#I like to imagine Travis talks with his hands a lot when he wants to be sure he's understood and has a hard time distinguishing

[kurithedweeb]

Ru’aun is the region with the most dialects, but it doesn’t have its own sign language. In Ru’aun, you have the Common language, the Yggdrasil forest language, the Eastern dialect, the Western dialect, and three different werewolf dialects, plus the old tongue is still fairly common among scholars and religious peoples and is used in schools in O’khasis and Scaleswind.

In Tu’la, you have the overarching common language, the desert dialect, the jungle dialect, and a fairly widespread sign language. It’s very common for meif’wa to communicate using sub-vocalizations but humans and some meif’wa hybrids can’t do this. It’s highly debated on whether or not the local werewolf population can understand sub-vocalizations. As a compromise for when meif’wa go non-verbal or when they can’t risk being overheard, the sign language is used. Tu’la sign doesn’t use many big motions, the hands are usually kept close to the chest and the angle of the hand and positioning of the fingers is very important. Many signs look similar, so it’s easy to get mixed up if you’re a beginner and it’s hard to distinguish which is which in the dark if you don’t have good night vision.

Gal’ruk sign is the complete opposite. Very expressive motions, lots of waving in patterns, and very few specific hand shapes. The snow and ice and all the layers you’re wearing eats up a lot of sound so communicating at a distance can be difficult. The hand shapes are limited to what you can manage with mittens, so it’s basically open hand with or without thumb sticking out, closed hand with or without thumb sticking out, and pointing. With such a small population, basically everyone knows at least the basics. Galenk is the local spoken language among the Enki Warrior Tribe, but some also speak Ru’auni Common, usually taught by whoever gets shipwrecked there.

[dilly-dahlia]

vi. Check

pairing: Gene x Reader

content: pdh, drill team!reader, opposites attract, sunshine/grumpy, feelings (finally), suggestive but not explicit, images used are NOT an indication of the reader's appearance

summary: Practically everyone you knew was pointing out the alleged spark you had with Gene. You denied it every time, but once you're left alone with your own thoughts, you realize that they might not be wrong.

word count: 7.4k

masterlist

The Problem With Popularity masterlist

previous part

There was nothing that could have prepared you for the debate Garroth, Laurance, Dante, and Travis had found themselves entangled in during lunch. You weren’t even sure how you got to this point, but you definitely didn’t want to be part of it.

Somehow, your curious question about whether Garroth or Laurance had a girlfriend (because they had been acting weird lately when the topic was brought up) led to the guys at your lunch table debating who had the most game. So far, it definitely seemed like Garroth and Laurance were in the lead, which was unsurprising. Dante, however, seemed to have fallen dead last among the four of them. He was not very happy about it.

“I have lots of girls that would date me!” His hands were splayed out on the table, and he stuttered as he frantically looked around the lunch room for any familiar faces. “Lori said she likes me.”

“Lori said you were cute but she’d never date you,” you cut in dryly. She’d told you one day in the locker room attempting to get Dante to quit bothering her. You hadn’t done anything about it yet, but Lori hadn’t said anything else to you and Dante had stopped rambling about her.

“What? Why?”

“Maybe because when you were dating your last girlfriend you still flirted with girls,” Laurance suggested. He shrugged, holding his hands up in surrender. “I dunno, though. That’s just a hunch I have.”

“First of all, Daisy said she didn’t want to label it and didn’t care. She turned out to be lesbian anyway, so that doesn’t count.”

“What I’m hearing is you were such a bad boyfriend that she never wanted to like a man again,” Travis said. He had come out of his shell more and often put himself into conversations with the other guys. You were glad for it, but he was more like Dante than you ever imagined. 

“Second,” Dante made his voice louder and glared at Travis to shush him, “Laurance, you fumbled Y/n, so I don’t wanna hear it.”

“At least I could pull her.”

You couldn’t help but laugh at Dante’s defense and Laurance’s rebuttal. At some point it had been decided that the most significant thing anyone had done in your friend group was date you. You weren’t sure when that happened, but you didn’t mind. You found it amusing that they’d made you the standard, as stupid as it was. Not to mention it boosted your confidence and had helped you during your sophomore year. 

“Dante, you need to just face the fact that you aren’t all that,” Garroth said, shrugging. “It’s okay. Not everyone can be the best.”

Dante glared at Garroth. His expression was void of any feeling and it looked like he might have been plotting a murder.

“Well, I’m sure Katelyn would-“

“Nope.” Katelyn was hardly paying attention to the conversation. Most of her attention seemed to be turned toward her phone and the chicken noodle soup that had been served for lunch.

“Aphmau, if I asked you out, you'd accept, right?”

“Wow, uhm. Look at that.” The freshman looked down at her wrist, clicking her tongue at the time displayed on her imaginary watch. “I have to go.”

Aphmau stood up, lifting her tray from the table and hurrying over to the trash. She lingered there for a moment, but she had left her backpack, so you knew she would be back.

Travis reached over to aggressively pat Dante on the back. “Sucks, man.”

“Travis, you don’t know how to talk to girls.”

“And yet girls love my awkward charm.”

Dante rolled his eyes, looking around the room before his gaze landed on you. You raised your brows at him, daring him to continue with his poorly thought out plan. Aphmau returned to her spot just as he started talking.

“I’m sure Y/n would date me.” He pointed to you, sounding slightly exasperated.

The thought made you laugh. Loudly. You and Dante? It was ridiculous to you. As you lifted your water bottle to your lips, you said, “In your dreams.”

Katelyn snickered. “Maybe if you were your brother,” Her tone was teasing. She glanced up and laughed at the sight of you coughing on water.

“Katelyn! That was one time,” you exclaimed. Your voice was slightly hoarse from coughing, and you cleared your throat to get rid of the scratchy feeling. You shook your head, reaching to lightly hit her arm. “It’s not like that.”

“Oh, my god, Gene?” Dante seemed appalled. You weren’t sure why, since it had been brought up multiple times that you and Gene appeared to have a thing going on. Though Dante did tend to forget things, even if he paid attention.

Laurance leaned forward and you found yourself wanting to curl up and disappear. Just poof out of existence. “What does that mean?” He asked you instead of Katelyn, his blue gaze unwavering from yours. It felt like he was staring deep into your soul, learning every single one of your secrets without your having to say anything.

Katelyn, as oblivious to tone and atmosphere as she often was, laughed. “Me, her, and Sasha made a hear me out cake a while ago and she put Gene on it.”

You thanked God she didn’t mention the tangent you had gone on the previous Sunday. The one where you told her you didn’t know what was happening, but that every time you found yourself with Gene you were smiling more and butterflies flapped in your stomach. If she did, you knew it would have been over for you. That was something you would never live down and you’d face judgement for the rest of your life.

“It wasn’t, like, an admission to a crush or anything!” you quickly added. Your voice was shaky. It was clear you were nervous and you hoped your friends couldn’t tell that you were getting hot. “It’s a hear me out cake, so I was saying, like . . . y’know. Hear me out. Maybe if Gene wasn’t a complete jerk I’d . . .”

You trailed off, finding that your sad attempt at defending yourself was crashing and burning and Dante and Laurance and everyone else’s faces slowly twisted into varying expressions of surprise and disgust. You covered your mouth, hoping the physical barrier would be better than your self conscious filter at making you not speak. 

“She said she’d”—Katelyn imitated the hand motion you made to her weeks ago. Immediately you reached over to smack her hand down and hold it beneath the table.

“I did not do that.”

“Yes, you did.”

“No. You were tired and seeing things.”

“No, you definitely did that.”

“Can we get back to how Y/n would date Gene?” Laurance cut in. His brows were pulled together, his gaze was flicking between you and Katelyn, though it always lingered longer on you.

“Yeah, I want to know why you’d rather go out with my brother than me,” Dante added. He leaned forward as well, his arms crossed in a judging manner.

“Okay, I never said I would date Gene.” You rolled your eyes. You had started using your hands to try and paint a picture, but it only ended up being a slop of random motions. “I only admitted that I think he’s attractive.”

“So you think I’m ugly?” Dante asked.

You furrowed your brows and side eyed him. You paused your train of thought to process his words and carefully consider your next words so you didn’t make an even deeper hole for yourself. “I never said that.”

“But I wasn’t on the hear me out cake.”

You grumbled something unintelligible, dropping your head and splaying your hands over your face. After a moment, you lifted your head and clapped your hands. “Just because you were not on the hear me out cake doesn’t mean anything! It’s called a hear me out, so you hear me out about different people and/or objects!”

“Objects?” Travis muttered. It was more to himself, though, as his question went unheard.

“It’s not supposed to be a universally accepted thing, and you guys weren’t supposed to know about it anyway,” you finished, letting out a huff. “But just because I put Gene on there doesn’t mean-“

“I feel like that warrants the jar,” Dante said bluntly. Your jaw dropped, and you stared at him for a moment.

“What?”

“I feel like I should be able to call the jar on you because you’re saying my brother-“

“Oh, my god Dante! It was a theoretical situation!”

“It was a hear me out cake so you deliberately chose him beforehand!” Dante crossed his arms, leaning forward on the table. His gaze was unwavering. So much so that it almost scared you. “Jar.”

You scoffed in defiance, but once Garroth and Travis chimed in that Dante was right, you reluctantly dug the bedazzled jar from your bag.

“You guys are terrible,” you mumbled to yourself, counting out seven ones and shoving them in the glass.

“More.”

“What?”

“This is Gene we’re talking about, Y/n,” Laurance added. Since when did he have Dante’s side? Well, obviously he was but why was he only just now voicing it? “He’s a terrible person and has bothered almost every single person at this table.”

“Yeah, and he’s my brother.”

“Oh, my goodness. I know he’s your brother, Dante,” you groaned, fishing a crumpled ten out of your wallet and dropping it in as well. “That’s all I have,” you said, capping the jar and shoving it back in your backpack. “There. Happy?”

You looked to Dante for approval. You scoffed at the sight of the grimace on his face. “I guess if that’s all you have,” he sighed.

You rolled your eyes, standing to take your tray to the wash station just as the bell rang. “You are so dramatic.”

Once you had walked over and set your dirty bowl and tray into their designated spots, you waited by the hallway entrance for Garroth, Laurance, and Aphmau to catch up. You debated just leaving them behind and continuing to sixth period on your own, though, since they (mainly Laurance) would be questioning you relentlessly.

You spent too long thinking about it and found yourself stepping in time with the three of them. Just as you predicted, the entire walk and majority of the class was spent grilling you about your feelings.

You claimed they were nonexistent.

They didn’t believe you.

—

“You know,” Lucinda began. She took a long pause in her sentence, using a drawn out sip of her sweet tea to bridge the gap between her words. “Studies show the more time you spend with someone the more you like them.”

Both you and Katelyn slowly blinked at her from across the booth. The two of you sat in silence, your food momentarily forgotten as you tried to figure out why that was relevant to the conversation.

“What does that even mean?” Katelyn finally asked, her brows furrowed. “Obviously the more time you spend with someone the more you like them.”

“What were we even talking about to prompt that?” you cut in, scraping the sides of the pink ice cream cup in your hand with a spoon.

Lucinda shrugged, setting her foam cup down on the table again. She spent a second swirling it around, distracted by the sounds of ice clinking together. It was clear there were multiple things on her mind, though from the way she let out a dejected sigh made you think she had settled for talking about something heavier.

“I don’t know,” she mused, propping her head against her hand. She stared at the expanse of wall behind yours and Katelyn’s heads, her gaze seeming far off. “Just thinking that the opposite might be true, too.”

You raised a brow, sharing a glance with Katelyn. Neither of you were sure how to respond to her revelation, so you just kept quiet until Lucinda continued.

“Is there something wrong with me?” she suddenly asked. Your eyes widened and you instinctively reached across the restaurant table to take Lucinda’s hand.

“What? Of course not. Why would there be something wrong with you?” Beside you, Katelyn straightened in her seat and pursed her lips. She was being uncharacteristically quiet, and if Lucinda weren’t about to experience a crisis you might have commented on it.

“Just . . . Ivan-”

Katelyn groaned, tilting her head back. “Luz, I’ve told you a million times-”

“I know! I know.” Lucinda sighed again, fully leaning against the table now. “But he didn’t exactly . . . do anything this time. I just- I don’t know if I like him. Anymore, at least. I think I did, but now it’s . . .”

She made a vague spinning motion with her hand. Clearly her brain was too scrambled to actually form a fully coherent thought, but now that she had partially laid her woes before you, it was understandable.

And it made sense—Lucinda had been acting weird lately. You noticed it was a gradual thing, but over the past couple weeks her usual bubbly and playful personality had been slowly diminishing. You had never commented on it, assuming it was just a natural shift in her mood, but now knowing that Ivan had something to do with it made sense.

Which you should’ve known, really. She hadn’t talked about him without being prompted by someone else for weeks. Normally she would’ve let at least something about her relationship with him slip, whether accidentally or not.

You opened your mouth to say something, but Lucinda continued. “We decided to go on a break a while ago. The break was supposed to end earlier this week, but being on it made me feel . . .”

“Relieved?” Katelyn offered when Lucinda trailed off.

“Like you could do whatever you want?” you added.

Lucinda was silent for a moment, taking in your words before slowly nodding. “Yeah. Which is weird to me because people also say that the more time you spend away from a person, the more you miss them. Like the getting to know and liking someone thing I said earlier. But when Ivan and I went on this break, I realized that I don’t really want him.”

“Maybe you’ve been forcing yourself to like him,” you suggested. It wouldn’t have been surprising, to you or Katelyn or anyone else for that matter. Looking from the outside in, it didn’t seem like Ivan and Lucinda even liked each other. “I mean, I can’t even remember the last time you said something positive about him.”

“He asked me to homecoming. Made me a cute sign,” Lucinda reminded, though the attempt to paint Ivan in a positive light seemed less than half-hearted.

“Yeah, after you begged him to,” Katelyn pointed out. “And that sign was the worst thing I’ve ever seen. It was so low effort, Lucinda. I’m surprised you even accepted.”

Lucinda let out a heavy sigh, though she didn’t seem too disappointed. And knowing her, it was entirely possible that she had already drawn a conclusion herself—she just wanted the affirmation from her closest friends.

She laid against her crossed arms on the table. For a few minutes, the three of you stayed completely silent as she ran through a million thoughts on her own. You continued to scrape the sides of your ice cream cup and Katelyn savored each fry she dipped into her strawberry milkshake. The two of you let your friend stew in her own emotions before she finally sat back up. Neither you or Katelyn drew attention to her reddened eyes, and you pretended that the brief wipe she gave them was just to fix her lashes.

“Enough about me,” she said, her voice coming out quieter than she wanted. She cleared her throat before leaning forward again, propping her head against her fist once more. “What’s going on with you two?”

Katelyn shrugged, taking Lucinda’s question and previous grievance as an invitation to talk about her own. “Jeffory and I are arguing.”

Lucinda furrowed her brows, leaning forward. “Oh, my god. What about?”

Katelyn rolled her eyes, waving her hand as if she wanted to dismiss the topic (like she wasn’t the one that brought it up). “How nice he is. What else?”

“What happened?” you asked, turning your head toward her.

“He just is so . . . good.” Katelyn blinked, trying to find another way to describe it but ultimately failing. “I mean, you know how he is. Nice to everyone, even if they’re bothering him or being rude. There’s this girl.”

Lucinda scrunched her nose. “Oh. Talya?”

Katelyn nodded, an exaggerated motion to portray her annoyance at the situation. “Yes. She so obviously likes him, but he doesn’t see it even though I’ve told him.” Katelyn groaned, leaning back and tilting her head against the wall behind her. “And I keep telling him I don’t like that he keeps talking to her, but he just- He can’t be mean to her, is what he says.”

You and Lucinda both hum in consideration, taking in Katelyn’s words and choosing your own carefully. It could be hard when she vented to you—she would get herself so worked up and then the smallest things would make her tick like a bomb and explode. It was something she was working on, as well as her patience. But, well, she was getting impatient with it.

“Well, that is the kind of person Jeffory is,” you carefully started, your words coming out slowly as if it would lessen the blow. “You knew that before you started dating. You also told me that was part of the reason you liked him.”

Katelyn let out a loud sigh and rolled her eyes. “I mean, yeah, I did. But now it’s getting on my nerves. And . . . God, he’s so patient. He’s never gotten mad at me.”

You furrowed your brows and exchanged a glance with Lucinda. “Isn’t that good?”

“Yeah, that sounds perfect. Imagine having a boyfriend that doesn’t get mad at you.”

Katelyn deadpanned, glaring at you both. She rolled her eyes again as she dipped a fry into her milkshake. “You guys know what I mean. I obviously don’t need someone that gets upset as easily as I do, but it’d also be nice to have someone challenge me every now and then.”

“So you’re less upset that he won’t tell Talya to leave him alone and more mad that he’s just . . . passive?” you said, leaning against the table. You had scraped the edges of your cup completely clean, so you put the empty paper cup on the tray with the rest of the food that had been finished.

“No. I’m still upset that he won’t tell Talya to buzz off.”

“I think him being passive is a big part of that,” Lucinda commented. Katelyn rolled her eyes in response and waved her off.

“Okay, Lucinda. Every time you’ve told me about when Ivan talks to other girls, he at least tries to defend himself. Jeffory just doesn’t. He just apologizes for making me feel that way and then moves on.”

Lucinda softly hummed and shut her mouth. She wouldn’t be saying anything anymore—at least not about Katelyn.

“So that might just be a different conversation you need to have with him,” you suggested, breaking the tense silence that had entered the air. “Because it sounds more like you just want him to argue with you instead of just brushing off your feelings.”

Katelyn sighed. The tips of her ears reddened and she was starting to talk with her hands more. “I don’t want him to argue with me I just want him to respond! He never- He always gives me space to process what I’m thinking and I don’t always want that, I want him to engage.” She huffed, running her hands through her hair. “I don’t even want to completely argue, I want to banter with him. Like you and Gene, Y/n.”

Lucinda perked up at the slight shift in topic. You, on the other hand, scoffed.

“Gene and I don’t banter,” you said. “We just have normal conversations. As friends.”

“Well whatever you and Gene have, I want it,” Katelyn said. “There’s chemistry there, there’s interaction. I want a response from Jeffory. Not just a . . . Let’s come back to this.” She sighed again, slumping in her seat and fully leaning against the wall. She closed her eyes and slowly inhaled, trying to calm herself down.

You reached over to grab her hand and gave it a soft squeeze. When Katelyn started to get like this, you found that the best way to ground her was through physical touch. It didn’t have to be anything big—just holding onto her in some way. She returned the squeeze you gave, letting out another heavy breath.

“Call what you have with Gene whatever you want,” she started after a moment, meeting your gaze, “but there’s something there. The two of you have this . . . weird spark. I might not like him but I’m not blind like Laurance or some of our other friends.”

Your brows raised and your eyes widened. You hadn’t expected this to turn on you, and you definitely hadn’t expected that to be the thing Katelyn seemed the most level-headed about. Though, you supposed that was a good thing since Lucinda took Katelyn’s comment as an invitation to direct the conversation in a different direction to try and take Katelyn’s mind off her own problems.

“Gene and I aren’t . . .” You paused. Weren’t what? It didn’t matter because Lucinda’s smooth voice slipped into the empty gap.

“You and him have been spending a lot of time together,” she said, wiggling her brows at you.

Your expression straightened. You’d had this conversation before, right? “That doesn’t mean anything.”

“Sure it does.” Lucinda waved your weak defense off, taking a slow sip of her sweet tea. “People don’t typically spend time with people they don’t like.”

“Okay, then I like him, just not like that,” you replied, lifting your hands in a so what? motion. Lucinda rolled her eyes in response.

“Please, Y/n. I could feel the tension between you two from Dante’s couch on Sunday. The two of you were practically soaked in desire.” Both yours and Katelyn’s faces scrunched in disgust. “Okay, maybe that was a bad description. But I’m serious! You and Gene have something going on when no one else is looking, I can feel it.”

After a moment of stunned silence, Katelyn managed to laugh. She rolled her eyes as she drank the last of her milkshake before setting the tall glass to the side. “As unnecessarily explicit as Lucinda’s description was”—she turned her head to face you, her expression not doing anything to hide the reluctance she held in agreeing—“there is definitely something.”

You scoffed, looking at both your friends in disbelief. How else were you supposed to look at them when they suggested something as ridiculous as that? You certainly weren’t going to be bowing at their feet, praising them for their insight. Especially not when their insight was so poor and practically non existent.

When neither of their expressions wavered—when they kept that same unyielding look of certainty—you couldn’t help but scoff again. You truly couldn’t think of another way to react.

“There is nothing!” you eventually decided to say, throwing your hands up. “Gene and I are just friends. I’m not interested in him romantically, and he doesn’t even–”

“Yeah, that’s why you nearly broke down on the ride home Sunday,” Katelyn mumbled. After the words left her mouth, her gaze wandered. It was almost like she was looking for whoever had said that.

“Katelyn!” Lucinda laughed as you hit Katelyn’s shoulder, and you practically watched the lightbulb go off over Lucinda’s head.

She gasped dramatically and spread her arms across the dining table, leaning forward slightly. “Oh, my goodness. You do!”

“Do what?” You really didn’t need to ask. You knew.

“The first stage is denial, Y/n. And you are deep in that stage right now.”

You sputtered. Apparently, choosing to hang out with your friends would leave you so appalled that you forgot how to speak. “Am not!”

“Yuh-huh.” Lucinda nodded in a very exaggerated fashion. “And I have more evidence. Not only were the two of you being weird on Sunday, but I totally saw your face when he was talking to Lacy.”

Your cheeks heated and your eyes widened. Somehow you managed to cough up an argument. “Who even is Lacy?”

You were possibly the worst actress to exist on the planet. There was no way Lucinda or Katelyn would hear your shaky voice and actually believe you had no clue what they were talking about. Lucinda’s expression said as much, but before she could get the rest of her words out, you jumped in.

“Okay, I wasn’t looking at him, I was . . . Just wondering what they were talking about. Totally normal”

Lucinda hummed, though the pitch of it made you uncomfortable. “Say what you want, but I saw you. I saw your eyes and the way you stared Lacy down.”

“I love Lacy!” you suddenly exclaimed, not wanting to seem like you just disliked the girl. “She’s just a sweet freshman. If anything, I was making sure Gene wasn’t trying to blackmail her or date her or something . . .”

“Why would he want to date Lacy?” Katelyn asked, pushing her empty glass down the table and toward the growing pile of trash.

“I don’t think Gene’s interested in a freshman so much as he’s interested in a certain junior,” Lucinda softly sang, completely ignoring Katelyn’s question. You rolled your eyes, and instead of responding you gathered all the trash on the table and piled it on top of your food tray.

“You are both ridiculous,” you said, standing up. You carefully lifted the restaurant tray in your hands, making sure nothing would fall off before taking it to the trash. You put everything in its designated area—trash in the chute, Katelyn’s milkshake glass upside down on the counter, and finally the tray atop the can. When you returned to the table, you didn’t sit back down.

“I have to get going,” you said, grabbing your purse from where you had sat and wrapping it around yourself. You searched through it for everything you needed as you spoke. “Gene told me about sixish for meeting at Sasha’s and she lives kind of far.”

“Aw, she’s spending the night with Gene,” Lucinda mused. Katelyn did not seem impressed. She gave a mirthless hum and pulled out her phone instead. Taking note of Katelyn’s disinterest, Lucinda playfully swatted at her. “Katelyn, be excited. This is the first guy Y/n’s been interested in since Laurance.”

“Yeah, and she chose probably the worst choice she could have,” Katelyn reasoned, rolling her eyes. “Excuse me if I’m not excited.”

“Oh, my god.” You zipped up your purse, probably more aggressively than you realized. “Guys, for the last time, nothing is going on. Gene and I are just friends.”

Both girls hummed in disbelief, a perfectly synchronised reaction that made them both chuckle. You rolled your eyes (really, how had they not fallen out of your head?) before giving them a brief goodbye and leaving.

You didn’t start driving once you got in your car. You spent a moment just sitting there, taking in a moment—feeling the fresh air from the vents against your skin, watching a couple people walk to their cars, admiring the last of the sun’s golden rays, Laufey’s “Promise” playing from your car speakers. It was a slow moment. Nothing was happening. Nothing needed your immediate attention. You just breathed.

Which you felt like you needed. Non stop for the past week you had been fighting arguments about your alleged relationship with Gene. Constantly telling Laurance and Garroth and whoever else asked that no, you weren’t in love with (or even romantically interested in) Gene. You shut down Travis’s entirely inappropriate remark about you and Gene fucking, which you had promptly smacked him across the face and yelled at him for. After that, you refused to talk or acknowledge him for two and a half days before he presented a box of chocolates to you and begged for an apology during your second period. He ended up putting a hundred dollars in the jar as retribution. All week you had been ignoring the passing comments you heard in the halls, which proved to be incredibly difficult. People were bad at minding their business and keeping their opinions to themselves. Any time someone brought it up, you would vehemently deny anything they said. Total strangers had started approaching you, asking if Gene was really as bad as his reputation said.

It was getting overwhelming. No part of you liked it. You had considered cutting everything off with Gene entirely, but that would also affect your relationship with Sasha. You didn’t want that.

Not to mention that, as much as you denied it to anyone that said anything, you had grown to enjoy Gene’s company. The more time you spent with him the more he showed you small parts of himself that you doubted he let anyone else see. His downturned smile, for example. You hadn’t seen him give that genuine smile to anyone except you, and even then he kept it confined to when the two of you were alone or only around Sasha and Zenix. No one else.

During the conversations you had under the moon—when it was late and neither of you could sleep and you found yourselves texting each other because you knew the other would respond—both of you let yourselves go, just a little. Gene had confided in you that he hated his dad, who always found a reason to be out of the house. That he felt bad for hating his dad because his mom still loved him more than anything. You had admitted that you felt Phoenix Drop wasn’t the place for you. That, despite your popularity and how many people were kind to you, you found your high school and the entire city to be shallow and unwelcoming.

“That’s just Phoenix Drop High. A bunch of stuck up rich kids that think they’re better than everyone else. Don’t worry about that,” he told you, his voice low so he didn’t wake his sleeping family. “You’re a magnet. There might be really shitty people, but you also attract the good ones. Like Sasha.”

And you had gone silent for a moment. Of course there were a couple good people. Like Sasha, but also like Katelyn and Lucinda and Aphmau and your entire friend group, really. Even if they were stuck up rich kids, they were good at their cores.

In that silence between the two of you, the only noise passing through being the soft buzz of the phone line, you took in Gene’s words. There were good people—even ones that seemed unlikely.

“Like you,” you had replied. Your voice was soft, and if Gene didn’t know you he might’ve thought you were hesitant to say it. Or that you didn’t mean it.

But you did. He knew you did. His breath had hitched—so quietly that it was entirely possible to think you had imagined it. Another moment of silence enveloped the two of you as he took in your words. In the quiet, you had started to run your finger against the seam of your stuffed chicken. Had you said the wrong thing?

“Yeah.” His voice finally broke the silence, quiet and low in a way that was different than it had been. It was almost disbelieving. “If that’s what you wanna believe, bunny.”

So yes, you had grown to enjoy his company. Weirdly, Gene had become some sort of rock for you—someone you could confide in and tell things that you were hesitant to admit even to Katelyn.

But you didn’t like him. No, you really didn’t. You had just become fond of him. You weren’t going to let what anyone said gaslight you into liking him (or admitting that you did like him). A similar thing had happened with Laurance, and look how that turned out. You’d cried in your room for weeks and dug yourself into a hole that had been nearly impossible to climb out of.

So no. You wouldn’t let yourself like Gene. You were declaring Gene Accardi off limits for a million reasons. He had a horrendous reputation, none of your friends liked him, he was Dante’s brother.

Falling for Gene was a terrible move. If life were a game of chess, then making that move would get yourself checkmated before you could even do anything about it. With everyone’s assumptions and words, you were in check. You needed to move and keep your king safe.

Unfortunately, you never could grasp the concept of chess.

—

Sasha’s house was just as homey on the inside as it was outside. There was a number of plants everywhere, climbing up the walls outside and flowering into pretty blooms inside. It would have felt cluttered if the house weren’t so big.

It was Sasha’s mom that had met you at the door. She’d told you to call her Zizi and to remove your shoes in the foyer before she led you to a windowless room. It was mostly empty, but in the middle there was an array of blankets and pillows arranged in what you could only describe as a nest of some sort. Zenix, Gene, and Sasha were either sitting or lying on the blankets, and the three of them were scrolling through a long list of movies.

Zenix was the only one that initially turned at the sound of the door opening. He offered you an awkward smile and wave, greeting you to bring attention to the fact that you were even there.

Gene turned next. You might have imagined it, but at the sight of you his eyes lit up. You gave them a soft smile before fully entering the room, closing the door behind you and setting your old backpack down on the mass of pillows.

“What is that?” Gene asked as you tossed your stuffed Stardew Valley chicken to Sasha. Her entire expression lit up once she was hit with it, and immediately she held it in her arms tight.

“It’s a stuffed chicken, Gene,” you replied. You kept your tone straight to emphasize that it was an obvious fact. Zenix snickered, which you considered a win since you figured he was pretty stone faced and quiet about most things. He was probably why Gene knew so much about everyone.

“Obviously it’s a chicken, Y/n.”

“Then why’d you ask?”

“Because who has a giant chicken?”

“Uhm. Me, obviously.” You rolled your eyes, settling yourself on the blankets next to Gene.

“Are you disrespecting Benedict?” Sasha asked. When you looked over she was looking at Gene with a raised brow and a nasty side eye, covering the chicken’s eyes like she was protecting it from an unseemly sight.

“Who the hell is Benedict?”

“The chicken!” you and Sasha exclaimed at the same time.

“What kind of name is Benedict?”

“Like eggs benedict, Gene. You idiot,” Zenix cut in. You were grateful for it because finally, someone who understood the joke in the name without you needing to explain it.

“Because chickens lay eggs,” Sasha added.

Gene blinked at the three of you before softly shaking his head and laying back on the blankets. “I think you three are a little”—he whistled, lifting his hand to tap his temple—“up here.”

You smacked Gene with a nearby pillow, making Sasha and Zenix burst out laughing. In response, Gene got a firm grip on the pillow—his hands above yours, his callouses rubbing against your skin—and pulled you forward. You slid over him without much fight, yelping when he pulled the pillow out of your hands and laid an arm across your waist to keep you down as he tossed it out of your reach.

“You’re a brat,” he said, though it was through a laugh and his tone was lighthearted. You tried wiggling out of his grasp, but Gene kept a stubborn arm around you.

“And you’re mean,” you laughed. You kicked until you could finally shift away. You rolled over, out of Gene’s reach and sat back up. You were still laughing, so you missed the conspiratorial glance Sasha and Zenix shared.

On the TV—a big one, and you only realized then that Sasha had a proper movie room with a surround sound system—your other two friends had pulled up Sasha’s personal collection of movies. Ones she owned based on the word OWNED in the upper left corner.

“Okay, guys. What are we watching?” Sasha asked.

“The Shining.”

“Terrifier.”

It went silent for a moment, the trio of troublemakers looking over at you expectantly. Your eyes widened upon the realization that they were waiting for your answer. You blinked at them, thinking. They probably wanted you to say some sort of horror movie.

“I’m gonna be honest,” you started, holding your hands up in surrender, “the only scary movies I’ve ever seen is Scream and a 1920 silent film version of Phantom of the Opera.”

Sasha snickered. “Of course you’ve only seen Scream.”

You glared at her. You considered saying something, but Zenix unknowingly saved Sasha from whatever retort you had.

“Isn’t Phantom of the Opera a romance?” he asked, brows furrowed in skepticism.

“Actually”—you saw Gene roll his eyes in your peripheral, and you playfully swatted his shoulder—”it wasn’t really considered a romance until Andrew Lloyd Webber turned it into a musical. Before that the takes on it were mostly horror.”

Zenix hummed. He seemed indifferent to the information. Then again, he always seemed that way. He wasn’t very inclined to make many expressions or talk, at least not when you were around.

Who knew. Maybe he was different when it was just Gene and Sasha.

“So have you never seen any Tim Burton movies?” Gene asked, tilting his head back to look at you. He still laid on the floor next to you.

“Well, yeah. But I wouldn’t say Tim Burton is scary. It’s more creepy, you know,” you reasoned, shrugging. Gene nodded thoughtfully, probably going through an internal list of other movies

“Okay. Since our precious Y/n is new to horror”—Sasha reached over and gave you an affectionate pat on the head—“our options are now Christine and The Sixth Sense. Any preference?”

“Christine’s good.”

“Yeah. Nice and unsettling.”

“Christine it is.”

You raised a brow, looking between the three of them. Just like three peas in a pod, they were. “Christine?”

“Yup. It’s about a car that kills people because it’s jealous,” Gene mused. You knew he was watching for your reaction to the information because he laughed at your furrowed brows and slightly agape lips.

“What?” That was really the only thing that could express how you felt. It encapsulated it perfectly, actually. “What do you mean a car gets jealous?”

Sasha shushed you. “Watch the movie.”

She turned your head to the TV, where the movie had already started and the camera followed a factory line of old fashioned cars, before standing up to turn off the overhead light. You paid attention, watching with intrigue as the cherry red car cruised along the screen. You gasped when the car’s hood slammed down on a worker’s hand. Your jaw dropped when a different employee stepped inside it and was shown dead because of it just a few clips later.

Okay, an angry car was understandable now. But how was it jealous?

You got your answer a couple minutes later.

At some point, Sasha’s mom came into the room with a tray of arranged snacks and drinks. She set it down on the edge of the pile of blankets before leaving after all four of you had thanked her. By the time the movie ended, your eyebrows had furrowed in disbelief so much you were starting to get a headache.

“Never in my life did I think I would witness a car experiencing jealousy,” you said as the credits rolled. You softly shook your head. “If you told me this morning I would be watching a movie about a killer car I would’ve called you crazy and whacked you over the head.”

“Did you like it at least?” Zenix asked. You didn’t know how to answer his question because yes, you did enjoy it. More than you had anticipated. You did not like how there was no explanation for why the car was evil. Were you just supposed to believe it was made bad and not possessed? Surely there was something else.

You ended up nodding because your enjoyment from it outweighed your questions. Truth be told, you’d probably never think about it again.

The four of you continued watching movies until early morning Saturday. It was nearly three in the morning by the time you decided it was time to leave. As you gathered your things and your trash to throw away on the way out, Gene offered to drive you home. You politely refused, and instead he insisted on at least walking to your car.

The very short walk from Sasha’s TV room to your used car was more awkward than you wanted it to be and seemed to take centuries. Never in your life had you felt more tense, and it was all because this silent moment with Gene reminded you of all the shit you had been asked throughout the week. All the people commenting on the alleged spark you and him had.

You told yourself it didn’t exist until Gene held open the driver side door for you. Then you told yourself he was just being a gentleman because he was rich and was probably raised that way.

He tapped on the glass when you turned the car on. You rolled the window down and he leaned forward, crossing his arms against the frame of the car.

“You didn’t have to walk me to my car, Gene,” you said, leaning back in your seat. Your hands were settled in your lap, and to avoid fidgeting with anything you quietly tapped your hands against your thighs.

Gene shrugged. “I wanted to. You never know what kind of big bad wolves are out here.” You rolled your eyes at his jest, moving to jokingly roll the window back up before his hand intercepted yours. It was warm, just like your face was slowly becoming. “Fair tomorrow?”

You nodded, hoping it shook you out of whatever stupor holding his hand had put you in. “Obviously. I love the Fall Festival.”

Gene smiled. “Alright. I’ll come pick you up at ten?”

“Oh, you don’t have to-” You really didn’t want to be in an enclosed space with Gene. Not when so many detrimental things were making themselves apparent to you.

“I’m driving Sasha and Zenix anyway.” He let go of your hand, straightening up to his usual height. “I don’t mind. I’ll come pick you up at ten.”

You weren’t really given much of a choice to respond because after saying that, Gene turned and stared back to Sasha’s house. You watched in slight disbelief, appalled that he would just leave you like that, as he stepped up onto her porch.

“Okay!” you shouted after him. You waved your arm out the window in a what the hell? motion. Your expression would have added to the display, but unfortunately it was dark and Gene couldn’t see you clearly through the window tint.

At least he waited until you were out of the driveway to walk back into the yellow house. The jerk.

A jerk you wouldn’t mind spending even more time with. Alone.

The thought crossed your mind without realization, and you were left driving down the road in a trancelike state. What was that supposed to mean? Obviously you didn’t mind spending more time with him. Gene was your friend. You liked your friends and often wanted to spend time with them.

You pulled up to a red light and pulled to a stop, debating whether or not you wanted to call him upon your arrival home. As you considered it, your thoughts crashed into each other like two freight trains as the most obvious revelation seemed to finally dawn on you.

You liked Gene. Fuck.

You resisted the urge to honk your horn in frustration.

double update what??? who am I???

y'all gonna like the next chapter trust. I have big plans

TAGGING: @garrothswiferealnotfake @wasting-away-on-the-internet @mellozhi @pushingdaisies1 @orinlin @luckygirldotgov @snowblossomsx @lucciluvr @oliemolliever @endo-bunny @purpledsun @angelhyperfixates @angelarabella @dontcrackyourpinkytoes @siochandess @flynnbee @neptunesfantasies @natpakk @thehumanartist @khoizen @baguettetaylorsversion @tomzgutz @revxwrites @fartmonster98 @1-800-avs @afellow-simp if you’d like to be part of the taglist let me know!

next part >>

[gay-dorito-dust]

Hi! I saw your Percy Jackson asks where open and I wanted to send in a request! How would Percy react to a fem reader who is the child of Morpheus the God of dreams? Like I imagine being a child to the God of dreams would make one fall asleep randomly when they are still new to their powers, so how would the scenario play out if perhaps one day reader falls asleep on him during a movie night? Would he stay as still as possible as to not wake her up or would he do something else like gently wake her up/move her? Hopefully I made this detatiled enough but in anyway thank you!!

You were just halfway from dozing off when Percy’s voice brought you from the cusp of a deep sleep to ask:

‘Does your dad look like-‘

‘For the last time Percy no, my dad doesn’t look like Tom Sturridge from The Sandman.’ You replied before he could even finish his question. It wasn’t the first time he asked this question after watching the Netflix show ironically about a man who bore the same name as your godly father, Morpheus, the god of dreams; Something that you now had a bone to pick with Neil Gaiman over.

‘Sooo he doesn’t blow golden sand at people’s faces to make them fall asleep?’ Percy continued to ask but at this point you knew that he was only doing this just to get a rise out of you and also to keep you from falling asleep again.

‘No-will you pack it in, in trying to get some rest from today.’ You said as you lightly smack his arm whilst readjusting your head onto his shoulder for more comfort, already feeling the lull of sleep beckoning you to fall further when Percy once again spoke up.

‘But you already do enough sleeping as it is!’ He cried but tried his hardest not to move too much in fear of agitating you, knowing firsthand how much you hated your sleep being disrupted. ‘And I can’t help that!’ You exclaimed. ‘I’ve been falling asleep at random ever since Morpheus claimed me as his own. It’s almost as though I’ve suddenly developed narcolepsy or something.’ You were still getting use to your powers that for some reason would backfire now and then, causing you to have bouts of almost narcoleptic episodes where you could just be talking to someone then boom; there you were, fast asleep in the strawberry fields or on the sandy dunes of the lake as though it were the most comfortable place known to man.

It worried to everyone to begin with but upon being claimed, it started to make a lot more sense that whenever you did spontaneously fall asleep, it was easier to be accommodated for; letting you sleep because you were mad cranky when woken prematurely. Connor and Travis learnt that the hard way when for an entire week their dreams consisted of being chased by a very angry humanoid goose, as if being chased by a regular goose wasn’t scary enough. Just one of the few perks of being the child of the god who could morph dreams and enter them however he saw fit.

The subject of your tendency to fall asleep at random was soon dropped entirely as you and Percy went back to watching the movie that was already well within it’s third and final act. Well Percy was, you on the other hand…were fast asleep on his shoulder, uncaring of the crook in the neck that you were surly developing from your uncomfortable position. Percy doesn’t notice until he goes to look at you to make a joke on a certain scene but stopped and the words died on his lips as he stared at you adoringly. ‘Why am I not surprised that you’ve fell asleep. Again.’ He says softly to himself as he watched how your grip on his arm would occasionally tighten as though your dream had taken a tonal shift, only to loosen up and relax not a moment after.

Not that I needed my arm or my shoulder anyways. Percy thought to himself as he tried his absolute hardest to stay still for your benefit but he might as well have asked Medusa to make him into stone instead because he was doing such a shit job at not moving at all. It was almost as if all his limbs had minds of their own as they’d move or his fingers would tap against his thigh impatiently as the movie ended and the credits began to appear on screen; With the remote too far for him to reach without waking you up and nothing else to occupy his restless mind, Percy felt as though he was in his own personal hell and heaven, or fields of punishment and Elysium.

For one, he got to admire you as you slept, completely at peace and safe within his presence as you would oftentimes shuffle further into him, making noises of discontent when you thought you felt him move away and tightening your grip; Something he found undeniably adorable as he watched the twitches in your face and tries to guess what kind of dream you were having based off them. Secondly he desperately wanted to move, his brain was telling him to move, but Percy would rather not risk having an angry human sized goose chasing him in his dreams for the next week because he accidentally woke you prematurely from your nap. He knows you wouldn’t do that but in cases like these, it he’d know it be better to be safe and sure then expect special treatment; which upon retrospect sounded a lot worse then getting chased by a human sized goose.

So Percy allows himself the fate of being your makeshift pillow, though not before pressing a kiss to your head, wishing you the sweetest of dreams before inevitably falling asleep himself as he rested his head atop of yours, crook in his neck be damned.

[confusedmothboy]

hello hello. i would love to hear your thoughts on how you think travis’s dynamic with his mother(and father) was pre-crash! and also with his mother post-crash. no pressure to answer this i’m just Thinking about it now

YESSSS the martinez family is so interesting to me and its never touched on like at all

just a disclaimer thers a lot of speculation around them that delves more into stereotypical hispanic gender roles that probably influenced their dynamic and i am listening to all of it BUT im also white as fuck so i'll be speaking from my experience that obviously. doesnt include that

all the yapping is under the cut

in the first frames, travis isnt even in the shot. coach martinez hands the bag over to javi, and the camera pans over to travis, who's standing just brooding. i think this kinda immediately hits us with "javi is the golden child" or at least the only one acknowledged in a positive manner with his parents.

when it finally does pan over to travis, he's standing pretty far from everyone, showing the audience the distance from the rest of his family he tries to keep. he could help, but doesnt. i think its interesting how coach martinez tasked his 12 year old with loading up the car instead of his 15 year old whos perfectly capable ykyk. i think this sets up a lot of the resentment we see with travis both towards his dad and towards javi. javi, for whatever reason, is already seen as more capable by their dad than travis is.

this scene is usually skipped way over because of what comes right after it, and you cant really see it in the single screenshot, but javi completely shrugs off his mom's attempt to hug him goodbye. preteen angst? maybe. mirroring coach martinez and/or travis? ohhhh most definitley.

except coach martinez knows that in certain situations, appearance mattters. javi can shy away from parental affection, travis can be off doing whatever, but a husband should kiss his wife goodbye. except she SO does not want that. people speculate dv, affairs, just a general unhappy marriage, but i think its more indicative from a narrative point that this is a traditional family. mom, dad, two brothers just a few years apart, thats like. the goal family pretty much everywhere. they are absolutely nuclear. i feel like the lack of divorce thats very needed here can imply a few things, but overall, we know that this is an appearance-heavy, traditional, "normal" household.

travis gets in the car right after that, neither him nor his mother attempting to say their goodbyes. again, its hard to know whats intentional and whats just the script instructions saying [act like a moody teenager]. whatever.

travis clearly doesnt like his father, saying that coach martinez never even liked him, saying he was a shit dad, all that at his father's gravesite. lets just take a moment to acknowledge how batshit it is that coach martinez works at the same school that travis is relentlessly fucking harassed at and seemingly does nothing about it. i see him being the "getting bullied scares the weakness right out of someone" type, hence why we can assume he never tries to help his son out. he approaches coaching the same way but this isnt a coach martinez analysis this is about travis (and javi)

in these kinds of family dynamics, usually theres a "safer" parent, like you got one you cant ever talk to and then the other who you have a bit more connection with. but neither is trustworthy, because in the back of your mind there's always something nagging that "[safe parent] is still putting up with [other parent]'s behavior and doesn't try to do anything about it, even when it impacts me". because of this, i cant imagine travis having any sort of healthy dynamic with his mom either. in houses like these, sometimes its easier to blame the safe parent when they dont rush to your defense.

on javi: coach martinez obviously respects javi more. or at the very least is easier on him than on travis, most definitely because javi is the younger of the two. that's probably why coach martinez's behavior and travis's attitude dont rub of on javi as much as they could have. notice how javi's the only one that their mother tries to hug goodbye? notice how travis, being a 15 year old who's been bullied and ignored by people at school and at home, is desperate for physical affection the second nat starts to fall for him out in the wilderness? yeah. im sending brain waves over to you rn to convey what i cant exactly put into words. only when travis is out of his home and without both of his parents can he begin to deconstruct the resentment he built against javi. i also think that him being so aggressive with javi right after the crash was a form of preservation for javi's mental state. travis wanted javi to not only admit that their dad was awful (validating travis's experience), but also to protect javi and force him to build the same walls against their dad to save him from the adverse effects of oh i dunno seeing him impaled on a tree?? in travis's mind, until nat and him have that conversation, it's easier and safer to just say "nah i always hated him" and move on. theres a lot i could say about the realism in the martinez brother's dynamic but this is so long already and i have to get to school like 10 minutes ago

overall the family dynamic between these four actually drives me insane. both because we're shown so much and so little and OHHHH its delicious and awful and far too close to home

[storiesforallfandoms]

the parent trap ~ travis barker

word count: 2979

request?: yes!

“Travis barker x female reader, the reader has a teenage daughter around Travis barker daughter age and the daughter is friends with Alabama and the daughter tells the reader how much her and Alabama have in common. So one day the reader and Travis meet and the daughter and Alabama notice that Travis and the reader like each other so they plan to get there parents together and then the reader and Travis get together, please and thank you”

description: when their teenage daughters notice chemistry between their parents, they decide to take matters into their own hands

pairing: travis barker x female!reader

warnings: swearing, rpf, two uses of y/n

masterlist (one, two, three)

“Mom, can I go over to Alabama’s after school?”

You looked at your daughter, Skye, as you passed her a plate of breakfast. “You’ve been talking about Alabama a lot lately, but you haven’t introduced me to her yet.”

Skye rolled her eyes. “Because you’d totally embarrass me, mom.”

You put a hand over your heart in mock offence. “You wound me, dear daughter.”

She didn’t fight the smile that pulled at her lips. You placed a plate in your spot at the table and sat across form her. “You just seem to be good friends with this Alabama girl, and I’d like to meet her eventually because of that. And her parents, for that matter.”

Skye let out a groan, but she conceded, “Fine. You can pick me up at her place and meet her and her dad. Happy?”

“Oh, I am elated,” you said, sarcastically.

~~~~~~

The next evening, you parked outside the address Skye had given you. She had agreed to let you come to the door to meet Alabama and her dad, but then you were to leave right away. Less likely to “embarrass” her that way (her words).

You walked up to the front door and rang the doorbell. You heard footsteps approaching the door, and assumed it was Skye and Alabama as you had texted Skye to let her know you were on the way. Imagine your surprise when a man answered the door instead; a very handsome man, at that.

“Hello?” he said, seeming confused by your presence.

“Uh, hi!” you said, trying to remember where you even were. “I’m here to pick up Skye?”

You were worried for a second that you had the wrong address, but then he smiled and said, “Oh yeah! I’m Alabama’s dad, Travis. Skye mentioned you were stopping by. Come in!”

That wasn’t what was agreed on with Skye, but you weren’t about to argue. After all, that agreement was made before you knew that Alabama had a very handsome dad.

You followed Travis into the kitchen. The house was massive. You were wondering what he did for a living, until you noticed a music plaque on one of his walls. You came to realize he was in a band - Blink-182 to be exact. You knew they were a popular band, but they weren’t one that you listened to enough to have recognized him.

“Skye and Bam are out back in the pool,” Travis explained. “Do you want a drink or anything?”

“I’m good, thanks,” you said. “That explains why Skye didn’t meet me at the door. I’m (Y/N), by the way.”

He reached to shake your hand. You tried not to react to the spark you felt when your hands touched. It felt like such a juvenile way to think, but you genuinely did feel a spark. Maybe you were just trying to manifest something because he was so attractive.

“Skye was going to meet you at the door?” Travis asked, raising an amused eyebrow at you.

“Yeah. She wanted my meeting of you and Alabama to be very short and sweet, so she was supposed to meet me at the door and usher me out immediately after I met you both. Apparently I’m embarrassing or something.”

Travis chuckled. “Yeah, that sounds familiar.”

You raised an eyebrow at him. “You? The rockstar? Embarrassing?”

He laughed. “Fame does not make someone less embarrassing. I still poke fun at Bam to embarrass her. It’s a dad requirement. Like calling her Bam. She hates it, or so she says.”

You both sat at the kitchen table. Despite declining his offer for a drink, Travis had still poured up a glass of water for you and put it in front of you. You got to talking while waiting for the girls to come inside. Travis asked you about yourself mainly, and only answered in short responses before turning the conversation back to you. You figured he got tired of talking about himself as a celebrity, and you really didn’t mind telling him about yourself. Most of the dates you had been on barely asked you the bare minimum about yourself.

Not that this was a date. Not at all. You were just meeting the dad of your daughter’s best friend.

At least, that’s what you kept telling yourself, until Travis asked, “So...is Skye’s dad still around?”

You were shocked by the question first, but managed to say, “No. Well, I mean, he’s alive. But we’re divorced. We split up when Skye was little, but we’re still on good terms for her sake.”

“Me too. Divorced, I mean. Bam and Landon’s mom and I had a very...intense relationship that we eventually realized was not a good one. We co-parent, and we try to be civil for the kids.”

Silence fell over the two of you. You weren’t sure what was happening, or how to react. He was looking at you, though, and you were starting to feel flushed under his gaze.

You were broken apart by someone clearing their throat. You both looked up to see Skye and Alabama, wrapped in towels but still dripping on the kitchen floor. They were both giving you a look that you couldn’t quite decipher.

“Bam, dry off more before you come in,” Travis said. His daughter scowled but didn’t argue over the nickname.

“Skye, are you ready to go home?” you asked. “Wouldn’t want to overstay my welcome and embarrass you.”

She rolled her eyes “Yeah, let me go change.”

She ran in through the kitchen, Alabama following behind her, water trailing behind them as they went. “Skye, dry off before you come in!”

“It’s too late,” Travis said. “Her and Alabama were already in.”

“I can dry that for you.”

He waved away your offer. “Don’t worry. It’s just water. Alabama is always trekking water through the house too. Are you sure you don’t want to stay a little longer?”

Of course you did. You never wanted to leave. You wanted to spend as much time with Travis as you possibly could. But you knew that wasn’t possible, because you were just here to pick up Skye, and he was just Skye’s best friend’s dad. He was being nice, and that’s it.

So, instead of saying what you really wanted to say, you just politely smiled and shook your head. “We have to get home. I have dinner taken out to make, and I wouldn’t want the food to spoil and go to waste.”

That was a lie. You were planning to stop and get fast food for dinner.

Skye came back into the room, now dressed in the clothes she had been wearing when she went to school, and her wet hair pulled back into a ponytail. “I’m ready.”

You stood from your seat and approached her. “Nice to meet you, Travis. Tell Alabama it was nice to meet her, too.”

“You didn’t even meet her,” Skye pointed out. You grabbed her and steered her out of the house.

The car ride was quiet, weirdly enough. You expected Skye to be upset that you had been there for so long without her knowing, even though you had showed up at the agreed time and even texted her to tell her you were on your way. Besides telling you what she wanted for dinner, though, she didn’t say much the whole ride. What you didn’t notice was that she kept glancing at you, the wheels in her mind turning as she grabbed her phone and texted Alabama.

~~~~~~

A few days later, you were pulling up to Travis’ again. Skye had come over to hang out with Alabama, but she had told you she wanted to spend the entire Saturday there. So you were confused when you got a text from her in the early afternoon asking you to come get her. You were worried something had happened between the two girls.

You knocked at the door and Travis answered. He smiled at the sight of you. “Hey, good to see you again.”

You fought back the swelling in your heart at seeing him. “Hey, is Skye ready to go?”

He gave you a confused look. “Skye and Bam just left. They said they were walking to the mall.”

Now it was your turn to be confused. “I got a text from her not even 20 minutes ago asking me to come pick her up. I thought her and Alabama might’ve gotten in a fight.”

Travis shook his head. “They were just fine when they left, which was literally moments ago. I’m surprised you didn’t see them walking.”

You looked at your phone again just to be sure you had read the message right. There it was, asking you to come pick her up right away. Well, you were more than confused.

“Maybe she forgot to tell you her and Alabama left,” Travis offered. “Come in, we’ll wait for them and figure this out.”

You didn’t have to be told twice.

Travis brought you into his living room this time. As you sat, you decided to call Skye to see what was going on. The line rang a few times before you were sent to her voicemail. You tried again, only to get the same result.

You sighed and gave up. “She’s sending me to voicemail.”

“She might not hear the phone ringing. We may as well just wait for them to come back.”

You both fell into an awkward silence. What were you supposed to say? It’s not like you two had spoken since the last time you were there, and that last time ended just as awkwardly as this moment felt. If anything, whatever you could’ve asked him or used to spark up a conversation had already been said the last time you were over. Now you were stuck here in this terrible awkward limbo, as if you were two high school kids on a first date.

Weird how I’ve felt like a high schooler again after meeting Travis.

“I’m sure the girls are fine,” Travis said, finally breaking the silence. You looked over at him, a blank look on your face. “I’m assuming that’s why you’re being quiet, I mean.”

“Oh!” You chuckled. “No. I mean, yes I’m a little concerned and confused, but that’s not why I’m being quiet. I just...I’m a little awkward right now. I’m not too sure what to say if I’m being honest.”

Travis laughed. “I’m not that intimidating, am I?”

“No! God, no. The opposite of intimidating. You’ve been very inviting since the first time we met. I just...I don’t know. I don’t really know how to...talk to you.”

Now he was the one looking at you with an unreadable face. You groaned and buried your face in your hands. Leave it up to you to find a way to completely mess things up. Seriously, you had no idea how you had ever gotten married and had a kid when you had always been the epitome awkward. You thought you had left that part of you behind when you graduated and had met your ex, but now it was rearing its ugly head all over again.

“I am so sorry,” you said. “I am terrible at...everything, it would seem. Maybe I should try and call Skye again, or wait in the car for her - ”

“Wait,” Travis said, reaching out to stop you before you could stand. When his hand touched your arm, you started. Not that he had startled you, but you were so sure you had felt that spark again. A simple touch on your arm alone had sent a tingling sensation from your arm to your shoulder, then across your chest and to the rest of your body. Taking your jump as something bad, Travis quickly pulled away. “Sorry.”

“No, it’s fine,” you said. “Really, I’m sorry. I can see why Skye was worried I’d embarrass her now.”

“I don’t find you embarrassing.”

You gave him a wry smile. “Thanks.”

There was only one way out of this situation. Granted, it was likely to put you in an even more awkward situation, but at least once it was out you could finally excuse yourself to go to your car. You were tempted to drive all the way home and make Skye walk back for the trouble she had put you through, but your motherly instincts definitely were not going to let you do that.

“The thing is,” you started, “you are attractive. And you must know that. And I don’t mean that just as, you know, because you’re famous. Hand to God, I didn’t know you were when we first met. I don’t listen to Blink-182, or any of that type of music. And...well, I haven’t done a lot of talking to attractive guys since my divorce. I’ve gone on a few blind dates, but they usually end there and I never hear from the guy again. So, I’m struggling a little bit with knowing how to speak to you, or how to act around you. It’s like I’m a teenager with a crush on a cute boy all over again, despite being a full grown adult with a kid.”

He was looking at you with an unreadable expression again. You sighed to yourself, taking this to mean you had really put your foot in it now. You hoped Skye didn’t get too mad at you when she realized you had made things between you and Alabama’s dad incredibly awkward. Maybe you could convince your ex to come get her from Travis’, and you’d pick her up from Alabama’s mom’s place when Alabama was with her.

You had to look away. The embarrassment was eating away at you, and you couldn’t handle it. It’s not like you had never dealt with rejection before. At least half of those blind dates you had mentioned ended with your date saying they didn’t want to go on another date with you. But this one hurt a little extra, and you wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.

You started to stand again, but Travis moved to stop you again. “Wait! I promise this isn’t me trying to say I don’t feel the same way or anything. It’s just taking me a moment to process what you said.”

“You don’t have to say anything back if you don’t feel comfortable with it. Trust me, I get it if you don’t feel the same. I’m not going to make you feel bad or anything.”

“No, no. It’s not that at all. I...I do feel the same. I just thought it was silly because...well, like you said, we’re grown adults with teenagers. You would think we wouldn’t feel like teenagers ourselves anymore, but I guess those feelings never go away.”

He took your hands in his, both of you now turned on the couch to fully face one another.

“Listen, we’ve already gotten to know one another, we’ll still be seeing a lot of each other because our daughters are best friends,” he said. “Why don’t we give this a shot? Go on one date and see how it feels. If we decide that maybe it’s not going to work, we stay friends and we don’t let it get in the way of our daughters’ friendship.”

You were grinning from ear to ear, excitement starting to bubble up inside of you. You managed to keep your words calm and even as you said, “Yeah, I’d love that.”

It wasn’t more than a few seconds later that you heard the sound of footsteps coming towards the living room. Travis dropped your hands and you both moved away from one another, trying to pretend like nothing happened, as Skye and Alabama came around the corner. They both had sly grins on their faces, but Skye tried to act surprised upon seeing you. “Oh, mom. What are you doing here?”

You raised an eyebrow at her. “You texted me. You said you needed me to come get you right away.”

“Oh. Did I? That, uh...must’ve been a misclick or something.”

You and Travis shared a look.

“How was the mall, girls?” he asked.

“Good!” Alabama responded. “So good. You know, it was the mall.”

“Didn’t buy anything?” Travis asked, eying their hands which here conveniently empty from any shopping bags.

“Nothing caught our eye,” Alabama said with a shrug.

Travis hummed. He turned to you to say, “I didn’t hear the front door open, did you, (Y/N)?”

“Not at all,” you said. “How weird, huh?”

“So weird,” Skye said.

“Mega weird,” Alabama agreed.

They were up to something, and you had a feeling you knew what it was. You’d be talking to Skye about this more later, and you were sure Travis would be talking to Alabama, too. But for now, all four of you decided to drop the subject.

“Well, since you’re here now,” Travis said. “How about Skye and her mother join us for dinner? Would you guys be okay with that?”

“Yes!” Skye and Alabama burst at the same time.

You chuckled. “I guess I’m out numbered here.”

“Not like you were going to say no,” Travis teased.

You shrugged. “I guess not. But now we’ll never know.”

He smiled and stood from the couch to go find something to make for the four of you. You and the girls got up to follow, offering to help with the cooking. You didn’t want to get too far ahead of yourself, but as you watched Travis preparing the meal, and the girls sitting by pretending like they were helping, you couldn’t help but picture how this would be like if you were all a little family.

Maybe some light daydreaming isn’t so bad, you thought to yourself, as Travis smiled at you over his shoulder.

[literaryslapshot]

22- So High School with Princess and Nolan pleeeeeeeaase 🫶🏻

"you knew what you wanted, and boy you got her" | poetic prompts | warnings: anxiety, panic attacks, chaos, weddings

it was everything they could imagine, even though it was the most stressful day of their life.

the wedding day had finally approached. after almost five years of dating, a year of being engaged, the day arrived. typical wedding day jitters fell upon both parties, the usual last minute thoughts and touch ups, nothing prepared either of them for the massive chaotic crowd that was waiting outside the venue.

even though the bridal party did their best to keep it away from y/n, she knew that the flowers hadn't been delivered, the photographer was an hour late, and the shuttle was also late. as a group they decided to push the wedding back at least an hour to make room for adjustments. but nothing, absolutely nothing, was going to stop her from getting married today.

not even a nervous groom.

"y/n, i need to talk with you for a second." her maid of honor whispered in her ear. she was about to get in her dress, hair and makeup done and set, ready for pictures when the photographer would arrive. stepping to the side in her silk robe and slippers, she felt her stomach drop. god, what now?

"no bullshit. i know we're all done with that today, but you need to talk to nolan. travis texted me saying he is having a panic attack and won't come out of the bathroom. all of this massive chaos is probably freaking him out too," y/n was handed a tissue when she felt tears well up in her eyes, "no no, no crying, it'll all be okay. i'll go with you?"

"no, i can do it. when the photographer gets here y'all go ahead and take pictures and just wait for me."

walking across the venue and where the guys were getting ready, she knocked on the door and was greeted by travis. she made sure all the guys left before talking to nolan. it was like his soul knew she was there before she spoke. a few seconds before she knocked on the door he felt his breathing steady out.

"nolie it's me, please open the door. nobody else is here, just you and me." she softly spoke. he got up, leaning his forehead against the wooden door with a soft thud.

"it's bad luck to see each other before the wedding," his thick accent present in how he spoke, sniffling after he finished. he heard her giggle and slide her slippers across the wooden floor.

"we've had enough bad luck today, so i think we're gonna be okay." he unlocked the door then leaned against the wall, waiting for her to open it. her heart softened when she opened the door, noticed that he'd been crying a lot with tear tracks down his cheeks. his shirt was unbuttoned and his hair was messy. "oh baby," she placed her hand on his cheek, wiping another tear away.

"'m sorry, princess." he took in a sharp breath before letting out another cry. "i just got really nervous, y'know? i mean what if i'm not a good husband? i don't want you to get sick of me and...and leave."

she tucks a lock of loose hair behind his ear, grabbing a tissue from the counter and wiping his cheeks and nose for him. "if i was gonna get sick of you, i would have left by now." she kisses his forehead softly, "remember when we went on our first date? you were so confident, and it was really hot." nolan chuckled, "and when you came to the shop like ten times that next week? you knew what you wanted, and you got her. you got me, and i'm not going anywhere. i'm gonna be your wife, you're gonna be my husband, and we're gonna have a happily ever after together."

nolan places a hand on her cheek as she spoke, a smile on his lips and this time, happy tears filling his eyes. they share a sweet and emotional kiss, one she hopes to recreate in an hour at the altar. they pull apart and she helps nolan fix his tie and to get rid of some of the tear tracks on his cheeks.

"alright, nothing is stopping me from getting married to you today." nolan laughs with his head thrown back, "i'll see you in an hour," she walks to the door of the groomsmen suite, "i'll be the one in a pretty white dress." nolan kissed her on the cheek.

"i'll be the one waiting for you at the altar, princess."

[taylorsssversion]

Before the *e word* talk started, Monday evening I was thinking about how The Louvre (that was a couple hours late to open Monday morning for “unforeseen circumstances”) would’ve been SUCH a Tayvis place to get engaged.

I would love a little one shot pretty please🥹

A quartet in concerts

contains: fluff, Taylor x Travis

words: 1.2k

Masterlist

It was the 8th of May. One day before the new Eras Tour started. Taylor and Travis entered the entrance of the Louvre museum in Paris.

Especially for them, the museum opened early before the normal visits. Travis had organised that. Taylor had no clue how he managed it, but it must involve a lot of money. Their bodyguards positioned in the main hall, right at the entrance. One of them wished them much fun as they followed the tour route to the first room. Taylor thanked him and took Travis hand.

Normally, it would be totally crowded here so Taylor was glad that they had their peace and togetherness. She admired the beautiful architecture and sculptures. She had always been a fan of this art and building style. It was so different from most the ones in America.

"You've been here before right?", Travis asked and squeezed her hand lightly. Today he wore a flannel jacket over his white shirt. He was growing out his hair again and it looked better each single day.

Taylor smiled. He was stunning and she was so proud to call him hers.

"Yeah", she answered. "But it was a lot more crowded back then." They laughed. "Oh I can imagine.", he said.

They stopped at a Greek sculpture. It was a man with a horse.

"Huh. Incredible, isn't it?", Travis asked. Tay just nodded impressed.

"And what are your favorite paintings here?", he asked. "Something special? Or more mainstream? Mona Lisa?"

Taylor chuckled "It's 'A quartet in concert'. The 'Mona Lisa' is pretty overrated. Sadly."

Travis grinned. "Of course it is the painting with the music"

They laughed and continued their tour.

"Are you nervous for tomorrow?", he wanted to know and gave her a concerning look.

"A bit", Taylor admitted.

"I've been on stage for so many years now and I still get nervous every time." She made a voicless laugh. "Kinda weird, huh?"

"No, I think not. I am nervous before every game. That's normal, I guess." Travis shrugged and put an arm around Taylor's shoulders. "But don't worry, you'll have me. I'll be on your side as your lucky charm." He gave her a heartwarming smile.

"Thank you." Taylor said. "But let's not talk about tomorrow. Let's enjoy this night. With only the two of us."

The entered the next room. It was full of paintings. "Oh look! There it is!", said Taylor excitedly and walked to a large painting on the right wall.

"A quartet in concert by Jean Raoux", read Travis. Four people were on that painting, one singer, one girl playing a flute and two girls reading.

"It's beautiful.", he smiled.

"It seems so peaceful.", said Taylor and admired the different colors. "I wish I could paint like that.", she admitted. And a dreamy gaze fell onto her eyes. Travis touched her shoulder.

"You can sing. Certainly better than those people.", he nodded towards the painting. Taylor laughed. "Who knows? Maybe that's the Taylor Swift from their time."

"Nah", Travis made a grimace and they had to laugh. For a second, they just looked at each other, happy to be here.

"I don't know how it could get any better than this.", Travis then said after a while. They still admired the painting. Taylor found more details in this art then last time she was here.

Her brows furrowed. "What do you mean?"

He gave her a look she couldn't determine. Then, Travis fell down on his knee and reached into the pocket of his jacket. A small dark box lay in his hand. He opened it and a dainty silver ring came to light. Taylor's breath got caught in her throat. Only to let her heart start racing. She put her hands over her mouth, only to realise they were shaking. Travis cleared this throat.

"When I made this friendship bracelet, I never thought it would lead to this.

I never thought we both would end up here. Together. You mean so much to me Taylor. And I can't imagine a life without you. You make me whole, I feel like a completely new person since I met you." He looked deeply in her eyes. And Taylor could swear his eyes were glazy.

"I know you may not be ready for this. But that's okay. I can wait. I will wait a whole lifetime for you, baby. I choose you and me."

He took a deep breath. "Taylor Swift, do you want to marry me?"

"Oh Travis", she whispered, tears in her eyes. Then she fell down on her knees and kissed him deeply. Their lips had been clashed together a thousand times but right now it felt like the first time ever.

"Yes! I do! I love you." The tears now ran freely over her cheeks. With a knuckle of his finger, Travis gently wiped her tears off her cheek.

Taylor put a hand on his face. Looking in his eyes deeply before tightly wrapping her arms around him.

"I love you baby.", Travis whispered in her hair. She could hear his voice tremble.

"You don't know how much this means to me.", she said with a teary voice. "I never thought, I could love someone that much again."

"I love you", he whispered in her ear. "You never have to be alone. From now on, I will always be there for you."

They let go of each other and Travis took her hand. Although he played a ruff sport, his hands were soft and gentle. Carefully, he placed the ring on her finger. It fit like it was specifically made for her.

"It's wonderful", Taylor breathed. She felt like hear heart would explode.

"You are wonderful.", Travis corrected and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. His eyes wandered back and forth between hers.

"Come", he said and pulled her up back in their feet. They hugged and kissed again and Taylor said: "You have no idea how happy you make me." She wiped her tears away and looked at the ring. At the new promise.

"How long have you planned this?", she asked. Travis chuckled. "Oh that's my secret."

Taylor poked him in the ribs. "C'mon", but Travis only shook his head with a wide grin on his lips.

"You're unbelievable", she laughed and took his hand.

"I know", he said and leaned in to kiss her deeply.

"Just one thing", Taylor said when they finished their kiss.

"No one has to know about this, okay? No one, just the two of us."

"Deal", Travis said and kissed her again.

When they came back to the entrance hall, their bodyguards grinned at them. Taylor had to laugh. They all knew what would happen this whole time.

She looked down at her hand, the new ring sparkled in the dim light. She was going to marry! That's all she ever wanted and Travis gave her this. It felt like a dream. Like a wonderland.

She could not wait for the future. Their future. Together.

[majaloveschris]

That pic is cute but all I can see is when Chris wants to sell something he can, meaning, if people are questioning if his marriage and relationship are real yet we clearly can see he still shows affection to others while unknowingly being filmed, yet he struggles to do that with, the woman with the disappearing ring, when he’s being filmed knowingly and unknowingly, then there’s your truth people. 😎

Remember the park video when he wasn’t aware he was being recorded and his hand went in his pocket as she reached for it once she saw the lady filming them.

Remember the VF video of him seeing the camera and then pretending to be affectionate towards her.

Remember the VF video of him not knowing he’s being filmed and eyeing other women and then noticing the camera and trying to play it off.

Now we seem to have partially returned to the Chris we all came to know and love or he’s just relaxed as he’s in his element. But my thoughts are running rampant so…..let’s discuss.

If Chris was actually in this based on love and not some Hollywood pr, there’d be no questioning anything at least not to the extent it’s gone. There’d be no major plot holes. 🤭

If Chris was cool with said person in some Hollywood PR stunt, maybe things would be done more naturally like ….*cough* Taylor Swift and Travis. (Believe what ya want but I think they are PR and doing a damn good job of it) #TeamTT ❤️ 😂

Now back to Chris….if Chris was against this or the person involved regardless if he initially signed up for it or not, he would probably drag his feet if he couldn’t end things and boy would you lookie there, he’s been dragging his feet like hell even after claiming to be “married”. Meaning if Chris wanted us to believe this were legit, we wouldn’t be here discussing their bs over the past three years.

Imagine being a celeb and KNOWING people are online questioning you and your spouse’s marriage. If he truly loved or gave a damn about her, He’d have shut that down quick.

This is why I don’t bother arguing because in due time this is going to end, he’ll move on and once he’s in an actual relationship, the ones who currently think this is “real” will clearly see the stark contrast between Chris Evans in love vs Chris Evans in some Hollywood bullshit. I rest my case. 👩‍⚖️

They made a red carpet debut and all most could do was laugh. This fandom still rides for this man even when they are mad at him. Yes, this situation is stupid but man the jokes, the pure shade, the letting this girl know we aren’t buying what she’s tried and miserably failed to sell is Icing on the flipping cake!

👏

Also…..the flag mixup will never NOT be funny. 😂 GO LIBERIA!!!! 🇱🇷

Of course, he could sell this whole thing if he wanted to, but he just doesn't want to.

That park video says more than a thousand words. The fact that he didn't want to hold her hands and put his into his pockets when he thought no one was watching says a lot. They do everything for the camera. They are always trying to be sweet and all of that, but they can't keep up the act for so long, which we could see on the VF red carpet. Yeah, they tried playing the happy newlyweds when the camera was watching, when most of the time they were just standing next to each other and talking to other people.

As you said, there are a lot of plotholes. And I know people must be tired of me always bringing the wedding ceremony's location up, but that's my favorite example. Where was it? In Cape Cod? In his Boston-area home? Were the ceremony and party at two different locations? Different outlets mention different places and locations when this should be the easiest one to get, especially since these are all coming from "sources." The same goes for everyone who was at the wedding. Nobody saw them during that one year, yet now everybody is spotting them. Why are they saying they are private when they are putting out video dumps, are at different award shows, and call the paps on themselves?

I think most of the time, when it comes to celebrity couples, especially if one of them is not that well-known, the thought of them being PR is always there, and there will always be people who think certain couples are PR. I'm sure there were couples who were solely PR, and people didn't even figure it out because they were good at selling it. Maybe because they were comfortable around each other, and even if they weren't in love, they liked each other as people or even as friends. However, to me, their fake relationship lacks everything that would make it believable. I don't really think Chris thought this through, and I don't think he is capable of selling a relationship with someone he doesn't have feelings for. I don't necessarily mean "love" (in love with someone) here, but just love (liking the person as a friend, respecting them, wanting to be around them).

[dark-elf-writes]

I know practically speaking Sally probably taught Percy to drive, but what if it was Paul.

Sally had been wanting them to bond, after all, and Percy couldn’t deny the fact that he liked the guy but at the same time…

It was ridiculous really, being as scared as he was. Percy had faced off against gods and monsters. He frequently angered titans and had looked into the pit of Tartarus itself. Paul was a high school English teacher that cried when he watched movies and got excited about Shakespeare. Percy shouldn’t be scared.

(His hands were shaking as he wrapped them around the wheel of the car. Paul’s car. Percy’s body was as tense as Apollo’s bow string. Waiting. Waiting.)

“You’re going to be fine, Percy.” Percy didn’t flinch. He instead when still like he was nothing more than one of Medusa’s shadows. If he noticed, Paul was kind enough not to point it out. “We’re just going to start with a couple laps around the school parking lot. Nice and slow, okay?”

Right. Percy had to learn how to do this. He was signed up for drivers Ed soon and then he would be in a different car with a different man and—

“What if I fuck it up?” Normally Percy watched his language better. He and his mom had a “Don’t ask don’t tell” policy when it came to ‘words that came out of Percy’s mouth in a high stress situation’ but he was, in fact, stressed so it seemed fitting.

Paul didn’t even blink. Then again, he dealt with stressed teenagers on a daily basis so Percy doubted “fuck” was going to scandalize him. “We’ll be in a parking lot, Percy. Nothing to hit and we’ll be going slow enough that I can help you if it looks like you’re not going to turn in time. The worst that could happen is we bump into one of the light poles at five miles an hour.”

Hearing it out loud made sense and Percy knew it was stupid to keep pushing his luck, but, well, wisdom was Annabeth’s thing.

“Won’t you be mad?”

For a moment Paul looked lost, like he was was trying to read something only to find out it was written in some indecipherable code (a common issue for Percy, but he guessed it was a bit weirder without the dyslexia) then understanding dawned in his eyes.

(He and mom didn’t talk about Smelly Gabe anymore. There was never a reason to. He was gone, hopefully rotting in the Fields of Punishment while his statue gathered dust in some gallery in SoHo. It didn’t matter anymore.

Sure, Sally flinched when men yelled. Yeah, Percy had flipped Travis Stoll into the dirt when he had grabbed his shoulder from behind. And fine Percy kind of wanted to blow chunks at the thought of driving Paul’s car after years of hearing threats about a stupid fucking Camaro. But it didn’t matter. They had made it. They were fine.)

“Percy, bud, can you look at me?”

Percy could think of a whole list of things he wanted to do more than look at Paul in that moment, up to and including flossing a hydra’s teeth and arm wrestling a fully grown cyclops, but… Paul’s voice was soft. Kind. The kind of voice Percy had always imagined a father would have when he was little.

He looked. Paul smiled at him even as his eyes remained serious.

“I won’t be mad if something happens to the car. You’re learning and accidents happen. Hell, even if you get your license and something happens years from now I won’t be worried about the car. My concern is and will always be your safety.”

Percy blinked. “But… but I’m stupid! I’ll get distracted or read a sign wrong or something will—“ Percy was glad Paul cut him off before that thought could continue. They were still adjusting after the whole Demigod Conversation, and it probably wouldn’t put to many points in favor of he and his mom not being crazy if he talked about monsters attacking him while he’s driving.

“You’re not stupid.” Paul didn’t raise his voice. He never really raised his voice even in class apparently. Something about him just made people want to listen. Made Percy want to listen. “You are a wonderful, intelligent kid, Percy Jackson and anyone who tells you otherwise is a fucking idiot.”

A hysterical giggle caught in Percy’s throat. Between the idea of Paul’s face when he realized he had called several gods ‘fucking idiots’ and hearing Paul curse at all (it was like hearing Chiron say he wants to quit teaching and become a full time Party Pony. It just didn’t happen.) Percy wanted to laugh. He also wanted to cry, and he wasn’t entirely sure why.

He settled for laughing, a bit choked and a little too wet as he ducked his head to hide his eyes, but a laugh all the same. “That’s a lot of fucking idiots.”

Paul laughed too and for a fleeting second Percy felt a hand on his head. Steady. Warm. Grounding. “The world’s full of them, kiddo. You, me, and your mom? We’re some of the few good ones.”

It took them a while to actually start driving, but by the time they did Percy felt like the weight of the world had fallen off his shoulders (he should know.)

[narkissistikos]

Realisations hit harder than coconuts part 2

Connor really wanted to see what all the fuss around the dining pavilion was about, but in his defence he was too busy hiding from Travis at the moment.

He hid for a while, before he started hearing a lot of shouting. He still waited until he couldn’t resist anymore.

He got out from his hiding spot and started walking towards the dining pavilion.

He heard Travis before he could figure out what was going on, “There you are, we’ve been looking for you for the past 5 minutes.”

Connor thought that Travis was mad at him for dying all his pants pink, so he got ready to run away. “Y/n’s getting in a fight. You gotta stop her.”

“What?!” Connor yelled before running towards the dining pavilion with Travis in his tow. He saw Percy heading towards the dining pavilion with them too.

Connor could hear a lot of yelling coming from the centre of the crowd as he, Travis, and Percy pushed their way to the middle of the crowd.

Connor saw you first before looking at the boy you were fighting. Wylie, he was a new camper. Came in maybe 2 weeks ago. Luke was the one showing him around for the first week and then Luke just stood in the shadows guiding him wherever he needed.Connor had only had maybe like 5 conversations with him. All casual small talks.

Seeing you fight a new camper was very surprising for him seeing as you usually never argued new campers.You knew what they were going through and tried to help them out as much as you could.

Which is why Connor was frozen in spot until he saw you throw a punch square in Wylie’s jaw.

Annabeth, who was standing a few feet behind you quickly jumped to action yelling at Wylie, and stopping you from hitting Wylie again.

She failed though, cause you managed to hit Wylie again. And obviously his ego was hurt and he hit you too.

Although, he couldn’t hit you hard enough, as he didn’t have years of experience with this as you had.

You managed to push Annabeth away and jumped onto Wylie clawing his face. He didn’t even get a chance to hit you a single time, while his whole face was bruised.

Connor finally managed to move and push you away from Wylie. Percy grabbed you by the waist and pulled you, while Annabeth and Travis held you hands back stopping you from hitting him again.

Connor was standing in front of you in a moment and trying to calm you down. Not once in the 6 years he had known you had he EVER seen you this mad.

“Lemme go!!” You yelled tugging at your wrists. “Percy I swear let me go.”

“Hey, hey, hey look at me.” Connor was cradling you face now. “It’s ok calm down.”

Connor saw your eyes soften for a moment, but they hardened once again when you heard Wylie groan trying to get up.

“NO! You don’t understand! You didn’t hear what he said.” You were pulling away from Percy again.

“IT doesn’t matter. HE doesn’t matter. It’s ok. It’s ok.” Connor was whispering trying desperately to calm you down. You could get in serious trouble if you didn’t stop. Not to mention how you could get seriously hurt.

Luke stepped out from the crowd and pulled Wylie up from the crowd, having no mercy towards how hurt he was. He pulled him away from the crowd causing the crowd to disperse too.

Having Wylie out of your sight calmed you down as well. Seeing you visibly calm down, Percy, Annabeth and Travis let you go as well.

Connor didn’t. He was still crouching down and looking your eyes. It was wrong, he knew. He shouldn't have imagined kissing you. But he couldn't help it. Your face fit perfectly in his hands so that he could caress your cheeks with his thumbs.

You realized he looked so scared. To be honest he was. Scared that you could’ve gotten hurt and he wouldn’t have been able to do anything.

A year. It had been a year that he had realised he liked you. And he was extremely scared he would lose you without telling you that.

“You ok?” he whisper asked you. You smiled brightly, “of course I’m ok” you told him. Sure it did hurt smiling a bit, cause the hit Wylie had managed to land did hurt. But anything to convince Connor you were ok.

Travis pulled Annabeth and Percy away from you two. And Connor took you to your cabin which was empty at the moment, to see if you had gotten hurt anywhere.

A few minutes later, you were sitting at the edge of your bed while Connor sat near your feet. He had finished inspecting you and cleared you off that you didn’t have any injuries except for the small bruise forming on your left cheek. Nothing that a little bit of pressure and some ice couldn’t fix.

“Now.” Connor started. You hummed in response. “Why were you fighting with Wylie?”

You hesitated a little before saying, “nothing. He was just being a pain in my butt.” Connor raised an eyebrow telling you he obviously didn’t believe you.

“Seriously.” You said trying to convince him, “he was just a little trash can.”

“Y/n. Just tell me. Did he flirt with you?” Connor asked. There was this hint of something that you couldn’t quite detect.

“You think I would hit a guy for flirting with me?”

“You wouldn’t hesitate if he made you uncomfortable.”

“True.”

“So he did flirt with you.”

“No he didn’t.”

“Then why’d you punch him?”

“Because I wanted to.”

“You hit new blood because you wanted to? I find that hard to believe.”

“Connor let the topic go.” You said trying to stop him from asking questions.

“Alright. Fine.” He begrudgingly agreed.

“Thank you.” You said gratefully.

Connor got up from his spot and you followed suit.“Come on let’s go for a walk.” He said pulling you out of your cabin.

When you two stepped out of your cabin you were immediately told by Percy to head to the Big House to meet up with Chiron.

Both you and Connor walked to the Big House when you turned to Connor, “You don’t have to come with me you know.”

“Nah, I have nothing else to do. I’m coming.” He said and you walked together to the Big House.

As you two walked into the Big House you saw Chiron and Mr. D standing in front of Wylie and Luke, who was glaring at Wylie.

“Ah, Y/n, Connor. Come in.” Chiron told you. You went and stood beside Wylie, still extremely mad at him.

Chiron moved his gaze across the both of you before asking you, “who made the first hit?”

“I did Chiron.” You told him without hesitation. Connor and Luke were standing right behind you two not saying a word.

Chiron nodded. But as he opened his mouth to say something else, Mr. D interjected, “Dish washing duty for the next week, both of you.”

Wylie groaned and glared at you and both Luke and Connor could see how hard you were trying reply without sounding rude to Mr. D’s order.

You cleared your throat before saying, “I’m sorry Mr. D. I wont mind going on dish washing duty, but if you put me within a ten mile radius of HIM.” You said gesturing at Wylie standing beside you, “his death is sure in the next 2 days.”

“Y/n.” Chiron warned you. You shrugged, “I’m just being honest.”

“Honestly,” Wylie butted in, “I wouldn’t wanna be in a 15 mile radius of your stinky self either.”

You turned to look at him, “Your bruises aren’t fully healed yet, you sure you want new ones?” you blinked innocently.

“We’ll decide both off your punishments later.” Chiron interrupted your threat fest, “First I need to know one thing. Who started the fight?”

“Y/n punched me first. She already told you that.” Wylie told Chiron. Connor was starting to get interested in this conversation now. He too wanted to know where this all started from.

Chiron took a moment before talking again, “I’m not so sure Y/n would punch you without a reason. Who started all of this?”

You stayed quiet, not really wanting Connor to know what the fight was about. Wylie stayed quiet too not wanting Chiron to know he provoked you to punch him.

“Luke. You were there?” Chiron asked the head counsellor. “Yes Chiron.” Luke confirmed.

You hoped Luke wouldn’t tell Chiron what the fight was about, because if he did, you could kiss your friendship with Connor and Connor goodbye.

'Ooohhh kissing Connor......'

'No shut up. You're in trouble'

Chiron raised an eyebrow signalling Luke to tell him what the fight was about.“I didn’t really see what started it all. But I did see Y/n defending…” he sneaked a glance at you and saw you giving him a pleading glance not to say anything more, “….defending a fellow demigod. Wylie disagreed, but Y/n was adamant. Kept defending the demigod. Until Wylie pushed her patience and said some really bad stuff about the demigod, causing Y/n to punch him.”Chiron nodded, comprehending the situation, but Connor was even more confused about this situation than before.

Who were you willing to start for? It probably was one of your friends. It wasn’t rare for you to fight for your friends and defend them in their absence.

There also have been incidents where you defended Connor and Travis in their absence and got into a fight for them. You got hurt a little bit too much one of those days. Connor didn’t realise why he felt so so so bad seeing you hurt because of him, until last year.

He somehow managed to convince you to stop getting into fights because of him. He blackmailed you a little bit saying he won’t talk to you ever again if you got into a fight because of him again, knowing fully well that he would never be able to do that.

“Chiron.” Luke interrupted his train of thoughts, “You can give Wylie whatever punishment you and Mr. D decide, but I hope you know that as head counsellor of Cabin 11, I have some say in Wylie’s punishment as well.”Chiron nodded, signalling Luke to continue. He did.

“I want you to give Wylie a very strict punishment considering what he did was extremely immoral.” He glared at Wylie, “considering that that person has been nothing but nice to them.”

Chiron nodded, “What do you suggest his punishment should be?” Mr. D coughed behind him, “Dish washing duty.” Luke nodded, “dish washing duty. And from my end, you will be on cabin cleaning duty for the next 2 weeks. IF you do get claimed before the end of 2 weeks, I will talk to your cabin counsellor about your punishment. So don’t try to find any loopholes.”

“But that’s so unfair! She was the one who punched me. My whole face hurts because of her. And she gets no punishment?” Wylie sputtered.

You rolled your eyes, “I’m sorry for being stronger than you then. And I’m sorry you’re so weak that you can’t take a couple of punches.”

“Y/n is not off punishment either. She’ll be cleaning up the archery range and lava climbing wall for the next 3 days after training.” Chiron told you. You nodded as an affirmation.

“You both can go now.” Chiron told both of you. Connor caught the glare Wylie gave you before going out of the Big House.

You, Luke, and Connor walked out of the Big House, and after you thanked Luke for helping you decrease your punishment he was off.

That left you and Connor alone walking to the archery range, where you were supposed to train some of the younger campers.None of you said anything for the whole walk.

The only thing going through Connor’s mind was how to ask you who the demigod was without you getting angry. And the only thing going through your mind was how to get him to stop thinking about the fight.

After archery, you thought you had cabin inspection, while Connor had some free time. You decided to hang out with Connor for a while before going away for cabin inspection.

Both of you headed to the lake to talk for a while. There was this silence between you two that you did not like at all. So you decided to break it by saying something stupid, like, “Do you want a coconut to hit your head on?”

Connor laughed, “What?” it was nice to see him smile after such a long day. You laughed along with him and scooted closer to him.

Connor knew it would be a bad idea to bring up the fight again. So he didn’t. “I don’t think Travis had found out that I died all of his pants pink yet.” He told you.

“You better be ready for that when he comes for you then.” You said making creepy gestures with your hands.

“Woe is me.” He said dramatically laying down on the dock, “I guess I have to accept my fate and the wrath of my brother after all.”

You laughed, “Woe is definitely not you. Get up.” You said pulling him up. He got up and you scooted closer laying your head on his shoulder.

You were so tired after the long day. So kinda sorta forgot about letting go of Connor’s hand. Or maybe you didn’t.But that didn’t mean Connor’s heart would stop racing.

‘This is normal between friends, right? Friends lay their heads on each other’s shoulders all the time. And they also hold hands.’ Connor nodded to himself.

“I have a question for you.” Connor started. He wanted to talk to you, about anything. That would be enough. “Go on.” You said, not picking your head from his shoulder.

“If you could live with one animal for the rest of your life. Which animal would it be?” Connor asked.

“Like a pet?”

“Any animal. It can be a pet, or a wild animal.”

“A crab.”

“Why?” Connor chuckled.

You let out an offended gasp, “Did you forget ketchup? My baby. He was my little baby.”

Connor facepalmed, “Of course. How could I forget ketchup?”

You giggled, “Exactly. How could you? And plus, if anyone annoys me I can just….” You did some wiggly fingers, “let my crab into their pants. So that he pinches them a lot.”

“Snap snap snap.” Connor said snapping his hands at you face.

“What would be yours?”

“Probably like a little snake, or a gecko.”

“Why?”

“Well, I don’t have a reason, but they just seem cool, you know. Just lounging around with their little fork tongues.”

“Slither slither.”

“I don’t think snakes slay ‘slither slither’.”

“Snakes absolutely slay slither slither.”

“Oh shut up, you know my tongue slipped.”

“Snakes slay slither slither.”

“Stoooppp.” Connor whined.

You lifted you head from his shoulder and hissed in his face with a stupid grin on your face.

‘Why are you so close?’ Connor thought. But he didn’t move you away or scoot away. ‘How am I supposed to not kiss you when you’re this close?’

Your gaze flickered to his lips, which you were pretty sure is the biggest mistake you made in your life.

“Don’t you have cabin inspection?” Connor blurted out out of nervousness.

You smirked and moved away from him, “Nah, pretty sure I have cabin inspection tomorrow.”

“You sure?”

“Nope.”

“Who are you paired with?”

“Probably you.”

“Then its tomorrow.”

“Yayyy. We get off time now.”

“Yayy.” Connor cheered with you.

“Connor!!” you two heard Travis yell behind you. “Pink!? Out of all colors, you chose pink?! It doesn’t even match my skin.”“Time to run. Let’s go.” Connor said pulling you up and running with you away from Travis who was chasing both of you in mud covered pants.

[chickensarentcheap]

A little throw back :)

@tragiclyhip @secretaryunpaid @watermeezer @youflickedtooharddamnit

and anyone else of course :)

You don't mess with Esme's man ;)

“She’s very…charming.”

Esme glances up at the woman standing in front of her, and manages a polite yet terse smile of her own. “Well, what can I say? She’s her father’s daughter. Can I help you?”

“You must be Emily.”

“Esme. My name is Esme. Not Emily.”

“That’s a very unusual name. A little...odd...in this day and age.”

“It’s actually quite common. Very old and classic. I was named after my great, great grandmother. And she was born in the eighteen hundreds, so…”

“I’m Natalie.” She doesn’t bother to offer a hand, electing instead to keep a firm hold on the plastic container she tightly clutches.

“That’s very plain. Natalie. Kind of boring. Guess you didn’t have any unusual and odd relatives to be named after.”

The corners of the woman’s turn up in a slight smirk.

“Can I help you? Is there a reason you’re here? Asking for my husband?”

“I’m here to see Tyler.”

“And our daughter told you he isn’t home. Which wasn’t an invite to stick around. I’m sure whatever you want to talk to him about, can wait until he IS here. Or, I could just give him a message and then he can decide whether he wants to talk to you or not. I wouldn’t hold your breath; he isn’t the chattiest person on the block. Why ARE you here? Is there something I can help you with or…?”

“I was hoping to speak to him.”

“And for the third time, you’re being told he’s not home. So sorry, Tyler can’t come out to play right now. And unless there’s something you want to say to me….”

“We met yesterday. He was at the park. With your son. The handicapped one.”

Once more crossing her arms over her chest, she cocks her head to the side. “Excuse me?”

“Your son. With the problems. Travis, Thomas….”

“His name is Tanner. And he doesn’t have ‘problems’. He has Autism. Don’t talk about my son like that. You can come here calling on my husband all you want, but when you bring my kid into this…”

“We had a nice little chat. At the park. We just moved here. My daughter and I. It’s been hard meeting people.”

Esme smirks. “I can’t possibly imagine why.”

“He was very friendly. Welcoming. Tyler. Not Tanner. Just to be clear.”

“And…”

“And I just wanted to thank him for that. For being so nice. For making us feel like part of the neighbourhood.”

“Well I’ll be sure to tell him that. I’m sure he’ll appreciate hearing it. Is that everything or….?”

“These are for him.” Natalie offers the plastic container. “I made them myself. They’re award winning. Used to get lots of compliments on those.”

“Oh how nice. You’re offering him your cookie. I mean, cookies. That’s very sweet. I will let him know that you stopped by with your generous offer. But just so you know, he doesn’t accept...goodies...from other women. So if you’re thinking about offering him any in the future, you might want to stop while you’re ahead. I’m sure there’s other married men out there who would gladly accept. But my husband? You’re pissing in the wrong front yard.”

Natalie’s eyes narrow. “Excuse me?”

“I’m just making it clear that he doesn’t accept goodies from other women. Ever. And he never will. So if you’ve got something brewing up in that head of yours, you might want to put an end to it now. He’s not interested. And believe me, I think you’d rather hear that from me. He won’t let you down as politely and easily.”

“I don’t know what you think I’m up to, but…”

“This isn’t my first rodeo. I’ve come across plenty of women like you. And I’m just cutting to the chase. He’s not interested. Find someone else. Go after someone else’s husband. Stay away from mine.”

[xerith-42]

gahh please talk about the musicians more!!!

-a musician

You know what branch of musical instruments was desperately missing from my last post? Percussion!!

-Katelyn insists that learning an instrument is a waste of time, that it won't help her in the long run, and that carrying the damn thing around is too inconvenient. What she doesn't realize is that Travis has listened to all of her excuses and when he puts a small wooden drum in her hand he goes into every detail about why she should learn to play it.

-It's small and lightweight, easy to carry around. Doesn't require too much time to get pretty decent at it. She can chose to get really advanced, or just learn how to play simple beats so she can keep time. It exercises her hands without her needing to spar. At this point there's no reason Katelyn has to protest.

-And Garroth isn't skipped out either! At this point Travis is just turning the entire party into his band and he's not letting anyone get out of it. Eventually he settles on giving Garroth a tambourine because it's very easy to play and low effort so Garroth can't bitch about it being a nuisance.

-Honestly Garroth doesn't mind at all when he gets to sit around the fire with everyone and see Vylad with their scarf pulled down and a smile on their face.

-I feel like despite being more of a beginner, Laurance knows the most songs out of everyone (except Zoey but she has an unfair advantage). Laurance is such a fucking theater kid I won't ever shut up about this, he has read so many epics, and tragedies, and poems, and plays, and whatever he could get his hands on in Meteli. And that includes reading songbooks and learning love songs.

-Fuck it, shove a guitar into Dante's hands that he started learning from Logan as a way to help relieve his stress and keep his posture better. Dante at first uses it to try and rizz up Nicole (this song always makes me think of Nicole like it's literally her theme music), and it absolutely works. But after the two have their falling out Dante isn't sure if he wants to keep playing.

-Until he realizes that if he keeps practicing the guitar he can play songs with Nana and that's just delightful.

-I like to think that because her instrument sits on her shoulder Nana is able to dance around a lot while she's playing. Like the girl cannot keep her feet still, she's got the dance fever.

-Phoenix Drop literally has so many parties and celebrations where there's just like. music in the background. Imagine if characters were playing those songs!! There's little imperfections here and there because Laurance still doesn't know how to play certain chords properly, Brendan isn't used to playing with others so he gets thrown off a bit. Zoey is the absolute chad of these because she's literally been around for almost a thousand years at this point, she has played so many songs with so many people.

-Zoey actually knows how to play any string instrument you can put into her hands. Like a seventh sense. She just sticks to the harp because she doesn't want to make all the mortals around her feel like they can't live up to her. She loves playing with her friends.

-WAIT A DAMN MINUTE Kiki bringing Leona over to Brendan's so she can spend some time with him and he starts teaching her to play guitar? It's difficult at first, but eventually she figures out how to use her little wolf claws as proper finger picks that make her better than he is sometimes and he's only mildly upset by this.

-Natsumi (Nana and Dante's kid) grows up hearing her parents play music and wants to do it too. She can't decide if she wants to play guitar or violin more, until Dmitri is in the picture (more on him in a later paragraph). When Dmitri says he wants to play the guitar, Natsumi immediately starts badgering her mother to teach her how to play the violin. She knows that the happiest they've ever looked is when they're playing together, and she wants to make everyone else that happy too!

-I don't think Nicole is much of a musician unfortunately. She's got a beautiful singing voice, but she doesn't sing enough. She hasn't really had freedom for most of her life, and she didn't have the free time to learn an instrument once she did get control of her life. But she likes listening to Dante stumble through the beginner phase of learning the guitar.

-Dmitri doesn't express an interest in music until after the first time he went to Phoenix Drop without Nicole's permission. She knows. She knows exactly why he has the sudden interest, and she doesn't want to say yes, but she doesn't have it in her to stifle him the same way she was stifled. So she finds one of her guards who knows how to play it that can teach Dmitri when he's in Scaleswind.

-And when he's in Phoenix Drop or on the Alliance Island, Dmitri learns how to play from Dante, Brendan, or Aaron. Even Logan gives him a few pointers. When Dmitri comes back he has a dedicated interest and starts asking to go to the library so he can find songbooks.

-Completely of his own will Dmitri starts talking to other guards and members of the Scaleswind public to find someone who knows how to play violin so he can practice with them. He wants to be good so he and Natsumi can play together and sound good and make everyone happy :)

-I'm gonna fucking sob over that last one what the fuck. WAIT AARON SEEING THIS HAPPEN IN REAL TIME AND THINKING ABOUT HIS FAMILY?? And it's a bitter sweet feeling because he misses Lily and Jacob so much it physically hurts, but Nana and Dante look so happy when they're together and ashghfgfghfhdg

-Aaron and Natsumi playing together when Dmitri is gone because she wants to practice and get good so she can impress him when they see each other again :)

-I'm literally screaming sobbing rolling on the floor crying right now this is so fucking cute

if it wasn't incredibly obvious I'm a musician myself and this is so personal and so real to me I'm fighting the urge to make a playlist of songs that the mcd characters would play and I'M LOSING

[mossyscavern]

A candle to light my way, except your heart

______________________

Love, the first word that ever popped in Tom’s mind.

Dying in a puddle of his own blood, staring up at the night sky as he remembered when the exact word was used when his mother got angry at them.

“You changelings have never known love! And never will!” Is what he remembers when she said that word in their faces.

He grew to hate it whenever it’s mentioned… but he was suffering and the word was what he thought of first. “L-… love? What is… it.”

“Tom, wake up.” He heard, just as his eyes opened he saw Sam, gently shaking him awake. “Sam? What’re you-..?”

He was about to ask until he looked around the camp fire. Everyone else is asleep, even his twin is asleep. “Sorry, I had to wake you up.” Sam apologised, lighting a candle next to him when it had blown out.

Tom and his siblings told him time and time again that he doesn’t need the candle anymore, but Tom gave up after the 5th night.

“Couldn’t sleep?” Tom asked, sitting up fully and rubbing the non- existent sleep from his eyes. “Not really, nightmares are a pain.” Sam told him, stretching his limbs, then relax on the log.

“Still can’t believe you can still dream after death.” Sam added, looking at the sky sadly. “I-it’s more like phantom pain… your mind never forgets.”

Tom answered, drawing random squiggles in the dirt, remembering how bad phantom pains can get. “Really..? Explains a lot.” Sam says before going back to star gazing, one of the few interests he has that he can do that’s not limited.

Tom pauses when Sam says that, took another deep breath to calm his nerves and finally said what he wanted to ask for 90 years. “Hey Sam, do you know what love is?”

Sam’s eyes widened at the word, blinked at Tom then finally spoke. “Love... how do i answer that?” Sam says with uncertainty.

“Love is… different, in all shapes and sizes. It shrinks and stretches.” Sam says, arms wide open to show how it can stretch. “I don’t get it.” Tom responds, confused by what sam had said.

“Here’s the thing, it’s confusing. That love can be between family, a romantic partner or a special interest.. i-it never really makes sense.”

Sam answers, looking towards Tom as he fiddled with his shirt collar. “Love is a complex thing, something to observe, experience or imagine… it normally helps if you ask a person who has more experience then me.” Sam says, shrugging his shoulders awkwardly.

“… like Travis? He did say he used to date this girl-.” Tom was about to say before Sam put his hand up to stop him. “Online dates don’t count, don’t know who’s actually behind the screen until it’s too late.”

Tom oh’s at that info and nodded his head. “So… there’s no answer?” He asks a little disappointed. “I didn’t say there isn’t, it’s just… strange.”

Sam says, leaning back towards the sky again, sighs in content as he watches the stars slowly roll over. Tom doing the same thing.

“Y’know, it’s strange.” Tom turns to Sam, who turns back towards Tom and smiles. “I used to be scared of you the most, but the more i talk to you… the more I actually enjoy your company.” Sam says, smiling widely at the dark brunette.

Tom felt his face heat up when he saw how genuine and truthful he meant those words, he also actually has a really nice smile... it made his non- existent beating heart skip.

It was a shame he couldn’t feel it… he would’ve enjoyed every last minute of it. With an actual real but small smile he whole heartedly agreed with Sam.

“Yeah… I enjoy your company too.”

______________________

I realised I was doing candlebrace shipping less as I was writing for the wick fandom…

… I think it’s time I bring that back.

[tatjana-fantasy]

(Part 5)

Let’s continue my replay of The Quarry :) Some thoughts (Chapter 8 + Chapter 9):

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 6

I can totally understand why Ryan wouldn’t want to kill Chris, who is essentially his father figure. At the same time, I do understand why Laura doesn’t see another option. I still think it’s a little extreme for her to immediately want to kill Chris, but I sadly get where she is coming from ;__;

I actually like Ryan’s and Laura’s dynamic quite a lot! More in a sibling than in a romantic way, though. :)

Okay, let’s talk about the infamous “Maybe neither.” Personally, I always thought that in the context of Laura’s question, it simply meant that Ryan likes neither more (and at least the German version translates it as “I like both”), but even if we assume that he likes neither of them … he doesn’t owe Dylan anything. Just like Emma is completely allowed to say No to Jacob without being harassed over it, Ryan is completely allowed to say No to Dylan without being harassed over it. And I say that as someone who ships them.

Speaking off Dylan, I LOVE the scene where Emma “maces” him XD

STOP LAURA STOP LAURA STOP LAURA (I lost Nick on my first playthrough because I wanted to show my trust in her T__T)

Yay, I freed Jacob :D The puzzle is still soooo confusing though. I’m kinda glad I avoided it on my first playthrough because I can’t imagine I would’ve ever pulled it off!

WTF is up with the music after Laura gets captured?? And how have I never noticed how unintentionally funny it is??

I’m surprised the dialogue between Abigail and Emma in the beginning stays the same even if she’s infected :O

I heard that Constance’s death apparently got censored in some versions of the game, so I’m happy mine isn’t among them :) She and Travis were the only Hacketts that died on my first playthrough …

Not gonna lie, Jed’s death by Laura’s hand is surprisingly brutal!

Bobby is so hilarious, I love him <3 <3 <3

I LOVE the moral dilemma of accepting Laura’s bite. On my first playthrough, I accepted Laura’s bite because I hoped that there would be another way to save Chris, but at the same time, I feared that I made the wrong choice. I really didn't want to kill him :-(

You all already know this, but: HOLY SHIT THE SCRAPYARD SCENE IS SO GOOD. The werewolf, the lights, the music! And afterwards, when Dylan begs Kaitlyn to leave him! While it sucks that he won’t be in the lodge later, this scene almost makes it worth it <3 Oh, and I got the trophy for infecting everyone, so now I just need to save them ;-)

And then, the scene with Abi and Emma. Emma’s words to Abi hurt so much T__T Her “Abi …” at the end sounded like an apology :-(

(Btw, I luckily knew what I had to do and escaped via the ladder, but I think it really sucks that going to the stairs is an automatic death sentence.)

On my first playthrough, I refused to shoot Chris during the Hackett showdown, and Ryan, Laura and Travis died. I was freaking devastated. Ryan’s death in particular left me so heartbroken that I had to stop playing for that day, only to have literal nightmares about how Dylan would react to his death. It certainly left a lasting impression on me … only to pull the rug under my feet when I saw what the actual ending of the game was :-/

I love the Hierophant flashback, but damn, I really wish the game would allow you to pick another card afterwards :-/ I think it’s pretty unfair that simply finding this card already makes it impossible to see another card’s vision …

But anyway, I still enjoyed these chapters despite some problems I have with them. :) See you next time, when I finish my replay of The Quarry!

[lunaticus-platina]

Aight this is the post for the anon(😏) ask.

My fave moment of Travis x my oc Brennen is post-quarry, when the situation settled down and they kept meeting up until they got close. And became 'not boyfriends'(Of course Travis. Yeah.)

Travis was feeling under the weather and Brennen cuddled him. There's a wip of that moment, actually, brewing in my wip pit. To be completed in a decade maybe.

So in the cuddle fic, Travis went to Brennen's place and was feeling cold and his joints ached. Pretty obvious signs of a cold but as always, he had to be stubborn about it, so Brennen just wrapped him on his chest with blankets and didn't get up from the sofa.

Travis had a big frown on his face before he fell asleep. Brennen has great circulation in his body, so he has naturally high body temperature. Good cuddle buddy when you feel weak and miserable.

Oh and Travis sniffed Brennen's shirt while he was trapped in the blanket cocoon, like a weirdo he is. And Brennen didn't mention it because he thought it was cute, like a weirdo he is.

Another moment I like is whenever they throw hands, as strange as that sounds. If there's one thing Bren learned in therapy, it's that you have to express your frustration somehow instead of letting it rot in your mind and cause further troubles later.

And what better way for the great communicator like Travis Hackett to express his anger other than talking things out with his fists.

Since he can't explain how he feels, unlike how other emotionally stable people can, he has to act rather than speak. And that's fine by Brennen. He's quite fluent in fist talks! Also, his provocation game is top-notch.

It's like a morbid foreplay. They grunt and roll around and grab at each other, basically the same thing.(not) And they can make up later.

The way they fight is interesting too. Brennen avoids hitting the face because he 'doesn't want to damage the goods'. Travis is fucking livid but tries to pin Bren down like a cop he is instead of punching him too many times.

It quickly turns into a fight for dominance, but usually the angrier one wins. Namely, Travis. And it feels good to come out on top, so it's a little therapeutic for Travis each time. Bren doesn't mind. That's the whole purpose of starting the fights anyway. Fighting it out and making up later is their love language, I guess.

Oh and it takes a lot for Travis to actually snap, so imagine what kind of things Brennen says to drive him mad. Even while Travis is prowling around in a circle, ready to take him down. Yeah. Insufferable bastard.

[captainsspnanon]

C3E67 reaction

What a fan-fucking-tastic episode!!!!!! I LOVED IT!!!

Though it started off poorly, with my pet peeve of Sam. STOP telling other players what their PCs are doing. And STOP metagaming to try to have people RP a scene that you want to see. Nothing Marisha RPed in the past episode indicated that she was 'glowing', and in the episode before it could very much have been read as excitement over a new dress. And just because you saw Laura and Marisha roleplay their PCs kissing, doesn't mean that FCG suddenly can tell.

*grumbles* Sorry, like I said, pet peeve. He's done it multiple times in C3 (to the point where players had to actively contradict him trying to tell them that their PCs were doing something or had something happen to him), he did it a bunch in C2, and while I can't remember, he probably did it in C1 too. And several times when he does it, he ends up completely changing the characterization that the player was RPing- ie Fearne confidently flirting with the were-panther, and then he tells her that she's blushing and nervous, completely the opposite of how Ashley was doing it. (he also does it later again in the episode implying that they slept together. seriously fuck off with this sam.)

(on the other hand, I cannot deny that Laura just absolutely losing her shit while Laudna was stuttering was hysterical)

Why am I not upset at Marisha for doing a very similar thing afterwards (forcing Taliesin to talk about backstory)? One, it was information that her PC knew, and two, it wasn't presented as a good or funny thing. It was a clear deflection, and very angrily done. It is perfectly reasonable to imagine Ashton calling her out later for doing so.

Honestly, everyone's opinion on the gods make sense for me EXCEPT for Orym. Iunno, maybe Keyleth's attitude rubbed off on him during his training, and that influences the fact that he's had several positive interactions with gods and makes it more neutral?

Let me be very very clear. All the jokes about the flower names? 10000 percent worth it for the 25ish temp HP that the boss got at the end. Some of these were SO clever! Plus, Matt's exasperated face is always fun XD

Three nat 1s for stealth!! I cannot remember the last time that this happened, unless it was Travis with the three nat 1s for Fjord at the festival way back at the beginning of C2. DELICIOUS!

The combat was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! I do kinda wish I could see two different versions, one where Fearne's persuasion failed, and one where the enemies actually rolled decent. Because the group was freaking out a lot, but I'm actually gonna go back and do calculations, 'cause I'm pretty sure most of them were really good on HP? Like, I genuinely think only Imogen was in true danger.

Okay, before the short rest from last episode/start of this one - Fearne was at 16 HP, Ashton at 88, Orym at 79, Laudna around 72 depending on temp HP gain, Chetney 82, FCG 19, and Imogen at full. Unknown how much healing with short rest.

After the short rest, Fearne took no damage in her regular form, Ashton only took 16 points, Orym only took 22, Chetney took 14, FCG took 19, and Laudna took none. Imogen went down and was brought back to 4 HP.

So.....Yeah, I don't get why they were freaking out so hard, when basically all of them had a bunch of HP. (I also don't get why Tal tends not to tank despite having the best HP and having rage damage reduction.) Ah well. Still entertaining! Plus seeing them freak out is always fun, even if at times confusing.

Travis and cursed swords, what is a better pairing?

ASHLEY. FEARNE. BOTH OF YOU. WHAT ARE YOU DOING, THIS IS AMAZING, I LOVE THIS AND CAN'T WAIT TO SEE THE FALLOUT OMG (also you totally should have just propositioned him right then and there! XD)