#also congrats @ nicky for the POINTS

[utvarpcity]

couldn’t watch it live bc i was away so i just finished watching the race and i have to say esteban’s defending against lewis was delicious 😌

[aftgficrec]

Anonymous asked: Do you have any recommendations for any new twinyard bonding fics, with or without Nicky. Or even any with Nicky and one twin?

NB: original ask here in new twinyards bonding post

We’ve got a trove of Nicky and the twins for you, including a WIP age reversal fic where college-aged Andrew and Aaron raise young Nicky. It is ‘Home’ by allfortheBoyds. -A

previous recs: Nicky & the twins

Nicky bonding with both or one twin here

Nicky’s relationship with the twins here

new canon compliant bonding: Aaron & Andrew & Nicky here

‘Travelers’ series Part 4 here

‘My brother under the sun’ here

‘Abject apathy,’ ‘Oh Brother Of Mine,’ ‘Atrophy,’ and ‘Promises Kept’ here 

‘Aaron Minyard Ficlets’ and ‘Frazzled Bird’ (completed) here

‘a working thing’ and ‘AFTG/TFC minifics…nicky's pills’ here

‘Step Up/Dance AU’ here

‘This is our beginning’ here

‘We're the giggle at a funeral’ here

‘This is After’ and ‘innocence died screaming’ here

‘Direct Lines to The Heart’ here

‘get what you give’ here 

‘Microsleep’ here

‘Odd Eye’ here

‘You know I don't care’ here

‘on the taste of home (let it go down easy)’ here

‘Paper Cut Hearts’ here 

‘I Found Love Where It Wasn’t Supposed to Be’ here

Nicky & Aaron

‘Aaron loses his shit’ here

‘Aaron figuring out that he’s asexual…’ here

‘Misunderstandings’ here

‘Wear it on your finger’ here

‘aaron minyard + memories of nicky’ here

‘skeletons in the water’ here

‘Five Times Aaron’s Soul Tried to Find a Home…’ here

Nicky & Andrew

Nicky and Andrew’s relationship here

‘maybe we could’ here

‘Something Good’ here

‘Enough’ here

‘The One Where Andrew Tries to Kill Nicky’ here

‘Affection can be shown in so many ways,’ ‘It's a Home,’ and ‘The World on Mute’ here 

‘I am not a library’ here

‘Truth Time’ here 

‘Nicky sees Andrew dance’ here

‘Treacherous’ and ‘Andrew Minyard...does not have a crush’ here

‘Mixed Tape,’ ‘Nicky goes to the bank,’ ‘before nicky goes back to germany,’ ‘Andrew kept Nicky close,’ and ‘Andrew appreciates Nicky’s selflessness’ here

‘Just closed eyes with nothing behind’ here

‘everything has changed’ here 

‘That One Time Andrew Made Nicky Glad…’ and ‘Nicky & Andrew prompt’ here

‘don't look away’ here 

‘hiding out at the winter formal’ here

‘white soap’ and ‘Bloom Where You're Planted’ here

‘losing battle’ and ‘married to my enemy’ series here

‘haven't got a clue’ and ‘Congrats on the sex’ here

‘The Morning AUs Chapter 25: Conversion Camp AU’ here

you may also like

‘Way Down We Go’ here

‘TFC High School AU’ series here

‘Take This Heart (Put Yourself In It)’ here

‘two peas (in a pandemonium)’ here

‘Foxes and Fruitcake’ here

‘I learned from my pain’ here 

‘Andrew seems to be developing separation anxiety’ here

‘another turning point…’ here

‘The Before and After’ here

Nicky & the twins

The Cousins series by onedayanauthor [Rated G/T/M, 22318 Words, 5 complete works, Updated April 2023]

Part 1: A Place of Your Own (G, 5098 Words) Nicky had only had custody of the twins for a week and a half, and he was already entirely exhausted and overwhelmed. 

tw: implied/referenced child abuse, tw: implied/referenced drug use

Part 2: Food Anxieties (G, 2760 Words) Nicky takes Andrew and Aaron to get fast food right after they move into the Columbia house. Andrew has some lingering food anxiety due to previous foster families withholding food or being stingy with food.

tw: implied/referenced child abuse, tw: implied/referenced child neglect, tw: food insecurity

Part 3: Making Ends Meet (M, 3583 Words) Aaron asks Nicky how they were able to afford the Columbia house and is surprised by Nicky's answer.

Part 4: Actions Speak Louder (G, 8769 Words) Nicky gets the twins to agree to go to a Christmas festival, but will the twins actually show up?

Part 5: Bonding Moment 2.0 (T, 2108 Words) Turns out Nicky is actually RIPPED and Aaron is just finding out.

NB: Part 2 of this series focuses on Nicky & Andrew and parts 3 and 5 focus on Nicky & Aaron

Why do we break the ones already broken? by KweenKevin [Not Rated, 845 Words, Complete, 2018]

Part 5 of Does that make me crazy? 

A Nicky Hemmick character study.

tw: homophobia, tw: conversion therapy, tw: religious trauma

Better Weather by PluckyYoungMan [Not Rated, 24656 Words, Incomplete, Updated Oct 2022]

A series of oneshots based upon Tilda putting Aaron and Andrew in the foster system, but not ending up taking Aaron back. After her passing Nicky learns of their existence, and elects to take them in when they’re almost thirteen. Nicky is in way over his head with the twins varied and often conflicting issues. Ultimately this is a story about family, and about healing, but it is a long and often painful road along the way.

tw: self harm, tw: blood, tw: body horror, tw: implied/referenced csa, tw: implied/referenced rape/noncon, tw: homophobia, tw: religious trauma, tw: self harm, tw: manic episode, tw: disordered eating, tw: drugs, tw: alcohol, tw: violence

this is a big world by PoolToast22 [Rated G, 2212 Words, Complete, 2022]

the one where Andrew tells Aaron about his and Neil's relationship

i don't need this city (i could leave in a heartbeat) by crazy_stupid_potato [Rated T, 3285 Words, Complete, 2023]

Andrew has a bad time and decides to run away. But what he didn't think he'd discover is that: sometimes there are good police officers, and that Nicky fucking adores him.

tw: implied/referenced rape/noncon

Home by allfortheBoyds [Rated T, 14316 Words, Incomplete, Updated June 2023]

Nicky is younger, his parents still suck and Aaron and Andrew make sure he has a home

tw: child abuse, tw: homophobia, tw: religious trauma, tw: conversion therapy, tw: confinement, tw: disordered eating, tw: bullying

Wherever you go, I‘ll be there beside you (‘Cause you are my brother) by allfortheBoyds [Rated G, 2031 Words, Complete, 2023]

Nicky becomes a father, the twins are there to support him

Little Secrets by nerdzeword [Rated T, 3696 Words, Complete, 2019]

Part 2 of Little Miracles series, part 1 here

Nicky had spent his entire life hiding who he was. You would think it would be easier to finally tell people.

Heimkehr means Homecoming series by This_Witch_Writes [Rated T/M, Collection with 3 complete works, Updated Dec 2022, Locked]

Part 3 here 

Part 1: But Cass, she could've been [T, 31241 Words] Cass discovers Drake's true nature with the next foster child she takes in, a year after Andrew was adopted by Tilda Minyard. Disgusted and heart-broken, Cass travels to South Carolina.

tw: implied/referenced rape/noncon, tw: implied/referenced csa, implied/referenced child abuse, tw: implied/referenced self harm, tw: vomit, tw: violence, tw: homophobia, tw: assault

Part 2: A little closer to home [M, 48508 Words] Cass came back for Andrew after Nicky took custody of him and Aaron once she learned to truth about Drake. She settled in Columbia to be close to them and 18 months later the family has reached some kind of balance. And then Kevin Day shows up at the Foxes hotel room after the Winter Exy Banquet with a ruined hand and a wild story. No hope of a quiet year really.

tw: graphic depictions of violence, tw: torture, tw: blood/gore, tw: homophobia, tw: assault, tw: implied/referenced rape/noncon, tw: implied/referenced csa, implied/referenced child abuse, tw: nonconsensual drug use

Some would sing and some would scream by Helpneedmorefanfics [Rated E, 14168 Words, Complete, 2021]

"Alright. Luther got out of prison, along with everyone else involved in Andrew's previous cases," Nicky says and Kevin sucks in a sharp breath and grabs at the other's arm, horrified. Nicky nods gravely, eyes serious and steady. "I'm going to go kill them all."

tw: implied/referenced rape/noncon, tw: murder, tw: arson

A first by LetThemCuddle [Rated G, 3930 Words, Complete, 2023]

Nicky comes down with a mild flu. It's not a big deal. The twins are suffering from unwanted emotions.

All I want for Christmas (is some peace) by sapphosgaycousin [Not Rated, 2214 Words, Complete, AFTG Exchange 2022]

Nicky just wanted to have a cozy christmas, but there is no such thing when you're parenting your cousins.

The Highs and Lows of Pre-med Majors by Harmonique [Rated G, 4575 Words, Complete, 2023]

Part 4 of AFTG whump, part 2 here

Sometimes, Aaron was questioning himself on the stupidity of his decision about being a premed student and an athlete. He couldn’t remember the last time he had more than four hours of sleep, and he still was behind classes. Thankfully, he wasn't a student-athlete... wait

tw: vomit

Nicky & Aaron

The Foxes: Finals Edition by LetThemCuddle [Rated G, 1747 Words, Complete, 2022]

Nicky and Aaron make a deal. Aaron will nap when Nicky demands it, and Nicky promises to wake Aaron up at the exact time he wants.

Aaron & Nicky hcs by @foxes-evermore [Tumblr, 2016]

Nicky & Andrew

I'm Proud of You by kevindaysleftpinkytoe [Not Rated, 1860 Words, Complete, 2023]

Andrew is tired tonight.

tw: self harm, tw: suicidal thoughts, tw: negative self image, tw: depression, tw: implied/referenced rape/noncon, tw: panic attacks

Andrew thinks he is unlovable hc by @knox-knocks [Tumblr, 2021]

Andrew, Nicky, and hugs meta by @i-did [Tumblr, 2021]

Nicky meta by @sinistercacophony [Tumblr, 2021]

Not a sociopath by @i-want-delfeur [Tumblr Fic, 2018]

I have about 4,000 questions about Nicky and Andrew’s relationship meta by @sirencalll [Tumblr, 2016]

Art

Happy Twinyard day art by @jegulus4life

Nicky’s instagram: Lake with ducks art by @/lis_photoart on instagram

Nicky as their best mum = a threat art by @/joonaxrt on instagram

[theuniverseawakens347]

Two iPads.. one Apple Pencil HOWARD GAVE ME WHILE AT PAUL MITCHELL BC I ASKED FOR ONE DURING THE end of August - Nov 21 before I went to River 🤷🏽‍♀️

THE BLACK IPAD HOWARDS. I CAME TO 4400 FROM AVA AFTER THE PAYCHWARD AND HAD NOT WLECTRONICS BUT NEEDS TO POST ON THE BLOG.. as Ben WAS asking .. ZEUS.

THIS US ALL SO FUCKED AND WRAPPED AROUND AND IM TIRED OF YOU GUYS PLAYING W MY MENTAL CALLING ME THE CRAZY ONE. AT THIS POINT ITS BEYOND A GAME OR A “simple” ANWER.

Congrats you wanted to BE THE greatest at whatever bullshit THIS IS, 👏🏽 NARCISCIOS YOU TAKE THE CAKE AND ITLL BE HANDLED SOON.

I got the green pad for FUCKING SCHOOL AS IT CAME W THE PACKAGE HAIR KIT OUR LEARNING TEXTBOOKS .. at Haley being there WITH ME ON TOUR DAY ..

BLACK IPAD, I used Lees for .25 seconds when I got home cause my cup tee last had water dripped on the keypad and stopped working THEN PSYCHWARD and I was posting off my ORIGINAL RED IPHONE FUCKING 8..

DID FEEL COMFORTABLE USING LEES IPAD FOR I FELT SHE WAS GOING TO TRYNAND HACK MY SHIT ON IT THE BLOG,

SO I ONLY CHECKED EMAILS, paid bills WATCHED TUBI ..

THEN HOWARD GOT A NEW IPAD AND GAVE ME THE BLACK ONE ..

WHERE I THEN FELT COMFORT TO POST ON TUMBLR THRU BC HOWARSS NEVWR GIVEN ME A REASON TO THINK HED BETRAY ME .. until fucking now, BOY WAS I WRONG 👏🏽…

ANYWAYS, HID THE BLACK ONE WHILE INWAS Away in THE CAT BIN TO THE RIGHT IF MY BED THEN I FOUND IT IN THE MIDST OF MY HOMELESS JOUNREY. SOME TIME GOING TO THWBLIBRARY.

Any ways it’s a slow piece of shit so I still to using the green one, .. BLACK ONE HAS BEEN OFF FOR MONTHS but I carry it around bc IT SYNCED TO MY RED IPHONE WHEN HOWARD GAVE IT TO ME .. also my nudes are on it 🙂 .. someone used AIRDROP .. WHILE AT CLARITY FOR MY LATEST WHEN INWAS HOME FOR MY OF PAGE I MADE .. and I don’t post FULL nude I DECORATE MINE .. neither here nor there IM A FUCKING GROWN WOMAN AND USE MY BODY FOR ART AND MY MIND BUT YOU TWO SMALL DICK FUCKS TOO WAY TO FAR ADVANTAGE OF THAT FOE YOUR OWN WEIRDO SICK MINDED FANTASIE WORLD 🖕🏽…

ANYWAYS THOSE WHO KNOW KNOW WHAT THEY NEED TO KNOW YAL JUST WANT ME TO SEE MY “parents” ARE IN FACT SICK DELUSION PAYCHOPATHIC SOCIOPATHIC LUNATICS. GAS LIGHTING ME BC I WAS IN FACT CORRECT ABOUT BEING IN A SEX RING AND ASKARI ADMITTED GUILT THRU THE EARA FOR LETTING NICKI SEND ME TO YOU FOR THIS LONG WINDED INVESTIGATION THAT ATATED W ME IN THE GRACE FAMILY HOME PLACEMNT OF THE SPANISH FAMILY WHOS KIDS WERE FUCKING Molesting AND ABSUING ME

[bisluthq]

George got married last year! I told you about it and I know you replied. I actually don’t follow him closely but I follow people who do.

Which account are you talking about when you say there’s one account obsessed with Jack on twitter? I’ve seen like 4 or 5

I kinda thought he got married but then I couldn’t remember if it was true or if I’d made it up and it was one of those hyperrealistic dreams I sometimes have lol. They’ve been together for forever now and they have a kid together so at this point legal status seems kinda irrelevant to me lmao. Even if they weren’t legally married they’re still idk a family yk? But congrats to them on making it legal lol.

I’m talking about that Nicky girl who lowkey hates Saoirse lol and has met Jack a few times. She provides quality Jack updates but she also needs to go touch grass a bit in my personal opinion like I’m not always sure she’s doing okay 😂😂

[jingerhead]

Ok imagine them babysitting Aaron or Nickys future children.

AHHHHHHHHH ok by ‘them’ I’m assuming you meant Andreil? ‘Cause that’s where I took this ‘cause I couldn’t stop thinking about something like that, omfg. This is getting added to the stupid cute shit, I hope you enjoy Andreil’s attempts at babysitting. I have created oc children because I can’t be bothered to sort through Nora’s extra content at this hour. Also, I meant to post this last night but I waited and decided to change the entire thing lol, but also thanks for the amazing prompt!

Read on AO3 | Word Count: 4,378 | Rated: G

Pretty much all of the original foxes had eventually decided to have children. Kevin had his daughter, Dan and Matt had their son, Nicky and Erik had adopted, and even Jack had found someone that tolerated him enough to have a kid with. The only ones that didn’t seem to want children were Robin, Renee and Allison, who agreed with what Neil and Andrew thought: they weren’t cut out for raising anyone. Between their own childhoods and trauma they were still trying to overcome, bringing a child into the mess didn’t seem appropriate.

But that didn’t mean that Neil didn’t like kids. Lots of his fans were bright eyed elementary schoolers, and he’d made more than one trip to visit a few via the ‘Make a Wish’ foundation. Matt and Dan wanted to name him the godfather of their son, which Neil wasn’t exactly opposed to, but instead confused as to why they wanted him to be in the first place. In the end, he supposed it was the same reason Aaron and Katelyn had named Andrew the godfather of both their kids.

Neil was determined to get the girls to like him more than Aaron. He knew he had some competition, since Aaron was their dad, but he could be the most fun uncle in the world. Which was exactly what he intended to do, since Andrew apparently had no interest in being the best uncle. They came to their birthday parties every year with the best gift Neil could find and visited for holidays, making time to video call once in a while.

But this was different. This time, the girls were going to be around for a ‘sleepover’, as Katelyn had explained.

It started off with Neil meeting with Katelyn one day as their yearly check-up, as she always put it. Neil was pretty sure he had one with each of the foxes, but it was more like a monthly check-up in Matt and Dan’s case. They went for coffee, took a short walk and talked about how things have been since they last saw each other. It was a weird sort of friendship.

“In two months is our tenth anniversary,” Katelyn randomly said when they were sitting in the park people watching.

“Congrats?” Neil asked. “Are you going to have a party?”

“I want a night alone,” Katelyn said instead, grinning to herself. “No kids, no work. Just me and Aaron for a night.”

Neil made a face at the thought. “Where do you want to go?”

“I’m not sure. Maybe we could go on a quick trip? Somewhere relaxing.” Katelyn sighed, her grin getting wider as she clearly thought about it. Neil grimaced at the thought of Aaron of all people somewhere relaxing. Katelyn seemed to snap out of her daze after a moment. “But we’d need someone to watch the girls.”

“Okay. Get a babysitter.”

“For two days?” Katelyn asked, narrowing her eyes. “Neil, I know you’re not the best with kids, but…”

“Oh!” Neil said. “I see. You’re asking me and Andrew to watch them.”

“No, that wasn’t - “

“We could.” Neil attempted a smile, because while the thought of watching Sofia and Isla was appealing to him, he’d have to make sure Andrew was okay with it, too. 

“No games?” Katelyn asked. “No practice?”

“Nope. Perks of summer.”

Katelyn nodded. “Well, we’ll have to see. And so long as you promise not to teach Sofia any more pressure points.”

“Okay, okay, I won’t.” Neil rolled his eyes. “She should know how to protect herself.”

“She’s seven, Neil.”

The plans fell into place. The girls would go over early Saturday morning and go home in the afternoon on Sunday, giving Aaron and Katelyn enough time to themselves. When the date was confirmed Andrew hadn’t so much as bat an eye at it, instead just marking the date on the calendar so that Neil wouldn’t forget it and helped get the guest bedroom ready for their visitors. 

“Should we take them somewhere?” Neil asked one night while he watched Andrew make dinner. He’d been wondering for a while, because he wanted the girls to be entertained but not exhausted. They’d already decided they’d make pizza for food, let them find a movie to watch before going to bed, but they had no idea what to do during the day.

“Ask Aaron,” Andrew suggested.

“He blocked me,” Neil said, because it was true but also because he didn’t want to text Aaron for suggestions on how to keep his kids entertained.

“Sofia is obsessed with octopuses and Isla is four,” Andrew added, scooping some pasta onto plates. “Take them to the aquarium or museum.”

“Would you go too?”

“Yes.”

“Alright.” Neil grabbed his phone and started looking at the nearest aquarium’s website. He and Andrew had gone there before because Neil had wanted to pet the stingrays and Andrew admitted he wanted to see if Neil would touch one of their tails. Neil had been just slightly offended, because he wasn’t that stupid, but the thought of Sofia or Isla petting the stingrays was slightly worrying, because they may not know it would hurt.

“Stop worrying,” Andrew demanded, even though he was clearly anxious about the weekend as well.

“I’m not worrying,” Neil mumbled, putting his phone down and following Andrew to the table. He scooped up Sir and cuddled the cat to his chest as he sat down. “What if one of them is allergic to cats?”

“We’d know by now. Their dad is a doctor.”

Neil grumbled and released Sir when she squirmed too much, eating some of the pasta so he wouldn’t have to respond. “It’s their first sleepover. I want it to go well.”

Andrew didn’t reply to that, but he was far more helpful in figuring out things to do after that conversation.

They made sure to tell the girls what their plans were before the weekend. Katelyn reported that Sofia was ecstatic about seeing an octopus and all Isla cared about was seeing the ‘fishies’. Neil hoped it would take up most of their time that day so that they wouldn’t have to try to think of anywhere else to go afterwards, but he found other places to visit just in case. He located a zoo, museum, amusement park and even an art show before Andrew made him stop. 

Though he tried to keep the day as normal as he could, Neil still got up a whole hour earlier than usual to take his run and attempted to make some eggs that burned when he got lost in thought. Andrew walked into the kitchen with a scowl and helped clean up the mess, making something actually edible with a mask of perfect calm. But Neil was an expert in Andrew’s facial expressions by now and could tell he was a bit nervous about what the day would bring.

Facing Riko? No problem. The mafia? Neil could deal with it any day. Watching two little blonde girls that said words like ‘fishies’? Neil felt like his heart could stop at any moment.

By ten in the morning they made it to Aaron and Katelyn’s, quickly getting their car seats settled into the Maserati - and wasn’t that hilarious - so they could leave. Isla hadn’t stopped chanting ‘sleepover’ since they arrived, and Sofia kept listing off everything she knew about octopuses and sea cucumbers. She even proudly showed off her drawing of a purple octopus, giving it to Andrew and pointing out every stick figure that was holding one of the octopus’ tentacles.

“See, that’s me and Isla, and Mommy and Daddy,” she explained, pointing at the stick figures individually. “And there’s Uncle Neil and you, Uncle Andrew! And I added King and Sir, even though they’d try to eat the octopus.”

Neil had never understood why anyone would put a kid’s drawing on a fridge, but that’s exactly what he wanted to do with Sofia’s drawing. Andrew was holding it so carefully it was as though the cardstock paper was made of glass. “Thank you, Sofia, this is very beautiful,” Neil said, patting her back.

Aaron snorted. Neil glared at him, mostly out of habit, breaking eye contact when Isla rushed to his side and grabbed his arm. “Wanna see the fishies,” she said.

Sofia gasped loudly. “Can we go see them now?”

“Of course. Just say goodbye to your mom and dad first,” Neil replied, gently pulling his arm from Isla’s grasp to grab the girl’s backpacks. He took them to the Maserati and loaded them in the backseat, watching how carefully Andrew folded up Sofia’s picture and put it in the glovebox.

Finally, they were ready to go. Katelyn gave Neil a list of where they were going and all the phone numbers they could use to get ahold of them if anything happened, reminding the girls to behave and go to sleep on time. They all left quickly after that, heading straight for the aquarium to (hopefully) get rid of all the energy Sofia and Isla had.

For a Saturday the place wasn’t busy. Andrew easily found a spot to park in and the girls were released, thankfully knowing not to run across a parking lot. Sofia was still babbling and Isla was much quieter, looking around a bit nervously and sticking by Andrew’s side. Neil heard her ask in her adorable high-pitched voice, “Uncle Andrew, can I hold your hand?” and thought his heart might’ve broken, especially when Andrew wordlessly took it as they walked towards the entrance to the building.

They got wristbands after paying and began to walk through. Neil only had to remind Sofia to stick close once, not wanting her to get lost in the small crowd. For a seven year old that really wanted to see the octopuses, she had an incredible amount of patience to not say anything as Isla gaped at the coral reefs they walked up to. She instead looked at the lists of fish available to look at, reading off just about every one perfectly.

“That one looks like Dory,” Isla said, pointing at a flat looking blue fish.

Neil didn’t know who ‘Dory’ was, so he simply agreed and got a small snort from Andrew for his trouble.

They continued on after the girls looked their fill, getting to larger fish that Sofia read were freshwater and lived in lakes. She also giggled at the fat looking fish and whispered to Neil about it. “Hey, this says there’s sharks in here,” she said with a frown, pointing at another list of fish. “Look, Uncle Neil. Sharks are s’posed to be in the ocean.”

“Not all sharks, I guess,” Neil replied, looking at what she was pointing at to appease her. 

“Hmm,” the seven year old hummed. Neil wasn’t sure how she was able to make it sound so sassy and disbelieving at the same time.

Further down the long hallway were where the other sharks were. They got to walk through glass tunnels and listen to Isla point at every shark she saw, saying, “Hammerhead,” every time.

“What if the glass breaks?” Sofia whispered between the two of them.

“Then we’d go for a swim, I guess,” Neil replied.

Her head was craned back, just like her sister's, to watch the sharks swim over the top of the tunnel. “Here, Uncle Neil,” Sofia eventually said, holding out a hand. “Hold my hand so you don’t get scared.”

“Thanks, Sofia,” Neil said, taking the girl’s hand. She seemed less tense after that.

They moved more quickly past the sharks, making it to some smaller tanks. Those fish looked like the ones you could find at a pet store. Andrew lifted Isla so that she could get a better look at the tiny fish, her wide hazel eyes following every movement in the tank. Sofia was tall enough to not need such treatment to see into the tank.

The next tanks were even larger, full of more coral reefs. Sofia then declared everyone needed to be on the lookout for octopuses, since they could camouflage themselves and might be hard to see. Neil helped her look, not noticing anything out of the ordinary but also not entirely sure what he was looking for in the first place. Andrew and Isla stood further back, both watching Sofia and Neil get close to the glass as they searched for what they’d come for in the first place.

“Turtles!” Isla cheered after a full minute, letting go of Andrew’s hand to get closer to the glass. “Are they - are they as big as me?”

They certainly looked it. “You look like you could fit in a shell, Isla,” Neil told her. It made the four year old grin.

“No octopuses, Uncle Neil,” Sofia declared, getting to her feet and brushing dust off her pants. “We gotta keep moving.”

Next were tanks full of jellyfish that both girls got distracted by. It was strangely hypnotizing to watch them move. “There’s like a billion!” Isla whispered from where Andrew was holding her on his hip, allowing her to get a better view.

Neil was pretty sure the actual number was closer to a hundred, but he let her believe what she wanted. They moved on to the next tank, which appeared to be another coral reef of some kind. The fish here were even more colorful than in the previous tanks and in all shapes and sizes. Neil was distracted staring at Andrew, who was still carrying Isla and looking perfectly calm while doing so, when Sofia spotted her first octopus.

“It’s hiding!” she cheered, kneeling down to look at it through the glass. “Look, look! It’s moving!”

“Pretty cool, huh?” Neil asked, crouching down next to her.

“Uh huh!” Sofia replied with a giggle.

She seemed perfectly content to watch the octopus for a while longer. Andrew and Isla ended up turning to the other tank on the other side of the room that had seahorses. Eventually Sofia was done, dusting off her pants again as she got up and walked after the other two. There wasn’t much else to see, so before they knew it they had reached the gift shop. Neil checked the time and was glad to see they’d wasted a lot of time at the aquarium, and it was about mid-afternoon. They’d have to get the girls something to eat before they realized they were hungry.

“Want to pick something out?” Neil asked both the girls when he noticed Sofia staring at a huge octopus stuffed animal.

“Can I?” she asked, grabbing it. It was as large as her torso.

Isla picked out a seahorse that Andrew passed to her. She didn’t seem super interested in choosing something herself but she latched onto that stuffed animal as soon as it was in her arms. They paid and went to a small sandwich shop that was in a food court following the gift shop, bringing their food back to the Maserati. “Don’t make a mess,” Andrew told them.

“We won’t!” Sofia said for the two of them. Isla wordlessly agreed while she munched on her ham sandwich.

They went back to the apartment and brought the girl’s backpacks inside, leaving them on the couch. The cats had quickly jumped onto whatever high place they could, warily watching the girls that definitely noticed them but let them be. They’d both brought coloring books and other toys that they played with at the kitchen table, finishing eating their late lunch and babbling about what the aquarium was like as though Neil and Andrew hadn’t been there too. Neil just listened, definitely noticing when Andrew pulled out Sofia’s drawing and stuck it in front of their various notes left on the fridge.

“Can we go back?” Sofia asked.

“Some other time,” Neil promised her.

“See the fishies!” Isla cheered to herself.

Apparently both girls were still excited about fish, because when asked what movie they wanted to watch that night they both chose ‘Finding Nemo’. Andrew found it quickly and didn’t hesitate to tell the girls that Neil had never seen it, which seemed to shock them both to silence. Isla had been the first to speak up about it, telling Neil he just had to watch it ‘cause it was the greatest movie ever. So, he sat on the couch and watched.

He had to admit, it was good. Maybe a bit heavy for a children’s movie because of the whole ‘kidnapping’ thing, but good. When it was over they made their way to the kitchen, where everything was ready to make small homemade pizzas so that everyone could have their own. It was apparently a good idea, because Sofia seemed to care where every topping went and Isla didn’t seem to mind what ended up on her’s. They were put in the oven for a late dinner, so they found another children’s movie to watch. This time they both wanted ‘Frozen’, which was also the greatest movie ever. Neil had also not seen that one either, but managed to keep that to himself.

Another heavy children’s movie. Neil didn’t know if it was because of his own childhood that made him read too into the lines, but it made him wonder why Aaron and Katelyn would let the girls watch these in the first place. Then, after Anna went looking for her sister Elsa, Sofia looked across Isla to get Andrew’s attention. “Daddy said he and you are like Elsa and Anna, ‘cause you didn’t grow up together at first like they did.”

“Who’d he say I am?” Andrew asked, holding his head up with one arm propped on the couch’s arm rest.

“He said you’re Elsa.”

Andrew seemed smug. Neil figured he’d have to continue watching to find out why.

They paused halfway through to get their pizzas, cutting them into small pieces per the girls’ request, and ate while the rest of the movie played. He had to admit, he did not predict Hans would be the bad guy, so when he said, “Oh, Anna, if only there was someone out there who loved you,” he almost swore in front of the children.

“This is a kids movie,” Neil stated, watching Hans almost kill Elsa.

“Yes,” Andrew told him from the other end of the couch.

He almost swore again. Sure, it ended up happy, but shit.

They gave the girls ice cream and played the only board game Neil thought they would like when searching for things to entertain them: LIFE. He helped Sofia keep count of her finances and Isla moved the cars around the board more than playing, shuffling the little people into groups she explained were families. Andrew had the most money in the end, to which both Neil and Sofia scowled. “I’ll get you next time,” she declared, throwing her money on the board. “At least I got married.”

Andrew had remained stubbornly single in the game. Neil had tried his luck at the family routes and ended up landing on every ‘have a kid’ square. He was definitely the poorest. “Uncle Andrew doesn’t know fun,” he whispered to Sofia. Andrew just shrugged.

“Are you guys married?” she asked.

“No.”

“Are you gonna have kids?”

“Probably not.”

Sofia frowned. “But then what do you do on Father’s Day?”

“Sleep in?” Neil asked more than answered, looking at Andrew for help. He didn’t get any.

Sofia mumbled to herself, starting to help put away the board game while Isla handed over the people pieces. “I’ll make you guys a Father’s Day gift next time.”

“Alright.”

Bed time was supposed to be around 8:30 at the latest, so of course that was when they only just started getting ready. Isla was yawning as she got changed and brushed her teeth, and Sofia seemed to lose some of her energy as well. They got into the bed Neil and Andrew had gotten ready for them, snuggling up under the covers. Isla seemed to fall asleep immediately, but not before saying goodnight.

“Thanks for taking us to the ‘quarium, Uncle Neil,” Sofia whispered when Neil tucked her in.

“Sure thing, sweetie.”

She sat up, undoing his work. “Goodnight kisses?”

After a moment of hesitation, Neil leaned forward, letting her press a quick kiss to his cheek. Andrew had been leaning against the door the whole time, but it only took one look from the girl to get him to enter the room and let her do the same. After that she settled down, letting the blankets be tucked around her, and said goodnight.

Once they were back in their own room, Neil smirked and leaned into Andrew’s space. “Can I have a goodnight kiss?”

“Should’ve known this was a bad idea,” Andrew seemed to say to himself, but he looked right into Neil’s eyes and nudged their noses. “Yes?”

“Yes,” Neil agreed, leaning into his kiss.

They got ready for bed themselves not too long later, each of them tired from the day. Neil fell asleep pretty quickly, but woke up what felt like not long after. He was a light sleeper because he once had to be, so he was wide awake for when their door creaked open and Isla hesitantly walked into their room. He waited, listening for what she would do, but didn’t want to scare her away. He could feel that Andrew was awake on his other side.

She crossed over to him, whispering quietly, “Uncle Andrew?” Andrew must’ve opened his eyes, because just a second later she said, “I think there’s a monster in the room.”

Andrew didn’t say anything, but just got out of bed and walked her back to the guest room. Neil waited, hearing them move around there and then out to the rest of the apartment. He gave them some more time alone and finally got out of bed himself, taking a moment to rub any sleep he still had from his eyes, and went to the kitchen. Isla was sitting on the counter, holding a large spoon and getting some chocolate ice cream all over her face. Andrew stood right next to her, his pint of ice cream on the counter.

“It’s, like, three AM,” Neil pointed out, walking until he was next to them both.

“Isla thought there was a monster in the room,” Andrew reported while eating some more ice cream.

Isla nodded to confirm the story. “It was just King. But she was scary looking.”

“How did she get in there?” Neil asked, ruffling Isla’s blonde curls. “She was scary enough that you needed some ice cream?”

“Uncle Andrew said it was okay.”

Neil didn’t argue. He put the lid on the pint and returned it to the freezer, coming back with a washcloth and wiping away the ice cream left on Isla’s cheeks. “Too much sugar will give you cavities.”

“Daddy says that,” Isla murmured. “Are we goin’ home tomorrow?”

“Yes,” Neil confirmed, lifting the girl up and carrying her back to the guest room. “Your mom and dad will pick you up after breakfast.”

“Okay,” she whispered, getting under the covers and holding the seahorse she’d gotten that day close to her chest. “Night, night.”

“Goodnight,” Neil said, leaning back. Andrew brushed some of Isla’s hair away from her face and poked her seahorse, making her giggle slightly. They then went back to their room and got in bed again. Neil quickly fell asleep, but he was sure Andrew didn’t for a while.

The next morning, he decided to not go on his run and instead laid in bed long enough that Andrew got up before him. Just when he was sitting up in bed, Neil made a big show of stretching, grinning over his shoulder. Andrew just narrowed his eyes and got to his feet, leaving the room. Neil snickered to himself and followed him to the kitchen.

The girls came out not long later, rubbing their eyes and yawning. Their hair was a complete mess and the blankets had left red lines on their faces, but they perked up the moment they noticed Andrew was making pancakes. “You have to add chocolate chips, Uncle Andrew,” Sofia told him, sitting down at the table. “Otherwise they’re not real pancakes.”

“You’re right,” Andrew agreed, going to the pantry and adding more than what was already there to the batter. Neil considered taking a picture and sending it to Kevin, but didn’t.

After breakfast, both Neil and Andrew made sure that the girls were cleaned up for the day, faces washed and teeth brushed. They both changed into what they had brought and watched some other movie while they waited for Aaron and Katelyn to arrive. They did around noon, entering the apartment and getting bombarded by the two girls who babbled on about what was at the aquarium and the stuffed animals they’d gotten from the gift shop. 

Aaron blinked slowly at the sight of the large octopus that Sofia had. She was grinning brightly and declared its name was Purps, because of the lilac shade the stuffed animal was. Isla held tightly to her seahorse, whispering that its name was Fishie. Neil snorted when he heard and told her it was a great name.

“Did you have fun?” Katelyn asked, brushing Isla’s hair with her fingers.

“Yes!” both the girls replied, pulling their packed backpacks over their shoulders.

“Uncle Neil promised we’d go to the aquarium again,” Sofia declared.

“Something to look forward to at your next sleepover,” Aaron told her.

Neil was thrown off at the thought of another sleepover. “Oh, okay.”

“Say goodbye to your uncles, girls.”

Both Neil and Andrew had to lean down so that the two could press quick kisses to their cheeks, saying goodbye and running down the hallway. Katelyn and Aaron left not long after, saying a quick ‘thank you’, and then the door was closed and the place was quiet. A lot quieter, actually. Neil turned from the door and glanced at the fridge, where Sofia’s picture was still hanging.

“We don’t want kids, right?” he asked Andrew, mostly to confirm it.

Andrew just shrugged and turned towards the bedroom.

“Andrew? Andrew, that’s not an answer. Come on - yes or no? Andrew!”

[foxy-exy]

Strange Engagement - Kevaaron

Prompt from here 09. we’re strangers who meet at a bar, get drunk, and wake up to announcements of our new engagement all over our social media - what did we do???

cw: alcohol use, blacking out, vomit mention, the vaguest suggestions of sexual content — also take note that sexual content happens while both of them are drunk, fyi

Finished this finally for a late bday present for @starsandgutters !!

Aaron does not get blackout drunk. Well, not anymore. It’s a rule he’s set for himself.

But damn if his recent breakup with Katelyn, who was supposed to be the love of his life, hasn’t hit him hard. And fuck if this man that took up residence next to him at the bar two hours ago isn’t infuriating enough to have Aaron’s pride on the fucking line here.

“You can’t take another,” snorts the asshole. Keegan. No, Kelvin. No…

“Fuck you, Kevin,” slurs Aaron, and feels the world spin a little, but the name is right. That’s right. Kevin Day. Some kind of sports guy, Aaron thinks he’s seen him on TV sometime or another. But that doesn’t mean shit for his ability to out-drink Aaron.

Aaron can so take another shot.

“Prove it,” Kevin sneers, and Aaron growls.

Aaron smacks the bar top, and the bartender, Roland, skeptically eyes them both, but Aaron’s a regular and they’re old friends, so Aaron merely has to glare back and gesture impatiently for Roland to slide another shot his way.

Aaron downs it without pause, and there’s laughter, hooting, from onlookers he didn’t know he had. He swallows against the burn and flicks a glance to more strangers, grinning and nodding at him, flashing thumbs up and pumping fists. He manages a jerky nod before spinning back to Kevin, swaying slightly. “I did it. Can you, big shot?”

Not the wittiest one liner he’s ever delivered, especially with all his syllables melding together as his mouth refuses to work with him, but Kevin also seems slightly off-balance as he turns to Roland, nodding for his next round.

“I absolutely should cut you both off before you start brawling,” sighs Roland, pouring another shot. “You’re lucky I’m an enabler.”

“Three more,” blurts Aaron, as Kevin gulps down his tiny glass. “Unless you can’t handle it.”

“You’re tiny, you’re the one who should be worried,” spits Kevin, though it’s hoarse through the alcohol.

“Oh my god,” Roland says, as he pours the shots and shoves them in front of them both, walking away with his hands up. “I’m done with you both for tonight.”

“Bet you you’ll still tap out before me,” Aaron says challengingly, narrowing his eyes up at Kevin, watching the too-tall man narrow his own green eyes back, the lights of the club catching on the tiny number 2 tattoo on his cheekbone, the tendrils of black hair springing free from his quiff. Aaron blinks away his wandering gaze, realizing Kevin is lifting another shot to his lips, and reaches to do the same, the fire of competition spurring him on.

The trickles of light and sound filter through warm, hazy drunkenness. Aaron is wrapped up in something skin-hot and sweat-sticky, hair between his fingers and another pair of lips melded to his and he cannot think, the wall unyielding at his back and the floor unreachable as his legs wrap around hips.

“Fuck,” mumbles a male voice, into his mouth, and Aaron hums in agreement, lazily tightening his hold and letting a hand fall down the back of his makeout partner, digging his fingernails into a crisp shirt and scratching.

The man — Aaron lets his eyes flutter open as the pair of them part for a moment of breath — Kevin, Kevin Day, shudders against him at the rough treatment and lets his head fall to where Aaron’s shoulder meets his neck, mouthing at the skin there, and Aaron responds with his own shiver.

He falls back into Kevin’s lips with a tug at his hair to drag him back up, and Aaron blacks back out at the kiss.

“We should get married.”

“That’s so stupid, that’s a terrible idea. Just because you’re hot doesn’t mean —”

“But you’re getting over your ex too. You know what would stick it to our exes? Getting fucking engaged.”

“You’re out of it, I can’t get publicly engaged to a man. I’d get os — ostra — I’d get bad press.”

“Fuck that, who cares. Buy me a ring, asshole, you’re rich.”

“Fuck, fine. Fine, I will, if you do that again.”

“Shit, Kevin.”

Aaron’s head pounds a terrible rhythm, and he thinks perhaps he attempted to drink sand last night. There’s no other way his mouth and throat would be this awful, gritty texture.

The nausea that hits a moment later threatens to bring up whatever he had last swallowed, and he spills out of bed to stumble-sprint to the toilet.

When he finally hobbles back to the bedroom with the speed of an especially slow zombie, he stops dead when he finds the form of another person burrowed into his pillow.

Kevin Day groans when Aaron pulls the pillow away from him, shielding his eyes from the bedroom light, and squints up at him like he, too, is not sure how he got there.

“A-Aaron?” he finally ventures.

“Congrats, you remember my fucking name. Get out of my bed.”

Kevin does not, in fact, get out of his bed, simply blinks down at his own shirtlessness, lifts the sheet to apparently check on whether he is wearing pants. (Aaron is suspiciously only in his boxers, and he suspects Kevin is too.) “What happened last night?”

“Guess I was stupid and lonely enough to bring you back to my apartment, for some reason.” Aaron rolls his eyes. Why he allowed himself to reach that drunken point in the first place is beyond him. He can’t remember the last time he allowed himself to actually check another man out, let alone…

He realizes suddenly that the terribly shrill ringing he’s heard several times now is his phone, muffled underneath fabric somewhere on the floor of his room. Someone’s calling him.

It takes him several minutes to find the source of the noise, but the mystery caller keeps redialing when the call drops. When Aaron recovers his phone, it’s with an awful sinking feeling that he sees TWIN MENACE blinking across the screen.

Andrew does not call him for no reason.

“Hello?” he mumbles into the phone, and there is an awful silence for a minute on Andrew’s end.

“Care to tell me, oh brother mine, what exactly happened that made you post what you did on Facebook last night?”

Aaron’s stomach drops yet lower. He feels dizzy. “What?”

“Nicky’s been calling you, and when you didn’t pick up, he started calling me. What the fuck did you do?”

“W-what did I do?” Aaron stabs the speakerphone button to pull his phone from his ear and navigate to Facebook. His notifications are blowing up, all over a photo he definitely doesn’t remember posting.

It takes a moment to load when he opens it, and the sound he makes when it does makes Kevin wince and cover his ears.

Kevin and Aaron are very deeply and disgustingly making out, and Aaron is holding a middle finger up to the camera. His left middle finger. And below that middle finger, a ring sits on his finger.

An engagement ring. That is still on his ring finger when Aaron looks down at it.

The caption reads, fuck y’all we’re getting married.

“You fucking proposed to me?” he yells at Kevin, who had been squinting one open eye at him, leaning forward to listen.

Kevin falls out of bed in a tangle of long limbs, with his own squawk. “What?”

“I have an engagement ring. I posted that we’re getting married. Oh my god.”

“Dumbass,” is barely audible from the phone speaker, and then the call disconnects.

“Wait,” Kevin mumbles, rubbing his head and trying to navigate sheets that are still wrapped around him. “Wait, no. You proposed to me. You started this. I know that much. I thought it was a bad idea.”

“Obviously not enough to not get me a ring.”

“Quiet,” Kevin pleads.

“What were we thinking?” Aaron tugs on his hair. He’s not sure how it took him so long to notice the ring’s presence in the first place, it feels unbearably heavy on his finger now.

“You wanted to get back at your ex. And mine. We both were upset about our breakups,” Kevin reasons out slowly, eyes fixing on nothing as he appears to search his memory. “We had a drinking competition, and then, we started dancing, and then venting about our exes, and then we started…making out. It gets pretty fuzzy, but. You said we should get married, I didn’t think so. But you, uh. Convinced me.”

“How do I delete this? Fuck.” The exponentially growing number of comments of absolutely everyone he knows on the Facebook post blurs in front of his eyes.

Whoa, that’s a surprise. Happy for you!

Who’s the fiancé???

Didn’t realize you were with this guy now. Congrats on the engagement!

 Classmates, coworkers, distant family, and…

Aaron, what the fuck.

“Shitshitshitshit.”

Aaron throws the phone in a knee-jerk reaction, his brain narrowing to the tiny profile picture on the screen. Katelyn.

Kevin catches the phone in the same instinctive way, eyes wide as he stares at Aaron.

“She knows. She knows.”

“Who?”

“My ex, my… Katelyn. She saw. She’ll never take me back now. God, she thinks we’re…”

“Did you think she was going to?” Kevin asks incredulously. Like he fucking knows anything about Aaron and Katelyn’s relationship.

“She could have realized! That we were good! That she missed me! She could have —” Aaron’s throat closes over, and he realizes with horror that he is probably about to cry.

“Aaron.” Kevin still looks sickly pale, maybe a little green around the edges, but he nonetheless kind of crawls across Aaron’s bedroom floor to sit in front of him. Now that he’s extricated himself from the sheets, Aaron can see that he is indeed only wearing a very small pair of boxer-briefs. “She wasn’t going to. You were complaining about how your relationship had been, towards the end. It’s good you broke up.”

Aaron swallows back a lump in his throat and blinks away burning, shoving his fist into Kevin’s chest. “Shut up.”

Kevin looks down and takes Aaron’s fist in his own hands, uncurling it and contemplating the ring he’d apparently bought last night as he plays with Aaron’s fingers absently. “I miss my ex too. But she wasn’t good for me. We weren’t… it wasn’t very healthy, how we got together. And we didn’t know how to be healthy once we got out of that situation either.”

“Now look at us,” Aaron huffs sarcastically. “Oh-so-healthily drunk engaged.”

Kevin’s lips twitching into a involuntary smile is unexpectedly attractive, and the dark eyebrow he raises pulls a snort from Aaron that morphs into a giggle, and then Kevin snickers, and then they’re both laughing and staring at this fucking ridiculous ring that’s caused way too much trouble.

“It’s gaudy,” Aaron announces, when they’ve laughed themselves out. “You have no taste.”

“It’s expensive,” Kevin protests, immediately up in arms. “Look at how many diamonds there are.”

“Oh, of course you’d think bigger is better,” Aaron snarks, and Kevin glares at him, and Aaron shoves him back, raising his own eyebrows, but he can’t drop the grin curling across his face.

“You weren’t complaining last night,” Kevin returns, but before Aaron can toss one more flirty line thinly veiled as an insult back at him, another ringtone sounds from across the room.

Kevin turns toward the sound too fast and groans, hand lifting to his mouth queasily as he picks his way over to his own pants to fish out his phone. It cuts off just as he reaches it, but Kevin blinks down at his own screen, looking a little too off-balance.

“What’s wrong?” Aaron asks.

“I think I… I think I posted something too. Christ.”

“Oh, so it’s all fine and good by you that I posted something, but when you’re the one making a fool of yourself, you think —”

“I could lose my contract.”

Aaron blinks. “Right. Playing…”

Kevin looks scandalized. “Exy? Do you not even know?”

“Forgive me for not knowing every detail of my fiancé’s life when I met you last night and forgot more than I remember of our encounter.”

Kevin appears slightly dead inside, face lit by countless popups his eyes flick through on screen. “My team manager has been texting me. If I lose my spot, I’m —”

 Aaron steps closer to peer at the texts, too. “Can they do that? That shouldn’t be allowed.”

Kevin turns a glazed gaze on him. “Exy is everything to me.”

Aaron feels a pang at the look, feels inexplicably compelled to fix it. “Well… we’re not even actually getting married, so it doesn’t matter, right? Just tell them that. Who cares?”

“It may be too late,” Kevin says in a terrible, numb voice, and Aaron is suddenly very deeply determined that it will not be too late to save his poor, sports-obsessed, asshole sort-of-fake fiancé’s career or so help him God.

“Give me that.”

“What are you doing?” Kevin asks helplessly as Aaron clicks through the frantic texts from Manager to the contact information.

“Setting the record straight,” Aaron says firmly, and hits the call button.

You can find more AFTG fics on my AO3, ihaveacleverfandomurl, linked in my bio!

[scimitar-and-longsword]

Hey, I think I just started following you and congrats on 1k!!! would you mind reccing me your favourite fics? I am baby in this fandom and want to read things :)

oh absolutely! I’ve been meaning to make a rec list at some point anyway so this is good!! Also, the movies been out a little over 3 weeks, we’re ALL babies in this fandom, so you’ll fit right in. 💜 These are just a few of the ones I’ve bookmarked/am subscribed to. It’s still so early on in this fandom/ship it’s a bit chaotic, but I’ve tried my best to give a few good recs!

--- Aftermath by kibosama 42361 Words, and counting Joe x Nicky

Nicolo has a growing list of Things That No Longer Make Sense. They go as follows: 1) He can no longer die. Which, in itself, is pretty strange. 2) The man he killed multiple times is somehow, impossibly, like him. 3) He may or may not be having a crisis of faith. 4) His former enemy is treating him like a friend. Even defending him, the man that can't die. 5) And, most confusing of all, why does he like it when Yusuf smiles at him like THAT?

This has 26 chapters SO FAR, and it’s a nice slow burn of Joe and Nicky falling in love in the aftermath of their meeting. It’s delicous and I’ve been LOVING it so far. It seems fairly well researched, and as far as I can tell is steering clear of the pitfalls that a lot of the crusades-era works have been falling into. THAT BEING SAID, I am white and from a christian background so I’m inherently not as educated in some of the micro-aggression/racist bs that has been happening in the fandom in regards to Joe. So idk... take my rec on this one with a grain of salt?? (but seriously I’ve been obsessed with this one!)

---

Finally Alive by domini_moonbeam 18243 Words, and counting Joe x Nicky

Joe is the new immortal not Nile, and Nicky is the one sent to go find him.

This is another one that is ongoing, basically putting Joe in the role of the new immortal. Instant, soulmate level attraction?? we.love.to.see.it.

---

Just Say Yes by ItsAshippersWorld 3489 Words Joe x Nicky

Five times Joe proposed to Nicky and one time Nicky proposed to Joe.

Gotta have at least 5+1 fic in there right? It’s a staple!

---

One night only. by crookedcrown 6227 Words Joe x Nicky

AU - Andy and Booker hire Joe to spend a night with Nicky.

A classic tale of Character A spends night with prostitute!Character B. Both fall madly in love at first sight/fuck. But it meant nothing to the other one, surly??? OH THE DRAMA. You know, that old chestnut. (Porn with Plot *chefs kiss*)

---

Solitude, Interrupted by Wordancer 7039 Words Booker x Female OC

Booker meets a girl at the liquor store.

Bit of a fix-it fic. Post-movie Booker meets a girl who turns out to be another immortal. It’s cute and full of pining and I just WANT BOOKER TO BE HAPPY, OK?

---

turn the world to gold by wordslinging 6859 Words Joe x Nicky

He's imagined their reunion many times. He's imagined sweeping Nicolo off his feet with eloquent declarations of undying devotion, imagined being the one swept off his feet by Nicolo’s quiet sincerity. He's even imagined the unlikely possibility that the spark will have died, that the sight of Nicolo won't set a fire in his blood the way it always has.

Reunited after taking a break for 20 years, it’s litteraly just Porn with emotions lol

---

Under the Black by ToBebbanburg 8025 Words Joe x Nicky

This is just "5 times Joe and Nicky tried to fuck and 1 time they finally managed it" but it's pirates. I mean you try having sex as your ship gets pulled into a hurricane. It's not going to happen, sorry boys.

5+1 but this time with sexy pirates, um yes please!! (more porn haha)

---

Le Vite  by ScribeofArda 8039 Words Joe x Nicky

Nicky breathes out. “What did I miss?” he asks, staring out at the hills. “Why didn’t I see this coming?” After everything, after finding Nile and losing Booker and Andy's new mortality, Joe is pissed off. Nicky is just tired.

Just some good old fashion fighting and making up. I’ve seen a trend of Joe x Nicky being like the **perfect** couple and while I’ll read that FOR SURE, sometimes I want something a little darker, a little more emo. I am a mid 2000s teen after all, emo is in my blood! Bonus Nile & Nicky bonding, kinda?

---

I’ve read a shit ton of fanfic over the last few weeks so I’m sure I’ve missed some great ones, This is just what I had on hand lol

[missjanjie]

Signed, Sealed, Delivered | (6/7)

Title: Signed, Sealed, Delivered Summary:   Jan is in love with her French pen pal, Nicky. Her roommate, Crystal, is in love with her best friend, Gigi. A (perhaps ill-thought out) plan emerges: give Nicky a reason to visit by inviting her to Crystal and Gigi’s wedding. With a month to pull the scheme together, no one knows how this will end up. Word Count: ~3k (this chapter) / ~17.4k (total) Relationship(s): Sportsdoll (Jan Sport/Nicky Doll), Crygi (Crystal Methyd/Gigi Goode Rating: E

Read on AO3 | Ko-Fi

Jan rubbed her eyes, trying to dislodge whatever had gotten caked in there overnight, then pushed herself out of bed and made herself walk towards the kitchen. She put on her glasses and saw Crystal cooking breakfast – so she took off her glasses and put them on again to make sure she was seeing that correctly. “You’re up bright and early,” she observed.

“Is that weird?” Crystal asked, feigning innocence because the answer was obvious. Especially since she couldn’t look Jan in the eye and started shifting her weight from one leg to the other. That went on for about twenty seconds before she broke. “Okay, okay. It’s just… Gigi spent the night.”

That didn’t clear anything up for Jan, who waited for a further explanation. When she didn’t get one, she pointed out, “Gigi spends the night all the time, we both know she’s very comfortable with that. I mean… She practically lives here.”

She huffed because now she had to get into specifics. “No, but it was different this time. We… you know…” instead of outright saying it, she made a ‘v’ with her fingers and flicked her tongue between them.

“Oh please, you can just say you fucked,” Jan said, only for it to hit her a beat later. “Oh my god, you guys fucked?” Her eyes went wide and she bounced excitedly. “Wait, wait, wait. What does that mean for you guys now? Are you gonna be a thing? Is she still here?”

Crystal blinked. “How can you breathe when you’re talking so fast?” She turned back to finish cooking, then plated the food. “She’s taking a shower… I don’t know what this means for us,” she sighed. “The whole thing started because she said we weren’t convincing when we kissed for the photos. Maybe she thought we needed to explore our physical chemistry so we can use it better.”

Jan put her hand over her mouth and giggled. “I’m sorry, but that sounds like a line,” she told her, moving around the kitchen island to pour herself coffee. “Which, I mean, is good for you, because it means she was looking for an excuse to feel you up,” she added, bumping her hip against Crystal’s.

“That’s what I said! But she swore we just needed to be super convincing or it’d ruin our whole plan.”

She quirked her brow and snickered. “You believed that?”

Crystal looked down, pushing a forkful of her omelet into her mouth. “I mean… Why would she make that up? That doesn’t make any sense.” She looked back up, eyes meeting her roommate’s incredulous expression. “What?”

Jan was about to scream, her eyes ready to pop out of her head. If it was obvious to her, it was damn near bewildering that Crystal couldn’t pick up on it. This wasn’t some cute, subtle flirting, like the kind they had been trying to master this whole time – this was as close to an outright declaration of affection that someone like Gigi would get. “I don’t know, Crystal,” she answered with pointed sarcasm, “lying to people we like seems to be the norm here, let’s think this through a little bit.”

Luckily for Crystal, she didn’t get a chance to think too hard. Before she could reply, Gigi exited the bathroom, a towel wrapped around her body, another wrapping up her hair. She looked at the other two girls, blissfully unaware of the bubbling tension between the two roommates. “Hi Jan,” she greeted, at least realizing she had walked in on the middle of a conversation, and added, “I’m gonna go get dressed,” before disappearing into Crystal’s bedroom.

Crystal exhaled once Gigi left and waited for her heart to return to its normal speed. She hated that even though she knew the other girl hadn’t heard anything, her mere presence made her chest tighten. Even after all that had happened the night before, she had the feeling of walking on eggshells around Gigi whenever the subject of her feelings was approached. “What am I supposed to do?”

“Not to sound like the world’s biggest hypocrite, but you could talk to her about it,” Jan suggested gently. She imagined life was a lot easier for people who weren’t afraid to say how they feel, to just open their hearts up and speak their mind without fear of repercussion. It must be nice. Completely unrealistic, but nice.

Unsurprisingly, Crystal scoffed at the mere suggestion. “If talking about things was plausible, we wouldn’t be in this situation to begin with.”

Jan sighed and leaned against the counter. “Yeah, okay, that’s fair.” She exhaled deeply and looked out the window. “God, we’re pretty fucking useless. Almost makes it hard to believe that graduation’s at the end of the week,” she mused. “When’s your family due in?”

“Day before the ceremony, so Friday. Means we got two whole days of peace and quiet before we have to deal with them,” Crystal explained between bites. But then she abruptly stopped, eyes going wide. “Oh fuck, what’re we gonna do about the… everything?”

Before Jan could answer, Gigi – now fully dressed – rejoined them, naturally noticing the horror in Crystal’s expression before anything else. “What’s wrong?”

“We failed to account for Crystal’s family flying out here in the midst of all of this,” Jan told her. “So we’re either going to have to clue them in, avoid mentioning anything entirely, or let her conservative parents think she’s about to marry a girl they’ve met… what, twice?”

Crystal nodded to confirm Jan’s answer. “I think the second one is our best chance, probably the easiest one too.” She strummed her fingers against the plate, lips pursed and brows furrowed. “Gigi, you need to tell your mom not to say anything, they’ll still probably want to say hi to you guys.”

Gigi shrugged. “Sure, but I don’t think she’s planning on going to the ceremony, so I dunno when she’d see them anyway.”

“I’m just covering our asses!” Crystal snapped, causing both of the other girls to take a surprised, cautious step backward. She took a deep breath, squeezing her eyes shut for a moment. “Look, my parents are… They’re trying. But it’s still a work in progress. I just want everything to go as smoothly as possible.”

Jan and Gigi moved back to Crystal, gently holding her from either side. “Everything is going to be fine,” Jan said with a certainty she’d been lacking for the entirety of their plan. But it was different, avoidable, and they weren’t going to let it ruin such an important day. “We’re not gonna let anything ruin this, I promise.”

------

Jan and Crystal, like the rest of their graduating class, were seated in alphabetical order, keeping them apart for the duration of the ceremony. They texted each other, and both Jan and Gigi made sure to reassure Crystal that there was nothing to worry about. And as they sat and listened to speech after speech, things felt increasingly calm, to the point that they were both able to walk across the stage with their heads held high.

And when they tossed their caps in the air, they felt free. The past four years had been a tough, enduring chapter in their lives, but a fun one as well. It also helped to have one less thing on their plate with Nicky’s visit and the ‘wedding’ around the corner.

“I’m so happy for you guys!” Gigi beamed when she finally caught up with the two of them after weaving through the crowd of graduates and their families. “How do you feel?”

“Tired,” Crystal answered. “I don’t see why they had to hold this so damn early.”

Jan frowned sympathetically. “She didn’t get a chance to get her coffee,” she clarified to Gigi. “Honestly, I’m just happy it’s all done. Gonna miss a lot of it but like… I’m not rushing back any time soon.”

“Yeah? Not going for that MFA?” Gigi asked, absentmindedly looping her arm around Crystal’s waist.

“Not now, at least,” she shrugged. “Gonna see how far I can get with this before I sign myself up for more school.” As she spoke, she felt her phone vibrate in her purse, then fished it out and smiled when she unlocked it. “Aw, look at this cute ‘congratulations’ gif Nicky sent me.”

Crystal’s gaze narrowed as she looked at the screen. “Congrats on your graduation, darling. I have a special present for you, but it’s a surprise. Heart, winky-kissy emoji,” she read off the screen, then looked at Jan quizzically. “What the fuck was that? Did you guys move to sexting already?”

Despite her reddening face, Jan’s expression read just as perplexed. “Believe me, you would know if we were. I have no idea what the surprise is.” She decided to set the mystery aside for the time being. “We should get back home and throw an overnight bag together, we can check into the hotel and leave them there, then right out to dinner with our families.”

“I still can’t believe your parents booked you a night in a penthouse for graduation,” Gigi chimed in. “They don’t mind that I’m going too, right?”

Jan shook her head. “It’s fine, you’ll just have to share a bed with Crystal… But I’m sure that won’t be an issue, right?” she did her best to fight off a smirk, but by the way, Crystal was glaring at her, she was pretty sure her efforts were not paying off.

But Gigi didn’t seem to notice either way. “Yeah, no problem here,” she answered with a casual shrug.

------

Much to everyone’s relief, dinner with Crystal and Jan’s families went off without a hitch, and the two of them, along with Gigi, were ready to have a fun, relaxing night in the penthouse. The suite had two queen-sized beds, Jan running to claim the one closer to the window and the air conditioning.

“Holy shit,” Crystal remarked as she looked around. “How much did this cost?”

“Dunno, my dad used his airline points to cover it,” Jan explained, then flopped down on the bed. “This is a perfect note to end our college careers on.”

Gigi sat on the edge of the other bed. “Can we order room service?” she asked, pushing herself further onto the bed and aimlessly swinging her legs.

Jan sat up and nodded, then got the menu from the bedside drawer. “You know, Nicky never got back to me about whatever her surprise was, I didn’t get anything in the mail.”

“And no salacious photos?” Gigi asked.

“No.”

“She must have a big package for you,” Crystal mused, then laughed at her wording. She ignored Jan and Gigi rolling their eyes and moved to look at the menu, the three of them calling in an order shortly after.

As the three of them sat on Jan’s bed, eating overpriced food and drinking wine that was probably fancy, but they wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference between that and the fifteen dollar bottles they were used to. And after a couple glasses of wine, they had become even more relaxed, enough for Crystal to admit, “Jan knows we fucked, by the way.”

Gigi blinked, looking between Crystal and Jan with her lips pursed around the glass. “I didn’t know it was a secret,” she replied once she lowered the glass. “But why did Jan want to know?”

Crystal swallowed thickly, trying to think of a way to talk herself out of what she’d just gotten into. “Because… We’re friends? We talk to each other about this sort of thing. We’re close.”

“Very close,” Jan added under her breath, then giggled when Crystal shot her a look.

Gigi frowned. “Okay, can I ask something that’s been bugging me for a while? Do you guys have, like, a thing?”

Crystal nearly choked on her drink while Jan just seemed to sit and think, then answered with “define ‘thing’.”

“Look, I know you’re in love with Nicky, I’m not saying I think you guys are gonna run off together or anything,” Gigi assured. “But… Sometimes I get the vibe that Crystal might have a crush on you.”

While Crystal’s mouth hung open in shock and a bit of wine dribbled down her chin, Jan had burst out laughing, narrowly avoiding knocking anything over in the process. It was the type of laughter that left her out of breath and with watery eyes.

“Are you done?” Gigi asked, deadpan. “Did you get it out of your system?”

“Sorry, sorry,” Jan panted, then turned to Crystal. “I’m sorry, sweetie, I have to tell her the truth,” and Crystal didn’t put up a fight, so she proceeded. “Okay, look, Crystal and I did have sex. Once. But she did it to take her mind off of how much she likes you. It wasn’t anything more than two friends getting high and helping each other out.”

It wasn’t easy to stun Gigi into silence, but Jan’s explanation seemed to do the trick. Had she had it wrong this whole time? Misread every interaction? Ignored every sign? Sure, she knew she tended to be oblivious, but this just made her feel silly. At this point, she didn’t care that Jan and Crystal had hooked up, all she was concerned with was what happened next. “Since we’re all telling the truth now… I have an embarrassing confession. The last girl I hooked up with… I, um, called her ‘Crystal’ in bed. Kinda realized I couldn’t ignore how I felt anymore.”

“If I may,” Jan chimed in. “Literally the first time I saw you guys without the engagement rings was at graduation. Maybe this was a stupid, convoluted way to figure it out, but I think you guys are supposed to be together. Now, I… suddenly have the desire to take a long bath… Bye.” She got off the bed and quickly ducked into the bathroom to give the other two the time alone they needed.

“She’s trying her best,” Crystal remarked before turning to face Gigi. “I… that story… you weren’t just saying that to have an excuse for liking me, right?”

Gigi smiled softly and shook her head. “Is it really that hard to believe?”

Crystal shrugged. “I guess not. The image of you saying the wrong name in bed is funny, though. Just wanted to make sure it was real.” She shifted closer to Gigi and rested her head on her shoulder. “I’m so tired of pretending, not pretending to be engaged, pretending to just be friends.”

“You’re not suggesting we get engaged for real, are you?”

She laughed, picking her head up and resting it against Gigi’s. “No, not at all. I just wanna be your girlfriend, Geege.”

Gigi grinned broadly and pressed a kiss to Crystal’s lips. “I love how that sounds. Say it again, please.”

And Crystal would’ve happily said it as many times as Gigi wanted, as long as she got a ‘yes’ in return. “I wanna be your girlfriend.”

“Then… You are. That’s that,” she concluded, kissing her again, this time longer and with much more emotion behind it. “If we barricade Jan in the bathroom, we could probably fuck before she breaks down the door.”

Crystal laughed, getting up and moving back to hers and Gigi’s bed. “She wouldn’t care if she walked in on us, neither would I, honestly, but I kind of… don’t want to have sex right now. I’m all emotional and vulnerable and whatever,” she admitted as she laid on her side, opening her arms and beckoning Gigi to join her.

“Oh,” Gigi felt her heart swell with warmth. “We don’t have to at all, then,” she hummed, laying with Crystal and holding her close. She pressed gentle kisses over her face, carding her fingers through Crystal’s hair.

They cuddled in comfortable silence for about another ten minutes until they heard the bathroom door open. Jan was wrapped in a white terrycloth robe, her hair a bit damp, and let out a content sigh. She looked over at the couple and smiled fondly. “Aw, you guys are too cute!” she squealed.

“You weren’t eavesdropping, were you?” Crystal asked.

“Nope,” Jan answered honestly. “I’ve been texting with Nicky. But it looks like you guys worked everything out.”

“We did,” Gigi confirmed, then her brows furrowed. “She’s up late, isn’t she? It’s after three in the morning in France, right?”

Jan looked at her phone and counted to herself. “Yeah, that is late, but that’s not uncommon for her, so I didn’t ask.” She gathered up the plates and glasses, stacking it up on the tray and setting it aside. “You guys are gonna finish this bottle off with me, right?”

Before either of them could answer, there was a knock on the door that caught them all off guard. “Wonder what else my parents have planned,” she mused, expecting some sort of additional graduation present, or maybe just an extra dessert. Either way, she opened the door with a smile, only for her jaw to go slack and practically drop to the floor. Surely she was seeing things, or maybe she was more drunk than she realized. There was no way–

“Surprise!” Nicky beamed, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

[buriedinbaltimore]

congrats on 100 followers!!!! i'm really interested in hearing ur opinions on racism in the aftg fandom or the plot point u wont accept :)

Thank you so much!! So here is the draft about racism in the aftg fandom, 

So this is directed mostly at white people in the AFTG fandom...

Something I’ve seen around that bothers me is people saying that all the foxes (sans Nicky) being white is unrealistic because of their backgrounds. I don’t know if the comments are intended to come off this way, but I read them as people saying because the foxes are poor and traumatized they must be POC, or it is much more likely that they would be POC.

This kind of thinking feeds into harmful stereotypes, and people should try to be more aware of how they talk about it. I have seen posts where people bring this up in regards to Seth specifically, where a lot of the fandom has head-canoned him as black because of racist stereotypes, but I think it goes beyond just his character.

Looking at the overall Child Population by Race in 2018, 50% of children in America were non-hispanic white. If we look back at 2006 its 57%. Yes, there are higher rates of poverty, incarceration, and being in foster care for POC, especially BIPOC, but there is a similar number of white people living in poverty/incarcerated/in foster care as POC because there are more/an equal amount of white people in America overall.

(The reason I bring statistics into the discussion regarding poverty, incarceration, and foster care is because those are all societal issues that are affected by racism. I didn’t mention sexual abuse, physical abuse, or drug abuse because those are all issues that are universal and not worth looking up statistics on. People of color are more harshly punished and policed for using drugs, but white people use drugs just as much. Many times different forms of the same drug (e.g.crack and cocaine) are policed differently because they are used by different populations. The same is to be said of sexual and physical abuse.)

To clarify, I am specifically calling out white people who’s conceptualization of the foxes’ races is basically racialized trauma/tragedy porn, and who end up reducing the characters to a stereotype, not the people who are thoughtfully trying to add diversity and representation to the story. I am not saying that the foxes are or should be white. I am saying that maybe look harder at why you’re thinking of certain characters a certain way, especially if you are spreading your interpretation to other people in the fandom through your writing/art.

Also if you want check out this post https://writingwithcolor.tumblr.com/post/155450813377/stereotyped-vs-nuanced-characters-and-audience

on Stereotyped vs Nuanced Characters and Audience Perception, and the whole blog in general is really helpful.

The reason I didn’t post it initially is because I am white and I worry that people will interpret this as me saying not to think of the Foxes as people of color, but I hope the actual message is clear :) 

[artificialqueens]

Signed, Sealed, Delivered, Chapter 6 (Crygi, Jan x Nicky) - Joley

ao3 link

Jan rubbed her eyes, trying to dislodge whatever had gotten caked in there overnight, then pushed herself out of bed and made herself walk towards the kitchen. She put on her glasses and saw Crystal cooking breakfast – so she took off her glasses and put them on again to make sure she was seeing that correctly. “You’re up bright and early,” she observed.

“Is that weird?” Crystal asked, feigning innocence because the answer was obvious. Especially since she couldn’t look Jan in the eye and started shifting her weight from one leg to the other. That went on for about twenty seconds before she broke. “Okay, okay. It’s just… Gigi spent the night.”

That didn’t clear anything up for Jan, who waited for a further explanation. When she didn’t get one, she pointed out, “Gigi spends the night all the time, we both know she’s very comfortable with that. I mean… She practically lives here.”

She huffed because now she had to get into specifics. “No, but it was different this time. We… you know…” instead of outright saying it, she made a ‘v’ with her fingers and flicked her tongue between them.

“Oh please, you can just say you fucked,” Jan said, only for it to hit her a beat later. “Oh my god, you guys fucked?” Her eyes went wide and she bounced excitedly. “Wait, wait, wait. What does that mean for you guys now? Are you gonna be a thing? Is she still here?”

Crystal blinked. “How can you breathe when you’re talking so fast?” She turned back to finish cooking, then plated the food. “She’s taking a shower… I don’t know what this means for us,” she sighed. “The whole thing started because she said we weren’t convincing when we kissed for the photos. Maybe she thought we needed to explore our physical chemistry so we can use it better.”

Jan put her hand over her mouth and giggled. “I’m sorry, but that sounds like a line,” she told her, moving around the kitchen island to pour herself coffee. “Which, I mean, is good for you, because it means she was looking for an excuse to feel you up,” she added, bumping her hip against Crystal’s.

“That’s what I said! But she swore we just needed to be super convincing or it’d ruin our whole plan.”

She quirked her brow and snickered. “You believed that?”

Crystal looked down, pushing a forkful of her omelet into her mouth. “I mean… Why would she make that up? That doesn’t make any sense.” She looked back up, eyes meeting her roommate’s incredulous expression. “What?”

Jan was about to scream, her eyes ready to pop out of her head. If it was obvious to her, it was damn near bewildering that Crystal couldn’t pick up on it. This wasn’t some cute, subtle flirting, like the kind they had been trying to master this whole time – this was as close to an outright declaration of affection that someone like Gigi would get. “I don’t know, Crystal,” she answered with pointed sarcasm, “lying to people we like seems to be the norm here, let’s think this through a little bit.”

Luckily for Crystal, she didn’t get a chance to think too hard. Before she could reply, Gigi exited the bathroom, a towel wrapped around her body, another wrapping up her hair. She looked at the other two girls, blissfully unaware of the bubbling tension between the two roommates. “Hi Jan,” she greeted, at least realizing she had walked in on the middle of a conversation, and added, “I’m gonna go get dressed,” before disappearing into Crystal’s bedroom.

Crystal exhaled once Gigi left and waited for her heart to return to its normal speed. She hated that even though she knew the other girl hadn’t heard anything, her mere presence made her chest tighten. Even after all that had happened the night before, she had the feeling of walking on eggshells around Gigi whenever the subject of her feelings was approached. “What am I supposed to do?”

“Not to sound like the world’s biggest hypocrite, but you could talk to her about it,” Jan suggested gently. She imagined life was a lot easier for people who weren’t afraid to say how they feel, to just open their hearts up and speak their mind without fear of repercussion. It must be nice. Completely unrealistic, but nice.

Unsurprisingly, Crystal scoffed at the mere suggestion. “If talking about things was plausible, we wouldn’t be in this situation to begin with.”

Jan sighed and leaned against the counter. “Yeah, okay, that’s fair.” She exhaled deeply and looked out the window. “God, we’re pretty fucking useless. Almost makes it hard to believe that graduation’s at the end of the week,” she mused. “When’s your family due in?”

“Day before the ceremony, so Friday. Means we got two whole days of peace and quiet before we have to deal with them,” Crystal explained between bites. But then she abruptly stopped, eyes going wide. “Oh fuck, what’re we gonna do about the… everything?”

Before Jan could answer, Gigi – now fully dressed – rejoined them, naturally noticing the horror in Crystal’s expression before anything else. “What’s wrong?”

“We failed to account for Crystal’s family flying out here in the midst of all of this,” Jan told her. “So we’re either going to have to clue them in, avoid mentioning anything entirely, or let her conservative parents think she’s about to marry a girl they’ve met… what, twice?”

Crystal nodded to confirm Jan’s answer. “I think the second one is our best chance, probably the easiest one too.” She strummed her fingers against the plate, lips pursed and brows furrowed. “Gigi, you need to tell your mom not to say anything, they’ll still probably want to say hi to you guys.”

Gigi shrugged. “Sure, but I don’t think she’s planning on going to the ceremony, so I dunno when she’d see them anyway.”

“I’m just covering our asses!” Crystal snapped, causing both of the other girls to take a surprised, cautious step backward. She took a deep breath, squeezing her eyes shut for a moment. “Look, my parents are… They’re trying. But it’s still a work in progress. I just want everything to go as smoothly as possible.”

Jan and Gigi moved back to Crystal, gently holding her from either side. “Everything is going to be fine,” Jan said with a certainty she’d been lacking for the entirety of their plan. But it was different, avoidable, and they weren’t going to let it ruin such an important day. “We’re not gonna let anything ruin this, I promise.”

——

Jan and Crystal, like the rest of their graduating class, were seated in alphabetical order, keeping them apart for the duration of the ceremony. They texted each other, and both Jan and Gigi made sure to reassure Crystal that there was nothing to worry about. And as they sat and listened to speech after speech, things felt increasingly calm, to the point that they were both able to walk across the stage with their heads held high.

And when they tossed their caps in the air, they felt free. The past four years had been a tough, enduring chapter in their lives, but a fun one as well. It also helped to have one less thing on their plate with Nicky’s visit and the ‘wedding’ around the corner.

“I’m so happy for you guys!” Gigi beamed when she finally caught up with the two of them after weaving through the crowd of graduates and their families. “How do you feel?”

“Tired,” Crystal answered. “I don’t see why they had to hold this so damn early.”

Jan frowned sympathetically. “She didn’t get a chance to get her coffee,” she clarified to Gigi. “Honestly, I’m just happy it’s all done. Gonna miss a lot of it but like… I’m not rushing back any time soon.”

“Yeah? Not going for that MFA?” Gigi asked, absentmindedly looping her arm around Crystal’s waist.

“Not now, at least,” she shrugged. “Gonna see how far I can get with this before I sign myself up for more school.” As she spoke, she felt her phone vibrate in her purse, then fished it out and smiled when she unlocked it. “Aw, look at this cute ‘congratulations’ gif Nicky sent me.”

Crystal’s gaze narrowed as she looked at the screen. “Congrats on your graduation, darling. I have a special present for you, but it’s a surprise. Heart, winky-kissy emoji,” she read off the screen, then looked at Jan quizzically. “What the fuck was that? Did you guys move to sexting already?”

Despite her reddening face, Jan’s expression read just as perplexed. “Believe me, you would know if we were. I have no idea what the surprise is.” She decided to set the mystery aside for the time being. “We should get back home and throw an overnight bag together, we can check into the hotel and leave them there, then right out to dinner with our families.”

“I still can’t believe your parents booked you a night in a penthouse for graduation,” Gigi chimed in. “They don’t mind that I’m going too, right?”

Jan shook her head. “It’s fine, you’ll just have to share a bed with Crystal… But I’m sure that won’t be an issue, right?” she did her best to fight off a smirk, but by the way, Crystal was glaring at her, she was pretty sure her efforts were not paying off.

But Gigi didn’t seem to notice either way. “Yeah, no problem here,” she answered with a casual shrug.

——

Much to everyone’s relief, dinner with Crystal and Jan’s families went off without a hitch, and the two of them, along with Gigi, were ready to have a fun, relaxing night in the penthouse. The suite had two queen-sized beds, Jan running to claim the one closer to the window and the air conditioning.

“Holy shit,” Crystal remarked as she looked around. “How much did this cost?”

“Dunno, my dad used his airline points to cover it,” Jan explained, then flopped down on the bed. “This is a perfect note to end our college careers on.”

Gigi sat on the edge of the other bed. “Can we order room service?” she asked, pushing herself further onto the bed and aimlessly swinging her legs.

Jan sat up and nodded, then got the menu from the bedside drawer. “You know, Nicky never got back to me about whatever her surprise was, I didn’t get anything in the mail.”

“And no salacious photos?” Gigi asked.

“No.”

“She must have a big package for you,” Crystal mused, then laughed at her wording. She ignored Jan and Gigi rolling their eyes and moved to look at the menu, the three of them calling in an order shortly after.

As the three of them sat on Jan’s bed, eating overpriced food and drinking wine that was probably fancy, but they wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference between that and the fifteen dollar bottles they were used to. And after a couple glasses of wine, they had become even more relaxed, enough for Crystal to admit, “Jan knows we fucked, by the way.”

Gigi blinked, looking between Crystal and Jan with her lips pursed around the glass. “I didn’t know it was a secret,” she replied once she lowered the glass. “But why did Jan want to know?”

Crystal swallowed thickly, trying to think of a way to talk herself out of what she’d just gotten into. “Because… We’re friends? We talk to each other about this sort of thing. We’re close.”

“Very close,” Jan added under her breath, then giggled when Crystal shot her a look.

Gigi frowned. “Okay, can I ask something that’s been bugging me for a while? Do you guys have, like, a thing?”

Crystal nearly choked on her drink while Jan just seemed to sit and think, then answered with “define ‘thing’.”

“Look, I know you’re in love with Nicky, I’m not saying I think you guys are gonna run off together or anything,” Gigi assured. “But… Sometimes I get the vibe that Crystal might have a crush on you.”

While Crystal’s mouth hung open in shock and a bit of wine dribbled down her chin, Jan had burst out laughing, narrowly avoiding knocking anything over in the process. It was the type of laughter that left her out of breath and with watery eyes.

“Are you done?” Gigi asked, deadpan. “Did you get it out of your system?”

“Sorry, sorry,” Jan panted, then turned to Crystal. “I’m sorry, sweetie, I have to tell her the truth,” and Crystal didn’t put up a fight, so she proceeded. “Okay, look, Crystal and I did have sex. Once. But she did it to take her mind off of how much she likes you. It wasn’t anything more than two friends getting high and helping each other out.”

It wasn’t easy to stun Gigi into silence, but Jan’s explanation seemed to do the trick. Had she had it wrong this whole time? Misread every interaction? Ignored every sign? Sure, she knew she tended to be oblivious, but this just made her feel silly. At this point, she didn’t care that Jan and Crystal had hooked up, all she was concerned with was what happened next. “Since we’re all telling the truth now… I have an embarrassing confession. The last girl I hooked up with… I, um, called her ‘Crystal’ in bed. Kinda realized I couldn’t ignore how I felt anymore.”

“If I may,” Jan chimed in. “Literally the first time I saw you guys without the engagement rings was at graduation. Maybe this was a stupid, convoluted way to figure it out, but I think you guys are supposed to be together. Now, I… suddenly have the desire to take a long bath… Bye.” She got off the bed and quickly ducked into the bathroom to give the other two the time alone they needed.

“She’s trying her best,” Crystal remarked before turning to face Gigi. “I… that story… you weren’t just saying that to have an excuse for liking me, right?”

Gigi smiled softly and shook her head. “Is it really that hard to believe?”

Crystal shrugged. “I guess not. The image of you saying the wrong name in bed is funny, though. Just wanted to make sure it was real.” She shifted closer to Gigi and rested her head on her shoulder. “I’m so tired of pretending, not pretending to be engaged, pretending to just be friends.”

“You’re not suggesting we get engaged for real, are you?”

She laughed, picking her head up and resting it against Gigi’s. “No, not at all. I just wanna be your girlfriend, Geege.”

Gigi grinned broadly and pressed a kiss to Crystal’s lips. “I love how that sounds. Say it again, please.”

And Crystal would’ve happily said it as many times as Gigi wanted, as long as she got a ‘yes’ in return. “I wanna be your girlfriend.”

“Then… You are. That’s that,” she concluded, kissing her again, this time longer and with much more emotion behind it. “If we barricade Jan in the bathroom, we could probably fuck before she breaks down the door.”

Crystal laughed, getting up and moving back to hers and Gigi’s bed. “She wouldn’t care if she walked in on us, neither would I, honestly, but I kind of… don’t want to have sex right now. I’m all emotional and vulnerable and whatever,” she admitted as she laid on her side, opening her arms and beckoning Gigi to join her.

“Oh,” Gigi felt her heart swell with warmth. “We don’t have to at all, then,” she hummed, laying with Crystal and holding her close. She pressed gentle kisses over her face, carding her fingers through Crystal’s hair.

They cuddled in comfortable silence for about another ten minutes until they heard the bathroom door open. Jan was wrapped in a white terrycloth robe, her hair a bit damp, and let out a content sigh. She looked over at the couple and smiled fondly. “Aw, you guys are too cute!” she squealed.

“You weren’t eavesdropping, were you?” Crystal asked.

“Nope,” Jan answered honestly. “I’ve been texting with Nicky. But it looks like you guys worked everything out.”

“We did,” Gigi confirmed, then her brows furrowed. “She’s up late, isn’t she? It’s after three in the morning in France, right?”

Jan looked at her phone and counted to herself. “Yeah, that is late, but that’s not uncommon for her, so I didn’t ask.” She gathered up the plates and glasses, stacking it up on the tray and setting it aside. “You guys are gonna finish this bottle off with me, right?”

Before either of them could answer, there was a knock on the door that caught them all off guard. “Wonder what else my parents have planned,” she mused, expecting some sort of additional graduation present, or maybe just an extra dessert. Either way, she opened the door with a smile, only for her jaw to go slack and practically drop to the floor. Surely she was seeing things, or maybe she was more drunk than she realized. There was no way–

“Surprise!” Nicky beamed, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

[beefy-keefy]

hands over your eyes

| T |  the monsters, a game of Guess Who, humor | done!aaron and andriel being annoying | 2k |

on ao3

His back shakes as his mouth silently quivers, open with pain so deep he can barely manage to make sounds when he cries. “You cheater,” Nicky sobs, voice thick and choked. “I give you all of my trust. And then this.” Hunched over and banging his fist on the ground, he wails and rolls around a few times before bumping into the edge of the sofa. The others circled around him regard him passively.

“It’s fucking Guess Who,” Aaron mutters.

or: a game of Guess Who between the monsters turns more into Guess Who Aaron strangles first.

For @i-care-bout-things-too as part of the @aftgexchange Valentine’s 2020 <3

fic also under cut! mwah

His back shakes as his mouth silently quivers, open with pain so deep he can barely manage to make sounds when he cries. “You cheater,” Nicky sobs, voice thick and choked. “I give you all of my trust. And then this.” Hunched over and banging his fist on the ground, he wails and rolls around a few times before bumping into the edge of the sofa. The others circled around him regard him passively.

“It’s fucking Guess Who,” Aaron mutters.

“Your turn,” Neil says.

Aaron flicks his gaze around his board. They’ve been trying to play for an hour now, but most of it was just everyone trying to teach Neil as he struggled silently. Nicky continues to bemoan how Aaron, ten minutes before, had walked over to his side and looked blatantly at his board. Which, obviously, was the wrong choice as Nicky had immediately dropped to the floor and began crying. “Is it Blonde?”

Neil glances down at his board Nicky had placed on his lap for him. His brow furrows. “Uh, her hair is kinda in-between. Nicky, is Ashley’s hair more Blonde or Brown?”

“You still don’t know how to fucking play,” Aaron announces. “Congrats.”

“You didn’t even pick Ashley,” Kevin says, pointing at Neil’s board from where he’s sitting with his laptop on the sofa across from Neil. Aaron is beside him, with Andrew on the couch above Neil and both Neil and Nicky opting for the floor. He reaches down to push Nicky’s quivering head away from the corner of the sofa before saying, “Your slider is on Bernard.”

“For fuck’s sake,” Aaron says, throwing his hands up. “This is why Nicky is on your team. To make sure you dumbasses don’t do shit like give away your entire game.”

Neil squints closer at the board. “I don’t remember picking Bernard.”

“What the fuck,” Aaron whispers. Slamming his board on the floor, he stands up, starting for the door. “Fuck this.”

“I was winning!” Kevin yells at his back.

“You weren’t even playing!” Aaron yells back.

“Come back,” Nicky pleads, voice thick from his wailing performance. He’s calmed down now, mostly. “I’ll make Andrew play.”

Neil tilts his head up at Andrew, the salt in his hair Andrew had sprinkled there periodically during the game falling off. He’s seated cross-legged on the couch above Neil, flicking the salt off of his pretzels.

Andrew’s stare is half-lidded. “You’re upside down,” he says.

“Yes,” Neil replies. “It’s because I’m looking at you.”

Brushing salt at Neil and narrowly missing his eye, Andrew asks, “Do you have to do it upside-down?”

Neil doesn’t move as salt falls onto his nose, his lashes. One particularly large flake goes up his nostril when he inhales. He sneezes, which, he discovers, is fairly uncomfortable when you’re upside-down. “Well, yeah, because you’re above me and I have to tilt my head to look up at you. So, upside-down.”

“If I have to hear them talk one more time I’m leaving again,” Aaron threatens from where he’s sitting down again beside Kevin on the couch. “This is the stupidest conversation I’ve heard in months.”

“I’m playing,” Andrew states. He shoves a pretzel against Neil’s mouth, jamming it in and nearly choking Neil.

“True love,” Nicky sighs as Neil attempts to chew and swallow upside down. He sits back up. “New round.”

Neil dutifully takes both boards to open all the tiles of faces and passing one to Aaron.

Outside, snow falls, heavy and pale. Dan was supposed to come and visit, and Renee and Allison the next week. The snow, however, is seemingly intent on keeping them from Neil. Wymack is out doing errands with Betsy and Abby--”If I find one speck of blood”--and won’t be back for an hour. Nicky had lamented dramatically for over an hour after they’d left about how scary life would be for the three of them being gone would be like, and only stopped when his throat was beginning to hurt.

“I don’t understand why we can’t just play literally anything else,” Aaron says, gesturing behind him towards the substantial pile of games Andrew had stolen from Betsy’s office. Neil recognizes Monopoly and Scrabble from conversations and references from Matt he only half-understood.“Why are we playing the dumbest one?”

“Because it’s easiest for Neil and Kevin to understand,” Nicky says. “The other choice would have been, like, charades but Neil would have pretended to understand in fear he would take up too much time from us like he’s worrying about now and he would have messed up every time by not knowing what half of the cards are.” He slings an arm around Kevin with a teasing smile and immediately wrenches it back when he realizes who he did it to.

Kevin doesn’t react. “I’m not playing,” he says, eyes on his screen.

Neil feels the oddest warm pulse in his heart. “Thank you, but I get it. We can start playing.”

“No you don’t,” Aaron and Nicky say in unison.

“I don’t,” Neil admits.

“That’s because you are stupid,” Andrew says simply, and says, “I’m with Neil.”

Nicky sighs. “But you were supposed to be with Aaron for like, bonding, and I just wanted to be with--”

“I’m with Neil,” Andrew interrupts. He glances at Neil, then at the spot on the couch beside him. Neil gets up with the board to sit beside Andrew.

“I was expecting that,” Nicky says, and scoots closer to Aaron so Neil can only see the back of their board.

“Can I go over this again?” Neil asks. At Nicky’s thumbs-up, he breathes out and scrunches up his face in concentration. “So, each team has a board,”

“Well, no shit,” Aaron cuts in. Andrew reaches over to jab his neck and Nicky shushes him, gesturing for Neil to continue.

“--and they each pick a person from the people tiles. But you don’t tell the other team who. And then you take turns asking questions--but they have to be yes-or-no. And then the other team will answer and you narrow down the people by flipping down the tiles on your board that don’t fit because you have the same boards. And whoever can guess the other team’s person first wins.”

“See, you say that, and then you do stupid shit liketell us exactly who your person is.”

Neil blinks. Nicky frowns, mimics Aaron, and pushes him. “You’re so sassy today.”

Aaron huffs. “Just play.”

“Us first,” Andrew says, and begins before the other team can answer. “Blonde or Brunette.”

“There’s so many things that are wrong with that,” Nicky says. “First off, you didn’t pick your person. Second off, even if you did, you didn’t discuss it with Neil. Third off, the oldest player starts--which is me--and how am I supposed to answer that?Blonde or Brunette?”

“It’s a simple question,” Andrew says cooly. “Blonde,” he pauses, “or Brunette?”

“It’s supposed to be a yes-or-no question!” Nicky says, with emotion.

“So answer it that way,” Andrew says, without.

“Wh--Blonde or Brunette?”

Andrew blinks slowly.

“I thought it was the youngest player first?” Neil asks. “I read the rules last night.”

“So you studied for this, Aaron says slowly, “and you still manage to fuck it up. What age group is this even for?”

Nicky had given up arguing with Andrew, and picks up the box. “Six and up.”

“So Neil is the and up then,” Aaron mutters. “Whatever. Let’s just play.”

“Blonde. Or. Brunette.” Andrew looks at Nicky expectantly.

Nicky buries his head in his hands and turns to Aaron. “You heard the man,” he whispers.

“I don’t understand why you can’t just answer it,” Neil says, unflinching.

He stares at Aaron. Aaron stares back. Finally, he cracks.

“FINE!” He yells. It’s so loud Neil can hear Matt’s feet hesitantly padding down the stairs. He silently wishes Matt would come down. Matt said he misses Neil.“YES! OK? YES!”

Matt finally pokes his head out from the doorway. “Everything okay here?” Nicky nods with fear on his face. “Oh, hey Neil,” Matt says when he sees him. He waves. “Oh, are you guys playing Guess Who? I love that game.”

“I’m learning it,” Neil says. “It’s fun.”

“Can I join in?”

“Oh, hell no,” Aaron says, standing up. “I’m done with your bullshit.”

“Who’s?” Andrew asks, innocently.

“How about Monopoly, then?” Matt says, confused. He slowly walks towards their circle on the living room mat, hand in front of him like he’s walking towards an animal. Cautiously. Kinda like when a victim is convinced they can talk down a criminal but later gets hurt to an excruciating degree and is later left with the aftermath of crippling PTSD and the knowledge that their trust is their downfall, Neil thinks passively.

Aaron and Nicky look up at Matt with visible panic.

“Sure,” Neil says, “Sounds fun. You’re going to have to teach me, though.”

“You’re going to leave a different man,” Nicky says, and leaves with Aaron in a rush.

Andrew stays, flicking a cold stare at Matt, chewing absent-mindedly on a pretzel. “I’m with Neil.”

 --

  BONUS

 --

 “That was fun,” Neil hums as Andrew pushes him against a wall. The hallway to their rooms is unoccupied, with everyone having mysteriously disappeared since the games had ended. “Don’t know why Matt had to go pee so often though. He’s actually really bad at staying hydrated.”

“Shut up,” Andrew growls against Neil’s lips. “Shut. Up.” Then after a beat, “And if you say make me--”

“Make me,” Neil says, because he’s a little shit and because he thinks that maybe, maybe Andrew likes it. A little.

“You’ve gotten disgustingly talkative since they left,” Andrew grinds out, pressing his forehead against Neil’s.

“You have a very bony forehead,” Neil observes.

Andrew pins him harder. “Someday,” he whispers, “I am going to drown you.”

“I didn’t say I didn’t like it!” Neil protests.

He nips at Andrew’s lips as an apology of a sort. They’re salty. Crusted with the sea salt Andrew had missed from the pretzels at the corners. Andrew tolerates it only for a few seconds before bringing Neil’s lips to find his again.

Andrew’s lips are always soft even though he doesn’t use the balm that the girls sometimes let Neil borrow. Andrew doesn’t stay hydrated enough, either. Neil thinks absent-midedly of getting him a bigger water-bottle.

Neil’s lips are always chapped. He feels clumsy sometimes, next to Andrew. His knees are always scrapped and his fingernails broken. He doesn’t know as much as Andrew and doesn’t understand things like Andrew does, even when he doesn’t show it. He’s not as experienced, but he thinks he makes up for it with enthusiasm.

But Andrew never showed any signs of caring.

They kiss the slowest they have in weeks, in stark contrast to the tight grip Andrew has on Neil’s shoulders. Neil hands grapple at the wall awkwardly before brushing hesitantly over Andrew’s hips.

He’s about to lean away to ask if it’s alright when Andrew impatiently pushes them down himself. Neil’s chest stutters. In nerves, or affection.

He’s not particularly used to either of those, but Andrew--

Andrew keeps kissing him. And he kisses back. Lucky, He thinks. Neil’s never really thought about luck before--he never saw how people could put such a complex thing like life into such simple terms. But recently, with the highs of winning and the highs of everytime he saw one of his foxes laugh, or maybe when Andrew pressed them together like now. He couldn’t help it. Lucky.

Neil tries to kiss the corners of Andrews lips. He saw it once in a movie with a boy and a girl who looked kind of like Dan. Then again, he thought that every pretty girl looked like Dan. And Renee. And Allison.

Andrew visibly grows annoyed. “I didn’t come here to feel the need to insult you.”

“I’m trying to slow it down,” Neil says. Andrew’s fingertips are, at once, the softest and hardest pressure on his back. Neil closes his eyes. Barely another second goes past before he gives up and rushes to connect with Andrew.

His lips are soft. Always soft.

The slower they kiss, the more Neil is destroyed. Devil, Neil thinks.

Lucky, lucky, lucky.

When they pull apart for air, he whispers, “You were amazing at Guess Who. It was really hot.”

“And you wonder why someone would be heartless enough to want to kill another human being, Andrew mutters, before tugging him in again.

[princess-hemmo96]

The Deal

Part 7. The Rest of the Night

As soon as I stepped into Colby's spare room I answered the phone. "Hello?" I asked, not knowing what to expect.

"Nicole Elizabeth Gale! Were you not going to tell me about Colby? Or was I just supposed to find out through Instagram and Snapchat!" she yelled so loud I had to pull the phone away from my ear.

Taylor was my older sister by 3 years. I'm 22, she's 25, but she is my best friend.

"Actually," she kept saying. "Max had to tell me to check." Max is our 17 year old brother.

"I was going to call you later, some of my friends found out that way too." I hope she knows what I mean by find out.

"What do you mean by found out? Found out what?" I guess I was wrong. "Also, it's 9 o'clock here, what time did you plan on calling me because I don't think Ohio was going to wait for you."

"Tay, please don't be dramatic. Colby and I would argue a lot and you know that. It came to the point where it would ruin our night with friends so we're trying to fix it and be friends again like we used to."

I hear her sigh through the line. "Fine, you're off the hook this time Nicki, but the second something new happens, I want to hear it from you first and not social media, got it?"

"Sir, yes, sir," I said jokingly.

"So, you're hanging out with him right now?" She asks and I know what she's thinking and I know what she wants to say.

"Yes, and we're just catching up. Would you like to say hi?"

"Hell yeah! Put him on!" She cheers.

I walk back out into the living room and Colby notices me. He gives me a confused look when he sees me still on the phone. I take the phone off my ear. "She wants to talk to you." I put the phone on speaker. "Okay, Tay, here he is," I shout.

"Hey Taylor!" He yells with a smile.

"Colby! What the fuck is up dude?" She yells back.

"Not much. Hey, congrats on the baby and the wedding by the way."

I decided to sit back down and place the phone on the table so I didn't have to keep holding it. And so that I could keep eating.

"Thank you, it's a boy. If you have any name suggestions that would be appreciated because all of Nicki's are shit."

"Hey!" I yell with food shoved in my mouth.

"Also, Colby, I hope to see you at my wedding as Nicki's plus one-"

"Okay!" I cut her off. "Time to say goodbye Taylor."

"Goodbye, Colby," Taylor said.

"Bye, Taylor," Colby shouted.

I took the phone off speaker really quick and said, "I'll call you later, love you." And hung up.

"So," Colby said with a smug smile. "Am I gonna be your plus one?"

"We'll see."

After a while of eating and talking, Colby asked if I wanted to watch a movie. "Actually, I should get going. I haven't been home all day and I need to get a couple things done before I go to bed." I stand up and start to gather my things.

"Oh, okay. Well, I'll see you tomorrow then?" He asks.

"Yeah, like I said I don't have any plans tomorrow so just let me know when you wanna hang out."

He nodded. "Alright, have a good night, I'll see you later." I waved to him and closed the door behind me, then walked to my apartment.

I really did have things to do tonight. My dishes have been sitting in the sink for too long, my dirty laundry is over flowing and my YouTube video that's supposed to go up tomorrow is only half edited.

The first thing I did when I got to my apartment was change into some more comfortable clothes. I couldn't work if I was in my clothes from the day. It was about 10pm, and the first thing I did after changing was wash my dishes. That didn't take long so I threw a load of laundry into the washer and started editing my video for tomorrow. Devyn and I recorded a 'Blindfolded Makeup Challenge'.

For about 2 hours I flipped between editing and laundry, so by midnight I was done with everything. My video was processing to be uploaded and my last load of laundry had just finished. I folded all my laundry and put all the clothes away.

Today was just about the longest day of my life and I knew as soon as my head hit the pillow, I would be out for the night.

[scorpios-stuff]

Hello everyone and welcome to our show. We all know the reason you're here, to see your idols, do challenges in order to win a grand prize; of 1 million dollars!

This season will include famous faces such as: Shane Dawson, Kim Kardashian, and even Charli D'amelio. 

This will take place on a secluded island in Hawaii. It will have 8 contestants for each team, giving us a total of 24. Until we reach the final 10, then it's every man for himself. 

There will be eight people divided into groups of 3.

So for the celebrity team come and stand on the right stage:

Doja Cat

Kim Kardashian

Nicki Minaj

Ariana Grande

Vanessa Hudgens

Lea Michele

Jason derulo

Barbara Striensend

The tik-tok team will come to the middle stage:

Charli d'amelio

Dixie D'amelio

Nessa

Addison rae

Loren Gray

Chase hudson

Tony Lopez

Noah beck

And for our YouTube side come to the left side:

James Charles

Tati Westbrook

Jefree star

Shane Dawson

Austin McBroom

D'angelo Wallace

Kennie jd

James Marriot

Each team will have the same cabin, to not show any biased decisions. When you reach your cabin, you'll notice an intercom there. When it rings 3 times, a message will ensue that will say the meeting point and today's challenge. So off you go everyone!

Charli D'amelio POV:

Wow this cabin is really run down, but I'm here to win; not complain. I looked around to see everyone else moving in. Dixie and I are taking a bunk-bed for ourselves. I know with her on the team I have an advantage of not getting voted off. But with everyone else I have no clue. Chase and I aren't on good terms since our breakup and I'm more acquaintances with everyone else.

I looked up to find the intercom, but had some difficulty due to all the commotion of everyone else.

"Hey! Does anyone know where the intercom is?" I noticed that everyone else was confused too so we all looked around. After about 20 minutes someone called out.

"Hey I think this is it!" I looked over to see Chase, pointing at a small silver box with a speaker in the middle

I wondered how are we supposed to hear anything from something so small. After that everyone finished packing up.

"Hey!" nessa said while fixing her hair.

"Since this is a competition let's put all of our drama to the past right.Cause if we let our anger drive us, we'll all lose."

What nessa said did make sense so we agreed to let bygones be bygones. Just then the tiny speaker sent out a message:

"Everyone please report to the dining hall for breakfast. Then we will discuss today's challenge.Also the first team to find it, will get a head start in the competition"

We all looked around a little confused as to where the dining hall was, so we got out and went exploring. As I stepped out I really took in my surroundings, trees as far as the eye can see, leaves and rocks everywhere, and the scorching hot sun. But you could see the other two houses, with the other teams coming out.

I looked around to find a house in the distance and a path, I alerted my team and we made our way over there. We looked back to see the other teams noticing, so we rushed to the building. Luckily we were the first ones there.

"Congratulations!" He handed us each a medal,and stood back. " Whenever you win a lead, you'll get medals to prove it. So make sure you keep it up, we're going to let you eat first, then talk about the competition."

Our team made our way to a table, a chef came out and took our orders.

"So what do you think today's challenge would be." Dixie said,while tugging on her sleeves." I mean it's a competition for 1 million, you know it's not going to be easy. Who knows what they want us to do."

" Hey" Noah took Dixie's hand into his own."We have each other, compared to the other teams we all know each other better. If anything that's an advantage."

We all agreed we needed to put

100 percent if we wanted to win. The chef came back with our food and we thanked him. We ate silently, this competition's strong aura is affecting all of us. Suddenly we're all more nervous, but I can see even the other teams are. So we have to be strong and not let anyone notice.

After half an hour, everyone finished and lined up outside.

"Alright today's challenge will be simple. Each team will go looking for a sheep,with your team's initial on a sign. But the sheep is hidden on this island. The first to bring him back will win! You will have a time limit of 40 minutes go!"

"Wait!" Noah stopped all of us and raised his hands. "We should split up in groups of 2, so we could find the sheep faster. I mean this island is gigantic, but there are three major parts.The shore, that forest over there, and the common area."

Nessa squirmed around and looked uneasy."That does sound like a good idea, but we have to hurry since we're running out of time!"

She was right, we looked up at the clock to see we had 30 minutes left already. We split up quickly and left. Nessa and I made our way to the forest area. We walked around for a little bit and came across what appeared to be a berry garden. 

"Wait!" Nessa said in a whisper and pulled me back. 

"Did you hear that? It sounded like an animal, look over there." We looked towards the strawberry patch, and saw the tail of an animal. It was white and fuzzy, it slowly backed up and we saw it. It was our sheep, the only issue was how were we going to get him. I realized the goat was really into fruit, because it seems he's eaten from every patch.

"Nessa I have a plan but we have to prepare first. Keep watch of the sheep and don't let him leave. Ok?"

"Yeah yeah, I get it, we just have to hurry."

I tip-toed across the garden, and picked fruit from every patch. I had to put some in my pockets because there was so much. I went back to Nessa and gave her half. I turned and saw the sheep about to leave. I threw a strawberry to the middle, and said "Hey sheepy look over here." He came over and ate the berry. I waved another one in the air, before throwing it. "There's a lot more just come and get it." I motioned for nessa to do the same, and we led him out of the garden.

I noticed we were running low on fruit so I bent down and let sniff my pockets. He noticed I had food so he kept following.

"Look everyone else is coming back, I'll tell them to meet us at the finish line." She ran off to everyone else leaving me alone with him. 

"Here sheepy, yeah over here!"

I looked over to see the celebrity team with their sheep. They were fencing him in a circle. Behind them I could also see the youtubers doing the same, I grabbed my sheep and bolted to the finish line. 

"Alright! The winner of this challenge is team tik-tok!" The host declared while taking our sheep. The celebrity team came second, and team youtubers third. "Team celebrity is in second place and team youtubers is in third. This means team youtubers are up for elimination tonight.

After that they cut the cameras and told us to relax. He handed each of us a medal and led us to our rooms. I laid down and thought about the challenge. If I would've taken any longer we would've lost, and I could've been voted off. I looked around to see everyone else relaxing when a thought came to my mind.

"Wait, if me and Nessa found the sheep; what were you guys doing?" 

Everyone else stopped what they were doing and looked my way. Chase opened his mouth to say. "Well me and Addison went to the shore and found nothing, so we came back. I'll admit we did get a little lost." 

Loren spoke out next. "Tony and I went around the common area but also found nothing, we kept looking though."

Lastly was Josh and Dixie. They also went into the forest but in another direction, so where did they go?

Josh sat up straighter and scratched his chin. "As you know we went in the forest too, but found nothing. So we just kept looking also."

I noticed he was blushing a little and was going to comment on it; when the intercom went off. It was the host voice.

"Just letting you guys know elimination is happening right now. I'll let you guys know afterwards." The intercom turned off and we were left in silence.

Nessa turned to say something. "Who do you think is getting eliminated, Austin? He didn't seem to be helping earlier."

"I don't know." said Chase. "It could honestly be anyone. Let's just keep up this winning streak. I don't wanna lose early in this competition."

We all agreed that would suck. Especially in the first round, when it was just getting a sheep.

"Oh," Nessa grabbed my hand and raised it. "Well if we have to thank anyone it would be her. It was her who came up with that quick idea. So come people, applause!"

Just like that the room erupted with cheering and screaming my name. It honestly felt so weird hearing all this praise but, damn did it feel good. I joined in on the praise and we had our own little party; to celebrate our win today.

At about 10:00 we got the intercom call that someone got eliminated; and it was Austin. I looked over to Nessa and told her congrats for guessing the right person. We went to the dining hall and got dinner. Afterwards we went to sleep, I laid there thinking what tommorows challenge may be. Before drifting off to sleep.

This is a story I wrote on wattpad called "Lights Camera Actions." My username is dance_dance96

[ainosgarden]

Hey just wanna let you know that your art style is seriously amazing!! Like the one you did for tog, at first I didn’t even realize it was made of one single line!! And then I started tracing the line and noticed the different patterns in their ears…the N and Y...? Man that’s some godtier shit that can’t be coincidental right? And all the symbolism in colors and shape? Ingenious. Do you happen to sell prints?

aww thank you so much!!! this message certainly made my day <3

well, strictly speaking, the tog piece actually has three lines lol one for joe, one for nicky, and one for their infinite life together, as i had to change lines when switching colors.

as far as i know, you might be the first person who noticed the hidden initials in their ears. so congrats and thank you for picking up on this! it’s absolutely intentional, and in fact, the ways how the letters were written influenced how the characters were drawn and vice versa. when i first started designing the composition, it was very interesting to me how “N” for nicolò felt very pointed and rectilinear, while “Y” for yusuf gave out a more curved feeling, a quite accurate reflection of how i perceived these two characters: nicky as sharp-edged and joe as smooth and rounded. so the end result was nicky’s line had overall more edges and sharper turns, while joe’s line was all curves and loops (their hair textures also played a factor of course).

and to answer your question, no i don’t really sell prints unfortunately. but if it’s just for your personal use, feel free to send me a private message and i’m sure we could work sth out.

again, thank you for this lovely ask and for liking my work!

[shenanigans-and-imagines]

Congrats, BBY! I would like a ship please for any SW I'm 4'9" ft, Hispanic, near black hair, hazel eyes, chubby, under frame glasses, either I'm ISTP or INFJ I can't remember, I'm up for anything but I can't handle a crowd for too long, like to cook/bake, sleep, or just hang out. I'm feisty af. Libra. I want my life to be like Dance Macabre by Ghost. I can be a lady and a freak, from Nicki Minaj to Marilyn Manson on the romance on ride or die scale cuz no one be trippin' on my mans.

4ft Hispanic: I really think you would be great with Hondo! He would be a good sugar daddy and make sure you are treated right in all departments. He would lay his life down for his lover, I think like a true Spanish man.

4ft Hispanic: I'm sorry English is not my first language. I prefer male partner.

I ship you with Lando Calrissian

Charming, suave, and willing to try anything once, Lando is going to keep the party going for as long as you like (or as private ;))

You’re going to have to mark your territory a bit with him, but to be honest, Lando just finds that hot

He’s certainly more extroverted, but he values your thoughts and will pull you out of a crowded room if it’s becoming too much for you

He will also purposefully make you a little angry because he just thinks it’s adorable, so keep an eye out for that

Somehow I think Hondo would make for a more interesting sugar daddy rather than a good one.  Points for creativity though.

(7/30)

[alternislatronemhq]

Congrats, Nicky, you have been accepted to AL for the role of Lucius Malfoy (FC: Cody Ferm). NICKYYYY! Wow, this makes the third group that we’re in together, and as usual, you’ve blown me away by the way you’re able to get into the head of your character. You just have a gift with the Malfoys, and Lucius is such a fascinating character in your hands. I’m so eager to see how his character develops in this new verse, and your plot ideas are just fantastic! Pumped to have you here. Please send in your blog (no sideblogs for first characters, please) in the next 24 hours and be sure to take a look at our new player checklist.Welcome home, we’re so excited to have you join the family!

OOC

name — Nicky age — 30+ pronouns — she/her timezone — EST activity level — medium: I play in and help admin another game, but I should still have plenty of time for a decent amount of Lucius-ing over here! Probably not every day, but certainly multiple times per week! any questions? — nope, everything looks super great!

IC Overview

name — Lucius Abraxas Malfoy age — 31 gender — gender-fluid…not that Lucius has the words for that, but he knows how he feels and he’s never bothered to fuss about it. Lucius has always been supremely confident in himself (and herself – although again, he lacks the awareness of gender that would let him understand that his feelings about “his” gender sometimes fit other pronouns better than the ones he was assigned at birth, so he only ever uses him – even when he doesn’t feel like a him) and the only downside to that is that his confidence arrogance honestly blinds him a little bit to the nuances of his own identity – because he’s Lucius Malfoy. There’s no room for figuring out any other details of identity next to that. The upside to his confidence, of course, is that he doesn’t hesitate to express himself in whatever way feels most comfortable, no matter how other people might react – so if some days he’d rather wear robes more suited to a witch, or deck himself out in his late mother’s finest jewelry, or paint his face with the finest make-up…he’ll just do it. Why not? He is who he is, and Lucius has never apologized for that…well, not and meant it anyway! sexuality — pansexual…which again, he lacks the terminology for. Yes, the word itself was coined in 1917, but it was coined by Muggles; even if it’s made its way into the Wizarding World by now, it wouldn’t have made its way to Lucius…not that he needs it. Lucius isn’t the sort who requires a label to know himself, and he simply never cared about gender. His orientation might be better described as “pretty-sexual” because he’s shallow as anything; it’s just not gender that affects his interests. In fact, he thinks the way some people let something as silly and pointless as gender dictate their attraction is just absurd – and he won’t hesitate to share that fact. patronus — peacock (because of course, right?) although usually noncorporeal…not that Lucius doesn’t have happy memories, because he certainly does; conjuring the patronus isn’t a difficulty. Keeping the patronus conjured when in the face of something nasty is where he falters – because Lucius has always been a little bit spineless. He’s better at the Dark Arts than the Light, because it’s easier to force negative emotions than positive ones; he’s happy when he feels happy, but he’s adept at using anger and hate even when he’s not feeling them. He can compartmentalize extremely well (hence his positively artful mastery of the Imperius Curse) but he’s never learned to fake happy. Lucius either wears a completely opaque mask or wears his feelings right out on his sleeve – no in between. And a patronus requires a bit of that in between, remembering happy even when you’re scared or angry and not just in an “oh I wish” sense, but in an yes I was happy then, I can be happy right not thinking about it again and that’s not something he does well. So his patronus is weak…but then again, with the spells he knows, what does he need a patronus for anyway? boggart — dog…a great slavering, drooling, barking, tooth-bared beast, filthy and matted with blood on its lips and frenzy in its eyes. It’s anyone’s guess whether he’s more afraid of the teeth or the threat of muck from the filthy in its fur – Lucius certainly isn’t telling. He’s good at compartmentalizing fear, anyway, so boggarts don’t cause him much trouble. One quick Riddikulus and the beast’s legs drop off and its teeth fall out, and it falls helpless and yelping to the ground, frenzy replaced by confusion and fear. Maybe that wouldn’t be a funny enough sight for most people – they’d probably turn it into a toy dog, squeaking and colorful, or maybe tie it up in bright ribbon or something cutesy like that – but Lucius’s sense of humor, while sharp, is also a bit dark. He thinks it’s hilarious. He won’t be laughing so hard later, probably – because the war is coming back, and this time Lucius has more to lose than he did when he first donned that silver mask. The first time he sees his son’s broken body before him, he’ll understand how normal people feel when they face a boggart: shaken, terrified, hollow. And not even his clever wits will be able to quickly conjure a way to make that funny. But that’s later; for now, it’s still the ugly dog and the cruel laughter engendered by its plight.

IC In Depth

personality traits — at least two positive and two negative, explain

Loyal – there are people who call Lucius a snivelling, spineless coward who would betray anybody to save his own skin, and they’re not wrong…except the part about him betraying anybody. Lucius is extremely loyal, but only to those whom he deems most important to him: his family. The Malfoys have always put family first – to the lengths of being willing to sacrifice their own ambitions (and even lives) for the sake of the greater name and lineage. Like many of the old, insular pure-blood families, their members have a tendency to be sorted into the same Hogwarts House as those who came before – but it’s not as universal a thing as it is with some and if a Malfoy isn’t going to be in Slytherin, it’s a pretty safe bet to put your money on them being in Hufflepuff. Indeed, it took the Sorting Hat a good two minutes to decide where to put young Lucius (and it was his innate laziness that ultimately kept him out of the cellars; while he certainly has drive and it more than willing to work hard to achieve his goals, if there’s an easy way out Lucius won’t hesitate to take that instead). He would do anything, sacrifice anything, for those who are most precious to him; his loyalty to them is boundless. Too bad for the rest of the world that that means he won’t hesitate to sacrifice them for the sake of those he loves, too – and that the number of people who truly matter above all else is so small: one wife, one son. Even his own father goes on the list of “potential sacrifice” if need be to keep Draco and Narcissa safe. Good thing Abraxas is a Malfoy, too; the old man might be a terror, but he understands that sort of family loyalty too.

Arrogant – Lucius went most of his life not just thinking but knowing that there was no one in the world who could compare to him. These days, he knows there are two people who are better: his son and his wife. And no one else even holds a candle to the three of them. It’s more than just confidence; it’s an absolute, unshakable belief in his own superiority. (Daddy’s lectures about Malfoys being better than everyone else took hold a little too well.) Time ought to have at least tempered if not punctured this bubble, but alas, Lucius is talented enough that he managed to escape the cold dose of reality that often undercuts the insufferable. He did learn how to ingratiate himself (a talent acquired mostly through the simple expedient of being so much younger than the majority of the people he was trying to impress) to the point of obsequiousness, at times – but just because Lucius is kneeling and begging and sniveling for his life doesn’t mean he doesn’t still think he’s better than you. He has a knack for compartmentalizing that makes him extremely gifted at mental magicks like Legilimency and Occlumency, but that same knack has a detrimental impact on his character as well: because he’s so good at it, he can even compartmentalize reality when it conflicts with his convictions. When Lucius is shown-up at something, instead of questioning whether he really is as good as he thinks he is, he finds ways to dismiss it – there were extenuating circumstances, maybe, or it’s a skill that isn’t all that important anyway, etc. So even when he’s been badly humbled, his confidence shattered, his arrogance remains. Even in defeat, Lucius knows he’s still better than the people who beat him. That’s just who he is.

Clever – Call him shrewd, observant, manipulative, even machiavellian – Lucius is all those things. He is a talented, quick-witted wizard with few (if any) scruples. He can talk his way out of trouble almost as fast as he can think his way out of said trouble, lightning-quick and eloquent. He’s already ready with a barb or a drawling retort, as quick with a jibe as he is with a jinx. In part, it’s a natural talent – and in part it’s because Lucius views the whole world as a sort of game, one that he’s been practicing all his life. Even now, having lived through the horrors of a war, he still looks at the world as a game – and games can be won. (He’s the sort of player who cheats, too, and doesn’t see anything wrong with that; everybody is cheating, after all. It’s just a matter of who does it better, and who’s clumsy enough to get caught…and dumb enough to let getting caught be a problem instead of the next step in the game.) Perhaps that’s why he so rarely wakes up screaming, when by all rights he ought to suffer from daily nightmares after the things he’s seen – the things he’s done. But Lucius doesn’t have a guilty conscience. (There are some who say he doesn’t have a conscience at all.) Anyone he hurt has themselves to blame as much as him, after all; if they’d been better at the game, they’d have been able to protect themselves, like he did. He was clever enough to talk his way into Voldemort’s inner circle; clever enough to talk his way out of Azkaban; clever enough see which way the wind was blowing after the war and pivot to a new role that would carry him further than his old reputation – not that he doesn’t still make sure of some of that; having people half-convinced that you could Curse them as easily as you charm them with your honeyed words comes in handy…and Lucius could. He’s an exceptionally adept wizard, especially in certain useful areas of magic; he could get his way through force a lot more often than he does…but it’s more fun to charm and cajole instead.

Callous – You can’t even call it selfishness, although Lucius is selfish – albeit generous with friends, allies, and those he’s trying to sucker…but giving away gold and gifts and grandiose praise doesn’t cost him anything; petty selfishness is a different thing entirely. No, Lucius is callous not because he’s greedy (he has enough that he can afford not to act greedy and still satiate his greed) but because he doesn’t care about other people. Oh, he can put on an appearance of sympathy with the best of them, and on some level he can even feel great sorrow and pity for other people…but he doesn’t really care. Not about anybody outside his small circle of family and a few close friends – and even then, he’d not blink to see half the latter in distress if the circumstance were right. Lucius is the sort of man who would let the world burn not because he delights in chaos, but because he doesn’t care enough about the people screaming around him to put it out. He only cares about “the world” as a concept at all because it’s the world that he – and his son – have to life in; the future matters for Draco, not because there’s anything of value in the abstract concept of “the future.” Which is not to say that he is without all feelings of human sympathy; should someone he does care about find themselves in pain or distress of any sort, Lucius will be distraught (possibly furious, depending on the circumstance) and genuinely sympathetic – but only to the people he cares about. Everyone else can burn for all he cares. Lucius Malfoy is not adept at the Cruciatus Curse because he revels in causing other people pain; he’s adept at the Cruciatus Curse because he doesn’t see anything wrong with someone else screaming. He’s not the sort to go out of his way to find a toy to play with the way some (such as his sister-in-law) of his old allies were known to do…but he will smirk and sneer and mock a victim without so much as a flicker of remorse. And why not? Why should he care about other people who don’t care about him?

character biography — doesn’t have to be overly long, just give us the important moments in the character’s life

Lucius is an only child, born late in his father’s life to Abraxas’s fourth wife. Rumors about about the terrible mischances that took the first three – a mysterious illness, a tragic accident, and the scandal of running off to the Côte d'Ivoire with a Mudblood – and about the many miscarriages and cot-deaths that carried-off the family’s previous attempts at an heir. (No one can prove that there are squib babies buried in the estate’s gardens…but no one can prove that there aren’t, either.) When Lucius came along, it was a relief to old Abraxas and he raised his son with both indulgent luxury and demanding expectations. Lucius’s childhood wasn’t easy, with his father always breathing down his neck, but the trade-off was that as long as he excelled at everything, he got anything he could ever want. That seemed like a pretty good deal – and it’s not like it was hard for a clever, talented, ambitious boy to succeed at Hogwarts. Slug Club in his first year, Slytherin Chaser in his third, prefect in his fifth, Quidditch captain in his sixth…and not even Abraxas could blame him for the fact that he did not make Head Boy, not with that Muggle-lover Albus Dumbledore as headmaster. Besides, by then Lucius’s eyes were already on his next ambition…

It wasn’t hard for him to curry favor with the Dark Lord, and Lucius earned his Dark Mark within a year of leaving Hogwarts. He was young, but he was valuable too – not just for his name and social position, but for his charm. Lucius was good in a duel (and grew better fast with so many vicious allies with whom to train and trade knowledge) but Voldemort had many Death Eaters who could fight; Lucius’s value lay in the minds he could sway (through words or spells) whether by recruiting other allies, or merely spreading support for the Dark Lord’s ideals. Abaxas was less than thrilled that his only son would agree to serve anyone, even Voldemort, but he had no qualms with the Dark Lord’s ideals, so their arguments over it never went too far (but Abraxas lost no time in spouting I-told-you-so’s after Voldemort’s fall). War was hard, and often dangerous, but the dark years were brightened by something that overshadowed all of that: love and marriage to the most wonderful witch in the world. (Even Abraxas could find no flaws with his daughter-in-law, although he did make several snide comments about the disgrace of Narcissa’s former sister – until she hexed him into silence, after which he promptly declared her a perfect match for his only son.) It took longer than they might have liked to have a child, but once they did – once they had an heir – it seemed like everything might well be perfect.

There were losses and close-calls during the war, and they had several friends to mourn, but the only direct tragedy in Lucius’s life was the death of his mother when she mistook a deadly herbicide for a harmless sleeping draught – a suspicious tragedy, perhaps, on the heels of two other unexpected deaths, but once again no one (not even Lucius) could prove that his father had been in any way involved. The war, at least, offered a distraction from grief at her death – until the war ended, suddenly and with little ceremony, and the Malfoys found themselves abruptly left on the losing side. They might have been able to weather that storm with little harm (they were far too respected, and too connected, to not be able to squirm free of repercussions) but then Narcissa’s sister had to go off and torture bloody James Potter like that, and…well, on top of everything else it seemed like just “escaping Azkaban” wasn’t enough. The family needed to do something to “prove” to the public that they shouldn’t be painted with the same brush as vicious Bellatrix Lestrange – a grand gesture. And what could be grander than turning their backs on one sister and reconciling with another?

Narcissa wasn’t keen on the idea, but Lucius convinced her – no easy feat, with Cissy being one of the tojurs pur noble House of Black, whose purity-mania had been second only to the unlamented Gaunts, but Lucius had always had a knack for being convincing…and besides, their was their child’s future to think of. So Narcissa agreed, and Lucius led the push of glad-handing and grinning at half-blood and blood-traitors and even the occasional Mudblood, enshrining the Malfoy family in the eyes of the wizarding world as good people. Not blood-traitors themselves, oh no, they never went that far – but a little more easy-going about things than they’d once been; a little more tolerant. They stopped (mostly) using the word Mudblood in public; stopped pushing for pro-pureblood laws with their gold and their influence. They still toed the line of being respectable wix of course, polite and traditional…but less strict about who (and what) they were willing to let into their own inner circle. They even allowed Andromeda’s Mudblood husband and their mongrel brat in their home! Yes, the Malfoys had clearly changed, and all the world could see it.

Lucius recently engaged in another grand gesture, although this one with more sincerity and enthusiasm: the “little girl” that he and his wife had thought they were raising declared himself to be a wizard, not a witch, and while it took the Malfoys a little while to come on board with the idea (not so much because they had trouble with the concept as because the child’s ability to explain himself was stymied somewhat by Lucius’s own rather flippant disregard for gender norms – so saying he was just like daddy didn’t mean as much as it would have in another house) once they did, they didn’t hold back. Narcissa pulled down the book of constellations to help her son find a new name (it didn’t take him long – I can be a dragon? I wanna be a dragon!) while Lucius took-out a full-page ad in the Daily Prophet to print an amended birth announcement so the whole world would know about their precious Draco. Lucius would have been happy to spend the rest of his life preening over his clever, brilliant, perfect son, and litlte else – but it seems the world has other plans in mind.

As rumors of darkness returning swirl, the Malfoys find themselves in a difficult position: they turned their backs on the more hardcore of their old allies to court new, muddier friends; they didn’t so much renounce the old ways as quietly shuffle away from them…and now the old ways are calling in what they owe. If the Dark Lord is indeed coming back – or even if he isn’t, and it’s merely other old supporters rallying the cause again – the Malfoys will be in trouble. They’ll be punished for their disloyalty, and not even Lucius’s silver tongue will be enough to talk their way out of that – not after they made such a public show of reconciling with Narcissa’s blood-traitor relatives, not after everything Lucius has said to the public and the press, all the work they’ve done to build a new reputation…work that may now doom them. The only way to keep themselves safe from the Dark Lord’s retribution is to lean in and really commit to the newer, more “tolerant” ideals to which they’ve spent the last five years paying lip service. If their old allies are their enemies now, that means they need to make their old enemies into allies – ingratiate themselves so well that those they once fought will be willing to protect them against their old friends. It’s not going to be pleasant…but there’s nothing Lucius won’t do to keep his family safe. Nothing.

plot ideas — either for the broader group plot or for your specific character

THE DIARY of course! Since Lucius was entrusted with that by Voldemort shortly before the Dark Lord’s death when he was still a devoted follower…which he isn’t, anymore. So now what? How/when/if will he figure out what this thing is, or that it’s something that matters now? Will he dare to defy Voldemort enough to actually help destroy that? Will he want to keep it for some sort of insurance for himself? Will learning what it is (what sort of dangerous thing the Dark Lord put in the same house as his son!) give him and Sirius a reason to work together, and how awkward will that be for both of them? Will his knowledge of the Dark Arts prove invaluable to Sirius’s mission to destroy the horcruxes, both giving him a chance to do “good” using his “bad” skills and also forcing Sirius to grapple with the conflicting issue of “ends justifying the means” and what it means to use the Dark Arts for “the greater good”? Will he keep possession of the diary a secret (maybe purposefully, maybe without understanding that it matters) too long and endanger his family by having it there when the Dark Lord comes back for it? Will he get rid of it and face Voldemort’s wrath for that later, instead – and then have no diary he can offer-up to temper said wrath? There are a lot of ways that this can go, and I’m on board for ALL of them!

DOBBY – we know he hates the Malfoys, hates working for them. Probably doesn’t buy into their “we’re good now, mkay?” vibe at all…so does that set him up to be this story’s Kreacher? Will he find a way to betray them, and if he does what will that do – will it be a betrayal that hurts the Order and Dumbledore as well? One that opens a weakness for the Dark Lord or his old Death Eaters to take advantage of? Dobby was a savior in canon because it was Harry Potter he wanted to help, but now that the Malfoys are “good guys” (technically speaking) will that make Dobby easy for the bad guys to manipulate or take advantage of? Or might Dobby simply take action on his own without being aware of the wider consequences, and inadvertently bring disaster? Again, lots of directions that this one could go depending on what the greater game plot demands – but I think the idea of having Dobby serve as a sort of cat’s paw or monkey wrench at some point would be really interesting, so file that one away on your back burner! ;)

ROSIERS – they’re related pretty closely through Narcissa’s mother (and tbh all the pure-bloods are related somehow the inbreeding is strong here lol) which also ties them to the Longbottoms through Alice and Evan being cousins; given the rather disparate sides on which those families stand, that puts some nice tension into the room…so how does that translate? Maybe a birthday party for dear little Draco (and if it’s his first birthday party as a boy, you know the Malfoys are going to go even bigger and more absurd with the extravaganza than their usual already over-the-top nonsense) that ends up getting a little out of hand – direct conflict that breaks-out into dueling? Party-crashing that gets ugly? Sabotage? Attempted poisoning? An attack? Lots of possibilities, again, dependent on what stage of things the plot has reached at the time – but given the Malfoys’ nature as gregarious social butterflies, it would be easy enough to have them throw a party for any reason any time one was needed for a plot event, whether it involves the Rosiers/Longbottoms or not!

LONGBOTTOMS – speaking of the Longbottoms…what is their relationship with the Malfoys? (Do they have one?) How close (or not at all) was Alice to Narcissa before their respective marriages, did they know each other well? Were they so distant they barely considered themselves family at all? Somewhere in between? That’s obviously something to be plotted/discussed between any Narcissa and Alice players, of course – I just think it could be very interesting to deal with any sort of connection between the Longbottoms, who were responsible for the death of Voldemort, and the Malfoys, whose world was up-ended by said death. Plus, they literally fought on opposite sides of a war…do the Longbottoms suspect that Lucius was under one of those silver masks? Do Lucius and Narcissa know that the Longbottoms were in the Order? They’re Aurors too, which probably puts some strife into things given the Malfoys’ predilection for the Dark Arts (and to circumventing the law in general) even if they’ve never been caught red-handed enough to face more than a few wink-and-a-nod fines. They’ve also got sons the same age; with the Malfoys being technically “good guys” this time, does that mean that Draco and Neville might end up having a play-date or two? Again, this all depends on plotting and backstories of other players, but I’m definitely in for seeing something happen with these two families!

POTTERS – His sister-in-law tortured Lily’s husband into a coma. He’s close friends with Severus, one of Lily’s oldest friends. And her current parenting-partner is his wife’s cousin (who’s currently working on destroying Voldemort’s horcruxes, one of which is stashed in Lucius’s house). Can anyone say awkward? Because I sure as hell can! There are a lot of things to tie these people unwillingly together even before their sons end up rivals at school together, and I’m eager to explore all of them.

DEATH EATERS – Lucius wasn’t just allies with these people; he was, in many cases, friends. Always an outgoing, charming, vivacious wizard, Lucius was popular all his life – good at making friends, and also good at assessing people and knowing how to get them on his side, whether by ingratiating himself to them or making them want to ingratiate themselves to him, etc. So even among the cut-throat, backstabbing, power-hungry Death Eaters, he was well-liked by more than most…but how far does friendship really go? He’s maintained a cordial, sometimes even friendly relationship with many of his old comrades-in-marks despite his public persona of someone barely better than a blood-traitor in their eyes…but does that mean any of them would hesitate to Avada Kedavra him on their old master’s orders? Can he expect any mercy, any help, any quarter – if not for himself, maybe at least for his wife and son? Maybe he should work to cozy-up to them even more…or maybe he should cut ties and put as much distance between them as possible, for the sake of safety. He might well do all of the above with different characters, so please – if you write a Death Eater, let’s plot out some drama!

SEVERUS SNAPE – Lucius was the first person to truly welcome Severus to the wizarding world, and while Lucius didn’t see anything special about the scrawny boy at first glance – he was just doing his duty as a newly-minted prefect to Slytherin’s new crop of first years – it didn’t take him long to realize that Severs was special…and vulnerable. One of, if not the, cleverest snakes in his year, it was obvious to anyone with eyes (translation: almost no one) that the boy was gifted. He was lonely too, and having someone like Lucius Malfoy demonstrate acceptance and praise of him was probably intoxicating to Severus. No wonder he ended up making friends with the sort of wannabe-Death Eaters that Lucius had hung around with in school; they probably followed Lucius’s lead, looked at scrawny Severus, and assumed that if Lucius thought he was valuable it must be true. Perhaps Lucius was even the one who made the overture to welcome Snape into the Death Eaters, the one who assured the Dark Lord that this greasy-haired half-blood was more than he seemed…I don’t know, but I’d love to plot-out a relationship with a Severus player! I think Lucius was probably a condescending bastard to Snape because he’s that way with everyone, but I also think he genuinely likes Snape too. I think Lucius considers him a close friend – and after the war ended with the both of them not on the side they’d seemed to be, one of the closest – and the fact that he sometimes tries to manipulate Snape doesn’t impact that at all; that’s what friends do, right? So I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s a healthy, fair relationship…but it’s also genuine on Lucius’s part. He’d be shocked to be told that he’s ever not treated Severus well, honestly – he thinks he has. And given Snape’s rather troubled, traumatic childhood, it’s even possible that Snape agrees idk! I’d love to talk ideas through with whoever ends up playing Severus – especially what comes next. Does Lucius figure out that Snape is in the Order? He certainly knows that Snape is close to Dumbledore – which means that his fifteen-year-old instincts were right: Snape is valuable. Perhaps the mos valuable person Lucius knows, the one who might well save his skin in the days to come…if he can trust Snape to have his back, now that the both of them have turned their backs on the man who Marked them.

extra — honestly this app is already a million years long, so no, I am not going to force anyone to look at anything else I’M SORRY IT’S SO DAMN LONG XD