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writingroom21 · 1 month

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The Nanny

Pairing: rafe x nanny reader

Summary: Being Wheezie's nanny was great. The only downside is dealing with the oldest Cameron, Rafe. What happens when his fascination with the nanny becomes a reality?

Warnings: 18+, p in v, unprotected sex (Practice safe sex), cream pie, mention of drugs, nipple play (If missing any please let me know)

Wc:4.6K

Chapter 4: Backseat Driving

The rest of the night was spent just chatting to the other, filling each other in on stupid things that happened in your life. You had forced him to help you clean up the kitchen after a while of laying on the couch, cheeks turning beet red once you saw the mess that was left. “Such a messy girl.” he taunts, sucking his teeth with the statement. This only made your cheeks flush redder, but he left the teasing at that. You teased him back for not knowing how to clean, embarrassment leaving you as he huffs out retorts.

Getting to know one another wasn’t as bad as it seemed before, conversation flowing as if you have known each other your whole lives. Well you did, both running into the other at parties or around the island, but this wasn’t simple courtesy. You actually wanted to get to know him, the thought frightening because only yesterday you were upset with him and he was ignoring you. But he keeps reeling you in with every question, “what's your favorite color?”, “Favorite song?”, “Favorite season?”, and so on. Each question met with your replies, “Yellow”, “Edge of Seventeen”, “Fall”, asking the same question till he told you his answers.

“Blue”, “Don’t have one”, “Summer because I get to watch you flaunt in those tiny skirts and bathing suits.” He’s half joking about the last one, his favorite season is definitely summer, getting to look at your little outfits are just a plus. That’s how the night ends, questions being shot at the other, until you both fall asleep.

In the morning you wake up facing the wall, the walls of Rafe’s room alerting you to the fact you are in the same bed that started it all. You just lay there for a moment, thoughts swirling in your brain, only snapping out of it due to the feeling of an arm on your waist. Glancing down you see the Cameron family ring on his pointer finger, you graze it lightly, pulling your hand back when his twitches.

Rafe is half asleep when he feels your fingers on him, enjoying the moment of you thinking he is still asleep. Watching you squirm, he tightens his hold on you, the hand you were playing with lightly making its way up before flattening on your chest. Your back is to his chest, sift breathing making the hairs on your neck tickle you. “Five more minutes.” He mumbles, lips pressing to your hair line. You chuckle, turning to face him.

“We should get up. What if it’s past twelve and we are just here sleeping the day away.” You reason, mostly wanting to escape the feeling in your chest. Rafe looks so pretty, his eyes closed making his eyelashes fan his face, pouty lips slightly plump from sleeping. He peaks an eye open, smirking at you before pecking your lips. “Maybe you're right. Wouldn’t hurt to brush that morning breath away.”

You push his shoulder embarrassed he called you out, a recurring theme it seems. “Asshole.” The words muffled with your hand covering your mouth. “Kidding, just wanted to tease you.” He brushes the hair that fell from your ponytail out of your eyes. “Come on, let's get in the shower. Got a long day ahead of us.” You miss the feeling of his body close to you as he pulls away to get up, the loss of body heat making you feel cold.

“What do you mean?” You ask resting on your elbow, watching as he walks around the room, opening drawers to take clothes out. “I gotta go see Barry, you know the guy over the other day. Just have to talk about some business but I wanted you to come with me. Maybe we could go do something after.” He’s saying it like it’s so easy, like wanting to be around you was natural for him.

“You want to hangout with me?” Your voice is low, maybe it was the shock of him suggesting a hangout without sex or it was because you're nervous. What if being with each other besides sex is awful? You could probably hate who he is as a person or worse he can realize you’re boring just to run off with the next girl. “What to good to hangout with me when I’m not fucking you?” He’s looking at you now, eyes shining as he teases you.

“Well If the shoe fits.” You can hear him scoff, your eyes trained at the bedsheets you pick at, hiding your smile from him. “Stop being a brat and get in the shower.” “alright, alright I’m going.”

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The gravel crackles under the truck tires as Rafe pulls down the driveway to get to Barry’s house. It’s a little rundown house, a trailer sitting off to the back by the firepit. His house isn’t too far from your childhood home, yet it feels like it’s in a different part of the island. You’ve heard stories about Barry, none of them good, the house seems to reflect its owner. Another hurricane and you swear it will blow away never to be seen again.

“You okay?” Rafe’s voice draws you out of your thoughts. “Yeah of course I am.” You look out the window as the truck comes to a stop. Truth be told you aren’t okay. Drugs have never been a good thing in your books, you’ve seen how it’s destroyed the lives of family members. How it slowly tears away at Rafe, destroying the relationships around him. You don’t like it but you don’t like the thought of him alone here. From what you’ve witnessed Rafe doesn’t know when to quit, taking one bump of coke after the other, wasting the day away so high that he can’t recognize the people around him. It’s always scared you, not wanting him to end like the horror stories told, but what else is there to do?

Rafe get’s out, going over to your side to let you out, wrapping his arm on your shoulder once you're out. “Country club!” The voice inside the house calls out, screen door opening displaying the man it belongs to. “Ooooo, you brought me a little treat. You really shouldn’t have.” Rafe’s arm tightens around you, shielding your body from Barry’s wandering eyes. In hindsight, wearing the yellow summer dress that comes down to midthigh was not the best decision. You feel exposed.

“Watch it.” Rafe bits out. “She’s off limits, understand?” Barry just scoffs walking back into the house. “White boy comes into my home and tells me what to do. Get your ass inside before I change my mind.” You are left outside, blue eyes blocking your view as Rafe gets in front of you. “You don’t have to go in. You can stay in the car if you aren’t comfortable, I won’t take it personally.” It’s sweet that he cares, maybe it’s because you are sleeping together, but it’s still sweet.

You grab his hand, intertwining your fingers and walking to the door. “It’s okay. I want to be here.” He can’t help but smile, yanking you for a kiss. “What was that for?” Your smile is so bright, the sun illuminating the freckles in your eyes. “Nothing.” He shakes his head, pulling the two of you to get inside. If the outside was run down, the inside is just as bad. There’s a mess everywhere you look, bags of various drug liter the table in the living room, bongs on almost every surface in the room

“Want some?” The silence made you aware of the eyes on you. “Me?” you question pointing to yourself. “Yeah you. It’s a good thing she’s pretty.” Barry chuckles, plopping himself on the couch, hoping to get a glance of what’s under that dress. “My eyes are up here asshole.” You shift, pulling the skirt down to cover up, only to expose more cleavage. Sitting on the opposite couch with Rafe, you glare at the man across from you. “And she’s feisty. I like her. Do you want anything?”

“No. I’ve never done drugs and I sure as hell am not doing them with you.” You retort, their eyes staring at you like you have two heads. Fuck! Anxiety fills you, thinking you fucked up by offending him. “You’ve never done drugs?” Rafe asks, eyes scanning your face waiting for it to show your joking. “Nope. Never done them.” You shrug. It’s not like the opportunity hasn’t occurred. Mostly every party in Obx has some sort of drug, in highschool your boyfriend even smoked weed, it just never was your thing. But mainly you never felt comfortable enough with a person to let you inhibition lower, too scared of what you will say or do.

“Well I’ll be damned. Got yourself a good girl huh, country club?” Rafe tenses up besides you, ready to push himself up off this couch and bash his face in. The nickname he gave you now leaving a bad taste in his mouth, hating the fact that someone else called you it. You hand finds his thigh, halting his actions, he takes a deep breath. “Can we get this over with? Got shit to do.” Rafe tried real hard to keep his tone cool, the words still coming out bitter. “Yeah I bet you do.” Barry’s looking at you again, practically undressing you with his eyes. Rafe’s eyes narrow, his fist balling up so close to teaching Barry not even address your existence.

“Alright, alright let’s go. Why don’t you just wait here? Wouldn’t want to taint you.” He gets up, walking off to the back of the house, a door closing separating you and Rafe from him. “Why don’t you go to the truck? I can meet you there once I'm done.” Rafes already up before finishing his sentence about to walk off, you stopping him so he can’t get too far. “Don’t do anything stupid, okay?” “Promise.”

With that you leave, standing outside to enjoy the weather, it was perfect. A gnawing feeling is somewhere deep down, worried of what could be happening in there. Was he getting high? No, he wouldn’t, he wouldn’t put you in that danger. He was driving for god sakes, he wouldn't, right? The voices in your head are going a thousand miles per hour, throwing scenario after scenario.

You don’t know how long you were out there, it wasn’t a long time but your mind made it feel like hours. “You alright?” Rafe’s voice is right behind you, startling you in the process. “Oh god don’t do that.” You shriek, your right hand swatting him as your left clutches your chest. “Did you get everything?” He opens the door for you, the action making you blush, he smirks when he notices.

“Yeah, just some coke and weed to sell tomorrow night.” He gets in throwing the bags of drugs in the glove compartment. You can smell his cologne, it’s the one you got him for his birthday. “I like your cologne.” The words escape before you can stop them, shutting your eyes waiting for the teasing that's about to happen. “Thanks. Some pretty girl gave it to me, good to know it works.” He’s starting the truck and out the driveway as you think of what he just said.

There’s him calling you pretty again so effortlessly like he didn’t even need to think. “Works?” You question. “Been wearing it since I got it. Glad you finally noticed.” His eyes darted to you before going back to the road. You don’t know what to say, he’s been wearing it for months. When you first gave it to him you were nervous, you never had to give a present to someone who practically has everything.

It was one of the only things you could afford at the time, knowing he wears it seems weird to you. Why would he wear it just so you could notice? He has to be teasing you, yeah that’s it. There’s no way that everyday for almost a year he’s worn it. His birthday is in September and it's already June. He couldn’t have possibly worn it this whole time.

Rafe turns on the radio before your thoughts make you crazy, the song silencing them. The older song fills the car, filling the gaps in conversation. You roll the window down, sticking your arm out the window to feel the wind as you pass the trees lining the road. Whatever is happening between you is confusing. There are moments when you feel like there is something more, that there's this thin layer separating you from falling. Every stolen kiss, touch, words, chipping away from the layer ready to pull you under. Rafe keeps glancing at you, wanting to say something but nothing comes to mind

“Try to stop my hands from shakin’. ‘Cause somethin’ in my mind’s not making sense.”

Rafe listens to the song, lyrics infiltrating his mind.

“It’s been awhile since we were all alone. I can’t hide the way I’m feelin’. As you’re leaving, please, would you close the door? And don’t forget what I told ya.”

He’s staring now, barely looking at the road, just enough to make sure he doesn’t crash the truck. You are humming along to the song, lost in your own thoughts, trying to enjoy this moment worried it would be ripped away. He can’t stop himself from placing his hand on your thigh, right below the hem of the sundress. His fingers digging into your skin to give you a little squeeze, getting you to look at him.

“Just ‘cause you’re right, that doesn't mean I’m wrong. Another shoulder to cry upon.”

Rafe can’t take it anymore, the sun lighting your hair is giving you a halo. It makes you look like an angel. You were an angel, his angel. He’s not in control anymore, his emotions are running high and he doesn’t know how to handle it. This whole thing is new to him. Rafe has never had someone in his life to feel this strongly about. His grip on the steering wheel tightens as he goes to pull over to the side of the road. “Rafe, what are you doing?” A laugh follows your question. “You just look so fucking beautiful right now. I need to kiss you.”

“I just wanna use your love tonight, yeah. I don’t wanna lose your love tonight. Yeah, I just wanna use your love tonight.”

Putting the car in park, his seatbelt flies off of him as he leans over the center console. The radio fading into the background. His left hand grabs your face to pull you into a kiss, his right hand unbuckling you from your seat. You didn’t even need to think about it, you kissed him back deeper, throwing your arms around his neck. The two of you sit there for a few minutes, just kissing each other breaking apart only to get a quick breath of air before diving back in. Neither of you really want to stop, too caught up in the feeling of each other. Ever since you both opened up to each other, even just a smidge, it brought you closer together. Tying a piece of you to the other. Pulling away you open your eyes to notice he still had his closed and a goofy lopsided smile. It was small but you still saw it. “Let’s get in the backseat.”

“Oh yeah? What’re you going to do?” Rafe questions, his right eyebrow raising. “Hurry up before I change my mind.” You challenge. “Yes ma’am.” He retorts, a quick kiss being shared before you climb into the backseat. Rafe gets out of the car, opening the backdoor to join you. “Really out in the open? Should have known you liked having people watch you considering you like watching.” As he tries to get settled in the back, the memory of what started this floods you. Not trying to overthink it, you throw your leg over his lap, your hands resting on the backseats. “Maybe I just don’t mind it when it’s you I’m doing with.” You shrug it off by kissing him.

It took his brain a minute to catch up before he deepened the kiss, focusing on the little confession for a second too long. Rafe’s hands are rubbing up your thigh, pinching the skin just to smooth it over once again. His right hand creeps higher up your thigh as you grind down on him, going underneath the dress and stopping. Rafe breaks the kiss pulling his head back, his fingers twitching. “Are you not wearing any underwear?” You blush at being called out, but you're too turned on to even feel embarrassed so you grind down harder.

“Thought they would just get in the way.” You go to lean in again but his other hand stops you. “You’re telling me that you were sitting at Barry’s with no panties on? God what did I do to deserve such a dirty girl.” This time it’s him going in for a kiss, cupping your neck and hip as your hips pick up their movement. You can feel him through his jeans, his hard dick rubbing against your clit perfectly, but you felt empty. You wanted to feel him stretch you to your limits again, addicted to the pain of having him open you up.

Your hands skim down his chest, landing on his toned stomach as you tease the button of his jeans. “How much do you want me?” You ask, your lips leaving a trail of kisses from his mouth to his neck, sucking on it till you leave a little bruise and lick it. “So fucking much Sunny. You have no idea.” He moans out, the hand under your dress finds your clit, rubbing small tight circles. It’s not long before you are ripping his jeans off him, he lifts his hips allowing you to pull them down, the boxers he wears go along with them.

“Why don’t you be a good girl and ride me. Huh baby? Show me who makes you feel good.” Oh god, if he kept talking like that you could probably cum just from his voice. The raspy low voice was like music to your ears, you could listen to it for hours on end. Your soft hand wraps around him, giving a little tug, lifting you up and lining him up to your entrance. Rafe closes his eyes ready to feel your tight walls squeeze him to an inch of death but nothing happens.

He peeps an eye to look at you and you're just there looking down at him with a light smile. “Come o-oh fuck.” His sentence interrupted by you sinking down on him, you moan at the stretch. When you bottom out he grips your hips keeping you in place, giving you time to adjust to his size. Considering he did prep you with his fingers, he doesn’t want to hurt you. Your soft whimpers fill the car as you move slightly, the motion causing him to brush against your g-spot and you clit against the patch of his hair.

“You feel so good baby. So fucking big.” You whine into his ear, burying your head in his neck, the feeling of him too much. The words rush straight to his dick making it twitch, his hips rutting,arms going around your body to hold you. You moan at the feeling, your hips start to move on their own accord, grinding until you gain the confidence to raise your hips.

You lean back making eye contact as you raise your hips before slamming them back down on him. His eyes roll to the back of his head, his mouth dropping into an “O” shape. You keep bouncing, your nails scratching his chest to ground you to something. In this position he feels deeper, it’s a little bit painful but it felt like heaven. Rafe’s hands dig into your hips helping to lift you up and bring you down.

The two of you stay like that, you bouncing on him, his dick rubbing your g-spot in the greatest way. One of the hands on your hips slowly travels to your clit adding to the stimulation you were already feeling. “Oh fuck baby. So perfect, my perfect little girl.” You just moan at him, leaning back between the front seats. Your hands find the middle counsel to keep you upright, giving you extra leverage to keep bouncing.

His other hand glides up your stomach, giving your left tit a squeeze before pinching your nipple. “That feel good?” He comments after hearing your moan increase in pitch. “Yes.” you breath out, you're so close to cumming, tingles spreading from you abdomen throughout your body. Rafe leans closer to you, his mouth wrapping around the nipple he isn’t playing with. The suction of his mouth felt amazing, his teeth grazing your pebbled nipple. The fluttering of your walls alert Rafe that you are about to cum.

“Cum for me Sunny.” Just like that you were cumming, your hand grasping his shoulder due to the intensity. Your nails leave red marks all over his shoulder and collar as you claw at him, getting over stimulated as he keeps you bouncing. He wraps an arm around you to stabilize you out, the orgasim taking the energy out of you. Your limb in his arms, barely noticing him moving you both back so he’s resting on the seat and you're on his chest.

“It’s okay baby, I got you.” Rafe whispers in your ear. He’s thrusting up into you now, chasing his own pleasure. “Harder.” You moan out wanting him to ruin you. He picks up his pace, pulling you down as he thrusts up, filling you up deliciously. You can feel him throbbing, his hips starting to lose their rhythm. You lift your arm resting it on the seat behind his head, your hand scratching the back of his head.

His hand finds you clit again, wanting to feel you cum around his dick one more time. “You got one more in you right? I know you can give me one more.” You nod, your senses coming back to you, your hips meeting his to give him what he wants. It wasn’t long before you were cumming again, shaking in his arms feeling his cum fill you up as your orgasim triggers his. You just rock back and forth trying to get the feeling to last longer. After a few rocks, Rafe stopped you, hissing at the stimulation.

Pulling you off of him, he places you in the seat next to him to get some extra napkins to clean you up. “Why don’t we go get some food and then go home.” He suggested throwing the napkins on the floor of the truck. Home. Hearing him call Tannyhill home as if you belong there, not just as a nanny, but actually belong there makes you happy. It’s probably foolish to get happy or excited knowing this will fade soon. But you can’t help but want that.

You want Tanny to be your home, the thought scares you but it’s the truth. Being there has made you the happiest you’ve been in a really long time. “Yeah. Think we can get burgers? Been craving them for the last week.” He fixes your dress pulling you both out the car and into the front. “We can get whatever you want.”

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“Hey you go in and get our order. I need to run to the store real quick.” Rafe is parked outside the restaurant. You had placed the order on the way over but there was still at least ten minutes before it would be ready. “Yeah I can. Grab me some chocolate.” You tell him as you get out. Walking into the restaurant you can tell how busy they are, the tables are full and there's a line of people waiting for a table. “How can I help you?” The hostess asked. “I have an order.” You tell her your name, waiting to the side as she said it would still be a while.

You pull out your phone and answer some texts from your friends. You notice the message chain with your mom. You wanted to reach out to them, say you are sorry and give them the money, but rafe words creep into your brain. You are finally living your life the way that you want to live it, not how they want you to live. Finally breaking the tension with Rafe seemed to be a blessing in disguise.

The hostess calling your name snaps you out of the thought of your parents. You grab the order walking out the building ready to call Rafe when you see the truck pulling up. The window is rolled down and you can see him leaning on the counsel to look at you standing there. “Got an uber for Sunny, have you seen her? She’s pretty short, beautiful, sassy beyond belief.” You roll our eyes while opening the door and getting in.

You place the food down between your feet and buckle up. “Haha, so funny. Everyone looks short when they are standing next to you, giraffe.” The name made him chuckle, his hand pushing your hair back and playing with the strands. “As long as you like giraffe’s I’m okay with being yours.” You stare at him, bewildered at what he just said.

He’s okay with being yours? After the past few days your feelings have been confusing. You have always found him attractive but didn’t want to risk your job or Wheezie. It’s been harder to not let those feelings come out when you are around him. You grab his hand and bring it to your lips, giving it a light kiss. You intertwine your hands and bring them to your lap, brushing your thumb along his hands. “I love them.” You smile.

The words have a deeper meaning than what you both want to admit. Your smiling contagious as one starts to form on his face. “Good.” His eyes are intense, willing you to confess something more, just a little more to give him the courage to do the same. No words are said, Rafe diverts his eyes from you, swallowing the lump in his throat. The words that threatened to spill, dying and being locked away once again.

He doesn’t know when the crushing weight in his chest began to form. The uncomfortable feeling in his throat caused him to clear it. Rafe shouldn’t think too much about it, he knows this is just for fun. But when he looks at you he knows that he’s lying to himself, he doesn’t even want to think about stopping what you have. It doesn’t matter what he wants, he will never be good enough for you, he’ll just have to settle for what you will give him. “Let’s get home. We can eat and watch that movie you were talking about the other week.”

He remembered the movie, you thought. He also has been wearing the birthday cologne you got him. He couldn’t be more perfect, you wish these were different circumstances. That you weren’t just some girl that worked for his family and he was just the son of your boss. You wish that at this moment you were more, someone who was worth more, someone who could actually be his. Maybe for just a moment you can actually believe that you deserve him. “Yeah that sounds good. Let’s go home.”

#rafe x reader #rafe cameron #rafe cameron smut #rafe smut #rafe obx #outer banks smut #drew starkey smut #rafe cameron fanfiction

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konboyblues · 3 months

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kon calling yj meetings sans bart in ma and pa’s barn, complete with a slideshow and ma’s cookies and lemonade bc kon needs to go through his talking points before confessing his love to bart. yj of course gives him pointers and feedback accordingly so he doesn’t fuck this up.

meanwhile barry’s teaching bart how to avoid jailtime in a sciencell by mapping out how to fuck with the timestream this way and that way while maintaining control and giving the speed force, the great darkness, AND the presence enough entertainment that they’ll continue to stick by his side even if he decides to break the multiverse bc of a personal problem. what kinda personal problem, bart asks. oh you know, a mental breakdown or four, says barry. max is watching from five feet away, contemplating suicide while helen helps bart take notes on barry’s tips and tricks on unmaking and remaking universes bc of personal problems.

#bartkon #konbart #young justice #kon el #bart allen #flashfam #max mercury #helen claiborne #barry allen #real talk #dc comics

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marubien · 3 months

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How would you rewrite Mulan 2?

I'd just begin from scratch really. I tried to come up what would I keep from the existing sequel and I think that's maybe just the yin-yang necklaces. Which were a deleted idea from the first movie anyway.

Easy and lazy answer would be to go with whatever idea they had in Mulan 2's deleted scene, battle sequence, (check it out, it's super cool). It's like spy-ninja-duo of Mulan and Shang working like a badass couple. Mulan 2 concept arts (part 1, part 2) are not too bad either, and although they definitely have some usual Disney sequel cliches(eg. having the girl Mushu dragon), I'd still think I could enjoy it a bit more than what they ended up with.

Then there's Barry Cook's draft, aka the co-director of the original movie wrote synopsis for the potential sequel when he heard that Disney was considering of doing sequel to Mulan. In fact there was going to be Mulan 3 as well, apparently Mulan 2 ruined it as it was too badly received. There's hardly anything known of Barry Cook's draft details, just that soon-to-be-married Mulan and Shang are sent to north since things are happening there, and at the end there would have been an epic battle between Mulan's ancestors and Shan Yu's deceased army.

Actually I lied earlier what would be easiest and laziest. That would be just doing the visual novel The Palace of Secrets. Seriously I wouldn't change a thing.

There's many directions where one could go with the sequel really, some fanfics have done pretty amazing job exploring different options. I have made a post where I put up some fanfic recommendations, but some are like one-shots so they could hardly be sequels.

Personally, rather than a sequel movie I really really would like to see Mulan tv-series. Something like Tangled: the Series. It could have the sillier filler episodes but the main plot could be epic. Series could also make possible to explore side characters' character arc in more detail. I have played with this idea before too, with my friend @mulanxiaojie.

I'm quite satisfield how the first movie ended, but I'll list some pointers that I and I think most would like to see in a continuation story:

Mulan getting a career

Mulan and Shang getting together

Chi Fu x Matchmaker :P

And then some that are not really necessary but would be really interesting to see, just to list some of the potential sequel tv series could have:

Fa Zhou's past

Mulan's and Granma Fa's relationship

seeing the other guardians besides Mushu (and the Great Stone Dragon)

developing Gang of Three as invidual characters

exploring historical China

an actual villain (should be basic but the sequel didn't have that)

#disney #mulan #mulan 2 #sequel rewrite #shang #deleted scene #barry cook #palace of sectrets #mulan tv series #ask #answered #thanks for the ask!#feel free to discuss your ideas

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thislovintime · 8 months

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During the filming of “Monkee See, Monkee Die,” June 1966.

“Midway through the season, we shot one of my favorites episodes of all time, ‘Getting Davy Jones.’ As the head of Fernwood Junior High’s Davy Jones Fan Club, Marcia is responsible for getting the impossibly cute lead singer from the Monkees to appear at their prom, and after various miscommunications and lots of worry, she comes through. […] Davy’s arrival on the set created a buzz greater than any other guest star we had on the show. Of course I was thrilled to be the one who got to interact with him. I can see why Eve could get jealous. Davy was a lovely guy, and it was a big deal to have a pop star of his caliber on the set. I noticed Barry watch him the way one might if looking for pointers. Though excited to be the object of his affection, or rather attention, I didn’t show it. I’d learned to play it cool around stars. My heart fluttered when he kissed me at the end, I’ll admit it, but Peter Tork was always my favorite Monkee. That was the difference between Marcia and me. She was predictable, a straight arrow. My taste was quirky, offbeat, and different.” - Maureen McCormick, Here’s The Story: Surviving Marcia Brady and Finding My True Voice (2009)

Q: “What do you want to do when The Monkees break up? Peter: “I try not to think too much about what happens after the Monkees break up. It’s rather depressing since I don’t know what I want to do. So far, I’ve found my greatest joy in being a performer and musician. When I’m on stage performing, I get a feeling of fulfillment that I don’t get at any other time. I’m inclined to think that I wouldn’t spend much time on television unless there was a live audience. That’s what really makes it fun — having the people right there. I like to work with a crowd, to sort of mold the act to suit the type of people in your audience. You don’t get that kind of challenge on a television set, except an occasional laugh from the crew. They get so used to your antics and they’ve seen you when you’re not quite so clever, so it’s very difficult to get a reaction from them. With a normal audience, however, even when they don’t react, it’s some kind of non-reaction. Maybe they can’t hear you or they can’t understand you or they just don’t like you. So, in conclusion, more or less, I think I’d want to do something for a live audience, but what sort of thing, I don’t know yet. Maybe I never will.” - Flip, August 1967

“[Peter] has reactivated some old contacts and recently tried out at Paramount for comedy spots on ‘Happy Days,’ ‘Laverne and Shirley’ and ‘Mork and Mindy.’ ‘ I’m trying comedy because I know I’m glib, and I know I’m good at it,’ he said. ‘And I’m taking acting lessons. I’ll be glib one day in drama too. ‘Maybe first I can get a walk-on, then some solid comedic roles, then maybe in time a feature role in another series, then films, then maybe I can make enough to finance my music, which is really what I want to do,’ he said, the bounds of his quite sincere fantasy mushrooming in a minute.” - article by Steve Sonsky, The Miami Herald, February 18, 1979 (x)

#Peter Tork #Tork quotes #Monkees fans #The Monkees #Monkees #what if... of Tork history #Maureen McCormick #Davy Jones #The Brady Bunch #60s Tork #Tork fan recollections #(so... we might have had Peter on The Brady Bunch if they'd asked Maureen who her favorite is...)#long read #can you queue it

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unprettybutwellpolished · 4 months

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HI BARBIE ! ~

This nail art is so Barbie coded and it's definitely intended! At first, I wanted to reproduced the Barbie nail art that Coewless posted on her IG page but I wasn't satisfied with the result so I decided to do it my way. I'm really happy with the design I came up with. The colors look so great together. I especially like my pointer and middle fingernails.

Polishes I used :

OPI : Can't CTRL Me

Essie : Lovie Dovie

China Glaze : Sweet As Pinkie Pie

Sephora : Way To Heaven

Barry M : Socialite

Bourjois : Flambant Rose

Hema : Sunny Flowers

White & Black Polishes

Blog | Twitter | Pinterest | Facebook

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cardcaptorsakura96 · 2 months

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Taxes, Taxes, Taxes- Chapter 27

Fandom: Supergirl

Characters: Kara Danvers, Clark Kent, Samantha Arias, Lena Luthor, Lillian Luthor, Ruby Arias, Oliver Queen, John Stewart, Diana Prince, Bruce Wayne, Barry Allen, J'onn J'onnz, Alfred Pennyworth, Lois Lane, Cat Grant, Lucy Lane, Damian Wayne, Felicity Smoak, Streaky the Supercat, Martha Kent, Selina Kyle, Talia Al Ghul, Lucius Fox, Maggie Sawyer, Alex Danvers, Jason Todd, Otis Graves, Lex Luthor

Summary: What if superheroes had to pay a property damage tax every time they had a fight in the city?

Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 10, Chapter 11, Chapter 12, Chapter 13, Chapter 14, Chapter 15, Chapter 16, Chapter 17, Chapter 18, Chapter 19, Chapter 20, Chapter 21, Chapter 22, Chapter 23, Chapter 24, Chapter 25, Chapter 26

Kara stretched while sitting on the sofa in the living room of Wayne Manor. She was currently sitting next to Barry while Diana, Bruce, and Oliver sat on the chairs opposite of them.

Barry yawned and said, “I am kind of surprised that Damian wasn’t the first one here. He seemed really excited about the prospect of playing.”

“I can assure you I have been here the entire time Flash.”

Barry yelped as Damian suddenly appeared behind Barry.

After catching his breath, Barry turned around to Damian, frowned and asked, “Where the hell did you come from?”

Damian smirked and said, “Don’t be mad that you didn’t suspect my presence.” Damian patted Flash on the back and said, “Maybe if you are nice I can give you pointers on stealth.”

Barry rolled her eyes while Kara chuckled.

“You have the stealth thing down Damian. I was barely able to detect your heartbeat which I am not sure if that is something I should be amazed or worry about,” said Kara.

Damian smirked and said, “One day I will surprise you Supergirl.”

Kara smirked and said, “I look forward to the challenge.”

Damian turned to his father and asked, “Father, did Drake, Todd, or Grayson say when they will be here?”

Bruce nodded and said, “They just finished up a mission and will be here in about 15 minutes. Why?”

Damian smirked and said, “It will give Supergirl, Flash, and me a chance to talk about strategy. I see that you brought the heavy hitters with you, but I suggest you take the time we have to do the same.” Damian turned towards Kara and Flash and said, “Come. We have much to discuss.”

Diana and Oliver stared at the trio startled as Kara and Barry shrugged their shoulders and followed Damian out of the living room.

Oliver turned to Bruce as with a raised eyebrow and said, “When you told me about this, you said it would be a nice game of paintball. Why do I have a feeling now that it will be something similar to war games?”

Bruce sighed and said, “Knowing Damian it is or it could be a dig at the fact that I have lost every game night since we started this about a month or two ago.”

Oliver bursted out laughing and asked, “Wait….you’re telling me….the great detective….hasn’t won anything yet. You can’t be serious.”

Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose and said, “Please don’t make me regret asking you to come tonight.”

Oliver wiped a tear from his eye and said, “I’m sorry. I just didn’t see that coming is all.”

Diana chuckled while patting Bruce on the back and said, “Don’t worry. We will make sure that this isn’t another losing streak for you.”

Bruce leaned back into his chair, sighed, and said, “I hope so.”

*****

Kara and Barry sat on Damian’s bed as they watched Damian go through his wardrobe in search of something.

Barry yawned and asked, “So what is this secret strategy that you want to discuss so badly.”

Damian turned around and carried a box to his bed. He opened the box and smirked while looking at the contents inside.

Barry looked at Damian hesitantly and asked, “Whatever you have inside the box isn’t alive, is it?”

Damian scoffed and said, “You have an overactive imagination, Barry.”

He looked back down in the box, grabbed two gift bags, and handed them to Barry and Kara.

While peeking inside the gift bag, Kara asked, “What are these for?”

Damian smirked and said, “To win, we need to show team spirit. I thought a good start of that was having a team uniform.”

Kara and Barry looked down at the gift bags in surprise. Each gift bag had several clothing items: a black shirt with the words “Worlds Finest” with their logos directly underneath it (Supergirl symbol, lightning symbol, and a bat symbol), a baseball hat with the same imagery as the t-shirt, black pants, and black gym shoes.

Barry looked back up at Damian shocked and said, “These are really nice. You didn’t have to go through all this trouble.”

Damian looked down while grabbing his uniform from the box and said, “I know I didn’t have to, but we should go in as a united front if doing this. It will help with morale.”

Barry and Kara turned to look at each other and smirked.

Damian frowned and asked, “What is that look for?”

Kara smiled and said, “It is nice to see that you care is all. This is very sweet of you.”

Damian scowled and said, “It isn’t that big of a deal.”

Barry chuckled and said, “Dude, just take the compliment. I know that I will be wearing this a lot after today.”

Damian looked up surprised and asked, “Really?”

Kara chuckled and said, “Of course. I can’t wait to wear it and show it to Lena later.”

Damian looked down while rubbing the back of his neck and said, “I am glad that you guys like the items.”

Damian cleared his throat and said, “Anyways…” He walked over to his nightstand and grabbed out his laptop while Kara and Barry chuckled among themselves. They enjoyed seeing a little vulnerable side to Damian.

As Damian started typing on his laptop, he turned it towards the duo and said, “I found out that we will be playing in the bat cave. I went out and took photos in order to make a 3d rendering of the space. I thought we can discuss which spaces in the cave would give us the best advantage points.”

Barry raised an eyebrow and asked, “Isn’t this supposed to be just a friendly game between peers?”

Damian scowled and asked, “What rock have you been living under? This is a test to prove myself to Father that I can go back into the field. He is trying to make this extra difficult since he requested the assistance of Arrow and the Amazon princess.”

Barry sighed and asked, “Don’t you think you are being a tad bit overdramatic? The more likely reason why he asked Wonder Woman and Green Arrow here today is because Bruce got tired of being in last place all the time.”

Damian gave Barry a deadpan stare.

Barry rolled his eyes and said, “Fine. If you really think this is some conspiracy of people being out to get you, what do you suggest our course of action is?”

Read the rest on AO3

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barry-j-blupjeans · 2 years

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@taznovembercelebration - Laughing / Crying

Lucretia has done a lot of things she regretted in her life. She regretted that the last thing she said to her parents was a half-hearted goodbye, even if they were kind of shitty. She regretted ever learning she was allergic to bananas because the itchy mouth feeling was bad, but the taste was so good. You couldn't exactly get your hands on a banana when the six only other people that are a constant in your life through all of existence now know you're allergic to them. She regretted many things from cycle sixty-four- being too trusting, too naive, not knowing how to repair the ship engines in the way that Barry or Davenport did, making the same mistakes over and over again. She regretted wishing Lup good night the evening before she went missing, she regretted that Magnus walked in on The Redaction.

And there it was. Her biggest and most obvious regret, perhaps, was The Redaction itself. She doesn't regret it in the way she expected to regret it. She had expected to wish she had never done it in the first place, to wish that she could take it all back, that this was the worst mistake of her life. But time marched on in spite of her decision and nowadays, Lucretia mostly regretted that it was taking so long.

In complete and utter honesty, though? Lucretia's absolute worst regret was whatever choices had led her to this moment. At this point, she doesn't know how she got here, and she was too afraid to ask.

"So," Magnus said, using his presentation pointer- one of the big pink sticks with a cartoonish gloved hand at the end, pointing one finger- to gesture to the giant pad of paper he had dragged in here sometime earlier. On the paper, he had drawn an anime-esque dog, with eyes much too detailed to be natural. Above the nightmare dog were large letters, which spelled out, "-This is why dogs should be allowed on the moon."

"Magnus," Lucretia said, exhaustedly. "I really don't have time-"

"Point number one," Magnus said. He flipped the cover paper up to reveal a second drawing of a dog looking down over the edge of the moon base, but politely staying where it wouldn't, in the paper's words, launch itself directly into the ground. "Dogs can learn. A big problem I've noticed with your rule, Madam Director, is that you think dogs will just run off the edge of the moon. And I see where you're coming from! If you have only been around untrained dogs, then that is a very valid concern. Fortunately for us, I'm proficient in animal handling and can train any dog, no problem. Magnus "The Dog Whisperer" Burnsides is what they called me in high school."

"I'm sure they didn't," Lucretia said. She was slowly sinking into her desk chair. She was going to have to be late for her meeting with HR today. Again. Actually, maybe she should be grateful for this, because at least she would have an excuse this time.

"But Magnus! I hear you say-"

"I did not even come close to saying that."

"What if you can't train the dog? What if it's just too wild and untamable, like your gorgeous and luscious hair?" Magnus ran a hand through said gorgeous and luscious hair, which was sticking straight up in the back. She wasn't actually sure if Magnus had slept at all last night. "Well, if that impossible scenario arrives, then I have a second solution for you."

He flipped the page again. This one just had the word "FENCE" written on it and underlined three times.

"Fence," Magnus said.

"A fence," Lucretia said dryly. "Wow, Magnus, why didn't I think of that?"

"It took me a while to come up with, don't worry," Magnus said. "But a fence will solve all the problems I can't. Make it high enough to be sure that the dogs won't jump over it and bam! Everything is fine! But Magnus, where can I get a fence that long without revealing that I run a secret organization on the moon?"

"I literally didn't even open my mouth this time."

"Good question," Magnus said. "And the answer you're looking for is right in front of you." He flipped the paper up again. This time, it was just a drawing of his own face, with the same, insanely detailed anime eyes. Lucretia wanted to cry. She wanted to laugh. Instead, she just buried her face in her hands and tried not to feel anything, at all.

"For this cause, I will lower my commission rate to fifty percent-" and that's what broke Lucretia. She sunk further into her chair, wheezing. Even she didn't know if she was laughing or crying. It was just kind of… all of her emotions, all at once, which resulted in her sounding like a dying horse. "-and I'll even throw in the sweet, sweet deal of the large project bundle. In total, this will only cost you about six thousand gold."

"Mag- Magnus," Lucretia said, reduced to tears by whatever the hell she was feeling. Amusement? Stress? Regret was definitely, definitely in that mix somewhere. "I- I have a meeting to go to-"

"I'll be quick, then!" Magnus said, flipping to the next paper. Lucretia didn't even bother to look up. "You may be asking yourself now, but what if we get a really big dog and it can't be trained and it can jump over fences? Well, may I introduce to you: The Dog Parachute."

Gods, Lucretia knew she took more than half his memories, but she doesn't know why she was hoping that would make him any less stupid.

#taz nc #taz november celebration #magnus burnsides #lucretia #taz #taz balance #mine #ise cube writing

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bluejaysandblackbats · 3 months

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Heels Over Head

Fandom: DC Comics, Flashfam

Summary: Young Don tries to impress Meloni with some help.

Chapters: 1/?

Characters: Don Allen, Meloni Thawne, Dawn Allen, Jeven Ognats, Barry Allen, Iris Allen, Wally West

Relationships: Don Allen/Meloni Thawne, Dawn Allen/Jeven Ognats, BarryIris

Additional Tags: No Capes AU, No Powers AU, College AU, Don Allen and Meloni Thawne First Meet, POV Don Allen, Romance, Fluff, Silly Antics in Flashfam

Chapter One: Origami

I didn’t usually run late. I stopped to grab a coffee at the campus cafe. But buying a coffee took longer than I expected. I ran across the quad with coffee before running into a beautiful woman with tousled hair and stylish sunglasses. She held me still while she looked me over. “Did I hurt you? I’m such a clumsy ox… Jeez, and I—. I spilled your coffee!” she shouted in Interlac. “Oh, let me buy you another.” I smiled, picking up the cup to toss it in the trash.

“No, it’s alright. I should be apologizing to you—.”

“Please. My conscience will eat at me if you don’t let me buy you another,” the young woman insisted. I attempted to shrug it off.

“Sorry… I’m already running late for class—.”

“Give me your classroom number and your order,” she interrupted. I opened my mouth to protest, and she took out a notepad from her skirt pocket. I could tell she wasn’t willing to let me go without replacing it. So, I wrote my room number and order, not expecting her to follow through. I just wanted to get to class on time. She took her notepad, and we went our separate ways.

I snuck into the back of my auditorium class and got my notes and pens together.

The professor was a few minutes late getting started, so I didn’t lose any time. My professor started every class with music and had us journal our feelings. We journaled for ten minutes before touching on the curriculum, and I almost forgot about my run-in with the woman. The door opened, and I glanced to my left to see the woman from earlier creeping toward me. She sat next to me and slid my coffee to me. “Oh, um—.” She held her pointer finger to her lips to discreetly shush me. Then, I watched as she took her journal out and took notes as if she were in the class. I sipped my coffee and smiled. It was perfect. We sat next to each other, taking notes for the duration of the class while she drank a smoothie.

She was peculiar in every way imaginable. She never took her sunglasses off, leaned in to sip her drink without using her hands, and silently clapped whenever someone said something interesting. There was an alienness to her that was so prevalent that her beauty didn’t distract from it. It almost felt like a fever dream to interact with her. When the class ended, she collected her things and left without a word. I followed her, trying to keep up as she rushed across the street and stopped at the park. She sifted through a crowd of children at an ice cream truck, reached into her bag, and handed the ice cream man a sizeable amount of cash. The children cheered as the girl stepped aside and let the kids get their ice creams. After they dispersed, she got her ice cream and pointed in my direction. I assumed she wasn’t talking about me, but there was no denying it once she sat beside me on the bench.

“Do you want the Oreo Klondike or the wonky Spider-Man? Wait… Are you vegan or lactose intolerant?” she asked. I shook my head.

“Thank you… Could I have the weird Spider-Man?” I asked. She giggled and nodded.

“I have that class later in the day… I won’t have to go now,” she explained. I opened my ice cream and started eating. “Do you ever wonder what it feels like to be a child?”

I tilted my head, staring at her, waiting for an explanation. She ate her ice cream, stopping once to clutch her head with brain freeze. The girl pressed her thumb to the roof of her mouth and ate the rest of her ice cream sandwich. I wanted to tell her she was beautiful, but it wouldn’t have meant anything… Not to someone like her. “You say that as if you weren’t a child. Don’t you remember?” I asked. She shook her head.

“Me? Oh, no. I was never a child… Just—. I was younger and smaller,” she whispered, pausing with fingers dancing on her chin. “No… I don’t believe I was a child. I was something else entirely.” I chewed my lip. “Were you a child?”

“I was… I think,” I replied.

She leaned close, lowering her sunglasses until we were almost close enough to kiss. “You probably were… But you don’t remember,” she replied, “Thank you for having an ice cream with me.”

I opened my mouth to tell her something, but she stood up to leave. “Do you have to go?” I asked. She pinched my cheek.

“We’ll see each other again. I’m sure of it,” the girl replied, “And maybe … Maybe you’ll remember what being a child was like… I hope you’ll tell me.”

I nodded, speechless, as I watched her walk away. I finished my ice cream and stared up at the clouds. Something about that exchange felt so genuine and intimate. I didn’t want to forget, so I went over it in my head a million times. After several minutes, I decided to take the streetcar home.

I liked the scenery. The trees and the sunlight through the dirty windows. It was a pretty picture of home. My parents were American, but we grew up in another country, Interla. I’d never known any other place. I watched the city unfold in colors. Blurs of lavender, pink, and greens. I saw murals and beautiful bricks. I saw my world at over one hundred miles an hour… And it was lovely. Meeting that young woman felt like riding in the streetcar. I met her when my mind was going one hundred miles an hour, and before I knew it, our interaction was over.

How do you forget someone who makes you feel that way? How do you go on walking around after meeting someone so uniquely beautiful? There was no one like her. No one that I could think of. It isn’t every day you meet someone who gives you a task you want to follow through on. Not out of mere duty to someone… No.

I wanted to remember childhood in the purest sense to understand her. If I could return to the things that made me smile and laugh as a child, I could understand what she asked of me. I took it seriously. I had to. I was convinced she was curious and that I could win her affection —or attention— by giving her words honest consideration. It was my semi-scientific approach to a peculiar crush. I knew nothing about her outside of the things I observed. She was considerably wealthy. She was a college student… And she was kind. I didn’t know her name, dreams, or aspirations, but I wanted to know. I wanted to know everything there was to learn about her. I desired to unfold her bit by bit like a story. First, I became interested in the look. Then, I noticed the outward quality… And I would later fall in love with the everything. The truth. The person. The flaws that hid behind the cover. I’d never been more in love in my life.

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voidfishing · 2 years

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I already talked about this in an ask a few days ago but. I genuinely cannot stop thinking about Mavis and Mookie interacting with the rest of the IPRE/bureau so here is a headcanon collection

- Magnus, Carey, and Lup are so entertained by Mookie’s constant state of excitement. this kid is so fucking funny to them. Magnus and Carey play the most intense rough-and-tumble games with him every single time they see him. Lup gets to be the Cool Aunt by showing him pyrotechnics and telling him scary stories!! she brags that she’s his favorite even though he claims that they’re all his favorite

- both Mavis and Mookie adore Barry. he is the coolest uncle ever just by virtue of being Barry Bluejeans. he gets them little gifts and tells fun stories and does a hilarious impression of Merle. half of their visits end up with Mookie falling asleep to one of Barry’s stories

- Taako thinks Mookie is the scariest little child on the planet. he bakes an excessive amount of sweets to try to keep him preoccupied whenever he visits his house. his philosophy is that if Mookie is distracted by his food he will run around less and there will be a lower risk of him breaking anything

- despite Taako having no idea what to do with Mookie, Mookie just adores him. he thinks he’s so funny!! while mostly everyone else tries to filter their language at least a bit around the kids, Taako almost never does, and cursing in front of Mookie is a sure-fire way to entertain him (Taako uses this as leverage, promising to teach Mookie a new swear if he doesn’t break anything in his house)

- Mavis asks Killian to help her train every so often, and the two end up becoming really close really quickly as Killian sees just how competent an adventurer Mavis is at such a young age. it’s pretty common for Carey and Lup, and occasionally Lucretia, to join them just to spar or give pointers or offer Mavis a bit more education about magic and her potential adventuring paths. basically Mavis has the coolest aunts in the whole world and they all love her and want to help her find her path

- Mavis loves loves loves spending time with Lucretia. she is fascinated with the stories she tells even though she’s already heard them. she wants to know every little detail about anything arcane and she trusts Lucretia to teach her

- Magnus really wants to get them a dog, and has tried numerous times to go behind Merle’s back to do so. he eventually succeeds and both Mavis and Mookie end up with dogs of their own <3 Merle has to forgive Magnus because the kids are So Thrilled and the dogs are very good adventuring companions

- Mavis really enjoys spending time with Kravitz. he’s a little worried at first that the kids will be nervous about the whole Grim Reaper thing but Mavis is fascinated with his job (and Mookie just thinks it’s cool). and, to be fair, he’s one of three undead entities in their life so it’s really not a big deal. Mavis expresses a lot of interest in his work and life and Kravitz has a surplus of stories to tell!!

- Angus and Mavis become really good friends pretty quickly! Angus doesn’t interact with other kids much (given that he goes to Lucas’ school which. is definitely not geared towards 12 year olds) so he’s always excited to get to hang out with Mavis and Mookie!! Mavis tells Angus all about her adventures and he tells her all the amazing things he’s learned at school!! they swear that they’re going to adventure together someday

#‘I’ll write a few headcanons and then go to bed’ <- me an hour ago lying to myself #text #taz #taz balance #toon talking #headcanons

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rakkikuroba · 1 year

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resident evil characters but they are dogs and i give zero reasons why i chose those breeds. Also i only mentionned characters i have currently met in the games (im currently playing Code Vero). Might make a part 2 after i'll play RE5.

Claire and Chris are brown labrador :

Wesker is a white maine coon (he's a cat) :

And Alex is a Norwegian Forest Cat. (all the Weskers are specifically white cat breeds)

Jill is a Shiba Inu/Cocker Spaniel mix :

Ada is a Chow Chow :

Leon is a German Sheperd (Kennedy (the president) had a german Sheperd. Also they’re police dog lol)

Steve is an Australian Sheperd (they're actually from America?) Carlos is a Mucuchi :

Tyrell is a Fila Brasileiro :

Billy is a Pitbull (looks mean but a sweetie lol). Rebecca is a Pomeranian (they can be service dog! They’re great as medical alert dog)

Annette is a yellow Australian Sheperd (really smart dog). William is a Golden Retriever. Sherry is an Aussi/Golden retriever mix :

Enrico is a German Wirehaired Pointer (they look like they have a mustache lol) :

Forest is a Bernese Mountain dog. Richard is a Boxer. Edward is a Cane Corso. Brad is a Dalmatien. Joseph is a Doberman Pinscher. Kenneth is a Basenji :

Barry is a Rottweiler. Marvin is a Rottweiller too.

Alfred and Alexia are Pure breed Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. (lol) The Ashford are all Cavaliers.

Spencer is a Bull Mastiff (he looks like one? that's weird. haha dog face). Marcus is a Boykin Spaniel :

Nikolai is a Moscow Water Dog (they're extinct... LIKE HIM >:D ) :

Irons is an Airedale Terrier :

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keyh0use · 9 months

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Delicate

in honour of finishing delicate + the fic trailer + because I'm emotional + I don't actually know when I'll post either, have some headcannons from my SOA rafebarry fic that only I care about

☠︎︎ Rafe is the definition of institutionalized, needing structure and guidance to thrive.

☠︎︎ His time inside the prison wasn't wasted. Rafe learned many useful skills and bulked up considerably, he even attended therapy to learn how to control his temper and communicate in better ways, though there was still a lot of work to be done. Getting clean definitely helped.

☠︎︎ The Outer Banks didn't welcome Rafe home with open arms. The words cop killer stalked after him and haunted him late at night, remembering the blood and the gushing and the cries.

☠︎︎ Seeing Barry for the first time was a gut punch, waves of emotion the boy had spent years taming crashing over him. At least it looked like the situation fucked Barry up too, the older man immediately asking if Rafe had come to kill him.

☠︎︎ Tig was the one to take Rafe to pick out a motorcycle and give him some pointers on riding it. The two of them had a different relationship with eachother than with the rest of the club, Tig affectionately calling Rafe son instead of brother and always checking in on him.

☠︎︎ It seemed like wherever Rafe went, Barry happened to be.

☠︎︎ More often than not, Rafe would give in to Barry's invitations to hangout, both of them powering through the awkward conversations and shifty glances. Barry was trying to be like they were before, and Rafe wasn't sure if that was possible.

☠︎︎ Rafe knew Barry was trying, the boy just needed time.

☠︎︎ The Cameron family was in shambles and it hung over the patriarchs head like a target from the other snooty families in Kildare. Sure, Sarah had forgiven their father enough to keep in touch and Wheezie picked up the phone every so often, but it wasn't enough. Of course it wasn't. Nothing was unless it was exactly how Ward wanted it to be, which means Rafe flat out ignoring him just wouldn't do.

☠︎︎ As things start to heat up between the SONS and a rival MC, Jax decides they need extra help to maintain their front. Who better to hire to run the garage than a freelance mechanic who's already old friends with a patched member?

☠︎︎ Rafe just about melts into a puddle when he rolls into the lot to find Barry elbows deep in the guts of a Harley.

☠︎︎ Hating Rafe has brought the pogues back together, more determined than ever to foil his schemes like he's some sort of super villain. The accusations never end.

☠︎︎ Rafe keeps Barry's betrayal from the club, knowing what happens to a rat.

☠︎︎ A can of spilt paint is what finally sends Rafe stumbling over the edge of his finely drawn sanity. Red spreads across the pavement like the mess of sludge from Opie's brain matter that night in solitary after the brutal bludgeoning and Rafe has to empty the contents of his stomach into a bush outside the trailer. The flood gates open when Barry tries to comfort the boy, screams of anger spewing out with Rafe's dinner to fall around them, infecting their newfound sorta friendship. But Barry doesn't lose his cool, instead fighting Rafe until they can embrace. It's that very same night Rafe decides to open up and recount all the gory details of his sentence with a very compassionate, very apologetic Barry.

☠︎︎ Rafe has never admitted what he is out loud in fear of repercussions, once from his father and now from the club, unsure where he would stand. But Tig figures it out the first time he watches Barry and Rafe interact, the way they share inside jokes and shove eachother playfully and sneak lingering touches.

☠︎︎ Tig knows—Tig knows and he doesn't beat the shit out of Rafe like Ward has so many times. Tig knows Rafe is gay and all he does is press a kiss to the boy's forehead and pull him into a comforting embrace before the tears even have a chance to start leaking out.

☠︎︎ Time is filled with violent days followed closely by peaceful nights with Barry by his side, feeling content even as tensions between MC's grow and Ward tries again and again to force his way.

☠︎︎ Rafe confided in Tig that he wasn't sure if Barry was into him, let alone boys.

"He's at least half gay," Tig tells Rafe while peeking out from behind a curtain to watch Barry work. "Yup, I can see it in the way he wipes his hands with that rag."

It's ridiculous but makes Rafe laugh, feeling a little lighter at having someone to talk to.

☠︎︎ Meeting the Reaper for the second time in his short life has Rafe making the bold decision to come clean to Barry about his feelings, convinced he's not going to get lucky twice as the infection from the bullet wound spreads.

☠︎︎ Rafe doesn't have a moment to himself in the stark white hospital room, sterile environment feeling warm and safe in the company of his brothers, and Barry.

☠︎︎ Rafe and Barrys first kiss is bloody and violent, split lips and possessive hands.

☠︎︎ Being with Barry is the sunlight Rafe's been missing since he was eighteen and convicted of murder one. All those years he spent imagining what it would be like sinking toes into warm sand and feeling salt water on his skin that came from a source other than his own bloodshot eyes...only to come back and feel nothing. The OBX provided him no comfort, no happiness...but Barry snuck in and lit him up, kept him full of hope and want and potential.

☠︎︎ Taking his place on the older man's lap, Rafe patiently watches Barry sew his Men of Mayhem patch onto his cut—awarded to those who kill in the clubs name.

☠︎︎ Rafe would commit horrendous, rotten acts and return to Barry in the aftermath, violet knuckles kissed and every scar worshipped, before the older man would bury somewhere deep in him and ease away the last traces of guilt with each thrust.

☠︎︎ Tig confessing to the club he's been dating the call-girl the club did business with, who happens to be a trans woman, makes Rafe feel safe enough to disclose his own relationship.

☠︎︎ Later, when Jax and Rafe have a moment alone the boy is pulled into a full body hug, a rough hand on the back of his head caressing affectionately. "I love you, brother," Jax says softly, just like he has a hundred times before.

☠︎︎ Rafe is happy. There are internal issues with the club and with his family, still, but it's okay because things have been looking up. Besides, his relationship is perfect.

☠︎︎ As Ward's efforts grow desperate, his motives starting to present themselves.

☠︎︎ "This life...it ain't romantic or free. There's no path to anything that makes any sense. It's just dirty and sad, and we both know it's only going to get worse."

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I decided to leave out the NSFW headcannons because it's a whole other thing, but I'll post it soon

#rafebarry #rafe x barry #this fic is my baby #no one understands #i love this story so much

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kingshimura4872 · 9 months

Text

Shorts with Shimura

A/N: Howdy howdy chitlins. How are we doing this fine Evening/Morning/Night? I hope all of you are drinking plenty of water and eating an adequate amount of food for the party in your tummy. (It'sareferencesomeonepleaselaugh)

So, funny story ^^;....I haven't really gotten the motivation to work on a part three/four (I'm so deadass rn, I don't even remember lmao)

B U T

I do have a load of other one shots to share with the world bc my cringe has to go somewhere lol.

So without further ado, feed my children.

Oh and smth else, for those of you that reblogged some of my things, either ask me first, give credit, or just don't please <3

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Pairing: Shigaraki Tomura x GN? Reader (They kinda get called both him and her, idk)

Word Count: 2.5k

Warnings: American Stereotyping and slander (I hate it here so I might as well take out my anger on a made of character), Barris being a creep, somewhat quick mention of being touched in an unwanted sexual or insinuating way, brief descriptions of stripping clothing at the end (It's not smut don't even try), different languages (Just Japanese and I had to use google translate instead of my yandex translator bc it would only give me kanji and fsr I REALLY didn't want kanji idk), petplay if you squint rlly hard?, Some dark themes so just don't let it get up ur ass if I ruin your mood lmao

Think that's it, if I missed anything, shoot me a comment or dm and I'll do my best to fix it asap.

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“And what makes me think you’d pose a threat? I don’t think you’re in the right place to be making demands.”

Shigaraki sat unphased. His blood red eyes bored into the skull of a new pompous problem. The bastard, while annoying as all hell, was a somewhat important asset to his current objective. He’d already become the leader of the Paranormal Liberation Front, but now he wanted to move international. So here stood his next step. The leader of a quite well known villain organization from the United States in North America. He knew that if he could get this man on his side, he’d have no problem getting the two other countries that sat on the continent as well. But for the love of God, were these Americans so full of it. He’d barely gotten a proper word in comparison to the other male, who’d been talking almost the entire time. Americans sure knew how to run their mouths like they owned the world.

“Well, I am the one that invited you here. And right under the authorities' noses at that. No one knows you’re here and we could so easily change that fact if you wish to keep rubbing your nose in what you have no business knowing.” The scarred individual finally sighed, standing up from his chair. This empty ‘office’ room was quite stuffy, most likely from the pure stench this American was exuding. Americans should learn to properly bathe themselves before getting on such a high horse. He thought to himself, walking around the chair and leaning an elbow on the back of it.

“I personally have a trained hitman at my beck and call, ready to do whatever I order it to. Where’s your protection, Mr. American?” A smug grin spread across his face as the American man became very easily irate.

“I have plenty of protection, guns cocked and ready to blaze if you so much as let a hair fall out of place!” He spat, actual saliva flying around and landing on various surfaces. Shigaraki tsked at the man for getting so angered at a simple pointer, almost as if he was scolding a child.

“This is tiresome back and forth with you, Mr. Barris. We can either talk out our reasoning for being here in the first place like adults, or I can order my soldiers to kill you before any of them have time to take the safety off their weapons.” Shigaraki scoffed, getting increasingly impatient. Both men quickly changed their tune, Shigaraki sitting back down and the American pulling out a file from his briefcase.

“What do you want in this exchange, Mr. Shigaraki?” The American spoke first, crossing his arms.

“I simply want everything you and your group’s services can offer. I’m not a fan of only leading Japan anymore. I wish to move elsewhere and if you and I can work out a deal, I’ll have less of a headache getting others to agree. You do have quite the influence afterall.”

This seemed to mull over well with the man as a smug expression was now plastered all over his sweaty face.

“I do indeed, don’t I?” Shigaraki nodded stiffly. He despised stroking people’s egos. It annoyed him to no end, but ever since taking full control of himself and killing All For One himself, he had to pick up the slack his master had originally done. This included finding powerful allies and working towards a stronger army. He bit his tongue in order to not spew something idiotic that would work poorly for him as the American once again began talking about himself and his underground empire. He had a main goal for this new alliance. He understood that Americans were good at three things. Being full of themselves all the time, strong weapons, and drugs. The yakuza group Overhaul had built was good, but it relied on the quirk of an incredibly young girl and once that girl had been taken, he knew they were doomed to fall no matter how that end came. He found the quirk erasing drugs quite interesting and knew if anyone could capitalize on that, it was him. Money was no longer an object and he was willing to throw whatever the stupid American wanted to get his hands on that kind of technology. He wanted it. And when he wanted something, he got it. Every. Single. Time.

“We’re willing to do just about anything to work around your wants. Name your price, Mr. Barris.”

“Straight to the point I see. Your English may be good, but Japanese people are always the same. Never a fan of small talk. What happened to civil liberties? You should get to know me first before tossing money on the table.” Barris laughed out, his posture visibly relaxing. Good.

“I apologize.” Shigaraki forced a chuckle. “I simply want to get it out in the air so we can get out of each other’s hair as fast as possible. We’re both very busy men, you know.”

“Ain’t that the damn truth.” Barris laughed again, slapping his knee in the process. Shigaraki stifled a laugh. They really DO do that.

“Anyways. Small pleasantries aside. What is it that you’d like to gain from this exchange?”

“Hm.” Barris looked down at the folder in front of him, opening it and pulling out a few papers. “Well, you did have a good idea with offering money. But we also want numbers of another calibur.”

“And that’d be?”

“We want some of those ‘nomus’ y’all have. And people who are good at making more. We’ve seen what those beasts can do, and I think it’d be fun to have a couple of our own. We can use it for testing and such. Along with this.” He slid a small piece of cardstock with something written on it. It was amusing to Shigaraki. It was like those crappy American movies to the T. Sliding the price they wanted over with a piece of paper during an exchange. It was almost humoring. He picked up the cardstock, looking at the price. It was outrageous for what he was getting in return, but he did need this deal.

“Fine. Would you like it in full?”

“Not necessary. Take your time with the payment, but I do request we get the entire amount within the next calendar year.”

“Fair enough.”

The two stood up and shook hands. Barris wasn’t afraid of touching the villain, as he was wearing two fingered gloves. Something someone had to convince him to do during this endeavor. But he wouldn’t disclose that information to anyone.

“There is one more thing I’d like to ask of you. It’s more of a personal preference.” Barris dropped, smiling as he sunk his hands into his suit pockets.

“And what would that be?”

“I heard from a little bee that you’ve gotten one of mine under your command. I’d like to see them.”

Shigaraki’s eye twitched and he scowled a bit. “And who would this ‘little bee’ happen to be?”

“No one you need to concern yourself with. I simply want to see if I know them personally. I wasn’t told who they were, but I was told they were American like myself, so I’d like to meet them.” Barris explained.

I’ll kill whoever told this scum about him. Shigaraki told himself as he sighed. He wasn’t really in the position to deny many requests from the man, as he could just as easily take back his agreement to the offer.

“Fine. But only for a moment. I like to keep him busy.” He hummed, taking a step back from the table. He brought two fingers to his mouth and whistled rather loudly, Barris tipping his head to the side in confusion. Was this American not human or something? In the blink of an eye, a new figure appeared at the villain’s side, cloaked in a black uniform and kitsune kabuki mask obscuring their face. Two blades clung to their back and strapped to each thigh was an OTs-33 Pernach, most likely already loaded and ready to fire at will. The blades in question were matching Tachi words, jet black and blood red stained leather woven in an intricate pattern on each handle and an antique tsuba created by Sunagawa Masayoshi sat snugly between the razor sharp blades and the handles.

“Sir.” You spoke, bowing to Shigaraki. He looked at you blankly.

“Kneel” Was all he said. And you did without hesitation, kneeling on one knee and a hand lay flat on the cold tile flooring of the room. He reached a hand down, gently grasping your chin and lifting your gaze to meet his. He seemed pleased with himself.

“Mask.”

Without question, you unclasped the straps that sat on the back of your head with a soft click, pulling your kabuki mask off and giving it to him. “Stand.” You did. Barris met your frame with another mask, this time only covering your nose and mouth, however your neck length hair came with fluffy bangs that covered your eyes well enough.

“Kochira wa Barisudesu. Anata ga tsurete kuru yō ni meiji rareta amerikahitodesu. Anata wa futari tomo amerikahitonanode, kare wa anata ni chokusetsu aitai to omotte imasu. Kare wa anata no koto o shitte iru kamo shirenai to omotte imasu.”

(This is Barris. The American you were ordered to bring. He wishes to see you in person since you’re both American. Thinks he might know you.)

You nodded and glanced at the man.

"Kare ga nani o hakidasoutomo, anata wa watashi no monodeari tsuzukeru deshou. Kare wa kimochi waruinode, dekirudakehayaku watashi no me kara kiete hoshīdesu. Kare o koko kara tsuredasu tame ni dekiru kagiri no koto o shite kudasai, shikashi oboete oite kudasai..” He grasped your chin again, pulling you a bit closer to him. “Anata wa watashi no monodesu.”

(You will remain mine, no matter what he spews. He’s disgusting and I want him out of my sight as soon as possible. Do what you can to get him out of here, but remember…. You belong to me.)

You nodded again, and turned to the man.

“Quite the mouthful he said.” Barris chuckled. “Makes me wonder what he’s saying about me.”

“Permission to speak freely, sir?” You asked.

“Granted.” Shigaraki replied.

“I was only informed that it was you I was ordered with transporting here. I was wondering who was so important that it required my services.” You hummed, walking around the table.

“Shigoto o kichinto yareba, go hōbi o ageru yo, kitsune.” Shigaraki added, walking around the other side of the table to leave the room.

“Hai.”

When he shut the door behind him, Barris wasted no time, putting his hands on your body. You wanted to slither away from his grimey touch, but you knew this was the best way to get him where you both wanted him.

“I heard you were one of mine, and I just had to see if I knew you personally, doll.” He remarked, one of his hands sliding down your side and resting just above your hip. You did your best to hide a grimace, hoping it didn’t show through the mask as you slowly snaked your hands up his arms.

“I don’t think I worked for you, Mr. Barris. I would definitely remember working for a man such as yourself.” You sang, twirling yourself out of his grasp and slipping onto the table. You crossed a leg over the other and sat your hands on the edges of the table for support. You looked open, inviting, weak. And that was exactly what you were aiming for. Men like him loved weak people. They loved preying on anyone they perceived as having weak minds and melding them to bend at their will. You were all too familiar with his kind. It sickened you that he thought you’d break so easily. You devoted your life to one man and one man only. And no scum like this was going to make you so much as blink in the other direction.

“Is that so? And what kind of man do you take me for?” He grinned. You were stroking his ego more by the second.

“Powerful. Commanding. A man who knows what he wants and how to get it.” A man who wouldn’t know left from right if it was tattooed on his hands. You thought.

You shut the door to the unmarked black car as the window rolled down.

“I do look forward to working with you, doll.” Barris smiled, taking your hand and kissing it slowly. You smiled sweetly to him under the mask, knowing he could see it.

“As do I, Mr. Barris. Nice to have another American around.”

He let out a hearty laugh, letting your hand go and glancing at Shigaraki who’d been standing a bit behind you.

“I look forward to business, Mr. Shigaraki.”

“Mm. Likewise.” They both nodded to each other and shook hands before you waved lightly to the driver. The window rolled back up as the vehicle drove off. Your smile stayed only until the car turned a corner, to which you immediately grimaced openly. Shigaraki took you back inside to a different room - his private quarters in this particular building - and grabbed a few alcohol wipes for you. You quickly took one and rubbed it against both your hands, taking time to wipe every inch of the uniform he’d laid his grimy hands on.

“I take it, your…talk with him, went well then?” The man asked, leaning against a small table near the corner of the room.

“Ugh, he was putrid. I could practically TASTE how bad he smelled. Can’t believe I was born in the same place as him.” You keened. Your body shivered at the mere thought of him touching you again and you quickly rid yourself of your accessories. You placed them on one of the shelves the room had and huffed.

“We should bathe you. Who knows what kind of germs he had.” Shigaraki jested, but you quickly took the invite, shedding your clothing one piece at a time. He was a bit surprised at your eagerness, but went with it nonetheless, guiding you to the bathroom and starting the water.

“Ugh, I forgot how touchy Americans are. Here, you wouldn’t even think to touch a stranger so nonchalantly.

He fixed the temperature, shedding his own garments and helping you with what you had left.

“And to think, we have to work with him now, it disgusts me. He was so full of himself, I thought he might explode from how big his head was.”

You continued to rant as you brainlessly followed your leader’s movements into the now full tub of hot water. The second you were seated on top of him, you were pulled back to the present.

“Oh. You didn’t have to waste your time getting in with me.” You said in a quieter tone.

“Eh. Two birds with one stone. I had to touch him too, not sure if whatever he has can spread from the contact area.” He joked. You couldn’t hold yourself back from a small laugh, covering your mouth as he pulled your back flat against his chest.

#anime #anime x reader #bnha x male reader #bnha x reader #bnha x y/n #bnha x you #mha x reader #mha x y/n #mha x you #my hero academia #bnha x fem!reader #mha x gender neutral reader #mha x female reader #have fun chitlins

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one-silly-cart00nist · 11 months

Text

Sunset after the Rain [Mark/David]

(because AO3 is down and I was planning to post the sequel to this fic soon so here you go tumblr: my ode to the creek and the start of my Elders brainrot)

Rated: G Word Count: 5k Pre-slash, Original Side Character (Jackie's gf for plot purposes)

It was a sunny afternoon at the creek the day when the Elder’s rock was busy outdoors. For the longest day of summer the three friends prepared a special celebration—a campfire and a sleepover under the rock with a few special guests to shelter.

Omar, despite being quite the youngest in the group, captured the hearts of the elders easily through his love of comics and videogames. Now that the Overpass didn’t need a guard and he had free time to spare, he found himself frequently showing up at the Elder’s rock borrowing manga and listening in on the DnD campaigns. He didn’t quite have the confidence to join in.

David insisted Tabitha and Courtney would be invited to commemorate their friendship formed from sharing the pain of part-time at the smoothie bar. Mark wasn’t quite thrilled about it—and was still taking his time to get used to David’s new passion for the Goth lifestyle. But the wound of almost losing his friendship over a petty grudge was fresh and so he caved.

Then there was Annie. While her anime consumption was more casual than the elders, her passion for singing OSTs and her cheerful intrigue for all things nerd made her a favoured company.

And wherever Annie went usually followed… Jackie.

Currently looming above David who has just excitedly been telling Annie about the new shop he found online selling all kinds of clothes to fit his new aesthetic.

Mark observed from a distance.

The cold stare of his glasses that reflected nothing, the panic in David’s eyes as he trailed off mid-sentence, the smirk that bloomed on Jackie’s face at the reaction, and finally, how it faded into a much gentler smile when Jackie took the spot next to Annie. He extended his hand towards Annie, pinkie, pointer and thumb sticking out—Annie copied the gesture as she slotted her fingers alongside his.

Mark didn’t understand what it meant.

Correction: he knew exactly what Jackie was showing was jealousy. Admittedly, he was familiar with that, even though he didn’t have a cute date to justify it. He just didn’t know what the sign meant.

He looked at David again. He recovered from the scare quickly and was now back on his excited monologue, fists held up and his whole body bouncing as he talked. It was less noticeable than what it used to be when they were younger but Mark knew what he was looking at to notice it.

Past the logs they collected around the campfire, Barry has just emerged from the woods carrying a couple of sticks to roast on. Omar was right at his tail carrying rocks to circle the campfire. The kid was taking his contribution so seriously.

Tabitha and Courtney arrived a minute ago with loads of snacks and cola. Now they sat across from Annie and David and chatted among themselves.

Mark has tasked himself with tidying up the rock to welcome so many people—it was gonna be stuffy anyway but putting away some manga shelves and life sized replicas was the least he could do. Now that’s done he found himself watching the life around him.

It hasn’t been that long since the fight after which he spent weeks alone at the rock before he packed up and started hanging out at home instead where his messy room and the internet would distract him from the sorrow and guilt eating him up.

He was just going to the Elder’s rock to borrow the last volume of Two Piece when he found Barry sitting there all by himself. He feared the moment but found relief when Barry said he wasn’t mad anymore. Mark apologised regardless. Spending that afternoon with Barry gave him courage to reach out to David too.

He didn’t realise how much he missed them both.

---☀---

“As the good hosts we are,” David spoke with enthusiasm, “we should introduce everyone. I’m David and I work at the smoothies with Tabitha and Courtney. Who wants to go next?”

Barry took the spot next to him and greeted everyone, claiming his turn. Mark scanned the circle to see where he could sit—they prepared more logs than necessary to use them as spare tables for board games. The other side of David was still empty even though Mark would need to carry a log all the way over and he didn’t want to look that desperate. There was space next to Jackie on the fallen tree log but Mark wasn’t so fond of that kid. He didn’t even invite him.

He chose to sit on one of the spare logs in between Tabitha and Jackie. It gave him a direct view of David…

David and his ripped off sleeves and just one of many chokers Mark definitely hasn’t been keeping track of. His hair started growing out even more now that he didn’t trim it to fit under the old helmet, and Mark recalls how he mentioned wanting it pink eventually.

It’s been weeks. It feels like they met again in college—it feels like seeing Kenneth on that phone call. He changed so much. He grew up to be popular and handsome and not into anime anymore. David grew up to be popular and handsome too.

With pink hair and edgy clothes…?

Maybe that too.

He looked really happy and confident in his skin. Sure he had been before—walking around the rock topless despite not being the type to work out required that kind of confidence already.

Ah. He never really cared for anyone’s opinion. David always cared about personal joy and harmony first and foremost.

Mark had to admit that he was happy for him, seeing him like this. Even if he was in two minds about his own feelings towards the new gimmick.

He still loved anime and Mark’s DnD campaigns. If he wanted to play as a sorcerer instead of a bard now, that was not Mark’s place to complain.

He smiled to himself.

Then he looked up, disturbed from his thoughts by the sudden silence. He noticed David’s eyes on him. His heart skipped a beat. And then he slowly realised everyone had their eyes on him like they expected him to do something. For a brief moment he panicked if he wasn’t saying all that aloud, but David soon cleared the table, cheerful as ever: “It’s your turn!”

“Oh,” he scratched his neck awkwardly as he willed away the scarlet of his cheeks. “I’m Mark. I am the expert of all things anime… and…” his gaze travelled to David who listened to him too intently for someone who already knew him. “And I’m sorry I’ve been an asshole to you David.”

“Aw… We’ve been over that,” David waved his hand in dismissal. “But your apology is appreciated. I’m happy we’re friends now.”

Mark swore he heard coos from at least one of the girls present and felt his cheeks heat up at the attention. If either one of them decides to tease him about it, or about how he stuttered through his apology when his attention stuck on David’s eyeliner, he will consider drastic measures.

Next was Jackie. He waved at everyone and pointed at himself. Then he gestured with his hand what Mark assumed was his name because Annie filled in the silence with a verbal introduction. He signed more and Annie translated that he likes swimming and baseball.

At the end he turned to her with a sign akin to a blown kiss.

Mark never had a reason to learn ASL but he wondered how hard it is. If it was any different from learning Japanese like he did in his free time—a completely new sentence structure and a thousand of signs so unlike the english alphabet.

“My name is Annie. I like to dance and sing and… a lot more things… but singing OSTs with the guys is what brings me here tonight.” She smiled and gestured at Jackie, as she continued to sign the rest of her introduction. “Jackie is my boyfriend, I hope no one minds him here. We’re both from the other side of the creek.”

“What is it like on the other side?” David inquired. “That’s where Kenneth is from.”

The sudden mention of Kenneth’s name had unwanted thoughts flashing through Mark’s mind. His dyed blonde hair and blue contacts. His room, bare of any trace of his origins. He was almost unrecognisable. And the crushing reality of David keeping contact with him and yet he never reached out to the rest.

It wasn’t surprising it was David whom he remained friends with. Who wouldn’t… It hurt nevertheless.

“Pretty chill after King Xavior was overthrown.” Annie said, then turned to Omar, “We thank Omar and his friends for that effort.”

Omar set his can of soda aside and wiped his mouth on his sleeve while keeping eye contact with Annie, then her boyfriend. “We faced Jackie in combat back then. So pardon my uneasiness. It’s been a lot to get over after all those years.”

Annie tapped Jackie to make him focus as she signed what Omar said. She smiled as she watched Jackie sign back. “He says it was fun and that he will be better prepared for a future water balloon fight.”

He smirked at Omar and nodded. “We’ll see that fair and square.”

Annie continued. “It wasn’t a matter of choice to be on Xavier’s side. No one believed Xavier could be defeated. If Jackie turned his back on the king he would be in serious trouble afterwards. And being a champion wasn’t so bad—he could keep doing what he loved.”

“Where were you during the war, Annie?” Omar wondered. “I don’t think we passed you in our search for the flag.”

“I was casted out of the creek before the war began…” she laughed. “I might have punched Xavier. More times than I can count. It was… uh… deserved… but it wasn’t so bad. My only connection to the creek was Jackie, which allowed me to sneak in and before that, to get away with more than a regular kid could. I can’t blame him for sticking to the king to the very end.”

“Hold up— What?” Tabitha drew everyone’s attention to herself. “You guys had a monarchy in the creek? Dude that’s— What.”

“It’s kinda been a thing for a decade now. We grew up into the system, messed up as it is.”

“Queen Cheyenne was chill.” Annie narrated Jackie’s signs again. “If there was a problem we sought help with, she would help, otherwise she was just a teen hanging out with her best friend at the royal tree house. She took her status seriously and wished to expand her rule across the overpass but she wasn’t that persistent about it. Xavier was crowned a couple of years ago and that quickly turned into a whole tyranny.”

“What happened to that Cheyenne?”

“The worst possible thing—she concluded she was too cool for the creek.” Annie rolled her eyes. “Could never be me.”

“No one is too old for the creek,” Barry exclaimed. A chorus of agreements came from everyone while Tabitha and Courtney shrugged their shoulders.

“I can stand behind that,” Mark joined in. “Except for when we’re in college somewhere far away. Because you guys have plans or whatever.”

Tabitha and Courtney exchanged grimaces. “Yeah, let's not talk about that.”

“Let’s dive into the juicy part.” Tabitha cheered, getting up to pass around the plastic bag. She sat down throwing her legs over Courtney’s lap.

Her girlfriend grabbed a can of cola from her hands and popped it open. “Literally, we bought smoothies. But you have to pay in gossip!”

“Yeah. Barry—has someone captured your heart recently?”

“Uh. No…” Barry scratched his neck awkwardly. “My heart is being crushed by advanced bio summer homework.”

“Booring…” Tabitha complained with an exasperated sigh. “You guys really do your summer homework?” she shook her head in disbelief. “David, you tell us what you’ve been up to.”

“Well… I’ve been experimenting with my clothes. I really like the stuff you picked out, I never thought I would be so comfortable in this.” He smiled bashfully as he twirled a hair between his fingers. “It’s really growing on me.”

“It looks really cute on you,” Annie said. Jackie gave a thumbs up. Barry also muttered something encouraging. Mark felt his voice stuck in his throat.

David curled into himself but despite that he glowed with all the praise. “Thanks guys.”

Even when the rest of the circle shifted attention towards the next person in line, Mark’s eyes lingered on his friend. He had to agree with the compliments.

“Annie, what about you and Jackie? How did you two become a thing?”

Mark wasn’t particularly interested in that but he found himself following the story as Annie spoke animatedly. “To be honest… I was never gonna tell him that I liked him. I would say so out loud because I knew he wouldn’t hear but I couldn’t let him know.”

That made Mark pause. It was beyond him why Annie thought she needed to keep her feelings hidden. It wasn’t like it would be weird to like him. They have been friends for years and Jackie was clearly interested in her if he kept coming back.

David never had to ask him to show up under the rock on his birthdays or to speed watch his latest anime favourites so they could spend the next few days discussing them. But they also simped for anime girls together. It didn’t make sense. It brought so many questions Mark didn’t have answers for.

“…All until Elisa noticed my crush. She thought it would be fun to tease me, to make me insecure, that Jackie would never like me back. I was so frustrated and Jackie noticed. I had to tell him. I didn’t know how to sign it at that time, so I just drew a heart on his chest and he returned the gesture.”

“Aww that’s so sweet!” Courtney cooed.

Tabitha howled beside her. “That bitch can suck it! Look who’s got a boyfriend now!”

“Language Tabi! There are kids with us!” Courtney calmed her down.

“Huh?” Tabitha threw a look at the circle until her eyes landed on the hoodie kid. Her gaze darkened and her sharp teeth flashed in a dangerous smirk. “Oh. Omar?”

Mark watched in disinterest as the kid’s eyebrows shot up his forehead. “Nothing of that sort.”

Jackie signed something with a snicker that only Annie understood and chose to not share. If Mark had to guess those two knew of some non supporting evidence for the kid’s statement. Not that he cared.

Could kids like him already have crushes?

Mark didn’t even remember when he… no, nevermind. That wasn’t a crush. Whatever it was, which he couldn’t name, it was not a crush. He would have noticed sooner.

“Does David want to share his romantic discoveries?”

Mark shot his eyes towards his clearly panicking friend. “No. David doesn’t want to.”

That was both a relief and a concern. He was better off if he didn’t have to hear about whoever David was interested in but the answer made him wonder—what was the point of such defensiveness if there wasn’t someone in his mind?

He really, really shouldn’t have thought of that.

---☀---

Annie tore a pack of chips open and threw a couple into her mouth. “Should someone set up the games?”

“Suit yourself. What are we playing?” Mark jumped to his feet, happy to distance himself from the conversation. He lifted the tower of board games he carried outside the rock for the occasion. “The choices are endless.”

“David promised us he would show us your DnD business,” Tabitha shouted from the back.

Annie shook her head as she mindlessly reviewed the game collection. “We should play something non-verbal. Like double.”

Annie lifted her head with a grin as she signed her idea to Jackie who signed back quickly. “You’re right I’m unbeatable. Not even Keun Sup could outspeed me.”

“What about uno?” Tabitha suggested.

“Do we want to have a good time or do we want to scream at each other until sundown?”

“We could play cards?” Omar tried.

“Have any of you heard of Kent?” Annie asked then. A couple of people shook their heads while Jackie showed a toothy grin. “We send codes to our teammates when we have collected an all-symbol combination and try to not be caught by the other teams. Sounds good?”

An excited chorus followed.

“Grab a teammate and come up with a secret code.” Annie instructed. “I’m with Jackie!”

“Calling dibs on Courtney!”

Mark looked around hesitantly. The choices were running out quickly. Even Barry already teamed up with Omar by the time Mark made up his mind to ask him.

Which meant the only person left was… David.

“So what code should we pick?” David beamed at him. His voice dropped into an excited whisper. “A wink?”

Very predictable, the code and the mannerism that had Mark leaning away for personal space all the same. “Uh… oh… Sure. Yeah. A wink will do.”

Annie and Jackie set up the cards while the rest of the teams were discussing strategies, likely already having a vault of different codes to switch between as they played. Mark expected no one could compete with the excited duo but he held some naive hope he could win at least a few games once he grasped the rules. He hadn’t spent his entire life playing games for nothing.

The game itself was more about attention than the cards.

In the first round Mark had his last ace snatched from under his palm. It meant two things—he was left to observe instead of collecting like all the rest, and that Omar who swept his card was out of the round with him.

The game was also about knowing people.

He called out Barry pretty easily when he rapped his fingers on his thigh out of nowhere. That was a classic impatient Barry thing.

Annie fared just as well in terms of catching people red handed.

“Courtney, your make-up is so pretty today.”

“Out! Tabitha is out!” Annie would exclaim cheerfully.

“What? Not fair! Can I not compliment my girlfriend?”

Somehow the banter only added to the pleasant experience. It built Mark’s competitive spirit and brought laughs and had the time fly so fast.

“What’s your code even supposed to be?”

“We will never tell!”

---☀---

The sunlight soon faded too much to see the cards in front of them properly and so the group of friends moved on to the main event of the night. Barry and Tabitha crouched by the campfire with crumbled newspaper and a lighter. Omar sharpened the roasting sticks quietly in the corner. Annie and Jackie set up an actual table to place all their food on.

David and Courtney sat back engrossed in a conversation.

Mark stood there idly as he tried not to look at them too much.

He spent most of his childhood with Barry and David and Kenneth. He never looked to make more friends—he already had company that shared his interest in anime so what more could he gain. Not like he expected to ever lose either of them. They were supposed to be inseparable, if not for their shared hobbies then for the fact there wasn’t anyone else they would turn to.

Now David had actual friends outside of the Elder trio. Mark was happy for him. At least he tried to be.

But… It seeded a worry that David would no longer need his old friends when he found another place to belong like Kenneth did, would no longer need to settle for someone who’d been so hurtful towards him without realising. Mark wanted to turn back time and make sure David didn’t set foot out from under the rock on that fateful day.

Would that mean he’d still sit here in front of them shirtless with his cape warming him against the chill of the evening and his helmet set down on his lap so he could lean his forearms on it and support his head?

The mental image competed with the sight before his eyes until they faded into one.

David with one knee supporting his head, hiding his choker and the front of his shirt. His hair flowing down the sides of his face, untamed even as he tucked stray strands behind his ears. The eyeliner only made his wide eyes more noticeable. Like it wasn’t hard to look away from them already.

---☀---

As darkness covered the clearing and dimmed the view, Mark found it easier to keep his eyes and thoughts away from David. The campfire added a nice layer of warmth to the summer night and the roasted bacon and marshmallows brought the same warmth to Mark’s stomach.

There was program as well—Courtney and Tabitha telling spooky stories that allegedly happened in the creek. Mark knew half of them from his own childhood, being scared while Barry and David always rushed into the adventure of finding out its truths. It was mostly Barry. David was curious and eager to learn but not so much a brave soul, sweaty palms always enclosing Mark’s wrist or sleeve.

An innocent soul, even now. He was so easy to push around that Mark hadn’t even realised he had been doing so.

---☀---

At some point during the night David pulled out a ukulele. Mark recalled hearing him practise at the rock a few years back but David back then was terrible and he couldn’t stand the noise. He must have practised a lot since then because he was nothing like the awkward off key performances of ninth grade.

He played a melody that everyone at the circle knew as they all hummed along but among all the voices only David stood out to his ears. That part of his performance was still… less than charming.

Mark supposed that was good. It was familiar. It was his David.

---☀---

First yawn of the evening and the emptied supply of food slowly moved the program inside.

Jackie slid under the rock with ease and extended his arms towards Annie whose eyes were already falling shut as she crawled in. He took off his cap and glasses before he climbed into his futon. It looked like they were both done for the night. Not like anyone else here could use ASL to help him keep up with the conversations.

Omar set his futon underneath the anime figurines shelf. He flipped through the comics scattered nearby as he waited for the rest of the group to settle down. It wasn’t long until he was snoring nose deep in the pages.

Tabitha tried to play cool as she challenged the rest to stay up the latest but ended up falling asleep in her girlfriend’s lap early on as well.

Soon it was just Courtney and the elders.

They formed a much smaller circle and kept their voices hushed so as to not disturb the rest. It felt weirdly intimate to huddle up—especially with David leaned against the wall by his left, not exactly leaning into him but close enough to let his mane brush over Mark’s shoulder now and then.

Speaking in a whisper, David’s voice was much more stable and calming. “Is this the part when we tell each other secrets?”

“I don’t know. This is the part for anything that felt too out of the left field in the sun.” Courntey replied and yawned. “If there are any thoughts you want to share, the floor is yours.”

David seemed to think about it for a long while. His eyes always wandered off when he was deep in thoughts—a habit that was rare, for David’s mind usually worked at a speed unmatched by others, but prominent nonetheless. At one point it was clear to Mark he was no longer caught up in his thoughts. Rather, waiting for a cue to speak.

When no one else took the spotlight, he finally spoke up. “I was really sad and hurt when I left this place behind. I feel that bitterness at the back of my mouth now that I’m back. It’s on my mind all day.”

Mark averted his eyes in guilt.

“But it’s being rewritten by new memories, both here and at the smoothie place. And it helped me push myself to meet new people and try out new things. I would have never dared to show up like this to the creek. At least… not now. I’m still exploring how I like to see myself.”

He fidgeted with his sleeve. It caught Mark’s eye and urged him to reach out. He didn’t know where that action would have ended so he suppressed it quietly. Maybe he wasn’t quiet enough.

David looked up at him. Mark swallowed. “When you walked up to the counter and saw me and still wanted me to come… I care about what you think. It frustrated me when I realised how much I let myself be stomped on because of it.”

The lump in his throat grew more uncomfortable as he listened to David’s words. I care about what you think. That was a new one. Something he might have only figured out recently, or didn’t feel like saying when they first spoke about the argument.

Mark had thought about his own apology too, how he could have been more open. “I never meant to make you feel… to hurt you. I was really happy that I had you by my side. I took that for granted.”

The rest was a familiar tune on the tip of his tongue. “It felt terrible to be here alone too. Like when your favourite show never airs its final arc. All you’re left with are the hopes of what could have been.”

And lastly, what fell out of his mouth when David reached out for his hand and he felt like he was staring for too long: “I don’t know if I like this… everything… but I’ll get used to it. I promise. It’s okay to change. Just don’t ditch me again. Please.”

“Listen to me when I tell you that you’re pushing too hard. Okay?”

Mark shut his eyes. “I will. I promise.”

The silence was unnerving—so much so it led Mark to open his eyes again. He didn’t want to face David’s reaction but he couldn’t stand being left in the dark about it.

David was looking at him with an expression he couldn’t read. It was uncommon, David wore his heart on his sleeve, or so Mark thought until now.

Soon David’s gaze softened as he reached out with open arms. Mark was never so relieved to hear someone speak. “Come here, I missed you…”

Everyone who grew up with Mark knew he wasn’t one for hugs, for any physical affection really. He didn’t like getting up and personal. Still he found himself clutching onto David’s waist and enjoying the warmth the simple gesture brought to him, like he was still at the campfire.

As they pulled away their gazes lingered on each other. It was Mark who looked away first, weak against the gentle smile on David’s lips as well as suddenly aware of Barry’s presence. He looked at him but couldn’t think of what to say. The apology was meant for him as well… Mark was just completely scooted by the heat in his chest that he kept for his best friend.

Barry seemed to understand what was going through his head, patting his shoulder and letting Mark’s palm rest on the back of his hand to thank him for the silent understanding.

Mark’s heart soared with relief. Like they haven’t had the same heart to heart a few weeks ago. Like he hadn’t heard them accept his apologies half a dozen times already.

David hugged them both back then, hesitant but earnest. It was the same and yet so different when he hugged Mark a moment ago. It felt intimate. Like it was meant for only the two of them. Like there was no one watching.

David never cared about who’s watching. Mark had always adored that about him. How he existed in his own bubble sometimes, savouring happiness and completely oblivious to the world around him, by choice or otherwise. Mark felt being a part of that bubble just now.

No one has spoken a word since David invited him for a hug. All the same people could be shouting right into his ear and Mark is sure he wouldn’t hear a word of it.

He stared ahead until David’s cheeks gained a scarlet colour and he finally looked away sheepishly. Mark felt his face heat up as well.

“Well, I’m out,” he announced abruptly, getting onto his feet. “Do whatever you want but I shall head to sleep.”

David leaned backwards. “O-Oh. Yeah. I’ll follow suit.”

Mark felt his eyes leave a warm trace on his back as he walked over to his sleeping bag. He didn’t bother turning around even when he heard hesitant footsteps.

“Okay, let’s tuck you in then…” that must have been a whisper by Courtney, probably awkwardly manoeuvring Tabitha off her legs. Not Mark’s problem.

He turned to face the wall. He could hear the rustling of the sleeping bags and some whispers. It had never been this lively at the Elder’s rock before—not ever since the three friends used to stay the night from time to time in middle school. It certainly never was this crowded. Mark’s mind was never so restless.

He internally laughed at himself, at how the evening with friends and extended company and plenty of distraction still led his head to wrap around David. He probably thought about him so much he’ll think of him in his sleep too. For the better or worse.

Probably for the better. If he had to admit to it—and if this was going to be a theme in his life now. Then he should look at the bright side.

#craig of the creek #elders of the creek #cotc fanfic #mark cotc #david cotc #barry cotc #omar cotc #tabitha cotc #courtney cotc #jackie cotc #a bowl of my favourite characters #if I could justify secret keeper's presence the super bowl would be complete #would you believe me if I said Mark took over the keyboard halfway through to gush about David #when all I meant to write about were silly childhood memories

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