#Aged down to 18

[ucetheones]

"When was the last time anybody hugged you?"

Cold Water

Jey Uso was separated from his birth family at a young age, what happens when he runs into his twin brother, randomly one day?

Will his existing relationship with Jai, his best friend of eleven years fold under the pressure of trying to find his place with them?

*the story will be better than the description, I promise!

"When was the last time anybody hugged you?"

The question was simple, one the average person could easily answer. But for Jey, it felt like cold water had been dumped all over his body. It felt like someone had pushed him out into the winter air without a jacket, because he hadn't been hugged in a long time.

Jey wishes he could say he was last hugged yesterday, or even a week ago, but that wasn't the case. 

Instead, he said nothing, he just rolled his eyes, kissed his teeth and tipped his head back. "Not everybody has mommy and daddy there to coddle them." 

That wasn't Jey's voice. The tone was softer, but always firm.

It was Jai, as usual. They were always the first one to defend Jey, or divert attention away from him. He was always thankful for them, they had a quick tongue and never backed down.

Jey could easily defend himself, he could quickly remind his friend he grew up in the system, having been separated from his birth family after a freak incident. However, he always chose to say nothing. It was easier than bringing down the whole room.

Besides, Jey aged out of the system with Jai a few months ago. It sucked never being adopted, but Jai was there too. Just as alone as Jey, but never one to show how deeply it stung.

While they ended up in the same foster home, their situations were drastically different. Jai had been abused by their birth parents for years before finally being freed of them. 

Their foster parents were nice, thankfully. They'd only been separated twice since they met.

They'd both been in less than ideal homes in their lives, but the last family they found themselves with had been kind, and inviting. They even helped Jey and Jai find a place to stay after their 18th birthdays, not to mention they stayed in constant touch with the pair.

There was a loud 'bang!' before anyone could respond to Jai. 

Jey was more than glad to grab his stuff and Jai, using the distraction to extract his best friend and himself. 

The sound was just one of the other wrestlers in training having hit the mat a little too hard. Everyone should've been accustomed to the sound by now, but it could still be alarming. 

As soon as the fresh air hit his face, Jey was tipping his head back with a small smirk. "Ten bucks says Hawks doesn't last another month."

Jai clicked their tongue, their shoulder bumping into Jey's. "Man, you know I agree with you. Why would I take that bet?" Jey gives a soft shrug, throwing his arm around Jai's shoulders, "A month is real specific, what if he only lasts another week? You just lost ten dollars!"

Before Jai can respond, Jey's body is tugged away from them, a soft 'oof' leaving the taller of the two. Jai is by his side immediately, though when they glare up at the mystery person, their eyes almost immediately widen.

"Um, Jey? Why is your face looking at me?" Their question falls on deaf ears when the person who bumped into Jey speaks, 

"Josh…?"

One look at Jey confirms Jai's suspicions, though he looks equally as confused as they feel. 

"I'm Jey." He points at himself, his brows pinched.

Jai breathes a deep sigh, their hair falling in front of their face as they do. 

"Are you fucking stupid, Jey? Seriously?"

Twenty minutes later finds them in a cramped booth at a random diner near their training center. Jey is gripping Jai's thigh for dear life, as the guy who they've learned is named Jon, or Jimmy, munches on a plate of lukewarm fries.

He spent about ten minutes trying to convince Jey they were related, but given the fact they were clearly twins, Jai and Jey both felt it was unnecessary. 

Jey had a dozen questions, but there was one question he couldn't let go of.

"Wait, why you here now? You said y'all lived in Florida, so how you end up in Ohio?" 

Jimmy merely shrugged, "wrestling, man. I start training next week." Jey and Jai share a look, which has Jimmy visibly confused.

"What's with the faces?"

Jey chuckles softly, his grip on Jai's thing loosening, "Us too, actually. We moved from Indiana a few months back." 

"We? Y'all a couple?"

Jai can feel their cheeks dusting red, and given the way Jey's fingers twitched against their thigh, they knew he was just as taken aback by the question. 

"Nah, not at all. We're just really close. Been a duo since we were about seven years old!" It was the practiced answer, the one Jey and Jai gave to anyone who asked.

Because it was true, they weren't a couple. They'd always skirted around it, but neither were willing to risk the years of friendship under their belts for a relationship that might not work out. 

Jimmy looked suspicious at the answer, but he held his hands up placatingly and took a sip from his long forgotten soda.

"You wanna know what's funny, Uce?"

Jey wanted to point out this entire situation was hilarious, but he just shook his head and motioned for the other to continue. 

"Our family is wrestling royalty in the WWE,  so the fact you gravitated towards it without knowing is like…destiny or somethin'. 

Aye, but now that I found you, we can be a family again!" 

It was like destiny, and Jey wasn't sure if it was ironic or something else.

He was taken from his parents at the age of three, the reason is still mostly unknown to him. He spent his childhood being put through the ringer, hoping one day his family would return and sweep him away. Hoping they'd save him from the hell hole that was his life growing up.

No such rescue ever came, but his 18th birthday came and went and now the universe decided to drop his twin brother into his lap. A twin he never would've known he had if he hadn't ducked out of practice earlier than usual. 

Years of crying himself to sleep, wishing for his mother's warm touch, coupled with dreams of fleeting touches he'd only known for a short while, were just supposed to be washed away because his twin brother found him, accidentally?

Yeah, right. 

Jai seemed to sense his discomfort, and immediately shook their head. "You gotta give him time, he doesn't even know y'all. I'm his family, you're a bunch of strangers to him."

Jey wanted to wince at the ice lacing their tone, but he couldn't help but agree. Jai had been his only real family. He didn't even know Jimmy, or his parents. It would take more time than Jey was sure anyone would be willing to take.

[starry-bi-sky]

danyal al ghul memes because i don't think i've done those yet for this au.

(the jason one is in reference to the fanon headcanon/au that Jason and Damian potentially knew each other and interacted while jason was in the league. I've thought about it before in context of this au, but haven't thought about it enough to feel inspired or motivated to make a post exploring the idea)

(diablito means, as you can guess, 'little devil'. while i'm neutral to latino jason, i think the nickname is cute as fuck and was danny's main nickname from Jason. i don't wanna touch that timeline so im not gonna decide how old they were when Jason was there.)

Skulker: i am the ghost zone's greatest hunter! i capture and hunt creatures both rare and dangerous. Danyal: a poacher?? you're a poacher?? you poach animals??Skulker:...i sense i've made a mistake of some kind.

anyways that was the day that Skulker cemented himself as Danny's no.1 opp, and still remains there to this day even if he and Vlad are both viciously fighting for second. Out of everyone in the the AP rogues gallery, Skulker will be the first to be thrown under the bus in terms of 'o shit here comes phantom fucking RUN'.

[holopossums]

so about that twitter q&a...

[baddingtonbitch]

my current favourite youtube channel is this guy that just gets high as fuck and loses his goddamn mind reacting to various divas for the first time. he understands.

[wowa-bublord]

Wait... Ace Attorney X FF7? In this house?

If that's the case, can we have Dahlia Hawthorne try to pull off what she did with Phoenix to Zack? I would like to see her try and chew him up and spit him out only to realize that it won't be that easy

OMG.. zack would be the worst and best person for her to try that on.. he's in a position of power due to his SOLDIER status that would probably make dahlia do her panic fawn-while-planning-escape-through-means-of-murder thing, and he's very susceptible to flattery and. sweet girls with braids, big eyes, connection to spirits + the afterlife, and a flower theme. Unfortunately for her he's like the human equivalent of a cockroach in terms of death and his best friends r army weapons

[skyward-floored]

Impa has had plenty of battle experience in her life.

Countless days spent training in both tactics and fighting itself, long hours plugged into doing nothing but honing the skills of her tribe and other abilities she’s been gifted with. Learning the most effective ways to use them all together, and win any fight.

But there’s really no way to prepare yourself for a battle in which both your past lover (who can’t exactly be called her husband since Impa hasn’t even spoken to him in almost two decades, and has also for some reason aligned himself with an army of monsters) and son (who is unaware of the identity of either of his parents, and shouldn’t be on the battlefield anyway since he’s not even of age) are both running around in on opposite sides, making it impossible to keep track of either of them.

Impa huffs as she dodges a spear, worry and exasperation clashing together within her.

She’s lost sight of Link for the third time already this battle, and only has a vague idea of where Volga ended up. Link has demonstrated he can handle himself, but he’s still only a trainee, and Impa’s seen (even from a distance) what sort of trouble he can get into.

And Volga...

The questions that have been swirling around in her head ever since the battle start to come to life again, but Impa ignores them, focusing not on the hurt and confusion and instead on her current goal.

“Where did the boy go, Link?” she asks the captain stationed at the keep she’s helping defend, slashing past a bokoblin and narrowly saving a soldier’s head.

The captain frowns, holding his shield up to block a stray arrow. “I lost sight of him, all I know is he took out a whole squad of bokos and ran off,” he says, forehead creased.

“I saw him heading to the abandoned fort ma’am,” a soldier calls towards her. “Someone said that dragon-man is back there, I think he went to go fight him off.”

A cold feeling steals into Impa’s chest.

“Idiot boy is going to get himself killed,” the captain at her side mutters, slicing viciously at a monster. “Trainees shouldn’t be out here at all, no less fighting dragons. Boy barely looks old enough to shave.”

Impa more than agrees, but doesn’t waste her time with words, leaving the keep in the captain’s capable hands, and taking off to go find Link.

...and Volga.

She follows the soldier’s words, heading to the fort he’d pointed out. Sure enough, as she gets closer, she sees streams of fire burst into the air, hears the clash of weapons and familiar shouts.

Her heart skips a beat, and she runs past bokoblins and moblins alike, pausing only momentarily to fight her way past a few.

None of the monsters that get in her way are terribly tough, but they take time to fight, and Impa is getting anxious, casting continued glances at the smoke and fire nearby. She’s seen firsthand today how good of a fighter Link is, but she’s also well aware of Volga’s strength.

And Link... will need help.

The last bokoblin falls and Impa runs for the fort, arriving just in time to see Volga slam a clawed fist into Link. He cries out as he’s thrown across the cobblestones, landing in a motionless heap, and Impa bolts, blood roaring in her ears.

She slides to a stop in front of Link when Volga tries to advance, putting herself between them and blocking his path. The dragon knight stares at her, shadowed eyes narrowed, and Impa glares back, unmoving in her defense of Link.

She sees no sign of the man she fell in love with in his eyes.

“How noble,” Volga sneers, embers falling from his mouth. “Enjoy your shared grave.”

The fire around him begins to intensify, and Impa’s eyes widen, knowing immediately what it means.

“Oh no...” she breathes, and turns back to Link in a panic, getting to a knee and touching his shoulder. He shifts at her touch, but just a little, his eyes flickering when she shakes him. Volga growls, and Impa whirls back towards him, knowing she doesn’t have enough time to pull Link out of here.

The air around Volga wavers with heat as flames lick up his form, and then he moves forward, blasting a huge plume of fire directly at them both, hotter than death mountain itself.

And right before the flames hit, Link stumbles in front of Impa, a hand outstretched like he hopes to hold back the flames with nothing but his arm.

Impa barely has enough time to be horrified (he’s only a boy, he shouldn’t be protecting her, she can’t watch her son die—) before the flames engulf them both.

...

But instead of burning alive in her former-lover’s flames, Impa instead feels a gentle warmth.

It’s equally soothing and powerful, and she opens her eyes, not even realizing she’d closed them. The sight that meets her makes her startle, and she stares up at Link in utter shock.

Golden light is pouring around Link— around her son, in a wide, protective glow, encircling and keeping them both safe. All of him holds a shine, but his left hand is glowing especially bright, triangles outlined on the back in a beautiful luminescent gold. A sign of which Impa would know anywhere and had already begun to suspect, but almost doesn’t want to believe, to face what it truly means for them all.

Link is the Hero.

Volga’s flames finally peter off, and the light fades, but Link still holds his hand up, fingers shaking a little. Volga studies him, giving Link a calculating look as his eyes dart across his face, and Impa finds herself holding her breath.

Will he notice the similarities, will he pick up on the features he and Link share, will he put the pieces together—

But Volga appears not to recognize anything amiss about Link, or even herself, and he barely spares her a glance as he growls something about not being beaten, and departs the battlefield.

Link shakily falls to a knee almost the moment he’s gone, and Impa resists the urge to grab him by the shoulders and make sure he’s okay, instead joining his side not too quickly.

“H-how...” he croaks, staring at his hand in equal awe and terror. “What was...”

“The triforce of courage,” Impa supplies, and he looks at her, his face covered in grime and sweat, and layered with a healthy amount of shock.

She takes a deep breath as what the meaning of this truly signifies begins to sink into her chest, fear and pride and several other emotions all vying for her attention. But she ignores them all, especially the sharp ache at the realization her son has a long fight ahead of him.

A monster howls somewhere nearby, accompanied by a soldier’s yell, and Impa closes her eyes, then reopens them, packing the emotions away with practiced ease.

“...I’m afraid we don’t have time for me to explain everything to you right now,” she apologizes, offering Link a hand up. “But I promise I will. At the moment, we have a battle to win.”

Link swallows, looking like he wants to say more. But then he straightens his shoulders and nods, letting her pull him to his feet. Impa can feel his hand still faintly shaking, and she can’t resist giving it the lightest of squeezes before she lets go, quickly returning her attention to the battle still raging outside the fort.

They can figure all of this out later. She can figure all of this out later.

Right now, they have a battle to win.

[shiocreator]

I have gotten into a new media .....heres a scribble.. i like him...

Gotten to book 3 atm. That damn fuckin. Fish Mafia.

[thecryptidart1st]

So the moment I saw that Elizabeth was Vanessa's mom in the Alive AU I could not help but imagine them being the pettiest shits to each other. Elizabeth suggests Vanessa dyes her hair red? Vanessa dyes her hair, like mentioned in game, rainbow. Why are you so mad, Mom? There's red in there!

At least Gregory and Cassie think it's cool.

It’s very much “Full Time Girlboss, Part Time Tiger Mom with severe insecurities installed by her Father” vs “Angsty Teen who learned how to find loopholes in contracts from her Mother” level of petty

But yes, the younger Afton cousins admire Vanessa for her rebelliousness

[dyketubbo]

i remember seeing someone call tubbo a fully grown adult at 19 (obvs before he turned 20) and i gotta say. i think maybe some people have a really skewed idea of what constitutes as "fully grown". and also what constitutes as properly mature. thinking that at 18/19 (or hell even at 20/21) people are now fully grown and mature is insane to me like yall thats how you get people thinking their life is over at like 23 and that 30 year olds are senior citizens 😭😭 be fr

[givemeallyourpenny]

I sure hope it’s more than ten years because you definitely are not eleven

[cybertron-smash-or-pass]

Beast Wars Cheetor

[ali3nboyfriend]

tbh this isn’t so much a downside of being medicated but i’m not sure how else to describe it. but after being medicated for a few months it’s really a punch to the gut to have the realization that for all those years you could have been doing everything you wanted to do and more and this was the only thing holding you back. it’s hard not to feel like the time before becoming medicated was wasted somehow.

[honeylemonbutte]

Cautionary tale from When Life gives you Lemons @when-life-gives-you-lemonssss

Barlow I know you're 17/18 at the time but WHY!!!

More MC ramblings under the cut

OK, Elena is the MC I made for the parent path. She's gonna be the MC for the Barlow, Wyatt or other parent routes (ex w/ adoption???). My other MC (J.J) will be taking on the sibling + Fiffer and Monroe routes.

She has things together, but things always seem to go wrong when Barlow is involved.

For instance! When she looks good normally vs. when Barlow comes by randomly at night and she's in her Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack pajamas???

[eskildit]

this is also dulcie and palamdes btw. actually for them it would be, when i graduated high school, you were eleven.

[livwritesstuff]

part 3 to eddie’s tattoo saga, feat. girl-dads!steddie

part 1, part 2

The first time Eddie’s oldest daughter draws on his arm with her Crayola markers, Eddie immediately gets it tattooed onto him permanently. 

She’s barely two so it’s mostly scribbles, but she’d never done it before, and she’d looked up at him with this big, proud, cheesing smile when she was done, and Ed had been caught so off guard with just how insanely much he loved her – that indescribable love parents felt for their children that, before becoming a parent, Eddie had thought he’d be able to beat the stereotypes and describe, but Moe proved him to be incorrect just about the second she came along – and he hadn’t known what else to do. 

He doesn’t even really think about it, just takes a photo so his artist will get the colors right and has her put it in an empty spot on the sleeve he’s been working on for years.

With Eddie and Steve’s second daughter, Robbie, it goes mostly the same. She's just about two years old and draws a collection of swirling scribbles on the back of his hand. Steve advises him to not get it tattooed in the same spot, and Eddie can understand why it might not always be opportune to have permanent child-scribbles in such a visible spot, so, again, he has his artist use it to fill in a gap in the sleeve on his left arm.

When their littlest girl, Hazel, is born, Ed intentionally leaves a spot on his bicep open for whenever she feels so inclined to draw on him like her big sisters had. She takes her sweet time, so much so that Eddie starts to get nervous that she might never end up doing it at all, and he wasn’t going to ask her. It had to be a natural thing, obviously. In the end, she’s nearly five years old, sitting in his lap with a pack of markers while he reads a book to her (Charlotte’s Web, because it was the first chapter book he’d read aloud to both Moe and Robbie, and now it's Hazel’s turn), coloring inside the lines of the tattoos he already has when she gets to the empty space on his arm he’d left just for her. A little bit later, it’s filled with a marker drawing of a blue house next to a green tree, with a yellow sun above the chimney.

“It’s our house,” Hazel tells him.

Eddie calls to schedule the tattoo session the second he finishes the next chapter.

He gets the okay from his artist to bring Hazel with him to the appointment, which he hadn’t done with Moe and Robbie because they’d been too little. They hadn’t had the disposition for it either, but Hazel is their sweetest baby, all solemn and shy, and the session is right before her usual naptime, so once he’s in the chair, she just sits in his lap and quietly watches his artist work until she dozes off about halfway through the process.

Eddie spends much of that session lost in thought – he’s becoming introspective in his old age (forty-five and some change).

He’s thinking about all the tattoos he’s gotten, all the spontaneous ones he’s gotten for Steve and for their girls. He’s thinking about what that means. 

In the family that Eddie and Steve have built, Steve is the one taking all those pictures and home videos and stuff. He’s the one who gets photos printed, framing their favorites and hanging them around the house and setting small ones on side tables, sticking others to the fridge with little magnets they’ve collected over the years, storing the rest in overstuffed shoe boxes he swears he’ll organize into photo albums someday (but their life is so hectic he probably won’t ever get around to it).

This is Eddie’s version of that.

This is his way of displaying to the world how much he loves his family, this thing that he’d spent years pretending he didn’t want because that was easier to sit with than the belief that it wasn’t even attainable for him, that now he gets to have.

It’s fucking incredible, is what it is, and it deserves to be documented.

[uncanny-tranny]

It's actually kind of heartbreaking how many people feel their life has ended right after high school or college, and honestly, the heavy romanticization of that period of time is so overwhelmingly predominant that it can be hard to avoid. It's insidious to constantly be told that ages 10-24 are the only worthwhile parts of life, that everything after is essentially meaningless and dull.

It's hard not to look around you and think that your life still is open and full of potential when you're told over and over again that the rose-tinted childhood is the last time you were alive. It's hard to realize that your life isn't over when you walk off the stage of your graduation.

We must realize that we will always be full of potentials. Your life won't be over until you take your final breath, and then? That's simply another chapter in your story, one of many. Let yourself realize that you're alive in the here and now. There will be good and bad, but never a complete loss of potential or hope.