#Butchie's Tune

[guessimdumb]

Yo La Tengo - Butchie's Tune (2015)

From Yo La Tengo's second covers LP Stuff Like That There, with original YLT guitarist Dave Schramm joining in. Here's a wonderful, warm version of the Lovin' Spoonful song, with Georgia on vocals.

I'll leave and close the door so you won't see me go

[lillified]

How do your transformers see gender?

that’s a good question!

Cybertronians are sexless so it’s entirely social concept. The gender roles they experience are arbitrary and borrowed from hierarchical Quintesson social norms, like many of their roles.

On a meta note—I decided to represent gender this way because I want to directly parallel the spectrum of gender presentation in people. The fact that the robots are gendered, and even more generally anthropomorphic, is arbitrary enough as is, and I chose to embrace that instead of coming up with in universe explanations for why women have to exist (you’ll notice that it’s always “why women—“ a sexless, monogendered alien species being functionally men is seen as neutral). I did this because I want to allow for the range of gender expression that exists in people to be mirrored. They can change, adjust, tune, or declare their gender however they want.

While I do have canonical genders for certain characters (as in, beyond just their preferred pronouns), one thing I’ve noticed is that people have a lot of varying readings of characters and their genders. like, for example, some people interpret certain characters as butch that I’ve never considered (though maybe that’s because I am butch and I might just write all my masculine characters in a butchy way).

I think that’s cool! I know very well how important it can be to identify with characters when very little specific representation exists for you, so while there are some characters whose specific gender identities are explicit and story-integral, I’m willing to leave others up to interpretation because I like seeing what people think.

Anyway, tldr: gender exists because I want people to be able to see themselves and their own experience with gender in the robots. that’s the most important part. I have my own internal lore for social structures and biology, but that’s less important than the fact that I want people to know that if your gender exists, a robot can have it.

Sorry for the long rambling, I hope this answers your question!!

[muldermuse]

KNIFE PLAY WITH BUTCHIE 🔪

I feel like a bit of an adventurous gal like that would kind of send him for a loop. Like he’s aware that there are people into that kinda shit but he definitely never expected to find himself in that scenario but here you are.

cw: knife play (also tagged)

HE WOULD CLOCK THE GLINT IN YOUR EYE WHEN HE PULLS OUT THE KNIFE

it would start with something kinda simple like cutting your panties with the knife and then making you cum all over his fingers

you realise it’s both something you’re interested in exploring so you decide to have a serious conversation. you choose a knife to use together and decide on a safe word. he talks you through what he’s going to do to you and you try desperately to ignore the arousal coursing through your veins

for now you’re keeping it simple, butcher holds the knife near you as he fucks you. what’s turning you on more than ANYTHING though is the absolute control that billy has over the situation now. you know you’re not going to get hurt but the sense of danger is pushing you close to orgasm. billy is so in tune with how good you’re feeling and where the knife is, he’s moaning aloud and telling you not to move

the cold steel of the knife against your hot skin sends you reeling, eyes rolling back as you cum hard over his cock. he pulls out and cums on your stomach, thrusting into his own fist from how fucking good it feels

“can i taste your cum please, daddy?” your eyes flick towards the knife as you smirk up at butcher. he delicately scoops his cum onto the duller edge of the knife and tentatively positions it near your open mouth, carefully sliding your tongue over the metal to taste his cum

butcher barks out a laugh, “you’re fuckin’ dangerous darlin’, gonna fuckin’ kill me”

[fenmere]

Covered with eyeballs

(to be sung to the tune of "Covered with flowers" by the Talking Heads)

Here we stand Like MacReady and Childs Icy Halls Antarctica Station Two fools in fear So suspicious and wary Security cameras Are smiling upon them From the age of explorers People have been on this continent Where, where have they gone? Now, it's nothing but eyeballs

There was a labratory Now there are blood stains and teeth marks You got it, you got it

We caught an alien Now we are something for dinner We got it, we got it

There was a husky dog Now it's all covered with eyeballs You've got it, you've got it

If this is horror flick I wish I had a flame thrower You've got it, you've got it

Years ago I was an angry young girl And I'd pretend That I was an assistant Standing tall In the midst of a lab I fell in love With a butchy scientist These used to be experiments Now it's only tentacles Where, where is the dog Now, it's nothing but eyeballs The clipboards and vials Were sacrificed for biology I thought that we'd start over But I guess I was wrong

Once there were lab reports Now it's a gory feeding den You've got it, you've got it

This was a mess hall Now it's all covered with bullet holes You got it, you got it

I miss the poker games, Shitty food, and prank wars with Evan You got it, you got it

And as things fell apart Our screams didn't reach Heaven You got it, you got it

I dream of coffee mugs, Leaky pens, and pocket protectors You got it, you got it

We used to experiment Now we just eyeball each other You got it, you got it

This was a partnership, Now it's turned into a minefield You've got it, you've got it

Don't leave me stranded here I can't get used to this lifestyle

[mapsofnonexistentplaces]

tagged by @198d like a month ago but i didnt feel like i was listening to anything interesting at the time so im doing it now

prompt: choose 6 albums, either all time favorites or current favorites

^recent rotation of tunes. i could ramble about them individually but itd mostly amount to me repeating myself going "hey yeah this albums really good"

tagging @fuckknowledgeandideas @butchiful @wavetapper @stanwixbuster @smokyproggrock anyone who sees this and wants to do it etc etc

[econhomework]

I was tagged by my most favorite @stupidbloodytuesday to do the shuffle thing with my repeat playlist and then and post the first 10 songs on it! Feast your eyes, as they say... (Love you, Ginger, and that you had 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' on it!🥳)

1. I Got You Babe - Sonny & Cher

2. I Want to Hold Your Hand - The Beatles

3. (What A) Wonderful World - Sam Cooke

4. Butchie's Tune - The Lovin' Spoonful

5. Brown Eyed Girl - Van Morrison

6. My Sweet Lord - George Harrison

7. Here Comes the Sun - The Beatles

8. Blackbird - The Beatles

9. Father & Son - Yusuf/Cat Stevens

10. Sister Golden Hair - America

I shall thrust this upon @formidableangiew and @johns-diqi if they should like to participate :)

[hadesdyke]

Around the same time as Mozart

Who were those women they don't talk about

Who were those we dream about

[sad-sappy-sucker]

I'll walk away like a shadow in the night

I'll won't give cause for you to feel we have to fight

I'll make it easy so that you won't really

quite know I'm leavin' you today on my way

And now I'm going

[harrison-abbott]

“Screw you guys; I’m going home,” said just as articulately in another way.

[jefferyryanlong]

Infinite Pau Hana - January 18, 2022

“billy they don’t like you to be so free”

Hour 1

Main Title Theme (Billy) - Bob Dylan House of Glass - Warlocks Pow R. Toc H. - Pink Floyd Talking to the Grass - Curly Putman Surf’s Up - The Beach Boys Late Letter - Pete McCabe The Lantern - The Rolling Stones Morning Dew - Jeff Beck Need Your Love - Cheap Trick Redondo Beach - Patti Smith

Hour 2

Ojos Del Soul - Y La Bamba Nuestra Tema - Silvio Rodriguez Sampa - Caetano Veloso Nao Identificado - Gal Costa La Premier Bonheur Du Jour - Os Mutantes South American Getaway - Burt Bacharach Love Song for the Dead Che - The United States of America Cotton Eyed Joe - Terry Callier Send in the Clowns (live) - Cleo Laine Little Girl Blue - Lena Horne The Body Breaks - Devendra Banhart  Moon River - Frank Ocean Mourning Dove - Jon McKiel

Hour 3

Come on Feel the Illinoise! - Sufjan Stevens Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois - Sufjan Stevens Snow Is Falling in Manhattan - Purple Mountains I’m Getting Back into Getting Back into You - Silver Jews Hold Out for Love - James Yorkston, Nina Persson, and the Second Hand Orchestra Hometown Hero* - Andy Shauf Animal Kingdom Chaotic - Jesca Hoop Butchie’s Tune - The Lovin’ Spoonful Got a Feelin’ - The Mamas and the Papas  SOS - ABBA This Magic Moment - The Drifters Dreaming - Sun Ra and the Cosmic Rays My Head Is My Only House Unless It Rains - Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band Watercolours Into the Ocean - Destroyer

* - by request

KTUH - 90.1 FM Honolulu, 91.1 FM North Shore, ktuh.org

[motel-flower-nation]

What ur 3 fav song ? Xx

Omg, I could never :0. But I will pick 3 that would be in the top 50. In no particular order... cowboys to girls by the intruders ❤️ Jefferson airplane’s today will always wow so many.... butchies tune, by the lovin’ spoonful... I dunno, too many 🥺 where or when by the flamingos, unchained melody... sorry. I can’t pick 3 lol

[komoryriku]

Queering KH Part 4: Hearts in Tune

Actually KH Finally lol

Pictured: Riku humming Sora’s name in a soft, adoring, wistful voice the way a swooning straight person sighs the name of their beloved of the opposite gender.

Kingdom Hearts gives off so many subtextual signals of queer coding that it genuinely BAFFLES me how people can really believe it is straight. You may be wondering what makes me so confident in that when there has not been anything in the games to explicitly prove any of the characters are not straight, and I will be happy to tell you. It is because in order to believe Kingdom Hearts is straight, you have to ignore WAY too much subtext. To truly believe that Sora is in love with Kairi and only coded to be interested in Kairi, you have to ignore his questioning of what love is. You have to ignore the combined keyblade he shares with Riku. You have to ignore how much the narrative is driving him to understand that Riku is his most important, cherished person. This all goes doubly for Riku who has a coming out story not unlike Elsa’s metaphorical one, in which his love for Sora is his greatest source of strength. You have to pretend the necklace gifting plot point is entirely straight and cannot possibly mean anything homoromantic. You have to ignore the way Sora cries while clutching Riku’s hand compared to his subdued and non-emotional reunion with Kairi- that’s just too much “accidental subtext” for me to confidently ignore lol. Intentional or not, KH is Gay~

Here’s how we’re gonna do this.

So where the hell do I even begin with coding KH? Well- I can’t possibly queer the whole of KH text in 1 summer, so what I plan to do is this:

Give you the tools to understand KH’s coding so that you can code it yourself~

Queer a few major KH scenes so that everyone can see that the proof is in the pudding.

I’m gonna try to break down various scenes to decode them and queer them so you can see what’s at play in KH. Originally when this meta was a single doc, I was only gonna cover 4 scenes. But since I’m breaking it into parts to update at my leisure, I’m gonna just add scenes and meta as I go~

Now without further ado:

How the Hearts in Tune scene is Gay Coded

This shouldn’t be too hard at all.~

This scene is almost too easy. 

The scene opens with Sora bringing Mickey the sound idea he found but as it turns out, one sound idea is not enough. Sora tells us not to worry because he has a friend who is always picking up the slack for him. Likewise, on Riku’s end, he brings his sound idea to Mickey and is surprised to see that Sora’s sound idea is necessary to complete the song. 

Once the sound ideas meet, this beautiful visual plays out in which the 2 sound ideas swirl around each other and the soundtrack title “Dearly Beloved” plays. 

Now, there are several things I want to note about this sequence- heck this visual alone before we move on. 

Recall earlier when I discussed Shiki’s point that blue and pink (likewise blue and red) “go together”, romantically.

I will let the visual of Sora’s sheet music being pink while Riku’s is blue speak for itself. But I will also add how this ties into the yin and yang themes I’m about to discuss:

Yin and Yang

This concept gets its own section because it’s such an influential concept in so many aspects of various cultures around the globe.

Yin and Yang is an eastern philosophy which illustrates the concept of dualism. In short, it is the concept that 2 opposite halves are complements to a whole. The original term in fact translates to dark-bright.  

I am neither a philosophy professor or student so I will keep this as brief as I can and simply encourage you to study up on Yin and Yang at your own leisure. I will however paste this section from wikipedia because I think it is extremely helpful information to have for studying eastern media in general. 

Yin and Yang: husbanded opposing forces. Dark-Light, Moon-Sun, Chaos-Order, Winter-Summer, Negative-Positive.

Female (Yin)-Male (Yang): Yes this is often used in a heteronormative heterosexual context because people are homophobic and believe in gender binaries, unfortunately, but I implore you to consider the concept in more figurative, spiritual, aesthetic themes, especially since Yin and Yang is a much grander philosophy than mere sexuality discourse; it’s about complementary forces creating a whole. 

For shipping purposes, think opposites attract. Think concepts that are traditionally associated with femininity meshing with concepts that are traditionally associated with masculinity. Queer media has a wonderful way of subverting heteronormative Yin and Yang tropes by showing that cis-hetero standards can be hypocritically non-compliant with the complementary concept.

Rather than thinking of this, 2 heteros in love based on being just- the same person with opposite genders:

Think of this, same gendered couples with complementary personalities:

Think about how an aloof scrappy butchy vampire queen attracts an uptight calculating femme princess.

Think about how this goody-goody dumb jock with a martyring hero complex attracts this naughty cunning jock with a self-loathing villaness complex.

And now think about how badly we need more canonical mlm couples in children’s media lol. Oops my finger slipped. But I’m getting ahead of myself lol.

The concepts of interconnected opposite forces are so important and prominent in literature throughout the world, but yin and yang is ESPECIALLY important in Kingdom Hearts because it is a story that explicitly explores Light and Dark forces. It explores how they both oppose one another in catastrophic ways,

and how they complement each other in harmonious ways.

Getting ahead of myself again… But hey speaking of harmony, back to the matter at hand.

Hearts in Tune.

This scene shows a number of romantic symbols. As I was saying before the yin and yang tangent, pink and blue (nee red and blue) are already symbols of romantic suggestion. And in the case of them representing 2 parts of a whole song, these song pieces act as complementary halves, adding another layer of dualism to the scene. Furthermore, the music sheets swirl around each other in a yin and yang fashion. Harmony has been achieved. This lets us know these forces belong together. These forces representing Sora and Riku. They are husbanded together. These 2 hearts in question are part of each other. In fact, Mickey even says so:

Perhaps most damning, however, is that the song in question is “Dearly Beloved”, arguably the theme song for Kingdom Hearts as far as the score goes. I’m sure it goes without say that “Dearly Beloved” is not only in itself a romantic sounding phrase but it is also the phrase specifically said by officiators of weddings to the congregation before the wedding vows are exchanged. “Dearly Beloved, we are gathered here today…” 

I will also mention that Riku’s dream eater symbol visible in the shot is specifically designed based on a bleeding heart flower, a symbol of passionate love. Credit to Steam for pointing this out here, please follow them and read their posts they are magically delicious:

So almost everything about this scene is aesthetically romantically coded, and I didn’t even mention the fact that Dream Drop Distance’s whole color palette is themed with rainbows, which as I said earlier is absolutely still a gay symbol in Japan. Note the rainbow of colors animating from the sheet music. 

So in terms of the atmosphere of the scene, its already incredibly homoromantic in every way I can think of. But what about the dialogue?

Well lets talk about the dialogue. Dialogue should always been read with care when you’re trying to queer a text. Often a lot of queer messaging in a text is subtextual. This means the text itself may actually say something gay, but you have to read further into it. This is an old method of queer writing designed to protect the writer from getting in trouble for their gay crimes.

Historical aside on this:  If you’ve ever read Oscar Wilde’s “The Picture of Dorian Gray”, you may have note that Lord Henry can never just simply say that he is gay, lest Oscar Wilde be charged for homosexuality in 19th century England. Instead, Lord Henry simply tells us he is married to a woman, but makes it clear throughout the text that this marriage is mostly performative and he is not emotionally invested in it whatsoever, going against the puritanical, heternormative ideals of Victorian prudery. Lord Henry is by contrast MUCH more invested in following the life and times of his very close friend Dorian Gray, with whom he shares a hedonistic philosophy in the name of Fin de siècle. Not to be a downer but for the sake of understanding how real this subject of oppressed gay censorship is, despite keeping the homosexual themes as purely subtext, Oscar Wilde was tried and convicted of homosexuality and this book was used against him in court. 

What we are privileged to have today with KH is a cutscene and not just a script. Meaning we have visuals, animation, voice acting, musical cues, etc etc to follow along with to enhance our subtext. 

On Sora’s end of the conversation, Mickey points out that the song is incomplete with just his sound idea alone, and Sora tells him not to worry, as Riku is his dependable friend who will fill in where he fails. The text in the official English translation is:

Mickey: That's strange... Is one Sound Idea not enough?

Sora: Don't worry. I've got a friend out there who will help. He's always 

picking up the slack for me.

This on its own sounds platonic. But note just how affectionate Sora’s voice acting is when he says it. Not only that, he clutches his heart to let us know how close he is to Riku and how much his connection with Riku matters to him. How much confidence he has in this friend he cares so much about. He then closes his eyes after saying it, smiling up in the air blissfully while he waits for their hearts to make their connection and finish the song.

Once it is finished, Mickey remarks that their sounds joined together to make something more powerful. Sora then says looking thoughtful, “Yeah. Two forces are better than one. Right, Riku?”

Following this, Sora leaves to fight the boss.

On Riku’s side, Mickey questions what happened, and Riku looks up thoughtfully, and says tenderly, “Sora.”

Mickey comments “Sora? Funny... Just hearing that name kinda makes me wanna smile.” and Riku tells him warmly, “Yeah. That's how he is.”

Mickey then goes on to say some really shippy stuff:

“Whaddaya know... Riku and Sora. The Sound Ideas you two set free joined together. And when they did, they made a great and powerful harmony.”

Riku then nods and tells Mickey brightly that “Sora can find the brightest part of anything, and pull off miracles like there's nothing to it. It's pretty hard not to smile around him.”

And I would like to pause to look at that line. “It’s pretty hard not to smile around him.” Although Mickey says the same thing, that just hearing Sora’s name invokes a smile, we sense a somewhat deeper meaning in Riku saying it. Why is that? Well, for one thing this game is entirely about Riku protecting Sora and exploring how much Sora actually means to him. This game is continuing Riku’s redemption arc from KH2, but it is also doing something perhaps even more important: it is providing him a journey of self discovery. This test resets Sora and Riku to level 1 so to speak, not just in their powers but even their models revert to variations of their KH1 selves. This helps to underscore Riku re-examining himself and his feelings. 

And then guess what? Mickey makes some even SHIPPIER commentary. He exclaims “Wow! No wonder the music sounded like so much fun. But I bet he's got you to thank for that. Having such a good friend means he could really enjoy it.”

Riku is taken aback by this comment. “Huh?”

Mickey continues, expressing some extremely yin and yang themed sentiments, 

“It's like each of you is holding on to a little part of the other. Your hearts are always in tune, so they're free to sing. Gosh, I hope I can be part of the team someday.”

Mickey did us a wonderful favor and expressed to us explicitly, for those who didn’t understand the romantic coding of the scene already, that Sora and Riku are a good match. Mickey tells Riku that the music sounded like fun in English, that it was a happy, pleasurable time, and tells him that Sora has Riku for a friend which is what must have made it so enjoyable. 

So from this dialogue we get assurance that Sora and Riku are two very close friends, whose hearts are connected, and they are 2 powerful forces that merge into an even greater one. Their hearts are in tune.

Now if this were a scene about a boy and a girl, I doubt anyone would question whether it was romantic. Why should we be asked to look at it platonically just because it is 2 boys? The romantic imagery is clear. 

And let me ask you this while we’re still on the subject of Dream Drop Distance: 

According to Riku’s character files, he had previously thought of Sora as a little brother, and tried to be a cool older brother to him. 

He then tells us that this has changed. What did it change to? 

The surface level, heteronormative answer would say it changed to them being merely friends. 

But isn’t that an odd regression? After all, found family is a thing, and that’s a bit weird for him to question since there is no reason for those feelings to change on that notion. If Sora loved him like a brother, that clearly hasn’t changed. Riku clearly loves Sora as deeply, so that didn’t change. The other problem with this phenomenon Riku is dealing with is that there is no reason for him to feel this strange sense of repression we keep seeing over this change. He is constantly holding back on some feelings for Sora but platonic and brotherly feelings are entirely acceptable. What is it that he is hiding? What sort of feelings for Sora would be hidden?

From the Kh2 Novel: 

He really did want to see Sora and talk. But that was impossible with this appearance. The things that mattered the most were what he couldn’t tell Sora. It had always been that way.

What sort of feelings might be systemically oppressed?

This scene is pretty much EXACTLY what I would do to say as explicitly as possible that Riku is gay without being able to say it outright due to censorship. 

[742evergreenterrace]

the color orange

do you have a song that reminds you of autumn?

a few, here's a mini autumnal playlist for you:

🎃 we only come out at night - the smashing pumpkins

🍁 thirteen - big star

🧡 orange - big thief

☕ bleecker street - simon & garfunkel

🍂 'en gallop' - joanna newsom

🌙 butchie's tune - yo la tengo

[foreveralwaysanauthor]

Not Necessary

October 9, 2020

Prompt - Forgiveness

Characters - Miles and Butchy 

Notes - I know it’s been a while and I’m sorry. My papa has been living with us for the last week as his house had a problem with the heat not working and it was only just fixed yesterday before the storm hit us. He says he still plans on staying with us and we have no idea why or for how long, but he’s going to be 87 in a month and we love any time we get to spend with him. I miss my writing a ton though, so I’m squeezing a short one in right now while he’s in his room, taking a nap.

Anyway, this takes place before Mick came into the picture, during the time Miles was living with Butchy and Lela. I briefly mentioned this happening in my second to last post, “The Gallant One”, but I’ve had part of it written for a while now as it was based on a short convo I’d had with my sister haha

When Miles got home that night, Butchy was sitting outside on the porch, playing his guitar and seemingly waiting for the younger biker. Miles cringed internally, how would he tell Butchy about what happened? He had an entire speech prepared, but after seeing Butchy so relaxed, he felt a whole new wave of distress wash over him and forgot everything he’d been determined to say in his own defense. He had wrecked Butchy’s beloved motorcycle, one that the older male had built up from scratch for the last 3 years and had finally gotten it the way he wanted. 

It was the only vehicle in the house that Miles could use at the time as he had traded in his dad’s car already and had yet to use the money to buy a motorcycle for himself. He hadn’t meant to wreck the bike. A car had sped through a red light in the intersection he’d been crossing and hit him. Thankfully, he was uninjured, as was the other driver, but the bike had been completely totaled in the accident. How exactly would he explain all of what happened to Butchy? Maybe if he went in through the back door, he’d have a chance a figuring out what to say to him. Just as Miles took a step back from the porch, Butchy turned to him, cutting his thinking time down to exactly nothing.

“Hey bud,” Butchy greeted, sending Miles a small smirk. He watched as Miles took in a deep breath and slowly climbed the front steps. “You have a nice ride?”

Miles stood at the edge of the porch, wrapping his arms around himself as a breeze of chilly ocean air blew by. “Butchy, I... I don’t know how to say-”

“That my bike got wrecked earlier?” Butchy interrupted simply, adjusting the tune of one of his guitar strings.

“Yeah, Butchy, I’m really sorry. I-” Miles looked up from the floorboards of the porch in shock as Butchy went back to strumming his guitar with no song in mind. “Wait! H-How did- How did you know?”

“Got a call from one of my old school buddies that’s an EMT in Ocala,” Butchy said, tapping his foot along to the rhythm of the song he was strumming. “The cops tracked the bike’s plates to me and he called me to see if you’d stolen it.”

Miles’ eyes returned to the floor, taking a few small steps back from Butchy. “Why didn’t they arrest me then?” he asked quietly. “I stole it from you.”

“I told them you were heading back from a friend’s house. I knew he’d give you a ride back to town if I told him you were a friend of mine.” Butchy stopped playing his guitar and set it beside his chair so that it leaned against the side of the house, close to the door. “You borrowed the bike to go get your brothers, right? I wasn’t about to keep you from that.”

“How did you find out about my brothers?”

Butchy stood from his seat and approached Miles, making the younger biker take an instinctive step back from Butchy. Miles past experience with making people mad, had never ended well - instinct told him that he should be wary of Butchy, even if he knew that Butchy meant him no harm at all. Butchy pulled a folded piece of lined paper from his pants pocket, handing it to Miles. “You left it on your bed. I went to check in on you earlier and you were gone. I thought you’d left it for me. I didn’t read all the way through, but from what I read, they seem like good kids.”

Miles took the letter, quickly pocketing it. It was the first letter he’d gotten from his brothers since he had run away. It had been obvious that Royce had written it, but Bentley couldn’t be held back, so the excitable boy had scribbled his own messages in whatever blank spaces he could find. Miles never left home without that letter somewhere on his person, but he’d left so quickly that night that he had just assumed it had been in his leather jacket all day.

“They’re great kids,” Miles stated confidently.

“I don’t doubt that,” Butchy agreed, leaning against one of the porch beams. “They’ve got a great brother to look up to. It sounds like your dad is a bit of a douchecanoe, though.”

“’Douchecanoe’?” Miles snorted, attempting to keep in his laughter. “What in the world is a douchecanoe?”

“That’s not the point.” Butchy ran a hand through his hair before settling his hands on his hips. “I was trying to be nice,” Butchy sighed with a smirk.

“Don’t bother trying. I know he’s a massive dick, Butch.”

“Language,” Butchy cut in instinctively. They had a rule in the house against swearing as Butchy claimed Lela didn’t need to take up that kind of language (the forty-three dollars in the house’s swear jar that had come mostly from the Rodent crew had absolutely nothing to do with it).

“Sorry,” Miles said, retreating back to his quieter voice.

Butchy lifted his leg and nudged Miles’ shin with the toe of his work boots. “Don’t worry about it, buddy. We’re outside and Lela is sleeping, so I won’t make you put anything in the jar.”

Miles gave a breathy laugh, letting his arms return to his sides so he could shove his hands in his pockets. “Butchy?”

“Yeah?”

“Why aren’t you yelling?”

Butchy met Miles’ gaze curiously, unsure of what the younger man meant. “Yelling?”

Miles just nodded, giving Butchy a wary, yet confused look. “I messed up big time. I wrecked your bike and ran away and did some stupid shit. If I had done this to my dad, I’d have been screamed at and beat to kingdom come. Why aren’t you yelling at me or pushing me around?”

The two stood in silence as Butchy took in what he was told. After a moment, Butchy moved, pushing himself off of the beam he’d been leaning on and stepping directly in front of Miles. The younger brunette looked up at Butchy owlishly, watching Butchy cautiously as he pressed himself against the railing behind him. Butchy didn’t seem to notice Miles’ behavior, taking Miles by the shoulder and pulling him into a tight hug.

“Miles, I don’t know what your dad has put you through in the past and you don’t have to ever tell me, but just know that I will never be like that.” Butchy squeezed Miles as he felt Miles’ arms slowly wrap around his middle. “You wouldn’t act like that to your brothers, right?”

“Of course not,” Miles stated sharply, his voice muffled by Butchy’s sweatshirt.

“Exactly.” Miles relaxed in Butchy’s hold as the taller man leaned back a little and smiled down at him.

“I didn’t even say sorry, though.”

“You don’t have to.” Butchy reached up and ruffled Miles’ hair lightly. “Yeah, what happened today was stupid, but we’ve all done stupid things for the people we love. I’ll always forgive you, no matter what you do or how stupid it is.”

“Why?” Miles questioned, sounding almost like a child to Butchy. “What happens if I do something stupid like this again?”

“While I hope you don’t do something like this again, I’ll still forgive you if you do.” Butchy gave Miles a tight squeeze before guiding him toward the door and picking up his guitar. “You’re my brother now, little buddy, you can’t get rid of me that easily.”