#Science projects are bad in the series

[sadiecoocoo]

I just realized that the first time I ever wrote gore was during a social studies project in 8th grade where we had to write a horror story about a historical figure in the subject we were learning about… I maybe made it so said historical figure was murdered by an lady with an axe :D

Like he was asking for paranormal shit not a literal murder case but y’know when you have an idea you gotta stick to that idea

(it was also a group project and I lowkey hated working on project either this group… even though they were my friends… they just didn’t too well with projects and me being a perfectionist when it comes to school work definitely didn’t help)

I had to voice the narration for it too, so my teacher heard me, the quiet kid that only ever read books or did her work in class, read about a guy getting brutally murdered by axe and all his bits being chopped up…

He was supposed to play the recordings in class but he avoided some for obvious reasons

[heatwa-ves]

that one post that's like if the doctor and x had fucked is very good but they fail to understand that nine and rose fucking would not have fixed them. nine rose and jack fucking would've fixed them all tho.

[blueberrybirdsworld]

Plus one 2/9

Summary : When Lando Norris realizes he's the only F1 driver attending the Monaco F1 movie premiere without a girlfriend, he panics and convinces Oscar to help him find a last-minute plus one.

Author note : I get this story idea after the private projection of the F1 movie with all the drivers in Monaco (also can we imagine they weren't wearing their team kit and actually did dress up).

Genre : pure fluff

Series masterlist

Main masterlist

Lando stood outside Oscar’s Monaco apartment, hands jammed in his pockets, heart thudding in his chest like he was about to take pole position in front of a packed grid.

This was stupid.

He should’ve just gone alone. He always went alone. And now here he was, about to meet a girl he didn’t know, someone Oscar casually described as “calm and pretty” like that wouldn’t completely mess with his head. Plus, she’d already said yes so he couldn’t back out now.

Oscar opened the door before Lando had the chance to knock again. “You’re early.”

“I’m on time.”

“You’re ten minutes early.”

Lando stepped in without arguing, eyes flicking around the flat. The place smelled faintly of perfume and hairspray, classic pre-event chaos.

“Where is she?” he asked, trying to sound chill. He failed.

Oscar smirked. “Upstairs getting ready with Lily. You're nervous or just socially broken?”

“Both.”

They moved to the living room. Lando sat stiffly on the couch, bouncing his leg. Oscar plopped down beside him like this was the most entertaining part of his day.

“You’ll be fine,” Oscar said. “Y/N’s great. Smart as hell, but really down to earth.”

Lando looked over, frowning. “Smart how?”

“She’s in med bio. Final year. Like... actual science. Brains and all.”

Lando’s stomach twisted. “Wait, what?”

Oscar nodded. “Yeah. She’s in uni with Lily, but different field. That’s how they know each other.”

Lando blinked. “You didn’t say she was—like—a genius.”

Oscar laughed. “She’s not a genius, she just studies something that requires more brain cells than driving a car in circles.”

“Harsh.”

Before Oscar could reply, footsteps padded down the stairs. Lando sat up straighter instinctively.

And then she appeared.

Wearing a beautifull soft yellow dress, bare feet making soft sounds on the wooden floor, her hair styled in soft waves that framed her face. She paused when she saw him, a little startled but she recovered quickly, offering a kind, quiet smile.

“Hi,” she said.

Lando stood up too quickly. “Hi. I—I’m—uh, I’m Lando.”

She blinked. “I know.”

He closed his eyes for a second. Brilliant start.

She stepped forward, still smiling. “I’m Y/N.”

“I know,” he said, and instantly regretted repeating her words back like a parrot.

Oscar walked past with a bowl of crisps and a smirk. “Well, this isn’t awkward at all.”

Y/N laughed softly, easing the tension. “It’s okay. This is weird, right? But not, like, bad weird.”

Lando managed a smile. “Yeah. Just... unusual. I’m not very good at this kind of thing.”

“What kind of thing?”

“Meeting new people, especially pretty one." He said.

Y/N raised an eyebrow, amused. “Are you trying to impress me?”

Lando opened his mouth, then shut it, then rubbed the back of his neck. “I mean. I wasn’t trying to make it that obvious.”

Y/N smiled again. It wasn’t teasing. It was warm.

Oscar re-entered the room, checking his phone. “Lily’s almost ready. You two want a drink? Water? Champagne?”

Y/N glanced at Lando. “Water for now. I’d like to be able to walk in a straight line later.”

“Same,” Lando said quickly.

Oscar raised a brow. “Wow. Sober decisions? Who are you and what have you done with Lando?”

But Lando wasn’t listening. He was watching Y/N again: her ease, her calmness, the way she sat on the edge of the couch without fidgeting or trying too hard. She didn’t seem like someone who wanted attention, and that only made her more captivating.

He was already in trouble.

Later their car pulled up in front of Oscar place and the four of them enter it.

Lando sat in the farthest seat from her, stiff in his tailored tux, fiddling with the inside seam of his sleeve. He’d never minded dressing up, he usually enjoyed it. But tonight, the collar felt too tight, his shoes too polished, his hair too styled.

Across from him, Lily and Y/N were mid-laughter about something he hadn’t even caught.

“No, but seriously,” Y/N said, breathless from laughing, “he tried to use a pipette like a turkey baster. In cell culture.”

“Oh my god,” Lily gasped. “No gloves?”

“None. I nearly screamed.”

They burst into another round of giggles, heads tilted toward each other, eyes gleaming with shared memories.

Lando blinked, trying to follow. Was he supposed to say something? Was he allowed to join in?

He glanced at Oscar, seated beside him with his usual laid-back grin, clearly enjoying the show. Meanwhile, Lando felt like an accessory. Just some awkward extra in a tux who happened to be taking up space in the car.

“So,” he tried, voice louder than expected. “What’s… what’s a pipette?”

The laughter died. Lily turned, slightly surprised, and Y/N blinked at him, lips parted.

Oscar snorted into his fist.

Y/N smiled, kindly, not mockingly. “It’s like… a super precise dropper. For moving really small volumes of liquid.”

“Oh. Cool.” Lando nodded, as if that explained anything. “Like… science stuff.”

“Yeah,” Y/N said gently. “Science stuff.”

Oscar choked.

Lily gave him a look that read be nice, and Y/N subtly elbowed Lily's back. But Lando caught it. And suddenly, the car felt like it was shrinking.

What was he even doing here?

He adjusted his sleeve again, then glanced at Y/N. She looked beautiful. Not just dressed-up pretty, but radiant, like someone who hadn’t even tried to outshine the night and still managed to. She hadn’t even needed the red carpet. She could’ve lit up the street outside just with her presence.

“You good?” Oscar leaned over and muttered, low enough not to be heard by the girls.

“Fine.”

“You look like you’re calculating your escape route.”

“I’m not.”

“You kind of are.”

Lando groaned. “They’ve been talking non-stop.”

Oscar grinned. “Yeah. It’s called being friends. Girls do that.”

Lando glared. “I mean, what am I supposed to do?”

“Be normal? Say something? You’re acting super tense.”

“She’s like super impressive, kinda intimidate me, mate.”

“Lando you’re a millionaire professional athlete, you're fine."

Lando narrowed his eyes. “Not the same.”

Oscar just laughed and clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Relax. You’re not trying to marry her. It’s just a premiere.”

But Lando wasn’t so sure anymore. Because everything about Y/N, her laugh, her wit, the way she looked out the window like she wasn’t fazed by the flashing lights and waiting press, made him feel like she wasn’t just another random plus one.

She wasn’t someone to fill a space on a work event. She was someone he didn’t want to disappoint.

The car slowed to a stop.

Lily peeked toward the window, fixing a final pin in her hair. “Okay. Showtime.”

Y/N glanced at Lando and smiled. “You ready?”

Lando nodded. “Sure. Totally.”

He was lying. He was not ready at all.

The second the car door opened, it was as if someone had unleashed a pack of wolves: voices shouting names, cameras clicking. The usual.

Lando stepped out first, inhaling sharply through his nose. His jacket felt too tight again.

He turned back to offer Y/N his hand. She took it like this was just any other night. No hesitation. No nerves. She stepped out gracefully, her dress falling perfectly into place, her expression calm and unfazed by the frenzy.

It was… unnerving.

She didn’t grip his arm. Didn’t blink at the cameras. Didn’t ask what to do.

She just smiled politely, then started walking past him toward the entrance along with Lily.

He jogged slightly to catch up.

“Uh… are you okay?” he asked.

Y/N glanced sideways. “Yeah, why?”

“I mean—the cameras. The shouting.”

She shrugged. “It’s not like they’re yelling at me. They want pictures of you.”

“That doesn’t bother you?”

She tilted her head. “Should it?”

Lando blinked. “I—yeah? A bit?”

She laughed softly. “I’m just here to see a movie. I’m not being interviewed or anything.”

He stopped walking for half a second. Wait. Was that how she saw this?

She looked around at the flashing lights. “It’s kind of fun, though. Everyone’s dressed up.”

He swallowed. “Yeah. It is.”

They made it through the line of photographers without incident, her not breaking a sweat, him blinking so much he probably looked like he had dust in his eyes. Inside the venue, the lighting dimmed and the atmosphere changed: lower music, drinks trays floating past on silver platters.

They were barely two steps inside when someone grabbed his elbow.

“Mate,” Oscar said, materializing out of nowhere. “You good?”

“No,” Lando muttered. “Absolutely not.”

Oscar looked him up and down. “You look like you’re walking into a court hearing.”

Lando pulled at his collar. “She’s… just. She’s not nervous. At all. It’s freaking me out.”

Oscar smirked. “Because she’s not clinging to your arm and asking where to stand?”

“Exactly.”

“Because she’s acting like a person and not a fan?”

“Exactly!”

Oscar handed him a glass of water from a passing tray. “Drink this before you pass out.”

Lando took it gratefully and glanced over his shoulder. Y/N had wandered off to look at one of the display posters near the entrance, completely unbothered by the people milling around her.

Oscar leaned in, lowering his voice. “You know, she’s just a nice person, man. Lily said she was excited to see the movie early, especially since she’s not usually invited to these kinds of things.”

“So… she didn’t think this was, like… a thing?”

Oscar hesitated. “I mean, I told her you needed a plus one. I may have left out the part where you were mildly spiraling about being the only single guy.”

Lando groaned. "Mate, seriously ?"

Oscar grinned. “What? I wanted her to say yes. She probably thinks this is just a favor for Lily.”

“That explains so much.”

“Like what?”

“Like why she didn’t care about being photographed next to me. Why she hasn’t asked about the paddock. Why she’s so calm.”

Oscar looked over at her. “You know what I think?”

“What.”

“I think you want her to care.”

Lando didn’t answer. He sipped his water.

A familiar voice interrupted them. “Lando?”

He turned. Charles and Alexandra had just arrived, both dressed to perfection. Alexandra’s eyes flicked to Y/N, who had returned and was now beside him again.

“Bonsoir,” Charles greeted with a smile. “And who is this lovely guest?”

Y/N smiled back. “Y/N. I’m just a friend of Lily’s.”

“Ahh,” Alexandra said. “You look amazing. Are you two—?”

“Oh no,” Y/N said quickly, shaking her head. “Not together. I just tagged along. He had a free invite because he don't have a plus one.”

Lando made a noise in his throat. Something between a laugh and a choke.

Alexandra raised a brow. “Really? Well, you’re pulling off the date look flawlessly.”

“Right?” Charles grinned. “They look like they’ve been together forever.”

Y/N just laughed it off. “It’s just the lighting. I clean up okay.”

They chatted a bit more, mostly Charles asking Lando about the weekend, Alexandra complimenting Y/N’s dress but Lando was only half-there. Y/N had said “Oh no, not together.” Like it was obvious.

But maybe it was.

Maybe that’s why she was so at ease, because she never saw this as a date.

And that idea makes Lando's heart hurts more than he expected.

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[slattlicker]

college age schlatt i beg 🙏 like the proper nerdy computer science college student everyone seems to forget he was

╭﹐✦˚₊· 𖤐 * no recursion without return ⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ ╮ imagine: hot engineering nerd meets cute cs nerd. she needs help passing a required class. he needs someone who actually listens. one tutoring session turns into two... and then they build something together. ╰﹒♡₊˚๑ *✧﹒✦ ࣪ ˖ ┊

﹒₊✦ a/n: college schlatt is real, actually. nerds deserve romance too. i'm so so sorry if this is inaccurate,,, i am an english writing major (who used to be in biochem) so take everything stem-talk in this with the biggest grain of salt ♡

warnings: academic setting · lots of stem talk (cs + engineering) · mutual nerd crushes · slow-burn vibes · tutoring sessions · project bonding · lab flirting · light insecurity · soft & earned first kisses

✧✧✧

it starts with a room that smells like dry-erase markers and burnt coffee.

tuesday afternoon, 3:15 pm. you’re ten minutes early to the cs building’s third-floor lab—mostly because the alternative was sitting through another insufferably slow dining hall lunch, and partly because you weren’t sure if you’d find the place at all.

the whiteboard has a half-erased doodle of a mushroom in glasses. someone’s labeled it fungi with a minor in comp sci.

you snort, drop your bag onto the table, and slide into the nearest swivel chair.

you're not exactly struggling in the class—but you're also not thriving. cs230: data structures and algorithms. it’s mandatory for your minor, and you’ve been putting it off for two semesters too long.

the professor announced last week that office hours would be staffed by the department’s “stem peer guides.” you hadn’t planned on going.

but then the last lab nearly made you cry in the library bathroom.

so here you are.

you’re still tugging your laptop out of your bag when the door creaks.

he walks in backwards—wearing a hoodie that probably cost too much and socks with cartoon ducks on them, juggling two coffees and a laptop under one arm.

“hey—sorry,” he says, turning around and freezing when he spots you. “didn’t think anyone was gonna show up.”

he sets the coffees down. his glasses slide a little down his nose when he tilts his head.

“you here for cs230?”

you nod. “yeah.”

he blinks. then smiles—just a little. you catch the beginnings of smile lines.

“i’m schlatt,” he says. “stem guide. i did the class last year.”

you raise an eyebrow. “and survived?”

“barely.” he slides into the chair across from you and cracks open his laptop. “what are we working on?”

you pause. he’s surprisingly cute for someone who clearly color-codes his life. his keyboard has custom caps. his notes—when he turns the screen to show you—are annotated with little pixel cats.

you try not to show your amusement. “i think i broke my brain trying to write a recursive function.”

schlatt huffs a laugh. “you and everyone else.”

he takes a sip of his coffee, then pushes the other cup toward you.

“extra,” he says. “in case you need brain fuel. also because i got nervous and ordered two by accident and i couldn't tell them i didn't want the other one.”

you accept it without thinking. warm. lightly sweet. you usually take yours iced, but it's cold in this room, so you'll take it.

“thanks,” you murmur.

“no problem,” he says, already pulling up the assignment prompt on his screen. “let’s untangle some loops.”

✧✧✧

you’re twenty minutes in and already rethinking your life choices.

not because schlatt’s bad at explaining things. actually, the opposite.

he’s good. really good.

he’s got the kind of brain that makes metaphors on the fly—comparing recursive functions to russian nesting dolls, stack overflows to a laundry chair that’s reached critical mass, and call stacks to cabinets held open in sequence.

“okay,” he says, spinning the whiteboard toward you, “so imagine you're opening those russian dolls—you know, the ones that keep getting smaller?”

you nod, watching as he draws a series of half-circles nestled inside each other.

“each function call is like opening another doll. every time the function calls itself, it goes one layer deeper. but the only way to start returning values—to actually finish—is to reach the smallest one.”

“the base case,” you murmur, tapping the smallest doll he’s drawn.

his smile quirks. “exactly. once you hit that, you start putting them all back together. one by one, returning values up the chain.”

you tilt your head. “so recursion’s not about jumping around—it's about going in and then back out in the same order.”

“bingo.”

he pivots to his laptop and pulls up a short recursive function on the screen. you lean in.

“okay, next part—this,” he gestures at the lines of indented code, “is the call stack. think of it like trying to put dishes away.”

“…dishes?”

he nods, animated now. “you open a cabinet to put a plate in. then you grab another plate, but instead of closing the first cabinet, you open a second one. and a third. and a fourth. you keep opening cabinets without shutting the old ones.”

you raise an eyebrow. “sounds like how my roommate loads the dishwasher.”

he grins. “right? but the point is, each open cabinet is a function waiting to finish. they can’t finish until the one they just called returns. so when you hit your base case, you finally start closing those cabinets, in reverse order.”

you stare at the screen, tracing the indents with your eyes.

“so,” you start slowly, “the top function keeps waiting—holding its cabinet door open—until the one it just called is done. and that one’s waiting for the one it called. like a long hallway of open doors.”

“yes!” schlatt nearly bounces in his chair. “and that hallway is your stack. it fills from the bottom up—every time you go deeper. but if there’s no base case—or it’s too far down?”

“then the hallway gets too crowded.”

you glance up at him. “and the stack… overflows?”

he throws both hands up, mock-dramatic. “you get it!”

you laugh—really laugh—and shake your head. “it actually makes sense. which is annoying. because i was ready to just declare defeat and become a barista.”

he nudges his coffee toward you. “nah. baristas don’t use call stacks.”

you take a sip, smiling into the lid. “honestly? if you’d used metaphors in the lab handout, i might’ve passed the last quiz.”

“metaphors are how i survive,” he says, then lowers his voice in mock-conspiracy. “they trick your brain into thinking you’re doing storytelling, not math.”

you grin. “you are such a dork.”

“thank you,” he says, deadpan. “that’s the highest compliment in this lab.”

you roll your eyes—but you’re still smiling.

✧✧✧

you hadn’t meant to invite him.

it just slipped out—somewhere between scribbling return values and teasing him for his handwriting—your mouth said, “hey, i’m grabbing food after this. you want to come?” like it was the most normal thing in the world.

he blinked. just once.

then shrugged and said, “sure,” like he wasn’t surprised either.

now you’re sitting across from him at a corner table in the dining hall. your tray’s got a slice of pizza and a sad salad. his has a sandwich, two cookies, and three chocolate milks.

“you know,” you say, chewing thoughtfully, “for someone who talks like a grad student, you eat like a middle schooler.”

he takes a sip of one of the chocolate milks. “middle schoolers are onto something.”

you snort. then pause. then blurt it out—because you’ve been thinking about it since the cs homework started, and he feels safe, in a quiet, weird way:

“okay, don’t judge me, but i’ve been working on this stupid little side project where i’m trying to build a low-power prosthetic hand using recycled printer motors.”

schlatt looks up, mid-bite. “wait. seriously?”

you nod. “yeah, i’ve been salvaging parts from the e-waste lab and retrofitting them. it’s dumb and janky and probably not functional, but—”

“that’s so sick,” he says, with total sincerity. “like—you’re making that from scratch?”

you sit up a little straighter. “well, not the whole thing. i’m using an arduino as the controller right now, because i suck at microprocessors and writing drivers from zero is hell. but i’ve been wiring it to flex sensors, and i’m experimenting with these homebrew 3d-printed phalanges—”

you don’t stop.

not once you get going.

you talk with your hands, gesturing wildly, pulling up half-broken images on your phone, sketching quick shapes on your napkin with a pen in the side-pocket of your backpack.

and the whole time? schlatt just watches.

listens.

not just politely—but engaged. interested. like he wants to hear it all. like you’re not over-explaining, or rambling, or going on too long about a niche thing that keeps your brain lit up at 3am.

you pause somewhere around “wrist articulation via recycled watch gears” and finally look up.

his eyes are warm.

“you know,” he says, grinning, “i think you just activated my stem side quest.”

you blink. “what?”

“i wanna help,” he says. “i mean, if you’ll let me. i’ve never coded a servo system, but… i’m a fast learner. and i think it’s badass.”

you don’t say anything.

not right away.

because your chest feels kind of full. your face feels warm. and for once, your brain doesn’t immediately try to shrink you back down.

instead, you nod. just once. “okay.”

he smiles at you over his chocolate milk.

and you think, shit, maybe office hours weren’t the highlight of the week after all.

✧✧✧

the next few weeks settle into a rhythm.

it starts with tutoring.

once a week turns into twice. then three times. not because you’re struggling (anymore), but because he’s… kind of fun to talk to. at least when he’s not roasting your variable names or trying to explain recursion using empty cereal boxes.

he sits across from you at the library table, hoodie sleeves pushed up, laptop screen smudged from how often he drags his fingers across it to point something out. sometimes he forgets to eat. you learn to pack granola bars in your pencil pouch. he never says thank you—just steals one with a smirk and keeps talking.

you start getting better. grades creeping up. error logs shrinking. you don’t dread opening your ide anymore. the code starts making sense—not just his, but yours.

one afternoon, you casually mention a project idea you’d been playing with—something stupid, just for fun. something to do with hardware integration. you expect him to laugh.

he doesn’t.

he spins his laptop around and starts mapping out a database schema like he’s been waiting for you to say it.

that’s how the side project starts.

lunches get longer. office hours get later. one day you bring your soldering kit to the library, and he lights up like you just handed him a rare pokémon card. the whole table smells like burnt plastic for an hour. no one complains. but no one sits near you either.

you nerd out hard. unapologetically. you find yourself going on tangents—about conductive thread, or how weird the i2c protocol is—and instead of zoning out, he asks questions. good ones. thoughtful ones. he doesn’t just tolerate your rants; he builds on them.

and okay, maybe you start noticing things.

like how he mumbles to himself when he’s focused. or how his hands are always warm. or how he smiles at you—not in a big, charming way, but in a quiet, earned one. like you’re the only one who gets to see this side of him.

it’s nothing serious. just… a shift.

you brush it off.

but your code’s never looked cleaner.

and your heart’s never beat louder.

✧✧✧

it happens by accident.

you’re heading toward the back patio of the student union, iced coffee in one hand, a stack of circuits notes in the other, when you spot him.

schlatt.

at one of the outdoor tables.

not alone.

there’s a group of students—three of them, maybe four—leaning in. cs majors, you recognize them. they’re the type who ask three questions per lecture and answer five more that weren’t theirs. big voices. bragging energy.

you can’t hear everything, but you don’t need to. the body language’s loud enough.

schlatt’s sitting off-center. not really in the circle. elbows tucked in, voice low, like he’s trying to contribute. like he wants to. but they’re talking over him. dismissing. one of them even laughs—not the good kind. the kind you’ve felt in your spine before.

and you watch it happen:

the way schlatt’s mouth tugs tight at the corner. the way he adjusts his sleeve, like it’ll make him smaller. the way he tries one more time to speak, then gives up halfway through the sentence and shrugs it off, pretending it didn’t matter.

they keep talking.

he goes quiet.

you’re frozen in place, coffee sweating through your fingers, because it clicks.

he’s like you.

he is you.

all that time you thought he was the confident one—the one who belonged. the one who was already part of something. but he’s not. not really. not when it comes to this. not when it comes to them.

he’s just better at hiding it.

better at laughing it off.

but the look in his eyes, right then—small and a little tired—that’s a look you know too well.

no one talks about what it feels like when your brain lights up for something and everyone else treats it like a joke.

no one talks about what it’s like to be too much in the wrong direction.

and suddenly, all your late-night rambling about microcontrollers and e-textiles feels different.

because he listened. not just because he was polite. but because he got it. you don't think you've ever felt so fully understood until him.

you take a step forward. you don’t know what you’re going to say.

but you’re not about to leave him sitting alone in a conversation that doesn’t want him.

not when you know what that feels like.

so you walk over.

“hey, there you are,” you say, nudging your knuckles gently against schlatt’s shoulder. “i was looking for you.”

he turns, surprised—then relieved. “oh—hey y/n.”

“sorry,” one of the students says, hesitant. “uh, are we… interrupting something?”

“nah,” you say, easy. “just didn’t want to miss my favorite stem guide.”

schlatt’s ears go a little pink.

you glance at the table—some kind of project group, you think. their laptops are open, notebooks out, but their conversation’s turned awkward now. the vibe’s off. not hostile—just… cliquey.

“you guys working on something for fundamentals?” you ask, glancing at their notes.

“uh, yeah,” one mutters. “trying to figure out the recursion stuff.”

you smile. “then you’re in luck. this guy’s a recursion whisperer.”

schlatt huffs a little laugh, rubbing the back of his neck.

“i’m serious,” you say, looking at him now. “you explained it to me with like…those russian dolls. made it make sense in ten minutes.”

“you remember the russian dolls?”

“obviously,” you grin. “changed my life.”

he smiles, a little shy, but brighter now.

you turn to the group. “anyway, sorry to interrupt. i just wanted to steal him for a bit. we’re working on something together—well, more like, he’s doing the hard part and i’m nodding along and pretending to contribute.”

they chuckle. the tension eases.

“good luck, though,” you add, friendly. “you’ve got a good one here.”

you tap the back of his hand.

“ready, genius?”

he nods. stands up. follows you without question.

and once you’re a few steps away, you glance over and say, casually but soft:

“for the record? you’re way too smart to sit through that kind of conversation, with those kinds of people, and not say anything.”

his voice is quiet. “didn’t think they really wanted my advice…or any of my input, for that matter.”

"sucks for them," you bump his arm. “i do.”

he looks at you.

and smiles.

“you’re different,” he says.

you shrug. “nah. i just don’t have the patience for people who don’t know a good brain when they’re sitting next to one.”

he laughs under his breath—bashful, but warm.

“besides,” you add, nudging him again, “you’re the only guy on campus who’s ever made me care about code.”

“flattered,” he says, with a little bow of his head. “high praise.”

“it is,” you nod. “don’t let that go to your head, though.”

“too late.”

you both laugh.

and as you walk side-by-side down the hallway, something feels… lighter.

✧✧✧

the lab is mostly empty—just the hum of old fluorescents overhead and the rhythmic click of schlatt’s keyboard echoing off the cinderblock walls.

you’re both hunched over the prototype, wires splayed like spaghetti across the table, your laptop screen casting a pale blue glow over your notes. it’s late. not late-late, but late enough that you’ve lost track of time in that delicious, focus-hazed kind of way.

“okay,” you murmur, “i think that’s the last adjustment on the sensor matrix. wanna try running the loop again?”

schlatt doesn’t answer right away—he’s rereading your code, brows furrowed, mouth slightly open like he’s working through it out loud in his head.

you wait.

he presses enter.

the terminal blinks once more.

and then—

nothing.

the servo doesn’t twitch. the sensor reads null. everything is still.

you groan, letting your head thunk forward onto the table. “are you kidding me?”

“hang on,” schlatt mutters, already scrolling. “it’s not a full crash. there’s something—it’s just not hitting the output loop.”

“i swear,” you grumble, face still mashed into your notes, “if this is another semicolon issue, i’m throwing myself into a ditch.”

“nah,” he says, voice calm, reassuring. “it’s not your code.”

you lift your head just enough to side-eye him. “it’s not yours either, huh?”

he doesn’t answer right away.

instead, he reaches for the breadboard, fingers quick and precise as he repositions a single wire—green to yellow. it’s such a small shift you almost miss it.

“that,” he says, “was plugged into the wrong pin.”

you blink.

he presses enter again.

and this time, the prototype moves.

just a little—just a careful curl of synthetic fingers, one joint at a time, like a hesitant wave from a ghost hand.

your jaw drops.

schlatt stares too. for once, he’s quiet.

“…did we—?”

“yeah,” he breathes. “we did.”

you let out a half-laugh, half-squeak. “dude—”

you turn to him without thinking.

and he’s already looking at you.

and before your brain catches up with your body, you’re reaching out—arms around his shoulders, heart in your throat.

he stiffens for a second. then melts into it.

his arms curl around your waist, tentative at first, then tighter. his cheek brushes your temple.

“holy shit,” you whisper, still breathless. “we did it.”

“we really fucking did it.”

the hug lasts longer than it needs to. it shifts. softens. becomes something else.

your hands curl in the fabric of his hoodie. his thumb rubs slow circles at your back.

neither of you move to pull away.

but eventually—awkwardly—you both realize you probably should.

you shift first, just a little, arms loosening. schlatt mirrors you a second later, like he’s waiting for permission.

and then—

your foot bumps a loose cable under the table.

you stumble, just a half step, enough to make you grip his hoodie tighter out of instinct.

he catches you by the elbow—quick, steady—but in doing so, he knocks into the edge of the desk.

a pen clatters to the floor. your hip bangs against the chair. both of you freeze.

then, in perfect harmony:

“sorry—”

“sorry—”

you look at each other.

he’s flushed to the tips of his ears.

you’re no better.

his hand’s still on your elbow. yours is still in the front pocket of his hoodie. neither of you seems to know what to do with yourselves now.

“…so,” you say, trying to laugh it off, “we’re, uh—officially engineers now, right? or, mad scientists? mad engineers? built something that works and almost died doing it.”

“sounds about right,” he mumbles, eyes not quite meeting yours.

you step back fully, brushing imaginary lint off your sleeves. he clears his throat and bends to pick up the pen—just a little too quickly.

“we should, uh…” he gestures vaguely at the wires. “log this. before we forget what we changed.”

“yeah,” you nod. “documentation. good. yep. very sexy.”

he snorts.

and the tension cracks just enough for both of you to breathe again.

✧✧✧

friday lunch.

same table.

you’re there first, as usual—tray to the left, elbow room cleared, and your little “project napkin” tucked just out of sight beneath your phone.

it’s not schematics, not exactly. more like an outline of “natural” movements. lean angles. average post-meal proximity. potential trigger phrases that could ease the moment into something more than just eye contact and banter.

it’s stupid. it’s excessive. it’s so you.

but it’s not like you’ve kissed him yet.

and it’s not like you haven’t thought about it. a lot.

he slides into the seat across from you—slightly out of breath, hoodie slightly askew.

“hey,” he says. “sorry, i ran into a professor who wouldn’t stop talking about his cat’s gut biome.”

you snort. “sounds riveting.”

“almost kissed him out of pity.”

you choke on a bite of salad. “what?”

“nothing,” he mumbles, sipping chocolate milk. “just—brain fried. bad sleep. lots of… thinking.”

you nod. you get that.

you were up half the night replaying yesterday’s hug on a loop. you hadn’t meant to squeeze him that tight. hadn’t meant to say “good job, genius” like that. hadn’t meant for your fingers to linger on his hoodie hem when you stepped back.

but he hadn’t pulled away.

so.

so.

you both eat in silence for a minute. your foot brushes his under the table. once. twice.

neither of you moves.

finally, you say it. quiet. almost like a confession.

“i, uh… may have tried to engineer a perfect kiss scenario today.”

he freezes, sandwich halfway to his mouth.

“...engineer?”

you nod, cheeks warm. “like… ran a few simulations in my head. built a model. set parameters. i was…probably gonna initiate if you laughed three or more times by the end of lunch.”

his jaw drops. “are you serious?”

“extremely.”

he blinks. “because i wrote a whole conditional loop for this.”

“…what?”

he fumbles in his hoodie pocket and pulls out a sticky note. it reads:

python: if eyes_hold >= 3.5 and cafeteria_noise == low: lean_in()

you stare at it.

then back at him.

and burst out laughing. “we’re so stupid.”

“no,” he says, laughing too. “we’re scientists.”

“why can’t we just communicate like normal people?”

“who needs normal?”

he’s still smiling.

you are too.

and this time?

there’s no plan. no diagram. no if/then logic.

you just… lean in. and he meets you halfway.

your noses bump. just slightly. your knees knock beneath the table. it’s clumsy at first—uncoordinated, like every group project you’ve ever had to rescue last-minute.

but then his hand grazes your wrist. your mouth fits against his like it already knew how. like maybe, all along, this wasn’t something to calculate.

it just needed to happen.

and suddenly, none of it feels theoretical. not the way his lips press softly, then more certainly. not the quiet exhale he lets out when you shift just a little closer. not the way your fingers curl in the fabric of his hoodie like you’ve done it a hundred times.

no flowchart could’ve planned this.

it’s instinct. it’s connection. it's human.

it’s easy.

you pull back first. slow. breath caught somewhere behind your grin.

but before you can say anything—

he leans back in. less hesitant this time.

his hand cradles the side of your neck, thumb brushing just beneath your jaw. his mouth meets yours like a spark catching on dry kindling—familiar, but heady. deliberate. like he’s trying to commit it to memory. like he’s making up for every time he could’ve kissed you and didn’t.

your heart stutters. your fingers grip the edge of the table.

he tastes like chocolate milk and lip balm and something stupidly addictive.

when you part again—barely—you stay close, noses brushing, breath mingling.

“you’re gonna break my brain,” he whispers.

you grin. “then i guess i'll be the one to tutor you.”

his laugh is low and warm and very, very fond.

“deal.”

[helpwhatsthis]

Keeping Your Heart Safe?

Part One of Lost In The Fire- J.S. X Reader

Looking for another chapter? Check out the series navigation!

Chapter Summary: Johnny doesn't like crowds, which can be difficult at parties. His anxiety at his birthday party is only worsened by what his life may become after the space launch project.

Warnings: lowkey it’s kind of a Johnny Storm character study (that will eventually lead to smut), reader has regenerative healing, angst, mentions of Johnny and Sue's parents death, these little shits are angsty asf dude idk

It's safe to say that most people probably would have given up under your circumstances already. You'd spent your entire life into your twenties looking for another person like you. Day and night, hours upon hours, leaving people behind and putting yourself (and sometimes others) in harms way for the slim chance that you might find another one. A mutant. Maybe that's just your luck? Some cruel joke played on you by the universe that you would be the only person among billions with... well, with what? Superpowers? Inhumane abilities? Yeah, that figures.

That's how Reed found you though, and you were thankful for that at least. Of course the always intuitive Reed Richards would notice the one person that just seemed a little too interested in the exhibit on genetic mutations at the science expo; and for every bit of intuition Reed has, his kindness and determination always seem to match it. Did he really need to pull you out of the crowd and confirm what exactly was different about you? No. Did he need to hire you on as his assistant just so that he could keep and eye on you? Again, no. Most of all, Reed definitely didn't need to move you off of the streets and into the Baxter building or try to start integrating you into his little family; but he did because that's just the kind of person he is.

Did you really need to grit your teeth and act annoyed the whole way through it even though you were fully aware that Reed may have saved your life in the process? No, but that's just the kind of person you are. Mostly because you've never really felt stable since the incident, you might just need to leave one day and it would be a whole lot easier if you didn't let yourself pretend like you were one of them. Like you were normal.

You'd like to think you were doing a pretty good job too, if it weren't for Johnny of course. Sickeningly Sweet and enragingly gentle Johnny. Not one little bit scared pf what you can do and definitely not eager to point out your differences or mistakes. It's amazing really, how he can be so indifferent about all of it. When Ben had told him that you were something akin to superhuman, he acted as if he'd been told something as mundane as your eye color.

"Correct me of I'm wrong, but isn't the birthday boy supposed to actually attend his own party?" You him, leaning against the door frame of the terrace. Johnny's head snaps around in surprise that he's been caught. He's been expecting his sister to come and find him for that past forty-five minutes and try to convince him to come back to the party; but he grins when he sees your own soft smile and eyebrows raised in question.

"Well shouldn’t the assistant be making sure that nothing goes horribly wrong at said party?” He laughs as you make your way to the edge of the balcony, sitting down carefully beside him. His hand immediately finds your shoulder when he sees you shiver at the sight below you, he doesn’t know the exact reason but he does know that you’re not a huge fan of heights. He supposes it’s got something to do with bad memories like most things you don’t like; which is, well… most things.

“I’d say the guest of honor disappearing is pretty wrong.” He smiles at your attempt to keep up the banter, but your eyes haven’t left the lights of the city beneath your feet. You look nervous and Johnny hates that. Finally, you gulp and pull your eyes up to him. “So why exactly are you out here?”

“You know how I feel about crowds…” He shrugs, trying to play it off like this is any normal event; but it’s different tonight. He’s different tonight.

“We start prepping for the space launch tomorrow.” He sighs, shoulders sinking in more. His words cause more confusion than clarity. Sure, Johnny was always shy and nervous. He’s better alone than in a crowd and he’s defiantly better with silence than small talk, but this wasn’t like him at all. He loved things like this. Johnny Storm is the epitome of an adrenaline junkie disguised as a puppy.

“Yeah… and that’s cool right? You get to go to space!” You force a smile, trying to lean forward into his line of view. “I mean even though your brother-in-law is a genius this still seems like a once in a lifetime opput-”

“I think Reed and Sue are going to try to have a baby when the project is over.” 

Oh?

“I know it’s unfair and I know I should be happy; I mean I’m going to be an uncle and that’s amazing…” He trails off, trying to blink the welling tears out of his eyes. “-but everything is going to be different after that. No more messing around in the lab in the middle of the night. No more dangerous experiments. Even Ben is starting to spend more time with that girl Alicia-” His voice cracks, head dropping as the dame breaks. “Life has always been the same since mom and dad died, it’s always been me and my sister and her husband and his best friend. I wanna be happy for them but I’m just scared because my family is changing again. ”

“Jesus, Johnny.” You sigh, pulling his body into a hug. It’s strange, you can’t remember the last time you were this careless in your closeness with someone but it just feels so good when he curls his body into you. It feels so good that Johnny feel safe with you. “It’s gonna be okay, J.” You promise, rubbing his back softly. “You’ve got the best big sister in the whole world. Things are going to be different but it’s not like you’re lives are just going to stop if they have a baby. You’ll still be just as important to your family even if there are a few new members.” You smile when he laughs a little.

He peaks his head out of its hiding place in your chest. “You know their your family too, right?” He asks softly. A sudden abundance of heat fills your chest.  You both sit in silence, just taking one another in with sad smiles on your faces. His hands start to inch up, slowly moving towards your jaw. It would be so easy to just lean into him-

“There you guys are!” Your head snaps to the doorway. “Come on, guys. Sue is gonna rip me a new one if you aren’t there for cake, man.” Ben laughs, eyeing you both with a stupid smirk on his face. 

Reluctantly, you follow him back into the penthouse. It’s a good thing too, you think. You can’t stop cursing yourself the rest of the night for how utterly stupid you almost were, even when Johnny’s eyes don’t leave you as he blows out the flames of his candles.

What to be added to my taglist? Send me a message!

[miss-tarja]

[There is no exact timeline, mind you hehe]

PRE-SOCCER FAMILY

Meeting for the first time

Meeting Again

Flirting

First Kiss

Boyfriend Makeover

First time with eachother (Mild +18)

Who Fell Harder

Meeting Miguel's Family

Miguel Meeting Wife!Reader's Family (Drama & Angst)

Break Up (Angst)

Makeup (Angst and Fluff)

The Making Of Gabriella (+18)

Pregnancy Cares with Miguel

Proposal

The Wedding

MAIN EVENTS AND BLURBS

HIGHLIGHTS

Miguel's Birthday

The Making Of Benjamin (+18)

Unlocking Memories

Young Spiders Meeting Miguel's Family

Spider Gang Babysitting Gabi and Benji

Uncle Gabriel Paying A Visit

Girl's Day with Gabriella

Nightmares

Baby Benjamin's First Words

Jealous Wife

Marital Fight

Makeup

Miguel Helping Gabi With School Project

Gabi's Toddler Days

Big Sister, Again

Angry Spanish Cursing with Miguel

Rosie's Birth

Miguel Comforting Mama

Baby Cares with Miguel and Rosie

Gabi's First Period

Benjamin's Pregnancy

Grandma's Visit

Meeting Mama's ex at Costco

Mama Pick up Lines

Welcome Back, Papa!

Introducing Gabriella to Soccer

Miguel's Pick up Lines

Gabriel and Miguel Fight

A series Of First With Gabriella

Conversations between Miguel and Mama

Papa, You're Getting Old

NSFW

Miguel Comforting Wife After A Bad Dream

Possessive Husband Miguel

Miguel Waking Up To A BJ

Needy Mama with a Gentle Dom! Miguel

Mama Pegging Miguel

The Making of Rosie

Miguel and Mama's favorite positions

Miguel Eating out Mama (with a lil twist)

For Science Purposes

GABRIELLA AND HER QUESTIONS

Big Boobs

A Sibling

Big Boobs (Miguel Version)

Milk Jugs

Is Mama ok?

DAILY LIFE BLURBS

Spicy food with Gabi

Gabi's Tamtrum

Mama Is Harassed By Another Man

Gabi comforting a Fussy Benjamin

Miguel Rizzing up Mama

Benji And His Baby Walker

Mama Teasing Miguel

A Little Time Lapse

Cleaning Sunday

Benji Getting A Tummy Ache

Bitter Coffee

Benjamin's "Messy Hair" (Angry Mama)

Sad Movie Night

Questions Related 2 3 4 5 6 7

Go Shave, Papa!

Nothing But Short Short Shirts

Benjamin Cutting His Own Hair

Soccer Family Into Tik Tok

Nude Portrait

Benji Being a Lil Ladies Man

Kiss Cam

Intruder

Sleepy Boys

Benjamin as a 12 year old boy

Baby Benjamin gets injured

Drunk Mama

You're adopted, Benji.

Getting Gabi to Sleep

El Ratón Perez

(Header made by me)

[wethotcrazy]

THE GOLDEN LOTUS

pairing: Ollie Bearman x Reader

word count: 864

university au!! i just wanted something cute and sweet and i think i really cooked with this one. also thinking of maybe making this into a series or having other uni au's for other drivers, what do you guys think???

Ollie Bearman wasn’t one for change. Predictability was his sanctuary, a warm cocoon that he didn’t much like leaving. His life ran on routine: lectures, workouts, and pasta dinners in his dorm room. But predictability took a nosedive the day he stumbled into the Golden Lotus.

It was a small Chinese restaurant tucked between a laundromat and a charity shop, a little worn but radiating charm. Ollie’s first visit was born of desperation—he’d forgotten to do a food shop, and the Golden Lotus was cheap, convenient, and smelled amazing. He didn’t even like Chinese food that much, but the portion sizes? Enormous. Enough to feed a starving uni student for two days, if he rationed it right.

The food, however, quickly became secondary.

The real reason Ollie found himself at the Golden Lotus every Tuesday and Thursday night was the girl behind the counter. YN.

She was a computer science major with a sharp wit and a smile that felt like a reward when Ollie managed to coax it out of her. YN worked the evening shift, her laptop often open beside the register as she chipped away at coursework between filling takeout orders. She lived in the apartment above the restaurant, earning a rent discount by working their… or so he overheard.

At first, Ollie had been too shy to do much more than order his food, offer a polite smile, and retreat to his usual table. But YN had noticed him—how could she not? He was the only customer who regularly dined in. That was rare enough, but when someone started showing up twice a week like clockwork, well… she couldn’t help but be a little curious.

It had started innocently.

“You’re becoming a regular,” she’d said one night, sliding his order across the counter. Her tone was teasing but kind, and Ollie had stammered some excuse about the convenience. She’d laughed softly, and the sound stuck with him longer than it should have.

From that moment, their interactions had begun to stretch beyond the standard “Cash or card?” conversations. On slow nights, Ollie would linger, striking up tentative chats about coursework or whatever music was playing on the overhead speakers. He learned that YN hated group projects but loved building things—apps, websites, anything she could tinker with. She learned that Ollie was studying business but had a secret dream of running his own karting center someday, a nod to his childhood passion for motorsports.

It wasn’t long before they’d fallen into a quiet rhythm.

When YN wasn’t busy, she’d sit at a table with her laptop open, her brow furrowed as she debugged code or prepared for lectures. One evening, Ollie surprised her by setting his business textbook across from her.

“You don’t mind, do you?” he asked.

She blinked at him, caught off guard, then shrugged. “Sure, but I’m not sharing my Wi-Fi password.”

He grinned, and just like that, Ollie became a fixture of her workspace.

Mr. Zhou, however, was less enthused at first.

“That boy again?” he’d muttered one evening, poking his head out of the kitchen to see Ollie hunched over his notes. “Does he not have a home?”

“He’s harmless,” YN had assured him.

“Harmless or homeless?”

But Ollie grew on Mr. Zhou over time. The older man had caught him fixing a wobbly table one night, unprompted, and begrudgingly admitted the “straggler” wasn’t so bad.

By November, Ollie had started hanging around until closing. Not to pester YN—though he did enjoy the extra time with her—but because the restaurant had become a comfort to him, a little pocket of warmth in his otherwise hectic uni life. Sometimes, after locking up, YN would invite him upstairs to her flat. It was tiny, crammed with textbooks and a perpetually half-finished Lego sets, but Ollie loved it.

Their hangouts weren’t dates. Not officially, anyway. But Ollie couldn’t deny how much he looked forward to them. Whether they were watching a movie or playing video games, he felt at ease in her company.

The turning point came in mid-December, on a freezing morning when Ollie was walking to class with his flatmate, Kimi.

“So,” Kimi began, glancing at him with a sly smile, “how’s your girlfriend?”

“What?” Ollie nearly tripped over his own feet.

“You know, YN,” Kimi said, casually sipping his coffee. “You’re at that restaurant all the time. I just thought… you know?”

“She’s not my—” Ollie started, but the words died in his throat.

Because, truthfully, he didn’t hate the idea. In fact, the thought of YN as his girlfriend made his stomach flip in a way he hadn’t felt before.

That evening, as he sat at his usual table in the Golden Lotus, Ollie caught himself staring at YN while she worked. She was wiping down the counter, humming softly to herself, her hair falling loose from its tie. She glanced up and caught him looking.

“What?” she asked, a playful smile tugging at her lips.

“Nothing,” Ollie said quickly, feeling his cheeks heat.

But in that moment, he realized he didn’t want to keep playing it safe. Maybe it was time to take a chance.

Just as soon as he worked up the courage.

[dreammeiser]

🌈Dream Along With Me FAQ!☁️

Hello, Hi! I decided to do a little FAQ since I get a lot of the same questions in my ask box! Beware... I have the tendency to yap... I will update this from time to time as more questions pop up!

✨ Question: What made you want to make DAWM? 🌈 Answer: So when I was very young, I had landed an internship at Jim Henson's, but I wasn't feeling satisfied with my work there, it wasn't scratching that creative itch. That's not to speak ill of it, when you're an intern you're not given that many tasks that are "higher stakes", that's just standard at a studio. When I was talking to my pops about this, he recommended I make the project I wished I was working on. Earl (full name Early Early Oxenfree) was my character that I was fixated on at the time, so I decided to give him a story and make him some friends. Take a gander at some of the (non-spoiler) concept work I started out with :oD (Don't worry, one day I'll show the other concepts when I can)

Pictured: Top Left: First version of Earl, circa August 2009. Top Right: June 2012 Earl Redesign. Bottom Left: Creature Doodles, Character Concepts, Earl Concept Doodle on Music Box. Bottom Right: Fiona Character Sheet (then called "Nautica" but scrapped the name because I didn't like it), circa 2018. ✨ Question: Why dreams and puppets? 🌈 Answer: Because I like them 😆

✨ Question: Is this an ARG/Mascot Horror? 🌈 Answer: No, it's an indie animated series :o)

✨ Question: Is this going to be like Five Nights at Har Har's? 🌈 Answer: No 😂 but if you enjoy that you might like DAWM?

✨ Question: Why does Archie have blue hair/yellow skin? 🌈 Answer: Because I like that combo. 😆 I mean why not? That's my favorite blue-- it's the same blue as my bird, Kraken! The choices for Archie's sweater and pants would've been a nightmare to track in animation so I had to go with something more simple. Yellow happens to be a skintone in 80s animated television that was popular at the time because of how eye-catching it was. I'm not going to make him look worse than he could be just because Marge Simpson or Yellow Guy or Sid the Science Kid or Joy from Inside Out did it first, that would be bad character design, babey! Primary colors are timeless and iconic combo for good reason. They're eye-catching and give contrast with colors in their simplest form, which is one reason they're prevalent in childrens' animated media and "kidcore" aesthetics.

Pictured: Left: Various Archie sweaters and pants combos. We ended up picking the blue and pastel striped pants with the plain cream sweater. Right: A photo of Kraken enjoying cheek rubbies

✨ Question: You worked at Jim Henson's?! What did you do there? 🌈 Answer: Yes! I was inducted as a muppet in summer of 2010! Kidding, I was just an intern. I was assigned to paint UV Texture Maps for paintings and props in the background. I also... modeled a pumpkin for their Halloween episode... One 😂 You can see one of my paintings in "Sleep? Who Needs It?!". It's a little funny because they picked the one painting (of three I made for this episode) I was not proud of... But uh, I also got to color one of the pages for the Archaia Dark Crystal comic and that was really cool <:o)

Pictured: Top: The painting used in the episode "Sleep? Who Needs It?!" and how it appeared in show. Middle: The unused other painting options. Bottom: From Left to Right, Texture I painted on a Teapot used in show. An unused UV Map for a cereal box. One colored page out of the Archaia Dark Crystal comic.

✨ Question: Why does Roy have 5 fingers on one hand and 6 fingers on the other? 🌈 Answer: It's all the better to high-five you with, silly! His handshakes are one finger friendlier! ;oD Hehe okay but silliness aside, when I was designing Roy, he was meant to look unsettling and off-putting to funnily contrast his sunny disposition, and was aware that folks judge people that are born a little different (it's unfortunate and honestly sucks but that's a whole other can of worms). One of the things I did was give him an entirely different finger count-- It was to make a little fun of gen A/I, which is unsettling and off-putting itself. Later though, folks pointed out he could be polydactyly representation. I love Roy and think that's actually pretty cool!

✨ Question: What were your inspirations for DAWM? 🌈 Answer: The Muppets, Sesame Street, Osamu Tezuka's works, and Moomin were some animated/puppet media off the top of my head that always stuck with me my whole life and have influenced my retro inspired work the most. They all had such sweetness and charm to them, and all felt like a found family :o) My favorite trope. Puppets were also just deeply meaningful to me because they were physical forms of creativity and childlike wonder you could hold and play with! I thought whenever you made one, you put a little bit of your heart and soul into them.

I wanted the Dreamalong Gang to have the charm of Jim Henson's and Tove Jansson's characters, but I wanted them to have the humor and intrigue of Gravity Falls, Over the Garden Wall, Don't Hug Me I'm Scared, and Welcome to Night Vale. DHMIS and Night Vale actually inspired the story the most because they were both a really nice mix of absurdist humor and horror! Sleep Paralysis Demons were a point of intrigue for me that I thought were perfect for a Dreamscape setting, so I started working on including those.

I will mention too that seeing Welcome Home encouraged me to post my art again, seeing it made me feel nostalgic, but also incredibly happy to see people appreciate Muppet-inspired art again <:o) I fully intended to just keep all of this to myself because being in the public eye is spooky, but I know that's something I wanted to change, so I just started throwing spaghetti at the wall... this time, with feeling!

Pictured: Top Left: Sesame Street Illustration done by Maggie Swanson! Top Right: Muppets Illustration done by Joe Ewers! Second Row Left to Right: Over the Garden Wall, Don't Hug Me I'm Scared. Third Row Left to Right: Gravity Falls, Welcome to Night Vale. Fourth Row Left to Right: Astro Boy, Moomin (1990) ✨ Question: What programs/apps do you use to make your animations and paintings? 🌈 Answer: So for paintings, I use Adobe Photoshop and I experiment between animating with Adobe Photoshop, TVPaint, and Toonboom Harmony. I have been animating more with Toonboom lately though! For editing programs, I have been using either Adobe After Effects or Premiere Pro. I used to use Capcut, but they put a lot of effects I used under a paywall >:o0 Peepee....

✨ Question: Is yumeshipping/self-shipping allowed? 🌈 Answer: As long as everyone being shipped is a consenting adult, it's all good. Have fun :oD

✨ Question: Can I draw fanart/cosplay as one of your characters? 🌈 Answer: YES... My team and I love seeing fanart and we've been dying to see some cosplays! 😭 I would only say, don't send it to me if it is NSFW leaning, please 👁️👁️

✨ Question: Can we have a Content Warning List? 🌈 Answer: Yes! I may update this from time to time if it changes, if that's alright, but as far as what has been planned/written... Here are the trigger warnings so far:

Body Horror, Friend Loss/Death, Neglect, Religious Horror, Abusive Households, Blood/Slight Gore, Cleithrophobia (fear of being trapped), Suicidal Ideations, Depersonalization/Derealization (these are kinda/sorta... it's hard to explain without spoiling), Oneirophrenia (Dream-Reality Confusion), Manipulation/Brainwashing, Disorientation.

These are honestly tentative as well, I don't want to be doing something someone else is doing accidentally 0o:>

✨ Question: What were your inspirations for the characters? 🌈 Answer: Here's the inspiration boards for them :o)

✨ Question: Do you have boundaries surrounding the project? 🌈 Answer: Oh, I mean kinda? It's just something to be aware of, I know not everyone will be respectful but I appreciate the people that make the effort <:o) Thanks for asking! I'll paste them in from my Instagram Stories.

✨ Question: When will we get the pilot episode? 🌈 Answer: It's hard to know when or have an exact date, but I can tell you we currently have a goal of releasing the teaser for it by end of this year. Our goal is to have the pilot out next year :o)

✨ Question: Where can we best follow your work? 🌈 Answer: I mostly update on my instagram through posts and stories. 0o:

✨ Question: What's the best way to support DAWM? 🌈 Answer: Memberships and one-off donations on my Ko-Fi go towards myself and our team. We're thinking of a GoFundMe or Kickstarter to fund the pilot... Not sure yet <:o0 But for now, Ko-Fi helps a lot. Thank you so much for asking 😭💖 So far, you've all helped pay for voice work and puppet materials, we appreciate you so much <:o)

✨ Question: BUT ARE THEY GAY/HOW OLD ARE THEY/HOW TALL-- 🌈 Answer: Yes yes and yes Archie - He/Him, early 30s, Biromantic. 5'10" Mae - She/Her, early 30s, Panromantic. 5'5" Earl - He/Him/They/Them, late 20s, Demi/Pan. 5'7" Honeybell - She/Her, late 30s, Ace. 2'11" Fiona - She/Her, early 20s, likes women. 6'2" Mufflin - He/Him, late 30s, likes men. 6'7" Teddy - He/Him/They/Them, late 30s, Panromantic. 6' Bertie - He/Him, mid 30s, Grey, likes women. 8'5" Lunette - She/They/He, mid 20s, Panromantic. 5'6" Oddrey - She/Her, early 30s, Biromantic. 5'8" Roy - He/Him, late 30s, ???. 5'6"

[sanatomis]

⋆𐙚₊˚⊹ ᡣ𐭩 ── 𝐀 𝐅𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐇 𝐎𝐅 𝐑𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐌𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄!

a child is bound to feel neglected when they discover no one bothered to show up for their science fair, especially when all their peers have someone to dote on them. it seems fushiguro megumi is no exception.

content. female!reader with she/her pronouns, feminine nicknames (princess), established relationship with satoru, slight angst with a happy ending.

notes. nobody was there when i presented my end of the year research-project as a 14 year old, so megumi (age 7), baby, i'm gonna make sure there's someone there for you.

࣪taglist. | series masterlist.

Megumi never really cared about science fairs. To him, they’re just a regular afternoon at school that he’ll have to sit through until he’s finally allowed to go home. He may think of them as unnecessary—as he does not believe in a good reason for parents to come to the school and marvel at their child’s (very much mediocre) creation—but he has never had a strong opinion towards them. They were just. . .there. 

He didn’t pay them much mind, and that exact indifference turned out to be the motive behind the very serious crime of putting a flyer in the bin. 

“Look what I found!” 

There’s a sense of annoyance that bubbles up in his stomach when Satoru puts the invitation to the science fair in front of him. Megumi’s brows furrow, and he purses his lips—leave it to him to find something he doesn’t want to have found. 

“Hm?” You hum, and lean over to look. One of Satoru’s fingers taps impatiently on the flyer, as if it’s saying ‘look, I caught him hiding something!’. Megumi briefly contemplates biting the digit clean off. “Science fair. . .Is this yours, Megumi?”

While reading, you put the bowl of rice back down onto the dinner table, and Tsumiki gingerly grabs it upon return. You mouth the words as you do so, and the boy nearly gags when he watches Satoru’s lovesick gaze at your little quip. It’s so disgustingly sappy, he nearly forgets you asked him a question. Nearly, as it had induced just enough anxiety into him to make him remember. 

“Mhm,” he mumbles, and pokes a piece of chicken with his chopsticks. 

You stop reading at his confirmation. There’s a sad look in your eye, it forms quickly and is instantly directed at him. Megumi doesn’t like it. Especially since he’s most likely the cause of it. “Why didn’t you tell us?” You ask, and he finds himself at a loss of words. 

Why didn’t he tell you? In all honesty, it just didn’t occur to him to do so. He has never cared about science fairs, nor has he had people who attended them for him. Most times, they are for parents only—so try as she might, Tsumiki was never allowed inside. Megumi eventually stopped bringing them up. He felt a little sorry for all the failed attempts his sister (very lovingly) made. But now. . .well, yes, why didn’t he tell you? 

He doesn’t know the answer to that. 

“Didn’t think of it,” he says eventually, because he knows you’ve been trying to get him to talk more; verbalising his feelings, is what you called it. 

You frown at his answer, and it makes him wonder if he said the wrong thing. A quick glance between you and the man at your side is shared. Megumi thinks that can’t be good. 

“It says it’s for tomorrow evening,” you tell Satoru, and push the flyer over back to his side of the table. “Are you free, then?”

Satoru pauses. He’s not free, Megumi knows he isn’t. Not because Satoru told him so, but because he listened to the phone call he had a few hours ago. It’s bad manners, he knows—he can hear you in his head, and he shouldn’t have done it. But, Satoru talks so loudly, he should simply quiet down if he doesn’t want others to hear. 

“I sure am,” he says then, and Megumi tries to hide the surprise on his face. He’s lying. Liar. Liar. Liar. It’s all that goes through the boy’s head, but he doesn’t say it out loud. 

He does wonder why Satoru lied, but he quickly gets his answer when he sees the happy smile that breaks out on your lips. “That’s great!” You say, and place one of your hands on his. Seemingly delighted, you look at Megumi. “We’ll be there.” 

“It’s nothing special,” Megumi says. His voice is clear this time, as opposed to his previous mumbling. Once again, he hears you in his head. You’re allowed to make noise. “You really don’t have to.” 

“Nonsense,” Satoru chimes. 

You continue his sentence. “We’ll be there.” 

We’ll be there. 

We’ll be there. 

We’ll be there. 

. . .So, where are you? 

Megumi isn’t too proud to admit that he’s currently desperately looking for the blabbermouth you call your boyfriend. It’s not because he’d rather have him here than you, but his white hair makes for a stark contrast among the crowd. It’s so very easy to find, and yet it’s nowhere to be found. He’s not here, and that, by extension, means you probably aren’t here, either. The realisation hits him harder than he thought it would have. 

For some reason, there’s a deep sadness. He thinks it’s a little silly. Nobody has ever shown up before, and he was fine with that. Being alone isn’t new to him. None of the situation he’s currently in is surprising, and yet Megumi has to fight off the tears welling up in his eyes. Why is he feeling this way? This hasn’t happened before. 

Megumi doesn’t care about science fairs. But, if that were true, then why do all the children and their parents suddenly make the room feel smaller? He swallows. All his classmates are darting around the room, chattering and motioning towards their projects while their parents gawk in feigned awe. As they always did. Except now, he feels something akin to resentment boil from within. His hand balls up into a fist. 

There isn’t a good enough reason for him to feel so disappointed. The position he finds himself in isn’t unfamiliar, and he knows Satoru was initially called-in for a mission somewhere in Ginza. Something came up, that’s all there is to it. Megumi knew better than to get his hopes up, or so he thought. How pitiful.After all this time, he still hasn’t learned.

And suddenly, he’s four years old again, and crawling into the crumpled bed sheets of his father’s ever-so-empty bed. He’s holding onto the fabric as if it’ll slip through his fingers, and stifling his quiet sobs with the pillow that doesn’t carry the same comforting scent any longer. It hasn’t for months now. Megumi keeps hoping that one day, it will. Tsumiki peeks into the room, and he pretends not to notice. He’s four years old, and has no parents, and absolutely no idea why his father left without him. 

Why was he forgotten? 

There is a lump forming in his throat. Its imminent appearance lulled him out of the faded memory, and into the present—the present, where he is, once again, forgotten about. Perhaps that is simply the tale of Megumi Fushiguro. 

“Mom, look! I added the glitter to it just as you said,” a girl speaks from the booth next to him. “What do you think? It’s pretty, right? Do you think it’s pretty?”

Her mother laughs, and pets her head once the girl starts tugging on her arm. “Mhm, it’s beautiful, darling. I’m very proud of you.”

Megumi doesn’t necessarily want to cry. Though, when his eyes water momentarily, there’s very little he can do about it; he feels even more powerless when his bottom lip starts trembling. He once read that blinking rapidly will make one’s tears disappear like snow before the sun, except that article mustn’t have taken the feeling of heartbreak into consideration. It doesn’t matter how much Megumi blinks, the first tear falls down his cheek a few seconds later. 

“Huh? What’s this? You really need to work on your handwriting, Megumi, your name is barely rea. . .” 

A part of him is convinced that the universe has it out for him. There is no other reason for the constant waves of misfortune that strike him. Sniffling, he looks up at the man in front of him—and the worst thought he has ever had surfaces. He is so very happy to see Satoru Gojo. 

Satoru’s eyes widen in shock upon seeing the water staining the boy’s cheeks, but even then Megumi can’t find it within himself to feel embarrassed. Not at this moment. With teary eyes, he blinks up at the tall man that snatched him up from the street like he was some discarded piece of free furniture.

“Where’s. . .” he croaks out, but gets interrupted rather quickly. 

“She’s talking to your teacher,” Satoru says softly. It’s a new tone of voice, one Megumi vaguely remembers as the one he normally reserved for you. This is making him uncomfortable—even a blind person would see that, but Satoru still tries. “Hey, it’s alright, buddy. She’s here.” 

The pat on his head nearly feels awkward. . .No, it does feel awkward. Satoru is petting him as if he were gently pressing a buzzer. It’s not even remotely close to the soft caresses you use when soothing him back to sleep, but it still brings him some strange sense of comfort. Megumi doesn’t swat his hand away. 

“There, there,” Satoru mumbles, and crouches down to his height. It’s a little silly to see such a man all folded up, his legs too long to look normal. “There was an accident a little further down the road. It took us a little longer to get here.”

Megumi lets out a shaky sigh. The petting stops shortly after. It’s quiet for a little while after—even if the room is filled with adults and children alike. Satoru looks at him, and he briefly wonders how you’re able to withstand looking into his eyes for as long as you do sometimes; Megumi thinks the blues will blind him soon. He gulps. For as annoying he might be when speaking, it turns out that Satoru Gojo is much more unnerving when he’s silent—silent, and looking right at you. 

Adorned with white lashes, Satoru’s baby blues pick Megumi apart at the seam. The boy has the brief idea to ask what he is thinking, but then decides against it. 

“Are you okay?”

The sound of his voice startles him. He hadn’t expected him to speak any time soon. 

“Megumi,” he calls out. “Are you okay?”

Is he okay? Megumi doesn’t know for sure. There are a lot of emotions he went through these past twenty minutes, and he isn’t entirely convinced that his brain was able to process them all. But for now—for now, he at least feels okay. 

Megumi nods. It’s all he does, not confident in his ability to verbalise his thoughts at the moment. He sniffs again. He’s okay, things are okay. 

“Good, that’s good,” Satoru mumbles, and his eyes dart towards the right side of the room; towards the door. He clears his throat, and one of his fingers carefully makes its way towards Megumi’s cheek. “That’s good. She’s here now, see?”

Megumi visibly perks up, and, while still a little shaken, starts searching for you. As soon as he lifts his head up, there’s a soft brush against his skin. He wavers for a moment, confusion on his face once he realises Satoru brushed some stray tears away. The two look at each other once again. Why did he. . .

“Oh, there you are, lovie,” you say, relief apparent in your voice. It never takes you long to embrace Megumi—you once said he’d be stuck in your arms forever if you had your way. The boy moulds into you, and his anxiety dissipates as soon as your perfume hits his nose; the scent comforting him. “I’m so sorry, there was an accident, and all roads were blocked, and. . .God, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to keep you waiting for so long.” 

You cup his cheeks in his hands, and Megumi suddenly feels under scrutiny. It’s as if you’re searching for any inkling that your late arrival had caused him unease. It clicks, then, why Satoru did what he did. He’s a buffoon most of the time, but it seems there are some working cells left in his brain—when it concerns you, of course. Megumi is very thankful for him now. Though, he will deny ever feeling so. 

“Alright, princess, let him breathe,” Satoru says, the usual light lilt to his voice has made a return. There’s a small smile on his face as he watches you fuss over him. “Don’t you want to show us your project, Megumi?”

The mention of his project catches your attention. “Oh! Yes, will you show us, Gumi?” 

One might think you’re speaking about some grand architecture design rather than a small, barely functioning science project. That is, if they took the look in your eyes as anything to go by. The boy glances between you and Satoru. Megumi then decides that, yes, he would like to show it to you—he always has wanted to show them. 

You weren’t his parents, but you were at his side. And when Megumi looks at the near-giddy excitement showing up on Satoru’s face, and the unconditional support on yours. . .he thinks that may just be enough. 

He nods, and finds his words again. 

“I—I will, yes. Follow me, please.”

© MADE BY SANATOMIS — please, refrain from stealing, copying, or reposting any of my works.

taglist [based off the last fic in the series, let me know if it’s no longer wanted]: @torusdoll @sad-darksoul

[cantheykillmacbeth]

Could Mephiles from the Sonic series kill Macbeth?

Yes, Mephiles the Dark from Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) could kill Macbeth!

Mephiles is an interesting case! An argument could be made both ways, or even in some entirely unhinged direction that only Ian Flynn is capable of comprehending, but I’ll try my best to break this down.

So, we need to first discuss Solaris, the Sun God in Sonic lore, specifically in 06’s Soleana, where he is worshiped. Someone got the religion and science wires crossed and oops, Solaris has been split into two entities! One is Solaris’s raw power, an apocalyptically strong entity known as Iblis, and the other is Solaris’s mind, a shadowy creature called Mephiles. So, now we know the basics, but the thing that’s important here is who’s responsible for the bastard.

One could argue that, since Mephiles is an aspect of Solaris, then Solaris’s origin would be the one to count. However, I would argue that Mephiles doesn’t exactly exist before the Solaris Project splits the two apart and Mephiles finds an identity, being “born” in some sense. In my opinion, the split counts as the point of origin for the two entities. They both sure do behave differently from each other, and Mephiles in particular has a really strong personality that seems unique to Mephiles, not Solaris. In addition, going by our previous metric of “does it have free will”, yes, Mephiles is a separate person.

So, in this case, the Birth Parent would be the person who created Mephiles by splitting him from Solaris, and that would be the Duke of Soleana, who is male. It’s also a really unconventional birth! Meaning yes, Mephiles qualifies under both the Birth Parent Clause and the Unconventional Birth Clause!

Here’s the kicker: Mephiles doesn’t exist! Using time travel (i hate this game) Sonic and Elise stop the Solaris Project from ever happening, meaning Solaris wasn’t ever split into two, and neither Iblis nor Mephiles ever come to exist. Solaris is just fine, not ever being interfered with.

But the recent Shadow Generations has added a fun new layer! In Sonic Generations, the main villain is the Time Eater, a creature that has managed to lock Sonic and friends in a nightmare hellscape unbound by time. In this pocket dimension, time is so janky and messed up that Shadow actually crosses paths with Mephiles. And he’s mad! Because he recognizes that he no longer exists, even declaring that he wants to restore himself to the timeline by any means necessary. So even though Solaris is fine, Mephiles isn’t. Which means, by my count, that Mephiles was only created by the Solaris Project, and therefore that moment counts as his birth, since without it he was never born.

So yes, Mephiles could do it, but he’d have to pull some serious strings in order to be corporeal enough to make it happen.

(On an unrelated note, yes, Sonic ‘06 is just as bad as you thought. This takes up the space in my brain where math is supposed to go.)

Thanks for your submission!

-Mod Pepper

[dayasfilms]

Chapter One - The In Between

Summary: It’s your senior year, so it was the time to submit your college applications. You still don’t know if you should take the next step with Steve. You also couldn’t help but worry about Barbara’s parents selling their house when you go to their house for dinner with Nancy.

Pairing: Steve Harrington x Fem!Reader

Warnings: No use of Y/N. Mentions of death.

Word Count: 3.7k

Note: Season two has begun! Not too much happens in this chapter since it’s the beginning.

Series Masterlist

ㅤ♡ ㅤ♡ ㅤ♡

The night sky stretched above you, scattered with stars through the darkness. The roads were mostly quiet, save for the occasional headlights flickering past. As you turned into the familiar parking lot, the neon glow of the Arcade sign came into view. You pulled into a spot, turned off your car, and stepped out, making your way inside. The glow of screens and music surrounded you before you spotted Mike, Lucas, Dustin, and Will, huddled around their favorite machines.

You leaned against one of the machines, arms crossed as you watched them play. “God, you guys are such nerds,” you called out, your voice loud enough to rise over the music.

Dustin spun around, squinting at you. “And you’re what? You think you’re so cool?”

You raised an eyebrow. “Uh, yeah. I’m literally the coolest person any of you know. I just hide it behind my straight A’s.”

Mike didn’t even look away from the game as he shot back. “Please, you’re a bigger nerd than all of us combined. You read a science textbook for fun.”

“Yeah, because I helped you finish your stupid science project,” you said, rolling your eyes.

Lucas laughed. “Nerd!”

You flicked Lucas’ head. “I didn’t say being a nerd is a bad thing. I love being a nerd.” You looked at Mike. “Plus, Wheeler said it himself. I’m smarter than all of you combined.”

“I said you’re a bigger nerd than all of us combined.”

“That’s literally the same thing, Mike,” you snickered.

Will laughed softly beside you, nudging your arm. “They won’t admit it, but they missed you.”

Dustin threw his hands in the air. “Did not!”

“I did,” Will said with a small smile.

You glanced down at Will, ruffling his hair. “You’re the only one here with manners, unlike these losers.”

Mike crossed his arms. “You know, for someone who calls us losers all the time, you hang around us an awful lot.”

“I only ever hang around you guys when I’m with Jonathan or Nancy,” you corrected. “I have no interest in being around any of you.” You looked down at Will. “Well, maybe except Will.”

“Yeah, sureee,” Lucas dragged.

You pushed off the machine and motioned to Will. “Come on, Will. Time to get you home before your mom gets worried.”

As you walked off with Will, you heard Dustin mutter. “Why do I like her?”

“Because you’re delusional,” Mike replied.

“Because she’s hot and smart,” Lucas added.

“Exactly,” Dustin said dreamily, then blinked. “Wait…what?”

As you opened the door, you caught a glimpse of a guy from your school, Keith, staring at you while loudly munching on a bag of chips. You grimaced and quickly looked away, stepping outside before he had the chance to say anything.

You and Will climbed into your car and you turned on the radio. Backing out of the parking lot, you glanced at Will from the corner of your eye. “So, did you have fun tonight?”

Will nodded eagerly. “Yeah, I did.”

“I’m glad,” you said, flashing him a smile as you turned onto the road. “Did anything interesting happen?”

“Yeah! Someone named Mad Max beat our high score on Dig Dug,” he said, sitting up straighter in his seat. “It was over seven hundred thousand points!”

“Woah, that sounds super high!” You responded, genuinely impressed, even if you didn’t know much about video games.

“It is. We tried to find out who Mad Max was, but Keith…you know Keith, right? He goes to your school?” He asked, glancing at you.

You hummed, raising an eyebrow. “Unfortunately, I do.”

“Well, he said he’d tell us who it was…if we got him a date with you.”

Your jaw dropped. You blinked and quickly recovered, letting out a startled laugh. “Oh, uh…seriously?”

Will nodded. “Yeah. We told him no, of course. No way were we going to hand you over to some guy like that.”

You burst out laughing and reached over to affectionately pinch his cheek. “I knew I could count on you guys.” He grinned proudly, and you let the silence settle for a moment before glancing over again. “Anything else happen?”

Will went quiet. You noticed the way he stared out the window, his expression distant.

“Will?” You said softly.

He blinked and turned to you. “Huh? Oh, no. Nothing else.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah,” he said, looking back out the window.

You didn’t want to push him. If it was important, you trusted he would tell you eventually. If not you, he would tell his mom or brother. Still, a part of you couldn’t help but wonder what was going on in his head.

Soon, you pulled up to the Byers’ house. The porch light was on, a warm glow spilling over the driveway.

“Tell your mom and Jonathan I said hi, okay?” You said as Will unbuckled his seatbelt.

He nodded, giving you a small wave. You watched him until he disappeared inside safely, then turned your attention back to the road.

A loud honk echoed from outside, prompting you to grab your bag and rush toward the door. “Bye, mom! I’ll see you later!” You shouted over your shoulder.

Yasmin appeared at the top of the stairs, zipping up her jacket. “Bye, sweetie! Stay safe and make sure Steve isn’t speeding this time!”

You rolled your eyes with a grin and shut the door behind you, locking it before jogging to Steve’s car and getting into the passenger seat.

“Hi,” you said, a little breathless as you settled in.

Steve leaned over the console, giving you a quick kiss. “Morning, honey.” He watched you toss your bag into the backseat, then pulled down the sun visor to check yourself in the mirror. “How’s my girl doing this morning?”

You felt warmth flooding your face at the name. You smoothed a hand over your hair. “Tired. I had to finish my English paper after picking up Will last night. I fell asleep as soon as my head hit my pillow.”

He chuckled, pulling out of your driveway. “I already know that you wrote the best damn paper in that class.”

“I don’t know,” you sighed. “I’m hoping it wasn’t too bad but I feel like it was a little rushed.”

He rolled his eyes and took one hand off the steering wheel to gently squeeze your thigh. “You worry too much.”

You glanced at him with a soft smile and laced your fingers with his, holding it there as he continued driving to school.

It had been almost a year since you and Steve started whatever this was. You weren’t officially back together. You told him you weren’t ready to take that step, not yet. Still, he remained by your side, affectionate as ever. He’d kiss you in the hallways, carry your backpack, and wait for you after class. People asked all the time if you two were dating again. But you never said anything.

Whenever Steve gently brought it up, you would dodge the conversation. You changed the subject, made a joke. And Steve never pressed further. He hoped you would tell him when you were ready.

As Steve pulled into the school parking lot, you both sat in silence before he shifted the car into park.

“Hey,” you said, turning toward him. “Didn’t you say you finished writing your college essay? Did you do it?”

Steve hesitated, then reached into the backseat and pulled out a crumpled sheet of paper from his bag. “Uh, yeah. Can you read it? Just tell me if it sucks.”

You took the paper from him and leaned back in your seat, scanning the handwritten pages. Steve watched you closely, trying to read your face as your eyes moved across the lines.

You didn’t say anything right away, trying to think of the nicest way to put it.

Steve let out a sigh. “It’s crap, I know.”

You looked at him sharply. “No, it’s not crap, Steve.”

“It’s not good.”

“It’s going to be.” You grabbed a pen from your bag. “Can I mark it up?”

Steve shrugged. “Yeah, I guess.”

You circled a few phrases, tapping one part. “Okay, so you used the basketball game against Northern as a metaphor for your life, which is actually clever.”

Steve looked surprised. “Really?”

“Yeah,” you said, giving him a small smile. “But then here…” you pointed to the middle of the page. “You start talking about your granddad’s experiences in the war. I don’t really see how it connects.”

He shrugged, trying to explain. “It connects because…” He realized it made a lot more sense in his head. “Because, you know, we both won.”

You blinked, head turning away from him back to the essay in your hands.

“Do you think I should start from scratch?” He asked, voice tight with worry.

You hesitated. “Don’t start over…just refocus it. When’s the deadline?”

“It’s tomorrow for early application,” he answered. “Can you come and help me tonight?”

You winced. “I have my dinner tonight with Nancy and Barbara’s parents, remember? We had to reschedule from last week.”

He let out a frustrated sigh, running a hand through his hair.

“I’m sorry,” you said softly.

He didn’t say anything at first, just stared through the windshield.

“Okay, look,” you offered. “Work on this tonight, okay? I’ll look at it again tomorrow.”

Steve didn’t respond.

“Steve.”

He finally looked at you. “What’s the point? I’m just gonna end up working for my dad, anyway.”

“Don’t say that.”

“I don’t know,” he said, saying your name. “Is that such a bad thing? There’s insurance and benefits and all that adult stuff.”

You frowned. You knew how strained things were between Steve and his dad. The idea of him settling for that life, not by choice, made your heart ache.

“And hey,” he said, voice softening. “If I stay here…I’d be close when you go off to college in the city. Someone’s gotta keep an eye on you.”

You pressed your lips together. “Steve…”

He smiled. “Just to make sure you don’t forget about this pretty face.”

You laughed under your breath but quickly sobered. “What if I move out of state?”

He paused, then smiled again. “We’ll figure it out.”

You looked at him for a long moment before he reached up to tuck a strand of hair behind your ear, his hand cupping your cheek.

“I love you,” he murmured, his forehead resting against yours.

You didn’t say anything back, instead closing the gap. He gently kissed you, soft and warm, like he meant every second of it.

A loud engine revved in the distance, cutting through the quiet buzz of the parking lot. You and Steve turned your heads just as a blue Camaro came roaring in, the tires screeching a little as it made a dramatic turn before pulling into a space.

Both of you stepped out of the car, eyes locked on the scene.

A guy about your age climbed out of the driver’s seat. From the passenger side, a much younger girl with red hair hopped out, grabbing her skateboard, and pushed off toward the middle school.

“Is he new?” You asked, slinging your bag over your shoulder.

Steve shrugged, shutting the door behind him. “I think so. Never seen him before.”

The two of you started walking toward the school entrance. Steve kept glancing back, clearly sizing the guy up.

Just then, Tina’s voice rang out from across the lot. “Would you check out that ass?”

You turned to see her standing with Carol and Vicki, all three of them openly staring at the new guy like he was some kind of movie star.

You made a face. “Gross.”

You looked at Steve, who had the exact same unimpressed look on his face. The moment your eyes met, you both cracked up, laughter spilling out as you walked.

You waved at Jonathan in the hallway, his classroom directly in front of yours as the two of you walked out. The two of you walked side by side to your locker, where you put your math textbook back.

“How was bio?” You asked, balancing your books on one arm.

Jonathan shrugged, adjusting the strap of his bag. “We had a sub. She made us watch this weird documentary. Half the class fell asleep.”

You smiled. “Jealous. Mr. Davis just gave us thirty questions on logarithms. I think my brain is still smoking.”

Jonathan let out a quiet laugh. “Sounds like hell.”

“Eh, I love math. It was still exhausting though.” You swapped out your books before you looked at him with a smirk. “So, how’s Nancy?”

Jonathan looked over, brows slightly raised. “Good? Why?”

After Steve and Nancy broke up, you and Nancy began to hang out more, building a closer friendship. Sometimes, Nancy would hang out with you and Jonathan. The two weren’t as close, but they shared quiet moments here and there. Occasionally, the three of you and Steve hung out together. The tension was never awkward between Steve and Nancy, so Nancy didn’t mind your relationship with him.

Still, you could always sense a different kind of tension between Nancy and Jonathan. The kind people pretend isn’t there but it so obviously is. You weren’t sure why it was taking them so long to admit it.

“No reason. Just curious.” You nudged him with your elbow, before closing your locker. “How’s Will?”

He shrugged. “He’s…okay. Thanks for dropping him off last night.”

You waved a hand. “Of course, no need to thank me.”

“Still though,” he said, before turning the conversation. “How’s Steve?”

You looked ahead, falling into step with him again. “He’s good. Just stressed about college, I guess.”

Jonathan nodded slowly. “I keep forgetting it’s your last year of high school. Can’t believe you’re going to be gone next year.”

“I know,” you sighed, a quiet ache settling in your chest. You didn’t want to think about leaving Jonathan behind.

“Are you two officially together yet?” Jonathan asked, glancing sideways at you.

“Um,” you hesitated. “No.”

He furrowed his brows. “Why don’t you just tell him?”

You shrugged. “Whenever I think about it, it just…seems like a stupid reason to get mad over, you know?”

Jonathan gave you a puzzled look. “Then why don’t you want to take the next step if it’s something so stupid?”

You opened your mouth to answer, but nothing came out. That caught you off guard.

Before you could think of anything to say, the warning bell rang overhead, followed by the usual rush of footsteps and voices flooding the hallway.

“See you later?” You said, adjusting the strap of your bag on your shoulder.

He nodded, watching you walk away. “Yeah, later.”

“Hey,” Tina called your name, shoving a flyer into your hand as you passed her in the hallway. “Be there.”

You gave her a tight-lipped smile, before it dropped as soon as you turned the corner. You glanced down at the orange paper inviting you to Tina’s Halloween party and barely noticed the figure leaning casually against your locker.

Two arms suddenly wrapped around your waist and spun you in a circle. You let out a startled shriek. “Steve!”

He set you down with a grin, and you turned to face him, still catching your breath. “I missed you,” he said, his voice low and teasing.

You raised an eyebrow when you spotted the sunglasses on his face. “Take those stupid things off.”

“Why? You don’t like it?” His lovesick grin was impossible to ignore, his hands still resting lightly on your waist.

You laughed, shaking your head as you opened your locker and stuffed your textbooks inside. “It’s a little goofy.”

Before you could say anything else, he cupped your cheek, his thumb brushing gently against your skin as he leaned in. His lips met yours softly at first, but the moment you leaned into him, he deepened the kiss, tilting his head slightly to the side.

His fingers slid from your cheek to the back of your neck, holding you close like he didn’t want to let go. The kiss made your thoughts melt away, until you remembered where you were and pushed him away. His forehead rested against yours, a crooked smile tugging at his lips.

“I really missed you,” he murmured.

You rolled your eyes with a small grin. “I saw you an hour ago.”

“Yeah, an hour too long.”

You sighed, a playful smile tugging at your lips, before showing him the orange flyer. “Tina gave me this.”

He glanced at it. “She gave me one too. You want to go?”

You shrugged. Parties were never really your thing, but since this was your senior year, you wanted to make the most out of it. “I mean, I don’t see why not?”

“Are you sure?” He asked genuinely. “I know you never really go to these parties.”

You laughed. “Yeah. We can show off our matching costumes we planned out a month ago.”

His eyes lit up, his lips curving into a grin as he leaned in again, brushing his nose against yours. “Okay, honey, sounds good to me.”

You bit your bottom lip to hide the smile creeping up, then stepped back as you shut your locker.

You pulled up into the Wheeler’s driveway, beeping the horn lightly as you waited for Nancy to come out. After a moment, she appeared, stepping out of her house and shutting the door behind her before walking to the passenger side of your car.

“Hey,” she greeted, smiling as she slid into the seat

“Hi, Nance,” you replied, returning the smile before backing out of the driveway.

The drive was quiet, but comfortable. The two of you had grown closer over the past year. You would even go as far as to say she was one of your best friends.

Barbara’s parents invited Nancy to dinner, but knowing how hard it might be for her to go alone, she’d asked you to join her. You knew how much Barbara’s loss weighed on Nancy, the guilt still there whenever her best friend’s name came up. It was hard to watch her struggle with it, especially since she blamed herself for what happened.

The car rolled to a stop in front of the Holland’s house, now glaring with a ‘For Sale’ sign in the front yard. You both stepped out of the car, making your way up the driveway. Both you and Nancy paused, glancing at the sign, then at each other. Nancy’s lips pressed together tightly, her eyes momentarily clouded with sadness before she quickly masked it.

As you reached the front door, you and Nancy stood quietly.

“Ready?” You asked softly.

The girl nodded her head. “Yeah.”

You pressed the doorbell, and moments later, Mrs. Holland opened the door with a warm smile, immediately pulling you both into a gentle hug.

After a few polite exchanges and questions about how everyone had been doing, the three of you walked to the dining room. Mr. Holland was already seated at the table, and he stood briefly to greet you both. “Girls, good to see you. Sit down, please.”

You and Nancy took your seats across from the couple. Spread across the table was a familiar assortment of food in KFC boxes.

“I’m so sorry I didn’t get to cook,” Mrs. Holland said, clearly flustered. “I was gonna make that baked ziti you guys like so much, but I just forgot about the time, and before you know it, ‘Oh, my God, it’s five o’clock.’”

Nancy offered a small smile, barely touching her food. “It’s fine. It’s great.”

You nodded reassuringly. “Please don’t worry about it, Mrs. Holland. This is more than enough.”

She smiled at you both and began to eat.

After a moment, Nancy glanced your way, then looked back at the couple. “So, I noticed a ‘For Sale’ sign out in your yard. Is that the neighbors’, or…”

Mrs. Holland looked at her husband with a small smile. “You wanna tell them?”

He gestured towards her. “Go ahead.”

She turned back to you and Nancy. “We hired a man named Murray Bauman. Have either of you heard of him?”

You and Nancy exchanged puzzled glances, both shaking your heads. “No,” you said.

“He was an investigative journalist for the Chicago Sun-Times,” Mrs. Holland explained.

“He’s pretty well known,” Mr. Holland said, handing you the guy’s business card. You read the name and number as Nancy leaned in beside you to get a look.

Mrs. Holland continued, her voice more hopeful than you’d heard in a long time. “Anyway, he’s freelance now, and he agreed to take the case.”

You looked up from the card, lips parting. “That’s…Wow, um, that’s…” you paused. “What do you mean?”

Nancy echoed your question. “Yeah, what exactly does that mean?”

Mr. Holland spoke this time, voice tinged with frustration. “Means he’s gonna do what that lazy son of a bitch Jim Hop–” His wife put a hand on his arm. You looked at him, tilting your head at the name he called Hopper. “Sorry. What the Hawkins police haven’t been capable of doing. Means we have a real detective on the case.”

“It means…” Mrs. Holland began, her voice shaky. “We’re going to find our Barb.”

“If anyone can find her, it’s this man,” the man said, a hopeful smile on his face. “He already has leads. By God, he’s worth every last penny.”

You looked down at your plate, your appetite gone. A tight feeling crept up into your chest. You glanced at Nancy, whose face had grown pale, her eyebrows drawn together.

“Is that why you’re selling the house?” She asked quietly.

Mrs. Holland placed her fork down. “Don’t worry about us, sweetie. We’re fine. More than fine. For the first time in a long time, we’re hopeful.”

Nancy blinked quickly, her jaw tightening. She stood up from the table. “Excuse me. I’ll be right back.”

You watched her disappear down the hallway, your heart aching. A strange, sinking feeling stirred in your stomach. Barbara’s parents were going to give up their home, give up everything, all in search of answers they would never truly find.

[bloodchapell]

castle of sand — senku i. 12: tainted eden

brief summary: senku and you try your best to protect your paradise, at the end, what is left of home?

what to expect: referenced murder, death threat (?), angsty

your sword's note: this chapter passed the angst quality test (i full on cried, several times), idk what pain of mine im projecting into this but it hit really, really, REALLY hard. all past and future parts + playlist of this series available on my mistresslist

At last, the three of you faced the statue of the girl by the tree. You had seen it multiple times during your walks with Taiju, and admired the beautiful pose she had conserved as a statue while you laughed in your mind remembering that you got petrified on some thug pose in the rooftop.

Senku had revived a broken sparrow and it came back as a corpse, it was a horrible sight and it kept creeping in your mind; he had talked about reviving everyone but there must be some statues that scattered all around so bad that the pieces must be lost. You thought about that.

Taiju climbed up the tree a little and Senku passed him the bottle with the revival fluid. But after some small tender words, he turned around.

"Wait, Senku! Yuzuriha's naked! We can't revive her like this!" Taiju extended his arm and poked Senku's eyes and it was so funny you started laughing immediately.

"Here we go again with your illogical nonsense... We're in a stone world. It's kind of an emergency. No one's going to care if your butt's showing or if your dick's hanging out."

"Yuzuriha doesn't have a dick!" Taiju yelled and you had to rest your hand on the tree because you were loosing balance.

"Say something!" Senku shook you.

"In all honesty she might be embarrassed, but we can give her some vines." You said thinking. "Embarrassment is temporary, but she does like Taiju so it might persist."

"I bet you didn't even care when reviving her!" Taiju didn't even hear the last part, now defending you and you laughed again, slapping the tree.

"I was testing just pure nitric acid and she happened to be thinking so much that just a little was enough, she didn't even care." Senku pointed at you.

"It is the stone world, it fit the theme." You said while they argued about the statue being heavy (Senku) and Yuzuriha not being fat (Taiju), you grabbed some vines and tied them around her chest and hips and shrugged deciding it was okay, while they talked you grabbed the bottle but an external sound got everyone's attention.

"A big cat..." You pointed out at the sound and they both turned back to look at you.

"Whatever you do don't even think about it in your mind!" Senku yelled and for a second your brain slipped a single 'come to me' before you hit your forehead against the tree trying to think about anything else but it was too late. Taiju grabbed the statue and you all started running until you got to a cliff and for some reason jumped. It wasn't too high but as you fell your hand slightly pushed backwards when you landed and it hurt.

"Senku I am going to die, we do not have the science to know if my hand will be okay..." You tugged on his clothes. "Please bury me by the house and visit me every other day, I like white flowers..."

He ignored you, well aware of the exaggerations you would use when hurt, but kept note of it to check your wrist later and dragged you to keep running. After Taiju suggested to sacrifice himself to defend you, Senku convinced him that it was a stupid idea so you kept running until Taiju thought of something else.

"We found him earlier... The strongest primate high-schooler, Shishio Tsukasa." Taiju mentions while putting Yuzuriha's statue down and apologizing to her for not reviving her immediately.

"His eyelashes are so long... I happen to be envious." You examined the face of the statue. "Either way, will this individual be of help? Killing a lion with bare hand is not like killing a chicken..."

"Don't panic and let's revive this guy." Senku sighed pouring the liquid over the statue.

The lions soon cornered the three of you, but the stone cracked. Taiju started speaking, but the newly revived 'individual' asked what was the situation. Clearly surprised, Senku replied with the details about the lions and the stone, so he stood up, throwing the remaining of rocks to the lions only to then punch one so hard it flew across.

"You can fill me in on the details of the situation later, but I'll promise you one thing: You two will never be in danger again; from now on, I'll do the fighting." Tsukasa said approaching the lion. He had not seen you yet.

"Oh no, poor big cat..." You gasped softly also approaching the dead lion, Tsukasa turned to look at you. You kneeled in the grass and poked the lion with your finger, taking its paw and squishing the soft pads.

You thought for a second, getting lost in your mind, remembering Senku's words, 'reviving a bunch of trustworthy fellows and re-building everything' something along those lines. You turned back to look at Senku that talked quietly with Taiju, for a second his eyes met yours, a shared acknowledgment of the possibilities.

Tsukasa asked for a knife, intending to eat the lion.

"Though it was in self-defense, I did kill it with my own hands. Yes... I want to give thanks to the circle of life by putting all of it to use."

"Yuck, it's like two of them." Senku said looking at you and Tsukasa by the lion. Senku handed him a knife. "Well, I don't have even a millimeter of interest in stuff like gratitude, but I absolutely agree with not wasting meat."

Tsukasa cut the lion and wore its skin as a coat. The process was a distasteful view but the result was very fashionable. Eventually you all walked back to the camp. Tsukasa also praised the efforts on the building. Once in the house, he introduced himself.

"Last names don't really mean much in this world, do they? I'm Senku, the sane one who's in charge of science. That's Taiju, the simple one who's in charge of heavy lifting." Senku pointed while you sat on the floor together.

"I'm Taiju, the simple one."

"No, no, remember no one is simple." You whispered to Taiju and he laughed nodding while taking Tsukasa's hand on a handshake.

Tsukasa then looked at you, the one lacking an introduction. Senku was checking your wrist, softly moving it back; it hurt.

"You probably have a tear, don't do much around for a while." He instructed you.

"Can I get a note for school?" You asked and Senku laughed, a smile of your own followed. He took one of the bandages off his wrists and wrapped it around yours, securing it tightly to prevent your wrist from moving around too much. Tsukasa observed closely your interaction.

Taiju told Tsukasa your name, and explained that the three of you were classmates back in the old world.

"Do you know how to sew?" You asked Tsukasa and he nodded. You gave him the bone needle and the thread, and he sewed himself a longer dress.

"I am Tsukasa."

"I heard." You nod smiling while building a toothbrush for him. His eyebrows arch for a second, he didn't get a proper introduction to know what kind of person you were. You noticed it. "Taiju told you my name. I am the insane one that does stuff around, but I am also in charge of thinking, which is somewhat pointless now I suppose."

He nodded, remembering Senku's words about the lion, assuming you had a similar view to himself on that matter. He asked you about it.

"Animals like me, a chicken came to me once and I attempted to pet it but it bit me, I slapped it and it died, I felt very bad." You summarized. He laughed slightly, it was like what he had done but stupider.

The day went on as usual from that point, Tsukasa and Taiju went to get food.

"There is an odd feeling lingering in the air." While sitting down and watching Senku do whatever it is he does, you say. "I am not one of intuition as much as it pains me, maybe I am just fussy."

"Fussy about what?"

"I liked it better before, things are getting complicated in our Eden." You point out. Senku sits beside you for a moment, being well aware of how you felt about this new chance at life and aware as well of the strange premonitions around the current situation.

Tsukasa and Taiju come back with a lot of food, you cook some and eat before Senku announces you will be going to the beach. The walk is mostly filled with Taiju talking with Tsukasa, you walk behind with Senku simply watching.

"I might need a scooter." You say for a moment and Senku shakes his head. He had found you several times distracted building stuff. "To go around and about."

At the beach Tsukasa gets a bunch of fish and Senku smokes them, while eating the fish Senku asks for what technological advancements are necessary. Taiju bets for smartphones, Tsukasa bets for iron.

"Soap!" You almost jump.

"A sub product of what we need." Senku nods. "Calcium carbonate. It has amazing uses, for agriculture, construction, the blessed soap..."

Taiju picks up the shells in the basket and before the sun comes down you all return to the house. Over the course of the following days all of you had to build a furnace to cook the calcium carbonate to get mortar, and then cover the house with it.

"Senku." You call him while Taiju and Tsukasa work on the things. He looks at you and you get what he is saying just by looking at him, he is busy. "You remember the bunny? I just saw it."

He stopped what he was doing. Taiju and Tsukasa simply listening to the conversation, not getting what was happening.

"The bunny I ought to destroy, that one?" Senku asked standing up, you nodded and walked with him towards the trees. After a minute or so of walking, you stopped, he did two. "What do you need to tell me?"

"How perspicacious." You compliment. "I came to the logical conclusion that you need this calcium carbonate for something that has not been mentioned. For starters I have been asking for soap for about a year now, nothing. If you really needed the house to be cemented, before the winter started would have been perfect. These things are good and necessary but you did not have them at the top of your priority list until now."

"How perspicacious." He copied you. "I should have expected it. Then if you are so curious I will assign you a special task. Use your altruistic views and acting skills to get Tsukasa to spill some information. The calcium carbonate is just in case things get out of hand. I won't let things get complicated in our Eden."

You smiled at him, he rolled his eyes and walked back, but you stayed still for a while, simply looking into the trees. You did see the bunny, so you grabbed a few berries from the bushes and recited the magic words. The bunny sat eating your offering, and then left. You stayed, your mind going over Senku's words, his decision to protect the life you had now. You walked over, defeated, to a tree, and hugged it, banging your forehead on the wood as if to expel the growing affections.

The house was renovated, and the soap was bubbly, after running for a bath at the river, you came back refreshed. Senku and Taiju were doing god knows what so you sat besides Tsukasa.

"I really like your hair." You pointed out with honesty. Despite the growing concerns, no one could deny he was majestic.

"I like yours too, it reminds me of a French film I really like." He mentioned and it surprised you, you ask for the name and laugh once he mentions the movie the art teacher made your class watch so long ago. While the two of you smash shells, you grab a few ones that you consider too pretty to smash and put them aside.

"It is unjust for the rest of the shells to be smashed and for these to be spared, but it is within our human nature to judge." You say playing with the pretty shells, giving him one. He nods and receives it. "Smashing them benefits us, yet who are we to destroy the world around us? To reform it to fit our views? It might be within our human nature, our survival instincts."

"It is within our human nature." Tsukasa agrees, his eyes glancing the scars in your arms. "I sense that you have come to know a darkness that has left you with many answers."

"I know the darkness well, yes." You continue smashing shells.

"Do you like this new world?" Tsukasa asks. You nod. "Do you really agree with Senku on bringing everything back? Even what made you know darkness?"

"Darkness is bound to arrive, whether you chose to aknowledge it or not, no matter whom it is, we all know darkness. And darkness is arbitrary, it is ambiguous and even so we all know it. Darkness cannot be avoided. The world follows a balance that cannot be altered. I do not believe in binaries, everything is a different color because light reflects on it differently, but without light everything is the same. I do not think anything is completely good or bad, things are things. Some things, like what made me know darkness, must reach balance; they are too tilted to the side, extremes are bad."

"You are very good with words." Tsukasa complimented you, taking his time to make sense of your coated words.

Taiju arrived soon, and Tsukasa left the house.

"Where you talking with him!?" Excited Taiju asked.

"Even you, who the wrong minds dare call 'simple', know that physical attraction is not the only factor that is accounted for developing deeper feelings towards someone." You pat his back reaching for a cup with clean water and passing it to him. You look through the window at Tsukasa and Senku talking, and seeing that Taiju goes to join them, you move too. They talk for a while but you keep your silence. Eventually, Taiju and Tsukasa go to sleep, but you stay with Senku.

He builds something, you don't ask what it is. He doesn't ask you if you carried out your task, or how it went if you did, but he hears your sigh and knows the answer. It makes him feel uncomfortable, it causes him a visceral reaction he doesn't know how to handle anymore after becoming used to your sighs of relief instead of your old sighs of distress. He finishes building his mystery object and buries it in one of the baskets, and the two of you get in the house and lay to sleep.

The next day, just as the previous ones, you all walk to the beach, while Taiju works tirelessly, the rest of you relax a little. You decided to walk alongside the shore, and unconsciously walked away from Senku and Tsukasa, despite the sun and the sticky sand, you chose to focus on the sound of the waves crashing back and forth, and your eyes focused on the horizon, the blue that was indistinguishable from the other blue, you tried seeing what was the furthest thing you could see again, but it was plain blue, it left you breathless, scared but amazed.

"Despite its beauty, there are a lot of storms in the sea." You sit down in the sand, talking to nothing as the water tickles your feet. "There are hidden beauties and shipwrecks remains, a whole world that we do not know."

"Gone finally insane already?"

"Two fish were met by an elderly, he greeted asking how was the water, they asked: 'what the hell is water?' Did the fish also know what hell was or it remains a mystery just as water?"

"Fish do not have the brain capacity to formulate such complicated thoughts, be more like them." Senku pushes your shoulder with a finger. You turn around to look at him and smile, he smiles back, but there is uneasiness in his eyes.

"What troubles you?" Your question startles him.

"I cannot hide anything from you these days." He complains. "Your hair is getting longer, I think it is finally time."

"Bringing the baldness card to dodge my question, I see. I will proceed to console your uneasy heart." You hum while moving in the sand, wrapping your arms around him and pulling him for a hug. He squirms but you are stronger. "Shh, it will be fine."

"Let me go!" He keeps trying to free himself from your arms, somewhat grinning, secretly happy that you are stronger.

"Humans need hugs, are you getting your healthy dose of them? Are you as lame as having to hug yourself to suffice?" You don't let him go and he runs out of energy to push you away, you then rest your head on his shoulder. "The odds are against us, Tsukasa truly has a simple mind, I cannot hate someone clouded by the darkness, but since I developed night vision myself it feels a little superior to be able to see what they don't, and it frustrates me. Perpetuating darkness having known it is the worst thing you can do, and once you realize it, it damages your soul. Whether he realizes it in this life or after."

"I can't believe I agree with you." Senku said sighing and it made you laugh. "It feels like with time, I have come to be cursed and understand you."

"That sets my heart to rest." You pat his shoulder and break the hug as Taiju walks towards you, Tsukasa following him. Taiju's basket was full, and so you all walked back. It was finally time to revive Yuzuriha, the pot of nitric acid was full and you had made her a dress that you were nervous about, after all she was the goddess of arts and crafts and you simply had innate ability that was less than polished.

"What the hell? For some reason, we don't have enough revival fluid for even one person." Senku said, you clocked it as a lie immediately. Taiju said he would go collect more but Tsukasa insisted on going since he was faster. Once he was gone, Senku prepared the mix and gave it to Taiju, so he could rush and bring Yuzuriha, and dropped the truth about Tsukasa destroying statues.

Senku went out for a second to do something, and Taiju ran to get Yuzuriha's statue, eventually bringing her back still as a statue and talking to her, you were going to yell at him to hurry but Senku ran and dropped the liquid on her, it took a time but the stone broke around her eventually. You watched the reencounter of the unknowingly-to-them-lovers from the house, resting on the window. Senku eventually interrupted them stating two options, running away or fighting Tsukasa together, logically they chose to stay and fight, you observed from the window. As Taiju got the surge of energy to scream to the winds that he would stop Tsukasa from killing, Tsukasa came back running.

"So I'm 'killing people'? Huh. I'd say that's a matter of perspective." Tsukasa interrupted. You almost fell out of the window, watching startled how Tsukasa grabbed an arrow from the crossbow and kicked Taiju. Taiju argued that he would let Tsukasa hit him as much as he wanted if he didn't break the statues, and at the lack of a deal Tsukasa was shocked, but soon Taiju dropped to the floor, the kick had affected him after all.

"So let's not fight each other. You just protect your girlfriend and quit worrying about some random statues. Meanwhile, I will do what I need to do. Maybe take into consideration another view." Tsukasa said locking eyes with you.

Senku and Yuzuriha looked at each other, then at you in the house.

"I have never met a single person who has taken my words and twisted them into the opposite of what they meant." Infuriated you walked out of the house, down to the floor.

"I am culling them. For the benefit of the new world." Tsukasa mentioned again.

"And what ever gave you the idea that you were apt to judge who is right for this new world or not? Believe yourself the god of the new world?" The rush of adrenaline that made your mouth move mindlessly overcame you, just as if you were arguing with your mother again. Yuzuriha and Senku looked in silence, never having seen you talking without control like then, or slightly shaking.

"I thought you had similar views to me."

"Are you actually stupid? Are you pretending? I never thought idiocy was real until now, you are a disappointment, I am embarrassed to share species with you. Don't ever compare yourself to me, it repulses me."

"You know darkness, I am getting rid of it, so we can all live in a paradise." Tsukasa tried again and that made it for you, at the mention of the paradise he was trying to make, contrasting the paradise you had built with Senku, you lost your composure and slapped him across the face.

"This was my paradise! You are the one ruining it! If I only had the way to do so, I would get rid of you for good!"

"If you don't understand, don't get in my way." Tsukasa turned around.

"Yes, run away while I have no way to kill you, because if I find one, you are fucked!" You yelled and Yuzuriha and Senku had to grab you before you continued hitting Tsukasa. He left.

"That arrow I shot was moving at over 200 kilometers per hour, how do you plan on killing him? With the power of your mind?" Senku asked but you didn't respond, once their grasp on you softened you walked away and sat by the opposite side of the tree the house was built on. Senku gives you a look, but you don't correspond so he can't decipher what is going on from your eyes; but he knows, and he doesn't want to think about it. He wakes Taiju up, and after a small talk you chose not to hear, he calls you up to the house where he starts destroying everything, while Yuzuriha and Taiju point out the wasteful action, you stand unmoving, feeling a wave of pain piercing you whole. Yuzuriha doesn't seem to notice your odd behavior, still remembering you from millennia before, but Taiju does, after spending months together he has come to know the new you, and it feels wrong to see you like that. Senku doesn't look back, going out of the house and packing.

"It will be fine, we can beat Tsukasa." Taiju pats your back softly and Yuzuriha nods. You smile automatically, but your gaze remains empty. They walk outside and help Senku pack. He calls you, but you stay in the house.

"We need to go before he comes back." Senku walks back in the house, you don't move, don't talk, don't even blink, simply stare.

"I cannot leave." Your throat is dry and you can barely utter those words. "It feels like I will want to die again if I leave, I cannot leave my home."

"It doesn't matter how it feels, the fact is that we need to leave if we even want to keep living." Senku grabs you, you move along, but his words are painful.

The last thing you hear is that you all are going to Hakone, after that you walk in silence, you look back every other step, and every time the house seems further and further away until you can't see it anymore. You can faintly hear them talking, and can faintly hear the noises of nature, but the sounds are muffled, and your eyes unfocus and you stand again in the colorless room with nothing but you, removed from your own body, dissociating. You don't even think, and your body walks on autopilot following them. You make a note of the cherry blossoms from your spot removed from reality, and simply follow them when they find the Great Buddha of Kamakura, they seem to be talking about it, Senku robbing some material from it, Taiju scolding him and Yuzuriha smiling at their antics. When the sun sets, they decide to stop, making some soup and resting. Yuzuriha serves it and you receive it, eating in silence. There is no stargazing, while Yuzuriha and Senku get ready to sleep, Taiju decides to guard you all, but Senku scolds him and so he lays down.

The stars remain the same, they shine bright despite anything, uncaring about what happens on the distant earth, you ought to be a star, or like one, you burned so much that your human encasing carcass could not handle it, but that could not cut it, just as always. You looked then at the forest trying to distract yourself from the pain, maybe get some witty insight that could rationalize what you were feeling, but the pain of losing what you had come to cherish dearly made your chest hurt so much that you could not control your tears anymore. Trying to move as silently as possible you stood up from the foot of the tree you were all resting by, and walked until the next tree, kneeling down while holding your hands over your mouth to not make a sound, breathing erratically and gasping for air after suppressing the pressure of crying instead of letting it out, inevitably thinking that by then you would have been standing up from stargazing on the lawn and getting into the house, knowing that you were well aware of the most beautiful days you had ever had and knowing you had valued them, knowing and fearing one day you would come to miss those days. You hadn't cried in years, and found yourself suddenly crying for everything, it felt so intense that you had no place to put your hands in, holding your sides because the pain became physical and was so strong you felt it would make your heart rip you apart from the inside, or holding your head trying to make some logical sense of what was happening, or your stomach that started to feel nauseated from the stress, or trying to hold onto the tree, or the grass, or the earth, or anything that could make it stop.

What made you stop though, was hearing your name coming from Senku's mouth.

"What happened?" He was quick to kneel beside you, trying to get a look at you but you shrieked away from his touch.

"Nothing just go back to sleep, I am feeling sick."

"I know your excuses, I have known you virtually all my life." Initially he doesn't know how to react, but he lets his words ramble without a clear path for a second. "You would cry so hard when we were kids that I was afraid you would end up coughing your organs out. You always ended up hyperventilating and would have spams after."

Remembering that makes a few teardrops fall from your eyes before you pass your forearm by your face very harshly to wipe the tears away. Senku realizes that didn't help at all, he doesn't know what else to do. He thinks of his dad and is left with no other option than bringing you close to his chest and envelop you with his arms; you move uncomfortable trying to make him let you go and mutter words that falter as your breath stays irregular, but he doesn't let you go. You get tired from trying to escape fast, and return to crying in silence again, feeling the tension on your face as you refuse to make a sound, feeling uncomfortable with Senku hugging you, not used to comfort in that state. He doesn't look at you, he can't, so instead he looks up so the small tears in his eyes don't fall. He holds you and you cry, and cry, and cry, and it doesn't seem to stop, so he has to put one of his hands in your hair and caress you, while rocking slowly.

"What I said in the house, I don't mean it." He speaks as he continues trying to soothe you. "I panicked, I still don't know how to handle all these emotions, but you can feel, you are free to do so and within your right. I am sorry I said that."

His words make the pain a little stronger for some reason, but you hold onto him now.

"My home..." You sob pressing your forehead against him, gasping for air between words. "My home, my home..."

"We can build another house." Senku tries reassuring you, but you repeat the two words over and over; he doesn't need to look at you, he knows deep down you are scolding him, explaining the obvious difference between a house and a home... he wishes you were instead scolding him about it. Your sobbing subsides after a long time, but your body keeps jolting involuntarily and you repeat the words in murmurs, he knows it is a nervous reaction, but it reminds him that your apparently natural melancholia wasn't that and was probably a heavy depression.

"I want to... go home." Your words remind him of something, a memory so old he can't recall it properly.

"When I was really little, for some reason, I would feel out of place and call for home even when I was there. Byakuya explained to me that home was not precisely a place but a feeling, a sense of security and belonging, and that regardless of the place or the people, I could always find a home when I felt safe and welcomed." Senku narrated, a memory so distant that he had forgotten about it until then. You looked at him, finally, he kept talking. "As long as you feel safe and welcomed, no matter the house, you will have a home. No matter what, I am sure we can replicate that feeling and have our home back."

Senku keeps caressing your hair, and slowly stops rocking you, once he realizes your breathing has gone back to normal, he grabs your hand and stands up, walking back to the tree and laying down in his sleeping bag, you imitate his actions, and once you are laying down he hugs you again as always before sleeping. His words recalling Byakuya's make sense, they ease you, and despite grieving the loss of your first physical home and the pain of the nostalgia from the year you spend there, you sigh a big sigh, and close your eyes after rubbing them a little. Your mind is tired, and your body is still trying to recover from the exertion, despite that, you have a last bit of energy that you invest into formulating a last thought: home is you together, home is wherever as long as you can go to sleep by Senku's side, home is Senku.

taglist: @thelonestarinthesky

[lurkingshan]

Random QL Grievances: 2024 Edition

For every superlative there must be an equal and opposite grievance. It's just science, the universe demands balance! So let's get into the Festivus spirit and begin the airing of grievances.

Most Infuriating Implosion of a Good Show: Last Twilight

When I think about how much I loved this show for the first 3/4 and how I felt as Mhok and Day watched the sunset on the cliff at the end of episode 9... we really coulda had it all. Justice for Mhok!

Worst Failure to Set Off the Chekhov’s Gun: Dead Friend Forever

Not only did they show me a dropped axe in the penultimate episode that never got picked up and used in the finale, they also didn't let me see Non's biggest betrayers die a bloody death. I had to watch Phee kill New and then get an ambiguously happy ending. Unforgivable!

Most Egregious Blue Balling of the Audience: The On1y One

How dare they build such a beautiful, careful relationship narrative and then just... not finish it. Not only did we not get an end to the story, we didn't even get to see Tian and Wang express their feelings. I will never forgive the creators of this show for playing these games.

Side Pair that Deserved Better: Arun and Tattoo, Jack & Joker

Where is their actual romance, show? WHERE IS IT?! You have a chance to make it right in the coming special and I pray you take it.

Messiest Show Built Around a Great Character: 23.5

The show was an unholy mess, but Ongsa (as performed by Milk) was the nerdy cringefail lesbian of our dreams. She deserved better!

The WHY?! Award for Blowing a Great Show on the Dismount: Unknown

I make this exact face when I think about how close this show came to perfection, and how needless the ending stumbles were when the book version was right there as a guide. What was the reason?!

The Everyone Involved Needs a Timeout Award: Jazz for Two

How did this show get made? I need a detailed explanation of exactly what they thought they were doing with this horrific depiction of a series of abusive relationships framed as romantic.

Worst Letdown for Me Personally: Wandee Goodday 

Will anyone ever make the fuck buddies to lovers BL of my dreams? It definitely hasn't happened yet. I am Plakao just making frustrated faces at everyone throughout this show.

Worst End of an Era: My Strawberry Film

What was the point of this show? What was it trying to say? I watched every single minute and I still have no clue. It gets bonus hate for ending the Drama Shower project on such a bum note.

Silliest Use of Lore: Sunset x Vibes

They teased us with past life dreams and gorgeous seascapes and Naga fantasies and all we got in the end was some ugly ass jewelry.

Noble Idiocy Hall of Shame: Blue Canvas of Youthful Days

I loved this show a lot, so you can imagine my dismay when they did a double noble idiocy + time skip ending. I am still so disappointed.

Petition to Free Ohm Pawat: Kidnap

To go from roles like Pat in Bad Buddy and Phukao in 10 Years Ticket to this... oh how the mighty hath fallen. I know my guy had some scandals but surely this was enough penance to set him free from terrible script purgatory. Right??

[ppyopulii]

maestro’s muse 💿 interview no. 13

PREVIEW. Has HYBEHAX always been this… unserious?

FEATURING. lee jihoon x gn!reader, various non-idol!hybe groups & reader GENRE(S). coming of age, fluff, some angst LENGTH | WC. <10min | 2.2k words EXPLICITS. soonyoung is chaotic. & i guess one (1) curse word

JAY’S MUSINGS. prologue (part two) for maestro’s muse, the series. not every part will be written in screenplay, just like how not every part will be written in smau format, just like how not every part will be written in prose, etc etc... just havin’ fun writing (: enjoy!

www.hybehax.tech/interview

THE INTERVIEW FADE IN.

A cozy dorm room lined with comforting trinkets. The digital clock sitting on a neatly stacked shelf indicates it's almost half past seven o'clock. It’s quiet in the shared bedroom, and YOU (college freshman, music fanatic, prospective HYBEHAX organizer) sit at the desk, nervously tugging on your bottom lip with your teeth.

A monitor shows the join feature of a Zoom call. YOU stare back at yourself through the small camera screen displayed.

There’s a soft ping from a notification. A pause, and then YOU take a deep breath and click the join button.

On the screen, SEUNGCHEOL (college junior, President of HYBEHAX, mutual acquaintance of YOU) smiles at you from his impressive HD face-cam.

SEUNGCHEOL Hello, we’ll get started in just a minute. Soonyoung is having some difficulty logging on.

Shuffling noises sound from another screen. JIHOON (college sophomore, Internal Vice President of HYBEHAX, music theory classmate of YOU) grumbles under his breath.

JIHOON (irritated) You’d think with this being his thirteenth interview he’d have gotten the hang of it now.

SEUNGCHEOL (warning) Jihoon.

JIHOON mumbles a sorry and mutes. A minute passes and SOONYOUNG (college sophomore, External Vice President of HYBEHAX, friend of YOU) pops up on-screen, face grainy from bad internet.

SOONYOUNG Hi! Nice to see you!

YOU (warmly) Hey, Soonyoung. Still doing alright in your math classes?

SOONYOUNG (groaning) Not the same without you, man. You actually carried me through calculus.

YOU Aren’t you just in business statistics now? How hard can that be?

SOONYOUNG Don’t ask.

There’s a few coughs from SEUNGCHEOL. Conversation dies down and SEUNGCHEOL moves his camera to center himself on screen.

SEUNGCHEOL Alright, hello and welcome to your HYBEHAX organizer interview! Thank you for taking the time to apply; we were impressed by your application. Now that we’re here, think of this as a time for us to get to know each other, and for you to ask us any questions you have.

SOONYOUNG (interjecting) It’s really lowkey, don’t worry.

SEUNGCHEOL clicks his tongue. SOONYOUNG giggles and mutes.

SEUNGCHEOL We’ll start with a round of introductions. I’m Choi Seungcheol, a rising senior and double major in computer science and mathematics. I’m also the current President of HYBEHAX. I run pretty much… everything? Let’s see… uh, I’ve been an organizer of HYBEHAX since I was a sophomore, but I’ve been involved with hackathons since I was fifteen. I actually remember trying to code my first project in that 24-hour period. Even though I barely had any idea what I was doing, all the organizers and my teammates were so nice. Made me feel really welcomed.

YOU (smiling from ear-to-ear) Fifteen? That’s some serious dedication, I respect it. What drew you to want to be HYBEHAX’s President?

SEUNGCHEOL’s lips part in an ‘o’, like he’s surprised YOU asked a question.

SEUNGCHEOL Well… I guess you can say I’ve grown attached? The people that I’ve met and grown with through HYBEHAX have really made my college years worth it. That, and I want to be able to keep organizing a space that made me feel as safe as I did as a kid.

YOU Yeah, I understand. That’s really admirable, congratulations!

SEUNGCHEOL Thank you, that means a lot. I really hope I can continue to make this upcoming hackathon worthwhile to attend, especially since it’ll be my last year being an organizer.

SOONYOUNG unmutes.

SOONYOUNG And it’s our 10th year!

SEUNGCHEOL (laughing, albeit stressed) Yeah, that too. Ah… how could I forget?

A tense silence falls on the four. YOU shift your focus to SOONYOUNG to alleviate the tension.

YOU Wanna introduce yourself next?

SOONYOUNG Oh! Yeah, I can. You already know me, but I’m Soonyoung, EVP of HYBEHAX. I manage all the external affairs, like talking to building managers for renting and university officials for fundings of our hackathon. I’ve been organizing for awhile too, like Cheol-hyung, and I’m super excited for this year!

YOU (joking) You, trusted with money?

SOONYOUNG (mock offense) Yah, I’m literally a business major!

YOU Yeah yeah, whatever. What’s been your favorite part?

SOONYOUNG’s eyes light up.

SOONYOUNG Shopping!

YOU Shopping?

SOONYOUNG For the hackathon! I’m in charge of it.

SEUNGCHEOL (exasperated) With my card.

YOU watch JIHOON snort silently. He unmutes.

JIHOON You get reimbursed by the university, at least.

SEUNGCHEOL (sulking) But does he have to do it with my card?

SOONYOUNG You’re the president!

JIHOON rolls his eyes and scoffs good-naturedly.

JIHOON Hey, we’re in an interview right now.

SOONYOUNG (dismissively) So what? We all know them, and they know us. We worked with them last season when they were a volunteer.

YOU raise an eyebrow.

YOU Shouldn’t we at least try to maintain some formality though? Just for record’s sake?

SEUNGCHEOL …they have a point. Jihoon, go ahead and introduce yourself and we’ll actually start asking questions.

JIHOON Hi. My name is Lee Jihoon, I’ll be your Internal Vice President. Rising junior, computer science major. I work specifically on the inner-running logistics of HYBEHAX.

YOU nod and go silent at his lackluster introduction. SEUNGCHEOL chuckles.

SEUNGCHEOL Ah… Jihoon-ah is what keeps this club running. Think of him as the maestro conducting the orchestra—his back is to you but he’s secretly doing all the work.

SOONYOUNG (laughing) You’re making him sound like he does more than you.

JIHOON presses a palm to his face. His facecam slightly lags, blipping the view for a second.

SEUNGCHEOL (clearly enjoying the teasing) Well, at this point he basically does. Once I graduate he’ll be first runner up for President.

SOONYOUNG grins. His camera goes slightly out of focus as he rocks back and forth in his chair.

YOU Well, it’s nice to meet you Jihoon.

JIHOON Likewise.

There’s a beat of silence as YOU and JIHOON stare each other down via webcam. His gaze is sharp, meticulous. Yours is relaxed with a hint of a smile.

SOONYOUNG So formal. Why don’t you go next?

YOU Alright… hi everyone! Thank you for taking the time to meet with me. I’m a computer science major with a focus in front-end development, but I hope career-wise to go into front-end regarding data science. I was a volunteer this past fall for HYBEHAX and I really loved helping with the event, so I want to try my hand at organizing this year.

SOONYOUNG You were running around like crazy during the event. I think I saw you like, twice?

YOU (laughing awkwardly) Yeah… the last Marketing Team lead kind of recruited me. I ran around with them a lot getting pictures.

SEUNGCHEOL (amused) I specifically remember you during the welcoming speech. The President and I were trying to talk into the mic and you kept telling us to move slightly to the left ‘cause it looked better on camera that way.

YOU Hey! Because of me we had great shots. We can use these for marketing this time around.

SOONYOUNG Oh? You sure you don’t wanna be a part of Marketing Team?

YOU Oh, hell no. 

SEUNGCHEOL and SOONYOUNG burst into laughter. The corner of JIHOON’s lips crack open to reveal a small smile.

SEUNGCHEOL Relax, the Marketing Team Lead from last year left. Our Lead this year will be a lot better.

YOU Glad to hear that.

SEUNGCHEOL Are there any questions you have for us before we get into the specifics of your role?

YOU No, not that I can think of.

SEUNGCHEOL Sounds good! If there are any questions you have along the way, feel free to ask.

SOONYOUNG (raising his hand, not unlike a too-excited kid in school) I have a question!

Metaphorical lights dim. YOU fidget with the hem of your shirt. JIHOON bites his lip to fight a smirk.

JIHOON Yah, you’re the EVP, not Pres.

SEUNGCHEOL (skeptically) No, go ahead Soonyoung.

SOONYOUNG What made you choose Design Team instead of Tech? You’re a CS major, aren’t you?

YOU smile, as if expecting this question.

YOU I did briefly mention this in my application, but I feel like the integration between the arts and technology is so important to cherish and understand these days. Bridging that gap between two worlds that are seemingly unrelated is what I want to do—technology can be used to create art, and art can be used to create technology. It’s all relative, I feel.

JIHOON nods along appreciatively to your words. SEUNGCHEOL is listening intently.

SEUNGCHEOL As an organizer, you’re expected to specialize in your team’s work. You, on the other hand, have experience in multiple aspects—marketing, tech, design. Like Soonyoung said, we all saw how hard-working you were last season as a volunteer. We’d love for you to join us as a proper organizer for our 10th year.

YOU Thank you, that's very sweet of you. I'd be honored!

SOONYOUNG Oh, right. You said you’d be interested in being a Team Lead, too—are you still interested in that?

YOU Yeah, I think it would be fun. What specifically does Design Team Lead do?

SOONYOUNG You’ll be in charge of designating tasks to the members. Last season we only had, um, one member on Design Team. It was a lot and incredibly overwhelming and they quit. Understandably. So having someone who oversees everything would be preferable.

SEUNGCHEOL Yep, things like the sponsorship packet that goes out to sponsors, merchandise for the organizers and participants—those tasks wouldn’t necessarily be completed by you, but you would be in charge of making sure they’re getting done on time and in a professional manner.

YOU That sounds doable. If I’m being honest, I’d feel better managing tasks. I feel like I’d be pressured a lot to go above and beyond if I was just a regular organizer.

JIHOON Do you have experience in leadership?

YOU Only a little bit, but I’m definitely open to learning more, of course. I lead an outreach organization for my scholarship program.

SEUNGCHEOL (nodding along) Impressive.

SOONYOUNG We can call it, right? They’ll be our new Design Team Lead?

YOU Hey, I’d be down if you guys are down. This interview is more relaxing than I thought; barely even one at this point too.

JIHOON (shrugging) Only because we know you from the previous season.

YOU smile at him and JIHOON breaks eye contact.

YOU Question.

SEUNGCHEOL Yeah, what's up?

YOU Has HYBEHAX always been this… unserious?

SOONYOUNG Yes—

SEUNGCHEOL, JIHOON (simultaneously) No.

YOU Well. Glad to join the team anyways.

SOONYOUNG excitedly claps his hands. His screen lags.

SOONYOUNG Does that mean it’s a yes?!

YOU ‘Course. Anything for my calc buddy.

The man pumps a fist into the air and his webcam freezes. JIHOON audibly sighs.

JIHOON We’ll send you the contract via email soon. It just goes over more generalized rules about being an organizer—attending weekly meetings, making sure you keep up with your team, the usual.

SEUNGCHEOL Happy to have you!

YOU Thank you guys so much. I’ll be sure to not disappoint!

SOONYOUNG’s frames cut back into view. He’s peering at the camera and making gibberish noises.

SOONYOUNG Hello? Hell-oo? Can you guys hear me?

JIHOON (mumbling to himself) …and this is why he’s the EVP and not on Tech Team.

SEUNGCHEOL (exasperated fondness) Yes, Soonyoung, we can hear you.

SOONYOUNG Awesome! We’ll send you the paperwork right away so you can officially become an organizer!

JIHOON I already said that.

SOONYOUNG pouts and begins to whine, to which JIHOON huffs at. SEUNGCHEOL forcibly mutes them both.

SEUNGCHEOL

Anyway, I’ll also send you the Discord link to the server with the contract. That’s our main way of communication. As for the contract, it’s a PDF—you can sign it by like, opening it up in Adobe and using the pen tool. No need for fancy formalities.

YOU (laughing) Alright, sounds good. Thank you guys again for this opportunity!

SOONYOUNG is making cringey aegyo hearts at his camera. Your laptop begins to whirr softly from overheating.

SEUNGCHEOL Thank you for being interested in joining us. Details about our first meeting will be out soon. See you then, okay?

YOU See you then! Have a good night!

SEUNGCHEOL beams at YOU. YOU note his barely there dimple and fight back a smile.

On the other hand, JIHOON types a ‘Have a good night, thank you’ before promptly leaving the call. SOONYOUNG waves goodbye for an eternity before being kicked off by SEUNGCHEOL.

YOU wave and press the leave button. The call drops and your laptop quiets down. It’s suddenly silent in the bedroom, and YOU let out a yawn as YOU stretch your arms above your head.

YOU Welp. Design Team Lead, here I come.

FADE OUT. END.

[the9mm]

Psssssttttttt... Do you like gay, and robots, and sci-fi books?

Then the book I am publishing as part of Booktopia 2024 may be for you!

Watch my dumb gay robots bumble around as they figure out what they're doing and how to live after they decide to shirk their responsibilities and run away together.

If you like: Asimov's robot series, Cargill's Sea of Rust, Newitz's Autonomous, Chambers' A Psalm for the Wild Built, Detroit: Become Human, Space Sweepers, Robocop, or any variety of robotic sci-fi in between, you'll love this book. This book is my love-letter to the sci-fi community as a whole with lots of little nods back to various sci-fi works.

This will be my debut words-words-words novella at 46,000 words and I wanna make a physical book so bad. I hope you'll help me get there. You can subscribe now to get an email when the project launches, but don't worry... I'll be screaming a bunch here too leading up to the project in September. It's live now. :)

As part of Booktopia, I'll be cross-collaborating with Space Wizard Science Fantasy, who is publishing Lesbians in Space. Space Wizard Science Fantasy is bringing together some great sapphic writers in this new volume of relationships set in space! You'll also love more sci-fi/fantasy and LGBTQ+ crossover.

LIVE NOW DURING BOOKTOPIA!

[madscientistshowdown]

Top 3 Will move onto main bracket

PROPAGANDA

Mikage Souji:

Was also known in the series as Professor Nemuro - I don't know if he ever had a doctorate or not. He's referred to as professor, but he's also the age of a student. He is described as a computer-like genius and was working on some mysterious research project that he did not even know the goal of. He ends up burning down a building that has 100 boys inside of it. In the present day, he has not aged at all even though those events happened a long time ago…. and no longer goes by the name Professor Nemuro…. and now he gets students to come to his evil therapy elevator where he brings their darkest feelings to the surface and become Black Rose duelists, and then they go to try and kill the main characters of the show.

Dr Bryony Halbech:

She works on cryonic preservation, has killed multiple people while experimenting on them, and she kept traumatising her only survivor test subject as a part of her experiments. What makes her mad is that her morals are non-existent when it comes to her research

Dr Dick Hardly:

Yes, there is a character in a children's cartoon named "Dick Hardly." Though he was only in one episode, he's one of the most memorable villains in the show, effectively being Professor Utonium's evil counterpart. He tricks the Powerpuff Girls into giving Chemical X so he can make more PowerPuffs and sell them for profit. Like many mad scientists, he is mutated into a horrible monster at the end of the episode, and then killed by his own mistreated creations.

Dr Frankenstein:

Usually simply referred to as "The Professor", he is the creator of the various androids that serve the Phoenixes (Monster Royal family). His current form resembles that of a giant brain in a jar.

Inari Sakihira:

Using your scientific genius to turn your classmate into a dog without his consent, is not what we in the science biz like to call "Ethical"

Cave Johnson:

Gosh, Mr Johnson I never realised that large, morally questionable scientific facilities could be such a force for good in this world!

Pearl Forrester:

Clayton's mother who kills him and vows to continue his work as revenge for his death (even though she killed him). She drives a space van, survives multiple planets exploding while she was still on them, has an ego bigger than the sun, and hits people she doesn't like with cheez-its. One time she had a super chill porch-van chat with the guy she was torturing. Also pretended to be a roman goddess, ran a scam public television channel, stopped the timeline from being changed so gambling machines and chicken in a biskit snack crackers would continue to exist, gave LSD to robots because she could, drove her space van to LA to threaten famous movie critic Leonard Maltin, and spent at least an hour scamming a couple into thinking her evil castle was a cruise ship. I love her

Dr Clayton Forrester:

he's a mad scientist who lives a very unserious life in a cave, what's not to love? mad scientist activities include showing a guy in space (that he kidnapped because he didn't like him) bad movies until he cracks, then kidnapping a second guy to do the exact same thing to when the first one gets out. hobbies include killing and then reviving his second banana/roommate/boyfriend frank, dealing with the random people/fictional characters/entities that come to his cave, begrudgingly hosting thanksgiving, and creating inventions that are sometimes evil but mostly just kind of strange.

Monsieur Mallah:

A super intelligent gorilla who lives a simple life of peace with his cyborg husband. Aside from when they got bored and made a bunch of mutants. But aside from the army of mutants and making a black hole, they live a simple life of peace.