#anyway a bit of a nonsensical ramble i guess

[captainsparklefingers]

It's always weird when you get an idea for an au story and it sounds great as an idea, but then when you go to try and plot it out, you're like 'wait this is either gonna involve a complete overhaul of canon or I'm gonna have to ignore a lot of shit or get really, REALLY creative'. And suddenly the whole thing just feels very, very daunting.

I think that's why I haven't done anything longer than oneshots (interconnected or otherwise) for a while.

Like, writing Conspiracy of Ravens, my last multichapter story for anything, did involve a major canon change, but it was something that could, I think, be done in a way that could sort of slot into canon and not feel eo out of place? I mean it wasn't perfect, but i5 didn't feel like...wildly impossible, which for something that could have big ripple effects is good, I'd say.

I've got other ideas for longer things, four of which I'm seriously consider writing, one of which I've actually been trying to write on and off for liiiiike...two years? And as you can see, they do not exist beyond my brain and a bunch of notes that go nowhere, or they get started but the idea of a complete canon rewrite is so daunting that even beginning to plan that out is a struggle.

I gotta say, I really admire people who do massive aus that manage to both diverge from their canon source in a big way while also following similar plot beats or echoes and staying true to both the characters and the heart/feel of the original source work. Because that CANNOT be easy.

(you know exactly who you are, if you're reading this, and I both envy and deeply respect you.)

....look I've been home sick with a major headcold all day, with nothing to keep me company but my cats and my thoughts. This is what happens when I have free time. Not any ACTUAL writing, but a dumb blog post about how writing is hard. In short: I'm sick, I'm bored, I have writers block, and I'm complaining instead of, you know, doing anything productive.

[xoxochb]

maybe an apollo x fae (yes the fae realm totally exists alongside the mythological one) where apollo is successfully tricked by a fae into a revel and finds himself drunk, probably with that very fae, admiring the features and differences from nymphs.

⋆·˚ ༘ * my mind turns your life into folklore

warnings: fae realm, getting drunk, one mental breakdown, seduction (very brief), readers appearance is almost identical to hyacinth for plot purposes pairing: apollo x fae! reader

conquering up a drink. an afternoon of silence and peace, alone, very rare to come by. a sip from the cup, you savor the taste. relaxing aura until a branch snaps nearby, you turn quickly, eyes scanning the area until they land on a bright figure, almost a human embodiment of the sun. along with that everything began sounding like a beautiful melody, the water droplets falling from leaves, the wind, every step. you place the cup on the ground and hurry to follow the figure. a human? perhaps. but when you get closer you realize it’s no human but a god. what was a god doing in your woods? that doesn’t matter! you need to greet him now!

before making your entrance you straighten down your dress and touch up your hair- you need to look decent for a god! especially this particular handsome one! an accident, you pretend you meet by pure chance, not like you were previously stalking him. you take your chance now, walking in front of the god, both falling to the ground at the collision

“oh I’m very sorry, silly me. wasn’t watching where I was going” you stand and brush yourself off

“no, no, it was my fault I was the one aimlessly walking around” the god replies, a melodic tone in his voice “what- uhm, what are you?”

“a fae”

“fae? like a nymph?”

“…I suppose you’re close. who might you be?”

“apollo. god of the sun”

you smile. “ah, I should have known with your bright aura”

silence fills the area. were you trying to hard? it doesn’t matter, he won’t remember tomorrow anyways

“would you like a drink?” you ask

“I really should be going”

“It will only be for a little bit. I don’t get much company”

he declines again but you pull down the top of your dress from the waist a ‘I’m just simply fixing my dress nothing else’ movement. any other god may not have accepted after the action but with the womanizer god you knew just how to work around it

“I guess… I could- I guess I’ll stay for a little while”

you clap your hands softly. “perfect! come along”

you lead the god to your ‘home’ taking seats on the green grass. you begin to conquer a drink, handing it to him

apollo holds the drink up “what’s in this?”

you smirk. “drink up”

he takes a sip hesitantly. at first no reaction but then amazement. “did you make this?”

you nod and he takes another sip. “so tell me about yourself. It must be exciting as a god”

apollo shakes his head. “not that much. many things immortality would be fun but I don’t think so. a lot of responsibility along with it. like this one time-”

he begins to ramble on and on about the many responsibilities of a god. doing this doing that… the more he drinks the more the conversation sparks and slurs until all he speaks is absolute nonsense. you allow him to rest his head on your lap to ease the dizziness but you’re assured that being dizzy doesn’t affect his flirting

“a fae, a fae. are you not a nymph? how beautiful you are, I would chose you over those nymphs”

“how different?”

“nymphs… they are seductive but you are not, very sweet let me drink and talk” he begins to laugh. over what? you’re unsure

laughs soon turn into sobs as he speaks of a past lover. one you’ve only heard as a beautiful flower. apollo sits up and cups your face

“hyacinth! you’ve come back to me” he kisses you deeply but you push him off, picking a hyacinth flower from beside you, holing it up, his weeping continues

“no! turn back don’t leave me!” he pouts and you decide to discard the flower in hopes of is emotional state calming down “so beautiful with dark hair and violet eyes” he kisses you a second time

you place a hand to his chest in an attempt to keep his lips far from yours. “I am but a fae. hyacinth is not here”

“you have to be”

“I am not”

“do you know of him?”

you nod

“tell him I am sorry”

you nod your head again and push him back down onto your lap, allowing him to fall into a peaceful slumber. you hope he forgets your promise in the morning

[breavie]

oops! all siffrins (isat fic)

part 1

[first] | [next] | [all]

Birdsong coaxes you awake. You can feel the grass around you sway as a soft breeze gently plays with your bangs.

...Something about that was wrong. You crack open an eye. Darkless hair greets your vision. That's wrong, too. You sit up, fully opening your eyes now.

Or eye, apparently. Something's preventing you from opening the other one. Looking down at yourself, you see...

...Why are you wearing Siffrin's cloak?

"—Frin! Siffrin!" your voice calls out. Rapid footfalls alert you to someone's approach.

Ah, right. You had just been on your way to wake up Siffrin, hadn't you? You wanted a second opinion on your sleepover idea, after all!

But wait, you hadn't been the one to say that, so who—

Your eye snaps up to see a figure running towards you.

It's... you??

"Siffrin! What's going on? We did it, didn't we? And you—"

Despite her standing right in front of you now, you have trouble focusing on whatever she's rambling about. And who could blame you? That's you talking at you! Or another version of you? And she thought you were Siffrin? You really don't know what's going on right now.

"—and then you got all big, and—"

And the things she's saying are just... completely nonsensical! Time loops, the end of the world? You don't remember any of that happening to you!

Still, she seems... real, in a way. Like, obviously, you're you. But, she's... also you? She's acting the way you think you would have acted given what she's saying, at least. It's... disorienting, to say the least.

...Not to mention, you just... have a feeling. You don't know how, but you know. She's...

"—and—Siffrin, you remember all of that, right? Siffrin?"

Uh oh, she's waiting for an answer now! What to say, what to say—!

"Are you sure you didn't just have a nightmare, Mira?" you ask. Wow, talking to another you is weird! Still, you can tell that she's stressed. You don't need to worry her about yourself.

And it's not like any of the things she was talking about were even possible! This version of you is probably even more worried about tomorrow than you are, if she was having dreams about it!

A myriad of expressions wash over her face. Confusion, shock, horror... Crab, you didn't help at all!

"Uh, uh—I mean, we're going to be fighting against the King tomorrow, it makes perfect sense to have nightmares like that!" you try to assuage her.

She's staring at you now with a hesitant look of... something. You would think you'd be better at reading your own face.

"...Alright, I guess you might be right..." she doesn't seem fully convinced.

A beat passes where neither of you say anything. Other you seems to be deep in thought.

"Could you, uh, go get Madame Odile and Bonnie for me?" she eventually asks, handing you a piece of paper.

Without looking, you already know what's written on it. You wrote this list too, after all.

"I'll go get Isabeau and check if..." she trails off. You don't know what that was about.

Another beat.

"Anyway," she presses on, "I'll meet you back at the Clocktower with the rest, okay?"

"Sure thing, Mira" you nod, trying to smile a bit. Change, talking to her still feels so... wrong!

As the other Mirabelle walks away, you take a moment to examine yourself a bit closer. Yep, this is definitely Siffrin's body. That's... fine, right? That's fine. Everything's just fine, and there's nothing to worry about!

You should tell someone about this. Get some help, figure things out.

...It'll have to wait. Everyone's already worried about fighting the King tomorrow, you don't need to add to that. Besides, there's already another Mirabelle running around in your place! It's likely that no one would even believe you if you told them.

You can manage for a bit, you think. Just until you beat the King. That wouldn't be too much for you to handle, right? For now, just pretend to be Siffrin. Don't stress out your friends. Easy!

You begin walking to the shop. You've got appearances to keep up after all, Mirabelle.

[wrathofrats]

If you're comfortable with it yourself what about someone comforting Swiss over him getting a bit of a tummy over the last tour. Always feel he uses over confidence to cover up the fact he's just as insecure as everyone else (we all love the tummy and him dearly)

First of all I appreciate the asking if I’m comfortable or not, things like that can be triggering but I’m cool to write this rn, but genuinely thank you for the check, it means a lot that you thought of that!

Have some Swiss insecurity rambles, featuring small talk of body image issues, and mountain bc swissalps disease is chronic.

Honestly I think he’s a bit embarrassed of the insecurity itself. Looks in the mirror and just kinda examines himself. Gained a bit of pudge, softer around the edges. He knows rain and dew are obsessed with the new found fat judging by some of the still healing bite marks. And he’s always found aether unbearably attractive, so the insecurity seems stupid to him more than anything.

But he can’t help but judge, can’t help but to scrutinize and prod at every soft feature. Stare at every freckle or spot of discolored skin or scar until he’s ruined his day in just a couple minutes. He throws his sweatpants and a sweatshirt back on, something baggy to get him to stop looking.

He ends up in mountains room as he seems to do often these days. Better than being alone in his room, and mountain usually hoards snacks in there anyways. So it’s a win win situation.

“Hi starlight” mountain smiles as Swiss allows himself into his room. He instinctually slides over to make room for his multi, closing his laptop and shuffling it to his nightstand.

“Hi mo” Swiss climbs in to slot next to him, wasting no time to snuggle into his side. Mountain wraps his arm around him to pull him closer, giving Swiss a small squeeze.

“You seem upset, everything alright?” Mountain pets at his head.

“How would you even know that”

“I know everything starlight” mountain states

“Liar”

“I can just read you well, besides, your water shows up when you get sad, you’re freezing Swiss”

Swiss rolls his eyes. He knows mountains right. His skin tends to go cold when he’s not in a good mood, cool water practically coursing through his veins. His hands feel like ice cubes when mountain reaches to warm them in his own.

“Talk to me, I don’t like it when my starlight is sad”

“Just feeling … weird I guess. Gained a bit of weight on tour I think. It’s whatever”

Mountain doesn’t mean laugh. A quick chuckle and a confused look while Swiss seems ashamed of his confession.

“Just means you’re healthy Swiss. Besides, you’ll need it for winter”

“What?”

“Earth and pebble always make sure they were gaining extra fat for when the harvest slows in the winter. Poor Ivy never keeps much on him, he’s a lanky thing. But earth and pebble would be proud of you”

Swiss laughs a bit at the explanation. Some earth ghoul ritual nonsense that he always enjoys hearing about. Mountain rests his hand on Swiss’ stomach, not moving, just a caring touch.

“Besides, I think it’s beautiful on you”

“You think everything is beautiful on me mo”

“Maybe I just think you’re beautiful”

“….. shut up”

[hatt0riart]

I WANTED TO MAKE MORE THAN JUST THIS but it took like. a week to get done and im sick these days

anyways in light of mk1's nonsense i revisited some koncepts i had for a roleswap au. i took hanzo's inspiration from a mix of mkx and mk11 outfits and kuai i kind of just winged it based off my own preferences in past appearances!!

more rambling is under the cut about the actual AU :-]

PLEASE DO NOT REPOST MY ART ON ANY OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA OR CROP THEM FOR ICONS. THANK YOU!

SO I HAVE NOT ACTUALLY DEVELOPED THIS BEYOND SOME OLD SKETCHES I HAD OF KUAI'S DESIGN but i had some general ideas of how this was supposed to work???

the shirai ryu is still alive and well! he's still a family man and very clan oriented. satoshi is still born and grows into his clan's responsibilities, however harumi dies in child birth.

the lin kuei on the other hand is Not Doing Well. they end up getting wiped out during a raid from the shirai ryu and most of kuai's immediate family (whether by choice or blood) ends up going down with them.

prior to this kuai ends up passing after a failed mission to retrieve the map of elements from the shaolin temple in an attempt to prove himself to his clan. (instead of bi-han being the one set on that path, kuai ends up taking the initiative instead WAY before he's ready without anyone's knowledge and ends up dying when met with scorpion.)

most of it is similar how it is in actual canon for how scorpion's story goes. he gets resurrected he pledges loyalty to quan chi in order to get revenge, blah blah blah. mortal kombat happens. the two meet again at some point.

kuai's still on that "you killed my family" juice but its...more so about familial ties (like bi-han and smoke) rather than it being the love(s) of his life (like hanzo's wife and son) , seeing as he died young from his own overzealous nature.

very much has anger issues. he's impatient and has alot shorter of a temper by comparison to scorpion in the original canon. hardly ever humbled until that point lol

hanzo on the other hand is surprisingly more lax. meditates often, drinks alot of tea and while he *IS* stressed he handles it alot better than kuai does. maybe has a problem of ignoring his problems though for the sake of the task at hand.

kuai ends up harassing hanzo alot in this AU even outside of the tournament. he's kind of a bitchy ghost there to remind hanzo of what happened to him and lowkey hanzo guilts over it.

kuai has alot of grim reaper motifs in his design. he carries a scythe made of ice primarily and fights at a more long distance range.

hanzo on the other hand is alot more of an up close brawler. he keeps alot of design traits from mkx with a bit of mk11 sprinkled in for inspiration of his "classic" design.

STILL A PYROMANCER!! i just havent thought out how. he's just regarded with a bit more respect for having those unnatural abilities lol

but yeah this is just me spitballing in bullet points. i'm hoping to make more stuff later that is a bit more...thought out properly but it follows more of like

mk mythologies --> mk9 -> mkx

type of timeline i guess? except hanzo is in bi-han's position and kuai ends up being put in scorpion's. bi-han doesn't really have a place in the AU outside of being a background character and driving motive for kuai's vengeance later on. (though we're not gonna talk about how bi-han's mentality eventually fed into kuai's at a young age and made him come to the conclusions he did before he died.... maybe.)

smoke exists for the sake of painful flashbacks lol

satoshi's also a bg character but he does end up growing up with the shirai ryu and takes on his own share of clan responsibilities. idk whether or not he takes after hanzo's pyromancy or not in this AU but either way he grows up to be a well respected figure in the clan!

alot of stuff outside of this remains the same though, just the lin kuei and shirai ryu's dynamics get swapped.

ANYWAYS YEAH IF YOU READ THRU ALL THIS THANKS FOR READING BYEEEE (i'll be adding to this au more later on when i finish my other sketches lol)

[idontplaytrack]

Jersey 48

Janis 'Imi'ike x sibling!reader(a year younger) + Janis ‘Imi’ike x Regina George(established r/s)

Warnings: xenophobia, homophobia, coarse language, incest mentions, porn mentions, implied self-harm

In which, reader starts having a hard time at school following a breakup that went bad. Janis is determined to help out her younger sister.

"y/n? Can I come in?" You hear a couple of knocks on your door followed by Janis' question.

"No, go away." You rejected.

"y/n." She says, a soft thud follows. She'd leaned against the wooden door.

"Go away, Janis. I don't know what to say to you."

Janis fiddles with the door handle and saw that the lock wasn't even turned in the direction to indicate that the door was indeed, locked. She quietly opened the door, and it creaks.

"What the fuck, Janis. I told you to leave me alone." You spat harshly and your older sister remains unfazed. She joins you on the floor, where you’d been crying. But you deny it. She could definitely tell, though.

“Stop looking at me like that- I don’t need your pity. I don’t know how to tell you everything.”

“y/n, is this because of Sofia?” Janis took a wild guess and hit the nail right on the head.

“Which part? The forcing me to come out, the getting all of North Shore’s students to turn on me, or the part where she stole my clothes while I was in the locker room shower and humiliated me?” You rambled.

“That bitch.” Janis bit the inside of her cheek, the anger inside her quickly boiling. “Screw her. Regina will destroy her.”

“Stop. I don’t want anyone else getting dragged into this. Especially not your girlfriend.”

“I’m here to protect you. You’re my sister- no one’s getting away with that.”

“You know what’s the worse thing I’ve heard since this whole shit show started?” You scoffed, wiping your tears away. “Go back to your country. Some prick I’ve never even seen in my three years of being in the school said that to me and shoved me into a locker. That is a bloody mind fuck- when you’re already feeling like shit, whatever nonsense you hear, sticks. As if I don’t belong here. I was born here. I know that, but still - I’m sad over that. Over a few words from someone who doesn’t know anything about me.”

“Babe, where the hell…” Regina’s voice made you look up quickly, “Oh, shit. I’m sorry. I didn’t-”

“No, don’t be.” Janis stops her, “I’m gonna need your help with this. y/n what’s his jersey number?”

“How’d you know he was wearing a jersey?” You sniffled.

“Okay…” Regina enters your room despite being a little confused.

“48? I don’t know. He has that blonde streak in his hair.” You exhaled shakily.

“Janis, sweetie. I’m gonna need more than that. Even though I know who you want me to go after.” Regina sat down as well.

“Mr. has-been-held-back-twice was being a racist fuck and got physical with her.” Janis explained simply.

“Fucking Benedict?” Regina scoffs, “Didn’t he-”

“Yes.”

“The blockhead who tou-”

“Yes.” Janis seethed.

“What’d he do to you?”

“Eggs Benedict and little miss Sofia, are in cahoots.” Regina revealed.

“Regina. Enough.” Janis warned. “She needs to know. We can do our best to protect her, but we’ll never be 100% sure.”

“They’re step siblings. And he molested Janis back when we were in middle school.”

“Oh, my God.” You gulped, “Janis, I’m sorry.”

“I punched him. Then, I kicked him in the balls.” Janis shrugged. “I lived, I’m fine.”

“So what? They’re the new king and queen of the school who just prey on people they don’t like?”

“Without bullying, they’re powerless.” Regina explains, “And I have just the thing to bring them down.”

“Should I be scared?” You asked your sister.

“No.” Janis assured, “You’re not gonna get involved.”

“If this is another one of the Burn Books, please don’t do that.”

“That Burn Book was nothing. What I have…it’ll ruin them forever. No one messes with my people and gets away with it.”

“What exactly do you have on them?” Janis asked, curiously.

“Something disgusting.” Regina shrugs, “Anyway, y/n, cry it out, scream, whatever you want..but remember that you have us in your corner and you’ll definitely find someone who loves you for you.”

“Tell me.” Janis arched a brow.

“You want your little sister to hear that those two are basically Sweet Home Alabama-ing?”

Janis’ eyes widened in shock, but she quickly laughs, regaining her composure. “Now I’m curious to know how you found out.”

“The Internet. It’s not like they were hiding it- maybe that’s why the people at school are scared of them. They don’t want to be the next one dragged into their little p-”

“So much for not talking about others behind their backs.” You grabbed a tissue from your nightstand to blow your nose.

“Regina? Stop. That’s enough of that.” Janis interjected, “y/n, did he-”

“No, he didn’t touch me. Sofia tried to kiss me— in public and when I told her I couldn’t, she screamed bloody murder and told everyone in the halls I tried to come onto her.”

Janis scoffs, “That’s what you did, babe.”

“I was in denial and an immature little shit. Now, I’m not.” Regina said.

“What, a bitch? You still are.” Janis replies without hesitation.

Regina squints at your sister, “What I did was wrong, but the difference is this- we had consent. I just said shit to make her embarrassed. She didn’t have consent from you and if we’re gonna get technical, that can be an attempted assault.”

“No it can’t.” You say. “We were dating when it happened. She tried to flip it on me and said that I tried to- I already made it clear to her that I wasn’t okay with PDA and she just-”

“Yes. It. Can.” Regina insists.

“No one’s gonna believe me.”

“Oh, I’ll make them believe you.” Regina stood up, “Trust me, baby. You’re not gonna have to worry about them anymore.”

————

“Where did you get this, Regina?”

“The Internet. Look it up yourself if you don’t believe me- they’re very well-known on that side of it.” The blonde shrugs.

“Janis?”

“Sofia Swanson tried to kiss my sister against her will. Can you tell me that’s not an attempted sexual assault? She’s gotten many people in the school to call my sister nasty names, homophobic slurs, jocks telling her to ‘go back to her country’ when she clearly belongs in this one.”

“Those are very serious allegations, Ms. ‘Imi’ike.”

“If you don’t believe me, believe my sister.” Janis sighs, defeated.

“We…will look into all of it. Thank you for coming to us about this. y/n, I’m very sorry about what’s happening. Until we finish our investigation, you don’t have to come to school of you don’t feel safe. Janis or Regina can bring you back your assignments.”

You thanked the discipline mistress and left the office before Janis and Regina did. “Can I take her home?” You hear Janis ask Ms. Sutton.

“Sure.”

“Thanks.”

The exchange was quick, with Janis catching up to you when you’ve barely made it into the hallway. Realising which room you’d walked out of, fellow students began to stare and speculate. But when they saw Regina following behind you and Janis, they truly just shut the fuck up. “Attention students- will Benedict Ortega and Sofia Swanson please report to Ms. Sutton’s office. Now.” The announcement comes through the PA system, causing everyone to get more…excited. Nosy. You scurry through the halls, your eye on the exit.

Slam. Someone had their arm out on a locker door to block your path. Sofia.

“Leave her alone.” Regina stated simply. She doesn’t waver. “Oh, no?” Regina continued. The two most random words flew from her lips next, two words you recognised to be Sofia’s (and Benedict’s) Reddit username where they posted their disgusting things. The colour drains from the brunette’s cheek instantly, her face twitching.

“That’s what I thought.” Regina shrugs, a hand on one of your shoulders.

“Hi, sissy liz.” Benedict was the next player on the field.

“Move out of the way.” Janis’ fists were balled up in anger, and she knew if the three of you didn’t get out fast, she will hit someone.

“Why so angry, shortie?” He teased, that smug look and nickname made Regina want to scream.

“Move. Out. Of. The. Way.” Janis repeated herself. He doesn’t listen, but instead coos at you and tilted your chin up with a finger- you wanted to gag, no, puke on him.

“Hands off of her. You mustn’t have heard what I told your sister, you numbnut.” Regina had a protective arm around you now.

“What? Oh, pray tell- what did you say?” He mocked, eyeing you and Janis up and down. His gaze stops on Janis’ chest and Regina could tell.

“You horny fuck.” Regina spat, “No one looks at my girlfriend like that. She’s mine.” She spun on her heels to announce to the crowd, “This goes out to all of you nosy, nosy people. Anyone who tries to mess with Janis, her sister or anyone else in my circle? You can expect to be humiliated.”

“Sofia, Benedict. My office. Now!” Ms. Sutton yells, allowing the three of you to leave before Janis got angry enough to physically hurt someone.

Damian stops you all near the exit and you yelped, startled. “Janis, what’s going on?”

“A lot.” She tells him, “I’ve to take her home, but even if we don’t explain it to you, the truth will come out soon enough.”

He could tell by the looks on your faces that it was something bad. “Okay, I’ll be by after school. Take care, y’all.”

You got into Regina's backseat, Janis took her usual seat in the front. You thought she would've sat with you, but you guess she knew better than that. You wanted some space. "y/n, how about some ice cream?" The blonde glances at you before she started to drive. You shrug. "That usually means yes when it comes to dessert." Janis chimed in. You didn't say anything else until Regina pulls up in front of the ice cream parlour, trying to take in your last few hours of peace before your parents bombarded you with questions. Janis asks if you wanted to go inside with them, you told her no.

"That's okay, I know what flavour and toppings you like." She smiled at you kindly. As Regina held the door open for Janis, you watched how they interacted, hoping that one day you'd find your own love too. You couldn't help but feel a little envious, or jealous. But ever since you fell out of the closet to over 1000 students, you've been nothing but an anxious mess.

There was a little bit of a line in the ice cream parlour, so you see them start talking- Regina said something that made her laugh. You loved that she made your sister as happy as she did. And she was a great friend to you. Janis turned around to take a peek at you, and she waves. You flashed her a little smile, getting back into your thoughts again.

————

"You guys can go back to school, you know that, right?"

"Yeah. But this one might punch some people and get herself for trouble, and I don't want that." Regina says as she scooped another mouthful of her ice cream onto the tiny wooden spoon.

"Like I would care."

"I would." Regina replies nonchalantly, "You have good intentions, and they deserve it. But I just don't wan you in trouble, you know? They're not worth it."

And so...they stayed with you. When 4p.m. rolled around, your company grew: Aaron, Cady, Damian, Gretchen and Karen show up. "Oh, my God." You muttered under your breath, "That's so many people." You liked them, and their company and they were the only people who believed you when this shit show started, so you really appreciated them. However, you simply didn't do too well with big groups of people showing up unannounced giving you little to no time to mentally prepare yourself. Oh, and they were always over at your place but you still felt this way anyway. Janis shot Regina, who was answering the door, a look. "Everybody's here." Regina confirmed. Maybe it was because they would all ask if you were okay or how you were doing or feeling...and you didn't want to deal with that. Or maybe it was because that made you feel like you were getting pitied on. The bunch of them must've already heard why Benedict and Sofia were called into Sutton's office.

Janis seems to have read your mind, asking the group if they'd already heard anything. "Oh, yeah." Aaron stifles a laugh, "Everyone was buzzing about it at lunch."

"Are they?" Regina smirked.

"Oh, no- did you start the rumour?" Cady asks, worried.

"Start it? Ew, no." Regina scoffs, asking for the bag of sour soda bottle gummies from Gretchen for you, "That's not my doing. The school already knows those two freaks are doing porn. I simply handed the evidence to Sutton. It's not my fault they all decided it was now okay to openly discuss their gross sex life."

"Thanks." You told her, accepting the half-eaten bag of sweets. These were your favourite and she knew it.

"Janis." Regina called her name to get her attention, reaching over to get some chips from the bag in your sister's hands. Janis tilted the bag towards, her letting her reach inside easier. "Thanks, baby." "Do you wanna switch with me, Regina?" You ask, seeing that you were currently wedged between her and Janis. "No, y/n. I want to sit with you and so does she, so, y'know."

"You two are watching me like a toddler." "And can you blame her?" Regina asks, referring to your sister.

"Fine, drop it." You sigh in defeat, Aaron reaches into your(well, it wasn't yours, but they let you have it) bag of sour gummies to grab a few. "Sorry, just wanted a couple. Didn't mean to startle you."

"It's fine." You muttered.

Awhile later, the mood eases up and the bunch of you were engaged in a conversation about current events, trending headlines...whatever. Anything but schoolwork, really. Suddenly, Janis' phone rang and she excuses herself. You got up to go get a drink from the fridge, looking at Janis who was talking on the phone with your Mother in the backyard.

'She's doing okay right now, Mom. She's hanging out with our friends. Yeah, everyone's here right now.'

That's all you needed to hear, focusing on nothing but keeping your mind clear now. It's been cluttered with anxiety, fear and negativity from the past few weeks but you were finally in your safe space, with the best people you've met in your life.

The bunch left right around dinnertime - but not before Cady handed you a gift (it was a Beanie Boo Husky that shared your birthday), and when they did leave, your parents returned. You hurried upstairs to avoid them. "Where is she-" Regina started to ask, Janis tilted her head towards the door, "Parents are home. She's exhausted- just let her hide in there."

"Well, it's not like they can't talk to her even through the door. That's what you did, baby." Regina smirked.

"Ku'uipo, where's y/n?"

"In her room. I don't think she wants to talk, really." Janis led with that.

"Okay, so what the school told me..."

"What did the school tell you?"

"That y/n was getting bullied by a couple of students, and that you two told on them to the school."

"In detail?"

"Yeah, I know she got pushed into lockers, called names, almost got kissed by the girl." Your mom reveals.

"Has she been in there all day, Janny?" Your dad quipped.

"No, she just went upstairs not too long ago." Janis informed.

"I still think we should t-" Your Mom sighs softly.

"Mom, honestly- she's not gonna say much. She's already said all she could about it to me when I pressed her about it. If you go in there asking about the same things, having her repeat all that? She'll be crying herself to sleep. No doubt."

"Okay." She agreed tearfully, "Um, okay. I'll go get changed then get started on dinner."

"Alright, thanks Mom." With that being said, your parents headed for their room to wash up after a day at work.

"Baby, do you want me to stay?" Regina asks as your parents leave the living room.

"Would be nice." Janis nodded, standing on her tiptoes briefly to plant a kiss on Regina's lips.

[piedpiperart]

Phantom of Gotham 12

Chapter 11

“So… you’re not going to ask… questions?” 

Damian raised a brow, looking towards where Danny was huddled up on one end of the couch, looking warily at his hot chocolate instead of meeting Damian’s eyes. The teenager was dressed in pajamas like Damian was, because their other clothes and winter gear were more water than clothes. Alfred had ushered them in for a warm drink in front of the fireplace while he set up the dining room. 

Realizing what Danny was talking about made Damian scoff and set his cocoa down on the table in front of him. “I will not pry into your business, nor your powerset,”Damian said, and Danny’s wide, hopeful yet wary eyes met steady green ones. “I understand how much trust you put in me to share a part of you that you no doubt have had to hide. Even if I am curious, I will not pry into your secrets. I am just glad that you told me,”Damian added. Given that, he made no promises that the other bats wouldn’t be prying into his life, as he was sure of from the info Tim sent him that morning. 

Danny slumped with relief. “Thanks,”He breathed. “I’m… I’ve had… bad experiences with people finding out about my…powers. So, thank you.”

Damian nodded, then tilted his head curiously. He’d respect Danny’s boundaries, but he did have one question. “Why tell me?”

Danny smiled. “You remind me of my sister. My younger sister.”Danny clarified. Damian was perplexed, considering he knew Danny had no younger siblings, but kept his confusion off his face. The boy could be talking about a close friend, he reasoned. “I guess I just felt a bit homesick? She used to play with Cujo and I in the snow when she visited in winter. I just… I felt like you’d understand.”

Damian nodded, turning to his hot chocolate to avoid how Danny’s words made him feel warm inside. He hoped his ears didn’t turn red, but given Danny’s infuriatingly soft smile, it was likely. He cursed at his weakness, but found he didn’t mind since Danny had trusted him the most out of all the bats. Thankfully, Damian was saved from embarrassment by Alfred coming to collect them for dinner. 

The two boys followed Alfred to the table, passing by some ornate decorations and shelves with what Danny thought might be tea sets. Danny was focused on following Damian so much that he nearly missed the looming figure at the head of the table. 

“Father,”Damian greeted, and Danny froze. Looking towards the mountain of a man, he saw an intimidating blue gaze and sharp jawline, wearing fancy business clothes. This was Mr. Wayne. Danny was staying in his house and he didn’t even know if Mr. Wayne knew. Would the man be angry, Danny worried. He’d be fine if the man kicked him out, he was planing on leaving as soon as he could anyways, but if Mr. Wayne called the police then they’d call CPS or he’d have to-

“Damian,”Mr. Wayne greeted his son before turning to Danny. “And you must be Daniel.”

“Danny,”Danny corrected, mostly out of reflex. Being called Daniel gave him flashbacks to the Fruitloop. He hoped Mr. Wayne was not a billionaire like Vlad, even if the man had a bunch of eerily similar kids that may or may not remind Danny of himself and his clones. “Um,”Danny continued, nervously running his hand by the back of his neck,”Thanks for letting me stay here a few days. I’ll be leaving soon though, so uh,”Danny rambled until Mr. Wayne cut him off. 

“Nonsense, I hear the kids are happy to have you,”Mr. Wayne smiled reassuringly. Danny relaxed a bit, seeing that the smile was not fruitloopy at all. “Have a seat. The others should be here in a bit, have you met everyone yet?”

Danny sat down next to Damian on the side opposite to Bruce. “Um, I met Tim, Damian, and Jason,” Danny recalled. 

“And Steph,”Tim interjected from where he appeared from the hallway. He carried a steaming cup of coffee and somehow looked more tired than before lunch. “We have classes together.”

“Really? What’s your favorite subject Danny?” Bruce asked, turning the conversation back on him, much to his displeasure. 

“Uh, I like astrology?” Danny offered, relieved when Tim sat down on his other side. He had a sudden urge to push Tim’s coffee cup from where it was precariously set on the table, but he reigned it in. 

“He’s great at engineering and chemistry,”Tim added. “Wants to work with Nasa one day.”

“Oh, are you interested in being an astronaut?” Bruce asked, intrigued. Danny on the other hand did not like the attention, and resisted the urge to turn invisible or kick Tim in the shin. 

“I uh, I used to,”Danny nodded, tracing the wood patterns on the table with his fingers. 

“Used to what?” A new voice piped up, and Danny looked over to see another black haired blue eyed man. This one looked taller than Tim, but not as bulky as Jason. “Whos this? New sibling?”

Damian scoffed. “No, this is Danny Folson. Red Hood dropped him off before the storm because Danny thought he could survive it with the bare minimum attire in an abandoned building.”

Oh, well, nice to meet you Danny,”The man waved, sitting down on Bruce’s other side. “You can call me Dick.”

Danny would have said something about the name if he wasn’t so nervous at being the center of attention. “Nice to meet you? Are there any more people that live here?” Danny asked, directing his question to Tim, who shrugged. 

“Just Jason,”Dick said. “But everyone kinda comes and goes.”

“Speaking of Jason,”Bruce began, “Is he not coming for dinner?” 

Dick shook his head with a frown,”Something came up.” Burce frowned, and Danny looked back and forth between the two as they had some kind of secret conversation. 

From there, dinner was pretty calm. Alfred came and brought lasagna with breen beans and other assorted vegetables and sides Danny didn’t know the names of. Danny talked with Dick and Tim a lot, with Damian interjecting occasionally. Bruce seemed the quiet type, and to be honest that was fine with Danny. Vlad would have demanded everyone’s attention and spent the whole hour bragging about his accomplishments and complaining about how he could never buy the Packers. It was nice. 

Until Bruce started talking again. “So Danny, what are your plans for after the blizzard?” He asked, making Danny wince. He could see it was just a polite way of asking how long you’re staying. “I have a place to stay,”Danny piped up. Tim and Damian both frowned. 

“You do?”Tim asked, turning to look at him. 

“Is it the same abandoned building you were in before?” Damian raised a brow. Danny had the urge to kick both of them. 

“Uh. Yeah but there isn’t really anything wrong with it, and theres other places around  can go to. I don’t want to be a bother for you, honest, and the weather’s already been letting up,”Danny argued. Most everyone at the table frowned. 

“You’re not a bother, and we have plenty of space here,”Dick countered. “You don’t need to leave.” Nope. Nope, Danny was not doing that. He didn’t need to be adopted or anything, and even i that was something he wanted they’d have to get paperwork and got through CPS and he might have his fake ID discovered, and he didn’t think that was a good idea at all. On top of that, in case the GIW actually discovered his whereabouts, the Waynes would be safer without him there. “I appreciate the offer, but I’m fine on my own. I’d rather not make it into a big deal,”Danny said firmly. 

“We don’t need to get CPS involved, if that’s what you’re worried about,”Bruce started, and Danny was starting to panic. Would they call the police if he ran? Maybe he could sneak out as soon as dinner was over and skip town. If anyone found him that would make the GIW’s job so much easier. Then they’d know where he ended up and come after them. 

“Perhaps its best to discuss this another time,”Alfred cut in, and Danny sighed with relief. Bruce frowned, but conceded. 

“So Danny, who’s your favorite hero?”Dick grinned. Surprising those at the table, Danny lit up. 

“Marian manhunter,”Danny blurts immediately. “He’s from space! And a whole other planet, like man we don’t even know much about martian technology and he’s basically become a diplomat between a lot of aliens and planets to earth. I mean Superman is cool and all but he isn’t really as much of an advocate for aliens like Manhunter-” Danny rambled. Those at the table were pleasantly surprised at Danny’s enthusiasm over J’ohn. Even Bruce had a rare smile. 

“What of the heroes of Gotham?” Damian countered. And to his ire, Danny brushed them off as not cool since they weren’t from space. This delved into an argument until Dick stepped in. The tension at the table lightened more as Dick told stories about his siblings, forgetting Bruce’s insensitive interrogation minutes before. Most were embarrassing, or prank wars which Danny found funny. It reminded him of his sister and Ellie. He told them an edited version of a time Ellie, him, Sam, and Tucker had a prank war that ended with the town mayor covered in soup. Which was the time they were fighting Vlad and the thermos had been swapped for an actual thermos filled with soup. 

“You have siblings?” Dick asked. 

“Yeah! My older sister is Jazz. She basically raised me and she’s studying to be a psychologist. She basically uses my issues as practice for her,”Danny grumbled. “And Ellie is my younger sister. She’s about Damian’s age and kind of a nuisance, but she’s adorable. She likes to travel.” 

“And theyre… not in Gotham?” Dick asked, and Danny pursed his lips in contemplation. 

“I… don’t want to talk about it,”Danny said eventually, but started on another story about the time Elie met Cujo as a distraction. That led to the topic of pets and Titus, and eventually dinner was over. 

Before Danny could excuse himself however, Bruce caught his eye. “You’re more than welcome to stay here Danny. If there’s any way we can help you, don’t hesitate to ask,”Bruce said. Danny looked down at his feet and nodded, knowing he would definitely not do that. 

However nice it was meeting Bruce and Dick, Danny was worn out. Both physically and metally he felt tired, and for him that was rare. He figured he’d be able to at least get a good sleep tonight, for however many hours he could. Usually, Danny could tell when he was going to be able to sleep. He’d actually feel tired, and if he tried to push it more he’d pass out in a few hours. Despite the tired feeling, he could never really sleep for more than four to six hours. He figured Jazz might have a field day tracking and predicting his weird sleep schedule. Danny probably would have an easier time with it if he could figure out the pattern, but he had had more pressing things to think about. 

He meandered himself back to his room, and plopped down onto his comforter. Danny missed the feeling of sleep. It was strange to get used to sleeping 4/24 hours every day, especially when he had nothing else to do to pass the time at night. He’d already read a bunch and did his homework when he wasn’t flying around as Phantom. Maybe he’d go out later tonight as Phantom when he woke up, he thought. 

Chapter 13

[heartcereql]

happiness is a butterfly

☆ xavier thorpe x f!reader

SYNOPSIS- you were always there for xavier, even when he chose wednesday.

CW- lowercase intended, cursing, xavier’s an asshole, angst, friends to kinda lovers, kinda happy ending reader’s powers include matter creation and materialising objects.

A/N- okay this took me soooo long and idk how to feel about it. THIS KEEPS GLITCHING OMGGGGGG. anyway enjoy loves 😽

much to your displeasure, you were still infatuated with xavier thorpe. and he knew. and you knew he had feelings for you too. but his feelings for wednesday were stronger, so he pushed the firsts ones away, labelling them as ‘dumb nonsense’ or ‘something in the heat of the moment’.

you knew you were being played. but it was everything you had of him at the moment. so you accepted it.

you knew you were being played. but it was everything you had of him at the moment. so you accepted it.

“guess what?” said xavier, entering your dorm. luckily, your roommate was nowhere to be seen.

“guess what?” said xavier, entering your dorm. luckily, your roommate was nowhere to be seen.

“shoot” you simply responded, lifting your eyes from the book you were reading to his flushed face.

“wednesday asked me to go to the rave’n with her” he was smiling proudly.

you sighed. there was her name again. couldn’t escape her.

“i thought we were going together?” you asked, already knowing his lame excuses.

“no, y/n. we were only going together if none of us had a date. but i have one” he answered.

lies. does he want to go to the rave’n with you or does he not?

“i heard one thing and now i’m hearing another” you muttered.

xavier only scoffed, plopping down on your bed next to you and pulled out his homework.

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

the clock on your bedside table flashed 2:08 with green neon numbers. you rubbed your eyes.

you were beyond tired, but you had to urgently finish some arithmetics assignment. you thought about leaving the remaining exercises for breakfast, but then you heard a noise coming from your window.

groaning, you stood up, walking towards your window. the knocking continued.

“xavier!” you whisper-yelled at the boy standing in your balcony “it’s 2 am, what on earth are you doing?” you asked, pulling him inside.

“i just- can we talk?” he asked, barely audible.

you led him to the bathroom as to not to wake your roommate.

“what happened? are you okay?” you spoke a bit louder now.

taking a look at your best friend, you noticed his bothered expression, brows furrowed, leaning against a wall. he looked tired.

“it was all a fucking lie. she just, she thinks i’m that fucking monster so she just wanted to have me under her watch, or get information. screw her” he rambled.

“who are you talking about?” you were exhausted, your mind foggy from all the extra hours awake.

“wednesday”

of course.

your eyes darted to the floor. you had nothing against her, hell, you’d barely even spoken to her. but xavier’s feelings for her. they hurt you.

you felt xavier walking towards you.

“ we can go to the rave’n together. god, i shouldn’t have said yes to her in the first place” he softly said.

you’d actually been talking to a guy from your class, cameron, and you had a feeling he was going to ask you to go to the rave’n, but it seemed to lack any importance to you when xavier spoke. you could go with him. you could actually spend the night with him.

he then took your hands. heat rose up to your cheeks. suddenly the bathroom was hot; it felt like summer.

“i’d love that” you smiled, a part of you aching and pitying your own self.

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

and so the week before the rave’n came, and, for you, it was full of happiness. the excitement of buying a dress, gossiping around, guessing who anyone’s date is gonna be.

you even had your dress. it looked amazing on you. made you glow.

but it all felt so surreal. the happiness. the joy. you knew happiness is like a butterfly. because, though xavier had been distant to wednesday, you weren’t oblivious to the way he’d look at her. you’d try to catch happiness as often as you could, like you were stretching your arms towards said butterfly, but it escaped from your hands. always.

you knew you were playing a dangerous game. but what’s the worst that can happen to a girl who’s already hurt? you’re already hurt.

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

the rave’n. you’d never looked so forward to a dance.

you’d gotten help from enid for your makeup. little rhinestones adorning the corners of your eyes. highlighter made your face shine.

so you were with enid and yoko, finishing your hair, when you three heard a knock on the door. yoko went to open the door, revealing xavier, dressed in a white suit with a black tie, his hair gathered in a small bun. you’d swear he’d never looked so beautiful.

while a bright smile made its way to your face, xavier secretly scanned the room, hoping for wednesday to be there. he knew she wasn’t going tho the rave’n, but she still could’ve been there with y’all. although his actions went unnoticed by you, your friends weren’t as naive.

they had told you he was bad for you, that he was hurting you and you should stay away from him. but you didn’t want to listen. if he was as bad as they said, then you guessed you were cursed.

you waved your friends goodbye and made your way to xavier.

“shall we?” he asked, offering you his arm.

“of course” you responded, taking his arm.

while you were walking, you looked at him. and, fixating your eyes in his, you realised something. he was already hurt as well.

you looked forward and tightened your grip on his arm.

he smiled at your sudden action.

“y/n” he spoke softly, stopping his steps.

you stopped as well and turned to face him.

“yes?”

“you look incredible. you’re shining”

you felt heat rush all over your body. he tugged at you hand, pulling you closer to him.

“thank you, xav, truly” you grinned.

his other hand went to caress you cheek. he pressed a light kiss to your forehead, sending butterflies all over your body.

he put his arm around your shoulder, bringing you closer to him. pressed against each other, you made your way to the rave’n.

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

you entered the hall still holding xavier, with ajax and his date close behind. mrs thornhill was waiting at the doors of the venue, which was all decorated in white and icy blue, a bit of mist floating around. there were students dancing, having drinks and hanging around tables.

“xavier, y/n. you both look lovely” mrs thorn hill greeted.

you both smiled and nodded, entering the hall. quickly spotting kent, divina and bianca, the four of you went to join them. yoko reunited with the group shortly after, and, not so later on, by enid and her normie date, some guy named lucas.

you all were gathered around a table, taking a break from dancing and having a few drinks.

“yo, check that out!” ajax exclaimed pointing at the door.

there she was. wednesday. wearing a black, long dress that somehow suited her perfectly. her hair wasn’t in her usual pigtails, but in a braided crown. she was accompanied by some normie kid, wearing a white suit along with a blue shirt.

“wednesday totally busted out of her cocoon” ajax chuckled.

“like a death’s head moth” muttered bianca, looking away from her.

you felt jealousy sting your insides again as you observed how xavier was staring at her. you had hoped, still hoped, that he had gotten over her, that he’d finally chosen you. but it vanished almost completely as you watched his eyes as she walked by.

and when wednesday left the boy, approaching the bar, and xavier rushed towards the bar, you felt your heart being stabbed. over and over.

‘he’s just being nice’ you told yourself, knowing very well it was just another lie.

you swallowed your thoughts and returned to the conversation with bianca and kent.

“yeah, i tried on that one dress but there was just something so- ” you stopped listening to bianca when a hand yanked you away from the table.

“let’s go dance” xavier grumbled, dragging you to the dance floor.

you were taken aback by his harshness. you knew it had something to do with wednesday, and the rational part in you told you to find someone better, not to be his rebound, but then again, this was everything you had of him. besides the guy you liked, he was your friend. and you didn’t want to lose him. so you followed him.

he wrapped his hands around your waist, as you did with his neck. some slow song was playing in the background. your bodies were pressed against each other again.

“everything okay?” you asked.

“hm?” xavier’s eyes had been traveling the room, but they finally settled on you.

you were here, beautiful as ever, always by his side when he needed, and yet he chose to chase after some girl who couldn’t care less about him.

“yeah, yeah, everything’s fine” he responded.

as you swayed your bodies together, you saw wednesday and her date entering the dance floor. lucky for you, it was out of xavier’s sight.

the slow song faded and ‘goo-goo muck’ started playing.

and then the world seemed to stop. wednesday was all anyone could focus on. she was doing an eccentric coreography that was quite  enchanting as well. her date dances akwardly as she danced around.

then, life continued. your friend group was now near you, dancing and enjoying themselves. but xavier’s sight was fixated on  wednesday. fucking blind xavier.

you just wanted to dance with him. and yet he had eyes for her only. of course; how not.

all of a sudden, a drop landed on your shoulder. brushing it off with your finger, you noticed the sudden red on said finger. and so, ‘blood’ started raining.

everyone started panicking and running in different directions.

xavier put his jacket around your shoulders.

“here. you won’t wanna ruin that dress”

you smiled, thanking him. he had taken your hand and was leading you to the nearer exit, when he stopped on his tracks, noticing that wednesday was nowhere to be seen.

“i’ll be right back” he told you.

you watched him walk to wednesday’s date, scoffing at him, and ready to walk away. you chased after him before he had a chance to leave.

“xavier! where are you going?” you yelled, catching him by his forearm.

“uh, i have to go. i’ll tell ajax or someone to-”

“don’t be a jerk, don’t call ajax” you huffed, offended.

was he really going to leave you there to go find her?

“listen, you’ll be fine. i have to go, y/n, i’m sorry” and with that, he run somewhere in the woods.

you felt a tear rolling down your cheek. no. you wouldn’t do this. you wouldn’t cry over a guy like him.

tears blurring your vision, you made your way to a bench.

sitting in his jacket, crying at the back of the party. you just wanted to dance with him. to hold him tight down the halls.

you left the hall, rushing towards your bedroom. you had stopped crying long ago, you weren’t even sad or angry. you felt just empty.

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

you had been avoiding xavier after the whole rave’n incident. it’s not like he had tried to approach you or apologized. just a small smile or a “hi” when he’d see you in the quad.

you were one thing and now you were being another. you had to get over him. you wouldn’t let your feelings get in the way.

and you had stick to this. at least until wednesday framed him and he got arrested.

you felt the pain. of being betrayed by someone who you were devoted to. and, hell, you still were his friend. or wanted to be.

so, you found yourself going down to jericho, most specifically, jericho’s police station.

you remembered about the way you thought of happiness as a butterfly. should’ve tried to catch it while dancing, letting yourselves get lost in the music. if you had told him how you felt, maybe it would all be different. or not.

jericho’s station was fairly empty. sheriff and officers were nowhere to be seen, only the reception lady and some employee.

“excuse me, madame? i’m here to visit xavier thorpe” you politely asked, a glint of sadness in your voice. you couldn’t believe he had been imprisoned.

she gave you a somewhat disgusted look as she said “straight forward into the cells pavilion. second to the right”.

you rushed your way to there.

xavier looked tired. beyond tired. he had big eyebags under the beautiful orbs you’d grown to adore, and a chain around his neck.

sadness and pain stung your heart, watching him like this.

you really didn’t believe he was the monster, but, if he’s a serial killer, what’s the worst that can happen to a girl who’s already hurt? you were already hurt.

“hey” you greeted, your voice low.

xavier turned around and gulped.

“y/n” he said. you could sense the shame and regret in his voice. and the heartbreak as well. “listen, i’m so sorry, you didn’t deserve anything i put you through, and i’m sorry i’m realising this now-”

“it’s okay, really” it wasn’t but you were back to the person you used to be.

he was already hurt.

“i don’t think you’re the monster” you stated, watching relieve wash over his features. “no, i know you’re not the monster. and i’m going to do everything it takes to get you out of here”

you walked closer to the cell’s door, as did xavier. he took your hand into his.

“thank you, y/n. i mean it. i know now that it is you. it has always been”

butterflies erupted all over you. a smile, a true one, had taken all over your face.

you took away your hand, clasping it together with your other hand. a familiar blue glow rushing over your veins and surrounding your hands. when you unclasped your hands, a glowy key was to be seen.

xavier’s eyes widened as you gently took the key and opened the door to his cell.

you launched into his arms and held him tight, tears of happiness rolling down his cheeks.

the key you’d created took another shape as you unlocked the chain around his neck.

he broke the hug, hands cupping your jaw.

“may i?” he whispered.

you nodded as he finally leaned down and kiss you. lips tangling together, dancing with each other.

[ganondoodle]

it always feels a little weird when people call my rants/me writing about stuff in games i like "analysis" bc i never feel like im 'smart enough tm' for anything like that, like any time i write that kind of stuff i feel like im just incoherently rambling utter bullshit that spins around in my head barely more understandable than a dog imitating human speech, bc i think you have to like .. learn that sort of thinking, no? like pulling a piece of writing apart and analysing its themes and everything, really THINK about stuff- i just ramble about whatever i 'think' about in the moment with no deeper thought about themes and symbolism

at least, thats what i FEEL like, i left school without a degree(?) bc my mental health got too dangerous to continue- but i learned for .. A-levels(?? still not sure if that the right word for that in english lol) and we had literature analysis in german (bc im german .. i guess thats what 'english' classes are for english people? xD) and usually got very high grades for that despite me also feeling like i was talking utter nonsense

(though that was also about stuff i was never rly interested in, and ... to be honest i have no idea what the hell i wrote about anymore either, i dont know if could write anything like that anymore, forgotten all the rules :V)

that doesnt mean i want people to stop calling it that, it was very few anyway, its a bit of flattery (oh?? you thought my rambles were coherent enough to call it that OwO), and a bit -i dont deserve that- (uh oh theres people that think i know what im talking about)

[doubledyke]

How do you believe Eds' childhood was like? Like since the moment toddler Edd meet Ed and Eddy until the events showed on the show? I guess the first half of their childhood were more peaceful and softer, where they were mostly playing games, they were less hated in previous years, and Edd and Eddy's relationship was better (they were certainly less hormonal and confrontational in that time).

i'm not sure how long ed and eddy were friends before edd arrived, but they probably became friends after eddy tried to bully ed and was taken aback by ed's response. i'm picturing their first interaction being something along the lines of "nice pamper there, stretch!" and ed takes it as a genuine compliment and offers to let eddy try it on but only if he can wear eddy's "dress". eddy's embarrassed and is about to run home to mommy but then ed eats a rock or a shoe or something and eddy gets an idea for his first(?) money making venture, bottomless ed.

as far as what they'd get up to before edd comes along i imagine it being pretty similar to stuff we see the two do in the show. roughhousing, gross pranks, eating junk food, watching movies, and eddy making ed do weird stuff for his own entertainment.

at home idk, i mean given the fact that not only is ed still wearing a diaper at such a late stage, but that he's allowed to leave the house without pants kinda tells me all i need to know and confirms that his parents just don't care. i generally think that baths are a sensory nightmare for ed (and that he's probably unknowingly allergic to whatever soap his family uses) and that his parents just gave up trying after a while. it could be the same with clothing for him at that age? regardless, its still a dereliction of duty on their part not to address those things.

eddy's still under bro's thumb whether literally or proverbially. i could be wrong but it seems like bro would either be just about to leave or would have recently left by the time the eds meet. i tend to think he'd still be there but the theoretical timeline is a bit confusing to me. anyway, eddy's home life is the most outwardly normal of the three and i'm not sure i have much to say about them at that time that wouldn't send me into a 3 page nonsensical ramble about eddy and my weirdly specific ideas about his family. suffice to say, he's repressing a lot and has zero insight about what happened to him (he's like 5). he's probably still physically healing from the last game of 'uncle'.

edd's family comes along and no one even knows the new couple on the block has a kid till someone notices a strange little child peeking out the upstairs window from time to time. anyway, i guess it's canon that edd meets the other two when he ends up being a mark for the bottomless ed thing. when i think of tiny edd i imagine the opening for matilda (1996) where matilda basically caring for herself and is already going out on her own, like to the library. that's what edd is up to before he meets ed and eddy. going back and forth to the library and occasionally venturing outside to catch butterflies and look at rocks and stuff. he just happens to cross paths with tweedledee and tweedledum one day and being that he's freshly traumatized (dodgeball incident) and naturally shy and anxious, he's easily swayed by someone like eddy who's always had a strong personality. edd's also likely intrigued and even charmed by his and ed's irreverence and their unabashed childishness. both of which are foreign concepts to him, even at that age. i picture him just sort of tagging along with them for a while in the beginning, hiding behind a tree or something when things get a little too rambunctious. but with the help of eddy's constant ribbing and ed's frequent comparisons of him to some kind of alien species he saw in a movie, edd slowly learns to let loose a little. hanging out with edd and eddy gives him a weird sense of rebellion since the pair are certainly not the upstanding fellows his parents would prefer he spend time around. alright alright i'm cutting myself off here.

as far as any activities the tiny eds do together, like i said they're pretty much doing the same stuff but spending more time playing rather than looking for ways to make money. sadly i think eddy didn't get much of a chance to play with other kids when bro was around since he'd either be too busy placating bro and/or other kids were too scared to come around. so he might take the opportunity to do more kid stuff once bro is gone and now that he has a couple of pals. ed's just happy to be out of the house where his parents are constantly bickering and his baby sister is constantly crying and already wreaking havoc.

edd and eddy's relationship (and ed and edd's for that matter) takes a while to develop because eddy is low-key weirded out by edd, but can tell he's smart so wants to keep him around. like i mentioned, edd is very reserved around the eds early on and doesn't really know how long he's even going to be allowed to spend time with them. luckily for him, his parents are never home and are none the wiser to some of the trio's more hazardous escapades. if anything he'd just deceptively plead amnesia in the event that he was confronted.

i will say i think the eds would still already be ostracized by that point. eddy for his relation to bro, ed and edd for their association with eddy. i do like the idea of eddy and kevin being friends at some point early on, but i haven't given much thought to what that would look like. so for the purpose of this goofy post, we'll assume that was not the case.

[wonderful-magician]

OK do you ship dinahboose and if you do I NEED YOUR THOUGHTS. ( I saw you where analyzing ceeb’s characterization sooo) if not just use this as a free space to ramble about something else idk 💀

it is 1:am but I am so desperate to ramble and I also will take any excuse to draw any ship I like ever which is almost too many so excuse me if I sound nonsensical

^^!!

OKAY I LOVE DINAHBOOSE obv I've been into this musical for a total of 2 weeks or so- so I'm still scrounging every bit of Information on these guys that I can. And I've done wayyy more research on CB than I have Dinah ( he has a lot more to look at though ) but these two just make sense to me. They just make sense. Opposites but not opposites. They are confusing and they are both confused. But at least they can hold hands while confused.

Personally I struggle to ever hate or dislike ships unless there's like a blindingly obvious reason to dislike a ship. But dinahboose is probably my second favorite ship so far for StEx ( Electraboose has 1st place and Krupp/purse has 3rd )

Totally not gonna use this to talk about my personal rewrite of StEx.. specifically C.B. because I don't want to make a post just for it LMAO.

So yeah I've been basically studying C.B. ( or, I guess caboose because he hasn't been called C.B in a long time... but C.B has more personality.. ) and my version of C.B. is probably a horrible amalgamation of OLC and 2015 Bochum. Because I love radio aesthetics and the Dinah friendship but I also love the toy soldier aesthetic and absolutely batshit laugh ( I also love it when C.B. is played by somebody too flexible for their own good ) hes just a glorified circus clown on wheels with a radio set strapped to his head.

And I wish I could pretend that I understand cutting him but I do and I don't and I do. Because I honestly feel like C.B in the original does more than Electra lmao. But I don't think cutting people is the solution most the time tbh.

Okay onto more half asleep rambling that is likely to change because I'm still in the early stages of this rewrite. But. I recognize that C.B. has some issues. The one most of my friends point out is that he seemingly has no motive. He just... Is silly I guess. And I think this is a bit funny because I do like an antagonist with the motive of " it would be funny " , but at the same time. Kind of hard to make that character very ...er... Well I'll just say it does get a bit boring.

Something I also heard was that in the reasons C.B. has been cut was because caboose's aren't exactly used anymore, which is totally fair!

But could also totally be a motivation! Think about it, why is C.B still working? Still working with the freight despite essentially being useless? Because greaseball wants to keep him around to use him for cheating. Easy! Obviously none of this could easily be translated to the show. But for some comics/writings? Yes. Yes.

Think about it. Rusty is struggling, he feels a bit useless because steam is falling behind! So he tries to win and prove himself. But who else feels useless because of their job being replaced? C.B. but unlike rusty, C.B takes the other path, instead of trying to be a role model and win or prove himself. He just goes down the path of crime. And hey, he's probably a crazy adrenaline junky too so he's still doing it for the fun!

And why does he betray greaseball? Plenty of reasons. C.B might dislike greaseball because of poor treatment, he might dislikes greaseball for his treatment of Dinah, he probably just wants to get the adrenaline high of betraying him in the first place. Maybe to prove that he's important and needed because if he doesn't help, greaseball will lose. And he wants to hold it over him for his own personal desire of self importance. Who knows. He's a complicated little clown he is.

Ok anyway yeah I'm like the #3 Dinahboose supporter I will draw them more hehbehehehee

[possessingtheproperspirit]

It's @mppmaraudergirl's birthday! In celebration, have this random load of nonsense: sixth year Jily flirting by the lake.

“Ah, June.”

She doesn’t lift her gaze from the book in her lap, although she can’t seem to stop the smile already tugging at her lips. 

He is not discouraged by her lack of response. “To be young and in love in June,” he sighs, and flops down next to her. He smells like mint and pine and sweat. Not that she notices that sort of thing. “How can you bear it, Evans?”

“What, June?” she asks, still not looking up. Over the course of their sixth year at Hogwarts, she’s become used to his meandering threads of conversation: his mind works in mysterious and, yes, amazing ways. Now that they’re friends, she’s more attuned to it than ever. “One day at a time, Potter. Just me and my will to survive.”

He snorts and her smile strengthens; finally, she allows herself to look up, squinting in the sunshine as she takes him in. His tie has long since been abandoned, his hair its usual dishevelled mess. His legs are stretched out in front of him, and he rests back on his elbows, a louche sort of insouciance that, again, she wishes she didn’t find as charming as she does. 

“Not June,” he corrects her, and nods towards the lake. From their vantagepoint, under the shade of an ancient willow tree, they have the perfect view of two fourth years, flirting for Britain in the shallows. “Love’s young dream over there. It’s a bit much, isn’t it?”

“Is it?” she wonders. She recognises the boy—he’s a Hufflepuff prefect. Seems nice enough. “All they’re doing is standing there.”

“Standing there,” he repeats dryly. She can tell that he’s enjoying himself, that he’s committing to this train of thought even if he doesn’t really care. Sometimes he says things and he means them; sometimes he says things and he’s looking to have some fun. She likes both versions equally. “Flaunting their happiness in front of us!”

She turns to look at James, biting her lip as her smile threatens to overwhelm. “Oh, I’m sorry, Potter,” she says, and he meets her gaze, his own grin blooming. “I didn’t realise you were suffering so.”

“Being single,” he shrugs, waving an airy hand in the direction of the lake. “The secret sadness, even on a sunny day.” He glances down at her book. “Even in your fine company. Even though you’d rather be reading—what is that?”

“Pride and Prejudice,” she replies, showing him the cover. “It’s a classic.”

“That’s what girls want, is it?” he smirks. “Regency romance, contained desire and declarations of love at a polite distance?”

“Well,” she considers. “That, and paddling about in a lake.”

James’ laugh warms her, and she follows his gaze back out to the flirting pair nearby. “Maybe that’s where I’m going wrong.”

“Or maybe,” she says, and she’s not sure why, because it makes her stomach feel like it’s turning inside out, “you’re not going as wrong as you think you are.”

He looks round again, an intrigued eyebrow raised. For a moment, no comment, and she thinks she’s messed this up. They were having a rambling joking conversation, and she made it into something real.

But then he smiles again, and says, “We’re often our own harshest critic, aren’t we?” A pause, then, “Most of us, anyway. Sirius thinks he’s the bee’s knees.”

“But that’s only because he is,” Lily replies. Her heartbeat is returning to a normal rate. “Ignore the lake lovebirds. Lie back and I’ll read you some of my book.”

He chuckles, but does as he is asked, settling comfortably back against the grass. “Can I try to guess the ending?” he asks. “Who dies first, pride or prejudice? My money’s on prejudice.”

“James,” she says patiently, opening her book up again. “Shut up and listen.”

“Harsh,” he murmurs, and grins up at her. “But fair.”

And that was where they stayed, until the sun started to set over the lake.

[lazzarella]

Every episode is over too quickly, even though they're mostly getting longer ;__; anyway, back again with my rambling nonsensical notes!!!

- Aww! Baby!Dee!

- Gah, they're so sweet (visiting the little boy)

- "At least it reminded me I hadn't been forgotten" Ouch!! Guessing Dee's parents were quite absent when he was a kid? (Though I guess we don't know yet when they died)

- holy crap, these two gazing at each other when they're taking a photo with the little boy lmao at least Yak was paying attention

- How can Yak still be Dee's patient when everyone knows they're dating?

- "One month, five days, etc." DUDE!!!! Are you— I just can't...

- lol @ Dee not remembering Yak's birthday! But I did! XD (really should have posted that screenshot of his file that I've had saved in my drafts since ep 1... Sigh)

- "Find joy in becoming someone else in your own way"

- I love Kao <333

- Yak sulking and taking Dee's drink was so cute :3

- bloody hell, Yei just pulling Cher onto his lap like that O_O

- "You wear size 56?" I LOVE YOU, GRANDMA!

- Ahhhhh! Yak's face when grandma says he must be the reason Dee's watching boxing now!!! He's so pleased!!!

- lmaoooooo the giant dick plushie!!! (That bloody thing haunts me on aliexpress btw!!!! I can't search for anything without it popping up, as it were)

- look, I know I always gush over how soft Yak is but seeing him cuddling Ice Bear was almost too much for me

- "I've gotten used to having you in my arms" WHO SAYS THAT, YAK?? WHO???? Not fake boyfriends that's who!

- And now he's pouting because he wants to cuddle!!!! Ahhhhhhhhhh

- And then he brings up Taem. Well done! lol

- (Okay, it's clear—or, well, likely—he's just clinging to his crush on Taem any time his feelings for Wandee rear their pretty head(s), but... Jeez, dude!)

- And Dee's face? His response??? He's not talking about Taem

- "Let's find something fun to do!" I love you, Grandma!

- Yak taking a video of her ;__;

- Okay, her all black outfit is super cool! And she's wearing creepers!! I think...

- Yak referring to himself as Dee's boyfriend at the cemetery... *pinches bridge of nose* I can't handle much more of this. And Dee's deflection! Ahhh. The way they're both dealing with their developing feelings is so interesting and delicious to watch

- oh that outfit does not suit Yak…

- I wonder if Yei is doing underground fights for $$$ to help the gym??? And that’s why he didn’t get physical with Cher. Idk

- Yak offering to help Dee again <33333

- There really is purple and yellow everywhere! (The cardboard Taem was carrying)

- I need a comparison between Taem's reaction when Yak grabbed her hand (not really comfortable) vs when he grabs Dee's hand!!!

- And Yak could be spending more time with Taem but he already had plans with Dee! Gosh, he's just... Oh, that boy!

- Ahhh! They're baking! They're having a flour fight! They're flirting over food again!!

- (Is this the first time we've seen Dee in the elephant pants too?)

- Holy shit, the audacity of Ter taking Kwan to the same restaurant and are they sitting at the same table???????

- so many short shorts and cut off tees and I'm not complaining

- awww! The tiny drink buddy dude has a name!

- The TENSION when they're listening to Fluke's song though??? JFC. You need a ginsu to cut through that

- YOU HAVE SWEET EYES??!!! No comment. I just can't lol

- smooch blocked by the oven timer! lol they really were going to kiss that time, though

- Ahhhhh, Dee looks so happy!!!!

- Yak taking and posting a photo of Gooddy on his glass was adorable :3

- (ngl, with them standing so close to the edge of the balcony, I was envisioning Gooddy going over the side lol)

- love them plugging the new line stickers in the toothbrush bit

- YoryakWandee vs WandeeYoryak is giving me duck season vs rabbit season lol

- Ahhhh! Next week's preview!!! How am I meant to wait???

[thirstnotes]

| Rivals to Lovers - Clark Kent - Part Four - Jealous Clark |

pairings: Clark Kent x AFABPlusSizedBlackReader x a little bit of some Bruce Wayne

warnings: more rambling, more thirst, a little bit of awkward, sass, attempts at humor, typos, language, morally gray Clark, jealous Clark

If you don't like it, don't read it. But a quick second for those of you that have hung in there with me this far: I appreciate the love and comments. Seriously, I thought this was gonna be a simple and silly thank you fic for @ramp-it-up--dope writer btw, go check her out when you get the time--who answered my asks in perhaps the best way possible, but it's turned into a chaos series of rambling thoughts and awkward thirst and ngl it's really fun writing a problematic Clark with an equally problematic reader.

In short: I don't think I'm much of a writer, and I promise ya'll that's okay, but thank ya'll for reading and liking and reblogging my raggedy nonsense anyway

(Also I don't write nearly enough to tag people or to do a tag list, but I'll do it just this once bc I never got that kinda request before. Here you go, @glitterandgoldfinds 💖)

“I heard you and Y/N are dating?”

Clark smirked, dusting bagel crumbs off his shirt as he finished his breakfast. “Where’d you hear that?”

“I won’t even entertain the question.”

“Right. The award winning Lois Lane always has the story.”

There was a quiet pause on her end. It was a bit hard to discern as he tried to tune out the bustling sounds of the coffeehouse around him. From the sound of it, she was making coffee. He finally picked up on her laughter approaching the phone. “You should do my PR.”

“Busy, unfortunately. Gunning for your job, in fact.”

She laughed again. “I can tell. Anyway, Luke tells me you’re gonna try the cooking class too?”

“Yeah we are,” he said, now picking out an assorted mix of your favorite donuts. He heard a lower tone in the background and a light smack that had her giggling. He rolled his eyes.

“Oooh we? Sounds kinda serious,” she hummed, giving him an invitation to volunteer more information.

“No comment.”

He heard a male’s voice in the background again. Obviously Luke. It was too distorted to understand, but he was certain it was annoying.

“Hmm,” she purred, sounding like she was following up with a small sip, “Maybe I should pump Y/N for the details.”

She wasn’t joking. She was almost as relentless and nosy as you were to get the facts.

You could definitely hold your own, but he just didn’t need the headache.

He paid for the donuts with a light laugh. “We just got started, I wouldn’t call the reverend.”

“No, but it’s kinda a huge scoop. Maybe I should make this the next cover story,” she taunted saucily, making him laugh a little louder.

“Hilarious. You know, jealousy’s not a good look on you, Lo’,” he sassed back, checking the time. She snickered on the other end.

“Not jealous, just surprised. Y/N’s a pretty hard sell. How’d you land her?”

He left and casually held the door for an elderly couple, eyes on your building two stoplights down. “Just. Lucky, I guess.”

Lois hummed in agreement. “You do have a flair for luck that I’ll never understand.”

He laughed, dipping his head modestly and picking out a table to sit at in the outdoor dining area. You probably weren’t awake just yet, as evident by your phone going straight to voicemail, so he decided to give it 30 minutes or so. “I guess it’s a matter of perception.”

“Clark...Mmh…Clark…”

He paused. It was a whisper. Your fevered gasps that pierced his ears through all the clamoring of the waking city. It was a cry for him. Falling from your lips. It switched something on in him.

“Mmh…yes. Please…I deserve it,” you groaned through needy gasps. What the fuck were you doing to yourself that had you sounding like that?

A soft vibration accompanied you and his mind nearly shut off. You were thinking about him...while you were...Fuck.

“So anyway, see you in class?”

He blinked, his thoughts interrupted. Lois continued on the other end, completely oblivious to any of it. Something about Luke’s pictures or some shit. He didn’t really care. Which was truly a first. He took a small breath.

“Yeah. Sorry. Signal broke up,” he lied, trying to gather his thoughts, “Call you back.”

"Everything okay?" she asked, a little concerned at his detached tone.

He snapped out of it, eyes falling to the stoplight that changed to red.

He licked his dry lips. He did need to stop.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm just almost to her place."

"Ooooh, I see. Well don't let me hold you up."

He could've told her "It's not like that, I'm just bringing breakfast"

He could've worked it around to say "Nah, I like the company."

Anything that came out of his lips next would've been another step closer to stealing her away from her mediocre boyfriend

But instead

He exhaled a low, breathy laugh. "Thanks. Later."

He barely registered hanging up. You'd finished quickly, the soft puffs of your breath fading from his senses just as quickly as they came. That was a sucker punch to his health. He wondered if he could wager just a peek. Just one. Through a few thin walls.

He could just imagine you there, muscles still tense, gradually relaxing, honey-soaked thighs sliding down your sheets, your panties ruined--provided you were wearing any. He took a deep breath. Granted you were his girlfriend--fake or no--you were his friend first.

No peeking. Not yet anyway.

Your shower kicked on and he nearly audibly groaned. You were making it really hard to be a gentleman.

Impossible.

He let his morals slip a little as his view of your apartment faded to the interior, eyes curiously peering into your world. He'd never been up there before. Your decorations revealed a bit more to him than he knew. Your awards and achievements were framed above your work area. He’d recognized a good portion of them. From Fresh New Journalist, to Journalist of the year—two years in a row, around which were framed pictures of you with all the members of your team at some point or another.

It made him smile a bit when he saw that you actually saved the picture of the you and him after losing the office paintball game, both of you splattered with yellow. A color you sarcastically quipped complimented his eyes. His chest pounded when he thought about how cute you were, dusting paint out of his hair, standing on your tiptoes. Jokingly reminding him that it was his fault your position was given away because he was so damn tall. It made him laugh. You always made him laugh.

Shit.

Had it always been you?

No, he’d known Lois far longer, and was in love all the way. But somewhere along the line, you’d sneaked in and hit him with your jokes, your wit, your smile… Dammit Y/N.

Almost as if summoned, you emerged from your bathroom, wrapped in a towel and his eyes darkened a bit, sliding along your curves in the terrycloth.

He could feel his face heating up a bit; this was wrong. He knew that. But he was too curious to stop now. A bead of water caught his attention--a stray drop from your soaked curls that framed your pretty face as you rifled through your drawer. it ran down your chest in a jagged pattern before disappearing into the darkness of your cleavage.

This was so wrong.

You looked so content. So...satisfied. He felt his body tense when you loosened your towel, ready to drop it for the cute floral lingerie you'd pulled out. He swallowed heavily, his eyes dropping just as the towel fell from your chest.

He couldn't. You weren't his. Not yet anyway

Call him a bit of a sentimental sap, but he didn't wanna spoil the surprise.

He ran a hand over his face, glancing at his phone, trying to figure out how to proceed.

So eventually

There he was

Like a soothsaying sex goblin, he was standing in front of your building with donuts

You suddenly felt a wave of panic wash over you

Like if "I LOOK A MESS" was a feeling

Which. As far as you knew, it was, but you'd never say something so cliche aloud.

Besides, as far as effortlessly sexy went that morning, you were ahead of the game

Also you were too lazy to change. Clark was unexpectedly intruding into your space. He was just gonna have to deal

If you were petty, you'd admit that it was a great excuse to show him the ass he was missing out on bc the lounge shorts clinging to you right then were practically screaming "Lemme sit on that face for an hour or two"

But you weren't petty

"Oh wow, is this what they call a full service boyfriend?" you joked with a grateful hum, your interest fully directed at the donuts he'd brought.

Unfortunately, you missed the absolute shameless way homeboy took in your scent

Like he was smelling his favorite pastry

He couldn't understand it

He didn't wanna try

All he knew was that a new fixation was forming and unlike Lois, you were already half his

The sweet smell of something cinnamon-y wafted from you. Body wash or lotion or something. His eyes followed you as you strolled into your kitchen, and set the box down. Your hair was still a little damp, pulled back into a curly bun. Cute.

“Something like that. I thought I’d drive you to class to make up for last night."

“Oh yeah,” you remembered with a laugh, “Drunk texts? What were you up to last night?”

“It was a hell of a night, believe me,” he said, making his way to your sofa, seeming to want to leave it at that. As badly as you wanted to pry, you let it go.

“Well anyway, we don’t have class today.”

“Oh. Well what do you wanna do today?”

You gave him a strange look. “What? Offering to hang out with your fake girlfriend for the day? What happened to Take No Prisoners I’ll Take Your Girl Clark Kent?”

“He’s off for the day,” he said, rolling his eyes. He did that a lot with you. You laughed, successfully working his nerves.

“Damn. I was hoping to ask him for some pointers,” you said, sarcastically snapping your fingers. He eyed you as you moved past to clean your mess.

Damn you hit different in pajama shorts.

Focus, Clark. His eyes flickered to the television. Rather to the assorted bouquet on your television stand. It was rather extravagant, the stems and petals covering the edge of the screen obnoxiously. A gold card was in a black holder sticking out from it and he was curious about the sender.

“Pointers about?”

“I have an interview/dinner date with with Bruce Tall-Dark-and-Broody Wayne tonight and truth be known, my man’s kinda hot.”

If you only knew how broody he was, he thought to himself, feeling a familiar bit of nagging jealousy tugging at him. “He send the bouquet?”

“Yeah. Aren’t they gorgeous? Somehow he found out about my favorite flowers. The man’s mafia, I’m certain of it,” you joked, completely missing the pointed stare he was giving your flowers.

What do you know? Suddenly got an opening in my schedule.

How about dinner, 8:00 at La Mercerie?

It paid to have X-ray vision.

In this case, though, it left a bad taste in his mouth. You were going out on a date with Bruce Wayne. What the shit?

“What's the story?” he asked patiently, his eyes plastered on the tv now, not registering a single bit of what was showing onscreen.

“The 30th annual Wayne Concert Commemoration? It’s one of the other stories that I got bumped to cover since you scooped me on the whole Nightwing thing, remember?” you said, feigning a bitter tone that made him smile again.

“All that salt’s gonna raise your blood pressure.”

You looked pleasantly surprised at the clap back, whirling to face him with your hand—and a soapy spatula—on your hips. So fuckin cute. “Okay. Farmboy’s got jokes. I gotchu next time, though. This story’s gonna be great.”

“I dunno. A concert story doesn’t sound too exciting,” he continued, a small smirk twitching at his lips. In truth, his emotions were swirling. If he didn’t joke, he might’ve actually have tried to convince you not to go.

“I’ll think of something. So watch your ass Kent.”

"I will," he resigned with a small smirk.

He’d much rather watch yours, to be honest, admiring the light way it jiggled when you shifted your weight to your other leg, your focus back on the dishes.

Fuckin focus, Clark.

Bruce Wayne was dangerous. In more ways than one. The Dark Knight persona was, of course, but somehow Bruce himself was even more dangerous. Bruce Wayne was a handsome billionaire. A playboy. Plus, for all the good he’d done, he was still a marked man with a hell of a lot of enemies. Enemies that would hurt you to get to him. Even if you were just a fling.

Which you weren’t gonna be. Were you? One of his knuckles popped. How long had his fists been clenched? His mouth went a bit dry again.

“Do you have something to drink?” he asked suddenly and you looked at him blankly. What were you thinking about? He’d obviously snapped you out of some deep thought. You always had that look when someone interrupted your train of thought at work. You were also usually kind of grouchy when that happened, but you just gave him a lopsided smile. Which somehow made it worse. Your good mood was beginning to bug him.

“Oh! Yeah! Sorry. Help yourself,” you said, nodding to the fridge. He tentatively did as he was told, spotting some sodas in the door and deciding to grab one. He needed a drink. Ideally one with a sting stronger than a Dr. pepper, but he’d just have to take the L. It wasn’t like he could get drunk anyway.

“I was just thinking,” you said, drying your hands on your towel.

Oh fuckin finally

He needed wanted to know what was swimming through that devious mind of yours

“We can go wander around the park a bit if you want. It’s right next to the shopping center, so I can pick up a cute outfit while I’m there. You know, multitask.”

“Works for me,” he said, pretending the soda is what gave him such a stale tone.

“Sweet, lemme go get dressed,” you said with a pleasant smile. He couldn’t lie, the sudden image of you slipping out of those clothes did flash across his mind multiple times that morning, and he wanted nothing more than to tell you to forget Wayne and stay in all night with your boyfriend.

Which he wasn’t

Not for real

But he was most certainly on your mind

He knew that much

It wasn't Bruce's name coming from your mouth

Yet...

(Part 5)

(Part 3)

[zelenbug]

ive been sitting on this since may 3 (ive edited it though). oops

im actually a big fan of speculative biology and i liek to cross that over with my other interests

so theres a set of the most weird niche headcanons ever, or more clearly a madwoman's ramblings about how globox has a crop like a bird, actual blue pigment (not structural coloration) like Nessaea butterflies, and way too many siblings

(all that while not even knowing how to even refer to his species by name and justifying half the things in this as just magic)

to be clear this is a bunch of biology headcanons about globoxs species. this post is mega rambly and poorly organized beware

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ok heres some nonsense to start with. half of this is headcanons and half of this is just "look at this weird thing that globox does"

not delving into the obvious anatomy facts that you learn from rayamn 3 . its like wow no way globox has RIBS and a BRAIN??? i wanna delve into more niche htings

if you would categorize this species like.. cladistically (which wouldnt actually apply because this species was literally created by god. and also this isnt earth.) theyd be like amniotes (lays eggs that arent that squishy and arent so water dependent; additionally wikipedia says they also breathe with hte help of the rib cage and globox definitely does that in arena), somewhere along the same branch as reptiles as opposed to mammals. not quite amphibians not quite reptiles but rather a secret third thing

of course this is an approximation and they wouldnt actually really fit squarely in any earth clade or class or whatever. some anatomy things are pretty clearly from mammals, like hair which has been estabilished as far back as rayman 2 and has been a consistent trait throughout the rest of the series

also i think theyre endothermic/warmblooded (unlike amphibians). evident by the fact that they can still like, actively move in colder areas, you can see this in the second screenshot here

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some of these traits also happen to align with birds which are also on that same reptile branch of amniotes. because theyre reptiles. anyway im gonna use this to delve into the fact that i just gave globox several bird traits for funsies

as in. the crop. like birds. i think here it wouldnt be used for storing food as much as it is for storing frickin anything else. this is my justification for the fact that both globox and one of his kids pulled either silver lums or the fourth mask out their gullets like it was a normal thing

actual food just goes past the crop. also andre that one time so it was a bit harder to get him out of there. anyway so basically its liek a weird built in emergency pocket. i dont know why god designed them like that ! this would have no reason to happen evolutionarily

another bird feature i gave them for funsies is whatever that is (its a noticeable degree of cranial kinesis). just the ability to move the tips of each mandible

which is ANOTHER justification for some animations, that being mostly the ledgegrab in ubiarts but also their attempt at animating globox talking in r3 where only the tip of the mouth even moves

biological purpose of this: man who frickin knows. i doubt even the guy who made them knows. you ask polokus and hes like idk i thought itd be funny

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ok now something i cant just segue into. this is barely biology this is delving into nonsense that stems from them being rayman characters. so obviously they dont have legs or whatever attaches your eyes to ya skull, obviosuly it works similarly to raymans limblessness but a difference is the parts dont have as much range? but they can evidently actively float their eyes

and literally just juggle them. this isnt even a headcanon anymore this is a literal fact but im including it here. thanks rayman arena

i do think the eyes just kinda stick to the same spot normally though when not actively being floated or just. grabbed. not sure how quite theyd do that, i guess its just normal for limblessness

anyway the feet floating would let them use htem practically as a wheel when swimming, like what also happens in origins. so thats neat. i think this species is just particularly good at swimming i mean these feet gotta be webbed for something

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lets talk about skin :D so anyway this part of the headcanon entirely ignores them making globox smooth and shiny as hell in legends. i think this species has like. not scales (as raywiki calls it) its just the skin being thicker and rougher and forming this texture that kinda looks like scales but its a lot less uniform and more uneven than scales. i dont really know how to explain it

i think its rougher on the back and also the top of the head (i guess besides where the eyes would normally rest). where its rougher is also where more hair growth would be (i think they all got hair but its even more faint than on humans generally (aside from glombrox)). the rest of the skin is a lot smoother and is also generally where the light coloration goes, like on the hands for some reason

(although some may have weird placements of the lighter spots. i think its not supposed to happen but sometimes their pigments are mixed weirdly and distribute spots across the whole body randomly)

anyway the way the skin looks also comes near entirely from how globox is textured in rayman 3. weird bumpy man

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now the most interesting part of this whole post potentially is the coloration. you already know it gets wacky when globox literally changed his entire skin color from red to blue so hard it carried over onto his kids somehow

so i think the species can be basically any dang color of the rainbow. i think the way it works is with actual pigments that are that color, with no structural coloration involved. this is pretty notable for blue, as blue pigments basically dont exist on earth

however (this headcanon was partly inspired by my friend's headcanon) the colors werent super evenly spread out for some reason. for quite a while the possible skin color range was approximately like this, sharp drop offs approaching blue. with purple and cyan (leaning greenish) just being really rare but can happen naturally. i also have no explanation for this

as you can see green to yellow to red to pink is pretty much the average of what youd see. blue ones for some reason were practically unheard of, and if they even happened to exist, theres a very high chance they wouldnt have kids anyway (ill delve into this later) so it just didnt lead anywhere. until of course globox happened

so you know he was red at some point and just sorta turned blue because he tried eating a bug and got stung by a lot of bugs. i think he just happened to have a REALLY bad reaction to the bugs' venom and the reaction was so bad it just scrambled all his pigments producing things permanently into only producing blue pigments instead of red pigments forever. it doesnt really work scientifically but its the glade of dreams who cares

and also because its the glade of dreams, reproduction is also magic and so when he was the one to finally have kids a lot of them were ALSO blue! i think the magic part is the fact that i dont think the venom just changed globoxs genes somehow (he still kept genes for red pigmentation even though it literally doesnt work as it should anymore). but his kids that happened to be blue DID get actual genes that actually make them produce the same blue pigment ! because hte reproduction is all magic !!! (so that means they have different pigment genes despite having the same exact skin color)

although a most of the unique kids fall into the yellowish reddish color range. so i like to believe his original red coloration still has an effect somewhat

to delve into the reproduction thing briefly, normally the kids of any member of the species will have a lot of randomized colors from the normal color spectrum, alongside a lot that matches their parents' colors

anyway globox happening to be one of the ones to actually have kids while also happening to be one of the ones to be blue was a double combo that permanently changed his species to unlock the rest of the color spectrum that their skin can just have. yknow honestly he got so lucky with so many things hes ALSO besties with rayman on top of all that. no wonder hes so arrogant

anyway . yeah its rather remarkable that its real for real unexplained blue pigment, not structural coloration. like those butterflies i linked earlier. and also theres also pigments that make you just purple or just yellow or whatever, and the pigments dont realy mix and match each color just uses one pigment i guess ? aside from the secondary lighter color which is generally tinted a different hue and thus uses different pigments (globoxs also got scrambled into being green instead of beigeish)

also albinism can still happen, as seen with brainox in a couple of the screenshots in here. i also like to think hardrox has something close to melanism, mostly just giving him a somewhat darker coloration than expected (else he would just be blue probably) and also an awesome skull pattern. still has white hair though

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i guess i should delve into how the reproducion works since i keep talking about it. ITs literally magic if a pair wants kids the eggs just kinda form into existence. but the resulting kids still take on the genetics of their parents and are fully biologically their kids, its just that the eggs form without the parents having to really do anything. Sorry they do not have features.

anyway the more interesting part is that the fact that they have absolutely comical amounts of kids. several hundred normally (though globox and uglette having 650 is even then kind of a lot in my hc!!!). its literally impossible to be an only child for anyone of this species you WILL have hundreds of siblings

no wonder they make up the entire audience in arena

despite what it might seem they actually take a really, id say, lax approach to parenting. the kids are already really precocious when they hatch (literally all of the ones in rayman 2 can already talk despite being like 3 seconds old) and also parenting is more of a group effort, the parents get their own siblings to help out and also the older kids babysit their own younger siblings as well

like obviously they still care a lot and the kids recognize who their parents are and connect to them more than their aunts/uncles/etc (generally). its just that they have so many frickin kids that raising them is weird and unusual. its also why someone from this species wouldnt be a very good babysitter for like, baby teensies, which just need parents that give them a lot of attention. wouldnt really work with the species whose parenting is focused on having a lot of people give attention to a lot of kids, an individual person wouldnt do as well

(though, more specific hc ramblings, globox and uglette do seem to manage even though they only got one of the siblings (globoxs brother globu (the red guy hes canonically the kids' uncle)) helping out. and recruiting literally only one sibling for babysitting would be considered a really low amount by others of this species. like. its supposed to be a GROUP effort !)

ALSO because of how many frickin kids they have, only a small percentage of those will actually go on to have their own kids. odds are they already get to take care of kids anyways, as in specifically their nephews/nieces/whatever the gender neutral term is. so any given member of the species will generally not have kids, and because of that its very accepted to not have children, or to even not have a partner or feel any kind of attraction

and they apply this view onto other species. bonus headcanon here, for example rayman himself feels no attraction romantic or otherwise, and globox views that as like a very normal thing for him to do (even if itd be unusual to like, a teensy). because he views it from the lens of "oh its normal! most people are like that"

(also this all isnt to say that the people that do have kids are treated as any more special or that unique, its all just normal)

oh yeah it should be obvious but the clutches are ridiculous with like a hundred to a couple hundred eggs at a time. a couple will only have like a few clutches and thats enough, that already gets them hundreds of kids

anyway the eggs go on land but theyre still kinda squishy. like snake eggs? not quite the hard shelled bird eggs. ive been also picturing them as just kinda whitish orbs mostly. not quite like that one rayman 2 ad with catastrox, that one just looks like the cocoons in spore creature stage

delving a bit more into that, the kids will have a lot of random coloration and other distinct traits like hair, just by chance (although hair is kinda genetically passed, globoxs kids having hair is probably from his red wizard genes and he just happened to be bald but still had the genes), and some siblings will often not look much alike. a lot of the kids still take after their parents though in appearance

anyway yeah see how evolution wasnst really involved here because watching the latest alien biospheres vid got me thinking about how having like a zillion precocious kids at once is not something that a sapient species could feasibly evolve. or any species really, how do you just manage to combine r-selection and K-selection like that with the benefits of both? its all polokus' fault blame him for it

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ok now i got the biggest stuff out of the way. now what? hair ? they certainly do have it sometimes!!!! majority of them are bald of course but some will have hair on the top of their heads, most commonly seen in red wizards (aside from globox hes just special i guess)

its usually behind the eyes but it can also just kinda grow in front of the eyes sometimes look at hardrox. like thats not facial hair

this also suggests that the hair color can also be whatever the hell. this little guy has white hair (as ive mentioned earlier in this post) despite also being like 3 seconds old

anyway they can also just be plain hairy, as ive also mentioned, with more hair where the skin is rougher. glombrox and globolk (the caveman , whos even hairier arguably) are about the extent of it

its worth considering snowbox here since hes straight up covered in fur. BUT hes also a yeti (Globox Edition). i dont think yetis count for the discussion

anyway the species can also have facial hair but that seems pretty rare. mostly restricted to being really old or a caveman. and also having the head hair in the first place probably, i dont think globox would have facial hair

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this species also has weird tongues. really long and tendril-y but not quite prehensile (i am ignoring brawlhalla here). i dont think it can even be used to just shoot out at bugs like chameleons do (and frogs actually dont!). its just all weird for no reason. again you bet polokus just thought itd be funny

their teeth (present on both jaws also unlike frogs) are kinda roundish and theyre all kind of the same. idk how notable or unusual that is i dont know that much about teeth. like arent mammals weird for having a lot of very distinct types of teeth in their mouth? compare to dinosaurs which just had a bunch of identical spikes in their mouths. anyway for globox itd be closer to dinosaurs

i think this species is just physically quite strong even despite having skinny arms. look globox is supporting himself AND rayman with only one arm and is completely nonchalant about it (sure this is kind of a viddy game abstraction but raymans visibly struggle to have other players hold onto them, even if its a teensy)

and i guess this other co op animation is worth mentioning here, also with regards to the tongue being weird. another person can just grab onto it and its just fine?

another weird thing. so you can see here globox has a butt, also andre called him a big butt once. this is weird because this species doesnt have legs,

HOWEVER sometimes they just decide they want to have legs, and so they have them. as depicted with a fakir here, which is also the only instance of this happening. for fakirs this is definitely done with magic, i think they think itll connect them closer to god or whatever. as he looks much like them but with legs

(meanwhile polokus probably just thinks theyre quite silly, he gave them floating feet for a reason!)

all the other red wizards dont have legs to be clear (as also demonstrated by that blue guy). its literally just the fakirs that do

MOST IMPORTANT ANATOMY FACT: their face is shaped like a triangle

idk what else to write here i might have finally ran out of nonsense to talk about

i would like to write this sort of thing for other species too but i really couldnt delve into detail as much as here. im just so incredibly biased towards whatever this fickin species is called.

(its not called glute HERES THE TRUE glutes anatomy facts: theyre dumb looking wingless birds that can and will eat your lunch and your wallet and they digest stuff so well they barely leave any waste. which just makes it even funnier that globox keeps referring to their farts as an expletive (it was literally "glute farts" in the early version of the english dub btw. thats what gaseous glute means). anyway i think he hates them because they kept pestering him when he was a kid for no reason)

funny enough despite my incredible bias thats clear throughout this entire post my sona is actually a teensy

[m0ssycobblestone]

Thinking about a Trigun au I made a while back that is super self indulgent with a side of projection /pos

I called it the Stale Donuts AU after the donuts I would sometimes get from H-E-B as a kid that, as far as I can remember, were always vaguely stale.

It is at its core, a modern AU–Cryptid Vash–Vashwood story hybrid hodgepodge thing that was also!!! Very much inspired by multiple fics I had either read or was reading at the time!!! And of course full of yummy delicious self indulgence and self projection with bits of me spread throughout like the stale donuts thing!!! Yippee!!!!!!

On to the bits and bops of the au itself in a very rambling way (I'm sorry):

Wolfwood is Mexican American and the main pov of the thing. He lives in an apartment with Livio, who's going to the local college (go girl go, get that higher education ✨). Wolfwood drives a motorcycle because why wouldn't he BUT he ALSO owns a motorcycle place where you can get shit repaired and customized an shit like that (I don't know vehicle things ITS A COOL IDEA I DONT KNOW IF ITS ACCURATE). Meryl also probably works there with him, because in my mind I can't for the life of me separate the thought of Meryl and driving things probably because I watched Stampede first but that's besides the point—we're ignoring that. Livio, Wolfwood, Meryl, and Milly were all friends in highschool (maybe they were in a shitty band?? That's a thought for a different day) and stayed friends into their adult lives (they all care about each other so much guys). ALSO this whole thing takes place in Texas, so AT SOME POINT one of them worked at Whataburger and one of them worked at a DQ I don't know WHO WAS WHERE but at LEAST ONE OF THEM I SWEAR.

Anyways

On his way to the motorcycle shop, Wolfwood passes the H-E-B and has to drive over a short bridge. Guess where he finds Vash.

One day he's coming home from work, and as he's crossing over the bridge he suddenly stops because JESUS CHRIST WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT THING. Illuminated by the motorcycle headlights, a large, feathered...something startles and crawls over the edge with a sound of pain, leaving behind a trail of blood. Yippee!! Vash makes an appearance!! Of course Wolfwood's freaked the fuck out by the bleeding thing under the bridge, yet for some reason he follows it anyway (I haven't really thought of anything except hey that thing looked kinda hurt and Melanie raised him with compassion ig so)(and I love stupid men). He sees that this giant bird is 100% actually kinda injured (imagine getting hit by a car) and manages to calm it down enough to help it out at least a little, but he's also kinda on his way home and can only see with a flashlight, so there's not much he can do. He does toss it a snack he found hidden in his jacket tho. After that whole cryptid nonsense, Wolfwood stops at H-E-B! (YIPPEEE!!) Livio sends him a text. "You should totally get me a donut from the bakery"

"Still can't believe you actually like those" he sends back, still getting a plain glazed for himself. He offhandedly wonders if the bird thing would like donuts.

The next morning, now armed with a first aid kit, he buys a donut and stops at the bridge, hoping the creature from before is still there. Oh hey look, the creature from before! Now that it's daytime, Wolfwood can clearly see that yeah, that thing is definitely hurt. He says hi, and the creature seems to recognize him from the night before, but still won't let him get close enough to fully see anything other than feathers and old scars. Donut time!! The perfect distraction!!! I don't know what kind of injuries Vash has, but whatever it is Wolfwood manages to patch it up at least a little bit while he's munching on the donut. I like to imagine he's at least a little bit good at caring for animals (specifically birds) because Tristamp Wolfwood taking care of Thoma chicks makes me ill (/pos) so uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhh chickens. And maybe like, a cockatiel for fun. Miss Melanie had chickens and a cockatiel that the kids would help take care of. It ends up becoming a routine where Wolfwood stops at the bridge to chill with the bird cryptid every morning and evening. Eventually he ends up telling Livio, Meryl and Milly about Vash. He also very quickly figures out that Vash has human level intelligence and isn't just a giant freaky animal and Vash manages to communicate what his name is!!! Yippee!!!

In this Vash has the Big Bird™ cryptid form and a normal human one, but can't switch between them when he's injured (like being hit by a car) so it's really great that this random human guy is helping him out.

The first time Wolfwood sees Vash de-birdified is hilarious because he goes to the bridge like normal and sees feathers everywhere, no giant bird in sight, and a vaguely familiar naked blond man chilling in the middle of it all. As soon as he sees Wolfwood, his face lights up and he starts excitedly waving.

"Wolfwood!"

"Needle Noggin?!"

"Look I'm all better!!"

Plot wise, no fuckin clue where it goes from here, vibe wise fuck it we ball. All I know is hijinx ensues and it's great fun all around YIPPEEEEEEE!!!

I think that's all I got for now, might post more if I think of anything✨✨✨