#basically just he and jojo chatting

[rowanhoney]

can’t express how wonderful the changes have been in my life this past month. I’m beyond grateful and so full of love and joy

[landos-meat-rider]

theodore nott headcanons part two!!

is it headcannons or headcanons?? anyways i hope you guys like this one, ideas for a new fic are in plan...

masterlist

theodore nott masterlist

patriotically italian, esp now that its the euros this man is 10000% against anything english and his friends are still mad at him for last euros (same)

loves to go shopping with you, he’ll hold stuff for you, he’ll buy stuff for you, he’ll ask people questions for you, literally anything

dog person, hates cats

imagine doing that one trend with theo where your lipstick is smudged and you tilt the phone to him and he’s got lipstick kisses allll over

keeps a polaroid of you two in his phone case

has to hold hands all the time

definitely sappy drunk, most times he’ll talk about your future wedding and sometimes he wont recognise that it’s you and won’t let you touch him thinking it’s some random girl

loves watching you get ready

will take your makeup off for you after a long day/night

doesn’t text basically anyone apart from his friendship group and you, and is always that one person in group chats that never texts back to anything

uses "👍" like a dad

buys things for you if you mention them once e.g. if you say one day that you love blueberries, he'll show up with five boxes of them the next day

has all his family recipes in a box and doesn’t let anyone not even you see them, your favourite: his grandads tiramisu 

sees mattheo breaking spaghetti, proceeds to try and break his legs

always has ink on his hands

you guys are not like those couples at theme parks who are basically doing it in a “family friendly” environment, you hold hands and kiss sometimes but nothing more

old moneyyy

knows how to ride horses for some reason

walked in your and pansys dorm once without knocking when you two were doing the jojo siwa karma dance, was traumatised, left silently, never spoke of it again and never came into the dorm without knocking 

loves photography, hes always taking candid photos of you and random things he sees

the majority of his camera roll is you, old photos of his mother that hes been trying to recover from the Nott achives, and just random things he sees that he finds nice, from a painting in a museum to shattered glass in the sunlight on the street

loves taking in italian with lorenzo when he knows you don’t understand things, loves to see you get frustrated

if you speak a language other than english with your parents and you’re on the phone with them and he hears the one or two words he knows, he’ll get all happy and smiley and keep repeating that word/phrase, same with you when theo speaks italian (if youre not already an italian speaker)

super tall, touches the border of doorways when he walks by them, is called slender man on a daily basis as a result

resting bitch face

lorelai gilmore type comebacks 

prideful, knows the status his family holds

fuck around and find out kind of guy

he’s got that built in dad feature of being able to fix absolutely anything from a shelf to the stove

princess treatment both ways

makes sure to wear a freshly washed shirt for a few hours so when you wear it, they smell like him

serves you first in the great hall

loves coming home with you and your family on holidays

does that thing of keeping a flower from a bouquet he gives you so he knows when to get you more

scorpio

if you are an air sign: that one lyric from chemtrails over the country club, "youre in the wind, im in the water" is so you two bc hes a water sign

kendrick supporter

academically smart, womanly stupid

would ask you to teach him how to make daisy chains and get frustrated when all his would break

he and blaise are the appointed spider catchers for you, mattheo, lorenzo, pansy and draco

cursive handwriting

favourite colour is deep blue

[le-monchou]

Collab idea where I draw and you write🫵not just twst but really with any fandom we share

the ocean (man) simmers || jotaro kujo

fine draw this as a comic or smth then >:) also help is this my first published jojo fic?! this is so basic man wtf a jealousy drabble?? || 315 words

for once after the trip to eygpt (though it had been well over a decade since then), jotaro regretted following your every whim. standing in a crowded cafe while people stared at him and his still-healing arm stuck in a sling, you were instead being chatted up by a minisclue pothole of a man.

and you were giggling. giggling, which you never did with even kakyoin or polnareff or avdol or his grandfather. you reserved your giggling for all the times he decided to be "tsundere" and mean about how he was feeling, and he willed the fire in his stomach to simmer and extinguish itself, because you were only friends. nothing more, nothing less.

and after jolyne? his ex-wife? no, he was not willing to take this risk again. but the way his chest tightened every single time you laughed with a man that was not him- it was dumb, stupid, illogical? what would be next? chain you up in a room forever? you, the person who grabbed his hand and shook it firmly, telling him you'd always have his back?

"jotaro!" you smiled. when had you made your way towards him? "you okay? too loud?" jotaro shook his head. "no. but rude of you to keep waiting for so long. i have my fucking arm in a sling." you laughed at that, hugging him before leading him to a table. "who was he?"

"hmm?" you looked at him, confused. "the man you were talking to." you stared at jotaro for a minute before a gentle smile graced your lips. "are you jealous, mon jojo?" jotaro scoffs, but refuses to say anything else as you take his large hand in yours. "you've got nothing to worry about," you said softly, leaning into him just enough to make him feel grounded again, before kissing him close enough to his lips before smiling. "i chose you."

[nami-moittli]

So I’ve been on a JoJo kick for awhile now, and one of my favorite concepts I’ve seen and latched onto is ✨Higashikita twins✨

(I have no clue if I spelled that correctly lmao) AKA, Josuke and Yukako are twins and therefore both joestars

So, a list of headcanon things of Yukasuke twins stuff! With little order to it

Idk if there’s like. Canon evidence for this or anything, but Koichi is new to the town of Morioh, so neither him nor Okuyasu really know much about the Higashikta twins. In fact, they don’t even realize that Josuke has a twin until Yukako confesses to Koichi

Iirc, Oku and Yukako are in the same class. He just doesn’t realize that having the same last name equals they’re probably related. Josuke needs to point it out to him

They usually never refer to each other by their name, instead saying “my brother/sister” when talking to other people and “Yuka” and “Jojo” to each other, with the occasional “sis/bro”

Josuke is waaayyyy too casual about Yukako. He’ll talk about her like one would talk about the weather, like it’s a completely normal thing

When actually talking to Yukako, yeah he’ll call her insane and shit and get into an argument or fight, but to other people the shit she does is a minor inconvenience at worst

Yukako has a bit of a reputation for being a little crazy, I mean, there’s no way that Koichi was her first crush. By this point not many people really talk about it much, but people also try to stay away from her

This reputation leaks into Josuke as well, which is why he’s seemingly friendless at the start of DiU, no one wants to hang out with the crazy girls brother. He’s probably just as bad as she is

Because of this, they’re very close even with how much they fight. They’re the only ones they had for a long time

Josuke at first wanted to hate Yukako for driving everyone away, and also her general insane behavior, but he quickly learned that that was just how she showed her love and care

They modified their uniforms together. It took Yukako way longer to because she had to dye/paint those roses onto her uniform and all Josuke did was pin/sew some things but they still had fun. They stayed up all night playing video games and chatting just generally enjoying each other’s company

Yukako has actually kidnapped Josuke before the same way she did Koichi, and when she did it was usually to the abandoned house that the Nijimuras eventually moved into

They fight. Like, a lot. It doesn’t help that Yukako knows exactly what button to push to get him riled up. No amount of their sibling love will override their sibling hate ✨

However Yukako is the only one allowed to make fun of Josuke’s hair, because she knows and completely gets why he wears his hair like that. So help you if you insult Josuke’s hair in front of both of them

No matter how much the twins fight, Josuke will always heal Yukako afterwards, and she’ll always carry bandages on her to try and repay the favor

No they do not apologize to each other

During Yukako’s canon introduction arc, Koichi’s “I hate you” does actually get through to her instead of her just brushing it off. Idk what Yuka’s canon family is like, but it feels pretty nonexistent which is why she’s able to ignore it so easily. Here though, she begins to have a breakdown because this is just how she shows her love, why does no one get that?

She still attacks Koichi after his “I hate you” which leads into him gaining Act 2, but it’s a bit more complicated because now she’s like, on the verge of tears not understanding that most people don’t consider kidnapping and what’s basically torture to mean affection

When Josuke and Okuyasu see them by the cliff side he doesn’t know if he should comfort Koichi or Yuka, because on one hand, he knows exactly how terrifying and insane she can be and goddammit this is one of his first friends in a long while and he doesn’t want to drive him away with his sister again, but on the other hand, holy shit that’s his sister having a breakdown and she almost just died and her hair has gone white

He ends up rushing over to Yuka because, how could he not? Okuyasu’s here too, so he can comfort Koichi, right?

He ends up having Crazy Diamond have its fingers run through Yukako’s hair while she cries into his chest

Josuke just really fucking hopes this didn’t just ruin his entire friendship with Koichi over this

As Koichi’s friend, Josuke hopes that he never has to run into Yukako again, because he knows just what kind of person his sister is and would get it if Koichi never wanted to talk to her (or him) ever again. But as Yukako’s brother, he notices that Koichi’s words genuinely got through to her, and that she seems willing to change over this, and that Koichi might just be the best person for his sister

Needless to say, Josuke was very relieved when Koichi held no ill will to him the next day at school and still wanted to be friends

I could totally add more to this, but it’s getting fairly long, so if anyone’s interested in more content for them then feel free to let me know! I have many more ideas for this concept

[endcant]

an incomplete list of things that are mundane but that i miss because i don't have access to them right now:

the foods i am allergic to now

dandelion tea

being part of a large team of people

making red bean paste

having a garden that isn't in pots on a balcony. it doesn't have to be big. i just miss the actual ground.

dancing without downstairs neighbors

sidewalks between me and almost anything i could ever want

getting somewhere early

having my own other place where i can lock things away and not just during work hours

being able to feel like i have a positive impact on people as regularly as i did at the tutoring center. but where else could i ever work that i can get profuse thank-yous every 15 minutes on the dot? with my skillset?

fishing with dad in california

bringing maple cookies to school friends in batches of 30

parking really far whenever i go anywhere and having a nice walk to and from my car

serving moms whiskey samples at noon on a sunday in a california grocery store

coffee and pumpkin jojos with my sister

walking a dog

feeding fish

the sierras

hot, dry, yellow landscapes

meeting someone else's older relatives every time i visit a friend's house.

feeling safe in a really big crowd of people

saving coffee for the security guard who would lock up at the art gallery i worked at for awhile. never got his name but i knew how he liked his coffee.

frequently meeting much older people who are currently attending community college and therefore are interested in learning new things

just having free agency to move around in much larger groups of people by myself in general (as a kid in california this experience was mandatory, as an adult in tennessee this experience costs a lot of money and also usually involves friends who expect me to stick with them the whole time)

piano with weighted keys

the scent of peach tea and wet dog at the same time

living in a room that was big enough for all of my earthly possessions and i never had to share that space with anybody and none of my stuff ever moved from where i expected it to be (thanks stephanie)

going to concerts in town

buying lots of books and having enough room to keep them all on shelves

when the creek's biodiversity wasn't obliterated by the city extending its gas pipelines to new developments

living somewhere WITH fences and WITHOUT "i will shoot you if you come onto my property" culture, both of which resulted in an overall better experience for Walkers

an incomplete list of things i have right now that i will miss if/when i do not have them later:

my roommates are incredibly generous and supportive and have helped a lot when ive had money problems

baldur is curled up on my keyboard and occasionally stands up, turns around and lays back down

both of my roommates laugh really loudly from their respective rooms at regular intervals

friend group chats are fairly active right now

the sound of cicadas is really relaxing

there were no dangerous storms for the past few days, so i have been able to go outside for basically any excuse

i have all the medications i need right now

i have my allergen-free spice mix that i can use anytime

i did a lot of laundry today and my back doesn't hurt. my back will hurt soon because i am about to do dishes, so i really have to enjoy this right now.

i am reading a library book about regional witchcraft right now. it is amazing. i will have to give it back, which is a little sad. i want to buy a copy one day when i have the money

i am not yet tired of the songs i am learning right now

all of my devices are currently functional

in general, my pain levels have been pretty bearable for the past month or so

our folding table is really helpful and not THAT bent yet

big lamp with daylight bulb keeps me sane

tall, thin, blessed candle that i got as a gift from a priestess will one day be used up or lost or broken

i have lots of art supplies right now

i have something specific to look forward to that is guaranteed to happen and that i can prepare for all i like in any way i want, but ultimately i'll still "succeed" in some basic way as long as i show up

there is a poem i want to memorize

[texas-writes]

Remember Summer Days

Every year you were in college you studied abroad for the second half of the year. As a cultural studies major you had been sent to many interesting places, including Hong Kong, Iran, and Iceland. Your senior year was no different, but a pit settled in your stomach nonetheless when your professor had informed you that you were selected to go to Japan.

The days leading up to your departure felt like a fever dream. A haze of chaos and doubts. A convoluted hope clinging to the back of your mind. When you finally reach your host family's house (the nearby campus had no available dorms) you’re surprised to find that the woman hosting you is American. She politely introduces herself to you as Holly and then leads you to your room, showing you around your temporary home in the process.

You had ended up passing out of the futon in your room, finally being overtaken by the stress and jet lag. Holly wakes you up some time later, I forming you that dinner is ready and her son will be home from work too.

You’re shocked to see the spread of Japanese food before you. So she wasn’t kidding when she had said she knew what she was doing. You and Holly chat back and forth about nothing while you begin fixing your plates to give her son time to return, and sure enough he’s back before you’re done plating your udon.

“Mom! I’m home,” a familiar voice calls, but you can’t quite place it.

“Hi Jojo! We’re in the dining room. We waited on you.”

“Oh is the exchange student finally-“ as he opens the door, drawing your attention, allowing him to see your face for the first time in more than three years, he drops his bag and rushes towards you, his arms outstretched.

You rise and open your arms to him as well, taking him into your arms and squeezing him like you’ll never let go.

“Oh! You kids know each other,” Holly questions, a confused look furrowing her brows.

“Yeah, she was traveling with the old man and I when we were in Egypt.”

“Okay,” she replies cheerfully, returning her attention to her plate.

When you finally pull away from Jotaro you have to fight the urge to kiss him then and there, so you ignore each other. Eating dinner silently, the silence was suffocating. You wanted nothing more than to be in his arms again, but if things went right, you’d have half a year with him. The thought thrilled you.

After dinner you had gone to finish unpacking, falling into bed when you were done. A rumbling in your chest startles you and you look over to see Star Platinum crouching beside your stand, Dark Lady, scratching the top of her head as she rubbed her cheek on his knee. You hadn’t used your stand hardly at all since you had left Egypt. You had almost completely forgotten about her.

After just a few more minutes of Star’s petting you had drifted off to sleep, leaving Star Platinum dozing in the corner with Dark Lady already curled up in his lap, purring in her sleep.

The next week you’re too busy with school to see much of Jotaro, but Star Platinum came to you every night, wrapping his massive body around yours, holding you while you slept, while Dark Lady spent the night curled up beside Jotaro’s head.

Finally that Saturday you and him were both completely free. He had taken you out to lunch and the two of you had ended up laying on the floor in his room, staring up at the ceiling and catching up.

You were hesitant with each other, only sparing the most chaste of touches, fingers drifting together only to repel like magnets. Love for him still pulled at your chest, but you were basically strangers again.

This time you had made the first move, letting yourself into Jotaro’s room in the middle of the night and putting yourself in Dark Lady’s place. He was surprised to find you there the next morning, but it wasn’t an unpleasant one.

It was then that he kissed you for the first time since you had parted all those years ago. It was still familiar, the way his lips pressed against yours, your tongue running along his lower lip before pushing past his teeth to explore his mouth. He moaned softly at the new sensation and pulled away, rolling you to face him before kissing you again, gripping your thigh with his large hand and leading your leg to rest on his hip.

You move to rest on top of him, your legs straddling one of his massive thighs. He had grown since you had seen him last, he was larger than you before, but now he was a giant in every way possible. One of his hands comes up to tangle in your hair and pull you closer to him while the other guides your hips to roll against him.

The sensation sends jolts through your body, making Jotaro want nothing more than to join his body with yours, but he wants to savor it as well. He wants to take it slow, so he starts by pulling your shorts to the side so that there’s nothing dividing you from his leg. He uses the rolling of your hips and the rippling of his muscles to get you to the edge of an orgasm. When he feels your legs trembling on either side of his, he grabs you by the waist, rolling you onto your back and shoving his face between your legs.

His mouth was warm against your dripping cunt, the wet ministrations of his tongue soothing the ache that the friction of riding his leg had spread through your clit. First he focuses his attention on your entrance, his tongue feeling around and making you squirm, small whimpers falling from your lips whenever the tip of his nose bumped against your clit.

He then replaces his tongue with his fingers, gently pushing two inside you and curling them gently. His mouth then goes to your clit, lapping at it with fervor before wrapping his lips around you and sucking, making you bite down on the back of your hand to muffle your cries as your legs widen to give him more space.

This time, when your legs begin shaking, he ignores it, pushing you further and further until your trembling thighs are squeezing his head, your hands clawing at his shoulders, desperately trying to get away from the stimulation he was bringing you. He finally pulls away when you let out a choked sob and pull his hair so hard his eyes water. When he looks up at you his hair is a spiky mess and his chin is glistening with your juices.

“C’mere,” you urge, tugging his arm to encourage him to come towards you.

Jotaro obliges and you lock you lips with his, not caring how strongly they taste of your essence. You slide your hand in the waistband of his boxers to rest on his hip, encouraging him to remove them.

He does, and before you can guide him, he’s already on top of you, sliding in and letting his cock get used to the feeling of being inside you again. He revels in every second of it, the way you whisper his name, the way you move against him, the feeling of your tongue in his mouth. It’s too much for him to bear and before he can stop himself he’s pounding into you, kneading the flesh of your thighs as he uses them for leverage. He allows himself to relax, his primal grunts becoming weak moans as he ruts into you.

You whine as he pulls one of your legs against his chest, adjusting his angle slightly so that he’s rubbing against your clit with every thrust. As you reach your second orgasms, he pulls out, cumming across your stomach and falling into place beside you.

“I still love you Jojo,” you whisper, bumping your forehead against his.

“I still love you too,” he replies, pulling a quilt over the both of you. “Now let’s get some rest.”

When Holly comes in to tell Jotaro that dinner’s ready, she finds the two of you to be a tangle of limbs and the quilt, but chooses to ignore it for her own sake.

[icarianarts]

More about me under the cut! ;P

Icarian • he/they/she (no preference) • transsexual • 21 y/o

I'm a Graphic Design Major ^_^

A running joke about me is a lot of my points of interest reflect that of a cishet boy but I promise I am normal about everything I get into. I may talk about some things more than others because I get embarrassed with what I like easily, but here's a general list!

General Movies + TV Shows

• Seinfeld

• The Birdcage

• The Yellow Submarine

• The Muppets

• The Shrek series (Unironically, whenever I talk about Shrek it is never for the meme, but for my love of the movies and characters.)

Various Adam Sandler movies + things that are so bad they're good, if that makes any sense. I love regularly watching tacky things that were poorly produced and/or written. Pretty much anything I can commentate on easily with my friends and complain about lightly LOL

Anime + Manga

• Jojo's Bizarre Adventure (Parts 1 + 3 + 6 are usually my areas of focus, but I have read all of it up to 9, which I've yet to really dive into.)

• Dragon Ball (Childhood interest of mine, I haven't watched the series regularly or have drawn fanart regularly since I was 14 or so. Hilariously, I still find myself to this day getting into conversations surrounding it so I might as well include it!)

• Berserk (I LOVE PUCK ^_^)

• Devilman (Obligatory post-Berserk catch up read so I could see the elements Miura was inspired by.)

Video Games

• Pretty much most Nintendo games, I have a baseline knowledge of everything under that company's label. (Focus on Pokémon + Mario + Kid Icarus + etc. it'll be glaringly obvious what my favorites are just by checking my old smash bros ultimate tags...)

• Mega Man Classic

• Second Life + VR Chat (If you ever consider wanting to play any of these games, feel free to shoot me an ask or DM if you'd like an insider's explanation on what the scene is like on them! I can go into great detail the amount of stories I have accumulated from my excursions, all the good and the bad LMAO)

• Genshin Impact (I do not engage with the fanbase, and find a lot of the fans genuinely exhausting to be around. While it is no worse than The Legend of Zelda with its issues, the fans remarkably make it so much more agonizing to talk about.)

• Ball Gay 3

Miscellaneous

• I love the Abrahamic Faiths and sometimes post about my experiences struggling in queer spaces predominantly ran by culturally christian white atheists who choose to say all organized faith is inherently bad and perpetuate the "queer vs. religion" issue.

• I went to a Japanese immersion school from the ages 5 through 11 and have been casually keeping up with the language since!

• I love classic country and folk rock. When I say I like country, I specifically mean the genre and general scene behind country that predates the 9/11 shift in music. I also (embarrassingly) know a shit ton of Beatles trivia. John Denver is my favorite music artist.

...and much more I am probably forgetting to list out! I am critical of all my interests, so please do not be presumptuous. Ultimately, I consider a lot of "Fandom DNI" things to be hypocritical and performative in the sense that it eliminates any nuance.

Simply put, I will just block you if you are someone who refuses to have any critical thinking skills...that being said, given how tumblrinas seem to be incapable of figuring out what that means, here is a brief rundown of what I that tends to encapsulate. LMAOOOOOO

No stupid discourse No creeps No "it's just fictional!" No whatever I deem to be genuinely sickening I know "DNI" pages are performative and areas for people to flaunt their basic morality but lately I have had to block so many people I feel as though I need to put a typical warning up so. You Know. Gestures Vaguely. For Genshin Fans specifically coming to my blog know I do not put up with any ship remotely creepy. I see a good portion of the "short" character model characters as children, and genuinely cannot "unsee" it. This is not something to argue in my asks about. Just leave me alone, I do not participate in the fandom for a reason.

[eshbaal]

T/W - Loss, Grief, Death There's no easy way to share the news I got yesterday, so that's why I state it plainly in the title and will state it just as plainly now.

My dear friend Markus Ekedahl, known here on tumblr as @lordsmaf, is dead.

He had stopped responding to me altogether on Discord about a week ago, which I naturally thought was odd since he and I have spoken practically at least once a day for the better part of a decade.

I tried to tell myself to not be silly and assume the worst. But still I wrote him every day and recieved no responses even when I said I was worried. So, yesterday, on my way home from another obligation, I started online sleuthing to find contact info on his family, and got ahold of his sister, who he has mentioned to me many times before.

She'd been wanting to get ahold of me, but was unsure how and well, she unfortunately confirmed my darkest fears.

From what she knows, it was sudden. Possibly a result of some underlying health issue. Nobody knows exactly what went on just yet.

I'm gutted, naturally. Markus and I knew eachother well. We were even on birthday and christmas gift basis even though we have only ever actually met a handful of times in real life.

He would have turned 35 on August 1st. I was pondering what I should get him "once he got back". I had practically started rehearsing how to tell him that I didn't care how long he was gone as long as he came back fine and well, in case he was sick or something.

I spent a good half hour looking at his icon hoping for a little red notification to pop up.

Frankly, I'd much rather be furious at him for some kind of sick joke than not have him here with me at all.

---

My thoughts keep going to content and media.

Brav and I shot the shit about media we both liked all the time, and he was as much of a #1 Fan and supporter of my content as he was a friend, always willing to take a look at my videos to try and spot errors before I uploaded them, and showing up for basically every stream I ever did, clipping anything remotely amusing from it. I always knew I was doing a good job if he was clipping up a storm on Twitch.

It was hard enough not seeing his name in chat a few days ago when I was unsure what had happened. It's going to be even harder now, even if I know he'd want me to keep having fun, even with the games I largely played because I knew he'd be amused to see how I reacted to them.

My last interaction with him was me telling him I was finally watching Caddyshack and finding it hilarious, and him responding "Oh yeah."

It probably seems silly that these are the things I worry about since in some way, they probably shouldn't matter. But at the same time, I really regret never getting around to watching some of his favorite stuff now - like JoJo, Gundam or Transformers.

I still plan to keep going on all of this when I can. Even finish the stuff I mostly did because I knew he'd enjoy it. I just need to be able to say it's for his sake without cracking first.

---

For those wondering, I did all the "right" steps almost immediately. I've visited my parents. I've told a few other friends. I've ugly sobbed, I've been angry at the injustice of losing friends at the way-too-early age of barely-34.

I've also had IRL friends who have dealt with their own losses this past year the phone, and one is coming to check on me tomorrow. I have several friends coming over for my own birthday next weekend, and I don't plan to cancel that.

Hell, I've even been able to laugh at other little silly things just a few hours after the bad news. Not that the sadness doesn't settle right back in shortly after.

But today is hard. Really hard. I keep swinging between pure lethargy and crying at random.

I just hope Markus knew that I loved him very much, somewhere between the avalanche of silly clips of terrible game and anime voice acting, the ridiculous tweets we'd both laugh at, or the cool little moments in comics we liked to share.

[jamiesugah]

I just finished a five-part, six-hour YouTube deep dive on a 45-year old murder case and it is fucking INSANE and needs to be a miniseries. Way more interesting than another OJ Simpson doc. Who cares.

Anyway. Story. Someone I went to high school with is in jail for murder. He was up for parole a few years ago and got denied. Anyway, when Netflix came out with the new Unsolved Mysteries show, it made me think of him, and I mentioned it on our monthly family video chat. Which prompted my dad to go, "oh that reminds me of when this girl that my sister used to babysit was murdered".

And I just kind of blinked at him. Like. Say more right now. Why am I almost 40 and didn't know this. And he didn't tell me much, but there was a TV movie made about the case so I looked it up. Learned the basics of the case, and it always stayed in the back of my mind, because there didn't seem to be much on it anywhere.

Putting this under a read more just in case people get triggered by it. Also it's long.

So when I looked up the Wikipedia, there was a bit on it, but the basics are that she was a teacher in a town in PA near Philly (she is from my dad's hometown, though, which is super tiny and rural), and she was found in the trunk of her car in a motel parking lot near Harrisburg (which is a couple hours away from Philly). Her children also disappeared and THEY WERE NEVER FOUND. IT'S BEEN 45 YEARS.

It was the kids that kept this in the back of my mind. No one ever found out what happened to the kids. Their dad is dead, both suspects in the woman's murder are dead, and they spent their entire lives claiming that they were innocent and the other man had done it. We will never know what happened to these kids. They were 10 and 11.

Anyway, I fell into a bit of a YouTube spiral this past weekend where I started with watching videos on the Watcher situation, then Jojo Siwa, then J Lo, and then somehow ended up on true crime, specifically The Boy in the Box and then the Yuba County 5. And I was like, "I've never been able to find an official documentary, but surely someone on YouTube talked about this case about the woman and her kids." And lo and behold, I found one.

It is six hours long, which surprised me, but I kept watching because this shit is BONKERS, and the fact that there was only one TV miniseries (even if it starred Stockard Channing and Treat Williams) and, like, 20/20 never even covered this is a huge missed opportunity. This shit is BANANAS and Hulu or something needs to jump on this.

So the two main suspects, who were both convicted (though one was later overturned as the cops withheld evidence during his trial), were the former principal of the school - who was also convicted of robbery and his sentencing was like the day after the murder - and her secret boyfriend and fellow teacher.

By the way, the principal has a Wiki page, the woman - Susan Reinert - does not.

Anyway, the boyfriend/teacher was like a narcissist and compulsive liar. He was dating something like 5 women at the same time (including two former students) while being legally married, and he used to tell people that he had helped the government hunt down rebels in Cuba, which of course was not true. He basically had a little cult of followers around him, and he would ask them to do stuff like HIDE WEAPONS and WIPE FINGERPRINTS OFF $25K IN CASH and no one ever went, "huh that sounds shady" because I guess he was just that charismatic.

The former principal was known to be weird and secretive. He never even let his wife or their children in the basement of their own house (which when they raided because of the robbery they found riddled with bullet holes), and it's more than likely that he murdered his oldest daughter and her husband and then tried to pretend they ran off to California.

Anyway, the boyfriend/teacher spent the months leading up to Susan's murder telling as his "followers" that he knew for sure that the principal was going to kill her and lamenting that he would likely be framed for it because she had made him the beneficiary of her life insurance (which she did, and he would have gotten like $700k which is a lot of money now, let alone in 1979). And none of these people went to the cops or told Susan, even though they all knew each other because they all worked at the same school. So then boyfriend/teacher worked REALLY hard to have an airtight alibi on a specific weekend, which just so happened to be the weekend that she died.

After the murder, all of this dude's followers were like, "wow you were right, principal actually killed her", and then he suddenly started going, "no I think he was framed by the mob" and everyone was like wtf is wrong with you, you have been telling us for months that he was going to kill her. And then his lies started to catch up with him and basically everyone in his influence turned on him and went to the police, except one of his girlfriends, who may or may not have helped him dispose of the kids' bodies, since they were never found.

ANYWAY this case is fucking crazy and should absolutely be immortalized on like HBO or something, but if you want to go down the rabbit hole, this is the first part of the series that I watched. It is super detailed. Like the murder doesn't even happen until part 3. You can also look up The Mainline Murders, there were a couple of books, but one was written by the principal's lawyer.

[milkshaketg]

skewbald belgian named Inksplash. palomino cream or smth.

Florence and Tuscany go the realm. feline hall. human was a bitch who “I turned out fine so they should, too.” maybe I make her too sick to be able to tell anything. black cat companion with purple eyes who can see your death.

someone who comes face to face with their killer who through time loop shenanagins it isn’t in the past it’s the current except they’re alive even though they did kill them and the killer is just like nonchalant or at least appears unbothered

like others are in a time loop and she comes back and is like what

another character just disappears and it isn’t mentioned at all until dead girl returns and is like where are they and everyone else is like who

maybe they come back somehow except not alive

au self inset w Joot in JoJo where I’m a lesbian and therefore an outcast and he and I find solidarity in that and whatnot. I yell at him for how he treats his mom.

Dollarpaw as in sand dollar

SSO Vid Ideas:

dive into SSOblr

Autumn “TroyTheBoy” after their fursona Troy

Featherbelle🥦

Nicodemus(Nico)

Griffin

Wolfgang

fear look in her eyes as the sword is about to come down on her, but is saved by someone else last minute. she doesn’t question it. she just runs. she has no idea what happened to that person.

Angela on a throne looking kinda shocked and surprised and anxious and Akuma is at her feet, all seductive n draped over her n shit and just staring at the viewer sure of herself. not smug, though. just confident.

pink haired self insert for FE3H to draw a Ashe, Catherine, fuckin uhh other pretty lady, maybe Sylvain? Felix? anyone tbh. Claude, too. ladies as well ofc.

-traumatized lady, cannot be on the battlefield or she shuts down. mayb a new crest, a special one. bc she’s special :>

-self regenerating from a big battle who lost everyone and everyone was starving then offered herself up to eat and they found out she couldn’t die by mutilation alone, eventually was captured and used as a human shield and then ofc this fucks her up real bad so they erase a ton of memories so now she’s just ditzy lady being studied except gently at the monastery. ig she can’t really work out bc regeneration.

Flayn x Dedue

someone with a pet named Cream Cheese

self insert where I’m broken and Dirk fixes me I’m a cyborg except he’s got complete control now and I become a husk just used by him to accomplish his misguided deeds. robot turns to flesh eventually even the tail n shit.

oh wait fuck he’s gay.

we don’t gotta fuck it can be platonic extremely fantastically toxic codependency

I am a pet.

this again, except I am a lesbian who forms an unhealthy codependent relationship with Sylvain. he’s chasing my friend who I have a massive crush on, so I approach him. he ofc thinks I’m going for him/his crest but is visibly taken aback when I admit I’m in love with my friend and I need him to back off. we chat a bit and become acquainted or whatevs. he does. then after the five years comes back and she’s dead, I’m heartbroken obviously. emphasis on bad disassociation too. and boom, codependence. then he’s basically backed into a corner and forced to marry so he chooses me bc he knows I’m not tryna use him for his crest. I’m literally 90% into girls thank u.

fire emblem + blorbos + desired self inserts

Canary method(if you’re gonna act like a clown I’m gonna treat you like one)

did I fuck up my circadian rhythm in middle school? because this is not a case of bad habits.

no food :(

issues at work bc girl I don’t have peripheral hearing. god I feel so fucking disabled.

Ottalie

Muse

Rush retains the same mass no matter her form, in addition to being albino.

(hey, are you alright?)(pans to me full strawberry outfit + strawberry makeup + accessories)(yeah, why?)

goth in beanie: are you okay?

strawberry: yeah, why?(HEAVY pink blush w white freckles + lashes and whatnot)(holding my stuffies)

goth in beanie: alright,,,

caption: inside you there are two wolves

me, blank expression: listening to a cat get graphically and brutally murdered and remembering how violent my favorite books as a kid were

Skyclan’s Destiny or whatever is literally just skyclan getting slowly slaughtered one by one

dark eyes of ebon

Rose looked up at Silva. She honestly looked kind of pathetic, one of her lashes hanging haphazardly and her lipstick was smudged. She had seen better days, certainly.

She looked from Silva’s hand, to her face, then back to her hand, not even seeming to register her face wasn’t all that visible. Without much hesitation she took her hand. She had no reason to even consider refusing the help. This was a safe town, no one knew who or where she was so no one would be coming for her. If she had articulated these thoughts they would have sent a pang of pain through her, but as luck would have it her brain stayed full of fluff for now.

“Thank you, appreciate it.” She allowed herself to be pulled to her feet, flashing a smile at the girl. “Now… do you happen to know where we are? Of course you do, you must if you’re out here. Could you show me to” she looked down at her unsightly appearance. She didn’t even want to know what her face looked like. “I guess going out isn’t an option, now is it? You know the direction to Fen’s stable? If you could be a gem and take me there.”

Mon: 10-3

Tue: off

Wed: 10-2

Thurs: 5-9

Fri: off

Sat: 3-7

Sun: 10-3

SpectrumSetup-B8

stealthnest127

[maskedf0x]

Newer to Tumblr, please have mercy on me…

Introduction:

Heya, I’m Zoom! I’m a 17 year old furry who draws on occasion. I go by he/him! I’ve been diagnosed with Aspergers, ADHD, and Clinical Depression. I mostly do traditional drawings because I can’t figure out how drawing programs work on my laptop. It seems complicated *sobbing*

I also might dabble in au making and writing little scenarios in general, if I can get over being self conscious about my work that is. Plus generally posting about my own ocs.

My current hyperfixation rn is basically the Daycare Attendant soooo yeah! Probably going to be reblogging stuff about the lanky mfs mostly 💕

I don’t currently have an persona reference for you guys because I very much dislike coloring my drawings and stuff, just know it’s a bipedal red fox in a fancy tux with some snakelike features that has a mask he can pull up over his snout if need be.

Even if you don’t end up following me, I hope you have a good day and remember to drink water!

I might delete this later.

Things to know about me:

I’m very shy when meeting new people and prefer them to come to me

I get overwhelmed in a chat with over 5-6 people usually

I like to lurk in chats

I’m very blunt

I get distracted a bunch, especially when playing video games, so I may not respond for hours

Sometimes I just need a day to myself and will not reply to anyone, I’ll tell you if I can, it’s just sometimes really hard for me

Is this TMI?

I don’t have a lot of people experience in general

I might stuck and go quiet when the conversation topic suddenly changes because I might still be thinking about the previous topic, it’s basically like whiplash for me

I’m not good at carrying conversations

I’m more of a listener

My love language is Words of Affirmation followed by Quality time

The love language I give is usually Quality time or Words of Affirmation, and sometimes Physical affection

I have trouble picking up sarcasm sometimes

Fandoms that I’m in that I can quickly think of off the top of my head:

FNAF

DCA fandom (specific offshoot of fnaf)

Dayshift at Freddy’s

Dialtown

Ultrakill

Over the Garden Wall

Super Mario

Pokémon

How to Train Your Dragon (Movie and Book Series)

Obey Me

Legend Of Zelda (Specifically BOTW)

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure

Minecraft

SpongeBob (Literally have seen all the episodes, please help.)

Gravity Falls

Jurassic Park/World

Dinosaurs in general

Cats (Broadway Musical)

Beastars

Battle Cats

Cuphead

Herpetology (Dream job)

The Isle (Dinosaur game)

Probably more!

Hobbies:

Violin

Drawing

Roleplaying (I’m semi-literate!)

Watching YouTube

Snake keeping (I have a 9 month old boa constrictor as of posing this, his name is Walter and he’s my son 🥺)

Yoga

Creating ocs in my own personal universe!

Hanging out in Discord calls with friends

Gaming

Making cosplay

DNI:

Homophobes, Transphobes, anyone maliciously anti-LBTGQIA+ etc.

P3doph1les or a maker of/indulges in adult x underage ships.

Racist, Sexist, Ableist, basic DNI criteria

If you say slurs freely.

[luvredvelvetluv]

Modern cc au shit

Ok so basically, Percy and Milo and poppy be livin in a big ass house

That house turns out to be the laughingstock because we gotta put her in somewhere

Sorry to slander ur baby boy but Percy is basically those woke, offended easily,alt,furry,old Tumblr,hates cis white males, twitter people. IDK HE GIVE OFF THOSE VIBES

Milos a fucking rapper but he sucks at it he only sings British rap shit like "base money fancy clothes" or whatever

Poppy is a fucking NFT seller 😭

The crew has this shed or treehouse thing inspired by some 3008 Ikea bases me and my friend made and found

Skin-taker/thade is a fucking fashion designer and judge

He has his own fashion line

Horace is a bartender

Skinny boi and horace married LMAOO

Janice living with Milo and percy

Sea dog is a fucking cocker spaniel

This one was inspired by welcometocandlecove 's headcannons on the cc modern au in a discord chat but basically, poppy has this garden and Percy and Milo would help with. Janice be playing in it too.

Oki so Lillian is a business owner

But she ded in car accident

After lillian died, Thade got into a deep depression because he lost the love of his life and struggled taking care of auburn until he met Horace at a bar.

Calvary and Nathan are just the neighbors lmao

Jojo be a construction worker along with calvary

Rubber fishes crew be robbers lmao

Horace is one of those TikTok witches that be like "oh your a baby witch also here's some crystal healing along with manifestation with a dose of protection spell that is def not made out of cat piss"

Horace has too many fucking plants along with skin-taker 😭😭

This one is inspired by candlecovecorner. So basically Percy is one of those "small business" owners on TikTok lmao he be selling his stuff on Etsy or wish lmaooo

This one is also inspired by candlecovecorner. Kurt be wearing cat ear headphones BUT HE FUCKING LISTENS TO MONSTER CAT AND CRAB RAVE ALL DAY

hmmm how do I put this... Red Mary...uhhhh..she caused the car accident because why not, she a pyromaniac, But anyways she's in rehab.

Milo has fucking rats also his favorite movie is that one ripoff ratatouille named RATATOING

Horace has a shit ton of animals he has a Siamese cat, a white fox, a bat, a fruit bat, a snake, AND A COCKATOO BAHAHAHA

Sariah is a bar singer, she makes TONS of money because sariah slander is not tolerated

Susan is a opera singer. PERIOT.

MELROSE SELLS SLIME

in the creepypasta version of the modern au, the cc characters mentioned in the Creepypasta are actually a band, similar to Gorillaz, the laughingstock is basically a van.

HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHA HERE IS MY ESSAY ON WHY I SHOULD BE A CERTIFIED CC CREATOR-

[cali-holland]

An Irregular Romance ★ Harrison Osterfield One Shot

Pairing: Harrison Osterfield X Reader

Summary: Over five years ago, Harrison followed his heart (a.k.a. you) to drama school, and the day he asked you out was the day he discovered you had a boyfriend. He thought that part of his past was behind him, but then he was cast as Leo in The Irregulars and you were cast as Bea. Romance and shenanigans ensue as he tries to navigate the resurrection of his crush on you.

Word Count: 10k

Warnings: spoilers for The Irregulars, swearing, drinking (reader gets v drunk at one point), cheating boyfriend + “open relationship” drama

Masterlist in bio

*Gif is not mine

A/N: inspired by harrison literally saying he followed the girl he liked to drama school but she didn’t like him back; the drama school is the brit school (idk if that’s what he was talking about but age wise it works better); also darci is 18+ in this fic bc it just fits better to make her around their age; plus i had to re-post this bc the tags didn’t work so rip

also just like to say a massive thank you to @duskholland​​ for proofreading this for me :) you’re the best! this fic would be missing 90% of its commas if it wasn’t for you lmao

❁❁❁❁❁

Harrison had been buzzing with excitement all week. While he knew for sure that he had landed the role of Prince Leo in The Irregulars, he had no idea who the other cast members were. His agent learned from Netflix that they’d announce the cast on Saturday, so now here he sat, anxiously awaiting the news as he drank another pint with his good friends.

“Anything yet?” Tuwaine asked, refreshing his Twitter timeline.

“Nope.” Harrison said with a shake of his head as Netflix’s Instagram page remained unchanged as another minute went by.

“Maybe they’re announcing it at midnight.” Tom shrugged, trying to be useful to ease his friend’s nerves.

“Everyone would be asleep.” The blond replied before taking another long drink of his beer.

“Well, congratulations whenever they officially announce it.” Harry stated, standing up with his empty glass. “Next round’s on me.”

The conversation began to wander off, and Harrison found himself deep in thought, pondering his mysterious, new castmates. Would he like them? Would they like him? Were they big names or no names? Were they people he had screen-tested with (because, truthfully, he only screen-tested with a few girls, but even then, he didn’t screen test with all of the potential actresses)? As he got stuck, trying to think of someone he’d actually liked when they screen-tested together, he was snapped out of his thoughts by Tom yelling.

“It’s up!” Tom held his phone in the middle of the table as he, Harrison, Tuwaine, and Harry, who was now back with more beer, looked over the cast. A sense of pride soared through the group at Harrison’s picture and name being on the official Netflix page for The Irregulars. Harrison read over the other names, wondering if he knew any by happenstance. Just as he recognized one name in particular, Tom spoke up.

“Y/N Y/L/N? Isn’t that the girl you fancied in drama school?” Tom asked with a smirk. His smirk seemed to widen as Harrison blushed a deeper shade of red.

“No, no, no!” Harrison grumbled, taking out his phone to look over the post for himself because maybe, if he looked from his own account, the cast would magically change. When he looked at your name and picture right beside his, realization hit him. He slumped over, putting his head down on the table regretfully.

“I’d nearly forgotten about Haz’s girl that wasn’t his girl.” Tuwaine joked.

“Wait, what girl?” Harry questioned, out of the loop.

Perhaps the stupidest but best choice Harrison had ever made in his life was following you, his biggest crush, to drama school. Why his mother even let him chase after a girl like that was beyond him; he thought she should’ve advised him against it, but with the whole “follow your heart” attitude, his mum was his biggest supporter. He did his best to impress you, to get you to notice him, but you were unfazed by him. The day that he finally got the courage to ask you out was the day that he learned you’d had a boyfriend for the past two months.

Though he didn’t get the girl in drama school, he actually enjoyed it, and look where he ended up now— a new Netflix show was on the horizon for him. Despite the fact that he was (and still sort of is) crushed and embarrassed by the fact that you (very kindly) rejected him five years ago, drama school turned out to be a blessing.

“Harrison, here,” Tom laughed as he clapped his friend’s shoulder as Harrison still didn’t lift his head from his pitiful position, “thought he’d pursue acting because Y/N wanted to be an actress. He didn’t realize that in order to get her attention, he’d have to actually talk to her.”

That was enough to make Harrison lift his head, eyeing his friend questioningly. Cutting Tom off, he defended himself, “What do you mean? I did talk to her.”

“Right— you’d have maybe one conversation with her every three weeks.” Tom turned back to his brother, “Anyway, Haz finally asked her out and, turns out, she’d been dating this other guy for months.”

“Whatever. I only asked her out because you and Tuwaine shoved me into her. Maybe she doesn’t even remember me.” Harrison pulled out his phone to check over Netflix’s Instagram, wanting to see for himself the new cast again. When he opened the app, it notified him of all the new followers he had gotten, and, with one glance at the list of names, one account stood out to him.

‘@yourusername started following you’. Harrison let out a sigh, not wanting to dwell on this any further.

“She works fast.” Harry teased, looking over the blond’s shoulder.

“We’re co-stars now. She probably followed everyone else too.”

As if on cue, a new notification came through his Instagram— ‘@yourusername sent you a message’. With bated breath, he opened it to see the message that confirmed his worst fear— you remembered him.

‘Hey stranger! How have you been?’

❁❁❁❁❁

With every passing day, Harrison’s excitement for this new big project grew… but so did his dread about seeing you again. He wasn’t entirely sure now as to why his gut was filled with butterflies mixed with anxiety just thinking about you. You were only ever nice to him, both before and after he asked you out. It all led him back to the same conclusion that he still had a thing for you, but yet again, maybe it’s just life that your first real crush always has some power over you.

As he walked down the strangely long hallway to the conference room, he adjusted the collar of his letterman’s jacket. Today was the big day— the first table read for The Irregulars, and the first day he’d be confronted by you after all these years. Just on the other side of this door, his co-stars and the main production crew were waiting. Everything was real now; production would start in just a few days.

With one last nervous breath, he pushed open the heavy oak door and entered the room. People were chatting as they sat around the large conference table, which had small name cards at each seat. Harrison’s eyes found you almost immediately. You were locked into a conversation with your co-star, Darci, seated to your left for the table read. To your right was one of the last available seats, and Harrison’s name was on the little card on the table. All hopes of being unnoticed by you were instantaneously gone as he took his seat beside you.

“Fancy seeing you here.” You said to Harrison with a laugh, and he was instantly reminded of how that laugh basically drove him to where he was today.

“How long has it been?” Harrison asked, trying to play it cool like he hadn’t been rehearsing this day in his mind for the past several months.

“Far too long.” You smiled.

As the last few people trickled into the room, introductions flew around the table as everyone met their new coworkers. After a cold read-through of the script and a few words from the show’s creator, the table read was deemed over. Just when Harrison thought he was free to forget about your existence for a few more days, you pulled him aside.

“Hey, Darci and I were going to get drinks with McKell and Jojo. You should come.” You offered, and Harrison chanced a glance across the room to where Darci was chatting with your other two main co-stars.

“Uh, yeah, sure.” Harrison replied. He cleared his throat before giving you a definite nod that yes, that’d be a great idea.

“Perfect.”

And just like that, the five of you made your way across town to a pub. Darci had chosen the spot, explaining that it was the best place for drinks in Liverpool, and, seeing as she’d lived there her whole life, none of you tried to argue with her.

Harrison felt a strange pit in his stomach as everyone talked and laughed over some beers, as if you weren’t all strangers a few hours ago. His eyes always seemed to land on you and your contagious smile. You looked almost exactly how he remembered you, and you still were the same happy, go-lucky girl he’d fallen hard for. It was crazy to him how quickly you gave him butterflies, how effortlessly you made him feel like a silly schoolboy all over again. He couldn’t help but wonder if you thought he’d changed since his school days, too… or if you even thought about him enough to notice. So far, you’d made no indication that he was anyone besides an old friend from drama school, making him hope you didn’t remember that dreadful day.

As you and Darci excused yourself for a bathroom break, Harrison gave himself a little reminder that he was meant to be getting to know all of his co-stars right now and wasn’t meant to be focusing so intently on you. He took another sip of his beer, turning back to Jojo and McKell.

“So how do you and Y/N know each other?” McKell asked, and Jojo tried to hide his shit-eating grin behind his beer.

“Drama school, a few years ago.” Harrison replied, trying to play ignorant.

“Ah, so it’s a schoolboy crush, then?” Jojo questioned teasingly.

Harrison felt his face heat up. Jojo and McKell were practically strangers to him, and they already knew. He was cornered, “Is it that obvious?”

“A little.” McKell said while Jojo simultaneously replied, “Very.”

“Just ask her out.” Jojo encouraged.

“That’s the problem— I did.” Harrison replied, and both of their jaws dropped.

“No way. Did she let you down easy at least?” McKell’s voice was somewhere between a disbelieving, teasing, and pitiful tone.

Harrison scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, “Well, yeah? I mean she wasn’t rude about it, but it was still a bit awkward. She was dating this other guy at the time. He didn’t go to our school, though, so I had no clue about him.”

“That’s rough.” Jojo grimaced, before he gave Harrison a hopeful smile, “Maybe she’s single now.”

“I’ve been rejected by Y/N once— I don’t need her to reject me a second time.” He shook his head with a small laugh to conceal his embarrassment. He took a drink of his beer, hoping that would calm his nerves a little.

“Incoming,” McKell said quietly, nodding in the direction of the bathroom.

“What’d we miss?” Darci asked as she slipped back into her seat. You remained standing to put your jacket on, both you and Darci completely unaware of the boys’ conversation.

“Nothing, just Jojo being an idiot.” McKell joked, to which his newfound friend just punched him in the arm, taking another long drink of his beer.

“I think I might head back to the hotel.” Your words were met with a collective groan from three of your co-stars— Harrison silently frowned as he sipped on his beer.

As your head was down to collect your things, Jojo swiftly kicked Harrison under the table. Harrison looked at him quizzically, sending him a “what the hell was that for” look. When his co-star just nodded his head encouragingly towards you, Harrison got the idea.

“I’ll walk you.” Harrison said, making you look over at him. Standing up from his seat, he insisted, “I was just about to head out, too.”

“Okay,” You smiled, still completely unaware of his interaction with Jojo.

After you all exchanged phone numbers and created a group chat lovingly titled “The Irregz”, you and Harrison left the pub. You fell in step together, walking along the sidewalk in the chilly Liverpool air back to the hotel that you’d all be staying at for the next few months.

“So what have you been up to since graduation?” Harrison asked you, his hands deep in the pockets of his letterman’s jacket.

“All sorts of things, really.” You shrugged with a smile, “I got a few TV roles here and there, did some modeling, but so far none of it has really stuck, so I’m hopeful that this will be a foot in the door. What about you?”

“The same as you, really, but, instead of shows, I’ve done some short films.”

“I see you’re still best friends with Tom.” You said in a teasing tone. Harrison felt an unusual, upsetting tug on his heartstring. Not noticing any change in his demeanor, you continued with a laugh, “It’s funny. I would’ve placed my bets on you being world-famous after graduation.”

“Me?” He questioned, surprised by your words.

“Yeah, you didn’t go to LAMDA for nothing.” You playfully nudged his arm with your elbow, and he felt his cheeks heat up once more. “Don’t be modest— I’m not wrong.”

“Can’t argue with that logic.” A laugh passed his lips, any previous bashful reservations slowly fading away.

Before Harrison could say anything further, your phone began to ring. You fished it out of your pocket and barely looked at the caller ID before sending it to voicemail. Your actions were fast, but Harrison still caught the name of who was calling, Davey, followed by a red heart emoji. And that’s when it hit him— you were still with the same boyfriend from drama school, all those years ago.

And just like that, Harrison felt a tsunami wave of heartbreak from drama school wash over him.

“Hey, Y/N!” Harrison called out as he stumbled his way over to stall you from leaving school. He had one hand holding onto his book bag strap tight enough that his knuckles were turning white, and he shuffled his other through his hair.

“Hey, is everything alright?” You asked, concerned at how nervous he seemed.

“Yeah, um, well, tonight’s opening night for West Side Story, and I was wondering if you wanted to go with me? I know it’s your favorite play, and it’s one of mine too, so, yeah, I thought maybe we could go together?” He was sure that he’d never sounded so unsure of himself. Truth is, he didn’t want to ask you out right now, but Tom and Tuwaine had quite literally shoved him in your direction, physically encouraging him. He felt rushed and unprepared.

When you smiled so captivatingly and softly at him, he felt his racing heart speed up even more. Was this it? Was he really going to take you on a date? He thought to himself. His hopes weren’t up for long as you spoke up, “I can’t. I’ve already got tickets for tonight. I’m going with Davey.”

“Davey?”

“My boyfriend.” You replied, a hint of guilt in your voice.

His heart shattered. The only reason he was here, at this school, was because of you, and now he just had all of his hopes for any future dates with you thrown out the window.

“You and Davey are still together?” Harrison wondered aloud as you two arrived at the hotel.

“Yeah,” Your response was hesitant and quiet. He knew why— there was that elephant in the room between the two of you.

Before he could stop himself from mentioning it, he blurted out, “You don’t have to feel guilty about it, you know.”

You paused, watching unsure as he ran a hand through his hair nervously. “I kinda wonder what would’ve happened if I had said yes. Davey and I didn’t even end up seeing  West Side Story, anyway, so I wonder if you and I would’ve ended up any differently.”

It wasn’t much, but his heart sped up ever so slightly— so you had thought about him, even in the dating context. Harrison couldn’t think of a response (his brain repeated “fuck Davey, ask her out again”) fast enough as you stopped at the front desk. You mumbled something about needing some towels, and Harrison took that as his cue to just continue walking. He bid you a quick farewell, wanting to escape to his room as fast as possible.

Nothing you had said tonight had been particularly flirty, but he still rewound the events in his head because maybe he missed something. As he laid down in his bed that night, his mind drifted off with thoughts of you, wondering just how he’d manage to pull off these next few months without falling for you all over again.

Over the next several weeks, his predicament only seemed to grow. Spending so much time with you (and your other three co-stars) just made Harrison wish even more that he’d asked you out sooner in drama school, and having to spend most of his screen time gawking over you added to it further. Maybe it was another school boy crush, or maybe it was intense method acting— either way, he definitely liked you.

Ever since he read the script for episode four, he knew that eventually your two characters would become romantically involved. He would’ve felt giddy over the thought (because his eighteen-year-old self would’ve died at this opportunity), but whenever he thought of the scene, he was reminded about your boyfriend. Harrison wasn’t the type of guy to hate his crush’s boyfriend, but something just didn’t seem right about Davey.

Harrison was lying on his hotel bed, reading over the episode’s script for what must have been the fifth time through that afternoon. It was Sunday, the day before you’d both film Leo and Bea’s kiss. With a beer on his side table and an array of highlighters beside it, he was set. As the words started to run together, and his glasses began to feel uncomfortable on his nose, he heard a knock at his door.

“Coming!” Harrison called out. Setting his script aside, he rolled off the bed. He was confused at who could possibly be at his door, but, figuring it was someone from set, he had the decency to slip on a white t-shirt, opting for not answering the door in nothing but grey sweats. He was thankful for his last-minute decision as he opened the door and was met with you on his doorstep. Smiling at you and leaning on the doorframe, he let out a small, “Hey.”

“Hey, I was wondering if you wanted to rehearse tomorrow’s scene.” You offered with a friendly smile on your face.

“Right now?” He asked, glancing back into his room to decipher if it was clean enough or not.

“Oh, is this a bad time?” You replied, subconsciously stepping back. “Is someone here?”

“What?” Harrison looked at you, confused before it clicked what you thought, “Oh, no, no. There’s no one here. I was just rehearsing, too.”

“So is that a yes then or-?” You trailed off.

“Yeah, come on in.” He opened his door fully, allowing you to step in. He chivalrously closed the door behind you. “Would you like water or anything?”

“Can I have a beer?” You asked, spotting the one on his nightstand.

“Sure.” Harrison nodded. While he got you a beer and grabbed his own half-consumed bottle and script, you settled on the couch with your pages in hand.

“Thank you.” You smiled as he handed you the beer, and you took a sip happily. “You know, I’m honestly so jealous of you this week.”

“Why?” He asked with a laugh, thrown off guard by your confession.

“You get to do all the palace scenes again.”

“I also throw myself off a balcony.”

“But still.” You insisted. “Leo really needs to sneak Bea into the palace just so I can have one of those extravagant ball dress scenes. I just want to feel like a princess, and I feel like it’s what Bea deserves.”

Harrison looked at you admiringly for a moment. “You are a princess.” His face dropped as soon as he realized he’d said his thoughts aloud. Coughing, he tried to cover it up, “I mean—- you were kind of princess-like in episode 3, right?”

“Smooth.” You laughed, but didn’t press the situation. Your phone began to ring, and Harrison watched as you rolled your eyes, declining the call and ultimately silencing your phone.

“Spam call?”

“More like clingy non-committal somewhat boyfriend.” You stated, rolling your eyes.

He furrowed his eyebrows, confused. You hadn’t mentioned Davey in the past few weeks— not that Harrison was complaining, but he just assumed you were private about your personal life. “I thought you and Davey were on good terms?”

“We are? I don’t know.” You sighed, taking a sip of your beer.

“If you’re not comfortable with the topic, we can just rehearse-”

“No, it’s fine. I just haven’t really talked about it with anyone. Before I came here, he asked about having an open relationship while I’m away, and I told him no. And the last time we talked, we got into an argument and that was a couple days ago. I’m not ready to talk to him, and at this point, I’d much rather talk to you than him. It’s very frustrating that he wants to have an open relationship, but he still expects me to be at his beck and call. It’s like he’s looking for someone to substitute me, but I can’t have a life of my own. He wasn’t the most supportive of me taking this job in the first place, too.” You paused, with a small shrug, “I know you’re probably thinking I should leave him, but I can’t. We’ve been together for 5 years. I don’t know anything else at this point.”

“I get it.” Harrison said softly, hesitantly resting a comforting hand on your knee. “He was your first love. It makes sense that it’s hard to move on.” He felt his own heart sink at his ironic words. After all, you were his first love.

“I wouldn’t say he’s my first love.” You said softly, placing your hand on his, squeezing it gently. “Plus, at this point, I wouldn’t even say I love him.”

A silence fell in the room. Harrison really didn’t know what to say now. He would have told you to leave him, but you already knew that, so what was the point in him repeating it? Besides, it was your relationship, and you needed to make the decision for yourself… or let Davey make it for you.

“Let’s go through the scene, yeah?” You asked, changing the topic. You dropped his hand to pick up your script again.

���Right.” Harrison mumbled to himself, flicking through the pages to the scene.

You glanced around his hotel suite for a moment, looking for something similar to a bridge rail to lean on. “Should we use the kitchen counter? As the bridge rail?”

“Yeah, that works.” He nodded. The two of you got up, scripts in hand. Harrison stood to your right, just as the stage direction had called for. There was some space between the two of you, enough room for Harrison to shuffle closer to you later, as scripted.

“You’re not on your own, Beatrice. You must remember that.” Harrison said to you, leaning on the counter but looking over to you with his icy blue eyes. “You’re very different to anyone I’ve ever met.”

“What do you mean?” You asked, looking at him curiously.

“You have something about you.” He started, awkwardly.

You cut him off, “Like a smell?”

“No, like a quality.” He chuckled softly before continuing, “I don’t know what it is, but I really like it.”

“Well, when you think of it, let me know.”

“I’ll be sure to.” He smiled at you, his confidence slowly building as the scene continued on. Harrison stepped closer to you until he was right beside you, leaning sideways on the counter. “And I’m not saying you don’t smell, by the way. I’m just saying that that’s not the thing.”

You laughed, turning your head away from him in disbelief. “You know, I was thinking of kissing you, but now I’m not gonna.”

Harrison paused, taking a moment to mentally hype himself up for what was about to happen, but also taking a moment because it was scripted for Leo to be nervous. “Well, uh, I suppose I have to kiss you then.”

You turned to him, smiling coyly. Slowly, Harrison closed his eyes and leaned in. His heart started racing faster as he felt your breath fan against his face before his lips finally found yours. It was gentle and hesitant, everything that it had been scripted to be. As much as he wanted to keep kissing you and keep tasting the sweet strawberries of your lipgloss, it had to end. He pulled away after a moment, and you seemed almost breathless as you opened your eyes to see him again.

“I meant it when I said you’re not on your own.” Harrison looked at you with more hesitancy this time, but he still kissed you with the softest passion. The script said that Leo and Bea kiss and continue to kiss for a few seconds; Harrison wasn’t counting, but he was sure this kiss was longer than it was meant to be. Again, he found himself dreading its inevitable end. If there was one thing he could do for the rest of his life, it’d be this… well, this amongst other things with you. His stomach started to stir with guilt as he remembered Davey; you were still technically in a relationship, open or not, arguing currently or not. But then it clicked with Harrison, you weren’t pulling away— no, you were fully kissing him back.

Before he could pull away and end the scene with his last few lines, a knock came from his door. Regretfully, he stepped away from you. He didn’t meet your eye as he went to answer the door while you read over the script on the counter. Flustered, he opened the door.

“Mum! You’re here.” Harrison’s eyes went wide, surprised to see his mother and his sister standing before him.

“Surprise!” She smiled, hugging him almost immediately. “We had to come and see you at your big job.”

“Are you not happy to see us?” Charlotte teased, and Harrison shook his head, pulling her in for a hug. As they all stepped into Harrison’s apartment, you waved from the kitchen.

“Hi.” You smiled, coming over to introduce yourself.

“Oh, mum, Charlotte, this is Y/N. Y/N, this is my mum and Charlotte, my sister.” Harrison introduced the three of you.

“You’re Y/N Y/L/N from drama school?” Phil said with a smile, making the connection as you shook her hand. Charlotte seemed to stifle a laugh as Harrison’s cheeks heated up.

“Yes, that sounds like me.” You laughed, brushing off any awkwardness that Harrison feared was there. “We were just rehearsing our scene for tomorrow.”

“Maybe we can come to set.” Phil suggested, sending Harrison an expectant look.

“I’ll have to ask. This is so, so last-minute, though, so I don’t know.” He replied.

“It’s a spontaneous weekend trip.” Charlotte clarified.

“We should get some dinner. We haven’t eaten much all day.” Phil told Harrison before turning to you, “Y/N, you should come, too. It’d be so lovely to get to know you.”

“Oh, I don’t know.” You trailed off, glancing at Harrison. He sent you a silent look that said ‘she seriously does want you to come… If you don’t come, I won’t hear the end of it’. “I’d love to. I just need to go change first.”

You grabbed your script off the counter, and Harrison walked you to the door. “How long do you need?”

“Like 10 minutes?” You replied, and he nodded.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know they were coming, or that they’d invite you to dinner.” He said quietly, making you laugh.

“It’s fine, but I do have to warn you, if my parents spontaneously drop by, they don’t know who you are.” You teased.

He let out an embarrassed groan, “Let’s not talk about that.”

“See you in ten.” You sent him a wink before leaving to your own hotel room. As Harrison closed the door and turned back around, he was met with the smirking faces of his mother and sister.

“So, is there anything you want to tell us?” Phil asked.

“We were rehearsing. That’s all.” Harrison insisted, going through the wardrobe to find some clothes to change into for dinner.

“Huh,” Charlotte trailed off, crossing her arms. “So, you wearing sparkly lip gloss that matches Y/N’s is a coincidence?”

“It’s a kiss scene tomorrow. We rehearsed the lines and the kisses, too.” He explained. With a pair of jeans, a clean shirt, and his red letterman jacket in hand, he made his way to the bathroom.

“Oh, multiple kisses.” She teased, making him roll his eyes.

“She has a boyfriend!” Harrison ended the conversation, closing the door to the bathroom.

Ten minutes later, you returned back to Harrison’s room, and the four of you left, making your way to an Italian restaurant nearby. You and Harrison shared anecdotes about filming so far, keeping spoilers to a minimum until the server came with your food.

“We got in so much trouble from the makeup and hair department.” You laughed as Harrison finished telling them of how you two went on the playground last week, much to the chagrin of the crew.

“It was worth it.” He added.

“Who would’ve known you’d play a Netflix prince?” Charlotte asked teasingly, but it was clear she was still proud of his achievements.

“Look at that face. He couldn’t play anything but a prince.” You joked, and he smiled smugly.

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” He stated.

“Phil, I have to say, I’ve never met someone more well suited to play a well-mannered prince.” You told her, playfully pinching Harrison’s cheek beside you.

“I remember when there was a time he was revolted at the idea of playing a prince.” Phil said, her lips growing into a smirk, and Harrison knew exactly what that meant.

“Mum, no—“ He started, but you just shushed him, wanting to hear whatever embarrassing story was about to be told.

“He watched a single Batman movie growing up— and not even a good one at that, and decided he simply had to be Batman.” She explained. “Then the Christopher Nolan ones came out, and there was no stopping him.”

“Every kid wants to be a superhero, and Batman is simply the best one.” He said as if it was obvious.

“I didn’t know you had a Batman phase.” You teased.

“Phase? He still has posters and comic books and dolls.” Charlotte added.

“Action figures.” He corrected her, making you laugh at the humor of it all.

“You know, honestly, I think I still have Catwoman action figures.” You admitted, trying to make him feel better, and Phil’s eyes lit up as she remembered another story.

“I cleaned your room a couple weeks ago, Harrison, and I was surprised to see you still Anne Hathaway as Catwoman posters.”

“Do we really have to talk about that? Does this torture not end?” He groaned.

“Fine. That’s enough for tonight.” Phil let out a defeated sigh, clearly enjoying herself.

“Y/N, if you want the really embarrassing stories, you’ve got to talk to Tom. He’s told me embarrassing Harrison stories that I can’t say in front of mum.” Charlotte laughed, and Harrison’s eyes nearly bulged out of his head at his sister’s words.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” You smiled coyly.

“Sometimes, I wonder if he forgets that I know just as much embarrassing shit that he did growing up, too.” Harrison stated, shaking his head.

The night went on with minimal embarrassment on Harrison’s end. After Phil and Charlotte went back to their hotel, you and Harrison started the walk back to your own hotel. As you walked, your hands would brush against each other’s every so often, but neither of you made any move to take it further.

“Darci’s going to be so jealous in the morning.” You said, making him laugh a little.

“Why’s that?”

“That’s her favorite restaurant in town. Plus, I just got a free meal.” You laughed. A visible shiver coursed through you as the chilly night air picked up.

“Are you cold?” Harrison asked, already taking off his letterman’s jacket.

“Thank you.” You replied, taking his offer of warmth. Your short sleeves did nothing to shield you from the cold, but he had at least been prepared enough with long sleeves. “Are you sure you won’t get chilly?”

“I’ll be fine.” He reassured you.

“I had a really nice time tonight. I’m glad your mum invited me.” You admitted happily.

“Me, too. Apart from all of the embarrassment I just went through, I enjoyed tonight.”

“I never knew you had a secret Batman fanboy side.”

“I never knew you had a secret Catwoman fangirl side.” He countered with a smile.

“Guess that means we make a good team, huh?”

“Yeah, I guess it does.”

As you smiled at him, completely content under the moonlight, he wanted nothing more than to kiss you right then, to taste the sweetness of your strawberry lip gloss again. The last bit of your walk was filled with you two arguing over Batwoman and Catwoman, two things that neither of you had ever realized you had in common before.

Harrison’s wish finally came true the next day, as you two ran through the kiss scene multiple times. It was strange at first for him, because his sister and mother were intently watching, proud to see him in action, even if it was just a kiss scene over and over again. But, with you there, he grew more and more comfortable with each take.

As a few more weeks passed by, Harrison thought that perhaps you and Davey had officially ended things, but then he heard through Darci that you had magically worked it out. Whatever magic it was, he was upset about it, and he found himself increasingly irritated at the mention of Davey.

“Ooh, we finally get to meet the Davey tonight?” Darci asked as the five of you enjoyed lunch in between shots. It had been two weeks Harrison’s mother and sister visited, and now Davey was coming, much to Harrison chagrin.

“He’s only here for two days.” You explained, taking a bite of your sandwich.

“Ah, so you’ll be very busy, then.” McKell teased, suggestively nudging your side with his elbow. You brushed off his comment with a laugh, avoiding Harrison’s eyes.

“We should get him to do that calzone challenge with us.” Jojo said to Harrison. Although Jojo and McKell had been rather supportive of Harrison’s interest in you at the beginning, they seemed to forget about it most of the time now— for which he was actually kind of grateful.

The conversation couldn’t go any further as the director came into the room, holding the script in his hands. The look on his face told all of you that something was up. He looked between you and Harrison before speaking, “Change of plans for tomorrow. Eileen isn’t feeling well, so we’ll film Bea and Leo’s scene tomorrow instead of her scenes.”

“But tomorrow was supposed to be—“ You started, but cut yourself short, realizing there was no point in arguing. Schedules, plans, things all change, and this was just part of the job. “Never mind.”

“Well, tomorrow will be interesting.” Darci said quietly, voicing what was on everybody’s minds.

The director left with a silent nod, and the room fell silent for a moment. You and Harrison wouldn’t dare to look at each other, both of you feeling awkward suddenly. Making out with Harrison multiple times, especially with your boyfriend there, was not something either of you particularly enjoyed the thought of.

Having to film no more scenes today, Harrison went back to the hotel with Jojo and McKell. He didn’t end up seeing you for the rest of the day, but he was okay with that as he wanted to go as long as he could without meeting Davey. The director had taken some pity on the two of you, asking you to come in later in the morning instead of at 6 AM like usual.

Harrison made his way down to the hotel gym, wanting to utilize his newfound free time. Normally, he’d get his daily workout in after filming, but he didn’t see a reason to not get an early start today. He didn’t expect anyone to be up this early, but as he got closer to the gym, he could hear a voice coming from inside the room, the door cracked just slightly.

“Love, I promise I’ll be back in two days.” The stranger paused before continuing, “You know I’m only here for business, nothing else.”

Curious and trying to decide if he should even enter the room, Harrison snuck a quick glance through the crack in the doorway. He felt his blood run cold as he immediately recognized the guy sitting on the weight bench. Afterall, Harrison had looked at your social media enough to recognize your olive-skinned boyfriend, Davey.

“Bit early for you, isn’t it?” Harrison nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of your voice from down the hall. He heard Davey mumbled something on the other side of the door, probably having heard your voice too.

“Yeah, but I just figured I’d start my pull-ups early today.” He replied before opening the door for you, acting like he had no clue that Davey had been in there.

“Hello, gorgeous.” Davey said to you, completely ignoring Harrison. He stood from his spot at the weight bench to wrap his arms around your waist and kiss you possessively.

“Davey, this is Harrison, he plays Leo. Harrison, this is Davey.” You introduced the two guys.

Davey looked Harrison up and down with his dark brown eyes and seemed to stand straighter, even though the blond was inches taller. Harrison was the first to step forward and politely outstretch a hand to the raven-haired guy before him. With a tight smile, Davey shook his hand, “Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise.”

Davey turned back to you, “Spot me?”

“Actually, I wanted to-” Your eyes drifted over to the treadmill as Harrison got in position to start his pull-ups at the bar. Davey looked at you expectantly, and you nodded, silently agreeing to stand there and spot Davey while he bench pressed.

Slipping on his headphones and turning on some music, Harrison began his workout. He played his music loud enough to block out your conversations with Davey. Not only was it none of his business, but god, Harrison really hated everything about him already. Hearing silence between you and Davey when his song changed, Harrison spared a glance over towards you. He was surprised when he found your eyes trained on him or, rather, trained on his abdomen that seemed to stick out from his tight white shirt. Still unaware of his eyes on you, your own eyes trailed up to his arms, watching as they flexed with each pull-up. Feeling flustered by your fixed gaze, Harrison faltered a little, and your eyes immediately darted back to Davey in front of you. Harrison couldn’t help the proud smile that ghosted his lips as he continued— you were checking him out.

Harrison finished his workout and decided to get cleaned up before heading to set in half an hour, leaving you and Davey in the gym. When he left, he was surprised that you were still spotting Davey, getting no work out in like you had planned. The whole time he was getting cleaned up (and brushing his teeth repeatedly to ensure he had good breath), he just kept picturing your staring in his head. He had worked very hard to get his body in this shape, and he was very proud of himself too, but he was even prouder that you’d clearly taken notice. If anything, it almost excited him that they’d be filming this scene today. There were a few times in this episode specifically in which Leo is shirtless, but none of those scenes had been filmed— and if this scene was going to be anything like it was scripted to be, then you’d definitely get a better show than in the hotel gym.

He didn’t see you again until the two of you were on set, in full costume and makeup. He had a loose shirt on, but underneath it, his chest had been painted with blues and purples to make convincing bruises. As he went to his mark, Leo’s makeshift bed on the floor of the cellar, Harrison spotted Davey across the set, looking bored and unhappy. His blue eyes drifted over to you next, and he refrained himself from smirking as he noticed your makeup artist applying chapstick to your lips.

While you gathered your prop lantern and the lights dimmed around you all, Harrison made himself comfortable under the ragged blankets. The director called out “Action!” and Harrison closed his eyes, pretending to be asleep as he waited for you to come into the shot. Hearing your footsteps, Harrison stirred, blinking his eyes open.

“Bea, is everything alright?” He asked, looking up at you as you stood over him.

“Let me see your body.” You said definitively.

“Beatrice—” He started, but you cut him off.

“Show me, Leo. I want to see it.” At your words, Harrison shifted slowly, moving as if in pain. He pulled the blankets down and went to roll up his shirt. “Take your top off.”

He paused, looking at you questioningly with a hint of fear in his eyes. Groaning a little, Harrison sat up and removed his shirt. He looked at you expectantly, and you set aside the lantern before kneeling on the blankets beside him. Your hand drifted over the painted bruise tentatively, ghosting over the same abs that you had been studying just hours earlier. Harrison waited for you to deliver your next line, knowing he was scripted to kiss you after it. It felt like ages that he was waiting for you, wanting nothing more than to kiss you right now. His mind went blank as your eyes found his and you leaned in to kiss him.

It was unscripted, and he was surprised, but he didn’t let his surprise stop him from immediately kissing you back. Your chapstick tasted of strawberries, just as it had the last time the two of you had a kissing scene, and he swore he was in love with the taste of it. He expected to hear the director yell cut, to hear him question why you suddenly improvised, but when nothing came, he just continued to kiss you. You pulled back, a shy smile on your face, “I don’t want you to hide your body from me anymore. It’s too nice to be hidden.”

His heart leapt as he leaned forward to catch your lips once more, this time scripted. His hands shuffled to your waist, pulling you down to lay beside him as he rolled onto his side, his chest leaning over yours. Your fingers tangled into his hair, and he savored the feeling.

You pulled back again, whispering up to him, “No more hiding.”

“No more hiding.” He reaffirmed. As he continued to kiss you, his hands sensually wandered down your back, keeping you as close to him as possible. Part of him wanted to pause the intimate scene and pinch himself, just to make sure it was really happening, but he was worried if he stopped kissing you now that he’d never get the opportunity to kiss you like this again.

“Cut!” The director called, and Harrison reluctantly pulled away from you. He could’ve sworn a small frown passed your lips as he looked down at you, not having shifted off of you yet.

“Spearmint— my favorite.” You teased quietly, as if it was only for the two of you to hear. As you laughed underneath him, Harrison couldn’t help but wonder what his younger self would think if he knew he’d one day get to make out with Y/N Y/L/N. Even if it was just for the show, it was a sight that he’d always want to remember.

“I’ve always enjoyed the taste of strawberries.” He replied softly, rolling away from you.

The director ran you two through a couple pointers for the scene, and, to Harrison’s surprise, he even suggested Bea kissing Leo first, just like you had improvised. You reasoned that you forgot your line momentarily, but something about the way you kissed Harrison made him feel like that wasn’t the case; no, it seemed like you’d truly wanted to kiss him.

After running through the scene a few more times, the director was satisfied. While you stayed behind on set to film more scenes, Harrison returned to his hotel room. Just as he was searching his toiletry bag for some much-needed chapstick, his phone began to ring with a Facetime call. Seeing Harry’s contact photo light up on his screen, he accepted and set his phone aside momentarily. He didn’t need to wonder what Harry (and most likely Tom, Tuwaine and maybe even Sam) were calling about— he had made the dire mistake of telling his easily-excited best friends about today’s scene.

“Why are we looking at your ceiling?” Harry asked almost immediately.

“I’m, uh, looking for lip balm.” Harrison admitted quietly and smiled to himself when he found some. He quickly put it on and then grabbed his phone, heading to his bed where he could comfortably talk to his friends.

As expected, his friends let out an incoherent chorus of excitement. Sam seemed to calm down enough first to ask (more like, shout through the phone), “How was it?”

“Does she really kiss with tongue? Remember Jack used to say-” Tom started, and Harrison scoffed, hearing the name of one of their old classmates who swears he had a summer fling with you once.

“I still don’t believe him, but no, not today at least.” Harrison was honestly a bit embarrassed to admit it. You were in a relationship… with a possibly cheating moron, but still. It just didn’t feel right to talk about you in that way.

“Not today? So there could be another time!” Tuwaine shouted encouragingly.

“Is she still with that prick?” Tom asked.

“Yes, but,” Harrison paused, and they all looked at him expectantly, waiting for elaboration, “I think he might be cheating on her.”

“What makes you say that?” Harry questioned. “Mate, just because you fancy her doesn’t mean her boyfriend’s a cheater.”

“No, I mean I heard him on the phone, and he said he was in Liverpool for business, not for his girlfriend.” He reasoned, “I’m just very suspicious of him.”

“You should tell her if you think he is.” Sam stated, “If he isn’t, then, oh no, you’re on bad terms with her boyfriend, who probably already hates you after today. If he is, well, she’d hate you if she finds out you kept it from her.”

Harrison let out a small sigh as the others nodded. “I don’t know. It’s not my place. Besides, she said something a few weeks about him wanting an open relationship. Maybe it’s that?”

“Okay, look, forget I asked about him.” Tom said, shaking his head, while the others looked at Harrison skeptically through the phone, “How was it to finally have your drama school dreams fulfilled?”

“Fucking heaven.” Harrison admitted with a laugh.

For the next week, Harrison resisted the urge to tell you about Davey. He wanted to, he really did, but whenever he’d finally be alone with you and mentally prepare himself for the conversation, you would always just seem so happy and content. He couldn’t bring himself to disturb your happiness, especially when it was Harrison making you happy. After Davey left, it’s like something changed within you, and Harrison had no clue what it was, but he enjoyed it.

‘You have to tell her.’ Harrison read over his most recent text from Tom again. He let out a small sigh, trying to get the courage to tell you as you sat across from him at the booth.

It was Saturday, and you two, along with Darci, Jojo, and McKell, had made your way to a club, wanting to celebrate another week down. With only two episodes left to film, you all knew your time together was starting to run low. You were all a few drinks in by now, happily buzzed. Jojo and McKell were off somewhere, probably attempting to be each other’s wingmen. Darci was telling you a story so wild that Harrison wondered if it was even true. He finished the rest of his drink and shuffled out of the booth.

“I’m going to grab another drink.” Harrison said to you two, and, without waiting for a response, he left. He made no move to flag down the bartender, leaning against an empty spot in the bar. Pulling on the collar of his blue shirt, he started to feel hot, unsure if he could handle this.

“What happened to getting another drink?” You asked him, stepping up beside him.

“Where’s Darci?” He replied, not wanting to answer your question.

“Found a friend in the crowd.” You laughed and turned to flag down the bartender. You ordered a round of shots, to Harrison’s surprise.

“Are you good?” He asked skeptically.

“Yeah,” You nodded, but with how your eyes were glazed over the alcohol and another unreadable emotion, Harrison didn’t quite believe you. Playfully, you nudged him, “I should ask you the same thing. You’re the one who’s been moping all night for god knows why.”

“I haven’t been moping.” He argued as a tray of four shots was placed in front of you two. You handed one to him and took one for yourself.

“Cheers to another week done.” You clinked your shot glass against his before both of you downed them.

As you went to grab your second shot, Harrison reached a hand and stopped you. Concerned, he asked, “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Davey and I broke up— for good this time.” You admitted, and his hold on your wrist softened while he looked at you pitifully. “He told me when he was here that he went through with his ‘open relationship’ plan, even though I never agreed to it, so he’s been basically cheating on me since I left for this job. Then tonight, he drunkenly texts me, and I know it’s just a booty call. He’s done it for years, but now I actually see it for what it is. So now, my shitty boyfriend is gone, I’m finally single, and my only plans for tonight is to get properly drunk. Maybe even hookup with a stranger— god knows it’s been a while since I had decent sex.” Harrison was speechless, and you continued, a smile finding its way to your face at the end of your venting. “Dance with me after this shot?”

“Do I have a choice?” He asked playfully, feeling your mood lighten once more. You winked at him, handing him a full shot glass. He made a mental note to keep a close eye on you and to keep you from drinking anymore.

After you both drank back the burning liquid, you grabbed his hand and pulled him out to the dancefloor. Harrison had felt the alcohol that was flooding his system earlier, but the colored lights, pounding music, and countless bodies around him seemed to make the alcohol hit him harder. There was a weight off his shoulders, knowing you were actually single as you danced with him, and yet he still felt strange about his current state with you— were you truly into him or was he just the first guy you could drunkenly hook up with?

You turned to face him, a small frown on your face, “Haz, you’re being a bit of a killjoy.”

It was then that he realized, while you were fully grinding on his body, he was relatively motionless. Your hands found his, and you planted one on your hip and another on the small of your back, low enough though that it teetered being on your ass. You leaned in closer to him, letting him get a whiff of your perfume. While one of your hands trailed along the hem of his shirt, daring to even dip below his shirt, the other traced through his hair.

As you planted a kiss on Harrison’s neck, not caring at all for the dancing bodies around you, you heard him let out a strangled groan of your name. Your nails light scratched over the deep V in his hips, hooking onto where his jeans met the line.

“Should we get out of here?” You asked Harrison, your lips right next to his ear as your voice dripped with seduction. He felt his heart flip with intoxicating excitement before he was immediately reminded of the gravity of the situation. You went to kiss him, but he moved back quickly, stepping out of your reach. Pouting, you asked, “Do you not want me? After all this time?”

“No, I do.” Harrison insisted. “I want you, but not like this, not when you’re drunk. You’re not in the right headspace for this. I don’t want to be your drunken rebound.”

“How can you be a rebound when it’s always been you?”

Harrison sighed. Oh, how much he’d love to hear that from you— sober. He was saved from having to reply when Darci, McKell, and Jojo found you two. They looked at the two of you skeptically, but Harrison just shook his head.

“I’m going to take Y/N back to the hotel.” He said as he stepped closer to the group so that they could hear him over the music.

“We’ll come, too.” Jojo insisted, even though, with his words slurred and his eyes glazed over, he was thoroughly drunk, too.

“Where did Y/N go?” McKell asked, realizing your sudden absence.

“Oh god,” Harrison muttered, and the four of them dispersed in the crowd to find you, tripping over the other sweaty bodies. Darci found you first, unable to stop you from having a couple more shots.

“No, no, you’re done.” She argued with you. You reached for the last shot that she had taken from you, but, in your intoxicated state, you easily lost your balance. Harrison quickly wrapped an arm around your waist to hold you up.

“I don’t think she can walk.” Jojo commented.

“What gave that away?” McKell asked sarcastically.

“Come on, let’s get you home.” With a small sigh, Harrison, as the most sober of the group (though he still felt fairly tipsy), proceeded to lead you out of the club.

Darci hailed a cab for the five of you, and while it was an illegally tight fit, you all made it work. You leaned on Harrison as he was pressed right up against you. On your other side sat Jojo. You mumbled softly to Harrison, one of your hands falling onto his knee, “Do you remember that year when they put up mistletoe at school?”

“Where are you going with this?” He asked you softly.

“I saw you kiss Vivian at the one outside of the gym, and I couldn’t walk in that area for three months without thinking of you. I was so jealous of her, and you just looked like such a good kisser, which I’m happy to report you are.”

“Babes, maybe stop with the drunk talking.” Darci said, because all of you could tell this was stuff sober you would never say.

Harrison looked at you in surprise— he barely even remembered when Vivian dragged him under the mistletoe, so the fact that you remembered and were jealous? And you said he was a good kisser, too. He felt a glimmer of pride overcome him.

“Ask me tomorrow, it’s the truth.” You shuffled in your seat, laying your head against Jojo’s shoulder, “Jojo, wanna know a secret?”

“Y/N, maybe-” Darci started, but Jojo cut her off.

“No, go on, Y/N.” He laughed, wanting to hear your drunk thoughts.

“Do you think I’d make a good Catwoman?” You asked, words slurring together as you grew tired.

“Catwoman? Like Anne Hathaway?” He questioned, and you hummed a ‘yes’. “Yeah, you’d make a good Catwoman.”

“Good. Tell Haz he needs to my Batman then.” Your voice was quiet, as if it was something just meant for the two of you to hear, but your voice wasn’t nearly as soft as you had thought it was, meaning Harrison and the rest of your friends were truly aware of your little drunken secret

“Okay, I’ll tell him.” Jojo reassured you, a shit-eating grin on his face as he glanced over your head to look at the embarrassed Harrison.

The rest of the car ride was silent, and Harrison helped you out of your seat. With the help of the others, he got you safely inside your hotel room. Everyone retreated to their own rooms, except for Harrison who stayed with you. He laid you down on your bed and went searching for your pajamas, which to his luck were stowed underneath your pillow.

“Can you change or—?” Harrison asked, holding out the clothes to you

“I’ve got it, though I wouldn’t mind you helping.” You said with a wink. As you started to change out of your club clothes, Harrison turned away from you and focused on getting out some much-needed pain reliever and a glass of water for you to have in the morning. He heard you shuffle on the bed behind him before you let out a small huff, “Hazzy, can you come here?”

Hazzy— that was a new nickname. To his surprise, you were already tucked up in bed, your previously worn clothes scattered on the floor around you. He set the water and meds on your nightstand before kneeling to your level, “What’s wrong, love?”

“Do you know why Davey wasn’t my first love?” You asked quietly, your eyes beginning to droop with sleep. You reached a hand out to tentatively run your fingers over his cheek before you cupped it, smiling softly at him.

He had a hunch, but he played along anyway, wanting to hear you say it, in case he never heard it again. “Why?”

“Because you were.” Your voice was so quiet that he barely heard you, but he was so glad that he did. He leaned forward and pressed a chaste kiss to your forehead, and you let your hand fall from his face.

“Get some sleep. We can talk in the morning.”

“Can you stay tonight? Please?”

“Of course, love.” Harrison stood to his full height, and when he looked at you again, you were already asleep. He softly readjusted the blankets on your bed to make sure you were warm enough, before he made his way over to the couch. Grabbing a throw blanket off the back of the couch, he settled into his bed for the night. Just like every other night lately, he drifted off thinking of you, but this time, there was an excited flutter in his heart.

The next day, Harrison woke up to you letting out a groan, loudly asking, “Why the fuck is it so bright in here?”

He slowly sat up from the couch to check on you. A smile crossed his face as you took the pain meds he’d left out and downed the glass of water. Your eyes seemed to bulge out of your head when you noticed his presence in the room. Laughing, he greeted you, “Good morning, sunshine.”

“Please tell me you miraculously don’t remember anything I said last night because I remember, and I don’t want to.” You said, pulling your knees up to your chest.

“Sorry to disappoint then.” He sent you a sympathetic smile.

With a sigh, you patted the spot beside you on your bed. Wordlessly, Harrison got up from the couch and came to sit beside you on the bed. He expected you to say something, but when you were silent, seemingly caught up in your thoughts, he spoke up, “Did you mean it? When you said I was your first love?”

“Yes.” There was no hesitation in your reply, and you turned to finally meet his eye, “It was a very intense schoolgirl crush, hence why I hated Vivian after that mistletoe incident, but seeing you again just made me realize that it was more than just a crush. I’ve regretted saying no to you all those years ago ever since you came back into my life.”

“Well, I thought I was over my crush on you, but turns out, there are just some things time can’t change.”

A comfortable silence overfell you two again before you finally spoke up with the words that had been on your mind for weeks, “I think I’m in love with you.”

“I think I’m in love with you, too.” Harrison sealed his words by leaning in to kiss you.

With no script to follow now, he felt fireworks as you kissed him back. One of your hands drifted to the back of his neck, silently urging him to continue kissing you. His hands snaked around your waist before he shifted to lay on his back, rolling you on top of him. You deepened the kiss, your tongue finding its way into his mouth. He moaned at first, fully enjoying himself, before his lips curved into a smile, and he started to laugh against your lips.

“What’s so funny?” You asked, pulling away from his lips. His hands wandered from your hips up to where your own hands were resting on his chest, and he casually intertwined your fingers.

“It’s nothing.” He said in an attempt to play it off, but the smile on his face told you that whatever he was thinking was hilarious to him. “You remember Jack Evans? He told everyone that you were the best french kisser in school, and, well, he’s not wrong.”

You let out a scoff before giggling to yourself, “First of all, how many girls have you french kissed from drama school and should I be jealous? Second of all, Jack was an ass who couldn’t kiss for shit, but I’ll take it as a compliment that he told everyone that.” You leaned down until your lips were just barely touching, “And thirdly, do you want to keep talking about drama school, or do you want me to keep kissing you?”

“You don’t need to be jealous, but I kinda like that you are.” He replied with a cheeky smile. “And you’re right. He was an ass.”

“And for the last one?” You asked, raising your eyebrows at him.

Harrison pretended to think about it for a second before he let go of your hand to cup your cheek, bringing your lips crashing back down to his.

[cryptidmads]

good evening nsr community, i went through the ama from today and came back with an armful or two of lore. there’s a bunch more than last time, and i included bbj as well as the npcs. cozy up, check under the cut, and prepare for a long read. enjoy!

today's ama featured wan hazmer and daim dziauddin again, as well as concept artist ellie and animator ben fong.

BUNK BED JUNCTION (FT. DK WEST)

- mayday and zuke live in the sewers because they're an underground band. it's a pun - there were originally two variations of bbj leaving the sewers - one with mayday hi-fiving gigi (which had a 95% chance of happening), and one with zuke awkwardly fumbling and attempting to hi-five gigi (which had a 5% chance) - one of the inspirations for mayday and zuke were the two main characters of samurai champloo (zuke was jin, mayday was mugen) - someone asked about if the rest of the cast had their own shadow puppets. ben suggested a lemur for mayday, while ellie suggested a zucchini for zuke. she may have been joking. - mayday's guitar solos were done by different people, but zuke's drum solos were all done by bruno valverde. - zuke was the one who implemented the canister thing into mayday's guitar. - someone asked who of the cast are the introverts and who are the extroverts. mayday is an extrovert, zuke is an introvert. - the team does have a bit of lore for mayday and zuke and how they met, but they want to save it in case of a future project. - mayday was inspired by both genevieve from company of thieves and the unbreakable kimmy schmidt. - ben did the animation for mayday swinging the hammer in the workshop. - haz recalls seeing some fanart of mayday being brought up as a rich girl. he doesn't remember the artist, but he does like the idea. - the japanese version has zuke say he has a phd rather than a master's degree. this is apparently a mistake. - the pattern on zuke's pants was inspired by jolyne cujoh and prosciutto from jojo's bizarre adventure. - zuke's toilet seat collection came partially from a story from one of the environmental artists where one of their high school friends pranked another friend with a toilet seat. - zuke does a lot of reading and is naturally inquisitive about things like tech and mechanics. - dk west's shadow puppet abilities might run in the family, and zuke may have it as well. - both zuke and dk west are connected by percussion (zuke with the drums, west with the hand claps) - zuke and west weren't always designed to be related -- west was originally designed as "some guy who comes and goes," but was made into zuke's brother later on in production - dk west is an extrovert.

DJ SUBATOMIC SUPERNOVA

- djss' dj name is obviously a stage name, but the team didn't have a real name for him in the script or anything. - haz joked that his name is bob salad. that's not canon but from what i seen the chat loved it lol - haz brings up the symbolism of djss spinning the planets around himself and how it represents that he thinks of himself as the center of the universe. - ellie helped design the districts, and something she noted about dj's is that it's supposed to look the "slummiest" because he cares more about himself and less about things like blackouts. - dj had some lines cut from his boss fight. those lines? mini lectures towards bbj during every phase. they were cut because the team felt like they were too much for the game, but they want to share them one day. - daim says that dj could be either introverted or extroverted becuase of how much time he spends alone looking at the stars. - dj was never planned to have an approach segment, but funk fiction wasn't told that, so he made him an approach theme anyway. - dodo ice pops are traffic light flavoured, which is a popular ice cream in malaysia. it's strawberry, pineapple, and lime flavored.

SAYU AND THE NERD SQUAD

- three of sayu's creators were based on staff members at metronomik. remi (voiced by ben) was based on one of the programmers and one of the environmental artists (ellie calls him "the lovechild of two dudes"), tila was based on (and voiced by) ellie herself, and dodo was based on danish mak (another environmental artist who also voices him). - sofa wasn't based on anyone in particular, he was more of a "general otaku guy" according to ellie (though haz joked that ellie could just say he was based on him). - dodo is daim's favorite npc -- he also designed him! - sayu was ellie's favorite character to design. she loves drawing mermaids. - the progression in sayu's fight where you go deeper into the "ocean" is supposed to be a metaphor for going deeper into the internet/the deep web. - ellie suggested that if sayu were to have a shadow puppet, it would be a cat. - as for the introvert/extrovert debate, daim says sayu is technically comprised of 4 introverts. sayu herself is the extrovert mask they wear. - sayu's ahoge is a submarine periscope. remi looks through it in one of the cutscenes. - sayu's not a mech. she's remotely controlled by her creators from their computer room. - the backstory between remi and tila is meant to show that artists can come from all sorts of backgrounds.

YINU AND MAMA

- yinu's promotional video was one of the first ones done before they brought in lzbros, so it originally looked different from how it looks in the game now. - yinu's mother's eyes are yellow because she spends most of the fight focusing on yinu (who is mainly yellow). when her eyes go blank white, it represents that she's momentarily forgotten what she loves the most. when her eyes become yellow again after the fight, it means she's remembered yinu and her piano playing. - the way ellie describes natura is that yinu is a plant and her mother is very protective of her, and one of the distinctive features is that there are a lot of domes with plants inside, particularly on the roofs of the houses. - yinu's commercial was not intended to reference little miss fortune. the commercial was shown in 2018, while LMF came out a year later. - yinu's mom turning into a giant tree monster isn't exclusive to her just being angry at bbj. apparently the whole plant thing runs in the yinu family.

1010

- 1010's concept as a boy band had been around since before the team started production, but they were the last to be fully designed -- their designs weren't finalized until way later on. - 1010 were ellie’s least favorite characters to design. she doesn't like drawing guys OR robots. - 1010's early designs had them wearing tuxedos. - 1010 do have memories. - the inspiration for the butt plates came from one of ben's gundam figures from his collection in the metronomik office. thanks ben. - ellie's favorite member of 1010 is purl-hew/blue. - eloni/green is apparently the rapper of the group. - the jingle you hear from the carousel in metro division is a carnival remix of 1010's boss theme. - the numbers underneath 1010's names on the autographs are completely random.

NEON J

- neon j is a dancer. daim explains that in addition to being in the navy, dance has always been his true passion. - in the final phase of 1010's fight, he was originally supposed to control the dance moves of the factory as he was fighting you, but it was cut due to limited resources. - daim designed neon j based on ellie's designs for 1010. - neon j's factory's dance moves were all animated by ben -- no mocap needed. the factory was also his favorite thing to animate. - daim says that "neon j is to tatiana as soundwave is to megatron." basically he is extremely loyal to tatiana. - neon j was one of earliest members of nsr. - neon j seeing 1010 as his sons wasn't planned, but daim loves the concept so much that he could see it being canon. - daim says neon j's brain is "probably" still inside the monitor head. somehow. - neon j is an extrovert. - haz likes the idea of neon j being blind and using his sonar to "see" things. ben joked that the screen worked like giant glasses. - neon j originally had red dots that would pop up on his face when the sonar moved by that were meant to represent acne, and that would've been the reason why he's mostly behind the scenes.

EVE

- in mayday's side of the room when eve splits up bbj, the hands all over the walls are meant to be there to show how eve is angrier at mayday than she is at zuke. - the time signature for the music in mayday's room during the fight is 6/8, whereas in zuke's room it's 4/4. - ellie suggested a platypus shadow puppet for eve. the rest of the team seems to be on board. - eve was ben's least favorite character to animate. he said he struggled with animating her dance moves because it was something he'd never done before, and he still doesn't think he did a good enough job. - eve was born with her split skin tone. - apparently eve's near scrapping had something to do with costs. haz was the one who stopped it from happening. - eve's outfit was partly inspired by beyonce, while her jacket was partly inspired by ariana grande. the team took some inspiration from bjork, as well. - the sleeves on eve's jacket were apparently limbs at one point. - eve is an introvert.

NPCS/OTHER CHARACTERS

- part of tatiana's symbolism is how she used to be a rock star, but her flame/passion slowly burned away, and now she's just a rock, referencing how she was literally on fire as the rock star kul fyra, but now looks burnt out. - daim thinks kliff is older than tatiana, probably over 50. - in addition to the neon j dance lore mentioned above, kayane rambling about neon j after the 1010 fight was supposed to be connected to her watching neon j dance. - ben and haz's favorite npc is mia, and ellie's is dj zam. - dj zam was inspired by one of ellie's college friends, who she says "makes you feel comfortable to be around". - ellie thinks dj zam's neck tattoo says "i love mom". - amal the unicorn was inspired by lady amalthea from the 80's animated film "the last unicorn". he was originally written to be a real talking unicorn, but it was changed partially because his horn wasn't in the right spot on his head. - zed was based on game designer dzaid and has hyperacusis, a hearing disorder that makes it difficult to deal with everyday sounds. - yiruk's name is an anagram of kiryu, the protagonist of the yakuza games. - chef sunshine's design is a homage to julia child. she originally had a bigger physique, but was changed to match lylia's bubbly performance.

[bugaboooooooooo]

Chapter 10 of my fic ''A blessing in disguise!''

Enjoy!

Info abt the fic + first chapter here.

*****

Ladybug plopped beside Chat again, a bag full of baked goods and a thermos in her hands. Chat's stomach let out a growl. He hadn't realised until now how hungry he was. He gratefully began rummaging through the bag and grabbed a madeleine.

Ladybug picked out a couple of macarons and took a deep breath. ''Okay. So I guess I should explain the whole Chat Blanc thing.''

Chat nodded. ''Yeah.''

She began rocking back and forward, preparing herself for the conversation. ''So, Chat Blanc. I don't know much about what happened. I was minding my own business when Bunnix showed up. She told me you somehow figured out my identity.''

That last sentence hit Chat like a brick. He now understood why Ladybug had always insisted that they couldn't reveal their identities. Why instead she revealed her identity to a close friend. Why she didn't really mind Rena Rouge and Carapace revealing themselves but hated the idea of Chat revealing his identity. Him knowing her identity had triggered the end of the world.

''Ladybug, I...'' He reached out for her hand and gave it a squeeze to reassure her.

Ladybug glanced at their hands and gave him a small smile.

''So... then Bunnix placed me in this future. Paris was flooded, people were turned into stone.'' She shuddered. ''I saw myself as a statue.''

Chat's eyes widened. He couldn't begin imagining how traumatizing that experience must have been.

''The moon was cracked in half,'' she softly continued. ''I don't know if there were any survivors.''

He tried to picture it. A post-apocalyptic world with probably no survivors. And in the middle of that mess, Ladybug. Alone. Scared. Scarred.

''H-how? How did it come to that?'' He felt anger boiling inside him. He didn't know towards whom. To Shadow Moth for akumatizing him? Towards his past self for getting akumatized? He balled his fists. He glanced at Ladybug and then decided that this wasn't the time to get angry. He'd have to take out his bottled up anger somewhere else. But not now.

''I don't know exactly. All I know is that you found out who I was. I'm pretty sure we were dating. Chat Blanc said that our love had ended the world.''

Chat took a minute to process this. Had their love really done that?

Ladybug continued. ''I had to fight you. It... it was horrible. Chat Blanc had your power of destruction, only infinite. He wanted to merge our miraculouses to grant a wish. To fix stuff, as he said.''

He noticed Ladybug didn't refer to Chat Blanc as you. He felt a surge of relief. She didn't think of him and this Chat Blanc as the same person.

''M'Lady... I'm so, so sorry.''

She looked up at him. ''It's not your fault.''

He shook his head. ''Having to carry the weight of knowing all of this, that's horrible. It's not right. No one should ever have to do that.''

Ladybug began fidgeting with her Jojo. She wove the indestructible wire between her fingers, creating a star.

''What did I look like?'' Chat asked. He hoped that talking about it would ease the pain.

She stared into his eyes as if envisioning Chat Blanc in his place. She probably was. Chat Noir felt a small pang in his chest thinking about that.

''His colour scheme was inverted, basically. He wore a suit, just like yours. But white. And his eyes...''

Ladybug choked back a sob. ''Ice blue.''

---

Ladybug directed her gaze towards the skyline. The baby blue sky was slowly turning a blood-red orange. She felt Chat's eyes bore into her.

''But... aren't you scared of a second Chat Blanc incident then? After all, I know your identity now.''

The spotted heroine turned to face him. ''Nah. I'll admit that at first, I was. But not anymore.''

Chat tilted his head to the right. ''Why?''

''Shadow Moth's defeated this time, so I don't think it'll happen. Besides, if something like that would happen, Bunnix would have shown up a long time ago.''

Chat nodded. ''That's good,'' he said.

With that, they fell into a comfortable silence again. Ladybug poured the hot chocolate into two cups and offered one to Chat. He smiled and silently accepted it.

Ladybug stared back at the sky. A small, dark blob was coming towards them. She gritted her teeth and instinctively unhooked her Jojo.

Chat looked at her confused. ''What are you doing?''

Ladybug nodded at the dark blob, but when she looked again, she saw that it was a butterfly. A normal butterfly. She let out a groan.

''Oh my god... I thought that that was an akuma!''

Chat followed her gaze and burst out laughing.

Ladybug grumbled. ''I was this close—'' she held her thumb and index finger a mere inch apart— ''to de-evilizing a harmless butterfly!''

Chat unsuccessfully tried to hide his grin. Meanwhile, the insect in question had fluttered towards them and was now perched on Chat's finger. Chat's laughter died down as he inspected the butterfly.

Ladybug, careful as to not startle the insect, inched closer to them. She peered at the butterfly; it was a beautiful creature, though it had an uncanny resemblance to the corrupted minion she had mistaken it for first. Its forewings were jet black, and the hind ones were partially white. The edges of the wings were dotted with bright white spots.

Ladybug caught Chat staring at it in wonder.

''Wow,'' he said softly.

She couldn't agree more. Before they could gape at it longer, the butterfly decided to leave. She flapped her dainty wings and disappeared into the distance.

Chat let out a wistful sigh. ''That was the first time I've ever seen a butterfly up close.''

Ladybug raised her eyebrows. ''Wait, really?''

He nodded.

The spotted superhero bumped his shoulder playfully. ''Well, then I guess I'll have to take you to a conservatory one day.''

He smiled back at her. ''I guess so.''

---

Note to reader:

Oh, the irony, Adrien never having seen a butterfly while his father is Hawkmoth. Also, the conservatory would absolutely be their first date. Fight me.

This is the butterfly I used as a reference btw:

Ngl this was one of my favourite chapters, so I hope y'all like it!

*****

First chapter | Previous chapter | Next Chapter

*****

Taglist:

@jynxlovesluck; @fangirlingfanatic; @vixen-uchiha

[helpimhyperfixating]

What if all the stardust crusaders were also mermen?

This is my first time writing for the other Jojo’s, so I’m sorry if they’re ooc. I tried 🤷‍♀️

Didn’t know exactly what you wanted so I just did some random things XD (sorry for the weird formatting)

What if the Crusaders were also Mermen? Chaos, that’s what. Just imagine a journey across the seas just to beat up the sea snake that is Dio, but then think ten times harder. Going from the Pacific Ocean, to the Indian Ocean, into the Arabian Sea all just to get his ass.

Enemies are still sent by Dio, but now Dark Blue Moon is no longer special, kek. No but, while the enemies remain similar, Stands aren’t really a thing and therefore it becomes more a fight of physical strength. When Mer can come in all sorts of shapes, colours and sizes however, the battles always remain with an unsure outcome. Vanilla Ice the Giant Squid was a very close call.

The journey itself was tiresome, with them having to swim the entire way instead of being able to use transportation. Not to even mention other things. Every day is chaos - not even taking enemies into account - when travelling with the crusaders:

Polnareff won’t have to worry about clean toilets for once but still always seems to be complaining about something, Kakyoin and Jotaro are both still adolescents so they don’t quite have a grip on their instincts yet, more easily distracted by small things such as animals they don’t yet know or a shape quickly fluttering away in the current (must be chased and caught!!!), Joseph is basically an overgrown adolescent even if he is the patriarch of the pod so he usually shoots along with his grandson and friend. Iggy is there but then he isn’t??? And then he is again?? All in all, Avdol should get a medal, award, title, anything and everything really for his patience and ability to keep the others on track and keep them going.

Now, personality wise:

The Joestar pod is a big one. Family and friends coming together over time to form a larger and larger pod until it is eventually one of the largest out there. All kinds of Mer have come together to form this giant family unit and - apart from one defect (Dio) - it has stayed surprisingly tight knit.

Jonathan:

He is the pod patriarch, making the decisions together with Erina, who is the matriarch.

Super protective of the pod. Would shield the entire family with his body if he could. But since he can’t he’ll settle for just shielding all the pups, since the others can protect themselves. He is large enough to do so anyways.

Best play mate possible. All the pups love him.

I imagine he either has the body of a seal, or a blue whale. Very different yes, but he is just an excited ginormous puppy, hence the seal. But he is also a gentle giant, hence the blue whale. And also... other, more obvious reasons (*cough* he buff and giant *cough*).

Joseph:

In his younger years, he is the bane of existence of all the adults in the pod. In both his adolescent as well as young adult/adult stage, Joseph is a hyperactive troublemaker. More than once he has snuck out of pod territory, only to come fleeing back with an angry sea creature on his tail, needing resident buff protector Jonathan to step up and chase his attacker off.

In his older years, he has mellowed out a bit, needing to be since he inherited the position of pod patriarch from Jonathan. He is however, still a prankster and always will be. He will play a prank on the pups every so often where he pretends to have died in the night when they come get him for meal- or play time (He’s been scolded by Suzie Q for that after one of the pups burst out crying. He promised to never do it again, but he definitely will).

I imagine he has the lower body of a dolphin. Dolphins can be real assholes. But also very playful and agile, which Joseph stays, no matter his age. Either that, or a sawfish. Their faces look a little silly, but don’t bloody mess with them. They are fast as all hell and they can also get to be fujking big. About 7 meters (23 feet) on average to be exact. But then again, Joseph wouldn’t get the face so he has nothing to worry about.

Jotaro:

Oh, Jotaro. Our resident grumpy Mer. In a pod dynamic he usually has one of two moods. Tolerant, or, leave me the fuck alone. Usually it is the latter.

Surprisingly enough however, his personality seems to appeal to several of the pups. It’s about a 50/50 chance whether they’ll be scared of him, or think he is the coolest. Oftentimes a disgruntled Jotaro can be seen, followed by about two or three small Mer who are chatting his ears off or chewing on his side fins as they teeth.

Thanks to this, Jotaro is often the one who goes hunting. It finally gives him a bit of that peace and quiet he needs. Yare yare indeed.

I imagine Jotaro to have the body of a bull shark. Not the biggest or most aggressive shark out there, but part of the top 3 for sure. Also, Mer have the tendency to have their tails be bigger than their animal counterpart, such is definitely the case with Jotaro. Male bull sharks averaging in about 2 meters in length while just Jotaro’s tail is already almost double that.

Josuke:

Josuke has inherited some of his father’s hyperactivity unfortunately. The young Mer can often be heard from a mile away whenever he is hanging out with his friends.

Speaking of which, one day Josuke just turned up with several Mer in need of a home. Guess they’re part of the pod now!

Josuke is always quick to help anyone who needs it though. Need a hand? Josuke is there. Want someone to watch the pups? Might be a bit of a hazard, but Josuke will gladly do so. Need something that is very specific and probably quite a swim-distance away? Josuke is already on his way there.

He just wants to help and be useful, let him do stuff please 🥺

Still somehow has his hairdo, even underwater.

I drew Josuke as a Nurse shark a little while back, but for some reason I can also really see him being a sting ray?? I don’t know why, I think a sting ray fits him but that may be my bias towards stingrays.

But the lower half I can really see him having is that of a sailfish. (Have you seen the sails on those fish? They are just as impressive as Josuke’s hair. It’s a perfect match) they are fast as fuck boiiiiii, perfect for our lovable goof.

Either that or he is an otter cause they are bloody adorablez

Giorno:

Giorno wasn’t born as part of the Joestar pod unfortunately. Growing up, his father, Dio, had different goals and morals and broke away from the Joestar pod. Oftentimes Giorno heard him talk about the old pod he was once a part of, and how he vowed to wipe it from the sea.

This sparked a curiosity in the young Mer and when he was old enough, he decided to just up and leave the Brando pod. His initial goal was to find the Joestar pod he had heard so much about, but on his travels, he came across a different one. After spending some time with them, he decided to remain with Bucciarati and his pod of misfits.

All kinds of sea creatures flock to Giorno. For some reason, the calm and confident aura he gives off makes many animals feel safe and protected, hiding under or against his body if he is resting or sitting down on the ocean floor, or - if Giorno allows it - following him as he swims.

Giorno. Hmm, Giorno. I think he might have the lower body of a barracuda or a lion fish. Sleek, streamlined, dangerous. Or, pretty, yet hard to approach with his poisonous spikes poised unless he trusts you and allows you near. His spikes will lie as flat down his body as he can get them to show this. Not many Mer have this honour.

(Or he is part of the requiem shark family, lols, sorry I had to)

Jolyne:

Jolyne can be energetic or standoffish, you can never really tell which of the two it will be. Her dynamic in the pod differs from day to day depending on her mood, but when it comes to it, there is nothing she won’t do for it.

Very playful and giddy. Loves to hang out with her best friends and is the unofficial appointed forager with how much stuff she brings back whenever she goes for a swim.

Jolyne’s lower half. Hum hmm. Her body either somewhat resembles a butterfly fish, only- updated to be more mermaid like by being more stretched out, her tail fin mainly resembling the fish while her tail is more classic. It’s very pretty though and she somehow has some octopus genes in her, making her able to change colours, which she absolutely loves to do, nearly coming in with a new colour every day (though she has a few favourites) Either that, or she resembles her dad a little more with the lower half of a spinner shark. She’s sleek and agile. A swift and dangerous predator you should not mess with. She might look harmless when she’s chatting with her friends, but when she is spinning at you with claws poised and no way to escape, you’d click a different tune.

Haven’t read part 7 or 8 yet, sorry :(