#yeah not sorry

[oceandirtcountry]

writing because I haven’t gotten to that part in my fic and I want to write it NOW

Ben sighs, throwing his jacket over the roof of his car. It didn’t feel right. Bringing Kai to the place he and Ruby hung out so much in?

He didn’t know where else to go, really. But it still felt so wrong.

Was she…serious, when she said all those things to him in the Ultimatrix? Or was it just mindless blabbering, because he was gonna die, and she might as well make him feel better about it?

Ben watches as Kai opens the car door, dressed elegantly in a dress he couldn’t care less about. She flaunts it, but he’s too lost in his thoughts to bother. Fancy date my ass, he thinks, still wearing his classic jersey and cargo shorts. Sometimes I can’t trust Grandpa Max.

“Sorry ‘bout the dress code mess up.” He isn’t. He doesn’t even try to hide how fake he’s being.

“It’s okay. I expected it from you, after all. You’re you.” See that sarcastic put-you-down bullshit? Kai is the weirdest girl he has ever met, and the only reason why she’s even allowed here is because she acts sane around adults.

What fucked-up kinda line is “I thought I could train him”?

“What flavour smoothie you want?” Ben walks idly to the ordering desk. She just shakes her head, saying something about a diet.

He ordered two smoothies. Kai thought he wasn’t listening.

Ben just forgot he wasn’t on bodyguard duty for one night, and somehow he missed the idiot already.

“Ben, you really haven’t changed, have you?” Kai laughs as he sets two cups down onto the roof of his ride. Ben shakes his head, chuckling along dryly.

She walks over to him, placing an arm on his chest, very much suggestively. He looks away, not out of embarrassment, but just to make sure nobody’s around to witness this nonsense. But there’s a whole crowd building, and he can’t just hero out.

Faults of being a celebrity 101: you’re not allowed to be an asshole in front of your fans.

“So how about it, Benji~ You’ve got tinted windows, right?” she coos. He couldn’t care less. This is gonna be on the news, and Ruby, she’s gonna be…

He was her first crush, Ben realises. She’s never said anything remotely close to her heart-pouring right before he sacrificed himself.

A whiff of something reaches his nose as he pushes Kai away slightly. “Not here,” he coughs out, reeling from the stench—

Hold on, that smells like a fart. A smoked one.

Maybe—just maybe—his teammate was right here. And maybe—someone was coming to his aid.

He watches Kai pucker her lips with mild disgust. Ben just couldn’t imagine it. She was, in technicality, really nice. But they never got along, and he’s just famous now. Everyone wants a piece of him.

She pushes closer, and at this point she’s put him into such a position that he can’t possibly escape.

Ben can only sigh, closing his eyes, hoping the worst of it can just go by. Making out is off the table, but he can only pray she doesn’t try.

Someone tackles Kai Green to the ground in a flurry of red-coloured petals.

Ruby—Ruby Rose, his bodyguardee, protégé, and probably so much more that they never actually talked about—stood up, looking him in the eye, and with so much sincerity, asks:

“Was that…something you wanted? Did I interrupt? Because I’m so sorry, Cunningham said that you looked really uncomfortable, and I just—”

Ruby feels two fingers grab her cheeks, pushing her lips together into a pucker before she feels Ben’s lips crash into hers.

It’s not a describable feeling. But the release, knowing that he finally returned what she did, felt so good. They were, actually, doing it for real.

It’s god-knows-how-long before he finally pulls away. Kai is standing there absolutely dumbstruck, but Ben couldn’t give a single fuck. He’ll answer to grandpa max. He always could.

As Ben drops Kai off back at her house, Ruby turns to him from the passenger seat.

“So, uhm…what are we?”

Ben shrugs. “Partners in crime, Dumb and Dumber, whatever you wanna call it.”

After saying that, he leans in, dangerously close to her face.

“Does it matter, though?”

[rocketrrush]

sonadow fans carefully crafting the most out of character fucking content you’ve ever seen

[koifee]

“Whether I’m pulling the pin or not, everyone who gets close to me dies.”

[edgebug]

the thing that sucks most about Joanne Rowling being a terf is that she is actively hurting real life trans people every day.

the second worst thing about joanne being a terf is that the Harry Potter intellectual property is So Much Larger than her. look at the credits for just one of the harry potter movies. every single one of those people put YEARS of time and effort and dare i say love into those films. think of all the people involved in theme park design and operation who put together the wizarding world park lands and detailed them so lovingly and fully

and yet even though the intellectual property of harry potter is so much larger than joanne, she's poisoned the whole well

i feel so. so immensely sorry for every person involved in the harry potter ip who isn't jkr. doubly sorry for every trans person involved. it's fucking sad

[foogriffy]

would you still love me if i was a worm?

[hadesisqueer]

Ekko: *in a nice universe where the Undercity is fine, his father figure and most of his friends are alive and fine, Silco is also alive and gets along with Vander and where he gets to see the best version of the girl he loves and be with her*

Jayce:

[tarth]

Here is the hard truth, which no one else has the heart to tell you.

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON 1.02 "The Rogue Prince"

[eliotbaum]

My joy, the air that I breathe 🌤

Curse of Strahd, Konstantin (cleric PC)/Lydia Petrovna

[eccentricwearsgoggles]

me: (playing marianas trench in the car per usual)

my lil bro: oh. these guys again???

[sanct1f1ed]

favorite stan twins characterization is that they're both equally insane. stanley just gets more air time to show it off. loosely inspired by a post i read earlier but here's some absolutely insane things both of them have done

stanley:

drugged a person and turned them into an exhibit in the mystery shack

had a vegas wedding to a prospector-themed novelty dispenser

gave mabel a grappling hook

failed to steal an animatronic badger

chewed his way out of the trunk of a car

punched at least three bald eagles

is multiply divorced, possibly even with the novelty dispenser

committed premeditated murder on a llama

faked a heart attack to get on Wheel of Fortune

took his clothes off in front of a live studio audience on Wheel of Fortune

has a rivalry with a fifth grader, a grandmother, and a man who exclusively dresses like a corn cob

stanford:

pulled a gun on a bus driver when he wouldn't let a pig on board

directly assisted in mind-controlling ronald reagan during his election in 1980

gave mabel a crossbow

got bitten by a vampire bat and subsequently began sampling human blood

owns contraband outlawed in 9000 dimensions; keeps it in an extremely flimsy plastic case

"accidentally" set a hawk on fire

has exes ranging from as normal as his old college buddy to as weird as a triangle and an alien with 7 eyes who put a metal plate in his head

wears turtlenecks because he's hiding multiple tattoos he regrets, including one themed around "all star" by smash mouth

is an Extremely wanted criminal across hundreds of dimensions; was completely kicked out of one for card counting

is, bizarrely, super into the band Eurythmics

can see shrimp colors

[mist-the-wannabe-linguist]

heartbreaking: none of artist's other songs are as much of a banger as the song I discovered the artist by

[must-be-mr-boggins]

Taking a 5-second break from the Bagginshield angst to bring you this meme I created after an all-nighter, enjoy.

[mangozic]

pre-distortion michael shelley but pointier and more shaped

[marklikely]

how it feels to use the word diegetic

[inkskinned]

you said you were stuck in a time loop, which was fine. i feel like late-stage capitalism has us all in a time loop, ammiright? you came barging in at 5:33. in the morning. i hadn't even processed the idea of coffee.

but you had this look of utter panic in your eyes. terror like the ocean. you grabbed my cheeks. im in a time loop.

i don't know why in movies the first reaction is to deny it. when someone is panicking like that, it's not appropriate to ask them to calm down. it didn't matter if i believed it, what mattered was that you believed it so much that it was consuming you.

so here we are. i pour you some of the dark roast. "you look like utter and entire hell," i say.

you push your fingers into your eyes. "you always say that."

i try to think of something funny to say that i wouldn't have said on previous time loops, but jokes don't land without the proper timing (lol). "remind me to think -"

"-yeah, of a joke that only works in the future. and before you say anything, i know you're pissed i just stole your punchline." you bolt the coffee, which is wild. it's very hot. you don't seem to notice.

i blow on mine to cool it down. i both am very pissed at you and also i can't see you in this amount of panic without wanting to help. but i'm also not really sure what we are, not since i saw you kiss her like that, no offense. it just was like, kind of rude when you knew i liked you.

and besides. i'm just like, barely a person. i write omegaverse fanfiction. i love the concept of a time loop, but what the fuck am i gonna do? send an alpha in there? i open my mouth.

you point at me. "you're about to ask why me. and then say some disparaging shit about yourself. i'm just a nerd who plays dnd or something. that self-own is slightly different each time." you sigh. "i know you think you can't really help me. i don't know who can help me. i only came to you because you fucking believe me." you check your watch, sigh, and throw your head back. you cover your eyes with one hand. "i've come here on 26 separate revolutions," you say. "you have believed me every time. and yeah, i have no idea how you fit into this but i just -" you sigh again. "i just like fucking talking to someone about it."

"do you need more cof-" i start, but you're already holding the empty cup out. i frown at it. "you're not getting any more until you promise not to bolt this one like an animal."

you laugh a little and sit up, pushing your hair out of your face. "okay, that's new dialogue. but to be fair to you, i'm not usually this rude. i'm still pretty new at all of this." you check your watch again. another sigh. i guess you're cruising for a personal best in the Sigh Olympics.

i almost tell you im not an NPC but i've played enough video games to know i'm very much an NPC. i pour you another cup. "so what happens in the loop?"

"really bad explosion." you mutter into the mug. you put your elbows on the table (rude) and bury your face in your arms like an angsty teenager. one hand floats up while you talk, because evidently you literally can't talk without your hands. "i have to save the day and there's this bomb and i have no bomb training and it keeps moving, you know."

"do i die?"

you peek up from your arms. "yeah. bigtime. you keep trying to run or stay or do anything and you always super die."

"oh."

"to be fair, like, everyone dies in it though.... so you're in good company."

i hate that you make me laugh. i hate that being around you always feels tingly and strange, this electric tension between us. something that is evidently (given how you stuck your tongue down a stranger's throat literally 3 days ago) (well. 3 for me) super one-sided. i take a sip of my coffee and close my eyes.

i die today, i guess. a little spark of panic starts at the top of my hands and starts whipping up my wrists.

"shit," you say. you look at your watch and jump to your feet. "i have to go. if i can come back, i will. i am still trying to figure out when is best to do everything, you know? the order of stuff. maybe morning isn't good for us."

i look up at you and think about how you keep kissing me in the back of my car and in alleyways and in the dark. and i can never fucking get a read on you. and i also think about how incredibly panicked you look. how broken. how long have you been doing this? "i don't want to die," i say.

you glance downwards. "well, you're not really dead, you'll come back in the loop."

"but i will have died." my hands are shaking. i am trying really hard to stay calm.

you push your hands through your hair again. "i really have to go. i will have this discussion with the next version of you, though. it is like, something i am thinking about."

"but i don't get a next version," i say. i don't really have the language for this, because i haven't had 26 tries with you. i only have my memories: you, a week ago. drunk and telling me you loved me in my ear. you, kissing her anyway. you, months ago, throwing up on my birthday, whispering to me i ruin everything i touch, always, over and over. please don't ask. i can't ever fucking have that be you.

i run my finger along the rim of the mug. "i don't want to die in this one."

you seem baffled by this. "i get that but - time will reset, you'll be fine, you won't even remember we talked about this."

"but i know now." i stand up too. "i have to live the rest of this day knowing i could die. knowing i probably am going to."

"you could always die, to be fair."

i feel my hands get out of control. "earlier, you said i always say a different insult about myself. what if you're just going through different parallel universes and those are all just different - but real - versions of myself? what if you're not in a time loop, you're in a fucking universe loop?"

"if it helps, i've wondered this too. also, you're hot in all of them. if that helps."

i point at you. "no flirting. i'm trying to figure out if i die today."

"who's flirting?" you catch my wild hands and give me that long, perfect smile. like we're in this together. "i won't let ya die." you check your watch and sigh again. "well. maybe not this time."

i grit my teeth. you are so not making quips at me while i try to explain the existential dread i'm having. "does the time loop reset if i fucking kill you?"

"honestly i don't know how long it continues after i die, because i just wake up. it could be that the loop goes until the explosion for everyone, and we're all in the loop, or it could be that when i die, the loop restarts. when i die i wake up, is all."

i pull away from you and stalk into the kitchen and start doing all 3 of my dishes. "okay, first, you know i was joking. and secondly, this is exactly my point. you don't know if this is just a parallel universe. maybe in the ones where you died, the explosion happened and nobody reset and it's just you travelling." i have to stop and push my heel into my eyeball. "... how often have you died?"

i look at you. you look at me. you give me this very sad, halfway smile and a little what can ya do shrug. something in that action seems so old and weary that i want to burst into tears.

"i have to go," you say. "really. for real. there's this family of five i save from getting into a car crash. and i know it's like oh but we're all gonna die in the explosion anyway, what's the point. and..." you shrug again. "it matters to me, is all. at least i saved them for now. at least i saved anything."

you pad over to me and wrap me in a tight hug. you always seem so tall against me. i feel your cheek rest against the top of my head for a moment. for a second, it's just us, and the space is warm, and my heart is a little broken hare.

you leave me there, and i stand in my stupid badly lit kitchen with my stupid mugs. i think about you. i start texting my mom that she needs to get out of the city, but it feels pointless.

i don't know what to do. tomorrow is the same day for you. but i have to prepare to die in my today.

[zillychu]

get MOLTED, idiot