#Stream Authorization

[ekingston]

SO HERE IS THE WHOLE STORY (SO FAR).

I am on my knees begging you to reblog this post and to stop reblogging the original ones I sent out yesterday. This is the complete account with all the most recent info; the other one is just sending people down senselessly panicked avenues that no longer lead anywhere.

IN SHORT

Cliff Weitzman, CEO of Speechify and (aspiring?) voice actor, used AI to scrape thousands of popular, finished works off AO3 to list them on his own for-profit website and in his attached app. He did this without getting any kind of permission from the authors of said work or informing AO3. Obviously.

When fandom at large was made aware of his theft and started pushing back, Weitzman issued a non-apology on the original social media posts—using 

his dyslexia; 

his intent to implement a tip-system for the plagiarized authors; and 

a sudden willingness to take down the work of every author who saw my original social media posts and emailed him individually with a ‘valid’ claim,

as reasons we should allow him to continue monetizing fanwork for his own financial gain.

When we less-than-kindly refused, he took down his ‘apologies’ as well as his website (allegedly—it’s possible that our complaints to his web host, the deluge of emails he received or the unanticipated traffic brought it down, since there wasn’t any sort of official statement made about it), and when it came back up several hours later, all of the work formerly listed in the fan fiction category was no longer there. 

THE TAKEAWAYS

1. Cliff Weitzman (aka Ofek Weitzman) is a scumbag with no qualms about taking fanwork without permission, feeding it to AI and monetizing it for his own financial gain; 

2. Fandom can really get things done when it wants to, and 

3. Our fanworks appear to be hidden, but they’re NOT DELETED from Weitzman’s servers, and independently published, original works are still listed without the authors' permission. We need to hold this man responsible for his theft, keep an eye on both his current and future endeavors, and take action immediately when he crosses the line again. 

THE TIMELINE, THE DETAILS, THE SCREENSHOTS (behind the cut)

Sunday night, December 22nd 2024, I noticed an influx in visitors to my fic You & Me & Holiday Wine. When I searched the title online, hoping to find out where they came from, a new listing popped up (third one down, no less):

This listing is still up today, by the way, though now when you follow the link to word-stream, it just brings you to the main site. (Also, to be clear, this was not the cause for the influx of traffic to my fic; word-stream did not link back to the original work anywhere.)

I followed the link to word-stream, where to my horror Y&M&HW was listed in its entirety—though, beyond the first half of the first chapter, behind a paywall—along with a link promising to take me—through an app downloadable on the Apple Store—to an AI-narrated audiobook version. When I searched word-stream itself for my ao3 handle I found both of my multi-chapter fics were listed this way:

Because the tags on my fics (which included genres* and characters, but never the original IPs**) weren’t working, I put ‘Kara Danvers’ into the search bar and discovered that many more supercorp fics (Supergirl TV fandom, Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor pairing) were listed.

I went looking online for any mention of word-stream and AI plagiarism (the covers—as well as the ridiculously inflated number of reviews and ratings—made it immediately obvious that AI fuckery was involved), but found almost nothing: only one single Reddit post had been made, and it received (at that time) only a handful of upvotes and no advice. 

I decided to make a tumblr post to bring the supercorp fandom up to speed about the theft. I draw as well as write for fandom and I’ve only ever had to deal with art theft—which has a clear set of steps to take depending on where said art was reposted—and I was at a loss regarding where to start in this situation.

After my post went up I remembered Project Copy Knight, which is worth commending for the work they’ve done to get fic stolen from AO3 taken down from monetized AI 'audiobook’ YouTube accounts. I reached out to @echoekhi, asking if they’d heard of this site and whether they could advise me on how to get our works taken down.

While waiting for a reply I looked into Copy Knight’s methods and decided to contact OTW’s legal department:

And then I went to bed.

By morning, tumblr friends @makicarn and @fazedlight as well as a very helpful tumblr anon had seen my post and done some very productive sleuthing:

@echoekhi had also gotten back to me, advising me, as expected, to contact the OTW. So I decided to sit tight until I got a response from them.

That response came only an hour or so later: 

Which was 100% understandable, but still disappointing—I doubted a handful of individual takedown requests would accomplish much, and I wasn’t eager to share my given name and personal information with Cliff Weitzman himself, which is unavoidable if you want to file a DMCA.

I decided to take it to Reddit, hoping it would gain traction in the wider fanfic community, considering so many fandoms were affected. My Reddit posts (with the updates at the bottom as they were emerging) can be found here and here.

A helpful Reddit user posted a guide on how users could go about filing a DMCA against word-stream here (to wobbly-at-best results)

A different helpful Reddit user signed up to access insight into word-streams pricing. Comment is here.

Smells unbelievably scammy, right? In addition to those audacious prices—though in all fairness any amount of money would be audacious considering every work listed is accessible elsewhere for free—my dyscalculia is screaming silently at the sight of that completely unnecessary amount of intentionally obscured numbers.

Speaking of which! As soon as the post on r/AO3—and, as a result, my original tumblr post—began taking off properly, sometime around 1 pm, jumpscare! A notification that a tumblr account named @cliffweitzman had commented on my post, and I got a bit mad about the gist of his message :

Fortunately he caught plenty of flack in the comments from other users (truly you should check out the comment section, it is extremely gratifying and people are making tremendously good points), in response to which, of course, he first tried to both reiterate and renegotiate his point in a second, longer comment (which I didn’t screenshot in time so I’m sorry for the crappy notification email formatting):

which he then proceeded to also post to Reddit (this is another Reddit user’s screenshot, I didn’t see it at all, the notifications were moving too fast for me to follow by then)

... where he got a roughly equal amount of righteously furious replies. (Check downthread, they're still there, all the way at the bottom.)

After which Cliff went ahead & deleted his messages altogether. 

It’s not entirely clear whether his account was suspended by Reddit soon after or whether he deleted it himself, but considering his tumblr account is still intact, I assume it’s the former. He made a handful of sock puppet accounts to play around with for a while, both on Reddit and Tumblr, only one of which I have a screenshot of, but since they all say roughly the same thing, you’re not missing much:

And then word-stream started throwing a DNS error.

That lasted for a good number of hours, which was unfortunately right around the time that a lot of authors first heard about the situation and started asking me individually how to find out whether their work was stolen too. I do not have that information and I am unclear on the perimeters Weitzman set for his AI scraper, so this is all conjecture: it LOOKS like the fics that were lifted had three things in common:

They were completed works;

They had over several thousand kudos on AO3; and

They were written by authors who had actively posted or updated work over the past year.

If anyone knows more about these perimeters or has info that counters my observation, please let me know!

I finally thought to check/alert evil Twitter during this time, and found out that the news was doing the rounds there already. I made a quick thread summarizing everything that had happened just in case. You can find it here.

I went to Bluesky too, where fandom was doing all the heavy lifting for me already, so I just reskeeted, as you do, and carried on.

Sometime in the very early evening, word-stream went back up��but the fan fiction category was nowhere to be seen. Tentative joy and celebration!***

That’s when several users—the ones who had signed up for accounts to gain intel and had accessed their own fics that way—reported that their work could still be accessed through their history. Relevant Reddit post here.

Sooo—

We’re obviously not done. The fanwork that was stolen by Weitzman may be inaccessible through his website right now, but they aren’t actually gone. And the fact that Weitzman wasn’t willing to get rid of them altogether means he still has plans for them. 

This was my final edit on my Reddit post before turning off notifications, and it's pretty much where my head will be at for at least the foreseeable future:

Please feel free to add info in the comments, make your own posts, take whatever action you want to take to protect your work. I only beg you—seriously, I’m on my knees here—to not give up like I saw a handful of people express the urge to do. Keep sharing your creative work and remain vigilant and stay active to make sure we can continue to do so freely. Visit your favorite fics, and the ones you’ve kept in your ‘marked for later’ lists but never made time to read, and leave kudos, leave comments, support your fandom creatives, celebrate podficcers and support AO3. We created this place and it’s our responsibility to keep it alive and thriving for as long as we possibly can.

Also FUCK generative AI. It has NO place in fandom spaces.

THE 'SMALL' PRINT (some of it in all caps):

*Weitzman knew what he was doing and can NOT claim ignorance. One, it’s pretty basic kindergarten stuff that you don’t steal some other kid’s art project and present it as your own only to act surprised when they protest and then tell the victim that they should have told you sooner that they didn’t want their project stolen. And two, he was very careful never to list the IPs these fanworks were based on, so it’s clear he was at least familiar enough with the legalities to not get himself in hot water with corporate lawyers. Fucking over fans, though, he figured he could get away with that. 

**A note about the AI that Weitzman used to steal our work: it’s even greasier than it looks at first glance. It’s not just the method he used to lift works off AO3 and then regurgitate onto his own website and app. Looking beyond the untold horrors of his AI-generated cover ‘art’, in many cases these covers attempt to depict something from the fics in question that can’t be gleaned from their summaries alone. In addition, my fics (and I assume the others, as well) were listed with generated genres; tags that did not appear anywhere in or on my fic on AO3 and were sometimes scarily accurate and sometimes way off the mark. I remember You & Me & Holiday Wine had ‘found family’ (100% correct, but not tagged by me as such) and I believe The Shape of Soup was listed as, among others, ‘enemies to friends to lovers’ and ‘love triangle’ (both wildly inaccurate). Even worse, not all the fic listed (as authors on Reddit pointed out) came with their original summaries at all. Often the entire summary was AI-generated. All of these things make it very clear that it was an all-encompassing scrape—not only were our fics stolen, they were also fed word-for-word into the AI Weitzman used and then analyzed to suit Weitzman’s needs. This means our work was literally fed to this AI to basically do with whatever its other users want, including (one assumes) text generation. 

***Fan fiction appears to have been made (largely) inaccessible on word-stream at this time, but I’m hearing from several authors that their original, independently published work, which is listed at places like Kindle Unlimited, DOES still appear in word-stream’s search engine. This obviously hurts writers, especially independent ones, who depend on these works for income and, as a rule, don’t have a huge budget or a legal team with oceans of time to fight these battles for them. If you consider yourself an author in the broader sense, beyond merely existing online as a fandom author, beyond concerns that your own work is immediately at risk, DO NOT STOP MAKING NOISE ABOUT THIS.

PLEASE check my later versions of this post via my main page to make sure you have the latest version of this post before you reblog. All the information I’ve been able to gather is in my reblogs below, and it's frustrating to see the old version getting passed around, sending people on wild goose chases.

Thank you all so much!

[badolmen]

People against piracy fail to realize that no, I can’t just ‘buy it.’ They stopped making DVDs and Blu-Rays. They’re barely offering digital copies for download. I am not spending money I could use for food or bills to pay for a subscription service just so I can always have access to a beloved piece of media. Especially not when the service will remove media on a whim without concern for how the loss of access to that piece will make its artistic conservation nigh impossible.

For example, I recently learned that Disney+ had an original film called Crater. It’s scifi, family friendly, and seems cool - I would love to buy it as a holiday gift for my little brother! But: it’s exclusive to D+ and THEY REMOVED IT LITERALLY MONTHS AFTER ITS RELEASE.

The ONLY way I can directly access this film is through piracy. The ONLY available ‘copies’ of this film are hosted on piracy websites. Disney will NEVER release it in theaters, or as something to buy, and it may NEVER return to the streaming service. It will be LOST because we aren’t allowed to purchase it for personal viewing. If I can’t pay to own it, I won’t pay for the privilege of losing it when corporate decides to put it in a vault.

So yes, I’m going to pirate and support piracy.

Edit: if you are able, use $5 you would otherwise use for a streaming subscription to donate to a GazaFunds campaign.

[ozzgin]

Monster!author finding streamer!reader's live while looking for writing inspiration (or a friend told him to check this streamer's live or smthg) and who may or may not end up writing a human character very similar to reader...

Just a little idea that's been chilling in my fever-warmed brain 😌

With love,🧍🏻‍♀️anon ❤

Additional plot twist: Monster!Author is Streamer!Reader's favorite monster smut writer.

After your latest livestream, you lean back in your chair and search for the latest work with a grin. You scroll through the paragraphs, taking in the shameless debauchery, when you begin to notice that a lot of the human descriptions are eerily similar to you.

"Wait...Isn't this what I wore yesterday?"

You stare silently at the text. How would...how would they know? On the other hand...it's just getting interesting, so you briefly put your worries aside and continue with the story.

[itzmellooo]

Can't stop thinking about Fiddleford's stupid tee-shirt.

[thirdity]

We still talk in terms of "conquest" — whether it be of the insect world or of the mysterious world of space. We still have not become mature enough to see ourselves as a very tiny part of a vast and incredible universe, a universe that is distinguished above all else by a mysterious and wonderful unity that we flout at our peril.

Rachel Carson, "Of Man and the Stream of Time"

[frownyalfred]

today’s fun writing fact: did you know that most writing coaches estimate that it takes around one hour for the average writer to write 1000 words?

I know what you’re thinking — that’s really slow! I can write that in 20 minutes. Right, but that assumes that when you started typing, you knew exactly what you were going to write — every line of dialogue your characters were about to say, every description perfectly pre-planned, etc.

And then you have to go back and edit it. And tag it. And cut out parts that don’t work and add new bits. So by the time you’ve got that “short” fic all ready to go, you’ve probably spent at least two hours on it, maybe more.

So yeah, as an author, I cringe seeing the “this was so short!!” comments on fics, even when they’re well-intentioned. Because someone just took 2+ hours out of their day for something you could read in less than five minutes and be done with.

The next time you see that author put out a 1-2k chapter, remember to do the math! And leave a comment 💜 that’s how you keep those updates coming.

[sturn777]

for a good cause . | ( female reader ) wc 1.6k + ( masterlist ) ↻ ◁ previous II next ▷ ↺

THE DAY IS PERFECT AND SUNNY, with just enough of a breeze to make it feel like summer’s finally settling in. the event’s held in a sprawling park, green grass stretching as far as you can see. the air smells of fresh-cut grass and the sound of rich kids laughing, running around, filling the air with their carefree noise. a few families set up their picnic blankets, but all eyes are on the large podium set up in the middle of it all, where girls in sundresses stand, baskets of flowers in their arms, smiling at every bidder. they’re all the type you’d expect, well-kept, perfect.

you stand off to the side, watching it all unfold. your parents insisted you join in, seeing it as a “great opportunity” to mingle with the other high-society kids you already knew so well.

the bidding starts, and the first few girls get bids, nothing too impressive, just enough to keep the thing rolling. you glance at the crowd, scanning for someone, anyone you could talk to. that's when you spot him.

chris sturniolo. of course. he strolls into the scene, like he owns the entire park. hands stuffed into his pockets, sunglasses perched on his head, and you can’t help the way your eyes follow him as he walks over to the crowd.

he doesn’t acknowledge you right away, but you feel his gaze flicker over you as he gets closer. it’s almost like a silent acknowledgment, something that makes the air between you two feel charged. you don’t know why you’re surprised. of course he’s here, acting like the life of the party.

as the bidding continues, your name is called. you step up to the front, a confident smile on your face. you’re standing there, trying to look casual, but you can’t stop watching him as he takes his place, eyes narrowing a little when they call prices

“$1,000,” a man from the crowd calls, looking pleased with himself.

you roll your eyes. this is stupid.

but then chris lifts his paddle. "two thousand," he says, his voice smooth, like he’s casually placing a bet on a race. no hesitation.

the crowd goes quiet for a second, the girls on the podium frozen. you swallow hard. he’s bidding on you. it’s absurd, and it doesn’t feel real. everyone’s staring at you, but chris doesn’t seem to care.

“$3,500,” says another guy quickly.

“$5,000,” he announces calmly.

and before anyone can say anything else, the auctioneer calls it. “sold! to mr. sturniolo for $5,000!”

you’re left standing there, confused, speechless. you didn’t expect this, but here you are, being sold to some guy who barely knows your name. some guy who you met a couple weeks ago, at most. the auctioneer gestures to you, and it hits you like a wave: you have to go to him. now.

with a tight smile, you walk toward chris, his eyes locked on you. you try to keep your composure, but inside, you're furious and slightly uncomfortable. he raises an eyebrow at you, looking entirely too pleased with himself.

“guess we’re having a picnic now, huh?” he says, voice low, amused. you nod, trying to play along.

you both find a spot in the corner of the park. it’s quiet, away from the chaos, but there’s an awkwardness hanging in the air. chris sits down first, casually adjusting his sleeves, watching you with an unreadable expression as you sit across from him.

he doesn’t break the silence right away. you glance at the picnic spread, some delicious snacks, and a bottle of expensive wine. his presence is overwhelming, and for a moment, you just want to get it over with.

“so, this is... nice,” you say, trying your best to sound polite. he’s too close, the way he sits back with that confidence, like he knows exactly what he's doing. but you try not to let it show.

"yeah, it's great," he replies, voice dripping with that casual arrogance that always seems to get to you. "only the best for you, doll."

you force a smile, taking a sip of your drink, trying to ignore the fact that this whole thing feels like a game to him. “i’m just here to make my parents happy,” you say, trying not to sound too annoyed.

"i’m sure," he mutters, reaching for a sandwich, glancing at you from the corner of his eye. "so tell me, what’s a girl like you do for fun when she’s not busy being sold at auctions?"

you can't help the soft laugh that escapes your lips, but it’s laced with bitterness. “fun? yeah, i guess that’s not something that fits in my schedule.” you take another bite of your sandwich, avoiding his gaze.

he leans forward slightly, his tone shifting, more interested now. "you're pretty different than the others," he says quietly, watching you closely. "what’s that about?"

you don’t want to admit it, but there’s something in his voice that makes you feel exposed, like he can see through your carefully built walls. “i’m just not interested in this world,” you finally admit, your eyes meeting his for the first time since you sat down. “it’s just all kinda fake.”

“you think so?” he asks, his voice softening just a little. his smirk fades, and for a brief moment, you see something more real in his eyes. it’s fleeting, but it’s there.

you nod, your heart still pounding a little faster than you want it to. you don’t know why, but in this moment, chris feels less like the arrogant asshole and more like someone you could... maybe understand.

but then, just as quickly, he’s back to his usual self, leaning back with a grin. "well, doll, i'm just here to make sure you enjoy the ride. guess we’ll see how much fun you can have with me."

you roll your eyes, trying to hide the warmth that creeps up your neck. but he’s not wrong, this is definitely something you didn’t expect.

chris sat next to you, his hand resting casually on the blanket, his expensive watch catching the sunlight. you couldn’t help but glance at it, at him. he hadn’t said much since you both sat down, his eyes focused on something far off in the distance. it wasn’t like him to stay quiet for so long. maybe it was the heat or maybe he was actually playing the game of trying not to show that he cared. most likeky, he just did not care. you didn’t know, and honestly, you didn’t care enough to ask.

you took a sip of your drink, your fingers gently caressing the rim of the glass, pretending to be uninterested in him. but your heart was beating faster than it should’ve been.

after a while, chris shifted on the blanket, finally breaking the silence. he turned his head toward you, his eyes catching yours. “you know, you’ve been quiet,” he said, his voice smooth and calm, the cocky undertone always there. “you used to be a lot more fun.”

you shot him a look, rolling your eyes. “maybe i just don’t enjoy this whole thing as much as you do.” you gestured around you at the other people mingling in the distance. “all this forced small talk. the pretending. it’s exhausting.”

he smirked, eyes glinting with amusement. “so you’re bored, huh?” he leaned closer, his shoulder brushing against yours. “what if i told you, you don’t have to pretend anymore?”

“oh, really?” you raised an eyebrow, finally meeting his gaze with a challenge in your eyes. “and what makes you think i'd listen to you?”

he leaned even closer, his lips brushing your ear as he whispered, “because i know exactly how to make you stop pretending.”

you shivered, the warmth of his breath against your skin making it hard to concentrate. the tension between you two had been building all day, and now, you were finding it harder to pretend that you didn’t feel the pull.

without warning, he leaned in, his lips pressing firmly against yours. it wasn’t gentle, it wasn’t sweet. it was hungry, urgent, like he couldn’t wait any longer. you froze for a moment, surprised by how assertive he was, how he took control in an instant. but the moment you felt the heat of his kiss, your body reacted on its own, responding with a force you didn’t know you had.

his hand found your waist, pulling you closer, deepening the kiss. your heart raced as he gently tugged at the fabric of your expensive designer dress, his fingertips grazing your skin. the world around you disappeared. the chatter of the guests, the picnic, the sun, everything faded away until it was just the two of you, tangled up in a kiss that was too long, too intense.

when you finally pulled away, you were breathless. your lips tingled, and you found yourself staring at him, shocked by the suddenness of it all. “what the hell was that?” you whispered, trying to sound angry, but your voice betrayed you.

chris just smirked, a cocky grin playing at the corner of his lips. “you better get back to your parents. don't want 'em getting the wrong ideas.”

you didn’t know how to respond, your heart still racing, as you stood up. you knew one thing, though. this whole thing, it was far from over.

© STURN777 all rights reserved .

🏷 : ( @emely9274 ; @bluestriips ; @loveparqdise ; @/flouqissss ; @st4rcs ; @starwebber9 ; @conspiracy-ash ; @sweetrelieef ; @chris-hallelujah ; @leoslaboratory ; @matttsangel ; @awnmaneez ; @heartss4clauu ; @mattsstarlet ; @madisturni ; @marrykisskilled ; @allmylovc ; @mattsdemi ; @sturnioloangell ; @ivyandthebeans ; @amelia-sturniolo3 ; @dominicfikeenthusiast ; @sophand4n4 ; @ch6rm ; @et6rnalsun ; @sturniolossss ; @jetaimevous )

divider : @issysh3ll

[blueskittlesart]

is detcon actually good

no <3 hope this helps

[holynachocrown]

I just had this idea that won't leave my head and it's insane honestly

So basically, regulus 23 year old reagulus, whose parents died of "unknown reasons" when he was 19 and he inherited all of the blacks family fortune at 21, now just a college student in the most prestigious fine arts college, who lives in an penthouse with his friends who are Barty and evan.

He started streaming for funsies on twitch, sometimes game plays, reactions, night talks with his friends, doing the fine arts assignments, or stuff like that, he wasn't well known really, he had like an average of 100 people per stream,

But then narcissa and Lucius decided to take a "honeymoon" vacation and leave Draco with regulus and his friends for a month and 2 weeks,

So there was a one stream that made regulus well known that made his accounts go from 100 followers to 10 million overnight,

It was a normal gameplay he was on the defensive. It was a calm and slow stream,its a friday mesh where pan and xeno came over and cuddled in the cornerwatching reg, dorcas and evan making some snacks and barty laying on the floor scrolling on his phone, it's a slow night, regulus favorite type of nights where he is surrounded by people he love and who adore him back, he can zone out and leave everything to them, he knows he will be taken care off

but one person from chat snapped him out of his daydreaming recommending to go to one of the playoffs in the game, but apparently it also puts you in a team of random people, regulus didn't really have a problem with it he was chill, he was having a nice friday mesh, but looks like his teammates had a problem with it tho.

"Ugh, we have a rando with us" one of the guys said, his username padfoot69, what type of middleschooler username is that?

"Be nice pads," another one piped up scolding..pads? "Hey there... drowning star?" The person- moony? Spoke in a cheery voice, ending with a confused tilt to their voice, a mumble from pads- padfoot- whatever his name is,

"Hi" regulus tried to go for nonchalance but his voice broke a little, wincing from the awkwardness he muted himself, feeling like he wanted to jump out the window, he heard little footsteps behind him, he turned his head and found Draco standing there looking at him with confusion and wonder in his eyes,

"What are you doing?" Draco puffed his chest trying to act like the posh man his father is, but failing miserablly cause of his airy lisp that he has because of his missing tooth, making regulus laugh a little but hiding it quick to not upset Draco,

"I'm streaming," regulus says fondly, looking down at Draco, scooting his gaming chair to make room for Draco to see better, Draco comes forward trying to get a better look at regulus setup, standing on his toes to make himself taller and looking at regulus screen in excitement regulus turned his chair back towards the desk to continue playing , he looks over to chat and it's exploding with people sending, 'YOURE MARRIED' or 'YOU HAVE KIDS?!?!?!?!?!?' regulus feeling overwhelmed just laughs awkwardly

"I have my nephew over that's it" he explains, he unmutes himself and his teammates realizing they've been waiting for him, he apologizes and they start the game,

Regulus biggest opp is that he didn't realize that he didn't know how these people play and how they strategize, making reg become more and more frustrated, he hears a small huff next to him he takes a quick glance and he can see Draco looking mad and confused, 'me too buddy, me too.'

The other people on his team keep on yelling at him expecting him to follow unsaid commands or suggestions, and to follow them right away without them explaining anything, sometimes booting him from their voice chat to plan amongst themselves, regulus never felt as insecure in his life as he did now, not even walburga made him this insecure and that says alot honestly, regulus slowly hunches his shoulders making himself smaller and smaller, but still trying to maintain dignity and act like he doesn't care infront of his viewers, his friends keep on glancing at him in worry, God even Barty isn't using his phone anymore he's just straight up staring at him and his computers screen frowning everytime the other people yelled at him, yeah regulus feels like shit

The game ended they lost regulus feels liek he wants the earth to swallow him whole and erase his existence from ever existing, he never lost in his whole career not even once, and he lost now, while being degraded liek a 3 year old kid who tried to spill water on electricity,

"Are you fucking stupid?!" Padfoot yelled through the voice chat, making regulus jump a little, feeling like the voice is familiar, the tone, the words, it reminds him of walburga which is insane because she's dead and it's been five years and he should be over it, "you're such a fucking pussy, if only you follow what we say as much as you fuck up, I bet your fucking parents don't liek you what the fuck is wrong with you, ugh this is why I hate these games always putting newbies with us and then we lose the fucking game hon-" with each word regulus kept on dissociating more and more, trying to tune out the words, then suddenly "HEY!" He looks to his left and he sees Draco yelling and pointing at his mic making grabby hands, regulus doesn't think twice as he grabs Draco putting him on his lap, Draco snatches the mic from the setup regulus hears a soft is that a kid from one of the somewhat nicer people on this team which was prongs moony was also somewhat nice as well as wormtails, honestly padfoot is the only asshole in this whole team which is weird,

"DONT TALK ABOUT MY UNCLE LIKE THAT YOU COCKSUCKING DICKFACE WANNA BE!" Draco yells though the mic hurting regulus ears a little but also baffling him, he hears a snort behind him and through his headphones, he looks back and sees Barty snorting, and Pandora having an amuzed face, while xeno just looks dissapointed even though he was the one that taught Draco how to curse,

He hears a soft voice from prongs mic going daddy don't spit on me regulus thinks to himself he must be a father he snaps out of it though because apparently Draco wasn't done, unfortunately...

"SHOW YOUR FACE YOU COWARD, IF YOURE SO FUCKING CONFIDENT HUH, I WILL TELL MY FATHER ABOUT THIS, I WILL SUE YOU SO FUCKING BAD YOU WILL BEG MY UNCLE TO FORGIVE YOU EVEN THEN, I WONT FORGIVE YOU, YOU SNOT FILLED BITCH, AND JUST SO YOU KNOW MY PARENTS HAPPEN TO LOVE ME AND UNCLE STAR, UNLIKE YOUR UNFORTUNATE SHIT BALLS OF AN ASS YO-" Draco kept yelling profanities with a bit of a lisp that only children have, Barty is thoroughly on the floor laughing, regulus himself is having a hard time to hold back his laughter wormtails is snorting, prongs made a small Jesus every now and then, with a child like giggle coming from his mic, moony is muted but regulus has a feeling he is laughing, and padfoot is just making huffing sounds that are between impressed and just straight up feeling disrespected, which Draco is doing, disrespecting him hard, regulus just stops Draco by putting a hand over his mouth muffling him, which makes Draco try harder to get louder to be heard, narcissa is going to kill him,

"I am so sorry," regulus manages to get out without laughing, which was a fucking feat if you ask him, chat is going too fast, he can't read anything, he is trying to get out of the game, but it's loading too slow he might actually die of embarrassment,

"Don't be" a deep voice and a chuckle comes from prongs mic, he didn't really speak during their team off, only mumbling or having a kid speak every now and then, but omg his voice actually has to be illegal, or maybe he takes some type of meds, is he forcing it? he has to be forcing it no? Regulus feels like his breath just caught, and he can't speak and he is just imagining this prongs saying very, VERY inappropriate things towards him that should never be uttered in broad daylight or around company, which is insane because regulus never had this experience before, he feels his face getting red, and chat becomes even faster in their replies which is supposed to be impossible given the previous speed honestly

"Bye!" Regulus manages to get out before finally, finally the loading screen stops and he gets out of the game, he manages an quick goodbye to his viewers and he gets off, Draco is sulking next to a smirking evan who is looking at regulus with knowing eyes, regulus just gets up and flops between pan and xeno cuddling into them, he hears xen huff a little laugh but accommodate him and pulls the blanket up a bit over him, yeah regulus is going to just forget about this completely

It's been 3 days since the atrocious stream, and safe to say, regulus got viral, somehow somebody clipped the stream and uploaded it on social media blew up overnight, and became a fucking meme, narcissa found out Scolded him for seven hours and forty six minutes and some more over text, lucius just kept calling and laughing at his face,

But what he never expected was gaining 10 million followers on tiktok and 100 thousand on both Instagram and twitch, people kept asking him to get Draco on all of his streams, he refused at first and just asked narcissa and lucius for permition, they agreed and he gets Draco next to him every Friday and Tuesday, Draco doesn't interact alot with chat, he usually does his own thing in the background or just cuddle while regulus plays,

Somebody continue this, I cant no more just feed .e please😭😭 I need this

Also jegulus, Barty x evan, Pandora x xenophilius, she has luna, another time luna joined the stream with them, but Fridays when she us over, she gets someone to babysit luna most times, dorcas x Marlene, lily x Mary, Remus x Sirius, Peter x gildroy (the brainrot is heavy and real with this one lol)

But yeah imma finish this later maybe not maybe would draw some pics fir their isntagram or a strip of the moment??

Probably Will revisit this to edit everything or delete lol

[lenodrysalad]

one-man bulldozer || zach hyman || 2025 nhl playoffs

for @zmhyman

[milesplayshu]

People thinking Gale is not the victim in his story with Mystra are just plain stupid. They are completely missing the entire game's singular theme, the one thing connecting all the main characters, the one word spoken by the Narrator repeatedly:

AUTHORITY

[ekingston]

does anyone know wtf word-stream.com is or where to send them a takedown request? i just found a bunch of fics, including my own, hosted on this AI slop site—apparently offering what I assume are AI-generated audiobook versions & (equally AI-generated) ratings and reviews. i can’t take a closer look without signing up, which, no thank you, but it looks like they’re hosting the full fics and are peddling a paid subscription for the trouble of hosting them. can someone more knowledgeable than me explain what our options are in this situation?

[mayahawkeswife]

fiening to write another byler churchgate type fic inspired by ethel cain’s music but this time for the song nettles…. chat should i.

[cerealmonster15]

Be Cool, Man [JamiAzuRido]

[Ao3 Link] [See Ao3 for more tags/notes]

Word count: 6,976

Summary: Despite all odds, Azul, Riddle, and Jamil have just begun a new relationship together.  They are, of course, being SO normal about it.

Azul, Riddle, and Jamil: A triad that somehow made perfect sense, and also none at all. They aligned academically, of course, what with Riddle being the top student in their year and Azul following closely at his heels in an attempt to take the future title of valedictorian for himself. Jamil might’ve kept to his middle of the road status up until fairly recently, but it was clear even then that he was a smart guy who would definitely give those two a strong challenge now that he was no longer holding himself back, academically or otherwise. They worked hard at keeping their respective dorms under control, and were - more or less - a reliable group that one could, at the very least, depend on in terms of their skills and knowledge. 

Their personalities, of course, were another story. Between Riddle’s hot tempter, Azul’s penchant for schemes, and Jamil’s closed off and calculating demeanor, they might seem like a recipe for disaster when thrown together. Strong, stubborn personalities such as theirs were wont to butt heads, and butt heads they certainly did - often. Joint class group projects that assigned the three of them to an assignment together were often a nightmare to behold. Sure, they always had the best work  and presentations by the end of it, but at what cost? Perhaps their own sanity, and especially the sanity of any other students that had gotten assigned to the group with them. Was a good grade worth all the bickering and late nights in the library, pouring over books and ensuring the absolute best possible grade, with no room for slackage whatsoever?

Well, for these three, it certainly was, but not just for the grade. Against all odds - or exactly as expected, depending on which way you chose to look at it - Azul, Jamil, and Riddle eventually found themselves entering a relationship together. A first, for all three of them. And first relationships meant first dates!

Surely, boys as confident as them weren’t nervous for what awaited them later that week.

Not at all.

“My, what ever is so funny?” Jade asked as he entered the room. He took note of the look of displeasure on Azul’s face, in stark contrast to the fit of laughter currently possessing Floyd. “Did Azul tell a good joke? I’m a bit sad I missed out. Would you care to repeat it for me?”

Azul rolled his eyes. “I did not tell a joke. I was just telling Floyd-”

“He sure did!” Floyd interjected. “He says he managed to trick Goldfishy and Seasnakey into dating him, and- get this-  that they AGREED!”

A wide grin spread across Jade’s face. “Oh, my, that IS a funny joke.” He turned to look at Azul. “Where do you come up with such material?”

It’s not a joke!” Azul huffed with a cranky pout. “I DID get them to da- Who said anything about having to trick them!?”

The twins laughed, and Floyd shrugged. “Don’tcha want your story to sound believable?”

“I’ll have you know,” Azul shoved his hand into his pocket and fished around, pulling his phone out seconds later, “that we happened to take a lovely photo together to commemorate the occasion, therefore, I have PROOF.” He opened up a photo and turned his phone around to show Jade and Floyd.

The photo appeared to have been taken the night before. Azul, Riddle, and Jamil sat close together in a study room, smiling, with varying degrees of flushed embarrassment.

“My, isn’t that sweet?” Jade said. “Azul, I can’t help but notice that your glasses seem a tad fogged in this photo.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Jade.”

“Ahaha, this is so dorky!” Floyd laughed, attempting to swipe the phone from Azul’s hands.

“Hey!” Azul stepped back, pulling his phone to his chest. 

“Goldfishy’s totally hiding his face in your shoulder, and Seasnakey looks super embarrassed. What’d ya bribe ‘em with to get them to take the picture?”

“Nothing!” Azul sighed and placed his phone back into his pocket. “Forget it. I am not letting you two bait me into an argument any longer. I have better things to do with my time, such as date plans to research.”

“Yes, yes,” Jade nodded, “Well, congratulations Azul. Truly.”

Floyd gave Azul a pat on the shoulder. “Who woulda thought ya had it in ya? Good goin’.”

“Somehow, I don’t know if I believe either of you,” Azul sighed.

-

“Oh my GOD, Riddle!” Cater cooed, clinging onto Riddle and nuzzling his cheek against Riddle’s, “you three are SO cute together! Congrats, babe!”

“Cater, you’re going to mess up my hair,” Riddle protested, swatting lightly at Cater’s hand that was ruffling his bangs. Still, he didn’t make much of an attempt to escape the hug he was currently trapped in. 

Trey smiled, setting down a plate of freshly baked cookies. “Come on, Cater, don’t smother Riddle.”

Cater sighed, resting his chin atop Riddle’s head. “I’m just so proud of our dear housewarden! Aren’t you?”

“Of course,” Trey took a seat on Riddle’s other side and gave him a pat on the back. “We’re all happy for you, Riddle.”

“CONGRATULATIONS, HOUSEWARDEN!” Deuce shouted as he and Ace approached with the teapot and cups.

“Inside voice, Deuce,” Riddle chided, but smiled nonetheless. “Thank you, though.”

“Man, I can’t believe I got beat by the housewarden, of all people, at finding a boyfriend!” Ace huffed, plopping down onto the couch across from Riddle and the others. “And not just one- TWO! Two boyfriends! Before I even have one!”

Riddle frowned, squinting at Ace. “Just what do you mean by that? Are you saying you think you’re more capable than me at finding a partner?”

“W-Whaaat? No, of course not!” Ace lied, “I’m just shocked you’re dating Azul and Jamil, y’know!? I didn’t think you'd EVER consider one of the Octavinelle guys, especially. You really changed your mind?”

“Hmph,” Riddle’s face flushed a light shade of pink. “The details aren’t any of your business.”

“Hey, you can’t blame me for being curious!” Ace sighed, dropping his head onto Deuce’s shoulder. “So, what’cha gonna wear on the big date, huh?”

Riddle responded to Ace’s growing smirk with a look of perplexity. “What do you mean? I was going to wear my school uniform, like usual.”

“Your UNIFORM!?” Cater and Ace gasped in unison.

Riddle looked taken aback. “Wh-What’s wrong with my uniform?!” He frowned. “I’ve worn it every other time I’ve spent time with the two of them!”

“That was just study meet ups before, right?” Trey asked. “But you’re going on your first date with them.”

“Riddle, hon,” Cater offered his most encouraging smile, “you always look super adorbs in your uniform! But this is a date - An off campus one, at that! Why don’t you take the opportunity to dress a little more fun and free?”

“YOU CAN’T DRESS LIKE A NERD ON YOUR DATE!” Ace shouted, which was met with a prompt smack in the arm from Deuce.

“Ace! Shut up!”

“WH-!?” Riddle sputtered in shock. “Excuse m- a NERD?!”

“No!” Deuce shook his head vigorously from side to side. “You always look really cool in your uniform, boss!”

Riddle squirmed in frustration, but was unable to move very far, thanks to the convenient placement of Cater and Trey firmly on either side of him. 

“Anyway!” Cater interjected, making quick strides to progress the conversation along. “What I’m hearing is that we’ve gotta take a tour of Riddle’s wardrobe and have ourselves a little fashion show to decide on an outfit!”

“I…” Riddle calmed his squirming and sighed. He nodded, glancing up into Cater’s encouraging eyes. “I suppose such help would not be unwelcome. I am not well-versed in dating experience… And I want to make sure I am dressed properly for the occasion. So… Please, give me your guidance.”

“Yay!” Cater took Riddle’s hand and stood from the couch, followed by Trey.

“Well, I guess Deuce and I don’t have anything better to do,” Ace shrugged, “and I wanna see what kinda duds housewarden’s got stored away. Let’s go!”

“I’m not sure I’ll be much help with picking out clothing,” Deuce said, “but I could probably help with trying out some different hairstyles!”

“You’re going out to eat, right?” Trey asked, taking his place walking on Riddle’s side opposite to Cater. “I’ll bake something nice for you to take along for dessert to share with them.”

“Thank you, Trey.” Riddle smiled. “I’m sure they’ll appreciate it.”

“You can take one of my spare travel toothbrushes for after, too.”

“...Thank y-”

“Do you think Azul and Jamil would need one, as well? Or do they already have-”

“Okay!” Cater clapped his hands together. “The date isn’t for another few days. We can totally worry about gifts and deets later,” he said, shooting a pointed glance at Trey, “for now, it’s dress-up time!”

-

“Ooh, what about these?” Kalim asked, holding up two pairs of dangly earrings to Jamil and shaking them so they glistened in the light. “Azul really likes gold, right? I bet he’d love seeing you in either of these!”

Jamil, sat on the edge of Kalim’s bed, pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.  “Azul likes having gold. I’m not so sure that he’d care very much about just seeing it on me.” He paused, pulling his hand away and furrowing his brows. “But then again, he does like looking expensive to show off…” Perhaps Kalim was onto something after all.

Kalim looked delighted. “Yay! And I bet Riddle will like seeing you all dressed up, too!” He handed both pairs of earrings to Jamil, then resumed digging through the jewelry box atop his dresser. “Oh, what about a necklace? Should we go for a purple or red gemstone?”

“The red one looks nice.”

Jamil practically fell off the edge of the bed, startled at hearing a voice that did not belong to him nor Kalim. “WHAT- WHO’S THERE?!” He shouted, reaching for his magical pen… Only to relax his shoulders when he laid eyes on Silver’s head poking out of the mountain of pillows and blankets that were currently piled atop the other side of Kalim’s bed. “...How did you sneak in here…? I didn’t even hear you come in, Silver.”

Silver sat up, causing several of the pillows to tumble off of him and onto the floor. “I was already here before you arrived. I’m sorry, I must have fallen asleep, so I did not have a chance to properly greet you.”

Kalim laughed and ran over to Silver. “You’re finally awake! I tried to wake you when you fell asleep, but you were really out of it! So I just covered you in as many blankets and pillows as I could find so you’d be comfortable while you rested.”

Silver nodded. “I see. Thank you for thinking of me.”

Jamil stared at the two, trying not to think too hard about the fact that someone was lying hidden in Kalim’s room, and he was none the wiser. Perhaps he was more distracted with worry over this upcoming date than he cared to admit.

“Oh, and congratulations on your relationship, Jamil,” Silver added, watching as Jamil slowly flopped onto his back across Kalim’s bed. “I hope you three are together for many years to come.”

Jamil coughed a few times and turned his head to the side, hoping his bangs covered the flush on his cheeks. “Ahem… We only just agreed to try the relationship out. It’s not like we’re engaged for marriage or anything.”

Kalim gasped, hands flying to his face, eyes sparkling. “Oh, your future wedding is going to be SO much fun! We’ll throw a big party for an entire week- No, a month!”

“Kalim-”

“As expected of Scarabia students,” Silver said, “to be thinking so far in advance about these things. I’ll look forward to the ceremony.”

“There’s nothing to look forward to right now!” Jamil promptly got up from the bed and made a dash for the door. “I’m going to go take a walk.”

“Wait!” Kalim called out. “We haven’t finished picking your outfit out yet!” 

“You two come up with something to surprise me with!”

That seemed to pacify Kalim enough to allow Jamil to make his escape out the door, down the hall, and through the mirror back to main campus. He only just started his first relationship, and all this sudden talk of marriage and the long term implications wasn’t helping the nerves he was trying to suppress. He, Riddle, and Azul had agreed they’d take things slow, but Jamil wasn’t sure that Kalim understood such a concept. 

Jamil found himself en route to the kitchen at the dining hall. The day was over, so surely it would be a quiet, empty place where Jamil could collect his thoughts.

That is, if he hadn’t spotted a certain Octavinelle trio rounding the corner, getting in between Jamil and his destination.

“You should totally slick your hair back!” Floyd said, talking so loud that his voice carried through the hallways.

“I think he should invest in some hair clips. Perhaps a little extra decoration will capture their attention,” Jade added.

“I don’t recall asking either of you for your opinions on the matter,” Azul huffed. “As I told you, I have no reason to be nervous about…” He paused, stopping dead in his tracks when he saw who stood in front of them. “...Jamil. Um. Hello, there.”

“Hi…” Jamil instinctively shoved his hands into his hoodie pocket and glanced off to the side, avoiding the overbearing stare of the three boys.

Jade and Floyd looked absolutely delighted by the awkwardness in the air.

“Why, Jamil!” Jade folded his hands together and offered Jamil a grin that was just a little bit too wide. “What brings you here at this time of day?”

“Just going for a walk,” Jamil answered simply. 

“Are you excited about your date with Azul and Goldfishy?” Floyd bluntly butted in. “He’s been sweating with nerves about it all day, hehe.”

Azul sputtered with indignation, aiming an annoyed glare at Floyd. “WH- I- I told you, I am not nervous. Jamil,” he turned away from the twins and their irritating snickers, “don’t listen to them. I’m very much looking forward to our, um… Our date.”

Jamil peeked over at Azul from behind his bangs that once again obscured his own flustered face, and took note of Azul looking just as anxious as Jamil suddenly felt. “...Right. Yeah. Me, too.”

“Hey, move aside!”

The four turned as Ruggie Bucchi came bounding down the hallway, waving his arms in an attempt to shoo the cluster of people out of his way.

“You’re blocking the path to the dining hall, and I’ve got a date with some leftovers!”

“Ah, apologies, Ruggie,” Jade said, stepping to the side of the hallway. “We were engrossed in such riveting discussion, you see.” He smiled, ignoring another glare shot his way from Azul.

“I didn’t really ask, but that’s nice, I guess,” Ruggie shrugged.

“I was just heading to the dining hall myself, actually,” Jamil said, seeing his opportunity to escape the awkwardness of trying to make smalltalk with Azul while the twins loomed over them. “I’ll, uh, see you later, Azul…”

“Ah, right," Azul smiled, lifting his hand about halfway before dropping it again, as if considering a wave and then changing his mind immediately. “I look forward to seeing you and Riddle later-”

“You said that already,” Floyd laughed. 

“My, how eager,” Jade added.

“Oh, would you two leave it ALONE-”

Jamil was thankful he did not hear anything else, as the doors to the dining hall closed behind him and Ruggie before the fish bickering could continue. Silence filled the room, and Ruggie turned to face Jamil.

“...So.”

“Don’t.” 

“Azul, huh?”

“Stop.”

“AND Riddle?” Ruggie snickered into his hand, eyes sparkling with impish delight. “Wow, you’ve signed yourself up for a lifetime of headaches.”

Jamil rolled his eyes, and the two continued walking through the dining hall and towards the kitchen. “I didn’t ask for your input, Ruggie. It’s none of your business.”

Ruggie threw his hands up in a shrug. “You made it my business when you got between me and my food,” he said, opening the fridge and rummaging around its contents. “Not my fault I overheard your very public conversation.”

“You really don’t need to comment on it, though,” Jamil sighed, hopping up to sit on the edge of the counter. “Hm. Maybe you’re just jealous that you’re still single?”

Ruggie shot Jamil a squinted side-eye from within the fridge, only to be met with one of Jamil’s sneaky smirks. “Psh, nu-uh.” He shut the fridge door and leaned against the counter with his newly acquired bags of leftover vegetables from the week that were left up for grabs by the kitchen staff to avoid food waste. “You see this? This is a bundle of leftover ingredients I'm gonna cook up into something awesome that I DON’T have to worry about sharing with one, let alone TWO partners. I think I’m doing just fine flying solo, thanks. Although…” A mischievous grin spread across Ruggie’s face. “If dating you means free home cooked meals, I’ll throw my hat into the ring. You takin’ applications?”

“Nope.” Jamil used his height advantage from where he remained perched atop the counter and reached into Ruggie’s bag, plucking a carrot from the pile.

“Hey!” Ruggie backed away from the counter, holding the bags close to his chest protectively. “Go steal food from your boyfriends instead. Unless… You’re already avoiding them? You seemed pretty quick to run away from Azul just now.”

Jamil frowned at Ruggie’s snarky grin. “The twins were being annoying. I’ll see Azul plenty later, anyway.”

“Yeah, I bet you will.”

“Wipe that smirk off your face.”

“Y’know, I never thought I’d see the day when Jamil Viper’s icy heart finally melted into mush, shishishi…”

“Shut up.”

“Then leave me to my leftovers in peace, and everybody wins.”

Jamil sighed, wondering why he bothered. He hopped off the counter, shoving the carrot he’d snatched into his hoodie pocket. “You’re a pain. See you.”

“Have fun on your daaaate.”

Jamil pretended he did not hear Ruggie any longer, and scampered out the door.

-

“Heyyy, Seasnakey!”

“Yo, Jamil!”

Jamil sighed and shut the door to his locker, turning around to find himself face-to-face with Floyd and Ace standing before him, grinning mischievously. “What is it, you two?” He asked, though truly, he didn’t really want to hear an answer.

Alas, they gave him one anyway.

“We wanna know more about what’s goin’ on with you and your new BOYFRIENDS!” Ace said, a little too loud for Jamil’s liking. “I keep tryin’ to ask Riddle about it, but he just insists it’s ‘none of my business,’ or whatever. But you’re cool and will tell us, right?”

“Yeah,” Floyd continued, equally as loud, to Jamil’s dismay. “Normally, Azul would NEVER pass up the opportunity to brag and be all annoyin’ about getting just a smidge of attention from his crushes, but he just keeps tellin’ Jade and me to quit botherin’ him.”

Jamil squinted up at Floyd. “Azul told us that you and Jade kept making up your own stories about it. It’s no surprise he got annoyed with you.”

“Not our fault we gotta liven things up when he suddenly decides to be all secretive,” Floyd shrugged. “Hey, he and Goldfishy are comin’ to the game today, right?” Floyd’s grinning expression grew more unsettling. “You better not mess up and look stupid in front of them by losin’, huh?”

Jamil elected to ignore the comment and pretend that the possibility hadn’t crossed his mind already. The fact that his new partners were coming to see him play in the game changed NOTHING, as Jamil would aim to win, regardless. 

He, Floyd, and Ace headed to the gym, which was already full of spectators on the bleachers ready to watch the game. 

“...Oooh, there’s your boy!” Ace grinned, nudging Jamil with his elbow and pointing out Riddle in the stands.

Jamil rolled his eyes. “...There’s your boy, right next to him.”

“Ew!” Ace wrinkled his nose and stuck his tongue out. “Deuce? He is NOT my boy.”

Floyd was not far behind. He placed a hand on Jamil and Ace’s shoulders and bent down to grin between them. “Ohh? Hehe, you think Macky’s tryin’ to steal Goldfishy?”

“No!” Jamil and Ace snapped in unison. 

Floyd threw his head back and laughed, content with his meddling, and wandered off to go snatch a ball from one of the teammates practicing warm ups. 

“HEY!” Ace called out to Deuce and Riddle, waving his arms over his head. “You two better watch me, okay? I’m gonna kick ass tonight! Don’t fall asleep, Loosey-Deucey!”

This, of course, immediately got Deuce’s attention. Ace ran over to the bleachers, laughing and ignoring any warming up he was supposed to be doing, choosing instead to continue picking fights with Deuce.

Riddle sighed into his hand as Deuce left his seat to go argue with Ace, but relaxed when he looked up again and met eyes with Jamil. He smiled, offering Jamil the tiniest of waves.

Jamil returned the favor, and debated running over to talk to him for a moment… But ultimately decided that he had to be better than Ace. There was a time and place to flirt with a cute guy, but the best way to impress would be to actually win the game he came to see.

“Ace!” Jamil called out. “Stop hitting on Deuce and come warm up!” 

Riddle, meanwhile, watched in mild amusement as Ace frantically scrambled away from the bleachers to go whine at Jamil. 

“Why, hello, there. Is this seat taken?”

Riddle looked up, startled that Azul had approached him so sneakily while he was distracted. “Oh, so you made it after all, Azul.” He patted the space on the bleachers next to him. “Deuce was keeping me company while I waited for you, though it seems he’s gone and met up with Epel and Jack over there, so I suppose your space is now free.”

“My, how generous,” Azul smiled and sat down beside Riddle. “Jade couldn’t make it, so I suppose it will just be you and me today.”

Riddle looked relieved that no extra eels would be bothering him at the event. “The game is about to start, you know. What took you so long, if you were not waiting on Jade to accompany you?”

Azul tugged at his tie and glanced over at the practicing players. “W-well, I, um… I had trouble finding my glasses,” he lied, not wanting to admit how long he spent fussing over his hair in the mirror before coming to the gym. 

“Your glasses?” Riddle tilted his head. “I’ve hardly ever seen you take them off. How did you possibly misplace-?”

Thankfully for Azul, the buzzer sounded throughout the gym, signifying the game was about to start. Neither Azul nor Riddle were especially familiar with the ins and outs of basketball, but they’d watched games in the past at the request of Floyd and Ace. They knew enough to follow the basics, at the very least. 

Riddle sat, arms crossed, eyes focused on the game. He kept his eyes on Jamil and Ace for the most part, his brows furrowed as he attempted to make sense in his head of the plays happening before them.

Azul cleared his throat beside him. Then again. Then he coughed. And coughed again.

“Azul, are you feeling sick?” Riddle asked, finally turning his gaze from the players to examine Azul’s face. “Your cheeks look a bit flushed. Come here; I’ll feel your forehea-”

“Riddle, please,” Azul huffed, “I assure you I feel just fine.” he nodded downward, gesturing to his hand that lay on the bleachers, palm up and open, awaiting Riddle’s hand to join atop it. 

“...O-Oh,” Riddle uncrossed his arms and reached down to take Azul’s hand. “You could’ve said something!”

The very thought of having to ask Riddle for affection out loud made Azul want to curl up in an octopus pot and hide away forever, so he would be sticking to his not-so-subtle methods of signaling, thank you. “Ahem, well… Holding hands is a typical date activity, is it not? I figure it would just be a natural progression of things.”

Riddle jumped, shooting Azul a startled look. “Wh- I-is this a date? I don’t remember deciding that ahead of time!”

“Isn’t it?”

“We did not declare it as such!” Riddle sputtered, his face growing a deeper shade of red. “And therefore, I did not prepare accordingly. We are simply two partners who are spending time at an event together, whilst supporting our mutual partner.”

Azul sighed. “That sounds an awful lot like a date to me, you know. Is that not more or less what we plan to do together with Jamil this weekend?”

“But we MUTUALLY PLANNED for that to be a date!” Riddle insisted. “I-”

Amidst their quiet arguing, the game came to a brief break period, and Jamil finally jogged over to the sidelines to greet the pair.

“Hey…” he said, waving over to the two of them to get their attention. “Um, glad you made it.”

“Jamil!” Both boys called out.

“Are Azul and I on a date?” Riddle immediately asked, blunt as ever.

“What?” 

“Riddle and I are having a disagreement,” Azul explained. 

“When aren’t you?”

“Oh, hush. But don’t you think two people in a relationship attending an event together counts as a date?”

“I keep telling him it DOESN’T if we didn’t BOTH decide as such ahead of time!” Riddle huffed. “We scheduled our first date for this WEEKEND, together!” 

“That doesn’t mean there can’t be smaller, preludes to the larger event!” Azul reached out to take Jamil by the hand. “Jamil, my dear, what do you think?”

“What…?” Jamil shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m trying to win a basketball game.”

“Ah! O-Of course!” Azul gave Jamil’s hand a squeeze and sat back down on the bleacher bench. “And you’ve done exceptionally well so far. Sweat looks good on you.”

“...Thank you…?” 

Riddle snorted out a laugh into his hand beside Azul. “Oh, how charming of you, Azul.” His growing smirk only made Azul’s cheeks darken. “Jamil, I’m afraid Azul’s gotten too flustered in your presence. You’ll have to excuse him.”

“I’m just fine, thank you!” Azul huffed, meeting Riddle’s grin with a frown.

But, it seemed to make Jamil smile, even when he tried to pretend that he was tired of his partners’ antics. “Alright, I’m going back to the game now. Keep your eyes on me.”

“Of course,” the two answered, both feeling a smile form on their faces as Jamil ran off to return to his game.

-

Finally, the day of reckoning had come. No more stalling, no more planning, no more prepping; it was just about time for the big date.

Okay, well, maybe a little more stalling and prepping. They had a few more hours before the meet up time, and Azul moved his piece across the board with a shaky hand. “Your turn.”

Idia, sitting across the table from Azul, just snorted. “You totally look like you’re about to fall out of your chair and die, fuhihi. I wouldn’t feel good about claiming victory like this, so why don’t you forfeit now?”

“I told you, I'm not nervous!” Azul grumbled. He was not at all a fan of the smug grin Idia was giving him. “We said we’d play, and I do not intend to lose, so make your move!”

Idia rolled his eyes and snatched the dice. “Ugh, you normies are so annoying. You’re clearly too proud to admit it. Why do you have to make YOUR date MY problem?”

“It wouldn’t be your problem if you’d just take your turn  without meddling into my personal affairs.”

“I wouldn’t be meddling if you’d stop sighing and making those cringe faces every two seconds!” 

“My face is not cringe!”

“Oh, whatever.” Idia stood up, shoving his hands into his jacket pocket. “I’m just gonna go back to my room and do my dailies.”

“Excuse me!” Azul also stood up, offended. “We still have time left in the club meeting. You’re not seriously going to quit early just to go play different games by yourself, are you?”

“Not if Muscle Red’s online.”

“Unbelievable.”

The two complained and bitched a little longer as they cleaned up their abandoned board game, but soon enough, they made their way back to the hall of mirrors together. Just as they were saying their goodbyes and about to head into their respective dorm mirrors, however, Heartslabyul’s mirror activated, and out came three people…

“Don’t WORRY about it,” Ace said over his shoulder, “we’ll go scope it out a little early, and then you don’t gotta be so nervous. I mean, I still think this is overkill, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do, I guess.”

“I could do without the side comments, Ace,” Riddle came out of the mirror next, carrying a plastic container in his hands, followed by Cater.

“Aww, c’mon, you two! Let’s just focus on - Oh!” Cater jumped when he noticed Azul and Idia. He immediately dashed in front of Riddle, spreading his arms out to block the view. “Hey, Azul! No peeking at Riddle’s totally cute date look early, okay? I even resisted posting a pic when we were done to avoid leaking spoilers!”

Idia squeaked, and abruptly ducked behind Azul. Or at least, as much as he could, when he still towered over him.

Unfortunately for Idia, this only attracted Cater’s gaze. “Oh! Hi, Idia! OMG, are you helping Azul prep for the date, too?”

Azul snorted and shook his head in response. “Not to worry; I haven’t found myself in quite such dire straits that I’d resort to consulting Idia for love advice or outfit preparations.”

Idia scowled from behind the tablet that was now hovering in front of his face.

Ace glanced up and down at Azul and raised an eyebrow. “C’mon, surely you weren’t also gonna try and get away with wearing just your uniform to your big and special first date, were you Azul?”

Azul narrowed his eyes at Ace, smoothing out his tie and shrugging his shoulders. “I simply wanted to keep my attire looking fresh as long as possible, hence why I am on my way to change now that the time has come near, thank you very much.”

“Psh, whatever,” Ace snickered. “Hey, Riddle, make sure you take some good pics; I wanna rate Azul and Jamil’s date ‘fits when you come back!”

“Ooh!” Cater turned around to face Riddle with an excited grin. “Cay-Cay wants to see, too! Make sure you take a lot, ‘kay?”

While Riddle sputtered out a response to his enthusiastic dormmates, Azul and Idia took this as their chance to escape.

“I will see you soon, Riddle!” Azul called over his shoulder, disappearing into Octavinelle’s mirror.

-

And soon, he did.The time had finally, finally come for their first official date with them all together, and planned accordingly, at that.

Riddle stood at the designated meeting place on the boardwalk, having been the first to arrive. Really, he’d arrived an hour ago with Cater and Ace when they were checking the place out early, but he’d elected to stay and simply wait after the other two had eventually gone back to the dorms. Better to be an hour early than even a second late. 

Jamil arrived second. His hair was down and out of the usual ponytail, and his braids were pinned back and to the side with some decorative hair clips.

“Oh, Riddle,” Jamil approached him with something of a reserved smile. “I had a feeling you would be the first to arrive. I tried to get here earlier, but Kalim kept trying to pin more accessories onto my outfit…”

Riddle coughed into his hand, taking note of all the sparkly pieces of jewelry that were in fact pinned to Jamil’s outfit and weaved into his hair. “Y-yes, um… You look quite eye-catching.”

Jamil took note of the redness dusting on Riddle’s cheeks, and his own smile brightened ever so slightly. “...Thank you. I see you tried something similar with your hair, today?”

Riddle touched a hand to his hair and nodded. “Ah, yes… The boys at my dorm insisted on helping me try a ‘new look’, as it were. Deuce managed to fit a couple of small braids on either side, and Cater lent me his hair clips to pin them back.” he grinned, a look of pride overcoming his previous shyness. “Heh, perhaps Azul will be jealous that we’re matching today.”

Jamil matched Riddle’s smug grin. “Perhaps you’re right. And speaking of Azul, I wonder what’s taking him so long? He seems like he’d be just as fussy about being on time as you would.”

“WH-!?” Riddle sputtered. “I-I care about punctuality a normal amount, thank you very much!”

“As do I…”

Riddle and Jamil turned when they heard Azul approaching. His hair was slicked back, he was dressed as sharp as ever, and he smelled quite strongly of a cologne that neither Jamil nor Riddle clocked as familiar.

“My apologies for the three minute delay,” Azul said, “but Floyd and Jade were nearly impossible to get rid of.”

Jamil barely stifled his laugh, and Riddle’s brows furrowed in frustration.

“Ugh, do not tell me those meddlesome twins tried to follow you here?” Riddle turned, and the three headed towards the restaurant.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if they still find a way to sneak up on us, later,” Azul sighed. “But I managed to get away from them for the time being, so let us hurry inside.”

Inside, of course, is where they faced their first dilemma: Booth seating.

“...Hm.” Jamil crossed his arms and eyed the booth thoughtfully. “Two and two… I guess one of us is sitting alone.”

“Not alone, per se,” Azul said, making no move to sit down. “Just… isolated.”

“That doesn’t sound any better!” Riddle protested. “I don’t see how they could have run out of three chaired tables so quickly…” He also did not move.

Jamil sighed, deciding to take the first step and sliding into one of the booths. “...Alright, well, we can’t stand here all night. Just sit.”

“R-right, but…” Riddle remained standing, clearly even more conflicted now that Jamil had made the first move. “Now Azul and I are left to have to make a decision on if one of us sits with you, or with each other…”

“It’s all the same booth,” Jamil insisted, “It’s really not… That big of a deal…”

“Oh? Do I detect hesitance in your voice, Jamil?” Azul asked, smiling down at him. 

Jamil frowned. “No. pick a side.”

“Worry not!” Azul pat Riddle on the back, guiding him to Jamil’s side of the table. “I don’t mind having the two of you sit together. That way, I get to gaze at you both equally all night.”

Azul’s flattery seemed to snap Riddle out of his hesitance. He rolled his  eyes, stepped away from Azul, and took a seat beside Jamil in the booth. “...Alright, then…” he clutched the plastic container on his lap, looking unsure of where to place it.

“What’s in there?” Jamil asked, pointing to the container. “You’ve been hanging onto it for dear life the whole time we’ve been here.”

“I-I have not!” Riddle VERY CALMLY set the plastic container on the table, because he was VERY RELAXED. “Trey baked us some sweets for after dinner.”

“Did he now?” Azul reached for the top of the container. “What did-?”

“You can’t open it in here!” Riddle shouted, swatting at Azul and making both him and Jamil jump in surprise. “It is uncouth to have an open container of outside food within an eating establishment!”

Azul sighed, picking up the menu in front of him. “Yes, alright, alright… But we will have to do a proper evaluation later,” he said, “so that I know just how much value I need to put in for a voucher at Mostro Lounge to give Trey in return for his generosity.”

“Evaluation?” Jamil smirked, “are you too shy to say you’re excited to eat dessert Trey baked?”

Azul tilted his menu up higher, not-so-secretly hiding his flushing cheeks. “...No.”

This made Jamil laugh, and Riddle felt his shoulders relax beside him. The majority of the evening was spent in such a manner that made them feel almost silly for how much they stressed. It was like any other day, really: taking turns ganging up on each other to poke fun at the other every chance they got. It was what they did best, after all, they would just now sometimes hold hands while they did it.

That, and lots of bickering, of course. When the meal ended, and it was time to pay the check, three hands landed atop it at once. 

“Please,” Azul spoke first, of course. “Allow me.”

“Absolutely not,” Riddle protested. “I chose the restaurant, so I should pay.”

Jamil shook his head. “You said Ace and Cater helped you pick the location, and you already brought dessert, so you’re not paying.”

“Th-that hardly counts! Trey made this dessert, not me!”

Azul gave Riddle’s hand a gentle pat. “And yet, it was your contribution to this date, so I’m afraid you’ll just have to let Jamil and me battle this one out.”

“No battling,” Jamil already had his wallet out and was placing money on the table, taking advantage of Azul’s brief moment of distraction with teasing Riddle, “I’m paying. You two can fight over it for me next time.”

Azul looked aghast at Jamil’s swift betrayal. “I- I will NOT stand here and let the two of you cover the entire date yourselves!”

“Just fight with Riddle over the bill next time.”

 Riddle smirked as they all stood from the table. “Hmph. I’ll have you know that I don’t intend on rolling over so easily.”

“Oh, please…” Azul sighed, placing a hand on each of their backs and leading them outside. “For the record, we never did have any of that dessert Riddle brought. It does not count as a debt if we haven’t partaken in eating any.”

Riddle clutched the container to his chest. “We couldn’t eat it inside the building!”

Jamil shook his head and stopped abruptly. “I am not listening to this argument again. Come,” he took both boys by the hand and tugged them away from the restaurant, towards a nearby park located ever-so-conveniently across the street. “We’re going to sit on a bench and eat the damn- …Whatever it is you brought.”

“...They’re brownies,” Riddle huffed, sitting in the middle of the bench, placing the container on his lap, and opening it up. “Garnished with chocolate mousse and raspberries.”

Azul’s hands remained at his side where he sat on Riddle’s left, as he feigned a neutral level of interest in the container. “...Did he? Well, they look quite nicely decorated.”

Jamil nodded, plucking a brownie out of the container. “Trey’s ability to bake desserts of high quality and aesthetic appeal is really admirable.” He took a bite, pausing to contemplate the flavor. “...It’s really good, as expected. There’s a good balance of sweet and bitter flavor in here.”

Riddle smiled, looking as proud as ever of his beloved dormmates and their accomplishments. “Trey has always been good at baking, as you are both well aware,” he said, picking up a brownie himself. “And he has recently been experimenting with desserts that are still some degree of sweet, but not ‘overbearingly so,’ for Carter's sake.”

“Oh?” Azul tilted his head, still not moving his hands. “Is Cater not a fan of Trey’s baking? I find that hard to believe!”

Riddle shook his head. “We learned recently that Cater is not a fan of sweeter food…”

“Really? That’s rather surprising,” Jamil said, his eyes sliding from Riddle to Azul. “...Surely that same secret truth doesn’t apply to you, Azul?” He raised an eyebrow, a small, teasing grin forming on his face.

“I… Enjoy sweets a normal amount, thank you very much,” Azul said calmly, glancing between Jamil and the brownie held in his hand.

Riddle narrowed his eyes and also shifted his gaze over to Azul. “Then why haven’t you tried one yet?”

“I simply-”

“You had BETTER not be insinuating that you think your palate is too refined for Trey’s baking. You aren’t, are you!?”

Azul quickly swiped a brownie from the container before Riddle’s wrath could bubble out of control. “O-of course not! I simply wanted to let you and Jamil have first pick, of course. Because I’m a gentleman.”

Jamil rolled his eyes, “God, just take a bite.”

And bite he did, finally. Azul’s expression said it all - his eyes brightened, and he couldn’t hide the smile that crept on his face. “Oh… Incredible work from Trey, as expected!”

Riddle smiled too, seeming satisfied with such a response. He let out a sigh, and allowed his head to drop onto Azul’s shoulder. “Hmph, that’s more like it.”

Jamil shot Azul another smug little smirk. “Heh. Your face looks a bit flushed there, Azul,” he said, reaching an arm over Riddle’s shoulders and allowing his hand to rest at the nape of Azul’s neck, gently brushing his fingers against his skin. “You like brownies that much?”

Azul scowled as he swallowed the last bite. “You know damn well that’s not the case.”

Jamil only laughed quietly in response. He and Azul felt content to sit and watch the stars in comfortable silence together, as Riddle nodded off to sleep between them.

[sweetestflow3rs]

reading lapvona by ottessa moshfegh and i had to share this scene with the class

[haine-kleine]

Taking a break from doomposting to once again ponder the meaning of the chapter from a storytelling point of view. It fails to complete any storyline point previously established. Ochako is still repressing her survivor's guilt and covering it up with fake sweet smiles. Deku and Ochako don't really reach any understanding nor comfort each other after this traumatic experience: Ochako still blames herself for Himiko's death, Izuku has seemingly moved on from Shigaraki's death using it as a learning example on his way forward. The party is random and the cheer is forced. Eri mutilating herself with the help of an adult hero goes unaddressed. The old lady is the only character exhibiting any development but it falls flat because we don't have much reason to care about the character who is not Tenko that she saves. It was Shigaraki who needed saving and didn't get it.

The one thing this chapter achieves is destroying any hope the readers had left. The next chapter is not necessary, judging by how meaningless most of the epilogue chapters have been so far.

But looking at this from another angle, the one thing Horikoshi can do, after killing the remaining embers of our hope, is subvert our expectations.

The only logical conclusion from the nameless boy looking so much like Tenko was obvious, but his appearance had very awkward timing if all the purpose this character has is to show the positive changes in society. He would have fit in the framing of chapter 427, which was focused on the society's opinion about Shigaraki Tomura and how they perceive him. It talks repeatedly about the collective fear of the next Shigaraki resurging and what preventive measures they can take. The old lady, whose character purpose was to not save Tenko, even appears in that chapter! If the positive change was the intended message, why cut her narrative into awkward parts and squeeze the second one in place of Ochako's supposed resolution? And once again, why show the boy so early? He appeared in the chapter that started slowly revealing the fates of the villains, and his appearance was immediately followed by Touya's. The logical connection is obvious. Teasing that not-Tenko character to leave the audience guessing for a month, seems like a red herring, and if the nameless boy being saved by a person who could have saged Tenko and didn't, is just there to fool our expectations, it's an unnecessarily cruel move from the author. He knew what he was doing. Despite his death, the epilogue heavily focuses on Shigaraki Tomura and various people's opinions on whether or not he deserved to be saved. Horikoshi killing him and saving a new barely introduced character in his place seems like a negative answer from the author himself.

Then, again

Shigaraki's death, despite being confirmed by the characters, was not actually shown on screen, with Kurogiri being conveniently close by, very motivated to save him.

So what if the not-Tenko boy is indeed a red herring, whose purpose is to fool the audience for one last time?

Here are some random ideas how this can work:

• not-Tenko is actually Tenko, his memory is just fucked up. The boy's backstory is about being kept imprisoned by his family in the house against his will. Well isn't that awfully convenient, cause you know who else hated being in his house

• Tenko is not the new boy, but he is alive, out there somewhere. Healing, being taken care of by Kurogiri, possibly trying learn using his new quirk. Watching his name being dragged through the mud on the news everyday.

• Tenko reconstructed himself back from the dust wrong, as it was his first time using the new quirk. Maybe he had accidentally merged himself with Kurogiri. Maybe non-Tenko's memories that he shares are his damaged consciousness' rendition of Tenko's actual backstory. Maybe he decided to leave Japan forever and fucked off to America, who even knows, the author clearly doesn't so go wild with your imaginations