#garroth and travis in second

[sunnymarbles]

aphmau dump hi guys ^_^ ignore the gross disgusting old 2016-2019 time period art in the corner of redraws

[tanoroe]

My street redesign of the guys and who i think their fav artists are (apologies for weird ass style I tried to do like semi-chibi)

found their faces that i drew

[creeky-cricket]

guys this banner for the one last time channel they're all stood in couples!! :3 (minus lucinda lmao)

WHY THE FUCK--

[t4tdanvis]

watching sam & colby and thinking about my danvis + garrance paranormal investigation yters au

[dilly-dahlia]

vi. Check

pairing: Gene x Reader

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

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

word count: 7.4k

masterlist

The Problem With Popularity masterlist

previous part

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

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

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

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

“What? Why?”

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

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

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

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

“At least I could pull her.”

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

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

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

“Well, I’m sure Katelyn would-“

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

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

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

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

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

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

“And yet girls love my awkward charm.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“I did not do that.”

“Yes, you did.”

“No. You were tired and seeing things.”

“No, you definitely did that.”

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

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

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

“So you think I’m ugly?” Dante asked.

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

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

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

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

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

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

“What?”

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

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

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

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

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

“More.”

“What?”

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

“Yeah, and he’s my brother.”

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

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

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

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

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

You claimed they were nonexistent.

They didn’t believe you.

—

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Just . . . Ivan-”

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Relieved?” Katelyn offered when Lucinda trailed off.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lucinda scrunched her nose. “Oh. Talya?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Unfortunately, you never could grasp the concept of chess.

—

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Obviously it’s a chicken, Y/n.”

“Then why’d you ask?”

“Because who has a giant chicken?”

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

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

“Who the hell is Benedict?”

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

“What kind of name is Benedict?”

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

“Because chickens lay eggs,” Sasha added.

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

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

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

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

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

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

“The Shining.”

“Terrifier.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Christine’s good.”

“Yeah. Nice and unsettling.”

“Christine it is.”

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

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

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

Sasha shushed you. “Watch the movie.”

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

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

You got your answer a couple minutes later.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

You liked Gene. Fuck.

You resisted the urge to honk your horn in frustration.

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

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

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

next part >>

[starhvney]

𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆 | 𝐋𝐀𝐔𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄

𝐖𝐂: ~3.1k

𝐄𝐃𝐈𝐓𝐎𝐑: @arienic

𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐓 ☆ 𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐄'𝐒 𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆 | 𝐅𝐈𝐂 𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 | 𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐊𝐒

You fill your lungs with a deep breath, before slowly releasing it as you stare at your wall. Your back hurts a bit from the slouched position you’ve been sitting in for about an hour now, but you can’t bring yourself to shift into something different.

The pictures on your wall showcase the memories you’ve made over the past few years, happy smiles and silly moments on display. For whatever reason, you decide to count how many pictures each of your friends appear in. You know it’s to distract yourself from the real issue that’s been plaguing your mind for the past few days. But still, you count, ignoring the nagging voice in the back of your head.

Aphmau, five times.

Nana, eight times.

Katelyn, seven times.

Garroth, six times.

Travis, four.

Laurance.

One… two… four… eight… twelve…

Fifteen times.

You stare at his face, copied and printed out a grand total of fifteen times on your wall.

Shit.

None of the others come close! He even rivals some of your family members!

Your hands meet your face in a harsh slap as you send yourself off of your chair and onto your floor, groaning and curling into a ball.

It’s him. It always has been.

How did you keep a straight face on Monday, when he was so close to you, practically begging at your knees to choose him? When he was on the verge of tears and… the way he whined your name? Pleading for you to forgive him? To like him back?

How did you resist when he almost kissed you?

The fabric of your sweater does little to muffle the drawn out scream you send into the crook of your elbow. You lay defeated on your floor, your limbs deflating into a limp, useless pile.

There’s a concerned call of your name after a moment and you roll into your back, forcing a weak response.

“I’m fine…”

You need to talk to him. Again.

It takes a ridiculous amount of effort for you to stand, your hands trembling as you pick your phone up. Before you can wimp out, the pad of your thumb clicks on Laurance’s name, and you stare in horror as the dial tone starts to ring through the speakers. It only rings three times before he picks up, the sound of air rushing in the speakers catching you off guard before it stops.

“Hey.” His voice comes through a bit breathless.

“Hi.” You pause. “Um, is this a bad time?”

“No! No. Did you want to talk about something?”

“Why did you sound out of breath, then?”

There’s an awkward few seconds before he responds.

“Uh… I ran to the back room.” He sounds sheepish.

“What—are you at work?” you ask incredulously.

“Yeah.”

“Laurance! I’ll just call you later—”

“No!” He’s quick to interrupt you. “No, it’s fine. It’s only a couple of minutes before my shift ends anyways. I was in the middle of getting ready to clock out.”

“Oh.” You bite your lip, nearly dropping your phone on your face as your hands tremble.

“Did you need something?”

You swallow. “I wanted to talk.”

“Yes!” There’s a pause, before you hear him clear his throat. “I mean, yeah. Um… did you want to talk in person? Or…”

“Yeah, that would be best, I think. Do you mind driving here?”

“No, of course not,” he says, as if it were obvious. “I’ll be there in like… twenty minutes.”

“Okay. See you then,” you mutter, nervousness officially settling in your bones as the call ends.

Twenty minutes. You have twenty minutes to prepare yourself for what would be a crucial turning point for your relationship with Laurance. Not only him, but also…

You sigh, clicking back onto your contacts and staring at Gene’s name. He said he would be understanding, but the thought of letting him down after what you both experienced in the last week is guilt inducing. He’s changed. A lot.

But it’s always been Laurance.

Still, he’s been sweet and understanding to you, so the least he deserves is for you to tell him. Your heart thuds when you press call, and you lay perfectly still as the phone rings. Would he be upset?

“Hey, doll,” he greets, that confident raspiness in his tone ringing in your ears. 

“…Hey.”

“You don’t sound too happy.” His voice is light, but there’s a slight edge to it.

“I…”

“Made up your mind, huh?”

You press your lips together, closing your eyes. “Um… yeah. Yeah, I think so.”

“Hm.” He pauses. “I’m guessing based on your tone, this isn’t good news for me.”

“…I’m really sorry, Gene.”

You want to say more, but words are lost on you, fleeing from your fingertips and just out of your grasp.

“I’m not mad at you for it. You know, you’re already a lot sweeter than most people I know for going out of your way to tell me.” 

“It’s the least you deserve.”

“Oh, the least I deserve is a lot less than this.” He laughs dryly.

“If it’s okay, I’d like to still be friends with you.” You bite the inside of your cheek. Will he even want to?

There’s a short pause, before: “Of course we can. That is, if he lets you.”

“You’ve changed. I’ll tell him.”

“That doesn’t mean he has to accept it. But I appreciate that you’re so willing to stand up for me, doll.” He sighs after a second. “Hey, don’t sound so upset. If things don’t work out, or you need someone to talk to, I’ll be here. You’ll still have my number, okay? And I won’t ignore you.”

“Okay…” you murmur. “I’m sorry again, Gene.”

“Don’t be sorry.”

“Sorr—okay… I’m glad I got to know you for myself.”

He chuckles and it’s fond, light. If you’d been told Gene Hyun would be laughing like that over you a couple weeks ago, you would’ve scoffed and rolled your eyes.

“And I’m glad I got to spend time with you, sweet thing. Anyways, don’t torture yourself on this too much, okay? The choice that makes you happy is the right one… I’ll let you go, now.”

“Thank you, Gene. Bye…”

“Bye bye.”

…

Love triangles fucking suck.

☆

The next ten minutes, you decided to freshen up before Laurance gets here, and after analyzing your appearance in the mirror for another five, you decided to run out the door and wait for him on the sidewalk to spare yourself any more self-criticizing torture.

It’s less than five minutes later when the familiar hum of Laurance’s Mustang approaches, and you stand when he parks along the curb. He’s quick to get out, nearly jogging to your side with a nervous look. His hair is tousled, and he’s still wearing his work uniform, spare for his apron.

“Have you just been sitting there?” he asks, leaning in to hug you.

The action's muscle memory for him, and it’s not until he pulls away that he seems to remember the premise of you both meeting up like this, his cheeks lightly flushing. You can’t complain, though. Not when he can barely contain his feelings for you anymore. Seeing him like this is like seeing a masterpiece in a new light, one you hadn’t thought was possible for you to view.

“Yeah,” you respond after a second, shifting on your feet. “Do you… want to go on a drive and talk?”

“Yeah,” he breathes.

He backpedals to his car, opening the passenger side for you and gesturing for you to get in. You take in a quiet, deep breath before situating yourself into the seat, patiently waiting as he rounds the car to get in himself.

It smells… floral in here, you note. But not like a girl’s perfume. It’s fresh.

Laurance gets in and starts up the engine, looking at you in question. “Anywhere you wanted to go?”

You shake your head.

“I’ll just drive, then…” he says softly, vaguely looking to the backseat and back at you. “I also…”

You send a questioning look when he hesitates and looks at you through his lashes, a shy expression flashing on his features. His bangs brush over his cheekbones before he pushes them back, straightening up and biting the inside of his cheek as he leans over to grab something from behind you.

Gently, he reveals a bouquet of white tulips and purple and blue hyacinths, wrapped carefully in simple, brown paper. The amount of flowers and the way they're arranged—it couldn’t have been a cheap buy.

“I’m sorry.”

He swallows when you continue to stare at him, a quiet sigh of relief leaving his lips when you take the bouquet in your hands, settling it into your lap.

“That’s not… to pressure you. It’s to say I’m sorry,” he repeats, voice quiet.

“When did you get these?”

He looks to the street, hand tightening on the wheel as he shifts into drive. “I actually got the floral shop to hold those for me until… well, I was going to give them to you on Friday if you were still upset at me. I picked them up on the way just now.”

“I’m not upset at you, Laurance.”

His eyebrows furrow, and he glances over at you. He says nothing, but it’s clear he’s confused.

“You’ve… been avoiding me the past few days. I thought…”

“I’m just scared.”

“...Scared?” he repeats, fingers tapping on the middle console as he leans on it with his elbow. He smells faintly of coffee. “Of me?”

“Sort of.” His face winces, and you’re quick to continue. “I’m scared of how much I like you.”

He sucks in a sharp breath. “Yeah?”

There’s a deep huskiness to the response that sends blood rushing to your face, and you have to resist the urge to thrash around in your seat.

“Yeah.”

He leans back against his headrest, his chin lifting as he stares at the road. It was like the car was filling with water and he was trying his best to breathe. To focus.

He flexes his hand against the steering wheel, the other one reaching over to yours that lay in your lap. His fingers intertwine with yours, and in one smooth motion he pulls your hands up to his face, leaning in to press a searing kiss against the back of your hand. His eyes were still on the road, but his attention was fully on you.

“So, what do you want to do next?” The question is simple, but he’s leaving it up to you.

“I think… we can take it slow.” You swallow when he drags your hand across his cheek. “Because I want to date you.”

He sighs, the sound euphoric, like you’d just granted every wish he’d ever asked for. “Okay. Slow. I can do that. I want to earn your trust. Especially after the month I just put you through.”

“I put you through it, too.”

He glances at you from the corner of his eye at that.

“I… hung out with Gene despite knowing your history. I felt like I was betraying you, in a way. But I think a part of me wanted to make you… jealous.” His jaw tightens, but he squeezes your hand reassuringly. “He’s not that bad. Not like when you two were ‘friends’. He never pressured me to do anything against my will. I’m still sorry, though. Because I know it upset you more than you let on.”

The car slows, and Laurance pulls into a parking lot of a cute mom and pop diner your friend group frequents. The sky is beautiful. There's no other word for it. With the way that the sun's setting behind the building, casting a pink glow over the whole area—well, who could blame you for admiring the way it lights up the boy sitting in the driver's seat?

“Well, I made you jealous with Michi. And upset you more than you let on, too. So we’re even,” he says quietly. Once the car is safely parked, he turns to look at you and leans in closer. “And I don’t want us to start off this relationship with either of us holding that against each other. So don’t feel guilty or think that you’ve messed up anymore than I did. Because you didn’t. You didn’t owe me anything.”

His eyes are dilated, pupils swallowing the green of his eyes as they dart along your face. He's still holding your hand tightly, and now that he doesn't have to drive, the other comes up to your face, brushing a strand of hair from your face before falling to your cheek. Your heart flutters when he leans in a little closer, pressing his lips together in hesitation.

“Okay. We’re even,” you muster in response, your own eyes drifting along his face. 

The length of his eyelashes, the arch of his thick brows, the perfect shape of his nose, and the curve of his lips as he lets out a shaky breath. He swallows, leaning a little closer with a whisper of your name, his eyes desperate and pleading.

“Is this too much…?” His eyes drop to your lips, hand moving to hold the back of your head. “Do you want me to stop?”

You nearly scream, “GOD, NO!” but settle on quickly shaking your head for the sake of preserving the moment.

He takes your reaction as a green light, and there’s not a moment of hesitation before he’s closing the distance, his lips frantically on yours. Warmth spreads in your chest as he holds the back of your neck, tilting your head with an urgency to feel you close. The hand that has been tightly clasped with yours lets go, only to move to your waist and tug you closer. He huffs at the separation caused by the middle console, though seems to settle for lapping his tongue along your lips, a desperate attempt to deepen the kiss.

Woah.

You’re nothing but putty in his hold, letting him turn and tilt your head the way he likes until he takes up all your senses. 

Until you can’t breathe.

Your hand reaches up to push him away, gasping for a proper breath through your shaky lungs and heart. Regrettably, he lets you do so… But the way he pushes his head forward, eyes still hungrily set on your lips with nothing but the mind-numbing intent of feeling you close to him—you almost cave in to his wishes.

You fear that may send you into the afterlife, however, and you’re sure one more kiss from him like that would have your heart locking up straight into cardiac arrest.

“Sorry.” He pants for air, leaning in to press his forehead against yours, his hand that was clasping the back of your neck returning to gently caress your cheek. “Once I started, I couldn’t stop. I've wanted to do that for so long…”

“It’s okay. Me too…”

He smiles, leaning back with a borderline smug expression. “You look so flustered. It’s cute.”

You lean back, unable to go far with his hand still on your waist. His thumb rubs gently, reassuringly, despite the teasing twinkle returning to his eyes. The grey-green has shifted from that pained, nervous energy back to his normal mischief and bravado, causing your heart to knock against your chest in anticipation.

“Don’t run…” he whispers. “I’ve finally got you and you’re going to run away again?”

“What happened to you being nervous like you were earlier?!” you squeak, breath hitching when he leans in to press a doting kiss on your cheek.

“Who says I’m not?” he laughs, his hand on your waist returning to your hand and bringing it up to his chest. His veins are thrumming with a rapid beat underneath your fingers, and he stares at you with what you can only describe as a lovesick smile. “I’m just so happy now, I can’t help myself.”

He hesitates before pulling away from you, fixing your hair and running his finger along your jaw. 

“Alright, alright, lovely,” he whispers. “I said we would take it slow, so I’ll cut it out with the teasing.”

“Thank you…” you breathe in relief.

“For now.” He smirks.

“Laurance!”

“Do you want to go into the diner? Are you hungry?” he asks casually, gesturing to the neon light glowing against the now darkening sky.

“I could eat, I guess…” you say quietly. “I just want to spend more time with you.”

“Well, if you spend more time with me in here, you’ll be subject to making out with me more…” he trails off.

“Okay, okay! Let’s go!” You spin around, tugging the handle of the passenger door and stumbling out. You hear fond laughter behind you before Laurance gets out of the car himself, shaking his head at you. 

“First of all, don’t get out of the car without letting me open it for you. Second of all, ouch?” He pouts. “You don’t want to kiss me more?”

“It’s more like if I do kiss you anymore, I’ll faint and die, probably.”

“Well, we can’t have that…” He chuckles, strolling to meet you in front of his car. “If my girlfriend died as soon as we got together, that would be quite devastating.”

“Girlfriend?”

He softens on his teasing again, nodding slowly and watching your expression, gauging your reaction. “Yeah… is that too much?”

“No. I don’t mind it. We already have had a ‘talking stage’, right…?” You nod, rocking on your feet. “I mean, we’re best friends.”

“Then why do you look so nervous all of a sudden?” he asks quietly. “You can tell me anything…”

“Well, we’ve just never been together like this before. I’m not sure how to talk on a date…” you murmur, suddenly feeling a bit silly at your hesitation and leaning into him. “If that’s what this is.”

He shakes his head, leaning down to hook his arms around your waist and pull you into him for a tight hug. He sucks in a deep breath before sighing, as if breathing you in, and then pulls back just enough to look at you.

“Who says it has to be any different from when we normally talked before?” He gives a lopsided grin. “It’s just me, silly girl. Now I just get to kiss you and give you compliments whenever I want. Which will be all the time.”

“Oh, yeah.”

Of course. You already know each other. This didn’t have to be awkward. Because you know his favorite color is green. You know he aspires to go to culinary school and open a restaurant someday. You were there for his terrible dye job his freshman year, and you've caught him a million times in school, twirling his pencil between his fingers when he’s deep in thought. Not to mention how you've been victim to physical touch as his love language for years, now.

“Oh,” he whispers, “and I’ll be taking you out on much better dates than this.”

You melt into his arms, sighing softly. It’s just Laurance. And it always will be him.

©starhvney 2024. do not plagiarize, feed to any AI, or repost my works to any sites.

taglist: @wasting-away-on-the-internet @angelhyperfixates @valentique @arienic @dazedbydeath @theaquaticplant @starsbrightly @kalegrinch @izzybella1807 @marst4rz @vyladsgirl @allieyaaa @luvsymai @yoom-ss @garrothswiferealnotfake @fartmonster98

[gumbootillustrations]

UGH I FUCKING FINALLY FINISHED THIS

so yeah, have the divine warriors of the second war of the magi!!

more deets n closeups under the cut :3

aph!! i like to think that although the incarnations of the divine warriors r generally pretty similar, they do have some minor differences. for example, whereas the matron of the first war of the magi (irene) had one of the sets of wings on her head covering her eyes, the matron of the second war (mcd!aphmau) has both of them held back. this is bc whereas irene had lost her humanity (and therefore the ability to connect with mortals), aph hasn't - and, therefore, her eyes are open to the struggles of humanity. additionally, i took a lot of inspiration from honkai impact 3rd for these designs - in aph's case, i was inspired by elysia's herrscher of human: ego battlesuit and how it looks like a wedding dress (which a lot of folks have interpreted as an expression of her love for humanity, which is smth i want to convey w aph).

i think my favourite part of aaron's destroyer form is his seal (the thingy behind his head like a halo). i wanted to rlly play into the whole destroyer/devourer aspect of his abilities and domains, and i thought a black hole would fit perfectly! it also sort of (unintentionally) plays into how i see the dynamic between the matron and the destroyer and how they're both mirrors of each other; whereas the destroyer, well, destroys (and his black hole devours everything in sight), the matron creates and nurtures (seen in how aph's seal is almost like a white hole). i also wanted his armour to look a lot like the armour that shadow knights wear, albeit without all the spikes and spines and whatnot given that he isn't a shadow knight himself (shad's destroyer form from the first war probably looks a lot more similar to traditional shadow knight armour).

i'm lowkey suuper proud of how travis's keeper form turned out (even if i had to go back right at the end n fix it bc i forgot to add his tail 😭). i wanted this form to sort of be a mix between a high mage and a rogue: whereas the keeper embodies knowledge and magick, travis himself is a prankster who relies on cunning and trickery to gain the upper hand on his opponents. as a result, he's the only one who doesn't automatically manifest a weapon when he shifts into this form - instead, i feel like he chooses to rely more on magicks and witchcraft during combat.

katelyn's design was lowkey the hardest to pin down. originally, i wanted to go for something that was suuuper inspired by roman armour and had a copper and teal/turquoise colour scheme, but it wound up feeling too magical girl-ish and i scrapped it. i've retained the roman inspirations, but i headcanon that her flames are so hot they burn blue, so i settled on a blue-and-white colour scheme w some purple elements. i think my favourite part is her gauntlets! i feel like she uses them as an extension of herself/another pair of hands to punch with. the blue elements also lean into menphia's association with the moon - in ashes, ashes, tu'la is based on the roman empire and, as a result, is where werewolves originate from, and with werewolves having such close ties to the moon.... yeah. i'll probably do a post on tu'la later on at some point.

my blorbo

garroth's design is probably the one that's changed the least, but i'll still need to update his ref sheet anyway. i don't know if i conveyed it very well but the sort-of wing-things on his back are slabs of earth that can be shaped into a shield - originally i had him holding a shield but i wanted him to look a bit more divine warrior-ish so i retooled his design.

the boy! i was tossing up between having vylad or dante fill the role of the wanderer, but i settled on dante as i feel like vylad fits better as a sort of weird guide sort of figure within the narrative. plus, i have a real soft spot for dante and wanted him to remain in the limelight a little bit - i love his dynamic with garroth and laurance and i wanted to explore that further. i sort of wanted to play into his whole red-and-blue colour scheme that we see in canon diaries, but bc kul'zak is a nature deity (specifically of the wilderness), i wanted to incorporate some greenery into his design. i hope i've done an okay-ish job here - overall i'm pretty happy tho, but i can't promise that there won't be any tweaks in the future.

this is a redhead laurance propaganda spreading blog and i Refuse to apologise for it. i'd like to think that laurance's original colour scheme is similar to his justiciar form - lots of beautiful reds and golds and oranges to match the flames of his father's forge - but after he comes back from the nether with a Severe fear of fire he switches to the greens and browns that he's known for in canon. eventually he slowly begins to reclaim his fire and returns to the golds and oranges that he's introduced with (haha colour symbolism go brrrrrr).

but yeah. the special interest is special interesting. let me know if u have any questions!

[sillyteenagegirlinlovewithblocks]

All my head cannons for aphmau characters.°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟𓆝 𓆟 𓆞

Zvahl family. 

Laurence is Italian. 

He’s 5’11

Laurence is a charmer. flowers, dinner dates , stay in dates, anything romantic he gots it. 

He’s very bi and is constantly confused. ( me to laur) 

Laurence was a highlighter kid.

He has really bad Separate anxiety especially from partner. 

He has an iPhone 8 and will keep that thing until he dies or it is dust. I mean like the screen is falling off a little it’s cracked and laggy. 

He can’t do math or tell time on an actual clock. 

He’s dyslexic. ( same same) 

Because he grew up on a farm imma say he’s helped multiple animals give birth. 

Never really had a crush on aphmau he thought he did but he was just jealous that garroth was putting his attention into her and not him. 

Ro’Meave family.

garroth switched rooms with vlyd to have the room the laurances window faces. 

I like to think garrote and Laurence are next door neighbors. 

Non of the ro’Meave children were allowed animals growing up but that didn’t stop Zane from having a pet spider that his parents didn’t find out about until it died but it escaping and garte killing it since he thought a random tarantula just entered there house.( not that he wouldn’t kill it anyways if he knew it was a pet) 

Zenix is one of the ro’mave brothers but he has a different mom and doesn’t live with them. That’s why he hates them sm. ( fuck garte and his cheating ass ) also Zenix looks a lot like garte but he dyes his hair and does makeup to make himself not look it. 

        (That’s also means Zenix is secretly a blonde. ) 

Zianna has forced all the boys to join an activity since they were 3. 

Garroth joined a bunch of different sports but then baseball stuck for him.

Zane joined cooking.

Vylad did cooking, pottery, painting, soccer, ice skating but ultimately he ended up staying in fencing. 

Garroth is the tallest out of everyone and gene is second tallest. 

Garroth 6’2 

Rodriguez family. 

Genes real name is Eugene.

Gene and Dante don’t have the same dad. 

Genes dad was abusive and left when he was 4. 

Dante’s dad died before he was born in the military. 

Gene is super cuddly in his sleep and he often cuddles Zenix in his sleep. 

Sasha has a whole album of them cuddling together. 

Dante and gene have there mothers last name. 

Gene 6’0 

Valkrum family.

Travis is German. ( me to buddy) 

Travis and his dad are best friends and talk about everything together. 

Shalashaska family. 

In Mcd after aphamu I become Irene or got her relic a lot of people were upset with her due to previous prayers unanswered. 

Gelula family. 

Zenix and gene sleep fight due to there childhoods. 

Zenix has a staring problem.

He lives with his mom.

Ashida family. 

So I ignore the nickname Kawaii Chan and just call her nana so that’s how I am referr to her. 

She has 15 siblings. 

10 Boys and 5 girls. 

She's a glass child. 

She a middle child.

So I can't really think of more but maybe ill update if I do but for my last one Imma say Garroth got cadenza a fashion designing job because he’s rich and has friends in high places he just pestered all of them until someone was willing to take a look at her work and actually loved it. 

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟𓆝 𓆟 𓆞

[occasionallyprosie-mc]

MyStreet Headcanons (pt. 1)

Aphmau & Aaron / Katelyn & Travis / Cadenza & Laurance / Garroth & Zane & Vylad

AKA- How I make their PDH/MS actually reflect their MCD equivalents & how I lessen the questionable aspects

btw this is congruent with a MyStreet/MCD rewrite I have floating in my head and am slowly penning :)

Aphmau

(As someone who was homeschooled and then moved to public schooling later in like, I feel appropriately qualified to discuss this)

She was held back a year due to anti-Homeschool stuff but was supposed to enter PDH as a sophomore/is the age of a sophomore

Slyvanna got caught up in working so they could move to Phoenix Drop for the good school system, and then the chaos of house hunting and moving

As a result, Aph never took the 9th grade standardized test

Thus, she enters PDH as a freshman and is forced to repeat her classes

This is also why her and Garroth were best friends as little kids, they are the same age

By MS, she works security at an arcade but because of the high fatality rate she makes insane money (call back to her FNAF series; it might be her canon job?)

Because she’s been there for a couple years now & hasn't died, they can’t afford to lose her

Is naturally a great leader but ask her a leadership question and the crickets are chirping

Or she says “I’m just nice to them wdym ‘How do you make them listen’??”

She Knows things

"What do you think Vylad's up to?" "Oh he's in France." "Cool!"

Everyone assumes she's just still in contact with everyone or keeping up with their socials

She isn't

Sure she's still in contact with a lot of people, but not to the point that she knows where they are and what they're up to at all times

She Just Knows

Comes from being the MS equivalent of God, and also the self-insert of the creator of the story

She is unnaturally good at video games, it’s how she and Aaron met

They joke that yeah, Aaron totally carried her, the reality is she carried him

Dated Zoey after FC/before MS and still gets Christmas cards of her and her two baby brothers

If I remember PDH right, her and Aaron take care of a neighbor's baby (Lilith Garnet I think)?

Nope, instead, they do a 'Fledgling Program' in high school where juniors/seniors adopt either a sophomore/freshman or a middle schooler

Either way, Aphmau's fledgling is a girl named LG (Lilith Garnet) who's an outspoken, bright, sassy girl with a little sister she adores (Alina) but loves loves loves to tease

Dante is her (adoptive) twin

They do a survivalist thing in college together, get lost in a snowy forest, and now they call each other twins

Same birthday as Dante, like year/month/day are the exact same they were just born hours apart (partial reason for twin thing)

She refuses to do couples costumes with Aaron on Halloween because her and Dante are doing a costume together

Aphmau 100% cannot swim because Sylvanna tried to teach her when she was little and got scared of her baby drowning so she keeps Aphmau away from pools from then on

She is a 10/10 skater though, it's the only sport-y thing she can do

ice skating, roller-skates and rollerblades, skateboards, scooters, all of that

She can do spins and kick flips easily, but she's hopeless in other sports

Ask her to kick a ball straight, and yeah it's straight, just to her left and not forward at the net

Has kicked a ball behind her

She tries to teach Zane how to skateboard and he kicks the skateboard into her face (they don't go to the skate park together again)

Is genuinely so smart, absorbs information like a sponge and will infodump whatever obscure thing she's learned on you if you're quiet for 0.2 seconds too long

Aaron

Not super senior, just regular senior

He skipped a grade in school

He transfers into PDH at like 16-17ish

By age/when he was born in the year, he should've been a junior

Derek makes him skip a grade because he doesn't like Aaron being at a public high school

He's like two years younger than Melissa

Anyone who's seen JJK -- Aaron and Melissa are the Fushiguro siblings

In middle school, Aaron's always angry and always getting into fights

He has a sense of righteousness and he will inflict it on others whether they like it or not

This travels through high school and into adulthood, but he's better at restraining himself as an adult

Is good at video games but Aphmau consistently beats him

It's half of what why he fell in love with her after learning Shu = Aph

Tried to tear out his eyes once after PDH S2, Melissa caught him and stopped him

It's why he wears his blindfold in GD and FC

He doesn't wear a blindfold in MS at all (until Emerald Secret)

Instead he works between PDH and MS to control his eyes with a motivation he lacked as a kid

Does boxing and gets Katelyn into it

They fight a lot but its like spars so they're chill

Bonds with Garroth during LLP and starts being dragged into his shenanigans without escape

Zane unsettles him, for no good reason, he tries very hard to make friends bc he's Aphmau's best friend and Aaron is consciously aware of the person Zane is

But he still feels some underlying hatred toward him and it does not make sense

He originally thinks its jealousy, but then they talk at the end of S1, and he's trying so hard to tamp it down but it's always just there in the very back of his mind

Works as a dog trainer; loves it but Derek hates it

Volunteers at the same puppy hospital as Travis

Their coworkers make fun of his last name (Lycan) and the fact that he works with dogs

The running joke is that Aaron is actually one of the dogs turned human and he's there to break them all out

Travis will reference this when they're not at work and they both refuse to elaborate

During Starlight, Aaron frequently leaves his and Aphmau's room to go to Melissa's and just sits on the floor by her bed

Most of the time, Melissa will wake up tell him just get in the bed or find a couch

It's because of nightmares

Before Aphmau, Melissa was the one who helped him control the whole Ultima thing, so he always turns to her on instinct for help or comfort

Goes to therapy at some point between FCU and MS, Dottie is his therapist and she's amazing at it

She also doesn't let Derek pay her under the table to tell him how Aaron's doing with control, unlike Aaron's past therapists

He and Aphmau are the "He fell first, she fell harder" couple but a little skewed

He fell in love with her in PDH, she fell in love too but when they broke up in PDH S2, Aaron never gets over her and Aphmau learns to

By MS S1, he's still in love, but she's convinced herself it was puppy love like high school sweethearts usually are

She gets hit with a truck that says "you still love him" at some point in S1

Aaron dated Lily (MCD!Aaron's wife) in FCU to try and get over Aphmau, it doesn't work and Lily can tell, she breaks it off with him because she knows she deserves better

Is the most mentally stable of the mentally unstable group while also being the most mentally unstable

His mental stability is an extremely solid skyscraper on top some dry spaghetti noodles

Aaron's the age of a junior but he's a senior, Aphmau's the age of a sophomore but she's a freshman.

I understand that Jess made the age gap as it was to reflect hers and Jason's, but Aphmau and Aaron are in a diff situation. You're can't really lie about their ages when you're in school together.

[agua-cat]

RELIC HOLDERS - KATELYN

I’m back and writing this on the bus so apologies if there’s any typos!!

Let us begin…

Katelyn here is Slovakian, her native language is Slovak and her second is English. Whilst she was born in Ru’uan I have considered that the general Idea of “ñthe country Slovak to be within another region of sorts.

Katelyn holds Menphia’s relic, already with fire powers from her time as a jury member she fits the concept of the “Fury” well. I have a lot to speak about when it comes to Menphia as the Divine Warriors somewhat changed conceptually.

Katelyn has full control of the weather (though right now it’s very easily swung by her emotions at any moment). I believe she also has the ability of increased strength but I’ve yet to play around with this.

She’s passionate. She’s also one of the two holders who hasnt absorbed her relic. The thought of it makes her absolutely anxious and sick with worries- see here I have it so that upon absorbing the relic you become immortal and can only be slaughtered by other relic holders.

As of where she’s at in this rewrite upon receiving and using the relic - she is the leader of the Dragon Ward and is happily in a committed relationship with Travis.

She considers Garroth as a brother of hers, they escaped O’khasis together in my rewrite and thus she’s a little protective over him as she knows exactly what he’s been through.

The scar across her mouth was given to her by zane whilst she was in the jury.

~~~

HI OKAY THSTS ALL TODAY

i probably have more to say but I’m incredibly travel sick and I need to get off my phone </3 I hope you all enjoyed nonetheless

Yes, Katelyn is Bisexual in my rewrite !!!!

[xerith-42]

MCD Fighting Style breakdown

for @gonedreaminggg as a treat. I took your initial list, added a few ideas I came up with, had a breakdown, Bone apple teeth!

- Laurance: As seen in canon Laurance mainly uses a single large sword, though in his early appearances he uses a sword and a shield. I feel like Laurance has trained in multiple styles of combat to varying degrees. He's really good with a single sword of any size, and he can fight sword and shield. His dual wielding is lacking and he can tell every time he watches Dante fight. A lot of Laurance's movements are very basic forms of sword combat with slight variations and flare. Laurance is really light on his feet, so much so that when he really gets into a fight, it almost looks like he's gliding sometimes.

- Garroth: An absolute tank. Fuck what canon says here, Garroth has trained exclusively in fighting with a sword and shield. It is his bread and butter. His ass would not know what to do with a second sword, and nobody really tried to train him in anything else because he's so good at what he does. Garroth can and will always take the hits, he's a barbarian who manages to suppress the rage until he's forced to multiclass into paladin thanks to the relic. Always on the front lines, so good at throwing himself into danger, he wants to die a warriors death and go to Valhalla and both Aph and Laurance are like "Garroth please stop."

- Dante: Dual Wielding jack ass my beloved. Dual wielding isn't a super common style of combat just because it requires so much coordination and there's definitely a quantity over quality problem with guards in Ru'aun. Dante studies an unconventional style of fighting to stand out, and it works. He's super limber and flexible, at least when he's a teenager, and he's fast as fuck. Dante will absolutely be the one getting insane hit combos and doing like 8 attacks per round. He loves bragging about this so much, even though he has to slow down a little as he gets older and his body can't quite move the way it used to.

- Aphmau: Oh Aphmau... Can I call you Aph? You poor thing. In my brain Aph is partially trained by Garroth and Zenix in her early days, but she also just has some really good instincts from being Irene's reincarnation. She learns basic archery from Zenix, and a lot of basics in sword fighting from Garroth. She tends to prefer one lightweight weapon, though she does learn to get comfortable with larger weapons. She's shorter than a lot of her opponents so she likes having a lighter weapon that let's her move fast and go for the fucking knees. She does not fuck around in a fight, she will go straight for the kill. All the guards have some sort of honor/respect for their opponents. She doesn't. She will fucking kill you.

- Travis: Travis is the jack of all trades. You put a weapon in his hand and he knows how to use it. He's not particularly great with any one weapon, and he never has a preference. He was taught to always have his guard up and always be able to defend himself, so Travis is much more comfortable with being given a weapon and using it instead of having a preference. He carries a long sword with him everywhere he goes, but that's just in case he can't get his grubby little paws on something else. He also uses potions a lot more in battle than anyone else thinks to, so he's able to make up for any shortcomings in his fighting.

- Katelyn: Punch people at the perfect weak points of their body. Katelyn has done a lot of study into human anatomy and medicine, and she knows all the weak points of the body for taking someone out in a certain way. Want a quick knockout? There's a pressure point on the back of the neck she can hit while blindfolded. Want to make someone winded? Hit them in the solar plexus. Katelyn has honed her body for this style of fighting, she is ripped as fuck, and while she isn't the fastest fighter, mostly due to her still wearing armor, her strikes are powerful enough to make up for it.

- Lucinda: Evil!! She uses her witchcraft obviously, which I have a lot of thoughts about. I think it's basically being a prepared/component caster, so how well she does in a fight depends on what components she brings into it. But Lucinda literally has like three bags of holdings, she can always whip up something to kick your ass. And if she can't, her staff is definitely made out of some ancient tree and she'll just sweep people off their feet with it and then concuss them with the giant curved end of it. She prefers to take people down non-lethally if possible, especially because witchcraft is very susceptible to accidentally killing people, but if you hurt her friends, it's on sight,

- Zane: Despite his high position, Zane isn't particularly good with any large weapons. I always envision Zane to be somewhat lanky in his stature, and definitely the weakest out of his brothers. He doesn't want to be seen as a threat initially, and as shown in the series, he'd much prefer to find a non physically violent way to kill you. If he has to, he's always got knives hiding on his person, in his robe, in his belt, in his boots, man's always has a way to kill just in case.

- Nana: Magic in this universe is spontaneous casting, where most spells don't need active prep work, and fewer components. Like she needs her dolls as vessels and some magical energy that's naturally present in her body and she's good. I don't think Tu'la was always a safe place, and she likely learned to defend herself from a young age. But Nana isn't really good with conventional weapons like swords or bows, no, she knows how to dent your brain with a frying pan. She doesn't like being violent, but if you threaten her friends or family, she will absolutely demolish you with a cutting board.

- Vylad: The archer!! I like to think Vylad tried to spar with Garroth like once and hated it so much. He hates eye contact and getting close to people, so instead they learn how to be an absolute master of ranged combat. Vylad knows how to stab someone with a short sword in a desperate situation, but he'd much rather be perched on a tree above the battlefield and rain arrows from above. Vylad is also incredibly stealthy and faster than anyone else. So people see his perch and try to get there to take him down or have their own archers fire back, but he's already gone.

- Sasha: Sasha moves so gracefully, so fluidly, and almost enchantingly. For her fighting is a performance, she's gonna kill several people and she's gonna look good while doing it. Even when she was a trained guard she made herself stand out with an affinity for smaller curved blades that naturally assisted her fluid movements. She makes fights into an endurance test, cutting people up and whittling them down. But if she needs to kill, she knows how to do it in a single swipe and knows the weak points that guards are taught to protect, and the ones they aren't. She's such a menace :)

[someoneshitinmysoup]

random mcd head cannons

travis during s3- WOW this is a rough one. poor guy. i rlly hate how an honestly rlly good character is undermined by his constant objectification of women but I DIGRESS. he mediates and kills the shapeshifting imps night and day. at this point he’s really good at recognizing their magicks- however he always falters for a second when they take the form of katelyn

laurance is a short king. hate that term but only use it ironically. he’s not super short but more like 5’ 8” but every time someone says their height he just chuckles and goes “really? cause i’m 6’1… so”

Garroth enjoys quiet time in the village. he seems like he’d have a silly little secret hobby like gardening or something. somewhere he can just be himself (was more helpful in his fugitive days while still wearing his helm 24/7- his secret gardening area gave him a break from wearing it) he likes to plant purple flowers to see aph smile

dante is always down for a challenge- more rampant in his younger years but a trait he never looses. he’s always the guy to look at a tall object and say “… who thinks i can climb that??” or to always wanna start arm wrestling/ dare or dare with the other boys

katelyn… oh boy do i hate how her very intricate character was made into “argggg anger issues”. she has a very interesting mix between calmness/ introspection and love for justice/tendency to escalate to anger. i think she genuinely does struggle with anger issues however i think her free time is spent almost 100% on calming practices when she’s not training

lucinda. you can’t TELLL me from her voice actor that she doesn’t have a tangible aura around her. non magickal characters can’t really place their finger on it, but when they’re around lucinda they don’t rlly wanna leave and it feels kind of ? warm? and comfy. warm like vanilla and cinnamon. this is a spell she casts to make people accept/ have natural disposition towards her because of how outcasted she feels as a witch

[t4tdanvis]

danvis + garrance but theyre paranormal investigation youtubers. yeag

danvis .....

[dilly-dahlia]

welcome to the compiled list of all my work and posts relating to any rewrites I have done. this is also where you can keep up with my progress on certain bigger works and see what kinds of one shots I'm planning on posting. enjoy, I hope you have fun on your journey

fill out this google form to let me know which taglists you want to be on!

✎ insinuates that the work was a request!

300 follower milestone event

MULTIPART FICS !

The Guard at the Window - slow updates, 17.2k words

laurance x reader, tangled au

The Problem With Popularity - slow updates, 44.1k words

gene x popular!reader, pdh

untitled - currently writing

garroth x reader, hadestown au

untitled mcd rewrite - planning stages

ONE SHOTS !

aphmau . . . !

untitled - in progress... ✎

aaron x reader, hurt/comfort, ultima reveal, mystreet

untitled - in progress... ✎

aaron x werewolf!masc!reader, sunshine/grumpy, pdh

Blue Haired Boy - 2.8k words

dante x reader, fluff, meet cute, mystreet

Boy in Love - 5.5k words ✎

dante x reader, fluff, light angst, mystreet

Would You Be Mine? - in progress... ✎

dante x witch!reader, getting together, lolita fashion, mystreet

Untitled - in progress…

dante x reader, angst, clubbing, mystreet

Must Be Love - 4.9k words ✎

garroth x reader, fluff, falling in love, mcd

Untitled - in progress... ✎

garroth x masc!reader, established relationship, face reveal, mcd

No One Knows - in progress... ✎

gene x reader, bittersweet, second chance, mystreet

Longing for Skies of Blue - 9.3k words

laurance x reader. angst, bittersweet ending, mcd

The Heart of a Human - 4.1k words ✎

travis x reader, angst, death, mcd

epic the muscial . . . !

untitled - in progress...

telemachus x circe's nymph!reader

untitled - in progress... ✎

telemachus x reader, friends to lovers

HEADCANONS !

aphmau face claims 1 (Ivy, Sasha, Laurance, Garroth)

aphmau face claims 2 (Gene, Dante, Travis, Zenix)

aphmau face claims 3 (Cadenza, Nicole, Katelyn, Lucinda)

garroth with a pregnant reader ✎

height headcanons

hair headcanons (Aphmau, Laurance, Katelyn)

pdh!jefflyn headcanons ✎

THE ARCHIVES

old aphmau fanfiction i found while going through notebooks and my google docs

Realm Royals oc insert

mcd Garroth x criminal/Jury of Nine oc

[starhvney]

𝐓𝐘𝐏𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐃𝐑𝐔𝐍𝐊𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐀𝐑𝐄

𝐅𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆: blaze, daniel, dante, garroth, gene, jeffory, laurance, travis, vylad, zane, zenix, dottie, katelyn, kim, lucinda, nana, nicole, sasha, teony

𝐂𝐖: none besides alcohol use

𝐀/𝐍: here's something quick and random while i work on other stuff

𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐀𝐅𝐅𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐎𝐍𝐄

they already had that deep affection and passion for their friends and loved ones, so when you put alcohol into the mix they become a huge sap. they’ll be clinging to you tightly, declaring their loyalty and devotion with a cheery smile. let’s hope you’re okay with physical touch because they’ll either be hugging you, brushing your hair, holding your hand, or resting their head on your shoulder all night. they’re one of the best drunks to be with because they’re perfectly happy but also not obnoxious or reckless. 

garroth, nana, daniel, jeffory, nicole, teony 

𝐒𝐓𝐔𝐏𝐈𝐃 

they are the friend you have to keep on a tight leash when they’re drunk. whether they’re clumsily stumbling, challenging someone to wrestle, or “showing you how fast they can run down the street”, you won’t have a dull time with them. while it can be a bit stressful to watch over them and make sure they’re not getting themselves killed, some of your funniest drinking memories are with them.

blaze, dottie, katelyn, nicole, zenix

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐄𝐌𝐎𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐎𝐍𝐄

alcohol always brings out the things people try to hide about themselves, and they’re not immune to this. they always portray themselves to be strong (in their own different ways), so when that barrier comes down they can reveal that sensitive layer that they have buried underneath. whether they’re emotional in a happy or sad way, they end up feeling embarrassed about it, so they may take a second to bury their faces in your shoulder or the table to gather themselves. if you just give them a hug and they’ll get over it pretty quickly… or not.

garroth, nana, katelyn, kim

𝐀𝐒𝐋𝐄𝐄𝐏

if you want to have fun when you drink with them it’s a hit or miss. they’re either having a blast or passed out, no in between. one second they’re sipping on their drink, and the next time you look over they’re face down against the table, light snores coming from their mouth. you have to force them to get another drink in for them to get energetic, but it’s just so hard to fight against their sleepy eyelids.

daniel, kim, zane

𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐈𝐒 𝐅𝐔𝐍𝐍𝐘

if you give them a drink they get a serious case of the giggles. somehow they crack even funnier and creative jokes when they’re drunk… or maybe it’s just funny because they’re slurring their words and sound stupid. they will be doubling over in laughter at every small stupid thing, whether someone tripped or someone said a dumb joke. either way, you’ll be waking up wondering how your sides and ribs are sore, but it’s just because you couldn’t stop laughing with them all night.

blaze, dante, laurance, travis, jeffory, teony

𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍 𝐃𝐑𝐔𝐍𝐊?

they hold their alcohol like a champ. yeah, they’re feeling loose and having fun, but they don’t really act too differently than when they’re sober. they’re so chill and laid back that you’re starting to question if they’ve just been drinking water this whole time. they could be blackout drunk and still act like they hadn’t drunk anything at all that night. truly impressive.

gene, lucinda, sasha, vylad

©starhvney, 2024. please do not steal or repost my works as your own.

[crispys-records]

my fav thing ever is zane living with garroth and laurence.

zane, who wakes up in the middle of the night to commotion on the first floor, walks up stairs, and sees laurence and garroth impulsively trying to fix the breaker box instead of calling a fucking mechanic bc "it cant be that hard" (they make it worse). zane, who will only ever compliment laurence on his cooking and then decides it was a mistake when laurence drops to his knees and starts praising the lord dramatically for a single compliment from zane. zane, who will casually walk out of thw basement in a pinkie pie shirt and ask garroth if they have any more bagel bites, only to see that garroth and laurence have invited travis and dante over for game night, and proceed to silently walk back into his basement. zane, who is never explicitly invited to game nights, but will end up joining in before the others leave. zane, who walks outside to see his dumbass brother and the three stooges (laurence, travis, and dante) attempting to scale the house by climbing on top of each other. zane, who is the one who drives them all to the hospital when they eventually injure themselves doing stupid shit like that.

zane "they have elaborate bullshit ideas every 10 seconds. hey zane, lets doorbell dingdong ditch. YOU GUYS ARE PUSHING 30" ro'meave