#101; .

[borbology]

had a dream this was an episode

[realnyhiphop101]

Percee P “Now And Then” Era

[bonefall]

Heyyyy since there's talk of the Breezepelt Attacking Poppyfrost scene going around, I just wanna remind people that he explicitly does that because he was groomed by the Dark Forest. Jayfeather points it out on the page that Breezepelt's stated motivation doesn't make sense, because it's not actually a rational idea Breezy-P came up with. It's then shown that actual factual evil demons are exploiting the anger he has from being a victim of child abuse, to indoctrinate and manipulate him into radical violence

I wrote a little essay about this with citations and stuff. It wasn't "for no reason," and anyone who tries to use the scene as "evidence" of Breezepelt being Secretly Evil to justify the abuse he underwent as a kid either didn't read it, has bad reading comprehension skills, or is cherrypicking on purpose.

Crowfeather emotionally and physically abused his child, Breezepelt was socially alienated by WindClan as a result, which leads to this moment. That is what is on the page.

[mournfulroses]

Hiroshi Yoshino, from 101 Modern Japanese Poems; "Evening Afterglow,"

[selfless-solipsist]

[muffled teeth screaming in the background]

brain: study me: what if i drew a glowing triangle baby in a prison jumpsuit instead?

(two versions because why not)

Totally not from Till Weirdmageddon Do Us Part.

Not canon.

...

OR IS IT?!?!?!

Anyway, next chapter soon. I have crimes to write 💅🧠✨

[ferbracket]

Perry Polls

Deformed Turquoise Man. ''No! It's a.... it's a man. It's a deformed, tiny...turquoise man.''

A metaphor. ''Oh I get it, platypus is a metaphor for whatever is keeping you down! Like corporations are a platypus; The government's a platypus''

[lesserknownbots]

[anghraine]

me: I want to crosspost more of my ST stuff to Dreamwidth, but I need some icons to express my intense, very serious feelings about my faves

[24 hours later]

[remembertheplunge]

I sweetly stalked myself as I journal in front of Preservation Coffee House in Modesto, at Weaver's Coffee House in San Fransisco and also at the Alameda.

"You don't have to go on" is an Alan Watts take on life and death. Alan was a philosopher and lecturer.

So, think about buying a journal, finding a cozy safe place to write and sweetly, ruthlessly, cunningly and patiently stalking yourself!

[teardropwolf]

Just them being close and holding each other

[101ocs]

Lucian’s Birthday 25’

[A/N]: HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY FAVE OC :p sadly, this is purely a “what if” au. not canon…..tw: mentions of domestic violence and CSA.

The car ride there was more than a little tense. With his phone buzzing every other minute and the street getting winder with every mile they moved further from the city, Andrew tried his hardest to keep his cool. He kept his eyes on the unpredictable road and periodically checked his rearview mirror to determine his daughter’s emotional state. From what he could tell from her nervous tugging against her puppy plush’s ear, the situation wasn’t going over well.

“You okay, sweetheart?” he asked, ensuring he didn’t raise his voice enough to frighten her.

She nodded quietly in response, looking out the window. But even then, he couldn’t help but press on the matter.

“I’m sorry for how Mommy’s acting, Riley. She didn’t mean anything she said, okay? She’s just upset right now.”

Of course, the bruising around his neck said otherwise. It had been a couple hours since the initial incident, but her suffocating grip still lingered against his throat. Deep purples, reds, and blues decorated his pale skin. He wore a turtleneck to hide it. After all, today was supposed to benefit Riley — to get her to interact with other kids her age and make some friends.

Andrew had noticed quite some time ago that she struggled to socialize with anyone on the playground, let alone in their neighborhood. She was turning five next month, almost ready for kindergarten, and still had no luck communicating properly with her peers. It worried him more than he’d like to admit. That’s why, whenever he received an invitation to Lucian’s fifth birthday party, he immediately took the opportunity into his own hands. He didn’t know the day was going to look this way, having Riley already stressed out before they even arrived, but prayed that things would work out. They should work out. But when he pulled into that gravel driveway, he became more uneasy than he’d like to admit.

Parking the car as neatly as he could so as to give more room for the other vehicles pulling in and out, Andrew’s knuckles turned a chalky white from holding the wheel so hard. Things were starting to look downhill for them. The children running around, screaming, and chasing each other into a giant bouncy house was one thing, but seeing the mass group of parents was another. Andrew hadn’t made the connection in his head that he’d have to do his fair share of socializing, too. For some reason, his mind had totally blocked this part out in hopes of getting Riley some help. He felt stupid for a moment before the fleeting sensation of heat rose to his face from embarrassment.

The phone buzzed again. He sighed and shoved it in his pocket, getting out of his car and into the warm rays of the hot sun. And while opening the back door to unbuckle Riley from her car seat, he was met with eyes full of all-too-familiar fear.

“You wanna go to the bouncy house, Rie?”

“No…” Her voice was shaky as she stared out of the windshield and into the meadow beside the Williams house, right where the colorful inflated structure was located. She gripped onto her puppy harder and softly whined as her father reached to pick her up.

“It’ll be fun, okay? You’ll get to make a bunch of new friends.”

Riley wrapped her arms around his shoulders and her legs around his torso as he shut the car door with his hip, resting one arm underneath her and the other to cradle her back. She only squeezed tighter when they began moving toward the crowds of people.

“You remember Lucian, right?” he asked, hoping to get her ready for a steady conversation cycle throughout the day. But when he heard no response, he realized things were going to be harder than it seemed. Nevertheless, he continued to try. “He’s going to be so happy to see you.”

Her grip tightened as she nuzzled her face into his shoulder. “Daddy, I wanna go.”

Andrew laughed nervously as they entered the shading of the grand gazebo all the parents were standing under, surrounded by presents and food on each table. “Go where?”

She didn’t respond. And even with all the noise around them, that silence spoke louder to him than anything else. She didn’t know where she wanted to go because she didn’t want to go home.

“Andy!”

Before he could swallow that hard truth, Andrew was suddenly met with a familiar face approaching him — Felix Williams, to be exact. With his arms extended and his smile glowing brighter than the beating sun outside, he ran to him as if he were the only man in the world. Andrew shifted Riley to one hip in order to receive a proper hug from him, surprised by the sheer force he had.

“You made it!” he cheered, hurriedly backing away in order for him to adjust Riley comfortably. “I haven’t seen you in forever, Andy! You look…”

Their eye contact lasted longer than warranted as Felix visibly struggled to find an adjective to describe it. It wasn’t an indication of negativity, but rather, surprise. Felix looked stunned more than anything by Andrew’s appearance, more or less due to the visible signs of exhaustion protruding from him. At least, that’s what he assumed it was.

Felix batted his eyelashes quite a bit before finally finding the word on the tip of his tongue. “…good. You look really good, Andy.”

Riley lifted her head to look at him, clutching onto Andrew’s arm even tighter. But as soon as that sensation came, it went. Before he had even realized it, Felix snatched Riley from out of his grip and into his own, twirling her around like a little princess. She didn’t seem to like it at first. At least, not until Felix gave her the most consoling hug as humanly possible.

“I haven’t seen you either, sweet Riley!”

Riley clung to him like a baby raccoon, smiling as if she’d never been upset in the first place. After a moment or two longer, Felix set her down on her feet and played with her curly pigtails, making her giggle even more.

“Have you been a good girl for Mommy and Daddy since you’ve been away? Huh?”

Fidgeting with her skirt, Riley swayed in a moment of bliss and Andrew couldn’t believe it. Seeing her like this was like looking at another child. Sure, she’d shown this playful side many times before, but that was only to her father. Andrew had almost forgotten how easy it was for Felix to gain the same reaction.

“Mhm!” she hummed, shifting the weight between her heels and the tips of her dirty play shoes.

“I know you have, sweetheart. You’re always such a good girl.” Felix stroked her hair back as he said this, showcasing her little forehead from underneath her wispy bangs.

Riley bounced a little now while raising her arms back toward her father, eager for his affection. Felix watched with a fond smile. Andrew, on the other hand, let out a sigh and scooped her back up, trying his best to conceal his internal feelings.

“Maybe we can try to be a big girl and talk to other big kids?” Andrew suggested, patting her back as she wrapped her arms tightly around him again.

“Nope!” she chirped, holding him even tighter.

Despite Andrew’s efforts, Felix seemed to see through the facade. He cocked his eyebrows upward with a prevalent grin, proposing the question without even needing to speak. Need help? And quite frankly, Andrew did.

Swooping back in with a playful hum, Felix pulled Riley away as quickly as she came. She struggled for a moment before accepting his affection and clutching onto him instead, resting her head on his shoulder like her own personal comforter.

“I’ll be back,” Felix told him, patting her back gently.

Straightening his posture, Andrew’s face grew visibly flushed. “I’m sorry…”

Felix rolled his eyes and physically swatted the apology away as he turned his back to him, carrying Riley off into the crowd. “Don’t worry about it.”

And that was the last time Riley saw her father for the rest of the party. Without a fuss or a fight, Riley watched as she was carried over to the bouncy house full of screaming, playing, laughing children. Her little heart started beating out of her chest. Felix noticed as he set her down right outside the entrance, fixing her skirt as he kneeled down before her. Riley knew that posture like the back of her hand and avoided his eyes like the plague. She didn’t like being in trouble or scolded. She just wanted adequate attention — positive attention.

“Can I ask you something, Riley?”

Riley continued to look anywhere but his face, fidgeting with her skirt. But when Felix inched just a little closer, her lips moved faster than her mind could.

“I didn’t do anything bad…”

Felix nodded. “Nope. Nothing bad. I just wanted to ask if you were scared, Riley. Are you scared?”

Riley lifted her head to look him in the eyes. That seemingly gave him the answer he needed.

“I’ll tell you what, Miss Riley. Why don’t you hold my hand when we go in? I’ll be right there with you so you won’t be scared.”

Before she accepted the offer verbally, she grabbed his hand tightly and moved her face into it like a cat. Felix smiled.

“Is that okay?”

“Okay…”

And with that, Felix helped her untie her shoes and take them off before putting her onto the inflated ground and following along right beside her, just as promised. The bouncy house was tall and full of various different pathways to take, all in which led to a main area to jump in. From Riley’s wandering eyes, she noticed most of the kids were in the middle to play. Crawling up the ladders, sliding down the designated downward slopes, and toppling all over themselves every other second. None of them were hurt, or crying, or upset. And in her mind, that was a good sign that whatever was happening was something she might be into.

“You see that boy right there?” Felix asked her, grasping her hand tightly as she slowly shifted her weight to bounce a little. She nodded as he continued. “That’s the birthday boy. You remember Lucian, don’t you?”

Lucian Williams. Riley had come over a handful of times to be babysat by Felix when her both parents were out, so they came in contact more often than not. He was full of smiles and laughter. Riley got along with him whenever she stayed over, but always seemed to seize up when other people were around to take his attention away. She wanted him to focus on her, play with her, and be with her. Only her. That’s why, watching him play and talk with every single kid around, she couldn’t help but frown.

“He’s my friend,” Riley told him, squeezing his hand tighter.

“Yeah? Then why don’t you want to play with him, Miss Riley?”

“He’s already playing,” Riley murmured, watching intently as they continued to jump around as if it were nothing.

“You can join them.”

Riley thought about it long and hard, watching the scene unfold before her. She would be lying if she said it didn’t look fun, but overwhelming at the very least. Then, without another word, Felix pulled her along to approach them. Her heart was practically in her throat.

“Lulu,” he called for him softly. Lucian continued to wrestle with another boy, evidently unable to hear him over the sound of their laughter and excitement. When Felix rested his spare hand on the top of his head, however, Lucian snapped right into focus.

The little boy let his friend go and turned to his father, smiling with a bright red face from being so hot. He opened his mouth to speak before catching Riley’s eyes, visibly adjusting his words and thoughts as he reached to hug her.

“Riley!” he bubbled, holding her gently despite being so obviously excited. “It’s Riley! It’s Riley!”

“I know!” Felix hummed, fixing Lucian’s stray hairs on the top of his head with a singular stroke. “Good job on being gentle, Lulu. Very good.”

Lucian looked up at his father with his eyes all aglow, beaming with joy from the praise. Then, without another moment to spare, Lucian grabbed Riley’s hand and began tugging her toward one of the ladders.

“C’mon! C’mon! I wanna show you the castle!”

Overcome with Lucian’s friendliness, Riley released Felix’s hand and went on to follow his son around like a lost puppy. She took the time to look at all the different colors and shades of every piece of the bouncy house before climbing up onto the ladder right behind the birthday boy. Her socks made her slip every so often, but by the time she almost made it to the top, Lucian extended his hand to help her up. She took it with a big smile.

Once they were on the top layer, they began looking down on all the other children jumping around below them, unaware of their view. Riley periodically looked at Lucian’s face in an attempt to read what it was he wanted to do. She was met with an expression of innocent mischief.

“You wanna scare ‘em?”

“What?”

Lucian took her hand and helped her crawl further into the middle, calculating his plan with precision. He then got off his knees and stood up tall, wobbling slightly as the house swayed from all the jumping kids and the breeze outside. Riley followed his lead with a hard swallow, trembling just as much.

“Okay, ready?”

“Ready for—?”

“Three, two!”

Immediately following “two,” Lucian jumped down and into the sea of kids, dragging Riley down right along with him. Their sudden appearance was met with a bunch of gasps and screams as Lucian proceeded to start grabbing as many ankles as he could to yank people down with him. So much for being gentle. But it was funny, so Riley laughed alongside him up until the point where she watched as he got squished underneath another little girl, having his back pinned to the ground and every ticklish spot exposed to her. He squealed and squirmed around, trying desperately to escape.

“Stop! Stop!” he cried, laughing until the point of tears.

The little girl sneered while pushing his head hard against the ground before getting off of him completely. Riley locked eyes with her. Panic coursed through her veins in seconds as she began to back away, afraid to meet the same fate. And to her horror, the little girl started approaching her.

Resting her hands on her hips, the little girl gave her a big smile and leaned down to be level with her face. “You’re pretty.”

Riley blinked rapidly, shocked by the sudden compliment. Her surprise only heightened when the girl extended her hand toward her, helping her back to her feet with no problem whatsoever. She was strong for her age, that’s for sure.

“My name’s Melanie,” she told her, wrapping her arm around Lucian who struggled to gain his balance back. “Melanie Katz. And this is Lucian, my BFF-F-F-F-F-F forever.”

Approaching her from behind, a blonde girl grabbed a hold of Melanie’s arm and held it close, staring at Riley with a curious expression. Not negative or positive, just curious. She had big round eyes, tan skin, and beautiful curls that bounced in a high ponytail. Melanie looked at her with a grin before hugging her tight.

“This is Mia! She’s my BFF-F-F-F-F forever, too. If you’re ever mean to her, I’ll beat you up.”

“She won’t be!” Lucian whined.

Folding her arms up, Melanie huffed a little with a grin. “Well, I’m just saying.”

Next to be pointed out was a little girl with big brown eyes, dark coils, and freckled skin. She was dressed in a black leotard, clearly just coming from ballet practice. She stood in the corner with a little boy who held her hand. Riley grew nervous upon seeing him due to the fact that she thought he looked like a ghost. Pale skin, dark rings under his deep blue eyes, and a sad expression written on his face.

“And that’s Sam. She’s my friend forever. She’s a really good dancer and she’s super duper pretty! See?”

“What about Thomas?” Lucian whispered loudly to her, clearly unable to keep his voice down from his excitement.

“I don’t like him,” Melanie whispered back.

Melanie then proceeded to point at another little boy, who was climbing a ladder and preparing to jump off backwards dangerously. He was a few years older than the other kids with long unkempt hair, dark freckles coating his face, and a black eye. The longer Riley looked at him, the more bruises and scrapes he could see scattered across his skin.

“David, don’t do that again!” Melanie shouted at him, cupping her hands over her mouth to extend her voice across the whole house. Mia flinched from being so close to her booming voice, looking up at him with the same worried look. “Mr. Felix said you shouldn’t do that because he doesn’t want you to get hurt and-and if you get hurt, I’ll beat you up so hard that you’ll have two black eyes, idiot!”

“Mel, don’t say that!” Lucian whined, flailing his arms about. “Papa said not to!”

Melanie rolled her eyes and scoffed. “Yeah, well he also said don’t jump off the ladder backwards and David’s doing that, so.”

Furrowing his eyebrows, Lucian took a step forward and clutched his hands into fists while looking up at David, who was sneering and giggling from all the attention.

“Daaavid, please? Please?” Lucian begged, clasping his hands together as if he were praying. His puppy eyes were crafted with excellent skill. “Papa said you shouldn’t and-and-um…I wanna listen to my Papa. I love my Papa. And he doesn't want you to do that no more.”

Riley’s eyes shifted toward Sam again, trying to read her expression while standing so close to a ghostly boy like that. The commotion playing out before them had both of the children’s attention, but nevertheless, Sam didn’t seem to be very worried about the boy next to him. Curious, Riley slowly approached them, paying no mind to the situation between Lucian and David.

“You’re gonna get a boo-boo!”

“I already told you, he doesn’t listen…” Melanie pouted, rolling her eyes again while stepping forward to block Mia from any of the leftover impact David’s body would have tumbling down like that.

“Can’t I just do it once?” David whined, taking another step up the ladder with a sly grin.

“No!”

“Please, Lucie?”

“Nooo!” Lucian whined impatiently.

“If you really want me to come down, you gotta give me a reason to.”

“Um…I’ll, uh…” Lucian fell deep into thought as he tried to figure out something to lure him in with, still jumping up and down regardless. “If you come down, I’ll let you have my piece of cake!”

“Nah.”

“Extra ice cream!”

“No.”

“Um, uh…a big soda pop!”

“I don’t want any of thaaat.”

Lucian took a moment to reconsider before extending his arms out with a warm smile. “…A hug?”

. . .

David came down immediately. He wrapped his arms around his little frame and lifted him up off the ground, swinging him around like a ragdoll. Lucian laughed and squeaked in joy before climbing onto his back to jump around on him. Melanie rolled her eyes and stuck her finger down her throat to gag. Mia giggled at her dramatics.

Sam and Riley made eye contact first, but it was snuffed out soon after. If Riley was nervous, Sam seemed ten times worse, pressing her back against the wall while never moving her hand away from the little boy’s. Riley didn’t mind her. What she wanted to figure out was right beside her.

“Hi,” the pale boy said.

Surprised by his sudden attention, Riley took a step back and debated on whether or not to pursue a conversation with him. But after fidgeting with her skirt for a moment or two, she worked up the courage to speak to him.

“Hi.”

“What’s your name?”

“Riley.”

Typical kid talk. Growing less weary of him, Riley smiled and bounced her feet a little bit. He did the same.

“I’m Thomas,” he told her. “Me and Sam are trying to jump together to make an earthquake. You wanna jump, too?”

She saw the vision and accepted the offer silently by grabbing his spare hand. She figured that, if he really were a ghost, he wouldn’t be warm like she was. And to her relief, he was.

They began jumping together, offbeat and without any pattern, but successfully began to visibly shake the house. Now that he was jumping, and laughing, and holding her hand, Riley wondered how she could’ve ever thought that he was a ghost. She figured that he must’ve just been like her Daddy, seeing the dark eye bags and dark bruising around his little neck.

/—/—/—/—/—/—\—\—\—\—\—\—\

Andrew couldn’t remember the last time he was at an event packed full of people like this. It should’ve been a given, considering the Williams family was pretty big in of itself, but the amount of cousins, aunts, uncles, and distant relatives were unfathomable. And that wasn’t to mention all the parents, parent’s kids, parent’s kids’ friends, and however many more people they brought along with them. He and Felix had been close friends in high school, so he couldn’t imagine why he would forget how popular he was. Then again, he had a lot on his plate right now to be reminiscing on their past relationship.

Sitting at one of the picnic tables with his car keys, Riley’s toy, and sweet tea laid out in front of him, he tried his hardest to seem approachable while still dealing with his wife on the other side of the phone. Every message she sent felt like another bullet through his chest, consisting of neverending insults and empty threats. Sure, all of it bothered Andrew, but he absolutely couldn’t stand it when she flaunted the baby in her stomach like a chain between them. “This isn’t even your baby,” to “I’ll leave and take the kids with me,” to “I know you won’t leave me alone with your unborn child.” He could never win no matter how hard he tried.

In the middle of typing a long paragraph back to her, Andrew felt the presence of someone approaching him from behind. He quickly turned his head to check and, of course, was met with the sight of a young woman taking a seat right beside him. She was being followed by an older man in a stained up wife beater, holding an open can of beer. In comparison with how everyone else was behaving and dressed, he stuck out like a sore thumb, clearly not belonging. Andrew set his phone down and immediately turned his attention onto the situation, shifting closer to the young woman.

“There you are, honey.” His voice was cautious yet soft as he casually slung his arm over her shoulder. “Did you get pictures?”

“Yes,” she said. And as that word left her mouth to indicate she wanted to play along, Andrew knew the man following her was a threat.

He stood up and fixed his posture the best he could to look bigger. The man was the same size as him, but completely out of shape, so the flaunt of Andrew’s build seemed to put him off instantaneously.

“Is everything okay, man?”

The older man looked out toward the bouncy house with a shrug. “Yeah, yeah, I’m just waiting for my little brat to come outta there. Heard you have a little girl.”

The sheer mention of Riley’s existence sent an immediate ounce of adrenaline through his veins. He took a moment to calm down as he realized the man was most likely referring to the young woman’s child, not his own.

“Yeah, we do.”

“Maybe they’re little buddies, huh?”

“What’s your kid’s name?” Andrew asked, suspicious in regards to him having a child at all.

Without a moment of hesitation, he responded with the same slurred tone as before. “David. He’s my stepson.”

Before the conversation could get any tenser, the sound of a bell ringing through all the crowds shushed everyone up. On the other side of the gazebo, Felix stood with a bell next to the giant birthday cake, looking out toward the bouncy house.

“Time for the cake!” he called.

All the children bursted out from the bouncy house and raced to the table full of desserts, sitting down and grabbing plates as hurriedly as possible. Andrew scanned the crowd for Riley’s pigtails before turning back to the older man, only to find he was already gone. He wanted to talk to Felix and checkup on Riley, but was interrupted by the young woman grabbing him by the shoulder from behind.

“Thank you so much,” she said, practically gasping for air with every word. “He’s been following me this whole time.”

It was evident she was shaken up by his aggressive pursuit, which caused Andrew to feel as though he were obligated to comfort her before anything else.

“It’s no problem at all. Do you think he was telling the truth about having a kid?”

“Yeah. He’s David Nixon’s stepdad. I know him from dropping my daughter off at daycare,” she said with a sigh. “Luckily he doesn’t know what my boyfriend looks like, so he definitely bought that it was you. What’s your name?”

“Andrew Morgan.”

She reached to shake his hand, cupping it close to show her appreciation. “Dixie Katz. Talk later, okay?”

And with that, she disappeared into the thick crowds of people. He let out a stifled sigh before returning to his phone, scanning the area again to ensure he didn’t catch a glimpse of Riley anywhere. But before he was able to send his text and go find her, he was met with the sensation of two hands gripping his pecs from behind.

“Annndddy…” Felix purred from behind, giggling once he saw his surprised expression. “There you are! I was wondering where you’ve been!”

Andrew turned to face him and let out a nervous chuckle, setting his phone right back onto the table to hide the messages from his wife. “Oh, um, what's going on, Felix?”

“Nervous at all?”

“Wh-What? Oh!” Andrew hurried to pick up his sweet tea to seem more natural, taking a sip of it as he swatted his hand about. “No, no, no, I’m just…stressed.”

Slightly tilting his head, Felix displayed a look of obvious confusion before smiling again. “Riley really takes after you, huh? It’s like looking in a mirror.”

Andrew swallowed hard and nodded. “Daddy’s girl.”

“Mhm.” Felix grabbed his shoulder, slowly leading him over to the crowd of children. “You know, I think I remember you saying that you didn’t really want to have kids back when we were in high school, Andy. Whatever happened to that?”

“Well, uh…”

“I’m not trying to sound like a jerk or anything! I was just remembering you saying that,” Felix purred with a soft sigh. “Your kids are so lucky they have a father like you, y’know? You’re a great dad.”

Those words hit a sweet spot he didn’t know existed. With a light shade of blush coating his face and his sudden aversion of eye contact, Andrew fidgeted with his wedding ring. “Thank you, Felix. I…I try my best.”

Felix stopped. Andrew stopped right beside him, looking him dead in the eyes.

“What’s wrong?” Felix finally asked, his smile completely dropping as he straightened out his posture and expression to a purely serious one.

“Wh-What?”

“Something’s going on. Not just with you, but with Riley, too. And I really don’t like to pry, I mean, I know that it does no good, but it’s really bothering me.”

Andrew desperately tried to think of something to say, but his mind had gone entirely blank. All he could see were Felix’s beautiful eyes reflecting the sunbeams off of them, identical to the ocean shore during sunrise. His long hair draping over his shoulders and dusting over the tips of his ears was just as striking, along with his sun-kissed skin. All of these aspects combined led Andrew to one conclusion — this guy was one of the most attractive people he had ever encountered. He didn’t know why this was just striking him now, but it was, and he was completely stunned by it.

“Andy?”

“Could we stay over tonight?” Andrew asked softly, unable to think of any other solution. “I’ll be able to tell you without so many people around. And I think it’ll do Riley some good to be away from the house for a while.”

Felix gazed at him for a long while before a fond smile reached his face. “Of course you can.”

/—/—/—/—/—/—\—\—\—\—\—\—\

And that’s how Andrew found himself in an unfamiliar shower hours after the birthday party. He had just washed Riley off in the tub and tucked her into bed, which happened to be an air mattress on the floor beside Lucian’s bed. Felix made sure to layer her up with various blankets, pillows, and stuffed animals to make her feel more comfortable staying the night, even putting her next to the night light for good measure. But even after seeing her in bed, smiling and sleepy, he couldn’t help but feel an immense guilt start to grow inside. She was a good little girl, his little angel, but he knew that if things kept going the way they were, her mental state was going to plummet. She shouldn’t feel safer at a friend’s house than she does at home. And yet, as Andrew rocked her, she fell asleep faster than she ever would have in her own bed.

Ava had been texting all night. He shut off his phone to avoid becoming more inclined to go back home in guilt of leaving her without any notice. After all, she was pregnant with his baby. There was a certain level of respect he needed to have for her and leaving without further explanation seemed to be crueler than it really was. As the water poured down his face, he began to let his mind wander to the worst possibilities. What if she hurt Lexi? What if she hurt herself and the baby? What if she was destroying all of Riley’s belongings and hurting her just for the sake of getting back at him? He wouldn’t put any of this past her. Not with the way she’s been acting lately. Seeing the bruises all over his body was proof of that.

As he dried off and looked at himself in the mirror, he couldn’t help but notice all the imperfections of his face, especially the dark circles under his eyes. He had worked overtime all week just for that baby, just for her, and this is the treatment he got — to be too scared to come home in case she tried to hurt their little five-year-old daughter.

And on top of all that stress, he knew who was out there waiting for him, wanting to know everything that was happening.

As he got dressed, Andrew tried his hardest to picture how the conversation was going to go. What Felix was going to ask, how he was going to respond, and what not to say. But as soon as he finished up and reached for the door handle, he had a gut feeling that no matter how much preparation he had, it wasn’t going to be easy.

Walking out into the hallway and shutting off the light inside the bathroom, Andrew was met with the sound of a violin playing downstairs. It struck him as unusual at first before assuming it was just a recording Felix was listening to, heading down the stairwell without another thought. When he entered the living room, however, he found that the music was, in fact, not coming from a speaker. It was coming from Felix, who sat on the couch with his very own instrument propped up on his shoulder.

Instinctively, Andrew stayed quiet so as to not interrupt his line of focus. Felix hadn’t noticed him yet, so he knew that he could get away with just watching from afar without it being awkward. And so, he did just that, letting his eyes fall on whatever aspect of Felix’s appearance they wanted to. It came to the point where Andrew was trying to decide whether or not Felix was beautiful or handsome. Both seemed to be the right answer.

Smiling to himself, Felix lowered the violin as he reached to turn the page in front of him, jumping back once Andrew began to clap.

“I didn’t know you were standing over there,” Felix laughed, hurriedly setting the instrument down to give his utmost attention to his guest.

Andrew sat down beside him with a fond smile. “That was amazing, Felix. I thought it was a recording.”

“Awh, thank you…” he purred, relaxing now that Andrew sat down. “I play it every night for Lucian. It helps him fall asleep.”

With a playful hum, Andrew ran his eyes over his face intently. “I should pay you to do that for me, too.”

“Yeah?” Felix laughed, naturally batting his eyelashes. “Maybe it’ll help put the baby to sleep.”

Andrew felt his expression waved between his internal turmoil and fake relaxed state. Then, with a weak smile, he nodded firmly.

“Yeah.” Andrew said softly, almost as if he didn’t want to go any further with that conversation than he needed to. “My first son.”

“Wow,” Felix said through a soft gasp. It was hard to hide his genuine shock at the matter, seeing as he assumed he would have another little girl — natural for a pattern as such since he already had two daughters. Nevertheless, his stunned expression was still met with joy for his friend, grabbing his shoulder to show his utmost support. “That takes me back to when we found out we were having a little boy. Michelle was seething. Already bought him a bunch of frilly, pink, glittery stuff, y’know? I tried telling her that it didn’t matter and that he could still wear that stuff, or have those toys, or have a princess-themed bedroom, but she didn’t want to hear it. Pink is for girls, blue is for boys, she said. You don’t believe in any of that bullshit, do you?”

Andrew scoffed a little and looked at him through the bridge of his nose, allowing some of his red hair to dust his nose. The stress was getting to him. It was plainly obvious and yet, his grin was still authentic. “No. Lexi and Riley have their fair share of dinosaur t-shirts and robot toys.”

“You’re such a good dad,” Felix purred with a soft sigh. “Your kids are lucky to have a father like you.”

With a flushed face, Andrew smiled and looked away bashfully. “You said that earlier…”

“Did I? Well, I meant it.”

“Thank you, Felix.”

Silence. For some reason, the silence was met with their eyes locking onto the table, looking at all the organized decorations presented before them on the coffee table. Andrew’s smile slowly turned to a frown as Felix stood up and sighed, fixing his long hair to return to his shoulder.

“Do you want me to grab you a drink?”

Andrew watched as he entered the kitchen behind the couch, opening the fridge to grab a bottle of alcohol. He stared aimlessly at him for a moment before scoffing and returning to his senses. Felix brought him a bottle anyway.

As he set it down in front of him and opened his up, Andrew watched him closely. The change in his behavior was evident, happy and bubbly to distant and melancholy. The only rational explanation for that would be the liquid within that glass in the palm of his hand.

“Drinking’s bad for your liver,” Andrew scolded him. Even in the playful manner he said it in, his words still carried obvious weight that Felix picked up on.

Felix swung his head back and chuckled. “I like it though.”

Yet again, Andrew allowed himself to brush his eyes over Felix’s pretty features. It didn’t matter if Felix looked somewhat serious now. It only ever hit him once they made eye contact. As their eyes met, Andrew’s heart locked into place without a singular pulse.

“Lucian won’t sleep tonight.” The tone in Felix’s voice directly shifted this time, his eyes telling half the story before he even got the words out.

“Why not?” Andrew asked, nervous for what was going to come out of his mouth in the next few seconds.

Felix took another sip of his drink before setting it down on the coffee table, finally turning his whole and unwavered attention to the guest beside him. His prominent smile and lively eyes were overcome by a dull glaze. Andrew could tell if it were sadness, or fear, or anger, but sure enough would know. Did he want to know? He wasn’t sure. All he could do was buckle in for whatever he was going to throw at him, bracing for the worst.

“He just can’t. Not after everything that happened. If anyone else is in the house besides me, he won’t be able to stay asleep.” Felix wore a look of guilt on his face now, looking off into the nearby distance. “But I think this is good for him. He hasn’t had a sleepover since…since everything.”

Everything. The word wasn’t descriptive in of itself, but Andrew understood every detail. He knew what happened two years ago and he couldn’t even begin to imagine how it must have felt for Felix to be struggling by himself with the severity of his child’s trauma for so long. The betrayal of his ex-wife, the custody battle, the court cases, all on top of caring for his little boy to the best of his ability.

That daze never left Felix’s face. Andrew tried his hardest to think of something to say.

“I’m sorry, Felix. I didn’t mean to reopen any old wounds…”

With a soft laugh, Felix avoided his eyes and looked back toward the decorations. The sadness in his pretty irises were vivid now more than ever before. “No, Andy. You’re okay. I’ve wanted this for a long time.” His voice slowly drifted off as he fidgeted with his necklace, silver with his only child’s name engraved in the charm. It didn’t take long for him to lower his eyes to the bottle of booze, looking more defeated than moments before.

“I don’t want to speak for him or anything, but from what I’ve seen, he's doing much better.” Andrew said before even processing his thoughts to be coherent. They made eye contact for a long while before he finally gathered up the courage to rest his hand on Felix’s shoulder and continue with his reassurance. “You’re doing good, Felix. You’re strong for him and…that’s something that I hope to be for Riley.”

Felix stared at him with that same desperate look in his eyes. Then, without hesitation, he dropped his gaze and grabbed the hand resting on his shoulder, scoffing a little. “I want you to be strong for Riley, too.”

With a shaky breath, Felix lifted his eyes up to meet Andrew’s again.

“So I want you to divorce Ava.”

. . .

“What?”

Felix’s hand raised up to Andrew’s neck, gazing deep into his eyes and he caressed the shades of purples and reds around his neck. “She gave you these bruises, didn’t she?”

Andrew backed away. Felix continued to press him on the matter.

“And she hurts Riley, doesn’t she? She hurts her own daughters and their dad right in front of them.”

“Felix—!”

“Riley told me she saw you get hit today,” Felix admitted, his eyes steadying on him more than ever before. “When you went into the shower, she came down here crying and looking for you. I asked her what was wrong. Did she have a bad dream? Did she get scared? And she told me what happened. She doesn’t want you to get hurt, so she stresses over you and can’t sleep. That’s the environment Ava is making for your daughter.”

Andrew opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came of it. He didn’t know what to say. There wasn’t anything to say. All he could think to do was stare down at his wedding ring and assess what it was he was staying for.

“…I don’t want my kids to grow up without a mother, Felix. They love her and…”

“Do you love her?”

Instead of allowing himself to continue to lie, Andrew swallowed hard and looked away shamefully with his honest response. “I fell out of love the moment she hit Riley in front of me for the first time. I knew that she would spank them when they were doing something they weren’t supposed to, but I didn't know how far she was taking it.”

“When did she start hitting you?”

Andrew scoffed. “From the beginning. And I know that sounds so stupid of me, but I…I don’t want to let her go. It’s too late for me to find someone else now. I’m scared to start over.”

Felix’s hand reached the side of his face, stroking his cheekbone with the tip of his thumb. It wasn’t a friendly gesture. No, Andrew wasn’t dumb enough to believe that for a second. He knew what Felix meant by it. And he didn’t push him away.

Felix sat on his knees to give himself some height over Andrew, reaching his spare hand to the other side of his face. They stared into each other’s eyes for a long while before Felix finally broke the rising tension with his sweet voice.

“Let’s start over together.”

Andrew stared at him like a deer in the headlights. “What?”

“I’ll take care of you, Andrew. I’ll give you what Ava won’t.”

Scoffing with a smile, Andrew looked away with his face a deep shade of crimson. “You drank too much…”

Despite his obvious downplay on the offer, Felix continued. “I’m sober.”

Andrew dropped his smile now, looking up at him with a set of desperate eyes. He tried his hardest to hide his yearning expression, but couldn’t help but reveal it to him anyway. “I…I don’t know what to say, Felix.”

Instead of looking any further for an answer, Andrew allowed Felix to lean in and intertwine their lips without any further hesitation. He instinctively wrapped his arms around Felix’s waist, pulling him closer to feel his body against him. It took one kiss for him to settle into the feeling, another to drive it in, then the rest had his mind completely swayed into believing every word Felix had told him. He pushed him onto the couch and held him there by the chest, looking down at him with a pathetic expression.

“What am I going to tell her?”

Felix laughed and wrapped his arms around Andrew’s shoulders, batting his eyelashes. “What did she tell you when she slept with another man?”

“That I should leave if I’m unhappy.”

Raising his hand to his face, Felix gently stroked his knuckles down his cheek. “Tell her that.”

Andrew lifted his hand to pull the wedding ring off his finger, tossing it aside before allowing himself to fall back into Felix’s embrace for the night.

/—/—/—/—/—/—\—\—\—\—\—\—\

It had been a while since Riley had fallen asleep on his left shoulder. He noticed about halfway through the story that she was starting to doze off, but now that the last page was entirely done with, she was long gone. Lucian, on the other hand, was still half awake, gazing at the colorful illustration on the cover with a yawn.

“C’mere, baby…” he whispered to him, gently resting Riley’s head onto her pillow before scooping him up. Lucian lazily wrapped his arms around his shoulders, leaning into his chest as he carried him across the room into his own bed.

Laying him down and covering him up comfortably, he made sure to collect all his favorite stuffed animals to tuck in right beside him. With every toy he presented, Lucian gave a sleepy smile and kiss to.

“Goodnight, Lala…” he muttered. “Goodnight, Stella…goodnight, Mimi…”

Then, with a sleepy blink, Lucian looked right up at him. “Goodnight, Daddy. I love you.”

Stroking his hair from his face, Andrew gave him a kiss on the forehead and shut off the lamp to allow his night light to illuminate the room instead. “I love you too, Lucian.”

And with that, he left their bedroom, shutting the door completely to ensure no boogeyman or other monster would be able to creep in. He let out a sigh of relief once he realized he heard a lack of crying down the hallway, heading down towards their room to go checkup on the current situation.

There, he saw Felix rocking little Jack to sleep in his arms, standing right before the cradle in preparation to set him inside. Andrew silently shut the door behind himself and approached him with a smile, wrapping his arm around his shoulder.

“You have the magic touch,” Andrew hummed, watching intently as Felix laid the baby down without a falter.

“He just needed to be cuddled a little, that’s all,” Felix said, adjusting the mechanism for the mobile to rotate. “I guess he gets that from you, huh?”

“So mean to me,” Andrew whined playfully, sliding his arm around his waist to pull him closer.

“It’s cute, Andy…” he giggled, wrapping his arms around his shoulders to kiss the tip of his nose. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Felix.”

[stardestroyer81]

yo congrats on that P rank :D

⭐ STAR P-RANK SCREEN REAL??? ⭐

Oh my gosh, thank you!!! For context, last night I completed the Noise Update and absolutely refused to take down Pizzahead until I P-Ranked him— it took a little over an hour of nonstop attempts, and I only ended up making it to phase three two or three times, though I'm pleased to announce that I've P-Ranked all bosses as both Peppino and The Noise!

I thought I'd doodle a quick something to go along with the superb P-Rank screen you drew! While I've still yet to conceptualize Star Tower's P-Rank screen (I have a general gist of how it's going to look and I've only drawn complete art for the D-Rank screen), I'm absolutely going to reference facets of your own if I may, especially the star spotlight; that's probably my favorite detail!!! ⭐👾✨

[realnyhiphop101]

Styles P “A Gangster and A Gentleman” Era “Good Times”

[raining-anonymously]

for a kids’ cartoon, this show has got a LOT of different endings. for ANY show, it’s got a lot of different endings! i’m really very curious about which ones other people liked best.

Notes: 

The holiday episodes are listed as their own future because they clearly take place after a lot of summer already happened (Canderemy being an established couple, Heinz & Perry on very good terms, Irving being there). But it’s fall/winter, so summer is over. But it’s not compliant with “Last Day of Summer,” since Heinz is still very much scheming. Hence — alternate future.

With those rules in mind, Candace Against the Universe is still not considered to cause an alternate future here on the grounds that OP believes the joke with Perry’s watch at the end led to another round of Amnesia-inator.

Fun Fact: “Act Your Age” & “OWCA Files” are the only futures here that are reconcilable with “Last Day Of Summer.” I’m not including “Doof 101” in this for two reasons — it would take place directly after LDOS, but Vanessa’s attitude to her father appears different (at least to me), plus there wouldn’t have been time for a whole arrest/hard-time-or-community-service thing to go down. I’m also not including “Quantum Boogaloo” on the grounds that Heinz & Perry in the good timeline give the impression that Heinz never quit evil. Plus, from a Doylist perspective, I don’t believe they would have had Doof-1 create that horrific of an empire if QB had been an episode in later seasons. MML is not LDOS compliant because Heinz is still “evil” when Milo&co meet him (I think - I’ve not watched it).

edit: i’ve now watched MML. heinz is, in fact, no longer evil. he still sets traps for the pizza guy, though. and it is LDOS compliant. idk he’s just like that.

[ferbracket]

Perry Polls

Mindless Animal. ''She doesn't know I have a nemesis! Oh, and- I don't have time to destroy you. Uh, you could be my pet. You think you can act like a mindless animal?''

Deformed Turquoise Man. ''No! It's a.... it's a man. It's a deformed, tiny...turquoise man.''

[whathorselegs]

Pupper on a misson! Who's a good boy/girl?!

See, it's funny you chose this one, because this WIP is inspired by your post about Chuuya getting a dog and Dazai being jealous of it.

---

Pupper on a mission

Human’s can be quite strange to live with, though this home is far superior to the cage I was once kept in, it was quite an adjustment to train my person. He’s kind enough, gave me the name “Pupper” but was quite possessive over his night bed, which he uses for sleeping and his day bed, which he sits on to watch the picture box. Sometimes, he even shouts at it when he’s playing with this little grey toy that makes clicking noises in his hands. 

Luckily for me, my human was mostly easy to train. I just gave him a flash of the old puppy-dog eyes and he caved almost instantly. It works for most things, getting on the beds, sharing his food, forgiveness when I chewed his delightfully tasty shoes. It’s especially effective if he’s been drinking that red water that makes him all wobbly. The only thing puppy-dog eyes doesn’t overcome is his dreadful habit of bathing me when we return from our walks. Chuuya, for that is my human’s name, is obsessed with keeping the outside out. So when I bring in the beautiful scents of the grass, dirt and trees, he insists upon washing it off me.

Oh well, I suppose he’s so good to me, that I have to forgive this one fault. We’re perfectly happy together. He’s wonderfully affectionate, always complimenting me and giving me pats, an expert ear scratcher, excitable about the simplest of things like holding my paw and not to mention the generous supply of food.

Then the other one turned up.

---

Told from the perspective of Chuuya's newly adopted dog as they navigate their new life with their beloved owner. Three guesses who 'the other one' is, who definitely doesn't have beef with a dog for stealing all Chuuya's attention.

Pupper will not be the dog's final name, it's just a placeholder I can easily find+replace until I have an actual name. (Which I am very open to suggestions for because I have no idea what to name the dog)