#IN PICO 1 THOUGH okay

[lycankeyy]

Hate that TMNT fixation made me pedantic about traditional Japanese swords of all things. Every time I see Hanzou's sword referred to as a katana I make a Face because it doesn't fuckign curve,,,,,,,,, /lh

[deadsetobsessions]

Sea Cryptic! Danny Pt.6

[Pt.1] [Pt.2] [Pt.3] [Pt.4] [Pt.5] [Pt.7] [Pt.8] [Pt.9] [Pt.10]

Danny slumped over the table at the library. He’d feel embarrassed about it if it weren’t for the rest of the floor’s occupants. Around him, students were speed running through the five stages of grief like it was going out of style.

“Fuuuuuuuuuuck.”

“Same.” Danny replied, rolling his head to look at Tim. “I’m feeling like an academic victim instead of an academic weapon right now.”

“I should have stayed dropped out of school,” Tim grumbled.

Danny gasped theatrically. “And deprive the world of your awe-inspiring genius on…” Danny peered at Tim’s books and grinned. “On… the Krebs cycle? Seriously? They’re teaching that again?”

“I know! This is like, the third time.” Tim whined.

“At least you’ll be good at it, right?”

Tim scoffed. “I’m gonna drop out of college and become a stripper.”

“They do make bank,” Danny nodded. “But aren’t you like a millionaire or something?”

Tim brightened. “Oh, you’re right. I don’t need education! I’m filthy rich!”

Danny whacked Tim on the back of the head, laughing quietly.

“Whatever. Let’s go take a break. Snacks?”

“I literally don’t know how you eat so much.”

“Snacks have a separate stomach pouch. Normal food goes one place, junk food and desserts in another.” Danny retorted, quickly packing up his stuff. In reality, he didn’t need that much food. He’s half dead, after all. But food also converts to ectoplasm in his body, and ancients knows Danny needs all the energy he could get.

They made their way out of the campus library, passing stressed out looking students on their way to a taco truck.

“Does this even count as a snack?” Tim asked, amused. He tugged on his book bag, readjusting the vigilante pins on them.

“Is the sky even blue?” Danny snarked back, forking over the cash needed for the best fucking tacos on this side of Gotham. They sat on the benches, asking for an obscene amount of extra lime and cilantro before going to town.

“Holy shit, how many of those can you eat?”

“Dunno,” Danny mumbled though a mouthful or carne asada and pico de gallo. “Hungry.”

Tim snorted, pulling out his phone to scroll as he ate. A moment later, Tim showed Danny his screen.

“Hey, you live near here, right?”

Danny, cheeks bulging with food, peered at Tim’s phone and nodded.

“Oh, cool! Have you seen the green guy around?”

Danny squinted at Tim, tilting his head as he chewed.

“You know, the glowing green guy that’s been blowing up the Gotham Bay tag.”

Oh. Tim was talking about him, Danny!

Danny nodded. He quickly ate his food and wiped his mouth before replying. “Yeah, why?”

“Does he seriously just clean up the bay? Nothing else?”

Mildly offended for some reason, Danny shrugged. “I mean yeah? He doesn’t seem to pop up near any of the shady spots- oh, I saw him save someone from a mugging in front of my apartment once! But like, I think all he does is clean the bay. Which is good, because holy heck, that place is nastyyy.”

“Seriously?” Tim leaned in, looking super interested. “So he’s friendly?”

Danny raised a brow. “Yeah, he seemed pretty nice, I guess. Though, that’s not saying much considering your Rogues tend to be pretty chill when they’re not in the middle of a scheme.”

Tim snorted. “True that. You talked to him? When? Outside of his bay cleanings, right? I’ve noticed that he only talks to the Bats during those.”

Danny stared at Tim. “Tim… are you… stalking the guy?”

What Danny really wanted to say was: “Tim, are you stalking me?”

“I’m not stalking him!” At Danny’s suspicious glare, belied by his sauce stained mouth, Tim sighed. “Okay, maybe I am. But only some minor stalking!”

“Uh-huh.”

“But if you have, you think you could introduce us? Maybe he’d want to be friends?”

Was Tim asking Danny to introduce him to… Danny himself?

“Uh. Why do you even want to meet him?”

“Danny, he’s a glowing green guy that does community service for funsies. And he knows the Bats. That’s cool.”

“And here I thought you wouldn’t know cool if it smacked you in the face.” Danny teased. Well, whatever. He might as well do something nice for Tim. “Sure. I’ll text you when he pops up and see if he’s okay with meeting you.”

Tim grinned at him, a piece of cilantro stuck in his teeth. “Thanks!”

——

Danny made a duplicate of himself and went ghost. Danny and his duplicate looked at each other and sighed.

“We’ve done stupider things.”

“But we’re still not telling Jazz.”

“Agreed.”

Danny paused. Did he just make a deal with himself? No, he’s busy.

Doppelgänger Danny went invisible and left the apartment by going through a wall. Danny followed in a sedate pace, the normal way.

Outside, he pretended to catch sight of a suddenly visible Phantom. He’d heard the heartbeats outside his apartment ever since he got home all those days ago, and he’s pretty sure the vigilantes were watching his place ever since. Luckily, he made sure there weren’t any bugs or hidden cameras- Sam beat cautiousness into his head a while ago- before starting the plan.

One of those heartbeats sounded like Tim’s which left some… interesting connotations.

Danny sighed. Who was he kidding? Of course he’d be friends with a vigilante.

“Hey, Phantom!” Danny shouted, waving. Phantom floated over.

“Danny. Hi. Did you need something?”

“Oh, not really. My friend wanted to meet you, he’s a huuuuge fan. Think you’ve got time today?” Danny held up his phone.

Phantom hummed. “I can stay for a bit. Thirty minutes.”

“Okay, I’ll call him. His name is Tim, by the way. Thanks for taking the time to meet him!”

“No problem.”

Danny texted Tim, and minutely frowned as he picked up the sound of Tim’s ringtone. Shit, that pretty much confirmed his suspicions. He got a text back from Tim.

Timsy

[5 nin]

Nin

Nin

Nin

Min

Danny huffed an amused breath. “He’ll be here in five minutes.”

“Alright.”

Danny texted back an okay.

Five minutes later, a flushed and disheveled Tim peeled onto the street and right to the curb.

“Here!” He said as he tumbled out of the car.

“Damn, bro. You good?”

“Fine- oh my god, you’re the green guy!” Danny had to hand it to Tim. If he didn’t already figure out he was Red Robin, Danny would’ve believed the act. Holy shit, wait, he called his friend broke. Hah!

“It’s Phantom. Nice to meet you, Tom.”

A quick sliver of sullenness flashed over Tim’s face. “It- it’s Tim.”

“Oh, right. Sorry, human names sound so similar.” Danny leaned back and hid a grin as his doppelgänger messed with his friend.

“Oh, wow, you’re not human? What are you then?”

“Oh my god, Tim, you can’t just ask him what he is!” Danny scolded. These vigilantes were really similar.

“Sorry…” Tim apologized.

“It’s fine. To answer your question, I’m dead. Ghost.”

“Do you really pay taxes?”

Phantom tilted his head. “Yes, of course.” By the, Danny meant that he paid both human taxes and oversaw the Zone’s taxes. “You know that saying, something about never escaping from two things and that’s taxes and death? You can escape death- might come back a little wrong- but taxes are in the afterlife too.”

“Come back a little wrong?” Tim asked, eyes suddenly sharp.

“Come back a little,” Phantom gestured to himself. “Green. More emotive and prone to irritation.”

Tim stared.

——

“Jason, are you a ghost?” Dick, crouched on the top of Danny’s apartment building whispered.

Red Hood, crouched in the same area, stayed silent.

——

“How did you die?”

Phantom snarled and disappeared.

Tim whirled around, looking bewildered. Behind him, Danny struggled to stay calm.

“Where’d he go?”

“He probably didn’t want to hurt you.” Danny sighed.

“What? What did I do?”

“You asked him how he died. That’s like, the ultimate social taboo.”

“I didn’t know that!”

“It’s common sense, dude. Trauma like that has to be shared instead of asked about. Generally.” Danny sighed. “Come on, let’s get off the street and I’ll give you a crash course in manners.”

——

Bruce, upon hearing about the conversation, dove headfirst into researching the after life.

“No, go suck a goat’s genitals, Batsy, I am not helping you adopt a being of the infinite realms!” Constantine hung up on him.

“Hn.” Bruce will adopt the child and give him a home. It’s only a matter of when… and what inter-dimensional loopholes he could find and use in the relevant laws.

Jason was right behind him, because he was going to get answers, dammit.

[nuggnugget]

I’d love to know more of ur Piconell headcanons they’re sooo… 😭‼️

HHAHAHAHA I'm glad you like them!!! I'm sorry to all the Piconell shippers but

Situationship, friends with benefits, probably never actually gonna date date date here 😭

Listen as a couple, the art I've seen, absolutely cute, banger, would eat again but in my ART'S case I'm a SUCKER for them to act a bit more distant in views and fight about things but still, y'know. Hook up.

I'll chuck in a few of my own headcanons of course!

• Pico was the one to initiate all of it, and like I've said before, he's just having a really bad rebound. Despite his stern and mostly standoffish/ joking a lot behaviour he is DEFINITELY still nostalgic from the breakup and craves physical intimacy. That soft, sweet foggy, hugging and handholding typa stuff. His mind would catch himself dead and beat himself up though if he unconsciously did that around Darnell.

• Pico went with Darnell and not some random person because they built up a lot of mutual respect together. He feels like even though Darnell isn't exactly the sanest, and probably not even a great pick, the guy understands him and his issues a whole lot more than anybody else. Darnell picked him up when he was down and gave him some new confidence (Plus, now he's got muscles. It's a win win). The Weekend 1 fight really started Pico's interest in Darnell more as a qualm to his thoughts.

•Darnell is aromantic here! He feels no real romantic attraction to Pico (Pico is a mixed bag, you can't really tell if he's doing it for love or relief). That DOESN'T mean he's completely cold and heartless about Pico pining for him.

• He's less "I'm fine with it because I love you" and more "I'm fine with it because you really look like you need it, and I don't want you messing up again". Darnell sees it as a way to get Pico's head in the game rather than getting into a real relationship. He's not interested at all in soft intimacy, but has sympathy for the guy. Pico absolutely knows that. That's why they act more rough and like themselves in a normal situation (wrestling!!!! 💥).

• Darnell does help out Pico when he has his moments of schizophrenia or paranoia. I personally think Pico has hand tics when he's really overwhelmed. He's not the best at calming Pico down in those cases, but he gives in some effort. (Insert hand holding exception because it's sweet. Just like. Holding his fingers and soothing them. 💥 Pico cares a lot about that more than any kiss could do)

• They don't talk about their feelings that much in all honesty. Mostly because Pico doesn't want to throw his "stupid soft" thoughts and Darnell let's Pico do what he needs to do. They got to a good silent understanding.

• Pico loves to savour a moment of soft intimacy masked as rough gestures. It might be small, but it counts a lot for him.

Okay I won't put more this reply would go on for too long LMFAOO

I'm also still working on their dynamic! Would love to hear what y'all think :)

[asherashedwings]

FNF CONNECTED UNIVERSE LINE UP Part 1: The Boyfriends

Chat. I spent 34 hours in this canvas. I am so tired.

Anyways, when I began working on Connected Universe AU, I already knew I'd be making line ups. Cuz I love making line ups and I also love suffering.

Close-ups and lots of yapping under the cut

THIS IS ABOUT TO BE A LOT OF READING IM SO SORRY-

Alternate Universe Boyfriends

So all these guys, unlike the other BFs present on this line up, are actually BF but from different universes. They're the same dude.

I thought it'd be neat to display the fact that they're from different universes by drawing them all in different art styles. It was also a fun exercise to test my art style range.

So starting from the left, we got Base Game BF. The main universe one. He's drawn in my usual art style. Not much special about him. Boyfriend.XML my beloved. I will note here though that I did take some of the elements form my own BF design and threw them onto the AU BFs. So that's why they all have some sort of jacket/hoodie etc.

Then we got Yourself. I reverted to old tactics and used my sketch for his line art, which results in him having thicker line art in general. I also further distinguished him by giving him harsh black shading. He always has that. He already had it on his face, so I just gave it to the rest of his body too. Cuz silly. You. You could even say. Silly Billy- 💥💥💥

Then we have Funkadelix. Him and a few other BFs make use of the Blackburn brush for their line art, cuz idk I like that brush. I referenced the Mutant Mayhem style when making him, since in the Connected Universe, he's in the same universe as those turtles. His colors are mostly yoinked from the actual Funkadelix sprite. I think. I may have tweaked them a bit/eyeballed them idk. I prolly eyeballed them.

Then we got Monday Dusk Monolith (MDM). I really went with the mentality of "NO ROUND SHAPES" with this fucker. Just wanted him to look super sharp and scratchy, since that AU is literally dealing with an apocalypse. So sharp shapes just made sense in my brain.

I had a lot of issues settling on a style for Mix, so I just chose to take inspiration from the FNF loading screens, cuz it just fit in my brain, idk. His design also features present in my Pico design, like the stupid cleat shoes and stray hair lines. Yknow, since he's literally a mix of BF and Pico. He also uses Blackburn

Finally, HD. I decided to try and go for a semi realistic style for him, proportion wise at least. Cuz. Yknow. HD. He also uses the blackburn brush, but I also pulled an old tactic for him and made his sketch visible over his coloring. Cuz idk, I think it lends towards the vibe.

"Side" BFs

Okay, now we're REALLY getting into AU territory.

So from here on out, all the BFs are separate people from THE BF, and have their own names and shit.

So staring off, we got Blake. I was reading through his wiki trivia and saw them say his style was more "radical and funky" than base BF's. I saw the word funky and ran with it dawg. So that explains this clothes. I also tried my darndest to get rid of a lot of the BFs caps, cuz dude, I can't have that many fuckers having cubic backwards caps. So I gave Blake a pair of star shaped sunglasses cuz funky, chat, FUNKY. We decided that his stage name is Love Bird, and he chose that cuz that's a pet name his GF has for him, and if he had a band it'd be called The Birds of Paradise.

Then we got .XML. I immediately knew I wanted to give him a mullet. Look at this man and tell me he wouldn't have a mullet. Besides that, not much changed. Since he kept the name of .XML, I imagine he is actually related to BF in some way, and he just goes by his last name. They might be cousins or brothers or something idk. There's also more dumbass info on him here:

Then there's River, or G-Sides BF. I took a lot of inspiration from his teaser designs, cuz they were silly. Literally named his river after the dumbass river design on his sweater. I don't got much info on him besides that. I can't talk about River without including this image so here:

The New Yorkers

This group is literally named after the fact that they all live in NY in my AU. Technically, the Minus BFs should also be here, but they're their own group.

Starting with Bartholomew, or B3, I just took the shape of his glasses and ran with it. Chat I needed to get that shape language from somewhere. I actually drew him twice, since the first time around I really was not digging how I drew him. He's fine now tho. His ass only got brim, cuz he had to be different somehow. Other than that. not much changed for him.

Now Evan.. Evan gave me so many issues. Like, dawg I drew him three times. I kept on trying to make the orange in his upcoming design WORK but I just COULDNT chat i COULDNT

So, per @braveboiart 's request, I ended up getting rid of it entirely and replacing it with his blues and grays. They also gave me the advice of brightening the colors a bit, which was very easy for me to do, I love bright ass colors. I also touched up his design shape wise, since that was also lacking the first time around. So boom, zippers on the pants and baggy ass sleeves. I'm content with how he came out. Chat I did all his design touch ups while I was exhausted out of my mind. Sometimes you gotta be delirious with sleep deprivation in order to cook, kids, trust me (please do not be like me-)

Benjamin was pretty simple. Kept him soft, kept him round, kept him pastel. Got rid of the caution sign on his hoodie since .XML already had that, and just replaced it with paint splatters. Not much more to say.

With X's design, I got a lot of help from my good good friend @minxtheeenby , mainly when figuring out his hair style. Those braids are not actually his hair, and are fuckass cords that connect to his headphones and can move independently. Don't ask about the logic, I will not be thinking about it. He was born in Philly cuz of his fuckass white eyes. White eyes means Philly, I don't make the rules here.

Minus BFs

The colorful critters, these guys are.

So. Beta. I had actually drawn him before this point, and he didn't change much from then

He has arrow shaped top surgery scars cuz I love giving constantly shirtless characters top scars and I just. HAD TO once I had the idea to make them arrow shaped. Main things to change since that drawing are some details on his pants and some of his colors; notedly the fact that his hat is a darker color compared to his skin to further distinguish it. Also Brave kept trying to get me to make parts of his design the same color as his nipples. So that happened /lh

Chat. I let my furry show with Blue. BUT CHAT HEAR ME OUT. On the wiki it's stated that he's a "Dog??". You think I could look at that and not go all the way? So yeah. Dog. He's silly and he got his weird ear ring things from his sister (Minus Miku).

Not much to say on Mean, he barely changed. I just drew him in my style and added a few details. He might also be an alien, idk.

Now, I posted about Golden a bit, but for those who didn't see that insanity: I made him an Alien Hominid. Cuz small yellow alien=Alien Hominid in my brain. Flawless logic. (Don't worry chat, I sat down and extensively researched the AH series to the best of my ability to check if it made sense. And I didn't see anything that would make it not make sense?) But yeah, silly. Him and Otis might be buddies, cuz goofy.

Who Fuckin Knows

These guys are just all the guys I had nowhere else to put. Miscellaneous group.

So first we have Bonnie, or Saturday Night Swappin' BF. He's another one that I had to go back and touch up. I actually touched him up the same night/morning as Evan. He ended up turning purple. The name we assigned him was an omen /j Chat I swear he was originally blue, I don't know what happened

HC that he just got really into FNaF when he was younger and has just been cosplaying a humanized Bonnie the Bunny ever since /hj

BIDU GAVE ME SO MANY ISSUES AND IDK WHY. It's prolly cuz by the time I got to him I was getting SUPER burnt. But I prospered and was able to finish him. And I don't hate how he came out, so bonus points there. Main change was replacing the prohibition sign on his shirt with a lightning bolt, cuz no one but BF is allowed to have that symbol, and Bidu already had lightning bolt imagery, so eh why not. His eyebrows being green, at least in my style, implies his hair is naturally green, and he just added the blue and pink, and I find that slightly humorous, idk.

Keith (StarCatcher) was another one I had to go back and touch up, but that's due to the fact that I was informed that him and his GF got a redesign before the creator deleted their FNF stuff. So I had to go back and fix my design according to that. I also leaned into the scape suit direction cuz SHAPE.

Now, you might be wondering, why is Flippin BF here and not with the other alternates? He was grouped with him in a previous post? Well, that's because after more assessment, I decided that Friday Night Flippin' is in fact, in the same universe as Base FNF and not an alternate universe like I had previously decided. So I changed his design a bit (mainly just getting rid of his hat and changing the color of his shoes) and boom. Different guy. He is staying pixel art tho. I do still need to come up with a different name for him tho.

Now this next one, Heath, is not from a currently existing mod, but from an FNF AU my friend Minx is making.

I decided to include him cuz he's silly and I love him. Their AU is canon to the Connected Universe.

Okay, so Cam (Hellbeats BF) changed A LOT. I let my furry slip out again. BUT I HAVE ANOTHER REASON FOR IT. See, in this connected universe, it's not just Newgrounds stuff that is canon. I also made other fandoms I'm in canon. So that means the Hellaverse is canon (specifically my rewritten version of it), and Hellbeats has to fit in with that. So I had to assign the characters species from that universe as well. So I made Cam a cherub, cuz I wanted him to stay short as fuck. He's also a raccoon cuz he's a lil shit and I thought it'd fit If ur curious, this is what everyone else is:

Okay I'm done yapping now. Gonna be doing the GFs next.

[pico-digital-studios]

Into, Across and Beyond! Scripting: Burning Too Much Daylight

(This series of events is part of the alternate continuity of @robovoidfrog's Funkinverse, and is again not to be considered canon unless they state otherwise by the release of Beyond the Spider-Verse.)

After Benjamin and BluBuni managed to save Goatfriend from a landslide in an area and overpower Kenji proper, they came to a stop at the far end of Aquatic Ruin.

Benjamin: Geesh, what is with you trying to stop us from doing the right thing?

Kenji: Dude, you seriously CAN'T save everybody yourself. That's a given in life, and I've had to witness that over time.

Benjamin: I mean, you have a point about it being impossible to save everyone, but that doesn't mean we won't try to anyway.

Kenji: ...Is this why you're still on board with Salty's thoughts, even when you've seen him turn you down?

BluBuni: He's still paranoid from when your group tried to stop him from doing what he felt the urge to do. He might cool off if more -friends side with his desire to stop The X.

Goatfriend: So this is why you've tried to enable my death? Out of that desire to maintain a linear plot that doesn't exist?! I knew there was something fishy about you when Ben and his pack first knocked you out, but this just sells you off as a murderer by inaction!

Kenji: Murd-?! I'm not the one actively trying to murder people to uphold the multiverse! I... I don't even want to deliberately murder anyone. Having my family drift apart and my own counterpart of Pico being driven to a murderous insanity hasn't helped my situation at all, nor has having to witness practically everyone around me undergo their own angst periods.

Benjamin sighed, knowing he couldn't yet forgive Kenji for his repeated disruptions to their parole, but sympathised enough with him to let him be.

Benjamin: Okay. It doesn't excuse what you tried to do, but I'm letting you go.

Alt MIX Boyfriend: What?! He tried to stop us from saving Goatie there, man.

Benjamin: I know, but a lot of these guys aren't thinking straight, more so than what is necessary.

Neo Girlfriend: Which makes sense, considering Leo and Soft Pico's Ben are both stuck with the Society.

Kenji: I don't get it, Ben. Why WOULD you spare me after I've tried to stop you? After I tried to stop... t-the alternate Aloe?

Benjamin: Simple; I don't believe in killing people for the greater good, not even other -friends. Me and Gracie's groups are trying to do the true greater good, by rallying up others to help stop The X as soon as possible. It doesn't help, however, that we've been side-tracked constantly by you derailing our bids to help Salty out. I'll let you go, but you gotta promise not to continue interfering with our mission.

Kenji: *sigh* Okay. I promise.

They nodded to each other.

Soft Pico: Before we let you go... We need to know something important.

Neo Girlfriend: What Earth designation is the Society HQ at?

Kenji wasn't sure if it was best to tell them, but knew it couldn't be hidden forever.

Kenji: I'll tell you, though if necessary, get in there, get whoever you need to out and then hurry out, before Cam notices what you're doing. Alright, so the location is Earth 1-2-4-

He was interrupted as he witnessed blood splatter, showing horror from what happened.

Benjamin: Kenji? Is that all there is?

Kenji: H-He... He figured it out...

BluBuni: What do you mean by-?

Blu turned around, and to her horror, Goatfriend had been shot in the back, now kneeling on the floor.

BluBuni: GOATFRIEND!

She kneeled by his side, tears welling from her eyes. Benjamin did the same, equally horrified.

BluBuni: No no no no! P-Please, stay with me.

Benjamin: Hang tight, G. I'll try and get you healed up.

Goatfriend: I- *cough* I don't want you to waste your strength o-or energy, Ben. That X creep needs stopping b-before he destroys the multiverse.

BluBuni: What about you? I can't just leave you to... t-to...

He put his hand on her cheek, trying to calm her down.

Goatfriend: Hey. Look at me, Blu. You've still got a lot to live for. I don't want your happiness to be permanently gone b-because of this. Y-You need to help Ben and the others stop The X, for m-my sake, alright?

BluBuni: A-Alright, G...

Goatfriend: A-And Ben? Y-You've become tight-knit with B-Blu, haven't you? In case I d-don't make it, please... take g-good care of her for me.

Benjamin: I... I promise she'll be safe with me, Goatfriend.

Goatfriend: A-And, er... just remember that s-she doesn't like carrots. I... heh, I l-learned that the hard way m-myself.

Benjamin: Heh, I'll keep that in mind.

BluBuni smiled to Ben, happy he had the right material as one of her best friends.

Benjamin: I'm gonna get you healed anyway, though. Even if it burns out my strength for a bit, it's better than leaving you to die.

He got started on healing the bullet wound right away.

Goatfriend: Y-You really didn't have to do this, you know?

Benjamin: It's the least I can do for a friend, man. Plus, the shot didn't manage to hit any vital organs, so you're alright.

Goatfriend: T-Thanks, Ben. I really appreciate it.

Grace and Pico arrived on the scene.

Pico: Is he alright? We heard the gunshot before.

Benjamin: Thankfully so. If whoever tried to kill him is still in range, he's not safe here. Grace, can you warp him to a safe spot that's still in this dimension?

Grace: I'm right on it.

She was about to do so, but her neck was clasped by a power inhibitor that prevented her from doing so, right before extra lead was shot into Goatfriend, this time successful in killing him.

BluBuni: NO! G!

She rushed to his body, tearing up a lot as Benjamin went next to her and Grace broke the inhibitor.

Grace: O-Oh, no...

BluBuni: P-Please, d-don't die on me... p-please...

When she realised he really was killed this time, she started crying, now having been through TWO events where she had lost a loved one to outside forces. In response, Benjamin hugged her tightly to comfort her.

Benjamin: H-Hey. I'm here, Buni.

BluBuni: W-Why did it have to be him...?

During the hug, Barbara noticed something close by and pointed Benjamin's focus towards it; a pair of glowing pink eyes that were all too familiar to him. He watched the figure he knew was actively trying to stop him from doing the right thing with contempt, as he slipped away into a portal.

Benjamin: ...Cam!

Pico turned to Kenji.

Pico: Okay, dude. Change of plans, get us straight to his HQ. He needs a reality check.

Kenji kept true to his word, generating a portal that got Benjamin's group into the Funkin' Society HQ at Earth-1249, where Softie was at alongside several other -friends.

Soft Pico: There's Softie!

Softie turned back, seeing his boyfriend having come for him.

Soft Benjamin: Pico?

Soft Pico: Boy, am I glad to see you in one piece. They didn't hurt you, did they?

Soft Benjamin: Thankfully not. Though, I'm not sure I can say the same about all these guys that have been through a lot. Oh, er, who's this (EB!Softie) you've got with you?

EB!Softie: Oh! Hey there!

Soft Pico: It's a long story, Ben. I'll tell you later.

Gracie's group entered the area as well.

Gracie: Did you guys make it?

Benjamin: I... I was so close to saving Goatfriend, but... (through gritted teeth) Cam murdered him in cold blood to try and maintain his "canon"!

Gasps of horror, concern, worry and anger were heard around the other present -friends.

Kenji: I witnessed it happen, everyone. I... I'm sorry.

Judith: I never knew he'd... go as far as to defy our morals just to get his way.

Neo Boyfriend/Leo: The point still stands that, if Salty is out there trying to stop The X, and a few of us couldn't apprehend him ourselves, he needs all the help he can get!

Benjamin: Just what I was thinking.

Gracie: We called you guys together not just to save Salty, but to preserve the very fabric of reality itself.

Benjamin: As it stands, the multiverse needs us to keep it safe, and we need to split from a civil war and unite as one to achieve it.

Gracie: So, our goal is simple. Save our friend, safeguard every universe... and never back down!

Even some of the other defectors, like B3 and Lexi, were present and hearing this.

Galfriend: So how do we go about destroying him if he's pretty much nigh-invincible?

Benjamin: There is a way. Despite him being a distorted demon, his weak spots are going to be where the dark matter in his body hasn't reached. We'll need to make him waste enough of it for us to get good hits in and bring him back down to a vulnerable state.

Leo: Then we shouldn't waste any more time. We're allying as one, and we're staying that way to the end! At this point, no -friend is being left out, no matter what!

Benjamin: And in defiance of defined fates, we'll fix this mess once and for all! Who's with us?

Many -friends in the room raised their fists in their parole to join the cause to stop The X and prove that they're still capable of doing the right thing. However, Cam soon entered the room on a higher level, witnessing what was going on.

Cam: <Everyone, we'll focus on the X after we've stopped Salty's defiance! Get back to your-!>

However, Benjamin spotted him and threw his microphone cord at him, yanking him down by the leg in front of everyone present.

Cam: GAH!

Benjamin: Shut up with your so-called "authority", Blueballs!

Cam: <I'm the good guy here! None of you get it!>

Kenji: He said shut UP!

Kenji speaking up second shocked a lot of the -friends, considering that he had been one Boyfriend the others barely hung around.

Kenji: Everyone, Cam does NOT know what he's doing as a leader, and he's proved that quite well!

Cam: <Traitorous scum! I gave you a simple task, and you botched it on purpose!>

Judith: No! He's right. All of us in here have to atone for our past failures; the loved ones we've lost, the people we couldn't save thanks to your rules... I told you before, Cam. THIS is what we do. We HELP people, even if it affects us badly in the long-run.

Bartholomew/B3: I know it's hard to accept, boss, but THAT is the truth I had been blinded to since you brought me here.

Aloe Mano: In there, you clearly didn't want to hesitate in chasing Salty down the second he got free from your energy cage. And look what things have become now!

Benjamin: It's clear now, isn't it, Cam? Your little society you made under the guise of "protecting the multiverse"? It's nothing but a cult enabling murders by not allowing others to try and save those close to them. Even if you didn't directly kill them, their blood's still on your hands, and on those you and your strike force have prevented from helping those close to them.

The -friends around him were clearly ashamed for enabling the deaths of those close to them.

Benjamin: THAT'S why Salty defied your goals; BECAUSE he isn't going to let his adoptive family meet the same fate as countless others have in your guise of stopping those universes from destabilising! It doesn't help you've been hiring children as young as Lexi into your twisted actions, and I'm sure as hell glad I got to Evan before any of your squad could try and usurp him!

B-Bot: Isn't it obvious from your backstory? It's YOU who's the original anomaly.

Brooke: Make that more of a paradox. You saw the anomalies, attributed them to Salty, and even then, you stood in for a dead counterpart of yourself.

Cam: <That changes nothing. We ARE the good guys, and you all know it. We're still keeping the multiverse safe.>

Softie shook his head.

Soft Benjamin: Not like THIS, we aren't, Cam.

Romantic Boyfriend: Too darn right.

RecD Boyfriend (with accompanying subtitles): Yeah, like, how is this meant to be fair on us when our motive's meant to be doing the right thing?!

Benjamin: In fact, I'll never forgive you for disrupting my attempt to help BluBuni save Goatfriend from his "canon event"! She's been deeply scarred from this second major loss in her life, and his death remains on YOUR hands! AND Kenji's! AND anyone else who deliberately tried to intervene!

Cam growled at Benjamin as other -friends stepped back a little in fear, realising from words alone that the angel was a force to be reckoned with.

Benjamin: THIS is who your leader is, everyone; a deluded and sickening bully who uses force to get his own way! Well, I've made it clear I won't be joining your "alliance", Cam, and neither will any of my pack, end of! We're supposed to be the good guys, and look what you've made hundreds of -friends become!

Cam attempted to lunge at Benjamin before being blocked by BluBuni, who was especially angry at him for what he did.

BluBuni: You're a murderer, and you know it.

Cam: <Get out of the way right now!>

BluBuni: I won't!

Cam: <I will not ask you again, girl! Get the fuck out of MY WAY!>

In response, Bently rushed forward and slashed at Cam's eye again, this time truly damaging it.

Bently: There's a fresh one if you try that again!

Benjamin: ...I guess I should never have bothered trying to redeem you, Malicious.

Toon Boyfriend: You know, you shouldn't even consider yourself a "hero" when you can barely hold a mass group of these guys together!

D-Sides .XML: Like how I don't see myself as a hero. Just shows that you really are a self-mythologizing narcissistic autocrat, ain't ya?

Cam: <This is for the sake of millions of people. Don't ANY of you get it?!>

Gracie stepped forward.

Gracie: What about YOUR Girlfriend, both in this universe AND the one you crossed into? What would she think of you if she could see what you're doing right now?

In response, Cam's stoic expression broke, his look visibly distressed from the thought.

Cam: I-I... Uh...

Gracie: Yeah, that's what I thought.

Benjamin: You CAN still help us if you want, but we're not forgiving you for murdering an innocent just to maintain your flawed philosophy. We're headed for Salty's world all together, with or without you. We're through with wasting time on a wild goose chase and civil war while a monster runs amok!

The others got their watches ready, teleporting away one-by-one with the now-common goal in mind.

Gracie: Farewell, Cam. May you think about your life choices.

Brooke Jr. blew a raspberry at him to make it clear again his opinion on the fallen hero, as he and his father warped away. Even Evan couldn't help but show his contempt to Cam for his unjustifiable actions.

Benjamin: Alright, guys. Let's go do what we should've been focusing on from the start!

The Funkin' Gang and Benjamin's crew warped away, leaving Cam (and Derpina) the only ones left in the HQ.

Derpina: Well... THAT happened, I guess.

Cam: <Not now, Derpina.> *sigh* <Do you have any idea on how we can get rid of The X?>

Derpina: Should all else fail, I've run scans about a nuclear solution. I've run simulations wherein reversing the polarity of the colliders will destabilise Grimbo's being and erase him from the multiverse, as well as all those in Salty's universe.

Cam: <That's an option I don't even want to consider, Derpina! Haven't you got any more feasible options on hand?!>

Derpina: Oh, I'm certain the solution will work should it need to be employed. It has before... in the universe you lived in temporarily.

This realisation hit Cam like a ton of bricks. Everything in his world view fell apart in an instant as he realised that "canon" was not the cause of his failed act to be happy again, and Derpina knew it all along. He fell to his knees and looked around the now-empty building, his face showing genuine sorrow and regret for the first time in a long time.

He slowly made his way back to the control room, looking at his hands, which flashed blood being on them from time-to-time to hammer in the points thrown at him.

Salty: Who decides that? I'm not a kid! Gracie: We're supposed to be the GOOD guys! Judith: Millions of people will be in grave danger if we keep sitting on the wayside. Kenji: Cam does NOT know what he's doing as a leader! B-Bot: It's YOU who's the original anomaly. RecD BF: How is this meant to be fair on us when our motive's meant to be doing the right thing?! BluBuni: You're a murderer, and you know it.

Finally, he rested his hand by the control panel, remembering that one self-destruct command he had installed just in case the silly and quippy natures of his peers annoyed him so much that he'd blow up the entire building with them and himself inside. He also saw his watch very close to running out of power, a look of determination and the urge to actually do the right thing washing over him.

Derpina: So... what's YOUR plan on stopping The X?

Cam (hovering his hand over the switch): <What I should've done before Salty got here to begin with.> I'm going to help the others out and right my own wrongs!

He pressed the button before using his watch to warp to Earth-405 (Derpina in tow), the building itself blowing up shortly after and leaving only debris and badly-damaged machinery at its former site.

[stromulites]

👕 16 and 19, 📦 12, 🍽️ 1 and 💓 1 for IDU!rgb >:]

orugh this is a lot, bear with me hngkdkfdg especially since i haven't talked about IDU!pico before beyond vague mentions.

👕 16: Is your character's appearance more telling or deceiving?

BJ: pretty telling, I'd say fddjksgk. Loose clothing. A shirt he doesn't fucking change ever/has multiples of. Guy who just wants to live and have a good time doing so (as ironic as this is rkeslgdf)

Hannah: more deceiving. Since her stuff is mostly under her parents eyes, it's how they view her: their perfect daughter that they will set up for greatness no matter what.

Peter: (yeah i decided on a name for idu!pico krdlgdf) deceiving. Since his handler (Sebastian) holds all his weapons 'n shit, he doesn't visibly look dangerous. Just like a wallflower or something. Unfortunately or fortunately, Reapers with Guns are a rare and unwelcome sight.

👕 19: If your character had to get a tattoo what would it be?

BJ: A red cardinal. BJ and Hannah probably had a discussion once on what bird she'd like to be, and she chose Red cardinal. It'd probably be somewhere visible like his forearm or neck, since he wouldn't be one to get a tattoo no one would seerjkdkgdf. Once BJ and Peter get along though, I think he'd get a rat skull too, probably just under his t-shirt sleeve.

Hannah: Unlikely to happen while she's still with her parents but! A blue jay :D terribly creative I know, but BJ's literally one so it's most fitting. She's probably get a shotgun wrapped in thorns for Peter. Why? Ehhh maybe I'll answer that later down the line.

Peter: a solid ring of red around his right upper arm. That would be the only tattoo he'd get, I think. Mostly as a reminder for himself since it would be hidden under his hoodie most of the time. Maybe some smaller ones on his wrist, but I don't see him getting anything large/coloured like the others.

📦 12: Does your character personify objects?

BJ: Would probably say sorry as a reflex. If it's like a computer that's misbehaving, he'll smack it/talk to it when it works like it's aliverksdgf. Will smack talk the object that wronged him.

Hannah: Would definitely say sorry, but like. Probably only late at night when no one's looking/there to reprimand her for being clumsy. Will ask the computer nicely to start working again, etc.

Peter: Will kick the thing again, mumble an insult, then walk off. Percussive maintenance all the way, then go "I fucking thought so."

🍽️ 1: What flavor would your character say their personality is?

BJ: "Blue Raspberry--- what do you mean i can't say that? Fuckin- okay. The white flavour of a Freezie."

Hannah: "Hmm...Something like a savoury beef bourguignon. Or salty like Soy Sauce."

Peter: "Fuck, I don't know. I haven't eaten anything in like...seven years? ...Does Malibu count? Yeah the rum, what do you think I'm talking about?"

💓 1: What is a habit your character has that others might find cute?

BJ: If he's arriving from behind someone he knows well, and they're short enough, he'll put his head on their shoulder to look at what they're doing. This obviously doesn't work with taller people, but damn it, he'll try anyways.

Hannah: Can and will unconsciously braid a person's hair. Did this with BJ when his hair got long but couldn't be bothered to get it cut. Does it to herself when she's particularly bored or something.

Peter: Hums songs when he thinks his alone. They are not what you'd expect him to song to himself about, as they're usually recognizable as love songs. Generally soft in composition.

{ask meme here!}

[ochrearia]

I dont know a lot about your other interests buuuuut maybe your favorite dragon prince character for the character ask thing, if you want? :]

Stares at you with the biggest eyes ever I'm picking RAYLA BECAUSE SHES SO FUCKING DUMB AND I HATE HER BUT NO I DON'T

Favorite Thing About Them: Can I be so damn honest. We share trauma. Like okay not like 1:1 but her parents """died""" when she was young and she had to deal with that. I had to deal with death early too. Not a family member but a friend and her entire family. And like. That's still rather traumatizing for an 8-9 year old kid especially because it was a fucking PLANE CRASH but yeah. Death trauma early on where the person dying had a really fucked up death. Rayla kind of runs away from her problems and so do I. Puts it all on herself and doesn't think that she matters at all so "doing the right thing" gets in the way of staying alive and she's fine with that but doesn't really clock that dying for the cause is going to traumatize someone else. But that's so like... me. I talk about seeing myself in Pico but Rayla steals the similarity contest from him easy. Also elf but like come on DSFDGF Rayla is to blame for my elfsona and my continuous use of pointed ears in my sonas ever since

Least Favorite Thing About Them: Girl you're an asshole. Like I'm sorry she can be a wonderful person but oh my god I am never forgiving her dumbass for doing what she did to Callum in Through The Moon. Dawg. Fucking idiot. I dislike liars man I already got trust issues but this BITCHHHHH she tells Callum they will go find Viren together and then she turns around and leaves in the middle of the night without him and only leaves him a NOTE to wake up to. On his BIRTHDAY BY THE FUCKING WAY ON HIS BIRTHDAY. ARE YOU DUMB??? ARE YOU DUMB. She's gone for 2 years. Girl what the fuck that's your boyfriend. Or you know was lol what is your issue. Like I know, you've got trauma and you believed that you were protecting him by going alone so he wasn't in danger but hoLY SHIT YOU DID SO MUCH MORE DAMAGE TO HIM THAT WAY. Christ. You would think that him jumping off the Storm Spire to catch you and save you from a splat death would tell you his damn dedication to you Rayla. Rayla. Look me in the eyes Rayla you cannot keep thinking in this mentality. I fully understand the idea that you think leaving someone would save them because I've considered that too but NO!!!! NO GET A GRIP OHUHUH I HATE YOU FOR DOING THAT RAYLA

Favorite Line: "Callum, you may be a dummy but you're not a fool!" ("Am I supposed to feel flattered about this?") Rayla is the reason "dummy" is in my vocabulary. Like dummy but in an affectionate way because that's the only context she uses it and it's always with Callum.

brOTP: Rayla and Soren <3 Rayla being the completely fucking done with this bitch adopted sister and Soren being his normal stupid himbo ass self. I love Soren ??? But like that's for another day to talk about

OTP: Rayllum, lmao, because I am in fact basic as fuck and am shipping the thing the show is handing to me. Honestly though pre-season 4 I was lowkey fucking with Claudia and Rayla in fandom context bc realistically they would. Never. Rayla would hate her ass. And its not elf-human racism because Claudia's dating Terry it's just Rayla would HATE HERRR

nOTP: Man I don't even wanna talk about it I've seen some weird shit but I genuinely think I have seen at least one instance of Viren x Rayla and absolutely the FUCK not. But I guess for one that's not just weird as fuck Soren x Rayla because they're not romantic to me in any context ever sorry to the people that do consider it though

Random Headcanon: Hitting this fucker with the bigender beam I do NOT care. She's bigender and uses she/he pronouns like me because I SAID SO

Unpopular Opinion: sighs... I'm no Callum guys. I think she deserved to suffer in the consequences of her actions more. 2 years with nothing but a note and a broken promise. Callum's stronger than me dude like I get it you love her and I like love but god that would break my trust for way longer. They never even really talked about it either. He just kinda forgave her after awhile. And yeah Rayla throughout the seasons shows that she knows it's on her but I THINK SHE DESERVED TO GET YELLED AT AT LEAST ONE TIME OKAY

Song I Associate With Them: Mama's Gun by Glass Animals and I am going to REFUSE to explain why because it's a years old thing and I'm not changing it. But just. Yeah that one

Favorite Picture Of Them: I could be mean and say the one where she's staring at the metal flowers in Ethari's pond and obviously about to cry but I won't. I'll be nice.

My current one methinks. She's pretty :] Shakes her by the shoulders I wanna loOK LIKE YOU

[emeraldsk]

Okay so uh y'know those videos on YouTube that are someone ranking Friday Night Funkin songs from blegh to amazing?

I tried to make one in late January to early February last year.

My Mario's Madness Ranking from early 2024!

(Keep in mind, this mostly doesn't stand anymore. Some songs I'd definitely change, and I've grown so I know a couple more things.)

(Thinking of doing a re-rank, any opinions?)

(Also please this was my old opinion, it's not fact. Hell, I disagree with some of it now. So uh yeah, please don't treat it like a huge deal :)

(Also also apparently there's a Tumblr word limit?! BOOOOOO- because of this this is part 1!)

(Final also. I know some of the crew ended up in... controversy... but I didn't know of any of it when I ranked these, I'm literally copy pasting it all. But rn, I'm trying to separate the art from the artists. Hope that's okay. :>)

28. So Cool. The instrumental is the only part I like here. Why is this song even here? Pratt’s vocals are ear piercing to me, and Boyfriend’s is… Okay? The imagery doesn’t even look that good either.

27. Nourishing Blood. I don’t know why, but I seriously don’t like this song. The vocals are okay I guess, and the Instrumental is fine… The art is pretty good?

26. Abandoned. For me, it’s very forgettable. It’s good, the instrumental is chilling, Luigi sounds okay, but it’s just… Very forgettable.

25. Demise. Yes, most of the reason why it’s down here is the charting. What the funk? It’s spammy! There’s almost no way you’re FCing that mess! It doesn’t even sound like music sometimes, just unknown noise. The instrumental is a banger though. Also that in-a-cave part is pretty bad, cause MX is just screaming at that point, and it’s not only jarring, but ear-piercing forme.

24. Overdue. Why is everyone hyping it up? It’s okay, but Pico’s vocals were never that great. Plus, he only showed up in the mod to get kidnapped and do one song, and at the end it’sunknown how long he survives against the crew. He definitely wasn’t needed in here. Mr. L’s vocals are weird to me too, but it’s not terrible. I keep thinking of him as the official one Nintendo made, I need to stop. It might be affecting the ranking, but I don’t think so. Instrumental is pretty okay too. I got nothing else for that.

23. Powerdown. MX is dope as hell, but the beginning makes me a bit standoffish due to the weird vocals they gave to his fake form. The instrumental is really good, and EEK MX’S TRUE VOCALS ARE COOL. I usually hate deep vocals, but UGH he’s hitting the tones and notesnicely! When I heard the ‘Omnipresent but Sonic.exe team vs Mario’s Madness’ cover, he was against Faker, and HE’S PERFECT FOR BACKUP VOCALS ARG. Also the part of him tearing Girlfriend will never be forgotten to me, that was sudden but badarse. I guess the main reason why it's down this low is because of better songs.

22. Paranoia. The idea of the window changing to different sizes and areas was amazing! How did they code that?! AND THE DESKTOP CHANGING FOR GF/V’S PART WHAT!??! HOW DID THEY DO THAT?!?!? But other than that, the song is very forgettable for me. If the screen didn’t change, I’d not be praising it, it’d be meh for me. I want to like Virtual’s vocals, but I can’t HEAR them. I realized this when listening to the ‘Omnipresent but Sonic.exe team vs Mario’s Madness’ cover when he was against Fatal Error, and yeah, he’s mute at that point.

21. Day Out. The instrumental is really awesome, and the art is really good, but Mario just… Doesn’t sound right. Luigi’s trying, but not well. I also don’t like the original material, but even then, it’s not my favorite for sure.

20. Apparition. WARIO’S VOCALS HELP ME MY EARS ARE BLEEDING. Yes, he’s got a few good spots, but mostly I gotta turn the volume down. Boyfriend sounds good though, and EEK THE INSTRUMENTAL. AWESOME. I do like the little “Wario’ll show you fun” part too. Also his game over looks pretty cool. I didn’t realize the teeth showed ‘Game Over’ until I took a long moment, very cool.

19. Dictator. I’d rank it way higher if that ending part Boyfriend did was more prominent, but alas, here we are. Secret History Mario’s voice is okay, but it feels like it could be better even though it fits the normal speaking voice. The instumental is very snazzy, and I’m not sure if that’s good or not with the tone of the art and song. Also how dare we still die!?

18. Golden Land. The instrumental (In the beginning) makes me think of like those old 1990’s games, which is nice, but the rest is really good. However, both GB and Boyfriend’s vocals are pretty piercing to me. The art is pretty damn cool due to pixels probably being slightly harder, and the laugh section is cool, but… The vocals are just too much for me.

17. Dark Forest. I’m not sure how to feel about ‘Peachs’ vocals, since they’re not too good in my mind for this song, but they were surprisingly good in an ‘Omnipresent but Sonic.exe team vs Mario’s Madness’ cover against Fleetway. The instrumental is okay, doesn’t strike me as hard as most of them. The wee-woo-woo, wee-woo-woo part is a bit ear-killing. Also STOP SCREAMING WHILE I’M TYPING PEACH IT’S ANNOYING.

16. Thalassophobia. The instrumental is so bone-chilling, I’m having fun with that! However, there’s something I just don’t like here. Both Luigi and Boyfriend sound good, and the art is cool, but… I don’t know, maybe it’s because I keep forgetting about it when I think of Mario’s Madness?

15. Mario Sing And Game Rhythm 9. Where’s the first 8? XD Okay but the instrumental feels like it needs work. I know I love Sonic, and this is a mix of Sonic and Mario, but even I can admit it isn’t the best. Why does 16 bit mean that the vocals have to be loud and honestly resemble some sort of headache recipe? I do still love it though, not sure why.

14. Promotion. The instrumental is so cool, I love the first half’s chill nature while the second is just BANG AFTER AWESOME BANG. ?Stanley? Sounds really good, but it’s a little weird to me. The art is really damn cool too, and the beginning’s Mario is just the guy you’d chill with. Not much to say here.

Part 2:

[gildead]

it's munday and i'm gonna be ranking all the lullaby songs let's go gamers.

safety lullaby: kinda mid. off-putting to hear hypno say lines when he's just sampling the pokémon cry for the rest of the mod, but hey he's spitting bars. 4/10.

left unchecked: absolute fucking banger and highly underrated. actually writing my own lyrics to it as we speak. 8/10.

lost cause: literally just noise but gf's beginning part saves it from being a zero. 1/10.

frostbite: kinda slow but i do admit, it's kinda grown on me. after that first verse it does get a lot better, ESPECIALLY once freakachu comes out. i do gotta say the shiny remix of it is the improved version, especially when the monochrome leitmotif comes in. 6/10.

insomnia: another one that grew on me!!! kinda long but i love silver's chromatics and there's a few really fun parts. i do wish scorchvx got to add in the ending animation to insomnia because otherwise the sequence feels incomplete without it and we don't get how BF ends up in the void. 7/10.

monochrome: THE MAN. THE MYTH. THE LEGEND. the reason why i got back into poképastas and remembered why i loved lost silver so much. absolute fucking banger in v1, and simplycrispy IMPROVED on literal perfection for v2. i actually like both versions of perish mix oddly enough, mainly because simplycrispy lowered the jumpscare volume so that it's actually listenable. i still prefer the non-jumpscare version when it comes to juno's cover and general listening because i'm a weenie and don't wanna be shrieked at when i'm listening to juno spitting bars. 11/10.

missingno: definitely a banger, heavily improved from v1, but i don't... really think it should've gotten its own week? the missingno week definitely confuses me, since there wasn't as much of an effort to tie it in with buried alive as lost silver week did for SOMS and lost silver. having two songs as opposed to three definitely didn't help, and maybe if the mod was finished they would've done a little more polishing. still, good song. 8/10.

brimstone: okay this is the one they were REALLY hyping up in the teaser for V2. and while i enjoyed it at first, it's... definitely a bit of a let down. there's a lot of good concepts within (missingno as a pokémon, the white hand becoming GF), but i don't necessarily... think they were fully utilized to the best of their abilities? also it's just LOOOONG. which is weird because triple trouble is much longer but it also feels more dynamic than brimstone does, which i feel like you gotta do if you're making a super long FNF song so the player doesn't fall asleep at the keyboard? 5/10.

amusia: damn, for a wigglytuff unable to sing, she sure goes off. that being said, saster almost never misses. also unfinished because it's lacking the ending jumpscare, but i don't think it really needed that? lullaby overuses the jumpscares quite a bit (coughcoughPURINcoughcoughFROSTBITEcoughitycoughLOSTCAUSEcough) and i think the more somber, poignant ending provides better contrast. also reminds me i gotta get wigglytuff icons for.... science. 8/10.

dissension: WHY ARE YOU SO SLOOOOOW. steven's chromatics fuck though... is what i was originally going to write, but i'm relistening to the song so i can do this and actually wait no this is a banger. the instrumental definitely reminds me of something ghost would put out, and steven's chromatics still fuck. 7/10.

purin: OHHHH MAN HERE WE FUCKING GO. so i know i should be nicer to this song because there was a lot of cool stuff that got cut from it and it's heavily unfinished but man fuck it. the song blows. jigglypuff's chromatics sound like ass, forcing my poor poor man pico to carry the song. there's a cover with gold that fixes the problems of 'jigglypuff's chromatics sound like ass', but MYYYYY GOOOOOOD it does not fix how slooooooooooow it is. it's like Bring Me To Life but if you replaced amy lee with a deflating helium balloon. also no the reversed part is not as cool as people think it is. kill me/10.

death toll: a lot of people claim this is the best song of lullaby. i still think monochrome edges it out, but honestly it's REEEEEAAAAAALLY close. the dueling melodies REALLY hit, the diamond/pearl themes in there feel well-blended, and dawn shifting into BF makes for some really neat moments. juno also wrote a really good cover of this that you should listen to. recd's on it. 10/10.

isotope: the backing track is really good on this one, but my god the memes killed it for me. there should've been a MUCH bigger drop after the 'they took everything from me' monologue. first half is really good, but the song just kinda ends on a sad wet fart, and not the darnell kind. also i don't have any better place to put this but man th3innu3ndo is a douchebag. 4/10.

bygone purpose: so remember my notes on purin above? bygone purpose has the same problem but with a much better song. GOD i do not like hypno's chromatics on this one. alexis definitely saves it though. 6/10.

pasta night: talk about getting funky on a friday night, huh. absolute BANGER swinging back-up, mx, lord x, and hypno's chromatics are really good together, and of course we got my little boy floating by in the background. of COURSE i'm gonna give this one a perfect rating. 10/10.

shinto: reeeeaaaaaaally good. like, unbelievably fun. my one nitpick is that there's a problem with the mixing and the instrumental sometimes overpowers shinto and grey's chromatics, but otherwise it would've also gotten a perfect score. 9.5/10.

shitno: okay unpopular opinion time but i actually like shinto a little better than this one. i think we should've fully given saster free reign over shitno, because his part's DEFINITELY where the song gets really good. not that it was bad (it's not), but like, if you're gonna have shinto turn into a big fuckass monster, you'd want the big fuckass monster song to exceed all expectations. 9/10.

[clanwarrior-tumbly]

FNF HCs: Reactions to Reader Proposing (Pt 1/??)

Pico

Takes him a full minute to process it.

He's waiting for the "sike"--but it never comes.

So he starts crying a little, because he's so torn over what to do.

Although he's scared of being too dangerous to be around....you proposing is proof that you feel safe with him.

But you comfort him and patiently wait for his answer (which is yes, thank goodness).

Senpai

Is an emotional wreck, but in a good way.

He wanted to propose first, though knowing you wanted to marry him without a doubt made him sob.

You truly do love him and all of his flaws. He couldn't be happier.

After you give him the ring he just picks you up and spins you around, laughing through the joyful tears.

He's so excited for this next chapter of your lives.

Garcello

Honestly didn't think he'd live long enough to see someone propose to him--but here he is.

His only fear is repeating the past, having ruined relationships thanks to his addiction. He just doesn't wanna screw things up this time.

Despite the shadow obscuring his eyes, you saw the tears and get up to console him, reassuring him there's no rush. You anticipated his hesitance anyway.

Whether he says yes or no is okay. You're happy to be with him regardless.

Zardy

Being the little shit that he is, Pumpkin Jack botches your attempts to propose to Zardy.

He just laughs and steals the ring, making you chase him throughout the maze before Zardy catches him first, taking the ring back.

But he's confused on why you had this shiny thing in your possession, so you explain its meaning before proposing to him.

The light within him seems to glow brighter as he smiles and nods.

But the moment is ruined by PJ's giggling.

Tabi

He's 100% convinced this is a trick.

A trick to somehow earn money from him. Or maybe you just wanted someone to show off or--

But luckily you had a speech ready in case he thought that, emphasizing your promise that you won't let anyone take advantage of him anymore.

And by the end of it, he's already in tears.

"I-if what you say is true..then yes. I would love to be your husband."

Kapi

"Kap, will you....be my Player Two?"

By god it's the absolute cheesiest shit you could say, and in an arcade of all places.

But Kapi is fully moved by the question as he grins and hugs you tightly, purring happily in your arms.

His vigorous nod confirms his answer.

[anevergreenknight]

okay, y'all — so I successfully cooked homemade chicken alfredo; it was DELICIOUS.

That being said, I feel ready to learn something new so here's a list of what I'm thinking!! No meatloaf though because my sister made some on new years and I disliked it 😅

1. Chicken parmesan — I've never had this before but it looks really good? Is it like fried chicken with melted mozzarella cheese on top? and tomato or ketchup?? I don't knowwwww, but I just hope it's good!!

2. Chicken Cacciatore — just like chicken parmesan, I've never had this before, however it seems pretty simple to cook and delicious!? chicken and tomato sauce right?? black beans as well? maybe I'll add some rice on the side for substance? Yum

3. Ribs — I just want to learn how to bake meaty ribs that will fall off the bones!! and then add some pico de gallo and arroz on the side?? Yessss (I don't know how to eat ribs)

there you go!!

I was going to use the polls because I thought it would be fun to implement BUT it's not available for to me aghhhh, oh well, I'll use it for the desserts!!

[fnf-amateur-writing]

Hey! It’s Fox again! How are you doing? I just started school back up today, so I’ve been busy Xp.

Think you would be cool with writing some Pico with an s/o who is a writer, and tends to ask him about things like “hey, how long does it take someone to bleed out” or other things like that?

I understand if you don’t feel like it, and I hope you’re having fun 😊

🦊

Hello again Fox, I'm doing quite well rn. I'm cool with your prompt, especially since I need more writing material anyways.

Took me a while, because I didn't want to do a hc, but rather come up with a oneshot with a little twist to the style. Well, hope it works well.

Good luck with school, mate!

TW: Mentions of violence, swearing, slight sexual reference, and crime.

Pico with a writer S/O who asks him strange questions

Prologue:

On a chilly autumn morning, you were sitting out on your patio with a laptop and a mug of your favourite beverage next to you. Whenever you looked up, you could see the warm coloured leaves fall as the breeze accompanied you. The whole scene was an aesthetic.

When your boyfriend, Pico, came outside to see this, he knew that the nice environment you surrounded yourself with meant one thing. "You're back in your writing space already. Heh, with that bestseller you published, I thought you were comfy taking a break." You simply smiled and said, "can't waste the inspiration rush I got right now."

Pico had a good point though, with your rising popularity as an author, you were near set to retire before turning fourty. But you wish you weren't given all of the credit, since your boyfriend's stories of his dodgy job has occasionally sparked some ideas for your stories. However the books you wrote in the past were usually meant for the young adult and had few mature themes. This time, you thought maybe it's time to garner extra inspiration from those stories.

You were met with some disappointment when you realised that your mug was empty, only a drop entering your mouth. "Here, babe, I'll ya some more," Pico said, taking your mug and walking inside. "Quick question," you stopped him. "Yeah?"

"What would be the best place for a murder cemetery?"

"... What?"

Chapter 1:

"So you're doing some story about the police hunting down a mass murderer?"

"Pretty much."

"And to think you were gonna write Pixar's next script. Aight' I respect that." Pico takes a seat next to you with a refill of your drink placed next to your favourite writing laptop. "Thanks, Pico. But yeah, I want to branch out to something edgier, and I think you can help too."

"Let me show you what I've got so far." You showed him some of your notes in a little notepad document, detailing the story thus far and your current plans for this chapter. "Oh, that's it? Just looks like boring police preparation mainly," Pico commented. "Yeah, it's not much right now. But it'll get juicy later." "And bloody?" "And bloody."

"Welp, I'm gonna head back in," Pico got up, "let me know if you need anything." He head back inside, closing the door, but then opened it almost immediately afterwards. Pico stuck his head out, "by the way, the guy should use some strong alcohol or something to throw off those sniffer dogs."

Chapter 2:

"And then, because they used a silencer, the police don't immediately notice the--"

"Nope! I'm calling bullshit (Y/N)!" Pico had suddenly interrupted your explanation of the scene you were currently working on. "Silencers can help prevent some hearing loss, sure, but they're not magic."

"Alright," you reply, "no silencer, but the killer still has to kill in a way to not get blood on them, so I thought shooting and killing them from a distance would work." "Well, they're alone. Instead, have the guy get shanked in the neck or something, and have the killer use a plastic bag as a glove. It saved my ass one time."

"Woah!" you exclaimed with a giggle, "you used a knife once? What happened to my trigger happy boyfriend, huh? That's pretty sus."

"I forgot to reload the Uzis, alright?"

"What an impostor would say."

Chapter 3:

"What would be the best way to muffle the scream of someone you kidnapped?"

You two were sitting on the couch together watching a show. You didn't have your laptop on you, so Pico didn't expect you to still be thinking about that book. "I can't say from experience, really," he said as he paused the show. "However, shove a rag in their mouth and duct tape it in, and you should be good."

"Thanks Pico, also one more thing." "Yeah?" "What if our killer also wanted to..." God, this one was gonna be awkward, but you had to say it or else no help. "You know, cut off this victim's willy. How would you do that?"

"Wai-wha-uh-ga," Pico started fumbling his words like never before. He stopped, then took a deep breath. "YO, WHAT THE FUCK?!" "It'll make sense in the story later, I promise!" You watch Pico begin to lose it, breaking into laughter. "Ladies, gentlemen, and others," Pico dramatically stood up, pulling a little Showcaster impression and directing his arms towards you, "my famous 'young' adult novelist partner!"

Chapter 4:

It was in the dead of night, but you awoke to Pico on his phone. His vpn was on and Tor was up. As per usual, he was checking up on his little hitman service, where others could request for a certain someone's guts to fly if they paid him a hefty sum first. Though tired, you ound this to be the best time to ask him some more questions.

"Pico, how do those sites work?"

"Oh, you're awake," Pico blankly stated, sleepy too. But he still answered you. "Basically, some anonymous rich guys in the area give me money and a target, then I just do the thing and send a mission accomplished email." "Do they pay you in person?" "Nah, we use always use Bitcoin. It's a lot harder to trace than real money."

"Thanks Pico. Goodnight," you wish him, yawning and going back to sleep. "You too... So this guy is a hit man too?" "Hush. Tomorrow." "Okay." Pico puts his phone away, leaving it on a nightstand. You then spoon the night away, peacefully thinking of murder as you drifted off.

Chapter 5:

On a morning similar to before, you two sat on the patio with your drinks and laptop at the ready. Pico watched rather awkwardly as you typed away, wondering why you haven't entertained him with another question yet.

"You gonna ask anything else?" "What? Oh, nah," you plainly state. Inevitable, sure, but he was kind of saddened. He liked being able to share his messed up wisdom. "So, you're done?" "Almost." You turn to look at him, "want the spoilers?" Pico smiled, "sure thing."

In the novella you and Pico crafted together, the main character is a cop who hunts down a killer. They eventually notice that there would be two murders at a time for unknown reasons. Well, it was unknown until one victim had left up a dark web hit man for hire site. They that the hit man not only kills the target, but the client as a hidden price for the service.

And any request will be fulfilled, according to the hit man's site.

"Do they catch 'em?" Pico asked. "Well, ANY request is granted. So, if our hero were to... hire him to kill himself..."

"No way!"

"He did. They find both of their bodies in his bedroom."

Pico was a bit impressed with the ending you came up with, but then he remembered something. "Why did that guy get his thing cut off?" "Lol, I forgot," you giggled. "He sent a message to the hit man, saying he wishes the target would choke on his dick."

"That's my favourite part."

Epilogue:

After everything was finished up, you sent the book off to your editor. After the initial joy of knowing how the story ended, you saw that Pico was still in thought. "What's up with you?" "Oh nothing, well it's just... I'm probably just biased, being that I'm a bit of a hitman myself, but it's kind of sad to see the guy go."

"Then I should spoil the epilogue I came up with." Rather than being excited, Pico nervously asked, "what's an epilogue?" He didn't get an answer, only you staring at him. "Sorry, school held too many bad memories for me to pay attention."

"Anyways," you continue, "the rest of the police gang did some background checks, and find that our killer was a normal guy with no criminal history."

"Penilian?"

"No. But I did decide to take a more supernatural approach here. Somewhere across the country, another string of double homicides occur and that site is active once more. And the story kind of repeats itself."

"Penilian."

"You joker," you give him a playful little kiss on the cheek, one that definitely caught him off guard. "So is it canon?" Pico smirked. "Nah, just thanking you for being my cute little co-author." "Oh," Pico started, "so we're flirtin' now, huh. Come here babe!" He tackled you onto the ground, giving you several kisses in exchange.

"Actually, I think we call that 'making out'," you chuckle out, flustered. "But that doesn't mean I said stop'!" You pull him in for more, accidentally bonking your heads together rather painfully. "Nice double kill there, (Y/N)."

[fierykitten2]

Okay but these guys should be in Smash and the fact that Goroh of all people is the second most likely out of this group to actually get in (the first being Eevee) really says something

I think there are three options for Dr Stewart's moveset - one: he's a clone of fellow medical professional Dr Mario but that seems unlikely because it just isn't cool enough for an F-Zero character, two: he just has a bunch of joke moves (I may or may not have taken inspiration from a post on deviantart for that) but again, not cool enough for an F-Zero character, three (my personal favourite) - he's a clone of Falcon but his moves are named after the fox, not the falcon (and his version of Raptor Boost should start with the word Wolf). The naming scheme can be present for all of the Original Four but using their animal motifs. I sorta want to use the animal their machine is named after as the animal for three of their specials which is why Pico's attacks are named after geese but the fourth one can be named after the turtle. Oh and Goroh has the stingray but idk for his other attack. He sorta gives off cat vibes for some reason but I think they would just go with another type of fish. Also this trio can each represent a different moveset style thing (idk) - if Dr Stewart is a clone of Falcon he's automatically a brawler, Pico has guns and would be a gunner and Goroh has a katana and would be a swordfighter (like an anime swordfighter only he's too old and not conventionally attractive enough to get mixed up with the Fire Emblem gang)

As for Eevee, there are also several options. The option I (sadly) think they would go for is make the only reference to the Eeveelutions be in the form of its Final Smash being a weaponised version of Extreme Evoboost, the only Z-Move that does no damage. Two other ideas I have had but think wouldn't work is 1: pair the Eeveelutions up as dual units and basically be clones of each other and 2: basically take Pokémon trainer, replace the starters with pairs of Eeveelutions and the trainers with other starters (I was thinking Calem and Serena). The idea I actually like is one where after a certain condition is met during a battle, Eevee evolves, probably at random though there would probably be some way to increase the chance of it evolving into a certain Eeveelution (for example, it would be more likely to evolve into a Vaporeon if it were battling on Big Blue). I think if the likelyhood of evolving into Espeon increases the likelyhood of evolving into Umbreon significantly decreases and vice-versa. Maybe they could also do this for the Sinnoh Eeveelutions. The Final Smash (and moveset in general but it can be limited to the specials if necessary) would vary between forms

Armarouge and Ceruledge may seem like they would automatically be clones of each other but I think they would actually be vastly different to each other. Armarouge would be a gunner (maybe a hybrid brawler but it seems like Armarouge is gonna be a special fighter, not a physical one so idk. I will still be kinda disappointed if it doesn't learn Fire Punch though) and Ceruledge would be a swordfighter. Armor Cannon and Bitter Blade should be their Neutral Specials. Also bonus points if they basically pull a Mewtwo/Lucario (appear as important characters in the anime and then have their Smash counterparts be heavily inspired by them)

Also I would do almost anything to give those five dragons a second chance (and I'm sure people would compare them to Ridley)

So I guess this would give us two swordfighters that wouldn't get automatically mixed up with the Fire Emblem gang (Goroh and Ceruledge)

I have thought waaay too hard about this

[sir-subpar]

Where have you been? (1)

*This takes place in the Cursed!Bf au. This is pretty focused on Pico's point of view. Not a lot of shipping in this chapter, but I had a lot of fun writing this. This will be a 2-parter. Btw, swear words.*

Pico had challenged Boyfriend to another rap battle for fun and awaited his arrival. He was late, but they did plan to meet up at 5:00 pm so Pico figured it was just rush hour traffic holding him up. So he waited patiently. Minutes turned to hours, and the sun had set below the horizon. Pico tried to text him, but got no response. This was bullshit. He waited for hours like a fool and now B was ghosting him? If he didn't want to rap why didn't he just cancel? 

Pico grit his teeth in frustration as he got into his car. He began driving to Boyfriend's and Girlfriend's house. His grip on the steering wheel was unnecessarily tight. Sure, maybe he was overreacting a little. It was just a rap battle, but it angered him that B had wasted his time. He could have done something to let him know that they had to cancel. So in the moment, telling him off just sounded cathartic. He muttered random obscenities under his breath, as if reciting how he was gonna tell him off.

By the time he had reached the house Bf and Gf shared together it was dark out, some stars had started making their mark on the blackened sky. Pico could see the living room light was on. Good, they were home. Pico slammed the car's door, then walked up the little path to the house's front door. He knocked on the door and waited. He tapped his foot impatiently. He had spent his whole afternoon waiting for this guy to show up so the idea of waiting any longer annoyed the hell out of him.

 He could hear the door being unlocked and was about to start his angry rant when he saw it was Girlfriend at the door. The look on her face was odd, she looked surprised and… worried? That seemed off to Pico, as she usually opened the door with more enthusiasm no matter who was there. She was wearing a red crop top and black sweatpants, her comfy clothes.

 "... Pico? What are you doing here?" She asked, her tone came off as nervous. "I just wanna ask Boyfriend something." He decided not to yell at Girlfriend, she wasn't the one he was pissed at anyway. "Oh… He isn't with you? He doesn't… live here anymore." 

Just like that, all the anger built up in Pico had just fizzled. Replaced with confusion and shock. And a little bit of worry. "Why doesn't he live here??" Pico asked, what was going on? "Bf and I… we broke up. He left a few weeks ago and I haven't seen him since." She seemed nervous, she avoided making eye contact as she spoke. She left fidgeting with her hair, a nervous habit of hers. 

"So you don't know where he is, huh?" Pico asked, he too, started feeling nervous. 

"I haven't seen him since we broke up. He left most of his stuff here too. Even his phone. I figured he had run off to stay with you but I guess that's not the case." Girlfriend continued. Pico's worry only grew from there. He put his hands in his pockets and awkwardly continued their conversation. "How long has this been going on? Like, when was the last time you saw him?"  Pico had to know. How long had he been out of the loop here? Girlfriend looked him in the eyes, almost shamefully. "Two weeks." 

Pico couldn't help but be shocked by this. "Do you know anyone else he might have talked to? Anyone he might be staying with right now?" Anyone who would know where he is? That was what he really wanted to know. Where could he have gone? Girlfriend shook her head. "No, I don't know who he'd go to other than you. Most people we know don't really like him that much as far as I know." Pico couldn't help but grow more worried. This just wasn't like B… was he in trouble? "Well.. I'm gonna try to find out where he is. You wanna help?" Pico gestured towards his car, thinking they could ask around. Girlfriend averted her gaze, once again avoiding eye contact. "I'm pretty sure I'm the last person he wants to see.." 

Pico couldn't argue with that. Hell, when he and Bf broke up they still kept in contact to some degree. Boyfriend completely ghosting someone was rare, so he must've really wanted to avoid her. "Yeah… I guess that makes sense. Uh, have a good night." Pico and Girlfriend shared goodbyes and went their separate ways. Pico never liked being alone with her, to be honest. It was always awkward, now it was made worse with Boyfriend being who knows where. Pico drove off in his car, contemplating what he should do. 'Maybe I should just call some of B's friends. He might just be staying at one of their places.' He thought to himself. 

Pico had to think about who Boyfriend trusted the most (not counting himself or Gf in this case). He started thinking of people B had introduced him to. 'I have Hex's number, he's friendly, maybe Bf talked to him? It's worth a shot.' Pico scrolled through his contacts until he found Hex's number. The phone dialed for a few seconds, then he heard a robotic voice greet him. "Hello friend!" Hex exclaimed, enthusiastic as always. Pico wasn't really sure if he'd consider himself as Hex's 'friend' per say, but he never disliked the guy. 

"Hey Hex, it's Pico." 

"Greetings Pico! Haven't heard from you in a while! How are you?" 

"I'm alright, thanks. I actually need to ask you something. Could you help me with something?"

"You sound worried. How can I help?"

"I know this might sound random but… is Boyfriend staying with you by chance?" Pico nervously tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. He hoped that by some chance that maybe Hex knew something.

"No, why?" Just like that, Pico's hope was dashed. Despite that, he decided to fill Hex in on the situation. Maybe having another person looking out for B would help their chances of finding him.

"Well, he and Girlfriend split up 2 weeks ago and he just kinda… disappeared. I've tried to reach out to him but he's not responding. Gf said she has no idea where he is."

" I'm sorry, I don't know any more than you do."

 Pico let out a small sigh. "Yeah, I'm worried about him. Hey, if you see him, will you let me know?" 

"I will."

"Thank you, I appreciate it." Pico was about to hang up the phone when Hex said one last thing. 

"Actually, my friend Whitty sometimes hangs out with Boyfriend. I'll call and ask him if he knows where Boyfriend is." Hex sounded hopeful, which made Pico feel a little better. "Thanks, Hex. Let me know what he says."

"Will do! Bye for now!" 

"Bye."

Pico hung up. Deciding to drive home for the time being. He couldn't help but suddenly wonder though… who was Whitty? The name sounded familiar, but he couldn't recall meeting someone named Whitty. Maybe Bf had mentioned the guy to Pico before. Regardless, if this guy knew anything about Bf, he'd take it. 

Pico got home and felt exhausted. He kicked his shoes off at the front door, and dragged his feet as he walked towards his bedroom. He changed into some pajamas and started preparing to sleep. Part of him wanted to stay up and wait to hear back from Hex, but he was tired, and he needed to rest. He'd continue his search after getting some sleep, he decided. Pico pulled his bedsheets over his body, closed his eyes, and eventually drifted off to sleep. 

…

Pico got up the next morning at around 7:30 am. He got dressed, brushed his hair and teeth, all that usual morning routine stuff. Then, just as he was about to start calling more people to see if they knew anything about Bf, he got a call from Hex.

"Hello? Hex?"

"Pico!" Hex yelled, sounding excited. "I have good news!" Now Pico was beginning to feel excited. "I talked to my friend Whitty. He said he saw Bf a few days ago!" 

"Does he know where B is now?" Pico was nervously fidgeting with the collar of his shirt. He wasn't entirely sure why, but ever since his conversation with Girlfriend, he just had a gut feeling that something was wrong. He hoped it was just paranoia. "Does he know where Bf is now?" Pico asked. 'Please say yes.' He pleaded in his mind. "Hang on, let me ask him." Hex replied, then his voice sounded distant. He was talking to someone in person, their conversation muffled. "He said no, but he saw Bf in the same general area a few times last week. Maybe all three of us should go there and look for him together! Like a search party!" Hex sounded hopeful, and honestly it wasn't a bad idea. Pico took a deep breath. This was a good thing, this narrowed the search a bit. Pico reminded himself. "Okay, let's do it." He said, feeling determined. "I'll send you the address so we can meet up. See you there!" Hex proclaimed. "Thanks, I'll be there." Pico hung up, then rushed to get his keys, his gun, and other supplies then got in his car. Hex, as promised, sent him the address. Pico entered it into his phone's navigation system and drove there. It was in an oddly run-down neighborhood, with rundown buildings and dark alleys. He wondered what Bf would be doing there. He honestly didn't like the idea of parking his car in this neighborhood, do you worried that it would get stolen or broken into. So he parkes a little ways away, and walked the rest. It was for the best. 

He walked to their agreed meet up spot. The sidewalk was in poor condition, as well as most of the buildings around him. Cracked and discolored walls, boarded up windows, shattered glass and trash was all over the place. The street alone looked as though the city gave up on it. This whole place was run down. Even one of the street lamps was knocked over, luckily it was the morning so it didn't matter. 

Pico could see Hex's monitor head and basketball jersey from a distance. Said robot noticed him and waved to him. He saw someone else there with him, presumably Whitty. Upon closer inspection, Pico noticed a few things about Whitty. The first being that he was fucking tall as hell! Pico knew that he was short in comparison to most people but even so, this dude was TALL. Pico standing at his full height wasn't even half this guy's size. He had to be close to 9 feet tall. The next thing he noticed was the fact that his head was a bomb. His eyes were orange and glowed. Pico couldn't help but stare at the guy. When did Bf come into contact with this guy? How did they meet?

"Hey." Said the tall bomb-headed man. Pico flinched slightly, realizing he must have noticed him staring. His voice was kind of gruff, but not the usual kind of gruff. It reminded Pico of an electric guitar for some reason. Though he figured it probably was best not to say that out loud. Pico snapped out of his thoughts and finally replied. "Hey, I'm Pico. I'm guessing you're Whitty?" Pico held out his hand to shake Whitty's, the taller man returned the gesture. "Yeah, that's me." When their hands touched, Pico was surprised by how warm Whitty's hand was. It was definitely hotter than his own human hand. Not to mention how smooth his skin was, it felt somewhat like metal, but not quite. He kind of wanted to keep holding it just so he could examine it more, but he figured that would be weird to do to a guy he just met. So he let go.

 "So… you saw Bf around here?" Pico asked, and decided it was time to start their search. "We crossed paths a few times but every time he ran away. He seemed… upset." Whitty explained, somewhat trailing off towards the end of his sentence. He too, seemed like he was worried about Boyfriend. Pico wondered how close they were. "Can you show us where you last saw him?" Hex asked, a question mark appearing on his screen. Whitty nodded "Yeah, follow me." He turned on his heels and began walking in front of them. He seemed confident, like he knew the area well. Pico and Hex quickly followed.

 It was mostly quiet between them, Hex played some simple tune to break the silence. Something Pico appreciated. He felt a little awkward, he didn't know anything about Whitty, but apparently he was a friend of Bf's. He quickened his pace a bit so he could walk next to Whitty, he decided to break the silence between them. "So… how'd you meet Bf?" Whitty looked at Pico with an unreadable expression. "He challenged me to a rap battle." Pico chuckled at Whitty's answer and replied jokingly with "Ah, so the same way he meets everyone." Whitty chuckled. "Yeah, pretty much." He could hear Hex laugh a bit too. It really was the way he met most people. "So, how long have you known each other?" Pico asked. "Hmm… I think months now, almost a year. What about you? You two seem close." Whitty looked at Pico quizzically. Pico rubbed the back of his neck "Aw geez, a really long time. Since we were kids." Whitty's eyes widened in surprise. "Wow. So you're really close then huh? That explains a lot actually."  Pico tilted his head in curiosity. What did he mean by that? "Yeah? Like what?"  Whitty shrugged. "I dunno… B talks about you sometimes. He told me several times that I should meet you. Said he thought we'd get along." Whitty chuckled. "He always looked so happy when he talked about you.." 

Pico couldn't help but feel flattered, but he also felt a little jealous. Bf told Whitty so much, he trusted him. He knew He longer than Whitty did, yet Bf apparently didn't trust him enough to tell him about his and Gf's breakup. Pico tried to ignore those thoughts. Bf, wherever he was, needed him. It wasn't time to be bitter. "Wish we could've met under better circumstances." Pico muttered, Whitty nodded. "Yeah."

Hex then decided to interject their conversation. "Hey Whitty, are we close to where you last saw Boyfriend?" The robot asked suddenly, startling Pico. For a second, he actually forgot the robot was there. 'Oh yeah.. We've been walking for a little while now.' Pico realized that he had lost track of where they were. "Yeah, sorry. It's just around this next corner, we're almost there." Whitty instructed. "Ok!" Hex replied. Pico nodded, observing their surroundings. This part of the neighborhood was… odd. It didn't seem quite as old as the rest of this beaten-down area. It seemed more… recently abandoned. The buildings, though still a mess, seemed more modern in comparison. Like at some point, this was a nice neighborhood, possibly even upper class at one point. 

The trio turned right at the faded crosswalk, about three buildings down the street, they stopped. Whitty turned to face Pico and Hex. "This is where I last saw him. I tried to talk to him but he ran off and I lost track of him." Pico looked at the rundown building they were in front of. Unlike the other buildings in the area, it didn't seem that old. What surprised him though, was the obvious damage. It looked like the building caught fire at some point. The windows looked like they were shattered from the inside. Pico looked through them, he could see the remains of what appeared to be a restaurant. Broken and burned tables, shattered plates and collapsed support beams were all over the place. He could see the remains of broken speakers towards the back of the dining room, close to what was probably a bathroom. Pico took a few steps back and tried to read what was left of the restaurant's sign. Then it clicked.

 He had heard of this place, about a year ago it was on the news because some lunatic blew up the place in the middle of a rap battle. He remembered seeing Boyfriend and Girlfriend escaping the smoldering wreckage on the news. He called them as soon as he saw it and let them stay at his house that night to comfort them. He could vividly remember the look on Girlfriend's face when they watched the aftermath on the news. Complete and utter terror. He had never seen her more scared in his life. Apparently the arsonist was never caught, for some reason. Pico never understood that. It was a restaurant full of people, surely somebody would have seen where he went, right? The thought made Pico uneasy. Why would B come anywhere near this place after that?

"Yo, Pico. You listening?" Whitty's voice suddenly pulled him out of his thoughts. He wondered how long he was zoning out for. "Sorry I- I just got lost in thought. What were you saying?" Pico felt bad. He was supposed to be looking for his missing friend, not zoning out. Pico mentally chastised himself for it before focusing on Whitty again. "I don't know where he went from here, but I don't think he left this side of town." Pico nodded, then looked up at Hex, his monitor was processing something. Pico guessed he was thinking up a plan. Then the monitor showed a map. "Maybe we should split up into different areas" the robot started, his now map that was once his face highlighted three different areas in the neighborhood. "After each of us surveys their area we can check in with each other over the phone." Hex offered. Pico, though he appreciated the thought, didn't really like the idea of the three of them splitting up in a neighborhood like this. Sure, he could take care of himself. Hell, he was an assassin for fucks sake. But even he knew he wasn't invincible. He was vulnerable. Especially in an area he wasn't familiar with. Before he could politely object though, Whitty commented on the plan. "Sorry Hex, that's a no go. This place ain't a good area. If we split, we could get ambushed." Pico was relieved that Whitty agreed with him. "If there were more of us, then we could split up into teams. But it's just too risky to do as is." Pico added, making his stance on the situation known. Hex sighed (or at least did the robot equivalent of sighing), his arms dropped and his now disappointed face appeared on the monitor's screen again. "Ok… this is far less efficient though." Hex replied, defeated. Pico gave him a comforting pat on the arm. "We appreciate the thought, Hex." Pico said, hoping it would appease the mechanical man. Hex smiled and let it go. "Where should we start looking?" Hex asked the group. Pico couldn't help but eye the burnt restaurant. "Let's check in here first." Whitty and Hex both looked at Pico quizzically, but shrugged it off and agreed. 

Pico attempted to open the front doors, but they wouldn't give, the restaurant's double doors were stuck shut. Pico was about to slam into it when he was stopped by a large hand. Slightly startled, he realized it was Whitty who lightly grabbed him. The bomb man gently moved Pico away from the door."I got it." Was all he said before he gripped one of the door's handles and yanked the whole door off its hinges. Wood splinters flew everywhere as the door cracked and broke.  Whitty tossed the door aside with one arm. Pico's jaw almost dropped. 'Holy shit. Either that door was weak or he's strong as hell!' Pico was tempted to comment on it but didn't want to come across as rude so all he did was thank Whitty. Hex on the other hand clapped his metallic claw hands, the metal making numerous "ting" sounds. "Great job Whitty!" Hex exclaimed before walking through the now open doorway. Whitty rubbed the back of his head, seeming a little embarrassed. Pico noticed Whitty's cheeks were slightly glowing orange. Was that how he blushed? "Err.. Thanks. It's nothing." Whitty had to lean down in order to fit through the doorway, Pico walked in after him. 

The three of them spread out a bit to investigate the remains of the restaurant. Pico honestly thought it was depressing to look at. This had once been a peaceful place to take your loved ones to and enjoy food. Now it was just a husk of its former glory. An ashy, decrepit ruin. After a few minutes, they found nothing and decided to leave. Pico felt bad for wasting time in this old building, but he was glad the others were still willing to help. The trio decided to keep looking around the neighborhood, continuing their search for Boyfriend.

…

Hours. They had been searching for hours, and there was still no sign of Boyfriend anywhere. Pico felt his legs getting sore. He hadn't walked so much without stopping in a long time. Hex seemed unfazed, but maybe that was because robots couldn't get sore muscles. Whitty seemed a little tired, but didn't show signs of really slowing down. Pico really wanted to just power through it and be helpful, but his legs were in agony. He needed to sit down. It didn't help that it was past noon and he hadn't eaten much that day. "Hey guys. I need to sit down for a bit, my legs are killing me." Pico admitted, hopong the others would be cool about it. "Okay, let's take a break. We've been doing this all day." Whitty agreed. Hex noticed a bench in the distance. "Why don't you rest over there?" The robot offered, and the other boys agreed. The bench was a bit tall, Pico had to hop on to it. Whitty on the other hand had no such trouble, being the vertically-blessed giant he was. Pico was a little jealous. Pico let out a sigh. "Where the hell is that blue-haired dumbass?" Pico asked rhetorically, he was getting frustrated with this. He was worried, tired, and felt lost. He thought he knew Bf well, but he didn't know him well enough to predict this. "I wish I knew." Whitty added, sounding worried as well. Pico was thinking about what to say when his stomach growled loudly. 

"Hungry, huh?" Whitty chuckled. "Fuck yes, I'm starving." Pico replied. "You know what? I'm gonna get lunch. You hungry?" Pico asked, standing up despite his legs begging him not to. "I'm always hungry, sure." Whitty chuckled again. "I'm never hungry!" Hex happily chirped. That time Pico chuckled. "Well, you could still come with us, even if you don't eat anything." Pico offered. "Thank you friend!" Hex smiled. "Cool." Pico gave a thumbs up. "So… where are we going?" Whitty asked, tilting his head a bit. He stood up, ready to follow Pico. "First to my car. Then I'll drive us to a restaurant or something." Pico explained, beginning to walk towards said vehicle. "Just a heads up, I parked a bit far, but it should only take, like, 20 minutes to get there." Pico warned, knowing the others (or at least Whitty) were tired as well. "No problem friend! Lead the way!" Hex declared enthusiastically. Whitty just shrugged and said "We've been walking for hours, 's not like 20 minutes will kill us." And just like that, they were off.

…

Pico, as promised, drove the three of them to a small diner that wasn't too far away. It was thankfully in a nicer neighborhood. The three sat together at a booth table near the back. Hex had powered off to regain some energy. More or less leaving Whitty and Pico alone.

 "Hey, lunch is on me, k?" Pico stated. He had been paid generously on his last job, so he wasn't worried about meal prices. Whitty seemed caught off guard. "Uh, y-you don't have to do that-" "I insist." Pico bluntly interjected. Whitty again, tried to decline. "I shouldn't- you don't need to do that, really." Whitty stammered a bit. Pico doubled down on it. "I'm not budging on this man." Whitty tilted his head to the side curiously, but still seemed slightly flustered. "Why are you so persistent in paying for both of us?" Whitty asked. Pico shrugged. "I just want to thank you for all your help today. I've been stressed out trying to figure out where B is and I really appreciate you helping us out." Pico said earnestly, he was still really worried about Boyfriend. "I.. You're welcome. I'm not gonna lie, I care about him, and I'm worried for the guy. Last time I saw him, he seemed off." Whitty confessed, rubbing the back of his head. Pico's curiosity piqued a bit. "Off? In what wa-" ''Hello boys! Can I get you something to drink?" Pico was suddenly interrupted by their waitress.  "Oh. Right. We should probably order something haha." Pico joked, chuckling a bit. "I'll take a Coke. What about you Whitty?" Pico asked, gesturing towards the taller male. "I'd just like water, please." Whitty replied, the waitress wrote their drink orders. "Okay. Are you ready to order your meals as well?" She asked sweetly. "I think we need a few minutes." Admitted Pico. "Okay, I'll give you some time to think about it and will be back with your drinks in a bit, okay?" Whitty and Pico politely thanked her and looked at their menus. 

"What're you thinking of ordering?" Pico asked, he wondered what kind of food Whitty enjoyed. "I don't know. I'm still surprised that you're paying for both of us." Whitty responded unsurely. "It's all good man. I got it" Pico gave a reassuring smile. "I just want to warn you that I eat a LOT. I'm not exactly cheap to feed." Whitty warned, embarrassed. Pico chuckled, "I'm not exactly peckish, either." "I really mean it, Pico. I eat more than humans do." Whitty once again gave a disclaimer to Pico. "And I really mean it when I say I'll cover it. Just get what you want." Pico stated adamantly. 

"Really?"

"Yes, really."

"..."

"..." 

"Are you sure?"

"Whitty if you ask me that again I'm gonna smack the shit out of you."

(To be continued…)

(I wanted to write more but this is long so I'm gonna break it into two chapters. The next one is gonna have more angst so I wanted to end this one on a bit of a lighter note

[hauntedbythefanficsofmypast]

BatMom- Jason Todd

Masterlist

Part 1

Part 2[Here]

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Jason Todd, Her Toughest Bird.

Marinette paced the Batcave anger clear on her face as she waited for Batman to get back with his newest Robin. She couldn’t believe Batman would go this far, he knew damn well that wasn’t his name to give away. Her thoughts were interrupted by the Batmobile skidding into the cave and parking. Batman and the young boy getting out, the new Robin took one look at her before sizing her up with a glare.

“Who's the angry lady B?” He said looking ready for a fight, which amused Marinette slightly. But her gaze focused on Batman as she upped her glare.

“Hello B, we need to talk.” She said stiffly before looking down at the boy with a stern look. “Alone.” She said firmly gesturing to the changing rooms. Jason huffed, pulling off his mask walking passed her indignantly. Marinette wasted no time tearing into Bruce the moment the door was closed. 

An hour later Marinette walked through the halls of the manor a frown still on her face. She stopped outside an opened door looking in on the newly adopted Jason Todd-Wayne. “Kid,” She called out catching his attention. “want to go out for ice cream?” Jason scoffed, closing his book giving her a deadpan look.

“Ya great idea let me go out with a woman that obviously doesn’t like me.” He said sarcastically waving his hand at her in a go away gesture. “Why would I even want to go with you in the first place?” Marinette smirked leaning against the door.

“First off I don’t know you enough to not like you, my anger at B will not be dragged over to you. “Second off we are going to Pico’s Ice Cream Gotham’s world renown Ice Cream Parlor, over two hundred flavors, I intend for us to eat so much Alfred has to pick us up. Finally B is paying and after your stunt with his tires, something tells me you’d be more than happy to waste his money.” She held up her hand showing Bruce’s Amex Black card held between her index and middle fingers. “So are you in or not kid?” Jason smirked, placing his book down and jumping out of his chair.

“Oh I am so down! Let's go get sick to our stomachs with Bruce paying!”

An hour later Alfred had arrived at Pico’s giving both of them a disappointed glare as they climbed into the shortened limo he had brought. Marinette and Jason laid on the floor facing each other, curled in on themselves.

“Was it worth it Miss Marinette, Master Jason.”

“Definitely.”

“Hell yes.” 

The two groaned out their response together shortly followed by a yelp from Jason after she had flicked his nose.

“Watch your language.” She said causing him to grumble while Alfred simply sighed, closing the door. A few moments later they felt the limo begin to move. Marinette closed her eyes trying to calm her churning stomach, well aware of Jason’s eyes on her.

“Why were you so mad at Bruce?” He asked softly, wanting to know yet not at the same time. Marinette was silent for a moment before opening her eyes, meeting his own. 

“B gave away something that wasn’t his to give away. Dick hadn’t let go over the title just yet, and Bruce in his anger ripped it away from him and gave it to you instead. He really hurt Dickie, that’s why I was so angry at him. Not at you, you’re innocent in this Jason.” She said softly groaning when Alfred took a sharp turn, showing his displeasure with his two current charges. “My anger is all towards B right now.” Jason nodded thinking over what she had said before he had another question.

“Why do you call him B, why not just say Bruce?” Marinette was silent before looking away with a slight blush.

“B stands for bitch and he knows it.” She said causing Jason to grin at her.

“Language.”

“Shut it little birdie.”

———————————<3————————————

Jason Todd, The Night Joker took him.

She sat at the door curled up crying begging for forgiveness, and Jason-Jason couldn’t find it in himself to give it. This woman, this woman had caused this, Sheila Haywood was no saint. No she was far from it, and unfortunately she was his mother. She was the one that gave birth to him, and now she’d be the one to help kill him. A dark part of him was happy she’d go with him but he’d never admit that out loud. His thoughts strayed from his so called mother as he watched the timer slowly countdown. Instead he thought of the one woman in his life that always tried. That was always there for him, that always stood up for him, and helped him build a relationship with his predecessor. He thought of the terrible fight they had, though he knew that it was mostly on his part. He had gotten too hard headed and Marinette was always stubborn and unwilling to bend with things she believed in. His Marinette wanted to help him meet his mother, she did even though it hurt her slightly and he had known it. She had helped him unlike Bruce who refused after the fight they had had, she helped even though it hurt. Yet he persisted and pushed and pushed until they finally found the women. Jason had insisted that he left for Ethiopia right away, planning to go alone. Ever protective Marinette had refused, told him he would not go alone and that they would go together.  She said she’d have everything ready at the end of the month, but that was not soon enough for him. He snapped at her demanding that she stayed out of it. He declared it was a family matter, and ignored the hurt in her eyes. She had told him not to be hard headed and that she was coming along. Only to be silenced and told that she was not going, he was being so stupid, he let his temper get the best of him. He told her she wasn’t family, that she was nothing but the woman that chased after his adoptive Father. Trying to find any excuse to have his attention, he regretted it so much when he watched her close in on herself. Her blue eyes dulled so much they looked gray, her ever perfect posture faltered but he hadn’t cared. He turned and left her there all alone. Just like he was now, all alone wishing that his mom was there. Wishing that his Marinette, his Mom was hugging him and running her fingers through his red hair.

“Jay-bird.” 

That was it, that's mom’s voice.

“Jay-bird, I don’t know if you can hear me, Gods I hope you do.”

He could hear the shake in her voice as his eyes landed on what he thought was his broken communicator. 

She’s crying, she should never cry.

“Bruce is on his way my little Fire-Cracker.”

She said choking back a sob, Jason twitched in his bond moving closer towards the communicator. His body protested every move as he made his way.

“Dickie isn’t on Earth right now but I told Clark he better get his ass off planet and to him as soon as possible.”

Jason let out a pain chuckle at her swearing, she rarely did it and it always surprised him to hear. Foul language was his thing; it should’ve never fallen from his mom’s mouth. Especially for the fact that she disliked crude language.

“Jay?”

She heard him, she can hear him.

“I’m here.”

He said his voice horse as he shed a few tears.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry I snapped at you, after everything you did, I hurt you so much. I’m so sorry Mom. I should’ve stayed, I should’ve listened, I’m so sorry. I just want to be with you. I want to be with you so bad mommy.”

He said desperate for the women to know, desperate for forgiveness from his mother.

“Jay, my sweet baby bird, it's okay. Oh baby, I love you so much my beautiful boy. You wanted to find your birth mother and I will never hold that against you. You have nothing to be sorry for, you hear me?”

Nine Seconds.

Jason’s eyes remain on the timer.

“Mommy, I love you. Thank you for everything.”

Eight Seconds.

��Don’t-”

Marinette’s voice cracked as she cried into her hands.

Seven Seconds.

“Please tell Dickie I love him and he was an amazing brother.”

Six Seconds.

“Don’t-Don’t say goodbye, this is goodbye Jason! You hear me! this isn’t goodbye.”

She finished her voice in a pained whisper.

Five Seconds.

“Tell Bruce he’s an asshole, but I loved him.”

Four Seconds.

“Tell Alfred I love him too.”

Jason was crying uncontrollably as he spoke.

Three Seconds.

“Mom?”

Two Seconds.

“Yes baby boy?”

One Second.

“Don’t blame yourself.”

Marinette stared at the casket, unable to console herself and stop the tears. Her baby boy was in there, her tough little bird. He was gone and she wasn’t there, she failed him. A mother is meant to protect, and she didn’t protect. She should’ve followed him to Ethiopia, she shouldn’t have let her feeling of hurt get the best of her. A sob fell from her lips as her shoulders shooking, her posture breaking as she curled in on herself. Her baby bird will never fly again, he will never read her poetry or discuss his favorite books with her again. No, now she’d have to visit him here, for the rest of her life. Now she’d have to talk to a gravestone every time she saw her baby bird.

———————————<3————————————

Jason Todd, Red Hood Finds her.

He watched her for weeks ever since he had officially come back to Gotham. Watching her as Ladybug, Lady Noir, and Marinette, watching the woman he had called mother. The mother that had seemingly moved on from him, along with his so called Father and brother. He saw her spend countless nights with his replacement, she had never gone on patrol with him as much as she did with the new one. She, of course, didn’t realize she was being watched. Old age he supposed his once mother looked much older since the last time he saw her, before he died. Black hair now greying and everything so perhaps he could not fault her for not noticing.

This night was special though, for weeks she had been fighting him with the so-called Batfamily. Tonight, exactly three days after he shot the replacement, she would find out that he was her ‘Baby-bird’.

He watched as she picked up the phone, no doubt Bruce or Alfred, his amusement faded when tears began to fall. He always hated when she cried, she was always so happy and collected. She rarely cried and when she did it was so heart wrenching, because Marinette cried with her entire body. He watched as she dropped the phone and rushed to the balcony, he saw the small red and black Gods following her. Heard her voice crying out as she threw the doors open.

“Plagg, Claws out!” 

She transformed and was traveling across the rooftops in minutes. She was making her way towards Bludhaven only to be met halfway by Nightwing. Immediately breaking down into her eldests arms.

“It's him, it's him, it's him. It's my babybird! It’s my baby! It's my baby!” 

Her cries caused Red Hood to flinch as he turned his gaze away from the mourning mother. He took one last glance before turning away returning to his current safe house.

———————————<3————————————

Jason Todd, Saving him from Himself.

“Don’t do this.” Her voice called out, it was calm as always yet filled with pain. She limped toward him holding her side tenderly in an attempt to stop the bleeding from her wound. “Don’t do this Baby boy.” Red Hood growled leveling the gun on her as he turned away from the downed third Robin. He froze the moment he saw Marinette, not Lady Noir, not Ladybug, but Marinette, his Marinette. Beaten, Bloody, and Bruised, all caused by him and his men. She didn’t even flinch at the gun pointed at her even though it was clear that her injury was a bullet wound.

“Shut up you fucking liar.” He growled out red tinting his vision once again as he thought of her protecting his replacement. Thought of all the videos of her with little Tim Drake, the newest Robin, all the pictures of her at school events. The actual adoption of not just him, but of her perfect first son. That one had hurt him the most, she had adopted them but not him.

“I am a liar.” She admitted softly continuing towards her son. Looking up at the young man, but always her babybird. “I am. I promised you that I’d always be with you, that I’d protect you. I failed you and I have blamed myself every day. I should’ve followed you, I should’ve found you, I should’ve protected you. But I failed you instead.” She stopped with the gun barely an inch away from her forehead, and for a second she marveled at how tall her baby was now compared to her. She wished she could see his face, see how handsome her beautiful boy had turned out. While Dick had grown into a beautiful young man, she knew her tough little bird would grow into a very handsome man. “You have every right to be angry with me, but not him. He looked up to you, still does, he pulled Bruce, Dick, and me out of the dark place we were in after your death. Not once did he wish to replace you, not once did he shy away from mentioning you. If you want to take your anger out on somebody, make it me.” She closed her blue bell eyes picturing her little red headed bird with his mischievous smile, and love for literature. Marinette leaned her head forehead allowing the barrel of his gun to press against her head. Her free hand shook as she reached out, caressing the red helmet with her knuckles. She opened her eyes again, tears staining to fall from the now dulled grayish blue. “Just remember I love you my little Fire-Cracker, though you’re not exactly little anymore are you.” She choked out holding back a sob as she let her hand drop her legs shaking from exhaustion. “If you’re going to kill us then take me first. Please I don’t think I can bear to watch another one of my birds die.” She barely finished before exhaustion caught up to her and she began to collapse. She didn’t hit the ground though, no she was pulled into strong arms. Arms that held her tightly cradling her and providing safety. Red Hood stared down at the woman in his arms, the red having long faded as tears fell hidden by the helmet. Jason Todd-Wayne held his hurt mother in his arms as he let himself cry.

“Stupid woman, Stupid Mom.” He whispered before moving her so that she laid beside her newest bird. “Don’t say a word you fucking replacment.” He growled out as said bird looked up at him in surprise. “You better fucking protect her or else I will kill you.” He growled glaring at the small shy smirk on the bird’s face.

“Watch your language, you know her thoughts on cussing.”

———————————<3————————————

Jason Todd, Bruce’s Death.

Jason Todd-Wayne sat atop Wayne Enterprises staring down at the city he was born into. Bruce was gone, he was gone and Jason didn’t know what to think of it. Dick was taking up the cowl, making Bruce’s actual son his new Robin. Tim had taken over Wayne Enterprises, the youngest CEO in the world. Meanwhile here was Jason still legally dead, and estranged from the family. With no idea what to do with his life, he had slowly waned from killing doing the same with her men. They very rarely killed, only those that truly deserved it, but ever since that night since he cradled his mother’s broken form. He hasn’t seen the family, he only knew of Bruce’s death from the video he had sent to the family. He tensed as a body sat down beside him, curling into her jacket. 

“Hello Handsome Birdie.” She said softly reaching up and caressing his cheek. “I’ve missed you.” Jason grabbed her hand holding it gently and rubbing the back of her hand with his thumb.

“I’ve missed you too Mom.” He admitted softly both turning to look out at the city in silence together. “Is he really gone?” He asked, not really wanting to know the answer. Marinette leaned against her son allowing her eyes to drift to their held hands.

“Tim-Tim says he might not be and is trying to find him. Dick, my poor bird is hurting so much he is scared to hope that Bruce isn’t dead. Then there is Damian, oh he is going to be a tough Birdie to crack.” Jason smiled softly squeezing her hand.

“Well you managed to raise me, you'll have no problem with him.” He said jokingly, causing Marinette to laugh shaking her head.

“You didn't call me ‘Father’s newest whore’ and then immediately attempt to kill me.”

“He did want?!” 

Jason asked with a protective glare on his face as he turned to his mom.

“Oh hush Fire-Cracker, I’ll get through to him.”

———————————<3————————————

Jason Todd, The Outlaws.

Red Hood could feel her eyes on him and his two companions. The fact that they didn’t notice was both irritating yet caused a bit of pride to fill his chest for only his mom could hide so easily.

“Kori, Roy,” He called out, pulling his helmet off his mask soon following revealing Jason Todd-Wayne to the night sky. “We have a visitor.” He said, turning to look at the shadows where Lady Noir resided.

“Getting better every day aren’t you Jay-bird?” She finally announced her presence to her son’s friends. She knew the both of them Roy better than Kori, it had been Dick that introduced them. Before the split in their friendships, she hated having to comfort her bird of the loss of his older brother. Lady Noir wouldn’t let her hold it against him though, or hold it against Kori.

“Hello mom” Jason said affectionately as he walked over to Lady Noir. She smiled, dropping her transformation and allowing her son to pull her into a tight hug. Marinette reached up rubbing his cheek with her thumb. “Come to make sure, I’m not getting into too much trouble?” He asked, teasingly causing her to roll her eyes.

“No, I simply wanted to see how my son’s new team worked together. “ She combed his hair to the side gently with her fingers before grabbing his gloved hand in hers. “My birds rarely team up with others outside the family.” Jason glanced away a little nervous squeezing her hand gently.

“Well, what do you think? Of my small team here?” Marinette smiled softly glancing back at the two that had joined her son, before looking back to her son.

“I think you have found some very good friends Fire-Craker. They will care for you as you care for them.” She leaned up on her tiptoes, huffing slightly when Jason still had to lean down for her, and kissed her son’s cheek. “Be good to them and you shall have a strong team.” keep them safe. They will do the same for you, now run along my tough little bird.”

“I’m not little anymore.”

“Hush.”

“Yes Mom.”

———————————<3————————————

Jason Todd, Returning to the Family.

Jason stuck his hand firmly in his pockets as he stared up at the manor. Marinette and Dick had both told him he should come for the holidays. If it had been just Duck he would have blown it off, but he’d hurt his mom too much in the past to do it to her. He didn’t want to go in, his relationship with Bruce was still incredibly rocky, and he really didn’t like the Demon brat. Though somehow his mom and older brother had both become rather fond of the brat. He shook his head and squared his shoulders walking towards the door, only to turn around and take the steps back down the stairs.

“I can’t do this.” He growled out kicking the snow glaring at it frustrated. “How can this be so hard! Just walk through the damn door, say hello to Alfred hand over your coat and then immediately find mom. Give her the stupid gift, then sneak out when the others distract her.” He said to himself, but he didn’t turn around he just continued to glare at the ground, his hands shaking slightly in his jacket pockets.

“Or, just putting this out there, you could turn around, walk through the door with me and spend Christmas with your family. A family which has been nervous to see if you’ll actually come tonight.” Marinette called out from her place on the steps behind him. Her cardigan wrapped tightly around her to chase away the cold. Jason turned slightly looking at her sheepishly until he realized she didn’t have a jacket on. “Personally I prefer my idea, way better than you sneaking away from us.” Jason glared slightly walking up to her as he unzipped his jacket.

“What are you doing out here with only a cardigan? I seem to remember you always complaining that I’d get sick if I didn’t wear a jacket!” He pulled his off wrapping it around Marinette holding back a snort over it reaching her knees. Marinette glared slightly as if knowing his thought process and turned up her nose indignantly huffing. “You’ll catch your death out here without a jacket Jason! Jason don’t forget your hat! Jason gloves are not uncool they make sure your fingers don’t get frostbite!” Jason said repeating all the phrases she had used on him when he was just twelve. Marinette reached out pinching his ear slightly causing him to wince, and pout at her, though he’d never admit it.

“I am your mother, young man. I have every right to make sure you wear proper attire for winter. And apparently I should have said it more as it appears, the only thing you were wearing is your jacket.” Jason rubbed his ear after she let go grumbling to himself about annoying mothers.

“Why did you come out here? How did you know I was here?” He finally asked before wrapping his arm around her shoulders walking her towards the door. He knew his mother never did good in the cold, a side effect of being the Champion of a Ladybug Goddess. Marinette huffed, shaking her head, giving him a pointed look.

“Timmy and I sat watching you stand outside for five minutes before he suggested I came and got you.” She smiled as Alfred opened the door for them. “That and Alfred had been standing at the door for a good ten minutes and I decided that ten minutes was enough.” Jason smiled apologetically at Alfred, hugging the elderly butler.

“Hi Alfred, I missed you.” He said softly, smiling brighter when the man hugged him back.

“And I you Master Jason, now come join the family. I shall take your coat from Mistress Marinette.”

Jason raised an eyebrow looking over at his mom who shook her head fondly.

“He insists that Bruce is going to marry me one day. It’s the only bit of denial I’ve seen him in, I shan’t mention it to him however.” She said with a mischievous smile, winging at her son. “Besides Bruce’s face when he brings it up is hilarious. Now come the boys are eager to see you.” She corrected herself after Jason’s pointed look. “Fine Tim and Dick are excited to see you. Damian doesn’t want to share me and Bruce can’t emotion so he hasn’t said it but he is thinking it.”

———————————<3————————————

Jason Todd, Alive Again.

Jason paced his room in the manor mumbling to himself while Kori and Roy sat on his bed watching him. Today was the day, he had agreed to announce that he had survived the explosion all those years ago. They had even come up with a rather ingenious cover story on where he had been. Though that was most his replacement, the kid was wicked smart.

“I can’t do this.” He said turning to Kori and Roy with a pleading look, as he gripped his hair with his hands. “Kori, get me out of here, please.” He said softly though they could both hear the panic in his tone. Kori chuckled standing up and walking over to him. She gently pried his hands from his hair gesturing for Roy to grab the hair brush. 

“X’Hal, Jason, you are overthinking this, and panicking. You can do this, I know it for you are not weak. You know you want to do this, doing this means spending more time with them.Yes, yes that’s not why you are doing this.” She said rolling her eyes when he opened his mouth to argue. She took the hair brush Roy held out with a bright smile. “Jason, this is a most joyess occasion! After today you can spend more time with your K’norfka, and Roy and I know you want to go places with her more than anything.” Jason huffed letting her brush out his hair hold his face as she tilted his head side to side.

“She is not my nanny Kori, she’s my mother.” Kori pinned him with a look as she squeezed his cheeks gently leaning forward.

“On my planet K’norfka, also means guardian. Of which she is, correct?” Jason huffed before nodding his head.

“Yes, yes, you are correct.” Kori smirked triumphantly before kissing him briefly and releasing his face. “Roy and I will be here waiting for you when you are done. Isn’t that right?” Roy nodded, wrapping an arm around her waist, smirking at his boyfriend and girlfriend.

“Oh we will be here, but I don’t know. From the look on Miss Marinette’s face we won’t see you for a while.” Roy said nodding to the door, where Marinette stood watching them. She slowly made her way over to the trio.

“Mom! I can, I can explain. Roy, Star, and I-were-uh-were really good friends-well no we are actually-well.” He was silenced by Marinette’s hand on his cheek, causing him to finally meet her eyes. Understanding and love shining brightly in her eyes, as she rubbed his cheek with her thumb, marveling at her tough little bird all grown up.

“You couldn’t have picked anyone better Jay-bird. They have proved themselves remarkably well, and have shown their love for you my sweet bird. And that’s all that a mother can ask for in life, that their baby is happy and loved.” Jason teared up as he leaned down wrapping his mom into a tight hug hiding his face in her shoulder, causing the women to giggle. Marinette softly stroked his hair resting her cheek against his head. She looked over to the two her son had chosen her smile not wavering but Roy and Kori could read her eyes. Happiness, acceptance, and a little bit of love shining in them as she silently thanked her son’s precious people.

“Now, let’s go. It’s time for Jason Todd-Wayne to enter the world again. This time though I’ll finally get to adopt you.”

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Jason Todd, A Prince Consort?

Jason stared at himself in the mirror tugging on the traditional Tamaranean clothing. He still couldn’t believe this was happening, Kori wasn’t even the Queen anymore. Yet her, Roy, and him had all been carted away to her home planet by her brother. News had spread far of her proposal to the two, and her home planet wanted to witness the marriage. Only two months after they became engaged they were getting married, and his family wasn’t even there.

“Lost in thought, Birdie.” 

“Just thinking about how my mom is going to kill me-Mom?!” He turned quickly looking at his mother, dressed in a lavender purple dress, obviously of her own design, that held elements of the Tamaranean attire.

“Surprise.” She said softly with a twinkle in her eye as she walked over. “Oh look at you, my tough little bird is getting married.” She smoothed out his clothing, a tearful smile on her face. “Koriand’r had a feeling her brother would insist on this. So she made sure that the family would also be picked up, she also gave me a few different items of Tamaranean clothing, so that I could make my own clothing.” Jason smiled at the mention of his soon to be wife.

“She is amazing, her and Roy.” He whispered softly, a smile taking over his face. Marinette watched him as a single happy year fell from her face.

“Gosh, first Dickie and now you. Now I just need to have Timmy and Dami find someone that loves them unconditionally. Then I could die happily knowing my sons are loved.” 

“Don’t joke about that mom, you won’t be dying for a very long time.” Jason said, grabbing her hand and squeezing it. “Besides demon brat find someone, please.” 

“Jason.” Marinette said with a warning note in her tone causing Jason to grin at her. Tikki coughed, finally gaining their attention.

“Oh not again. Tikki stop out shining me will you!”

Marinette said smiling playfully at her dear friend. Tikki smiled a twinkle in her eye as she shook her head.

“No I don’t think I will Mari!” She flew up kissing Jason on the forehead just like she had done a year ago for her bug’s first bird. “I grant you and your mates Good luck and Fortune in your future together. Cherish each other always, I am proud of you, even if you’re a troublesome bird.” Marinette smiled softly looking up at her second son, her tough bird, her Fire-Craker.

“I am proud of you too Jason. You’ve grown into such a handsome young man, and have found yourself the loves of your life. That’s all a mother can ask for in life.”

“How much are my brothers going to tease me over being a Prince Consort.”

“Oh so much, that we’re thinking of jokes on the way here. A little scary watching Timmy and Dami work together, but you know Dickie, he can bring anyone together.”

Jason snorted rolling his eyes, Plagg chose this moment to show himself grinning at Jason.

“So, you’re gonna be a Trophy Husband now kid?”

“Plagg!”

“Ow! Oh come on Sugar-cube! Ow!-It was a joke!”

@mythogaychic

[fnf-brain-rot]

We're In This Together [Pico's School AU] Chapter 1 - New Kid

Pico let out a loud, droned out groan at the kitchen table. He hated school so bad, just thinking about having to go made him wanna bash his skull into a brick wall. "Boy if you don't shut all that noise up and eat your cereal." Darnell's mother, Clarissa, snapped from the sink. Darnell choked a little bit on his cinnamon toast crunch, and Pico pouted, lowering his head over his half eaten bowl of Cap'n crunch.

"What, did you remember we had a test today or something?" Darnell asked him. PIco's eyes damn there bulged from his sockets, and he dropped his spoon dramatically. "We have a test today??" He breathed, and Darnell snorted again. "No, I was asking you if you knew." Pico huffed in response, slouching in his chair. The only thing that could make this Tuesday worse would be a test. At least he didn't have that. This asshole scared him.

Well not scared, startled.

two very different things.

Darnell got up from his seat, grabbing his bowl and Pico's to give to give his mother, mouthing "You owe me." To the ginger. Pico let out Thankful hum, then got up as well. He'd return the favor by bringing his his backpack to the front for him when he went back to grab his own. It was still morning. They weren't even in school yet. This day was gonna take forever..

________________________________________________________________________________

Darnell and Pico were on time today, finally. Nene stood by the staircase, chatting with some red haired girl they've never seen. Now this girl, Pico damn there fell head over heels instantly. She was wearing a cute little jumper, a bright red shirt under the suspenders. She had on little red boots, and her hair was up in a ponytail. Her skin was a nice, soft peach color, and she even had a natural blush??

Darnell and Pico looked at each other, the other seeming to have noticed her natural beauty as well. "I call dibs."

"What? You don't call dibs on a person asshole!" Darnell pushed him, but that only propelled the boy forward, enough to make a complete fucking fool of himself. He tripped over his own foot as he took a step forward, falling face first into the pavement right in front of the girl's feet. "Pico! What the fuck!" Nene barked, but stopped when the girl in front of them gasped softly. "Oh no, are you okay?" She lifted him by his arm, resisting the urge to giggle at his dumbstruck face.

Pico stared at her for a moment, then his eyes lidded, and he lowered his voice. "Hey.." He tried to sound smooth, but a deep voice just wasn't going for him right now. She giggled, and helped him up. "Oh gosh, your nose is bleeding. Do you wanna go to the nurse?" She pulled a tissue from her pocket and held it to his nose. His face was red as a bitch, and he knew it. "No! I can handle it! I've been through worse!" He sniggered, but took the tissue.

"Sorry for this dumbass causing trouble." Darnell walked up to the three, pushing past the ginger, who only cried out "Hey!" He took his victory though. She thought he was funny. "No, it's fine. It's kinda cute." She admitted sheepishly. "I guess you would have to meet these two idiots at some point." Nene grumbled. What, did she not want them to meet this mystery girl? Selfish! "This is Darnell. He burns stuff." She pointed to the brown skinned male, who waved awkwardly. "And this is Pico. He breaks stuff." She pointed at he who stared the girl down so hard, his bleeding nose seemed to mean something else at some point.

"Like his nose?"

"Exactly! Like his nose!" Nene giggled, and Pico glared at her. "I don't break my nose that often!" He growled at her, puffing his cheeks. "You don't seem to be proving that right now." Pico almost tackled her, but paused when the other girl started talking again. "You guys can call me Gigi. I'm in Mr. Lawrence's class." She then introduced herself. God her voice was like lying on a bed of flowers..

"Well it's nice to meet you Gigi! Hope we can hang out and Nene doesn't hog you all to herself." Darnell spoke the last few words through grit teeth, and Nene huffed irritably. She probably would have hogged her all to herself if they were late again.

"Speaking of class, we should get going before we're late. Again." Darnell grabbed Nene by the arm, who cried out in protest, then grabbed Pico's arm. Gigi waved as the two were dragged off, kicking and cursing the shit out of their buddy. Pico wouldn't be done with her..

________________________________________________________________________________

They did have a test today.

Pico groaned loudly and slammed his head on his desk at the announcement. Darnell poked his head over, laughing a little at how dramatic he was. "At least it's a test." He tried to reassure him. "Man you know I'm shit at Math." Pico grumbled back, his angry little pout returning for the umpteenth time today.

"Now, now, settle down." Mrs. Fee began to speak, thankfully quieting the class. They were giving Pico a fucking headache. "We have a new student joining our homeroom today."

"Oooooh, hope it's another girl." Darnell nudged Pico's leg with his own. Yeah right, Pico didn't need another girl. That other one has already chosen him.

Is what he would have said if he wasn't looking the new kid dead in the face.

It wasn't a girl, no. It was a boy. His hair was a bright blue, almost nauseating to look at, sure, but his eyes took away from that. He couldn't tell if they had color, from where he was sitting. they were dark, but the confident little smirk on his face spoke for them. His skin was pale, but not as much as Pico's. A comfortable milky white.

He was short as fuck, it almost made him laugh. He pretty much looked like he was nine or something. He could already tell it suits him though.. He had a nice style to him, baggy jeans and a white tee shirt with a red circle with a line through it, messily painted on. Or maybe it was supposed to look like that.

"Beep!" The entire class seemed taken aback when he spoke. "Um.. Can you use.. words?" Mrs. Fee visibly began to sweat nervously. He must have been speaking like this for a while. "Boop bep!" He chirped to her in response, his hands comfortably tucked away in his pockets.

He was.. kinda cute..

"Well, class.. this is uh.. our new student.. I'm sure you'll learn his name.. eventually." Mrs. Fee laughed nervously, rubbing her hands together as the strange boy eagerly made his way to the nearest open seat, hopping up just a small bit to sit down on it. He kicked his legs as he began to pull his supplies out of his backpack. How unlucky for him to be shipped in on a test day. Bah, lucky bastard probably won't have to take it.

"Looks like we got a new freak to add to the codex, huh?" Darnell leaned over and joked lightly. Pico scoffed. "You don't know that, he could be cool.." he mumbled the last part under his breath. "You don't even know him and you're defending him? You must have caught feelings." Nene giggled childishly. "Yo, really? Man, you're lookin' desperate. First the girl from earlier, now him?" Darnell teased him as well, and Pico's face flushed red. "No you ass fuckers!" He seethed quietly.

"Ewwwwwwwww~" His friends cooed to each other, sniggering like little kids, which technically they are, but that's not the point! The point is he's about to bite both of hem!

"Shut the fuck up.." Pico put his head on his desk, covering it with his arms. Later he found out he was right. That little blue haired midget didn't have to take the test since he just got there. Meanwhile he's left to suffer.

Boring test stuff, blah blah, Pico got a C, Darnell and Nene got an easy A, and they tease him, yeah yeah. Once they walk outside those doors he's gonna punch the shit outta both of them.

And he did.

"Ow!! Why didn't you just do it in the classroom!?" Darnell rubbed his arm in front of his locker, and Nene rubbed hers. "Because I didn't feel like getting yelled at again, fuck off." Pico retorted bitterly. He hadn't been able to stop looking at the guy. He watched him walk down the hall, holding his backpack to his chest. He was so cute and small, he wanted to hold him..

Wait.. Where'd he go?

His eyes swept across the crowd for a sign of the little guy. He disappeared. Gone with the wind. What a ninja. "I'll be back." The ginger lightly patted Darnell's arm, and he made a face. "From where??" He called out, but Pico didn't answer. He kept walking, moving down the hall quickly, pushing past other students to get where he needed to.

________________________________________________________________________________

There he was, sitting at a picnic table outside. He pulled out a phone to do.. whatever the fuck he was doing. Pico would admit, he's hella interested in this beep boopin' fella.

"Yo, uh.." Pico started, having slowly approached the table. The small boy jumped with a gasp, then turned to look at Pico, his cheeks flushing slightly red in embarrassment. "Woah, didn't mean to scare ya." Pico laughed a little, and the boy pouted. "Beep boop.." He mumbled in response. Pico tilted his head. "That a new language I never heard of?" He asked him. He shook his head.

"Beep bop."

"So you just.. say it just to say it..?"

"Bep!"

"That sounded like "yep" so I'll take that answer."

The strange boy giggled a little. It seemed he was right anyway. "I'm uh.. Pico, by the way. You got a name?"

"Bee!"

"Is.. That another noise or is your name Bee?"

The smaller puffed one of his cheeks in frustration. Well.. Pico could be patient, it's okay. It was still super weird though. "Bee." He said again. "Bee, gotcha. Cute." Pico snurked a bit to himself, and the other's cheeks flushed once more. "Well, we still have class.. uh.. I have History next, you?" Bee nodded. Wow, what a coincidence. "Well come on you dip, we'll be late." He urged him. Bee puffed his cheek again, but gathered his stuff, quickly typing on his little phone before putting it away.

Pico had started walking to the doors again, and turned around to see Bee scurrying after him. He must have been real clumsy or something, more so than Pico. Great, he had another person to laugh at other than himself when they fell.

Pico learned a lot a lot about Bee in History. Funnily enough, they sat by each other It didn't seem like he had any friends, or knew anyone at all. Good thing he met him first. Any other asshole to put their hands on him would have tainted him immediately. Of course Pico would be the best first-friend this kid would have.

Bee wasn't very talkative, but man he was doing everything but the work. It's like he couldn't focus for more than a minute before spacing out again, and by then they've moved to the next slides. Then he would ask to copy off Pico's notes. He respected the hustle, but jeez, not a single page on his own?

The next class he had with him was P.E. This kid was not very athletic.. At all. His shoes managed to be untied half the time, so he couldn't even run around outside if he wanted to. He watched him fall flat on his face twice now. Twice. In the span of five minutes. Pico, Nene, and Darnell met back up P.E, so he was hanging with them under a tree. He couldn't leave the awkward goofball by himself though.

"That's.. kinda sad.." Darnell murmured as he watched the boy fall for the third time ten minutes later. "I'ma go get him." Pico sighed lightly. Nene and Darnell didn't have time to stop him before he jogged over to him. Apparently some of the girls thought it would be funny to laugh at him. Surprisingly, Bee was laughing too. Maybe he didn't know they were laughing at him. "Bee!" The ginger called, and he looked up from the grass.

The girls damn there scattered when they saw Pico. He had a bit of a destructive reputation. His father was proud. "Come on, can I take you to some of my friends? They're cool, I promise." He offered a hand to help him up. "Beep!" Bee thankfully took it. Still with the bobbity bops? They've at least spoken for a whole day at this point. Is this not how romantic comedies work?

Pico led him over to the duo, who watched nervously. They were prepared to laugh if the little dude fell over again. Pico couldn't blame them. He was too.

"Nene, Darnell, this is Bee. He still beeps."

"Beep boop!"

Darnell seemed astonished, probably getting the urge to write down notes or something. "Do you speak english?" Nene asked him awkwardly. She probably didn't want to ask that, knowing full well sometimes people ask her the same shit. Kids were stupid. Bee nodded, and it made her more confused. "You.. Then.. the beeping.." She trailed off, and Bee simply gave her a knowing smirk. He seemed to do that a lot.

"Just call him Bee. Also dude tie your fucking shoes." Pico elbowed the smaller in the arm, going back over to sit by Darnell, who was now watching the boy intensely for his next words. "Skdoo bep.." Bee laughed sheepishly, bending over to do so. That's a new sound. Skdoo. Hah, funny. "Is it like.. your own way to communicate because you don't wanna speak english?" Darnell suddenly asked, which made Bee gasp and shoot up, completely forgetting about his shoes. "Beep! Boop Beep!" He pointed at the brown skinned boy and nodded.

"THAT MAKES EVEN LESS SENSE!" Nene cried out exasperatedly, tugging at her hair in despair. She had a point there. It would make it easier for everyone else if he would just talk in a way they could understand. However, if he didn't want to, he didn't have to. Plus Pico liked the sound it made. It was kinda.. musical.

"Wait, are you holding a microphone? Where did that even come from?" Pico suddenly pointed out. Bee turned around, pushing his hands against his pants and into the back pocket. Those were some.. deep ass pockets. Maybe that's why he wore baggy pants.. To sneak that in there. "You like to sing?" Darnell asked curiously. The boy nodded vigorously. The three seemed to lean to attention, waiting for him to do something.

Bee blinked, but seemed to get the memo after another moment of silence. He gave his little smirk, then cleared his throat. Much to the group's disappointment, what came out weren't words, just more.. unintelligible noises, however that changed when they heard how he sounded. The noises made a little melody together, to the sound of a show they would all watch at three in the morning. It sounded... Good?? Not the best but he was just a kid after all.

"Wow that was really pretty!" Nene gushed lightly, causing Bee to blush a little. He had hella confidence, it was admirable. "You might just become a singer in the future if you keep working at it." Pico sniggered lightly. That must have been a genuine compliment to Bee, since he gently kicked the dirt and looked down with his hands behind his back. "We're gonna need to hear more from you." Nene then demanded. Bee nodded eagerly, and started the next song he had in mind.

________________________________________________________________________________

He had sang to them for the rest of P.E. It put Pico to sleep, so he was startled when Bee woke him up. He had looked up to see students retreating back inside, and was urged to follow by his friends.

Just like the day before, Pico, Nene, and Darnell were walking home together. Bee was a rider, meaning his parents or whoever came to pick him up. It was a regular routine, the three stopping by the park, hijacking the playground, and hanging around.

Pico relaxed on his favorite spot near the slide, watching Nene play on the monkey bars, and Darnell sat by him after getting off the swings. "Things are weird." Pico suddenly spoke up, which seemed to startle Darnell. "What do you mean?"

"It feels like something is gonna happen."

"Gee, did I scare you with the warzone talk?"

"No, dumbass!" Pico socked Darnell's shoulder, who lightly laughed at him. "It felt like.. something was following us yesterday."

"Now you're really paranoid." Darnell sucked air through his teeth. "I'm not! I saw something! What if... I mean.. I'm not scared. I can handle anything.." Pico rolled his eyes. He knew he was the shit, no one needed to make him second guess that. "Come on, let's go home before it gets dark again. Someone is afraid of the dark." Darnell called to Nene, a smug look on his face as he looked back to Pico. "Shut the hell up!" Pico huffed loudly, damn there launching himself off the play set. They were gonna tease him about this forever. Whatever, he knew what he saw. He just wasn't scared of it.

Later that night he texted his dads to stay safe, but at the same time protect the city like they always do. His father, of course, sent a kitten gif that said "best son" at the bottom. He laughed quietly under his blanket, but quickly turned off his phone and pretended to be asleep when Clarissa opened their bedroom door, poking her head in. "Night boys." Her voice was gentle, and Pico found himself smiling a little. Yeah. Everything was fine.