#so them being roommates is Helpful (because it is very hard to get a bunch of introverts to live in doubles)

[piedoesnotequalpi]

🤹‍♂️!!!

Make my work on my WIPs!

Hello anon! I hope you enjoy this!

--

Katherine: Thanks again, by the way Jack: for the petition, or for shutting you and sarah in the locker room? ;) Katherine: Mostly the petition Katherine: We would’ve figured it out eventually

Jack wasn’t sure if he agreed with Katherine’s assessment, but he clicked away from the Facebook tab in favor of looking at the Blackboard page for his web design class. Now that they’d gone through the basics of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, the professor was starting to talk about search engine optimization, and Jack was starting to feel a little out of his depth.

“Well, I guess we know how we’ll host the petition if admin tries to shut it down,” David said.

Jack snorted. “I just know how to make things look nice,” he said. “I’ll leave the server shit to Albert.” The floor Albert and Charlie lived on had their own computer lab, complete with a server that they used to host some student organization websites.

[glow-in-the-dark-death]

My Sweet Intruder (Sleepwalking Love)

I wanted crack but also fluff, this was the creation. Enjoy!

~

Tim had recently bought a new place to live near a college since he decided to continue his education, the apartment was on the nicer side of things and even though he had gotten it for his civilian life it still had some security on par with his night life safe homes.

All of this to say that it would be hard for someone to break in and even more so to not be noticed.

Which is pretty what he thinks is going on.

Someone is breaking into his house when he's not there which frankly is not that often to begin with since he's so busy with all kinds of things.

But the intruder doesn't seem to be causing harm?

There's nothing damaged or stolen just some food sometimes.

Honestly the complete opposite of what you would expect from an intruder, his apartment was cleaned things were moved around the kitchen was stocked with fresh food and ready meals.

Honestly it took him this long to know something was wrong because he had originally thought it was one of his brothers coming by and helping out or something.

But no after some investigating it wasn't anyone in the family it wasn't even his friends or someone else he knew someone who would make sense as to why this was happening.

Also there appeared to be living there considering all the things appearing around his apartment making a home for themselves that were very much not his.

But the Intruder since he had no name for them was ..considerate?

Almost sweet in a creepy way if you think about it.

His apartment was cleaned he had meals ready for him to eat and a bunch of other small things that combined were making his life easier.

He would like to know who this intruder was but his surveillance and all other tech always died out when it seemed they were there, so no video proof and they always were gone before he could catch a glimpse of even their shadow.

~

Danny was having such a good time, he was honestly a bit worried about moving to Gotham for college especially since apparently his application to live in the dorms had somehow not been processed or something and they only bothered to tell him while he was already there.

Thankfully luck was on his side because only a few hours after that incident while inside a coffee shop stressing about what to do and venting to his sister on the phone a man sitting next to him who looked like he needed a mini coma of sleep and looked kinda high overheard him and offered to be roommates with him since he was also going to the same college.

So yes things were going wonderfully, he had a place to live where he didn't even have to pay rent, and Tim was such a good roommate, he barely saw him but when he did he usually was more asleep then awake.

~

Tim after a while: "Why are there so many spaced themed objects in my apartment?"

~

Tim inviting Danny to live with him

Danny 'What's Stranger Danger?' Fenton: "Bet"

~

Tim: "How do they keep getting past all my security measures?!*pulling his hair out*

Danny using the key sleepwalking Tim gave him: "Home sweet home!"

~

Tim trying his best to catch Danny in person:

Tim sleeptalking:"One day I'll catch him"

Danny who is used to Tim sleep talking and sleep walking helping him get back to bed for the umpteenth time: "You sure will boo!"

~

Danny being grateful that Tim is letting him live there without having to pay rent and gave him a credit card to pay for things: "He's so sweet guys!"

Sam & Tucker: " Dude..is he your sugar daddy?! "

Danny: *shocked Pikachu face* "But there's no sugar involved?"

~

Danny thinking that maybe they are in a relationship just taking it very slowly because Tim's shy

~

Also Danny's love language being acts of service

Tim's love language is coincidentally also acts of service

~

Tim slowly falls in love with Danny still not knowing who he is: "I think I have issues"

Danny still thinking they're in a relationship and that Tim is just super shy: "Maybe we could hold hands soon!" *sappy smile*

~

Tim:

Danny:

~

What a story it will be when someone asks them how they got together! (◠‿・)—☆

Just an Idea

[cloudyskydreams]

Do u have any xreader fic recommendations?

Luv ur writing btw<33

AHHHHHHH boy do I that's mainly what I read lol

I have actually been waiting for this moment stg I have basically no one in my life who also reads fanfiction so theres no one to really talk to about it

A few that immediately come to mind are:

Aggre(g/v)ation by Llama Goddess!, Complete, 180,000 words, Fem reader

•Okay this one I have very faint memory of and from what I can remember it's a reverse harem fic (gonna be a pretty common troupe here)with UT sans, UF sans, and HT sans. I really liked the characterization of the boys in this fic and it had good pacing and plot. I believe you're UT sans roommate and then all the machine bs happens and it pulls through UF sans first and then HT sans a bit later on in the story.

Dirty Laundry(fem and masc) by Popatochisp, Complete, 162,476 words for fem 182,622 words for masc

• THE swapfell fic. Both skeleton brothers x reader here with SF sans being romanced later on in the book. I absolutely devoured this fic it was great pacing,great characterization,THE PLOT 😙👌. So it starts off with you doing laundry at a Laundromat and you feel someone watching you. Looking around you see a tall skeleton trying to sneakily watch you and you're like what is he up to. So you approach him and you're like can I help you and he gets super embarrassed because the whole issue here is he doesn't know how to do laundry. So you teach him and end up getting his number and he wants you to become his adulting teacher basically. Not gonna spoil much more but this book is! so! good! Really fluffy with just the right amount of drama and action mixed in. Hard recommend!

On top of the bone pile by Lyrjok, Complete, Includes SMUT, 422,222 words Fem reader

•Another reverse harem this one has a bunch of boys let's see romance wise there's UT, US, UF, and SF maybe G!Sans as well can't remember, There's also ink and error but they're there for plot reasons. This one is cute and has good pacing. I can't really remember the plot super well besides the ending and I don't want to spoil that for y'all. I picked it up for the smut but ended up really liking it and how the author portrays the boys is pretty good!

Smells like Chalk and Beeswax by ShittyDinner, Complete, Includes SMUT 78,841, Fem reader

•Okay first of all this fic does NOT have a happy ending and I figured that out the hard way. Istg it hurt me so bad I couldn't read fanfiction for like two weeks after I finished it because I couldn't stop thinking about the ending and it was ruining my reading experience. SO BE WARNED. This fic is a US sans x reader with uh some US papyrus x reader as well. Absolutely great fic here, the plot and pacing are perfect I love the boys here. I remember the plot of this one so viscerally starts off with an earthquake and you end up saving US sans. He gets your number and wants to befriend you basically right away. Don't want to spoil anything but the story moves pretty quick so you won't be waiting long if you read this!

Smells like Chalk and Cockatoo byShittyDiner, Complete, Includes SMUT, 128,555 words,Fem reader

This is by the same author as the last one and kinda follows a simular plotline but instead it is UT sans x reader. If i remember correctly it does have a happy ending. So a fair warning for this one Sans is abusive at some points its actually a pretty big plot point so if topics like that are triggering to you this is not the fic for you. I cant really remember the plot of this one too well but im pretty sure you meet papyrus first and sans a bit later on. Its pacing is pretty decent and i feel it has a good amount of drama plus you get to have a kid with sans near the end which was cute to see.

OKAY i feel like six is enough for now but if you guys wants more just let me know i have so many and i love yapping about fics i like lol. ALSO if you have any papyrus x reader recs any au please drop them in the comments or message them to me i am a huge sans simp but i feel like its finally time to give paps some attention

ALSO ALSO not fanfiction but fanfiction esque Darkpetal16 is working on some undertale au interactive fiction with romance involved in most of them, they even have a few finished! For anyone who doesnt know what Interactive Fiction is it's basically a text based game and i find them pretty neat. The ones that are finished are Siren Call, Underswap, Underfell, and Dusttale!

[withwritersblock]

Lover Boy-The One With The Introduction

~Lover Boy by Phum Viphurit~

Author's Note: this series was requested and I'm so hyped to write it, I think it could be super cute. This is a series of one shots :) Summary: Y/N's roommate abandons her at a party and her brother and his teammates take her home Warnings: mentions of alcohol, party scene Word Count: 1,284 Luke Hughes x Edwards sister!reader

She was standing with her newly found best friend of three weeks, inside a crowded sweaty frat party. The music was loud, it was hard to breathe and the only way to communicate was through shouting into each other’s ears. Nessa stood beside her, scanning the party for potential targets to help Y/N find a boyfriend.

Nessa had been in a relationship since she was a sophomore in high school. It was the fraternity her boyfriend was rushing, so of course she was invited. Which meant Y/N was invited. Nessa was Y/N’s random roommate assignment, as it turned out; they were perfect for each other. 

They’ve been inseparable, as if they have been friends since forever. But here they were alone, getting bumped into every three seconds when Y/N’s eyes landed on her twin brother Ethan. “What the hell?” she muttered as she watched him dance alongside his teammate. Or someone she thought was his teammate, she was a little drunk and a little dizzy.

“He’s cute!” Nessa shouted, grabbing Y/N’s shoulder and forcing her gaze towards the blonde boy in the back of the party. Purposely brooding in the corner, alone. “Let’s play, have you met Y/N!” Nessa shouted. Y/N yanked Nessa back towards her.

“We are not going to play Have you met Ted!”

“We’re not playing Have you met Ted, we are playing Have you met Y/N!” she giggled, dragging her through the crowd.

“I’m so mad I showed you that show!” Y/N shouted as she was being dragged, muttering apologies to the people she was slammed into.

She stopped as she was slammed into a very familiar frame, her twin brother. “What the hell are you doing here?!” he shouted, staring towards her. Nessa spun around to see Ethan standing beside Y/N. Nessa’s eyes widened as she continued walking through the party in search of her boyfriend. Y/N glanced towards where she thought Nessa was to find that she was now alone with her brother standing in front of her. 

“Since when do you go to parties?” he shouted, shaking his head. 

She shrugged her shoulders, “Since I started college?” she shouted as she glanced towards the two guys beside Ethan, whispering towards one another. 

She recognized them and Matty Beniers and Luke Hughes. Two of Ethan’s favorite teammates.

He clenched his jaw as he rolled his eyes, “That’s your last drink, alright?!” he shouted towards her, staring deeply into her eyes. She nodded reluctantly as himself and the other two boys walked away from her. 

After a few minutes of wandering the party on her own, she found Nessa and her boyfriend Derek making out in the corner of the party. They were getting cheered by a bunch of his potential fraternity brothers. Y/N felt sick to her stomach as she decided to leave. 

She called Ethan, reluctantly. He answered the phone but it was too loud to hear him. So, she texted him asking him to walk her back to their dorm building. He quickly replied, telling her to meet him outside of the house. She continued to shove her way through the house, begging to breathe fresh air, instead of other people’s sweat. 

She stepped outside, her ears ringing. Her feet felt like she was levitating as she no longer could feel the bass. Her eyes landed on Ethan and the same two boys from earlier waiting outside. 

“Are you alright?” Ethan asked, he scanned her frame. He hated seeing his sister dressed the way she was. It was definitely Nessa’s wardrobe because he’s never seen her sister wear clothes like that.

“Yeah, just Nessa found Derek and I realized I wanted to go home,” she mumbled as she looked towards the two taller boys standing behind Ethan. He continued to scan her features, knowing her true feelings despite her words. 

Ethan and Y/N have always been close, not because they were twins, but because they enjoyed each other’s company and cared a lot about one another. 

Ethan rested his hand on the center of her back as he guided her towards the two guys. “Y/N, Matty and Luke,” he motioned towards each of the boys, “My teammates,” he mumbled, smiling polietly. 

“I’m sorry for dragging you guys from the party,” she let out, smiling sadly. 

“It was boring anyway,” Matty mumbled. 

“It was definitely not like the movies,” she mumbled.

The boys simply nodded with a wide smile on their faces. They were scanning her frame. Admiring the way her body took the clothes she was in. It was obvious she was stunning, it was obvious she was hot. 

She began walking ahead of them, guiding them where her dorm was. It was around a half a mile walk back towards campus. Ethan stood in the middle of the taller pair. The three of them began walking, Ethan could tell the way the two boys were watching his sister.

He smacked his hands against their chest, grunts leaving their throats, “Don’t even fucking think about it,” Ethan muttered as he continued walking behind his sister. 

Luke fought the smirk on his lips as he forced his gaze to the concrete below his feet. Matty simply rolled his eyes, practically saying as if! 

All three of them lived in the same dorm building, so it ended up working out. It was a quiet walk back, nothing much to say. Y/N started stumbling a bit, as her last drink was finally catching up to her. 

“Are you sure you can get to your room by yourself, want me to walk you?” Ethan asked as they were waiting for the elevator. Y/N nodded as she clenched her jaw. Ethan’s eyes widened as he smacked his hand against Luke’s arm, “You live on the same floor, can you walk her to her room?” Ethan stared into Luke’s eyes pleading with desperation. Luke nodded slowly as he looked back towards Y/N. 

They all stepped into the elevator, Matty was the first to get off on the third floor. Ethan got off on the fifth. It was soon just Y/N and Luke. “I’m fine, you don’t actually have to walk me to my room,” she said, leaning towards him slightly. 

Luke chuckled, adjusting the hat on his head as he met her gaze. His body froze for a second as he stared into her eyes. She smiled softly as she looked into his blue eyes. “I think your brother will actually kill me if I didn’t,” he said as the elevator doors opened. 

She stepped out first, spinning around to meet Luke’s gaze once more before she began guiding him towards her room. “Thank you,” she mumbled as they continued down the hallway.

“It’s not a big deal,” he said, shrugging. She smiled as she stopped in front of her door. The name tags on the door that her RA had put up. She leaned against the door as she stared into Luke’s eyes for a much longer time than she should have. Something about the way he squinted his eyes and the way he was looking at her was intoxicating. 

“I’m gonna-” she mumbled, pressing her lips together. He nodded as he shoved his hands into his pockets. He took a step backwards.

“I’ll see you around?” he asked, tilting his head to the side as he began walking towards the other side of the floor. She nodded as she spun around to unlock her door. She shoved the door open and quickly stepped inside. Letting out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding as the cold air washed over her body.

[ozziesemporium]

Ok so new random idea.

So you know those "Mean evil gf of the current polycule abuses the skeles and Reader until they move out and then they realize that the gf was evil and bad and they fall for Reader" trope, right?

I was thinking about the idea that there was no real evil gf but rather Reader doesn't like having roommates, but their roommate (who was the one exception) had chosen to take in a bunch of people (the skeles) without consulting Reader out of a people pleasing tendency. The roommate isn't dating the skeletons but they are friends with at least one of them.

The general idea is that Reader (who is autistic because I am and I want an autistic character that isn't mainstream media's sanitized autistic):

Is contact averse, aka doesn't like being touched (esp by people they don't know)

Is very blunt and goes for the most direct way of explaining something, sometimes using harsh language

Like routine, and becomes irritable when that routine is interrupted

Doesn't like strangers being brought over (parties or otherwise)

Not social at all, leading to them being in their room a lot of the time

Suffers from severe germaphobia, so they clean dishes if other people touch the insides, and doesn't want anyone dealing with their laundry

They're generally hard to live with, but this friend understands that none of this is them trying to be difficult to live with and just them trying to manage all the stress of their job and other things that makes them able to afford this near mansion in a nice rural neighborhood with a bunch of land.

The skeles don't know a lot of this at first and as such get on Reader's nerves constantly, along with the fact that they think Reader keeps washing things they touch/flinching from contact because they're monsters. Reader tries to explain, but the roommate being given more leeway lead to the skeletons being suspicious at best most times.

Eventually, Reader says that they're moving out and they're gonna continue paying a portion of the rent, but the old roommate and the skeletons will be paying the rest.

Eventually, one of the skeletons comes home saying that they saw them helping out a monster who was being harassed by a human. The skeletons are surprised and confused until the roommate explains (FINALLY) that Reader is autistic and those rules were put in place because they didn't need additional stressors given that they have a high stress job to pay the bills of that place.

When they find that out, everything starts to slot into place and they feel awful. Some skeletons try to apologize directly, some try to convince them to return, some simply tell them to come home, saying that their behavior will change.

However, Reader tells them no. They don't want to deal with screaming matches and things being thrown and things being burnt and all the stress having roommates brings by default. They say that they might've been able to overlook the behavior had they been given time to think things over, but as things stand they don't believe any of them, especially since some were outright rude upon first meeting them.

They don't blame them for not knowing if something stressed them out, but some of them definitely knew and did it deliberately in some sort of twisted sense of karma or justice for them being difficult.

They tried explaining their behavior before, but nothing actually changed and the stress of living with them simply became too much to handle, so they had to prioritize their own mental wellbeing instead of being a "pushover" like their friend. They end off by saying that they shouldn't have do give a psychologist's diagnosis to explain why they don't want people touching their things and putting their hands inside things they eat/drink out of.

The rest of the story can follow them actually putting in the effort of getting to know Reader outside of the house and the ensuing romantic shenanigans. It could be the set up to an extremely slow burn since Reader wouldn't forgive fast nor forgive easily.

Idk, just putting this here so I can at least have it somewhere I can read it. Y'all can use this prompt if it speaks to you, just tag me.

[zivazivc]

Did Les and Hed know either of their fathers?

Yes, they lived with both actually, and they both refer(red) to both of their fathers as "dad" (well, hed's father was daddy).

They lived with Hed's dad and their mom in a small village/town in the rock kingdom since Les was basically still a baby and till he was around 8 or 9 when their mom died (Hed then being 4 or 5). Soon after that Les ran away and took Hed with him, because Hed's dad was very abusive toward him and it only got worse when Les grew to the height and size of an adult rock troll at around 8 years old. Les had a very hard time growing up in the rock kingdom in general, he was the only mixed genre troll where they lived and no one ever treated him age-appropriate because of his size, even unintentionally. Don't even get me started on the bigotry. :(

So then Les ran away with Hed to go find his biological dad, because surely his real dad who is also a funk troll like him would like him more. (Somehow they managed to find him with the help of one old photo Les had of him.) It turned out that wasn't the case and Les quickly realized that the funk trolls didn't consider him as one of their own either. But his dad still (reluctantly) decided to take them in if they stayed out of the way. And that's where they grew up and lived (in Vibe City) until not that long before they meet Floyd. It was a very strange and not at all child friendly environment because Les's dad lives in a cramped apartment with a bunch of stoner roommates and with different trolls coming and leaving all the time, so their home was more a hangout den for a bunch of washed up adults than an actual home...

The two rock trolls' first month there; Les was learning how to play the bass and he got super into it and he broke into song which then ended up with a punk rock scream, Hed heard it and started screaming all over the apartment (normal and healthy behavior for many rock troll kids):

Floyd also had the misfortune of meeting both of them (Les's dad intentionally and Hed's dad by chance). It's an understatement if I say he despises them

[rarepairdumpster]

Hi ! I love your Vilco small fics ! I am amazed by all your ideas 🤩 I especially loved your Tattoo AU, University AU and Vacation AU!

I just wanted to share a Quick idea with you 😊

About Vacation AU… what if this happened, and Silco and Viktor spend a torrid week together… but then when Viktor (doctorate student) goes back to his uni… he discovers Silco is one of Jayce’s new teachers !

Silco just moved to this new university as a teacher after his divorce to start a new life and he had no clue Viktor was one of the university students ! They didnt speak much during the Summer… hopefully Viktor is not HIS student (unless maybe one of the teachers of Viktor get sick and he temporarily replace them?).

They start by deciding that what happened during Summer stay at Summer… but its very hard to resist as they are haunted by the memories of the Summer. And seeing each other almost daily in the uni is not helping! what will happen ? 😉

A/N: First, THANK YOU SO MUCH! This inspired us a bunch actually and we went kinda crazy with this and there will probably be more lol

Part 1

Pairing: Viktor/Silco (Arcane) Rating: M C/W: Modern AU, Professor Silco, Viktor & Jayce, Pining, Jayce just wants his friend to be happyyyyy

Silco faltering for just a brief moment during his first lecture at his new post when he spots that dog-coded young man from the resort.

Viktor's overeager friend.

Someone he never spoke to, but saw often from a distance in the hours after Viktor would slink from his room to rejoin his friend.

And seeing the friend immediately brings memories of Viktor rushing to the surface

Silco doesn't say anything but of course, Jayce bounds up to him after class is over, huge grin on his face.

"Hey! I didn't know you were a teacher here!" Jayce says, excitedly.

"I just took the position here," Silco sighs. "How can I help you, Mr. Talis?"

"Oh, I don't need help. I just wanted to say it's good to see you. Viktor will be over the moon when I tell ---"

"You'll tell him nothing," Silco interjects sharply, his expression shuttering as he gathers his things. "That time is over. This is my workplace. Good day, Mr Talis."

Jayce is baffled when Silco walks out

Jayce is unusually quiet when he gets back to the apartment that he and Viktor share.

Viktor already has various books and papers spread across the kitchen table. His hair is a little more grown out since the summer and he has it tied back as he taps the end of his pencil on his lips.

"Welcome home, Jayce," Viktor casually greets, expecting a long-winded exposition of his roommates day

Viktor looks up when the only response he gets is "Hey" before Jayce goes straight to the small fridge and starts pulling out food.

It makes Viktor frown.

Jayce is usually too distracted to eat and has to be reminded.

If he's going straight to the fridge, something must be wrong

Viktor hesitates. Asking Jayce how he was when he was like this usually ended up being a long winded rant cycling through various emotions and Viktor having to nod along or confirm every so often that yes, that was indeed crazy or no, this is not actually the end of the world.

But if Viktor was honest, silent Jayce was far more concerning than talkative Jayce.

"Are you…alright?" Viktor asks, bracing for conversation

Instead of going into a long rant, Jayce just coughs awkwardly and says "Yeah, why" but it's the most uncomfortable Jayce has ever sounded.

And Viktor has heard him sound uncomfortable before. Usually while Jayce's face is down a toilet, hurling up the gin he drank the night before

Viktor's eyes narrow and he closes up the book he was studying out of. He turns to look at Jayce, whose face is redder than the sunburn he got while they were on vacation this summer.

"Because you're acting like that, Viktor replies.

Jayce looks immediately sheepish and then tries and fails to mould his expression to something less damning

Viktor sighs and grabs his cane, leaning on it as he gets up. Grabbing his cup, he walks over to the electric kettle and refreshes his tea. Quietly, he leans back against the counter and watches Jayce make a sandwich as he sips from his mug.

"What-What are you doing?" Jayce asks nervously, looking up at Viktor repeatedly as he hurriedly puts the sandwich together.

"For you to crack and tell me what you aren't supposed to." Viktor smirks a little as he brings the tea to his lips. "Like you always do."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Jayce huffs, but he quickly looks away. Stares at his sandwich like its the most fascinating thing in the world.

And then he shoves it into his mouth so he won't say anything.

And Viktor just watches…and watches….and

And each bite gets more difficult for Jayce to swallow

Viktor's eyes are burning into Jayce and all he can think about is how happy and relaxed Viktor was after the vacation.

The last bite he takes won't go down his throat and Jayce finally looks up at Viktor. There are tears in his eyes as he recalls Silco's serious and severe look, but he can't just let Viktor go on without knowing.

"He's muh professur," Jayce mumbles through a full mouth. "Hiftery."

Viktor frowns, takes a moment to parse through the garbled sounds he just heard, and then frowns deeper.

"He, who?"

"That guy. Filco."

Viktor furrowed his brow. Filco?

Wait. His eyes widened.

"Silco?"

Jayce nods and finally swallows. "He told me not to say anything so you didn't hear it from me, okay?"

"Ah." Viktor looks down at his mug, a few different emotions rushing through him: regret, hope, confusion, dejection, resignation. "Well. It was just a ….what is the word?…..fling. That's it. And….if he is a professor, such an entanglement would be inappropriate. It makes sense that he wouldn't want me to know."

"But you were so happy," Jayce almost whines. "I didn't even care that you didn't come back to the room at night because I've never seen you smile as much as you did that week."

"It is what it is. No use crying over spilled water."

"Milk."

"Right." Viktor rolls his eyes, but smiles, fond. "I do appreciate your concern for my happiness, Jayce, but it's alright."

"Besides," Viktor pulls away from the counter with a soft grunt and returns to the table, "I have to focus on my thesis. My research cannot afford distractions."

Unfortunately, for the next week, Viktor is entirely distracted, plagued with memories of his week with Silco. He had accepted that he would never see Silco again. It was easier to think of him as some fantasy that only existed in that resort.

But now, Silco is on campus, and he starts to see the man everywhere.

Getting out of his car in the parking lot.

Walking across the green areas.

In the queue for the coffee shop.

Reading papers on benches or under trees.

Viktor never dares to approach, since Silco doesn't want him to, but he can't stop himself from watching when he can

Viktor isn't the only one affected by Jayce's revelation.

It takes every fiber of Silco's being not to acknowledge Viktor every time he notices him staring.

Every time, he can't help but imagine strolling over and wrapping that beautiful boy up in his arms again.

Silco knows with just a few words, Viktor would follow him straight to bed, but he also knows how dangerous that would be for both of them.

Because he knows, if the truth of their past liaison was revealed, Viktor's entire student career would come into question.

If he slept with one professor, how many others was the boy sleeping with? How many of his grades were bought instead of earned?

There is one moment when Silco does allow his glance to linger and its when Viktor is sitting on a bench, completely absorbed in what he's reading, a few strands of hair coming loose from his bun and curling against his face.

God, Silco wants to push those strands back behind his delicate ear and then follow the same path with his lips.

It's torture to make himself turn and leave before Viktor can look up from his book and spot him

Part 3 Soon!

Arch + Woods

[literary-illuminati]

2024 Book Review #56 – Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

At the start of the year, I set out to try and read more proper literature. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow was not a book I had ever heard of, or by an author I knew anything at all about. But it was on my local bookstore's and local library’s staff pick lists, and has a bunch of awards, and I think showed up on some list of Goodreads recommendations. So 9 months later I finally worked down the list to it and went in totally unprepared and with zero expectations or preconceptions.

The book’s well-written and well-executed, but I can’t say it really worked for me. Or properly, it absolutely was working for the first two thirds or so, but by the end just felt like it lost a lot of the touches that had made it interesting and was just drowning in its own sentimentality.

The book follows Sam and Sadie, two Californian wunderkunds growing up in Los Angelos in the 1980s. They meet in a children’s hospital, where Sam is being treated for a foot the was nearly shattered in a car crash and Sadie is visiting her elder sister as she’s treated for cancer. The two of them instantly begin bonding over playing Super Mario Brothers and begin a friendship and a creative partnership that will - as they grow up and found an artistically and commercially successful video game studio in the late 90s – define the shape of both of their lives, no matter how turbulent and conflicted it at points becomes.

For reasons that probably boil down to the audiobooks my mother played on road trips as a child, I’ve always had a fondness for books that track the broad sweep of a life or lives, zooming out and stretching across the years and decades. So I actually digested this a decent bit more easily than I do a lot of modern litfic that I’ve tried. For the first few hundred pages, it all even holds together very well, bouncing around the timeline and providing childhood episodes and context as it's relevant and making the central relationships compelling and emotionally plausible. Unfortunately a couple of experiments in form (one worked for me, one really didn’t) eat up a lot of page count in the final act, and entirely kill the sense of flow and structure. Not at all helped by the narrative voice losing a lot of its charm and the story growing wholly predictable (and a bit saccharine) in the closing pages.

I say ‘central relationships’ and not ‘relationship’ because describing the book as being about the relationship between Sam and Sadie is just, basically false advertising? Marx – Sam’s college roommate, later Sadie’s boyfriend, the business manager of their video game studio - is for most of the book at least as important a character as the two leads. He’s a much less interesting character – entirely too much of a natural saint, compared to how very flawed and petty Sam and Sadie are both allowed to be – but he’s a key part of the dynamic and most of the book is properly about different permutations of the trio bouncing off of each other. No other character gets a tenth of the focus and exploration of those three, and are really more props for narrative and to incite development than anything else.

The book has (until the end, anyway) a strong narrative voice that I really enjoyed, but which also may have caused me to set my expectations entirely wrong for what the book was actually planning. The only way I can really describe it is that the book reads like one of those New Yorker longreads that are trying very hard to convince you they’re not just rubbernecking some fascinatingly dysfunctional relationships and personal drama among some semi-notable creative figures. Your Bad Art Friends and similar. Deeply opinionated and gossipy, but making a show of seeming detached and objective, always making asides written from the perspective of the modern day and quoting interviews from years later about events as they occur in the narrative. As someone who is a slightly guilty fan of exactly those kind of longreads, it did make for a very fun reading experience.

But it also made me get my hopes up. Which is to say, the early chapters make quite a few references to how latter in life Sam and Sadie wouldn’t be on speaking terms, and how ‘something’ happened at Unfair Games in 2005. I was looking forward to something some messy and newsworthy interpersonal drama of the kind that doesn’t leave either of them (or anyone) looking good. The falling out does occur, but in a way that’s mostly just piles of misunderstandings and a stubborn refusal to communicate from both of them. The company always stays ostensibly together, and things never get much worse than quietly cherished bitterness and a refusal to speak. Which feels very emotionally believable, as incredibly frustrating as it is. The dramatic rupture that happens in 2005, well-

The book’s use of violence always feels slightly unreal. It intrudes on the narrative in ways that, like, they are things that happen, but feel so exaggerated and on-the-nose they took me out of the reading experience, at least a bit. A woman jumps off her balcony to her death and happens to land right in front of a young Sam. His mother stops her car on an LA highway to avoid hitting a dog, and he asks her something that keeps her talking and not moving for the crucial moment before an SUV slams into them, killing her and permanently damaging his foot. And the great end-of-second-act rupture that occurs in 2005 is a pair of homophobic gunmen storming into their office and shooting Marx because their cozy MMO lets gay people get married. Any one would have been fine, but combined they make the illusion of violence as random and capricious wear a bit thin and the writerly artifice underneath a bit too clear, at least for me.

As far as period pieces go – the story isn’t nostalgia bait, but it isn’t not nostalgia bait, either? It’s a few years before my time, so I suppose I just don’t appreciate it properly – the experience of growing up in and living through the late ‘80s through 2000s is one the book cares deeply about replicating. It generally does an excellent job making things feel of-the-moment, if occasionally by having the narrative draw pretty heavy-handed comparisons to what would be different in the present. The aesthetics (fashion, public art and marketing, fads and consumer trends) are all there, and the characters experience them like people to whom they’re novel and trendy. (Personally I could have done with a bit less effort spent describing every single outfit, but if I had memories of what people actually looked like wearing them I might appreciate it more.) It does similar things with LA and (to a far lesser extent) Boston – every other place the book touches on feels vague and a bit unreal, but LA is rendered with a real sense of place and love for the city and it’s little eccentricities.

The area where the book is absolutely nostalgia-bait is video games, and the whole heroic era of rapid changes and improvements to the medium where new boundaries were being crossed every year and a handful of sufficiently talented and dedicated first-time devs could create something genuinely revolutionary. The book even manages the neat trick of making almost every fake game the protagonists create a) plausible for the era and technology and b) actually seem like something I would want to play (less so the Pioneerville MMO created in the final act, as with many things). But I do genuinely want to play Master of Revels quite badly.

The book does share a common failing with what feels like almost every period piece, where by complete coincidence the major characters all conveniently happen to be on the Right Side of History for every really major (that is, from the perspective of the present, character-defining) political issues. This is made a bit more irritating by the fact that despite all being quite radical on the issue of e.g. gay marriage (or just not being even slightly homophobic) from the vantage of the early Bush administration, none of Sadie, Sam or Marx ever even conceive of it as being political.

The book doesn’t conceive of itself as really having politics at all – but again, in the way of a New York Magazine feature where having certain sets of liberal convictions is just a matter of personal decency and morality. A certain unexpressed but present sexual conservativism, a view of class where Sam’s grandparents owning and running a successful restaurant counts as being from the wrong side of the tracks, hyper-conscious of race but without much to really say about it. You’re all familiar with the style, I’m sure.

Anyway yeah, not a bad book by any means, but one that lasted long enough and ended weakly enough to expend any real passion or affection I’d built up for it.

[banzaitaka]

I had this in my drafts for a long time. Started writing it when I was on my period and needed comfort.

Shall I make something more outta this?? Gimme your thoughts

Reader is:

-ftm trans (he/him)

-hyena beastman

-octavinelle student

-introverted

Azul, Jade and Floyd are gonna be your frens in this, eventually. Platonic, fluff, comfort.

___

(Y/N) dreaded his monthly week of red and dysphoria the moment he got the news he was going to NRC, even more than he already did. At first it actually started off as the usual mix of fear and excitement. Excitement because he actually got to go to a boys school, and fear mostly because of his social anxiety. After a bit of looking through the internet though, he couldn't really find information on transgender students attending that specific college.

Didn't mean there weren't any at all, but surely it wasn't enough to actually normalize certain things...Like buying pads, which is where the dread kicked in. It was hard enough for him to enter a store all by himself, but then going up to the counter of the school store and asking for period products? In a boys school?

And like the teen has feared, he was quivering, curled up in a ball in the corner of his dorm room. It must've been either luck or fate that gave him his own room. Although the roommates he could've had might've been that one group he needed as mental support during this horrible time. That group could've called him masculine terms, refilled his hot-water bottle for him, got him those damn pads he was slowly running out off...

That group would've been a blessing, truly. Knowing it could've also went the oppisite way, though, made (Y/N) not sad about sharing his room with his plushies, and his plushies only. It was easier for him to sleep alone in a smaller room anyways.

The bitter aftertaste of being given a separate room because he was trans, without questioning if it was necessary, was ignored as best as possible. It was somewhat disappointing, but there were perks in it too. And leaving it as an act meant well was feeling better at the time being.

Only when the actual pads were replaced with a bunch of toilet paper, (Y/N) counted the money in his wallet. NRC was clearly not transphobic, but the possible humiliation was steadily crawling around in the back of his mind. Honestly, the last thing he wanted was people finding out about him being transgender. Not because he was ashamed of it, he was actually very open about it back in the Shaftlands, his confidence about anything regarding himself was just not existing at that time. Any unwelcomed comment could shape his view on himself to the worst.

If only he had friends in this school full of strangers.

He had gotten know his dormmates, sure, but spoken he only had to three of them. Properly, I mean. They came straight from under the sea, switched out their tails and tentacles with human legs. Of course, they had to get used to walking first. Learn how to walk, to be more specific, seeing as none of them came to the surface before enrolling.

The help they received from the school only provided improvement, but that still didn‘t prevent all tripping or knees giving in.

(Y/N) actually made it his mission to try and catch them as often as he could. And once the headmage saw him executing that task, the hyena became their unofficial guide. No job interview or anything. It wasn‘t all that difficult nor time consuming since there were actually professionals working with the mermen, though. So that was a good thing. The pressure was bearable.

Their names were quickly saved in his brain, there was no way he would allow a mix up. Azul, silver hair, glasses. Jade, sharp eyes, highlight on the left side. Floyd, dog eyes, highlight on the right side. That was his personal Quizlet.

It wasn't difficult to get along with those three. Being quick to sort people into different personality categories really helped. Jade seemed to be alright with most approaches, being watched was the only dislike point (Y/N) noted in bold font. Azul seemed to be against accepting mere favors from others. (Y/N) proposed getting a written compliment for everything he helped him with. Which really seemed to help him for the most part.

And Floyd, now Floyd was the toughest one. Though (Y/N) was able to relate to his mood swings and lack of motivation, that didn't really help him deal with it. He had no idea how to make walking any more fun, didn't know how to bring in a new element to reawake the merman's excitement for his new limbs. So he just lets him be whenever he didn't feel like it. Floyd seemed very interested in running and jumping around, letting him just lay or sit around wasn‘t going to have a bad impact.

And that's pretty much all the involvement they had with each other. Besides the occasional greeting, information exchange and chase around the school ground.

So not even they were on the list of people to ask for aid...

There was nothing and no one else to turn to, he knew that, stuffing his wallet in his bag and reapplying his perfume. Being seen buying period products is one thing, but having a fellow beastman smell it? He never felt so lucky being a beastman, or else he might've been under even more stress, wondering if they knew.

Take a deep breath, (Y/N), you got this.

The dress shoes of the dorm uniform weren‘t comfortable on his feet. If it wasn‘t for the satisfying click clack of their heels (and the dress code), he would‘ve thrown them straight into the trash. Why did they have to wear uniforms at any time besides sleeping? Dorm uniforms were cool, but come on. Isn‘t this the time for relaxing? At least the usual uniform was pretty bendable. Though not all teachers clearly didn‘t appreciate all types of styles, it was allowed to bring your own taste into it.

He remembered seeing a fellow freshman wear a hoodie under his jacket, seemed a little too warm, but certainly looked nice. Oh, or a junior who ditched the jacket completely and paired it with sandals.

(Y/N) was still figuring out how he was going to style his uniform himself. A balance between comfortable and certified by as many teachers as possible seemed like a good bet, if it wasn‘t so difficult to achieve.

-

One year later, this already looked much different.

(Y/N) curled into himself, breath shaky and quite as another cramp overcame him. His fangs dug deep into his bottom lip, providing no release to the pain, however. A soft knock on the door made the male slowly open his eyes, eyebrows still furrowed in a frustrated groan. His eyes were only met with the wall at his bed, darkened due to the little light illuminating the room.

"Ye.", he squeaked out, hoping it was loud enough to be heard from the other side of the door.

The light from outside the dorm room spilled into the room, shining and revealing a tall shadow. The hyena didn't have to turn around to know it was Jade. He could smell the moray's cologne and the hot chocolate.

"You seem to still be in a lot of pain. Are you sure you don't want something to provide heat?", he stepped into the room, catious not to step on or kick any of the plushies that fell onto the ground due to (Y/N)'s thrashing. He placed the mug on the nightstand, before leaning over the male a bit to search for his face.

(Y/N) shook his head, "You guys did so much for me already. I can handle it from here."

[starker-raving-mads]

For You: Part VI

Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V | Part VI | Part VII | Part VIII | Part IX

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It took nearly 2 weeks for the TONY profile to run. Every moment felt like the longest 2 weeks of Peter's life. He had Friday giving him updates at every 5% completion, but he only got those updates once or twice a day.

He spent every day at the penthouse in that time, stopping at May's apartment only twice for dinner (after threats of coming to check on just what he was doing in that lab all the time - which, he really did not want to explain). MJ was nearly as concerned but Ned totally seemed to get it.

"Dude if I had access to Tony Stark's lab I would never, ever leave," his friend had gushed at one of their lunches out at a hole-in-the-wall taco place in Queens.

"You are not helping, Ned."

But the Avengers, at least, also seemed to understand.

"This isn't nearly as bad as what Tony used to do," Rhodey said, beer in hand as he and Peter ate away at too much Vietnamese take out around the penthouse kitchen island. "He wasn't exactly the best role model, but I know you nerd types," he chuckled. "You can't help it."

"Thank you," the teen said emphatically. "It's like once I get on a roll I kind of forget time even exists." Which wasn't true, he'd been counting down the hours until the next 5% interval completed since he started running the algorithm to create the TONY sim, but the colonel didn't need to know that.

"Hey, just as long as you still acknowledge the outside world exists I think you're probably doing pretty okay," the older man shrugged. "So outside of becoming an experiment obsessed little weirdo like the rest of them - "

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up," Peter chuckled, stuffing his mouth with dumplings.

" - what have you been up to, Pete?"

It took the young vigilante a solid second to remember life outside the lab.

"Well," he replied, swallowing. He stopped for a gulp of water before continuing. "I picked my classes for the fall semester, which is pretty exciting."

"College is such a game changer," Rhodey agreed, "very exciting. I met Tony in college, you know, back when he was scrawnier than you are now."

"I know," Peter smiled. "He told me; you were a few years older than him at the time, right?"

"Oh absolutely, I was sponsored through the air force," Rhodey nodded. "No 14 year old geniuses in my family," he laughed. "Nah, I was already 20 by the time I met Tony. I was assigned to college dorms because it was just cheaper for the Air Force to put me up through my scholarship. Felt weird being surrounded by a bunch of 18 year olds, but then it got even weirder when Tony was assigned as my roommate."

"I bet it was pretty strange," the teen agreed, stuffing another dumpling in his mouth. The cabbage and meat and spices were just right and he was getting more than a little addicted to them.

"It was, at first," the older man said. "But you know Tony - the man had charisma out the ass even then, and was even more trouble than he was as an adult. Man," he laughed, shaking his head in reverie, "the amount of parties and fights I had to pull him out of. Not to mention that one time he hacked the Pentagon's database."

Peter choked on a dumpling. "He what?" He thought for a second and said, "You know what? I'm not even surprised."

All in all, Peter was pretty sure that his little TONY experiment was way less insane than the shit the older genius had gotten up to in his time and it made him feel a modicum less bad for running such an intense and secret experiment.

And maybe even feel a little closer to his mentor, in a way.

On the 13th day of running the algorithm, though, it finally completed.

"Mom," Friday called, waking Peter out of the doze he'd fallen into on the couch in the penthouse. He'd curled up under the comforter he had stolen away from the master bedroom and was just so comfortable it was hard not to fall into a cozy little nap.

"Yeah, Fri?" He ignored the funny little bright feeling in his chest at Friday calling him Mom - she'd adjusted to it a few days ago, after asking his permission, stating that, 'My research found it is the more common honorific for a close maternal loved one.'

"The TONY simulated Organic Intelligence model has completed."

He sat bolt upright, hair floofing into bedhead curls around his face with the movement. "Oh shit - shoot - uh okay, all right." He scrambled up from the couch, extricating himself from the comforter, and all but ran toward the elevator down to the lab. "Go ahead and boot it up, baby, I'm on my way."

By the time he'd gotten down to the lab, the center of the room was glowing with holographic particles. They floated around for a while before slowly coalescing into a rough blob in the center. The blob started forming distinct shapes at that point - a height of a few inches taller than Peter's own, a lean torso with trim waist, long legs clad in jeans, a torso covered in a very familiar sweater Peter may or may not have worn to bed last night.

Before his eyes, the visage of Tony Stark formed, crystal clear and faintly blue, chest glowing with a fake arc reactor. His eyes were closed but his fingers were twitching, face scrunching. 15 minutes passed with no other change and before he had the courage to ask Friday if it had worked - too scared that it had failed, too scared that it hadn't - the older man's eyes opened.

They glowed a bright, vibrant blue, the same color as the holoparticles and the arc reactor, but the look of them - the tilt of recognition as they took in the lab, the crease between them as they put together the situation - was all Tony.

Peter didn't breath for long moments until the projection in front of him spoke.

"Oh, kid," Mr. Stark said, voice impeccably deep and perfect, shoulders slumping, hands casually being stuffed into his pockets. His entire being screamed the mannerisms of Tony Stark and it both hurt Peter's soul and elated him at the same time.

He was back. He was back.

"Hi, Mr. Stark," the teen said, eyes wide, taking him in.

The older man - the holograph - hummed, looking around the lab like he was taking in the space. He walked over to Peter's desk and went to shuffle some of the paperwork around but his hand passed right through the surface. He chuckled and the sound was deep and rich, as it always had been. He looked over at Peter.

"So, I see you found my Peter Project," he smirked. There was something almost too calm about it, too casual. Peter hadn't known what to expect once he 'woke up' TONY, but it wasn't this somehow.

"Yeah - yeah I did," he ran his hand through his hair, a nervous gesture that fluffed his curls into even wilder disarray than it had been before. "And I did some research and - and I know you couldn't finish it, but - "

"But that you had enough data on me to start me up," the billionaire finished, nodding. "Yeah," he sighed, hands back in his pockets as he sauntered back over to Peter. "I figured you might."

"You - you did?"

"Kid," the man smiled, warm and true this time. "If anyone's gonna know what's going on in that head of yours, it's me," he pointed out. Which, okay, true enough. For a long moment neither of them said anything until Tony sighed, looking over Peter in a way that made his Spidey senses tingle. "I can't believe it worked," he admitted.

"Your logic was sound," Peter rushed out, walking over to the papers scattered over his desk. "You had everything figured out you just didn't have enough data on me, which like I'm sure you realized, obviously, since you had to stop and - "

"No, Pete, I meant the time travel, the undoing of the snap," Tony interrupted.

"Oh," Peter said, very smartly. "Right. Yeah, yeah it worked." He smiled wide and real at the holograph of his mentor. "You brought everyone back!"

"I gotta say," Tony shrugged. He hopped up onto his table, staring into Peter's eyes without any more movement. "I was a little selfish on that front." The way Tony was looking at him was intense and it made Peter's heart beat harder.

"I don't see how it was selfish, Mr. Stark," he shrugged, mimicking Tony's posture by jumping onto his own table. They faced each other now, mirror images - one in holographic blue, and one in full color.

"Because, Pete," Tony said, soft. "It would be a lie to say I did it for any other reason than bringing you back."

Peter's mouth fell open in a soft, surprised gasp. He knew, of course - everyone said, Pepper had said - but it was so different hearing it from what amounted to the man himself.

Tony smiled, soft and sincere, at the look on Peter's face. "There's a lot I don't remember," he admitted. He rubbed a hand on his chest, over and around the glow of the arc reactor. "But I do remember just how important you were to me, kid. I can't imagine the real me being any less devoted to finding a way to get you back."

Peter's breath was coming in quick, sharp pants now. He was trying to slow them down, to breathe, to think but he couldn't - couldn't think of anything but Tony Stark saying he risked the universe just to bring him back. He was hyperventilating, but if this wasn't worth hyperventilating over, what was?

"Kid?" Tony's brows furrowed. "What are you - Friday?"

"Boss, Peter is having a panic attack."

"Shit," the other man swore. He bounded off his table and rushed over to Peter, movement silent and far more quick than any human would be. "Pete, why are you - what do you need?"

"I think you may have overwhelmed Mom with what you said, Boss," Friday supplied helpfully. "Mom, breathe with me. Hold your breath - 1, 2, 3 - breathe out. Breath in - "

The teen focused on the sound of Friday's voice all while his eyes flitted over Tony, who stood there fidgeting and restless with the inability to do anything. After several long, long moments, the tunnel vision that had blurred his vision eased off, his breathing evening out, and he slumped forward, shoulders sagging. He let out a shaky breath before looking up into the worried blue eyes of the natural AI that was now Mr. Stark.

"Hell of an impression of the big bad wolf you have there, kid," he joked, but Peter could see the concern and franticness left in the way he moved, the tilt of his frown. "You okay?"

"Y-yeah," he said, the biggest lie of his life. "I'm okay. I'm fine, Mr. Stark, really. Sorry." He ducked his head again and saw Tony's glowing hand touch his face. He looked back up and the glow on his cheek was still there.

"You've got nothing to be sorry for, Pete," Mr. Stark said, softer than Peter can ever remember him being. "I didn't mean to overwhelm you. And don't tell me I didn't," he said sternly. "I''ve always been a little much," he admitted, backing up, giving Peter some much needed space if he wasn't going to start hyperfixating on the man's face. "I, uh, kinda forgot about needing to real it in."

"No!" Peter jumped in. "No, I don't want you to - to not be yourself with me. It was just," he shrugged, "like I knew, you know? I knew you'd - probably - done it for me. The whole saving the universe thing. Ms. Potts might've mentioned it, and I can put two and two together. It's just having it confirmed, I guess?"

"We'll come back to that thing about Pepper," Mr. Stark said, "but I'm glad you at least had an idea." The older man sighed in a way that was so incredibly human it was hard to think he was only a culmination of data and leaps in logic. "You deserve to know how much you meant to me, Pete. I hung up the whole superhero gig after what Thanos did to you - to everyone. But the moment that Scott Lang came to my house saying there was a way to fix it?" He rolled his eyes to the sky and continued, lost in memory. "There was no way I was going to do anything but try."

"You might've done it for me, Mr. Stark," Peter said, getting the man's attention again. They locked eyes, blue meeting brown. "But you are a good man. I think even if you didn't have me to like push you to do it, you still would've found a way to help."

A wry smile crossed the billionaire's face. "You have too much faith in me, Pete."

"Nah," Peter grinned back. "I've got exactly the right amount."

They stayed there grinning at each other like idiots for a minute before Mr. Stark broke the silence.

"Now tell me, kid," he said, shoulders relaxing, leaning back on his table again. "Why on earth is Friday calling you Mom?"

[prof-writes-sometimes]

So, we got some background on Squib, and Zak is going to be explored in the story... How about Felix? 😊

Alright, improvised backstory for Felix, go!

Felix is a short, squat Latino man who's close to All Might's age. He grew up in a relatively poor area of either LA or something LA-like. When he started showing signs of his warp Quirk, it caused a huge rift in the family. His grandmother wanted him to use it to help the family, but his mother thought they should hide it, worrying that the local drug cartel would eventually find out and take him to work as a mule. His mother took him and fled with him.

She helped him learn to master his Quirk, but also drilled it into him how dangerous it was for him to be found out, both from the authorities for being unregistered, and by anyone else who may want to use him for it. In spite of bouncing around from place to place and being in and out of shelters, Felix was clever and did well in school. He loved computers and all things technology related.

Felix got really into it the anarcho-punk scene in the US in the 80s, as well as old school hackers (like from the phone phreaking days). He was angry about the flaws in the system that had made life so hard for him and his mother. When his mother passed away, Felix fell on pretty hard times. He really didn't have many close people in his life due to his mother's fears of someone taking advantage of him for his Quirk, and due to the fact that his radical activist communities had been torn apart from the inside due to paranoia.

He got by doing computer-related odd jobs, but could never land anything stable due to documentation requirements regarding Quirk registration. His fortunes went up and down with the tech boom and the recession, and he mellowed out considerably as he got older, but it still took him a long time to start trusting in a community again.

It wasn't long after moving to Ambiguoustown, USA that Felix met Zak. It was a chance meeting at the library where Felix helped Zak with a laptop issue, and they got to talking. Zak and his band had raised enough money in the band fund to hire someone to help with technical setup for their shows, and Felix thought it sounded interesting.

Before too long, Felix realized that these kids couldn't organize themselves to save their lives, and so took on logistics and scheduling work (he tried his hardest to get them to make a spreadsheet, but they were a bunch of dumb kids excited about music but with no brains). With such a lack of community in his life, Felix became very fond of Zak and Squib and their guitar player, Blaze (it was Felix who encouraged her to eventually go back to school).

One day, he used his Quirk to help them escape a raid. He was terrified of having revealed his power, but Zak became fiercely protective of him, and Felix eventually learned to trust again. It was around this time when Felix started refusing payment from the band fund.

Felix gets along really well with Squib, and they are often roommates when housing can be found. Their current situation in the encampment is temporary, because they traded their shitty government housing room for some friends on the street who were really sick and needed a more stable place to recover. They haven't been found out....yet.

[titanicfreija]

Darkness

"Sunny-B! You have gone back into hiding."

The message was short and sweet and Sunny knew Harmony used text specifically to allow her to answer whenever, but the statement was loaded and Sunny didn't want to pull the trigger yet. "Is it you or your Guardian?" she asked next.

"Mostly my Guardian," she eventually replied. "We've been on the field, and she's worn down."

"Come out and talk, it's been too long."

It had been.

~

"Sunny! Thank goodness you're here!"

This One's usual crucible counter was now shaded completely black, and Harmony wore a Cygnus Shell shaded green and gold. Sunny had put on Neon Helix for the occasion.

"How bad has it been?"

"Ghost of Beatrice came out to referee the other night," admitted Harmony sheepishly. "We started fighting about the Hive Lightbearers."

"Ah."

"What do you think the Echoes are?" asked This One suddenly.

They both turned to face Sunny directly and she could guess this was a point of contention between them.

"Do you guys have to do that? This is the first break in forever and I don't want to argue."

"We just want to see if you agree with either of us."

Sunny had considered it a few times, but she didn't get a lot of time until lately. "So far, what I can think, is that they're parts of the Witness that were successfully joined together within the witness, empowered by the Light it was trying to use. Its imperfection makes room for bunches like that, and as the Witness was destroyed, they escaped and are bonding with people to help them."

Harmony and This one both twisted sharply away, then looked at one another. "Truce," they said almost in unison.

"Mine doesn't line up with either of yours?" Sunny asked wryly.

"Worse, it combines parts of ours," said Harmony. "Mine was that they're stray parts of the Traveler, his was that they're stray parts of the Witness."

Sunny giggled. "Ah. Well then we can agree that I'm right."

"So what's been going on with you?" asked This One. "Where have you been? Why'd you come home?"

"Oh..." Sunny hesitated, then swayed. "Well, Freija's been shoulder-deep in rescuing the Eliksni captives from the Revenant Scorn, along with her Hunter roommate. They're working really hard, that's been keeping us really busy. This is the first break she's taken in a week and only because I asked to see you. She's working with Eido, now."

"Ooh, what's Eido up to? What's this about tonics?" asked Harmony. "Kelly might want to know."

"They're interesting, but our Warlock and Hunter like them better than Freija does. What about yours?"

"Kelly's been very much enjoying the Arc right now. There is a tonic she uses but not often. It's... Interesting."

"Right? Kind of tickles. Did Marco look into it?" Sunny asked. "When was the last time he left the crucible for a day?"

"He's been holding lines in Europa, helping fleeing refugees," This One objected. He didn't sound happy about it, either.

"Is he geared for it?" asked Harmony. "That's a common complaint of yours."

"Actually, this time, yeah. He's been doing great. We're learning a lot. Been reminding him of Freija, actually, Sunny, 'cos the times he's worked with her, we did learn a lot about fieldwork. You didn't answer-- why'd you come home?"

Sunny drifted sideways and Harmony buzzed gently. "It's not a trap, he just doesn't want to lead answers."

Sunny shivered to remember the odd shift in the Light lately, not just within Freija but outside, too. "She's got a cold."

"A... Cold?" asked Harmony.

"She says the solar Light is feeling distant and flickering, and Stasis has helped. We don't get it either, she felt weird and tired and slept for a day and woke up feeling like she needed to sink into the Dark. I don't know. She doesn't like it, either, because she still doesn't like using Stasis; it's just stronger right now and being oppressive for it."

This One bobbed an affirmative. "I figured it was something like that. It hit five Guardians while we were out there, all Solar. Most of them did change up. Only one other needed a nap like that, I suppose they woke up a Dawnblade. The others aren't suffering like Solar but the Stasis really does feel stronger, doesn't it?"

"We guessed it was something to do with the Dark Ether," Harmony said. "We're still collecting data. It's easier now that Fikrul isn't there but it's still hard."

"We can help, when she gets back up," Sunny said brightly. "Let me know when you want the backup."

[cornfields-td-nonsense]

Hand it. hand the eve family over. hand it over

alright. meet the Sǒmun-Córdoba unit!

here’s Eve’s parents, Mi-Cha Sǒmun and Juán Felipe Córdoba. the high school sweethearts who almost never were. they liked each other back then, but Juán was even more of an awkward nerd than he is now, and Mi-Cha was one of the popular girls, so her friends were all “nah, he’s below you, don’t bother with him”. so they both pined from a distance until high school ended and they went their separate ways. by chance (totally not because they were keeping tabs on each other’s social media, both too nervous to reach out), they met up again at a party during college. They reconnected, fell back in love, and the rest is history. they are Actual Good Parents, which is rare for the Nautilus cast, and are generally adorable.

and lucky you, I recently made a lineup of all of Eve’s siblings, so here they are:

Eve, as I’ve mentioned before, is the second youngest out of this bunch. Diego’s an utter menace, and has hit that age where he’s convinced he’s a Big Boy Now and no he does not want hugs and kisses from Mama that’s for babies. yes he’s all grown up and wants to be treated as such. he can do everything all by himself because he’s such a big boy. shut up. (Also he’s broken the neighbour’s windows with that baseball bat multiple times. So, so many times.)

Dae-Hyun and Felipe are kind of an opposites duo, in terms of personality and what they value. Dae-Hyun dropped out of college, has no plans for further education, and has a part-time gig working at a diner, and doesn’t really care to do much more than that. He’s a party dude at heart, rocking his way through high school while barely studying and getting just about passing grades. He doesn’t party as much as he used to, but still goes to the odd rager. Never throws them, though - he’s rarely left home alone, usually needing to babysit Diego (even if Diego insists he doesn’t need it and can be trusted on his own. He can’t.) And Dae isn’t going to throw a party at his house when his baby brother’s there, he’s not THAT irresponsible.

Felipe, on the other hand, is a law student (and hates it). He mostly went to law school because he didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life and it seemed like a safe bet. Biggest mistake of his life.He’s elbows-deep in work, constantly stressed, will go multiple days without seeing sunlight, and is generally an anxious wreck. But he’s not about to drop out of law school. No, not after all these years of getting on Dae-Hyun’s ass about ‘wasting his potential’ by not being in college. That would just make Felipe look like a total hypocrite! He’d much rather keep studying something he hates, to earn a qualification he’s lost interest in, to get a career that he doesn’t want! That way his pride gets to stay fully intact.

Hana’s doing a lot better than her trainwreck of a first little brother. She’s graduated art school, works as a freelance graphic designer, and recently moved into her own apartment with a roommate, and the two of them seem very happy living out their own personal “and they were roommates!” story. But Hana still comes round to visit whenever she can - she loves her family, and hey, even fully functioning adults need help from their parents sometimes. She’s the sibling Eve has the closest relationship with, and the person she confides in with things she doesn’t want to bring up to her parents.

Wow. Yeah, as you can probably tell, me and CR have been brainrotting pretty hard about these guys. We love making overly developed background characters that will barely if ever show up in the actual season lol

[neetpunk]

I haven't talked about what happened on this blog, and I haven't talked about this much anywhere. But this is one of my most anonymous blogs and I really just need to vent and talk about what's happened in my life.

On April 23rd my half brother with my mom died, the brother I was raised with, briefly. He was 11 years older than me so he moved out when I was a kid, but he was always in my life when I still lived in Arizona. I haven't seen him since I moved. I haven't seen what he looks like in 2 years. He's hardly posted on Facebook since his dad died, he had been been struggling very badly with it. His dad drank himself to death, and for the past two years my brother has been doing the same thing. My brother's been an alcoholic for a very long time, but ever since his dad died, he switched from drinking beer constantly to drinking hard liquor constantly. My brother's been self medicating with alcohol since his 20s at least, he had ADHD and probably undiagnosed autism and maybe a mood disorder and PTSD. He had a very hard life with a lot of bad memories. Felt a lot of guilt for really bad things that happened to his friends, a friend that died alone from withdrawal in the hospital, a friend that went to prison for killing a woman when he had a seizure while driving, but had just enough alcohol in his system for him to get a DUI and charged with second degree murder, his dad dying, my brother also had cancer in his early 20s. So he loved to drink and not think about his problems.

For the past two years my brother has been feeling extremely unwell. He got injured and doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong with him or how to help so he never went back to work. On Easter, my mom was on the phone with him and he said he wasn't feel well lately but was starting to feel better and was going to back to his unclearly described job the next day. Well that never happened. He never felt better. And on Wednesday his friends were finally just gonna force him to go to the hospital finally, but they were too late. He was already dead. I was so confused when I found out, I didn't even know he wasn't feeling well, so how could he suddenly die from being sick? I talked to him on Sunday, too, about my concerns about having an adrenal insufficiency. I remember the last things we talked about. That I sometimes feel so sick I feel like I'm going to die. And he said that's because I get so dehydrated that I could. That was the last thing he said to me. I wish I told him I loved him that day. I wish I could have seen him again before he died. I'm so sad. The next day was so confusing, we were just finding out a few details at a time. Then on Friday we had a more clear picture of what my brother's been doing lately, where he lives, who he works for.

My brother somehow got himself living in another commune, I think it's so funny my right wing brother was always living on communes while I'm the communist brother who hasn't ever done anything like that. Well, this commune was a lot less nice than the last one he lived at. This was a horror show. My brother hadn't been doing well for a while. He got himself in some trouble. He initially had slowed down on drinking for a while, but then his friend got a DUI. My brother was with his friend when it happened, my brother was also probably drunk. Well my brother decided to fight the cops who arrested his friend, and got a bunch of assault charges for assaulting officers. Then he himself got another DUI, he didn't tell us any of these things. Also, like a year ago my brother was homeless. So this "commune" took him in and made him give them all his money and his dad's truck, and made him work for cigarettes and beer. He had a house he was living in with a roommate, and according to his actual friends when they finally saw the inside it was really bad. It was horrifically messy, my brother's never been clean but this was too much, even for him. He couldn't leave because he had a DUI and they "bought" his truck. So he relied on these two people running the show for everything, and we have no idea what the fuck they were doing for him. We don't even know if they were giving him food or water.

A few hours after I found out my brother died I sent him a message on messenger. Well, someone read the message later that night. I figured it was a friend and didn't say anything until I found out that the people who were running things took his phone, debit card, and credit card. They probably took even more of his money after he died. His friends managed to get them back, but they're very aware they've done things that might land them in prison and are trying to disappear. My mom's been talking to a detective and trying to figure out wtf happened. The autopsy still isn't finished, we still don't have a death certificate, we still don't know the official cause of death.

I don't know when we're flying back down to Arizona and how we'll even do it with my mobility aids, but at some point this summer I'm going back to my hometown. There's a very bitter silver lining in this situation, at least, I guess. My brother had a very wealthy father, and he got all his dad's money when he died. He didn't have access to that money because my uncles thought he was irresponsible and needed to get sober and move up here with us before he'd get the money. That never happened, so now all his money is probably going to my mom. My brother also had a lot of trucks my mom's going to have to sell. So now my mom's going to probably inherit a lot of money, enough to hopefully buy a house that everyone can live in together. And she also would like to buy a new car, one that could actually transport my mobility aids well. Maybe I could even get a properly fitted wheelchair for myself, for on days where I just can't walk enough. So sometime soon my mom's going to suddenly have a lot of money. She's going to talk to her sister and a lawyer to find out how she can set things up for me to get her money monthly after she dies. She told me when she dies not to lose all hope. I told her I truly have no idea what I'm going to do when she dies. I've always hoped I'd die first, but now that just makes me so sad thinking about my mom being old with 3 dead children.

Idk this a lot, I'm sorry. I'm so so so fucking depressed that my brother died, I'm so angry that we all let it get this bad, I'm so angry that those people took advantage of my brother when he was deeply struggling with alcoholism. I just feel so much sometimes and I need a place to write it down. So this is why I've been posting the EDS challenge erratically, my brother died, probably from liver failure, going off what his friends said. I miss him so much, I miss my oldest friend so badly.

[puppyfag-luna]

I think I just need to ramble about something that bothers me when it comes to being an autistic person who is also recovering from a life of trauma.

Parts of me wonder how much of commonly accepted trauma recovery therapy actually is less than helpful, or even harmful, for autistics. You may know autistics are more likely to experience traumatic events, from people not understanding our ways of functioning, people demeaning us, and just living day to day life in a world that is constantly overwhelming and overstimulating. Autistic brains are also more likely to see a stress event as a trauma than a NT person might.

Therapists and psychs also seem to have a hard time piecing apart trauma from autism, especially if you weren't diagnosed as a kid. I've heard more than enough accounts from people who were turned away from an evaluation simply because they were already diagnosed with a trauma disorder. They will basically tell you that all of it is actually your trauma. I've also heard from several people who made it to their 20s, 30s, and beyond without an autism diagnosis, to come out of an eval with a level 2 diagnosis. People who need large amounts of extra help may not always realize it if they live with family/partner/roommates who can help with the areas they struggle in.

So basically you can have a lot of people who are in treatment for trauma with no consideration at all that they are autistic and that many of their thoughts and behaviors stem from autism and they need a different approach and/or is something that is actually harmful to force the autistic person to change. For example; I've never had to do CBT thankfully, but I've heard from other autistics that they found it to make them feel worse off.

I first self discovered I was autistic and had CPTSD a little over 10 years ago through self help anxiety books I was going through after breaking down when I started college. I couldn't get a single doctor to listen to me then. I had to do a lot of my own research and self work throughout the years. And both our understanding, and access to books and research about both autism and CPTSD has boomed. While obviously we are not where we need to be in the treatment of autistic people, I would say there is a bit more of an understanding of what it is, and that it isn't something you can "treat" or "make to away", but some people can learn to manage some of their more difficult traits.

Im very lucky and when I finally felt ready to try therapy again and see if I would be listened to this time, I got assigned to a therapist that specializes in autism and trauma. (technically they are the place's LGBT specialist, which uhhh just means they see a bunch of traumatized autistic people lol) There are plenty of times I have come to them struggling about something that I feel like I'm doing wrong because I am not thinking or behaving in what I think is a "recovered normal person way". To which my therapist will say "I am not sure if that action is really harmful outside of causing you distress because you think you are doing it the wrong way". And most of the time I'm like *insert American Psycho gif* "wow you are right, I can do this my own way/I don't have to behave in an 'expected' way."

And I just kinda wonder how many traumatized autistic folks end up in therapy with someone who doesn't understand their autistic side. Someone who is going to look at you reporting you are still having a hard time getting out and seeing friends, and they probably aren't going to ask "Are you trying to see them at the (loud, overstimulating place) or are you able to visit at a place that is more accommodating to you?" Or they may see you not being able to make new friends easily as a sign you are still struggling, when really you just needed to meet fellow ND people who understand that your brain Works Different.

This isn't me being anti therapy or anything like that (I am therapy critical, but it's more like "I'm not sure everyone benefits from therapy in the same ways. also there is unfortunately a lot of less than helpful (or even harmful) therapists out there who can end up making you worse off"). But it was just a random thought tangent I went into after seeing something about "functional multiplicity vs final fusion" when it comes to DID. I don't really have an opinion there, but as an autistic person who feels that my DID partially came from my autism, and that's something that will never leave me, I can see why some people get really heated about which is "right"

I also just wonder in 10-15 years from now how much different autism and trauma research and help will be, esp once CPTSD is added in the next DSM.

[nerfedbytheuniverse]

Tw chronic pain, trauma, and i guess suicidal ideation (I’M SAFE I PROMISE)

Earlier tonight I was playing a game with my best friend atm. I had gotten mixed up about levels and unlocking, thought two classes unlocked at lvl 90, he says “no they unlock at 80, nothing unlocks at 90 until probably the next expansion.”

We start talking about how that’ll probably be another two years still, and he comments on how we’ll probably have completed the current available content by then, and I said something that maybe I shouldn’t have.

Something along the lines of “Assuming we’re still friends at that point.”

His voice got soft as fuck and he said “of course we’ll still be friends then.” A moment later he adds, voice back to its normal tone, “Whether we’ll still be playing [game] then is another story.”

I explained why I’d said it, that it had nothing to do with him and I hope we are still friends then but that things happen. The unspoken idea there is that I really really like being friends with him and enjoy being around him, but I don’t want to get my hopes up at all. Because I’ve had plenty of people who felt like forever friends, people I would never be without, and here I stand today, in touch with very few of them anymore.

I hope the dice tonight and wake up with as few pain and flares as possible coming up here soon.

(i saved as a draft bc I was high and tired and dozing off)

Continuing next day:

The RNG, so to speak, decided today was not the day to end the streak so my chest and back still have their weird feelings and random pains and all of that.

I just had a flashback to a day I’m very sure contributed to this pain. I don’t have proof. I just. Was there for a moment and even after that, was having intrusive memories of the scene. I don’t remember which of my sibling’s birthdays it was but I’m quite sure it was a birthday. She and I are just walking up and down the driveway of that house, talking and in her case talking shit about people she knew. For the first time I wondered, “she calls them bestie, too… if she can talk like that about them, what is she saying to them about me?”

I think that day led to an Incident but I don’t even know if it was the first one or not. I will probably never know. Those memories are hard to access for good reason.

It’s agonizing to remember. It hurts so fucking bad it almost becomes numb. I wasn’t a great friend but I was a fucking 12 year old and she was two and a half years older than me and I can’t fucking fathom what a 12 year old would have to do to make That all excusable.

I have fucking chronic pain in my ribs.

I’m haunted by memories of this kid’s knees hitting my chest or my stomach.

I can’t handle certain kinds of carpet without spiraling.

The people I call best friends now, the people I’m close to in general, try so hard to lift me up and help me through. It’s not their fucking mess but they’re helping to clean it up. She could never.

As for the suicidal ideation or whatever. Hold on just stretched and popped something snd now I can’t breathe right.

I’m not looking to hurt myself. I have no plans to. But sometimes there’s a wave of pain (of any sort) or of the anxiety of potentially being friendless again. Or any other number of things. At first I always think about how easier people’s lives would be if they weren’t constantly worrying about me.

But

My lovely partner would miss me. He’d suffer greatly if i made that choice. He has other friends but I think I know him most fully.

My Quest Buddy would be affected. I’m approximately 1/3 of his support system anymore, and we hang out at least twice a week.

My former best friend and I do not talk a whole bunch one-on-one anymore. That is okay. I’d like to think he’d get over it soon enough but I have no way of knowing.

My parents would blame each other. So would my siblings. Void would not have a roommate, but he’d also have no good cricket coach.

By that point I can tell that removing myself from the equation does more harm than good.

My chest is fucking burning. All of it in front.

Anyway, yeah, costo and trauma both suck and I need to fix stuff but idk how.