#also the lighter thing I posted about. yeah I really started that fic

[babygirlmickey]

w…what are the other wips u have

Bro.…too many to list

[steviewashere]

Leaving is Hard, But Loving You is Easy

Rating: General CW: None Apply Tags: Post-Canon, Post Season 4, Future Fic, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst With a Happy Ending, Eddie Munson is Leaving Town, Saying Goodbye, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Kisses, Making Out, Love Confessions, Eddie Munson is a Sweetheart, Steve Harrington is a Sweetheart, Steve Harrington Loves Eddie Munson, Eddie Munson Loves Steve Harrington

💕—————💕 He watches Eddie Munson leave in the middle of a Wednesday evening, 1991. It’s just turned 6:10PM and the sunlight is dipping low. There’s a chill in the air. Though he’s wearing a sweater, the breeze is felt more with the expected absence that will be left. Maybe he shouldn’t have befriended the guy over the last several years. If it meant he’d be standing and staring at the guy’s back. Watching him lug boxes into a van that’s probably older than the both of them. Toying with the collar of his sweater like the soothed over fabric will warrant him to not be so lonely. Maybe it doesn’t help that it smells like cigarettes. Steve doesn’t smoke anymore.

“That’s everything, I think. Well, I’m hoping,” Eddie’s saying, turning around. His voice is low and raspy tonight. Like it is when it’s been overused. Makes sense, considering he’d been talking through goodbyes and big plans and sincere farewells. Steve’s the last on his list. He’s not sure whether to feel heartbroken or…Who is he kidding? Of course he’s heartbroken.

One doesn’t become friends with somebody like Eddie Munson and then not be overcome with emotion when he leaves. But also. He doesn’t want to just be friends. Steve holds to himself, tight around the elbows, hunching inwards. Maybe if he’s small, the leaving will hurt less. He also doesn’t allow himself to look. Instead focused on a spot of rust on the van’s bumper. At the brand new DMV sticker on his license plate; it won’t expire for a while now. When he’s not even in Hawkins anymore. When he’s long gone elsewhere.

Eddie sits down right where Steve’s looking. Legs extended in front of him. A cigarette dangling between his chapped lips. Not even lit up. He doesn’t have a lighter right now anyway. Steve should know, Eddie’d been complaining about it for the last three days. He mumbles around the stick, “I’m not going to miss this place.”

“Really?” Steve finds himself asking. Though, he realizes it comes out more as a sigh. A breath. A certain type of mourning. He zeroes in on the knee hole of Eddie’s jeans. Large and manmade. Rippling on the edges and cinched oddly from strings of taut denim that Eddie has since plucked away. Probably from toying with the hole too much. From being restless on Steve’s couch during movie nights or birthed from slow lulls in Dungeons & Dragons campaigns or simply made from being shoved over in games of tag at Hopper’s barbecues.

“Well, yeah, Stevie,” Eddie says. As if it should be obvious. “People don’t like me ‘round here. I’ve felt that way for years. Now it’s my chance to leave.” He sighs through his nose. Like he’s actually smoking the cigarette in his mouth. Then, he continues quietly, “The only good thing to come out of…That hellhole and everything…Was the money to keep me silent. Put it away safely. Now, I’m gonna use it to find myself in a place where I’ll just be a speck. Nobody knows me, that kind of shit.”

Steve nods slowly. Agreeing minutely. If only because Eddie wants him to. “There’s not going to be anything you’ll miss about Hawkins?” Why does a part of him want to hear Eddie say his name?

He shrugs. “I mean I’ll miss having band practice with my buddies. And the Hellfire Club because I started it, y’know? I’ll always have an ache in my heart towards Wayne and the trailer, the first place that ever felt like home.” Eddie plucks the cigarette from his mouth and rolls it back and forth between his index finger and thumb. Both ends are practically dry. He’s staring at it. Contemplating. Then, he sighs mournfully. “I’ll miss the first day I came here. How everything was small yet meaningful. How after a week of walking around town, the folks at all the stores knew my name and my favorite things. Benny…Back at Benny’s Diner, you know the place, he had my favorite order down. I’ll miss the people nobody knows anymore.”

But then he looks dead on at Steve. And Steve burns with how intense everything has come to be. In the space of reconstruction after what such disaster he’s experienced, Eddie’s eyes and his bared soul are enough to nearly knock him down. Take the wind out of him for the moment.

“I will always miss the people here, Steve,” he rasps. “The ones that mattered.”

Steve swallows. “Makes sense,” he musters. Then, he does something he knows will destroy him, he sits down next to Eddie. Shoulder, hip, the outside of their opposite feet connecting in a warm line. His clothed elbow scratches roughly on Eddie’s bare one. He looks out at the space in front of him. The dirt road that gives the idea of a driveway to Forest Hills. At the dead grass that has since wilted from the winter weather. He notices the imprint of their shoes. Dangerously close together. He sighs.

Eddie’s quiet next to him. No longer fiddling with the cigarette. Still where he sits. Stoic in thought. “You’re the best of them,” he whispers.

Steve hums questioningly.

“You,” Eddie says, again like it should be obvious. “Steve, you’re one of my favorite people. Did you know that?”

“No,” he murmurs. “No, I didn’t know that.”

Gently, Eddie nudges his shoulder. Knocking them loose, but settling back warmly. Like he can’t get enough of them touching. Simply sitting there. Doing nothing. Saying goodbye. “Well, you are. You changed my whole worldview. Taught me how to be a better friend. To rid of a lot of my stupid high school bullshit. You’ve—“ He takes a moment to himself. A silence. Contemplating again. Searching. “—You’ve been there. For me. For everybody. A guiding hand. A voice in the darkness of a nightmare. A fixture. You’re wonderful. An experience that I don’t think I’ll ever—“ His next word is muffled.

Muted by Steve’s mouth on his. A hand to Eddie’s cheek, cupping him. Another to the back of his head, tangling hair around his fingers, pushing them together. He moves his lips slowly. Savoring. How Eddie’s lips are slightly cracked, yet plush soft. The breath that puffs onto the corner of his mouth from Eddie’s nose, apparent in the way their heads are angled to meet each other. He doesn’t explore with his tongue. Not at all. Leaving this to the simple movements of one another, the carnivorous way he tastes Eddie. Placating this goodbye with years worth of emotion and yearning, bottled up in his ribcage, and overflowing like a rolling boil.

Though when he takes a breath, he’s forced instead to gasp. To hiccup. To sob. Eddie carefully grasps him by the cheeks. Pulling him back enough to take a deep, swallowing, consuming breath. His thumbs tickle under Steve’s eyes. Patting at the warm skin. The edges of his fingernails gently press into the soft give of his bottom eyelids.

“Stevie?” He questions lowly. “Sweetheart, you’re…You’re crying.”

He sniffles noisily. His hand crumples in Eddie’s hair, probably tugging at the strands, but it’s not shown on Eddie’s face. Instead of answering, he dives back in. Pressing more firmly. Squishing the tip of his nose in Eddie’s left cheek. Slicking their chins with his spit. Stuttering through gasps, sobbing on his lips, squinting with every soft cry. He can’t even fully see Eddie’s face. Not his eyes, which he fell in love with first. Or the way his cheeks are lighting up red, given by the warmth radiating onto Steve’s own skin. He can’t see and he can’t breathe, but he’d be damned if he stopped right now. His other hand moves down to the side of Eddie’s neck, squeezing as if attempting to choke him out. The rapid thrum of Eddie’s pulse under his thumb. He thinks if he were to die in this kiss, he could be resuscitated by Eddie’s beating heart alone.

While Eddie is enthusiastic to respond, his eyes don’t close in bliss. And he doesn’t move further into Steve’s space. If anything, he’s inching away. Pulling again at Steve’s head. Forcing them apart. “Steve, you don’t want to—“

“You’re everything,” Steve is sobbing out. “Everything to me.” He swallows harshly. His tongue is heavy with saliva and emotion. “You stayed here with me after…After all the bullshit. When Robin left for school. And everybody graduated. When they moved on,” he’s rambling. He should stop. Get himself in line. Try to make sense of every word falling from between his lips. But he can’t grasp them. They flow. They spill. He’s boiling.

“Baby, I’m going, too,” Eddie cooed sadly. “I’m not staying here.”

“I know. I know, Eds, I know,” Steve mutters. He gasps through a hiccup, reigning in his tears, at least slightly. “I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you sooner.”

“Tell me what, Steve?”

He bounces his eyes back and forth between Eddie’s. Their roundness. And the dark encompassing color to them. How they pull him in like black holes. He could probably destroy Steve, especially with what is said next.

“I’m in love with you,” Steve confesses. “I’ve been in love with you,” he reiterates, voice cracking and wet and too thick. “For years, Eds.”

The hands on his cheeks slither down to his shoulders. For a moment, his head is heavy enough to careen him to the side. His head resting on the closed back door. He looks on with half-lidded eyes and a shiver against his spine. Eddie’s looking low at Steve’s chest, where his heart is. He squeezes the sweater material under his hands.

He swallows heavily in the stilled silence. Whispers, “I’m flattered, Steve—“ And Steve straightens back up, flailing a little to get out of this hold. To make his escape. To just leave when he isn’t wanted. But Eddie holds to him harshly. Keeping him still. “—I really am. But what you said doesn’t change my mind. I’m leaving.”

“Tell me, then,” Steve shoots. His voice flat. Lifeless.

“Tell you…”

“That you love me, too. Please tell me that.”

Eddie sighs again. His hands pressing harder on Steve’s shoulders. If it’s not his eyes, then Steve will gladly be ruined by Eddie’s hands. “Steve. That’s not a good idea.” He states it like it’s factual.

To hell with that.

“Then lie to me,” Steve pleads. “You don’t have to mean it. Just tell me—“

“I don’t want to lie to you, Steve. And besides, I’d only be lying to myself if I said it like that,” Eddie says. He moves his left palm up to Steve’s hair, pushing it back from his forehead. Tickling it down to where it touches the tops of his shoulders. Moves back up and dully scratches at his scalp. “I do love you, Steve. I do. I love you with every muscle in my body and every freckle on my skin. But…Sweetheart, you’re staying here. I’ll be elsewhere. And I know how you are in relationships. You like being near. You like being able to touch and cherish and hold. You like waking up next to them. You like having a person with you.”

Sometimes knowing Eddie Munson means being known back. And Steve should’ve realized that. He’s been privy to it thousands of times over the last five years. He’s been pulled from his darkest thoughts because of Eddie’s perceptive nature. He’s been taken care of in a lot of aspects. Distracted when he’s bored. Cherished when he’s lack luster.

He moves his own hands down to his lap. Folding them together so he doesn’t do something more stupid than what he’s already done. Something like hold on and never let go. Because Eddie isn’t his. And sure. Maybe they do love each other. Madly. Deeply. Infatuated practically. But Eddie’s right. He’s right and Steve hates that.

“You’re everything to me,” Steve murmurs. “I can’t just let you leave.”

Eddie sighs. A grievance. “Then we’re at a stalemate, baby. I can’t stay.”

“Then take me with you,” Steve says back. Quick as a bullet. Even his words surprise him. He startles back slightly. But his eyes remain on Eddie’s.

For a moment, they just stare at each other. Before Eddie blinks. Harshly. Tilting his head to the side. “Are you…You’re not just saying that, right? Do you actually want to leave? Because you didn’t want to before.”

Steve nods. “What’s left for me here anyway, right? I can just go to my house, pack my clothes, the few actual things I have, and we can go.”

This time, it’s Eddie who devours. Swooping in. Sucking on Steve’s lips. Nibbling. Holding onto him as to never let him go again. He barely moves to breathe. But when he does, it’s to whisper, “I would’ve loved you still anyway.”

“Hm?”

“If you didn’t want to come with. I still would’ve loved you. I would wait forever.”

“Well. I don’t want to keep you waiting. Help me pack?”

Eddie’s hands drift to his. He holds. Their fingers tangled. “As long as you won’t regret doing this.” His thumb is warm on the back of Steve’s left hand. It’s kind of funny. How big and moving Eddie seems to always be. Though, in this moment, every ounce of him is dedicated to devotion. To soft caresses and softer words.

Steve gives him a small smile. “The only thing I regret is not telling you that I love you sooner. Come on, Eds.” He tugs on their conjoined hands. “My life starts with you.”

💕—————💕 I thought about them not getting together. I thought about writing it so that Steve's love was unrequited. But I spared you. For today. Maybe not next time. We'll see.

[villruu]

Fake amnesia Tim/Masky x Jay? Mayhap?

the og prompt got out of hand (i'll probs post it as a separate fic later bc it truly got out of hand lmao) and I decided that Jay being hit by the fake amnesia was way funnier lol. Not exactly Jam, but this is pre-Jam, in this universe at least. This is set just before S3 starts, aka, Jay hasn't found Tim yet.

On AO3

Content warning: Jay has a lot of internalized ableism about his own situation and that reflects on how he thinks of Masky/Masked Tim, and it also reflects on how of an unreliable narrator he is. So yeah lmao

⸻

Jay blinked, dazed.

Something cool is fixed to his face, plastic warmed by skin contact, humid with his breath. It’s, suffice to say, an awful texture, and the only reason Jay doesn’t take it out instantly, is because he is more worried in trying to find where the hell he is.

He had gone to bed, like mostly normal, after updating twitter, telling people his next move would be to look for Tim and then… And that’s as much as he remembers.

He had gone to sleep like normal, and now, here he was, in the middle of the forest, alone in the dead of the night. Thankfully, he is dressed, he would probably be dying from exposure if he were still in his pajamas. With shaky limbs, Jay forces himself up, looking around.

A frantic search revealed that he didn’t have his phone, nor his camera or the keys of his motel room.

All he had was the mask, a half-wasted lighter, some bits of shoelace and a marker. Which was really not comforting, at all. Jay took the mask off, scowling at the black eyes and teeth, the plastic scribbled on carelessly, lines thick and messy.

This wasn’t… Tim’s mask, or at least the one Jay remembered. Nor was it the mask of that hooded figure. But, it seemed familiar, in some way. Maybe it had appeared in a Totheark video before? Jay passes a gloved finger by the teeth, watching the ink be smudged from the high humidity.

With a sigh, Jay looked around some more.

He had absolutely no idea where he was. Maybe Rosswood? He couldn’t be sure, all the trees looked the same to him, especially now in the darkness of the night. Jay thanked all his lucky stars that today was at least a half-moon and the skies were clear, providing him a small amount of light. If it were a new moon, he would be absolutely lost.

…Why was he in the woods, anyways?

Jay didn’t have a… a masked persona, like Tim did. Jay didn’t go out into the night to beat people up, he wasn’t that type of person.

Still… Why the hell was he here?

With a sigh, Jay picked a random direction and started walking, carefully stepping around the loose branches, because if he twisted an ankle now, nobody would be around to help him. After a while, Jay ended up putting the mask on again, the cold too harsh against his face. At least, with the mask, some amount of heat stayed trapped.

Without a phone or wristwatch, Jay had no idea how long he stumbled through the woods. Everything looked the exact same, tall trees that blurred together, with low hanging branches and so many dead leaves on the floor it made it tricky to take a step, the path slippery with water from the rain of previous days.

At some point Jay decided to stop, at least for a few minutes.

It was too cold, and Jay was exhausted to say the least, feet hurting from walking so much. Leaning against a tree, he took the time to look around. The sky was somewhat clearer, but it was still dark enough to know it was early morning. Maybe around four am, if Jay hadn’t lost his ability to guess the time yet.

A few steps to his right made him freeze, and he instantly turned, heart stopping for a second when he saw a white face in the darkness of the forest emerging to his right. 

He calmed, somewhat, when he noticed the black eyes of the face. It wasn’t that thing, thankfully. A faded jacket followed the mask, and Jay realized that perhaps he wasn’t that thankful, as he recognized who was in front of him. Tim, but in that masked state… deal… possession? He didn’t know.

He had been looking for Tim, yes, but he had wanted to find the… normal Tim, so to say. 

Not when he was running around, in a mask, in the middle of the night, doing who knows what in the forest.

Jay looked at Tim (was it truly Tim? Was Tim conscious? or was he being possessed or something?) carefully, very aware of their loud breathing, which seemed to almost echo across the forest, impossibly noisy in the silence surrounding them. Should he run? But to where, Jay had no idea where he was, and from past experience, Tim clearly knew his way around the forest, whether it was day or night.

Tim tilted his head at him, as if trying to decipher what he was seeing.

Jay, in a fit of panic, copied the movement. He was in no state to run, and Tim would easily catch him if he tried to escape. A brief scan of his surroundings told him he wouldn’t find any loose branch or rock to use as an improvised weapon. Tim tilted his head to the other side, Jay quickly copying.

Tim snorted, shoulders suddenly relaxing from his previous stance position, the masked man now looking more non-threateningly as he relaxed.

Jay took a step back when Tim advanced, wary, grateful that the other stopped instantly upon noticing his wariness.

Why was Tim not attacking him? He always attacked him, or tackled him, or, or, or something!

Jay watched, nervous, as Tim took a few step backs and waved him to follow him. He didn’t want to follow Tim anywhere, not like this, without a camera, without a phone, without anything to protect himself. That’s how people died in horror movies, and as much as his life may now look like a goddamn movie, Jay was not ready to go out like that. 

As he wondered if he should just make a break for it, a rustle of leaves to his left made him freeze.

Jay turned to look, heart sinking as he noticed who now emerged from the darkness. The Hooded Figure paused, looking between Jay, who stood with a wary stance ready to bolt, and Tim, who was leaning relaxed against a tree, seemingly trying to understand the situation before joining Tim’s side, looking at Jay with a tilted head.

Jay took half a step back, shoulders hunched as he lowered his head slightly, like a cat being intimidated and bristling in an attempt to appear bigger. God, this has gone from bad to worse.

The Hooded Figure tapped Tim’s wrist, and Tim merely shrugged.

The Hooded figure tapped Tim’s wrist again, Tim shaking his head before tapping his own mask and giving an overexaggerated shudder, while Jay watched with narrowed eyes behind his mask. 

Morse code, perhaps? 

No, it seemed too brief. Maybe a modified code? A lot of his followers theorized that the hooded person was the one behind Totheark, so it would make sense if they knew ciphers. All knowledge Jay had of them was all that he had been forced to learn to decipher the videos.

A step made Jay startle back, so lost in his thoughts he hadn’t noticed the others finish “talking”.

The hooded figure was already disappearing into the darkness of the forest, while Tim waited and waved him forward, a bit impatiently.

…God, Jay was going to get killed, wasn’t he?

With careful steps, Jay approached Tim, freezing when Tim gently nudged him in greeting, as if they knew each other, before grabbing his wrist as tugging him forward gently, in a way Jay had never thought the masked Tim could be possible of.

The masked person tilted his head upon noticing Jay freeze. 

Carefully, telegraphing his move, he tapped his own mask before tapping the edge of Jay’s mask, as if trying to make a connection. 

… Did… Did Tim know who the person who used the mask Jay was using?

Oh no.

Jay followed Tim robotically, as his thoughts spiraled.

Oh no, oh no.

Did Jay steal this mask? Where was the owner? It was clear that both Tim and the hooded figure recognized the mask, in some way. God, where the fuck had Jay gotten the mask? Had he gotten into a fight? It felt somewhat like it, now that he thought about it, his mind a bit too fuzzy, hands hurting in the way that told him he had punched something… or someone.

God, what the fuck was he supposed to do.

Jay could feel himself grimace as Tim continued to guide him forward, probably deeper into the forest.

Okay, just… Go with the flow, Jay, don’t act suspicious, he thought, pretend everything is alright. God, thankfully these people didn’t speak, otherwise they would clearly recognize that Jay was not whoever this mask belonged to.

With a sigh, Jay picked up the pace slightly, watching Tim look back at him seemingly perk up, like a dog seeing his owner in the distance. Jay tried not to react as Tim nudged him again, heads briefly touching, the plastic masks making a quiet clink before Tim tugged him forward again, seemingly more enthusiastic.

Well, Jay thought, he had wanted to find Tim anyways, right?

Another successful investigation, Jay thought ironically to himself, letting himself be guided deeper into the forest.

[sweet-little-raven]

BLL — Sneak Peek

Wednesday walked towards the mirror that hung between a few books on a shelf of the bookcase. She gasped when she saw her reflection: her neck was a canvas of contrasts, the delicate skin marred by deep, darkened purples and reds. The bruises varied in size and shape; some small and circular, others more elongated, like the brushstrokes of a hand. Had Enid really been this rough? Impressive.

The hickeys, however, were darker—almost black in the center, fading out to a lighter shade at the edges. They were scattered all across her throat and collarbone, each one a memory to the passion and force with which Enid had kissed and bitten her last night.

The sight of the state her neck and collarbone were left in brought a small, almost imperceptible smile to her lips. She gingerly touched one of the bruises, feeling the slight sting that accompanied the memory. Woah. It was unusual for her to let anyone get this close, to leave such visible marks on her body, but with Enid... it was different. Oh, all the things she wanted her to do to her...

"Impressive," she murmured as she continued to inspect herself in the mirror.

"Does it hurt?" Pugsley asked, standing at the doorway of the office.

"A little bit. I've never felt this kind of pain before... but I have to admit, it's really agreeable."

The boy chuckled. "Only you can say this about pain. You know, I never thought you'd be a bottom. You disappoint me, sister."

Wednesday's smile faded away as she turned around to face her brother. Darker, bloodier thoughts replacing the memories of last night. "What the fuck do you mean?"

"Well... Your neck says it all."

"For your information, I wasn't a 'bottom,' as you call it."

"Oh, yeah? Then how do you explain all these bruises and hickeys?"

"I was on top. Then we switched. Then I was on top again. I was on top most of the time."

Pugsley wrinkled his nose and scrunched up his face, his eyebrows drawing together in a tight frown at the thought. His lips curled downward as if he had just tasted something incredibly sour. "Uhm... Okay, I don't think I actually wanted to know this," he murmured with a mix of disgust and embarrassment.

"You started this. Since when does a little talk make you uncomfortable, Pugsley?"

"You're my sister. Imagining you fucking that blonde—"

"Enid."

"—Enid, is something I would prefer to not imagine."

"Then don't." By now, the brunette was fully dressed in the clothes she wore yesterday: white buttoned-up shirt, black slacks and her black vest she decided to leave open. "Are you done talking about my sexual life now? Our parents are waiting."

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎

A/N: Little sneak peek of my next fanfiction that, for now, I will call by its initials, BLL. At the moment I have 30k words and still have a lot of chapters to write. I will only post it once it is finished, as I sometimes modify previous chapters as I write and feeling stressed about posting makes me lose inspiration and then I end up abandonning the fic. So I will wait to post it to be able to have a nice posting schedule (probably 2 times a week.) Hopefully I will finish soon, because I am extremely excited to post it 🤍 For those confused about this scene, Enid and Wednesday had a one-night stand in Wednesday's office. They are both adults in this story. Anyways, I hope you liked this little sneak peek! I also might post some more in the future :)

[mirkwoodshewolf]

No following; Planet of the apes fanfic Chap. 2

*Author's note*

And here we are with the second chapter of my new POTA series. Like I said I'll be binge posting today so buckle up everyone! Here we get snippets of growing up with Caesar and Lin. Now I have written some scenes based off of deleted scenes from Rise and that'll be the case for some of series. If I find a deleted scene that could fit the story, I'll work around it and place it into my story.

Reminder I do NOT own Planet of the Apes, it belongs to their respected owners, creators and studios. I also don't own any songs that I use for the fic, it's only for entertainment purposes.

Taglist:

@plethora-of-things

@waddles03

@waddles03

@gay-and-ready-to-cry

@jd-johndeacon-or-jackdaniels

@psychosupernatural

_______________________________________________________

All hail Julius Caesar! Well we didn’t call him Julius but Caesar definitely seemed to fit him, especially as he got older.  Now I had read that apes and monkeys were smart but Caesar—I’ll tell you he is something else.  Just short of a year old and he was already signing 24 words with ease, heck I can barely remember 10 of them.  But he’s brought a real light to the house, things just felt a lot more—happier, lighter.

No one seemed depressed anymore.  And I’ll say this, it’s definitely a lot of fun to now have someone to play with at home.  Sure I’ve got my school friends and the friends I’ve made at the rec center but Caesar brings something else that I can’t quite explain.  He looks up to me but also I learn from him, I don’t know if this even makes any sense but is this what it means to be a big sister?

Uncle Will spends most of his time in the study area always talking or taking notes about Caesar.  There’s always video cameras out whenever he’s doing something whether it was drawing, reading, or even playing chess (which he is a master at. Heck he treats checkers like it’s nothing and believe it or not, he’s beaten me at Candyland 17 times!).

Caesar is always up for learning and is so curious, it really is like having a baby around the house.  Like this one time I had caught him listening to some of my CD’s on his stereo with his headphones on, but his curiosity will also get him into trouble when I got mad when he came into my room and took a picture out from under my pillow.  No one and I mean absolutely no one ever touches that photo!

He got scared and kept hiding from me every time I entered a room until later that night uncle Will had me apologize to him and I told Caesar that the picture was something special to me and only I was allowed to look at it (that and uncle Will and grandpa if they were in the room too).  He took notice of my tone and demeanor as I spoke and we ended up snuggling up together on his bed as he comforted me.

Now at age two Caesar was really starting to grow up and show his intelligence.  He was completing puzzles and lego models for kids 8+ so for tweens like me who have to work hard for hours or even days on end on the Lego Star Wars Death star, Caesar can get it done within 24hrs.  Yeah he’s that smart.

I stormed in the house and walked past Irene, grandpa’s nurse and she greeted me.

“Hey Lin, how was your day?”

“It sucked! I’ll be in the attic!” I stomped up the stairs loudly and ran across the hall and reached up for the attic stairway but the rope kept swinging away from my fingertips.  “Damnit!” I hissed lowly as I looked around and found the stepstool.  “I swear I better get a growth spurt once I’m 16!” I pulled down the attic entryway but as I pulled down the staircase fully, I took a few deep breaths trying to calm down.

After scaring him the last time I got angry, I didn’t want to take my anger out on him after the bad day I had.  Once I was calm, I walked up the stairs into Caesar’s room.  Uncle Will and I had worked together to really enrich this old attic into a playroom for Caesar.

Some of the old toys I never played with again were now his, the stereo that stood on a desk filled with some books that he and I would read to Caesar.  All of them ranging from basic children’s books with lots of pictures to young tween novels like The Hobbit, Harry Potter or the Magic tree house series (those books I loved reading when I was little).

There was also some ‘monkey bars’ given for him to hang on or swing around on in order to climb up to the banisters above the balcony.  And of course the giant window that stood proudly at the center of the room and he could look out and see the entire neighborhood (well not the whole neighborhood but you get the picture).

“Caesar?” I called out.  I heard the sound of my old interactive toy phone being played with.  I walked over and looked over his bed and found Caesar on the ground, headphones on and being intrigued with the toy phone.  “Hey! Caesar!” I called out louder as I could faintly hear the loud music coming from his headphones.

He then turned to me and immediately reached for his monkey bars and swung himself onto the bed before bounding over to me and hugged me hotting happily.  The chord of the headphones came off and soon the music he was listening to now played through the speakers of the stereo.  I smiled and felt myself feeling better as he patted me enthusiastically.

“Hey buddy, hi. Oh I missed you too!” I separated from him as he continued to hoot and pant excitedly.  I took the headphones off his head and told him, “You listening to my cd’s again? John Williams this time huh? You like him too?” as E.T’s flying theme started playing through the speakers, Caesar hooted and jumped on the bed as his hands slammed onto the mattress.  “Yeah he’s the best composer ever, maybe I should get you to watch the film. I think you’d like it.”

I went over to the speaker and turned the volume down when I took notice of something on the table just across from his bed.  As I walked over to the table I asked him.

“Hey, where’d you get these puzzles?” Caesar stopped his excitement and just looked at me anxiously.  “Aren’t these grandpa’s puzzles?” I noticed that he had gotten three of my grandpa’s puzzles.  The 500 piece puzzles that only old people can seem to have the patience for.  One was a man and woman on a horse going over a beach, the other was of the New York skylight, and the third was the Declaration of Independence being signed.

The third one he was nearly done and he was about halfway done with the first two.  I turned to Caesar and raised my brow skeptically at him.  He looked down between the bed and my gaze before he lept over the bedframe and hid behind it and occasionally peeking out over the frame before hiding again.  I walked over and stroked along the puzzle of the man and woman on the beach as Caesar began nervously hooting and making a few hand gestures.

“Am I gonna tell?” I translated.  “No, no I won’t tell. This can be another secret of ours.” I heard Caesar walk back and hop onto the bed as I shook my head astounded.  “I can barely do the edge pieces to these things.” I walked over towards Caesar and collapsed across his bed letting out a deep sigh.  Caesar bounded his way over to me, his green eyes showing deep concern as he lowly hooted and signed again.  “Sad? You could say that.”

Caesar then lay down carefully and started stroking through my hair almost like he was grooming me.  I smiled softly and said.

“Thanks brother ape.” I reached and cupped the side of his face and he pressed his face against my palm.  “Never thought I’d see the day, but I don’t think Gabi and I are friends anymore. And it’s for real this time.” Caesar softly grunted as he pointed at the necklace I wore around my neck.  “Yeah, the same Gabi who gave me this, and I gave her one with my name when we both went to Disneyland last summer for our orchestra fieldtrip.”

I sat up as Caesar settled himself close to me, his hand resting on top of my lap as he rested his chin to my shoulder brushing my hair gingerly out of my face.

“I knew she had been acting distant lately, but I’d never thought it was because she was hanging out with Hannah and her cronies. Those girls made our lives hell last year, and now Gabi just up and joins in their little friend group and pretend I don’t exist!? After all we went through! I don’t…..” I felt a couple of tears slip down my face.

I then felt a rough yet gentle leather finger reach up and catch one of my tears.  I sniffled and rubbed my eyes harshly to try and get rid of the tears.

“I’m sorry Caesar, you don’t need all this teenage drama dumped on you.” Caesar softly hooted and signed.

‘Sister was sad, Caesar listened. Talking help?’ I smiled softly.

“Yeah. It did kinda help to talk about it. Can’t really dump this stuff onto gramps, and Uncle Will’s been busier than ever lately. Thank you Caesar.” He smiled at me before jumping off the bed and ran over to grab something.  He came back and placed something into my lap as he hooted softly.  I took the object and saw that it was a miniature handmade bicycle made out of two old toy wheels, some cooper wire, and old silver and green hinges.

I turned the wheels around and marveled at the bike.  It was practically a perfect replica of a real one and he made it with various materials and tools found around up here.  I looked up at Caesar who sat there looking modest.

“Did you make this?” Caesar pondered with his hand to his chin avoiding eye contact for a brief moment before looking at me and opening his mouth panting as he also smiled.  I felt myself smile more as I told him, “You’re a smart yet cheeky ape.” Caesar let out a laugh as I continued, “Maybe you can help me with my science project next eh?” I dug through my backpack and brought out all my books and folders as I showed Caesar what I had learned today in the 6h grade.

As night rolled around a sudden thunderstorm had swept over San Fransisco.  Thank god I already took my bath just an hour before the storm rolled around cause this was probably the worst storm I’ve ever heard.  A loud boom of thunder almost shook the house and I heard the fast paced running of Caesar racing down from the attic, as a flash of lightning struck from my window I suddenly was tackled to my bed and felt a shuddering, furry ape holding onto me while grunting and hooting fearfully.

“It’s okay Caesar, it’ll be okay.”

‘Thunder shake house. Will it be okay?’

“Of course it will. The wind can’t knock down this house, not like the trees outside.”

‘You’re sure?’

“Yes. Here why don’t you sleep with me tonight? I know Uncle Will says you gotta get used to sleeping by yourself when you’re scared but I think tonight he’ll have to learn to make an exception.” Caesar immediately settled himself onto my bed but refused to let go of my hand.

As I got settled in another loud boom of thunder made him shriek as he curled up beside me, his head burying itself into my chest.  I wrapped my arms around him and stroked through his fur in soothing circles.

“Shhhh, it’s okay. I’m here Caesar. It’s okay.” I softly spoke.  But even with my comforting touch and words, I could still feel him trembling in fear.  I thought long and hard until I remembered our favorite movie together.  Mighty Joe Young, the song they sing in the movie, it always seemed to put him in a good mood and he’d always say that the bond between Joe and Jill was like us.  So I did exactly what Jill did for Joe after he had destroyed his enclosure and sung the lullaby from the movie.

Imba wimbo

Wa upepo

Wakati unajiwa na

Imba wimbo wa upepo

Wakati ndoto tamu

Lala mpaka usiku uisheni

Upepo wa usiku

Wimbo wangu na

Inaendelea

Milele

I looked down and saw that Caesar had now fallen asleep against my chest, his face now clear of any fear that he had before.  I smiled softly and kissed his forehead before whispering.

“Goodnight little brother.” I pulled the covers over the both of us and soon fell fast asleep holding Caesar in my arms.

And as it turned out, the storm from last night ended up carrying into the next morning.  So I knew that everyone would be driving frantically to their next destination (I swear if it’s not sunny weather, people lose their freakin minds!).  As I donned on my raingear and prepared to leave for the bus stop up the road, Caesar came and took my hand signing as he frantically hooted.

‘No go today. Stay here with Caesar!’

“I can’t Caesar. I’ve got a big math test today and I haven’t studied for it. I’ll be fine and so will you.” Caesar began pulling on my arm hard and fearfully but I took his hand and removed his grip from my arm.  “No Caesar! You stay, I go. No following.” I told him as I also signed it to him knowing that I meant it.

Caesar looked at me pitifully but stepped aside and allowed me to go.

“Be good, I’ll see you when I get back from school.” I kissed his head and opened up my umbrella before quickly racing out of the house for the bus stop.

It was a typical Wednesday (besides the weather).  And like I have every Monday, Weds. and Friday it was my favorite elective, Orchestra.  I’ve really come to love music just beyond listening to it.  Through our class whenever we’re not practicing for Districts, we play the most famous film scores like Pink Panther, Jurassic Park, E.T. we’ve even tried a couple of songs from the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

When the bell rang signaling class was over, I packed up my violin and put away the music sheets back onto the table when my teacher Ms. Stanley called out to me.

“Lin, could you stay behind for a moment, I want to talk to you about something.”

“Sure Ms. Stanley, what is it? Am I in trouble?”

“No, no nothing like that. Since you came into my class, I’ve been taking notice of how you play. Most of the students here are in it for an easy grade or just to check something off their elective courses. But when I see you play, you almost seemed enveloped in the music. Like you become one with it.”

“Thanks Ms. Stanley. Growing up I’ve always loved hearing all the best film composers from John Williams to Hans Zimmer, James Horner, Alan Silvestri, James Newton Howard, John Powell, all those guys.”

“Do you know the San Francisco community music center?”

“I know of it but I’ve never been in it. I took lessons from the old rec center that used to be around before they moved buildings a year ago. But they only did up to 10 years old for lessons.”

“Well I happen to have an old college friend who works at the community center. And not only is he the head maestro but he also runs a tour group that goes out every summer to perform for various studios across America. How about you let me recommend you for an audition?”

“Me? Seriously?”

“You’ve got talent in the likes I rarely see in kids your age. Here why don’t you take this brochure and show it to your uncle and have him look at the website for more information. Then once I hear back from my friend I’ll give you the details after class.”

“Yeah, yeah I’ll—I’ll do that. Thank you Ms. Stanley.” I said taking the brochure from her hands and feeling my heart just ready to burst out of my chest in excitement.  I heard the warning bell ring and she quickly wrote me a late pass for my next class and I thanked her again as I raced out with a skip in my step.

Once school was over and I ran down the street in the rain I came up the stairs and quickly unlocked the door and came inside shaking off the raindrops from my umbrella and my raincoat.

“I’m home!” Irena soon came in and she greeted me.

“Hello Lin, had a good day?”

“Oh the best. Where’s gramps I gotta tell him something.”

“I’m afraid it’ll have to wait, your grandpa’s having a—bad day right now. I just had to step aside for a moment to calm myself down.”

“Ohh I see. I’m sorry Irena. But we really do appreciate you coming here, even if he has a bad day.” She merely gave me a hesitant nod but I could see it on her face, she was almost at her wits end with grandpa’s episodes.  I went upstairs to see Caesar and right away I was tackled by him the second I came into the attic space.  “Hey buddy glad to see me huh?”

He hooted and playfully we began to wrestle with each other before he had me pinned down and pretended to whack me repeatedly and I let out a few playful grunts before lying ‘dead’.  I heard Caesar’s curious cooing sounds as he paced around me before sniffing me.  That’s when I opened my eyes and blew air in his face which made him jump back as he shrieked and hollered playfully before laughing.

“Yeah, yeah I’d know you’d never hurt me.” He came up and hugged me before signing.

‘Happy?’

“You could say that. Oh Caesar you wouldn’t believe what my orchestra teacher told me.” I went over to Caesar’s bed and sat down and he came up beside me, curiously looking over my shoulder as I dug through my backpack for the brochure.  “This is the San Fransisco community center. It’s about roughly 25-30 minutes from here, they’ve got the best music and arts program in the entire city. My teacher told me she’s got a friend who’s the head Maestro for the Orchestra dept. there. And she said she’d get me an audition for them!”

Caesar hooted excitedly and signed to me.

‘You’ll get in it.’

“Well first we’ll have to see if he even agrees to have me audition. And if I do somehow get it, I can be a part of that orchestra for as long as I want. And I’ll even be able to tour around the country performing for thousands of people!”

‘You go away forever?’

“No, not forever Caesar. Of course I’ll come back, as long as you’re here waiting for me.” I took his hand.  “You’re my brother ape Caesar, I’ll always be there when you need me, just like I know you’ll be there for me.” Caesar let out a pant as he pulled my head towards him and we pressed our foreheads together as a sign of affection, rocking from side to side.

‘I love you Lin.’

“I love you too big guy. Now wanna learn some more sign language. Bet it gets kinda boring learning the same basics with Uncle Will.” I couldn’t help but tease.  Caesar playfully pushed me down onto the bed which made me laugh and Caesar also let out a laugh as well.  I then pulled out my homework and together we got to work practicing the lesson I was given for this week and to ready myself for the next test coming up in a couple of weeks.

Another year passed by and Caesar was now three years old.  As a surprise, we had planned a little birthday celebration for him.  I was in charge of the decorations and the table setting while Uncle Will made the cake stuffed with some of Caesar’s favorite fruits.  To make sure this was kept a surprise, grandpa promised he’d keep Caesar upstairs and entertain him while uncle Will and I got everything ready in the kitchen.

“How’s the cake coming along uncle Will?” I asked as I tied up another balloon and let it go up towards the ceiling.

“Oh pretty good.” I looked up and saw how he was covered in flour and frosting.

“Uhh uncle Will. I think the frosting’s supposed to go on the cake, not on your face.”

“Haha you’re hilarious.” He said sarcastically. “Just having a bit of trouble getting the last of the frosting out. You know how hard it is when you’re trying to get the last bit of toothpaste out, well imagine that but a bigger tube.”

“I thought you said we had enough frosting?”

“We do, it’s just always a bit tricky to get the frosting to come out especially with all these designs you’re making me do.”

“Hey I only suggested one tree but you had to do two of them, plus writing out the message in frosting. I had written on the list to get those eatable letters you can put on cakes.”

“Those are nothing but cheap plastic letters. And their too small, he could choak on them.”

“He’s smart to know not to eat them whole.”

“Whatever, just get back to decorating.” He ordered me.

“Yes sir squadron leader.” I saluted mockingly.

“Don’t get smart. We don’t have much time before Caesar gets restless and Charles can only hold him off for so long.” I nodded and got back to work.

“You think he’ll like my gift to him?”

“There’s no doubt about that. You’ve been working on it for months now practicing day and night.”

“Yeah, but……”

“Hey, no buts. He’ll love it, he loves it when you play your violin and knowing that you’ve been practicing his favorite score piece, he’s gonna love it.” I smiled softly as I finished setting up the table and Uncle Will finally brought over the cake.  “Okay, all that’s left is the candles and the guest of honor himself.”

“Should I go get them?”

“Be my guest.” He said as we both left the kitchen.  I headed up for the attic and saw both Caesar and grandpa sitting on the bed reading Julius Caesar.

“Sorry for interrupting but we’re ready.” Caesar looked at my with a head tilt as he hooted in confusion.  “We’ve got a surprise for you downstairs Caesar.” At that word, he began to hoot and shriek excitedly as he bounded over towards me.  “Okay, okay easy Caesar. Steady. First you’re gonna have to close your eyes.” He let out a whine but I told him, “don’t play that card on me. What good is a surprise if you just go down and see it? Now close your eyes.”

“C’mon Caesar, just play along with her.” Grandpa encouraged him as he came up and took his hand.  Caesar then climbed up into grandpa’s arms and closed his eyes as we both climbed down the stairs.  “Keep them closed, we’re almost there.” Grandpa told him, “No peeking.” Caesar hooted and started to bounce in grandpa’s arms until we finally came to the kitchen and I said.

“Okay, open them.” When Caesar removed his hand from his eyes, they grew wide at all the decorations as we all cried out.

“Surprise!” He let out some excited shrieks as he hopped out of grandpa’s arms and came over to the table and admired everything.  He first went over to uncle Will and hugged him.

“You’re welcome pal, happy birthday.” Caesar then came over to me and we hugged each other.

“Surprised you didn’t we?” Caesar let out a few excited pants as he smiled happily.

“Alright, here we go.” Uncle Will soon lit the candles as we all sat down around the table and we sang happy birthday to Caesar.  He was so happy as he looked at each of us and swayed in his seat before he blew out his candles by the end of the song.  We clapped and uncle Will began cutting the cake for each of us to eat.

Pictures were taken, laughs were had, and Caesar rejoiced at the new presents he got from grandpa and uncle Will.  Then the time came for me to give Caesar my gift.  I grabbed my violin and tuned it up before telling Caesar.

“Hey Caesar, come into the living room real quick.” Soon he, uncle Will and grandpa came in and Caesar and grandpa took a seat on the couch, uncle Will stood at the doorway between the living room and the kitchen with a video camera in hand.  “Uncle Will turn it off!” I cried out.

“It is off.”

“No it’s not why’s the red light on?”

“It’s the off light.” I looked at him annoyed. “Just go pretend I’m not doing anything.” I let out a groan but turned to Caesar and said.

“This is for you buddy, happy birthday.” I took a deep breath before exhaling as I held my violin to my shoulder and placed the bow along the strings.  I heard the song in my head and readied my fingers on the notes that needed to be played and soon the famed score for “E.T’s flying theme” began echoing through the living room.

Caesar let out a few excited pants and shrieks as he clapped before settling down and watched me in awe as I continued to play his favorite John Williams score.  Closing my eyes I felt myself enwrapped in the music as I could feel myself flying in the sky much like E.T and Elliot did on their bike.

Even though it was just me and my violin playing, no brass instruments or accompanying strings, I still gave as much emotion into this performance as I would if I had a whole orchestra with me.  Once I got to the end and finished the final notes, all went quiet before I heard the three person applause.

“Oh brava, bravo!” grandpa cheered.  I opened my eyes and bowed before Caesar came up and hugged me.  I set my violin down and hugged him back.

“Did you like it?”

‘Loved it! Caesar very happy! Thank you Lin.’ He signed as he hooted excitedly.

“You’re welcome little brother. Happy birthday.” I hugged him back and rocked him back and forth as I saw Uncle Will shut the camera off and he gave me a knowing smirk before winking at me.

[scullysexual]

You're Never Just Anything To Me

@today-in-fic | ao3

A look into Mulder and Scully's relationship starting from Millennium going all the way up to Requiem.

Based on this post.

Prologue: The Unnatural.

The phone rings just as he gets through the front door. He takes his baseball jersey off, tossing it onto the back of the chair before reaching over to grab the phone before it can go to the answering machine.

“Hello?” Mulder answers.

“Hi, it’s me,” says Scully sounding uncharacteristically shy.

Mulder grins, sitting himself down on the couch and leaning back. He imagines her sitting by the phone, watching the clock and counting down the minutes it takes for him to drive from her apartment to his own, waiting for the right moment to call him.

“Hey, is everything okay?” he asks.

“It’s fine. I, uh…just wanted to say that I really enjoyed tonight.”

Mulder smiles, feeling the warmth spread through him at the memory of their evening.

“And I also wanted to say that I forgive you.”

Mulder leans forward, holding the phone tightly to his ear.

“I didn’t intend on missing you’re actual birthday, Scully,” Mulder says. The guilt of doing so still lingers even five months later. “I just…lost track of the days. I know it’s no excuse, I just…You know how I get.”

There’s a pause before she says quietly, “I do…”

“And then there was that undercover case and you seemed so pissed off at me.” Scully scoffs though she disguises it pretty well with a laugh. “Rightfully so,” Mulder adds quickly. “And then we just got hit with X-File after X-File and…your birthday card still sits on my mantle piece. I felt guilty every time I looked at it.”

“Is this how you came up with tonight?” she asks.

“Sort of. I’ve been wanting to do something for a while, to make up for my poor planning.” He pauses for a second. “Did it work?”

“It did,” Scully answers. Mulder grins from ear to ear. “And it also got me thinking about other things,”

Mulder’s ears prick up. “Oh yeah?”

“About your…offer.”

Mulder’s stomach twists waiting, his heart beating wildly against his chest as he waits silently.

“My answer is yes.”

He swallows, unsure if he’s heard correctly.

“Scully…”

“But—”

Mulder waits once more, clutching the phone.

“We take it slow. I don’t want to rush into anything. I don’t want to screw anything up.”

“Of course,” he says finally letting a out a breath. “Of course, we can go as slow as you want.” He can’t stop the smile from spreading across his face. “Scully, I…” He wants to say he loves her but does that count as too fast? “I promise I won’t miss another birthday again. Or anniversary, or anything like that.”

Scully laughs through the receiver. She, too, sounds lighter, like she’s free of everything holding her down.

Mulder starts looking around for his calendar and then realises he doesn’t own a calendar.

“I’ll buy a calendar,” he says. “Give me some dates and I’ll write them down in big letters. I promise I won’t forget anything ever again.”

“Okay,” Scully answers, the hint of laughter still in her voice.

“I won’t let you down,” he says, suddenly needing her to know. “I’ll treat you right and we’ll go at your pace.”

“Okay,” she says again and he can hear the belief in her voice. “I’m going to go to sleep now. I’ll see you tomorrow?”

Right, tomorrow was Monday, a new work week.

“Yeah. Yes, you will.”

“Goodnight, Mulder.”

“Goodnight, Scully.”

The dial tone sounds and Mulder leans back against the couch, phone still stuck to his ear. He felt different, lighter, an entire weight taken off his shoulders.

[eclectic-sassycoweyes]

Music Monday

I’ve needed to be a bit absent in the last few days, so sorry to the people whom I haven’t answered and the wonderful wip’s I haven’t reblogged, they’re waiting in my drafts lol.

Thanks for tagging me @lemonlyman-dotcom and @tellmegoodbye

Today I’m going with three - starting with cheesy bitter breakup-vibes, moving on to some Tarlos post breakup love and devotion, and ending it with a much lighter, sexier vibe! (I’m really into the last song atm so if this long post is making you wanna move on, skip to that!) Also throwing in a fic rec to go with that last one😬

1) My brain is exam- and travel-blues -mush and so I’ve been listening to my old shower-sing-along playlist for energy and this song just keep giving me Carlos-being-bitter-and-sad-during-the-break-up-vibes - and also, it’s Mary J. Blige, so?🤷‍♂️

Especially these lyrics:

“Is it getting better

Or do you feel the same?

Will it make it easier on you now

You got someone to blame?

You say one love, one life (One life)

It's one need in the night (In the night)

One love (One love), we get to share it (Oh)

Leaves you darlin', if you don't care for it

Did I disappoint you

Or leave a bad taste in your mouth?

You act like you never had love

And you want me to go without?

Well, it's too late tonight

To drag the past out into the light

We're one but we're not the same

We get to carry each other, carry each other

Well, did I ask too much, more than a lot?

You gave me nothing, now it's all I got

We're one but we're not the same

See, we hurt each other, then we do it again

You say love is a temple, love is a higher law

Love is a temple, love is a higher law

You ask for me to enter, but then you make me crawl

And I can't keep holding on to what you've got

'Cause all you got is hurt

One love, one blood

One life, you got to do what you should

One life with each other

One life but we're not the same

We get to carry each other, carry each other

2) On a lighter note (I know it was probably technically written as a breakup song but it’s also one of my favorite love song and I think it can be interpreted in more ways than one! In this case, I interpret it in the context of Tarlos getting back together again😌🥰

For you, there'll be no more crying

For you, the sun will be shining

And I feel that when I'm with you

It's alright, I know it's right

To you, I will give the world

To you, I'll never be cold

'Cause I feel that when I'm with you

It's alright, I know it's right

And the songbirds are singing

Like they know the score

And I love you, I love you, I love you

Like never before

And I wish you all the love in the world

But most of all, I wish it from myself

And the songbirds are singing

Like they know the score

And I love you, I love you, I love you

Like never before

3) Again on an even lighter, and should slightly sexier note 😏💃 - some of the lyrics make me think in particular of Andie’s @paperstorm hc that Carlos had not experienced sexual attraction and need/desire at the level he does with TK, before meeting him. If you want to read an amazing fic about demisexual!Carlos, definitely go read Butterflies and Sky-High !!!! 🥰🥹

I knew I was in trouble

When I took my first look at you

Tried to get myself together

but I didn’t know what to do

I never thought this day I would see

And then you did what you did when you did what you did to me, Oh!

But keep on doing it (keep on doin’ it)

Keep doing your thing (keep on doin’ it)

Keep on doing it (keep on doin’ it)

Keep doing your thing (doin’ it, doin’ it)

Baby keep on doing it

Do it, do it,

Hey baby, doing your thing yeah

Keep doing your thing

I never had this kind of love

Never really lived before

And all I can say is keep on doin’ it ‘till I can’t take it no more

I never thought this day I would see

And then you did what you did when you did what you did to me, Oh!

But keep on doing it (keep on doin’ it)

Keep doing your thing (keep on doin’ it)

-||-

Babe, baby

Babe, baby

Stop! Wait, just a minute baby

You got me weak in the knees

You’re wrecking my (? Sorry am transcribing this myself😅) wracking my brain

But it sure is good to me

I never thought this day I would see

-||-

Tagging @paperstorm @heartstringsduet @carlos-in-glasses @cold-blooded-jelly-doughnut

@herefortarlos @carlos-tk @nisbanisba @ladytessa74

@thisbuildinghasfeelings @alrightbuckaroo @rmd-writes @welcometololaland

@thoughtsickles @nancys-braids @captain-gillian @your-catfish-friend

@goldenskykaysani @whatsintheboxmh @pimento-playing-hopscotch

@lightningboltreader @never-blooms

And Open Tag!!!

Pls lmk if you want to be added or removed from the list:)!

[hoardlikegoldenirises]

This is a NSFW parksborn puppy play doodle dump, ft. both concepts for gear and also just plain old horny drawings.

I wrote that puppy play fic and now I am ill, I think—with puppy peter fever,

(there's a separate post for the safe-for-work drawings on that second page of doodles: link)

This is all slapped together so some closeups after the readmore, focusing on the less-than-safe-for-work images:

I'll start off with some of the sillier drawings:

this ⬇️ is a little doodle-comic of what probably happened immediately after they finished their little uh, play session in the fic.

not really a puppy related drawing other than addressing the fact that Peter "Daddy Dom" Parker is extremely embarrassed by what he just did... I will be honest, I kind of approach all instances of Peter subbing as involving inevitable sub drop. He just doesn't deal well with submission, after-the-fact, even when it's cathartic for him.

Goofy x Horny double combo—

also more sub drop. i was just having fun with little doodles. if i actually write anything about Peter's aftercare needs in this context it will be, like in other contexts I have written it, much less silly.

HORNY:

hi 🥴

and some uh. dog bone gags 😳 don't judge me.

one, an actual gag made for humans, and the other, me looking at a chew toy and thinking to myself, they could probably fit that in Peter's big mouth. for when he won't shut the fuck up.

all you need is a spring lock and suddenly it's adjustable, amiright?

he's still topping here btw. not that i drew the rest of what's happening. but. probably topping. or getting a bj idk.

Harness and collar concepts ahoy:

Peter's day collar. It's heavily based off of this collar (sfw link btw it's just petco LOL) by Le Dog Company, but I wanted to make it more padded under the buckle. I do like that the strap just says "Le dog" though like. Yeah. And you can see his little name tags and stuff.

probably the inside is like a nice caramel color, rather than black or anything, but i didn't color that part.

and I decided that they'll never go beyond "training" or other non-ownership collars. i don't think he'd be okay with extending even pretend ownership outside of actively having sex tbh. they're extremely not following "old guard traditions" here. peter owns himself and all of his gear, no exceptions

concept for harness to match, courtesy of Felicia, and just. photos of one of the leashes. i didn't feel like drawing it. not pictured: 9 footer (another petco link lol) — I think I like the way the 4 foot leash looks better, esp since it matches the collar better imo, but I figured. maybe sometimes they would want a 9 foot leash. I mean. Is Harry taking Peter on walks, No, but, you know, could be useful.

Harness is the same color as the collar, I just made it lighter in this pic so you can see the actual details. It's loosely based on some leather harness I saw but slightly different.

...

I also wanted to add some bonus sets which are probably gifts from Felicia, though I'm sure Harry could afford more, but *waves my hand* Felicia likes to tease Peter—

*loudly clears my throat* It's uhh, you know, I just like pink. yeah. I mean normally I put Flash in pink for gender-y reasons I think most people are aware of at this point, but I just. Happened to see a picture of a cute pink mesh dog harness while looking for inspiration, and, well, it got away from me a little bit,

not for gender reasons, particularly, mostly just for horny reasons 😂

this one is obviously stealing I mean taking heavy inspo from the irl dog harness but also from some other stuff, like safety vests and what have you. And I decided I wanted it to have nylon straps with a cinch instead of a normal buckle because............ conceptually, I find that sexy, for some reason LOL idk it's the physicality or something. the combo of industrial hardware with girly aesthetics. just really strapping him into this thing.

also yeah i designed this one to not be easily removed (or put on) by the wearer themself, also for horny reasons. requires a helper to put on and take off, though Peter is probably flexible enough he could take it off by himself if he needed to get out in a pinch.

........does this qualify as sissification? probably. who can say,

anyway the collar is based on those thousand different kinds of customizable rhinestone collars where you can get your pet's name, or "cum slut" or whatever, spelled out in bejeweled charms. but made with like, slightly higher quality materials. like suede, heavy duty hardware, cubic zirconia or something, etc... I came VERY close to putting something vulgar but settled on just Peter's name and the hearts instead.

In my head, Felicia thinks she's very, very funny for giving this pink set to Peter.

don't be such a wet blanket Peter.

no, i do have a scenario in my notes involving him trying this on and enjoying it a little bit more than he intended to... not because of him having a secretly girlish nature so much as uh the opposite, so. you know, like i said, it might qualify as sissification/force femme, but idk. i just like it...

harry would also be cute in this... also flash... really any of the gang. full CBG matching bubblegum pink kink wear, now there's a thought 😂 mj would probably get a kick out of that

swarovski crystal... i wanted a D-ring on both the front and the back (for versatility) and it happened to also be a useful place to hang a cute little charm.

And now for something on the complete opposite end of the aesthetic spectrum, and probably more Felicia's style than anything else in this post.

Anyway, the other bonus from Fel (or possibly just Peter and Harry buying it). Sometimes Peter is naughty... or, you know, combining his top and dom instincts with submission and bdsm—a bad dog who bites. muzzle optional. tbh idk how hardcore Harry is but Peter likes this stuff (in my mind) so I figure it would make sense. More BDSM looking than doggy at this point but, you know, the spiked collar and a very short (like a foot or two at most) chain leash. plus muzzles.

went for two different muzzles—the medical padded style that is on its own pretty intense, with a little snap so it can attach to the O-ring on the front of the collar instead of having its own attached collar (see, O-ring not just aesthetic lol) and the other one is a more dog-like muzzle, with the metal basket. Both would probably be custom, esp if they're from Felicia, though i guess with the right needle and stuff Peter could probably modify a stock padded muzzle on his own... so maybe only the metal one is custom. who knows.

Obv the leather padded one is way more of a muzzle that makes it so you can't speak easily, or bite or eat or anything else, plus it has its own D-ring for extra bondage lol— vs the basket muzzle which is mostly aesthetic and to prevent biting. lol.

there are 500 harnesses that look almost exactly like this on etsy. can't beat the classics i guess. didn't bother drawing seams but this is definitely reinforced, though none of it's padded except where it needs to be for durability.

butt. all of the harnesses like this i saw also have that kind of rubber handle on the back. it's not like Harry can really tug Peter around that much even if Peter didn't have super strength, but, i have to include nice handles on all of these for the aesthetic/sex appeal. it's about the implication.

my real motivation for making this one unpadded (aside from, I guess, being less gentle) was cause I wanted all the spike rivets and other hardware to be skin-contact. aka: put the collar in the fridge for some temperature play LOL 🥶❄️ obv it would warm up fast but, appealing mental image,

i also thought it would be fun if it had some warning patches they could put on it, so I sketched a couple of those. I think Peter could make or modify something like this very easily lol. these could probably be put on the other harnesses too. or like on the shoulder straps. full kit w/ muzzle + spiked collar + harness + chain leash + caution patches is definitely... a thought...

[tfw-no-tennis]

slawbo 2 fic extended authors notes

hiii here are the fun extra notes for my latest slawbo (sabo/law) fic, which can be read here. Read that before checking out this post!

so to start out, warning that this will contain some frank and clinical discussions of medicine/anatomy/dissecting human bodies (which u probably already know if you came here from the fic). Also, there are pictures, but nothing gory or real. Onwards!

so this fic was a LOT of fun for me, as someone who has quite a bit of dissecting experience.

I will say, I've never done an actual autopsy before, which is technically what was in the fic, so some stuff might not be exactly accurate. The dissecting I've done has been for learning purposes only.

There is quite a bit handwaving/fantasy stuff in this fic, but I tried to keep as much of it as accurate as possible (without verging on boring, I hope).

one thing abt cadavers: SO much heavier than you think. If you've ever tried to lift/carry/move a (living) person who's completely limp, you know what I mean. Bodies are so much heavier when the person is just (literal) dead weight.

the story I referenced in the fic authors note is as follows: picture this. its like 7 am. my friend and I are preparing the cadavers for teaching and we realize that we need to flip one of them over (some are 'face up' while others are 'face down,' allowing us to visualize the different muscles/organs/etc of each side). had we ever done this before? no. not even once. but it was part of our job, and how hard could it be

Really hard as it turns out. we picked the smallest cadaver (a probably 5 foot 100 lb old lady. also all the cadavers have their skin and fat dissected off already so even lighter!). my friend is a buff dude and I'm a jock, even. but we underestimated it

when I tell you guys it was bad..............we were flipping the body from face-up to face-down. it was SO awkward and SO heavy, we weren't able to get leverage to just lift the body off the table, so we tried to roll the body instead. the problem here was that the abdomen and chest had been dissected open, so when we STRUGGLED to flip/roll the body, there was a lot of jostling, which resulted in. uh. all of the organs falling out.

now most of them were still internally attached, so all that meant was that the intestines were kinda spilling out and stuff. but a few things had been cut up into pieces so you could see the inside of them - namely the liver and I thiiiiink the spleen.

so there we are, struggling to even roll this cadaver over, and organs are getting everywhere, and a few chunks of the liver fall out and bounce across the floor...

oh it was so bad. we eventually got the poor cadaver situated and all of the organs in their proper place, and we certainly learned our lesson about attempting to flip a cadaver without a small army to assist you (at least once they had been dissected to that extent).

got covered in 'cadaver juice' (not Body Juice, but rather the preservative chemicals you spray fixed cadavers with) during this ordeal. thank god for lab coats.

In any case, would a fireman carry have been ideal for Sabo? Not really sure, I haven't ever tried to move a body by myself. He probably should've tried to put the body on a wheeled table and just wheeled it outta there, bc that is WAY easier (even tho those tables are usually janky as fuck and harder to wheel than they should be), but alas.

Also, positioning blocks are real and they're my best friend. they look like this, generally:

the ones i've used have been more rubber-y than foam-y, but yeah. they also come in other shapes - there are some kinda u-shaped ones for the neck/head that are very useful in getting things into the position you need.

It's actually pretty easy to move a body's limbs around and place them where they need to be - it can become difficult in preserved cadavers that have stayed in one position for a while (generally they'll get fixated there after a bit)

cut gloves! also a real thing. they come in lots of styles and can look like this:

they're cut resistant, so if you accidentally slice them w/your scalpel, you won't get cut. very VERY important if you don't know the communicable disease status of the body you're dissecting (which was the case in the fic)

I've never had cause to use cut gloves, really, since I have only worked with donated bodies that have been screened ahead of time for diseases. They're still around if people want to use them, though - dead people germs aren't great to have in an open wound, even if you aren't gonna get hepatitis or whatever.

I see people wear nitrile gloves (which are the thin blue gloves you see any medical/lab people wearing - the gloves aren't latex anymore! except when they are but whatever) over their cut gloves so that the cut gloves don't get all yucky, but there's no need to wear a pair under them too, like Sabo did (which is why law was laughing at him)

the way that Law cuts the chest open is a bit non-traditional, but I wanted to include a sternum saw AND rib shears - which look like this, respectively:

swear to god I saw someone using garden clippers as rib shears once. at least they LOOKED straight outta home depot. seriously....so I had to include that bit lmao

also, the sound that the rib shears make is...certainly distinct, so I had to shout that out as well. Also, clipping through ribs is shockingly easy, damn (then again, most cadavers I've worked with are pretty elderly, so that's a factor). no surprise that you often break ribs if you do CPR on a person!

I did skip over a lot of what would actually happen, which is the semi-tedious cutting away of SOOOO SO MUCH fat and fascia (connective tissue that overlies and connects EVERYTHING). I didn't want to bog the story down with that sort of detail that nobody else would really care abt lmao

the stomach IS actually all up in the thoracic cavity (the part of your chest covered by your ribs - technically the lower boundary is your diaphragm, and your stomach is below that in your abdominal cavity, but a lot of abdominal organs are tucked under the ribs, like the stomach and liver and spleen, especially if you lay down).

eye safety! also very important, especially if you don't know where the body's been. you reeeeeally don't want cadaver juice in your eyeball.

did I wear eye protection? no, I did not. I wore the following: gloves. sometimes a lab coat if I was cold. end of list. lmaooooo

some people will wear masks, gowns, caps, foot covers, and eye protection. all completely valid. I DID wear more stuff when working with 'fresh' (non-preserved) cadavers - they're much smellier and still have blood (fixed/preserved cadavers have all the blood removed and replaced w/chemicals like formaldehyde. they are also smelly but in a distinctly chemical way, which I personally don't really mind, vs 'fresh' cadavers that end up smelling like uh. dead meat).

Metz scissors aka Metzenbaum scissors (I used the shorter version bc I feel weird namedropping stuff that's clearly from 'our' world and named after an irl person in 'our' world in a one piece fic) are used for cutting delicate tissue like the fibrous pericardium (see below for more on that). They look like this:

aortic dissection is very real! and very bad - a chunk of patients die within about an hour. it's definitely an emergency! though the swiftness of death depends on how severe the dissection is (it's not necessarily a death sentence).

this can be preceded by an aortic aneurysm, which is when the aorta balloons and often THEN dissects.

Here's a basic pic of what an aortic dissection looks like, as described in the fic:

having a bicuspid aortic valve (which is a condition you're born with, not something that develops) IS a risk factor for aortic aneurysm, because a bicuspid aortic valve makes blood flow a bit less efficient. It looks like this:

I thought it would be funny to have the cause of death be something like this - something completely unrelated to the rest of the nonsense the guy & Sabo had going on, on Sabo's offscreen Revolutionary mission. Terrible timing --> fic premise.

atherosclerosis is very real too! it's as law described - plaque builds up in the artery, and the artery expands (and hardens as it naturally loses elasticity due to the expansion) to accommodate the flow of blood which has been impaired by the plaque.

I've seen some crazy atherosclerotic arteries mannnnn. you can feel and see the hard patches on a cadaver, it's fascinating! it's pretty common (arteries lose their elasticity as you age anyways, which usually leads to some enlargement, but there's quite a range of severity). very interesting imo

hemostatic forceps (AKA hemostats) are these grippy tools that you generally hold in your non-dominant hand to position tissue while you cut w/a scalpel in your dominant hand. you can use different types of tweezers (also called forceps) too but I prefer hemostats. my favored type, which is what I pictured for the fic, are these:

...this is technically an Allis Clamp, not forceps, but I didn't want to get too crazy technical.

some anatomy terms I used:

manubrium - the top portion of the sternum! you can feel the top bit of it at the bottom of the dip in your neck between your clavicles (collarbones).

mediastinal cavity (AKA the mediastinum) - the space in your chest between your two lungs, containing the heart & other important structures!

pericardium - the thin 'sack' surrounding the heart! It has layers, and the outermost layer is the fibrous pericardium. In order to see a cadaver's heart, you have to cut through it (plus a tonnnnn of fat)

adipose tissue is a fancy way of saying fat! it's yellow and blobby and very greasy. GREAT for cushioning organs, so there's plenty of it surrounding all your major organs.

the coronary arteries are the small arteries on the outside of the heart that bring blood to the heart itself. you've probably heard of them in the context of heart attacks, which is when one or more of them (there are 2 major branches, a right and left, and then those have quite a few branches) gets blocked by a clot and your heart muscle stops receiving blood. Uh oh!

the aorta is the biiiig main artery coming out of your heart. all of the other arteries can be traced back to this one. whoa!

so why did Law do All That? well, flirting, obviously, but also because I've injected a lot of myself into this fic's Law characterization, specifically his love of anatomy. As someone in school to become a medical practitioner myself, I love to explore Law's Doctor side (even tho it's wild to me that there seems to be no formal medical education system in place in the OP universe (understandably ig) - no boards!? no residency!? wild!). I like to think that Law plays up his affinity for dissecting in order to up his creepy factor (he's committed to the bit), but I also like to think that he genuinely does love that stuff, and have a fascination with it (a fascination that does come off as creepy, especially to outsiders - I experience this all the time! Something I do a lot is talk in detail about dissection, and then someone mentions 'hey uh we're all eating rn' and I realize that ohhh yeah most people don't want to hear a detailed description of a body being cut up while they try to eat dinner. doesn't even occur to me!)

so yeah, I projected a lot of my love of anatomy and dissecting and medicine onto Law for this fic, and had a blast doing it. I hope you all enjoyed (and maybe learned something too!) and I look forward to bringing y'all more fic soon* (*if grad school doesn't send me to an early grave first)!

[miabebe]

Hi!

Um, idk how to start but oh well, hello, I don't remember when exactly I started following you, but I think it was when you started writing the where you're convenient series. I do remember that the story that made me follow you was the legend of the sea. Okay that aside, I just wanted to say that I really really appreciate your works. It usually takes me a while to send an ask to someone and I always feel bad because I really went to tell people how much I love their writings but it takes a lot of courage for me to actually send an ask. Oh god, I'm rambling, it's just, I've been wanting to tell you how much I love your works and I think the accidentally kidnapping a mafia boss oneshot just gave me that courage to do this. I'll start off with the fact that the legend of the sea was my first read from your works and it was idk, so comforting? I just loved cheol's character and I felt so good reading it, well, that has a lot to do with the fact that I am a huge angst enthusiast but yeah, it was such a good read, I absolutely loved it. Next well, I had first read Joshua's where you're convenient story and when I tell you I cried, not because of how painful it was, but because of the fact that it's hard to find good shua angst and this one was just so good, I love love loved it. Moving on to the too many beds oneshot, I want you to know that I had seen you post the teaser for it and was so eagerly waiting for it and when you posted the full fic, I had just written my dance exam and it didn't go nearly as well as my previous ones and I guess, reading it was like treating myself to something good to make myself feel better. I am such a sucker for e2l and the way those two were so genuine with each other was delightful to read. Them being so accepting of their feelings, not needing to confront them with a heavy heart but understanding them so well and, listen it was just perfection. I've already read it a few times and I'm going to read it again in the future. Now, if we talk about the the jeonghan's mafia oneshot, it was so different from what I was expecting, like idk, it was so unexpected, but in a good way. I love when plotlines are completely unexpected, they're always so fun to read. The two of them living together and growing on each other, falling in love, oh god, it was so good, their dynamics, their complicated feelings, it was mindblowing. Oh, and bss, I absolutely loved their characters, they were such a fun addition to the plot, they made it lighter. The angst was chef's kiss 💋. Okay, last but definitely not the least, I am so excited for the camp seventeen series, I read the prologue and well, if you think you are unhinged to write it, I can tell you, I am just as unhinged or maybe more for how much I'm anticipating it and how much I'm gonna love it. I squealed when I read the prologue and their descriptions, it is so exciting. There's still other works of yours that I haven't talked about but I've already said so much, I'll cover the other ones next time. Please, take your time writing and thank you for putting the effort to write such masterpieces. I heard you're not feeling well, please take care of yourself, hope you feel better soon. Thank you again, and I'm sorry, I blabbered too much.

In all the time I've been on this app, this might be one of the most heartwarming things I've ever received 😭🫂 I'm particularly shy too so I know how hard it must've been for you to send this and I'm so so so grateful to hear from you, thank you so much ❤️

The Legend of the Sea was a particularly difficult write - I knew the writing style wouldn't be everyone's type but I wanted to challenge myself so I wrote it and I'm so happy you liked it too!

Where you're convenient is also one of my favourites, I loveeee the marriage of convenience trope so much, it has sooo much scope? But aaahhh you cried? I'm touched you thought it was worthy of those happy tears 🥲

I'm so sorry to hear about your exam but I'm glad something I've written gave you a little solace! I don't think there's a bigger honour than being able to make someone happy with a few words, I'm glad I could do that for you, it makes all of this worth it!

I really was banking on the bringing a unique plot line for all my reverse trope one shots, I feel so accomplished knowing the Jeonghan one was unexpected 🤭 thank you so much for loving that piece!

Ahhh Camp Seventeen is coming next and I have sooo much planned for it, I'm so excited to share with you - I hope it'll be just as good or even better than everything so far, I'd love to hear your thoughts about it when the chapters start dropping!

Again thank you so so so much for sending this to me, I couldn't have been happier reading this 🫂 I hope you'll ramble often in my inbox or even in my DMs if that's more convenient for you, I'd love to talk more ❤️

[anonymous-dentist]

Little fic inspired by this post by @quackityinc (hiiii delilah)

-

Quackity doesn't remember when he started kidnapping Karl Jacobs. He wishes he did so he could go back in time and tell his past self to, like, not fucking do that. Because not only has it turned... problematic for multiple reasons (relation to Heatwave, increasing popularity, personal interest, etc.), but also? Karl Jacobs is annoying. That, most of all, has really turned Quackity off of the whole kidnapping thing.

"Oh, you redecorated!" Karl exclaims.

Ten minutes, Quackity thinks. Karl Jacobs has been kidnapped for ten minutes, and he's already out of the trap Quackity stuck him in. He's out of the trap, and he's wandering around Quackity's super evil lair with a smile painted on his face like he literally isn't kidnapped. He is literally kidnapped. What is wrong with him?

Quackity, for his part, just lets it happen. He sits in his chair and he watches Karl wander around his lair like it's an art museum.

Arms crossed, and scowl firmly on his face, Quackity thinks, not for the first time, that maybe this has gotten a little out of control.

"I like it!" Karl declares. He looks at Quackity, eyes wide and eager and full of enough bullshit to drown a pig in. "It's nice! Modern, I like that in an evil lair."

"I'm glad," Quackity dryly responds. His voice changer pitched his voice down to Technoblade levels of deep.

"See, but there's one thing I would change-"

Quackity sighs and fights the urge to put a bullet through Karl's pretty little skull. Here it comes...

Karl paces along the balcony above Quackity, fingers trailing along the railing as he goes. He painted his nails again, Quackity absently notices. Pink. Nice.

"-I'm not sure if the carpet up here is good for, like, stains?" Karl says, and- yeah, okay, he's got a point, but the carpet wasn't Quackity's idea. "Like- okay, shut me down here if you want, but I know you like your bloodstains, and the carpet up here is too dark for that? I think?"

"I'm not exactly torturing people up there," Quackity says. "You know where I torture people."

"Ugh, yeah, I know, but I still think that you should think about putting something lighter in if you want the stains to pop."

"Who says I want the stains to pop?"

"Don't you villain guys have that uuuuh..." Karl trails off, deep in thought. His mouth turns down into a cute little frown that a weaker Quackity would want to kiss. "...the what's-it-called. Your OSHA."

Quackity nods. "Yeah, VOSHA."

The Villainous Organization for Safety, Health, and Absolute Degeneracy. Quackity is the vice president this year, much to his annoyance. Schlatt got the presidency yet again thanks to the vote rigging. Fucking asshole.

Karl snaps his fingers. "Yeah! That! Isn't their whole thing making sure your evil lairs are, like, evil? This doesn't look evil to me."

He scuffs the toe of his shoe along the carpet. Quackity is sure he's getting mud all over it, but he doesn't really care. Again, the carpet wasn't his idea. Blame Foolish. He wanted something nice.

"I'm not getting rid of the carpet," Quackity says.

"I'm not saying you have to!" Karl objects. "I'm just saying that you've got some design flaws up here. Just saying."

In one swift motion, Karl braces himself against the railing with one hand and hops it, settling upside-down from the topmost bar. Quackity wishes he'd fall and crack his skull open, but he knows he won't, and he knows that him wishing that he would is just a desperate attempt at not caring about someone he cares entirely too much about.

"Thanks for putting the railings in, by the way," Karl says. He doesn't seem at all bothered by the fact that he's freely dangling by his feet twenty feet above a hard concrete floor. "Makes it way easier to hang, you know?"

Quackity has seen Karl's shows. He was in the audience of last week's, front row. He even got to be part of it as an audience volunteer, and he got a bouquet of plastic flowers from Karl's sleeve for his trouble. Those flowers are in a vase in his bedroom back home right next to the program.

"Yeah, no, I totally get it," Quackity says. He watches as Karl drops his arms down so they swing next to his head. "Sometimes you just gotta hang, yeah, I get it."

"You know, you're a nice guy," Karl says. He looks at Quackity like he can see through the mask. "Sometimes I wonder what you look like under there."

Absently, Quackity raises a gloved hand to press his mask closer to his face. "Nothing special. Don't worry about it."

Karl smirks at that, eyes narrowing slightly. "Somehow, I doubt that."

And, of course, that's when Heatwave chooses to enter via the window, crashing through without a care in the world.

Quackity groans. He can't afford this...

"Karl!" Heatwave shouts. He looks frantically around the room before seeing Karl hanging from the railing. At that, he looking faintly alarmed, and very amused. At least he and Quackity can agree on that. "Karl, oh my God, there you are!"

Karl smiles and waves. "Hey, baby! Me and V were just hanging out."

He giggles at the pun. Quackity wants to slit his throat. Quackity wants to kiss him. This is a problem.

Heatwave turns on his heel to glare at Quackity, who stares impassively back from behind his mask.

"Vulture," Heatwave says, voice pleasant but laced with disgust. "will you please stop kidnapping my boyfriend?"

Very few know that famed hero Heatwave has a partner. Very many people know that famed magician Karl Jacobs has a partner. He shows his boyfriend, one Sapnap Halo, off every time he does an Instagram livestream. Quackity is one of only two people on the planet that knows that Heatwave and Sapnap Halo are one in the same. This is also a problem.

"Nah," Quackity says. He glances up at Karl with a soft smile. "I'm good."

[wuxiaphoenix]

On Writing: Title, Summary, Augh

AKA you wrote it, now what do you call it? And how do you sum it up - whether for a book blurb or a fic-posting site?

...Yeah, no, I’m not good at this. I face Title and Summary boxes with a look of stunned, deer-in-headlights, “Now what?” I spent all this time and effort coming up with an Idea and getting it down in words, and you expect me to sum it up?

Alas, we must. I mean, you can’t title a book “Every Neat Fictional Trope Slammed into a Firecracker of a Story!”

...Well, you could, but fitting it on your cover is going to be a bear and a half.

Which is a good place to start if you’re absolutely stuck on a title. What would look good on the front cover?

Hopefully this narrows down the horde of possibilities to something more manageable. Three to five words is usually good; if you’re using a one-word title like Dracula, you’re going to need a really good back cover blurb. If you’re using a subtitle, people usually think nonfiction. Things like that.

Puns, now. People have widely differing opinions on those. I personally consider a punny title one of the factors that will make me stop and read the cover blurb, and maybe the sample. I like puns. That said, if you have a punny title you’re implying there will be wry humor in the book as well. This fits for cozy mysteries, lighter fantasy and SF, and any other work where the characters can see some humor in their own situation. It’s not the vibe you want if you’re doing Deadly Serious stuff. The Wheel of Time? Serious. Eric Flint’s Pyramid Schemes? Not so much.

Also, puns generally don’t translate well, as anyone who’s written in an anime or foreign drama fandom can attest. This may or may not be important to you, but if you are trying to market internationally... well, it’s something to think about.

Proverbs may translate a bit better. I’ve been known to snag a saying or two as a title inspirations. Combine the right saying with a good cover, and you can strongly hint at the conflict of the story before your readers even read the blurb.

Or the summary. The two are not the same thing! A summary should give a general idea of the whole story. A blurb, in contrast, should only cover maybe the first third of the book, up to the first Major Conflict. Blurbs need to be short! Just enough to hook your reader in for more.

Remember, you don’t need to get them right the first time. Just like your story, it’s okay to do multiple drafts of your title, blurb, and so on.

Though do try to have the title final before you publish. It’s so much simpler that way.....

[spaceprincessem]

Wip asks

Tell me more about the elevator one I’ve enjoyed the snippets

And which one is your favourite 💕💕

hi spots 💖

elevator fic is set in a post 6a verse about buck running into ana and them getting stuck in an elevator together. i also may have crushed buck like a lil potato chip so he's in recovery right now and figuring out where he fits in eddie's life. the idea came because i think i'd be interesting for ana and buck to have a conversation post break-up and i fully believe that the first thing out of eddie's mouth when he woke up from the shooting coma was buck so i think it would be fun to explore ana and buck talking about that as well

here's a lil snippet!

Ana, thankfully, takes it in stride, her smile a little sad as she asks, “How is Edmundo?” Buck scrunches his nose at Eddie’s full name, never quite liking how she says it, but he isn’t sure why (lie).

“Oh, uh, Eddie?” Buck fumbles over the words. “Yeah, he’s good. Really good.”

“No more panic attacks?” 

There’s something to her tone, just a touch of bitterness Buck is intimately familiar with when you mention something you should be over. How somewhere deep, deep, down it still rattles in the hollow places it carved in your bones. And he can’t really blame Ana. Not when part of Eddie’s panic wrapped around the idea of starting a family with her. He also can’t forget that late night phone call. Christopher’s desperate voice and Eddie’s screams as he smashed his room to pieces. He can’t forget how his heart tried to rip out of his chest because maybe if it tore itself from his body it could reach Eddie faster than the Jeep could. He will never forget those few, horrible, gut-wrenching seconds of silence that followed when he broke down Eddie’s bedroom door. He shuts those particular thoughts away before Ana can ask.

my favorite wip right now might be the proposal one just because it's a little but lighter and a good break after writing the heavy (and hefty) group therapy au

[the-insomniac-emporium]

It's here! A (somewhat) dramatic reading of the first chapter of Bound Blood. If you'd like to follow along to the original fanfic, you can find it here. Additionally, I have added a transcript for the opening + outro under the cut. Please enjoy!

Intro Transcript: Narrator, somewhat deep tone: Warning! This fic contains: canon-typical violence, harsh language unbefitting of small children, brie mentions of nudity, and what I can only assume will be piss poor imitations of canon characters. Listener discretion is advised.

Narrator, lighter tone: A quick reminder: This fic is not sponsered by SquareSpace, Naturebox, Nord VPN, nor Raid: Shadow Legends. Thank you for listening.

Narrator: Bound Blood, Chapter one: Sharing Is Not Caring

*intro music*

Outro Transcript:

Jordan (me!), not doing any voice: *clicks tongue* Well, alright, that brings us to the end of Bound Blood, chapter one. I'd like to take a moment to thank everyone who {pause for brain loading} responded to the original fic when I posted it, ages ago. Everyone that left comments, or reblogged it

Jordan, cont.: This has been one of my favorite stories to write- {flustered, faster} and I know I haven't finished it yet! {chuckle} and I do feel pretty bad about that

Jordan, cont: Um, and I think about it all the time though. Um, {mic makes a noise}, it's, it's just one of my favorites, there's a lot of fun, zany dialogue or whatever, just unhinged maiden as, uh, as {pause, small laugh} Rufus (referring to @lepusrufus , who was very nice when I started writing this story} likes to call them.

Jordan, after a beat, realizing they misspoke: Um... okay, well technically 'unhinged maiden' usually {read: basically always} refers to Nicole, but we were talking about - back in the day - about just the idea of Cassandra with someone who's unhinged, feral, etc... um, and yeah, just one of my favorite characters to write, and it's so fun

Jordan, cont: and I know I'm not the best at doing voiceovers, voice acting, that sort of thing, um, and {amused} my recording setup is also not exactly professional. Uh, but it's been a lot of fun. I know I'm out of practice, but I, uh, hope it was nice to listen to, if anyone stuck around this long... you know, thanks!

Jordan, cont.: I hope you enjoyed! I don't know if I'll end up doing another one of these, uh, I'd like to at some point, for sure. Um, it is, uh, time consuming. {laughs}. Uh, but again, it's really fun, so... yeah, I hope you enjoyed, thanks for listening, and uh, if you want to support me, there are links in my masterlist on my blog. So, uh, yeah! I hope you guys have a wonderful rest of your day, and I will... perhaps see you next time.

Jordan, giving a shoutout: Also real quick wanna give a shoutout to @melthedwarf for being a lovable ray of sunshine and one of my most consistent supporters, you're great. {voice getting higher and faster} this is my voice, saying your name, woo-hoo!

END RECORDING.

[taegularities]

Hello lovely Rid 💕💕

I know I haven't dropped in for a couple of days but I saw your post about what you've had to deal with recently and I just wanted to send you my love and support. That sounds like a really scary and uncomfortable situation to go through but I hope you know that there is also so much kindness and love in the world and you are deserving of it!! I feel like that's something that we can use a reminder for when we encounter people like that, who seem to lack any of those things. You don't deserve any of the pain or sadness you go through, you deserve love and happiness and it will come to you, I'm sure of it <3

On a lighter note, I saw you saying you might be able to drop cmi 10 on the sixth? That's actually the date of my one year blog anniversary lmaooo what a coincidence. I'm sending you all the energy and motivation and hoping for a smooth writing process, Rid. Life is tough though so please don't worry too much about deadlines since I'm sure everyone is excited to read it whenever it comes out.

You also asked about unhappy endings and even though I think you might know my opinion on angst and sad things already, I just want to say again that I would read anything you wrote, Rid and I would sacrifice my very fragile heart if it means reading another one of your beautiful stories. It's funny because usually when it comes to books I don't mind sad things, in fact the heartbreaking ones are usually my favourites, but with fanfiction I think I just get too attached to the characters and it absolutely tears my heart apart when there's any angst.

Speaking of books, I've been reading more recently and I started a book yesterday where the main character's name is Rin and I'm not joking when I say that my brain read it as Rid the first couple of times. So I think that says a lot about how much you cross my mind I guess.

Sorry that I haven't dropped in much lately, for some reason 9/10 times when I open tumblr these days I feel overwhelmed at the thought of reblogging anything or talking to people 😔 And I've also been in and out of bad moods in general lately so yeah. Hoping that starting classes again, being busier and setting up some kind of routine will help me a bit.

I hope things go well for you too in this busy time Rid, both with classes and with work!! Sending you all of my love always 💞💞💞

hi my love 🤍 thank you so much. it's gotten better but it was scarring for sure.. while i know that there's still so much love and positivity in this world, i'm just so :') closed off, like my brain doesn't want to trust anyone just yet. but good things to come, hopefully hehe

and yeah, i shall definitely try! can't promise anything just yet, but i really want to drop cmi10 in a week or two :D lowkey also want it out, so i can finally get to cmi11!! yeah, i'm the same lmaoo i used to read a lot of angsty novels, but pain hits a lot harder with fics. maybe bc it's our favourite celebrity, too? but like, thank you 🥺 i hope you always go into fics carefully and take a break if you need to. i'll always be grateful you picked up any of my fics at all 🤍

don't worry about tumblr.. i absolutely know what you mean. i guess it's why i've been absent, too. don't know what exactly it is, but this site's been a lot lately :') if you ever need to talk about what's going on, i'm here. hope you feel better soon and that uni starts smoothly for you. love you 💕

[three-bunnies-in-a-trenchcoat]

OHH MY GOD THE "BEYOND..." OPTION I FORGOT AB THAT ONE!!! sksw link is such a rascal i love him so...

and donot fucking worry i know EXACTLY what ur talking abt with how it permeates the tags and ao3. finding good ao3 fics is impossible and ESPECIALLY for sksw and oot. im surprised ive found what good ones i can man. also i could talk for hours alone about how L/U has impacted malons character bc i adore her to the point of devoting a major part of my post-oot aus to what happens to her and seeing how shes interpreted nowadays is so. hhhhh !!!!!!! :((( stop making her a scolding mother figure stop making her Links Wife and nothing else she can be so much more than just that!!!!!!!!!!!! aauauausbaa. actually i could talk forever and ever abt how fanon link and malon and zelda tends to make them the worst possible versions of themselves and how l/u kinda perpetuates that but its 1 am and i have a fic to write so fffff

and the names man the names. its such a small thing (and im no stranger to sometimes using those abbreviations in some of my posts when i get especially verbose or have to talk abt multiple links all at once) but i try to go outta my way to refer to the chars as [game] [name] just to make it as clear as possible that im not talking abt the l/u counterparts. theyre practically their own chars to me at this point which sucks when im looking for content of my favs sksw link or oot link and i get Sleepy Soft Boy and Responsible Serious Soldier like no! no!!!!! thats my purse i dont know you /ref!!!!!!!

anyways. maybe i am just old and not with it since ive been a loz fan almost my entire life but it is nice to see someone who feels the same 👍 ty for lettin me complain for a moment there.

on a lighter note tell me about the "sksw link is not actually sleepy" thing bc im curious. its a thing thats mentioned abt pre-destiny link but after zelda falls it does kinda go away aside from the eyebags in his character model and i wanna kno what u hafta say ab it.........

You and I, we can be haters together

The one SMALL mercy I've found while looking up loz fics is that there's no lu fics in the ghiralink tag. For obvious reasons I think. Everywhere else seems to be a fucking HELLHOLE (the first thing I search when I first start looking for fics in a fandom is time travel and uh-- you can imagine what I found (BARELY FUCKING ANYTHING (and also lu)))

Also I haven't gotten around to watching an oot playthrough yet-- is it really that bad with Malon? (For the record I much prefer zelink and like-- I don't even really like zelink all that much beyond ss. And also I hc oot as siblings sometimes. So yeah.)

Honestly I would love to play oot but I can't :( and alas, watching playthroughs is just dreadfully dull (I got a decent way through an mm one though but gave up eventually). Regarding oot link's character though-- I admit I myself have not yet written a fic where it's not lu (or adjacent) so I don't really get the intricacies of his character (see also aforementioned playthrough dullness) so like. If you ever want to talk to someone about it all I would be interested

I also do the name thing, with game then character (on one hand the "hero titles" is just lazy and i really hate how it's become common and they would never give each other names like that but on the other the reason I haven't written much for MY links meet au is because I can't come up with 12 names that don't sound stupid and are also names they would give each other, so. And also apparently those names aren't official to lu (in comic jojo will use things like the old man (time) the smithy (four) the rancher (twilight) and full hero titles on posts (hero of the skies, hero of the four sword, etc)). So as you can see all bad things come from fandom, in this essay I will,

Ok so. It's been a while since I've fully played ss (like two months but my memory is just shit). So I might be wrong. But Link simply does not seem very sleepy to me? Especially not to the extent he is in lu.

For one-- our first introduction to him is him sleeping, yes, and we get told by many npcs and Zelda herself that he oversleeps, but there's a VAST difference between oversleeping and being sleepy. I myself am bad at alarms and such and beyond Premium Loftwing Mail (letter spat in your face) there's really nothing to wake him up, so he'd probably just sleep too long

Also he's been having dreams about the Imprisoned for who knows how long. Dude probably ain't sleeping that well (fi I love you but I think that might have been a mistake)

(Side note he's still in school and there's an open book on his desk-- he COULD be staying up late studying. Unlikely but I think that would be interesting)

Honestly it all just seems like teasing to me-- there's no indication that he's ACTUALLY constantly sleeping too long, just that it's happened enough times that some people have noticed (and it's not like everyone says it). Honestly the only thing pointing to a constant sleepiness is his "sit too long on a stool and start nodding off" animation (which is still like, really funny imo. how are you even DOING that you are SITTING STRAIGHT UP)

Now, delving into my own hcs and such-- he did not sleep. After Impa calls him lazy and too late at the earth temple, something I think would distinctly Fuck Him Up (he SAW the chains Zelda was held by), he would simply-- forgo sleep until it was necessary. I've seen estimates that sksw took place over about 11 months, and that's what I generally use in my fics, so-- my dude really said "I wont rest until I find Zelda" and then took a knife to his sleep schedule

(Side note-- do you think they held a funeral (or Skyloft equivalent) for Zelda? Like it seems that after a week or so of searching, the reasonable conclusion of her being dead would be reached (especially if her bird came back, which-- what's up with that? There must be some nesting area for loftwings, so either it would be seen there or it would also be presumed alongside Zelda if it got sucked down to the surface))

So anyway. His tiredness is self imposed, not something he's always had. (One of my febuwhump fics was that he was literally so exhausted he got hurt and passed out midfight. It was fun.)

Also like I don't know if it's just me but sleepy and tired have different meanings-- sleepy is, idk, cuter? Softer? And tired is. I haven't slept in 17 hours and before that I slept for three hours. (Maybe THAT'S just why it bugs me so much)

And also! Like you said! Beyond the eyebags (which are always there, lending credit to my theory of oversleeping because he simply didn't sleep well/enough) he's really... not tired OR sleepy for the majority of the game

Anyway moving onto lu :) SKY BEING THE LAZY ONE REALLY BUGS ME BECAUSE SIR HAVE YOU EVEN PLAYED THE GAME. YOU'RE GOING TO ASSIGN HIM THE ATTRIBUTE OF LAZINESS WHEN HE ALMOST CERTAINLY PUSHED HIMSELF HARDER TO RESCUE ZELDA AFTER BEING CALLED SUCH? AND THAT'S ALL YOU'RE GOING TO REDUCE HIM TO? YOU COULD'VE AT LEAST PICKED SOMETHING COOL LIKE "GOD KILLER" OR SOMETHING ACCURATE LIKE "LITTLE SHIT"

Ha. He's the one who bugs me the most because ss is my favorite game (not just Zelda game, favorite out of anything) and I've put literal hundred of hours into it. There's honestly more I could say but i fear I've already descended into "wildly incomprehensible"