#and idk what else to tag

[3-2-whump]

Earning Your Keep, Part 2 

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Hi everyone, here we are, squeezing in a chapter about the boy before OC week. Thank you to my beta readers @whumped-by-glitter and @generic-whumperz for giving this a look and helping it become the chapter it is today!

TW/CW: not really any that I could think of? I mean, there are some misunderstandings and some misconceptions due to whump aftermath/recovery stuff, but nothing too terribly triggering, I think.

When he got home, Cade did a little spin in the middle of the living room with his arms outstretched and a relieved smile on his face. “I know I don’t appreciate you two enough, but thank you! It’s just so much nicer in here when it’s clean,” he sighed happily.

“You’re welcome, and thanks for doing the dishes. I was dreading coming home to scrub that mountain of dishes all day, but now it’s awesome that I can just start cooking,” Eric agreed.

It wasn’t like he, Vik, and Cade had lived in squalor before, but, as three working professionals who did not have much personal time, it was a challenge to keep the house clean. Ever since Khaled came along though, everyone had been stepping up their game: the dishes were always washed and put away, the carpet was two shades lighter than anyone remembered it being, the bathroom counters and mirrors sparkled, and their laundry would never have time to accumulate in the hamper/on the floor before being whisked away to the basement washer and dryer. And sure, it was a little weird, how Vik and/or Cade would fold Eric’s clean clothes and pile them neatly at the foot of his bed, which was now made, but who was he to look a gift horse in the mouth? Hell, one of the guys dusted off his anime figurines, a project Eric had been putting off for months!

“I’m honestly impressed how well you’re both doing at keeping things tidy,” Vik congratulated. Cade staggered mid-spin as his socks lost friction with the wooden floor. Vik rushed to catch him just in time. “Although, I do think the floor polish is a bit much, as was the bleach on the shower tiles,” he added.

“Wasn’t me who bleached the bathroom,” Cade said, reorienting himself from Vik’s grasp. “You know I can’t stand harsh chemical smells!”

“Wasn’t me either,” Eric said, brow furrowing in confusion. “And I didn’t polish the floors.” Come to think of it… Eric frowned slightly. “Which one of you did the dishes anyway?”

Cade and Vikash both looked at each other, before staring back at Eric in quiet confusion.

“Neither of you?” Eric asked, as something close to guilt began to knot inside of him.

“Well, no…” Vikash admitted. “And I’m guessing now that neither of you reorganized my bookshelf.”

Cade shook his head. “And I know neither of you would’ve wiped my babies’ glass crystal clear,” he said, referring to his angelfish tank in his room.

“Then…”

“…who…”

“…did all this?”

They all came to the same conclusion around the same time. Their unseen help around the house was asleep, taking a long nap after a follow-up appointment at Joyous Springs.

“God damn it, Khaled,” Vik groaned.

“Ohhhhhhh,” Cade said at the same time, light brown eyes widening.

“Well, he is the only one amongst us without money, a job, or any way of securing either anytime soon,” Eric sighed, shaking his head. “It makes the most sense. I mean, what on earth does he do all day, besides going to the gym with Vik or going to and from therapy with me?”

Cade hummed thoughtfully. “I never thought to ask,” he answered truthfully. “Even when I do have the time to check in on him, I usually just send him a ‘how you doing/have you eaten yet?’ text and been done with it.”

Vik rolled his eyes. “We’ve been letting him clean our house for free for nearly a month now?”

“He’s been doing a hell of a good job of it,” Cade muttered.

Eric could also acknowledge it was nice to have their newest roommate help them out in some capacity. However, it also felt as if he were taking advantage of Khaled, and it just didn’t sit well with him. “Let me talk to him, tomorrow, when I’m off work,” Eric proposed. “I’ll clear up any misunderstandings he may carry.”

And that’s what Eric did, the next day, loitering around the kitchen as Khaled scrubbed away at the stove with a disused kitchen sponge.

 “Shouldn’t you be recording your Twitch stream right now?” Khaled asked.

“It can wait, and besides, I thought you might appreciate the company!” Eric answered. He squatted next to the cupboard under the sink and retrieved another pair of pink rubber gloves. “Now, what can I help with?”

Khaled looked up from where he was scrubbing. He blinked owlishly at him as if Eric had grown two heads. “Oh, um, it’s okay, I can do it on my own,” he murmured.

Eric slid next to Khaled as he snapped on the gloves. “It’ll go much faster if there is two of us, and the quicker we finish, the sooner you and I can get back to the stuff we want to do,” he said.

“But, this is what I want to do,” Khaled insisted. He looked down at his hands, avoiding Eric’s gaze as he scrubbed the same spot over and over. “You can go back to your game if you want, I don’t want to keep you from it,” he murmured.

“So, you want to scour the stovetop?”

Khaled nodded, though it wasn’t very convincing.

Eric pursed his lips, furrowing his brows in thought. “Thing is, I don’t believe you, dude. Nobody truly wants to scrub the stovetop, or vacuum the stairs, or dust each and every one of their roommate’s collectible figurines. So, tell me,” he implored, “why are you really cleaning our house?”

Khaled stopped scrubbing. He hung his head and drew in a shaky breath. The sponge in his grip strained under the slight rubbery creaking of his gloved fingers.

“Because I want to repay you, prove my worth to you,” he finally admitted.

Eric exhaled out his nose as he shook his head. Called it, he thought. Having his suspicions confirmed didn’t feel any better. “Oh, Khaled, no! Repay us?” Wait, no, more importantly… “Prove your worth to us?” Eric repeated. He wanted to slap whoever made Khaled feel like his worth was tied to what he could do for other people. “You don’t have to repay us, or ‘prove your worth,’ or whatever it is you think you’re doing, cleaning our house top to bottom,” Eric explained. “We certainly won’t stop you if that’s what you want to do, and I’ll be the first to admit your efforts have been greatly appreciated by all of us.” Khaled smiled shyly at the praise. Eric continued. “But don’t do it to ‘earn your keep.’ We would still keep you around even if you stopped doing it. You’re here because we want you to be here, don’t you see?”

Khaled’s smile dropped. “I-I don’t understand.” He wrung the sponge between his fingers. “Why are you guys being so nice to me if I can’t give you something in return?”

Forget slaps; Eric wanted to strangle whoever messed Khaled up this badly. However, anger towards those faceless entities wouldn’t help him right now. “Cause it’s the right thing to do? Cause we’re nice people? Cause we believe you can pick your life back up and live free like the rest of us? Take your pick,” Eric chuckled, giving him an encouraging nudge. “Let’s take a break, okay?” He gently pried the sponge from Khaled’s fingers and set it aside. He peeled off his gloves, smiling as Khaled mirrored his actions. “There’s a new co-op I’d like to try, and I need a player two!” Khaled got the hint.

When Vik and Cade came home that day, they were surprised to find the stove half-scrubbed and unwashed dishes in the sink. From the thin ceiling leading upstairs they could hear Eric’s Twitch stream ending.

“Thanks for tuning in everyone, this has been Light Moon–”

“And Bakhsh-Boy,” Khaled chimed in.

“–let us know if you want to see more collabs like this in the future, but until then, have a good night!”

Le Tag List (if you want to be added or subtracted, no problem!): @kabie-whump @rainydaywhump @whumped-by-glitter @skittles-the-whumpee @generic-whumperz @bamber344 @there-will-always-be-blood @morning-star-whump @watermelons-dont-grow-on-trees @defire @phoenixpromptsandstuff @scumashling @borp0 @decaffeinatedtimetraveler94 @arobear @whumpty-dumpty-doo @hellodecisionparalysis

[breadbut3d]

Am I the only one who, once characters you ship actually get together, you just completely lose interest in them. Like you enjoy the journey rather than the destination. Especially if it’s in canon.

It’s not SO bad in fics but I wouldn’t like anything more than a one shot with an established relationship that isn’t just background.

This is why I fear for things like Ineffable Hisbands because as soon as they become canon together no takebacksies then I know I’m just going to lose interest. Which sucks because some ships I really like end up, you know, actually being together and I just don’t care about them anymore.

And I never knew if this was a me thing or and Aro thing or a bit of both? Idk but it kinda sucks and I wanted to see if anyone else was like that or if it is a me thing.

This is part of the reason I’m glad that Thoschei isn’t actually together in canon because I know I would just loose interest immediately.

[notnaruse]

waow

[everoutoftouch]

If you have Spotify reblog this and tag what your number one song on your “on repeat” playlist is.

[wdapteo]

hey everyone be careful

I don't know if anyone has talked about this, but lately this has been happening in other fandoms too. There'll be these bot accounts that straight up steals people's posts and adds "expand" "read more" "continue" as a link in the end of the post - DON'T CLICK ON THAT, it's most likely a malware or something of the like.

so if you see a post like this: no profile picture, something that looks reposted (I've seen this happening to artists too) and a link at the end, even if the post has tags, that's a bot. Block and report it.

stay safe, and I hope @staff finds a way to stop these bots soon!

[prplino]

jayvik piece i made for valentines 💗 happy valentine’s day !

[noelledeltarune]

EVERY SINGLE DAY there are MILLIONS of characters in their late 20s who get falsely accused of being father figures to teenagers when in reality the description of "weird older cousin" or "step-sibling that moved out before you were born" is 1000000x more apt

[manquesit0]

VOCALOID CHIBIS 🌟

[rosenkranz-does-things]

iwtv studies

[mantumoo]

first post, idk what to say.. here‘s a nightwing fanart

[cranberrymikexdd]

:33

[speakingtruthfully]

Dead on main writing prompt: Jason gets dosed by a rogue and accidentally exposes his and Danny's relationship......

“And this GIW kidnap ghosts?” Batman asks.

“Totally, Dad.” Jason nods. “But you can’t tell anyone I’m a ghost!” Jason claims.

“You don’t want them to get you?” Diana questions.

“Me?” Jason scoffs, “I don’t give a fuck about me. I just don’t want them to get Danny again.” He says in a duh kind of tone.

“Danny’s a ghost?” Dick asks in shock.

Jason smiles again, “He’s a Halfa; like me.”

“Two Halfas exist?” Zatanna asks sounding shocked.

Jason laughs, “Don’t be silly. There are four of us: Me, My husband, My husband’s clone, and that one asshole.”

“You and Danny are married!” Dick yells.

“Yes, Dickwing. My husband and I are in fact married.” Jason states.

“Why didn’t you invite me to your wedding?!” Dick doesn’t do a very good job hiding the hurt in his voice.

“I will invite you to the human one.”

“Wait, your wedding was a ghost one?” Dick asks.

“Duh.” Jason nods, “we’re only legally married in the Ghost Zone.” Jason then quickly adds, “Or Infinite Realms.” Jason shrugs, “Whatever you want to call it.”

“You’ve been to the infinite realms?” Constatine asks.

“Yeah.” Jason laughs. Then, stops as if realizing something, “Oh, My God.” He looks at his older brother, “Big Bird, Did I tell you that I met Jane Austin? Because I fucking met Jane Austin!”

“That’s- great, Little Wing.” Dick says in shock.

[notnaruse]

thign that blew up on twt ig

[nocek]

And we all should be jelly.

(at least Miguel is so maybe they are closer to that dumb triangle than Wade thought XD)

[lalalychee]

closer than you know

i've been working on this painting for over 3 months and i am exhausted 💀 so excited to be done with it. i'm really proud of it though!! it's definitely the most detailed painting i've done in quite some time.

(please be sure to zoom in to see all the little details i worked so hard on!)