#yes I’m doing a matching Gary one

[slashrabbitbunny]

Sure I’ll post this ❤️🐰❤️

[machveil]

CoD Headcanon: Fashion

let me info dump on how I think the CoD men would dress, pretty puh-lease? Kyle “Gaz” Garrick, Simon “Ghost” Riley, John “Soap” MacTavish, John Price, Gary “Roach” Sanderson, Keegan Russ, and König

Kyle “Gaz” Garrick:

actually wanted to make this post because of him, “Thank you, Kyle.”, we all say in unison

I oh so desperately think he dresses so casually it looks clean as fuck. he’s definitely the best dressed out of the 141, in my opinion. going for groceries? meeting up at a pub? Kyle looks great! also, bottom left photo? holding true to the board, I firmly believe Kyle has totes - different colors, some with logos, a couple well used and loved. totes and caps, Kyle has a nice collection

my fun little headcanon is that Kyle will match his outfits to whatever hat or tote he plans on using for the day. and he has a wardrobe to match - t-shirts, button ups, jumpers, turtlenecks, Kyle has variety. a lot of them are gifts from his family (who have his fashion sense down to a science). his aunts and uncles definitely pay the most attention to what Kyle’s wearing whenever they see him, they never miss when buying him new jeans or shoes

Simon “Ghost” Riley:

as fearsome and intimidating as Ghost is, draped in military gear and holsters, Simon prefers to be comfortable. a majority of his civvies are for his comfort, soft and warm jumpers that bag a little. he keeps it simple, his signature black clothes are really the only thing that carries over from service. that said, I think he’d look good in brown too. still a noticeably darker color compared to most, but it gives a nice contrast to his usual monotone look

it might seem counterintuitive to wear long sleeves when he’s had all this tattoo work done on his arms - fair enough - but I don’t think Simon necessarily cares to show them off. he has his fair share of t-shirts, but he really only wears them when it’s exceptionally warm out. that, or Simon has them on as an undershirt at the gym, hidden beneath his black hoodies. does the 141 poke fun at him for dressing nearly all black every time they see him? yes they do, does Simon care? no, he’s a sucker for a dark aesthetic

John “Soap” MacTavish:

Johnny dresses like he’s ready to go to the gym, but it’s why we love him. I swear, it could be freezing outside and Johnny would be wearing short, he’s definitely one of those people, “Hm? Nah, m’not cold.”, he’s actively trying to not let his teeth chatter. Johnny loves a good hoodie, especially if they have drawstrings - this man has an oral fixation, let him chew on those strings, damnit! oftentimes the drawstrings on his hoodies are fucked up and thready because he’ll absentmindedly nosh on them

I’m not afraid to say he’s the closest on this whole headcanon post to dressing like Adam Sandler - there’s definitely been times he wore the rattiest clothes ever outside and people mistook him for being homeless. the nicest thing he’ll consider wearing out is a t-shirt, zip-up hoodie, and jeans. I think Johnny’s a little nose blind to his own scent, sometimes he’ll think a hoodie is clean but he forgot he sweated his ass off in it two days ago at the gym. puts it on because… well, it just smells like him, surely it doesn’t reek

John Price:

I had such a hard time finding photos that matched my thoughts, but when I found them? oh, these matched. I’d like to call Price’s look “blue collar husband comes home after work” - do we get that vibe? simple man, he likes his blue jeans and a plain shirt. has a wide variety of nice, leather belts though, the only bit of his wardrobe he really splurges on. the simplest out of the 141, but he cleans up nicely with just a shirt and some jeans that hug his thighs just right

he’s a fan of t-shirts, the fact they show off his biceps is purely coincidence. he low-key dresses like a dad, but he rocks the look. he’s definitely the type to have vintage leather jackets, beat up, brown coats that are durable. they’ve seen better days, were new and shiny once, but John likes them a little weathered and worn. he’s not beating the bucket hat allegations

Gary “Roach” Sanderson:

I’d love to say ‘I don’t make the rules’, but I do. I’m putting my foot down and saying Gary dresses like this. he always wears a white t-shirt, is it the same one? does he have dozens? who knows! he’ll causally swap between pants and shorts, whichever is appropriate for the weather. button ups, he owns so many. never buttons them, just wears them open over his t-shirts. it’s casual, but the simplicity of it unironically makes his outfit look super clean

Gary will dress this way until the day he dies. it’s just how he dresses, no variation unless there’s an important event - holidays, an army shindig, I dunno, a wedding (if he could, he’d show up in his usual civvies). you would have to beg Gary to try a different style, he’s silently stubborn about it. he doesn’t make a fuss if you buy him a hoodie or sweater, just know he’ll throw a quiet strike by tucking it into the back of his closet

Keegan Russ:

biblically accurate Keegan Russ is a biker, what can I say. two words: leather jackets. he likes the aesthetic, owns a handful - hand-me-downs, thrifted, vintage, new. a majority of his wardrobe is black, I personally think his favorite color is blue, but he enjoys wearing black more. he likes wearing t-shirts, purposefully showing off his well-trained arms. he really only owns jeans, maybe a pair of nice slacks

you know what? gonna be honest, not much to add on, I just think Keegan is hot and would wear this haha. it’s nothing flashy, but if you’re into bikers it’s definitely eye catching. on another note, I think he’d paint his nails matte black. do I have any reasoning? no, I just think he would, or maybe just a clear coat. that, and he definitely wears silver rings. not all the time, but he does wear them on occasion

König:

if König isn’t in fatigues he still looks blatantly military. now, I didn’t include it in the board, but he has way too many pairs of khaki cargo pants. like an absurd amount - imagine a reasonable number of cargo pants and then add ten more pairs. back to the board, man cannot escape camouflage and green in general. whether it’s pants, shirts, or sweaters, König has it in some shade of green

otherwise, he actually enjoys itchy, scratchy sweaters. you know the kind that makes your skin red after wearing it a little too long? König eats that up, for whatever reason it feels nice to him. course, he does have standard, comfortable sweaters and hoodies. it’s a bit of a hassle to find clothes in his size though, sure they make them big, but König would appreciate if they were more fit to his build than overly baggy. lucky for him, his mama was a seamstress and taught him how to sew - he adjusts his clothing as he sees fit (he’ll still grumble about it though)

manifesting just one CoD man into being so I can play dress up with them🎀✨pretty please, I just wanna make him look so good - Soap and Roach might put up a fight though…

thanks for reading my behemoth of a post<3 hugs and kiss🌸✨

[janeyseymour]

All I Ask

Loosely based off of two prompts: one where R asks Mel to hold her as more than just a friend the night before Mel goes on a first date, and another where both R and Mel are set up on blind dates (requested by @gwennybriggs)... enjoy.

WC: ~4.15k

One thing about Barbara Howard is that she loves to play match maker.

“All I’m saying, Melissa, is maybe it’s time to get yourself back out there!” Barbara antagonizes her best friend once again during a lunch period. The kindergarten teacher looks to you with a small smirk. She knows of your feelings for a certain redhead sitting in between the two of you, and she’s hoping that the second grade teacher will just take the damned hint. The kindergarten teacher also knows of the feelings that Melissa harbors for you. 

“And all I’m sayin’, Barbara,” Melissa says that name with a pointed tone. “Is that I don’t need no one in my life to ‘complete’ me, or whatever bullshit you wanna tell me being in love does.”

“Melissa, it’s been two years since you broke it off with Gary. Don’t you think it’s time to get yourself back out there? Just maybe?”

“I don’t need nobody- not when I have a happy life as it is.”

That is the end of the conversation for the time being, but then Melissa starts to think it over. Maybe what Barbara is saying is true- it’s been a while. And she does miss having someone to fall asleep with at night. Although… whenever you come over, the two of you end up curled up on the couch together, and occasionally you will spend the night in her bed with her.

It’s platonic. It’s just friends being friends. At least that’s what Melissa tells herself. That’s what you tell yourself too when you lay in bed with her at night and wonder if maybe, just maybe, this is something more. 

So the next time you’re over, Melissa asks you about it.

“What do you think about what Barb was saying the other day at school? About… finding love and all that shit?” the redhead asks you as her head lays in your lap.

You stiffen slightly, not sure if this is your chance to say anything. Green eyes look up to meet your own, trying to figure out your thoughts.

“I mean, I think it might be good for you,” you shrug softly.

“Well,” she says as she sits up to look at you more intensely. “What about for you? Miss eternally single?”

The reason you’ve been single as long as you have been is because of your feelings for the redhead, not that she knows it. You shrug your shoulders ever so slightly, letting her know that you have hesitations in your answer. “I guess maybe I could consider going out on a date or something.”

So the next day at school, during lunch, love lives are the topic of the staff room.

“I was thinking… what if we set you up with someone I know?” Barbara asks. “C’mon, you know I would pick someone good for you.”

Melissa sighs a great breath. “Will it get you off my back if I say yes?” At the kindergarten teacher’s nod, the redhead swallows harshly before, “Fine.”

“Oh, how wonderful. I know just who I should set you up with!”

“You know, Y/N and I were talkin’ last night, and she’s thinkin’ ‘bout getting back into the dating game too. You know of anyone to set her up with, Lowercase?” Melissa asks.

Janine’s eyes brighten, and you can swear you see them almost start to sparkle at the idea of getting to play match maker for you. “I do!”

“Oi,” you roll your eyes and shake your head. You elbow the second grade teacher sitting next to you gently. “Way to throw me under the bus.”

“If I gotta do it, so d’you.”

As you and the redheaded second grade teacher head out a few minutes early to use the restroom before picking up your kids from lunch, Barbara whips around to look at Janine and the rest of the group.

“I’m going to say something, and what I say must be kept between those of us in this room,” the veteran teacher says seriously. “That means nobody will tell Melissa or Y/N.”

“Barb, how am I supposed to not tell them?” Jacob asks incredulously.

Barbara stares him down intensely. “If you cannot vow to not say a word to your roommate about this, then you may leave.”

The social studies teacher’s hands raise in surrender, and he urges her silently to continue.

“You’ve all noticed the way those two are always together, and Y/N has stolen my work wife, yes?”

She’s met with a chorus of affirmations as well as head nods. Jacob puts in that you’re almost always over, and that occasionally you end up spending the night after a glass too many.

“I’ve had about enough of this tiptoeing around that those two love sick fools are doing,” Barbara rolls her eyes. “So, I am going to pretend to send Melissa up with one of my friends. Janine, you will set up Y/N with one of your friends. And we all ensure together that the two of them end up in the same place at the same time without them finding out that they will be showing up to the same date, yes?”

“Oh my god!” Jacob grins and claps his hands together in excitement. “We all get to play match maker!”

“Do you see now why we mustn’t speak a word of this to Melissa or Y/N?” Barbara looks at the excited man pointedly.

He gives a serious nod.

That day, Barbara gives a talking head to the camera men. Janine joins her. 

“When Barbara Howard wants something, Barbara Howard gets that thing,” the kindergarten teacher states. “And what Barbara Howard wants now more than anything is for those two to get their heads out of their asses. The two of them… flirting harder than Janine and Gregory were before they finally pulled their acts together.”

“Hey!” Janine gasps. “Did I only get pulled into this interview to get insulted?”

The veteran teacher just gives her a knowing look and a pat on the shoulder.

The next day, Barbara comes in with a pep in her step as she knows that her plan will soon be put into place.

“What has you in such a chipper mood?” Melissa asks as she pours herself and you a cup of coffee before the kids come in. The redhead places your cup where she knows you’ll end up once you show up for the day.

The kindergarten teacher looks to Janine, who is sitting very quietly (for once), before grinning. “I found the perfect person for you to go out on a date with.”

“Oh?”

“A friend of mine,” is all Barb offers up. “So, you have a date at six tomorrow night at The Dandelion.”

“Tomorrow?”

“Would you rather I change it to tonight?”

A blush creeps into the second grade teacher’s cheeks. “No. No thank you.”

It’s only a few minutes later that you walk into the room, cheeks flushed from the cool air outside. 

“Hey,” Melissa smiles softly at you. She juts her chin out in the direction of your steaming hot cup of coffee. “Made it for you already.”

“You’re a lifesaver,” you grin as you go to put your lunch in the refrigerator. “I think I’m going to need it today.”

“Well,” the second grade teacher chuckles as you sit down next to her. “If you need another cup, you know you can always ask me to grab you another.”

You lay a gentle hand on her knee and squeeze it affectionately. “You’re the best.”

Mr. Johnson smirks at the camera.

Because the group has conspired to set the two of you up unknowingly to you and Melissa, no one speaks of the redhead’s date at lunch- much to her surprise. Melissa will take it though- not having to deal with the crew on her back about it.

“You comin’ back to my place today?” the second grade teacher asks as you’re packing up your lunch.

You nod with a small smile as you nudge her affectionately. “I’ll bring the wine?”

“Should I bring enough for Jacob too?”

“I will be out with a new man, so no need,” the social studies teacher cuts into your conversation. “Hopefully, this one works out.”

So, you and your coworker end up on the couch together after a long day with a delicious meal and a rather full glass of wine in front of each of you.

“So, anything interesting happen at school today for you?” you ask as you lay your head down in the redhead’s lap.

Melissa hums softly before sighing. “Barb is setting me up with her friend. I have a date tomorrow.”

Your eyes widen ever so slightly. “Oh?”

She shrugs, trying to gauge how you feel about that. And thankfully, you’re able to mask your true emotions on the matter. “That’s nice. It seems like everyone is starting to put themselves out there lately.”

“I’m sure Janine will find someone for you soon enough,” the redhead tells you. “You’re a catch, and someone is bound to see that sooner or later.”

You grimace. You’re not so sure about that. And even if you were, you only want one person, and it’s becoming more and more clear to you that you’ll never have your chance with her. So, in that moment, you decide that starting tomorrow maybe you need to start distancing yourself from Melissa in order to get over this silly crush you have on her. You have to get yourself back out there without her constantly lingering in the back of your mind.

“Hun,” she thinks she’s reading you like a book. “C’mon, you’re a great woman. Anyone with eyes can see that you’re beautiful, and then when you let your personality shine through… you’re the real-”

You shake your head as you sit up. “Can we just… not talk about this right now? I just want to enjoy tonight with you… savor our time alone while I can before someone swoops in and steals you from me.”

Green eyes meet yours, filled with a pleading look to just drop the matter of the conversation. It’s clear to you that she wants to continue to try to boost your confidence and build you up, but she relents. “So, did anything interesting happen at school with you today?”

After polishing off the bottle of wine that you brought over, Melissa ends up bringing out a second bottle. You hate to admit that you perhaps have a few too many glasses just because you’re trying to drown out your sorrows about not ever being able to tell the woman next to you how you feel and that this is probably the last night you’ll have with her where things are exactly the way they are now.

“C’mon, hun,” Melissa nudges you gently after your head has hit her shoulder for the fourth time that night. “Let’s just head to bed.”

You nod against her shoulder sleepily, but you make no moves to get up.

“Y/N,” the redhead nudges you again. “C’mon.”

“I’m comfortable here,” you yawn out. “You’re comfortable.”

“I can be comfortable up in my bed too,” Melissa retorts with a small laugh. “I can’t sleep on a couch anymore, so c’mon.”

You let out a small whine but disentangle yourself from her own limbs before looking at her with a pout.

“Trust me,” your coworker sighs as she sets a hand on the small of your back to guide you up the steps. “You being grumpy and getting up for a proper night’s sleep is much better than me being a bitch tomorrow because I woke up sore after a night of sleeping on the couch.”

You nod your head begrudgingly. The two of you crawl into bed as you usually do- both having respective sides. A chill rushes through you as the wine drunkenness begins to wear off and your met with the cool sensation of Melissa’s fan running in her bedroom.

“You cold?” the redhead asks as she lifts an arm for you to scoot under.

You nod as you shimmy into her space with a soft smile. Her arm wraps around you and pulls you even closer.

In a rather bold move, instead of laying your head on her shoulder, you turn to face her with a sad smile.

“What’s wrong?” Melissa asks you. “Are you still cold? Should I get extra blankets?”

You shake your head. “I just… things are going to change if all goes well with you and this man Barb’s setting you up with, and if Janine ever finds someone for me.”

Melissa just hums. She’s not quite sure what to say to you about this. What you’re saying is true, and it’s becoming clear to her that you aren’t necessarily thrilled with that. If she’s being honest with herself, she isn’t too fond of the idea of things changing between the two of you either.

“And… I know it’s dumb, and I know that we aren’t together, but I like what we have,” you mumble.

“I do too, hun,” Melissa squeezes your hand gently.

“Can we just… pretend for tonight?”

“What do you mean?” Green eyes look at you curiously.

“Pretend that we’re not scared of what’s coming next, or scared of having nothing left?” You quote Adele’s lyrics unknowingly. “Like… if this is my last night with you, where everything is how it usually is, can you hold me like I’m more than just a friend?” You know you’re still drunk, or at least somewhat intoxicated. If Melissa shoots you down, you can blame the alcohol. And if she doesn’t, tomorrow you can excuse your question with the alcohol too. What do you really have to lose? Not much, if you’re being honest with yourself.

The way that she pulls you close to her and wraps her arms around your waist simultaneously makes your heart grow three sizes and break. What is happening feels so right, but you know that this is only one time. It won’t ever happen again. You feel warm lips against your neck, and you inhale deeply. Why can’t this dream of yours be a reality?

As the redhead beside you gently nips at your neck, just once, she too has feelings of regret. Why is it that she only wants you right now?

The two of you fall asleep dreaming about the same thing- a life together. 

You wake first, and the feeling of still being in Melissa’s arms has you practically swooning. If anything, throughout the night, she held onto you tighter than she had while awake. It’s warm and domestic, and you can smell the perfume she was wearing last night as it surrounds and intoxicates you.

You lay there in a peaceful bliss until her alarm starts going off. She wakes with a small jolt before her eyes peel open, and you’re met with her sparkling eyes.

“Hey, hun,” Melissa smiles at you. “You sleep off all that wine last night?”

You roll your eyes playfully as you prepare to pull yourself away from her- as much as you don’t want to. “Yeah, I think so.”

“Hungover at all?”

You shake your head, only to sheepishly start nodding before rolling away from her. “My head is pounding.”

“Well, you know where the advil is,” the second grade teacher chuckles as she starts to sit up. “And I’ll make us breakfast and coffee, so hopefully the hangover lessens.”

As you get ready, neither of you speak of the events that happened last night. You quietly note that you’re surprised Jacob didn’t make his way back to the apartment last night, but that’s really all the two of you talk about. And then you’re off to Abbott in your car, while she follows behind in her own.

At school, you don’t settle in next to the redhead like you usually would for the morning news. Instead, you make up a lame excuse about having to do work in your classroom. You don’t even take the offered second cup of coffee from your coworker. You have to start distancing yourself if you’re going to survive working at her while she starts dating again.

During lunch, you make your way into the staff room quietly and grab your meal from the refrigerator before trying to make your way out relatively unnoticed. It doesn’t work. Of course, Melissa wants you to sit with her like you usually do.

“I- I think I need some peace and quiet,” you offer meekly. “But thanks.”

You’re out the door by the time Melissa is huffing about your actions. “Girl damn near lost her mind, I swear.”

It’s towards the end of the day when Janine approaches you.

“Janine, I really can’t today if you’re going to try to rope me into ‘saving the school’ again,” you sigh as you begin to gather your things in your arms. 

“It’s nothing like that,” the energetic woman tells you quickly. “I’ve been trying to get ahold of you all day.”

“Didn’t really look at my phone today,” you grumble.

“Well, I wish you would’ve. I know you have nothing to do after school today, so… my friend got back to me. You have a date tonight.”

“I’m not going on a-”

“Yes, you are,” Janine tells you in a strict, out of character, tone. “Be at The Dandelion at six.”

“Janine,” you groan. “I just want to-”

“You’ll be at The Dandelion, or my friend is going to be really pissed with me. Please.”

“Why should I?”

“Because,” the short woman struggles to come up with an answer on the fly. “Because you’ve been single for so long, and with everyone else getting back out there again… it might be good for you. C’mon, just one date. That’s all my friend is asking for- and then… if you don’t like it, you don’t have to do it again.”

“Fine.”

Janine squeals happily. “My friend will be in a green shirt tonight, so keep an eye out.” The second grade teacher knows what Melissa will be wearing because that was the topic of the staff room today at lunch, which you were not at.

You’re absolutely dreading this. You do not want to be at The Dandelion to go on a date with one of Janine’s friends. And yet, you still find yourself changing into a pair of jeans and a nicer shirt to go to dinner.

Upon your arrival, you survey the area, only to discover that you’re there before your mystery person in green. You find a seat at the bar and sigh, ordering a glass of wine.

About five minutes later, you see someone in green walk in, but they look oddly familiar. It- It’s Melissa. Fuck. She too surveys the area, clearly looking for her date. The redhead has no such luck, but she does lock eyes with you and give a small wave before making her way over.

“What are you doing here?” she asks quietly. “Come to spy on my date?”

You take a sip of your wine. “Actually, Janine set me up on a date, but they aren’t here yet.”

Melissa hums indifferently. “Neither is my date. What do you say we just wait together here?”

Not necessarily knowing how to reject her offer, you nod and pull out the stool next to you for her to sit on. She too orders a glass of wine, and once she’s served, she looks at you.

“So, we gonna talk about why you pulled away from all of us today at school?”

You blow out a breath. “I had some things to do in my classroom.” You can tell those green eyes boring into your soul don’t believe you, so you attempt to change the subject. “How were the kids today for you?”

By 6:25, neither of your dates have shown. The two of you are sitting together quietly nursing your wine and still looking around.

When the time hits 6:30, you sigh. “Do you think they’re going to show?”

The redhead glances down at her watch. “Half an hour late, and still not here? I doubt it.”

“What the fuck?” you groan. “I’m going to kill Janine.”

“Barb ain’t gettin any of my meatballs any time soon,” your coworker grumbles as she pulls out her phone.

You dial Janine, fully intending on giving her a piece of your mind. She picks up after two rings.

“Hey! How’s it going?” she answers as cheerily as she always does.

“Your stupid friend never showed up,” you grit out.

You can practically see the face Janine makes as she gasps out a, “What? No, they did!”

“No they didn’t!” you hiss into the phone. “I’ve been sitting here for the last half an hour waiting for someone in green to show up, and no one has!”

“No, my friend definitely showed up, I know it.”

At the same time, Melissa is on the phone with Barbara.

“Barb, your friend never showed! I’ve been sitting here with Y/N for the last half hour waiting.”

“My friend definitely did show,” Barbara’s voice is calm and steady as always.

It takes the two of you a few seconds to let their words sink in before you realize you’ve been played.

“You set us up,” both you and Melissa hiss into the phones at the same time.

Only then do both of your coworker step out of a booth with smiles on their faces. “Maybe.” They both hang up, wave to you with shit eating grins, and then head out of the restaurant together. 

Slowly, you turn to Melissa with wide eyes. She does the same.

“So, you’re my date?” she asks you.

“You’re mine?” you stammer out. “But I-”

“Those two are going to get it tomorrow.”

You let out a nervous chuckle as you tuck a few locks of hair behind your ear. “Yeah. They are.”

“Well,” the redhead sighs. “I guess we should get a table and have dinner.”

“You- you want to go on this date with me?” you fumble over your words. At her nod, you blush, but the smile that washes over your face is genuine and radiant.

Dinner is nice- it’s… it’s different than the other meals the two of you have shared in the past though. Conversation flows easily between the two of you as it usually does, before she takes a deep breath.

“Y/N, we should… we should talk about this.”

Her tone tells you that she’s not interested in the slightest, and you grimace. “I can just… I can just go.” You go to grab your handbag, but a hand stops you as fingers wrap around your wrist.

“I didn’t mean that,” she rolls her eyes. She tugs you in close, and her lips meet yours softly for the first time.

Your eyes go wide as you realize that the woman of your dreams is sitting here kissing you before you reciprocate. And… wow. 

“Y-you-” you stammer out once you’ve pulled away.

She just chuckles and kisses you again. Mumbled against your lips are the words, “I’m glad you’re my date, and not someone else.”

All you can do is smile. Once you pull away, you tell her, “I am too. I was not looking forward to going out with one of Janine’s friends.”

“I mean,” Melissa nudges you. “You kind of are going out with one of her friend’s right now.”

You shrug. “I guess she didn’t lie when she told me I was meeting her friend. I just… didn’t expect it to be you.”

“I didn’t expect you to be Barb’s friend either, hun,” your coworker teases you.

That night, you end up back at her place, and unlike last night where the two of you were just pretending to hold and be held as more than just a friend, it’s real. You are more than friend’s now- doing what lovers do. It’s soft, it’s sweet, it’s domestic, it’s warm… it’s everything you could’ve dreamed of when it comes to Melissa.

Your hand is laced in hers as you walk into the staff room the next morning, and Barbara and Janine look rather content with the charade that they had pulled off the night before. It’s clear to you that the others are aware of the situation before them, as Jacob can only grin and fist pump somewhat discretely.

“You still ain’t getting my meatballs anytime soon,” Melissa grumbles at her work wife as she makes her way over to the coffee machine.

“Well worth it, Melissa dear,” the kindergarten teacher chuckles into her own mug. “Well worth it if it means that the two of you finally got your heads out of your asses and are together.”

TAGS: (and let me know if you want to be included!): @schemmentis @thesapphictimelady @marvel210 @itisdoctortoyousir @morgana-larkin @doesthatsuggestanythingtoyou @marvels--slut @gwennybriggs @megamultifandomtrashposts @lemz378 @http-sam @melissaschemmentisbranzino @imaginesmultifandoms @sexysapphicshopowner @lilfartbox1 @maybe-a-humanbean @imlike-so-gaydude @a-queen-and-her-throne @notinmyvocab @melanielaufeyson @dvrkhcld @cosmichymns @sasheemo @m1lflov3rrr @ricejucie

[twojamie-o-clock]

I wish I had something intelligent to say about Ben & Polly but I think everything about them has somewhat already been said. That they are forever connected to one another in ways that don’t have to fit into relationship binaries, that they ruin each other, that they help each other, that some part of them will always be dissatisfied with the nature of their relationship but if they went about it any other way it would be ignoring so much that is essential to them.

I just finished reading “Do You Dream In Color?” by Gary Russell from the “Ghosts of Christmas” short trips collection & I’m floored. I think it’s the best writing I’ve ever read about Ben/Polly and I mean that in the purest most honest way. It’s all told from Ben’s perspective but Polly bleeds in wonderfully because of how connected they are — I love you’s spoken out of earshot & bitterness and jealousy and love so deep it doesn’t matter that the forms it takes don’t match on either end, Polly loving the travels she had & wanting more of them, Ben feeling like he can’t escape them but maybe that he doesn’t want to, this shared love for the Doctor & Jamie, not in fond reminiscing - because they both hold some ‘wounds’ from their time traveling - but in their desperate fear calling out for a hand to hold from someone who has always been there, always with danger, yes, but always there.

They have their own lives & they are bound together forever by their time whether they want it or not but the way they see their pasts & the way they mark their futures with one another is so different it hurts because like Polly says “I need people.” & “I needed you” and maybe Polly doesn’t need Ben in the same way anymore, the way Ben needs her now but if they stick together it will only make things worse; if they leave it will also deteriorate and. AGH. the thing is it doesn’t feel like an unhappy ending with them just because Ben has to say “I love you” when Polly can’t hear and Polly has to say “I love you more than I’ll love anyone else” to clarify that they cannot drag each other down, they cannot live without one another. They’re contradictory & human & there’s love but it doesn’t always work out even if there is love, even if Ben’s dreams of marriage and a child called Jamie don’t get fulfilled, or Polly’s dreams of traveling the world & calling on Ben whenever she may wish can’t.

I don’t. I cannot. Articulate. Here are some lines that punched me in the gut.

[msschemmenti]

hinge - a potential series

eventual melissa schemmenti x reader

synopsis: melissa joins hinge. who will she match with?

a/n: hello yes i know i’ve been gone for over a month after saying i was going to finish some things. my job got SUPER busy! but i’m trying to get back into writing and with that in mind i wanted to do a little writing exercise that i thought could be fun. so basically this will be a one shot series where melissa matches with different readers each installment. i was thinking if you all were interested i could open my requests for descriptions of readers you’d like to see melissa chat with and date! this is just an introductory piece to the vision, but let me know if you all would be interested in submitting readers for this. if not that’s cool as well ahaha! but either way, i hope you enjoy this chaotic prologue.

“You know, you should really get back out there Melissa.” Jacob’s voice floated over Melissa's shoulder. The older woman felt the tension between her eyebrows tighten as she slowly turned to address the young teacher. Not only had he been listening in on her conversation with Barb, but now he was giving advice. She knew they shouldn’t have let him stay for the Christmas dinner, now he thinks he’s a part of their circle. 

"What are ya talking about?" Melissa glared. Jacob had the sense to look a bit squeamish under her gaze but still cleared his throat as if to speak.

"I just mean, it's been months since Gary stopped stocking the vending machine. And kind of disappeared off the face of the Earth. And you're a beautiful woman, who deserves to be treated well. I'm sure there's a sea of men just waiting to make you their wife." Jacob rambled as his face grew red.

"First of all kid, I had nothing to do with Gary's career change and if you tell anyone different we'll have a problem. Second of all, I know I'm hot. I'm a Philly 11. I don't need no man making me his wife. I'm perfectly fine with the way my life is right now. Not that it's any of your business." Melissa scoffed with an eyeroll.

"Well that doesn't mean you can't see what's out there." Janine piped up from her seat next to Jacob.

"Oh you're one to talk, what does that even mean?" Melissa asked.

"Well, I'm not looking for a relationship right now because I'm working on myself. But that doesn't mean I don't want to see who's out there. Or even get a little validation from knowing someone wants me."

Melissa listened curiously, "and how exactly do you do that? Are you going to bars and turning down drinks or something?"

"No! Dating apps. People see my profile and like me but I don't have to say anything back." Janine explained.

"Oh yes! Before I met Zack I had a profile on all of the apps, just to make sure I wasn't missing any of the validation." Jacob added in causing Janine to nod.

"I think that could be good for you." Barb hummed before taking another bite of her salad.

"Not you too!" Melissa groaned before Ava walked through the door swiping on her phone.

"What we talking about?" Ava grinned looking around the tables.

"We're trying to convince Melissa to get back out there. On a dating app."

"Oh you should definitely do that. There's a market of men you're missing out on. Get you a young thing to get all up in that Italian Dressing." Ava said wiggling her eyebrows before reaching to make her coffee.

"Okay. None of that." Melissa groaned as she and Barb shook their heads in disappointment.

"No, you don't have to start out doing that. You can just start out seeing who's out there. Getting some likes, giving some likes, and then if you want to you can move it to chatting. It's all at your own speed." Janine tried to explain.

Before Melissa could even try to continue disagreeing, Ava had finished dumping sugar in her mug and had snatched Melissa's phone from the table. "The question is, what app do we get her on. I think Tinder is out if she's not gonna let any all up in her business. Bumble is dead and boring. What else is there?"

"How about none?"

"Oh Hinge! That ones really good." Jacob volunteered and Ava nodded moving to download the app on the older woman's phone.

"You are insane! Give me back my phone." Melissa tried to lunge at the taller woman.

"Stop fighting girlfriend. Just let it happen." Barbara appeased placing her hand on Melissa's shoulder in an attempt to calm her.

"Oh not you too!" Melissa sighed.

"Give in Schemmenti. I'm already creating your account." Ava grinned flashing the phone toward the older woman.

Seeing the phone, Melissa just shook her head. "I hate all of yous."

Ava took a seat in the middle of the table and smirked over her shoulder at Melissa. "Alright so let's get these questions and pictures together. Gotta show every how hot you are!"

Melissa scoffed but only rolled her eyes in response.

"So I got all the basics, now who are you looking for? Just men? Or are you down for a lil lady action? You seem like you'd know your way around the lady parts." Ava asked.

"Oh my god. You are the WORST!"

"That's not answering my question. You know what, I'll just put it as bisexual for now. Keep your options open. Let's find pictures for the prompts. You have any nudes in here I should be worried about seeing?" Ava asked shielding her eyes playfully.

"No? What kind of lady do you think I am?"

"I don't know. I'm just saying. Okay I already did the first one now the next one is 'As seen on my Mom's fridge', how about this cute picture of you and your blonde sister?"

"Yes that would be cute!" Janine smiled.

"Oh put this picture I secretly took of her crocheting on there. People love crafts!" Jacob said air dropping the photo to Melissa's phone.

"Why are you secretly taking pictures of me?" Melissa glared.

"Oh hush, it's helpful now. Oh a writing prompt, what are your simple pleasures?"

"Food, wine, and the Eagles." Melissa answered quickly.

"Let's say Cooking, wine, and the Eagles. People like cooking." Janine amended.

"Another picture, let's do this cute one with me in the back. That'll really get you some likes. I'm pretty well known around this app."

"Last prompt, the key to your heart?" Janine asked.

"A clean kitchen and an empty stomach." Melissa spoke with a shrug.

"Oh cause you like to cook for people. You're so good at this. Yes." Janine swooned.

"And with that, you're live. Now you just wait for the local baddies to match with you."

As Ava handed the phone, Melissa had no choice but to scroll. Well I guess this is what we're doing now.

"If this ends poorly, all of yous better watch your back."

[captain-mj]

Boyfriend Dungeon

This is more of a prologue as I mostly wanted to set it up and explain how the weapons and wielders work.

Roach excitedly packed, ready to spend the summer with his cousin Rocket. Mostly he was excited about just getting out of the area. He had never been to his cousin’s city and it sounded exciting. 

Roach was well aware of people that could turn into weapons, but he knew next to nothing about them. No one in his family was one nor was anyone else in his hometown that he knew about. That was fine, it just meant he was a little out of his element when it came to those kinds of talks. Apparently the new city was full of weapons. He couldn’t wait to meet one of them. 

Rocket picked him up from the airport, holding a giant sign and bouncing up and down. He pulled Roach right into a tight hug with a smile. 

“Gary!! It’s so nice to see you again.”

Roach squeezed him back before pulling back so he could sign. “Nice to see you too. Ready to go?”

Rocket nodded and helped him with his bags. “Thank you so much for coming. I really needed some help get everything moved.” The two departed with Rocket filling him in on a few things. He wasn’t normally so talkative but he was clearly glad to have Roach around. 

They spent a few hours unpacking Roach’s bags and putting everything away. Roach occasionally asked Rocket questions but he was trying to not make his interest in weapons too clear. He apparently was not subtle enough because Rocket caught on. 

“I’m glad you brought that up actually! I have someone I’d like you to meet!” Rocket seemed to almost buzz with anticipation. 

Roach tilted his head, indicating Rocket should continue. “He’s a guy I know. He’s a weapon. When I mentioned you’d be coming, he offered to show you how to wield.”

Roach jerked up with excitement, bouncing on his feet. He quickly finished everything as Rocket told him the details. 

The next morning, he actually got to meet Price. 

Price smiled at him immediately. “It’s very nice to meet you, Roach.” He offered his hand and Roach quickly shook back. 

Rocket smiled. “Most people here speak sign, it’s taught in the local school. It’s helpful for weapons to communicate whenever they’re shifted”

Price nodded and signed to Roach. “So we can communicate however you’re comfortable.”

Roach nodded and responded. “I’m fine with people talking to me. Just don’t like talking to others.” Don’t like did not quite match his situation, but Price seemed to understand that just fine. 

“That’s alright. We’ll work through it. It’s pretty simple. I shift into an double sided ax and you simply pick me up and start fighting.”

“....fighting?”

“Oh. Yes. There’s dungeons nearby that we’d be fighting in.”

Roach nodded. “What happens if you get hurt?”

“I won’t, don’t worry. If you get hurt, I’ll simply take you out.”

Roach nodded and motioned for Price to continue.

“So, it’s pretty simple. I turn into a weapon and you wield me. You’ll feel the connection pretty instantly. It’s better for friends and partners, but I’m used to showing younger wielders how to do this. It’s common for first time wielders to get hurt because they’re inexperienced, especially if they’re weapon is also inexperienced. My husband does the same thing for young weapons.”

Roach pushed down his disappointment that Price was married. The man was a clear dilf. He wasn’t wearing a ring, but he was probably nervous about losing it in a dungeon. 

“Once you find someone else you want to wield or even just want to stop, we can. But Rocket thought it would be good for you. Dungeons are really helpful because they help you face your fears.” 

Roach glanced at Rocket, glaring just a touch. “Whatever he said was probably a gross exaggeration.”

Rocket huffed a little. “I was trying my best! I just thought you could use a hobby and to talk to people. My aunt has told me all ab-”

Roach covered Rocket’s mouth and glared at Price who laughed. “Don’t worry. If you want to go now we can?”

Roach thought about it before nodding and getting up. “Meet you at the dungeon.”

Despite it being explained to him, it was still shocking to see Price disappear. He was just a beam of light for a moment before Rocket grabbed Roach’s hand and lifted it up. 

An axe formed in his hand. Beautiful and ornate. Something about him reminded Roach of old whiskey commercials. Something about the aesthetic. The gorgeous wood handling, gold etching along the blade itself.

Roach almost felt bad he would be using him to fight. 

Price spoke and it was a bit odd. It was like he was whispering in both of his ears. 

Roach didn’t respond, unable to really understand the words anyway. He slowly swung the axe to get a feeling for it. 

It took a while for him to get used to the way Price spoke to him. It sounded garbled at first but he eventually got used to it. 

Roach was surprised by how light Price felt. 

He stepped in to the dungeon now. It looked like an old mall. 

Monsters. Some looked like bundles of yarn. Others looked more like rings. 

The first one lunged at him and it was like Roach just understood something. He swung out immediately. The weapon went straight through them, splitting them and they fell to pieces. 

A grin spread across his face. 

This was going to be fun. 

They fell in to a bit of rhythm. It felt off, not quite in a lock step yet. 

Roach found himself forgetting he had a person in his hands. Each monster would bare it’s teeth and he’d cut straight through them. 

A weight was lifting off his chest. Though he didn’t understand what the fear these things were supposed to be, it felt good to slash at them. 

There was a rest area so Roach got himself a drink. He was right about to ask Price if he wanted one when he paused, seeing a dagger on the ground. It had a chunk missing out of the handle. 

He tapped along Price’s handle and Price shifted back immediately. He looked very concerned as he moved closer to the dagger. Unlike Price, there was no… ornateness. No beauty. It felt… dark. Like the person inside was sleeping.  

“Roach, pick him up for me.”

Roach wondered how he knew it was a guy as he picked the dagger up. 

A shock ran through him. Visceral and powerful. 

It wrapped through his veins. His head pounding. Nerves lighting up at the almost instant connection.

Not a weapon. Or even the weapon. 

His weapon. 

It wasn’t like Price’s voice where it was simply close to his ears. It was directly in his heads.

“Who are you?”

Just as quickly, the feeling was shredded from him. Ripped out in a way that almost felt painful. 

The man that appeared from the smoke. He was strange. Tall and masked and even without seeing him, he knew he was beautiful. 

Dark brown eyes looked at him. “How da-”

Price stepped between them. “Ghost, are you alright? Did your wielder leave you down here? That’s very irresponsible, I’d like their name to report them as soon as possible.”

“I…” Mystery man looked around. “I didn’t go in a dungeon. I was at home… I need to go.” He left as quickly as he appeared. 

Roach was already enamored and he knew without a doubt that he wanted to wield him and him specifically. 

Price glanced at him. “No. don’t even think about it. He is not going to be good for you.” 

[player1064]

Literally obsessed with the ask fics you’ve been doing, thank you 🥰 my suggestion to throw in is something on Jamie being whipped as hell…. I just love that as a concept and the latest STF where Gary’s instinct is to demand he provide him with clothing alternatives made me think of it hehe… like something regarding everyone knowing Jamie’s basically at his beck and call

JAMIE! IS! SO! WHIPPED!!!!! this is honestly such a core part of my carraville belief system anyway like ngl I do try sprinkle a bit of it into most of my fics so YES I loved writing this!!!

---

“Alright guys, we’ve got a fifteen minute break and then I need you all back in your seats,” a producer calls out once they’ve cut to the match.

Immediately, everyone on the set of Monday Night Football starts bustling around, setting up equipment or wandering over to the craft table for something to eat or drink.

Jamie rushes off without a word, and David stands up to do the same but ends up hovering awkwardly next to the desk when Gary doesn’t move from his seat, just gets his iPad out from under and starts to type furiously on the little bluetooth keyboard.

“You’re not coming for a coffee?”

“Huh?” Gary blinks up at him. “Oh, no, Carra’ll get me one.”

David gives Gary a disbelieving look but goes off to get his own refreshments anyway. By the time he gets back, Jamie’s wordlessly setting a mug down next to Gary’s elbow, along with a couple of custard creams. He doesn’t wait for Gary to acknowledge him (which he doesn’t), just sits back down in his seat and starts scrolling on his phone, glancing up across the desk with a smug smile when Gary picks up the mug to take a sip.

*

“Where the fuck is Jamie?” Gary asks as he whirls around Sky studios lobby, not stopping for long enough for anyone to actually respond. “James! James, you twat, where are ya, I ‘ave to be back in Manchester for five, can’t believe you’re makin’ me wait –”

“Alright, alright, keep your tits on,” Jamie says as he rushes in, coat only half pulled on. “Jesus, it’s your fault I’m late, y’know. You left your airpods in the dressing room, I ‘ad to go back and get them ‘fore I was stuck with your whining for the next four hour.”

Gary frowns, pats his pockets, then looks at Jamie bewildered when he finds nothing. Jamie drops the case into his hands.

“How’d you even –” he starts, but Jamie’s already hurrying towards the waiting car.

*

“I always get so hungry while we’re commentating, wish there was a – a runner, or somethin’, who could go get us some snacks.”

Jamie, who’d been about to start saying something into his mic, shoots Gary a glare and then starts raving about brilliant possession. While he’s talking, though, he uses his foot to push his bag out from under his seat and towards Gary, gives him a little kick in the ankle for emphasis.

When Gary opens the bag there’s a few packets of hula hoops, some chocolate bars, a packet of wine gums, a couple of apples which he studiously ignores, and some granola bars. He grabs a few things so that he doesn’t have to go rummaging again later, then holds out one of the chocolate bars to Jamie.

Jamie glances at the offering and shakes his head, waves it away. “Not big on sweets, am I?” he says once he’s put his microphone down.

*

“Jamie – Jamie, can you c’mere for a second?” asks Gary, waving him over to where he’s stood talking to Wrighty.

Jamie gets up from his seat and walks aver, looks between the two of them expectantly. “Yeah?”

Gary reaches up to pluck the glasses from his face, which gets almost no reaction from Jamie beyond a surprised blink when Gary’s hand first approaches him.

“See, Wrighty, look at this,” Gary says, as if Jamie were nothing more than a mannequin. “He’s way blinder than you or me, I dunno how ‘e’s not always crashing into things when he’s not got them on.”

“I think you’re right, check out the magnification on these things!”

*

“Ugh, Jesus, what kind of place only takes cash?” Roy complains, searching through his pockets to no avail. “And to only tell you after they’ve made your order, now I just look like a prick. Do either of you boys have any notes?”

Gary and Jamie both say no, and Roy’s about to turn back and go to the counter to tell this poor teenager that he can’t buy the food after all, when Gary squints at Jamie suspiciously then holds up a finger to say hold on to Roy.  

 “Shame, that, ‘cause them sandwiches look really good. An’ I only had a piece of toast at breakfast.”

“Not my fault you’ve not been grocery shopping in two weeks,” Jamie says, rolling his eyes. At the same time, though, he’s reaching into the pocket of his jeans for his wallet, pulling out a ten pound note and handing it to Gary.

Gary grins triumphantly and hands the note to Roy.

*

“Glad ‘e’s got too heavy to pick up now,” says Paul with a nod towards Gary. “Else he’d be jumping at us every time Salford scores.”

“Oi!” Gary reaches out to whack Scholesy in the arm. “I am not fuckin’ heavy, d’you mind? If I wanted to jump at people I’d jump at people, ta very much. I’m just more civilised now, like.”

“No, Gaz, y’just know that if you try it we’ll both end up on our arses looking like twats. You prob’ly don’t even have the leg strength to –”

“Jamie!” Gary cries out, interrupting him. “Jamie, go stand over there, would ya?”

Jamie raises an eyebrow at him but gets up off his seat and goes to the flat platform at the back of the stand. Gary follows, then without warning does a pathetic little run-up and launches himself into Jamie’s arms, his legs wrapped tight around him.

Jamie gives a little humph under his weight, which Gary ignores to raise his hands in the air in celebration. “Ha!” he says, “see, Scholesy, told you y’were talkin’ nonsense!”

“Gary, y’great lump, are you planning to stay up ‘ere much longer? Not sure my old man knees can take it.”

“Shush, you.”

Jamie shushes.

[porcelana-r0ta]

Bound for Glory

Fandom: Night In The Woods

Word Count: 2119

Ao3 Link: Only available to registered Ao3 users

Summary: Casey Hartley is nineteen and isn’t ready to grow up (and he won’t).

xxXxx

He strikes the match against the sandpaper side of the matchbox, igniting his small world of the night sky and the train tracks. He brought the orange flame to the tip of his cigarette, and once the flame took, he shook the match out. Dropping it, he stomps on the burned out match: Smokey Bear would be proud. Or disappointed. 

Shoving the box of matches in his hoodie pocket, Casey Hartley takes his first drag of the cigarette as he resumes walking west. The smoke fills his lungs, clouding his organs, stretching them and destroying them all in one. He blows out. He can’t see the smoke under the new moon. The only light on the train tracks lives with the stars and the dim ember of his cancer stick.

“What, not gonna offer me a light?” Cain asks, flipping his Zippo out and sparking the end of his Marlboro. 

“You hate my matches,” Casey says. 

“‘Cause it’s not fuckin’ 1923, damn.” Despite lighting his cigarette, Cain keeps his Zippo out, flicking the flint wheel. Sparks fly, but never catch. 

Casey likes matches. Likes lighting them up and letting the flame crawl down to his fingertips. Likes blowing them out and smelling the woody smoke of their dying breath. Likes stomping them beneath his feet. Likes using them for his cigarettes or blunts, going through the same motions as thousands of smokers before him and the invention of the lighter. Likes feeling like something. Feeling like there’s something other than Possum Springs. 

Mae got out, at least. And Angus and Gregg are saving to get out. 

He and Bea, though? 

He brings the cigarette to his lips and inhales. Holds it. Lets it out in a sigh. 

“Cain—”

“No,” his cousin says immediately. 

“No?” 

“No, you can’t join the business.” 

Casey is offended, “I don’t want to join your business.” 

“Good,” Cain says. He flicks his cigarette, sending ash to the tracks. “You’re gonna have a future, you know.” 

His stomach curdles. “In Possum Springs?” He tries to keep his tone wry and playful, but his bitterness takes over. Consumes, like the smoke. 

“You can leave. Get a job, like your gay friends. Gary and Angie, or whatever.” 

“Gregg and Angus.” Casey rolls his eyes. 

“That’s what I said.” 

"Uh-huh."

“Yeah, whatever. Point is, you don’t have to be like me. Mary and Bryan love you. They’ll support you even if you get a bitch pregnant and walk out on her.” 

His mom would sooner beat his ass for walking out on a girl after knocking her up, but Casey doesn’t argue the point. 

“That’s not the problem.”

“Yeah?” Cain’s voice takes on a hint of arrogance, the inflection he uses whenever he successfully blows a smoke ring. It’s too dark to tell, but Cain is always sure of himself. “Enlighten me.” 

Casey kicks at the ground, hoping to strike a rock, and only scuffs a plank on the track. 

“I dunno what I wanna do.”

“What, with life? For a job? No one does.” 

The lit end of his cigarette shakes in time with his fingers. “No. Or yes? I don’t know what I’m fucking doing.” 

“Yeah, and no one does. Life is a guessing game, man.” 

“Well, it sucks. The only thing I know is I don’t wanna stay in this shithole town. Maybe I should just hop on a train already.”

“Possum Springs ain’t that bad.” 

Casey scoffs. 

“No, really. It’s kinda nice, minus the xenophobia.”

“Huh, so you did pay attention in high school.

“Shut it, kid.” Cain punches his shoulder. He’s only seven years older, which isn’t that much older, but Cain milks it for all it’s worth. 

They’re quiet for a long moment, the only sounds being their feet on the tracks and earth and their sighs of smoke. Then Cain suddenly breaks it. 

“I wanted to be a teacher.” 

Casey looks down, startled. “What?”

“‘S true.” He flicks his cancer stick. Cinders falls and die in the dark. “Loved art. Loved Mrs. Terry. Wanted to make other kids like me feel like they were worth a damn.”

Casey knows the name, even if he never took art class himself in high school. Mrs. Terry had taken Cain in after he was kicked out, at least until Casey’s parents found out and gave him the spare room. Cain stayed there until he scrimped up enough money for his trailer house. 

“It was really cool of her to take you in like that,” he says quietly in the night. 

“Yeah,” his cousin agrees. “Mrs. Terry’s real cool. She said I could make it. But college’s expensive. ‘N I’m just a dealer now.” 

Casey’s not good with this, with comforting people or supporting people. But he can’t say nothing. 

“Maybe you can save up. Do a ju-co, then something cheap for your last two years.” 

Cain scoffs a laugh. “No…. Nah, that’s just not me.”

He drops his cigarette and steps on it, suffocating the fire. Killing its short life. “Seriously, Case. You can do whatever you want, and your parents will help you. I’ll help, too. You’re my cousin, more like brother, honestly. You can take all the time you need to decide what you want in life.” 

But Casey’s not in high school anymore, he doesn’t want to go to college, and he feels stuck in place. He doesn’t want to grow up. He wants to stay Casey Hartley, seventeen years old, rage-playing drums while Gregg plays guitar and Mae plays bass and Angus sings. He wants to commit crimes with Gregg and Mae, wants to lift snacks from the Snalcon and smoke weed in the upper office of the old Food Donkey and referee Gregg’s and Mae’s dumb knife fights. 

God. He won’t even be a teenager in a few months. His twentieth birthday is creeping up. 

He’s scared of getting a job. He’s scared of hating his job and being stuck with it. He’s scared of taxes. He’s scared of finding an apartment to rent. He’s scared of never owning a house. He’s scared of owning a house.  He’s scared of Cain being arrested. He’s scared that Mae will never come back. He’s scared that Gregg and Angus will leave and never come back. He’s scared that Bea will be crushed under the weight of the Ol’ Pickaxe and her negligent father. He’s scared that he’ll be all that’s left of them, left behind in dying Possum Springs, left behind to die here with no one but conservative asshats and nothing to do and nothing accomplished that means anything.

His parents will stay, and they are young, but they aren’t getting younger, and a good son dies after his parents. He’s scared of that. Of being with just them until old age claims them and then he really is—

a   l   o   n   e

He doesn’t want to grow up.

The train tracks start to rumble, quiet and gentle. A headlight beams behind them, though it has not reached their backs quite yet. Casey steps off on the right, and Cain goes left. 

“You’re right,” Casey says instead of any of his fears. “You’re right.”

“I usually am.” He looks at the stars and hums. “Look, it’s late. I’m going home. You should, too.” 

The train gets closer and louder. The light reaches them.

Casey has to yell, “Yeah, I will. See you later!” 

“I—”

Cain’s response is stolen by the train, cutting in between them and blocking Casey’s path back to town. 

The train wails as Casey lights another cancer stick. He lets the fire creep to his fingers before dropping the match and stomping it out beneath his black canvas shoe, his fingers stinging as he puts the cigarette between his lips. 

The air is warm with the birth of summer. He shouldn’t even be in his black hoodie in this weather, but it’s the same hoodie he’s had since sophomore year and he’s not good at letting go. It was only during the hottest August days that he’d shed the hoodie in previous years.

He hums “Die Anywhere Else” as the train passes, whistling and crooning all the way. He finishes his cancer stick, considers lighting another, but ultimately doesn’t. 

When he gets to the chorus, his chest burns, and he sings the words instead of humming the melody. That part was always meant for Mae. But she had bigger and better plans than an idiot like him who was scared and clueless all at once for his future and would throw that future away as soon as he gathered the courage to hop a train.

Maybe I should just jump on the train, he thinks to himself. Leave for Durkillesburg. Crash with Mae for a weekend or two. Start finding my own place.

But his legs are stuck in place, just like he is. Glued down by fear. Petrified of the culmination of the future of his wrong decisions.

The train eventually passes, and Casey is expecting to be alone, Cain long gone to his trailer. But he’s not. 

Someone stands on the other side of the tracks, a silhouette in the darkness. They are tall and look like they are wearing something long, like a trench coat, maybe. Some kind of hard hat rests on their head. 

A crusty, his mind supplies, a vain attempt to calm his heart. His fur stands on end, his blood going cold. He’s jumped off the train, just like a million other crusties.

For a moment, the two can only stare. 

“Casey Hartley?” they ask. They sound male. No crusty is likely to know his name—he’s befriended some, sure, but they hardly ever return, and they wouldn’t just assume that the first shadowy figure they see is him. 

“No,” he says. “Cain, actually. Casey’s my cousin.” 

Their hand goes up to their head. A clicking noise is instantly followed by a beam of bright light. 

Casey flinches back, his arm raising to block the light. He squints against it, trying to make out who is across the tracks. His stomach drops and he takes several panicked steps back, the other suddenly on the same side of the tracks as him. 

“Look like Casey to me,” the person notes, voice dangerous. 

He’s not going to try pleading his case. He turns and bolts.

He makes it maybe five yards before there’s a bang and a sharp pain in his right calf. 

He falls, yelping, sweating, crying. He claws at the dirt, forcing himself to turn over so he’s not face-down and accepting death quietly. Anywhere else, he tells himself. Anywhere fucking else. I won’t die here.

“You fuckin’ shot me!” he cries. He reaches for his leg with a trembling hand, expecting a bleeding bullet hole, but instead he feels something cool and cylindric with fine hairs coming out from the top. He yanks it out and throws it, terror mixing with drowsiness. 

No, wait—

He immediately regrets the action, belatedly realizing it could have been his own weapon if he’d kept it. Fuck.

“No,” says the person, confirming what Casey has already concluded. “I tranq’d you.”

“Why?” His vision spins. He feels alert and subdued all in one. His stomach twists. His body is heavy, like he’s trying to pull himself out of the public pool after being in all day. Please, no. Don’t sleep. Don’t fucking sleep. Don’t even lay down.

“Don’t be scared, Casey.” The person kneels next to him, still bright and unknown. It hurts his eyes, but he’s so scared that if he closes his eyes, he won’t open them ever again. 

Casey swings at him, but his hands glance off, doing nothing against this monster. They coo and cup the back of his head, fingers grasping Casey’s fur, their other hand grabbing at Casey’s upper arm. They force Casey to lay down, and he’s full-on sobbing now despite the call of sleep. 

“No,” he begs. “Pl’s, no. Don’ do this to me.” 

“Shh, shh, it’s okay. This is for you, Casey, and your family. Your parents. Possum Springs doesn’t need another dealer, hmm? But we need business. This is just business, Casey. It’ll all be over soon. You won’t even know it when you’re gone.” 

“Nnnnnnnoooooooooo.” It’s a low moan, grieved and miserable. It takes the rest of his energy, his body numbing, his mind clouding. He tastes smoke.

He wants his dad. He wants his mom. 

Did he say bye to them this morning? When was the last time he said he loved them? He can’t remember—it's all too fuzzy now.

“Shh, shh. Just go to sleep, Casey. It won’t hurt none.” 

He’s supposed to fucking grow up. 

He falls asleep instead.

xxXxx

Casey Hartley's away message:

BORN 2 LOSE COUNTRY TRASH PROUD DRUMMER SK8 AND DESTROY SK8 2 CR8 BOUND FOR GLORY

[dozing-composing]

Hey there! I was wondering if you had any sfw/nsfw headcanons for 21 and a transmasc reader? (And thanks for running this blog! This fandom is smaller than what I’m used to so it’s awesome that I can count on new content from ya!)

You're So Welcome! Yes, The Venture Bros Fandom Is A Small, But Thriving Community, But We Thrive Together, Y'know? Thank You So Much For Checking Out My Little Blog!! 😭 I Apologize In Advance If These Don't Seem Up To Par, Gender Is Something I Struggle Writing With. Hopefully, These Are Fine. I Tried To Be As Relatable As Possible. Then Again, If Something's Not Right, Let Me Know! I'll Be More Than Happy To Change Things!

Warnings (Just In Case): Mentions Of Dysphoria, Gender Talk

ꜰᴀɴᴛᴀꜱᴛɪᴄ ᴛʀᴀɴꜱᴍᴀꜱᴄ…

๋࣭ ⭑ ꜱꜰᴡ

✦ He might not understand fully, but dammit, he's going to learn. You'll need to explain everything in detail so he can be the best boyfriend he wants to be. He can get a little confused at times, but he's got the spirit! ✦ Binder breaks! He expects you to take breaks between each wear. He knows that it can be difficult, but he doesn't want you to hurt yourself for wearing it for so long. He'll even do some stretches with you during breaks. And if you don't have a binder and/or would like one, he will research one for you and buy one! ✦ He's a great listener. Whatever problem you may have, he's there to help you talk it out. ✦ Dysphoria sucks. Sometimes, you get so uncomfortable in your own body because it doesn't match the way you perceive your gender. Which, in turn, makes you so anxious about how other people would perceive you. But Gary will always be there to remind you of how perfect you are because no matter what, you are experiencing you. And that in itself is a glorious thing. ✦ He loves you with every breath of his being. He wouldn't know what to do with himself if you were hurting. He's just so...augh! He loves every part of you so dearly and he hopes that you can see yourself the way he sees you: absolute perfection.

☆ 18+ Activities, DNI If You Are Uncomfortable With Suggestive/Sexual Themes And Content ↓ NSFW Below ↓

๋࣭ ⭑ ɴꜱꜰᴡ

✦ Before ANYTHING goes down, you need to express your boundaries and what all you're comfortable with. Don't worry, he's patient and he's respectful. ✦ He would prefer if you would walk him through what you want to do. Do you just want to suck him off? Should he put his finger(s) here? You tell him, he'll do it. Or, he'll let you do it. Whatever plan you want to go through, he'll be down for it. He puts your needs before his. ✦ Again, if you are feeling dysphoric about something, he will stop what he's doing and immediately comfort you. He'll praise you on how well you did and how much of a big step you took. ✦ If there are certain words you prefer to use to describe your body, he'll use them. Boy pussy, boy cunt, junk. Whatever! He does what he can so you can have a good experience during it all. If you use toys and you want the same for those, no problem! It's all about what you want/need. He's just there to help you have a good time (; ✦ If you are repulsed by the idea of sex, that is totally fine with him! Just know that he's not only with you for pleasure. He wants you to be the best you can be.

[kohakhearts]

helllooo here to request some Goh and Gary moments. feel free to make it slash or gen or to include Ash as well!

wc: 2 279 read on ao3

The tension sets in long before Gary actually moves in, which is…expected, but still somewhat disappointing.

They talk about it over lunch together. It’s a temporary arrangement; Gary’s just in Vermilion City for a few months, or so he says, and he needs somewhere to stay. Ash figured Goh wouldn’t mind, so he agreed on behalf of them both.

“Of course I mind.” Goh bristles. “Are you out of your mind? I can’t spend two minutes around Gary without him being a jerk, and now I have to go home to him too?!”

Ash laughs nervously. He looks everywhere but Goh’s face. “Well… It’s not like you need to share a bed, right?”

“I’m going to kill you,” Goh mutters, and for a frightening moment Ash really believes it, too. But then—he relaxes. A hefty sigh draws Ash’s attention back to him properly. “Why couldn’t he talk to me about this, anyway? He really should have asked me in the first place, and you shouldn’t have said yes before he did. You’re both smarter than that.”

“He should’ve been here by now, actually.”

“He should’ve— Oh, you’re kidding me.”

Ash glances back to see what’s caught Goh’s eye so suddenly, and, yep. No confirmation needed, really; Ash has become rather familiar with that blazing look, and, though he’d never tell Goh, it���s half the reason he agreed to let Gary stay with them in the first place.

He smiles as Gary approaches. “Hey, Gary! You look great!”

It’s the truth, too; he’s not holding any of the tension he was the last time Ash saw him, just before he went off to Unova for some kind of conference on the origins of fossil Pokémon. Come to think of it, he’s seemed stressed for a while. Years, even. Maybe having housemates will be good for him, in that case.

“Good to see ya, Ash. Goh.” He takes up the chair next to Ash and flashes an easy grin across the table at a fuming Goh. “Long time no see.”

“That’s all you have to say?” Goh demands. “This isn’t very funny, you know. You and Ash going behind my back—it’s really rude, actually. I never asked—”

Gary puts his hands up, as if in surrender. “Hey, don’t go getting the wrong idea, Goh. You guys are doin’ me a huge favour, and I’ll be good, promise. Besides, Ash told me you were okay with it, so if anyone should be on the receiving end of this verbal lashing, it oughta be him, not me.”

Ash smiles sheepishly when Goh turns his glare on him. “It’s just for a while, right? Besides, you’re always saying stuff I can’t keep up with, and I know it frustrates you. Gary can match your pace, right?”

There’s that sigh again. It’s long-suffering, sure, but Ash knows a concession when he hears one.

Goh picks up his menu and grumbles out something that sounds like, “Fine.” When Gary looks his way, Ash just shrugs and reaches for his own menu. Things will work out. They always do.

-

They don’t work out right away, of course. Goh and Gary bicker over everything from the arrangement of the dishes (“The cups face down, not up!”) to Goh’s taste in books (“Couldn’t you have picked a more reputable author than this?”). Ash takes it in stride, content to let them squabble until they find a compromise, which despite Goh’s insistences otherwise, they usually do.

Gary brings a sort of balance to their daily routines, though. Like Goh, he is more of a night owl than Ash, and after dinner they find their quiet peace on either side of the couch where Ash can only assume they remain for hours even after he has gone to bed. In the morning, he often wakes before Goh and helps prepare breakfast, which Goh undoubtedly appreciates if only because he is a more versatile—and admittedly talented—cook than Ash.

Eventually, their compromises begin to outweigh their conflicts, and most of their arguing is more or less good-natured teasing (on Gary’s end, at least—“good-natured” may not be Goh’s first choice of word).

One evening, after Ash has cleaned up from dinner and then gone out for a brief training session with his Pokémon in preparation for an upcoming tournament, he returns to the apartment to find Goh and Gary not on opposite sides of the couch, but sat together in the middle. They don’t do much more than glance up when he enters, apparently engrossed in some kind of research paper laid out between them. They are so close their shoulders are touching.

Ash turns away to hide the smile it brings to his face, knowing neither of them would necessarily appreciate seeing it. He stands there for a while, though, just watching; every so often, one of them will comment on something, and the other will respond in that serious, academic voice they so rarely use with him.

Eventually, it is only exhaustion that pulls him away from the scene. But it stays in his head long after he has fallen asleep, a dream he’s had many times before that couldn’t possibly measure up to the real thing.

-

Though the tournament is nothing more than a local doubles competition, Gary and Goh both insist on coming to watch Ash compete. They have nothing better to be doing, apparently, a fact he is equal parts grateful for and annoyed by, because it turns out they are more distracting than he previously gave them credit for.

He boils it down to the fact that he’s never seen the both of them sit so close to each other for so long without Gary making one antagonistic jab or another or Goh getting fed up with him for breathing too arrogantly, or something. This isn’t completely true, because the scene from the couch last week has played out a few more times since, but maybe it’s the novelty of seeing it in the middle of the day, in public, knowing that a year ago they might have managed this only for his sake, but today their comfortable companionship is more than a series of simple compromises.

Still, he forces himself to focus as best he can; he is lucky, at least, that his Pokémon know him well enough to understand his intentions even when his attention isn’t all there. He wins the tourney, but narrowly; Pikachu chastises him for his distraction after the final battle, but, well…he can’t help it if he doesn’t quite hear it over the sounds of Gary and Goh cheering his name, in shocking unison, no less.

They both approach him after. Goh throws an arm around his shoulder while Gary pries the trophy from his hands to get a better look at it.

“That was great!”

Gary glances up with a wry smile. “You really pulled through there, Ashy-boy. What’s got you so distracted today, huh?”

Ash blinks. His grin falters, but he quickly covers it up with an awkward laugh. “I dunno. Guess I’m just a bit tired, is all.”

“You have been going to bed later than usual,” Goh remarks. “But if anything, that just makes your win more impressive, right?”

Ash scratches at the back of his neck. “I’m not so sure about that…”

“Well, either way.” Gary passes the trophy back to him with a brief, searching look. “Congratulations. Let’s go home and have something to eat.”

Ash feels Goh react to the word home, a clenching of his muscles and then…he relaxes. Smiles. Says, “Sounds like a great idea. I’m starving.”

On the way home, they walk on either side of him. Whatever Gary may or may not think, he says nothing more of it, but his arm brushes against Ash’s a few times as they walk, and he knows it doesn’t matter anyway. He’s proud of Ash. He’s just glad he was here to support him. He doesn’t have any easier of a time admitting than he does in admitting he’s glad Goh was beside him the whole time, too.

-

Gary keeps a closer eye on Ash during the evening hours, perhaps prepared to send him off to bed at a more respectable hour (he doesn’t point out that even his own mother wouldn’t enforce a bedtime anymore, if only because he’s finds Gary’s mother-henning the slightest bit endearing at the best of times), which unfortunately means he can’t spend quite as much time watching he and Goh curl up on the couch together and gossip about whatever budding researchers gossip about.

He finds other moments to watch them, though. Over dinnertime conversations when Goh leans over the table towards him without even realizing it. When they are cleaning up after the fact, dancing around each other in the kitchen with the ease of practice established by joint Project Mew missions many years ago, or when they occasionally don’t coordinate well enough and bump into each other, only to exchange light-hearted quips about the others lack of perception and laugh it off. Or when all three of them settle down in front of the TV, where Ash usually finds himself sandwiched between the two of them, and Gary stretches an arm across his shoulders until his fingers are brushing against Goh, as if that was his intention all along.

Weeks turn into months, and Gary still hasn’t gone anywhere, but Goh stopped asking when he was planning to quite some time ago. He’s still sleeping on the couch, though Ash has offered his bed many times. He’s always met with a scoff and a dismissive wave. “I’d rather not get punched in the face in my sleep, thanks.”

Once, Ash points out that Goh has slept beside him with no incident plenty of times, and Gary’s face turns a subtle shade of pink. He turns away and mutters, “Yeah, well, no accounting for sheer luck.” It is the end of the conversation; Ash keeps it in his head for a long time after the fact, wishing he could figure out how to make Gary that flustered again.

So he does think it’s a bit unfair when he wakes up one night to find the couch empty. Initially, he is concerned, but a quick look at the coffee table assures him Gary has left most of his things, Poké Balls included, behind, so he likely is still in the apartment somewhere. This suspicion is confirmed when he eases open Goh’s door to find them both curled up on the bed, sound asleep.

He only just manages to clamp down on the impulse to wake them up and demand they let him join long enough to take a photo. Gary’s arm is slung loosely over Goh’s chest, while Goh’s leg is crossed over Gary’s at the ankle. They are close enough together that their heads are touching.

With that out of the way, he feels little remorse for disturbing the peace. They begin to stir when he lifts their limbs out of his way, but don’t fully register what’s happening until Ash has flopped down in the narrow space between them.

“What the…?” Gary cranes his neck, squinting through the shadows at him. “Ash? What are you doing?”

Goh’s a bit quicker to react. His glare is surprisingly easy to make out in the pitch dark. “It’s the middle of the night!”

“Yeah, well.” Ash puts his head against the pillows, intent on relaxing even as they both radiate irritation. “I had that feeling like I was missing out on somethin’, that’s all.”

He feels the moment the situation registers for them both. Their muscles go tense, and then Goh shoots upright.

“It was an accident,” he says quickly. “We didn’t mean to fall asleep. We were just…”

It’s too dark to see it, but Ash has a feeling his cheeks have grown rather red.

“Just…?”

“Making out,” Gary says. “Or whatever else you’re thinking. That.”

“No!” Goh shrieks. “Gross. Shut up, Gary. He was reading a book to me.”

Gary makes a small, pathetic noise from Ash’s other side. Inexplicably, it reminds Ash of the day he mentioned sharing a bed with Goh.

Ash pushes himself upright too, frowning. “Okay, well…either way, I mean—I’m just saying, I like your mouth too, Gary, whatever it’s doing, so…”

“Way to get to the point, Ashy,” Gary mutters.

“Ash, ew. You have the wrong idea.”

“Nah, I don’t.” He grabs a hold of Goh’s arm and tugs at it, until they both fall back down to Gary’s level. Even then, he doesn’t let go, and Goh doesn’t ask him to. “Sure, I’m not always the smartest, but I’m not blind, y’know.” He stops, briefly overtaken by a yawn, then glances over at Gary. “If I’m really wrong, you can tell me, but…”

Gary turns his head slightly, so their eyes meet through the dark.

“You’re not wrong,” he says quietly. “But you did choose a really stupid time to bring it up.”

Ash hears Goh swallow, the way he does sometimes when he gets nervous. But he still doesn’t push Ash away.

“Point taken,” Ash concedes. “So let’s just sleep now and talk about it in the morning.”

Goh melts into him, the tension finally draining out of his muscles again. “Okay. Yeah. Morning it is.”

A sigh from the other side, and then Gary’s head falls back against the pillow. “You’d better not punch me in my sleep.”

Ash brings his free hand down to find Gary’s, intertwining their fingers, and raises their joined hands up to rest against his own chest. He closes his eyes, lips turning up in a small smile. “Wouldn’t dream of it,” he says.

[causewhywouldnti]

My thoughts as I’m watching 24 seasons of law & order svu:

Season 5

Loved how Elliot was portrayed in 5x06. Yes, he made a mistake. But he recognized it and then tried to fix it. Prefer that to characters who are either just perfect or never learn.

Mariska getting to act with her dad in 5x09 was pretty cool. The partnership of Benson and Stabler was great that whole episode. Especially showed how well he knew her. For example, when she couldn‘t arrest Hilary, so he took over. Miniscule moment, but you can see it in their body language.

The interrogation in 5x13 shows a lot of dynamics. Especially, Benson and Stablers silent understanding of each other. You can see the exact moment that they change tactics. They do it at the same time, and he just gives her a small nod and she steps back. And then Fin comes in for the kill. Beautifully executed by the actors.

Andy Abbot reading himself his Miranda rights in 5x20 is exactly what I do in my head, when someone tells me something, I tell other people on a daily basis.

Could be my lack of sleep talking, but the fake argument between Stabler and Benson in 5x23 is just really funny to me.

Familiar faces: Mare Winningham (Susan, Grey‘s), Susanna Thompson (Hollis, NCIS), Marisol Nichols (24), Josh Hopkins (Cougar Town/Whiskey Cavalier!), Andre Royo (Fringe), Daphne Zuniga (OTH), Milo Ventimiglia (Jess, Gilmore Girls), Serena Williams, Gary Cole (NCIS), Barry Bostwick (Spin City), Michael Emerson (Person of Interest), Jane Seymour, Arielle Kebbel (9-1-1), Blair Brown (Fringe), Cress Williams (Tucker, Grey‘s), Marcia Jean Kurtz (In Her Shoes), Michael Beach (The100), Marlee Matlin (Switched at Birth) and Chris Potter (The Good Witch)

Favorite Episodes: 5x04, 5x06, 5x09, 5x17 and 5x24

Favorite lines: “I was just trying to help her up.” “With your penis?”- Benson 5x03

“Lady, I’ve got four kids, if I ever talked to one of them like that, I’d arrest myself.” - Stabler 5x03

About whether he thinks Benson killed a man: „I know you didn‘t. You’d have shot the bastard.“ - Stabler 5x09

"Well, the outfit's a crime, but it's not a match." - Cragen 5x25

[quietwingsinthesky]

Okay, see this raises an interesting question. I think I’m going to go with ‘yes, soulless!Sam could be possessed’ because there’s nothing in the show that tells us he couldn’t. He is a vessel, theoretically, soul or not, the blood and bone of him should be able to contain an angel. I think the soul thing is actually a whole different issue. Not ‘can Sam be possessed without a soul’, but ‘how does possession work sans soul?’ And I’m of two minds about this.

First, I’m going to work with the closest equivalent we’ve got, which is that Sam’s soul does kind of possess his own body? Given what we know of demons and ghosts (both previously human, both divorced from their original bodies, both able to possess other humans,) this isn’t that out there of an assumption to make, I think. And second, given that, why did soulless!sam’s very vocal denial of consent not matter towards that possession, and what does that tell us about how an angel approaching him would work?

So, option one: Sam’s soul doesn’t require his body’s consent to re-enter it because human souls just don’t work on angel grace rules. Angels need consent. Demons and ghosts do not, and so I think it would be reasonable to assume that their common ancestor, the regular old human soul, doesn’t have to follow those rules either. Now, if true, theoretically, this would mean you could juggle whatever souls through whatever bodies you want like it’s the scene from the live action scooby-doo film, which could certainly be used for Hijinks.

(Wait. Wait, hold on. Okay, this holds up, actually. Granted, it’s a case involving a spell, but Swap Meat, yeah? The episode where a random teenager gets into Sam’s body? Human soul traded for human soul across bodies, and neither needed the body’s consent to get inside. Also, while Gary is in Sam’s body, his consent could technically allow Lucifer in as well, hinted at by the demon in the episode, so that’s something to think about. Whether Lucifer would be happy it’s not Sam letting him in, that’s a whole other discussion, but it could happen and that’s what matters here. The body and soul don’t technically need to match up for the consent to matter, the invasive soul’s consent overrides the body’s and that of the original soul’s.)

Option two: Human soul do need consent to possess people, but soulless!sam doesn’t count as people. He doesn’t count as someone who can consent. He doesn’t even count as someone who can’t consent. I mean, obviously to us, we can tell that soulless!sam is pretty clearly an individual with some level of autonomy outside of the presence of Sam’s soul, and that he very loudly protested being forced to take his soul back, and that he continued to exist as a separate entity behind Sam’s wall until Sam reabsorbed him. So like. Soulless!Sam was a being whose consent was violated in this instance. To us.

What I’m getting at here is that, in the universe of the show, it wasn’t. Because soulless!sam, as a body, as a vessel, does not have the ability to consent or not consent. It’s a non-issue. He is empty, and that’s all that matters.

So, depending on which of these we go with, that leaves us with either:

option one, an angel would require soulless!sam’s consent to enter his body, but as usual, no human soul/ghost/demon would. So he works just like everyone else in the universe.

option two: an angel would not require soulless!sam’s consent to possess him because he’s free real estate, babyyy. he’s an empty house. he might be a person but that doesn’t mean the universe is going to treat him like one. If Lucifer strolled up to him, he wouldn’t even have to ask, he’d just jump his bones then and there and have himself a nice tall person-suit.

Which, in a way, means Sam’s right. His body is just a vessel. It doesn’t even get to choose who enters or leaves it, not like Sam might get to throw other beings out once he’s inside.

Does Sam think of it as his body or does he, in the (occasional) privacy of his own head, refer to it as his vessel?

[henswilsons]

to love you, for god’s sake

buck/eddie | 4k+ | ao3

Mr LAFD Updates Man meets a popstar. aka bad s6 spec. aka im so sorry.

“Wait, the Palladium?” is the first thing Buck says when Bobby gets off the radio. “As in, the Hollywood Palladium?”

“I can imagine so,” Bobby says, as he starts the firetruck engine. They hadn’t even gotten back to the station before they’d been radioed for an extraction in the local area; next to Eddie, Chimney is frantically guzzling the coffee Ravi had fetched for them only seconds before. “Why, are you familiar with it?”

“I wonder,” Buck starts, and then nothing else, ears flaming red. Eddie touches their knees together. It’s mostly grounding, the way he always does whenever Buck gets cagey, but also—he knows that look.

That’s the I think we’re about to bump into an ex type look.

Eddie normally tries to pretend that Mr LAFD Updates Man is one extensive bad dream, but when he’s dating the most good-looking man in America, who has also probably hooked up with half of millennial Los Angeles, sometimes the fact he’s a semi-famous public figure comes in handy. Namely in that he watched a TED Talk about powerposing and is not necessarily above evoking the Wonderwoman stance at Buck’s shoulder if someone ever gets a little too familiar.

(Besides. He did not suffer through multiple shirtless of pictures of himself being memorialised on what Ravi has explained to him is gay Twitter for people to think his boyfriend is on the market.)

“You wonder?” he prompts mildly.

He’s expecting Buck to maybe shyly duck his head, admit that he once dated a concession girl who worked at the Hollywood Palladium, or maybe even that he hooked up with a roadie in one of the bathrooms there—but then fucking Ravi looks up sharply, too. “Did you say Hollywood Palladium?” he says.

Bobby frowns in the rearview. “Is there something I’m missing here?”

“No,” Buck and Ravi say, at the same time. Then they both wildly hold each other’s gazes like they’re daring the other to say anything.

“Wait,” Lucy says. “Isn’t that country guy doing a show there tonight?”

“Country guy?” Chimney says.

“Yeah, you know him. What’s his name—Gary something? He’s the one with the…” She does an ambiguous gesture, snapping her fingers to remember. “Glitter. And cowboy hat. Right?”

The image vaguely rings a bell in Eddie’s head. To Buck, he says, “Don’t you listen to a singer who wears glitter and cowboy hats?”

Buck’s face has steadily gone redder and redder and he’s stoutly avoiding eye contact, and oh, yeah, he so does, and yeah, this is so him. “…No.”

Eddie is delighted. “Yeah, you do. He sings that one song about moonlight, right, that you always play when you’re cooking dinner?” Cowboys Don’t Dance, is what it is. Eddie will never forget it—it’s the song they had their first kiss to, over a half-greased muffin tin and an attempt at bran cupcakes. “What’s it called again… Dancing Cowboys?”

“Oh, fuck you,” Buck says, cheeks scarlet. “You know what it’s called.”

“You’re right,” Eddie says, to be an asshole, snapping his fingers. “Cowboys Do Dance.”

“Cowboys Don’t Dance,” Ravi blurts, and then claps his hands over his mouth. Lucy looks like the cat who just got the cream. Chimney is glancing between everyone like he’s watching a ping-pong match and grinning maniacally. “It’s called Cowboys Don’t Dance and it’s by Gerald Rhinestone and he’s literally my favourite singer of all time and he’s got a show at the Palladium tonight.”

Everyone stares at him. Buck points a shaking finger at him. “You’re a Rhinestone?”

“Of course I’m a Rhinestone,” Ravi snaps. “I have a Twitter account.”

“His name is Gerald Rhinestone?” Chimney says. He looks like he’s trying not to burst into laughter. “Is that a stage name?”

“Yes,” Buck says, “obviously. His real name is Dom Simmons.”

Eddie is so, so fucking charmed. “Obviously.”

“Don’t even start with me,” Buck says to him. “I know you know what that song was called.”

“Now, I’m not insinuating anything,” Chimney says, “but all I am saying is that that name sounds like it belongs to a gay pornstar.”

“Are we about to meet Gerald Rhinestone?” Ravi says, panicked. “Cap, did they say anything?”

Bobby’s voice is bubbling with laughter when he says, “No, dispatch did not let me know if there was a popstar there as well.”

“He’s not a popstar,” Buck says, “he’s a country star.”

“There’s a difference,” Ravi says.

“Man,” Lucy says. “I did not think the inside of his firetruck could possibly get any gayer after Buck and Eddie got together. And yet here are.”

Ravi maturely sticks his tongue out at her, and she sticks hers out in return. Hen says, “Oh, Karen loves Gerald Rhinestone. She always plays his music around the house when she’s cleaning.”

“What does she listen to?” Buck says.

“Her favourite is that one about horses. What’s it called—Ride?”

“Ride Until We Die,” Buck says. To Ravi, he mouths, basic, and Ravi nods gravely. Hen catches him and kicks him. “Sorry, but it is!”

Before they can start squabbling, the truck comes to a stop. “Okay, we’re here,” Bobby says, and then, before any of them can get out, he turns around in his seat, hooking an arm over the back of it, and looks at Buck and Ravi. “If—and I mean if—your Gary Rhinestone—”

“Gerald,” Ravi mumbles.

“—is in there, I want you to remember that we’re professionals and we have a job to do. I understand being starstruck—goodness knows when I met Scott Hamilton I blacked out—but we’re going into an active medical scene here, and I need you to keep your heads on. Am I understood?”

“Yes, Cap,” Buck and Ravi say. Eddie squeezes Buck’s knee.

“Who’s Scott Hamilton?” Chimney says.

Bobby frowns at him. “You don’t know Scott Hamilton?” Chimney shrugs. Bobby looks at everyone in the truck, and is greeted by blank faces. “Scott Hamilton? He won the Olympic gold in the 1984 Winter Olympics?”

There is a pause. “Oh, that Scott Hamilton,” Chimney says, feebly. Bobby just huffs a laugh and climbs out the truck.

Everyone follows suit, Hen and Ravi still hotly debating at how many songs and which ones they are can someone claim themselves a fan, but Eddie lingers to the back, with Buck, whose feet slow on the sidewalk outside the truck as he gapes at the big neon GERALD RHINESTONE sign across the front of the venue. He looks completely awestruck, and even though they’re at work, Eddie can’t help but nudge their hips together, just a little, coming to a stop beside him: Bobby’s at the front, anyway.

“You doing okay?” he teases, softly.

“I think I’m about to die,” Buck says. “God, Eddie, what if he’s there? What if I meet Gerald Rhinestone?”

“It’s two in the afternoon, sweetheart,” Eddie says. “You really think he’ll be there this early?”

“I don’t know! Maybe!” Buck presses a grieved hand to his forehead. It’s kinda hysterical how nervous he looks. If Eddie were any less secure in their relationship, he might have started getting jealous. “How’s my hair?”

“It looks good,” Eddie says; means it, because of course it does, because it’s Buck, who’s beautiful even when it’s curling and hanging over his forehead, but who also takes care to gel and comb it into place every morning. Buck smiles, a little surprised, anyway.

“Yeah?” he says.

“Yeah,” Eddie says. “Of course. You always look good.”

Buck’s smile comes a little softer. “You knew the name of the song, didn’t you? In the truck?”

“I’m not going to forget something like that.” He means that, too, because it’s not every day you kiss the love of your goddamn life for the first time, yanking open the front door, still in his dispatch uniform, Buck having beat him home by twenty minutes and stress-baking muffins for Christopher’s bake sale that Friday, barely getting a “hey” out before Eddie had strode across the kitchen, taken his face in his hands, and kissed him fucking silly—but also because the song is called Cowboys Can’t Dance. That’s the name of the song they had their first kiss to. Cowboys Can’t Dance.

It could have been worse, is how he comforts himself. He knows Buck unironically has Wonderwall on that playlist.

“Buckley! Diaz!” Bobby calls, halfway up the steps to the entrance. “You coming?”

“You’re a romantic piece of shit sometimes, Diaz,” Buck says, but he gets in an ass-pinch before he’s dancing up the steps, laughing delightedly as Eddie chases him up. “Hey, this is workplace harassment!”

It appears he’s mostly forgotten about Gerald Rhinestone, but it doesn’t last long. Someone harried greets them in the foyer, leading them into the mostly-empty auditorium, which is predominantly populated by venue and tour staff carting around wires and roadcases. “He must have completely misjudged the end of the stage,” the woman is explaining as she hurries down the aisle, the 118 close at her heels. “They were just rehearsing for the set tonight and then he fell into the orchestra pit. He’s okay, I think, he’s talking and awake and lucid, but I think he’s done something to his ankle.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” Bobby says. “We’ll take it from here.”

She nods gratefully, clasping her hands into a worried knot beneath her chin, and steps back, allowing them to all peer over the edge of the orchestra pit.

To Eddie, it just looks like a regular guy on the floor, surrounded by people all still carrying instruments, but from beside him Buck lets out a squeak and Ravi mumbles something that sounds like a prayer for help. Eddie glances at them, but then Bobby is calling down, “LAFD, sir, just hold on for us a little longer,” and is herding them all down staircase on the side of the pit to enter in.

“How are you boys doing?” Hen teases as they descend.

“I think I’m about to die,” Ravi says faintly.

“I heard you praying,” Chimney says. “I didn’t know you were religious.”

“I was blaspheming and hoping God would just kill me.”

Eddie hides a smile. “There’s something kinda wrong with both of you.”

“Okay, funny, Mr Breakdown,” Ravi snits, and Eddie says, mostly on instinct, “LAFD Updates Man, actually.”

Ravi glowers. “I liked you better when you were straight.”

Buck lets out a hysterical giggle.

Eddie’s eyes adjust when they get to the bottom of the stairs. He’s never been one for live theatre—why see people from far away onstage when you could just watch a movie?—but he had definitely misjudged how big orchestra pits are. In his head, they’d always been huge, but this one is small, and crowded—both enough so that there’s really nowhere for Buck to escape to, though Eddie can tell he wants to as they all shoulder their way through what presumably is the band, still holding their instruments and looking worried.

And then—

“I told y’all,” says the man, still on the ground. He looks relatively okay, aside from his ankle, which is twisted at a nasty angle and beginning to go purple. Someone’s elevated it on a chair, and there’s a person behind him helping him sit upright. “You didn’t need to call 911.”

“Were you expecting to play the set with a snapped ankle, Dom?” a lady holding a banjo says to him.

“Well, no, but we could have just driven me. I’m so sorry about the inconvenience,” the man adds to Bobby, at the front of the group, and though he’s not talking to him directly Buck goes a pretty pink all over. “Thank y’all for coming all this way.”

“Not a problem,” Bobby says. “We were in the area.” He nods behind him. “Hen, Chim, can you check his ankle? Eddie, check for any head injuries.

“Cap, yes, Cap,” Chimney says, because he likes to think he’s funny, and then they’re swanning over, Hen and Chimney settling beside his elevated ankle and Eddie crouching next to him, pulling out his penlight.

“How’s your head, sir?” he says. The man turns to look at him, and—yeah, okay, Eddie gets the hype now. He’s more into the stocky guys himself, hence Buck, who is built like a barn, but he can’t deny that this is a beautiful man in front of him, all green eyes and dark hair. He can imagine this dude probably makes a killing on dating apps, especially if he looks at people the way he’s looking at Eddie. Damn, Eddie can’t imagine what he’d be like if he actually turned it on.

“Oh, all good,” the man says. He does a once-over of Eddie, probably verifying that he’s LAFD. “I didn’t hit it when I fell.”

His banjo player sighs somewhere above them. “Yeah, because you landed feet-first like an idiot and crumpled like a Coke can.”

“I’m just going to check your pupils, to be safe,” Eddie says, and flashes the penlight at the man’s eyes. (Or—he’s not really the man, considering Eddie knows who he is, but what does he call him? Gerald Rhinestone? Dom? Just Gerald? He feels as though Gerald Rhinestone must be in all capitals whenever he says it in his head.) The man’s eyes look more than fine, though his pupils are a little dilated. Eddie frowns, putting the penlight down. Maybe it’s just a little dark in here. “Can you tell me your name?”

“Gerald,” the man says, which at least saves Eddie the panic of deciding what to call him in his head. He holds out his hand, even though Eddie hadn’t been introducing himself. “And yours?”

“Uh,” Eddie says. “I’m Eddie.”

He shakes his hand. Gerald holds on for a little long. There is a choking noise behind them.

“Say,” Gerald says, finally. “You look kinda familiar.”

“Just one of those faces, I guess,” Eddie says. “Can you tell me the date?”

Gerald ignores him, squinting. It’s not until his friend holding him up sucks in a breath and says, “Holy shit, are you that Twitter guy?” that he seems to land on where he recognises him from.

And of course, it’s Twitter. It’s always fucking Twitter.

“Yes,” Eddie says, a little resigned. Whichever influencer slid into his DMs to reassure him that the internet’s memory was fleeting and he’d be back to his normal life in a manner of weeks was talking from their ass, because it’s been nearly a year and he’s still getting this sort of shit. (He supposes it doesn’t help that Josh is apparently still milking his likeness all over Twitter for dispatch interaction. Not that he knows this, because he deleted Twitter.) “Can you tell me the date, Gerald?”

“November twelfth,” Gerald says, and his eyes do another deliberate drag down Eddie’s body. It’s not until what definitely sounds like Buck from behind him makes a wheezing sound that Eddie realises, with a sudden start, that he thinks he might be getting hit on. “You’re impressive up close, Mr LAFD Updates.”

Eddie cannot be getting hit on by the man who wrote the song he had his first kiss with Buck with. This can’t really be happening.

“You should see him from far away,” Chimney jokes, from still beside his ankle. “Gets so much more handsome when you can’t see his face properly.”

Eddie is a professional, so he doesn’t flip him off, but then Gerald says, “Mm, I don’t know about that,” and he nearly chokes.

“Uh,” he says.

Thankfully, Bobby, his guardian angel, unknowingly descends on them, placing a hand on his shoulder. “How’s our friend, Eddie?” he says.

Eddie bluescreens for a second longer, Gerald still smirking at him, before he remembers, oh, yeah, technically in a workplace, and snaps back into action. “Doesn’t look like he obtained any head injuries—I think it may just be the ankle that got injured.”

“Good,” Bobby says. To Gerald, he says, “Our paramedics are just splinting your ankle so we can lift you onto a stretcher—you’ll be out of here in no time, sir.”

“Thank you,” Gerald says, though this is more of a leer to Eddie than anything.

To Eddie’s surprise, Bobby doesn’t move away at this; he stays, hand still on Eddie’s shoulder, as if deliberating something. Then finally, he leans forward a little furtively. “I have two firefighters behind me who are big fans,” he says, lowly. “Do you mind terribly if they come say hello? I think they’re both jumping out of their skin.”

Gerald laughs. “Of course. I love meeting fans.” He winks at Eddie, who feels himself traitorously blush a little. (Look, he can’t help it, okay? Gerald Rhinestone is a handsome dude.)

Bobby hasn’t even properly straightened before Buck and Ravi are making beelines, Lucy swaggering behind them, snapping at her gum with her arms folded. Eddie feels Buck’s hand dust across his shoulder, and he reaches up to smooth a hand over it before it then basically pushes him out the way and Buck settles in next to him, eyes huge and wide. “Hi, Mr Rhinestone,” he squeaks. “I’m a huge fan.”

He holds out his hand. Gerald laughs warmly and shakes it. “Nice to meet you,” he says. “What’s your name?”

Buck evidently did not anticipate getting this far, because he just kind of gapes. Eddie magnanimously steps in.

“This is Buck,” he says, and Gerald’s smile gets a little smirkier. “And that’s Ravi.”

“Hi,” Ravi manages, still stood. “I really like your vest.”

Gerald looks down at himself like he’d forgotten what he was wearing. For the first time, Eddie properly registers the pink sparkly waistcoat, unbuttoned to show off a lot of his tanned hairless chest. “Oh, thank you,” he says. “I like your… gear.”

Ravi giggles. (Fucking giggles!) Buck just keeps kinda gaping.

“I was just getting acquainted with your coworker here,” Gerald continues, and oh no. “He was just telling me about his stint as Mr LAFD Updates Man.”

“Oh, I wasn’t,” Eddie says, but it falls on deaf ears.

“I have to say, I’m a big fan,” Gerald says. “I turned on post notifications and everything.”

“Wow,” Ravi says, dreamily.

“That’s nice,” says Eddie.

“And when I saw him today,” Gerald continues, “I almost couldn’t believe it. It’s not every day you meet a celebrity.”

Buck and Ravi are nodding so intently Eddie’s a little afraid for their necks. “Sure isn’t,” Buck agrees, as Ravi says solemnly, “So true.”

Eddie laughs nervously. “Ah, well. I wouldn’t call myself a celebrity.”

“Mm,” Gerald says, still smirking. “Say, Mr LAFD Updates Man, I don’t suppose I could get a photo?”

Eddie—blinks. “Of me?”

“Well, sure,” Gerald agrees easily, “but I was hoping with you.”

Eddie glances at Buck. He’s not sure what he’s expecting, but it’s certainly not for Buck to be looking at him like he’s stupid. “It’s rude to keep someone waiting, Eddie,” he says.

And—okay. Well, then. “Uh, sure,” Eddie says, thrown. He’s had to get good at selfies, unfortunately, considering after the first one was posted online he has been exponentially accosted with more people asking for them, and due to the nature of his job this wouldn’t be the first that’s been taken on a medical scene—his personal favourite was with the girl who had accidentally been shot in the leg with a crossbow—but it is the first that he can see, in his peripheral, Buck and Ravi desperately trying to get in the frame of in the background. Gerald leans a little too close as he takes the picture—Buck’s eyebrow and birthmark makes it in, as does the flick of Ravi’s hair—and then, to Eddie’s surprise, passes the phone to him.

“To put your number in,” he says.

Eddie gapes at him, and then turns to frown at Buck. Buck prods, “Eddie, give the man your number.”

“Oh my God,” Eddie says, but does as he’s told. He doesn’t put a name, which maybe was a bad idea, because Gerald does so himself when he passes it back, as Mr LAFD Updates Man and a—Christ alive—eggplant emoji—yeah, after dating Buck for a year Eddie now knows what that means.

“I’ll text you, cowboy,” Gerald says, with a wink.

“…Okay,” Eddie says. This is bizarre. This whole day is bizarre. Buck vibrating next to him is absolutely bizarre.

“Can we get pictures too?” Ravi pipes.

And so Gerald fucking Rhinestone takes photos with both Ravi and Buck, and then also Hen for Karen, and records a video for Ravi’s Twitter followers, and then his manager asks if they want to take a group picture for his social media and Eddie somehow ends up between Buck and Gerald—who is still on the floor with a broken ankle, may he add—and feels like he’s stepped into an alternate dimension.

This is the weirdest fucking day of his life.

Finally, Hen and Chimney help him onto a backboard, and Buck and Chimney carry him out the auditorium and into the ambulance. By now, they’ve garnered company, and Bobby as well as the venue staff are standing shoulder to shoulder trying to keep the fans back. Gerald doesn’t help, waving to them from his backboard like a king on a dais, and then someone shrieks, “That’s Mr LAFD Updates Man!” and Eddie pretty much makes a run for the firetruck.

“Holy shit,” Ravi says, once they’ve all climbed in. “What just happened. I think I blacked out.”

“I cannot believe you got his fucking number,” Lucy says, with a laugh.

“Yeah, neither can I,” Eddie says, and knocks his knee pointedly into Buck’s. Buck is still vibrating a little—it’s kinda adorable, how fucking psyched he is, like a kid with an ice cream, but also Eddie needs some clarity here. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Uh, because Gerald Rhinestone was hitting on you?” Buck says. “Baby, I wouldn’t even be upset if you left me for him.”

Eddie gapes. Fucking gapes. Ravi says, “Word,” from behind his phone, probably live-Tweeting this whole conversation. Eddie wonders if it’s worth it to fall out the truck into moving traffic.

“What?” he says. “Why would I do that?”

He’s dismayed, actually, that Buck would say that, and Buck must notice, because he quickly takes his hand. “Hey, I’m kidding,” he says. “If you left me for him I’d be fucking devastated. Like, the kind of devastation I don’t think I could ever recover from.” The rest of the truck are politely pretending not to hear this. “It’s just… you know. He’s Gerald Rhinestone. I’d let you.”

Eddie is so, so confused. “Let me what?”

“You know. Have sex with him.”

Chimney barks with laughter and Hen elbows him. She is looking so pointedly out the window that her neck is almost at a full one-eighty turn. Eddie repeats, “Have sex with Gerald Rhinestone.”

“I’d be ashamed of you if you didn’t.”

“What the fuck,” Eddie says. “Why would I want to have sex with Gerald Rhinestone?”

Buck owlishly blinks at him. “Did you not see him?”

“I mean—yeah, I was there.”

“He’s hot like burning.”

“I mean, I guess,” Eddie says. “But why would I want to have sex with anyone who wasn’t you?”

“Oh, Jesus Christ,” Lucy mutters, and Chimney starts rolling down the window, probably to make his escape, but all Eddie can focus on is Buck, the way his face softens, eyes growing soppy—but also so in love Eddie aches a little.

“You sweet-talker, you,” Buck says, softly.

“I’m serious.”

“I know, and I’m mad, because if our positions were swapped I probably would have sex with Gerald Rhinestone.” Eddie elbows him. “I’m joking!”

“You’re so not,” Eddie says, and Buck grins at him, kinda guilelessly. Big burly overcoats and seatbelts be damned, Eddie throws an arm around his shoulders, and Buck obligingly tips, head on his shoulder. “It’s okay. I’d probably have sex with Ryan Reynolds if he asked.”

Buck bites a little at his shoulder. “Asshole,” he says, but his fingers find Eddie’s anyway, link together even when he sits up. They don’t hold hands much at work, at most just a quick squeeze, but here, neither of them let go.

Bobby says, from the front of the truck, “That was information I didn’t need to know about either of you.”

“This whole thing is going on Twitter, by the way,” Ravi says. “So you know.”

Buck squeezes his hand and smiles at him, bright-eyed and pink-cheeked. For the first time, Eddie can’t say he cares.

[epicspheal]

Something that I brought up on twitter that I wanted to bring here was how some of the choices for the Indigo League in the original anipoke series are often severely underrated. Namely speaking how Gary was knocked out of the tournament before Ash does and Ash will soon be knocked out too. As much as the anime gets a lot of flak for it’s writing (and yes there are plenty of flaws) I think it often doesn’t get the props it deserves at times for actually being a bit subversive in how it handles certain aspects and the Indigo League is good example of that when it comes to the rivalry of Ash and Gary The Kanto Protagonist-Rival dynamic is one of the most iconic in the franchise and for good reason. It’s portrayed solidly throughout the games, anime and manga although it’s really iconic mostly for the games’ portrayal (and I’m talking the RBGY and FRLG portrayals because it’s the minute details that made it so worthwhile Blue as the rival whereas trying have lightning strike twice with Trace fell flat and it’s not because “Friendly rivals are trash” but rather “you can’t put friendly rival in a story meant for a character that has negative tension with the protagonist and expect it to work”). The manga’s portrayal is solid but it’s the most vanilla of the three dynamics because it takes out one of the key features of the dynamic (the strong friendship that was destroyed prior to the journey adds emotional weight that both the game and anime portrayal actually keep intact) and didn’t do anything subversive with final like how the games and anime do. Now the anime, I think writing-wise had the most shocking portrayal of the rivalry. We’re coming into the series, especially if you watched this is the late nineties/early aughts where shows like Yu-Gi-Oh! and Beyblade were also on TV, expecting for a climactic showdown between Ash and Gary in the finals of the Indigo League where are naive rookie Ash will take down his former childhood rival and become champion. They don’t even get to face each other at all. Gary is knocked out in the top 32. I remember watching this as a kid and I was like “WHAT!? When is Ash going to face Gary?” because we had been waiting for a battle between them for ages. If it is one major criticism of the Ash-Gary rivalry that I have is that they should’ve had more battles with each other leading up to the eventual final battle in Johto. But still the subversion was huge and now that I’m older I can really appreciate it for what it was trying to do.

First off it’s super realistic that two people in a heated rivalry never face off compared to how most manga/anime tournaments tend to be where it just so happens that the main character will face most if not all of the major side characters. As a sports fan, realistically match-ups are quite random and rivalries don’t always get a chance to be settled in major tournaments (especially in the finals where even non-sports fans tend to tune in). Of course in a fictional narrative we want to see that payoff hence why the match-ups are a bit more contrived but it’s categorized under the willing suspension of disbelief for the sake of closing story arcs. Second upsets happen in tournaments all the time. Number one seeds get ousted by the lowest ranked people/teams in the tournament. Promising newcomers get unexpectedly thrashed. Gary was definitely one of the more promising rookies and we were expecting for him to go further than he does but again being promising doesn’t guarantee anything really Those two bits of realism act as a major wakeup call, for Gary, for Ash and for the audience. For Gary between that and being clapped hard by Mewtwo at the Viridian Gym (again another subversion from the games and manga where Blue is with Red and Green the last few characters to ever win the Earth badge off of Giovanni as gym leader) it’s a huge signal that something’s got to change. It’s why he acts so different once we meet him again after Ash comes back from the Orange Islands. In the moment of the Indigo League, this is a huge wakeup call for Ash as he realize “shit is real”. Despite the current animosity between him and Gary he still massively respects him especially as a trainer. And seeing him get knocked out the tournaments leaves such an impact that Ash almost considers dropping out himself, showing some rare moments of insecurity because at the moment he doesn’t believe himself to be better than Gary. If Gary can’t make it past the Top 32 what chance does he have? And then for the audience it’s a wakeup call that this despite being a kid show isn’t going to play by every trope that we come to expect. That you’re not going to win everything or always get a chance to prove yourself to someone else. It’s sobering, and quite mature for a kid’s show and I think it just doesn’t get as much credit that it deserves. It leads to introspection for both Ash and Gary and even though they don’t have their final battle until the silver conference Ash still “claims” a victory of Gary by getting further and going to win the Orange Island Cup. And this helps inform Gary’s eventual decision to become a researcher because he’s really not seeing the same results as his game and manga counterparts end up doing in their respective universes.

[mindlesscreator91]

Lucas and his love island Journey

(Note: I had these thoughts for quite a while now but I was too embarrassed to post because I didn’t think it would make sense, but after seeing @0shewrites0 theory and some of @mercedesdecorazon works, I got inspired to post. Also the sections will be titled after movie puns, Idk why I did this.)

While I have gotten to love Lucas through fanfics and headcannons, I have yet to play his route ( I’m too stubborn to let Lottie have Gary). So all the information that I’m using for this is based off of Photos I’ve seen, information I’ve heard from Lucas stans on this website, and the occasional video that follows his route. So if I get any information wrong or if my reasoning feels slightly off, feel free to correct me. On top of that, the reason why I wanted to do this was because I was really curious about the discussion amongst fans about how glitchy his route was, and how developers haven’t really put much thought into it compared to the OG guys. There’s also this idea that he was supposed to be the secondary love interest, but after script changes it was dropped. So, out of curiosity, I tried piecing together the moments from his route and his Henrik’s route (since their kind of interconnected) to try and see the full story.

Lucas’ route aka How to Lose a Guy in 4 Days

In my opinion, I feel like Lucas‘ route was meant to be a the one that got away route. The islander who managed to connect with MC, but because of certain unfortunate circumstances, was taken away. So when he returns, it’s supposed to be this joyous moment between two people who were pulled apart and brought back together. If he does end up staying, he ends up with Henrik’s dialogue which makes it seem like he’s not interested, when in fact he is. The middle section of the game is so wired to Henrik, that if Lucas ends up staying, he ends up with Henrik’s dialogue and arc instead of his own.

What do I mean? When we first meet the guys you can tell that there’s distinct differences between them. The game goes out of their way to show how much of an odd couple dynamic they have, Lucas the posh rich boy with a seductive charm and a more mature outlook and Henrik the outdoorsy nature boy with a childlike sense of wonder. There dialogues match their personalities and even their relationships with the other islanders differ. For example, While Henrik is shown to have a great relationship with Bobby and Gary, enjoying their jokes and banter, Lucas is shown not responding positively to the both of them. Once we get past day 9, things get a little clunky, especially for Lucas. Fans have mentioned that he starts acting out of character, but I don’t think he’s just acting out of character, I think he’s acting as someone else entirely.

Lurik’s route a.k.a. Don’t Be a Menace on Love Island While Doing Henrik’s Route in the Villa

Like I said, the game gets real weird in the middle. Between the two of them, this section is mostly tailored towards Henrik, even though there’s certain moments that should have Lucas there instead of him. So there ends up being this weird middle ground were he’s not supposed to be there, but also him being there makes sense because of the side plot that they give him.

Let’s try breaking this down shall we? The section were Lucas is mostly important is during the Operation Nope arc, we see this plot point come up around days 10-12.

- [ ] After you finish talking to Priya and Bobby about Operation Nope, you head to the kitchen to see Gary and Lucas. If you take the diamond choice to tell them about the plan, Lucas says he should go find and check up on Hope.

- [ ] When you go to talk to Hope on the roof terrace, she mentions Noah’s comment about her excitement over Lucas.

- [ ] Later on if you listen in on Noah and Priya, Noah makes the comment about how both Jakub and Lucas are into Hope. (Yes he says this about Henrik too, but it doesn’t make sense because Henrik hasn’t shown any interest in Hope)

Once Jakub starts to slither his way in between Hope and Noah, there’s nothing left for Lucas to do. After this, everything else is purely Henrik. We don’t see anything tailored towards Lucas until his return.

Before I get to Casa, I want to go on a tangent about something that happens during the disaster recoupling. Before you get chosen, there’s a moment where Lurik seems almost reluctant to pick you, looking over at Noah (who’s with Priya) and they end up giving a really shitty speech. For the Lucas stans, That negative recoupling speech is supposed to be said by Henrik because of his lack of interest in MC. Remember when both men are introduced, their default dialogue has Lucas interested in Hope and MC, while Henrik has an interest in Priya and Lottie. You have to outright reject Lucas in order to get Henrik’s attention. Besides that, when Lucas leaves, Henrik has that dialogue claiming how you probably wish it was him who left instead of Lucas which again makes sense since by default, Lucas likes Mc. So when it comes time for the disaster recoupling, Henrik looking over at Priya and saying how he wants her make sense because he’s actually interested in her and he’s stuck choosing between Marisol (not interested), Chelsea (a girl he hasn’t known for that long and is clearly into Gary), Lottie (someone he had feelings for at one point but she became too wrapped up in Gary to acknowledge him), and the MC who (by default) has feelings for his friend Lucas. The reason Lucas says it on his route (the one where you have to use reverse psychology on the girls to get him to stay) is because the game has him programmed as Henrik. Lucas is not supposed to be there, Henrik is, so he ends up with his reactions and dialogue.

Continuing on, the whole casa amor arc is purely for Henrik. We see that he wanted the other girls, but got left with MC. On top of that, he saw how they didn’t reciprocate his feelings plus the video clip where it looks like MC was nibbling that guy’s ear (proving her lack of interest in him). So as a way to move on, he couples up with the first girl who showed interest in him, Blake. Why would Lucas, the man who is so interested in MC, choose Blake? Especially if MC showed her loyalty to him by rejecting the other guys in the main villa. While Henrik interprets the clip as her moving on because of past occurrences, I feel like Lucas would know the clip that he sees of her is of the same challenge he and the boys took. Heck, he and Hope (if you don’t take it) do the same 30 second kissing challenge. The only reason why Lucas chose Blake, was because Henrik chose Blake.

Gary the main and Lucas the secondary aka Rennell vs. Koh

Besides Henrik (obviously) and Noah somewhat, the only other guy that Lucas has a close tie to in his arc is Gary. When the guys first come in, theirs immediately this tension between Gary and Lucas. Gary thinks of Lucas as a cocky rich pretty boy, and Lucas thinks and even says Gary is a man who beds anything that walks. The tension worsens when Lucas reveals that he has an interest in MC causing Gary, who also has a crush on her no matter the route, to sweat. On top of that, Marisol mentions to Gary that MC may have feelings for him right back. The only time the rivalry gets pushed to the side, is when Roccogate happens. If you’re apart of the drama, Lucas defends you during the tweets game and either of them can have a moment to check on you at the fire pit. The rivalry ends when Lucas leaves the villa.

The only time the rivalry comes back is if your on a Gary's route during the R!Hannah drama. Lucas and Hannah are supposed to act as a test of temptation for you and Gary. Despite his behavior, Gary is not really tempted by Hannah. MC on the other hand, is kind of supposed to be tempted by Lucas. Both he and Gary have genuine feelings for MC and both of them also connected with her on a deep level, so when he comes back she’s stuck choosing between two great guys she got to know, her day 1 and the one who got away.

The rivalry officially ends when you choose between the two. If you choose Gary, you guys come out the whole ordeal much stronger. Fully trusting each other, and finally able to enjoy the rest of your stay in the villa in peace (well Lottie is still there, but at this point she’s irrelevant). If you choose Lucas without cheating, you guys reunite and also have a very nice time in the villa. Surprisingly, things go smoothly for both couples.

[queenofgone]

K E N N E T H:​

“See that’s what I’m talking about, I knew you had it in you, girl.” He held a hand up so she could give him a high five once they were both back on their feet again. Truth be told he had been watching Nattie’s match with Demi backstage so he knew she had it in her to go above and beyond, she just needed to get out of her head to make it happen. “Ayo, Gary. Come here for a second big dog.” His friend who had been watching from outside the ring quickly got in. “Wassup?” He asked. “Lay down there for a second. I’m going to get Nattie to do that move one more time.” He turned to her making sure she was good before he asked, “…you down to try that one more time?”

@queenofhartsxo

“Yeah yeah yeah, whatever.” She shook her head, giving Kenneth a high five anyway. Gary has been one of her returning students for months now and he too worked to get Nattie, his tutor, to step out of the box and try new things in the ring. In his recent matches Kenneth wasn’t the only one who used high-flying moves in his arsenal. It was never too late to learn new things but for her she’s been the low stance, submission specialist and grappler but doing something her opponent or even the fans rarely saw her perform would make them talk and put some those negative opinions about her to rest. “Um, I think so?” Nattie took a deep breath and stepped outside the ring to climb the top turnbuckle, gazing down at the two men as she sat perched. “You ready?” Once she heard a yes she slowly stood up, taking her time before taking another breath. “One...two...three!” Before she knew it, she leapt off the top rope to do her frog splash, remembering to lower then raise her arms before she landed on Gary, softening the impact for them both. “How was that?”

@copiious