#time to face the situation

[canisalbus]

✦ Come hell or high water ✦

[lulupen2023]

My very first BellDom fic 9/23

awww thank you so much for the likes, I'm so happy if someone is enjoying this madness, lol

Summary:

Do you want to meet a Matthew who sees conspiracy everywhere (oh wait, this is not big news!) and is so fond of his trolley that he treat it like a sort of puppy? Do you want to meet a Dominic in love with… himself (and with Matt, too, of course!)? And do you want to meet a Chris who wants to prove to the world he's the most masculine guy ever… but is unavoidably attracted by every… female hobby? This is what you'll find in this story, among lots of BellDom and… craziness!

Summary of the chapter: A sweet moment just for Matt and Dom

IX: Just Like Romeo and Juliet

Lying down the bed of his new hotel room, Matt decides he has rested enough.

There's more than one hour before the sound-check so he's watching TV just to will the time away, but after the fifth fast zapping through all the channels, judging that there's nothing worthy to be seen, not even an episode from the first season of 'Lost' which he has already utterly memorized, the boy turns the TV off, a little bit bored.

He has already set his things in the closets and the drawers of the room, but he kept most of them inside his suitcase, no, well, not his suitcase, it's Dom's one, which the brunette switched with his beloved trolley... and there's no comparison, of course!

He has already chosen the outfit for the gig, nothing too striking anyway.

And he's already called Gaia too, even if those ten minutes seemed to last for ten hours to him.

And he can easily figure out that this is not a good sign at all.

Now there's only one thing left to do, something he has promised to Dominic.

Let's make it clear: he's not playing for time because he doesn't feel like doing that.

Quite the contrary, he just can't wait to run to him and face that pretty delicate topic.

The problem is that he knows he has totally lost control on his actions and maybe, after many other occasions, this time he won't help being tempted to kiss Dominic.

After a very deep analysis of all the pros and cons, proclaiming the crushing victory of the pros, he walks towards his door.

As soon as he opens it, a certain someone knocks three times on his forehead, kind of energetically too.

"Oh, my, I'm so sorry! I was sure it was closed!" Dominic immediately apologizes, concerned.

"Damn you, Dom! You shouldn't have quit your indecision-dance just when there were no closed doors anymore!" the other complains, massaging his forehead.

"Gee, again with this story! Do you plan to remind that to me for long?" the blond rolls his eyes.

"Every single time I please. And I'm still cursing myself for not recording that on my portable camera, now that I think of it..."

"If you're about to remind me of the fake attempt of suicide, well... be sure it will turn into a real one of homicide... and maybe not just an attempt, because even if now we are on fifth floor, trust me, it's enough to make the harsh impact with the ground very unpleasant!" Dom cuts him off, warning him.

However Matthew is anything but scared.

"You look so bloody good when you're menacing!" he smiles to him.

"I always look bloody good!" the other declares proudly and, since he can't find in the corridor anything that can reflect him, he's content to be mirrored in Matthew's blue eyes.

"You know, Dom, the thing I mostly love in you is your astonishing modesty!" Matt makes fun of him, rolling his eyes, amused.

"Let me guess, were you about to walk to my room?" the blond changes subject, deciding he has mirrored himself enough.

"That's right. But you anticipated me. Well, it seems we had the same idea." Matt smiles.

"Uhmm... I'm not so sure it's really the same idea..." Dom comments, enters in the room with Matt and closes the door behind their backs.

"Why?" the brunet wonders, a little bit frightened by his words, his behaviour and mostly his look.

"Because, actually..." the other answers and gets closer to him. "... mine involves this!"

And saying that, he kisses Matt before he can realize that, making him back off until he hits the bed, falling on the mattress with him.

After all, it seems that Matt has nothing to object, as he wraps his arms around the blond's neck pulling him closer and increases the intensity of that long kiss.

Without daring interrupt their kiss, Dominic can't help letting a hand flow through the hair he almost seems to worship.

Neither of them can establish exactly who the first one to break the kiss is, but they part from each other pretty satisfied.

"I really, really like your ideas!" Matt winks at him, as Dom lies on one side of the bed resting one elbow on the mattress and the hand on his temple to give him his total attention.

"Yeah, but it's just like I thought: nothing." the blond states.

"Do you mean that you felt nothing? Nothing at all? That you didn't like it at all? Really?" Matt asks him, very uptight.

"You, silly! How can you think such a thing? I mean that there's nothing to do to prevent how I feel. You know, I thought that the first times were just an occasional thing and that this time I wouldn't like it anymore..." he explains.

"But? Because I'm sure there's a 'but'..." Matthew smiles, quoting on purpose the same sentences Dom had said on the plane and that makes the blond smiles too.

"But I was wrong. I liked it. God, I liked so bloody much! Maybe even more than the other times!" he confesses and then Matt holds his hand in his.

"Same reaction here. And, tell me, maybe you liked it so much that now you would like to do it again, am I right?" Matt asks him rhetorically, tugging the blond closer to him in order to kiss him again.

And the fact that Dom lets him do that, moaning happily, it's the best answer to him.

"Yeah, but... wait..." Dominic protests against his lips and he finally manages to part from him.

"We are supposed to talk. It's not that I'm complaining, of course, but this is not exactly what we are doing now..." he makes him notice.

"You're right. Let's talk, then!" Matthew agrees, sitting on the bed as the other mirrors his actions.

"It's useless to look for excuses. Now it's not happened because I still have to recover from the journey, yesterday it's not almost happened due to the adrenaline of the after-show... and it will not happen again just because we get drunk..." Dom starts explaining.

"You're right. As it's true that it's not happened to bring good luck... and now I'm not so sure anymore if the very first time happened due to the forfeit..." the brunet confirms.

"I think so. It's not due to Chris' weird ideas, to the mistletoe, not even to the poker. I'm sure it would have happened sooner or later. We can't ignore the truth."

"And what is the truth?" Matthew pretends to wonder.

"You know it better than me."

"Right, but I want you to tell me that, anyway." the frontman pouts.

It seems that also his pout is a portentous weapon and Dom can't help pleasing him.

"I like you. You like me. We like each other. Do I have to conjugate the whole verb or you finally got the point?" he smiles.

"Hell yeah, I got it. So, we can say we are best friends who happen to enjoy kissing each other." Matt sums up.

"Who happen to enjoy kissing each other a lot!" Dom corrects him.

"So far..." Matt mutters quietly, but Dom hears him.

"Uh? Does it mean that we won't confine ourselves just to do that?" the blond wonders dumbfounded.

"Who can say that? After all, this stuff between us wasn't supposed to happen... so I guess that a lot of other not-supposed things are going to happen soon. Besides, since we like, we really like kissing each other, I guess that we'll not dislike even doing the... other stuff. And I'm scaring the hell out of me saying that, but the idea doesn't look so horrible to me." Matthew confesses, afraid that he's exaggerated.

"Well, I'm scaring the hell out of me too, because neither do I find that idea so disgusting..." the other admits, with a shy smile that for Matthew means just one thing: relief.

"Anyway, this is not correct. I mean, our girlfriends..." Matt grumbles, getting worried.

"That's right. They utterly ignore all what's happening. We are betraying them." Dom agrees, as worried as well.

"Well, if you consider that Gaia used to say to me 'Swear to me I'll always be the only girl for you' technically I'm not exactly betraying her." Matt points out.

"Well, if you put things in this way, neither I'm exactly betraying my girlfriend, because she also uses to tell me the same thing, but in a kind of different way. Generally her words are 'If I find out you date another girl I swear I'll tear you to shreds!'" Dom confesses.

"Does she really talk like that? I would have never guessed it. I thought that Jessica was such a sweet girl..."

"Appearance can deceive more than you think!" the blond rolls his eyes.

"Oh, my poor Dom, mistreated by his girlfriend!" Matt makes fun of him, cuddling him and ruffling his hair affectionately.

Instead, Dominic stares at him with wide eyes.

"What's wrong?" the brunette wonders.

"Did... did you really say 'my Dom' ?" he looks for confirmation, as Matthew thinks about what he has previously said, smiling sweetly.

"Yeah. I've really said 'my Dom'" he admits.

"So... does it make you... my Matt?" the other asks him without even the courage to look into his eyes, but Matt solves the problem, taking his face in his hands and forcing Dom to look at him.

"Only if you want it. And I want you to want it." he murmurs.

"I do!" Dominic declares fiercely, giving him a quick kiss.

"You know, in front of a priest or whomever in place of a priest... well, this is just the kind of sentence that could have very interesting consequences!" Matt jokes.

"Hey, slow down, boy! And let's clear a point: I can't get married without having at least a bit of courtship before!" Dom jokes too, but then he sees the other become serious.

"Anyway, this is not what we were talking about."

"Right. So, what are we gonna do? We must tell them, no doubt about that!" Dom states, parting from him slightly.

"Of course we must. But not now. This is not the kind of news you can give someone by the phone. It would be such a cowardly behaviour and we're anything but coward. We'd better wait until the end of the tour, so we can come back and face them properly, telling them the truth." Matt suggests.

"I agree. This is the right thing to do. It's just that... what will we do as we wait for the tour to end?" Dom wonders.

"We should try to resist and stay far away from each other and... damn, who the hell am I kidding? I already know that it's not going to work!" the brunette admits.

"I think so, too. After all, it's already an example what we were doing just a few minutes ago." Dom comments with a smirk, before getting thoughtful.

"You know... in a certain way I'm sorry for you and Gaia. I mean, you've been together for so long..."

"I know, it's not easy at all. It has been an important love story, a very important one and always will be. Anyway, even before all this stuff between you and me happened, things weren't going so well between us. Ok, it's just a bunch of little things, but gather all of them together and you get a huge one! Plus, what can I say? I've known you for much longer!" Matt explains.

"Anyway, even you and Jessica... I mean, you seemed to build something serious with her..."

"I know, it will be a very important love story to me too, the most important I had so far. By the way, it seems that now I'm going to build something even more serious... with you!" Dom confesses.

"Yeah, but... c'mon, don't you think this is weird? I mean, we have always liked women, always! We hadn't ever had a single doubt about it. And then, out of the blue, in a day like many others, in such an absurd way that any of us would never, ever, ever imagine, not even remotely, that one day we would be... we would do..." Matt grumbles incoherently, as he starts to get an unnatural speed in his speech.

Luckily, Dom interrupts him before he manages to overreach even the speed of light, because, really, he's almost about to do that!

"Damn you, Bells, you can't always analyze everything! Some things must be just accepted; especially the things that make us feel good. And since this one makes us feel more than good, we must just accept it, in the most natural way, without asking ourselves too many questions. Let's just make our rationality take a holiday!" Dominic patiently states.

"Hey, since when did you become so wise?" Matt frowns.

"I'm an endless source of surprises, my dear!" the other smirks.

"So, is this official? Are we together now?" he asks him one second after, staring intently at him.

"It seems so. No matter how crazy it is, it's official!" Matt confirms, smiling at him.

"But are we not going to tell anybody, right?"

"Absolutely nobody. At least for now we'd better not to tell anyone, not even Chris." Matt decides for both of them.

"That's so cool! We'll have a forbidden and secret relationship... just like Romeo and Juliet!" the blond exults, grinning.

"If you think so, I play Romeo, no doubt about that!" the brunet clears up.

"Does it mean that I should play Juliet? No way, forget it! Why can't we both play Romeo? C'mon..." Dom protests, resorting to his unfaultable weapon: his pout.

"As you please..." the others gives in, defenceless.

"Anyway, among all the characters you could have chosen... why those two? You remember how their story ends, don't you?" he adds, pretending to be worried.

"Of course I remember. What's the problem with that? Wouldn't you die for me?" the drummer asks him.

"No bloody way I would! Call me stupid, but you know... I happen to enjoy living!" the singer strikes back resolutely.

"Phew! You're not romantic at all!" Dom snorts, turning his back to him, crossing his arms and acting insulted.

"If you've finished making a scene, * Juliet *, we'd better go now. Chris must be waiting for us in the hall." Matt makes him notice, getting up from the bed with him.

"Hey! We have settled for two Romeos!" Dom snaps irritated, almost yelping.

"I know, but I couldn't resist. You look too outrageously good when you act insulted!" the brunette winks at him.

"I've already told you, I always look good, no matter what I do!" the blond insists.

"Here we go, you're doing it again. Lovely!" Matthew whispers and Dom confines himself just to smile.

"Anyway, you're right, we'd better go now." Dom exclaims, but Matt seems to have other plans.

"There's not such hurry, after all. Chris can wait one or two minutes more..." he murmurs, pulling Dom to himself for another deep kiss.

TBC

[persona-brainrot-real]

Sae Niijima is such a good character it drives me insane a little. She's not a mother nor a maternal or doting older sister but instead a twenty four year old who was thrown into a position of responsibility that she never asked for. She loves Makoto just as much as she resents her and its so apparent every time they talk up until November. "Are you studying?" (I want you to do well) (I need you to get a job and stop making my life harder) "I'll use any method necessary to get this promotion" (Life will be easier for us) (So stop distracting me with your problems) "Focus on your future" (I know that you're capable) (I can't afford to waste my time on you, so stop wasting time on others)

Makoto is not only the sole reason she pushes as hard as she does for a promotion, for success, and the reason that she loses herself in her animosity over her fathers death, but also someone she can't stand for so long. Makoto was 14-15 when their father died. Sae was 21. As soon as she got the career she wanted and things started to look up, her stability was robbed from her and she was disillusioned with the system that her father had taught her to rely on and completely adhere to. How do you manage, the daughter of a cop, following his footsteps towards law enforcement, when you're suddenly reminded of how unfair it is? You can't quit, your little sister relies on you and she's so young and struggling just as badly with this grief. So you pick yourself up and you get moving again. You push harder, press further. You abandon your morals and your ethics because punishing criminals (guilty or not) is almost like punishing the man who killed your father.

And the whole time she's fighting for promotions, going for drinks with the SIU Director to make herself more favourable for promotions, trying to navigate being a woman in a competitive, suffocating, male-dominated field, falling behind despite doing so much where others are promoted for doing so little - all the while your little sister comes back from school and her biggest issues are so small compared to yours.

Persona 5 revolves so heavily around grief and loss and change and Sae embodies all of that so well, all of the sharp and unpleasant and jagged parts of grief.

[ruporas]

in a mood (ID in alt)

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

The four alignments of Tummy Hurt

[luzho]

i’ll delete it in the morning but i wanna know: do u guys like this little suki?

[sorunort]

(You are bound to the Universe's will the same way the moon is bound to this planet, the same way the planet is bound to the sun, the same way a puppet is bound it's strings!!!!!!)

top ten pieces of dialogue ive screencapped because of how normal it is and how normal it made me feel

[turtleblogatlast]

Small but significant character moments that I actually really adore are from both the times we see the boys as tots. There is a reoccurrence that happens in both of them that I find so incredibly interesting.

For the turtle tot short, Splinter leaves the boys with weapons. In the short, Raph is the one who suggests they do “what Lou Jitsu would do” and Leo is the one who takes point when Splinter comes back to reprimand them. Leo, in taking point, is the one to defend them and get Splinter off their tails.

And then, in the flashback regarding the Kuroi Yōroi helmet, Raph is the one who grabs and throws “Skully” as a way to replace their missing ball which breaks it into pieces, but Leo is the one who speaks for the group and rushes into action to fix the teapot.

I love this for multiple reasons, but the biggest are how it shows that Raph has always been inclined toward the bold and fun and making the plans to include his brothers in what he loves and believes they’d love, whereas Leo has always been inclined to be the “Face” of the group and shoulder the attention even if it’s potentially negative all while coming up with on the spot attempts to fix the situation.

[seagreenstardust]

“When toxic behavior is portrayed as romantic, it’s problematic. When problematic behavior is portrayed as a character flaw for a character to work through, it’s good storytelling.”

Katsuki Bakugou, my friends.

His behavior was problematic but never once portrayed as romantic at the same time. Katsuki said and did awful abusive things, and he also chose to be better when he was given the chance. If you’re still hung up on chapter 1 Katsuki now then I don’t think you’ve been reading the same story I have.

I can’t speak for everyone, but I’m not shipping Izuku with an irredeemable abuser. I’m shipping him with his most important person. His narrative foil. His childhood friend who made awful mistakes and then made it right when he saw he was wrong. The person Izuku looks up to and strives to emulate, despite their past struggles.

Bakudeku is so good because of how flawed these boys are, and how hard they’ve worked to get over it, and how much they matter to each other after it all

[bandtrees]

they would get divorced in one universe just to find eachother in another one

alternatively titled: sometimes you're the level-headed token flesh-head impulse-control-and-polycule-member of a stubborn, eccentric, and hearty telephone-headed drug addict, and there's cruelty in the world you deem fit to suicidally fight, and that either goes about as well as you'd expect it to, or you learn about love and the value of your life and junk along the way

[kagoutiss]

so the new iteration of twinrova in totk who appear in the bg of some of the dragon tear memories. who look oddly young and also never show up again or become plot relevant at all. anyway i keep thinking what if they’re his daughters this time around :’-0

[paper-lilypie]

staring death in the face

[phoenixcatch7]

Honestly I'd really like to see a mxtx3 story where wwx and xl work with Sqq to reveal sqq's true backstory and the system to lbh.

I mean, think about it!! One of the biggest problems with scum villain is how even though they get together, unlike the other couples bingqiu is still left with all these huge secrets that massively affect them both. Lbh is left believing he married his mercurial abuser, that his suffering passed some sort of indefinable test that proved him worthy of basic rights. That Sqq threw him in the abyss of his own volition. That Sqq was really sacrificing his life and not faking his death with intent to survive.

Sqq is left knowing all these things but unable to act on them, unable to tell his husband about his own past, unable to explain his actions, never able to fully let his guard down because he's supposed to be shen qingqiu. He can't even tell his own husband his original name!! If he could have, he would have, even if only in the extras!

But can you imagine???

A meeting of bingqiu, wangxian, Hualian, for whatever reason, and as the three (actual) protagonists chat and gossip and get to know each other, as they talk, Sqq is at ease enough to slip up and finds out he can talk about the system to anyone from outside pidw! Not just sqh!! Maybe not completely, but he can mention some, and the other two, concerned for their new friend, are clever enough to tease the rest out. They're horrified. Sqq is resigned but freshly hopeful.

And so begins Mission: Save Sqq's Marriage!

(Sqq would very much like to contend the title but he is out voted.)

I'd just love to see the three of them (with unquestioning aid from their husbands) get up to hijinks and face existential horrors on a quest to help bingqiu get the closure they need. And moshang too, I guess XD.

It'd also be very, very funny to have them all in the middle of the latest traumatic and/or mortifying scene look around at the other two like 'hey, aren't you supposed to be freaking out now? This is normally the part people start screaming' and the other two are like 'I mean I guess?? We've got things to do though' like kings of unflappable repression right there.

(and lbh and lwj having vinegar-offs while hc is sighing dreamily watching his husband make semi decent friends for once)

Like there's a bunch of crossovers but none really scratch that itch, you know? The main characters of all 3 mxtx?? There's so much potential for Truly Unhinged Shenanigans!! Wangxian visiting pidws wife plot filled world and disappearing into the wilderness for a full week, coming back with every single piece of clothing they brought ruined. Hualian go visit mdzs and and no one believes xl is a diety and hc chomping at the bit to kill them for the injustice. Bingqiu going to tgcf and lbh getting mistaken for a calamity, or Sqq falling into the one wife plot kidnapping or something intended for a diety.

But seriously imagine Sqq complaining about something and wwx and xl immediately going 'that's not right! You deserve better!!' and Sqq is like 'no it's fine I'm used to it' and the other two slam their fists on the table like 'no!!! If [husband] was forced to keep that kind of secret I'd hate it!! You two deserve to be properly happy!! Let us help! We can fix this!' and start working with zeal and vigor while Sqq trails along embarrassed half heartedly muttering 'it's not that bad >:/'.

And when it works (presumably some clever loophole they stumbled on) and bingqiu are tearfully kissing they share a low five without looking. Or that one meme where the person getting kissed holds their hand back and their wingman enthusiastically high fives it but there's two wingmen XD!

I don't knowww but it'd be such a good premise! Ripe for character interactions!! Fluff! Crack! Angst! Daytrips and pouring their hearts out to people who'd really understand! Xl wwx and Sqq bestie team up! Meeting moshang! Wwx info dumping about his monster index categorisation to an enthralled Sqq! Xl and Sqq bemoaning etiquette while wwx laughs at them! Xl and wwx having intense discussions about morality and righteousness! All three of them laughing at how oblivious they were about their husbands, each trying to one the other two for Dumb Moments They Should Have Realised (Sqq wins by horrifying the other two)!

Forget cross country kidnappings and being locked in a room! Where is my protagonist trio getting into trouble on a self imposed mission to help their friend! Let their magnetism for insanity shine!!

[purplepixel]

Dont worry y’all, he’s not dead.

Its been exactly one year since I made this. This was the first animatic I made with rise. Technically a repost from twitter, since i wasnt on tumblr when i made this. I held off posting here when I did make the switch bc…reasons. Its kinda weird looking back on this animatic. Its somewhat of a time capsule for me bc THIS IS 100% PROJECTION. I made this one afternoon in response to what was going on in my life at the time. Draw your feelings to cope and all that jazz. I wanted to reshare this bc 1) archiving reasons 2) show how much ive improved from this 3) ok maybe i still think i did a good job with it and 4) Im ready to share part 2 that ive kept hidden for an entire year. Nobody has seen the follow up animatic. Not even my bestie. It’ll give more context to this animatic, but i also like the idea of this one standing on its own and that anyone can interpret it however they like.

Oh hey, this was my first time animating in procreate as well? Back when i didnt know you could use group layers to animate in procreate HA.

Part 1 | Part 2

[egophiliac]

#i feel you op i also started initially to read the stories but got busy grinding for events instead 😭 #i also haven't read any of the events not even madguy bc i feel like im gonna miss a lot of context i feel sorry for my boys #although I've recently caught up to ch7 and it made me a stornger more brainrotted madguy fan than before #ppl said it's gonna get more insane later on and im nervous #but so far. the stories are GOOD i highly recommend reading it if you're able to #it's just kamen rider but with extra steps #also to assuage your fear (i hope?) i heard from the grapevines that the change to leon is minimal you can easily miss it (via @chipsncookies)

YES I feel a lot better knowing other people are in the same boat as me! :') as someone who only plays games very casually, the events are fun (and have been a good excuse to get those support stories on characters I was kinda ignoring) but SO distracting -- and they have a connected overarching narrative of their own (make sure you read them in order when you get to them!) so I don't want to skip any. which I guess is to say that my problem is that I'm enjoying the writing too much! how dare they.

overall it definitely has that Kamen Rider tone and feeling I was hoping for and I am VERY pleased with it! I do kinda miss the kitbashy monsters, though otherwise it's basically just Rider But With More Random Scenes of Characters Being Ridiculous At Each Other and that is exactly what I was after. (also exquisite taste, Mad Guys are best guys 🤝)

and as long as I still haven't gotten to episode 13 and can therefore continue to be hilariously naive, let me just say that I know what I'm dreaming of for Leon. he deserves it.

...although I do think it would be VERY funny if they made that whole big "WE WILL BE UPDATING LEON'S SPRITES TO REFLECT STORY CHANGES!!!!" announcement and then it turns out that they just like. hue-shifted his eye color slightly to the right or something. it's not even a big story beat, Leon just decided to try out some color contacts, maybe comb his hair back a little, and we don't have the heart to tell him to stop. :(

[stainedglass-sketchbook]

CHILDREN OF BHAAL

I adore the vibe of redeemed durge your sister killed your mind and took your place - it was the greatest gift she ever gave you