#working on more meme edits i promise

[illisius]

HANNIBAL LECTER & WILL GRAHAM

you're an angel, i'm a dog or you're a dog and i'm your man

— Mitski, i'm your man

[gollancz]

Guys. Christmas is coming. Consumerism is in the driver's seat and GAWD don't I know about the existential ennui of all these faceless corporations trying to schill you their wares. It's cold. Impersonal. Bleak.

So I, a fellow tumblr user, will instead try to schill you MY wares, so that when you purchase these items you can say "Hey, that person from tumblr worked on this", and feel the warmth of HUMAN CONNECTION in a way that is completely normal and not parasocial at all. We really are friends. I promise. Yes, you. Love you, bestie. Remember the boop war? Good times. Fond memories.

THIRTEEN STOREYS and FAMILY BUSINESS by Jonathan Sims

Tumblr's favourite Nightmare Factory @jonnywaistcoat has two novels out and they're phenomenal horror that also punch you in the throat with SOCIAL COMMENTARY and FEELINGS. He's so adept at tapping into the specific part of my brain that feels fear like a small child - not the adult creepy scared that I normally get around horror, but specifically the kind of fear that almost freezes your limbs and vocal chords with a terror you don't quite understand because there is so much in the world that you don't know, but you know that somehow this thing might be quick enough or smart enough or sneaky enough to get you before you can get to the safety of your parents sort of fear.

THIRTEEN STOREYS is a haunted house novel, but set in a refurbished block of flats. Each chapter follows a different resident being haunted in a different way, with a style to match the flavour of ghost. It's all tied together phenomenally and brutally.

FAMILY BUSINESS is a story about ghosts in a different way, following a woman who joins a post-mortem house cleaning service while grieving the death of her best friend. But as she removes the stains from the houses of the dead, she begins to suspect something else is removing even more.

Both of these titles are available from Gollancz worldwide!

THE LAST UNICORN, THE WAY HOME, THE INNKEEPER'S SONG and A FINE AND PRIVATE PLACE by Peter S. Beagle

Obviously Peter's work needs no introduction, and our editions aren't available in the US and Canada, but I've had a wonderful time working with Peter and his team to bring these beautiful books back to the UK. Meeting him at Worldcon this year was such a magical moment, and he was jet-lagged and I had gone through sleep deprived into hyper and was bringing an Extremely Weird Energy to every interaction I had that day, resulting in this photo:

THE LAST UNICORN and THE WAY HOME are a matched pair of wonderful fairy stories. THE WAY HOME has two novellettes in it, and the first - 'Two Hearts' - won the Hugo award. It will also destroy you.

A FINE AND PRIVATE PLACE was Peter's first ever novel, and it's wistful and romantic and so beautiful.

THE INNKEEPER'S SONG is his epic fantasy quest, it's an adventure story that reads almost lyrically. Also there's an orgy in the middle which caught me by surprise when I was reading it for the first time on the train into work.

HIGH VAULTAGE by Chris and Jen Sugden

It's possible that someone on this website doesn't know I was involved with this book but don't worry, I will HUNT THEM DOWN AND TELL THEM. This is the first book I took all the way through the editorial process from end to end and I am SO PROUD of it and Chris and Jen and their wonderful world of @victoriocity. Officially one of the seven funniest books published in the UK this year, shortlisted for the Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction. It's a chaotic, bonkers murder mystery set in an alternate Victorian London which is the most gleeful dystopia I have ever encountered.

Featuring:

Grumpy Sunshine besties

The Victorian Equivalent of the Chuck Norris Meme

A robot who undertook a course in People Management

An indefatigable beagle

This is another book that you can get from Gollancz all over the world, and you SHOULD because it's amazing. Go into your local bookshop and ask them to order it into stock. It's a great Christmas present. It's my firstborn book baby (like that's a completely normal thing to say when I didn't even write it). Also if you're a fan of the podcast, why not tell the Guardian how great it is, and make a nuisance of yourself until they review. (I would, but the form asks for your name and then they'd know I didn't suddenly discover Victoriocity this year. Either that or think I was a very careless editor.) If you've not listened to the podcast yet, you absolutely should. It pings all my Douglas Adams receptors in the best way. If you like HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE, if you like CABIN PRESSURE, VICTORIOCITY is the perfect addition.

HAMMAJANG LUCK by Makana Yamamoto

SLIGHTLY cheating because HAMMAJANG LUCK isn't out in North America until January (pre-orders make great Christmas presents guys), but it IS out in the UK and the rest of the world next week! This is my second big editorial project and it's a Big Gay Space Heist ft. disaster lesbians, trans characters, and a tech billionaire getting put in his place. It's joyous and energetic and crammed full of Hawaiian pidgin as a love letter to the diaspora. @makana-yama is a phenomenal writer and this is their love letter to their communities, families both born and found, while also a statement on the victims of gentrification (and how those are disproportionally BIPOC communities). PLUS:

friends to enemies to cautious allies to lovers

trans cyborgs

Suck It Space Elon

You know that One Scene in Charlie's Angels where Cameron Diaz is in the white body suit and breaking into the safe and has to stretch out to hit two buttons at once? Yeah. That's the vibe.

Being able to work with Makana is a delight, and HAMMAJANG tapped into all the feelings I got watching LEVERAGE for the first time, so I went to watch it again while I was editing. Also OCEAN'S 8.

DEEP BLACK by Miles Cameron

So, barring Branderson, Miles Cameron may be one of our most prolific authors. He writes a minimum two books a year, one SFF and one historical fiction (as Christian Cameron) and he is... An absolute phenomenon. He IS the Chuck Norris meme. I'm obsessed with him. He's former US military intelligence turned naturalised Canadian Hippy, has written over fifty novels, can turn his hand to any genre and write it fantastically, is a practical archaeologist - running large scale re-enactments from a variety of periods ranging from Bronze Age right the way up to the Victorian era, using traditional techniques to allow academics to study how the practicalities of weapons, clothes, food etc. would have worked in practice. Two years ago he won a medieval combat tournament in Verona, a clear ten years older at least than the next oldest competitor, he teaches Historical European Martial Arts, but ties it into the history of martial arts globally. He can make his own clothes, ink, leatherwork. He's a ballet dancer. I once took him for a day out and he ended it in a different shirt and shoes from the ones he'd started in. I asked him for an author photo and he sent me this:

DEEP BLACK is the sequel to his critically acclaimed SF debut ARTIFACT SPACE, where he has taken his research and experience of global historical cultures and extrapolated to create an interplanetary future where the best of all are celebrated. And then Aliens Happen. And then, in reaction, Capitalism Happens (which is covered in the short story collection BEYOND THE FRINGE).

He's such a thoughtful and erudite speaker, if you're curious about his work, I'd recommend listening to his episodes on the Friends Talking Fantasy podcast, and also his appearance on The Publishing Rodeo.

If SF isn't your bag, he's also got:

Arthurian fantasy

Bronze Age fantasy

Medieval Mages fantasy

A CURSE OF CROWS - Lauren Dedroog

I actually inherited Lauren when a colleague of mine departed for fresh pastures, which gave me the great opportunity to work on this series which is so vastly different from my usual fare. It's epic, sweeping, romantic and lush, with such detailed description and complex political machinations, while also being brutal, dark and heavy (tw: for sexual assault, torture etc, etc.). If you like Sarah J Maas and Cassandra Clare, this should hit the sweet spot. Lauren is an ICU nurse when not writing, and this was somehow created when she was putting in a million hours in hospitals during COVID. The feat boggles my mind.

A CURSE OF CROWS is out now in the UK, Australia and Europe, and it won the People's Choice for Standaard Boek's Book of the Year award in 2023, in her home country of Belgium. It will be hitting shelves in North America next September! A DANCE OF SERPENTS is where I get to pick up the editorial mantle, and that has just landed in my inbox this week so I am excited to dig in.

Featuring:

Harold, they're lesbians

Murder baby is actually a cinnamon roll

Sensitive wings are sexy

For serious, though, I'm lucky enough to work with a lot of authors I'm genuinely obsessed and astounded by. And yes, I do get to work on Joe Abercrombie, Brandon Sanderson and Andrzej Sapkowski, but they're not MY authors - they're led by the incredible Gillian and Marcus who I'm not 100% certain sleep. There are so many people on the Gollancz list who I could recommend for DAYS (and will, if you so request), but this is my stable of superstars.

[janmisali]

jan Misali series 2025 status report, "please don't ask me about these unless you have an actual question beyond 'when is the next one' or 'is this series dead'" edition

finannual meme mashups: officially over. 2024 was the last one, unless I decide to do another whole-decade mashup at the end of 2029 (I probably won't).

toki pona lessons: fully intend to get back to this eventually! however the increasingly impatient comments demanding more of this series have successfully completely destroyed my motivation to put work into this series. I do genuinely promise to get back to it as soon as people stop asking for it. that's not a bit.

Conlang Critic: on indefinite hiatus. I'm not going to say it's over, but I have no current plans to make any more of it. but maybe someday!

how many Super Mario games are there?: well for starters I'm still not fully recovered from the "basking" phase of making hmsmgatn. but also this series is "over" until enough things happen to justify a sequel. (and no, I'm not going to do the same concept with another series.)

retconlang: canceled. the pilot did not perform well, and I overwhelmingly got more people saying a generic "please make more of this!" or "when is the next episode?" than any actual positive feedback on the video

the wāw saga: it's weird that people in annoying comments have been grouping this in with the other series because like, unlike the others there isn't any indication in the videos themselves that this is a series I have ever intended to continue beyond those two videos? I do have nebulous ideas for a third installment in the trill-ogy, but that's not something I'm actively planning or working on.

Wario Faces Consequences for His Actions: took a break when Move It! was announced, and haven't been able to regain momentum. I'd love to get back to this, but I just haven't yet.

kijetesumikyoku: the toki pona community needs to hurry up and make more music for me to sample, there's still not enough out there to make a third one of these

tumblr polls: I will literally never run out of ideas for tumblr polls. this series will continue until tumblr physically stops me from making them

[justastraymoa]

Yet Unnamed

Chapter 7

Masterlist | Ch 8.

🥳Y/n first date🥳

Warnings for Yet Unnamed: Kidnapping, cuffs, injuries, drugging by injection, mentions of needles, lots of swearing, kissing, fluff, angst, idiots in love all around, sharp weapons being thrown for fun, zombies.

Nothing within reflects anyone or anything irl. Pics off pinterest.

Your ‘Introducing our 9th member’ YouTube video was being filmed today.  You were in a room just a couple of doors down from where the boys were going to shoot their part of the video.  But while they were together, you would be all alone, and you were terrified.

“I can’t do this.”  You were nearly hyperventilating as you stood on the set.  Your knees felt like jelly in a bad way and your mind raced with all the worst outcomes.  You paced and fidgeted through hair and makeup, struggling to get into your outfit because your hands shook so badly.

Chan stayed with you for as long as he could.  He stopped your pacing and rubbed the tops of your arms from behind as you both looked at the set again.  “Yes, you can.  It’s just questions about you.  Be yourself.  Be honest.”  He replied.

The problem was you suddenly had no idea who you were.  What was your favorite color?  Are you a cat or dog person?  What did you fucking do for fun?  You had no fucking clue anymore.

You turned from the set.  Because this was going on YouTube you had planned most of it and you would also edit together the video later, but you had actively been avoiding thinking about your part in the actual footage.  You have never been on camera like this before.  Millions and millions of people would watch this video and judge everything you said and did.  They would ruthlessly rate how you looked down to every individual eyelash.  You would be MEMEd and GIFed within minutes of the video premiere.

“We can just release the photos and write a blurb about me on the caption.  They don’t need to know me.  They really don’t care.”  You argued nerves getting the better of you.

Chan smiled at you softly and kissed your forehead, completely understanding your panic.  “You can do this.  STAY will love learning about you.  And you have all of us in the studio down the hall if you need anything.  We will keep our phones on.  Call or text any of us, and we will be over in a flash.”  He promised.  He held your face in his hands, careful not to smear your makeup.

He took a deep, purposefully slow breath, waiting for you to follow his lead.  Then he took another, and another.  Until your nerves were at a more manageable level.  For now.

Chan stood just off camera as you waited in the comfy plush white chair.  Final checks and adjustments were being made.  This part was all director and camera work.  Your work came before and after this.

Before you knew it, they were calling Chris away to start their own checks, and he was waving one last time before leaving you alone.

You tucked your phone away with another deep breath.  You can do this.  You can do this.  You can do this.  You don’t have a choice.  You already committed.  You can do this.

The interviewer cleared their throat and began.  “So start with your name.”

You plastered on the practiced pleasant face you had been working on.  “My name is l/n f/n, and I am the 9th and final member of what is known as the Stray Kids soul group.

“How did you find out you were the 9th member?”

This was the whole reason we were doing this interview.  Hopefully to stop anyone from ever finding out you were kidnapped and drugged into this situation.  Not that you didn’t choose to and want to stay.  You didn’t regret your choice at all.  Not even once.  “It was actually JYP who found me using his incredible reach and resources.  He brought me to Korea as a surprise to Stray Kids.”  It physically hurt to say anything decent about that disgusting man, but it was a necessary evil.  And the story was close enough to the actual truth to be an easy lie to keep.

“Were their any issues in the beginning?  Beyond the language barrier?”

You blinked.  You had come up with and approved the questions, but the language barrier part was improvised by the interviewer and unexpected.  Though you had agreed to some improvisation to make it seem more like a conversation, it still caught you off guard.

“They do not know it, but I am fluent in Korean.  I learned from my grandfather at a young age.  He taught me everything about my culture and heritage.  It was very important to him.”

Now it was the interviewers turn to blink, stunned and thrown off.  They recovered quickly, though, and immediately switched languages.

“You never told them?”

You shrug with a playful smile.  “They never asked.  It was never an issue.  They all speak English well enough.  And I was curious about what they would say if they thought I didn’t know what they were saying.”

“Well they will certainly know now.  What do you think their reactions will be?”

“I think they will be shocked.  It will be fun to see their faces when they realize.”

You were relaxing into the interview now.  You had found the groove and were feeling good about how this was progressing.  The questions about your speaking Korean got you off track, but in a good and natural way.

Plus, it gave you an idea.  You would need to record their reactions later when they find out.  It would be entertaining and fun.  Something STAY would enjoy watching as much as you will.

Your interview ended first, which wasn’t shocking.  Their answers would take longer because there were more of them.  You still stayed off their set though, so they would feel free to answer honestly.  You would see their video later when you edit it anyways.

Instead, you doom scroll online and sent funny Stray Kids memes to the boys. Spamming them with themselves. You found it endlessly funny to find ones that make you crack up and share them with the boys. They had the best reactions.

But only a few memes in Lino appeared and dragged you gleefully to their set. It was the same color scheme as yours was. But instead of a single chair there was two overstuffed couches and a coffee table with some snacks. They had several pillow and fluffy blankets to use and get comfy with. It was meant to be a cozy, comfortable chat.

You werent supposed to be a part of their interview. This wasnt in the script. "You are missing the point of having seperate interviews." You point out as Lino set you firmly between him and Hyunjin.

Hyunjin thew an arm around your shoulders. "We missed you."

"And you were blowing up our phones with memes." Chan rolled his eyes.

"Hey, I love looking at Stray Kids memes! I'll always be a STAY at heart. Now your number one fan!" You wink at Chan teasingly, making red dust his cheeks.

"We are almost done anyways. We spilled all the dirt on you already." Seungmin munched on a snack from the coffee table.

"Oh good. I feel less guilty now about spilling the tea on you." You didnt actually spill any Stray Kids tea and you doubted they spilled dirt on you, this was all banter for the camera.

For the next fifteen minutes you cuddled on the couches, chatted, and played around. You honestly forgot that you were being filmed or that there were staff in the room watching you. It was just you and your soulmates chilling, like any night at home.

~

The next morning over breakfast you noticed Chan acting fidgety. He kept glancing over at you as you scrolled through the socials you hadn't deleted yet and caught up on emails.

They had already sent you the raw footage from the interviews to edit together. But you weren't going to work on it today. Today was your day off and you were going to try very hard not to work.

"What's on your mind, Channie?" You finally asked clunking your phone onto the tabletop.

Chan coughed, choking slightly on his food as he was called out. Bin smacked his back and Lino rolled his eyes. "Can't even eat properly. Getting old enough that we have to puree your food before giving it to you?" Lino teased. You kicked his chair and gave him a look to be nice. In response he stood and left the room, coffee in hand.

"Chan? Everything okay?" You ask again when he was back in control of himself.

He cleared his throat twice to buy himself some time. "We haven't really talked about it. Just kind of brushed by. But we were talking and decided to ask. You can always say no. We would respect that one hundred percent! And it wouldn't change anything if you did! Promise!" He started rambling. Words vomiting out of his mouth that made sense but had no context for you to understand what he was referring to.

You really had no idea what he was trying to get at. He hadn't asked a question for you to say yes or no to. He hadn't even alluded to a question. Did he expect you to be able to read his mind? Because while you were learning the little tells of your soulmates, you had yet to master reading their mind. That would take more time.

Bin cut Chan off eventually, ending his rant and clearing things up for you. "We wanted to know if you want to go on dates with us. Individually and group dates. Like we do with each other already."

"Yes. That." Chan agreed letting out a breath and giving Bin a thankful look full of relief.

You bit your lip to stop from smiling as you felt like being a gremlin and teasing the man a bit. "Yes what, Chan?"

"Ugh, really?" Chan immediately caught on to your teasing.

Hey, if you were going to be asked out on your first date from a soul mate, it was going to be done properly. There would only be one time that you got to go on your first date with Chan and it would be done right, damn it. Even if you had to tease it out of him. You smiled and waited patiently, sneaking a teasing glance at Bin.

Chan sucked his teeth. "Willyougoonadatewithme?" His mouth didn't even move as he spoke quickly.

"I'm sorry, I didn't get that. Say again?"

"You make me regret this already." Chan sighed pinching the bridge of his nose. Bin laughed. "Will you, Y/n, my sweet, sweet, loving and beautiful soul mate. Who likes me enough to at least put me out of my misery one way or another. Will you please go on a date with me?"

"I would love to go on a date with you, my handsome Channie." You answer trying to hold back the giggles from his over the top third attempt at asking you out.

"Really? You want to try and be romantic with us?" Chan seemed surprised by your acceptance.

"I mean yeah. I thought we were naturally heading that direction." It's not like you hadn't been affectionate with each other. It was little things right now. Cheek kisses, hugs, cuddles, sneaky head kisses. But affection nonetheless.

"Awesome! I'm first. We are going in age order to keep it fair and not cause arguments." He explained.

You shrugged. "I know nothing about that. You are the only one who has asked me out." If he didn't think you would make each and every one of them properly ask you out, he did not know you well enough yet. You were going to drag them through asking you out just like you had Chan. And you would savor each and every memory from it.

"Thats their problem. Can you go today? Because I kinda already have a date planned."

"You have the date planned already even though you didn't know if I would say yes or not?"

"Well I figured if you said no, I could still take you just to have fun together in a nonromantic date way." He shrugged.

You wanted to coo. He had thought a lot about this date. Thinking through all possibilities so you would be comfortable. It was very sweet of him.

"What should I wear?" You asked.

"Casual. Movable. I would suggest pants." He informed. "I'll pick you up in 2 hours?"

You paused. "We live together. Where are you picking me up from?"

"Your room, obviously! It's our first date, let me do it right, Y/n, gosh!"

"Okay sorry! Two hours, my room. Got it." You fake salute him with 2 casual fingers.

Bin snorted, quietly watching your whole exchange. "You are such a nerd." He pushed at Chan playfully.

"Maybe. But this nerd has a date!" Chan shouted that last bit throughout the apartment. He stood with a huge smile and put his dishes away before coming to give you a kiss on the cheek and leaving the room with a bounce in his step.

Just over 2 hours later you laughed in delight when you saw where he was taking you. "Axe throwing! I've never done it before!" You took his offered hand as he opened the car door for you, and you went to the front desk.

"I saw you watching videos a couple times and thought it looked fun. I've never done it either." Chan admitted. This was new for both of you then. It will be fun to learn it together. And most likely be really bad at it together.

The instructor led you to a 'lane' and demonstrated how to throw an axe and a star. There were several projected fames you could also play so you weren't just throwing axes at a wooden board over and over again. It included tictac toe, hangman, and a zombie killing game.

You of course started with killing some zombies. You expected to miss every time since you had never thrown either weapon before, so you shrieked in happiness when your very first throw stuck into the wooden wall without a problem.

"Aha! You see that! It actually stayed!" You hopped and thew you arms around Chan, already having the time of your freaking life!

Chan laughed in delight and caught you with a huge smile on his face. "And you got a zombie first try!" He pointed out.

"Your turn! Your turn!"

You spent the hour and a half time limit playing each game in turn, the smile never leaving your face. And you only stabbed yourself once with the sharp point of the throwing star. You hadn't even really noticed, but Chan immediately did.

As soon as he saw the tiny drop of blood on the back of your hand, he worriedly grabbed it. It was no more than you would get at the doctor from a finger prick test.

"It's okay, babe. I just wasn't careful when I removed it from the wall and one of the points got me. It doesn't even hurt." You vaguely panicked when you realized you let a pet name slip, but Chan didn't notice, to preoccupied digging into his pocket.

Amazingly, he pulled out a band aid and antibiotic ointment. "You brought first aid?" You asked him in shock.

He ignored the obvious question. "You should still take care of it. Don't want it to get infected or scar." He mumbled brow furrowed in concentration as he nursed your hand.

You melted. He thought ahead so much that he came prepared with first aid in case something happened with the sharp weapons you were going to be using. He really prepared for everything.

Sighing in fond exasperation, you were completely smitten with him and his caring personality.

When your time was up for axe throwing, he took you for some food nearby, both of you still smiling.

"This was super fun, Channie. Thank you so much!" You were swinging your hands between you as you walked slowly back to the car, enjoying your time just you and him.

"Thank you for agreeing to come. Especially since we gotta be so careful and secretive in public." He responded.

It's true, though you hadn't really noticed it much, too focused on the man you were with and how much fun you were having. You both had to disguise yourself out in public so no one would see you together and spoil the upcoming reveal. You had easily accepted it as the norm when he brought it up at the beginning of the date.

Once inside the security of your apartment building, he immediately removed the disguises, looking relieved. You giggled and mussed his flattened hair into something a bit better. He let you, with a thanks and smirk when you were satisfied.

In the elevator, you didn't let yourself overthink it. You leaned in and pecked his lips before moving away again and looking ahead.

However, he caught your wrist gently in his fingers and slid his other hand to cradle your face and neck as he pulled you close again. You met the kiss halfway this time. The kiss was still a mild one but lasting much longer than your peck on the lips, and you let your body melt against his.

You eventually made it back to the apartment, sharing one last kiss before rejoining the others.

Lino appeared as you were removing your shoes, his arms crossed.

"Finally! I thought we were going to need to send a search party for you! We need to set a curfew." He chastized.

"Lino, hun, it's not even dark out." You pointed out patting his shoulder as you used it for balance.

"A time limit then. Or check in points. Something!"

I looked up at him. "Do you do that with your other dates?"

"No, but it's different with you!"

Chan kissed Linos's cheek in greeting. "Sorry we worried you. We will check in next time." He promised soothing Lino gently.

Linos posture relaxed. "It's just. You know there are dangerous fans out there. It's a risk to let your guard down too much." He sighed.

You were reminded again how different your life was going to be now with Stray Kids. Even a simple date was more of a risk. Going out in public at all was putting yourselves in danger. Not just from being recognized, but to be mobbed as well. And if we weren't careful, someone could overhear or see something that could damage Stray Kids' reputation. The realization was kind of mind-boggling.

"Hey, you're back! How was it?" Felix asked as soon as he saw us. He didn't seem to be as worried as Lino was.

You felt your face light up as you remembered. "Amazing! We went axe throwing! It was so fucking fun!" You gushed. You immediately brought out your phone to show off the pictures you took.

"Hyung setting the date bar high, huh?"

"It's not a competition, Lix."

Lix laughed through his nose with a half smile.

"We are a group of eight men and one woman. Everything is a competition when it comes to you." Lino stated. Chan and Lix nodded in agreement. You sighed and rolled your eyes.

The rest of your day off was spent catching up on chores and unpacking the boxes of your stuff that had finally arrived. You also needed to build a bookshelf you bought. It had been leaning on your wall since it had been delivered. You were procrastinating the headache and frustration of building the damn thing.

So, keeping up with ignoring things you didn't want to do - or build - you started by unpacking what you could without the shelf. Mostly what little clothes you decided were worth keeping, and the collectables you couldn't bring yourself to give up.

Admittedly a lot of the collectables were Stray Kids and other K-pop memorabilia. Other groups that you stanned. You couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed by all of it for the first time in your life. But there was no way you could let it all go.

So, you hung up your fan made OT8 skzoo art in the frames on the tree Hyunjin painted and set up your skzoo plushie collection on your dresser. Your multiple K-pop shirts got put away carefully and the acrylic stands went on the dresser and desk. One or two even on the bedside tables.

After a few more sentimental items were set up or put away, you could no longer ignore the bookshelf. You were at a point that you could no longer put the rest away without it. Everything left was set to be displayed on it.

You dumped the boxes contents unceremoniously on the floor before looking for the instructions that got buried. The noise attracted a curious Han.

"Oh! It's so cute in here!" He complimented looking around at the new additions.

You flapped your hands at him, blushing. "Stop looking! I was STAY before ever meeting you, I couldn't just let all this stuff go! I spent years and a lot of money collecting it!"

"You are too cute!" He gushed just a little teasing.

You sighed. "Whatever. You may not want to stay in here. I'm about to curse a lot trying to put this stupid shelf together."

"Want some help?"

"Thank you for the offer, but it's okay."

"You sure? I don't mind. I kinda like doing stuff like this. Plus, it will go faster with two people."

Yah, true, sure. But You were used to doing things alone and you just knew you would get frustrated and snap at Han. Then later you would feel terrible. This was all still too new and you didn't want to hurt any of them on any day, but you really didn't want to make them hate you and send you away.

But still, the offer was tempting. "Okay. I'm sorry in advance, though, for anything I may say or do." You warned him

Han waved you off with an easy smile and sat on the floor across from you. "Don't worry about it. I understand."

Together you open the instructions and lay it flat on the floor. There were a lot. It unfolded to poster size or bigger. Sure, it had pictures, but not nearly enough to make up for the sheer number of instructions there were.

You suddenly regret every decision that led you to this moment right here. The work ahead of you seemed so daunting and impossible.

"Okay. It's a shelf. Can't be too difficult." Han said quietly, more to himself to you.

As it turns out, even building furniture is better with your soulmates. Han had this cute little frustrated pout that melted your own frustration any time you saw it. In between the two of you and the directions in two different languages, you were managing to figure the shelf out well enough.

"I think we put this piece on upside down." You said tilting your head sideways.

Han studied the shelf, then the picture on the directions intently. "Damn it. We did. Fucker!" He concluded.

You laugh as his pout increased and he began to grumble under his breath while removing the upside-down piece. Your laugh made him look over at you, and something he saw made the frustration leave his facial features and be replaced by a soft smile.

Finally, after 90 minutes, you both dusted off your hands and stood back, admiring your handiwork. He helped you move your new, extremely heavy, 5-teir bookshelf to a nice blank spot on a wall. It fit perfectly.

"Now you just got to fill it up." Han sighed. He flopped on your bed and made himself comfortable.

You kick the box half full of books, albums, and photocard binders gently with your bare toe. "That's the easy part."

You bent and grabbed some books first. You had kept several of your favorites that had beautiful dust covers or printed edges. Some were signed by the author. And some were just your favorites. Worn down from being read over and over again.

You place them on the shelf in such a way that it displayed the beautiful art or edges. You took great pride in your little collection. And you would have fun collecting more and adding them to the empty spaces you still had on the shelf.

The albums came next. You had acrylic stands for displaying your favorites or the ones with amazing covers. They are placed just so to show them off.

The photocard binders are something that you spent a lot of time on and were very particular about how they went on the shelf. You didn't really display them like the books or albums. There were a select few favorites in protective cases and displayed, but very few. The binders went on by group and placed in timeline order within their respective groups. You were slightly OCD about it, and it drove you nuts when anyone messed with them.

Finally finished unpacking, you glanced over at Han and noticed with a start that he had fallen asleep watching you finish your room. You carefully grab a blanket and drape it over him, tucking him in gently. It was late, and he had stayed up to help you. The least you could do was leave him to sleep. And you really didn't mind sharing the bed with him for the night.

Quickly and quietly changing into your pjs, you crawled slowly into the bed next to him, scootching under your comforter carefully and flipping off the light. Relaxing when your movements didn't wake him up. To prevent gossip and rumors among the group, you left the door open. You weren't sure how 'that' part of the relationships worked yet and didn't want to cause problems.

It was odd sleeping with another body next to you. You were used to sleeping alone. But that being said, you fell asleep quickly and deeply. Feeling content and secure among your soulmates, and doubly so with one closer than usual.

👩🏻‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏻👩🏻‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏻👩🏻‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏻👩🏻‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏻👩🏻‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏻👩🏻‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏻👩🏻‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏻👩🏻‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏻👩🏻‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏻👩🏻‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏻👩🏻‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏻👩🏻‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏻👩🏻‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏻👩🏻‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏻👩🏻‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏻👩🏻‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏻👩🏻‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏻👩🏻‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏻

Yet Unnamed Taglist: @fackeraccount @velvetmoonlght @hyunjinstolemyheart @vampkittenb82 @happy-jj @estella-novella @demigoddreamon-blog @tiana-maxivar @ms-flowergirl @jennibahng @whatdoyouwanttocallmefor @mimimiloomeelomi @simpforskz143148 @xxeiraxx @lil-bear08 @brbwritingfanfic @jisungs-iced-americano @zofia515 @missvanjii @malyxsoulpersonal @silentreadersthings @pixie0627

General Taglist @stellasays45 @beebee18 @weird-bookworm @velvetmoonlght

[hauntedhokage]

Leaving anonymous love notes for you to find + Sae Itoshi from Silver's prompt list

You left the door to your office unlocked, since as the team's social media manager you didn't really have anything confidential to lock up, but you think that was about to change. For the last week you'd come in to find some note left somewhere on your desk for you to find, each one containing a sweet message - but not knowing who they came from made you a bit uncomfortable.

The first just telling you that you looked beautiful the day before.

The second a note that you always looked beautiful, but he loved how you looked in the team's jersey.

The third a reminder to stay hydrated, left with a couple bottles of your favorite brand of water (you didn't even know how anyone knew something like that)

The fourth, fifth, and sixth also came with gifts. A couple small boxes of snacks and a little plaque that said 'best instagram photographer', both making you a bit emotional at how much this guy thought about you.

Today's message was left on a sticky note stuck to your monitor, wishing that they could ask you out on a date but fearing that their reputation would have you declining to protect yourself from that reputation. The handwriting is neat, font small to ensure it would fit on the sticky note, and you tuck it away in a folder that had the other seven. The handwriting was consistent, and the words felt much too genuine for it to be the team messing with you because they thought they were funny.

But you do watch them all closely throughout the day, getting to mess with them during their practices and team meetings giving you the opportunity for closer interactions that you used to gauge whether they were acting differently towards you. Unfortunately the only thing out of place was the fact that Sae actually stopped to entertain the meme you were recording content for.

"Why do you have this picture?"

"I'm trying to get your autograph." Your response gets a snort from the midfielder, but he accepts your sharpie and takes the picture from your hands. It's old, Sae had to have been around five or six kicking around a soccer ball. "Your mom was excited to send it to me. Think I might frame it."

His reaction wasn't as outwardly amused or embarrassed as the other guys you'd ambushed that day, but the fact that you'd gotten any reaction from him at all made your day. He was cute when he smiled, you wished you could see more of that from him.

"I'll see you later, I'm sure," he states, handing the picture back to you before adjusting his bag on his shoulder. "I'm looking forward to it."

"Yeah," you murmur, watching in surprise as he walks away from you to get to the locker room.

You end up working late, usually being out of the stadium before the team finished their practice, but you wanted to get your next few videos edited so you could relax and respond to funny comments for the rest of the week. It takes you some deliberation, but you do decide to lock your office to see what your admirer would do next without being able to steal your stationery.

Sae is coming down the hall when you leave, something that wasn't surprising since he was notorious for practicing later than the rest of the team. Most of the team had popped in to say goodnight, a couple asking if you needed someone to hang out and make sure you made it home, and you happily wave them off with a promise to see them in the morning. But not Sae, and that was because he was leaving now. There's a paper in his hand, and he looks surprised to see you leaving as he approached.

"You're still here?"

"Yeah," you say with a shrug, turning the key to lock the door and meeting his gaze to see the obvious question. "Someone is using my papers and stuff to leave me love notes, I don't hate it but I'm trying to get them to reveal themselves."

You just aren't ready to get your answer when Sae takes the paper in his hand and slides it under your door. He doesn't say anything, just tilts his head in a silent invitation that you can't help but accept. He was so weird, but you were into it.

"Does this mean I can get you on a livestream?"

"Don't push it."

[sevs-corner]

Tf 141: Jock AU!

Welp here we are, and I’ve been listening to a lotttttt of (Set it Off) songs so-!!!

Here’s my take of how toxic it would be like with them once they finally got you roped into their relationship

Masterlist here! to my other works and link the OG idea behind the AU here!

Edit#1: added more content! Felt like it was too short (i got more thoughts to add MWHAJAHAJSHJ)

My inspo for this hehe:

MDNI - TW: 18+ Suggestive Content | Toxicity | Degradation

Look, it wasn’t like you were a perfect little princess either, alright?

You ended up here at this problematic school for a reason, y’know?

Despite the fancy reputation it had on the inside— the students knew better

The students knew that all of it was just a farce for these four students who were controlling everything from behind the scenes

And you just happened to cross bridges with said four mansplain manipulators (they aren’t malewives yet)

Gaz, being the first one to welcome you, the hunger already being seen behind his iris, was all ready and eager to show you off to the rest of the guys

But he takes it slow, playing with his food, and letting you “get used to the new school”

Ha! Bullshit— they got you used to them.

Day in, day out- you’d experience their teases, probing pokes, provocations, and just temp you ever so sweetly to be their personal little bitch toy

You deny- keep denying and denying until they show you whats in store for you

Until, at one of their parties, they showed you that you could be that girl in the middle of all four of them on their bed

You lied and ran- as fast as you could

But you couldn’t lie to how you reacted down there

And when that reaction happened again at another party but with just the four of them just slobbering all over each other

‘Disgusting..’

You tell yourself, but somehow- you always stood in front of the dreaded master bedroom door

Tempting you ever so slowly, cracking the walls you’ve built ever so carefully

With a knock, you sealed your fate

From then on, there was no one who didn’t know that you were branded theirs

It was a rough adjustment at the start

Johnny always greeted you first thing in the morning, spamming your phone with all sorts of…questionable memes (that you found quite distasteful and you just?? Didnt?? Understand it all and when you asked him to explain, he’d just send another reaction pic basically answering “what the fuck? You dont know?”)

Sometimes, you’d get a surprised dick pic or a drive link to their last night escapades

Teasing you and moaning your name- hoping you would join them soon enough (they cant get enough of you and want it everyday)

And when you send one it return with one of the toys Simon gave you?

You can’t bet your ass you wouldn’t be leaving the door of your dingy apartment

Though on days that you’re able to actually go out and attend classes, Gaz would be right outside waiting with his daddy’s car

Something all the boys flaunted with really, except Simon who seemed too lazy to drive himself, so he finds himself hitching a ride with Johnny or Price more often than not

Gaz would guide (force) you into the car, before taking you either to their place or the school

Sometimes, he would kidnap you for himself and sends those pictures and videos to the rest of the heavily fuming and horny three

And when you got back?

Well, you could already see yourself besides a kneeling Gaz— tears of frustration and wanton pleasure coating his cheek bones, his mouth gagged and limbs bounded

Before they were done with him, they promised that you would be next

And they never forget their promises— they go above and beyond

Aside from those escapades, school was no different from being attached to your side

Got a group project? Forget about the work you did already with your current group- you’re with them now

Eating lunch alone? Nope, they’re by your classroom door to pick you up (so you can’t deny them when they’ve put in the effort to escort you)

Got detention? They are walking themselves there willingly just to accompany you

Got a class any one of them? They’re skipping theirs and going to attend yours from now on

Having a hard time in gym class? Sure, they’ll watch you struggle at first in those too short-shorts but if you begged prettily enough, they’ll come swooping in immediately

You have to repay them back in the locker rooms after their practice though

Gotta make sure they’re all clean and well-rested after the coach ran them rugged y’know?

Need a ride home? They are personally escorting you back, as long as you provide compensation on the way there of course

All this made you addicted

Starting off from being too much to needing it more like its Johnny’s daily dose

Wanting to be even closer with them— you indulge in their vices as well

You start smoking with John, kissing with the cig butts and inhaling each other’s smoke

You start taking Johnny’s drugs and sharing joints with him, going to class high and sobering it with a shared tumbler of whiskey between you two

You start to join Gaz in his projects, growing the craving satisfaction of seeing people being broken beneath his feet and manipulation

You start to have more play scenarios with Ghost, even bringing it outside of the bedroom

And the boys can’t help but join in as well

This then continues on and on until…

Until you realize…

Externally, they’ve gave you everything

Everything you’ve wanted and more

And you’ve let them take, and take, and take—-

But in the post nut clarity you found yourself in from another fivesome with them—

You stare at a stranger that is supposed to be you

And it scares you how far gone you’ve had

So you ran… as fast as you could

Even if you would see them again tomorrow

But what scares you more was how easily you fell back in to their pace if you leave for too long

So you try, you try ending it all

That as soon as you came home, your plan of “burning bridges” begins

Taglist!✨ (for more crumbs on the au LMAO)

@cod-z

[ettawritesnstudies]

Etta's Guide to Writeblr (March 2023)

So you fled here from Twitter/TikTok... Where to start?

Welcome to Writeblr! Pull up a chair, open those documents, and pour yourself a cup of your favorite tea, coffee, or cocoa. The first thing you'll want to do is start following other writers. Check out this post for recommendations! Search through the notes to find hundreds more. Since I made that post, a bunch of people mentioned they're lurking and still trying to figure out tumblr, so I thought I'd make this post to help people get settled.

How to set up your blog

Make your blog name something not resembling a pornbot - it can be whatever you want, anything fun goes, just not [name###]. If you include "writer" or "author" somewhere in the url it makes it easier to spot writeblrs at a glance but it's not a requirement

Change your profile to something that's not the default, Make sure you have a blog title, and add a little description in your blog header if you feel like it!

Make a pinned post introducing yourself (pls don't use your real name or any IDing information for privacy's sake, this isn't facebook), a short summary of your WIPs, and links if you have an author's website/newsletter/ao3/etc. You can check my pinned post for an example

Make intro posts for each WIP! You can spruce these up with graphics (canva and unsplash are both great free resources to make edits/moodboards), excerpts, lists of tropes, character intros, etc. Link to the WIP intro in your pinned post so it's easy to find! You can update these as often as needed

If you want to make character intros, go wild. If you can't draw, piccrew is a great option. Just start talking about your WIP!

Come up with a tagging system to keep your blog organized. I recommend individual wip tags or at least one for your original writing in general so it's easy to search for your work on your blog

Keep track of Taglists for your WIPs. Whenever you post a new thing about your story, tag the people who asked to be notified to make sure they see it! Only tag people who ask to join the taglist, but it's a good way to keep track of interest. It's normal to have multiple taglists for each story+ one general writing taglist.

How to make writer friends

Reblog their work and add nice comments, either in the tags, comments, or the reblog itself People notice regulars in their notes and appreciate the attention. I promise it's not weird to compliment a total stranger

If that's too intimidating, community events are your friend!

Weekly Ask Games: These are weekly events that are loosely themed where writers send each other asks about their WIPs! The most common are Storyteller Saturday (about the writing process), Blorbsday (aka Blorbo Thursday about characters), and Worldbuilding Wednesday (about the setting of your story). If you answer these late, nobody really cares, but it's a fun way to receive prompts and learn more about other people's stories.

Ask Games/Memes: These are posts with lists of questions you can reblog from other people, sometimes themed or listed with emojis. It's common courtesy to send an ask from the list to the person you reblog it from, then people can send you questions as well, so you can talk about your stories! You can search for dozens of them

Tag games: There's a ton of different types of tag games, but basically someone @s you with a challenge/question, you reblog with your answer, and then @ a bunch of other people to continue the chain. Some common ones are Heads Up 7s Up (share the last 7 lines of your WIP), Last Line Tag (share the last line you wrote), and Find the Words (ctrl+f the given words in your doc and share the results, then give new words).

Formal events: These are community wide participation challenges organized by certain blogs! @writeblrsummerfest is every July?? August? I think? It's run by @abalonetea a few years strong, and there are daily prompts and ask games! @inklings-challenge is a month-long short story entry for Christian writeblrs. I think there was a valentines event in February. @moon-and-seraph is hosting a pitch week soon! Since these are more organized, it's very easy to find similar blogs and support!

Misc. Notes on using Tumblr

Follow the tags #writeblr and #writeblr community to find other writers, as well as other tags that interest you like #fantasy for example

If you want to bookmark a post to read later, you can like it and/or save it to your drafts

The queue/schedule function is very useful if you want to space out posts or have a backlog to keep your blog running when you get busy. This is good for the community because it gives older posts a chance to be rediscovered! You can change the posting frequency in the settings.

REBLOG YOUR OWN STUFF. People aren't always on at the same times and so it's the best way to account for people with different schedules and timezones. If you're worried about being annoying, you can tag those #self reblog or something similar and other people can filter the tag, but otherwise it's a welcomed and accepted practice.

If your excerpt is pretty long, put it under a cut. On desktop you can do this by selecting the squiggly button on the far right when you make a new paragraph, on mobile type :readmore: then hit enter.

It's polite to add descriptions to images and videos for visually or auditory impaired people. If you don't know how to write descriptions, here's a good resource

In your dashboard settings, it's best to shut off the options "Best Stuff First" and "Based on your Likes". These function as the website algorithm and suppresses the blogs you actually follow, which defeats the purpose of the site, letting the dash be in reverse chronological order. Also turn off Tumblr Live because it's malware as far as anyone's concerned.

Curate your experience, block the trolls, and be nice

Update for March 2024

How to shut off AI Scraping on your blog

Go to settings and find the Visibility tab

Scroll down to the tag that says "Prevent Third-Party Sharing"

Turn that knob over so that Automattic can't steal your work for their language training model databases >_<

The other settings will just hide your blog from search engines so they're useful for hiding from nosy parents or other Tumblr users but if you're trying to build an author platform you can leave them off.

Again, welcome to the community! I hope you have a ton of fun!

[2d-reality]

Little Things (The Prince of Demons)

characters: Diavolo, GN!MC navigation: Diavolo | Barbatos | Simeon | Solomon | Luke | Thirteen content/warnings: little things you do, out of love. dateables edition! fluff. could be read as platonic but why would u word count: 862 notes: Alas, Dia is the only one I have finished as of now on account of how my work/life balance has been absolutely wacked recently. I'll get around to the rest eventually, I promise! I have bits and pieces here and there but the dateables don't flow as easy as the boys. Mephis will likely not be included bc I'm not even vaguely familiar with his character, and because we are both horse girls and he is my bitter rival on principle. I stared at this piece a lot but did I edit it? no

Diavolo was a lonely man. He knew a lonely childhood, tucked away in the Demon King’s palace with only the grounds staff as company. He attended lessons alone as he grew up learning what it would take to shoulder his father’s throne once he came of age. When the reigning monarch fell into his dreamless slumber, Diavolo had effectively lost yet another lifeline to anything resembling a normal existence-- a parent. As a young man (or, rather, the demon equivalent of a young man), surrounded by nobility of all kinds vying for his attention, he knew they only saw Diavolo, the Crown Prince. Even the brothers, who were the closest to being considered his friends, played along with his antics out of duty. No doubt Lucifer drilled it into them to be accommodating. 

Sometimes he felt as though he was cursed-- paying for his original sin by bearing his existence, at the end of the day, alone. 

That was, at least, until you came along. You, so small and fierce and human. You, who upon meeting him at the beginning of your tenure as an exchange student, held his gaze squarely and didn’t back down, even when he could practically smell your fear.

You, who for whatever reason, be it ignorance or sheer, unmitigated gall or something else entirely, didn’t for a moment treat him any differently than any other demon you met. Once you were comfortable living among magical beings, it was as if the floodgates opened. Despite horrified reactions from Lucifer and gentle chiding from Barbatos, you told him when his jokes were stupid (even if you still laughed), slapped his arm companionably when greeting him, and called him by a myriad of silly nicknames. 

Your friendship is the most precious thing Diavolo has ever received in his long life. You aren’t one of his subjects, born to defer to him whether you wanted to or not. You aren’t an angel, who gave him a cautious respect for the good of your realms’ relations. You didn’t even know he existed before you came to the Devildom. You chose not to see the heir to the throne, and instead saw Diavolo-- a gentle giant with more love in his heart than he was born to carry. Diavolo, who would go to the ends of all three realms for those he cared for. Diavolo, who was loud and boisterous and always wanted to be involved. Diavolo, who liked cigar cookies and video games and could be a bit of a goofball. 

He cherishes every aspect of your relationship. He loves when you send him blurry photos of various pairs of objects or animals you see when out and about, with the caption "us fr <3”. He loves getting links to dumb memes in the middle of the night, followed by laughing emojis or “this u??” You poke fun at him, bite back with quips when he makes jokes at your expense, and play silly little pranks on him. His favorite is when you gesture to something on his coat, only to flick the tip of his nose when he looks down to investigate. He’d long since caught on to that ruse, among others, but your bright smile and chirping laughter when you teased him for falling for it yet again are too precious to him to not play along.

He even appreciates the times that you turn down his invitations to spend the weekend at the palace with him, citing exhaustion from the brothers’ antics or pressing schoolwork from RAD. You’re not automatically agreeing simply because you have no choice-- you spend your limited, precious time on him because you want to. More often than not you made up for declining by showing up entirely unannounced some time later, cloaked beneath a spell to shield you from Barbatos’ sixth sense for his Lord getting up to shenanigans, beckoning him to sneak out with you to suck on thick milkshakes in some cramped corner booth and giggle conspiratorially like a couple of misbehaving teenagers. 

When he’s around you, Diavolo feels like he can breathe. He doesn’t have to worry about keeping up appearances. You aren’t looking for political sway, or funding, or an elevated social status. For the first time in his life, he can set aside his heavy burden and feel... normal. He can ruffle your hair, and only half-heartedly hold you back from practically climbing him to dig your knuckles into his scalp and return the favor. He can laugh when you swat at his hand as he reaches across your plate to steal a few of your fries. He wears the friendship bracelet you braided for him at all times. He considered charming it to never fade or fray, but when it finally falls apart from wear, your mock exasperation when you tell him you’ll make him another makes him feel so real. 

Diavolo was a lonely man. But now, he has a friend. A genuine, honest-to-goodness friend. You have matching contact photos, and inside jokes. You don’t call him my lord when he comes up in conversation; it’s always my friend. Now, thanks to you, he isn’t lonely anymore.

[tartsinarat]

I don’t have much energy (on account of still being sick :/) but I still wanted to do something so dug up an old unfinished screenshot edit that I did a while ago but never finished until now

But yeah this is from the au’s version of Eclipse Lake, which happens a bit later down the timeline than the original.

It’s set just before Hollow mind instead and I’ll explain the timeline differences in much better detail in a different post but it’s basically because Luz isn’t focusing on going home like in the og so she is seeking on ways of getting revenge on Belos and saving Pip and Eda.

But Amity has been wanting to cheer up her awesome girlfriend so she’s been secretly researching ways to create a portal door as a surprise, so Amity was the one who found out about the titan veins through the echo mouse instead and went to go find some titan blood without telling Luz.

If you’re probably wondering where Hunter is…He’s actually taking an extremely well deserved break :0 (lmao, just kidding he’s still apart of the Eclipse lake events) as Pip is surprisingly extremely efficient at sorting out tasks (normal Pip could never, this is all the brainwashing tea lmao) and so Hunter has unwilling ended up getting all his work done by Pip…

Hunter doesn’t want to admit it but he is happy about finally getting a break because he’s getting to do normal teen stuff and play with flapjack more often but he does feel like he’s getting replaced so there is complicated feelings there (it also doesn’t help that Pip is now getting all the attention from Belos and is on top of that able to do magic so Hunter is switching between “I’ve got to do as much as I can so I don’t get replaced” to “it’s kinda nice not being in mortal danger every five seconds and being able to hang out with Willow”)

But yeah onto the episode; Much to the displeasure and horror of Kiki she’s having to be supervised by Pip during the titan’s vein assignment so she’s extra cautious and paranoid about not ruining the assignment especially when in front of the Prince…

Hunter wanted to go with Pip but was then explicitly told by Belos to take a break as Pip was handling an extremely special assignment but Hunter immediately flipped into panic mode because after getting kinda jealous of Pip and he wanted to show his worth again to Belos so he ended up secretly following along as a scout in order to be the first to find the titans blood.

Belos obviously already knew that the vein was already decayed and full of Fools blood from when he went there years ago, so the assignment Kiki is on was actually just a wild goose chase created in order for Pip to secretly assassinate Kiki (who’s fucked up one too many times and knows too much about the actual day of unity plans so she’s obviously got to go.)

Amity and Hunter end up working together after stumbling onto each other searching for titans blood, though they’re bickering and fighting each other the entire way but aren’t as antagonistic with each other as Hunter has slowly mellowed out after hanging out with the emerald entrails more often so they do actually end up properly bonding :)

Uh until they accidentally stumble onto Pip’s attempt on Kiki’s life…

I’m personally imagining the spiderman meme with Pip, Amity and Hunter happening and then Kiki scampering away at full speed in the background.

So yeah Amity is just majorly confused on the fact that she’s just randomly found Pip in the weirdest situation and place possible after months of no contact or communication…

It gets weirder for Amity as Luz never actually told anybody where Pip was and just vaguely said he was staying with family when asked as it wasn’t technically lying (Luz really didn’t want to break Pip’s promise on not telling anyone who he actually is so this is her guilt free way of avoiding questions on where he is)

Pip doesn’t even let Hunter or Amity think about the implications of this whole situation before running off to go catch Kiki and attempt to go for round two… Amity stops him mid way by grabbing his arm which wasn’t the smartest idea.

Because of the brainwashing tea and all the meddling Belos did with his memories, it genuinely makes Pips brain hurt when trying to recognise who Amity or anyone from when he lived in the owl house and so he usually gets really frustrated/aggressive when seeing someone from his past… so Amity interrupting his assignment genuinely made him kinda loose it and try to kill her instead.

The image is the aftermath but they both hit a draw because Hunter does manage to deescalate the situation by reminding Pip to focus on his actual mission instead.

I’ll probably continue this explanation through either a comic or text post :p

[burningcheese-merchant]

Little thank-you post!

I have over 100 followers now! Don't really know why any of you are here, I am not funny nor am I interesting, nor do I actually post anything cool lol. But regardless, I'm really grateful for you guys and for your support! (As well as all the anons that reach out to me! Thank you to you all, as well! I enjoy when people actually talk to me, nobody wants to feel like they're rambling into a void lol)

As a sort of mediocre, I'm sorry thank-you, I want to outline what I've got in store for you all next:

Gonna release the BurningCheese playlist soon, it's over 30 songs long now lol. I want you all to jam with me. Rock out to the BurningCheese vibe. (And send me more song recommendations if you want, a lot of what I have now is thanks to homies making suggestions)

PART 2 OF "Mine Forever More" IS COMING VERY SOON! Now that I've played through episode 6 (and had a massive meltdown because BURNINGCHEESE IS CANON OMG /jk), I know what I want to do for the story now. Expect it to be posted within the next day or two! (And also look forward to more short stories, I have a lot planned)

Remember those BurningCheese fankids I've mentioned more than once before? Get excited, you're gonna see and hear about them again soon 👀👀👀

I've gotten asks about my "Reformed Beasts AU" that I've been tinkering with. I promise there will be a masterpost on the subject in the future. I kind of want to iron out my thoughts on the Beasts in general first, and how I headcanon their corruptions (like that "a thought about Burning Spice" post I made). Will probably write about Shadow Milk next, or maybe Silent Salt (I've made up a whole ass character for this guy that I've gotten attached to already lol)

I know I have a bunch of asks in my inbox I still need to answer. I'm sorry for the delay, I promise I will get to you all. I inhabit the real world and have real-world responsibilities like everyone else, unfortunately haha

Gonna remind you all again that my AO3 username is sleeping_mouse_1011, because people have asked me that, too. Do be careful, a lot of my works are NSFW to some degree (that's where I indulge in Yandere Spice lol). I encourage minors to stay here and enjoy my SFW stories instead.

Got a bunch of meme edits to make now, hope those make you laugh. I gotta cope with having no artistic talent somehow

I have thoughts and headcanons I'd love to share about other characters and ships besides Burning Simp and Pretty Cheese Lady lol. I'm actually NOT entirely insane, I am capable of rational discussion about things other than BurningCheese, I swear

Thanks again to everyone who takes the time to rifle through my nonsense posts and read my stories. It really means a lot to me that my works bring people joy. I know I'm still just some nobody on here, but even so. I hope I somehow manage to put a smile on your face. Even if it's more at my own expense than anything else.

That's all from me for now. Merchant out. Later, haters

[koreanbibliophilegirl]

CHARACTER BLURBS FOR MY DSMP SUPERPOWER AU

As promised to @aimlovesmusic :D 💗

Requested characters were Eternal Duo(Eret and Foolish), Quackity, and Ranboo!

Eret👑

Hero!

Hero Name: Monarch

Unofficial spokesperson for the Hero HQ, bc she's beloved by the masses and can stay calm & collected in the spotlight. In other words, he's the best cannon fodder for them 'cause she's got both high popularity ranking and PR skills.

Power is physical control(? idk what to call it), anyone who sees their glowing white eyes has to move in any way she commands. For example, he could tell someone to drop the gun, and that person would have to drop it. She can't control minds though, so everyone is fully conscious during the control & he can't tell people to think a certain way. + the control stops when Eret can't see you anymore/covers their eyes, with sunglasses, etc.

Hero HQ set his image up to be some sort of lethargic royal, never moving more than they need to- but Eret can run in heels & throw things with scary precision actually. She carries knives around just in case, and later they acquire mini grenades! :D

Likes maracons(INHALES them whenever they're stressed)

Foolish🦈

Also a hero!

Tentatively labeled the Golden Shark

He can call up storms and/or rain/thunder/lightning separately- indoors or outdoors, it doesn't matter.

Also, given enough material, he can build things in seconds! He essentially draws out a blueprint in his mind and moves his hands accordingly, and the materials just assemble themselves. This is usually v exhausting though, it's total knockdown for him if the build is big enough.

Adopted by former hero Puffy(Hero Name: Captain Puffy) as a teen

Is friends with fellow hero Tina Kitten(Hero Name: Carrot Cat... Probably. I'm still working on it)! Tina's powers(basically Cat™️) overlap with other, more popular heroes though, so Foolish got way more support from the Hero System than her. Foolish feels bad about this and tries to help her get more recognition, but there really isn't much he can do.

Hero System favors popular heroes and gives them waaaaaay too many patrols, so he's always exhausted now that he's in the top 10

Meat lover

Eternal Duo👑❤️🦈

Often paired on patrols together

Dating <3

One of the most popular RPF ships on in-universe ao3

They've got a Golden Deities brand, since Foolish's hero persona is Playful but Powerful God of Storms & Eret's the Languid, Relaxed Royalty, and both their costumes have golden bits on them.

Foolish gets shanked on patrol and Eret goes INSANE with their throwing knives

Poor villain Redrum didn't know what hit him lol

After the Golden Shark is announced to be in recovery, the videos of Monarch chasing down Redrum in heels becomes a sort of internet meme

Even more so bc Eret was the only hero who ever came close to actually catching Redrum

Eret expertly wielding knives in public leads to a rebranding, since the powerful-lazy-monarch persona was more or less shattered. Foolish wholeheartedly supports & enthusiastically endorses this change👍

Quackity🎰

Mafia kingpin

Code Name: Rey Club

There's an explanation about the Las Nevadas codename system in the "Lilly's dsmp superpower au" tag. ...Somewhere. I don't have the link rn. I'll add it later😅👍

[Edit: here! Also I realized I changed some minor details since I posted that. Las Nevadas is not a family business!]

Took over LN when he was younger. Vibes are <The Court Jester> by thquib. I love that song.

Paranoid about his position as a result

SKILLED bartender

Since he hides his face as Rey Club, he secretly works in the LN casino palace's bar as Quackity the bartender. He hears a lot of gossip that way, and it's sorta relaxing too.

Sometimes he orders hits on Karens

Fave cocktail is Clover Club, but he pretends to like Casinos better when he's Rey Club

Ranboo🖤💜🤍

Triple Powered, which is super rare

All of benchtrio has 2+ powers so they all pretend to be single-powered(choosing their weaker powers to show) so that their vigilante identities stay hidden

Ranboo can teleport, compress(Silk Touch?), and BITE. They can bite through near anything. Chomp chomp

Works at the local library under Technoblade

And therefore first of the Bench Trio vigilante team to discover wildly popular vigilante duo Emerald Duo's civilian identities

Likes figs- wait why do I keep talking about favorite foods. Eh whatever. He also likes cake & other sweet baked goods.

Vigilante name is Endgame apparently. I'm ngl I completely forgot what I named them & had to check my notes OTL

(Tubbo and Ranboo's vigilante names went through a lot of changes so I lost track of them skajskdaskjdka)

Doesn't talk as Endgame bc they're afraid they'll stutter and sound awkward + doesn't trust himself to not give away his speech mannerisms. Tommy and Tubbo don't care but Ranboo is Anxious™️

This impacts Endgame's popularity as a vigilante a bit

Aaaaaand that's all four!!!! 🥳💕

It's been a hot minute since I worked on DSMP Superpower AU, so it's really nice returning to it :3 Hopefully I can work on it more after my exams😊😅

[tadpoles-and-daydreams]

An intro to my blog; Witchcraft, tarot, and general unhinged energy.

Bare-bones/TL;DR: My name is Frog or Froggo, whichever you prefer, I use he/him pronouns and this is a blog dedicated primarily to my practice as a witch. I do tarot readings over on Ko-FI, as well as some on here that are donation-based (You tip if you want, but you don't have to.) Donation-based readings are temporary to promote the paid readings, and I'll be closing requests once I feel I have a decent amount of people interested (or if i find that it isn't working and I'm just instead giving free readings and no paid readings.) Send in an ask for a donation-based reading, or head on over to my Ko-Fi if you want more of a guarantee that I'll get to your reading/want your reading prioritized. Please check the bottom of this post for what readings I do/don't do before sending an ask.

Me:

I go by Froggo or Frog

He/him pronouns

Trans, panromantic, polyamorous, and just generally queer.

auDHD

20

Quiet sunshine and rainbows type of guy, until you get to know me and then suddenly I won't shush and I keep talking about psychological horror

interests outside of witchcraft include writing, Genshin Impact (I promise I don't associate with the fandom they scare me so bad), music, anime, and "weird miscellaneous facts."

My craft:

I've been practicing off and on for about four years, but I've been around witchcraft my whole life. I no longer consider myself a beginner, but I wouldn't consider myself a beacon of knowledge either lol. I know enough to be comfortable practicing on my own, and giving others a few resources. If I ever post something with inaccurate information, something that appropriates any closed practices, or something that is otherwise not advisable, PLEASE let me know!

My interests in witchcraft include Tarot/oracle cards, deity work, crystals, and working with dragons. (Although, that last one is very new to me so I have very little experience to share so far.)

My work as a witch has begun to shape out as involving things that others fear and reject. I personally find this hilarious considering that I used to be so scared of everything.

I work with Persephone, Hades, Medusa, my familiar, Loki, Apollo, Aphrodite, and Khaos. They appeared to me in that order, with Aphrodite and Khaos being fairly recent additions as I'm typing this. (5/12/24) Note that this is a list of EVERYONE I work with at all, and some of them (like Medusa) only rarely show up in my life currently while others are more active.

I have a sideblog about my work with dragons, @officially-other, but it's so heavy on UPG, identity talk, feelings, etc. that I keep it separate from this blog. It's brand new as of editing but I plan on it being completely transparent.

Things to expect from me: An unreasonable amount of witchcraft memes, lots of fun little stories about my guides/deities and interactions with them, general stories about my craft. My asks are open, but I may not always have an answer to any questions! See the "not a beacon of knowledge" bullet point earlier.

DNI: Racists, misogynists, trans/homophobes, ableists, bigots of any kind, pɘdo, I feel like I'm forgetting something but overall just don't be an asshole okay??? Plz???? Thank you. 16+ minors are okay, below that you can follow and lurk just please don't start a proper conversation. (/lh, lighthearted)

TERMS FOR READINGS

Yes I know this is a bit long. I don't require that you read this but I don't answer asks with problems that could be solved by just reading this. I am no longer doing readings for anon asks, so please be off anon. Paid readings and any Tumblr readings that tip/donate beforehand will be prioritized, but other than that please be patient- when I post readings, I often get a lot of asks that takes weeks to get through.

Readings I will do:

General readings

Love readings (PLEASE check that it doesn't fall under "won't do" first)

Readings with a specific deity or entity (Paid readings get channeled typing,)

Pretty much anything that isn't on the "wont" list. (I reserve the right to say 'no' if something is brought up that I'm uncomfortable with but didn't think to put below.)

Readings I wont do:

Physical health readings (go see a professional)

Anything that constitutes "mind reading" (instead of "how does [person] truly feel" try "what's left being unsaid" or "what do I need to know" type questions.)

Sexual readings

Readings on a voice chat/call (yet)

Deity Identification readings (just not confident in them)

future spouse readings for free (I will do them paid, I just do the free readings to promote + for fun, and future spouse readings aren't fun for me)

[justanotherhh]

things about the episode:

I mean, yeah, it's setting up the next stage of the slowburn -- they are now officially no longer together, but they understand one another a little better (and blitzø is getting a sense of what he wants even if he's not ready for it at the moment/may think currently it'll never happen. that is a big step up from "refuses to admit it to himself" from one episode ago), meaning they can go through their stories and meet up again further down the road with more ability to deal with.... some stuff

verosika getting her say has been a want of mine ever since her first appearance, and this really delivered on that (all while prominently showing her crossed-out blitzø tattoo), and it also gave the feeling that maybe this has been catharsis for her, so she can move on from how he treated her

EDIT: also verosika and stolas being pals is good for me personally! we really got some good verosika Stuff here, she saw that awkward bird in the corner and hyped him up and was backup singer to his poprock song and smiled when he got some, what a woman!

if dennis is at this party, then im gonna go ahead and headcanon that some of these guests are fucking hanger-ons who only barely qualify (although clearly many of them aren't)

stolas is someone who... definitely loves blitzø. but is also quite naive and internal, as has been shown. and i think that means that he can't quite understand everything that blitzø is actually saying beneath the things that hurt him, although now a little better than before, and i think going out and getting laid and "feeling wanted" by some other guy/s is probably good for him in order to get out of his own head more

the apology tour highlights were absolutely wonderful, from doing drag at the in memoriam at the awards show, to ms mayberry and martha making it work -- all sorts find each other in hell, eh

im interested in the idea of an apology tour (regardless of how much blitzø "means" any of it until stolas and verosika) in the grand scheme of blitzø actually mending fences -- and trying to mend fences -- with a few characters already. verosika now ofc, but also fizz, and moxxie back in truth seekers, and he did try to reach out to barbie wire. there's clearly some part of him that's trying to make it work in his various relationships and has been growing and changing up until this point (this also includes loona and millie, whom he's attempted to have decent relationships with since the beginning of the show)

generally to me this feels like an episode that'll gain a lot more from where things are going -- it's promising certain things from blitzø and stolas moving forwards, so i think once the rest of the season is out it'll be fun to go back and rewatch it as a part of that arc/see how this set up those next steps (and who knows, maybe we'll get to see verosika again, possibly making out with barbie wire)

cannot believe blitzø thought calling stolas a homosexual in meme-format would work, babe you are floundering (can you imagine what loona, millie, moxxie, and fizz must be making of all of this??????? I wonder if he's told them yet)

[solar-tl-27]

OH HEY WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT I’M BACK

Yall never get regular posts from me omg you guys I’M SO SORRYYYY

but but but but but ya’ll wont believe it

I have been… DOING ART?! youuuuu heard that right folks i me MYSELF AM d-doing art.

Ok soooo i got a few updates

Life is still incredibly hectic i swear i feel like one of those fanfic writers tha5 post like

Hey sorry it took 8 years i was in a coma! But thankfully that’s not… entirely the case?

I’m on the list for an appointment to see if i have adhd because hearing my friends who are diagnosed and medicated talk about literally MY EXACT ISSUES AND IT HELPING i was like… damm maybe it is the good ol case of audhd … so hopefully hopefully i can get something to help with that!

Uhhh in other news I’m saving for a laptop so i can get into video editing and idk make some animation memes and animatics!

But ofcourse

Ofcourse

I promised art let’s not dwindle any more!

First of all we have some art i did for my story quest for the moon (i did blur out a bit just cuz well idk my audience that well so i’ll be bluring it even though it takes away a bit of context)

Then another piece for that series and then… omg.. no way is that?! Is it?!

Hehe surprise let’s get into the first art!

3 GOT ANOTHER REDESIGN AND MIGUELS’S FIRST FULL ART

Welcome welcome to my sweet sweet sweet baby angel boy Three that’s right he’s been on my mind again so i drew him… kinda like a splash art? If he was in a gacha game very cute very demure (if that meme’s old already… no it’s not)

And then we have THE VILLAIN of quest for the moon

Miguel also our main character ash in the corner hiiii ash

Miguel is basically like the mentor that’s secretly just try to steal your powers type he’s very much an opportunist and i love to draw him and loooove to hate him! This piece is basically foreshadowing extravaganza that will… eventually be clear i swear I promise I PROMISE but for now enjoy the piece it took sooo long

Next art!

This is still a work in progress it’s not done yet but I’m incredibly proud of it soooooo I’m showing it anyway and then we’ll get into the surprise

MEET MY SON ALEXANDER

ohhh my goodness after being in art block for so long it feels so nice to just get a solid redes out i’m soooo happy with how he’s turning out AA that’s my son MY BOY one of my oldest oc’s from so so so so long ago and fun fact i drew both pieces with the exact same brush heheheh the headshot next to him is his brother phoenix

Ok NOW FOR THE SURPRISE

Guess what! That’s right i have actually ACTUALLY started finding my way into the new project reignited

That’s right we got a MAIN CAST now

Now obviously some are.. easy to find the original inspiration for but they won’t be that similar to the redesigns they used to be no no no

Welcome the new crew of project reignited!

Muse, Plume, Thea, Orianne & caelusss

Muse is the main character a human boy who is just trying his best who gets swooped up into helping a dragon girl save her kingdom and the magical dimension while also fighting to preserve his home town!

Plume a dragon girl (plume, bloom you get the gist) who somehow ended up on earth is now tasked to find help to save her people and mother while also discovering the beauty of earth

Thea the daughter of an urban development company ceo and the love interest of muse (did i get myself this invested into a ship that i made it canon here… yes.) she’s a frail girl but is forced to step in as her fathers ideas turn from helpful to greedy and destructive

Orianne Thea and Muse’s friend and the more motherly of the group but faced with difficult circumstances and changes in her life can cause her to lash out as her life is completely steered of its course by magic and her dad remarrying.

Caelus! Muse’s closest friend a pretty chill guy that works at an icecream parlour during the week and helps his family with their market food stand in the weekend, he really wants to be a culinary chef but doesn’t know if he can truly achieve his goals in his hometown.

That’s the gang this will from now on be an original concept and no longer a winx rewrite yes winx will be an inspiration for this work but i do not intend to go the fairy route nor make the world building as big as i had made it in my rewrite… what you will see is me taking my rewritten work as a basis for this story considering i have basically rewritten my version of domino, zenith and solaria from scratch sooooo SWEET BABY BOY CRYOS MY BABY will be making a return later on in this story he’s mine he’s my son my boy i can do with his character whatever i pleaseeee ok ty

That’s the update that’s the post thank you all for enjoying my content and my terrible upload schedule life had beeeeeen hectic ty ty hope ya’ll stay for more and if this was your first post of mine you saw…. Check out my other work pls and thank u

Oki

BYEEEEE

[miasiegert]

Hi Cats Tumblr People,

So I heard you like pics.

Please bear with me (AND TEACH ME) how Tumblr works/if I'm doing it wrong! I'm literally the "How do you do, fellow young people?" meme. Our Etsy is linked (unless I messed that up!) Right now it's bare (LOT of work and VERY old photos in the banner) but we'll be posting some cossies soon that are ready to retire. Some of our prices sadly will have to rise (we undercharge honestly for the amount of time put into them... we just LOVE making them). Anyway...

These are our original designs. We have taken inspiration from different productions, from the US tour to Gothenburg to Australia to Japan, less UK because it gets the most attention and we like COLOR! but this is all us. Our goal is to a) have characters be recognizable and b) make swing unitards in palates that could pass as at least 3 characters for emergency. When our rentals go out, swing unitards go with them, and ultimately it's the director who decides what makes the final cut (so a less yellow Demeter for example--but we LOVE that one).

If we ever do a production of Cats with Chaz, you'll notice one in Red, White, and some Black (but mostly Red and White, with fan ears, that is a design David created and is Chaz's FAVORITE design of all time. Any time he does a show, if we're hired, that costume goes. Usually Electra, but any ensemble/swing kitty and can cover for Sillabub or in a pinch Bombalurina. Yuka wore it at Interlakes before she did Victoria on the last US Tour! You might notice an Admetus in tans and GREEN undertones--that was my design he loved. We also did the purple twins (which was vetoed and I said, "Okay" then did it anyway because I knew he'd love it, which he did!), and REBA Gumbie Tap Suit was completely mine (everyone thought I was out of my MIND when I started making it! Even David! Then the shoulder pads came, and the belt, and tail, and BEDAZZLING!!! SO MANY RHINESTONES!!!!) Our Misto coat lights up but we still have a lot to learn about arduino since we'd eventually like to make it blink to music. The Misto coat is also created to fit a multitude of sizes, basically the theatre using their department for alterations since we make use of stretch fabric. I've known Bronson for almost as long as Chaz (he even designed my author website!!!) so when I saw him cast, I showed him his costume (a much, much browner/redder Gus than most see--I was serious about liking color) and let him choose between two coats. He said he wanted pants and we went, "NO! PANTLESS PRODUCTION!" because we thought he was joking! We didn't realize... HE REALLY WANTED PANTS!!!! SORRY BRONSON! So shout out to Wichita for making him pants! LOL!

There is a HUGE joke about Tumble thirsting for Tugger more than the girls so you'll notice that with the Tugger ABOUUUOUOUOUOUOUOUUUUUUUUUT THAT.

Hope that's of interest! And no, I'm not procrastinating on edits when my agent deadline is Sunday. Haha... ha... ha... ha... ha... Sera, if you're reading this I PROMISE I'M WORKING OKAY??? I DIDN'T KNOW WE GOT ON BROADWAYWORLD!!!

We also saw some comments about casting in general and some confusion/questions about different dancers doing different parts (Alonzo vs Plato). Would anyone be interested in learning more about the casting process in general and things that directors/choreographers need to take into consideration? Please note, I will not discuss ANY performers we work with. Ever. All are extraordinary and these are tough calls that aren't easy to make and based on other factors, including the ensemble at large, and sometimes huge changes are made.

[abiiors]

Just Let Me // M.H.

I got so carried away with this, my god. It’s best friends to lovers??? (read: idiots to maybe lovers). I am so proud of how this turned out and I genuinely hope you like it &lt;3 (reblogs and feedback are very much appreciated)

I’ve kinda tried an omniscient POV in this so I hope it works. It’s mostly angst but there’s a happy-ish end. A positive one at least.

WC: 3.2k (my longest yet)

Warnings - Reader is struggling with mental health, a whole lot of crying in this one, yelling too. And quite a lot of swearing

Masterlist // Series Masterlist // Drabbles

Your phone buzzes with another notification in your hands and you stifle another groan. That makes it ten now. 

All you want to do is put on the saddest movie you can find, have a good cry about your day, week, month and then curl up under a million weighted blankets. You simply want to forget about your life for just an hour or two but Matty (or rather, fate) has different plans.

Normally, when he sends you useless memes and silly reels, you make sure to reply to all of them. You even send him stupid stuff in return but all you’ve managed today is to leave him on read. 

It takes too much energy to open DMs, to respond to them—the energy that you simply do not have today. It’s one of those days. Lately, it’s always one of those days. They might as well be the norm now. 

Are you ignoring me now?

His message makes your phone buzz again and you wonder if flushing it down the toilet is a good idea. 

Are you ignoring him? No, yes, maybe a little. But only because he’s just so intuitive when it comes to you. You sigh, open the text chain and start typing up a response. But it’s already too late. 

Your phone is buzzing again; this time with an incoming call. 

You consider pressing decline or just letting it go to voicemail but he won’t give up until he’s sure he hasn’t done another stupid thing to make you mad. So you simply send a quick prayer out into the universe and press Accept. 

‘Hello…’ you try so hard to make your voice sound as neutral as possible. But it cracks on the last syllable anyway.

There’s a small pause at the other end of the line and you know he’s analysing that voice break. The sound in the background slowly grows distant and fades away as you realise that he’s moved to some quieter location. 

‘So…’ he hesitates a bit and you can instantly sense the suspicion in that one tiny word. ‘Are you home?’

‘Yeah,’ you quietly try to clear your throat, ‘yeah, just got in.’

‘And how was your day?’

Shitty! 

‘It was fine,’ you move around a few things on the dresser, hope that the noise is enough to distract him from the shift in your tone. But he’s smarter than you give him credit for. 

‘You’re lying to me.’ It’s not a question, it’s a statement. 

‘I’m not—’

‘Come on, sweetheart,’ he interrupts, ‘I am not as stupid as you think I am.’

‘You sure about that?’ you try lamely but it lacks any of the usual laughter in your voice. 

‘Rude! And don’t even try that with me right now,’ his voice holds a rare sternness. It’s not that he’s wrong. He did correctly call you out on that lie. The fact that you’ve known each other for close to seven years now makes it so much harder to lie to him. You contemplate dropping the act. You contemplate telling him everything, all about how life has been so difficult to handle lately; how you constantly feel like you’ve bit off more than you can chew. 

But he’s so busy… And you don’t want to trouble him. 

Their new album is set to release in just a bit over a month and there are a plethora of last-minute things to do; thousands of special edition CDs to sign and finalising the last details of various interviews, finalising the details of the tours. 

‘I’m just a bit more tired than usual, I promise you,’ you bite your lip to keep it from wobbling and hope that it’s enough to convince him. 

‘I’ll see you in a bit.’ There’s no protesting the finality in his tone. Not like you have the chance to because he instantly hangs up after that. 

As much as it is not his fault, it feels like this phone call has leached out the last of your energy. All you want to do is curl up in a ball on the hardwood floor. So that’s exactly what you do. Five minutes turn to ten, turn to fifteen until you lose track of time. Your eyes burn from all the unshed tears and it’s hard to keep them open anymore but you cannot stop staring at the little pink stain on the rug. 

You remember how Matty messed around your house that summer, spilt nail polish on your (then) new rug. How you painted his nails in all the neon colours you owned as revenge. You remember him saying how the stain was his way of making sure you’d never forget about him. 

As if…

A few sounds manage to break through the buzzing in your ears. There’s the sound of tyres pulling in your driveway, the sound of a car door opening and closing. And at last, the jangling of keys as someone tries to open your front door. 

You instantly know who it is. You’ve had each other’s house keys for a good few years now and today, for the first time, you wish he didn’t have them. You wish he wasn’t here at all. You wish you had never picked up his call. 

In a minute, he’s going to walk in here and find you curled up on the floor like a lunatic. He’s going to think you’ve finally lost the last shred of sanity. 

In a minute, you’re going to look at him and find him looking back at you with barely concealed pity. 

In a minute he’s—

‘What…’ he interrupts your train of thought and you make the barest of effort to peek at him through the curtain of hair that’s fallen over your face.

Matty’s not alone; or rather, he’s not empty-handed. He’s holding the prettiest bunch of daisies you’ve ever seen as well as a giant Tesco bag. You don’t have to ask him to know that he’s bought all your favourite junk food and that sugary ice tea you love so much. You also hear a few wine bottles clinking in there. 

It’s too much, all of it. He’s being so considerate, so nice. And you have no strength left in you tonight to conceal the feelings that bubble up in the face of this niceness. It’s supposed to be priceless, this gesture yet all it manages to do is be the last fucking straw. 

The restraint snaps and your eyes flood with tears and now they can’t stop flooding with tears. When before your eyes burned from unshed tears, now they can’t stop shedding them. And you cannot control the gasps and sobs that are being torn out of you. 

He swears softly and then chucks everything in his hands on the settee. He wastes no time running to you, wrapping his arms around you as he tries to pull you into a sitting position.

‘Sweetheart, hey,’ he’s trying to be soothing which only makes you cry harder. ‘Why didn’t you call me?’

‘I just got in,’ you blubber through the tears. It’s such a shitty excuse too but he doesn’t push it. 

‘I’m here,’ he says; repeats it over and over again like a mantra. 

His fingers caress your spine softly, almost lovingly but you refuse to think of it that way. What’s the point in romanticising simple comfort when it will only lead to more heartbreak?

‘Talk to me,’ he urges after a bit. 

‘There’s nothing to talk about,’ you shrug your shoulders, look anywhere but at him. ‘Everything is a bit overwhelming lately, that’s all.’

He softly touches your chin, tries to make you look at him but you won’t budge. 

‘You’re doing it again…’ 

‘Doing what again?’ If playing dumb is what gets him off your back then so be it. 

‘This…’ you see him point at you from your peripheral vision. ‘You’re pretending like it’s not a big deal.’

‘That’s because it’s not a big deal,’ you mumble. Your eyes snag on the photo on the wall. It’s Matty and Hann pointing at some graffiti on the Berlin Wall and making goofy faces and it almost makes you smile. You have fond memories of this trip, maybe even the last time you felt truly happy. 

His gaze follows yours and rests on the photograph. 

‘Remember how you kept butchering the lyrics to 99 Luftballons?’ The smile in his voice is evident and you know he’s thinking of the same memories that you are. 

‘I didn’t butcher them!’ you say begrudgingly. In truth, you absolutely did but that was a carefree version of you. That was a different person who did not mind screaming the wrong lyrics at the top of their lungs, who laughed at the stupidest of jokes and cracked even worse ones. 

‘I haven’t heard you sing in a long time,’ he confesses. 

‘I just haven’t found scream-worthy songs in a long time,’ you deflect.

He shakes his head because he realises that you’re intent on being difficult tonight. He has to take a different approach to this.

‘Let’s go back,’ he suggests, ‘maybe even go to Italy this time.’

It’s such a ludicrous suggestion really that you snap your gaze back at him. He’s looking right at you, he’s never stopped looking right at you. 

‘What’s the point in making these plans,’ you laugh bitterly, ‘you’ll be gone in a month anyway.’

‘Then come with me.’

He says it so softly that you’re unsure if he even said it in the first place. He seems to come to the same realisation because he clears his throat. 

‘Come with me.’

Go with him…

‘You think it’s so easy,’ you scoff and wipe at your eyes furiously.

‘Isn’t it?’

It’s these two simple words that cut through all your barely-there calm. 

Isn’t it? 

Isn’t it?

‘And what about my job? My responsibilities? I can’t just run from everything!’ You muster up all the strength left in you as you yell at him. 

It’s as if it has opened up a dam inside you and now you can’t stop the flood of words. 

‘Not all of us have the luxury of doing what we love and travelling and fucking around. Some of us have to SURVIVE! Not all of us can just pause everything at the drop of a fucking hat.’

By the time you’re done, you’re sobbing so hard that you’re certain your heart’s about to crack in two. Any minute now…

But then his warm hands are grabbing your face. ‘Hey, hey,’ he’s whispering, forcing you to look at him, ‘hey, I need you to calm down a bit okay? Okay?’

The tears make his face look blurry and unclear but the concern in his voice is unmistakable. You can almost imagine the deep crease between his brows right now; how his mouth would be tilted downward. Still, the sobs don’t subside. 

‘Please, please,’ he’s begging almost, ‘will you take some deep breaths for me? Please…’

You are trying, you have been trying. All this time you have only been trying to make it from one deep breath to the next. 

‘Please…’ his voice cracks.

Gently, so gently he picks up your hand in his, observes the red half-moons formed on the palm because of how hard you’ve been digging your nails into it, and swipes a thumb over it. It takes him a second or two before he manages to control the tremble in his own hands. It’s only when you touch the soft cotton of his t-shirt, that you realise that he’s holding your hand over his heart. 

The fog clears just a smidge as you feel his strong heartbeat under your palm. Compared to his, yours feels like a galloping horse. 

‘I’m sorry,’ you sob once you’ve come to your senses. ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.’

‘Stop…’

‘I know you work hard,’ you close your eyes tightly, let a few more tears escape, ‘I know your job isn’t easy.’

‘It’s not,’ he confirms. ‘I know you think I’ve no reason to complain.’

‘You’re misunderstanding me—’

‘And I know I’m so lucky to be doing what I do,’ he continues as if you haven’t spoken at all. 

‘That’s not—’ 

‘And I know you take your responsibilities much more seriously than I do…’

‘Listen to me—’ you try to interrupt again but he’s having none of it. 

‘No, you listen to me. Take a sabbatical, quit your fucking job for all I care. It’s not making you happy, it’s never made you happy. I’ll take care of you. You know I will.’

You roll your eyes and try not to scoff at his words but that just fuels him even more. 

‘Fuck, why won’t you let me! You took care of me when I needed it the most or have you forgotten about that? Have you forgotten how you held my hand as I checked into rehab?’

His voice chokes on the last word but he does not waver, he never wavers. 

‘Let me b—fuck, let me be there for you,’ he pleads. 

You grasp at straws, try to come up with even one reason why he shouldn’t be here right now. 

‘You already have a million other things to take care of.’

‘And they are all secondary to you.’ He wastes no time in answering. All this time that you’ve spent not looking at him, all that resolve crumbles in an instant as you finally turn to him. His hand twitches to wipe away the few tears that have slipped out but he stays put.

‘Please stop…’ you whisper—beg—through the lump in your throat. ‘Please stop saying things like that.’

‘And why should I?’ he challenges. 

Because you’re only saying them to make me feel better.

Because you just want this pity party to end. 

Because you are just fulfilling your obligation as my friend…

‘Because you don’t mean them…’ you breathe. 

You might as well have slapped him in the face. That’s how hard he flinches away. In fact, he would much rather you slap him in the face than hear you accuse him of that. 

Your entire body goes cold when he stands up, tries to put distance between you. And you have to grab the arm of the settee to make yourself get up. The spot on the floor where you were curled up should have been warm by now. Instead, it feels ice cold. 

‘I don’t mean them?’ His voice is so soft, so lifeless.

‘No, that’s not what I mean—’

‘You think I’m here to score some brownie points?’

He’s getting riled up now. That was the last straw for him and now you’ve finally managed to step over the boundary. You’ve finally crossed that invisible line.

‘Tell me why I’m here,’ he demands. 

‘I don’t—’

‘I need you to tell me why you think I’m here.’

‘Because you’re my fr—’

‘Don’t you fucking say that word,’ he shouts, ‘Don’t you dare say that word.’

You feel hollow sitting there; like a husk of a person. There’s no point to this conversation anymore but he’s not giving up. 

‘Ask me why I’m here,’ he shouts again and this time you can’t hold it in any longer. 

Your head pounds inside your skull and your patience is wearing thin. You’ve tried apologising, you’ve tried deflecting but nothing has worked. 

‘Fuck!’ you yell back, ‘Why ARE you here?’

‘BECAUSE I FUCKING LOVE YOU!’ 

The silence that follows is the loudest silence you’ve ever heard.

He staggers back—eyes wide and mouth agape—and almost crashes into your TV. He can’t believe he’s just let that slip out. That was supposed to be his one secret.

And you can’t ignore the way your heart simply stops. 

Because how long have you waited for him to say those words? How long have you imagined whispered I love yous in the dead of the night in Matty’s voice? How long have you yearned?

He’s made up his mind now. He can’t take the words back, he doesn’t want to take them back so he squares his shoulders and looks you dead in the eyes.

‘Because I fucking love you, okay?’

This silent confession, a confirmation that the first one was not a fluke, nearly brings you to your knees. You beg your legs to hold you up as you take a small step toward him. 

‘You do?’ 

‘I have been in love with you for as long as I have known you.’ The exasperation in his voice is clear, so is the undercurrent of regret. 

For as long as I’ve known you…

Seven years…

Seven years that you could have had with him

‘It’s okay if you…’ he has to swallow a few times to stop himself from getting choked up. He has to blink a few times. ‘It’s okay if you don’t feel the same.’

Words cannot do justice to what you feel. 

Seven years…

This evening has gone from difficult to damn near impossible and there’s simply not enough air in the room. 

Seven years that you’ve wasted, you can’t let yourself waste another second. 

You stagger toward him and he’s instantly there to catch you, to hold you so close. He wastes no time tilting your chin up because he will die if he doesn’t do it now. And he will never find peace if he doesn’t know the taste of your lips. 

This kiss is unlike any other you’ve ever had in your life. There’s no elegance to it, no softness. Your teeth clash against each other multiple times in the first few seconds. It tastes like tears and stale cigarettes. It tastes like longing and yearning and hope. Best of all…it tastes like him

And it is, without a doubt, the best kiss you’ve ever had in your life. 

It’s the best because it’s him. It’s always been him and now you finally get to have him.

‘I’m an idiot,’ you mumble against his lips. 

‘A proper imbecile,’ he confirms and you slap his arm lightly. 

‘You’re an idiot too!’

‘At least I had the courage to confess,’ he challenges.

You bury your face in his chest, breathe in his familiar scent, listen to his racing heart to calm yours down. Time is irrelevant in this moment. It could have been aeons or it could have been seconds, the only thing that truly matters is his body pressed up against yours. 

He knows he’s probably holding you tighter than he should but he’s held himself together—all alone—for so long that if he lets go now, he will crumble.  

‘So what happens now?’ you speak into the silence that surrounds you. 

‘Now I spend a lifetime making up for the last seven years.’ 

There’s no hesitation there, only determination. 

A fresh wave of tears gathers in your eyes. You know he can feel them dampening his t-shirt but he simply holds you tighter. 

‘I’ve got you, my love,’ he shushes, starts rocking back and forth and presses his lips to your hair, ‘I’ve always got you. And I’m never letting go.’

---

(If you caught the one lyric reference, ilysm)