresh veggies, chatting about his day so far and plans for a comic binge later. He sees his friends, does what he always does with them, and departs from them all one after another.

When he goes home, enjoying the summer heat all on his own and excited to video call his best girl who-is-his-friend and nothing more- he doesn’t feel even the slightest bit lonely as he walks. Like he always has.