#works nicely as background noise tho!!

[berryshipbasket]

Me going to rewatch the Smurfs for old times and seeing there's 9 seasons and like 100+ episodes

Wish me luck guys-

[cranberry-writes]

Dating Headcannons for The Boys characters!

Please send requests, i need motivation

Characters listed; Hughie, Butcher, M.M, Frenchie, Kimiko

Warnings; Mentioned drinking and cannon typical violence/language. Also i’m barely on season 2 please bear with me

Hughie;

- He’s so so sweet about your relationship

- He gets you flowers for no reason other than he saw them and thought you’d like them

- He has thousands of reminders so he won’t forget anything, from a drink you liked to your anniversary he will have it written down.

- Later on in the series he gets protective and cautious about the relationship, scared someone (homelander) will mess it up by hurting you

- He’ll probably push you away a bit to try and protect you but after you knock some sense into him he’ll be back to normal

- Loves park/library dates, going on a picnic during the summer and to the library when it’s to cold out.

- He will do so much for you (flowers, gifts, dates etc) and insist it’s nothing but will cry (happy tears) if you do the same

- Don’t get me wrong tho, he’s still a bad ass (sometimes). He just dosnt want you to think differently of him because of it, he’s hurt people, killed people, and he honestly isn’t too keen on focusing on it. Even if you two are in the same line of work.

- And if you two don’t work together he tries to keep his ‘work’ life and dating life separate, very separate.

“You’ve never told me what you do for work, maybe i could stop by and meet your co-workers.”

“Uh, actually, i don’t think that’ll work.”

“Why not? is everything ok there or something?”

“I-, uhm, work alone, so i don’t even have coworkers for you to meet really, it’s really boring infact you’d probably fall asleep just from me talking about it hahaha.”

- You find out like two days later

Butcher;

- Little shit

- I mean that affectionately

- His pet names will range anywhere from “Darlin’” to “Fucker” and i WILL stand by it

- He’ll probably introduce you to his work before he does his dog

- But his dog is the big ticket, you meeting Terror is essentially his way of proposing before proposing

- He’s protective but not in the “i’ll watch your every move” more in the “im teaching you how to use every weapon to ever exist” way

- Honestly work would probably come before you for a while before he sucks it up and actually makes an effort

- Dates will be at the most shity bar imaginable, unless he’s apologizing for something then he’ll take you to the nicest place he can and put on a suit. (it’s the Cheese Cake factory and he’s wearing a Hawaiian shirt under his jacket but he’s trying)

- Unlike Hughie he will introduce you to his work at some point, granted it would still be a while before he did but he would at some point.

- He’s sweet in his own way

“Darlin’, look what i got ya.” And it’s a Garfield shirt a size to big but you still wear it anyways

MM;

- Definition of husband material

- remembers anything and everything after being told one time

- makes you baths with rose petals and candles and all that stuff if you mention you’ve been tired lately

- Takes you out to the movies and a nice restaurant at least twice a month

- Good gods he’s sweet to you

- He knows how to cook/bake and will make stuff for you all the time

- My guy will make a meal from your culture and practice making it almost daily just to give you a taste of home.

- He really loves back massages and cuddling after a long day

- Put on some crappy reality show for background noise and nap together

- He wants you as far away as humanly possible from his work, will literally say shit like “everyone at work has the plague you can’t visit” as a joke to try and change the subject

- Chances are you won’t find out

- His favorite flowers are tulips and nothing will change my mind about it

“Baby what are these?”

“Tulips, I bought them from a street market on 11th today. They’re your favorite, right?”

“Gods, sweetheart you’re perfect.”

Frenchie;

- When you two meet you both think it’s just going to be a one night stand

-…then it’s two nights, then three, then a week, then you start spending more time at his place than your own. One day you guys just realize you’re moved in and dating

“Are we dating?”

“…Was there anything else we could be mon cœur?”

- honestly i don’t think you two would get together if you weren’t working together, or at least you were also into some shady shit

- But overall you guys have a strong relationship, one gets hurt the other kills someone, someone is hungry the other is already cooking, stuff like that

- He also cooks but it’s only french food, it’s like a super power. He can cook any french food effortlessly but literally anything else he messes up

- If you are french he’ll be super happy someone else will appreciate the same stuff in a similar way

- If not then he’ll be happy to share stuff with you, teach you some french words and tell you about stuff he grew up with

- Honestly he’s just happy someone (other than Kimiko) will listen and take an interest

Kimiko

-I have a confession to make, Kimiko is my favorite and i have a very blatant bias towards her

- Kill anyone you want bby i don’t care ill always like you

- Anyways, It probably takes you a while to get close enough to her that she’ll consider dating you

- Once y’all get to that point i don’t think you could break it tho

- I think she would like constant minimal physical contact, like hand holding or leaning on each other

- I think she’d be pretty protective over you, like someone looks at you wrong and she wants to maul them

- Learn sign language with/for her she will love it

- Draw with her, get her supplies, like those alcohol markers i’m sure she’ll love them

- Honestly i don’t think she’d be big on pet names, she wouldn’t object to it but i don’t think she’d give you one first

- Cook for her, i just think it would be sweet and she deserves it

“I got you some of those markers you’ve been looking at for a while.”

Thank you, this is nice

- Please she’s perfect i love her

[spruzu]

THROWING SOME SONIC HEADCANONS ON U

Sonic

-He always has a bruise or scratch on him somewhere even if he hasnt fought eggman in a few days. there. is. always. one.

-He's also COVERED in scars. Theyre either covered up by his fur/quills or theyve faded over the years.

-When sonic showers he uses a bottle that can be used for shower gel, shampoo, conditioner, moisturiser, mascara, ketchup, pepsi and a microwave.

-Sonic only really likes physical touch like hugging when he's seriously injured or in pain (example A. sonic prime and frontiers). Also he doesnt mind it when he's doing it to someone else.

-Sonic paces when he's worried, thinking or waiting for something. (Shadow does this too just less)

-Sonic fidgets in his sleep a LOT. He'll falls asleep on his back and wake up with his legs half off the bed and the duvet on the floor.

-Sonic cant cook so he gets tails to make him dinner (he knows how to make chilli dogs tho dw)

-Sonic used to hum tails to sleep when there was a storm

-This ties in with the one before it. SONIC IS A FANTASTIC SINGER. This man is angelic. Also no one can tell me Rouge can't sing coz she defo can.

-Sonic has a draw of all the stuff from his past adventures (chips bracelet, this upgrades from sa2, etc.)

-He smells like man deodorant (Lynx)

Shadow

-He takes notes on how to be a ''real mobian'' since he was brought up on the ARK he doesnt really know how to fit in so he'll stalk sonic and take in how he acts.

-Shadow and Rouge have ''girl nights'' where they stay up, do face masks, eat pizza and watch movies. Just a sleepover pretty much. (Omega is sometimes involved to)

-Shadow sleeps like a vampire

-Shadow and sonic spar often (3-4 days a week)

-And if sonic doesnt show up to the sparing session he'll go find him and make sure he's ok that they are still sparing

-His bedroom is lit up by lamps, no big light at all just lamps and the window.

-He's INSANELY good at cooking and baking. Gordon ramsey ahh hedgehog

-Can speak every language fluetly, this includes few ones that are dead (this is smt gerald gave him when he was in the 'creation' sage oin the ARK)

-He smells fucking fantastic 24/7. Lavendar, rlly nice perfume (probably Rouge's), deodarant, anything! This man smells great.

Knuckles

-He has a really low spice tolerance, one SPECK of spice and this dude is like sonic in tmosth.

-He gets bothered by Rouge trying to steal the master emerald at least once a week.

-Works out everyday, maxes out the machines and just goes at it like it's at the lowest setting.

-Sometimes he'll ask if sonic wants to spar for the fun of it if he's not on Angel island.

-FEMINIST! (He loves women)

-Denise he loves rouge but will just get flustered if she makes on single flirtation towards him.

-Has tubs of frosting and a spoon at nearly all times (WHAT IF HE GETS HUNGRY ITS A GOOD SNACK)

Tails

-Tails puts on cooking videos for background noise when he making/designing a new invention.

-Tails info dumps about planes and nerdy stuff to sonic and sonic just pretend s like he knows what tails is going on about because he knows it makes tails happy.

-Tails uses his tails for pillows sometimes.

-Getes his little hair ruffled by everyone (mainly sonic)

-Likes making gifts for people as a way to say thank you

Amy

-Amy plays dress up with cream.

-Herself and her room smells like roses/flowers in general.

-Loves watching mean girls with rouge.

-Doesnt look it but is STRONNGGGG. Your telling me that she would swing a punch and wouldnt send someone FLYING?? SHE CARRIES THAT MASSIVE HAMMER FOR VRYING OUT LOUD!!!

-Crystals.

Rouge

-LOVES to gossip

-Ayesha Erotica listener

-Does shadows makeup sometimes (Omega watches)

-Has a perfume collection that she lets shadow use to

-Has the most BEAUTIFUL dresses in her wardrobe for different occasions

-Loves to wear rings

there u go, have fun with those.

[harrysthighertat]

Valentine’s Day

summary: you come home from a long, shitty day of work to a Valentine's Day surprise from Harry.

warnings: fluff and implied smut

word count: 2.3k

a/n: I'm a little nervous to post this cause this is the first blurb I've ever written. I really enjoyed writing it tho and I can definitely see myself writing more of them in the future, so I'd love to hear your thoughts and feedback. sorry if it ends a little abruptly, it's way past midnight and my brain was fried by the end of this. but I hope you still enjoy it! :)

—

It's 7.30PM when you finally park your car in front of you and Harry's shared apartment. You let out a sigh while turning the engine off. No matter how much you love your job, the extra work, stress and having to stay at the office late to cover for your coworker's maternity leave, was wearing you out and you felt incredibly guilty towards Harry for coming home so late and going to bed so soon after arriving home from work. The past few months have been a constant cycle of waking up at 5AM, being at the office until at least 7PM, having dinner with Harry while trying very hard to keep your eyes open and hold a conversation with him then going to bed straight after dinner and repeat.

Thus, you were incredibly grateful when Harry offered to not do anything special for Valentine's Day and make up for it when work wasn't so busy. It meant that you wouldn't have to lose any of your much needed sleep on getting him a gift or preparing a surprise for him. And Harry deserved better than getting a half assed gift after how much he's been there for you during this stressful time. Every evening he insists on packing your lunch for the next day, he wakes up at the crack of dawn with you just so he can kiss you goodbye and wish you luck at work and he leaves sweet little handwritten notes everywhere saying how much he loves you and how proud he is of you, just to name a few out of a million things he does for you. You wanted to show him your gratitude with the most special surprise because he deserved nothing less, but unfortunately it had to wait.

Although Harry missed spending quality time with you, especially on a day such as Valentine's Day, he knew that it was only a couple of days until your coworker was back at the office and he would get to spend his evenings loving on you again.

Earlier that day you had texted Harry notifying him that you'd have to stay at the office late again. You offered to grab some takeout on the way home, which had become a habit of yours over the past couple of months because of how bad you felt that Harry had to do the daily household chores and cook for both of you while also having work of his own and barely getting to spend time with you, but he told you not to worry about it.

You grab your stuff from the passenger seat and step out of your car onto the sidewalk. You walk up the couple of steps to your front door, unlock it and push the door open. As you enter the apartment, you're welcomed by the smell of homemade food and your body immediately relaxes. You put your keys in the basket on the side table in the hallway and place your bag underneath it. Then you shrug off your coat, put it on the hanger and change from your boots to a pair of warm, fuzzy slippers.

Once you've checked yourself in the mirror, you walk towards the noises coming from the kitchen. In the doorway to the kitchen you stop yourself and look at the scene in front of you in awe. Not only do you see your boyfriend, who’s putting away the kitchenware that he’s used while wearing a pink and red polka dot apron that his mom gifted him for Christmas last year with a nice, lightish green dress shirt and fitted dark green trousers underneath, but the dinner table is beautifully decorated with bordeaux red table runners, pink lit candles and a bottle of your favorite red wine.

The smell of food is even stronger here and you notice the tray in the oven. Homemade vegan lasagna. Your favorite. In the background Dreams by Fleetwood Mac is softly playing. The soothing music, comforting smell of your favorite homemade meal and the sight of the love of your life standing right in front of you is a heavenly combination and you feel tears welling up in your eyes from how good it feels to be home, especially after the long, shitty day you had at work.

You quickly blink the tears away and walk over to your boyfriend. As Harry hears you coming up from behind, he turns around. As soon as his eyes land on his lovie's face, a smile grows on his own. “Hi baby, I didn’t hear you come home. How was work? I missed you.” He grabs your hands, pulls you closer and softly pecks your lips.  

You return the favor and say “Hi bub, work wasn't too great today." Harry can tell you've had a stressful day and you don't feel like talking about it, so he doesn't press on the topic. "I'm starting to understand my coworker." You say though. "If these were my usual tasks I would also get someone to impregnate me just to have an excuse to get a couple of months off." Harry bursts out laughing and your heart flutters in your chest at the sound of it.

You almost tear up again when you say "It feels good to be home. With you. Sorry I couldn't get home sooner." Harry squeezes your hand to reassure you that it's okay.

Then you gesture to the scene behind you. "What’s all this for though?” Harry turns around to see what you mean as if he hasn't spent half of the day in the kitchen to decorate and cook and make sure everything was perfect for when you got home.

“Well, I couldn’t not treat my girl on Valentine’s Day, so I thought I’d cook you your favorite meal and decorate the table so we can have a romantic candle lit dinner tonight and celebrate Valentine's Day just a bit.”

He then remembers the other surprise he got you that morning. “Oh and I got you something else, wait here…”. He walks out of the kitchen to where he hid his surprise from you, leaving you alone in the kitchen.

A few seconds later Harry returns with a gorgeous bouquet of red, pink and white tulips. He hands them to you as he says “Happy Valentine’s day, baby.” You hesitantly accept the bouquet. When you slowly bring the flowers to your nose and inhale, the flowers smell fresh, and soothing and heavenly and remind you of a warm, sunny day in spring. Then a frown grows on your face.

“What’s wrong? Do they smell bad?” Harry asks concerned.

“No, they smell lovely.” You answer, frown still present on your face.

“Do you not like tulips? Shit, I thought tulips were your favorite. But I should’ve listened to the sweet old man at the flower shop and got you the roses that he recommended for Valentine's Day. I’m really sorry, I can go back tomorrow and get you those.” He says, panic in his voice.

Your features soften a little. “No, they are my favorite and they’re beautiful. Thank you.”

“What’s got you frowning then?”  

You look down as you fumble with the flowers in your hand. “I- I just feel so bad. Everyone's out today celebrating their relationship, showering their partner with love while you barely even get to spend time with me because I leave for work so early and don't come home until the evening hours when I'm too tired to stay up for longer than an hour. I feel like such a bad partner. I didn’t even get you anything today."

"Hey, look at me." Harry says, as he grabs your hand with one of his and places the other on your chin to gently lift it so that you're looking at him. He moves his face a little closer to yours and kisses the place between your brows before moving down to your lips, placing a kiss on both of the corners of your mouth in hopes of removing the frown from your face.

"None of that. Of course I miss you, but I know how much you care about your work and I know that this is not forever. You've been working your ass off and I'm so proud of you. And I don't mind at all that you didn't get me anything today, baby. After all we said we weren’t going to do anything special today. We've got to feed ourselves wether you're busy or not and you know I love cooking, especially when it's for you. So I figured I'd cook you your favorite dinner just to make today a little more special. Plus you didn't think I made all of that lasagna just for you, right? I'm treating myself to a lovely dinner with the best company I could ever wish for too. Although if you did want to have the whole tray to yourself, I wouldn't mind either. Anything to make my baby happy. I just wanna take care of you and show you how proud I am of you for working so hard.” He rubs soothing circles on the back of your hand and kisses tip of your nose, then your left cheek, your right cheek and finally your mouth.

Then he pulls back to look at you again and you notice a smirk appear on Harry's face. "Besides, you didn't think I didn't notice my favorite lingerie set being gone from our underwear drawer this morning, did you?"

You try to suppress a smile. "I don't know what you're talking about."

He's right though. You are wearing a red, lace lingerie set underneath your outfit that you specifically decided to wear today. It's the matching lingerie set that Harry got you on his birthday as he claimed it was more a present for himself. You'd been so tired and stressed it lately that your sex drive was low and it had been a while since you and Harry had been intimate with each other. Therefore you also hadn't been able to show Harry the lingerie set in action yet, but you had secretly been hoping to change that tonight.

When you were getting dressed this morning, Harry had pretended to still be asleep while peeking at you through his eyelashes.

Harry smiles and kisses your lips. Then he leaves a trail of soft little kissen from your mouth to your neck where he stays for a few seconds while his hands roam your body until he leans back to look at you with a teasing expression on his face. "Right, so you're not wearing anything special underneath this?"

You notice Harry's eyes have turned a darker shade of green. You look behind Harry at the timer on the oven to see how much time is left before the lasagna is ready. Enough time for a little teasing.

“Want to check for yourself?” You say as seductively as possible. Harry kisses you hard and you laugh into his mouth at how fast he moves to unbutton your top and almost gets his ring stuck on it in the process. As he's working on the last button of your blouse, a loud beeping noise startles both of you. The lasagna is ready. Harry drops his head to your shoulder and sighs in frustration.

You laugh at his dramatic reaction and pat him on his back. "Come on pretty boy, if we don't eat soon I will actually eat the whole tray myself 'cause I'm starving."  

During dinner you catch Harry staring at your exposed cleavage a couple of times. You hadn't bothered buttoning your blouse again because you knew it would only be a matter of time until you wouldn't be wearing a top at all.

When Harry said he was too full for desert, which you knew was only an excuse to continue what you started right before dinner because desert was his favorite and he would always leave room for it, you decided to be an even bigger tease by insisting on having a piece of the cheesecake Harry bought for desert. 

The second you finish your last bite, Harry's on your side of the table. He grabs your face in both hands and presses your lips together hard. He moves one hand down to the side of your ass and taps it to signal you to get up. Once you're up he guides you to sit at the edge of the table all while kissing you passionately. He keeps one hand on the back of your head while he unbuttons the last button on your blouse, revealing the red, lace bra. He momentarily pulls back from kissing you to admire how stunning you look in his now new favorite lingerie set on you until he reattaches his lips to yours and lets his hand explore your body. After some time he starts kissing and sucking on your neck, leaving marks in different places. Harry hasn’t even touched you and you’re already a moaning mess for him. Finally he leaves a trail of kisses from your chest down to the top of your skirt. He uses his hands to bunch up your skirt around your waist and looks at you to check if you’re really okay with this. When you push his head back to your skin he laughs at your impatience and takes that as his cue to continue. He gives you one final look before his face disappears under your skirt. 

It’s safe to say the lasagna wasn't the only thing that was eaten on that dinner table that night.

[maxmagic]

LONG post featuring my opinions on this design and her concept and also Vivs character design decisions in general

This design singlehandedly made my account rise from the fucking dead because of how much opinions I have on it

TO NOTE : I LIKE Helluva Boss as a show. Is it perfect? No. Do I think it has issues from both writing and design aspects? Yes. Do I like it regardless? Also yes. You can like a show and still have criticisms of it. Also Viv has answered some criticisms about Beelzebubs design and I will talk about them too

Final warning cuz this is LONG and rambled at points

By this point we are all aware that once a new character gets revealed in Helluva or Hazbin , there's always opinions on it.

But Beelzebub truly takes the cake on how divided people are on her design. People either adore it or hate it with a blinding passion (and some just don't like it cuz they have a Viv hate boner).

I have to say I actually really like it as a stand alone design. Remove her from the story and context it's genuinely an appealing design with fun and bright colors. I personally don't mind the early 2010's sparkle dog look. It has a nostalgic charm to it and if you followed Viv for long enough you know she really likes that aesthetic. She has good colors and color placement and my main real dislike is the weird hair.

And she's animated BEAUTIFULLY !!! Real props to the animators for being able to make this design look nice in motion because god lord is it complicated. This will be a criticism later, but again, its really amazing on how they made this design look good even though we all know this must have been a real bitch to animate.

The real issue that come to me with her design is when you put her in the show and have to think about who she is, what she is, what her lore is ect.

Firstly: Her not being 'lore accurate' kinda falls flat given that none of the designs thus far have been accurate to what they're based on. Like Asmodeus has elements that tie him to his demon name counterpart (with the rooster tail and 3 faces) but they're more allusions then design inspirations. Lucifer is literally just a top hat twink and Mammon (even tho we haven't seen his full design yet) is clown/jester themed. Viv has made it clear that this version of hell isn't supported to be an accurate depiction of biblical hell. So she can really do whatever she wants with her interpretation. Her not being an insect, although disappointing since we don't really have that in the show, is only just a matter of personal taste.

HOWEVER there's still a lot of discrepancies with her design.

So she's supposed to be a Bee-Fox hybrid... Where's the bee??? Like take away the hexagon background, where is the bee part of her design? She has antenna and wings but... They don't really do much. The antenna are fine and its smart they placed at the tip of her ears, but the wings are straight up not bee wings!!! They look more like pixie wings and they're so small half the time I forgot they were there. Couldn't you have added.. idk some stripes?? she has stripes on her ears but they don't look like bee stripers more so general Viv design details. It's weird given she uses stripes so heavily in other designs yet the BEE character doesnt. Maybe add some fuzz like how bumblebees have?? Maybe trade that stupid lava lamp tail/hair if its too complex. I really don't like how she has normal hair and also a weird liquid part and liquid tail. It adds too much visual noise and just doesn't gel well wit the rest of her design. Her lava lamp stomach too just feels like needless addition of animation work for something that just doesn't add anything. Her colors ( despite being nice) kinda clash against all the other hellhounds who have a muted black/grey/red color pallate. It makes her look like an 13 year olds OC thats been edited in

Literally the only things that changed are her colors, size and eyes. In my opinion this should have been her base design because the colors and bug eyes lean into more of the bee aspect. Plus with these colors she fits more with other hellhounds.

Like right now the normal design feels 97% fox with just the most subtle bee elements slapped on. If it wasn't for the background, look me in the eye and tell me this design is a fox bee hybrid.

She also doesn't feel like a prince? She's dressed very casually and doesn't have nearly have enough of an imposing vibe. I didn't know she was a prince until it was said in show. I thought she was just some high rank demon performer. Its kinda disappointing given how grand, larger then life look and energy Asmodeus had. They were introduced in the same way via big song number, but Asmodeus felt like a Prince of Lust, Beelzebub felt more like a performer of Gluttony rather then a ruler.

Also why if she a hellhound in the first place? i saw somewhere on twitter that its cuz her people are hellhounds but that doesnt make sense. Lucifer isn't a human and Asmodeus isn't a succubus, so why does Bee have to be a hellhound? We know that hellhounds are the lowest ranked amongst hell natives, so how do people outside of gluttony feel about her? She is treated like royalty but is also a hellhound, the lowest demon. It causes a needless paradox that makes you question the worldbuilding of the show.

Also why are hellhounds the lowest rank in hell ? and why are they associated with gluttony of all things? I am going to be honest when I say I completely forgot they were native to gluttony because gluttony has a beehive aesthetic and like wtf do dogs have anything to do with it . Like other demons shown have themes that tie them into their respective prince or sin, but we aren't shown why hellhounds in particular are gluttony. Like it feels like a minor thing but when you present information about worldbuilding and show stuff that contradicts it, people will question it.

And why is she dating a hellhound? Or more so why is she so open about it. Like its been shown in the show that Stolas and Admodeus dating imps is a taboo thing so her being so open about her relationship with someone whose even lower then an imp. Again its going back on lore and worldbuilding being contradicted. If you're going to make rules for a show, stick to them.

I'm putting these two side by side cuz I have the same complaint about them.

How are we suppose to know this?? First the gluttony ring severally lacks any circus motifs (it has more of a bee theme then a circus one), but Bee ESPECIALLY doesn't have ANY hints at being circus themed, let alone animal trainer.

I knew that all the princes had a circus theme but from I (and from what ive seen in other comments) though she was an acrobat or like dancer of the sort. Literary nothing in her design says she is an animal trainer. And also the hippie 60s spirit is also not anywhere in the design. Just because a design choice is clear to you doesn't mean its clear to everyone else. A good design makes its points across loud and clear so everyone can understand it. This really feels like she's making it all up as people ask. She probably isn't but it really comes across that way. You cant just say something about a design that just isn't in the design or its not shown properly. This is an issue a lot of Helluva and Hazbin Hotels characters have (look up any of their trivia and you'll see how bad some designs are communicated), but with Bee its emphasized tenfold because she's suppose to represent all these different things (fox, bee, prince, party girl, animal trainer, DA sparkle dog, 60s hippie free spirit) at it just isn't conveyed or is put in such a way where you cant clearly tell what it is. It honestly feels like Viv had in mind to have a Kesha pop party girl character and just made her a prince. Shes trying to justify all these things and saying them like they're obvious when they're clearly not!

This design suffers from having too many ideas slapped on it that just don't work and actively work against each other.It makes me less excited for the future prince designs

If youve come this far good for you for sticking around to this way too long of a ramble about a probably one off character in a popular indie cartoon :D

[crookedkryptonitebeliever]

Best and Worst Of Both Worlds (Part 21)

Tw: nothing much, short chapter tho just wanna see which route you guys would take

VOTE BELOW ILL CONSIDER THE FIRST 20 VOTES ONLY

Part 22

You don't think you've ever been to the beach. You wanted to see what's good there, from what you knew, there are a lot of stalls selling all kinds of street food.

You think Yves would be busy or asleep, since he's also struggling with jet lag and he's there for work. He has to do some last minute tweaking to his findings.

But you did give Yves a call as a courtesy. You told him that you're going to the beach with Evangeline.

"Did you apply sunscreen?"

You lied and told him yes.

He hummed in response. You heard him shuffle his papers around.

"Why did you use the bus?" He finally asked. He must have deduced that fact because of the noisy background. You told him that Mr Jones is busy.

"Jones is not busy." You think he is getting upset based on his tone alone. You told him that it's much cheaper using public transportation, and you have Evangeline with you. So you're safe.

There was a moment of silence between the both of you. So you broke it by asking about his day.

You heard him sigh. "It... went well." That was all he's willing to tell you. Because Yves sent you his activities of the day through text. You just haven't seen them.

Evangeline stared at you as there was a long period of Yves not speaking. The only thing that can be heard was him typing on the computer or calculator, and his pen scribbles.

You asked him about the time there.

"It is ten in the evening." It's about 4pm for you.

He became quiet again, letting the ambient noises fill the background. You felt awkward in this call, you don't know how to continue or end it.

So you looked at Evangeline.

"Do you want me to speak to him?" She whispered.

You gave her a confused look. Why does she think you want her to take over this call? You actually do, but it's a strange offer for her to make.

You put yourself on mute for the time being. Yves didn't question it because he knows why.

She must have understood that puzzling expression was about. "I think he is just worried about you. Look, I'm sure if I can convince him you'll be safe with me, he's going to leave you alone for the day."

You agreed, so you unmuted and told Yves that Evangeline wanted to speak to him.

"I have no business with her." You were rather taken aback when he sounded cold, almost offended at the idea of you escaping this call. Evangeline took the device off your hands anyways and pressed it to her ear.

"Hello, Sir Yves?" She sweetly and politely greeted him. You couldn't hear him clearly, but he said something back, which you assume was a greeting too.

"Yes, this is Evangeline, a friend of (name)." She smiled.

You watch her converse with Yves in a friendly manner. Complimenting him on his concern towards your wellbeing. "I understand you might be worried for (name), seeing that they're not the best at... taking care of themselves. But I can assure you! They're in safe hands."

Her smile flickered as she listened to him speak. "Yes, of course. I promise we'll be back by sunset. Yes... of course. Alright. I understand... Thank you! Goodbye Sir Yves- ah? oh, okay. I'll pass the phone over to (name) now. It was nice talking to you, Sir Yves!"

Evangeline shook her head as she handed it back to you.

"(name)?"

You replied with a "yeah?".

"Call me when you're ready to go home." You agreed with him. There were a few more moments of silence before he sighed.

"I miss you terribly, (name). How badly I wish you were here..." He breathed.

You told him you missed him too. But you have to go, because this is your stop.

"...Very well. Enjoy your time at the beach. Avoid the sun if you can. I will hear from you later. Goodbye, (name)."

You said goodbye and thanked him.

"I love y--"

You let out a panicked scream when you realized you hung up prematurely. It gathered the attention of everyone in the bus.

Evangeline assured that it was nothing and everyone went back to their business.

You were about to send him a text, but you were distracted by Evangeline grabbing you by the wrist and dragging you out. It was your stop.

___

"Ohhh, (name). He does not like me. Not one bit, ohh no." Evangeline lets out a nervous chuckle.

You asked her what Yves said to her.

"He told me to get Dad to pick you up before the sun sets. There were a bunch of restrictions he gave me, he told me no alcohol, no drugs and no parties. As if I had friends to know where it's at anyways..."

Is this how boyfriends are supposed to act? It feels like Yves is assuming the role of your parents instead.

You said that it doesn't seem like Yves hates her, based on his words.

She clamped a hand on your shoulder. "Trust me, he may be polite, but if you heard his voice, you would think that he's talking to the grossest person on earth."

Well, Yves seem like the type to not express his dislike for something or someone directly.

"Hey, let's go into the waters!" She Hiked her dress all the way up to her waist, you looked away when you caught a glimpse of her underwear.

"Oh, it's fine. We're at the beach! We're the most clothed here." That is true, the majority are wearing bikinis.

You rolled your pant sleeves up to your knees and joined her at the shores.

You and her enjoyed the coolness of the ocean breeze. Collecting seashells and poking at random unidentifiable items with a stick.

Suddenly you received a call from none other than Yves.

You answered, he gave you no time to greet before he got his point across.

"Jones is waiting for you in the main parking lot where the bus stop is located. Go home. Now." There was urgency in his voice, it's commanding and dominant.

You complained that it's no where near sunset, you just got here!

"You are going to be caught in a severe thunderstorm, (name)."

You expressed your disbelief, the sky is clear and the sun is shining, what is he talking about-

You jolted when a deafening clap of thunder rang through the air. The clouds began darkening and condensing.

"(name)." He was warning you without saying anything further.

You looked at Evangeline, who is currently staring at her own phone. "I did not see that coming." She presented you the weather forecast, it's showing you that winds could reach up to 30 miles per hour- that is enough to break umbrellas.

You and her ran as fast as you could towards the parking lot. Sure enough, you saw Mr Jones's car and dove straight in. Evangeline sat next to you as she shuts the door.

Just in time for a heavy pour, Mr Jones can barely see anything due to the sheer amount of raindrops hitting the screen. The wipers are almost powerless to the force of mother nature.

Your eyes were downcast as you frowned. It's such a disappointment, but it's the weather and your luck. You're just grateful for Yves calling Mr Jones in advance so you and your new friend wouldn't have to risk getting killed by flying tree branches.

"How was your day, Mx (name) and Sweetie?" Mr. Jones gleefully asked as he tried to hide his struggle maneuvering the road.

"It was fine, daddy. (Name) is still on the phone with Sir Yves, so you might need to excuse them for a while."

"Oh! of course. My apologies. And by the way, Sir Yves. If you could hear me, Mx (name) is safe and sound in the car!" He spoke loudly for your phone to pick up. You set the call up on speaker mode.

"Noted. Thank you, Jones." Mr. Jones grinned and gave you a thumbs up.

You turned the speaker mode off and pressed the device to your ear.

"How was your beach trip, (name)?" You told him that it was great! You get to collect some seashells too, you're saving a few for him when he comes back.

"Why, thank you for the lovely gift, dear. I am looking forward to receiving it." His tone was warm and caring, just like the usual Yves you knew.

You told Yves that Evangeline also collected some for him and you. Her pile is prettier than yours, you didn't know how she managed to sniff out intact shells while you could only find broken ones. You glance at her and she's sorting out her sandy treasures on her lap.

Yves went silent momentarily. "I see. Tell her thank you." His voice did a complete 180, to something so clinical, it's unrecognizable.

You cleared your throat and then told him he should go to sleep. It's probably late there.

"I'll only fall asleep to the sound of your voice, (name)." He murmured, now full of sensual emotions. "Will you stay on the phone for me, dear?" He purred.

You turned to the side window, mainly to avoid Evangeline noticing your reddening cheeks.

You mumbled a small "okay".

"Tell me about your day." He requested.

You said you don't know where to start. He hummed in response.

"Why did you oversleep?" You gulped, and then you slowly began explaining. It's embarrassing because you're telling Evangeline and Mr. Jones about your bad life habits.

But before you know it, your mouth is running like a motor about the events of the day, your thoughts throughout it, and random observations you find particularly interesting when you come back to the university. Something as mundane as the sheen of the public benches being visibly restored.

You continued chattering, not needing any meaningful input from Yves. His "I see"s, "How nice"s, "mm"s, and "Ah"s were enough to make you feel heard and valued.

The father-daughter duo exchanged glances through the rearview mirror. It looked like you were possessed, only having the ability to just pour the most dull thoughts out of your mouth and nothing else. You didn't show signs of stopping any time, so Evangeline resorted to scrolling through her social media to entertain herself.

You abruptly stopped when you realized that you were boring your friend to death. That probably isn't what a good friend would do.

"(name), continue. I'm still listening." Yves prompted. You contemplated on what to do.

[demonqueenart]

Thank you for answering, I really appreciate it <3 I remember when people were speaking up about these issues a few years ago and many people in the phandom either shut them down or ignored them, and while I’m sure there’s still a lot of that going on even now, I’m really glad that we’ve reached a far more open and understanding point where it’s okay to talk about this stuff now. You and blogs like yours are doing a really good job putting yourselves out there, and we really are striving for a more inclusive community, because we all deserve it!!

Per the subtitle thing, I did some more research and went back to their recent videos, and it seems that while the majority of them do have proper subtitles, I think DnP don’t tend to upload their videos with proper subtitles on them at first, and instead do the subs afterwards and then add them when they’re finished, because the most recent video still has auto-generated subs on it.

While I am thankful that they do put on proper subs, since far too many YouTubers (some even bigger than them) don’t even bother, I believe they should make sure that the subs are there when they upload their videos; since I usually wait a few days to watch new videos, I didn’t notice the time-gap between auto-generated and proper subtitles, so that was my mistake! I appreciate their captioning, but D/deaf people, HoH people and people with sensory processing issues shouldn’t have to wait for accessibility, so I do think they have the capacity to do better in that regards. I’m not an expert on how captioning works on YouTube, so I don’t know how long it takes for captions to be made, but overall I think there’s definitely room for improvement.

That’s my opinion, though, as someone who uses subtitles, but obviously someone else may see this completely differently!

Absolutely! People should be able to enjoy an upload right then! I imagine it’s disheartening that someone would have to wait for a subtitle to be in a video while others have already watched and geeked about the whole thing. That must have made people feel excluded from this community in some way. I hope they’ll hire professionals for subtitles in the future, or find other ways to make people able to enjoy an upload right then! (It’s still very nice of them to use subtitles in their video early on tho. I think it’s something that people can overlook so easily, I’m glad this is not what they do :) )

Also, if anyone wants to share their pov about this, I would love to hear them. The more pov, the better!

[ID/ a banner with light blue sparkly background; the disability pride flag slides in from the left and darker blue text pops in reading "Make some noise for Disability Pride Month!!" /end ID]

Banner by dapg-otmebytheballs

Auto-message: This ask’s purpose is to acknowledge dnp’s past/present exclusivity, not to cancel them! But to embrace mistakes that they’ve made so that 1. we won’t exclude people in need in this community, and 2. we can normalize bringing up exclusivity so that improvement can happen. Hopefully this will one day help dnp realize that this is a safe space for them to talk about their mistakes, so that this space can become safe for people of all kinds too <3

*If you don’t understand what is happening, scroll through my blog for context. And I’ll be taking time to answer my asks, so don’t think I’m ignoring youuu*

[streamdotpng]

I don’t know if this would be very exiting. But for the streamer enid au.

Someone already asked for one where weds popped up on stream.

So to build on that.

Weds either off stream, partially on stream like the previous Drabble. But Weds is just speaking french sweetness to Enid. And Enids just staring at her complete lovestruck expression or something. And when Weds stops talking, Enid has some simp response. And chat just roasts the shit out of her.

this is from a chatter's point of view btw:

you're there, vibing, having fun, watching a werewolf streamer scream like she's getting murdered. You wonder if there were any possible noise complaints with the amount of times it happened but you're here to enjoy the show.

you're a new chatter, so you don't exactly know much other than she really is a big fan of Viper de la Muerte and the amount of collectables strewn in the background just makes it all the more obvious.

You can respect it.

Endespair looks comfy, dressed in sweats and a worn pink sweater as she lounges on her chair. The aesthetic is all over the place. You expected an edgelord with eyeliner, not a blondie with dyed hair but its definitely a nice contrast. The scar wasn't that bad to look at either.

Its giving retired adult who looks young or basement dweller who takes care of herself.

Honestly, if you've seen her in the street you would ask for her number but judging from the "Adult werewolf who is totally married to Wednesday Addams" in her bio, she's either taken or a huge stan.

You've known of the author for a lil bit and she's a rather private person so it wouldn't be that surprising.

well you win some, you lose some. So you go and focus onto your work, the screams and ushers of paranoia turning into white noise until... is that french?

You blink when a hand, very much pale compared to the werewolf, grasps at her chin and tilt her head up to someone off cam. Theres a gold ring on the newcomer's hand and you think back to her Endespair's tagline.

Oh yeah, if you thought that she was single before then you were proven absolutely wrong now. You don't know a lick of french but its not everyday someone spits the words "amor" and caresses a persons face like that without some form of romantic intention.

Also, Endespair's blushing very very hard and you didn't need to look too hard to see blue eyes blown wide open.

When pale over here stopped talking, a garbled mess of words came from Endespair in reply and you can't help but laugh. Yeah, there's no way they aren't dating.

stream ends soon after and you open up your twitter to post something real quick.

Man, you'll definitely pop up in for more streams.

nerdemoji @popularnormie who's going to tell me wednesday addams has such a cute wife?? Totally digging the whole the opposites attract she has with @endespair

500 Retweets 3,694 Quotes 9,205 Likes

wednesday'swife @marriedtowa YOU'RE LYING?? THERES NO WAY

Stan Endespair @numerounoe NAWH 🤣 ENID WISHES THO

[bomberqueen17]

great great great

It's all going great, it is. I'm frazzled for no real reason. But it's going.

Wednesday it snowed and the contractors showed up later than they meant to; it was almost 9 when the van pulled in to the neighbor's driveway and I opened my front door and said "over here man" and the guy was like "ah whoops there's the house number" and we laughed.

Description and photos behind the cut, this got long, but anyway this is why I dont' have a chapter ready to go this week either >.>

The demolition crew was two guys, a white dude about five feet five named Andrew with a piercing voice and impeccable manners, and a taller quiet Black dude named Dave. They put plastic sheeting over the doors out of the kitchen and proceeded to just wreak mayhem in there. The "installer", who I assume is kind of a project lead from the way everyone talked about him, wasn't present, he was tying up loose ends on a previous job. ("We had a third party doing vinyl and they just walked out and didn't finish it," Andrew told Dave. "I thought we didn't use third parties," Dave mused. "Yeah," Andrew said, "well that's why we don't." I loved how sharp Andrew's voice was because I could eavesdrop even over all the crashing noises.)

Andrew never swore in my presence but again, piercing voice, so I heard him explain to Dave, "I fucked myself over on these jobs tho, one of the early ones for this company I had extra time and they were like keep yourself busy somehow so we can pay ya, and I was like okay and I went through and I pulled all the staples and left the place so clean and nice, and now they expect me to do that every time. But it means I always get the job, the installers request me, because I'm gonna pull all the staples." I have no idea what was stapled, but I do believe him, because Dave was like "okay okay I'll pull the staples" and then I never saw any staples.

He was done by about 3:30 pm, to his own surprise. "Thought we'd need another half day, especially with the late start I got, on the road for an hour like that," he said (he was commuting up from the snow belt, and while our area had gotten three inches, they'd gotten over a foot down there, and nobody was handling it well on the roads.) "I didn't work slow, but I took my time, but everything came off so clean I'm all set here and it's done."

[image description: My kitchen before work started. Yellow linoleum floor in poor condition, brown wood cabinets, white and yellow linoleum countertops on a little L-shaped area, and a half-wall dividing the room partially so it's a tiny kitchen and a tiny dinette.]

[image: the work in progress, from the other door of the kitchen. The half-wall of the leg of the L is still visible as framing. The linoleum is gone, peeled back to wooden subflooring. The plaster walls are gone, down to the bare studs. The electric fixtures are hanging from the ceiling. in the foreground, Andrew is leaning on a four-foot stepladder, on his phone; in the background, Dave is in a fluorescent yellow hoodie on his knees on the floor scraping up the remnants of the linoleum underlayment.]

There is not a scrap of insulation in those walls. I asked Andrew and he laughed and was like "usually there isn't, in houses like this one".

When he left the half-wall frame was gone, and all of it was hauled out to a dump trailer in the driveway, neatly stowed, and the room was immaculate.

[image: an empty room with bare wall studs. The new windows are white frames. You can see the sink pipe, and the drainpipe vent going up toward the roof, jogged around the window. You can also see, under the bay window, the reinforced framing in the wall to support the original, much smaller picture window that used to be there.]

So that was day one. Day two, The Installer showed up. A fiftysomething moustachioed man named Jim, with the soft-spoken sort of mumbly variant of the local dialect that Dude's dad spoke too-- I had forgotten, Hap (yes dude's dad's name was really Hap) died twenty years ago now, but I did know him-- he did this kind of work, too-- anyway, Jim was more reserved than Andrew, but I made a point of greeting him, and made a point of mildly swearing fairly early in the conversation in like a funny way. A little later another guy showed up, a younger guy named Chad, and Jim explained later that Chad was finished with his project and looking to fill some time so he'd come to help and Jim was glad of the help. Chad set to work demolishing the last half-wall that was supposed to come out-- Andrew hadn't because Jim wanted to put in some bracing beforehand, since the wall's load-bearing and they're going to put in reinforcements to support it a little later.

I came out to look, and apologized for being nosy, and Chad laughed and said "it's your house!" and then mimed hitting the wall with the sledgehammer again and said "Bam!" quietly, like showing that he understood that it was fun to do/watch, and I proceeded to watch in delight as he carefully demolished the plaster wall and carefully removed the light switches and thermostat wiring from the remains.

Jim laughed at me and Chad, and after that has been much warmer to me. i've been well-trained to stand out of the way, and have come to watch them do various things.

[Image: Clean new 2x4s arranged into a temporary brace from ceiling to floor, with a stepladder threaded through it, extending along a space about two feet into the room from where the half-wall was just demolished, to hold the load of the rest of the house. The light switches are dangling and the heat vent poking up out of the floor is just a hole.]

Unfortunately they needed me to clear out a section of the basement where I'd deemed it safe to store things, because there need to be reinforcements put in under the pillars and beam that are replacing the load-bearing wall. I worked on that, and they came and helped me move a table. The heat vent has to be moved, and Jim thought there was going to have to be some whole thing with concrete but midway through the day he had called someone to confirm and they were like what are you talking about and he was delighted to discover he was reading an earlier version of the proposal, and the final contract had said that he could just reinforce a floor joist and meet code that way, rather than having to demolish part of my basement floor to pour a new concrete footing for a new jack post for a pillar to support the corner of the kitchen. He explained this to me with wonderful clarity, and pointed out other places where the original builders of the house had used this same doubled floor joist reinforcement.

Meanwhile the company hauled away the dump trailer with all the demolition debris, and then showed up with a flatbed with all the drywall and insulation for my project, which they put into my garage-- which coincidentally I'd just cleaned out because we'd just had the garage door replaced (on Tuesday, that finally happened, which is great because that was the last possible day it could have happened ha ha no that didn't stress me out at all why do you ask), so anyway it was great to have a good spot to put all that. They even moved the snowblower so it'd be easy to get to, before they filled up the space with the drywall.

Today (Friday) Jim's back by himself, cutting out the old heat vent and extending it to the other side of the room, where it will come up through the kickplate of one of the cabinets. This means that cabinet will be warm and also whoever sits at the table built in to the window will have warm toes, so I approve. Probably Chita is going to want to sit there so we're going to have to figure out how to make room for that, LOL.

Tomorrow Dude's mom is leaving to travel for Christmas, and we're going to go over to her house to house-sit. I think Jim won't have any more questions for me by then, or so I hope-- I'm going to give him my number anyway, and review with him that he's got the house key and everything he needs.

We are living in the living room like gremlins, and have to move sideways through the space because it's so crammed. It was all fine and good until we forgot we'd need to put the stove in there too, and now it's a struggle. And the microwave can't be on the same circuit with the fridge, so if I want to microwave something I have to use an extension cord going into the kitchen. So I can't microwave my lunches. And even still sometimes it trips the circuit breaker. Me having pre-prepared a bunch of food to microwave is now kind of a bummer, because the damn circuit breaker tripping is so annoying and slightly scary.

[image: Haunted-house-looking-ass-shit-- the thermostat is taped to the temporary bracing with painter's tape, and the light switches controlling the pale yellow light that's illuminating the scene are just dangling from their wires into the dark room.]

Today Jim's working on that heat vent and then figures he can get the floor underlayment in. He's cautiously optimistic that the project can be done before Christmas-- they said it would be six weeks, with the kitchen "roughly usable" after three, and he explained it more to me yesterday as he was about to leave.

So once he has the underlayment in, then Monday and Tuesday ("mondee-chusdee", in his accent) the electricians can come, and "chusdee-wensdee" the plumber can come. (He'll mark out the locations of all the cabinets and heights of the counters in painter's tape, he said, so the electricians can work confidently to place the outlets and fixtures.) The plumber will move the stove gas line and the refrigerator water line (Jim was so casually contemptuous of the way the installers had plumbed the waterline for our fridge when we bought it last year. "We'll do it right," he said, "with a water box and a shutoff up behind the fridge so you can work on it from there, we won't use a little plastic hose." He sniffed. "We'll repair this." The installers had used one of those lil sharkbite things I think, to put a little T into the waterline so a plastic tube could thread up through the floor to the fridge. "These things are-- well they're easy for a homeowner to install," Jim said not unkindly, "but they're, well, they're kind of trash."), and will bring the sink standpipe up to code-- it's not bad but it's very 1950-- and then after that, Jim can come back-- but he's got some vacation coming up, he's going to Florida to see his mom, so his colleague Max who's out sick this week ("I told him we didn't need to share whatever he's got, he's a giving guy but it's okay to keep that to himself") will be taking over but it should be pretty seamless-- anyway he explained the master-carpentering things he's gotta do, including building the cabinets and such, which'll take a while. The cabinets get built-in, and then the flooring is installed afterward to butt up against them (the flooring doesn't go under the cabinets because they're not movable, but it does go under the appliances since those are movable), and once the cabinets are in he can get the final measurements to the countertop people, who then take seven-ten days to manufacture the countertop to spec. So that's the delay, he explained-- the appliances can come in and get hooked up, and then you have your stove and your fridge and you can kind of use your kitchen. But the countertop people have this delay before they can install, and that's always where the project feels like it's dragging and people get frustrated, but it's unavoidable. He was delighted to be told that we won't be in the house at that point, we're gonna be house-sitting and won't be breathing down his neck about it. And if we do have to move back in here before the countertops we'll know what's up anyway.

Anyway. "Six weeks is a kinda CYA," he said, "yanno? We wanna leave space for problems. But this is a pretty straightforward job and I don't think we'll have problems." His goal is to have his end of the work done in time for the countertop people not to have to spread their seven-ten day lag out over Christmas and make it even longer. "If I can avoid that, they can get their install done before Christmas, and we can be done," he said. "That'd be pretty great."

So there's that scoop. I ought to be finding this relaxing, as all I've had to do is be like, available, and I've mostly had my days to myself, but I have found it so stressful to listen to all the crashing and such I haven't really gotten much done. Oh well, it's okay.

I am doing a little mini sewalong with some Discord buddies of a Sew Liberated blouse pattern. So I'll have photos of that at some point. I did manage to get the fabric cut even with my house torn up, which is a considerable achievement.

[shyhandart]

Hey I really love your artwork, it looks like it was drawn traditionally and I was wondering how you're able to achieve that aesthetic. Do you use any specific programs or is it actually drawn on paper?

Hello!!! Thank you SO much.

I use procreate!

The first step i use is to put a paper texture over the entire background, and set that layer to multiply. All other layers are drawn beneath this one.

I use the peppermint brush in the sketching category for just about everything. Its a pencil brush i with a really nice texture to it.

Ive found that the trick to getting digital art to look traditional, is to use the same techniques i use when i do traditional art. Which means i often use an eraser at a lowered opacity instead of the undo tool, and i never have my pencil size set to more than 10% (tho i fiddled with the brush size settings so that may be larger or smaller for you) and its opacity is like 67% percent

This includes coloring. insert peter griffin death pose. It really does make a difference tho. Doing tiny little circles like you would traditional colored pencil gives it little gaps of less color that really makes it look real

As for my line work, im not sure this adds to the traditional illusion, but i duplicate that layer at set it to linear burn. Gausian blur the linear burn layer 2% and clipping mask a warm and saturated color

Also, i dont actually do ink. I just clean my sketch

Also also!! Above the multiply paper texture (sorry i lied earlier) if you do a fully white overlay layer at 20-22% opacity. If you add 167-169% noise, set the setting to multi and turn off additive, it gives the texture of noise without changing your colors!!

[letitiaslabyrinth]

DIDN'T DESERVE | PART TWO

warnings: feels. like a lot of them. talks about mental and emotional abuse. Shuri goes o f f. angst, angst ending in fluff, y'all get a happy ending this time dw pairing: Shuriri word count: 2.5k A/N: LISTENNNNNNNNN I know I'm late with this alright? I knowww but I'm here now so 😭 also my bad for dipping for like a week? maybe more than that but I'm gonna be honest this fic was kicking my ass cause I was going through a lot while tryna write. needless to say there's so much projecting in this it's c r a z y. anyways even tho this took me so long, im still not satisfied with the ending but i digress since i need sumn to give yall ignore any and all mistakes cause this isnt proof read.

It had been a month since Riri told Shuri she wasn't going to forgive her and it had been the worst month of both of their lives.

Shuri had basically overwhelmed herself with her work in the lab. She never left—she practically slept there most nights. 

It's not that Shuri had things to fix with the suits, hell, she didn't even bother looking at them because they reminded her of Riri, but she needed something to keep her hands and mind busy so she just worked on small projects.

People started to notice, obviously, but nobody said anything. It’s not that they didn’t want to, it’s the fact that they knew Shuri wouldn’t listen. She was in her own world right now—her own safe space and anybody who tried to break her out of it in any way would be yelled at. 

Okoye walks into the lab, rushing to Shuri’s side as she almost falls over. “kumkanikazi wam kufuneka uphumle," (My queen you must rest) she says, helping Shuri sit down.

“I’m fine, Okoye.” Shuri brushes her off and tries to stand, only to nearly collapse for a second time. Okoye sits her down again.

“You have buried yourself in your technology for the past month, Shuri. You are hurting your body.”

Shuri sits there for a second. Her head drops, making her sit up straight. “Alright, maybe, I should take a nap-”

“In your own bed,” Okoye interrupts.

“Yes, in my own bed, Okoye.” Shuri rolls her eyes in fake annoyance before leaving to go to her room.

Once she’s there, she takes a shower first. The water feels so nice against her skin that she doesn't wanna get out. 

Over an hour later, Shuri stepped out of the shower. She wrapped her towel around her body and made her way to her bedroom. She dried herself off and put on a pair of clothes then sat on her bed. It was quiet. She didn’t know how to feel with no foreign noise or voice in the background. Shuri shakes her head and puts her phone on her bedside table. That’s when she sees it. In the crevasse between the bed and the night stand was a photo. Shuri picked it up. It was a picture of her and Imani. It was their first date. Shuri can feel tears starting to form and puts the picture down. She closes her eyes and wraps her arms around her chest, slightly rocking side to side. She hasn't taken any time for herself since her breakup with Imani and now that she was, it… actually, Shuri didn’t know how she felt. At least, not exactly. Yes, she was hurt. Yes, she was upset, but what else? Imani had put Shuri through so much mental and emotional manipulation that even when they broke up Shuri didn’t realize it. Shuri doesn’t know if she should feel relieved now that she knows or not. In all honesty, realizing that she was basically nothing more than a plaything for Imani to control, realizing all the sleepless night and petty arguments would only ever end in Shuri apologizing whether she was in the wrong or not, realizing that her and Imani did have something real before things went south, it hurt.

Over the five years that they’ve known each other, they’ve broken up and gotten back together again a number of times. Shuri knew she shouldn’t have given in to Imani when she told Shuri that she had changed but Shuri missed her. I mean, could you blame her? Imani wasn’t the only person in their relationship and she wasn’t the only one who made the mistakes.

This breakup was different, though. It was final. Shuri and Imani had had an actual conversation, over text, about their relationship. Of course, Shuri had been the one who reached out first but when Imani told her she was tired of going back and forth, that was it. She left her alone.

Memories of how they were before they made anything official ran through Shuri’s mind. The midnight calls that would end up with Shuri falling asleep first because of how safe she felt with Imani. The constant texting and inside jokes they had with each other that no one else understood. The sound of her voice, her sweet, pretty smile that she always flashed at the camera, the future plans they had made with each other. Shuri had felt like she had met her true love, her first love. Ironic, huh? That the first person she ever dated would be the same person she would be with five, ten, twenty years later. Shuri had opened up to Imani about so many things. Things she would deny if somebody had asked her about it. Yes, Imani was Shuri’s first girlfriend but she made Shuri feel like they would never leave each other. Like they would stay together forever.

Shuri’s phone buzzes, the sound freeing her from her own mind. She lets herself go and wipes the tears she didn’t even realize had fallen. 

Ima ❤️

iMessage

Shuri dropped her phone. She got up, pacing around her room. So many questions started falling into her head all at once. She couldn’t think. She could hear her heartbeat in her-

Incoming call from Ima red heart

Shuri gasps, “Fuck!” 

Tears swelled her eyes. Why was Imani reaching out now? Just when Shuri was trying to start her healing process. Shuri sunk to the floor, head in her lap, hands over her head. She let her ringtone play out but even when it stopped she didn’t make any efforts to move.

She ended up sleeping there

Shuri hears Okoye’s voice when she starts waking up. Okoye’s shaking her and checking her vitals with her kimoyo beads.

“Okoye, I’m fine,” Shuri groans. Her side hurts from the way she slept but she barely even remembers sleeping.

“My queen, you have a visitor downstairs in the common area,” Okoye says.

Shuri prayed to Bast that it was Riri instead of Imani. "Tell them I'll be down in a second."

Okoye nods once before leaving.

"Imani?" Shuri says, causing her to turn around. She looks… different. A good different. But Shuri won't let herself fall for that trick again. "Why're you here?"

"I came to apologize." Her voice is different, too. It sounds more mature than Shuri remembered. "I was tryna reach out to you last night so that we could actually schedule a day that you weren't busy so I could come by but you didn't answer so I figured an apology in person would be better."

Shuri keeps her guard up while Imani talks, her arms folded over chest. "I don't forgive you."

Imani stays quiet for a few seconds. "What? Shuri, I said I was sorry."

"Yeah, and I do not forgive you. You put me through hell, Imani, and I know you didn't seriously come here thinking that those two words would make you forgive you for everything. And, to be honest, I would tell you how fucked up in the head I am because of you, but knowing you, you'd probably use it against me in the future, if we even talk. So, why don't you just save both of our time and tell me why you're really here."

"Fine." Imani takes a deep breath. "I wanna try this again. I know I hurt you, and I am sorry, Shuri, I was going through a lot at the time we were dating and I projected my emotions onto you, which I shouldn't have. You're the best thing that's ever happened to me and I can't live without you."

"Then don't," Shuri shrugs.

"What?"

"Live without me."

Imani smiles. "I knew you'd understand -”

"Oh, no no," Shuri cuts her off, shaking her head. "I'm not saying we can get back together, Ima, I'm telling you to kill yourself. You know, since you can't live without me, just don't bother living at all."

"Shuri, what the fuck? What's wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with me is that my ex-girlfriend who mentally and emotionally abused me for years came into my house uninvited, gave a half-ass apology where she tried to turn herself into the victim, and then had the balls to ask me to get back together. That's what's wrong with me. You've ruined so many friendships I had and now thanks to you, I can't get them back. You knew I had never dated a girl before and you took advantage of that." Shuri raises her finger as Imani was about to say something. "And before you say it, no, we cannot just move on like we've done in the past. I deserve someone better than you. Someone who doesn't treat me like shit and doesn't ruin relationships I have with people just because they're insecure about themselves. So, do us both a favor and get the hell up outta my house. And if you can't find the exit on your own, Okoye and the other Dora will gladly help you." Just as the words left her mouth, Okoye and a few other Dora Milaje soldiers came from the shadows, spooking Imani.

"This isn't over, Shuri," Imani says while she's being rushed out. "You'll come running back!-”

"Oh, for bast's sake," Okoye says, rolling her eyes and pushing Imani out the house. "Make sure she leaves the city," she tells two of the Dora. "I do not want to see her here or anywhere in Wakanda again."

"Yes, General," They say in unison, escorting Imani off of Shuri's property.

Okoye turns around and sees that Shuri's sitting down on the couch. "Shuri, are you alright?"

Shuri nods. "Uh huh."

Okoye sits next to her. "You're crying," she says softly.

Shuri doesn't make any effort to wipe her tears or even hear what Okoye's saying. She's too busy replaying the "conversation" her and Imani just had. She hadn't expected to go off like that. She knew she was angry but she didn't realize she was that angry. Her words, her voice, her tone. 

"Can you give me a moment alone?" Shuri asks Okoye and Okoye nods once and rubs Shuri's shoulder before leaving the house.

Shuri sat on the couch until the sun went down. She didn't realize she had been staring into space for so long until she felt her eyes getting heavy. She gets up slowly and drags herself to her bed, falling into it once she's close enough. She holds her legs against her chest and continues staring into space.

Riri paces herself in her head. Stop acting like a pussy and just knock, she says in her head. She takes a deep breath and knocks on the door. It opens slowly.

"Riri?" Shuri opens the door completely. "What're you doing here?" Shuri looks…like hell. Her voice came off so quiet Riri had barely heard her. There's bags under her eyes and they're red and puffy. She's been crying.

Riri rubs her hand on the back of her neck, "I wanted to talk to you."

"I thought you didn't want anything to do with me," Shuri mumbles. Her tone isn't harsh or anything, it's soft again. Despite Shuri's words, she opens the door fully, stepping out the way to let Riri inside.

Riri walks in slowly and sits down on the couch, Shuri sitting next to her.

"I know what I said to you the last time we saw each other was harsh, Shuri," Riri says after a few minutes of silence. "And I wanna apologize for it."

Shuri tilts her head, "Ri, you don't have to apologize for-" 

Riri shakes her head. "No, I do. I'm assuming you and Imani broke up before you came to see me and instead of understanding where you were coming from, I brushed you off. You didn't deserve that and I know it's no excuse but the only reason I did is because I like you. That's why it hurts me so much when you cut me off."

Shuri pauses. I like you. Like. Not liked. Like. 

"You… you like me?" Shuri says slowly. "Like, present tense, Ri? Like, like like?"

"Yes, like like, Shuri," Riri says smiling.

"Even though I hurt you?"

Riri shrugs. "Everybody makes mistakes. Don't worry about it."

Shuri stays quiet for a few seconds. "So, what now? Are you…my girlfriend?"

Riri turns her full body towards Shuri, looking her in her eyes. "Can I be your girlfriend, Shuri?"

"Yes." Shuri's answer is immediate but she means it. She likes Riri. She's always liked Riri. Riri was easy to talk to, Shuri always found herself at Riri's apartment whenever she and Imani ended up fighting.

"Should we watch a movie?" Riri asks.

Shuri nods. "You can pick, I'ma go freshen up a little bit and get some blankets."

…

It's been four months since Shuri and Riri have started dating. 

Shuri's happier now, way happier. Her mental health since she and Riri have gotten together has slowly improved. It's taken some time but when Shuri finally opened up to Riri about what she went through while dating Imani, Riri almost booked a flight to LA just to find her. Shuri had to beg her not to because she knew how that would end and she didn't need her new girlfriend ending up in jail because of her ex.

"Mama, can you come here for a minute please?"

Shuri pauses the TV and walks over to Riri, who's in the kitchen. "Yes?"

"I want you to try something for me." Riri puts a plate of food in front of Shuri as she sits down on the bar stool next to the counter. Shuri's confused at first, she doesn't know what the dish is, but before she can ask the question, Riri speaks up, "It's ground beef and rice. You told me you'd never actually had it before so I decided to make it for you."

Shuri smiles at the fact that Riri remembers. She takes a small bite at first then a bigger one. "This is good, Ri," she says with her mouth slightly full. "Like, really fucking good." Riri covers her hand over her mouth to hide her smile but Shuri can still see it from the way her cheeks go up.

Shuri finishes her plate in a matter of seconds. Riri had been making meals for Shuri ever since she found out she had barely been eating and despite eating being difficult, Shuri finished her food every. single. time. 

"You like it?" Riri says, still smiling, "Like, you really like it?"

"Yes, Ri. It's so good." While Shuri goes to put her plate in the sink, she kisses Riri on her forehead. "You should definitely open that restaurant you've been talking about."

Riri chuckles and sits on the counter. "I want to, but to open a restaurant, first, I need money. Then, I need a vacant lot, and then I need employees and-"

"Baby, I have money. I have people and friends who can work for you."

Riri shakes her head, "No, no, I wanna make it there on my own, and I'd love your help but I don't want the foundation of my restaurant to be you cause then I'm gonna feel like I owe you for the rest of my life."

"I get it, Ri. I want to help you, I do, but since you wanna make it on your own, I'll let you and when you do make it on your own, I will be there with you."

[where-are-the-spooky-gays-2]

My fam is having car troubles and it's preventing me from being able to go to school (frustrating bc I already have the attendance office on my chronically-ill ass 😭) so here's more mechanic Remus things with a little sprinkle of "Roman's his little brother instead of twin (remember that?)"

- he and Virgil don't come into contact super often for a while. This shits a slur burn. But eventually things just keep winding up wrong with the car and he keeps calling remus

- he calls Remus specifically (Remus gave him his personal number) (said all the other guys there were shady as fuck and Virgil was too cute for that bullshit) (also in case Virgil was interested)

- looooootta trips where Remus comes to Virgil's place

- awkward host Virgil who is like ".. do u want some water?" meanwhile Remus is just straight up under his car

- Remus coming inside the house with completely pitch black hands like ":D please turn on your sink for me. And maybe put some soap in my hands. So I don't turn your whole ass kitchen black." my dad always makes me do this it's so fun /j /lh

- Virgil DOES hang out w him outside though don't get me wrong I just mean that one time

- Virgil once went inside and then came out an hour later and saw his backseat completely removed and was freaked out (Remus needed to check smth. He put it back!!)

- once Virgil just kinda. lied. said he wanted Remus to check this Weird Noise the car was making. (There was no weird noise he just weirdly missed him)

- one time, different car, Remus mentions how their scheduled time is really close to when he has to get his brother. So like. When he shows up. Remus will not be alone.

- cue Fuck It™ and Roman comes with him

- what a day for Virgil, dude (Jesus Christ this kid never stops talking) (also Virgil couldn't spoil Disney for him?? Wtf Remus?? He has to learn eventually??) (it's fine whatever he's a good artist) (did call Virgil easy to draw, though... lil bastard—)

- otherwise, when it's just Virgil and Remus, they find out they have a lot in common! Interests-wise, but they def. bond over music at first. Gotta have smth going on in the background.

- Virgil can't get over the fact Remus looks hot though. It like becomes a problem for him. I can't blame him tho— greasy mullet mechanic in a tank top working on my car? Sweating and covered in grease?? Hello??? Shits hot. If virgil is weak I am too.

- their first date is when Virgil offers to buy Remus dinner for a really tight squeeze-in for a check on something. Remus takes him up on the offer and they schedule for that weekend. They have a really good time and then at the end Remus mentions how he kinda wished it was a date. Virgil realizes he did too. Oh Shit™.

- they kiss anysay

— 👑

Damn that sucks man hope everything starts working soon but Y E S Mechanic!Ree and lil bro Ro!!! I will never get over Vee constantly calling Ree specifically for his car even when there isn't an issue he's simply Gay for a chaotic man in a mullet and feels safer XD I'm cackling at the thought of Vee just making a snack for Ree and seeing the backseat completely gone and he just almost drops the plate jaw dropped and all XD Also the fact that Ro's lowkey a lil shit and Vee can't spoil Disney for him has me cackling Ree get your bro XD It's really nice to see the beloveds easily click and it all started because of Vee's car <3

[bonesandthebees]

still thinking about the qsmp lighting strike one shot...

learning sign language makes you realise just how isolating it is to cant hear properly and its just so nice to see phil signing even when hes not speaking directly to tallulah and even tho she has a hearing aid and could hear him this close

richas having a prosthetic leg and being carried a lot and the other kids understanding that and not complaining about not being carried too which is something youd except to see with kids

and the kids choosing to speak mostly with sign too and richas having to learn with his leg and finding little bonuses like hiding lock picks, its so interesting and cool to see, just representation man, yk

and just the way such a short story is packed with happy little language things in general is sweet, hearing your own language after some time is always such a good feeling, cant imagine not hearing it for so long

or while the parents are communicating in english they still talk to the kids in their languages so they nurture their native languages and dont forget

and you nailed character voices and personalities so well, like you clearly worked on every character to figure them out and its so cool to see basically literally the qsmp characters in this story

the bagi and cellbit moment was a cherry on top, made me so emotional I love them

the possible/implied parallel to crimeboys/wil and tallulah was so hopeful

all in all such a sweet little story, 10/10 I cried

aaaa thank you so much this makes me so happy to hear how much you enjoyed it

yes exactly, a lot of hearing people, even well meaning ones, don't seem to realize how much hoh/deaf people have to struggle with feeling isolated. even if a hoh/deaf person can read lips, can hear a bit, has hearing aids, or even has a cochlear implant that doesn't mean they talking to people is easy. there's issues with background noise or not having people facing you when they speak or sometimes you just don't have the energy that day to put your everything into focusing on what other people are saying. I'm a hearing person but this was a common thing I heard about my Deaf teachers in my ASL classes when we learned about Deaf culture and audism. also, while of course I'm in no way trying to say my experiences are similar to that of a hoh/deaf person, I have an audio processing disorder so hearing is something I struggle with a LOT, specifically when it comes to communicating with others. if there's a lot of background noise, even if I'm standing right next to someone I might only catch ~60% of what they say and I have to use context to guess the rest. it's unbelievably frustrating at times.

so I figured that since q!phil is already so accommodating and aware of tallulah's 'asthma' in canon, I thought it just made sense that in an au where she's hoh he would be very attentive and would make sure to sign to her regularly so she won't miss out on what's going on.

richas babyyyy <33 when they're walking for long periods of time like that I figured it just made sense for the adults to want to take the strain off of richarlyson's leg by carrying him, but also I just thought the mental image of richas sitting on cellbit's shoulders was too cute not to include. benefits of having six parents is there's always someone around to carry you lol. also I thought of the lockpick thing and it was too funny not to mention. richas would 100% hide random things in his prosthetic if it had a compartment for that.

I had the rest of the kid prefer signing to talking for two main reasons: one, I thought it would be the way to interpret all of them using signs in canon to talk while tallulah is the only one who has hearing aids. and two, when you grow up in a world where being too loud means death, wouldn't you learn not talking is better? it's sad but I thought it made sense :(

the language stuff in general was so fun to play with. although it's definitely nervewracking to try and write in languages I don't know, I think it just feels more natural for the parents to speak to their kids in their first languages even when they're around english speakers. idk I just went off vibes for those bits and really enjoyed it. and then cellbit and bagi's entire Big convo I felt had to be in portuguese given how serious the subject matter was so of course they'd both have it in their first language, and I'm so grateful for the help I got with the portuguese there.

i've had several people tell me I nailed the character voices in lightning strike and that makes me SO happy because I was trying so hard. some of the members are easier for me to write (phil I'm used to obviously, cellbit idk why I just kind of get how he talks and don't have to think too hard) but then for others I put a lot of effort into making sure they sounded right (etoiles was the one I had to focus on the most because he has such a distinct way of talking but he's also so fun to write, bagi I've watched a lot of clips of recently so I had her voice but I still wanted to make sure I nailed her, and tina like etoiles has a fairly distinctive way of speaking so I thought over her lines a lot too)

I came up with the idea to parallel wilbur trying to find tommy and then wilbur coming back to tallulah with cellbit and bagi finding each other again after all these years while I was writing it and I was very happy with how that whole bit turned out :)

i'm so glad you enjoyed ty for this it made me smile a lot <33

[stefsimz]

how do you take your screenshots? they're gorgeous!!!

ahh thank you so much! 🥹💗

first, in game i use the tab mode to get the right angle, i also have my gshade preset on.

i use photoshop for the editing, run a topaz clean action to have the picture nice and sharp, resize, usually blur the background (i use a dof in gshade tho), then i play with the brightness, contrast and all that good stuff, apply some color grading - i also want to make sure i remove any clipping and smooth the edges.

at the end i usally add some dust overlay and noise. i'm still pretty much learning how to edit better and im such a sucker for details that i sometimes spend way too much time focusing on the editing and i end up hating it anyway lmaooo i have lots of stuff in my drafts that i ended up not liking anymore after a couple days. a great advice is to not get too fixated on getting it perfect always, still working on that!!

[ashwii]

sometimes i think too hard abt the brilliancy of making leo the stars and I EXPLODE. hes outwardly shining, even when you cant see him. hes more of a backdrop, a part of every day life, tuning background noise and making stardust and making sure the sky is more than just black with a moon in the middle. hes bright. he loves, so, so much. hes everywhere, always doing his best to be there for the people he cares for. hes apathetic, and sometimes a little too bright, but he guides the way, like the northern star. he supernovas and hes too loud and hes too much too many too many to count. but hes always there. always changing and growing. the moon is stagnant, only rotating and orbiting. the sun slowly decays, but it stands there, a vigil. the comets are bright and strong and sudden, there and then gone. the stars are always doing something. growing, dying. loving, hiding. when its the day you cant see him but he also refuses to hide in a strange dichotomy and hes the brightness in the sky and the neverending change of space while the sun warms it and the moon provides the light and works the tides and the comets fall forever, burning bright, he sits here, holding tight the gentle glow in the sky, a quiet i love you behind a loud how are you. LIKE DO YOU GET ME . AUGH. ITS SO PERFECT. YOUR BRAIN!!!!!!!

WAAAAA THIS IS ALL SO SO NICE AND LOVELY TO READ, THANK YOU THANK YOU !!!!!!

tho I can't take ALL the credit for that, I feel like Leo has often kinda had star motifs in fanart 🤔 i've even seen Donnie with moon motifs in fanart, and Mikey and Raph with sun motifs (Heck, both of them or referred to as "sunshine duo" in fandom) — it was a lot of inspiration from the community that lead me to choosing who would be what in the celestial au.

I also thought he would fit as the stars because that's pretty much what he portrays himself as in the show — "The Prettiest Face / Face Man," wrestling champ, Battle Nexus champ, Mr. "When I say king, you say Leo." — "star" just kind of perfectly describes his personality.

[betweenthings2]

omg i feel so honored! 🥹🥹 i hope you don't feel obligated to write anything thos, i just really enjoy your work!!!

i think 7 is really cute for gatty!

Thank you!! And the only thing I like more than writing whatever the hell I please is writing what people want to read from me, so feel free to send more requests or prompts! My life is a little crazy right now, so things might sit for a bit, but I love requests so much.

I hope you enjoy!! =)

A Kiss...to Shut Them Up

Matty talks. He talks about anything and everything and nothing, often all in the same sentence.

Matty talks. It's generally accepted that he talks, the same way it's generally accepted that matter cannot be destroyed or created, the same way it's generally accepted that the force of gravity on earth is 9.81 meters per second squared. 

Matty talks. Though George would loathe to admit it, sometimes Matty's talking fades into the background like white noise. It is, however, the pleasant kind of white noise and George appreciates it, in part because it's Matty and he loves Matty, but also because he remembers the bad times, the times when Matty was quiet and sullen and getting him to say anything felt like a job and a half.

So no, George doesn't mind that Matty talks, in fact sometimes, he would go so far as to appreciate Matty's seemingly unending chatter, but sometimes, sometimes he wouldn't mind a little bit of quiet. Getting Matty to be quiet is an art, one George would say he's become quite good at over the years. Sometimes all it takes is a particularly inspired bit of production or an intriguing drum bit and Matty will zone out go silent, focused on making something. Sometimes a gentle hand, rested on his thigh or the small of his back, is enough to get him to pause and gather his thoughts. Sometimes all it takes it simply a glance with raised brows. Sometimes it takes more.

George isn't really entirely sure what Matty is talking about now. Matty has been talking for a while now and it's faded into the background as they finish tidying the kitchen from dinner. Well, it had been a joint task, but now Matty is leaning against the counter and gesturing with his half full wine glass in a way that makes George half worried that they'll be cleaning Malbec from the floor, rushing to get to it before Mayhem does.

"…and maybe that's fair in some ways, but I don't think we can always read it as being inherently negative. We lose some of the nuance if we use that interpretation, and, anyway, I don't think that's the whole point. It's more that…"

George zones out. He doesn't really mean to, but he's not entirely sure what Matty is talking about or why an inherently negative reading lacks nuance, and sometimes, he knows, Matty just needs to talk at someone, not necessarily to someone.

"…but there's no point in consuming art that's not interesting and so much shit is like a, a fuckin' hotel room painting and it doesn’t make you feel anything, 's just, like, this neutral, boring-"

George abandons his task--the kitchen is basically clean anyway--and sidles over to Matty, one hand capturing the wine glass and setting it on the counter, the other finding Matty's hip, and kisses him, deep and hard. Matty abandons his tirade against boring, manufactured art (at least, that's what George thinks he's gotten to talking about) and kisses back, open and pliant. He's flushed when they separate.

"'s that a nice way of telling me I need to shut up?" Matty asks, sheepish.

"'s more a suggestion," George says, "that you might need to organize your thoughts."

Matty paints an exaggerated pout across his features and says, "George, love, my thoughts have never once been organized."

George laughs and leans in for another kiss, pulling Matty close as he does.