#an investigation all on his own in the background <3

[bumblingbabooshka]

The Doctor turning into women and having romantic dalliances with men is every kind of queer...to me.

[kthyg]

ghoul. — (intoxicated) (m)

[FIFTH INSTALMENT OF GHOUL SERIES: INTOXICATED]

"I'll pleasure you like how you deserved."

or

After dinner, Taehyung brought you to his house and took you like you were his.

pairing: taehyung x reader

rating: M for Mature

genre: tokyo ghoul au, soulmate au, smut, gore

disclaimer: this story is a work of fiction. descriptions of the BTS members in this story does not reflect nor portray them in real life. everything in this story only fits in imagination and does not apply outside of imagination.

warning: drugging, non con/dub con sexual activities (oral f receiving, fingering, body worshipping, oc is conscious but not really..., manhandling - softly tho), emotional and sentimental tae also ruthless tae, jimin js wants the best but got hurt instead, there's so much gore in this, cannibalism (heavy on this).

word count: 4.2k+

lexicon & profiles | masterpost | masterlist | navigation

note from winter 💌:

this chapter contains heavy themes :( i do hope you know your triggers before proceeding. i trust u with ur own triggers so pls, read if comfortable, skip if uncomfortable.

💌 what is winter listening to? : consume by chase atlantic ft, goon des garcons

📝 if you want to know more about this au, you can refer to lexicon & profiles. any other questions you can refer to me !!

dedication: sleep demon pt.3

You weren’t his soulmate.

You weren’t his friend.

You weren’t even his acquaintance.

But Taehyung had to call his chauffeur to bring you somewhere – he doesn’t care where as long as you and he were away from the coldness. He had no idea where your house was, and he definitely didn't want to go through your phone just to call your 'soulmates' to ask for your house location. So, he was bringing you to his house instead.

When his driver arrived, he immediately got in and turned the heat up enough to warm you up quickly. As he laid you on his lap, your cheeks were red from the cold breeze outside. His hands found their place on your cheeks as he helped you warm up. Your chest rose and fell slowly and steadily once your body temperature returned normal. Your breathing was shallow, and it made Taehyung panic unknowingly.

Once he was satisfied with the heat of your body, only then did he let go. He detached his hands from your face and stroked your head, occasionally brushing through your hair when he heard you purring in contentment.

You and his other soulmate, Yoongi, would make a great pair, he thought. Yoongi liked whenever his soulmates stroked his hair.

Yoongi’s true persona was Taehyung's hidden persona. The cold and aloof persona. If you could get used to his, you’d have no problem with Yoongi’s. But then why would he even think of getting you into his relationship?

He knew that you and Yoongi hated each other – from Jimin – although you didn’t seem like someone who could hate on someone. From the previous hours of talking with you, he could conclude that you were a soft-hearted person – being obsequious was your nature, not a façade. But that doesn’t make you any less of a great ghoul investigator. You were an excellent ghoul investigator: an investigator that never hesitated to kill any ghoul in the name of duty, the second woman to have made it to Associate Special Class rank – the first one being Jimin’s younger sister, aka your best friend, Rosé, or Park Roseanne or also Park Chaeyoung – you were a very remarkable woman with exceptional skill in KCCG.

You were very impressive for a pure human, and being in the Jeon clan was a plus point – despite being the adopted child. Your background was honestly fascinating to Taehyung. He knew you were not originally from Korea and were from Japan, but he didn’t know how you were brought here, by who, when, or what happened – he wanted to know that.

He better asked his soulmate, then. Jungkook was extremely close to you for all that he knew.

Before Rosé became the first female Investigator of Special Class, almost all the ghoul investigators were males. There were only a few female investigators during her early years in KCCG and before you joined the organisation. The highest most female investigators have climbed in rank was First Class, and they all retired at one point. Still, Rosé broke the record impressively and earned two honourable titles: KCCG's first female Special Class Investigator and Investigator of Special Class.

She was likely to follow her older brother to become the best of the best, especially when her older sister, the first female born in the Park siblings, could not take up the duty of being a ghoul investigator.

There was a reason why most ghoul investigators retired at the rank of First Class. Associate Special Class and Special Class investigators were both difficult to achieve. They required strenuous efforts and great willingness because not everyone would want to dedicate their whole life to their career, especially if they were mediocre. KCCG gave these ranks to the most robust investigators. They could be earned by a person easily or through ten times the hard work to earn First Class. You would be an excellent example of the latter: you have trained for years in the Ghoul Training Academy. Rosé, however, was exempted from training and jumped to the honorary Rank 3. 

Again, there was a reason for it.

She was a half-human.

Every half-human owned superstrength physical capabilities. Since the Kim clan took over KCCG from the Jung, they have exploited half-humans in their best interest in exterminating ghouls. Take three of Taehyung’s clan members: Jin, his older brother; Jisoo, his younger sister; and Mingyu, his paternal half-brother – They were all half-humans.

“We’ve arrived,” the chauffeur announced.

Taehyung acknowledged with a nod as he carefully adjusted his position while trying not to wake you up. The chauffeur opened the door, and Taehyung got out with you in his arms as he made a beeline toward the building entrance. As he walked into the building, the chauffeur watched him with a look that showed Taehyung’s actions and behaviour were highly unusual.

Taehyung has never, ever carried a woman.

Not even the victims of his cannibalism.

And his mannerism around you? That spoke a lot.

He entered the luxuriously fitted building he had been sharing with his soulmates, but most were not around. He knew because almost every floor was devoid of lights, although it was almost midnight; Namjoon was a work freak – he rarely came home. Hoseok was probably settling the uproar at 10th ward with Rosé. Jimin, Jungkook, and Yoongi joined the research about the newly found drug that had been spreading in 21st ward at the KCCG laboratory, and Jin had been staying at the Kim Main House for the past few days.

But even if his soulmates were around, he wouldn’t hesitate to bring you in. He could easily avoid everyone except Jimin because he would always barge into his floor, but that was nothing Taehyung couldn’t prevent. Taehyung stepped into the elevator, and the system automatically scanned his eyes. After successfully receiving the input, the screen showed the floor destination, Taehyung’s floor.

The elevator arrived with a ding, and the door slid open.

The veil of darkness obscured his vision immediately after the elevator’s door closed. He couldn’t bring himself to switch on the main hall's power source because he had already strode down the hallway to his room, clearly not minding the darkness. Once he reached his room, he delicately placed you on his bed and knelt next to the bed, his long fingers ghosting the side of your face. Longingness flashed in his eyes as he rested his face on his arms.

You were so beautiful; had he told you that?

His fingers began to trace from your jaw to your cheek and the bridge of your nose. His thumb caressed your flushed cheek softly as if you were so fragile that one rough touch could break you.

It was weird.

It wa weird that touching you felt so normal.

It was weird that Taehyung felt the need to pleasure you to redeem the hell you’ve been put through.

He heard about the rough training session you and his soulmates had last week. At first, he didn’t care, but now that he had quality time with you, he couldn’t help but feel bad about the rough treatment you received from your superiors. He could still see the scar on your cheek that you had covered with the concealer, which you had undoubtedly gotten from the training. Jimin had been so gracious to bestow him the minute of meeting (or training).

Taehyung rose to his feet and sat next to you. The bed dipped to his side once his weight settled on the soft mattress. His hand travelled from your face to your left lumbar region. From what Jimin had described, he remembered precisely where your wounds would be. He pulled up your shirt to expose your stomach to his eyes. He propelled two fingers as if to inspect an injury on the bruised left side of your waist. A pained moan escaped your lips immediately when he pushed. He didn’t let the pain linger longer as he pulled away to leave the room.

He returned with a packet of pills and a glass of water.

You stirred awake when you felt Taehyung lightly tapping his fingers on your cheek and his voice calling your name. It was no different than when your eyes had been closed; darkness still clouded your vision. You could make out the bedroom layout, the furniture, and Taehyung’s unreadable face just barely because of the enormous window that allowed lights from the bright outside city to illuminate the room.

“Take these,” he handed you a laminated packet of pills. “It’ll help you with the pain.”

You didn’t bother to ask what medicine he handed over as you popped it out of its packet. Taehyung brought a glass of water to help ease the pills' movement into your system. “Thank you,” you muttered groggily.

You weren’t exactly in pain.

What pain did he mean?

"I feel funny." You told him.

You saw his soft smile as he stroked your hair. His voice was mellifluously low as he spoke, “Given that you're drunk and all.”

No, it wasn't just that. Of course, the fact that you were in Taehyung's place, drunk as fuck, and on his bed was already funny. You were slowly losing your senses. What pills did he give you? You couldn't feel your limbs anymore.

"I'm guessing you've noticed it by now."

What?

"Tae–"

He quickly shushed you softly as he continued, “Don’t worry. It’s a temporary effect.” He leaned into your face, his eyes looking at you so… lovingly, so full of emotions. The eyes that had been staring at you with nothing but a dull gaze were now looking at you like you were the only person that mattered. Were the pills harmless even if the effect was only temporary?

His palm cupped your cheek, his thumb caressing so gently, so softly that it almost had you close your eyes to enjoy it. You could feel your body slowly burning up as seconds passed. It must be from one of the pills he gave. You cursed at yourself for being so careless and vulnerable. “I want you to rest properly…”

“While I pleasure you.”

Lost in confusion, you only stared at his eyes, trying to understand his meaning. The question was on the tip of your tongue, but Taehyung didn’t seem like he would answer you as he dived into your neck, inhaling vehemently. His hands glided to your wrists. The feeling of his fingers feathering around your pulse made your heart bloom with warmth, as much as you wished it didn’t. Taehyung locked his fingers around your wrists and pinned them above your head.

Your heart squeezed at his manoeuvring; All of his movement was painstakingly tender that your heart hurt.

His hand pressed on your wrists enough to restrict any movement from you. His dark orbs scanned your flushed face and body as his free hand slithered the curve of your body, “So delicate… My dainty cherry,” purred Taehyung.

Your mind was still hazy from the alcohol; you hadn’t had the chance to sober up properly, not now when Taehyung had given you those pills. You could feel your limbs again, albeit not entirely; they felt heavy. You groaned when you tried to move your arm but stood no chance against Taehyung’s grip.

“You don’t need to move at all, princess,” he told you; his palm cupped your sex, eliciting a gasp from you. “I’ll gladly do all the work.”

His hand reached to deftly undo your pants and the other piece of fabric under them. The cold breeze against your flushed skin felt like nothing when Taehyung covered his hand around the skin of your thigh. His calloused hand stroked your thigh until it reached dangerously near your heat again, making you squirm in response.

“So responsive, aren’t you?” Taehyung cooed. “I barely even started.”

His delicate fingers reached to play with your folds. He spread them and blew air, causing goosebumps on your skin. There was a glint of amusement in his eyes, and you could only think of one thing; you were wet. He traced a finger and dragged it along the line of your vulva.

“Can I kiss you?” He gazed deeply into your eyes. His gaze was nothing short of like a man in love. Whispering, he added, “Please?”

Even so, Taehyung didn’t wait for you to answer as he lowered himself and captured your lips. He kissed you hard, devouring you. His wet muscle intruded your mouth, deepening the kiss. You were out of breath, but Taehyung didn’t seem to care as he continued to fuck your mouth with his hot tongue.

A sharp gasp escaped your lips when you felt digits delve into your pussy. You managed to break the kiss (because Taehyung let you do so), but his lips still hovered dangerously close to yours as he continued to finger you vigorously, forcing moans to spill from your lips. You sobbed uncontrollably when you felt his fingers reach the spot of intense pleasure. Your face was stained with tears and saliva, both yours and Taehyung’s. He sloppily kissed and licked your face while his fingers were inside you, making you a wet, wrecking mess.

“Taking my fingers so well,” husked Taehyung. “Like you were meant for me.”

Moans and whines were spilt uncontrollably from your lips, but they were a beautiful, mellow tune for Taehyung. He got off your pretty voice, crying out his name or just incoherent words.

“Do you like it, cherry?” He asked in between kisses. “Has anyone ever touched you? You’re so tight around my fingers.”

You couldn’t respond to him when you knew this was wrong, but you felt good. You wouldn’t respond to him because it was such a personal question to be asked.

Why would he even care?

If trying to get laid was his objective this whole time, your experience wouldn’t have mattered to him.

You turned your face away from him to avoid any more intimate kissing and licking from him, but, of course, Taehyung wasn’t going to let you. His hand that was on your wrists reached for your jaw and turned you to face him again.

His voice was rough and thick with malice as he rasped. “Answer me.”

“N—No one has ever—” You sputtered.

He seemed satisfied with your answer as he fastened the pace, his fingers abusing your sweet spot, making you see stars. His lips travelled down to your neck, leaving a trail of wet kisses along the expanse of your skin. His hot breath fanned your ears as he whispered silkily, “Cum for me, pretty girl.”

Fire had been pooling in your lower abdomen long enough that when he huskily commanded you, the spring coiled tightly one last time before you shattered around his fingers. Your body dissolved into pleasure as everything cut to white noise, drowning the soft praises that spilt from Taehyung’s lips for you as he slowly pulled out his fingers that were coated with your essence – not before playing with the swollen lips, pushing you to overstimulation and eliciting a string of strangled moans from you.

Taehyung released your wrists, but you made no effort to move them to cover your face even though you desperately wanted to hide your face from his gaze. You could only afford to close your eyes in hopes of passing out – hoping that the veil of darkness would cover you fully, your vision and mind, so you could brush this off as a nightmare. You were embarrassed and humiliated that you had enjoyed having his fingers pleasuring you and giving you an orgasm (after so long). You did nothing to escape him when he had clearly forced his way with you.

Who should you blame in a situation like this?

You almost slipped into unconsciousness when you felt tappings on your cheek, followed by his voice.

“Don’t fall asleep on me just yet,” Taehyung cooed. “I’m not done with you.”

Before you could protest, he turned your body over, stomach flat on the soft mattress and your back exposed to his eyes. His movement was so fast, and you could finally comprehend his true control over you. You tried to turn around again – to push him away. To kick him off you. To do anything to get away from him and this place.

But the Special Class Investigator climbed on top of you as quickly as he flipped you over.

“Tae?” Jimin entered his soulmate’s apartment after he had rung the doorbell and entered the passcode. The first thing he did when he stepped into Taehyung’s territory was to cover his nose. The air was reeking of sex, and there could be only one reason. The space was seemingly endless as no lights were on, looking like nothing but a black hole. Had he not heard the rustling of a comforter from his partner’s bedroom, he would’ve thought no one was home.

Making his way toward Taehyung’s bedroom, he switched on the hallway’s lights. Once he reached the bedroom, he twisted the doorknob and invited himself in without knocking or making his presence known again. He didn’t need to. It was unlike for there to be anyone other than his soulmate.

“Again with new victim?”

Or his soulmate and his victim. Probably dead, or if she was lucky, Jimin had come right before Taehyung ate her. “I restocked your fridge with enough meats to last until the end of this week,” Jimin crossed his arms. Taehyung’s room was so dark that he could barely see the victim’s nor his soulmate’s face. But why did he catch a glimpse of you?

No, Taehyung wouldn’t be so stupid to hunt for doves now, would he?

Sighing, he pinched his temple and walked towards the bed where his soulmate was; hearing that Taehyung didn’t say anything in return – which was extremely odd – he continued, “If you ran out of it early, you could’ve just told–”

The pillow looked a lot like your face now. Has he gone mad because of Namjoon’s drastic decision to remove you from his squad to the point he hallucinated?

Fuck no, he wasn’t.

That was you. (Y/N).

“What the fuck, Kim Taehyung!?” Jimin roared and immediately stormed to the bed, body filled with pure unadulterated rage. “Get off her!”

He kept the thought of sharing you with his other soulmates as a safe notion, but not when he was seeing red: threat and danger surrounding you. It kicked off his primal instinct. You were hovered over by Taehyung, eyes shut and face red like a rose as you lay unmoved.

He must’ve drugged you.

“Another step,” Taehyung said, voice dripping with malice. “And I’ll bite your head off.”

Red luminous glow.

That made Jimin pause his step abruptly. Was his soulmate serious about his threat to the point that he activated his kakugan? He truly didn’t want to engage in a fight at the moment – especially with his soulmate. Taking a deep breath, Jimin tried again, this time with a gentle and slow voice. “Let her go, Taehyung.”

“Get out.” Taehyung didn’t miss a beat, quickly dismissing his soulmate with animosity.

A muscle in his jaw twitched. “Kim–”

“I said. Get. Out.”

That was enough to snap Jimin’s thin patience as he immediately took another step, disregarding his soulmate’s threat. Still, Taehyung was quicker as his mouth connected to the junction of your shoulder and neck. The crown of his teeth dug into your flesh deeply, blood starting to ooze out from the wound. He tore your flesh, completely detaching it from you. The drug must be wearing off because a painful moan escaped your lips, followed by a soft sobbing.

Darkness started flowing into Jimin’s sclera like ink, and prominent red veins surrounded the eye and the skin around the eye. His iris transformed into bright red, glowing with malice. Simultaneously, a scale-red kagune was generated and pierced through the back of Jimin’s body and shirt. The liquid muscles whizzed towards Taehyung and wrapped themselves around his body, pulling him away from you with mighty force.

“Namjoon will be hearing about this,” Jimin reprimanded his soulmate before he immediately walked towards you with urgency. He brought his hand to inspect your wound and could only sigh at the severity. Taehyung’s infliction of pain on you was a ghoul to human. You were neither half-ghoul nor ghoul, not even a half-human. You didn’t have the ability to regenerate or recover your injury as quickly as the listed species. The only way you could make it out of here alive was to boost up your Rc cells – at least temporarily before he brought you to Namjoon.

Jimin bit off his flesh and lowered himself to you. His hand gripped your jaw to force it open, but the sudden force caused you to thrash around, trying to remove his hand.

“Stop moving unless you want to die (Y/N).” He chided.

Had you not been drugged and half of your body could not move properly according to your will, you would’ve slapped him across the face. Your blood was boiling: the nerve to say that when he was no different than the other guy.

The person that bit off your flesh was apparently his soulmate, and you trusted neither of them equally.

“Fuck off.” You spat as you took out your hidden quinque: Ifraft and Abksol. Summoning any excess energy, you stabbed Jimin’s arm, piercing his flesh so profoundly. Save the guilt and remorse for another time as your body and mind enter fight-or-flight mode.

“Fucking hell–” He lurched back from the sudden attack. “(Y/N)!”

You didn’t just attack because of distrust.

Bringing one of your knees closer, you kicked Jimin off the bed and tried to get up. The luminosity of his red eye increased as he glared at you. He managed to get up and look perfectly unscathed.

“Y–You…” The realisation had you tongue-tied and spluttered as tears coursed down your face, blood still oozing from the open wound. “You’re a ghoul…”

You attacked him because he was the species you dutifully needed to exterminate.

“(Y/N),” Jimin began, voice unwavering. “I really need you to cooperate with me right now if you don’t want to die. It’s only a matter of time before your wound becomes fatal to your life if untended.”

“Thank you, but I can walk to the nearby hospital.” You turned down his proposal with a stern gaze.

“And risk you exposing us?” His voice lowered a pitch, and his eyes darkened. “Not a chance, (Y/N).”

His kagune generated another scaled tentacle and whizzed its way toward you. You were quick to cut through his soft kagune with the daggers in your hands, but just with that defence movement, you were already out of breath. You clutched onto the blades like they were your lifeline.

‘It’s only a matter of time before your wound becomes fatal to your life if untended.’

Fuck…

It would be best if you made it to the door and out of this place, call Mingyu or Minghao and–

“You spoke your thoughts out loud, honey.” It wasn’t Jimin’s voice.

Before you or even Jimin could even turn to the one and only person the voice could’ve come from, a pair of kagune latched itself to your wrists, simultaneously yanking away your weapon. Taehyung had broken free from Jimin’s rinkaku grip by summoning his own kagune. His scale-red tentacles pierced through Jimin’s, and immediately, the liquid muscles disappeared into thin air because the weak bond between the Rc cells in his kagune was disturbed by a sudden greater force.

Taehyung’s movement was fast as he ripped off his own flesh and forced it on you by shoving the piece down your throat without mercy. His voice was rough as he gritted out a command for you to chew on his flesh. His hand covered almost the lower half of your face to prevent you from spitting the flesh out.

The force he put on you was pressuring and suffocating.

You were vulnerable.

Your wrists were held down by Taehyung’s rinkaku, immobilising you at once.

“Eating his flesh one time won’t turn you into a ghoul,” Jimin said from afar. It almost sounded as if to soothe, but his voice was incomprehensible given the situation at hand, and you have long gone into fight-or-flight mode. His whole kagune disappeared into thin air, and his eye was restored to its normal state, leaving only Taehyung in his ghoul form. “It will only boost your Rc cells before we can bring you to the doctor.”

You were forced to accept his flesh with the force Taehyung put in his hand on your mouth. The soft muscle has no way out; way in was the only way. You tightly clenched your eyes as you chewed and let the flesh enter your body. You could taste the blood, thick on your taste bud, and most likely to leave behind a lingering after-taste. Tears formed at the corner of your eyes, and it took you by surprise when you felt something brush the tears away.

“I’m sorry you got to know it this way,” Jimin spoke softly as his thumb gently wiped away the tears that had escaped your eyes. “Let go of her, Tae.”

Taehyung was unmoving. His gaze was hard on you. It was a gaze of malice that mixed with sombreness. His red scale tentacles let go of your wrists and travelled to your neck – to where your pulse was, just above the wound.

“You took a prevention medication, didn’t you?”

All rights reserved © 2023 kthyg. Do not copy, translate, modify or repost without permission. Feedback is very much appreciated. It keeps me motivated! Send me an ask !!

[bridenore]

HD fic recs : Career - Aurors (part 3)

Here are a few recs in which both Harry and Draco are aurors. This is part three of three and focuses on longer fics (more than 50k). Listed in alphabetical order, as always.

All Our Secrets Laid Bare by @firethesound [149k]

Over the six years Draco Malfoy has been an Auror, four of his partners have turned up dead. Harry Potter is assigned as his newest partner to investigate just what is going on.

Away Childish Things by @letteredlettered​ [153k]

Harry gets de-aged.  Malfoy has to help him. 

Can’t Get You Out of My Head by @femmequixotic [14k]

After he sees Harry Potter naked in the Auror showers once, Draco can’t stop thinking about him.  Lost In Your Arms by @femmequixotic [257k] Three months after their brief encounter, Draco has almost forgotten about Potter–or so he tells himself. Then a Dark wizard shows up on the Auror radar and all hell breaks loose. Draco will have to choose between everything he holds dear–everything he’s worked so hard for–and a few stolen moments of passion with a certain green-eyed Inspector, once his sworn enemy and now something rather different entirely. He’ll make the right choice, won’t he? Who is he kidding? He’ll ruin everything, as per usual. Bad choices and the name Malfoy go hand in hand. These Secrets In Me by @femmequixotic [357k] Auror Special Branch team seven-four-alpha–Sergeant Draco Malfoy, Constable Pansy Parkinson, and Constable Blaise Zabini led by their SIO, Inspector Harry Potter–must handle personal and political fallout from the implication of Ministry employees and Aurors in the scandal around escaped Death Eaters and a Dementor uprising at Azkaban. On top of that, their original target, Antonin Dolohov, is in the wind. With all the ruckus, it’s a good thing they have help from Unspeakable Hermione Granger, American Unspeakable, Legilimens, and Harry’s recent ex, Jake Durant, Blaise’s legendary necromancer grandfather, Barachiel Dee, and his potions expert mother, Olivia Zabini. What could possibly go wrong with an army of best friends, ex-lovers, and family? Especially when you add the strong-willed Parkinson clan to the mix. Meanwhile, troubling new leads arise, taking Our Team in a surprising direction. And Draco, still hiding his relationship with his SIO from the upper echelons of the Auror force, is definitely not falling in love with Harry Potter along the way. Not at all. Don’t be ridiculous. Dare To Think by @femmequixotic [388k] After recent events in New York, Seven-Four-Alpha are set to return back to London. They’ve captured their primary target, but by no means settled their case. They’ve still got rogue Dementors at Azkaban, prying investigators from Luxembourg, and a far larger Death Eater threat to manage, not to mention pressure from their own higher ups. Draco is reeling from his loss, and Harry is trying to be the best boyfriend he can, which may mean not being Draco’s guv any longer. Harry’s uncertain what his team’ll find as they press deeper in the investigation, but he knows they will all be tested, perhaps more than they can bear. But they haven’t a choice, have they? It’s the bloody Death Eaters, after all, and the political integrity of Wizarding Britain and their magical allies hangs in the balance. Set Me Free by @femmequixotic [196k] *Incomplete

Seven-Four-Alpha are back in London with available resources of the Ministry tracking their every move. Draco Malfoy remains lost, last seen in Thibodaux, Louisiana, as MACUSA was closing in. Harry is raging, barely in control of his magic, and the rest of the team are battered and unsure. Their recent failure haunts them, as does the spectre of a MACUSA-Ministry alliance under the control of the Quahog administration and its shadow puppetmaster, Aldric Yaxley. The Dementor crisis with Luxembourg is brewing in the background, as is a conflict with Rodolphus Lestrange. And that’s not even mentioning the bargain Blaise struck with Death to return his cup. The team have very little energy or resources for one fight, much less several of this magnitude simultaneously. Should they fail, though, political tyranny will grip both sides of the Atlantic and evils recently banished may return. Each of them is fighting for something they hold dear, but no victory comes without a price. Still, desperate situations call for desperate measures, and desperation appears to be all they have.

A Case of You by @epitomereally [97k]

Draco was doing just fine working as an Unspeakable in Paris, hanging out with his living and ghostly pals, inventing new spells, and definitely not thinking about Potter. Then, Lucius just had to break out of prison and turn his world upside down. Now, Draco has to return to England, where he is forced to confront how family ties bind us—and one infuriatingly fit Harry Potter.

If the Fates Allow by Saras_Girl [80k]

What’s that crackling in the walls? Harry has no clue at all. He’ll eat some cake and drink some wine Because he is completely FINE.  –A story about life’s disregard for our plans. [2017 advent story]

Kaleidoscope by Saras_Girl [104k]

If Harry’s honest, the last thing he needs is a house full of Draco Malfoy, but partners are partners, and perhaps, the thing he wants the least will turn out to be absolutely everything.

Left My Heart by @emmagrant01 [85k]

Auror Draco Malfoy has disappeared, and Harry Potter has been sent to San Francisco to find him. (Post-Hogwarts, set in February, 2004. Written before Half-Blood Prince was released.)  Surrender the Grey by @emmagrant01 [151k] Draco Malfoy returns to London after five years of self-imposed exile to start a new life with Harry. But will the secrets of the past destroy everything they’ve worked for?  Sequel to “Left My Heart”.

The Light More Beautiful by @firethesound [81k]

Thirteen years after Draco accepts Potter’s help escaping the horror of his sixth year, he returns to England where he makes the unfortunate discovery that Potter is still as obnoxious as ever. And worse, more than a decade overseas hasn’t been enough to dim Draco’s obsession with him.

Listen To Your Heart by @ladderofyears [65k]

Draco and Harry are Auror partners and secret lovers. They have been tasked with helping to solve the Cursed Objects Case, a series of mysterious crimes that have been terrorising the magical population of London. When Draco is faced with an unplanned pregnancy, their previously ordered life is thrown into disarray.

Merlin, Give Me Strength by Aelys_Althea [86k]

Draco retreated after the war. Despite the Wizarding world turning a smiling, forgiving face to any and all with a black name and stained reputation, he wanted none of it. All Draco wanted was to be left alone. Unfortunately for him, Harry Potter doesn’t want to leave him alone. And more than that, he finds himself with the most unlikely of house guests that he just can’t seem to rid himself of. Why is life never simple?

The Pure and Simple Truth by @letteredlettered [65k]

Harry, Draco, and Hermione go to a pub.  Harry, Draco, and Pansy go to a pub.  Harry, Draco, Pansy, and Hermione go to a pub.  Harry, Draco, Hermione and Ron go to a pub.  Harry, Draco, Hermione, Ron, and Pansy―you guessed it―go to a pub.  I could go on.  In fact, I did.   Harry, Draco, Hermione, Pansy, Ron, Blaise, Luna, Goyle, Neville, and Theodore Nott go to a pub.  In various combinations. 

Take the Air by @dysonrules [51k]

Someone or something is attacking Muggles and leaving them for dead. Auror Harry Potter is assigned to the case, but with his usual partner unavailable, he is stuck with the most annoying Auror ever to walk the halls of the Ministry.

Too Cold Outside (For Angels to Fly) by @gracerene09 [62k]

The Auror Department and the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures are working to create a new division partnering human wizards and Magical Beings in order to more effectively police crime involving any and all classifications of Magical Creature. Auror Harry Potter jumps at the chance to join the pilot programme, but he starts to regret his rashness when he discovers who he’s to be partnered with: Draco Malfoy.

I hope you enjoy these stories as much as I did!

[crowfanity]

Finally decided to make some Ace Attorney textposts of my own!

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

(ID under cut)

[ID: a series of nine textpost screenshots with character sprites from Ace Attorney to the right of them

First pic: a tumblr screenshot that says "You're unable to [pleading face emoji] out of the one whore." Next to it is a picture of Blackquill glaring and an opaque picture of Bobby Fulbright/The Phantom’s sprite making a similar expression to the emoji. The first comment replying to it says “can’t tell if this is meant to be sexual but i immediately imagined the irs saying this to me” with a sprite of Phineas Filch smiling next to it. The comment after that says “i’d love to study you”. Next to it is Athena Cykes’ sprite making a displeased face and sweating. End of first pic ID.

Second pic: a tumblr screenshot that says “of course, the best part of any character’s corruption arc is their cool new outfit” next to a sprite of Apollo Justice in Dual Destinies with bandages over his eye and arms and a blue jacket over his shoulders. His arms are crossed and he looks upset. End of second pic ID.

Third pic: a screenshot of a twitter post in dark mode. The tweet says “trust me i know everything i just can’t form a coherent sentence” with a picture of Sebastian Debeste with his arms out looking smug. End of third pic ID.

Fourth pic: a screenshot of a tumblr post saying “Best type of character causes at least 50% of their own problems and then cries about it” with a picture of Ron Delite looking with his hands tucked against his chest, looking like he’s about to cry. End of fourth pic ID.

Fifth pic: a tumblr screenshot that says “I’ve figured it out” in all caps. Then continues in lowercase: “my all time favorite character archetype is: guy who goes ‘i am the smartest boy. in the whole entire world’ and then immediately eats shit and dies”. Next to it is a picture of Miles Edgeworth with his hands out, looking smug, along with a smaller sprite of him from Investigations laying face down on the ground. End of fifth pic ID.

Sixth pic: tumblr screenshot that says “bitches say they’re fine and then scream the “I sometimes wish I’d never been born at all” in bohemian rhapsody louder than everyone else. Next to it is one of Apollo Justice’s sprites from Dual Destinies wearing bandages over his eye and arms with a blue jacket over his shoulders. His arms are crossed and he is looking at the camera with a determined expression. End of sixth pic ID.

Seventh pic: a tumblr screenshot saying “Guy at the bar keeps trying to pick a fight with you and when you turn him down and say you don’t want to take it outside he busts out the biggest, saddest, most shining puppy dog eyes you’ve ever seen. Next to it is two of Wocky Kitaki’s sprites. The first one is of him leaning forward with his elbows out and hands behind his back, looking intimidating. The second sprite is of him standing up straight and looking sad. His irises are noticeably bigger from the first sprite. End of seventh pic ID.

Eighth pic: a cropped instagram screenshot of a ceiling with text that says “just a heads up if I act dumb i’m joking. i’m 100% smart and know literally everything”. Underneath the text is a sprite of Sebastian Debest with his arms out looking smug. End of eight pic ID.

Ninth pic: a cropped screenshot of a tiktok video with text in the center. Behind the text is the top of someone’s head with a house, a bush, and a tree in the background. The text says “if y’all ever need me, just know i’m only about 5 missed calls & 3 text messages away” with two heart emojis before continuing to say “i’ll always be there”. Next to it is Phoenix Wright’s 3D sprite smiling at the camera with a hand on his hip. End of ID]

[maryannecrimsworth]

You do need a friend

Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7 / Part 8 / Part 9 / Part 10

Guide for tormented hearts

Pairing: Wednesday Addams x Selectively mute reader

Warnings: I'm going for the slow burn and reader it's really traumatized, prepare for some angst scenes and a whole bullying session. The part two will be softer if anyone likes this.

Summary: You did it, you stayed with your brother — you were finally free from your parents. Everything goes wrong one last time but after all the police investigation and doctor visits, you were back to Nevermore, not to your parents' Lycanthropy camp. You were at school for the very first time in your life and no one would actually speak with you. At least you thought no one would until your brother makes you meet his goth friend.

Some reader's characteristics: R has anxiety disorder, selective mutism, and is a really unique type of outcast. Reader's background it's derived from my Wednesday fic, The Hunt.

You couldn't remember a thing.

No, you remember one thing: laying down and blacking out for once, after spending three nights staring at the bedroom ceiling non-stop. Then you finally closed your eyes and when you opened them again, you saw your own brother painting above you, despair in his eyes and blood covering his red skin.

He shouted questions at you as an animal crawled behind him. You blinked a few times and did not reply, your attention was on the animal, on the beast now standing in front of you.

“Y/N!” Your brother made you sit up, completely unaware of the monster in his back, and asked again: “Who made you sleep? Who guided you?”

Your mouth dried and your stomach crunched as the monster kept getting closer. You knew that monster. The Hyde. Your parents talked about it in the last few months, it was why you came to Jericho in the first place. And it was about to hit you when your brother stood up.

Hank turned his back to you and pushed the monster away, his hands now turned into claws.

You hated when he transformed, and your hatred only grew as you realized what you have done.

While your brother was fighting the beast, you stood up from the ground and looked around the place. You have never been here before but you knew it from pictures. The Pilgrim World, The Outcast Convention. There were bleachers all over the grass and spotlights illuminating the stages your parents were sitting on a few minutes ago. Maybe hours. How long have you been asleep? And why was this place so empty? Where did the crowds go? And there are—Oh. You looked at the person on your feet. A werewolf, you guessed, as she was growling and sleeping peacefully in the grass. There were about five more teenagers in the same state as hers, blacked out on the floor. Then you understood. You understood what you have done.

You have ruined the Outcast Convention.

X

He covered you with a blanket as the policemen ran through the place. They were after Tyler, your brother told you, not you. You were sitting in the paramedics' triage line when your brother broke out from the mess and noise and sat beside you.

“I need you to answer me this time, okay?” He whispered in your ear before you could see more policemen emerging from somewhere behind you. You heard the alert on their radio. The Hyde was arrested. “Who made you sleep?” You finally looked at him. "Was it mother? You can shake your head.”

You nodded slightly. Yes, you remembered your mother ordering you to go to the bed and then singing a creepy lullaby for you. It was horrible — she was horrible, but it worked. Or maybe the stinky towel in her hand that worked very well.

Your brother’s whole expression stiffened as you replied. He already knew what your mother did to you. He used to help her with it.

“You can’t go back.” Hank mumbled and instantly regretted it. He shook his head before looking at you again. “I freed myself from them, Y/N.” He whispered. “I’m not going back to their camp, and you don’t have to go either. We..we can stay here. You can study and I can work here in Nevermore. I have friends now, they can’t make us leave. Not again.” You saw a tear running down his cheek. “Do you want to? Would you stay with me?”

You felt his strong grip softing around your shoulder, all the intensity in his behavior was clear but he would never risk hurting you. Not anymore. That’s why he needed you to say ‘yes’, he needed you to run away with him.

So you accepted it, you nodded your head convincingly, and you never saw your brother so happy. You never thought he would cry for joy — but he was crying and hugging you even with so many hurt people around him. Hank then stood up and asked you to follow him as he healed the wounded people. The people you hurted, you thought, even though he made no mention of it. Your brother's curse was the perfect risk control for yours: you wounded, he absorbed the wound. No one could ever prove your guilt — your parents' guilt, and the show kept on going. But not anymore.

Now you were a student at Nevermore.

X

You liked it at first. The school, not the people. Outcast or normie, teenagers were mean in any form. But no one really tried to talk to you after the Convention, and it made things way easier. Everyone knew your name — well, your L/N, but it worked nonetheless — and your brother talked with all the teachers about you. Which meant you didn’t have to sit in pairs nor speak to anyone in class. Even some of your exams were different so you didn’t have to present anything in front of a classmate.

“The teachers and the principal are very comprehensive” Hank told you after you came back smiling from your first day. “But you’ll have to speak to some students at some point. I can help you with it.”

“Why?” You replied immediately. “There’s no need.”

“You are in high school.” You rolled your eyes in response. “You do need a friend.” You walked straight to your room and did not utter another word to your brother for the rest of the day.

Then his schemes began. Well, he was the school advisor after all. And you were now his messenger.

Hank sent you a quest everyday: to deliver a letter, a note, a corrected exam, a chocolate box.

“Chocolate?” You asked as soon as he handed you the box.

“Well, she’s having a really bad time, she needs it.” You rolled your eyes again and walked after the poor girl.

You understood your brother’s strategy: he wanted you to knock on the door, greet the person and then deliver the package. Naive man. You actually only put the package in the hallway, knocked on the door and walked away. No speaking needed at all.

By far, you have barely spoken to anyone.

Some people tried: Xavier Thorpe and Enid Sinclair, your brother’s friends, tried to small talk with you a few times, but you only smiled awkwardly and shook your head until they gave up. There was also this goth girl with them, she was your brother’s friend too, but you could not make yourself look at her. It was hard enough to look at Xavier, who you knew for years, so imagine looking at someone who seems to be a wrong word away from murdering you. Nope. Not a chance.

But Hank — oh, how you hated him sometimes — has this “getting out of your comfort zone” obsession and would never leave you alone.

“No.” It was the first package you refused to deliver. You would not walk to Ophelia Hall to deliver a blank paper note to her. “No, Hank. Please, can’t we just go home? I’m exhausted.”

Your brother looked up from the papers on his desk and watched you with concern. He had noticed how the bags under your eyes had grown, but he had refused to put you to sleep.

“I won't lock you up.” Hank reminded you. “You have to learn to control it.”

“Whatever, Hank.” You sighed, your shoulders and eyes weighing a little more than usual. “Can we go home?”

“Wednesday is with the key to my bike. You have to meet her, wanting or not.”

“Why would she—?” Hank helped her with her creepy stuff, of course, they had a deal after all. You gave up questioning and grabbed the blank note from your brother’s desk. He wished you good luck before you slammed the door.

Yeah, sure, an elf definitely needs luck.

You stomped your way to Ophelia Hall. Ophelia, the girl who was driven mad by her family. How ironic.

The Housemaster didn't even bother with your presence at that point, he just let you pass. You silently strode through the halls, as you were getting used to doing, and no students really noticed you. At least that's what you thought until a shrill voice hurt your ears.

“Pretty L/N!” Was it even a human voice? “Come here, beautiful.” You obviously ignored her. “Oh, wait.” You heard laughter. “That’s the weird L/N.” Oh, fuck, like it's even possible to mistake you for your brother. “Will you reply if we growl?” The voice grew louder on your back. “I think we need to bring a fur to crawl and sniff your ass! This way you will be a good pet, won’t you?” Do not react. Do not react. Do not—you felt the paper scratching the palm of your hand. Your firsts were so strongly closed that your arms were trembling. Your whole body was trembling and they noticed.

The voice finally gained a face and a group of teenagers appeared in front of you. You didn't even notice that you had stopped walking.

“How ugly. You are even worse up close.”

As if you are a beauty.

“It is a pity that you have absolutely nothing to do with your brother.”

Of course I have not, we’re adopted, you stupid bitch.

“Piss off, Gwen, he’s trying to help Hanky. You know, he’s his messenger.”

“That’s why he keeps ghosting our dorm? No, I do not believe that.”

“Come on, you think he’s a perv or something?”

You watched the two girls talking. Did they always have to be this tall? Your neck was already hurt because of your exemplary posture, and looking up certainly didn't help.

“Look at him. He sure is.”

You felt a drop falling into your eyes and winched in reflex. Fuck. Your forehead was totally soaked, as was your clothes. You took a glimpse of the crushed paper in your hand: it was completely wet. You ruined the blank paper note. Pathetic.

“You suck at this.” The voice laughed again. “That’s your message?” The girl grabbed the paper from your hand before you could move away. “You can not speak, you can not deliver a single note, you can not look even me in the eye.” The girl leaned over you. “Is there anything you can do?” You could feel her scoff on your face. “You worthless piece of shit.”

You did not respond. You did not look up. You were barely breathing. Sweat kept running down your face as the girl gave up. She got tired of waiting for a slight response from your and turned back. She was about to finally step away when you moved your foot.

The girl was unexpectedly face down on the ground and her friends gasped at the ugly fall. Everyone looked at you. Oh, how satisfactorily angry they seemed.

“You did it on purpose, you asshole!”

“I can’t believe you’re laughing!” You were not laughing, only smirking a little bit.

“You’ll pay for this!”

A foot kicked your shin, which prevented you from running away. Then a fist hit your face and an elbow struck your back. You stopped recognizing what was hitting you once your knees touched the ground. Your vision turned into a blur and your ears heard nothing but a whirring as they slapped your head. It didn’t actually hurt: you were too numb to describe it as something uncomfortable, and you were used to beatings. But then a boot, somehow, managed to get between your crossed arms and sunk into your stomach. You could feel the weight getting deep in your gut, and the acid taste of your lunch emerged into your mouth. You did not hold it back.

You puked on the girl's shoes and got her socks to be soiled as well. Your throat was burning and dry coughs were already escaping from your dirty lips when you heard the screams distancing themselves.

They had run off.

You crawled on the floor, moving away from the vomit that slipped down the girl’s legs. You do not even know if you have thrown up in the right one.

You growled in anger as you grabbed the dirty paper note from the ground and stood up. Wednesday’s door was only a few feet down the hallway and you needed to go home. You quickly saw her room’s door and stormed in without even knocking.

You were met by a circular window, half colored, half blank. A girl shouted to your left, and a subtle movement came from the right.

You didn’t look at anyone, you didn’t speak to anyone: you simply targeted the key on Wednesday’s desk and rushed to it. You tripped on something on the way — on Thing — but that didn't stop you from taking the key and turning back to the door. You were about to slam the door shut when a cold voice reached you.

“My message.” You were still holding the paper. Fuck. You threw the squashed paper at her feet and left without saying anything.

You felt Wednesday's eyes following your movements — analyzing your soaked uniform, your bruised face and dirty lips, but none of that mattered.

The only thing that mattered was the cold metal between your fingers, the key to your escape, to your brother's motorcycle. Your blood flowed through your veins as the wind cut through your ears, and you ran through the school until you reached the parking lot and the motorcycle.

You started the engine and ran out of Nevermore without looking back.

The cold wind didn't cool your mind, but shivers ran down your skin as you jumped off the bike and left it in the driveway. You barely closed the door and ran into your bedroom. To the glass cell that opened only from the outside. You locked yourself in and threw yourself to the floor as the salty taste of tears mixed with the acidity of everything you had eaten during the day. You were still crying.

And you kept crying until your body got exhausted.

You fell asleep.

@tnnadia @stupendousbananajudgeshark @colezb @aroaceanxietylemon @elduster @iwkaaaaa @mikooooks @chaoticteenagetrash

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

Not sure if this is where you want your asks to be sent or not, I'm new to your blog so sorry if this is the wrong place

There is another instruction for Wally that I haven't seen you talk about and I want to know your thoughts! Back in november, before the responses, the secret URLs (such as woxyve) had the word "delete" added to the end (ex: woxyvedelete) implying that they wanted Wally to delete the page. After this most recent update it changed again and now says nodelete meaning that Wally refused to do that task. Thoughts?

where else would asks be sent if not the Askbox! inbox! both!

i actually wasn't aware of this until a few days ago, when i saw a post pointing it out - i had never gone directly back to those pages. which serves me right! i'm gonna be double checking Everything from now on lmao

but my fucking GOD is it interesting. thus far Wally has been... fairly cooperative. he's had a moment here and there, such as closing the guest book and losing his patience a lil, but he does his best with the rest! especially with requests! so for him to straight up go "lmao nah" when asked to delete something...

characterization-wise, i think it's very telling. as of now, Wally has been commonly portrayed as a bit of a doormat - getting talked over, sitting off to the side, being a bit of a background character - in in-Home media. less so in his whrp/qa/You interactions, but he's still widely agreeable & willing. but him refusing to delete the urls gives major points to him Having A Spine. he's holding his ground. he knows what he's doing. he's not going to let the whrp shut him up. there's a Thought Process / Plan / Purpose being shown here, or at least hinted at. there's a sense of.... Control. of "this is the way we're doing things, this is what i'm saying and you're going to sit down and listen" it's just... such a shift from the Wally we see in his interactions with the neighbors. which again, lends credence to there being a time discrepancy, with whrp Wally being older and more "experienced" while past Wally is still figuring his shit [being alive] out <3

story-wise it adds some Delightful friction. like obviously there's already tension, what with the staff only page, "Let Me In", the mysterious black stuff, the guest book closing, and the whrp/qa being disturbed by it all. but Wally outright refusing to delete things is a Different sort of conflict. it's more... direct. which makes sense! his interactions with the whrp/qa are becoming more personal, too. but it lends to the feeling of a push-pull. as the whrp/qa investigates Wally and starts treating him like the person he is instead of a long-lost character, they're probably gonna clash (a lot) despite the apparent impulse to pursue Welcome Home. currently, Wally doesn't seem big on compromising. if he doesn't know what to do, it looks like he simply Won't or he'll do his own thing and be like "shrug". if he doesn't want to do something, it also looks like he simply Will Not.

of course, there's the strong possibility that the whrp Were Not Serious about it. the 'delete' command might have them testing the waters, poking the bear, etc. but then were they testing to see if Wally is there, or were they testing his level of compliance? both? a secret third option?

and if they Were serious about it... why? what is it about the marked urls that made the whrp go "get that outta here"? and why couldn't they delete it themselves? i mean, obviously they can't delete anything Wally adds, otherwise the extra stuff he's added probably wouldn't be there (unless the impulse / curiosity driving them is too strong to delete anything added). but there's still a why about it. what changed so fundamentally in the site's code - or laws of physics/reality - that made it impossible to alter Wally's additions?

it's just. i feel that there are a lot of implications in such a small interaction. it shows more than one would expect.

[freckleslikestars]

coda

‘In all the years you’ve known me, when have I ever left your side?’ She gives a half-hearted scoff, cracks an eyelid, ‘you mean, aside from all the times you ditched me to jump on trains or investigate your own personal theories?’ ‘Yeah, aside from all those times.’

944 words, read here on AO3

He gets the call at 3:24 in the morning, a blocked number that he would ignore if it were daylight hours, but despite being out of the FBI for over a decade, it’s still ingrained within him to pick up the phone on the second ring. He’d not really been sleeping anyway, merely dozing with the TV on in the background. As soon as he hears her name and the hospital she’s been taken to, he’s out the door, feet stuffed into the sneakers that have worn bare. 

She’s sleeping when he arrives, and besides the bandage on her forehead she looks fine, but the sight of her in a hospital bed will always hit him like a blow to the chest. Her doctor gives him a sceptical glance out the corner of his eye as he lists her injuries, the fractured tibia and the cracked rib, and he can’t help but wonder how pathetic he must seem; unkempt hair and two months of beard growth, the ratty sweats he’d been wearing for three days. 

The seat by her bed is uncomfortable, tacky vinyl that creaks when he slumps down into it, and he settles in for a vigil that’s become so routine to him over the decades. Her hair’s longer than when she left, and her cheeks look slightly hollower, but overall she looks healthy; a far cry from many of the times he’s sat by her bedside. 

It’s an hour before she stirs, and at her first groan, he’s up and scanning her face for the first flicker of recognition, the smile that always brightens her eyes when she wakes to him by her side. She grunts, her eyes peeling open, and as soon as they catch on him she huffs a sigh and shakes her head, slipping her eyes shut again. ‘Scully?’

‘You look like shit, Mulder,’ she mutters, her voice gravelly and raw. It’s not what he’d expected, and he realises he’d hoped she’d take one look at him and declare just how much she’s missed him, just how much she regrets leaving. ‘What’re you doing here?’

‘The hospital called. You hit a patch of ice; totalled your car. Apparently, you were very lucky - it could have been much worse. I’m still down as your emergency contact.’ His energy has been sapped suddenly, the disgruntled look she’s giving him weighing heavy on his chest. 

‘I haven’t gotten around to changing it yet. I was gonna put Mom down, but she was moving and I wanted to wait until she had her new address, and then I must have forgotten.’ He gives a curt nod, drops back down into his chair. ‘You don’t have to stay. I’m fine.’

‘In all the years you’ve known me, when have I ever left your side?’

She gives a half-hearted scoff, cracks an eyelid, ‘you mean, aside from all the times you ditched me to jump on trains or investigate your own personal theories?’ 

‘Yeah, aside from all those times.’

Her eyes close again, and she twists her head to face away from him. ‘Last year. You left me last year.’

‘What? Scully, you left me. You ran away, you gave up. I never went anywhere.’

‘Not physically,’ she sighs, ‘but you left first. I was drowning, and you didn’t even notice. Something you never learned, Mulder, was that sometimes the only person you can save is yourself.’

‘I didn’t… you didn’t say anything.’

She clears her throat, trying to keep the tremor from her voice, ‘I shouldn’t have had to.’ 

They lapse into silence, the ambient beeps of the hospital filling the space between them, and he thinks perhaps that she’s fallen back to sleep, readying himself to settle in for the night, when she turns back to look at him, ‘you really do look terrible. When was the last time you slept properly?’

He could tell the truth, tell her he hasn’t slept properly since before she left, but he can hear the guilt in her voice, and as much as he thinks she possibly deserves it, he loves her too much to not absolve her of it, ‘couple of days. S’okay, really. I’m used to it.’

‘I thought it got better for a time.’

‘It did, for a time,’ when she was by his side, at least. But he couldn’t put that on her, couldn’t make her regret saving herself. 

He’d once said they had communication, unspoken, and maybe that had lapsed, maybe they had never been all that good at it in the first place, but she seemed to hear him now. ‘You know, there’s room up here for two, if you’re careful.’

‘Scu-’

‘One-time offer, and it’s only on the table for the next thirty seconds,’ she grunts as she shuffles to give him room, quirking an eyebrow when he hesitates with one shoe off. He climbs up next to her, settling himself next to her, not quite touching, until she sighs into him, resting her head on his shoulder. 

‘I am trying to get better,’ he whispers, his voice choked with emotion, ‘I just don’t know how.’

‘I know. And I’ll always be proud of whatever progress you make.’

‘I may have been a shitty husband, but I never stopped loving you.’

‘I know,’ she murmurs into the darkness, ‘I never stopped loving you either. But we’re not good for each other.’ He wants to argue, wants to fight her tooth and nail on that point, but her head is getting heavier on his shoulder, her breathing getting deeper, and he doesn’t want to upset her. ‘Mulder?’

‘Hmm?’

‘You’re not the only one who sleeps better with company.’

Tagging @today-in-fic

[blood-orange-juice]

So.

Why I think Sandrone might be Mary-Ann Guillotin. Spoilers for Fontaine side quests.

*

Smoke and mirrors

As we have noticed in Liyue, Inazuma and Sumeru (and to an extent in Mondstadt) we do not normally *see* Harbingers until they appear for the final act, only the mechanisms they set in motion.

(Childe is an outlier and it's not like he's done anything productive yet)

Also most of Harbingers' lore so far has been dropped through things in the overworld (Signora's and Scaramouche's stories are in artifact sets, and Dottore's research notes are all over Sumeru). Somehow we have nothing on Arle's and Sandrone's backgrounds so far, which means we likely have something and we just don't know it yet.

Also Arlecchino is all over the plot, so I assume the important Harbinger in this chapter is Sandrone, everything else is an entertaining show to distract us. If she only appears in the final act, it would make sense if her exposition is done through lore tidbits scattered across the map.

*

Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Now another angle.

I'm almost sure that the contradictory verdict is caused by a certain someone's connection to the Primordial sea. (I'll eat my HoD artifact set if it's not. not like it's a good set but eh)

So whoever framed that certain someone needs to: 1. Know how the Oratrice works (either an engineering genius or they know an engineering genius) 2. Know about the Primordial sea and the Abyss (a gentle reminder that Vaucher knew about its properties through Jakob) 3. Have a motive

Idk, the combination of the first two *screams* Narcissenkreuz to me. I assume the motive is destabilizing Fontaine's energy system. It furthers Harbingers' goals and it would be too lucky a coincidence if it was someone else. So... A Narcissenkreuzer and a Harbinger. Noice.

We have Mary-Ann disappearing during that accident in Elynas without a trace. No body was found. Sus. We know Alain founded the Research Institute and worked on his own projects until death from old age. He could have transfered his consciousness into a robot. Also someone else could have.

(maybe the big robot is Alain then. as they say in Mondstadt, ehe)

(from Enigmatic Page XII, I can't guess who the author is)

*

Other characters' voicelines

Since Scaramouche's line about her says Sandrone is nowhere near an engineering genius and has produced a "copious amount of garbage", I assume it's not Alain. Mary-Ann it is then. She has her brother's old designs and theories but that's it.

Then there's Childe's voiceline about Sandrone:

When it was added I assumed it was about how clueless Childe can be about the consequences of his actions, but also what if he really didn't do anything (poor boy. everyone is so quick to suspect the worst about him).

We know that Mary-Ann and Alain had a big falling out with Rene and Jakob because of the Abyss research and what they did to Carter. If Sandrone is in fact Mary-Ann, it's possible that whatever Childe is just reminds her of Jakob. Or of Carter. Sorry Childe, your existence is just a trigger for the poor traumatised girl.

*

Summarising all that: guys, gals, fellow Romans and other forms of life, it's Sandrone. Everything in Fontaine is about Sandrone.

*

Things this theory doesn't account for unless you squint really hard.

- They don't look much alike but then a lot of years have passed and we have Herta from HSR and the way her appearance shifts slightly with each new puppet.

However, they also don't look that different.

- Why did Lyney need to investigate the Oratrice? If at least one Harbinger knows how it functions then what is left there to investigate? Maybe he was trying to tamper with it, of course. Or maybe they know the Gnosis is in there.

But then the Harbingers aren't exactly known for good communication between coworkers.

- If Mary-Ann is alive, why did she leave her brother behind? Why didn't she go back for Seymour?

I have no good answer for this, so this is likely proof that Sandrone is not Mary-Ann then.

(maybe she doesn't know Seymour is alive and he will recognize her sometime later in the story, of course)

- Who was the familiar voice Lyney heard near the Oratrice? It's not familiar enough to recognise but someone known to him. I doubt he knows Sandrone subordinates or met Sandrone herself. Or maybe he's lying and it's someone he recognises and wants to protect. Or maybe, as Cricket says in their post, that was a distraction too.

- Also there's Rene who happily dissolved into collective consciousness and no one heard of him after that. He could know any kind of things (including how the Oratrice works and what's happening with the primordial seawater) and it's a stretch of course, but any of the Harbingers (Arle included) could be working with him. Anyway, where's Rene?

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

[wackytheorist]

What if the QSMP quiz on day 3 of the puzzle was like an interview in disguise and how Mr. Bunny was chosen. Maybe they got the potential investor role since thats the highest one you can get and it makes sense since Mr. Bunny replaced the duck(I forgot their name). Further proof being that day 3s cipher is "bunny".

Now we can only get potential investor if we score forty points, and to score forty points you need to select the answer that is worth four points on every question, which is more specific then the other roles(not including D-rank worker) because the OTHER ROLES have a range. Also an interesting detail is that some 4 point choices... don't seem that much of a deal

SO using the options that are worth 4 points, we can theorize on Mr. Bunny's personality.

Q1: DIAMOND BLOCK(4points) According to the narrator, Mr. Bunny knows a thing or two about Money, and assuming he's the same person who left those messages on the lore images and established capitalism.... yeah I think it makes sense. In Qsmp, diamonds are like money.

Q2: DARK OAK PLANKS(4 POINTS) I've always wondered... why wasn't black stone bricks or even the quartz options not 4 points.... well lets look think a bit... Quartz is a signature of the federation, Blackstone bricks is the Color pallet of the resistance/rebellion. Dirt is... dirt. So the only option that doesn't really correlate make sense is dark oak plank. The room that the islanders passed out in does use dark oak planks....

Q3: Create a trapped maze that leads to the entrance to confuse unwanted visitors.(4 POINTS)- Now we don't know much about Mr. Bunny, or how this corelates to his personality. But using this, we can make a prediction that MR. Bunny's headquarters would be hard to find.

Q4: Build a gigantic mansion just for them, treat them like royalty!(4 POINTS) We know Mr. Bunny is here for the money, he also owns a business separate to federation(know this because of day 2s lore Image). Most corrupt money hungry business owners are often, A: Corrupt because Poor, Business is flopping or B: Corrupt because Business is succeeding hence greedy. We can think Mr. Bunny is B because of this answer.

Q5: PAINTING(4 POINTS): I cannot think of a lore reason, maybe they just prefer paintings or maybe there is a lore reason that we haven't discovered yet....

Q6 RED COUCH(4 POINTS) ALL (except day 5) of the lore images have a red/black gradient background. examples below. We can assume red is a correct that represents Mr. Bunny.

Q7: GOLD(4 POINTS) Again, like the first question, Mr. Bunny LOVES Money. Although this question asks to choose a thing to collect, and the answers are things you can collect from the federation: Furniture, Classified info, Rocks. Mr. "gold digger" Bunny here only for the money.

Q8: I answer their questions at the door and they leave, the rest of my day is uneventful.(4 POINTS) The question is about what you would do when Cucurucho visits... I don't think there is much lore in this but(again going to use the money point but so does the lore images) he DOESN'T CARE about Cucurucho much.... you know what he DOES care about.

Q9:A beautiful flower garden, carefully tended to!(4 POINTS) I dont know the implications in lore and the personality for Mr. Bunny . Maybe he can afford it and maybe this can be related to how beautiful the shops look. But we don't have enough evidence to call it a theory.

Q10: Once I get what I want from them, I kill them. When the investigators come, I serve them a wonderful meaty stew. There is no evidence(4 POINTS) This answer perfectly represents how Mr. Bunny thinks of the federation.... he is using them like meat bag for money, and once he has enough, we can think that he'll try to take over....

I HAVE MANY MORE THOUGHTS BUT THIS TOOK 2 HOURS AND I'M TIRREEED THANKS FOR LISTENING TO MY TED TALK

[atiny-for-life]

Ateez's Full Storyline Explained - Part 17

Masterlist

BOUNCY (K-HOT CHILLI PEPPERS) (Z-World)

Throughout the MV, we'll be seeing both Ateez and the Black Pirates and based on the skills we'll be seeing each member display throughout the course of the video, the Z-like symbol we see Mingi paint on the wall in the post-credit scene, and the information we get from the Diary Version of the album, we know the Black Pirates are the Outlaws-

And Ateez are the ones in white infiltrating Prestige Academy toward the end

From the Album Trailer, we already know the following:

They've been planning this mission for 6 months ("they" presumably being Ateez, the Black Pirates and Left Eye)

The Black Pirates split up into duos and have been hiding out in different parts of the city to presumably gather intel from all kinds of civilian groups: Wooyoung and San as manager and underground fighter, Yunho and Jongho as mechanics, fake cops and potentially forgers, Hongjoong as the babysitter of a goat with Mingi who's presumably been bar-hopping (I'm kidding - their roles will become clear later), Seonghwa got himself some grillz and biker friends together with Yeosang who's apparently also a food delivery driver on the side

They've now been called into action to kick off the mission with Yeosang being the communication link between all of them

Side-note: when you watch the trailer, you can see the song titles in the neon signs and the name of the delivery service: "Blue Bird" which is a callback to Halazia where the bluebird was utilized as a symbol of reclaiming your freedom

Another thing of note: To outline the older aesthetic of this MV which takes place in the outskirts of Stirctland, the aspect ratio is kept in 4-by-3 as was the norm here up until the late 2000s

This is in stark contrast to the 16 by 9 widescreen ratio from Guerrilla which was situated in the high tech city center and very much aligned with the futuristic aesthetic by utilizing plenty of polished and sleek CGI effects and backgrounds

With that in mind, let's get into the MV:

We open on Mingi who's heading into a Cowboy/Western Steampunk-looking bar called Chilli Peppers by himself

Followed by Seonghwa with his biker-buddies (he seems to have five of them) and Hongjoong in front of his GOAT sign (I can only assume this refers to the sports term Greatest Of All Time and not the animal but I do appreciate the excuse to have an actual goat in the video and promo-material)

When we see the whole crew together, it seems to be either on the bikes, in front of the Chilli Peppers bar or in front of Jongho and Yunho's garage (aptly named Outlaw Customs) which means we're moving back and forth between seeing their time apart and them post-reunion

A big part of the MV is spent with Wooyoung and San who seem to have become quite well-known during their time in hideout

San has become a successful underground fighter with his own fanclub and Wooyoung has been hustling up quite the amount of cash as San's manager, presumably from bets made against San

We can see a bunch of signs in the crowd with some of them reading stuff like "Quitting is not an option" and "The Champ is here"

Another stick-it-to-the-authorities detail can be seen during this shot of Yunho in the garage: they've managed to acquire a police car and have slapped their own Outlaw sticker on the hood because as Hongjoong said during the showcase: "In an unjust society, doing the right thing can be illegal."

Additionally, we also get a glimpse of Yunho and Jongho's police IDs which I can only assume have been forged for research or investigative purposes, i.e. to question citizens that otherwise wouldn't be willing to speak to them and answer their questions (after all, they've been trying to get into high security places to free as many civilians as possible)

Moving on to the most mysterious part of the MV (which I'm sure will make more sense within the context of the Diary entries later on): we see Yeosang and Seonghwa with their biker friends inside a room reminiscent of the museum we saw in Say My Name

In its center, we see a container on a pedestal hooked up to a bunch of tubes and wires housing a tiny little chilli plant that can seemingly only thrive in a very specific climate, hence the red lighting (temperature regulation) and the tubing (managing moisture and oxygen levels)

I can currently only speculate what these chillis can do but I'm sure they have some properties the government wants to keep away from civilian hands since they're known to use nutrition to uphold their absolute control over the population

These are also the chillis which were used to deliver messages to the other members (as seen in the trailer) and now Yeosang and Seonghwa have stolen presumably the entire remaining supply

We can see these peppers also being served in the bar Mingi entered at the beginning of the MV and upon seeing them, the other bar guests approach Mingi with a threatening air about them

This confrontation quickly escalates to a shootout in which Mingi clearly has the upper hand as he's mowing down everyone but the barkeeper before they can fire as much as a single shot (an exchange which tells me the other bar guests may have been government spies of some kind alerted by the sight of the chillis - maybe they've become a symbol of the revolutionists?)

Meanwhile, San's having a rough time in the ring (some bruises, blood crusting the corner of his mouth) while Wooyoung's trying to keep him motivated and to his credit, it seems to work

San gets up, kicks his opponent in the face and knocks him out cold which puts an end to the fight and secures him the win

Alongside the widespread cheers of the fans in the audience, they celebrate his win by raining down water and money interspliced with choreography clips featuring the full group

This is also where we get the iconic clip of Mingi doing body-rolls in a cropped vest on the pool table after he shot down everyone but the barkeeper

With these wins secured, we can now check in on Ateez who have successfully infiltrated Prestige Academy in white uniforms reminiscent of the one the boy at the end of the Guerrilla MV was wearing and most importantly: the windows are all cleared and sunlight is streaming inside - the kids have been woken up.

We cut back to Hongjoong who snaps one of the chillis in half and finds within a single bullet - as someone who doesn't care for guns in the slightest, I can only say it reminds me of a sniper bullet

What this means in the grand scheme of things, I'm not sure, but I can speculate:

In a society ruled by an oppressive government, weapons are usually kept far away from civilian hands in order to prevent an uprising, especially one with even the slightest chance of success

Side-note: this cannot be compared to gun control in a democratic society where weapons-access is restricted to prevent civilian-on-civilian violence like mass-shootings

Because of that, I assume the chillis are now being used to smuggle ammunition to the revolutionists so they can build up a civilian army with a fighting chance against the Android Guardians and other government-agencies

And this bullet in particular? It's not just any bullet. This is some high-tech futuristic shit - clearly an upgrade from whatever they tried to use against the Android Guardians in Fireworks/The Leaders

We get to see Hongjoong load it into his gun before taking aim and setting it on an extremely well calculated path of controlled destruction. The following shots tracking the bullet's trajectory are deeply satisfying so let's break them down:

First, the bullet pierces right through the climate-controlled container housing the chilli plant and shattering the glass as Yeosang, Seonghwa and crew are stationed there. This has the following implications: the plant can no longer produce chillis for the government and all the remaining chillis in this universe are now in the hands of the revolutionists.

From there, it moves through Prestige Academy where Ateez are gathered and light floods inside through the open windows: the kids have been freed and there'll be no more future generations of government-controlled workers.

The projectile keeps going, moving through the darkened inner city and heading straight for the tallest building in the city center - the one we've already seen in the trailer which they were heading towards on their motorcycles.

It enters through a window, flies down a sterile dimly-lit corridor, pierces through a white closed door and finally finds its mark: the head of an Android Guardian (I hope it was the one who grabbed Yeosang by the neck back in the Fever Part 3 Diary Entries)

The bullet's impact triggers an explosion, which transitions into the celebratory part of the choreo as sparks fly around the Black Pirates gathered in front of the Chilli Peppers bar.

It all culminates in this shot of the Black Pirates walking away from the government skyscraper as it goes up in smoke and flames. The mission was a success.

[butterflydm]

wot 2x7: daes da'mar

That definitely lived up to the title. Lots of games within games and lots of people moving against each other.

First: as many of us suspected, our girl Moiraine was shielded and not stilled. I love that Lan has been investigating this kinda in the background and that he essentially was able to put the pieces together to solve the problem. <3 <3 <3

So after Lan was able to shake off the accusation of being a Darkfriend sworn to Lanfear, he's... kinda working with Lanfear.

Oh, it was rough to see Siuan and Moiraine come against each other like that. Just as Moiraine reunites with her platonic husband, she breaks up with her romantic wife. But I love mess and drama, so I loved it. It was so painful!

We also got a look into Aiel culture -- after Aviendha charmed everyone in her first episode, now we see some of the violence that is embedded in ji'e'toh, and we meet two more Maidens.

When Loial met Elayne was the first time on-screen when someone treated Elayne the way that she usually gets everyone treating her, lol, which must have been so jarring for Nynaeve to witness. But they've kidnapped themselves a sul'dam and are ready to go on a rescue mission!

Mat's stuff was heartbreaking. I'm guessing that was our stand-in for a certain book event, where Mat gets to see what he's capable of (in a bad way).

Egwene's stuff was also heartbreaking, though I was thrilled when Egwene very straight-forwardly told Renna that she would kill her.

Anvaere locking up Barthanes and revealing the truth about him (to the queen)... even knowing that Moiraine will leave the city again, focused on her mission, Anvaere also knows the right thing to do and she prioritized it over getting her house restored and her son on the throne.

Of course, we had Rand's plotline which... chef's kiss, loved it.

Making it so that the Tower has a set policy to cage the Dragon is a good reason for Moiraine and Siuan's secrecy all these years and why they said last season that they would be stilled if it were known that they were trying to help the Dragon figure things out on his own.

It was so fascinating to watch the battle lines inside the Tower itself being drawn over the Dragon Reborn and so heartbreaking that Siuan is not on the same side as Moiraine, though I understand why Siuan feels like she had to make the choices that she made. She explains it pretty clearly in the episode. But heartbreaking! That is... that is a hard thing to forgive.

And now Rand knows that Moiraine, Verin, and Alanna were all willing to stand up against Tower law for his sake, because they believe he shouldn't be caged.

Rand is trying to figure out the limits of his own power in this episode -- the One Power, but also what power he has over Lanfear (she didn't kill Moiraine, after all).

But, yeah, that one of the Forsaken just broke Rand out and helped him escape is probably not going to be reassuring to the rest of the Sisters who were here with Siuan.

[stagefoureddiediaz]

Costume meta 6x12

Thank you wardrobe team - for giving me half a chance with the costumes this week 😂 After the insane costume levels last week, it was nice to have fewer costumes to talk about this week! Have to admit I did go off on a bit of a side quest while writing this - shout out to fridge and beer theory 😳😂🤓

I'm not going to go character by character this week because they did something really interesting with the colour palette this episode. So I'm going to break things down colour by colour and it means I'll be talking about Wendell, Tamara and Connor as well!

Firstly there were 3 main colour in use in 6x12 - red blue and grey, with a couple of secondary colours also in play - the army drab green, white and pink. There were also some very interesting parallels at play in the costuming as well - not only in relation to the text, but specifically to the shooting - we see a lot of costume references to that arc as a whole and I'll go into those as we get to them.

as always the rest is below the cut to save your dash!

Red

So in 6x12 we see red/maroon used 4 times and on all 4 occasions its being worn by someone in the role of advisor and or parent/carer.

First up we have Athena (her in a rare denim wearing occurrence!!) in a wine red turtle neck - she is filling the role of advisor for Bobby here - providing him with information pertaining to the investigation into Wendell's death. she is displaying her care for Bobby and his wellbeing - pursuing a seemingly impossible task to help him get answers - she fully understands Bobbys need to pursue the case - the potential for it to impact on Bobbys sobriety if he's unable to get answers. I've spoken before about red being an energetic and powerful colour, we see both those aspects at play in this costume - Athena has powerful information that reenergises the case for Bobby. This is Athena in supportive spouse mode.

Next up we have Maddie - very intentionally in her dispatcher uniform and this putting her in maroon/burgundy. The use of her uniform is an indicator of Maddie managing things - putting up a sort of boundary. She is managing Buck in the same way she would manage one of her calls at dispatch. I need to mention the fact that Buck is in navy blue here - that he is wearing a tee that matches his own uniform and we barely see the grey joggers because he is standing behind the kitchen island. It is important to recognise that both of them are hiding behind being 'in uniform' and we see that fact effectively erecting barriers between them - it is only when the are both out of those colours that they are able to talk and understand (I'll talk more on that later on!).

Wendell's costume here is such a choice!!! Even if we hadn't been told in the previous flashback that Wendell was ex military, we would have been able to reach that conclusion ourselves because of this costume. does it remind you o the way they've styled anyone else on the show? perhaps a certain someone with their own military background?? thats right - this costume is straight out of the Eddie Diaz costume book! long sleeve maroon henley, olive drab combat style trousers and smartish leather boots. they've given Wendell his own twist - with the metal watch and the necklaces, but the look is deliberately meant to look similar to Eddie. The general audience will subconsciously draw the association.

For me this costume and its use in this particular scene is super fascinating - a conversation about 'getting back out there' and dating around a bit and the concept of impulsivity compared with Bobby knowing that Athena makes him feel like he's on solid ground. the costume is very much helping to foreshadow Eddies story here - he's going to take the road that Wendell suggests here - date around a bit - before figuring out what Bobby already has - that he wants and already has someone who makes him feel like he's on solid ground. the show has been paralleling Bathena and Buddie for a long time now, this is just another example of them doing this, especially because Bobby and Buck have been costume paralleled a lot, as have Athena and Eddie. The fact that the show has chosen to use this scene as part of this episode where those costume parallels are especially loud is really telling, clever and shows they're having fun with the build up of this slow burn!

Eddie - Like I've said above this is some very intentional costume paralleling going on in terms of foreshadowing for Eddie in the rest of season 6. But there is also the parallel to Athena and Maddie (we can pull Maddie into the paralleling because they chose to put Chimney in blue when Maddie get's home from work). the maroon is in the red part of the colour wheel and shares many of the same attributes - mostly relating to power, passion and confidence, but also its brown undertones hint at stability and comfort as well as protection.

These are all things we see from Eddie in the two scenes - the comfort and protection Eddie offers Buck in the first scene that allows Buck to fall asleep on the couch, with those same traits combining with stability, power and confidence in the kitchen scene. Eddie is the epitome of stability from bucks perspective - the Diaz house is a stable and supportive place and Eddie is at the centre of that for Buck. The power and confidence come from Eddies knowledge of Buck, giving him the space he needs and knowing when to push, but also from Eddie himself knowing where the line is - know ing that Buck won't benefit from Eddies full honesty at this point in time.

All of that is not the only thing that shirt is hinting at. I've spoken a lot about the use of maroon on male characters specifically as a symbol of fatherhood and parental responsibility and here is no different - Eddie making Christophers lunch in the kitchen scene (is this kitchen scene .3 or .4 ?) was a very deliberate choice for the simple reason that it connects to the shooting visually - right down to the choice of putting Eddie in dark trousers - mirroring Buck when he tells Christopher about his dad being shot. The Christopher of the equation remains relevant even now - as they actually talk about the shooting for the first time - he is not directly a part of the conversation, but he is still there in the background (in much the way the will still lingers in the background).

Blue

So fun overarching fact about the use of blue in this episode - it gets progressively lighter as the episode progresses! This is something the show has been playing with a bit this season - especially in connection with Buck. It's so informative as to the journeys of Bobby and Buck in this episode.

We do also see Chimney and Tamara in blue in this episode, but only once. Chimneys is in balance to the Red of Maddie - its playing into the colour trope of couples that we've seen the show use over and over to both draw parallels between the actual couples on the show as well as draw parallels with those couples and Buddie.

Here we Have Chimney in a shade of blue he wears a lot, I think this jumper is the same on we see him in when Maddie's kitchen floods, but the lighting is very different in the two scenes and that makes it hard to be sure. it is important to note that this blue doesn't sit in the same colour spectrum of the other blues in this episode - its much more of a green blue - having peacock or turquoise undertones. this is a deliberate choice - it still allows chimney to sit in the colour blocking of blue and red that we see in this episode and in the show more widely, but it also others him - he doesn't fit into the journey towards healing that we see the others go on.

Bobby goes through a spectrum of blue like I said. this first polo is really hard to define - its under a heavy filter which gives everything a greyish yellow tone - which the show uses in most of its flashback scenes. we can see its blue, but as to the specifics of shade, its hard to tell - it is definitely towards a navy colour, but not as dark.

This is a moment when Bobby is vulnerable, but is accepting of help - a darker navy wouldn't be the right choice here - bobby is in the darkness that navy hints at, but he is also accepting the help he asked for and this lighter slightly greener tone the filter gives the shirt shows us that - the greener tone suggesting growth.

Then we move on to the shirt we see Bobby in for most of the episode. The lighter navy with a bluish grey check pattern. The Check foreshadows (as always) the problems Bobby is going to face in his hunt for the truth of what happened to Wendell.

I loved the fact that they put Bobby and Tamara in similar shades of blue for this scene. its a brighter blue - much more of an azure or ultramarine blue - much more hopeful supportive and accepting. its meant to show us that they are in the same place emotionally, but also it ties the help they received from Wendell to the two of them - pointing out that because of him they are both on the right path .

Bobby then wears full dark navy blue when the Walshes are arrested (the picture of this is down in the other colours section of this post) with the same green jacket as the one he wears when he meets up with Tamara

Then we get this grey blue shirt when we see Bobby in full sponsor mode.

As you can see the blue gets progressively lighter as Bobby progresses through the episode and we end up with him a colour that matches the check from the first shirt. I think this is intentional - that we're supposed to read it as Bobby breaking out of things that have been holding him back up to now. The other thing about this blue/grey shirt is that it's almost the same colour as the knit polo that Buck is wearing . This is telling me two things - we are supposed to make the connection between where Bobby is at and where Buck is at respectively - that they are at similar points in their respective healing journeys - something made more obvious by the two costumes being worn at the same time in their respective scenes. The other thing it's doing is reinforcing the father son aspect of Bobby and Bucks relationship - visually connecting the two of them at the same time as the script.

Buck in navy - like I said above - this is very much about reflecting Bucks LAFD uniform - especially in relation to Maddie, Josh and to a point Hen. we get to see the grey sweatpants much more when it comes to Hen, because this is the person Buck has been most honest with up to this point and then Connor - once Buck establishes he's not part of Maddies schedule!

The navy is also an outward manifestation of Bucks internal struggles with the whole dying part of his reality post lightning strike. navy is often associated with depression and with avoiding confrontation (one of the reasons its used as a uniform colour so often) and attention. Here we have a Buck who is trying to do both - avoid causing confrontation and trying to deflect attention away from himself (the script also shows us this by is his leaving a note and running to Eddies) ad well as making it obvious that Buck is struggling with his mental health and over facing up to the reality that he died.

The final costume we see Buck in is this very light blue knit polo - which has grey undertones and connects in with crash and learn and the locker room conversation Buck has with Hen - about the secret to happiness. Having seen Buck in blue or grey for all of the episode, this bluish grey merges the two colours together and implies that the two different versions of Buck - the closed off navy blue one and the honest vulnerable grey ones have merged - erring more towards the grey version of Buck than the navy one. this is a clear choice - it shows Buck accepting and embracing that more vulnerable version of himself and we see that in action when he talks to Maddie about her over the top schedule.

The other thing with this pale blue is that it ties into a series of moments we've seen from Buck since 5x18. The blue suit of Hen and Karens wedding - representing the freeing himself of Taylor, the blue shirt from the locker room conversation with Hen when we see Buck really start to think about what it is that he wants/needs to be happy and when we find out that Kameron is pregnant, and now this one. All of these are moments when Buck is making progress in figuring out what he wants and how he can find his happiness - in some ways they are like the use of Bucks white shoes - where as those are a more general representation of his journey - the smaller steps as it were, these blue outfits are bigger strides forward.

Grey

I have so many thoughts about the grey of it all in this episode!! We only see Buck and Athena in grey.

Athena wears this grey turtleneck and waterfall front cardigan combo. Grey is a neutral colour, but it is also a colour of compromise and here we see Athena essentially compromising with bobby and giving him the information he needs to get in contact with Tamara.

The ribbed grey jumper that Buck wears to Eddies house along with the lighter grey sweats is such a choice. First thing to point out- this jumper has been put on over the navy blue tee - we can see a slither of the tee in the picture below - between the jumper and the sweats (costume department for the win on little details like these!)

Grey is like I said above a neutral colour, but it is also somewhat ambiguous - because of its place between black and white on the colour chart. it is also associated with wisdom and maturity. here we have a Buck who is being mature in his recovery - being wise

The fact that the ribbing gives the jumper an air of chainmail is also an interesting thing, it hints at the idea of protection - its not the full on protection of plate armour, but it is non the less a protective layer - in this instance it is Buck both protecting himself from Maddie's overbearing (but well meant) schedule, but it also serves as a barrier for the kitchen conversation - that in between stage we've spoken of, where Buck and Eddie aren't fully ready to talk about the full implications of the shooting. Eddie reads it and doesn't go into the full truth of what he remembers - the grey jumper is the visual representation of the fact Buck is still not fully ready to talk about it (even if Eddie is).

The use of ribbing also means this jumper fits into a theory i've been keeping an eye on since 6x01 with regards to Buck and vertical stripes - you can read it at the end of the 6x01 meta if you haven't already read it. Essentially though - Buck seems to wear vertical stripes when he is emotionally imprisoned or trapped in some way. this jumper is maybe stretching the metaphor a bit, but the theory works for this scenario - Buck is struggling - reckoning with death and the emotional trauma that has brought him. Its going to be interesting to see if this continues to play out in the rest of 6b!

The final thing to point out about this jumper is the long sleeves - and this ties into the costumes of all the other characters as well - when around Buck. If Buck is wearing short sleeves everyone else is wearing long sleeves and if Buck is wearing long sleeves, then the characters he interacts with (only Eddie) are wearing short sleeves. This is significant - Buck is his most open and honest about where he is at with his recovery etc when he's wearing long sleeves and his opposite is wearing short. Eddie wearing short sleeves appears to be concealing things from Buck - much like Buck has been doing with everyone else in this episode - not being completely honest with them. its a play on the idea of Buck being good at hiding his true feelings from others - in physical form and only making himself vulnerable when he has protections in place and he's with one of the few people who can understand his trauma (Chimney is the other one but we don't see them interact in this episode!).

Other colours

Hens costume is very much carrying on her costume theme from 6x11 - which is perfect - the orange brown and green place her in the same context as we saw her last week - its a form of continuity - she is still the representation of emotional strength and optimism through the orange, the brown is still the representation of stability and the green (which has gotten brighter) is still a reference to growth and security and health. The green being more obvious this epsiode is showing us the improvement in Bucks health - Hen is the most skilled medic on the show - her being in green is a show of that in connection with other characters when the scene is not about her directly - in this case - Buck and his health post death and resurrection.

Connor is an interesting one this week, the tan/beige jacket combined with the baby pink and blue pinstripe shirt is telling me a lot of things! Firstly the beige - beige is considered a 'boring' colour and as such it is often used to mask other things - its a colour that 'blends in with the crowd' and it being worn as an outer here is very much playing into that as a concept - outwardly Connor is deflecting attention away from himself - from his own internal struggles

The pink and blue pinstripe shirt however is saying a whole lot, firstly the use of pale pink and blue - colours that often have 'baby' placed in front of them as a denotation or the specific shades - baby pink and baby blue. This automatically and subconsciously encourages the brain to think about babies - the central theme of Connors arc on the show - pregnancy, babies/children and fatherhood or pending fatherhood.

Pink has lots of meanings attached to it, but pale or baby pinks are generally considered to represent immaturity and or naivety and I think that is what its use is trying to suggest here - it is foreshadowing and hinting at Connors actual feelings around Kameron's pregnancy.Its telling us that Connor hasn't actually thought through (not necessarily intentionally) the full reality of being/becoming a father when the child is not genetically his - its hinting that that is his journey (and Bucks) for the remainder of the season and pregnancy.

Again there are lots of meanings that can be attached to blue and it comes in a myriad of shades (probably the most wide range of shades of any colour to be honest) which also impacts its meaning. The blue pinstripes here are very much of the baby blue variety there are a couple of things that I think the use of blue here is trying to tell us - firstly blue at the lighter end of the spectrum tends to be positive, it also tends to be responsible and reliable. the fact that the blue stripes 'run through' the pink - the implication being that it runs through that naivety that I spoke about a moment ago - thats essentially a good thing - its telling us that the outcomes of this arc will be positive - I'm guessing that Connor will get his head around being a dad - learning and understanding that genetics don't necessarily make a father.

The other thing we need to talk about with regards to Connor - that I spotted and I think hints at things to come is his wedding band. in the above picture he is wearing it on his right hand rather than his left - as he has done all the way up to this point. THis can only be an intentional choice - in America the most common finger to wear a wedding band on is the left ring finger (its not something that would get missed or that would be put on the wrong hand by accident). Connors wedding band changing hands is pretty telling.

Interestingly there are a few things about wearing a wedding band on the right hand instead of the left - it is common in many countries - including Peru (👀) but it is also symbolic - before gay marriage was legal, it was (and still is) common for same sex couples to wear rings on their right hands as a show of commitment. The other (and possibly more relevant reason here) is that it is a fairly common thing for people cheating on their partner to do - it can be a signal of availability. Now I'm not saying Connor is out and out cheating on Kameron, what I am saying is that his wedding ring changing hands may be a visual signal that he is struggling with his relationship and is emotionally not al in it at the moment - that he is perhaps not feeling connected to his marriage because of his struggles with the baby and not being able to emotionally invest in that aspect of his relationship at this moment.

Its going to be very interesting and telling the next time we see Connor and Kameron on screen together if the ring changes back - and if we see it on the right hand again!

Maddie in black and pink when Buck and her have an honest conversation about their individual trauma and the way its interconnected is an interesting choice the black and pink has similar vibes to the maroon and black of Maddie's uniform, except its dressed down, its more flow-y and as a result more inviting of Bucks honesty and Maddie's own admissions. The pink is representing Maddie's nurturing tendencies, but also her unconditional love for her brother. I've said before that black is a colour of power and sophistication - here those traits are showing the power of growth and sophistication is both Maddie and Buck developing and understanding the complexities of their traumas and developing better ways of dealingwih them.

I've included the picture of the shooting below at this point because I want to highlight a couple of things. I've used this picture because its the only time we can see all of what Buck is wearing - White high-tops, black socks, grey trousers and the infamous white shirt with grey pinstripes.

Tamara is the first costume hint at the shooting arc we get in the episode. the white pinstripe shirt and the white high-tops are very much a direct reference to Bucks outfit. If we look at the bigger picture here and look at both the arc and the characters as a whole then we can see clear similarities between this arc and the shooting arc.

We have an 'overdose' as the catalyst in both arcs. Charlie both being dosed by his mother and his act of overdosing her, which leads to Eddie being shot as he tries to help. Then we have Tamara - in the same position as Charlie - she's being controlled in a similar way by the Walshes through her previous drug use etc. Wendell fills the role of Eddie in this arc - he is the one that goes in to help Tamara and ends up 'shot' (read shooting up as a metaphor for being shot!) as he tries to help. Only unlike Eddie, Wendell does actually die. Tamara also fits into the same roll as Buck - she is there when Wendell dies - in the same way Buck is there when Eddie gets shot.

Bobby and Athena placed in essentially the same roles (more on Athena in a moment) as in the shooting - a bit more of a lean into Bobby solving things where as Athena was more filling that role in the shooting arc, but the outcome is the same.

The arrest of the Walshes shows Athena back in her usual colour ways of black olive drab and white, which is an important touchstone for us as viewers (especially after we spent so much time in a coma world last week), but it also plays into the shooting arc throwbacks with her costume - the leather jacket is not identical, but its almost the same as the one she wears for most of the investigation into the shooter in the season 4 arc.

Finally we get Athena in this amazing purple jacket - dark purple being a colour of magic, spirituality enlightenment and wisdom. this jacket is in its own way connected to the shooting arc - the fact that Bobby didn't let Athena in that time - when he was trying to sponsor the drunk driver from blindsided (4x09). It shows us just how far they have both come since that moment.

Finally I have to talk about Bucks white high-tops because they were very prominent in this episode. I've had the theory for a while that they represent his journey towards happiness (there is a post on my pinned post all about it if you haven't read it or want a refresher!).

He wears them all the time he's not at the loft in this episode - their most prominent appearance is on Eddies Coffee table (buck I love you but you're a heathen!!) - literally the only time you should put your feet up on the coffee table is when you are at home - never at someone elses house - this plays into the whole 'this is Eddies house, I'm not really a guest' of it all. the fact that he does so in his white high-tops is actually really important - we've never seen those shoes anywhere except the floor up to now - Buck putting his feet up while wearing them is a symbol of both him being at home/ coming home, as well as a symbol - its foreshadowing that Buck's journey to find happiness ends here - at home in the Diaz house and as a part of the Diaz family!

we also see him wearing them at the park when he is contemplating the fire that lead to him being hit by lightnin after his appointment with Dr Salazar - again this is Buck very much on his journey - he is contemplative and making progress!

And there we have it 6x12 costume meta done!! Thank you as always for reading - it really does mean the world to me that you're interested in the costuming of our wee woo show!!

As always tagged people below - if anyone wants to be added to (or removed from) the list please let me know in the comments and I'll add you to the next one! Same goes if your url has changed and the tag is no longer working 😎

Until the next episode! 💜💜💜

@mistmarauder @theladyyavilee @loveyourownsmiilee @leothil @girldadbuddie @kitkatpancakestack  @buckscurls @lemotmo @trashendence @elishareads  @clipboardsandstethoscopes @comfortbuddie @fiona-fififi  @callanee @calyssmarviss @pbandjeremiah @batgrldes  @spotsandsocks @livingwherethesidewalkends  @idontshitpostbuttheolympicpark @diazboysbuckley @sweettsubaki @shortsighted-owl @sherlocking-out-loud @dickley-buddie  @favouritealias @hearteyesdiaz  @ktinastrikesback  @princesschez75 @bucksbuddie @oneawkwardcookie  @leatherat @moniquekatie @wanderingwomanwondering  @trickster-archangel @outrunningthedark @asharadaine @ajunerose  @talespinner230 @pop-kam @swiftiebuckleys @xxfiction-is-my-realityxx @butchjerry @mandzuking17 @yelenascowboys @copyninjabuckley @name-code-black-widow @rogerzsteven @bi-moonlight @wandiinha

[unfortunate-songbird]

ok hear me out

what if April was older

pov you’re like 15, working your after school job at your local pet store, nbd

Then this guy walks in wearing a literal suit of armor. It’s bright blue. He’s got long pinkish hair and golden horns. Are those freaking gargoyles on his shoulders. he asks for four turtles.

Sure, whatever. New York be like that sometimes. You get him four turtles, different types. While you’re, like, ringing up the turtles or w/ever, he starts droning on about how he’s going to mutate them into the greatest warriors in the universe and use them to reclaim his peoples’ rightful place on the surface

you aren’t really paid enough for this, but honestly it’s either this or freaking McDonald’s, so you deal with it

guy takes his turtles and leaves

maybe you mostly forget

maybe it keeps you up a few nights, idk

you get fired four months later in an incident that Totally wasn’t your fault but the managers just saw thirty hamsters dyed bright pink and jumped to conclusions, yknow? That’s how it be sometimes

Anyways, picture about 3 years later

you pick up a part time delivery job at a pizza place. Not ideal, but when you’ve been blacklisted from the majority of businesses in your general area, beggars can’t be choosers. Anyways, a guy asks for 3 large pizzas. You can hear kids yelling in the background. He sounds tired. Mood. then he asks you to leave them in an alleyway near a manhole. uhhhhh

look, you’re dead inside from customer service, but you’ve still got a Little of that investigative spirit that got you expelled from that fancy smancy high school sophomore year

So you wait

A rat man (!!?!???) emerges from the sewer, holding a very small toddler that’s also a turtle (?!???!?)

Wait. wait. wait.

that guy from the pet store.

no way.

Anyways, it takes a lot of yelling, panic, a few ninja moves (??) and some really awful lies from the rat man, but they manage to talk it out. It helps when one bawling turtle kiddo quiets after a couple minutes of the April O’Neil flair. (For once’s she’s grateful for her many younger cousins)

besides, she’s basically their aunt at this point. She sold them to the goat man, so she kinda counts. She’s pretty sure Rat Man- Splints- is just glad to have some help wrangling the disasters. He pays her nicely for her services, which is great, so she drops the other jobs and babysits mutant turtles in the sewers. It’s weird, for sure, but it could be way worse.

Plus, they’re all so cute.

Raph is super helpful, always following her around and trying to participate in whatever she’s doing. It’s so cute watching him bite his lip as he carefully fills Mikey’s sippy cup with juice (April holding onto the carton to make sure he doesn’t spill everywhere)

Donnie is super smart already, eagerly recounting to April whatever cool facts he’s learned. April buys him some Legos to build stuff, and he’s over the moon about them. Mikey eats one of the pieces, leading to a few hours of panic and a lifelong hatred of people touching his stuff.

Leo is a little show off, always yelling “April, April!! Lookit this!!” (Those words have proceeded, to date: three broken bones (at least mutants heal quickly), two sprained ankles, a sprained wrist, a nasty cut down his leg, and more scraped up knees that April can count).

Mikey is much less of a daredevil on his own, but he’s quick to copy whatever dangerous stunt Leo is doing. He’s always easily mollified with colorful bandaids, though, and Leo has more than once abandoned a trick when he sees Mikey trying to attempt it too. His drawings cover both the lair’s fridge and April’s own.

((( idk what this was I just think it’s very cute. My brain went “haha Draxum in a pet shop” and then everything else happened. i don’t know where Splinter gets his money, but he obviously Has it. He doesn’t work, but the boys can still afford pizza and have allowances (I’m assuming, since it’s unlikely they have jobs to earn money, so whatever they get is probably from Splinter.) and also?? Electricity?? (Where do they get that)

anyway I have Many questions that are never answered about that)))

[foralternateuniverses]

I'm a simple self-indulgent person with basic needs and one of those is a one piece welcome to nightvale au

First of, Usopp can't not be Cecil

Kaya is not a scientist like Carlos, but she still studies the science of medicine when she arrives with Merry and Kuro, the first arc would be the murder attempt plot by Kuro and Kaya's new friends saving her (obv including Usopp).

Robin, my dear archaeologist, is the one who spends her time investigating things, accompanied by her cyborg husband, Franky. And with the support of the mysterious forces of the revolutionary army. She shows up, investigates stuff, gives Usopp info and vanishes.

I'm not exactly sure how or why but Ace would be killed by Akainu but comes back to life as a size-changing ball of fire two months later, just in time for the reappearance of his missing brother, Sabo, and at some point before that reunion Luffy splits into two non-identical individuals, they get along and Nika has his journey of self-identity and all that jazz with Luffy and friends.

Some info bout the Vinsmokes in this au:

they're kinda like in canon (biologically engineered by Judge) but I'm making it a bit more extreme with the "cannot disobey an order by Judge"

Pretty much everybody knows that the boys (124) are practically inhuman robots with little to no free will but nobody really reacts to that, do they even see them as humans? (0&3 are doing their own things, 0 is also one of the only people who see her brothers as more than just experiments).

12&4 are barely seen separated, they're pretty much always together doing the same stuff.

Sora is a ghost haunting Germa Castle, and she also occasionally posseses Judge, when she does, she always gives the boys orders to try different things (cuz she wants to help them find themselves and be free of Judge), like she had them be idols for half a month, she's had them be actors, models, artists, firefighters, they've tried every sport on earth (picture Sanji going on his day to day life but his brothers are always there in the background, like Sakura's older brother always having a new job close to her new adventure), usually lasting till whenever Judge gives them a new order and reels them in again.

Obv, they're not perfect experiments, and very oh so very slowly they'll be able to break free, with the help of family and friends (and their partners and the revolutionary party).

[hendersister]

twilight zone (1/3)

summary: when you and steve get trapped in the upside down, you work together to survive.

pairing: steve harrington x henderson!sister reader

title 🎵: twilight zone by golden earring

word count: ~1k

a/n: while i was outling this fic, i realized it was getting pretty long so i decided to split it into 3 parts 🩷🩷🩷

part 2 ->

Everything happened so fast… 

It all started when you thought that you had a lead in tracking down Vecna. You believed that gates to the Upside Down were opened at each spot Vecna kills his victims. So you and Steve decided to follow your hunch. You took Dustin’s compass and a boat out to Lover’s Lake, where Patrick died, to investigate if your theory was accurate.

You and Steve stopped rowing after the compass started acting haywire. Steve volunteered to go into the water to check it out. When he resurfaced, he told you that he found a small gate. Your theory was right! But before you had time to celebrate this little win in the big war, Steve got abruptly pulled underwater. It was horrifying to watch, like a moment in Jaws came to life.

“STEVE!” you scream frantically. 

Without thinking, you dive into the water to help your boyfriend.

Steve is dragged into the Upside Down by the creature that pulled him underwater. Once Steve makes it through the gate, the creature lets go of its tight grip around his ankle. 

Steve breathes heavily, trying to catch his breath after being underwater. He rises to his feet and takes a look around.

“Shit,” Steve curses to himself.

He hears the sounds of electricity sparking, thunder rumbling in the distance, and then-

“Steve!” 

Your boyfriend turns to see you rushing toward him. His jaw drops when he sees you. When Steve was in trouble, you jumped in the water after him. If that’s not love, Steve doesn’t know what is.

“Y/N!”

As soon as you reach Steve, you pull him into a big hug.

“Holy shit! When you got pulled down….I thought I lost you…” you tell him breathlessly.

Steve hugs you back tightly.

“I’m alright,” he softly assures you, then looks you up and down, “Are you okay?”

You nod and then let out a deep breath, finally taking in your surroundings. Your eyes widen as you look around the Upside Down. It’s like Hawkins but it’s colder, darker, and much more sinister. 

“Toto… I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore,” you joke in an attempt to lighten the mood.

Suddenly, sounds of shrieking and squawking can be heard in the distance. You and Steve both turn your heads to see a swarm of demobats flying right towards you.

“Oh fuck!” you gasp.

Steve quickly scans your surroundings and notices an Upside Down version of the little rowboat you used to get to the middle of Lover’s Lake. The boat has two paddles. Steve grabs them both and hands one off to you. 

You and Steve raise your paddles like weapons, readying yourself for the oncoming threat. 

WOOSH

The demobats start swarming around you and Steve. The two of you smack them away with the paddles. You try to stay as close to one another as possible but you eventually break away from each other to fight your own little battles.

You’re able to hold your own pretty well. While repeatedly hitting one of the demobats over and over again, part of your wooden paddle breaks off into a sharp edge. You take advantage and start using it like a knife. Instead of swatting the demobats away, you stab them. You pierce holes through their chest, killing them instantly.

Meanwhile, Steve is fighting off demobats left and right. One of the bats extends its tail and wraps it around Steve’s neck, choking Steve and causing him to drop his paddle. Steve grunts as he pulls the tail away from his neck. Steve keeps hold of the demobat’s tail and repeatedly smashes the creature into the ground. Then he steps on the bat’s chest and tears its body apart. A panting Steve tosses half of the demobat’s body behind him and spits out some blood as thunder booms in the background. 

And then, just as quickly as they came, you and Steve watch as most of the demobats suddenly fly away. A few of the creatures stay behind and circle around the gate, effectively blocking it off.

“There’s not that many. We can take ‘em. Right?” Steve wonders aloud. 

SQUAWK 

In the distance, more demobats start to converge. Your heart drops. Those bats weren’t leaving the fight, they were getting more back up. You and Steeve need to get out of here immediately.

You take Steve’s hand.

“C’mon!”

You and Steve run as fast as you can into the nearby woods. You don’t stop running until you reach the Upside Down version of Skull Rock. You both need a moment to catch your breath.

After a beat, you look Steve up and down. Before he dove into the water to take a look at the gate, he took his shirt and shoes off. You can’t let him navigate the Upside Down in nothing but a pair of sweatpants. You take off your sweatshirt, which was actually one of Steve’s old sweatshirts before he gave it to you, and toss it over to him.

“As much as I enjoy watching you walk around shirtless, you look like you need this more than me.” 

Steve gives you an appreciative look.

“Thanks Y/N.”

You wink cutely at Steve. He smiles to himself and puts on the sweatshirt. 

Then the earth abruptly starts shaking. Steve wraps a protective arm around you and tries his best to keep hold of the rock. You both cling on to each other until the shaking stops. You can hear creatures baying and snarling in the distance.

“We need to find another gate to get out of here. There’s no way we can use Lover’s Lake,” you tell Steve.

Your boyfriend nods in agreement.

“I think the next closest gate is Eddie’s trailer, where Chrissy died,” you say.

“Yeah, but that’s like 15 miles away,” Steve shrugs.

You sigh. Ooof. That’s going to be a long walk! Unfortunately, it might be the only other way out of the Upside Down. You have to get to Eddie’s trailer. But first, you and Steve should stock up on supplies to prepare for the journey ahead.

“My house isn’t too far from here. We can go there to pick up anything we might need before heading to Eddie’s trailer,” you suggest.

“Good idea,” Steve nods.

“Let’s go.”

[bidoofenergy]

try to be patient (learning how to live)

It’s Saturday afternoon and there’s no class on Monday and Jimmy is about two miles away from HCU, about to have a very good 3-day weekend. A great weekend even, if his friends and Tango's too would stop assuming they're going to have sex all weekend. They haven't even talked about sex. Not that that's going to cause problems, of course not. sequel to let's ditch the dance floor also on AO3 (3611 words)

Jimmy has his phone to his ear and it’s been ringing for several minutes by the time the door opens. “Finally,” he sighs in relief. “Hey babe,” he says to the person opening the door: Impulse, not his boyfriend, who he’d been expecting.

Without missing a beat, Impulse, who is actually Tango’s roommate, grins widely and replies, “Hi snookums!” Behind him, Skizz, another one of Tango’s roommates pops up to investigate.

In his ear, Jimmy finally hears the sound of his call connecting. “Hi honey,” Tango says in a rush. In the background of the call and also in person, from behind Impulse and Skizz, is the sound of something crashing.

It’s all entirely too much. “Save me,” Jimmy groans and hangs up.

It’s Saturday afternoon and there’s no class on Monday and Jimmy is about two miles away from HCU, about to have a very good 3-day weekend. On Friday, after Joel got of work, he and Jimmy drove the few hours back home, grabbing lunch at the same middle-of-nowhere Mexican place that they always stop at, the one that’s a 20-minute detour, that they first stopped at way back when Jimmy was still nervous about driving on highways.

And then, because it was the start of a 3-day weekend and because Grian had set up a group chat at the start of the semester to demand it, they went to Pearl’s parents’ house to eat pizza and get drunk and celebrate being in the same space again. It was like a high school reunion but better, because it was only people he cared about—Grian and Pearl and Martyn and BigB and Netty—and Joel got to be there too because he was annoying about it.

And then, some time before noon, Jimmy woke up with a wicked headache, chugged a bottle of Gatorade, and drove a couple hours here, stopping only for McDonald’s once he stopped feeling nauseous. Drove here, because Tango had invited him over for the long weekend, promising a quiet place to catch up on homework and Tango’s bed to sleep in and an empty apartment until Monday evening, when he’d have to be back on the road anyway.

Jimmy had hoped Tango’s roommates would’ve already left, but clearly not. “Hi Impulse, hi Skizz,” he greets them, trying very hard not to be embarrassed.

“Aw, I’m not babe anymore?” Impulse laughs, stepping aside to let Jimmy in. Jimmy tries not to hit either of them with his duffel bag—but not very hard.

“So, you’re here for the weekend?” Skizz asks as Jimmy stops awkwardly by their dining table, not sure which room is Tango’s.

“Uh, yeah, sorry, Tango told me you’d be gone for the weekend.” From the farthest room is the sound of more things falling.

“Trying to get our boy on his own, huh?” Impulse nods seriously. Before Jimmy has to reply, Tango tumbles out of his room. He’s wearing boxers and a ratty HCU engineering t-shirt and only one sock. His bleached blond hair is sticking up at ridiculous angles. His whole face lights up when he sees Jimmy.

“Jimmy!” He yells and that’s all the warning Jimmy gets before he has an armful of Tango, short and warm and delighted. He hugs Jimmy so hard they go stumbling backwards into the dining table and then pulls back to grab Jimmy’s face and kiss him, soft despite his excitement, like Jimmy’s mouth is something delicate. Skizz and Impulse boo and gag good-naturedly. Jimmy can’t help but sink into Tango.

Tango pulls away and grins up at him. “Sorry, I started soldering and then I lost track of time and when you called me my phone was under my clean clothes and—stop laughing at me!” Jimmy can’t help it—Tango is so ridiculous and he’s so fond of him. His phone was under a pile of clean clothes because he swears it motivates him to put them away. Judging by his outfit, he probably started whatever project he’s working on right after he woke up and didn’t stop until his phone was ringing from underneath his underwear.

Jimmy tightens his grip around Tango’s waist, pulling him back in so they’re standing flush against each other and Jimmy can tuck his chin over the top of Tango’s head. He closes his eyes and squeezes, delighting in their closeness, the physical contact he gets to have for three days. He stands in the feeling for a moment and Tango hugs him back.

When he opens his eyes, it’s to Impulse and Skizz still jeering them and he can finally see what he missed earlier: their weekend bags, one on top of the other, right by the couch. They were probably leaving when Jimmy rang the doorbell.

Tango, apparently tired of noise, twists out of Jimmy’s arms and starts pushing Impulse and Skizz. “Alright, thank you to the peanut gallery.” He says, shoving their bags at them. “Get out, goodbye, drive safe,” Impulse and Skizz laugh.

“Bye Jimmy!” Impulse calls as he leaves and Jimmy waves.

“Say hi to your parents for me.” Tango tells them both sternly, even as he’s herding them out of their own apartment.

“Don’t have sex on our couch!” Skizz yells as he heads down the stairs.

“No promises!” Tango calls back and slams the door closed. “Okay.” He turns back to Jimmy, who flushes a little under the attention. “What do you want to do first?”

It doesn’t matter what Jimmy wants to do first, because first he has to force Tango to take a shower. He drops his bag on the floor of Tango’s room and pokes around while Tango showers and sings along to happy indie pop music.

Tango’s room has fairly barebone furnishings—a full-sized bed in one corner, a desk in another. A set of flimsy plastic drawers serves as his bed side table, covered in scraps of paper and keys and pens and a single Bluetooth earbud. His walls are well decorated, posters of bands and videogames and flyers of events he’s been to and printouts of circuit boards and wiring diagrams that seem to have started above his desk and slowly taken over the walls from there.

Except, right at eye level if you sit in Tango’s plush desk chair, taped over several overlapping layers of diagrams, is a picture Joel took from inside Grian’s apartment the night they got together: the two of them kissing on Grian’s balcony, Jimmy’s stupid cowboy hat firmly on his head, Tango on his toes to reach him. Jimmy is filled with a sudden burst of affection. He takes a quick picture before spins away to flop onto Tango’s bed. His dramatics sends clothes sliding off the end of the bed to join the pile on the floor. Jimmy ignores them to pull up his group chat with Grian and Joel.

Jimmy: GUYSSS

Jimmy: [image]

Jimmy: he’s so cute omg

Joel: congrats (face vomiting)

Grian: disgusting

Grian: guess you got there fine?

Jimmy winces a little at the dig—he was supposed to tell Grian when he got to Tango’s place.

Jimmy: yeah drive was fine didn’t even throw up [thumbs up emoji]

Joel: not me i threw up in pearl’s parents’ neighbor’s bushes

Jimmy: ewwwww

Grian: ew.

Grian: remember to stay hydrated during your sexathon!!

Jimmy: please never say the word sexathon again

Jimmy tosses his phone somewhere on Tango’s bed and covers his face with his hands. The worst part, the part that makes all the jokes so embarrassing, is they haven’t even talked about sex yet.

To be fair, they haven’t been together an enormous amount of time, not even six months yet. Of course, in College Time that was basically a year, but Jimmy didn’t think the sex-timeline moved at College Time.  They’re basically long distance, constantly carving out weekends to see each other. Winter break was brilliant, when Jimmy squeezed out the chance to stay at Grian’s and be there for his New Year’s party and they kissed at midnight and Jimmy felt like he could see years together.

Then Grian cornered him and asked, with an eyebrow waggle, if Jimmy had any details to overshare and all Jimmy had was a heated make out session they’d had at a different one of Grian’s parties, something drunk and sloppy and giggly. (“Yeah, I saw that Tim.” Grian had said and then, seeing the nervous energy building in Jimmy, asking, “Was he good at least?”)

And it had lingered in the back of Jimmy’s mind since—did he want to have sex? Did Tango want to have sex? Was Tango as worried as him about it? Why was he even so stressed about it?

Jimmy has had sex before; good, fun sex with Scott when they were together and fWhip when they’d had that weird on-and-off RP-bleed thing. But Tango didn’t even talk about sex, even when they talked about queer-awakenings, even when their friends talked about sex, even when he’d laughed as Jimmy waxed lyrical about Captain America over the phone for almost 20 minutes straight.

They don’t talk about sex, but Jimmy’s been thinking about it, especially because the last several weeks Grian and Joel had assumed he and Tango were going to have sex all weekend and had been teasing him accordingly. Jimmy drops his hands off his face and stares up at the textured ceiling. He’d love to stop thinking so much about having sex with Tango.

Of course, that is when Tango emerges from his bathroom, toweling off his hair and already midsentence about a specific shade of blue he’s been meaning to dye his hear and the careful dye-chemistry it’s sure to require. Jimmy props himself up on an elbow to just watch him, not even bothering to try and hide his smile. Tango’s wearing another HCU engineering shirt, thankfully less ratty, and cargo pants and Jimmy’s practically despondent over how he thinks Tango looks good, ridiculously good.

Scott’s going to be so disappointed in my standards now. Jimmy has time to think, half-hysterically, before Tango crosses the room and practically launches himself into Jimmy’s lap.

“Hey,” Tango says, grinning and breathless, and gently pushes Jimmy on the chest so he falls back against the pillows. Automatically, Jimmy’s hands go to Tango’s hips, balancing him.

“Hi,” he replies, equally breathless, desperately hoping it doesn’t come out squeaky. Before he can say anything else, it’s Tango’s mouth on his, far less delicate now they don’t have an audience. One hand is fisted in Jimmy’s shirt, pulling him close while pinning him down, and the other cups his face, carefully stroking across his cheekbone with a thumb.

Jimmy, for his part, goes lax almost immediately, opening up to let Tango lick his mouth. He lets Tango lead the kiss, content to instead run his hands over Tango’s middle, slipping up under his t-shirt to feel as much skin as he can.

Time slips away from him, the way Tango’s mouth slips against his, nothing but the steady push-and-pull of mouths and tongues, nothing but Tango’s warm body being mapped out under his hands. Tango groans into his mouth as he presses against Tango’s lower back, pushing their bodies together, and so Jimmy leaves his hand there and lets his right hand roam, sliding across Tango’s pecs, ghosting over Tango’s stomach until he laughs into Jimmy’s mouth, happy gusts of air that Jimmy eagerly swallows.

It's nothing but Tango, Tango, Tango’s hot-wet mouth against his, Tango’s weight firmly settled over his hips, Tango’s hands steady against him the way they always are, holding him in place. Like Jimmy would ever try to run away from this.

Jimmy pulls his right hand from under Tango’s shirt to the back of Tango’s neck, sliding up to thread into his still-damp hair. Tango sighs into his mouth and, encouraged, Jimmy uses this hand to push a little and angle Tango’s head differently. He’s so focused on the feel of Tango’s hair, on licking soft noises out of Tango’s mouth, he doesn’t notice his other hand slip under the waistband of Tango’s pants.

Doesn’t—until Tango freezes on top of him. Jimmy pulls his hands away immediately, moving one to Tango’s hip, the other to his chest, gently pushing them apart. Tango tries to keep kissing him but Jimmy pulls away. “Hey, hey,” he says gently.

“I’m fine, I’m fine.” Tango insists, which feels a little at odds with how he’s burying his face into Jimmy’s chest.

“It’s okay,” Jimmy reassures. “We can keep it above the waist.” He’d cringe at his word choice, but it’s not about his utter lack of cool. It’s about Tango, who’s still not looking at him, shaking his head against Jimmy’s chest.

“No, no,” he mumbles. “It’s not—I want to—I just—” None of this is clearing things up for Jimmy. He rubs Tango’s back and desperately wishes for something helpful to say. Abruptly, Tango sits up and, looking Jimmy in the eye, says, “I want to have sex with you.”

It’s Jimmy’s turn to freeze, under the intensity of Tango’s unwavering eye contact. “Right now?” he asks, because that’s the only way he can thing to respond.

Tango laughs, soft and fond. “No,” he says and climbs off Jimmy. “I can’t talk about this sitting down.” He shuffles through the things on his desk and slides his wallet into his back pocket when he finds it. He holds out his hand to Jimmy, still lying down, still confused. Of course, Jimmy takes his hand.

It’s a bright, cold afternoon day, the kind that reminds you that spring is on the way. Tango had shoved Jimmy into one of his sweatshirts, one that says “HCU” in big embroidered letters, and now holds his hand as they walk. Jimmy isn’t sure where they’re going, but he can’t bring himself to care. They’re leaving Tango’s apartment complex and heading down the sidewalk, beat up and with plants starting to peak back through the cracks.

They’ve barely gone a few steps away from the building when Tango starts to talk. “I’ve never had sex before.” He says in a rush.

“Oh,” Jimmy wishes he knew what to say to that. It didn’t matter to him, but clearly it did to Tango. Jimmy remembers when he told Scott he was a virgin (exactly like that: “Scott, I’m a virgin.”). Scott had laughed and said he knew and fucked him. But that was him and Scott and he had liked it when Scott laughed at him. That didn’t feel applicable here.

Tango keeps talking, “I want to have sex with you, but I’ve been really in my head about the whole thing. And it definitely doesn’t help that everyone seems to think we already have.”

Jimmy winces. Grian and Joel have been especially obnoxious about things. “Sorry.”

“Not your fault.” Tango says firmly. “I would’ve been in my head about it regardless. I just—” He sighs and shakes his arms out, jerking Jimmy’s arm around too and startling a laugh out of him. Tango smiles distractedly and continues. “You know. I can’t do one thing at a time. And that includes making out. I just get super conscious of my limbs and if what I’m doing is okay or weird. And then I start thinking about the Wikipedia article for kissing. And it sucks ’cause I’m having fun, but—” he cuts himself off with another sigh.

Jimmy nods, taking this in. “Is this why you never move your hands?” he asks and laughs when Tango shrieks, pulling them both to a stop.

“You noticed?” He cries and buries his face into Jimmy’s arm, mumbling something about stupid, smart, pretty boys. Jimmy pats the top of his head, going for reassuring but completely missing because he’s laughing so hard.

Eventually, Tango pulls away and starts walking again. “Anyway,” he says, with an attempt at dignity. “That’s why I froze. I freaked out in my brain.” He tugs on Jimmy’s hand until they make firm eye contact again. “Nothing to do with you.”

“Except for what I did.” Jimmy says, laughing a little.

“Hey, none of that.” Tango insists. “We didn’t talk about this. That’s on me too.” He grins. “You know what Scott says: in a healthy relationship, it’s on all parties to—”

“Oh my god, stop,” Jimmy nearly yells, slapping a hand over Tango’s mouth. Tango laughs from behind Jimmy’s hand, eyes bright and happy, and they keep walking.

It turns out they were going to the grocery store. They cut across the parking a lot on a diagonal; it’s quiet enough it’s not a problem. There’s a sale on avocados that has Tango frowning down at them for a full minute before he picks out 3. They buy Jimmy’s favorite tortilla chips—way too salty—and store-brand frozen cheesy bread that Tango swears will turn out well and a couple bottles of cheap red wine.

“It tastes good.” Tango assures Jimmy as they wait in line for the cashier to check them out. “Barely tastes like win, to be honest.”

“But does it pair with cheesy bread?” Jimmy asks with a laugh. Tango nods mock-seriously.

“And I have a white for the avocados.” He says in his snobbiest voice and Jimmy falls over him laughing.

And then it’s out the store and back to Tango’s apartment, hands still linked. The walk back is more relaxed, without the anxiety of a serious conversation. Jimmy asks about Tango’s senior design project—this year long group project he’s been complaining about more since the start of the spring semester. It turns out on of his teammates hasn’t shown up to class in a few weeks and Tango is, understandably, irate.

“—and after all this!” He yells, swinging the bag he’s carrying so wildly Jimmy is glad he doesn’t have the wine. “I have to see him at our final presentation and pretend I don’t hate their guts! And then again at graduation—” he cuts himself off with an awkward cough and a sideways glance at Jimmy.

They haven’t talked about the fact that Tango is graduating soon and now, seeing his face in the winter-light, Jimmy realizes that Tango has been talking around it, for Jimmy’s sake. Jimmy smiles at Tango and squeezes his hand and hopes his message is clear: it’s okay. They’ll have other carved out weekends to talk about it. Tango smiles and squeezes his hand back and asks him how D&D is going. And then it's stories Joel’s character’s god complex and the love triangle Joey, Katherine, and Shubble are orchestrating and his own misfortunes with the dice and Tango laughs and stares at him lovingly and pulls him up the stairs into his apartment.

Inside, Jimmy tells Tango about the real-life hermit crab Sausage and Joel found and are negotiating a custody arrangement for and Tango listens while he puts the groceries away. The avocados go in a plastic bowl that was once for Halloween candy, with a few bananas and a very wrinkled apple; the wine gets crammed into the vegetable drawer to chill; and the cheesy bread goes into the oven—bare on the rack, which makes Jimmy incredibly nervous.

“It’s fine.” Tango insists. He crowds up against Jimmy, backing him up against the counter, and kisses him fiercely.

It’s like somethings been unlocked. Jimmy had fun kissing Tango, before, but now it’s like Tango has loosened some kind of restraint. It’s a hot, wet mouth against his, biting and licking and insistent, and Tango’s warm hands sliding under his shirt to smooth across his stomach and sides, making him laugh breathily. It’s fierce, unwavering attention on him and all Jimmy can do is cling, feeling like Tango’s knocked the breath out of him all over again.

If Jimmy had enough brain cells firing, he’d feel bad about how restrained Tango has been, clear in hindsight. But all he can think is “Yes,” and all he can do is slip his hand back into Tango’s hair and hold on.

9 to 11 minutes later, the oven beeps and Tango pulls away with one last, lingering kiss, before he casually starts fussing over the cheesy bread, putting it on a cutting board and rummaging around for a knife, while Jimmy leans against the counter and tries to catch his breath.

Tango shoots him a grin over his shoulder, looking far to pleased with himself, and says, “Get the wine out, will you?”

“I hate you.” Jimmy replies with only affection in his voice and Tango’s smile only brightens.

They eat on Tango’s bed, cutting board and plastic cups full of wine balanced precariously, and Tango pulls up some 80s teenage comedy on his laptop. He knows all the words and, when Jimmy slumps against him, full and pleasantly buzzed and sleepy, he can feel the rumble of Tango’s chest as he speaks with the actors.

When he wakes up, Tango will probably be hunched his desk again, this time in boxers and one of Jimmy’s t-shirts, and Jimmy will have to pry him away. They’ll make something for breakfast and eat on the couch so Jimmy can stay right next to Tango, pressing their bodies together. He wants to take a nap on the couch with Tango on top of him. He wants to take a shower so he can feel the water pressure Tango’s always complaining about. He wants Tango to explain the newest version of Decked Out to him, patient when the rules get so convoluted his head starts to swim. He wants to, he wants to, he gets to.

He gets to.