#posting stuff that had been in my folder for months and months

[oh2bloved]

Oooooooold mlp stuff

[dameronspector]

Happily Ever After

(Continuation to this, I'd suggest reading that first!)

Pairing: Actor!Joaquin Torres x Fem!Actress!Reader

Summary: This is a collection of all the moments you have shared with your co-star, turned best friend, turned boyfriend, Joaquin.

Warnings: This is completely inspired by tom and zendaya and their moments from the nwh press tour, tooth rotting fluff, mentions of panic attacks, mobs, paps being insane, and wanting children, reader is mentioned to be shorter than joaquin, completely inspired by tz.

AN: i am so EXCITED for this. These two + tz are my favourite babies🥹 (pretend the gif is joaquin and reader)

It has been a whole year since that magical confession was shared between you and Joaquin and both of you weren't shy to admit that this past year has been the best year of your lives.

Both of you had mutually decided to keep it private for at least a year. Although, you were sure everyone already knew, but it was fun to pretend like nothing happened. You and Joaquin surely enjoyed it too much.

This past year had made you realise that if you thought Joaquin was an amazing friend, he was an even better (and clingier) boyfriend. He was so attentive and respectful, always cheering you on whatever projects you did- like he was your personal hype man. He was this close to posting your photos all over his room as he considered himself to be your biggest fan. When he did stuff like this, all you wanted to do was squish his pretty little face in your hands and never let him go. He was obsessed with you, but in a positive way- always going out of his way to talk about you and uplift you. The urge to giggle nonstop around him was so strong because he made you feel like a princess.

Joaquin was over the moon. It was like he had permanent puppy dog eyes and heart eyes around you. He would look at you like you saved him, his brown eyes shining with love and everyone clearly noticed that. All he wanted to do was hold you close and never let go, making up for lost time. He had a folder full of your photos on his phone, a polaroid of you two behind his phone case, your picture in his wallet, your scarf lying around his closet, hair ties around his wrist, and an extra bottle of your perfume and shampoo to use whenever you'd be away from from for longer periods of time. The shift in his mood would be immediate--he'd get cranky and irritable, especially if he didn't get to talk to you if the two of you were busy. And when you came back? He'd make sure you wouldn't lift even a finger.

A year ago when you two returned to the party, hand-in-hand and clinging to each other, Sam and Bucky were this close to screaming and running around the venue in happiness. They were so happy for you two that they threw another party the next day and spoiled you. After waiting for a month, you decided to tell your families and they weren't surprised but they were over the moon. Joaquin's abuela had started calling you her daughter-in-law and that made you blush like crazy because Joaquin made no efforts to correct her.

After a year of not getting a chance to work together, you and Joaquin finally got cast in the same movie. It was for a superhero franchise and you were cast as his love interest. It was personal this time around because you two were actually dating. Nobody knew about your relationship yet, but they weren't phased with your closeness because you and Joaquin were always like that. This was just another Tuesday for your colleagues and fans.

The filming was fun, and nerve wracking, at the same time because you had to take extra measures to sneak into his room and vice versa or be careful if you wanted to hang out together but your teams made sure that the two of you were protected and kept their mouths sealed. The two of you made sure to post normal pictures and silly videos to make sure the fans don't think something's up.

The best part of the filming was that you and Joaquin could enjoy a mini vacation on the side as the location for filming was Europe. The two of you had romantic dates, went on sight seeing and museums visits together and clicked millions of pictures. Joaquin's skin was tinted in that lovely shade of pink because of the weather and you were soaking in every moment of it. He looked so beautiful with his curls-loose and messy because of the heat, the loose linen shirts, his pretty moles and golden jewelry shining in the warm European sun, that it made you want to trap him in your arms forever.

Joaquin wasn't any better, trailing behind you like a lovesick fool, holding your bags, helping you put on sunscreen, taking pictures of you at every turn, admiring you in those pretty summer dresses and your skin shining in the sun. His favorite part were the museum and monument visits because you were a history nerd and you would talk about it so passionately that he'd simply stand next you and look at your intellectual explanations and excited hand gestures fondly.

Much to both of your dismay and happiness, the movie was finished and will be releasing soon, which meant that you two had to go on a press tour for it. Now, this was a time where you wished you had a leash for Joaquin because he was not subtle. Not that you weren't any better but him...he'd take every opportunity to touch you and lean into you or flirt with you and everyone around you would just laugh--your costars included. And it just so happened that Sam and Bucky, both, were your costars in this movie. If they weren't insufferable enough on set, then they were going to be ten times worse during the press tour.

-

The interviewer was talking about something on the screen, it was a hybrid interview--as in you all were on set and they interviewer was in a different place so they had to video call. Sam and Bucky were sitting to your left off camera and Joaquin was answering something on your right.

He was wearing a white fleece with black trousers, the color making his cheeks look pink. His hair was gelled back neatly and his skin was glowing. As he was talking, you couldn't help but notice a hair by the bridge of his nose. You leaned in closer and gently brought your hand by his nose, "Wait- there's-", Joaquin paused and stilled his movements, his mouth stretching open in an attempt to stretch his face to help you and you slowly removed the hair before assessing his face, "Yeah, okay. It was a tiny hair, sorry", you said quietly.

Joaquin turned to look at you and said, "Thank you", in a soft tone, his eyes taking you in. You just gave him a bashful smile and turned back to face the camera, noticing Sam and Bucky snickering amongst themselves on the sidelines from the corner of your eye.

As soon as this clip was released, it went viral and everyone wouldn't stop talking about the way he looked at you and the blush on your cheeks.

-

"So, there's a moment in the trailer where (Name), you, fall off a ledge and-"

Joaquin brought his hands in front of him and made a gesture of the hands not meeting together, "Nooo! Pretty heartbreaking, honestly", he said in a light voice while pouting. You laughed and nudged him before doing the same with your hands. Then, you two looked at each other and giggled like two kids who were up to no good.

Sam was sitting next to Joaquin and Bucky next to you and they just shook their heads at your antics. "My god, what are we? chopped liver? You two want some space?", Sam quipped and Bucky grimaced dramatically, the interviewer and the crew laughed.

You and Joaquin separated, your cheeks warm and nervous chuckles leaving your mouths. You looked at Sam and narrowed your eyes at him, conveying that you were going to get his ass after this. Sam threw a smirk in your direction before looking back at the interviewer and you elbowed Bucky in his ribs, which got an 'oof' out of him. Joaquin was just cheesing at you.

-

The next stop for the press tour was London and this time it was only you and Joaquin while Sam and Bucky toured the rest of the USA. You both were making an appearance on the Graham Norton Show today and honestly, you were pretty excited because you thought he was very funny. Joaquin was wearing a dark blue suit with a black shirt inside and you were wearing a green suit with a purple shirt.

"Joaquin, I heard that you were having a lot of difficulties with your suit. Would you like share about that experience?", Graham asked Joaquin.

"Oh man, it was so difficult. Especially 'cus we...we filmed in the European summer, right? After a point I felt like I was gonna pass out because it was so--constricting. Couldn't drink water properly or go to the washroom, in fact, (Name) was more worried about me than I was, so I'm glad she was there because she'd remind me to stay hydrated", Joaquin answered with a smile. The audience cheered at that.

"How could I not?! I was so worried he was going to--I don't know, throw up or choke! His whole mouth would be covered and he had to drink from those eye holes in the mask-- it was scary! And everybody was too casual about it, including him, like hello? Why aren't we worrying about him choking with that thing blocking his nose and mouth?!", you explained and your hands gestured stressfully around your face, eyes wide as saucers.

Apparently that was funny and the whole studio burst out in laughter, including your dumbass boyfriend. You looked at him and pushed him lightly, your face showing surprise and genuine stress for his predicament. Joaquin kept laughing and held your hand in his, squeezing it to comfort you.

“Aww, that’s so sweet of you! Everyone should have a costar like you, (Name)”, Graham teased you, like he knew something was up between the two of you. You let out a chuckle and shook your head, rubbing your thumb across Joaquin’s bicep and bringing it back in your lap.

After returning back to the hotel, Joaquin kissed you stupid, not letting you go and attacking you in kisses because you were “too fuckin’ cute.”

-

A few days prior to the premiere, you were staying at Joaquin’s house to help his family with his sister’s birthday party. Joaquin had told you that you didn’t need to do all that but you shut him up by saying you wanted to (his chest soared with love because you were so kind and helpful and considered his family as your own.) You had forgotten to get her gift from your house and you had to buy some groceries from the market for the lunch, so you were going back to get it when Joaquin offered to drive you there. You reassured him that you’d be fine but him and his mom would have none of it, so he whisked you off to his car.

While the car was stopped at a red light, you listed off the things that you needed to help out with today and Joaquin just looked at you with a dopey look on his face, a wide smile plastered on, the whole time.

“Okay, your mom asked us to get some spices from the market and, uhh- I also noticed we were out of lemons so we need that for the pie and…ooh, we should get some chocolate and raspberries, I was telling your mom about—”

Before you could finish your sentence, Joaquin gently held your chin in his hand and brought you closer to kiss your lips lovingly. You squealed and held his wrist in your hand before he pulled back and smiled at you, his thumb caressing your chin softly. You stared at him with wide eyes and let out a series of giggles.

“Quino, what-”, you couldn’t finish the sentence as he just leaned in and pressed a series of kisses to your lips and the corner of your mouth. You burst out giggling and pressed your hands to his chest, pushing him away slightly.

“Baby, what’s all this?”, you asked him in between laughing.

“You’re so cute. And so pretty. And so sweet. Can’t I love on my girl?”, he said cheekily and pulled back to cradle your face in his hand.

You scrunched your nose at him, “Shut up, you’re so cheesy”, and pinched his nose lightly. Joaquin gave you his famous wrinkly eyed laugh and brought you closer to kiss your cheek before turning back towards the steering wheel.

What you two didn’t notice, was the lone camera lurking nearby, snapping pictures of your sweet moment.

-

You two were caught between wanting to die or cry and wanting to laugh or joke. Because the first thing you two woke up to on the next morning of his sister’s birthday party, were your phones going off like crazy. You grumbled and Joaquin told you to go back to sleep and silenced your phone before he picked up his.

“Hello?”, he groggily answered. You snuggled closer to him and he smoothed a hand across your back.

“What?!”, he suddenly screamed and you jumped, pulling back to look at him in question, bleary eyes trying to focus on him.

“Yeah. Uh-Okay, okay”, he quickly ended the call and propped himself up against the headboard.

“Joaquin, what’s going on?”, you asked him in concern. He looked stressed out.

“Wait..”, he said absentmindedly and frantically opened his Twitter app. And the first thing he saw on his timeline was a picture of you and him, kissing in the car from yesterday. He saw many tweets on his timeline that looked like this:

I fucking KNEWWWW IT!!! YALL LOOK:

what did I say. What did I say. I was in the trenches defending myself omg they’re fr dating.

Joaquin Torres and (Name) CONFIRM their relationship!

All those edits fr came real ..who knows they might have been actually dating all this time MY GOD

These two are so cute omg.

“Oh my god-”, Joaquin panicked while clutching his phone.

You furrowed your eyebrows and sat up, taking his phone and watching it for yourself. The photos were all over the timeline. Everyone was talking about it. You froze, didn’t even move after Joaquin shook you lightly.

“Fuck”, you breathed out.

“I know. I’m so sorry, angel-” “Quino, why are you sorry? We’re allowed to do whatever we want to in our own car. It’s the person’s fault for stalking us like that”, you cupped his chin in your hand.

Joaquin’s eyes were sad and apologetic, like this was his fault. He knew you wanted to keep it private for sometime and berated himself for being so stupid to kiss you in front of the whole world like that.

“But-” “Joaquin, no. Let’s have a meeting with our teams and we’ll figure something out, okay? And if you’re alright with it…I wouldn’t mind telling everyone now”, you soothed him with one hand buried in his curls.

He snapped his head up to look at you in shock, “Really? You sure? We don’t have to do anything you aren’t comfortable with, baby.”

You gave him a fond smile and leaned against his chest, hands flat against it and supporting your head up. His arms came around your waist automatically, like a magnet.

“People have been guessing about it for years, anyways. And I’d love to show off my beautiful boyfriend”, you winked at him and he laughed gleefully.

“Shut up”, he squeezed your waist lightly. You giggled and leaned up to kiss his cheek.

“I hate that they’re just posting these pictures like that…is it so difficult to maintain our privacy?”, Joaquin grumbled, his face twisted in annoyance. You gave him an understanding look.

“Yeah, I know, baby. We’ll handle that, hm? Let’s call up our managers and arrange a meeting right away”, you consoled him. He hummed and kissed your forehead in response.

The meeting went well. You and Joaquin put forward your points and rules about how you’re going to handle this and the guidelines for the paparazzi/interviewers. It was decided that you won���t deny your relationship but nobody would ask you questions or secretly click your pictures unless you two allow it. Joaquin was a bit more firm about the paparazzi rules, worried about your safety and wanting to protect you.

After laying down all the rules and signing some papers, you were relieved and free to go to the premiere.

-

Joaquin reached the red carpet before you, wearing a beautiful maroon suit with his glasses and he was giving interviews while waiting for you. Both of you had decided that you’d arrive on the red carpets separately, wanting to give each other space to enjoy your own moment but Joaquin being Joaquin, spent the whole time talking about you and missing you. Not that you weren’t doing any better back in your room but he was a little bit extra.

“Joaquin, welcome to the red carpet, how are you feeling tonight?”, the interviewer asked him.

Joaquin grinned, “Oh, it’s amazing. I feel good, the energy is electric, I can see all the fans waving and callin’ out for me- I’m really excited”, he gushed. He was practically bouncing off the walls with his excitement, this was nourishment for his extroverted self. “And I get to share this with my most favourite people in the whole world so, yeah”, he added cheekily.

The interviewer smiled knowingly, “And who are these people, Joaquin?”

Joaquin opened his mouth to answer before he heard cheers next to him. He snapped his head towards the sound and went on his tip toes to find out what the commotion was about. He knew already, it was you- he called you the people’s princess because of how much everyone loved you.

“What’s happening, can you see? I bet it’s (Name)”, the interviewer commented while leaning forward to look for herself.

Joaquin let out a joyful chuckle when he saw your blurry form down the carpet, “Yes, that’s definitely her. Those cheers are an indicator of that”, he replied gleefully, his eyes shining with admiration and love for you.

The interviewer smiled, the camera capturing his smitten reaction but he paid no heed to any of that—his entire body dialled in to your movements. He could see your maroon dress- you wanted to match with him- and the way you were smiling and waving to the crowd, looking every bit of the star that you are, the camera flashes making you sparkle.

You soon made your way over to where he stood, the interview long forgotten, and as soon as you caught his eye, your face shifted in happiness and he flashed you a fond smile before making his way over to hug you.

“Hi, angel”, he murmured quietly in your ear, tugging you close to him with his arms around your waist. You returned the gestured and squealed in happiness, your arms looped around his neck and face pressed against the side of his head.

“Hi, Quino”, you cooed in his ear and he gently swayed your bodies back and forth. You reluctantly pulled back and he kept his hands around your waist to admire your look for today.

“You look so beautiful. Like a princess. And everyone was cheering so loudly for you, baby, you really are a princess”, he compliment you softly, brown eyes taking you in and thumbs gently rubbing your sides.

You blushed, “Shut up, Torres, you’re so cheesy”, your eyes flickering around the space, taking notice of the cameras going crazy around you two.

“We should get back to work, baby. Look at the cameras”, you whispered to him and gently pushed at his chest. Joaquin looked at you with love and affection for a moment longer before turning around and wrapping an arm around your waist, posing for the cameras. You two flashed your best smiles and Joaquin tugged you closer, the flashes going off at that.

You giggled and gently put a hand at the back of his head, thumb caressing his curls carefully and he let out a bashful laugh at that, eyes crinkling at the corners and cheeks reddened. And the photos and videos of the premiere were all over the internet that night.

Are you guys seeing this…..her touching his hair and him going all blushy….god me when???

Oh my god these two aren’t even trying to hide it anymore??? So sick and twisted .

Ur telling me they were matching each other and were all cuddly the whole night and no one batted an eye???? We need to get Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes on the line to spill some tea

Oh my god did y’all see this video of Joaquin forgetting about the interview to look at (Name) entering the venue?/!/!/ ME AND WHO

You and Joaquin spent the whole night laughing at the tweets and posts about you two and he decided to tease them further by posting a picture of you on the red carpet, waving at the crowd and captioned it “People’s princess 👸” and tagged you in it. Everyone lost their minds at that.

-

Finally, the press tour was over and the movie was a huge success and you and Joaquin were able to safely dodge any questions about your relationship. It was unbelievable how well the strategy worked, but it did and you were glad. The movie was going to have another part so you and Joaquin would reunite again and everybody was happy with the news.

Meanwhile, you and Joaquin were still strong as ever, the two of you spent your time at each other’s houses and went on vacations or to visit each other on set. As you approached your two year anniversary, Joaquin asked you to move in and you happily agreed, spending most of your time at his place anyways. On the day of the anniversary the two of you decided to publicly announce your relationship on your birthday, which was approaching soon, so Joaquin had decided to he’d make a post about you and that’s it. No grand announcements or anything. Simple and sweet, just like the two of you.

On the day of your birthday though, you were unfortunately away from home to film for another show, and were pretty bummed about it but Joaquin reassured you that it’s okay and that he’ll be coming to visit you soon. For now, he knew how to brighten your day.

He posted a picture of you two on set— both of you in your costumes and lying down on a couch, your arms around a sleeping Joaquin, whose body was completely on top of you, his head on your chest. Your hands cradled his head, hands buried in his curls and another arm holding him around his back. His arms were looped around you, face relaxed and mouth slightly open, your head leaning against his and your eyes closed in content. His caption: @/joaquint: happy birthday my angel, see you soon. te amo.🤍👼 and he tagged you in it.

Right away, his phone blew up like crazy--fans fawning over you two and excited about the announcement. You were in Europe right now so the time zones meant that he had to wait longer for your response but he was excited for it anyways. Both of your peers congratulated you two, his comments sections filled with thousands of congratulatory messages and the ones that stood out, were from Sam and Bucky, of course.

@/samwilson: Ya'll better thank me and @/jbbarnes for this.

replies

@/jbbarnes: If it wasn't for that night...@/joaquint

@/joaquint: idk what r u two talking about

@/samwilson: Wow. There's a reason why @/youraccountname is our favorite by the way.

@/jbbarnes: Exactly at least she's not ungrateful.

@/joaquint: 🥱

@/fan1: oh?? you guys need to spill the tea..

@/fan2: omg the girls are fightingggg (Name) come get them

@/fan3: 'that night' oh wow i need this story so bad

And 2 hours later, you finally replied to the post--

@/youraccountname: thank you, my quino🥹 i can't wait to see you, te quiero mucho. <3

replies

@/youraccountname: all three of you stop fighting and ft me now @/samwilson @/jbbarnes @/joaquint

@/joaquint: yes ma'am

@/samwilson: yes ma'am

@/jbbarnes: You have become so bossy...But yes we will.

And the fans went crazy over your interactions with each other again.

-

Now that the cat was out of the bag, you and Joaquin felt much relieved and stress free to be spotted together. It’s been 4 years since you two started dating and had officially finished filming the sequel for your superhero movie. This meant press tour for you two—except this time, everyone knows that you’re dating and both of you feel much more comfortable to share about your lives together as well.

Living with Joaquin was a blessing. He was a neat guy, he could cook, he’d help with the chores, he’d keep you entertained with his endless chatter and he was very loving and clingy. He loves cooking for you even though his palate is pretty bland. You tried your best to slowly introduce him to spices but his poor system didn’t agree with it. He’d start crying and his face would get red, which scared you so much that you apologised profusely and vowed to never do it again. He was also very good at keeping you productive—he loved the outdoors so he’d encourage you to go on treks and walks with him and also cheered you on for indulging in any of your hobbies. He’d also help you read scripts with him and quell your worries and anxieties over any projects or just in general. Over all, you were happy and glowing and the credit went entirely to Joaquin.

Joaquin was simply happy to breathe the same air as you. His laughs got brighter, there was a pop in his step, he woke up smiling and went to sleep smiling. He was enjoying living with you a lot. If you were both home, he’d try to make your days as fun as possible and if you had to be away from home, he’d keep the house clean for you, stocking up on your favourite snacks or keeping your things organised—for his favourite activity was looking after you and doting on you. He enjoyed the smallest of moments with you—chopping vegetables for dinner, doing the laundry, watching a boring show or movie while you mindlessly talked to each other, grocery shopping— he loved it all. He loved you and everything that came with you.

He was so excited to do another press tour with you, happy to he spending time with his favourite person in the whole world again. But this time you’d do it as a public couple, everyone knew about you two and he could be freely affectionate with you, without coming off as too strong—just the usual of holding hands, staring at you to his heart‘s content, freely complimenting and flirting with you.

Which brings you to the press tour and this time, the two of you—mainly Joaquin—did not hold back on the affection.

You and Joaquin were sitting in front of a screen again, the setting giving you a déjà vu to that interview four years ago, and you were taking turns to read questions off the screen for the other to answer.

It was your turn to ask the next question-

“Okay, Steal from set?”, you turned to look at Joaquin, who was ready with his answer.

“Your heart”, he shrugged.

“Awww”, you cooed and giggled, your cheeks warming up.

Joaquin just smiled smugly and folded his arms, looking at you intensely.

-

“I think-”

“But, that wasn’t the case though. It could’ve been something else-”, Joaquin accidentally cut you off and seemed to realise his mistake, his face shifting in understanding.

“I’m sorry, what were you saying?”, he asked you softly, in an apologetic tone and extended an arm to lay his warm hand on the junction between your neck and shoulder.

You paused and felt your cheeks burn up again. You shrugged, “Oh nothing, I agree with you.” Honestly, you don’t even remember what were you talking about because he was holding you so protectively and the way he was looking at you like you were the only person in the room, was making you dizzy.

“No- but what were you saying”, he pressed gently, his thumb rubbing over your satin shirt before his hand slid back and forth to massage your shoulder. He was attentive like that, always wanting to know what you wanted to say because he knew you got shy easily.

You swallowed your nerves lightly before speaking up, “Um, I was just saying that…”

And Joaquin kept his hand around your shoulder for the entire time, looking at you like you hung the moon and stars in the sky.

-

“So, how was it like filming this time around? Since certain things have…changed”, the interviewer asked, trying to be subtle but failing

You and Joaquin turned to look at each other before breaking out in smiles and leaning closer, shaking your heads bashfully and breaking out in giggles, his arm holding the back of your chair to anchor himself, your back brushing against it occasionally.

“Well, it was great. I got to spend time with my favourite person in the whole world”, Joaquin conceded with a content smile on his face, his hand smoothing over your back. You broke out laughing, your face warming up. The interviewer smiled knowingly and Joaquin looked at you, letting out surprised chuckles of his own.

“What- what happened?”, he let out between chuckles.

You laughed harder and clamped your hand across your mouth, coughing lightly before taking in a deep breath to look up.

“Nothing! nothing. It was fun working with you too”, you finally got out and flashed him a big smile, your cheeks hurting from happiness.

Joaquin shook his head and smiled, your infectious laughter making his heart soar.

-

“I remember being like- don’t worry!-”, Joaquin said while fiddling with his water bottle. Sam chuckled next to him.

“It’s so cool though!”, you added and your leg started moving up and down unknowingly. You did that a lot when you were feeling nervous/anxious or sitting idle.

“-you can hit me, and he was like-”, Joaquin made an oof sound and pretended to punch himself in the ribs while also catching the movement of your leg. “Owww”, Joaquin exclaimed before gently, and subtly, laying a hand on your knee, ceasing the shakes.

“Okay!”, you slowly stopped your leg stopped, you looked at him with gratitude and held the hand on your knee, caressing his knuckles with your thumb.

Sam looked at you two and smirked, shaking his head fondly.

-

“What was the best part about working on this movie?”, the interviewer asked the question to Joaquin.

“The best part about working on this movie was getting to work with (Name)”, Joaquin replied instantly and smiled.

You laughed and looked at him fondly.

“And I would love to work with her again. I wanna work on your show”, Joaquin looked at you and whined dramatically while dragging out the ‘w’.

“Okay! I’ll talk to some people, we’ll get you there, don’t worry!”, you consoled him.

Joaquin let out a ‘Whoop’ and whispered a “Yess”.

-

“Who’s your hero in real life?”

“(Name).” No hesitation whatsoever from Joaquin, his face completely serious.

You laughed before adding “Joaquin Torres. He’s my hero!”

Both of you leaned in at the same time and wrapped your arms around the other, your cheeks pressed together. He rocked your bodies back and forth and you laughed, the swell of your cheeks making him smile brightly and his heart skipping a beat.

-

“(Name), how does a day look like in your household”

You cleared your throat, “So, we wake up, we usually make our breakfast because we’re kind of on a health journey”, you looked at Joaquin and he nodded along.

“And also because Joaquin needs special preparation for his food”, you teased lightly and Joaquin groaned softly, “Aw-nooo, (Name)!”, throwing his head back dramatically.

“Wait- special?”, the interviewer asked curiously.

You laughed and patted Joaquin’s shoulder, “Mr. Torres here cannot handle any kind of spice. And I mean- not even a bit of pepper-”

Joaquin gasped, “That’s not true!”, he grabbed your hand and pulled you closer.

“He’s a sensitive baby, gotta be careful with the precious cargo”, you teased him further and giggled at the look on his face, he was pouting. You pulled his cheek and cooed.

Joaquin grumbled but leaned into your touch.

-

Finally, after that long and fun press tour, it was time for the premiere and once again, Joaquin was giving an interview will keeping an eager eye out for you. It was giving him déjà vu, the crowd’s cheers getting louder, him giving an interview, him getting on his tip toes to see if you had arrived—and you indeed had arrived. Both of you were wearing matching gray suits today—yours was an oversized suit dress and Joaquin was so sure he was going to faint when you came closer.

“Is that (Name)? Oh, she looks so good!”, the interviewer exclaimed, leaning forward to see you.

Joaquin felt himself choke up, a small lump pressed against his throat. “Yeah—that’s her. Looking beautiful as ever, might I add”, he replied in a shaky voice, his eyes shining with tears. Both of you had come so far, and seeing you shine and get the recognition you deserved while standing there and noticing it first hand, was making him feel all soft and mushy. He just wanted to hug you and cry out of pride.

And when you joined him, he looked at you with so much love, pride and joy that it made you stumble back. He gathered you in his arms, pressing a gentle kiss on your temple and you two posed for the cameras. The rest of the night was spent in you two singing praises for each other to every single person on that carpet, all of them looking at you two with adoration and wonder.

“Joaquin was talking about you before you came here, how has it been working with him for the 4th time?”

You let out a content sigh, “It’s been an honour. To know someone so talented and selfless like Joaquin has been so amazing and I’m so lucky that he’s in my life. He’s taught me so much and he’s my rock—so I’m forever grateful for that one show we were cast in because I met my soulmate through that. I cannot wait to do more of this with him”, you confessed and gave the interviewer a sweet smile.

That clip went viral like crazy and everyone wouldn’t stop talking about how sincere, genuine and one of kind you two were for each other. The love between you palpable and real.

While leaving the venue, you got hounded by paparazzi. Flashes went off and blinded you, Joaquin trying his best to shield you from them, his hand grasping yours tightly. But, there were so many people around you asking for autographs that somewhere along the chaos, Joaquin’s hand separated from you and you got lost in a sea of people and hands grabbing you.

You felt the slow panic crawl up your throat, trying your best to relax your shaking hands and swallowing past the lump in your throat with a nervous smile on your face, signing as many books as you could. But the paps kept shoving their heavy cameras in your face and you got pushed, the camera hitting you on the shoulder when suddenly Joaquin pushed past the people and aggressively pushed the paparazzi and fans away, an arm coming up to bring you close to him.

“Don’t touch her!”, Joaquin snarled, his face twisted in anger and voice dropping a few octaves. He pushed everyone away from you again, his hands shaking with fury and jaw clenched so tightly, you were worried he’d hurt his teeth. It was scary as you’ve never seen him this angry, ever.

“It’s okay! It’s okay, Quino”, you tried to soothe him, a hand massaging his shoulder but he wasn’t having any of it, tugging you impossibly closer to him, bringing you into his chest and helping you get in the car.

Once you were in the car, he took a few deep breaths in and turned to hold your face gently into his hands.

“Are you okay?”, he asked quietly. You were still recovering from that mini panic attack so you just brought your shaky hands up to hold his wrists and nodded weakly against his palms.

Joaquin’s eyebrows furrowed in worry, “You’re shaking, baby, c’mere”, he removed his hands and gestured you to lean against him, your face pressed into his chest and his arms around your back.

“Thank you”, you murmured into his suit and hugged him closer. He leaned his chin on top of your head before pressing a lingering kiss to it, his hands smoothing against your back. He had never felt so scared before as he did a few minutes ago. Not being able to see you or feeling your hand drop from his in a mob full of people, made him feel like his heart was going to explode.

He doesn’t give a fuck if the media calls him an asshole or aggressive, all caution goes out of the window the moment you’re in danger. He saw your breaths quicken, he saw the way your hands shook as you hated crowded places. And come what may, he’d do anything to protect you, even if it cost him his own career.

Little did he know that he was praised, for his protectiveness and for having a spine to defend his partner in public, all over the world.

-

2 Years Later

Joaquin Torres knew he was going to be with you for life from the moment he saw you. Everything about you was magnetic and beautiful. He couldn’t help but be completely and totally in love with you. If he ever decided to write about his feelings for you, he’d have to write thousands of novels because he had so much to say and so much to appreciate. Instead, he showed it with his actions—acts of service and touch being his primary love languages.

He’d do anything for you— everyone knew that. He’d get on his knees and worship you. You were everything, you made him into a better man. Your kindness, your courage, your love—it made his chest ache and soar at the same time.

He’d picked out a ring for you, 2 years ago, on your birthday. Thought he’d propose right away but he was afraid, Sam and Bucky tried to knock some sense into him but he told them he wanted to wait. Wait until the of you were ready, wait until he got some hints from you that you wanted to settle down with him.

But that ring was ready. It was a simple golden band with a square cut diamond on it. Classy and elegant—just like you. It was sitting in his office for 2 years now. He’d started to drop hints about marriage, you humoured him and painted a lovely picture of it—a sweet wedding ceremony, adopting a dog or a cat later and then kids. You wanted it too. That’s all he needed to get the push to finally pop the question.

You were both older and mature now, almost nearing your 30s. He yearned for that happily ever after with you, wanting to live a life of happiness and love.

So he took you to the place where it all began—the pier overlooking the city skyline where he first confessed his feelings to you.

“Oh, it’s been so long since we came here, no?”, you asked him with a quiet voice, your head slightly turned to the side to watch his pretty profile.

The two of you were standing on a deck overlooking the pier and the ocean, with you pressed against the railing and his arms caging you against it, your back against his chest. You were wearing jeans and a red sweater, his request, and he was wearing a black crewneck paired with jeans.

The gentle ocean air carried the smell of salt and swept your hair, fly aways on your forehead and his curls tousled. He looked down at you, your face illuminated by the orange tinge of the setting sun and felt his heart hammer against his chest, the velvet box making his pocket heavier.

"Yeah", he replied just as quietly, his voice cracking out of nervousness. Joaquin leaned in to press a careful kiss against your hairline and you cuddled closer to him, his arms around your stomach bringing you closer to his chest. He cleared his throat and whispered your name, bringing your attention back to him. You opened your eyes and turned around to face him, his arms holding your hips. His face was set in a nervous frown, eyebrows drawn close tightly and eyes shining with unshed tears. Your face shifted with worry.

"Quino? You okay?", you asked him softly and cupped his chin in your palm. Joaquin swallowed before squeezing your hips.

"Angel...I- I was doing just fine before you came into my life. Thought I had everything and I was happy. But, then you entered- with your beautiful soul and infectious smile and I knew what was I missing", Joaquin paused as he felt himself choke up from the tears he was keeping at bay. You stared him, face frozen with disbelief and nervousness. He took your hand on his chin and held it against his heart.

"You were the missing piece of my life. You complete me. You're my everything and I'd do anything for you. I'll- I'll cut the onions for you if they hurt your eyes too much, I'll wake up at 3 am if you feel like eating something or if you can't sleep, and- and I promise to let you drool over my shoulder when you sleep", you guffawed, while he let out a watery chuckle at that.

"You captivated me every single day. I find out something new to love about every day- be it the way you stop to pet every single street cat that you see, or-or the fact that you talk to our plants because it's good for their nourishment, the way you stand up for the vulnerable and always put the ones in need before you--you are literally an angel. Sometimes I feel like you protect me more than I do you. But--let me promise you that I will protect and love you till we are old and gray and our kids have left our nest. I will love you as long as I breathe. You're my heart, my soul and my life", he whispered the last part, his hands shaking and eyes overflowing with tears.

You snapped your eyes up, staring at him in surprise before he gently pulled away from you to retrieve a velvet box from his pocket and opened it. You gasped at the ring, it was so you. He went down on one knee and you covered your face with your hands, overwhelmed with shock and emotion. "So, will you marry me, (Name)?", he asked you nervously, his voice wavering.

You sniffled and looked at him, the setting sun making his sharp features pop out, his curly hair messed up by the wind and his gorgeous face shining with tears. You let out a cry and pulled him up before tackling him in a hug, causing him to stumble back and hold you tighter.

"Yes! Oh god, a thousand times, YES!", you cried against his shoulder and he cradled your head before rocking your bodies back and forth. He pulled away and held your left hand in his, sliding the ring on and you squealed before smushing his face in your palms and crashing your lips against his.

He let out a surprised chuckle against your lips and brought you closer, a hand grabbing the back of your neck and the other hand holding your waist. The two of you pulled back, breathless and lips swollen and leaned your forehead against each other. You buried your hands in his curls and kissed his cheeks thrice. He cupped your cheeks in his hands and stared at you lovingly before kissing your forehead, cheeks and the corner of your mouth.

When you got back home, Joaquin told you that Sam and Bucky were actually there, clicking pictures of the proposal and you had laughed heartily before crying out of happiness when you saw the beautiful pictures, your happy and emotional faces surrounded by a breath taking sunset.

You two posted the pictures to your account, one of him kneeling and your hands covering your face and the other where you were leaning your foreheads against each other, with the caption: ..and they lived happily ever after.❤️💍

Fin.

-

AN: AHHHH i hope you guys liked this!!! i love tom and zendaya so much that their story was an inspo for this and their interviews + that video of him protecting zendaya from the paps were what i mentioned here so credits to them, hehe. i love quino and angel a lot pls i almost cried. pls like and reblog!

taglist: @parkersjoy @taylorsroxy @rylonmari @lastofdanny @lovelylupin04 @bingingcontentrn @ny0sang @incxpti0n @og-baby-ob14 @sidkneeeee (sorry if I didn’t tag anyone!!)

[ririright]

“Hayden vs. Technology: PeePaw Mode Activated”

Husband! Hayden x Wife Reader (Headcannons)

Part. 1 — Part. 2 — Part. 3

✦ He screen-records instead of saving.

When you send him a funny video, he’ll record it instead of downloading it.

“That way I know it’s saved.”

His phone gallery is full of shaky, cropped screen recordings.

✦ He refuses to use dark mode.

Even at night, his screen is a blazing white light.

“Dark mode looks so gloomy.”

He doesn’t care that it drains his battery faster.

✦ He’s obsessed with weather apps.

Has at least three and checks them all to see which one is “most accurate.”

“It says it’ll rain, but this one says it’ll be sunny. I don’t know who to trust.”

✦ He refuses to watch Reels with the sound off.

Even in public, he’ll turn the volume up.

“How can I understand the joke if I can’t hear it?”

You’ve started carrying earphones for him just in case.

✦ He loves the flashlight feature a little too much.

You ask him to look for something?

“Hold on.” Flashlight on.

Even if it’s broad daylight.

“Just making sure I don’t miss anything.”

✦ He texts with perfect punctuation, even for the simplest things.

“I’m on my way. Be there in 10 minutes.”

Even his jokes come with commas and proper grammar.

When he’s in a rush, his texts still look like they’ve been edited twice.

“Good morning! Did you sleep well?”

✦ He has a secret sock blog.

It’s called “Solely Socks.”

He reviews new socks, writes about his collection, and has a “Sock of the Month” post.

“Today’s feature is a merino wool blend with moisture-wicking technology. A solid 9/10.”

He’s got a small but loyal following of fellow sock enthusiasts who leave passionate comments.

Most of his followers are retired grandpas.

He refuses to tell his friends about it because “they wouldn’t understand.”

✦ He proudly uses Yahoo instead of Gmail.

“I’ve had this email forever. Why would I switch?”

When you try to send him a Google Doc, he’s confused. “Can’t you just email it to me?”

He doesn’t trust Gmail because “it’s too popular. Everyone’s on it.”

✦ His inbox is pristine.

He has folders for everything: “Family,” “Farm Stuff,” “Receipts,” and “Important Socks.”

If he gets spam, he manually moves it to a “Junk” folder—never just deletes.

His signature is always “Best regards, Hayden” even if it’s a quick reply.

✦ He texts like he’s writing a letter.

“Hello, how’s your day going? I hope everything is well.”

Full punctuation, proper capitalization, and never a single typo.

If he ever uses a smiley face, it’s always the classic: :) or :-) — never emojis.

✦ His phone is a game console.

He’s obsessed with Candy Crush, but only plays in moderation.

“I don’t want to burn through my lives too quickly.”

Solitaire is his go-to for “quiet thinking time.”

He loves Word Cross because he says it “keeps the mind sharp.”

Sudoku is his “serious game.” He won’t be interrupted if he’s on a difficult puzzle.

You once watched him play Sudoku in a waiting room, and he barely blinked.

✦ He’s a master at Candy Crush.

He knows all the best strategies, saves his power-ups for tough levels.

“The trick is to create as many striped candies as possible.”

He’s at a ridiculously high level, but you’ll never catch him bragging.

[idkplzhalp]

What do you know about Caroline in full? /genq

Some background for those who don't know, Caroline from Portal 2 is my favorite character as of 6 years and at some point I started keeping a big list in which I document everything such as info during development, things from devs/voice actors, debunking theories, literally any of her appearances anywhere and other silly stuff too. I also made an image folder with any potential reference or appearance to her in the series/behind the scenes, which i started to upload to a google drive folder and i need to finish it. When I finally make the entire Caroline post & drive folder, I'd wanna post it to my Valve fact blog @thatvalvefanatic. I'm super into getting canon/official facts about things and Caroline is the funnest for me to do as she's so obscure.

So here's some facts (know I have way more but this is already long enough..) since it'll be awhile since I do the big complete analysis post (or the Caroline lore bible, as I call it) that I've been promising for like 3 years lol!!!

Her heels are red! (This is her face model, Laura Dubuk, when she was at SDCC 2012 with Bill Fletcher, Cave's face, for the Neca booth)

Caroline's name was taken from Jay Pinkerton's (the writer's) mother. Erik Wolpaw says the name also means coincidentally "free man/woman". It's also a variant of the name Charles/Charlie (which is a coincidence to Aperture Desk Job's character Charlie (who is likely more of a reference to Chell)).

She's Argentinan and Ukrainian as that is her face model Laura Dubuk's ethnicity (she's stated she's Argentinian, her family speaks Ukrainian/their last name is Ukrainian (ty to the person who gave me that info!)).

The brand of her dress is "Daniel & Rebecca", an Italian brand made in the 80s/90s. Laura got the dress specifically for Caroline from a thrift store.

Caroline is referenced by Jerry the Nanobot. If you slow his audio down and reverse it, you hear "his injury is not expected to end but she's in charge instead". Hearing is subjective here but that's what I've seen as widely accepted. Though Portal 2 has done similar before with the Ghost of Rattmann track, which was just cut up audio of Marc Laidlaw reading an entirely unrelated paragraph. Or like the Dinosaur_fizzle audios from the radios in Portal 1 that people theorized was Caroline screaming from the radio, when it wasn't that at all as that update came before Caroline was created.

Unlike popular belief, Ellen Mclain did not refuse any of Caroline's lines. People spread rumors that the deleted GLaDOS related lines made her cry and that JK Simmons refused to say his lines due to how they sounded like SA, but that's not true at all.

Also, Caroline is NOT Chell's mother. She's too old and too white to be her mom! GLaDOS' arc towards Chell has been confirmed & implied to be queer/romance-esque. You can see some of that in my LGBTQ Valve post, though I need to update it, and I will be making a singular post just for queercoded GLaDOS since there is SO much. One of Valve' employees, Makani, confirmed Chell was not her daughter.

Cave and Caroline aren't married, confirmed by the Portal 2 guidebook. Though they were still likely good friends, based on some of Cave's cut lines, in which he trusts her to do a lot more.

Cave wanted Caroline to be taken care of and respected as CEO/GLaDOS! That part of his GLaDOS speech had been cut though. Those lines are, "Treat her just like you’d treat me." and "Just make sure she’s taken care of."

Portal RTX has a bunch of hidden codes you can find. There are some you use to change the design of the companion cube. Inputting Caroline's name changes it to the pillow cube!

According to Josh Weier, Caroline wasn't added to the game until one month before its release. Originally she wasn't a part of the story and Cave's assistant was a man named Greg. They didn't want to hire an actor for just a couple lines, so they decided to reuse Ellen Mclain, thus creating GLaDOS' human backstory. Though Greg was reused for Perpetual Testing Initiative and the Cave Johnson DotA announcer pack.

Caroline appears in the spinoff/tech-demo Aperture Desk Job, though only as her portrait. This confirms that she can be in other universes just like Greg, though we don't know what happened to her in this one. She's potentially dead, as Aperture Desk Job had Cave live long enough to be put into the machine. The machine was started and he killed some of the scientists. Also Caroline's portrait there is partially covered, covering her side.

I personally believe Caroline to be biromantic asexual! This one isn't a confirmed fact but more speculation. I think the "she's married- to science!" bit could indicate not being apart of traditional straight relationships, also knowing she was never married to Cave either. We already know GLaDOS is biromantic due to her liking Chell (and in spin-offs liking Claptrap and Batman for a time), and she could be considered ace to her cut line in co-op mode saying she found human reproduction ridiculous. Presumably the same would apply to Caroline.

The "Say goodbye, Caroline!" / "goodbye, Caroline!" Bit is a potential reference to The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show (1950) or Rowan and Martin's Laugh In (1968) as both had bits similar to that, and would make sense for Caroline and Cave to reference due to when the shows aired. Some people interpret that line as Caroline being dumb, though that's not true at all! We know she was intelligent from Cave's high praise of her, and if she was actually making a reference to a TV program then it would be even smarter and show that Caroline probably had inside jokes or references with Cave.

Want You Gone says Caroline and Chell are similar (“She was a lot like you”). If true then Chell, as officially described from the Collaborative Disposition Test, “Resolute and tenacious, you won't quit until a puzzle's solved. Your inability to give up against impossible odds makes you a bad match for cooperative test partners who give up against any odds at all, racing to the internet for answers” Could give insight into Caroline’s personality. The Collaborative Disposition Test could give even more insight into her from Cave’s description “You don't see crises - only challengitunities. you choose to scale like mountains. You're a can-do, shoot-from-the-hip, silver-tongued self-starter. You're a good match for any cooperative test partner, providing they shut up and listen.” Caroline didn’t have much dialogue and we know she did the majority of what Cave asked of her/they worked together for at least 30 years. Caroline may very well be Cave’s testing partner who will “shut up and listen”.

Caroline was in the Steam 25th anniversary artwork! Art by Claire Hummel. It is her and Cave drawn over this meme:

okay that's it for now but I did find an iceberg chart I made a few months ago about her so I'm including it even tho some things gotta be adjusted because it's not 100% correct. It's the same as this but I wanna share it anyways. Happy Caroline Portal 2 lore learning. I'll make a part 2 with more stuff later.

[msschemmenti]

fun police

eventual emily prentiss x reader / bau x reader

summary: reader is hired by hr to monitor morale and implement more self-care moments for agents. the unit she struggles most with is obviously the BAU

a/n: i often forget criminal minds is not a workplace comedy with a sprinkle of killers because i write stuff like this. at my core, i just wanna giggle. sue me ig :) [this is giving more prologue than anything— if y’all are into this idea i’ll post more of this]

emily groaned into the air of her empty office as yet another email rolled across her screen from hr. in theory, the new self-care initiative was definitely a good idea, but she knew her team. and she knew herself. with all the sicarios serial killers still lingering in their minds— a mindful monday break was not priority. they’d skirted around all the previous mandated attempts to unwind due to cases popping up and splitting the team up, but she knew they could only keep that up for so long.

she clicked into the email, the URGENT subject line keeping her from ignoring it. she skimmed the greeting and first paragraph of reprimands for the lack of participation. she got to the next paragraph and instantly paused in dread.

“starting monday morning, the behavioral analysis unit will be assigned a health and wellness agent who will join your team in the field to ensure that you and your team are balancing your work and health appropriately.”

a glorified babysitter? oh the team was going to hate this. it took a certain type of person to weather the storms they did and those types of people did not have healthy coping mechanisms. emily rolled her desk chair back enough to pull out the bottle of wine she hid in a drawer and the glass that accompanied it. if the fun police was coming to town she might as well enjoy this luxury before they arrived.

emily was the first in as always. all that first to arrive, last to leave stuff. but as she walked up the few stairs to her office, she quickly realized she may not have been first after all.

“uh hi? can i help you?” she asked as she stood in the doorway of her office. the woman sat across from her desk turned to look over her shoulder and smiled cheerily. far too cheery for the time of day.

“section chief prentiss, good morning! just the woman i’m here for.” the mystery woman smiled and moved over to extend her hand toward emily. “y/n y/ln, wellness consultant. i believe someone emailed you about my arrival?”

emily’s eyes traveled up the woman’s frame curiously. she was dressed smartly, on the business side of business casual and she looked far too young to be doing the work she was doing. remembering the welcoming part of the email she’d read last week, she plastered on her most practiced diplomatic smile and shook her hand. “nice to meet you miss y/ln. i wasn’t expecting you until this afternoon. please have a seat.”

emily rounded her desk and slid into her desk chair. she watched y/n do the same and subconsciously wondered how someone could look that good this early in the morning. she’d barely had her first cup of coffee and she felt like she was barely functioning. but here this wellness expert was, dressed to the nines and in the office before her.

y/n cleared her throat and slid a folder over to emily with a sheepish smile. “i figured we could touch base a bit on the team and my plans for the time being. and i thought that’d be easier with goals and objectives breakdown.”

goals and objectives breakdown? emily looked from the folder to the y/n and back in a bit of shock. she hadn’t exactly expected there to be folders of information or goals and objectives. she thought they do some meditation and call it a day… but as she opened the folder and saw the detailed breakdowns and plans she realized she was sorely mistaken.

“oh wow, forgive me for my ignorance. but i assumed this would be a sort of once a month morale boosting bonding sort of thing and you’d just sign off on whatever we decide to do.”

y/n didn’t even flinch at emily’s words, only smiled with a chuckle. “well that would’ve been the case a few months ago but based on your teams workload and concerns from outside of this office— the director is looking for something a bit more direct and focused.”

“direct and focused?” emily repeated.

“mmhm, you can see it all outlined there but simply put im here to help every member of your team identify healthy coping mechanisms to combat the work you’re doing. that’ll look different for every member but it’ll be personal. some teams have preferred check in meetings and others like to keep journals. each member can choose how they’d like to work with me.”

emily sighed as she read through the folder and listened to y/n, it was all sounding unnecessary at she was already trying to think of a way to get the team on board. getting rossi to participate was going to kill her. “as you can imagine, i’m not sure how receptive the team will be to these forced wellness sessions…”

“i anticipated that. and i’ve found most teams are far more receptive when their fearless leader is a willing participant. you know leading by example.” y/n spoke suggestively lifting her eyebrow in challenge.

“oh you mean me? you want me to participate in your little exercises so the others will be more willing?” emily asked in disbelief.

“well yes, as much as i believe that you’ve got your own mental health exercises in place— you could humor me with a few sessions.” y/n grinned.

emily eyed her suspiciously, “and if we refuse?”

“well i hope it doesn’t come to that, but after i’ve made my base analysis of the team i’ll have the digression to determine who is and is not fit for field work. and i have a feeling that wouldn’t go over to well.”

“yeah that’s a sure fire way to make some enemies around here.” emily grimaced with a huff.

“thought so.” y/n shrugged but pulled out a black planner and pen and looked at emily expectantly. “so chief, when do you wanna start? promise i’ll make it worth your while.”

[violetrainbow412-blog]

Day 12: "This is spooky" "Really?"

Masterlist flufftober 🎃

Reblog if you liked it!

“Spencer, do we really have to do this?”

From your spot, you pouted while watching your boyfriend struggle with the TV, trying to insert the VHS tape. Seriously, who still had those? you thought as you watched him, but knowing the man, it wasn’t surprising at all.

“Come on, sunshine! We’ve been watching romantic comedies for months. It’s my turn to show you something.”

“But I hate horror movies.”

“We’re starting with the Scream series—it’s no big deal,” he reassured you. “I promise.”

Once he managed to insert the tape, he practically ran back to your side, settling on the couch where there was already popcorn, some Halloween candy, and a couple of other movies Spencer had lined up for the marathon.

“Is that Drew Barrymore? She’s in a great movie, Never Been Kissed. Want to watch that one instead?”

“Is it a romantic one?” he asked, looking at you seriously. You couldn’t deny it.

“I’m going to have nightmares!”

“You’re not going to have nightmares, baby,” he murmured confidently, leaning in to plant a loud kiss on your cheek. “Come on, do it for me. I love these movies, and besides, it’s October. It would be a crime not to watch them!”

You grumbled a bit, resigned to the fact that you wouldn’t get your way, and then shifted to get comfortable, laying your head on your boyfriend’s chest. The truth was you didn’t want to break his heart by saying you didn’t want to watch those movies, but everything involving blood and death completely terrified you. You didn’t even know how Spencer managed to deal with it every day at his job, especially when, once, by accident, he had brought home photos from a case, and just seeing them made you feel like throwing up. You spent several nights with that image stuck in your head and begged him never to share gruesome details about his work with you again.

You reminded him a lot of Garcia. Always in such pretty, feminine dresses, with maybe 80% of your belongings in shades of pink, purple, or any pastel tone, and, of course, a sweet and delicate personality.

He always thought his taste in women was pretty defined in certain aspects, but you had completely broken the mold. You left colorful post-it notes with motivational messages on his beige bureau folders, bought him skincare products, and once a week, you’d do face masks, manicures, massages, among other things for him.

You were the complete opposite of what he saw every day, and maybe that’s why he was so in love with you. Like a beautiful flower in the middle of the desert.

“Did you watch this stuff when you were a kid?” you suddenly asked, still looking at the screen and tracing uneven patterns with the hand you had resting on his chest.

“Some, yeah. I started with the classics, like Carrie, The Craft, The Shining… slasher films were never my favorite subgenre, but they’re the easiest to digest for beginners.”

“So, in this one, that guy just wants to kill everyone?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Lovely,” you muttered sarcastically, making him chuckle.

After thinking about it for a moment, he dared to express the doubt that had been growing from your attitude.

“Hey, baby, do you really not want to watch these? It’s okay if you don’t want to, I didn’t mean to push you. I just thought…”

“It’s fine, Spencer. I mean, I freaking hate jumping out of my seat every five minutes, but if you enjoy this, I want to share it with you. I highly doubt you enjoy my favorite movies as much as I do, but you always let me pick. And you comforted me for almost an hour after we watched The Notebook, so this is the least I can do for you.”

He knew you were being sincere when you said that, and to ease any lingering doubts, you stretched up to kiss him sweetly.

“Besides,” you continued, “you never get any days off, and if the price to pay for spending the whole night cuddling with you is watching these movies, then I’m okay with it.”

He smiled broadly and pulled you closer against his body, as if wanting you to feel completely protected from anything. He was the one who hunted monsters in real life, after all, and you knew that if some crazy killer ever stalked you, Spencer would take care of it.

The truth was, you were getting pretty interested in the movie, as the mystery of Ghostface’s identity kept you hooked. Unfortunately, you were about halfway through the movie when a scene startled you (more than the others had), and you quickly hid your face in your boyfriend’s neck.

“What’s wrong?”

“This is spooky”

“Really?” he laughed, trying not to sound too amused. “I can’t imagine what you’ll say when we watch Texas Chainsaw Massacre.”

“Spencer!” you practically screamed, lifting your head to look at him and playfully hitting him on the shoulder in protest.

“I’m joking…” he defended himself, kissing you as an apology. “Do you want to stop?”

“No, I want to finish it. I’m enjoying it, and I need to know who the killer is.”

“Any guesses?”

“You’re the profiler here, not me. The only thing I can tell you is that the makeup artist on set did a great job.”

Your boyfriend chuckled, and you snuggled back against him, occasionally grabbing some popcorn while letting him feed you candy and marshmallows.

After two more movies, Spencer noticed you had fallen sound asleep against him, and not wanting to disturb your rest, he simply pulled the blanket over you. Once you were fully covered and the TV was off, he rested his head on yours to get some sleep, lulled by the scent of your hair.

To his surprise, on the next movie night, you asked to watch a horror movie, and when he questioned your choice, you simply shrugged.

“When we watch them, you hug me the whole time and kiss me whenever something scares me. Plus, you enjoy them, so we both win.”

He couldn’t help but laugh at that and happily obliged, sticking to what you had said. After a few weeks, the truth was you weren’t that scared anymore, but either way, it was always nice to pretend if it meant getting extra cuddles from your boyfriend. And he, who quickly figured out your little lie, was more than happy to play along.

[xto3conversionsfinds]

vmsims23/purpurasims content folder links

vmsims23, also known previously as purpurasims, is a cc creator known for converting ts4cc hair and clothing mostly for males. While it's a shame that her tumblr account is deactivated as of late, it came as a surprise when she contacted me to let everyone know her stuff can still be found online despite her disappearance, and invites everyone to join her Discord server too.

"Hello everyone! I'm vmsims23, who shared CC for male like hair or clothes on Tumblr months ago. Unfortunately I had to leave and many people asked me about my CC. I've been re-uploading it to 3 different sites so you can download it all. I'll always leave all the cc that I convert as public as possible, but I invite you to my discord server where you'll find all this and you'll be able to see the constant updates of the folders in an organized way. I'll also post pending CC, such as the American player suit 😉I invite you and wait for you there 💖 https://discord.gg/4sZCNh7WT4"

CC Folders: Google Drive | Simfileshare | Mediafire

[tedmustache]

hi ! i would be veryvery interested in a ben wyatt fic ^_^ im not very good at requests so im unsure how to specify ,, but possibly just some simple fluff of ben & the reader finally getting together or something after like everyone (except chris ofcofc) was secretly rooting for them in their own ways & stuff … idk ! just a random idea, & u can change it however u want ! thank u very much in advance <3

The Dating Pool

Pairing: Ben Wyatt x reader

Warnings: none

Summary: Tension builds. Chaos unfolds. Love wins.

Requests are open

[...]

It started, as most mildly unhinged things in the Parks Department did, with Leslie Knope making a spreadsheet titled “Operation Get Those Two Adorable Dorks Together.”

“Look at them” she whispered to Ann, pointing across the bullpen. “They’re like Jim and Pam, but with more budget reports and less kissing! It's TRAGIC.”

“Do you think they know how obvious it is?” Ann asked, sipping her coffee.

“No” Leslie said, pulling out a binder labeled Ben + Y/N: Road to Romance. “That’s why we, as a department, must intervene subtly. With grace. With dignity. And also maybe with a fake work retreat where they have to share a tent.”

April, overhearing, added without looking up from her computer, “I already started a betting pool.”

“YES!” Leslie high-fived her. “That’s the spirit!”

The only person who remained completely oblivious to the romantic tension that had been simmering for nearly a year was Chris Traeger.

“I just want to say” he announced one morning, “that the synergy between Ben and Y/N is LITERALLY the most productive pairing I have ever seen in a government setting. Perhaps in any setting. Perhaps in history.”

“Cool, cool” Tom muttered, “Can I put forty on ‘Ben cracks by Thursday’?”

[...]

You had tried to be professional. Truly, you had.

But Ben Wyatt was infuriatingly handsome in a floppy-haired, budget-conscious, accidentally-charming way. And every time he adjusted his tie while blushing after you complimented his latest economic model, your resolve wavered like a raccoon at a salad bar in Pawnee.

It didn’t help that Leslie kept giving you and Ben joint assignments. Or inviting only the two of you to her weird, theme-heavy “Team Bonding Brunches.” Or sending emails with subject lines like “Just Two Smart Attractive People Needed For This Task – Others Don’t Qualify.”

Ben, for his part, was drowning.

He wasn’t exactly smooth. His flirting style could best be described as “mild panic" especially when you wore that blazer he once accidentally told Donna “radiated competence and charm and kind of made his knees feel weird.”

He thought maybe you liked him back. But what if he ruined things? What if you didn’t feel the same? What if he became the emotional Ice Town of your career?

So he stayed quiet. And longed. And ate his feelings in the form of an unhealthy amount of calzones.

[...]

Then came the Parks Department “Synergy Brainstorm” scheduled by Chris Traeger in a moment of extreme enthusiasm and a post-kale smoothie high.

“Ben! Y/N!” Chris beamed, placing two color-coded folders in front of you. “Your connection is LITERALLY the backbone of this department’s functionality. I would like you to remain here and brainstorm for an extra hour. No distractions. Just pure, focused, platonic synergy!”

And with that, he left, the door clicking shut behind him.

Ben looked at you. You looked at Ben.

And something shifted.

“I don’t think I can do this anymore” you said softly.

Ben blinked. “The synergy meeting?”

“No. This whole… pretending-not-to-be-slowly-falling-in-love-with-you thing.”

He froze.

“Oh my god” he said. “You too?”

You let out a nervous laugh. “Ben, we’ve been dancing around this for months. I’m pretty sure April made a voodoo doll about it.”

“She did” he said. “It winked at me once.”

Silence. Then, awkwardly, sweetly:

“Do you want to go out to dinner sometime?”

“Yes. Like, desperately.”

And then, Ben kissed you. It was warm and tentative and wonderful, like everything that had been building up between you had finally found a place to land.

Outside the conference room, the entire department (minus Chris) let out a muffled cheer.

Leslie burst into the bullpen fifteen minutes later with two sets of color-coded champagne flutes.

“I KNEW IT” she shouted, waving a glittery binder in the air. “You beautiful government nerds are IN LOVE, and democracy has NEVER been stronger!”

Ben, still pink in the face, adjusted his tie. “Um. We were going to try and keep it low-key, at least at first.”

Leslie looked personally offended. “Excuse you. This office has suffered for eleven months and three days watching you two make heart-eyes over pie charts. We earned this.”

"You count it?"

Tom held out his hand. “Pay up, everybody. Ben cracked first.”

“No way” Donna said. “She said it first. I’m getting my mani-pedi on your dime, Haverford.”

April typed something into the betting spreadsheet. “This is the most emotionally invested I’ve been since I found that bird with one leg and named him President Screech.”

And Chris?

Chris walked in moments later, holding a tray of gluten-free muffins.

“What’s going on?” he asked brightly. “Is there a celebration?”

Everyone froze.

You and Ben looked at each other.

“Uh” you started.

“Just… high synergy” Ben added quickly.

Chris smiled, thrilled. “Amazing! I LITERALLY had a dream last night that the two of you became co-managers of a regional morale task force. The synergy was off the charts!”

The entire department burst out laughing.

Chris, still oblivious, grinned. “I love inside jokes!”

[...]

From that day on, the dynamic changed.

Ben brought you coffee in the mornings. You “accidentally” scheduled your lunch breaks at the same time. Leslie started planning double dates in a wildly overzealous Google Calendar labeled “Power Couples of Pawnee.”

And Chris?

He remained joyfully unaware for two more weeks, until he walked in on you and Ben making out in the supply closet next to a stack of Welcome to Pawnee pamphlets.

He gasped. “You two are… DATING?!”

You pulled away, flustered. “We were going to tell you!”

Chris blinked. Then his face split into the biggest smile you’d ever seen.

“I AM SO HAPPY I COULD LITERALLY DO A BACKFLIP.”

And he did. In the hallway. With perfect form.

Everyone clapped.

Leslie cried.

Ben turned to you, dazed. “Did that really just happen?”

You smiled. “It’s Pawnee. Of course it did.”

[supertrxshwrites]

Close To You II

Part 1

Pairing: Jason Todd x female!Reader

(heeeeey sooo this is a WIP of part ii I've been in a rut for the last several months and I opened my writing folder and I'm like holy shit I gotta work on stuff I miss these fics!! Anyway lemme know if I should finish and post the rest)

It had been exactly nine months since you and Jason broke up, the seasons had come and gone and it was the coldest winter you’d seen in Gotham.

The temperature had plummeted and you were bundled up for your walk to work. You knew taking the bus was the warmer approach, but it being a five minute walk compared to a bus route that would take you in a circle around the block and rubbing shoulders with strangers wasn’t how you wanted to spend your morning before work. You fast walked down the alley that cut your walk time in half, you knew better than to walk down it, but it was broad daylight. So your worries were eased quickly once you realized that the night was what made this stupid alleyway so terrifying, plus being a little tipsy added to that.

You walked past dumpsters and side doors with butcher papers pasted to the windows, old fire escapes with mangled and rusted ladders. You finally made it to the end of the alley out into the sidewalk when you felt a chill down your spine and it wasn’t the weather, it was the feeling of being watched like there were a set of eyes on you that you couldn’t see. As if there was someone so close you pictured being able to see their breath in the cold air behind you.

You whipped around anxiously only to be met with no one. You shook the nerves away after checking the time and made your way to the crosswalk which then brought your walk to work to an end.

Café Triste.

❄️❄️❄️

The last nine months had been excruciating for Jason. Going on missions like usual while simultaneously torturing himself daily by following you and watching your every move. He wasn’t trying to stalk, really he wasn’t, but this was the closest he could get to you without showing up on your doorstep.

Since that night he’d been cursing himself for not telling you about his double life. He kept replaying the night over and over wishing he had said something different, wishing he’d explained himself.

[ Red Hood are you even listening?!]

“Yeah..of course but you know how much I Love hearing you repeat yourself Babs” he said with a smile as he was perched on a ledge across from Cafe Triste.

[you’re a terrible liar and secondly why the hell are you on the other side of town..is that Cafe Triste?]

“ what I can't stop for a coffee “ he says getting up from his perch and sliding down a fire escape to his motorcycle

[you can't keep doing this-]

“Doing what-”

[following her, look I know its been hard. I know you miss her-]

“I just wish things had gone differently “he says riding past the before mentioned cafe slow enough for him to peer into the window and catch a glimpse of you at the register calling out a drink order.

[manonamora-if]

May Check-In

Hi. It's been.... almost a year since I did one of those. And until Harcourt, I hadn't posted here since October. During that time, things... happened in my personal life. I'm not going to get into it* here, but it affected greatly my ability to create and interact with IF in general. I'm getting back on the tracks, slowly returning to my original routines and circles. *maybe through more cathartic writing? after more settling.

Let's get into the longer things:

Recap of last month's progress what I've been up to since July

The 2024 To-Do List

Plan for this month

Some general lines for the rest of 2025

TLDR on the important things because it's really long: Harcourt was my announcement of some return to normalcy. I'm in the process of moving. There's going to be an announcement later this month. It's good to be back. Here's to a healthier rest of the year!

What I've been up to since July?

Some posted here, some missed (I should make some separate posts). Instead of comparing posts, I'm just recap'ing it all.

The 100% Good Assets

I created a Harlowe guide for Saves and Settings, updated the huge SugarCube Guide to match the 2.37 release, generalized the Tweego Folder for Mac users and other Twine formats, expanded the ChoiceScript to SugarCube Guide, made a Harlowe template to resemble Chapbook, updated all the SugarCube templates to 2.37, ported Cloak of Darkness to Adventuron, started Chapbook templates (Save System out, Config.style still a WIP), and finally, made a Chapbook Reference Page for convenience*. *the Guide is already chef-kiss, but the Ref Page is easier CTRL+F'ing stuff

Releases

I participated in a secret jam from the Sacred Veins collective with Svipul (an excuse to create in Twine 1/SugarCane). The theme was Righteous. This is not a happy story.

And as a final hoera in 2024, Dénantir for the Partim500. It's a mini French parser made in Donjon.FI (which had been on my to-try-list for at least two years). Some more sadness and reminiscing.

As you can see, there was a mood...

Updates

Aside from the assets listed above, obviously, the major one: the final story update of The Trials and Tribulations of Edward Harcourt. Released 6 months later than announced, but out nonetheless. Granted, the game was 90% done last October, but I dragged my feet (when IRL wasn't in the way to begin with) to deal some major coding issues that messed a lot of things.

Neo-Interactives and other Events

After the major success Neo-Twiny Jam, where we raised more money than last time (help us repeat it?), there was the Single Choice Jam, Bring Out Your Ghosts, Anti-Productivity Jam, The Bare-Bones Jam, (from here, I was less involved) Educational Jam, ShuffleComp 2024, Smoochie Jam, and the recently ended Dialogue Jam. A lot of participation overall with pretty neat entries! After a very busy, but very exciting, first full calendar year of events, we've decided to scale it back a little*. In 2025, at least, only the month-long jams will be held. *I have a huge backlog of stuff to play now... and NTJ25 is coming soon...

In other events I've helped, there was the IFCOMP for which I did Socials and Moderation, and the SeedComp! that kinda fizzled out at the end (tbf being completely MIA didn't help).

And finally, the Interactive Fiction Showcase 2024 which had so many entries. Which reminds me, I didn't announce the 2025 Showcase yet, which I should do sooner rather than later.

I did play some games, and reviewed a bunch last winter, but that fell off as well earlier this year.

Awards and other cool things that happened

I interviewed Chandler Groover for @the-rosebush-mag, following his win at the 2024 IFComp. This was such an honour to sit down with him and talk about his journey through IF.

I PROMISE I AM WORKING ON THE GAME and machina caerulea was included in the 56 edition of Indiepocalypse! A double feature~ And included with some really cool other people too!

I PROMISE I AM WORKING ON THE GAME was in a 1st-place tie for Best Use of Interactivity at the IF Short Game Showcase.

Les lettres du Docteur Jeangille won Outstanding French Game of 2024 at the IFDB Awards!! And a bunch of nominations for most of my 2024 games (though none came as close). Really proud of this. Twice in a row too! Won't happen this year, because no French Comp for me.

And David Welbourn included Not Another Sad Meal in his monthly parser walkthrough (January 2025). It's kind of wild. I've been using his amazing walkthroughs when playing many old-school parsers. And now I'm in the list! That reminds me, I need to fix some things.

~ And I think that's it? I've missed some pretty eventful periods, so a lot of stuff fell through the cracks.

It does look like I've done a lot, even during my quiet times, but it's really been more in spurs. Short periods of extreme activity and long ones of nothing (half of the summer, the whole of November, most of December, most of January, and from February until mid-April). In other words, when I had some quiet time to actually do something and when shit really hit the fan. It's been hard to balance, but I think I'm regaining my footing. April's been somewhat of a blessing in disguise.

~

The 2024 To-Do List

... has not really been followed. I haven't fixed the bugs on any of my older projects, or finished any of my WIPs (well, Harcourt, but 6 months too late). Instead, the first half was filled with unplanned game releases. On the bright side, I've fulfilled my wish of testing out new programs, or getting better at them. Well, and with Harcourt now out, I guess one thing got crossed out.

On the other hand, I haven't reviewed/played as much as I had hoped*. Even updated my website is completely out of date. Also dropped the ball on all the social media stuff. Very lacklustre year. *esp. the Neo-Interactives entries. It was important to me that every entry got some comments, to ensure everyone knew people looked at their work.

So hum... yeah. ⭐for "participating", lol.

~

The PLANtm for May

Not so much of a plan, more of what to expect this month, which... won't be much. Because the thing is: I'm moving at the end of the month. So between packing, selling, cancelling stuff here, and unpacking, opening, and probably buying things there, my IRL To-Do is arm-length at this point. It's both super stressful and a huge relief. I picked such a good time to come back, lol.

But I hope to have time to do some things. If not in updates/engaging, at least in planning for the rest of the year.

Harcourt: while the story is finished, there are still some kinks in the code/interface that can be handled better. As mentioned in the the update post, it's currently an Open Beta. There are a couple of things I'd like to add in-game. Nothing major. I don't expect the polished version to be out this month, but I'd like to make some progress on it, at minimum.

Secret Project: this will have a proper announcement later this month, but I'm currently planning a summer project for myself. It's both related to IRL and IF. Some good stuff I hope.

Really Bad IF Jam: is back by popular demands. The whole month of May, you can let out some steam by making terrible stuff. If I manage some free time, I might wing something?

Website Update: because it's a long time coming. Half a dozen games are missing, so does a bunch of new info. And it could do with a new interface.

Reconnect with the community. As a whole. I want to catch up on a lot of stuff I missed, and return notes that have been sitting in my inbox for too long.

I think if I can update the website and manage to tick off enough from planning of the secret project, I'll be pretty pleased with myself.

~

Some general lines for the rest of 2025

Normally, this is where I whip out my yearly to-do list of things I want done but probably not even manage to make a dent into it. You know the list from the start of the year, when I do my retrospective. Which hasn't happened this year either. So there's no list.

But for now, my main goal is to get back into a good healthy rhythm, where I can balance IRL stuff, IF responsibilities, and my own projects, without burn out looming or me being unable to do the things I enjoy doing. I think I'll need to make peace with my own capabilities, and stick to proper limits.

In terms of limits, the first has to be participating in events. It's not sustainable for me to try and make a game for all the IF events/game jams that catch my eye - even if I really want to or find them inspiring, and even if I can combine them. Almost all my projects have been created for or ended up submitted in a competition or jam; with ~90% of those being done on a whim/last minute. And because nothing I put out is a perfect bug-free experience, that means re-adding more to my plate with each submission. Because I still like those events very much, I need to be more realist with what I can do, and back out when things are not attainable. Like I have so far this past year. I had full planned or some form of ideas for the SingleChoice, Anti-Productivity, Educational Jam, ShuffleComp, the French Comp, the SpringThing and the Text-Adventure Jam, which all passed without a peep from me; as well as projects I've pushed for a later time for the ParserComp, IntroComp, IFComp (can't since helping organising), and EctoComp from last year. It's both been a disappointment (because I can't work on those ideas), and a relief (less stress to meet a too-short deadline!). So, for now, I'll most likely stick to just @neo-twiny-jam (for a good cause), and the Partim500. In huge part because it's only 500 words max. But also because they are the most fun experience I recall having, consistently. For any other jam, I'll restrict myself to long length (>= 1 month dev) only if I have actual time and a concrete plan (not just a vague idea/vibe - even if I want to test a new program). As for competitions, no submissions until I've finished at least one more WIP - and the entry is actually polished and tested properly (maybe I'll get better reviews now lol). That should leave me with more time to fix older projects, and complete current (and secret) WIPs. Actually actively removing stuff from my desk. For actual realsies now.

In terms of limits pt.2, IF responsibilities. I've been a part of a bunch communities, at different levels of organising, and with different amount of required efforts. Since getting more involved in the community, I've given more than 100% of myself to everything I've said yes to. It was working great for me... until I realised how much piled up. It was already too much last year, and I knew it - I couldn't keep up with most things then. Which is why I said my goodbyes to the great @interact-if last summer, and left a bunch of other discords/spaces. As mentioned above, Neo-Interactives is scaling back as well in terms of events. I had the foresight of preparing a bunch of stuff in advance (this is why @neointeractives has had scheduled posts with reminders). It's been less hectic and stressful, since not having something looming and having to untangle every 2-3 weeks. Gotta give major props to @lapinlunaire-games and @cyberpunklesbian for all their work too (esp during my breaks), they've been real rocks! As for other events, I can be pretty laissez-faire with random unranked events (like the Showcase or Really Bad IF), like posting it and let it be. But comps (and anything with more than one clear rule) require a minimum of admin and promotion*. Time and energy I need to see if I can spend (especially if I delegate) and reevaluate. *seriously... it's more work than you think it is, because it's very concentrated on specific days. It's exhausting. Rewarding too! but exhausting. That would give me a a more balanced planning at least. More time for updating stuff (the reason why yall are following me) :)

A potential path for myself in the soon future (brought to me by moving) is maybe being able to start a Ko-Fi or Support author button on itch. There's a bunch of legal mumbo-jumbo attached to that, but it's definitely something more attainable than it was while being here. It's something I'll be checking out this summer, and if possible, there will be an announcement (maybe even a new dev name?). Anyway, that's at least for late-2025-me to worry about. Also will need to find a new job first...

In any case, a slower, calmer, healthier "normal" on the horizon. And a new website! 🤞

[27dragons]

For FFWF: any deleted scenes from the Sandbridge verse that you can tell us about? ❤️ (for purely selfish remix sequel motivation reasons 😅)

ACTUALLY, yes! Though I don't know how useful it's going to be for your remix sequel (which I am ardently looking forward to!)

In Chapter 4 of My Three Dads, Tony and Bucky are at a gala in New York with Maria, and Tony gets cornered by Ty, who says some very surprising things and suggests that Tony come over the next day to collect some things he'd left behind.

Tisfan and I actually wrote that scene, but when we got to the editing stage, it just... didn't fit quite right. So we threw in a quick reference to it at the beginning of Chapter 5 and cut it.

But I did actually LIKE the scene. And I'd filed it away in my "clips and cuts" folder. So here you go, the Deleted Scene of the last time Tony ever talks to Ty:

[Fair warning, this is 100% unedited.]

.

The neighborhood had gotten nicer; several renovation projects had updated the older shops in the area with brighter, cleaner ones. Tony noticed with amusement that these post-modern stores were catering to an “old fashioned” hipster feel, even though they were much cleaner, with better lighting, than the previous places had been.

The high rise where Tony had once lived was both strange and familiar. He hadn’t thought about this place in years, hadn’t missed it once those first few months of living in Virginia had passed. But everything was so very familiar; he even remembered the dips in the front stairs. The stylised elephant statues had been replaced at some point with elegant stone cranes, but the brass numbers on the front of the building were the same, as was the fading green linoleum tile in the entryway near the rack of mailboxes.

Tony stared around the little entryway like he was seeing ghosts. He was grateful for Bucky’s presence at his back, strong and certain, more grateful than he could ever say. It took an effort of will to walk over to the intercom system and punch in the apartment number. “It’s us,” he said when it crackled to life. “For my stuff.”

“Come on up,” Ty said, cheerfully, buzzing them through the door.

Bucky was looking around with a wary sort of curiosity, and his hand was on the security door when it buzzed. The last few times they’d been in New York City, everyone either had their own home, or rented in a building with a doorman, but he pulled the door open as soon as it clicked and ushered Tony through. “It’s okay, baby,” Bucky said, putting his hand on the small of Tony’s back as they stepped into the building’s aging elevator. “Worst comes to worst, Happy can come back us up.” They’d borrowed Maria’s car while the girls were playing with the oversized dollhouse that Maria kept at her house, just for special granddaughter visits.

(Well, Billie was playing. Olivia was cruising around the table it sat on, and probably occasionally trying to eat the furniture.)

“If he’s even a little bit of an asshole to you,” Tony said, not for the first time, “we’re leaving. I don’t care about any stuff enough to put up with whatever he thinks he can get away with.” He thumbed the floor button on the elevator and leaned into Bucky’s side. “Maybe this was a dumb idea.”

“Could be,” Bucky said, “but we’ve come this far, and I don’t reckon Stone wants t’ be arrested any more than I do. So we’ll try an’ keep the punching to a nice round number, like zero. It’ll be okay. Everyone saw him talkin’ with you last night, big fancy party. People he needs to impress. Your mom’s still got pull with those people -- or has it back, leastways. He’s not gonna waste that on petty revenge.”

“This is Ty we’re talking about,” Tony muttered, but the elevator stuttered to a halt and let out a sad ding as the doors slid open. Tony took a breath. It was going to be okay. They were going to get his stuff, and then leave, and everyone was going to pretend to be polite. For the sake of... something. Right? Right.

Ty had repainted the door to the apartment, added an art-deco style geometric border. Tony knocked, and didn’t let himself fidget.

When the door opened, Tony wasn’t sure what to expect, but Zeke Stane standing there with Tony’s engineering kit in one hand was not it. Not ever, not even a little bit, not even if the moon turned into bleu cheese and crashed into the ocean. “Hey Tony,” he said. “James. Good to see you. We weren’t sure you’d come. Ty… Ty thought if this was too weird for you, you can take your kit and just go, now. Or… you can come inside?”

Ty thought that? Ty had bothered to think about someone else’s comfort? Or maybe that was Zeke projecting, but Zeke had never rated very high on empathy, either.

Why was Zeke Stane in Ty’s apartment, saying we like he and Ty were...

Oh, god.

“You’re together?” he blurted. He pushed past Zeke into the apartment, looking for Ty. “That whole thing last night, that was you trying to stall me so I couldn’t get between Mom and Obie,” he gritted. “Was any of it real?”

“Of course we were trying to stall you,” Ty said. He had a mug of coffee in one hand and was waiting for the machine to pour a second cup. “I can’t… politically it would be a very bad move to end up on my soon-to-be father-in-law’s bad side right now. Your mom handled it. I admit, I was impressed.”

“You’re not a bad sort,” Zeke added, “but I don’t want you as a step-brother, Tony. We had a back-up plan, if we needed one. But Dad has to think I’m doing what he wants. You know how that is, right?”

There were the rest of Tony’s things, in boxes, neatly labeled. “I know, it looks bad,” Ty said. “And this… if things had gone south, we… well, we thought it would be best if you and I could come to some sort of peace. If we were going to end up being family.”

That thought made Tony’s brain stutter to a halt. He turned to look at Bucky. “Yyyeah,” he managed after a moment. “Probably for the best that’s not happening.” Resolutely, he turned to the stack of boxes. “I... appreciate this,” he said, grudgingly.

Bucky was looking back and forth between Zeke and Ty like he was getting whiplash. “How… how did you two even meet? I thought Ty didn’t run with th’ big players, up this way.”

“Rude,” Ty muttered.

“It’s cliche,” Zeke admitted. “We met at Howard’s funeral, few years back. Look, James, gimme a hand with these, yeah? I’ll help you take them down to your car. Bear’s got a few things he wants to say. And then it’ll be done, okay?” He glanced at Tony. “Yeah?”

Childishly, Tony didn’t want to hear anything from Ty. Not a single fucking word. Not even if he was going to actually apologize for once. But they’d come up with the intention of pretending to be polite and nice, and anyway, Ty couldn’t do anything to hurt him, not anymore. He took a breath, blew it out hard. “Yeah,” he said, looking to Bucky for confirmation. “It’ll be okay.” He hoped that came out as a statement and not a question.

There was a threat and a promise on Bucky’s face as he glanced between Ty and then Zeke. It might as well have been written on Bucky’s forehead -- you touch him, and don’t forget who’s with me. Tony had never been on the wrong side of that look. Nonetheless, it was chilling, and a reminder that Bucky could be violent, if the situation called for it. The situation wasn’t going to call for it. Tony had to believe that, or he wasn’t going to get through this.

“I’ll be right back,” Bucky said.

“Stick to the plan, Bear,” Zeke told Ty, seriously. “You can get through this.”

And the two of them grabbed the remainder of Tony’s stuff, aside from the tool kit that was still in Tony’s stunned hands, and headed down the elevator.

Tony tightened his grip on the tool kit. It was real and solid. Something he could hold onto. He lifted his chin and met Ty’s pale gaze. “Go on.”

“You were right to go,” Ty said. He kept his gaze on Tony’s face, even though he looked like he’d really rather be doing anything else. “I’m not… I’m not going to apologize. You wouldn’t believe me and I don’t think it would help either of us. What I did… that goes beyond the ability for an apology to fix. I was wrong. I hurt you. Intentionally, maliciously, and for my own ends. I can’t make up for that.”

Tony nodded, and hoped he didn’t look as poleaxed as he felt. “Yeah, you did. You took away everything that made me who I was. It’s. It’s good to hear you acknowledge it.”

“He was right,” Ty said, jerking his chin in the direction that Bucky had vanished. “I kept telling myself I didn’t mean it, that I’d make it up to you. But it wasn’t an accident. I was careless with your affection and I abused your trust. I used you to quiet my own inadequacy.” He took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. That’s… uh, that’s what I needed to say. I’ll. Let you get on with your life now, and I wish you the best.”

The sun might have turned to blue, outside the wide picture window, and Tony wouldn’t have noticed. The whole world had turned upside down: Ty had apologized, and it even seemed sincere. Tony scrambled after thought, and words. “I... hope you mean that,” he said. “I hope you’re getting better. If you mean it, then I hope you have a good life, and that you’re able to make him happy. Really happy, not...” He was going to start babbling. He clenched his jaw. “Yeah. You know. I’m... I’m just going to go, before I say something stupid.”

He hesitated, though, trying to read Ty’s expression, trying to see the truth of things in those clear blue eyes. He’d never been able to read Ty before, though, and he couldn’t trust the apparent sincerity there now. Tony swallowed. He couldn’t quite forgive Ty, but for whatever it was worth... “Apology accepted.” He walked out the door and waited for it to close behind him before he stopped and leaned against the wall, shaking.

The elevator dinged and two sets of footsteps came out, a rapid patter, and then Bucky was there, one hand on Tony’s arm. “Baby, you--” He broke off and snapped, “no, just you keep right on walkin’. You both done just about enough for one day.”

“Tony,” Zeke said, and Bucky was right there, in Zeke Stane’s face. 

“Go. Inside. You don’t get t’ touch him, or apologize or excuse your boyfriend or whatever. You done enough.”

Zeke shrugged and went into the apartment.

“Baby?”

“I’m okay,” Tony said. He reached out and pulled Bucky to him, tucking his face into the curve of Bucky’s neck. “I’m okay,” he repeated, and if it wasn’t quite the truth, it would be, soon. “It’s all done.”

“Bastards,” Bucky spat, glaring at the door. “Come on, come on, honey, let’s get the fuck out of here. God damnit, I’m sorry. I shouldn’ta…” Bucky had his arm around Tony’s shoulders, reaching across himself to take Tony’s hand. Once Bucky had Tony in the elevator, private. “Do I even want to know what he said, or should I just go back and kick his ass for you?”

Tony laced his fingers through Bucky’s, keeping him close. “He apologized, actually. No ass-kicking needed. I’m just kind of... stunned.”

Tugging Tony closer, Bucky kissed his hair and forehead several times, as if reassuring himself that Tony was okay. “Doesn’t matter,” he said, finally. “Doesn’t change anything. He’s a bastard, an’ I’m going to make sure you never, ever have to see him again.” He heaved out a great breath. “Zeke spent th’ whole time we were loadin’ the car tellin’ me how Ty needed to do this. For them. For their relationship. God, what a selfish bastard.”

“They’re well matched, then,” Tony said. “And I have no intention of ever seeing them ever again, not if I don’t have to.” He wrapped his arm around Bucky’s waist as the elevator slowed to a stop. “C’mon, let’s go home. I feel like taking the girls out for ice cream. Wanna see how much of a mess Livvy can make if we let her have her own?”

“Oh, my god, your mother will have a coronary,” Bucky said. “We should definitely do that. Absolutely.”

.

Fanfic Writer Friday!

[zombeebunnie]

Trembling Essence Devlog 3:💙Final touch ups to the Afternoon route!💙

Hi and welcome new followers, it doesn't feel like it's been a while month! Here's an update to progress of the game! :]

There will be spoilers if you haven't played through the [Extended Demo], specifically the afternoon route. Click here if you would like to play! :]

*To avoid confusion from my last game development post, please note that game updates about the game will be every two weeks to possibly 1 month(???) this year since I didn't clarify that correctly in devlog 2.

This post will be a little all over the place since there was week and a half where I wasn't able to work on the game mixed in with drawing practice. :,]

The cooking scene:

Outside of testing everything, this section won't be tampered with any further! Woohoo!

While I went to clean up this section with new and updated content I unfortunately had really bad writers block and it took a while before I was finally able to adjust. What caused most of this was redoing a lot of the old code and new callbacks. In the [Extended Demo] I didn't specify them correctly and tweaking it with new situations was hard to do. Once completed I went back and did a couple of test runs and there were still issues with Noah's responses. In the end I decided to just keep what I managed to fix and remove the rest. There was left over new content I forgot to take out in certain choices and pushed it further into Day 4+ to keep the pacing balanced. *Callbacks in canon with how Noah reacts to what's added into the soup are still here! :[]

The sewing scene:

Around this section is when the writers block was really getting to me. I really loved what was originally here along with the new content but not being able to go back and continue from where I left off for almost a week and a half was hard to get used to.

At some point while I was working on all of this I lost the new script I created for this scene and I thought I saved over it by accident and would have to start all of it from scratch if I couldn't find it. In very good news, I found it! I accidently saved it in a different folder. :,P For now I decided to combine the new content with the version from the [Extended Demo] which includes quality of life changes to the dialog/scenes/choices etc. This will take some time to go through and I want to be extra careful not to misplace anything this time. :P

Animated scene:

I finally got the chance to add in a animation scene! Yay! :D

I talked about this some time last year about wanting to animate this part of the game to give that immersive view of how bad the storm is outside. Originally I had planned to animate the morning, afternoon, and evening scenes too but after going over it with my play tester we both agreed that it should only be animated during parts of the game when it's genuinely needed.

Weird glitch/bug encounter solved?:

I have no idea how this happened but at some point through testing out the game, 3 CG's turned completely black, specifically CG's where the player(Y/N) would turn out the lights. I didn't catch it at first until I noticed the screen was too dark and you literally couldn't see anything. I went through the images folder and all of them were pitch black. I thought I would have to go back and remake the images but it somehow fixed itself?

More stuff was added behind the scenes BUT I'm not ready to share it just yet and I don't want this update post to be too long. I'm going to take some time out and complete everything else I didn't get the chance to work on and hopefully by the next game development post I'll be working on the morning route! :,D

If you like what I create, please consider supporting what I do on kofi [Here]! All donations and tips help tremendously while I continue to work on the game. Thank you to those that optionally bought the [Extended Demo] on itch.io. :,]

Q&A / Ask box is open:

To know and understand Noah through Asks and random posts about lore, they'll be under #Get to know: Noah ! :]

I had a lot of fun answering recent asks I've been sent!

**Some asks won't be answered if it contains spoilers but I do appreciate what I receive. :]

If you have any questions about Trembling Essence/Noah feel free to ask here or on itch.io please. This makes it easier for me to see and answer accordingly! I enjoy hearing from you guys!

That's all I have to share right now. Thank you everyone for the support and patience! :,]

[tacitcrow-blog]

Since Foregone Collusion is finished reposting here, I thought I'd post some detritus from the folder I've been keeping all the comic art in.

A year ago, when I finished the comic the first time around, I attempted to write a "making of" document, mostly for my own reference. Y'know, just in case I might decide to start another long-form comic project and need some idea of what I'd learned the first time around.

As part of that, I put together some "character sheets" while I still had Clive and Edgeworth's designs on speed-dial. Please enjoy my chaotic rambling.

I also thought it might be fun to post an example of some traditional (on paper) stuff I scanned to incorporate into the comic. Two and a half panels of this comic were inked traditionally, one of which is on the scan-page below, and all of the typewriter text is from an early-1950s Smith-Corona which I uh. Own,

But I think the most ridiculous multi-media thing I did for this comic was to carve an actual relief block so I could physically stamp game-accurate gibberish onto newsprint paper to make the clipping of the article about his parents' death in Clive's mental conspiracy board. A very pleasant way to spend 3-5 hours. (I'd already prepared the "Layton alphabet" reference sheet months beforehand)

In the end, I placed this article mostly behind Clive's hand. You can't even see it. But you can bet if I ever get my ass into gear re: selling art I will be handing editions of this "article" out like business cards. (Would people actually want them? I have no idea.)

And lastly here's a "phone logistics" panel that I had to edit out of No. 13 at nearly the last minute.

There's more but it's 90% earlier versions of strips/panels/dialogue... these are the highlights! Thanks again for reading.

[foundmywei]

Buddie Fanfic Recs 1

Here are my favorite buddie fics! This post includes 40 of them

Check Part 2 and Part 3 for more

10k words or under

the wood marked for your fire by hattalove

(10,264 words | Teen And Up Audiences | Chapters: 1/1)

“Chim. Weird question?” Chimney’s chair creaks. Buck cranes his head over the back of the couch and watches him straighten up, pop his back, close the folder. “You only ever ask me weird questions,” he says, and then crosses the loft to sit in one of the armchairs. He levels Buck with a look that’s way too knowing for the amount of words they’ve exchanged. “What’s up?” He takes a breath. “What does it feel like to be a dad?” in which buck is used to wanting things he's not allowed to have; it's just that he never thought being a father would be one of them.

but, baby, watching you blush by calvingseason

(10,100 words | Teen And Up Audiences | Chapters: 1/1)

Eddie opens his mouth. Closes it. Finally, he settles on, “You told your parents you’re married? To a man?” Chimney and Hen both glance at him with twin looks that clearly mean he’s on his own with telling the rest of the story. Which—they had no problem teasing and joking about it three seconds ago, but now that Buck has to really get to the heart of the issue, they’re leaving it to him? Go fucking figure. “I told my parents,” Buck says, rubbing at the bridge of his nose with closed eyes, “that I’m married to you.” or, buck and eddie go to hershey for buck's high school reunion. the only problem? everyone thinks that they're married.

take my hand (take my everything) by cnomad

(10,307 words | Teen And Up Audiences | Chapters: 1/1)

When Buck has another near death experience, he decides the smartest thing to do is update his will. It's not a big deal, really—he just wants to take care of the people who matter most to him: Eddie and Chris. But to Eddie? To Eddie that's a pretty huge deal.

for all the perfect things i doubt by extasiswings

(5,199 words | Teen And Up Audiences | Chapters: 1/1)

Evan Buckley is really good in bed. Sometimes he wishes he wasn’t.

it was you, love by hammersmiths

(6,673 words | Teen And Up Audiences | Chapters: 1/1)

Eddie doesn’t realise the pattern until Karen says, “You’re collecting us like Pokémon.” “What, Wilsons?” Eddie says. He’s mostly distracted by Christopher on the couch, who is with Denny showing Miles, Hen and Karen’s newest foster, how to play Animal Crossing on his Switch. Miles is already developing the same starry-eyed look in his eyes Christopher himself gets around Buck. “You certainly don’t make it hard.” “Not Wilsons, dummy,” Karen says. “Lesbians.” Which is—not what Eddie was expecting her to say. “Uh. What?” or, Eddie befriends May and Linda at dispatch. Then realises some stuff.

you remind me of home (oh, baby, merry christmas) by catchingpapermoons

(7,247 words | Teen And Up Audiences | Chapters: 1/1)

“Buck, just come here,” Eddie says, and Buck feels his heart start to pound. “Do you need me to come get you?” “Oh.” He takes another deep breath. “You’re sure?” Eddie laughs. “Like Christopher won’t be over the moon that you’re here.” “For a month, Eddie.” “So?” -- or, Buck has to live with Eddie for a month, which would be fine if he wasn't in love with the guy.

one of the few things by thatnerdemryn

(7,222 words | General Audiences | Chapters: 1/1)

“I want someone who’s going to take care of him, love him just as I would without babying him or making him feel like he can’t do things, you know? I want someone who is going to fight for him, not against him, who would literally go through hell for him because he deserves it--” Eddie cut himself off, but Hen didn’t need him to continue. “You want it to be Buck.” Maybe she should’ve been more surprised or she should’ve asked the question instead of saying it so surely and causing the bit of panic that erupted in Eddie’s eyes, but it was obvious in everything Eddie was expressing. Or five times that Eddie tells someone else that Buck is Christopher's legal guardian plus one time he finally tells Buck.

someday soon i'll make you mine by lecornergirl

(2,710 words | General Audiences | Chapters: 1/1)

"I didn't raise him to be this dramatic, you know," Eddie mutters as they listen to Christopher making his way down the hallway to make his entrance. "He gets this from you."  Eddie doesn't seem to think there's anything unusual about what he's just said, but something warm blooms in Buck's chest. He gets this from you. His artificial, arbitrary line in the sand between parent and not is blurring once again. 

you can start a family who will always show you love by fleetinghearts

(8,185 words | Teen And Up Audiences | Chapters: 1/1)

“Yeah, yeah, he’s—he’s my kid, he’s my kid,” Buck tells her, tripping over his words in the effort to get this whole process to hurry the fuck up so he can see Chris. There’s the sound of something hitting the floor from behind him, followed by what might be plastic bouncing off the shiny hospital tiles. The person at the desk looks up in surprise, over Buck’s shoulder, and he turns to look too. Eddie’s standing there, Styrofoam cup rolling at his feet, coffee splattered all down the bottom of his faded blue jeans. The plastic lid of the cup skitters over the tile before coming to a stop a few feet away. He looks like someone punched him in the gut, absolutely shellshocked, something Buck can’t quite read behind the startled expression on his face. or, buck's looking for something, and the diazes let him know he already has it

can't see anyone but you by allyasavedtheday

(4,967 words | Teen And Up Audiences | Chapters: 1/1)

“Besides,” he says, clearing his throat. “Once I’m on the date, there’s no beating me. I know how to treat a date right.” Buck tilts his head to the side, his cocky smirk re-emerging as he appraises Eddie. “Wanna put your money where your mouth is, cowboy?” “What?” “Let’s go on a date,” Buck says like it’s obvious. Eddie splutters through some attempt at a response but Buck carries on speaking before he can come up with something to say. “You show me your best date moves and I’ll show you my best date moves and whoever’s better doesn’t have to pay for dinner.” * Post 6x17, Buck and Eddie decide to go on a practice date. It goes exactly how you think it would.

something to hold onto by foxwatson

(5,185 words | Teen And Up Audiences | Chapters: 1/1)

There’s about a palm’s width of distance between Eddie’s knee and Buck’s thigh, where they’re both sitting on Eddie’s couch. It would barely take any movement at all for Eddie to just nudge his leg over a little further, press their knees together and let his rest there. or the one where frank tells eddie he should work on letting himself want things, and eddie starts by cuddling with buck

accidents happen ( but i will love you on purpose) by withmeornotatall

(4,425 words | General Audiences | Chapters: 171)

"Buck..." Eddie says lowly. "Did you already put a load of laundry in?" "I had nothing to do whilst Chris was doing his math homework," he explains himself, turning back to Eddie. "And my workout stuff smelt so bad, Eddie. I almost cried." "Buck, let me do the groceries then—" "No, Eddie, its fine." Buck shakes his head resolutely. "You know I love shopping, especially with Chris. And beside, you still have to do the light load and then fold it all up. Even split of chores, I promise." Buck wonders if Hen and Chim ever split their errands on their days off, before Karen and Maddie. (OR: buck kisses eddie, goes grocery shopping with christopher, then realises he's in love with eddie, in that order)

I-10 by sunryder

(6,997 words | Teen And Up Audiences | Chapters: 1/1)

Instead of taking the 1-40 through Nashville back in 2012, Buck took the I-10 along the southern border. But once you were in West Texas, all roads led to El Paso. There was no getting out of the state without passing through it. Evan considered inevitability a pretty damn good analogy for Eddie Diaz. (Where Buck literally takes a different road and meets Eddie a few years early.)

baby, you were my picket fence by spaceprincessem

(6,179 words | Teen And Up Audiences | Chapters: 1/1)

Buck is all in. He’s one-hundred percent, give em everything he’s got, will do anything Maddie asks— “You can’t tell anyone,” Maddie suddenly becomes so serious Buck feels like he has whiplash. He blinks a few times, brow furrowed, “Well, yeah I know that.” “No, Buck,” Maddie leans forward covering his hand with her own, “I mean it. No one else is allowed to know about this.” Buck opens his mouth, but Maddie reads him like the traitorous sister that she is and cuts him off by saying, “That includes Eddie.” “Maddie,” Buck whines, and he’s very well aware at how pathetic it sounds, “that’s not fair! It’s — he’s — it’s Eddie!” [or Maddie wants to propose to Chimney. She gets Buck involved. Buck can't tell anyone. He somehow proposes to Eddie instead.]

all i know since yesterday by sibylsleaves

(6,082 words | Teen And Up Audiences | Chapters: 1/1)

Buck knows what he’s doing might be constituted as ‘a bit creepy,’ but he can’t really help it. He has a book in his lap, so it’s not like he’s just staring at Eddie, but—ok, so he hasn’t actually read a page in over twenty minutes, and in the meantime he has watched his best friend chop like six different kinds of vegetables to go in Bobby’s ragu. “How’s it going, Buck?” Hen asks, flinging herself into the adjacent arm chair. “Fine,” Buck says, barely looking at her. “But something’s up with Eddie.” or, Eddie flirts. Buck worries.

Break Glass in Case of Emergency by Beforeastorm

(2,894 words | Teen And Up Audiences | Chapters: 1/1)

Eddie’s mind wandered to the red folder, tucked high up in the back of his closet. He recalled back to a conversation he had with Buck, almost a year ago at this point:

“It’s an insurance policy; a break glass in case of emergency. A trump card.” “One I really hope we’ll never have to use.” “But if we have to, we’ll be really glad we did this.” When hospital policy doesn't allow Chris, as an unrelated minor, to visit a comatose post-lightning strike Buck in the ICU, Eddie has a solution. Unfortunately, that involves sharing some pretty personal information in a waiting room filled with the 118.

like a heartbeat racing by elisela

(3,600 words | General Audiences | Chapters: 1/1)

Buck can do this. He can totally do this, it’s just a favor for Maddie, and what’s he good at if not helping out his sister? Sure, doing a cake tasting when you’re neither the bride nor the groom is a little … unorthodox … but it’s cake. He loves cake, he specifically ate fewer carbs all week so he could pig out to his heart’s content on cake, delicious, fluffy cake, and he can do this. “I can’t do this,” he blurts out the night before, pacing the apartment with Eddie on speakerphone. “Maddie said she told them I would be coming so at least I don’t have to pretend to be Chim, but how pathetic is it to show up to a cake tasting alone?”

you were the wilderness I crossed into by rowan_wood

(9,218 words | Teen And Up Audiences | Chapters: 1/1)

“Truth.” “How many times have you fallen in love?” The table was quiet, but Eddie didn’t take long to think it over. “Three times.” “With who?” Lucy asked. “Nope, not part of the question,” he smiled at Lucy, easy as anything. Buck tried to count quickly in his head, the math not adding up. “My turn, right?” Eddie asked the group. “Chim. Truth or dare.” or: the 118 has a 24 hour shift, and zero calls. The firefam spends it playing games, and everyone takes the opportunity to tell Buck just how much they love him.

11k - 40k words

The Family We Choose by maybeamystery

(20,468 words | Teen And Up Audiences | Chapters: 1/1)

“Hey, bud!” says the scowling man, suddenly all smiles. The smile changes his face into something beautiful; Kelly realizes that this kid has not one but two hot dads. As he’s swept into the arms of his other dad and they start off in the direction of the nearest ice cream shop, Kelly says to the curly-haired man, “You two have an adorable son.” [10 times Buck is mistaken for Christopher's dad and 2 times it's not a mistake. Contains major spoilers for 5x14]

a leaf falls on loneliness by iimpossible_things

(11,163 words | Not Rated | Chapters: 1/1)

Buck doesn’t think that if he were to say, “I’m in a bad place”, that anyone would turn him away. Really, he doesn’t. The 118 has too many good, kind people for that. But every time he wants to open his mouth, to say something, to reach out to Eddie or Bobby or Hen or Chim, he hears Eddie yelling, “you’re exhausting.” —you’re exhausting, you’re exhausting, you’re exhausting— So each day he does his job and he laughs and he jokes and he pretends he’s the care-free goofball he’s always been. And each day he packs away his bruises and his worries, takes them home to his empty loft with its quiet rooms, and licks his wounds in silence.

Buy Back the Secrets by allyasavedtheday

(18,808 words | Teen And Up Audiences | Chapters: 3/3)

He casts his gaze to the right, to the voice he’d heard a minute ago and the hand still on his shoulder. And, well. Okay. So Buck may have just been unconscious for an indeterminable length of time but he doesn’t think he’s exaggerating when he says the guy leaning over his bedside is one of the most attractive people he’s seen in a long time. Especially when his face splits into a smile that rivals the brightness of the hospital lights that almost just fucking blinded Buck a second ago. “Welcome back, hotshot,” the guy says and it sounds fond – familiar – and Buck honestly has no idea who this guy is. His brown hair is dishevelled on top of his head and his eyes look tired but then Buck notices the LAFD t-shirt so- alright. Someone from the firehouse, maybe? But he’s pretty sure he’d remember a face like that. * After getting hurt on a call, Buck wakes up thinking it's 2018. AKA Buck can't remember who Eddie is but he's pretty sure everyone's lying when they say they're "just friends."

you're my whole house by hammersmiths

(11,958 words | Teen And Up Audiences | Chapters: 1/1)

Eddie shrugs. “Christopher mentioned to Daniel that Buck and I are partners. I mean, sure, it’s a little weird that she invited him over as well, but—” “Partners,” Hen interrupts, “like work partners?” Eddie and Buck glance at each other. “Uh, yeah?” Eddie says. “What other type of partner?” Hen stares at them for a moment, before she bursts out laughing. “You dumbasses. She thinks you’re together.”

the distance to the stars by cloudydaisies

(27,258 words | General Audiences | Chapters: 1/1)

“Didn’t know you were seeing someone.” Buck just laughs. Like, honest to god giggles. Eddie is stuck fighting off doubly massive waves of butterflies and confusion, all while Buck just gazes down at him. “That’s cute,” he hears Buck mumble, just before climbing into the truck, calling Eddie after him. - or, everyone knows eddie is dating buck except for eddie, literally.

The Definition of Love and All Things Ineffable by ElvenSorceress

(29,351 words | Teen And Up Audiences | Chapters: 3/3)

Maddie asks him, like she’s been waiting to ask him, “Does Christopher call you ‘Uncle Buck’?” It’s… it sounds so casual. Nonchalant. Maybe even reasonable? And like there’s something she’s trying to figure out, but why would Chris ever call Buck his uncle? He’s Jee-Yun’s uncle. “No,” Buck answers. “Why?” “He called me Aunt Maddie.” She tips her head curiously, brows knit together. “You’re far closer to him than I am. I thought if I’m his aunt, you’d have to be his uncle. Why wouldn’t you be Uncle Buck?” There are pieces of chicken mushed into Jee’s fingers and carrots sticking to the bib draped over her front and what might be peas caught in her hair. And Buck doesn’t really have an answer. It’s just. It’s wrong. He’s not Chris’ Uncle Buck. Maybe he should be? Maybe he’s supposed to be? Or maybe Chris doesn’t call him that directly because he’s always been BFF Buck or His Buck. He shrugs and uneasiness settles in his stomach. What more could he ever be to Chris but an uncle? ~~~ In which Buck processes his breakup, learns his place in his family, has a huge crisis of sexuality, and finds the truth about love beating in his own heart.

Didn't think you meant it by EtoileGarden

(33,519 words | Explicit | Chapters: 12/12)

“Y’know,” he said. Shrugged again. “That last call? I kind of thought I’d have that by now.” “What,” Eddie raised his eyebrows at him. “A roof collapsing on you?” Buck grunted, elbowed Eddie. Lightly, because he did appreciate the humour in Eddie’s voice. “No,” he said. “Just - married.”

drink the river dry by Rianne

(32,215 words | Explicit | Chapters: 1/1)

It wasn’t until they were discussing his discharge paperwork and painkiller schedules that it really sunk in for Eddie that Buck would be staying with him and Christopher. That he would be around 24/7 except for his shifts at work. That he’ll sleep on the couch, where he’s been sleeping for days now to look after Christopher. The worst part is that it’s necessary—Eddie isn’t going to be able to do a damn thing for himself for the next couple of weeks. He’s lucky if he can put a shirt on by himself a month from now. Yeah, that’s going to be a problem. Or: Eddie gets shot, breaks up with his girlfriend, and pines like there’s no tomorrow.

Despite it all, Because of it all by kitkatpancakestack

(23,747 words | Teen And Up Audiences | Chapters: 1/1)

He puts the truck in park in front of Eddie’s childhood home. Christopher shifts in the back, already unbuckling his seatbelt. Eddie is frozen with his jaw set, eyes hard and unblinking as they bore holes through the windshield. Buck was here once before, after that relief trip to Texas, but he is under no illusions that this time will be similar. For one, he doesn’t have the buffer of other firefighters to hide behind. This isn’t a visit that will last a couple hours, and so the sugary, superficial niceties will eventually crumble when it’s mid-way through the week and he’s still hanging around. There is also the shadow of everything that has happened since the wildfires skulking behind them, waiting to be found out. But, this is Eddie and Christopher, needing him to have it together, so he paints on a smile and squeezes Eddie's knee and slides out of the truck. * Eddie's dad gets sick. Buck goes with him and Christopher to El Paso.

you light the spark in my bonfire heart by woodchoc_magnum

(22,669 words | Mature | Chapters: 2/2)

A post-5b fic, in which Buck slowly realises that he's been in love with Eddie this whole time.

some day i'll fall into you by allyasavedtheday

(13,467 words | Teen And Up Audiences | Chapters: 1/1)

I got you. I got you. I got you.

“You said that,” he says, clearing his throat around the emotion clogging his windpipe. “In the firetruck. I heard you.”

Buck leans back enough that they’re looking at each other. The hand he’d had on the back of Eddie’s head moves to the side of his neck, his thumb pressing lightly against the hinge of Eddie’s jaw.

Eddie swallows around the lump in his throat and meets his gaze. “I believed you then.”

Buck sighs like the breath has been punched out of him and leans forward to press their foreheads together. “Believe me now,” he murmurs and Eddie’s not sure if it’s a plea or a request but he finds himself nodding anyway.

“Okay.”

*

A look at how Eddie deals with his recovery post-4x14.

I Know a Place We Can Go by maybeamystery

(15,580 words | Explicit | Chapters: 1/1)

“Well, that was heartwarming,” Chimney says loudly. “Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s go save some lives. In WeHo. Where Buck goes to gay bars because he is apparently a bisexual now.” “I’ve always been a bisexual,” Buck sniffs. “You just didn’t notice.” “There are gay bars outside of WeHo,” Hen adds. “Just saying.” [5 times Buck and Eddie get hit on in West Hollywood and 1 time they definitely do not]

Tick Tick Boom by ChasetheWindTouchtheSky

(30,439 words | Teen And Up Audiences | Chapters: 1/1)

“Did you know if you put a frog in water and slowly bring it to boiling, it won’t hop out?” Chris is chattering as Buck makes a quick dinner while Eddie argues with his gas company on the phone. He can hear the occasional swear word in Spanish as his voice raises. Eddie doesn’t like to raise his voice around Christopher – the very thought makes Buck want to kiss him full on the mouth – so he decided to take it to the living room while Chris sits with his homework in the kitchen and Buck cooks. “Hmm?” Buck asks, unable to fully pull himself out of Bobby’s baked mac and cheese recipe. It took him years, but he finally convinced the man to write it down. Bobby’s handwriting was juvenile at best on a good day, but this was nearly unreadable. Buck wonders if he did that on purpose. “Frogs?” “Yeah!” Chris states. “My teacher said that if you put a frog in a pot, you have to make sure it’s not immediately boiling. You put them in water and then slowly raise the temperature and they won’t realize what’s happening. Then once they realize, they have no place to go. They can’t jump out.” * S6 Spec: Buck decides he doesn’t need therapy, reverts to some bad habits, and explodes. Or, the Breakdown Fic.

40k+ words

To Build a Home We Deconstruct Our Rituals by letmetellyouaboutmyfeels

(44,248 words | Explicit | Chapters: 11/11)

After the shooting, Eddie realizes he needs to put some things in place. Like who will get his assets if he dies. Who will speak for him if he ends up in a coma. What might happen if his family contests Buck's guardianship. Luckily, he's got a simple easy-peasy solution that won't result in insanity, catastrophe, or heartbreak:

Marry Buck.

the mortifying ordeal of being known by Polish_Amber

(60,866 words | General Audiences | Chapters: 7/7

The thing was, the 118 was full of gossips. Eddie had been at the station less than a week before Hen and Chim wrangled details about his “hot young thing” from him (“Buck is only 4 years younger than me, he is not a ‘hot young thing’!” Eddie complained.) And Bobby was open about his worries for his son’s lack of direction and the secrets he appears to be keeping (“I just wish I could help Evan find the thing that gives him purpose,” Bobby lamented.) It just made it all the more ridiculous (and horrifying) when Eddie realizes he’s been dating his Captain’s son this whole time (“Defiling his baby,” Chimney cackled, because he clearly wanted Eddie murdered.) -- Or, the AU where miscommunication abounds as Eddie seeks advice about his new relationship, Bobby despairs over his adopted son's career prospects and his refusal to talk about it, and Evan Buckley-Nash juggles training at the fire academy, building a family with his new boyfriend, and trying to work out how to tell his overprotective dad that he's already chosen the life he wants, actually. It takes a goddamn tsunami, of all things, to get the story straight.

Stuck on Fast Forward (Throw Away the Blueprint) by extasiswings

(42,884 words | Explicit | Chapters: 9/9)

“Sounds like the problem is you think casual sex with a stranger or finding someone new to date are your only options.” Eddie’s brow furrows. “Aren’t they?” “I mean, there’s always…someone you already know. Who you’re already comfortable with.” “Because my pool of male friends who are single and who would be interested in having sex with me has so many options?” “Well, I don’t know about many, but you only need one,” Buck points out. “And who would that be?” “Me, of course.” [Or: Frank gives Eddie therapy homework, Eddie misunderstands the assignment, and Buck is just a really supportive friend...right?]

Don't Take My Sunshine Away by SevenSoulmates

(113,785 words | Mature | Chapters: 21/21)

Eddie is in a coma, and Buck blames himself. He should've been there to protect Eddie. The least he can do now is to be there for Christopher, even if Buck doesn't know if he has it in him to be a parent without Eddie. Buck makes Eddie a deal: he'll fight for Christopher in the real world, while Eddie fights to wake up. Eddie's come a long way since those bleak days in El Paso, listening to his parents comments about how he's not fit to be a father. How Christopher doesn't deserve to be dragged down by the likes of Eddie and Shannon. Eddie thought after moving to LA, he and Chris had escaped that. When he wakes up and finds Buck neck-deep in a legal battle with his parents for custody of Christopher, Eddie must face his own mistakes, and find the confidence to stand up for himself against his absolute worst nightmare.

i think i belong to you (hope you feel the same) by Ran

(41,111 words | Teen And Up Audiences | Chapters: 4/4)

Buck’s taking him to therapy, where he knows Eddie’s therapist’s name and Eddie’s entire history with him; Buck, who let himself into Eddie’s house with food from Eddie’s favorite coffee shop with coffee crafted perfectly for Eddie’s tastes; Buck, who apparently has a book on Eddie’s coffee table with so many dog-eared pages it’s like any interruption at Eddie’s house is worth putting it down. Buck, who touches him with a devotion as palpable as all the little pieces of himself scattered throughout Eddie's home. Eddie thinks he might have solved his own question, but he’s afraid to look at the answer too closely—because he’s fairly certain his best friend is in love with him, and Eddie can’t remember a single thing about him. Or, the one where Eddie wakes up from the shooting only to think he was hurt in a certain 7.1 earthquake years prior and learns to appreciate the life he's created for himself since then.

Overcome by Spicysauce

(53,697 words | Mature | Chapters: 10/10)

“I’m not leaving you, Buck.” Eddie says with a tired sigh, like he’s struggling with the weight of the world and Buck’s the one who put it there. “Just switching jobs, that’s all.” That’s all?, Buck wants to scream, because every relationship he has is tied to the job in some way, and first Maddie left, and then it was Chimney, and now it’s Eddie. But he doesn’t scream, because that would be a little bit too tragic, even for him, and nods instead. Bites his tongue. Pretends that he isn't falling apart where he's stood. *** Or, set post season 5A, where Buck is alone, and angry, and exhausted, but mostly terrified that everyone he loves is slowly slipping away from him.

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Buck by sunryder

(50,287 words | Mature | Chapters: 13/13)

Red is dying and Buck is fucked up about it. Not just about losing a friend, but about ending up like Red: dying alone without the people who used to be his team. Buck doesn’t want to go out like that. It might take him a few panic attacks, a road trip, and a book recommendation, but Buck is going to tidy his life up.

let the world have its way with you by fleetinghearts

(54,477 words | Explicit | Chapters: 1/1)

“It’s just that—I died,” Buck continues, voice unsteady enough that Eddie wonders if this is the first time he’s acknowledged that out loud. “I died, and there’s so much more. There’s so much more I want to do, things I don’t even know I want to do yet, and I almost had the chance to have and live them taken away. I don’t want to die and regret missing out on everything else, Eddie.” “So let’s make a list,” Eddie says. “Let’s do them.” or, a bucket list that’s really about buck needing to make a change and an eddie who’s ready to do anything to see him fall in love with life again. it takes some crossing off for eddie to realise—the thing at the top of the list in his own heart? it’s been right here all along

you and me by woodchoc_magnum

(55,411 words | Mature | Chapters: 2/2)

An alternate ending to Season 6, where Buck realises that what he's been searching for has been right in front of him the whole time.

[the-kingshound]

Warning inane ramble incoming, it’ll probably be annoying I apologize. (*_ _)人 I spent the last several days reading every post here. I managed to convince myself to start liking some (sorry about that I’m sure it was annoying to get all those notifications) I have this weird thing where I get nervous about liking older posts cuz I mean it’s been a long time and it’s unprompted so that’s weird right? It feels weird like I’m doing something wrong or I’m being annoying, I considered reblogging too but somehow that felt worse? Sorry I am not good with social rules they confuse me both on and offline Idk my brain is wrong and I’m just a nervous socially anxious snail. (＞﹏＜)

Anyways just wanted to gush about how much I love it here and I’m never leaving (´꒳`) ♡ First and foremost Yniol has a special place in my heart they will forever be my favorite bestie (*＾ω＾)人(＾ω＾*), yes I am biased as my partner is grey and though they don’t play IFs they were thrilled to learn about your character! Also your writing is just phenomenal, your fans are fun and creative, your characters give such warm and positive energy I love them so much they’re perfect, the inclusivity is such chefs kiss ( ´ з `) 🤌🏻✨, the angst is delicious, the fluff is so sweet and comforting, the spice is ... very blush-worthy (⁄ ⁄>⁄ ▽ ⁄<⁄ ⁄). This has been a journey I laughed, I cried, I giggled, and I blushed and I have enjoyed every bit of it from pasta discourse to Moldien cult wars to Arthur bunnies, I’ve had the most wonderful time. Now my mind is gonna be filled with Arthurian stuff for months my maladaptive daydreaming is having the time of its life I have a road trip next week and I’m so looking forward to just staring out a window for 6+hours while my Hound's just alternating daydream adventures with the cast o(≧▽≦)o. Also speaking of your amazingly wonderful, sweet, and supportive cast I have decided my (though I love them all) favorite poly pairings are Arthur/Morien and whole crew polycule I’d sell my soul for those but I 100% understand why you can’t really do that. I don’t think I have the endurance in me to code a single poly no matter how much I wish it so the fact you’re doing any let alone several is just god tier you are awe inspiring.

Alas I have rambled far far to much I wish I could be more eloquent in expressing just how much I enjoyed experiencing all of this but for now this is the best I can do (╥ω╥). Thank you for sharing your wonderful work it’s truly a gift to experience. ଘ(੭��꒳​ˋ)੭✧ I wish you wealth, health, and all the best in all your creative endeavors. -🐌

No, please please do not apologize. You made my entire week <3 This ask is straight up going into the folder where i keep my motivation to write and to be just a little proud of my work, thank you so so much for sending it.

For anyone having the same thoughts about liking or reblogging old posts: please do it. When I see the notifications, get very giddy and pleased, and I hope you are enjoying the food. Liking, and especially reblogging things, even more so if you add tags and reactons, not only fills me with glee but it also reminds me of old asks that I want to reblog again for new followers. So yeah, I love it, please feel free to go on a liking/reblogging spree!

You are so relatable for the maladaptive daydreaming (this game was absolutely born out of my own mental movies), I wish I could speed up the writing and editing for the next update so you can read it while you travel but I'm afraid it's a lost cause (I have been working on things, even now, but I am currently rewriting like half of it and while it is way better it takes sooo much time and energy). Knowing my characters and story are in someone's thoughts it the best kind of reward I need. I will never likely monetise this game, so this is the thing I wish to leave people with, and I hope the characters can be comforting and keep you company <3

You have no idea how much I would love to write the full polycule... maybe one day :,) But don't lose hope for the Arthur/Morien poly yet, as I decided to cancel the Gwyar/Morien poly and now I have a potentially free slot. In any case, awww, please know that this ask made me so happy today and will be in my thoughts as tkh is in yours.

Please have a lovely day and a lovely week and also a very lovely trip! Thank you again so so much!!

[l-1-z-a]

💻🍎Adding the latest expansion packs and stuff packs for The Sims 2 to The Sims 2 Super Collection on macOS

About six months ago, I posted in a Discord group dedicated to the beta version of The Sims 2 about a discovery I made, but since that server has been move into read only mode, I’d like to share it here—along with some new details.

My discovery is related to The Sims 2: Super Collection — the macOS edition. It includes expansions up to Bon Voyage and several stuff packs: Happy Holiday Stuff, Family Fun Stuff, and Glamour Life Stuff. The remaining DLCs were never released on macOS, because EA and Aspyr had a contract to release only a fixed number of expansions. By the time Bon Voyage was out, all obligations (9 DLCs) were fulfilled, and EA didn’t extend the contract for the remaining packs.

As a result, Super Collection is considered quite limited. Moreover, it lacks support for the Russian language. Still, I must give Aspyr credit for making it 64-bit and continuing to support and update it.

I decided to dig into the game files, take a closer look at how things are structured, and try to bring back the missing expansions and stuff packs.

So, in The Sims™ 2: Super Collection.app/Contents, the most interesting folders are MacOS, which contains the executables (the main one is called Sims2XP_Exe), and Assets, which is structured similarly to the root folder of the Windows version (with TSData and Expansion Packs).

Contents and Assets structure

Expansion Packs structure

Each expansion or stuff pack has its own TSData folder, just like in Ultimate Collection (UC), Legacy Edition, and a Sims.plist file.

Sims.plist is kind of a mini-registry analog for macOS. It’s used to link the DLCs. Here's what it looks like:

Example of Sims.plist in the Bon Voyage folder:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">

<plist version="1.0">

<dict>

<key>TSProductIndex</key>

<integer>10</integer>

</dict>

</plist>

The TSProductIndex corresponds to the release order of the DLCs. I discovered that:

University — 1

Nightlife — 2

Open for Business — 3

Family Fun Stuff — 4

Glamour Life Stuff — 5

Pets — 6

Seasons — 7

Bon Voyage — 10 (!)

It seems that Aspyr at some point planned to port Happy Holiday Stuff and H&M Stuff to macOS, as they reserved indexes 8 and 9 and assigned 10 to Bon Voyage! I’ve seen unofficial ports of these and even all the remaining stuff packs up to IKEA (since they’re all based on Open for Business), but they don’t add CAS items like clothing or hairstyles.

The same thing happens if you replace Happy Holiday or H&M with Teen Style, Kitchen & Bath, or IKEA.

But you can only add two packs this way, since only indexes 8 and 9 are reserved. If you add Teen Style, Kitchen & Bath, and IKEA and assign all of them index 9 in their .plist, the game picks Teen Style and ignores the others. Additionally, only wall and floor textures will load—no objects or CAS items.

Okay, so what if I try to add the final expansions and Mansion & Garden Stuff, which updated the game engine, by using a TSProductIndex higher than 10? That’s when a new issue appears: the game performs an integer check. If I set it to 11 or higher, the game won’t launch and shows this error: TSProductIndex=>10

And what if I assign index 10 to Apartment Life and try to run the game? Then I get this error:

Trying to add FreeTime or Apartment Life files

What about Mansion & Garden Stuff? That one worked! (Even with Store Edition files!!)

"Pets" on macOS

But there were major UI glitches. The game thought all DLCs were installed and showed this:

Screenshots of broken UI:

I couldn’t load families or create a Sim. UI elements from expansions beyond Bon Voyage didn’t work. They were clickable but showed nothing. It’s like the game didn’t know what to do with them.

I believe this is because the executable is from Bon Voyage and needs to be updated to support FreeTime and Apartment Life code.

So, at this stage of my discovery, it’s possible to restore at least two stuff packs.

What about other languages? Aspyr claims only English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, and Japanese are supported. But in the game files — specifically in TSData/Res/Locale — there are more language folders, just like in the multilingual Windows version. Surely, there’s a trick to enable them...

And yes — there is! I found a guide on SimsWiki about changing the language for different Sims versions (Changing the game language). For macOS, it suggests using the following Terminal command:

Polish language example from SimsWiki:

arch -x86_64 open "$HOME/The Sims™ 2: Super Collection" --args -l:Polish

That didn’t work for me, so I modified the command like this:

My version for Russian language:

arch -x86_64 open "/Applications/The Sims 2.app" --args -l:Russian

And the game switched to Russian! The only problem was that Cyrillic characters weren’t displayed���just blank text. So I replaced the fonts in Super Collection with those from the base UC game, located in <Base Game>/TSData/Res/UI/Fonts, and... the game now runs fully in Russian!

The Sims 2 Super Collection turned into Bon Voyage in Russia

Ignore the untranslated Pleasantview — I entered that neighborhood before switching the language. It’s also necessary to replace the Center, Downtown, and university template files, or else they’ll stay in English. This issue also exists in UC and Legacy Edition and is resolved in a similar way.

Interestingly, when creating Downtown or the shopping district, the game shows the Double Deluxe logo instead of the localized Business or Nightlife icons:

Traces of The Sims 2 Double Deluxe

So, at this point, it’s already possible to play The Sims 2 on macOS entirely in Russian (with some workarounds like launching it through Terminal) and with two stuff packs, up to Mansion & Garden Stuff.

Now, if only we could figure out how to reserve additional values in TSProductIndex — then we could potentially get all stuff packs based on Open for Business at the very least, and at best, a fully working "Ultimate Collection" on macOS.

Source (RU):